Harry was in the brain room, Luna and Hermione were both lying motionless on the floor, Ron was being attacked by the brain, and then he turned to see Ginny get hit in the face by a stunner. He felt everything stop. He couldn't focus on anything except the unconscious red head on the floor. Soon he noticed that their surroundings were slowly changing. Gone were all of his friends except Ginny. Her unconscious form was still lying on the floor but it was no longer the floor of the brain room, it was now a cold stone floor in a torch lit room. He was finally able to survey his new surroundings. He gasped; he was back in the Chamber of Secrets. He began to search for what he thought was going to show up next, either an ancient basilisk or a 16-year-old Tom Riddle. He was not prepared for what he found, walking slowly across the chamber was a skeletally thin, pale, and snake faced man with red slits for eyes. Harry felt his scar begin to throb.
"So we meet again Harry Potter. You keep foiling my plans and it is getting very old," hissed the high cold voice of Voldemort. "Your mother's love sent me away as a baby and again in your first year. I can see that you have been here, beaten my 16-year-old self, and killed my basilisk in your second year. You surprised me in your fourth year; I did not expect you to be so advanced or lucky. Last month was not pleasant. If it hadn't been for Dumbledore, I would have finally taken care of you. Why do you continue to defy me Potter? You should just let me win. Give me what I want or I will be forced to play dirtier. I shall be forced to find other ways to hurt you."
Harry instinctually looked over at the form of Ginny on the floor. "Ah yes, you care for this one don't you. This one along with all of her family. Yes, they will make easy to spot targets. Give me what I want or they will pay the price."
The pain in Harry's scar had been increasing steadily as Voldemort spoke and was becoming unbearable. "NOOOO, I will stop you. I will not let you continue to hurt people."
"You can't stop me Potter. No one can. I will get what I want eventually, and when I do no one will be able to stop me, not even your precious Dumbledore."
The pain in Harry's scar was becoming too much to bear. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO, you will be destroyed, I will find a way to do it myself."
"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, there is nothing you can do to stop me Potter. Look at what you have to look forward to." With this, Voldemort raised his wand and pointed it at Ginny, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" The blinding green light was speeding through the air toward Ginny; an unearthly sound filled the air, the sound of whooshing death combined with a high cold cackle of laughter.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," Harry yelled as he shot up in bed, the pain in his scar was blinding, and his body was drenched in sweat.
"Harry, what's wrong," asked a very scared Ron. He had gotten used to being woken up by Harry's nightmares, but he could tell that this scream was different.
"What's going on Ron," said a Remus's voice. "Harry, are you ok? What happened?"
Harry was looking around, trying to see through the pain. "G-G-Ginny," Harry stammered.
"What about Ginny," Ron questioned with obvious apprehension in his voice.
"V-V-Voldemort k-k-killed G-G-Ginny," Harry stammered out again.
There was a startled shriek as someone else ran from the room. "WHAT! Y-Y-You-Know-Who killed my sister?" Ron was in a panic now. Harry could hear a lot of commotion in the rest of the house now.
"G-G-Gotta save G-G-Ginny," Harry's stammering was getting worse. He began to try to get up.
"Wait Harry, you need to tell me what happened," said Remus trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. "Did you have a nightmare?"
"Nightmare, yeah." Harry closed his eyes to try to remember the events. "Started as a nightmare then changed. I was back in the Chamber of Secrets with Ginny. Voldemort was there. He talked to me. He was really angry. Scar hurt so bad. Then he killed Ginny." Tears were now flowing freely down his cheeks.
"It's ok Harry, I'm not dead." Harry's eyes flew open to see a very frightened Ginny kneeling beside the bed and a sobbing Mrs. Weasley standing behind her being comforted by Mr. Weasley. Harry pulled Ginny into a hug and began to cry uncontrollably. Remus rubbed Harry's back while Ginny tried to soothe Harry. "It's alright Harry, it was just a dream." Every one else in the room just looked back and forth between each other and Harry.
