"So he left it to me?" Harry said quietly.
"He did," said Dumbledore. "And I intend to help you find the armour soon. It may be time it is needed."
Before Harry could say anything, the fireplace flared green, a person spun to a stop and stood up. It was Mrs. Weasley.
"Dumbledore, I've relieved Kingsley and thought to bring you a report - oh, hi, Harry!"
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley." Harry greeted her.
Mrs. Weasley gave Professor Dumbledore a piece of parchment, which he quickly read, and set aflame with his wand. "Thank you, Molly." He said, smiling.
Mrs.Weasley beamed at the two, and disappeared back into the Floo network.
"I think it is nearly time for your next class, Harry." Dumbledore said distractedly.
But there was one thing Harry needed to know. "When will we be going to retrieve the armour?"
Dumbledore's answer was careful. "When I think you are ready. And Harry...we will not be alone."
Harry nodded and left.
***
In Transfiguration, he immediately told Ron and Hermione what he had found out. Ron and Hermione were both staggered.
"You're Gryffindor's heir?" Ron gulped. "And all this time I thought Dumbledore..."
"Harry, I can't believe it!" Hermione said breathlessly, gazing at him. "Why hasn't Dumbledore told you all these years?"
"I suppose he was trying to protect me." Harry said wearily.
They had progressed to the conjuring of inanimate objects out of nowhere, and had started with a simple goblet of pumpkin juice.
Ron wouldn't touch his; it smelled very odd. Hermione was already swigging out of her's. Harry tried his own, it tasted a bit like day-old coffee.
"Well, you should really tell the rest of the school." Ron said brightly.
"No." Harry said, flatly.
There was an awkward silence as Ron tried futilely to change the contents of his goblet.
Harry swallowed. Should he tell them about the lost prophecy?
They are your friends. They have a right to know the truth.
But I don't want to worry them even more, Harry thought.
But they will still find out. It is a matter of time. Better sooner than later.
"There's something I haven't told you." He said abruptly.
Ron and Hermione looked up.
"There was another prophecy made about me." Harry said. His stomach rumbled unpleasantly.
"Well?!" Ron said, shrilly. Parvati looked over disapprovingly, but they ignored her.
"It said...." Harry coughed, and began again. "It said that either me or Voldemort will kill each other off. In the end."
Hermione looked as if she was about to hug Harry fearfully, but restrained herself. Ron, on the other hand, looked stricken.
"What?" Harry asked, slightly irritably. "It's not like I'm dead yet."
"But he is the most powerful wizard other than Dumbledore." Ron said hollowly. "We've got to put more time into the DA."
"I'm not going to put your lives in danger again - " Harry began, but Hermione cut across him fiercely.
"Ron's right, Harry! We need to start training you! And if you think me and Ron are going to let you face him alone, you are sadly mistaken!"
Harry turned to Ron, pleading silently, but Ron had a firm, resolute look on his face. "You need someone to watch your back, Harry, and no arguments."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN-----
The weather became rigid and frosty, and even the first Quidditch game of the season had to be cancelled. Students moving along the corridors frequently had to clap their hands over their ears to stop them freezing, and Dumbledore conjured a hundred extra torches to keep the school at its warmest.
Harry was very pleased with the DA, as they had finished everything along up to where the previous year's members had learned. He, like everyone else, was especially anticipating this evening's session, where they would be starting Patronuses.
To the delight of everyone, Harry told them sternly that this particular Charm was difficult, but crucial, and that they would not stop and learn anything else until he was satisfied that they had perfected it.
"Wish this stupid weather would stop." Ron said bittery, as he feverishly rubbed life into his numbing fingers.
"It'll get worse," Harry said darkly."Come on, Care of Magical Creatures next."
They strode up to Hagrid, who appeared to be stacking cages into a large, instantly conjured shed.
"What've you got, Hagrid?" Hermione asked brightly.
"Eh, these? These 're Kneazles."
Hermione said, "Ooooh!", but Ron and Harry were confused.
"What are - "
"C'mere, I'll show you."
They both hesitated for a fraction of a second before heading in.
What they saw were very similar to cats in appearance, except for the fact their ears were larger, and their face was oddly squashed similarly to -
"Don't these remind you of Crookshanks?" Ron said.
"Yeah." Harry grinned. "now that you mention it."
A fierce gust of frigid wind blew, and Hermione staggered inside, clutching Harry for support.
"Do we really have to learn out there?" She gasped, gesturing outside.
"Of course not," Hagrid snorted. "I nearly got me own ears frozen to death out there. We're goin' in my cabin."
The class was definitely smaller, since every Slytherin gave up Care of Magical Creatures after their OWLs, even after the fact that many of them achieved Hagrid's pass score.
