Chapter 5 birthday surprises
Once they landed, there was complete silence. Not one of the friends wanted to break the ice. They thought that if they didn't talk about it they could forget about it, but all of them knew how wrong they were. Harry sat there completely shocked. I killed! He thought I murdered another human being! …Don't think about that! He argued with himself; you saw what they did to that mother! Harry's blood went cold at the thought He got what he deserved!
'He deserved that and much more.' Ginny said soothingly into his ear. He didn't even notice that she had made them all tee.
'I know, but I still feel bad.' He said truthfully
'Well don't. I would have killed him with my bare hands if I were in your position.' She told him 'Harry, don't blame yourself. None of us think any less of you. It had to be done, how many people do you think he would have killed if you hadn't done it? Would you rather live with that? Knowing you had the chance, but let him go anyway so that he could kill innocent people for no apparent reason?'
Harry slowly started to see reason, this is war he thought, and people die in war. Ginny handed out the tea and sat down as Mrs. Weasley came through the door and looked around.
'Fudge made a public statement full of lies and ordered a clean up crew to come to Diagon Alley. He told me that you shouldn't be expecting any letters at all, not even a thank you note, the nerve that man has!'
'Mrs. Weasley, I don't want a thank you letter from a ministry that can't even see the truth if it hit them in the face!' Harry said angrily.
'Anyway' she continued 'There were seven Death Eaters dead and the rest taken into custody. Dumbledore is coming here at lunch time tomorrow; after he sorts everything out at the ministry.'
After hearing Mrs. Weasley's news, the four friends bade each other good night and left for bed.
The next morning Harry awoke to the sounds of Ron thrashing around in his bed while mumbling something unintelligible. Harry didn't wake him because he knew how embarrassing it was to have someone wake you up from a nightmare. There was nothing he could do about it. He stood up, pulled on his robe and went downstairs. He was met by a rather sleepy Ginny sitting at the kitchen table looking over at him.
'Morning, sleep well?' She asked.
'Yeah, not too bad, although I cant say the same thing for Ron, you?' Replied Harry.
'Not too bad.' Said Ginny, 'Hermione too.'
'What about her?' Harry asked busy making a cup of tea.
'Nightmares.' She said
'How about you?' Harry asked his eyes searching her face.
'I'm not new to nightmares you know.' She said sadly remembering her past 'my first year'
'Me neither' Harry told her. He made them a couple of sandwiches and placed them on a single plate.
'Do you want to go for a walk' Ginny asked, not waiting for an answer
'Yeah, why not.' He said as he followed her out of the door, carrying his mug in one hand and his plate of sandwiches in the other. They walked through the orchard in silence, comfortable with one another's presence.
'Where are we going?' Harry asked
'To the place where I always go in times like these.' She replied cryptically.
They walked up the hill and halfway to the top, they walked around the small hillside coming to a halt at a small stream with a clump of trees at the other side. Harry climbed onto a big flat rock and placed the plate onto a nice side rock almost as if it was there for that specific purpose. He watched Ginny walking next to the stream, her red hair waving in the small wind. She came to a halt and walked slowly towards the stream wetting her feet a bit in the gentle water. She looks so peaceful, Harry thought to himself as he watched the red head playing with a strand of her loose hair. She turned towards him and smiled, a small, gentle smile that Harry really liked.
'Come on, let's eat.' Harry told her.
'I'm coming.' She said.
Once she was seated next to him they quietly ate their food until Ginny broke the silence
'No one knows about this place, not even my Parents.' Harry felt honoured to be the one that Ginny was showing it to, and asked
'Why did you show me then?'
'I don't know' she began slowly 'I thought you would like it here.'
'I do' he told her 'It's pretty.'
'It makes me feel safe.' She said silently
'Me too,' Harry whispered almost inaudibly. They were there for about an hour talking about nothing in general when the conversation turned towards the battle of the previous day.
'I still don't know how we fought twelve Death Eaters and survived.' Ginny trailed off 'I mean, Mad Eye Moody was one of the few capable of it.'
'You know as well as I how we did it.' Harry said 'We are used to it, fighting. Since when we first went to Hogwarts.'
'I guess I do' she said 'it just seems so…so, surreal. I was brought up with the knowledge that you either run and hide or you die.'
'But it doesn't matter, does it?' Harry asked
'No, not really… Oh, Harry, I forgot to ask you, what did you use in the battle besides your wand?' She asked curiously. She had a general idea about what it did but didn't understand it.
'My gun.' Harry replied cryptically and took it out of its sheath. He had decided that he wouldn't go anywhere unarmed.
'What does it do?' she asked 'How does it work?'
'It shoots bullets.' He told her taking out the clip and handing her a bullet.
She inspected it and said 'It doesn't look like it can hurt you, I mean it's not even sharp.'
'Ginny, the gun shoots the bullet out so fast you can't even see it. You hear it a second too late. After you pull the trigger, it's almost instantly at its target. Picture anything moving that fast, and hitting you.' He explained. 'The shell is filled with an explosive powder and ignites when you pull the trigger. Pressure builds up in behind the bullet, and forces it outwards through the barrel.' He said pointing at the various regions of the gun as he explained.
'Can you show me how it works?' she asked
'There's not really anything much to see.' He told her, as he pulled out a normal bullet and placed it at the top of his clip. He took aim towards a nearby tree and shot. It didn't make a sound except for the click of the trigger and the sound of cracking wood coming from the tree.
He stood up and said 'Come, look here.'
They walked through the stream both wetting their feet this time, and inspected the tree. It was dented in with a small hole where the bullet made impact.
'Wow.' Ginny said.
He looked at her and said 'Normally the sound is a lot louder and hurts your ears for a while but I put a silencing charm on it.'
She nodded in response and took the gun from Harry.
'Wow, I like your aiming charm,' she said as she looked through the sights. Harry had placed a permanent scope charm on it after the Hedwig, Errol escapade.
'Yeah, I made magical bullets with spells on them like stunners and reducto charms.' He said showing her the rest of the bullets.
