Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Back At Hogwarts

They all jumped off the train, and started looking around for the fifth year carriages, which would take them right to the castle, when a familiar and much-loved voice came booming over the excited throng.

"Firs' years this way please! All firs' years te me!"

Ron, Harry and Hermione went rushing over to a man who was to say the least, quite big. He was ten feet tall, almost twice the size of a normal man, and he towered over everyone. His long gangly black hair came below his shoulders and a long thick black beard completely obscured his mouth. However, by the way his black beetle-like eyes were crinkled you could tell he was smiling.

"HAGRID!" they all yelled.

"Why 'ullo Ron, 'Arry, 'Ermione! Lovely to see yeh! Did yeh 'ave a good summer?"

"Wonderful thank you Hagrid!" Hermione spoke for all of them. "But what are you doing back? I thought you and Madame Maxime were... I thought you were doing something for Professor Dumbledore?"

"I was. Olympe is still out there. I came back to teach." he said shortly, and not too comfortable. "Anyway," he coughed. "You three had better be getting on to the carriages."

"See you later Hagrid!" they all said.

In the great hall, the tension was mounting as several hundred students were anticipating the arrival of the new first years so they could begin the traditional Hogwarts feast for the first day back.

At the Gryffindor table the Weasley twins were plotting what to do with the rest of the Filibusters and dung-bombs they'd managed to sneak past their mother. Neville was looking paler than usual. Although he didn't say anything to Ron and Hermione (he'd promised Dumbledore that he wouldn't), he guessed that he and his grandmother had recently visited his parents in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies. His parents were Aurors, tortured to insanity by a band of Death-Eaters trying to find out were Voldemort was. Harry felt a hot surge of anger towards Voldemort rise in his throat and he hurriedly took a glass of water from one of the pitchers that were already out on the table. A little further down the table, he saw Colin Creevey talking to Ginny quite animatedly.

"I've told you Colin, I was around. I went around, um, talking to a few people and then I came back. I don't see why you're making such a fuss!"

Harry smiled, shaking his head, and, catching Ginny's eye, waved to her, before turning back to Ron and Hermione who were further discussing in hushed tones there Omnimagical plot.

"I think," Harry put in, grimacing at the thought. "It's time to pay another visit on a certain Moaning Myrtle." Moaning Myrtle was, quite literally, a ghost of a girl who haunted a girls' bathroom on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle. She had died a little over fifty years ago when a young Voldemort (originally named Tom Riddle), had set a Basilisk (a giant Snake) on the school and she had looked accidentally its eyes (the Basilisk having poisonous fangs and a murderous stare). However, Harry's reluctance wasn't based on the fact that she was a ghost (the resident ghost of Gryffindor (Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington also known as Nearly Headless Nick) was rather friendly at times), but rather she was a ghost who had a bit of a crush on him. (This wasn't helped by the fact that - although she did help him with the second task in the Tri-wizard tournament last year - she had practically seen him naked when she had decided to go to the prefects bathroom at the same time as him.)

"Great idea Harry!" Hermione agreed.

"Yeah," put in Ron. "You can even visit your WAY old girlfriend whilst you're there!" Both Harry and Hermione hit Ron around the back of the head for this.

"Anyway Hermione," Ron said, rubbing the back of his head "how exactly does this chart work?"

"Oh it's quite simple. It is basically a personality chart that gages your inner animal which when we become Omnimagi will be your strongest transformation. You have to be truthful though, otherwise you mightn't find the right one and it could weaken you."

After a few minute of looking at their charts they each looked very excited.

"I'm a LION!" Ron breathed.

"What?" Harry said, not believing.

"You're kidding?" Hermione put in.

"Oh ye of little faith!" Ron looked hurt and laughing at the same time. "If you don't believe me take a look at this!"

"Wow! I don't believe it! I'll have to check the full chart when we get upstairs but it looks like you are absolutely right. Sorry."

"Yeah sorry." Harry agreed.

"That's okay. It's just nice to know how much you two believe in me!" Ron winked to let them know he wasn't serious. "What about you Hermione?"

"I'm an Owl. Harry?"

"An Eagle. I hope you to realise that this is going to be REALLY draining. Until we get this right, until we get used to it, we aren't going to feel up to doing anything beyond eating and sleeping. Sometimes not even eating!" Ron looked up in mock horror.

