Harry Potter and the Seal of the Ring

Harry watched as the Defense Against the Dark Arts apprentice began on an energetic part of the rhapsody she was playing. He looked up to the candles floating about the orchestra and the piano the student teacher was playing. By magic they only shed their soft light on the musicians and not the hundreds of students packed into Great Hall. The end of the year dance had been a great idea, especially after the murder of one of the students by a Death Eater. Not only had the whole school been shaken by the ambitious girl's death but it had brought Cedric back to everyone's minds.

"18^th variation from a Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini," said a boy next to him, while his date giggled; interrupting Harry's thoughts, "Takes almost as long to say as it does to play." He began to laugh but Harry's elbow went into his ribs, hard. Although Harry did find a sort of truth in it. The whole song was twenty four minutes long. Remus, who was sitting to his right, leaned over to his ear and began to whisper.

"You know, twelve years back she asked me if she could take piano lessons. I thought she was joking. When I found out she was serious then I thought that after a few weeks of struggling she would get frustrated and give up." He chuckled quietly as he watched his Goddaughter go on to a softer part of the song. "I still slap my self around, mentally, for having underestimated her perseverance," then as an after thought: "I wonder what house she would have been put in if she had been able to come to Hogwarts." Sirius (who was lying under the table, at Harry's feet, in his animagus form) laugh/barked and a few people looked back at them angrily.

"Sirius," hissed Harry, lifting up the table cloth to see the hulking black figure of him in the dim light, "Do be quiet. People are suspicious of you enough already." The dog nodded. His cover as Remus' pet wasn't believed by many. Harry dropped the table cloth and looked back up to the stage. He couldn't wait for the intermission to be over so the band would take stage again and he could dance with Cho. She wasn't his date "officially" but who hadn't cut in on some random couple tonight?

He was jolted out of his thoughts as another part of the song began. Slowly and quietly, it began but it soon gathered speed and volume. Then the violins came in with the piano and he could hear everyone gasp. The notes themselves seemed to be emotion floating on the air. Several people nearby sniffed and began to pull out handkerchiefs. One of them was Harry and another was Remus. Harry's mother, Lily, had been able to play the piano (which he had found out from Sirius). Hagrid had given him a battered cassette on which was record several of her favorite songs, played by her. This part of the rhapsody had been on that tape. Harry had hummed the melody all his life when he was sad; not knowing how he knew it or what it had come from. The particular part ended and the song seemed to loose it's impact. People put away handkerchiefs and the quiet sniffling, or even sobs, stopped. The song ended, after five minutes more, with a little scherzo. The orchestra received quite an ovation but the apprentice... Not only did every one stand up and clap as loud as they could but they grabbed flowers from the vases on the tables and threw them at her feet. She picked up one in particular, a red rose that was charmed to have a silver pattern on each petal. She smiled at the Astronomy apprentice, who was 1^st violinist in the orchestra. He smiled back. The candles dimmed and then spread out to light Great Hall properly.

The lights came back on and she was still standing on stage. She looked up from her rose to scan the crowd. Her face became the picture of terror and her wand seemed to spring into her hand. "Concussious!!" she screamed and a man in black robes flew across the room, slamming into the wall. Hundreds of others dressed like him rose up from hiding spots and began to try to encircle the students.

"Death Eaters!!!" bellowed the Astronomy apprentice, "Fight for your lives!!!!" Hundreds of wands came to hand at the same moment. Many different stunning spells were uttered at the same time, in various pitches of voice and enthusiasm. Sirius came ripping out from under the table to take one of the Death Eaters by the throat. Harry mechanically stunned one Death Eater after another, instincts taking over his desire to crawl under the table and hide. He suddenly found the Defense Against the Dark Arts apprentice at his side.

"Harry," she said to him, only loud enough to be heard, "We're loosing people." He suddenly noticed how many students were lying on the floor. He hoped that most of them were just stunned but he knew better than that. He had seen some green flashes of light. "If we gather everyone at the door then we can push through and make a run for it." Remus grunted approval behind them.

"Where? If they're here than they've taken over Hogsmeade too," said Harry.

"The hospital wing," she said, after she had stunned another. "We have wounded and we could lock ourselves in to buy time. Besides, there's a window that we could summon brooms through to escape."

"There's no other way Harry," cried Remus, grabbing his hand and heading for the group of still conscious students and teachers that were massing near the door. Sirius followed them after de-throating another Death Eater.

Professor Trelawney woke from what she thought was a nap. She did not remember the scene she had been allowed to see. Standing, she looked out the window and scanned the green lawns of the Hogwarts grounds. Yawning she looked about her classroom then got to work setting it up for this school year, which would start in two weeks.