'Can I try?' she asked excitedly
'Yeah, take aim for that tree,' he pointed towards a nearby tree, about twenty feet 'and pull the trigger. The bullet will hit where the crosshair is.' She took aim and looked rather stunning, Harry thought. Her hair whipping in the wind, her straight back, feet a bit apart and her tongue between her teeth with a look of concentration on her face. When she pulled the trigger you could see the surprise look on her face at the shock of the weapon but a second later gave a squeal of joy and ran towards the tree.
When she passed by Harry her foot caught a rock and she tumbled over. Harry grabbed her around the midriff to break her fall, but he stumbled with her as his foot caught the very same rock. They fell to the ground with Harry underneath Ginny who was a little winded by the impact. Harry stared at her eyes and she matched his gaze until finally realisation struck and Harry couldn't help the blush that was coming to his face. Ginny quickly jumped off him with her own blush and walked slowly towards the tree. Harry staid there for a moment trying to force the memory of how good it felt to have Ginny straddling his hips out of his mind. He composed himself slightly, stood up and went to the tree, standing next to Ginny.
'How did you come up with this idea, I mean the gun?' She asked
'It was my cousin really' he told her 'he was terrorising small kids with a fake one and I thought about placing spells on the bullets.'
'Harry, don't show it to dad, he'll go bonkers with excitement… and probably because it's illegal' She said seriously.
Harry could only laugh at the statement forming a mental image of Mr Weasley with a gun.
'No really Harry, he got something off a muggle that is supposed to wash the dishes and he kept the whole household busy for two weeks trying to find out how it work.' She told him
'Must have been fun.' Harry said sarcastically
'Yeah, it was' She said laughing about it now. 'Harry! Isn't it your birthday today?'
'What day is it?' he said trying to work out. He lost track of the date with his busy schedule
'It is your birthday, Harry how could you forget your own birthday?' she scolded
'I don't know. I guess I forgot.' He said truthfully
'We have to celebrate,' She said happily
'What do you have in mind?' he asked.
She smiled at him in a strange way and for a moment Harry thought she was going to kiss him when she came closer sweetly. She was right in front of him now with the stream at his back. Harry swallowed and took a few deep breaths but any thought about kissing was washed out of his mind, literally when she pushed him in the chest. He toppled backwards and fell into the stream with a splash. The small but powerful current rushed by him and slowly Harry started to slide on the slippery rocks. He started to gain momentum and went faster. He looked around and saw Ginny also plopping into the stream clearly hoping to slide off, so Harry relaxed a bit.
He was moving quickly now, around the bends and dropping a few feet at every small waterfall. He started to enjoy himself when he saw a small pond, the size of a swimming pool in front of him, crystal clear water shimmering in the morning sun. He reached the end of the stream and fell into the water with a splash. When he emerged from the water he saw Ginny falling in right next to him, her white pyjamas completely wet.
When she emerged she screamed 'Race you back to the top!' and set off running back, with Harry trying to force his eyes towards a more civil place on her body. Harry followed suite, all of his troubles forgotten in the presence of the read headed girl, and ran up the hill only to come down again, but he enjoyed it. He enjoyed every second of it.
'When are we going back?' Harry asked
'I don't know.' She said 'we should probably get going.'
'yeah…'
'Isn't it cold for you?' she asked shivering.
'Not really why?' he said silently directing the heat he had already concentrated on himself towards her.
'Well I was cold.' She said puzzled
'Come on we should get back.' Harry told her
'Do you realize that we're still in our pyjamas?' she said laughing
'Yeah, didn't think about it before.' He said getting up and holding out his hand to help her.
She took his offered hand and stood up saying 'Hermione will probably give us a piece of her mind about the importance of wearing day clothes.'
Harry just laughed and went back around the hill closely followed by Ginny. They entered the orchard at nearly lunchtime and walked towards the burrow's back door. They entered the kitchen and Harry froze up, he pulled Ginny in behind him and motioned for her to keep still.
He quickly but quietly walked towards the closed door leading towards the sitting room. He thought he heard shuffling. He pulled out his wand, pointing it at the closed door, bracing himself for a battle but when he opened it he got one of the biggest shocks of his life as everyone shouted as one, 'SURPRISE!'
The sound made Harry jump back suddenly and slam the door shut as hard as he could. He could hear snickering on the other side and Ginny holding onto the table for support because she was laughing so hard.
'What the hell was that?' Harry yelled.
'Your surprise party, stupid.' She said through her laughter.
'Why didn't you tell me?' Harry said realising what had just happened.
'It wouldn't be much of a surprise then, would it?' she said 'Now go back inside.'
Harry opened the door but this time he braced himself, 'SURPRISE!' they all yelled as one again. There, squashed into the small room was Hagrid's huge form in the back, Hermione and Ron near the door, Ron's parents next to them, Charlie, the twins and Bill who was next to Professor Dumbledore. Right behind them was Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley Shackelbolt and Mad-eye-Moody. Harry was overwhelmed by congratulations and "happy birthday's" immediately after he went into the room. He sought out Ron and Hermione shaking hands as he went.
After he found them busy coming towards him he asked 'When did you plan this?' with a huge grin on his face.
He couldn't believe that so many people would turn up for his birthday, he was used to being ignored and grew up with a birthday not being important except for Dudley. He enjoyed their present and cards in the past but didn't really expect them to do all this work for him.
'Since the beginning of summer.' Hermione said
'It really wasn't necessary, you know' he told them
'We know, but don't care.' Ron said happily 'Come on, have some cake.'
In one corner was a huge cake, looking as if it could satisfy even Hagrid, who had already had a slice. Harry got himself a slice and some butterbeer, and went to chat with the guests, thanking them for coming. After an hour of some of the happiest times of his life Mr Weasley shouted for silence
'Thank you.' He told the crowd 'Thank you all for coming today.'
'And Harry' he added looking at the person in question 'time for presents.'
There were a noisy cheer and Harry felt himself being shunted towards the kitchen by various pairs of hands. When they got there Harry looked on in shock. The kitchen table was half full of brightly wrapped presents, all for him, he realised with Mrs Weasley standing proudly behind it.