"It's okay." said Ron.

"We're in this together!" put in Hermione. "We won't let you down."

"Thanks." Harry sighed, blushing slightly. He really did have the best friends you could possibly ask for, but then again, he had discovered this manifold since he had been at Hogwarts.

But before Hogwarts, what did he have? He had the Dursleys. A group of people who hated the ground he walked on, who either bullied and abused him, or completely ignored him. He had his room, which he retained after coming to Hogwarts, and before that, he had the cupboard under the stairs. Hmmph! The cupboard under the stairs! A lot of fond memories from there! Although having said that...

"Harry? Why does he hate us so much?" A question asked in his head, a voice came, a memory unbidden. "What have we done that he hates us so much?"

"I don't know Evan. Do you think I ask too many questions?"

"I don't think so! I mean, it's perfectly normal to ask questions isn't it? Otherwise, how would you ever learn anything?"

"Exactly! Dudley's ALWAYS asking questions, and he gets hugged, kissed, and spoiled for it!"

"Yeah! And what does he ask for? Money, sweets, toys, chocolates, televisions, sweets, videos, sweets! If he's not careful, he's going to end up wider than he is tall!"

"And I wish I COULD keep my hair short and in control, but it just sticks up all over the place!"

"Well, it IS a little on the messy side." Harry raised his eyebrows archly at this. "Come to think of it, I can't talk, can I! Harry?"

"Mmmhm?"

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"HARRY!" Harry felt a tap on his arm. He looked up. Ron and Hermione were staring sadly at him. He must have gone distant again. He looked up rather sheepishly and apologised.

"Sorry about that. I was just thinking..." They smiled at him empathetically.

"That's okay, mate!" Ron said with a laugh. "Even YOU'VE got to think sometimes!"

At this Professor McGonagall walked in with the sorting hat on a stool and promptly walked out again to get the new first years. The sorting hat was a very old wizard's hat, reputed to have belonged to Godric Gryffindor himself.

"Shhh!" Hermione said. "It's starting!"

Professor Albus Dumbledore stood up. He was a tall ancient wizard with long silvery-white hair that came below his waist, and an almost equally long silvery-white beard. A pair of tiny half-moon spectacles perched precariously on his nose and over, under, and through those spectacles shone a pair of sparkling brilliant blue eyes. He knocked on the table three times with his own goblet and the hall slowly rumbled into silence.

"Before the feast and the notices, we will have the sorting ceremony. Professor McGonagall, would you bring in the first years to be sorted please?"

At this the said Professor, threw open the doors to the great hall and began leading the first years in. A few looked confident, a few looked frightened, but most it seemed, were just nervous. As the last of the first years filed in and took their place to the side of the sorting hat, a slit in the front of the hat opened wide, and after a short pause, seemingly looking around, it burst into song.

"The time has come, as someone said,

To talk of many things;

Of Phoenix feather, unicorn hair,

And mighty Dragon Heartstrings.

The time has come my dear, dear friends,

To talk of wizards great.

To talk of past and yet to come,

To decide unwritten fate.

So let's regress a thousand years

Unto the days of yore,

When powers yet untamed, untapped,

Knew not which wells to bore.

A thousand years ago there lived

Four wizards of great note.

And to mould young minds, to coach their skills,

A wondrous lore they wrote.

For each grand Wicca skills did note,

And virtues they did prize.

And those whose minds were true to theirs

Were apples of their eyes.

First count one Godric Gryffindor

Who's heart was brave and bold.

Those of great courage and true of heart,

His favours they would hold.

Next fair Rowena Ravenclaw

Who's mind was good and wise;

And those possessed of steady heads

Stark forth would ring their cries.

And then young Helga Hufflepuff

No truer friend than she;

And so those loyal to a fault

Her favourites would be.

And last Salazar Slytherin would

The zealots favour most,

With ambition and drive and cunning to strive

And never to give up the ghost.

But how to find the favoured few

Whose skills would bloom and flourish?

The answer there would take much thought,

Persistence, truth and courage.

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way

From darkness into light.

He tore me from his furrowed brow

And they gave me deep insight.

So come on forth! Be brave! Be bold!

Pull me upon your crown!

And I will tell you where to go,

I will not let you down!

