“Come in Potter,” McGonagall’s voice said. “What do you want this time? I was in an important discussion until you got here. This better be important.”
“Professor,” Harry said with anxiety. “We have to go to Grimmauld Place, our assignment leads us there.” He hoped that McGonagall wouldn’t be angry since it had to do with their mission. He looked up at her hopefully.
“Well how do you plan on getting there? I already said that if you tell me when, where, and how long you are going you can go.” She stated
“We were going to walk off the grounds and then apparate,” Hermione said. We shouldn’t be gone longer then a day, and we promise we won’t get in the way of the order.”
“Well ok, but if you would like, you may use my fireplace to travel by floo powder, it will be much safer and quicker at this hour of the morning.” McGonagall said. “I will expect to see you back before 8am tomorrow morning.”
“Agreed Professor,” the trio said. They then smiled at her got into the fireplace, one by one, grabbed floo powder, shouted Grimmauld Place and disappeared in a flash of emerald green flame.
“Draco, you are doing much better then I expected.” Came the voice of Severus Snape. “I believe that we are almost complete. We will soon start working on spells that can help you.”
“So Professor, how exactly is occlumency going to protect me?” Draco asked. He was back to his usually snobby self by this time, he knew as long as he was with Snape he was safe. This brought back his old proud self.
“Draco, wipe that smug expression off your face.” Snape spat, “This does not fully protect you from anything. It only protects you from lying, if you lie to the Dark Lord, he will not be able to read your mind and know that you are lying. You will be able to keep him out of real memories and show him fake ones. I have been doing this for years. I knew that one day I would fail him, and I would need the protection.”
“So you are saying the Dark Lord will not know that I have failed? Then that means I don’t have to kill Regulus Black?” Draco asked with hope. He knew that he could never kill anybody; he just didn’t feel he could do it.
“Well maybe, but he will have to die. The Dark Lord will know if he is alive or dead. So somebody must kill him, somebody with Occlumens, and you must be there with him.” Snape said. He was worried, he knew that it would have to be him that killed the former death eater Regulus Black.
“Draco, tonight I want you to work on blocking your mind from everything. This will help with your lessons. I expect only one more week before you finally master it.” Snape said. “That is way better then Potter ever did.” Snape stated with malice.
“Potter? You tried to teach Potter occlumency? Why would you do that?” Draco asked inquisitively. He began to wonder which side Snape was really on. He knew that if Snape was really on the good side that Voldemort would find out, and kill him. Then he thought, what if he kills Snape then who would protect me. Draco’s smug expression was replaced by one of worry.
“That stupid fool Dumbledore told me I had to. He told me if I didn’t I would lose my job. I knew that if I was to stop spying on Dumbledore, then the Dark Lord would kill me.” Snape stated. “Anyway off to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long, long day.”
Back at Grimmauld Place, Lupin, the older Weasley’s, Mad Eye, and Kingsley Shacklebolt were having a meeting planning out when they were going to make their attack.
“We must strike soon, or we will face more casualties, we have already lost some of the Order, Dumbledore is dead, our greatest member. If we don’t act quickly we will surely lose.” Mad Eye said. He was angry; he had lost his good friend only a few months earlier and was worried about losing the rest.
“NO,” shouted Harry. “If you strike to soon we will lose, Voldemort will just come back again. He has ways of doing it. If you strike now we will lose to many people in the fight, and even if Voldemort does fall he will return. You will strike when I say you can strike.” Harry was furious he did not want to lose any more innocent lives in this battle until he was sure he could defeat Voldemort. After all it was he, Harry that must be the one to destroy Voldemort.
“POTTER!” Moody yelled, “YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS TELLING THE ORDER WHEN WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING, WE ARE MORE EDUCATED AND WOULD BE ABLE TO DEFEND OURSELVES BETTER THEN YOU.”
“Calm down Mad Eye.” Lupin said. “We must believe potter after all it was he that Dumbledore trusted with the mission. The mission he wouldn’t inform anybody of. He told us that something had to be done, but he wouldn’t tell us what.” Lupin knew about the mission, he was a skilled Legilmens just like Dumbledore, nobody knew. He had read Harry’s mind when Harry had given his little spiel on not attacking yet. “Harry, can I talk to you, Ron, and Hermione alone for a minute?” Lupin asked.
“Yes but can it wait a minute? We are on very important business. The mission brought us here. We must complete the task as quickly as possible.” Harry stated, he was beginning to get impatient; he was worried that Mundungus had taken the locket and he just had to find it.
“It won’t take long Harry, and I find it important that I tell you this.” Lupin said.
“Fine, but make it quick.” Harry said
They left the kitchen, walked slowly up the stairs making sure to avoid the stairs that creaked. They did not want to wake up Sirius’ mother. They walked into the room that Harry had stayed in two years previous.
“Harry, I know about the horcruxes. I want to help you. You can say no if you want but I think I can help. I can help you travel if that is all I do.” Lupin said.
“What? How? Who told you about the horcruxes?”
“Well sorry Harry I didn’t mean to pry, but when you were talking to Moody, I used the Legilmens that I have mastered to see why you felt so strongly about it.” Lupin started, “you must have realized that I could read minds, after all it was not Sirius’s words that convinced me, it was his memories.”
“You know, well then help us look for the locket. We know it is somewhere in this house. We saw it two years ago when we were cleaning out the drawing room.”
They went into the drawing room, and searched for hours. They looked through everything on the shelf. They couldn’t find the locket. All they found were a few dark magic items. They found a few Dark detectors as well, such as a foe glass, three secrecy sensors, and about twenty broken sneakoscopes, with just one that worked.
“Why can’t we find it,” Harry asked. “I know it’s here unless.” Just then Harry realized how he could find out where it was. “Lupin can you pry into minds of magical creatures?”
“Well yes, if they are not above the intelligence of Human beings.” Lupin said. “I can read a house elves mind if that’s what you were wondering.” Lupin knew that’s what he was wondering. He just had to know why Harry would ask a question like that.
“Good. Kreacher come here.” Harry said. There was a loud crack, and a small brown figure appeared at Harry’s feet.
“What does the blood traitor want now?” Kreacher mumbled.
