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 :)). 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 15 – Disclosures
With a jerk, Harry woke up in his bed, sweating profusely. He had had another vision of Voldemort and still Voldemort had been unable to detect him. Maybe it was a trick which Voldemort was playing with him or maybe it was not. In either case, Harry was now sure of one thing which he had told to Tonks and Remus.
Yes, Voldemort was waiting for something.
&&&&
Oct 1.
"I don't know what he is planning this time around but I know that he is desperate now. He now has nothing to fear, unless you count out Dumbledore, and his forces are growing stronger day by day. I have to somehow know what it is that I can do which he knows not, what makes me what I am supposed to be, but the thing is that I don't know where to start. I mean, I am training and studying all the required stuff but I can bet 100,000 galleons that Voldemort knows more than me. What am I talking about – of course he has more knowledge than me and Dumbledore had himself said that he had been the brightest student Hogwarts had ever produced.
What do I have which he doesn't? Dumbledore had said to Voldemort that there are things worse than death. What could be worse than death for Voldemort? Maybe turning into a muggle would be worse…no…Voldemort would still create a spell and ask one of his servants to do the wand work for him and then he would regain his magical strength. What else can I say for a man…urgg…thing which regained its body? That wasn't thought to be possible (maybe Dumbledore thought about it) but he still did it, didn't he? Maybe getting his soul sucked by a dementor would be worse than death for him but who knows, does he have a soul at all? And if he does have one then how can a dementor be forced to suck his soul?
One thing I have got to admit is that I respect Voldemort as an opponent. He may be evil, he may be the worst person on the face of this earth and he might represent everything slimy but still, he is a formidable foe. He has worked hard to become what he is and if he had not been drawn towards power so much and had remained on the light side, he would have been as great a sorcerer as Dumbledore himself if not more. I have to treat him with the respect which a formidable foe deserves and I must hope that he still thinks of me as a tiny thing which can be crushed at any moment. Only then will I be able to spring a surprise for him which he wouldn't be able to counter.
Hold it, is that the power I have which he doesn't – to spring a surprise or to respect an opponent? Damn, I must be losing my mind now. I have to get this sorted out as soon as possible if I want to have any chance of beating him. I must talk to Dumbledore about it.
Harry yawned as he closed his journal and put his quill away. He didn't like getting up in the middle of the night to write down something but he had decided way back that he would maintain a record of every thing which was happening and which he felt was worthwhile of maintaining a record of. Almost everyday he wrote down something or the other about Ron and Hermione as he felt that writing them down would take away his guilt but that had not happened. And in the midst of all these writings came descriptions of his visions of Voldemort. He knew he had to do something soon to find out more about the meaning of the last part of the prophecy and he had decided that he would talk to Dumbledore as soon as possible, even though he had an idea of what kind of reply to expect. Well, it wouldn't hurt to try, Harry thought as he fell asleep for the second time that night.
&&&&
"Hello sir"
"Good Morning Harry" Dumbledore greeted his favorite school student with a smile. "I didn't expect you to see here so early in the morning. I hope you are not having any bad dreams, are you?"
"No sir. Actually…" here Harry hesitated a bit. He wanted to make this as brief as possible but yet he had to retrieve the required information and doing this with a person like Dumbledore was the hardest part of it all. "I…I have been thinking on some things lately"
Dumbledore immediately became serious but the twinkle in his eye was still firmly in its place. "Can you talk about it after you have taken a seat Harry?"
Taking the seat opposite to Dumbledore, Harry started to speak again. "Sir, we talked about the prophecy here and…hmmm…I made that a memorable occasion". Dumbledore smiled at this as Harry continue. "I wanted to talk about the last part of the prophecy. What did it mean?"
"The last part…yes…" Dumbledore paused as he surveyed Harry from behind his glasses. "What do you think it means?"
Harry didn't look surprised at all at this question. This was just like Dumbledore – put the ball in another's court and wait for the return volley. But today Harry wanted some answers and he was ready to answer questions to reach to his goal.
"Sir, I don't think it has any relation with magic in general. I mean, Voldemort is much more stronger than I might ever dream of becoming and yet I have been able to escape him for so long" Harry was looking at the table in front of him and seemed to be almost oblivious to Dumbledore's presence. "He can kill but I cannot. He can torture while I…" at this Harry shivered slightly. "He is older than me and hence more knowledgeable, while I don't have knowledge of ancient spells or…you understand what I mean, don't you?"
"No" Dumbledore was smiling for some unknown reason. "Harry, I really can't understand why you are underestimating yourself"
"Because what I am stating is the truth" Harry replied sarcastically. "I can come up to Voldemort's level if I am given a time period of 20 years but I don't think Voldemort would like to wait"
"Hmmm…" Dumbledore seemed to be thinking but a smile seemed to be playing on his lips. "Can you tell me what Voldemort's strengths are?"
"His strength is his hatred" Harry replied after a moment of thought. "His hatred can make him do anything he has to in order to reach his goal"
"Anything?" Dumbledore questioned again. Harry had grasped the fact that Dumbledore wanted to him to get his answers through his own reasoning and he had decided to cooperate fully.
"Yes…" Harry replied confidently. "He would…but…" Harry's voice trailed off at this point as he seemed to be pondering over something. After a few quite moments in which Dumbledore kept studying the features of his pupil, Harry started talking in a low tone "He will do 'anything' and…that could lead him to make mistakes"
"Mistakes?" Dumbledore, who had heard everything clearly, asked. In the meantime, Fawkes had flown in and had perched himself on Harry's shoulder and Harry, almost automatically, started to run his hands through Fawkes's feathers.
"Yes" Harry continued in the same low and thoughtful tone. "But even if he makes any mistakes then also he will be able to recover quickly enough. He will always be able to do something to retaliate"
"That's true" Dumbledore conceded. "Now, what are your strengths?"
"I…what?" Harry seemed a little taken aback at this change of direction and even though he still had his thoughts on Voldemort, he decided to follow Dumbledore's chain of conversation. After all, he had loads of time in the trunk and he could always meditate and think on different topics when he was back there.
