Author Notes: I am so, so, SO, sorry about the lack of updating! But I have been really busy, with everyday things, school, and also writing, though you may not believe it :P. I've been concentrating more on my own stories recently (ie not fan fics, originals), some of which can be seen on and also on my beta reading skills (if you wish for me to beta read any of your stories, then feel free to PM or email me, or, indeed, leave a request in a REVIEW! Lol anyway once again so sorry for keeping you waiting for so long on SUCH A BIG CLIFF HANGER! On with the show…

Chapter 6- Fawkes' Reverence

Harry stirred, his body on fire with pain he had never felt before. There was a light shimmering in the distance, and he fought to reach it, but his body wouldn't obey him. There was a dark shape somewhere near him, and it was much closer to him, so he fought towards that instead.

Suddenly, his senses kicked in, as if someone had thrown a glass of water over him. He crawled through his memories, trying to remember what had rendered him motionless.

The Warrior! Harry looked helplessly around, but all he saw was the light. The spell! Amani Kravadi! It was still there… and what's more, so was Harry…

He looked around again, and tried to focus on the dark shape near him. It was a body. He crawled over to it, and turned it over, gasping.

Mr Weasley laid there, red hair significantly brighter than his pale skill. Glassy eyes stared into Harry, and he closed them gently with two fingertips. A tear fell down Harry's cheek and onto Arthur's own. There was no blood, no mark; that was not how the death curse worked. The curse that Harry should have taken. But instead, it had taken the life of another, the life of a man who he could have called a father.

Harry bowed his head, sobbing quietly. He attempted to lift the body, but was too weak.

"Where are you now, Dumbledore? Where are you when I need you?" he screamed to the ceiling, then turned his head sharply when he caught a flash of movement.

Fawkes the Phoenix flew over and landed on Mr Weasley's limp body, and began to cry.

"Fawkes!" Harry cried happily. "Can you heal him? Can you bring him back?"

The phoenix continued to cry, but it was several minutes before Harry realised Mr Weasley wasn't coming back. He blinked back his tears, and when he reopened his eyes, Mr Weasley was no longer covered in dirt and torn clothes. He was clean, and wore clothes that he could only have dreamed of when he was alive.

"You have honoured him well, Fawkes."

There was flash of light and a harness appeared around Mr Weasley. Harry understood what must happen. He hooked the harness onto Fawkes' leg, and the phoenix took off, vanishing with a crack. Harry stood again, shaking. He adjusted his robes, then strode towards the light, to spell, and began to inspect it.

After doing a few precautionary checks, Harry declared it to be safe. For some reason, the spell had not disappeared as Harry presumed it should have done after the Warrior left. Another presumption Harry had made was that it would now take Harry to same place as the Warrior had gone. Well, there was only one way to find out…
… Harry closed his line and stepped through the archway of light. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes, and to his dismay found that he had stayed in exactly the same place. He was just about to walk away when the floor gave way beneath his feet, and he fell through.

But he did not fall through to the floor beneath. No, he was in a strange kind of vortex; it was dark and he was constantly spinning around, feeling as though he was falling down a never ending pit. It was a similar sensation to apparating or travelling by port key, although this was a much spookier experience.

Harry still had the weight of Mr Weasley's death attached to him, but he felt a strange glimmer of hope; the Warrior thought he was dead, and the Warrior also didn't think the spell would be left over. Therefore, Harry had the element of surprise, because any moment now Harry would be arriving at the same place as the Warrior had arrived not that long before. Whether this was a good thing or not, Harry wasn't sure.

Harry felt his descent slowing down, and realised he must be nearing the end of his journey. He shoved his hand in his pocket and clenched his fist tightly around his wand (which was, miraculously, still there). He put his other hands up to his face to cling on to his glasses; the last thing he wanted was for them to break when he landed.

Eyes firmly shut, hands clasped so tightly they turned white, Harry landed with a thump on a carpeted floor. He fell to his right, and hit his head on something painfully hard. White stars erupted in front of his eyes, and for a few moments he lay with his eyes still closed, until he heard distant voices which were uncomfortably familiar…

A door banged somewhere nearby.

"Harry! Is that you? Where have you been?"

Harry gasped and his eyes flew wide open. He was lying next to his trunk at the foot of his bed… in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory…

"Ron?" Harry asked, groaning.

"Bloody hell, Harry! What happened to you?"

Harry shook his head, and then said vaguely, "Ministry… Warrior… the Warrior is here, he's here at Hogwarts!"

"Who's the Warrior?" Ron asked, looking at Harry as if he were a maniac.

Harry was just about to reply when a terrible thought rose to the front of his mind… and it nearly cam out of his mouth, too… he gulped, and then said with a shaking voice, "I'll explain everything in full in a minute, but… you have to know. Your dad… your dad Ron… he's…"

Harry fell silent, but he didn't need to say anymore, because Ron had understood perfectly. He sunk to his knees, skin pale, and mouth hanging open.

"He's… he's dead?" Ron asked, beginning to shake. Harry nodded glumly. "How… how did it happen?"

Harry had half a mind to tell Ron that he'd explain later, and that the Warrior was loose in the castle and McGonagall needed to know. But he felt responsible for Ron's dad's death, and felt that he owed Ron a full explanation, right here, right now.

Harry told Ron everything. About the message to go and see Dumbledore, about his correspondence with Ron's dad, how he'd gone with flu powder to the Burrow, then gone to work with Mr Weasley the next morning, about the Squib who knew too much, about the letters, and the purple goo, and the wave of nausea, and the arrows of blood, and the Warrior… he explained the concept of Amani Kravadi, and what he presumed had happened, and Fawkes' reverence…

It was a relief to speak of these things. To get them off his chest, and out in the open. By the time he had finished all his explanations and apologies, they had been sitting there for quite a while. They had lapsed into a regretful silence, each enveloped in their own thoughts. Finally, Ron spoke.

"We've been here a while. Wasted a lot of time. We should go and see McGonagall." The hardened tone of voice he was using made Harry start, and he looked up, studying his friend's face. It was filled with grief, but underneath all the sadness was a hard resolve. Harry knew that Ron wanted to track down the Warrior even more than he did.

They stood and rushed out of the dormitory and down the stairs. Upon entering the common room, they saw Hermione wedged into an armchair with a pile of books on her lap. Upon seeing the boys, she shoved them off, and ran up to them.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. "Where were you? We've been so worried! Are you all right, Ron?"

"You explain," Harry said grimly to Ron. "I should go."

Ron nodded in agreement and Harry rushed out of the portrait hole.

Harry rushed through the familiar Hogwarts corridors, not caring nor really seeing many students stopping and staring at him. He reached the head teacher's office, and paused, remembering at last that he did not know the password.

"Sugar quill?" he asked tentatively. The gargoyles remained unmoving. "Chocolate frog? Bertie Botts? Acid pops? Canary creams? Blood lollipops?"

The gargoyles sprung open, revealing a revolving staircase behind them. Harry raised his eyebrows at McGonagall's curious choice of password, but stepped onto the staircase nevertheless. When he reached the top, he knocked loudly on the door, which was yanked open almost immediately by Professor McGonagall.

Author notes: This is quite a short chapter, I know, only roughly 1500 words, but I'll try and extend them when I get back into the swing of things. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave reviews! Anyway, I'll try and update sooner next time! xxx