Harry walked down the narrow hall and found himself in a room quite unfamiliar. At one end, it was completely bare, and at the other, a small bridge leading to as far as Harry could tell, a blue light. Harry stepped cautiously across the bridge, curious as to what he would find on the other end. As he walked on, the bridge seemed to go on forever until finally his feet met the other side. As he grew closer, the light shone brighter, and Harry could feel and energy that seemed to consume the room. It was almost as if a magnet was in the room and Harry was metal, he was unable look or move away from the small wooden door edged with light. As Harry reached for the door knob, he felt an insufferable pain of scalding throughout his hand but he couldn't pull away, he was consumed of what lay beyond the door within the blue light. As the door slid open, though Harry was filled with searing pain, he could make out a statue of…
"Harry, wake up, there's been an attack!" Ron shouted pointing out the window. Harry rose quickly to see what Ron was pointing at, and sure enough, what he had seen, was enough to make him sick.
Off in the distance, Hogsmeade could be seen engulfed in fire and the Dark Mark loomed high in the sky. Though Harry could not see the village clearly, he could only imagine the carnage that surely laid throughout the small towns streets.
"What happened?" Harry asked frantically, suddenly ripping his eyes off the wreckage which was now Hogsmeade.
"No one knows, McGonagall just stormed in and told us to gather all the younger ones in the common room and try to keep them safe and calm." Luke said sitting on the window seat unable to look away.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked worriedly, as they entered the common room and he couldn't spot her face. "And Neville?" Harry found and urgency all of a sudden seeing two of his close friends missing.
"Relax mate, Neville went to the hospital wing to help Madam Pomfrey heal some of the people they brought in from Hogsmeade, and Hermione is trying to get a few first year girls to unlock themselves from the bathroom and come down stairs, she says their really shook up, don't blame them though." Ron said easing Harry quickly.
"Think Neville needs any help?" Syrus offered as he walked towards Ron, Harry and Luke.
"No, I think we should let him do this on his own, apparently he made quite a bit of headway yesterday during our little study session. Dumbledore came up here right quick to ask for his help in the hospital wing." Hermione explained; appearing with two younger girls in hand who ran off towards the center of the room.
"So what now?" Harry asked impatiently, wishing he could help in some way, completely forgetting about his dream.
"We wait." Luke answered sagely. They five friends spent the next few hours helping the others to calm the hysteric younger kids, and at around 5 in the morning the entire house of Gryffindor laid dormant in the common room.
Neville had stumbled in at around 4 with a look of confusion and sadness on his face and just sat in a nearby chair to reflect. At 6 the professors made rounds to ensure the safety of all the students.
"Dumbledore, how did they cause so much mayhem in so little time, by the time the wards went off and we had summoned the order they had come and gone." McGonagall said in a hushed voice looking over her sleeping house of students, the younger students slept all together in the middle while the older slept in a circle around them.
"We may never know Minerva, but what we do know is that Tom is getting stronger, and that the two prophecies will come to head before Harry leaves Hogwarts, I'm sure, all we can hope to do is delay it until their seventh year so they have enough time to prepare." Dumbledore said, avoiding the window which looked out upon the ruined city of Hogsmeade, where now the flames died down but the Dark Mark still resided as high and clear as when it was first cast.
"This is what gives me hope" Dumbledore stated, pointing to the sleeping students; "The willingness to comfort, and protect the young, and defenseless, and come together as one. If there is one thing good that will come from last night's tragedy, it will be the unification. All we can hope for is all of the houses to pull together for one another, and maybe even smooth out the ridges between Slytherin and the other houses." Dumbledore said, his age truly starting to show after the previous nights events.
"Speaking of the houses, did you find the book you were looking for Albus?" the Head of Gryffindor asked gently eyes searching the room for any missing faces and finding none.
"Not yet, but I think that the contents maybe the cause of the attack on Hogsmeade. I believe they were looking for the entrance, which they mustn't find, if they find the entrance, and then they will surely find their way into the school as well." McGonagall gasped at the mere thought of Death Eaters in Hogwarts.
"Yes Minerva, it's a terrifying thought, which is why we have no choice but to find the entrance before Tom, it is critical to our survival." And with that, the two concerned professors left the house of Gryffindor and proceeded to their offices, there would be no class tomorrow, indefinitely.
The next day consisted of hundreds of students flocking to Dumbledore's office to floo home to make sure their families were ok.
"So what do we do?" Syrus asked while the sat around the common room still awe stuck of the chaos that had unfolded the night before.
"I think we should go to the special library and do some research." Hermione stated firmly.
"It's a good idea, Hermione, but we're not to enter the corridors unless we're to see Dumbledore." Ron reminded her, which received a scowl from her.
"Do you ever pay attention Ron, Professor Dumbledore told us about the entrance from our common room remember?" she recited in a way making Ron go red in the face.
"Right then, let's go shall we?" Harry suggested trying to end a foreseeable argument between the two. They all agreed that they should indeed use the library and proceeded through the entrance, only to find that they were not alone, they found Dumbledore searching through books with most frustration.
"Good afternoon children, how are you all today?" Dumbledore asked with concern.
"We're alright professor just here to do a bit of training, is that ok or do you need the library to your self?" Luke responded.
"No, of course you may use the library; I was just looking for a book, but I must be going, there's going to be a meeting today at the ministry on the damage report of Hogsmeade, so I'm afraid I can not be of any help today, good luck." And with his well wishes, he strode out of the library, robes billowing behind him.
