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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (contd.)
Hey guys, back again! Time to start reposting the story again. This is gonna take a while. Wish I knew magic! 
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:11 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Chapter 1: Scar Issue
"AND IF I SEE THAT RUDDY BIRD LOOSE IN MY HOUSE ONE MORE TIME, YOU'VE HAD IT BOY!!" roared a very angry Uncle Vernon over the whimpers of his son Dudley, who was clutching his pink, pudgy face, obviously in pain.
"But Uncle Vernon, she's not getting enough excercise, besides, the only reason she bit Dudley is-" began Harry.
"I DON'T CARE!!" yelled Vernon. "JUST TAKE IT AND LOCK IT UP FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER, OR ELSE!"
Harry's face began to show signs of anger, and Dudley whimpered even louder when he saw Harry's irked expression. "Or else what!" he spat at his Uncle, whose face turned a shade of purple Harry had never seen it turn before. Aunt Petunia pursed her lips tightly together, all the while holding on to Dudley's squirming arm, which was barely able to be held onto, even though Aunt Petunia was using both of her hands.
"Or else I'll lock you away in that bedroom of yours for a month. You almost got expelled last time you did magic, you won't do it again," Uncle Vernon said, surprisingly calmly.
"Oh yea," replied Harry contemptuously. "I could care less if I hexed you right now..." Even though he did care, Hogwarts was his only escape from the prison that he stayed in every summer, he still felt angry enough to hurt someone.
Uncle Vernon stepped back a little, his face was now a lighter shade of purple, and Aunt Petunia tried to calm down Dudley, who had wrestled away from her and was currently cowering behind his Aunt, who could not have covered him even if Dudley lost 200 pounds. Uncle Vernon readjusted himself and stepped in close to Harry. "Listen here, boy, you are in no position to be threatening me, because if you continue, I'll make sure that you never see that freakshow school of yours again-"
"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!!" roared Harry, as he swiftly pulled his wand out of his back pocket. All three Dursleys gave a gasp of horror in unison as Harry raised his wand directly up to Uncle Vernon's face.
A sudden searing pain flashed along the length of his scar, and he automatically put his other hand up to his face in an attempt to stifle the pain. However, the hot pain on his forehead continued to grow until Harry dropped his wand and put his other hand up to his head.
"Ah..." he muttered as he felt the most peculiar sensation. It was as if someone had unzipped his brain and dropped a rock in it. All Harry could see of the Dursley's through his fingers was Uncle Vernon's astomished look and Aunt Petunia's almost worried face until eventually his vision went black. He felt as though a cold water faucet had been turned on inside his body and he was slowly filling up with icy cold water. When the sensation again reached his brain, he felt an immediate lack of care for the world and a strong sense of good feeling, similar to that he had felt under the Imperius Curse, yet he was still aware of what he was doing and the fact that his body was freezing.
He slowly pulled his hands away from his face and raised his head slowly, as his glasses fell to the floor and shattered.
He felt a certain separation from his body, because he had not commanded his arms to release his face, it was as if he was in the passanger seat watching someone else drive his body. He could still feel his scar hurting, although he wasn't really sure it was even his body anymore. He didn't care though, because he felt slightly sedated as he looked directly at Uncle Vernon.
"Dursley..." he heard himself speak, althogh he had not intended to speak, nor did his voice sound familiar: it was a cold, icy cold voice that belonged to only one person... Lord Voldemort.
Uncle Vernon's face was no longer purple with rage but white with fear. Dudley screamed and ran from the room, his mother ran after him. Tripping over himself, Uncle Vernon looked up at Harry from the tile floor in the kitcen, an expression of fear on his face. Harry raised his wand and yelled something he never thought he would ever say.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!!! " he said in sort of a half yell. Time seemed to freeze for Harry. Lot's of things crossed his mind. He was killing his Uncle. The Ministry would be looking for him, and he would never be able to see his Hogwarts again, never be able to fly on a broomstick again. He would never see Hermione again...
He shrieked in a most evil, sharp voice and suddenly felt the coldness evaporate and his mind felt as though it had "snapped" back in to the rest of his body. The pain in his scar remained, although it was very small, and cold beads of sweat dripped down his face. Did he dare to look at his Uncle, his most certainly dead Uncle??
Preparing for the worst, he looked over at Uncle Vernon, and a huge wave of relief swept over him. He say a rubber duck laying a few feet from Uncle Vernon, who was still hunched over protected his small, balding head. He had grabbed one of Fred and George's fake wands by mistake, the killing cuse was never performed, he was safe... for the most part.
Once Uncle Vernon looked up and saw Harry picking up his glasses from the floor, he got himself up hurredly and backed up right into the bureua, knocking over a lamp and a picture of he, Petunia, and Dudley.
"What are you trying to pull ,boy?" he said in an exasperated voice. Uncle Vernon's shirt was dripping with sweat, and Harry looked over to the dining room door and saw Aunt Petunia peeking inside with her most shocked face yet.
Harry put his broken glasses back into his front pocket and the rubber duck wand into his back pocket, and then stared at Uncle Vernon, as the terror welled up inside himself. What just happened, Harry thought to himself.
"Voldemort..." he whispered. He instantly thought to contact Professor Dumbledore, btu rememberd how angry he was at him.
"What are you trying to pull, boy?" repeated Uncle Vernon, in a slightly more courageous voice.
"I- I don't know," Harry stammered. His brain seemed to have shut down, devoid of all thought process. He didn't want to think about what had just happened. All he wanted to do was sleep. He forced his body to move past Uncle Vernon, who scrambeled further away from Harry, knocking over a jar containing his grandfather's ashes. As Harry walked upstairs, not bothering to avoid the creaky step he noticed Dudley was in the bathroom, crying his eyes out, and he heard Aunt Petunia comforting him. " It's okay my little Dudley Diddykins, he's not going to hurt you..."
The voices melted away as Harry turned the knob on his bedroom door and stumbled inside, plopping himself on the bed without even changing into pajamas or noticing that Hedwig's cage needed cleaning. He instantly fell to sleep, unaware that he was laying on letter...
Harry opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling, only there wasn't one that he could see. He felt that he wasn't lying on his bed, because the ground beneath him was dusty and cold, and the air was musty and smelled like Uncle Vernon's old socks. Sitting up, Harry instantly knew where he was... the Department of Mysteries. He was in the room with the giant stone steps and, of course, the archway with the black veil draped over it. Tears came to Harry's eyes as he remembered the face of his godfather Sirius Black as Bellatrix Lestrange knocked him through the archway, never to come out the other side.
Harry slowly stood up and walked across the giant coliseum towards the stone archway. His footsteps echoed throughout the space and dust was swept into the air as his feet scraped across the floor. He stopped just short of the veil, which was swaying as though it was being blown by the wind, although there was no wind to move it. He wanted to reach out and touch the veil: feel its soft, silky shape run across his fingers. He could here voices coming from behind the veil, and despite himself, he looked behind it, and found, quite to his surprise, Dumbledore standing a few feet away from him.
"Get out of this place Harry," he stated firmly.
Harry opened his mouth to retort, but he was cut off by Dumbledore. "Wake up Harry!"
With a start Harry jumped in his bed, got twisted up in his covers, and fell to the floor with a loud THUMP. He could hear Uncle Vernon get out of bed with a similar sounding "thump", and flick on the light switch. Harry quickly got to his feet and tried to act normal as Uncle Vernon slammed his bedroom door nearly off its hinges and started shouting.
"What the DEVIL are you doing in here, boy!?" he roared, with a look of question on his face.
Harry slowly raised his head to meet his Uncle's.
"Nothing," he said, rather shakily. "Nothing, I just had a- a nightmare."
Uncle Vernon surveyed him closely for a few seconds and then said, "One more disturbance from you and I'll strap you down to this bed, do you hear me?"
"Yes," Harry replied angrily, although he didn't really care what threats Uncle Vernon was throwing at him. He barely even noticed Uncle Vernon storm out of the room and turn off the lights, and soon all was calm again.
However, Harry began pacing his room. Why did he dream about the veil. Was it a dream? What was Dumbledore doing there? All these questions stirred violently in his head and he eventually say down on the edge of his mattress and heard the sound of paper crumpling. Sitting up, he realized that there was a letter on his sheets, and it was rather shabby looking, probably because Harry had slept on it all night long. It read...
Mr. Harry Potter
The Spare Bedroom
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
Below all this was a few words written in bright red ink
OPEN AND READ IMMEDIATLY
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:15 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Harry's heart sank down into his stomach as he realized that it had been at least 7 hours that this letter was laying unopened on his bed. He hurriedly tore away the top of the letter and pulled the paper out from inside. He was about to unfold the paper when his heart sank even lower. What if it was a letter from the Ministry, telling him that he was being expelled for attempting an Unforgivable Curse? His cold, sweaty, shaking hands gradually opened up the paper, and he was relieved to see that the Ministry seal was not anywhere to be seen on the paper.
Be waiting at your front door at exactly 4:00 P.M. tomorrow (which is today, Harry reminded himself). Have your school things ready. THIS IS YOUR LAST DAY AT 4 PRIVET DRIVE.
Harry didn't spot a signature, but he didn't care. Wherever he was going was surely better than the Dursleys, and he only had to put up with them for one more day. His heart was nearly exploding with excitement, yet he wondered who had sent the letter.
It was definitely not Ron, he had received a letter from Ron a few days ago telling him that if he wanted to stay over, he would have to wait until the last month of vacation, because the Weasleys were being treated to an extra long vacation in the Bahamas, courtesy of Fred and George, who were practically up to their eyeballs in Galleons ever since they had left Hogwarts the previous year, of course they left their mark on the school, and started a joke shop in Diagon Alley. Harry longed to walk Diagon Alley again and visit all the different shops.
Snapping his mind back to the letter, Harry concluded that it must be the Order Of The Phoenix, trying to protect him again. A hot swoop of anger swam over him when he remembered his previous summer with the Dursleys, cut off from the magical world. He didn't really care who had sent the letter, anyone was better than Dumbledore.
But you don't mean that, do you said a voice inside Harry's head. After all, it was Dumbledore who cared about you the most .
"No," Harry said to himself. "No, if he cared about me, then he wouldn't keep me trapped with the worst Muggle family in England."
Thoroughly upset now, he tore the letter into a million pieces, and tossed them on the floor, causing Hedwig to hoot in protest. Harry bent over and picked up the pieces of the letter before Aunt Petunia discovered them while she was cleaning.
"Don't worry, Hedwig, pretty soon, we'll be out of here, and you can fly whenever you like."
Hedwig hooted happily and ruffled her feathers. Harry smiled at her and then proceded downstairs to fix breakfast. He was so excited that he burned the bacon, overcooked the eggs, and absolutely torched the toast. He didn't even seem to care when Uncle Vernon told him that he was going to whack him over the head with a nine iron. 4 o'clock couldn't come soon enough...
Chapter 2: The Surprise Gift
Harry had been waiting on his front porch for the last hour, absentmindedly picking out the green, damp blades of grass from the front lawn. He glanced at his watch... 3:50 P.M. The excitement flowed through him once again when he realized that this was the last few minutes he would ever spend at the Dursleys. Even Hedwig seemed overjoyed, for she was hooting happily inside her cage and pacing continuously.
The front door opened behind him and his school trunk, which had been leaning against the door fell over with a crash, knocking over one of the potted plants and spilling dirt all over the front of Harry's jeans. He turned around to find all three Dursleys standing in the doorway, and all of them looked rather anxious. Uncle Vernon stepped forward and Harry stood up, lazily brushing the dirt off himself.
"Um, well boy, um... your aunt thought, I mean... we thought," he said, catching Aunt Petunia's eye. "Well... we thought it would be good for you to, er- have these..." His voice trailed off as he handed Harry a half pence piece and a box of Kleenex, part of the Dursley's morbid sense of humor. Harry took them and mumbled "thanks", and proceeded to sit back down and silently wait for his savior.
"Not just yet... Harry," said Aunt Petunia. "There's one more thing that you- erm... that you should have."
She pulled a long, thin shaft of wood out of her apron pocket, holding it as if it might explode in her hand, and tossed it to Harry. Harry dropped it, but as he bent to pick it up he realized that it was a WAND. Curiosity took the place of excitement as he said almost angrily. "What's this?"
"YOU DARN KNOW WHAT IT IS BOY!" Uncle Vernon said in a kind of half yell. "We don't want it polluting our house any longer," he spat. "The event of your leaving gave us a good chance to get rid of it, because well, we never could. I'd throw it in the garbage can one night, and the next morning its sticking out of Dudley's nose."
Dudley touched his nose; a slight look of fear crossed his bloated face.
"Right, so... there you are," finished Uncle Vernon and began to move his family back through the door.
"Hang on!" Harry yelled. "Whose is this?!" He was running his fingers up and down the wand as if it were the most precious of metal, yet his face showed no signs of admiration, only anger.
Aunt Petunia turned around and hissed at him. "It was hers ."
Harry didn't need to ask who "her" was. It was his mother: Lily Potter. His mind was a hurricane, and he didn't know what to say.
"You've had this, you've had this for- how long have you-why do you." He couldn't seem to speak in complete sentences in his astonishment.
Aunt Petunia put her hands on her hips and said quietly. "The night you-know-what happened, this, this thing came with you. The note said that it was her's , and that his had been lost. We were determined to get rid of it right away... but once we saw that we couldn't, we decided to keep it under the creaky stair where we knew you would never think to accidentally stumble upon it. And don't ask about the note... we don't have it anymore." She added this quickly, expecting that to be Harry's next question.
Harry's eyes began to fill with tears as he held the wand that his own mother used to. Instantly that love flew out of him and rage came in.
"I hate you," he murmured. The Dursley's could see that he was livid and began to back away. "I HATE YOU ALL!!!" he screamed as his hand closed tightly around the wand in his hand. Mrs. Number 3 stuck her head out her window and looked shocked as she saw that weird boy Harry Potter yelling at his cousins.
The Dursley's didn't even notice Mrs. Number 3 gaping at their nephew and the scene he was making, they just didn't want to aggravate Harry further.
Harry was about to throw his whole life away, he was going to curse the family that had made his life hell. He didn't care if he was expelled, he didn't care if he landed himself in Azkaban, he didn't even care if Voldemort killed everyone at Hogwarts. He just wanted to cause his family as much pain as possible. But then he remembered... he did care. There was something.
His watch beeped four times on his wrist, and he became distracted long enough for the Dursley's to run back inside and lock their fornt door. With a sense of relief and disappointment all at the same time, Harry turned away from the door and looked out at the front lawn, just as a loud CRACK resounded and a figure appeared on the lawn in front of him.
