The Awakening Power

Sib

Story Summary:
Complete! Challenges fill Harry's busy sixth year: growing powers, Snape becomes defense teacher (and Harry's not in the mood for abuse), a new Potions teacher, a girl with a new crush on him, Quidditch, Voldemort, and a certain redheaded girl named Ginny who may help him through all of it. What are the goblins up to? Will Ron win Hermione back? And what exactly is Voldemort's diabolical plan to kill Harry and plunge magical society into anarchy? Lots of romance, drama, action and humor! Voted Phoenix Song's Best Novel-Length Story (along with Best Harry and Best Kiss).

Chapter 19

Chapter Summary:
Harry’s powers are growing very strong, and Dumbledore is worried about his control. Meanwhile, Snape has become the new Defense teacher, and Harry resolves not to take his abuse this year… Will Harry notice Ginny? Will Ron win Hermione back? Who has a new crush on Harry? Who is the new Potions teacher? And what exactly is Voldemort’s diabolical plan to kill Harry and plunge magical society into anarchy? Lots of humor, drama, action and romance as all these questions are answered and much more in Harry’s busy sixth year.
Posted:
06/17/2004
Hits:
4,824
Author's Note:
Harry’s sixth year, after OotP. H/G, R/Hr, PG-13 rating.

Chapter 19: The Chronicle of Snape

* * *

Harry awoke the next morning, a smirk rising to his lips after the prank of the previous evening. He felt very satisfied with the joke and believed that it more than made up for the pranks over the summer that the twins had played on him. Sirius would have approved, he thought with a smile.

He looked over at Ron, who was still snoring in his bed after the late night events. He started pulling on his clothes, trying not to wake him, but Ron opened his eyes and grinned at him. Harry grinned back.

"That was brilliant," Ron said, chortling.

Suddenly Harry had a sense of disquiet. "Erm, you don't suppose they might... retaliate, do you?"

Ron narrowed his eyes and considered the possibilities. "You never know with those two gits. We better watch our backs."

"Yeah. Well, I'll see you downstairs," Harry said, walking to the door.

He reached toward the door knob, but then stopped, peering at the door suspiciously. "Do you think...?" Harry said, glancing back at Ron.

"Wait!" Ron said. He dove under the covers for safety. "All right, now try it," he said, voice muffled.

Harry glared at him. "A lot of help you are," he grumbled. He pulled out his wand and waved it at the door. "Finite Incantatem!"

"Can't hurt," came Ron's voice from beneath the pile of blankets.

Harry turned the door knob cautiously, then waited a second, while the door was still closed. Having an idea, he moved to the side of the door, hugging the wall, then flung the door open. The door banged against the wall, but nothing happened.

"All right, I think we're safe," Harry said cautiously.

Ron peeked out from beneath his blanket. "Safe so far. I don't trust them at all," he said.

Harry peered out into the corridor, but all seemed quiet. He took a cautious step through the threshold, with nothing happening.

"Well, can't stay in here forever," Harry said. "See you downstairs."

"All right, mate. Watch the bathroom; Fred and George love toilet pranks," Ron called.

Harry gulped. Maybe he would use the bathroom next to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's room for a while.

He walked down the stairs, slowing as he spotted Fred and George waiting at the bottom. They had apparently cleaned themselves up; all the various colors were gone, although Harry could see a few welts here and there from the pinching curses.

"Harry, old man, could we have a word with you?" said Fred, smiling jovially.

"What?" Harry said suspiciously.

"First, let us say that was a brilliant prank last night," said George, clapping him on the back. Harry flinched, wondering if George had just slapped something on him. Harry surreptitiously moved toward a mirror on the wall where he could get a good look at his back.

"Corking good joke," Fred continued. "Frankly, we didn't think you had it in you."

"Thanks," Harry said cautiously, not wanting to say it was Ginny's idea and get her targeted by them.

"Of course, we suspect that it wasn't your idea. This had Ginny's fingerprints all over it. Even our dear brother wouldn't have thought of something like this," George said, nodding wisely.

Harry didn't trust himself to say anything, so he just kept a neutral expression on his face, trying to figure out where Fred and George were going.

"All in good fun, though. Right, George?" said Fred.

"No doubt about it, Fred. We can take a good joke with the best of them," said George.

