Anima Summa Book 1 - The Mystery of Rhedae

Chapter 12

The Attack

Ron and Ginny pushed Harry and Hermione in front of them as they went into the headmaster´s office. Dumbledore´s inner circle was still sitting around the desk, and looked up expectantly as the four walked in. Everyone was beaming at them - even Snape managed a grudging smile.

Ceri was the first to approach, and she caught around Hermione and whispered, "I´m so glad Hermione. I can´t tell you how pleased I am for you."

"Thanks, Ceri," she replied, "I .. I can´t believe this is happening."

"Come on, you four," said Dumbledore, "come and join us. We´ve got a lot to discuss. But first let me congratulate you both, Anima Summas. I know everyone around this table is really pleased that you´re together at last. From what Ginny said, and having observed you both over the last few months, I think I can safely say that the bonding was completely spontaneous - you both still have that look of surprise on your faces. So you should be able to achieve full powers - whatever they may be."

"Thank you, Professor," said Harry as the four sat down, "I don´t think it´s really sunk in yet."

"Ginny told us what happened up in the common room," said Sirius, "But can you tell us any more? I mean, we all saw that silvery light surrounding you both, and then it changed to blue. What was that?"

"It was the rings, Sirius," said Harry, "The silvery light came when I put them on our fingers. Then when the rings touched, the light changed. And the rings spoke to us."

Dumbledore looked up suddenly, "They spoke to you? Can you tell us what was said?"

"Well they didn´t really speak, Professor," said Hermione, "There was no sound or anything - we just, well, sort of felt the words inside our heads. It told us that we´d receive details of the first of the remaining two quests very shortly."

"And it told us that we had to develop our new powers," Harry continued, "We have to seek out the knowledge wisely and practice it. I think we need to get your advice on that, Professor Dumbledore."

"Oh," said Hermione, "And it warned us of great danger ahead. It said we mustn´t be apart. We have to remain as one."

Hermione and Harry looked deeply into each other´s eyes as she finished. The professors sat spellbound as they listened.

"And that´s not all," said Ron, "Tell them about that spell with Malfoy."

"Draco saw you?" said Snape animatedly, "Does he know about you two?"

"Yes, Professor," said Hermione, "We saw him as we walked back to the school. Even if he didn´t see us together under the tree, he´ll know something strange is going on because of what we did to him."

"When he made some snide remarks about us," said Harry, "We - well we sent him back to his dormitory."

"How did you do that?" asked Remus.

"The spell just came into our heads," replied Harry.

"But that´s not all," said Ginny, "they didn´t use their wands. They can use wand-less magic, now"

All the professors in the room gasped, and just stared.

"We don´t know if we can do it individually," said Hermione, "or whether we have to be physically touching for it to happen. I suppose that´s something we have to find out."

"What was the spell you used?" asked Dumbledore.

"It was PA HENKYT," said Harry.

"What´s that?" asked McGonagall, "I´ve never heard anything like that before. What language is it?"

"We don´t know Professor," said Hermione, "It just came into our heads - or to be more accurate, our collective conscious."

"Pa Henkyt," said Dumbledore, "That´s not a language I´ve heard before. How do you think it´s spelt? Is it P-A H-E-N-K-Y-T?"

"I don´t know, sir," said Hermione, "but that sounds about right, I think."

"Hang on a minute," said the headmaster as he got up from his chair and walked to the large bookcase at the back of his office. He rummaged around and then came back to his desk carrying a very large, leather-bound book. He turned the pages over, searching, and then stopped.

"Pa - it means `fly to,´" he turned several other pages over and then looked up again, "Henkyt - it means `bed.´ You told Draco Malfoy to, literally, fly to bed."

"What language is it, Headmaster?" said Remus, "I must say I´ve studied a lot of them, but I´ve never heard anything like that before."

"No, I don´t suppose you have, Remus," replied Dumbledore, "And neither has anyone else - at least not for the last three thousand years. It´s Middle-Kingdom Egyptian. I thought the spellings were familiar. I studied Egyptian hieroglyphics at University. There are a number of different transliterations available today - but they all only guess at what the words would have sounded like."

"And this is only the start," said Flitwick, "When you begin to develop your powers, who knows how much ancient knowledge will become available to you."

"Awesome. Really awesome," said Ron.

"Is there anything else you´ve found?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes Professor," said Hermione, "We´re able to feel each other´s emotions when we´re in contact, and we can also send those emotions to other people we touch - and pick up what they feel as well. We did it with Ron and Ginny before we came up here."

"And we can read each other´s thoughts," said Harry. "We even did that when we weren´t touching."

"Phew!" exclaimed Sirius, "This is incredible."

"Sorry to bring everybody back to earth," said Ceri, "but what are we going to do now? Are we going to try to keep this quiet - I mean not just the Anima Summas, but also the fact that Harry and Hermione are together as a couple? What do you think, Professor Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore thought for a few moments, then, "I don´t know if that´s possible. I mean, we can´t tell Harry and Hermione to keep their distance from each other can we - I doubt they´d be able to even if they tried. And it´s as plain as the nose on your face how they feel about each other. We have to keep the Anima Summa quiet, of course, but when it gets out that they´re an item, it´s bound to attract the attention of the daily prophet - especially after those articles Rita Skeeter wrote about them back last year."

"But I don´t think we can keep it from `You Know Who´ Professor," said Snape, "When Lucius Malfoy hears about this - and you can be sure that Draco will tell him about the wand-less magic - he´ll go running to the Dark Lord post haste."

"Do you think that Draco´s the spy, Severus?" said Flitwick.

"There´s no proof of that, Filius. And I´m not suggesting that he is for one minute. But I know he´s in touch with his father regularly. There´s nothing sinister in that, but he´s bound to tell him what´s happened."

"Yes, I´m afraid you´re right, Severus," said Dumbledore, looking quite sad, "Voldemort is bound to find out. But I don´t want Cornelius Fudge or the Daily Prophet finding out about the Anima Summa just yet - things will start to get out of hand when that happens. Perhaps we´d better sleep on it for now. Harry, Hermione - it´s basically up to you two whether you want the rest of the school to know that you´re a couple. We´ll all meet back here after lunch tomorrow, and then you can tell us what you´ve decided. Thank you everybody, it´s been a very eventful day, and I´m sure you want to get to your beds - without any help from the Anima Summas though, I hasten to add."

***

"This place is so beautiful, Nadine. No wonder you come up here as often as you can."

Charlie and Nadine were taking a break from writing the report on the magical creature activity, and were walking slowly up the little wooded valley above Demont´s cabin. They were walking alongside the mountain stream, heading up to try to find its source.

"Yes, Charlie. This place is in my blood. Whenever I´m away from here I always feel as if there´s something missing."

"Hang on, Nadine. I´ll help you," said Charlie as he athletically leapt over a stile at the side of the stream.

"Thank you, kind sir," she replied as she climbed the stile and balanced precariously on the top step, holding her arms out towards Charlie.

Now if a soccer referee had been present, he would have immediately given Nadine a yellow card for the obvious `dive´ she then took. Charlie, however, didn´t notice the subterfuge and just steadied himself as she crashed into him.

"Careful, Nadine," he whispered, their faces just inches apart and his arms holding her tightly.

"Sorry, Charlie," she replied quietly.

"I´m not," and he did what he´d been dying to do ever since he met her. As they kissed, everything around them seemed to dissolve - only the two of them mattered - everything else was forgotten. It was as if the beauty of the countryside had been transferred into their very beings. They didn´t even see the grinning Demont as he stood watching them about 50 yards back down the valley.

Demont whistled happily to himself as he trotted back to the wine shed at the edge of the stream. He wanted to write a short note to his fellow conspirator at Hogwarts. `Ginny is going to be so pleased,´ he thought to himself as he tied the note to his owl and sent her on her way.

A while later, around lunchtime, Charlie and Nadine walked back to the cabin, and were pleasantly surprised to see that Demont had prepared lunch on the table outside. He was sitting on one of the chairs grinning broadly as they joined him.

"What?" said Nadine, looking at her brother.

"It´s happened at last, hasn´t it," he replied, "You´ve both finally seen the light."

"Demont .." Charlie started to reply.

"I saw you up at the side of the stream," continued Demont, "and I just had to make you lunch, by way of celebration."

"Oh," said Charlie.

"Don´t look like that, Charlie. I´m pleased for you both. Really pleased. Come on, let´s tuck in."

Nadine and Charlie looked at each other and then burst out laughing. Demont got up and kissed his radiant sister, and then caught hold of the grinning Charlie´s hand and shook it vigorously.

"Oh, I´d better tell you both - I just sent Della to Hogwarts with a note for Ginny. She´ll be really pleased to hear the news about you two."

"Oh no," said Charlie, "That means that mum will know about it too - that´s the first thing Ginny´ll do when she finds out. I can expect a plague of owls now. Mum´ll want to know everything about you, Nadine. And she´ll want to meet you. She won´t rest till she does."

"Don´t worry, Charlie," said Nadine, "It´s just natural for a mother to want to know about the girl that´s in love with her son."

Charlie looked at Nadine intensely, again lost in her beautiful deep blue eyes. Then he shook himself, "What about your parents? Have you owled them as well, Demont?"

"Not yet Charlie. I´ll have to wait for Della to come back first."

As they ate their lunch, Charlie´s expression suddenly changed from ecstatic to worried.

"What´s the matter, Charlie?" said Nadine, "What´s wrong?"

"Oh, Nadine. Just as we get together, I´m going to have to leave you for a few days. I´ve got to give my lecture at the ministry in London the day after tomorrow, so I´ll have to go back in the morning to prepare my presentation."

"Oh," said Nadine, her smile fading slowly from her face.

"What´s the problem Charlie?" said Demont, "As I see it, you can kill two birds with one stone. Why don´t you take Nadine with you? She can give you moral support at your lecture, and then you can visit your parents together."

"Nadine?" Charlie lifted his eyebrows questioningly at her.

"Yes. I´d love to come, Charlie. Just as long as I won´t be in the way."

"You can never be in the way, Nadine. And I´ll be able to show you off to my friends at the ministry."

"Right, that´s settled then," said Demont, "Come on. Let´s get back to work. The sooner we finish this report the more time you´ll have to yourselves."

***

Hermione, Harry and Ron sat in the Great Hall eating their lunch. The Anima Summas had made great efforts to act normally all day, trying to conceal their feelings for each other until they met Dumbledore before the afternoon classes started.

Suddenly, Ginny came tearing into the hall, clutching a piece of parchment and grinning all over her face. She quickly sat down beside Hermione, breathing heavily.

"What´s the matter, Ginny?" said Hermione.

The three looked expectantly at the grinning redhead, waiting for her to get her breath.

"It´s happened," she blurted.

"What. What´s happened?" said Ron impatiently.

"Charlie and Nadine. They´ve got together at last. I just had an owl from Demont."

"Oh that´s great," said Hermione, clutching her friend´s hand.

"Oh is that all?" said Ron looking disappointed. "I thought that something important had happened - like the Chudley Cannons signing that star chaser everybody´s talking about."

"Ron!" said Hermione and Ginny together.

Harry chuckled to himself, "That´s great, Ginny. I know how much you´ve been wanting that to happen."

"Thank you, Harry," said Ginny, and then turned to Ron, looking hurt, "You should be happy for Charlie, Ron."

"Oh I am, Ginny. Honestly I am. But it wasn´t exactly unexpected, was it."

"Well," said Ginny, "Mum´s going to be so pleased about this. Ron, can I borrow Pigwidgeon? I´ve got to send her a note straight away."

"Yes ok, Ginny," he replied.

Ginny got up quickly and raced off towards the owlery. "Don´t forget our meeting in fifteen minutes," Hermione shouted after her.

