Chapter 5: CHO'S ARRIVAL
After eating breakfast, Harry found that his legs walked him over to the couch in the living room. He gave in and sat down, leaning forward on his elbows, twiddling his thumbs staring blankly at a spot where Ripper had accidently relieved himself. At one point, the smell got to Harry and so when Aunt Marge and Dudley went out, Harry brought the Staff of Cybele downstairs and to Aunt Petunia's horror, Raides cleaned the mess before her eyes, white glowing ring and everything. If the Ministry of Magic was going to bang down their doors, so be it -- Harry needed to keep himself from climbing the walls.
Aunt Petunia tried to thank him but all that escaped her mouth was a strangled gulp. Her eyes were diverted towards the familiar golden chain around Harry's neck but he pointed out that he had the plaque magically removed.
Having still not moved from his spot, Aunt Petunia managed to say a few words. "Harry, are you going to move from that spot?"
Harry looked up but continued to play with his fingers in nervous wait for Cho.
"What?"
"I said, are you going to move," said Aunt Petunia more loudly. "You're making all of us nervous! Have a cup of tea with your uncle and I."
Harry's eyes squinted in confusion.
"Eh? You're only being nicer to me because your own son turned out to be a wizard," he said dismissively and then went back to look at the spot where Ripper had relieved himself (he had been staring at it for so long, he would able to point it out for years to come).
It must have been true because Aunt Petunia stormed away, her back straight as an arrow, her fists clenched.
Aunt Marge returned with Dudley an hour later, who had lipstick on his cheek and was frantically rubbing it off, a new computer game clutched under his arm called When Vampires Attack. Aunt Marge refused to be in the room when Dudley was having fun poking vampires with stakes and swords. Harry took the opportunity to tell Dudley he might get to meet a real vampire if he goes to Hogwarts. Harry then went back to sit on the couch, leaving Dudley alone, who immediately went to play Solitaire.
Sitting and staring must have given Harry a glazed look because Aunt Marge voiced the opinion that he was mentally inept, just as he had done during her last visit. That time, Harry tried desperately to keep his broom cleaning handbook in his head and Aunt Marge's voice out. It had had the same effect as a blank stare.
Some time just before lunch, Harry's leg started to shake on it's own. Try as he might to put all his weight on it to stop it, he had to succumb to standing up to stop the shaking. All the same, it was time for lunch anyway. Harry had lost his appetite when Aunt Marge asked when Cho was arriving. He looked at the handsome, gold wristwatch Sirius had forced the Dursleys to pay for (for the most part, part of the money came from Sirius). It was a little after one o'clock. Cho was probably still eating and was not a nervous wreck like Harry was. He wished he could reattach the plaque and hold it but what if Aunt Marge had asked to see it... Desperate, he went back to the couch and rested his neck on a hand, innocently slipping the gold chain between two fingers. Warm, sweeping calmness crept over him like a sunbath and it would have to make do until the hairs on the back of his neck stopped standing up.
"I've never seen you like this," he heard Aunt Petunia saying at one point.
"You've never seen much of anything," said Harry hotly. "I'm a person too, you know."
This left Aunt Petunia walking away disgruntled.
A little after two, the doorbell rang and Harry stood up so suddenly it was as if a thumbtack had been magically placed under him.
"I'll get it!" he yelled and, shaking, walked slowly over to the door.
Aunt Petunia, Aunt Marge, Uncle Vernon and Dudley were all staring at the closed door. Harry opened it and, standing behind it, was the very pretty Cho and who had to be her Aunt Blossom. The muscles in his mouth seemed to have locked themselves and there was a strange grumble in his stomach that he couldn't distinguish from being hunger or nervousness. But he had already eaten.
"Hi!" said Cho, beaming.
What unlocked Harry's jaw, allowing him to do something other than stare, was when Cho grabbed him in a great, big, warm, two-armed hug. Dudley drooled again. Aunt Marge had a vein throbbing in her temple. Uncle Vernon looked away. Aunt Petunia looked indifferent.
"Oh, how nice," Aunt Blossom said, smiling pleasantly at Cho and then at Harry, who had gone redder than Aunt Blossom's handbag yet was enjoying himself all the same. "You must be Mr. Dursley!" said Aunt Blossom, looking at him and striding past Dudley, who was wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "How -- er -- nice to meet you," she added, sticking her hand out. Uncle Vernon didn't take it.
"I told her to try an act as pleasant as possible but said how rotten they are to you," Cho whispered in Harry's ear just before they separated. She winked. "Come on, show me your room," she said aloud, seizing his hand.
