Chapter 3
Tremors of war

Sunday would have been a nice rest for Harry, if he hadn't an appointment scheduled with Professors Babbling and Vector. He'd revised his concepts over the week and before the meetings, so he ended up convincing them to accept his request. They did place one condition before him; he'd have to pass a test by December. If he did, he could join regular classes. He'd been told to contact an actual 5th year student with said elective and seek tutoring and help, if required. Harry had the perfect witch in mind, but the challenge would be convincing her.

They were having another study session in the evening, so he tested the waters with Susan. She didn't agree directly (women), so he ended up promising to tutor her in Transfiguration and Defence in return for her tutoring him in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. The former was slightly trickier than the latter; Arithmancy was mostly just advanced maths, and he'd quickly picked up on it with his primary school background.

He could have asked Hermione, but then he wouldn't get to spend time with Susie, huh? That and Hermione wasn't the greatest teacher. Very intelligent, but not very good at teaching her knowledge.

Tomorrow was Monday, and the weeks would be long and tiring, so Harry only did some light spell practice before a shower and bed. He was pleased with his frame in the mirror. The summer had been kind to him, what with the healing and the nutrient potions regimen Turner was keeping him on. As for Turner, he'd have to meet the guy, possibly at Christmas or the next Hogsmeade weekend.

But although he was filling out and no longer looked like a messy haired scarred-scarecrow, his arms and calves were still tiny. He'd have to see about adding some exercise to his routine.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. The news in the Prophet was quiet, as usual, but there was a sentencing of Sturgis Podmore for trespassing in unauthorized locations. 6 months Azkaban was a bit harsh, nah? By the way, he remembered Podmore as one of the Order; he'd been one of the guys who were keen on grilling Harry at his entrance. Had he been caught guarding what Dumbledore was keen on protecting? Sirius had refused to tell him what, exactly; well, he was keeping plenty of secrets of his own, so no reason to throw a tantrum.

There was also an anonymous tip about Sirius Black being in London; had Sirius been careless? Thankfully Dobby was guarding the man at all times at Harry's request. Winky had joined in with the staff at Potter Manor, but Dobby was his stormtrooper, more suited to schemes like these than as a warrior in a garden.

Classes continued in their miserable vein. Although he was enjoying Transfiguration this year, no one, not even Hermione, would deny that McGonagall was faster than a muggle jet! She had them working on the basics of inanimate conjuring now, with a lengthy essay to hand in. Sprout's essay he'd completed in his general study session, so that was a relief. History of Magic was proving to be a game changer, acting as stress relief and recuperation. He could either read History or Philosophy there and neither the mouldy ghost nor his sleeping classmates would notice. He did get a few glares from Hermione for not listening, though. Snape was being his usual merry self, even if his grade for the assigned potion had been a grudging O; poor Neville bore the brunt of Snape's frustration as always. He'd told the boy to ask for tutoring from Hannah, but the Gryffindor in him had apparently disappeared. Well, if he didn't do it, he'd find a way to get Hannah to propose the idea. She'd been complaining about Herbology the other day, so it wouldn't be hard to set things up nicely for the kind boy.

Sirius had a bit of interesting news for him, when he mirror called him from a safe location. It seemed Umbridge was soon going to make a power-grab, and more importantly, Fudge thought he, Harry, was training an army to combat him! Well; it was kind of understandable; he HAD declared war, he HAD asked for allies, and he had shown his magical freedom. But Fudge really was an idiot. Harry had improved enough that he was sure a straight up fight with the Minister, while not easy, wouldn't be that hard (after fighting Voldemort and Moody one tended to think like that); what would he need an army for? Sirius was curious about Umbridge's lessons, and wasn't that surprised at hearing the truth; it was only to be expected.

But it did answer the question on everyone's mind; THIS was why Umbridge wasn't allowing them to cast spells? She'd even teamed up with Filch to start a vicious campaign against spells in the corridors, and jinxes and hexes were at an all time low in Hogwarts right now. If she managed to gain more power somehow, it would become even worse!