The man was facing backwards, but Harry could see that he was wearing long, black robes to match his long black, untidy hair. The figure was taller than Harry by at least 5 inches, and from the back it looked like...
"Sirius?" Harry gasped, as hope welled up within him. How could it be Sirius, he thought. He was dead. But still, there was no mistaking that figure. Unless...
The man in the front yard turned around and Harry took in a sharp breath of surprise. The man's face looked nothing like Sirius'. Instead, it was home to many wrinkles, a greasy, long, crooked nose, a dreadful smirk that would make even Uncle Vernon shake in his shoes, and cold, dark gray eyes. It was who Harry least expected it to be, and for a moment he almost wished that it was Dumbledore who turned up at his doorstep. Instead, the man who Apparated on the Dursley's lawn was...
" P-Proffesor Snape ?!"
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:16 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
"Good evening, Potter," drawled Snape, staring at Harry with the usual contempt. Harry stared right back at him with equal hatred. He was rooted to the spot. What was Proffesor Snape doing on his front lawn?
"I trust you have your things in order," Snape said, staring lazily at the wand in Harry's hand, his face suddenly became even more stern. "Put that away, Potter, you have no business having it out."
Harry gave Snape a nasty look and pocketed his mother's wand.
"Well then, take your things and follow me," ordered Snape, trying to sound authoritative. But Harry didn't move. He wanted answers before he walked away with the man he hated most.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, with a little too much anger in his words.
Snape's face contorted with anger. "Even though you are out of school, Potter, you are to refer to me as Proffesor or Sir , do I make myself perfectly clear?"
Harry forced himself to remain calm. "Crystal," he responded, trying not to sound as though he were talking back once again. Snape eyed him carefully as Harry bent over and picked up his things. He found his trunk seemed to be even heavier than before, and Hedwig was getting restless once again.
"Wait a moment, Potter," said Snape in a curious tone. "Empty your pockets," he ordered slowly.
Harry was slightly confused at Snape's request, although he had nothing to hide, he felt it was not Snape's place to search him. He emptied out his front pocket, which contained his wand and a few of Fred and George's candies. The other front pocket contained the half-pence piece the Dursley's had given him, and his back pocket held his mother's wand.
"Stop right there, Potter," Snape yelled. "Explain yourself!"
"Explain what?!... sir " Harry retorted, greatly annoyed.
Snape looked frustrated that Harry didn't see his concern. He pointed to the two wands lying on the porch. "Why do you have two of those?" he asked angrily.
Harry instantly realized that Snape was accusing him of stealing another wizards wand. He felt a new surge of hate for Snape, but surpressed it as he responded," Well, sir, one is mine and the other belonged to- to my mother. My Aunt just gave it to me a few minutes ago, and I never knew she had it all these miserable years-"
Snape cut him off. "Why exactly, Potter, does your Muggle Aunt possess the wand that belonged in the hands of Dumbledore years and years ago?"
"I don't know, shes just said-"
"SIR!!"
"I don't know, sir , she just said that it came with me when I was dumped on their lousy doorstep-"
"I think you'd better hand that to me, Potter, save it might fall into... the wrong hands," Snape said sleekily.
Harry eyed him suspiciously. "No, I think I have the right to hang on to it... sir." He said "sir" like he felt pain everytime the word left his mouth.
There was a short silence, in which both stared into each others' eyes. Snape broke his gaze and replied," Of course, Potter. Now get your things, we're leaving at once."
Harry turned around and repocketed all the things he had removed, heaved his trunk off the snote porch, and grabbed Hedwig's cage off the bench. Snape motioned for Harry to follow him, and he half-heartedly did. He walked behind Snape and thought how funny it would be if he kicked the back of Snape's knee, causing him to trip over himself and fall flat on his face on the concrete driveway. Holding back his laughter, he asked Snape, "So, where exactly are we going?"
"Oh, I think you'll be fairly familiar with the place, Potter," Snape said without looking back at Harry.
Harry was not satisfied with this answer. "Where are we going then?" he said, a little bit more annoyed.
Snape stopped suddenly and Harry ran into the back of hiim and nearly tripped. Whirling around, Harry met Snape's ungrateful eyes and crooked smile.
"You'll find out soon enough, Mr. Potter. In the meantime, respect your superiors and keep your mouth shut."
Staring back at Snape, Harry felt the urge to run away form him and go back in with the Dursley's. Whatever Snape had to show him could not be more pleasant than life on 4 Privet Drive. Despite this feeling, he once again followed Snape across the street and into the yard of a familiar house.
"Hang on," Harry said quietly. He stopped on the lawn and Snape didn't seem to notice. "This is Mrs. Figg's house... what are we doing here?"
But Snape pretended not to hear him, and he walked up to the front door and kncoked three times, the last knock seemed to resonate on the wood for several seconds.
Harry waited anxiously as the door opened, but he could not see who opened it because Snape was blocking his view. Always in the way of things, Harry thought to himself.
Snape turned around on the porch of Mrs. Figg's cat infested house and told Harry to come in or he'd leave him on the lawn for the cats to deal with. Harry forced himself to move across the lawn and onto the porch, although his thoughts were preoccupied with curiousity and fear. He lifted his trunk into the door and placed it on the carpet. Quite to his surprise, the trunk melted slowly through the rug as if the floor was made of molasses. He decided to hold on to Hedwig as he cautiously stepped into the house and stood on the rug.
The house still looked dark and dmap, and smelled like old books and cats. The furniture was covered in plastic and there seemed to be no lights on inside the house whatsoever. It would have been a fairly scary place to be in had Harry not been there at least once a year when the Dursleys went on vacation. He decided not to move until someone called him, and he jumped with surprise as the door slammed itself shut automatically behind him.
Suddenly, the sound of soft footsteps became audible, and Harry quickly glanced around to find to whom they belonged. Out of the shadows of the dark hallway to his right stepped an old wizard Harry knew well. His scar gave a slight twinge at the sight of him, and Harry felt relief and anger both at the same time, resulting in an expressionless greeting.
"Hello Professor Dumbledore," Harry said in an expressionless voice.
"Hello Harry," said Dumbledore in his usual warm, caring voice. His eyes twinkled as he surveyed Harry. "Perhaps you are wondering why I brought you on this very, very long and tiring journey across the street and into the home of a certain Mrs. Figg."
"Kind of, yeah," Harry said, trying to smile at Dumbledore's joke.
Dumbledore sighed as he walked up to Harry and stood on the rug beside him.
"Since the death of your godfather-"
Harry tried to remain calm, but could not help clencing his fists and lowering his head to stare at the rug, which gave him another shock. He and Dumbledore were slowly sinking into the floor of Mrs. Figg's foyer. He looked back at Dumbledore, and found his face to look very old and tired.
"- I knew that things were harder for you than they have ever been. Which is why I am making this decision Harry, for your benefit. This house is now the meeting place for the Order of the Phoenix, conviently located I might add. We could not risk having you travel to Grimmuald Place by any means, so we decided to move our headquarters closer to you. Now, as we enter the new meeting room, you will meet several new people Harry, and not all of them will be nice to you I must say. Some are still rather skeptical that Lord Voldemort has returned and still perceive you as a liar. Yet, they treat me in the same way, so don't worry about them."
Harry didn't say anything, but just listened to Dumbledore say what he'd been waiting to hear ever since he heard about the Order.
"Harry, we're going to make you a member of the Order of the Phoenix. You will be able to attend the meetings and know what is going on because, well... because you deserve to hear about things that concern you directly."
Harry looked away from Dumbledore, with a new found respect for him, and noticed that they were now in what appeared to be another house underneath Mrs. Figg's, and the words THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX were etched into the overhang just above their heads in a shiny, golden script.
"But Proffesor," began Harry, but Dumbledore held up his hand to silence him.
"All of your questions will be answered later, Harry," he said, the twinkle disappearing slightly from his eyes. They stepped off the rug and walked down the hallway lit with torches and stopped at the top of a staircase. Dumbledore turned to Harry, and could see that he was wearing an expression of confusion.
"Right now Harry, I must leave you, for I have a very important matter to attend to. In the meantime, I think you should be able to preoccupy yourself with several familiar faces, and I believe that your best friends Ronald Weasly, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom will be arriving shortly."
"Already here, Harry!" came the voice of Neville running up the stairs. Harry turned away form Dunbledore and winced as he saw Neville trip on a step and fall back down the staircase. He chuckled slightly and looked over at Dumbledore, but found that he was gone.
"Er- Neville, don't bother coming up again, I wanna come down and see this, um, house," Harry half-laughed. Neville gave a tired looking nod and stood up, brushing off his robes.
As Harry came down the stairs, he noticed two other figures silhouetted at the bottom. Without even asking who they were, he skipped every other step, and completely missed the last five, and ran straight towards Ron's grinning face, which had appeared out of the dark hallway.
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:17 PM |
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HarryP_Lover
It will soon begin.......
Gender: Male
Location: Hmmm...can't tell. Romania maybe? |
hi i finally made it
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With great power comes great responsability
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:17 PM |
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HarryP_Lover
It will soon begin.......
Gender: Male
Location: Hmmm...can't tell. Romania maybe? |
oh and hope you will get soon to the part youve left on story. hope youll write more romance between harry and hermione( romance i meant it like real romance) if you can. and im sorry but i can stay any longer now ill come back tomorrow cause in my country is 11:00 PM in yours its 8:00 PM i think or AM and i have exam tomorrow. well see you tomorrow. bye
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With great power comes great responsability
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:20 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Chapter Three: The Order Meeting Room
"Hey Harry!" Ron said enthusiastically, offering his hand for Harry to shake.
Harry took it and smiled back at him. "How long have you guys been here?"
Another figure emerged from the dimly lit hallway. It was Hermione. Harry was so glad to see her again. She smiled at him. "Only for a few minutes Harry, don't get angry with us again," she said sarcastically.
Harry laughed a bit and gave her a hug. He supposed that he held her a little too long, because when he realesed Hermione, Ron was grinning even more and Neville sniffed loudly. Harry blushed slightly.
"So, you guys wanna show me this house?" he said quickly, eager to change the subject.
"Not now, Harry. There's something important that has happened that you need to know about," Hermione said sternly. She motioned for him to follow as she led him down the hallway and into a very large kitchen, in which he found several of his old friends: Remus Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Mr. Weasly, Bill, Charlie, and Fred and George, who were wearing dragon skin robes, dragon skin boots, and probably dragon skin underwear for all Harry knew. He grinned at them. "Business goin' well, guys?"
Fred stepped forward. "Funny you should ask Harry. Just the other day, one of the wealthiest wizards alive stepped into our shop and bought nearly half the store."
"We were very pleased with his purchases, not to mention his generous donations to our noble cause of humor," finished Fred.
Mr. Weasly waled up to Harry and patted him on the back. "All right there, Harry?" he asked. Harry nodded.
"It's good to see you, Mr. Weasly. Where's Mrs. Weasly?" he added.
There was a long silence, one even longer than that when Harry had commented on Quirrel's drastic drawback of sharing a head with Lord Voldemort in Dolores Umbridge's class.
Mr. Weasly cleared his throat loudly, but didn't say anything as a tear rolled down his cheek. Harry looked around to everyone, who seemed to be looking at him with the upmost sadness.
"You don't mean-" Harry began, but he fell silent because he knew what had happened. Mrs. Weasly had been murdered. It was Bill who spoke up first, and he tried to sound as if everything was going to be ok.
"We don't know how it happened, Harry. All we know is she was left alone at Grimmuald Place one evening while the otehrs were out on Order business, and when they returned, they found mum... well... you know..." His voice trailed off as Mr. Weasly gave a sob and Ron sniffed behind them.
Harry's mouth was very dry, and he found it difficult to speak. "I'm- I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Do you have any idea who..."
Mr. Weasly shook his head. "No, there are no leads and no one we are acquainted knows anyone who would do such a thing."
Harry dared to say this thoughts. "You don't think it could be... Voldemort," he said, and several people in the room winced at the sound of his name.
"Anything's possible Potter," said Mad-Eye, and Harry lost the desire to ask anymore questions.
"Right then, Harry," said Mr. Weasley, breaking the awful silence. "We'll begin the meeting shortly. Until you're called, its ok if you want to see the rest of the house with Ron and the others."
Harry nodded and followed Ron, Hermione, and Neville out of the kitchen and into another hallway, which was lit by electric lighting and ended in a staircase that seemed to go both up and down. Harry felt he had to say something to Ron.
"Ron, I... I'm sorry about your mum. I know what its like to lose a parent, well... kind of. Anyway, I'm really sorry."
Ron turned his head and muttered thanks, just as they stopped in front of the peculiar looking stairway. Harry still thought it looked as if it went both up and down, but then again he could be losing his mind.
"Um... guys, how do you-"
"Honestly, Harry, think about it," said Hermione in her proffesional voice. "It goes up or down depending on where you want to go."
"But-but what if you wanted to go both up and down, then what would happen?" asked Ron. Harry and Neville laughed, but Hermione actually took this thought seriously.
"I don't know Ron, but if you want to find out, you're welcome to."
Ron gulped and Harry and Neville chuckled again. "'s ok" Ron muttered shakily.
"I think you would like to see the basement, Harry, it's rather interesting," said Hermione briskly, stepping on the translucent steps, which instantly became a solid staircase leading into the dark, damp basement.
Neville was shaking. "I-I don't wanna go down- down there," he said shakily. He looked nervously at Harry. "There's... things."
"Oh, come on Neville," Ron responded, sounding unnerved. "There's nothing to be afraid of, honestly."
Harry couldn't help smiling, noting Ron's less than courageous look, thinking about how many spiders were down there, as the three followed Hermione down the stairway and stopped on the cold, stony bottom, which was lit be various candles levitating in the room.
"I think you'll find an old friend down here, Harry. The others found him when they were cleaning up the house a few days ago, and told us about it when we arrived. As they stepped into the center of the floor, Harry could hear a loud, scratching sound escape one of the doors ahead of him. He became nervous. What if it was a boggart, and Hermione and Ron were playing a practical joke on him. He then heard a low, grunt come from directly ahead, and his fear re-doubled. Neville was currently in the fetal position, shielding his head, and Ron was kicking at him to get up.
Harry groped around for the doorknob in the dim light, and when he touched it the door swung open to reveal a rather large hippogriff chewing on a few dead ferrets.
"BUCKBEAK!" Harry said excitedly and threw his arms around his familiar friend, who nibbled Harry's ear affectionately.
"Also, Harry," Hermione added from behind him. "He came with this attached to his wing. We can't figure out what it means."
