Chapter Nine: Prophecies, Discussions and Problems Revealed.

Harry woke up to the sound of "Harry James Potter only a half hour after I gave you a clean bill of health you go and end up back in here. Why you insist on flying like that I'll never know."

He cracked one eye open, seeing Poppy's indignant face hovering above him. Giving her a crooked smile he said, "I do it just so I don't deprive my favorite nurse of the fun of putting me back together again." Poppy huffed but she had a smile on her face as she went about finishing treating his injuries. Turning his head he saw Anakin asleep in a chair, in such an unnatural position that it made him wince. Using the Force he levitated his Padawan into the bed next to him, and smirked when Anakin automatically stretched out while not waking up.

A soft cough told him that someone was on his other side. Turning his head the other way he saw Mace and Ginny. Both looked worried, but then relieved when he smiled at them.

"Hey guys. I'm not that easy to kill am I?" he said. Mace snorted and replied, "We already knew that Harry, you didn't have to give us a demonstration of your indestructibility." Ginny chimed in with, "Yeah, you great prat, you really scared us."

Harry looked pained for a moment. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to stop Anakin from being hurt. How is he?"

"He'll be fine. Thanks to you he only got a few bruises, as well as the scare of his life, seeing you lying on the ground unconscious. I want to talk to you though, our earlier conversation was interrupted and I want to finish it."

Harry looked at her and then slowly nodded. "OK. Just let me sneak out of here and we can talk all you want." Ginny nodded before Harry frowned.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just that when I'm strong enough again, which should be tomorrow, I need to continue Anakin's training. We haven't got a lot of sparring practice in and we need to keep in shape. Is the Room of Requirement still working?"

"As far as I know."

"Good."

Harry closed his eyes again and slipped into a healing trance, directing the Force to heal what remained of his injuries. There wasn't very much as Madam Pomfrey had done a good job as per usual. Mace and Ginny slipped out, recognizing that Harry wouldn't be awake until later and that he needed to sleep and finish healing.

Later on, in the evening, Harry awoke, feeling refreshed. Sensing someone watching him he turned his head to see Anakin watching him. The Padawan looked awful, like he hadn't slept well even though he had in fact slept earlier.

"Hey demon" he said, using the affectionate nickname that he'd given Anakin in the first few weeks of his apprenticeship. Anakin grinned. "Hey Master. How are you feeling?"

"Never better." Noticing Anakin's disbelieving look he said "Seriously, I'm fine. You look like hell though."

"Yeah well I was worried about you. I thought I'd killed you or something."

Harry chuckled. "I'm not so easy to kill Anakin. I've crashed a few times before, and once fell off my broom from about 300 feet. Just remember that the ground is always closer than you think when flying a broom. It's not as solid as a starfighter or a Podracer."

Breaking off, Harry glanced round the ward. Giving Anakin a conspiratorial grin he used their bond and said,

Now, how about helping me break out of here

But Master, Madam Pomfrey will kill you

I think she expects me to make an attempt, she'd be insulted if I didn't try.

Do or do not there..

Yes Padawan you don't need to quote Master Yoda at me

OK. Coast's clear let's go.

Harry and Anakin snuck out of the hospital wing, believing themselves unseen. They were wrong. In her office, Poppy smirked, and watched the two Jedi tiptoeing out the door. She always knew who left and who didn't; no one could enter her domain or leave it, unobserved. Smirking again she waited a few minutes to give them time to clear the corridor and then left. It was time to go and have some dinner; she'd been looking forward to it all day.

Dinner was an odd affair. Gathered in the Great Hall were the entire Order of the Phoenix, the other staff members who weren't part of the Order but who stayed at Hogwarts during the summer, and the Jedi.

There was no formal seating order as the tables were small and circular so Harry found himself between Remus and Trelawney with the rest of the Weasleys seated round the rest of the table. Remus he liked, Trelawney he didn't like so much. He was able to draw the Divination teacher into a discussion of her subject, and the talk eventually came round to visions. Trelawney was skeptical of the Jedi being able to see visions from the Force, while Harry was equally skeptical of tea leaf reading. At last both agreed to disagree on the subject. The other conversations were much more interesting.

