Harry Potter and the Unicorn Guild

After the excitement of his birthday and the Ministry elections, the rest of the summer seemed to drag on for Harry. He was impatient to return to Hogwarts and longing to leave the Dursleys - so far, the stalemate had continued; none of the Dursleys had said more than three words to him since the night of his birthday. While this was a pleasant change, Harry sometimes grew weary of feeling like he was wearing his Invisibility Cloak all the time.

The bright spots in his week were the days when Ron and Hermione came to visit. Neither could come every day (Ron was busy with his job at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes and Hermione was trying to spend as much time with her parents as she could before term started), but between the two of them they visited fairly often. Ginny sometimes came with Ron, but she was also helping Fred and George with their shop.

One afternoon, Harry and Ron completed their N.E.W.T. course sign-up sheets and owled them back to Hogwarts. Both of them had signed up for Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Potions. Harry was relieved to be giving up Divination, Astronomy, and History of Magic, as was Ron. It seemed odd to be signing up for so few classes, but Hermione had assured them that, according to older students, the amount of homework they'd receive in their N.E.W.T. courses made O.W.L. preparation look like a picnic by the lake.

For the remainder of the summer, Harry spent many lazy afternoons imagining the look on Snape's face when he saw Harry's name on the N.E.W.T. Potions class list. He received a note from Professor McGonagall in late August, telling him to send a list of any needed school supplies to her and she would purchase them as well as his new books. Harry was disappointed at not being able to go himself, but neither did he want to put other witches and wizards at risk for an attack just because they happened to be shopping in Diagon Alley the same day he was.

McGonagall's note also asked him to be at Mrs. Figg's the following night at eight o'clock, as Dumbledore wanted to meet with him. As he wrote his supplies list, Harry felt a rush of excitement followed by apprehension - finally, he'd be able to get some news.

"Hello, Harry," Albus Dumbledore said with a smile, standing to greet Harry as he walked into Mrs. Figg's living room.

"Hi, Professor," Harry said, flopping down on the couch. "Thanks for coming to see me."

"Not at all," the Headmaster said serenely, smoothing his robes as he sat back down. "We do have quite a bit to discuss."

"Voldemort," Harry burst out. "What's happening? What has he been doing? Have there been any killings? Are -"

"Harry, please," Dumbledore chuckled, holding up his hand. "One question at a time; I'm not as young as I once was, you know." Harry showed that he was ready to listen and Dumbledore started. "Now then, Voldemort." His face grew serious as he gazed at Harry over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "As of yet, there have been no killings - but this, I fear, may be the calm before the storm. As you may know, we do have a spy within Voldemort's ranks."

Snape, Harry thought, but didn't say anything aloud.

"This spy has reported that Voldemort has not yet formulated any concrete plan of action. He apparently spends much time deep in thought, emerging from his chambers only to oversee the training of new Death Eater recruits."

"New recruits?" Harry asked, scowling.

"Unfortunately, yes," Dumbledore said, his frown matching Harry's. "At the present time, there are thirteen new Death Eaters in training." He seemed to hesitate. "It's just as well you should know - two of the new trainees are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle."

"But they're not done with school yet!" Harry exclaimed, shocked.

"Students are free to leave Hogwarts after fifth year should they so desire," Dumbledore said sadly. "Both Vincent and Gregory did rather poorly on their O.W.L.s; it's likely they decided there was nothing to gain by taking N.E.W.T.s. I rather imagine that the fate of their fathers spurred their decision."

Trying to avenge their dear old Dads who're rotting away in Azkaban, Harry thought bitterly. "What about Malfoy? Did he join too?" Harry asked.

"No," Dumbledore said, an odd look of relief on his face. "Mr. Malfoy did quite well in his O.W.L. exams. I imagine he'll earn top-grade N.E.W.T.s someday." The Headmaster leaned forward and surveyed him intensely. "Harry, I know you and Draco Malfoy are sworn enemies - but remember this: Draco may still be redeemed."

"Him?" Harry asked incredulously. "He's a Malfoy! Look at his dad - look at his mum! She's Bellatrix Lestrange's sister!"

"Andromeda Tonks is Narcissa Malfoy's sister, yet she is on the side of good," Dumbledore said quietly. "Do you remember, Harry, when I told you that it is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show what we truly are?"

Harry nodded, thinking of that long-ago day at the end of second year.

"It was true then and it is still true now. Our choices, not our abilities - or our families - determine the path we take. You of all people should know that, considering the Dursleys." Harry squirmed uncomfortably under the Headmaster's piercing gaze. "Listen closely to what I say now: Draco has not yet made that choice. He may act as though he is at Voldemort's right hand, but I assure you that he can still be redeemed."

