Ok. Everyone knows the drill. Still here goes nothing -
Harry Potter & the other characters of J.K. Rowling are strictly hers (though this plot here is mine J). I am not the original writer (though I wish I could be) & I do not wish to make money from this. Most Importantly, I DO NOT want to get sued. So if anyone has any problems with anything I write, then just tell me.
There's plenty more...blah blah blah....forget it & let the story begin :).
Note: US English has been used here.
HARRY POTTER & THE POWER OF HOGWARTS
Chapter 9 – Plans & Relations
…Don't worry about our safety AND don't try to find us because you won't be able to even if you tried. Remember how Dumbledore failed to trace Harry? Well, talk to you tonight.
Bye,
Ron.
p.s.
Mom, we'll be safe. – Ginny.
Mrs. Weasley, please don't inform my parents now. I will myself talk to them. And please don't worry, I and Ginny will take care of Ron. Bye. – Hermione.
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"Where are we" Ginny was the first one to speak out while Ron and Hermione seemed to be surveying the place. They seemed to be in a large empty room with only a few chairs near a bright cozy fire.
"No idea" came Ron's reply. "Are you sure that Harry wanted us to come here?" he asked to no one in particular.
"Of course" Hermione said as she started to walk towards one of the chairs near the fireplace. "He said so in the letter which Dobby brought with him and I don't think Dobby works for someone other than Harry"
"But what if someone had tampered the portkey which Dobby had brought for us?" Ginny's face had fear written all over it. She didn't like being in a place which she didn't know about, not after what had happened in the chamber of secrets, and also, she didn't like to be in a big dark room which had no exit door. One look at Ginny's face and Ron's brotherly instincts took over "Don't worry Gin, No one can tamper with portkeys so easily." Ron saw that this statement failed to calm down Ginny so he continued "And do you think Dobby would ever let anyone do this to us? After all, he won't do this to the C.E.O of the S.P.E.W Network." Ginny's face cracked into a small smile at this joke intended at Hermione while Ron had to do everything to escape the wild punch which was thrown towards him. After everyone had settled down in their respective chairs, including a furious Hermione, Ginny looked into the fire and said "Yeah. Dobby won't do this to any of us."
"But where the hell is Har…" Hermione stopped in mid-sentence as a series of 'whooshes' filled up the air surrounding them. Instinctively, all three of them drew their wands but found they were far outnumbered by the arriving people. These 'new' arrivals were still in the darker areas of the room and were surrounding the three of them completely. Slowly, the figures started approaching them and the three of them saw that all of the others had their wands raised. Praying desperately that this was some nightmare and she would just awake from it anytime now, Ginny's eyes widened in shock when the first one of the figures was close enough to be recognized. She knew him.
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"Are you sure about this?" Dumbledore asked as Moody explained his position to him. It was the morning of 5'th of August but Dumbledore still didn't know about the missing Weasley family members or about Hermione.
"Yes" Moody replied, his forehead creased from the thoughts going around in his mind.
"But doesn't the Order come before your other commitments?"
"Dumbledore, it is the duty of the Order to protect people and I want to do exactly that." Moody's mind was already made up but he still wanted to make this conversation as polite as possible. Dumbledore seemed lost in thought before saying "You could have asked me once before making up your mind."
"But I knew that you would never say no to this proposition." This was the masterstroke of Moody's explanation to Dumbledore. Harry had asked him to put the ball in Dumbledore's court and had said that Dumbledore wouldn't reject the idea altogether. Dumbledore smiled at this comment and said "Seems like you have been talking with many people lately"
"Everyone talks with others" Moody knew that Dumbledore had understood where his masterstroke had come from "Can't I talk to others just because I have a magical eye and people think I am paranoid?"
"Of course you can Alastor and it seems like I agree with some of the people you have been talking to." Dumbledore smiled again, breaking the tension which had been in the air for the past few minutes. "But did those people give you any suggestion as to what to say to the Order?"
"They just asked you not to tell the truth to anyone else." Moody tried to remain as much neutral in his comments as possible. Dumbledore looked at Moody before saying "Thank you for informing me Alastor. Give my best wishes to the people you know." The twinkling in his eyes seemed to have regained quite a lot of its fire as he said this.
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"Calm down Molly" Arthur Weasley was desperately trying to calm down his wife but how could he succeed in it when his own voice was trembling quite a lot. He wanted to believe that his children were safe but he didn't have any confirmation about this since he didn't know how to contact Harry.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN?" Molly Weasley's voice seemed to shake the whole house. "WHAT IF SOMEONE KIDNAPPED THEM?"
"I understand your concern." Mr. Weasley knew he had to hold his nerve if there was any chance to get to the bottom of this. "Where are Tonks and Remus? They would surely know how to find Harry." Mrs. Weasley's face seemed to calm a bit at this suggestion from her husband but the expression of panic was back as she replied "Both of them left early today. Dumbledore had given them some tasks to perform."
"Oh…then I won't even find Tonks at the ministry building" Mr. Weasley looked crestfallen "Maybe Fred and George can tell us if Harry contacted them" he said with a bit of hope and made a quick fire-call which brought the twins back to their new 'home'. On hearing what had happened, both of them looked quite worried as they still had not received any letter from Harry asking for them to come over but they didn't show their concern to their parents.
"Look you guys" George spoke up "We are going to look for them and we are sure they are all right."
"Why don't you ask Dumbledore while we are away?" Fred chipped in while George looked at their parents in astonishment (How could they have not done the most obvious thing?). Both of the twins then went to find their siblings as their parents made a floo call to Dumbledore and both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked slightly relieved when Dumbledore assured them that he will himself start a search along with some other Order members. The Weasleys waited for over 2 hours when Dumbledore finally arrived at the headquarters accompanied by Minerva McGonagall.
"Albus, did you find them?" Molly rushed towards Dumbledore even as Minerva McGonagall didn't meet anyone's eye.
"Molly, we couldn't find them." Dumbledore said in an apologetic voice.
"WHAT!" Molly Weasley began to shake all over and Arthur Weasley had to rush and grab her to stop her from collapsing on the floor. Dumbledore nodded towards McGonagall who took it as a sign that Dumbledore would handle the situation here. Once McGonagall had left, Dumbledore and the Weasleys sat down at the dining table where Mrs. Weasley completely broke down.
"Arthur, Molly, I want to apologize to you two..." Dumbledore's tone was very grave as he began to explain what they had found during their search.
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"Hello Moody" Harry said with a warm smile on his face. "Everything went smoothly?"
"Yah" Moody growled in response as his magical eye took in the surroundings. He had been quite apprehensive when Harry had sent Dobby with a portkey to him but he knew there was no other way to get here unless Harry had lied to him. In reality, he was in the 5'th compartment of Harry's trunk but had no idea of where he really was as Harry had wished the room not to reveal it's location to anyone unless Harry himself wanted it to do so. "Where are we?" Moody asked as his frustration at not being able to see anything through the walls was evident in his voice.
