Confrontation
The whole Great Hall was silent; every eye was on them, apart from Professor Silimon who was looking dreamily off into space.
"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" Said Ginny again, how on earth were they going to explain this? McGonagall came sweeping down the Gryffindor isle,
"What is the meaning of this?" She said in a violent whisper,
"Uhh," said Harry nervously, looking at someone, anyone for help, "we were trying to… do something," said Harry looking at McGonagall to see if she understood,
"In the Great Hall?" She said, leaning in, everyone was hanging on their every word so she had to speak incredibly softly,
"Dumbledore said I should," said Harry, McGonagall frowned curiously, stepping back from them,
"I see," she said, "but you might want to think about what you do in front of all the students and teachers at Hogwarts,"
"But we had to do it in front of all these people, that was the point!" Said Hermione,
"Well Miss. Granger, I have no idea why you need to, but if it is between Dumbledore and yourselves then there is nothing I can do," she said with a nod. Most were still looking at them, but a few had lost interest and had gone back to eating, "but I am sorry but you are going to have to get yourself out of this mess," she said, strolling down the isle again.
"Maybe we should go," said Harry barely moving his lips, he couldn't think of anything else to do but leave,
"Gee!" Said Hermione loudly, Harry nudged her, but she ignored him. "That spell was mighty powerful!" Harry frowned, looking at her, she shrugged. "It is better than saying nothing!" She muttered quietly, taking a sip of Pumpkin Juice. Harry rolled his eyes and scooped the ash off the table which some were staring at.
"They are lying!" Said a Hufflepuff behind Harry, "I saw something explode and it was thin, like paper," she glared in suspicion,
"I saw it too," said the boy next to her,
"It was paper, that's all," said Hermione,
"Why would you explode paper?" Asked a Ravenclaw, they weren't buying.
"We weren't trying to explode it,"
"And what was that thing that came across us?" Asked a Gryffindor, "like it was drawing power,"
"I-I don't know," said Hermione,
"And why are you speaking Mudblood when he was the one who did it!" Said Pansy from Slytherin, standing up and pointing at Harry;
"How do you know I did it?" Said Harry,
"Because we heard you dingbat!" Said Pansy,
"Oh yeah? What did I say then?" His temper rising, he stood up,
"I couldn't exactly hear from here, I just know you said it," she said with a glare. Ginny pulled on his sleeve trying to make him sit.
"Settle down!" Said McGonagall, "and take your seat," Harry gave Pansy a glare as she slowly sat down.
"Guys, lets leave," said Harry, walking out of the Great Hall.
After dinner, they sat around the fire; the Common Room was abandoned because everyone was still at dinner. Harry had just told them about the conversation he had with Dumbledore, they all remained extremely silent. Ron's mouth was slightly open in surprise.
"Almost…over?" said Ginny, "well… this is good right?" She said with a smile, "I mean, there is no more looking and everything,"
"But, it's a little sooner than expected," said Hermione,
"Well, we have lots to do, I guess we are going to have to stop going to school," muttered Harry, and to his surprise Hermione nodded, Ron nodded a little more happily than intended and Hermione shot him a glare.
"We have to get together all the Order to fight with us," said Ginny,
"We should tell them tomorrow," Harry pushed back his hair, he was incredibly nervous but he wouldn't let it show. Ginny saw through it and he knew she did, but she also remained quiet about it. Harry glanced at her and saw that she was looking at him; she gave him a smile and looked away.
"Maybe Hagrid should fight," said Hermione,
"He would," said Ron,
"We haven't seen him for ages," said Harry,
"Oh my God your right," said Hermione, "it has been how long?" She said looking at him wide-eyed,
"Since the beginning of the year," said Ginny,
"Oh!" Said Hermione, "but… we have been so busy, with the Horcruxes and school," she said,
"He will probably understand," said Ron, they pondered over the thought,
"Should we go talk to him now?" Asked Harry,
"No he would still be at the feast," said Hermione,
"Along with everyone else," mumbled Ron, "Dumbledore didn't really think the idea through did he?"
"I think his main idea was not to let us die," said Harry,
"Yeah, but now the whole school thinks we are trying to steal their energy or something," said Ginny,
"Well we kinda were," said Hermione with a smirk,
"Yeah, but for good not evil," said Harry looking at his watch, "they would be finishing dinner by now anyway, we should go down to Hagrid's then come up when everyone is asleep and deal with it in the morning."
When the first lot of people came into the Gryffindor Common Room, all casting suspicious looks at Harry, they went out the Portrait Hole and down to Hagrid's cabin. They rapped on the door and heard barking,
"Move ou' of the way Fang! I can' ge' to the door with ye standin' in the way like tha'!" The door opened and Hagrid stood there, looking the same as ever. "'ello there strangers!" He said stepping aside to let them through,
"Hey Hagrid," Harry said, stepping inside the cabin and sitting down,
"Any of ye' wan' some tea?" He asked, going over to the kettle,
"Yes please," they all said, hungry for not eating much at dinner. Hagrid put the kettle on and sat down; he smiled at all of them,
"So why 'ave you no' been able to visi' me?" He said,
"Voldemort," said Harry simply, Hagrid flinched,
"Figured as much," he said, "well if there is anythin' I can do to 'elp do not 'esitate to ask,"
"Actually, that's what we wanted to ask you," said Hermione, "see, Harry was talking to… well the portrait of Dumbledore, and we have all we need to kill Voldemort (Hagrid flinched again,) so, we are getting together an army and we were going to ask you to fight," Hagrid remained wide eyed for a moment,
"Of course I can!" He said, "and I can ge' the giant's who are on our side to figh' also," he didn't notice them exchanging glances, or though it was good to have more numbers, some of the giants weren't the brightest in the barrel.
