Harry Potter and the Maneosioan War

Chapter 11

Victims of a Prophecy

Ginny helped Harry to his feet.

"Where did she come from?!" he exclaimed.

"She must have been in the room with us when - well - we sort of got here somehow..." said Hermione.

Harry didn't respond. He had too many thoughts running about his head all at the same time.

What had happened to the others? Were they okay? How could there have been an attack on a place where Harry thought he was perfectly safe? Was there a traitor amongst them? And if so, who could they trust?...

Speechless, Harry mumbled something under his breath and, clutching Hedwig in her cage, along with his Firebolt and his trunk, he led the way towards their dormitories.

"Password?" said the Fat Lady.

"Nitwit Nonsense," said Harry.

"It definitely is," said the portrait as it swung open to reveal a most empty Gryffindor commonroom. Harry immediately threw down his things, with the exception of Hedwig's cage, which he gently placed on the floor, and slumped onto the couch, burring his face in his hands.

"Do you think he's still alive?" Harry asked, his voice shaking.

"Who?" asked Neville.

"Dumbledore!" Harry shouted.

"Oh," he said. "I dunno. But I'm sure he is, Harry."

"Yeah," said Luna, "Dumbledore can take care of himself."

Harry suddenly looked up at her.

"What are you doing here, Luna? This is the Gryffindor common room. Aren't you in Ravenclaw?"

"Well, I'm sorry for not wanting to be all by myself in a completely different part of the castle after what just happened!" she said, sounding rather insulted.

"Right, sorry," said Harry.

"How could this have happened?" Hermione suddenly exclaimed, reading Harry's mind.

"I don't understand," said Harry. "What could have gone wrong...? Everything was going along just fine...What about the parents? What about the members of the Order? Hagrid, Mark's parents, Mr. Weasley, my grandmother....what happened to them?..."

"I don't know," said Hermione.

"Maybe this was just a fluke, you know," said Ron. "Maybe it was an accident - "

"An accident!" Hermione exclaimed. "Ron, thousands of dementors don't just show up in one location by accident! They were sent there! By Voldemort! And you know it!"

"All right, all right, calm down..." said Ron, taken aback.

"Calm down! Ron, do you realize that any member of our family could be dead right now? Do you not understand that Harry's family, the last of it that he has, might be gone forever? Don't you get it? This is real!" she shouted.

Ron's ears went red and he didn't look up at Hermione.

The common room Portrait Hole burst open and several people walked in at the same time.

Harry watched as Percy, Bill, Charley, Fred, George, and Professor McGonagall walked inside, looking flustered.

He immediately stood up and asked, "What happened?"

Professor McGonagall spoke to him, "Potter, we don't know how this happened, but you will remain at Hogwarts until school is resumed and you will stay here until the end of the school year. Several veelas were aiding the dementors it the attack. Someone must have told You-Know-Who about headquarters, there is no other way, but that's not the point - "

"Is anyone hurt? Was anyone," he gulped, "killed?"

"What do you think?" she snapped, though her voice sounded unusually dark.

"Who?" said Hermione before Harry could ask.

Professor McGonagall looked rather worried, but still answered, "Professor Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, was not found. We think he might be - that he is - well, and....and...some members of the Order - you don't know them, but they are - er - I don't think that it is important to discuss this at the time. Potter, your grandmother will be here shortly to make sure that you are all right. I reminded her that you were just fine, but she wanted to make sure all the same. You are to stay in the Gryffindor common room until further instructions are given. These five gentlemen will remain with you at the moment. I'm sure they can explain what - er - occurred. I will speak to you later. Er - Happy Christmas, I suppose."

And with that, Professor McGonagall left a startled Percy, Bill, and Charley, Fred, and George at the company of the six Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw.

Bill sighed. "Never would have imagined it!" he said.

"So what exactly happened?" asked Ron.

"Well, at some point, you may as well know, someone sent hundreds of dementors to the lighthouse along with some veelas. The attack was so sudden that I don't think anyone could have possibly expected it..."

"Yeah," said Fred, "we were still talking to Mundungus about Spiking Spaghetti for our Joke Shop."

"Forget about the Joke Shop," said Percy through gritted teeth. "The point is that no one seemed to be aware of what was happening."

"Do you have any suspects?" asked Harry.

"Well, we do suspect some people, but we really couldn't tell you," said Charley.

"What we are assuming happened was that someone ratted out the Order to You-Know-Who. They must have also known about the prediction of Dumbledore's death, because I don't think they would have dared attack his home. Anyway, whoever it is, they might be long gone or might still be in the Order. As a matter of fact, Dumbledore's now taking much more strict measures on leaking out important information. I don't know how that will help, but You-Know-Who's sure done some job by splitting up the trust in the Order," said Percy.

"But aren't there charms cast upon those in the Order?" asked Hermione.

"True, there are," said Bill, "but there are also ways of breaking them. I doubt that a Dark wizard would have much trouble doing so."

"What you're saying is that someone sold all of us out and we have no clue as to who it could be? What do we do now?" said Harry.

"We never said that we had no clue," said Charley, "we just said that we don't know for sure yet. But we do think it could be a couple of people - "

"That's the problem, though," said Hermione, "you think, but you don't know. How is that going to help? You might be trusting all the wrong people!"

"Is Professor McGonagall someone you wouldn't trust, Hermione?" asked George with a grin.

"Of course I trust her, but - "

"Ah! Now there's an idea!" said Fred. "Why don't you butt out of this and let us handle it!"

"Hmph! Fine!" said Hermione. "I was only trying to help - "

"Yeah, well, we have enough `help' to be going on with, thanks."

Hermione didn't respond.

"So are headquarters being relocated?" asked Harry.

"Yes...," said Bill.

"And no," said Percy. "We're still not sure. We no longer know if there's a point in finding new headquarters considering the fact that two of them have already been located and that there might be a spy amongst us."

"But you're still going to try, right?" asked Hermione.

"Well, we were considering Hogwarts. We're thinking it's the best place for now."

"Yeah," said Charley, "not many more places where we can go, are there?"

"I suppose there's nothing much we can do but wait, right?" asked Harry.

"You said it," said Bill and slumped himself down on the couch next to Neville and Ginny, who were both taken back by his calm resolution.

School had soon resumed itself at Hogwarts and students, looking lost and afraid, were flooding back in to the castle, each murmuring past events under their breath, having overheard their parent discuss them over the holidays.

Luna had returned to the Ravenclaw tower and had sworn not to give the Gryffindor password out to anyone while Ginny had reverted to her new prefect duties and Mark was back to hanging with his first year friends.

Bill, Charley, Fred, George, and Percy had left Harry and the others to take care of themselves so that they could perform more projects for the Order, which had relocated itself to the several rather secretive chambers in Hogwarts. Cilia had come to wish Harry goodybye soon and reminded him that she would be leaving on the first of January, but said that she could always be reached on the two-way mirror.