Harry had has doubts; this all sounded like a grand set up. He started to wonder if playing a prank on Fred and George had really been a good idea.

George steered Harry toward the living room. "Come over here and sit down, Harry. We want to talk to you about something."

All right, this is it, Harry thought nervously. He was tempted to run for it, but walked with George toward a chair, Fred following with an altogether-too-friendly smile. Harry started to sit down when he stopped and eyed the chair suspiciously. He decided that anywhere George wanted him to sit had to be a bad idea, so he decided to sit next to him on the sofa instead.

Fred and George grinned at him. "Harry, Harry, Harry. No reason to be so suspicious," said Fred.

"Like we said, we like a good joke. In fact, we're glad you're loosening up. Right, Fred?" said George.

"Definitely, George. It was worth being the target just for that. Helping little Harrykins to develop more social skills," replied Fred.

"Coming out of his cupboard, so to speak," said George.

"All right, all right, what's this about?" Harry asked guardedly.

"Right then. On to business. George?" said Fred.

"Listen, we like these dolls of yours... any chance of getting the secret? They'd be a huge seller," said George, putting his arm around Harry fraternally.

Harry smirked. "Oh, really? You think so?" Suddenly it was all clear to Harry why the twins hadn't retaliated. They wanted to know how the golems worked.

"Oh, yeah. So how about it... partner?" said Fred, with his best winning smile.

Harry didn't have the heart to tell them that they used restricted magic. "Well... you know, I don't know much about them. Hermione figured it out and designed them."

"Really?" said George, looking at Fred.

George lifted his arm off Harry, and Fred's big smile abruptly vanished. "Pardon us, Harry, we need to have a talk with a certain bushy-haired girl."

Harry laughed as they walked away quickly, looking for Hermione. Figuring that this was too good to miss, he followed them into the kitchen.

"Hermione!" said Fred exuberantly.

Hermione, who was just finishing making tea, turned around and looked at them with surprise. "What's up?"

"May I say, you are looking particularly pretty today," said George. "Isn't she, Fred?"

"No doubt, George," replied Fred. "But then, she always looks lovely, doesn't she?"

"Uh... thanks," said Hermione, blinking her eyes.

"Come over here and sit down," said George, putting his arm around her and leading her to a chair. Hermione looked utterly confused as she allowed him to lead her over.

Fred poured her a cup of tea and placed it in front of her, then sat down with George, each of them on either side. They gazed at her with big smiles as if nothing could be better than sitting and having tea with her. Hermione looked back and forth between them.

"You know, we don't chat enough, do we George?" said Fred.

"Absolutely not, Fred. Frighteningly rude of us, especially with someone so charming," said George.

"We haven't even congratulated you on your thirteen OWLs," said Fred admiringly. "A fine job, particularly when we know that it undoubtedly irritated Percy no end."

"Indeed, Fred," said George. "Smartest student at Hogwarts, without a doubt."

"Er..." said Hermione, whose head was moving back and forth like she was following a tennis game.

"You know, Hermione..." said Fred. "We have to tell you how much we admire the work that you've been doing with Harry."

"Harry can't save the world by himself, eh, Fred?" said George.

"Impossible, George," said Fred. "You know, we sleep better knowing that you're behind him."

"In fact," said George. "Speaking of sleep, we have to tell you how brilliant those dolls were last night."

Hermione's face suddenly took on a look of understanding and then her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Thank you, Fred, George. That's very nice of you to say," she said, leaning back in her chair a bit, crossing her arms, and giving them a sly smile. She sneaked a glance at Harry.

"Isn't she fantastic, Fred? You can tell she's way ahead of us," said George.

"Amazing, George. Beautiful, talented, clever..." said Fred.

"So how about it, Hermione? Will you tell us how they work?" said George.

Hermione looked at each of them. "Really? You want the secret, is that it?"

"Well... in a word, yes," said Fred.

"What's in it for me?" said Hermione, with a smirk.

Fred and George looked at each other in shock. Harry had to admit, he felt a bit of shock himself.

"Erm, what do you want?" said George tentatively.

"Well, the secret to the golems is too hard to explain. But I might be persuaded to tell you which books I got the secrets out of," Hermione replied.

This is an evil side of Hermione I've never seen, Harry thought admiringly. Even if Hermione told them the book, the Twins couldn't get it, because it was restricted magic. On the other hand, given what she did to Rita Skeeter, maybe he had seen Hermione's ruthless side before.