When it had finished, and the hall had finished its customary rousing cheer, the sorting took place. This year as usual, an equal number of students were sorted into each house, about forty in total, although there were a lot more young witches than usual. This year the bias was seventy five percent in favour of the witches. There was never usually more than a sixty percent bias. The relief on the faces of the first years at having all been finally sorted was more than tangible and it was with usual good humour and more than a little amusement that Dumbledore stood up to give the customary beginning of term notices.

"Welcome, welcome everybody to another year back at our beloved school. I think it wisest if I get the unsavoury notices over and done with first. Due to recent dark activity with Lord Voldemort," At this the vast majority of the hall audibly flinched. It appeared that only Harry, Ron, Hermione, a couple of the Slytherins and a couple of the teachers were unaffected. "I must ask you all to be on the lookout and report anything suspicious you see near the grounds. Hogsmeade trips will continue to take place, but at the first hint of dark activity in the vicinity, they will be cancelled. This school has already lost two students to Voldemort in the last fifty or so years which is, I'm sure you all agree, two too many. Of course to those of you who have been here before, the Forbidden Forest remains out of bounds, and of course, anyone wanting to get a book out of the restricted section of the library must first present a note to Madame Pince signed by a professor. Speaking of professors, and on a much happier note, we have three new professors joining our ranks. Firstly in the post of Potions Master, may I present to you Professor Mundungus Fletcher!" There was a short, shocked pause as he stood up to be acknowledged, before a riotous cheer broke out. The previous Potions master Professor Snape was rather unpopular with the entire student body, save for the Slytherins whom he favoured. In fact the Weasley twins were so overjoyed at this, they started a chant which soon picked up around most of the tables that weren't Slytherin.

"No more Snape! No more Snape! No more Snape! No more Snape!" This continued around the hall for about five minutes accompanied by the drumming of cutlery on the tables. Finally the cheering died down and Dumbledore was able to continue, a small smile twitching at his beard.

"Secondly at the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts Mistress, may I present to you, Professor Arabella Figg!"

"WHAT?" Everybody looked around to see who had yelled this, and there was an enormous amount of surprise and mirth when they realised that the cry of surprise had come from none other than Harry Potter!

"Arabella Figg is the name of that old ding-bat I was telling you about!" he whispered to Ron and Hermione as the hall was once again welcoming a new teacher. "The one with all the cats!"

"Oh!" they both replied.

When the hubbub caused by Harry's outburst and the general applause for Professor Figg had died down, Dumbledore continued.

"Young Mr Potter's outburst will come of no surprise to those who know that Professor Figg was Harry's summer guardian before he came to Hogwarts. Brought up in a Muggle society, Harry was unaware that Mrs Figg was a witch and after he came to Hogwarts had no reason to suspect as, for various reasons, he has only seen her twice since. Now that this has all been cleared up I have one more surprise for you. As you know, last year we were host to the Tri-Wizard tournament. Those of whom were here last year know that the reason the Tri-Wizard tournament was set up was to improve Wizarding relations between the staff, families and pupils of the three school taking part. My surprise is that we have a new subject to teach here this year. So the school day has been extended by an hour, however this is a subject I know you will all enjoy immensely! The purpose of this subject, like the Tri-Wizard tournament is to improve Wizarding relations. The teacher of this subject wishes, for the moment for herself and her subject to remain anonymous however you will all discover both Identities next week. In the mean time, I have only one more thing to say. Everybody tuck in!"

And with that the tables were suddenly laden with copious amounts of anything they could possibly want to eat.

"And is that the surprise you were talking about, Hermione? The new teacher and Subject?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to tell us yet?"

"Nope, you will find out by the end of next week!"

Ron was already tucking in, when Harry just thought of something.

"Hermione. What if we, or at least one of us Registered simply as an Animagus, would suspicion then be thrown off both ourselves and the others being Omnimagi? After all, it's easy to lose track of say an owl in a forest, and then not notice that coming out of that same forest is a leaf floating on the breeze, isn't it?"

"THAT Harry, is brilliant! But I was also thinking, I think we should burn the books about Omnimagi when we have mastered the transformations, so as to be untraceable."

They were soon all agreed, and spent the rest of the meal talking with their other friends on the Gryffindor table. Harry took this opportunity to go over to the staff table and confront Mrs Figg. He noticed that at the other end of the table was a hooded figure. Presumably it was the teacher who didn't want to be identified yet.