The castle was now bolted up all the time; the gates were closed and visits to Hogsmeade were prohibited. Owls were to be sent out only once a week so that they could be released all together and all posts could be checked by the staff. Students were escorted by a teacher to every class and Harry was beginning to feel as if the Chamber of Secrets had been opened for a third time, only the precautions were ten times worse. Quidditch practices and matches were, of course, canceled, and Harry didn't know whether to feel happy that his Captain duties needn't be fulfilled considering all of the studying that he had to do for the exams that were to be taken before the Winter Break that had to be made up, and found no relief in his Advanced courses and next year's N.E.W.T.s, or upset that he wouldn't have the opportunity to fly on his Firebolt for who knows how long.

Harry didn't see why he had to get such an early start - nearly a year ahead of time - but he supposed that N.E.W.T.s must take some effort to pass, but he dare not think about all of the information that he would need to know in order to earn a score high enough for the Ministry to consider making him an auror. He was becoming more and more hesitant about the job as he kept hearing small scraps of news about the war, but the good news was that he would occasionally see Mr. or Mrs. Weasley and some other members of the Order pass by Dumbledore's office and would have the chance to say "hi" to them; at least he would know that they were all right.

When Harry was getting ready to make his way into the dungeons for Potions, he regrettably ran into none other than Draco Malfoy and his group of Slytherins whose laughter was enough to make Harry want to reach for his wand, only to make them shut up.

Finally, he couldn't help it and asked, "What are you laughing your skins off about?"

"Why, Potty, don't you know?" said Malfoy, his voice still hissing of giggles. "Father's made it out of jail. I told you he would, didn't I, Potter? Didn't I warn you? I did, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you also told me I'd pay, didn't you? But looks like I haven't payed anything, have I?"

"Good memory, Potter," he said. "But I suppose that you've now got that mudblood remembering things for you - "

Before he knew it, Malfoy was up in the air as the tip of Harry's wand shot out towards him. Harry grinned and began drawing invisible circles in the air with his wand so that Malfoy's body imitated it's moves and began spinning around very rapidly.

"AHHHH!"

"Harry!" came Hermione's voice, who had just emerged from the corner of the hallway. She looked up at the twirling Malfoy in disbelief, her eyes wide with shock as Harry kept smirking and twirling his wand.

"What are you doing?! Stop it! Put him down!"

"He called you a mudblood," Harry said quietly.

"I don't care if he called every single person in this school a mudblood! This isn't right! Put him down, now, Harry!"

"As you wish," said Harry.

"Oh, no - Harry, don't - I didn't mean - "

"Gravitate,"said Harry, putting his wand away as Malfoy fell several feet to the floor with a loud thump.

"Ow," he muttered.

"That's not what I meant, Harry!"

"Well, you should have been more specific, then!" she said, still smiling.

"Urgh!" she said and, furiously, stomped out of the crowd that had just formed itself around Harry and the Slytherins.

Harry turned to the whimpering Malfoy, who was still sprawled up on the ground and said, "Get up," in a disgusted tone.

He made a motion with his wand and Malfoy, unwillingly, stood up, making out another whine.

The people crowded around them stood apart so that Harry could walk through, pocketing his wand and walking past them, furious, yet satisfied, his cloak swishing behind him. The bell rang before he made his way to the dungeons and he knew what to expect when he made his way inside Snape's classroom. He creaked the door open and assumed his seat in the back of the room, interrupting Snape in the middle of his speech, but not looking up at him.

"Potter - what it the meaning of this? You are late! Your reason, perhaps?" he spat.

"None," said Harry, coolly.

"Detention then. My office. This evening," he said with a smirk.

"Whatever you say," said Harry, talking out his Advanced Potions I and mindlessly flipping through it.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor, Potter, for your wise remark," he added, swooping away towards the black board and tapping it twice so that the ingredients for whatever potion they were now studying appeared.

Harry read them thoroughly and realized that they were still on the Resurrection Potion. He groaned and wondered how long it would take Snape to get to his point; it seemed months ago that he had asked Harry to come up to the front of the classroom and make that presentation and he still did not know what Snape had been talking about. What steps? Why did they matter? Who cared how Voldemort had risen? He had done it and he was back, already beginning the Last War and murdering innocent people. Why did it matter how he had done it?

Half-an-hour later, Malfoy waddled in the classroom, clutching his back like and old man and making pathetically fake noises with his mouth.

"What happened?" asked Snape.

"Potter attacked me, sir. I had just come to my senses to get to class, sir," Malfoy said weekly, smirking under his breath.

"What?!" said Harry. "He's lying. He was just fine!"

"So you admit that you attacked him, then?" Snape sneered.

"Yeah - yeah, I did. I won't lie. But I had my reasons," said Harry.

The little color left in Snape's face had faded.

"Such as..." he said, smirking.

"He called a friend of mine a mudblood. Provoked me, sir. No other reason," Harry said, in an unusually calm voice.

"And you used magic in the hallway?"

"Sure did," said Harry, nodding his head.

He could hear Snape's teeth chattering against each other and making a very annoying noise.

"A week's worth of detentions, Potter," said Snape.

Malfoy laughed.

"Sit down," Snape spat at him and Malfoy's grin fell as he took his seat. "Do not be late for my class again. Either of you."

Harry couldn't help but snigger to himself as he saw Malfoy watch Snape pass with narrowed eyes. Detentions with Snape would be dreadful, but they couldn't be worse than those with Dolores Umbridge.

Snape spun around when he reached the front of the classroom and snapped, "Pay attention! This is important to all of you. I have read and re-read all of your essays on the Resurrection Potion, yet I must say that I was not disappointed that none of you got it right!"

Harry listened carefully, his heart still pounding jubilantly at the ability to cause Malfoy pain and humiliation...

"Bone of a father, Potter," said Snape, "remind me what the content is again..."

"Bone will form the skeleton or structure of the body," Harry mumbled. "Without it, the body could not have firm temperament or base. Depending on the relationship that the receiver had with the father, the stronger the better, the bone will form itself in the shape of the emotion. That is to say love or hate."

"And your conclusion from that information is what, Potter?" he asked, nastily.

"That if the son - or say daughter - is to accept the bone of the father, then he or she is to develop a part of his or her soul with the bone considering the emotion. Anger and fury, for example, would be the sole of the bone if that was how that father and son were related or caring and friendship if another relationship had been between the two. The bone supports the entire system of the witch or wizard and, though it is unknowingly taken, the father will contribute much to the new body. However, if by chance the emotion is destroyed by a greater power than that of the relationship, then the Spell pertaining the Potion will fail. However, this is often impossible concerning the fact that most men are born with the bone of their father regularly."

