Harry Potter and the Bearers of the Light

Harry lay dejectedly on his bed staring up at the ceiling in his bedroom at his Aunt and Uncle’s house on Number 4 Privet Drive, his trunk still sitting where he had dropped it after returning home from Hogwarts only two days ago. Two seemingly short yet sleepless days and nights that had stretched so very long indeed. Every time Harry attempted to close his eyes he was confronted by the ghastly image of Sirius falling backward into the veil never to re-emerge. Harry blinked wearily as he got up and went over to Hedwig’s cage. The owl hooted sorrowfully as her master put some food in her cage as he stroked her beak.

“It’s not fair.” Harry said softly to the owl, “It was my fault he was there, if anyone should have paid for it, it should have been me.”

Hedwig just hooted and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her large eyes staring up at him. Harry turned away and tugged his trunk towards him. He haphazardly began dumping out books and objects when he heard a tinkling sound. It was Sirius’s mirror that he had broken earlier. With a sigh he put it back into the trunk and flopped back down on his bed. He didn’t know how many more hours he stared into the ceiling, feeling alone and just a little afraid, before he finally succumbed to his extended period of sleeplessness.

Dolohov burst into the room brandishing his wand like a sword, a great gout of flame burst from the tip like from an enraged dragon and impacted against Hermione. Harry felt his own wand slip from his fingers as he dove down to her side, as he rolled her over he felt terror grip at his heart as he stared into her blank eyes.

Harry sat straight up in bed sweating profusely, his heart still pounding in his ears from the nightmare. Weakly he got up and drug himself out of his room to the bathroom, dimly aware that he hadn’t changed his clothes or bathed in nearly three days now. After a half-hearted attempt at personal hygiene Harry went downstairs. It was two o’clock in the afternoon and the Dursley’s were no where in sight. Vernon was no doubt at work and Dudley was probably off beating up stray kids with his gang. Aunt Petunia could be nearly anywhere, but most likely out in her garden or at a friend’s house swapping nosey gossip on the activities of her neighbors. Harry made himself a plain sandwich and retreated back to his room since he was in no mood to encounter any of his disagreeable relatives.

As Harry sat and slowly ate his lunch he remembered what Moody had told him at King’s Cross about keeping in touch with the order. He didn’t have the heart to write anything so he simply tore off a scrap of parchment and wrote “I’m fine, Harry” on it before attaching it to Hedwig’s leg and sending her off to deliver it to Headquarters. He didn’t think he could bear to have someone coming around pitying him right now, or trying to talk to him about Sirius. Harry went over to the stand next to his bed and looked at the picture of his mother, father, and Sirius. They all looked so young, healthy, and happy as they smiled and waved at him from their little frame. He stared at the picture for a long time before he heard a distant rumbling sound of thunder. Harry stood and looked out his window at the rather unusual sight of a thunderstorm bearing down on Privet Drive. He could make out the sharp jabs of lightening streaking through the sky. Harry looked at the image of Sirius waving at him again and suddenly went over to his trunk and pulled out a book. He sat down at his desk with determination and began to read. He channeled all his pain, loss, and loneliness into the book, trying desperately to distract himself from the throbbing torment of Sirius’ death.

Harry jerked awake as heavy footfalls sounded on the stairs outside his door. He didn’t know precisely when he had fallen asleep after reading far into the night, but he decided he was definitely ready for breakfast. Summoning up his Gryffindor courage he opened his door and marched down the stairs, hopefully looking better than he felt. He decided that he must not have looked very well at all when he saw the shocked, slightly terrified expressions of his relatives. Glancing in the dining room window he decided that he did look a bit haggard and his hair was even more messy than usual. His eyes were also somewhat sunken in and dull looking. Aunt Petunia especially seemed to realize that something awful had occurred and kept her normal sniffs of disdain to a minimum. Vernon was brave enough to give him a list of chores to do, but it was shorter than usual. Of course he had expected better treatment after the way Moody threatened them at King’s Cross.

The work was a refreshing way to keep his mind off of Sirius’ death, but all too soon he was finished and back in his dim, gloomy bedroom. Feeling the pain constricting his chest anew, Harry sat down heavily at his desk and began going over his books again, memorizing every hex, jinx, curse, charm, and potion ingredient that he could lay his hands on. He was dimly aware of the Dursley’s activities, dimly aware that night had fallen, and dimly aware of his own drooping eyelids. Suddenly he jerked awake, heart pounding, glasses askew, still sitting at his desk with his book open in front of him and the light on. He shuddered as he remembered his dream, Hermione falling stricken in the Department of Mysteries yet again. Glancing at the clock Harry saw that it was only three in the morning, but unable to return to sleep he began reading again.

Each day passed virtually like the last for Harry, except that he became more and more reclusive. He made sure to write short notes to the Order to keep someone from coming to check on him, but he did precious little else except read until he was so exhausted that he fell asleep. The Dursley’s were mortified at his strange behavior, his unresponsiveness, and so they had taken to shoving sparse meals onto the table next to his door before hurriedly shutting it and scampering away. Harry found himself wishing that he had additional books as he read through his old ones for the second time. He smirked slightly at that thought and what his friends would think. Hermione would be ecstatic in his newfound refuge; Ron would probably be shocked. His friends. Harry sat back for a second and thought about them. He hadn’t spoken to them in a couple of weeks now. Guilt washed over him as he remembered the wounds that they each had suffered during his foolish trip to the Department of Mysteries. Harry reached for parchment and began writing to them separately, asking them how their health was, what they were doing, reassuring them that he was coping with his problems, and apologizing for not writing sooner. He felt immensely better as he watched Hedwig flap off into the twilight with two rolls of paper attached to her legs.

Harry looked at the small sack that he had put the shards of Sirius’ mirror into which were sitting on his desk. What an idiotic thing to do he thought to himself as he looked at the bag. He knew Sirius couldn’t communicate via mirror from beyond the veil and smashing the valuable magical object had surely done no good at all. Just like smashing all those things in the headmaster’s office as he raved at Dumbledore had done no good. What had he been thinking? He hadn’t been thinking and as he pondered that he realized that he had not been doing any thinking for quite some time. He lurched out of his chair angrily and began pacing the floor. It was time that he started thinking before he got anyone else hurt or killed. As he looked back at his five years at Hogwarts he remembered all the secrets he had kept, not just from Dumbledore and his teachers, but from his friends as well. He remembered all the petty arguments that had consumed him, like the episode with Ron over the Goblet incident. Sure, Ron hadn’t believed him, but so what, that didn’t justify him being so harsh with him, it had merely prolonged their estrangement and strained their friendship. As Harry paced even faster he realized that it didn’t matter how others behaved, it only mattered how he behaved. He couldn’t force everyone to agree with him or believe in him all the time, all he could do was be patient, sincere, and understanding with his friends. Deep down he knew that they all had his best interest at heart and that if he were to succeed he would have to trust the people on his side, the people who cared about him. Abruptly Harry stopped pacing as the words “if he were to succeed” echoed in his mind. How could he have forgotten about the prophecy? No longer could he count on Dumbledore being able to rid the world of Voldemort, prophecy named him at the only person able to accomplish such a feat.

It was like a heavy cold blanket being pressed down on his shoulders as Harry came to terms with what was at stake. It wasn’t just his life, or the abstract well being of the wizarding world, it was the Weasleys, the Grangers, all his classmates, his professors, the kindly old barkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron, his next door neighbor Mrs. Figg, and everyone else he had become friends with that would suffer if he failed. No, they wouldn’t just suffer if he failed, they were already suffering, and the longer the war with Voldemort went on the longer they would all be in deadly peril. He remembered Molly Weasley crying over the boggart as it projected the forms of her family members as if they were dead. Harry felt resolve harden within him and marched purposefully over to his desk. He took out a piece of parchment and began to write:

Please ask Dumbledore to release next year’s book list so that someone can pick up my books and send them to me. I need them to begin reviewing. Tell whoever gets my books that I will repay them as soon as I can access my vault.

Harry

There was only one way to end the war as quickly as possible or even to win at all. Harry had to become more powerful than Voldemort who was probably the most powerful wizard for hundred’s of years. Harry sealed the letter and placed in next to Hedwig’s perch so that he could send it as soon as she returned. It was dark, but Harry took no notice as he sat down and began reading again. He focused on the little moving diagrams in the Defense Against the Dark Arts book that Moody had given him earlier. He might not be able to cast spells, but he could practice the wand movements and memorize the incantations.

Harry was relieved to be awoken by Hedwig’s gentle hooting for a change instead of the blinding panic of watching Hermione getting struck down again. He eagerly reached over and took the scrolls off her feet before giving her some fresh water and owl treats. As Hedwig pecked at her food Harry began reading the letters.

Harry,

I’m doing loads better now, the twins keep popping over to test out their latest joke stuff on me though. Its actually refreshing, Mum and Dad are busy all the time doing stuff, Percy is still acting the prat, and Ginny just isn’t that much fun. I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better. Hopefully I’ll see you soon.

Ron

Harry scanned the letter again and decided that the “stuff” Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were doing must be Order related. He supposed that they were all still taking turns guarding him.

Harry,

I’m so glad to hear from you, I was getting concerned, but Ron was so insistent that I not bother you before the last term ended that I refrained from writing. I hope you’re feeling better and that you know you can write me if you want to talk about anything. I’m feeling much better, my wound has disappeared, and I’m only having to take a couple of potions a day now, mainly as a precaution. My parents were planning on vacationing, but after I explained the seriousness of the situation in the wizarding world they decided not to go. Dumbledore dropped by earlier and performed all sorts of wards to hide us from dark forces so don’t worry about us. I don’t know when we’re going to get to see each other, but Dumbledore assured me that it would be “soon.” I tried to get him to say when, but he wouldn’t talk. Write back soon.

Lots of love,

Hermione

Another twinge of guilt ran through Harry as he read that Hermione was still forced to take potions for the curse wound. Hermione had suffered so much over the years because of him. She had given up seeing her parents, especially last year, and going on vacations with them. No, he forcefully corrected himself, Voldemort was the source of her hardships, just like Voldemort was the source of his own problems. If Harry didn’t exist Hermione would still be in danger, but even more so because only Harry could end Voldemort’s terror. Harry reached for the scroll requesting his books that he had made up earlier and attached it to Hedwig’s leg. He hoped that Dumbledore would make an exception and allow him to begin studying for next year right away.

“Sorry girl” he said, “but I need you to leave again right away”

Hedwig dutifully hooted and took off, as Harry stood in his window staring out at nothing in particular for a few minutes before heading downstairs to make a rare appearance at a meal.

Harry’s birthday was steadily approaching, but Harry gave it little thought since Dumbledore had allowed his books for the next term to be sent to him immediately. It had taken several owls to deliver all the heavy packages. Harry had also been exchanging regular letters with Ron and Hermione, who both were presumably at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. He had already read through his sixth year books at a breakneck pace and was on his second reading. He marveled at how quickly he could absorb the material when he focused on it and focus on it he did. Whenever Harry found his attention drifting on one subject he would set it aside and concentrate on another. He worked especially hard on his advanced potions material. Not only did he work to memorize the properties and construction of each potion, but he also tried to cross-reference the properties of the ingredients whenever he could.

As time created distance between Vernon’s memory and the threats by Moody at King’s Cross got ever greater Harry was increasingly bothered by the Dursley’s to do this task or that. He tried to be civil about it, but it was difficult. Harry kept reminding himself that it was time to turn over a new leaf so to speak and to do the right thing even if no one else around him did. He remembered the placid calm of Dumbledore even in the face of Voldemort and vowed that he too would separate his emotions from his actions. He also began to rigorously apply his Occlumency lessons and with great effort began to sleep peacefully without any nightmares, let alone Voldemort inspired ones. He noticed that his scar had quit hurting entirely, but he didn’t know if that was due to his Occlumency training or if it was simply because Voldemort was lying low for the time being.

It was still two weeks before Harry’s birthday when an ancient looking old man with a long beard knocked on the door of Number Four Privet Drive. Aunt Petunia opened the door and let out a little gasp as the old man invited himself in.

“Hello Petunia” Dumbledore said pleasantly, “I’ve come to collect your nephew if that’s quite all right with you.”

Aunt Petunia sniffed haughtily, torn between her fear and loathing of this old wizard and her delight at getting rid of her freakish charge.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Dumbledore said as he whisked away up the stairs without a second glance. He quietly opened the door to Harry’s room and was shocked by what he saw. He had of course had some inkling of what Harry was doing since he had authorized the early release of Harry’s book list, but he hadn’t quite expected this. Stacks of books were organized neatly, rolls of parchment attested to the many essays Harry had already written, and Harry himself was hunched over a book, his wand tracing patterns in the air as he mumbled to himself. Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly as he stepped into the room.

“Professor, I’m glad you’re here, does this mean I can finally leave?” Harry asked.

“Yes, of course, but first I thought it might be best if we talked about a few things,” Dumbledore said hesitantly.

“I expected as much,” Harry said with a sigh as he closed his book, “but first I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for how I reacted in your office last year after Sirius’ death.”

“That was perfectly understandable” Dumbledore replied, further surprised, “you had been dealt a severe blow that night.”

“Yes, but nothing could be helped by wrecking your belongings,” Harry said sadly, “and I’ve promised myself to quit doing things that won’t help anything.”

“You’ve changed a great deal since we were together last Harry,” Dumbledore said as he gently probed at Harry’s mind only to find that he was blocked, “and not just in your attitude.”

“I’ve been practicing Occlumency hard,” Harry said as he caught on to Dumbledore’s meaning, “and I realized that if I had of just trusted you things would have turned out much differently. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Dumbledore pondered this for a moment before reaching into his robes and removing a folded piece of parchment.

“I doubt it will surprise you to learn that Sirius has left Grimmauld Place and what remains of the Black family fortune to you”

“I hadn’t thought about it, but no, I don’t suppose that is surprising,” Harry said quietly, his eyes shimmering as he thought about Sirius.

“Well then, you must have more questions, but its nearly time to go so let me pack for you.”

Dumbledore flicked his wand and Harry’s possessions began spinning around the room before neatly tucking themselves away inside his trunk. Dumbledore produced a small round disk and sat it on top of Harry’s trunk. Recognizing it as a portkey Harry reached out and touched it. Immediately he felt the tug as they were whisked through a multicolor world and deposited at the entrance to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore quickly got out a large brass key and handed it to Harry.

“Use the master key to make your possession official,” Dumbledore urged as he glanced about.

Harry put the key in an ancient looking lock that magically appeared and heard a series of mechanical clicks for a moment. The door finally swung open and Dumbledore ushered Harry in, floating his belongings behind him. Grimmauld Place looked much the same as it had last summer. There were fewer paintings on the wall, but the environment was still dark and brooding.

“Harry, it’s so good to see you,” Molly Weasley said as she bustled toward him, hugging him tenderly, yet hesitantly as if she were afraid of hurting him.

“It’s good to see you too Mrs. Weasley,” Harry said politely. He liked Molly, but he wasn’t particularly interested in her look of pity even if it were out of concern.

“Is everything ready for us to begin,” Dumbledore asked, breaking the silence between Mrs. Weasley and Harry.

“What?” Mrs. Weasley asked, then remembered, “Oh, yes, everyone’s waiting. Harry dear why don’t you take your things upstairs, Ron and the others are cleaning in one of the rooms down the hall.”

Harry drug his trunk up the stairs as the two adults disappeared through the door for another Order meeting. He didn’t even feel a twinge of curiosity or annoyance like he would have last year. The Order was doing all it could do and it was probably still dangerous for him to know more than they needed to tell him because even with his improving mastery of Occlumency he couldn’t be totally sure that Voldemort was unable to get anything from his mind. Harry dropped his things in his old room before seeking out his friends. He found them kicking at a stool which was lunging at them as if it were trying to bite them. Ron’s foot had just managed to break its legs in half when they looked up and saw him.

“Harry!” Hermione exclaimed happily as she walked toward him faster and faster until she embraced him in a long hug.

“How’s it goin’ mate?” Ron asked uncertainly as he prodded the stool with his foot.

“A lot better now that I’m here.” Harry said with a small smile as Hermione stepped back from him.

“We’ve absolutely no idea what’s been going on,” Hermione said anxiously, “Ginny is here, but the twins are at their shop and without them we’ve not had any luck with extendable ears or anything.”

“They won’t let the twins join the Order yet either,” Ron said grimly, “They were pretty upset, but not half as upset as Mum was about them leaving school. They’re doing a lot of business though, and galleons seem to be making their profession seem more respectable. Dad doesn’t have a problem with it now.”

“I guess its just as well, the twins wouldn’t have much time to do Order related things,” Hermione said reasonably.

“They still don’t let us in on any meeting,” Ron said glumly, refocusing on their own problems, “all we get to do is battle furniture.”

“We probably shouldn’t know then if they don’t want to tell us.” Harry said.

Ron and Hermione just stared at him unable to believe what he had just said. They had expected Harry to be furious at not having more information and depressed about Sirius, despite the generally mellow tone of his letters.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Ron asked again.

“Yeah, as well as can be expected, but we do need to talk,” Harry said seriously, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and there are things you guys need to know.”

The trio headed back to Harry’s room so that Harry could unpack as they talked. Ron plopped down on a stool after checking to make sure it didn’t bite and Hermione sat cross-legged on the bed. Harry began pulling out books and stacking them in an orderly fashion, which caused them both to goggle at him again.

“Are those this years books mate?” Ron asked incredulously.

“Yes, they must be,” Hermione said breathlessly as she leaned over and snatched one from Harry, “but how did you get them already.”

“I asked Dumbledore to send them to me so I could begin studying.” Harry said as he surveyed their shocked looks, “That’s one of the things we need to talk about.”

“How you’re turning into Hermione,” Ron said as Hermione glared at him.

“First things first,” Harry said taking a deep breath, “I need to tell both of you the prophecy.”

“But I thought it was lost,” Ron broke in.

“The prophecy at the Department of Mysteries was only a copy of what someone actually heard.” Harry said.

“Who heard the prophecy?” Hermione asked

“Dumbledore, he told me afterwards and showed it to me in the pensieve.”

Harry recounted the prophecy that he had etched into his memory word for word. As he finished Ron looked like he had just been hit in the face with a bludger and Hermione was nearing tears.

“Oh Harry,” she said mournfully as she moved to hug him tightly.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you both sooner, but I promise never to keep secrets from either of you like this ever again,” Harry said solemnly.

“Its ok Harry,” Ron said as he finally found his voice, “that’s something anyone wouldn’t want to talk about.”

“No,” Harry said forcefully, “It isn’t ok. You’re my best friends, you’re always there for me, and I remember how angry I was at being held out on last year. Then I go and hypocritically do the same thing to you. You deserve to know everything I do and I’m not going to make the same mistakes over again.”

“It really is ok Harry,” Hermione said in an absent voice as she went into analysis mode, “This explains why Dumbledore was so determined to protect you and why Voldemort is so determined to kill you.”

Ron shuddered at the mention of Voldemort’s name.

“Actually, Dumbledore told me that Voldemort only knows the first parts of the prophecy, that’s why he was after it to hear the rest.” Harry said, earning another shudder from Ron.

“Well, since he didn’t get it that might help, but he will undoubtedly keep coming after you.” Hermione said.

“Yes, which reminds me of the second thing I need to talk to you about.” Harry said as he looked at them, “If I’m the one who has to defeat Voldemort then I have to become even stronger than Dumbledore. I need help to become a powerful wizard.”

“Of course we’ll help you Harry, we’ll do whatever it takes, no matter what,” Hermione said instantly, “what do you think we’ve been trying to do all this time?”

“I know,” Harry said, “you’re better friends than I deserve.”

“You got that right,” Ron joked, then added, “so that’s why you had Dumbledore send your books early.”

“Yeah, I’ve been memorizing all the spells and potions that I can without actually being able to practice them.”

“You’re going to need more than school books if you’re to defeat Voldemort though,” Hermione said, “we need access to the restricted section of the library.”

Harry nodded, he had already thought of that. “That’s one of the many things I need to ask Dumbledore about as soon as the meeting is over.”

“They’ve been at it a while” Ron said. They had nearly lost track of time, but a quick glance out the window revealed that the day was beginning to turn into night. The three teens walked out of Harry’s room and settled down on the stairs where they could watch the doors to the meeting room. They could barely be seen in the thick gloom of the hallway, which was illuminated by the thinnest of slivers of light that emanated from under the doorway.

“Harry,” a high pitched voice squeaked behind them. Ginny ran up and gave Harry a hug before settling down next to her brother. The four whispered quietly so as not to wake up the painting of Mrs. Black. Ginny shot her brother an inquisitive glance and nodded toward Harry and Hermione who were talking in conspiratorial tones. Ron began filling her in on some of Harry’s new plans, but left out the prophecy and the animagus training since the trio had agreed that such sensitive information should probably be limited to as few people as possible. Ron didn’t feel too guilty not letting his siblings in on the matter since most of the Order members had no idea about the prophecy’s contents either. Harry was also concerned that Voldemort might have a way into Ginny’s mind after what happened in second year, but he didn’t voice these concerns to Ron.

The four teens looked up sharply as the door opened slightly allowing the sounds of banging chairs and rustling papers to make it into the hall. Suddenly the doors burst open and Snape marched out.

First I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far for taking the time to do so. I appreciate any feedback. After reading what some of you have said I thought I'd clarify a few things so no one would be confused. I started this story before the release of HBP so that book had no influence on this piece whatsoever. As a result I had already made assumptions about how magic works that were shot down in HBP but that I refuse to change because frankly my way makes more sense in my humble opinion. Thus this story is completely AU, any differences should be taken in stride. For example, apparation cannot be done except by the individual person. One person cannot take another "along for the ride" so to speak. The Ministry of Magic can detect underage magic specifically (this will be important later on). Portkeys can be blocked by wards directionally, which means basically that the ward maker can choose to block incoming, outgoing, or both types of portkeys at the same time. Seeing as how it is possible for Dumbledore to portkey into Hogwarts but others cannot (or else Voldemort would just portkey in whenever he felt like a visit) that leads me to believe that portkey blocking wards can be keyed to allow certain persons (or perhaps magical signatures) passage.