Harry also got through an unpleasant conversation with Hermione on Wednesday. He'd asked her to come with him, alongside Ron, to the kitchens. There he'd sat her down, and patiently, calmly, explained to her about the symbiotic nature of House-elf magic and how her actions were being perceived by the elves as an attempt to murder, or akin to a magical assault of sorts. The atmosphere was helped somewhat by the reactions the elves had shown when they saw her; the usually bubbly elves had been walking on eggshells; only the fact that they were well acquainted with 'Master Potter' helped him coax them close to them.

It was harsh, sure, but it was needed. And even though their friendship was not the same, they were, both of them, still his friends.

On Friday it was Ron's turn to require his help. Malfoy had decided to turn up for the first official Gryffindor team practice of the year, and with a band of his cronies no less; it was an irritating couple of hours of jeers, catcalls and insults. It had only been worse for Ron, who already had a short fuse when it came to insults, and who was practicing in public the first time. It didn't help that the Twins had already been mercilessly ribbing him about 'ickle Prefect Keeper' and so on. Harry had to somehow keep the ginger from attacking Malfoy; with Umbridge hovering in the wings, it was a terrible idea to do such things.

Their study group had met thrice again that week, and now were much more comfortable with each other. Harry had also met Susan twice when their timetables permitted for their co-tutoring. It was a joy to learn from Susan, and as much of a joy to teach her. They did end up duelling a bit, and while Harry was better, Susan was also surprisingly good with dodging and quick counterattacks; Amelia had apparently trained her well. She looked good, even when sweaty and exhausted, and how Harry wished he could … calm down horny Potter, she was not his to do those things (yet, his mind whispered conspiratorially)

While balancing the clock was hard, Harry managed to find time after homework, studying, training, tutoring, brewing and so on to visit the Chamber of Secrets. He'd spent all summer thinking about that Chamber. Was it not possible that there was more hidden there? Would the proud Salazar Slytherin have created such a wide and large chamber, only for a snake? Specially that the snake had only grown so huge centuries after Slytherin's death? After requesting for and obtaining stairs at the Myrtle Bathroom entrance, he walked down for a long time. He also applied some cleaning charms to the staircase; no point in keeping it dirty. He'd have to try and see if he could summon Dobby in the Chamber itself; maybe it was accessible to the elves, maybe not.

The good news was that yes, Dobby was able to enter the Chamber. Which was helpful because with Dobby's help, it was a lot easier to clean the cave-in and shore up the roof again with some magic (magic was cool like that).

Initially, he'd not had any success finding any hidden rooms and such. He'd gone and checked out the basilisks' quarters, checked out an exit the snake had created into the Forbidden Forest (he'd have to close it up before those bloody acromantulas decided to move in), and only found a single wooden desk with some faded parchment (probably brought in by a young Tom Riddle in a bid to make it his OFFICE). But nothing from Slytherin. But persistence eventually paid rewards, or atleast, gave rise to hints. There was one wall that had a set of wards on it, too many.

While Harry was no curse breaker, he'd learnt a few spells over the course of the summer, either while learning Runes or while going through the old stuff at the Manor (lots of empty rooms with lots of stuff there). But finding the ward was as far as he was able to do. He'd have to pick up some curse breaking skills to add to his repertoire for that. And not just the basics; any curses placed here by a paranoid bas0000 like Salazar would probably be fatal. Still, he'd come back later.

Harry returned from his early morning run on the grounds, after taking a shower, to find Neville aggressively staring at the Prophet.

"What happened Neville, what's the matter?"

"They've broken out. SHE's broken out", with palpable anger in his voice, Neville replied, handing the paper to Harry. So, Voldemort had finally broken his "trusted" Death Eaters out of Azkaban, huh? Harry himself had expected it to happen on Halloween, but maybe Voldemort had reasons to do so? The escaped prisoner's included Bellatrix Lestrange (formerly Black, Sirius' cousin and Draco's aunt), her husband Rodolphus and his brother Rabastan, Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, Travers and Mulciber. The HER Neville was referring to was Bellatrix Lestrange; the woman who had tortured Neville's parent to the point of permanent brain damage with the Cruciatus.