"My home" Harry said in a careless tone but he was having a hard time not laughing at the expression on Moody's face. Moody walked over towards the door leading to the 6'th compartment and tried a few spells to check if it was ok to go through but finally stopped.
"Nice bit of magic you have got here Potter." Moody had been able to tell that the door wouldn't let him pass through "Where did you learn this?"
"You can say a friend of mine helped me." Harry replied with a glance towards the place where Dobby had appeared. Dobby gave him an affirmative nod before popping away again. "So, shall we get down to business?" Harry asked as Moody walked up to him after completing his survey, a fruitless one at that. "Ok." came the reply. Harry then explained to Moody how this Room of Requirement worked and also pointed out the fact that Moody's new office would be similar to what he saw here except for the fact that most of Moody's wishes would be granted there while almost none worked here. Harry also explained to Moody what kind of stories he could make up to cover up the fact that Moody had agreed to work for Harry besides providing Moody some additional ideas for other stories in case exceptional scenarios arose. Finally Harry finished explaining that Moody could get here only through portkeys made by Harry himself at which point Moody said "Ok. Got everything you said. So, how do I get back here if I want to talk to you?"
"You can give me a call through this." Harry handed Moody a cell phone which he had brought from Diagon Alley. "This is enchanted to work for you only and I will send Dobby with a portkey to you after I get your call."
"You sure this thing works?" Moody turned over the cell phone in every direction and performed some charms on it to see if it was not jinxed.
"Don't worry, it works fine" Harry gave a demonstration to Moody to clear his doubts. "Oh...I forgot to clear one thing – your office will provide you with some extra time"
"What do you mean Potter?" Moody looked a bit puzzled.
"What I mean is that you will have a period of 3 months and 25 days in your office instead of just 25 days." Harry explained.
"Are you saying that time runs faster there?" Harry gave an affirmative nod to this question. "Anything else your friend helped you out with?" Moody asked in a bit of awe.
"Nothing more except that all this stays just between the two of us and no one should ever know about it. And remember one thing…" Harry said as he got up and handed Moody an amount of 100 galleons which was the 50% advance for the first month "…I am not in this in any way" Moody didn't bother to reply as he touched a small marble which Harry had held up for him and immediately, he felt the similar tug behind his navel for a split second before reaching his destination.
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"Where could have they gone brother?" Fred asked George who looked deep in thought. Seldom in their whole lives had they been as serious as now.
"Don't kn…" George was interrupted in mid-sentence by the sudden appearance of Dobby. A proud looking Dobby handed over a letter saying "Harry Potter is asking his Dobby to give you this". George tore open the letter which read:
Dear Fred and George (George and Fred)
How are you guys doing? Anyway, I have a proposition for you guys. Please inform Dobby whether you want to hear about it or not. I will send my next message through him.
Harry.
"Whoa…a proposition." George exclaimed. "What do you say brother?"
"I think we should listen to what he says" Fred answered "His last proposition is still working great for us" He added with a smile."
"Dobby, go and tell Mr. Potter…" George started as Fred finished off "…that we are ready for his proposition". Dobby gave a grin and said "Harry Potter is wanting his letter back". With a curious glance at his twin George handed back the letter. Dobby said a quick thanks and popped away.
"What do you make of it?" Fred asked after some moments of silence.
"I think he didn't want his letter to get into someone else's hand" came the reply. Fred couldn't help but agree with his brother and both of them waited anxiously for what message Dobby would bring back to them.
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"NEVILLE" Ron shouted to his friend who had just come out of the darkness surrounding them. "What are you doing here?". Ron, Ginny and Hermione had looks of great relief on their faces as they saw that they were surrounded by people they knew.
"I got a letter from Harry asking me to come" Neville was obviously a bit shocked at seeing so many people here.
"Me too" Cho said as she too stepped out of the darkness, lowering her wand in the process. Everyone was now lowering their wands as they realized that the other people were not death-eaters as they had assumed previously. As Ron looked around he saw that most of the people who had been in the D.A. were there - except for Harry and the twins and some other exceptions.
"Does Harry plan to start the D.A. sessions so soon?" Ginny asked as she exchanged pleasantries with the newcomers. Dean was there as was Angelina who had been unable to qualify for the reserve chasers position for the England quidditch team. Lavender and Parvati seemed quite happy to see each other again so soon while Luna mentioned that her dad had got hold of a Thumping Twenganmet (WHAT? Ron exclaimed). Finally, after all the greetings had been exchanged, everyone noticed that a lone person had remained in the confines of the darkness the room provided.
"Who is that?" Hermione said with her wand raised. Finally, the person took a step forward and slowly stepped into the light to reveal a meek looking Marietta. "Harry called even you?" Ginny cried out in total disgust as the others looked daggers at Marietta. Even Cho seemed angry with her friend but Hermione stepped in at that moment "Hey you guys, let us hear what she has to say." This seemed good enough for everyone present there with even Marietta looking gratefully towards Hermione who was staring at her coldly.
"I am sorry for what I did." The long silence was finally broken by the 'guilty' person. "It will never happen again"
"You are sorry?" Cho shouted at her friend. "Do you have any idea what you had done? You broke everyone's trust in us, do you know that? Not many people here trust me because of you. Marietta, I had a long time to think over it in the past few days and we are not the ones to whom you should apologize. It's Harry whom you betrayed and you owe an apology to him." A murmur of consent went around at this comment.
"But where the hell is Harry?" Ron shouted out in frustration.
"No need to shout Weasley." came a gruff reply from a person who had appeared in a dark corner of the room.
"PROFESSOR MOODY!!!" All of the D.A. members present there shouted out together, including Marietta. Moody wished for more light in the room and suddenly, the whole area seemed filled with light.
"What are you doing here Professor?" Hermione quipped "And where is Harry?"
"Potter didn't invite you here." Moody started on one of the stories which Harry had mentioned and Dumbledore had agreed to. "Dumbledore did."
"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked the question which everyone had in their minds. "We thought Harry was reforming the D.A. early this summer."
"And why would Professor Dumbledore use Harry's name?" Hermione added to the growing list of questions. Moody held up his had to stop any more questions from coming forth.
"Dumbledore used Harry's name because all of his own letters are monitored by the ministry."
"But how can that be professor?" Hermione asked "There is no way the ministry can monitor letters."
"Miss. Granger, there are a lot of things which are not present in any of the books you read." This effectively shut up Hermione just as Harry had said to Moody. "And Dumbledore wants to provide you with a special training session so that you people are ready for the difficult times which are facing us."