As for romance, it will be present, but it won't be a big deal, especially between characters other than Harry and Hermione. You will see the beginnings of N\G and R\L but there won't be anything overt really. However, despite this Harry and Hermione's relationship will play a key role in resolving the outcome of this story and perhaps as many as two sequals should I choose to write them. I already have them planned out, more or less, so it would simply be a matter of finding the time.

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Snape stalked out of the room, his robes billowing behind him like giant limp wings, but he never noticed the teens sitting at the top of the stairs as he headed straight to the door and out into the night. Other members began filing out soon thereafter and Harry jumped up so that Dumbledore wouldn’t be able to escape before they could talk to him. The others followed Harry into the room where Dumbledore, Molly, Tonks, and Moody were still huddled together talking in strained whispers. They stopped abruptly when they realized they were no longer alone.

“Er, sorry,” Harry said, “we thought you were done”

“That’s quite alright.” Dumbledore said, preventing them from backing out of the room.

“We wondered if we could talk to you for a moment,” Harry said, indicating that he preferred to talk to the Headmaster alone. The other adults glanced uneasily at each other.

“Of course Harry, but first there is something you need to attend to as master of the house.” Dumbledore said.

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione looked at Harry and he realized he had forgotten to tell them about the will.

“Sirius left me his estate,” he said out of the corner of his mouth, then looked to Dumbledore, “Ok, what is it.”

“Well Harry, as you know Sirius left you all of his possessions, which I’m afraid also includes his servant. As his new master only you can deal with him.”

Harry paled as he remembered Kreacher and was dimly aware of Hermione grabbing his arm tightly. He had known that he would have to deal with Kreacher as someday and he had already resolved himself about what he was going to do, but it was difficult now that he was confronted with the necessity.

“Kreacher, appear,” Harry said in a strained voice. With a crack the little elf appeared, still dressed in the same rag he always had on. Kreacher eyed Harry uneasily, but with a look that he had already resigned himself to whatever fate Harry pronounced upon him.

“Kreacher, you are ordered to never again leave this house without my direct permission. You must not divulge any information about what happens inside this house to anyone, especially my enemies or the enemies of the Order of the Phoenix. You are also to stop interfering with the cleaning of this house.” Harry said in the kindest voice that he could force himself to use.

Molly stared at him slack jawed, Moody’s eye, which usually fidgeted about nervously, had frozen in place. Tonks didn’t seem very surprised and Dumbledore was positively beaming at him. Hermione’s grip on his arm had tightened and she was looking up at him with huge round eyes.

“That’s all?” Ron sputtered.

“Yes Ron, that’s all” Harry said softly, “Kreacher can’t do us anymore harm so long as he has proper orders. Can you think of anything else I should tell him to do Professor?”

“No Harry, that should be sufficient,” Dumbledore said.

Kreacher stared at Harry for a moment and then must have decided that silence was dismissal because he vanished with a crack. Molly seemed to collect herself as she began putting food on the table for a late dinner.

“Professor, can we talk now?” Harry asked.

“Let’s eat first, I can stay for a few minutes.” Dumbledore said.

“That was a noble thing you did Harry.” Hermione said as they all sat down. Ron looked incredulously at her.

“I’m not so sure we should have let him off so easily though.” Ron said hesitantly, uncomfortable about bringing up Sirius’ death, even indirectly, “I mean, won’t he just take the next opportunity available to betray us again…”

“That’s why I gave him orders not to leave the house.” Harry replied, “If he can’t leave then he can’t very well hurt our cause.”

Ron made some more sputtering noises, but Harry cut him off.

“Look, I know he lied to us, but it isn’t entirely his fault. Kreacher has been abused and twisted by dark wizards for his entire life. Taking vengeance on him now can’t bring Sirius back, but maybe keeping him alive can do something to help save someone else. At the very least we should remember that Kreacher is a victim too, a slave, and his life has been taken away in much the same was as Sirius’ was. He may be alive, but his life isn’t his to live because of his enslavement to wizards. Hermione and Dumbledore tried to tell me this last year, but I only recently started listening” he finished wistfully.

Hermione looked at him sadly, comprehending his pain, but proudly too because of the effort he was making with Kreacher. Harry avoided her gaze, partly because he didn’t feel like he deserved her thankful look since he didn’t feel in his heart the forgiveness he had shown Kreacher with his actions and partly because he wasn’t entirely convinced that he had done the right thing. If Kreacher did find a way to betray them again he didn’t know how he would deal with it. He silently wondered if he had the wisdom to make these kinds of decisions that could end up being life or death for those he cared about.

Thinking about the terrible things that could happen to his friends caused Harry’s stomach to clench again and he stood jerkily to his feet with his dinner barely touched. Everyone glanced up at him anxiously.

“Professor, could we talk please?” he said.

Dumbledore gazed at him over his half-moon spectacles before slowly nodding his head. Dumbledore seemed to sense that Harry wanted a private conversation because he got up and headed out into the hall. Harry followed him until he was sure that they wouldn’t be overheard.

“Now, what is it that is so urgent?” Dumbledore asked. “Well, Hermione and I have been talking about things we can do to give us an advantage against Voldemort,” Harry began, “and I wanted to run them by you before we started trying anything.”

Dumbledore nodded so Harry continued.

“First of all, we wanted to become Animagi, unlicensed of course, since that would have obvious advantages in terms of stealth and escape.” Harry said.

“I can’t condone illegal activity Harry,” Dumbledore said, raising an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling devilishly, “I would be most disappointed indeed if you were to go to Remus for help in securing the books and ingredients necessary to accomplish such a feat. Of course if you were discrete about using your transformations I would probably never find out.”

“Certainly sir, I wouldn’t dream of it.” Harry said with a small smile, “I was also wondering if you think I am sufficiently skilled in Occlumency to try and teach it to Hermione and Ron?”

“Actually that might be a very good idea,” Dumbledore said, “It would also give you an opportunity to practice Legilimency, which you may find very useful in detecting dishonesty from those around you.”

Harry squirmed for a moment at that, thinking of the times that he had been less than honest with Dumbledore. He couldn’t help it now though, so he forged ahead.

“When you fought Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries I noticed that you cast spells without saying the incantations that went along with them. Would it be possible for you to teach us how to do that?”

“Very clever, very clever indeed Harry,” Dumbledore said as he gave him an appraising look, “but I’m afraid that silent casting is not a skill that can be taught by one person to another. Each person has to discover the art on their own and I warn you that only the most powerful wizards can accomplish such a feat. The only advice I can give you is to be fully aware of the effects of each spell and of the proper wand movement. After that it is merely a matter of power and will to cast your spells.”

Harry pondered that for a moment, his thoughts interrupted as Dumbledore told him that it was time for him to go. Harry went back into the kitchen to find that everyone except Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Hermione had already went off somewhere else. He whispered to Hermione and Ron after making sure that she wasn’t within hearing.

“Ron, do you think we should tell your mother about the prophecy?” he asked them.

“I don’t know, she’d probably freak out.” Ron replied.

“I think she might be more understanding of us if she knew the role Harry has in the prophecy and how we’re going to help him fulfill it.” Hermione said.

“She sort of has a right to know, don’t you think?” Harry said quietly, “Plus Hermione is right, she might be more understanding.”

“Well,” Ron looked torn, not wanting to worry his mother any further, “I suppose.”

“We won’t tell her unless you’re sure.” Harry said.

“Alright, alright, I’m sure, we should tell her, but no one else.” Ron said finally.

Harry and Hermione jumped up and closed the doors to the kitchen after making sure there was no one else around. It was getting quite late so most Order members were on duty, at their homes, or asleep somewhere else in the house.

“Mum, we need to tell you something.” Ron said after they gave him an all-clear sign.

Mrs. Weasley eyed them suspiciously at Ron’s serious tone.

“It might be better if you sat down Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione said kindly.

“You kids are scaring me,” she said nervously.

“It’s about the prophecy,” Harry said.

“I take it that you’ve already told Ron and Hermione then.” Mrs. Weasley said. The pair nodded in affirmation.

“Yeah, but we all agreed that you have a right to know too since your family’s proximity to me will make you all a priority target for Voldemort.” Harry explained.

“You can’t tell anyone though Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione said earnestly, “Only the three of us and Dumbledore currently know the entire prophecy. If Voldemort ever discovers all of it then it could help him win.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t tell me then.” Mrs. Weasley said, wiggling uncomfortably at the mention of Voldemort.

“I know that you’d never do anything that could jeopardize our safety and to tell the truth we need your help.” Harry told her, “I thought you should know why I need your help before I asked you.”

“Mum, remember you can’t tell anyone, not even Dad. He might encounter a Death Eater strong enough in legimency to get it out of him.” Ron cautioned.

Mrs. Weasley took a deep breath as she let that sink in before finally nodding that she wanted to hear the prophecy.

“Basically, the key part is that I am the only person who can defeat Voldemort and I must defeat him or else he will kill me.” Harry said, “There is more, but it isn’t as important, it just hints at how I am supposed to defeat him, but honestly even Dumbledore doesn’t know exactly what it means.”

Mrs. Weasley turned as pale as a ghost and he could see tears building in her eyes. She immediately ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a motherly embrace.

“Oh Harry,” she sobbed, “surely there must have been some mistake.”

“I’m afraid not, Professor Dumbledore heard the prophecy himself from the source.”

The four sat forlornly and comforted each other for several minutes while Mrs. Weasley composed herself. Ron looked grim and Hermione appeared to be holding back tears of her own, the shock of first hearing the prophecy herself had not fully worn off yet.

“Its ok Mrs. Weasley,” Harry said soothingly, “we can still win, that’s why I need your help. Professor Dumbledore suggested several things that I can do to help prepare to face Voldemort, but I need Ron and Hermione to help me do them. We also may need extended periods of uninterrupted time and you’re the only one we can trust to keep the other Order members away from us.”

“What kinds of things.” she asked shakily.

“Well, actually it would probably be best if we didn’t say, except that we’ll be doing magic well beyond the sixth year.” Harry replied.

“Well, I guess you must. I’ll help you of course, and please Harry, Hermione, call me Molly. You’re both like family to me.” Mrs. Weasley said as she glanced between them nervously, a strange tone in her voice that Harry couldn’t place.

“We should probably get started as soon as we can.” Harry said, but Molly would have none of it.

“Its getting late, you can’t do anything if you’re falling asleep,” Molly said as she bustled out. They could hear her telling Ginny to get to bed as they ascended the stairs.

“We’ll be able to start tomorrow,” Hermione said soothingly as if she sensed Harry’s eagerness to get started, “Molly’s right, we’ll be better once we’re rested.”

Harry trudged into his room and flopped down on his bed after hurriedly changing into his pajamas. He stared up at the canopy over his big four poster bed and considered all of Dumbledore’s advice. Animagus training would be difficult to complete before the next term at Hogwarts started, but with Hermione’s help it was definitely possible. They would have to be careful though and Dumbledore had suggested that Lupin would be a great help too since he had already seen it done. The house creaked eerily as Harry continued to mull over his training plans for the rest of the summer.

I had very specific expectations about how Harry would grow and mature following Sirius' death. However, I do realize that I'm probably going to be cramming a lot of character growth into a shorter period of time than I would like, ideally, because frankly if I don't I won't be able to convince myself that Harry is capable of fighting Voldemort and winning except via some contrived Deus Ex Machina. I simply abhor the old standby of the plucky but weak hero defeating the great and powerful evil by getting lucky. In the real world the "good guys" don't usually win that way and its always been my belief that stories shouldn't stretch credibility too far even when they're in a fantasy setting. I'm saying this so that hopefully as you the reader follow along through this story you'll know why I do some of the things I do. This note will make more sense when you read some of the later chapters.

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At some point Harry must have drifted off because the next thing he knew the clock was striking and it was early morning. Harry saw the faintest of light streaking across the morning sky as he jumped out of bed and threw on his tattered muggle clothes. Hedwig was sitting restlessly on her perch since Harry couldn’t let her out to hunt at night like she was used to. He changed her water and put out some more food as he talked to her softly. As he glanced around his room for something else to do he suddenly realized that he had never actually explored all of Grimmauld Place. The previous summer most of the rooms in the huge mansion were locked up waiting for someone to clean them.

“Kreacher!” Harry called out into the empty room. Immediately the dour little elf appeared with a pop.

“Master is calling for Kreacher?” he said as he peered up at Harry with his huge eyes, then added in a perfectly audible tone, “Nasty usurper, oh how my Mistress would beat Kreacher if she knew.”

“Yes, I did call,” Harry pretended not to have heard his mutterings. Apparently Kreacher had gotten over the shock of not being punished and was now back to muttering insults.

“Kreacher is serving master however he can,” Kreacher said.

“I wish for you to tell me about the house, I’ve not seen every room,” Harry said.

Kreacher went over the details of the house floor by floor. Most of the house was simply empty rooms which were used as storage or guest space. Harry was intrigued by the mention of the dungeons and especially the library that Kreacher assured him was full of books.

“I want to see this library, lead me to it,” Harry commanded.

Kreacher led him down the dark halls on the second floor to a pair of ornate double doors that had massive cobra snakes engraved along them. Thick layers of dust attested to the fact that this room had probably not even been opened, let alone cleaned.

“Why hasn’t this room been cleaned already?” Harry asked.

“This room is hidden, only Master may see it,” Kreacher explained, as if he couldn’t believe that Harry didn’t know such a basic rule.

“Can you un-hide it?” Harry asked.

“No, only Master can do that,” the little elf squeaked in a scandalized tone.

Harry decided that Kreacher must have been expecting punishment for making him look like an idiot because he was cowering most pitifully, shaking quite visibly. Just how horrible had the Blacks been to their servant?

“I’m not going to punish you Kreacher. In fact I’m glad that you’re here to explain these things to me. I grew up in a Muggle house and I don’t know much about the rules of a wizarding place as grand as this.”

Kreacher now looked thoroughly bewildered as if he didn’t know whether to be mortified that his Mistress’ house was now in the possession of a muggle raised wizard or to be pleased at what must have been a rare compliment.

“Let this room be seen to all,” Harry said in what he hoped was an authoritative tone. The doors to the library slowly opened, but he couldn’t see anything inside. A great cloud of dust boiled out and suddenly Harry began to have misgivings.

“Could there be things living in here?” he asked Kreacher.

“The room was hidden,” Kreacher repeated again as if that explained everything, but then seeing Harry’s puzzled look added, “it was hidden to all things, not just wizards.”

Harry stepped into the dark room and immediately torches set against the high walls flared to life. The library was simply enormous and crammed with row after row of shelves. Harry decided that the library must have been magically enlarged because it was nearly as big as Grimmauld Place appeared to be from the outside. As his eyes traveled to the back wall and a large majestic staircase he realized that the library had two stories to it. Down the center of the room from the entrance was a long table that divided the shelves on either side that was aligned perpendicular to the table. The walls were also shelves that ran around the perimeter of the room. Kreacher apparently had gotten over his earlier shock because he abruptly interrupted Harry’s thoughts with his mutterings.

“Master standing in Mistress’ sanctuary, plotting no doubt, yes throwing away all of Mistress’ belongings just like the rest of the house. Oh what would she say to poor Kreacher, all her treasures she worked so hard to collect. The shame!”

For a moment Harry couldn’t comprehend what Kreacher was babbling about, but then he took a closer look at the titles over each section of the library. There were normal wizard books like those dealing with transfiguration, charms, and magical creatures. However, there was a very large section on potions and the wall shelves and several of the center shelves, which easily made up half the library, were dedicated to dark curses, hexes, jinxes, and other dark arts that he didn’t understand. Kreacher was almost wailing about the library at this point and he appeared to be on the verge of punishing himself.

“Kreacher,” Harry said sharply, “I want you to clean the dust out of this library and restore it to how it was when your Mistress owned it.”

“Master?” Kreacher said hesitantly, disbelieving what he had just heard.

“You heard me Kreacher, I want this place cleaned up. I need to go talk to my houseguests so if anyone comes in here before I return you go find me immediately. Under no circumstances should any books or other materials be thrown away.” Harry said.

As Harry left the room he noticed Kreacher was already sweeping away the years of dirt that had settled onto the books. Apparently Sirius had been right about him; he could do something if he wanted to. That library full of dark magic had been part of the reason that Sirius had fled his home. Harry vowed that he would use it now to avenge him.

Harry decided it was still too early to wake his friends up so he headed on down to the kitchen. Molly was already up fixing breakfast for the Order members who had been up all night doing whatever it was Dumbledore had them out doing. Tonks was there, her hair was green and drooping like a plant that had been sitting in the sun for too long without water. Arthur Weasley was there too, but he didn’t look as if he had been up all night. Harry decided that he must have come to Grimmauld Place to be with Molly before he had to head off to work at the Ministry.

“Wotcher Harry,” Tonks said, feigning a chipper attitude.

“Harry dear, you’re up early,” Molly said kindly.

“Yeah, it’s been difficult to sleep,” he said. Molly looked uncomfortable.

“So Harry, big day planned then?” Arthur asked, trying to be easy going in the face of Harry’s obvious distress.

“Actually, yes, I’ve just discovered the Black family library and I figured that Hermione, Ron, and I would start going through it,” Harry said, and added as an afterthought, “and I need to talk to Professor Lupin too.”

“What do you mean library,” Molly asked, “I’ve been through every room in this house, there isn’t anything more than a few shelves in the study.”

“The library was a hidden room,” Harry explained, “I asked Kreacher to give me an inventory of the house. He is cleaning it up right now.”

“Harry, that place could be dangerous,” Tonks said, paying close attention now, “the Blacks probably had tons of dark books.”

“Oh yes, I was just there for a few minutes, but I saw hundreds of dark books on topics that I’d never even heard of before.” Harry said.

“Knowing my relatives there are books in there that should never see the light of day,” Tonks said vehemently, “I’ll go with you and tell you what to throw out.”

Harry shot Molly a glance before responding.

“We don’t want to be hasty, some of those things might be useful.”

“Dark books are never useful!” Tonks exclaimed, uncharacteristically venomous.

“Tonks, you’re tired and you need to rest. I’ll go with Harry and when Remus arrives he can supervise,” Molly said in a placating tone.

Tonks seemed a little surprised, Molly usually was the first to rail against anything that smacked of Dark Magic and insist that it be destroyed as hastily as possible. She just nodded, her hair seeming to wilt a little more, satisfied that nothing harmful would come out of the library. Arthur finished his tea while mumbling something about having a hectic day ahead of him before giving Molly a quick peck on the lips and disapparating away with a crack. As Molly began serving up breakfast Harry considered going to wake up Ron and Hermione when he heard heavy footfalls on the stairway. He grinned as Ron busted into the kitchen, still in his pajamas. Ron would never miss a meal.

“Mornin’ Harry,” Ron said between mouthfuls.

“Yes, good morning Harry.”

Harry spun around at the sound of Hermione’s voice. She had entered the kitchen much more silently than Ron had and she had already dressed in her muggle clothes. She took a seat next to Harry, her ever bushy hair brushing up against him as she turned her head. They sat in silence as they all ate their food, something that Harry was thankful for since Ron had a tendency to spray his food about if he tried to talk and eat. Harry ate quickly, eager to get started on the library. His face must have betrayed his excitement for Hermione kept looking at him all through the meal.

“What is it Harry?” Hermione asked finally.

“It’s a surprise,” he grinned. Harry knew Hermione would love his library.

After they had finished eating Harry and Hermione waited patiently in the hallway for Ron to dress. At long last he emerged, grumbling something about his owl, Pig, getting its beak stuck in its cage again. Harry led the way down the hall to the huge double doors.

“Where did those come from?” Ron asked.

“This was a hidden room,” Harry said.

“Oh, I read about those, its how wizards protect their houses from snoopy guests,” Hermione said.

Harry gave the doors a tug and they opened slowly. He heard a sharp intake of breath from Hermione and he had to admit that Kreacher had made the place look pretty impressive in such a short period of time. The walls and floor was no longer dust covered, but had a polished gleam in the torchlight. The books were more colorful now that they were no longer dust covered either.

“This is fantastic,” Hermione said as she went to the nearest shelf and began pulling down books, “Its like the library at Hogwarts only with no off limit section.”

“Wait, Hermione,” Harry said, “before you get carried away I want us to look for something specific.”

Harry led the way over to the transfiguration section.

“You want us to look for books on becoming animagi,” Hermione said.

‘Er, yeah, how did…”

“Why else would you suddenly become interested in transfiguration?” she asked coyly.

“Wow, animagi,” Ron said, “This’ll be so cool.”

“I already talked to Professor Dumbledore about it, but we can’t register and we can’t let anyone know that we can transform, not even our families.” Harry said.

“But what’s the point of being able to do something that cool if you can’t show it off,” Ron said dejectedly.

“Honestly Ron, you can show off after we’ve beaten Voldemort,” Hermione said. Ron shuddered and Hermione sent him a scathing look. “This library is simply perfect, we can get the books we need without arousing suspicion at school,” she continued.

The three fanned out, each taking a different shelf, and searched for books on the process to becoming an animagus. Harry returned with a big green book entitled “Unleashing the Beast Within,” Hermione had a thinner book called “Wandless Shapeshifting for Fun and Profit,” while Ron managed to find a book with moving diagrams called “Anna’s Animagus Advice for the Archmage.”

“We should take these back to the main study,” Harry said, “I don’t really care to have anyone else sifting through this place right now.”

Harry recounted the discussion with Tonks when she had discovered the existence of the library. Hermione looked a little mortified that anyone would consider destroying a book, but she did caution Harry to be careful with anything containing dark magic. Harry took out the key that Dumbledore had given him and carefully locked the library up. Hermione looked at the doors wistfully.

“I really hate to leave this so soon,” she said, “It’s so magnificent.”

“Trust Hermione to think a library is the greatest thing ever,” Ron said with a snort.

“I’ll have you know that when I was little my parents left me at the local library all the time. I felt safe there, like a sanctuary, or a haven.” Hermione said.

“That’s actually a good name,” Harry said with a smile as he pointed at the plaque above the doors, “I should have Kreacher change this room’s title to “Hermione’s Haven” instead of gloomy old Black Archive.”