"My strengths…I am good in dueling and I am good at escaping. I am a good flyer but I seriously doubt whether Voldemort would duel with me in mid-air" Dumbledore chuckled at this comment from Harry who himself smiled as he tried to visualize the scene. "Apart from this…" Harry seemed lost in thoughts again.
"You are more like Lily than James" Harry's head snapped up as he heard this, but wisely decided not to interrupt Dumbledore. "She always criticized herself not because she was not good at things but because she wanted to be better at them than anybody else. She had an urge and thirst to prove herself in front of the world but was never quite satisfied with her performances". Dumbledore didn't notice the look of expectation on Harry's face as he was now looking out of the window of his office. "You are so much like her and yet…"
"Yet what sir?" Harry was almost in a half-standing position now. Rarely had anyone ever talked about his mother and it was even rarer for Dumbledore to be talking at length about his family; but since he had now started to talk, Harry was going to make sure he told him as much as possible.
Dumbledore had turned to face him by now and Harry thought that his eyes had a look of sadness in them. He guessed that his mother must have been a much loved student of Dumbledore and that's why he looked so sad.
"Your mother loved people" Dumbledore spoke after he had been gazing in Harry's expectant eyes for over a minute. "She loved those who loved her and even those who hated her. She never had a grudge against anyone" Dumbledore smiled a sad smile as he continued to relive the happy moments of a young life which had met a tragic end. "She sacrificed herself for you and her love protected you from Lord Voldemort. You have her love and other qualities"
"You mean that I have her love and that is the thing which Voldemort doesn't have?" Harry questioned when he realized that Dumbledore had stopped saying anything more. "Voldemort can hate but I can love? You mean that I can destroy him by loving him?" The last of Harry's words were said in a sarcastic tone as he felt angry at Dumbledore not saying anything more about his mother.
"No Harry" Dumbledore continued as if he had not noticed the sarcasm in Harry's words. "Love can never destroy anything; otherwise your mother would have been able to kill Lord Voldemort herself. Love is something you have which can give rise to other emotions and emotions help in driving magic"
"So you are saying that my 'love' will help me perform greater magic?" Harry queried.
"All I can say Harry…" Dumbledore paused for a moment and peered deeply into Harry's eyes before continuing "…that your emotions will help you make a choice – a choice which will decide the outcome of the 2'nd war"
&&&&
"Damn it" Harry was thinking as he walked towards the charms classroom. "Every time I go to Dumbledore with questions, he somehow manages to confuse me up and make me think about new things. Now I have to make a choice. I already have a choice – to kill or be killed. Now I have one more choice"
"Ouch" came a female voice mingled with Harry's own voice. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he had failed to notice a person standing just around the corner and had walked straight into her.
"Sorry Cho" Harry said as he recognized the girl into whom he had 'crashed'.
"No problem" Cho replied as she straightened out her robes. With her eyes still focused on her robes and trying to straighten out some unseen creases, Cho asked "How are you?"
"Ok, I guess" Harry replied with a shrug. Nowadays it didn't matter to him anymore that this was the same Cho whose mere sight had him tongue-tied till a few months ago. "So, where are you heading to?" Harry asked as Cho fell in step with him.
"Towards my potions class" Cho replied but did not dare to look at Harry.
"You had been waiting for someone?" Harry asked casually.
"Yes…" Cho replied. "I was waiting for you"
"Me?" Harry's must have sounded very surprised because Cho instantly turned to face him.
"Actually it was about the D.A. and the A.D.A." Cho said hastily as she didn't want Harry to think that she had anything else on her mind.
"I see" Harry said, feeling slightly relieved. "What did you want to discuss?"
"Can we talk someplace else?" Cho asked, making her intentions clear that talking about these things in public was not what she liked to do. Harry too realized that it had been stupid of him to ask Cho to talk right now.
"Ok. When and where?" Harry asked.
"The old place at 7:00 pm?" Cho asked, awaiting Harry's reply. Harry gave an affirmative nod and both of them wished each other a homework-free day (which they knew was impossible) as they parted ways and proceeded towards their respective classrooms.
&&&&
"How was your day?" Cho asked when Harry entered the room of requirements.
"How did your 6'th year go?" Harry retorted sarcastically.
"Got your point" Cho replied with a smile. "They just give loads of homework without even thinking what will happen to our hands."
"Right you are" Harry said as he slumped into a couch opposite to Cho. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Well, we are making some progress now but the Slytherins are a different lot" Cho said. "They always think we are out to deceive them"
"That's why they are Slytherins" Harry said in an off-handed manner. "You guys have to earn their trust and not just ask for it"
"I understand" Cho replied. "I wanted to ask you something about 2 people. Actually…" Cho hesitated for a while.
"Actually…" Harry prompted her.
"What do you think about Rowena?" Cho asked. "She seems a bit…bit odd to me."
"Odd?" Harry was surprised to hear this kind of description from Cho. "You mean she is very inquisitive or suspicious? I think it's her nature"
"She is inquisitive but she seems different" Cho said in a very serious tone. "She asked why you are not here and when we told that you were taking a break…" Cho paused to see Harry's response who just nodded "…she became very suspicious and thought that it was a plan to trap her or something. Only after I talked to her for well over an hour did she finally agree to continue, but she still behaves a bit weirdly"
"Weirdly? I don't remember her behaving weirdly with me when I had told her about the A.D.A" Harry said as he tried to remember their discussion. He had not had much glimpse of her face at that time but he was sure that she had been perfectly normal. A bit scared maybe but otherwise fine.
"I don't know…" Cho seemed lost in her thoughts too and Harry guessed she must be thinking about her encounter(s) with Rowena. "She seems a bit different"
"Maybe it is just her nature" Harry suggested.
"Maybe…" Cho agreed. "The next time you talk to her, please ask her whether she is having any problems here or not. It seems she trusts you very much"
"Ok" Harry said in reply. "I will do that. Now, who is the second person you wanted to talk about?" Though Harry had an idea who that could be, he still wanted Cho to say it for herself.
"Actually it's about Soha" Cho replied. "What do you think about her?"
"In what way?" Harry asked and feigned surprise, which caused Cho to blush slightly.