Ten minutes later, Ginny made her way towards Dumbledore´s office. As she climbed the main staircase Parvati and Lavender, who stood right in front of her, looking determined, halted her.

"What´s happening between Harry and Hermione Ginny?" asked Parvati, "Something´s going on, isn´t there."

"Wh .. what makes you say that, Parvati?"

"Come on Ginny. The Slytherins have been spreading rumours that they´re an item all morning. But if anybody knows, you do."

"And we´ve noticed the way they´ve been looking at each other in class this morning," said Lavender.

"I .. I. Look, I can´t stop to talk now. Dumbledore wants to see me - like straight away. I´ll speak to you later, right?"

Ginny deftly sidestepped around the two girls and ran up the stairs to the headmaster´s office.

"There´s something going on all right," said Lavender.

"Sorry I´m late, everybody," said Ginny as she walked into the headmaster´s office.

"Come and sit down Ginny," said Dumbledore smiling. Hermione had told everyone about Charlie and his new French girlfriend and Ginny´s visit to the owlery.

"Right then," said Dumbledore, "Harry, Hermione. Have you decided what you´re going to do yet?"

"Uh, sorry to interrupt," said Ginny, "But I don´t think there´s any point in Harry and Hermione trying to hide that they´re an item. Lavender and Parvati stopped me on the way here - that´s why I´m late. It seems that Draco Malfoy´s been blabbing, and there´re rumours about them coming from the Slytherins. But more importantly Hermione, Lav and Parvati have noticed the vibes coming from you and Harry. And you know what they´re like. Once they get a whiff of something romantic, they won´t stop until they find out about it."

"We´ve been trying our hardest to conceal it all morning," said Hermione.

"But there´s no point any more," said Harry, "We´ve already decided to make it known, anyway."

"It was just so difficult trying to keep it concealed this morning," said Hermione.

"All right. I respect your decision," said Dumbledore, "Just keep your eyes out for Rita Skeeter. She´s bound to come looking for a story sooner or later. So - how are you going to let everybody know?"

"Oh, we won´t say a thing, will we Hermi?"

"No - not a thing. But everybody´ll know before we eat dinner this evening."

"All right. Good luck," said McGonagall, "You four had better get to your classes now."

After they´d gone, Dumbledore called the meeting to order.

"It´s best that they go public, I think," said Flitwick, "It would be too hard for them to keep how they feel about each other under wraps. But what bothers me is that they may show something, well, unusual when they´re together. I mean, they don´t even know themselves what they´re capable of, magically, and what they may find `normal´ may be seen as quite startling to everyone else. Can you see what I´m getting at?"

"Yes, I think we do, Filius," said Dumbledore, "It´s only a matter of time, really, that strange things will start to happen when they´re together. And you can be sure that it´ll get back to Fudge, eventually."

"I just hope that he won´t start snooping around until they´ve sat their OWLS," said McGonagall.

"Yes, Minerva. That´s what concerns me. We´re just going to have to do a bit of stone-walling until the exams are over."

"What about `You Know Who,´ Headmaster?" asked Remus, "What do you think he´ll do when he finds out that Hermione is the Anima Summa?"

"I don´t know, Remus. I think he´ll try everything to get at them now. He might even try to attack Hogwarts itself."

There was a gasp from everyone in the room.

"Surely you don´t think he´ll go that far, Headmaster?" said McGonagall aghast.

"Minerva, Voldemort is capable of just about anything. And if he can see his dream of world domination being threatened, he may just do that. We´ll just have to be as vigilant as we can."

That evening, the Great Hall was buzzing with the rumours about Harry and Hermione. Although rumours that came from the Slytherins were normally taken with a pinch of salt, Lavender and Parvati had wasted no time in telling everybody what they thought was going on. Everyone kept looking at the Gryffindor table, but although Ron and Ginny were there, there was no sign of their two friends. No one noticed that Kristen was also missing.

Then the Great Hall doors opened, and everyone turned to look, the room becoming quiet. And Kristen walked in. She was smiling as she walked to her usual seat at the Gryffindor table. The buzz of chatter started up again as Kristen sat down. Parvati and Lavender started quizzing her about why she was late.

"Where´ve you been, Kristen?" asked Lavender, "Have you seen Harry and Hermione?"

"Just wait, Lavender," she replied, "They´ll be here in a moment."

"What? Have they said anything to you?" asked Parvati.

"Just wait," said Kristen. She was still feeling the wonderful emotions shared with her by Harry and Hermione after they´d told her that Hermione was the Anima Summa. Although she was still a bit fragile about losing Harry, she was really glad that Hermione had been the one. And she was glad that they´d taken the trouble to tell her everything before the rest of the students found out.

Then the doors opened again. Once more, every head turned around and the room became very quiet.

First, Hermione entered and then waited as Harry followed and closed the doors behind him. Then, not taking their eyes from each other, they held hands and walked towards the Gryffindor table.

The room erupted with excited chatter, and there were some jealous looks among some of the girls. Most of them, however, were grinning broadly, and the Gryffindor girls rushed to the pair, firing questions. Lavender was the first to arrive, quickly followed by Parvati.

"It´s true then? You´re really together - as a couple?"

"Yes, Lavender," said Hermione.

"And about time too," said Parvati. "We´ve had our suspicions for a while now - ever since we caught you watching ...Uh, so when did this happen then?"

"Only yesterday evening, Parvati," Hermione looked gratefully at her.

"Well we´re really pleased for you both," said Lavender, "Come on, come and get something to eat."

Everyone went back to the table, except for little Clare Bryant, who tugged Harry´s cloak and gestured for him to lean close to her.

"I´m glad you´re together with Hermione, Harry. She´s nice, and I´m sure she´ll be able to cheer you up."

"Well thank you, Clare," said Harry grinning as Clare walked back to her seat.

Harry and Hermione sat opposite Ron and Ginny, who were grinning widely. "Well there´s no going back now," said Ginny.

***

The following evening, Charlie and Nadine stood nervously outside the Burrow. Charlie had given his lecture on the Romanian Longhorn dragons, and it proved to be a great success. Now he anticipated a more harrowing time as he prepared himself mentally to introduce Nadine to his mother.

"Well are we going in, Charlie?" asked Nadine.

"Yes, in a moment Nadine. Look, my mother can be a bit, well, overpowering at times. And she´s going to be pretty excited at meeting you. Are you going to be ok?"

"Yes, Charlie, of course I am. Come on - let´s go in. You really should have told them we were coming, you know."

Charlie grinned nervously, "They like surprises, Nadine."

They walked up to the door and Charlie opened it cautiously. They walked into the kitchen to see Arthur sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet, Molly over by the stove preparing dinner, and Percy sitting in a chair by the fireplace reading a ministry report. As they walked in, all three heads shot up and just stared at them for a few moments.

Then Molly let out a loud shriek, the pan she was holding clattering into the sink. She ran over to Charlie and threw her arms around his neck.

"Why didn´t you tell me you were coming?" she said as she looked across at Nadine with tearful eyes, "I´d have prepared a special meal."

"Uh, mum. This is Nadine - she´s from France. She´s my girlfriend."

"Oh, Charlie," said his mother, "I know who it is. I got everything out of your sister yesterday. Hello, Nadine - you´re very welcome at the Burrow. Come and sit down by the table and meet the others."

She caught under Nadine´s arm and eased her over to the kitchen table.

"Very pleased to meet you, Nadine. I´m Charlie´s father - call me Arthur"

"And I´m Percy, Charlie´s brother," said Percy smiling as he walked over and sat next to Nadine.

Nadine shook hands with the two men, "I´m pleased to meet you all. I hope you don´t mind me dropping in like this?"

"Mind? Of course we don´t," said Molly, "I´ve been looking forward to meeting you for days."

"Hello. Who´s this then?"

Everyone looked to see Bill Weasley come into the room. "Nadine," said Charlie with a wide grin, "the cool-looking dude who just came in is my elder brother, Bill. Bill this is Nadine."

Bill smiled and walked over to the table. He lifted Nadine out of her chair and hugged her.

"So you´re the girl who´s captivated my little brother? When I spoke to him last month, he couldn´t stop talking about you."

"Hello, Bill. Pleased to meet you," said Nadine, laughing.

"Bill Weasley," shouted Molly, "You mean to say you knew all about this a month ago and you didn´t tell me?"

"No Mum," said Bill defensively, "I knew Charlie was in love with a girl, but I didn´t know the feeling was mutual back then." He looked slyly at Charlie and Nadine, "And for the sake of Charlie´s sanity, I thought it best not to mention it until he did something about it. You know what you´re like."

"Well really!" said Molly, trying to suppress a smile.

"So Bill, what are you doing here? Shouldn´t you be in Egypt?" asked Charlie.

"Oh just a lightening visit, Charlie. I had to come over for a meeting at the bank in Diagon Alley, so I thought I´d drop in for dinner."

"Charlie, I didn´t know you had two other brothers," said Nadine, "I thought it was just Ron and Ginny."

"Uh, I´ve got two more as well, Nadine. Fred and George are in their seventh year at Hogwarts. I suppose you´ll have to meet them at some time."

"Why do you say it like that, Charlie? Don´t you want them to meet me?"

"Oh no, you misunderstand Nadine. Well, just ask Bill and Percy what they´re like. They´re an experience all on their own. Believe me, once you´ve met them you won´t be the same person again."

"Oh Charlie," said Arthur, "Now you´re exaggerating. I know those two can be a bit, well, inventive on times, but they´ll just adore Nadine, I´m sure."

"Inventive is not the word, Dad," said Percy, "Remember that time last year when they nearly blew up all the Slytherins?"

"Yes, Arthur," said Molly, "I´ve had to send more howlers to those two than all the other kids put together."

"Blew up the Slytherins?" said Nadine, laughing, "I think I´m going to like them a lot."

"Nadine was at Hogwarts for her final year - the year after I left," explained Charlie, "So she knows what the Slytherins are like."

"So how long can you both stay?" asked Arthur.

"Only overnight, Dad," replied Charlie, "We´ve got to get back to France to finish the report on the magical creature disturbances."

"What happened, Charlie? Did you find out the cause of it all in the end?" asked Bill.

"Uh, yes we did. But I can´t really tell you, I´m afraid. Professor Dumbledore has sworn us to keep it secret."

"Dumbledore? How´s he involved?" said Bill, his interest peaked.

"We saw Ron and Ginny in France," said Charlie, "They were with Harry and Hermione. It seems they were on a quest, which happened to be the cause of all the disturbances. So we sort of joined forces with them."

"And how are you feeling now, Nadine?" asked Molly, "Ginny told me you were hurt in that fight with the Death Eaters."

"Oh it was nothing, Mrs. Weasley. Just a cut from some splintered wood."

"Death Eaters?" shouted Bill, "What were they doing there?"

"Bill, I can´t tell you any more details - let´s just say that the four kids are involved in some pretty heavy stuff. Don´t worry - they´re well protected. But `You Know Who´ is involved."

"´You Know Who´? In anybody´s language, that means that Ron and Ginny are in great danger. Can´t we do anything to help?"

"I don´t think so Bill," said Arthur, "Try not to worry too much - Dumbledore is looking after them. He won´t let anything happen to them."

Everybody´s attention was drawn to the fireplace as a rush of blue flame shot up the chimney. Then Ginny´s head appeared, grinning widely, "Mum?" she shouted.

Molly walked over to the fireplace, "Ginny. I didn´t expect you to call me tonight. What´s the matter?"

"Just a quick call, mum. Just to tell you that Harry and Hermione have got together - you know, as a couple."

"Oh that´s great, Ginny. They´re a lovely couple of kids - well matched." There was a hint of disappointment in Molly´s voice - she had secretly hoped that Harry and Ginny would have got together one day.

