Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Chapter three: The Fine Line between the Possible and Impossible.
Harry sat in the Great Hall, eating slowly. It was Saturday and there was no need to hurry. Having woken early and failed to fall asleep again he had decided to get up. There was only him and other in the Great Hall, a sleepy-eyed Ravenclaw boy.
Hearing the Great Hall doors open Harry looked up and to his great surprise in walked Ron. He looked half asleep and could barely walk in a wavy line never mind a straight one. He vaguely walked in the direction of Harry.
He arrived over at where Harry was, tried to sit down, missed the bench, and hit the floor. He looked up with a surprised expression as if wondering who the hell had dared to move the bench; eventually he must have decided that the bench had moved itself because he began to grope around for it and pulled himself onto it, managing look like a blind rat in the process. Harry watched with an amused expression.
"Morning, Ron."
"Shurrup." Ron said groggily, blinking down at the table in an attempt to wake himself up.
"You alright this morning?" Harry asked conversationally. Ron looked up bleary-eyed with a vaguely shocked expression as if he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.
"It's seven o'clock in the bloody morning and you ask if I'm all-bloody-right." Ron proceeded to lie his head down on the table and close his eyes.
"If you want to go to sleep why aren't you in bed?" Ron's head snapped up,
"Neville-bloody-Longbottom that's why! He snores like a bloody pig!"
"So why didn't you just tell him to shut up?"
"I bloody did! And I threw my school shoes and your potions textbook at him. The potions book hit him on the forehead and he still didn't bloody wake up!"
"Poor sod will have brain damage now. You know how big that thing is."
"Yeah! Why the hell do you think I threw it?" Harry laughed out loud.
"C'mon mate, eat something and then we can go back to the common room and you can go to sleep on one of the couches." Ron looked stunned. He hit his head on the table and looked at Harry.
"Why the bloody hell didn't I think of that?" he accused, as if it was somehow Harry's fault. Harry shook his head and waited for Ron to eat a bowl of cereal.
They walked back up to the common room and once inside Ron fell on one of the couches gratefully. After a few moments he began to snore. Loudly. Harry looked at him stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing.
"You bloody hypocritical fool." He told the fast asleep Ron. Having nothing better to do, Harry sat on one of the armchairs and waited for other people to appear.
He didn't remember falling asleep but must have, for the next thing he saw was the common room filled with people talking and laughing. Ron was awake and was talking to Seamus. Neville walked downstairs rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Morning." He greeted Harry, Ron and Seamus. Harry and Seamus greeted him back but Ron just sat there and glared at him. Neville looked confused,
"What's up with him?" He said to Harry, pointing at Ron. Harry grinned reassuringly.
"Don't worry, it's just Ron. It's his snoring. Kept him awake all night." Neville nodded and walked off to join Dean, Parvati and Lavender. Ron rounded on Harry,
"Excuse me? I snore?" he demanded angrily. Harry nodded.
"Like a pig." Ron's mouth opened and closed angrily but eventually he grinned and began to laugh. He opened his mouth to retort but closed it again and looked towards the Portrait Hole. The common room fell silent. Standing at the Portrait Hole was Professor McGonagall. Something was wrong. She didn't seem herself. She seemed almost shocked, but that was impossible. Nothing shocked Professor McGonagall. She was immune to surprises.
Her dazed expression swept the room before coming to rest on Harry.
"Harry, Dumbledore would like to see you." People looked at each other warily, now they knew something was wrong. McGonagall never used first names, especially with Harry and she always referred to Dumbledore as 'the Headmaster'. Harry shook his head, wondering what all this was all about. He stood up and, fully aware of everyone's gaze and Ron and Hermione's questioning looks, he walked over to McGonagall. She led him out of the Portrait Hole and down the corridor to Dumbledore's study.
"What's going on? What's wrong?" she shook her head and stared resolutely ahead. Harry began to get a sick feeling in his stomach, has Voldemort attacked, has someone been killed. Horrible scenes of mass murders began to play over and over again in Harry's head and it seemed to take an age to get to Dumbledore's study.
