THE NEW ORDER
By
Padfootjr24
Chapter Twenty Two: The Approaching Storm
Despite going to sleep at a very late hour, Harry woke just an hour or so after dawn. He was only momentarily surprised by nude body he had in his embrace before his mind woke up enough to process the information. After going though the memories of the night before in precise detail a wide smile split across his face as he leaned his head in to breath in the sweet perfume of Tonks' hair. His left arm was draped over her and held her back tightly to his chest while his fingers absentmindedly circled patterns across the flat of her stomach. He was by no means an expert on such matters but he could certainly get used to waking up like this. As much as he wanted to just lie there all morning he knew that they couldn't afford to skip their training simply because this was more comfortable.
He was preparing to gently wake Tonks before he decided against it just yet. Instead he slowly moved back away from her and got out of bed without disturbing her before he set about getting ready for the day. To be perfectly honest, Harry had no idea how he felt about the matter but he didn't want Tonks to feel embarrassed if he had woken her up while they were still both nude. This way he could wake her and leave her in peace to get ready as she sees fit. After taking a quick shower and putting on his workout cloths he returned to his room just in time to see the door to Tonks' room shut. Though he gave no outward appearance he was actually a bit relieved that she had woken up on her own. As an afterthought, he reached into his closet and took out his battlerobes before heading downstairs for breakfast.
When he entered the small casual dinning room he was not at all surprised to see that most of the household was apparently still in bed however he was a bit surprised to see that sitting next to Susan, who was always the first one up, was Marietta. The two were speaking quietly together but even from his position in the doorway he could tell that she was still a bit emotionally withdrawn. Since he had brought her to the house after the attack on Diagon Ally she had pretty much stayed confined to her room even during meals. The loss of her parents was obviously a very hard blow but Harry was pleased that she was at least attempting to move forward.
"Good morning." He said quietly as he stepped fully into the room and approached the table. Both girls jumped slightly at the new voice but Susan calmed down almost immediately. Marietta however still looked at Harry with a little bit of fear. Shaking his head slightly with a sigh he took a seat on the other side of the table and draped his battlerobes over the back of the chair next to him.
"Why do you have your battlerobes?" Susan asked curiously as she looked between him and the robes in confusion.
"I figured today I would see how much of this duel I truly have memorized. But I'm certainly not going to open myself up to getting hurt just to satisfy my curiosity." He replied with a small grin. That certainly didn't answer her question and Marietta seemed to share her confusion. "So what have you two been talking about?"
"Nothing much really, since she's going to be staying with us I've just been telling Marietta a little bit of what goes on around here."
"How much have you told her so far?" He asked just as a steaming cup of coffee appeared on the table in front of him. "Ah." He sighed happily as he breathed in rich aroma. Susan suppressed a giggle while her friend merely looked at Harry as if he were crazy. From what she had witnessed, both at school and after the battle in Diagon Ally, as well as what Susan had just finished telling her, she would swear that he had at least a dozen personalities taking up residence inside his head.
"I haven't told her all that much really. After the Ministry announced your innocents a simpleton could figure out what you were doing here so all I really told her was our connection with Dumbledore's Order and a few details about some of the raids. I figured it would be best to leave you to explain what has been happening since she's been here since she hasn't really talked to anyone or read the newspaper."
"Alright," He sighed as he set his cup down. "Know that you have no obligation whatsoever to help us in any way if you choose you want to leave after all. If you leave your memory will be erased of everything you have learned here." He knew she eavesdropped on his conversation with Dumbledore and Stevens but he didn't know if she heard the whole conversation so he went ahead and began there, explaining that they kidnapped the department head and why and what came from it. Needless to say she was shocked that so many Death Eaters were able to get into the ranks of the Unspeakables and Minister Fudge's involvement.
"Needless to say, they were able to get the names of a great many other Death Eaters and as a result they have all either been captured or are in hiding. At the moment both Madam Bones and Mr. Stevens have almost unlimited authority to go after confirmed or suspected Voldemort supporters while most of the other department heads are jockeying for the position of Minister of Magic. Unfortunately when a new Minister is finally chosen they will probably attempt reign in the Aurors and Unspeakables as a show of power, to show them that he, or she, is the boss.
Despite all the work that is getting done however, a great many Death Eaters are still in hiding, including most of the inner circle. We either have no idea where they are or we have no way to get to them. Dumbledore has a spy within Voldemort's inner circle but he isn't getting any good information, or if he is, he isn't sharing it with us." He then explained their plan in detail and needless to say she was both shocked and horrified. Any thought she might have had to the contrary was now thrown out the window. Harry Potter was completely INSANE! However despite these feelings her little Ravenclaw mind zeroed in on the one thing that could make their plan fall apart.