Tonks came up to him, giving him a present saying 'It's from Moony and I, we found it and thought you could put it to good use.'
He opened the present that felt like a book and saw a transfiguration manual, one that you know from your first days at Hogwarts. He looked over at Tonks and Lupin who stood there looking completely modest as if it was intentional. Just as he was trying to figure out what to say the book began to heat up. He looked down and saw the cover change to black with writing on, it read
Welcome, noble potter heir of James. Are you alone and out of the vision of any professors or anyone that could report you?
Yes No
P.S. only you and a marauder can read so it's just a safety precaution… Padfoot insisted.
Harry was by far too interested to say no so he placed the tip of his wand onto the yes and saw the cover change once again. There was a wizarding picture of a stag, standing next to a dog with a werewolf, looking happy and friendly (if that was even possible) in front of the two huge animals. A rat was standing on the werewolf's back, sniffing and prying near the wolf's backside. They were standing right in front of the forbidden forest at night looking at the camera and occasionally the dog and stag would playfully push against one another.
Above the picture stood the writing "Marauders Mischief Manual". Harry looked over to Lupin who gave him a small smile. Harry opened the book and saw an intro saying that all of their pranks and keys to success were within these covers.
Dumbledore said with a massive twinkle in his eyes 'There are other presents Harry, some less, interesting.'
Harry closed the book with a snap and put it carefully in his pocket thinking that this book would be invaluable. Hermione came bounding towards him this time holding out a small box, the size of a wand holder.
'What's so interesting about a transfiguration manual Harry?' she asked as Harry accepted the small box.
'I'll show you later.' He told her softly.
He opened the box and saw a quill, a plain old quill. He looked at Hermione for an explanation because if he knew Hermione the thing would probably follow you around until all of you homework was completed.
'Its an auto quill.' She explained 'it writes what you think.'
Harry looked at her and said 'Thank you Hermione.'
He gave her a small one armed hug and asked 'I thought you would want one yourself?'
'I bought one for myself when I saw it and thought it would make good presents.' She told him sheepishly.
Ron was right behind her and held out a berty botts every flavour beans box.
'It refills itself three times.' Ron said.
Harry shook his hand happily, so many presents! He thought. Mr Weasley came bounding up excitedly holding out a plug that looked like it was ripped of the cord. It still had wires coming out of the thing!
'Thanks' Harry said laughing with the rest of the crowd. Mr. Weasley also held out a file that Harry recognised as being able to store huge amounts of parchments. Again he thanked Mr and Mrs Weasley and opened a present from the Hogwarts staff. Inside he found a snitch, the golden ball was apparently charmed by Professor Flitwick to come to Harry when they were done playing. He thanked Dumbledore and accepted a box full of lemon drops from him.
Next he opened a present from Neville and saw a strange looking plant with tentacles, waving of their own accord, which gave of brilliant neon light as they moved. He opened
Luna's present, she gave him a free year subscription to the quibbler. He saw a badly wrapped box that were from the Dursleys and pulled out a small dog chew-toy. He threw it away immediately and opened the last present on the table. He looked at Kingsley and Moody and saw them smile at him. He opened it and found a wand holster. An actual wand holster, no more strings, a real wand holster. He read the instructions and saw that it would fling into your hand at your will. He thanked them for the useful present and was about to get some more cake when Hagrid's voice caught him from behind saying
'I got you something Harry, wait up.' Harry turned around and looked at Hagrid. He smiled at Harry and took out a box that rattled violently. He held it out with the lid open and Harry, along with the rest of the group went speechless. Hagrid looked inside the little box and cooed at its contents.
'Um, Hagrid, that's a dragon.' Hermione said still shocked.
'Bu' its still little' he said finally looking at Hermione.
'But it's a dragon, it will grow!' Hermione said working herself up
'No it won'. I placed him into a cauldron to keep it warm because his mother left him. Poor soul, she left him with no one. I had to help him, there the dragons don' go easy on each othe, you know.' He explained
'But it will still grow!' she exclaimed again
'But the cauldron had a permanent shrinking solution in it, he should have been five feet by now… look at the little fellow. The others would have killed him!' he said finally explaining.
'But, Hagrid' Hermione started to whine
'Wait Hermione, I think that we can find out if it will always stay small.' Dumbledore said 'there is a spell to see if something, a potion or a spell is working and how strong it is.'
'But it's a dragon!' Hermione said looking slacked jawed at the headmaster.
Harry couldn't believe Hagrid, typical of him to give someone a dragon for his or her birthday, but on the other hand, it would probably be fun to have a little dragon around.
'Mrs Weasley, help me! Harry can't have a dragon!' Hermione whined
'I agree totally with Hermione, Albus, Harry can't have a dragon.' Mrs Weasley said
'But mum it will stay small.' Ron said
'Hagrid will you put the dragon on the table, I will not harm him.' Dumbledore added at the look Hagrid gave him.
Once the small dragon was on the table Dumbledore pulled out his wand and cast a strange spell on him. The light around the dragon turned to dense orange smoke, so dense that you could hardly see the figure within it. After the smoke vanished Dumbledore said
'The potion was very strong, he will most likely stay like that forever.' Dumbledore said 'I can't see a problem with him accompanying Harry. His flames at his size can't be too big.'
'It only burns the hairs on your arms.' Hagrid said sadly, he would probably have liked it to incinerate anyone within a ten-meter radius.
'As long as he can be kept in control Harry can take him to Hogwarts.' Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. Harry looked at the small dragon on the table and as if on invitation, the dragon flew over to Harry and bumped into his chest clearly thinking Harry would catch him. Harry was startled for a moment, but he caught him anyway. As he held the small animal in his hands, he inspected it. It was a little bit bigger than an average owl and its wings were only big enough to keep him airborne. It looked Harry in the eye and made a soft little squeaking, purring sound and blew a circle of smoke towards Harry's nose in greeting.
'He's beautiful Hagrid, are you sure you don't want him?' Harry asked already liking his new pet already.