Only the Gryffindors remained, and there was plenty of space inside the cabin.
"Now, who can tell me what these are? Harry, Ron and Hermione already know." Hagrid addressed the class.
***
They went back to the common room, putting their books down. Hagrid, thankfully, had not given them any homework, as they already had a literal small pile of it up in their dormitories.
Ron groaned in exasperation. "OK, Hermione...now is the time we need you the most."
"No." She said adamantly.
Ron turned to Harry.
"What?" Harry asked. "I'm having as much trouble as you are."
In response, Ron jerked his thumb towards Hermione. Harry, understanding, shook his head dispairingly. He steeled himself.
"Hermione, if you help us finish our homework...I'll, er...I'll take you out on a date. Maybe Madam Puddifoots."
Ron gave Harry a that's-not-what-I-had-in-mind look, but obviously was very amused all the same, as he started laughing hysterically.
Hermione glared acidly at Ron, and actually appeared to be considering Harry's offer, smiling slightly.
Harry, on the other hand, was terrified.
"Well, not Madam Puddifoot's. I prefer the Three Broomsticks, if you don't mind," she said finally, heaving their stack of work onto her lap. "And you'll be paying, I trust?"
Harry could only nod. What he was thinking though, was why did I have to offer her that, out of all things?
Harry was about to say to Hermione that he had meant it as a joke, but stopped. He felt heartless saying that to her. Ron made an inappropriate gesture that made Harry throw a stone jug at him irritably. All that could be heard was Ron's occasional giggle, the crackling of the blazing fire, and Hermione's quill. Finally, she was finished half an hour later.
"OK, Harry...redefine these terms on Inanimatus Corpus spells, I wrote this down on a sheet for you. Ron, just omit the intro and concluding paragraphs on your essay, wipe them, and add what I've written on this sheet. Both your Charms essays are missing important points, I've written the rest in point-form on the back. Wipe them when you're done, I think Flitwick's recognized my handwriting."
"Thanks, Hermione." Ron gave her a thumbs up. She nodded, acknowledging his thanks.
"Thank you, Hermione." Harry said gratefully, and as an afterthought, gave her a quick hug. She looked slightly suprised, but very pleased with him all the same.
Ron and Harry finished what Hermione had prompted them to do by dinnertime, and were in high spirits.
"No work in the evening!" Ron said gleefully, as they descended the marble steps.
"And we get to work on Patronuses tonight."
"What do you think my Patronus takes form of?"
"Dunno. Unicorn, maybe?"
Hermione joined them. "Just because his wand core is unicorn hair, doesn't mean that - "
"We know, Hermione." Ron said.
"Hermione, what's your wand core, anyways?" Harry asked. "I've got phoenix, Ron's got unicorn, and you have - "
" - dragon heartstring." She said.
"So the three Ollivander wands are united here." Harry said thoughtfully.
"Makes you think." Ron added.
AUTHOR'S REPLY- Yep, I'll post much as I can in the next coupla days.
After dinner, Ron, Hermione and Harry went straightaway to the Room of Requirement, to wait for members to arrive, as they had the rest of the evening off.
Harry was immensely proud of all of them; even the first years showed much potential, and were quick to catch on. He savored the moments past in this room, remembering the time when a third-year had stunned Hermione, when Neville blocked Harry's Impediment Jinx with a very good Shield Charm.
Tonight's meeting was scheduled for seven o'clock, but the three had arrived very early, ten past six. The next people to come in were some first and second years, who of course had little or no homework. Harry, Ron and Hermione reviewed with them for a while until everyone else had arrived.
Harry stood up, addressing the entire group at large. He had grown used to this type of teaching, and it no longer gave him butterflies in his stomach.
"OK, as you all know, we're starting Patronuses today - " He began, but the door crashed open.
Nearly everyone jumped, and stared at the huge open wooden doors.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked Fred and George in amazement.
"Learn to defend ourselves, of course!" said George.
"What, you think we travelled all this way to visit the teachers?" snorted Fred.
"How did you get here?" Hermione asked suprisedly.
"Apparated." George said smugly.
"But you can't apparate - "
"We know, Hermione." Fred waved it off. "But we apparated outside the grounds, then rode the rest of the way here."
He and George held up their brooms.
"So you came here all the way from London to learn patronuses?" Harry said, shaking his head.
"That's right." Fred said cheerfully.
"You two are hopeless." Hermione said, grinning.
"OK, we need to get started." Harry said. "Fred, George, up to the fifth floor..." He pointed.
"Wow...." George gaped.
"Splendid.." said Fred.
"What - " Harry asked, but it just occured to him that they had never seen the multi-tiered version of the DA classroom. He gestured at Hermione, who gave the twins a good hard slap to the face to wake them up.
