Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognise!
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but I hope this will be worth it. Thanks to all the people who reviewed it was really appreciated. Thanks also to Sabrina and Anna for betaing this chapter!
Now, on with the story!
Naia
Chapter Fifteen.
Once again, Harry was spinning through time, only to land rather hard on cold stone.
"Ouch! Soft landing as always," mumbled Harry. Sheitan was near him, alert, wildly looking around him.
"Blame it on Odyeus," said someone on his left, an amused edge in his voice.
"I'll be sure to thank him for my sore a… bottom," muttered Harry, trying to soothe his offended posterior. "Could I learn the name of my interlocutor, if it isn't too much to ask?"
"Oh! Sorry!" A man stepped out of the shadows. "May I present myself, Godric Gryffindor, founder of this school."
Harry stared at him.
"Y-you're Godric Gryffindor? THE Godric Gryffindor?"
"As far as I know, the only one in this area."
Harry pinched himself, wincing at the sting.
"No I'm not dreaming… Okay, you're Godric. Okay…"
"An who are you?"
"Godric.. founder… Oh! Sorry!" Harry snapped out of his mumbling. "Harry Potter, pleased to meet you, sir," he said, recovering enough to regain his manners.
"Likewise."
Harry got a clear view of the man: Light brown, ear-long, slightly ruffled hair, amused brown eyes, sharp features, large forehead, square chin, he was quite tall and muscular. Dressed in black trousers tied with a black belt, a dark red tunic, the Gryffindor sword, which Harry recognised immediately, hanging at his left side, a golden pendant loose around his neck, he radiated a strong aura. Moreover, Harry noticed an hidden dagger in his right boot and a knife on each of his forearms.
"Follow me, the school has been is session for a week now. I'll present you as a foreign student. By the way how old are you? Where you at Hogwarts in your time?"
"I don't really know, it' been six months since I was dragged back in time and I was entering my fifth year as a Gryffindor."
"Okay, so you've only aged three months… you'll join the fifth years after a week or two of tutorials."
Harry gawked at him.
"Wait a minute. Could you explain to me why I'm only three months older, although I've been away for six months?"
Godric sighed.
"Great! Why is it always me who gets to explain that part?" Seeing Harry's inquisitive face he resumed his talk. "I swear, Odyeus, that we're going to have a little talk at one time or another… Well, back to the subject at hand: to give the two-minute explanation. When Odyeus created his little spell and enchantment, he made it so that during every time jump you'll regain half of the time you spent in the time period you were. The point was to reduce your time away from you history's period to a minimum."
"Isn't there some difference between time passing in my time and here?"
"No, or if there is, the time transportation takes care of this. Don't ask me about the details, I don't know them, Odyeus only told me the basics…"
"Alright. Do I keep my name?"
"Harry is a bit modern, Harold will be better. You can't keep your surname. Potter is associated with my family, so you'll have to take one completely different. McAllister?"
"Why not?„ Harry shrugged. He still had hundreds of questions which were swirling in his mind, but chose to ask them later.
"Harold McAllister it is then. Now come on, I have to explain the situation to the others."
Without waiting for Harry, Godric left the room. A little bewildered, Harry shook his head and followed the man, before realising there was a problem: Sheitan!
"Sir, sir, wait!"
Godric stopped and turned to him.
"What's the problem?"
"Well… It's my horse, I can't leave him in the room…"
"Oh right! What was I thinking! You can take him to the stables. I'll show you."
"But how will he go down the stairs, no offense, sir, but horses aren't exactly equipped to descend staircases," said Harry.
"Don't worry… Well, where is he?"
"In the room."
They walked back to the room where Sheitan was still waiting, as Harry had instructed him to do.
"Take him and follow me."
They passed through several corridors, Harry saw it was a little different from the Hogwarts he knew: the stones weren't that ancient looking, there were less paintings and several coats of arms were hung at the ceiling. They entered another room with a large pentagram drawn on the floor.
"Step inside," instructed Godric. He took a stick from his pocket and enlarged it until he held a magnificent staff. Entering the pentagram, he spoke loudly.