'No, no you keep him, I'll be seeing bigger ones soo…' Hagrid stopped in mid sentence and looked around at the rest of the people 'Sorry, shouldn't have said that.' Ron came over to Harry and said
'Can I hold him for a bit?' Harry held out the dragon for Ron but pulled him back when he blew a small ball of flame towards Ron, his first official victim, who plucked back his arms but his hairs got singed anyway.
Harry laughed at Ron who said to the little dragon 'What's wrong little fellow?' the little dragon clearly didn't like to be called little because he flew out of Harry's hands and started to shoot Ron with a lot of small fire balls, Ron ran around like a headless chicken, trying but failing miserably and finally decided to go outside, he ran to the door and slammed in front of the dragon who flew head on into it. The dragon landed with a soft thud on the ground and stood up groggily, shook his head like a dog and took flight again, chasing Fred and George this time. Harry laughed while Ginny, Hermione and Tonks came up to him. Harry looked warily at the three women in front of him remembering Ginny's warning the previous day.
'What are you going to call him, Harry?' Ginny asked
'I don't know' he said and turned to Hagrid 'Hagrid what's his name?'
'Oh it's Osiris, he didn't like anything else,' Hagrid told him. Osiris who heard his name being called abandoned his chase of the twins and flew towards Harry. When Harry caught him he said
'So you like Osiris?' the dragon flew a little circle above Harry's head and landed in his hands once again
'Then Osiris it is.' Harry said. Tonks held out her hand towards the small dragon but got greeted by a small ball of flames. She too plucked her hand back and sucked on the red spot on her middle finger, giving Osiris a death glare. Osiris flew out of Harry's hands to chase Tonks around for a bit, who also chose to run outside.
Charlie came over to Harry and said 'Lucky bugger, do you have any idée how rare a miniature dragon is?'
'I didn't even know there were any.' Harry stated
'There are, it's a rare disorder but some get born small and don't grow bigger. But this one fell into a potion, I've never heard about a case like that before.' Hermione told them. Osiris decided to join their conversation after dispelling Tonks and flew into Ginny who looked startled but caught him anyway.
'It looks like he likes you too. Well at least there are two of you then.' Charlie laughed 'can I hold him for a second?'
'I don't know if you want to. He doesn't look like a social kind of animal.' Harry replied.
Charlie stretched out his hands and got hit by a fire ball but didn't pull away and grabbed Osiris around the chest, closing his wings and held his head at a suitable angle. Osiris struggled furiously but Charlie held firm and after a while Osiris gave up and accepted defeat. Charlie looked at the small dragon with admiration and cooed him a little.
Dumbledore came over and asked 'Harry can I look at him please?' Osiris flew out of Charlie's hands and flew into Dumbledore's chest. Dumbledore looked the dragon in the eye and said to Harry
'I can see how the other Gryffindors might hate him,' Osiris took offence at that and shot a very small ball of flames towards the headmaster's beard. It singed a bit but you could hardly see it. Dumbledore laughed heartily and stroked the small dragon on the head, who in turn purred his squeaky purr.
Harry gathered all of his presents and excused himself to the bedroom to dump off his load but Dumbledore stopped him.
'Harry, we need to talk. I'll let it be for now but when you are back at the Dursleys we have to talk.' He told Harry very seriously.
When Harry was in Ron's room he closed the door and felt happy, like that morning, because he now knew for sure that there were people that cared for him. He didn't know what Dumbledore wanted to talk to him about but he didn't care. After he put all of his new belongings into his trunk he placed the plant Neville gave him on the bedside table and stared at the brightly coloured tendrils dancing around, changing their brightness and shade every so often.
He heard a knock on the door and said 'Come in.' he looked over and saw Ginny standing in the doorway with her hands behind her back looking sheepishly at him.
'I didn't give you my present.' She said looking unsure and went over to him, holding out a small orb, bigger than the one that contained the prophecy but the same form. He looked at her unsure and held out his hand shakily, taking the small orb at its base. He looked at it and a big smile graced his lips. It was a model of the stream where he and Ginny spent the morning. It looked like one of those things you could find at a muggle curio shop for a gift and when you shook it small flakes that looked like snow scattered around slowly sinking towards the bottom. This one however was clearly not muggle because there was no water inside and the scene was animated, the stream flowed and the trees swayed gently in the non-existent wind. Once a while a small animal like a squirrel would show itself on a rock or a bird would appear out of nowhere.
'It was a picture of Hogwarts first but I asked my mum to change it to this.' She said 'you can change it back if you want to'
'No, I like it, it will bring back good memories.' He told her and smiled at her showing his appreciation for her thoughtful gift.
'Come on down stairs. Ron wants you to tame your dragon.' She laughed 'I already like him.'
'Yeah, maybe with him around I can win a game of chess against Ron.' Harry said as he carefully placed Ginny's gift next to the neon plant. He stood up and went to the door with Ginny close behind. Harry stopped at the door and turned around, walked to his trunk and pulled out his box of potions. He pulled out the strongest resistant potion out, which if correctly brewed could throw off minor mind control curses and potions. After he gulped it down he looked at Ginny.
'I see Moody's warning is staying with you.' Ginny laughed
'No, not Moody's, yours.' He said while Ginny tried to look innocent.
'Mine? You didn't hear anything out of me did you?' she asked in the same manner
'Oh, no nothing, I didn't hear anything out of Ginny.' He said
'Good, now lets go downstairs.' She said already outside the door.
After a few games of chess, which Harry all lost, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny sat and talked about the new school year.
'Hopefully we'll have a proper DADA teacher this year' Hermione said 'I don't think I can cope with another year like last.'
'That's a first,' Ron said 'Hermione not being able to cope with school work.'
'Ron, I'll let you know that I'm a normal person!' Hermione said hotly
'Hey, come on don't get mad, it's true, you haven't ever complained about the amount of work we get,' Ron said indignantly with a hint of proudness.
'Yeah, I guess you're right.' She admitted 'but I still don't like to do work for someone like Umbridge.'
'Look at that!' Ginny exclaimed pointing towards Osiris and Crookshanks. The two were playing like life long friends. Crookshanks would pounce at Osiris and he would jump out of the way, retaliating with a small ball of fire and take flight. Currently the two were in the air, flying around with Crookshanks hissing furiously and Osiris clutching the poor cat in his claws, doing laps around the room.