The three teens gaped in surprise as the words above the door rearranged themselves into the new title that Harry had given the room.

“That was sorta creepy,” Ron said as they walked back to the study, looking slightly cross. Hermione just beamed in silence.

The trio sat down in the large squishy chairs in the old Black study and began to read. Harry could tell that Ron was getting frustrated because he kept sighing and shifting his position every few minutes. Ginny, who was taking a break from the odious chore of cleaning out the various magical creatures that had taken up residence in the house came in and sat down around lunchtime. The three had quickly stowed their books away to prevent her from catching on to what they were doing. Ginny seemed pretty unhappy at being stuck at Grimmauld Place doing such nasty chores. Hermione tried to cheer her up, but she seemed more interested in listening while Harry and Ron discussed Quiddich than pay attention to Hermione’s pondering about whom would be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts next term. They were saved by Molly who brought up a platter of sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice. Molly told Ginny that she needed help cleaning up another Doxy infestation in the pantry after lunch, but Harry was pretty sure that she was just telling her that to let the trio continue their work undisturbed. After they had left Ron coughed uneasily and looked over at Harry.

“I’m not really getting much out of this book,” he said, “If its alright with you two I think I’ll go help mum with those Doxys.”

“No one said this would be easy Ron,” Hermione said crossly. Harry suspected that even she was having trouble understanding the complex theory behind the spells and potions needed for animagus transformations.

“Its ok Ron,” Harry said sympathetically, “We’ll try to figure it out and then we can give you the short version.”

Ron flashed him a relieved smile and hurried out of the room.

“There is only so much we can do for him Harry,” Hermione scolded him, “If he is to become an animagus he will have to do a lot of this work for himself.”

Harry just nodded as he returned to studying his book. Hermione had been driven to study for as long as he had known her. He supposed that it was just her natural desire to want to learn like it was his natural desire to fly. Sirius’ death had wrought a deep change within him though. Whenever he felt his attention waning he would see Sirius falling through the veil or Hermione crumpling to the floor from that terrible curse. Ron on the other hand had no innate desire to learn and thankfully he had no dreadful motivators either. He knew Ron had been fond of Sirius, but it hadn’t been nearly as hard on him as it had been on Harry, despite how Harry tried to conceal it. It couldn’t be helped though; Harry needed his best friend so he’d just have to find some way to help Ron keep up.

Harry looked at Hermione sitting across from him, intermittently brushing back stray curls of brown hair and flipping pages as she read. He felt an unfamiliar twinge as he gazed at her face and quickly looked down at his own book. The author was talking about how a person’s animal form, if indeed they were one of the few wizards to have one, would reflect in some way the strongest personality traits or desires of the person. Harry hoped he was a bird, it would be fun to fly without a broom.

They had been reading for hours now and Harry was beginning to get an idea of how an animagus transformation was supposed to work. Hermione’s book focused on the practical requirements and thus had explained a step by step process which seemed fairly straightforward. There was a complicated potion that required a couple of weeks to prepare and a lot of rare ingredients, but the book gave detailed instructions. It also laid out numerous spells that had to be cast in a specific order, at a specific time, some of which you could cast on yourself, but some that only someone else could cast. Harry had gone and fetched Ron so that Hermione could explain to him everything that he would need to do. They all agreed hoped that Remus would be able to cast the spells that they needed or else they’d have to go to Dumbledore again and Harry wasn’t confident that he would take a direct hand in law breaking.

The three stood up and hid the books in one of the cluttered shelves in the study. As Harry stretched awkwardly he was painfully reminded that he had been sitting down all day.

“I don’t know where we’re going to find all these items,” Hermione said anxiously as she waved the potion instructions under Harry’s nose, “but we need them soon, we’ve only got a few weeks until the next term starts and the potion is only the midpoint of the process.”

“We’ll ask Remus, after all Dumbledore said I should get his help,” Harry said as they walked into the kitchen. Dinner was almost over, though there was still plenty of food left. Moody, Shacklebolt, and Remus were still there, but they had already finished eating. Moody had his eye out in a small soup bowl and was poking it with his wand whilst muttering something foul under his breath. Shacklebolt was leaning back against a corner and appeared to be asleep. Remus was sitting with a copy of the Daily Prophet and chatting amiably to Molly over some article he was reading.

“Harry, its good to see you again,” Remus said cheerfully when he noticed them enter the room.

“Its good to see you too,” Harry responded, but he had a feeling that Remus was not as cheerful as he was pretending to be. With a sharp pang Harry realized that Sirius’ death must have hit Remus particularly hard.

Moody growled something unintelligible as Molly passed out clean plates to them. Harry heard an irritated meow as Molly nearly stepped on a sleeping Crookshanks. He idly wondered where the big ginger colored cat had been all day. Probably helping Ginny with the cleaning or something.

“Dark creatures are growing more restless according to this article,” Remus said as he jabbed his finger at something in the paper and pushed it towards Moody.

“The nastiest of them have probably already made a pact with You-Know-Who, just like the Dementors,” said Moody as he gave his magical eye another poke.

“Mad-Eye, how many times do I have to tell you, not at the table when people are trying to eat!” Molly exclaimed as the eye made a squelching noise and spun around in the bowl.

“That’s ok mum,” Ron said after taking a big swallow.

“Nothing could put you off eating,” Harry said.

Hermione snorted and said something that sounded like spiders. Ron gave a little choking noise and shot her a glare as Harry tried to suppress a chuckle.

“Professor Lupin, we found a book we’d like to ask you about, if you’re not busy,” Harry said after he had finished eating.

“Sure, what is it?” he asked.

“Its back in the study,” Hermione said quickly, “do you have time to go see it right now.”

“Er,” he began, then saw the looks on their faces, “sure, I’ve got a while before I have to go on duty.”

“I’m not done eating yet,” Ron complained.

“That’s ok Ron, we’ll fill you in on anything you miss later,” Harry said.

Ron shrugged before nodding as Harry and Hermione led Lupin out of the room. Once they were safely in the hallway they stopped.

“I take it this isn’t about a book,” he said.

“Well, not entirely, we want to ask you about the animagus transformation,” Harry said.

“That’s very dangerous and difficult,” Remus said, “Have you talked to Dumbledore about attempting such a thing, since that’s what I’m assuming you want to do.”

“Yes, I did, Dumbledore said he would be very disappointed if we went to you for instructions on how the transformation works,” Harry said with a smirk.

“Well then, we wouldn’t want to disappoint him,” Remus laughed, his eyes twinkling in genuine mirth.

“We already have a good idea about how it works,” Hermione said, “but we don’t know where we can get all the potion ingredients that we need.”

Remus took the list she had produced and glanced over it. He recognized most of the ingredients and instructions from when the Marauders had performed them all those years ago back at Hogwarts, but since he didn’t actually participate himself he was a little fuzzy on some of it.

“Well, I suspect that you already have most if not all of these ingredients,” he said after he finished reading the list.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“The library wasn’t the only hidden room in this house. There is a rather large storage room down in the dungeon that was used for the manufacture of potions. Sirius showed it to me a while back. I suspect it will have most of the things you need and if not I can pick them up somewhere.” Remus said.

Remus ushered them down the main hall quietly to avoid waking up the painting of Mrs. Black. They took an odd turn that Harry realized hadn’t been there before and were confronted by a black metallic door with thin silver stripes making a series of cross hatches across it. Harry immediately notice that there was no door knob and opened his mouth to ask how they were supposed to get through it, but before he could make a sound Remus pushed one of the sections and the door swung inward. Just like in the library many wall-mounted torches sprang to life to illuminate a long narrow stone staircase that plunged downward in a tight spiral. Remus strode briskly down the stairs without hesitation and so the two teens hurried along behind him as they peered apprehensively into the dark narrow space ahead.

They realized that the stairs were not very long when after only a few turns they stepped into a long wide corridor. Remus still knew exactly where he was going apparently since he marched without hesitation to a smaller passageway that connected with the main one and led them down it. The doors were all smooth and metallic like the one they had encountered earlier. At the third door down they stopped and watched carefully as Remus pushed a section to open the door.

“Be careful of what you touch,” Remus warned as he held the door for them to walk inside.

Torches flared up and Harry realized that this room was magically expanded too, just like the library, although not quite that big. There were some shelves lining the walls, but mostly there were small bins mounted at angles into the walls. Different sized cauldrons hung from hooks that dangled down from the ceiling. At the far end of the room opposite the door was a pit with a cauldron hanging over it.

“Ok, here is the list, lets gather everything and put it over by the cauldron,” Hermione said, taking charge. “Professor Lupin, could you clean the cauldrons please, we’re still not allowed to do magic.”

“Of course,” he replied as he took out his wand, “and please, both of you, call me Remus. I’m not your teacher anymore. Indeed, this is where my help likely ends. I was never much for making potions.”

“Didn’t you help the other Marauders with their transformations?” Harry asked, thinking of Dumbledore’s suggestion that he enlist Remus’ aid.

“Er, well,” Remus stammered, “James and Sirius were the brains of the group after all, and since I could already transform, unfortunately, I didn’t pay as close attention as I could have.”

“Don’t worry Remus,” Hermione said, seeing his obvious discomfort, “I’m sure we’ll be able to manage just fine. These instructions really are detailed.”

“We do need you to cast the required spells during the transformation process,” Harry said.

“Ah, that I can do,” Remus said, “I was quite adept at transfiguration during my time.”

The three scoured the storeroom gathering up the potion ingredients. Hermione inspected each one closely to make sure it was still suitable, but fortunately nothing fresh was required.

“Oh no!” she exclaimed suddenly.

“What is it Hermione?” Harry asked anxiously.

“It says here that different stages of the potion have to be heated at different rates. This pit is just to contain the fire, we’ll have no way to actually control it,” she said.

“I can help you there too,” Remus said.

He went over to one of the cupboards and rummaged around through its dust-covered contents before producing several large glass containers. After sitting them down in a row he took out his wand again and put various intensities of blue bell flame into each container.

“There now, all you have to do is switch these containers to control the rate of heating. I’ve put a freezing charm on the glass so you can safely handle them and those flames will last as long as you need them to,” he said.

Harry and Hermione set to work making the potion with Hermione doing most of the actual potion making while Harry tried to learn by watching her. Harry sorted the various ingredients while Hermione prepared them and began adding them to the cauldron. Harry watched her work, spell bound as she carefully consulted her notes before adding an ingredient or turning the ladle. He felt his heart swell with pride as her flawless, expert efforts caused the first stage of the potion to take shape. Harry leaned in closer so that he would be sure not to miss anything.

“Harry, not so close,” Hermione said, “I can’t concentrate with you there.”

“Sorry,” he whispered as he got up and stood back. Remus gave him a wink and grinned when they made eye contact, but when Harry didn’t respond he stopped smiling.

Harry turned back to Hermione’s crouched figure as she continued to stir in one direction and then another. He didn’t know how long he watched her as she scrunched up her face in concentration but before he knew it she was standing up and announcing that the first part was finished.

“We’ll need to return tomorrow evening for the next stage,” she said.

“That was some brilliant potion making,” Harry said admiringly as they were climbing up the stairs back to the main part of the house.

“Thanks,” Hermione said, her face heating from the compliment.

They made their way back to the study and found Ron sitting lazily in one of the chairs reading a magazine about Quiddich. He glanced at them sheepishly and put it down as Hermione began explaining the main points of the process that Ron would need to know. Harry could tell that Ron earnestly wanted to learn what he needed to know because he kept asking her to explain things. When they discussed the spells Remus would break in and add a point from time to time.

“Ok, ok, I think I get the point,” Ron said quickly as Remus started to launch into another explanation of the finishing spell, “besides, you’re going to be casting the spell so what do I need to know it for.”

“You never know when you might need to do it again yourself someday,” Remus said, “I wish now that I had paid more attention back when James and Sirius were explaining these things. I would be a lot more useful now.”

Ron looked unconvinced, but he shrugged and nodded anyway.

“I don’t know about you all, but I’m beat,” he said. Remus and Hermione nodded, so Harry said he was tired too. Hermione headed downstairs to her room she shared with Ginny while the boys headed to their respective rooms. Harry laid down on his bed after tending to Hedwig, but he didn’t really feel tired, he was still haunted by images of Sirius falling through the veil and Hermione’s lifeless eyes staring up at him. He waited a while until he heard Ron’s heavy breathing before sneaking out of their room and heading for the library.

Harry was beginning to get a true understanding of just how massive the library was. He had went to a random shelf and started looking through various books, but he soon realized that most of the books were rather useless for his purposes. They were all crammed full of spells and theories, but due to the completeness of the library he was having trouble finding the sorts of advanced spells that he needed. Some of the books were dedicated entirely to a single spell or theory that gave him all sorts of nice trivia, but nothing that would help him in a battle with Voldemort.

As he looked down the row he noticed that most of the books were unworn, as if they’d never been used much. Hit with inspiration he began swiftly moving down the shelves searching for books that had been battered with use. Each time he reached such a book he pulled it down and carried it to the main table where he soon amassed a rather intimidating pile. He reluctantly pulled down all the most heavily worn curse books, more to keep them from being thrown out by Tonks than because he wanted to read them. He flipped through them one at a time and realized that most of the magic contained therein was easily beyond N.E.W.T level. He finally found a book entitled “The Premier Practitioner’s Pocketbook for Advanced Spells,” that he decided would be good for him to start with. It seemed to contain a few chapters on all the major types of spells such as charms, transfiguration, hexes, jinxes, curse breaking, and even a tiny potions segment.

He lugged the books back to his room as quietly as possible and stacked them orderly in his trunk before shoving the lot back under his bed. It wouldn’t do to have Tonks or Moody discover his stash of library highlights.

The light spilling through the window told Harry that he had awoken at a more reasonable time than the previous day. He took a quick bath before tossing on his battered muggle clothes and hurrying off down to breakfast. He gave Ron a shake before he left since he knew that his friend would be disappointed if he missed the start of a meal. Hermione and Remus were already sitting at the table with Molly who had finished loading up the table with breakfast. They exchanged greetings as Harry loaded up his plate and sat down.

“How come there haven’t been many people around lately?” he asked.

“Most of the people in the Order have other jobs and activities that they usually do,” Remus explained, “So it would raise suspicions to have them disappearing to some unknown place to do unknown things very often.”

Harry started to say that this was good thinking, but before he could get anything out Ron entered the room and began loading up a plate.

“Where is Ginny anyway?” he asked, “I’ve not seen her much in a few days.”

“Well, we’ve been busy,” Hermione said evasively. Something in her voice must have triggered Ron’s interest because he didn’t let it drop.

“We’re not busy right now, what’s so important to miss breakfast?” he asked.

“I think she was writing something when I left,” Hermione said noncommittally.

Ron looked at her suspiciously, but was apparently satisfied enough to go back to his meal. Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry and mouthed the words “Dean Thomas” to him. Harry grinned, no wonder Hermione hadn’t wanted to say anything. The last time anyone mentioned Dean poor Ron nearly burst a vessel. “Harry, can I look at your books that Dumbledore sent you?” Hermione asked.

“Sure, I’ve already read through them,” Harry replied.

Ron looked at them like they were mental. Harry caught his stare and smiled.

“You’re welcome to borrow them too Ron,” he said

“Mental,” Ron said.

Harry and Hermione excused themselves and went up to Harry’s room to retrieve the books. Harry grabbed his copy of the Practitioner’s Pocketbook and they headed for the study. They had only just started reading when Ron came in complaining about being bored since there was very little cleaning left to do in the house and almost no interesting creatures to dislodge. He soon quieted down when Hermione pestered him to get ahead in his studies for the next term and settled for reading his magazine some more.

“Harry, what are you doing,” Hermione said sharply.

Harry looked up at her quizzical expression before realizing that she was talking about his wand. He had been unconsciously tracing spell patterns in the air as he read his Pocketbook.

“Oh, well, since we can’t do magic I thought it might be a good idea to at least practice the wand movements as I memorize the spells,” he said sheepishly.

“Wow, that’s a brilliant idea Harry,” Hermione said as she whipped her own wand out. Ron raised an eyebrow as he watched the two of them reading and jabbing the air with their wands.

Eventually Ron attempted to study, but he wasn’t able to concentrate for very long. After a while he began to mope from one room to another looking for interesting things to do. Remus came into the study after lunch and discussed spell theory with them as they continued to pour over their books. Harry had managed to memorize several complex spells, but he would have no way of testing his ability to use them until school started.

“It’s about time to check on the potion,” Hermione said as the day started to grow dark.

Harry moved to get up and go with her, but she stopped him.

“There’s no point in you coming Harry,” she said, “it’ll just be more suspicious if Ginny or Tonks come around and there isn’t anything for you to do. I’ll just change the flame and stir it a little.”

Harry nodded, then watched as she cautiously left the room, making sure no one would notice her as she made her way down to the dungeon. Harry closed the door behind her before going over to a window to look outside. Remus got up and joined him. His face looked worn and Harry realized that there would be a full moon soon.

“Are you going to be ok?” Harry asked lamely.

“Yes, I’m just starting to tire from combating my wolfish instincts,” Remus said.

Thoughts of Sirius welled up in Harry’s heart as he stood there with Remus looking out into the moonlit night. He remembered all the good times that he had spent with Sirius, even when they were at a distance exchanging owls. Sirius had always been there for him, even when it was at the risk to his own life. He had helped him during the Triwizard Tournament, given him his Firebolt, and just talked when he needed it.

“I miss him too Harry,” Remus said softly as if he were reading Harry’s mind.

Harry tried to blink back unshed tears before he responded. “I--I, He was so good to me Remus,” Harry said with a voice between a squeak and a sob, “I never even got to tell him just how much he meant to me.”

“Harry,” Remus said kindly, “Sirius knew how much you cared for him, and he cared for you just as much. I remember how happy it made him when you wanted to come live with him. He kept telling me about it for days.”

“Yeah, and now I’ll never get to,” Harry said bitterly.

“Harry, you know that Sirius will always be with you in spirit,” Remus said, trying to change track.

“I suppose so,” Harry said.

Remus looked at the gaunt haunted expression on Harry’s face and knew that there was more bothering him than simple loneliness for his godfather. Remus was shocked that Harry had managed to bury his emotions like this, but now that his façade was crumbling it looked like something was eating him from the inside out.

“Harry, what else is it, what’s bothering you?” he asked gently.

“Its, its that I,” Harry paused, grief and anger filling his voice, as he continued in a whisper, “Remus, its my fault that he’s gone.”

“No, Harry, you can’t believe that,” Remus said forcefully, “Sirius chose to go to the Department of Mysteries. You thought that he was being tortured, there was no way to know that Voldemort could feed you false memories. After all, you had already seen Mr. Weasley get bitten so you had every reason to believe that this dream was real too.”

“No, there wasn’t anyway to know that the dream was a trap,” Harry said, “but being tricked isn’t why it’s my fault.”

“Wh-What do you mean?” Remus asked shakily as he watched Harry’s expression darken. Through the mask of rage that had settled on Harry he could see a dim gleam in his eye that betrayed a raw power that Remus had only seen in one other person: Dumbledore.

“It was my fault because for the last five years I’ve wasted too much time doing things that aren’t important,” Harry spat out angrily, “I’ve spent too many hours playing quiddich, or games, or just sitting around idly. Hermione begged me every year to study harder but I still put things off and when I did do something I’d do it sloppily so I could go have fun doing something pointless.”

“Harry,” Remus began, but Harry was just starting to wind up.

“No, I’ve been a fool,” Harry said, his voice rising, “I’ve known since first year that Voldemort was out there waiting to hurt me and those close to me. If I had of applied myself to learning magic like I should have then maybe I would have been able to save Sirius or maybe I would have developed enough skill in Occlumency so that Voldemort would have never had the opportunity to trick me.”

“Harry, you can’t second guess everything you’ve ever done,” Remus said.

“No, I can’t change it now, but I can change the future. I’ll become the most powerful wizard I can; I won’t slack off anymore. Then at least I can face myself in the mirror every morning knowing that when something awful happens there really was nothing more I could have done.” Harry said with steely resolve.

“Harry, don’t be too hard on yourself,” Remus said.

“I can’t be any harder on myself than it already is,” Harry whispered, “I see them Remus, every night I see them die.”

“Them?” Remus asked hesitantly. Surely Harry wasn’t trying to blame himself for his parents too.

“Sirius and Hermione,” Harry said, “Every night Sirius gets sucked into the horrible veil and then that beast Dolohov burns Hermione down with his foul curse.”

“Harry,” Remus sighed, “I know that Sirius wouldn’t blame you for what happened. Burdens have been thrust upon you that even an adult shouldn’t have to bear. You can’t blame yourself for wanting to enjoy life. I think Hermione would say the same thing. Maybe its time you talked to her about what you’re feeling.”

“I don’t want to put my problems onto someone else,” Harry said. “I have a feeling she would want to be troubled by this Harry. She’s your friend and I can tell she cares for you as deeply as you care for her,” Remus said hopefully.

Harry glanced at him sharply but he didn’t respond.

“All I’m saying is that you can’t let guilt and vengeance come between you and your friends,” Remus added hastily.

“I can’t allow death to come between us either,” Harry said defiantly and Remus had no response. He moved close to Harry and wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

“Besides,” Harry thought grimly, “I don’t have a choice. The prophecy says I’ll have vengeance or die.”

“Harry, I want to say just one more thing. Sirius and your parents suffered many things to keep you safe and as I’ve already told you they would want you to enjoy the time their sacrifice has given you. Realize this though, they would have suffered and struggled against Voldemort even if you had never been born. We all fought Voldemort for years because it was the right thing to do and we all lost friends, but we didn’t let their passing be in vain by allowing sorrow to turn us into living dead.”

Harry looked up at Remus and felt tears finally break free. He tightened his grip on the kindly werewolf and nodded his head before looking away. They stood there for a while longer before Hermione returned from the dungeon. Harry stammered something about being tired and hurried out of the room, unsure of his voice. He was too emotionally drained to face Hermione or anyone else right now. His beaten appearance and the stains on his cheeks startled Hermione, but when she tried to go after him Remus called her back. The last thing Harry saw as he left was Remus motioning Hermione to come join him next to the window.