Charlie looked at Nadine and walked over to the fireplace to stand beside his mother, "Did I hear right, Ginny. Harry and Hermione?"

"Charlie!" Ginny shouted, "Is Nadine with you?"

Nadine walked to Charlie´s side, "Hello Ginny. How are you?"

"Oh Nadine. I was so glad to hear about you and Charlie. I can´t wait to meet you both again. I´ve got so much I want to ask you - and I want to know everything!"

"We´ll probably see you over the summer holidays, Ginny," said Charlie. "But what about Harry and Hermione?"

"Look, I´ve got to go now. Everybody´s coming back from dinner. Charlie, Nadine - Hermione´s the one. You know what I mean. See you soon - `bye."

Ginny´s head disappeared in a burst of blue flame, and Charlie and Nadine just stood grinning.

"What did she mean, Charlie?" asked Percy, "She´s the one - what was that about?"

"I can´t tell you, I´m afraid. It´s all part of the thing we´ve got to keep secret."

"Well I´m sure we´ll be told when Dumbledore thinks we need to know," said Arthur.

Molly let out a yell at the sound of water boiling over on the stove, "The dinner," she said as she rushed over, "It´ll be ready in ten minutes."

"I´ll just show Nadine around the garden, Mum," said Charlie as he led Nadine out of the kitchen door.

"She´s a very nice girl, isn´t she?" said Arthur.

"Yes she is," said Molly, a dreamy look in her eyes, "You could tell straight away, couldn´t you? And did you see the way they look at each other?"

"I like your family, Charlie," said Nadine as they walked around the garden, "and I can´t wait to meet Fred and George."

Charlie grinned, "They like you as well. I could tell straight away."

"Do you think that Hermione´s Harry´s Anima Summa, Charlie?"

"Yes, that´s what Ginny meant, all right. I just hope that `You Know Who´ doesn´t find out."

"I´m so glad for them. I could tell that she was in love with Harry, and she was really hurting back in France - Ceri told me. It´s so romantic, isn´t it?"

"Yes, I guess it is, Nadine. Talking about romance, come here for a minute."

Nadine squealed with delight as Charlie pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. After five minutes, Bill, who shouted from the kitchen door, interrupted them.

"Put her down, Charlie. There´s something else to eat in here. Come on."

After they had finished dinner, they sat at the table talking, finishing off the four bottles of wine that Bill had brought over from Egypt.

"So, what are you going to do when the report´s finished?" asked Arthur.

Charlie and Nadine appeared startled as they looked at each other.

"Uh, I don´t know, Dad," said Charlie, "We haven´t really talked about it. And I don´t know what the ministry´s got lined up for me next - I suppose they´ll let me know after my holidays. They´ve given me six weeks off - the first break I´ve had for a year. We´re going to spend most of that time back in France with Nadine´s brother - and we´ll pop back here for the odd visit, of course."

"Be sure you do, Charlie," said Molly darkly.

***

"So Granger´s the other Anima Summa," said Voldemort reflectively. Lucius Malfoy had just given his report after receiving the message from Draco. Wormtail looked at the Dark Lord with trepidation, expecting him to go into a rage. But his master just sat on his throne deep in thought.

"And you´re sure he´s got it right? They did wand-less magic on him?"

"I´m sure, my Lord," said Lucius, "He said the spell they used wasn´t in any language they´d come across at Hogwarts."

"Hmm. I wonder how strong they are? And from what Lupin told us, they can now only get stronger. We´ve got to do something, and do it quickly."

"What do you suggest, my Lord?" asked Lucius.

"I can see no alternative, now," said Voldemort darkly, "We´ll have to attack Hogwarts. It´ll be dangerous with Dumbledore there, but perhaps we can arrange a few surprises. Wormtail - go and summon my inner circle. I want them here, now!"

Wormtail rushed out of the cave while Voldemort tapped the arm of his throne impatiently. Five minutes later, six more black-cloaked figures stood in front of the throne.

"There have been developments," said Voldemort, "Potter has found his Anima Summa - the Granger girl. We have to act soon to capture them - they can´t be allowed to develop their powers. I have decided that I will lead the attack on the school myself."

"But my Lord," said Lucius hurriedly, "You´ll be seen by everyone at the school. The ministry will be forced to admit that you have returned, and that´s going to set back your greater plan by months, if not years."

Voldemort reflected on his chief lieutenant´s advice, "Perhaps you´re right, Lucius. I still need to be there to control the Dementors and to weaken the protection spells around the grounds, but it may be better if I remain hidden. I don´t want you seen either, Lucius, nor the rest of you - your positions at the ministry will be compromised if you´re spotted. Like me, you will have to remain hidden and direct operations from inside the Forbidden Forest."

"But who´ll lead the attack, my Lord?" asked Avery, "It won´t be that easy to capture Potter and Granger now they´ve joined together. And you can be sure that they´ll be well protected."

"What I have in mind will draw off that protection, Avery, and leave them exposed. Wormtail - you and Travis will lead the main attack to capture the pair. I want all of you to get together and choose one hundred of your best Death Eaters for the main attack."

"Yes, my Lord," they all said in unison.

Voldemort shifted his position on his throne, and pointed his wand at the floor. As they all watched, a plan of the school grounds appeared in the dust. He then looked up, "Now this is what I plan to do ..."

***

It was the dead of night at Hogwarts, and all the students were sleeping soundly - except for two of them who crept silently through the corridors, each carrying a heavy sack over their shoulders. Peeves was floating about the empty hallways that night, but the two easily managed to evade him. They´d had plenty of experience at doing that during their seven years at the school.

They moved stealthily into the Entrance Hallway and then went into the corridor that led down into the dungeons. They were heading for the Slytherin common room.

"Did you get the password, Fred?"

"Yes George. I put a bit of pressure on that first year Slytherin - I told him that I´d tell Snape about his little midnight jaunts unless he gave it to me. No problem."

They tried hard to contain the fit of giggles that bubbled inside them as they approached the entrance portal to the Slytherin common room. Fred stood in front of the stone snake and said the password.

"Vampire bites."

The stone snake hissed and the portal opened. They both let out a sigh of relief as they silently crept inside.

The following morning, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny went down to the Great Hall early for breakfast. A few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were there, but the four were surprised to see two red-haired figures sitting at the Gryffindor table - Fred and George were grinning like Cheshire cats as they each tucked into a mound of bacon and eggs.

"Uh oh," said Ginny, "Something´s up. They´re never down this early."

"What have you two been up to?" asked Ron as the four sat opposite them.

"You´ll just have to wait to find that out," said George.

"Let´s just say that this is our big-bang farewell to Hogwarts," said Fred.

"What have you done?" asked Harry, "I suppose we´d better keep our eyes peeled on the Slytherin table?"

"Spot on, Harry," said George.

"Pass the word when the others come down," said Fred.

Ten minutes later, almost all the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs sat tucking into their breakfast. But there was no sign of the Slytherins yet. The word had been spread and everyone was chatting excitedly, wondering what was going to happen.

The teachers looked puzzled at the top table, wondering why no Slytherins had appeared, and what all the animated chatter was about.

"Severus," said McGonagall, "Where are your lot this morning?"

"I don´t know," replied Snape, "I think I´d better go and find out."

As Snape rose from his seat, Malfoy came into the Great Hall, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Then more Slytherins appeared and walked over to their table. Two minutes later they were all there. The room had become very quiet, with all the other students watching the Slytherin table expectantly.

"Something´s up," said Malfoy to his two friends, "Look at the way everybody´s watching us."

"What´s gone wrong, Fred?" asked Ron, "Nothing´s happening."

"Just wait for five minutes," Fred answered.

Three minutes later, there was a buzz of disappointment around the room as nothing untoward had occurred at the Slytherin table. They were just wolfing their breakfasts as they normally did, and talking among themselves. Two minutes after that, something started to happen.

Crabbe, who had stuffed himself silly with five helpings of bacon and eggs, opened his grease-covered mouth to tell Goyle to pass him some more toast, but no words came out. Instead, something that resembled a balloon issued from his mouth, floated up to the ceiling, and then exploded with a loud `BANG.´

There was silence in the room as everybody stared. Then Malfoy opened his mouth to ask what was going on - and the same thing happened. The balloon almost reached the ceiling before it exploded. Then, all the Slytherins started talking at once - except they didn´t talk. Hundreds of balloons started rising into the air and exploding. The noise was deafening.

Meanwhile, Fred and George were congratulating themselves on their best prank yet, while all the other Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs fell about with uncontrollable laughter.

As the Slytherins got angrier at what was happening, they started shouting - aiming their ire at the Gryffindor table. But the bubbles just got bigger and the explosions got louder. As a consequence, the mirth of the rest of the students increased in intensity - they were all now rolling about on the floor, holding their sides, as they failed to keep their giggling under control.

Even most of the teachers were laughing quite openly at the sight - except for Snape, who looked angrily at the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore´s eyes were twinkling, and he had an amused grin on his face.

After five minutes, Snape brought the show to a close. He rushed over to his house table and herded the Slytherins out of the Great Hall and into the school grounds, where it was raining quite heavily.

After a further five minutes, the students started to recover their composure and some of them walked up to Fred and George, patting them on their back.

"Really cool, George," said Lee Jordan.

"Your best one yet, Fred," said Seamus Finnegan.

"Wicked - really wicked," said Katie Bell.

"That was hilarious - I can´t remember when I´ve laughed so much," said Angelina Johnson.

Hermione leaned over the table towards the proud-looking pair, "So you´ve really managed to go out with a bang then?"

This brought a further bout of giggling from the Gryffindors, who then started to rush out of the Great Hall, wanting to see what the Slytherins were doing now.

"What did you do?" asked Ginny.

"Well," said Fred, "We´ve been working on this for a few weeks, now. We played on the Slytherins well-known aptitude for greed."

"Yes," continued George, "We made about three hundred fake gold coins - they look exactly like the real thing. Except that we spiked them all with this new charm we invented last month - a variation of that Donkey charm we did on them."

"And we planted them in the Slytherin common room last night," said Fred.

"We knew they wouldn´t be able to keep their hands off the coins," said George, "That´s why they were late - I bet they were making sure there were no more coins hanging about."

"When you pick one up and put it in your pocket, the heat of your body eventually dissolves it, and it gets absorbed into your skin. It then makes its way into the stomach, where it waits. The effects - well you just saw that," said Fred.

"It´s not activated until food or drink mixes with it," said George.

"So how long will it last?" asked Ron.

"That depends," said George.

"On what?" asked Harry.

"On how greedy they are," said Fred, "You see, the more coins they stuff into their pockets, and the more food they eat, the longer the effects will last."

"It can be from about an hour, right up to a full day," said George.

"That´s brilliant," said Hermione, "Everybody can now see which of them is the greediest. "

"I bet the two greediest will be Crabbe and Goyle," said Ron.

Fred and George looked at each other, and started grinning. They each bent over the table and planted a big kiss on Hermione´s cheek.

"You´re brilliant, Hermi," said Fred, "We hadn´t thought of that."

"We can make another killing, George," said Fred, "Like we did with Ginny´s spell last year."

"I was thinking the same thing," said George, "We can take bets from all the students on who they think will be the greediest - we can´t lose - especially if we give even money odds on each bet."

"Five sickles on Crabbe," shouted Ron as he handed the money over to his brothers.

"Three sickles on Goyle," said Ginny as she dug her hand into her cloak pocket.

"How about you two?" George asked Harry and Hermione.

They looked at each other and Harry said, "We´ll have 10 sickles on Malfoy."

"Done," said Fred as he took the money, "Come on George, let´s get round all the others before classes start."

"Just one moment you two - what do you know about what happened earlier?"

The six turned to see the angry face of Professor Snape glaring at the twins.

"Now now, Severus," said McGonagall as she joined them, "You don´t know that Fred and George had anything to do with it."