"He's a Slytherin," Harry muttered hotly. "He threatened me at the end of last year - said he'd get revenge - said his father would break out -"

"I have no doubt he said all those things," Dumbledore said. "Draco was still very much in his father's shadow, and in the shadow of his friends Crabbe and Goyle. This year will be different for him - he will have no father to report to, no friends to account to. Draco, for once, will have to stand on his own two feet and be accountable only to himself. You may find that it changes a person."

Harry still felt skeptical, despite what Dumbledore said. In his view, the day Malfoy changed sides would be the day Neville Longbottom played for England's Quidditch team.

"Now, then, Voldemort's plans," Dumbledore continued. "Right now the Order is attempting to act on the offensive. We've placed strong magical wards around the homes of all Muggle-born students, including Miss Granger, as well as around the homes of the Order members. Our spy is constantly on the alert for any hint of Voldemort's future plans."

"What about Azkaban?" Harry asked. "Who's guarding it now?"

"Aurors from the Ministry," Dumbledore said, looking troubled. "They all take it in turns. In addition, I have assisted the Ministry in setting up strong anti-escape wards around the prison. Our spy believes that Voldemort is currently formulating a plan to break his imprisoned Death Eaters out of Azkaban, so the guard has been doubled and they are constantly on the alert."

"Tonks and Shacklebolt are part of the guard?" Harry said, disturbed at the thought of his friends in danger.

Dumbledore nodded. "Alastor Moody as well. He's offered his services to the Ministry, seeing as how short-handed the Auror Corps is right now." He waited, but Harry didn't venture any more questions. "Anything else, Harry?"

"Yes," Harry said. "How am I getting back to Hogwarts?"

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said. "I am providing you, Mr. and Miss Weasley, and Miss Granger Portkeys to Platform 9 ¾. An Order member will arrive at 4 Privet Drive at ten o'clock on September 1 to escort you." His eyes twinkled as he added, "You may reassure your aunt that they will come to the front door and not through the fireplace."

"Why Ron, Ginny, and Hermione?" Harry asked, afraid he already knew the answer.

"A safety precaution," Dumbledore said gravely, sensing Harry's apprehension. "Since they are close to you, we must assume they are targets."

"Can't they Floo in?"

"Due to security reasons, Platform 9 and ¾ is not part of the Floo Network. The standard procedure is for Wizarding families to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron and travel to the station from there. However, that plan poses too much of a security risk at the present time."

Harry bit his lip worriedly. "Will the Hogwarts Express be safe?" he said uneasily. "What if there's an attack on the train?"

"Not to worry, Harry," Dumbledore said, stroking his long, white beard placidly. "Voldemort does not yet have the resources to launch an attack of that scale; even if he did, rest assured that I have placed wards upon the train myself. He will not be able to touch it. As an additional precaution, several teachers will be riding the Hogwarts Express this year in case trouble does arise."

Harry's eyes widened at this, and he couldn't help grinning at the thought of what Draco Malfoy would look like when he found out he'd be under the watchful eyes of the teachers and unable to conduct his usual bullying.

Bullying. Dudley. The Dursleys. Harry suddenly remembered another question he'd been bursting to ask. "Professor, the Dursleys and I had a row the night of my birthday." He told the story of the Dursleys wedding to Dumbledore exactly as it had been told to him.

"Ah," Dumbledore said quietly, leaning back in his chair. He suddenly looked very old. "Yes, I expected that had much to do with your relatives' animosity toward you."

"Then it's true? Exactly as he said?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore seemed to hesitate. "As far as he knows, that's what happened. There was a bit more to the story than either your uncle or your aunt knew."

"Like what?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Voldemort had been making threats against your parents for some time before the Dursleys' wedding," Dumbledore said simply. "He had specifically mentioned the wedding in his threats, and your mother had warned Petunia to put the wedding under a Fidelius Charm. Your aunt refused."

"She didn't want magic to have anything to do with the wedding," Harry guessed, repressing a groan. Those fools - they could have prevented the catastrophe but their stupid prejudices were their own undoing. "Nor did Vernon."

"Correct. I doubt your aunt even told Vernon Dursley about the threats, so intent was she to shield him from the magical world. Well, as your uncle told you, Death Eaters did indeed attack that day, and your grandparents - Marshall and Rosemary Evans - were killed. But what your aunt and uncle didn't realize is that Lord Voldemort was there as well. He was disguised as a Death Eater and went after your parents. The Dursleys' wedding was the first time your parents narrowly escaped Voldemort."

Harry's mouth dropped open. "How did they…?"