"You behave yourselves now," said Aunt Blossom, sharply but kindly, rather like a mother.
"Yes, Aunt Blossom," said Cho, rolling her eyes and she allowed her aunt to plant a kiss on her cheek.
"I'll see you at Harry's game, shall I? Do you have a date for it yet?" Aunt Blossom added, looking to Harry.
"August fifteenth," he replied. "Mr. Weasley is coming to pick us up the day before."
"Yes, yes, very good. Well, if you excuse me I have to be off," said Aunt Blossom still, to Harry's amazement, smiling pleasantly. She was acting much like the aunt everyone has that gives everyone big, sloppy, wet kisses, leaving a lipstick mark and then wipes it all off with a tissue and spit. "Very busy at the house lately. You know. Nice meeting you, now!" and she was gone.
Harry had the feeling Cho warned her to find an excuse to just drop Cho off and leave. As soon as the door closed, Cho tugged Harry's arm and went towards the staircase saying, "Your room, Harry. I want to see!"
Harry didn't know what could be so fascinating about a bedroom but he took her up to it, regardless.
Getting an idea, he locked the door and took out the Staff of Cybele. As Harry expected, Cho stared at it, especially interested in the wagging tail.
"You haven't seen anything," Harry told her, grinning ear to ear.
"You must be Cho," the voice said aloud. "You can call me Raides."
"Oh -- my -- God," said Cho, unnerved.
"It's okay," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Here, read this." Harry gave Cho Madam Hooch's letter.
After a minute, Cho looked up and said, "They're only holding the game because of the staff? Why?"
"This is why," he replied, grinning more broadly still.
The staff's tiny lion head nodded and Harry put it on the floor.
Cho watched, mouth agape, as the body of the staff thickened just as it had done once before. It's tail grew longer, the head became bigger and the fur, fuller. Cho marveled, slightly scared, as the staff changed into a seven foot long lion, golden fur on it's head and body, changing smoothly to scarlet just before it reached the tail.
Raides curled up on the floor like a rug, resting her head on a paw, her tail in the air.
"Nice to see you, too," she said in a low growl, her deceivingly menacing, beautiful head looking up at Cho.
"Go on," said Harry, giggling. "She doesn't bite."
Cho slowly moved her hand to the top of Raides' head, feeling the warm, soft fur. Raides purred.
"She's been keeping me great company so far," Harry told Cho.
"Ah, I can't wait until the Fire Quidditch game," said Raides. "Is that rat Slytherin still alive?"
"No, he's long dead," said Harry. Him and Cho shot each other quizzical looks and then Cho finished Harry's thought.
"Why?" she asked.
"Oh, I see you've already killed the basilisk," Raides said, smiling. Harry laughed nervously.
"It's the year nineteen ninety-seven," he told Raides. "The Hogwarts founders have been dead for over a thousand years."
"I see," said Raides, letting out a puff of air so strong it ruffled Harry's and Cho's hair. "When you're asleep for a few thousand years you get behind the times. So go on, tell me!"
It took Harry and Cho all the time from then up until dinner and till midnight to tell Raides everything that had ever happened concerning Voldemort since Harry got his lightning-shaped scar to his fourth year. They sat on the floor for the entire time. Both Raides and Cho shrieked at exactly the right times and both of them put an arm (or paw, in Raides' case) on Harry when he got to the part about what had happened in the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.
This was a one hundred year old tournament that had been reestablished three years ago only to have gone down in flames due to it's horrific ending. A servant of Lord Voldemort had turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey, which transported Harry and Cedric Diggory to a graveyard. This same servant had put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire which spit out the names of the three champions. To everyone's surprise, the goblet gave out Harry's name... Harry was too young to do it himself; only people sixth or seventh year were allowed to compete. He dreamed of winning, of seeing Cho's face shining admirably at him (and he admitted this to Cho during the story, blushing furiously) but never really wanted to compete.
In the graveyard, Voldemort ordered Wormtail to kill Cedric. Harry had witnessed the rebirth of Voldemort and was forced to duel. During this duel, a rare spell effect, Priori Incantantem had taken place. Voldemort's wand was forced to regurgitate all the spells it had casted in reverse order... ending with shadows of Lily and James Potter falling out of it. The servant later had his soul sucked out by a dementor, leaving him worse than dead but Voldemort had gotten away.
Harry sat silent for a few minutes, a tear leaking out of his eye every few seconds, after he finished this story.
Finally, he said, "The next year I had seen them again. They knew how to remove the mark of ancients."