Snape sniffed, but Harry breathed deeply when he said, "Better. And the flesh of a servant?"

"The flesh will provide an outer covering for the base, or bone. It is the tenderest and most effected part of the body and soul. All contact made with the flesh will have a bond with the wearer. Therefore, the unwilling contributor will have a sort of bond with the receiver as well."

"And what kind of servant must he be, Potter?" asked Snape, glowering.

"Er - " said Harry, unsure how to respond to the questions. "Well, a loyal one, I supp-"

"I asked what kind of servant he must be, Potter!" said Snape, his mouth twitching.

"An unwilling one, then?" said Harry quickly, yet still quite doubtful of his answer.

"Yes. Which brings us to the enemy," said Snape, turning his back on Harry and walking to the back of the class, then wheeling around. "Well?" he asked.

Harry saw the class watching him intensively.

Harry took a deep breath. "The blood taken from the enemy will sustain the life of the resurrected body."

He spoke slowly, trying to take in all of the information he was saying as if he was one of his listeners.

"The potion will be stronger if there is some sort of relation or bond between the two enemies.

It is the blood which determines the effect of spells on one and the other. If one had once been invincible...then that one will surely be weaker according to the blood donor..."

As these things came out of Harry's mouth, he tried to make sense of them as if he was hearing them for the very fist time, which he was.

"It would be...it would be..." said Harry, grasping for words, "as if their powers and abilities would - would switch, would it not? If the donor was to eventually grow in power?"

Snape's eyes widened. He opened his mouth and closed it again, like a dumbstruck fish.

"That would be all," said Snape, and walked out of the classroom, shutting the door behind him as the bell rang.

Harry scowled; it wasn't usual for Snape to simply walk out like that. Where was he going? As Harry exited the classroom, he heard a round of people murmuring behind him, casting odd looks at him. They seem to have been discussing what he had just said, and Harry felt like discussing it with someone himself...it was as if someone had spoken them for him...he hadn't even meant to say those things. It just sort of...happened.

Harry made his way up to Gryffindor tower, walking through the portrait hole, and finding Ron and Hermione seated by the fireplace, executing a heavy stack of homework.

Harry seated himself between the two and Ron acknowledged his presence with a nod.

Hermione, however, hadn't looked up. She seemed to be cutting deep into her paper as she wrote and making extra hard jabs with her pen every time she placed a period. Finally, Harry watched as she rolled up the piece of parchment, laid it aside roughly, and revealed an unpleased expression as she grabbed for a book and opened it, still not looking up.

"Is something wrong?" asked Harry.

She closed the book shut, frowning, and met his eyes.

"Wrong? Harry, what was wrong was what you did to Malfoy down there! I don't even know where you got that from! It's not like you at all. Even if Malfoy did deserve it, there's no need to resort to something like that! Honestly, at times I wonder if you'd taken some unhealthy lessons from Sirius. It's as if you did it not only out of revenge, but out of enjoyment. Like it was a hobby for you! I don't know why you really did it, Harry, but if you did it to stand up for me, it was not worth it!"

Harry frowned, but then remembered a very familiar vision that he had witnessed in a Pensive.

He recognized the guilty feeling that he had from seeing his father torturing Snape, and he felt no better at the moment.

"Sorry," he mumbled, feeling rather ashamed of himself.

"Sorry? Well, a `sorry,' isn't going to do much now, is it? It's been done and - "

"I already have a week's worth of detentions with Snape. Are you happy now?" said Harry, getting rather annoyed.

Hermione looked rather dignified for a moment, as if she needn't respond, but then signed and said, "I guess I am being too rough on you. I just - just when I saw you Harry, it was not like you. Not at all. As if someone else had taken over. I - I felt like I was losing you. I don't want to get that feeling again."

Harry looked up at her, and then said, "Right," slightly smiling.

They exchanged memorizing glances for a moment, which were broken by Hermione as she finally decided to return to her book, and Harry remembered that he still had the detention to serve with Snape. The subject had completely taken his mind off what he had meant to tell Ron and Hermione, but he had to go ahead and proceed to the dungeons before he was late again.

Harry tapped on the wooden door as the knock echoed through the empty hall, and creaked the Potions door open when there was no response. He stepped inside the classroom with its dusty shelves of unknown substances and a heavy smell of something stale, walking to the front where Snape's desk stood, empty of the professor.

Harry glanced around the classroom, making sure that Snape was not somewhere in one of his cabinets or in a shadowy corner, and then sat on top of the nearest student desk when he was nowhere in sight.

"Potter!" Snape's voice cracked like a whip. "Get off that desk!"

Harry jumped and immediately got his feet. Where had he come from?

"Sorry, I - er - didn't see you there, Professor," said Harry.

"Just because something cannot be seen, doesn't mean that it must be ignored," he said coolly.

"Okay," said Harry, his eyebrows raised. "So what do I have to do?"

Snape sniffed.

"Tell me, Potter, have you not learned anything in my classes during the past five years? Have you still not learned to think? I am still wondering how they even kept you at this school along with Longbottom. And yet you are still as clueless as ever. Have you not yet figured it out? How he must fall? Do you really not recognize the pattern? Are you so blind as not to see it? When I have been trying to drill it into you for the past several months? When these events have been

happening right under your nose? You may not be your father, but you've certainly got his mind - centered on yourself, that's what it is. It's as if nothing else would matter to you if even if the world suddenly vanished. Tell me, do you not recognize anything? Are you so shallow as to ignore these things?"

"What are you talking about?" said Harry, his blood pumping through his veins harder than ever.

Snape snorted. "As always, you know nothing. Well, I suppose I have no choice rather than to tell you. I know that the Headmaster does not favor that you know, but I don't see another choice..."

Harry stared at him.

"Do you not understand that similar steps must be taken to Voldemort's fall as well as his rise back to power?"

Harry looked confused. "No, why would they?"

"Because that is the only way that you may learn to use your power against the Dark Lord. It is complicated, but you will understand later. Right now, I must make something clear to you, simply because you seem to not be able to see it for yourself no matter what. Tell me, you miss him, don't you?"

Harry raised an eyebrow; he wished Snape would just get to the point. "Who?"

Snape rolled his eyes and looked so impatient it was as if he was about to blow up. "Your dear godfather, Sirius Black," he said nastily.

"Yeah, I miss him. So what's your point?" said Harry, angrily.

"Was he not like a father to you, Potter? Your only father figure? The only one you ever knew? Was he not someone that you loved? Cared for? Bone of a father; that's one down."

Harry's mouth opened slightly and his head began to hurt. He was staring mindlessly about the room and trying hard to swallow his every breath.

"I was hoping that I was getting through to you during today's lesson, but I was wrong. How long have I tried, I still have not succeeded to getting through your thick skull. But I have no time. It is important that you know this soon...now..."

