Harry
was waiting in the hallway. Cho was still in the Room of Requirement,
and Harry couldn't get in, so he decided to wait for her to come out.
He looked at the map and watched her little dot moving back and forth
across the room. Suddenly, the dot went running for the door, and
Harry hid the map in his robes. Cho came out into the hallway and
looked at Harry. "Harry! What are you doing here?" she
asked
"I thought you were in there."
"What do
you want?"
Harry noticed that she was very jumpy. "What's
wrong?" he asked
"Nothing. I'm a little -" She
turned and started walking down the hall.
"A little what?"
Harry asked, following her.
She spun around quickly. "Nothing!
Just go away!" She went running down the hall.
"Cho!"
Harry chased after her and caught her before she went down the
stairs. "What is it?" he asked, turning her
around.
"Nothing... I need to be alone for a little."
She went running down the stairs. Harry was extremely confused. What
was wrong with her?
"What was that about?" Harry
heard from behind him. He looked back and saw Neville.
"I
dunno. She just... flipped out at me. What are you doing up here?"
"Going back to the common room. I had a meeting with
Professor Trelawny." The two of them started walking down the
stairs. "Why aren't you in that class this year?"
"I
got out on the first day."
"Oh... well I have to get
going. See you later Harry." Neville went running down the
stairs, and a piece of paper fell out of his hands and onto the steps
in front of Harry. Harry picked it up and looked at it. It was a note
from Dumbledore, saying something about a meeting with him Sunday
afternoon... Neville pulled the piece of paper from Harry's hands.
"Thanks." Neville said as he was going downstairs. Harry
knew why Dumbledore wanted to meet with both of them. He wanted to
tell Neville about the Prophecy.
The
next day around noon, Harry was going down to the Great Hall for
lunch. He wanted to eat before he went to the try-outs. He looked up
and saw Dumbledore and Neville coming toward him. "Mr. Potter
come with me please." Dumbledore said, and Harry followed. The
three of them went to his office. "I brought you both up here
because I need to tell you something very important. Harry already
knows, but it is time for you to know too, Neville." Dumbledore
brought out his pensive. Harry didn't think he could stand to see it
again... that stupid prophecy that had damned him before he was even
born...
"Sir do you mind if I stand outside?" Harry
asked
"Not at all. I understand completely. I will call you
when I am done explaining everything to Neville." Harry walked
out of the office, closing the door behind him. He made sure that he
was far away enough so that he couldn't hear what was being said.
After about ten minutes, Harry heard Dumbledore calling him, and he
went back into the office. Neville looked like he'd just seen a
ghost. "Now that you both know the situation, I know that you'll
understand when I ask you both to come to my office tomorrow for
Occulmency?" They nodded. "Good. Neville if you need
anything else explained, I'm sure Harry would be alright telling you.
You two can leave whenever you're ready." Dumbledore got up and
left his office.
"Harry what am I going to do!"
Neville said
"Well now you know why I'm not always so
cheerful."
"But... you've fought him before! You know
what it's like! All I know is that he's really bad and killed almost
everyone! If I ever had to fight him I'd probably faint or die of a
heart attack or -"
"Neville!" Harry interrupted.
"Calm down. As long as we're with Dumbledore, we're okay.
Voldemort's scared to death of Dumbldore."
"How can you
say his name that freely? I can't even think about his name without
being scared."
"I guess I was never taught to be afraid
of it. It's just a name."
"Yeah the name of a really
evil bad guy out to kill everyone and everything! And he's after us!
Well... I mean he's after you, but I guess if he saw me he'd want to
kill me just as much!"
"The only reason he wants to kill
me is because I defeated him. He wants to prove to everyone that he
wasn't beaten by a 'child'." Harry explained.
"So then
what does this got to do with me?" Neville asked
"You're
the second child born at the end of July. It's just that he decided
to kill me first instead of you."
"So... the only reason
he wants to kill us... is because we're supposed to be more powerful
than him?"
"That was the original plan, until I
de-powered him."
Neville shook his head. "I can't be
more powerful than him. I still can't levitate a stupid feather..."
He looked at Harry. "But you... you can teach me. Like last
year, with the DA. That actually helped more than any DADA class I've
ever taken."
Harry smiled. "Well I was thinking about
not doing that this year, since we have a better professor, but I
think I can make an exception."
Neville smiled. "Thank
you thank you thank you!" He got up and walked toward the door.
"Thanks so much Harry. That makes me feel so much better."
Neville opened the door and left. Harry looked down at his watch. It
was 2:00! Ron's going to kill me, Harry thought. He went
running out of the room, but he stopped in front of the Mirror of
Erised. He wanted to look in it again, to see his parents again.
Maybe it will be different this time, he thought. But as Harry
started walking toward the mirror, he realized that he didn't want to
know what his heart's desire was.
Harry
ran out onto the quidditch pitch. "Thanks for being on time
Harry." Ron said.
"I had a meeting with Dumbledore. He
stopped me in the hall."
Ron sighed and looked up. Four
people (it was hard to tell if they were boys or girls) were flying
above them. "We've got it down to those four. So I figured, that
if we sent Ginny up there, then maybe we could find the two best
players." Ginny was sitting in front of them with her broom at
her side. Harry nodded.
"Sound like a plan to me. Who are
they?"
Ron picked up a paper. "There's three girls and a
boy. Amanda, Jessica, Holly, and Tom. Amanda and Jessica are third
years, and Holly and Tom are second years."
Harry looked up
at them. "They're pretty good for beginners."
Ron
nodded. "Hermione wanted to try out, but I wouldn't let her. She
can't even fly. How does she expect to play quidditch if she can't
fly?" Ron looked up at the four soon to be chasers and motioned
them down. After they had landed, Ron said "Ok now we're going
to put you up there with Ginny. We'll see how you do. Then we'll get
the rest of the team up there." Ginny mounted her broom and flew
up. The four new chasers followed.
