A/N: Finally, I was able to complete this to my satisfaction. Chapter size has again gone up, but I wanted to make sure that the content was there. Also, I have finally come to see that I need a beta reader. I'm too close to the story to see all the errors that a first time reader would see easily. I have one person is willing to do it, but I'd like to find a second. Just let me know in your reviews if you are interested, and I'll contact you. Finally, thanks to Treck for looking over a majority of this chapter prior to post. – Shaz124, a.k.a. PKFan.
Harry Potter and the OracleChapter 8: Meeting With Dumbledore
"Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight, 'Mione."
Harry looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. 2:40 AM. He rolled to his back and looked at the ceiling above. 'At least I have a new ceiling to stare at. This is going to be a long night,' Harry thought to himself.
Harry kept himself awake through pure strength of will. He stared at the ceiling for a while as the moon cast its light through the window. He listened to the leaves rustle quietly as gusts of a summer breeze blew them around every now and again, and the insects chirped throughout the night. Harry nearly fell asleep several times to the tune of nature's lullaby, but an occasional prickling in his scar would interrupt those thought immediately. 'Hermione needs to rest. There's no way I'm letting him get to her again through me.' Harry rolled to his side and propped his elbow to rest his head on his palm. He examined the face of the young woman who at some point in the night had rolled toward him. No more than a foot away, she rested peacefully with a slight smile on her face. 'She reminds me of the picture of angels I saw sleeping on the clouds in a painting I saw on a primary school field trip to the art museum. She's beautiful— perfect even. What makes her even more amazing is the fact that she doesn't see it. Her outer beauty only compliments her inner beauty.' Harry's mouth curls in an amused smile and gives an involuntary snort. 'She'd probably kill me if she knew how many times I've threatened some of my mates in the dorms at wandpoint to keep her name out of their less than polite conversations; even Ron was in with them, the bunghole.' Sighs 'If she ever chooses a bloke, he'd best consider himself the luckiest man alive.'
A few strands of hair lay across her check, and Harry brushed them back behind her ear. He was slightly startled as she scooted closer to him and snuggled to his side—her head now resting on his shoulder as she draped an arm over his torso and a single slender leg wrapped around one of his. He blushed at the awkward feeling but soon thought he'd figured out what was going on. 'If she needs a teddy bear to snuggle up to for comfort tonight, it's the least I can do for her. Given what I've put her through, she's probably sorry that she ever got mixed up with me in the first place. She doesn't even know that we're like this, so why have her feel bad about it.'
He kept watch over her as she adjusted her position only a few times during the remainder of the night and seemed to be sleeping very well as she only made a few seemingly contented grunts and groans. Just a little after sunrise, a quiet stirring at the door delivered him from his thoughts. He prepared himself to react quickly as he did his best to look at the door without waking her. A head with a purple wizard's hat and white hair peered in from behind the door. Harry relaxed as he recognized the intruder. He flashed five fingers in the air then pointed downward, as hoped to convey that he hoped to convey that he would meet the man downstairs in five minutes. The old wizard nodded and closed the door noiselessly.
Harry quietly extricated himself the bed and quietly tiptoed to his room and pulled on a white undershirt and a pair of sweatpants. He silently made way down the hall and the stairs and found Professor Dumbledore sitting at the kitchen table.
"Good morning, Harry."
"Good morning, sir. Do mind if start breakfast? I'll make enough for all three of and put on some tea," Harry asked.
"Go right ahead. As long as you don't mind talking as you work."
Harry nodded, put water in the teakettle and placed it on the stove. "Thank you for not waking Hermione, sir. She's had a rough night and could use some more rest," he said as he pulled some sausages from the refrigerator and started them cooking in a large skillet.
The headmaster dipped his head and stared at his intertwined fingers, "I agree, Harry. She could use a little extra rest this morning. Which is exactly why I wished to speak with you this morning."