"The attack on the Unspeakables and even on Dumbledore I can understand. But your whole plan will mean nothing if you escape unharmed. You're supposed to be the 'master' and most powerful of your group and yet you are going to 'attempt' to kill yourself. You're gambling everything on You-Know-Who's actions." She nearly screamed in exasperation and confusion as Harry just chuckled.
"Old Tommy Boy is nothing if not predictable. Believe me, this is something he WILL do." He answered with a smirk just as Tonks, Snape and Blaise entered the room. Though a bit hesitant at first Tonks took the seat at Harry's right hand side and offered him a slight smile which he returned a bit shyly much to everyone's amusement and Marietta's confusion, confusion that suddenly turned to realization as she looked at the two with wide eyes before she noticed just who walked in with the former Auror.
"Professor Snape." She greeted nervously. The three newcomers looked at the girl in surprise for a moment before Snape 'reluctantly' returned the greeting just as Twinkle walked in with many steaming dishes trailing behind her. With a snap of her fingers the place settings appeared on the table as the food took its place in the center.
"Don't worry, he's really not as bad as the greasy bastard he pretends to be." Susan whispered to Marietta. Blaise, who was sitting on the young Hufflepuff's other side coughed violently into the glass of orange juice she had just lifted to her lips as her father glared across the table at Susan who didn't seem the least bit affected by the look. Harry and Tonks didn't see or hear a thing as they kept stealing glances at each other, that is until the smell of the food reached their noses. Harry looked at the food spread out before them with a wide grin as he rubbed his hands together. Unfortunately just as he was reaching for the bacon a pair of strong hands lifted him out of his chair.
"WHAT THE HELL?" He yelled as he looked over his shoulder to see Bill pulling him towards the door. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Its 8:00 Harry, time for training." Bill relied without relinquishing his grip.
"8:00, time for Breakfast." Harry corrected as he tried to stretch back towards the table. Although he had grown quite a bit over the last several months Bill was still about two inches taller than him and had a great deal more muscle mass so he made very little progress moving back towards the food.
"Breakfast can wait! If you get yourself killed because you slacked off, my mother would never let me hear the end of it." Harry just grunted before turning back to his captor and jabbing his thumb into the side of his neck. Bill let out a sharp hiss as he let go of Harry's arm in favor of the pain shooting through his neck. His sudden release caused Harry to fall but he managed to catch himself before he fell on his face. Jumping back to his feet he ducked under Bill's arm and ran back to the table. In the interest of saving time he merely grabbed a fork and the whole serving dish full of eggs after he slung his battlerobes over his shoulder. Looking back to see Bill approaching with an annoyed look on his face he hurried around the table and ran out the door with the most mild mannered of the Weasley boys stalking after him.
Everyone sat in silence as they stared out the door for several seconds before everyone turned their attention back to the food as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Marietta looked around the table at those present and realized that this was, more likely than not, ordinary behavior around here.
"I've never seen Weasley annoyed before." Snape mused out loud with a smirk. "I'd imagine that Potter is in for a rough morning."
"What do you mean?" Tonks asked and it was clear that she wasn't the only one puzzled by the man's statement.
"Think about it. Until now both Weasley and Potter have been restricting the amount of power they have been pouring into their spells. I would not be surprised if he were to teach Potter a bit of a lesson here." His words were met with silence as everyone thought about it. Then, as if they all came to the same conclusion, they all stood up and walked out the door, heading towards the gym. Twinkle watched them all go before shaking her head and casting a warming charm over the table to keep the food fresh.
MMM
McGonagall was sitting in her office early that morning going over lesson plans for the younger members of the Order. It was her day to instruct them and she would be introducing transfiguration into their dueling lessons. While anyone could learn to incorporate the two skills a great wizard or witch could decide the outcome of whole battles with such a technique, such as Albus. The last few weeks had been hard on all of the children, especially Ron and Hermione. They had both taken the news of Harry's innocents pretty hard considering they were his best friends and yet they stood against him. When the news was announced to the Order shortly after the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries were questioned she specifically sought those two out to see their reactions. She was not at all surprised to see little more than guilt and a resigned sense of loss on the face of Ronald Weasley. Neither she nor Dumbledore ever really thought he truly believed his friend to be guilty, he just followed Hermione's lead. He probably felt that he had lost his best friend and he didn't want to lose his girlfriend as well.
