Harry Potter and Gaining Momentum
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May
had arrived showing the sky in blues that were clear and bright at Hogwarts. Just
as H was was expecting, it was going to be a scorching summer. All over
the heat had risen to an unforgivable level, there was even talk that Voldemort
himself was behind the natural phenomena, though Harry highly doubted that.
Gone was the leisurely pace at which spring usually arrived and instead it
arrived in a fiery blaze as if ridden in on chariot. Dumbledore had given
permission for swimming in the lake and the Mermaids and giant squid could be
see now and then hefting students back to shore if they wondered too far out.
Measures had been taken in the castle also and Flitwick, with McGonagall, could
be seen walking around the corridors replacing the cooling charms to make sure
the stone the castle was wrought of didn’t get too hot.
It
was mid-may and Harry and his friends had taken a secluded spot on a sandy
beached part and were picnicking while having a nice Sunday out. There was no
conversation of training, exams, or Voldemort, only that of the present day.
Harry was thoroughly enjoying the leisure time with his friends, it never came
often enough. But, as usual, the unspoken situations eventually were spoken of.
“How
is your training going Neville?” Hermione asked applying sunscreen once again
to her nose and forehead. Neville was next to her, shirtless, lying with his
head in Luna’s lap while she fiddled with his hair.
“Harry
says I’m getting the hang of it faster than Ron, but of course, I’m not a
magical Animagus,” he stated. His eyes were closed and he was basking in the
feeling that flowed through him as Luna twirled her fingers absently through
his dirty-blonde locks.
“Well,
at least it’s coming along. I want to learn how to become an Animagus so bad,
but I just simply don’t have the time. My work with M.I.S.S.E.D. is so time
consuming that I barely have time for extra studying.
“Have
you decided if you’re going to run the organization full-time after school yet?
I know you really want to teach,” Luna said dreamily, but at least on the
topic.
“I’m
afraid of letting Harry down if I don’t attach myself to the organization
full-time, but I really do want to teach,” she said frustrated.
“You
know Harry wouldn’t care. I mean, of course he wants the organization to be
successful, but he wouldn’t you to sacrifice your future to make sure. He’ll
allow you to pass the torch to someone else should you decide that it’s too
much for you,” Neville said. “He’d want you to be happy.”
“But
that’s just it, I’d be happy in either situation. I ad tea teaching used to be
my first choice, but now that I see what good I’m doing, it’s hard to want to
do anything else. We’ve written history already. Just yesterday we finally
achieved getting a job for a goblin that wasn’t working at Gringotts. He’d
wanted to work at Flourish and Blotts for sometime
now but due to his status as Magical Creature and not Magical Being, he wasn’t
allowed. We finally got a waver
yesterday after we’d fought for a month with Amos Diggory
about it,” she said.
“How
is Cedric’s dad doing with Harry being the one that owns the organization?”
Luna asked, again surprising Hermione by being on topic. Hermione gave her a
calculating look before answering.
“He’s
actually proud of Harry. He said that he thought the organization was a good
idea, but as a ministry official, he has to uphold the laws until we’ve given
him proper validation, or we’re able to overturn the law. I understand where
he’s coming from,” Hermione explained. Neville and Luna both nodded.
“Hermione,
you know it wouldn’t matter to me what you did after school as long as you were
happy,” Harry finally spoke up. He’d been standing behind Hermione, shirtless
also, with his harms folded over his chest.
“Harry!”
Hermione yelped. “Don’t do that!” she
scolded. Harry laughed.
“Sorry,
but I’ve been standing here for ages,” Harry said still snickering. Luna was
smiling now and Hermione realized that that was probably the reason Luna stayed
on topic for so long. It was a rarity for someone to actually get a full
conversation out of Hermione these days. She was so busy that she only spent
time with her friends when they were training under Harry or in class with one
another.
“Hey,
what’s Professor Flitwick doing over there?” Ron asked pointing. The small professor
was splashing about in the water with a bubble head charm on.