"What can we do to persuade you?" said Fred winningly.

"Well, I don't know," Hermione said, giving each a smile in turn. "I suppose you'll both have to think about it. Convince me that you deserve to know."

"That tea is looking a bit tepid," said George, taking the cup away. "Let me make you a fresh cup, right, Fred?"

"Indeed, George. Take that rubbish away," said Fred, glaring at the cup, as if questioning how it dared to grow cold for Hermione. "Can I get you some biscuits?"

"That would be nice," Hermione said, with a regal smile.

Over the next few days, Fred and George treated Hermione like a queen, and she looked as if she was enjoying every second of it. Harry, Ginny and Ron watched the process, almost as entertained. Harry finally caught Hermione by herself after the third day.

"How long are you going to keep this going, Hermione?" said Harry, snickering.

"Oh, not much longer," Hermione said, giggling back. "I'll tell them the titles of the books soon. After extracting a promise of no retribution for any of our pranks, of course. But I'd say this was decent payback for flouting my prefect authority last year with their product testing."

Harry laughed. "You know, Hermione, sometimes you really scare me. I'm very, very glad you're on my side."

* * *

Lupin poked his head out of his office as he saw Harry pass by the door. "Harry! I was just about to have some tea. Care to join me?"

"All right," Harry said, smiling. He entered Lupin's office and sat down. He noticed many maps around the walls with thumbtacks stuck in various places. Piles of parchment were neatly piled on the desk, presumably reports of Death Eater activity.

Lupin poured them both some tea. "How are you getting along, Harry?"

"A bit better, thanks. It's still... hard, though," said Harry.

"I understand," said Lupin sympathetically. "Of course, I was staying here when Sirius died. The house felt so empty with him gone."

Harry nodded, not really feeling like discussing Sirius. Lupin seemed to sense it as he changed the subject.

"So, how are you getting along with Professor Snape as the Defense teacher, Harry?" said Lupin with a small smile.

Harry frowned, trying to find the words to describe his classes with Snape, but failing.

"That well, eh?" Lupin said, chuckling. "To be honest, Harry, I've heard some rumors that things haven't gone so well. In fact, I'm told that there has been quite a bit of friction."

Harry wondered curiously how he'd heard, then the answer came to him. "Hermione! She told you, didn't she?" he said, feeling peeved.

"She did talk to me, yes. She's a bit concerned about where the whole thing is going in the class," said Lupin kindly. "She asked me to talk to you about it."

"There's nothing to talk about," Harry said mulishly, feeling angry with Hermione for interfering.

"Isn't there? Are you certain?" asked Lupin, eyebrows raised.

There was a long silence as Lupin waited patiently for Harry to answer. "I haven't started anything," Harry said finally, looking irritable. "He's the one keeping it going."

Lupin sighed. "I know, Harry. Remember that I've known Professor Snape for over twenty-five years, since he was eleven years old. He's always been stubborn."

"He's had it in for me since I got to Hogwarts. I told Hermione before this year started that I wasn't going to take his rubbish any longer," Harry said firmly.

"I completely understand your attitude, Harry. I'll only say that life is full of times like this, when someone in authority... well, takes advantage of their position in a way that you think is unfair."

"So what am I supposed to do, just take it?" Harry said angrily.

Lupin sighed. "No. Goodness knows, Harry, I'm glad to see you standing up for yourself. Your life has certainly had enough of this sort of thing. I'm just saying that one should be a bit... smart about it. Be careful that things don't escalate to a place you don't want them to go."

Harry nodded, though not quite certain exactly what he was supposed to do differently from what he was doing now. "I'm tired of him hating me just because he hated my dad."

Lupin opened his mouth hesitantly, then closed it, looking away. Harry noticed his reaction curiously. "What?"

Lupin paused, looking extremely reluctant. "Harry, maybe it's time for you to learn a bit about Snape's history."

Harry looked at him sharply. "What's there to know? He's made it very clear that he hated my dad."

"That's true, Harry, he did hate your dad. But there's a bit more to the story about why he dislikes you. You see... it's not just your dad, although that makes it especially bitter to him. Snape has a grudge against you, personally," Lupin said.

"That can't be. Snape has hated me from my first day. He didn't know me before that," Harry said.