"I figured as much. After what happened last night, I was hoping to speak with you as well."
Dumbledore seemed intrigued by the response, and his eyes brightened slightly, "Does that mean that we can put the ill will of our last meeting behind us?"
Harry answered in a civil, but unmistakably cool tone, "Do not assume that I have forgiven you just because I am asking for your help. I have more important matters to deal with now, and you have resources that I need—Plain and simple. We only need to agree to deal with our problems later."
The old man deflated slightly in acquiescence, "Agreed. As much as I wish that things were different, I'm glad that you have decided to handle our present difficulties in such a mature fashion."
Harry answered with his back turned, "I may have decided to handle it better but only because I must. After what happened last night, I refuse to let any more of my friends be hurt by Riddle." Dumbledore was hanging on Harry's words; waiting for him to continue. Dumbledore saw the young man turn slowly toward him, eyes downcast. The adolescent's eyes finally sprung up to lock with his in a challenging stare, what he saw literally scared him and gave an involuntary shiver. Eyes that were no less vivid or bright displaced the normally bright, alive and happy eyes that Harry usually carried, but they held green flames that seemed to pop and crackle with the intensity of an inferno. "Tom Riddle will remember this as the day he made the biggest mistake of his life."
"And what mistake was that, Harry?"
"Using my friends to attack me. Fool me once, you know…"
Dumbledore seemed confused by the statement, "Fool me once?"
"It's a muggle saying, 'Fool me once—shame on you. Fool me twice—shame on me.' I won't be duped again, and I won't be used again." Dumbledore nodded in understanding but didn't utter another word.
The tension in the air lingered for a few minutes but was dispelled by the sound of the popping grease in the skillet. He gathered the sausages on a plate and began preparing eggs. He made quick work of 2 eggs sunny side up with some added spices and 2 slices of toasted bread for the professor and a pair of ham, egg and cheese omelets for his sleeping guest upstairs and himself. He then removed the rumbling teakettle from the heat to keep it from whistling, prepared tea for the two of them, and sat down across from the aged headmaster.
Dumbledore seemed to be eating hungrily, "Thank you for breakfast, Harry. I hadn't realized that you were such an excellent cook."
Harry's voice carried a forced nonchalance in his reply, "Yeah well, how many house elves do you know that don't know how to cook? I've been the Dursleys' honorary house elf for the past nine to ten years."
Dumbledore winced as he realized what the words implied. "I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Well, it's too late to change things now, Professor. I've a great many other things on my mind right now." The callous tone of Harry's voice was not lost on his professor.
"Yes, which brings us to the events of last night. Even though Alastor recited a summary of what occurred last night, I'm afraid I am missing a few details. Would you mind telling me the story from the beginning?" Harry obliged by giving a detailed account from his memory.
-
Hermione's eyes opened slowly as she awoke in the Dursleys' bedroom.
"Harry?"
After seeing that no one was in the room to answer he weak plea, she noticed that she was snuggling up to what had been Harry's pillow and her cheeks turned crimson as she recalled the memories of the night previous. She gave a forlorn sigh and lay her head back down, 'I thought for sure that it wasn't a dream. He felt so real, so… warm. Just to hold him like that, even in a dream, was the closest to heaven I've ever felt. I swear that I could hear him breathing next to me. And oh Merlin, he smelled so good, like fresh air and musk.' She pulled in long breath through her nose as if to savor the memory and froze as her eyes opened suddenly. She stuffed her nose in the pillow she was holding and smelled again. 'Oh my God! He WAS in here with me! It was real!'
She sat bolt upright after her previous thought crossed her mind, only find out indeed just how real last night's events had been. She winced as her muscles ached in full rebellion to her sudden movements. 'Ouch! Maybe I ought to ease up a bit.' She rolled slowly to the side of the bed, and dressed in a pair of baby blue summer shorts with a form-fitting white tank top with matching blue logo that said, "Prince Harry's Girl." She pulled her hair up in a ponytail and was on her way to Harry's room when she heard voices coming from downstairs. Harry and Professor Dumbledore seemed to be in deep conversation. She walked softly to the stairs and sat down on the steps to listen.