“It
looks like he’s teaching some first years how to swim,” Ginny said laughing.
“Ron,
it’s not polite to point…stop,” Hermione said casually and only half-heartedly.
Ron made a face but didn’t comment. “I saw that,” she said though she never
turned to look at him where he stood next to Harry.
“How
do you do that?” Draco asked applying sunscreen like it was a second skin. He
was applying at least every ten minutes and Harry was getting tired of having
to make trips to the dungeons to get more from Snape. It was a potion version
of course.
“Witches
never disclose all their secrets,” she commented. She’d tiled her head back to
grin at him.
“Here,
here,” Ginny said giggling.
“Aye.”
And with that, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Hermione and Draco all rushed
into the water again to cool down.
Due
to his past summers with the Dursley’s, Harry never
burned in the sun anymore, only tanned. Hermione had the same effect due to
traveling abroad so much. The only ones who seemed to burn were Ron, Neville,
and Ginny. Ron and Ginny both had lighter complexions, and their freckles shone
through avidly. Neville, Harry suspected, didn’t get out in the sun much. It
kind of intrigued Harry that Neville wasn’t tanner; after all, he did spend
hours in the greenhouse whenever possible. It also surprised Harry that the boy
was no longer the pudgy roll he was in first year. He’d slimed up and was now
as tall as Harry, though truthfully, he was probably more fit as far as muscle
goes. Draco, was of course, powder white
and would have it no other way. He was proud of his ‘untainted’ skin, as he put
it.
They
splashed around in the overly cool water for about ten minutes until it was too
cold to say in for much longer. Ginny and Harry both emerged from the lake with
blue-tinted lips and shivering, but nevertheless, laughing. They all plopped
back down on a collage of towels and sheets that were laid out for the food and
relaxed once again in the sun.
“Can
you believe this heat?!” Draco complained once again and everyone rolled their
eyes.
“Just
wait until this summer. If it’s this bad now, the summer is going to roast us crisp,”
Ginny stated.
training with one of my instructors. I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a
bit of running at
“It’ll
be good for you. That’s one thing wizards never valued much, physical labor,”
Hermione said.
“Hey,
we’re physical!” Ron said in defense. Hermione gave him a pointed look.
“Quidditch
isn’t physical. You’re not moving, the broom is.”
“We
have to work too!”
“Please
Ron; your gut barely contains itself!” Ron all the sudden looked very self
conscious and almost everyone laughed.
“I
think that’s more due to his love of food than anything. All Weasleys have a
nice build. Just look at the twins and Bill,” Ginny said.
“The
ae
also a lot more physical than Ron. But I have to say, Charlie looks the most
fit,” Harry said.
“You’d
be too if you ran from Dragons all day, everyday,” Ginny laughed.
“Agreed,”
Harry said nodding. Ron now had a towel draped over his shoulders that was
shielding his body from everyone else.
besides my fat!” he protested.
“You’re
not fat, just healthy at the moment. But if you keep up your ways you’re going
to fill out…this way,” Hermione said stretching her arms out and showing that
he meant out, not up. Everyone was openly laughing now. Ron grumbled something
incoherent.
“Well,
if it isn’t the savoir of the Wizarding world and his pewee followers,” Pansy
said. He was followed by a few other Slytherins that were in swimming suits and
had towels draped around their necks.
“Sod
off Fido, you’re not invited,” Ginny said much to
everyone’s surprise.
“And
this coming from a weasel,” Blaise said sarcastically
next to Pansy. “Better to be a dog than a filthy rodent.” Hermione snorted.
“Weasels
aren’t rodents air-head, their in the family Mustelidae,”
she informed Blaise. The Slytherin rolled her eyes
and gave Hermione a dirty look.
“Come
on guys,” said Millicent. She looked decidedly uncomfortable. Harry assumed it
was because she was the one that willingly helped make Pansy sterile.
“Not
until I get an apology,” Pansy sniffed. Ginny now laughed.
apologize? Fat chance pug,” Ginny continued while taunting.