Sora was busy talking to Dumbledore, and doing a good job of convincing the old wizard of the benefits of soul healing. Dumbledore, after telling Sora of the use of Horcruxes through history asked him if it was possible to rejoin the soul back together after splitting it.

Sora, who was horrified that a wizard would deliberately split their soul into pieces through murder, then considered the question. The final answer he gave was that he didn't know and if it was possible, it would most likely be extremely difficult and complicated. The Jedi Healer then gave Dumbledore a penetrating look and asked why he was interested.

"No reason. My sources told me that Voldemort was investigating creating one before his demise at the hands of Knight Potter. Not much is known about them, and the method of creating one has never been written down to my knowledge. It is the darkest of the dark arts, as you might imagine."

"Mhmm, I can imagine. Regardless of that, I don't have a good answer for you."

The Weasley family was busy reacquainting themselves with Harry, and getting to know his friends who were seated at the table next to them. They were initially nervous around the Jedi but after Mace and Qui-Gon made it clear that if Harry forgave them, so did they, things ran smoother. Harry himself was busy catching up with Remus and Ginny.

"So have you come up with a nickname for my Griffin form yet Moony?" Harry asked. Remus was going to reply but was distracted as Fred and George turned into red-furred weasels. The transformation lasted a few seconds and then wore off. As one the twins turned to Harry and raised their eyebrows. Harry smirked at them, and then quietly laughed as they checked their food and drink for other hidden items. It was a pity that the next trap was in their room. The room had been charmed so that when they got up the next morning they would find their room liberally strewn with pranks, in a manner such that they wouldn't be able to get out of being hit with at least one, and hopefully more.

Turning back to Remus he raised an eyebrow. Remus looked at him and then said quietly, "I like Goldshadow personally, and your coloring suggests it nicely. Thinking again he then smirked and said. "We could use Goldshadow for your official Marauder name and use Kit in public. No one would be expecting a griffin if someone said, hey Harry turn into Kit."

Harry thought for a moment and then grinned. "I like it. Mr Goldshadow, aka Kit humbly thanks Mr Moony for his most splendid names and begs him to use Kit only in private."

Remus smirked and then said, "Mr Moony makes no such promises as he is a Marauder to the bone and therefore would love the chance to embarrass Mr Goldshadow at every opportunity."

Harry groaned and shook his head before stiffening. Trelawney had gone rigid and begun to shake slightly.

"Is something wrong with her Harry?" Qui-Gon asked. Harry shook his head. "Vision" he said tightly. "This is what she's like when she makes a true prophecy, she never remembers it afterwards."

Everyone leant forwards to hear better as Trelawney began speaking.

"He comes from the great sands, the chosen of light.

Raised by the one who knows darkness but lives in the light.

To darkness the chosen one will fall,

But by the light of the mentor and the lover will he return.

And together they will bring forth a great light to all the worlds."

As she finished speaking, there was a dead silence before all eyes swiveled to Harry who had slowly lowered his head onto the table. Anakin broke the uneasy silence by asking, "OK what was all that about. Who is it referring to?"

"I think it's you Anakin" Harry said quietly. As Anakin turned to look at him in shock, he continued "great sands – you come from Tatooine. The "one who knows darkness but lives in the light" is me – I know the Dark Side but I'm firmly attached to the Light. I'm not entirely sure about the second part."

"It means he'll become a Dark Lord obviously" Draco said with a smirk. Anakin whipped round, glaring at him. "I won't" he snapped, upset at the mere suggestion that he might betray the Jedi. Harry raised an eyebrow at him and he subsided quickly.

"I don't believe that Anakin will turn, prophecies are very vague and this one is no exception. Besides, it says that he'll come back, and if he truly did turn then that would be impossible."

"There is one way of ensuring that the prophecy never has a chance to come true" Snape drawled from behind Harry. Turning Harry rose to face him, and said challengingly "What would that be?"