She heard Harry continue, "…Voldemort somehow managed to cast the cruciatus curse on her through my dream. I could literally feel his magic flow through me to get to her. I felt so helpless. I don't care if does those things to me. I can handle pain. I've managed it throughout my life," Hermione heard what she guessed was Harry's fist hit the table. "but this is my burden to bear! I know Hermione is strong, but she hasn't done anything to deserve this! She didn't ask for this!"
"I believe Hermione is aware of the risks, and yet she has stayed by your side."
"Yeah well, it's one thing to be aware of the risks. It's another to actually be on the receiving end of his wand," he said sullenly. "She's too good of a person for that—too good of a friend. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to her. That's the only reason I'm letting her stay, so that I can make sure she's safe."
"You ordered her to leave yesterday when she arrived. Why the sudden change, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Hermione and I talked, albeit briefly, last night. She asked me, 'If you had a choice between me being here where you could watch over me and know that I was safe or have me at home, knowing that I could be attacked at any given moment, which would you choose? I know how I would answer, but what about you?' That struck a chord. That told me exactly why she was here. My answer also told me what I needed to do, and what happened last night only reinforced my resolve to do it." Harry paused for a moment. "Professor, I want to master occlumency, not just learn it but master it. I don't care what it takes. I owe Hermione and the Weasleys that much in order to keep them safe around me."
When Hermione heard Harry's plea for occlumency lessons, even with such a bad history, she couldn't help but feel her heart swelling in her chest as the tears slid silently down her cheeks.
"Not only for them but to protect the contents of the prophecy as well."
Hermione jerked her head up as the subject grabbed her undivided attention, 'I thought the prophecy was destroyed?'
"Do you plan on telling anyone else the contents of the prophecy?" Dumbledore inquired.
"I guess I thought I should ask you first," Harry replied.
The headmaster paused, as if carefully weighing his answer. "Harry, I think it best that you tell someone. That way you have someone in which to confide. Secrets have a way of exploding in your face, so to speak, if you have no one with which you can seek counsel. It can result in many errant decisions. Unfortunately, I learned that fact last school year."
Hermione was dumbfounded at the response, but Harry seemed to understand his meaning completely, "Yeah, last year was a bad year for both us."
"Indeed it was, Harry. Indeed it was."
Harry's voice became low and unmistakably cold, "Be that as it may, sir. Bad decisions on both our parts cost Sirius his life, and I know I am to blame for it. I haven't forgiven myself, nor have I forgiven you for your part. I won't make the same mistake twice. I am willing to go to hell and back voluntarily to keep my friends safe from Voldemort, but without the information I need, my efforts won't mean a thing. I may not want to know the details, but I have to have them. I also may not like the idea of needing your help, but I have to ask for it knowing what lay ahead for me. I need you, and you need me. And you know it. I don't like the situation, but I think we'll both agree that we have a bigger fish to fry. I'm willing to table our feud for now in order to bring an end to this."
As this point, Hermione's thoughts were swimming. She knew that Harry was not sharing the facts of what happened at the end of last term between he and Dumbledore. But hearing Harry speaking to the most wise and powerful wizard in the world as something just above an adversary was too much to fathom.
"I am requesting full membership into the Order of the Phoenix, and I want your full support to push it through. If I have to reveal the full contents of the prophecy to the membership to make it happen, I will. But I don't think either of us want that."
Hermione could hear Dumbledore heave a great sigh prior to giving his answer. "Very well, Harry. I will fully support you in your bid to join the Order of the Phoenix on the condition that you agree not to tell them the prophecy."
"Agreed."
'No!' Hermione screamed in her thoughts. She understood that this meant that Harry would be on the front lines of the coming war. 'Please God, no!' She thought again as the tears flowed uninhibited down her face.