"Elad stables."
To Harry's surprise, he sensed the fire gather around him and form a wall around them before they were spinning and landing in the stables.
He immediately put Sheitan's equipment away and placed him into the largest empty box he found.
"Will I be able to put him in a paddock later?"
"Of course. Now come on." Godric grabbed Harry and urged him towards another pentagram, but the young wizard shook him off.
"We can use elemental travelling here?"
"Yes, what do you think I used to make us end up here?"
"Then why do you need the pentagram?"
"To take you with me, of course."
"Oh, in that case…"
Harry grabbed the founder's arm and drew his circle of fire. Before Godric could protest, he was filled with Harry's fire energy and swept away by this power. The image of the gargoyle in front of the entrance of the headmaster's office printed in his mind, Harry triggered his powers and they disappeared in a blast of fire.
They arrived near the gargoyle which guarded Dumbledore's office in Harry's time.
Godric stumbled back to his feet and ogled at Harry.
"You'll have some explaining to do…" He placed his hand on the gargoyle and the statue sprang aside, revealing the entrance to the office. He turned to Harry, having recovered by now from his shock.
"Come, they're waiting for us."
Assuming that the 'they' was referring to the other founders, Harry stepped into the room, only to immediately dive to his right, barely avoiding a curse. Without thinking he drew an air shield around himself and threw a stunner curse back wandlessly, stronger than the one he had been subjected to at his arrival in Odyeus' time.
"Calm down, Harold, Salazar was just being his usual self…"
Harry ended his shield and saw a paralysed man, who had to be Salazar, sprawled on the floor. The founder was a bit taller than Godric but much slimmer. Where Godric's features were square and sharp, Salazar's were more refined, holding a more aristocratic air. He had dark shoulder-long hair, blue eyes and a slight tan. Dressed in the same fashion as the Gryffindor founder, he also had a sword hanging at his side. As Harry had performed his spell without his wand, the older wizard only had his limbs locked and was currently looking at the teenager with something akin to interest.
"If you could be so kind as to lift this curse…," he said slightly amused.
Regaining his wits, Harry undid his hex, this time with his wand. The man got up, dusting himself before stretching a bit. He then looked at Godric.
"Well, for once, I must admit that this descendant of yours is not completely hopeless… Not like the previous bloody menace who stayed here the last time…" Salazar scowled at the memory.
"John wasn't that bad," interrupted Godric.
"He didn't blow up YOUR office or turned ALL of YOUR clothes pink!"
"Alright, alright, he was a little clumsy…"
"A LITTLE!"
The two man started to bicker with each other under the amused eyes of the two other occupants of the room, besides Harry. The two other founders of the school were seated on the right side of the room and were watching the verbal fight, displaying before them with an expression which showed that they were used to this by now. Both of them were wearing long dresses in their emblematic colours and very few jewels. Rowena Ravenclaw was quite short, whereas Helga Hufflepuff was a little over average height. Rowena had a McGonagall air to herself but was younger than the Transfiguration's teacher. She had inky black hair, that dark that it nearly had blue highlights, which reached down her back, pale skin and hazel eyes. Helga had shoulder-long reddish brown hair and green eyes..
Finally, Rowena got up and with a lazy swish of her wand and a well chosen spell silenced the two men.
"At last! Some silence! Welcome…?"
"Harry Potter, Ma'am, Milady," Harry corrected himself as the memories related to this time-period, as well as the attitude and proper behaviour flooded his mind, "but from now on Harold McAllister."
"Welcome, Harold then. I trust Godric has explained the situation to you."
Harry glanced at his ancestor who seemed to be deeply immersed in his bickering with Salazar. The young wizard wondered how they could keep on fighting without actually speaking to each other.
"Don't mind them," said Helga, smiling reassuringly, "they're doing this telepathically now."
"How?" blurted Harry.
"It's a simple herb: you eat it and you're granted telepathic abilities for fifteen minutes," explained the founder, smiling.
"Back to the subject at hand, Harry what has this airhead told you?"
Apparently Godric didn't hear this as no protest was heard.