Lupin nodded. "Harry, I don't know everything about what happened with Snape, so I can't give you the whole story. Only Dumbledore knows that, I think. And a lot of what I'm going to tell you is a bit speculative on my part, but I think it will give you some insight."

"All right, but I don't see how anything can justify what he does," said Harry with a scowl.

Lupin smiled gently. "I didn't say any of this would justify what he does. I'm only telling you so that you'll have a better understanding of him, to help you deal with him better."

Harry sat back and crossed his arms. "All right. So why does he hate me?"

"To answer that, we need to go back to the beginning. You remember that we told you that Snape showed up at Hogwarts knowing more curses than a lot of seventh years. He had a chip on his shoulder from that first day. But, Harry, say what you want about him, Snape really was a brilliant student.

"Unfortunately, he was also very unpopular. He was socially awkward and walked around with a very superior air. This made him a target for the popular students, yes, including James and Sirius. Snape had an enormous amount of pride and would retaliate against anything he perceived as a slight."

"So why did he become a Death Eater?" Harry asked, interested in spite of himself.

"That's a question only he can answer for certain, Harry," Lupin replied. "But I can tell you what I think. Snape's great desire was for respect, for recognition of his talents. I don't think he was particularly a believer in racial purity politics. What attracted him was the opportunity to put his talents to use, to be appreciated.

"At some point, though, he started to realize that Voldemort's methods were going much further than he really wanted. Again, I can't tell you what the catalyst was for his change of heart. But he wanted out. Of course, no one leaves Voldemort's circle and lives. So he contacted Dumbledore with a plan to spy on him in the hopes of defeating him."

"So it was all about saving himself?" Harry said spitefully.

Lupin's face took on a world weary expression. "Yes... and no. Harry, these things are never that cut and dried. Snape is not a monster, although undoubtedly he did some monstrous things while being in Voldemort's inner circle. Would he have spied if he'd had another, easier option for getting out? Perhaps not. But keep in mind the risk Snape was taking. There are a lot of ways to die, and Snape chose to risk experiencing the most horrible of them."

Harry nodded, reluctantly having to agree with that. Having experienced the Cruciatus curse personally, he knew how cruel Voldemort could be.

"So what does this all have to do with me?" Harry asked.

"We're getting there, Harry," Lupin said patiently. "So Snape began feeding information to the Order. I should say that James and Sirius were livid; they thought that Snape was using them, and at the first opportunity would feed them false information to bring down the Order. Dumbledore thought otherwise. I don't know how Snape was able to convince Dumbledore, but convince him he did.

"Snape and Dumbledore hatched a plan to bring down Voldemort. The details of the plan are irrelevant now, but Snape was to kill Voldemort at a particularly weak time," said Lupin.

"It didn't work?" asked Harry.

"It was never tried. Also around that time, Dumbledore met with Professor Trelawney," Lupin said. "And learned the prophecy."

Harry felt a chill. "You know about the prophecy?"

Lupin smiled. "Well, now I do. I didn't at the time; almost no one knew, and still very few know. Dumbledore told me after Sirius's death."

Harry nodded. "All right. I still don't understand, though."

Lupin continued. "After the prophecy, Snape reported that Voldemort had become obsessed about killing the two children to be born. Apparently Snape thought it was a load of rubbish and wanted to continue with the plan to kill Voldemort. Dumbledore had other ideas; according to the prophecy, you or Neville would be the only ones who could defeat Voldemort, and therefore, Snape had to fail.

"So Dumbledore made it a priority to protect James and Lily, as well as the Longbottoms. Snape was furious. Things were growing very tense in the inner circle; Voldemort suspected he had a traitor in his midst.

"Then you know what happened. Voldemort came to kill you, and you survived. Now, this was a cause for celebration for most, but was a bittersweet victory for Snape. He was free, temporarily, but then was brought up on charges of being a Death Eater. He was almost sent to Azkaban for a very long time, but Dumbledore intervened on his behalf, and got him off."

"All right, but why wouldn't he be happy about that?" asked Harry bitterly. "I still don't understand why he would hate me. Isn't that what he wanted, to be free of Voldemort?"