“You’ll
do good to know your place Muggle-lover. It won’t be long until you’re ou
ou
knees in front of the Dark Lord. He doesn’t condone fraternizing with…” Pansy
paused and looked around at the group of friends, “soiled blood.” Harry finally
stepped forward.
“And
you’ll do right to know your place too,” he said in an even voice. “I suggest
you move along.”
“Come
on Pansy,” Millicent said again.
“You’re
afraid of Potter?” Pansy said looking at Millicent incredulously.
“She’d
be smart to,” Ron said standing up and standing next to Harry. Pansy snorted,
being decidedly stubborn.
“Not
in a million years, he’ll get his soon when the Dark Lord gets done with his
other projects,” Pansy said putting her nose a bit higher.
“She
apparently hasn’t heard of the Prophecy,” Harry said looking at Ron. There was
a long tense pause.
“What
Prophecy?” Blaise said as rudely as she could but
Harry could tell she was truly interested. Harry’s friends were looking at him
in shock.
“Ah,
so she doesn’t,” Draco said playing along, though, he
didn’t really know what Harry was doing.
“Harry,”
Hermione hissed, “What are you doing? Dumbledore will kill you!”
“It’s
my prophecy, besides, I’m sure deep down they know anyway,” Harry said shrug.
g.
“Know
what?” Pansy spat.
“There’s
a prophecy about me and Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort. It says: ‘
Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him…born as the seventh
month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal’. So, you see, I’m
going to kill him whether he likes it or not, it’s been foretold. There’s
nothing he can do about it. Why do you think he’s never been able to kill me?”
“You’re
bluffing,” Blaise said. Harry smirked.
“Apparently
you’ve been left out of the loop. The prophecy was the reason we were all at
the Ministry at the end of last year. Voldemort wanted it because there was a
last line that no one ever heard. Dumbledore and myself
are the only ones who know what that last line says. I’ll give you a hint
though, it’s instructions for me,” Harry said.
“It
tells you how to kill the Dark Lord?” Millicent asked. She was not rude, just
curious.
“It
may,” Harry said crossing his arms over his chest. “But as Hermione said, I’m
not allowed to tell anyone. Voldemort already knows of all of the prophecy but
the last line, but he won’t tell anyone of course. To tell all his followers
that his downfall was foretold will make them switch sides. He’s a Slytherin,
which means he can manipulate anyone he wants, he’s cunning. And by doing this,
he’s kept followers for this stupid cause he’s trying to fight for. But, if
they all knew that his downfall was foretold, those who chose to follow him
would change sides to stay on the winning side, and he also knows this. Being a Slytherin, he knows how their minds work.
He knows that all of you will always do what’s in your best interest; this is
why none of you were told,” Harry
explained before he walked away and sat back down next to Draco. Pansy was
almost gaping at him openly. Millicent looked very shocked, and
“So
the fate ur fur futures rests in your hands,” Blaise
spat.
“It
looks that way,” Harry said nonchalantly. “You’ll either fall with him, or
switch sides. But let me warn you now, once that Mark is on your arm, there’s
no return. You’ll have no way out unless you’re acting as spy, and if you’re
going to do that, you’d better talk to Dumbledore soon. Once you all turn
seventeen, you’ll be called before him to be branded. If Dumbledore doesn’t
know that you’re spying for us, then he’ll make sure you go to the new prison
when the war’s over,” Harry said.
“Azkaban
will fall soon, it’s a given with the Dementors gone. But plans are already
being made by Dumbledore, the Order of the
and the Ministry to build another that can work without them. It’s going to be
shared by the Italian and French Ministries. Choose wisely,” Harry said. The
last comment was the end of the conversation and the Slytherins knew it. With a
last awkward look, they all left Harry and his friends alone. When they were
out of earshot Hermione looked shrewdly at Harry.
“You
lied to them,” she looking like she didn’t understand.
“Of
course I did.”
