Author's note: Next Chapter! Took me a while to write but I hope you all will enjoy it!
Starzinmieyez: It took me a while to write since Harry is a bit different from the book Harry. (I hope you understood what I mean.) So I had to think a lot before I could write. I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for the review!
Guest: Yes, I loved writing that chapter. It's one of my favs. Thank you for the review! I'm glad that you are enjoying the story.
ImRevaShenoy: Oh my God! That's a big thing what you have said. Thank you for the review, it means a lot.
: Thank you for all the reviews. Glad that you are enjoying the story!
…..
Draco sent his letter the first in the morning the next day. He felt fear grip him when he saw the brown school owl take off into the morning sky. He knew how his father was going to react and it was nothing that Draco was looking forward to. He knew his father would do anything to get him out of the school. And that is what actually scared Draco. What if his father manages to take him out? What will happen then? Will he be killed? Or spared? What will happen to Hermione?
There were the questions which he was not ready to face yet but with the prevailing situations he couldn't ignore them. He would die a thousand deaths than let Hermione face any of the pain. Something had to be done, something that will keep Hermione safe.
A figure came to stand by him and he looked at it. Hermione stood looking at the sky beside him. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile.
"Are you all alright?" she asked in a small voice.
He nodded. "We'll get over it, you know." Hermione said as she shivered a bit in the cold morning. Instinctively Draco reached out to her and took her in his arms.
"I just want you to be safe." He said burying his face in her hair.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She said muffled up against his chest.
He looked down at her. "You do realise that everything changes now right? My father will do everything to get me out of here. He'll try to hurt you."
"I know. But I'm not back stepping. I'll stand with you." She said looking up at him.
"It's dangerous." He whispered as he cupped her face in his hands.
"I understand but hiding is not one of my traits Draco. And you should not be scared. I know this sounds stupid bravery but this is how I'm. I'm not stepping back." She said slowly letting him understand how important it is for her.
"Being with Potter all these years had rubbed it on you isn't it?" he asked a bit angrily.
She laughed and stepped out of his arms. "You can say that. I'm so used to being in a danger with those boys that going around sometime without danger doesn't seem normal anymore."
He chuckled. "But will you promise me that you'll be careful and avoid all tight spots if you can?" he asked seriously.
She nodded and he smiled back. They made their way back to the Room of Requirement without anyone spotting them together.
-…-
It was sometime in the afternoon that all of them had again gathered in the Room of Requirement to discuss further about the DA. The DA Core had somehow extended to include Slytherins as well.
"I've the tutors coming in for the meeting at 4:00pm today." Neville said as he sat down opposite Harry.
"Okay." Harry nodded as he looked up from his book.
"Umbridge's up to something." Daphne said hurriedly as she entered the room, with huge books in her hands. She looked scared and out of place.
They all looked up at her sharply.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked from her seat next to Neville.
"I don't know but she definitely is up to something." Daphne replied as she deposited her bag near one of table and sat down on the couch beside Hermione.
"How do you know?" Draco asked.
"I heard her. Not entirely though. She was talking to Filch about disciplining the students and about more drastic measures to control Hogwarts." Daphne said, looking at everybody in turn.
Everyone looked horrified at the idea. "What?" Ginny cried from her seat. "How much more control is she going to have. For Merlin's sake she already owns the bloody school."
"Did she say anything about how?" Harry asked speaking for the first time.
"No, but it's going to be bad, like real bad because she said something about having Fudge's permission for it." Daphne looked more horrified as she replied.
"Shit." Theo and Ron echoed together and slumped in their seats further.
"Malfoy?" Harry called. When he had Draco's attention he asked, "Do you think Umbridge is in league with Voldemort?"
Draco seemed to think about that for a moment. "I don't think so; she seems to have too much pride for that."
"But we don't know. May be we could spike her tea with Veritaserum." Blaise said looking hopeful.
"No." Luna said. "It's too dangerous."
"But we have to do something, because whatever it is it doesn't sound good." Neville shuddered.
"But what? We haven't got the slightest clue of what she's up to." Ginny cried.
"We can't do anything but stay clear of her path and protect the younger students. We don't know this, but she may be in league with Voldemort, I mean the way she is, it clearly indicated how much supportive she is of his ways." Harry said and everyone nodded in response.
"Do one thing…" Harry continued, "Call the house leaders for a quick DA meeting before the tutor meeting. It will be better to warn them as early as possible."
The Gryffindor's nodded and left the room looking for the leaders. The Slytherins stayed in with Harry and Luna further questioning Daphne about what she heard.
Half an hour later the four house leaders – Fred and George Weasley, Anthony Goldstein and Ernie Macmillan were seated with in the Room of Requirement waiting for Harry to start speaking.