Harry turned around and grabbed the small package from Hermione's outstretched hand, and his hand, partially accidental, had grabbed onto hers for a split second. Both pretended not to notice, and Neville got to his feet and stood next to Harry as he opened the package. Out of it fell something he couldn't see, and it hit the floor with a small 'clink', and a letter with a few pieces of jet black hair attached to it. He opened the note hastily and his eyes sped over the words:
I AM SORRY THAT YOU THOUGHT I WAS IN TROUBLE HARRY. IN CASE I DON'T SEE YOU AGAIN, I LEAVE YOU THIS GIFTS. I HOPE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PUT IT TO GOOD USE.
All my love,
Sirius
Harry instantly remembered the wand he had received no more than two hours ago. He sat down on the floor, only to leap up because it was rather damp. Brushing off his robe, which he realized he didn't need on anymore, he took his mother's wand out of his pocket.
"Can we go upstairs," he asked in a tired voice. "I gotta tell you guys something."
"Thank you Harry!," Neville said and scurried off up the stairs. Ron and Hermione were about to walk out too when a voice came down into the basement from upstairs. It was Lupin's.
"Harry, Harry are you down there?"
He stowed the wands away and went to the bottom of the steps.
"I'll be right up, Professor Lupin," he replied and turned around to Hermione and Ron.
"I'll be back later guys, I've just-"
Ron looked at him oddly. "What do you mean Harry? We're going with you of course." Hermione nodded in agreement.
"How can you-" he began, almost angrily
"We're member of the Order of the Phoenix now, Harry. Dumbledore thought it would be a good idea if you had some close friends to discuss Order business with. Only he said to be careful where we talk about it. Don't want some people to hear anything."
"Malfoy," Harry and Ron said in unison.
Once upstairs, Harry followed Professor Lupin into the kitchen again and out into yet another hallway- they seemed to just appear out of nowhere. They found Neville waiting outside the door for them. Harry felt slightly surprised. Ron and Hermione was one thing... but Neville?
"Neville," Harry said. Neville held up his hand to stop him.
"Harry, I know I'm not even close to being a competant wizard, but Dumbledore thought it would be good if I too joined the order. I've got a reason to fight the Death Eaters after all..." His voice trailed off, and Harry remembered visiting St. Mungo's hospital last year and seeing Neville's parents, both of whom were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, a relative of Sirius Black.
"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Time to start," and he waved his wand to open the door. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville looked stepped slowly inside and were slightly intimidated by the large number of people at the round, wooden table. Harry tried to see everyone he knew as he and the others went to fill the five empty seats at the table. He saw that Dumbledore was back, and sitting at the head of the table. To his left and right were Mad-Eye Moody and Proffesor Lupin, who had just taken his seat. Next to them were all the members of the Advance Guard: Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle, Emmeline Vance, Sturgis Podmore, and Hestia Jones. Also there was Mr. Weasly, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George (no Percy, and Harry wondered if he had even stopped in to comfort his family), a tall, male wizard with a little black hair whom Harry had seen at the Ministry before: Intergo Phage, and a few other men Harry did not recognize.
He, Ron, Hermione, and Neville took their seats at the very end of the table. They all were slightly nervous, although Neville was shaking so much he appeared as if he was going to fall right out of his chair.
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:21 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Dumbledore cleared his throat and began.
"Good evening to all, and I hope your journeys were safe."
One of the wizards Harry didn't know glanced down at his arm, which was in a sling. Harry sniggered silently to himself.
"As you all know, we have a few new member joining us today. I will go around the table and introduce everyone. I think you will find that several more Weasleys have joined us today. First, we have Fred and George, or, is it George and Fred? Either way, welcome, welcome. Also with us is their younger brother, a sixth year student at Hogwarts, Ronald Weasley." Ron's face turned slightly red as all eyes looked upon him. "Changing gears for a moment, I'm sure you all know Intergo Phage, Director of Muggle Relations." Intergo gave Dumbledore a curt nod. "Moving on, we have Josten Wig and Pierce Wig, our second pair of Twins in the Order, who work in the Department of Mysteries." Hermione glanced nervously at Harry when Dumbledore mentioned this. Harry pretended not to notice her. "Also, we have Timothy Crouch, cousin of the late Barty Crouch, with us today, and also Ferando Nicholas, a retired Auror." Ferando was wearing the sling for his arm and he flashed the table a toothy smile.
"In addition," Dumbledore continued. "We have three other sixth years from Hogwarts. Hermione Granger, top student in her class." Hermione blushed even more than Ron had and was determined to stare at a certain spot of dirt on the table. "Neville Longbottom, a very courageous student." Neville smiled weakly and jumped when he saw a mouse on the floor scurry by his feet and he fell backwards out of his chair. Several people laughed, and Harry and Ron helped him back up.
"And finally, our newest member of the Order... Harry Potter."
A few of the unfamiliar wizards murmured amongst themselves at the sound of Harry's name, but once again, Harry pretended not to notice and said,"Hullo".
The man nearest to Harry turned and shook his hand heartily. "A pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter," Ferando Nicholas firmly. "I've heard all about you."
Pierce Wig responded in a cold, drawling voice similar to Snape's. "Everyone has, Ferando, he's Harry Potter ."
Ferando looked slightly embarrased and released Harry's hand. "Of course," he muttered quietly.
Harry gave him a half-smile and then turned his attention back to Dumbledore, who was about to speak again, when suddenly a man burst through the door behind them, surprising everybody. Hermione would surely have fell over, had she not grabbed onto Harry's leg for support. Harry looked at her quickly, and she pulled her hand away, glowing bright pink.
The man who had burst through the door looked a lot like Filch, because it was Filch. He looked overjoyed, as he did when he saw Harry kneeling next to the victims of the Basilisk's attacks in his second year. Dumbledore and several other stood up quickly, looks of concern of their faces.
"I got one sir, I GOT ONE!" he said excitedly. "Walked into the kitchen and caught this one listenin' through the door, I did. What form of punishment shall I use with him?"
"Settle down, Argus. We must see who it is first and hear from them before any sort of punishment shall be doled out."
Filch looked very disappointed. "Very well," he said quickly and dragged the eavesdropper into the room. Harry gave a gasp of surprise, as did many others in the room when they saw who it was...
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:22 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Chapter 4: Message in the Sky
"Ginny!!" Ron yelled before anyone could say anything. "What are you doing?!"
"I think we'd all like to know that," said Mr. Weasly in a very serious tone.
"She's spying on the Order meetings. She's working for You-Know-Who!" shouted Josten in accusation. Filch nodded furiously at him.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore shouted, and as usual, everybody stopped talking. "Now, I think it is important for us to get young Ginny's side of the story.
Ginny looked menacingly up at Filch and snapped her arm out of his grip and started whining. "I didn't do anything wrong, Professor Dumbledore, I just came from outside, I was at a friends house and they dropped me off, when I saw something, a very terrible and confusing thing in the sky, so I ran straight down here but stopped in front of the door to listen to see if it was ok to knock and then he ," she jerked her head at Filch, who sneered back," came down the hall and grabbed my by my shirt collar-"
"LIAR!" screeched Filch. " You were standing there for at least five minutes, I watched you, and you were muttering somethin to yourself-"
"I DID NOT!!!" screamed Ginny until she was red in the face. Everyone at the table stared at her with perplexed faces. Then Snape stood up with a grin on his face and stared at Harry when he spoke. "I think, if I may, Professor." Dumbledore gave him a short nod of approval. "That Miss Weasly was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time..." His drawling voice faded away and a small grin spread across his face. Harry stared straight back at him, and Ginny muttered what sounded like " thank you ."
Tonks got up form the table and walked over to Ginny. Harry noticed that she now had long, blonde hair with red highlights. Tonks could change her appearance at will: she was a Metamorphmagus. She put her hand on Ginny's shoulder and led her back to her seat to sit down, but Ginny as adament.
"Tell us what you saw in the sky Ginny," Tonks said gently. Kinglsey rolled his eyes at Tonk's baby voice, and Ron stiffled back laughter unti lHermione elbowed him hard in the side. Ginny began to speak when Mad-Eye cut her off.
"I can see it," he growled, his magical eye directed towrd the ceiling at an angle.
Hestia sat forward in her seat and Bill asked,"What does it say, Mad-Eye?"
He sat back in his chair and was silent for a moment. Dedalus and Intergo were gripping the table so hard Harry thought it would break.
"It's the Dark Mark," Moody said. Everyone in the room gasped and Emmeline squeaked in horror. "But that's not all," he continued. "There's something below it, though, it says: THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE WILL SPELL THE END FOR ALL WHO STAND IN THE DARK LORD'S WAY."
Harry expected pandemonium to sweep across the room, but he found that exactly the opposite had taken place. A long, eerie slience ensued as nearly everyone in the room stared at either Moody or Dumbledore. It was almost as if they were afraid to speak, lest they make the situation worse.
"But... but, what does it mmmean?" Ginny stammered, trying to move her mouth as little as possible.
No one answered her, and Harry looked around the room to see if anyone knew what the phrase ment. HALF BLOOD PRINCE? What did it mean? Prince of what?
Shifting his gaze up to Dumbledore, he could not see his face because Dumbledore's old, whithered hands were covering it. Harry wondered again if it was just Dumbledore's age or was the Half Blood Prince thing really that big of an issue.
When five minutes had past, certain people began getting restless and started blaming others in the room. Josten Wig stood up and pointed his long finger at Harry.
"I'll bet Potter's got something to do with it, no doubt." Harry gazed stupidly and angrily at him, instantly hating Josten Wig. "Trouble always seems to follow him around-"
"Enough, Wig," growled Moody, gazing sleepily at the ceiling. "Let's think about this... Why would Harry Potter cast the Dark Mark? I mean, didn't this happen at the Quidditch World Cup last year?"
Intergo Phage looked over at Moody quizically. "Weren't you there, Alastor?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow, in a voice that reminded Harry of the History of Magic teacher Proffesor Binns.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron stared nervously at Mad-Eye as his magical eye swept its gaze over to Intergo, who noticably gupled and patted his forehead with a small rag he had drawn out of his pocket. Harry remembered the whole incident. During the final Triwizard task two years ago, the Cup had been changed into a Portkey which threw him headfirst into the snakelike eyes of his would-be murderer Lord Voldemort. Harry narrowly escaped with his life, but learned soon after that Mad-Eye Moody was really Barty Crouch, and the real Mad-Eye had been locked in his trunk for the whole summer and school year, and had miraculously survived the whole ordeal.
Before anyone said anything else, Dumbledore rose and spoke. "I think it would be best, if our most gifted members, would kindly deal with the Dark Mark and passage beneath it. As for the rest of you, please exit the room, this meeting will resume in one hours time. Until then, I would like to have a word with Miss Weasley and Mr. Potter. Good day."
Harry felt someone pat his shoulder. He turned around and saw it was Ron.
"We'll be wating for you, mate," he said happily. "I'll bet old Ginny was mad that we all were made members of the Order and she wasn't. So, don't worry about it."
"Yea, Harry, it can't be any worse than when my Gran calls me in to talk privately. Usually, the marks go away in a few weeks," Neville said encouragingly, although it had the opposite effect on Harry, who grinned weakly at Neville. Ron was nearly doubled over behind Neville with laughter, and Hermione kicked him in the shin and muttered," Oh, grow UP Ronald!" She turned to Harry and smiled at him, and Harry smiled back.
Ron raised his eyebrows and began to chuckle when Hermione, once again, puched him in the arm. "Honsetly, Ron!"
Harry began to laugh as Ron looked over his shoulder and gave the thumbs up to Harry, who returned it, and watched them walk out the door. He realized that everyone had exited, and Ginny was sitting next to him, avoiding eye contact. Dumbledore began pacing the room on the opposite side of the large, wooden table, his hands locked casually behind his back, and his eyes peering over the top of his half-moon spectacles.
"Now, I suppose you both know why I have asked to talk with you?" he began warmly.
Harry looked at Ginny, who looked back at him with an expressionless face. Turning to Dumbledore, Harry decided to speak. "The Half Blood Prince, sir?"
Dumbledore nodded slightly, and looked as if any movement in his neck caused him pain. "Do either of you have a clue as to what the Half Blood Prince is?" he asked. Harry didn't have a clue, but perhaps it was related to Voldemort.
Right when he was about to try, Ginny whispered, "Does it have to do with... You-Know-Who?" Harry looked intently at Dumbledore, half expecting him to say that the Half Blood Prince was him, and then turn him in to the Ministry. But, how could he be? Both his parents were wizards.
"In certain ways, yes," Dumbledore said," yet in certain ways, no. You see Harry, and Ginny, no one really knows who the Half Blood Prince is, and what we do know is simply theory. It is rumored, that the night Voldemort murdered your parents, he had someone with him, like a backup person, in case he failed to complete his objective. The odd thing about this is, though ,that when Voldemort did indeed fail to finish what he came for, the Half Blood Prince supposedly never attempted to kill you Harry. Why he did not go through with it is the only piece of information we know about the Half Blood Prince... it was someone very close to you. Someone who could not bear to touch you, not only because of your father and mother's sacrifice, but because he just couldn't do it ."
Ginny was absolutely puzzled, and had the look of a first year tyring to find their way to classes on the first day of Hogwarts. Harry, however, was very interested in the matter, and immediatly began asking questions.
"You don't know who it was?" he began calmly.
"No," Dumbledore answered shortly.
"Any ideas at all?"
"No."
"Someone I would know?"
"Perhaps, but we don't know."
Harry was getting angry with him now.
" We ?"
"Myself and various other top ranking wizards and witches."
'Was it Peter Pettigrew?"
Dumbledore sighed heavily. "It could be Harry, it could be, anything's possible, but we DON'T KNOW. For all we know, it could have been Sirius..."
Ginny jumped back and screamed as Harry stood up in a fury, knocking over his chair and he pounded the table, at the same time drawing ot his wand and pointing it at Dumbledore.
"DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT SIRIUS LIKE THAT!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, surely waking up anyone everyone within the neighborhood. "MY GODFATHER WAS NOT A MURDERER!!!"
"I didn't say that Harry. I didn't mean-"
"THEN WHY DID YOU MENTION HIM?!"
"Because he knew who the Half Blood Prince was," said a soft voice from behind Harry, who turned around so fast he nearly broke his spine. Proffesor Lupin was standing in the doorway. Harry stared dumbstruck at Lupin, wanting to get out of his chair and attack him. Ginny stepped away from Harry, gazing nervously at his shaking body.
"How do you know- He didn't- Who is it- How?"
"I know nothing about it Harry, or who it is. But I received a letter from Azkaban during your second year asking me to warn Dumbledore of the coming of the Half Blood Prince to Hogwarts, and the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets. Whether he knew who it was specifically or just heard talk from Death Eaters in Azkaban, you or I shall, sadly, never know."
