Chapter 7 – Heading home.
He was flying, flying under his own power to a destination unknown. He was being guided however, through the clear blue sky by something, it didn't have a form, it wasn't even visible but he knew that he should follow this small thing inside his very being.
He could remember only moments before how he despised it, loathed it and wanted nothing more than to destroy it but now, now he didn't want it gone. No he realised as soon as he came into this dream, because he knew it was a dream, that he needed it to go on. It was the very same thing a Dementor sucks out.
As he flew, he saw images, almost all of the things that happened in his life, whizzed past him. The only difference was that unlike his nightmare it didn't scare him. It made him aware that it was their time to go, no matter how much he thought about alternate possibilities. The scenes changed, only one fraction like someone looking at something else and the end result was horrifying.
He realised there and then that nothing will happen if it wasn't meant to be. If he didn't do what he did, somebody else would have been killed. He saw that the outcome of his first battle was better than what he could have thought possible. Every other choice that there was came forth in a memory, not his own but altered and what he saw was that the way it happened was the best.
He spent so long a time that it felt like an entity there on his own, flying to wherever he would tell himself to. Every possible thing that nagged his mind was sorted out, reasoned the better choice or simply been accepted. Not all was solved but it was made lighter, like a rock that is heavy but changed to a small pebble to play with.
It was changed to a challenge, to make him stronger, a better person. He could handle challenges without any trouble and he welcomed them. Only if he had doubts will that challenge change to a battle and finally lead to death. He wouldn't fall into that trap again, he assured himself, and he knew how it started so he wouldn't be lured into the big black hole again.
Harry woke up to the sounds of birds chirping in the early morning sun, the smell of flowers and the sight of light streaming through the window, marking today as a new day.
For the first time in weeks Harry found that he didn't regret waking up. He stood up and looked around the room that Xilion placed him in yesterday. It was a simple room that held all of the necessities including a painting on the wall and some flowers on a table.
He went to the kitchen and saw that nobody was up already, so he made some tea and waited patiently while thinking. He knew the Cordeur's for three days now and already they helped him fight, physically and mentally. He knew that people like this was hard to come by and was glad to know that they would be helping him train at Hogwarts.
'Ah Harry, your awake.' Harry looked up to see Xilion standing at the doorway to the kitchen with a small smile on his face. 'How is everything?'
'Fine.' Harry told him sincerely 'I don't know what you did but, thank you.'
'Don't thank us.' He told him 'Should we have left you like that?'
'I guess not, but still, thanks.' Harry told him again.
'Like I said it's nothing. Let me go wake up Tasha.' Xilion said taking two cups of tea with him. 'She wouldn't get out of bed without a warm cup of tea or something, so I make her one every morning.'
Harry laughed and started to animate the spoons and cutlery to make some breakfast. He was still wondering about how easy it is to make food with magic. He made some eggs, bacon and fruit salad for three and when he was about finished Tasha strolled in looking completely asleep.
'Hello Harry. Xilion told me you were awake.' She said, her words slurring along with her to the chair. Once she was seated Xilion came in freshly showered and looked at his wife with amusement.
'How I love the early mornings.' Xilion said cheerfully, earning a strange look from Tasha.
Harry magicked all the food on three separate plates and hovered it over to them. He never had the chance to make food magically so he made the most of it.
'And I thought technology will make the new generation lazy.' Tasha said tiredly.
'It's my first time I cooked a meal magically.' Harry retorted.
'We'd better watch out then.' Xilion laughed.
While they were eating Harry remembered something Dumbledore told him.
'How will you be getting to Hogwarts?' Harry asked 'are you going to be appointed to teach there or something?'
'O, no. Dumbledore told us to ask you for a portkey or something along those lines.' Tasha asked more than said.
'Yes, I knew I shouldn't have done that in front of him.' Harry laughed 'I'll make you one. And we still have to work out the finances of you training me.'
'Harry, don't worry about it.' Xilion said 'We have other customers to. We consider it as our duty.'
'Then I will find someone else.' Harry said firmly 'I'll pay you.'
'If it is that a big a deal to you it is fine.' Tasha said 'Now, make us a portkey. I'm rather curious.'
'Look closely.' Harry told them mysteriously.
He took a spoon and transfigured it to a simple amulet with some useless "runes" around the sides. Next he animated it to change into a miniature samurai if someone touches it and ask a small riddle. The very same one the sphinx asked him in his third task long ago. If they told it correctly it will activate the portkey but if it was wrong the small figure would attack. Next he had to made the portkey, the hard part.
He had to make it to transport to and fro from here to near Hogwarts. He could make a portkey, one way and not nearly so far with ease but he was having trouble to get all the needed information into his head at the same time to perform the complex spell. He didn't even try to make it into Hogwarts wards because he knew that only the headmasters can do it but he decided that he would try at a later stage, maybe when he was at school for a small challenge.
He made it firstly to go into his room at number four privet drive for a tester and when he felt like all of the things was in his head he said clearly but softly 'Portus'. It shimmered blue for a second or so and then turned back to its original transfigured state.
'I think this will do it.' Harry said 'Come here and hold on. I made it to transport us to my room.'
The two nodded and walked over without hesitation and took hold of the small amulet. Harry saw this as a signal to how much they trusted him and was glad for it. The amulet changed into the samurai and looked Xilion up and down. Harry touched it on it's head and whispered into the things ear 'spider.' before it could ask the riddle.
He felt the familiar tug in his navel and felt himself being whizzed away by the magic. Harry landed as usual, falling or almost falling over but Xilion and Tasha looked like they quite enjoyed the ride. Harry always thought that wizarding travel was fast and effective but not quite comfortable.
'I presume that it worked.' Xilion said
'Yeah, let's go back.' Harry said while motioning for them to hold on again. Once everybody had a part of the small object, Harry whispered the password again. They landed in much the same manner and when Harry regained his composure he took it and redid the charm to go to Hogwarts gates instead of his room.
'Here, it'll take you to Hogwarts.' Harry said longing back to his home. 'I'll get you from where you will land.'
'Thanks Harry.' The two said together.
'When do you want to start your training in earnest?' Xilion asked after a moment 'You're already on a rather high level but there are still lots of space for improvement.'
'We can start now. I read all the books you asked me to.' Harry told them
'Sure Harry, sure.' Tasha said while motioning for him to follow her.
They spent about two hours going over some of the things that Harry thought were common knowledge like using the momentum people give you by deflecting your blows and so forth. After they stated that he was sufficient with the average martial arts they told him to hang onto the pole in the corner of the room until they return. What Harry suspected to be a rather short time, maybe five minutes turned to fifteen and still no one in sight. He thought about dropping and getting up again if he heard them but he was sure that this must be something important.
So Harry hung on. Fifteen minutes turned into thirty minutes but it was beginning to show. He's hands were sweating, his arms felt like it was dislocating from his shoulders and he was damn well tired. He looked at the clock once again and saw that three minutes passed since he last looked but it felt like an eon. He thought about using magic but shrugged it away because he knew that someone else could do this without magic and so could he. After fifty minutes he couldn't take it anymore. He released his left hand to reach for his wand but his right hand couldn't take all of the strain so his fingers started to slip. When only one finger was left on the pole he felt the tingling sensation in it. Yes! Yes! Yes! He thought. He couldn't believe how stupid he was not to remember it earlier but he was grateful that he did now.
