Harry Potter and the Final Prophecy

     -- Chapter Five --

    Birthdays and Betrayals

Thankfully Hagrid gave up trying to domesticate the Graphorn-Jarveys and moved instead onto theoretical lessons about his favorite beasts, dragons. After spending two weeks explaining the different breeds and their behaviour and what they liked to feed on (usually humans) he proudly announced 'next week I've sorted out a field trip fer yeh all ter go an' see some Hebridean Blacks fer real in their natural habitat!' Everyone started looking worried again. After the lesson, Hagrid called Harry back for a word. He stared down at Harry sadly before telling him 'I'm sorry, but yeh won' be able ter go, Harry, Dumbledore doesn't think it's worth teh risk fer yeh ter be outside the school, an' maybe it'd be a good idea fer Ron an' Hermione ter stay here as well. Anyway yeh've all seen dragons up close already, so yeh won' be missing nothin'.'

Harry did his best to feign disappointment, then ran to catch up with Ron and Hermione to tell them the good news. 'I'm surprised he didn't try to bring one into school and get us to tame it,' Hermione said acerbically, 'do you know what's next on the NEWT syllabus? Demiguises, nice harmless creatures. Will we do Demiguises? No, we'll do Chimaeras or Trolls or some other foul and bloodthirsty thing that Hagrid has been breeding illegally in the forest ...' Her attitude to Hagrid had become much less forgiving since the Graphorn-Jarvey incident.

'Tell you what,' Ron suggested, 'why don't you start teaching us all the harmless ones that Hagrid won't? Like when you got Harry to teach the practical Defence against Dark Arts that Umbridge wouldn't?'

Hermione pondered this in silence as they reached the entrance hall. Harry could tell she was somewhat flattered by the suggestion. Finally she said 'No, no I don't think I could.'

'Ah, that explains everything,' commented Ron, 'why couldn't you do it?'

As they sat down at the Gryffindor table Harry noticed that Dumbledore and McGonagall were having a worried conversation at the staff table. 'Well for a start we'd have to buy examples of the creatures,' Hermione continued.

'''We"?' Ron queried.

'Well yes, it was your idea, and of course Harry would help as well, wouldn't you, Harry?'

'Um ...' Harry responded non-commitally, focussing his attention on dissecting his grilled herring.

'But also it would undermine Hagrid, trying to teach his subject behind his back, which would be wrong, as much as I disagree with the way he teaches. Of course I don't mind coaching you two at least, in the bits he misses out, but to actually set up classes wouldn't be right ...'

Harry followed them back to Gryffindor tower and then left them, going up to the dormitory early to give them a chance to talk together without him there. A feeling of being excluded and unwanted had grown in him ever since they'd started their relationship, along with the sense of unease and doom that had hung over him since his birthday. However lessons were going well; although many people still viewed Professor Vanadair with nervous apprehension, Defence against Dark Arts was now Harry's favourite subject. After discussion of invisibility cloaks and ways to use them and detect their use, she had covered techniques for changing appearance in subtle ways to achieve disguise, and was now training them in the Patronus charm.

Dean had taken to wearing garlic amulets to ward off Professor Vanadair's attentions, with the result that he had a table, and indeed, several nearby tables, to himself in each class.

Harry smiled in amusement as he remembered this, before dosing himself with the sleeping draft and falling once again into a sleep of profound blackness unmitigated by any dreams.

     *

On Friday morning Ron gave a small package and a card to Hermione, in a rather embarrassed way, which mystified Harry for a moment until he realised it must be her birthday, which neither he or Ron had paid much attention to before. The present turned out to be a charmed silk scarf which changed colour with the wearer's moods, shimmering silver for calm intellectual thought, gold for happiness, vivid red for annoyance, and so forth. Hermione seemed a little doubtful about this once she realised what it did, but tied it round her neck, nevertheless. During Potions it remained an unpleasant puce colour, reflecting her disapproval of Snape's continued taunting of Ron and Harry.