"But professor…" Ginny called out in frustration "…is this the D.A anymore? I mean, the D.A. can't be the D.A. without Harry." Everyone except Moody seemed to agree with this.
"Miss. Weasley, life doesn't stop because of one person. Potter won't be teaching you now, I will be doing it."
"But sir, where is Harry?" Neville asked. The entire room fell into silence but Ginny, Ron and Hermione were the person's who were most worried about Harry as they knew that his location was not unknown to everyone.
"Longbottom, he is safe and sound, that's all I can tell you. And if you have any more questions about Potter, then you should ask Dumbledore or Harry when you meet them." This effectively closed the discussion regarding Harry's whereabouts.
"Professor…" Cho called out "…why couldn't this wait for 25 days more? We could then have been in Hogwarts and Harry could have taught us there."
"25 days you say…" Moody growled "…you are 3 months in the past." This statement left everyone stunned. Before he could be asked any more questions, Moody started to explain to them "This place is a special one in Hogwarts. It is much like the Room of Requirements you all know of but this has limitations to it. We are 3 months back in time which means that you have around 3 and 25 days to train yourselves. Because you are back in time doesn't give you the liberty to change what has already happened…" Moody glanced at Ron, Hermione and the others who had been at the DoM "…and that includes helping yourselves out in your O.W.L's…" even Hermione couldn't help but smile at this comment "…and I have been assigned to train you to prepare yourselves against what has already started to happen out there. As you already know, dark days await us and we have to fight for ourselves. But fighting individually is not enough; we have to fight as a team so that we can win. Potter made you guys learn enough so that Dumbledore thought he count on you - don't let Dumbledore down. Hogwarts needs you…and Potter needs you." The last part of this lecture was said in a whisper which none of the others heard. There was pin-drop silence in the room as everyone understood what was expected of them - they had to be the forefront of Hogwarts and if someone tried to breach it then those people would have to go over the dead-bodies of the D.A. members.
"Ye sir, we are ready." This confident voice was that of Neville's. He still couldn't forget the images of Bellatrix Lestrange and he was ready to do everything he could to get a chance to take his revenge. Everyone present their nodded their heads in consent.
"But how are we going to do magic?" Hermione asked "The ministry…"
"Miss. Granger, Dumbledore has taken care of it." Moody said remembering what Harry had told him ("The room doesn't let anyone know what their occupants were doing so there will be no problem if underage people performed magic or apparated in it").
"You people would be staying here for almost 4 months so here are your quarters" With a wave of his wand and just a wish 'provide living quarters for everybody here', the room transformed itself into what looked like a boarding school of sorts. "Those are the boys quarters and those are the girls." Moody pointed out the respective places to them "there is the library" Moody pointed to a room in the right hand corner "And remember one thing, this is like the Room of Requirements so your small wishes will be fulfilled but not anything big. You can get all the books you need here and if you get in too much trouble at an important place you can always wish for extra toilet paper…" Everyone smiled at this intended joke "…and there is the clock…" Moody pointed out to a giant clock on the wall opposite to the living quarters "…which you can always see if you care to look out of your window. There is also a clock with date and times on it in your rooms. If this clock is to be believed, then it is 9:00 in the evening. Dinner will be served in this room in 15 minutes after which you will go to your beds. Your training starts tomorrow."
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"Hi buddy." George exclaimed as he and his twin came to Harry's home in his 5'th compartment using a portkey brought by Dobby. "Nice to see you alive" Fred continued. Harry gave a smile and asked both of them to have a seat.
"Where are we?" Fred asked as George looked around to find they were in the middle of a room.
"My home" Harry replied as Dobby came up with snacks for all three of them.
"You live here? This is just an empty hall." George said.
"Ooops…sorry. I forgot to mention that I have all the facilities required but they are hidden by an invisibility charm placed by Dobby" Harry lied since he didn't want too many people to know about his personal room of requirements. "Now, can we get down to some business?" Harry asked quickly as he still had many things to do.
"Yeah. But first tell us where our dumb brother and sweet little sister are or our parents will kill us." Fred said as George quickly added with a wink "And where is our soon-to-be sister-in-law?". Harry took a moment to realize exactly what George meant but then smiled. "Don't worry guys, Dumbledore told me they are all fine." Harry said.
"You mean you don't know where they are?" Both the twins looked surprised at this.
"No" Harry responded "All I know is that Dumbledore is giving them some training in self-defense."
"Really!"
"And he didn't tell us."
"Now brother…"
"How can we live with this shame…"
"That our dumb younger brother…"
"Could end up smarter than us."
"HEY YOU GUYS" Harry shouted to stop this rambling by the twins. Both of his guests looked shocked at being interrupted in their grieving ceremony which made Harry smile a bit. "Don't tell this to anyone ok? Your mum and dad should know about it by now but no one else does. Please try to keep it that way, ok?
"Ok boss." Both of them chorused simultaneously. "So, what is this proposition about?" one of the twins asked Harry.
"I want you guys to give away free gifts to your buyers."
"WHAT?" Fred screamed.
"Do you want to close down our shop?" It was George's turn to shout this time.
"No." Harry held up his hands to calm down both of his guests. "Let me explain. I want you guys to make things which people will use for decoration, say a flower vase and other stuff like that. Now, what you do is that you make lots of this kind of stuff and whenever someone buys something worth…say 50 galleons, you give them a free gift. Now, don't give every one the same gift, make it a bit random will you. As for the expenses, I will cover whatever you spend."
"What next?" Harry couldn't help but appreciate how quick both the twins were.
"Well, all these objects should have spying devices inside them." The twins looked at each other as if Santa had just granted them one of their most-wanted wishes. Harry understood the silent exchange between them and continued "They all should transmit information to one central object which…"
"…you will possess, right?" George asked as Fred nodded.
"Yes." Harry said "You think you can do all this for me? I will pay you whatever you want."
"Look Harry…" Fred was interrupted in mid-sentence by Harry. "If you guys don't take the money then I won't ask you to do anything for me…ever." The twins had another silent exchange between themselves and finally came to an agreement.
"Ok, we will charge you the money for the raw material…"
"…but not any profit."
"That's fine with me." Harry felt relieved that the twins had given in without too big a fight though he knew that his voice had sounded much like Professor McGonagall's when she said something with an air of finality in it. "One more thing, this remains only between us unless I say otherwise, ok?"
"Ok boss" both the twins chorused again. The twins then asked Harry for a time-period of 2-3 weeks so that they could finish their experiments for all this and also said that they would give Harry a prototype of the listening device by the 1'st of September. After all the details had been discussed, they finally took their leave and went back to a place just outside the anti-portkey wards near their home by a portkey given to them by Harry (Don't mention this to anyone, will you?).