"So - so who's the servant?" Harry asked, afraid of the answer.

Snape turned his head sharply at him. "Still that daft, are you? Who's the one person that has been sweating his neck off just to keep you safe? Who's the one person that has been making sure that everything goes well for Potter? Who's the one person who favors him like no other student at Hogwarts? Who's the one person that has been treated harshly by wizards and witches everywhere even though he is only trying to do his best for the Boy Who Lived? Who is your eternal servant who believes your every word? Who is the one that is sure to be killed any day even thought it is against his will?"

"Dumbledore," Harry whispered immediately after Snape had finished his speech.

"Finally," said Snape. "And I thought you wouldn't even get it this time." He shook his head.

Harry didn't know what to think. Dumbledore was going to die and for no other reason than for Harry himself. He would have to sacrifice himself so that Harry could go on to defeat Voldemort. And if he didn't? The lives of Sirius and Dumbledore felt like blood that was painted onto Harry's hands and wouldn't come off.

He looked up at Snape with a lump of guilt at the thought of what had just been revealed in his throat. That was the father...that was the servant...but - wait, who was the enemy?

Thoughts were rasing through Harry's mind and it suddenly hit him. He began to breath with difficulty and saw that Snape was smirking at him.

"Now you get it, don't you?" he spoke. "There is but one stage to be decided...one stage that is left to be truly fulfilled. One stage that has neither been prophesied nor accomplished. Do you know what that is, Potter? The debt that it is in your enemy's hands?"

"Peter - Peter Pettigrew," Harry spat out.

"Ah," said Snape. "Good guess."

"He owes me his life," said Harry. "He - he has to die."

"He does not have to," said Snape, "but he will unless, of course, you would like to die in his place."

"No! Never!" said Harry.

"Then you must make sure that everything goes as planned by the prophecy, Potter. You mustn't be foolish. Make sure that you take care of your life, no matter how much I might despise it. Dumbledore has but only so much to live. I can only hope that you appreciate it."

Harry gulped and nodded.

"As for your punishment, I'll let you off for the night. I trust you've suffered enough," said Snape sneering and walked around his desk, sitting into his wooden chair.

No matter how much Harry didn't want to admit it, he knew that it was true - the pain that had pierced his heart at the thought of the lives that had to be lost because of a prophecy - because of him - made more of an impact on him that any detention. He felt like chocking out blood or crying his eyes out. He wanted to tear out his hair or his scar to sear with pain again - he felt he would have deserved it. It was more of a punishment for Harry to know that Snape wasn't punishing him, and Snape knew it, which made Harry want to throw up at the professor even more. For Harry wanted to be punished; he wanted someone to tell him that it was all his fault that these people were going to die or that Sirius had already died. And how Dumbledore had said that it wasn't Harry's fault that Sirius was dead - it made him sick. As he walked back to the

Gryffindor common room, however, he began to feel a slight bit better and climbed into bed. Still, the tormenting thoughts ripped Harry apart from the inside and he eventually fell asleep, aching in every part of his body, even though he wasn't physically hurting.

"The time is at hand, Master," came a voice. "Everything is planned. With the Ministry and Azkaban out of the way, nothing is stopping us!"

"You must be patient, Lucius. The information that we found did not give us as much hope as we planned. I would have expected more from the veil," hissed Harry's voice. "I am weak now, and must watch myself. That girl has drained me of some power for my while - she will pay. It is foolish the way that they seek out to follow the prophecies when they should simply avoid them. It would make everything easier. If only they would try to find a way to overcome the future, as I

have overcome mortality, they would understand the power of this accomplishment - to defeat something that may seem undefeatable. And that is why I must get to Harry Potter, but I must wait for the providential moment. I am still....weak..."

"But, Master! Hogwarts is even weaker! We must not wait for it to regain strength after the attacks! It would be even more difficult to - "

"Silence!" Harry spat. "Our plan will be accomplished soon, Lestrange, but we must wait. Be patient, and the opportunity will come. Only a few more months, and it will be complete!"

"You say `wait,' yet we have waited this long! How long will it take for me to simply go after him? I have been waiting for ages! Is it not enough that you stopped me on my last attempt, yet I must now wait even longer?!" said a new voice that Harry recognized as one of his closest followers and saw his face hidden under a grey cloak.

"I am sorry for that matter, but your deed will be fulfilled. I, for one, understand what it is like to wait, and you must therefore heed the Dark Lord!"

"You are right, Master," he replied. "I am ashamed."

"Need not be. After all, we are both after the same prize," said Harry and began to laugh as his Death Eaters followed suit. He kept laughing until he came to a strange realization and his laughter drifted off as he furiously grabbed his skull-white head with his long slender fingers and screamed, at which it rang through the boys' dormitory, only not as a groaning, snake-like voice, but as the voice of the sixteen-year-old Harry Potter, who's scar had just bled open with

pain just as he had desired, and had woken him up from something that was more than but a nightmare.

Chapter 12

Consequences

"But they're going to attack Hogwarts! We must do something!" Harry yelled at Professor McGonagall after class.

"Do what, Potter? What do you propose we do? If you have any idea, I am dying to hear it! There is nowhere left for us to go that is safe!"

"But we have to try, at least!" said Harry, pleadingly. "I saw this, it was real! Voldemort's weak right now, but he said that he would grow in power and come after the school! We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"On the contrary, Mr. Potter," spoke Professor McGonagall in a saddened voice, "that is the only thing that we can do," and she left the classroom, leaving Harry to slam his fist hard into her desk and walk off to his next class.

"The Draining Spell," spoke Narcissa, "is probably just as horrible as the Killing Cruse. It is a spell that drains a witch or wizard of absolutely all of their magical power."

The class listened tentatively, and several gasps emerged amongst it.

"We're not actually going to practice it, are we?" asked Dean.

"No," said Professor Malfoy, "but I will be giving a presentation." She flicked her wand and a small cage containing a shiny orb swam out at her from one of her cabinets. She took it into her hands and placed it onto the table before her.

"A fairy - " she said, referring to the glowing light that came from the confinement of the cage.

"This Spell is quite powerful for it requires a lot of energy, so there are not many wizards, even grown, that know how to perform it. Watch carefully, for I will not repeat this Spell."

Everyone sat up at the edge of their chairs.

"Drai - Drai - " she gasped. "Drainons!"

A sudden bright flash of light took everyone aback as they watched it flicker and dim out as quickly as it had appeared. The fairy that had been in the cage was no longer glowing, but, from what they could see, lay motionless at the floor of it.

The class, including Harry, was staring disbelievingly at the fairy, only to turn their heads to Hermione, who spoke, "Professor Malfoy? Is something wrong?"