"Well, from what I gathered, I'm going to be tutored for one or two weeks, then I'll join the other students." Harry's answer was cautious.
"To sum it up, yes. We're going to tutor you, Salazar in Potions, Mind Magic and Duelling, Helga in Healing, Care of Magical Creatures and Charms, Godric in Transfiguration, Traditional fighting: swords and the likes as well as in Defence and myself in History, Arithmancy and Divination…" With Helga's help, Rowena proceeded to quickly explain what Harry would indeed learn.
A tap on her shoulder interrupted her. She spun to meet Godric and Salazar's annoyed faces. They pointed at their mouths in a clear attempt to ask her to lift her spell.
"You'll behave now?"
They nodded.
"Good."
A swish of her wand and a few words later, they both had their voices back.
"Thanks, cousin dear," muttered Salazar.
Harry looked in shock at the two founders. Cousins?
Noticing Harry's surprise, Helga waved her hand.
"They're not real cousins, but only distantly related."
"Yes, my great, great, great, grandmother was Salazar's great, great, great, grandfather's cousin," added Lady Ravenclaw.
"Enough chit-chat! Once your tutoring will be done, you'll resume fifth-year courses with extra lessons in fields linked with fighting, either in the mornings or evenings."
"But when will I be able to teach him then?" A voice spoke which seemed to come from within the walls.
"Merlin!" chorused the four founders.
Raising an eyebrow, Harry glanced around the room, trying to find the voice's origin.
"Don't try to find me, boy, I'm just near you."
Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. Standing at his side, the spirit of a man who seemed to be in his forties was floating.
"Pleased to meet you, Harry." He said, bowing slightly.
"Likewise," Harry managed to stutter, returning the bow a bit clumsily.
"Merlin!" sighed Godric, looking exasperated. "What did we agree on: no direct contact whatsoever with any student."
"Yes, but you must remember the little clause I added, there in the small print, at the bottom." Merlin's spirit form snapped its fingers and a roll of parchment popped from the air and started to unroll itself, gold lettering slowly appearing. He was pointing to a few tiny lines at the end. Waving his hand, the letters grew, becoming legible.
"I, Merlin, agree to follow said rules but reserve myself the right to interfere, should any students with potential come to Hogwarts," read Godric. "That's cheating!"
"You signed it?" interrupted Merlin.
"Well…, yes!"
"Then, it's valid, you should have been more careful, that's all."
Merlin turned towards Harry.
"As for you, you have quite a potential, I will take care of your education in Wandless magic, since you seem to be able to overcome the wand-problem. I swear, nowadays, people just seem unable to see beyond that stick. I'll also train you in staff wielding and Runes."
Harry stared at the five people, well, four people and one spirit before him.
"Could anyone explain to me what exactly Merlin's spirit is doing here?"
"That's what I've been wondering for years…" muttered Godric, looking quite peeved at the great wizard.
"Hmm… When I was younger," started Merlin.
"Centuries ago," commented Harry's ancestor.
Sending a shut-up-or-prepare-yourself-to-face-the-consequence-glare at Godric, Merlin continued.
"As I was saying, when I was younger, there was a whole category of wizards, to which I belonged, who had more power than usual and some particular abilities. They had many names: mages, sorcerers, warlocks, war-mages… but called themselves Altians"
"Who were they?" asked Harry, curious.
"I assume that you have heard a bit about Atlantis?„ Seeing his nod, Merlin resumed his explanation. "They were the descendants of the few survivors of the cataclysm which destroyed their country. They weren't pure Atlantians, as the survivors had taken natives of the areas in which they had settled as their mates. The Atlantian blood was diluted but their descendants inherited some of their powers and showed to have more magical abilities than usual. In my time, a conflict broke out between two opposing clans of Altians. This conflict spread to the whole community and only a few managed to escape and live through this. This struggle marked the end of the group. I was a fourteen year-old when my parents, escaping this fight left me in the care of a couple which lived nearby. I know that other Altian couples did this, too. You must descend from one of these children as you hold the potential."