As it was Sunday, the two then went off for their group study session. The idea had apparently been expanded, and Harry saw some new faces, including Lisa Turpin, Zacharias Smith, a couple of sixth years from Ravenclaw, five more from Hufflepuff, and most of the first week's crowd. Even Luna Lovegood showed up, surprisingly, although the poor girl was all alone.

They spent the first hour writing up their essays, with only a few interruptions to ask questions from the one they felt was the best. Harry didn't get a lot of requests, as Umbridge's homework was usually theory disconnected from real DADA. He did help Hannah with Charms.

Approaching a close, Neville came up to him hesitantly.

"Harry, I was wondering if… if you could tutor me in Defence?" the boy asked hesitantly.

Surprisingly, he was joined by Ernie Macmillan, and Terry Boot. Zacharias Smith had tried to make a few snide remarks about his competence, but Harry just ignored the prat. The boys wanted his help in preparing for their practical. That and it was a critical subject to keep yourself safe, and with a war seeming imminent (if Harry was telling the truth), it was paramount to be able to defend themselves.

They'd gotten the help of some house elves to expand the room they were sitting in, so the DADA crowd occupied one corner while the rest were doing their own things. There were only 3 of them under him, so Harry began with the basics.

"Defending yourself is crucial, and you all know that. But to do so effectively, what works is practice. It is not easy to think straight in chaotic situations like this, as I learnt during the attack during the World Cup. The important thing is that you protect yourself with any means possible, and ensure that you and others suffer minimal injuries.

While there are hundreds and thousands of spells you can learn, it is important to learn the most basic ones. One, disarming your opponent; it is an easy enough spell, 'Expelliarmus'. Second, a way to use physical objects in a fight, so a banishing spell is good to know. In first year, I ended up using a Levitation charm, of all things, against the troll. This is particularly useful against magical creatures because a lot of them have magically resistant hides."

"Cutting charms can be useful for both injuring your opponents, and if you aim is good, even killing them. Me and Ron Weasley were once stupid enough to venture close to the acromantulas' nest in the Forbidden Forest in second year; we only managed to escape because of pure luck and a few cutting charms."

"This covers defending yourself against magical creatures. I haven't spoken about specific attacks and defences for specific creatures, like learning how to conjure silver against werewolves, the way Krum used the Conjunctivitis curse against the dragon last year, or how I needed to learn to use the Patronus against the dementors in third year."

Unbeknownst to Harry, the rest of the crowd had slowly trickled close to listen to him, hearing most of his speech. He realized that when Zacharias began chuckling behind him. "Come off it, Potter. Do you seriously expect us to believe you know the Patronus? Most adults can't do that. And you learnt it in third year? You're just saying that to sound impressive. Want more adulation and fame, huh?"

One good thing about staying lonely had been the lack of idiots like this. Well, it was only fair to show them his competence, and gain the respect of the room at the same time.

Bringing up his happiest memories, he looked Smith in the eye, with a smile on his face, and calmly uttered "Expecto Patronum". Most in the room were shocked at the Patronus, including Harry. His patronus was no longer the Stag he'd called Prongs; it was a bird, one that seemed to be similar to Fawkes in stature, but different, somehow.

"A thunderbird corporeal patronus, good one Potter", was the grudging and respectful comment by Greengrass. So, a thunderbird? His second wand's core. Patronus shifts usually happened with change in emotional balance, which, to be fair, Harry had gone through this summer.

He'd miss Prongs, though.

Done with the demonstration, Harry continued. "Magical creatures are only one part of the puzzle. And Professor Lupin had done a good job with us in third year. The next part is defending yourself from other humans. As you know magic, so do they. Any and every type of spell can be used against you. As a wizard, we can use not only spells directly against someone, we can also use physical objects. Like ropes enchanted to truss you up, rocks banished towards you, or even bludgers charmed to attack you by a house elf", he admitted with a wry smile, to the amusement of his new friends.