Harry's eyes fell onto Narcissa and saw that she had dropped her wand and weakened in her legs. She was grasping her chest as if in pain and taking very deep breaths. She barely walked over to her desk and leaned against it with her hand.

"Are you all right, Professor?" Hermione asked, now getting up along with Harry and some other students that looked quite stricken at what was happening to Narcissa.

"Yes - yes - I'm fine," she said. "Perhaps - perhaps it would be best if - if I released you early today."

"What - ?" said Harry.

"Yes. You - you should go. This class - this class is over for today. There - there will be no homework."

She was still breathing very deeply and clutching the desk. Harry exchanged a nervous look with Hermione and saw that she looked extremely anxious. They exited quietly and waited until the last of them had left the classroom when Harry asked Hermione, "Do you think we should go and see if she's all right."

"I dunno," said Hermione. "Maybe we should..."

They peered inside the classroom and saw Narcissa now sitting at her desk, but still in the same state of either shock or fear or...Harry couldn't really figure out what her expression truly was, but she didn't look too good from where he was standing.

Harry looked at Hermione and saw her bite her lip, meet his glance, and shake her head. "I think it's best we not interfere," she said and left the class. Harry took one last look at Professor Malfoy, frowned, and then followed Hermione out the door.

He watched as she headed for Gryffindor tower. Harry, however, spun around and took the path to the Headmaster's office.

As he reached the stone gargoyle, he hoped that he would be lucky enough to find Dumbledore entering or exiting, but, after waiting for several moments, he realized that this was not so.

He rambled his thoughts for a password and began to say random words that popped into his mind.

"Coralgraze," he said. "No - um, well, then, sea turtles."

The gargoyle didn't budge.

"Aguapaths?" said Harry.

"Order of the Phoenix? No, no, that's too obvious."

"Last War?"

"Prophecy?"

"Maneosioan?"

The gargoyle leapt aside.

"Doesn't keep many secrets, Dumbledore, does he?" Harry said to himself. Harry walked up the stone steps and came to the great wooden door that barred the way to his office. He took a deep breath and knocked with the griffin-shaped knocker.

"Come in," came Dumbledore's voice.

Harry glanced inside. One look at Dumbledore seated behind his desk made Harry be the one to avoid his eyes this time. He felt ashamed to simply be in his presence after what Snape had told him, but he had only come up to his office to tell him about Narcissa, after all.

"Er, sir," said Harry, starring at the floor. "I - I was just in Defense Against the Dark Arts and - and Professor Malfoy, she - she was performing the Draining Spell for us and she - something

happened. I don't think she's feeling too well. I - I just wanted to let you know."

From the little of what Harry allowed himself to see of Dumbledore he

had nodded and spoke, "Thank you, Harry. That is important for me to know. I will see to it that Professor Malfoy is consulted about this."

He picked up a small golden bell at the corner of his desk and rang it once. Harry watched in amazement as there suddenly came a sharp crack trough the air and Dobby the house-elf appeared at the Headmaster's side.

"You rang, sir?" he squeaked.

"Dobby, would you please visit Professor Malfoy in her office and attend to her; she may need something to drink, or perhaps some food. She hasn't been eating properly, I'm afraid, and she hasn't gotten much sleep, either. If she is still not feeling well, please advise Professor Snape to brew the Drought of Peace for her again. I will be down to see her in a moment."

"Yes, sir," said Dobby and disappeared once again.

Dumbledore looked at Harry as if there had been no distraction and Harry cast his eyes down again. "Is there anything else that you would like to tell me?"

Harry hesitated, firstly, but then blurted out, "Yes."

He looked up at Dumbledore and saw that he had raised his snowy eyebrows.

"Sir, I - I had another - another dream," said Harry.

Dumbledore sat up and said, "Go on," sounding more interested than amused.

"I - I was Voldemort again. Only - only this time, I think that he realized that I could see everything he could, and I actually saw his reaction to it. He - he was plotting to go after Hogwarts in the future but he said that he was weak at the moment. He - he said that they were waiting for something to be complete. He also said that someone had weakened him and that she would pay. He was saying something about the veil, as well; that it didn't provide the right information about

something. And - and then I noticed that there was another Death Eater there. I couldn't tell who he was, but I know that he - Voldemort - knew. He was talking about stopping him from doing something. Sir, what does it mean?"

Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment and then spoke, "From what I can tell, Harry, I believe that Voldemort was too weak at the moment to block you from his mind. Therefore, Harry, I hope that I can trust you to pay closer attention to some Occlumency before you go to sleep each night. I am more than sure that it would be in his plan to attack the school, eventually. There is no denying it. It has long been a target for Voldemort. I believe that it would be unwise to take up any direct actions until we receive further news of this attack; we would be setting up our own weaknesses for him and his army. In the mean time, Harry - stick to what I just told you. It is important that you strengthen your mind. I must go speak to Professor Malfoy. You don't mind, do you, Harry?"

"But - but sir?"

"I thought so. Thank you for informing me, Harry," he said, getting up. "I trust that you are studying hard. How are your Advanced courses doing? I hope you are having no trouble Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

Harry was about to say something, but then closed his mouth and shook his head at him.

"There now. That's good to hear. I hope to see you keep your grades up in Transfiguration as well as Potions. I heard that you desire to be an auror, is that so?"

At those words, Harry froze and found a pang of guilt in his chest. He nodded shyly and left the room, whispering, "Good day, sir," to Dumbledore, who watched him leave with curiosity.

Harry made his way down the stairs and felt an awful ache all throughout his body. How could Dumbldore talk so freely with him about his future when he was about to die for it? He wished that he had never gone up to his office in the first place, but he was glad that Dumbledore was going to speak to Narcissa - he felt as if she was someone who could use some of his advice. No matter what she was going through, Harry knew that Dumbledore would be able to help her.

He nodded to himself and went up to the Gryffindor common room, where he found Hermione sitting by the windowsill and gazing out into the horizon.

"What is it?" he asked her.

She turned her head to Harry and said, "Oh, it's you, Harry. You scared me there, for a bit. Oh, it's nothing, really. I'm just watching the sky."

"Okay," said Harry, who had come up to her and put his arms around her shoulders, "that's fun."

She laughed and shook her head.

"Are you waiting for an owl from someone?" he asked her.

She gave him a quizzical look and then said, "Harry, does there always have to be purpose for doing something? I just felt like staring at the sky. Is that such a bad thing?"

"I guess not," said Harry. "I dunno. I'd rather fly in it than watch it."

At these words, Hermione looked rather uncomfortable and got up, wrapping her arms about her stomach and walking away from the window.

"Where were you just now?" she asked, turning her head towards him.

"I went to see Dumbledore," Harry said, taking a seat in a nearby chair.

She furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Why?"

"I told him about what happened in Defense class, you know."

"Oh," said Hermione.