"Wait a minute," Raides interrupted sharply. "You -- removed -- the mark of ancients?"
"Yeah, why?" He quickly explained his fourth year, in which he had been tricked into thinking he had a sister and the few hours he spent with his parents, asking them how to remove the mark. "So you see, we had to, because I was losing it trying to fight off that permanent Imperius."
"Ah, ancient magic is such a pain," said Raides lazily.
Harry nodded weakly and said, "Dumbledore told me I'd see them again when I was older," in a low voice. He couldn't help but give in to the thought that now that he had spoken about it... "Except... I'm older and I... I haven't seen them yet." He breathed deeply and looked away from Cho, up to his calendar.
Cho crawled behind Harry and put both of her hands around his front, gripping his shoulders. Harry didn't feel much like speaking so Cho told Raides everything that had happened just last year.
"It'll be okay," Cho told Harry when she finished the story. "Someone's going to get him, they'll kill him and capture all the Death Eaters. And he's not going to go near you with Raides around."
"No good," said Harry, staring blankly. "He should have died twice already. Everyone knows Voldemort tried to make himself immortal. He's probably done it. Raides, if you're so powerful," he went on, shrugging Cho off his shoulders, "why don't you just kill him?"
"No good," said Raides. "I have no more power in this form than the average sewer rat unless my owner -- you -- has the mark of ancients. And good luck. I may have lost most of my memory but I remember that as safety measure, no one but the ancients can use me like this."
"Oh that's comforting," said Harry angrily. "You're coming to the Fire Quidditch game like that and I'm just a sitting duck?"
"No one knows this except yourselves," said Raides timidly, which sounded very strange coming from a fierce-looking animal.
Harry sat up and plopped himself on his bed. Cho tried to hold him again but he shrugged her off.
"Wait, weren't you the staff used to make the mark of ancients in the first place?" said Harry, turning to Raides.
"Yes," she said, her face screwed up in confusion. There was a moment's pause, and then, "No," she added, catching on. "They had a special place to do it where there was just a lot of magic in the air. I can't feel enough to do it -- anywhere -- and they were lucky it worked there. It's immensely more complex than even Clades Ultimus."
"She's right," said Cho. "Just don't tell anyone, and... Look, if you're going to act like that, I'm going straight back home," she added, annoyed at Harry's silence. She wasn't really planning on it, but it had the effect she wanted.
"Okay, okay..."
"If Dumbledore said you're going to see them again... I trust him, and so should you."
"He doesn't mean when Voldemort kills me this year, does he?" Cho glared menacingly at him. "Sorry..."
"How about we talk about something else," said Raides cheerfully, clapping her paws together.
To everyone's great relief, Harry smiled, and said, "Dudley got a Hogwarts acceptance letter."
"WHAT?" Cho bellowed.
"QUIET DOWN IN THERE!" boomed Aunt Marge.
"OH, SHUT UP!" Raides roared back.
Cho and Harry both glared at her but Aunt Marge didn't reply.
"I know, that's what I said," said Harry, now grinning. "We need to think of ways to convince my aunt and uncle to send Dudley for at least a year. I overheard them talking about it. It wasn't the usual letter, McGonagall must have tailored it. She suggested that he go for at least a year to see if he likes it. He accidently changed the grade on a paper at school once from one to one-hundred right under a teacher's nose. I lied and said they teach you how to control it."
"An excellent conversation," said Raides.
"GO TO BED!" they heard Aunt Marge boom again. Raides took a deep breath as if to yell so loud it would make them go deaf. Immediately, Harry and Cho clamped their hands around her jaw. "I detest that woman," she said when Harry and Cho let go.
"Don't worry," Harry said. "One way or another, after this year, I won't be here anymore."
"You sound so sure everything's going to be okay after this year," said Cho nervously.
"I'm not sure," Harry assured her. "I'm --"
"How about we all follow Aunt Marge's advice," Raides interrupted, "eh?"
Harry didn't feel much like sleeping. He had a burning feeling Voldemort was going to kill him in his sleep and after a moment's hesitation, voiced this to Cho and Raides.
"Don't you know by now?" Raides said with an air of superiority. "You're protected by the Fidelius Charm. It's just as complex to perform for wizards as the mark of ancients spell is for the ancients. Voldemort could be looking into your window and not see you. Hell, the Fidelius Charm IS ancient magic."
Harry's mouth fell open.
"Yes, now with that lovely expression on your face, will you go to sleep?"
Dumbledore had sent Harry an owl letting him know he could practice Quidditch in a paddock the Weasley's owned. Harry would have to stay under the watch of Mr. or Mrs. Weasley...
