Disclaimer: I don't own HP. JKR does.
A/N: Hope you'll like this, we are entering the really interesting part. As usual, if you read, leave a comment, please.
Chapter Six
"Tragedy"
Days passed and Dumbledore didn't return. Harry by now was visibly worried and went to speak with McGonagall. She explained to Harry that Dumbledore was on a mission for the Order, something that only him could do, and the missions he has to take care himself are the more dangerous and requested a lot of time.
He didn't seem convinced, but for the moment was accepting it, but then the professor sighed.
"You are the Head Boy. It is right I say you what I really think. I'm seriously worried for his safety" she admitted. "He's never left us without news for so long. However, I ask you to keep this for yourself"
Harry nodded then left, even more pensive than before. He thought the Transfiguration Professor could reassure him, but she had just worried him more.
***
The day of the return of the students arrived, and Harry went to welcome Ron and Hermione with Ginny. Returning to the castle, he informed them about Dumbledore's disappearance, also with what McGonagall said him. He thought he could trust them to not spread the news, plus Hermione was Head Girl, she needed to know.
Just in the castle, the same Professor called in her office Harry and Hermione, giving them the bad new .
"I say it to you before the others because you are the Heads and I need your help in this. Our loved Headmaster is dead"
"What? Dumbledore…dead?" they exclaimed together, disbelieving.
"Yes, Harry. He was ill, from a long time now, even if it didn't show it on the outside. And this mission, even if successful, has tired him so much that the illness overcome him. Some of the Order members went searching for him and found him almost frozen on the highest peak of the Himalayas, where he duelled with the leader of the Chinese dark wizards to stop them from joining Voldemort" she confirmed, sobbing.
"Harry, you know what this means, don't you?" she added then.
After some moments of silence, Harry nodded gravely.
"Hogwarts is in danger, isn't it? Voldemort will try to conquer the school now and I will have to defend it. Is it right?" he said, his green eyes dark in anger and determination.
McGonagall nodded, while Hermione remained speechless.
"Yes, Harry, only you can kill Voldemort, you know that. And you have to do it, this time, or the next year, without you in the school, it will be easy for him to take over it" The Professor added.
"I will. The moment of revenging many things is arrived" he said, his voice hard, then he stood up, took Hermione's hand, while she was still shocked, and led her out, searching Ron to say the news to him.
The redhead was shocked and worried.
"Oh, shit. Now we are really in trouble". Just then, "Aaaahh…my arm…"
"It is Voldemort. He is calling the Death Eaters. Resist, Ron, it should pass briefly" Harry said. He had witnessed the Dark Lord calling his servants in the grave after the Triwizard Tournament.
At lunch, McGonagall explained the facts to the school, then she called Harry privately, exempting him from lessons and works. For the time being, she took the Headmaster's place, being the Deputy Headmistress.
At dinner she alerted all the students to not bother him, warning especially the girls that unusual behaviours would be punished with expulsion. It was a time of extreme need and danger, and all should understand that and adequate their behaviour.
Then she left him the possibility to speak.
"I want to announce that Dumbledore's Army is again working. Whoever wants to be recruited, can say it to me or to my friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley" then he returned to his seat in the Gryffindor table.
While he was exiting from the Great Hall, Draco neared him.
"If you need something, I will always be here. Remember it" he said.
"Thank you, Draco. For starting, why don't you enter the army yourself? You are quite a powerful wizard, and we need more members as possible, so if you also can convince someone who you think can be useful, I will thank you"
"Ok. For me it isn't a problem. I join the army since now, you can count on me. For the others, I will do my best, but I don't promise you anything. You know, them being Slytherins, I don't think they'll come"
Since that evening, the Army trainings restarted, with many new members, as Harry could notice, and the old members were not so out of training.
Next day, while the others were at lesson, he went in the library with Ron and Hermione, with McGonagall's permit. They searched for all what could regard the existing defences of Hogwarts, and how to avoid them, if necessary.