"How can you be so sure?" Harry was doubtful about the whole thing. Learning that you were the descendant of Godric Gryffindor was already hard to believe despite all the evidence, but this! This was pure madness!
"Simple. Altians didn't have any particular physical features, but they had a unique magical aura and their spells left a magical signature which singled them out. However, this last part only became visible on their eighteenth birthday. But you have the aura."
"Aura?" Harry was downright confused now.
"I'll explain later… And as for my presence here, well, I lost track of the children that were placed with other families. But I wanted to help them and their offspring. Altians have more magical power than ordinary, but usually this power was locked until the parents thought their child to be ready and lifted the block, otherwise the child wouldn't be able to reach his full potential. As I aged, I realised that once I passed away, nobody would be here to lift the block if the children were to be found."
"But how did you know it? You said you were only fifteen when your parents left you...," interrupted Harry.
"Simple, they lifted the block before leaving me and gave me all their knowledge."
"Alright." Harry was trying to process everything.
"As time passed, I decided to leave a part of me in my castle which would wait for the arrival of Altian children. On my death bed, I bound myself to this place and these grounds."
"Then why aren't you older?"
"Well, I prefer this form… in particular with the ladies…"
Harry raised his eyebrows, as Rowena and Helga rolled their eyes while Salazar and Godric snorted. Ignoring them, Merlin resumed his talk
"Well, I waited, and waited, and waited…"
"We get the point!" Godric cut him off, growing impatient.
"I interfered a bit to help sometimes…"
"Meddled in others' business" mumbled Salazar.
"And finally these four lads stepped onto my grounds. I immediately sensed their Altian ancestry and appeared to them.
"Giving us all a heart-attack in the process," added Godric.
"Well perhaps you, I remember you screamed like a girl," commented Sir Slytherin.
"I didn't!"
"You did!"
"Didn't!"
"Did!"
Rowena and Helga who had remained silent for the whole time sent the two other founders a be-nice-or-be-prepared-to-face-the-consequences look.
"Shut up you two!" snapped Lady Ravenclaw.
"He started it!" said the two men at the same time, while pointing at each other.
Sighing, Rowena massaged her temples.
"Seriously, how old are you?!"
Salazar and Godric remained silent for once and smirked at each other.
"Back to what I was saying before these two overgrown babies interrupted me," continued Merlin, earning a death glare from the two other men.
"I appeared to them, unlocked their Altian power and helped them to train. Then I gave them my castle and its lands and they created this school, Hogwarts. Since then, I've been looking over the students…"
"Scaring and pranking them," corrected Helga.
"Well, an old man is allow to have his fun…"
"Whatever." sighed Hufflepuff's founder.
"And helping these four," finished the great wizard.
"Annoying us," said Salazar.
Harry was staring at Merlin, wondering if the years had taken their toll on the man, rendering him insane.
The spirit clapped his hands.
"That's settled then, I'll teach him too."
A short silence followed his words.
"But Merlin! He doesn't even have a staff! How do you want him to wield one?" said Rowena finally.
Merlin simply smiled.
"It's an interesting necklace you have Harry, the stone in particular."
Raising his hand to grasp it, Harry looked strangely at Merlin. What was he hinting at? Seeing the frowning faces of the founders, he wasn't the only one confused.
"That? I found it a few months ago with another one, a bit bigger. Why?"
"Could you show me the other one?"
Quite reluctantly, Harry took his bag out of his pocket. Inside, he had everything he had collected since his departure. Taking out his wand, he enlarged it and after rummaging through it for a minute extracted a small pouch containing his stone.
Merlin grabbed it swiftly and took the stone into his immaterial fingers. Apparently being a spirit didn't prevent him from touching things. Harry fidgeted as Merlin examined the stone, dying to take it back.
Wordlessly the man handed it back to him.
"Do you know what it is?"
"No,„ answered Harry while putting his stone back into his pouch.
"This is a starstone."
The founders gasped.
"Alright Merlin, forget what I said…" Rowena was looking strangely at Harry.
"Sorry, but what's a starstone?" asked Harry timidly.