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"Hi mom" the head of Ronald Weasley popped out of the fire at 12, Grimmauld Place which had a very tense feeling to it. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley jumped out of their chairs at this and rushed to the fireplace.
"Oh Ron…are you ok?" Mrs. Weasley almost choked on her tears while Mr. Weasley tried to pacify her.
"Mom, don't be like that. I am safe and everyone else is safe. I think Dumbledore told you about this, right?" Ron looked a bit hesitant as he glanced around and looked very relieved at not finding anyone else nearby.
"Yes son" Mr. Weasley spoke up. "He told it to us this afternoon after everyone else had left. At first when he came to us he said he didn't find you and we were so worried. But later, when everyone had left, he told us about it…" At this moment there came the sound of someone at the door.
"Mom Dad…I should go" Ron whispered urgently. "Don't tell anyone about this." Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley nodded their heads in agreement as Ron withdrew his head from the fire just in time to evade the new arrivals (the twins). A relieved Ron took a deep breath as he knew that this had been a close shave for him. He didn't want many people to see him or rather, he didn't want anyone other than his parents to see him now or he would have to do a lot of explaining later. Slowly, he took out a piece of parchment entitled 'Things to tell Alastor Moody' and wrote down the first point:
Talked to Mom and Dad on the evening of 5'th August - Ronald Weasley.
After finishing this, he tucked away the note in his pocket and called out "Dobby, can I have my dinner please."
"Yes Harry Potter" came the prompt reply.
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It was the 10'th of August and Harry was doing his daily meditation. He had now developed quite a strong grip on his mind and could direct his thoughts to whatever thing he wanted to. In the past few days, he had asked the room to provide for exact replicas of many of the people he knew at Hogwarts, including his teachers, and had taken in every detail of their external appearance. After that he had practiced turning into each of them and found that it took him about an hour each to get their images clear enough in his mind which made changing his appearance very easy. He was at first hesitant to change into his headmistresses form but decided to proceed with it because no one knew when it could come in handy. The most difficult part however came when he tried to change into Dumbledore because, though changing his shape was not too much of a problem, the main problem came when he tried to bring out the twinkling in his eyes. Even after many days, he had been able to only bring out about 50% of the effect which Dumbledore's eyes normally had. In the meanwhile, he had finally been able to grasp the basics of conjuring up objects and had been able to conjure basic objects such as a rectangular box. He had unsuccessfully tried to conjure up a wooden version of Prongs and finally decided that it would have to wait. His dueling had also progressed quite a bit as he had been able to take on his 4 opponents for much over 3 hours after which the only remaining Harry had been able to stun him. Apart from all this, he was now focusing on spells in the books which he had found in the Black Family Vault and, to his surprise, found many spells which could be termed 'light'. Many of the spells were so old that Harry felt sure that most of the Wizarding world had forgotten about them. One of the spells seemed like an old version of the Imperius curse except for the fact that the cursed person wouldn't harm himself or any other person when put under this spell. Harry kept working at these new spells and had also started going through the more 'darker' spells so that he could be ready for them when the time came. He now always had to read two books at a time - one for checking out dark curses while the other had counter-curses or healing charms in it. He had also learnt some techniques used by ancient wizards, such as putting a sound-proof charm while apparating and dis-apparating. These techniques had been used by them so that they could hide their magical activities from the normal people but nowadays most people had forgotten these techniques since they could modify the memory of others. Harry made a note of these tactics which he thought might prove helpful to him. He had also started to read up the book on patronuses which Hermione had given him as a birthday present but it seemed more of journal than a book because it all it contained was loads and loads of people telling them about their experiences with dementors and how the Patronus charm had saved them or their near-and-dear one's. It was while he was around the 268'th page that he came upon 2 pages of writing of which he couldn't make any sense of. Though it looked like English, it just didn't make any sense to him and he was sure that no one else could understand it as well. Finally he gave up and went on to finish about one-third of the book before putting it down to pick up another book. Reading, it seemed, had become quite a habit of Harry as Dobby got accustomed to either finding Harry dueling or reading during the day-time. Dobby had made sure that Harry got enough information about what was happening in the outside world and kept him up-to-date with whatever he saw or heard. In the meantime, Harry had also made a special portkey perch for Hedwig so that only Hedwig could use it to travel back and forth between Harry's trunk and the outer world. Harry had taken great care to make the portkey perch as portkeys had different kinds of after-effects on different kinds of animals and it had taken him a period of 3 days to make the portkey perch which was activated only if Hedwig sat on it. Slowly but steadily Harry kept making progress and he knew that by the time he got to Hogwarts, he would have the bare minimum spells, hexes and techniques under his belt which would help him remain alive for some time under dire circumstances.
"Harry Potter" Dobby said breaking Harry's meditation. "Dobby is sorry for breaking Harry Potter's meditation" Dobby's face looked pitiful and it seemed he would burst into tears anytime now.
"Dobby" Harry said warningly "You don't have to say sorry for everything you do. I was just finishing up when you called so there is nothing to be sorry about." Dobby's smiled at this obvious lie of Harry's and said "Harry Potter shouldn't lie to make Dobby happy". At once, Harry felt a bit ashamed of himself and apologized quickly "Sorry Dobby but I don't like to see you like that every time you think you did something wrong. Understand what I mean?" Dobby nodded at this and said with a smile "Harry Potter's Tonkie and Werewolf are here." Harry smiled at this and went to fetch them.
"So, at last you find time to visit me?" Harry's voice was laced with a bit of hurt when everyone had come in the Room of Requirements in his 5'th compartment. Both Tonks and Remus exchanged a look before Tonks spoke up "Sorry Har". Both of them looked very embarrassed but Harry was having none of it.
"What sorry? You guys vanish for days outside and do you know how many days I have to spend in here without any company. Thankfully I have adjusted the timeline here so that I spend less number of days in here with respect to the outside world." This made his two guests even more miserable as they both understood what it felt at being left alone for days on end. "I can never forgive you guys unless…" Harry trailed off, his gaze shifting from one person to another.
"Unless what Harry?" Remus wanted to desperately make up for what had happened.
"No…I don't think…uh…just forget it" Harry waved them off and started walking towards his room. Alarmed, both Tonks and Remus rushed over to stop him.
"Hey, I said sorry." Tonks said "Ok, go on. Tell us what you want and we will do it."
"No you won't" Harry seemed disinterested.
"We will" Remus said this time.
"If you say so…" Harry looked a bit hesitant but his face brightened when he saw the encouragement on both of his guest's faces. "Why don't you two move in with me?"
