Chapter 9: Plans for the Future
July 6 - 4:00pm - Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts
Minerva McGonagall made her way along the familiar corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the Headmasters office. The statue that normally guarded the entrance to the office was open and she wondered at why. As she reached the top of the stairs and found that the outer door to the headmaster's office was also open, she drew her wand. Surely Albus would not leave his office so unguarded. She scanned the room quickly, but everything appeared to be in order. She stood just inside the door shaken at the opportunity to observe one of her oldest friends. He did not appear to have noticed her entry, and that frightened her.
"Albus?" Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry looked up at his name to find the concerned face of Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts.
"Ah, Minerva, thank you for coming on such short notice," Dumbledore stated,
"Please have a seat." She wondered at what had distracted the headmaster so completely, but did not push the issue. Instead, she seated herself in one of the comfy chairs in front of the Headmasters desk. Fawkes was distinctly missing from the room and the paintings were unnaturally silent, waiting expectantly for Dumbledore to speak. Something was obviously weighing quite heavily on him as the twinkle in his pale blue eyes was unusually absent. Minerva sat quietly staring expectantly at her dearest friend and colleague.
"I told Harry what was contained in the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries,
and why Tom wanted it so badly." A look of surprise passed through Minerva's eyes, but she remained silent. Albus had not revealed to anyone the contents of the prophecy even though several members of the Order had asked him about it.
"I could not put it off any longer. I have called you here because I feel there are other things that I can ill afford to delay any longer as well, especially with the attacks of yesterday." The elder wizard sighed heavily before continuing. "Harry is destined to fight Tom. The prophecy does not say who will win, but it does say that Harry possesses a power "the Dark Lord knows not."
"Albus, no, Harry has lost so much and he is barely more than a boy still,"
Minerva protested.
"It is not my decision. And, frankly, it makes sense that Harry survived the killing
curse. And he has already fought Tom on far too many occasions without the benefit of the proper training that we could have given him. No more, Minerva. We must train him to fight and to help him to come to terms with what he must do. I am afraid that we have already wasted too much time."
"Albus, he has two more years of school left. Surely he should focus on his
school work and train more after Hogwarts," Minerva remarked.
"I do not think we have that much time. I wanted to give Harry the opportunity to
be a child and just worry about school work and girls, to have friends and get in trouble as all children do. However, we cannot ignore that Tom has returned and he could strike at any time. In fact, I am confident that he will likely strike again at Harry before Harry has graduated from Hogwarts. Tom is amassing power and followers and he has been for over a year now. These most recent attacks have forced me to face the reality that we are indeed running out of time."
"Alright, Albus. What shall we do?" Minerva questioned concern evident in her
voice. Harry was one of her students, a member of her house. She was proud of how here students had managed to hold her own against the death eater attacks, though she wished they had not been forced to defend themselves at such an early age.
"We will begin Harry's training as soon as possible. I want him to resume
occlumency and to begin legilimency. Harry has also shown a natural affinity for wandless magic which I hope to explore more. I also want him trained in dueling both muggle and magical. In fact, I spoke to Alastor this morning about personally training him and he has agreed."
Minerva nodded at his words. "Finally, I think that given his father's success, Harry should be trained as an animagus. I can think of no one better to do this than you, Minerva." For a moment, Minerva could only stare. He wanted her to train Harry as an animagus.
"Are you sure, Albus? It is very difficult to become an animagus and few adult wizards ever accomplish the task. What of the ministry?"
"We are not informing the ministry of Harry's training or the prophecy. In fact, I am only revealing the gist of the prophecy to a select few on a need to know basis. After all, it is Harry's prophecy not mine. We also do not want it to fall into the wrong hands because if Tom discovers what it says it could be a disaster for Harry," Dumbledore stated before adding, "After speaking with Alastor again this morning, I also agree that both Miss Granger and Mr. Longbottom should begin training immediately in all of these subjects as well."
"Albus, I can understand Miss Granger, she is a most gifted witch and it appears she and Mr. Potter are only growing closer, but why Mr. Longbottom?" Minerva questioned a bit confused by the addition of Neville's name.
"Mr. Longbottom has gone through some significant changes this past year. I have heard from several sources that Mr. Longbottom excelled in the D.A. and he was the only student besides Harry to make it into the fighting in the death chamber. The loyalty and courage he showed in that situation was phenomenal. I think that he has finally begun to gain some confidence in himself and if we encourage that I have every confidence that he will not let us down."
"Alright, Albus, I will teach them," Minerva answered. "Will Miss Lovegood, Miss Weasley, and Mr. Weasley have all the same training as Harry and the others?"
