Shadow Phoenix

@ Christopher, firelordeg, Dark Dragen & angeles: Thank you for your reviews! I love them!

@ Christopher: he may lets his power go to his head, but rapists and murderers of innocent young muggle girls changed into what they preyed upon was my idea..., besides, Harry needed subjekts to experimente with...
Harry will uphold the statue of secrecy... there are reasons for it.

@ Dark Dragen: I don't think, there will be another lemon chapter in SP ... but one of the first in SP II will be one.

@ angeles: neither Dark nor Light... (maybe a little dark, when it comes to his enemies...), just powerful.


Thanks to Drew for betaing this chapter!

C32: Exams

As time went by, the number of S-class members grew.


Though few and far between, there were people who actually managed to pass Harry's test – only to find out that they had to put even more effort into their fighting lessons. They were also given actual missions. These varied in difficulty from something as simpleas running errands in Diagon Ally, to fighting Death Eaters when Harry was notified of a attack on muggles by his – thanks to several more dubious business partners – surprisingly effective and fast information network. Most of the errands to Diagon Alley involved contacting Fred and George to learn the status of Harry's plan to recruit witches and wizards to his cause.


Although the tasks he had set upon them had proven to be difficult, no member of the Order would turn down or quit on a mission.

There were upsides after all.


Not only were they compensated monetarily for each mission, they also received a second pack of artefacts and potions – even more potent ones than the first time. Perhaps the most important thing bestowed upon them, even moreso than the physical gifts, was the admiration of their fellow Order members upon returning home from a successful mission.


If they were too busy to do their homework themselves, there was always someone willing to let them copy their the assignment. There seemed to be no one too busy to just sit and listen when they talked about their adventures – even if it was just one of their errands at Diagon Ally.


Lavender Brown, who had passed her test the same day as Dean Thomas, was given additional Healer training by Madam Pomfrey (who after failing once, never attempted to take the test again and must have told Professor McGonagall, who never attempted the test.).


Ginny and Luna passed the test as well as Fred and George. Some of the sixth and seventh years passed the day before the Owl exams began, including Susan Bones.

That evening, during dinner, the doors of the Great Hall opened and Umbridge lead a group of ancient looking wizards and witches into the castle.


When compared side by side, they managed to make even the nearly 200 year old Dumbledore looked young.


Some Order members sitting near enough to them relayed what they heard and saw through their amulets.


One of the examiners talked to the nervous looking Umbridge.


“Journey was fine, journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!”, Professor Marchbanks said impatiently. “Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately. No idea where he is, I suppose?”


“None at all.”, answered Umbridge. “But I dare to say the Ministry of Magic will track him down, soon enough.”


“I doubt it,”, Professor Marchbanks said, “not if he doesn't want to be found. I should know! … examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs … did things with his wand I'd never seen before.”


“Yes well...”, Umbridge said uncomfortable. “let me show you the staff room. You must like a cup of tea after your journey.”

Then the first day of the exams came.


At breakfast many students were too nervous to eat anything, with some trying to get some last minute studying in.


The only students in fifth and seventh year who seemed relaxed were Harry and Draco, who used Occlumency to suppress their emotions and Neville, who was only calm because Harry was.


Once Breakfast was over, the fifth and seventh years milled around in the Entrance Hall, while the other students went off to lessons.

Then, at half past nine, they were called forward, class by class, to re-enter the Great Hall, which had been rearranged for the Charms exam.


The four house tables had been removed and replaced by many tables, all facing the staff-table end of the Great Hall, were McGonagall stood facing them.


When they were all seated and quiet, she said: “You may begin.”, and turned over an enormous hour-glass on the desk behind her.


Harry turned his paper, read the first question, and smiled.


Eidetic memory was useful, but for this question, he wouldn't need it.

a) Give the incarnation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.


When the written part of the exam was done, they were free until after lunch, for which the four house tables had reappeared.


After lunch they had to wait in a small Chamber beside the Hall to be called forth for their practical examination.


As small groups were called into the Hall in alphabetical order, most students were practising their wand movements and accidently poking other students in the back while they were at it.


By the time her name was called, Hermione was trembling, even though Harry and Ron told her she was so good at charms that she wouldn't have any problems taking her NEWTs, let alone her OWLs.


During Harry's test, he got extra points for doing some of the easier spells nonverbally.

The next day was the Transfiguration exam, where Harry impressed the examiners by turning his mice into a dish set, engraved with runes to prevent poison from being brought within a one foot radius of them.


Then, on Wednesday, the Herbology exam was held, where Neville impressed the examiners by discussing the care of several very rare and dangerous magical plants, while expertly planting a young Devils Snare.


During the Defence against the Dark Arts exam on Thursday, Harry decided to show off a little.


He told the members of the Dark Order to do the same, who then told their friends in the DA.

To say the examiners were impressed would be an understatement.


Never before had they encountered a nearly complete OWL or NEWT year, which showed Auror level Skills in their exams.


Most of the students showed they were capable of summoning a Patronus, and what Harry did, caused Umbridge, who watched from the door, to pale in shock.


The next day was Runes, where the practical exam was to discuss the usage of runic charm artefacts with the examiners.


The same examiner that had presided over Harry's Transfiguration exam oversaw this one as well. Instead of just discussing the topic, he let Harry apply runes to his (the examiner's) robe, which prevented them from getting dirty. This allowed for his practical exam to last just a minute instead of half an hour.