He willed it into his finger and at once he had strength to pull himself up properly. He was hanging now by two hands again and he felt the magic work in him. Every time the magic seemed to go away Harry would summon it back again, forcing it to hold on. After another hour he could feel the strain, not physical anymore but magical. His magic would become more willing to go away and Harry felt like it was going to leave him any second now. But still he willed it back, gaining the upper edge on gravity. After thirty more minutes he dropped like a fly and when he landed he could hardly breathe. A few seconds later the two ran inside and looked at Harry.
'Damn Harry!' Xilion exclaimed 'two hours and twenty minutes! I haven't ever seen anybody go over an hour.'
'I must see.' Harry whispered hoarsely.
He pulled out his wand with a hand so slow Voldemort could have spit him to death.
'stupefy.' He whispered, pointing his wand at Xilion's feet.
The red light left his wand but it wasn't the spell Harry was used to, no this spell was rather useless. The main beam was as thin as a match stick and the red was fading fast. The spell moved slower than usual and when the spell made impact Xilion giggled slightly as if being tickled.
'What's wrong?' Tasha asked
'I used physical magic after fifty minutes.' Harry whispered again 'I think I drained most of my magic.'
'O' was all that she said, not knowing what to do.
'I'll be alright.' Harry reassured more himself than them 'only some time to recuperate.'
'I think maybe this is all for today.' Xilion said 'usually the lesson doesn't take more than an hour but thanks Harry.'
'For what?' he said while standing up shakily.
'For showing determination.' Xilion replied proudly 'Very few can say that they gave all in here but you can. See you tomorrow.'
With that said Harry walked home, thankful that his arms can swing gently by his side and not carry his whole weight. When he got home he started to think what he would tell Fudge. He had a vague idea of what he wanted to say but he didn't like to take advantage of the situation like that. After he thought it through he decided that it would be the only and best way, both sides.
Minister Fudge
I was informed of your visit to my house the day when Voldemort showed us all that he is, indeed not kidding around. Needless to say, you couldn't reach me in your state of mind.
I want to tell you that I shall be available on the 22 of September for a ministry hearing and not another day. I will not however surrender my wand to you and I never will. I will await an owl from you telling me the details of my hearing.
Yours truly,
Harry Potter
Harry reread the letter and decided that he had to play his cards carefully in order to continue his magical education with a letter such as this to the minister of magic. He twirled his wand and the parchment rolled itself neatly up, complete with a Potter seal but he still felt the strain of such a simple spell.
'Hedwig, here girl.' She flew over, narrowly avoiding Osiris and landed on his desk.
After he tied the letter onto her leg she flew out hurriedly, happy to be out of the confines of Osiris' presence. He looked at the small dragon and saw that he was regarding the window with sadness in his eyes. Harry realised that he didn't take good care of his animal up until now but vowing to himself that he would take care of his pets from now on.
'Osiris, come here.' He in turn didn't fly over but jumped of off Hedwig's cage and landed gracefully on the ground and paddled over, nuzzling his face into Harry's ankles like a cat would do. Harry laughed and picked him up by his wings with his wand. Osiris looked at Harry strangely but let out a strange sort of sound, telling Harry that he was enjoying it. Harry suddenly got a mysterious look in his eyes and walked with his small pet dragon by wand out of the door with the intention to have an unforgettable lunch.
Harry approached the table and sat down, Osiris still dangling in mid air next to him. His relatives didn't even spare him a glance as he sat down.
Uncle Vernon turned towards him and yelled like one would do to a deaf person 'Get your food and leave us alone!'
Harry didn't need telling twice. He placed two sandwiches onto his plate and released the spell on Osiris who flew up the table and started to eat away. Harry took his plate and ran for the door looking back once. Uncle Vernon swiped Osiris away like one would do to a fly and took anther sandwich but as soon as it was near his mouth he dropped it as realisation struck. With a mighty screech he jumped up and ran out of the door, out of the house, into his car and around the corner. I believe my uncle has finally lost it. Harry had to stifle a laugh but failed miserably when Aunt Petunia and Dudley caught sight of the new visitor.
At first they ran around, then Dudley grabbed a broom and tried, unsuccessfully to hit Osiris with it. Osiris took hold of the broom on the second whack and bit right through it. Aunt petunia yelped when it took flight with a roar and threw Dudley a pan, standing smugly in the corner as if she won the gardeners club trophy. Dudley in turn, tried to hit Osiris with the pan but with a shorter range, Harry's trusty warrior could get a shot off and when finally Dudley got in a whack he jumped in joy only to get his backside singed by another ball of flame.
Only two more days. Harry thought by himself. He didn't have one of his best summers ever but in comparison if he looked at it with an optimistic view it wasn't to bad. He wondered idly how it was going with his friends now that Voldemort's bad news is out. He didn't know that much about Luna but he suspected that after the happening last year he would be getting to know her better. He also realised that Luna had a soft spot among her strangeness. After all, she had said some things that helped him to get over Sirius' death at the Leaving Feast last year. And Neville, a trusty friend, brave soul and doing much better than most these days with his Defence against the Dark Arts. But the thing that caught Harry the most was the fact that Neville came with him last year. He didn't even know what he was going for, only that his friend was going and was distressed. That, Harry thought must take courage.
Harry heard a soft tapping noise at the window and turned around to see Hedwig with a small box in her clutches. After he opened the window Osiris flew in and looked quite pleased with himself for his days work. Harry relieved Hedwig of her burden and sat down on his bed ready to open his parcel. He looked over to see Osiris rubbing his head against Hedwig's chest who in turn looked down to the dragon. After a while Hedwig flew over to her perch and drank some water but when she noticed Osiris' head drooping and walking away towards the door, completely lost Hedwig ruffled her wings. Osiris looked up to see Hedwig moving over a bit to make space for her new friend.
That, Harry realised was something he didn't see every day. An Owl taking pity on a dragon. He looked at his box again and noticed Fred and George's handwriting. He opened the box quickly, forgetting their usual pranks on letters but was relieved to find that none such thing happened.
Inside where a small note that read
Harry mate
Here are the first samples of your idea. Sorry it took so long but such a lot of ideas came to mind that we had trouble finding out which to make first. Not to long though, only a week and a half.
Anyway (this was George's writing) here is my magnificent idea. A net ball. Push the button located at the side of the perfect round sphere and throw at a person. Ball releases a net that renders the caught one useless for twenty three minutes and three seconds. Longest we could get. They can't apperate or cut through the superly strong rope that I made.
Now for my ingenious (Fred's writing this time) idea. A tracker ball, Push button on bottom of perfectly round sphere and place or throw on any non-suspecting victims. It cannot go loose because of my magnificent permanent sticking charm, courtesy of Sirius' old hag that only George or me can remove. And obviously we can track the signal within a radius of bigger than Britain. Where ever we are.
Hope you enjoy it and we will be sending the funds we make, your share, directly towards your vault without your knowledge of it. Keep well and keep up the good work. We heard your Martial Arts instructor gave old Lucius what he deserved and showed Notty what a true fighter fights like. Send our fullest regards and dodge that damn curse if it come your way again!
Your friends in mischief and business partners
Fred and George
P.S. We have some other things to discuss to, WE HEARD FROM GINNY AND RON THAT YOU GOT THE MARAUDERS MISCHIEF DIARY. WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW OF THIS????????? Tell us what you learn and if you publish it to make your fortune give us a signed copy.
Harry peered at the box and gently picked it up (knowing the twins they probably had something stored inside besides what he asked for.), peeling off the spellotape. He looked inside the box and saw four balls, the size of stress balls with a button on each of them. Two of the balls were marked Prototype A and the other two Prototypes B. Harry picked up the first of Prototype A and pressed the button with his thumb and lobbed it towards his Spell Absorber, as he came to call it, and watched it do the work.
