JKR owns the world :) A/N: This is actually one of my favorite 3-4 chapters in this story, along with chapter 15 and a couple at the end.
Chapter 13: A Surprise in the Room of Requirement
*********************Headmaster's office, Hogwarts********************
November 12, 2004
8:15am
"How bad this time, Arthur?" Dumbledore asked, sighing and leaning back in his chair. The sun was shining brightly into his office this morning, casing Fawkes normally brilliant plumage to glow radiantly an effect that totally did not suit the mood. Over Dumbledore's shoulders every portrait of headmasters and headmistresses past hung on Arthur's reply.
Arthur groaned slightly and dropped into one of the overstuffed armchairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, facing him wearily, "thirty muggles and five wizards, a family from Kent. And we lost two Aurors to dementors that were with the Death Eaters. They were waiting for them to show up in response. It looks like last time, Albus, V-Voldemort is letting his people out to play." He spit the last words and sat back, pulled his glasses off and started to polish them with a cloth he had removed from his pocket.
Dumbledore looked speculatively into a corner across from Arthur Weasley, "Alastor?"
"He's following the pattern from last time Albus, he's letting his new recruits train themselves, by killing Muggles and normal wizards. The dementors are a new touch, though. I guess he is getting his wizards used to working with them. I'll be really worried if we start getting rumors of giant attacks or something." Moody shrugged as his eye spun to examine Fawkes on his perch, who for his part, chirped at him, annoyed.
"How long before you think he's ready to do something?" Dumbledore asked pensively.
"I think he may try something major by the end of the year, but I'd say it will be at Diagon Alley, or somewhere. He won't be ready to take on Hogwarts or even Hogsmeade by then, too many wizards, and too many defenses here." Moody nodded as if to affirm his answer.
"Yes, that is about what I was thinking, Alastor." Dumbledore replied to an affirming nod by Arthur Weasley.
"One thing though, Albus" Mad-Eye put in suddenly, thoughtfully, "The rest of the kids, we need to start them, not just Potter and Granger, we can't just leave it to themselves any more."
"I thought we agreed they weren't ready." Dumbledore objected softly.
"I did, but I don't want to run out of time, we are pushing it as it is. I'm not even totally sold that Granger is really ready yet, but there were reasons weren't there?" Moody's eye spun as if to emphasize his point, and he shrugged again. Dumbledore didn't answer him right away, but turned and stared at his familiar for a while, almost as if silently asking the phoenix a question.
"There's a DA meeting tonight."
*******************Hagrid's Cabin******************************
11:00 am
"'Ather round, 'ather round" Hagrid shouted to the various students milling around his cabin. They all walked apprehensively towards a large cage that was covered with a tarp. Pavarti leaned over to Lavender and whispered to her friend, "Lord what has he dug up this time?"
Lavender just shook her head, but noticeably, did not walk as fast as she would normally to a class such as divination, or even potions.
Walking by, Ron muttered to the pair, "hell if I know, but I do know that anytime it starts out in both a cage and under a tarp it can't be good. Ron covertly patted his robe pocket to verify that his wand was still there, just in case, an action that was repeated by the two girls. The three walked up to the rest of the Gryffindor sixth years, which were standing in a tight group, as if they were packing up for protection.
"What next?" Hermione murmured out of the side of her mouth as she maintained a smile for Hagrid, "a bloody chimera, a manticore, he's already gone with wyverns 'cause Dumbledore wouldn't let him have a dragon." Harry flicked his glance over to her but didn't answer, as Hagrid beat him to the punch.
"T'day we will be looking a creature that is technically called a "dangerous" creature, but that assignment is wrong, mostly." Hagrid shrugged, but his beady black eyes were smiling. With a dramatic flourish, Hagrid swept the cloth off to reveal a bird, magnificent in the Gryffindor colors of crimson and gold. A beautiful, haunting song broke out from the bird to flutter out over the trees. Fawkes sat calmly on the perch in the cage, and then as he caught sight of Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors he twilled a greeting and vanished from the cage in a flash of fire, a single tail feather floating down in his place.
Fawkes reappeared in an identical flash next to Harry and alighted on his shoulder. "Hey, Fawkes," Harry murmured as he petted his friend. The rest of the students, especially the girls, crowded around and petted him, softly proclaiming their awe at his appearance. For the number of students, few had actually seen Fawkes up close, and probably only Harry, Hermione, and Ron could say they could call him a friend.