“What
was the point in that?”
“Voldemort
won’t allow his followers to go unmarked. He has too much pride for that; he
wants the power to be able to brand them as his,” Harry said.
“So?”
Ginny quipped.
“We’ve
just gained about eight spies…maybe less depending on how brave they are.
Slytherins will do what’s best for them, but they won’t make themselves
targets,” Harry said.
“So,
you think they’ll all go to Dumbledore so that they’ll be safe after
Voldemort’s gone?” Hermione asked.
“That’s
exactly what they’ll do. They want to save their own skin, they’re not worried
about which side wins or looses anymore. They’ll take the mark so not to become
a target, and they’ll report to Dumbledore everything they know so not to be
put in the new prison after Riddles gone. As Harry said, most of them will be
marked this summer, there’s not enough time for them to make preparations to be
safe and defy Voldemort at the same time,” Draco said.
“I’m
not so sure that’s safe,” Hermione said. Harry looked at her with confusion on
his face.
“That
what’s safe?”
“Well,
they could very well do the exact same thing in reverse. They could get in good
with Dumbledore and then give Voldemort all our information,” she explained.
“Unless
they know Occlumency they can’t. Dumbledore can tell when someone’s lying,”
Draco said.
“But
Voldemort could teach them if they tell him what they’ve done,” Harry said. He
was now actually thinking about his rash decision. Damn that Gryffindor quality, he thought.
“But
can’t you take their walls down? You can tear Snape’s down why no theirs?”
Draco asked.
“I
could, but they’d know. I’m sure they wouldn’t expect me to just trust
every chance I get.” Hermione and Ginny both nodded at this. “We’ll just have
to hope they take the warning seriously enough that they’ll choose our side or
no side. There’s nothing more anyone can do. They know, or they think they
know, that he’ll fall by my hand eventually, they’ll just have to either
believe it or not,” Harry said.
“We
still have another problem,” Ginny said. Everyone looked at her. “If they do
decide to become spies, they’ll still need to learn Occlumency to keep
Voldemort from knowing the truth just like Snape does. How are we going to do
that without Voldemort knowing?”
“What
do you mean ‘we’? This is my problem,” Harry said looking at her sharply.
“We’ve
told you once Harry, you’re not doing this alone and that’s final. As we said
before, you can include us and have us know what’s going on, or you can leave
us uninformed and risk the possibility of getting us killed by trying. It’s
your option,” Hermione said striking it low. Harry glared at her.
“That
was low and cold,” he said. They all knew his greatest fear was loosing friends
to this war, yet they were persistent to make themselves involved.
“Life’s
tough, take it or leave it,” Ron said putting his arm around Hermione.
“What
if I said leave it?”
“Then
you’d have friends blindly trying to keep you safe and help with the effort,”
Neville said. Harry scowled at them harder.
“You
guys don’t get it do you!? This isn’t a game!” he shouted frustrated. It was
Ginny’s turn to get pissed.
“How
dare you say we don’t understand! We’ve all fought
beside you for so long, and you’re going to sit there and say we don’t
understand!?” she yelled at him, fiercely showing her Weasley temper. Harry
wasn’t about to back down.
“You’ve
shown what you think of the cause when you started dueling
the Slytherins in the Great Hall!” he yelled back.
“What’s
that got to do with anything?” Ginny bit back.
“I’ve
been trying all year to prepare you incase you get involved in the cause again,
and you squander your training away on peers! How am I supposed to look at you
like you’re serious about this?”
“You
know we did that for you and Draco, Harry Potter! Don’t you dare throw that
back at us again!” she yelled back. Harry started to feel guilty. He’d lost his
temper that day and felt like a hypocrite for treating them like children then
also. Harry stared around at his friends for a few seconds before speaking
again. When he did, he was much calmer.
“I’m
sorry. I know you all want to help, but I don’t want to loose any of you…none,”
he said in a defeated tone. Ginny’s features softened dramatically.