"Do you require anything else of me, Harry?"
"Yes I do, sir, two things," he began. "I wish to include Hermione in our occlumency training. When she and I are both reasonably competent, I plan on telling her the prophecy."
"A wise move. And the second item?"
"I want you to arrange for Auror-level spell training and physical conditioning, for both this summer and the coming term—including practicing magic, not just theory. I'd also like to invite Hermione to take part as well, but I will ask her about both before speaking on her behalf. I don't have a choice in the matter, but she does."
"I will agree to this, but I am not entirely pleased with the idea. I guess I would rather you be prepared than not. Do you wish for your friend Mr. Weasley to take part also?"
"No," Harry answered simply. "As much as I think of Ron as a brother, I think he would be more hindrance than help. He has a strong wizarding family around that can help protect him, so I don't feel bad about saying no. Hermione has no one but me right now. That in itself is enough reason for me to train."
Hermione heard a kitchen chair scrape across tile and assumed their conversation was nearing its end. Hermione quickly stood up and wiped her eyes and tried to put on a normal expression. "Very well, Harry. I will make the necessary arrangements. I will be sending a few books from my private library. I will ask Fawkes to deliver them for me. As for your occlumency lessons, I will be here tomorrow evening just after the dinner hour. I will be teaching you personally this time. We will talk more tomorrow about the remainder of the arrangements. I would also like to see if have the ability to perform wandless magic. If what happened last night is any indication, I think you will do fine. I think it's something you would find very useful."
"Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow evening, sir."
"Oh, allow me to cast a quick warming charm on house guest's breakfast." He gave a quick wave of his wand, "I have a feeling she'll be joining you shortly, Harry. Good day."
The old professor began walking away from the table only to come face-to-face with the home's other occupant. "Ah good morning, Hermione. Nice to finally see you."
Hermione answered in kind, "Nice to see you too, sir." But she didn't miss the slight inflection in his voice or the twinkle in his eyes as he passed. She and Harry both watched him walk to the front door and then saw him disapparate with a soft 'Pop!'
-
Remus Lupin exited the Ministry of Magic building via the visitor's lift. 'Boy, am I glad that's over. I was hoping to get done before noon. I guess 1:30 isn't too bad,' the werewolf thought to himself as he exited the dilapidated telephone booth. In his trench coat pocket were his freshly updated wizarding passport and his international floo permit. His errands to the ministry to prepare for his mission trip for Professor Dumbledore left him tired, grumpy, and seeing way too much red tape.
He walked down the street to the Leaky Cauldron and sat down on a stool at the bar. Tom, the barkeep came down and asked his pleasure.
"Give me whatever sandwich you have on special and a butterbeer, please."
Tom returned a few moments later with a smoked turkey, bacon and Swiss cheese on rye. He opened an amber bottle from behind the bar and placed it next to the sandwich plate. He had heard it wasn't a good idea to eat or drink much right before an international floo trip, but he was hungry since was delayed so much in the government building. Besides, he reasoned, if him being a werewolf had one advantage, it was that he an iron stomach.
Remus finished his meal, paid his tab, and left a decent tip before exiting through the back into Diagon Alley. The alley had its flock of normal summer's day shoppers, but it was a far cry from the crowds he was used to seeing in his school days as he gathered his supplies just prior to start of term. He smelled the overwhelming sense of fear that seemed to urge patrons to do their business quickly and leave. 'No too unlike Voldemort's last rise to power,' he thought sadly to himself as he walked. He entered building at the far end of the alley that was beyond Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The glass portion of the door proclaimed in large gold lettering, Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Transportation, International Floo Hub.
Lupin opened the door and took a slip of parchment from a pullbox and sat down in the second row of chairs. The waiting area didn't seem to be too terribly crowded, and hoped that this resulted in quick processing. He looked up the parchment hanging on the wall. It current held the number seventy-two. His own slip said seventy-eight.