"I think so though I will not begin training them until we feel they are more ready. I am hoping that if we begin the training with Harry, Miss Granger and Mr. Longbottom, they will help us to train the others. In fact, I intend to up the training of all of the students at Hogwarts. I feel I have been very remiss in not providing an adequate Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for some time. As such, I am also adding a dueling class for upper level students who are interested." Sensing her concern before she even expressed it, he added, "Death Eaters will kill anyone, including Hogwarts students. You know what happened at the Department of Mysteries. If Harry had not taken it upon himself to train those students in defense, we might have lost them all." Several minutes passed in silence as both were lost in thought.
"When would you like there lessons to start?"
"I intend to speak with them this evening, and I would hope to start their training tomorrow. Alastor will be arriving shortly. I had hoped we could work out a schedule between the three of us. Would you like a lemon drop while we wait?"
"No, thank you, Albus," Minerva answered just before the fireplace burst to life and out walked Alastor Moody, his wand drawn and at the ready.
"Ah, good, you are here Alastor. Lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered.
"No, Albus, I've got all I need right here," Moody replied pointing to his ever present hip flask.
"Let's begin then," Dumbledore stated and the three began discussing training schedules for the three teens.
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July 6 - 6:00pm - Riddle Mansion
"You lost eleven death eaters against a bunch of children," Voldemort's rage had not abated and those who had made it back from yesterdays attacks found themselves wishing they had been captured. Azkaban could not be worse than the torture they had endured over the last nearly 24 hours. Their master was not pleased at all despite the casualties that the other side had suffered.
"For now I shall give you to Bella to play with for awhile. If any of you fail me again, you will beg for Bella's tender mercies. Zabini, I wish to speak with you, follow me," Voldemort ordered turning his back on the death eaters who had made it back from yesterday's attack.
Beatrix did as he asked and followed as quickly as possible doing her best to ignore the after effects of the cruciatus which still caused her body to tremble. She followed Voldemort from the basement room he used as a dungeon and torture chamber to his favored room in the back of the old house. No one else was in the back room as they entered but a roaring fire burned in the fireplace.
"Zabini, what are your suspicions of Severus Snape," Voldemort questioned immediately.
"He disrespected me and did not appreciate your choosing me to lead the team over him. I am not certain that he is a spy, but I got the sense when I probed his mind that he worries that you think he is disloyal, master," Beatrix responded occluding her real thoughts, but allowing just enough of her suspicions to show through to hopefully convince her master of the truth of her statements.
"I do have my concerns about Severus, but for now he is still useful to me," Voldemort began, "as are you. Would you like the opportunity to prove yourself a more accomplished and loyal death eater, Zabini?"
"I would, master," Beatrix answered careful to keep her voice controlled.
"There is a special mission to come where your skills may be useful. Fail me and I will kill you personally. Succeed and there may be a place for you in my innermost circle."
"Yes, master," Beatrix answered.
"Now, go, I will call for you when I am ready to reveal my plan to you. Until then, speak of it to no one, understood?"
"Yes, master," Beatrix added bowing before turning to leave.
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July 6 - 7:30pm - Grimmauld Place
Harry, Hermione, and Neville were each reading a book in the front parlor of Grimmauld Place. Harry and Hermione were curled together on the sofa as they read and Neville was lounging in an overstuffed chair. All seemed completely engrossed in their various books. Ginny and Gretchen were playing a game of wizards' chess in front of the fire. Ron had still not awakened though Luna had assured them only an hour ago at dinner that he was doing much better.
Right after breakfast, Hermione had insisted that she and Harry begin studying defensive spells to help them prepare for the upcoming battle. Neville had entered the parlor as they were discussing what to study first. Neville had agreed that they needed to start studying and asked to join them. Hermione had been nearly stunned when she discovered that Harry and Neville had both begun reading for their NEWT level classes and that both had already finished the NEWT level defense book.
She hugged both and immediately begun discussing a timetable of studying to review spells that each had learned. Finally, the three had decided to start with reviewing spells from their defense book since they had all finished reading it and it seemed the most useful in terms of learning to defend themselves from attacks.
Albus Dumbledore stopped in the doorway leading to the front parlor of Grimmauld Place. He'd spoken to Remus first about Dudley Dursley who had so far not managed to come to harm but had already made enemies with both Ginny and Gretchen when he had dumped food on the two girls earlier in the day. Remus had ordered him to his room and he had not come downstairs since. He had promised Remus that he would speak to Dudley after he talked to the others. He stayed in the doorway for several moments watching the three Gryffindors studying as the younger two played wizards chess.
