Chapter Nine: The Red Envelope

Harry felt the color drain from his face. Dumbledore, gone? It can't be! What if he never wakes up? What if some Deatheaters go to finish him off? He was the only one Voldemort ever feared! And now he's unable to fight with me. What chance do I stand now? Harry was frantic with worry. Luckily, Professor McGonagall was taking a more firm approach.

"How long have we been in here?"

"Three days," Madame Pomfrey answered.

"THREE DAYS!" McGonagall shouted. "What of the students and the classes?"

"Everyone has had free time, on the Ministry's orders. Mostly—

"Madame Pomfrey, I will need to speak with you. Harry, go to Madame Pomfrey's office and wait for me."

Harry got out of bed without protest and walked across the wing to the Nurse's office. He stepped into a wide room filled with towering shelves that were filled with books such as; Broken bones 101 by Ryan Skize, Cuts and Bruises by Cassandra Jay, and Anger-Management Studies by Dylan Leopold, and How to Heal a Damaged Mind by Wesley Bowens.There was a round desk in the middle of the room littered with flasks of antidotes and papers of all the injuries of the past few years. Harry then heard voices and pondered whether he should eavesdrop on McGonagall. That question didn't last very long, because two seconds later, Harry had his ear pressed to the office door; straining to hear any sound.

"Have you any idea how Potter managed to kill all those Goblins?"

"None," said Madame Pomfrey.

"Well no one just blows over one-hundred Goblins to bits!" McGonagall stated roughly. "Not to mention after he drove over one-hundred Dementors away! Any idea how he managed that?" Madame Pomfrey was now cowering in a corner, wondering whether it was wise to tell the Professor that she hadn't any idea how Harry had managed this feat. Harry was however oblivious to this scene as he could only hear what was being said; but if someone with a sharp eye was looking, they would notice a few locks of bushy hair by the entrance to the wing. The owner, like Harry, was eavesdropping on the heated conversation.

"No, no I don't." Seeing the deadly look on McGonagall's face, she went on. "It must have been a very strong memory though. That, plus the power of a strong wizard, and there is no doubt that young Harry is a strong wizard." Harry swelled with pride at this statement, but tried to keep his cool, as the next words were being spoken.

"There weren't any visitors were there?" McGonagall asked.

"No. Well erm... not any allowed visitors."

"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked fiercely.

"Well... last night I caught Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley sneaking in to see Harry. I told them not to come back because visitors were banned for safety reasons."

"And they didn't come back did they?" the professor asked, her temper rising.

"Oh, alright. I awoke this morning to find someone here sitting beside him, asleep in a chair." Madame Pomfrey admitted.

"Well, did you inform Hermione that she had to go?" McGonagall asked.

"Of course I—," the nurse stopped as she realized something.

"How did you know it was Hermione?"

"Instinct," she said, "Those two and Weasley are inseparable. I had a fifty/fifty chance and I doubted that Mr. Weasley would fall asleep beside Harry's bed. At least I hope so," she added. Madame Pomfrey chuckled and nodded in agreement. Professor McGonagall, who was not used to making a joke, laughed a little too hard, drawing a calculating look from Madame Pomfrey.

"She did deserve a little time here though. Seeing as she is the one that saved young Harry's life," said Madame Pomfrey.

"What?" Harry said, but was drowned out by McGonagall's own inquiry.

"Well, Harry was low on oxygen and I had no idea on how to supply him with it by a spell, so Hermione did this muggle thing called CPR." Harry blushed furiously; he knew what CPR was. Apparently McGonagall did not so Nurse Pomfrey explained it to the best of her abilities.

"It's where you pump hard on someone's chest and blow air thru their mouth. Poor girl, we thought her face would be permanently red." Out in the corridor, the same girl turned as red as an apple and hoped that Harry wasn't listening.

"Very well then," McGonagall said, "I will need to speak to Potter now." Madame Pomfrey hustled off to tend to Professor Flitwick, who was now stirring.

Harry rushed back to his seat and immediately pretended to be interested in Ways to Spot Liars, by Deondre Stout. Harry sat in the chair for at least ten minutes for McGonagall to turn up. She walked in looking tired but awake at the same time if that was possible, and plopped down in front of Harry in Madame Pomfrey's seat.

"So Mr. Potter, I presume you've heard our conversation in the wing, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"So...."

"So, what?" Harry asked.

"How did you destroy the Goblins?" McGonagall, said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," Harry said. "I truly don't know, Professor. I just felt some sort of power surge thru me. I don't even know what spell I used."

"You don't remember?" She asked.

