Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters, plots, or settings. Have I really been reduced to the point where my disclaimers aren't even funny?

Chapter Eleven

The squeezing feeling stopped. Once their feet had touched the ground, Harry and Alaina had exchanged looks of excitement. They stood next to Dumbledore on a hill facing the silhouette of a rickety-looking, tall house. The house was, of course, the home of their other best friend Ron Weasley and his family.

Fighting the urge to run ahead, Alaina stayed near Harry and Dumbledore as they strolled nearer and nearer.

"If you don't mind, I would like to have a few words with you first," Dumbledore stopped walking and turned to the shed that the Weasley family stored their brooms in, "In here if you don't mind."

Both a little puzzled, they followed him into the cramped space and found that they had to be squished next to each other to see Dumbledore. He smiled down at them, but as the seconds passed, his smile turned to a grim look.

"I hope you forgive me forgive me for saying so, but I am proud and pleased at how well you two are coping with everything that has happened at the Ministry. Permit me to say that Sirius would have been proud of you."

Harry's throat grew dry as he tried to swallow a lump. Alaina desperately tried to fight back tears. Neither of them felt up to discussing Sirius even. Uncle Vernon's surprised voice and even Slughorn's casual one. Sirius, of course, wasn't Alaina's godfather, but they were still close and seeing Harry so upset made her upset, too.

"It's just hard," spoke Harry finally, "To realize that he won't write to me again."

Again, Alaina fell a twang of pity towards Harry. She wrote to Sirius once in a while, but her Godfather was the former professor Lupin and she still wrote him all the time.

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but Harry continued.

"But while I was at the Dursleys'," His voice grew stronger, " I realized that I couldn't shut myself away or — or crack up. Sirius wouldn't have wanted that, would he? And anyway life's too short. Look at Madame Bones or Emmeline Vance… It could be me - us - next, couldn't it?"

"Oh, Harry! If it is, we're taking down as many Death Eaters as we can," Alaina's tears rolled down her face, but her voice was steady and strong, like Harry's, "Heck, we'll take down Voldemort with us, too!"

She pulled him tight into an embrace that, for once, wasn't awkward. When they pulled away, Dumbledore gave them each a proud and approving look.

"Spoken like your parents' children and like Sirius and Remus's true godchildren! I take my hat off to you – or I would, if I were not afraid of showering you in spiders."

Alaina laughed a real, hearty laugh for the first time all summer.

"And now, on a closely related subject… I gather you have been reading the Daily Prophet over the break?"

"Yes," said Harry slowly and Alaina's heart beat faster.

"Then you will have noticed that most of the news concerns your escapade at the Ministry?"

"Yeah, now everyone knows that we're the ones," Alaina nodded her head as tidbits of articles swirled around in her head.

"Not exactly," said Dumbledore, "There are only three people in the whole world who know the full contents of the prophecy. And they are all standing in this broom shed. It is true that many people have guessed that Voldemort sent his followers to retrieve a prophecy concerning you."

"Now," said Dumbledore after he had given them a few moments to think about this, "I take it that you have kept the prophecy between the two of you?"

"Yeah," said Harry.

"A wise decision, but I think you ought to relax it in favor of your friends.I'm sure Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley have the right to know."

"We just didn't want-"

"To frighten them? Or perhaps, to confess that you yourselves are worried and frightened? You may have each other, but you also need your friends. And as we have agreed, Sirius would not have wanted you to shut yourselves away."

They said nothing, but Dumbledore did not seem to need an answer so he continued, "On a different, though related, subject, it is my wish that you take private lessons together with me this year."

"Private – with you?" said Alaina, surprised out of her preoccupied silence.

"Yes, I think that it is time that I took a greater hand in your education."

"What will we learn, sir?" Alaina asked still stunned.

"Oh, a little of this and a little of that," he said airily. Her surprised expression turned to a grumpy one when he did not go into detail. But another face was pushing its way into her thoughts.

"We won't have to occlumency with Snape, anymore?"

"Professor Snape, Alaina – and no, you will not."

"That's a relief," voiced Harry, "Lessons with him were a –"

He paused, careful not to say what he really thought.

"I think the word 'fiasco' would be a good one there," said Dumbledore nodding. The teenager smiled again. Now just two more things before we part."

"I trust that each of you have your half of the invisibility cloak?"

They nodded.

"I wish for you to keep it with you at all times just in case. Even within Hogwarts itself. DO you understand?"

They nodded again.

"And lastly, the Burrow has been given the highest security the Ministry of Magic can provide. These measures have caused a certain amount of inconvenience to Arthur and Molly. They do not mind in the slightest, for their only concern is your safety. However, it would be poor repayment if you went out and risked your necks while staying with them."

"We understand, right Harry?" Alaina said quickly and Harry nodded.

"Very well, then," said Dumbledore, pushing open the broom shed door and stepping out into the yard. "I see a light on in the kitchen. Let us not deprive Molly any longer of the chance to deplore how thin you are."

So Harry and Alaina ran to the backdoor with Dumbledore walking in their wake.

So here is part two of Horace Slughorn. I have a question for you guys. Should I skip ahead some more to the important parts and then do the whole seventh book, or should I do all of book six and skip some of the seventh book? Or should I just do all of book six and seven? You're the readers not me, so let me know what you want to read. Also, the invisibility cloak has been ripped in half in my story. They both keep a piece, but being a powerful kind of magical object, each piece grew back to the size of a normal cloak. Which reminds me, after six and seven are done, I will do a prequel with book one and then separate ones for books two and three. And then I will go back and fill in all of the gaps of book four. So put in your vote on my profile and in a review about how I should continue the story.