It took about fifteen minutes for Harry to calm down enough to start to explain what he witnessed in more detail. By this time, everyone in the house was in Harry and Ron's room listening quietly. Harry recounted the dream in as much detail as possible unwilling to release Ginny completely; he still had a hold of her hand. By the time, he finished everyone felt uneasy.
"This wasn't just a dream, was it Harry," questioned Mr. Weasley.
"No, it wasn't. He was inside my head again. My scar just hurting more and more. Why does he think I have something he wants?"
Remus replied, "I don't know Harry; I think we better tell Dumbledore about this. He may have some input. Harry would you be willing to try to learn Occlumency again? I think it would be helpful."
"Professor Dumbledore has already set up lessons for me. My first one will be tonight after dinner."
"Good. I believe that you will be much more successful with Professor Dumbledore than you were with Snape."
"I won't be working with the headmaster," Harry said with a slight tinge of anger.
"You won't? Your not working with Snape again are you?" Remus was starting to get really worried.
"No, I'll be working with Professor Smith. He was the only other option since I refuse to work with the headmaster or Snape."
"Why don't you want to work with Professor Dumbledore? What happened between you two?" Everyone in the room was now very curious about what had caused Harry and Dumbledore to become so distant from each other.
"I am tired of being manipulated by him. I am tired of being kept in the dark about everything. If he had just been honest with me from the beginning, things would have been different." Harry was starting to get really mad now; everything he had bottled up over his entire life was just spilling out. "He knew why Voldemort was after me, I asked him about it at the end of my first year, but he wouldn't tell me. I asked more at the end of my second year, but again he sidestepped the issue. Then after my fourth year and all last year, he still said nothing, he even distanced himself from me. If he had just told my why it was so important to learn occlumency and tried to teach me himself, I might have actually learned to block Voldemort out and Sirius would still be alive. Then there is the Dursleys, Sirius showed up as Hagrid was leaving my parents house with me, he wanted Hagrid to give me to him since he was my godfather, but Dumbledore had already decided to send me to my hateful relatives instead. He interfered with my life from the beginning. Sirius spent 12 years in Azkaban and I spent every non-school filled moment of my life in hell because of Dumbledore. I don't trust him any more than I trust Snape."
The silence that followed was deafening. No one knew what to say to this. No one had any idea about any of that. Everyone could see how angry Harry was and found it to be quite scary. Ginny, who was still holding Harry's hand, just gave Harry's hand a gentle squeeze. This had a positive effect because the visible anger started to dissipate. Harry squeezed Ginny's hand back and gave her a small smile in return.
Finally, Ron spoke, "Did he finally tell you why You-Know-Who is after you?"
"The prophecy," was all Harry said. "The prophecy about me and Voldemort."
Once again, there was a stunned silence, everyone was afraid to ask the next question. Harry answered their question for them, "Dumbledore knows what the prophecy said, and he told me after the department of mysteries. No I won't tell you what it said, not yet, but soon, Saturday to be exact, at the Order meeting."
"But Harry you, me, and Ginny aren't in the Order. How can we go to the Order meeting?"
"I told Dumbledore that I wanted all of my friends and the Order to know the contents of the prophecy. I want everyone to know how big the danger really is. I don't want any more secrets." Harry paused for a second pondering whether or not to say more. "I'm going to ask the Order to allow me in too."
Mrs. Weasley finally broke in, "you are too young. It is too dangerous."
Harry stopped her in her tracks, "Once you hear the prophecy, you will see that it won't matter if I'm in the Order or not. I'm in danger no matter what."
Once again, silence fell in the room. Everyone seemed to understand that they would just have to wait until Saturday to find out everything. It was going to be a long week. Soon they all decided that none of them was likely to get back to sleep so they headed downstairs to the kitchen to scrounge up some snacks and see if they could change the mood of the house. As they sat and talked about whatever came up the mood slowly got better. Before long there was some laughter and jokes being told, but everyone still had that morning's events in the back of their minds.