"Um Mrs Figg?" Harry started. "Professor?"

"I can understand you are somewhat confused Harry but not yet. You will understand someday. Sooner than you think my dear. But not yet." This was not the Arabella Figg that Harry remembered at all. The lady he knew was old, had lots of cats, and was completely potty. This lady sitting before him was cool, calm, collected, and had a fire in her eyes that he had never seen before. She also looked several years younger. No doubt she had used an ageing potion or charm. He glanced casually over at Professor Dumbledore. As was his wont, he gazed at Harry over the top of his glasses and smiled, but at the same time shook his head. It was clearly a look to echo Professor Figg's statement of not yet. Harry shrugged and returned to the Gryffindor table.

"What was that all about Harry?" Ron tried.

"Dunno. She won't give me anything. But she looks a lot more alive than she has done in ages! Maybe she needs this. She said I'd understand someday, probably soon. Just not yet!"

"Weird!"

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Dumbledore stood up. "Now that you are all fed and watered, and, as there are no more messages, would you please follow the prefects to your dorm-rooms. Goodnight and have a wonderful weekend!"

"Ooh we're up!" squeaked Hermione with relish. "Gryffindors follow us please!"

After taking the first years up to the common room, giving them the password (Culina Propria) and showing them their dormitories, they returned to the common room to talk for a little longer.

"Harry, do you have that book on finding your inner Animagus?" she asked straight away, not wasting any time.

"Got it right here. The others are locked away in my trunk."

"Excellent. Let me have a look at your charts then."

"Yep! Oh WOW! Ron you are definitely a LION! This is so cool!" Ron snorted. Hermione saying "cool" was not an everyday occurrence and was something to be savoured. "And I'm definitely an owl. But Harry! You've made a mistake. Your chart doesn't mean an Eagle at all. It means..." She suddenly went deathly quiet. And then "Holy SH-!" Harry and Ron couldn't say anything. They simply stared at her. Never in their four years of friendship could they ever remember the tiniest profanity crossing her lips. The only time she ever said "Blast" was when referring to an explosion, fun, or Hagrid's little creation of last year, Blast-Ended Skrewts; An unpleasant cross between Manticores and Fire-Crabs which nobody was particularly fond of. "I...I...I...I..." she stammered.

"What?"

"I do not BELIEVE this! Harry would you do the chart for me again please? Don't ask, just do it. Don't even think about the answers, just write the first thing that comes into your head."

"Um. Ok?"

Five minutes later Harry had given back the chart and she was scrutinising it thoroughly, flicking back and forth through the book muttering. "I must have missed something, this is impossible!" After another hour of reading the book thoroughly Hermione gave up and sighed, saying, "Harry, you are not going to believe this. Your inner animal is... A SPHYNX!"

"WHAT?" Harry and Ron both yelled. For the second time that day, Harry fell out of his seat.

"You're kidding?" Harry breathed.

"No WAY!" Ron put in.

"Just look at this." Ron grabbed the book off her and soon was agreed.

"So should we go and see Dumbledore now?" Harry suggested slowly. "He can help us and get us registered so we are on the list and off suspicion. Besides, aren't Sphynxes supposed to be really dangerous and magical?"

"Yes they are. The Sphynx hide can repel most curses and all of the Unforgivables!"

"Let's go now. I don't suppose you remember Dumbledore's password, do you? I haven't had a chance to look yet."

"Yes. Lets go!"

As they got to the stone Gargoyle Hermione said "Bitter Lemon" and the Gargoyle receded to reveal a spiral staircase.

"Come in Miss Granger!" said a voice from behind the closed door. As she pushed the door opened, Dumbledore smiled and said, "Ah, you have company."

No matter how many times Harry had been inside this office, it never ceased to amaze him. The frames of all the old headmasters were gazing on the new entrants to the room, the Pensieve was locked up behind the glass cabinet surrounded by books, the sorting hat was in a corner on it's stool, the bejewelled sword of Godric Gryffindor hung above it by the hilt, and Fawkes - Dumbledore's handsome Red and Gold Phoenix - was as usual on his perch. Harry went over to stroke him gently, as did Ron and Hermione before Dumbledore cleared his throat gently. "I believe you wanted to speak to me Miss Granger. And by the looks of it so do Mr Weasley and Mr Potter."