From time to time Harry still caught Ron and Hermione watching him with concern, as if they were afraid he might suddenly fall unconscious and be swept away into another of Voldemort's sinister visions. He was supposed to be taking Madam Pomfrey's purple dream-devouring concoction every night, but the absence of dreams had soon made him feel increasingly disoriented, and he noticed he was frequently slipping into a daze during lessons, even more often than he usually did. So he had started to take the potion on alternate nights only, preferring to risk the danger of Voldemort's interference instead of going slowly insane. He hadn't told anyone about this, not even Ron or Hermione, as he knew they wouldn't approve and would simply nag him to keep taking the mixture.

According to the Daily Prophet, the world outside the school seemed to be almost back to normal, it contained no news of any attacks, nor anything about the efforts being made, Harry assumed, to round up the rogue Dementors who were now wandering freely up and down the country, preying on Muggles in particular.

Hermione sighed in frustration as she turned the pages at breakfast on Saturday. 'What a completely useless newspaper,' she complained, throwing it back on the table. A late owl landed wearily beside her cereal bowl and held out its leg for her to remove a much fatter paper, which Harry recognised as a popular Muggle broadsheet. 'My parents must have sent it,' she said, puzzled, then let out a gasp of horror as she read the front page. She spread the paper out so Ron and Harry could see it. The lead article reported that twenty mutilated bodies had been found on Ben Nevis, together with gigantic footprints leading to and from the scene of the massacre. ''Foul play is suspected," wrote the journalist, perceptively. Further articles reported that the suicide rate in the Dartmoor area had become abnormally and inexplicably high, and that the Muggle government was becoming seriously alarmed by a series of such bizarre and ghastly events.

'Why doesn't the Prophet report any of this!' Hermione said angrily as Dean borrowed the paper and his eyes widened in shock, 'don't they care about Muggles at all?'

Harry realised that they probably didn't. Just because a gang of rampaging giants had torn some mountain climbers limb from limb, didn't mean that it was considered worthy of mention by the editors of the wizarding newspaper. But were they even reporting attacks on wizards?

'What a joke, Ron Weasley as head boy,' Malfoy sneered maliciously as they walked out of the hall past the Slytherin table. Ron blanched as Crabbe and Goyle made threatening gestures towards him.

'Stand up to them, Ron,' Hermione hissed, 'don't let them intimidate you.'

Harry could not prevent the guilty thought that at least Ron now knew what it had been like for Harry to be the target of such a campaign of hostility, as he'd faced in his second, fourth and fifth years. And Ron only had the Slytherins against him, whilst he'd experienced hate from all quarters when everyone had thought he was a nutcase lying about Voldemort's return ...

'They won't be laughing when they have to face us at Quidditch,' Ron said, looking desperately at Harry for help in making this rash prediction come true.

     *

The DA continued to meet, for extra practice of the spells and counter-jinxes they were learning in Prof. Vanadair's lessons, and to attempt some defensive magic which was too advanced for the school syllabus altogether. 'Now today,' Harry announced when everyone had arrived in the Defence Against Dark Arts classroom, 'we're going to work on the Deflection spell, which is very useful for diverting quite powerful attacks away from you.'

He went through the incantation and then got people to practise in pairs while he went round checking on their progress and correcting their techniques. He quickly noticed that Luna Lovegood was not entirely concentrating on the spell, but instead was watching Hermione and Ron with a baleful sidelong expression, and consequently not merely deflecting Ginny's impediment hex, but hurling Ginny herself several feet across the room to collide with the Patils. Although Ron and Hermione had successfully kept their relationship secret from most of the school, Luna seemed to have picked up on it immediately. She kept shooting jealous glares at them as they practised the spell together until Harry closed the meeting at 9pm.

There were no more deliveries of Muggle papers for Hermione, and the Prophet remained resolutely concentrated on trivial stories about faults in the Floo network and organisational reform in the International Confederation of Wizards. On Friday however an item made Hermione squeal in horror. 'Oh no!' she gasped, showing it to Harry and Ron.