A tired looking middle-aged wizard pointed his wand at the sign on the wall and the number changed to seventy-three. "Now serving number seventy-three," he said in equally tired sounding drawl. A petite witch in light pink robes came forward and followed her caller to the security screening area.
After fifteen minutes of waiting, the same tired wizard called Remus' number. He rose from his chair and followed the man to small door-less room that was divided into four equal sections by markings on the floor. Each area seemed to have it's own desk and set of equipment. "Stand here, please." The man muttered dark arts detection spell under his breath and then ran the wand over Lupin's body from head to toe. "Passport, please." Lupin gave the man his passport, which looked like a normal muggle one. The wizard promptly turned to the back page and tapped his wand to it. The blank page began writing lines of text upon self. A small moving pictured appeared on the left side and the right side reported all of Remus Lupin's magical information. The wizard looked as far down as Remus Lupin's special status as a werewolf and eyed him warily before reading on.
"Permit, please," the main said with a hint of disdain. Lupin was unsurprised by the move and ignored it. He handed the permit over with no visible reaction. The man eyed the permit suspiciously then pointed his wand at a spot on the globe that looked to be Athens, Greece. A small number appeared over the wand's tip, and the wizard made note of it.
"Everything looks to be in order. Follow me, sir." He followed the security wizard into a larger room that contained what looked to be the largest single collection of fireplaces on the British Isles. The man stepped over to a work area. He looked at the number that he wrote in a blank at the bottom corner of the permit and slowly poured what looked like regular green floo powder into a measuring pan. Upon being satisfied with the mass poured, he transferred it into one of a stack of rolled parchment cones. The wizard grabbed his wand again and waved in a circular pattern over the cone. "Pervectum Greece. Athens. White Stallion." The powder in the cone changed colors from green to blue. He stepped in front of the fireplace and handed the filled cone to Lupin. He began what seemed to be a very rehearsed script.
"Mr. Lupin, you have granted permission by your Ministry of Magic to travel to Greece on holiday. I have presented you with an accurately weighed container of preprogrammed floo powder for your use to travel to said destination. Simply pour the powder into the flames and drop the container. When the flames turn blue, step into the floo, turn toward me, and say 'go.' You will then begin travel to your destination. The approximate floo time to your destination is one half hour. Keep in mind that your destination is two hours ahead of us and you should arrive there at approximately 4:30 pm local time. Do you have any questions?"
"No."
The man stepped aside, "Proceed."
Lupin eyed him for a moment then stepped in front of the grate. He poured the contents into the lightly flickering flames and dropped the cone in. The flames rose slightly but felt oddly cool as he stepped in. He turned around and the wizard game him a nod to continue.
"Go," and he was off.
-
Hermione turned around again to face Harry, "Good morning, Harry. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. Professor Dumbledore just wanted to get a first-hand account of everything that happened last night. Oh," Harry turned around and quickly set a pair of plates down in front of Hermione. "I made you some breakfast. I figured you'd probably be hungry this morning. I know I was."
"I am. Thanks," she said as she sat down in the chair directly across from him. Harry poured her some tea and she prepared it to her liking. "So last night really happened?" she said in a sad tone.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so." Harry replied, his tone matching hers. "Her…Hermione, I'm sorry I let that happen. I understand if you're mad with me."
She immediately reached out and put her hand over his, "No, Harry. Of course I'm not mad at you. Why would you think that?"
"Because I failed to learn occlumency last year. If I had done that, last night wouldn't have happened. Things would be different." Harry paused and his head and shoulders both drooped, "Much different."
"Harry…"
"I know, I know. We've been through this already. It wasn't my fault. It's Voldemort doing this, et cetera, et cetera. That's all true, but I've done nothing to stop him." Harry looked back up at his guest. His eyes showed almost the same intensity that Dumbledore had seen earlier, "That is going to change VERY soon." A similar shiver ran though Hermione's body, but she couldn't tell whether it was because she was afraid or excited.
