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Fleur's smile widened, casting a radiant glow that seemed to illuminate the entire room. "Well ... in that case, I insist that you call me Fleur," she replied warmly. "I must admit, it will be nice to hear my name from someone who can say it without stumbling over their own tongue or slobbering all over themselves." She chuckled softly before continuing, "I wish you a good meal, and once again, I wish you luck on your ability to finish second in the tournament."

Before Harry could come up with a response, Fleur gracefully passed by, her shoulder brushing against his in what seemed like an accidental gesture. As she exited the room, the lingering floral fragrance of her presence enveloped Harry, leaving him momentarily spellbound in spite of himself.

Smiling to himself and shaking his head to dispel the daze, Harry refocused his thoughts and turned towards the grand staircase, preparing to lead his friends to the Room of Requirement.

Harry just finished his third pass in front of the Tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy when he heard Ron's voice skeptically call out. "Okay … what are you doing mate, you wanted us to meet you up here and now you are just walking around in circles, just what do you …"

Harry turned just as Ron trailed off, allowing him to watch as both Hermione and Ron noticed the door that had just appeared, shocked looks on both of their faces.

Hermione was the first to shake off her surprise. "Harry … you found a hidden classroom?" She asked before pausing to look back at him suspiciously. "I mean … this is pretty impressive … especially since you didn't mention this last year when you told us about all the other secret rooms and passageways … so I assume this means the twins don't know of this one. But this doesn't really explain what you've been up to since the start of the year … does it?"

Harry smiled elusively as he started towards the door, motioning for them to follow him into the room.

"Oh, this is much more than just a hidden classroom." He said as they followed him into the Room of Requirement, which he had configured into the same layout that he'd been spending his time in for the past several weeks.

Having turned around once he made his way through the doorway he smiled as he watched their mouths drop open in surprise.

"Harry … is this a …" Hermione began before Ron cut her off.

"Harry, you found a professional level dueling room in Hogwarts?! Blimey, mate, … this is incredible. There can't be more than half a dozen of these in the who country. I can't believe the staff never told us about this room. We'd be the envy of every other wizarding school. In fact, I'm pretty sure the Ministry doesn't even …"

Noticing the smile on Harry's lips, Hermione put her hand on Ron's shoulders to stop his excited rambling, as he was busy staring around the room. "I think there might be more to this than that, Ron." She said before turning and looking back at Harry. "Isn't there?"

He nodded before walking along the length of the room to the other side where the door to the study, that he had been studying all the books that had been placed in the Room of Requirement, was situated.

As he opened the door, he paused for a moment noticing that the room was slightly larger than his previous visits, however he realized it was likely due to his desire to have a space where he could have a discussion with his friends … as made evident by the two extra chairs facing the one Harry had spent a significant time on over the past little while.

Making his way into the room and past the bookshelves, Harry walked towards the comfortable overstuffed chairs, turning as he sat, noticing that while Ron was right behind him, already in the process of sitting, Hermione had gotten distracted almost immediately after she had entered the room.

Ron looked back to see what Harry was looking at before laughing at the sight of Hermione focused on the books.

Hearing the sound of her friend's good-natured laugh, Hermione quickly spun to face them. Her expression equal parts amazement over the room and embarrassment over being distracted.

Hurrying quickly to the last remaining chair, she sat down, the embarrassment fading as her face was left with the look of wonder as she seemed unable to keep from glancing over Harry's shoulder and around the room, attempting to take in all of the books from where she was sitting. Eventually she managed to stop and refocused her attention back on Harry, "Do you know what you have found, Harry? Some of these books are incredibly rare. On just that first shelf I saw book titles belonging to books I have seen mentioned but rumored as having been lost to time. And I am pretty sure there was a first edition version of 'Hogwarts: A History' … do you know just how rare that book is …"

She was cut off by Ron's laugh, "They are just books Hermione, hardly as interesting as the dueling room just outside this mini library."