"And - and there was this dream I had - "

"Dream?!" Hermione exclaimed, looking concerned.

"Yeah. Voldemort's - Voldemort's going to go after Hogwarts," said Harry.

Hermione's jaw dropped.

"When? How?" she said, disbelievingly.

"I dunno," said Harry. "It was very confusing. But he talked about something being `complete." He got up and began to pace slowly before the fireplace.

"He must know then," said Hermione, searching around the room with her eyes.

"Know?" Harry scowled. "Know what?"

Hermione looked up at him. "About the weapon, Harry. About how to, you know, destroy you! He must know about how you mustn't surrender!"

"But I wouldn't surrender no matter what! You know that! Besides, that can't be it," said Harry.

"He said it was `almost' complete, which makes me think that it's not that. He's working on something. Whatever it is, I have no idea, but it can't be anything good, can it?"

Hermione let out a noise between a laugh and a sigh and said, "I don't even know, anymore, Harry. I thought I did, but...not anymore." Harry could see tears forming in her eyes, and wanted to pull her into a hug, but as soon as she saw that he had extended his arms out to her, she moved away.

"Oh, Harry, don't. I'm not - it's just - "

"Hermione, what is it?" said Harry, surprised by her strange behavior.

He turned her around to face him and took her arms down, which were wrapped around her, only to let his mouth plop open from seeing massive scrapes on them.

"Hermione! How did - when did - how did this happen?"

"It's nothing, Harry," she said, pulling them back to her body. Harry would have grabbed for them, but he didn't want to hurt her.

"What do you mean, `nothing?'" he exclaimed. "That's something all right! Did something happen to you? Did someone harm you?"

"No - no, it's nothing like that. I just - fell," she said, looking away.

"How bad of a fall was it?!" asked Harry. "Did you go to Madam Pomfrey?"

"Yes. It'll be just fine, Harry. It'll just take a while to heal - "

"A while to heal! That's not good enough! It should have healed already!"

"Harry, I'll be fine. Honestly, don't worry about it," said Hermione and went to sit on the couch by the fireplace.

Harry took a heavy breath and found his place next to her on the couch.

"Are you keeping something from me?" he asked, looking at her.

She turned her head towards him, her mouth agape, and said, "Of course not! Harry, how could you say that! I'd never hide anything from you - "

Harry raised his eyebrows.

Hermione sighed, " - unless I absolutely had to."

"So there is something, then," said Harry.

Hermione looked uncertain and avoided his eyes, staring into the fireplace.

"It's all right, Hermione," said Harry. "I trust you."

    She looked at him and smiled meekly, her eyes shining.

"Thank you, Harry," said Hermione and leaned towards him, just as he did in return. Fragments apart, they paused and looked into each other's eyes. Their eyes closed very slowly, but just as the two of them were about to kiss, Hermione drew away slightly, whispering, "Class should be over soon. They'll be coming in."

Harry looked at her and saw that she was quite sorry. "Right," he said, nodding and slightly smiling.

Within moments, the Gryffindor common room burst with noise as the portrait hole opened and a crowd of students entered, settling themselves on the couches, tables, and others going up to their dormitories, all rapidly conversing about one thing or the other and some laughing at jokes that they had heard. Harry searched through the crowd and saw Ron emerging at the company of Seamus and Dean, which he quickly escaped and came to join Harry and Hermione on the

couches.

"What are you two doing here already?" said Ron, looking astonished. "Don't tell my you skipped class just to - "

"Heavens no!" said Hermione, looking extremely offended. She looked nervously at Harry and then said in a whisper, "Professor Malfoy wasn't feeling too well and she ended the class early."

"What!?" said Ron.

"She was performing one of the Spells and something happened," said Harry. "But she didn't seem to be hurt," he added quickly, seeing Ron's jaw drop.

"Did you do something?" he asked.

"What could we do?" asked Hermione. "Well, Harry did go and tell Dumbledore, but I'm not sure how much that might help. I mean, Dumbledore's not in his right state either."

"What d'you mean?" Harry said sharply.

"Harry, Dumbledore's death has just been predicted. How would you feel if you knew that you were about to die any day? And he is quite old. I mean, yes, he is Dumbledore, but no one lives forever..."

Harry nodded, looking down at the floor.

"So what else is new?" asked Ron, seriously.

Harry looked up at the two of them and felt his stomach clench. He still hadn't told them about the steps to the fulfillment of the prophecy, but realized that there weren't many people whom he could trust with this information, and he had to get it off his chest somehow before it began to eat him from inside out.

"I - er - " he began, looking at the two of them, "I didn't have to serve my detention yesterday."

"How come?" asked Ron, taken aback. Hermione looked startled.

"It was Snape," said Harry. "He - he had to tell me something - something about...the prophecy."

"He knows about it, then?" Hermione said, shocked.

"Well, he's bound to, wasn't he?" said Harry. "He was a Death Eater, after all."

Hermione looked as if she had been considering it for a while and then shook her head.

Harry took a deep breath and began to explain everything that Snape had told him in his office in a low whisper so that even the few students that were left out in the common room wouldn't be able to overhear.

As he finished, Hermione had a hand over her month and tears glistening in her eyes and Ron just sat there, mouth agape, and stared disbelievingly at Harry.

"But I don't understand," Hermione said finally, removing her hand. "If that's true then that means that the prophecy cannot be fulfilled unless Dumbledore is killed," she said.

"And Scabbers - I mean, Pettigrew,"added Ron.

"No - that I understand," said Hermione, "but why would Voldemort have sent those dementors to the lighthouse if he knew that Dumbledore's death would only lead to his defeat?"

"I don't know," said Harry, thoughtfully. "Maybe he doesn't know about the pattern."

Hermione snorted. "Harry, if Snape can figure it out, I'm sure that Voldemort knows."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm sure that Snape is a spy for the Order, which means that he didn't stumble on this information by accident. He found it out. From Voldemort."

"Yeah, but -" said Harry, " - I just don't think - how would he know if - ?"

"I don't know, Harry," said Hermione, "but I do know this: if Voldemort it planning to attack Hogwarts - "

"Attack Hogwarts? When?" Ron interrupted, but Hermione ignored him.

" - hush, Ron - then that means that you must really watch yourself. I know that Dumbledore is probably extremely busy at the moment, so we must really work on the D.A. If worst comes to worst, we have to know how to deal with it. You have to be prepared, Harry!"

Harry nodded, but then said, "But how am I supposed to even think of defeating him when our wands perform Priori Incantatem?"

"I don't know," said Hermione. "I really don't have the answer to that one, Harry. But we have to try our best and be prepared for the worst because, truth be told, no one can say just how bad it's going to be..."