Hermione on the other hand was different. She looked as if someone had told her that everything written in 'Hogwarts: A History' was nothing more than the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind. She didn't see guilt or remorse in her eyes, all she saw was denial. Like a test question she got wrong she tried to think of any other possibilities that would have made her conclusions at least partly accurate. After being confronted by several outraged Order members she finally dropped her demands of reopening the investigation. If anything good came out of the whole situation it was that Hermione no longer seemed to get any pleasure out of letting everyone know how intelligent she was, or thought she was. She simply did her work as best she could, answered the questions that were asked of her and only asked questions that were relevant to the specific topic. Though she had always been one of her favorite students, you can only stand a know-it-all for so long.
The other students, Ginny, Neville and Luna specifically, had enough moral character to simply let the two be, instead of rubbing it in their faces that they were wrong. No doubt Hermione would not have felt that same restraint had she been right.
As a whole the students were progressing at an incredible rate in every field they were being trained in. the fact that they had so many skilled instructors for such a small group no doubt helped in that regard. No one, with the exception of a few of the students that didn't know him well, was all that surprised when Neville emerged as the top fighter among them. The almost constant fear that he showed every time he was called upon to perform in front of the class throughout his school years seemed to be a distant memory. His grandmother had visited him several times and marveled at his progress and it was now almost expected that she would break down and cry as she praised him and made comparisons to his father, and act that was sure to get Neville a little watery eyed as he remembered many members of his family making comments that he wasn't even a shadow of Frank Longbottom.
As he promised when they were first brought to Hogwarts at the beginning of the summer Albus had paired each of the students with an older member of the Order and were assigned specific tasks. Much to his delight Neville was paired with Moody and when Neville himself wasn't training the two were training other Order members that would be a part of their specific team should they enter a fight.
Not that surprisingly both Hermione and Luna were paired with Remus for doing various research for the Order while Ron worked with Albus for strategy. Though many pitied her, Ginny was happy to be paired with Aberforth to head another combat team. Unlike the more uptight members of the Order she greatly enjoyed Aberforth's company, probably because she was used to the twins. Hannah Abbott was sent up to the Hospital wing to learn from Madam Pomfrey while Allen Samuels, a Slytherin student worked with Arthur Weasley gathering intelligence. Everyone was confused with this pairing since Mr. Weasley's job at the Ministry didn't offer him much in the way of information. The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office wasn't very respected. But everyone supposed Dumbledore knew what he was doing so he must have put the two together for some reason.
The clock on McGonagall's desk chimed at 8:00, pulling her out of her musings and reminded her that she had students that she had to get to. She quickly straightened up her papers and stood up from her desk just as someone quickly burst through the door and slammed it shut. Her head shot up just in time to see a cloaked figure cast several locking and privacy wards on the door.
McGonagall quickly raised her wand and demanded that the person reveal themselves. However when the object of her attention turned to face her all she could see was their eyes, and that was all that was needed. With a strangled gasp of shock she quickly lowered her wand.
"What are you doing here? Do you realize what could happen if someone were to see you?" She whispered fiercely but the woman didn't appear to listen to her. Walking forward she removed a small pensieve from the folds of her robe before depositing it on McGonagall's desk.
"Look!" The woman ordered as she removed the lid off of the small stone basin. McGonagall looked at her stupidly for several moments before she waved her wand over the pensieve and six small figures rose out of the top with the familiar stone structure of Stonehenge around them. What she was looking at was a great deal like a muggle hologram only a lot more lifelike. She watched and listened to every word in shock as her unnamed 'guest' paced around the room in agitation. She of course was well aware of Harry's plan as well as their belief that the meeting went well but seeing it for herself was quite a shock. She had no idea that Harry was capable of sounding so cruel and merciless. By the time the memory was over McGonagall's face was completely white which was a good thing to an extent since she couldn't let this woman know that the meeting was really a set up. Spy or not it was best that this remain unspoken.
"You must show that to Dumbledore immediately." The woman hissed urgently. McGonagall nodded numbly for a moment before thinking of something.
"Where did this memory come from?"
"What? Oh, I extracted it from Lucius while he was recovering from the Dark Lord's 'temper tantrum'. After that meeting the Dark Lord called his entire inner circle together and told us all that he may be getting some powerful allies and that we were to witness their show of faith. All we know about the attack is that all three are to be simultaneous and happen in at least five days. We will be told exactly when they will take place and where to go just before they begin so I won't be ale to get a message out.