Just before it hit the shield, it cracked into two pieces and an acid green net shot out and flew on top of the shield. It anchored itself onto the floor as soon as it came to a halt. Harry pulled out his wand to give it a test, he swished his wand a cast a cutting charm on the net but it had absolutely no effect on it and neither did a Reducto curse. Harry decided to try out one more thing before he stopped and that was to stick his wand through the one of the holes in the criss-cross net and cast a spell, this seemed to work and he was glad because it would be pointless if a Death Eater was captured in it and could Apparate away as soon as the effects of the net wore off. Before he moved onto the next prototype, Harry decided, he would later test the net on himself to see if you could cast out from the inside.
With that thought complete, he picked up one of the Prototype B balls out of the box. Before he threw the ball he noticed a small note at the bottom of the box where the ball had laid. He picked up the note and read through it, glad that he did before he had tested it out. It had given him instructions of how to set a password onto the ball before you threw it at something or else it would never come off. Harry snatched the ball back up, clicked the button and whispered "Osiris" to it before he let it fly towards the shield. Again just before the ball hit the target it changed, this time into a flat disc the almost looked like clay, and hit it's target (Surprisingly with no sound). The disc flickered for a second and then changed into the colour of the surface it had landed on.
If you peered closely you could make the outlines of the disc on the place where it was stuck. Just to make sure that the sticking charm actually worked Harry fire a various number of destructive curses upon it, but to no avail as it stayed exactly where it was unscathed. Harry turned back to the box to see another piece of folded parchment inside which he picked up and scanned over, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Neatly written on the parchment (almost as neat as a Muggle printed piece of paper) was:
Tracker "Osiris" – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, United-Kingdom… Dursley Household, Harry Potter's Bedroom, Unknown Specie Name.
Awesome… Harry thought to himself they really outdid themselves on that one. On the back of the parchment was one of the twins (if not both) handwriting.
We weren't sure how we were going to do the tracking at first but then we got this ingenious idea. We looked it up and it seemed that the spell the Ministry uses to track underage magic could be used in more than one way on a magical signature.
So we tried to charm the ball, and it actually worked!
I think anyone would be proud of us for such ingenious work.
Anyway I hope you got everything to work, good luck.
Fred and George.
P.S. We saw no reason as to why we should make the removing incantation in Latin (it's getting a bit old) so just use say "Remove 'password' " and it will come off.
When Harry finished reading the letter he removed the Osiris tracker, seeing that it had returned to its original state. He walked over to the ball, picked it up and placed it back inside the box with the others.
Harry searched through his trunk for some books on how to stop common hexes with a single spell. He decided he'll read two books before calling it a day and just relaxing before he went to sleep. After he finished the books it was round about Eight o' clock and decided he would have an early night before he went to Hogwarts the day after next.
Harry was just about to get into bed when he heard a loud Crack outside by the street side. He instinctively went for his wand and moved over to his window to peer outside. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw it was none other than Albus Dumbledore at the front door of his house. Wondering what Dumbledore could possibly want at this late hour, he made his way downstairs to open the front door for him, knowing well how the Dursleys would react if one of his "freakish friends" were to show up at a time like this.
He was greeted by the usual twinkle in eyes when he opened the door for his Headmaster.
'Good evening Harry' Dumbledore greeted.
'Professor Dumbledore?' Harry asked confused
'Sorry to bother you at this time of night but we had some difficulty to find a way for you to go to Kings Cross.' He explained
'Oh.' Was all that Harry had said.
'I arranged with the order to take you with a portkey.' Dumbledore said 'Remus and Alastor will go with you.'
'Do you want to come in?' Harry asked when he realised that it is rude to talk with your headmaster when he was standing outside.
'No thank you.' Dumbledore said amused 'I was popping by and decided to tell you. However, I must be heading on. I'll see you September the first.'
Harry was just about to say his goodbye when Dumbledore disappeared again with a softer pop. He could still not understand his headmaster, eating muggle sweets, popping by at night to tell him something like this and keeping poltergeists at his school. Harry shrugged it away thinking that something as that would happen if you lived for hundred and sixty years.
All of his bags packed, clothes on and calendar on the wall gone Harry waited patiently on September the first for Moony and Moody to take him back to his home, Hogwarts. He headed downstairs and sat down at the kitchen table where Aunt Petunia was finishing a late breakfast.
'I'm going back today.' Harry stated happily
'O, how lovely. Have a wonderful year and hopefully we'll see you soon.' Dudley said sarcastically.
'Why, I will.' Harry shot back 'And the only way I'll see you before the end of this year is, if Mark Evans tells me that you had another go at him.'
'Dudley would never do something like that!' Aunt Petunia said proudly
'I won't!' Dudley screamed out 'How could you say something like that?'
Harry stood there gaping at how good his cousin had gotten in acting.
'Yeah, yeah I hear you.' Harry said 'but you know we have a way of appearing at unexpected places.'
Dudley whimpered but Harry was saved from listening to another reply by two figures coming out of the living room. Harry knew exactly who it was and gave a small smirk in the direction of Dudley but he took no notice because his hands were planted firmly onto his bottom and a look of terror on his face.
'That's right boy.' Moody growled 'CONSTANT VIGALANCE!'
Harry's relatives reacted differently but in the end it came down to them all being terrified.
'Harry, good to see you.' Lupin said 'Let's go to your room. We'll take the portkey from there.'
Harry nodded and led the way up. When they were all in his room Harry took hold of his luggage and placed a hand on the newspaper that moody produced.
'What are you doing?' Moody asked
'Isn't this the portkey?' Harry asked back bewildered.
'No Harry.' Moony laughed 'That is his news paper. The portkey will activate at nine thirty.'
Harry pulled back his hand embarrassed and sat down on his bed
'So, how's it going?' Lupin asked
'I'm good, and yourself?' Harry returned.
'Not bad, just busy with the Order and all.'
Lupin walked over to the window and Moody was half-way sitting down at the chair at his desk when suddenly he pulled his wand and shouted "Stupefy" in Harry's direction.
Harry reacted with the blink of an eye and deflected the spell whilst taking out his wand. He summoned everyone's wands in the same motion with "Accio Wands" and banished Moody's chair, causing him to topple over. Moody's hipflask fell out of his robes in the process but before he could even reach for it, Harry had binded his whole body with ropes.
"Accio flask" Harry summoned next.
'AHA! Polyjuice Potion, I knew it.' Harry sneered.
He flicked open the catch on the flask and poured all the contents out onto the floor, only to turn a bright shade of red when he recognised the Firewisky singe his carpet.
Moody burst out laughing and wriggling around in the bind that Harry had cast on him.
'A bit on the too vigilant side, are we?' Moody growled in his usual tone again. Lupin just stood there with his jaw on the floor, gaping at Harry.
'Err… Sorry Professor?' Harry half asked and half apologised.
'Not to worry.' He reassured Harry 'It was what I had in mind.'
'Uh' Lupin attracted their attention 'The portkey will go in three minutes. By the way, good reaction.'
Harry undid Moody's restrains and held on to the can Lupin held out. They waited for a while and were whisked away towards Kings Cross. They landed in an alley that seemed to be deserted and Harry watched with amusement as Moody pull out his cap and placed it over his magical eye. The walked around the corner and went in the main entrance where Harry found a trolley where he placed his trunk on.
The walked towards the barrier and was lucky to find that no muggles was around. Harry went first followed by the two adults and immediately scanned the crowd for red hair. He saw them near the train and went over happily.
'Hello' he said from right behind them.
'Harry!' everybody screamed at once but Mrs. Weasley beat them all to give him her hug.
