All characters depicted here belong to JK Rowling. I own nothing but the pleasure of writing this particular story.

The Crystal Shield

"No, I like the idea, I do, but I still don't understand how it will help us. That's all."

Hermione sighed, running her fingers through her hair in a frustrated way.

"I don't know yet, Harry. But we'll figure out how it will help. I know the Shield Charm will help somehow."

Harry frowned and stopped pacing. He plunked down in one of the armchairs and pulled the book toward him.

The five of us were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. It was the day after that amazing Quidditch game and everyone else was still in bed.

"What do you think, Ginny?" Harry asked, glancing over at a bleary eyed Ginny. She picked her head up off her hand and blinked at him a moment before responding.

"What do Remus and Sirius think?"

"We haven't mentioned it to Sirius yet. Remus was like you. He thought the idea had merit, but he didn't know what we could do with it."

Harry frowned again, sitting forward in the chair.

"You say we use the crystals, but what do they do? Improve our powers, yes. But why do we improve the Shield Charm? What is the point?"

"To keep out the Unforgivable Curses, of course. To protect you from Death Eaters while you're battling Voldemort," Hermione answered shrilly. Harry stared at her.

"Don't you remember, Hermione? They can't kill me. Not even with Avada Kedavra."

"Pardon?" I asked, looking up at Harry. "What do you mean that they can't kill you?"

Harry sighed softly and didn't answer. Hermione and Ron quickly filled me in. Harry was Voldemort's equal, which I knew already. That meant that only Voldemort could kill him. That, I hadn't known.

"But remember when Malfoy hit you with the Killing Curse last year, Harry? It knocked you silly."

"I remember. That was just after I killed Bellatrix Lestrange. Just after Hagrid…" Harry trailed off and looked out the window. "Right then. We need to figure this out."

Ginny waved her wand, conjuring up a tray of sandwiches and a couple jugs of pumpkin juice.

"I didn't know you could do that," Hermione commented in surprise.

"Please, I've been watching Mum do it for years."

"Sandwiches for breakfast?" Ron added sceptically, raising his eyebrows at his sister.

"They're bacon and egg," Harry said with a laugh. "Breakfasty enough."

"Breakfasty? Is that even a word?"

"Be quiet, Miss Brain."

I smiled to myself as I listened to them banter back and forth. I shook my head, remembering doing the same thing with my friends.

"What's wrong, Jules?"

I shook my head again, smiling at them. "Nothing, just trying to shake the cobwebs loose."

Ron chuckled, taking another sandwich from the tray.

Ginny grinned mischievously at me.

"I figured you would be tired, considering the way you looked when you got in this morning."

I stared at her, my eyebrows raised. Hermione glared at her while Ron and Harry looked up in surprise.

"This morning? Where did you go?"

"How did you-?"

"I was already up when you snuck in. I was half sleeping in the chair by the fire."

Hermione continued to glare at her friend while Harry and Ron started to put two and two together.

"You went to visit Remus?" Ron asked. "I thought you'd gone to bed!"

"I never said I'd gone to bed. I told Ginny last night I was going to go visit."

"Yeah, but…you-"

"What's the big deal, Ron?" Harry demanded. "It's not as though she's a child. She should be allowed to see Remus once in a while. You can see as much as I can that they miss being together."

"Nobody saw me," I added. "I mean, I did run into Professor Snape last night, but I said I had a question for Remus or Sirius."

"You ran into Snape?" Ginny repeated.

"Literally, actually," I answered. "He grabbed my shoulders and said that he knew what I was."

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"He grabbed your shoulders?"

I pulled the neckline of my robes to the side a bit, showing the slight bruises that the Potions Professor had caused.

"You should go to Dumbledore!" Harry said angrily, standing up abruptly. "He caused injury!"

"I figured to mention to Professor Dumbledore that Snape said he knows what I am." I quickly explained about pushing him away and shocking him with my hands.

"Good!" Ron exclaimed, his ears red.

"Not really, Ron," Ginny said quietly. "She proved that he was right."

"Go to Dumbledore," Harry urged again. Hermione nodded her agreement.

"Let's get back to the Shield Charm," I said quickly. "We still need to figure it out."

"And we need more sandwiches," Ron pointed out. Ginny sighed and waved her wand again.

Hours later, we had moved up to the boys' dormitory for privacy, but were no closer to figuring anything out.

"Still," Ginny pointed out. "We're a step closer than we were a few days ago."

Harry frowned, picking up two of the crystals in his hands and setting both on the floor, five feet apart.

"What're you-?" Ron began. Hermione held up her hand to silence him.

"I want to see if two crystals will do what I hope they'll do," Harry said slowly. "If they do, then we can…" He trailed off.

"You've been spending too much time with Hermione," Ron said grumpily. Harry grinned slightly, standing behind one of the crystals.