"Oh. Sorry Sir, yes that is correct. Well, we've been thinking a lot and we have decided, um. That is to say, we want to..."

"You wish to become Animagi."

"WHAT?" All three cried, dumbfounded. Dumbledore winked at Harry and he at once understood.

"You've had an owl from Professor Lupin or Snuffles haven't you Sir?"

"Both actually." Harry looked quizzically at Hermione who shook her head.

"Well anyway, sir," Hermione continued, we all did our charts this evening on finding our inner Animagus, and well Harry..." At this Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and almost imperceptibly chuckled. "Harry is a Sphynx!"

"Oh my goodness!" Dumbledore said quietly.

"We decided on doing this even before we knew what we were going to be, Sir." Harry explained. "We decided we were going to do this no matter what. And well, aside from my father, I have my own reasons for wanting to do this."

"I can imagine."

"And this could very well help in the battle against You-Know... er Vol-demort." Ron struggled with this last part, but he managed to force it out, and at this Dumbledore gave Ron an encouraging wink.

"Good show young Weasley. NEVER be afraid of the name. Try not to be afraid at all, or if you must have fear, make fear your fear." Ron smiled weakly. Dumbledore was truly balmy! "What Animals are you two?"

"I'm an Owl!" said Hermione, visibly preening herself. She was obviously getting accustomed to the idea.

"I'm a Lion!" Ron replied.

"Were you planning on registering?"

"Yes, we were planning on registering in early February."

"That soon?"

"Yes sir, I've been looking at the books thoroughly, and I believe we will be nearly finished at Halloween, then we just need a few months to perfect our technique before we register."

"Very well. I will condone this, however I don't think you should register yourselves until the end of the year. You could prove to be a very useful asset in the battle against Voldemort" Here Ron swelled up proudly "and with the feats you three have pulled in the past, it could be a particularly useful trump card to be able to pull. However I must issue all three of you, but particularly you Ron and Harry, with the following warning. Whilst you are in your non-human forms, you will be subject to non-human emotions. Ron your principle driving force will be to jealously guard what is yours, Harry yours will be to jealously guard what is another's. I suggest you guard your friends as you will be the most powerful, although I may ask you later to also guard Hogwarts if the situation became treacherous."

"I understand Sir."

"Also, I must strongly recommend that you use the Shrieking Shack to practice in, as it may be initially quite painful and I presume you don't want the whole castle discovering your little scheme. I will get all the ingredients you need that cannot be found in the students' cupboard. Fortunately all the potions will be ready instantaneously, or at least as soon as I can get the ingredients for them, because there are no special times or conditions for these particular ingredients. I will also get the Owl, Lion and Sphynx for you."

"Yes Sir!" they all said.

"Oh and one more thing before you leave! I suggest when you register, at the end of the year say, you do not mention that you are in fact Omnimagi!" He smiled at them.

"Sir! How could you possibly know that? I didn't say anything to them in my letters!" Hermione said, completely stunned.

"It's not exactly difficult. Firstly about twenty minutes before you three came in, I was talking to Snuffles in the fire. He is lying low with Professor Lupin for a while. Anyway, I called for him as soon as I received his owl, incidentally Pigwidgeon is back in the Owlry now Ron."

"Thank you Sir."

"Anyway we were discussing this most interesting proposal and Snuffles agreed that Harry never does anything by halves, Hermione would be unlikely to, and Ron certainly wouldn't. I imagine your books on Omnimagi are really old and very dusty. You probably found them at the back of Flourish and Blott's, in what looked as if it could be a hidden panel behind all the other Animagus books?"

"Yes sir." Harry said.

"That is because they are your father's Harry. In fact all of the books are your fathers. Didn't you wonder why you hadn't seen them before? In fact Ron, didn't you wonder why Harry was taking so long that day? Harry didn't you wonder why so many books were so cheap? The only one of those books that isn't yours already I am guessing was a single edition rather than a several-parter and not finding your inner Animagus."

"The only one I paid for was the Adoration of the Animagi. But Sir, if the Omnimagus books were mine too, why wasn't Dad one?"

"He was still young. He wanted to be an Animagus first. He was going to work for a few years and then become an Omnimagus. But by the time he was going to begin his work on it, he was already dead."

"So why didn't Wormtail go after the books?"