Harry had been going back to Snape's dungeon every night that week to perform the rest of his detentions, which were as unpleasant as they seemed. Snape had him dusting the different flasks of ingredients in his office by hand and scrubbing out cauldrons, which was a really pointless task considering the fact that it could be easily done by magic, but Harry did so all the same, and warned him that he would be expelled within moments if he found the slightest bit of ingredients missing. Harry thought that this was a very high advantage that Snape had over him considering the fact that it would be very easy to misplace one of the contained substances and have Snape blame it on him, so he decided to work through it as quickly as possible, trying not to look at the Potions Master, who would occasionally turn his large nose toward his direction to make sure that he wasn't stealing anything.

The week passed and Harry saw no more of Professor Malfoy for a while for she was told to have taken a break from teaching for the next several days. The plus side of this was that he would now have extra time to complete his rather heavy amount of homework, but he had to admit that he did miss Narcissa. She was quite a good teacher, he had to admit and, despite the fact that she sometimes reminded him of Lucius and Draco Malfoy, he tried to ignore the thought and concentrate on the lesson. For all the suspicion that he had towards her at the beginning of the year, he now felt quite different about her and decided that she might not be a spy or someone that would support Voldemort after all. Unfortunately, Sirius' words kept coming back to him and he remembered how he had said that he wasn't proud of having neither her nor Bellatrix as his cousins. At these times Harry's heart would fill with hate, but he somehow couldn't imagine

Narcissa betraying Sirius and himself after all that she had taught them that year.

As Dumbledore had suggested, Harry would try to clear his mind of all thought before going to bed, but, as usual, it wasn't as easy as it sounded. The threatening dream that Harry had had several nights ago kept haunting him and he couldn't seem to rid his mind of the three steps. Flashing pictures of the sacrifices before Voldemort's rise back to power kept coming back to him and he couldn't help but see Sirius fall as Pettigrew muttered several words and a green light

hit him hard in the chest as he fell stone dead on the ground. He kept imagining Wormtail tying Dumbldore up to a phoenix-shaped tombstone and then seeing a bright flash of light as Pettigrew would try to escape it and beg for mercy.

Harry knew that Wormtail had to die; he deserved it. Harry shouldn't have saved his life in the first place, but that would have made things very different. The adventures and life-or-death situations that Harry had experienced through the past five years roamed in his thoughts and he made sure to remind himself why all of this had occurred - to fit the path of the prophecy. But Harry didn't know if the prophecy was worth it anymore. Of course, anything was worth the final defeat of this peril that would do who knows what if Harry didn't stop it, but it seemed as if too much suffering and loss had to come before any such task could be accomplished.

He had kept contact with Cilia and would occasionally speak with her over the Two-Way mirror, but conversing with her only reminded him how much he missed his grandmother, so he decided to avoid it rather than call to her at every possible chance.

Dumbledore was no where to be seen often, either. Harry suspected that he might have began to avoid him again because of the fact that Voldemort might have had the weakness to be a part of Harry's mind. His fear of what was to come of his death had now increased and Harry would occasionally keep a sharp eye out in case he heard anything unusual because he simply did not know what to expect.

What with all of his studying, which proved to be as annoying as school could possibly get, Harry still managed to find time to enable the D.A. meetings, with the help of Ron and Hermione, who would often volunteer to lead some of the lessons in rather simple spells.

After much afterthought and consideration, Harry finally decided to make a crucial announcement to the D.A. members, no matter how much he had wanted to keep the information between himself and the only people that knew about it.

"Settle down, everyone!" he said during a very busy and excited D.A. meeting. "Quiet!" he repeated, this time much louder. He blew his whistle, but it seemed to had been deafened by all of the noise that was going on between the hundred members of the club.

"SHUT UP!" shouted Ron so that the sound finally died down.

"Er, thanks, Ron," said Harry, who wasn't in the exact mood to raise his voice himself.

Harry finally looked around at the massive amount of people gathered around the room, all clueless and staring up at him, and silently gasped for air, debating what their reactions were going to be towards what he was about to say.

"I've been thinking," began Harry, "and I've decided that it would be best if we began to prepare ourselves for what's really ahead."

"Isn't that what we've been doing all along?" said Zacharias Smith in a bold tone.

"Shut it!" said Ron through clenched teeth.

"The truth is - " Harry continued," - the truth is that Voldemort is going to come after Hogwarts."

Several people gasped; some of them looked confused, while others clasped a hand over their mouths and looked quite frightened. Others didn't seem to be very surprised but seemed to rather nod at Harry and look thoughtful.

"So what do we do about it?" Cho asked fiercely.

Before Harry could respond, Hermione said, "I'll tell you what we do about it: we listen to Harry and do exactly what he instructs us to do."

A majority of the people clapped and some even cheered as Hermione looked rather dignified with what she had just said and Cho reddened in the face, narrowing her eyes at Hermione and twitching the corners of her mouth.

Harry smiled meekly at Hermione and said, "All right then, if you all are willing, I think that the first step would be to establish an escape route from the castle in case of an emergency. I'm sure that Dumbledore already has something in mind (Harry gulped at mentioning the Headmaster's name), but it would still be a wise idea for us to remember that it is essential to be prepared no matter what."

Several members applauded.

"So, then," said Harry. "Any ideas?"

A couple of hands shot in the air, but Neville's unusual arm up to a question drew Harry's attention and he called on him.

"I remember Dumbledore mentioning that the Forbidden Forest would be an option if the castle was under attack, so if we could only find a safe way to get there, then I'm sure that would be a plus to our plans," he said.

A noise of agreement filled the room.

"The lake," said Ron. "Doesn't the plumbing lead to the lake? If we could all find a way to breathe under water, then we could get to the forest."

"Or the Chamber of Secrets," said Ginny. Everyone turned to look at her. "Well, I know that it's been pretty much destroyed, but it is a source for the plumbing."

"There's also the Whomping Willow," said Hermione. "One of the secret passageways inHogwarts leads out to it and it is right by the clearing of the forest. There is a way to make it so that the tree doesn't attack anyone who goes near it, which only a few people know of, so I suppose that would be an idea as well."

"Those are all great ideas," said Harry, "but I'm afraid that they are all faulty. Lucius Malfoy knows about the Chamber of Secrets and Peter Pettigrew knows about the Whomping Willow. And it is quite difficult to make sure that everyone gets out safe under water; there are quite a lot of obstacle such as the kappas, merpeople, and the giant squid."

"What about therstrals?" said Luna.

"Nah," said Harry. "There aren't enough."

Everyone seemed to be ranking their thoughts for a while until Mark said, "We could always ask the ghosts if they know of any ways to get out of the castle. After all, they should know the walls pretty well. They pass in and out of them, don't they?"

"I suppose...," said Harry. When no one else seem to have any more ideas that seemed to be quite as plausible as the others, he said, "Well, I guess that we will just have to wait and see. If anyone could find out more information about a way out of the castle, I wouldn't mind - "

"There might be another way," said Matt.