"Sorry for ruining everyone's night," Harry finally said. "I haven't been sleeping well for a while so I'm used to this, but I really am sorry that all of you got involved with this."
"Harry, you have nothing to be sorry for," said Mrs. Weasley. "You have had more happen to you in your life than just about anyone. It is a wonder you ever have a good nights sleep. Just know that if you ever need to talk to someone that we are all here and more than willing to listen, because that is what family does and we are definitely your family." She then proceeded to give him a warm motherly hug, which made him feel better.
After several hours of sitting and visiting, they slowly decided to start going about their respective days. Order members began to come and go. The three teens went about trying to relax by playing some games to pass the time. The rest of the day carried on much the same until the household was sitting down to dinner. It was at this point that Harry noticed the presence of Professor Smith and was reminded about the beginning of his Occlumency lessons that were to begin after dinner.
After dinner, Professor Smith led Harry out of the kitchen to the drawing room. Once they were both inside, the professor closed the door, moved to a chair, and sat down. He motioned for Harry to do the same in the chair opposite him. Once they were both seated, the professor began.
"So I hear you had a visitor in your sleep last night." This wasn't so much a question as it was a statement. "I have no knowledge of what kind of progress you have made in your previous lessons on the subject of Occlumency so I need you to fill me in. What do you do to try to clear your mind?"
Harry stared at the professor for a minute, trying to think of a response. The professor could tell that there was a problem. "Let me rephrase my question. What methods of clearing your mind did you previous teacher give you to try?"
Harry was starting to get angry now. "He didn't tell me how to clear my mind. He just told me to do it, and then attacked my mind relentlessly."
"He didn't tell you how to clear your mind? What kind of a teacher expects someone to learn without all of the information?" There was a pause here while he thought. "Well that explains a lot about why you were unsuccessful. We shall work on that first. Occlumency will not work if you cannot clear your mind and seal your thoughts away behind some mental barriers. This complicates things; I was expecting you to have at least some knowledge on this subject to work from. I was not expecting to have to start from scratch."
Harry could see the disappointment on the professor's face, although he couldn't tell if the professor was disappointed with him or professor Snape. He waited apprehensively to be told what to do hoping that this man had more patience than Snape. After several somewhat tense moments, the professor spoke, "Harry have you ever hear of meditation?"
"Yes I have heard of it, but I don't know what it is sir."
"Well, meditation is a way to calm the mind and body and relax. First, you must find a relaxing position to sit in. Now once you have found a comfortable position, I want you to rest your arms, palms up, on the armrests of your chair and close your eyes. Ok now I want you to take deep breaths that you are going to let out slowly. Concentrate on your breathing; it will help you calm yourself. Don't pay attention to anything but my voice and your breathing." As Harry did as he was told, Professor Smith could see the tension begin to drain away from Harry's face and body. Over the course of the next hour, they continued to work on relaxing completely. Once the professor felt Harry was sufficiently relaxed, he began telling him how to organize his thoughts. "Harry, the first step to guarding your mind is clearing your mind, which if I'm not mistaken you seem to have done quite well. Now you must begin to organize your thoughts and memories so that you know where they all are. The reason for this is if you know where your various memories are you can protect them all the better" They spent the next two hours working on organizing Harry's mind.
Harry had come a long way over the course of the last three hours. He still had a long way to go but he felt much more confident with this teacher's ability to help him. As they wrapped up for the night, Professor Smith said, "Now I want you to practice meditating every night to clear your thoughts before you sleep. Now that you know how to do it, it will take less and less effort and time to complete the task. Tomorrow we will be working on hand to hand combat so be rested."
Harry had a thought at this, "Professor, would it be ok for my friends to learn the muggle fighting as well? I think that if it is as successful as you say it is that they would benefit from it too."
The professor considered this for a moment, "Yes Harry, I believe that you are correct, they would benefit from it also. Make sure you all wear something comfortable and be prepared for much more activity than today. Now off to bed and get some sleep."
