Big Update #3

A/N: This is all J.K. Rowling's idea, I am merely writing my own rendetion of it.

“My Lord, I have excellent news concerning the Order.” A black hooded figured said in a slightly pompous tone, a few strands of long blonde hair were the only thing visible from the under the hood. The only light in the room came from a blood red candle mounted on a sconce near Voldemort’s chair.
“Speak Lucius, and for your sake I do hope it is good news,” the serpentine face of Voldemort showed a smile of pure mirth as his servant began to speak.
“Well, you do know that Pettigrew and some of the fresher recruits were sent to spy on my cousin’s old residence, and due to their utter lack of magical ability they were caught by the Order.” The usual pompousness was slowly returning to Lucius’ words as his excitement at delivering good news to his Lord grew.
“Yes Lucius, you were the one who informed me of their capture, and you do remember how displeased I was,” his voice dripped with malevolence.
“Yes I do my Lord, but it seems it was not all for naught. Lets just say Minister Fudge was more than happy to arrange one of our friend’s early releases. McNair and I just retrieved Pettigrew last night and already he told us some things of great import. It seems that the Order has taken a Muggle into its ranks.” Lucius paused to see his master’s reaction.
The thin snakelike lips of Voldemort bent upwards in what could only be a smile. “I knew Dumbledore was growing senile, but to allow a Muggle into the Order is foolishness!”
“I agree my Lord, but there is more. My son, Draco, is currently being held against his will in a Hogwarts dungeon due to a spot of questioning he and Nott performed on a mudblood girl. We have been able to communicate however and he told me how this little girl and Potter have quiet a connection, it was Potter who stopped my son from completing his job in the first place. After learning this I looked a little deeper and it seems that this little girl is from the same block that Potter’s relatives live on, and her mother is the one Pettigrew claims is the Order member.” Lucius finished his eyes gleamed with triumph at being able to deliver this information to his Lord. The punishment he received from reporting Pettigrew’s failure still sting, but it was now all forgotten.
“You were right about Draco, Lucius, he is quite useful. Perhaps we can arrange him and Nott’s early departure from Hogwarts.” Tom’s eyes were filled with a new light, he had information that he could use against the boy now, and with it he would squeeze every drop of life from him.

D.A.D.A. Classroom
Harry bid goodbye to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Emma and Neville after dinner telling them all he had to go help Flamel with some class plans for the younger students. He had only told Ron, Hermione and Ginny why he really was going. Harry walked into the empty classroom and saw the old Professor up front.
He was currently leaning back in his chair, his feet resting on the table, and was whistling a odd little tune. Harry was struck by how this 600 year old man acted quite young and jovial.
“Hello Harry, I hope you enjoyed class today. I do know Muggle defences aren’t terribly exciting but I tried to make it at least engaging.” Flamel smiled and lowered his feet off the desk.
“It was great professor, I actually think it’s interesting to see how Muggles protect themselves because I live with them in the summer.”
“Good, good. Oh, excuse my manners, would you like a cup of tea, maybe a biscuit?” He waved his wand and both a platter appeared with both. Flamel poured two cups of tea and then passed one to Harry.
He took a small sip and found it wasn’t the usual English breakfast tea he had. He looked up at the professor.
“Oh the tea, yes I’m afraid over the years I got a little tired of the usual tea, a friend of mine from India send me a crate full of this every Christmas. It’s called Chai, which actually mean Tea in Indian.” The professor smiled as he took another sip of it.
“It’s good, it reminds me of Christmas.” Harry said as he took a sip too.
“Well, now that we are settled in what do you say I tell you what we shall be doing the rest of this year. And I can tell you it will be much more interesting and difficult than Muggle defences.” He took another sip then set down his cup and pulled a rather dusty piece of parchment of his desk. “This, Harry, is something I picked up on a trip I took with Albus over thirty years ago. It is from a group of magicians in New Zealand that were destroyed by Grindlewald in 1954, this luckily wasn’t. It seems they were interested in the Heartbond themselves and had studied it intensively. A husband and wife there had been Heartbonded and they studied them and wrote everything down.
As you can tell that wasn’t a lot, but what is here is very helpful, and will prove essential to you if you are to survive.” The professor stopped when he saw Harry’s reaction.
“What do you mean ‘if I am to survive’?” Harry asked nervously, how did he know about the prophecy, did Dumbledore betray his trust and tell Flamel.
“I mean that if you are to survive another battle with Voldemort you need to know more about the powers you now have,” The old man said softly, but the immense wisdom in his eyes carried the weight of what he just said.
“How do you know? No one does,” Harry asked nervously.
“Do not worry Harry; Albus did not betray your trust, nor anyone else. I knew it the minute I met you, the minute I looked into your eyes I saw the combination of panic, determination, and resignation. You must remember I have had hundreds of years to learn and read people, I don’t always see that as a good thing either. I promise with my life, I will not reveal what I know to anyone, it is far too important.
“That importance is also why you must learn about the other powers this Heartbond has given you and Missus Weasley. This wasn’t an accident that it happened to you Harry; it’s given you the tools to destroy him. And I hope that I will be able to teach you what you need to know to use these tools effectively, I would like to leave this world knowing that I helped preserve the future one I will not be able to experience.” Flamel once again leaned back in his chair, his eyes though never left Harry’s.
“Now, what do you say we start looking over what you can do with this bond of yours?”
Harry left the classroom an hour later exhilarated at learning more about the mysterious Heartbond and heartened knowing that he and the professor had created a bond just as strong as he Ginny’s. The professor had promised his life to helping Harry destroy Voldemort.