"I mean…actually…is she correct for the D.A.?" The words finally came pouring out of Cho's mouth.
"Cho, who is running the D.A now?" Harry asked in an almost stern voice. The last thing he wanted to do was remote-control the D.A.
"I was asking for a suggestion" Cho replied meekly before adding "And you know her better than most of us here"
"I don't know whether I know her better or not but I will not say anything about either her inclusion or non-inclusion into the D.A. It's your duty now" Harry replied.
"I guess so" Cho replied but her voice didn't sound too confident. Both Cho and Neville were having problems regulating the whole D.A. and with the A.D.A. coming into action, it had become even more difficult. Add to all this the upcoming N.E.W.T's, and Cho had her hands full. "I guess I will have to talk to Neville about this"
"Yeah" Harry agreed. "That's the best idea you have come up with today". Both Harry and Cho sat there for a few silent moments as no one had anything else to say.
"Well, that concludes it, doesn't it?" Cho finally said this a bit awkwardly.
"Yeah" Harry's reply was just as awkward. "I guess we get back to our rooms and finish our homework or we will have fuming professors to deal with tomorrow"
"Right" Cho replied. Both of them said good bye's to each other as they parted their ways.
&&&&
The school days seemed to pass by at a very slow pace for Harry. Each day seemed to be filled with homework and more homework added to the fact that Harry already had knowledge of many charms and hexes which were being taught to the sixth year students. So, in a way it was quite boring for him in many classes. The class in which he was making the most progress was that of transfiguration and potions.
Fleur had fixed some extra classes for Harry after she had received a request from him. She taught him the basics behind many of the potions which Snape had taught to Harry over the past 5 years. It was not as if that Snape had deliberately avoided teaching a particular portion but it was that Harry had neglected potions because of Snape's teaching style. Yes, even with Snape around he had been able to brew potions but knowing which potion should be used where and when was much different than just learning them by heart.
Fleur's teaching style was such that she let Harry make mistakes and then she would point out the mistakes to him. She would then give him an example from a real life situation where a particular potion would make a lot of difference and this helped Harry a lot in remembering the potion. Harry would then go about making the potion again and more often than not, he would succeed at the second attempt.
Also Fleur, being a new teacher, sometimes made mistakes but she was humble enough to accept them. In fact most of the students liked her for the fact that she accepted her mistakes and they never made fun of her, except for the Slytherins. Rather, the whole school respected Fleur for her qualities and Harry somehow thought that one day Fleur would become one of the most respected teachers of Hogwarts.
Recently Harry also had tasted quite a lot of success with his conjuring up of items. He had been able to conjure up a spherical object which was greeted with a lot of appreciation from McGonagall because spheres were one of the hardest objects to conjure. Harry continued to have a daily session of 30 to 45 minutes with McGonagall and slowly but surely he was coming to terms with the conjuring part.
McGonagall had even accepted his request of continuing their private lessons and help out Harry with animating the conjured items but she told him that it would be another month before he could finally start on the animation part. Harry was quite satisfied with the proceedings as he knew that moving step-by-step was the right thing to do.
As the days passed, the boredom finally gave way to some excitement but Harry didn't like it a bit. It started the day he had a disastrous DADA class.
"Potter" the voice of Snape bellowed across the DADA classroom and Harry knew it was his summon to proceed to the dueling area.
"Weasley" Snape called out next, and Harry cursed Snape inwardly. Everyone in the school now knew that there had been a rift between Harry and his friends and now, Harry thought, this slimy git wanted to use a duel to cause further tension between them. Harry saw that Ron looked quite determined in his approach towards the dueling arena and had a tight grip on his wand. He also noticed the look of apprehension on the face of Hermione and realized that Ron must be quite upset.
"Well…" Harry told himself "…this can't be avoided. I better get hit by a couple of Ron's spells so that he would not feel too bad if I win". As both the students took their respective positions and stances, Snape finally signaled the start of the duel.
&&&&
"What happened?" Remus asked as he saw a grumpy looking Harry enter the 5'th compartment.
"Bad day at school" Harry replied.
"No problem if you don't want to tell" Remus replied without taking his eyes off Harry. Harry, knowing that there was no way he could avoid it, spoke up.
"Snape put me against Ron…" Harry said "…and it didn't go too well for any of us". Looking at the stare which Remus was still giving him, Harry thought it better to spill the beans. "Ron used some really bad spells…pain causing spells…and I barely managed to avoid getting hit by them. Snape did nothing to stop him and I knew that I could get really hurt if I didn't finish it quickly enough"
"And then?" Remus asked, assuming that Harry had finished the duel on his own terms.
"I defeated Ron but it didn't go too well after that" Harry gave a big sigh. "He went after me with his bare hands in the classroom even after Snape had declared the duel as over"
"I see" Remus said.
"And that git did nothing to stop him" Harry said in an angry voice. "I had to stun Ron again and Snape took points off me for stunning a student in class without permission. I mean…it wasn't my fault and…oh well" Harry threw up his hands in desperation.
"Then everything is going according to your plan, isn't it?" Remus asked in the same tone. Harry looked at him for a moment and then shifted his gaze towards the floor. He knew that everything was going according to his plan but the side-effects of his plan were becoming a bit hard to handle.
"Hello guys" came the cheery voice of Tonks as she entered the room at that moment. Both Harry and Remus looked at her and saw what was a daily routine nowadays – Tonks stumbling on the new cloak stand which was placed adjacent to the couch.
"Damn" Tonks said as she got up rubbing her back and both Harry and Remus were smiling by now. Some things in life never change even if you plan to do so.
&&&&
"What are you doing Harry?" Tonks asked grumpily as she came out for her regular midnight snack.
"Just reading a book" Harry replied without taking his eyes off the book.
"What book?" Tonks asked as she sat down into a chair opposite to Harry while Dobby was getting her snack ready.
"A book on prophecies"
"Really! Where did you get one?" Tonks asked, excited at the prospect of learning about how many prophecies have come true till date.
"It was in the Potter Family Vault" Harry replied. "There are some nice facts here"
"Like what?" Tonks queried.