"Fawkes here has agreed to participate in class today." Hagrid said proudly, he even agreed to sit in the cage until the start of class, just because, though you can all plainly see that that cage couldn't hold him if he didn't want to be held. Ok, for points now, who can tell me about phoenixes, and why I said they were classified as dangerous?" Hagrid asked glancing around the class just to be fair, before he gave into the inevitable, "'Ermione?"
"Well, sir, Phoenixes are very rare which accounts for their dangerous classification. They can carry tremendous loads, and their tears can heal grave injuries..."
"Really, I hadn't noticed," Harry said out of the side of his mouth, as he continued to pet Fawkes, who seemed content at the attention.
Hermione gave no outward sign she heard him, Smartarse, "their song can inspire the pure of heart, and terrify the dark hearted, and their feathers, especially their tail feathers, are highly valued for magical items and purposes, such as cloaks, hats, potion ingredients, and...wands" Hermione hesitated on the last item, as her eyes flicked over to Harry and Fawkes.
"Good job, 'ermione, I'll let you have fifteen points for that answer, but you forgot one little thing, their natural enemy." Hagrid nodded and glanced over at Harry and Ron, and the others that were clustered around the phoenix. "Ron, the natural 'enemy of Phoenixes?" Ron shrugged and shook his head, "you should know this Ron you were there, 'Arry?"
With a look of distaste as he remembered memories he would rather forget, "snakes, basilisks and the like are the natural enemies of phoenixes, sir" Harry replied softly.
Ron instantly flashed back to that day, that Fawkes himself had helped defend Harry in the Chamber or Secrets, and had carried, Harry, Ginny, Lockheart and himself from Salazar Slytherin's masterpiece. "Sorry mate,"
"It's ok Ron." Harry replied, as Hagrid gave Gryffindor another five points for Harry's completion.
After everyone in the NEWT class had had a chance to see Fawkes in person, Hagrid sent them on their way, with homework to give him three pages on phoenixes in history, famous wizards they had been associated with and with a detailed sketch of the bird attached. "Harry," Padma Patil shouted as she, her sister and Lavender caught up with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville at the stairs leading to the castle.
"Yeah, Padma" Harry said as he pulled to a stop, everyone else stopping with him. As they stopped, Luna and Ginny came up from their Herbology class.
"Harry, we still have DA tonight, right?" Padma asked as she looked in a planner, much like the one Hermione carried, and had inflicted on Harry and Ron. Harry nodded, "Ernie asked me to tell you he couldn't make it, Snape gave him detention for thinking too hard or something."
"Thanks, Padma, you still going to be there?" Harry asked, as he saw Hermione pull her planner out of her bag to take a note.
"Yep," Padma responded and headed up the stairs with her sister and Lavender to lunch. Harry led the rest up after them, as Ron told a joke about a Hippogriff and an Owl going into a bar. As they reached the top of the stairs Ron got to the punch line, but couldn't say it he was laughing so hard.
********************Room, of Requirements, Hogwarts*********************
8:00 pm
Harry walked into the Room of Requirement, accompanied by Hermione, Ron and Ginny. The room was arranged so as to provide for the practice dueling of the members of "Dumbledore's Army", and was packed. Almost every student who had been there the year before was present, plus several new members, including more than one Slytherin.
Thomas St. Thomas was the prime example of the few Sytherins who had crossed over that invisible line. He had been placed in Slytherin five years ago, mainly due to his parents being in the house, but he had changed over the years, from a snot-nosed snit even worse than Draco, to a quiet nice, polite boy. In fact he had muttered several times, especially after the news of the breakout from Azkaban, that he wished the sorting hat had resorted him instead of Luna, this year. Harry saw him and waved to one of the few friends that he had in Slytherin.