"Kill him of course" Snape murmured. Harry promptly adopted a defensive stance, standing in front of Anakin. His lip curled slightly and he snarled out "You even think of trying anything like that and it'll be your funeral that everyone will be attending."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Death threats from a Jedi? You can relax Potter; I have no intention of harming your precious apprentice. It was a joke."

Harry glared at him again before saying "Do I look amused?"

Snape shook his head before replying, "No you don't. Regardless of my earlier words, I do believe that we won't know what the prophecy meant until the events it foretells have come to pass."

Glancing at Harry again he rolled his eyes. "For Merlin's sake Potter, you can relax. I'm not about to try and kill Skywalker when he's got you and the rest of your group surrounding him. I'm not suicidal."

Harry probed him with the Force, ascertaining the truth of his words. Finding that Snape was indeed telling the truth, he relaxed and sat back down. Snape quietly left the hall, he had a potion that needed to be stirred in a few minutes and it wouldn't do to let it spoil.

Anakin still looked a bit worried and upset although he was quickly rebuilding the neutral, expressionless mask that he normally wore in public. His distress could clearly be felt through the Force, and the waves of it that were coming through their bond forced Harry to partially block it to avoid being overwhelmed. Turning round, he met Anakin's eyes, and sent a pulse of comfort and reassurance along their bond. Finding that it didn't help the Padawan much he opened a mental conversation.

Don't worry Anakin; I won't let you turn Dark.

What if you can't stop it?

Then I will do everything within my power to bring you back to us OK.

OK Master. What do we do in the meantime?

Remember the prophecy but don't let it rule your life. You're only fifteen, and some prophecies take years to be fulfilled, if they even are at all. Just relax. Tomorrow I'll show you one of this castle's best secrets and we can do some sparring at the same time.

Cool, what?

Heh, that's for tomorrow.

Fine

They broke off the conversation, and Harry was pleased to note that the prospect of going secret hunting the next day had snapped Anakin out of his shock at the prophecy. Harry himself wanted to strangle Trelawney for giving the prophecy in front of Anakin like that even though he knew that Trelawney didn't have any control over when she made her predictions. Now he had to figure out how to keep it from overwhelming Anakin, as well as keeping the darkness that wanted him at bay for as long as possible.

The next morning, Harry woke instantly. He felt that something was wrong, only he couldn't pinpoint what it was. After centering himself within the Force, he opened himself to the flow of it, and searched for the source of his disquiet.

He found nothing but a sense of impending trouble, which, given the current state of the wizarding world wasn't unusual. Sighing, he surfaced to find Ginny looking at him curiously.

"Ginny!" he yelped, pulling the covers up to his chin. He was wearing his boxers underneath but he wasn't prepared to have the woman he was beginning to fall in love with be sitting on his bed.

Ginny grinned impishly at him and then innocently asked, "Yes Harry? Did I startle you?"

"Yes you did. How did you get in here with no one else noticing?" Harry growled back.

"Magic" Ginny responded. She yelped as Harry moved with lightning speed, flipping her onto her back and pinning her beneath him. "That was not very helpful Ginny" he growled again, although this time it had a playful note to it.

Ginny smirked and then relaxed. "Ok ok, so I persuaded your friends to let me in here. Anakin seemed especially amused at your probable reaction. I believe he was complaining about the lack of a holocam. Now, where were we? I believe we have a conversation to finish."

She squeaked as she found herself abruptly outside the bedroom door, with said door shut firmly in her face. After a few minutes Harry emerged fully dressed with the exception of his boots. He found Ginny seated on the couch with a mutinous expression on her face.

"Why did you throw me out Harry?" she asked. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Because if we're to discuss our situation then we need to do it without hormones getting in the way" was his calm reply. Ginny huffed but conceded the point.

"So, where are we exactly?" she asked. Harry sighed before looking around. Spotting the door, he cast locking charms and just before a silencing charm went up he heard a distinct CRACK as it hit someone's nose, and a muffled, "Damn now we won't hear anything" from Syra. The process of elimination suggested that the one whose nose was now broken was Anakin. He smirked and sent a mental Go see Madam Pomfrey to get your nose fixed Padawan and felt a sense of shock and then resignation as Anakin realized that they'd been caught. Another minute later Harry sensed that he and Ginny were finally alone.