"Good evening," he said from the doorway to get their attention. If I could Miss Weasley, Miss Mallory, I would like a word with Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Mr. Longbottom," he requested.
"Ok," Ginny replied standing and motioning for Gretchen to follow her, "we can finish this game later."
The two younger girls left the room and Dumbledore entered before closing and locking the doors. With a flash of white light he cast an impenetrable charm on the door, after all Ginny was much like her older brothers Fred and George and would no doubt have extendable ears for listening in on conversations.
The other three students had all closed their books and placed them beside themselves or on a nearby table and waited patiently for their headmaster to speak.
"I trust that Remus mentioned that I wanted to speak with all of you?" He began. When they all nodded, he continued. "There are several things that I need to discuss with you, but first I wish to offer you all my condolences for your losses and let you know that if you need someone to speak to, I am available to you." None of the teens spoke.
"Madam Bones has informed me that the Ministry registered all three of you as doing magic yesterday. She assures me that as it was in self-defense in each case she does not intend to press charges. However, Minister Fudge is pressuring her to press charges, so until we can sort this out I must ask that the three of you remain in Grimmauld Place. The Ministry has been unable to locate any of you and Alastor and I feel that it is better that they do not do so for now."
"Can the Minister force her to reprimand us for the use of magic in self-defense?" Hermione questioned her brow furrowed in concern.
"Typically the matter is left at the discretion of the Minister of Magical Law Enforcement which is Madam Bones, and the Committee for the Under-Age Restriction of Magic. However, Fudge got around this last year when he pushed to have Mr. Potter expelled and managed to assemble a full trial before the entire Wizengamot for a simple case of underage magic. He does not have the same credibility now though as he did this time last year. Madam Bones and I are working on this problem and feel that it will be resolved satisfactorily. However, I felt it prudent to alert you as to what was going on and why I would ask you to remain inside Grimmauld Place."
"Thank you, Professor, for telling us about this," Neville said. He hadn't even considered the fact that he had used magic to get himself and Gretchen out of the house yesterday.
"I also wished to inform the three of you that you have been invited to attend the next meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. At that time, if you are interested, we will be discussing and possibly inducting the three of you into the Order."
"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" Neville questioned.
"It is a group that works against Voldemort and his death eaters," Dumbledore explained.
"The group of people who rescued us in the Department of Mysteries were all members of the Order," Harry explained his voice very soft. Neville nodded his understanding.
"Finally and most importantly, I would like to ask that the three of you begin training in occlumency, legilimency, apparition, dueling, and to become animagi if you have the ability. It would appear the Voldemort has taken a special interest in each of you and I feel that this training would be most helpful to all of you."
"What about the others?" Hermione spoke up, "Voldemort attacked Luna and the Weasley's as well, shouldn't they also be trained?"
"They will be Miss Granger, but we thought it prudent to begin with the three of you and then have you help us to train the rest."
"When do we begin, sir," Neville wanted to know.
"Tomorrow, Alastor hopes to begin some basic training, apparition, and then dueling bright and early tomorrow morning. He asked for permission to surprise you as to his arrival time. Then tomorrow afternoon, Professor McGonagall will arrive around 2:00pm to begin your animagus training. They will each inform you tomorrow of when you will be meeting. I will meet with you on Tuesdays and Fridays for occlumency and legilimency training. Whatever magic you do within Grimmauld Place is undetectable by the ministry including apparition. Please do not abuse this trust, but use it to practice as much as possible."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry stated, finally speaking. He had expected that his training would begin when he arrived at Grimmauld Place, but he hadn't expected Hermione and Neville to be joining him.
"Your welcome, I expect you all will do exceedingly well and I will see you on Friday. For now, will you accompany me upstairs to your cousin's room Mr. Potter?
"Yes, Professor," Harry agreed already dreading this conversation. Remus had told him about Dudley's dumping food all over Ginny and Gretchen. He followed his headmaster to the top of the stairs where Dumbledore knocked on the first door on the right before entering.
Dudley, who was sitting on his bed, quickly stuffed whatever magazine he'd been looking at under his pillow before protesting, "You didn't wait until I told you to come in."
"My apologies, Mr. Dursley, but I am in a bit of a hurry and would like to speak with you before I leave," Dumbledore answered conjuring a chair for himself and Harry. Dudley jerked backwards on the bed nearly falling.
"We wish you no harm, Mr. Dursley." Dumbledore reassured him. "Now, what I am about to say to you, Mr. Dursley, will likely come as a shock to both you and your cousin. I was bound by a pact with your mother to never reveal this except upon her death. You are a wizard, Mr. Dursley."
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