Walking to the front of the room, Harry turned and perched on a table, and started to address the group only to be stopped by Dumbledore's sudden arrival. "Harry, a moment please." Dumbledore asked from the door, waving him to come over and join him. Glancing over at Hermione and Ron, he shrugged and ambled over amid the excited whispers of the group. They all knew, that if Dumbledore showed up, tonight was to be special; they just didn't know how right they were. Harry stopped next to Dumbledore, who was standing near a huge foe glass in the back of the room. In hushed whispers Harry and Dumbledore discussed something, at one point, Harry snapped a return quietly, but after Dumbledore's reply, shrugged defeatedly. Harry gave a final nod and returned to the front, as he came back up, he stopped briefly and whispered in Hermione's ear. She reacted quite like Harry had to part of the conversion with Dumbledore. Waving off Ron's question, Harry finally got to talk to the DA. "Ok, tonight, is going to be much longer than originally scheduled, if anyone has anything pressing, before tomorrow morning say, let me know and get out of here now." No one left at his comments, so he went on. "Tonight we are going to start with Patronuses." An excited murmur met his words, several of the younger members had never even seen one, and most of the rest had not even worked on one since last year. "Also we will have some guest instructors, and there they are now." Harry waved at the door, to show, Lupin, Tonks, Moody, and Dumbledore coming in the door, with five trunks levitating silently after them. "For those of you who don't know them, the pink haired witch is Tonks, Remus Lupin is the one in the middle, and Alastor Moody is on the end, that's assuming that you all know Professor Dumbledore?" Harry said sarcastically, to which he received a tithe of laughs.
The trunks, and the guest instructors motored up the front of the class, Dumbledore bent over each trunk and muttered an incantation, after which the trunk glowed green for a second before it returned to normal. Turning to Harry, he nodded. "Ok to provide incentive, we have five boggarts in the trunks, which the Professor has charmed into the shape of dementors, and they will stay that way. Split up and line up in front of one of the trunks." Harry along with the four older Order members each picked a trunk and stood behind them as the lines sorted themselves out, Ron and Hermione got into Harry's line at the front so they could go first and help if needed with others. At a further nod from Dumbledore, the trunks were opened, and five boggarts fixed in the shape of Dementors ghosted out. Immediately a cold feeling fills the room, though as Harry could contest, the feeling was a mere pittance compared to the real thing.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM" The spell was incanted by five throats, however of the five, only Hermione's Otter was a corporal patronus the first time. Ginny next to her, in line with Dumbledore, produced a shining sliver mist, than with a visible effort, as she flashed back to a better memory, a large housecat or kneezle padded out of her wand to Hermione's and Dumbledore's happily stated approval. Zacharis Smith, Colin Creevey and Dennis Creevey all did not even produce a silver mist, and went unhappily back to the rear, Hermione quickly went to talk to them and after a while Dennis, the third year Creevey brother, who somehow, was in the group that was supposedly only for forth years and up, was able to cast a successful patronus, some kind of small dog.
After Ron successfully summoned his hedgehog, which promptly curled up in a ball, and Cho's swan flitted past his ear, Harry cracked a slight smile. Not too bad, though the rest of the evening should be...interesting. Harry thought with a touch of apprehension. After an hour had passed, with at least half of the members present now able to at least get a silver mist, which after all did slow dementors down if nothing else, Harry called a halt, and with a "ENVESCO" the trunks and the now restrained boggarts vanished.
Alastor Moody clumped up to the front and looked out over the crowd. He raised his voice like a muggle drill sergeant causing everyone but Harry, Hermione and the adults to cringe a bit, they were all used to it, unfortunately. As he had with Harry, at the Auror training facility, he started pacing back and forth, his glowing magical eye as it did then, looking at his audience regardless of his orientation. "As you all know, Harry here and his friends had quite an experience at the Ministry of Magic last summer. Tonight we will build on that foundation, as it is what we have. Putting aside the reasons for them being there..."
Harry listened stone faced to Moody's talk, next to him the rest of those who had been there listened with a range of emotions ranging from a slight touch of anger on Neville's part, to a almost relaxed attitude on Ron's part. Though since he had had memory charms done to take care of the brains' memories for the most part, that was understandable.
Moody continued on, "there were several mistakes, lets watch them now." With a flick of his wand, the lights in the room dimmed and images started floating in the air above a recording orb, high and large enough for everyone to see. Harry saw for the first time the security orb recordings from the Ministry of that night, it still amazed him that they had these devices so similar to muggle security cameras in function and yet no one had bothered to watch them that evening. At one point, unseen to everyone else, Harry grabbed Hermione's arm for just a second during the flashback of her being injured, as if to verify she was still there and ok. He saw for the first time, the Death Eater grabbing Ginny and Luna detonating the planet in the Room of Planets to let them escape. After the recording had played through, though thankfully before the battle with Voldemort, the lights came back up and the image disappeared. "Ok, there were mistakes made, but that happens, but what was the worst mistake they made in this situation." Moody asked only to hear Harry's reply from over to one side.
