Harry Potter and the Orb of Power

Chapter 14: Many Meetings

    The day after the Welcoming Feast was beginning to look like a very busy day for Harry. The Gryffindor Quidditch team decided to hold their meeting to decide who was to be captain of the team, as well as deciding on a date to hold tryouts for Keeper. Also later, Harry had to attend the Prefect orientation meeting, headed by Professor McGonagall. That was looking to be a bore, but Hermione was perfectly jumping with anticipation.

    "I can't wait for this meeting," Hermione was saying, as she, Ron, and Harry were eating breakfast in the Great Hall. "At least we have this to look forward to, what with classes being delayed and all."

    "You amaze me," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just relieved we get a few more days before classes."

    "Ron, we need those classes for O.W.L. preparation. I'll have to work extra hard to make sure that the delay doesn't put me off of my schedule." Hermione took out a large piece of parchment and unrolled it on the table. On it was the schedule of the year, with each day marked with page numbers, book titles, and subject headings.

    "Hermione, this reminds me of third year, when you took too many classes. I'm not going to tell you not to follow this insane schedule, but at least make sure you can handle it without stressing out," Harry said sensibly, catching Ron's eye, who was trying hard not to snigger at Hermione.

    "I will, Harry. I suggest you two study as well," Hermione started to say, but, much to Harry's relief, the screeching of owls and the whooshing of wings indicated that the mail had arrived. Harry spotted Hedwig among the flurry of brown and grey owls, and smiled. Hedwig landed on the table in front of Harry, and limped a bit towards Harry's goblet. Harry noticed two red marks on one of Hedwig's legs, and frowned.

    "What's wrong with Hedwig?" Hermione asked, stroking the bird's head as Harry took the letter from her talons.

    "She had a run-in with a vampire bat over the summer. She must have been more injured than I thought," Harry said, pushing his goblet of orange juice closer so Hedwig wouldn't have to walk. She lapped up the juice.     

    "Vampire bat? What happened?" Ron asked worriedly. Harry launched into his tale, from the dream to the vampire bat to the Diagon Alley incident. The bell rang just as Harry finished. Hedwig nipped Harry's ear affectionately and flew off to the Owlery, while Hermione and Ron began speculating on Voldemort's actions.

    "I wonder what he's up to this year. So he's looking for some object of power?" Ron pondered as they walked towards Gryffindor Tower.

    "I suppose so. His seer seemed worried that I not get it first," Harry said, opening his letter. It was from Dumbledore, requesting a meeting with him before Dumbledore left. "Looks like I'm going to be discussing the same things with him."

    "Who is that seer anyways? What was her name?" Hermione asked curiously.

    "Malagar, I think. I'm not that worried about her, more worried about Voldemort." Ron flinched at his name.

    "Let's not worry about him. Voldemort's too much of a coward to directly attack Hogwarts when Dumbledore is here," Hermione said. Ron's jaw dropped when he heard Hermione.

    "You just said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron gasped, with an expression mixed with surprise and apprehension.

    "It's just a name, Ron. Why must we be scared of his name?" Hermione replied bravely. Ron contented himself with shaking his head, not wanting to start another row between the two of them.

    "I'm going to go see Dumbledore now, I'll catch you guys later." Harry walked to Dumbledore's office, losing himself in thought as he listened to his own footsteps echoing through the halls. Harry was thinking about his dream, trying to get the facts straight in his head before he talked to Dumbledore. While Dumbledore wouldn't give him answers necessarily, Harry hoped that he could at least ask some strategic questions, so that at least Dumbledore was thinking of them. In no time at all, Harry arrived at the Phoenix gargoyle. Not knowing if the password had changed, he waited to see if Dumbledore showed. Harry leaned on the gargoyle, and it instantly sprang to life. Startled, but not completely surprised, Harry stood on one of the stairs as the gargoyle spiraled into Dumbledore's office. As Harry entered, he realized that Dumbledore was not there, which was confusing since he didn't give a password to get into the office in the first place. Yet, as confusing as it was, Harry was more than able to resign himself to the fact that Dumbledore, somehow, was able to let him in. As he sat in one of the chairs, Harry noticed Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet phoenix, sitting on his perch. Harry smiled, remembering Fawkes dueling with the Basilisk back in his second year. Fawkes looked like he was in his prime, his plumage brilliantly lighting up the room. Harry walked over to stroke Fawkes' head. As Harry ran his hand over Fawkes' feathers, he felt a sense of heat giving off from the bird. Harry, surprised, jerked his hand back, and sat back into his seat.     

    "Good morning, Harry," a voice said behind him. Harry turned, and saw Albus Dumbledore standing behind the chair.

    "Good morning, Professor. I got your message, and I came right away," Harry said, smiling.

    "Very good. I expected you'd be outside, but I assume you've once again cracked my password. I must come up with something more difficult," Dumbledore said, with a slight twinkle in his blue eyes. Harry looked into Dumbledore's tired eyes

and tried to ascertain whether or not he was joking.

    "I didn't give a password, Professor. I just leaned on it and it started to move," Harry said slowly. Dumbledore's eyes sparkled, and grew wide suddenly.

    "It did, did it? Very peculiar." Dumbledore seemed lost in thought, much like last year when Harry told him about Voldemort using his blood.

    "Professor?" Harry prompted Dumbledore. However, the headmaster merely shook his head, and resumed his tired visage.

    "Yes, yes. I wished to talk to you, Harry, about your dream. Now, I spoke with Sirius through owl post, and he sent me a copy of your dream. However, we need to go through it again."

    "Yes, Professor."

    "Now. What exactly did the seer see in the cauldron, when she made her prediction?" Harry strained his memory, remembering only what he wrote down, not the actual dream.

    "A couple of things. The first was that someone would be a source of trials for Voldemort. Then he said that they could dispose of them."

    "Vague, but we can figure that one out. Continue."

    "The second was that there was a traitor among the Death Eaters. Voldemort sent Wormtail to kill whoever it was, but he didn't manage to do it. Voldemort said that the traitor would hide, and that it was better if the traitor hid. They both seemed to know who it was."

    "Another vague image. You could not see into the cauldron?" Dumbledore asked sharply, probably not intended. Harry decided to ignore this, and reply casually.

    "No. Only the seer could see into it."

    "Ok, continue. Then she said that the two creatures Voldemort needed wouldn't be a problem. The first she said was fragile, but easily obtained. The second she said was more difficult, and Voldemort said they needed to hide what it really was."

    "Interesting. I believe that the dragon in Diagon Alley might have been one of them."

    "But the dragon died," Harry said. Dumbledore didn't respond, but looked Harry in his eyes, almost urging him onwards.

    "And then she talked about an object of power that Voldemort seeks, and that it's heavily defended. Then she warned him that if I get it, but then he cut her off. Then she said Voldemort did, or will, make a grave error." Dumbledore listened silently.

    "Thank you, Harry. That'll do. I must take care of pressing business," Dumbledore said, sweeping out of his seat and grabbing a long blue cloak.

    "But, Professor, I thought you would explain some of this?" Harry blurted out, chasing after Dumbledore.

    "I'm afraid not, for your own sake. The situation is steadily deteriorating, and I can't afford to let you know what's going on, lest you take yourself, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger on another one of your adventures, and nearly get yourselves killed. In the next few months, the fate of everything hangs in the balance. During these months, you must remain safe," Dumbledore said, his eyes boring into Harry's with the intensity of the sun.

    "Yes, Professor." Professor Dumbledore swept quickly through the stairway and then was out of sight. Harry looked back at Fawkes, who let out a note of song. "I don't know about him anymore, Fawkes. He's different." Fawkes tilted his head curiously at Harry. "I'm worried. He shouldn't have to deal with all of this." As Harry spoke those words, he thought about his own situation, but shook his head. No time for doubting.

    "Bye Fawkes," Harry said as he exited Dumbledore's office, and went back to Gryffindor Tower.

*****

    "That's all he said? He said he was leaving?" Hermione asked incredulously has Harry told the story to her and Ron.

    "Yeah. He didn't explain any of the dreams. He told me to play it safe, and not go on any of our usual trips," Harry said back to her.

    "Blimey, everyone wants us to stay put, like we're a bunch of kids," Ron said. Hermione gave him a "We-Are-Just-Kids" look that Ron didn't quite appreciate, but kept silent on the subject anyways.

    "Well, I'm to do some research in the library. That battle that you told me about sounds really interesting, I wonder if there's any record. Of course, the first thing I'm going to check is for that Malagar woman. Maybe she's in some of the books about Voldemort," Hermione said, planning her library excursion.

    "I'm going to the Quidditch team meeting. Which leaves you free for awhile," Harry said to Ron.

    "I'll go to the Quidditch meeting. I'd rather do that then pore over more books," Ron said, Hermione rolling her eyes behind him.

    "All right then. After that's the prefects meeting. Tomorrow we should visit Hagrid," Harry said.

    "Right, see you later," Hermione said, hurrying off to the library, as Ron and Harry walked to the Quidditch Pitch. As they walked across the grounds to the Quidditch stand, they saw numerous sentinels prowling the grounds, including the one with the flaming sword. Harry tried hard not to look at the phantom guardians as they finally arrived at the Pitch. Harry saw Fred and George Weasley chatting animatedly with Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet. When Harry finally arrived, they settled down and began the meeting.

    "OK, we're all here to discuss who to elect as the new Quidditch captain," Angelina said, taking the lead in the meeting, almost hinting at her desire to lead.

    "Well, I say we just vote and get it over with," Fred said, yawning. "This is all kind of pointless."

    "NO! We must take this seriously! I think that we all need to sit down and deliberate carefully," Angelina said sharply.

    "But that will take way too long, and besides, we all know who we're going to pick anyways," George said, looking at Harry.

    "Oh no, not me. I can't be captain, I have way too much on my plate," Harry said quickly.

    "You can't just remove yourself from candidacy!" Angelina shouted.

    "I think you're getting too into this," Katie Bell said, patting Angelina on her back.

    "I know, I'm just trying to make it seem like Oliver was here. I kind of miss him bossing us around," Angelina said, laughing.

    "Well we need to pick someone," Harry said, looking around.

"Anyone have a way to figure this out?"

    "Vote!" Fred shouted, losing his patience.

    "Fine," Angelina sighed. With a wave of her wand, several pieces of parchment appeared. "Write down who you nominate, and then we'll count them up." Angelina handed out the pieces of parchment and gave them all quills. Harry watched his fellow teammates write down their ideas, while all he could do is look around at everyone. He saw Fred and George whispering as they voted. Angelina looked deep in thought as she wrote very slowly on her piece of parchment. Katie kept writing and then crossing it out, cursing herself for her indecision. Alicia kept putting the quill in her mouth, and tapping her fingers on the parchment. Harry then saw Ron waving his wand like it was a sword, and accidentally shooting birds out of the tip. As the birds flew away, Harry laughed inwardly, and then looked back at the parchment. He looked at the Quidditch team one more time, and then decided on who to vote for. He wrote quickly on the parchment:

                 Ron Weasley

                    -Harry

    He folded up the piece of paper and gave it back to Angelina, who then collected all of the pieces of parchment. Angelina then began to read the votes.

    "Ok...one for Angelina, that's my vote." Fred and George snickered for some mysterious reason, but Angelina decided not to pay attention.

    "Ok...one for Ron Weasley, that's Harry's vote. A bit random, but ok," Angelina said with a smile on her face. Ron didn't hear Harry's vote, as he was waving his wand again, pretending to poke away, muttering, "Damn spiders". Harry smiled and then continued to listen to the votes.

    "Another vote for me, that's Katie's vote. One for Harry Potter, that's Alicia's vote." Alicia smiled at Harry, who smiled weakly. Angelina picked up the last piece of parchment. "I assume Fred and George picked the same person." To this she added in a small, muttering tone, "Surprise, surprise." She opened up the piece of paper, and her face contained an expression of surprise, and she smiled.

    "Two votes for...Harry Potter." The team turned to look at Harry brightly. "Those are Fred's and George's votes, which means you're the new team captain." Harry looked at all of them with a wide-eyed expression on his face. "Excited?" Angelina asked brightly.

    "Um...yeah...great..." Harry mumbled weakly, giving a fake smile as he shook Angelina's hand.

*****

    "So you're the new Gryffindor team captain?" Hermione asked, impressed and surprised by the news. She and Harry were walking to the prefects meeting, which was being held in the Great Hall.

    "Yes. Fred, George, and Alicia voted for me today," Harry said with a frown on his face. "Ron was so excited, he practically flew to Gryffindor Tower to start coming up with plans. He's already asking to be assistant. Says he knows some good formations. I said all right, but it was going to be a lot of work."

    "Well, it was a nice thing of you to do, Harry," Hermione said smilingly.

    "Letting him be my assistant? It was nothing," Harry tried to say as casually as possible. And while he knew Hermione recognized the truth, that Harry was trying to include Ron in something so that he wouldn't feel left out, he wouldn't say so to Hermione. As they walked through the darkened corridors, a sentinel passed suddenly by them, a sentinel in the form of a spider missing a few of its legs. It clicked angrily as it passed by Harry and Hermione. It vanished in a whoosh, startling Hermione, who had pressed herself against Harry and had clasped his hand. Harry, who was only startled by the sentinel, felt a wave of heat rush to his cheeks when he felt Hermione hold his hand. He felt uncomfortable inside, but in a pleasant, weird way. Harry looked at Hermione, and noticed how the torch light danced across her face, and realized she wasn't just pretty, she was absolutely beautiful. Hermione, composing herself, took a deep breath and took her hand out of Harry's. At the moment she let go, Harry felt himself return to normal. Harry cleared his throat, and felt the overwhelming need to say something.

    "I could go for some ice cream," Harry said, realizing just as he said it that it was probably one of the stupidest things he could have said.

    "Me too," Hermione said, smiling. She looked as if she was comforted that Harry changed the subject. They finally entered the Great Hall, and saw Professor McGonagall and several other students. Harry saw two fifth years that he didn't recognize, and assumed that they were from Ravenclaw. From Hufflepuff, he recognized Hannah Abbot and Ernie McMillan. Harry saw Slytherin's prefects, and saw Pansy Parkinson and the smarmy, smug face of Draco Malfoy. Draco only smirked when he saw Harry, but he dared not instigate under the close watch of Professor McGonagall.

    "Now that everyone is here, I want to make it perfectly clear that I expect all of you to live up to the standards of being a prefect. Being a prefect does not exclude you from following the rules, and that the Head Boy and Girl will be monitoring your behavior. Now, let's go over the school rules, and the password to the areas allowed by prefects." McGonagall handed out booklets filled with information for prefects. Harry sighed, not looking forward to remembering it all, while Hermione looked positively thrilled. The group forged through the notes, and by the time they were done, it was time to go to bed. As they were dismissed, Malfoy faked a wave goody-bye to Harry, and swaggered off with Pansy in tow. Hermione looked at Harry, but said nothing as they walked through the hall. They walked in silence, listening to the silence that filled the halls. Suddenly, without warning, Harry's scar started to twinge and burn. He put his hand instinctively up to his scar. Hermione noticed just as they reached the Fat Lady.    "Canary Creams. Are you all right?"

    "I'm fine. My scars acting up a bit."

    "You're sure..." Hermione started to insist, but Harry nodded his head. As he headed up to the dormitory, he heard Ron muttering about formations, and he saw Neville staring out of the window. Harry patted him on the back, smiled, and then closed his four-poster bed. As he closed his eyes to nod off to sleep, he felt a mist crawling over his mind, and he fell into a restless sleep.