"I'll take this to Albus right away, you should probably get back before anyone notices that you are gone." McGonagall said as she began to regain her composure. If she felt like this even knowing that that was Harry she couldn't even imagine what this woman, or even what Voldemort must be feeling. After having the woman remove her charms from the door McGonagall stepped out into the corridor and looked around. Seeing no one in the vicinity she quickly waved the woman out. Without even looking about she simply rushed out of the office and crossed the hall to disappear into a secret passage hidden behind a tapestry illustrating the burning of Rome.
"I didn't know that was there." McGonagall mused to herself before heading to the Headmaster's office with the pensieve clutched in her hands.
MMM
"Are you done yet?" Bill asked impatiently as Harry stood in the corner with his eggs. As a reply Harry held up one finger as he seemed to concentrate. Suddenly he let out a loud belch with enough base to sink a small boat. A look of contentment passed over his face as he sighed before putting his bowl and fork down. "Finally."
"I think I'm entitled to a little breakfast before I get thrown around, don't you? Call it a dying man's last request if it makes you feel better." Harry said as he started to pull on his battlerobes. "I don't plan on getting killed." He explained after seeing his opponent's confusion. This answer didn't seem to help any but when Harry removed the scarf from around his head and brought the tip of his wand up to the side of his right eye everyone seemed to realize how serious Harry was taking this. Not knowing the significance, Marietta looked on in confusion until a few whispered words later his right eye was pulled from his eye socket. With a scream of fright she jumped back and crashed into Snape without ever taking her eyes off Harry. The boy looked at her in confusion before he realized what she just saw.
"Oh, sorry to scare you like that. Courtesy of right honorable Lucius Malfoy." He said with sarcasm as he waved to the right side of his face. "Alister Moody was kind enough to part with one of his magical eyes that he hadn't used in years. It's come in pretty damn useful to." He explained as he placed the eye in a small box that he had removed from his pants pocket. "Here, hold onto that." He said as he tossed the box to Snape.
"Harry, just what do you think you're doing?" Bill asked him with a very stern expression.
"I'm going to see just how much I have memorized." Without another word he folded his scarf a few times length wise before tying it back around his head, this time covering both his left eye and his right, err, eye socket. "Don't go easy on me Bill, do it exactly like we practiced." He said out loud while in his mind he was thinking that this was a really bad idea, which was pretty much what everyone else was thinking as well.
"Great, I'm going to beat up a blind Harry Potter." Bill muttered to himself before he cast his first curse. Normally he would cast every curse silently but he figured he could at least let Harry know that he was starting. As that first curse came at him Harry brought his wand around in a wide arch as he said the words 'Astium Tebius'. A dome of golden light formed around Harry within milliseconds and the curse that was a dark sickly green color smashed into it with a loud clang. At this point Harry began to move swiftly to his right as he threw curse after curse at Bill. Those that were watching had to jump out of his way to prevent him from running into them. Amazingly every curse that he threw would have hit its mark had Bill not been able to shield against them or deflect them. He did not let up but as he went more and more curses were missing the target but Bill still went through the motions of guarding against them anyway just to keep with the repetitive nature of their practice. After a few moments of easily countering every curse Harry used, Bill went on the offensive.
Everyone watching was amazed as they watched Harry dodge and counter spells that he couldn't even see coming. Granted he knew what was coming and when but he was still blindfolded. He looked like he could go all day long, that is until Bill once again cast that same sickly green spell he used to begin the duel, this time silently. As before Harry's wand traveled in a wide arch before his golden shield was formed but unlike the beginning of the duel this time it failed. Bill's curse smashed through the shield as if it weren't even there before closing the distance to Harry and slamming into his stomach. Thankfully his battlerobes absorbed most of the blow but he was still thrown back nearly ten feet before he landed with an unforgiving thud. Dung and several others had joined them just as Tonks and Blaise appeared to be moving towards Harry to make sure he was all right but they stopped in shock when Bill didn't let up. Everyone knew what they were practicing for but until now no one had actually taken the time to watch the two train together.