Finally the stone gargoyle came into sight. McGonagall gave the password ("Sugar Quill!") and the stone gargoyle moved aside. They climbed the revolving staircase and entered the study, McGonagall didn't follow. Inside was Dumbledore and three black robed people. For a fleeting moment Harry was convinced they were Death Eaters. He shook his head, calm down, you're getting jumpy.
He realized, to his utmost surprise, that they were Aurors. Dumbledore looked up and smiled.
"Ah Harry, come in and have a seat." Harry shook his head; he knew that if you were talking to someone and were looking down at them you generally had the advantage and control over the conversation. Harry had the feeling that this was conversation he would need control over.
"No thank you, sir. I'd rather stand." Dumbledore nodded.
"As you wish." It was then that Harry felt a jolt of recognition.
"I know you," he said to one of the Aurors. The Auror smiled and nodded.
"You got me out of a tight spot during the assault. The fighting retreat." Harry nodded slowly, this was going from bad to worse, he was getting more and more confused. Alarm bells were ringing and his instincts were ablaze.
"What the hell is going on? Why the hell are the Aurors here?" From the looks on their faces he knew that it wasn't bad news but he had a vague feeling that his world was about to be flipped upside down. When no-one answered Harry turned and walked back to the door.
"Sod this. I don't like where this is going, I'm out of here." He turned and pulled at the doorknob but the door would not open. "Let me out or tell me why you want me here." Harry felt his spine continue to tingle and his instincts trembled like always when he felt himself to be in a difficult situation. Unconsciously his stance changed subtly and his left hand strayed to his sword and his right to his wand. Dumbledore and the Aurors noticed this; they realized that Harry was unnerved about the situation and that his body was in the 'fight or flight' mode. With a reluctant sigh he decided to tell him what was going on.
"Harry these men are Aurors." Harry nodded. Dumbledore hesitated; he didn't know how to tell Harry exactly what these Aurors wanted. He decided to tell it bluntly.
"Please do not interrupt me while I tell you this, it will make it easier for you to understand. Do you know a lot about Aurors?" Harry shook his head. "Ok. Although Aurors are trained by the Ministry of Magic and swear an oath of loyalty to it, they are not totally bound to it. They are free to change their loyalty anytime... and to anyone." Harry suddenly realized where this was going. He didn't like it. Ignoring Dumbledore's request that he didn't interrupt he burst out.
'No! No, I won't accept this." Dumbledore continued as if Harry had never spoken.
"Most Aurors do not change their loyalties, mainly due to the lack of other employers. But one hundred Aurors, the largest number ever, have decided to change loyalties." Dumbledore looked Harry straight in the eye. "Harry they want to swear an oath of loyalty to you." Harry felt his head spin, nothing felt real. It was if he was in a dream. He couldn't think straight. It was so quick and unreal. The only thing he could manage to say was,
"Why?" To answer this one of the Aurors stepped forward.
"We have seen with our own eyes that You-Know-Who is back. Yet Fudge is doing nothing about it. Things need to be done. We saw how you led us in the Assault. Saw how you wanted to win. We need a leader. A competent leader. And we knew that you could lead us so we came to you." Harry didn't want this. Life had already thrown enough twists at him. Why the bloody hell did it have to throw another? Before he knew what he was doing he was shaking his head and walking towards the door.
"No, I'm not having this. I've had enough of this. Speak to Professor Dumbledore if you want someone else to lead you. I'm sixteen. I don't want to have to cope with yet another responsibility." A second Auror stepped forward.
"If we wanted Dumbledore to lead us we would have gone to him first. You have proven yourself to be a successful leader; therefore we want you to lead us." Harry turned abruptly and stared at the Auror.
"In case it has escaped your attention, we lost the last fight. Some 'successful leader' I am."
"And that's all your fault?" If Harry wasn't so angry he would've had to grin, the Auror clearly thought the same way Harry would have in that situation. Before he could say something the Auror Harry had saved stepped forward.
"Look. We came to you because we have faith in you. Aurors don't change loyalty easily. Most never consider it. In the last fifty years not one Auror has changed loyalties. And now, a hundred do it without a second thought? It says something doesn't it?" Harry sighed. When it was put like that it had to be considered.