Harry saw the professor to the door and then made his way up to his room. Ron was already asleep. It didn't take long for Harry to get his mind cleared since he had just spent three hours doing it. He laid down and fell into the first peaceful night's sleep he had had in months.
The next day transpired much the same as the previous one had. After dinner, all three teens joined Professor Smith. This time they met in the basement, which had been cleared of all obstructions and had padding placed on the floor and walls. After some brief introductions, the professor started teaching them how to stretch out properly so as not to injure themselves. They spent three hours learning the basics of a muggle martial art called Krav Maga. They were told that this was a form of fighting that was originated in the country of Israel, and Krav Maga was roughly translated to mean contact combat. It was quite simple to learn and they found that it could be very effective. It was a form of fighting that didn't have any fixed positions or movements, but just trained them to act on instinct. It was also a very tiring workout because they would warm up to the point they were out of breath and then start training. This had the effect of making the training a subconscious effort so that they could act without thinking about it. Afterward they cleaned up and headed off to bed. Harry once again meditated to clear his mind and had another very restful night's sleep.
The rest of the week continued in much the same way, with Harry learning to organize his mind one night and the three of them learning to fight the next. As Harry, Ron, and Ginny were entering the kitchen for breakfast on Saturday, they were ambushed by a mass of bushy brown hair. "Hello Hermione," they all said together. "It's good to see you again."
"Hello Harry, Ron, and Ginny." After hugs all around, Hermione looked Harry up and down, "well you seem to be doing much better than the last time I saw you. Ron tells me that you are all working with our new DADA instructor learning to fight. Do you think I can join you too?"
"I'm sure that he would be ok with that. It would actually make practicing easier because then we would all be going against each other instead of having to take turns going against the professor." They all sat down to eat breakfast and began to bring Hermione up to date on what happened so far that summer. Hermione was sufficiently worried about Voldemort's intrusion into Harry's mind, and was pleasantly surprised by the ease with which Harry was learning to organize his mind.
They spent the day playing games and relaxing, which was something that Harry was doing a lot more since he started with the meditation. He was amazed with the effect being relaxed had on him. His confidence was beginning to grow and he was getting better at chess. He was no longer the pushover that Ron was used to since he was able to think more clearly and see things in a new way. He also found that it was getting easier to learn things, he understood things more quickly. If he had known that this would be the effect, he would have asked to do this back in his first year.
That night as dinnertime approached, the four teens began to notice that there were a lot more people at the house than usual. "I wonder what's going on. Why are there so many people here tonight?" Asked Hermione.
Harry just responded with, "Order meeting." He had been concentrating so hard on his studies that he had forgotten that tonight was the Order meeting and he was finally going to reveal his secrets.
Ron and Ginny both had a sudden realization themselves, they would finally be getting the full story about what was bothering Harry. Hermione looked at her friends to see them all looking apprehensive, although for different reasons. Harry was worried about how everyone would take the news he was about to pass on, while Ron and Ginny were curious about what could really be bothering Harry. Once dinner was served everyone sat down to eat and visit. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Remus, Mr., and Mrs. Weasley were all very subdued since they all had some idea about what Harry was going to be doing that night.
Professor Dumbledore arrived as the kitchen was being cleared up and made sure everyone was there, before calling the meeting to order. "Excuse me Headmaster, but shouldn't we clear the room of all non-Order members first," said Professor Snape looking at the four students with disdain.
Hermione had started to get up to leave, when she noticed that none of the others were moving. "Severus, everyone here is welcome to stay. Harry has requested a chance to speak with the members of the Order on a matter of much importance and wants his friends to be here as well." Needless to say, Professor Snape was not too pleased with this pronouncement. "Harry, are you ready?"
Harry stood up and moved to the front of the room. He turned to face the gathered group of witches and wizards. It seemed that the entire Order had been assembled for this meeting. Harry searched the room looking at all of the faces, his gaze finally coming to rest on Ginny's face. She gave him a small smile of encouragement, which filled him with confidence before he began.