For the next five minutes Harry was thrown around the room as he was blasted with curse after curse. The entire time Bill never moved from his starting position and despite the number of curses and counter curses he had used he stood as erect and strong as ever. Which was good considering he was supposed to be the stronger and more powerful of the two in this fight. After what seemed like an eternity the curses stopped and Bill just stood there in a relaxed position as he surveyed Harry curiously and without emotion. Everyone looked between the two as Harry lay wheezing on the ground as he fought to get back up. His wand lay discarded against the wall twenty feet away and with his sluggish movements he had no hope of reaching it in time should Bill choose to continue his assault. After several failed attempts Harry managed to get back on to his knees but he was swaying slightly from side to side with his head bowed to the floor in weariness and it was clear that there was not much fight left in him.
Bill took a few moments to look at his opponent before he stepped closer to him and raised his wand once again. Tonks was about to start screaming for the oldest Weasley child to stop when Harry's right hand shot into the left sleeve of his robes and quickly reemerged with his basilisk fang wand clutched tightly in his fingers. Without an incantation a bright blue curse was fired and Bill, whose eyes had gone wide in surprise, was caught full in the chest. Those watching could only guess that Harry had hit him with a banishing charm as the older man went flying across the room. Luck would have it that he didn't collide with the far wall but he only just missed it. He gasped loudly as he landed on his back and the air was pushed out of his lungs before he groaned as rolling over and used the wall to help pull him to his feet.
"Since when did you start hitting me with any spells?" He asked a bit surly after shaking his head a few times to remove some of the cobwebs. Everyone turned to look at Harry again only to find that he was now standing quite firmly on his feet while not looking nearly as beaten as he had before. Yes, he did look pretty ruff, but certainly not beaten.
"Since you started pouring that much power into those spells." He answered with a cheeky grin as he removed the scarf covering his good eye. "I figured that since you've been throwing me around for almost a week now I should at least get in one good hit. Besides, just be glad that it will be Voldemort instead of you next time and with him I don't plan on using a simple banishing charm." Harry said with a wicked grin that promised nothing but pain for the dearly loved snake faced bastard.
MMM
"Well I would certainly have to agree with young Harry, that did appear to go much better than he had planned." Albus muttered to himself after viewing the memory in the pensieve. Like McGonagall he was deeply shocked and a little troubled at how cold and callous Harry appeared but he sure wasn't going to make the mistake of questioning his intentions again. Instead he just resigned himself to the fact that Harry could be a pretty good actor when the situation called for it.
"Albus, do you really think this is a 'wise' decision?" McGonagall asked nervously as she wrung her hands together. The Headmaster had been asking himself that very question at least a hundred times a day since Harry had informed him of his plans and yet he was still not able to come up with a definitive answer.
"I don't know." He admitted with a sigh. "I can certainly see the advantages but the risks may be too great. Voldemort is not a man that knows restraint. As you witnessed in that memory, several times Harry pushed him to the point where he was ready to kill despite what he was offering. He knows that he is not yet ready to defeat Voldemort and I fear that at some point Harry may push him too far." He finished in a distant voice as if his mind was preoccupied with something else. In fact he was actually thinking about Harry being pushed to far.
"Albus?" The Deputy Headmistress asked in a concerned voice as she took notice of the weariness on the man's face, more than likely due to the sleepless night he had had. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice the question as he gazed at the cover of the book on his desk. If accurate, the information in that book could change Harry's life forever, or destroy it. He had certainly learned his lesson about keeping important information from the boy but this was something different entirely. Taking a deep breath Albus was determined that he would have to bring this to Harry's attention soon but decided to wait until after his plan for Voldemort was set in motion. It would not do any good for Harry to be thinking of other things at such a crucial time.
MMM
The following four days seemed to pass in a blur for nearly everyone in Potter Manor. As the time of the attacks drew closer everyone was either eating, sleeping or training. Each day that passed both Harry and Bill steadily increased the power of their spells until they were fighting at nearly full strength. As a result it was not that uncommon for Harry to need medical attention from the house elf Beckle before he would return to the gym to begin again much to the elf's dismay.
Tonks' training lasted longer each day as she fought the same duel several times over before Moody would let any of them quit for the day. It was quite clear that Mad Eye agreed with Harry's decision and thought it was a well thought out plan. He had taken it upon himself to lead their training sessions and if you made a mistake or didn't give your full attention he would certainly make you pay for it. Not even Albus seemed to be immune from his command. Despite her weariness Tonks found it terribly amusing to see the old Auror ordering Dumbledore about like a student. He obviously didn't appreciate the older man trying to weasel out of a day of training by sending his brother in his place. Though they may look identical any fool could tell them apart and she suspected that Moody was probably insulted at such a weak attempt to deceive him.