     Giants Bred Illegally at Hogwarts

The recent spate of Giant attacks on Muggles in Scotland has mystified many, but now it has been discovered that Rubeus Hagrid, the notorious half-giant son of the murderous Fridwulfa, has re-introduced a breeding colony of giants to Britian, in violation of Ministry of Magic decrees forbidding the importation of live giants. Immediate action is being taken to contain and destroy these creatures, and to bring Hagrid to justice.

The article went on to chronicle Hagrid's past misdemeanors, from being expelled in his third year of school to last year's escapade with the griffins. Harry read it with gathering fury, realising that Hagrid was missing from the staff table.

'You don't think it _might_ have been Hagrid's giants?' asked Ron, worriedly.

'No, of course it couldn't!' said Harry, angrily, 'they may not be exactly civilised, but they wouldn't kill for the fun of it.'

Harry's mood was not improved by Snape's sneering assessment of his Befuddlement Draft during Potions. As soon as lunch was over, with still no sign of Hagrid, they went down to his cabin, but there was no response when they knocked, and only silence from inside. Harry peered through the windows, it looked as if Hagrid had made a hasty departure, items were strewn over the floor and an abandoned meal still lay half-eaten on the table.

They returned miserably to the castle, Harry kept glancing down into the grounds through the study period and so made no progress on Snape's homework. Finally after dinner they saw a light come on in Hagrid's hut and hurried across the darkening lawns to see him. As they approached the cabin they could see the shadows of several figures moving behind the windows, and heard voices from inside. Harry recognised Hagrid's low growl, and Dumbledore's calm tones, the third he realised after a pause was Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, sounding as he often did now, both angry and frightened. 'It's got to stop, Dumbledore!' he was saying as Harry, Ron and Hermione crept up to the wall of the hut, staying out of sight of the windows, 'we can't have giants being re-introduced into the country, bred illegally at Hogwarts, it's insane, people will demand that the school be closed, and demand my resignation if I don't put a stop to it! They may only have killed Muggles so far, but it's only a matter of time before they attack wizards as well.'

'It wern' them!' Hagrid shouted, so loudly that Harry could feel the wall shake, 'It were the other lot, You-Know-Who's giants!'

'You have no proof of that, Hagrid,' Fudge said dismissively, 'and as far as the wizarding community is concerned, one giant is just as bad as another. Dumbledore, how can you support such a thing, here, when it even endangers your own pupils?'

There was a pause before Dumbledore answered. 'Cornelius, as I have said many times before, Lord Voldemort uses our dissension to build his power, he wishes to set us against the giants so that all the giants will come to his side and aid his terrorisation of both the Muggle and wizarding societies. The best chance of preventing Voldemort doing this is to offer them a real opportunity of living in peace, to offer them their old lands back so they are not confined in a single area, forced into conflict with each other, and dying out.'

'''Peace"?' Fudge exclaimed, his voice seething with fury, 'giants don't want peace, Dumbledore, they enjoy killing, surely you saw enough evidence of that when You-Know-Who tried to gain power twenty years ago?'

'They're not all like 'at!' Hagrid protested. Harry could visualise him rubbing his bruised face as he spoke, where Grawp or his brutal mate had taken a casual ''playfull" swipe at him.

'Cornelius,' Dumbledore said, 'I assure you the situation is under control. You may recall that no-one was harmed when dragons were stationed here for the Triwizard Tournament three years ago, nor has anyone ever been harmed by the breeding colony of Acromantula established fifty years ago in the forest.'

Ron raised his eyebrows in incredulity at this statement, as if to say ''not for want of trying!".

'What worries me far more,' Dumbledore continued over Fudge's bluster, 'is persistent rumours that certain highly-placed members of the ministry are trying to force through measures which they believe will placate Lord Voldemort, such as preventing my school from accepting Muggle-born wizards or witches.'