"Yes, Harry, one might think that. But remember what I told you... Snape's great craving is for respect and acknowledgement. In his mind, he had the opportunity to become the greatest hero the wizard world has ever known. He would be the one to defeat Voldemort. And all that was ripped away from him in a single night," Lupin said quietly.

"But that's not my fault!" Harry said, frustrated. "Why does he take it out on me?"

"Not only ripped away from him, but he was put on trial as a traitor," Lupin continued, as if Harry hadn't spoken. "And it didn't end after the trial. He was a social outcast, a pariah. No one would hire him for a job, few would even speak to him. Snape is an extremely prideful man, Harry. He finally had to go to Dumbledore to ask for a job. Did you ever wonder why Snape is a teacher? He's not particularly well suited to it, is he?"

"Definitely not," Harry said.

"It's because that's all he can do. Believe me, there are innumerable things he'd rather be doing," said Lupin.

"So he hates me because I defeated Voldemort instead of him?" asked Harry.

"Almost, but not exactly, Harry. If another wizard had defeated Voldemort, Snape could have accepted that. He wouldn't have been happy, but he could have accepted it. But, from Snape's point of view, your fame is undeserved," Lupin said.

"Well, I agree with him! I don't want to be famous!" said Harry, his voice rising.

"I know, Harry," said Lupin patiently. "But, you see, Snape also suspected along with Dumbledore that Voldemort wasn't really gone. Snape never believed the prophecy, and still doesn't. Snape believes you are a fraud and his goal is to prove to everyone that you didn't deserve your fame then, and don't deserve your fame now. He believes your mother's sacrifice is the end of the story."

Harry began rubbing his temples. "If he wants the fame, he can have it."

Lupin smiled. "He would take it, if he could."

They both paused, letting all the thoughts sink in. Harry didn't know what to think about the whole thing. He supposed it explained some of Snape's attitude.

"Am I supposed to feel sympathy for him now?" Harry asked sullenly.

"No, Harry. Once again, I tell you all this so that you might have some insight. The most important thing to remember is that Snape is wrong. Not only in his treatment of you, but in his opinion of you. You are special, Harry. And frankly, I suspect Snape knows it, deep down. And that's the bitterest pill for him to swallow. The son of his most hated enemy is the only one that can truly set him free."

Harry said nothing, feeling a little embarrassed by his words. Lupin sighed, looking far away for a few seconds, before he looked back at Harry.

"My fear is what will happen between you two before he finally accepts it."

* * *

Harry packed up his trunk for the return to Hogwarts. The winter holiday had certainly started with excitement, but mercifully the rest of vacation had been relatively quiet. He felt fairly rested and was looking forward to going back. He actually felt a small amount of peace with being in the house. Although he would have preferred staying at the Burrow, he did feel like it helped him to be there and work through some of his grief with Sirius.

The repairs on the Burrow were coming along well, according to Mr. Weasley. Ragnok had been very generous in his reimbursement of the damages; they could afford to make some badly needed upgrades to the Burrow along with repairing the damage from the attack. Mrs. Weasley looked particularly excited about the remodeling. Harry felt gratified that something positive actually came out of the whole incident.

Harry sighed as he closed up his trunk. He wished he'd found Sirius's diary. He had told Ron and Hermione about it, and the four of them had searched the house some more, but nothing turned up. He wasn't even certain why it was so important to find it, but somehow it seemed like an important link to knowing Sirius.

He met everyone downstairs. As last year, they took the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts. The trip passed without incident, with Tonks and Lupin escorting the four of them back to the grounds.

Over the next few weeks, Harry settled back into his routine at Hogwarts. The DA meetings were going well, Parvati was annoying, but manageable, and his classes with Snape were still tense and occasionally injurious.

One item he had added to his routine was late night practice sessions with the golems. He had found it extremely useful to practice with them; he felt like he was getting sharper with every exercise. He was finding that few students could really challenge him. Tonks was always very challenging, and they made certain they always had some practice time together at the DA meetings, but Harry felt like he needed more.

He walked into the Room of Requirement one night when he was surprised to see Ginny there, practicing against a golem. She was deep in concentration, so he stood quietly by the door, waiting for her to finish her exercise.

As he watched her, he reflected on her progress in the DA meetings. Although she was only a fifth year, he noticed that she held her own against many of the older, more advanced students, and in fact, did better than that against a lot of them. Watching her practice now, it was apparent that she had been putting in a lot of extra time. She's really doing very well, he thought, admiring her deflect spells coming from the golem.