Harry knew for sure that Voldemort was searching the weak points of the school defence system, and he wanted to learn them too, to be able of patrol them and avoid to be surprised.
They found, but thanks to Hermione they already knew that, that was not possible to Apparate in Hogwarts, but Ron commented that it was possible to do this at Hogsmeade, and then attack the castle from the primary entrance.
"And do you really think that they will attack us so openly? No, Ron, they will do this in a underhand way. We had to consider everything, not only the easiest possibilities" Harry said.
"It is possible to enter and exit from the grounds flying, so they could do this and then start the attack, but being in a great number, the risk of being noticed is high. I did it one time in my griffin form but I was alone"
"When did you do that?" Hermione asked, curious.
"One day, last year, when you two were still together. I was depressed, and flying always cheered me up" he replied dryly.
They continued the researches all morning, then, after lunch, they relaxed a little in the park, chatting. It was still cold, but the day was sunny. Harry remembered that he wanted to tell them about Ginny, so he sighed, mustered all the courage he could, then spoke.
"Listen to me, both of you. I have to tell you a fact happened in the Christmas holidays. You'll have all the rights to be angry at me, but I'm asking for your help, and possibly comprehension on this one"
"What is the problem?" they asked together, clearly worried.
"Ginny is the problem" he said.
"My sister?" Ron asked, hoping Ginny was not again in something like her first year.
Harry nodded then spoke again.
"During the holidays I and she were alone in Gryffindor tower. She behaved normally until the Christmas Eve evening, then, after dinner I didn't saw her"
"She is here, is not been kidnapped. I saw her today" Ron interrupted him.
"I know this, it isn't the problem!" Harry snapped. Here he was trying to say what had happened, and Ron continued interrupting him.
"I started reading, and after a while she arrived. She had gone for a walk in the park, so she was cold. I motioned for her to come near me, in front of the fire, and I held her to warm her a bit. After a while, I stopped reading, and turned toward her, and she kissed me"
"What the hell was she thinking?" Ron muttered angrily. "Well, however it is not your fault" he added then.
"But this is not all, Ron. She said she was sorry, then she told me about a dare she had agreed with her roommates in a girls' night, while she was drunk. She betted to lose her virginity to me in the Christmas break, or go naked in the school for a whole day if she didn't" Harry said, then paused.
Ron and Hermione were speechless. They couldn't believe Ginny had done something like that.
"And so, what happened?" Ron and Hermione asked then, almost together.
"Well, I thought about that. I knew it may ruin my relationship with both of you, but you know me. I couldn't let her be embarrassed that way. So I accepted. I made a mistake, I know. Please, forgive me!" he concluded.
Hermione looked at him, with tears in her eyes.
She nodded to him, taking his hand in her own. She knew Harry would never hurt her on purpose, and even if she did not like sharing him with Ginny, she knew that he did that only to help the younger Weasley. She was not angry at him, on the contrary she was touched for his selflessness. He risked the two things more important for him to help Ginny, Hermione's love and Ron's friendship.
That was the reason for her tears. She was moved by his huge heart.
"Then, on the morning, I put on her a Memory Charm which allows her to remember the fact, but not to tell it to anyone out of her dorm mates. And they won't be able to spread the news, thanks to this charm who works like a chain. I couldn't think anything better to keep it quiet"
"Well, I think this is a brilliant solution. Mission accomplished then" Ron said cheerfully. "I'll need to exchange two words with my sister, tough" he immediately added darkening and he went away.
"Yeah, Harry. Don't worry, I won't consider it a cheat to me, for the conditions in which it happened" Hermione said, hugging him. "You would risk everything to help the others" and another tear crossed her face, thinking about what he did for her the previous year, but also to what he was going to face that year.
Hermione kissed Harry with all the sweetness she was able to, to let him know he was completely forgiven. He eagerly kissed her back.
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