Quidditch Pitch, Hogwarts
The stands were crowded with eager Gryffindors waiting for Harry and the other team members to come out onto the field and start the open tryouts.
They needed to find two new chasers, Angelina and Alicia had graduated, and two new beaters seeing how Kirke and Sloper had been told by their parents to focus more on their schoolwork.
Harry, Ron, and Katie Bell were the only three remaining players and had agreed as they were getting ready to go on the field to each have an equal say in the selection process.
“Well, are you ready Harry? It’s your first duty as the Quidditch captain, you get to sit out there and make sure you pick the right people. I don’t know what McGonagall, let alone the house, would do if you picked a bad team. We’ve gotten used to winning.” Katie teased.
Harry smiled, “well with you guys helping out I can’t see why we won’t have a great team. Really though, I do want to say thank you for splitting the load with me, I don’t think I could do D.A. and this combined.”
Ron clapped him on the shoulder, “What are friends for? Anyway how could I pass up the chance to be a co-captain of Gryffindor Quidditch? And what if the Chudley Cannons come and scout, it’d be brilliant!” Ron exclaimed then grabbed his broom and helped Katie carry out the chest with the balls in it.
Harry followed close behind and soon all three were standing on one side of the massive Quidditch pitch. The amount of people in the stands was impressive, considering they were only going to be watching people go through the same drill over and over again.
Harry looked over at Ron and Katie Bell, “guess it’s time to get started, looks like we’ve got a lot of people to go through.” Harry then pointed his wand at his throat and spoke once again, this time his voice was amplified thanks to Dumbledore who taught him the spell.
“Morning everyone, I’m glad to see so many people here to tryout. We’re going to be looking at chasers first so anyone who wants to try out come on down to this side of the pitch and we’ll get started.” Harry’s voice echoed around the stadium and about a dozen Gryffindor’s came down the stands with brooms in hand to try out.
When they were all assembled in front of Harry and the others, Katie Bell spoke, “Okay, well this year we’re going to be doing things a little differently. Because Harry is a little busy right now with…other things,” she looked around nervously not sure if everyone was in the D.A., “anyways, if you line up I’ll have each of you do a lap around the pitch then some ball work, okay? Right, let’s see, Weasley and McNeal you’re first.”
Ginny grinned at Harry and Ron then jumped on her old Cleansweep 7, which was actually Charlie’s old broom. The 3rd year boy named Lucien McNeal was close to follow and soon the two were shooting around the perimeter of the pitch at lightning pace.
Slowly but surely the pairs of seekers went through the same motions as Ginny and Lucien, and in just under twenty minutes they were onto ball work. Katie would play the third chaser and the same pairs would have to work together to score five goals.
Ginny was obviously the best of the 8 students trying out, having grown up in a house obsessed with Quidditch, but the third spot for seeker was more difficult to determine. While Lucien flew well he didn’t seem to always be completely in it, then there was a fourth year girl named Simone who could barely make the turns but somehow managed to pull off a trick play even Ron hadn’t seen before. The others were somewhere in-between Ginny and Lucien skill wise, so Harry decided to not make any decisions about the players until he’d talked to Katie about it.
Up next were the beaters, and seeing how they didn’t have any beaters Ron and Harry decided to try out the kids together.
“Okay, well next up is beaters; we need two top-notch ones to make sure Slytherin doesn’t beat our arses next month. I figure with Kirke an Sloper gone we need some people who know a little bit about the game first off so they can…” but Ron was cut off mid sentence by a familiar voice from behind the group.
“Great, well looks like we have some fresh meat for the grinder,” said the voice.
“We don’t mean that literally, or do we I can’t remember after the last time I got hit. Do you Fred?” the characteristic voice of George Weasley chimed in.
“How could I? If you don’t remember I got hit so hard Madam Pomfrey had to glue my nose back on, along with turning my head back the right direction!” Fred said as he stepped out from between the crowd of beaters.
“Oh quite correct, I guess I must’ve been hit pretty hard also,” George said hitting his head with his hand dramatically as they came to a stop in front of Harry and Ron.
Ron was first to respond, “What the bloody hell are you two doing here?”
George stepped back in mock offence, “Why how dare you ask such a thing!”
Fred stepped forward, “Aren’t your two bolder and more dashing brothers allowed to check in on their ickle Ronnikins?”
Ron had grown more confident, but not enough to turn bright red at his brothers’ teasing. “Alright shut it both of you before I hex you black and blue.”
Right at the same time Fred and George both pulled out their wands a red flash came crashing into the twins.
Collapsed on the ground with Fred and George was Ginny attempting to hug both of them at the same time.
Fred and George both stood up pulling their sister with them, Ginny pulled back smiling at the unexpected but welcome sight of the twin’s faces. “What are you two doing here, is everything alright?”
“Yes, yes,” Fred said.
“Everything’s fine, we just thinking to ourselves wouldn’t it be great to help our dear friend Harry Potter out?”
“Help me out how?” Harry said apprehensively, usually their antics ended up in an explosion or change of figure.
“Well we heard that you were having beater tryouts and figured to give you a bit of a hand,” Fred said enthusiastically.
“Yeah, who better to scout for new beaters than the best, most modest, Gryffindor has to offer?” George added.
“Really? That’s brilliant guys; I can’t tell you how much this is going to help! I mean Ron and I could’ve probably chosen two people but now we have someone who’s played the position to really run them through their paces.” Harry said happily, then paused for a moment, “does Dumbledore know you’re here?”
“Are you insinuating we would have broken in here?” George cried.
“Preposterous! We flooed right into Albus’ own fireplace, he seemed very happy to see us back.”
“Wouldn’t say that about Filch though,” Ron said, smiling now at hearing his brothers’ reason for coming to school again.
Fred slung his arm around Harry’s shoulder and smiled at the crowd, “Do you reckon we should start? Looks like we have loads of people to go through.”
“Yeah! I guess I’ll just let you two take control of this part, Ron, Katie, and I will watch.” Harry announced the change in the try outs then turned it over to Fred and George.

The Caucus Mountains, Russia
“Lucius,” the Dark Lord hissed as his servant stepped inside the dimly lit chamber.
Malfoy dropped to one knee bowing his head deeply, “Master, I have prepared everything as you have instructed. We can strike even tonight if you so wish.”
“The house is unprotected? I do not want to risk my servants on a task where I will loose them. Not yet at least…we are too few in number.” The Voldemort’s usual malice seemed to be mixed with glee also.
“Yes, my lord, the Order does not expect us to know this information. On the issue of servants, McNair and Severus are working on that as we speak. It will not be long until we are at our full strength once again.” Malfoy spoke with the determination only a truly devoted person could have.
“Very well Lucius, strike tonight. Do not leave anything alive, and if you loose anyone I will be most displeased.” His burning red eyes grew in intensity as he spoke.
Malfoy stood up, bowed and rushed out of the door to prepare the attack.

Harry’s Quarters, Hogwarts
Ron, Katie, Harry, Fred, and George had been up in Harry and Ginny’s room for the better part of the day after tryouts had been completed. They had been discussing who to choose for the open positions. The twins’ tests had proven to be quite effective, not only showing who wouldn’t work but highlighting the skills of those who were possible candidates; among those was Harry’s old roommate Dean, who flew quite well and was now the topic of discussion.
“I don’t know Harry, he can fly but will he be a good match for the other beater? I mean these two players have to work together flawlessly, and I’ve heard that Dean is sometimes a bit…abrasive.” Katie said after a long discussion of his great broom skills.
“I know Katie, he can come off that way, but I think that if we give him the responsibility it’ll straighten him up and make him work in a group better.” Harry said as he munched half-mindedly on a biscuit Dobby had brought up earlier.
Ron rubbed his temples and laid back in his chair, “So, are we agreed on Dean?”
“Yes already!” George said, “and with him we’ll stick Colin. He flew fine and can take orders. I honestly didn’t see anyone better than those two.”
“George is right. I think that if you can get through Dean’s rather thick skull that he’s supposed to work as a team he should work out.” Fred added.
“I agree,” Ron said.
“I second that I guess,” Katie spoke and raised her hand as if to vote.
“Well I guess that solves our beater shortage, Dean and Colin it is. I think I’ll out that Lucien kid on as a backup just in case, maybe he’ll get better.” Harry said to Ron who was writing the names down on a piece of parchment to post in the commons. “So Katie, Chasers…who do you think we should pick?”
“Well Ginny is a given, she was by far the best flier,” Katie said matter-of-factly, “but for the other spot I’m having trouble figuring out. I guess it’d have to be either that Simone girl or Dennis Creevey. Although I don’t know if it’d be good to have both Creeveys on the team.”
“I agree with Katie about Ginny, but to tell you the truth I think having both of them on the team might make them try harder. You know sibling competition and all?” Harry said.
“I don’t want to sound like the brother but I agree with you two on Ginny, she really was the best. And I think Harry’s right, I know when I was playing with you two I always tried hard to impress you. I think it might be a good choice.” Ron said then picked up what had to be his twentieth biscuit and ate it in once bite.
“Well I’m glad you’re enjoying those biscuits Ron, so unless you think we really shouldn’t have Dennis on the team I think we’ve found our chasers,” Harry said clapping his hands together. “So now if you’d finish up that list I’ll go down to the commons and put it up. It’s past midnight so I don’t think there’ll be too many people around.”