“You’re
not going to. You may be the one that has to take down Tom, but you don’t have
to do it all by yourself,” Ginny said putting a hand on his arm. He put a hand
on top of hers.
“Thanks.
Sometimes I wonder how I contracted such great friends.”
“You
speak of us as if we’re a disease,” Hermione said laughing.
can’t get rid of a disease. That’s the way you guys are. No matter what I do,
you never leave…thanks,” Harry said ending in a whisper.
“Anytime
Harry,” Neville said. “Anytime.
***
By
the end of May Voldemort’s attacks had doubled. Apparently one of the
Slytherins had told him that the last line to the prophecy was about how to
kill him, and he was pushing forward in his efforts to kill as many
Muggle-born, half-bloods, and Muggles as he could. Harry felt bad that he’d
said anything to begin with. Because he’d lied to the Slytherins, more people
were dieing quicker. Dumbledore told him they’d gained six spies from Slytherin
now, but that was the only good news in the last two weeks, because there
al
also rumor of Voldemort training an apprentice to help him in his cause and to
carry on his work should something happen to him. The name of the Dark
Apprentice was unknown, but he was apparently heading just about all of the
Muggle hunting sessions that had arisen lately. Voldemort was heading the few
that were occurring at random on small Wizarding communities.
It
seemed that Voldemort was out to reveal the Wizarding world to the Muggles. The
Ministry was working over time and new people were constantly being trained as
apprentice had taken to openly going Muggle-hunting, such as in large plazas
and areas of congregation. The Order seemed to believe, or so Dumbledore had
told Harry, that Voldemort was trying to out the Wizarding world to the Muggles
because he wanted to strike fear into their hearts so that they’d know they
weren’t the supreme race. Harry found this disgusting and openly voiced his
opinion to Albus. Though Albus always spoke calmly about everything, there was
a new fire in his eyes when he spoke of Tom pressing Wizarding supremacy upon
Muggles.
Hermione,
just as she had the year before, was beginning to really buckle down for end of
term exams. She’d taken to revising every evening from about seven to
due to already be so advanced anyway, thanks to Godric and Salazar, but humored
the girl anyway by studying with them. Harry had shown the Gryffindor Suite to
Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna and they were all in awe over the lavishness of
it all. Ron especially loved the pantry that would give him any kind of food he
wanted. Harry, with his minute sense of empathy, sensed a bit of jealousy from
Ron, but because Ron didn’t voice any of it openly, Harry didn’t acknowledge it.
Ginny, like Harry and Hermione, seemed more interested in the library than
anything else. Luna, surprisingly, got on with Godric much better than anyone
else. She and Godric held conversations for hours at a time, or until Harry
made everyone leave for the evening. He wasn’t sure why Luna and Godric had
taken such a liking to one another, but didn’t find anything wrong with it. At
least now Godric wasn’t complaining about not having anyone to talk to. If
Godric became too bored, Harry would simply ask Luna to keep him company for a
while, she didn’t seem to mind.
Harry
and his Spell Invention teams greatest disappointment was the counter for the
Killing Curse. They had yet to splice it with a decent dieting spell and
decided that they’d have to invent a dieting spell with the specific components
they needed to splice into the counter for the Killing Curse. This took them
all the way back to the drawing board once again. Thankf, th, they’d only been
working on the counter for the Killing Curse on the side now, though they were
still working hard.
Over
the year, or rather, since Christmas, they’d developed a series of defensive
spells that had to do with the four essential elements; wind, water, earth, and
fire. Harry, while researchinmethmething for Salazar had found a very small
book of elemental spells. He and Hermione had both read the book several times
to make sure they’d absorbed everything and then spliced them into everyday
spells to make the ancient magic more modern and less powerful. As the spells
were, only a very powerful wizard could work them, and even fewer could
actually hold them while they did their job. As it turns out, these spells were
key in the building of Hogwarts. Salazar had told him
that Rowena had constructed them from other ancient spells she’d found during
research of a
for carving mountains, placing streams, melting snow, and freezing water for
igloo-like houses. Salazar didn’t know where the actual elemental spells were,
but only knew that Rowena had hid them in her Suite so to keep prying eyes from
them.