Hermione's look of wonder faded slightly as a look of equal parts annoyance and anger began to replace it. "Ronald, I can't believe you'd …"

Before he let their argument grow and spiral out of control, Harry coughed to both cut off Hermione and grab both of their attention. "I think we can all agree that both rooms are pretty impressive in their own ways. Ron, I didn't realize that a fully set up dueling room was so hard to come by … but just wait until you can see what this room can actually do. He smiled seeing Ron's eyebrows raise in confusion, before he turned to Hermione. "And as for the books, I haven't made much progress checking them all out, have mostly been focusing on the books regarding Occlumency but even I could tell that the few books I had read were rare now adays."

"Ok … what exactly is this room?" Hermione asked as she stared at him.

Harry smiled, "Welcome to the Room of Requirement!" He said grandly, motioning around him at the room.

Both their eyebrows raised a little.

"The Room of Requirement?" Ron repeated slowly. "Seems a bit much to name a room something like that. What does the room require?"

Harry laughed, "That's fair … I guess the name is a little … ostentatious but this room is capable of incredible things."

Ron stared at him, "The room is capable of things?" He said with a laugh. "Like what?"

Instead of answering, Harry focused for a second, desiring a fireplace to appear on the wall behind him between two of the large bookshelves. Only to almost lose his focus at the expression of shock on Ron and Hermione's face about a second later.

"Harry … did you do that?" Hermione asked, her voice filled with wonder. To which Harry nodded, a smile on his face.

"You silently transfigured a solid wall into an ornate fireplace … Harry … that's … I'm pretty sure that's at least NEWT level magic …"

Harry shook his head, "Oh, I didn't cast a spell or use my own magic. That was the room itself."

Hermione grudgingly seemed to look away from the fireplace, her gaze eventually settling back on Harry a questioning look on her face. "Sorry … once again. The room is magic?"

Harry nodded, "The Room of Requirement is a room that appears to someone in need and provides exactly whatever is necessary for the seeker at that time. It can be a wash closet, a library, a dueling practice area, a place to store things, … a place for hidden meetings … it can be whatever the seeker needs … or probably almost anything the seeker needs. Pretty sure it still obeys the laws of Magic and can't produce anything truly impossible or beyond the limit of magic."

Hermione slowly shook her head as she looked around the room, "Harry what you are describing is impossible …" she trailed off as her eyes travelled to the newly formed fireplace before shifting back to him, "… or at least highly unlikely. That level of magic required to do that … it would require the room to be almost sentient to be able to do that. Who could have made such a room? Professor Dumbledore? I don't even think he'd be able to do what you said this room could do."

Harry shook his head as he looked at Hermione, "It wasn't Dumbledore, I don't think he even knows of this room." He paused before letting out a small laugh. "Well at least I don't think he knows what this room can actually do … I think he had been in need of a lavatory once and made the room become a room full of chamber pots when he was in need …" he trailed off before looking up at the stunned faces of his friends.

After several seconds of quiet Ron burst into laughter which Harry joined in on, as even Hermione struggled to contain her smile as she shook her head.

Eventually they settled and Harry shrugged his shoulders, "As for who made this room. I'm not sure, certainly its much older than even Dumbledore." He paused and looked thoughtfully at the books on the shelves. "Although I'm sure that if that information exists, it would be somewhere in here and might actually help in understanding just how the room works …" he trailed off before shaking his head.

"But once we are done in here, I can always take you out into the hallway and let you manifest the room into whatever you need it to be and maybe that would be the thing that finally convinces you. However, the room wasn't why I wanted to talk to you. Or at least it's not the entire reason I wanted to talk to you…"

He paused as the looked at him expectantly, before taking a deep breath. "Voldemort …" he paused to shake his head as both of them flinched. "Honestly, it's just a name. I refuse to be afraid of it and you shouldn't be either. Voldemort …" he said again, ignoring the flinches this time. "… he's alive."

Hermione looked at Harry, a look of confusion on her face as she nodded slowly. "We know Harry. After what happened in first year … we believed you then."

Harry paused, remembering the events of that year before shaking his head. "That's not what I mean. It's more than that now, he's no longer a wandering wraith, living on the back of someone's head. He's got a body … sort of … and an actual plan to get a normal body back … one that is immune to what I had managed to do to him in first year when Quirrell touched me."