Ron Weasley had several brothers, all five of whom had graduated Hogwarts, and one sister, Ginny, who was a year below Ron. Ginny, unfortunately, had a crush on Harry ever since they first met but to Ginny's dismay, Harry's feelings belonged to Cho. The Weasleys were rather not well off and though Mr. Weasley did hold a job with the Ministry of Magic, the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, he was not paid well enough to support a family of nine.
Dumbledore had also told Harry to just forget about seeing Mrs. Figg about handling his staff. The end of the previous year, Dumbledore had thought Mrs. Figg might be able to give Harry a few pointers he didn't already know. None of them, of course, expected Raides to be doing a good job of her own... That and there was nothing to it -- a talking staff is much easier to handle than one that can't talk to you while you're holding it.
Ron and Hermione had also sent Harry an owl each over the next few days to say they had been sent their new wands. During Lord Voldemort's first coming, a group of wizards determined on taking him down had formed a secret group called the Order of the Phoenix. At the center of this Order was a phoenix, a magic bird, named Fawkes. Harry's own wand had a tail feather from Fawkes at it's core, as do all members of the Order of the Phoenix. They did this because Lord Voldemort's wand has a tail feather from Fawkes as well and two wands with the same core forced to fight... utterly refuse.
This refusal comes in the form of a rare spell effect known as Priori Incantatem. One of the wands is forced to regurgitate all of the spells it has casted in reverse order. Harry had seen this and had witnessed Lily and James, among others, falling out of Voldemort's wand just three years ago, shadows of their former selves, only to have them disappear after a short time.
Harry, Ron and Hermione had been accepted into the Order of the Phoenix just last year at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione, not having had the proper wand, had been made new ones.
August the fifteenth neared and Cho and Harry were no closer to convincing Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to send Dudley to Hogwarts. They were, however, closer to convincing Dudley.
"Just think, Dudley," Cho told him one day as Aunt Petunia forced him to clean his bedroom, "you can use a Banishing Charm to send all of your computer games from your floor and back onto your shelf!"
Cho told Harry later that day she distinctly saw Dudley questioning the thought. Harry quickly sent Dumbledore a letter with Hedwig, asking when the latest day they could fit Dudley into Hogwarts' student enrollment. Dumbledore replied the same day saying right up until the start of the term, September the first. Harry giggled with excitement -- he would have all the time he could possibly get.
Of course, they all tried their dearest to keep all of this information from Aunt Marge.
"You don't know anything about these recent mass murders, do you boy?" she asked scathingly over dinner one night. "Right up your alley, it should be." Aunt Marge was unrelenting even in Cho's presence.
Harry opened his mouth to say something but Cho was much quicker. "He doesn't know anything about them, do you, Harry?"
Harry and Cho convinced Dudley to come and watch as Harry practiced Quidditch one afternoon. Aunt Petunia had to bring Aunt Marge upstairs so the three of them could sneak out of the house with their traveling equipment. It wasn't easy convincing Uncle Vernon but to Harry's surprise, pleasant or otherwise, Dudley had broken into one of his famous, fake fits of rage and he let him go. Dudley, at first horrified at riding on Harry's Dragonback, the world's fastest broomstick, under an Invisibility Cloak (a very special item Harry had obtained from his father), did little more than watch Harry play and was a little less horrified on the way home.
The next time they went, Harry managed to get Dudley up in the air with him on an ancient Cosmic Two-Fifty Mrs. Weasley found in the attic. Though it was barely any faster than most insects on the ground, they were assured Dudley couldn't hurt himself -- that and it shook dangerously if you flew it higher than six feet in the air. The broom was nicknamed Cosmic Disaster by Fred and George Weasley, Ron's twin brothers who owned a shop in Hogsmeade, the only all-wizarding village in England.
Raides suggested something odd one practice: that Harry ride her instead of his Dragonback.
"What?" said Harry blankly. Dudley was staring at the Staff of Cybele like it had just told him to go lose another fifty pounds.
"Yes!" said Raides.
"How? You're not a broom."
"I'm more magical than the entire staff of Hogwarts," said Raides, grinning. "Come on, mount me."
Harry did as the staff asked but he felt strange doing so. He was sitting just ahead of where the tail starts and holding on somewhere in the middle. The huge staff extended out several feet in front of him. He felt rather like he had attached a four foot branch to his Dragonback.
"Go on, kick off from the ground! I won't crash."
Harry kicked off and Raides delivered. It was exactly like flying his Dragonback except smoother, faster and easier to control... if that was at all possible. He could turn sharper, for one.