By the time Harry arrived back at his room he was already feeling guilty for running away from them. Remus’ words echoed in his mind over and over again as he tried to make sense of everything that had been said. He felt strangely guilty for not speaking to Hermione. Remus had said that he should discuss what he was feeling to her, but it had almost felt like Remus was telling him something else that his words didn’t convey.

Harry flopped down onto his bed and furrowed his brow as he tried to unravel what he was feeling. He thought back to the Department of Mysteries, the pain that he had felt at the moment when he comprehended Sirius’ death. Before that though, his nightmares dwelled on Hermione being injured, the sense of pain and loss and…terror? Harry’s stomach gave a weak lurch as he imagined what he would have felt like if Hermione had of died instead of Sirius. Could it have been even worse? A lump rose in Harry’s throat as he thought about the possibility of Hermione dying. She had been his friend for nearly five years now, his best friend, and his most faithful friend. Even when Ron had doubted him after his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Hermione had never questioned his story. All last year Hermione had stood up to his foolish whims, berated him to study Occlumency, helped him get through each day as he suffered under Umbridge’s heel. Harry felt his face burn in shame as he remembered how unhinged he had been. Hermione had been there for him though, even when no one else was. His stomach gave another flop and he realized that if anything happened to Hermione he would be utterly devastated, lost. Harry pretended to be asleep when Ron came in, but he lay awake into the early hours of the morning wrestling with the feelings that washed over him like a sudden summer thunderstorm.

The next few days went by quickly as the trio continued to work on learning new spells and managing the animagus transformation process. Ron was still a bit fickle when it came to studying, but his ability to concentrate was improving. Harry found the time he spent alone with Hermione increasingly alarming and his confused emotions were not up to the task of telling him what to do.

Harry was sleeping worse than ever with his reoccurring nightmares from the Department of Mysteries waking him up and the dull ache in his chest as he tried to sort out his feelings toward Hermione kept him from going to sleep.

It was already bright outside when Harry awoke, still weary from a late night with Remus casting spells on them combined with a prolonged bout of sleeplessness once he finally got to bed. Harry slowly pulled on some clothes and fed a restless Hedwig before heading downstairs to breakfast. He pushed the door open to the kitchen and the room erupted.

“SURPRISE!”

Harry stood stunned as people began to press around him. He looked up and saw a big banner that read “Happy 16th Birthday Harry” flapping magically as it changed colors. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid were standing around the table, along with Arthur, Molly, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley. Moody, Remus, and Tonks were sitting at the table. Ron and Hermione grabbed his arms and drug him in front of a big cake with sixteen candles on it. Harry grinned, his fatigue and internal turmoil evaporating under the warm glow of his closest friends and the people he counted as his family all around him.

“Go on Harry, blow out your candles,” Molly encouraged him.

Harry blew them out with a whoosh, then as everyone clapped Molly cut up the cake and gave Harry a big first slice. Everyone else clustered around to get their own piece as they congratulated Harry.

“Cake for breakfast, well done Harry,” Fred joked as he and his twin George came over.

“We got you a present, sorta, well, actually you got it for yourself mate,” George said. “It’s a basic Ruckus Raising Starter Set from the shop,” Fred explained, seeing Harry’s somewhat puzzled expression.

“Don’t tell him what it is,” George said as he gave his brother a light jab in the side as he handed Harry a big box wrapped in twinkling paper.

The two continued to joke and needle each other as they moved along. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, including Moody, though Molly had to scold him when he started to take out his eye again. Continuing in the Fred and George tradition the partygoers all took turns bringing Harry their gifts, but they managed to keep from giving away the surprise before he had unwrapped them.

Professor Dumbledore’s gift was a large thick warm pair of socks, just like the ones that Harry remembered him describe when he told Harry what he saw when he looked into the Mirror of Erised. Harry hadn’t understood why Dumbledore would desire socks most of all at the time, but he thought he did now. It wasn’t that Dumbledore wanted socks, it was that he wanted a gift that didn’t relate some expectation or responsibility like spell books. Dumbledore wanted a caring gift from a friend who wished him happiness, not an impersonal gift from someone who saw him as a powerful wizard instead of someone with feelings. Harry smiled broadly at the kindly old wizard as he thanked him profusely.

Moody’s thin rectangular package was wrapped in plain brown paper, and nearly as tall as Harry was. He ripped through the package to reveal what appeared to be a mirror.

“That there is a brand new Foe Glass Harry,” Moody said.

“Why doesn’t it have any shadows in it like yours?” Harry asked.

“New version, meant to be stealthy, so if your enemies see it they won’t know what it is.” Moody explained, “It’ll still show forms quick enough for you to take action though. Put it in your room so it’ll focus in on you.”

Harry thought about Moody’s explanation of the Foe Glass’ operation for a moment.

“What if I put it out in the main hall, would it work for the whole Order?” Harry asked.

“I suppose it would,” Moody said thoughtfully, “I hope you’re still planning on being an Auror, Potter.”

“Yes sir, and thanks,” Harry said.

Professor McGonagall came over next and thrust a misshapen package at Harry as she cleared her throat uneasily.

“I made it myself,” she said as he unwrapped a tiny troll sitting on top of a doorknocker. “Er, thanks Professor,” Harry said as the troll stamped its feet and shook its tiny fists at him.

“It’s a Portable Pass Protector,” she explained, “simply affix it to a door and give it a password. It will function like the portrait entrance to the Gryffindor common room and I’ve already set it to only take password commands from you. Of course once you set the password and put it on a door it will open for anyone with the password.”

“Wow, this is perfect, thank you Professor,” Harry said enthusiastically. He could have sworn that he saw McGonagall’s cheeks redden slightly as she moved back to talk to Dumbledore.

“Hey ya Harry, hope you’re havin fun,” Tonks said as she handed him a compact package that Harry was sure contained a book as soon as he felt it.

“I can easily say this is the best birthday I’ve ever had,” Harry said happily.

“Well I hope that help you out, I know you wanted to do something about that scar,” she said.

Harry looked down at the book, its cover looked like a maelstrom of shifting colors. “Standing out Stealthily” he read silently as he opened the book. Each chapter covered a different type of spell or potion to change specific parts of your appearance.

“Thanks Tonks, this will definitely come in handy,” Harry said.

Hagrid was too emotional to do anything more than enveloped Harry in a massive hug. He had brought a huge basket full of Honeduke’s chocolate that Harry was positive he would be unable to eat on his own. He just managed to extract himself from Hagrid’s ever-present moleskin coat when Ron bashfully thrust a long thin box at him.

“It’s not much,” he said blushing. Harry knew Ron didn’t have a lot of money to spend on gifts and that it embarrassed him.

“Ron, this is great,” Harry said as he unwrapped a wand servicing kit.

“Ya think so?” Ron asked.

“Yeah! My wand is getting so grimy; I’ve just been rubbing it on my robes. Thanks Ron.” Harry said. Ron actually got a thoughtful, practical gift. Who knew?

The party was starting to wind down as the morning drew on. Arthur was abruptly needed at the Ministry, Dumbledore and McGonagall had left hurriedly on undisclosed business soon thereafter. Hermione, who had been whispering with Remus, produced a large neatly wrapped package and presented it to Harry.

“It’s from Remus and I,” she said happily as Harry unwrapped it, “It was my idea, but Remus is the one that made most of it happen.”

The book was bound in leather which was carved on the front was a lot of ornate looking curves and magical symbols. He ran his hand over the bumpy surface before flipping open the book to the first page. He immediately recognized a picture of himself and Sirius that had been taken the previous Christmas. Sirius had been so happy then and his photographic self reflected that as it waved at Harry with a big toothy grin.

“This is wonderful,” he said, “Thank you Hermione, Remus.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Remus said.

“Why don’t we go up to the study so you can look at it more comfortably,” Hermione suggested.

Harry nodded and after thanking everyone again for the marvelous party he gathered up the rest of his gifts before following them upstairs. Ron and the twins were laughing riotously as they left the room. The three of them pulled their chairs closely together so that they could all see the album.

The first pictures were all of Sirius, most of them were from his days at Hogwarts.

“It was hard to find anyone who had kept their old school photos of Sirius,” Remus said, “and it was even harder to explain why I wanted them.”

“Why was that?” Harry asked.

“Well, you see, Sirius is still sort of considered a criminal,” Remus said hurriedly, as if by speaking fast it wouldn’t impact as hard.

“What!” Harry exclaimed, “After what happened…”

“I know Harry-“

“How could-,”

“Harry listen-“

“In the Department of Mysteries,”

“Doesn’t matter…”

“BUT THEY ALL SAW VOLDEMORT,” Harry shouted out.

“I know Harry, but it isn’t that simple. First of all, Kingsley and Tonks had to leave before Ministry Aurors showed up or else risk exposing themselves. You can imagine how Fudge would react to their presence at such an event. Moody’s name is mud these days and not just because of his paranoia. I’m, ahem, well, inherently untrustworthy due to my nature.” Remus explained.

Harry just nodded sadly.

“I would have thought that Professor Dumbledore would have explained this to you.” Remus said slowly.

“I’m sure he has been busy,” Harry mumbled, shocked that Sirius was still considered on the wrong side of the law.

“Dumbledore doesn’t always tell Harry everything he ought to,” Hermione broke in angrily. Harry and Remus looked at her in shock, not just for her lack of respect, but because they couldn’t ever remember her saying something negative about Dumbledore before.

“That’s Professor Dumbledore, Hermione, and if I may say so you’ve both changed a lot. Quite nearly role swapping,” Remus said.

“S-Sorry, I just kinda snapped for a second,” Hermione said sheepishly, but Harry didn’t think she sounded sorry at all.

“Why did you think that you only inherited this house?” Remus asked, returning to the larger issue at hand.

“I dunno, I didn’t really think about it I guess,” Harry said.

“The Black fortune is quite extensive, and incidentally most of it is yours, but not until Sirius’ name is cleared. Fudge has appointed a commission to study the matter, you can expect speedy results in the next century probably.” Remus said dryly.

Harry scowled darkly at the injustice of it all.

“Anyway,” Remus said, “back to pleasanter things, here is a picture of Sirius throwing water balloons on some first years.”

“So that’s where Peeves got the idea from,” Harry said as he related the tale from fourth year.

“Ah yes, Peeves, he was always a odd sort, that does sound just like something he’d do,” Remus laughed.

“What’s going on in this picture?” Hermione asked as she pointed to a picture of Sirius and a person that Harry immediately recognized as his father. James Potter was trying to juggle various oddly shaped objects while Sirius jumped in the background. Every now and then James would slip up and several of the things would drop on his head. Remus laughed again.

“That was one of Sirius’ mad schemes to get Lily to notice James. James couldn’t juggle at all; Sirius is using a spell to keep everything in the air. If you look closely you’ll see that everything falls apart when Sirius has to blink and breaks the spell.”

“He spent a lot of time trying to impress Mum didn’t he?” Harry asked.

“Well, it got progressively worse, but there at first Sirius had to egg him on or he’d never have worked up the nerve,” Remus chuckled and then went on, “Of course eventually they started going out and then he didn’t have to try Sirius’ crazy schemes. In retrospect I think Lily was more impressed by his willingness to try and impress her more than by anything he actually did.”

Remus stopped talking as Ron and Ginny came tromping up the stairs. Harry suddenly realized his head was nearly bumping into Hermione’s as they hovered over the album.

“Mum sent us up here,” Ron said, “broke up a perfectly good game of Exploding Snap.”

There was a fleeting flicker of something, annoyance perhaps, Harry couldn’t tell, across Remus’ face.

“I’ll leave you guys alone for a while, I just remembered something I wanted to discuss with Molly,” he said as he stalked out of the room.

“We’re looking at all the pictures Remus and Hermione collected,” Harry said as he motioned for them to draw up chairs.

“Here is the section from school, I got a lot of these from Colin Creevy,” Hermione said as she flipped a page.

Harry remembered all the scenes, starting from second year, and was surprised at how complete Colin’s collection had been.

“I didn’t know Colin was stalking us,” he laughed.

“Yeah, I don’t know where he was when he took that picture,” Hermione said as she pointed to a picture of Harry and herself as they walked around the lake.

“Ya, course as I recall I was pretty bummed out at that particular time, I probably wouldn’t have noticed a lot,” Harry said.

Hermione gave a nervous glance at Ron before looking back at Harry, but apparently he hadn’t noticed anything. They finished looking through the book and Harry again thanked Hermione for the thoughtful gift before excusing himself to go put it up in his room with the rest of his gifts. Harry was trudging back down the hall when he heard pops and nervous chattering coming from below.

“Guys, something is going on,” he said as he peeked through the door to the study.

The four rushed to the top of the steps where they could see what was happening. Order members were rushing into the dining room. Molly bustled up the stairs to shoo them away.

“We’re having a meeting, just stay out of the halls so you don’t wake anything up,” she whispered before tiptoeing back down the stairs.

“I wonder what’s up?” Ron asked.

“Voldemort is probably on the move again,” Harry said darkly, ignoring Ron and Ginny’s shudders.

“I’ve been keeping up with the Daily Prophet and there hasn’t been so much as a word since the articles they had acknowledging his return last term,” Hermione said.

“Fudge must be leaning on the papers to keep things hushed up again,” Harry said.

“Well, they’re probably going to be in there a few hours, we might as well make the most of it,” Hermione said.

Harry got up and followed her back to the study. Ginny and Ron reluctantly followed, grumbling about overworking.

“Comon Ron, just look at it this way, you’ll have more time for Quiddich when next term starts if you’ve done all the reading now,” Harry said.

Ron continued grumbling, but he did take out one of Harry’s schoolbooks and start flipping lazily through it. Harry continued reading and practicing the spells in his pocketbook for what seemed like hours before noticing that Hermione was flipping through Harry’s transfiguration book with disinterest. Harry realized that she must surely have already finished reading it.

“Hermione, the library might have something on Arithmancy or Ancient Runes if you want to go check,” he said tentatively.

“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother, you looked like you were really concentrating,” Hermione said.

“Its no bother,” Harry said as he stood up and opened the door. Hermione jumped up and bounded out of the room after him and right into Molly.

“Where are you two going,” she said coolly.

“We were going to look for a book on ancient runes so that Hermione can study it for school,” Harry said.

“You shouldn’t be fooling about that dangerous library alone,” Molly said sternly, “I’ll have Remus look later. Its time for dinner now anyway.”

Harry and Hermione went down to the dining room while Molly rousted her other two kids out of the study. Everyone had already left from the Order meeting except Remus who was sitting in a chair stewing over a butterbeer.

“What’s happened Remus?” Hermione asked.

“Dark creatures went on a rampage today. Muggles all over England have been dying in gruesome ways, the Ministry is in an uproar trying to keep it all underwraps,” he said glumly.

“Well, we knew it was just a matter of time,” Harry said.

“It gets worse though,” he began, but was cut off.

“Remus,” Molly exclaimed, “Is that really necessary?”

“They can make up their own minds Molly,” he said more crossly than necessary, “It’s all in the Daily Prophet anyway, so its not like we can hide it from them.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked anxiously.

“Here, read this,” Remus said as he slapped a paper down in front of them.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Targets Muggles in Wake of Foiled Ministry Plan

Minister of Magic Fudge reveals today that a rash of Muggle killings were the work of Dark Forces. Minister Fudge also revealed shocking new details of a nearly twelve months long plan to trap He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that was foiled by vigilantes working outside the law at the bequest of none other than Albus Dumbledore. Even more shockingly, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s evasion of justice may also be the result of unwitting actions taken by none other than the Boy-Who-Lived. Minister Fudge refused to give out further details for fear of compromising on going investigations. Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore was unavailable for comment. For more details on Dumbledore’s alleged complacency with Dark Forces turn to page 6. (Story continued on page 12.)

Harry opened and closed his mouth in shock as he stared at Remus. “You’ve…Got…To…Be…Kidding,” he exploded.

“What does Fudge think he’s playing at?” Hermione sputtered hotly.

“He’s quietly been working to shift the blame away from himself by concocting this ridiculous story that his denial of Voldemort’s return was just a ruse to capture him.” Remus said wearily.

“Are people actually buying that load of rubbish?” Hermione asked.

“Not everyone, but there are definitely some who are. It doesn’t help that they’ve been portraying Harry as insane and Dumbledore as a criminal for months now,” Remus said.

“We wouldn’t be having this problem if the Ministry didn’t step on the papers all the time,” Harry said, “What happened to freedom of speech?”

“Huh?” Remus said.

“Honestly Remus, it’s a Muggle concept, you really should read Muggle philosophy once in a while,” Hermione said sharply, “I think Harry makes a very good point. The Ministry is quite anachronistic.”

“That’s the way it’s always been, wizards don’t easily change habits,” Remus said.

“Yes, well, those habits make it easier for Fudge to abuse his position,” Hermione said pointedly.

Remus apparently decided that it wasn’t worth arguing because he quieted down and concentrated on reading a section of the paper. Harry kept staring at the article that he knew would cause everyone a lot of headaches for the foreseeable future. All the happier thoughts from earlier in the day seemed to be swallowed up in the bad news and Harry couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Voldemort chose this particular day to stir up so much grief on purpose.

Everyone should keep in mind as they read that so far everything we see is still from Harry's perspective. You don't see all the reasoning that goes on behind the actions of other characters. Furthermore keep in mind that I'm trying to go for realism and at the same time build a very specific undertone to the government of the wizarding world that is hinted to but never explored in the real books. I hesitate to say more than that for fear of spoiling but please don't be discouraged at seemingly contradictory behavior from some of the characters. Remember that public opinion can change and that governments often seek to shape public opinion with less than honest information. Thanks to everyone who has left feedback.

The attacks by various dark creatures, especially Dementors, continued to plague the muggle world and tax the Ministry’s resources for several days after the initial attack. Strangely though no Death Eaters were involved, at least not that anyone could discern. Harry tried to put the attacks out of his mind and concentrate on his magical studies. Hermione tended to the potion every night, usually alone, unless a spell needed to be cast, in which case Remus would be sure and go along.

Life at Grimmauld Place was even more boring than it had been the previous summer since the cleaning was nearly complete. Ron was especially put out since Harry insisted on studying almost every waking hour. Even Hermione seemed to be a bit concerned with his unusual behavior, though she had a difficult time finding a way to fault him for acting like her. Molly didn’t stay in the house full time anymore, she went back to the Burrow which, was apparently becoming rather run down, but she made sure to drop in and fix meals as often as possible. Remus spent a lot of his time in the library searching for books or other items that might pose a danger to someone. Everyone spent a lot of time in the study reading, even Ginny when she wasn’t back at the Burrow with Molly.

Harry was excited when he arose early one day only about a week since his birthday, a bittersweet week filled with fun and friends, but overshadowed by the knowledge that Voldemort’s hordes were tormenting innocent people. Today they would begin the final stage of the animagus transformation. The last phase of the process took an indeterminate amount of time, it could be that they would assume their animal forms today, or it could take several more days. He sat down at his desk after caring for Hedwig and poked idly at the papers strewn about. As he glanced around his eye settled on the sack of shards from Sirius’ mirror.

“Kreacher,” he called out.

“Master is calling Kreacher?” a little voice asked.

“Yes, I was wondering if you knew where Sirius’ magic mirror is,” Harry said.

“Kreacher has it,” the elf said slowly. Harry realized with a jolt that Kreacher must have taken the mirror to make sure that Harry would be unable to contact Sirius. Rage swelled up, but Harry forced it back down.

“I seem to have broken the other one,” he said briskly, “can you repair it?”

“Oh yes, Kreacher can fix,” the elf said quickly.

“Can you fix it without leaving the house?” Harry asked.

Kreacher’s ears drooped noticeably as the elf responded.

“Yes, Kreacher can be fixing it here,” he replied.

“Good, then fix this mirror without leaving the house and when you’re finished place both mirrors here on my desk,” Harry commanded and dismissed the elf.

It was still a couple of hours before everyone else would be getting up so Harry crept across the hall to the study where he could read his pocketbook in comfort. The section he was on now dealt with conjuring, but Harry didn’t quite grasp all the concepts. Still, he committed the wand movements and incantations to memory. When he got back to Hogwarts he was sure he could find something in the library to explain the basics. Of course, that was only if he couldn’t find such a volume in his own extensive library. He had packed several books on transfiguration and conjuring in his trunk, but hadn’t been able to look at them yet. Harry winced uncomfortably. Thinking of books often led to thinking of Hermione. Thinking of Hermione was beginning to always lead to the same conclusion that Harry was afraid to admit to himself. He cared for Hermione more deeply than a friend should. Harry sighed and walked to the window. He had cared for Hermione as more than a friend for some time now, he just hadn’t been able to admit it to himself. Did she feel the same way about him? Should he tell her his feelings? Would it be more dangerous for her if he had feelings for her. Harry considered that seriously for a moment before deciding that it wouldn’t matter if he had feelings for her or not. She was a muggle born witch and more importantly she was his friend. She couldn’t be in more danger than she was now, regardless of how they felt about each other.

Harry heard the doleful tones of the grandfather clock in the hall striking the new hour as he continued his soul-searching analysis. He didn’t want to hurt his friendship with Hermione, or Ron for that matter. Harry didn’t think that Ron would react poorly to the idea of his two best friends being together, but then again Harry wasn’t sure of his own feelings for very long, so how could he predict how Ron would feel? Harry sighed again, he was doomed either way it seemed, except that if he didn’t tell Hermione he would probably always regret it and he had promised himself that he would stop keeping things from other people. Harry brightened a little. Hermione wouldn’t shun him no matter what, she’d proven that, and Ron wouldn’t either. Harry resolved to talk to Hermione as soon as possible as he began pacing back and forth nervously.

It was still quite early when Hermione walked into the study looking cheerful and rested. Harry silently gave thanks that she was an early riser, he didn’t know how long this would take and he wanted to be able to think this through with no rush.

“Uh, Hermione, could we talk for a bit?” he asked.

“Sure Harry, what’s up?” she replied.

“Well, lets go to the library,” he said suddenly, all his words escaping him.