Magnolia Road, Little Whinging, Surrey
It was past midnight when the street lamps started to wink out one at a time down the entirety of Magnolia Road. Soon the entire street was swamped in darkness and several loud cracks echoed down the dark street.
In the middle of the road stood five dark hooded figures, each one had a white mask covering their faces. The whole group only remained motionless for a moment then moved quickly to a nearby house.
Two of the death eaters raised their wands and cast what appeared to be a shimmering blanket over the small two-storied house. The other three cloaked figures walked slowly through the shimmering curtain and approached the door.
One of the three raised their wand and slashed it downwards. The door exploded inwards, shards of it going everywhere. There wasn’t any noise however, and the curtain around the house lit up when pieces of the door hit it. The three death eaters ran into the now smoking entrance way and out of sight.
Moments later the window in the top right corner of the house lit up deathly green for a moment then slowly faded away.
The two death eaters holding up the shield now lowered their wands and waited for the other three to come out of the partly destroyed house. In the top windows flames appeared, lapping at the glass. After all five were outside they simultaneous raised their wands and shouted Moremordre! A serpentine figure appeared in the sky, winding itself around a grinning skull. All above the now blazing house.
The middle death eater tore off his mask, his silver hand glinting from the only source of light, the flames.
Wormtail let out a shrill laugh and disapperated, along with the other four death eaters.

Gryffindor Commons Room, Hogwarts
“Harry! Harry! Come on mate, please wake up! Fred, go get McGonagall, George, Katie help me hold onto him before he hurts himself” Ron shouted as he struggled to hold Harry’s hands down lest he hurt himself with his flailing.
A moment earlier he, Harry, Katie and the Twins had been posting the Quidditch picks when Harry all of a sudden grabbed at his forehead and dropped to the floor.
Ron knew right away that this wasn’t the normal ache and pain, Harry had never blacked out before. Ron tried to shake him, tried to get him to snap out of his convulsions but nothing seemed to help.
Both George and Katie were struggling to hold Harry still, each one was holding onto one of his legs with everything they had. All of a sudden Katie yelped and pulled away, “Ow! He shocked me!” A second later George and Ron had the same reaction, forced to let go because of the sharp stings they received every time they grabbed hold of him.
“Bloody hell, his magic’s going haywire!” George cursed once again attempting to grab a hold of Harry.
“I don’t thinks it’s going haywire I think it’s trying to protect him because he can’t do it himself.” Ron said.
Finally, after trying several more times to grab hold of his friend, Ron saw it wasn’t going to work for them to hold onto him he stood up and pulled out his wand, “Sorry mate, gotta do this for your own good.” Ron then shot a stunner right at his best friend’s chest. Instantly Harry fell limp, his eyes rolling back into their sockets and his legs and arms dropping to the floor.
“Harry! Where are you Harry? Ron, where’s Harry? I felt something happened to him, is he okay?” Ginny was shouting, half hysterical as she ran into the commons room. When she saw the limp form of Harry on the ground she broke into tears as she crumpled to the ground.
Ron came over and lifted his sister off the ground, whispering to her. “Gin, shhhh, he’s alright, he’s alright. I had to stun him so he wouldn’t hurt himself. He was having a fit. I’ve already sent Fred to go get McGonagall; she should be here any moment.” Ron rubbed his little sister’s back softly, trying to calm her down.
A moment later, true to Ron’s word McGonagall came striding into the commons in her nightgown. “Mr. Weasley, where is Potter? Is he alright, what happened,” she then came around the couch and saw the motionless Harry “Merlin! Is he alright, why is he unconscious?”
“I had to stun him professor, he was having a rally bad fit and we couldn’t control him, his magic kept shocking us every time we tried to grab onto him. I didn’t know what else to do,” Ron said, his face much paler now that the adrenaline had worn off.
McGonagall looked stunned but nodded and then pulled out her wand and muttered rennervate. Instantly Harry shot straight up, his eyes snapping wide open.
“Professor! He…he…she…gone…Massey…Wormtail…fire…where’s Dumbledore…Joy…why?...Voldemort killed…gone…” Harry sputtered randomly his body going limp once again.
McGonagall’s face paled considerably a moment after Harry had gone unconscious again, realizing what Harry had just told them. She spun to face Ron, Ginny, Katie, and the twins. Ronald, go get the headmaster, the password’s Runts. Fred, George you tow get a hold of Madam Pomfrey, tell her to hurry, then go immediately find Severus and tell him to got o headquarters and alert the others. Ginevra, Miss Bell, go find both Miss Granger and Miss Massey and bring them down here immediately. McGonagall then turned again to Harry and lifted him up gently brushing the hair away from his eyes and scar.
“Professor, what happened? What did Harry mean?” Ron asked nervously, still unsure why Harry’s random sputtering had to do with McGonagall’s intense alarm
“I believe Harry has just witnessed Pettigrew murdering Joy Massey,” said McGonagall, all colour from her face gone now.


Magnolia Road, Little Whinging, Surrey
The house was little more than a pile of ashes when the Order members finally apparated to the home of Joy Massey. It had only been several minutes since Tonks had received a message from Dumbledore and scrambled the group of members at Grimmauld Place.
Tonks, Hestia Jones, and Lupin stood outside the now smoking shell of what used to be the Massey’s house. Above it hovered the Dark Mark, appearing and disappearing as the smoke wreathed around it.
Tonks’ eyes filled with tears as she watched the house fall apart with her new found friend in it. Lupin placed a hand on her shoulder and simply watched as the fire continued to surround the house.
“We need to tell Albus what happened. He’ll want to figure out how they got through the wards,” Hestia said quietly. They both nodded and a second later all three of them disapperated from the street to the sound of approaching fire engines.

Headmasters’s Office, Hogwarts
Harry sat completely motionless in the large red chair in front of Dumbledore’s desk. He hadn’t said a word since he had been taken up to the headmaster’s office by McGonagall. The images of what he had just seen flashed through his mind, the fire, the flash of green, Joy falling to the ground, everything. What unsettled him most however was that he hadn’t seen it through Voldemort’s eyes, he had watched the entire murder occur through the eyes of Joy. Harry shook his head violently trying to dislodge this new, horrible experience from his mind.
“If you do that much longer you might really shake everything out,” Dumbledore said softly walking out of an adjacent room Harry had never been in.
“I’d rather not have anything in my head instead of this! I see bloody everything, I saw them kill her, I was in her mind! I’ve seen Arthur almost get killed, I’ve seen Sirius get killed, and now this! I can’t do it anymore, I just can’t! Give me a memory charm, obliterate me, here use my wand. You can just say it was an accident” Harry shouted shaking harder, tears now falling down his face.
The space around him crackled as if in an electrical storm, blue sparks were jumping from him to the metal objects around the room. The portraits of the old headmasters were shouting various warnings to calm down some even fled their frames. His face showed a mixture of desperation and immense sorrow, tears were streaming down his face as he tried to hand Dumbledore his wand.