After eating breakfast, Harry found that his legs walked him over to the couch in the living room. He gave in and sat down, leaning forward on his elbows, twiddling his thumbs staring blankly at a spot where Ripper had accidently relieved himself. At one point, the smell got to Harry and so when Aunt Marge and Dudley went out, Harry brought the Staff of Cybele downstairs and to Aunt Petunia's horror, Raides cleaned the mess before her eyes, white glowing ring and everything. If the Ministry of Magic was going to bang down their doors, so be it -- Harry needed to keep himself from climbing the walls.
Aunt Petunia tried to thank him but all that escaped her mouth was a strangled gulp. Her eyes were diverted towards the familiar golden chain around Harry's neck but he pointed out that he had the plaque magically removed.
Having still not moved from his spot, Aunt Petunia managed to say a few words. "Harry, are you going to move from that spot?"
Harry looked up but continued to play with his fingers in nervous wait for Cho.
"What?"
"I said, are you going to move," said Aunt Petunia more loudly. "You're making all of us nervous! Have a cup of tea with your uncle and I."
Harry's eyes squinted in confusion.
"Eh? You're only being nicer to me because your own son turned out to be a wizard," he said dismissively and then went back to look at the spot where Ripper had relieved himself (he had been staring at it for so long, he would able to point it out for years to come).
It must have been true because Aunt Petunia stormed away, her back straight as an arrow, her fists clenched.
Aunt Marge returned with Dudley an hour later, who had lipstick on his cheek and was frantically rubbing it off, a new computer game clutched under his arm called When Vampires Attack. Aunt Marge refused to be in the room when Dudley was having fun poking vampires with stakes and swords. Harry took the opportunity to tell Dudley he might get to meet a real vampire if he goes to Hogwarts. Harry then went back to sit on the couch, leaving Dudley alone, who immediately went to play Solitaire.
Sitting and staring must have given Harry a glazed look because Aunt Marge voiced the opinion that he was mentally inept, just as he had done during her last visit. That time, Harry tried desperately to keep his broom cleaning handbook in his head and Aunt Marge's voice out. It had had the same effect as a blank stare.
Some time just before lunch, Harry's leg started to shake on it's own. Try as he might to put all his weight on it to stop it, he had to succumb to standing up to stop the shaking. All the same, it was time for lunch anyway. Harry had lost his appetite when Aunt Marge asked when Cho was arriving. He looked at the handsome, gold wristwatch Sirius had forced the Dursleys to pay for (for the most part, part of the money came from Sirius). It was a little after one o'clock. Cho was probably still eating and was not a nervous wreck like Harry was. He wished he could reattach the plaque and hold it but what if Aunt Marge had asked to see it... Desperate, he went back to the couch and rested his neck on a hand, innocently slipping the gold chain between two fingers. Warm, sweeping calmness crept over him like a sunbath and it would have to make do until the hairs on the back of his neck stopped standing up.
"I've never seen you like this," he heard Aunt Petunia saying at one point.
"You've never seen much of anything," said Harry hotly. "I'm a person too, you know."
This left Aunt Petunia walking away disgruntled.
A little after two, the doorbell rang and Harry stood up so suddenly it was as if a thumbtack had been magically placed under him.
"I'll get it!" he yelled and, shaking, walked slowly over to the door.
Aunt Petunia, Aunt Marge, Uncle Vernon and Dudley were all staring at the closed door. Harry opened it and, standing behind it, was the very pretty Cho and who had to be her Aunt Blossom. The muscles in his mouth seemed to have locked themselves and there was a strange grumble in his stomach that he couldn't distinguish from being hunger or nervousness. But he had already eaten.
"Hi!" said Cho, beaming.
What unlocked Harry's jaw, allowing him to do something other than stare, was when Cho grabbed him in a great, big, warm, two-armed hug. Dudley drooled again. Aunt Marge had a vein throbbing in her temple. Uncle Vernon looked away. Aunt Petunia looked indifferent.
"Oh, how nice," Aunt Blossom said, smiling pleasantly at Cho and then at Harry, who had gone redder than Aunt Blossom's handbag yet was enjoying himself all the same. "You must be Mr. Dursley!" said Aunt Blossom, looking at him and striding past Dudley, who was wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "How -- er -- nice to meet you," she added, sticking her hand out. Uncle Vernon didn't take it.
"I told her to try an act as pleasant as possible but said how rotten they are to you," Cho whispered in Harry's ear just before they separated. She winked. "Come on, show me your room," she said aloud, seizing his hand.