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:24 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Harry's angry face faded away into an expressionsless one, and he carefully sat back down and looked over at Dumbledore again, who had been staring at him with tears in his eyes.
"I thought Riddle was responsible for opening the Chamber four years ago. I mean, he possessed Ginny, but the memory of Voldemort in the Diary was really behind it all. Who-"
Dumbledore held up his shaking, old hand to silence Harry. He spoke in almost a tired whisper, as one does when they are woken from a deep sleep. "Harry, I will say this one more time. Despite all the years I have had to gather knowledge, I know nothing. No records exist, no prophecies spoke of him: nothing." And Harry could tell that Dumbledore was done talking for the time being. He looked hopefully towards Ginny, but she shook her head before he even said anything. Angrily, Harry stormed ot of the room, desperate to find his friends and talk to them. Ginny said goodbye to Dumbledore and left the room after Harry.
"Please, shut the door Ginny. I need some time to rest before the meeting takes place," Dumbledore requested, in a very exhausted voice.
Once the door had been shut, Dumbledore buried his head in his robed arms, and his shoulders shook gently with the soft sobs of an old man who felt as though he had failed in his self-endowed task to protect a young boy from the haunting reality of his past.
Chapter Five: O.W.L. Results
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Tonks were all sitting outside on Mrs. Figg's porch, basking in the golden light of a pleasant summer evening. The birds were singing happily in nearby trees, and there was a rather nice breeze blowing the various leaves and other objects about the lawn. Ron was attempting to teach Neville, unsuccesfully, how to play Wizards Chess, while Ginny and Tonks were taking turns changing their hairstyles. Tonks could easily change her appearance, being a Metamorphmagus, but she helped Ginny put her long, red hair into various styles, each more outrageous than the last. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the very edge of the porch, not saying much, only looking on as Kinglsey and Lupin attempted to remove the Dark Mark from the sky, having already erased the Half Blood Prince phrase.
Harry was becoming quite bored and restless, when he suddenly remembered the two extra wands in his pocket. He pulled out his mother's, but his heart sank into his stomach when he felt the empty spot in his back pocket where his dad's wand should be.
"I can't believe it!" he yelled out, snapping Hermione out of her daze and causing Neville to spasm with surprise, knocking over their chess board. Ginny squealed as Tonks accidently pulled out some of her hair.
"What is it Harry?" Tonks asked, while taking Ginny's hair out of a ponytail.
Not knowing where to begin, Harry decided not to begin at all. "I've lost my father's wand!"
Hermione looked quizically over at Harry. "Your... father's wand, Harry?"
"Yes!" Harry responded impatiently,"the one... Sirius sent with Buckbeak. "
"You lost it already Harry?" asked Ron, flabbergasted. Harry felt a hot, swooping anger for Ron. Before he could vent some of his annoyance, Neville turned around.
"You know, Harry, I'm forgetting stuff all the time. Besides, last year, I broke my father's wand. Gran threw a right fit, though, but if I were you, I wouldn't feel too bad."
Harry returned his mum's wand into his front pocket; he didn't feel like explaining this now. He then jammed his hands into his pockets. "Thanks, Neville," he muttered as he stood up. "I'm taking a walk..."
Hermione rose up in protest. "That's not a very good idea Harry-"
Harry turned around and stared at her. His face was angry, but his eyes were sad. "I need to be alone," he said quietly, and continued to walk across the lawn, dragging his feet as he went. Suddenly, his foot brushed up against something, and Harry stopped and bent down to pick it up. It was his father's wand . He decided that he didn't need to be alone anymore, and turned around with a big grin, holding up the wand like a trophy.
Hermione looked very cross, and proceeded to chastise him. "See Harry, if you were a little more careful with your possessions, they wouldn't be MISSING, and you wouldn't have to apologize for being a prat to your friends because your feeling sorry for yourself and-"
"Silencio!" said Tonks, wand raised, and immediatly Hermione fell silent, furiously waving her arms at Tonks. Everyone laughed for quite sometime; Neville had time to change the position of some of his chess pieces as Ron was looking away, laughing in Hermione's direction. Once Tonks had muttered the counter-curse, they all sat down on the porch once again, enjoying the night, talking about Fred and George's newest inventions, the latest Wierd Sisters CD (Tonks owns them all), Neville's surpirse victory over Ron in chess ("It's mental ", Ron muttered), and, of course, the coming of September the First, when the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Platform Nine and Three Quarters, taking them back to their beloved school for a whole new year of classes, Quidditch, and especially, Hagrid.
The Order meeting had been, for Harry, rather boring. As usual, no one had a clue where Voldemort was hiding. Ron fell asleep, which wasn't so bad until he started snoring, at which time Hermione slapped the back of his head. Harry became so bored with everyone's talk about how to seal front doors and windows, in case of a Death Eater attack, that he closed one eye, and pretended to crush Snape's head between his fingers. It was fun for a while, until Snape shot him an icy grimace, and Harry quickly recomposed himself.
As a matter of fact, there wasn't too much to discuss. Everyone knew who the Death Eaters were, where they could be most likely found, and the proper precautions should they run into one, or worse, Voldemort. Dumbledore advised spending most time in a public place where an attack would be significantly less likely, and while at home to make sure to seal all the doors. At this idea, Harry remembered watching the television in the Dursley's well maintained living room with Dudley. It was about a man named Fred Flintstone, who would always get locked out of his stone house, and proceeded to pound on the door screaming his wife Wilma's name at the top of his lungs. His shoulders shook as he imagined Snape outside banging on his front door, asking to be left in, but he regained control of himself with a cautious stare from Lupin.
"Mr. Potter, if you find our matters... amusing... I dare say you should be removed from the Order at once-" Snape said, and Harry had a funny feeling that Snape could read minds.
"That will do, Severus," Dumbledore said dismissively. "In fact, that will do for our meeting," he concluded. "We shall meet again at Hogwarts, and I shall inform you of the time and date of our next meeting. Right now, I believe it's time to turn in. Goodnight, everyone."
Harry sprang out of his seat so fast that he twisted his ankle and barely maintained his balance. In a similar fashion to Mad-Eye Moody, Harry walked out of the room, desperate for his soft, cool sheets, and the wonderful feeling of a pillow below his head. He joined Ron while walking up the stairs.
"So, how many of us d'you reckon they got sleeping in the same room?" Ron asked.
"I dunno," Harry shrugged. "But no one wants to see you kissing your picture of Fleur Delacour for twenty minutes before you go to bed."
Ron's face and ears turned redder than his hair, and he waved his arms furiously about. "I DO NOT . It was-er- one of Fred and George's new inventions. A photograph that you... um... can........ taste," he finished quickly, and Harry smiled at him disbelievingly.
Ron looked reprovingly at him. "Well, you should be talking, don't think I don't know whats goin on between you and... you-know-who ."
They had reached the top of the stairway, and then began to walk down the dimly lit hallway to their bedroom. Harry smiled once again. "Don't be silly Ron, there's nothing going on between me and Voldemort."
Flinching, Ron replied angrily," THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT. I meant between you and Hermione!"
Harry stopped in the hallway and looked at Ron's triumphant grin. "Eh?" he said with satisfaction. "I'm waiting..."
But Harry was determined not to argue with Ron tonight. He was too tired. "I don't know what your talking about," he said, while turning his back to stifle a grin, as he approached the bedroom door and put his hand on the knob. What if Ron was right? How did he feel about Hermione? Harry hadn't had much time to think about girls, nor did he want to, after his disaster with Cho Chang. Ron shuffled up behind him, muttering, "Right, right."
Harry turned the doorknob to find Hermione sitting on one of her beds, holding up a handful of envelopes, smiling brightly. Ron looked at Harry with raised eyebrows, but then winced at his foot was crushed under Harry's shoe.
"O.W.L. results," said Hermione breathlessly.
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:25 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Harry and Ron groaned loudly and shuffled over to Hermione, who was saking with excitement, and grabbed their letters.
"Better get Neville in hear," said Ron, as he sat down on his bed and began to open his sealed envelope. "I suppose our results might look halfway decent compared to his."
"I heard that!" Neville shouted at Ron, who grinned at Harry.
"Only joking, Neville, I reckon I got a T on Divination. That mad old fraud couldn't forsee what she was making for dinner."
But Harry knew that Proffesor Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts, was a real seer, and was the one who had made the prophecy about him and Voldemort. He hoped that he had passed all the O.W.L.'s necessary to become an Auror. He looked over at Hermione, and found, surprisingly, that she was not smiling at her paper, she was instead, frowning at it.
"What's the matter, Hermione? Did you get an E on one?" said Ron througha chuckle, obviously impressd at his scores. "Look here Harry, even I didn't think I'd do this good."
Harry took the paper out of Ron's hand.
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results for Ronald Arthur Weasly
Theory of Charms: Acceptable
Practical Charms: Acceptable
Theory of Transfiguration: Exceeds Expectations
Practical Transfiguration: Acceptable
Theory of Herbology: Outstanding
Practical Herbology: Exceeds Expectations
Theory of Defense Against The Dark Arts: Exceeds Expectations
Practical Defense Against The Dark Arts: Outstanding
Theory of Potions: Poor
Practical Potions: Poor
Theory of Care of Magical Creatures: Acceptable
Practical Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectations
Theory of Divination: Dreadful
Practical Divination: Poor
Astronomy: Acceptable
Harry was rather impressed with Ron's results. "Good job, Ron" he said happily, and he meant it. Then, he turned to Hermione, who had put down her results and now had her nose buried in a book entitled: So, You Want To Be A Healer?
"Oh come off it, Hermione," said Ron, snatching Hermione's results from the edge of her bed. If you got enough O.W.L.'s to be a Healer, then it's got to be better than mine. Harry moved over next to Ron, as did Neville, and they read her results together. Hemione didn't seem to care...
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results for Hermione Charlotte Granger
Theory of Charms: Outstanding
Practical Charms: Outstanding
Theory of Transfiguration: Outstanding
Practical Transfiguration: Outstanding
Theory of Herbology: Outstanding
Practical Herbology: Exceeds Expectations
Theory of Defense Against The Dark Arts: Outstanding
Practical Defense Against The Dark Arts: Outstanding
Theory of Potions: Exceeds Expectations
Practical Potions: Exceeds Expectations
Theory of Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding
Practical Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding
Theory of Divination: Outstanding
Practical Divination: Acceptable
Astronomy: Acceptable
Ancient Runes: Outstanding
Arithmancy: Exceeds Expectations
"Bloody hell, Hermione, I would kill for results like that!" Ron muttered in astonishment, passing the paper to Harry, who glanced it over one more time.
"Yea, Hermione, this is really good. You could go into at least five N.E.W.T. classes with these results," he added meaningfully. Hermione didn't respond, and was desperatly searching her Healer book for something. Neville was absolutely speachless, and he tossed his paper in the air and fell back onto the floor.
"Gran'll kill me," he half sobbed. Ron snatched the paper out of mid-air, and Harry thought that Ron might make a much better Seeker than a Keeper on the Gryffindor House Quidditch Team. Ron's eyes popped out as he read Neville's results.
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results for Neville Frank Longbottom
Theory of Charms: Acceptable
Practical Charms: Poor
Theory of Transfiguration: Acceptable
Practical Transfiguration: Dreadful
Theory of Herbology: Outstanding
Practical Herbology: Outstanding
Theory of Defense Against The Dark Arts: Exceeds Expectations
Practical Defense Against The Dark Arts: Exceeds Expectations
Theory of Potions: Dreadful
Practical Potions: Troll
Theory of Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectations
Practical Care of Magical Creatures: Exceeds Expectations
Theory of Divination: Acceptable
Practical Divination: Poor
Astronomy: Acceptable
"Well," Ron muttered astoundingly. "At least we know, there really is a 'Troll'."
Neville groaned very loudly and covered his face with his hands. Harry felt sorry for him, especially since he could relate to being brought up parentless, a result of Voldemort's dark work.
"It's OK Neville," he said reassuringly. "Look, you've gotten two Outstandings and a bunch of Exceeds Exceptions and Acceptables. Don't worry about Snape's results. I'm sure I failed them too."
Ron looked at Harry with a look of anticipation in his eyes. "Go on, Harry, show us what you got."
Harry had nearly forgotten the envelope still cluthced tightly in his hand. Shakily, his pulled out his results paper, counted to three, and then looked at it. He gasped loudly and looked horrified at his paper, and he put it down and stared into space for a moment. Ron and Neville glanced nervously at Harry, even Hermione had put down her book to come closer to Harry's results.
"It can't be that bad, Harry," said Hermione soothingly, but when she read the paper, she too gasped and looked over almost frightendly at him. " Harry ," she said breathlessly. Both Ron and Neville's eyes were fixed to the paper, as if looking for some sort of error.
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results for Harry James Potter.
Theory of Charms: Outstanding
Practical Charms: Outstanding
Theory of Transfiguration: Outstanding
Practical Transfiguration: Outstanding
Theory of Herbology: Outstanding
Practical Herbology: Outstanding
Theory of Defense Against The Dark Arts: Outstanding
Practical Defense Against The Dark Arts: Outstanding
Theory of Potions: Outstanding
Practical Potions: Outstanding
Theory of Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding
Practical Care of Magical Creatures: Outstanding
Theory of Divination: Outstanding
Practical Divination: Outstanding
Astronomy: Outstanding
__________________
Just pretend the camera is a wand!
Last edited by REXXXX on Jul 14th, 2005 at 06:04 PM
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:28 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Chapter 6: Hagrid's Letter
For a moment, no one spoke. Harry's brain seemed to be jammed; he couldn't even seem to develop a theory as to why his results were so high. Hermione was staring straight at Harry, waiting for him to speak, and Neville and Ron were taking turns looking at each other and then the paper that contained Harry's results.
"How-" Ron began, but he closed his mouth in a contorted frown and continued to stare at the paper. Harry felt all the events of the summer slowly building up inside of him, and he felt that he could explode at any minute.
Hermione tried to speak, but all that left her lips was "Harry" and then she too fell silent. With everyone's attempts, Harry felt himself drawing closer and closer to the breaking point, and he finally snapped when Ron commented, "Blimey, Harry, who'd you have to pay off for results like this?"