"I guess normality is a thing of the past for me then?" Harry asked, more to buy himself time to think then anything else. Dumbledore stood up.
"Harry. This is a war. You get brief periods of what seems like normality, yesterdays Quidditch match for example and then, as quick as a flash, completely out of the blue come things that you would never have dreamed in a million years could happen, happen as everyday occurrences. Century old alliances are broken and new ones are formed every second. You have to consider this. I will not tell you what to do but think of this. How useful would it be to have a hundred battle-hardened Aurors ready to fight at your slightest command? How much of a blow would it be to Voldemort?" Harry paused, how much of a blow would it be to Voldemort? He hesitated, he didn't want it, it was yet another thing that made him different to everyone else but it would be a blow. He was surprised to find himself imagining leading a hundred Aurors against the might of Voldemort's army, standing victorious with the Aurors all around him, returning home with them as heroes... He shook his head, No, it wouldn't work, you're only sixteen. But then a smaller, more defiant voice argued back. Why not? Who says it wouldn't work? It would be a useful contribution to the Order and Dumbledore. Yeah. Nothing to lose. Yeah, I'll do it.
"And if I say no?" Harry asked them, just to check. The Aurors shrugged. We go back to Fudge and watch You-Know-Who take over." Harry turned to the window and looked out of it for a few minutes.
"Ok. I'll do it." He said finally. "But just bear in mind that for now I don't want to. And if you screw me around you can just sod off." They grinned at him.
"Fair enough, sir." Harry couldn't help but grin back. It felt good to be helping for once. Dumbledore was the only one who continued to look grave. He held up his hand.
"You are going to need to pick a name for them, Harry." Harry felt his breath catch in his throat and his grin vanished.
"A name? I don't know what to call them? Why not just Aurors?"
"By calling them Aurors it implies they are still in ministry service."
"Bloody hell." Harry swore. He realized where he was and felt a blush creep up his cheeks; he turned to Dumbledore and muttered "Sorry..." Dumbledore held up his hand. Harry turned away and stared out of the window. One of the Aurors spoke up.
"What are we? What do you want us to do?" Harry thought hard, what are they? What doI want them to do? He continued to think and eventually came to a conclusion. They're defenders, that's what. They're protecting the Wizarding world. Almost the last line of defense. What is the name for the last line of defense, by the way? The ultimate, the omega... Harry felt his thoughts wandering and struggled to bring them back to reality, they're guards, but that's too insignificant, a guard can be someone standing in front of a doorway, or looking after someone. They're like guards but better, different, stronger. They are the ultimate, the final line of defense before we fall. They need to be recognized as that, they need to be recognized as guards but better. What's like a guard but stronger. And then the answer hit him. Just like that. Guardians. That's what. Guardians.
He spun round.
"I've got a name." They looked at him expectantly. He paused, hesitant in case they didn't like it. "Guardians. You are the final line of defense. The best. And you need to be recognized as the final line. The Guardians of the Wizarding world. They thought about it for a minute and then slow smiles spread across their faces.
"Yeah. Guardians. I like it." Said one, the other two nodded in agreement. Harry could have laughed with relief. He grinned at them.
"Good. I'll speak to you all at six o'clock tomorrow morning on the Quidditch pitch. Until then, get out of my sight." The Aurors grinned at him, nodded and left. When they were gone, Harry slumped down on one of the chairs and smiled at his headmaster.
"Jesus. Has today been a hell of a day." His Professor smiled at him.
"You made the right decision. It will be a huge blow to Voldemort. Plus you chose an appropriate name. Very impressive." He smiled. Harry nodded at him.
"Thank you, sir. Now if you don't mind, I think I will go find Ron and Hermione." Dumbledore nodded.
"Of course." Harry stood up and turned to leave. "Oh and Harry?"
"Sir?"
"Thank you." Harry smiled and left.
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Harry returned to the common room. And collapsed on one of the chairs. Ron and Hermione looked at him.