The
spells that Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Susan had constructed were very small
versions of what the small book had covered. For example: the earth elemental
spell was used by the founders to shape the bricks of Hogwarts. They then used
the water elemental spell to make them smooth and create the lake. They’d used
the fire elemental spell to clear the land, and used the wind elemental spell
to keep the fire under control. H fou found this absolutely intriguing and
wanted to know more. Salazar had told him basically all he could, but because
Helga did most of the wand work, due to have some type of gift with them, he
didn’t know as much as he liked. He was only given the small book because he
meant to make modified versions of the spells also, for students.
All
in all, the year was a successful one. They’d accomplished a great deal, and
were even given several awards on behalf of the Ministry for their efforts with
the spells they’d created. Though they were only small certificates of
recognition, at least they were thanked. In all, during the year they’d
invented, or modified six different spells.
Harry
had yet to show Dumbledore where his Suite was, but Dumbledore had foregone
asking at this point. He understood that it was necessary for Harry to have
something to call his own and resorted to Harry telling him when he was ready.
Harry openly thanked him for this, though, he never
told the Headmaster how many people actually knew about the Suite. In all, Ron,
Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Draco, Susan, and Severus all knew about his
alternate living quarters; he had no intention of telling anyone else…yet.
***
Harry
and Hermione’s first exam was Potions. Severus had refused to tell Harry what
potion they would be brewing when he tried to ask casually. Severus only
smirked at him and told him he was sure Harry would do fine. Hermione was
having kittens due to not knowing what material to study before hand, but Snape
told them at the beginning of the month to be ready to brew any potion for the
end of term exam. It reminded Harry much of a pop quiz. They would walk in, set
up their area and without preamble, Snape would reveal a potion on the board,
and they had to brew it as best they could without instructions form
potion we’ve never brewed,” Harry said as they made their way down to the
classroom.
“But
what if I didn’t study that potion well enough? One ingredient or one wrong
stir and the whole potion could be ruined!” she ranted. Harry only rolled his
eyes at her.
“You’re
the smartest witch in our year, if you can’t do it than it isn’t a very fair test,”
Harry said with finality. Hermione stopped ranting, but was still biting her
bottom lip nervously.
They
made it into the potions class and they all set up their lab tables and waited
nervously for Snape to arrive and reveal the potion they’d be making. Hermione
was frantically flipping through her text book and taking in small amount of
information she was sure she’d missed. Harry just sat back and smiled at her
overzealous attempt to know everything in the text, which she probably already
did. It didn’t take long for Snape to enter, robes billowing respectively. He
came to a halt in front of the class and waited patiently for a few students to
put their text away. When all was quite and not a person stirred, Snape grinned
at them and waved his wand at the board.
“Begin,”
Snape said before turning and sitting at his desk.
Harry
mentally moaned at the potion. It was clear now why Snape wouldn’t tell him
what it was. This was probably the only potion he ever had a problem with, but
it wasn’t because he didn’t know how to make it, it was because he had to keep
an eye on the clock and on the potion at the same time. Hermione looked dead
relieved at the words scrolled upon the board, but Harry rolled his eyes and
began to unload the needed ingredients. Pansy, was openly sobbing at the words
though Harry couldn’t figure out why. The damage was already done, what else
could possibly happen to her?
By
the end of class, Harry had his potion done, but not before he started over
once. He’d added an ingredient too late and thus his potion started looking
like paste. It didn’t matter how many times they tried the potion, just as long
as it was finished by the en the the class. That included the potion being put
into a unbreakable vial and stoppered.
He let out a sigh of relief once his potion burped and he was able to stopper
it.
Towards
the end of class, Harry saw Snape’s head snap to the side as he looked into his
office. He stood and made his way to the class room door before nodding once at
someone and closing it. When he came back in he scribbled a quick note and
strode up to Harry.