"We got split up Mad-Eye, in that situation, if we...I had kept everyone together we could have possibly fought our way out easier, and we would have had more people to cover for each other. And Ginny and Hermione, who couldn't walk, could have been carried out and we would still have had more wands ready to defend." Harry had spent a great deal of time reflecting on that battle.
"Yes, I would agree with that Potter, so tonight, lets replay that night, but we need some actors, first the casualties to get out." Across from Moody, Hermione glanced up at Harry and mouthed, "why am I your friend again" to which Harry just shrugged, it had been this part that he objected to most to Dumbledore at the start of the session. Moody nodded to Tonks, and the pair snapped their wands up together, "STUPEFY." The bolts hit Harry and Hermione in their chests dropping both to the ground, out cold.
If Harry had been awake, he would have been proud at the thirty wands that instantly pointed at Tonks and Moody's hearts. Only to lower them at Dumbledore's hasty request, though Ron's and Neville's seemed to resist being lowered. Pointing at Ron, Moody resumed without the threat of his immediate hexing, "Mr. Weasley, please pick three others. With only an instant of hesitation at Luna, Ron picked the rest of the group that went into the Ministry, after all if it worked once before, sort of... Moody nodded at his choice. Suddenly, without any warning at all, the room changed; in a flash it became the bowels of the Ministry. They were all in the room with the prophesies, but this time, instead of standing at their head, Hermione and Harry were unconscious on the floor in front of them, and there were no Death Eaters, yet...and in some way, Ron and the rest knew that the rest of the DA was watching.
Moody's voice floated out over the room, he wasn't in sight but somehow, Ron knew that he was waiting, "Mr. Weasley, the objective is simple, get your two injured teammates back up to the atrium and out of the building, for tonight's purposes you just have to get them to the phone booth escape, or any other way out of the building, the room will know. The odds will be the same today as they were that night, there are twelve of us waiting, but in the future you won't know how many are waiting on you. One thing, just to keep in the back your mind." Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville could hear the laughter in his voice, "Tonight Professor Dumbledore has agreed to play the part of Voldemort, if he arrives before you make a escape, you pretty much have lost. The safeties are on in the room so anything goes...GO"
Ron's gaze flicked around the room at the prophecy orbs, then at the end of the row, expecting Moody to be leading fake Death Eaters at them at any instant. "Neville grab Hermione," Ron snapped as he bent to pull his other best friend over his shoulder, never so glad that Harry, was several inches and several pounds lighter than he was himself. "Gin, lead the way, Luna behind us, make sure no one gets two close. If it's in your way, blow it up or stun it, don't fool with anything else...and grab their wands if you stun them and you have time, lets go." With a grunt Ron and Neville started heading down the long row of shelves accompanied by the girls, all four of their eyes flicking around this familiar, yet dissimilar scene.
"DOWN" Ginny snapped and the four of them dropped, Ginny firing a "STUPEFY" as she fell, which bounced off a shield of one of the three antagonists who had suddenly appeared at the end of the row. "LUNA, BLOW'EM UP" Ginny shouted and instantly Luna repeated her performance of last summer and fired a reducto into the racks over the heads of their opponents.
"Run" Ron snapped, as he hoisted Harry and staggered down the row. Glancing up he saw one of the fake Death Eaters turn to fire at Ginny, "STUPEFY." Ron's awkward shot managed to take down that DE and the four ran past, Harry and Hermione still unconscious on Ron and Neville's shoulders. As she passed Luna reached down and snatched the wands of two sleeping foes, one from Ron and the second from the concussion of her Reductor.
As the group reached the bell-jar room, this time thankfully together, Luna, sealed the door behind them, and they cautiously edged foreword, only to spring backwards at a wall of red light that shot through a partially open door they had been headed for. Ron waved at Neville to get over to one side and the girls to the other. They crouched out of sight. As three fakes slid into the room behind their wands, each smiling, and pointing at Ron and Harry in the middle of the room, "EXPELLIARMUS" was bellowed from both sides, and the three's wands go flying. Ron gave them a grin, "STUPEFY" the three slumped to the floor, and with a quick summoning charm, he pulled their wands to him and pocketed them. "Gin," he said indicating the door, the bad guys just came in.