That was it. Harry threw himself from the bed and turned furiously to his friends. "PERSONALLY, I HAVE NO IDEA WHATSOEVER HOW I GOT RESULTS LIKE THAT, IN FACT, FOR ALL I KNOW, DUMBLEDORE MIGHT HAVE PROOFREAD MY O.W.L.s BEFORE SENDING THEM IN! I DON'T KNOW, DO YOU THINK I ENJOY HAVING WEIRD STUFF HAPPEN TO ME? FIRST, I THINK I GOT POSSESSED BY VOLDEMORT AND ALMOST KILLED MY UNCLE HAD I NOT HAVE PICKED UP ONE OF FRED AND GEORGE'S FAKE WANDS BY MISTAKE!! NEXT, I GET THAT LETTER SAYING I WAS LEAVING THE DURSLEYS FOREVER, AND RIGHT WHEN I'M ABOUT TO, MY AUNT GIVES ME MY MOTHER"S WAND, WHICH SHE'S BEEN KEEPING SECRET FOR ALL THESE YEARS-"
Hermione looked as if she was about to cry, and Ron and Neville were both rather pale.
"- AND THEN SNAPE TURNS UP ON MY FRONT LAWN, I WOULD RATHER MOANING MYRTLE HAVE BURST OUT OF MY TOILET WHILE I WAS USING IT, AND THEN HE BRINGS ME HERE WHERE YOU SHOW ME HOW SIRIUS SENT MY FATHER'S WAND- SO NOW I HAVE BOTH MY PARENTS WANDS AND NOT A BLOODY CLUE WHY I HAVE THEM. AND THEN, DURING THE MEETING, THAT BLOKE WIG ACCUSES ME OF HAVING SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE, WHOM I LEARNED SHORTLY AFTERWARDS WAS AN ACQUAINTANCE OF SIRIUS', AND I HAVN'T THE SLIGHTEST CLUE WHO THAT COULD BE. TO TOP IT ALL OFF, I GET BACK MY O.W.L.s, WHICH I'M SURE I JUST BARELY PASSED, AND I FIND OUT I'VE GOTTEN FULL MARKS. DO YOU KNOW HOW PEOPLE ARE GOING TO TREAT ME AFTER THEY FIND OUT I RECEIVED PERFECT MARKS?!-"
"Harry!" Hermione said through sobs of anguish at seeing him so angry. "Harry, no one will find out because we won't tell them. Honest Harry, we won't, and we're sorry for how we treated you, you're right, it wasn't your fault, it's just..." Her voice trailed off as she began to cry steadily, and she threw her hands up to her face as if trying to shield herself. Ron looked over at Harry nervously.
"I'm- I'm sorry Harry... I guess I just got carried away, because, well, I was really proud of my results, and well, yours kind of-"
Harry, who for a brief time thought he was done yelling, became livid all over again.
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR THEM, RON!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE DIFFERENT ANYMORE. IT RUINS MY LIFE!" His fits of rage then turned into expressions of his inner grief. "I CAN'T GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT PEOPLE LOOKING AND POINTING AT ME. DUMBLEDORE EXPECTS TOO MUCH OF ME, AND THE WHOLE MAGICAL WORLD IS SPLIT ALL BECAUSE OF ME!! YOU KNOW WHAT, I'M NEVER GOING BACK. I'LL JUST MISS THE HOGWARTS TRAIN AND RETURN TO THE DURSLEY'S AND PRETEND THIS WHOLE THING WAS ONE HUGE DREAM!!!"
Hermione was crying even louder, and Neville had left the room when Harry started yelling again. Ron looked too afraid to speak, and Harry finally was glad that he made them understand his trials. After a few moments of silence, only broken by Hermione's sobbing, Ron shuffled out of the room, no doubt to find Neville and talk about him behind his back. This, unbelievably, made Harry even angrier. And yet, seeing Hermione cry was something that powerfully took his anger away. He didn't want to hurt her, and immediatley remorse filled his insides as he saw her sitting on the edge of the bed crying her soul out.
Harry moved almost silently over to the bed and sat down next to Hermione, and did something he had never done before. He put his arm around her and she removed her hands from her face and buried it in Harry's chest, still crying loudly. Harry put both his arms around Hermione and held her for nearly half an hour, all the while treasuring the feeling of finally being able to comfort her, for all the comforting she had given to him.
After a while, she looked up, now only crying slightly, and looked into Harry's bright green eyes. He looked back at her and realized that he had never seen her from this close, and she was amazingly beautiful. It almost happened like magic : Hermione's head moved in closer to Harry's face, and Harry took one deep breath and inched forward towards her, anticipation boiling inside him like hot water. For a moment, their lips hovered inches apart from one another, and then, they connected, and for the second time in his life, Harry kissed a girl while she was crying. Only this time, it felt right, almost like something clicked into place inside his heart, and all the anger and troubles left him as he sat there kissing Hermione; holding her close to himself. For how long this went on, neither Harry or Hermione knew, because no one walked in on them, and they only separated from each other when they heard the dinner bell ring and Tonks' vivacious voice shouting from the bottom of the stairs that dinner was ready. They sat there staring into each others' eyes, wondering what had just happened, unable to sort it out. When they heard the bell ring for a third time, he helped her up from the bed, gave her a hug, dried her tears, and then held her hand as they walked slowly out the door and down the stairs.
Harry and Hermione arrived in the kitchen to see it decorated, or at least attempted to be decorated, to celebrate the O.W.L. results of themselves, Ron, and Neville. He didn't really feel like celebrating, because he knew that the results he had received couldn't possibly be his own. This brought back all the emotions he had been feeling for the past few hours, but he was determined to control them. He looked around at the table, and saw that Mundungus had arrived, and was, once again, talking in the corner with Fred and George. Ron, Neville, Bill, and Charlie were busy talking about the upcoming Quidditch Finals, and Ginny was sitting close by waiting for Hermione to sit down with her. Harry still realized he was holding Hermione's hand, and he released it slowly, because he didn't feel like people asking him questions about a possible relationship. He caught Hermione's eye, and nodded that it was ok for her to sit and talk with Ginny, although he wasn't sure if she would tell her about the kiss. Harry didn't fancy sitting next to anyone for the time, so he took an empty seat on one unoccupied half of the third table, which was in pretty poor condition.
Also sitting at the table was Kingsley, Lupin, and Mr. Weasley were discussing, no doubt, Order business, and when Harry sat down they all glanced at him and significantly quieted their voices. Harry was slightly nettled at this, but he didn't care anymore. At the table behind him, Elphias, Dedalus, Emmeline, Sturgis, and Hestia were having a light hearted discussion, and Harry seriously considered walking over to them and asking if he could join in, but then he would have to explain why he was so upset at the world and he didn't feel like spilling his soul out for the second time in one hour.
Intergo, Timothy, Ferando, and Dumbledore were seated right next to this group, deep in an obviously important discussion, and they did not seem bothered in the least that the lively group next to them was making an enormous ruckus, especially when Sturgis belched an incantation and it backfired on him, and now everything he said was pronounced in long periods of continuous. Harry almost smiled as he remembered how Ron's wand had backfired on him in an attempt to curse Malfoy, causing him to regurgitate slugs for hours on end.
What interested Harry the most was who was seated at the far end of this table. It was Snape and the Brothers Wig, Josten and Pierce, looking very shifty as they were sneering and talking amongst themselves quietly. Harry wished more than ever that he had a pair of Extendable Ears so he could easily hear what they were saying, and he wondeed if Fred and George had any on them right now. Desparate for something to do before Tonks brought out dinner; he got up and strolled over to where Fred and George were seated next to Mundungus. As usual, Dung sat bolt upright and eyed Harry suspiciously, but before Fred or George could correct them, he quickly apologized to Harry and invited him to sit down.
"Sorry to interrupt, guys," said Harry, eying what looked to be a few jars of silly putty, but judging from the looks of triumph on Fred and George's faces, he knew that it had to be something much more dangerous. "Would you-er-happen to have a pair of Extendable Ears on you?" he asked quickly, looking across the table at Fred and George, who were busy shrinking the jars and stuffing them into their pockets. George looked up at Harry with a grin.
"Of course we do, Harry, never know when something important is being said just out of earshot. Of course, it'll cost you 12 Knuts for the pair."
Harry was almost disappointed that they were asking for money from him, when they never would have been able to start a joke shop in the first place, had he not given them his 1,000 Galleons in Triwizard Prize money. He began to search his pockets when George thrust the Extendable Ears across the table at him, grinning even broader.
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:30 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
"Only joking, Harry, it's the least we could do, as long as you promise to use them to overhear Snape over there" he said genially, jerking his head in the direction of Snape, who was now grabbing something from Josten's open hand. Harry smiled back as he grabbed the Ears and got up from the table. "Thanks, guys, I will."
As he was crossing the floor back to his lonely seat, he glanced next to him and saw that Snape was taking the object from Josten's hand. Harry had to blink and rub his eyes, because he couldn't believe what he had just seen. It was a small, glass spun ball, only a little larger than the Golden Snitch, and Harry instantly recognized what it was. A Prophecy!!
His reaction was almost automatic, despite the voice inside his head telling him 'NO!'. He reached inside his pocket for his wand, but when his hand made contact with the wood, he could tell that it wasn't his wand, but one of his parents. In one fluid motion, he put his hand to his back pocket, felt his wand, whipped it out, pointed it at Snape, who was now clutching the glass ball, and shouted, "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Harry knew that it was not his voice that had shouted the Disarming Charm. Proffesor Lupin had stood up behind Harry, recognizing what he was about to do, and quickly disarmed Harry split seconds before the phrase left Harry's mouth. Harry felt the powerful wave of magic surge across his body, knocking him backwards into the wall, his wand flying from his hand and striking Neville in the side of the head. Hermione and Ginny screamed and everyone else stopped what they were doing, fell silent, and turned in Harry's direction. Dumbledore stood up, all signs of tiredness and exhaustion missing from his face, his fist clutching something in his pocket; his wand, of course. Snape also stood up, yet his wand was being gripped tightly in his outstretched hand, a furious look upon his face. Josten and Pierce had turned around, and were staring expressionless at Harry. Tonks had just walked out of the kitchen, and she dropped what she was carrying, sending the loud, dead-waking sound of breaking glass throughout the room.
The moment seemed to be frozen in time, but Harry felt that this might be the effect of his head slamming into the solid wall behind him. Instantly, Lupin, Mr. Weasley, and Dumbledore were surrounding him, helping his confused self into the nearest chair. Mr. Weasley told Tonks to get a cold wash rag, and she quickly repaired the mess she had made and returned to the other part of the kitchen. Lupin was attempting to feed Harry chocolate, as he had always done whenever Harry had been dealt a serious blow. Kneeling in front of him was Professor Dumbledore, wearing a look on his face that seemed to be comprised of worry and peacefulness, and for some reason, Harry hated him for it. Before either of them could speak, Harry saw Snape walking swiftly up to where he was sitting, a cold misshapen sneer dancing on his lips. He squeezed in next to Mr. Weasley, pushed him aside, and grabbed Harry by the collar, holding his face mere inches away from Harry's.
"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA POTTER?? ATTEMPTING TO USE MAGIC ON A TEACHER WHEN NOT ONLY ARE YOU NOT OF AGE, BUT YOU HAVE NO APPARENT REASON TO. LUCKY FOR YOU LUPIN WAS THERE TO SAVE YOUR SKIN, JUST LIKE HE DID FOR YOUR FATHER-"
"Enough, Severus!" said Dumbledore loudly, and Harry was surprised that such a weak man could produce the angry voice of a young wizard. "I feel it is only fair that we here Harry's side of the story first... away from all the noise and distractions of supper."
Snape glanced threateningly at Harry, but then stood up and straightened out his robes. "Of course," he drawled, and Harry felt a strong surge of dislike for him. He stood up, rather shakily, and accidentely placed his hand on Dumbledore's shoulder for support. His scar twinged slightly, and Harry quickly removed his hand, and nearly fell over until Lupin caught him.
"Perhaps I should join you Headmaster. He might-" Lupin began, but stopped himself short of whatever he was going to complete the sentence with, but obviously Dumbledore understood and nodded in approval. Harry, once again, felt anger well up inside him for yet another person that evening. Lupin thought he was mentally unstable since Sirius' death, and it seemed that he was offering to sit in on his, Dumbledore's, and Snape's discussion simply to make sure Harry didn't go crazy and kill them all.
"I'm fine, Professor," he said at Lupin, trying not to sound angry. "I can make it myself." He pulled himself away from Lupin, took a few seconds to balance himself, and then walked out of the kitchen behind Snape's whirling, black cloak, leaving Lupin looking even more ragged and tired looking than ever before. Tonks came bursting out of the doors that led to the cooking area of the kitchen, holding onto a dripping wash cloth, looking quite flustered.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, not directing it to any specific person. "I couldn't find where Mrs. Figg keeps her- hang on- where's Harry?"
"He's just left the room for a moment with Professor's Dumbledore and Snape, but he should be back in a few minutes, if you want to start bringing out dinner," Mr. Weasley replied, in a voice that was overly-warm, as if he was pretending to ignore what had just happened.
"Er- I'm not very hungry," said Hermione quickly, and she sat up from the table and ran out of the room. She left everyone in the kitchen staring after her. Then, Ginny stood up, playing with her thumbs.
"I think I should go with her and make sure she's ok," she said, also in a very rushed voice. After she had galloped out of the room, eveyone else decided to ignore the awkward behavior of the girls, dismissing it as 'silly girlish whims', and began to eat the dinner that Tonks had brought out. Whether it was Tonks' bad cooking, or the after effects of shock, the room was considerably quieter, and nobody noticed Pierce pick up the small glass ball from the table and subtley slip it into his robe pocket.
Harry defiantly followed Dumbledore, who was walking calmly with his hands behind his back, and Snape, who walked as if he was late for some important meeting. Dumbledore opened the door and beckoned Snape and Harry inside. Arms crossed, Harry entered the room and found it devoid of the large, wooden table, and instead there were three, very cozy looking armchairs seated in the center of the room. Snape growled and Harry remained motionless as Dumbledore glided smoothly over to one of the chairs and sat down. He motioned with his hand for Harry and Snape to follow suit.
"Please, sit," was all that he said. Snape briskly walked over to one of the chairs and plopped himself firmly in it, and Harry slowly sauntered over to the other one and slowly sat down, looking back and forth between Dumbledore, who was looking back at him, and Snape, who was cleaning his fingernails.
"Well, Harry, would you kindly explain yourself," Dumbledore asked, still looking unblinkingly at Harry's face. Snape's face turned into an expression of excitement and resentment as he awaited Harry's response. Fully aware that there was no other way out of this, Harry decided to tell them what he saw, no matter how crazy he sounded.
"I saw that Wig bloke, don't know which one, hand Snape a prophecy," he said rather quickly, eying Dumbledore carefully. Snape looked positvely confused and Dumbledore turned himself around to Snape.
"Severus?"
