CHAPTER 8: The Sword of Gryffindor

Harry looked around the room, realizing for the first time how many witches and wizards were in the Order of the Phoenix. He had seen many of the members around the house the previous year, but he knew there were more men and woman that he didn't know about. He surmised that the announcement of Voldemort's return made it much easier for Dumbledore to recruit.

As Harry glanced at all the faces in the room, he saw that many of the eyes were pointed right back at him. Some of the faces he recognized, though he didn't always remember where he had seen it, other people were complete strangers. One thing was apparent though, they were all very happy to see Harry, everyone except the man who had just entered the room, Harry's potions master, Severus Snape.

"I don't have much time, so if you would all please pay attention I can get out of here and get back to work." Snape started quickly. There was a cold hint to his voice, and Harry knew that he was the cause of it. "I see that we have allowed an underage wizard into our midst. You all know my objections to this, mainly stemming from the fact that this boy's temper could easily have me and many other members discovered." Snape stared right at Harry as he was speaking, almost daring for the teen to prove his point. Harry wanted desperately to say what he was thinking, but decided against it. "Voldemort is planning something big, but it has nothing to do with any Death Eaters that I know of. I can assume it is only a matter of time before the Dementors join him, and that will give him many lethal followers back. I assume his plan may have something to do with this, but it is merely speculation. The Dark Lord still does not know the end of the prophecy, and we can only hope to keep it that way." Snape finished and sat down quickly. Harry suddenly realized why his friends weren't allowed in the meetings, they couldn't find out about the prophecy yet.

"I assume that you have business to attend to Severus, thank you and good luck to you." Dumbledore spoke quietly from his chair in the corner. He had been sitting so still that Harry hadn't even realized he was present. Professor Snape stood up quickly and rushed passed Harry and into the hall, slamming the doors behind him. "Some of you know the entire prophesy, many of you do not. I must remind you that this is for your own good, as knowing the contents would make you a target of Voldemort. So I ask you not to try to find out anything about it." Dumbledore gazed around the room, looking very old and tired. "Harry has been invited here today because I made a grave mistake in not including him last year. He has long been ready to handle the burden of knowledge, and I believed that if he knew everything that was going on he may choose to keep himself out of trouble, or at least have less reason to go looking for it." Dumbledore gave Harry a brief smile before continuing. "I think that we should maintain our watch on Azkaban, but with the school year fast approaching we will need certain people around to keep an eye on things. Breannan McClaggan, as many of you know, will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year, and I believe that he can handle almost anything that comes his way. But neither he, nor I, will be able to be everywhere at once. We will have five members at Hogwarts at all times, rotating on a daily basis. Those of you who I have already spoken too will be continuing their jobs. Have a wonderful day." At Dumbledore's final words every single person in the hall stood up and prepared to leave. Harry, however, sat there thinking.

The next morning Harry woke up early and went out for his daily run. When he returned he showered and began to pack his things for the journey to King's Cross Station. He put all of his clothes and belongings back into his trunk, and made his way downstairs into the kitchen.

"Oh, Harry dear. Would you like some toast? I'm awfully sorry, I just don't have enough time to make a proper breakfast."

"Yes, Thanks Mrs. Weasley." Harry said, accepting the toast. "How are we getting to Platform 9 ¾? Knight Bus?"

"Oh, no dear! Arthur got us a ministry car. After all Fudge has some things to make up for, and this is just the start."

When the others came down for breakfast Harry saw that they were all eying him suspiciously, obviously wanting to know what happened in the previous night's meeting. He gave the three a look to tell them not to worry, but Harry was just trying to buy time. He wasn't sure just how much he wanted to tell them at this point.

After breakfast they loaded into the ministry cars, which were amazingly roomy despite the fact that it looked very small on the outside. Harry knew, from his third year, that these ministry cars were enchanted to have spacious interiors, and the amazing ability to jump to the front of any traffic line.

It was a matter of minutes, it seemed, before the group arrived at Kings Cross Station, where they grabbed trolleys to carry all of their trunks on. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walked in front, followed closely by Lupin and Tonks, who were chatting animatedly as to blend in. Alastor Moody and Arthur Weasley walked on either side of the group, Moody's bowler hat pulled low over his magical eye. The four students walked straight at the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, and just before smashing into it, disappeared. They emerged on the other side, staring at the scarlet Hogwarts Express.