"Christ Harry, what the hell did Dumbledore want? You look beat." Ron demanded.
"Come over here and I'll tell you." Hermione and Ron stood up and sat next to him on the couch. Quickly, Harry told them what had happened.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, stunned.
"Keep your voice down" Harry implored as people looked up to see what the outburst was for.
"Sorry. But Christ, do you realize how rare that is. Shit Harry, that doesn't happen very often." Harry nodded.
"First time in fifty years." He said wearily. Hermione shook her head.
"It's the first time a number that large has changed loyalties. Usually it's just one or two trying to make a bit of extra pay as mercenaries. The largest number ever recorded was a dozen being hired by a warlord in Russia four hundred years ago. Aurors are good Harry, and it isn't cheap to hire them." Ron looked agog.
"It all seems to happen to you doesn't it?"
"Don't remind me." When neither of them spoke Harry went on. "I'm just sick of it, you know. I just want to be a normal sixteen year old. Instead I'm the 'Boy-Who-Lived' trying to save the world. I just feel so...Ugh, it's hard to explain. Everything just feels so complicated and I just want everything to be simple. It does my head in having to think about everything I do and the consequences it could have. I'm tired of it." Harry groaned and leant back in his chair. "Fred and George haven't sent you any firewhiskey have they?" He asked Ron, only half-joking. Ron grinned at him but said no more. Harry took that to mean 'yep but I'm saving it for when Hermione ain't around.' Harry shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and vaguely wondered why it would not. He took his fake Galleon from his pocket and tossed it to Hermione.
"Set a meeting to take place in an hour's time. I'm going to try and get some sleep. My whole body has been screwed up today. So much for Saturday being a day of bloody rest." Ron smiled at him sympathetically.
"I know mate. Go get some kip, you'll feel better afterwards." Harry nodded and walked slowly up to his dorm.
"Poor bastard." Ron said to Hermione when Harry was out of earshot. "All that crap he takes and he still manages to be the nicest guy in the world. It's a bloody wonder how he does it." He looked sideways at her, "It does all seem to happen to him doesn't it." She nodded absent mindedly, absorbed in changing the numbers. When she was finally satisfied she looked at him.
"Yes, it does. But there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is stand by him and hope that he comes out of the other end." None of this was said unkindly, all of it was matter-of-fact.
"What about us?" He asked. She frowned,
"What about us?"
"Do you hope we come out of the other end?"
"Of course. But like you said, we're expendable. He's not. If we have to die to save him then we will. You know that. If either of us three has to die it must be us. Harry can't die. He mustn't." She frowned again. "Harry's almost got more chance of survival then us. We won't let him die. We'll die first to save him. Yes, I do hope we come out at the other end but I don't let my hopes get too high in case we don't. In case we have to sacrifice ourselves, we can't say we will definitely survive because if it comes to the crunch we know we will die for him. We know we wouldn't do anything else. Do you see what I mean?" Ron nodded. Ron frowned, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how to phrase it.
"When I was younger, I used to hear stories of people dying to save other people, like their family and friends. I used to think how brave they were, how much courage it must have taken to give up their lives and how I could never do it in a million years. And now that I'm in that situation where it is likely that I will have to die to save Harry I realize that it doesn't take bravery at all. It's just something a have to do. So I will do it." Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.
"If we have to die we will go together. For Harry." Ron nodded and put his head on her shoulder.
"For Harry." He echoed.
At the top of the stairs above them a pair of emerald green eyes blinked in the semi-darkness.
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Hermione looked at her watch.
"We'd better go wake Harry up. It's nearly time for the DA meeting."
"I'll do it." Ron got off the couch and walked up to the sixth year boys' dormitory. He walked over to Harry to wake him up but stopped short. Something was wrong. Even in his sleep he looked withdrawn, subdued. Not comfortable with the world he was living. Something was definitely wrong. The logical conclusion would be the sudden command of a hundred Aurors, no easy feat. But something told Ron that it was more than that.
He reached over and gently shook Harry awake. Harry would not wake up. Ron shook harder and harder until, rolling his eyes, he put his hand under the mattress. And pushed upwards, flipping Harry out of bed.