"Come on, Minerva," he replied animatedly, "Who else would it be? This has Fred and George Weasley stamped all over it."

Just then, Professor Dumbledore joined the group.

"I want these two disciplined, Headmaster," said Snape, "I think that expulsion would not be too harsh a punishment."

"Come now, Severus," said the headmaster, "There´s no proof that they were responsible. I think it would be best if the matter were dropped. And I really think it would be a good idea if you go outside to see if your house students are all right"

Snape made a strangled noise and stormed out of the Great Hall. Dumbledore then turned to Fred and George, "I must say that I haven´t seen such hilarity at the school for many a year. I haven´t seen anything like it since the time of Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. This will go down in the annals of Hogwarts as one of the best pranks ever played on the Slytherins. Minerva, 10 points to Gryffindor for raising the morale of the school, don´t you think? But not a word to Severus."

"I quite agree, Headmaster," she replied.

"Oh, before you go, you two," said Dumbledore, "Professor Snape was right in one respect. I wouldn´t be doing my duty if I let you both go unpunished. Make sure that half of any profit you make is donated to school funds."

"Yes sir," they both said together, feeling relieved, wondering how Dumbledore found out about their betting plan. They then ran out to see the other students.

For the next two days, the prank was the talk of the school, and everywhere, students could be heard chuckling as they recalled the event. Fred and George duly handed over 6 galleons to a grinning headmaster, being fifty percent of their winnings.

Their profit margin was far greater than they´d hoped, so they didn´t mind giving half of it to school funds. The reason for this was the unexpected winner of the `greediest Slytherin´ competition. Most of the students had bet on either Crabbe or Goyle. But the winner, albeit only by about five minutes, turned out to be Millicent Bulstrode. Crabbe was second and Goyle third. It turned out that Malfoy was way down the list.

***

The following Saturday turned out to be one of the warmest and sunniest days of the year so far. Most of the students were taking advantage of the kind weather that morning as they sat and lay on the grass in the school grounds. Most of them were revising for their imminent exams. The fifth-years, in particular, were starting to get a bit panicky - their OWLS were now less than two weeks away.

Even Ron had started to get down to some real work. He, Ginny, Harry and Hermione were lying on the grass, reading their textbooks. They were lying on their stomachs under a tree, not far from the Forbidden Forest. They had gone there to get away from a group of first-years students, who had congregated by the lake. Their incessant chatter was ruining their concentration.

Ceri, Remus and Padfoot were patrolling just inside that part of the Forbidden Forest nearest to the four friends.

They knew that something was wrong from Harry´s behaviour. He was quietly reading his Potions notes, when he suddenly jumped to his feet, clutching his forehead. Hermione and the other two looked up, startled.

"What´s the matter, Harry?" said a concerned Hermione.

"It´s my scar," Harry replied, "It just started to hurt."

His face was screwed up in pain as he sat back down on the grass, still holding his hand to his head.

Ron turned towards where Ceri and the others were sitting and shouted to them, "Come quick. Harry´s scar is hurting."

Remus, Ceri and Padfoot rushed over, looking about them all the time, trying to spot anything unusual.

"My scar suddenly started to hurt," he told Ceri, "Voldemort is close - I can feel it."

"I´ll go to get Dumbledore," said Remus, "Ceri - you´d better get these four back up to the school."

Before anybody could move, they heard a commotion coming from the far end of the grounds. Students were screaming and running back across the Quidditch field towards the school. As they looked to see the cause of the panic, a feeling of coldness and despair shot through their minds. Just at the far edge of the Forbidden Forest, they could see about twenty Dementors, the ghoulish forms heading directly towards them.

"I can´t see `You Know Who´ with them," said Ceri.

"Oh he´s there all right, Ceri," said Harry, "My scar´s telling me that. He must be hidden in the trees somewhere."

As they started up to the school, they saw the teachers rushing out of the main doors, quickly followed by Dumbledore. They ran to head off the Dementors, preparing to repel them from the grounds. The charms they´d put in place earlier had given them advance warning of their approach, so they´d had time to plan their defence.

Ceri and Remus started to run to join the teachers, but Dumbledore waved them back, "We´ll take care of those," he shouted, "You keep close to Harry and the others."

Most of the students were now watching the action, having been joined by the ones that had run from the far end of the grounds. Some of the seventh-years, including Fred and George, rushed to help the teachers with the Dementors.

Ceri and Remus ran back to the group and started to direct them up to the school. But at that moment, they saw a sight that filled them with fear.

From five points around the grounds, opposite where the Dementors were attacking, poured about a hundred Death Eaters, their faces covered by their black hoods. Ceri could see that the attack had been carefully planned, one of the groups of about twenty, were moving quickly to cut off their retreat to the school, while another was headed to cut off any possible escape into the forest. The other three groups were converging on their position, the ones in the lead already starting to throw curses, although they were still too far away to achieve any sort of accuracy.

The students started screaming in panic, and rushed back to the school, trying to get away from the black-cloaked demons. Most of them were close enough to get into the school fairly quickly, but some - including the group of first-years - had quite a distance to run.

Ceri looked back at the other end of the grounds, and could see the teachers and some of the students producing their Patronus to fight off the Dementors. They hadn´t seen the Death Eaters attack yet.

Padfoot suddenly transformed and Sirius grabbed Ceri and shouted, "Come on. We´re cut off from the school - lets get these kids behind the tree. At least we´ll get some protection there. We´ll try to hold them off until we get some help from the other end of the grounds."

Ceri complied as she helped get the four friends behind the cover of the tree, but she knew it was hopeless. The Death Eaters were closing fast and there was no chance that they´d get help in time.

As they all crouched behind the tree, curses started to pepper their position. Despite the spells they threw in return, they could all see that it was only a matter of time before they were surrounded.

Then Harry and Hermione stood up and joined hands, Harry´s right hand clasping Hermione´s left. The others looked on in surprise as they lifted their other hands, palms upwards above their heads, and shouted out two strange words.

"DADEX MER."

A beam of silvery-blue light shot from their upraised hands and met about ten feet above their heads. Where the beams met, an emerald green shimmering light appeared. It then spread outwards in all directions for about twenty feet, and then cascaded down until it met the ground. All seven of them were now encased by the emerald green light.

"What´s that, Harry?" shouted Sirius, "What have you done?"

"We´re just protecting you, Sirius," Hermione replied.

Just then, the three closest groups of Death Eaters came around both sides of the tree and pointed their wands at the seven. One of the Death Eaters stepped forward and spoke.

"It´s all over," said Travis, "Your position is hopeless. We can kill you all in a second."

Another of the Death Eaters stepped up alongside him, "You can all go free if you put down your wands and hand over Potter and Granger to us. I´ll give you 5 seconds to decide."

A low growl came from Sirius, "Wormtail!" he said, "You can go to hell."

He lifted his wand to fire off a spell at his enemy, but was restrained by Harry placing his hand on his arm.

"You won´t be able to penetrate the protective shield with any spells," said Harry, "But we can."

"I think you´d better transform, Sirius," said Hermione, "The teachers and some of the seventh-years will be here soon."

Back at the other end of the grounds, a huge and powerful Patronus, generated by Dumbledore, forced the remaining five Dementors to retreat back into the Forbidden Forest. They joined the other Dementors who had been banished from the grounds a little earlier.

"Headmaster. Look," shouted Flitwick as he stared at the other end of the grounds.

The teachers and seventh-years turned to see a large number of Death Eaters standing in three groups. One of the groups - of about sixty - was surrounding Harry, his three friends, two adults and a large dog.

"Come on, quick," shouted Dumbledore, panic clearly showing in his voice, "We´ve got to help them."

They all took off for the other end of the grounds in a mad sprint, Fred and George in the lead. The sight of their little brother and sister being in such a hopeless position spurred them on.

Harry and Hermione turned back to the Death Eaters after Padfoot appeared. They again lifted their arms and pointed their palms at Wormtail.

"SHAJ HER," they shouted together.

A beam of silvery-blue light left each of their hands and again met in front of them, before continuing through the protective shield to strike Wormtail directly on his head.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Wormtail´s black hood disappeared to reveal his rat-like features. Then, incredibly, his head expanded to about five times its normal size. Wormtail turned around in panic, shouting to the other Death Eaters for help. But they all stood transfixed at the sight, not knowing what to do.

Dumbledore and the others were now getting close.

"Look," said Professor Trelawney, "It´s Peter Pettigrew! Harry was right. He´s still alive."

Everyone else was able to see Wormtail, drawn to his features by the size of his head - even the students who had gained the protection of the school and were peering out from the windows on the ground floor couldn´t really miss him.

Then, suddenly, Wormtail´s head resumed its normal size.

"Quick," said Travis, "Grab them - Dumbledore´s getting too close for comfort."

Five of the Death Eaters advanced to grab hold of Harry and Hermione, but were brought to a sudden stop. They couldn´t get through the barrier that the pair had erected. Again they tried, aided by another ten Death Eaters, but they couldn´t penetrate through to the pair.

Wormtail and Travis howled in frustration, "Kill them. Kill them all," shouted Wormtail.

Sixty Death Eaters lifted their wands and aimed them at the group of seven.

"AVADA KEDAVRA," they all yelled at the same time. Sixty deathly-green beams of light struck the emerald green barrier. And sixty beams of green light were deflected away, leaving everyone inside the shield untouched.

"Kill them," roared Wormtail. Again the Death Eaters flung their killing curses, and again they were deflected. This time, however, some of them rebounded back and struck some of the Death Eaters. Six of them fell to the ground dead. Unfortunately, one of the beams rebounded and missed Wormtail´s group, travelling straight between a gap in their ranks, and continued up to strike into the midst of the last group of students who had just arrived, breathless, at the school doors - the first-years.

"Noooooo!" wailed Harry and Hermione as they saw what had happened.

"Let´s get out of here," shouted Travis as he saw the rapidly approaching teachers and seventh-years.

All the remaining Death Eaters took flight, flinging curses wildly behind them. Some just grazed some of the nearest seventh-years, although no great harm was done.

"Ten of the fleeing hoard were stunned by the spells flung by Dumbledore and the teachers and dropped to the ground, immobile, but the rest of them escaped back into the forest.

Harry and Hermione had remained linked together ever since they had erected the protection barrier. Now they again raised their hands and ended the spell, the emerald green field dissipating into the air.

"Are you all ok?" shouted Dumbledore anxiously as he went up to them.

"Yes, we´re all right, Professor," said Hermione, and then pointed up towards the school, "But there´s someone up there who isn´t, I´m afraid."

Everyone rushed up to the main entrance doors of the school, where they found the group of first-years crying and looking down at the ground, where a small form lay unmoving.

"Oh no!" said Dumbledore as he hurried over. But Harry got there first and looked stunned as he saw Clare Bryant lying on the floor. Her face was white and her eyes stared sightlessly at the sky above her. She bore the unmistakable mark of the killing curse.

"On no," cried Harry, "not Clare!"

Harry knelt on the ground beside her and lifted the still form gently in his arms. He hugged her to him as he cried unashamedly. "I´ll get them, Clare," he whispered, "I´ll make them pay for this."

Everyone felt completely helpless and inadequate at that moment. All they could do was just stand and stare, unwilling to believe that the popular little girl had been taken from them.

Harry raised his tear-stained face to the headmaster, "She didn´t deserve this, Professor. She wouldn´t harm a fly."

Hermione approached Harry, her eyes ablaze, and touched his shoulder.

"Harry, quick. Join with me."

Harry stared at Hermione, and then something dawned in his mind. He quickly got up and took hold of her hand - his right and her left - the rings touched.

"Get back, everyone - please," he said softly.

Harry and Hermione closed their eyes and concentrated hard. Then they extended their free hands over Clare´s body and spoke two words softly.