'Osiris, let go of Crookshanks!' Hermione screamed jumping up trying to swat the two out of the air with a couch pillow. Ron was lying on the floor laughing at the sight and Ginny enjoyed the whole show, while Harry stood on the couch and when his funny, but a little bit stupid, dragon came around again he caught them holding on tight with Crookshanks trying to skin Harry alive in his terror. Hermione came bouncing over and grabbed her beloved cat out of Harry's hands, holding her close. Harry turned towards Osiris and said
'Play nice. Hermione will have your behind if you do that again.' Osiris stared at him and purred a little bit before flying off again, probably trying to find his next victim.
'Come on, lets get some food' Ron panted from the floor.
Suddenly Hermione's face lit up and said 'Yeah, I'm very hungry.'
Harry thought it was odd, Hermione hungry, he hardly saw her eat anything at all and now she's hungry. Harry now knew that only Ginny was in it to tell him to watch out. Hermione would have left him, she would have motivated him to eat and embarrass himself, and this was a side of Hermione he hadn't seen before.
'Yeah, let's go eat.' Harry said walking to the kitchen. When they were seated outside again Tonks offered him a butterbeer, which Harry accepted, and took a long drink. He could feel the magic working inside his system, the two potions trying to take control, but in the end Harry's potion won and he could feel the other dying down. He looked over to Tonks and smiled, she looked back with glee and turned excitedly towards Hermione sitting at her side, talking in whispers. When he ate his food he felt the same sensation She didn't go easy on me he thought and could feel the potions cancelling each other out and he gave them a knowing smile and tossed the empty phial of anti potion towards them. Tonks looked at him and then down to the empty bottle, her head snapped back up and she looked angrily at Harry
'How did you know!' she almost screamed
'I felt it and drank the antidote.' He said calmly 'Why don't you drop it? I mean I didn't do it purposely.'
'No. you embarrassed the life out of me, I won't drop it until I get my revenge!' she said with firm resolve.
'Have it your way then.' Harry said and turned around calling 'Osiris!' He came flying over, abandoning his chase with the garden gnomes and went over to Tonks, already blasting miniature balls of flame towards her. She sprung up and threw one last angry look towards Harry, then bolted for the solitude of the house where Lupin and the two eldest weasley brothers were discussing the new useful products of Fred and George. Harry, Ron and Ginny laughed when Osiris continued his campaign of terror on Hermione's bushy hair…she followed Tonks a short while later.
Later that night the four friends were again sitting around, not doing much. Harry sat with a book in his hands staring at the same page for over twenty minutes, not reading at all, but thinking. He knew he had to tell his friends about the prophecy sometime because it wouldn't be fair for to them if he didn't tell them. He couldn't take the thought of sharing this burden with them, they did so much for him already and how does he repay them? By telling them their best friend was destined to fight till death, probably pulling them along with him, signing their death certificate. No he couldn't do that, it wasn't right, friends don't do things like that to one another.
Ginny stared at Harry, watching the emotions cross his face. He could hide it very well, she only saw the faintest flicker of sadness in his eyes, the smallest frown on his forehead or the little twitch his mouth would make. She could tell he was struggling with something internally, probably the thing he hadn't told them, because she knew he hadn't told them something, something important, something she knew that could change the course of the war. What could be that bad? She asked herself Harry had faced more than anyone else,things she couldn't even imagine and there he was, terrified! How could he be terrified? She stood up and went to him. Ron and Hermione were engrossed in the same book, heads suspiciously close together and reading with rapt attention. When she got to him and held out her hand, he looked startled to see her there.
Harry knew by the look Ginny gave him, the understanding and sorry look that she knew he held something secret. She held out her hand to help him up and when he took it she smiled at him encouragingly. He knew that she gave him the power to pull through with what he had decided a moment ago. He pulled himself up with Ginny's help and went over to Ron and Hermione
'Can you two come to Ron's room please, there's something I have to tell you. You too, Ginny.' He said sadly, not meeting their eyes.
He turned around and left, feeling the weight of the world upon him once again. Harry walked up the stairs, shoulders hunched, thinking how he would tell them. He couldn't beat around the bush with something this big, no he would tackle this problem head on, exactly like he planned to do with the rest of his problems. When he entered Ron's room he sat on his bed near the headboard and picked up Ginny's gift. He stared at it for what felt like ages, when finally he heard his friends enter the room
'What's up Harry' Ron asked with concern in his voice. Harry didn't look up until he was sure that their attention was completely on him.
'I have to kill Voldemort.' He heard Ginny and Ron gasp at the name but Hermione said
'No Harry, you don't have to do it. What about the Order? Everyone fighting for the light. Don't think that you have to do it.'
'Yeah Harry, why do you think that? It will probably be Dumbledore or some other great and powerful wizard.' Ron said clearly not believing that his friend would want to do something like that. Ginny knew that something big was up; Harry wouldn't say that for nothing so she kept quiet.
'You don't understand.' Harry said harshly, every word an effort, 'the prophecy, the one the order was guarding, the weapon, it said I have to do it. Nobody else can.'
'Harry, that's shit!' Ron exclaimed loudly 'That prophecy was broken, Neville said so.'
'The record was broken. Dumbledore heard it first hand and told me last year. I have to kill him or die by his hand. He branded me his equal with this damned scar and there is nothing I can do about it. I have two choices, sit back and enjoy the rest of my time alive before he kills me or fight and do the best I can to kill him. I have no other choice,' Harry told them to get it over and done with. 'I've been training this summer, I want you to train, learn and be strong fighters because I know now that the war will always come to me, not by chance but by intention. I'm going to go fly around on my broom for a bit to give you some time to think. Know this though, having me as a friend wont be easy, in fact it will probable be the hardest choice you will ever have to make. Whatever you choose, I won't think any less of you.'