The four boarded the train and found an empty compartment. Harry had almost completely forgotten that Ron and Hermione were prefects, and was startled when they got up to left.

"Don't worry, mate. We're coming back. We just have to get our orders from the Head Boy and Girl." Ron assured him before sliding open the compartment door and walking out.

Harry and Ginny were talking quietly together when suddenly the compartment door slid open. Standing on the other side of it was Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson.

"So you've survived the summer, Scarhead?"

"What, you didn't think Voldemort could beat me did you?" The group looked nervously around at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. "What? OH! You can't cay Voldemort can you? Twitchy little ferret aren't you?" Harry said coldly, remembering Malfoy being bounced through the hall by the fake Moody, who had transfigured him into a white ferret.

Malfoy clutched at something hanging around his neck, then spoke quietly. "You think you're brave, don't you, Potter? We will see soon enough just how good you are though." Malfoy sneered, and turned to leave the compartment.

"No problems, Malfoy? I wondered why you weren't at the prefects meeting." Said Hermione quietly. Obviously she and Ron had returned just in time.

"None at all, or not yet anyway. Now move." Came the smooth response. Harry was surprised that his enemy had shown so much restraint, but didn't really care.

Harry and the others changed into their school robes, and Harry suddenly felt better with his wand in his right pocket, and his sword hanging from his left hip underneath the cloak. The group had been talking about the upcoming year, and all of the things that were planned. They had seen a few of the DA members, who had stopped by to check in on Harry and to see if they would be restarting the DA. Harry gave them the same answer every time 'I'm not sure we need to, we have a pretty good teacher as it is. But I guess it couldn't hurt, keep your coin on you.'

Parvati Patil had just stopped into the compartment when the train came to a screeching halt, Harry suddenly realized what Malfoy had been getting at, he knew their was going to be trouble, it wasn't just a threat. Harry looked out the window quickly and saw that the bright, warm day had suddenly turned dark and cold. He knew before he saw the hooded figures gliding towards the train.

"Dementors." He muttered, bringing out his wand quickly. The rest of the compartment followed suit. Harry heard a crash from somewhere up ahead and knew that the Dementors were boarding the Hogwarts express. Why hadn't he seen this coming before? The meeting he had been to basically told them this would happen, but he didn't realize it. "Stay here."

"Yea right, Harry. What in our time together makes you think we are letting you go alone?" Asked Hermione sarcastically. She and the others got up to follow him out.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Screamed Harry, seeing the tall creatures gliding down the hallway to him. He felt a wave of cold come over him and saw Ron, Ginny, and Parvati all looking totally helpless.

"GET BACK IN THE COMPARTMENT!" He screamed at them, pushing them back inside and closing the door. Harry realized that this wouldn't do much if he wasn't able to hold off the dementors.

Harry and Hermione kept throwing the patronuses in their direction, but it was no use, there were too many. Sooner or later the stag and the otter would fail and the creatures would swoop down on him and his friends. His mind feeling very weak, Harry realized that his hand had automatically reached for his sword.

Apparently Hermione had seen this because she yelled "Oh, Harry that won't help! Blades just melt when they hit a dementor! Didn't you know that?"

The strange thing was that Harry did know that, but for some reason that he couldn't figure out he drew the sword anyway. He looked at the blade and saw a soft, white glow emitting from it. Suddenly a realization hit him, he knew just what he had to do.

"Get back, Hermione, if this doesn't work you need to get the others out of here." He took a step towards the dementors before feeling a hand on his shoulder.

"Please don't Harry, it won't work. It can't!"

"Yes it will." Harry reassured his friend, not knowing exactly how he was going to beat a group of dementors with a sword. He just felt something pushing him towards the dementors. He ran at them, not realizing that he was screaming. He shoved his sword through the nearest creature, and watched it as a hand emerged from underneath its cloak, and went to pull it out. It hadn't worked, his friends were going to die. All of a sudden a pulse of white light emerged from the wound in the dementor's chest. The creature pulled the sword out and looked at it, it was intact. The light grew brighter and started to shine out from its face, which was still hidden underneath its hood. Harry felt a force push him back as the room was eclipsed in white light, which was accompanied by a deafening explosion. The only thing Harry realized before he passed out was that the Dementor was gone.