"To defend against these varied type of attacks, you need knowledge, sure, but you also need quick thinking that only comes with practice. In your spell repertoire, you should be capable of a good shield, physically nimble enough to dodge Dark curses like the Killing curse, or good enough at conjuring to create physical barriers."

Hannah interrupted with a suggestion for a demo duel, so he asked for volunteers to duel with him. Susan he'd already duelled, so he chose Daphne Greengrass. They took their positions amid a hush in the group, after deciding to keep it simple and safe.

It was a good duel. Harry tried to quickly disarm her, but she was up to the task. It went on for a while, with Daphne showing good shielding ability, while Harry was just fluidly dodging attacks. It ended with Harry winning the duel using a quick stunner, silently cast, behind a more obvious body-bind spell which she defended.

"That was a good duel. Anyway, the silent cast is a reminder that in a fight, the stakes are always tilted against you, and you cannot complain about lack of cues. For advanced wizards, even wand motions are not required."

Once the demonstration was done, he began teaching his original three the incantations and wand movements to them, and then asked them to practice while he taught them one by one. He started with Neville, and although the boy was performing both incantation and wand movements correctly, he wasn't able to get proper results; even for the disarming charm, his spell was very weak. So Harry asked Neville about his wand composition. Some woods and cores had a tendency to be stubborn, he'd read.

It turned out the problem was even bigger. Neville was working with his father's wand! Working with a wand that was bonded with another wizard was very hard, and required a lot of willpower and concentration. While a wand that chose you wanted to do magic for you, a wand that had already bonded with another wizard would fight at every step. The very fact that Neville had managed his spells at all for five years was astounding. He managed to convince his friend that he'd need a new wand, and promised him Dobby's help to travel to Diagon Alley at the next Hogsmeade visit.

It was much easier teaching the other two. Terry knew the disarming charm, as did Ernie, so Harry focused on teaching them the Protego charm. By the time they split up for lunch, they'd managed to cast one statically, with enough power to defend against a few low-level jinxes and charms.

The rest of the group had been impressed with the way Harry taught the three, and they'd been discussing how to approach Harry with request that he lead a study group. The Hufflepuffs, who'd started the who study group affair, were sure he would help them, and even the Slytherins were on good speaking terms with him now. But more than anything, it was less about his willingness to teach and more about time management. And what would Umbridge say to Harry teaching them her subject? They'd discussed some plans, and Susan and Padma had been chosen as the ones to try to convince Harry.

In the early hours on Wednesday, an hour before he could wake up for his exercise, he awoke to the sound of whispers. On peeking out of the four-poster bed, he found the Twins, dressed to travel, talking seriously to Ron, who himself was dressing up hastily. His gut feel that it was something serious turned out to be right; apparently Arthur was in St. Mungo's with some serious injury. They didn't know exactly how, but the Twins suspected it was about the object the Order was guarding.

Harry gave the twins the map so they could get out without Umbridge knowing, instructing them to return it via Dobby if they ended up staying away. He went down with them to the common room, where a panicked Ginny was waiting.

As if the day wasn't bad enough already, breakfast saw it turn worse. The Prophet was joyfully proclaiming the rise of Umbridge to 'High Inquisitor', with Fudge passing Educational Decree Number 23. The move gave Umbridge sweeping powers, including the ability to inspect other teachers' classes, question their syllabus patterns, oversee house points, authority in inter-house conflicts and so on. The woman in question had looked unbearably smug at the staff table. Dumbledore was his usual unruffled self, as was to be expected.

He contacted Sirius to ask about Arthur's health. As he'd guessed, it was while he was guarding the object in the Ministry when he was bitten by a snake. Probably Voldemort's snake, Nagini; she was one huge beast, although not as huge as the basilisk. The Order was hoping for a recovery, but the situation was really serious, with chances of survival slim. The only reason he hadn't bled out on the cold Ministry floor was apparently Fawkes; whether sent by Dumbledore or of his own free will, the phoenix had shown up in St. Mungo's lobby with a bleeding Arthur.