"Unbeknownst to Voldemort or the Dursleys, the Order had several Aurors under Invisibility Cloaks in attendance at the wedding. Your mother and the Aurors fought off the Death Eaters while your father dueled with Voldemort. He held him off quite well until the Aurors got word to me. Once I arrived, Voldemort and the Death Eaters retreated." He frowned. "I'm just sorry I was too late to prevent the deaths of your grandparents."

Harry contemplated all that he'd heard; he too was sorry that his grandparents had been so brutally killed, but at the same time he was proud of his father and mother for fighting so bravely.

"If there are no other questions…?" Dumbledore inquired, and Harry shook his head.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Not at all," Dumbledore said quietly, rising to his feet. "Should you have more questions over the course of the school year, you need only ask and I promise I will give you truthful answers. This year's password to my office is 'Canary Cream.'"

Harry started in surprise, than laughed. "Do Fred and George know that?"

"Alas, no. However, I do find the treats rather tasty, and it amuses Fawkes when I molt." He bowed slightly to Harry. "Until September 1st then, Harry."

On September 1st, Harry was up bright and early cleaning Hedwig's cage for the journey ahead and packing his trunk. He was tucking the last of his socks away when there was a timid knock at his door. "Come in," Harry called, shutting his trunk and locking it securely.

Aunt Petunia entered, glancing over her shoulder nervously. "You're leaving today?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," Harry answered, struggling to contain a smile of glee and not quite succeeding. "Ten o'clock."

"Is someone coming to get you?" she inquired, her pale eyes widening in panic.

"Yes, someone from my school, I'd imagine," Harry said carelessly. His aunt was no doubt remembering the Ton-Tongue Toffee. "Don't worry; they won't come in the house. I'll meet them at the front door."

She relaxed visibly. "It's just as well that Vernon has already left," she muttered. Her hands fluttered around her chest as though she didn't know what to do with them. "Do you… ah… need food for the trip?"

Harry's eyes narrowed and his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Aunt Petunia, what's going on?"

"What… what do you mean?" she said defensively.

"You offered me food when I got here this summer. You gave me a birthday gift. You didn't say anything when my friends came. Now you want to give me food for the train ride. What's going on? Why are you treating me like this?" Harry demanded. His curiosity had finally gotten the best of him.

"Nothing is…'going on,'" Aunt Petunia protested, her eyes darting around the room fearfully "What are you complaining about? I'm not treating you badly!"

"That's the thing," Harry retorted, keeping his gaze fixed on her. "You have always treated me badly - until this summer. Why the change? Why now? I've had too many people treat me nicely with the sole intention of getting something from me." Briefly, he thought of Rita Skeeter and her smarmy attempts to interview him, the many girls who'd asked him to the Yule Ball just because he was a school champion and they wanted to share the glory, and Ludo Bagman's attempts to help him cheat just so he - Ludo - could win a bet. Harry took a step toward his aunt. "So what do you want?"

Petunia paled and backed away. She bumped up against the wall, looked around wildly, and finally, staring at her shoes, muttered, "I want to be safe."

"Excuse me?" Harry said, even though he'd heard her perfectly. "What was that?"

"I said I want to be safe. I want us - me, Dudley, and Vernon - protected from… him. From - Lord Voldemort. You're the only one who can do that."

"Are you aware, Aunt Petunia," Harry said quietly, "that the only reason you are safe while I'm here is because of magic? Ancient magic?"

She trembled, but said stoutly, "I don't care. Whatever keeps my family safe."

He looked at her keenly. "Funny, you didn't seem to think that at your wedding."

Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd been slapped. "What do you mean?" she whispered.

"I know for a fact that my mother advised you to put your wedding under a protective spell, and you refused," Harry answered calmly.

"And what makes you think I didn't realize my mistake, Potter?" Aunt Petunia hissed viciously, her eyes narrowing in anger. "After what happened to my parents, I will use any means necessary to protect my family - and that includes magic."

"And what makes you think," Harry returned, "I would refuse to protect my family, despite the way you've treated me? I'm a better man then that, you know."

"But you're of age next year," Aunt Petunia said, avoiding his question. "You can leave, and what will happen to us?"

"Vernon will throw a party, I expect," Harry said dryly. "The fact is, I don't know. I don't know if the magic will continue to protect me - protect us - after I'm seventeen. It's something I'll have to ask Professor Dumbledore."

"And what if the protection continues after you become an adult? Will you leave anyway?" Petunia demanded.

Yes! Harry was prepared to shout - it was on the tip of his tongue - but - "I don't know," he heard himself say instead. "It depends on how big the threat is. For all I know, Voldemort could be defeated this year."