After she let go he shared a brief hug with Ginny and Hermione while shaking hands with the men.
'You have to tell us all that happened!' Ron said ecstatically
'Ron!' Mr. Weasley whispered 'Not here, in the train.'
Ron looked a bit down after that but when the whistle blew, signalling for all the students to get on he perked up a bit and grabbed random bags around him while walking towards the train. Harry followed closely with Hermione and Ginny behind him. When they found a compartment they leaned out of the window to greet the rest of the Weasleys.
'Great to be going back.' Harry said
'Yeah, lets go sit and then you can tell us what happened.' Hermione replied.
They sat down while Harry opened the cages of the pets in the compartment. The owls flew up to sit on the luggage rack but Osiris and Crookshanks shared a brief look and bolted from the compartment, underneath the feet of Neville that jumped up to avoid a collision.
'Hello Harry.' Neville said and walked to the empty seat followed by Luna who sat down on the opposite side.
'Good morning Harry.' Luna greeted
'Hello.' Harry greeted back 'glad to see your safe.'
'Yeah, we heard what happened but what happened?' Neville asked
As soon as Harry said the first word of his tale a loud voice cried out 'POTTER!'
Harry recognised that voice immediately and tensed up for what he suspected was going to happen. His felt his hand tingle in anticipation and his mind creating visions of what could possibly happen.
'I'LL KILL YOU!'
The door slammed open to show Draco Malfoy standing with his wand in hand looking furious. Crabbe and Goyle came a second later with beater bats in their hands clearly forgetting that they had wands.
'Listen Malf…' but the words didn't even reach him before Malfoy reacted and flung several curses into the compartment.
Harry's wand was in his hand as soon as one could see the light of the spells from Draco's and Harry erected a shield while aiming his wand at a curse Harry recognise as the bone breaking one the Death Eaters used on him this summer that he knew would break through. Harry twirled his wand in a small circle, creating a small space of red light before the nasty curse. The spell hit Harry's with a crashing sound and all of it exploded into red sparks while Crabbe and Goyle lunged forward towards Harry.
Harry anticipated their moves before they even reacted and cast restraining spells on them while their bats came crashing down.
Harry's friends were still busy pulling out their wands when all of this happened but Harry screamed 'Don't!'
Malfoy released his second volley of hexes and curses while Harry deftly deflected them with counter spells.
'Malfoy listen to me!' Harry yelled 'Do you really want to end up like him?'
'YOU KILLED MY FATHER!' Malfoy screamed again
He started to throw curses at Harry that could easily do permanent damage but still Harry didn't go on the offensive.
'Killing innocent children! Killing people that don't even know why you are after them! Killing muggle born people only because their not like you!' Harry tried again
But still he didn't listen, in fact he seemed to grow angrier by the second. Finally Malfoy lost it and bellowed 'CRUCIO'. The green light raced forth and Harry realised he had to take some action. He stepped aside and the unforgivable curse hit the train wall behind Harry, blowing a whole in it the size of a football ball.
Hermione, always logical decided that this was enough for her but when she tried to stand up Harry stopped her with a desperate spell that knocked her back into her seat.
'MUDBLOOD!!!' Malfoy screamed, his voice growing louder and louder when he saw what happened.
He started to move his wand towards Hermione and Harry knew what was in his mind.
Without wasting another second Harry bellowed with all the force he could muster while pouring every bit of magic he could locate in his body into his spell to save his friend.
'STUPEFY!'
A red light so bright it blinded everybody in the compartment except the two combatants raced from Harry's wand at an incredible speed. The energy around it was enough to incinerate insects that flew nearby. It sent shivers down the spines of his friends to see Harry in a state like this, a look of worry etched into his face, his green eyes alive with energy and his whole body looked like it was glowing from the inside.
The stunning spell hit Malfoy right above the chest and for a second nothing happened but then he glowed red from where the spell made impact. Suddenly he was forced backwards with the some of the red light trailing behind and was knocked off of his feet flying into the other compartment right on the other side of the isle, blowing off the door.
Harry stood there panting for air and only when he saw terrified faces look around the other compartment door did he lower his wand. He felt the energy subside while he looked at his friends. All of them had the same expression, shock, awe and worry plastered onto their faces.
Harry walked over to Crabbe and Goyle and renewed his bounds with a series of ropes and restrains. He walked over to Malfoy and saw his chest falling and rising slowly but he was unconscious as anyone would be after a spell like that. He conjured up chains and bind Malfoy's limp body but still he didn't feel secure so he sunk his body into the floor half way.
Harry walked back to his compartment and sat down, still panting for air when a Scottish voice screeched out 'What in the name of Merlin happened here?'
Harry's head of house came around the corner with her wand in hand, looking furious.
'We'll what happened!' she screeched again.
Harry looked up and made eye contact but didn't reply so he dropped his head back into his hands, letting his adrenaline subside.
His friends however stood up at once and said 'We'll tell you.'
Hermione and Ron, feeling it was their duty as prefects walked out to tell her everything that happened.
The rest of the train ride went by in a blur for Harry and his friends. Malfoy was taken by Professor McGonagall after Ron and Hermione told her what happened while Harry told his friends what happened when he was attacked and what Dumbledore told him about the ways of the old.
'Damn.' Neville said, stating what everyone was thinking.
Harry hasn't told Neville or Luna about the prophecy yet mainly because he didn't think a train was a suitable place for them to find out. When it finally became dark Osiris and Crookshanks came back for the first time since Malfoy assaulted Harry, looking incredibly proud of themselves.
When the train started to slow down Harry stood up and gathered all of his belongings, including his pets and went to stand in the isle with the rest of the students. The train pulled into Hogsmeade station and Harry and his friends pushed through the crowd to get a carriage. For once it wasn't raining and for that Harry was pleased but then he saw the Thestrals, they looked as usual, sinister but the thing that sent shivers down Harry's spine was the way they looked at the six friends. Their eyes tracked them through the crowd and when Harry and his friends moved passed one of them they would close their eyes and nod as if to greet.
'Don't tell me that we went to the department of mysteries on those things.' Ron whispered to Harry shakily.
'That's them but they don't usually greet.' Harry replied
'It is strange.' Luna said startling Harry 'Rather sinister if you ask me.'
Harry only nodded, not knowing what else to say. He didn't even know that Luna could get scared of animals because of the tales she told them about her and her father. They found a carriage and when they arrived at Hogwarts Harry breathed in the scent of his favourite place. They walked through the doors of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry proud to be part of such an honour.
When they were finally seated at their house tables Harry looked over towards the staff table and inspected all of them. Professor Dumbledore was gone and so was Snape but Harry presumed it had something to do with Malfoy. Harry looked over to the other empty seats. One belonged to Hagrid, the other to professor McGonagall which left one person missing, the defence against the dark arts teacher.
'Where are they?' Ron whined 'I'm hungry.'
As soon as the words left his mouth professor Dumbledore along with Hagrid and Snape strolled in from the door at the back of the staff table while the first years came in from their usual place.
The sorting, like always became boring within the first few minutes and Harry clapped when he heard the rest of his house doing it. One of the first years tripped, sending the stool and hat flying but he didn't seem to care. He looked over to the small mess he made and smiled broadly; clearly not as scared as Harry was the first time. Definitely a Gryffindor Harry thought but when the hat called out Hufflepuff Harry turned to Ron who had the same shocked expression on his face.
When the sorting was finally done Dumbledore stood up and said 'I will leave the rest of my speech for after the food.'