The inspections for fifth year took some days. Harry missed Divination, the first one, but he'd gotten the news from Fay. But he ended up getting a taste of it in Transfiguration.

McGonagall was in a rare mood, as was to be expected by an attack on her domain (Umbridge was basically encroaching in Headmaster territory with the new position), and they ended up getting an interesting lesson. Harry had already vanished his snails, and he managed the mouse in the class itself, much to the delight of McGonagall, who gave him 20 points for achieving such quick success, and the obvious frustration of Umbridge, who didn't manage to get much from the Gryffindor Head of House. Harry got himself another 20 points by the end of the class by vanishing his mouse silently. Umbridge also inspected their COMC class, expressing apparent satisfaction with Grubbly-Plank, with some snide remarks for Hagrid.

Quidditch practice wasn't the same without their primary beaters and keeper, so Angelina had focused her energy on training the reserve keeper, after instructing Harry to practice by himself. The Slytherin's hadn't shown up this time, thankfully.

In Ron's absence, he'd been patrolling with Hermione, and although the map helped, it was long and boring work. His training was also taking a hit.

Umbridge had also used her power to create an 'Inquisitorial Squad', to oversee her edicts. The students chosen were obvious Ministry sycophants, including Draco's troupe, older and younger Slytherins and Ravenclaws, mostly. Gryffindor presence was minimal, almost zilch. One of them was Cormac McLaggen.

On Saturday, Susan, Daphne, Neville and Padma cornered him after breakfast.

"Harry, there's something we want to talk about. In private, if possible." Susan requested. So they walked into an empty classroom on the way to their meeting room, and sat on some old benches.

"We wanted to say that we really liked the way you taught Defence, and we were wondering if we could convince you to do it for a group instead."

"Umbridge isn't teaching anything, and we're already suffering from some really poor Professors; Lockhart and Quirrell, and now Umbridge."

"That and the fact that if what you're saying about the Dark Lord's return is true", Padma stated with an apologetic smile, "it becomes even more important to be capable of defending ourselves".

"We won't hold it against you, whatever you may decide" Susan finished.

Well, that was good. In Harry's mind, he agreed with everything they said. His only concern was Umbridge. When he'd spoken to Sirius recently, he'd hypothesized that she was a plant by Fudge to prevent them from being combat ready. If he did begin teaching, she'd come down on him hard, and even if it was nothing illegal, she would get Fudge to pass some new ridiculous law to ensure it was. Then there was the fact that if he made it open to all years, he wouldn't be able to manage it all alone. He'd have to have assistants who could do some of the heavy lifting, so he could focus on the essence. It did provide him with the opportunity he'd been waiting for, to get in everyone's good graces; even though the suspicious glances thrown at him had diminished over time, they were still present.

"Well, I don't mind teaching such a group. Our cross-house endeavour has been flourishing so far. But I have a few conditions, some that might even be considered unfair."

"Firstly, we would need to keep the existence of such a group as hidden as possible. If not hidden, atleast hidden in plain sight. If Umbridge gets a tiny hint about our plans for this, it'll be over before it begins.

Secondly, I won't teach any guys like Malfoy, or Goyle, or any Death Eater types. I wouldn't be able to live with knowing that my teachings were used by terrorists to harm innocents. So I'll need Daphne's help, to find out the key Death Eater sympathizers and ensure news of our activities doesn't reach them. Also, anyone in the Inquisitorial Squad is automatically disqualified, because not only would Umbridge straightaway know about it, but even if they were willing to lie, it's a bad position to be in.

Third, we need some type of official sanction. Maybe make it a Charms or Defence club with restricted entry? That way, we can meet up without raising too many eyebrows. Defence does rely on charms and transfiguration to a large degree, so it's not entirely wrong.

Fourth, we need a way to keep it secret. Like a Fidelius, but for our group. I have looked into this, but this is mostly done through vows, and we don't want to make it that complicated.