“What was that?” Harry demanded.
Kreacher could not refuse a direct command from his master. “Kreacher was just wondering what Master wanted now? Can I help you with something?”
“Yes I want you to tell me if you know anything about a locket that was in here two years ago? It has the mark of Slytherin on it.” Harry asked
“Yes I know of it, that thief stole it I watched him.” Kreacher said.
“Do you know where he took it?” Harry asked.
“No.” Kreacher said.
“Thank you, now return to the kitchens at Hogwarts.” Harry said. And with another loud crack Kreacher disappeared.
“He was lying.” Lupin said. “He took it himself, he hid it in that closet of his.”
“Great Job Lupin,” Harry said. “I appreciate it.”
They then went and searched in the closet. There they found more and more dark detectors. All of these ones worked, Kreacher was able to tell the working ones from the ones that didn’t. After about an hour of searching, they still hadn’t found it. Just then Ron got an idea.
“Accio Slytherin’s locket.” He said. The locket zoomed to him from a tiny hole in the wall that none of them had noticed. The question was how did they destroy it now that they had it.
“Does anybody know how we destroy this thing? I mean when I destroyed the diary I just stuck the basilisks fang in it.” Harry said, “but now we don’t have the fang and I don’t think it would pierce the locket either.”
“Well there is probably a spell we can use to destroy it.” Hermione suggested.
Harry thought for a minute and realized that it was Hermione and she was probably right. “Well? What is the spell?” He asked.
“I don’t know, but I may have a way we can find out.” Hermione said. “I would suggest looking in the book you found back at Godric’s Hollow.”
“Of course it must tell us a way to destroy them.” Ron said.
“Well thank you Lupin, we must go now,” Harry said. “When we need your help we will be sure to contact you.”
“Tell Tonks I say hi and that I miss her. Ask her to come visit sometime.” Lupin said.
They looked at their watches and were surprised by what time it was, it had taken them almost sixteen hours to find that stupid locket. They stepped into the fire, shouted Hogwarts, Headmistresses office, and disappeared. When they arrived back at Hogwarts, the sight that caught their eyes surprised them. There was somebody searching through McGonagall’s office, but it wasn’t McGonagall.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry quietly pulled out their wands. They needed to be ready for anything. They had no idea who this could be, or why they were here. They had to suspect the worst. It had to be a spy, for Voldemort, and they had to be looking for anything that the order was doing.
Harry slowly walked toward this mysterious stranger. With his wand raised, pointed at the stranger’s back he said, “Who are you, and why are you here?” To his surprise, when the stranger turned around it was the one teacher he hated more then Snape. It was Umbridge. “You,” Harry called, “Why are you here.”
“You know why I am here boy, Crucio” Umbridge cried. She had not wanted to kill him, just to make sure that nobody knew of her arrival. She could not take the chance of the Dark Lord finding out she had been caught. She wanted to leave the job to kill him to the Dark Lord. Harry was ready though he was able to remember the spell that Professor Hall had taught them.
“HAHISTSNA” Harry bellowed. A little Magical Mirror appeared in front of Harry, the spell hit it, and broke. There was just enough power in the Mirror to reflect this one curse. The curse was so strong the mirror could barely last.
When the spell hit Umbridge, she fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The sound alerted Professor Hall, who had been walking by the office at that very moment. Professor darted past the stone gargoyle, and up the moving steps and burst through the door, and yelled, “STUPEFY.” It nailed Harry in the back, and he fell to the ground stunned.
When Professor Hall had realized what was going on, and what she had done, she stunned Umbridge, and then bound her. She then proceeded to revive Harry and find out what was going on.
“Explain, NOW.” Professor Hall said, “Why did you use an unforgivable curse, that is the only thing that could have caused that much pain.”
“Professor I didn’t” Harry began. “She tried to curse me, but I remembered what you taught me in class. The curse blocker.”
“Did you Really?” Professor Hall said, “Well in that case, ROHASHITO”
“HAHISTSNA” Harry called. The mirror appeared in front of Harry again, this time the mirror did not break, but held firm. The spell reflected back toward Professor Hall who then cried “HAHISTSNA CONTRAIG.” This time, a mirror appeared in front of Professor Hall, but instead of sending the spell toward Harry, it absorbed it.
“Very good Harry, I believe you.” Professor Hall said. “I knew how much you hated Umbridge, after all she did work for the Ministry that year. I wanted to make sure you did know the spell like you claimed. Let me take care of her.” She then said “Levicorpus” and got into the fireplace, grabbed floo powder, and shouted, “Ministry of Magic, Aurors department.” And in a magnificent display of emerald green flames Professor Hall, and Umbridge disappeared.
A few minutes later, they reappeared in the Ministry of Magic. Wizards were wondering around aimlessly, there were dark detectors all about. The wizards had hardly noticed their arrival, until one in particular noticed them.
“Hey Louise, what brings you back here.” Said a wizard with a slow deep voice. He was tall and bald. It was none other then Kingsley Shacklebolt. “Don’t you have teacher stuff to be dealing with?”
“Yes, Kingsley, I do.” She said, “in fact, that is what brings me here.” At this, all the other Aurors became alert. If something to do with teaching had brought her back to the Aurors department, something had to have happened.
“Well what was it?” Said an Auror, who she didn’t know.
“Well I was walking by Professor McGonagall’s office,” she started, “when I heard screaming. The screaming that can only be produced from the Cruciatus curse. I went up to investigate, and stunned the person who I believed had cast the spell. As it turned out, it was not the person I hit that had cast the spell, but this fowl excuse for a person.” She said while indicating Umbridge.
“Well who did you stun?” Kingsley asked with curiosity.
“Harry Potter.” She said. “When I realized I had stunned him, I bound her and revived him. He then told me what had happened. He had walked in and found her looking through McGonagall’s office, and when he confronted her, she tried to curse him. Harry being the genius in Defense Against the Dark Arts that he his remembered the new counter curse I taught him, and reflected the spell.”
At this everybody was surprised. They knew that this was very advanced magic, and were very surprised that a young schoolboy was able to pull it off.
“That’s Harry for you,” Kingsley said. “Always full of surprises.”