He clapped his hands and the plates filed up with food of all sorts. Ron immediately grabbed numerous portions off everything, piling up his plate while the rest helped themselves to more civil amounts.
'Same warning as last year.' Remarked Hermione thoughtfully
'Do you actually listen to that old hat?' Ron asked when he finally managed to swallow his food.
'Yes Ron!' Hermione exclaimed 'And you should too.'
Ron chose to ignore Hermione and went back to eat. Harry, simply enjoying it to be back at Hogwarts sat in silence most of the time, listening to his friends or sharing some minor small talk with them. Only after the last spoon was put down by the small Hufflepuff boy did Dumbledore stand again with his twinkle in full force.
'Welcome back everybody!' He said 'There will be a few new rules and there will be a few old rules revoked. The good news is that every single educational decree brought in by Dolores Umbridge will have no effect anymore. That means that every person who had lasting damage from her "Decrees" will be able to do what they were doing before she came to Hogwarts.
Further more, all Hogsmeade weekends as you know it will be stopped.' He waited there for the crowd to subside after all the exclamations and yells of protests. When it finally died down he continued
'Third and fourth years, fifth and six years and finally seventh years will go separately. That is simply for security reasons because of our current situation but if you have a friend of a year that isn't going with you, speak to your head of houses and it will be sorted out.
Mr Filch asked me to tell you "every single Weasley firework I find in their possession will be strapped onto their backs and ignited. Then let's see them enjoy the show!" however seeing as that will never happen, I ask you not to use them inside the castle.
Our new Defence against the dark arts teacher will be coming tomorrow and is eager to get you all up to standard.
On a more sombre note it is my unfortunate duty to tell you all that we are at war. Voldemort' he didn't even stop for the terrified squeals 'will not hesitate to strike as he has last year and will not show mercy. That is why we will expel anybody immediately if we realise that dark magic is performed inside this castle with the intention to do harm. Draco Malfoy will be escorted from here tomorrow because he did a terrible deed. Even if emotions are running high one must learn to control it and not fall inside the black pit of dark magic. I advise you all to learn to protect yourselves against his evil forces.
That is all for tonight, enjoy your first term back.'
He sat down while looking Harry straight in the eye. Harry hadn't told anybody what happened between him and Bellatrix in the Ministry of Magic and he had no intention to tell anyone, ever. It was the kind of thing he forced to the back of his mind, to ashamed to admit it, to scared to think about what could have happened and how close he was to becoming dark.
Mr. Weasley told them once that dark magic was addictive, that once you did it it's too late to take back and it has a way to change even the most pure hearted person to do evil again. Harry shuddered slightly and stood up when he saw Dumbledore nod slightly to him, as if he saw the internal struggle Harry went through at that moment. Harry, Ginny and Neville walked to the Gryffindor common room in silence, each deep in thought about what Dumbledore told them.
'He deserved what he got.' Neville said savagely, startling them out of their reveries.
'Yeah he did.' Ginny stated a bit more softly 'and his father.'
Once they were seated at their usual seats Harry pulled out his wand and casted a privacy charm around them.
'What's that for?' Neville asked for both himself and Ginny.
'I'm going to tell you something important.' Harry replied pointing at Neville.
At that moment Hermione and Ron came back from their duties and looked curiously at Harry, not hearing anything that came from the dome that looked like a bubble. Harry waived his wand at them and something resembling a door came into existence. They walked inside, sensing Harry's sombre mood sat down silently. Harry waived his wand again and the bubble sealed itself again.
'Neville.' Harry began 'I have to kill Voldemort. The prophecy said that, the one that broke.'
Neville sat in silence for a long time after Harry spoke, then he looked up as if he reached a silent conclusion with a look of fierce determination etched onto his face.
'That means we have to learn to fight.' He said simply
'I've been doing some thinking Harry.' Ron said 'If what you say is true then, then. Arg, what I'm trying to say is that we wouldn't be sitting this one out on the sidelines.'
'That, my friend, I have realised this summer.' Harry told him.
'Let me finish.' He told Harry 'I already made my decision. What I haven't done is try to do something about it.'
Harry sat there and pondered Ron's words. He was right. Harry thought they haven't done anything about it.
'Let's enjoy our first week back.' Harry told them 'I'll talk to professor Dumbledore tomorrow.'
Harry pulled out his wand and waived it in a fluent motion, letting the bubble disappear. He walked out of it with a stiff 'Goodnight', which his friends replied to with their own. After he was in his room he pulled on his sleeping clothes and climbed into his bed. Osiris flew down, landed at his feet and walked two circles, looking like he was trying to find a suitable place to sleep. In the end he curled up in the same position he was when he landed and gave a huge sigh that sent two small rings of smoke out of his nostrils.
Harry knew that he was in for a trying time and decided that he wouldn't go on like he did last year. If he had to defeat the strongest wizard of all time then he had to be ready. "What comes will come and we'll just have to face it when it comes." Hagrid's words of nearly two years ago echoed in his mind. Strange that it stayed in his head all of this time but he knew that he would have to pull everybody together. Dumbledore told him how hard it is, and he knew to an extent but things can't carry on like it is going on right now. People can't go about with fear in their hearts, nobody can perform well if they are scared.
Harry woke up the next morning, with a good night's sleep, and went to the showers. When he finally emerged with steam coming out of his cubicle Ron and Neville walked in looking like they could do with some more rest.
'Hello.' Harry replied cheerfully 'Had a good rest.'
'Yeah, great.' They mumbled in unison.
They never were morning people. He thought and trudged back to his dormitory to get dressed. After he was done he went down to the great hall because none of his friends were in the common room. Half way there he spotted Luna strolling around looking completely lost.
'Luna!' Harry yelled out 'Were are you going?'
'O, hello Harry.' She said 'I'm going down to get breakfast. Then I need to talk to
Professor Flitwick, then I'm going to go to classes…'
'No, no, I only mean now.' Harry told her.
'I knew, but I'm only going to grab food, speak to professor Flitwick and go to a special class my father organised for me.'
'O, what class?' Harry asked realising that Luna made it sound normal.
'I don't know really.' She replied 'He said it was something my mother used to do when she was at school.'
'Hope it goes well.' Harry said 'listen Luna. There's something I need to tell you…'
'Is it something to do that you have to kill Voldemort and we can't sit in the sidelines anymore?' she asked airily
'Uh, yeah.' Harry said stomped 'How did you find out?'
'Neville confirmed my suspicion yesterday night.' She told him. 'people really underestimate the power of imagination.'
Harry didn't know what to say to her but he figured it had something to do with her nature. They walked in silence to the great hall where Harry found Ginny sitting alone.
'Hello Ginny.' Harry said 'I didn't know you were up yet.'
'Mmmm.' She replied 'I couldn't sleep anymore. Seven hours is enough for me thank you.'
Harry started to eat some eggs and bacon when Professor McGonagall appeared right behind him.
'Mr. Potter.' She said in way of greeting 'Can you see me after breakfast?'
'Yes sure.' He replied
Slowly but surely the great hall filled with students coming for breakfast. Ron, Hermione and Neville came by some time earlier and started to eat away. When Harry was done he excused himself and went to professor McGonagall's office by means of a shortcut hidden behind a painting of some strange creature. When he finally reached her office he knocked once and waited but the door opened of its own account. Inside professor McGonagall sat in her chair but who Harry didn't expect to see was professor Dumbledore with a cup of tee in his hands.
'Good morning Harry.' Dumbledore greeted
'Hello Professor.' Harry greeted kindly, happy to see Hogwarts return to normal with Dumbledore back.
'The main reason why I called you here was to discuss your schedule of this year.' He said cryptically
'um, what about it.' He asked.