"It seems that people have to do weird things to make prophecies come true. One person had to burn down his house for a prophecy which stated that only he would be able to avoid a famine in his area" Harry stated. "Also, he had taken over 3 years to understand what he really had to do"
"So does that mean you would be taking that long too?" Tonks asked as she started eating whatever Dobby had provided.
"Actually it depends on my understanding of the prophecy" Harry said. "Sometimes it takes a person minutes to understand it while it may take others years to get hold of the point"
"Hmmm…" Tonks replied in understanding.
"But there is one common thing in all of them" Harry said thoughtfully. "Something which Dumbledore told me a few days ago"
"What was it?" Tonks queried.
"It's all about the choices one makes" Harry replied. "I have to make the right choices at the right time to reach my goal"
"I see" Tonks replied. "Do you think you are doing that?"
"I don't know" Harry replied truthfully. "In hindsight, everything seems as if it could have been done in a better way possible but, at that moment, it seemed the right thing to do"
"Yeah" Tonks said. "But you better watch out your every step"
"I think that applies more to you than me" Harry said with a laugh while Tonks poked out her tongue at him.
&&&&
October 10'th, which was a Sunday, finally arrived. Harry had woken up on schedule at 5:30 am and knew that he had a good one and a half hour before either Remus or Tonks woke up. Harry did his daily meditation and practiced legilimency on a mentally weaker double for over an hour. Finally, when he thought that he had had enough practice for the day, he took a shower and took on the responsibility of awaking the others.
"WAKE UP"
"Who is that?" Tonks asked angrily as she stirred in her bed. Looking up groggily, she saw a grinning Harry standing beside her bed. "Don't you know that you shouldn't enter a girl's room without knocking?"
"I knocked but you didn't answer"
"Liar" Tonks said as she took her pillow and covered her head. "Now go away"
"Nope"
"Goway" Tonks said in an incomprehensible manner but Harry understood her perfectly.
"Tonks, get up now" Harry said.
"Why? I don't have office today nor I have homework like you" Tonks replied defiantly. "Why do you wish to disturb the beauty sleep of a nice little girl like me?"
"Nice? Little?" Harry questioned in amazement and immediately a pillow crashed into his face. Regaining his balance and composure, Harry said "Now that you are awake, let me remind you that today we are opening 'Sknoher Security Services' formally"
"Oh yes. I forgot completely" Tonks said sitting up bolt upright. "So today is the day we start making money" She said with a grin before saying "Oops…I meant helping people"
Harry rolled his eyes at this and went over to Remus's room to get him up. Soon, all three of them were dressed and seated at the breakfast table, sharing a lovely piece of Dobby's cooking.
"So, did you take Dumbledore's permission to leave Hogwarts?" Remus asked.
"Yeah" Harry replied. "I also told him the purpose of my visit to Diagon Alley and he was happy to hear that two Order members will be with me"
"That's good" Remus said. "So Harry, how do you plan to run this thing?"
"Why are you asking me? It's your stuff" Harry replied.
"You dumped it on us" Tonks chipped in. Harry said nothing and continued eating.
"Seriously…" Remus said "…you must have had something on your mind. I mean, you can't expect me and Tonks to sit at the shop counter or visit people's houses to fix security stuff"
"Unless we are making millions out of this" Tonks commented, which drew a glare from Remus. Immediately her focus shifted back onto her food.
"It's quite simple, isn't it?" Harry said. "All you have to do is appoint some employees and they will do the work"
"And who, mighty Potter, is going to pay the employees?" Tonks asked.
"I will. And once you guys start making profits, you could pay me back whatever you owe me. Ok with you guys?" Harry asked to which both Remus and Tonks nodded.
"But Harry, have you decided on the employees?" Remus asked. "I mean, we will be needing trustworthy employees for this stuff"
"Don't you people know any trustworthy people?" Harry queried.
"Let me see, how many trustworthy people are friends with werewolves?" Remus wondered aloud.
"I know many trustworthy guys but they will be more interested in me than the work" Tonks said in an off-handed manner.
"Come off it Harry" Remus said. "We know you already have something up your sleeves"
"Well…" Harry began "…I have talked to 2 people about this and both of them agreed"
"Who are they?" Remus asked.
"One is Norman Woods and…" Harry was interrupted here by Remus.
"Norman? How did you know Norman?" Remus looked astonished at Harry's choice.
"He is Oliver Wood's dad. I was with Wood on the quidditch team and I had approached him to work in this shop, but he said he was too busy trying to make a career in quidditch" Harry explained. "His dad, however, had lost his job recently because of some argument and he seemed eager enough to work. So I asked him to help us out. How do you know him?"
"He was 2 years our senior" Remus explained. All of them had finished their breakfast by now and were just chatting away. "He was a very good Chaser himself. Good man, Norman"
"Nice to hear that" Harry said with a smile. He had been a bit worried before but after getting Remus's approval, he seemed to be satisfied with his selection. "And the other one is a girl named Sarah Miller"
"A girl? How old? Good looking or not? Do you like her? Does she like you?" Tonks started on her babble.
"Tonks!" Remus gave another hard stare at Tonks who made a face and said 'spoilsport'.
"Actually I got my knives and wizard radar from her shop. Yes, her father has a shop on Diagon Alley. She had finished her studies from another school but recently they have fallen on some hard times and she was always working at her fathers shop" Harry said. "So I offered her this job and both she and her father were happy"
"I see" Remus said thoughtfully. "Do you think she is ok?"
"Of course" Tonks said. "She's Harry's choice so she HAS to be ok". Harry blushed deeply at this but didn't say anything while Remus had given up on his intentions of censoring Tonks.
"She has good knowledge of Defense artifacts…" Harry said.
"Just like Harry" Tonks interjected but Harry ignored her.
"And she knows how to handle a shop. My idea is that she can be at the shop while Mr. Wood can look at the installation of the security systems"
"And when Mr. Wood is out, Harry can visit the shop and check if everything is going fine or not" Tonks said dreamily. "Maybe he can even fine-tune some items"
"I think we should be going now" Harry said hastily as he noticed that Tonks comments were going from bad to worse, at least according to his own taste.
