Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone, I'm trying to go as fast as I can! I now have two jobs! Not one, but two! I need to earn all the money I can before that place called college, and hopefully a trip to Paris in there somewhere. But seriously, thank you all so much for the reviews! Within a few hours of updating, I received so many reviews! It really made me feel special, and I thank you.

Okay, enough rambling, on with the story!

She raced down the garden path with Rougey two steps ahead of her, ears flapping wildly as she ran. They reached the edge of the garden and kept going. In the distance, by the trees, she could make out a form on the ground. Harry. She prayed to god nothing had happened, and pushed herself to go faster, ignoring the burning protest of her lungs.

"Harry!" She saw him stand up, dazed. Rougey had gone past him, and was looking for any signs of intruders.

"Mistress, it's okay, he's just run into the barrier." She pointed to a spot in front of her, where the air was a light pink, meaning he had indeed run into the barrier surrounding the property.

"What on earth were you thinking!" She cried, grabbing Harry by the shoulders and shaking him. "I thought you'd died! Did you forget everything I told you about the barrier yesterday? How it surrounds the grounds as added protection? I thought that something horrible had happened! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" She could feel the tears leaking past her usually firm mask.

When he looked into her eyes he saw worry and fear, and realized he had caused those emotions. He felt a lump at the back of his throat, and a weird feeling in his chest. Then she started to cry. This shocked him out of his numb state, seeing the always calm and reserved professor, crying because of something he had done.

"I'm sorry." He knew those words weren't enough, and still, they were all he could say after what he'd foolishly done.

Her hands fell from his shoulders, to be limp at her side. "Please, don't ever do that again," she whispered to him. In one moment, he felt the numbness slide away, and felt tears on his part begin to well up. On impulse, he reached for her. She didn't push him away, like Aunt Petunia had done when he was little, she just accepted him. As he hugged her tightly, she felt her own arms responding a little. She raised her arms to put around him, but only really grasped his middle lightly. This action was something new for her, and frankly, she wasn't sure she liked it. Looking at him, she knew he wasn't a baby anymore, but he was not an adult yet either.

Now over her momentary scare, she let go of him and grasped his shoulder. "I think we should go back inside, you have a lot of homework to do I believe," she said, hoping the tremble in her voice wasn't noticed. "Including an essay that I didn't get to collect at the end of the year due to certain...circumstances." He groaned, having clearly forgotten about her theory of human transfiguration essay. "I daresay you won't get nearly as much work done with Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger here tomorrow."

With that, they headed back to the manor, thankfully going at a slow pace, because her legs hurt. She would definitely feel this tomorrow, she thought wearily.

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Harry awoke the next morning to screams, and felt himself tackled.

"Harry, we're so glad to see you!" Hermione cried, hugging him around the shoulders.

"Thought we'd never see you again, mate." His red-haired friend punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"How did you guys get here?" He asked, finally free of his overly hyper year mates and best friends.

"Dumbledore brought us," Hermione said. "He's still here, he said he wanted to talk to you." Her face grew from happy to concerned as she saw Harry's face darken.

"He's here, huh?"

"Yeah, he said he wanted to talk to you with us, so we'll be downstairs while you get dressed," Ron said, not noticing anything. After the door closed behind them, he thought he heard a muffled 'Ouch!' from Ron, as Hermione probably cuffed him. He sighed, and began to get dressed.

Coming downstairs, he saw that Professor Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, and Professor McGonagall all waited in the dining room for him.

"What was it you wanted, Professor?" His words dripped from his tongue like acid, making his two friends' mouths open.

"Harry!" Professor McGonagall looked shocked at the malice in his tone. Professor Dumbledore, however, did not look phased in the least, as if he knew it was coming.

"Now Harry, can we bring up the problems between us later?" He motioned for Harry to sit down. "I think you should tell your friends about the prophecy, because they deserve to hear it."

"You mean that orb thing?" Hermione asked. "Didn't it get smashed in the Department of Mysteries?"

Dumbledore shook his head, smiling. They all turned to Harry.

He sat down with a thud on the chair, thinking it over. What if his friends would treat him differently after he told them? Like he had a disease? About to open his mouth and object to telling them, Dumbledore interrupted. "Harry, do you really think your friends would shun you because of what they hear?" Harry silently wished curses on all those who could use Occlumency. Seeing their pleading looks, he realized he had to tell them, and couldn't get out of it. Maybe Dumbledore was right. Harry cleared his throat and began, telling them all about the prophecy that was made about him and Voldemort.

"So when it comes down to it, either I have to kill Voldemort, or he has to kill me, because neither can live while the other survives," he said with a sigh, looking down. A hand touched his arm. It was Hermione's.

"Don't worry Harry, we're with you on this one," Ron nodded.

Joy welled up inside him. His friends didn't shun him, or refuse to deal with his problem. They accepted it, and gave him their support. Before he could voice his gratitude, Dumbledore spoke up.

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, if you'd kindly leave us, there is something I must discuss with Professor McGonagall and Harry here."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other for a moment, then got up and began to leave, before Dumbledore spoke again.

"Mr. Weasley, I really would like to not have to put up an Imperturbable Charm to make sure you don't use those Extendable Ears you have on you." Ron's mouth opened in shock, and then turned bright red and hurried out of the room, with Hermione following him.

"Well, what else did you want to talk about Professor?" Harry was unimpressed with Professor Dumbledore's obvious use of Occlumency.

"Harry, I wanted to tell you that, while you live here, I wish for you to not attend the Order's meetings." He folded his hands together, elbows on the table, waiting for the inevitable outburst.

"Why?" He wanted to know why he still couldn't attend these meetings, even though he'd proven himself again and again able to deal with such things.

"Because you have enough to deal with already without adding to it."

Harry stopped what he was about to say and clamped his mouth shut. So it wasn't anything to do with him being too young, or inexperienced? "But I want to go still, even if I have problems of my own, because they could help me learn more about Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched at the name, but Dumbledore just smiled.

"Don't worry Harry, I promise to teach you myself about the inner workings of Lord Voldemort this year."

Every trace of anger faded, and a surge of excitement rushed to replace it. Dumbledore was going to teach him about Voldemort? "Thank you, Professor." He meant it.

"Now Harry, would you mind leaving me so that I could talk with Professor McGonagall alone?" Dumbledore smiled. I imagine your friends are anxious to catch up with you." Harry nodded, and went upstairs.

A/N: This was such a horrible chapter for me to write for some reason. It's really hard keeping them as in character as I can, inserting random things from the books that I want to keep in there, such as Harry getting over his anger at Dumbledore, and trying to put in my own things. Very difficult. So stroke my ego with some praise please!