"What you need," Harry told his audience. " is to concentrate on something really happy, something that fills you up with happiness. It doesn't have to be a memory, it can be imagined. Just make it happy, very happy."
The crowd concentrated, some deep in thought, some grinning. Harry took the latter as a very good sign.
"You all know the incantation, let me hear you say it." He immediately cringed after he said this, because it reminded him of McGonagall.
"Expecto Patronum!" they chanted.
"Good." Harry said. "Now, concentrate very hard on that one single thought, and point, then yell the incantation."
There was a rustle as all the wands drew as one, and pointed at Harry.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
Harry was immediately deluged in fierce white light so intense that he shielded his eyes.
Of course, this to him was a very good sign.
Sure enough, many yells of glee erupted around the cavernous room.
Harry opened his eyes.
There were many Patronuses, Harry was straining to see all of them. He could make out a beaver, a lion, a bear...there were so many of them, he was amazed that they had done it the first time. Cho's swan was swirling around, Hermione's otter was staring in her eyes thoughtfully. Ron was happily chatting to a large polar bear, sitting, and watching curiously. Harry could not help laughing, proud of Ron.
There were others too. Fred had managed to conjure his patronus, a very large, man-size weasel. Fred looked rather put out at first from the form of his Patronus but started laughing after the weasel appeared to frolic with Hermione's otter.
A third-year girl was watching her wolf sitting by her side with an expression of ecstasy on her face. Seamus was standing by his panther, Lavender was pretending to pet her hippogriff, and Parvati was smiling joyfully at her seal. But what made Harry happiest was Neville gazing, enrapted, at his Patronus, a walrus.
AUTHOR'S REPLY-Thank you very much!
An hour later, they walked out of the Room of Requirement, exhausted yet exhilarated.
"Did you see my polar bear?" said Ron.
"And my walrus!"
"And my panther!" Seamus waved his own around.
The Weasley twins had both managed to produce patronuses. George's patronus, unlike Fred's, was an eagle.
"Wonder how long it takes for the others to learn how." Fred said.
Fully half of Dumbledore's Army had managed to conjure Patronuses; Harry was very pleasantly suprised at this fact.
"What are you following us for?" Hermione asked the twins.
"We're just - oh yeah!" Fred said.
"We don't come here anymore, I realise." George said, looking very put out. Ginny patted them sympathetically.
"How long do you reckon it will take before the others perfect it?" Hermione asked Harry.
"I dunno...maybe a couple of weeks."
"Who cares!" Ron said excitedly. "I love doing Patronuses, I can do this for a long time!" He waved his wand, and accidentally shot sparks at a painting of a sullen-looking wizard, who cursed angrily.
"But we still need to move on." Hermione protested.
At that moment, Parvati ran up to Harry, dragging Lavender. "Harry, is it true you're going out with Hermione next Hogsmeade weekend?"
Harry frowned. "Yes, but - "
"You owe me seven galleons, Lavender!"
They raced away, Parvati giggling.
Harry turned to Hermione and swelled indignantly like a balloon.
She cringed. "I'm really sorry, Harry, but they did seem interested in our relationship - "
"Our relationship?"
"Well, yes...we are going out - "
Ron waved her silent. "Let me handle this, Hermione." He turned to Harry.
"Who's the girl you care most about?"
Harry thought hard.
"Hermione," He finally said. "But-"
"Who did you go to the ball with?"
"Hermione, but - "
"Who were you and Krum fighting about in our fourth year?"
"Hermione, but it wasn't exactly - "
"And who would you rather marry, out of all the people in Hogwarts?"
Harry was annoyed, but he saw Ron's point.
"Hermione." Harry said wearily.
"No buts?"
"No buts." Harry growled.
Ron looked very smugly at Hermione, grinning. "My point exactly."
Hermione tapped Harry's shoulder. "You would marry me, Harry?"
"Well, I don't see any other girls around that I like more than you, even if we're only friends."
Ron snorted. "Tell me again, Hermione. Since when did you have a crush on Harry?"
"Erm...first year."
"What?" Harry said incredulously. "OK, OK....got to breathe...so you say you liked me since first year?"
"She isn't lying, mate." Ron snorted. "Remember your second Quidditch game? Where I picked a fistfight with Malfoy?"
Harry nodded, remembering. Ron continued.
"We started rolling around and punching right underneath her nose. You would have thought she would have tried to break the fight up, but she didn't. She just watched you, Harry, the whole time. Even after I slammed Malfoy's head into her shoe. I got the feeling that the stands would collapse around her and she'd be still watching you, Harry."
Harry stared at Hermione, who blushed. "Is this true?"
Hermione nodded, her eyes firmly on the ceiling. She was trembling. Harry patted her shoulder gently. "It's OK, Hermione."