"MESNEH MWT"

Everyone gasped as the silvery light shot from their hands and joined just above the little girl´s body. Then it spread in a silvery blanket and covered her.

The still form rose slowly from the ground and then turned until she was standing upright on her feet. Then the silvery glow faded. Clare let out a loud gasp and opened her eyes, staring around her in confusion. Ron and Ginny caught her as she staggered, and sat her back onto the ground

They both comforted her as she started crying. "What happened?" she whispered. "I thought I was dead!"

She looked up and saw Harry and Hermione standing over her, their hands still extended over the spot where she´d earlier laid. And she knew - she understood - she felt their beautiful and comforting aura, which still lingered in her soul.

She shot up and grabbed them both, clinging to them desperately. "Thank you," she said, "Thank you Harry, Hermione."

The hushed spell that everyone had been under then broke, and a thousand questions were uttered.

"How did you do that?" asked Fred.

"What did you do?" asked George.

"What sort of magic was that?" asked Lee Jordan.

"I´ve never seen anything like it," said Katie Bell.

Even Snape stood transfixed, looking at Harry and Hermione with a look of deep respect on his face.

"Come on, everyone," said Dumbledore, "Back into the school, quickly. We need to check that there aren´t any more Death Eaters and Dementors hanging about."

Professor McGonagall, her eyes wet, caught hold of Harry and Hermione and fiercely hugged them both, "Thank you so much," she said.

Professor Trelawney then came up to Harry, "I´m so glad you´ve found your destiny Harry. What you both did was so beautiful."

Then she walked back into the school, a serene look on her face.

Dumbledore walked up to Harry and Hermione, "That was incredible," he said, "I never thought I´d see the killing curse overcome like that. Thank you both from the bottom of my heart for saving Clare. Come up to my office in an hour - all of you - we´ve got plenty to discuss. But first, I´ll take Clare up to Madam Pomfrey to make sure there´s no lasting damage. Come on Minerva, bring Clare with you, if you please."

Clare was very reluctant to relinquish her contact with the pair as McGonagall gently eased her away from Harry and Hermione.

"It´s ok, Clare," said Harry, "We´ll see you later."

"Professor Dumbledore," said Harry as McGonagall and Clare went into the school. "Can I see you for a moment?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Voldemort - he was here. I knew because my scar started hurting. But he´s gone now. My scar stopped hurting when the Death Eaters started running away."

Dumbledore looked surprised, "I didn´t see him Harry. He must have stayed at the edge of the forest - probably directing the Dementors or the Death Eaters. Obviously, he still doesn´t want to make it known that he´s back. But after this, we should be able to persuade Fudge to tell the wizarding world about his return."

Before he went into the school, Dumbledore turned to Ceri, Remus and Padfoot, "You´d better check that they´ve all gone before we hold the meeting - but be careful!"

Only Ceri, Remus, Padfoot and the four friends were left in the grounds after the headmaster went up to the hospital wing.

"You four had better come with us," Ceri said smiling ruefully, "We might need some protection."

"That was great back there wasn´t it?" said Remus, equally ruefully, "The protectors having to be protected by the protected!"

"Huh?" said Ron, confused.

"No wonder `You Know Who´ tried to get you two," said Ceri, "you´re very, very powerful now. He must be feeling a bit vulnerable."

"I don´t know about that," said Harry, "But there´s one thing I do know. That spell we put on Wormtail - when we made his hood disappear and inflated his head. We wanted to make sure everybody saw him. There´s no way that Fudge can keep Sirius´ innocence a secret now, is there?"

Padfoot nuzzled his wet nose into Harry´s hand, and Remus said the words that Sirius was thinking.

"Of course he can´t Harry! How can he be guilty of killing Wormtail if everybody´s just seen him alive and well. We´ll force him to go public with it now - and Sirius can get his official pardon."

***

Back in his cave, Voldemort was deep in thought as his inner circle stood nervously in front of his throne. He´d seen the wand-less magic done by Harry and Hermione, although he was not aware yet that they´d saved the little girl from the killing curse.

"This is serious," he said to his group, "I never thought that they were so strong. And they´ll only get stronger as time goes on." He banged his hand down on the arm of his throne in frustration. When he saw the pair perform the protection spell, even from a distance, a tendril of fear had started to worm itself through his brain.

"There must be something I can do to stop them!"

He suddenly stood up, "Go now. Continue your recruitment campaigns. I´ll summon you all when I need you. Lucius, make sure our friend keeps his eyes peeled until the end of term. I want to know if he spots any weaknesses in them. Anything at all. Now go."

After his initial rage and frustration had subsided, Voldemort started thinking more rationally about the problem he faced. And a chink of light started to grow in his mind.

`If there are ancient spells to aid the Light side, why can´t there be something similar to aid the Dark?´ he thought to himself. `I wonder .. I need to do some research to see if there´s anything I can use.´

He got up and walked over to the back of his cave where he kept his Dark Arts library. He looked through the ranks of forbidden books on the shelves and stopped at one.

"This looks promising," he said to himself as he heaved the large tome off the shelf.

He went back over to his throne, sat down, and started to read ...

***

The usual group sat around Dumbledore´s desk that afternoon. The four friends were also there as they started to review the events of the morning.

"What were those spells you used this morning?" asked Sirius.

"The first was `Protect friends,´" said Harry.

"The second was `Reveal face,´" said Hermione.

"And the last, that saved Clare, was `Reverse death.´ Thank goodness that Hermione was thinking clearly - I was too caught up in my grief to call it to mind," said Harry.

"What you two did this morning," said McGonagall, "was nothing short of miraculous. We all owe you a debt of gratitude for what you did for that lovely little girl."

There was a general murmur of approval from around the room.

"She can´t stop talking about you, you know," continued the deputy-head, "I think she must have sensed your inner feelings and emotions when you did the spell. She was quite overcome with the beauty of it all."

"I think she must have felt it, Professor," said Hermione, "We had to put everything we had into that spell."

"How is she coping with it all, Minerva?" asked Remus.

"Physically, there´s no problem. But Poppy wants to keep her in the hospital for a few days. She´s a bit worried about the psychological effects as the reality of it all hits her. She did die, after all. I´ve been in touch with her parents - I think that talking to them will help. They should be here in the morning."

"So what do you think `You Know Who´ will do now, Headmaster?" asked Snape.

"I don´t know, Severus. He must have been desperate to try an attack on Hogwarts - it must have been his last-ditch attempt to get at the Anima Summas. I´ve got a feeling that we won´t be hearing from him for a while - he´s got a lot to think about now."

"Uh, Professor," said Ginny, "Everybody saw Peter Pettigrew this morning. Won´t Sirius be officially cleared of the charges now?"

"I think so, Ginny. I´ve had to make a report to the ministry, and the Minister for Magic is coming here himself tomorrow to lead the investigation into the attack. I´ll make sure that enough teachers and students testify that they saw Wormtail to make it impossible for him to keep quiet about Sirius´ innocence. And since Voldemort wasn´t spotted, he needn´t tell the world that he´s back if he´s so inclined. So I don´t see any problem at all. I will, of course, press him to go public about Voldemort as well"

The four youngsters grinned at Sirius - which was returned by him in kind.

"What about the Anima Summas, Headmaster?" asked Remus, "Everybody saw what Harry and Hermione did today. And Fudge and his team are bound to find out about it. What are we going to say to them?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I don´t think there´s much we can do to cover it up. It would be silly to even try. Fudge is not stupid - he didn´t become Minister for Magic for nothing. Just tell them the truth. But don´t say anything about the prophecy or the Anima Summas - I´ll take care of that myself."

"They seem to be getting stronger, Headmaster," said Flitwick as he grinned at Harry and Hermione.

Dumbledore thought for a moment, "I´m not sure about that, Filius. Don´t get me wrong - they´re powerful, very powerful. But if the prophecy and what we´ve learned is anything to go by, they´ve still got a lot of learning and developing to do. Don´t forget, they´ve still got two more quests to complete to reach their full potential - and the rings told them they have to learn and grow. No - what we´ve seen is nothing compared to what we will see, at some time in the future. And they still need our protection. I know it looks as if they can protect themselves without any problem, but you know how devious the Dark Side can be - and they can´t watch their backs twenty four hours a day."

"Does that mean we´re still in a job, Professor?" asked Ceri.

"Oh, most certainly you are," Dumbledore replied, "I´ve been in touch with your superiors in the States, and they´ve seconded your services to me indefinitely. You´ll continue to work with Sirius and Remus, and I´ll try to get a couple more of the ministry´s best aurors out of Fudge when he visits tomorrow."

"That´s great!" said Sirius as he smiled at Ceri. Then coloured slightly as he saw Harry´s grinning face looking directly at him.

"So what do you make of it all, Headmaster?" asked McGonagall as her face took on a look of reflection, "I mean, there are things at work here that none of us even guessed at before. What do you think it is?"

"Ah, Minerva. If only I knew," Dumbledore replied, "But there´s certainly some spirit, or force, active. And it´s obviously a part of the Light Side. Think about it. I believe that you, Hermione, have been guided by this force right from the start."

Hermione looked startled, "What do you mean, Professor? I haven´t felt anything at all."

"Well I may be wrong, but just think. You´ve probably been acting as Harry´s Anima Summa right from the start of this mystery - even though you were unaware of it. First, you made sure that Sirius sorted him out when he was in the depths of despair. Then you purchased the amulet that contained the message - although I know the Priory of Sion was involved in that - but it was you they contacted. Then you were the brains behind solving the riddle of the amulet´s message. You´ve given unflinching support to Harry in the face of great personal pain and danger. You´ve even been willing to sacrifice your own happiness to make sure that Harry met the right girl."

Hermione´s face was bright red with embarrassment as she heard Dumbledore singing her praises, and Harry held her hand tightly.

"That´s only my personal opinion, Hermione," the headmaster continued, "But everything fits. Let´s just say that there are far more things in heaven and earth than we know about. We may never know what´s behind it all, but it´s definitely the Light Side in some shape or form. But we can´t, of course, rely on speculation to protect them. We have to be vigilant. I get the feeling that we´ll have to be on our toes to make sure that these two reach their ultimate goal."

***

The following day, Cornelius Fudge and his team arrived from the ministry. Fudge went straight up to Dumbledore´s office, while his team prepared one of the classrooms as their temporary office.

"This is a bad business, Albus," he said, "The school coming under attack from Death Eaters, for goodness sake. I´m under a lot of pressure to get some answers, you know. And the media are on to it now. I´ve managed to keep them quiet for the moment, but they´ll be straight back at me when I return to London."

"I understand, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, "You are welcome to speak to whoever you like - most of the students saw the attack, and all the professors were right there in the thick of it. Perhaps we can meet up for lunch in my office later and we can discuss your findings. And I´m sure you´ll want to talk to me after you´ve interviewed everyone."

"Thank you, Albus. Right, we´d better get started."

Later that morning, one of the first-year Gryffindors came into the common room. "Harry, Hermione - Professor McGonagall would like to see you both in her office."

Five minutes later, Hermione knocked on the office door, and the professor came out and closed the door behind her. "Clare´s parents are inside," she said quietly, "Clare´s told them all about what happened yesterday, and they know that you saved her life. They want to see you. I haven´t told them any details, but they´re clearly puzzled. I leave it to you to be as discreet as you can."

McGonagall walked away down the corridor, and Harry opened the door and led Hermione into the office.

"Mr & Mrs Bryant?" she asked, "I´m Hermione Granger and this is Harry Potter. You want to speak to us?"

Mrs Bryant rushed over and hugged them both, while her husband slowly walked towards them and shook their hands.

"I can´t tell you how grateful we are," said Mr Bryant, "Clare told us what happened yesterday - she said that you two brought her back to life. How did you do that? Everybody knows that you´re special, Harry, but how was that possible?"