"He seems shaken." Neville stated bluntly, but no one argued, Dumbledore seemed to be showing his true age.
"Today I think we should practice a bit of dueling just for practice instead of straight reading, I think we should grab a few books on curses and practice them in duels." Harry suggested, taking charge, and they all agreed. After half an hour of looking up curses and spells, they went to work, first, Harry against Luke.
Harry started off the duel with a disarming spell and quickly put up a decent shield charm and waited for Luke to make his move, for which he didn't need to wait because the moment he dodged the spell, he was up and running. He sprinted from place to place rapidly sending a vast array of curses and hexes towards Harry.
The strategy Luke had been using was an effective one, Luke was fast enough so when Harry blocked a curse and looked for Luke, he was already out of place, and it also didn't give Harry much chance to cast anything. Suddenly, Harry was struck with an idea, he began spraying water out of his wand and after 30 seconds of spraying he stopped and muttered a freezing spell, causing the water to become solid ice and sending Luke sliding across the floor. Finally, when he stopped, Harry was easily able to stun him.
"That was a lot different then any duels I've ever fought, where'd you learn that Luke?" Harry asked interested in his dodging and sprinting tactics.
"It was a main point in dueling at home, it makes it harder for your opponent to get a clear shot at you and also they have harder time seeing curses if you keep your path random. Good call with the ice, I should have seen that coming," he mused.
Next duel was Neville and Ron which was interesting as well. Ron began with a decent bludgeoning spell which Neville seemed to deflect pretty easily yet Neville made no counterattack. Ron sent another bludgeoning spell but this time it was a bit more powerful, yet Neville was able to block it as well, then with out warning, Neville began sending slashing and piercing spells as fast as he could, tearing Ron to ribbons. Neville had greatly improved; Harry had no idea how much better he really was since last year up until this duel.
Ron wasn't out yet though, in between being bashed and battered with curses, and put up a reflective shield, so any curse Neville cast at Ron would hit Ron's shield and go right back to Neville, assuming the curse didn't shatter his shield. Ron's plan worked, Neville went into another barrage of curses they all went back at him, catching him quite off guard, until he sent a decent powered bludgeoning spell which shattered the reflecting shield, and broke through, but it also went back at Neville, it ended in a draw when they both laid at either side of the library unconscious.
"Wow." Hermione breathed, she too had been quite impressed with the duel. When they were both revived Ron had been bleeding all over and required some serious healing which Neville was happy to help with and after a good five minutes they were both good as new.
"So what book do you think Dumbledore is looking for, he seemed pretty pissed he couldn't find it." Syrus pointed out.
"I'm not sure but you have a point, Dumbledore seems quite upset over his inability to find that book…" Hermione pondered on, considering what could put the Headmaster in such a way.
"So who's up for some animagus training huh?" Ron said trying to lighten the mood.
"What animagus training?" Ginny asked dangerously giving Ron a look that would make many people dampen their robes. Ron opened his mouth when Harry saved him by explaining everything to her. She wasn't mad just eager to catch up, so Harry showed her the spell.
As the smoke cleared from around her, she was seemed a bit confused.
"That spell can't be right Harry, I don't know what you're trying do here…"she said with a hint of confusion.
"I don't think so Ginny; why, what's the big deal, what are you, a beetle?" Ron said with a chuckle.
"No, it's a unicorn, but it's not possible, last year McGonagall said 'no animagus form can be magical'." She explained.
"If that's all you're worried about Gin, relax, we've already discovered that's not true, I'm a phoenix for Merlin's sake. A unicorn though Ginny, that could be dead useful." Ron stated. Ginny was blown away, Ron was a phoenix?
"Hermione, I was wondering, is it possible for me to become an animagus?" Syrus asked coyly, afraid of the answer which he though was almost an indefinite no.
"Certainly, animagus is not solely based on magical skill that only affects the speed at which it takes you to master it, everyone at Hogwarts could do it, but it takes a lot of time and training, so most don't bother." She explained.
"Do you think you can handle the spell?" She inquired. Syrus nodded and took a deep breath, and cast the spell.
"Buscar animals!" he said with conviction. Minutes later the smoke dissipated to reveal a very happy Syrus.
"Well, are you going to tell us or just keep that dopey grin on your face all day?" Ron asked impatiently, causing Syrus to snap back to reality.
"I'm this
half-eagle half-lion thing, I don't know what it's called but it
is a beast!" He exclaimed with excitement. The animal of which he
was referring to, was of course a gryphon.
When Harry heard this
he realized that he was standing in a room full of anomalies of the
magical world. Harry, Neville, Luke, and Ron with their double animal
status, and Ginny and Syrus with their magical animals, which left
Hermione, who seemed to be taking it just fine, Harry was thankful
for this because he feared it would cause a rift between Hermione and
the rest of the group, which Harry knew would be a big problem.
After the excitement they all decided to go to the Great Hall for some food. As they walked out of the room they almost walked right into Professor Dumbledore.
"Professor, what happened at the meeting?" Harry asked eagerly. Dumbledore just laughed. I wouldn't know, I'm just on my way now." He explained, and then Harry remembered, the whole stopping time thing was something to get used to.
"Professor, before you go, what book are you looking for?" Hermione asked remembering Dumbledore's search of the library.
"Don't worry my dear, it is of no importance." He said, eyes betraying his statement but with that he was gone.
After speaking with the headmaster the group went for breakfast when all of a sudden they were interrupted.
"All students, return to your houses, and await further instructions." McGonagall's voice rang through the castle, and all was silent.
"There's been another attack. On the ministry."