Chapter 14

The Order ate dinner, but the meeting continued for several more hours afterwards, basically until everyone was at least able to conjure a corporeal, if not solid, patronous; this alone boosted confidence.

The meeting room was lit by the silvery zoo of roaming patroni. Harry matched the spells with their castors for a few minutes. Moony's was a phoenix, and Padfoot's was a wolf. Some of the more amusing ones were Fred's ostrige, Tonk's elephant, Mr. Weasley's seal, and Mrs. Weasley's bird—it was hard to imagine something the size of a fist chasing away Dementors. Among the others were a dolphin from McGonagall, George's sprite, Charlie and his griffin, Mad-Eye's parrot, Neville's cougar, Kingsley's dog, and Splikvin's and Snape's werewolf and thestral.

Hagrid had obtained a new wand a few days earlier after being cleared by the Ministry, but was only able to produce a white mist. He beamed at it nonetheless.

Harry went to bed late that night, falling asleep instantly. When he woke up, it wasn't naturally.

The wind did not stir a single blade of grass. Instead, it hung frozen in
the air like a cold, dead thing seemingly scared into stillness.
He smiled, stretching his long, pale fingers. He gazed out from his throne at those gathered
there under the darkening sky. Gone was the moon, swallowed byshadow.
The stars however, retained their annoying brightness, shining down on his army.

Exactly one hundred and eighty-two Death Eaters from all across the globe had come,
and another seventy two were to be initiated soon. The three-hundred dementors he'd
gathered waited silently a little ways off, turning the plants around them limp;
the ground beneath them was coated with frost as they sucked out all feeling from the atmosphere nearby.

He turned his gaze to the half-creatures. Fourteen Giant clans had come to him; he had killed the rest of course. Four herds of chimeras had joined him, adding eighty more to his forces. Twenty-five trolls lazed next to the fifty half-man, half-bull Minotaurs. Ferocious fighters and formidable opponents, he admitted it—though never to them.

No, he would never tell them. The envoys he had sent to the werewolf and vampire clans had told them that and the half-creatures had refused to join. He clenched a fist, those Death Eaters were lucky to still be alive, if only half due to pain.

Slowly, he rose from his throne. All those who served under him immediately bowed or inclined their heads. He smiled inwardly. It was truly amazing that all these creatures, all the regal purebloods bowed in fear to him—a half-blood born of a treacherous muggle and a foolish witch.

"My loyal servants," he began, Nagini coiling up at his feet, "We have gathered this night to prepare for the war. We will meet our enemies on the fields of blood. But it will be their blood that covers all in red. We shall be victorious soon! The promises I have made you shall be kept. And should your loyalty prove steadfast and true, your rewards shall be increased ten fold. They have made their move, taken their turn. Now, it is ours!"

His army threw out a roar. The air thundered with their cries and he smiled grimly once more. Let them bring their petty Order, let them fight; it would only lead to their defeat. Resistance was futile. In their slow, painful, fruitless deaths, his glory would arise…

"HARRY!"….."HARRY!" Someone was shaking him roughly by the shoulders.

Harry gasped, opening his eyes. Slowly, the world came back into focus, and Harry was glad the contacts never needed to be taken out—it made the process of waking go so much faster.

Remus' whiskered face was the first thing Tallon saw. "Are you alright?" his guardian asked, "You were rigid, and looked like you were in pain."

Harry blinked. "I didn't scream?"

Remus sat down on the bed, the color was returning steadily to his face. "No, you didn't. Salazar was passing through the frame in here and fetched me."

Occlumency must be working a bit, Harry thought. "Remind me to thank him later; I've got to tell Dumbledore."he said, and began to get dressed.

Harry could tell Moony had seen the scars on his back when the older wizard stiffened."Tell him what?"Remus asked instead, to Tallon's relief.

"It was another vision. The first one since—since last school year." Harry looked at Remus with wide, nervous eyes. "He's got an army, Moony! Over two hundred Death Eaters! And that's not all either! Chimeras, Minotaurs, trolls, Giants, and Dementors too!"

"How many in all, do you think?" Remus asked, voice tight.

Harry shuddered, doing the math. "Almost a thousand—no exaggeration."

Remus paled once more. "You're right—Dumbledore has to know."

Harry took out the pendent form under his shirt and said, "Dumbledore."

The surface misted over, then cleared, leaving an extremely awake Headmaster in view. "Hello Harry," he said, "Trouble?"

Harry nodded, "Big trouble—but not here, not yet."

Dumbledore frowned. "Where?"

"I'm not sure. But Sir, I had a vision. It was of Voldemort's army—it's bad Sir, real bad."

Worry creased Dumbledore's already-wrinkled brow. "Would you come to my office at Hogwarts? I would like to see."

Harry nodded. "Yes Sir; I'll be right there." He ended the connection and looked at Remus. "Do we stand a chance?"