"We´re trying to come to terms with it all," said Mrs Bryant, "but, quite frankly, we didn´t believe Clare until Professor McGonagall confirmed what she told us."

"Uh, we can´t tell you everything," said Harry, "but, well yes - Clare was hit by the killing curse and she died - I held her in my arms myself, swearing that I´d make those Death Eaters pay for what they´d done - you see, Clare´s a very popular girl, and we´d become good friends, despite the difference in our ages.

But it´s Hermione you really need to thank. She was the one who first thought of the spell to save her."

"But how is it possible?" asked Mr Bryant, "No one has survived the Avada Kedavra curse - except yourself, of course Harry."

"Mr & Mrs Bryant. What we´re about to tell you must remain between us four. Will you agree to that?" asked Harry.

"Of course, Harry," said Mrs Bryant, "We just want to understand what happened to our little girl."

"Hermione and I - we .. uh .. Well, we´re able to join together mentally - it´s all part of an ancient prophecy that´s come to light. We are now able to access some very powerful ancient magic, given to us by the Light Side. When we join together, we can perform that magic. Until we stood over Clare, we didn´t even know we could bring her back. It´s all very new and we don´t know the extent of it yet - we only found out ourselves a matter of days ago."

Mr Bryant gasped, "This is incredible. I haven´t heard anything about it at the ministry."

"They don´t know about it yet, Mr Bryant," said Hermione, "Look, it´s bound to be made public sooner or later and then you´ll know the full details of it all. But for now, we have to keep it secret."

"Don´t worry, Hermione," said Mrs Bryant, "It´s safe with us. I´m just so grateful to you both - I don´t know what we´d have done if we´d lost her."

"She couldn´t stop talking about you both," said Mr Bryant, "I think she sees you as - well, some sort of divine beings. And after speaking to you, perhaps she´s not far off the mark."

"We´re hardly divine," said Harry, "Although something of a higher order does seem to be guiding us - we just don´t know. All we can do is try to follow the path that´s been set out for us."

Clare´s parents left the office to spend some time with their daughter shortly after. They were content that they at least knew something of the forces that saved Clare, and they were relieved that it was clearly the Light Side.

Fudge and the ministry team spent the rest of the morning in endless rounds of interviews with the students and teachers, listening with interest to all they were told. By lunchtime, they still hadn´t finished. They still hadn´t spoken to Harry and his friends. What they had heard, however, got them buzzing with excitement, and it was an animated Fudge that joined Dumbledore in his office for lunch.

"I can´t believe what I´ve heard this morning," he said, "Strange spells, bringing people back from the dead - what´s been going on, Albus?"

Dumbledore sighed deeply, knowing that he´d have to tell the minister about the Anima Summas. But first he wanted to get Sirius officially cleared. "I´ll tell you about that later, Cornelius. But first, were you told about Peter Pettigrew leading the Death Eaters?"

"Yes, I was. It seems that everyone saw him. The students recognised him from that article the Daily Prophet ran two years ago about Sirius Black. I suppose you´ll want me to give him an official pardon now?"

"Of course I will," replied Dumbledore, "There isn´t a problem is there? You won´t have to say anything about Voldemort to clear him."

Fudge winced as he heard the dreaded name, "No, I suppose not. Ok, Albus, I´ll see to it when I get back to London. And I´ll make sure the Daily Prophet carries an article about it."

"Thank you, Cornelius. He deserves no less than that. He´s done some excellent work for me spying on Voldemort and protecting Harry Potter and his friends. If I may suggest - perhaps you can officially employ him as an auror and second him to my team?"

"No problem, Albus. Now talking about Harry, what was that all about yesterday?"

"Firstly, Cornelius, Harry felt that Voldemort was close by - his scar told him he was there. I don´t think you can hold off much longer in telling everyone about his return."

"No - I don´t want to do that yet, Albus. Now what about Harry?"

Dumbledore then told Fudge about the prophecy, the quest, and the Anima Summas. He also urged him to keep it quiet.

"This is incredible, Albus. I don´t know if I can keep something like this quiet - the whole world is going to want to hear about it."

"Think about it, Cornelius. If we tell them about the Anima Summas, we´ll have to tell them why they´re here at this moment in time. They´re bound to guess the reason - the rise of the Dark Side, and Voldemort in particular. So if you tell them about Harry and Hermione, you´ll have to tell them that Voldemort is back."

Fudge stroked his chin, deep in thought, "You´re right of course. I´ll keep it quiet as long as I can, but news of these strange spells they´ve been doing is bound to get out sooner or later. We´d both better prepare for the announcements we´ll have to make at some stage. How does Harry and Hermione feel about being thrust into the limelight - I mean, Harry´s always in the news, but this is different."

"I haven´t really spoken to them about it yet. I thought it best that they come to terms with it themselves before exposing them to the world´s collective scrutiny. After all, they´ve only been the Anima Summas for a few days. We´ve got to give them time and space to develop. And don´t forget - they´ve got their OWLS in just over a week and I don´t want them to have any distractions. "

"Yes, you´re right, of course. We don´t want to do anything to hinder that development. They´re our best chance - our only chance - of beating the Dark Side. I shudder to think of what it was like fifteen years ago, when `You Know Who´ was at his prime," said Fudge.

"Voldemort´s found out about them, of course. That was the reason for the attack yesterday - he wants to get hold of them - or more accurately, he wants to get hold of the ancient knowledge and spells they have."

"Oh Lord, Albus. We can´t let that happen. He´ll be unstoppable if he gets his hands on that."

"Quite. So I was thinking. Can you spare me a couple of your best aurors to add to my protection team?"

"I wish I could, but it´s impossible, Albus. We´re fully stretched trying to keep tabs on all the new Death Eater recruitment that´s still going on. I´m afraid you´ll have to make do with what you´ve got - why don´t you think about some of your seventh-year students? Perhaps a couple of them could join your team?"

"No, Cornelius. A few of them are showing excellent potential, but they won´t have the necessary experience they´ll need. I´ll just have to try to juggle my resources to make sure the kids are given the best protection."

"Right. We should be finished by late afternoon. I´ll see you before I go."

***

The following morning, Ginny rushed down the common room stairs clutching a newspaper in her hands. She was clearly excited as she ran over to her three friends, who were sitting by the window.

"Look at this! Errol just delivered it from Mum," she said as she thrust the copy of the Daily Prophet at them.

Harry grabbed the paper and stared at it with a wide grin on his face. The front page carried a large banner headline - `SIRIUS BLACK INNOCENT,´ and his grinning photograph, clearly taken quite a while ago, stared out at them.

Harry read the first few lines of the article aloud, which had been written by Rita Skeeter ......

`Sirius Black, who caused great consternation in the wizarding world by escaping from Azkaban last year, has been officially cleared of all charges by the Ministry of Magic.

In an exclusive interview, Cornelius Fudge - the Minister for Magic - stated that Peter Pettigrew, previously thought to have been murdered by Black, had made an appearance at Hogwarts School on Saturday. He led a group of black-cloaked figures in an attack on the school.

Details of this are still sketchy, but this reporter will be investigating, and will bring you the latest news as soon as possible.

The minister further stated that Sirius Black has now been employed by the ministry as an Auror. It is understood that he will be working directly for Professor Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, and will be in charge of security there.

"This is great," said Ron, "He´ll be able to walk around the school without having to change into Padfoot."

"I´m going to make sure everybody sees this before breakfast," said Ginny, "I´m going down to pin this up on the doors of the Great Hall."

The other three grinned as Ginny raced through the portrait hole, "Sirius will be so pleased," said Hermione.

"Yes, he will," said Harry, "But there´s a down side as well - Rita Skeeter´ll be snooping around. She´s bound to find out about those spells we did - you know what she´s like - a dog with a bone - she won´t stop until she finds out about us."

"Well she may well find out, Harry," said Hermione, "But you heard what minister Fudge told us yesterday - he doesn´t want it broadcast yet. And neither does the headmaster. I´m sure that between them, they´ll be able to keep her quiet."

"Let´s hope so, Hermi," said Harry.

There was an excited chatter at breakfast. Everyone had seen the newspaper that Ginny had pinned to the Great Hall doorway. The question on everybody´s lips was when they´d get to see the famous Sirius Black.

Half way through breakfast, the headmaster stood up and rapped the table in front of him with a spoon. The room went quiet, and every head turned towards the top table.

"This morning, I had a surprise announcement to make," he said, "But a certain someone has put paid to that." He looked directly at Ginny, who coloured up, but still managed to pretend that she was not the focus of everybody´s attention.

"You all know by now," he continued, "that Sirius Black is completely innocent of all charges made against him nearly fifteen years ago. And you will also know that he´ll be working at the school. His main job will be to protect you - the student body - from any more despicable attacks like we saw last Saturday. He will be joined in this task by Ceri Jones, our visitor from the United States. I´m sure you´ve all seen her around the school these past few months.

"Now I know you´re all anxious to meet them. They´ll be in the school grounds during the lunch break, so if you have any questions, you can speak to them then." Dumbledore then spoke more loudly, "Sirius, Ceri - would you like to join us at the top table for breakfast?"

The Great Hall doors opened, and Sirius and Ceri walked in. They stood side by side as they looked around the room at the students, wondering what their reception would be. Then Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione stood up and started to clap. Soon, all the Gryffindors, quickly followed by the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, were standing, clapping and cheering. The Slytherins remained seated - most of them were scowling. The two walked self-consciously up to the top table, relieved grins on their faces, and sat at two spare seats between Remus and Hagrid. All the professors, including Snape, shook their hands and welcomed them to their ranks.

After breakfast, Harry and his friends rushed up to Sirius and Ceri. Draco Malfoy hurried up to the owlery.

"This is great, Sirius," said Harry, "I´ve waited for this for ages."

"And it´s thanks to you two," he replied affectionately as he looked at Harry and Hermione.

"So we´ll be seeing more of you both now then?" asked Ron.

"Yes, you will," said Ceri.

"It´ll be a relief to walk about the school on two legs instead of four," said Sirius. "But we´ll still be doing the same job as before. The only difference is that I´ll be paid for it now."

"Will you have to register as an Animagus now, Sirius?" asked Hermione.

"Yes - I spoke to Fudge about it yesterday. I´ve got to go to the ministry this afternoon to do it - and they´ll need some other details, you know, where to send my pay cheque each month, and such things."

"Where will you be staying now?" asked Ginny.

"Oh. At the school," he replied, "I´ve got the guest room next to Ceri."

"I hope there isn´t an adjoining door?" said Ginny grinning slyly.

"Ginny!" exclaimed Hermione as she looked sternly at her friend.

The others just laughed, albeit not without some embarrassment.

***

Voldemort was in a foul mood, as he had been for the last two days. Wormtail and Nagini had long since been banished to a much smaller cave about a hundred yards from Voldemort´s main residence - the Dark Lord wanted as much space as possible to display the pile of books opened at likely-looking pages. He had not stopped reading since the previous Saturday evening, and had followed a myriad of cross-references in the various Dark Arts volumes in his library. But all to no avail.

He flung a large tome to the other end of the cave, as the latest thread he was following yet again proved to be a dead end.

"There´s got to be something here!" he shouted, his sibilant voice echoing from the damp walls.

Once more, he walked over to his bookcases, and started looking at the titles. He came to one exceptionally large book and pulled it impatiently from the top shelf to read the title. As he supported the heavy tome in both hands, a much smaller, insignificant little book fluttered to the floor of the cave.