"Ron toss me one of those wands" Ginny responded in a loud whisper. Ron flipped one of the captured wands to his sister, curious at what she would do with it. Ginny picked the wand up in her left hand, and pointed it at herself. "Imago emino". The spare wand glowed yellow, and then Ginny lay down on the floor and pointed the spare wand upward. An exact image, like a muggle hologram, of Ginny appeared, and she carefully eased around the corner of the door on her belly, with her doppelganger standing in the middle of the door. Suddenly two bolts of red light shot out and passed straight through the image, causing it to vanish.
"WHAT THE F.."
"STUPEFY" Ginny fired with both wands as she rolled into the doorway, causing the two Order members standing in for Voldemort's minions to drop. "Let's go" Ginny got up and sprinted to the next door, scooping up the fallen wands of the 'Death Eaters' as she passed.
As Neville and Ron caught up to her, panting, Luna trailing them, Neville stared at her a second, "Where the hell did you pick that up?"
"Fred and George were working on it for a trick, tricked them didn't it?" The fire-haired witch added with a grin. "Five left big brother?"
"Yeah, let's go, if I remember it's the brain room and then the death chamber, and then we can get to the lifts." Ron replied, not noticing the shudder he himself gave at the thought of the brain room.
Just as they started though the door to the brain room, "REDUCTO" came from behind them and the sealed door behind them vaporized. "Get them" the quartet heard in Tonks' voice. Amid a flurry of red stunner bolts, all four of them spun and dove to the floor.
"PROTEGO" Ron cast a shield charm and held on, gritting his teeth, every bolt threatening to knock him and it down. Dragging Harry out the door, the four managed to slip into the next room; "Colloportus" he gasped from the floor and the door slammed and sealed in an instant. "GO, GO" Ron screamed and he and Neville hobbled, through the Death Chamber, and past, into the room of many exits. "AW DAMN, no markings, WHICH DAMN DOOR IS IT?" Ron snapped angrily, only to watch in tired bemusement as the proper door opened itself, Figures.
The four of them, Ginny and Luna each helped Ron or Neville, and together they all more or less ran to the lift. As the lift was climbing to the atrium, Luna looked almost as if she were seeing something just out of sight, "get ready," she said calmly. As one the four nod, and crowd the sides of the lift to try to stand out of the way of spells. And it was good that they did, for as the lift doors opened, a stunner bolt hit the back wall of the lift. Ginny popped her head around the corner of the lift and back just as fast, as a stunner bolt followed it. "Its just Mad-Eye," she gasped, "but he has us pinned here."
"Nope" Neville said with a smile, "he doesn't, he can't fire off stunners if he's shielding himself." The four of them chuckled tiredly at that observation.
"Right," Ron muttered. "Neville, Gin, poke your wands around the corner on three and just keep firing stunners, Luna as soon as we hear the stunners ricochet, fire a reducto right at his feet, Ok...one...two...three..." Ron, Ginny and Neville pushed just the tips of their wands out and started firing stunners off as fast as they could, as they heard a "ZING" Luna jumped out and did her job. The reducto blew a hole in the stone floor, knocking Moody flying and more importantly knocking his shield down. As he flew backwards, Ginny calmly stepped around the corner of the lift and picked him off like a clay pigeon; he was sleeping before he hit the floor. All four dove out of the lift, two each now carrying their comrades, and as they reached the phone booth lift, the room suddenly changed back into the Room of Requirements from before, the unconscious forms of eight of their pursuers on the floor, Tonks standing there looking annoyed and proud at the same time.
A sudden round of applause broke out from the rest of the DA members who had been invisibly watching, and Dumbledore, who had been stated to play Voldemort, but never had to join in. "Excellent, excellent, Enervate" Dumbledore said waving his wand over the sleeping forms in the room.
"UHHH, we win, Ron?" Harry muttered from his shoulder.
"Yeah, mate, Ron replied in a tone of satisfied exhaustion, grinning at the others.
A/N: I wrote this chapter, as both my beta and I thought I was being a little hard on Ron, I hope this made up for it.
Next Chapter, the rest of the Ministry six, besides Hermione and Harry, of course, learn the prophesy.