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"Way to go Ron" Dean called out as Ron defeated Lavender in a duel. All the members had been here for 15 days and had worked on many aspects of dueling and learning new spells. Hermione had even gone on to finish most of her 6'th year defence spells from the books which was provided in the library of this place. This was the first real test for all the members and Moody had setup a knockout tournament of sorts for them based on the idea given to him by Harry. Harry had devised this plan from the cricket world-cup and had asked Moody to setup a league where the participants would be divided into 3 groups and would fight each other every second day. After a months worth of duels, the top 4 from each group would move in the quarter finals out of which the top 4 teams would move into the next round named Super-Sixes. The next 2 teams would then be decided with the help of play-offs and out of these six teams, the top four would move onto the final round. This final round was scheduled for the end of the second month and the winner would be declared from the overall standings after that. For the next month Harry had decided that there would be intensive training on spells plus the introduction of apparation for each of the members. Moody had not made any protest against this even though he knew that it was against the ministry law and he had informed Dumbledore about Harry's intentions. After Dumbledore had agreed on it, Moody and Harry had developed a curriculum as to how to teach everyone the basics of apparation with Dumbledore providing them with some expert tips through the school owl (which would deliver its messages to Dobby). Out of the last 25 days, 15 days were reserved for only duels but this time it would be between groups rather than individuals. The groups would be decided upon by Moody and the fights were to be made in a simulated environment provided by the room. Each of the groups would have a single day each to plan out their strategies and then they would take to the battlefield. It had been decided that there would be four teams so that once everyone got back to Hogwarts, there would be the correct number of groups for each of the houses. To top it all, there would be a complete evaluation of each member and the person with the highest points would be awarded 100 galleons by an undisclosed beneficiary.
"Thanks mate" Ron looked quite content with his performance and he then went over to watch a duel between Hermione and Zacharias Smith which ended with Hermione winning easily.
"Hey 'mione, you did great" Ron called out as she made her way towards the library. "Wait till you face me" came the reply which caused Ron's face to lose quite a lot of color. Ron was thinking about what strategy he would use against Hermione when a voice greeted him from behind "Hello".
"Oh, hi Cho." Cho looked quite nervous though Ron couldn't fanthom what could be the cause for it. "Can I help you in any way?" Ron put his best behavior on display as he said this.
"Well…uh…" Seeing the obvious discomfort on Cho's face Ron decided to wait.
"uh..I…one minute please…" Cho took a deep breath and finally seemed to have made up her mind "Have you talked to…uh…Harry recently?"
"Harry? No." Ron replied truthfully. "Actually the last time I saw him…" the scene at the Order meeting was floating in front of his eyes "…he seemed very upset." Ron finished off thoughtfully. Now that he thought of it he realized that he had never ever seen Harry like that and there seemed something different about him.
"I see. Well...thank you" Cho said as she rushed off leaving a confused Ron behind. "Hey Gin." Ron said called out as he saw his sister making her way towards the girls living quarters "I wanted to ask..." Ron just stopped talking as he realized that Ginny hadn't even turned even after hearing him and had gone into the girl's quarters. "What's up with all these girls?" Ron thought to himself.
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"They seem to be making good progress" Remus said as he, Tonks and Harry watched the D.A. members learning under the guidance of Moody. Both of them had moved in here the day after Harry had asked them to and they seemed to be enjoying it a lot. Harry had explained to them that the Room of Requirements in the 5'th compartment was now distributed into 2 different rooms, one for themselves and one for the D.A. members, even though there seemed to be no difference in the capacity of their 'own' original room. He went on to explain how he had hired Moody and persuaded him to teach the D.A. members and how even Dumbledore had ultimately let them go ahead with their plan. He also explained that the other part of the room had an independent timeline which was wished to give a period of 3 months and 25 days in the space of the original 25 days outside and that the timeline of their own room was also variable depending upon Harry's requirements. After that, he told them the cock-and-bull story he had asked Moody to tell to the D.A. members about being sent back in time.
"But how can everyone do magic in there without being detected?" Remus asked.
"C'mon, all Harry had to do was make a wish Remu." Tonks replied. Harry nodded his head and Tonks just pointed her index finger towards her head and whispered "He's nuts" to Harry.
"Hey I heard that." Remus said as Tonks cursed herself for not remembering that Remus had a hyper-sensitive hearing and smelling power. "No Remu...I was talking about Moody."
"Young Lady, don't you dare try to trick me." Remus growled as both Tonks and Harry sported huge grins. Tonks was grinning because she had been caught whereas Harry, on the other hand, was grinning about the fact that no one would ever know that he had made Fudge approve the usage of magic by the underage students of the D.A in addition to getting permission that they could apparate without being hauled up by the ministry officials. Every time he remembered how fast Fudge had run when he had said "Your time starts NOW" made him smile to himself. At least, he was making Fudge pay a small price for making Sirius's life miserable.
"Can't they see us Har?" Tonks asked as one of the girls seemed to be looking her directly in the eye.
"No. This is a one way transparent wall" Harry explained.
"Are there any transparent walls in the girls living quarters?" Tonks asked with a glint in her eyes. Harry blushed at this and said "What do you mean?"
"Oh...nothing...nothing" Tonks gave an innocent smile at Harry who swung his fist towards her. Tonks barely managed to get out of the way and said "So, I was right in my guessing. A teenaged boy with so many attractive girls...I wonder where the shower is located"
"It's nothing like that" Harry mumbled under his breath as he turned a deep red which would have given Ron an inferiority complex (again!). "Hey, did I show you my conjuring skills?" Harry said changing the subject as quickly as he could. He had been able to conjure up some complex objects now, the most complex being a 4-legged stool.
"Really!" Tonks almost screamed, forgetting her teasing. "C'mon Har, show us." Harry then obliged both of them by producing a simple plank of wood. "That's it?" Tonks sounded a bit disappointed at this 'show of skill' by Harry.
"Hey...I am getting better you know." Harry said, throwing up his arms in the air. Remus provided him with the necessary encouragement "You will only get better Harry.". Tonks also realized that her comment could have been discouraging so she added "Yeah...we have full faith in you."
"Only if faith could be used to conjure up objects" Harry had a very disappointed look on his face which suddenly brightened "I will try to conjure up sitting stools for you".
"Way to go Har" Tonks seemed excited that Harry may be able to produce a 4-legged stool for them while Remus looked a bit apprehensive. Both of them watched as Harry concentrated for a long moment and gave a swish of his wand and...
"WOW. You did it." Tonks jumped out of her seat in excitement as she saw a single 4-legged stool in front of her.
"Well done Harry" Remus added as Harry conjured up the second tool and then a third one. "You seemed to have understated your abilities the first time around." Harry gave a meek smile as he left his own chair to sit on one of the stools he had conjured. "Looks like you can conjure up quite strong objects too" Remus said once Harry had taken his seat.
"You guys can try it out yourselves. I am a lightweight after all" Harry smiled at them as he said this. Both Remus and Tonks went over to one of the stools and took their 'new' seats but Tonks's stool immediately broke down. Remus looked puzzled at this since he found that his own stool was rock-solid while Tonks got up and looked around to see a smiling Harry and...