“You
are done with your potion correct?” Snape asked only slightly sneering. Harry
could tell his mind was elsewhere.
“Yes
sir,” Harry answered.
“Please
take this to Dumbledore immediately,” he said, handing a slip of parchment to
Harry and going back down to stand in front of his desk while everyone finished
cleaning up. “Time is up!” he barked. There was a flurry of activity at this.
Students who where pouring their potions into vials seemed to forego aim and
just dumped it in hoping some would fill the vial.
In
a few seconds, the students had stilled and Harry finished packing his bag and
headed for the door. Upon opening it, he saw a seventh year Slytherin standing
outside of it, but didn’t know who it was. Not really interested, he passed him
up and assumed that the message Severus gave him had something to do with the
boy standing outside the door. After he rounded the corner, Harry disappeared
in a flash of flames and reappeared again in front of the Headmaster’s desk
giving the old man a start.
“Harry!”
Albus breathed in relief. “We really must have a type of warning system when
you do that!” he said, chuckling and holding a hand to his chest as if trying
to slow his heartbeat manually. Harry looked behind him and realized he’d done
it again.
“
meekly, slightly blushing.
“Mr.
Potter,” she said while inclining her head a bit. “I do hope you’re not here to
steel the Headmaster from me again?” she joked. Harry laughed light at this.
“No
ma’am. Just a note from Professor Snape,” Harry said handing the slip of parchment
to Dumbledore. The Headmaster read it and knitted his eye brows for a second.
“It
seems that Voldemort wants Professor Snape for a small assignment. He summoned
his followers and when Severus didn’t show up due to having to give exams;
Voldemort sent one of our Seventh years back to bring him. I’m not sure I feel
right about this,” he said. Harry was thinking now also.
potion scared Harry slightly. The last potion he’d see Voldemort compose was
the one that brought him back.
“It
very well could be, though I’m reluctant to say so firmly,” Dumbledore said.
“Would
Severus know if it were something as a large scale attack?” Amelia asked.
“He
won’t know until he answers the summon, and I’m not
sure he’ll be able to find a way back to inform us in time. I do hope he’s
careful,” Albus said ageing before Harry’s very eyes.
“Snape
is one of the most cunning and manipulative people I know. I’m sure he’ll be
fine,” Harry said. “Would you like me to open the link and see if I can read
Tom’s emotions?” Harry asked. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at this then shook
his head.
“No,
that won’t be necessary. I don’t want to risk him feeling that connection open
and vulnerable. Just sit tight until we hear word back,” Dumbledore said. Harry
nodded and left the office so that the Minister and the Headmaster could finish
their conversation.
Harry
finished all his exams in one day. The Charms exam was just after Potions and
it was mainly practical. Every person had a list of five charms they’d learned
throughout the year and they all had to perform them in front of Flitwick and
give him an example of when it could be used. No person had the same five
charms and this made it harder for some people. Harry performed his wandlessly
and fluently as did Hermione. Flitwick looked very impressed that Hermione had
picked up such a skill and gave her bonus points for the extra effort as he did
Harry. Harry was sure he’d aced the practical exam.
In
transfiguration, each student was given three slips of paper. The first slip
was an item they had to transfigure, the second was an item they had to conjure
and then transfigure into something else, and the third was an item they had to
conjure, transfigure, and then animate to the professor’s liking. Harry and
Hermione again did all three of their transfiguration, conjuring, and animating
wandlessly. Neville, Ron, and Draco did their first two wandlessly, but didn’t
even bother with the third that also had to be animated after being conjured
and transfigured. Professor McGonagall was thoroughly impressed with all of
their skills and also awarded them points. With all there points, they’d earned
back what they lost from their duel with Slytherin a month ago.