"You behave yourselves now," said Aunt Blossom, sharply but kindly, rather like a mother.
"Yes, Aunt Blossom," said Cho, rolling her eyes and she allowed her aunt to plant a kiss on her cheek.
"I'll see you at Harry's game, shall I? Do you have a date for it yet?" Aunt Blossom added, looking to Harry.
"August fifteenth," he replied. "Mr. Weasley is coming to pick us up the day before."
"Yes, yes, very good. Well, if you excuse me I have to be off," said Aunt Blossom still, to Harry's amazement, smiling pleasantly. She was acting much like the aunt everyone has that gives everyone big, sloppy, wet kisses, leaving a lipstick mark and then wipes it all off with a tissue and spit. "Very busy at the house lately. You know. Nice meeting you, now!" and she was gone.
Harry had the feeling Cho warned her to find an excuse to just drop Cho off and leave. As soon as the door closed, Cho tugged Harry's arm and went towards the staircase saying, "Your room, Harry. I want to see!"
Harry didn't know what could be so fascinating about a bedroom but he took her up to it, regardless.
Getting an idea, he locked the door and took out the Staff of Cybele. As Harry expected, Cho stared at it, especially interested in the wagging tail.
"You haven't seen anything," Harry told her, grinning ear to ear.
"You must be Cho," the voice said aloud. "You can call me Raides."
"Oh -- my -- God," said Cho, unnerved.
"It's okay," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Here, read this." Harry gave Cho Madam Hooch's letter.
After a minute, Cho looked up and said, "They're only holding the game because of the staff? Why?"
"This is why," he replied, grinning more broadly still.
The staff's tiny lion head nodded and Harry put it on the floor.
Cho watched, mouth agape, as the body of the staff thickened just as it had done once before. It's tail grew longer, the head became bigger and the fur, fuller. Cho marveled, slightly scared, as the staff changed into a seven foot long lion, golden fur on it's head and body, changing smoothly to scarlet just before it reached the tail.
Raides curled up on the floor like a rug, resting her head on a paw, her tail in the air.
"Nice to see you, too," she said in a low growl, her deceivingly menacing, beautiful head looking up at Cho.
"Go on," said Harry, giggling. "She doesn't bite."
Cho slowly moved her hand to the top of Raides' head, feeling the warm, soft fur. Raides purred.
"She's been keeping me great company so far," Harry told Cho.
"Ah, I can't wait until the Fire Quidditch game," said Raides. "Is that rat Slytherin still alive?"
"No, he's long dead," said Harry. Him and Cho shot each other quizzical looks and then Cho finished Harry's thought.
"Why?" she asked.
"Oh, I see you've already killed the basilisk," Raides said, smiling. Harry laughed nervously.
"It's the year nineteen ninety-seven," he told Raides. "The Hogwarts founders have been dead for over a thousand years."
"I see," said Raides, letting out a puff of air so strong it ruffled Harry's and Cho's hair. "When you're asleep for a few thousand years you get behind the times. So go on, tell me!"
It took Harry and Cho all the time from then up until dinner and till midnight to tell Raides everything that had ever happened concerning Voldemort since Harry got his lightning-shaped scar to his fourth year. They sat on the floor for the entire time. Both Raides and Cho shrieked at exactly the right times and both of them put an arm (or paw, in Raides' case) on Harry when he got to the part about what had happened in the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.
This was a one hundred year old tournament that had been reestablished three years ago only to have gone down in flames due to it's horrific ending. A servant of Lord Voldemort had turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey, which transported Harry and Cedric Diggory to a graveyard. This same servant had put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire which spit out the names of the three champions. To everyone's surprise, the goblet gave out Harry's name... Harry was too young to do it himself; only people sixth or seventh year were allowed to compete. He dreamed of winning, of seeing Cho's face shining admirably at him (and he admitted this to Cho during the story, blushing furiously) but never really wanted to compete.
In the graveyard, Voldemort ordered Wormtail to kill Cedric. Harry had witnessed the rebirth of Voldemort and was forced to duel. During this duel, a rare spell effect, Priori Incantantem had taken place. Voldemort's wand was forced to regurgitate all the spells it had casted in reverse order... ending with shadows of Lily and James Potter falling out of it. The servant later had his soul sucked out by a dementor, leaving him worse than dead but Voldemort had gotten away.
Harry sat silent for a few minutes, a tear leaking out of his eye every few seconds, after he finished this story.
Finally, he said, "The next year I had seen them again. They knew how to remove the mark of ancients."
"Wait a minute," Raides interrupted sharply. "You -- removed -- the mark of ancients?"