"I'm going to go get my
Firebolt." Harry said to Ron. Ron nodded and Harry headed for
the broom locker. By the time he came back the new chasers and Ginny
were done. Ron and Ginny were talking privately. Ron motioned for
Harry to join them.
"They're all pretty good." Ginny
said. "But the best is Amanda. She's defiantly played before.
And Tom's really good too."
"Well let's get them up
there, so we can see how they do when the whole team's with them."
Ron said. He went over to the rest of the team, and Harry and Ginny
followed. "We're going to act like this is a real game, only
without the other team." He took out the quaffle and bludgers,
and handed the snitch to Harry. "Go on get up there." The
team flew up into the air. The beaters hit a bludger back and forth,
the five chasers passed around the quaffle and tried to score, and
Harry threw the snitch up. He caught it and threw it again. After a
while, he started to get bored, so he flew up higher and watched the
chasers. He could tell who was the best out of the four. One of the
girls and the boy were always in front of the others. They worked as
a team well. Ron was telling them all to land.
"It's getting
dark so I guess we should stop for tonight. We'll let you know if you
made the team." Everyone except Ron, Harry, and Ginny left the
field. "Geeze you'd think they'd at least help us put the balls
away." Ginny went to get the quaffle while Harry and Ron caught
the bludgers.
"Harry..."
Harry opened his eyes and looked at the curtains on his bed.
Someone was calling him.
"... Harry..."
It sounded
a lot like... "Sirius?" Harry said.
"...
Harry..."
"Sirius? Where are you?"
"...
Harry... stay away from the blue light..."
"What blue
light? Sirius?"
"... stay away from the blue
light..."
"Sirius?" Sirius's voice had faded, and
now there was another one.
"Harry Potter..." Harry
crawled back against the wall. It was Voldemort. But how was he in
Hogwarts? But then Harry realized that he wasn't in Hogwarts... he
was in a...
"Harry?" Ron said. Harry woke up and looked
up at Ron. "Are you alright?" Harry nodded and sat up. It
was only a dream. Just a dream. "Were you having those dreams
again?"
Harry nodded. "Do you know anything about a blue
light?"
"Blue light? No, why?"
"In my
dream... Sirius said something about a blue light..."
"You
heard Sirius?" Harry nodded. "That might mean something...
I don't know what, but Hermione probably does. You could ask her."
Ron paused. "But then again she'll probably flip out like she
normally does..."
"I have to see Dumbledore today
anyway." Harry said.
"For what?"
"Occulmency."
"Oh.
Is that why you were late yesterday?" Ron asked
"No he
wanted to tell..." Harry stopped.
"Tell?"
"He
wanted to tell Neville about... the prophecy."
"What
prophecy?"
"The one you found in the ministry."
"Oh
that... what's that got to do with Neville?" Harry got up and
grabbed Ron's arm.
"Come on." He dragged Ron into the
common room. They found Hermione and Ginny. "Come on I have
something to show you." The four of them walked into the hall
and to Dumbledore's office. Harry knocked on the door and went
in.
"Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said. "You're
early."
"Actually I was wondering if... if you could
show them... the prophecy."
"I suppose so."
Dumbledore said.
"It would be easier if they watched it."
Dumbledore went to get his pensive and Harry went for the
door.
"Where are you going?" Ginny asked.
"I'd
rather not watch it again." Harry said. He left the room and
stood in the hall until Dumbledore called him back. When he went back
into the office, the other three looked shocked and scared.
"Ron."
Harry said. "That's why I couldn't tell you." Ron nodded.
"I can't picture Neville doing anything like that."
Ginny said.
"I know. That's why I'm going to teach him."
Harry said. Dumbledore looked up from his desk.
"Well that
will give him a better chance of not fainting." Hermione said.
Ron stood up.
"Sorry but... I have to go..." he said. He
and Hermione left.
"I'll go too." Ginny said.
"Well
Harry if that's all for the moment... you are rather early for the
lesson." Dumbledore said.
"Yeah I know but... there is
one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Do you know
anything about a blue light?"
"What kind of blue light?"
"I don't know... but in my dream last night, Sirius said
something about a blue light."
"I have never heard of a
blue light in a dangerous sense, but maybe we will find out at a
later time."
Harry nodded. "Thanks sir."
"See
you at two." Dumbledore said. Harry turned and left.
A few hours later, Harry was back in
Dumbledore's office. "Well I think we'll let Neville try it
first." Dumbledore said. "He's never actually done
Occulmency before."
Harry nodded and looked around the
office as Neville practiced. The mirror caught his eye again. He
wanted to look in it. Just real quick, to see if it's changed, Harry
thought. "Harry?" Dumbledore said. "It's your turn
now." Harry pulled out his wand and stood up.
Dumbledore
pointed his wand at Harry and said the spell. Harry was able to hold
him off for about two minutes, before he gave up and fell to the
ground. "Not bad." Dumbledore said. "But I was going
easy on you. We both know that Voldemort will not go easy. Shall we
try again? Neville needs some time to recuperate." Dumbledore
hit Harry with a harder spell. Harry could barely hold him off. He
saw himself kissing Cho in the Weasley's living room, lying in a bed
with Ginny... Sirius falling backward... Dumbledore stopped. "I
see that you need more practice. I'll go back to Neville." Harry
fell into a chair and watched Neville's pitiful attempt to stop the
spell. He lasted maybe half a second... tops... "Alright boys
that is enough for tonight. I want you both to try to clear your
minds before you go to sleep tonight. I'll see you back here next
week." Dumbledore said. Harry and Neville left. Harry stared at
the mirror as he walked to the door.