Although the rest of the room was in chaos now, some of the headmaster’s instruments were now starting to emit loud whistles or glow brightly, Dumbledore himself sat perfectly still in his chair, acting just the same way he had done months ago when he had told Harry of the prophecy.
Harry was now completely out of breath, his anger now having died down to gaping sobs. He tossed his wand onto the desk and slumped back into the chair. After another moment of only Harry’s sobs breaking the silence, Dumbledore spoke in his usual calm voice.
“I know how hard it must be to live with these memories, every time you have another I see you age; not in appearance, but in your eyes, in your actions. This war is causing you to have to grow up much faster than anyone, especially me, would have liked you to have to; but you cannot forget the past. You must never forget it, from there you will draw your strength, from the people you love and from everything you’ve witnessed in your life.” Dumbledore gave him a sad smile, “you will have to be even stronger now, because you are the only person Emmaline has to look up to now.”
At that moment a knock came from the door behind Harry, “Enter.” Dumbledore said, his face showing his grief. “Remember Harry, you must be strong. Your friends rely on you, and you rely on them. If one person falls, so will the others.” The headmaster said quietly as McGonagall entered the room with her hands guiding a shell shocked Emma into the room. Behind them entered a crying Ginny, and behind her Ron came in holding a weeping Hermione.
The moment Emma saw Harry sitting in the chair she burst into tears again and ran to him. Harry held his arms out and picked her up holding her tightly. He had never been hugged when he was sad before he and Ginny had been bonded so he was somewhat unsure what to say; instead he just kept hugging her. Slowly Emma’s crying slowed until she was just occasionally weeping.
Harry sat her down in the chair and kneeled down so he would be the same height as the little girl.
“Is my mom…is she…De…de...dea...dead?” Emma whispered in-between breaths.
Harry had no idea what to say, he knew she deserved the truth but it was so hard to tell someone their only parent was now dead. With a sinking feeling he realized that if the war continued to escalate like it was Emma would be just the first of many children to be told they no longer had a mother or father…or both. He finally just nodded, his muscles at first seemed to refuse to do it but finally he managed.
At this simple movement Emma burst into tears again, wrapping her arms around Harry even tighter than before. They sat there for what felt to Harry to be hours, no one said a thing, the only noise was coming from everyone’s sobs. Finally Emma pulled away from Harry. Something had changed in her eyes, there was sorrow, horrible sorrow in them, but there was something else that simmered just below. It was difficult for Harry to place but he could have sworn it reminded him of the same look Ginny had the night she learned of the prophecy.
“Emmaline, perhaps you would like to sit down, I know how much this hurts. I have always found crying is one way to sort through one’s problems, Merlin knows I have done it one more than one occasion. What happened to your mother was tragic, this whole war is tragic. I promise you this though, no harm will come to you, I promise.” Dumbledore talked quietly, soothingly, but something about his sentiments struck Harry as apathetic. It seemed, and many times Harry found was true, that the headmaster was more concerned with the war itself than the victims.
“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think that you are the person that should handle this” Harry started, his magic simmering once again. “Let her stay with Ginny and I tonight, she doesn’t have to sort through anything tonight, let her be sad. Just for one night, you never let me do that, you always have placed something else on me when the only thing I needed was some time to sort through things. And this wasn’t tragic, this was a mistake! The wards you placed around Joy’s house should have stood up to any attack they threw at it. I know it’s true also, that’s all I’ve been studying for the past three weeks. They-should-never-have-gotten-inside-that-house”
The room fell into silence once again, this time it wasn’t from sorrow though, the office had taken on an unsettling tenseness with Harry’s drastic change of mood. McGonagall stood in the corner her jaw slack from Harry’s forceful statement towards the headmaster.
For his part Dumbledore remained as stoic as ever, not making the tiniest sign that he had heard Harry’s statement, instead he stared right at Harry, his twinkling blue eyes piercing Harry’s emerald green ones. For a moment it seemed time had stopped, no one moved, no one even breathed. A growing charge could be felt in the room, the torches somehow grew brighter, flaring in their sconces.
Hermione yelped when a small spark of magic jumped from Ron’s arm to hers. This seemed to break Harry out of his staring contest with the headmaster. The torches returned to normal and the office lost its charge. Everyone, McGonagall included breathed a sigh of relief.
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, looking visibly tired, as if his age had finally caught up with him. “Very well, Miss Massey you may go with Harry and Miss Weasley and stay there with them. I am available whenever you are ready to talk.”
Emma nodded, her sobs having stopped during Dumbledore and Harry’s argument. Harry took her by the shoulder and led her over to the door. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione followed suite, none of them saying anything while they left.
The door clicked shut, leaving McGonagall and Dumbledore alone in the office. McGonagall was the first to talk.
“Albus, would you care to fill me in on what just happened? I though you and Potter had fixed things since the summer?”
Dumbledore waved his wand and conjured a pot. He poured two cups of tea in silence as McGonagall waited patiently. “I am afraid some cuts run too deeply to be healed. You know he was right about the wards, about how it was my fault. I did something wrong, something that shouldn’t have happened. I can’t understand it was a complex set of wards; nothing should be able to break that, not even Tom. She entrusted her wellbeing to me and I betrayed it. Now Harry witnessed another person become an orphan just like him.” The headmaster spoke all of this in a slow clam tone, staring intently at his cup of tea.
McGonagall was stunned, this was the first time she had ever heard Albus say he had made a mistake in her life, it appeared that even he was being worn down by this horrible war. “Albus, he is just a child, it is difficult for him to deal with so much. You do remember the last war, everyone lost so much; including you. Let him be for the moment, he needs friends more than controllers right now.”
Dumbledore looked up at McGonagall for the first time since the students had left. “I do remember the last war, I can’t forget it. All I want to do is protect Harry from his future, from his fate…” Dumbledore stopped once again, he had yet to tell McGonagall of the prophecy but it appeared that now would be the moment, “I am afraid I haven’t told you the whole story of why Harry is so troubled right now. You do know how Voldemort went after a prophecy concerning Harry last year?”
“Yes, and it was destroyed when Longbottom dropped it.”
Dumbledore sighed, then stood up and went over to the chest holding the pensive, “well I am afraid that is where the truth separates from what is common knowledge.”