"What do you mean? How is it going to change?"
"That's part of what I needed to talk to you about. When I spoke with Dumbledore earlier, I asked that he arrange for me to resume occlumency lessons. If you or anyone else is going to be here, I MUST do this. I can't take the chance that Voldemort will be able to hurt you through me again, and he agreed. He's coming around, starting tomorrow evening to teach me. I also asked that you be allowed to learn if you wanted to be there, and he said that was fine. I wanted ask you first if you wanted to it."
"Of course, Harry. If it will help you and keep you safe, I'll do it," she answered without hesitation.
"Good. I'd feel a lot better if you did learn it."
"Why is it so important to you that I learn it, Harry?" She knew she was pressing her luck with this one, but she was hoping that he really wanted to talk.
Harry grimaced, "Hermione, I… I have a lot of things on my mind; things that are just eating me up inside. I really do want to tell you, but I can't afford the chance that Voldemort might find out somehow. I know I'm being vague, but it's necessary for your safety. If Professor Dumbledore feels that you are a competent occlumens, then I have one less thing to worry about, and I'll gladly tell you everything I can. I can't deal with this on my own. The way I've handled things so far things this summer kind of speaks volumes, doesn't it?"
"I understand, and I'll do the best I can. I'm not saying it'll be easy but with the headmaster teaching us instead of Professor Snape, at least we'll stand a better chance," Hermione intoned, trying to offer a little hope.
"My thoughts exactly. What Snape did wasn't teaching. It was mental rape."
"I know. I saw you when you came back from the dungeons, remember?"
"Yeah, I know." Harry paused for a minute before recalling the other request he had made, "Oh, I also asked for advanced magical spell and dueling training, too. He extended the offer extends to you also. You interested?"
"Harry, I know rough times are ahead but why do we need something like that?"
Harry seemed to shift uncomfortably in his seat, "I dunno, I guess I thought it would be a good teaching tool for the DA next year. We were teaching people how to protect themselves, right?" Harry gave her a look that pleaded 'please except this answer and don't ask anything else.'
She obliged, but she glared at him with a less than satisfied look, "Alright, I'm in, but only for the sake of the DA."
Harry looked relieved at hearing this and let out the breath he was holding. The two sat in relative silence as Hermione continued eating her breakfast. Harry stretched and let out a yawn.
"What's wrong, Harry? Are you still tired?"
"Just a little I guess."
She took on an accusatory tone and started pointing her finger at him. "You didn't go to sleep last night after your dream last night, did you?" He turned his head away slightly and didn't answer. She immediately switched to a concerned friend-mode, "Harry, you need rest. I know you didn't want it to happen again, but I'm awake now. Go get some sleep."
"I… I can't. That's not the only nightmare I'm trying to avoid."
"Come on, Harry. I'll go up with you. I could use a good lie myself."
Harry shot to his feet, "NO!"
Hermione did the same but only as an effort to assure him, "Harry, it'll be fine. I just want to relax. I won't go to sleep, okay? If it will make you feel better, I will watch over you like you did for me last night. If you start having another nightmare, I'll wake you."
Harry looked like he wasn't sure about the idea, but in the end, he desire for sleep won out. They marched up the stairs to the master bedroom, and Harry crawled under the sheets. Hermione grabbed a book from her open trunk in the corner, settled herself under the sheet on the other side, and propped her pillows against the headboard.
"Now you're sure you won't go to sleep, right?" Harry asked skeptically.
"I'm sure. Just get some rest."
"Okay then. Goodnight Hermione."
"Sleep well, Harry."
Within minutes, Harry was overcome with sleep.
-
A/N: As always, let me know what you think. RR. Oh, one last thing. I've set up a yahoo group for my fics if anyone is interested. Go to http:groups. . Thanks – Shaz