Snape looked cooly into Harry's eyes, and Harry did his best to look back at Snape with curious eyes, the same look he had given Harry when Dumbledore began questioning him.
"Headmaster," he began sleekly. "You know as well as I that Mr. Potter has a tendency to... jump to conclusions." Harry shot him a nasty look, but Snape ignored him. "I feel that I should not be required to explain myself given the circumstances."
Harry looked at Dumbledore in protest, and Dumbledore also ignored his stare.
"Severus, for the peace of mind of Harry, I ask you to please explain what it was Josten or Pierce was giving to you, mere moments ago."
Snape's lip curled angrily and he angrily thrust his hand into his black robe pocket and brought out the object that Harry believed was the prophecy. Snape placed the object agressively into Dumbledore's hand and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. Dumbledore turned the object over in his hands many times, brought it up close to his face and stared into it's clear, glass body, made a sound of approval, and returned the object to Snape.
"Professor..." Harry said, now highly confused, as Snape looked over at Harry contemptuously.
"Harry, I assure you, the object under suspicion was indeed not a prophecy-" Snape cut him off, glaring at Harry with burning eyes.
"Which means, Potter," he spat, "keep your arrogant self out of other peoples' business-"
"SEVERUS!" yelled Dumbledore, and Snape continued to look angrily at Harry, who was looking at the floor, determined to ignore Snape. "That's quite enough. I do not blame Harry for thinking this was a prophecy. After what he experienced last school year in the Department of Mysteries,"- Harry shuddered when Dumbledore mentioned that place to him- "I would have been nervous as well."
Molten hot hatred for Dumbledore ravaged Harry's stomach, yet somehow he managed to restrain himself. The reality of the situation finally hit him. Dumbledore thought he was afraid. Dumbledore thought he was paranoid . Feeling no reason to remain in the room with two people he despised, Harry got up out of is chair and strode briskly out of the room, his fists clenched.
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:32 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
"Headmaster," Snape said, bowing, and he too walked out of the room, somewhat slower than when he had entered. Dumbledore found himself feeling incompetent again, because he was not finished talking to Harry. He wanted to understand what was going through Harry's troubled mind, but it was clear that Harry did not want his help. Disappointed, Dumbledore rose and walked to the entrance to the room. With a wave of his wand, the three armchairs they had been sitting in vanished and were replaced by the long, wooden table for Order meetings. He shut the door softly and returned to the kitchen to finish his supper.
Storming angrily up the steps, Harry wondered whether he even wanted to go back to Hogwarts for another year. Even though most people believed that Voldemort had returned (it took The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, to actually see him in the flesh to believe Harry and Dumbledore), he still did not feel like being the center of a war against the Dark Lord. For the first time in his life, Harry wished he was back on Privet Drive, safe and sound in his spare bedroom, where no threats to his life existed, except for Dudley, perhaps.
But then again, he thought, as he sat down on the top stair, staring blankly into the dark hallway which was lit on the end by the candles in the kitchen, maybe he did in fact want to return to Hogwarts. He began to reminisce about kissing Hermione, an event that happened only a few hours ago, yet it felt very, very distant. An alien to true love, his Cho crush had merely been puppy love, in his opinion; he realized that he needed someone to love him not for being famous, or for being able to stop Voldemort, rather, just for being... Harry. He smiled despite himself as he pictured Hermione's glowing face drawing closer to his near the warm, cozy firelight of the Gryffindor common room.
A sudden blow to the back of his head immediatley diverted his thoughts. Yelling out loud, he grabbed the back of his head with both hands, squeezing his eyes together in an attempt to lessen the pain. He quickly opened them, stood up, and frantically looked around him for the object, or person, that had made contact with his now throbbing head.
Half expecting to see Malfoy leaning against the wall, sniggering in triumph, he was surprised when he found a small, rather old looking owl, with white and gray feathers and a bright yellow beak, lying dazed on the carpet next to him. Excitedly, Harry grabbed the letter off the owl's outstretched leg, unraveled it shakily, and read the slightly smudged ink.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
I can't say much because I'm sure the owls are being watched. There's just no safe way to relay messages anymore. I just thought you should know, that "they" aren't being persuaded and "they" are holding me hostage, obviously still on "his" orders. Please read this immediately.
Hagrid.
Chapter Seven: At Knockturn Alley
Harry was mildly confused by Hagrid's letter. It seemed as if Hagrid was being held by some group of people that were too dangerous to be mentioned in an owl. Besides, what could Hagrid possibly be doing that would cause him to become a prisoner? He did have a tendency, as did Harry, to get drag himself into some pretty sticky situations, but never sticky enough to have his life put at risk. Still, the references of "they" and "his" were up in the air. Harry concluded that "his" could either mean Voldemort or Fudge, but he needed someone smart enough to try and figure it out.
Hermione! Yes, that was it. After all, she was the one who solved Snape's defense mechanism for the Sorcerer's Stone in his first year, and she had gotten near perfect O.W.L. grades. This brought Harry back to thinking about his results. There was no possible way that he managed an Outstanding on Potions, Astronomy, and History of Magic, the latter two he had only finished part of the exam! Perhaps it was another clever scheme of Dumbledore to keep him alone in the world; safe... but alone. The thought of Dumbledore snatched his mind away from fuming about his results to thinking about Hagrid's distress letter. Standing up and rubbing his forehead, he read the letter over once more, and when he read the words "they" and "his", he could have sworn that his scar tingled ever so slightly. Furrowing his brow, he began to think off subject again, and must have looked stupid standing at the top of the stairs all by himself, deep in thought. Maybe Voldemort wants me to get this letter, he thought, so he'll possess me and go and find out what "they" are, just like last year. Shaking his head, Harry dismissed this idea as absurd, and decided to confide in Hermione for help before he gave the letter to its rightful recipient: Dumbledore. He dropped a few sickles into the dazed owl's coin pouch, and it hooted with gratitude and flew haphazardly out the window that was cracked open at the end of the hallway
Before he had a chance to return to the kitchen to fetch Hermione, a door cracked open behind him, causing Harry to jump and nearly fall down the stairs. Whirling around, he found Hermione's tear stained face staring at him through the slightly ajar door. He smiled at her and walked toward the room she was in. Opening the door to great him, Hermione ran out and threw her arms around Harry, once again, crying into his shoulder. Dumbfounded, Harry placed one arm around her waist and one on the back of her head.
"Oh, H-Harrryy," she sobbed, staining his sweater with her tears. "I'm soo... s-so scarrr-rred." Harry thought getting these feeling off her chest would stop Hermione's flow of tears, yet it seemed that it had opened the dam wider, causing her to cry even harder.
"Hermione-" he began shakily, but she lifted her head up and began to kiss him again. Taken by surprise, Harry found himself forgetting about the all-important letter, which he had just dropped to the floor as his hands were being put to a different use. She grabbed his sweater collar and dragged him into the room, and he had just enough time to shut the door with his left hand, the letter lying forgotten on the carpet outside. Harry was very preoccupied with Hermione, because he didn't even notice Ginny was still in the room, staring in awe, and perhaps jealousy, her face also red from crying, as he and Hermione sat down on the bed and continued to kiss.
Something rang in Harry's memory almost an hour later... THE LETTER! It was still lying on the carpet outside, and he had completely forgotten he had even received it in the first place. If Hagrid somehow died because he wanted some time alone with Hermione, he would never forgive himself. It would be all his fault, and no one else's. He found that he was still kissing Hermione, who looked very tired yet content, and despite his feelings telling him to stay, he had to break away from her and sit up. She also sat up, straightening her hair, looking slightly disappointed.
"What's the matter?" she asked, breathlessly.
Harry turned to her quickly, not wanting to explain, but feeling like he might regret it if he didn't.
"I was sitting outside, and an owl delivered a note to me by mistake. Well, I dunno if it was by mistake. Anyway, it was from Hagrid, and meant to go to Dumbledore." He sprang off the bed and ran to the door. "He's in trouble! I was hoping you could help, but I just..." His voice trailed as he opened the door forcefully, searching the ground with his eyes. A sick, guilty feeling swept over his stomach as he looked down seeing nothing but the dark brown carpet. The letter was gone .
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:34 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
crap, i just realized none of my italics are coming up. oh well, more story reposting now.
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:38 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
"Oh man, oh man," Harry whispered nervously under his breath, his hands shaking. It had been right there! He was sure of it. Someone must have picked up the letter by mistake and given it to a member of the Order. Or maybe... someone stole it.
"Harry," Hermione began, "the best way to resolve this is to go explain to Professor Dumbledore, because other Order members might not know what to do, or even what the letter was about." She finished quickly and continued to gaze nervously at Harry, who turned around and nodded curtly.
"You're right," he responded shortly. Beckoning with his hand, he ran from the room, turned into the hallway, and ran smack into Josten Wig. Picking himself up slowly, Harry looked straight into Wig's eyes, and his scar seared mildly with pain. He involuntarily grabbed his forehead, and finished standing up.
"Potter, you really must be more careful, running blindly into things. But then again, I'm told from Professor Snape that that's the only way you know how to act," he drawled coolly, his large, gray eyes fixed on Harry, who was throwing Josten a nasty look. Harry suddenly had a brilliant idea. He slowly pulled out his wand and pointed it at Josten's cloak.
"What are you doing?" Wig asked calmly, drawing back slightly.
"ACCIO LETTER!" Harry shouted as Hermione squeaked in surprise. A rectangular piece of parchment flew out of Josten's cloak and landed in Harry's outstretched hand. Josten looked furious with him, and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.
"Damn Potter," he muttered as he strode quickly away, not looking back.
Harry quickly opened up the parchment and found, to his surprise, that it actually was Hagrid's letter!
"How did he get this?" Harry questioned angrily, looking at Hermione for some logical explanation. Hermione sat down on her knees beside him and glanced with anticipation at the letter, eager to read what it said.
"He must have picked it up by mistake," she replied, obviously more interested in the letter itself than how it came under the possession of Josten, a rather shady figure indeed.
Sure enough, after she had read it over a few times, Hermione developed a clever idea on the meaning of everything Hagrid had written.
"Oh Harry, how could you not have seen it?" she asked, rhetorically, yet Harry felt slightly angry with her for the comment. She ignored his reaction and continued. "Hagrid is being imprisoned by Giants . Remember last year, he said that the Death Eaters were bringing the Gurg gifts, obviously to get them to join Voldemort." Hermione now had no problem with saying Voldemort's name, yet Ron still cringed and whimpered whenever he heard it being said. Harry felt annoyed with Ron because of this, even though he really hadn't done anything wrong. "Under his control... he most certainly means Voldemort. He must have been sent to the mountains in hopes of having the Giants join our side, but it looks like he was too late. We have got to get this letter to Professor Dumbledore right now! Oh, this is all my fault!" She finished by bringing a hand up to her head and rubbing her forehead just above her eyes. Harry was astonished that she took all responsibility for the delay, yet that did not stop him from feeling guilty. He scooted over and placed an arm around her shoulders.
"It's not entirely your fault, Hermione. Part of it is mine: I should have given that letter to Dumbledore the moment I saw that the letter was meant for him, not me. It's going to be ok."
Hermione removed her hand and smiled at him. She gave him a kiss and then he helped her stand up. Running as fast as they dared inside the house, Harry and Hermione dashed down the stairs and slided into the kitchen, where they collided with Tonks, who dropped all her dishes with a loud CRASH! Hermione's hands attempted to grab onto something for support as she tripped over the hem of her robe and fell over with Harry and Tonks, all three of them landing on the cold, hard wooden floor.
Ignoring the curious looks from just about everybody in the room, Harry raised himself up quickly, brushing pieces of porcelain.
"Where's- Where's Dumbledore?" he panted, holding up the letter. Lupin and Mr. Weasley stood up briskly, staring cautiously as Harry. Ron, Neville, and Ginny, who looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione with a small smile, stared anxiously at the letter in Harry's hand.
He was annoyed by the long silence that followed his question. Were they all afraid to answer him? he thought. Afraid that he might go after Dumbledore and kill him? Angrily, he repeated his question.
"Where's Dumbledore?" he asked again. "This is an important letter for him that was delivered to him by mistake." He stared hopefully at all the faces looking up at him from the tables, praying that Dumbledore would somehow appear in the room, because it looked as if he wasn't there. Kinglsey cleared his voice, and said, "Dumbledore left an hour ago."
Harry's heart sank right down to the bottom of his feat, and he felt the blood completely drain from his face. Hermione looked absolutely horrified, and she gazed at Harry, waiting for his response.
"Well, where did he go?" asked Harry, with little breath, anxious for some information as to where he could find Dumbledore.
"Knockturn Alley," said Timothy Crouch grimly, and Harry could not understand why everyone looked as though they thought Knockturn Alley was Azkaban. Mr. Weasley walked slowly over to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You should come over here and sit down, Harry," he requested earnestly yet nervously, and Harry had the horrible sinking feeling that something very bad had just happened.
Harry looked nervously from Mr. Weasley to Lupin, wondering what sort of trouble Dumbledore was in. Allowing himself to be lead over to a chair by Mr. Weasley, he noticed that Josten Wig was missing from the group, and Harry wondered if he had something to do with all this. As he sat down, Mr. Weasley pulled up another chair and set it down right in front of Harry. Feeling crowded, Harry attempted to move his chair back a little bit, but found that one of the tables was blocking him from doing so.
Hermione looked equally confused as she leaned up against the far wall next to Tonks, who was rubbing her wrist in pain from the collision. Timothy and Intergo were seated not far away, and everyone else appeared to be miles away. Looking around and trying to count everyone, he realized that Fred and George were also missing, and things started to get more and more confusing.
"Harry," began Mr. Weasley, and Harry noticed how many wrinkles he had around his eyes. "While you were talking with Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore about the... thingy-"
Harry wished that he could fast forward Mr. Weasley's talk to the part where he mentioned where Dumbledore'd run off to. Shifting anxiously in his seat, Harry continued to listen to Weasley, although he wasn't sure if he was taking it all in. "-, Fred and George got a call from their friend, what was it?"
"Lee, Lee Jordan," Ron confirmed, looking at Harry in a way that made Harry still think he was in shock from when Harry had exploded with anger. Harry stared back at Ron, hoping that the half grin, half wide-eyed expression on his face would give away that he wasn't mad anymore, and that someone had to have made a mistake on his results. Much to his anger, Ron avoided his glance.
"That's right, Lee," Mr. Weasley continued, "Anyways, this boy Lee sends Fred and George an owl....well, he only sent one to the both of them, not two separate owls to each one, that would be rather thick of him," mused Mr. Weasley, laughing at the very thought.
"Go on, Arthur," growled Moody from behind Lupin, and Mr. Weasley moved nervously in his seat.