Harry and Ginny’s Dorm, Hogwarts
The sitting room was deathly silent, only the crackling of the fire interrupted the late night silence.
Harry, Emma, and the others had stumbled into the room fifteen minutes ago and already Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had drifted off to sleep where they lay. Ginny had curled up next to Harry, her head was now nestled gently on his shoulder. Hermione and Ron had fallen asleep on the couch next to him, Ron holding Hermione in a protective embrace.
Emma was sitting next to Harry, holding onto his hand with both of hers. They now just stared into the fire, entranced by the licks of fire, coiling around the wood and up the flue.
Harry’s eyes were glazed over; he was going over everything he had just done in the office; from blaming Dumbledore to shocking Hermione. His life was slowly getting more and more complicated, he had come to a startling revelation in his rage though. He had realized that everything relied completely on him; the whole future of the wizarding world was now at his feet. Unlike Voldemort however he did not relish the notion of having the whole world at his mercy. Now Emma was his responsibility, if he hadn’t befriended the little girl Joy wouldn’t be laying dead in a burning house.
He looked over to Emma who was toying fretfully with the edge of a blanket, her tears had stopped but Harry could clearly tell that she was still shocked by the loss. He knew exactly how it felt to loose the only person that mattered to him, the one person who was like a father to him, so now he had reached a conclusion that he would do anything in his power to take care of this girl.
Emma noticed that Harry was now looking down at her and she let go of the blanket and stared back at him. Harry wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer, holding her in a one armed hug. “Harry?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I help?” Emma said cryptically.
“Help with what?” Harry looked at Emma’s eyes; the same strange look was there again one that reminded him startlingly of Ginny.
“Can I help you kill him? I want to help you kill Voldemort…he killed my mom. I don’t have any family anywhere, I’m an orphan!” Emma said, the first part said with resilience but then breaking down into sobs again.
Harry hugged her again, whispering, “Shh…shh…you’re not alone, you’re not an orphan. You have me, and Ginny, and Hermione, and Ron and Lupin, we’re you’re family and we won’t let anything happen to you. I know you want to kill him, I do too, I don’t want anything bad to happen again. I don’t know how to kill him, but when I do I promise I will make sure I stop him. I promise I will stop him from hurting anyone else” he spoke with a certain amount of force, but mainly out of love for his newfound sister, she and Ginny were the two reasons he had not gone crazy this summer. Every time he was on the edge of snapping there was always Emma or Ginny to drag him back down onto a firm footing.
Emma looked up at Harry and knew he wasn’t lying, he really meant what he was saying. Without saying another word she nodded, smiled faintly, then rested her head on Harry’s other shoulder closing her eyes. A moment later Harry fell asleep also, his dreams a welcome respite from the horrible world that surrounded them all.

The Caucus Mountains, Russia
Voldemort cackled with glee, a man dressed in rags was writhing on the floor below him, his limbs kicking out in agony as Voldemort applied curse after curse on the poor villager. The man, a peasant, had stumbled accidentally onto the Dark Lord’s base and was now paying the price for his ‘luck’.
Voldemort, upon unlocking Salazar’s hidden library deep within this castle had found numerous dark books filled with hexes and curses he had never even imagined possible-this man had become his guinea pig. There was also one spell, a set of spells to be more exact that had sent the Dark Lord into this sadistic laughter, it was the one he and his servants had been searching for ever since he had returned. Voldemort finally delivered the killing curse on the spent corpse of the poor peasant as Lucius walked into the chamber.
“Lucius, this news had better be pleasing, I have found some new spells I am quite fond of” the Dark Lord fingered his wand lovingly in his bony hands.
Lucius bowed down before him never looking up, “Lord, the attack was successful, the spell performed as you said it would. It was as if nothing was there, I wouldn’t have imagined it possible if I hadn’t seen it.”
“Well done Lucius, you please your lord. I now have the power I need to throw that fool Albus off his pedestal. You are excused. Instruct Tippet to come in, I have some new spells I want to show him” as Lucius bowed and exited a smile formed on the Dark Lord’s serpentine face

Headmaster’s Office, Hogwarts
McGonagall sat down heavily into the chair adjacent to the headmasters. She had just heard the prophecy that she, and everyone else believed to be destroyed. She now realized the immense, crushing burden Albus had placed on Harry. She doubted that even as an adult she would have been able to handle such a prophecy- to kill or be killed. She shuttered as the words rang through her head.
“Now you see the immensity of what Harry must deal with, there is a very small group of people who know the prophecy. Myself, Harry, Ginevra, and now you, we have decided it to be wisest to maintain this secrecy for as long as possible. There is another problem though, what you have heard is the entire prophecy. Harry and Ginny have only heard the first part” noting McGonagall’s look of shock he explained, “it was another piece of foolishness on my part, one I am having trouble dealing with. I would have told him tonight, but I did not think it appropriate to have to place even more burden on him than what is already there.”
“Albus! You must tell him, he must know everything. How could he trust you if you continue to keep things, things he deserves to know, away from him? If you do not tell him soon I will, I do not like undermining your authority but he is my student also and if our world relies on him then I will do my best to arm him with the knowledge he needs. Tell him Albus, or I will” McGonagall stood up and exited the room without another word, leaving a conflicted Dumbledore to contemplate the tiny floating figure of the young Trelawney reciting the prophecy:
…Power the Dark Lord knows not. – Although he is the bearer he will not be able to wield it alone. Four companions he shall gather; one in love, one in family, one in brotherhood, and one in compassion.-The one in love, their inner fire will guide his passion.-The one in family, their boundless knowledge will rein his instinct.-The one in brotherhood, their grounded faith will steady him.-The one in compassion, their boundless admiration will strengthen his resolve.-Fire, Air, Earth, and Water will blend to one and bring light when the veil of death is raised high once again.-But beware, although as one they are strong, alone each will fail. There is a fifth whose repentance they must accept for if not, the bearer will be overcome. To end the darkness one must be willing to light the torch…
Trelawney’s voice cracked and slowly faded as the image once again fell back into the shimmering pool of the Pensive.