Professor McGonagall intervened here and said 'we never received a letter back from you to tell us which classes you would like to take this year.'
Harry stared dumbly at her for a few moments but then he realised that he should have thought of that when he got his O.W.L. results.
'Sorry.' He stammered
'It's quite all right' She reassured him 'Can you tell us which ones you would like to take?'
'DADA, I guess, then transfiguration, charms and…' he stopped here not knowing if professor McGonagall knew of his training with the Cordeurs.
'And Martial arts I presume.' Dumbledore said 'There are very few things that I don't tell Minerva.'
'That brings us to a total of four classes Mr Potter.' She said
'Well I can't take potions.' He said while thinking it over. 'I can't think of anything else that will help me through the rest of my struggle.'
'That wouldn't be a problem. How ever, I must state clearly that if we allow you to take only four classes that you will use the free time wisely.'
'I thought about doing some study on my own.' He said and added 'I'm almost finished with the books you gave me professor.'
Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up to his hairline but he still remained placid
'Harry, don't tell me that you read all of the books already.' He said
'Not all of them, but most.' Harry said
'That Harry is impossible.' Dumbledore said 'Please don't tell me you found a time stopper.'
'What's that?' Harry asked bewildered.
'It makes time slow down if you placed the receptors on you temples. The brain is unaffected by time so you can learn much faster. There is a negative side however. it leaches itself to your brain and eventually you become trapped in time.'
'No!' Harry exclaimed 'Nothing like that, I wouldn't do that.'
'Then how were you able to read those books?' Dumbledore said clearly getting frustrated 'I, like you don't like to be held in the dark.'
'I will tell you that even you didn't know about this.' Harry replied cryptically 'I found it in a book you gave me.'
Again Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up but he waited for Harry to continue
'I'm not going to tell you everything but I'll do it to you.' Harry said again
'Mr. Potter.' Professor McGonagall exclaimed 'Need I remind you that it is forbidden at this school to use any means to help you study.'
'I didn't use it here and it is too late. I already memorised the sixth year's books.' Harry said 'The only reason I'm here is to learn personal experience. No book can learn me that.'
'Do the spell on me Harry.' Dumbledore said 'But only brief.'
Harry placed a book about transfiguration onto Dumbledore's lap and pulled out his wand. He did the spell without a sound as to not give away his secret. After the book was finished five minutes later professor Dumbledore looked at Harry.
'There is no traces of dark magic and no negative affects.' He whispered
'It makes you damn tired after an hour.' Harry replied
Dumbledore, however perked up and said 'Harry, you found the spell they mention in the diary of the four friends. That proves it.'
'Proves what?' Harry asked, his curiosity at a peak.
'Only when the Ways of the Old is in use again can the leader of the right side use this spell.' He said 'I give you my apologies but understand that something as this doesn't come by everyday.'
'I guess so.' Harry said
'There is no way to force learning in any way.' He said 'Except this one. It will hide itself however after the ways of the old is gone again.'
'That doesn't matter.' Harry said 'As long as I can destroy Voldemort I'm happy.'
'That is the other reason I called you here again.' Dumbledore said with something as sadness in his tone 'Voldemort struck last night.'
All the air started to leave Harry as he remembered his vision of Voldemort.
'Who?' Harry asked without a hint of emotion
'The parents of a boy in Hufflepuff, first year.' He said with a shakily voice 'The one that knocked over the chair. He had a sister of eight but she got away. He parents made a portkey for her right before Voldemort himself struck them. She appeared in my office late yesterday night, crying her eyes out. I don't know how they made one without me to come to my office but I'm glad they were able to.'
Harry didn't say anything. He couldn't. The only thought that raced through his mind were If I had worked harder I could have stopped him already but reason kicked in, telling him that he did almost everything he could to prepare.
'We knew this would happen Harry.' Professor McGonagall said in a soft voice.
'I know.' Harry said, again without emotion 'Does he know?'
'Yes, I took him to her this morning. He seemed to take it alright.' Dumbledore said defeated 'He said to me "With Voldemort here it couldn't be stopped. Don't worry, we'll see them again" That, Harry is something I didn't expect to hear from a first year.'
There were a long silence and eventually they could hear the students coming into the classroom next door but they didn't seem to care.
'My friends said they need to learn.' Harry said breaking the silence 'The said they already made a decision but didn't do anything about it.'
'I'll speak to them personally tonight.' Dumbledore said 'I must be leaving.'
After he was out of the door Professor McGonagall stood up and said 'I'll give you your schedule at lunch. As far as I followed your conversation it seems to me that you have to defeat Voldemort.'
Harry didn't look up but nodded slightly
'I'll help you in anyway I can.' She said 'Come by tonight, then we can see if you can become an animagus.'
'What's that going to help me?' Harry asked 'No, don't bother.'
'If you say so but come by anyway.' She said again 'Transfiguration can be useful in battle.'
Harry nodded and walked out of the door heading towards the hospital wing. As he entered he heard small sobs and a small voice of a boy saying 'Don't worry sis. Don't worry, we are here for a reason and then we'll see them again.'
'But I want to see them now.' A tear strained voice said
'Their not gone, remember what they told us. "We won't leave you ever, not even when were dead"' he told her soothingly
Harry chose to intervene at that moment by saying, hidden from their view 'I can feel my parents in time of need.'
He stepped out of the cover of the screen to see the same sandy haired boy looking at him and a small girl lying on the bed with brilliant blonde hair that was currently tangled and dirty.
'Harry Potter.' The girl said 'Tell me they will come back.'
'They never were gone.' He said 'They will protect you as my mother has done this summer.'
'How did she protect you?' she asked sadly
'She forced nine death eater away with magic after they attacked me.' He said 'There is nothing I can do to make it easier. I lost my godfather last June, I loved him, but there is someone that protects us from danger even when we feel alone.'
'Who?' she asked
'Can't you feel Him?' Harry asked 'Feel Him trying to sooth you? It will be better I promise. Someone told me that nothing will be placed onto us if we can't handle it.'
She looked at Harry once again and nodded. Harry stayed there a while and then made his way to Gryffindor tower. He spent the rest of the morning clearing his head and thinking everything through. At lunchtime Harry's friends returned.
'Where were you Harry? What happened?'
Harry told them what he heard from Dumbledore and how he forgot to tell them which classes he wanted to take. He told them about the Hufflepuff boy and his sister. When they finally reached the great hall a tense silence met them. Dumbledore sat down and nodded to Harry who returned the gesture.
They found places to sit and news soon reached them that Dumbledore told the school of the boy's parents.
After lunch Harry went to Professor McGonagall who gave him his schedule. He went back to his dormitory and got his books he needed for the rest of the day. He walked to the DADA classroom in a daze and snapped out of it when he came to the door with students standing around talking.
He found Ron, Hermione and Neville standing at the back of the students, waiting for the Professor to come. Ten minutes later they heard footsteps and turned to see if it was their Professor.
He was a tall man that demanded your attention but he had a gruff face and he looked to be around fifty years old.
'Well, go in' he said as he approached.
The class went in and found seats. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville sat near the front waiting for their Professor to start. He went to his table and laid his briefcase onto the table. He turned around to face the class and pulled out his wand that was longer than usual.
'Why are you here?' he asked. When nobody answered him he continued 'To learn to defend yourself. That's what you're doing here.'
He pointed his wand in Harry's direction and said 'Can you defend yourself?'