Harry paused, looking at the matching looks of horror on their faces, trying to give them a couple of seconds to process everything he had said, only to be surprised when Ron spoke up first, apparently managing to put the pieces together first.

"The Triwizard Tournament …" he mumbled out, looking at Harry, who nodded in confirmation.

Hermione looked at Ron in confusion, but Ron failed to look away from Harry. "Vol …Vold … He-Who …" Ron took a deep breath and shook his head, "Voldemort," he stuttered out quietly. 'He needs you for something to help him come back?"

Hermione's gaze had shifted to Harry and therefore was watching as he nodded, which caused her to gasp.

Harry looked back and forth between them before speaking, "He managed to get my name into and then drawn from the Goblet of Fire … and he has a plan for the end of the year …" Harry said as he shook his head a pained smile on his face. "… always seems to be something incredibly dangerous happening at the end of the year … it might be nice to buck that trend … but I doubt it." He finished with a hollow laugh as he shrugged his shoulders.

Hermione stared at Harry as she shook her head, "Harry … that's … you can't just … you need to tell Professor Dumbledore! He can …" She paused, a light switching on in her eyes, "That's what you were talking to him about earlier? Wasn't it?"

Harry nodded, "That … and something else. But we will get to that in a second. Professor Dumbledore believed me. He had called for an emergency meeting of the International Confederation of Wizards to try and find a way to get me exempted from the tournament … but there is nothing they can do … however, that's not something I'm worried about at the …"

Hermione cut him off, "What do you mean you aren't concerned? Harry! People have died in the past."

"That's true … but they didn't have the two of you to help them." He said with a smile before shaking his head. "But jokes aside. I'm a little more worried about the looming threat of Voldemort at the moment."

Hermione frowned before nodding slowly, "We can come back to the tournament, but I suppose you are right. Voldemort is likely to be the bigger threat …" she paused before looking at Harry contemplatively, "Harry … how do you know all this about Voldemort …" she trailed off staring at him.

Harry looked at her knowing he needed to convince her … convince them both with what he was about to say if he wanted them to be okay with what he needed to do … if he wanted them to continue as his friends.

He took a deep breath his gaze shifting between Hermione and Ron, who was now looking at him with interest.

"In the summer, I had what I thought was a nightmare, but I think it was more … it was too real … too vivid. I think I was actually seeing what was happening somewhere else …" he trailed off as Hermione opened her mouth and shook his head, "… I don't really know of any magic that would allow me to do that but at the end of the day I am confident what I saw was actually happening … I got a glimpse into what Voldemort was planning."

Harry was unable to stop the smile on his face from forming as both of their mouth's dropped open in shock in perfect synchrony. Once he managed to school his expression, he nodded towards them.

Seeing Hermione recover first, he watched as her mouth opened but he politely cut her off with a shake of his head, "And yes, I told Professor Dumbledore about it and I'm planning to tell Sirius about it as soon as I see him. You don't need to worry about me trying to deal with this on my own."

Harry watched as a relieved look graced Hermione's face which caused him to smile.

Eventually the smile fell from his face as he looked at his friends. "However, there is something else … something more serious …" He paused for a second as he took a breath. "I know Voldemort's biggest secret … I know why he didn't die when he tried to kill me."

- HP - HP - HP - HP - HP -

Harry felt as if the entire world had frozen for several seconds as his friends stared at him unblinkingly. However, it was short-lived as Ron and Hermione both broke into questions, cutting each other off to try and get their questions heard.

"Mate, are you serious …"

"Harry, how is this …"

"What is it …"

"Have you paused to consider the amount of danger you might be in …"

After what felt like a solid fifteen minutes of this they eventually ran out of questions at the same time and stared at Harry expectantly, waiting for him to start answering their seemingly several thousand partially completed questions.

Slowly Harry nodded to them, "I want to tell you … and I will if you are sure … I think I might need your help for what needs to get done … or at least I think it'll be easier to do what needs to get done with help … and just in case anything happens to Professor Dumbledore or myself …" he trailed off, shaking his head and trying to ignore the look of fear on Hermione's face, "… well I don't want the secret to beating Voldemort to die with us."