The Great Hall, Hogwarts
The next day in the great hall was unsettling to say the least. The news of Joy’s murder had spread in the usual way around Hogwarts meaning nearly every person in the school knew about the incident by that morning. Emma, Harry and the others had slept in late that day; McGonagall had taken care of alerting all the teachers of their absence. When they did finally come down to the Great Hall they did so with great trepidation.
Harry had remembered what it was like when the papers had written something ridiculous about him so he knew to be wary of how people would react to this news; Emma, not to mention himself, was too shaken up to deal with that kind of attention.
Because it was nearly noon the tables were empty but everyone knew that lunch would begin in a little under and hour, so if they wanted to avoid a commotion they would have to eat quickly.
While Emma appeared to be normal there was something in the way she acted that had changed, mostly to those people who had spent time with her. The cheerful smile she always had plastered on her face was now gone and she moved with a certain amount of lethargy.
Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Emma all sat down at the Gryffindor table and picked up some of the scraps of food that were still on the large platters sent up by the house elves; it was mostly pieces of toast or some bacon.
“Come on Emma, you need something to eat, you’ve been up all night,” Ginny said coaxingly, trying to pass her a plate with some toast on it.
Emma just shook her head and looked back down at her lap sullenly.
“Emmaline, you need to have something or else you’ll just wither up. You need some food, how else are you going to manage DA lessons?” Hermione added, trying to take her mind off her loss.
Emma once again shook her head, not bother to look up this time. “Just let her be, give her time to think” Harry said, in a seemingly angry tone. “All you want is to be alone for a while, no matter how badly other people say otherwise, trust me on this…” and he left it at that, taking another large bite out of his cold toast.
Ginny took Harry’s hand supportively, he had told her many different stories about his first few days at his Aunt and Uncle’s home this summer. Every one of them had to do with him falling to pieces, sometimes laughing manically, other times contemplating suicide. She had learned something profound from his stories; the mind was a fragile thing when it was hurt, and it sometimes just needs to reorganize to deal with the new pains it has.
Harry squeezed her hand back, he could feel his heartbeat in his hand, and as usual it was beating at the same time as her own. They had discovered this several days ago after Quidditch match where even though Ginny hadn’t been playing her heart was beating as if she was playing just as hard as Harry was. Everyday they seemed to uncover more odd quirks that the bond had. Today she had awoken only to be enveloped by a throbbing grief that she somehow innately knew was not only hers but Harry’s.
“What’s the matter mate? Are you okay?” Ron asked concernedly, he knew how badly Harry had been hurt by Sirius’ death and was nervous that this might have put him over the edge.
Harry looked up from his plate and smiled sadly, his eyes showing the same pain that Emma had. “Yeah mate I’m fine, are you okay?”
Ron almost had to laugh, the typical Harry, always worrying about everyone but himself “I’m getting by” he replied.
Harry smiled again, he knew Ron was just trying to be the faithful friend he always had been. The pain he was dealing with however wasn’t only due to Joy’s death, it was the prophecy. For the past week he had been anguishing over the right way to tell them about the prophecy. He had kept it secret from him friends, his family for too long now. It was beginning to tear him apart from the inside. Dumbledore gave you permission, just do it! I can’t they will become too protective, they’ll treat me differently, I won’t be their friend just “their duty.” What the fuck are you thinking Potter! Of course they’ll be your friends, they’ve been through just as much as you have, wake up and smell the roses, one way or another they’ll eventually figure it out. Just tell them now, it will help you, and it will let them help you. FINE, I’ll do it, happy?......Silence.
Harry looked up again from his plate, squeezing Ginny’s hand for reassurance. “Um, guys, I have something I need to tell you. I’ve been keeping it secret for too long and its driving me nuts. Can we go somewhere private, somewhere no one will overhear us?” Harry said finally, as he said it he knew there was no going back now, he was going to tell them about his fate.
Ron looked nervously at Hermione and his sister then answered, “Sure Harry, what about the Room of Requirement?”
Harry nodded, saying nothing else. He then stood up and, still holding Ginny’s hand as if it were his last hold to solid ground, took Emma by the shoulder and walked with them out of the Great Hall up to the Room of Requirement.

Room of Requirement, Hogwarts
The room was small, just big enough to fit all five of them comfortably. There was a large fireplace and a table with some tea and biscuits already on it.
When they all got situated Ron talked first, “What’s going on Harry, you’re starting to freak us out. You’re not in trouble are you?”
Harry was didn’t saying anything for a little longer, but then he finally spoke after figuring out just how to say it. Ginny was still right next to him, she knew what he was trying to do and wanted nothing more to say it herself, but she also knew that he had to do it himself.
“Do you remember who the prophecy that the Death Eaters tried to take this summer was about?”
“Of course, it was about you and Voldemort, but Neville dropped it. No one heard it over the fighting either” Hermione said matter-of-factly
Harry sighed, gathering his strength for what he was going to tell them, “well that’s right, no one heard it, and that was supposed to be the only place the prophecy was held. But someone else had heard it when Trelawney made the prediction Dumbledore was there in the same room.”
Hermione and Ron’s jaws dropped at the same time, just as Harry had guessed they would, he continued on so they wouldn’t say anything. “Well the night we came back from the Ministry Dumbledore told me what the prophecy was. He told me not to tell anyone about it, not even you guys; but I can’t stand it anymore, its been chewing me up inside. If any of you don’t want to see it you can leave, but if you do stay you have promise not tell ANYONE about it, not even talk about to each other; Voldemort would do anything to figure out what the prophecy says. Are you sure you guys want to hear it?”
“I promise,” Emma said, the only one who actually said anything, both Ron and Hermione nodded their heads still too shocked by this revelation.
Harry pulled his wand out and performed the same spell Dumbledore had done that night with Ginny.
The faint image of Trelawney appeared suddenly of the middle and began to talk in her otherworldly voice. The one with the power to…

Malfoy Manor, Outskirts of London
Draco stepped out of the fireplace and dusted his expensive silken cloaks off. He had just came from the Dark Lord’s castle and had received his new orders, do nothing, wait for my command. That was all Lord Voldemort had told him, to just wait for his signal and be ready to go.
Draco had been freed from his holding pen at the ministry by a raid last night by the death eaters that coincided with the murder of the muggle mother Joy Massey. Draco couldn’t remember a time when he was happier to see the face of the snivelling rat called Wormtail than last night. When he returned home he was greeted by his father and then promptly told to go prepare for a trip to Blauroc Castle for his debriefing by the Dark Lord himself.
Draco limped back to his room and tossed his mask onto his bed. He pulled off his robes and then his pants. His right leg had completely turned a dark purple, and there were sores that were oozing dark blood, he winced looking at it in the mirror. It seemed even harsher when compared to the sickly pale colour the rest of his skin was.
The Lord had not been pleased to hear of his expulsion, but did seem intrigued to learn that Potter had decided to take a fancy to the filthy bloodtraitors the Weasleys’ only daughter. The rest of his body had been spared abuse due to that piece of information.
Give me a chance, I will prove myself Lord, I will kill Potter myself. His proclamation echoed in his own ears, it had amused the Dark Lord, amused him. The Malfoy pride had welled up inside of him, he had to restrain himself from speaking out, it would have meant certain death if he had.
“You will be mine Potter, one day…” Malfoy muttered to himself as he limped off to the bathroom to try and staunch the bleeding.

The Room of Requirement, Hogwarts
Harry straightened as the prophecy died down…Power the Dark Lord knows not. – Although he is… he had never heard those last two words before. He was sure of that because he had played it back over and over in his mind, analyzing everything, trying to find a way it might not be him; but he had never heard those words before.
“Why is it stopping, it sounded like there was more,” Ron asked wide eyed, he was rubbing Hermione’s shoulder comfortingly as she cried silently.
“There is…” Harry said suddenly with the suddenness only of someone who knows they are being played. The fire glowed brighter as he stood up, and without any explanation he marched out of the room, slamming the door shut so hard it snapped in two.