“Well if you will excuse me I must get back to Hogwarts. Do with her as you will, but make sure she gets a trial.” Professor Hall said, and with that she went back to the fireplace, grabbed floo powder, and shouted “Hogwarts: Headmistresses office” and disappeared.
When she returned to Hogwarts, she found the three friends still there. “What are you three still doing here?” She asked
“We are waiting for McGonagall we must let her know we are back,” said Hermione.
“Well I guess it is good that you are still here, I need to talk to you Harry.” Professor Hall said, “and yes it is alright if your friends stay.”
Harry wondered what she needed to talk to him about. He figured that it must be of where they were, and what happened.
“Harry, I am very impressed that you were able to use that spell, it is very advanced magic, they only teach it to you when you are older.” Professor Hall began, “Not many wizards your age are able to do that spell so young, in fact there are only two other wizards that that are recorded to ever have performed that spell so young, and both of them are in this room.”
“How is that Possible,” Harry asked, “you are the only other one in the room besides Ron and Hermione, and they haven’t done it yet. Well at least not in time to have it recorded.”
“I never said they were still alive, look around you Harry, look at the walls.” Hall said.
Then it hit him, Dumbledore. Dumbledore the greatest wizard ever had to be the other one to perform that spell at his age. “Of course,” Harry said, “Dumbledore was able to do it.”
“Very good Harry, in fact it was he that taught me how to do it when I was your age.” Professor Hall said. “I am truly impressed, I see why Dumbledore respected you so much at your age.”
“Professor, if the magic is so advanced why did you teach it to us?” Ron asked
“Well when Dumbledore taught it to me, the first war was beginning, he taught the class hoping they would practice it hard, that one day we would be able to defend ourselves.” Professor Hall said, “So I decided to take a leaf out of his book, and did what I thought he would do. Now if there are no more questions, I want the three of you to get to class.”
“Just one more Professor, can you teach us that spell, that you used to block the reflection of your spell?” Harry said. He knew it sounded confusing, but hoped that Professor Hall would understand.
“Of course Harry,” Professor Hall said. “First you must realize, that this is only to block the spell, that has been sent back toward the caster, it will not work otherwise. The incantation as you heard me say is Hahistna Contraig. It absorbs any spell that was cast by the same wand.”
“Thank you Professor.” Harry said, “I will practice it.”
“Now off to class, I will tell McGonagall of your arrival.”
They walked slowly down toward the greenhouses, for Herbology. When they finally arrived there, they found out class was cancelled, due to the Whomping Willow needing care.
On their way back to the Gryffindor common room, Professor McGonagall intercepted them. “How come the three of you did not tell me you were back?” she asked. “Did you not think I needed to know you were back?”
“Well we found Umbridge in your office, when we returned. She tried to use the Cruciatus curse on Harry, but he blocked it using spells we learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Hermione said. “Professor Hall, heard the noise, and came and took her to the Ministry, she then said that she would tell you we were back.”
“If this is all true, I will be gone for a few days. You will also need to be with a teacher at all times. I want you three to go and find Professor Tonks, she is your new Head of House. Tell her what is going on, and that she is to remain with you and the rest of the Gryffindors in the common room.” McGonagall said. She then hurried off to her office to talk to Professor Hall.
The trio slowly walked to Tonks’ office. On their way there, they realized that they still had no idea how to destroy the Horcrux. “We have to look through the book,” Harry said. “That is the only way we can find out. After we tell Tonks what she needs to do, we will sneak to the library in the invisibility cloak, that way we can look for more books.”
“Good idea,” Hermione said. She was proud that it was Harry who had suggested the library as a way to help. She stared at him in amazement. “Harry had learned how useful the library was,” Hermione thought.
When they reached Tonks’ office, they told her what she needed to go and do, and led her up to the common room. When they got there, Harry and Ron ran upstairs to get the book. When they returned downstairs, they meet with Hermione, then got under the invisibility cloak, and headed toward the library.
Upon arriving at the entrance to the library, the three took off the cloak, and entered. Hermione asked Madame Pince where they could find books on death, while Harry and Ron searched the books they already had.
“No luck,” said Hermione, “all the books on death are in the restricted section.”
“No luck here either,” said Ron, “we looked through the book and it tells us everything about Horcruxes, except how to destroy them.”
Hermione then decided to look through the book, because she was more observant and was sure they had missed something. She looked through it, and then she found it. “There is a page missing right here, this must be how to destroy it.”
“Well Regulus said we could contact him if we had any questions.” Harry said.
Weeks went by, and Halloween was approaching fast, when Harry realized that he didn’t have a new chaser, to replace Katie. He decided to keep all of the team and to hold tryouts that weekend.
When the weekend finally came, tryouts started. “This is what is going to happen for tryouts,” Harry told the team, “Ron, you will be the keeper of course, Ginny, Demelza, you will take turns being an opposing Chasers, and Peakes and Coote, will take turns being beaters. Each person will have three minutes to show us what he or can do. Got it?”
The tryouts began, and Harry watched, as many people did horrible. “Next,” Harry said. As he said this, a familiar boy with mousy brown hair stepped up and said, “Alright Harry.” It was none other then Colin Creevy.
“Okay Colin, you have three minutes, when I release the Quaffle, you may begin.” Harry said. “This is just what I need,” Harry thought, “another excuse for him to be around me.”
Harry release the Quaffle, and watched as Colin darted around the field. He was surprised at how well he was doing, dodging bludgers at least. He attempted many goals, but was blocked by Ron every time. He also had the Quaffle stolen from him a few times by Ginny. About a minute and a half into it, Peakes finally hit him with a bludger, and knocked him unconscious. Harry went to make sure he was all right, and called for Dennis, Colin’s little brother, to take him to the hospital wing.
“Alright I believe that is everybody,” Harry said, “Thank you all for trying out, the team will discuss, and I will post who the new team member is tonight.”
The team deliberated for a while, and finally decided on Dean Thomas. He had flown better then anybody else, and had scored eight goals within the first two minutes. He was great at dodging bludgers, and got past Ginny loads of times, and Harry was sure Ginny was playing her hardest, because she didn’t seem to happy with him getting past her so many times.