'As good as to be expected.' Harry replied
'Lets see then.' He pointed his wand in Harry's direction and started the incantation but at the last second he pointed his wand in Hermione's direction. The red light shot out of his wand and raced forth. She surprised them all by reacting and putting up a shield charm, still in her sitting position. The spell rebounded of off it in Harry's direction who used a more advanced form of protection. The spell hit Harry's shimmering blue light and disintegrated as it made impact.
'Great!' he exclaimed 'That's great. Take ten points to Gryffindor for that.'
He replaced his wand in his robes and said 'I'm Professor Julian Mungus. I'll try my best to get you up to date with this subject while preparing you for what is to come.'
He went on with the lesson about shield charms, occasionally surprising them all with a stunner in a random direction. Most students didn't expect it and fell, losing one point for their house every time but gaining two if they successfully block or dodge it. After the lesson they bade each other goodbye and went their separate directions. Harry back to Gryffindor tower and his friends off to magical creatures.
That night Harry went to Professor McGonagall's office to find her sitting on the table with her wand in hand. As soon as Harry entered she transfigured four quills into garden gnomes that raced towards Harry. He transfigured them back after a while and looked at his professor.
'I could have made that something more vicious.' She said 'Transfiguration in battle can be useful, something to give you the upper edge.'
Harry listened to her stories of when she used it in battle and helped Harry out a bit on some things he couldn't get right. He knew that this could be useful but he somehow didn't think it was right for him. He could already do things like that, making things animals, animating things and so forth.
When Harry was finally in the common room it was well past ten but none of his friends have returned from their meeting with Professor Dumbledore so he waited. When he finally heard them come back he turned around to listen what Dumbledore told them.
'Harry, guess what.' Ron said happily
'What?' Harry asked back
'Professor Mungus agreed to teach us how to fight, professor Flitwick also agreed.' Ginny said with delight.
'That's not all.' Neville piped up 'Professor Dumbledore told us he will be assessing us to see what we do best!'
'That's great!' Harry said happy for his friends.
'Yeah, and we have what looks to be a good DADA teacher.' Hermione said in the same mood as the rest.
They played some exploding snap and talked to the rest of their dorm mates because they didn't have any homework yet. Harry was just deciding to call it a night when a constant tapping noise came from the window. He stood and opened the window but wasn't expecting it to drop the letter in his hands. As the owl flew out of the window again he sat down and looked at the ministry seal on it but decided to get it over with
Mr. Potter
Let us get one thing straight. I am the minister of magic and nobody tells me what to do or how to do it. I will not be shunted around by a mere kid like you. This will not help you in your case against the ministry and will count against you in all possible ways. The press shall hear about this.
Now that that is done we can continue. If you loose this case, which you will, I shall break your wand personally. Secondly, the only reason that I agree with your date is because it is the only one that fit me as well, a man such as me has lots of things on his agenda.
Your hearing will commence in courtroom ten at nine thirty in the morning of September the twenty second. I expect you to be on time and to be prepared.
Minister Cornelius Fudge
P.S. consider yourself lucky that I don't intend to break your wand now.
After Harry read the note he threw it into the fire and looked as it burn to ashes.
'Who was that?' Ginny asked as she was the only one close by
'A letter from Fudge.' Harry said uninterested 'He told me when my hearing will be.'
'You have a hearing!' she exclaimed rather too loud for Harry's liking
'Yes, from the whole ancient magic fiasco.' Harry said
'That's not very nice if you ask me.' She said 'You had a near death experience and he wants to break your wand.'
'It doesn't matter.' Harry said as he stood up 'I won't loose, don't worry.'
'I'm not supposed to be worried, you are.' She said
'I'm not. Nothing he can do will change the influence of the Wizangamot.' He said 'Goodnight Ginny.'
'Night Harry.'
And with that Harry went to his bed, preparing for another day in Hogwarts. The last thought that ran through his head before he drifted of, was I have a lesson with Xilion tomorrow.
When Harry finally woke up that morning his dorm was completely deserted. He dressed quickly and rushed down to the common room to find it empty except for two third year boys. He hurried down to the great hall and went inside but once he was there he wished that he weren't. The hall fell into complete silence once he set foot inside with hundred pairs of eyes locked onto him.
He sat down next to Ginny and looked at her curiously. She replied by motioning to a Daily Prophet newspaper that lay next to her, opened up with the heading "HARRY POTTER VS MINISTER OF MAGIC". At first, he stared at it with huge eyes, and then he peered at it as if someone jinxed it, finally he grabbed it with a glance over his shoulder that made all the eyes dart back to their plates while Harry read his morning news paper over breakfast.
Arrogant and delusional… or maybe defiant.
Mia Golding
Harry Potter has caused troubles beyond recognition in the wizarding world of Britain. He doesn't feel the need to keep by school or ministry rules for that matter. He set free the monster of the chamber of secrets in his second year, helped Sirius Black escape from ministry custody in his third year, killed Cedric Diggory but claimed it to be the Dark Lord and broke into the Department of Mysteries in his fifth year but what does that mean?
Recently he kicked up a major uproar by enabling the ancient magic that surrounds his house we all knew about, that rendered the minister of magic unable to come close to the boy who lived.
If you add it all up like that Harry Potter looks like one of the darkest wizards of all time. Who is to say that he will stop, why don't we imprison him now before he could corrupt our ministry?
Because we didn't look at his perspective.
What if someone else opened the chamber of secrets and unleashed the monster within. What if Mr. Potter, the obvious choice because he was a parseltongue, only used his abilities to slay the monster? What if Sirius Black was innocent of the crimes he was committed for and Peter Pettigrew alive and blood thirsty as before? What if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was indeed resurrected by Peter and Harry Potter duelled for his life to return to Hogwarts and tell the community he has come back? What if he was attacked this summer that automatically forced the Ancient Magic to do its job?
The minister of magic pushed the press for a year to say that Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore were delusional. He tried to get Harry Potter expelled when he was simply helping fellow students with DADA. He again tried to break Harry's wand this summer when the Ancient Magic came to life but was unable to come close.
Harry Potter must be tired of Minister Fudge.
He wrote a letter himself to Minister Fudge, telling him when he was available for a hearing when he could have left it unsolved for years to come. The letter itself was to the point and stern, tired of beating around the bush, which Fudge took offence to. Again Fudge forced us to bad mouth Potter through the press but he didn't say we couldn't praise Potter.
Harry Potter has shown us all that no matter how dark the outcome, expulsion in his case, we mustn't back down and let people walk over us only because they can.
We, the Daily Prophet, hope that Harry Potter will win his case against the minister of magic and continue to get his much needed education at Hogwarts.
When Harry was finished he couldn't believe what his eyes saw. What he expected to be one hell of a criticising article turned out to be something he wouldn't have believed if someone simply told him. Harry looked at his friends to see them all smiling back in his direction. He turned and looked at Dumbledore to see the twinkle in the old man's eyes bright enough to light the Great Hall.
Finally, when the truth sank in, he felt a grin forming on his lips. The hall was once again chatting merrily, clearly abandoned their stares from Harry's back.
'That, Harry, is what I call good news.' Ron told him, breaking the ice.
'You're telling me.' Harry laughed back.
He hasn't felt this good after reading the prophet in, well, forever. After the initial shock was over Harry simply enjoyed the feeling of happiness. This was going to be a good day, Harry realised. He had Martial Arts training with the Cordeurs, double DADA and a few off periods with absolutely no homework to worry about.
Not even the fact that Xilion warned him about training becoming gruelling from now on could break through the blissful state that Harry was in at that moment.
Harry walked in silence to the point where the Cordeurs will land with their portkey. He arrived there at eight to wait for them but after a while he got bored to stare at a seemingly empty space so he wandered a bit further down, towards Hogsmeade.