He looked at their stunned faces and forced a smile. "I know how this must all sound. But I swear this is all true and its part of the reason I've been spending my time in these rooms reading and training. I want to … I need to be prepared to face Voldemort at some point. I know he's going to come after me … if not this year, which I am confident he will, then it would just be in the following years, but he will come after me. So, I want to make sure that when he does, we are on a level playing field … well as level as I can make it."

Hermione let out a little squeak before shaking her head, "Harry you can't be serious! You can't actually be considering going after him."

Harry nodded slowly as he shrugged, "I don't really have a choice … there's a prophecy … it basically says that only one of us can live."

Hermione looked up in surprise and snorted, while Ron let out a little chuckle as he shook his head. "Harry … mate … you can't be serious … you can't believe a prophecy."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "This one is a little different that the usual Trelawny drivel but at the end of the day it doesn't matter what I believe in this case .. what does matter is that Voldemort believes. And he honestly believes that I am the only one who can beat him and because of that he believes he needs to kill me. So, it doesn't really matter if I believed the prophecy or not because nothing will stop him from trying to kill me if … when he regains his body."

Harry watched as Ron shook his head in disbelief, while Hermione's face paled, understanding the truth behind his logic.

Quietly she broke the silence, "So what does that mean for you … for us … for all of us … you said you know his secret? What is it?"

Harry took a pause and a deep breath before he responded his gaze shifting between his two friends as he talked, "I need you … I need the both of you to promise that you will never tell anyone anything of what I'm going to say … and I mean not a word of this to anyone, not families, friends, even random muggles on the street. I think knowing this secret is our biggest advantage and will hopefully help us prevent another wizarding war. However, if Voldemort learned that Dumbledore and I knew his secret … well he'd quickly and rather easily take steps to make sure we wouldn't be able to act on our knowledge. And that would make what is a difficult but technically possible path to victory all but impossible."

He leaned back in his chair before taking another breath, nodding when he saw the serious expressions on his friends' faces as they were listening on his every word/ "I need you to promise me that you'll never willingly tell another soul about this without either my or Dumbledore's approval, we can't let this knowledge get back to Voldemort."

Looking up Harry watched as Ron's mouth dropped open in shock as he paled. "You … you want us to make an unbreakable vow …"

Harry paused staring at his friends before shaking his head slowly. "While this is incredibly important … it's not worth your lives if someone forced you to talk. I'm not willing to sacrifice the lives of my friends or random innocents in order to maintain an advantage. But as long as you don't mention what I will tell you to anyone, I am almost positive that you wouldn't be at risk of someone asking you about it."

Harry nodded at the nervousness on their faces, happy they were taking this seriously and continued. "Other than Dumbledore, myself, and of course Voldemort … no one, not even his inner circle of followers really knows this secret … so they won't have any reason to suspect you know anything about a secret they don't even know about … and trust me, if you find yourself face to face with Voldemort … you will have bigger problems and I highly doubt making an Unbreakable Vow will protect wither you or the secret." He said with a forced laugh.

Harry paused to take another deep breath as he settled back in his chair allowing them to process everything he had said. However, after almost a half-minute they hadn't said anything as they were still alternating between staring at him and looking back and forth between each other.

Nodding his head, he stood, 'I know this is a lot … probably more than is fair but I … well I didn't want to keep this a secret from you. However, I would understand if you thought this might be too much to ask." Looking towards the exit from the study, the door that led back to the dueling area, he nodded before looking back to his friends. "I can give you time to talk between yourselves. You can take time to decide …" he paused and shrugged, "… well to decide if you want to hear this. But no matter what your choice is, I'll respect it. You two have always been my closest friends and I want you to know that."

With that Harry started walking past Hermione's chair towards the door, however he hadn't even made it two steps when he felt Hermione reach out and tightly grasp his hand at the same time he heard Ron's voice off to the side, "Bollocks to that Harry, I don't think wither Hermione or myself …"he paused to look towards Hermione, continuing after she smiled and nodded affirmatively to him, " … I don't think we need any more time to make up our minds. You are our friend as well Harry … it goes both ways. And it'd be downright rubbish of us to turn our back on you when you need our support." He paused before smiling at Harry, "That being said, apparently, I'm smarter than you, because if I ever see Voldemort … I'm running in the opposite direction as fast as these two legs of mine will carry me …"

He was cut off as a laughing Harry closed the distance to hug him, to be joined a half second later by Hermione.