"Yeah…she must be waiting for you" Tonks said as she saw Harry change his appearance. The Harry in front of them now had shoulder-length straightened hair, his cheek bones seemed to be more protruded than normal and his eye color was grayish. Tonks gave him a wink before all three of them left with the help of portkeys and arrived in the Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes shop.
"Hiya Harry" Fred said. "We have been waiting for you"
"Yeah man" George added. "Time is money and we have wasted a lot of money already"
"Ok, let's go to the shop now" Harry said in a business like manner which impressed Remus very much but what Remus didn't know was that this was the only way to get the twins to stop.
"Hey…" Tonks whispered into Harry's ears "How did they recognize you?"
"I had told them that I will be under the Polyjuice potion and I had described my looks to them" Harry informed her. "And also that I will be accompanied by the best known werewolf and metamorphmagus here"
"Ha Ha" Tonks gave a mock laugh. "Very funny" she said as they almost reached Gringotts.
"Well, you can't even take a compliment correctly" Harry said as they came to a stop in front of a signboard saying 'Sknoher Security Services'. The signboard was encircled by loads of locks of different sizes floating in mid-air which kept opening and closing all on their own. All the locks kept moving around the signboard forming new shapes as a whole, but the most frequent shape was the one of a hand whose index finger kept beckoning people to come towards it. Another of the twin's ideas, Harry thought with a smile.
"Welcome to 100, Diagon Alley, the home of 'Sknoher Security Services'" Fred said in a dramatic fashion as quite a few onlookers had stopped to see the signboard and the different shapes forming around it. "Sirs and Madams please enter and this shop will be officially open" George added.
Harry, Remus and Tonks did as they were told and immediately a shower of gold and silver spaghetti started shooting from all sides of the shop. Also, the sign on the door changed from 'Opening Shortly' to 'Open'.
"Hi Harry" chorused two people from behind the counter and Tonks guessed that they too had been told that Harry would be under the Polyjuice potion.
"Hello Remus" Norman greeted Remus with a hug and Remus reciprocated similarly. Tonks, on the other hand, had rushed to Sarah and was talking to her in a hushed tone and giggling every now and then. Harry looked daggers at Tonks who rolled her eyes when she saw his stare and turned away, giggling even more madly now.
All three of them stayed in the shop for over an hour inspecting the different items the twins had thought of and their prototypes. Remus saw some items which he had seen back at the trunk and he assumed that Harry had also contributed to the items on sale. Overall, the shop had almost a prototype of everything a house needed, from curtains to fireplaces to doors, but each prototype had a certain magic on them which prevented the entry of any unwanted person. In some ways, Harry thought, it was similar to the doors in his trunk but inferior in quality.
Remus was fascinated with the variety of items and kept enquiring about each of them. Fred and George explained everything to him. Finally, after seeing off their first customer, the three of them made their way back to the trunk.
"Whoa, you certainly have choice" Tonks said when all of them were back in the trunk.
"Yeah" Remus agreed. "We never thought it would turn out so good"
Harry was about to say something when Tonks asked Remus seriously "So you liked the girl too? I think she is a bit too young for you"
"Tonks…" Remus said with a false smile and in a sing-song tone "…in a few days it will be the full moon again"
Tonks gulped visibly and said again "I meant, you liked the shop too?"
"Yes" Remus said with a genuine grin this time while Tonks had a nervous smile on her face.
"Ok…enough joking now" Harry said to both of them as he changed back to his normal appearance. "We need to talk about some things now"
"I am tired" Tonks said as she stretched her body.
"Ok then…" Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders "…just don't complain later on about what I am about to tell Remus". Tonks gave a mock glare at Harry before following him and Remus to the couch.
"Please take these…" Harry said as he held out his hand which had 2 earrings in it. "…and put them on.
"Yeah" Tonks shouted in amusement. "Remus in earrings, yippee!"
"What are these Harry?" Remus asked seriously because he knew Harry wasn't joking at all.
"Just put them on" Harry said. "Don't worry, you don't need to have your ears pierced for these. These ones just stick to your earlobes unless you press this spot on the earrings" With this, Harry pointed out a spot which was on the backside of the earring.
Both Tonks and Remus took one earring each and put them on. Within seconds, both of them had taken them off and were staring at Harry in amazement and anticipation. Tonks looked very serious when she asked Harry in a heavy tone "Where are the sounds coming from?"
"Let me explain it to you" With that, Harry started to explain to them about how he had obtained some spying devices in Knockturn Alley, leaving out the name of Malfoy from it. He also told them that he had managed to attach a spying device to the cloak of a death-eater and that was how he had got the information about the attack on Azkaban. Finally, he explained how the twins were giving away gifts to people which had spying devices in them.
"Ok" Tonks said to him when Harry paused. "So you must be having one of these earrings and you are trying to pick up activities of death-eaters"
"And…" Remus said thoughtfully "…the main work of the twins in this new business is attaching spying devices to the security equipments, right?"
"Yes" Harry replied. "Both of you are right"
"Do you have any idea where this could land you?" Tonks asked and Harry thought she was getting angry at him.
"I know that this is illegal but this is one of the best methods to gather information" Harry replied. "Look, I am not on a lonesome hero trail, wanting to destroy a dark lord and his army on my own. Why do you think I am giving you these earrings? It is because I need your help and if you think that we won't be able to handle a situation then you…" Harry pointed at Tonks "…can call in the ministry aurors while Remus can bring in the Order members"
Tonks looked a bit pacified at this but Remus still had a worried look on his face.
"You shouldn't be doing all this stuff alone" Remus said.