Harry walked out of the room his mind completely blank, except for one thought: to get away and to feel free, he had to fly. He walked out of the room and retrieved his broom from the corner with a bit of unintentional magic. Time held no meaning for Harry as he walked. It felt like an eternity as he moved towards his destination, the sky.
He straddled his broom and took off inside the Burrow, he flew faster than he had in a long time and exited the building through the first window that he saw. The window flew open as he neared it, but Harry didn't notice. Harry shot outside like one of the bullets from his pistol, a blur to the trained eye, and headed up into the sky as soon as he was in the clear, crisp night air.
He flew directly upwards, like a rocked heading for the moon, until the air around him got so cold that he had a hard time breathing. Harry slowed down and finally stopped. He couldn't see the burrow anymore; in fact he could see the clouds were far underneath him. He shuddered and sat in a comfortable position on his broom, pulled out his wand and casted warming charms that didn't seem to help any so he concentrated on the heat beneath him and willed some of it up towards him. The heat enveloped him as if he had climbed into a hot bath in the middle of a cold winter morning. His feet and hands were tingling, heating him up at his very core.
He sat like that for a long time; with the heat around him he didn't feel the need to go back down. When he finally decided return to The Burrow his head was clear and he could think properly again. With that, he jumped off his broom.
Well, almost. Harry still had his broom in one hand, but had deactivated the broom so that he could go into free fall. Harry's head was pointing downwards and he could feel the total freedom of falling from the sky, unhindered by any form of transportation or resistance. He felt exhilarated and full of life as he plummeted down towards the ground, the wind whistling in his ears as he constantly gained momentum. When he was right below the clouds he could once again see the small details of habitation on the surface of the planet: some big trees, the burrow, and there was a lake somewhere nearby too.
He opened his mouth to breathe but what came out instead was a scream of pure joy. When he finally managed to get in some air he decided to mount his broom again. And he did it in the nick of time because he hadn't realized how hard it would be to level out his broom at such speeds. He tried to no avail to bring the nose of the broom horizontal to the ground, and felt the first bouts of panic overcoming him. His arms tingled with the now familiar physical magic and he pulled the broom out of the dive making a sharp arch right above the lake as he felt his toes touching the water sending a huge spray outwards as he rocketed by, soaking him completely. He slowed down and landed at the front door of the burrow, after he climbed off his broom he dried his clothes with a drying charm, and went inside the only place besides Hogwarts that he could call home. When he entered Ron's room, Ron already in bed, fast asleep. Harry changed into his pyjamas and went to bed feeling much better, and calmer too.
The next morning Harry was pretty sad, knowing that he had to go home in the evening. He got up to find Ron already out of bed, which was kind of strange for Harry. He rummaged through his overly packed trunk to find some clothes to wear. When he went downstairs his friends were sitting by the kitchen table eating breakfast. Mrs. Weasley was nowhere to be seen. He sat down and helped himself to some eggs from a plate and ate on silence.
'Harry,' Ron said 'We talked about what you said last night and thought you were going completely crazy thinking that we would leave you because of something like that.'
Harry looked up and saw Ginny and Hermione nodding their heads in agreement.
'You should know by now that it's harder than that to leave us out.' Ginny said
'Yeah Harry,' Hermione said sincerely 'Friends are there for one another. I don't plan to loose five years of the best friendship I've ever had over something like this.'
Harry couldn't believe it but somewhere in his mind he always knew that it wouldn't matter to them, that he could tell them anything and that they always be there for him.
'Thanks.' Harry said truthfully 'you don't know how much this means to me.'
'We do Harry, that's why we did it.' Ron said surprising Harry.
They decided to take the day off when Ginny announced that she had completed the books Harry gave her at the beginning of his stay.
'Well let me test you then, Ms. Know-it-all' Harry said jokingly, as Ginny went to fetch her books.
He had finished with his books early on in the week but was having a hard time believing that she would finish hers. When Ginny returned, all but one of the books was in the old schoolbag she used to carry them.
'I see one of the books I gave you is missing…' Harry said in professor mode.
'Err…you see…I'm still busy with that one.' She stuttered.
'Ginny, it doesn't matter, I'm impressed that you finished off all the other books, but I still have to test you.' He laughed
After thirty minutes of testing, Harry concluded that she had indeed read all of the books and was impressed with the notes Hermione's auto quill did.
'Looks like I owe you a pet, Ginny.' Harry told her
'No really Harry, it's not necessary,' She said hurriedly
'You bet my sister a pet if she completed those books?' Ron exclaimed.
'Yeah, why not?' Harry asked but added as an afterthought, 'would you want the same bet perhaps? Although it is a lot of books.'
Ron gave the books Ginny was repacking one glance and said 'No thank you mate, I'm fine with the knowledge I have now.'
Later that day the four friends' chess tournament was cut short by Osiris crashing into the chess board after being flung away by Hermione who was at the receiving end of his miniature flame thrower that day.
'I'm going to go pack.' Harry told his friends and went upstairs.
He enlarged his trunk a bit, to fit all of his belongings, and pulled it downstairs from where he would depart by portkey. It was a sad but bearable goodbye, if Harry considered all of the things that had happened during his stay at The Burrow. But by far the most important one was that he vowed to do as much as he possibly could to protect the people that he loved and that loved him back. It was the least he could do for them. When he finally interrupted the Dursleys' favourite T.V. show, by appearing right in front of them, he went upstairs and unpacked.
'Get the mail!' his uncle screamed, although Harry was sitting at the same table as Vernon, eating, what could only be called scraps of food, for lunch.
When he retrieved the mail uncle Vernon gave back all the bills and advertisements for him to throw away. Harry was a bit more interested in the advertisements than his uncle, a habit he picked up when he was little, and started to leaf through them. He was almost finished when one of them caught his eye. It was a rather simple ad that read "MARTIAL ARTS CLASSES". Harry went upstairs and read through it excitedly. He wanted to do something like this because combined with his physical magic it could be rather useful. After he made a mental note to phone the place later he wrote to Dumbledore, telling him that they could meet the following afternoon. When Hedwig flew gracefully out of the confines of Harry's room, Harry went downstairs to phone the martial arts instructor to make a booking.