After ten minutes he returned to wait for them, who seemed to be quite late. Finally after another twenty minutes they came to life right in front of him, shaking their heads and nursing minute cuts on their hands.
'Really funny, Harry' Xilion said in way of greeting
Harry, who realised the reason for their lateness, burst out laughing.
'Do you have any idea how hard it is to answer a riddle when some thing constantly distracts your attention?' Tasha said
'Did you like him?' Harry asked innocently
'Yeah he was great, thanks for the entertainment.' Xilion said again
'Well, don't you want to see Hogwarts?' Harry asked eagerly
They seemed to perk up at that and followed Harry up the hill without further question. When Hogwarts finally came into view Harry stopped and motioned with his hands to the proud castle.
'Don't tell me that's your school.' Tasha said 'It, um, looks deserted.'
'No, no that's the anti muggle wards.' Harry laughed, remembering Hermione's words that Hogwarts look like runes to muggles.
'How do we get past them?' Tasha asked cautiously.
'Follow me.' Harry said while trudging up further.
When he reached the gate he told them to walk forward, for them seemingly into a closed gate. They did so after Harry disappeared through the barrier. When Harry was through he turned around and looked with amusement their reactions while they walk towards him.
'Damn.' Was all they said with open mouths.
'Come on, I'll give you a short tour.' Harry said and walked them towards the lake.
After that he showed them Hagrid's hut, the quidditch pitch, the forbidden forest, the whomping willow and the front doors of Hogwarts when Xilion interrupted his tour with reason by saying that they should get down to business.
They arrived at the spot Dumbledore told him about, right behind the quidditch stadium where the forest started about thirty meters behind it.
'Great place.' Tasha remarked 'We thought you'd like to start weapons training today.'
'Yeah, there's no reason to improve your strength,' Xilion said 'For obvious reasons.'
Harry wanted to do this part of martial arts since he decided phone them and could hardly wait for it to begin.
'The Rod, Harry, can be very useful in battle.' Xilion started of 'Because of its long range and non lethal but effective blows it is one of the mostly used riot control weapons in china.'
The lesson went on for twenty or so minutes where they explained to him the proper handling of the rod, the spots were it is most effective on a human and some of the moves to parry blows.
They ended the lesson with a short demonstration for Harry and to say it was spectacular would be grossly under stated. The rods went at speeds Harry had trouble following with his quidditch trained eye, smashing into the ground, hitting one another with the blunt ends of it on their feet that left the opponent crying out in pain. They jumped to and fro, all the time spinning their rods, blocking blows and using it as sort of pole vaults to get more lift when they jump. Not one of them, backed down and clutched their sides when one was hit so, naturally Harry thought that it couldn't hurt that much.
So when they were finished Harry brought his thoughts forth and was answered by a swift knock on the hip that shut him up completely. It didn't look sore, but it was. Harry was sure there would be a lump after lunch but didn't mention it to them. After they left Harry trudged back to the castle with a skip in his step, glad that today, in fact proved to be great.
He met up with Ginny halfway towards Gryffindor tower and told her all the things they did with rods. Ginny, however, couldn't grasp the concept of normal sticks doing suitable damage in battle.
'Ginny, you have no idea how hard it can hit.' Harry explained
'My father told me about wizards fighting with staffs but that had magic in them, like a wand.' she told Harry 'Why don't you rather get one of those?'
'Look here.' Harry said when they finally entered the common room. 'This was a soft blow.'
He lifted up his shirt, showing the blue and purple bruise that already showed clearly.
'No way.' Ginny said with shock.
She reached out her hand and lightly touched his skin right above the mark, trailing it down, over sore. The feeling her hands caused on his bruise was somewhat unexpected but not unwelcome. In fact it felt better with her hand on top of it that of off it. Finally with excruciatingly slowness Ginny extracted her hand while Harry missed the feeling of her hand on his bruise immediately. After a while Harry broke the silence.
'I'm going to shower.' Harry said 'Forgot to do it this morning.'
She nodded and said softly 'See you at lunch.' while she walked towards the staircase the led to the girls dormitories. Harry showered and dressed, deciding to leave the bruise for now because it didn't throb with every heartbeat anymore.
Ginny didn't show up in the great hall at first and when Harry started to worry she came in looking somewhat sleepy.
'Where were you?' Harry asked calmly. Ron and Hermione had left early, saying that they had work to do for transfiguration and Neville was nowhere to be found.
'I fell asleep.' She yawned.
Harry simply laughed silently and gave her the plate of mashed potato with bacon pieces inside that she always ate. She looked at him strangely but didn't say anything and scooped some onto her plate. They shared some casual conversation that eventually turned serious.
'Can you believe that Professor Dumbledore actually said Professor McGonagall will teach us to be animagi?' she said, more than asked Harry.
'Yeah, she asked me to.' Harry said with a sigh
'So, when do you start?' Ginny asked eagerly
'I told her there's no use.' At his last statement Ginny simply gawked at him, like he declined a once in a lifetime opportunity, that strangely enough, he did.
'But… Harry, what.' She stammered
'Ginny, how will changing into some animal help me against Voldemort?' Harry said
'I don't know. It's bound to be useful.' She persisted
'How? If it's for concealment I've got an invisibility cloak.' Harry said 'For size, how much damage can an animal do to Voldemort?'
'I don't know.' She said defeated 'I thought that you would want to do this.'
'Ginny, I do want to be an animagus.' Harry told her truthfully
'Then why don't you?' she asked but to Harry it sounded more like a plea
'I will.' Harry said firmly 'After I killed Voldemort I'll become one. I want to play with my strengths for now. I have to stop him as soon as possible'
At Harry's words, Ginny flinched and for the first time she realised how much of a burden this prophecy must be on Harry. Every death caused by Voldemort, every person he was bound to torture without sympathy must be weighing down on Harry. He was the only one that can kill Voldemort. He probably thought that every person Voldemort kills is his fault because he's not strong enough yet to defeat the monster. And she realised sadly the rest of the victims will probably feel the same if they knew.
Ginny didn't know what prompted her to hug Harry like she did but it didn't matter to her, if only she could help him with his troubles, only slightly then she was happy.
Harry looked at Ginny after she broke the embrace; she looked sympathetic, almost sad. He realised that he told her how he felt, not necessarily directly but he told her none the less. He didn't know why he told her that, it was usually the thing he kept for himself, something nobody can extract from his mind, or mood for that matter, without him giving him or her permission. Yet he found that he wasn't sorry that he did, Ginny helped him, again, through his troubled mind. He looked at her with a silent plea in his eyes.
'Ginny' Harry whispered 'don't tell anyone. Please.'
'Don't worry Harry.' She said softly 'I won't.'
(A/N: Hello everyone, I finally found myself two new Beta Readers, so after November the chapters should start rolling in because it's our Holiday here in South Africa during december. We actually forgot to give an author's note for the previous chapter so sorry about that. I(Nexorsist) just want to comment and say that I think the Anon. guy that came a left a review under the name of "A guy who read your story" is really pathetic. You yourself can't even form a coherent sentence or capatilise your sentences and you come and review and say WE right like 5 year olds? Get a life. I don't mind critisism really but thats just pushing it. I'll be replying to review on our group, , When I made the group I kind of accidently put it in the adult section and I'm working hard to get it out of there so the younger readers can also join the group.
We hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the previous one. Just one thing, the new Crucio curse had another name but we renamed it last minute for a reason, it doesn't really matter, it's the effect that matters.
Cheers
Nex and Nifty)