Hermione allowed him to lead her out of the room. He could see she was looking at him strangely, wondering what was causing his nervous behavior.

“Is something wrong Harry?” she asked, her voice filled with concern.

“No, no, nothing wrong, just wanted to talk someplace private,” he said, then mentally cursed himself as he realized how strange that sounded. Hermione didn’t seem to mind though since she had just nodded and continued to walk. They reached the library and Harry motioned for her to sit down at the long table as he closed the doors.

“Ok Harry, now what is this about?” Hermione asked as he sat down next to her. “I don’t know how to say all this, so I’ll just begin at the beginning,” Harry said.

He took a deep breath and looked into her large brown eyes before continuing. Suddenly he was unsure what to say at all, as all the pain he had been suppressing the entire summer seemed to rush to the fore of his mind. Hermione reached out and gently put her hand on his arm.

“It’s about Sirius, isn’t it?” she asked. Harry tried to shake his head, but he couldn’t move.

“Harry, you can tell me,” she said softly.

“Its not just Sirius,” Harry said in a shaky voice as he willed himself to continue.

“Ever since…that night…I, I didn’t know what to do anymore, Hermione,” Harry said.

“It’s not your fault Harry, you couldn’t have known that it was a trick, your last dream had been real,” Hermione said forcefully.

“I know,” Harry said grimly, “Dumbledore told me as much.”

Hermione’s face darkened into a scowl at the mention of Dumbledore.

“I told him,” she hissed, “I told him to keep you informed, I warned him what could happen.”

“He thought he was doing what was best,” Harry broke in, “but this isn’t about that.”

Hermione looked at him quizzically and Harry stood up, frustrated. Hermione looked on apprehensively as he began pacing in a short line back and forth in front of her.

“Harry, this isn’t like you,” she said hesitantly.

“No, it isn’t,” Harry said with a humorless almost sneering laugh, “I think I nearly went insane during those first few days after Sirius died. I sat in my room without sleeping for days once I finally got back to the Dursleys. So then I started trying to take my mind off of it, off of the nightmares, off of everything. I did everything you’d always told me to do Hermione. I studied for my classes; I practiced Occlumency, lot of good that’ll do now. I promised myself I’d never let someone die because I’d been too irresponsible to do my work.”

Hermione jumped up and stopped his furious pacing by grabbing his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. Now she knew why he had suddenly started studying constantly, forcing himself to be calm when he looked ready to scream with rage or frustration. He was trying to do everything he thought he should have done before.

“You can’t do this to yourself Harry, Sirius didn’t come to save you just so you would stop living,” she said.

“You’ve heard the prophecy, I can’t live until he’s dead,” Harry spat bitterly.

“You can try, or are you just going to take some stupid prophecy’s vague predictions and make them a reality. Actions matter Harry, not words,” Hermione said hotly.

“I’m sorry Hermione, sorry for the way I treated you last year, sorry for not listening to your advice. I…”

“Then listen to my advice now,” Hermione said, cutting him off, “I know you need to study and control your emotions. Goodness knows you gave us all a hard time last year, but you just can’t quit being who you are, you can’t stop living Harry, no matter what some prophecy says.”

“You’re right Hermione, you always are, I don’t know what I’d do without you. The only thing worse than losing Sirius was the thought of losing you.” Harry said. He saw Hermione twitch strangely and felt her grip on his arms tighten ever so slightly.

“It’s ironic, or tragic, or something,” Harry continued in nearly a whisper, “I couldn’t focus on doing the things that might have saved Sirius until he was gone. I told myself that I’d never make that mistake again. So that’s why I wanted to…I know that nothing will ever come between us, you’re my best friend Hermione.”

“Harry, what-“ she started to interrupt but he silenced her.

“I see you die in my nightmares Hermione,” he said, gazing into her quickly moistening eyes, “It’s the most terrible feeling I’ve ever had, to think that I might lose you forever, and that’s why I need to tell you, that, I, I love you Hermione.”

Hermione choked back a sob as she flung her arms tightly around Harry and pressed her face against his chest.

“Harry, oh Harry,” she said, her voice muffled and racked with sobs.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, I just thought you should know how I felt,” Harry said.

“Oh Harry, you’re so dense,” Hermione said as she pressed her lips against his fiercely, “I love you too, I have for so long now.”

They gripped each other tighter in the awkward embrace of two people who had never really kissed or loved before. Harry felt his chest contracting in such an intense wave of emotion that he could barely breathe, or think for that matter. The world disappeared and there was nothing else except Hermione’s tender warmth clinging to him in sheer joy.

“Y-You, do?” he asked, feeling elated, yet not willing to believe such a thing to be possible lest his hopes be dashed.

Hermione’s face was still inches away, her lips slightly puffy and her eyes sparkling brightly. Harry felt her bushy hair tickling him as it shimmered and waved with her every movement. Harry and Hermione disentangled themselves and sat back down in the straight-backed library chairs, her hands now grasping his tightly.

“I’ve been in love with you ever since fourth year,” Hermione said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Since fourth year? What about Krum?” Harry asked incredulously.

“I only went out with him because he asked me to, and I knew you wouldn’t,” she said simply.

Harry suddenly remembered Krum confronting him about his relationship with Hermione. Krum had figured it out, but he’d never given it a second consideration. Lights seemed to go off in Harry’s head as he re-examined the last two years.

“So, all those times you asked me to study with you, or knit, you were, you mean you…”

“Yes, I wanted to be around you so much because I hoped you might start to like me as more than a friend,” Hermione said with a dreamy little sigh.

Harry had never seen Hermione act like this; it was like a whole new side of her had emerged in the space of a couple minutes.
“I’m sorry, I was too busy feeling sorry for myself,” he said.

“You mean too busy staring at Cho,” Hermione joked.

“Yeah, that too,” he said glumly, “I don’t know what I was thinking. Is that why you didn’t just say something?”

“Partially, you know I told you that girls don’t often come right out and lay their feelings bare like that,” she said. “I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same way either and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“I feel like such a prat now,” Harry said, “I’m so lucky I came to my senses before you gave up on me.”

Hermione grinned, “Its more like you’re lucky you came to your senses before I got frustrated enough to hex you.”

Harry put his arm around Hermione’s shoulder and drew her in close to him where she wrapped her arm around his waist. They sat there for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company, and basking in the perfect feeling of best friends in love. Harry hoped that nothing would ever come between them, but the problem of Voldemort started to gnaw in the back of his mind again.

Uncomfortably Harry looked down at Hermione, his heart fearful that their new relationship would put her in even more danger even as his brain told him that she was already a top target of the dark forces.

“We probably shouldn’t advertise that we’re together now,” he said slowly, “Voldemort would be even more anxious to get to you and the papers would never let us rest.”

“No, we shouldn’t, and not just because of Voldemort and the Daily Prophet either. This could cause problems even amongst our friends,” Hermione said as she chewed her lip. “Like for instance Molly may be a bit of a problem.”

“Molly, but why would she be a problem?” Harry asked.

“Ginny told me last year that Molly has this idea in her head that you should go out with Ginny and Ron should go with me,” Hermione said, “but Ginny got over you ages ago.”

“I don't think that Molly would interfere in something like this, no matter what she thinks is suitable. Not to mention that I never liked Ginny that way. What about you and Ron?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t think Ron ever had a thing for me, though with Ron you can never know, but I never liked him that way. Ginny and I decided that it was just Molly’s wishful thinking,” she said.

“We really should tell Ron, he deserves to know,” Harry said.

“Yes, I suppose so, but we can wait a little while,” Hermione said.

“So that means no holding hands and no snogging,” Harry said with a wink. Hermione grinned.

“Well, at least not in public,” she said as she leaned in and gave him another kiss.

“I think I can live with that,” he said.

“Me too,” Hermione said quickly, “This feels so nice, please tell me I’m not dreaming.”

“No dream, but we had better get down to breakfast,” Harry said as he looked at the clock, “This does seem a little strange though. I mean, I’d ask you to go with me to Hogsmeade on weekends, but we already do that, its not like we need to date to get to know each other better.”

“We’ve been dating for five years Harry, we just didn’t know it.” Hermione said as they walked out of the room, arms around each other. They reluctantly let each other go when they got back to the inhabited parts of the house. Harry hadn’t realized just how comfortable it made him feel to be close to Hermione, but now that he knew he hated not being able to be close to her constantly.

Thankfully, Molly had come by to fix breakfast so they didn’t have to suffer through another round of Remus trying to cook, which always ended up as everyone eating toast. Harry had asked them why they didn’t put in some non-magical cooking equipment so that he could help out, but apparently there was too much magic in the house for such things to work properly.

“Harry, grab that juice, lets go eat upstairs,” Hermione said as Harry finished loading his plate with eggs and bacon.

“Sure,” he replied as he grabbed the pitcher and followed her upstairs.

“I felt like eating alone on our first morning together,” Hermione said with a big smile. Harry grinned back at her as they sat down across from each other; a small table between them supported their meal.

“It’s only been fifteen minutes and we’re already acting suspiciously,” he said.

“Really Harry, I just wanted to discuss the potion with you, it’ll be ready tonight,” she said with a smirk.

“I hope I can fly,” Harry said, “that would be the most useful transformation I think.”

“I suppose,” Hermione said with a shudder. She still hated flying.

“If you’re a bird flying will be like second nature,” Harry said, trying to be optimistic, but Hermione still looked unconvinced.

They continued to eat slowly as the rest of the house began waking up. They heard Ron’s plodding footsteps hurry past and Ginny was complaining about something. Hermione had picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet.

“Look at this, the Ministry is conducting raids again,” Hermione said as Harry scooted his chair next to hers so he could see what she was pointing at.

“You mean like the muggle artifact raids that Mr. Weasley was going on during second year?” Harry asked.

“No, these are against wizarding items. Fudge has passed another decree banning all sorts of things like invisibility cloaks or whatever else Fudge has decided could be used by the “Dark Forces.” Hermione said.

“I’d better hide my cloak then, I usually just leave it folded in my trunk,” Harry said darkly.

“It’s not just raids either, Fudge is doing all kinds of things like trying to ban certain magical artifacts and potions. He’s even trying to impose curfews, it says here that Diagon ally is shut down at midnight every night now.” Hermione continued.

“Yeah, look there, people now have to register and license all floo powder trips. You need a bloody passport to legally apparate, floo, or portkey anywhere now,” Harry said furiously.

“None of this is going to stop Death Eaters,” Hermione said exasperatedly, “Does Fudge really expect them to obey the law?”

“I really don’t think that is the point, look at this list of suspects,” Harry said, “I recognize a few of these people, like Mundungus Fletcher, they’re Order members.”

“Do you think Fudge is still running his vendetta against Dumbledore?” Hermione asked.

“Looks that way,” Harry said.

“The Daily Prophet made sure to cast all these new directives and raids in as favorable light as possible,” Hermione said, “Necessary this, safety that, blah blah blah.”

“Ah, something interesting in the paper?” a voice asked from the doorway.

Harry and Hermione jerked apart quickly at the sound of Remus’ voice. Harry felt his face warming as he realized that Hermione’s head had been resting against his shoulder as they flipped through the paper. Remus didn’t wait for them to answer his question before continuing.

“Did I ever tell you two how much you remind me of James and Lily?” he asked as he walked back to the window to look at the morning sky.

Hermione looked at Harry and mouthed the words “he knows.” Harry nodded and took a deep breath.

“Is it that obvious?” he asked.

“Probably not, but then I watched James and Lily for several years,” Remus chuckled.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Hermione said, “It would only create problems if this got out.”

“Don’t I know it,” Remus said, “I read the papers you know. Some people always jump to the wrong conclusions. I’m afraid some of the members of the Order might not take such news with very much joy either. I’ll not breathe a word of it to anyone.”

“Why would Order members be upset?” Harry asked.

“Its not that they are against the idea of you being with someone in the abstract Harry,” Remus said gently, “Its just that they might see such an involvement as a, er, distraction. That is to say, some would feel you should concentrate on training.”

“Hermione is the best thing that ever happened to my motivation to train,” Harry said seriously.

“I’ve been trying to get him to study for years,” Hermione said.

“Hm, yes, I don’t think that was quite the way Harry meant it,” Remus said as Harry blushed, “but the point is well taken. I happen to think it’s wonderful that you two are together, I’ve been expecting it for some time now.”

“Thanks Remus, we appreciate it. We plan on telling Ron and I think Ginny already figured it out, but no one else,” Harry said.
Remus smiled reassuringly, “I know you’ll be able to tell everyone someday without having to worry about it.”

“It doesn’t matter what anyone else knows, all that matters is that we’re together,” Hermione said as she looked at him with soft eyes.

“That’s right,” Harry affirmed quickly as he gave her hand a squeeze.

Remus cleared his throat and changed track, “So is the potion about ready?”

“Yes, it should be finished tonight,” Hermione replied, “We’ll need you to apply the finishing charm and then it will just be a matter of time as we learn to bring out our transformations.”

“It took James several days as I recall, but then both of you are much more powerful than James was, especially you Harry,” Remus said encouragingly.

“I just hope that we all have a form,” Harry said modestly.

The three continued to discuss the finer points of animagus transformations after Remus cleaned up after their breakfast with a wave of his wand. It wasn’t long before Ron finished his breakfast and tramped up the dark stairs to join them. The house stubbornly remained gloomy, but at least the paintings in the hall woke up much less frequently than they had used to.

“Ok, now that everyone is here we need to start getting ready for the potion,” Hermione said crisply.

Ron rolled his eyes, “Its still morning, I thought the potion had to be taken in the evening.”

“There are still several charms to be placed on each of you,” Remus said.

“We shouldn’t be eating anything for the next twelve hours either, food could potentially interfere with the potion,” Hermione said.

Harry made sure he had his pocketbook before following Ron and Hermione out of the room. Remus went down to tell Molly to make sure they went undisturbed for the rest of the day. They made their way down the winding stone stair to the dank hallway that led to the potion chamber.

“We can use one of these empty side rooms to practice our transformations in,” Hermione said as she gestured to a nearby door as she pressed the right square to open the door. The three walked back to the end of the room where the potion was bubbling and letting off a faint vapor. Harry noticed that the smallest flame was under it now and the potion itself had changed from a thick greenish substance to a watery violet.

Remus picked a book off of a nearby table and flipped through a few pages until he found the one he wanted.

“Ok, first of the charms, comon Harry, you first,” he said as he gave his wand a flick. Harry stood in front of him watching carefully as Remus began chanting and waving his wand about. Harry had never seen a spell like this before. Most spells were a simple movement followed by a short incantation, but this was a long series of wand movements accompanied by a spell that sounded like a song. Just as Harry was about to give up he was bathed in a soft violet light that made his skin and muscles become transparent enough so as to reveal his skeletal structure.

“Ok, next,” Remus beckoned to Hermione. She chewed her lip nervously as he began his chanting again.

“Nice bones,” Harry whispered to her slyly as she stepped aside for Ron. Hermione elbowed him softly and stifled a giggle as they watched.

“Right then,” Remus said nothing to do for a while.

“That was bizarre,” Ron said as he rubbed his arms slightly, “made me tingle a bit.”

Remus shrugged unconcernedly, “It affects everyone a little differently.”

“Who wants to check out this spell book I found while we wait?” Harry asked.

“Oooh, it looks advanced,” Hermione said.

“Sure, bring it over here Harry,” Remus said as he conjured up chairs.

Ron let out a little whine, “You’re really putting a strain on my allergic to studying traits Harry.”

“Don’t think of it as studying Ron, you’ll never see spells this cool in Flitwick’s class.” Harry replied. He opened to the section on charms and started reading the different effects out loud. There was an Acceleration Charm that allowed the user to move rapidly from one place to another. It was touted as a poor man’s substitute for apparation since wards or jinxes couldn’t block it, but it was only for short distance use.

“I could never master that one, most wizards can’t either. It requires some powerful magic behind it because the caster has direct themselves even as they cast it. As I recall this charm mixes some aspects of time travel, levitation, and motion charms in order to work.” Remus said.

“We’ll definitely want to learn it then; no one will be expecting it,” Hermione replied.

“There’s no wand movement involved,” Harry noted, “you just point your wand at yourself and concentrate, kinda like apparation.”

Remus turned the page and nearly choked, “Werewolf’s Bane Charm.”

“This charm creates dozens of silver spikes and hurls them in a tight pattern over a wide area,” Harry read.

“I take it you’ve seen this one used before,” Hermione said gently.

“Only once, and thankfully I wasn’t on the receiving end,” Remus said.

“This could be useful against things other than werewolves. Dozens of silver spikes would do lots of damage to a normal person too,” Harry said thoughtfully.

“It would be hard to block or dodge too. The Shield Charm doesn’t cover a big enough area,” Ron said.

Remus flipped forward a few pages in the book, “That’s what the Barrier Charm is for. It creates an invisible wall of crystallized energy in a cylinder around the caster. When overwhelmed it shatters into destructive shards that can be flung back at the caster’s opponents.”

Ron leaned in and pointed at a footnote on the page, “Warning, these spells are only as strong as the caster.”

“Right, that’s the danger with more advanced charms, jinxes, hexes, and even curses. It depends on the magical power of the caster as to how effective each spell will be.” Remus explained.

“Practice matters too,” Hermione said defensively.

“Only to a point Hermione, but I wouldn’t worry if I were you, as easily as you mastered spells during your third year in my defense class your natural abilities are very strong.”

The rest of the day seemed to go by rather quickly as they discussed the interesting and often unheard of spells that was in Harry’s little pocketbook. Remus or Hermione kept track of the time to make sure that they didn’t miss any of the various charms that the needed to have cast on them for the animagus transformation. Each charm got successively less colorful than the previous one until finally the last charm to be applied looked like the lumos spell. Harry also noticed that the potion had simmered down to roughly half its original volume and was now completely clear. Remus dished up three flasks full of the liquid and corked them before ushering them out of the potion room. They walked into a smaller room next to it that was relatively empty so as to give them plenty of space to transform.

“Ok, everyone stand apart and brace yourselves, this may be painful, and don’t worry if you can’t transform tonight, most wizards can’t,” he said as he handed each of them a flask.

Harry uncorked his flask and looked down at the innocent fluid. Ron and Hermione were already drinking theirs so he quickly began drinking too. This isn’t so bad, he thought as he finished it off. No sooner had he done so a sharp spike of pain ripped at his stomach and rippled into the rest of his body. He was vaguely aware that Ron and Hermione were thrashing around on the floor as he dropped heavily to his knees. Harry tried to concentrate like the texts had instructed and felt the pain lessen slightly. He began to systematically work on the pain in each of his limbs, trying to gain control over it and will it to go away. It was a difficult and tedious process, each time he managed to stamp out the burning sensation in one spot it flared up in another. After what seemed hours he had managed to reduce the pain to a dull throbbing sensation.

“Remus,” he tried to say, but nothing came out.

A bright blue light flashed on and Harry felt the pain nearly go away. He opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them, and tried to get up. Instead of getting up he rolled over a few times until he bumped into something soft, bushy, and grey. Suddenly he felt something grasp him firmly around the legs and lift him off the ground. Harry panicked momentarily until he was deposited on top of the desk next to a large owl. Remus’ face loomed largely in front of them.

“Well done you two,” he said, “wait here for a minute while I see to Ron.”

Harry blinked and looked at the owl again. Hermione, he thought, but all that came out was a strangled screech. Realization dawned slowly in Harry’s mind that he was much smaller and lighter than he had been a few moments before. Carefully trying to move he felt a strange sensation like thick toe nails against the hard smooth surface of the table. He lifted an arm to touch his face, but it wouldn’t bend properly. I’m a bird too, he thought with elation.

Hermione’s head was swiveling back and forth as her huge eyes blinked to adjust to their new abilities. She could see Remus struggling with something on the floor, but even more interesting was the sleek broad tailed falcon sitting next to her. Curious markings around its eyes looked faintly like the round wire rimmed glasses that Harry was always wearing. Is that Harry? It must be, she thought.

“Right then, that was spectacular you three, now transform back,” Remus instructed.

Harry concentrated, but nothing happened. Hermione seemed to be having trouble as well and he still couldn’t see Ron since he was afraid he’d topple over if he tried to move to the edge of the table. Remus watched him for a minute before whipping out his wand again and muttering an incantation. Harry felt his limbs morphing back into human form until he found himself sitting on the edge of the table. On the floor was a large wolf with a sinister looking grin on its face.

“Wow Ron, nice form,” Harry marveled at the fearsome looking creature.

Hermione was now sitting next to him, Remus had helped her transform back too. Ron wagged his tail rather dog like as he too was hit with the animagus-revealing spell and turned back into his human shape.

“That’s probably enough for tonight,” Remus said.

Hermione and Ron both looked as tired as Harry felt. “I hope this gets easier soon.”

“It will Harry, now that you know what it is like to make both transfigurations you should be able to practice it on your own,” Remus said.

“We can use this room until we get the hang of it,” Ron said excitedly.

“Now there’s only one thing left to do,” Remus grinned at them, “you each need to choose a nickname for each other.”

“For each other?” Hermione asked apprehensively.

“Marauder’s tradition,” Remus said, his grin widening.

The trio sat back down sleepily and thought for a few minutes about what each other’s name would be.

“I think Ron’s name should be Gleamtooth because his teeth stood out more than any of his other features,” Harry said finally.
“The feature that stood out most on you was your glasses,” Hermione said jokingly, but at Harry’s hurt look added hastily, “or your tail. How about Fantail?”

“Nice, nice, true Marauding names both,” Remus interjected.

Now they just needed one more short, descriptive name for Hermione. After a few failed trials it was Ron who came up with a name she liked, Greywing. Tired, but immensely proud of themselves, the three new Marauders dubbed Fantail, Greywing, and Gleamtooth trudged up the stairs that led out of the dungeons behind their mentor, the last of the original Marauders, Moony.

Hedwig was becoming increasingly restless from her extended grounding at Grimmauld Place. Harry looked at her sympathetically as he ran a rag over his wand. Ron’s gift of a wand servicing kit lay open before him on the cluttered desk. Piles of advanced magical books that Harry was sneaking out of the library were teetering perilously as they waited for Harry to secret them away in his trunk. At first he had concentrated on bringing out all the dark curse books that he knew would be the first to go when Tonks or Moody finally got around to going through his library. Recently though, Harry began combing through the other sections for books that might be in peril and had discovered several interesting books including one dedicated entirely to something he had never seen before, the invisibility charm.

Even the tiny peek that Harry had taken was enough to tell him that the invisibility charm had a huge amount of potential. True invisibility would be even more useful now that the Ministry had banned invisibility cloaks, not to mention that cloaks were cumbersome to carry around. Harry seethed at the thought of the Ministry and its latest round of petty rules. The Order had already been forced to remove the Floo Network connection from Grimmauld Place since none of them would be able to get a passport to use a fireplace hidden from ministry inspection. Hermione had worked herself into a S.P.E.W. like frenzy over what she called the police state of that “tyrant” Fudge.

Dawn was beginning to creep into the room so Harry began stuffing the books into his trunk for safekeeping. When he finished lifting the last stack down into the larger than it appeared trunk he noticed a flat brown package that had been hidden from view. He peeked inside and saw Sirius’ old two way mirror set sparkling back at him in the dim light. Kreacher had come through in a timely fashion after all.

Harry tottered into a standing position without feeling too out of balance. He had mastered his animagus falcon transformation pretty well now, but he still had a tough time remembering which body went with which stances. As long as I don’t start flapping my arms, he thought wryly as he strode to the door. Moody had placed a silencing charm on the painting of old Mrs. Black, but Harry went quietly down the stairs anyway just in case. Noise seemed to be foreign to the large corridors as a general rule, except when Tonks was knocking something over.

“Wotcher Harry,” came a sleepy voice as Harry pushed his way through the dinning room door.

“Hullo Tonks,” Harry replied cheerfully.

Moody was there too, but he only managed to gruff out a short “Potter” before returning to his intense study of some tiny silver object Harry had never seen before. When Moody saw Harry looking at him he gave the object a pull on both ends and it turned into a mist that quickly dispersed.

“Just readin’ my mail,” he said cryptically.

“Speaking of mail, Dumbledore told me to give you these,” Tonks said.

She whipped out four envelopes and tossed them on the table. Harry blanched uncomfortably as he saw the names on each of them. One was for him, one was for Ron, one was for Ginny and the other was for Hermione. That could only mean one thing: O.W.L.s had arrived.

“Er, thanks, I guess I’d better wait for the others then,” Harry said.

Tonks grinned broadly, “I feel your pain Harry, I hated getting scores too.”

Molly was back at the Burrow so there was not much of a breakfast since Moody and Tonks were almost as poor at cooking at Remus. Harry still couldn’t use magic and there was little point in trying to coach either of the adults through a meal so Harry just settled on toast again. Harry sat down and waited for the others to make their way downstairs. He didn’t have to wait long before the others trickled in one at a time. Ginny went ahead and opened her letter since all it contained was her list of books. Harry had wondered if she would make prefect, but she had been adamant that there was no way that she even wanted it. Hermione one the other hand was a mix between giddiness and apprehension at the prospect of her grades. Harry convinced her to wait until Ron came down so she sat and worried her lip nervously, refusing to eat.

Thankfully Tonks decided to distract her by using her metamorphmagus ability or else Harry expected Ron would have been hexed by the time he finally drug himself down the stairs for breakfast. He took one look at the envelopes and Hermione’s face before nearly turning around and walking back out.

“Bloody hell, OWLs already?” he asked.

“Its mid-August Ron, school is going to start in just a few days now,” Hermione said scathingly.

Ron groaned and grabbed his envelope, “I guess we’d best get the suffering over with then. I’m glad Mum isn’t here.”

“She’s going to drop by later today to get your lists,” Tonks said, hoping to torment Ron a little.

Hermione tore into her letter eagerly and read the letter. Harry saw her blush deeply before passing her letter to him. He skipped all the explanations and went right to the scores.

Subject: Written Exam / Practical Exam
Defense Against the Dark Arts: O/O
Potions: O/O
Charms: O/O
Transfiguration: O/O
Care of Magical Creatures: O/O
Herbology: O/O
Arithmacy: O/O
Ancient Runes: O
Astronomy: E*
History of Magic: O

Total O.W.L.s Received: 17

*Incidents during the examination period have been taken into account for this score.

“I can’t say that I’m surprised Hermione, but well done,” Harry said warmly as he passed the letter to Ron. Harry opened his own letter, his sense of dread magnifying.

Subject: Written Exam / Practical Exam
Defense Against the Dark Arts- O\O
Potions- O\O
Charms- E\O
Transfiguration- E\O
Care of Magical Creatures- O\O
Herbology- E\E
Astronomy- A*
History of Magic- A
Divination- P

Total O.W.L.s Received: 14

*Incidents during the examination period have been taken into account for this score.

Harry felt an immense feeling of relief as he passed the letter on to Hermione. He didn’t do nearly as good as she did, but at least he wouldn’t have to try to conceal his grades from her like she had feared he might last year.

Hermione let out a little squeak as she read his scores. “This is great Harry, now you can continue in potions and you did really good in the important classes.”

“I want out of potions,” Ron said, then let out a whoop, “no more Snape.”

“You still need potions Ron, it’s important. You can read my books and homework so that you don’t fall behind even if you can’t go to class,” Hermione said as she snatched his letter.

Subject: Written Exam / Practical Exam
Defense Against the Dark Arts- O\O
Potions- E\A
Charms- E\O
Transfiguration- A\E
Care of Magical Creatures- O\E
Herbology- E\E
Astronomy- A*
History of Magic- P
Divination- A

Total O.W.L.s Received: 14

*Incidents during the examination period have been taken into account for this score.

Harry took Ron’s scores after Hermione finished reading them. “These are still good scores Ron, even if Snape is ridiculously picky.”

“Yeah, I did a lot better than the twins, Mum will be right chuffed,” Ron said happily, than broke off in an even louder whoop than the one he had let out earlier. Harry looked up to see him holding a shiny gold badge. Gryffindor House Quiddich Captain

“Well done Ron, Quiddich Captain, its brilliant,” Harry said with genuine elation for his friend.

“Yes, very well done Ron, Professor McGonagall must have thought you did a good job as Keeper last year,” Hermione said.

Ron was absolutely beside himself, but he still tried to be gracious, which was unusual for Ron. “I hoped I’d get it, but honestly mate, I thought it would probably be you.”

“Nah, I’m seeker, you’re the one who lives and breathes team strategy. You’re the perfect choice,” Harry said.

Ron eagerly polished and brushed his badge much like he had done last year when he got prefect. Hermione blinked suddenly like Harry noticed she was apt to whenever she remembered something important.

“Harry, can I borrow Hedwig, I want to tell my parents about my OWLs,” she said. Harry waved his hand airily, she didn’t need to ask him, she was always spending time away from her parents, usually because of him. Inspiration hit Harry suddenly as Hermione disappeared up the stairs.

“Hermione wait,” he shouted as he leapt out of the dinning room to follow her. He bounded into his room just as she was attaching her letter to Hedwig’s foot.

“What is it Harry?” she asked.

“I’ve got a better idea, take a look at these,” he said as he grabbed the paper package up off of his desk. Hermione opened it and saw the two mirrors inside.

Harry took one of the mirrors out and closed the other one up in the package. “This is a two way mirror. We’ll send one to your parents and you can keep this one. Just tell them to say your name out loud and it should activate them.”

“Harry!” she exclaimed, “This is wonderful, now I can talk to my parents easily all year long. This is the best gift anyone has ever given me.”

Harry felt his face warm as she hugged him briefly, “I’m glad you like it.”

“Where did you ever get such rare magical objects anyway?” she asked as Harry fastened the package with the mirror, along with a note of explanation, to Hedwig.

“They belonged to Sirius,” Harry said quietly, a pang of guilt stabbed his heart as he remembered that had he used the mirrors Sirius might still be alive.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Harry, I didn’t mean…” Hermione said sympathetically.

“Its ok Hermione, I want them to be put to good use,” Harry said.

After they had seen Hedwig off Harry grabbed a quill and some parchment before heading back downstairs so that he could make up a list of the things he wanted Molly to get him in Diagon ally. Harry sat down at the table across from Hermione, who was reading one of his books, and began trying to assemble all the things he needed. In retrospect Harry decided that he should have written things down as they came to him, but it was too late for that now. Ron and Ginny were playing a game of wizards’ chess in the corner; Ginny was faring better against Ron than Harry usually did.

The first few items were easy enough, a set of full body dragon hide clothing for himself, Ron, and Hermione. The twins had given Harry this idea with their dragon hide vests. Dragon hide was very resistant to potions, acids, toxins, and even to minor spells. They’d do well to always have a set on underneath their robes to help protect them from a sucker shot in the back. He also had some potion ingredients that he had seen in various books that he wanted to try, but he couldn’t remember them all. I can probably get the twins to send me stuff during the school year, Harry thought.

The last item was most difficult though, he had several ideas but none of them seemed good enough. He needed a great present for Hermione’s birthday, but he didn’t feel like settling for another book that she wanted. After all, with his library open she had tons of books at her fingertips anytime she wanted them. He knew that she didn’t really care for clothes, jewelry, food, or any other typical “girl” gift. Hermione wasn’t likely to appreciate enchanted nick-knacks either, unlike Ron. Hermione needed an intellectual gift that wasn’t a book. Harry thought back to Dumbledore’s office and all it’s little silver items, many of which had been dark detectors. Those would be useful, but they didn’t seem to make a good birthday gift, more of a paranoid Moody gift. Other than those there had been paintings and not much else except his shelves with the pensieve. Harry grinned to himself; a pensieve would make the perfect gift for Hermione. She was bound to have tons of excess thoughts and with a pensieve she could even review her memories from class in a third person perspective.

After their third game Ginny quit playing chess so Harry went over to keep Ron occupied. After he found out he was going to be captain of the team he could barely keep himself still and with no twins to threaten to attach his badge to his forehead with a sticking charm Harry decided preoccupation was the only other choice. Harry tried to drag each move out and that strategy seemed to work for a while until he got bored.

Harry was barely on autopilot when Molly showed up to get their lists. When Harry gave her his she glanced at it and then looked at him sharply.

“Are you sure you want one of these?” she asked.

“Yes, but don’t tell anyone, it’s a surprise,” Harry whispered.

“Alright,” she said, “I suppose it is very useful at times.”

Molly urged her children to begin packing for school so that they wouldn’t rush and forget things before leaving with the lists. Harry mumbled something about having already started so that he wouldn’t have to hear Ron tease him about the mountain of books sitting in the bottom of his trunk. Ginny didn’t complain, surprisingly, so Harry decided that she must have been so bored that packing seemed a nice diversion. As soon as they were all gone Hermione began fidgeting in her chair.

“What is it?” Harry asked, sensing that something was up.

“Well, I was thinking that maybe we should tell Ron,” Hermione said, then lowered her voice, “you know, about us.”

Harry winced uncomfortably, “You know I’ve been dreading this.”

“It won’t get any easier Harry and with almost everyone gone right now is as good an opportunity as we’re likely to get. If we wait until school starts we’ll have a hard time telling him without a chance of being overheard by someone.”

She had a point, as usual. “Alright then, I can’t argue with that.”

After Hermione quickly glanced around to make sure Tonks wasn’t lurking somewhere nearby they set off to Harry’s room. Ron was emptying drawers of stuff out haphazardly onto his bed before stuffing everything unceremoniously into his trunk. Pig was flapping about excitedly at all the commotion.

“Hey guys, you already got most of your stuff packed?” Ron asked when he noticed them enter.

“Uh, the big things that I don’t use on an everyday basis,” Harry replied. Ron wasn’t paying attention to him, which was good because Hermione kept nudging him expectantly.

“So have you decided what career you’re going to tell McGonagall you want to pursue?” Harry asked.

“Honestly Harry, you are such a coward,” Hermione said peevishly. Ron looked up confused at her strange outburst, but she continued unflinchingly. “Harry and I wanted to talk to you because we’ve recently discovered that we care about each other as more than just best friends and we wanted you to hear it from us first.”

Ron’s jaw dropped just slightly, “Blimey, that’s a bit much to throw at someone all at once.”

“You know that you’re our best friend too and we don’t want you to think that we’re going to start leaving you out of things,” Harry said, finally finding his courage since Ron seemed to be taking it well.

“Well, I can’t say that I never expected this,” Ron said slowly. Now it was Harry and Hermione’s turn to feel their jaws drop slightly. Ron paying attention to people’s feelings?

“So you’re ok with us?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah, we’re fine, just don’t go snogging each other in front of me, it would feel a little weird,” Ron said with a grimace.

“We won’t,” Harry said quickly, “and we don’t want anyone else to know either. It could be inconvenient if the wrong people found out, not to mention dangerous.”

Realization crept across Ron’s face, “The tabloids wouldn’t give you guys a minutes peace, not to mention Hermione would be bumped up to number two on you-know-who’s hit list.”

“I’m probably already tied with you for number two as it is,” Hermione said.

“Yeah, which is why I had Molly pick up a little something extra for us,” Harry said cryptically, then when they started pelting him with questions added, “it’s a surprise.”

“I’m just glad that we’re all still friends,” Hermione said hesitantly, “I was afraid that you might take this badly Ron. It’s been suggested that you might have, er, wanted to date me or something.”

Ron’s shocked reaction told them that nothing could have been further from the truth.

“No offense to either of you, but you’re not my type Hermione. You work too hard and take things far too seriously for my liking most of the time, not to mention you’re bloody scary. Brilliant, but scary. You’re like the little sister I never had.”

“You’ve got a little sister,” Harry pointed out.

“She’s like an out of season Fred and George twin,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Hermione sat down on the foot of the bed next to Harry as Ron went back to packing. Harry got out his trunk and showed Hermione all the books that he was going to take with him. Many of the books were old and rare, but Hermione was still familiar with a good number of them. She had never read them, but she had read of them. Some of them weren’t even in the extensive Hogwarts library she informed him. Ron had just finished sorting his stuff and Harry had slid his trunk back under his bed when Hermione let out a little gasp. She fumbled with her robes for a second before finding the mirror.

“Hedwig must have flown really fast,” Harry said.

Voices were coming from it that Harry recognized as belonging to Hermione’s parents. He had met them briefly several times in the past at King’s Cross or in Diagon ally.

“Hermione?” a soft feminine voice asked.

“I’m here Mum,” Hermione said finally as she got the mirror out.

“Oh sweetie, it’s so good to be able to actually see you,” her mother gushed.

“Yes, wherever did you get such an amazing thing darling?” asked her father’s deeper voice.

“Harry gave it to me, get over here Harry,” Hermione said as she gave his robe a tug. Harry stood next to her and looked down into the shining faces of Hermione’s parents gazing back up at him.

“Thank you Harry, this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for us,” Mrs. Granger said.

Harry blushed, “It’s nothing really, I had no use for them, and Hermione doesn’t get to see either of you very often.”

Harry stayed and chatted with Hermione’s parents for a while, but he felt like he was intruding on her family so he invented an excuse to get away and give her some time alone with them. A little later Hermione came bouncing into the study where Harry had retreated to read his pocketbook, her face aglow with happiness. She bounded over and gave Harry a chaste kiss on the lips.

“Thank you so much again Harry, I can keep in touch with my parents all the time now, you don’t know how much that means to me,” she said breathlessly.

“I’m glad,” Harry said, silently wishing he could talk to his parents, but not saying so out loud for fear of making Hermione feel guilty.

Ron’s head popped through the door, “Remus and Moody are back, but Mum is still out, and I’m starting to get worried.”

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other before following Ron downstairs. Ron was questioning Remus about his mother, but the werewolf seemed less concerned.

“She can’t use the floo network remember? Give her some more time,” Remus said.

Harry and Hermione sat down at the table with Remus, but Ron was too agitated so he continued to pace. When they heard the door finally opened he sprinted out to meet his mother, who was fine, but nearly hidden behind a mound of packages and books. Harry hurried over too; he wanted to get to his packages before Hermione could spot her birthday gift.

“Yours are right there,” Molly said as she pointed to a few big stacked boxes. Harry noted with relief that they were all wrapped in sacks as he grabbed them and headed upstairs. Large though they were, nothing was particularly heavy since most of his purchases were clothing items.

Hermione had carted her schoolbooks off to her room and Ron came in bearing a slightly smaller stack of books for his own classes. Harry watched Ron try to stuff them into his trunk as he waited for Hermione to join them. He sat the three boxes containing the dragon hide clothes on the bed.

“Ok guys, there’s one for each of us,” Harry said as Hermione walked into the room. He grabbed the box with his name and began opening it. Ron and Hermione gingerly opened their own boxes.

Ron goggled and let out an exclamation, “Whoah, you got us dragon hide?!”

Hermione fingered the scales that had been tanned soft and black, “This is very fine material Harry, it must have been expensive.”

“It’s not for fashion though, its to protect us,” Harry said, “We can wear them under our robes.”

“What? You want us to wear them under our robes?” Ron asked indignantly. Ron had never owned a set of clothes so fashionable before and his stance indicated that he considered it one step up from criminal to hide such clothes under his drab robes.

“Yeah, so no one will know you have them on, dragon hide will naturally deflect spells, protect against poison or acid, and this dragon hide has been treated to make it even more resistant.” Harry explained.

“That’s brilliant Harry, this will cause many spells to rebound or simply have no effect,” Hermione said thoughtfully.

“So wear them under your robes at all times, that way any potential enemy won’t realize you’re defended. That way you may escape their first attack without a scratch and be able to fight back.” Harry said.

“I suppose, but its still a bloody shame to hide dragon scales like this,” Ron said.

Night had fallen by the time the trio had put away all their new clothes and books. Molly had stayed to fix dinner, much to everyone’s delight. Harry felt a slight twinge of excitement that he would soon be back at Hogwarts and could finally start practicing the spells he had been studying all summer long. It amazed him how much happier he was compared to when the summer started and he knew that most of it was due to the bright young witch who was busily chattering with Tonks across the table from him. Hermione was the last thing Harry thought about as he went to sleep later that evening, the first real night of sleep that he had gotten since those terrible events at the Department of Mysteries.

The last few days before the beginning of school were hectic at Grimmauld Place. The Order had two big meetings that the trio had to sit out as usual, much to Hermione’s displeasure. Ever since she had been told the prophecy her attitude toward Dumbledore had taken a turn for the worst. If you can’t trust him to tell you something like that, who knows what else he’s hiding, she had said. To top it off, the Ministry was going on about international alliances, which as near as Harry could tell just meant that Fudge was trying to get the Ministries on the continent to supply him with additional aurors. Not surprising was this plea for additional manpower since Fudge was having his own aurors do everything from police duty to espionage. The ministry itself had become a virtual fortress and Fudge himself never took two steps without a ring of the most powerful aurors surrounding him with wands drawn.

With only a couple of hours left before time to leave for King’s Cross Harry was putting the finishing touches on his trunk. On the advice of Moody he had left his invisibility cloak out just in case the Ministry had someone inspecting luggage for banned items. Harry had repeated his instructions to Kreacher to make sure the evil little elf stayed in line while he was gone.

“Are you finished packing yet Harry?” Remus asked from the doorway.

“Yeah, all done, can you give me a hand?” Harry replied.

Remus flicked his wand and muttered the incantation to send Harry’s belongings floating down to the main entrance where Ron, Ginny, and Hermione’s trunks already stood. Several Order members had arrived to escort them all to the station, even more than had accompanied them the previous year.

King’s Cross was much more subdued than Harry had ever seen it before. Several aurors in crimson colored cloaks were on patrol and some of them were randomly searching people.

“Is that legal?” he hissed to Hermione. She scowled and shook her head, but their escort kept them moving along.

Everyone quietly exchanged good-byes with the Order members before stepping up onto the train. Hermione and Ron headed to the prefect car and Ginny disappeared somewhere; Harry supposed she probably went to sit with some of her classmates. He finally found an empty car and settled down in it, wrapping his robes about him tightly and pulling up the cloak of his hood to cover most of his face. He really didn’t feel like being disturbed by anyone so he pretended to sleep. Harry felt the train lurch into motion and a few minutes later the door to his compartment opened up. It was much too soon for Ron and Hermione to be back so Harry chanced a glance out from under his hood. It was a little girl Harry had never seen before, probably a first year he decided. She was peering at him nervously, clearly unsettled by the tall dark figure she was sharing the compartment with as opposed to the cheerfully talking kids that were in the other seats. Harry shifted slightly, his long fingers grabbing a handful of cloak to tighten it around himself even more, and she seemed to flinch uncomfortably.

Harry felt bad that she was so uncomfortable, but he was afraid that if he tried to talk to her she’d get even more frightened. So instead he just sat there, trying not to move, and growing increasingly cramped from staying still. After what seemed like hours the door opened again as Ron and Hermione made it back from the prefects meeting. The little girl let out a squeak and scooted over to the window as Hermione sat down next to her and Ron plopped down by Harry.

“Hello there, what’s your name,” Hermione asked kindly.

“K-Kira,” the little girl replied in a high pitched voice.

“Is this your first time on the train?” she asked.

“Yes, you, you’re Hermione Granger,” Kira said.

“Er, yeah, I guess I am,” Hermione said, somewhat taken aback.

“I’m Ron Weasley,” Ron said pointing to himself before jerking a finger in Harry’s direction, “and that’s Harry Potter.”

Kira’s eyes grew large at hearing Harry’s name and larger still as Harry pulled his hood down.

“So exactly why were you sitting there like that?” Hermione asked.

“I didn’t want people gawking and bothering me,” Harry shrugged.

He had barely finished speaking when the door slid back to reveal Draco Malfoy flanked by his goons Goyl and Crabbe. Malfoy was wearing his usual condescending sneer.

“Well, well, if it isn’t St. Potter, the mudblood, and the Weasel King. I heard Weasel got made captain of your quiddich team. Good lord Potter, are you really that pathetic or are you just trying to throw him a bone?”

“At least we know Ron didn’t buy his way to his positions,” Harry retorted. Ron gave him a mixed look, unsure whether to be annoyed that Harry had unwittingly dug him for being poor or pleased that he had implied Malfoy had no talent.

Malfoy moved on smoothly as if Harry hadn’t even spoke. “I see that befuddled geezer Dumbledore is still admitting trash. Oh I don’t mean you Granger; I was referring to the midget mudblood here. That’s right I saw your muggle parents.”

Ron looked like he might blow steam from his ears, but before he could say anything Harry flowed gracefully out of his seat so that he stood between a now quivering Kira and Malfoy.

“Are you still going on about the so called purity of blood Malfoy? Its ironic that the champion of purebloods isn’t one himself isn’t it? Of course we all know that blood doesn’t matter with your kind, its power.” Harry said vehemently.

Malfoy sputtered for an instant before recovering, “Don’t spout drivel you can’t understand Potter. The day of reckoning is coming for mudbloods and everyone who supports them.”

Harry closed the door as Malfoy stalked off down the corridor toward the Slitherin compartments. He knelt down in front of a sobbing Kira and looked her in the eye.

“Don’t listen to anything he says. Who or what your parents are doesn’t matter, true nobility comes from your own talent and from the choices you make,” he told her.

“What if I’m not good enough though,” she sniffed, “I don’t know anything about being a witch.”

“I didn’t know anything about being a wizard either,” Harry said consolingly, “besides, Hermione here is just like you, both her parents didn’t have any magic and now she’s the most powerful witch at Hogwarts. Accomplishments are what matters and if you look at Hermione’s accomplishments then she has the purest blood of anyone.”

Harry patted her sympathetically and pulled some chocolate out of his cloak that he had been planning to eat later. He broke some off and gave it to her before returning to his seat. Suddenly he was aware that Ron and Hermione were still in the room, both of which were now gaping at him openly. Hermione clutched his hand briefly, her eyes looking especially liquid, but she didn’t say anything. Ron looked like he wanted to say something, but settled for a disbelieving shake of his head.

“So Harry, did you know that Luna’s a prefect now?” Ron asked.

“No I didn’t, did you talk to her any?” he replied.

“Not much, we were busy. She said that her and her dad found those crumple horned snorkack thingies that she’s always going on about,” Ron said.

“Did they get pictures or something?” Hermione asked skeptically.

“No, she said that they didn’t want a bunch of people traipsing around disturbing them and whatnot. Apparently they’re fragile or some such.” Ron replied.

“I’m sure,” Hermione said dryly.

At long last the train arrived and the students began filing off towards the awaiting carriages. Harry shuddered slightly as he saw the ghastly creatures that pulled them. His attention was soon diverted to several first and second years that were sporting some rather unpleasant hexes.

“Someone’s been pulling pranks,” squeaked some random guy Harry had seen at the Hufflepuff table before. Harry doubted it. It was more likely that Malfoy and his Slitherin goons were already making good their promise to punish muggleborns.

“I have a feeling that the Slythern students are going to be worse than ever this year,” Ron said, echoing what Harry was thinking.

The ride up to the castle was uneventful and Harry didn’t tarry outside, he took his belongings up to his room immediately so that he could unpack in private. He didn’t want any of the other students seeing his books.

As a result Harry got finished unpacking first so he had nothing to do while he waited for the others to get ready for the feast. Harry sat down in one of the common room chairs to wait for Hermione and Ron.

“Comon, or we’ll miss the sorting,” Hermione said as she bustled down the stairs to the girl’s dorm.

“What about Ron?” he asked.

“I’m here, lets go,” Ron called from the top of the stairs.

The three hurried down to the main hall that was already starting to get crowded. A timid group of first years were standing in a group waiting for the Sorting. The professors had started to file in and as Harry looked down the row he suddenly stopped in shock. Apparently Hermione had noticed the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at the same time as he did because she kicked him under the table.

“Its Tonks,” she whispered as she leaned towards him.

“I’m surprised Dumbledore was able to appoint her. The Ministry must have wanted an auror on the inside this year,” Harry reasoned.

Ron started shushing them both as the Sorting Hat finally came to life. Its song was short and even direr than the song it sang during the previous year.

In ages past so long ago Our founders had a mighty foe

Brave Gryffindor his cause just Fair Ravenclaw her wisdom abounded Loyal Hufflepuff did what he must Crafty Slitherin his allegiance sound

Division threatened all the land As poison kills the healthy vine Our founders feared their last stand Yet still they stood to hold the line

Though success be slight Though failure great Embrace the light Or seal your fate

A nervous chatter broke out amongst the students and even the teachers seemed a little put off. Professor McGonagall quickly motioned the first student up and the Sorting began. As usual the split was fairly even with the four houses, though Hufflepuff got more than any other house. Kira, the little girl that Harry had met on the train was sorted into Hufflepuff too.

Headmaster Dumbledore clapped his hands and food appeared much to the delight of everyone assembled. As usual Ron out ate nearly everyone else at Gryffindor table and was the last to finish. Harry watched the teachers and noticed to his relief that Hagrid was sporting far fewer injuries now. Snape looked as sour as ever, McGonagall seemed a bit paler, but the others all seemed pretty much the same as usual. Tonks had her hair down fairly long and it was a very light blonde color that Harry presumed was her natural appearance. He could see the resemblance to the Black family and to Draco, who was also related to her.

“There are a few announcements as usual,” Dumbledore said, then paused to let everyone’s attention focus on him before continuing.

“As many of you are well aware, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is in fact a very formidable auror from the Ministry, Nymphadora Tonks. The Forbidden Forest is still strictly forbidden and I would advise everyone to stay away from it more than ever this term. In compliance with Ministry edicts I have prepared an extensive list of items which are banned from use by underage and unlicensed wizards. Special note should be made that all personal brooms are banned from the school, everyone will be using the donated equipment in the storage lockers.”

Loud mutterings arose from the quiddich players at this point.

“Mr. Flich asks me to remind you all that magic is banned in the hallways and the updated list of banned items can be found on the outside of his office. I wish you all a productive and safe year.”

Harry stood up as Ron and Hermione helped gather the first years to escort them to the common room. He went on ahead so as to not get caught up in the crowd and reached the painting only to remember that he didn’t know the password. The painting had been open already when he had gone in earlier. Finally someone showed up who knew the password, bollywacks, and let him in. He sat down on the couch again and waited for the prefects to arrive with their charges.

Ron looked thoroughly irritated when he finally came through the door and Harry was sure he caught a few muttered phrases that sounded like “midgets.” Hermione had her best prim and proper face on as she told the first years things that were useful for them to know. Harry watched with an amused smirk on his face as they finished showing the first years to their dorms and then came back out looking mildly frazzled.

“Tell me again why I was happy to get this job?” Ron asked.

“It’s a very big honor Ron,” Hermione said sharply.

“I was just kidding, calm down,” Ron said wearily.

Harry glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, “You two fancy a trip to the Room of Requirement?”

“Why?” Ron asked suspiciously.

“Well, we can finally do magic again and Dumbledore thinks it would be a good idea for me to try to teach both of you Occlumency,” Harry said.

“Oh, that sounds wonderful Harry, I’ve been interested in it ever since you started getting lessons,” Hermione said.

“I guess we’ve got a couple hours until curfew,” Ron said with resignation in his voice.

The trio slipped out and made their way to the Room of Requirement without incident. Older students were out chattering and relaxing on the only homework free evening that they would have for a while. The Room of Requirement was smaller than when they had D.A. meetings and was furnished with only three chairs around a rectangular table. Harry and Hermione sat down across from each other with Ron observing from the side.

Harry took out his wand and pointed it at Hermione, “Ready?”

Harry had been practicing Legilimency for some time on a theoretical level, but since the skill was so close to Occlumency Harry was certain to be naturally adept at it.

Hermione steeled herself and nodded as Harry waved his wand and said the incantation.

“legilimens!”

Immediately Harry felt his consciousness pulled into Hermione’s, but he did not get the same rush of images that he used to get when Snape performed Legilimency on him. Instead he got a large empty space with himself floating in the middle of it. Harry realized that Hermione was shielding her thoughts from him and so he began trying to dispel the illusion of nothingness. Gradually a few images came to him, a small Hermione on a swing, Hermione taking a test, Hermione reading a book, and then he was repelled.

Harry looked at her, she was panting hard and so was he. “Your mind is…very strong.”

“Your attack was very strong too,” she responded weakly.

“Too strong, you’re not a beginner,” Harry said.

Hermione gave him a small smile. “I’ve been reading theory on Occlumency ever since you started taking lessons.”

Harry shook his head, “When do you find time to do all this stuff,”

“I’m a fast reader,” Hermione shrugged.

“Ok Ron, its your turn,” Harry said. Ron switched places with Hermione. After he indicated he was prepared Harry waved his wand.

“legilimens!”

Ron clearly had never practiced Occlumency ever before. A mass of images immediately came to Harry’s bidding, a tiny Ron crying, Ron with a teddy bear, Ron being teased by the twins, Molly hugging Ron, and a slew of other memories that Harry could have accessed had he chosen to. Instead he broke off the contact to let Ron rest. His chest was heaving raggedly and he looked like someone had just beaten him for about three hours straight.

“Bloody, what the…no more of that,” Ron managed to heave out.

“You can practice, it’ll get better,” Harry assured him.

“No thanks mate, it felt like my brain was getting blended and I don’t need that,” Ron said emphatically.

“Ok, we’ll take it slowly, but still, please try to empty your mind before sleeping and never look anyone in the eyes if you think they might be a legilimens.”

“It might not hurt you to read up on the theory behind Occlumency either,” Hermione suggested, “I know some books in the library.”

“I’ll give it a shot,” Ron said grudgingly.

“Please Ron, this is very important, you need to be able to hide your thoughts and Occlumency is useful for breaking things like confundus charms or even the imperius curse.” Hermione said earnestly.

“Alright, enough Occlumency, I think we’re all worn out with that, so lets practice silent casting with the time we have left,” Harry interjected.

“Silent casting?” Hermione said with a shudder as she remembered Dolohov’s curse.

“Yeah, Dumbledore couldn’t tell me much though, he said it was an art to be discovered not a skill to be taught. The only advice he could give me was to be sure of the effect of the spell I wanted to cast and of the mechanics of casting it.” Harry said.

“So that’s why you’ve been so keen to memorize every spell you can get a hold of,” Ron said.

“Yeah, basically,” Harry said sheepishly. He didn’t mention that focusing on spells was the only thing that kept him from going insane with grief for a time.

Harry made a sharp movement with his wand, “Let’s try to make a shield charm.”

They tried several times, but nothing much happened. Hermione thought she might have seen some silver mist come out of her wand. Harry didn’t suppose he could expect much on his first try so when they finally retired for the night he did so with a slight feeling of satisfaction. He would have plenty more opportunities to practice now that he could do magic whenever he wanted and he planned on coming to the Room of Requirement every night he possibly could. In the mean time they all needed to get their sleep, classes started early the next morning.

The next morning Harry awoke late and noticed to his great annoyance that Ron had beaten him up for the first time in a long time. Harry threw on his robes over his dragon hide and made his way down to the common room where Hermione was reading something.

“Finally up huh?” she asked slyly.

“Yeah, why am I the last one, its not like I’m that much later,” he said.

“Well I got up because I couldn’t wait to start reading this,” Hermione said showing him her book on transfiguration, “and Ron had to go meet with Professor McGonagall about quiddich.”

“Ah, that explains it, I don’t feel so bad now,” Harry said. Ron would go to any lengths for quiddich.

They headed down to breakfast where a smattering of people were already eating. Harry wasn’t too hungry after the feast the previous evening so he settled for some toast and pumpkin juice. They hadn’t been there too long before a nervous looking Ron made his appearance.

“So do you have training schedules yet?” Harry asked as Ron sat down next to him.

“Uh, yeah, it’s all planned out,” Ron gulped, trying to avoid Harry’s eyes.

“So then what’s the problem,” Harry asked with a sigh.

“What? Er, no problem, not really,” Ron wilted as he saw Harry’s look, “well, I’ve got some bad news.”

“And?” Harry prompted.

“Well, it seems that you’re still banned,” Ron said hurriedly.

“WHAT?” Harry almost shouted. Several nearby people looked over at him curiously. Hermione let out a little gasp.

“Professor McGonagall says that Umbridge’s ban is lodged at the Ministry and it hasn’t been rescinded since her position now exists unfilled,” Ron said.

“So that old hag is still tormenting me,” Harry said with exasperation.

“Don’t worry Harry, quiddich is going to be pretty boring with everyone using the old Dust Buster 150 brooms. Those things can barely lift off the ground, its gonna be horrible,” Ron said, trying to sound cheerful. Harry couldn’t see the plus side though, he loved flying and even if he couldn’t use his Firebolt he still liked being in the air.

“McGonagall also told me to tell you that your Firebolt has been transferred to Gringotts,” Ron added as an afterthought. Harry decided that this was probably a good idea, at least he would be able to get to it if he absolutely needed to.

“Comon guys, we’ve got charms and then double potions,” Hermione said as she picked up her book bag.

“Great, no quiddich and double potions, it’s like last year all over again,” Harry said gloomily, then glanced at Ron, “You can look over my potions notes later.”

“At least I don’t have to put up with Snape,” Ron said cheekily.

All the studying over the summer had apparently paid off since Harry’s performance in charms was much better than it had been last year. Only Hermione managed to get any of the new spells correct more quickly than Harry and neither of them even needed to open their books having already finished reading them. Ron did much better than normal too, though even he admitted that he should have studied harder.

After charms the trio parted company, Ron went off to practice quiddich while Harry and Hermione made their way to Snape’s dungeons. The dank musty stone lined room seemed dimmer than ever, if that was possible. Harry looked around and noticed that there were very few people from Gryffindor left. The Slytherin students were all smirking and murmuring, probably thinking up nasty things to do to the small knot of Gryffindors who were huddled near the door. They didn’t have long to wait until Snape came gliding in, his face twisted in its usual sneer.

“I see the Ministry’s test is as abysmally easy as ever, though I’m surprised that so many of you morons managed to get the required grade.” Snape glowered at them as he waved his wand toward the board making instructions appear.

“I sincerely hope that most of you will drop out of this class before you waste too much of my time, but until then I expect you to show enough competence to not blow my equipment up. Now begin.” Snape looked at Harry menacingly as he said this.

The potion in question was an enchanted mist potion that Harry recognized from the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It was designed to impede the movement of anything that tried to go through it by disorienting them and draining their energy. Harry grinned as he remembered the procedures for the manufacture of this potion and how to counteract it without even having to crack a book or look at the board. Harry quickly set to work and a half-hour later was casually stirring the dark golden mixture much to Snape’s chagrin. He knew that the potions master had been watching him closely the entire time, probably to make sure he didn’t get help from Hermione. Hermione was studying him closely though; her own potion was golden too, but a bit too bright looking.

Harry glanced apprehensively at Hermione as they walked back to the common room after potions. “Are you ok?”

Hermione sighed, “Yes, I’m fine, I know I shouldn’t be shocked that you did better in potions than me, but I am, there it is.”

Harry gave a little laugh, “It was a fluke I’m sure.”

“I don’t think so Harry, you’ve always been a powerful wizard, but you never applied yourself like you are now.”

“You’re as powerful as I am,” Harry assured her, then cut her off before she could protest. “You couldn’t master spells as quickly as you do if you weren’t very strong.”

Hermione apparently didn’t want to try to argue with that logic or else couldn’t because they reached the Fat Lady’s painting before she could respond.

“Let’s go to my room while no one is around, I’ve got some books that I kept out of the library,” Harry told her.

They climbed the stairs to Harry’s dorm and went inside. Harry went to his bed and pulled his trunk out from under it. Hermione’s eyes lit up as she peered at the many volumes that Harry had managed to stash away.

“Wow Harry, lets sort these out,” Hermione said as she began making separate piles. Each time Hermione pulled a book out of the bottom of his trunk another popped into view. There were eight books on advanced charms, six on transfiguration, three more that focused entire on conjuring, twelve books on potions or potion ingredients, eleven jinx books, nine hex books, and twenty-two dark curse books.

“I only got the hardest and most well worn books since I figured those would be most useful,” Harry explained.

Harry and Hermione spent the next couple of hours going through the index of each book and writing down the most useful spells so that they could practice them first. Harry’s list included the invisibility charm, the messenger charm, and item cloning transfiguration. He already knew exactly how he was going to use the last one especially. Hermione’s list was made up of the extended space charm, the acceleration charm that Harry had discovered earlier, and the shadow chain curse.

“Comon, lets get to the Room of Requirement and try these out,” Harry said as he shoveled books back into his trunk. He wrote a note for Ron so that he would know where to find them when he finally returned.

Harry and Hermione arrived in the room to find it still only contained a table with chairs, but it was bigger than it had been earlier.

“Ok, which one do we want to do first-“ Hermione broke off as Harry gave her a quick kiss. She giggled and kissed him back harder before stepping back and frowning at him.

“Bad idea Harry,” she said solemnly, “you know we can’t get caught and if we go around snogging its going to be even harder to act normal in public than it already is.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry said, “you’re right, as usual.”

Hermione grinned, “I appreciate the thought though. Now which spell do we want to try first.”

“I want to master the invisibility charm since I don’t have my cloak anymore. How else will we ever manage to go visit Hagrid after hours without being invisible?” Harry said.

“Oh! I hadn’t even thought of that,” Hermione gasped, “Those horrid Ministry edicts.”

Harry and Hermione were soon casting invisibility charms on little pillows that the Room of Requirement provided. As soon as they were proficient at making something easy become invisible they’d move on to something more difficult. Harry was surprised at how rapidly they were progressing. By the time Ron arrived they were good enough at casting the invisibility charm that Harry suspected they’d be able to make themselves invisible with a few more days of practice.

“How was practice?” Harry asked.

“Not good, everyone hates the school brooms, especially Ginny. I don’t know if she’s ever going to catch the snitch on those ratty Dust Busters.”

Harry gave Ron a sympathetic clap on the back. “Let’s try some silent casting to get your mind off it.”

This time instead of the shield charm the trio tried some first year hexes and charms that were much easier to cast. Hermione managed to cast a tiny ball of blue flame, Ron was able to make one of the pillows float, and Harry finally cast a light spell. After seeing the results of silent casting they were able to apply the technique to more complicated spells. Ron was catching on to the principles as quickly as Harry and Hermione, but the power of his spells was noticeably less. Harry didn’t let on like he could tell any difference though for fear of hurting Ron’s feelings. Ron was a good wizard, but Harry was beginning to get the feeling that purebloods didn’t have as much raw potential as mixed blood or muggle born wizards.

Hermione broke his musings with a time check, “We’d better get back to the common room guys, curfew will start before long and its you’re turn to patrol tonight Ron.”

“Oh yeah,” Ron muttered as he gave his wand a final wave.

Ron parted company with them half way back to the commons with a jaunty wave.

“His patrol is with Luna Lovegood,” Hermione said casually.

Harry raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond; he had never known Hermione to care about such trivialities as matchmaking. Harry held open the Fat Lady’s painting as Hermione stepped inside. There were still a good number of people up so they decided to read instead of practice spell casting. Harry went up to his room to retrieve the book on Legilimency, while Hermione found a quite corner for them to study in.

Hermione frowned as soon as he sat down. “Harry, that’s not the right book.”

“Yeah it is, see the title,” Harry pointed.

“There’s something wrong, I’ve read this book twice now and it wasn’t that thick before. Its nearly twice as big now,” Hermione said.

She was right. Harry flipped the book over to reveal a whole new set of writing on the back that he knew positively had not been there before. Itomency: The Seldom Remembered Art

Harry and Hermione eagerly flipped the book open to the first page. Itomency is a rare skill with great potential for the persons who can master it. Itomency is dangerous and potentially lethal to those who are unqualified to master it. Thus if you are reading this text the enchantments that bind this volume have determined that you posses the knowledge, power, and skill necessary to attempt the mastery of Itomency. What is Itomency you are asking? The full practical and theoretical explanations are detailed in this volume, but in short Itomency is the blending of two minds through advanced combination of Occlumency and Legilimency…

“Wow, look at all of this, shared memories, long distance telepathy, plus a several fold increase in magical mental skills between the two people involved,” Hermione said as she scanned the index.

“Most of this is complicated theory, but the practical seems straight forward enough. It says here that high degrees of trust must be had between the wizards involved.” Harry said.

“Let’s wait till everyone goes to sleep and then give it a try,” Hermione said, “the wordless long distance communication alone would make this invaluable in fighting Voldemort.”

They both starting reading the practical advice given in the book, but Harry soon fell behind. Hermione’s reading skills really were everything she’d ever told him they were and more. Ron made it back and stumbled off to bed without saying more than goodnight to them. Harry was leaning back against the wall in the corner by this point since he couldn’t keep up with Hermione’s speed-reading. He decided that this made them look less conspiratorial so they were probably better off anyway. Finally, around midnight the last stragglers made it off to the dorms and Hermione was ready to begin.

“I already got started on the theoretical sections, the actual spell itself is simple. Basically this is just a mutual continual legilimency spell between the two of us that grows and hardens over time. Eventually it will create a link between our minds so strong that other links won’t be able to form.” Hermione explained.

“So I won’t have to be actively using Occlumency to keep Voldemort out of my head anymore, this link will supercede the scar link?” Harry asked excitedly.

“Well, in theory, but its not a sure thing,” Hermione said conservatively.

“Ok then, what do we have to do?” Harry asked.

“It’s really simple, we perform legilimency at the same time,” Hermione said as she took out her wand. Harry took out his wand and sat opposite of her.

“3…2…1…legilimens,” they said together.

The experience was much different than previous legilimency encounters that Harry was used to. There was no sharp assault on his mind and no extraction from Hermione’s mind. Instead there was an odd sensation that made Harry picture flowing water in his mind. It was as if a barrier separating two pools of water was lifted allowing them to intermingle. Then with a gasp it was over.

“That was…different,” Hermione gasped. Harry realized that he was drained as well, itomency was apparently a very energy intensive task.

“The book warned that acute fatigue would happen the first few times until our minds adjusted to it,” Hermione said.

“Let’s try again,” Harry said after they caught their breath. The second and third tries went much like the first, but on the fourth try they broke through much better.