He reached the phone but thought better of it to call without the Dursleys' approval so went to ask but was saved the necessary trouble by Aunt Petunia coming out of the kitchen looking for something to clean.
'Aunt Petunia, can I use the phone quickly?' Harry asked politely
'Why do you want to? I'm sure none of your friends actually have telephones?' She said scathingly 'So…no.'
'I'm not going to phone my friends; I want to make an appointment for some training. Something like Dudley is doing.' He said again politely, suppressing his irritation.
'Not more than two minutes.' She said with disdain 'You can't hold up the line forever you know.'
He gave her a small nod and phoned the number on the paper. It rang a few times but a female voice answered.
'Hello'
'Err, hello?' Harry said unsure 'Is this the martial arts place?'
'Yes, how can I help you?' The voiced asked, in a slightly friendlier tone.
'I was wondering if there is a certain time for practice or do you have to make an appointment?' Harry asked
'A certain time.' She said but added 'Have you done something like this ever before, or is it your first time?'
'Err, it's my first.' Harry told her
'Then you have to make an appointment with me, there is only one place open though.' She said 'It's three o clock tomorrow.'
'That's fine, thank you.' Harry said 'is it at the same address as on the advertisement?'
'Yes, we've been here since I can remember, it won't be outdated or anything.' She said 'So, we'll see you tomorrow?'
'At three, yes' Harry said 'Thank you, bye.'
'Bye.' She said as Harry placed the earpiece back onto the phone.
Harry went back to his room and made himself comfortable with a few of his physical magic books near him on the bed and started the spell. He hadn't had a lot of time to do a lot of learning at the Weasley household, and that's not even attempting these books so he had to pick it up a notch, again.
Four hours later, his longest yet, Harry was completely knackered but felt pleased with himself. He had studied a lot of books this time and it looked like his body was building up a resistance against the side effect of the spell. When he first started to use the spell, he was done-for after only one book, but now he could do most of his collection. He placed his books roughly on the ground and fell asleep, too tired to climb in under the covers.
Harry woke up with a rather tired snore and climbed off his bed noticing that he hadn't even turned during the night, That would explain why I'm so tired he thought stretching a bit to his side. He grabbed a bathrobe and went to shower. Ten minutes later he dried himself off and summoned some food from the kitchen when he was back in his room. After he ate and cleaned the plate magically, he sent it back towards the cupboard.
He scanned his room and restored a bit of order to it, like picking up his pillows, placing his books on the table and giving the floor a quick wipe with his wand to remove the excess dust. After all of that, he finished off the rest of his physical magic books, now sure that he could do quite a bit without a wand but he knew he had to train it. It's one thing to know how to do it but another to actually do it. He crawled onto his bed not feeling tired. He knew he was going to have a hard day ahead of him. He set his wand to hum a tune at half past twelve and took a nap.
He was soaring through the air, flying to a certain destination and when he finally reached it he felt his heart being frozen to the core of his very soul. He stood on a podium in a huge cavern, so big that the astronomy tower could fit in it and stand comfortably. It was lit by sickly green and red light coming from tiny lanterns on the walls casting a light on so disgusting a scene that no one would want to see it except the army within it. The sea of people below him, were cheering him on, their leader. The man in question was standing smugly, with twelve of his most faithful servants forming a half circle behind him but in front of the natural podium that looked like it was made such a colour by actual blood. He was wearing robes that leaked out a red substance, signifying blood, but disappeared at the hem of his robes. When he raised his hands the army before him stilled immediately concentrating solely on him.
'Look, my followers, look at my servants behind me. They were freed from Azkaban this morning!' He screamed with malice.
'We shall rage war against humans because they have forgotten our ways, the way of men! Kill, kill all of them that don't want to join me in this quest. Time and people who had moved on lost the true way of man. Dark Wizards created the unforgivables but it should be worse, it should be the unlivables. I found scrolls, ancient and powerful that told me the only way humans were supposed to live. Like we do! Salazar was unfortunate but he tried, Grindewald tried but failed, every Dark Wizard that is truly dark strives to find this, the way of Us, how we once lived, none succeeded before. It was lost… except to me! I found things that The warriors of the light wouldn't believe. They will be scared beyond belief. So scared that they will die of fright. I shall teach you these things and then we will start. We clean this world of this thing it fell into, we begin our fight when the next term begins at Hogwarts, to terrify the children into following me. Meanwhile I will train you, in "The Ways Of The Old"!'
When he woke up again his scar was bleeding, soaking his pillow, his mind was trying to rebuild itself from scratch because it was broken down from the sight that he saw. He was in pain, physical and emotional, that one could not even imagine. Harry rolled to his side to vomit but nothing came out, absolutely nothing. He didn't even get the small satisfaction a person usually gets when he sees all of the vile stuff leaving his body; no, Harry wouldn't be so lucky. He's heart was breaking, for all of the innocents that were going to die. How could it be true? Kill for some stupid old way that doesn't even exist. He knew he was falling into denial, but he didn't care, this was way too much.
He thought what his friends would say about something like this, but the instant the thought came into contact with his conscience he knew that he had to fight, no matter how bad or ugly. Everyone would become like that if Voldemort succeeded. He would not dishonour his family and friends, the small children, his parents, The Light. He was a warrior with a task, a cause to fight for. He was a protector for the way things are supposed to be, for peace and love. He couldn't sit back and let Voldemort happen. He couldn't let them all down, and he wouldn't. He was a fighter and he would do anything and everything that was necessary to succeed in bringing light back to earth!
The doorbell rang at exactly one and Harry opened the door to see professor Dumbledore standing there with a smile. Harry motioned for him to come in and stepped aside for him to enter.
'Hello Harry, I hope everything is going alright.' Dumbledore said
'No, definitely not alright.' Harry replied 'Do you want to go to my room. I don't think the Dursleys will approve if we sit in the living room.'
They walked upstairs in silence and only when Harry was inside did Dumbledore speak.