"Damn!" she suddenly yelled, as the golem slipped through her defense and her wand went flying out of her hand.

Harry started applauding, grinning at her. Ginny turned around quickly, startled. "Harry!"

"That was great, Ginny! You're getting really good," he said.

Ginny shrugged with a bashful smile. "I'm doing all right. The golems are really good for improving your hand speed."

"You know, I was just thinking that you've been doing really well in the DA meetings, too. Have you been practicing by yourself?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. After... everything, and last year... you know, it just seems like a good idea to be prepared," she said.

Harry nodded. "Yeah... well, do you mind if I practice with you?"

Ginny smiled. "Of course not, Harry."

Selecting a golem away from Ginny's practice area, Harry charged it and began sparring, as Ginny went back to her own practice. He worked up a good sweat as he had the golem launch various types of hexes at him.

He noticed with amusement that Ginny got very competitive with the golems; getting angry with herself when the golem would slip a spell through. It must be that Weasley temper, he thought. He'd seen enough signs of it that he didn't really want to experience it first hand again. She does look cute when she's angry, though, Harry thought, before shaking himself and trying to focus his attention on what he was doing.

Some time later, Harry was getting a bit bored with the golems and looked over at Ginny, wondering if she would be up for some sparring.

"Ginny, do you want have a little dueling practice, you and I?" Harry asked.

Ginny smiled. "All right. Shall we start with Expelliarmus?"

They moved to the center of the room, where they took up dueling positions in front of each other. They started launching the disarming spells at each other. Ginny was very fast, but all the practice had made Harry much faster; he managed to disarm her several times, but she was not able to get through his defense. He could see her growing very frustrated.

Abruptly Ginny threw herself to the floor, rolled over, and launched a spell. Harry was caught by surprise, causing him to be way too late in getting his shield up, and Ginny disarmed him.

"Ha! Finally," she said, getting up off the floor, grinning.

Harry grinned back. "Nice move. Didn't expect that one."

"I'll never beat you in that kind of a duel. You're way too fast," Ginny said. "Let's do a full duel, any spell."

Harry raised his eyebrows, then smiled. "All right."

They stood away from each other again, and began. Ginny showed much more success, launching a variety of spells against Harry. He was blocking them fairly effectively, but he found himself somewhat impressed as Ginny launched a wide array of spells at him.

"You've been studying," Harry said, eyebrows raised. "That was a NEWT-level spell."

Ginny sighed with frustration. "Yeah. A lot of good it did. You blocked it."

They continued dueling, Harry stunning her several times. Ginny got a few minor spells past him, but he could tell she was getting very irritated at her lack of success. She started yelling spells at him furiously, trying an assortment of variations. Some of the spells were very powerful, but Harry was able to block them

Finally she screamed with frustration. "Mucus Chiroptera!" she shouted.

An extremely strong spell leaped out of Ginny's wand, very bright and a pea-green color. Harry used a standard Protego, but the spell tore through his shield and hit him directly in the face. He staggered backward as he felt something growing inside his nose... he dropped his wand as things seemed to burst out of his nostrils extremely painfully...

"Augh!" Harry yelled, clutching at his face as he dropped to the ground. A dozen very large bats began attacking his face. He swiped at them desperately, trying to push them away.

"Oh, Harry!" Ginny said, running over and looking mortified. "I'm so sorry..." she began helping him brush away the bats.

Finally all the bats were cleared away. Harry fell back on the mat, breathing heavily. His nose was bleeding, and his face felt like it had some deep scratches. Ginny got down on her knees next to him, looking extremely embarrassed.

She conjured a handkerchief and started wiping the blood from Harry's nose and face.

"I take it that was the famous Bat Bogey Hex?" Harry said with a wry grin. "I see why Fred and George fear it now."

Ginny looked ashamed. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have hit you with it. I know that it's a really strong hex. I guess I got a little... carried away."

Harry laughed. "It's all right. In fact, I'm glad you did. Clearly I need to learn how to better defend against that spell. At least, defend it when you cast it." Ginny grinned sheepishly.

As Ginny gently cleaned his face, Harry felt himself growing a bit flustered. His breathing had calmed down, but he felt it growing more labored again as she hovered over him, very close. She leaned over him to get the other side of his face, her pony tail falling and touching his neck. He swallowed as she backed away a little.