"Right then, so Lee says that the Joke Shop, Weasley Wizard Wheezes, looked as though a tornado had run through it on the inside. Everything was either lying askew on the floor, or, somehow, stuck to the ceiling. Obviously, someone was looking for something important, although, ha, not much is of great importance inside of a joke shop," added Mr. Weasley with a hysterical chuckle.
"So, Potter," said Moddy irritably, cutting off Mr. Weasley before he could continue, "That's what we thought , was that someone was looking for something. Turns out, nearly all the stores and shopes in the general premisis were demolished on the inside, but looked fine on the outside. Interestingly enough, that part of Diagon Alley also contains a small, nearly unnoticeable place where a certain... Sibyll Trelawney reads fortunes for interested customers. All a load of Hippogriff droppings if you ask me. But anyways, Potter, no one here can draw a connection between that old Trelawney and some lunatic out looking for something valuable. Got any thoughts?"
Harry immediately turned to Ron and Neville, who were looking at the floor, neither of them knew a connection either. He swiveled around to face Hermione, who was grasping the wall tightly and looking at Harry with a face of concern. Harry raised his eyebrows at her to show that he understood, and then replied.
"No, I- I can't think of anything."
Moody grunted softly and his magical eye swiveled around in it's socket, surveying Harry fully. Harry had the whimsical idea that Moody was attempting to read his mind, but as Harry had learned form Snape last year during Occlumency, very few people could master the fine art of Legilimency.
"Very well, Potter. After Fred and George Apparated to Diagon Alley, Dumbledore returned to dinner, looking quite sorrowful. Pangs of guilt rose up in Harry's heart as he remembered how he had, rather unfairly and rudely, walked out on Dumbledore before he had even spoken anything of importance. However, the fact that Professor Trelawney's fortune telling premisis was ransacked brought up an interesting connection.
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:40 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
It was Trelawney who had made the prophecy about him and Voldemort, a prophecy that until recently was held in the Department of Mysteries. When Harry was lured there by Voldemort, he accidentely dropped the prophecy, losing it's secrets forever, but at least Voldemort had not heard it. He only knew the first part, from when someone, probably Wormtail, overheard Trelawney prophesizing to Dumbledore, but was thrown out of the place. The only people who knew the words of the prophecy were himself, Dumbledore, and maybe Trelawney, yet she said it so long ago he doubted if he remembered. Voldemort could have used Harry to speak the prophecy, but that was too risky for him. He greatly feared Dumbledore and wouldn't dare try to blackmail for the knowledge of the prophecy. It made sense now, and Harry wondered why he didn't think of this before, that Voldemort could use Trelawney to get the secrets of the prophecy...
"You ok, Potter?" Moody questioned, interrupting Harry's thoughts on Voldemort and Trelawney. Harry noticed that Moody was surveying him with the utmost anxiety, looking fit to explode with curiosity. Harry stared back at him, trying to look as though no important thoughts had crossed his mind.
"Yea. I'm fine." he responded, putting on his best normal expression.
"Right then," Moody continued, at a somewhat slower pace, like he was giving Harry a second chance to speak his thoughts. "So, anyway, we informed Dumbledore about this the moment he walked back into the kitchen, and poof, he was gone as well. Never even shared his thoughts. A bit rude I suppose. Shortly after that happened, Josten Wig walked back into the kitchen, no idea what he was up to."
Harry's stomach filled with acid hot anger when he remembered how Josten had attempted to steal Hagrid's letter. He gripped the letter tightly, almost involuntarily, at this thought. Suddenly, Pierce spoke up; his icy, cold voice cutting through the air like a knife.
"Josten went upstairs searching for Potter, and he found a letter lying on the floor outside a bedroom and decided it best to bring it to Professor Dumbledore. However, he decided to walk back to the room and make sure that Harry was not in there, because he should have been in the kitchen, being brought up-to-date on the latest developments. When he attempted to open the door, it slammed open on his face, and found that Potter was indeed in the room."
How did he find out all this wondered Harry to himself. He wasn't even there, and if Josten left he wouldn't have time to explain. Then, his heart skipped a beat, and he wondered if Pierce would say that Hermione was in the room with him. He held his breath as Pierce continued.
"Before Josten had a chance to explain himself, Potter used the Summoning Charm to retrieve the letter from my brother's cloak. That was when Josten decided it was no use trying to explain to Potter what had just happened, so he stormed off downstairs and immediately left for Diagon Alley."
He said all this rather quickly, and in a monotone voice, almost as if he wasn't speaking for himself. Harry decided to make good use of the long silence that followed.
"I need to get this letter to Professor Dumbledore immediately!" he announced earnestly, and to his surprise, Mr. Weasley grabbed the letter from him and began reading it.
"Good lord," he stammered when he had finished reading the parchment, and he passed it back to Moody for him to read it. "Harry, when did you get this," he questioned Harry very seriously.
"Um... about," began Harry, trying not to make it seem like he was lying, "about fifteen minutes ago," he finished, looking over at Hermione hopefully, but she returned his stare with one that made Harry think she would have liked to yelled at him for lying if they weren't amongst so many people.
Mr. Weasley stood up and took the letter from Kingsley, who was now reading it.
"Harry, it is imperative that we travel immediately to Diagon Alley and find Professor Dumbledore. He needs to get this letter as soon as possible. You can bring along Hermione, Ron, and Neville if you wish. You'll be coming with me."
Looking over at Ron and Neville, who were now sleeping, he realized how late at night it really was, and it seemed like an eternity ago that Snape showed up on his porch, when it had only been earlier that day. Mad-Eye placed his rough, battered hand on Mr. Weasley's shoulder, and Harry could have sworn that Mr. Weasley jumped slightly.
"Hold up a second, Arthur, I haven't told the whole story yet. I'll make it quick," he added, owing to the angry, anxious looks of several Order members. "Right then Potter, shortly after Dumbledore left, we received intelligence of a major disturbance in Knockturn Alley, which I don't know if you've-"
"Yea, I've heard of it," said Harry, smirking slightly. In his second year, he had accidentally traveled there by Floo Powder, and was saved by none other than Hagrid. Thinking of Hagrid, he became even more anxious to get out of Mrs. Figg's house and go looking for him. Moody, however, continued.
"Says that a few Death Eaters were present in one of the stores, looking for hell knows what. Apparentely though, they killed several people, and weren't leaving until they found what they were looking for. That's when things got urgent, and we were about to leave without you. Lucky you showed up when you did Potter, we may need you."
Harry was shocked that people were still sitting down in the wooden, kitchen charis when both Dumbledore and Hagrid were in danger. Standing up quickly, Harry almost yelled, "Well, are we going to go, or what?"
"Yea, were goin'", growled Moody in response, walking away from Harry slowly and clutching his back, which Harry assumed was pain that never fully went away from lying on it for nearly a year in his own chest. Mr. Weasley stood up and gathered Kinglsey, Lupin, and Tonks together, apparently the only members he felt were necessary for the job, although Harry felt the whole Order should travel.
He too stood up and nodded to Hermione, Ron, and Neville for them to come with him, and they joined the other members outside the kitchen. As they were walking out, Ron said his first words to Harry in over a few hours.
"Harry, I just want you to know, that I'm- me and Neville I mean- are sorry for how we acted. If we die in Knockturn Alley-" Hermione gave a humph of disapproval "-, well, I want us to be on good terms." He held his hand out to Harry, and Harry, involuntarily, hesitated for a moment, but then smiled and shook Ron's hand firmly; then he shook Neville's.
"Right," began Ron quickly, obviously glad to be on speaking terms again. "So," he said, grinning back and forth between Harry and Hermione. "What's going on between you two?"
Harry didn't know if he or Hermione blushed more, but from Neville's chuckles, they both had turned deep shades of red.
"N- Nothing, Ron, you know me and Hermione are just friends."
Hermione hit him in the side and Ron burst out laughing.
"Oh, Harry, don't be embarrassed about it," she said scornfully. Then, she turned promptly to Ron and said in a very dignified voice, "We kissed."
Harry expected Ron to laugh, but he didn't. In fact, he could have sworn he saw small signs of sadness in Ron's face. Before either of them could say anything, Lupin interrupted.
"Ok, now, does everyone have their wands?"
They all nodded, and Harry felt like lightening the mood.
"Yup, I've got all three of mine."
Lupin and Kingsley turned around quickly to question him, but Moody was becoming quite irritated. "Explain later, Potter. It's time for you four to learn how Order members travel from place to place."
He made sure that his wand was pointed directly at himself, and then muttered, " Convergus Knockturn Alley ."
And then, completely noiselessly, he vanished right before everyone's eyes.
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:41 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Harry blinked to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Mad-Eye had not Disapparated, he was sure of it. A loud popping noise always resulted from an Apparation or a Disapparation, and Moody had disappeared without any sound whatsoever. Harry looked at Hermione, expecting her to have her "I've read about that in ..." look on her face, but to his surprise, she appeared as astounded as he did. Ron and Neville looked eager to try it, but Harry was in no mood to separate his body in half in the late hours of night. After Kingsley, Mr. Weasley, and Tonks had Converged, as it was called, Harry and the others stood ready for Lupin to show them how to take themselves to Diagon Alley. Just then, Harry wondered why they were going to Diagon Alley and not Knockturn Alley. He thought the Death Eaters had stirred up some trouble down there. Assuming that it was another attempt of Dumbledore's to protect him, although he should have thought better, he became angry at the world again and didn't feel like going anymore.
"I think that it's best if you four get some rest tonight and be prepared to go to Diagon Alley in the morning," Lupin said wearily, his wand ready to Converge himself, and Harry still wasn't sure how it worked. "You'll be much more prepared for the journey once you've had a good night's rest."
Ron opened his mouth to protest, but shut it quickly at the sight of Hermione's stern glare. Harry, grateful for the delay, turned quickly on his heel and started up the stairs, with Neville running behind him, and Hermione and Ron remained at the bottom of the stairs, apparently talking about something that they did not want Harry to hear.
"Harry, Harry wait up!" called Neville from a few steps below him. Despite having no desire to talk to Neville, Harry stopped on the step he was on and let him catch up.
"Thanks," he panted, and once he had regained his breath he continued walking up the stairs with Harry. "I just wanted to let you know, that I'm sorry I avoided you after you got your results. I mean, it's not your fault, really."
Harry knew that he couldn't stay mad at Neville, who was perhaps the only person in the world who understood him, even though he was pretty thick. Smiling at Neville, Harry decided to always avoid getting Neville mad at him.
"Thanks, Neville, I just need to go to sleep... it's been a long day." Once again, Harry tried to fathom the days events, mesmerized me the fact that they had all taken place since 4:00 in the afternoon.
Neville nodded and followed Harry into the bedroom, where he changed into his pajamas and began inspecting a new plant that his gran had sent him. Harry smiled as he remembered how much pride Neville took in Herbology. Harry, however, was so tired that he just walked over to his bed, took off his glasses and put them on the nightstand, and fell instantly into his bed, without even bothering to change clothes. He remained awake for a few minutes to see if Ron or Hermione would come up to bed, but he fell asleep before they entered the room. The last thing he heard was Neville's shriek of surprise as his plant gave off a terrible odor in his face. Laughing to himself, Harry drifted off to sleep.
Harry's dreams were troubled that night. It seemed as though he could still see things from Voldemort's mind. He was sitting in a dark room, a room lit only by a single, eerie red candle floating mysteriously near the ceiling. Looking down at his hands, Harry saw that they were white... dead white. The fingers were long and boney, and it seemed as though his hands had always been cold. Running his hands down his face, he could feel that it was thinner than usual, as though the skin was stretched tightly over the bones of his jaw. His eyes felt like slits in his face, and he knew that if he looked in a mirror they would glow with an evil red. In front of him were a dozen or so black cloaked figures, standing in a half-circle and bowing on one knee, their heads looking at the floor.
"Well," Harry heard himself speak, and the sound of his voice, Voldemort's rather, made him shiver despite himself.
None of the Death Eaters spoke up, until a scrawny, shaking, medium sized one stood up and pulled back his hood. It was Karkaroff! However, the only thing recognizable about him was his curly goatee. His face looked as though it had been badly disfigured, and his skin was paler than usual.
"Mmm-master, I'm pleased to inform you that the Giants are completely under our control and ready for your orders, master," Karkaroff sputtered quickly and nervously, staring at his feet the whole time, occasionally twisting his goatee with his finger.
Harry smiled and gazed rather amusingly at him. "Well done, Karkaroff, you are moving in the right direction toward regaining Lord Voldemort's trust."
Karkaroff bowed several times, his back nearly parallel to the ground each time he did so, muttering," Thank you master, thank you-"
"Now," Harry said, slightly agitated. "I do believe that there is one among us who has left my service forever. He shall die of course. You know the one I speak of Lucius?"
Lucius Malfoy's long, silvery blond hair became visible as he pulled his hood off, smirking. "In due time, master, I can assure you that Severus will be disposed of properly, unless of course, you'd like to deal with him personally." He looked at Voldemort intently, as did several other evil faces.
Harry waved his hand dismissively, and saw the look of disappointment on Malfoy's face. "There is no need Lucius, he was never of much importance to my anyway. I save my rage for those... deserving of it."
Harry laughed lightly, but when he did so he felt as though he was getting some sort of twisted satisfaction out of it.
"So, we have the Giants. Any word on the Dementors?" Harry asked, becoming busy with twirling his wand effortlessly between his long, white fingers. This time, it was Bellatrix who stood up, her insane, gaunt face gazing madly at Voldemort.
"Master, master, they are ready for orders to attack the Ministry on your command!" she shrieked triumphantly, and nearly all the robed figures laughed in success. Even Harry let a chuckle escape his lips as he heard the good news.
"And what about the oaf, you know, what was his name?" Harry asked, sick, evil satisfaction rising in him.
"Rubeus Hagrid, master," Lucius spat, soiling his tongue with Hagrid's name.
"Ah yes," Harry replied whimsically. "And, what has become of him?"
One robed figure laughed especially hard, and he whipped down his hood. Harry gasped, and for a moment felt separate from Voldemort, but then merged once again with his mind. It was Josten Wig , yet even more surprising was what he was clutching in his hand. Hagrid's letter!
"I can assure you," Josten drawled in an icy voice, full of grim satisfaction, "that the rest of his memories will be used to our advantage, and then he shall be properly disposed of."
'Very good," Harry said after some length, as Josten knelt back down. Harry felt himself stand up and walk around to the back of his chair.