'I want to know what you have been doing this summer Harry. I placed the spell on your room trusting you to use it wisely.' Dumbledore sighed
'I did.' Harry said
'No, Harry. By wisely I meant to protect yourself, not creating killing weapons, and illegally I might add.' Dumbledore said looking at Harry. 'Really Harry, I had more faith in you.'
Dumbledore had this way of making you feel worse than ever by saying something like that, showing his disappointment in you. But on Harry it flowed like water off a rock. He had used it wisely. He didn't kill for fun. No, he killed to protect, it was either his friends or the enemy.
'I' Harry started 'didn't do it for my own pleasure. Do you really think that I used it irresponsibly? Did I kill them before they did anything? No, I killed them after they tortured a three year old girl and killed her mother. What would you have done? And then you also have to consider that my friends were being threatened.'
'No Harry. That's not how it works. That's becoming one of them. Why did you make it? Couldn't you learn to protect yourself in other ways?' Dumbledore said sadly
'Professor, I'm in a rather different situation than you. You weren't destined to fight, I am. I can try to protect myself, but then I would die in war and leave the world to perish!' Harry said strongly and with a resolve that shocked Dumbledore
'I don't care what you say; I'm making my own decisions in this. I can feel Voldemort's blood lust. He seeks to kill. I think twelve years in isolation made him develop a different tactic. I read about the previous war and I can already tell you that this one will be different, innocent people will die because they live, not because they fight against him. I felt it when he killed his own minions, just for the rush, he's not just an Evil Wizard anymore, he's becoming crazy.'
'No human being can be like that.' Dumbledore said hotly
'Voldemort isn't a human being! It's going to be different. He will start when school begins again next term, to terrify the kids into joining him, not knowing whose parents will die next, not knowing when someone close to you will be sent home in a body bag, beheaded. I've seen how he talked to his followers, two hundred of them, giving them orders to kill for fun. Anyone they see must die, except those who will join him or "The Way Of The Old".'
'When did this happen?' Dumbledore exclaimed while standing up.
'Right now, about an hour ago.' Harry said 'I was taking a nap and saw it.'
'Are you sure?' Dumbledore exclaimed again 'It wasn't a normal dream?'
'No, it was real.' Harry said
'The wards would prevent him from sending you images.' Dumbledore mumbled to himself 'Then it is real. Harry, learn to do anything, Anything! Owl your friends immediately! Warn them! Give them The underage spell, DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO PREPARE!' Dumbledore screamed.
It was the first time that Harry saw his professor in such a state but Harry liked the thought that he was only human. It gave him some courage to stand strong and firm.
'I'm going to the ministry immediately. I don't know how long I will be able to keep fudge off of your case with that gun but it will have to be pushed to the back for now, if he doesn't drop it, I will force him to. This is of dire consequence. We'll speak shortly.'
Dumbledore bolted from the room, cloak swirling behind him, and disappeared. Harry too jumped into action, doing what he wanted to do since he had the dream. He grabbed the phoenix quill Fawkes gave him at the beginning of summer and wrote five notes.
Luna
How is it going? I can assure you it will be going worse from now on because I had a vision of Voldemort. I told Dumbledore and he's currently at the ministry, trying to make Fudge see reason.
I gave Hedwig a piece of parchment where you will find a spell that enables you to do underage magic. Use it, and do magic as much as you can. I can truthfully say that Voldemort will be out for blood when school starts again and I want us all to be prepared.
Train as hard as you can, fighting and defending. I cannot say if Voldemort has something planned for the five of us but be prepared.
Harry
P.S. I put a portkey with the spell to transport you (and anyone else you want to bring along) to Hogsmead if there is trouble. Oh, and thanks for the quibbler subscription.
Neville
I want to warn you, I had a vision of Voldemort and Dumbledore is trying to sort it out. He gave me "direct" orders to give you this spell (it will enable you to do underage magic) and told me that you should do anything to train.
Voldemort's not kidding this time around and is starting when school begin. I'm not sure if he got something planned for us but be prepared. The galleon is a portkey to take you and your grandmother to Hogsmead if something comes up.
Thanks for the plant, it truly is magnificent. Do the best you can and good luck, I'll see you on September the first.
Harry.
Ron & Hermione
Sorry to write on one letter to you but I'm running late as it is. Voldemort is out for blood as soon as school start and I want you to be prepared. I had a vision, yes Hermione a true one (the wards around privet drive prevent him from sending me false ones) and briefly said "he is going to kill all of mankind." Except those who follow him of coarse.
The spell will enable you to do underage magic, so use it as much as you can. Dumbledore said use anything you can to protect yourself and he actually screamed out "anything", so do it, except unforgivables…
Hurry up, none of us knows if he got something planned for us (friends) but be carefull. I expect Dumbledore to be around there sometime later today.
Harry
Ginny
Voldemort is going for the kill as soon as school starts. He has about two hundred servants who is just as blood thirsty as he is. He's not going to kill people that oppose him but everybody that don't fight for his twisted ways.
This summer I noticed something about you. You feel that it is your duty to fight, not because your family could be in harm but because you know it is expected of you by yourself. You were the one that actually wanted to learn to fight this summer. Well, it's been forced onto you now and there's no turning back. Learn everything and anything, including the books I transfigured to look like a flu remedy. It's rather useful and will train you to do things humanly impossible (strength wise.).
I know that Voldemort has something planned for me but I'm not sure if he got something for you as well (my friends), so be careful. I could feel the plotting going on in his brain as soon as the vision ended and he felt my presence. I'll be careful but don't tell this to anyone. They will want to keep me safe and put themselves in danger. I'll fight but if the trouble become to much I'll flee, so don't worry.
Be strong
Harry
He called Hedwig over and said 'Hurry girl, you have to get this to them as quick as you can. Don't stop for anything.'
She hooted once and didn't waste anymore time, flying out of the window and out of sight faster than Harry could ever remember her flying.
(A/N: Hi ladies and gents! It is finally time for my holiday so I can start writing like a madman(Nex). We hope you enjoyed this chapter… Look out for Chapter 6 soon, a lot of cool stuff coming up. Please review after you read, reviews are important to us, weather it's good or bad we don't mind.
Thanks
Nifty and Nex0r)