Then came the weekend, which provided the perfect time to do some more studying because there were no exams, of course.


An opportunity Harry wasn't able to take advantage of because he was to busy doing DO business.


He was nowhere to be seen, except for breakfast.

At the Potions exam on Monday, most students experienced how much easier it was to brew a potion correctly without Snape there to intimidate them.


Tuesday they had the written Astronomy exam in the morning. Ron had Divination in the Afternoon, while Harry and Hermione had Arithmancy.


Harry was very glad that he hadn't had to take Divination when Ron told him how bad it went for him, even though he hadn't been one of the best in his exam (Hermione was), he had done well enough to be happy.


That night, they had the practical Astronomy exam at eleven and a perfectly clear sky.


After half an hour, Harry was already done and just waited for the exam to end, while the other students were still scribbling on their star charts.

The grounds were dark, only lit by the silvery light of the moon.


Then he saw light spill down the stone steps of the castle, as the Entrance Doors were opened.


He could see six elongated shadows moving over the brightly lit grass in front of the castle, before the doors swung shut and the grounds became a sea of darkness once more.


But even through the darkness, Harry's enhanced eyes were able to recognise two of the six figures walking the grounds as Dolores Umbridge and Auror Dawlish.

Somebody coughed behind him, reminding him that he was in the middle of an exam.


Harry gave his star chart to Professor Tofty behind him, so that he could continue to watch the High Inquisitor, who led a couple of Aurors to Hagrid's cabin.


“Already done, Potter? Impressive!”, the Professor said after a quick glance at Harry's work.


“What's so interesting down there?”, Professor Marchbanks asked.


“ It looks like Umbridge and a couple of Aurors are going to Hagrid's cabin.”, Harry answered, as he drew his wand. All of the students left their telescopes to look for themselves.


A flick of his wrist conjured a small, dark bird, which immediately raced to the cabin and upon arrival turned into a message for Hagrid, informed him of the impending visitors, and then vanished after being delivered.

“Interesting spell.”, Professor Tofty mentioned.


Another flick of Harry's wand summoned a copy of 'Shadow of Battle', which Harry passed to the Professor, saying: “Page fifty-six, message spells.”, without turning his eyes away from what was happening on the ground.

“Twenty minutes to go.”, Professor Marchbanks reminded them, but nobody seemed to care.

Just before the six figures reached the cabin, Hagrid opened his door and asked what they wanted from him, only to have six stunners shot at him.


“Pathetic!”, Harry said, as the spells bounced of Hagrid. “As if stunners would work on half-giants! And they are supposed to be Aurors?”


Several girls giggled at this, including the Professors.


Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leapt repeatedly at the wizards surrounding him, until a stunning spell caught him and he fell to the ground.


With a howl of fury, Hagrid grabbed the culprit and threw him bodily, what looked to be ten feet, where the Auror remained still, lying face-down on the ground.

“Look!”, squealed Parvati, who pointed at the foot of the castle, where the front doors had opened again and a single long shadow was rippling across the lawn.


“It's McGonagall.”, Harry said, followed by Professor Tofty's: “Only sixteen minutes left, you know...”


Nobody paid any attention to their star charts, instead they watched McGonagall running towards the cabin in her nightgown, shouting at them to leave Hagrid alone.


Hermione, Parvati and Lavender all screamed, when the figures around the cabin fired no less than four stunners at Professor McGonagall.

She was hit by all of them at the same time, glowed in crimson for a moment, then she lifted right of her feet, landed hard on her back and moved no more.


“Galloping gargoyles!”, shouted Professor Tofty, who seemed to also have forgotten the examination, “Without so much as a warning! Outrageous behaviour! - What the hell?”


Her last remark was caused by Harry, who vanished in a flash of black, only to reappear in the middle of the fight.


However, before Umbridge or her Aurors could realize his presence, the fight was over in a flash of crimson light, coming from Harry's wand.

They all lay on the ground, unconscious.


Harry casually pointed his wand at Fang, waking him and threw something at his half-giant friend.


Hagrid caught the Black Phoenix amulet and smiled.


“Thanks Harry.”


“I guess you know how to use it...”, Harry said. “They'll wake up soon, hurry.”


Then Harry picked up the unconscious form of his teacher and brought her to the infirmary with another flash of black, were Madam Pomfrey was already waiting to take care of her new patient.

At the top of the Astronomy tower, Professor Tofty regained her ability to speak.


“Um... ten minutes to go, everybody...”, she said feebly, while everyone watched Hagrid and Fang running out of Hogwarts' main gates and leaving the grounds.


****************


If High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge had thought the pranks that she had been suffering before were bad, her life became hell for the last days of the exams.


Whenever a student had the chance of not getting caught, they threw vicious curses at her.


She was forced to call Aurors to the school to become her personal guard.


It turned out that they were the same five Aurors who had accompanied her to Hagrid's cabin.


Half an hour after their arrival, she and her bodyguards occupied beds in the infirmary, much to McGonagall's amusement. McGonagall was recovering fast, thanks to a Phoenix Tear based potion Madam Pomfrey had given her.


***************


The last day of their exams were schedules for History of Magic.


Eidetic memory helped more than a little, at least at this subject.


But when Harry wrote the answer to the last question, his scar suddenly hurt like hell and he nearly passed out from the pain.


He pressed his hand on his scar and droops of blood trailed down from it, when the emotions and vision of someone else filled his mind.

To be continued...