"To make a long explanation short," said Salazar, "stones are used to make staffs. Usually ordinary gems are used, such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, quartz, and so forth. Less commonly, a quite powerful wizard can use focal stones: these are crystals which can store the energy of the wielder and to a certain extent amplify his power. Then there are the elemental crystals which have the same properties as the focal crystals but also grant the wielder the control of the corresponding element, the strength of the control varying with the power of the user. We have this type of staffs. Finally there are the magical stones: three types which hold the same characteristics as the focal crystals, plus others: first, moonstones, staffs holding them are usually used by great healers. Second, sunstones more unstable and used by fighters as they grant access to the natural magical reserves. Finally starstones. They gather all the properties of the other stones, except the elemental crystals, but also allow the wielder to use Mysteries' magic." Salazar took a deep breath and conjured a glass of water.
"I have a starstone too, Godric here ended up with a fire crystal, Helga with a earth one, Salazar with air and Rowena with a water crystal. Sorry, but you won't be able to control the elements…" said Merlin.
For the first time, Harry grinned playfully at the spirit.
"Really?"
"Yes…"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Then how do you explain this?" Deciding to show-off, Harry invoked his four elemental guardians. A few seconds later, the air stallion, the water royal cobra, the earth wolf and the fire golden eagle were standing in the room.
"May I present you Ildan," he pointed to the stallion, "Syl," the cobra slithered up his leg and then to his arm, shrinking himself in the process, "Rai," the wolf bowed to the adults and sat near Harry, "and finally Kala." The eagle perched herself on his shoulder.
The founders and Merlin gawked at him in shock. Godric was the first to recover as he had already witnessed Harry's elemental abilities.
"Al-alright…"
*Dalyan, can we go if you don't need us?* asked Ildan.
*Yes, I think we're making them uncomfortable…* added Rai.
*If you want, I just wanted to present them to you. The one with the red tunic is my ancestor, the others are the co-founders of this school and the spirit is Merlin.*
*Thank you Dalyan* And with a pop the four animals disappeared. Harry smiled, he liked his elemental name, Dalyan had a nice ring to it.
He turned to the founders who were now recovering.
"What about this tutoring?"
*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*
The students at Hogwarts had slowly fallen into a kind of routine: Waking up, readying themselves for the day, eating, receiving their mail and the Daily Prophet, looking at the letters, hoping not to see a Black one, then read the newspapers which recounted Voldemort's moves.
Ron had immersed himself into strategy moves. After Harry's disappearance, Hermione had been the only fifth-year prefect left and nobody had accepted to take Harry's place. The lessons had gone on, but everyone could now see that they were now war-related: no more cheering charms, but healing, invisibility and duelling spells. DADA hours had nearly been doubled, in potions they were working on poisons, antidotes, healing draughts… Transfiguration was no exception: they were learning handy ways to distract the opponents. Extra-curriculum activities had been added : A duelling club, supervised by Remus Lupin and Mad Eye Moody, Healing classes with Madam Poppy Pomfrey and Professor Sprout, Strategy lessons with Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore. Hermione had joined the fist two while Ron had joined duelling and Strategy.
At first he hadn't wanted to join at all, as did the majority of his classmates, seeing it as just a way to gain more work to do. But Hermione had managed to convince him…
Flashback
"Why should I, Hermione? Not everybody likes to have extra work like you do!"
"Fine! Have it your way! But have you thought about this? Harry is gone."
"We know that Hermione! But everyone believes that he's gone to train!"
"Yes and how long do you think this charade will hold? Do you really think that You-know-who is that gullible, that he won't suspect anything?"
"Why should he suspect anything?"
"Ron, I thought you of all people would see that immediately!"
"What?!"
"There are too many anomalies: Why was Harry sent away now? He could have been trained the whole summer with private tutors, allowing him not to miss classes but he disappeared after a week of classes, without warning! Pfuit! And you know as well as I do that he only took his wand! If he was to train, why didn't he get private tutoring before leaving? Why weren't the professor warned? It's bound to draw suspicion! Moreover, where did he go to train? Hogwarts is one of the best schools, he could have stayed here, where he was sure to be safe instead of being sent away. Plus he's a sort of symbol in our world, why send him away when people need to have someone to look up too?"