After
taking an easy Ancient Runes and Arithmancy exam,
Harry took his Healing and DADA exams where he did very well on all of his
work. Healing was the only exam he didn’t use wandless magic on, and this was
simply because he had to have the wand for water so he could clean out a wound
with it. History of magic was as boring as ever, but Harry was pretty sure he
did rather well on the exam. He guessed he made at least an ‘A’ on it. It
wasn’t an ‘O’ but at least he didn’t fall asleep this time.
Harry
fell onto his couch in the Gryffindor Suite exhausted. He’d had every class
today and his day hadn’t ended until an hour before dinner. After he ate, he no
longer had the energy to walk around the castle, all
he wanted to do was sleep and put his mind at ease. There was a sudden ‘crack’
that made Harry sit up suddenly fully alert.
the small house elf was supposed to be at
Place
“Harry
Potter,” the small house elf said in a strange voice. “Professor Snape is in
the
with the Dark men.”
“Since
when did you start calling him Professor Snape?” Harry asked. Dobby had taken
to calling Snape, ‘Slimy Snape’ over the summer. “And what are you talking
about? Dark men?”
“Harry
Potter must rescue the Professor before the bad men hurt him,” Dobby said
closing his eyes. He seemed to be having an internal battle of some sort. Harry
all the sudden realized that Dobby wasn’t calling him ‘Master Harry’ or ‘Sir’.
It wasn’t that this bothered him, but it just wasn’t right for Dobby.
“
screwed up his face again. Dobby nodded, and then shook his head vigorously.
“Well, which is it, yes or no?” Harry said getting confused. Again, Dobby shook
his head, and then nodded slowly. Harry sighed and walked quickly to the fire
place. He took a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the grate.
“Headmaster?”
he called but received no answer. “Albus!” he shouted this time, but still
received no answer. Getting a bit worried, he tried McGonagall’s office.
“Professor
McGonagall?” Harry yelled into the grate again, but still got to response.
Harry ran a hand through his hair frustrated. With a third pinch he stuck his
head into the grate one last time.
“Professor
Flitwick?” he shouted desperately. Why did he have the feeling that shinghing
wasn’t right? Dobby was acting strange and all the professors were out about
the castle. It could take forever to find them, they could be anywhere.
“Dobby,
where exactly is Professor Snape at?” Harry askedbby bby just looked straight
ahead and didn’t speak. “Dobby!” Harry barked this
time hoping he’d get some kind of response out of the small house-elf, but he
didn’t. Then, a light bulb went off in Harry head. He pointed a finger at Dobby
and let his Will Magic take over. He was trying to
take any magic bad off the small elf. It seemed as if the little being had been
hexed stupid or was just cursed period. After a minute, Dobby seemed to sway on
his feet and then suddenly, his eyes snapped back to attention.
“Harry
Potter Sir!” he wailed running forward and hugging Harry around the knees.
“Dobby is so sorry!”
“Dobby,
I need you to calm down and tell me what’s wrong.”
“Master
Potter. He has Slimy Snape in the
ear to show he meant ‘crazy’. “And He
is telling Dobby to tell Harry Potter to come or he will kill Slimy Snape! What
is Harry Potter to do?!” Dobby wailed clutching Harry’s knees again.
“Dobby
where is Snape? Where in the forest?” Harry asked
frantically trying to get some answers. He had to…no…needed to know more about
the situation before he rushed into the rescue with his hero complex.
“He
is where the Giant’s brother once was. Harry Potter must hurry. Slimy Snape is
hurt!” Dobby wailed.
“Okay,
okay, I’m going. I want you to go find Professor Dumbledore and the others and
bring them when you can. I’m going to try to sneak down there and see what I
can do,” Harry said. Harry shut his eye and his body seemed to fade from view.
Then, in a poof of smoke, he was gone.
(A/N: Remember, don’t forget to
join the group before the story is over or you won’t have access to the
sequels. I won’t be posting the sequels on ff.net or aff.net until after the
stories are complete, which could be months away. There is approx three
chapters left in this story depending on how much detail I put into it; the new
story will begin to be posted on about the 23rd. see bio to access
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