"You know, tha' was some stunt ye pulled in the Great Hall," he said,
"Yeah we know," said Harry,
"Migh' want to be a bit more… discrete if ye are doin' a thin' like tha'. Bu' I'm sure it was for a good reason," he said with a nod, when Harry opened his mouth. "Must've made a few enemies tonight, what was it anyway?" He asked curiously,
"A few? Most likely the whole school," said Ginny,
"We can't tell you what, we can't tell anyone, its part of the reason we are ready to fight though,"
"Well then by all means I don' mind!" He said with another smile, the kettle began to whistle loudly, so he heaved himself up and went to the stove.
No one had spoken a word to him or his friends since they had got back from Hagrid's, Neville and Seamus gave them looks of sympathy, but still didn't talk to them, and Dean, hating Harry anyway for being with Ginny, had grown to loathe him. After attempting to say goodnight to Neville, who just muttered "goodnight," almost inaudibly, he kissed Ginny and went up to the Dormitory. To his worst fears, Dean was there, pushing down his covers. Harry paused awkwardly in the doorway before proceeding to his bed. He tried not to make eye contact but Dean has paused making his bed. He glanced up and saw Dean staring at him, not staring, glaring.
"Yes?" He said with a frown, Dean grit his teeth, his temple rising and sank into his covers, "look," said Harry, "if you are going to hate me at least have a decency to face me," almost immediately the bed shook and Dean got out.
"What did you say?" He asked, walking over to Harry until they were almost a metre apart,
"I said, at least have the decency to face me," he said a little louder, "and you don't even know why you hate me,"
"Oh don't I?" Said Dean raising his eyebrows, "let's think, you stole Ginny from me and you preformed some kind of spell on the whole of the school!"
"Number one, I didn't steal Ginny from you! Number two I wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone in the school,"
"But what proof do you have?" Dean asked, "just because you are the boy who lived doesn't mean you haven't joined forces with him!"
"Are you mental!" Said Harry, "me join forces with Voldemort?"
"All I am saying," said Dean menacingly walking a step closer, "is that no one knows if they can trust you anymore," Dean walked over to his bed and got in.
"Well they should," said Harry chucking his pillow down onto his bed angrily.
The next afternoon Harry knocked at McGonagall's door, after the incident the previous night they had had a chat and McGonagall had agreed to inform the Order. Harry entered the office,
"Harry," said Dumbledore,
"Sir,"
"I heard about what happened in the Great Hall," he said with a smile,
"Yes, now everyone in the school hates us,"
"Harry, there is a difference between hate and anger. People are angry at you, they don't necessarily hate you," he said wisely,
"I just came up here to ask you, where is Voldemort? It occurred to me the other day,"
"Haven't the slightest," Dumbledore said with a shrug,
"Oh – Uh, ok," said Harry with a frown,
"In your dreams, did you see what the house looked like?"
"It was large, I didn't see the outside, I only saw the basement and a large room," Dumbledore looked down in thought.
"I see," he said softly, "It didn't look anything like the house he stayed in your forth year?" he asked, Harry thought hard,
"He wouldn't stay there! It's too risky!" Said Harry,
"True," said Dumbledore, "unless he couldn't find anywhere else to stay,"
"I'm sure he would have found somewhere else," said Harry. They both pondered the thought,
"Harry there is something I would like to talk very seriously with you about, would you please take a seat?" Harry did as he was told, "the day Sirius came back, you have to understand… bringing people back from the dead… it is something that can't just be done with ordinary magic, bringing someone back from the dead is work of very dark magic, very powerful."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Sirius told me about the spell that you found, the one that said about being able to reawaken someone if there wands are alike?" Harry opened his mouth but shut it quickly again when he noticed Dumbledore was speaking once more and that it was merely a rhetorical question. "Well, that spell, I would suggest for you not to use it, this magic is so dark, much like the unforgivable curses. To bring someone back is to mess with the order of things, especially if they have been dead as long as your parents have been," he paused, but continued again when Harry didn't say a word,
"That spell was written by someone who has thought about it in theory most likely, and has not done it in practice. It might go wrong, it may backfire. But it is definitely dangerous, it is alike with the reason why the Ministry have smashed all the time-turners. It may have serious consequences if something goes wrong,"
"But we are talking about my parents!"
"You can not mess with the fabric of time Harry! What has happened has happened for a reason,"
"You really believe that?"
"Yes I do Harry, I believe in it very strongly. It is choosing what is right to what is easy, to bring back your mother and father would be the easy way out."
"So what if it's easy? At least they would be there!"
"But it isn't right Harry; it isn't the way it has been arranged. Life happens in a sequence, born, live, die. It is a harsh and continuous circle, but there is no cycle that is born, live, die, live! Sure you may be reincarnated I do not know, but you are not meant to be awakened again from the dead." There was a dramatic pause where Dumbledore and Harry just stared at each other, not blinking. Harry left the room.
Please Read and Review,
There has been a couple of reviews saying that there are seven horcruxes. I thought so too, but I was looking at the end of the 6th book and it said there were 4. And I figured that worked better, in this quote-
"If Dumbledore was right – and I'm sure he was – there are still four of them out there,"
And Chrissi, I would be happy to read your story but the site didn't come up on the review.
Speaking of reviews, we didn't reach out 26 mark, we got to 25… that's right 25! One more and we would have been there, oh well! Good try anyway!
Seeming this story is coming to a close soon, feel free to comment which is your favourite chapter, because I am very interested in that kind of thing. My apologies for the wait, I had a little case of writers block on my hands. I am sure some of you have experienced it! The next chapter may take a while, not too long of course, but I need to get everything right for the last bit; because there are only around two or three chapters left… not sure.
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