Ron pondered over his friend's arguments.
"You have a point, but I don't see where you're heading."
"Think Ron! What will Voldemort do when he starts to suspect something?"
"He'll want to know for sure?"
"And who, from his point of view will be able to give him accurate information?"
"Well, Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus, you…me."
Ron choked out the two last words before looking back at the sheet of paper, pinned on the wall, where students could sign for the extra classes.
"When are they held?" he said, putting his name down on the sheet.
End of Flashback
Since then, to the surprise of his teachers, Ron had started to put more effort into his studies, but as Snape had said to Albus in private, there was nothing like a death threat to motivate a student.
*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*
Meanwhile the occurrences were getting worse… After the first attacks, the ministry hadn't been able to hide the truth. Fudge had been demoted and elections were being held soon.
Amos Diggory, Lucius Malfoy and Ludo Bagman were competing for the post. Their campaigns had started a week before. Amos' candidature was supported by Dumbledore and his side, Lucius' by the Death Eaters and Ludo Bagman's by those who were believing his promises. But these elections which would have been a major events at any other time, were overshadowed by the dire situation the wizarding world found itself in.
Voldemort had started slowly. Only a few attacks took place during the first month, but it was not known that the Dark Lord had been undermining the Ministry's defences all the while. When he started to strike wizarding families it was too late. The Aurors weren't able to stop him as spies had entered their ranks and had been leaking all the information they could to their Lord. Their headquarters was one of the first targets of the Death Eaters. Because of the spies, they broke through the security easily and inflicted great damage. One third of the Aurors were killed at that time and most survivors were injured. The Unspeakables were also targeted, but in contrast to the Aurors, they had had such high criteria and investigations about each new recruit that no spy had been able to penetrate their ranks. They managed to evacuate most of their files, devices and other essential things, as well as leave their quarters after filling them with traps. Their casualties weren't too high, but seven of them lost their lives. However, these losses were compensated by the grim thought that the traps had inflicted great damage to Voldemort's ranks. As soon as Death Eaters entered the buildings, the Unspeakables who had volunteered to stay behind triggered the mechanisms and Apparated away, the shields blocking the Apparition having been taken down.
The explosion which took place destroyed everything in a hundred-meter radius and knocked out and/or injured everybody in a kilometre radius.
The Unspeakables, who had been watching the whole scene on giant screens in their new hideout, didn't cheer, the losses too fresh for them. However, they supported grim smirks as they watched the remnants of Voldemort forces that had been involved in this attack trying to recover.
The idea had come from Dumbledore who said he had overheard some students talking about the possibility and had found the concept interesting. It had consisted of allying Muggle and magical techniques and in this case weapons. This had been the first time they had used one of their bombs. It had worked, Voldemort hadn't expected an attack the Muggle way.
The leader of the Unspeakables tapped a little ear-piece.
"Albus?"
…
"We're fine. Your plan worked."
…
"Seven dead, four severely injured, fifteen with minor injuries."
…
"Healers, food, first necessity supplies. I'll key the wards to Hogwarts' people."
…
"From what I managed to see, he's lost half of the men he used for this attack. Four fifth of the remaining half was knocked out and/or injured. The Dementors weren't affected."
…
"We'll wait for them, I'm coming to bring you a full report."
…
"We'll discuss this later, but thank you for your offer."
…
"Five minutes"
…
"I'm coming then."
Taping the ear-piece again, the Unspeakables' leader looked around.
"Very well, healers and help will arrive in exactly three minutes. I'll be going to Hogwarts to see Dumbledore. I want ten men to guard the entrances."
With ease, the people obeyed, organising the room while ten of them left, having volunteered for guarding their new base.
Seeing everything was under control and hearing the 'pops' signalling the arrival of the promised help, the leader Apparated away to a special room in Hogwarts. It had been created shortly after Voldemort's first attacks: It allowed keyed in people to Apparate on Hogwarts' grounds, in this room to be precise.