Eventually they all released the hug and found their seats smiling at each other, until Harry forced the smile from his face staring at his friends a serious look on his face.

"Ok then … what do you know about Horcruxes?"

Kind Regards,

FavoriteAuthor

julieta0121 - Thanks for the review! As for the horcrux I guess we will find out as at this point Harry is not sure. But he will have a chat with Dumbledore when they start searching for the horcruxes relating to that.

storp930 - That's really good feedback, thanks for taking the time! I will definitely keep that in mind.

cameron1812 - Thanks for the review! Harry you liked the chapter!

Freddie Rindklip - I am glad you liked it. Thought it would make sense. Haha that is one of my secret things that I enjoy. Re-reading a WIP that is being actively updated. Then when you reach what you thought was the end ... there are all of a sudden more chapters Haha

Ariadne Venegas - While personally I agree that it was very unlikely that a trial didn't happen. Chose to write it from the point of view that during war a frightened government chose to act in a way that might not have been the way they would have acted in peacetime (something I am sure has happened in reality) - although will look more into their reasons for this in later chapters.

KYKid942 - Thanks! Glad the interaction came off natural. Conversations are something I have been working with and I am glad they are coming along.

pillpushr - That's a neat idea. And while I like it and will definitely have Fawkes in later chapters (Hmmm ... haha), I don't want to have Fawkes be too OP so while I agree that not all areas might be warded against phoenix travel if possible I wanted to make it so it would be realistic for the phoenixs ability to travel. As such either Fawkes or the person using her to travel must know where they are going. Otherwise at any point during the book or movies Dumbledore could have just been like take me to Voldemort ... or Pettigrew ... or the Horcruxes ... or an unclaimed box of jewels. But definitely have a plan for Pettigrew ...

Rebell 01 - Thanks for the review!

spicyanimechick - Well I guess we will have to wait and see ...

Yaw613 - Thanks for reading the chapter! Hope this one was just as good!

AR Williams - Excellent review! Hope part one of their conversation met your expectations!

jslee102 - That's totally fair, part of it was for an interesting chapter, part of it was for Harry sometimes not being the most perceptive of characters, but mostly I chose to write it that way as Harry had just come off an incredibly important conversation with Dumbledore so his mind might have still been at least slightly preoccupied with that and as such didn't put the pieces together.

zega606 - Thanks for the review! Have worked on creating an engaging and enjoyable fix, so its nice hearing when the chapters work.

jkarr - Thanks so much!

If you like this content do not hesitate to smash that like button and subscribe. Haha but seriously if you do enjoy the story - do favorite it, other than messaging me or leaving a comment it's the only way I know if you are enjoying the stories and chapters.

Story Note 1 – There have been a couple heavy chapters in a row – setting up for the future however the next couple chapters once they leave the Room of Requirement will end up being a little lighter, going to focus back on the tournament. And the first chapter after they leave the Room, Harry will get called down for his photo where he will get to meet a certain intrepid journalist, requesting an interview …

Thanks to those of you out to those of you who enjoy my stories, I promise to keep updating the stories as long as you enjoy them, and a special thanks to those of you who have taken the time to leave feedback or reach out to me directly.

Author Note 1 – All feedback is welcome (hopefully constructive!) Looking forward to what you think! Once again, thanks for all the reviews and feedback on this story, I'm pumped it has been well received. Obviously, I love people telling me they enjoy the chapters (keep it up if you do) but I really enjoy the constructive criticism as well. One of the earliest pieces of feedback I got was that Fred/George dialogue was rough – so as a result I changed it but really like the way it is coming across now (a sentiment that seems to be shared by the readers as well). Also please continue to share ideas or requests as to things you wish to occur in the stories. I love the suggestions. And try to incorporate what I can.

Author Note 2 – I have started posting polls, having been getting really helpful feedback from some readers and thought I would make it easier for anyone to provide feedback on the stories they are liking without having to reach out directly. Thanks in advance for anyone who follows up.

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