Harry hit the floor with a loud thud.
"What the hell?" He reached for his glasses and put them on. "Ron!" He exclaimed, seeing the figure almost bent double with laughter, "You prat, what was that for?" Ron attempted to control himself but one look at Harry on the floor foiled that plan. Eventually he calmed down and wiped the tears from his eyes.
"You wouldn't wake up." He said with a shrug. Harry shook his head.
"Cheers." Harry said indignantly. Ron fought down a last few chuckles and walked towards the door.
"DA meeting. C'mon." When he was out of the door Harry suddenly remembered the conversation he had overheard earlier. After few moments he decided against mentioning anything. There would be time for that later, right now every bit of his concentration had to be on the DA meeting and the Guardians.
He walked downstairs after getting dressed and beckoned to Ron and Hermione. He needed to think about what he was going to say to the DA and could not afford to talk Ron and Hermione noticed this and did not speak to him; instead they walked along the corridor in silence.
He reached the DA room and opened the door after walking past it three times. Rona and Hermione followed him in. He sat on one of the cushions and waited for people to start arriving. Five minutes later they were all there. They had obviously sensed some urgency in the meeting from the way it was completely out of the blue.
He stood up and faced them all. He had no idea how to say what he wanted to say.
"Listen. You have to trust me. I need you all to come to the Quidditch pitch tomorrow morning at quarter to six." He held up his hands to ward off the interruptions and questions. "I can't answer your questions. I need you to come. I need you to be wide awake and wearing your DA robes. The circumstances around me have changed and as much as I hate to admit it right now, I'm scared and I'm vulnerable. I don't like making threats like this but if you don't come I will have to kick you out of the DA. Everything has changed and I need people who are loyal to me. You could call this a test of loyalty if you like. But you need to be aware that the entire situation has changed. Something has happened that will be a huge blow to Voldemort and tomorrow you will find out what it is. You are not just proving your loyalty to me. If you don't come it will undermine a hell of a lot of things that need to be secure. Everything will be explained tomorrow but just be prepared for everything to flip upside down." And without another word Harry turned and strode from the room leaving an extremely confused DA who could only guess at what the hell had just happened.
A/N. Sorry this is a day late, teachers gave me a hell of a lot of prep this week and believe me that is not just an excuse!
I wonder how many of you will be unhappy about the plausibility, or lack of, of things that happened in this chapter. All I can say is I wanted it to happen because of an incident that will happen in later chapters. I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone but I wanted this to happen and it fitted in very well with this fic so it happened.
Nevertheless I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be out in about a week.
LogicalRaven – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the Quidditch scene. It was meant to be a breath of fresh air before this chapter. It was to relax everything so this chapter was even more out of the blue and even more surprising and not just another minor twist. I also used the Quidditch match to display Cho's feelings for Harry and to be used as a reference to normality. All in all a very useful match! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much.
FSI - Thanks for the review.
Chochang323 - Thanks for the review.
Colm - Thanks for the review. Glad you enjoyed. Happy birthday. Sorry that first chapter was so good, what exactly was wrong with it?
Goddess Usaqi - Thanks for the review. Thanks for the welcome!
The Enchantresses - Thanks for the review
Dragon and Kaydon - Thanks for the review. Kaydon – Feel free to use my curses, I sent you an e-mail about it but it wouldn't send. Apologies. But yeah, feel free, if you could would you mind crediting me with them? I won't insist but I would prefer it. Thanks a lot. Dragon – Glad to have you reading. It's good to know I haven't been abandoned! Hope you both enjoyed this chapter.
The Phoenix King - Thanks for the review. Malaysia was great thanks.
MystikalMagic - Thanks for the review. I'm glad you enjoy Harry/Cho.
LiLWiz - Thanks for the review.
sugarnspice3729 – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like these stories. Thanks, I would like to be an author someday and I'm glad you think I would make a good one.
Witchintraining – Thanks for the review. It is nice to be mentioned isn't it? Tension and things like that will be in a few chapters time. There is a twist that needs to happen first.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy.