Harry Potter and the Gemini Connection

Chapter Two: Friends Reunited

Harry's mind was buzzing annoyingly. It felt as though a thousand little cogs were whirring around inside his brain, and he couldn't get them to stop, or even slow down. Somebody was blackmailing his aunt. Somebody who was considered the saviour of the wizarding world. That didn't take a lot of guesses. If it wasn't him, it had to be Dumbledore. 'Saviour' wasn't a very common job description, after all.

The reason for the blackmail was pretty obvious too. It had to be some nefarious scheme to force Aunt Petunia to keep Harry at her home, where he would be safe. Ancient blood magic made him untouchable to Voldemort while he was living with his relatives. Last summer, Uncle Vernon had snapped, and decided to get rid of Harry (for something that he had no control over). A brief message from the headmaster had been enough to make Aunt Petunia put her foot down. Her husband had backed off quickly, looking for all the world as though he had seen a Hungarian Horntail for the first time.

These conclusions about the blackmailer, and what he wanted, had only taken Harry about five seconds to deduce. He didn't care about the discovery. Dumbledore was doing whatever it took to keep him safe, and Aunt Petunia did deserve to sweat a bit. Harry didn't even care about the secrecy. After all, blackmail wasn't the sort of thing you tended to admit to unnecessarily. What he couldn't fathom, was what Dumbledore had threatened to reveal. It was something to do with the wizarding world - Harry just had a feeling. After all, Petunia's greatest fear was that somebody would discover about her magical relatives. But, how could that possibly be used as blackmail material. It wasn't as if Dumbledore could just announce the truth about Harry to Privet Drive. He could be sent to Azkaban for that.

No, there was something important that Harry wasn't getting. It looked as though he would need a little more information before he could work it out.

Unfortunately, information did not come easily in the Dursley household. In his first ten years at the house, not a single thing had been revealed to Harry about his true heritage. He definitely wouldn't be able to make Aunt Petunia discuss anything about his 'abnormality' in the few hours that he had left.

There was no choice. He would have to hold back his curiosity for a little while longer. It could be something else for him to ask of Dumbledore, when he was demanding extra defence lessons.

- HPHPHP -

Harry packed haphazardly. In fact he was so distracted that he spent almost a whole minute trying to lift up a floorboard which was nailed firmly to the floor. By the time Harry realised what he was doing, he had given himself a splinter. Cursing quite badly, he rushed into the bathroom to pull it out.

When he returned, the room was not empty. His cousin, no doubt intrigued by Harry's spewed profanities, had ventured out of his room for the first time in two days.

'So, you're going away at last,' he finally managed to get out, eying the piles of Harry's things on the floor.

'Yeah...'

'Good. Are you going to put my mum and dad right before you go?'

'Right? What are you on about Dudley?'

'Shut up! I know you've put a... a... curse on them or something. They're being nice to you.'

'Nice! Nice! Honestly, I can tell that you haven't been downstairs recently. They still hate me just as much. They're just a bit scared of my friends.'

'Scared? Dad? I don't think so. I know that he doesn't want to associate with freaks like you, but he isn't scared. No, you've cast a spell on him, and it's making him horrible to me.'

'Oh,' said Harry, suddenly understanding what all of this must be about. 'You're upset because he's making you do some jobs, making you earn your keep.'

'He makes me work harder than you.'

'That's never been true, and since you stormed off to your room he hardly bothers you at all.'

'Well, that's another thing. He bought you a present yesterday. He hasn't bought me anything in ages.'

'He bought me a new filter for the vacuum cleaner, and told me to hoover the stairs. Jealous are you?'

Dudley didn't seem to have an answer for that, so instead he took a swing for Harry's head, which Harry ducked just in time.

'Great comeback there Dudders, nice to see that your expensive education is really paying off. You know, I thought that you might be nicer to me since I saved your life and all, but who was I kidding?'

'Saved my life, yeah right. You said it yourself. You were the reason that those things were there in the first place.'

Now it was Harry's turn to be stuck without a comeback. He floundered for a second, before snapping back.

'Was there some reason for you to come in here? I know how afraid you are of me. Aren't you worried that I might do something to you.'

'You can't keep playing that card, you freak. I know for certain that you can't use your... you know what, out of school.'

'A second ago you were accusing me of hexing your parents. Make your mind up.'

Dudley considered this for a second.

'No. You didn't do it. You can't use magic,' he emphasised the word like it was dirty, 'so you must have gotten one of your friends to do it.'

'Oh, give it a rest.'

'Or what, you'll poke me in the eye with that thing? I know that you got into trouble last time, and you don't even have a good excuse now.'

'Well, maybe not, but there are other things I could do. I could make a potion that would turn you green and make you itch for a week,' Harry bluffed, knowing that he didn't actually have the ingredients. Besides which, a potion with such obvious effects would carry an even higher penalty than a quick charm.

'I don't believe you!' Dudley shouted, although he didn't sound too confident.

'Well, you're right actually,' Harry admitted, and Dudley made a triumphant face, 'but even if I could, I wouldn't. You see, I still have some sweets left over from my friends' joke shop. I think you remember what the last one did to your tongue.'

Dudley put his hand to his mouth automatically, and Harry smiled.

'Here, have this Dudley,' Harry continued. 'It's a chocolate coated frog. Wizards love them. They're really tasty, especially the guts. Of course, you have to bite through them pretty hard. Make sure that it's dead before you eat it, or it'll really upset your stomach.'

With a swift movement, Harry bent down, ripped open the top of a cardboard chocolate frog packet from the floor, and thrust it towards Dudley. The frog leapt dramatically from the packet onto the top of Dudley's head, causing him to thrash about madly, as he ran (screaming an impressively high note) from the room.

- HPHPHP -

The rest of the packing went without incident. Harry concentrated harder on the job, and found that after a few straight hours of organising his school books, and folding clothes into his suitcase, he had almost forgotten about everything that was going on in the outside world. If only life was always full of such mundane tasks.

The announcement of his imminent departure, delivered joyously by Dudley, was received much as Harry had expected. Aunt Petunia's face had shown pure relief. Uncle Vernon had also looked slightly relieved to begin with, but he seemed to be growing tenser by the second, and Harry couldn't blame him. He was probably dreading the arrival of wizards in Little Whinging. The last wizard Uncle Vernon had seen inside his house (Harry excluded) had completely destroyed the living room, by exploding the fireplace.

As the clock was approaching four, the sound of a huge 'THUD' from the street caused the Dursleys to scatter. Harry nearly jumped out of his skin himself. It sounded a lot like an apparition sound, but it had been longer and lower, as if it had been recorded and played back too slowly. It had also been so loud that the glass on one of the Dursleys' favourite photographs of Dudley had cracked. There was now a sharp line running across the photograph, right between his fat belly, and the top of his orange school knickerbockers.

Harry ran to the window, and looked out. There was a beautiful, shiny, black limousine sitting right in front of number four. The windows were tinted, but it wasn't long before the back door swung open, and a very familiar person jumped out of it.

The scruffy red hair, faded blue jeans and casual navy T-shirt looked very out of place alongside such a magnificent vehicle, but the boy's face was positively beaming as he closed the car door and leant against it. Harry's smile must have been just as big. He could feel his cheek muscles aching. He ran into the hall, flung open the front door and charged down the garden path to greet his friend.

'Ron! No way! I was expecting them to send Moody again, or your Dad. How did you convince your mum..?'

'It was dead easy. I just said that if she wouldn't let me get into the car, I was going to fly behind it on my broomstick. She wasn't too keen on that idea.'

'I can imagine.' Harry laughed. 'So, how did you get the limo?'

'Ministry lent it,' Ron replied simply. That made sense. Arthur Weasley worked for the Ministry of Magic, and he had been unfairly investigated for most of the last year. Minister Fudge was fond of making big gestures to try and soothe tension.

'It's amazing!' Harry said truthfully, and he glanced back towards the house, hoping that Uncle Vernon was watching. Sadly, the explosive noise had frightened him into the kitchen. 'Who else is here?'

'Oh, well Dad and Moody did come, like you guessed,' Ron replied.

He was gesturing at the back of the car, but Harry could only see silhouettes inside.

'Lupin came too. Him and Bill both turned up at headquarters last night, I think they've got some time off-duty.' He paused. 'I don't know where Tonks is, but if she'd been at headquarters then she would have tagged along. She's been really worried about you. I think that maybe Cho Chang has a little competition!'

'I don't fancy Cho any... wait! Tonks? Are you crazy? That's just... You can't be serious... She's far too old for me... Tonks..?'

Harry glanced around the garden frantically, desperately hoping that Tonks was not within hearing distance of this conversation.

'Relax mate, I'm kidding. I think she wants to look after you. You bring that out in people. Everyone who comes through the house asks if you're doing ok.'

'Everyone?'

'Well. Snape didn't.'

'Oh really. That's a surprise, he's usually so concerned about my well-being,' Harry responded sarcastically.

'I know. He always struck me as the mothering type!'

Harry laughed again. It was such a relief to be around people who reacted like normal human beings. Harry thought, and not for the first time, that maybe the Dursleys weren't quite getting the point when they called these people freaks.

'Really though Harry. You are... coping?'

'I don't want to talk about it now. Can't we just get back to... where we're going, and maybe we can talk about the depressing stuff later?'

'Sure, sure, whatever.' Ron looked greatly relieved 'Do you need a hand with your stuff?'

As Harry had been forewarned by Tonks, packing the car didn't take very long at all. Ron carried Hedwig's cage carefully, whilst Harry dragged the suitcase through the garden. As they walked, Harry listened to Ron babbling on about how he might ask Padma Patil out when they got back to school, and how he'd really enjoyed their last date.

When Harry pointed out that the last date had actually been a year and a half ago, and he had ignored her most of the evening, Ron had looked at him as if he was crazy.

'Well you know about that night. We were all distracted. Somebody was trying to kill you after all.'

'Somebody's always trying to kill me Ron,' said Harry resignedly as he lifted his case into the spacious boot of the limo. He had a fair idea what had really distracted Ron.

'Hey, don't be so pessimistic. I bet you'll get through this year without any near death experiences.'

'How much do you want to bet?'

Ron looked suddenly sheepish.

'See, you don't even believe yourself!' Harry continued 'Don't worry, I'm used to it now. Sirius once told me that would have appreciated being attacked so often. He said it broke the monotony.'

Off Ron's sad smile, Harry opened the back door of the limo and climbed inside, to meet two familiar faces.

The man sitting closest to the door was Arthur Weasley, Ron's father. He had the same ginger hair as his son, as well as the same frayed cuffs. He greeted Harry with a warm smile, which cheered him up a great deal. Next to Mr. Weasley, was Remus Lupin, Harry's former teacher for Defence Against The Dark Arts. He gave Harry a smile as well, but the effect was quite different. Whereas Mr. Weasley's smile had been full of warmth and affection, Remus' smile was sad and sympathetic. Sirius had been Remus Lupin's best friend, and his death would have hit Remus at least as hard, if not harder, than it had hit Harry himself. As Harry sat down between the men, Lupin enveloped him in a warm, albeit slightly awkward embrace, and Harry resolved to spend a lot of time with Remus over the holiday - they would be able to comfort each other.

'So, Harry,' he asked kindly as the limo moved off, 'how's your holiday been so far?'

'Well, it's been better than the usual,' Harry responded after considering it for a few seconds. 'I managed to make it through the entire visit without blowing anything up.'

Remus laughed.

'And what about the Dursleys? Did they behave themselves?'

'Yep. They were terrified of Moody turning up on the doorstep and turning them into something unnatural.'

A snort came from the drivers seat, and when Harry looked, he was surprised to see that Mad-Eye Moody was actually driving the limo. He was a frightening looking man, whose face had been severely disfigured throughout his career as an Auror. His nickname had been earned because of his electric-blue glass eye (a magical prosthesis which could see through solid objects). He also had a wooden leg, which didn't seem to be affecting his driving at all.

'Right then Remus, Arthur,' said Mad-Eye gruffly. 'Let's try it again.'

Mr. Weasley's face lit up.

'And Arthur,' added Remus, 'can you try to be a bit less enthusiastic this time?'

Harry looked at Ron for clarification, but his friend just shook his head and grabbed onto the car door. As the adults all raised their wands, Harry quickly braced himself for the unexpected.

An old dog standing on the pavement was the only witness, as the limousine, complete with passengers, vanished into thin air with an almighty crack.

- HPHPHP -

The limousine popped noisily back into existence on a quiet street, somewhere on the outskirts of London, carrying five shell-shocked, deaf wizards.

Remus and Mad-Eye were glaring pointedly at Mr. Weasley, who at least had the common decency to look guilty.

Ron smiled at Harry, and Harry managed to lip-read his sentence: 'That was better than last time.'

A quick charm from the wand of Remus Lupin cleared up Harry's ears.

'Arthur got hold of the magical blueprints for the Knight Bus,' he explained, 'and worked out how to apply an apparition charm to the car, but we've been having problems regulating the power.'

'Have you asked Hermione? She's good at this sort of thing,' suggested Harry.

'See?' said Ron, in his best I-told-you-so voice. 'Harry agrees with me!'

He turned to Harry and sighed.

'They reckon we still don't know enough to help with anything important.'

'Ron, the Order is...' began Mr. Weasley, but Ron cut him off hotly.

'I'm not just talking about Order stuff, although Merlin knows we've faced worse than some of you. You can't treat us like children for ever...'

'You are children. Is it a crime that we want you to enjoy your childhood?'

Ron's anger slipped away.

'No, and I understand. I'd rather Ginny wasn't involved in this,' his face took on a calm resolve, 'but we don't have time for you to coddle us. You-Know-Who is obsessed with Harry.'

'You're not kidding,' added Harry, rather unhelpfully.

'Well if it all comes down to Harry in the end, I'm going to be standing right next to him. Harry isn't going to fight Vol... Voldemort alone.'

Mr. Weasley jumped at his son's naming of Voldemort. Everybody else in the car was more shocked by the implications of Ron's statement. Harry in particular was cringing. If only Ron knew what he knew, then he wouldn't have been so quick to pledge his allegiance.

'It isn't going to come to that,' said Mad-Eye Moody patronisingly. 'Dumbledore will be the one to end this war, you'll see.'

That was clearly not what Ron wanted to hear though, because his hot temper re-ignited immediately.

'You're all crazy! Dumbledore's fought V-Voldemort for twelve years now without winning. He isn't going to suddenly get any stronger. It's going to fall to somebody else to end this war. I hope it doesn't have to be Harry, I really do, but he's the only other wizard that Voldemort seems scared of.'

'STOP SAYING THE NAME!' screeched Mr. Weasley.

'No way! I only just managed to say it.'

Harry smiled slightly, proud of his friend overcoming that irrational fear.

'I think everybody needs to calm down,' interjected Lupin, sounding serenely unruffled. 'I know that Dumbledore hasn't had a lot of luck with Voldemort so far,' Arthur jerked in his seat, 'but you shouldn't write him off just yet. The truth is, we don't know how to kill him. An Avada Kedavra isn't going to work. We've already seen that once before.' Everybody looked at Harry quickly and then turned away embarrassed. 'We don't want to repeat what happened last time, because the next time he resurrects himself the world might be even less prepared.'

'I think that's enough talk for the car,' said Moody pointedly. 'We aren't sure that nobody's listening in.'

'Who could be listening?' asked Mr. Weasley, with at least some of his energetic mannerisms restored. 'A fly?!'

Harry and Ron shared an awkward glance, both clearly thinking of Rita Skeeter, a journalist with an acid tongue, and the (illegal) ability to transform into a beetle. The private moment did not go unnoticed, and Mr. Weasley looked uncertain again.

'Why is it,' he asked, 'that I always feel out of the loop with you two? Even Fred and George are easier to keep up with. At least with them I can just follow the loud noises.'

'It's because we're so resourceful Dad.'

'Don't you mean sneaky?'

'Slytherins are sneaky,' said Ron with a cheeky grin. 'Gryffindors are... covert.'

Mr. Weasley chuckled, although his eyes were giving away some of the pain he felt. Harry felt like he ought to say something, maybe make a promise to be more careful, or to try not to draw the Weasley family into this, but ultimately Harry knew that what was coming would affect him and his friends more than anybody else in the wizarding world.

The rest of the car journey was travelled in awkward near-silence. Harry and Lupin had a silent conversation about Sirius, using only their eyes. Ron and Mr. Weasley's eye contact was confined to worried glances from father to son every so often. Every time a conversation seemed to be starting up Mad-Eye would cut it off, saying that they were discussing something 'too sensitive' for a public place.

All things considered, Harry was immensely relieved to climb out of the car at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Sirius' house loomed in front of him when he straightened up, but it somehow didn't seem as ominous as he had remembered. Maybe it was the contrast from the terrible dreams he had been having recently, but in broad daylight, from the outside, Grimmauld Place was just another house. Feeling encouraged, he walked around the car to open the boot. When the adults refused to let him carry anything, he headed up the path towards the front door. Unfortunately, he never got that far.

As he placed his foot on the bottom step, a sudden undeniable flash of joy passed through Harry's body, which was accompanied by a burning sensation in his forehead. Harry tripped over the next step in the pain induced haze, and was pitched forwards, the suddenness of the attack preventing him from protecting his head as it barrelled into the solid oak door.

Everything went black.

- HPHPHP -

'Typical! Honestly, I shouldn't ever let him out of my sight. That boy's spent more time under my care than the rest of his year group combined.'

A strict barking voice awoke Harry from his slumber, and he smiled weakly with his eyes closed.

'Hello Madam Pomfrey,' he slurred. 'How've you been?'

'Ah, Mr. Potter. Welcome back to the land of the living. Charming as ever I see.'

'I try my best,' Harry groaned, and opened his eyes.

He had been moved inside the house, and from what he could see of the ceiling, he recognised that he was in the dining room. He was currently lying on the sturdy hardwood table, with the school nurse leaning over his body. Harry tried to pull himself into a sitting position, but found that he couldn't move his body at all.

'Don't worry, it's just a weak binding charm. You can't move yet, I need to check your head for trauma.'

'I'm fine, just a bit groggy. My head doesn't even really hurt.'

That was untrue, although the small bump which was forming wasn't nearly as painful as the scar, which was throbbing annoyingly. Madam Pomfrey seemed to detect his lie.

'It can't pay to be too careful. Over the years I've seen enough of you to make me question your definition of fine.'

'Right then, but could you hurry up, I've kind of got an itchy nose.'

A new hand came into Harry's view line, and rubbed quickly across the bridge of his nose. As he smiled, a familiar clump of bushy brown hair appeared, and Harry was enveloped in a quick, but very warm hug.

'Hi, Hermione.'

'What am I going to do with you? I leave you to your own devices for a couple of weeks, and the next time I see you you're unconscious!'

'It was the connection. You know how it is.'

'Really?' Hermione sounded shocked but she composed herself quickly, 'Well that's still no reason to head butt a door.'

'S'not my fault Hermione, I can't help it that I get all clumsy whenever Voldemort is having a good time.'

Madam Pomfrey, who had been absent-mindedly running her wand through the air above Harry's face, jerked with Harry's use of the forbidden name, and Harry got a wand up the nose.

'Ow!' he yelped. 'Way to make me feel sorry for Quirrell's troll!'

Hermione giggled, and Madam Pomfrey looked abashed, but that didn't stop her from berating him.

'Mr. Potter, I know what you believe about saying his name. You might even be right about it, but in future if you could wait until I'm not performing highly delicate brain-scans, you might save yourself some pain.'

'Sounds like good advice Harry,' came Ron's mocking voice from somewhere to Harry's left.

'Yeah, I think you're right there Ron,' Harry agreed, feeling a trickle of blood running down onto his lip, 'but since when do I take advice?'

Madam Pomfrey laughed, and then released the binding charm with a quick flick of her wrist. Harry looked around, and was surprised to see that aside from Madam Pomfrey, Ron and Hermione, the room was empty.

'It is probably a good idea to follow my advice,' she said darkly, 'considering how often your life is in my hands.'

She smiled, and stopped his nosebleed with a quick but complex looking charm.

'Ok, you can go now. There's nothing wrong with you. I'll leave you something for the pain if you like, but I'm not sure if it will work for your scar.'

'Thanks. I might as well try it,' said Harry, gracefully slipping to the floor.

'Very well,' she replied, 'and if it doesn't work, we can always try something else. I have a feeling that I will have a little more free time this year.'

'Oh? Why?'

'You'll find out in due course Mr. Potter.'

Madam Pomfrey fished around in her bag, and pulled out a small vial of turquoise potion.

'This is your pain relieving draught. Three drops mixed in with your drink ought to be enough, if it works at all.'

Harry took the potion from her, and she continued.

'Now, I have to be getting home, but I don't want to see you again before September.'

'I'll keep that in mind,' Harry said with a smile.

Madam Pomfrey left the room in a swish of fabric, and as soon as the door opened, a crowd of people came piling in: Remus Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Bill and Ginny. Ginny was leading the charge, and although she did pull Harry into a hug, she removed herself quickly, to cuff him playfully on the arm.

'You should learn to be more careful Harry,' she said with a smirk. 'I can just see the headlines tomorrow. Fearsome warrior vanquished by evil door.'

'I... That's not... It was the step,' Harry floundered as everyone in the room laughed.

'Oh, I'm so sorry. How about, tragic step death of Boy-Who-Lives-No-More.'

There was another laugh.

'Ginny, that's quite enough,' snapped Mrs. Weasley sternly, as she stepped over to give Harry a hug of her own. 'Not that you shouldn't look after yourself better. You have enough things to worry about without tripping over your own feet.'

Harry suddenly felt very embarrassed, and realised that if this ever got back to the twins, he would never hear the end of it. He decided that maybe it was time for some emotional blackmail.

'Ok, ok. It's all very funny, but I think that maybe I should talk to Dumbledore about what caused it. It's the first emotion that I've felt from him in ages.'

Everybody in the room suddenly went silent. Apparently, Harry tripping over his own feet wasn't nearly as funny when Voldemort was involved.

'Maybe that's because you're getting better at Occlumency,' suggested Hermione.

'I doubt it. I've barely practiced it since the Ministry. Dumbledore said that Occlumency didn't matter too much any more.'

'So what emotion was he feeling?' asked Remus, almost nervously.

'Joy,' Harry said bluntly, with a sickened expression, 'except, it always feels really twisted coming from Voldemort...'

'Yeah, I can imagine. Doesn't seem like he'd even understand happiness,' Remus agreed, over the gasps that followed Voldemort's name.

'No. He understands it, it's just...' Harry searched for the right words. 'I think it's because he only gets real happiness out of other peoples' suffering. When he's angry I sometimes get confused, and think that it's just my own emotions, but his happiness is really obvious. It feels so... vindictive.'

'So, you think he was torturing people then?' asked Ron, clearly curious, but trying his very hardest to sound sensitive.

'No. One of his plans has gone into effect. He's got something back. Something that he used to have. Now he's got what he needs to put other plans into operation.'

Everybody was staring at Harry. He didn't blame them. Even with Dumbledore's theories about mental connections and accidental Legilimency, it was always unnerving to him when knowledge about Lord Voldemort appeared in his head.

'Er... at least, I think so. I'm not that sure whether to trust my insights any more.'

'It seems like if he was trying to trick us, he would have given you a little more to go on though, doesn't it,' Hermione pointed out, sensibly.

'You shouldn't make blind assumptions like that, girl,' came the gruff voice of Mad-Eye Moody. 'You should always be on guard.'

'Constant Vigilance!' shouted Ron, and to his utter delight, Mad-Eye Moody jumped about a foot from the floor (as did everybody else in the room).

That broke up the tension considerably. Soon everyone was laughing, including Moody himself, who was looking rather appraisingly at Ron. Eventually the laughing died down a little, and Mad-Eye turned back to Harry.

'So then,' he asked. 'What do you think we should do about this information Harry?'

'Huh?'

'Well, the information came straight through your head. You seem to have the best understanding of it. I wondered if you had any bright ideas?'

'Oh. Well, to tell the truth, I think whatever it was has already been and gone. There isn't anything you can do to stop it now, but...'

'Yes...'

'Well. I was just thinking. He thinks of himself as an all powerful, immortal being. I don't think that he's looking for any more power, at least not yet, so we're probably not looking for an object. The thing he seems to want more than anything else at the moment is a bigger army. Maybe he's got himself some more followers. Bill, do you know about the goblins?'

Everybody turned to Bill with looks of horror on their faces. From their expressions, Harry guessed that the goblin nation turning to Voldemort would be far worse than he had expected, and he wished he hadn't suggested it.

Thankfully Bill shook his head and smiled.

'No, they wouldn't go over to Voldemort. I've been making some progress with them.'

He paused, sighed and ran a hand through his long hair in exasperation.

'If you'd call it progress. It's been a year, and all I've been able to get so far is a statement that they don't intend to join Voldemort. They seem to want to stay out of the war altogether, truth be told.'

'Well, how about the giants? We already know that they've agreed to follow him. Maybe he's just happy because they've met up with him,' prompted Ron.

'How would you know about that?' asked Moody harshly, and then held up his hand. 'Actually, don't bother trying to explain - Hagrid's a liability.'

There was an awkward pause, in which Hermione and Harry cast dirty glances at Ron.

'Not a bad theory kid,' Moody continued, 'but I think Voldemort will avoid direct contact with the giants.'

'You're right,' agreed Shacklebolt. 'He'll keep them a long way away. They probably won't even enter the country until he's ready for an all-out war. It's a bad idea to keep giants anywhere near the rest of your army.'

'They tend to get bored,' offered Remus, by way of explanation.

'Then,' Harry said slowly, 'I think it must be another Azkaban breakout.'

The stunned silence following that moment was broken by the noisy arrival of Tonks, looking very flustered and bearing mail. As she entered the room, screaming from Mrs. Black's portrait in the hall started up, and Mrs. Weasley ran outside to argue with her.

'Right. All of you with Ministry contacts, Dumbledore wants us to meet him right now,' commanded Tonks. 'Something big has happened. Fudge is trying to keep something quiet.'

Harry, and almost everybody else in the room winced.

'We might have a heads up on that. Harry thinks that Azkaban has fallen,' grunted Moody.

'It's just a theory,' said Hermione sounding panicked.

'But it's a pretty sound theory. It makes a lot of sense. Azkaban is weak now that the Dementors have gone AWOL,' Moody interrupted.

Tonks, who had been slightly shocked by the news, pulled herself together.

'Well, what are you waiting for? Dumbledore's in the Leaky Cauldron, room seventeen.'

Tonks dropped the bundle of mail that she was carrying onto an intricately engraved chair in the corner. With a small wink at Harry, she Apparated away, closely followed by Lupin, Moody, Shacklebolt, Bill and Mr. Weasley.

The tension left in the room was unbearable, and Harry thought he ought to do something to break it, so he wandered over to the chair to see who the letters were addressed to. A moment later he wished he hadn't.

Aside from the addressee, each of the three envelopes was identical, with a dark green Hogwarts crest inked in where the stamp would be on a Muggle letter. The wax seal on the back of each was a deep red, and bore the Ministry of Magic stamp.

The exam results had arrived.

- HPHPHP -

This was it, the moment Hermione had been both longing for and fearing; the moment Harry and Ron had been dreading.

Mrs. Weasley had ushered them upstairs, to 'open your results in peace,' although Harry was certain that she would be checking up on them fairly shortly.

Ron impulsively ripped the top of his envelope off, and then froze.

'Merlin, this shouldn't be so scary after all we've seen,' he snapped, clearly annoyed at his cowardice. 'I don't even care about the exam results.'

Harry wasn't convinced about that, but he thought it was better not to say anything. He quickly ripped off the top of his own envelope, and in a rush of Gryffindor bravery, pulled out the single piece of parchment inside.

O.W.L. Results for H. J. Potter,

Core Subjects:

Transfiguration - E

Charms - O

Potions - O

Defence Against the Dark Arts - O

Herbology - E

History of Magic - A

Astronomy - A

Optional Subjects:

Care of Magical Creatures - O

Divination - P (Fail)

Guide to marking:

O - Outstanding

E - Exceeds Expectations

A - Acceptable

P - Poor

D - Dreadful

T - Troll

For more detailed results, contact your head of house.

Please select up to six courses to continue to the N.E.W.T. level, and notify your head of house by owl post, no later than August 15^th. A grade of E is required to continue a class in any of the core subjects, with the exception of Potions where an O grade is required. To continue a course in the optional subjects, a pass is required.

Harry smiled. He'd passed everything except Divination, which was, in his opinion, a load of rubbish anyway. He'd even got a high enough Potions grade to continue at N.E.W.T level, something he had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, Potions were recommended study for those who wanted to become Aurors. On the other hand, the Potions Master hated him, a feeling which was reciprocated.

'Well?' asked Hermione impatiently.

'I did really well. Far better than I thought I'd done.'

Hermione snatched his letter from him.

'Oh, wow Harry!' she said, 'these are incredible. Eight passes is really impressive.'

'I know! I can't believe I got an O in Charms, I got two of the charms mixed up in the practical exam.'

'I bet that I've failed Charms,' said Ron sadly, reading Harry's results over Hermione's shoulder, 'I turned a plate into a giant mushroom by accident, and nobody could work out how.'

'Well, if the examiner couldn't work out what you did wrong, you might not lose too many marks for it,' suggested Hermione kindly.

'You should just get it out of the way. It's a big relief once you've done it,' added Harry.

'Easy for you to say, you've got great results...' Ron grabbed onto the top of his letter, but then froze again. 'Hermione should go first.'

'Oh honestly!' she snapped, opening her own envelope, and pulling the letter out so abruptly that it ripped down one side. 'If you're going to be a baby about it.'

She looked at her results and gave an enormous toothy grin. Ron sighed.

'Did you get an O in everything then?'

'No. I didn't. I only got eight Outstandings.'

'Really? How?' Ron sounded genuinely shocked, which wasn't particularly a surprise considering Hermione's hundred percent record so far.

'Well, I got an E in Astronomy...'

'...Oh right. But that was because the exam was interrupted, I bet your other E was in History, 'cos Harry fainted?'

Harry shot Ron an annoyed look for mentioning that. He seriously hoped that he hadn't been responsible for lowering Hermione's exam results.

'No, I'd already finished by the time Harry started screaming.' Harry turned his glare on Hermione, but she ignored it. 'I got an E in Herbology. I guess it was because I panicked a bit in the practical.'

'You? You panicked?'

'Yes Ron. It might surprise you to know that I am human.'

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

Hermione gave a small, sad sigh.

'It doesn't matter Ron. Just open your results and get it out of the way, so that we can go downstairs.'

As the letter was withdrawn from the envelope, the first thing that Harry noticed was Ron's expression of stunned disbelief. His eyes had glazed over, and his mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. Harry didn't have time to question Ron about that though, before something else caught his eye.

Ron's results had a second page.