"Wait a minute you monster" she shouted at Harry. Remus looked puzzled at this statement but realization dawned on him as he saw Harry pointing his wand towards where Tonks's stool had been and he understood that Harry must have put some kind breaking spell on the stool.
"Hey...sorry" Harry said to Tonks "I should have told you that it can support only up to 90 Kilograms of weight." This seemed to further enrage Tonks while Remus's mouth broke out into a huge grin.
"One of these days you are going to regret all the jokes you have played on me Potter" Tonks bellowed.
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"They can't be like you Potter" Moody had been called by Harry to provide a report about the progress of the D.A. members. Added to the fact that neither Tonks nor Remus was present, Harry thought this was the best time to call Moody.
"I didn't expect you of all people to say that Moody." Moody just sneered at this remark from Harry. They had been almost on the verge of an argument for the past 30 minutes or so regarding the progress of the D.A. members. "Look Moody" Harry continued in a much calmer tone "They have to survive and most importantly, they have to protect others."
"Easier said than done Potter. I have been training those kids for a month now and not many of them show real potential to take on a death-eater." came the growling response.
"Moody, they have potential and you know it as much as I do. It's just that they need a good guide." Harry paused as he tried to ease the tension between them. "You can definitely understand who is good in offense and who is better off in defense. Just try to mould a good team of guys like that."
"And you think that the death-eaters would attack groups of wizards?"
"No. But teach them that they should move in groups. Teach them that they have to fight in groups to overcome the dark forces. Teach them that they have to watch out for each others backs if they want to remain alive for longer periods of time. Teach them how to live".
"You would have made a better teacher than me Potter" Moody said in appreciation as he understood the zeal in Harry's voice.
"Then it is your target to become a better teacher than me. Do you think that you can do it?" Harry threw up the challenge to Moody knowing fully well that the retired Auror won't back down.
"You got me there, didn't you?" Moody said with an expression which was meant to be his smile "You are becoming quite efficient with your words."
"You forget that I have been around Dumbledore for a long time now." Harry joked. Harry then asked Moody to modify the memory of Ron, Hermione and Ginny so that they would think that Ron had a talk with his mom and dad on the evening of August 5'th. Moody didn't ask questions as to why Harry wanted him to do so and, after about another 30 minutes of discussions, left using the one-way portkey which Harry offered to him.
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"What's the matter Dean?" Hermione asked to a very disheveled looking Dean Thomas. They had just completed all their duels for the first round and Hermione, Dean, Ron and Neville, along with 12 other people, had made it to the quarter-finals of the dueling rounds. Those who had lost had been given extra lessons by Moody and the winners were supposed to help them out with tactics, spell usages and all other stuff where they could improve.
"Nothing". Dean's mood was very somber and the tone of his voice was that of a hurt person.
"Hey c'mon, I am your friend. Maybe I can help you out" Hermione knew that something grave had happened.
"uh..."
"C'mon Dean, I won't tell anyone" Hermione said adding "I promise"
"Ginny broke up with me" Dean said with misty eyes as Hermione understood just how much pain it had caused to him.
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"Hey." Tonks whispered as she sat down beside Harry who was watching the progress of the D.A. It had been over 45 days since the D.A. had started working out and Harry was quite pleased with the progress of the members. It seemed to him that Moody had taken his words to heart and was working tirelessly to get everyone up to the standards Harry had mentally set for them.
"Hi. You are early" Harry replied without taking his eyes off a duel between Ginny and Cho in the Super-Sixes round.
"Yeah. Remus wanted me to keep an eye on his godson since he wasn't sure of his intentions." Tonks said with a smile and went on to add "Seems like he was correct. You seem to be watching only the girls here."
"Tonks! It is the Super-Sixes round going on. This will lead to the finalists."
"Oh...I absolutely forgot." Tonks slapped herself on her forehead "The girl who wins in the final is yours, right?" At this, Harry lunged at her though she proved too fast for him. Keeping safe distance from him, Tonks went on "That's the Weasley girl, isn't she?" Harry looked at the girl Tonks was pointing to and just confirmed Tonks' assumption. "Pretty, isn't she?" Tonks said again.
"Tonkie...shut up."
"Oh...maybe you like that other one." At this, she saw that instead of getting angry or blushing at her comments, Harry's face saddened quite a bit. "What's the matter Harry?" Tonks looked a bit concerned at this sudden change of expression.
"Nothing" Harry said as his face changed into a cold mask.
"C'mon boy, did you ask her out and she refused?" Tonks knew very well what could be the concern of a 16 year old boy when a girl's name made him look sad or angry. "Or did you break-up?"
"Break up" Harry replied quietly.
"Why?" Tonks asked.
"Her former boyfriend was Cedric Diggory." To Harry, this seemed enough as an explanation as to why he and Cho had broken up. Tonks knew the circumstances of Cedric's death and came to the conclusion that Cho had still not got over Cedric.
"Hey..." she whispered to Harry "Don't get so upset. She will get over all this and..." Tonks was cut-off by Harry at this point "Tonks, why should I always wait for others to get over things? Everyone expects me to adapt to their wishes." There was a lot of disgust in Harry's voice.
"Look Harry..." Tonks tried to explain to him based on her own teenage experience "You shouldn't take out other things on her. One minute please..." Tonks stopped Harry from interrupting her again "...what I mean is that you had problems with getting over Sirius's death and god knows that you still remember every moment you spent with him." Harry's cold mask was gone by now and his face looked grief-stricken. Though Tonks hated seeing him like this she knew she had to continue. "Even Remus hasn't got over his death and neither have I…" Harry looked at her when she said this "…and I don't think we will ever be able to forget him. So you shouldn't blame that girl for not able to get over her boyfriends death. Give her time, will you?" Tonks finished off.
"Maybe I should but..."
"Ok then. If you want to move on you should do so. But don't blame anyone for not being able to get over someone's death." It was taking a lot of courage for Tonks to say all this as she was getting reminded of both Sirius and Kingsley but she had to do it for Harry. Harry understood her point and said "Thank you Tonkie."
"Most welcome dear" Tonks smiled at seeing the cloud of confusion and grief getting lifted off Harry's face. "By the way, what is her name?"
"Cho...Cho Chang." Harry said as Cho defeated Ginny and confirmed her place for the final round.
"I see. In any case, you have had enough time to look in detail at what all these girls have to offer..." Tonks said playfully, not noticing the evil expression which had come over Harry's eyes "I think the Weasley..." She was unable to finish her sentence as Harry threw himself at her but she proved faster for him once again as she apparated away. Harry also didn't lose any time and sent a spell towards her and apparated near her only to find that she had apparated away again. Ten minutes later Remus entered with the help of a portkey which Harry had given him (and which worked only for him and Tonks who had a similar portkey) to see that two people were apparating all over the place, sending curses at each other while one of them kept on saying something like "...or the tall girl there..." "or that dreamy looking girl..."