Headmaster’s Office, Hogwarts
Dumbledore sat at his desk filling out paperwork for the Wizengamot when he was interrupted by one of the portraits near the door. “Albus,” the portrait of a large man with a rather feeble attempt at a beard began, “the Potter boy is coming up the hallway to your office and he doesn’t look happy. Felt like he nearly singed my frame when he walked by. Thought you should know.”
“Thank you Bringsfeld, I am afraid he may have discovered what I was preparing to tell him” Dumbledore stood up from his desk and moved over to retrieve the pensieve from its cupboard.
At the same time that the headmaster was doing that Harry had arrived at the two stone gargoyles that marked the office’s entrance. Harry never lost his stride, instead of stopping to give the password the door snapped open with such a force that a crack ran up one of the stone pillars on the side. He took the spiral steps two at a time, having to stop because they did not rise fast enough for his pace, when they finally did reach the top the door, much to his surprise, was already open.
Harry continued walking forward; the torches flickered wildly as he walked into the room, Dumbledore’s office crackled with the huge amount of magic Harry was throwing off in his anger. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THE WHOLE PROPHECY?” Harry shouted as he entered the office; but before he could continue his rant his eyes fell to the now recognizable floating image of the young Trelawney.
…Power the Dark Lord knows not. – Although he is the bearer he will not be able to wield it alone. Four companions he shall gather; one in love, one in family, one in brotherhood, and one in compassion.-The one in love, their inner fire will guide his passion.-The one in family, their boundless knowledge will rein his instinct.-The one in brotherhood, their grounded faith will steady him.-The one in compassion, their boundless admiration will strengthen his resolve.-Fire, Air, Earth, and Water will blend to one and bring light when the veil of death is raised high once again.-But beware, although as one they are strong, alone each will fail. There is a fifth whose repentance they must accept for if not, the bearer will be overcome. To end the darkness one must be willing to light the torch…
Harry fell silent as he heard the second part of the prophecy echo into the room. It seemed to magnify as it went on, her voice growing louder and louder as Harry heard more of his fate be told by a person whom had predicted his death every several months for years now. Yet he remained silent, everything in him wanted to push the pensieve off the table and storm off but the words somehow stopped him from doing anything. Her voice died out and the pensieve flickered out once again. Harry was speechless, he had come in here to fight Dumbledore but somehow he was now sitting in the chair unable to even look at the man.
“Albus, you have been completely dishonest with me, you have put me and my friends in danger numerous times, you have made Emma an orphan, and now you have lost my trust. Even with all the things you had done to me I still trusted you completely, I believed you knew what you were doing. But now, now you have thrown it away, and what for? You just wanted to keep another bleeding part of the prophecy secret from me! I will take classes from you, I will listen to your announcements, but I will not take any more of your advice, all it has done has brought us all grief. Now I’m going to go back down to my room and tell explain to my friends what the prophecy they just heard is all about. Good afternoon Headmaster.” With that Harry stood up, and walked down the staircase.
Harry walked out so quickly he didn’t see the tear run down the headmaster’s face or the look of absolute sadness of his old weathered face. The professor pulled out his wand, touched it to his forehead, and with a quick yank the memory of the conversation dropped into the whirling pool.

Offensive Light Magic Classroom, Hogwarts
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were lined up outside the door to the training room as they waited their turn to go through the new setting. Moody had changed it from the Department of Mysteries to Diagon Alley due to a recent increase in Death Eater sightings around the area.
Hermione and Ron stood together behind Harry who hadn’t said anything all morning. They were all emotionally and physically exhausted from yesterdays events.
The day before Harry had told them about the prophecy and then subsequently stormed out of room after some unknown revelation. He came back half an hour later and explained what had just occurred in Dumbledore’s Office. He was still so upset that the room trembled every so slightly, it took the combined efforts of Emma holding his hand and Ginny running her hands through his hair to calm him down. Finally he told them that there turned out to be another part that he hadn’t known about until just now and recounted word for word what it had said.
They had passed the rest of the day in the room, discussing what it could mean and what they could do to help him. Hermione had headed straight for the books, scouring everything she could find that mentioned prophecies. Ron meanwhile worked on some new plans he and Harry had discussed earlier about organizing the D.A. during battle. He had started reading several muggle history books Hermione had sent in by her mom and dad, and he was now devising his own strategy to fit the D.A. size and skill.
Harry sat on one of the couches with Ginny and Emma asleep around him. He was staring at a piece of parchment on which Hermione had written out the entire prophecy, making sure to charm it to turn into a quill whenever anyone but Harry touched it. His lips moved silently, going over the words relentlessly, probing the depths of its meaning, and trying with all him might to find a way to prove it wasn’t him the prophecy talked about. Yet no matter how hard he tried he knew that it was unavoidable, with the second part of the prophecy it now cemented the fact that it was indeed him.
Hermione had been the one who made the revelation of course, after listening to the prophecy only two times she pulled out a piece of parchment and began writing. What she came up with in the end scared them all.
Four companions he shall gather; one in love, one in family, one in brotherhood, and one in compassion.
Hermione had written the one line of the prophecy in block letters and below it, scratching things out every once and a while, was a list:
One in love: Ginny
One in Family: Me
One in Brotherhood: Ronald
One in Compassion: Emma
They all stared at it for a while, then Harry picked it up and threw it in the fireplace. “No one can know, if anyone figured out you were part of the prophecy you’d be in even more danger than you are right now. Please don’t tell anyone, I don’t want to be responsible for anyone else dying.” He begged, his eyes showing the immense load that was weighing his very heart down.
Ron stepped up to him and looked him right in the eyes, not blinking as he stared into the deep red of his eyes, “we promise mate. Looks like we’re in it together now, we’ll need to stick together I reckon.”
Harry let out an exasperated laugh, no matter how serious the situation, Ron managed to get Harry to smile, even if it was just a quick grin. “I reckon so, but I promise I’ll never let you guys down. You mean too much to me.”
“POTTER!” Moody barked from inside the doorway. Harry snapped into reality, looked back at his friends and entered.
Waiting on the other side of the door was an exact replica of Diagon Alley, the door he entered from was the morphing brick wall he was all too familiar with. The place was bristling with activity, and Moody and Shacklebolt were nowhere to be seen. Harry drew his wand and began to cautiously walk down the cobblestone street.
The usual order of random witches and wizards were all around him, bustling to and fro from all manner of stores. This varied greatly with the last time he’d been to Diagon Alley and there had barely been a single person out in the whole area.
He passed by Quality Quidditch Supplies and Flourish and Blotts slightly amazed by the stunning recreation Moody and Shacklebolt had created. He had just finished eying an assortment of Quidditch robes when something in his periphery caught his eye. He turned around to see two black hooded figures marching purposefully down the street, their wands already drawn; they were heading right for him.
Harry raised his own now, aiming it right for them, his pulse rising as he caught a glimpse of blonde hair from inside one of the hoods.
In a flash the two figures pulled off their hoods to reveal white masks, one of which Harry knew instantly to be Lucius Malfoy. Harry whipped his wand, not uttering a word, only drawing it across in a slashing motion across the two Death Eaters. He followed that with another silent spell, jabbing his wand straight out towards the two now motionless figures, both of which crumpled to the floor in what appeared to be more than one piece. Harry then spun around and jabbed his wand sharply at a man behind him. A massive hole appeared where the person’s stomach would have been, the spell had been so strong it had carried through him and through the door of the store behind the man. As Harry spun around again spotting the fourth Death Eater the entire simulation froze, and started to flicker slightly.
As Harry came out of his adrenaline rush he could feel his heart beating rapidly, and could feel what could best be described as an electric charge coming from all around him. It was as he realize it was coming from him that Moody and Shacklebolt stepped out of a nearby store.
“What spells were you using Potter, we didn’t hear any incantations” Moody asked, his real eye looking at him as the other examined the dummies.
“I used a stupefy, a reducto, and was going to use a leg locker when you ended the simulation sir” Harry said, he was still breathing heavily from his encounter.
“Well it wasn’t us who ended it, it’s frozen, just skipping around because of the magic that you expelled” Kingsley said.
“What magic, I mean I did a couple of spells but this didn’t happen to any of the other students” Harry asked.
“Well the other students weren’t glowing when they were fighting,” Moody said in a tone that sounded like a mix of awe and confusion.