"I know" Harry replied. "That's why I am bringing you two in. Look, I had been searching for methods of gaining information and this was the best thing which came up. I can depend on you two with my life and the moment we feel the need of somebody else owning an earring, we can check out the next most reliable person around us"
"You know Harry, you could be in Azkaban if this comes out" Tonks said. "In fact, all of us could be there"
"Don't worry about that" Harry said. "I know that I am the only hope of the wizarding world in defeating Voldemort and Dumbledore won't let anything happen to me. He made a mistake with Sirius but he will not make a mistake with me and as long as I am around, you guys won't be in Azkaban"
"We are not worried about us being in Azkaban…" Remus said "…but rather you being there. But yes, I agree with you that Dumbledore won't let anything happen to you"
"So, are you guys with me?" Harry asked a bit hesitantly. "The only condition is that you can't tell anyone about the earrings"
"Do we have a choice?" Tonks asked. She didn't like the idea of capturing death-eaters all by themselves but she couldn't leave Harry alone. "Also, now I understand why you were gifting us a business where we would have no work to do. In fact, you have burdened us with a workload beyond your own imagination". Harry just nodded in reply.
"We are with you as long as you don't risk yourself unnecessarily" Remus told Harry.
"Isn't that ridiculous, Remus? I have already told you about the prophecy, remember?" Harry said with a sad smile. Remus said nothing but nodded in reply. Both Remus and Tonks put on one earring each and Harry did the required wand work to turn the rings invisible.
"Now I have one more thing to tell you" Harry said, not meeting anyone's eye. "Are you ready for it; because it will be something you could never have imagined?" Remus and Tonks exchanged a nervous glance before both of them gave an affirmative nod. Harry took a deep breath and started.
"You both have the earrings now so it is only a matter of time before you found it out by yourselves. I just told you that I had put a spying device on a death-eater"
"Who is it?" Tonks asked sharply while Remus clenched his fists tightly. Both of them now knew that they were going to hear the name of a death-eater who was known very well by them.
Harry looked at the flooring and gave a deep sigh. "Percy Weasley"
"WHAT!" Remus stood up immediately while Tonks had her mouth covered with her hands. "The son of Arthur Weasley – a death-eater?" Harry gave a somber nod in reply which caused Remus to slump back into his seat. "Oh my god" was all that came out of his mouth.
"How long have you known about this?" Tonks was the first person to regain composure.
"Before the Azkaban battle" Harry replied.
"And you never bothered to tell us?" Remus said this in spite of the shock he was still in.
"Actually I didn't know what to do. In fact, I even let Percy go away scot-free without doing anything to him" Harry said in resignation. "I didn't know whether I should tell anyone or not. I mean, what will the Weasley's think? What will be Mrs. Weasley's reaction? These are the things which have held me back till now"
"Are you sure it was Percy?" Tonks asked.
"Yes. I saw the mark myself" Harry told her and Tonks's head dropped again at this.
"Look…" Harry spoke again after a few moments of pin-drop silence. "I really don't know how to handle the Percy situation. Though I don't like the idea of lying to the Weasleys, I think that even if Percy turned up dead with his marked arm severed…" both Tonks and Remus were looking at him in disbelief but Harry didn't stop "…rather than as a death-eater, then it will be all for the better. Don't take it too seriously but in my opinion, Mrs. Weasley would never be able to bear the shock" Harry said in a sad whisper. "Never"
"Everyone has to go through difficult periods in life Harry" Remus said gravely. "That doesn't mean that you can avoid the truth. Look at what Peter did. Would you be able to bear it if Percy did something like that to his own family?"
"NO" Harry shouted. "He wouldn't…"
"He could" Tonks said. "We need to take care of this situation as soon as possible. Maybe we won't tell the Weasleys the truth now but it will come out eventually"
"I agree" Remus said while Harry also nodded his head. He knew that this subject couldn't be avoided any longer.
Finally, after a few minutes of silence, in which everyone was lost in their own thoughts, Remus spoke again "I will go and talk to Dumbledore now and maybe we will have an Order meeting tomorrow to sort out the issue"
Tonks and Harry said nothing about this as Remus got up and left the room using the portkey. Silence reigned in the room after that.
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"Hi Harry"
"Hello Mark" Harry replied monotonously as he continued with his lunch. It was Monday and he knew that there would be an Order meeting today to discuss the situation of Percy. Most of the senior members would be present in the meeting along with Arthur Weasley. All this had been playing on his mind throughout the day and his mood was worse off for it.
"You know what…" Mark said excitedly. "…one guy today stumbled on a room on the third floor which has a cage door in it. I wonder what is there"
"Must be something interesti…" Harry trailed off at this and his forehead became creased with worry. Mark, who didn't notice this, kept on babbling at what he was planning to do but Harry paid absolutely no interest to it. Mark saw Harry bring out something in his left hand and press it (or did he rub it?) for a couple of seconds before putting it back into his pocket. Even though Harry had kept the object in his hand for some time, Mark had been unable to get a clear view of it.
Harry quickly took out a piece of parchment and a quill and began to write down very fast. Finally, after scribbling furiously for over a couple of minutes, Harry left the table and took off at full speed, leaving behind a bewildered looking Mark. Many glances were cast at the speeding figure and if Harry had stopped and looked back, he would have seen Hermione being pulled back by Ron to keep her from following him. After running around for a couple of minutes, he found an empty classroom, changed his appearance and portkeyed away to Diagon Alley.
"Ah…so nice to see you again" Harry said as he came face-to-face with Fudge who had a hooded robe on.
"What do you want this time?" Fudge asked a bit nervously as he noticed that the usual taunting smile was missing from the face of his well-wisher.
"Take this…" Harry handed Fudge the piece of parchment on which he had been scribbling furiously a few minutes back. "…and act on it as fast as you can"
"What is this?" Fudge asked wearily. "This is just a list of names"
"Yes" Harry replied. "A list of names of the people who will be approached by death-eaters for recruitment"
"What!" Fudge exclaimed. "When…how did you…know…know this?"
"Fudge, why do you keep asking me these 'how did I know' questions?" Harry queried. "You know that it's my job to know things and it's your job to maintain law and order. Just do it and don't ask any further questions"
"What if you are trying to trap…?" Fudge asked but stopped in mid-sentence when he saw his well-wisher tapping his fingers on the table in front of him. "Ok…I will get to this tomorrow". Seeing the speed of tapping increase, Fudge hastened to add "No, this is urgent. I will call a meeting of the council right now"
"Good" Harry said as he stopped his tapping and felt relieved that Dumbledore, the Order and a group of aurors would soon start working in tandem. Hopefully, this time they would be able to stop a number of people from going missing. He was about to say something when he saw a familiar face in the group of people seated in The Leaky Cauldron. "You go and do your work while I get you some good press" Harry said as he pointed out Rita Skeeter to Fudge. Immediately the plump face of Fudge broke into a smile and he quickly got up and proceeded towards the ministry while Harry went towards the table where Rita Skeeter was seated.