"Ok we're safe from prying eyes and ears" he said. Ginny looked at him in amusement. "So, do I have to repeat my earlier question?" she asked. Harry shook his head.

"No you don't. I'm not sure where we stand to be exact. I know that you still have feelings for me, and I'm starting to develop feelings for you."

"Ok, so what's the problem" Ginny asked confused. Harry caught her eyes. "I mean that mutual feelings aren't enough. I'm a Jedi now, Ginny, and that brings several potential complications and adjustments for you, and me to make."

"What type of adjustments?"

"You will need to understand, and accept that sometimes I will be assigned missions that potentially I might not come back from. All missions carry some degree of danger but some are more dangerous than others."

He broke off to assess the effect his words had on Ginny. They didn't seem to have had very much as her next words proved.

"So you go into dangerous situations on a regular basis. I can handle that. Remember that we both grew up in the middle of a war Harry."

Harry sighed; apparently the first hurdle had been passed. "Ok, then there's Anakin. You will have to accept that he comes first. If you decide to enter a relationship with me, you will be my partner, yes, but Anakin is my first priority. I can't let anything affect his training, so we're going to have to work out how to balance our relationship against my responsibility to him."

Ginny was nodding. "I can understand that. Essentially, you're coming into a new relationshipand bringing akid as well, so we all have to get used to that. How is Anakin going to handle us?"

"He'll be OK with it as long as I can make him understand that I'm not going to abandon him. He is very sensitive to any hint that I might reject him, and I refuse to give him any reason to think that way."

"Hmm, OK. He seems to like me at the moment."

"That's good. He's much like me, doesn't trust easily and once you lose that trust it's hard to gain back."

"Well, you have raised him since he was what, nine right? So it's to be expected that he would pick up some of your characteristics. Has he picked up your legendary dislike of politicians yet?"

"He's working on it."

Harry and Ginny shared a brief laugh before falling silent. Ginny slowly moved over so she was sitting next to Harry, almost touching him. Harry raised his arm slightly, allowing Ginny to move under it so it was around her shoulders. From that position it was a short step to moving so that Ginny was curled up against Harry's side. He tightened his hold on her and enjoyed the feeling of her body pressed up against his. Feeling a certain body part start to react, he firmly told it to stop. He refused to move things too fast, especially since he and Ginny essentially had to get to know each other properly again.

Time flew by until there was a knock on the door. Harry took down the silencing and locking charms, and opened the door to admit Anakin.

"Have you had lunch Master because I want to see that secret you told me about." He looked curiously at Ginny and then asked, "Have you kissed him yet?"

"ANAKIN!" Harry yelled, utterly mortified at his apprentice's question. Ginny giggled. "Would you object if I had?" she asked, turning the question back at Anakin.

The Padawan cocked his head to the side and considered the question, ignoring his master's affronted glare for the moment. "Mm, no I wouldn't. You'd be good for him."

"Why thank you" Ginny said sweetly before noticing Harry's dark look. "Want to know a good way of cheering him up when he's grumpy?" she asked. Anakin nodded, only to turn away and say, "Eww get a room" as Ginny firmly pulled Harry's head round so he was facing her and kissed him firmly. When she let go, Harry looked rather dazed.

"Er, Ginny, its better that you do that rather than me" Anakin said before turning to Harry. "Master, if you don't mind, can we go to lunch now. I know you didn't have breakfast, so please, can we eat before going touring round the castle."

Harry snapped out of his daze and nodded. "Yes we'll go eat. Ginny that was very enjoyable. We'll have to explore that again later." Just then his stomach grumbled loudly and Harry smirked. "I second that notion, let's eat."