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"So the four of you think you are good enough to take on death eaters, are you?" Moody growled in a high-pitched voice as the four finalists gathered before him for the first round of dueling in the finals. The four finalists were Hermione, Neville, Cho and Angelina Jhonson. Ron had lost in the Super-Sixes round along with Ginny and the others. Angelina was the surprise package of the final four because she had come from behind in the league stages to reach the Super-Sixes where she had remained unbeaten to reach the finals. Even Hermione had been unable to defeat her while Neville had lost by a narrow margin. By now Dean, who had recovered quite a lot from the loss of his relationship with Ginny, had started taking bets as to who would win the finals and it seemed that Angelina was clearly the favorite here as almost 60 % of the people were betting in her favor. Ron, however, had decided to remain on Hermione's side and was going about telling everyone that Hermione would win hands down (he didn't dare to put any money on anybody).
"You think you can just point your wands at your opponent and say some spells and win. Is that all?" Moody started to pace around them. "You think death eaters will play fair with you when you fight them? Remember one thing, if anyone has a chance to win then they not only have to know spells, and good ones for that matter, but they have to always remain vigilant. CONSTANT VIGILANCE - that's what will help you win". With that Moody let the finals begin. There were going to be 12 duels in total over a period of 2 days where each of the finalists would fight against each other twice. The first day's line-up was Neville vs. Cho, Angelina vs. Hermione, Neville vs. Hermione, Angelina vs. Cho, Neville vs. Angelina and Hermione vs. Cho.
"Longbottom vs Chang" Moody called out as both of the participants stepped onto the dueling arena and bowed to each other. Both drew their wands but didn't cast any spell. Harry, who was seeing this from his side of the room, thought that this was a good strategy in a formal duel since the one who would cast his spell first would be greeted with a Protego spell from his opponent. This would lead to an advantage since the person casting the spell would not only have to deal with his or her own spell rebounding back but if their opponent was quick enough then they would have to deal with another spell and unless they had a strong shield or were fast enough, they would have less chance of winning than the other. Harry watched both the duellers not doing anything for about 10 seconds after which he saw Neville's patience crack. Both Cho and Neville got engaged in a furious battle though after a time Neville seemed to be gaining the upper hand. He had covered Cho's face with smoke while Cho had hit him with the leg-locking curse. Both took a moment to perform the counter-curses on themselves after which they attacked each other again. Neville and Cho were using some NEWT level curses on each other and slowly but surely, Cho started to match Neville. After 5 minutes of dueling in which both had been scarred and bruised, Cho managed a very advanced spell which caused Neville to lose consciousness for a few seconds. That was enough for Cho as she disarmed Neville and was announced as the winner. Neville then went on to congratulate her and both of them then went to Colin Creevy, who had been noting down their moves, to see what they had done right and where they had faltered.
In the meanwhile, the duel between Angelina and Hermione had started. Hermione looked determined to beat Angelina and started using spells unheard of in the D.A. (even Moody was wondering how she could perform some of those spells). Angelina, on the other hand, was using her limited knowledge to the best of her abilities and was using her quidditch enhanced reflexes to move out of the way of many of Hermione's spells. After a long duel, Angelina hit Hermione with a hand-locker curse (which caused a persons arm to be fixed in a particular direction) before disarming her to win the duel. After a rest of an hour, Neville and Hermione started a new battle in which Hermione won easily while in another duel Angelina effectively demolished Cho. This caused the bets on Angelina to go even higher up as people started taking loans for bets (which greatly angered Harry).
"Hey Colin" Hermione went up to the Potter-mad fan. "What's the score line?"
"Well...hmmm..." Colin looked up his scorecard and said "You and Angelina are both tied on the first spot at 235 points whereas Neville is on 230 and Cho is on 228." Hermione knew that she was lucky to be tied with Angelina and thanked her books for all they were worth. The scoring system was made in such an order that they took into account how fast a duel was over, who had performed what spells (more complicated the spell, more the points), who had managed to avoid how many hexes, who had performed how many counter-curses on themselves and last but not the least - who won. "Thanks Colin" Hermione said as she went to take a seat beside Ron. She had an hour's break after which the final duels of the day would take place and she wanted to use this time for as much rest as she could get.
"Hi" Ron greeted her "You did great. Damn, I don't have any money to bet on your winning the title."
"So that's what you think I am for?" Hermione looked Ron directly in his eye "Some girl on whom you can bet some money so that you can make some more out of it?" Ron was gaping at her with his mouth open and looked appalled at what Hermione had made of his comment. Hermione, on the other hand, looked quite serious and kept staring at him.
"No...no...I...uh..I...didn't...I..." Ron started to mumble while his gaze became fixed on his fingernails. Feeling Hermione's stare on him he said "I didn't mean..." when Hermione laughed out loudly.
"Thanks Ron" Hermione finally managed to say to a baffled Ron "I needed to see that expression of yours to relax. I really needed it."
"I am sorry" Ron said meekly.
"Hey, don't worry. I was only joking and don't start rambling again, ok?" Ron just nodded his head with some color returning to his cheeks.
"I wonder where Harry is" Ron said after a long pause.
"Hopefully he is fine. If he had been here then he would have won this contest hands down" Hermione replied without knowing how close she was to the exact truth.
"Yeah. But I am very angry with him." Ron said "He could have sent us at least a letter!"
"Maybe he is busy Ron. You know, after Sirius...he needs some time to himself." Hermione said but went on to add "But he seemed so different that day."
"Yes. And he seemed to like it very much" Ron shot an angry look towards Hermione as if she had failed to understand what the difference was.
"What I..."
"Hey guys" Neville interrupted Hermione who just warned Ron with a look of her eyes.
"Hi Nev. You are doing great." Ron said as a chit-chat session started between the three of them. Finally, it was time for the last duels for everyone. Neville went up against Angelina and it seemed as if Angelina would get another easy win when Neville fired a barrage of spells towards her which took all of Angelina's physical and magical abilities to avoid (though she could apparate, the rules forebode her from using apparation during duels). Angelina recovered slightly as she hit Neville with a curse on his left hand but found that the next curse of Neville hitting her. As it turned out, it was a full body-bind curse and Neville, painfully, disarmed her and was declared the winner. In the other duel, Hermione kept using advanced spells but this time, Cho was much more careful. She had learnt her lesson against Angelina and she used her physical flexibility to avoid some of Hermione's curses. She herself shot a large number of curses towards Hermione only to find Hermione putting up some shield or avoiding it completely. After about 6 minutes into the duel, Cho did something which took Hermione unawares. Cho had sent a smoke creating hex towards Hermione just as Hermione had sent an unknown curse towards her which Cho had barely managed to avoid. Luckily for Cho, Hermione had just performed the counter curse to clear up the smoke around her and had not seen Cho avoid the curse. Cho decided to take advantage of this and clutching her throat, started screaming at the top of her lungs. Hermione looked shocked at seeing what Cho was going through and dropped her guard for a moment which was greeted by a single word - Stupefy.