'Now, Dumbledore, if we can avoid bloodshed by achieving a compromise with You-Know-Who, it is my duty as Minister to seek such a compromise, don't you see? These measures we're considering, barring Muggle-borns from employment in the Ministry or in education, they won't really make much of a difference to us, will they? And if it means the return of peace, it'll be worth it, surely? Only last week a member of my office began direct negotiations with certain prominent supporters of You-Know-Who, just to sound out, you understand, what changes they would require us to make in order to end this terrible conflict, and the messages we're getting back so far are quite promising, I must say.' Ron let out a barely-stifled gasp of horror at Fudge's bland statement, thankfully this was covered by Hagrid's much louder howl of outrage from within the hut.

'Cornelius,' came Dumbledore's voice, with icy coldness, 'you are acting as if we have already lost, and that all that is left to do is to arrange the best surrender terms possible.'

'No, but we are losing, Dumbledore,' Fudge said defensively, 'even you must see that.'

The grounds were now in complete darkness, Harry shivered in the cold air as Dumbledore said '... while there are still people willing to oppose and resist Voldemort he has not yet won ...' Suddenly a shaft of light flashed across the grounds to where they stood, Harry looked around and saw a tall figure leaving the castle and walking rapidly towards them. They ran, crouching down, past the hut and into the edge of the forest out of sight.

Peering round a tree trunk, Harry saw Professor McGonagall striding to Hagrid's hut and rapping sharply on the door. There was a babble of loud voices when she entered but he could not make out any words. Moments later, Fudge, accompanied by a man Harry recognised as the Auror, Dawlish, swept out of the door and went rapidly back to the castle, closely followed by Dumbledore and McGonagall.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at each other in stupefication as the distant howls and snarls of unidentifiable monsters sounded behind them in the forest. 'That's unbelievable,' whispered Ron, 'absolutely unbelievable. Fudge is actually trying to negotiate with You-Know-Who!'

'All that will do is ease Voldemort's path to power,' said Harry, shaking his head in disbelief, 'he'll keep asking for more and more ...'

'Should we go and see Hagrid?' Ron asked.

'Maybe it's best to leave it,' advised Hermione, 'he didn't sound in a very good mood did he? Do you think Fudge was coming to arrest him?'

They walked cautiously back up to the castle, staying well clear of the paths and the beams of light from unshrouded windows.

They scanned the staff table anxiously at breakfast the next day, but Hagrid was back in his usual place, although looking rather subdued. Dumbledore and McGonagall were having a rapid whispered conversation in the middle of the table, both looking very serious. '_Something_ has happened,' muttered Hermione, as she flipped through the Daily Prophet, but there were no further items about Hagrid's giants, or indeed, any items of any consequence whatsoever.

On Monday however, Hermione spotted a tiny article buried at the bottom of page six of the paper and read it out to Harry and Ron, with Ginny and Dean listening in as well.

     Changes at the Ministry

It was announced by Cornelius Fudge last night that Dolores Umbridge, formally Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and Melinda Edgecombe, head of the Floo Network Office, have both resigned their posts, citing pressure of work. Percy Weasley becomes the new Senior Undersecretary, and Blossom Willowby the new head of the Floo Network.

'Well, that is curious,' said Hermione, frowning in thought. Harry noticed that Hagrid, Dumbledore and McGonagall looked much more cheerful this morning. Snape's expression, as always, remained inscrutable.

'It's got to be good news if that hag has gone,' said Ron, stuffing an entire shelled hard-boiled egg into his mouth.

'Yes, but _why_ did she go? Or why did Fudge get rid of her ...' Hermione mused as Ron, having consumed the first egg in a matter of seconds, repeated the performance with a second.

They finally managed to discuss things with Hagrid after Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesday, which as Hermione had predicted, concerned Chimaeras, although thankfully without a live specimen.

'What happened, Hagrid?' Harry asked, 'we saw the stuff in the Prophet about the Ministry investigating you, and then Fudge was here ...'

'It were that Dolores Umbridge, she was blaming our giants fer all them killin's ... as if they'd ever do 'at!' Hagrid said angrily.

'But Dumbledore persuaded Fudge that you were innocent?' asked Ron.