The DA Core was seated around them and Ernie Macmillan shot nervous looks towards the Slytherins who had their gaze fixed upon Harry.
"To begin with…" Harry started the meeting standing in front of them all, "…Umbridge is up to something." Shock crossed their faces; apparently they knew it was going to be bad if Umbridge was thinking of something.
"We don't know what it is yet, but we are sure to find out in a couple of days. But for the time being I want you all to be extra careful and alert. Look over the younger students as I suspect them to be in more danger. They are inexperienced and will panic the most. Therefore I want you all to be on a lookout for them. Keep them out of Umbridge's way as far as possible."
They nodded in understanding and Harry started pacing. "It's got to be worst if Umbridge has Fudge's permission. That dimwit wouldn't realise if he lets Death Eaters in the school."
Fred and George snickered and whispered in hushed tones.
"I want you all to alert the prefects who are from DA." Harry continued after Fred and George had stopped. "Tell them to be more alert during their rounds and if they catch any students, DA members or not avoid giving out detentions; knock house points if they want, but strictly avoid giving detentions. They may end up with a rude message on their hands." Harry subconsciously rubbed his left hand.
"Okay." Anthony said after Harry finished. "It's not safe anymore?"
"No." Harry replied. "We are trying to loosen the tension as far as possible I don't think it will be long." He nodded absently at him.
"So Harry…" Fred began.
"We were thinking of something." George finished for him.
"What?" Harry asked knowing well that the twins were definitely up to something.
"Since Umbridge is up to something and is going to give us a hard time why not we give her some before she does…."
"…with whatever she has in store for the school?" They wiggled their eyebrows at Harry and he smiled.
"Alright but stay out of harm's way." Harry warned. Fred and George were fairly good duellers. Losing them from his side would be a huge loss.
"Oh dear…"
"…you sound like mum."
Blaise laughed out loud and the twins gave their own trademark identical grins.
"What are you planning?" Ron asked, excited about the twins plans.
"Not sure yet…"
"But we will surely come up with something…."
"…grand." They finished in unison.
"I'm in." Theo said, getting up from his place and walking over to the twins. "Whatever it is that you are going to do I'm in. It's time that old frog stops croaking."
Fred and George looked at each other and their faces lit up simultaneously. They both nodded at each other and faced Theo with maniacal grins on their faces.
"But we also need a girl for the plan to work." George said and looked over at the girls expectantly.
"Count me in." Daphne said walking over to them.
They both raised their eyebrows but turned to Harry none the less.
"We are off then Harry with our apprentices."
They walked out and the DA Core sat together discussing further about Umbridge's plan.
-…-
The tutor's meeting begin shortly after that. Almost as 25 people were selected and Harry had a quick word with them before they could begin with their work.
"Alright." He said pacing around once again. He was actually shocked with the amount of meetings he was taking; he doubted if even the Minister took so many. That thought almost made him smile. "I have assigned a small group of students mostly two or three to each of you to teach, to avoid suspicion. You'll teach them wherever you find comfortable – library being the most effective. But I don't want you all to be cramped in the same place together teaching, Umbridge will get suspicious. So scatter around Hogwarts and give your best. We'll discuss the results after a week."
After this quick meeting the tutors had immediately set to work as reported by Daphne and Theo who came back a short time later.
"Potter?" Draco called sitting beside Harry on the couch.
Harry looked up from his Defensive magic and its uses book and stared at Draco. "Malfoy." He greeted.
"I thought you could possibly want to look for those books in the Restricted Section, if you are not busy." He said looking at the rather thick looking book on Harry's lap.
"Now?" Harry asked looking shocked.
"Yes actually, Madam Pince thinks no one would dare enter that place in broad daylight plus there is no one to keep a watch like at night, I swear Filch has taken up residence there." he muttered the last part under his breath and looked at Harry who was staring at him like he had grown another head.
"Oh Potter I know I'm devishly handsome and too charming to look away from but please people might misunderstand." And he smirked and Harry turned red.
"Shut up Malfoy." He said before getting up. "Let's go."
They entered the Restricted Section about half an hour later under Harry's invisibility cloak.
"Seriously Potter, this is not fair. You own an invisibility cloak?" Draco said for the fiftieth time since leaving the Gryffindor tower where Harry had gone to fetch it from his dorm.
"Will you shut it Malfoy?" Harry asked getting irritated with the constant nagging.
"No, you walked gracefully under that cloak the entire time whereas I had sneaked around like a muggle. That's hardly fair." Draco argued still upset about Harry's cloak.
"Seriously Malfoy, you are giving us out. So stop it." Harry hushed him and opened the door leading to the restricted Section. He thought they must be the first students to ever break in into that section of the library in broad daylight. The door creaked loudly but Draco had his wand out immediately and silenced the door.