"Yeah, why?" He quickly explained his fourth year, in which he had been tricked into thinking he had a sister and the few hours he spent with his parents, asking them how to remove the mark. "So you see, we had to, because I was losing it trying to fight off that permanent Imperius."
"Ah, ancient magic is such a pain," said Raides lazily.
Harry nodded weakly and said, "Dumbledore told me I'd see them again when I was older," in a low voice. He couldn't help but give in to the thought that now that he had spoken about it... "Except... I'm older and I... I haven't seen them yet." He breathed deeply and looked away from Cho, up to his calendar.
Cho crawled behind Harry and put both of her hands around his front, gripping his shoulders. Harry didn't feel much like speaking so Cho told Raides everything that had happened just last year.
"It'll be okay," Cho told Harry when she finished the story. "Someone's going to get him, they'll kill him and capture all the Death Eaters. And he's not going to go near you with Raides around."
"No good," said Harry, staring blankly. "He should have died twice already. Everyone knows Voldemort tried to make himself immortal. He's probably done it. Raides, if you're so powerful," he went on, shrugging Cho off his shoulders, "why don't you just kill him?"
"No good," said Raides. "I have no more power in this form than the average sewer rat unless my owner -- you -- has the mark of ancients. And good luck. I may have lost most of my memory but I remember that as safety measure, no one but the ancients can use me like this."
"Oh that's comforting," said Harry angrily. "You're coming to the Fire Quidditch game like that and I'm just a sitting duck?"
"No one knows this except yourselves," said Raides timidly, which sounded very strange coming from a fierce-looking animal.
Harry sat up and plopped himself on his bed. Cho tried to hold him again but he shrugged her off.
"Wait, weren't you the staff used to make the mark of ancients in the first place?" said Harry, turning to Raides.
"Yes," she said, her face screwed up in confusion. There was a moment's pause, and then, "No," she added, catching on. "They had a special place to do it where there was just a lot of magic in the air. I can't feel enough to do it -- anywhere -- and they were lucky it worked there. It's immensely more complex than even Clades Ultimus."
"She's right," said Cho. "Just don't tell anyone, and... Look, if you're going to act like that, I'm going straight back home," she added, annoyed at Harry's silence. She wasn't really planning on it, but it had the effect she wanted.
"Okay, okay..."
"If Dumbledore said you're going to see them again... I trust him, and so should you."
"He doesn't mean when Voldemort kills me this year, does he?" Cho glared menacingly at him. "Sorry..."
"How about we talk about something else," said Raides cheerfully, clapping her paws together.
To everyone's great relief, Harry smiled, and said, "Dudley got a Hogwarts acceptance letter."
"WHAT?" Cho bellowed.
"QUIET DOWN IN THERE!" boomed Aunt Marge.
"OH, SHUT UP!" Raides roared back.
Cho and Harry both glared at her but Aunt Marge didn't reply.
"I know, that's what I said," said Harry, now grinning. "We need to think of ways to convince my aunt and uncle to send Dudley for at least a year. I overheard them talking about it. It wasn't the usual letter, McGonagall must have tailored it. She suggested that he go for at least a year to see if he likes it. He accidently changed the grade on a paper at school once from one to one-hundred right under a teacher's nose. I lied and said they teach you how to control it."
"An excellent conversation," said Raides.
"GO TO BED!" they heard Aunt Marge boom again. Raides took a deep breath as if to yell so loud it would make them go deaf. Immediately, Harry and Cho clamped their hands around her jaw. "I detest that woman," she said when Harry and Cho let go.
"Don't worry," Harry said. "One way or another, after this year, I won't be here anymore."
"You sound so sure everything's going to be okay after this year," said Cho nervously.
"I'm not sure," Harry assured her. "I'm --"
"How about we all follow Aunt Marge's advice," Raides interrupted, "eh?"
Harry didn't feel much like sleeping. He had a burning feeling Voldemort was going to kill him in his sleep and after a moment's hesitation, voiced this to Cho and Raides.
"Don't you know by now?" Raides said with an air of superiority. "You're protected by the Fidelius Charm. It's just as complex to perform for wizards as the mark of ancients spell is for the ancients. Voldemort could be looking into your window and not see you. Hell, the Fidelius Charm IS ancient magic."
Harry's mouth fell open.
"Yes, now with that lovely expression on your face, will you go to sleep?"
Dumbledore had sent Harry an owl letting him know he could practice Quidditch in a paddock the Weasley's owned. Harry would have to stay under the watch of Mr. or Mrs. Weasley...