"Erm, I can try healing the scratches... unless you want to wait and have Madam Pomfrey do it..." she said.

"No!" said Harry quickly. He definitely didn't want another trip to the infirmary. "No, please... you do it."

"All right," she said. "Why don't you lie down on that couch over there... it'll be easier."

Harry noticed a long couch with only a back-rest at one end, along with a regular chair, had appeared in the room. He got up off the floor and laid down comfortably, sitting upright with his back against the end.

She sat down on the chair and turned it toward him, frowning at the cuts. Her head tilted a bit, and then a little, sly smile grew on her face. She reached over and touched a spot on his cheek.

"That's a nasty one," she whispered.

She began slowly tracing a line across his cheek, causing Harry to suck in a soft breath. She whispered the healing spell, causing Harry to feel a little tingle in his cheek as she mended the injury. She then wiped away the rest of the blood at the former spot.

"This one, too..." she said in a low voice, as she traced it as well with her finger. Harry was fairly certain the finger movement wasn't necessary for the spell, but he didn't particularly feel like correcting her about the fact.

She worked unhurriedly across his face, her small smile making him very nervous. He felt himself growing a bit hot; he wondered why the Room of Requirement seemed to be warming up the room... or was it... he wasn't certain anymore...

"There," she said, still in a whisper. "Good as new." She looked him in the eye, with the same smile. Harry felt his heart thudding in his chest, her eyes looking very pretty. He felt very confused; feelings had been building up in him since the summer, but suddenly Ginny looked a whole lot less like Ron's little sister and his friend, and a lot more like a girl - a pretty girl. Memories of kissing her in the dream over Christmas floated into his head...

Harry tore his eyes away, not knowing what to do. He wasn't certain what he was feeling, much less what Ginny was feeling. Panicked thoughts ran through his head. Ginny used to have a crush on him, but Hermione said she was over that... She couldn't possibly still have any feelings... could she? ... He wasn't certain he was ready for this... He needed to think about it...

"Erm, you were doing really well," he said nervously. The mood in the room seemed to shift suddenly.

"Thanks," Ginny said, with a little sigh. Harry wondered what the sigh was for.

She paused and continued. "Not that well. You blocked almost everything I did. You know, I don't want to say I'm the world's greatest dueler, but I'm not bad, and I can't get anything past you. I did some pretty powerful spells, too. You're getting... really strong, Harry. Tonks is even having trouble with you."

Harry felt a bit embarrassed. "Yeah... I know. Honestly, I don't know what's happening, but lately..." He had been practicing some of the very strong spells in Dumbledore's library lately, and he was getting them to work somewhat frighteningly well.

"I suppose it makes sense, though, doesn't it?" Ginny said.

"How do you mean?" Harry asked curiously.

"The prophecy. It said 'the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal.' Wouldn't that mean that you're going to grow as strong as he was?" asked Ginny.

"Well, I guess I wondered about that, too," said Harry, a bit reluctantly. He sighed. "This whole thing is so weird. It's hard to believe that I'm... you know, different in some way."

"What's important is that we're seeing some proof of the prophecy," said Ginny earnestly. "It didn't just pick some random wizard. You were chosen because you are special." Ginny suddenly looked embarrassed, as if she had said too much. "I mean, you're... um..."

Harry smiled, feeling pleased with her words, but trying to look modest. "Yeah... er, maybe." Changing the subject, he said, "Well, up for a bit more golem practice?"

"Don't want to duel with me any more?" she said, with mock hurt.

"I think I'll study Bat Bogey defense a bit more before we do that again," Harry said, grinning. "But you can count on a next time. I definitely need a rematch to redeem myself."

Ginny grinned back, looking very happy as they charged up their golems again.


Author notes: The teasing is terrible, isn’t it? I promise we’re getting closer…

I hope you all liked my Snape theory. I think it makes sense, and fits all the facts we know, without having to make up anything too outlandish (like Snape/Lily affairs). Read Snape’s first words to Harry in the first book… he immediately pounces on Harry’s “celebrity” and his last words in that scene are “fame isn’t everything.” I think that’s a vital clue. It’s all about the celebrity and the fame.

Thanks always to my beta readers Allie Kiwi and DM. Please review!

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