"Is the other seat taken?" Rita Skeeter turned around to find Simon Sinatras standing just behind her. She had been searching for this person for a long time as she wanted to get his interview and finding the person right in front of her almost made her scream out in joy.
"Unless you want to join me" Rita said, keeping her exterior self as calm as possible.
"It would be my pleasure" Harry replied with a smile and sat down as gracefully as he could. "May I know why such a beautiful lady is sitting all alone in a place like this?" Harry asked even though he was inwardly thanking his stars that his classes for the day had been called off due to some meeting between the staff members; which he knew was most likely the meeting of the Order.
"I was waiting for some charming person to give me an interview" Rita said with a matching false smile.
"And has that person arrived?" Harry asked.
"I think so" Rita said as she took out her quick-quotes quill and parchment. "But I still don't know whether that person would give an interview to me or not"
"Anyone would be willing to give an interview to such a charming lady like you" Harry replied.
"So, can we begin?" Rita asked, her demeanor changing to that of the reported she was.
"Of course" Harry said. "But can we move over to another corner please? It's too crowded on this side" Without even waiting for an answer, Harry got up and escorted Rita to the other side of the room which was almost empty.
The interview went on for well over an hour and a half in which Harry explained how good a person Fudge was, how much he had done for his family and what sacrifices he had made for the ministry. Harry had a few difficult moments when he had to invent up names of Fudge's relatives but at the end Aunt Demoniaca, Uncle Hamardy and cousin Mandypala all had their best wishes for Fudge and always hoped that he would prevail in protecting England from evil forces.
"Thank you for this interview Simon" Rita said as she finally stowed away her quill and parchment.
"No problem" Harry replied. "I hope you will print the truth and not twist my interview out of proportions to suit your needs".
"How can you ever think of me like that?" Rita said with a playful pat on Harry's shoulder. "I would never do anything like that to you". Harry smiled a genuine smile this time as he wondered to what level people could go to get their work done.
"I hope not" Harry said though he feared that it might not be the real case. Just then he saw another familiar feminine shape come into view from the far end of The Leaky Cauldron and saw that he had been spotted immediately by her. Cursing his luck inwardly, he continued to have his tête-à-tête with Rita, pretending to have not noticed anything but soon enough, an orange haired auror was standing next to him.
"You again?" Tonks asked without a hint of courtesy in it.
"Oh…hello lady" Harry said with a smile. "Have we met before?" He asked as he put up the best questioning look he could muster.
"Yes" Tonks replied firmly and changed to her pink-haired self.
"Oh yes, now I remember" Harry looked like a person whose memory had just been revived. "How are you?"
"I am fine" Tonks retorted "But who are you and how do you keep popping up here?"
"I am a friend who has to do his job" Harry replied. "By the way, this is my friend Rita" he said introducing Tonks to one of the most renowned reporters (for all the wrong reasons) in England.
"So it's Rita now" Tonks thought to herself before giving a false, friendly smile towards Rita who returned an equally false gesture.
"By the way, I should be going now" Tonks said. "I have some business to take care of"
"Nice seeing you again" Harry said as Tonks left. When Tonks was out of sight, he breathed a sigh of relief and thought it best to leave.
"Rita, it's been a pleasure talking to you but I have to leave now too" Harry said with a sad expression.
"I understand" Rita said. "Thanks for the interview"
"The pleasure was all mine" Harry said with a slight bow and headed towards the apparation point of Diagon Alley leaving behind a smiling Rita Skeeter. Harry's idea was to apparate to Sunshine Villa and then portkey back to his trunk since he didn't want to use a portkey in front of all the people present. As he neared the apparation point, he noticed a lane which seemed almost empty and he took out his wizard radar which confirmed his suspicions. Quickly he took out the portkey from his back pocket and returned to his trunk.
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"This time I will show Harry the guy I had been talking about" Tonks muttered under her breath as she walked towards the apparation point leaving behind 'Simon' and Rita. "Harry thought I had a crush on this guy but today I will show him that this guy is a big jerk who likes Rita. Rita! Couldn't he find someone else" Tonks had reached the apparation point by now. "Why am I worried who he likes anyway? Because that scar-head said I had a crush on him and today I will show him"
Tonks apparated to just outside Hogwarts and then portkeyed inside the trunk which was now no longer referred to as 'Harry's Trunk' but rather as the 'Family Trunk'.
"Dobby"
"Yes Harry Potter's Tonkie?" Dobby said as he popped beside Tonks.
"How many times do I have to tell you I am not Harry Potter's" Tonks voice showed her frustration at being unable to change an elf's habit.
"Dobby is not knowing the answer to that question, Harry Potter's Tonkie" Dobby replied timidly, not realizing he had called Tonks just what she didn't want to hear – again!
"Argggg…" Tonks cried out in frustration and stomped off towards Harry's room. Taking out the book which Remus had given to Harry on his birthday, a replica of 'Hogwarts – A History', she flipped over to the last page where the second copy of the marauders map was present. She quickly scanned through the map but, to her rising concern, found that Harry's name was not present at all. After she had cross checked the map for the third time she started to panic and was thinking of whom to contact when she heard footsteps outside.
"Harry, is that you?" Tonks asked as she rushed out to meet the newcomer but froze in her place.
"Hi Tonks" Harry said in his normal voice but to his surprise found Tonks pointing her wand towards him.
"Who are you?" Tonks asked in a dead serious voice. "SPEAK NOW OR YOU WILL BE TAKEN INTO CUSTODY" Tonks shouted, more out of fear than real anger. In front of her stood the person named Simon Sinatras.