"Oh yeah," said Ron. "What's that?"

Matt looked at him. "Instead of trying to leave the castle, who not try to keep them out?"

"What d'you mean?" asked Harry.

"Well, if we could find a magic powerful enough to hold of You-Know-Who and his army for a while, then we would have time to grab Portkeys and escape."

"But where would we go?" asked Neville.

"Yeah," said Seamus, "if You-Know-Who could find us here at Hogwarts and destroy the school, where else is safe?"

"I think that the fact that the Ministry of Magic is currently not regulating the Portkeys, since it has been destroyed, would be an advantage to our part," said Matt. "After all, if You-Know-Who had spies there, then they would certainly know about the Portkeys. This way, it would be kept secret. Still, there would be the question of holding them off long enough to clear the school."

Harry looked rather impressed and said, "You never cease to amaze me, Matt. I have to say that I think that is the best plan so far. Any objections?"

A questionable muttering filled the Room of Requirements, but there seemed to be no uproars, with the exception of Ron's furious grumbling under his breath, after a couple of moments and so Harry continued, "So that's for the escape route. Now, I believe that it would be quite important for us to also know who our friends are as well as our foes."

Snorts echoed through the room and a lot of people looked amused at Harry.

"I know that this might sound impossible," he said, "but the only way that we might deal with this is if we looked at who is generally on our side. Noting specific, of course. The dementors, as I'm sure many of you may know, have gone over to Voldemort as well as several veelas, though not all. He has also been supported by banshees and vampires and I believe that many of the giants had gone over to him as well."

Harry could hear many worried whispers fill the meeting as he spoke.

"However," he said, "I want to let you know that the centaurs are on our side as well as the aquapaths. There are also the

arachnids that live out in the forest as well as Grawp, who is Hagrid's little brother as well as a giant himself."

Much of his audience was quite amused at hearing this information, even most of those in his year.

"With that said," said Harry, "I would also like to inform you that making yourself part of this defense group has now bound you to the duty to fight against the Death Eaters at all costs. Therefore, allowing you to know that you will be side by side with the Order of the Phoenix, a group composed of those opposing Voldemort and set up by Dumbledore. These include Remus Lupin, for those of you who know him, he was one of the best defense teachers that we ever had, Mr. and Mrs. Weasey, whom some of you might be very familiar with, Professor Snape," - an uproar filled the room - "our Potions master, the real Mad-Eye Moody, and many more."

"How can we tell who all the people are that are on our side?" asked Smith.

"That's what I'm going to find out," said Harry. "The Headquarters for this organization are also held within the castle, so I shall see if I can find out the entire list of the members. However, it is under the suspicion of the Order that there might be a spy amongst them," - worried comments came from the student body - "but we have to get the general idea, nevertheless."

Harry looked around the room and saw that the expressions of the students didn't look too happy at his speech, so far, at all. A majority of the faces that he saw within the crowd looked quite depressed, as if all hope was lost. This wasn't the idea that Harry had in mind, of course, buthe could not see any other way in which this information could be revealed as much of a positive one.

"Now, since we are going to be working on ways to protect us from Voldemort's army, I suggest that it is important that we keep practicing our defensive spells and jinxes. However, I have thought about this, and I've decided that it might be a good idea, after all, if we began to practice some of the Eternal Spells."

Several protests emerged in room.

"But it's not like they will work with us, really. I mean, it's like Professor Malfoy said, we're only kids. We can't really do that much damage.

So I suppose that it would be quite alright if we practiced such Spells like Riscrombia and Avada Kedavra."

He looked out at them again, and saw that they weren't all together reassured.

Hermione spoke, "Harry's right. We practiced these Spells in class, which means that there mustn't be anything dangerous of them for us. However, they would be useful in defense, no matter how weak we may be. There is still a bit of an effect. The important thing is that we know how to do them and we know what they look like!"

"But there's no way of stopping them, is there?" asked Matt.

Hermione sighed and, looking at Harry, said, "No, there isn't. But I have researched a bit of Hogwarts history and found that the Eternal Spells had never been taught at Hogwarts before simply because it would require extremely powerful wizards and witches to perform them. I don't think they saw a point for it, which means that it would be unlikely if many people would know how to perform them."

"So why are they teaching it now?" asked Dean.

Hermione took a breath and said, "Because of Harry. Because of the war.

Because now, they might be getting a bit more popular than they used to be and, as long as we might be familiar with a few of them, that would be a great advantage to us if anything like them were to be faced during the war."

After Hermione finished her speech, Harry had brought out several bogarts this time, and some people had decided to strengthen their skills in producing Patronuses, such as Lavender.

Practically everyone else was practicing one or the other Eternal Spell.

He looked around the room and saw as the rats that he had let loose for the Killing Curse had began to fall one by one as people would perform the spell.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Pain suddenly jabbed itself into Harry's scar and he turned away from the scene, clutching his forehead. As it ceased, he watched as one of the grey and pathetic-looking rats ran past him.

Harry felt an emotion of fury in his heart and he pointed his wand at the rat, shouting, "Avada Kedavra!"

No sooner had he done so, however, than the small jet of green light that had come from his wand missed the rat and bounced off of one of the foe-glasses. Harry watched as the light

traveled across the room and hit a boy, as he was sent crashing into a bookshelf.

A great amount of people, including Harry, ran up to the boy, who lay behind a large pile of books. Neville, Ron, and Hermione helped Harry remove them from him, only to reveal Matt Thompson laying there and, from the looks of it, seeming to be quite unconscious.

Harry's heart plummeted.

"Is he all right?" asked Parvati.

"I - I don't know," said Harry, his voice shaking.

"Move," said Luna. She had come up to Matt and leaned over him. She pressed her hand againsthis forehead and said, "He's paralyzed."

"What!?" said Harry, chocking on the word, as gasped emerged from the surrounding crowd.

"But not permanently," she said. "He'll just be like this until someone can get him a potion made of airborne jellyfish."

"What the hell? What are you talking about, Luna?" said Harry.

"Airborne jellyfish - father says it's the best cure for - "

"They don't exist, Luna!" said Hermione.

"I don't understand," said Harry, panicking, "I thought she said it was practically harmless!"

"Yes," said Hermione, slowly, "for us, Harry...Not you."

Harry felt as if his heart had just stopped. He turned his head at the students standing around them in a circle and noticed that they all revealed frightened expressions; some of them actually backed away from him.

He looked around at Matt and saw the lifeless mask that he bore on his face, though his skin still seemed to retain some color. From the boy, he looked at the others - from Ron, to Neville, to Luna, to Hermione - and realized that, for the first time, he was just as dangerous as everyone had feared him to be and that the worst that he could possibly prepare for would be facing none other than himself.