"Magis Protego," he said quietly, pointing his wand at the crystal. It hit and branched off in every direction like it had before. Harry dropped his hand and the Shield dissolved. "Damn."

"What are you trying to do?" Ginny asked.

"Connect them," Hermione answered quickly. "Try again, but try to make it connect."

Harry raised his eyebrows, but did as she suggested. This time the Shield splintered off in every direction, but each splinter sped toward the other crystal. Harry's eyes narrowed as he forced it toward the other crystal.

"Come on," Hermione whispered, her eyes fixed on the other crystal. One of the splinters of the Shield made contact with the other crystal and it stuck. The rest of the Shield connected with the first splinter and formed a small dome shaped Shield between the two crystals.

"Yes!" Hermione cried. "I have an idea, and I'm sure it's the same one Harry's had."

"Jules battles Voldemort," Harry said. Hermione closed her mouth and turned to stare at Harry.

"What?" she breathed. "No, she-"

"Yes, she can," Harry said. "Jules is the Saviour. She can battle him. We have a circle around them, trapping them both, so the Death Eaters can not help him. Then I cast the Dome Shield around the circle, so the Death Eaters can not take out the Order. They can't kill me."

"B-but, what can I do against Voldemort?" I stammered. "Send a Patronus at him? Turn him into a needle?"

Ron chuckled at the image that brought into his mind.

"Do what comes instinctively," Harry said. "Stop his curses. It will confuse him."
"But she can't kill him," Ginny said quietly. "If she battles him, she will lose, Harry. He will kill her."

"You need to battle Voldemort," Ron reminded Harry. "You need to beat him."

"I know that I need to battle-Did you just call him Voldemort?" Harry demanded. Ron grinned sheepishly.

"I practised."
Hermione snorted quietly, covering her mouth with her hand. Ron glared at her.

"Anyway," Harry continued, shaking his head. "I know I have to defeat him. But if Jules can wear him down…get his wand…He's as good as dead."

"Will Avada Kedavra work on him?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"That's a great plan, Harry!" Ginny cried, standing. "Send Jules, first year magic student, in to face the most evil wizard ever. We don't even know if she can stop Avada Kedavra with her hands. He isn't as good as dead, she is! It's suicide, Harry!" Ginny paused. "And then to send you in…when you don't know if Avada Kedavra works on him…"

Harry sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes.

"We could find a Boggart," Hermione whispered.

"What good will that do?" I asked.

"Harry's Boggart," Ron answered quietly. "It turns into Voldemort."

"But it will change with each of us, so the only one who can test themselves against it is Harry."

"And it might not work against the Boggart Voldemort," Harry added. "A Boggart won't work." He bit his lip and turned to me. "May I try something with you, Jules?"

I bit my lip as well, studying him closely.

"What do you want to try?" I asked softly. Harry sighed.

"Could you guys give us a minute?"

Hermione frowned, her brow creasing. She looked ready to protest when Ron caught her hand and pulled her from the room. Ginny looked at Harry and I for a moment before following her brother from the room.

"Now I'm afraid," I admitted. Harry didn't smile. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"You have every right to be, Jules. What I want to try…if you can't block it…It's very illegal."

"Harry, you're not making any sense."

"I want to try a couple of curses on you, see what you can block."

"You want to work up to Avada Kedavra."

Harry shook his head. "No," he answered vehemently. "I would never send that curse in the direction of a friend."

"Then what is illegal?"

Harry swallowed.

"I don't want to send Avada Kedavra at you, but…the Cruciatus Curse. I want to know if you can block it."

I stared at him, my mouth slightly open. I realised it was and closed it with a snap.

"But…but that's what Hermione's dad died from. It's the Torture Curse!"

"And it hurts, Jules, believe me, it hurts like hell. But we have to see what is the highest power of curse you can block, because if you can stop the Cruciatus, you may be able to stop Avada Kedavra."

"But if I can't stop it-"

"Then you get to learn what the Cruciatus Curse feels like," Harry admitted apologetically.

"But you could get into trouble, get expelled!"

"I could. But if I get expelled, then Hogwarts should be safe."

I rolled my eyes. "Harry, I have a hard time believing he's going to attack Hogwarts. Albus is here. Not to mention that every student here would fight him."

Harry shook his head. "Not every student. There are a lot of students that are very much on his side. Look at Malfoy. Do you think he's the only one?"

I glared at Harry for a moment then rubbed my eyes.

"You're probably right," I admitted, sighing.

"Jules," Harry said quietly, taking my hands and sitting down on his bed. I sat next to him. "I don't want to aim the Cruciatus Curse at you any more than you want me to, but we have to know what you can handle. And I firmly believe that if you can stop the Cruciatus Curse, you will be able to stop Avada Kedavra."

"But you don't know that."

"No, and we won't know that until we face Voldemort."