After a day full day of dueling Harry and Tonks had little energy for anything other than sitting around and talking before finally turning in for the night. In just those few evenings they learned an awful lot about each other as they talked about anything and everything. Tonks was horrified as he told her of the extent of abuse and neglect that he suffered at the hands of his relatives but she was amazed and maybe even slightly concerned about how easily he seemed to brush it off. Due to her position in the Order she had already known about the incidents during his first four years at Hogwarts so anytime he talked about that she could see that he was just being modest in his accounts of the events and her respect for him grew.
Hearing Tonks talk about her life thus far deeply angered Harry in a vast sense of the word. Though he already suspected it he could barely control his rage at the way she was treated while a student at Hogwarts. Even as a first year she was shunned by those around her as a freak simply because she could change her appearance. As she got older however things only got worse as the other students in school saw the advantage of such a talent where relationships were concerned. The girls' rejection of her turned to jealousy while the boys' turned to lust. It was simply disgusting how much she was ridiculed and the rumors that were spread because of her abilities. He wasn't sure why or even how the subject was brought up but Harry even shared with her the contents of both prophecies. Having never really believed in divination, and much to Harry's amusement, Tonks tried to explain away some of the details that clearly fit Harry but after thinking it over for some time she reluctantly admitted that there 'could' be some legitimacy behind them. Harry was actually pleasantly surprised at her apparent indifference to the situation. One of his greatest fears was that his friends and others he cared about would try to distance themselves from him if they knew that he would have to either kill Voldemort or be killed by him.
Like Harry, Bill and Tonks, the rest of the Raiders spent the majority of their days training and studying just as hard. Despite having Harry's permission to raid the liquor cabinet everyone seemed to agree that now was not the time to waste even a single moment with their heads stuck in a bottle. As the minutes and hours ticked by and the days passed in a blur, everyone began to get increasingly nervous, and rightfully so. The most noticeable of the bunch, however, was Bill.
When Harry descended the stairs early in the morning on the day in question he was only minimally surprised to see Bill sitting alone in the nearly dark kitchen. All lights were off with the exception of two candles burning on the table and the light shined on Bill's face as he sat clutching his wand. Obviously Harry knew what was bothering the man and he couldn't really blame him. Bill was as brave a man as he had ever met but it wasn't easy for anyone to 'voluntarily' come face to face with a man that you had been conditioned to fear since you were a small child and that was exactly what he was going to do.
Like the other Raiders, Bill had seen what Voldemort looked like in a pensieve with the memory of Harry's meeting with him several days before but that is nothing like being near the man himself. Harry could certainly understand the man's apprehension but he also knew that Bill would not let his fear interfere with what he had to do. Quietly he moved fully into the kitchen and sat down on the opposite side of the table from the man but the two merely sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Over the next hour more and more of their group joined them but like Harry and Bill they didn't seem to have much to say. When the clock in the corner struck seven Snape pulled a black envelope from the inside of his robes and passed it to Harry. Those around him seemed to cringe back away from the parchment and no one could really blame them, the stench of foul magic was nearly overwhelming.
Taking the message with a look of disgust on his face Harry quietly called for Twinkle and asked her to have it delivered to Lucius Malfoy. The house elf nodded solemnly and used her magic to take the envelope from her master so she would not have to actually touch it. After Twinkle disappeared Harry heaved a heavy sigh of resignation. 'Well, no backing out now.' He had every confidence in the people around him and their abilities but it was still extremely possible that something could go wrong and then all of this will have been for nothing. He knew deep down that everything would go as planned but being a pessimist never really allowed much room for optimism.
TBC
Alright I have to explain the comments at the end of the last chapter a bit since it didn't come out the way I intended. I said that Harry would NOT have a sexual relationship with all four girls. What a meant was that I would not write graphic sexual scenes with any one girl or all four. Like I said when I first decided to do this challenge, I will not make this story into a porno. It will keep its T rating with maybe an occasional M rated situation. Sorry for all of the confusion but sometimes I am not very good with words.
Just to let you know, there will not be another update until at least next week because I am going to spend the next several days going through and correcting all of the spelling and grammar mistakes in this story. Actually it is something I should have done a long time ago but I never really felt like taking the time to do it but since I am almost finished with this story I feel that I should certainly get it done.
Right now it looks as if there will only be three more chapters left. After that the sequel will pick up somewhere around the time Harry's sixth year should start. I'm still not sure whether or not he will actually return to Hogwarts as a student or not but hopefully I will have that figured out soon.