"Damn" Harry said to himself as he realized the situation and kicked out in frustration. Immediately the room provided a variety of items which could be broken and Harry kicked a glass vase and broke it to pieces. It was quite unlike him to lose his anger nowadays but he knew he had made a grave mistake today which would blow his whole cover on the Fudge issue.
"SPEAK UP" Tonks shouted again which brought Harry back to his senses.
"It's me Tonks" Harry said as he changed back into his original self.
"You…Harry…" Tonks stammered for a second and had almost lowered her wand before her auror senses kicked in again "Prove it"
"Tonks!" Harry said in frustration but on seeing no change in Tonks attitude, he said "Ok, I will just walk through to the 4'th compartment and come back. Is that fine with you?"
"Do it" Tonks replied knowing fully well that only the real Harry could go through the door. Once she saw Harry disappear through the door and reappear again, she finally lowered her wand and slumped down on a sofa which had appeared just behind her.
"It has been me all along" Harry said in guilty voice as he slumped down on a sofa opposite to Tonks. Seeing that Tonks was looking very sad, Harry said "Actually I didn't want to be seen in the public as Harry. You know how they go on about me. I had some things to do and I wanted to do it incognito and that's why Simon Sinatras had to come into existence"
"But why Harry?" Tonks asked in a whisper. "Why the attack on Diagon Alley? Why were you in the ministry?"
With a sigh, Harry continued "The person I attacked in Diagon Alley was a death-eater. In fact, it was Percy Weasley and that's how I knew he was a death eater" Tonks head snapped up at this but she did not interrupt Harry. "I wanted to gather some information regarding Voldemort's activities and that's why I took him as I had told you before. And I was at the ministry because I wanted Fudge to approve the usage of magic by the D.A. members in the trunk. You had said that all I had to do was make a wish but I didn't want to take any chances with it"
"And how come you can get Fudge to do whatever you wish to?"
"I…I have…" Harry paused for a moment and his mind wandered to his summer vacation before the start of the 5'th year. He had been angry and frustrated at being left in the dark for so long and later he understood that hiding the truth can only lead to disaster. His trust in Dumbledore had taken a beating at the end of the fifth year only because of lies and falsehood. He didn't want the same thing to happen here. He didn't want to lose the trust of Tonks and Remus.
"I have some documents which will mean the end of Fudge if they come out in the public" Harry said. "I am using these documents to force him into doing what I want"
"You are blackmailing a person?" Tonks asked in disbelief and her voice gave away her emotions. Harry felt as if someone had slapped him in the face when he heard her tone.
After another long sigh, Harry said "You know what; this is the same Fudge who made the life of Sirius miserable…" Harry's voice sounded very bitter "…and I wanted to make his life hell. I wanted to empty his accounts and make his life miserable. I wanted him to be disgraced in front of everyone so that he would be thrown out of the ministry. And I had everything in my hands…you know…right in these hands" Harry said as he looked at his own hands. "All I had to do was just hand them over to the nearest newspaper office and Fudge would have been dealt with. I wanted to do it but…"
"But what?" Tonks asked in a whisper.
"I saw that I could use him to help others. I could use him to make changes which would help all of us. And I had to resort to blackmailing him to get things done"
"It could have been done in other ways too" Tonks said, her voice nowhere near to the one everyone was familiar with.
"Maybe…" Harry said as his gaze returned towards the floor. "I may have been wrong but I tried for the best"
"What about the money?"
"What money?" asked a surprised Harry.
"The money which Fudge had 'awarded' to us. It was you, wasn't it?" Tonks asked sadly.
"Yes" Harry replied. When he had done all that, he had felt that he was doing the right thing but now, somehow, it seemed that he might have made a mistake down the line. Somehow it seemed that there could have been a better way out than blackmailing Fudge into all those stuff and this made him feel very guilty. "I thought that the ministry owed its staff something and I forced Fudge into doing it"
"It was pity, wasn't it?" Tonks asked in a low whisper.
"Pity?" Harry seemed shocked at this word. "For what?"
"You know…" Tonks began "…you have so much money that you always think of donating it. It's always been pity for the others, hasn't it? Pity that they don't have as much as you. Like you have done with Sarah or Norman."
"No Tonks" Harry was breathing very fast and he felt somewhat panicky at the charges Tonks was leveling against him. "It was not pity and it never will be. You guys deserve more than what I forced Fudge into giving you"
A sad smile came over Tonks face as she asked again "What about Rita Skeeter? She's now Rita for you?"
"No Tonks" Harry said, his voice still carrying the panic in it. "It's just an understanding between me and Fudge. He does what I tell him and I say good things about him to the press. That's why Rita Skeeter came into the picture"
Tonks remained silent at this and her silence made Harry quite worried. Tonks was the kind of person who would either be angry or be happy but seldom had Harry seen Tonks sad. Yes, she had been sad after the deaths of Sirius and Kingsley but that was another thing altogether. This time Harry knew that he was the culprit and he felt miserable for it. He was in a state where he could do anything to make Tonks smile and get rid of her sadness but he couldn't think of anything which would have the desired effect.
"Tonks…" Harry began. Tonks was still staring at the floor and Harry decided to continue "I am really sorry for all this. I never thought it would hurt you so much. I did all this for the best"
"Harry, you might have been right from your point of view but I don't know what to say. I mean, this is almost like cheating, isn't it?" Tonks said slowly. As Tonks slowly got up from her seat, Harry heard and saw a scene which almost broke his heart.
"Do I even know who you are Harry?" Tonks said with tears in her eyes and then walked away towards her room.
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A/N:
Ok guys, here's the 15'th chapter. Sorry for the delay of an extra week. Next chapters will be more regular as my work pressure has decreased a bit :)
I made the mistake of putting Cho in the same class as Harry in some previous chapters. I regret it and will rectify it at the end of this fic as I don't have the energy to go back again.
Nathalie-z – Thanks for pointing out the mistake I made by putting Cho in the same class as Harry.
dnd4ever – By calling Harry an idiot, are you indirectly referring to me? ;)
To all those people whose names I don't mention here - Thanks. Each and every word you write in your reviews is of great importance to me and I always take your suggestions/comments very seriously.
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