'Yeah, so Grawp an' the rest will be able ter stay,' Hagrid said.

'Oh, that's good,' said Hermione ironically.

'Um, you said ''rest", Hagrid, does that mean you've got some more since last year?' Harry asked carefully.

Hagrid winked conspiratorially at them, looking round to check they were not being overheard. 'Yeah, managed ter persuade another couple ter come over an' join us, mates o' Grawpy,' he whispered.

Hermione's scarf was now a deep shade of violet, indicating disbelief or astonishment, Harry guessed. But she kept her voice calm as she asked Hagrid 'So why did Umbridge resign?'

'She was gettin' a bit too close ter You-Know-Who's crowd, an' they wanted things ter move faster than Fudge was willin'. So her an' her cronies decided ter try an' take over an' push Fudge aside. But it didn't work out, an' they got kicked out instead,' Hagrid said cheerfully.

Harry got the impression from Hagrid's rather shifty manner that he wasn't telling them everything he knew, but at that moment the distant noise of a violent fight came from the depths of the forest, the sound of trees being torn up and broken (probably smashed in half over someone's head, Harry thought) was clearly audible.

'Hang on,' said Hagrid worriedly, 'I'd better go an' separate them, ... they're jus' bein' playful, that's all ...' He charged off back into the forest.

     *

The Slytherins' campaign against Ron became even more virulent as the start of the Quidditch season approached. As Ron and Harry headed down the entrance hall staircase to breakfast two weeks before the Gryffindor-Slytherin match, Malfoy aimed a trip jinx at Ron, sending him sprawling painfully down the stairs. 'Oops, clumsy!' yelled Malfoy. Harry whipped out his wand and was about to curse Malfoy when Snape's cold voice came from the bottom of the stairs.

'Put that wand down, Potter! Twenty points from Gryffindor for fighting in the corridors, and you, Weasley, you're head boy, you should have stopped him. Twenty points from you as well.' He swept away, leaving Malfoy and his cohorts doubled over with laughter as Ron limped downstairs leaning on Harry for support.

'I could murder him, I really could,' Ron said between gritted teeth as he hobbled to the Gryffindor table.

Hermione was already reading the Daily Prophet with a scowl at its mediocre contents, her scarf a sour shade of yellow. An unfamiliar owl was waiting at Harry's place, tapping its foot impatiently. Harry pulled the letter off its leg and it shot away in a flurry of feathers. Inside the folded scrap of parchment was the shortest message he'd ever had from Sirius: ''Use the mirror; Snuffles".

Harry was momentarily mystified by this, but then he remembered the two-way mirror Sirius had given him in fifth year, so that Harry could tell Sirius if Snape was treating him badly during Occlumency lessons. Of course Sirius didn't know that Harry had smashed the mirror in anger when it had proved useless in contacting him after he had disappeared through the veil of death ... it was still lying in pieces at the bottom of his trunk.

After dinner he returned early to the deserted dormitory with Ron and Hermione, hastily assembled the pieces of the mirror and muttered 'reparo', and it became whole again. 'Sirius,' he announced to it. For a moment only his own reflection showed in the dirty glass, then the image transformed and Sirius' grinning face replaced his, Harry could see the crude stone walls of some dark basement in the background.

'How are you?' asked Sirius, 'revising hard for your NEWTs?' he added sarcastically.

'No,' said Harry, flatly, 'to tell you the truth, Sirius, I'm really, really p****d off, no-one tells me anything anymore. Voldemort is steadily taking over the country and we're sitting here uselessly, doing nothing, being kept in the dark.'

'Don't worry, we're doing everything we can to forestall Voldemort, we're pretty well organised now, you know. And I expect Dumbledore thinks it's a higher priority for you to finish your education rather than get involved in some dangerous heroics. Ultimately he has your best interests at heart, I hope.'

'He still doesn't trust me,' Harry protested.

'Well you have sometimes been a bit reckless and impulsive, haven't you,' Sirius said with a smile.

Hermione gave a snort of disbelief at this statement. 'The words ''pot", ''kettle" and ''black" come to mind, Sirius,' she said.