When Harry arrived back at the common room, he posted Deans name on the board. Many first and second years got mad at Harry accusing him of choosing his friends. Harry who did not want to deal with it just said, “Yep your right, and next time you ask, I’ll curse you.”
The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Hall helped to prepare her students for the test they would be having on Halloween, this Friday. “Today class, we are going to be working on spells that can help you identify if somebody is really who they say they are. I am going to close my eyes, and I want two students to come up and pretend to be the same person, by sounding like each other. I will then proceed to tell you who is real and who is fake. It is best to do this spell non-verbally.” Professor Hall said.
When she closed her eyes, Neville and Ron got up. They decided on being Neville. They got up there and started talking like Neville. Ron was on Professor Hall’s right, and Neville on her left. Ron and Neville had a nice long conversation on plants, for about three minutes until Professor Hall finally said. “The real Neville is on my left.”
The class was amazed; they were absolutely astounded by being able to do that. “Professor, how did you do that,” Hermione asked.
“Oh it really is very simple,” Professor Hall said. “It is a simple spell that takes a lot of focus, and magic to perform though. By simple I mean it is quite easy to remember. The spell is Distingisna. It allows you to sense any changes in voice quality, and appearance. The voice of the actually person, wont’ change very much, and the appearance shouldn’t change at all. The spell takes a lot of focus, and lots of magic. I don’t expect any of you to do it as quick as I did, but work hard and I will see you on Friday.”
Friday arrived, and Harry decided to call a DA meeting, before Defense Against the Dark Arts, in order to help them prepare. They meet at the Room of Requirement at nine o’clock. Three hours before their test at noon. The group practiced Distingisna for an hour and a half, and then Harry decided to teach them Hahistsna Contraig, as a surprise for the group. They practiced that for half an hour, and Harry was impressed to see that all of the older students, the sixth and seventh years, had done it successfully.
They arrived at class, that day after eating lunch together ready to decide who was the real person, and who was the fake. When they arrived, Professor Dippet, grabbed Harry, and gave him some polyjuice potion and a hair. I believe you know what to do. When we go back in, they will be decided who is who between us. I want you to do your best performance of me Harry.
Harry added the hair and then drank the potion a minute later he looked like Professor Dippet. Harry took a minute to work on the voice, and then they entered into the classroom. It was Hermione who was up first, Harry, and Professor Dippet, had a nice conversation about potions. After about twenty minutes Hermione finally decided who was who, and got an A.
Professor Hall then proceeded to take Hermione into the Hall, and gave her polyjuice potion. When they reentered, it was Neville who was up. It took Neville almost forty-five minutes before he finally decided, and was right.
One by one the students that had gone left the room and reentered with one of the professors, and each student did well. Ron did it if thirty minutes and was extremely excited. Finally it was Harry’s turn, all the other Students had left, except for Ron and Hermione. When Harry was ready, two mysterious hooded figures walked in. They lowered their hoods, and to Harry’s surprise, it was Percy Weasley. Harry was so surprised, that he almost forgot what he was doing. Harry concentrated hard, said the spell in his mind, and quickly decided who was the real Percy Weasley. Professor’s Hall, and Dippet just stared at Harry. Even wizards that have been Aurors for years hadn’t done it that quickly. Harry had done it in only a minute, and that was with taking twenty seconds to recover from shock.
As the trio left, to return to the common room, they received a letter, from Mrs. Weasley, that Pig brought them.
Ron it’s Bill, something has gone wrong today. We are not sure what happened exactly, but we believe it has to do with being bitten by Greyback. Have Professor Dippet make some wolfsbane potion; it is the only thing I can think of that will help. Love Mum
Ron began to rush off to Professor Dippet’s office, when Harry stopped him.
“Wait,” Harry said, “let me go get the Half-Blood Prince’s copy of Advanced Potion Making. It will have a better way of making it.”
They rushed off to the Room of Requirement, and grabbed the book, and then they took it down to Professor Dippet, showed him the letter, and gave him the book.
“I can have it ready in an hour, tell your mother that you will be there shortly.” Professor Dippet said. True to his word, an hour later the potion was ready. Ron grabbed it, and led Harry and Hermione to McGonagall’s office where they could travel by floo powder.
When they reached McGonagall’s office, they showed her the letter, and without waiting got in the fireplace, grabbed floo powder and shouted “The Burrow”
When they arrived at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley greeted them. “Bring the potion, this way, I will try to give it to Bill.” They walked up the stairs, to Bill’s room, where Mr. Weasley, and the twins were keeping Bill at bay. Harry was immediately able to tell something was wrong. Bill wasn’t acting right, he was acting like a werewolf, but he didn’t look like one.
“I’ve got it Arthur,” Mrs. Weasley said. “Let me try and give it to him. On three, I want everybody to stupefy him.” With this comment, everybody drew their wands and pointed them at Bill. “…Three” a loud shout of “STUPEFY” filled the air around them, and jets of red light hit Bill. Mrs. Weasley then ran over to him, and gave him the potion. Her and Mr. Weasley then proceeded to revive him.
When Bill recovered, they noticed he was back to normal, but decided to take him to St. Mungos, just in case. They also wanted to find out what happened. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, returned to Hogwarts, to tell everybody what had happened.
Ginny became very angry upon hearing the news, “Why did you not come and get me?” Ginny asked. “Bill is my brother too, and I care about him just as much as you do.”
Ron turned red, but was able to say. “Sorry Ginny, I forgot, I was too worried to think about anything else.”
Ginny soon forgave them. They then decided that they would again look for an answer on how to destroy the Horcruxes. Harry had sent a letter to Regulus, asking him to meet with them at midnight in the common room. They looked and looked, and found nothing, finally midnight came around, and they cleared the common room with another one of Fred and George’s stink bombs.
“Harry,” Ginny said, “who is this Regulus that we are meeting.”
“Remember R.A.B.? This is him.” Harry said. “He is Sirius’ brother.”
“REALLY?” Ginny said with excitement. She realized this meant, that her and Harry would be together longer, because she knew Harry would be able to destroy Voldemort, quicker then expected.
Regulus stepped out of the fireplace, and said, “You had a question, did you Harry.” Just then Regulus noticed the other three people standing there. “Who are they, and why didn’t you make them leave?”