Quidditch Pitch, Hogwarts
A month had passed since Harry’s last encounter with Dumbledore and things had calmed down somewhat with the passage of time. Since Joy’s murder everything had once again gone quiet, it seemed that Voldemort was biding his time in this war, he would not be rushed.
At the moment Harry, Ron, and Ginny stood together along with Katie, Dennis, Dean, and Colin. Inside the dressing room the dull roar that was the hundreds of cheering students seeped through the door. It was the first Gryffindor quidditch match of the season and everyone’s nerves were on edge due to the fact that it was against Ravenclaw who had beat Slytherin in their first game of the year.
Harry picked up his broom as he heard the announcers, Fred and George, who were going to be there anyways decided to take up the position, call out Gryffindor! The others followed suit, Dennis, Dean, and Colin were all spectacular shades of green, each of them outdoing the next.
“Relax guys, you’ll be fine. Just watch out for their new beater, Hanley, he’s a brute.” Ron said helpfully, his pre-game jitters now were only in the form of an upset stomach, “also, don’t get knocked out, that is always bad for the team.”
Harry kicked the door open to the roar of the Gryffindor fans, he jumped on his broom and shot of into the middle of the field. Above the roar he could make out the twin’s trademark voices as they discussed the teams.
“The outstanding…”
“Amazing…”
“Miraculous…”
“Gryffindor seeker and team co-captain, that, next year every premiere league team will be trying to recruit.”
“HARRRY POTTER!!!”
“Next is the Weasley powerhouse, Keeper and co-captain Ickle Ronnie…”
“and our favourite chaser Ginny! Behind them come the new kids to the team…”
“Colin, the new beater, and Dennis, the chaser…”
“And behind them come veteran Katie Bell and another new beater Dean Thomas!”
The team flew a lap around the field and formed a half circle next to the Ravenclaw team and Madam Hooch. As usual she went through the rules and made the captains shake hands. Then they split apart and got into formation for the start.
As Harry lazily circled around from up high he noticed that there were dozens of Aurors positioned around the stands and the teachers seemed to have dispersed themselves more evenly than usual around the stands.
This made sense to Harry. Silence in someway could be more damaging than any action. The lack of news of action for nearly a month by any of Voldemort’s followers had made everyone slightly paranoid, and it was becoming more and more obvious that the ministry was close to snapping. Fudge had been mishandling everything, instituting random laws that seemed to come from mid air. Harry and everyone else seemed to know that it would just be a matter of time before he either resigned or was voted out.
Harry looked up and saw Cho Chang on the other side of the field. She had been attending the D.A. meetings and was always kind to him, but for some reason he sensed that there was some resentment for going out with Ginny. She didn’t know about the Heartbond but he assumed it wouldn’t make much of a difference to her. He shrugged it off, his muscles tensing as the box was kicked open and the snitch shot out of it. He managed to follow it for a little until Dennis shouted “behind you!” and he had to duck to avoid a well aimed bludger.
For forty minutes the game continued at a pace that seemed to be almost in fast forward. Everyone was playing excellently, both sides gave as good as they got. The most shocking thing was that although they were playing at a fever pitch the score was remarkably low; it was only 40-30 Gryffindor. Ron was catching everything they threw at him and the Ravenclaw keeper, a second year named Erin, was matching his saves.
Harry watched as Ginny snatched the ball and Katie, and Dennis flew along side her, covering her sides from bludgers.
“And Ginny has the quiffle!” Fred shouted.
“Looks like there might be a chance to get a point here” George added.
“and they split apart, Ginny going up, Dennis going down, and Katie going straight.”
“I’ve never seen a play like this before, don’t know what they’re planning”
Harry watched in guarded enthusiasm as he watched the play that Ron and he had come up with go into action. Just as planned they had split apart, Ginny now atop the other two holding the quiffle, now came the hard part though.
Ginny shot up, but as doing so dropped the quiffle. The keeper moved up to block Ginny, then realizing her mistake went down to block Katie who had caught the dropped ball, only to realize to late that she too had dropped the ball and now it was Dennis who had it. He threw it hard to the right goal and it sailed in perfectly.
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!! Dennis scores his first goal as a chaser for Gryffindor.”
“The score is 50-30”
Harry resumed searching for the snitch, knowing that this game really depended on him catching it soon or else they might loose the lead. He glanced over to Cho who seemed to have though the same thing and was now looking much more intently. He looked frantically for twenty minutes until he finally saw it hovering right in the middle of the field, practically hovering there.
He didn’t care about Cho seeing him, she was further away and she only on a Nimbus 2000. He tucked into his broom, urging it forwards in hopes of catching it right there.
In the back of his head he could hear Fred and George’s commentary, “And it looks like Potter has seen the Snitch!”
“Look at him fly, he must be going at least 110 miles and hour right now!”
“Cho is behind him though, and seems to be keeping up, she’s not out of the running yet!”
Harry covered the hundred yards quickly, he stretched his hand out preparing to catch the snitch that was darting back and forth. With one last burst of speed he pushed forwards, and lunged at the gold ball, grabbing its wing and pulling it in towards him.
“POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH!”
“GRYFFINDOR WINS, 200-30!”
Harry was instantaneously mobbed by the team, Ginny getting there first and kissing him soundly before the rest surrounded him. They were too occupied with celebrating to notice the commotion going on in the commentators box.
“And this is Harry and Ron’s first win as captains”
“I’m sure it will not be their….”
The voice died out and was replaced with a much deeper voice, one that everybody knew.
“Everyone, please go to your house common’s immediately. Do not panic, there is not an attack but we need to ensure that everyone is here. So please head to the common’s and continue your celebrations there.” Dumbledore’s voice echoed throughout the arena, no one said anything for a moment then quickly started to file out of the stands and rush to their dorms.
The players followed suit, flying to the main door and hurrying to the dorms. Harry, Ginny, and Ron however flew over to the commentator’s box and landed.
“Professor, what is going on?” Harry asked, interrupting his conversation with Moody.
“Harry, you and the others should be going to your rooms, it is not safe,” Dumbledore said.
“Sir, remember about not having any more secrets. Tell us what is going on, we’ll figure out anyways.” Harry said in a deeper more commanding voice than usual.
The headmaster seemed to think it over for a moment then spoke, “From the spotted reports we have been receiving that was a coup-de-tat at the Ministry a few minutes ago. Oh don’t worry it isn’t Tom or the Death Eaters, it appears that some of the members of the Wizengamot were displeased with the way Cornelius Fudge was handling matters and decided to overthrow him.”
“More like throw him out” quipped Moody, he seemed quite pleased with the news.
“Yes, well either way we decided in this time of political turmoil it would be a good idea to remain in the castle until the dust settles.” Dumbledore said, “Now if you would come with us into the castle I would like to seal the doors for tonight.”