Fifth, we don't need house conflicts within the group, if any materializes. So we'll have to avoid any obvious disruptors."

And finally, we'll have to make it a serious affair. I don't want people showing up merely to ask me about Cedric or something like that. So while I'm willing to teach you guys, I don't want to be the figurehead or anything. The Minister already thinks me and Dumbledore want his job, and I don't want to make it worse.

Also, if the number ends up going high, I'd need a couple of assistants to help me deal with the crowd. Kind of like overseeing the spell-work and so on."

After some haggling and discussions, they largely agreed to most of his demands. They could approach Flitwick for his permission if they wanted to try it as a club form; a joint house delegation could be prepared. One good thing was they had the excuse of OWLs to hide behind, and the other years could be added surreptitiously. Daphne said she knew a way to ensure silence, ("As the Ice Queen would", Susan joked), Padma would make an initial foray with Flitwick, Harry would think about the logistics of meeting up(they'd need a bigger room than usual with with proximity to all 4 houses, one easy to escape from). Susan was willing to be his first assistant, as she was competent enough already. Daphne was capable, but she lacked the patience to deal with nincompoops, much like her Head of House.

As for the members, they'd each approach some of their trustworthy peers and float this idea. Harry would try approaching Hermione. The problem with her was, although she wouldn't turn it down, she would report it to Ron; Ron was out due to his tendency to run his mouth and his general attitude towards Slytherins. He'd even passed some comments about Harry's joining in the new study group, specially with regard to the presence of Slytherins in it. He'd ask the other Weasleys if they wanted to join, however. When they returned, that is.

They'd continued with the rather jaded practice session in the their absence, continuing with more drills for the reserve keeper, and training the reserve beaters. They didn't know when the Weasleys' would return, and the first game was fast approaching. Harry was the one who focused on training the reserve beaters, while the chasers honed in on the poor keeper. A tired Harry took an early dinner and went off to train in the Room of Requirement.

His spellwork had improved leaps and bounds, as did his dodging under Moody's guidance. But he needed to improve his shields. Other than the Protego charm, there was the Fortis Aegis, a really strong shield for both spells and objects(which he'd tried and failed miserably to perform), Protego Totalum, which allowed for a wider area of defence, Protego Horriblis, which generated a shockwave to send back towards the attacker. Top of the food chain was Recutio, an extremely difficult spell to master, which allowed a localized shield on the wand tip capable of capturing and rebounding spells. The extreme difficulty lay in the fact that one, you needed to cast it with sufficient timing to catch the spell thrown at you, needed the necessary willpower to 'capture' the spell's magic, and the needed artistry to aim the flick back towards your opponent. Sounded really cool, though. Aegis Vocare was a slightly weaker version of the Fortis Aegis family, which he'd managed to learn, giving him slight improvement over Protego. There was also Fianto Duri, which strengthened existing magical wards with raw power from the caster, and made physical objects more durable. There was Imprimis Patrocinor, kind of like a mini shield on the wand, without the deflection capability of Recutio.

He also practiced a bit of silent spellcasting. He'd been working on it consistently, going over his old Miranda Goshawk spellbooks, and he'd managed to perform upto the second year spells silently. At the same time, he was focusing on learning any new spells silently as well; no habits to be broken, that way. While his rate of improvement had slowed down with the addition of group work and quidditch to his schedule, he was enjoying the mental benefits of spending time with his new friends. It wasn't very healthy to be cooped up and all alone; look at Tom Riddle, he became Voldemort because of it.

Knackered with the tiring day, he then spent some time reading some family history. Today he focused on Charlus Potter. The man hadn't written much in the journal about himself, and his son Fleamont had added few passages, but Harry had decided to study the man's life from the outsider's perspective. One good thing about the Room was that he could access a lot of stuff with a thought. Just a wish and it had given him a few old editions of the Daily Prophet featuring his great-grandfather.