“They are my best friends, and already know about the Horcruxes, and you.” Harry said. “And yes, I did have a question, how do you destroy a Horcrux.”
“Well Harry, I thought you were smart enough to know that, after all you destroyed one already. All you have to do is destroy the item in question.” Regulus said. “Now if that is all I will be going.” He went back to the fireplace, stepped in and disappeared in a brilliant display of emerald green flames.
“Duh,” Harry thought, “Why didn’t we think of that.”
“So to destroy this locket, what would be the best way?” asked Ron.
“Well I would say to melt it down, somebody go get their cauldron.” Harry said.
Ron ran upstairs, retrieved his cauldron, returned downstairs, threw the locket in, and lit a fire underneath it. They allowed the locket, to melt for a while, and then when it was liquefied, they used a draining spell, to make it disappear, and with that, there were only three Horcruxes left. Harry knew where one was, and what two were. He realized he would soon be done.
* * *
Draco was sitting, at the kitchen table in Spinner’s End. He was wondering, what he was going to do with Snape, now that he had mastered Occlumency, and was relatively okay at Legilmens.
“Draco,” Snape spat. “You have done much better then I could have ever hoped, I will know be teaching you, more advanced Defense. I will also teach you some more advanced Offensive spells as well.
dats it? y arent u continuing? i must say ur story is really quite oringinal compared to the rest in the forum. i nv would have tot of regulas as R.A.B...
anyway...plz continue posting!!
write now im kinda stuck trying to make this chapter flow smoothly, its kinda rough i have what i want for this chapter in my head, and i know how to put it into words, i just need to finish up with a certain part of the chapter before i can begin writing the main part of the chapter, and this chapter isn't going to be as long as the previous one, or at least i don;'t think so and im having trouble accessing it. I can only write it every once in a while, im on school computers and it is on my drive at the school, but sometimes it can't locate my drive, well most of the time it can't but expect chapters 9 and 10 by new years, if i don't get them up PM me like crazy
Harry awoke the next morning bright and early. He had to get ready for Quidditch practice, and wanted to make sure he got a good breakfast. Harry got dressed, and then headed down toward the Great Hall to get breakfast. When Harry reached the Great Hall, he was surprised to find Ginny already at breakfast. He had woken up early enough to be able to eat, and get down to the Quidditch pitch, before any of the team had woken up. He wanted to come up with some play ideas, and thought a few minutes alone would help him.
“Why are you awake this early, Ginny?” Harry asked. “Practice isn’t for another three hours.”
“Well I just thought I could get an early start,” Ginny said “I thought I could use a little bit of extra practice.”
“Well I was going down to the pitch to come up with new plays for the team,” Harry said, “I guess you can help me with them, and I would enjoy the company.” Ginny looked ecstatic, nothing had happened between her and Harry since the night at the Burrow, and she was worried that Harry didn’t like her anymore.
They ate breakfast together, and had a nice long discussion about R.A.B., the Horcruxes, and of course Quidditch. After they had finished eating, they headed down to the Quidditch Pitch. Harry noticed that Ginny was staring at him.
“What’s up Gin?” Harry asked. He always knew that when Ginny was staring at him she wanted to tell him something, but always restrained it.
“Oh, I’m just worried about how quidditch is going to go, with you and my brother periodically leaving.” Ginny said.
“Well that’s why I have a back up plan, we don’t have to have all seven players, and just really the seeker is all that matters, right?’ Harry said. “I have written you down as co-captain and as a backup seeker in case something happens to me. If it comes to it, we can always hold tryouts for extra chasers, and keepers.”
“Really, that’s a good idea, Harry.” Ginny said with excitement, she was glad to hear that she was co-captain with Harry; it showed to her just how much Harry did care for her.
When they finally arrived at the Quidditch pitch, Harry began to show Ginny some ideas for some plays. After showing her about four plays, he realized that this isn’t what he wanted to be doing; he then leaned over, and kissed Ginny.
They began to talk, about what was going to happen. What Ginny would do to help Harry with his quest was one of the many things they talked about. When the team finally arrived, they walked in on Harry and Ginny, who again had begun snogging.
“Would you two quit that?” Ron said, “She is my sister after all mate, and I don’t like the idea of her snogging all over the place.”
“Sorry Ron,” Harry said. “Okay, we are here for practice, so let’s practice. Our first match is in two weeks, we are facing Slytherin, who has had to replace their seeker, and we have no idea how good he will be so we must be prepared; it is going to be all of you against me and Ron. This will help all of us get better, me by trying to catch the snitch, before you guys score fifteen goals, Ron trying to stop you from scoring goals, the three seekers, trying to score the goals, and the two beaters trying to knock me, since they can’t attack Ron, off of my broom.”
They played five games, in which everybody got better and better. On the last game, Harry was able to catch the snitch, in only a minute, but in that time Ron had stopped five goals, and the chasers had put in four goals, and the beaters made Harry have to change direction quickly as he was about to grab the snitch a couple times. They were ready for anything.
Two weeks quickly passed, it was now getting close to the match, and for the seventh years school was becoming unbearable, they were getting so much homework to help prepare them for their N.E.W.T.’s that would be occurring at the end of the year. They had to be able to perform the nonverbal spell to determine if the person was really who they say they were in less than ten minutes for defense against the dark arts. Harry had no problem with this, as he had already done it in less than a minute. In Potions, they had to be able to brew a successful polyjuice potion, again which Harry had no trouble with seeing as how he, Hermione, and Ron had brewed one in their second year.
The worry’s the homework brought to the seventh years because a little trouble for the quidditch team. Ron and Dean were too worried about their homework to play quidditch. This put the team down, two players for their match that evening, and without a keeper and a chaser, Harry wasn’t sure if they could beat the Slytherin team, who had lost all of its seventh years, due to not wanting to come back without Malfoy there.
The team this year was made up of four large sixth years, and two fifth, and a fourth year, all of whom were large, except for the fourth year, who was smaller then little Dennis Creevey, meaning he would be able to fly quicker then Harry would be able too. With all this in mind, Harry called an emergency practice, and said that everybody must be there; he also told Hermione that she needed to come.
When the team arrived at the quidditch pitch a little later, they found Harry already there looking worried. “Okay,” he said, “everybody on the Slytherin quidditch team is big enough to seriously injure us, except for their seeker, who is smaller then Dennis Creevey is, and we know he hasn’t grown too much since his first year. This means, that we need to work quickly, and really well together to make sure that they don’t beat us, especially, if Ron and Dean aren’t going to play tonight.”
“Sorry mate,” Ron said, “we just aren’t as good as you are in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and we need to have that spell mastered in less then ten minutes, by Monday and tomorrow is Sunday, not giving us much time. We just won’t be able to do it.”
“Yeah, Sorry,” Dean added.
“Well you two since you won’t be playing tonight, go back to the castle and study, I will let you know how the match turns out.” Harry said. “Now team, in this match since we won’t have a keeper, I want the beaters to focus only on that little Slytherin seeker, to more he has to dodge, the better chance I have of catching the snitch, I won’t let us lose to Slytherin, I will do what ever is necessary to win, that is why Hermione is here.”
Hermione, who had been wondering why she was there, became extremely frustrated, and said, “I WILL NOT HELP YOU CHEAT.” and she stormed off back to the castle. Harry looked disgusted, “Why would she think I wanted her to help us cheat?” He said. “I was just going to ask her if she would help us practice a bit, by playing for Ginny, while Ginny played seeker against me. The more I face somebody, quick and small as a seeker, the better I can do.”
“So,” Ginny said, “are will still going to practice, or can we go eat before the match?”
“Let’s go eat.” Harry said, with disappointment in his voice.
After dinner, the team got their robes, and headed down to the pitch. When they arrived, they found that the Slytherin team was already on the field warming up. They watched as the team performed magnificently together, they had never seen a team play so well, especially not a Slytherin team. They chasers weaved back and forth passing the quaffle, and dodging bludgers with ease. The keeper, stopped every goal the chasers attempted to put by him, and the seeker zoomed so fast around the field, he was only a blur to the Gryffindor team.
The team became awfully worried; they had no idea how they were going to beat this team. This was obviously the best team Slytherin has ever had since Harry started at Hogwarts.
Madame Hooch blew her whistle, “Teams come here.” She said. “I want all of you to play a nice clean game, captains shake hands. When your name is called, I want you to take your position, and then when I release the quaffle, the game will begin.”
Harry shook hands, with the biggest guy on the Slytherin team. Then over the speakers came the voice of Luna Lovegood. “And now, introducing the Gryffindor team first the beaters, Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote. Next the chasers, Ginny Weasley, Demelza Robins, and Dean Thomas, who is not here, next the keeper, Ron Weasley, who is also not here, and last the seeker, and team captain, Harry Potter. Give it up for the Gryffindors. And now for the Slytherins,” She said, and the crowd booed. “First the beaters, John Hussaout and Cario Groanin, now the chasers, Neil Creemy, Alan Winston, and the team captain, Nero Nimrod, and the keeper Abe Akhenaten, and last the seeker, Sekhem Coeur.”
With that Madame Hooch blew her whistle, and the match began. She threw the Quaffle into the air, and it was immediately seized by Ginny. She darted past Creemy, and Winston, and then had the Quaffle stolen by Nimrod. Nimrod soared down the field, past the bludger sent at him by Peakes, gets past Demelza, and shoots, but misses thanks to Coote’s well aimed bludger; it hit the quaffle in midair and knocked it down right to Ginny.
Harry circled around the pitch searching for a glimpse of the golden snitch, while keeping an eye on Coeur to make sure he wasn’t going for the snitch. Groanin aimed a bludger right at Harry; Harry reacted quickly and dove out of the way. Coeur who had missed the bludger being sent at Harry flew towards him thinking Harry had seen the snitch; it wasn’t but two seconds, before Coeur was on Harry’s heels. Harry decided to keep diving, and right before he reached the ground, he pulled up, and turned and watched as Coeur crashed right behind him.
Over the crowd, Harry heard the voice of Luna Lovegood announce that the score was 20 to 80 Slytherin; Harry knew that if he didn’t catch the snitch quickly the team wouldn’t stand a chance of winning. Just then he saw it, the little flash of light down by the goals, that Ron would be guarding if he had been there. Harry just the realized that Coeur had seen it too. Harry took off after him and the snitch, and quickly gained on him. Just then Peakes sent a bludger right at Coeur and Harry, and they quickly dodged, but in that second Coeur had lost sight of the snitch. Harry flew quickly toward the snitch reached out his hand, and grabbed the snitch in his hand.
“Gryffindor Wins,” said the voice of Luna Lovegood, “190 to 180, that was the closest match I have ever seen, but I knew that Gryffindor could do it.”
Relieved, Harry landed on the ground, and slowly made his way back to the castle, he reached the dormitory, and found Ron and Dean, still working on the Defense Against the Dark Arts spell, with Neville and Seamus.
“We lost,” Harry lied. “I didn’t know what the score was, and I caught the snitch, ten points, ten lousy points.” Harry then noticing the reaction on the other’s faces then began to laugh. “Fooled you I did, we won by ten points after I caught the snitch, would have been less if you had played mate.”
“Well sorry mate,” Ron said, “but we have all made great progress in the spell, Dean, Seamus, and I have all done it in just over nine minutes, and Neville has done it in eleven minutes, he is getting a lot better at it, but maybe we should have a DA meeting to practice it tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Harry said, “go tell Hermione, to schedule a meeting for tomorrow at nine o’clock in the evening. We will also work on other defensive spells from Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
* * * *
“Draco, you have learned well and quicker then I could have hoped for.” Snape said. “We will now give a test, to see how well you actually know your material; it is time for a duel.”
“A duel?” said Malfoy. “Who am I going to be dueling? Surely you don’t expect me to duel you Professor. I mean, how do you expect me to duel you, you have much more experience then I do.”
“No Malfoy, you will not be dueling me, but you will be dueling somebody with a lot more experience then you.” Snape said. “This is a person; you know really well, after all who else would you know any better.”
“Who am I going to be dueling?” Malfoy asked. “My father is in prison, so surely I won’t be dueling him.”
“But what about your mother, Draco what about her?” Snape asked. “Surely you haven’t forgotten about your mother?”
“Why would I duel her? It’s not like she would want to hurt me, would she?” Draco asked.
“No she doesn’t want to hurt you, which is why I have this she wants to kill me.
“You will take this and one of my hairs and drink it, you will then duel your mother, and this will be a duel to the death. After all, the Dark Lord wants her dead now.” Snape said.
“Why?” Draco asked with worry, “What has she done?”
“No time for questions now boy, drink that your mother should be here shortly.” Snape said, “The only rule in this duel is no using the killing curse, everything else is legal. Now drink up.”
Draco took the potion, and drank it, and took on the form of Severus Snape. He was now taller, with greasy black hair, and a hooked nose. Just then, Narcissa Malfoy walked through the door, just as the real Severus, pulled on an invisibility cloak, which the Dark Lord gave him.
The person who walked through the door next surprised everybody, it was none other then Wormtail. “I have been sent to watch this duel, to make sure no cheating goes on, after all the Dark Lord, needs you two, to prove yourself, who ever survives, will gain trust with the Dark Lord. Wands at the ready, now bow, and begin.”
“SECTEMSEMPRA” cried Draco.
“PROTEGO” cried Narcissa.
“CRUCIO” cried Narcissa.
“HAHISTNA” cried Draco, and the little mirror, appeared in front of him, and reflected the spell back at Narcissa, but it was so powerful, that not only did the mirror break, but it let a little of the spell through, just enough to cause Draco a little pain.
“PROTEGO” Narcissa cried, but the spell was too powerful, and broke through she fell to the ground writhing in pain. This was just the chance Draco needed. He slowly walked over to his mother, and cried “SECTEMSEMPRA.” Large cuts appeared all over Narcissa, she began bleeding badly.
“It is over.” Said Wormtail, “Severus Snape is the declared the winner.” Wormtail then left, just after the door closed, Draco heard the words. “AVADA KEDAVRA” and a shot of green light shot out of what appeared to be nowhere, but what Draco knew was the real Snape, and Narcissa Malfoy died.
“Why did you do that?” Draco asked.
“I did not think she should suffer anymore then was necessary.” Snape stated. “Now I believe you asked me some questions earlier, if you wish to ask them again, I would now be glad to answer them for you.”
“Yes I have a few questions.” Draco said.
“Very well, you may ask them, and if you wish for a better explanation just ask.” Snape said.
“Okay, my first question is, why did I have to duel my mother? I mean, what if I had died what would you have done?” Draco asked.
“I had to have you duel your mother, as a test, to see if you could do what needed to be done, to accomplish the task the Dark Lord gave you. You passed with flying colors; you did not hesitate, to attack your mother. I am very proud of you.” Snape answered, “And I would not have let you die, if your mother ever got the advantage, nonverbal spells would have taken care of her. She would not have known that I cast them.”
“Okay and why did the Dark Lord want my mother dead?” Draco asked.
“The Dark Lord wanted her dead, because she did not do as he asked, for the second time she has failed him now.” Snape said.
“Well, what did, or didn’t she do, to make him want her dead?”
“She refused to break your father out of Azkaban.” Snape said. “She told him that, it was too dangerous, and she would not do it, she told him, that if she went there she would be killed by Aurors.”
“And what was the other time she failed him?” Draco asked.
“She failed him again, last year, when she forced me to interfere with your task, the Dark Lord told her not to get anybody else involved, but she couldn’t let anything happen to you.” Snape said.
“Why didn’t the dark lord, just kill her himself?” Draco asked.
“He didn’t think she was worth his time, and he thought that she might be useful to him, so he granted her the choice to duel anybody she wanted, it was a duel to the death. When she chose me, the dark lord contacted me and told me what was going on.” Snape said, “He then told me I must not lose, that she was to die. That is why I would not let you die in that duel.”
“Professor, why did you mention something about my task, from the Dark Lord? Wasn’t that just a dream?” Draco asked.
“No, Draco it wasn’t a dream, the Dark Lord really did ask you to kill Regulus Black. I did not want you or your mother to worry, so I bewitched you to believe that it was a dream. I am sorry Draco.” Snape said, “But what you did today, proves that you are ready to accomplish the task he has set for you. Well almost ready at least, I still want to train you for a while.”
Draco immediately became frightened. He didn’t think that he would be able to kill somebody, after all, he wasn’t the one that killed his mother, it was Snape. He wasn’t ready to kill, he wasn’t powerful enough, or angry enough to cause anybody real harm.
“What else are you going to teach me?” Draco asked.
“I will get to that later, but know I must test you on the other things that I have taught you to make sure you are as well defended as I hope you are.” Snape said. “I want you to attack me, with any spell that you see fit, except for the killing curse, because there is no defense against it.”
“But why?” Draco asked.
“You will find out soon enough, now attack me.” Snape spat.
“SECTEMSEMPRA” Draco yelled.
“HAHISTNA” Snape bellowed, and the little magical mirror appeared in front of him, and reflected the spell back at Malfoy, and then the mirror broke.
“HAHISTNA CONTRAIG” Malfoy said. And a little mirror appeared in front of him, and absorbed the spell.
“Good,” Snape said, “Now attack me again, but keep the mirror ready. This time use a different spell.”
“ROHASHITO” Draco said.
“HAHISTNA” Snape once again bellowed, the spell reflected back at Malfoy, and the mirror did not break. “Now Draco, get that mirror up.”
Draco did as he was instructed, and lifted the mirror in front of him, and it absorbed the spell, but it also did something strange, it began to glow. Draco dropped the mirror out of fear, and it fell to the ground and shattered.
“I see I have more to teach you.” Snape said, “If you had not dropped that mirror, you would have been able to send both those spells back at me with another simple spell. This spell, releases spells from that magical mirror, when it begins to glow. The spell is “RELEASO HAHISTNA” it is best to do it nonverbally though. We will work on more later, now one last test before we retire to bed for the night. Remember the spell I taught you, that allows you to determine if somebody is really who they say they are? Well you must be able to determine who the real person is, in less then five minutes. That way when performing the spell for real, you can tell just from talking to them for a little bit.”