Lunch was a lively affair, as Fred and George spent their time alternately eating and transforming into various animals as the time delayed pranks that Harry had set up the previous night went off. Anakin whispered what he'd walked in on to Syra, who told Obi-Wan who looked at Harry strangely and then passed it on to Qui-Gon who gave Harry a very strange look before passing it onto Mace. Mace promptly choked on his pumpkin juice and looked at Harry before turning to tell Remus. The werewolf's eyes went very very wide and he leaned over to ask Harry in a whisper,

"Did you really shag Ginny Weasley with the door unlocked?"

That question led to Harry doing a classic spit take and turning to glare at Anakin. "Padawan" he said in an ominous tone of voice. Anakin turned to Harry and raised his eyebrows.

"Yes Master?"

"What did you tell Syra?"

"What? All I said was that you and Ginny were cuddling on the couch. What did Remus tell you?

As Harry digested this piece of information he realized that the original message had been mistranslated somewhere along the chain. Groaning he dropped his head to the table before lifting it and asking, "Have you finished eating?"

At Anakin's nod he rose and turned, tossing a "Follow me" over his shoulder. He led Anakin to the seventh floor, and stopped beside the blank wall that hid the Room of Requirement, or the ROR.

"Uh, Master, it's a blank wall" Anakin said, confused. Harry smirked. "6 years training under me Padawan and you still haven't learnt that things aren't always what they seem to be? Dear dear."

Anakin flushed in embarrassment and then watched as Harry walked up and down in front of the wall three times, eyes closed in concentration. After the third time a door appeared. Harry opened the door and looked in, before standing to the side.

"After you" he said, gesturing for Anakin to precede him into the room. The Padawan walked in and stopped short, his mouth dropping open in shock. Harry entered after him and shut the door.

"You like it?" he asked lightly. Anakin turned to him in shock. "How, how did you do this" he asked. Harry smirked.

"The Room of Requirement becomes anything you need at the time. I merely wished for this and it happened. Shall we get started?"

Anakin nodded wordlessly. The Room of Requirement had become a perfect replica of their favorite training room in the Jedi Temple. Noticing Harry waiting for him he hurriedly stripped off his outer tunic and his boots, placing his belt and saber on one of the benches at the side before walking over to join his master in the middle of the room.

Facing each other, they knelt and opened their minds to the Force, and each other, slipping easily into meditation. They needed at least half an hour before they could do any exercise as they'd just had lunch, however they could use the meditation as a way to pass that time.

After half an hour, their eyes snapped open at the same time. Without a word, they summoned their lightsabers and began a slow yet deadly dance. Harry didn't push Anakin very much as they both needed to warm up but soon they were warmed up and Harry started upping the ante.

He started forcing Anakin backwards, only peripherally aware of the fact that the rest of the Jedi, as well as several Order members which included Snape and Draco had entered the room and were watching intently. Anakin chose to change gears, leaping to a higher level of the room, landing on one of the catwalks above. Harry followed him, twisting in mid air to avoid a kick to his face. He landed opposite his apprentice and immediately had to defend against a slice to his middle. Blocking it, he smirked and ignited the second half of his lightstaff before turning into a blur. Anakin met him strike for strike but Harry's experience was starting to tell. In desperation Anakin leapt across the room to another catwalk, and as Harry landed on the railing, he sliced it on either side of his master's feet. The railing, and Harry, fell to the floor.

The Order members gasped but the Jedi were silent, knowing that Harry would come to no harm. Indeed, Harry used the Force to slow his fall and landed, cat like, on his feet. Looking up at his apprentice, Harry smirked and then unleashed a barrage of spells at Anakin.

Anakin, certain that he was reasonably safe, suddenly found himself having to defend against a volley of spells that he had no idea how to counteract. He brought his lightsaber up and around, deflecting them with a bit of difficulty, given the power behind the spells and sheer volume of them.

Spinning around he saw Harry grinning at him from a few feet away. He paused for a second, before advancing forward in a series of attacks that Anakin soon recognized as the 15th kata. It would seem that Harry had decided to forgo freestyle for the moment. Falling easily into position, Anakin retreated, blocking easily, until Harry shot a spell at him in the middle of an overhead strike. Acting quickly, Anakin stepped to the side, brought his blade down to deflect the spell and then twisted it round to thrust at Harry's throat. The thrust was deflected and then another spell came towards him. Frustrated, Anakin wished with all his might that he was on the opposite side of the room.