Ron Weasley had several brothers, all five of whom had graduated Hogwarts, and one sister, Ginny, who was a year below Ron. Ginny, unfortunately, had a crush on Harry ever since they first met but to Ginny's dismay, Harry's feelings belonged to Cho. The Weasleys were rather not well off and though Mr. Weasley did hold a job with the Ministry of Magic, the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, he was not paid well enough to support a family of nine.
Dumbledore had also told Harry to just forget about seeing Mrs. Figg about handling his staff. The end of the previous year, Dumbledore had thought Mrs. Figg might be able to give Harry a few pointers he didn't already know. None of them, of course, expected Raides to be doing a good job of her own... That and there was nothing to it -- a talking staff is much easier to handle than one that can't talk to you while you're holding it.
Ron and Hermione had also sent Harry an owl each over the next few days to say they had been sent their new wands. During Lord Voldemort's first coming, a group of wizards determined on taking him down had formed a secret group called the Order of the Phoenix. At the center of this Order was a phoenix, a magic bird, named Fawkes. Harry's own wand had a tail feather from Fawkes at it's core, as do all members of the Order of the Phoenix. They did this because Lord Voldemort's wand has a tail feather from Fawkes as well and two wands with the same core forced to fight... utterly refuse.
This refusal comes in the form of a rare spell effect known as Priori Incantatem. One of the wands is forced to regurgitate all of the spells it has casted in reverse order. Harry had seen this and had witnessed Lily and James, among others, falling out of Voldemort's wand just three years ago, shadows of their former selves, only to have them disappear after a short time.
Harry, Ron and Hermione had been accepted into the Order of the Phoenix just last year at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione, not having had the proper wand, had been made new ones.
August the fifteenth neared and Cho and Harry were no closer to convincing Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to send Dudley to Hogwarts. They were, however, closer to convincing Dudley.
"Just think, Dudley," Cho told him one day as Aunt Petunia forced him to clean his bedroom, "you can use a Banishing Charm to send all of your computer games from your floor and back onto your shelf!"
Cho told Harry later that day she distinctly saw Dudley questioning the thought. Harry quickly sent Dumbledore a letter with Hedwig, asking when the latest day they could fit Dudley into Hogwarts' student enrollment. Dumbledore replied the same day saying right up until the start of the term, September the first. Harry giggled with excitement -- he would have all the time he could possibly get.
Of course, they all tried their dearest to keep all of this information from Aunt Marge.
"You don't know anything about these recent mass murders, do you boy?" she asked scathingly over dinner one night. "Right up your alley, it should be." Aunt Marge was unrelenting even in Cho's presence.
Harry opened his mouth to say something but Cho was much quicker. "He doesn't know anything about them, do you, Harry?"
Harry and Cho convinced Dudley to come and watch as Harry practiced Quidditch one afternoon. Aunt Petunia had to bring Aunt Marge upstairs so the three of them could sneak out of the house with their traveling equipment. It wasn't easy convincing Uncle Vernon but to Harry's surprise, pleasant or otherwise, Dudley had broken into one of his famous, fake fits of rage and he let him go. Dudley, at first horrified at riding on Harry's Dragonback, the world's fastest broomstick, under an Invisibility Cloak (a very special item Harry had obtained from his father), did little more than watch Harry play and was a little less horrified on the way home.
The next time they went, Harry managed to get Dudley up in the air with him on an ancient Cosmic Two-Fifty Mrs. Weasley found in the attic. Though it was barely any faster than most insects on the ground, they were assured Dudley couldn't hurt himself -- that and it shook dangerously if you flew it higher than six feet in the air. The broom was nicknamed Cosmic Disaster by Fred and George Weasley, Ron's twin brothers who owned a shop in Hogsmeade, the only all-wizarding village in England.
Raides suggested something odd one practice: that Harry ride her instead of his Dragonback.
"What?" said Harry blankly. Dudley was staring at the Staff of Cybele like it had just told him to go lose another fifty pounds.
"Yes!" said Raides.
"How? You're not a broom."
"I'm more magical than the entire staff of Hogwarts," said Raides, grinning. "Come on, mount me."
Harry did as the staff asked but he felt strange doing so. He was sitting just ahead of where the tail starts and holding on somewhere in the middle. The huge staff extended out several feet in front of him. He felt rather like he had attached a four foot branch to his Dragonback.
"Go on, kick off from the ground! I won't crash."
Harry kicked off and Raides delivered. It was exactly like flying his Dragonback except smoother, faster and easier to control... if that was at all possible. He could turn sharper, for one.