The newspapers printed a gory picture. Charlus, along with Arcturus, had been one of ICW's generals in the fight against the Alliance, the band who had wreaked havoc in Europe on behalf of Grindelwald. He'd apparently single-handedly fought Grindelwald 4 times, with neither side being the definite victor. He'd also taken out a number of the Alliance permanently, not holding back. One issue even spoke about the defence of Orleans; apparently, Charlus and Arcturus had by themselves managed to defend the city of Orleans from a major attack carried out by the Alliance, in Grindelwald's absence. Both of them had received an Order of Merlin, First Class, from the British Ministry of Magic. They also received the L'Ordre de la Licorne d'Argent(Order of the Silver Unicorn), from the French Ministry for the same. Arcturus was Dorea's cousin, thus making him family. He'd look up the man later, or ask Sirius about it.

Well, he was tired. How about contacting Sirius now?

"Sirius Black" he spoke into the magic mirror. In a few moments, the frazzled face of Sirius appeared. He looked like he'd been drinking, and his eyes were red.

"What happened Sirius?"

"Harry. Arthur, he, well, St. Mungo's were unable to help him. He passed away today at noon."

Shock. Harry felt like he'd been punched in the gut. Arthur dead? No, it wasn't…tears began rolling down his cheeks. Why? What had the poor man done? He'd been one of Harry's first father figures, with his obsession with quirky muggle products. He'd treated Harry like a son whenever he visited, and always asked Harry questions about his experiences in the Muggle world. The war had claimed another victim. One whose mistake was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Weasleys were poor, but they had a rich heart. Dumbledore's strongest believers, who firmly stood in the light.

His heart went out to Molly. She'd be devastated. And what about his seven children? Even if Percy was currently on the outs with his family.

War was a terrible thing. It had deprived him of his parents, and so many others of their lives. So much suffering, so much pain, all because one man wanted to rule over others.

It would be easy for him, with his wealth, to run away. Pragmatic, even. But he'd considered it all, and found he couldn't do it. Maybe it was because he was a Gryffindor, maybe because of his 'saving people thing'; he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't do all he could to resist Voldemort's tyranny. The fact that the Wizarding World would invariably, undoubtedly, look to him and Dumbledore as soon as the truth of Voldemort's return got confirmed was a given, but even if they currently hated him, he didn't care.

Lives would be lost nonetheless, and he would feel guilty about it.

Even if rationally, it wasn't his responsibility. He wasn't Jesus, tasked with saving the world. But sometimes, responsibility has to borne by the one strong enough, no matter the desire to do so. Maybe that was why Dumbledore had been weighed down? Before this summer, and for almost half a century, the man had borne multiple positions of great importance. Before the current ongoing feud between them, Fudge had been known to pester him with letters for advice. He'd outlasted atleast 10 ministers, and seen a Dark Lord defeated at his hands, and seen another arise from his school. He felt respect at that moment for the great man, whatever their current problems may be.

He'd speak to Dumbledore about going to Arthur's funeral. The man deserved it. He'd also have to go give the news to Hermione, who herself had received a lot of love and acceptance by Arthur.

In his grief, he forgot to look up his path back on the map, and almost came across a rampant Umbridge; thankfully, he heard her 'Hem hem' in time and wore the cloak in the smallest window possible. He had to backtrack and find another route to return to the common room.

Hermione was sitting up reading a book, as he'd expected. There were few members of Gryffindor in the common room; most were off to enjoy their sleep when they could. He approached her tentatively, not knowing how to bring up the horrible news.

He would grieve Arthur, and Cedric, and his parents and so many others, and in his grief he would find the strength to find against the Monster that was Voldemort. That was all the survivors could do; death was irreversible, but the living had choices to face.

AN: Sorry for doing that. But it was only logical that without warning from Harry's vision, it would occur as it did. This is an AU. I considered using Fawkes tears to save Arthur, but Fawkes didn't save him in the first dig, so how could he do it here? I mean

Harry got the phoenix tears right after being bitten by the Basilisk, while Arthur probably got it at the end of his tether. Indecision kept me from directly killing him off, thus the delay.