*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*
"Ah! Dominic! Glad to see you at last!"
The Unspeakable watched as the esteemed Hogwarts' headmaster walked up to him.
"Albus," he said curtly.
"Come, we'll better talk in my office." The two men quickly walked to the room and settled at the desk.
After accepting a cup of tea from his old mentor, Dominic started to report on the attack. It took them half an hour to go over the main facts, leaving the details for a later session.
"So the bomb worked…," said Dumbledore.
"Yes, the idea was excellent. Voldemort checked for magical traps, not Muggle ones and even now, he'll think that we managed to hide the traps from him. He won't suspect the truth," answered Dominic. Then he looked at his cup, dying to ask a question which had been nagging since the headmaster had submitted the idea to him.
"Albus, who thought of this?"
"Well, you see, I was going down the library when I overheard a conversation between two of my fifth year students, they were debating the use of Muggle weapons in this conflict for one of their essays in DADA, I assume. The subject was if I recall correctly: "How can you exploit the flaws of your enemy?". The few words I managed to catch sparked my curiosity, so I asked the DADA professor, Mr Lupin. I assume that you know him." Seeing him nod, Albus resumed his tale. "These two essays immediately drew my interest. See for yourself."
He handed Dominic six rolls of parchment. A bit confused, the man started to read it and was soon captivated. It didn't take him long to finish it.
"Albus the thoughts behind these works are incredible. This one is more centred on strategy than the other, but the moves described are good. Who wrote that?"
"Look at the top."
Reading the two names, Dominic indulged himself in a small smile. He should have guessed: Miss Granger and Mr Weasley….The Gryffindor trio had attracted some attention from the recruitment office and after many inquiries they had been put at the top of the list for possible recruits.
"I should have guessed… By the way, still no sign of the young Potter?"
"No…," sighed Dumbledore.
Only trusted people had been given the truth compared to the rest of the world, for whom Harry Potter was undergoing intensive training.
"There will be an Order meeting tonight, and I was thinking of creating a kind of Junior Order."
„Good idea, I assume that those two will be asked to join.„
"Yes, I would integrate them into the Order if they weren't that young…"
Both men talked for a few minutes before parting, Dominic having assured the headmaster that he'd be present at the meeting this evening.
As he was about to Apparate away, he pondered over the remark of the headmaster.
'I don't think any of those children will be young again.'
*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*°*¤o¤*
At ten o'clock, about a hundred people were gathered in what they had started to call the Hope Hall. Dumbledore took his place on the stage and sat at the High table where all the other members of the Order's council were seated. Shooting red and gold sparks in the air, he caught the attention of everyone.
"Welcome to this meeting. Today the Unspeakables were attacked but managed to evacuate their base. They suffered losses but these losses weren't as high as they could have been, thanks to the planning and the quick reaction of the men and women there."
Applause erupted, saluting the courage of these people.
"The bombs worked, better than expected and research will continue for developing new weapons and improving them. If people are interested in this research, come see me as soon as you can.„ Dumbledore glanced at the Weasley twins. They had proven to be quite creative with their pranks… perhaps they'd be as effective in this field…"
"On a graver note, I must now inform you that I was told of Voldemort's next targets: Stonehenge, The Forbidden City in the Himalayas, Ayers Rock in Australia, Quetzalcoat's temple in the Amazon, the Pyramids in Egypt, Erama's lake in Alaska and the Bermuda triangle."
From the confused looks in the room Dumbledore saw that not everyone had understood the gravity of the situation.
"These places are the centres of Magic in the world. If Voldemort can gain control over them, he'll be able to modify the flows of Magic."
"Oh my God!„ mumbled Mrs Weasley, voicing everyone's thoughts…
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Well, once again thanks to all reviewers!
I hope you enjoyed this!
Thanks to:
KuTiExAzNxAnGeL
Jess S
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1 Very Random Confused Reviewer
em
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a
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Sorry I didn't put the name of the reviewers of chapter 14 immediately, but I didn't have the time at first. I hope you'll forgive me ….
Thanks to all of you!
Naia