'I wasn't saying it was a bad thing, Hermione,' said Sirius with mock surprise, 'merely that Dumbledore doesn't want too many unpredictable factors firing off when he's trying to organise the defence of the wizarding world against Voldemort. So he tries to reduce Harry's unpredictability by restricting what he tells him to the minimum.'

'Or to nothing, which has been the case so far this year,' added Harry bitterly.

'Well I'll have some real news for you soon, I promise,' said Sirius, grinning, 'contact me again in a week's time, ok?' His face faded out of the mirror and was replaced once more by Harry's own.

Hermione shook her head in disapproval. 'Really, he shouldn't be giving you that kind of information, what if that endangers something the order is planning? Talk about reckless and impulsive ... he's never been anything else.'

'Give Harry a break,' said Ron quietly, 'everyone else is treating him like he's an unexploded bomb that could go off at any moment. At least Sirius is trying to support him.'

Hermione's scarf started to turn yellow and then orange as her eyes flashed. Harry bid them goodnight and left them bickering. He smiled as he closed the hangings around his bed, it seemed things were back to normal between them, it must have taken a huge effort to be nice to each other all the time for several weeks ... and at least Sirius understood how he felt and was doing his best to help him.

     *

A week later it was Halloween, and there had still been no news of any significance in the Daily Prophet. After lunch, when the other seventh years had gone off to their study period in the library, and the lower years were at lessons, Harry unwrapped Sirius' mirror from the bottom of his trunk and brought it to Ron and Hermione, who were sitting arguing again on Ron's bed.

'... I mean Sirius would hardly lose any sleep if Snape was fed to Voldemort's serpent, would he?' Hermione was saying.

'Well I wouldn't be too concerned either, to tell the truth,' said Ron as they joined Harry around the mirror.

Sirius appeared the instant that Harry called for him, smiling broadly. Harry noticed that the background had changed, to an earthen cave crudely burrowed out of the ground, tree roots spreading over its walls like veins.

'Well, I promised you news, Harry, and it's even better than I expected,' he said.

Hermione made as if to raise an objection, but he continued 'and it's public knowledge anyway by now, I expect, so I'm allowed to tell Harry, thank you, Hermione! Anyway, last night a group of five or six Death Eaters launched an attack on Tonks's house, just her and her parents were there, but what the Death Eaters didn't know was that we were well prepared for any attempts to wipe out members of the order, after what happened with Arthur and Molly, so we ambushed them as they closed in on the house.'

'''We"?' queried Harry, 'you mean you were there as well?'

'Sure! Why not?' asked Sirius, 'I may be ''reckless" and ''impulsive",' he nodded towards Hermione, who was frowning, her scarf an unpleasant brown colour, 'but I was always pretty good at duelling and fighting, well I practised a lot on dear old Snape, all through school ... so we had them properly cornered last night and guess who we caught there -- Wormtail!'

'That's brilliant,' said Harry, 'that means you'll be pardoned, surely?'

'Not straight away, the Ministry have to question him, get the truth out of him, the lying piece of filth ... Dumbledore has gone there to make sure they do things properly this time.'

'But nothing has appeared in the Prophet,' said Hermione, 'nothing at all!'

'Are you sure?' Sirius asked, looking puzzled, 'that's very strange, I don't know why they'd want to keep it quiet, that's the first success our side has had against Voldemort for ages.'

He pondered briefly in silence, then said abruptly 'Well, it'll all come out in time, I guess. Anyway the other reason I wanted to talk to you, Harry, is that I've got something I need to bring to you, that I need to give you in person.'

'What?' Harry asked, puzzled.

'You'll see. But don't tell Dumbledore, don't tell anyone,' he insisted, as Hermione raised her eyebrows in mute exasperation.

'I'll be there in an hour or so -- watch for me coming from the forbidden forest and meet me there, use the Marauder's Map. I'll be in dog form, of course, but it's probably best that I don't come up to the castle itself.' He vanished from the mirror.