`What´s that?´ he thought, `It must have been hidden behind these large books, pushed to the back of the shelf years ago´

He dropped the large book and picked up the smaller one. He read the title - `Memoirs of Aleric the Dark.´

`Hmm,´ he thought, `Aleric - I remember reading about him a while ago. He was one of the most respected Dark Arts practitioners of the seventeenth century. I didn´t know I had this book.´

Voldemort walked back to his throne, and started to thumb through the brown-stained pages. It was written by Aleric himself, telling the story of his celebrated travels throughout Europe and the Middle East. He settled down to read, his foul mood lifted by his discovery of the little treasure.

One hour later, Voldemort stared at the heading of the last chapter in the book. He couldn´t believe his eyes - `The True Location of the Necronomicon.´

"What!?!" he gasped.

Before he read the chapter, he thought about what he knew about the fabled Dark Arts book ...

`The Necronomicon - the lost treasure of the Dark Arts. The literal translation is `Book of Dead Names.´ Written by Abdul Alhazred around 735 AD - he was known as `The Mad Arab.´ He died, or disappeared in 738 AD. The story goes that he was seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight, and was devoured horribly. No one really knows what was contained in the book - but there are tales that those who have read it either died terrible deaths, or went mad from what they learned. It is said that the volume contains details of an ancient race that pre-dated humans, dark and powerful magical spells, and how to summon powerful beings from another realm. There have been several fake copies of the book in circulation since those times, some of which are thought to contain some of the original text - but many of them were burnt by the Church.´

Voldemort knew that he was on the verge of a great discovery. If he could get hold of the book, he would be able to master the world - Anima Summa or no Anima Summa. He started to avidly read Aleric´s account ...

`It has long been believed that the Necronomicon was lost soon after Abdul Alhazred died. But I know the truth of it. I know this from a letter the mad Arab sent to his brother just before he went missing. I was able to obtain this letter, which was never known to exist before, during my explorations in the ancient city of Damascus. Read closely and learn.

Abdul did not die - he went to the city of IREM - the fabled City of Pillars. Many people have heard of this place and thought it to be a myth, supposedly hidden beneath the shifting sands of the Arabian Desert. But it was discovered by Abdul, and I now know where it is located.

He said in his letter that he was taking the Necronomicon with him - and would lay it to rest in that strange city - after he had found the portal into another realm. He gave instructions in his letter for his brother to make the information available to any true follower of the Dark Arts. But his brother was afraid. He knew what was contained in that book, and he did not want it made known to anyone. He knew that only great evil would come of it.

IREM lies below the ancient rose-red city, half as old as time. Its entrance can be gained outside the Treasury - go to the second pillar from the left and open it. There will be found the key to the underground metropolis, and the way to the Necronomicon.

Be warned - the Necronomicon is only for the eyes of those who truly follow the Dark Arts. If there is a shred of the Light in you - you will perish as soon as you look on its pages.

I wish you well, if you dare to take up the challenge and seek out the great book. I am now too old, so I leave it to one who will come after me to uncover its secrets.

"Yes!" Voldemort exclaimed. "WORMTAIL," he roared, his voice thundering out through the cave entrance and over the surrounding countryside.

A few moments later, Wormtail ran into the cave, "You called, my Lord?"

"Wormtail. I have an important task for you. Make use of your rat form and gain entry to the British Library in London. I want to know where I can find an ancient city. It is called `The Rose-Red City - Half as Old as Time.´ Go immediately - and don´t come back until you´ve found something. When you return, you can clear up these books and stack them neatly on my bookshelves.

"Yes, my Lord," Wormtail replied and hurried out of the cave.

***

Ron looked terrible as he slowly made his way down to the common room from his dormitory. His face was pale, and he felt very, very sick. He saw Harry and Hermione sitting by the window, feverishly thumbing through their Potions notes.

Hermione looked up as Ron approached. Unlike Ron she was supremely happy and full of the vigour of youth. Harry´s health appeared to be half way between the two extremes displayed by his two friends

"Ron. What´s the matter?" said Hermione, a look of concern clouding her earlier brightness.

"How can you be so happy, Hermi?" he replied, "You do know what day it is, don´t you?"

"Yes Ron. The first day of our OWLS - exciting, isn´t it?"

"Ugghhh," was all Ron could say.

"Oh come on, Ron," she said, "You´ll be ok. You´ll feel better when you get some breakfast inside you."

"I feel sick, Hermi. I can´t eat any breakfast this morning. Dumbledore´s a sadist, I swear. How can he make Potions the first OWL we have to do?"

"Look on the bright side, Ron," said Harry, "At least we´ll be getting the worst one over with first."

"You think that´s our worst one Harry?" he replied, "We´ve got History of Magic this afternoon, and Divination tomorrow morning! These are going to be the worst two days of my life."

"Well you´ve only got yourself to blame, Ron," said Hermione sternly, "I did try to get you to do some work before. This is what you get when you try to cram everything into two weeks before the exams."

"Oh take pity, Hermi," he whined, "I´m suffering."

"Yes," said Harry, "But not as much as Neville. Look at him!"

They followed Harry´s gaze and saw poor Neville Longbottom barely able to put one foot in front of the other as he slowly made his way down into the common room.

"Oh, Neville," said Hermione as she trotted over to him, "Come on. Come and sit by us three for a moment."

"I know how you´re feeling, Neville," said Ron as the pale-faced boy sat down.

"Do you?" asked Neville. "We´ve got two Potions exams this morning. The first two hours we´ve got the practical exam, followed by another two hours written one. I don´t know if I´ll survive this. Snape is going to make mincemeat out of me."

"Don´t worry, Neville," said Harry, "We´re all in the same boat. Just focus your mind on dinner tonight - it´ll be over by then."

Neville made a sickly attempt at a grin, and then followed the other three down to the Great Hall.

At dinner that evening, the fifth-year Gryffindors looked exhausted. And it was only the first day - they had another four days of exams to go. Of them all, only Hermione and Kristen looked reasonably happy.

"Hermi?" asked Ron tentatively, "What answer did you get to question three, this morning?"

Hermione thought for a moment, "Oh that was an easy one - chopped dried nettles mixed with sliced caterpillar tails."

"Ohhhh," groaned Ron, "I put masticated frogs brains and chopped ginger root."

"Never mind, Ron. You can´t get them all right. What did you get for number four?"

"You don´t want to know, Hermi. Can we talk about something else?"

Things did get a bit easier over the next four days, and Ron started to look a lot better. Harry´d been right. The worst day had been the first one - Ron started to think that Dumbledore had some method to his madness, after all.

At the end of the fifth day, the exams were over and all the fifth-year Gryffindors collapsed into their usual chairs in the common room, exhausted, but happy that it was finished at last.

"Well, you lot," said Ginny as she sat next to her three friends, "what was it like? You´ve all managed to survive, I see."

"It was terrible, Ginny," said Ron, "Listen to the voice of experience - and don´t do what I did. Make sure you start your revision early when you take your OWLS next year."

Hermione lifted her eyes to the ceiling in despair.

***

It was early the following day when Dobby entered the headmaster´s office, "Professor Dumbledore," he said, "There´s a lady downstairs says she wants to talk to you. She says she´s from the Daily Prophet."

"Oh lord," breathed Dumbledore, "You´d better show her up Dobby." Dumbledore had banned all reporters from Hogwarts the previous week because of the exams, but he knew that he now had no reason to keep them away.

"Good morning Professor Dumbledore," said Rita Skeeter as she walked up to the headmaster´s desk.

"Good morning, Miss Skeeter. Take a seat. Dobby, would you bring some tea for us please? Now, what can I do for you?"

"Firstly, I´d like to do an interview with Sirius Black. There´s been great interest from our readers ever since he was cleared, and they want to know his side of the story - how he managed to stay sane in Azkaban, how he managed to escape, what he thinks about Peter Pettigrew. That sort of thing."

"I´ll ask him if he wants to talk to you, of course, but the decision is his. He went through some pretty bad times, you know, and he may not want it all aired in public."

"Thank you, Professor. And secondly, we´ve been hearing rumours of strange goings on at Hogwarts. We´ve heard that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger have been doing some very powerful magic - I know it sounds incredible, but we´ve even heard that they managed to bring somebody back to life after the killing curse. What do you say about that, Professor?"

"The only thing I can say is that you shouldn´t always believe the rumours you hear. You know how certain actions always seem to be blown out of all proportion."

"Yes - but not where Harry´s involved. I´d like to interview him - and Hermione Granger. Especially since I´ve heard that they´ve become romantically involved."

"I can´t allow that, Miss Skeeter. They´re only fifteen years old, and they´ve only just completed their OWLS. I´m sure you remember how exhausted you were after you sat them?"

"Oh yes, Professor, I certainly do. Ok, if I can´t have an interview with them, do you mind if I just ask around this morning? I want to find out more about the attack the other week - from the perspective of the students, that is."

"Be my guest. But please keep a sense of perspective. Young kids tend to exaggerate and embellish things when they know they´re in the spotlight. And please come and see me before you go - I´d like to know what will be appearing in the Daily Prophet about my school."

"I will, Professor. And thank you."

Dumbledore sighed heavily as he watched the reporter walk out of his office. He knew that she had a very keen eye for a good story, and hoped he´d be able to prevent anything sensational being reported.

Later that morning, Rita managed to persuade Sirius to give an interview. He was reluctant at first, when Dumbledore asked him, but relented when he heard that she was asking the other professors and students about him. He decided that if his story had to be told, it would be the true one.

After that, she wandered around the school corridors, stopping students at random, asking them about the Death Eater attack. It was just by chance that one of the students he stopped was Clare Bryant.

"Tell me, Clare. I´ve heard that you were hurt in the attack. What happened?"

Now Clare had been asked by Harry and Hermione not to say anything about her resurrection from the killing curse. But that didn´t stop Clare singing their praises. She thought that everyone in the country would want to know how good and powerful they were.

"Well I can´t tell you a lot," she said slowly, "But I did see Harry and Hermione protecting their friends from hundreds of those dreadful men. They managed to erect a powerful force field, and it stopped every curse that was thrown at them - even the killing curse."

Rita looked stunned. At last she´d had one of the more unbelievable rumours confirmed. She already knew that Harry and Hermione had expanded Wormtail´s head so that everyone could see him.

She looked thoughtful as she wandered down towards the dungeons and the Slytherin common room. She stopped as she heard voices just around a bend in the corridor, and hid herself behind a suit of armour. She peeked between the body and arm of the armour and saw three boys ambling along. She couldn´t believe her luck when they stopped right opposite her.

"So what´s happening with Potter and Granger now?" asked one of the boys, who was quite large.

"I´m making sure my dad knows everything," said one of the others, a much thinner, blond-haired boy.

"Tell me again," said the third, very large boy, "What´s these Anima Summas?"

"Shhh. Nobody´s supposed to know about it," said the second boy, "I told you before. You mustn´t talk about it outside the common room. Now come on - let´s go."

Rita was deep in thought as she walked back up to the Entrance Hallway, `What the devil are the Anima Summas? And what´s it got to do with Harry and the Granger girl? Hmmm. I think I may be onto something here. Let´s see what Dumbledore has to say about it.´

Later, Dumbledore sat looking at the reporter sitting at the other side of his desk. He could see that she had something up her sleeve.

"Well I think I´ve got everything I need, Professor," she said, "Sirius Black was very cooperative. Our readers are going to be amazed at what the poor man has had to go through, and how he´s managed to come through it all relatively unscathed. The wizarding community are going to be very proud of him."

"Well I´m glad. He deserves all the support and respect we can give him."

"There is one thing, however," she said slyly.

`Here it comes,´ thought Dumbledore.

"Like you asked, I didn´t speak to Harry Potter or Hermione Granger. But I have heard some very strange things about them. Like blocking Avada Kedavra and every other curse the Death Eaters threw at them. Has this got anything to do with the Anima Summas?"

Dumbledore´s eyes narrowed, and Rita knew that she´d hit a raw spot.

"What have you heard about that?" he asked.