“Okay Professor, I will do my best.” Draco said.
The doors then opened, and two hooded figures walked through the door. They walked over to Draco and Snape, and then they lowered their hoods. Draco was surprised to see that is was two Crabbe’s. He knew one was the real Crabbe, and the other was Goyle. In his mind, he said the spell, and finally decided who the real Crabbe was, after only two minutes.
“Very good Draco, I am very surprised, most wizards can’t do it in less than ten minutes, but since I put you through rigorous training, I guess I should not be surprised.” Snape stated with glee. “Now retire to bed Draco, you need to be ready for what is going to happen tomorrow, and don’t forget to close your mind.”
Tomorrow, the Dark Lord was going to be coming to check on Draco’s training. When Draco received the task, Snape asked the Dark Lord, if he could train Malfoy so that he would be better prepared, to defeat black. The Dark Lord obliged to his request, and now wanted to make sure everything was going well. If something went wrong, Snape would be removed from teaching Malfoy, and the Dark Lord would have to teach Malfoy a lesson.
* * * *
Back at Hogwarts, Harry Potter awoke startled. There was no way, what he saw was real, there was no way that Draco Malfoy, would have attacked his mother, there was no way, that Snape would be teaching him spells to help him. Harry knew this meant trouble for him; he would now have to fight a well trained Malfoy, in his quest to defeat the Dark Lord. He had to train the DA as good as Snape had trained Malfoy, or they could lose.
errr it's a bit too fast towards the end...and Snape in glee? I tot he talk to everyone like dirt...
but cool work i like the first one about the quidditch
Harry Potter quietly got out of bed, and ran to Professor McGonagall’s office. There was only one person Harry could think of, that would be able to help him with his dream; he had to get to Grimmauld Place. There he would be able to talk to Lupin, and tell him what he saw, and ask him what he thought it meant. After all since Dumbledore was dead now, Lupin was the only adult Harry still felt close to.
He ran down the hall, to the stone gargoyle, which marked the entrance into the headmistresses office. He reached the stone gargoyle and shouted “transfiguration,” and the gargoyle sprang to life. Harry ran up the stairs, and into Professor McGonagall’s office. I’m going to Grimmauld Place Harry yelled, be back before lunch. He then climbed into the fireplace, grabbed some floo powder, shouted “Number 12 Grimmauld Place,” and disappeared in a brilliant display of emerald green flames.
“Lupin” Harry called when he reached the kitchen of number 12 Grimmauld Place, “Lupin I need to talk to you.” There was no answer, so Harry decided to have a look around the house to see if he could find anybody, all the time calling for Lupin or any member of the order that he thought might know where Lupin was. He gave up searching after an hour and returned to the kitchen to wait.
After about thirty minutes of waiting, Harry heard a noise coming from the drawing room upstairs. The noise kind of worried him, because when he had been in there only forty minutes ago, there was nothing in there, so what could be in there now he wondered. Harry drew out his wand, and slowly went upstairs to the drawing room without making noise, and making sure not to wake up Sirius’ mother. When he arrived at the door, he put his ear to it to listen for any noises. It was silent again, so Harry with his wand raised just in case, opened the door, and found nothing. Relieved, he went back downstairs to the kitchen.
When he arrived back in the kitchen he found Mad Eye Moody, sitting at the table talking to Bill and Charlie Weasley. Harry didn’t get a chance to hear much of what they were talking about, because when the door opened, they became silent and raised their wands toward the door.
“Why do you have your wands pointed at me?” Harry asked, “Is there something going on that you don’t trust who comes through this door?”
“Well lately, we have been hearing noises from the drawing room, but by the time we get up there it is silent again, and there is nothing in there, and what’s worse is Mad Eye can’t even detect anything with his magical eye.” Charlie said
“We heard a noise up there just a few minutes before you walked in the door, so we thought you might have been whatever was causing that noise coming to get us.” Bill said. “Why are you here anyways, are you giving us to okay to attack?”
“No I’m not, but I am here looking for Lupin, do you know where he is?” Harry asked. “It’s really important that I find him soon.”
“Lupin right now is out on duty for the order, he is helping guard the death eaters in Azkaban, every week we send a new person disguised through poly juice potion to be a guard in the prison.” Mad Eye said, “the Order are the only people who know other death eaters that are not in prison, so if we see some walking in we can stop them. We have also trained ourselves very carefully, to see if somebody is disguising themselves.”
“When will he be back?” Harry asked.
“He will be back at midnight tomorrow, at which time I will go to replace him.” Charlie said.
“I’ll be back tomorrow then to see Lupin at midnight.” Harry replied. “I must go now, see you all later.” He then went over to the fireplace, grabbed some floo powder, stepped in and shouted “Hogwarts, Headmistresses office.” And he disappeared in emerald green flames.
“Back already Potter, you have only been gone for two hours, I didn’t expect you back nearly this soon.” Professor McGonagall said.
“I wasn’t able to find who I was looking for,” Harry said, “turns out they are on order duty.”
“I take it you were looking for Remus then? Why were you looking for him?” McGonagall asked.
“Earlier, he told me if I ever needed help with anything to come to him, and I needed his help for something that was pretty urgent, but it can wait until midnight tomorrow when he returns.” Harry responded. “Well I’m going to return to the common room, see you later.”
Harry returned to the common room and found Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, and told them what he saw. He could tell by the looks on their face, that they were just as surprised as he was that he was able to see that.
“How were you able to see that?” Hermione asked, “It’s not like your mind is connected to his like it is to Voldemort’s.”
“I’m not sure how, but Snape had taught him Occlumency, so Malfoy must have made some mistake to let me see it.” Harry said. He now began to wonder: maybe he was connected to Malfoy through some way after all. He just didn’t know how.
“This is really big Harry, have you told anybody else yet?” Ginny asked.
“Well I tried to go tell Lupin this morning, but he is on business for the Order.” Harry said, “And he won’t be back until midnight tomorrow. Until then, I say we try and find another Horcrux. Ron run upstairs and get the book, then meet us down in the secret place.” Their secret place was none other then Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.
KMC Community Forums
Dec 6th, 2005 07:11 AM
need more *twitch* please post ASAP 