"Couldn't you try the Imperious Curse instead?"

"Jules, I will try the Imperious Curse but it's not nearly as powerful as the Cruciatus."

I bit my lip, knowing I should say no. I could see that he did not really want to use those curses on me. I could tell from the look on his eyes; he was almost hoping I would say no.

But I agreed with him. If I was to help at all, we had to find out as much about my power as possible. And that meant finding out what curses I could stop.

"Do you promise to lift the Curse as soon as it hits me?"

Harry stared at me for a moment and then grimaced.

"I promise," he whispered. "As soon as I see that it's going past your hands, I will take my wand away."

I nodded, swallowing hard. I stood and moved to the other side of the room.

"How far away should I stand?"

He told me to come a bit closer and then raised his wand. His face was stark white as he cast the first spell.

"Rictusempra," he almost whispered. The spell soared out of his wand and I held my hand up, stopping it in mid air. Harry smiled thinly. "I figured you would be able to stop that one."

"How do I get rid of them?" I asked. "Once I drop my hands, it will hit me."

"Can't you deflect it?"

I frowned at him, not understanding.

"I mean send it in a different direction? Aim it toward something else."

"Like this?" I asked, tilting my hand slightly to the left. The spell soared past and struck the water pitcher. The pitcher shattered, spraying water and chunks of clay everywhere. "Oh, sorry about that."

Harry chuckled, repairing the jug with a wave of his wand. Then his face went serious once more and he aimed his wand at me.

He sent spells and curses and jinxes at me for at least half an hour. I was able to deflect each one of them. Harry grew more and more nervous each time he raised his wand.

"Harry, are you sure you want to do this?"

He responded by yelling "Fernunculus!" in my direction. I gasped and easily deflected it. He had been trying to catch me off guard.

"Good. That's great Jules," he said encouragingly. "I think in the next couple days I'm going to cast these on you when you're not expecting them. See how your reflexes are. Is that okay?"

"Sure," I said haughtily. I was feeling slightly cocky after deflecting all of those curses. Harry swallowed nervously and raised his wand again.

"Are you ready? This is a bad one."

I nodded, my whole body tensed and ready. Harry swallowed again and then,

"Imperio!"

The seemingly mild Unforgivable Curse sped in my direction. I almost let it hit me so I would be able to feel how it felt, but my arms came up automatically. I had been holding them slightly tilted to quickly deflect the curses, and this one was no exception. It flew past my hand with ease.

"Amazing!" Harry marvelled, lowering his wand. "That's a pretty strong curse too!"

I smiled, still feeling very arrogant. Harry raised his wand again.

"Crucio!" he yelled, his face paper white. I watched the Curse explode from the end of his wand and speed in my direction. I raised my hands out in front of me. The Curse slowed, but did not stop.

In slow motion, I watched it come my way. I had tilted my hands like I'd been doing with the others, trying to deflect it past me, but it didn't go off course. It sped right toward me and with a jolt, I felt it slam into me. I screamed and screamed, dropping to the floor. Pain like I had never known spread through my body. I lay on the floor, twitching and yelling, my whole body feeling as though it might explode.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it ended. I lay still, tears streaming down my face. Harry dropped his wand on the floor, crossing quickly to my side, holding my head against his chest.

"Oh, Jules, I am so sorry," he whispered over and over. "I stopped it, but it took a second for the Curse to end. I'm so sorry."

I looked up into his eyes, trying to reassure him that I was fine, that I would be okay. I was surprised to find that he had tears in his eyes. His face was still paper white and his hands shook.

"What did you do to her? We could hear her screaming through the portrait hole."

Seamus, Dean, Colin and Ron moved in to the room. Harry didn't turn to look at them as he answered.

"I showed her the Cruciatus Curse."

"By using it on her?" Ron yelled angrily. Harry didn't answer him. "Harry, have you lost your mind?"

"No," I croaked. My throat hurt from screaming. I couldn't help but think that this is what I got for being overconfident. "No, it wasn't his fault."

"How's that?" Ron demanded, moving over to us. He slipped his arm around my shoulders and helped me to my feet. He kept glaring at Harry as he led me over to sit on a bed.

"I asked him to," I lied, shooting a look in Harry's direction. He frowned at me but said nothing.

"You asked him to send a Torture Curse at you?" Seamus repeated. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Yes. So I could learn how it felt."

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but then I noticed a light go on behind his eyes. He closed his mouth with a snap.

"Thanks for checking on me, you guys, but I'm okay, really."

Seamus and Dean weren't really convinced, but Colin was already half way through the door. Seamus followed Colin slowly, while Dean stayed.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, his eyes on me.

"I'm fine, Dean."

He nodded then finally followed Seamus from the room.

"Have you lost your mind?" Ron exploded, repeating the same question he'd asked earlier. He went to the door and slammed it shut. "You could be expelled! You could go to Azkaban!"