"First, I would like to thank you all for listening to what I have to say. I have spent the better part of my life being terrorized by Voldemort for reasons that I did not fully understand until recently. I now understand why he wants me dead and understand that I need all of the knowledge I can get to stay alive. So I am here to ask you to allow me to become a member of the Order of the Phoenix."
There was an explosion of protests mainly centering on, "He is too young," or, "He is still in school." He waited for a few moments to allow everything to calm down a little before continuing.
"I thought that you would feel that way, I only ask you to bear with my while I state my case." This got everyone calmed down. "As you all know last month I and some of my friends made an ill-advised trip to the Ministry of Magic, I thought it was to save my godfather but it was really a trap. Voldemort got me to believe that Sirius was in trouble so that I would go to the Department of Mysteries and find a prophecy. In the events that followed the prophecy was destroyed before anyone could hear it."
"Yes Potter, we all know about this, would you please get to the point." Professor Snape was getting impatient. "We are all aware that the prophecy was destroyed so no one knows its contents."
"That is not true. The prophecy was given in the presence of Professor Dumbledore, and he can recall it exactly." There was a stunned silence where nothing could be heard, not even the sound of breathing. "After I was returned to Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore shared that prophecy with me, and now I want to share it with you all here. This should explain why I believe you should allow me to join. Professor, you have brought your Pensive?"
"Yes Harry, I have it right here." Harry turned to see the familiar bowl filled with the silvery substance that was the Headmasters memories sitting in the middle of the table. The Professor continued, "If you would all watch the pensive."
The Professor prodded the fluid in the pensive with his wand. After a moment the small rotating form of Professor Trelawney rose up out of the pensive speaking in a harsh horse voice…"The One with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, Born as the seventh month dies…And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The One with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"
The room was silent. No one seemed to be able to find his or her voice. Many of the women had their hands covering their mouths with stunned looks on their faces and tears falling down their cheeks. Most of the men were unable to look Harry in the eyes. They new there was something big between Harry and Voldemort but this was so much more than they had expected. Finally Mad Eye Moody spoke up, "Albus, are you sure that was referring to Harry? You know the Longbottom boy was born around the same time as Harry."
Harry spoke up, "Yes Professor Moody, you're right Neville's birthday is the day before mine, but the prophecy is referring to me, remember the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal." Harry pointed to his scar at this comment. "There can be no doubt that I am the child described in this prophecy. Do you see why I need to be included in the Order? I need to get as much training and knowledge as I can as soon as I can, because I don't think he's going to want to give me any more time to learn on my own."
The assembled group continued to talk quietly for several minutes before Professor Smith finally spoke up, "It seems to me that this is very cut and dried. If this prophecy is correct then Harry is the only person who can defeat Voldemort. If that is the case then we need to make sure that he is trained as completely as possible, because if he is forced to fight before he is ready then the wizarding world will fall to Voldemort."
There were many nods of assent. No one seemed to be able to come up with a valid argument against including Harry in the Order. Albus called for a show of hands in favor of allowing Harry to join, it was unanimous even Snape couldn't bring himself to vote no. Before Albus could continue, Harry spoke again, "I think it only fair that my friends be allowed to join as well if they wish to." He said this while motioning to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Once again, there was an upheaval of objections. Harry quickly interjected, "I have vowed to no longer keep secrets from them so anything I learn from you will be repeated to them anyway, besides they are in just as much danger as I am simply because they are my friends. They deserve the chance to know the truth as well as I do."
After much discussion, the mood seemed to be that Harry was right. The final straw was Mrs. Weasley admitting that she indeed felt Harry was right, and even though she was afraid for the safety of her children that they needed the information that could be obtained by the Order just the same as Harry. Once again, a show of hands was called for and it was once again unanimous in favor of letting them all join. After the vote was confirmed, Mrs. Weasley swept Harry and the other teens into a hug she was terrified but knew this was what needed to be. They were in the Order now, it was time to grow up.