"No, I just don't know what it is and what it does. The words sort of just came out like I had been doing it for years." McGonagall expressed a look of sheer excitement.

"I need to send an owl, Potter. You may have the day off, bye." And with that she left swiftly from the room, leaving Harry with his jumbled up thoughts.

"How many were there?" "I heard over one-thousand!" "No, it had to be at least five-thousand!" "How did he do it?" "I always knew something was up with that Potter." "GOBLINS!"

These were only a few of the murmurs that Harry had to pretend like he didn't hear over the next few days. School had started and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was revealed, and no one liked the choice.

Professor Snape had been given the job on a mere technicality. Albus Dumbledore never made it official, who the next teacher was going to be, though it was common knowledge around the school that Mad-Eye Moody was to be the new professor. For, poor old Moody showed up at the school the night of the attack and fought with the teachers, only to find out that Dumbledore had never gave it in writing that he was to be the next professor. Therefore, McGonagall had to appoint the last person who had the job, and since Snape had held it for about two weeks, he was the only choice.

The potions class was taken over by Moody instead, and he turned out to be a great teacher. It was also lucky for Harry because Moody let anyone with exceeds expectations or higher into his N.E.W.T.s class. Harry's dreams of being an Auror weren't crushed yet, but Moody still made the class hard on them. Harry's class schedule is as follows:

Potions

Herbology

Care of Magical Creatures

Transfiguration

Charms

D.A.D.A.

By the third day of school, Harry was reeling from all of the excitement. His five companions hadn't pushed the subject of the battle, for which he was grateful. Ron, though, asked Harry repeatedly what memory he used, but every time, Harry would ask Ron what was going on with him and Luna, and that usually shut him up.

Another question was why Hermione had been so quiet since the day they came to Hogwarts. This was something that both Harry and Ron noticed easily when she wasn't telling them off for not studying. She would just sit in an armchair and read until bedtime then leave without a word. This was extremely annoying for Harry and Ron but neither of them had time for this because their classes were hard enough to be going on with. That, and Malfoy.

(Flashback: first day of classes)

"Hey, Pothead!"

"What do you want Malfoy? I stopped talking to horse dung last year," Harry's responded.

"Thought you could use a little bit more fame, did you? Wanted to show everyone what you could do so you could get back in the prophet? What a git."

"While we're on the subject of gits, how's your dear old Daddy doing? I hear he's a real hothead down in Azkaban" Harry shot back. Malfoy turned pale and then shouted back.

"He'll be back Potter! And then he'll burn you to a crisp!" Anyway, I hear you have some anger management issues? Shouting all over the place for no reason? Maybe you should be in St. Mungo's with Longbottom's parents, am I right?" Harry was ready to kill Malfoy then and there but Snape turned up and took twenty points from Gryffindor because Harry was thinking of attacking Malfoy.

(End Flashback)

It seemed as if mysteries were turning up everywhere Harry went, but they didn't stop there. That weekend when Harry, Ron, and Hermione was visiting Hagrid; a pitch black owl swooped thru the window right at Harry and dropped a bright red envelope in his lap before flying back off. It was the worst letter Harry had ever read, though it was only a sentence long. There was no name on it and no sign of where it might have come from. All there was was that one sentence. The single most hideous sentence ever.

I know who you are, and I will destroy you.

To my loyal reviewers............

The shadows:

First review- you seem to have the best eye out of all my reviewers! We think a lot alike and you'll see that in this chap but I have to give you credit because you helped me think of new ideas.

Second review- What? I'm practically a grown man! 12 yrs old is legal in America right? Lol just kidding. Thx 4 the compliment, though spell-check helps to. You sound just like my mom, lol

Noname:

You know, Hermione is a good choice for the heir of Merlin. She's got the brains, the talent and she would give Harry the power in an instant. It would be an easy victory if she were it right?

BTW- I like the name, very original.

SapphireMind:

You're not old until you're at least one-hundred! LOL, my sister will kill me if she sees this but sixteen yr olds can get a little moody. As for being stuish, I won't act like I knew what that meant because I didn't, I had to look it up. Thanks for reminding me! I could always use someone who makes sure I don't do stuff like that. It's so easy to screw up.

Shitza:

Thx for the compliment and I hope your box gets better (not sure what that is but ok!) I must say that your fic gets better and better. I can't wait to see how you end it, though I have an idea.

GoldenEyes86:

I thought I lost you! You hadn't reviewed for so long! Thx, and I hope JKR makes a HHr pairing, though it doesn't seem likely.

Notes: Thx for reading and I promise not to EVER take this long again. Too many extra curricular activities for me! REVIEW! Until next time;

CYA!