She laughed scathingly. "Oh? And I supposed that you think that you'll be the one to defeat him, too?"

He almost blurted out the truth right then and there - yes, actually, I'm the only one who can - but he held his tongue. All he needed was for his aunt and uncle to believe that he was even more of a freak than they already thought him.

"I don't know what's going to happen, Aunt Petunia, but I promise you this - I will not leave if it means your family will become vulnerable to Voldemort." Harry held her gaze even as he felt his own dream of leaving the Dursleys and buying his own place slipping away. He hated Privet Drive; he wanted to leave more than anything - but he couldn't abandon the only family he had left, even if they didn't like him. He wasn't a coward, like Peter Pettigrew, who had abandoned one of the closest things to family he had.

Aunt Petunia held his gaze for a long minute. Then, satisfied, she nodded briskly and left the room without another word. Harry, more somber now, double-checked the bedroom to make sure he hadn't left anything behind - he hadn't.

He checked his watch - a quarter to ten - and decided to bring his things down to the entryway in preparation for whoever would be coming to pick him up. He had just dragged his trunk down the stairs when the doorbell rang.

Whoever it is, they're early, Harry thought as he carefully set Hedwig's cage on top of his trunk and moved to open the door.

"YOU!" he exclaimed at the person standing on the doorstep.

"Yes, me," drawled the forbidding form of Severus Snape. "Perhaps you were expecting Professor Dumbledore? Believe me, Potter, he is far too busy to play nursemaid to the likes of you."

"He just said an Order member - I assumed Tonks or Lupin -" Harry mumbled, feeling slightly betrayed. Had Dumbledore known it would be Snape who came to fetch him? Why hadn't he said anything?

"Nymphadora Tonks was scheduled to collect you, but alas, she was held up at Azkaban. I was sent instead, much to my incalculable sorrow," Snape sneered, stepping through the doorway and into 4 Privet Drive. "You have your things, I assume? I don't like to be kept waiting."

Harry wordlessly thumbed at his trunk and Hedwig. Hedwig's feathers were ruffled and her beady eyes seemed to gaze at Snape distrustfully. That's my owl, Harry thought wryly.

There was a shuffling noise from the lounge doorway, and Harry turned to see Dudley trundling from the lounge to the kitchen, no doubt on his way to get a midmorning snack - after all, it'd been nearly an hour since his breakfast. Dudley stopped short when he beheld the imposing visage of the Potions master. "Who are you?" he blurted.

Snape glanced from Harry to Dudley, no doubt wondering if and how the two were remotely related. "Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he intoned in the same menacing voice Harry had heard him use during his first Potions class. "And you are…?"

"D-Dudley D-Dursley," Dudley squeaked, his porcine face noticeably paling.

"What was that? Speak up, boy! I can't understand a word you're saying," Snape barked.

"D-Dudley D-Dursley," Dudley repeated, looking terrified.

"Well, D-Dudley," Snape mocked in cold, measuring tones, "if you'll kindly heave your considerable bulk out of the room, Potter and I will be leaving."

"Leave him alone, Severus," a quiet voice said from the kitchen. Harry's mouth dropped open as he beheld Aunt Petunia standing in the doorway, clutching a wooden cooking spoon in her hand. Dudley yelped in relief and fled into the kitchen as fast as his fat body could take him.

Snape raised a thin eyebrow and, to Harry's utter amazement, smiled. True, the smile was rather condescending and sardonic, but Harry couldn't recall a single time he'd seen the Potions master's face wear anything other than a frown, scowl, or sneer. "Petunia," Snape said, bowling slightly. "How… lovely to see you again."

Aunt Petunia looked at Harry, her face impassive as stone. "How do you know him?"

"He's my teacher. At school," Harry said, feeling dazed. "How do you know him?"

"Never mind, Potter," Snape snapped, whirling to face him. "It's time we were leaving. The Portkey will activate in a few minutes." He reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a tarnished silver teaspoon and a brass pocketwatch. "Get your things. We don't have all day."

Still stunned speechless, Harry rolled his trunk and carried Hedwig's cage over to Snape. Awkwardly, he managed to keep a hold of both his trunk and owl while still touching the teaspoon.

"Ten seconds," Snape muttered, studying the pocketwatch. "Nine… eight… seven… six… five… four…"

"Have a good year, Harry," Aunt Petunia said, almost inaudibly, as she turned back toward the kitchen.

"… three… two… one," Snape finished, and Harry felt the familiar jerk behind his navel. 4 Privet Drive began to spin out of focus, and seconds later they arrived with an awkward BUMP onto Platform 9 and ¾.

~ end of Chapter 9 ~