The next day's schedule was Angelina vs. Hermione, Neville vs. Hermione, Angelina vs. Cho, Neville vs. Angelina, Hermione vs. Cho and Neville vs. Cho. Angelina, who had suffered only one single defeat at the hands of Neville in her past 9 duels, was defeated by Hermione which made Hermione the leader of the points table. The next duel saw Neville defeating Hermione while in the 3'rd duel, Angelina lost for the second time that day. With 3 more duels remaining, Angelina was still topping the list with 250 points followed by Hermione on 248 points. Neville had 247 while Cho had 246 points. Angelina's duel with Neville was a very fierce one which lasted over 15 minutes before Angelina finally managed to have her revenge on Neville while Hermione was surprisingly defeated by Cho. With one remaining duel, Angelina still led with 259 points followed closely by Cho and Hermione on 255 points each. Neville seemed well out of the race for the winner's position with only 250 points even though it was mathematically possible. The last duel between Neville and Cho turned out to be one which everyone, including Moody, enjoyed. The duel had lasted over 20 minutes as Neville had taken a defensive stance while Cho had gone for an all out attack. Neville had cast the first real offensive spell at the end of the 14'th minute which had led to Cho developing burns on her left arm. Neville was then greeted with the similar spell but he went into his shell again and waited for a little bit of opening. Finally he found the opening he wanted and lunged into an all out attack. Unknown to Neville, Cho had knowingly let her guard down long enough to lure Neville out of his defensive tactics and used up that opportunity to defeat Neville with a spell no one thought would help at that moment - Expelliarmus. The final standings stood at:
Cho - 264 Points
Angelina - 259 Points
Hermione - 255 Points
Neville - 255 Points.
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"So, it seems they can take care of themselves quite well" Remus said as he watched the ending of the team event where four groups had taken on each other in turns and then there had been a 'survival for the fittest group' in a simulated battlefield. Remus and Tonks had informed Harry that the death-eaters were lying low for the time being and not even Snape knew what Voldemort was planning to do next. They had just finished filling Harry with all the details when the last event on the D.A.'s schedule had come to an end. The last month and a half and gone very well for everyone as most of the D.A. members had learned to apparate (the underage persons had done it under the oath that they would use this only in life-threatening situations) and it had been very difficult to grade one team above the other. Ultimately, Moody had nominated the group led by Hermione as the winner by only a single point above the other 3 teams and Neville had topped the points table along with Cho and Hermione with Angelina coming a close second. All of the winners had been rewarded with 100 galleons each which they promptly shared amongst the whole of the D.A. members. This past 3 and a half months had made them like a unit - one which was ready for action and prepared to save each other despite the fact that they were in different houses at Hogwarts. They still had 8 days left here (which was only about 2 days in the real world) after which they would be taken back to their homes on 29'th August for packing up their luggage. Everyone had been informed that their parents had taken care of their requirements which had to be bought and they could buy any additional books or things, which they might require, on the last 2 days of their holidays.
"Yes" Harry said "Hopefully they will be able to protect themselves now onwards."
"But Harry, was all of this necessary in this manner?" Tonks looked at Remus as he asked this question for the first time. Remus and Tonks had discussed many a time as to why Harry had himself not taken care of the D.A. or why he had not even taken time out to talk to his friends even once but they had decided to trust Harry's judgment. But now Remus somehow felt that he needed to talk to Harry about it, to understand his intentions better and to help him if Harry wanted him to help.
"Yes it was" Harry replied coolly. "Look at how close they have become with Moody in these few days." Harry pointed out to a scene which most people wouldn't have believed unless they had seen it themselves - Moody and the D.A. members eating lunch together and joking with each other whole-heartedly.
"But you can't keep them away from you forever." Remus tried to explain as Tonks maintained her silence. This kind of talk was not her type as she knew she could try it but she would never be as good as Remus could be.
"That doesn't mean that I have to stay with them always." Tonks thought the temperature in the room had dropped by several degrees as this was the first time that Remus was trying to make Harry see some sense (at least, from his point of view).
"But they love you very much Harry."
"Human nature is a very unique thing, isn't it?" Harry questioned with a hint of amusement in his voice "Someone once said 'Out of sight, out of mind'"
"But that won't be the case in Hogwarts." Remus reasoned.
"I have thought of another way for that" Harry replied without going into the details of his 'another' way.
"But you still will have to deal with them, isn't it?" Tonks spoke very hesitantly for the first time.
"I will deal with them. But the most important factor is that they won't be dealing with me" Harry replied to her.
"What do you mean?" Remus looked puzzled.
"They won't be dealing with Harry. They will be dealing with Harry Potter." Harry's voice betrayed no emotion as he said this. He knew it was easier said than done but he had to do it somehow - not for his sake but that for his friends. His time in the trunk had been a very tough one, seeing all his friends getting closer, having quality time with each other and yet, he had to see everything from across a wall - a wall built by Voldemort which only he could tear down when the time came. But he had been able to hold onto himself by reminding himself that his friends very life could depend on his level of interaction with them and he knew that he would be able to hold on to himself when he got back to Hogwarts which was now only about 10 days away in room's timeline (for the past few days Harry had made the timeline's of both the D.A.'s room and this part of the room same).
"But Harry you are their leader." Tonks was almost pleading to him to not give up his friends like that. "They need their leader for god's sake and you haven't made a move to even talk to them."
"I know." Harry said as he got up "That's why they have 8 days in hand before they go back to their homes." Both Remus and Tonks looked at each other, unable to understand a thing about what Harry was saying. "They have stayed under Moody long enough. He is their teacher and everyone has to know that he can't lead them into battle." Harry's voice seemed to freeze everything it touched as he started walking in the direction of the separator between the two portions of the same room with the words which left both Tonks and Remus gazing after him "They will be meeting their leader today".
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A/N:
Ok guys, here's the 9'th chapter.
Hope you like this chapter. If you guys are disappointed, then just say it in your reviews. And thanks to everyone who read this.
Be0t – No problem.
And all the other guys who reviewed - Thanks for your reviews. Please know that they are very much appreciated and give me a real kick-in-the-back to continue writing. Also, since this story was taken down once, I will like to inform you that if it is taken down again, I won't continue with it here anymore. You will have to follow it at my yahoo group. By the way, I am taking a break for a while and will be back soon.
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