"We had to see what I could stop," I explained, my voice still croaking. I stood shakily, moving toward the water pitcher.

"You sit," Ron commanded. He physically sat me down again before moving toward the pitcher. "Hey, there's no water in here!"

"Oh, right," I said, remembering that I'd made it explode. "I forgot."

"So what curses were you able to stop?" Ron asked quietly as he repaired one of the glasses that I had broken since Harry had repaired the water jug. "Aqua."

"Everything but the Cruciatus," Harry replied, watching the water pour from Ron's wand into the glass. "Where are the girls?"

"They went to show Remus and Sirius the Dome Charm."

Harry nodded as he moved toward me. He sat down across from me again and took my hand in his.

"I'm sorry, Jules."

"Harry, it's okay. Stop apologising. I'll be alright. I was sure to find out how it felt sooner or later."

"Yes, but I shouldn't have been the one that showed you what it felt like."

I shrugged.

"We'll have to try it again in a bit, when the effects have worn off," I said slowly and calmly, as though I were bringing up practice for their next Quidditch match.

"What?" Ron and Harry asked in unison.

"Practice more?" Harry demanded.

"Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm not, Ron. I saw it slow down, so I know I have some power over it. I think that if I practice it more, I will be able to completely stop it."

Harry was staring at me like I had completely lost my mind. Who knows, maybe I had, but I knew I was right.

"Please, Harry. I know I can stop it, and the stronger I am, the more likely I'll be able to stop Avada Kedavra."

Harry closed his eyes and I knew I had him. I knew he was convinced.

"NO!" Ron cried. "You can't seriously be considering this, Harry! You can't try the Cruciatus on her again! You could hurt her! You could get expelled!"

Harry shook his head.

"She's right, Ron. If she even has the remotest chance of stopping the Killing Curse, then we have to find out. If she can't stop the Cruciatus, then she definitely won't stop the Killing Curse…but if she can stop one-"

"It doesn't mean she'll be able to stop the other!" Ron growled. "Next you'll want to try Avada Kedavra on her!"

"No I won't," Harry snarled, leaping to his feet. "I will only use that curse once more, and that is on Voldemort! It was hard enough to cast it once. I will not use it again until I absolutely have to!"

He spun on his heel then, and marched out of the dormitory. I stared weakly up at Ron.

"Again?"

Ron sighed. "Yes, again. He killed Sirius' cousin last year."

"What?" I yelped. "Harry killed someone?"

"She was going to kill all of us. He had no choice. It was self defence."

I stared at the door Harry had just exited through. I couldn't believe he had really killed somebody, even if it had been in self defence.

"Harry will do anything to protect his friends, Jules. We are his family. We are the only family he's got."

I shook my head.

"I'm his family. He's got me. And that's why I want to practice blocking the Cruciatus again. To make sure I don't leave him like everyone else has. To do everything in my power to live." I turned to Ron. "Do you understand?"

He nodded quickly, his eyes shining. He crossed quickly to me and helped me to my feet.

"I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey and she can give you the potion to dull the pain. Then you can try it again." He stopped and looked at me. "But maybe you should have Remus here with you. Maybe he'll be able to help somehow."
I shook my head. "I don't think so. I don't want Harry to get into trouble."

"Remus won't give him trouble. Harry could Charm the entire school pink and Remus wouldn't give him trouble."

I smiled at the image that floated through my mind.

"Using an Unforgivable on a fellow student isn't exactly the same thing, Ron," I told him.

"I know. I was just kidding."
"I know."

Several students looked up as Ron helped me past. I knew I looked a mess from thrashing about on the floor, but we didn't stop to explain. I knew that everyone would know sooner or later, as Colin did appear to have a big mouth.

Madam Pomfrey did not make me explain why I had the pain remnants (her words, not mine) that were only caused by the Cruciatus Curse. She gave me a steaming hot potion that I had to hold my nose in order to be able to swallow it. She instructed me to be more careful in the future, but if need be, to come back for more potion. I found myself wondering just how much she knew of what went on in the school. Aside from Albus, she seemed to be the most informed.

I thanked her for the potion and Ron and I headed back to Gryffindor Tower. We stopped short when we came around the corner to find two extremely furious Defence Against the Dark Arts professors.

"What is this we hear that Harry used an Unforgivable on you?" Remus snarled.

"And where is he?" Sirius demanded, his blue eyes gleaming. "I'm going to give him so many detentions, he'll have died of old age before he's finished them!"

Ron and I stared at each other. Then, as one, we each spun on our heels and ran in the opposite direction.

Hey everyone. I know it's been a long while, but I've been out of town for the last three weeks and before that, I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. Couldn't get it to come out right. I'm still not happy about it, but I don't think I'll ever be happy with a chapter, lol. I hope you enjoy it anyway.