"Oh, I just happened to overhear a conversation. What are the Anima Summas, Professor?"

Dumbledore was angry, "I don´t approve of anybody snooping around listening to private conversations. And I can´t tell you anything about the Anima Summas. I would advise you not to print anything about it in your paper - speculation may well lead to things which could be very dangerous, and we wouldn´t want that, would we?"

"You wouldn´t be trying to threaten me, Professor Dumbledore?"

"Of course not. I´d never threaten the press. I´m merely pointing out that there are things which the wizarding world are not yet ready to learn about."

"So there is something, Professor. I thought so."

"Please heed what I say, Miss Skeeter. It´s very important."

"Well thank you, Professor. Thank you for a very informative visit."

After she´d left, Dumbledore got straight in touch with Cornelius Fudge and told him what had happened.

"Don´t worry, Albus," he said, "I´ll summon her to the ministry immediately. I´ll make sure that nothing appears in the Daily Prophet about Harry and Hermione."

***

The following day saw the end of year feast and ball. Gryffindor easily won the house cup, and everyone had a great time at the dance. Ten friends sat around one of the many tables spaced about the sides of the Great Hall. Harry and Hermione, Ron and Lavender, Ginny and Neville, Parvati and Lee Jordan, and Kristen and Seamus Finnegan.

They had a great time, the relief in the fifth-years faces now their OWLS were over clearly showing. Half way through the evening, another strange thing occurred that made everyone in the hall stand and stare.

The band played a slow, romantic song - Moon River, which had become something of a standard at the end-of-year balls. Most of the students were up dancing, when a gasp went up near the centre of the floor. Every one looked in awe at the sight that confronted them.

Harry and Hermione, oblivious that everybody else had stopped, were dancing very close together. There was nothing strange about that - everybody expected it. What was unexpected was they were dancing on air - quite literally. And not only that - as they danced about three feet off the floor, they were both enveloped in a silvery light, which made the pair glow.

It was only when the music suddenly stopped, the musicians also gaping at the pair, that they knew that anything was wrong. As they broke apart, they drifted slowly back to the floor and the silvery glow disappeared. Everybody then started talking to them at once, wanting to know what had happened. They were grateful when Dumbledore rescued them and led them out of the room.

"You really must try to control your feelings when other people are around," he said, smiling at them.

"Sorry Professor," said Hermione, "We didn´t know that anything strange was happening."

"No," he replied wistfully, "I´m sure you didn´t. Well, on with the ball. Let´s go back in, shall we?"

"What are we going to say?" asked Harry, "They´ll all want to know how we did that."

"Oh, I think I´ve got the answer to that. And I´m sure that Fred and George won´t mind admitting to a final prank before they leave Hogwarts - I´ll go and speak to them now."

"But won´t they be suspicious about the cover up?" asked Hermione.

"Oh I´m sure they will. But they´re going to find out about it in the morning, anyway. I´ve called a meeting with my close aids. You two, Ron and Ginny need to be there, as well as Fred and George. I´ve asked Molly and Arthur Weasley to come, as well as your parents, Hermione. I think it only right that they be told about what´s going on. We also need to discuss where you´ll be staying over the summer holidays, and how you can be best protected. Right, now where did I see Fred and George last?"

"What was that all about, Harry?" Lavender asked when he and Hermione went back to their table. Harry just pointed to the other end of the room, where Dumbledore had Fred and George in tow as they made their way out of the room.

"Oh - them two!" said Parvati, "We should have known they´d do something on their final night at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore´s office was full the next morning. Arthur and Molly, Arbuthnot and Millie, Fred and George were looking particularly apprehensive, not knowing why they´d been summoned to see the headmaster.

Millie Granger couldn´t take her eyes off her daughter. She didn´t know that she was with Harry, but she could see how radiantly happy she appeared to be. She couldn´t wait to speak to her later.

After the introductions were over, Dumbledore started the meeting. "I´m sorry to be so secretive about this meeting, but I need to tell you something that´s known to only a very few people. It´s about Harry and Hermione primarily, but it also involves Ron and Ginny - they´ve been just as much a part of this as anybody. Now what I´m about to tell you will seem incredible, especially to the Grangers. I´d better start with the prophecy we had from the centaurs at the start of the school year ..."

And so Dumbledore told them everything. At the end of his long talk, Molly sat thunderstruck, with her hands covering her mouth, and the Grangers just stared blankly at the headmaster. Only Arthur, Fred and George appeared relatively comfortable with what they´d been told.

"Do any of you have any questions? Anything you want me to clarify?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes Professor," said Molly, "Why do Ron and Ginny have to be with Harry and Hermione on their next two quests. Surely, they´ve done enough?"

"Mum!" said Ron and Ginny together.

"Molly," said Arthur gently, "They´re part of this. They were told at the end of the first quest that they have to be with them - it´s been pre-ordained. And I´m sure that they´ll get the very best of protection. Right, Headmaster?"

"Yes, Arthur. They´ll have my best people with them. And don´t forget - they´ll also be protected by the power of the Anima Summas - we´ve already seen that happen when the Death Eaters attacked."

"Sorry, Professor," said Molly, "But they´re all so young to be going through this."

"I know, Molly," said Dumbledore, "Mr and Mrs Granger - this must seem very strange to you both. Is there anything you wish to ask?"

"I can´t get my head around my little girl being in so much danger, Professor," said Arbuthnot, "I know she´ll be protected, but this Voldemort character seems to be the devil himself, from what you´ve said." Millie clutched her husband´s hand, seeking comfort.

"I won´t lie to you," said Dumbledore, "There is great danger - and what these four youngsters are trying to do is to save the whole world - not just the wizarding world. It´s their destiny. And they´ve got our full support and help."

At that moment, Cornelius Fudge burst into the room, looking flustered, "Sorry to barge in, Albus. I need to talk to you urgently."

"Take a seat, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, "Everyone in the room knows about the Anima Summas, so you can speak freely."

"I´m under a lot of pressure from the press, and from some of the top men in my ministry - they´ve heard the rumours. I had to pull out all the stops to prevent anything appearing in the Daily Prophet and it´s only a matter of time before they lose patience and publish something. There´s only so much I can do. Look, I´ll go public with the return of `You Know Who´ if you agree to release the Anima Summa story. The wizarding world will need to know that something is being done to fight the Dark Side, otherwise there´ll be wholesale panic. What do you think?"

"I can see your dilemma, Cornelius. And I agree that we´ll have to say something before long. Let me get the opinion of my team. Sirius? Harry´s your godson, so you´re opinion matters perhaps more than anyone´s. What do you think we should do?"

Sirius reflected for a few moments, "I agree that we have to make the story known some time soon. And rumour and speculation appearing in the press would only confuse everybody - and it won´t stop reporters snooping around any place that Harry and Hermione happen to be. I also agree that everyone should be told about `You Know Who´ - I´m sure you´ll agree, minister, that we´ll be able to recruit more aurors as soon as that´s known"

Fudge nodded his head in agreement.

"But we can´t forget one thing," continued Sirius, "or should I say four - the four youngsters at the centre of it all. It´s them that will be thrust into the limelight - I think the final decision on when we go public must rest with them. They´ll need to prepare themselves for all the attention, and we´ll need to prepare to make sure that attention is kept to a minimum."

There were nods of approval from all Dumbledore´s team.

"You make a lot of sense, Sirius," said Dumbledore, "Well Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny. What thoughts do you have on this?"

The four looked at each other, then Harry spoke, "Professor. This has come as a bit of a surprise to us all, I think," he looked at his friends to see them nodding. "Do you think we could have some time to talk about it - amongst ourselves as well as with you, Sirius and the others?"

"Of course, Harry," said Dumbledore, "What do you say, Cornelius? I think it´s only fair that they be given some time."

"Yes, Albus - I agree. I can keep the wolves at bay for a little while longer."

"Right," said Dumbledore, "School finishes today and you start your summer holidays. Now we don´t know when you´ll receive details of the next quest, but I think it will be very soon now. I think you should aim to get this distraction out of the way as soon as you can - let me know what you decide. And it goes without saying, of course, that you can speak to me, or any of my team, if you need any help or advice."

"Thank you, Professor," said Harry, "But we´ll need to be together to decide. There´s only a few hours before we have to catch the Hogwarts express."

"Ah - that brings me to the next item on the agenda - and one of the reasons I´ve asked the families to be here today. We have to decide where you´ll be staying this summer. This is how I see it. First, the rings have told Harry and Hermione that they must not be apart. I don´t think that the Dursleys will want an uninvited guest for the summer, so I don´t think, Harry, you shouldn´t go back there this year."

"Yes!" Shouted Harry. Then a quieter, "Sorry," as everybody looked at him.

"Second. Ron and Ginny have to be fully protected. Third, at the moment, it´s impractical to split my support team between the four of them. This draws me to only one conclusion - all four of them have to be together for the summer."

The four friends grinned and nodded their approval.

"So that brings me to a difficult question - where should they all stay for the summer?"

"No problem," said Arthur, "They can all stay with us at The Burrow - I can easily add a few more rooms on the east side of the house. There´ll be plenty of room, won´t there Molly?"

"Yes, Arthur, of course there will," said a smiling Molly Weasley.

"And Ginny and I´ll chaperone these two," said a grinning Ron.

"We´ll help with that, Ron," said George.

"Yes - we´ve got this new creaking-floorboards charm we´re working on," said Fred.

"Boys!" said an angry-looking Molly, "That´s a terrible thing to say."

Harry and Hermione both blushed furiously.

"Mr and Mrs Granger," said Dumbledore, "You are the ones who´ll be affected most by this. I´m afraid you won´t have your daughter around for the summer. What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"I think I speak for Arbuthnot as well," said Millie as she looked for her husband´s nod of approval. She also glanced at Fred and George. The high-pitched strangled sounds coming from them, and the way they kept their heads down, testified to their mighty struggle not to burst into laughter at Arbuthnot´s name.

Millie continued, "The most important thing for Hermione is that she´s kept as safe as possible. So we agree. But I would ask one thing, Molly - can we visit your home during the summer to see her?"

"Of course you can, Millie. You can come whenever you like - you can even spend your holidays with us if you so wish."

"That´d be great," added Arthur, "You can fill me in on all the things going on in the Muggle world, Arbuthnot."

Again, there were more strangled noises from Fred and George.

"Well that´s settled then," said Dumbledore, "Molly, I won´t ask you to make room for Sirius, Ceri and Remus - but can they stay in wizarding tents in your garden? They need to keep an eye on the kids over the summer."

"No problem," replied Molly, "we can just add a few more rooms to the west side of the house - it´ll be great with so many people around."

"Thank you, Molly. Right, everybody - it´s lunchtime. Let´s all go down, shall we?"

As they all walked down to the Great Hall, Millie asked Hermione and Harry to stop. She went to them and looked her daughter directly in the eye. "Are you happy, Hermione?"

"Oh yes Mum," she said as she hugged her mother, "I´ve never been happier."

Millie smiled as she released her daughter, "I´m so glad you found each other - you looked perfect together in France. But please, be careful - both of you."

"We will Mrs Granger," said Harry, "I won´t let anything happen to her."

That afternoon, the four said a sad farewell to Kristen. "With luck, we´ll see you in the new school year," said Harry, "We´ve got that match with your school, don´t forget."

"And where Harry goes, we go," said Ron, smiling.

"So long, you four," said Kristen as she held the Portkey, "It´s been great knowing you all."

"´Bye Kristen," they all said as the girl disappeared with a slight `pop.´

"So, Ginny," said Fred as they all waited for the coaches that would take them to Hogsmeade railway station, "What have you got in store for Malfoy today?"

"Oh," she replied, "somehow, I don´t think we´ll be seeing him on this trip. I think he´s learned his lesson. Don´t you?"