"Peter didn't know where they were. They were protected by a spell, which was designed so only You could retrieve the books after your fifteenth Birthday. Not even someone using Polyjuice potion could retrieve it. Not even James himself could retrieve it. The spell worked in the same way as the mirror of Erised, except you didn't even know you wanted it yet. Not even Remus or Snuffles knew about it."

"That means this spell is rightfully theirs as well. You must call them back Professor and tell them that they must become Omnimagi as well."

"You are very noble Harry but no. Harry, I must ask you to go and get the books at once."

"Yes Sir." He rushed to the dormitories, found the books put them in a satchel and rushed back, losing 10 points from Gryffindor for bumping into Professor McGonagall before he had even reached the Gryffindor Tower. It would have been more if he had not explained that it was for Dumbledore.

When he got back to the tower Dumbledore said

"Thank you Harry. Put the books on the table please, next to each other. All except for "Finding Your Inner Animagus". Now what I am going to do is to triplicate the books. Then I am going to cast an absorption spell on you three and then, I am sorry Harry. I am afraid I am going to have to destroy them. I have kept the "Finding Your Inner Animagus" for you to keep, as memory to your father because there are no references in there whatsoever to Omnimagi, not even in his own Handwriting. This book is your heritage, and if you look at it closely, and trace the lineage back, you will be able to see what sort of a man your father was. Truly noble and more than worthy of his time, of which there should have been infinitely more." He spoke quietly, barely audible now, and there looked to be tears in his eyes. Certainly they glistened more than usual. Harry looked down at his feet. Hermione gently took his hand, and Ron patted him on the shoulder. Professor Dumbledore then inclined his wand towards the pile and coughed.

"Thank you Sir. That will be for the best." he said, choked with emotion. "Thanks Ron, Thanks Hermione! Go ahead Sir. I'm ready!"

"Triplicate." Dumbledore said clearly. Two identical copies of each book appeared on top of the original. "Om-"

"Sir." Harry interupted. "Could you please triplicate this book as well so Ron and Hermione could have a copy?"

"HARRY?" Hermione said, choking as he had.

"Listen Hermione. This is my father's book, meant to run in the family. You and Ron and the Weasley's and your Parents, and Gryffindor, and Hogwarts, you are my family!"

"But Harry,"

"Sir, could you triplicate this and then give a copy each to Ron and Hermione so that they can see what I mean?"

"An excellent idea Harry!" Dumbledore said, taking the book off Harry. "Triplicate!" Once again two identical copies appeared on top of the original and Dumbledore gave them to Ron and Hermione. He gave the original back to Harry.

"Now open the book to the inside front cover!" Harry instructed. They all did this and Hermione gasped, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks:

To my dearest son Harry,

I leave this book to you in the hope that you'll some day follow in your old dad's footsteps. I was never much one for words that actually meant anything, the best thing I can think of to say to you is what my father, your much beloved Grandfather, once said to me. "They say you can choose your friends but you can't choose your relatives. You CAN however choose your family, so choose wisely, choose proudly, and make it a large loving one."

Your mother and I love you very much

Your Father

James Harold "Prongs" Potter

Dumbledore smiled, looking at them all, allowing the words to sink in. Ron's head was bent and his eyes were watering slightly, as were Harry's. Hermione was crying openly.

"I love you guys!" she said finally, enveloping them in a three-way hug.

"We love you too Hermione." they both replied. Then, turning to each other Ron and Harry embraced in what they hoped was a manly shake-hug.

"I love you too, man." they both uttered, quietly. Looking back at Hermione they could see that she was nodding in approval, as was Dumbledore.

"Anyway, enough of this little love scene!" Dumbledore chuckled, which the children appreciated. "Time to cast the absorption spell. Firstly put your books away so they aren't absorbed too. You can then look at them at any time. Now, each of you take one book from each pile and hold them whilst I cast the spell. Omni Librii Absorbant!" All three were shocked to see the words and punctuation marks and diagrams flying out of the page. They were also slightly alarmed to feel them enter their ears, eyes, nose and mouth. This continued until the words stopped flowing and Harry heard a thud next to him, followed closely by a second thud. Harry looked either side of him and saw that Ron and Hermione had fainted. He looked at Dumbledore - who appeared to be concentrating on some unseen object next to him and didn't meet his gaze - questioning, his head cocked to one side and his left eyebrow raised, before he too collapsed onto the floor.