Remus sighed. "Yes, in numbers we surpass him by millions. However, he has a tool that cuts our numbers down to a fraction of that: fear. The creatures he has helping him excel at creating it. Chaos, destruction, ferocity—those are their specialties. If there weren't so many people who were scared of them, we'd have beaten Voldemort long ago. A chance, yes we have one—but only one, I think. Unless we can get enough people together that are willing to fight back—we might loose it. Let's hope I'm wrong though."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Definitely."

Remus left and Harry finished getting dressed, then apperated to Hogwarts while bending the wards.

He'd arrived in front of the gargoyle, which leapt aside without hearing the password. Harry climbed the steps and knocked on the door. "Come in."

He opened the door and entered, finding Hedwig sharing Fawkes' perch with the other phoenix, and Dumbledore setting a book aside. The two phoenixes sang Harry a greeting, which he mentally returned—Fawkes seemed surprised and nearly stumbled off his perch.

Dumbledore gestured to the dish of yellow candies on his desk. "Lemon Drop?"

"No thank you, Sir."

"As you wish." Dumbledore walked over to the cabinet and pulled out his pensive. "It is empty," he said.

Harry withdrew the memory of his vision and put it inside. Dumbledore waited for him to finish, then accessed the memory.

For several minutes Harry watched Dumbledore's expression grow more and more grave. Once he exited the memory, he looked at Harry. "Was it painful?"

Harry shook his head. "No actually. Remus said I looked like I was in pain, but I didn't feel anything—I didn't wake up screaming like I normally do either."

"Hmmm….interesting. Perhaps you are building up a resistance towards the effects of your visions. Do I have your permission to show this at the nest Order meeting?"

Harry nodded. "Sir, besides sharing memories, what's a pensive used for?"

"Storing them," the Headmaster replied, "Although the memory never truly leaves your mind, putting it into a pensive makes it less accessible to those who would try to use Legilimency against you. Highly accomplished Legilmens, like Selena and Voldemort, for example, are able to find them despite the lack of—strength—of the memory, but it costs a great deal of energy I am told."

Harry scratched his head. "So, putting something in a pensive makes it harder to recall the details, unless you're watching it in the pensive?"

"Precisely."

"So, what's left in your mind is like—a shadow of the original memory?"

Dumbledore smiled, "A very understandable way of putting it."

Harry nodded, his curiosity satisfied.

A little after lunch, Hedwig arrived at The Hideaway with a note from Snape, saying that Harry's Occlumency lesson was in ten minutes.

Harry spent it clearing his mind, then went to the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts.

Snape was arriving at the same moment, and the two entered the room without a word. Harry again wondered if Snape regretted agreeing to teaching him again.

It was a plain room, with wooden flooring and walls, and two black armchairs; a neutral room. It also cut Harry's connection to sprites, if not to the elements.. He talked with them, then explained what was about to happen.

He nodded to Snape, letting the potions master know that chaos wouldn't ensue if he used Legilmency; which is what he did seconds later.

Harry fell backwards into the armchair, clenching his teeth until they creaked as he fought back. It was only two-thirds force, so Harry was dimly aware of the memories currently being viewed. Tallon yanked himself and Snape, trying to get out of his memories of Voldemort's rising. They saw Cedric die, Wormtail tie Harry to the tombstone, and the knife pierce Harry's arm…

The panther roared in Harry's mind, and he shoved Snape out. Gasping quietly for breath, Harry drank the glass of water the room supplied him with. After nodding to let Snape know he was ready, they began again—this time increasing the intensity until it was almost full force.

Sweat rolled off Harry's face and back, in both pain and nervousness. He could never tell what Snape saw, only received flickers of past emotions—that's what made him nervous; that's what gave him strength.

Tallon's muscles tensed as he searched for the sense of Snape in his mind. Finding it, he spread himself out and charged, imagining himself as a werewolf in his mind. He pulled ferociously, moving towards the edges of his mind.

Snape increased pressure, pulling back and shrinking, then slipped out of Harry's grasp. Harry called his totems and they tracked Snape down. Recapturing him, Harry dragged the potions master out through unseen memories, until there were none at all.

Harry slumped, exhausted and unable to believe it. He looked at Snape, who was now also sitting down. Snape nodded, "I am out."

Harry would have grinned if he hadn't been so tired. He noticed that Snape's face was beaded with sweat, and his breathing wasn't as even as it normally was. "Tired?" Harry croaked.

Snape glared at him. "No Potter, I am not." he replied harshly.

Harry shrugged, and instantly regretted it—just that movement drained him of his energy, low as it was. "We done?" he asked.

Snape got to his feet, "Yes." After steadying himself with the chair, and glaring at Harry when the younger wizard turned a chuckled into a cough, he left.

With a yawn, Harry teleported straight to his bed and slept until dinner.

Coming Up:

Dementors Evolved

Parsloz Patroni

The Challengers

(This is going to be very long)

Then:

'Can't HELP!'

Review Response:

R-Krulle: No, it has nothing to do with power. Dumbledore has one form, and it is a magical creature of light. That means, well, symbolically anyway, that he is completely for the side of good, and he is strong in magical abilities.

Dranix: See the response to 'jamesyankee7's review, it's at the bottom of chapter six, he asked the same. If you still do not understand, feel free to ask again.