There was a loud POP and he found himself exactly where he had wished himself to be. There was a dead silence, as Harry shut off his lightstaff, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he said, "Match over. Go and clean up."

He jumped down to the floor, landing softly thanks to the Force. Sweating lightly he nodded to the group of Order members before heading out the door. Anakin landed on the floor a few seconds later and followed Harry at a half run, wanting to know what he'd done to make Harry close off.

"Master! Master wait" he called. Seeing that Harry hadn't stopped, he switched to mental communication.

Master what have I done wrong? he asked

Harry stopped so suddenly that Anakin almost ran into him. Speaking normally he said, "Nothing Anakin, you just shocked me a bit that's all. I need to consider what happened and what it means."

"What did I do?" Anakin asked, confused. Harry turned to him, a small smile on his face. "You Apparated Anakin. This is a skill that witches and wizards are taught as a method of transport. For Jedi it is supposedly a skill that only the Dark Jedi or Sith use, using the Force to transport themselves from place to place. It hasn't been taught in the Temple for hundreds of years as far as I can tell because of this reason. It isn't a Dark skill at all, it could be potentially very useful. However, we need to figure out if this was a one time occurrence or if you could do it again."

"What happens if I can do it again?" Anakin asked. Harry smiled at him and then responded, "We teach you to do it instantaneously, and I'll be learning with you seeing as I never got the chance to be officially taught to do it. Then we see if Mace, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and the rest want to learn to Apparate as well. Think of the advantage we could have in a fight."

Anakin thought for a minute and then grinned. "Oh yeah, any opponents won't know what hit them" he said with glee. Harry smirked at him before wrinkling his nose.

"You stink" he said bluntly. Anakin sniffed the air and then replied, "So do you."

Laughing, they split up to take a shower, having reached their suite while talking about the Apparition incident. When they came back down they found the Order members that had been in the ROR waiting for them, as well as the rest of the Jedi. To Harry's mild annoyance Dumbledore was also there.

"Why are we all gathered here?" he enquired sitting down on the couch. The Order members looked uneasy and the Jedi looked neutral, but Harry was able to pick up on their worry through the Force. Worry for him. Slightly confused, but sensing that Dumbledore was somehow part of it he turned his attention back to the old wizard.

"Harry" Dumbledore began, "We need to tell you something about the state of the war here, something which involves you. It will be a bit of a shock but I ask that you stay as calm as possible."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Ok now I'm intrigued. What do you have to tell me? You may as well spit it out now, I give you my word that I won't go on a rampage."

Dumbledore took a breath and then let it out. "Harry, we know the identity of the current Dark Lord that's terrorizing the wizarding world." At Harry'sinquiring look Dumbledore dropped the bomb.

"He's your son."

Author Note

Thank you all of you who suggested names for Harry's griffin form. It was a hard choice but I eventually chose kittydemon18's name for Harry's form. As for those of you who have reviewed the first chapter of Dark Apprentice, I will be continuing that as well. How it is going to work is something similar to this: I will write both stories and hopefully update each one one after the other. That is one update for WANP, then one for DA. This might change if I get a writer's block on one or the other, in which case I will focus on the one that isn't blocked until the block clears. Until then I appreciate every review, even if they're critical of parts. Please don't kill me over the cliffhanger, as then you'll never know what happens next(evil laugh). Don't send reviews saying that Harry can't have a son, it will be explained in the next chapter as well. I will welcome all speculation on how it could have been achieved though. Remember these facts when you do: First, Harry didn't have a proper girlfriend when he went to Azkaban, he'd only just realised his feelings for Ginny and hadn't slept with any girl (or guy) at Hogwarts. Second, he didn't leave Azkaban from the time he was put there, to the time he left. With those facts in mind, let your imaginations run riot.

Happy reading and may the Force be with you

Padawan Lynne