Once there were far into the room they took off their invisibility cloak and started skimming through the books.
"What to look for Malfoy?" Harry asked from one end of a bookshelf.
"Look for anything that says, 'Powerful Wizards' or 'Great powers' or something like that, look along those lines." Draco said, his fingers going over the century old books.
Most of the books stored were either on Advance Magic, Dark Arts or some dangerous books that could turn the wizard's life hell. After much searching Harry and Draco found only three books that mentioned something about powerful wizards and ancient powers.
Draco flipped open the first book once they had settled on a table. It mentioned something about powerful wizards of the last two century but ended up it with being only telling them about the powerful wizards and their biography rather than what made them powerful.
The next book mentioned a record of the most dangerous powers ever witnessed by the wizarding world. It edged along with the Dark Arts and Harry shut the book after reading a few pages. He knew his powers weren't dark and he pushed the book as far from him as possible.
Harry took the third book after seeing Draco push the first one aside. It was an old book by the looks of it. The black shiny leathered book looked rather well kept. It was flatter than the other two books and stood a couple of inches higher. The leather surprisingly felt smooth against his palm and a faint scented must smell touched their nostrils.
Ancient powers of the Past written in gold shined in the afternoon sunlight. Harry looked up at Draco and he gave one of his tiniest nods. Harry flipped open the book with a positive feeling and scanned the contents.
Ancient Magic: Understanding…..…1
Ancient Magic: Witnessed…..21
Ancient Magic: Special and Extraordinary cases….50
Ancient Magic in the future….78
Possible cases….98
Ancient Magic: Rare and legendary powers….….140
Ministry's view….160
Powerful Wizards and Witches….200
Hogwarts Founders: The Legends…260
Harry looked up at Draco and they settled in for Ancient Magic: Rare and Legendary Powers. Skipping to page 140 Harry started reading and Draco stood up to look over Harry shoulder, his hands resting on Harry's armrest.
Harry skipped the first three pages, his fingers racing between the lines. Finally he found something worth reading on the third page of the chapter.
Record and witnesses of true legendary powers can be dated back to as old as the early 16th century. Many people have claimed to have possession of these powers and had previously threatened of the destruction of the entire wizarding world. While the claims and the powers of these people remain unverified there is no doubt that such powers exist. The reason behind the wizards/witches possession of such powerful magic remains a mystery. According to the previous study conducted such rare and legendary powers will continue to surface once in a while.
The root of such powers cannot be traced back as the records have either perished or they have never been recorded before but the in-depth research on his subject claims that descendants will show the existence of some extraordinary power than the other normal wizards/witches.
Harry leaned back in his chair and took off his glasses. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Draco who had sat back on his chair.
"Potters were the rarest and the oldest pureblood families in the wizarding world, or so my father told me." Draco whispered slowly and Harry put his glasses back. He looked at Draco for a moment before replying,
"But it says that to have the possession of any ancient and legendary powers I need to be a descendent of a powerful wizard who previously had such powers." Harry leaned back against the chair once again and closed his eyes for a minute thinking and rethinking what he had just read and suddenly his eyes snapped open and he looked at Draco. Draco's eyes were wide with realisation as well and they hurriedly read the index again and flipped to page 260 Hogwarts Founders.
Skipping through the other founders, Harry quickly reached over to Godric Gryffindor. Draco shifted his chair closer to Harry as they began reading,
Godric Gryffindor, one of the most powerful and brilliant wizard of the medieval times and was one of the founders of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He hailed from a moor which is now known as 'Godric's Hollow' a small West Country village in England. He was described as the most brilliant and dullest at times. He was said to have praised courage, determination, daring, bravery and strength of heart.
He had powers which some wizards refer to as 'Unspeakable Magic' but the records suggest the existence of limited powers of Godric Gryffindor one of the remarkable being: Rector Ignis meaning ruler of fire. There is no doubt that Godric Gryffindor was a controller of fire, since his name Godric meaning 'he who rules with God' or 'he who rules well' and his surname a reference to the one of the most powerful beast Griffin: a fierce, legendary fire beast with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.
Many descendants have had the capability to control fire but none of them being as powerful as The Godric himself. Many of his descendants met their death due to the uncontrollable fire leading to the destruction of an entire village and a town somewhere 50 years later. There has been no record yet of any descendant of Godric Gryffindor being powerful and capable enough to control the fire element.
Harry slumped back in his seat, a light headache forming and throbbing in his head.
"Potter are you a descendant of Gryffindor?" Draco voiced after sometime, his voice laced with shock.
-xxxxxx-
Long Chapter! I know I left you all hanging! I'm evil yes! Haha!
Next Chapter: Pranks!