"You have done well, Wig. Very well, but you must keep a low profile. If anyone finds out that you've infiltrated the organization Dumbledore has set up against me, all my plans will be in vain. Where is Wormtail?" he said suddenly, gazing around at the group, until a small, balding, hunched over man scurried out past the Death Eaters and bowed down in Harry's presence. He suddenly felt an unexplained urgency to run away form the room, to leave; to be ripped away from Voldemort's mind, but something inside him made him stay.
"You have done well also Wormtail, finding out the dates of important Hogwarts events. For this, you too shall be rewarded."
Wormtail began sobbing in gratefullness. "Thank you master!! You are the greatest. I will always serve you master!"
"Enough!" Harry said, becoming quite annoying with Wormtail. He scurried back through the Death Eaters and vanished out of sight.
"And now," said Harry, evil happiness filling up inside him, "I would like to see our newest member of my service, the... Half Blood Prince."
All the Death Eaters turned very quickly to a robed figure standing unnoticed in the corner. Once again, an even stronger feeling of a need to leave crossed his mind, but Harry, becoming aware of himself inside Voldemort's mind, was determined to stay. The Half Blood Prince walked forward out of the shadows, and in a moment Harry would be able to see who it was. He was now feeling as though he and Voldemort were two separate beings, no longer joined by minds.
"NO!!!" shrieked Voldemort, and Harry felt himself being ripped away from the Dark Lord's mind, and hurtling down into space until he opened his eyes, and found himself cold with sweat, panting rapidly as his lay in his bed, the covers askew. Looking around, he saw that somehow he had not managed to wake anyone up, but he knew he must warn someone that Hagrid was going to die.
He sat up quickly, but felt something crumple under his weight. Putting on his glasses and standing up, he looked down, and with the early morning sun as a light saw that Hagrid letter was lying amidst his bed covers.
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Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:44 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
Harry's breathing was short and shallow as he stood by his bedside, cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He stared down at Hagrid's letter and picked it up with shaky hands and realized two things at once. Moody and the others had forgotten to take the letter to Dumbledore when they went, but since they all read it over they would be able to tell Dumbledore that Hagrid was in trouble. Feeling slightly better, he sat down on his disheveled sheets and placed his head in his cupped hands, rubbing his eyes with his thumbs. Was this another of Voldemort's mind tricks to lure him and his friends away from safety, or was Hagrid meeting the same fate as Bertha Jorkins?
What troubled him the most was the appearance of Josten Wig in his dream. He had no problem believing that Wig was a Death Eater, the way he treated Harry. Yet, Dumbledore wouldn't be so thick as to let a Death Eater into the Order of the Phoenix! Plus, Josten had the letter in his "dream", although the letter was lying under Harry's body the whole night. If Voldemort was trying to bring Harry to himself, then he had done a pretty poor job.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sound behind him. Turning around, he noticed Neville getting up, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. Neville looked at Harry.
"Mornin' Harry," he said sleepily, and yawned again.
"Hey Neville," Harry replied. "When did Ron and Hermione come up to bed?"
Neville's face became one that showed his slow thinking. "Uh... I reckon only a few minutes after you went to sleep, Harry. After all, I wasn't up all night, you know."
Harry knew that Neville was probably lying but he decided not to argue. He was too hungry. Stuffing the letter into his back pocket, Harry sat up from his bed again and walked over to the door to check on breakfast. He noticed that Hermione was already up and had left the room, and Ron was still snoring loudly, his body spread over the whole of the bed. Smiling, Harry opened the door and left Neville to deal with Ron's snores.
The smell of fresh ham and bacon filled Harry's nostrils when he walked slowly into the kitchen, and the O.W.L. decorations were still up, but Harry thought that someone should take them down.
He saw that Fred and George had not returned. In fact, the only people in the kitchen were Tim Crouch, Intergo Phage, Pierce Wig, Mundungus, who looked crestfallen with the loss of his customers that morning, and Tonks, who had obviously come back early in the morning after things settled down. She was bringing out breakfast and scalding her hands on the hot plates. Harry sat down next to Dung, not wanting to talk to anyone else, and Tonks brought him a plate full of ham, bacon, eggs, and buttered toast. Orange juice magically rose up out of the table, taking Harry quite by surprise.
"Sleep good, Harry?" asked Tonks vibrantly.
"Yea," Harry lied, not wanting to explain anything. He began to eat his breakfast, not talking to Dung, who was fast asleep anyways, when someone sat down next to him. It was Hermione.
"Hey," Harry grunted, feeling angry at her for some reason, as he took another bite of toast.
"Harry," Hermione began cautiously, not wanting to set him off again. "Um... I was talking to Ron last night-"
"Were you?" Harry interrupted angrily, glaring at her.
"Yes," she persisted. "And, I don't want you to get mad or anything, or believe that I don't think you could get such good marks, but... well, I think that someone could have tampered with your O.W.L. results."
The thought had never occurred to Harry before. It was almost a relieving feeling, to have a logical theory as to why he had nearly unattainable results. He suddenly felt much better and decided that maybe he was being unfair to Hermione about talking to Ron. It didn't mean that she liked him, right?
"Yea, that's probably it Hermione. As usual, you've got a logical guess," he said happily, draining his glass, which was instantly refilled.
"Well, Harry... it wasn't really a guess. You see, I had a feeling that your father's wand didn't get outside on the lawn last night by mistake."
Harry's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that someone could have used your dad's wand to fix your results-"
"But it was sealed-"
"Oh, Harry! I'll say it again: seals can be broken and repaired seamlessly!"
Annoyance setting in, Harry became curt with her.
"Ok, so? Wouldn't you think someone would put an anti-tampering jinx on the papers?"
"I doubt it Harry. Hogwarts usually trusts that no one will think to tamper with them. But this time, someone has, and well... you should check with McGonagall when we go back to school."
"Fine," responded Harry with finality. He stood up to leave when Dumbledore, Moody, Lupin, Mr. Weasley, Kingsley, Fred, and George came walking into the kitchen, sitting down at the empty table.
"I wonder how things went," Hermione questioned, and Harry shrugged.
"We should ask if we could see what happened, c'mon," said Harry, walking over to the table where the group was deep in discussion.
"Er," he said to announce his presence. The conversation stopped immediately, and Dumbledore turned to Harry, looking very tired.
"Ah yes, Harry, and Hermione. I suppose you will be wondering what has happened. Well, I'm sure that after your friends Mr. Weasley and Mr. Longbottom have gotten some breakfast, I would be more than happy to escort you to Knockturn Alley."
"But Dumbledore," began Mr. Weasley, but Dumbledore cut him off, a look of solidity on his face.
"Arthur, I can assure you that nothing will happen to the children under my watch."
Children ? Harry thought.
"Ah good, Ronald and Neville have arrived," Dumbeldore announced, and Harry and Hermione turned around to see Neville walking into the kitchen and immediately begin eating, followed by a rather tired looking Ron, whose hair looked nearly as messy as Harry's. Ron ran into a table, knocked over Tonks, and stubbed three toes before reaching the table to eat breakfast with Neville.
Harry and Hermione decided not to wait in the kitchen for Ron and Neville to finish eating. Neville's plate was stacked up like a mountain, and Ron kept missing his mouth, so it appeared as though it would be a little while before they were able to go to Knockturn Alley. Harry took Hermione's hand and led her up the levitating rug and out to Mrs. Figg's porch, where the sun was rising beautifully over the tops of the trees. They both sat down in a little swing on the far end of the porch, admiring the picturesque English morning.
"Hermione," Harry started, rubbing his hands together and staring at the floor. "Why do you think I suddenly have both my parents' wands. I mean, isn't it a bit coincidental that they would both turn up on the same day?"
Hermione twisted her mouth in concentration, and Harry stared at her, waiting for an answer.
"Well, Harry, I don't really think there is an answer. It's pretty simple. Your aunt gave you the wand when you left the house, obviously they could finally be able to get rid of it when you were leaving forever. As for your father's wand, I'm not quite sure, but I think it was something Sirius had and wanted you to have before he, well..."
"Died," Harry finished, not feeling quite satisfied with Hermione's answer. "Well then, what about the Half Blood Prince. A new weapon of Voldemort's I guess. D'you think it's me?"
She scoffed at the very thought, looking at Harry with deep care. "Of course not, Harry, don't be stupid!" Harry laughed when he heard her say that... it had reminded him of the old times at Hogwarts, when she, himself, and Ron could joke around without feelings getting hurt. He guessed that was what happened when you grew up: you separate.
"How could it be you when your the last person who Voldemort would ever use?" she said, as though the idea was absurd, yet Harry wondered. What if Voldemort was using him? Wouldn't it be easy for him to have me murder people instead of himself? he wondered.
"The thing is, I had a... a dream last night-"
Hermione suddenly looked at him with a reproving look.
"Oh, Harry, I thought you were trying to block your mind every night-"
"Look, it's not easy with no one giving me Occlumency lessons! Snape quit and Dumbledore's to scared for himself to look at me-"
"That's not true, Harry!" Hermione yelled, tears coming to her eyes. "Dumbledore is the one person who cares most about you, the one person out there who can actually help you! And you keep pushing him away, like he's a maniac! Don't you see how foolish you're being?"
Harry merely stared into Hermione's face as tears streamed down her cheeks. He dried them with his hands, sad that he'd made Hermione upset again. Drawing closer to her, he knew that he had to tell her his dream, or else he'd have to tell Dumbledore, which he didn't really want to do. However, all his problem faded away as his lips touched Hermione's, and he became lost in her as the bright orange sun shone down on the house.
__________________
Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:46 PM |
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joelsef
all u people are vampires
Gender: Male
Location: Trapped |
The front door burst open suddenly, and Harry had just enough time to recover himself as Ron's red-haired head peeked out the door, his gaze falling on Hermione and Harry. He smiled.
"Morning, Harry," he said, sitting down between him and Hermione.
"Hey Ron," Harry replied, still mildly surprised. Neville walked out the door too, as did Tonks, Mr. Weasley, Lupin, Moody, Kingsley, and Dumbledore, his old blue eyes twinkling happily as he stared at Harry.
"Ready to go, Potter?" asked Moody, straightening his eye. Harry stood up, along with Ron and Hermione.
"Yup," he said quietly, determined not to look at Dumbledore, yet he felt an old, shaking hand being placed on his shoulder. He looked up into Albus Dumbledore's bright blue eyes, seeing no fear in them. Fearing that he would want to attack Dumbledore again, Harry quickly looked away, but Dumbledore determinedly put both hands on Harry's head and gazed right into his face.
"Harry... I am slightly upset that you still hold anger against me. I have admitted my mistakes, and I am no longer afraid to look in your eyes. Please, treat me as an enemy no longer," he pronounced gracefully, leaving Harry feeling the guiltiest he ever had felt. Dumbledore offered Harry his hand to shake, and Harry felt a soft arm wrap around his waste. He turned to his side and met Hermione, her stunningly pretty face urging him to take Dumbledore's hand. Deciding that his feeling towards Dumbeldore had to be put aside at a time like this, he took his hand and shook it firmly and furthermore pulled Dumbledore into a hug, which was completely involuntary and left Harry wondering why he'd done it.
Releasing Dumbledore, he saw that Dumbeldore's face was alive with happiness. Smiling and scratching his head, Harry turned again to Hermione, who looked beside herself with joy.
"That's great, Potter, but we gotta go now," growled Moody, showing no emotion at all. Ron and Neville were smiling to each other. Kingsley patted Mr. Weasley on the shoulder as he saw happy tears running down his face. Lupin was comforting Tonks, who had broken out crying. Looking slightly astounded at everyone's reaction, he followed them inside.
They stopped in the same hallway that had come to the previous night. Lupin turned to Harry and the others.
"As you all well know, we told you about what had happened up until late last night. Stores in the vicinity of Sibyll Trelawney's fortune house were wrecked on the inside. We later discovered that Miss Trelawney had gone missing, and there has yet to be any sign of her."
Harry stared at Hermione, who was actually showing some emotion over Professor Trelawney's disappearance, which surprised Harry because Hermione thought she was an old fraud.
"Then, we received word of a disturbance in Knockturn Alley, just off of Diagon Alley, and well, there were reports of Death Eaters. Dumbledore, Josten, Kinglsey, and myself went to investigate whlie Arthur and Tonks stuck around the general area looking for suspicious persons. We were later joined by Severus, who had arrived shortly after us, and we then proceeded to Knockturn Alley, where, sure enough, six Death Eaters were gathered in the main square. Upon seeing us, they threw a body in our direction, and Severus immediately identified it as Igor Karkaroff. The man was stone dead, for reasons unknown. The Death Eaters attempted to Stun several of us, and then Disapparated before anyone of our number could react. So, now that you know some more, come along."
Everyone but Lupin, Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione Converged to Diagon Alley. Harry was confused as to how they were going to use the spell, because they were underage wizards, and he did not fancy another run in with Fudge.
"How can we do this Professor?" asked Hermione, obviously on the same page as Harry. "We're underage, if we perform any spells-"
Lupin smiled and held up his hand for silence.
"Do not worry yourself, Miss Granger. I assure you that you will not have to perform any magic . Just grab a hold of my left arm, right one is rather hurting lately. There you go, all ready? Convergus Diagon Alley ."
A most peculiar sensation traveled through Harry when Lupin performed the spell. It felt as though a strong wind was whipping furiously at him, yet his hair wasn't blowing with it. The scenery around him seemed to fold in on itself, and he found that he was now traveling through the walls and then out the back of the house as everything around folded in on itself. It happened so fast, Harry didn't even know if he had breathed during the experience. Suddenly, the rushing feeling ceased, and he found himself in the middle of bustling Diagon Alley.
Ron looked greener than Neville's toad Trevor, yet Neville was quite fascinated by the trip. Hermione walked up to Harry and they turned to Lupin.
"How... how did that happen?" she asked, and Harry looked equally interrogatively at Lupin.
Professor Lupin smiled down at her, is graying hair blowing lightly in the breeze. "It's a method of transportation known only to the Order of the Phoenix Miss Granger. What it does, is basically folds the distance between yourself and your destination and when it unfolds, you are where you want to be."
But Harry wasn't paying attention. He had turned when Ron tapped his shoulder, and couldn't believe his eyes.
'Fascinating, isn't it Harry?" Hermione asked him after Lupin was through explaining. When she received no response, she turned around to see where Harry had gone. "Harry, I said-"
She stopped talking immediately when she saw what Harry had seen.
"I don't believe it... how can it be?" she said with awe, tears running down her face for about the seventeenth time in the past day.
"It is," replied a flabbergasted Ron. "It's-"
Harry finished his statement, his voice full of joy and sorrow, his eyes fixed on-
"HAGRID!"
__________________
Just pretend the camera is a wand!
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Jul 2nd, 2005 08:48 PM |
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