“Hermione, can you hear me?” Harry thought.

“I think so,” Hermione’s voice echoed in his head. Harry immediately felt a huge rush of warm feelings and random thoughts mixing with his own. Hermione must have felt the same thing because when they were too exhausted to continue her eyes were wet.

“Is that how you feel about me,” she asked shakily.

Harry just nodded, too overwhelmed to trust his voice. They continued, again and again until the link was built up enough that it never fully disconnected. Now with great concentration Harry could pass thoughts on to Hermione and vice a versa. The little clock on the mantle rattled and their heads jerked up with horror.

“Its morning, we’ve got class in three hours,” Hermione said.

“I didn’t even realize,” Harry sputtered, “and I don’t know about you, but I’m barely able to stay awake.”

“We’d best clean up,” Hermione said, waving her wand to cast a cleaning spell.

“Nice silent casting,” Harry said admiringly as his clothes straightened up.

“Comon, let’s go to breakfast now so that we won’t meet anyone coming down. No one will notice, or else they’ll just think we got up early,” Hermione said.

Harry hid the book before following Hermione out of the room and down to the great hall. They were fairly ravenous after practicing itomency for so many hours at once and so when Ron eventually came tromping down he found them still eating.

“You two look awful,” Ron said concernedly when he saw them.

“Er, what are you talking about, we’re fine,” Harry replied.

Ron lowered his voice, “I know you didn’t come up to sleep last night and from the looks of things Hermione didn’t either. What do you two think you’re doing?”

Harry recoiled at the tone of Ron’s voice, but before he could reply Hermione broke in. “Honestly Ron, do you think that little of us. We were studying a new branch of legilimency and lost track of the time.”

Ron looked skeptical but somewhat mollified, “Any success?”

“Yes, we can telepathically communicate simple thoughts with each other, but don’t tell anyone.” Hermione told him.

Ron thought this was about the greatest thing ever and immediately demanded demonstrations. He would whisper something in Harry’s ear and then Harry would send it to Hermione who would then repeat it to Ron. Ron’s protective brother attitude melted away as he started coming up with all kinds of great ways for them to use their new skill, though most of his ideas revolved around cheating on tests.

“Ron, need I remind you that you are a prefect?” Hermione sighed.

“Oh…yeah,” he said.

“Besides, it only works between Harry and myself. I don’t think one person can form two Itomantic bonds,” she said.

Ron’s face fell even further at this bit of news and Harry broke in before Ron could feel too left out.

“That’s why we’re all going to learn the messenger charm.”

“Ooh, that’s an excellent idea Harry,” Hermione said.

“I don’t just mean us, I mean the D.A. too. I think its about time we started recalling members,” Harry said.

“Is that really necessary now that we have a real teacher?” Ron asked.

“We can teach them things that they won’t learn in a defense class,” Harry explained, “plus it will serve to build inter-house ties.”

“I can see your thoughts now you know,” Harry suddenly heard Hermione in his brain, “You want an army that isn’t beholden to anyone else for its existence.”

“You do too, you don’t trust Dumbledore anymore,” Harry thought back.

“Hello, person feeling left out here,” Ron had been watching their silent exchange.

“Sorry Ron, Hermione was just dissecting my ulterior motives,” Harry said sheepishly.

“You two are creeping me out, we’d better go to class,” Ron said, not wanting to know what ulterior motives Harry could possibly have at this point.

“Tonks has moved the class to the room Firenze’s used last term,” Hermione said as she looked at her schedule.

“That’s odd,” Harry said as they went into the room that was enchanted to look like the Forbidden Forest.

Tonks was standing up front on a pedestal looking slightly uncomfortable as if she had never addressed an audience before. She hid it well though and by the time she started talking Harry thought she seemed well at home with her subject.

“Alright there, crowd in everyone, looks like we’ve got a good sized class. Welcome to N.E.W.T. level Defense Against the Dark Arts, I’m Professor Tonks. Now I’ve reviewed this class’s past lesson plans and I have to say most were worthless. All in all you lot are fairly far behind, especially in practical spell work, which is why classes are going to be down here this year.”

Tonks had them split up into pairs so she could observe them. One person would use the shield charm while the other cast stunners into it. Harry wasn’t precisely sure what she was hoping to see from this, but after a few minutes she was apparently satisfied because she conjured chairs and desks so they could sit an take notes for the rest of the period.

Harry tried to pay attention at first, but having already studied and even memorized most of the spells Tonks was talking about it became hard to motivate himself. Harry eventually gave up listening and instead practiced on silent conjuring. By the second half of class he could conjure a quill, but it only lasted a few seconds. By the end of class he could make the quill last for nearly five minutes.

“Tonks made the lesson seem pretty enjoyable,” Ron said as they left, “If it’s like that every time this will be a tolerable class.”

“Any class seems good after Umbridge,” Harry replied fervently.

“Comon you two, lets hurry, Hagrid next,” Hermione said happily.

Unfortunately they had Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherin group again. Malfoy and his goons were already there making wise cracks about Hagrid when the trio arrived.

“Ignore them,” Hermione said primly as they walked past. Harry could hear words like “smelly” and “ogre” followed by peels of laughter. Ron admirably contained himself, but Harry suspected that this was only because he didn’t hear much of what they were saying.

“Er, hullo there you lot,” Hagrid said as he stepped out from behind his hut, “Come along back ere’ I got some real iner’estin stuff for yas today.”

The class dutifully followed Hagrid back to a modest sized cage that was setting on a stump.

“Everone stay back now, these are right dangerous they are,” Hagrid said, then asked, “Now can any o’ ya tell me jus what these are?”

Hermione immediately raised her hand, “Those are Boomslang snakes.”

“Right ya are, five point ta Gryffindor,” Hagrid said, “Now, who can tell me what they’re good fer?”

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all raised their hands this time. They knew exactly what Boomslang was used in.

“Boomslang skin is used in Polyjuice potion and their venom is very poisonous,” Hermione said when Hagrid pointed at her again.

“I’d want Polyjuice potion too if I looked like that Mudblood,” Malfoy said.

Ron bristled but Harry held him back before retorting at Draco. “Shove off Malfoy, we all know magic can’t repair your looks.”

Of course Draco did nothing of the sort, he continued to taunt each of them in turn during the remaining of the lesson while Hagrid tried to teach them all about the Boomslang snake, its habits, where it lived, and how to care for it without getting killed.

They endured Draco’s taunts in a far cooler, more collected manner than Harry could remember them ever having done so before. This seemed to infuriate him even more though and by the time they were all walking back to the castle he was seething. Harry watched Draco whisper something to Golye and the next thing he knew people were tripping and falling into each other. First a Slytherin fell down and in the process tripped a nearby Gryffindor. Hermione in turn was tripped and sat down hard. In the confusion Harry heard Dracro chant “densaugeo” and watched as the spell hit Hermione. However, instead of making her teeth grow like it had the last time he had used it on her during the fourth year nothing happened. Hermione’s dragon hide clothes had absorbed the minor curse with ease.

Harry reached down and lifted Hermione up. “Comon, are you alright?”

Draco seethed as he watched the trio walk on unperturbed and uninjured by his assault.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks Harry,” Hermione said.

“Comon Ron, no harm done,” Harry said as he gave his friend’s robes a tug.

“That slimy git,” Ron fumed as they quickly made the ascent toward the castle.

“It’s a good thing you got us those clothes Harry,” Hermione said, “I know I don’t fancy another trip to the medical wing with beaver teeth.”

“I dunno if I would have minded so much,” Ron said, “We’ve got transfiguration now.”

“Comon Ron, it should be easy for us,” Harry said.

Ron looked puzzled so Hermione whispered in his ear, “Silly, did you forget that animagus transformations are a branch of transfiguration. You are one big transfiguration now.”

Ron brightened up considerably after that, even when Professor McGonagall slapped a huge essay onto them after spending the entire first class lecturing them on the dire seriousness of N.E.W.T. level transfiguration.

“You can seriously deform yourself,” Ron mimicked Professor McGonagall’s voice rather well as they emptied into the hall.

“Well you can Ron,” Hermione said, trying not to giggle at him impression.

“Well, I’m off to arithmancy,” Hermione said, giving Harry a little wave as she took a different hall.

“I’d better get to herbology,” Ron sighed as he too went a different direction.

Harry turned too and headed toward the library so he could start his transfiguration homework. The sooner he got it done the sooner he could get to do something more useful. Harry settled in one of the tables back near the restricted section and set to work. Surprisingly few people came and went during this time. Harry supposed this was due to school having just gone back into session and everyone trying to squeeze a little bit more leisure before doing large amounts of research. The result was Harry speeding through his essay without the normal interruptions of housemates or gawking first years distracting him.

“Harry, where are you?” Hermione’s voice echoed through his mind.

“Library, why?” he replied.

“I’m done with arithmancy, do you want me to join you there or in the Room of Requirement?”

“I’m done with my transfiguration essay so unless you need to use the library…”

“It can wait, see you in the room.”

Harry packed up his stuff hurriedly and started walking toward his destination. He met Hermione about half way there.

“How come you’re out so early?” he asked.

“Arithmancy is pure theory remember, so it never doubles,” Hermione explained. Harry should have remembered that.

“Well, lets practice the spells we’re going to teach to the D.A. while we wait for Ron, then we can all work on silent casting together,” Harry suggested.

They never made it that far though. As they turned the corner they ran into a little boy who was sprouting the most grotesque appendages from the oddest places they had ever seen.

“What happened?” Hermione asked as she rushed over to the sobbing child.

“It, was, it…was, THEM,” the little boy shrieked and then refused to say another word.

Anytime that Harry and Hermione are talking telepathically the text will be in italics. I alo use iralics for emphasis at some points so I trust to the reader to distinguish the difference. I have tried to make sure that there is no confusion but as the old saying goes, "nobody's perfect." Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Harry ground his teeth in frustration as Hermione recounted her patrol to him and the two little girls she had sent to the hospital wing. So far no one had been seriously harmed, but the attacks were getting more frequent and more violent. Even the professors were baffled due to the large size of Hogwarts. They were unable to be everywhere and with no student being able to give eyewitness testimony as to who the attackers were there was nothing to be done. Of course everyone had their suspicions, most of which began with Slytherin and ended with Malfoy. Everyone knew Malfoy hated mudbloods and so far no pureblooded student had been attacked. Unfortunately the suspicions went unconfirmed since the testimony of the young boy was too vague and there was no supporting evidence.

The Gryffindor common room looked much differently than it had just a few weeks prior when classes started. Now there was a sign up roster for sixth and seventh year students to volunteer to escort the younger students to and from classes. Three huge cauldrons lined the wall opposite the fireplace and either Harry or Hermione were constantly tending to them. Their esteem in the eyes of their housemates had risen steadily ever since they began organizing the protections for Gryffindor’s youngest members and Gryffindor house suffered the fewest attacks of any other house except Slytherin.

Harry found himself training alone more and more often as Hermione and Ron were called with increasing frequency to do longer patrols. Still, Harry was amazed at how Hermione was managing to keep up with him when they did train together. They usually tied when they dueled and the only spell Harry had mastered that Hermione had not was the invisibility charm. She was close though, she could render invisible almost anything smaller than herself, and she could make herself look all washed out and colorless.

“Comon Ron, its time for us to go patrol,” Hermione said as Harry took over the cauldron stirring for her.

“Right then, lets get to it,” Ron said as he stood up, “Er, Hermione, you don’t mind if I do my rounds with Luna do you?”

“No Ron, I was going to suggest you do that anyway. Harry, I need you to make me invisible. Maybe I can catch an attacker if they can’t see me.”

“Good idea Hermione,” he replied. Harry concentrated and waved his wand, but didn’t say the incantation. Hermione was still standing there.

“Wow, you’re good at that,” Ron said.

“What are you talking about, it didn’t work right,” Harry frowned.

“Mate, I dunno what you’re talking about, she’s invisible,” Ron insisted.

“I am invisible Harry, my reflection doesn’t show up in the mirror,” she said as she pointed at the long mirror hanging in the commons.

“I wonder why I can see you then,” he pondered.

“Maybe its because you cast the charm” Hermione reasoned.

“I dunno, maybe,” Harry said thinking silently that this would need more research.

“My, my, Harry Potter running to consult a book,” Hermione’s teasing voice echoed.

“What can I say, you’re a terrible influence, and I think this link is causing your brain to superimpose itself over mine,” Harry thought back.

“Our personalities have been drifting together more and more haven’t they?” Hermione mused as she walked out the door.

Harry looked at the potions that he was brewing and stuck his wand in one. When he pulled it out the tip was slightly orange which indicated that they were ready. With a wave of his wand the flames extinguished themselves and the glass containers he had conjured to contain the flame disappeared. Another flick and dozens of rows of glass vials had appeared in neat wooden holding racks. One final flick and a strange device resembling a ladle appeared, but this ladle was enchanted to administer a precise amount of potion to each vial without spilling the contents.

Some of the other people in the commons began to take notice now. The bubbling cauldrons had been the talk of the tower for a couple weeks, ever since Harry and Hermione had started their potion making.

“Finally ready huh?” Seamus asked.

“Yeah, but I should probably start another batch now,” Harry replied.

“Will that stuff actually work?”

“Dunno, guess we haven’t tested it. Why don’t you give it a try?” Harry said as he waved his wand and made Seamus sprout whiskers, mouse ears, and a tail.

“Hey!” he said angrily as Harry tossed him a vial.

“Don’t worry, just drink that down and the hex should be neutralized,” Harry assured him.

Seamus did as requested an immediately the mouse features Harry had given him vanished with a slight pop.

“You should be immune to hexing for 24 hours too,” Harry informed him.

“Why don’t we just give everyone a dose once a day then?” he asked.

“Are you kidding? There is no way we could keep everyone supplied at that rate, not to mention the cost,” Harry said.

“The anti-hexing potion is finished love, how much longer on the enchanted robes you’ve been working on?” Harry asked.

“I think they’re done now. Have someone go up to my room and retrieve the box sitting on the foot of my bed. Do you think you can do all those transfigurations by yourself?” Hermione replied.

“I think so, I’ve gotten much better at it. I just conjured up two hundred unbreakable charm reinforced vials for the potion.” Harry assured her.

“Alright, just be careful, I don’t fancy dragging you to the hospital wing in a matchbox and I’ll really be peeved if you make me re-enchant another set of robes.” Hermione said flippantly. The sort of transfiguration Harry was about to attempt was dangerous enough under normal circumstances. The presence of spells added a new layer of volatility.

Harry grinned as he called Ginny over. She readily agreed to go fetch Hermione’s project and scampered up the stairs while Harry finished setting the vials away to prepare to make more anti-hex potion.

Ginny soon returned with the box and sat down to watch Harry work. The box was enchanted to hold more than it should be able to so Harry wasn’t surprised by its small size. Inside was several different sizes of standard issue Hogwarts robes and hats that Hermione had been enchanting to resist minor spells. She said she had been inspired by Harry’s dragon hide idea, though these would be somewhat less effective.

“Alright, here goes,” Harry muttered as he laid the first set of clothes out on the table he had conjured to work on. He concentrated, feeling the flows of magic that were woven into the fabric, magic that tingled of Hermione he realized, and then began conjuring. Suddenly there was a huge stack of clothes underneath the original set.

“Wow, well done Harry,” Ginny said as she gave a little clap.

Harry grinned and took out the next set. By the time he had finished Harry felt like he would never raise his wand again. The next thing he knew Hermione and Ron were standing over him shaking him awake.

“Er, sorry guys, guess I drifted off there,” he said.

“Guess so, were you trying to conjure enough clothing for the entire school?” Hermione asked exasperatedly.

“Well, no, it’s just that I figured everyone would need extra clothes for when some of them are dirty,” Harry explained.

“We’re wizards Harry, we can use magic to clean our clothes,” Hermione reminded him.

“Sorry, I lived as a muggle too long I guess. Besides, we’ve got them now, why worry?” he replied.

“No reason I guess, it’s just that you’ve been pushing yourself too hard,” Hermione said worriedly. She was chewing nervously on her lip like she tended to do when she was unhappy or thinking about something.

“Comon, we’ve all been working hard, but we need to. Besides, I feel fine, don’t worry about it. Lets just get all these clothes sorted so we can hand them out after everyone makes it in for curfew.” Harry said.

“Then we’ve got to get ready for the DA meeting tomorrow,” Ron said.

“I’ve already set the coin and we’ve informed all the old D.A. members, right?” Harry asked.

“Yes, and I’ve invited a few new people who were too young last year,” Hermione said absently as she inspected Harry’s potion racks.

The trio handed out the enchanted robes with little difficulty, especially after Harry demonstrated their effectiveness. Everyone was eager for the extra protection they afforded. Hermione also presented Harry and Ron with some additional projects she had been working on.

“This hat is wonderful Hermione,” Harry said as he inspected the tall black wizard hat. It was enchanted to make its inside much bigger than it should be and it was reshaped to allow it to hold items. Hermione had stocked it with all kinds of magical remedies and some of the other potions they’d been working on. There was plenty of space left over to hold more items as they thought them up. The cloaks matched well with their normal school robes and were equipped with hoods so that if they got into a fight they could protect their heads from minor spells too.

“These do look rather fine,” Ron said as he admired himself in a mirror.

“I’m going to bed early,” Harry announced after a while, “long day tomorrow.”

In reality almost everyone else had already went to sleep, but Harry supposed that anything before midnight was early for him these days.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were standing shoulder to shoulder in a dark hallway in front of a giant snake. The snake bit Ron, Harry cried out, but then Ron turned into a snake a bit him.

Harry stood over Hermione; her hat suddenly expanded and swallowed her whole.

Galleons rained down all around Harry, but then they caught on fire. Burning coins lay everywhere.

“Harry, is that you?” a voice pieced the gloom of Harry’s dream.

“Hermione?” he asked back.

“Am I dreaming you?” Hermione asked as she appeared before him. They were now in the common room again.

“No, I think I’m dreaming you,” Harry replied.

“We’re sharing a dream!” Hermione said suddenly, “this must be a side effect of the itomanic bond.”

They sat down on the sofa, Hermione’s head resting on Harry’s shoulder.

“This is a nice side effect,” Harry murmured.

“What are you two grinning about?” Ron asked grouchily at breakfast the next morning.

“Nothing,” Harry said too quickly as Hermione tried to suppress a giggle.

“Nutters,” Ron mumbled as he resumed eating.

Classes seemed to drag on all day and Harry gave up trying to concentrate after Care of Magical Creatures. Transfiguration wasn’t very hard these days since Harry had mastered conjuring. It made him wonder why conjuring wasn’t taught ahead of sixth year transfiguration since being able to create something out of more or less nothing made turning one thing into another infinitely easier. Hermione and Ron were off for their final classes of the day so Harry decided to head to the Room of Requirement to get ready for the D.A. meeting. Hermione should be getting out of her arithmancy class any minute now anyway Harry thought as he glanced at his watch.

A faint cry from one of the intersecting hallways caught Harry’s attention. It sounded like someone calling for help. Harry flipped up the hood on his cloak as he drew his wand and pointed it at himself. He accelerated magically and in an instant had traveled the entire length of the hallway. Cautiously Harry rounded the corner and was confronted by three Slytherin first years tossing a wand around and taunting a crying Hufflepuff first year.

One of the Slytherin children saw Harry and staggered back in fear of the tall dark cloaked figure he cast. Harry flicked his wand and the little Hufflepuff’s wand flew to his grasp. The other two Slytherin now wheeled around in horror.

“What is the meaning of this?” Harry asked menacingly.

“They called me mudblood and took my wand,” the little Hufflepuff cried as Harry motioned him over.

Harry reached into his cloak and pulled out some chocolate. It might not be a dementor attack, but chocolate always made him feel better. “Eat this,” he instructed as he broke some off.

“You three are in trouble. You know better than to take someone’s wand,” Harry scolded.

“You’re not a prefect,” one of them sneered.

“You’re right, I’m not. I guess I’ll just have to get one,” Harry replied as he pushed his hood back. He pointed his wand down the hallway and sent a silvery dart out of it.

“Hermione, I need you to come here and discipline some Slytherins. I sent a wand message so no one will wonder how I got you to come,” Harry thought.

“Yes, I got it, I’m on my way,” came her reply.

Suddenly the three Slytherin decided that it would be preferable to run rather than wait for a prefect to arrive and punish them.

“Oh no you don’t,” Harry said as he pointed his wand at them. Thick semi-transparent chains burst out and wrapped themselves around the fleeing kids. Harry flicked his wand again and the three were jerked back into a heap at his feet.

“Harry!” Hermione shouted as she rounded the corner, “Was it really necessary to put them in a shadow chain?”

“Er, I suppose not, but they deserved it,” he said as the Slytherins twitched and shivered. Shadow chains make their victim cold and drain their energy.

As Hermione waved her wand the chains turned to dust. She then addressed them sternly. “I hope you three have learned your lesson about bullying other students. Twenty points from Slytherin and if I ever catch the three of you doing something like this again it’ll be fifty.”

One of them mumbled something that sounded like “wait until Draco hears,” but they were eager to escape before a glowering Harry could put another curse on them. After they were assured that the little Hufflepuff was fine they headed for the Room of Requirement. A few members had already arrived.

Harry thought the D.A. meeting was quite successful. After doing a slight review they practiced all sorts of spells that the trio had learned out of the advanced books from Harry’s library. Everyone caught onto messenger charms fairly easily, but they were still going to need a lot of work on most of the others. Harry let Ron do most of the talking and teaching for a change. He was definitely qualified to do so now after having spent a good part of his summer studying. Ron seemed to relish the admiration he got from the other students at being more knowledgeable and helping them master each spell’s technique.

“They’re getting pretty good,” Harry thought to Hermione as they were walking back to Gryffindor tower for the night. Ron was prattling on about the D.A. meeting and what they should do next time.

“Yes, they can cast the spells, but their magical force is weak. Complex spells, but low quality,” Hermione’s voice echoed back. Harry considered this for a moment and realized that it was true. There was more to magic than simply casting the spell properly. Harry remembered the force of the spell that Dumbledore had used against Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic and realized that he had probably used a simple spell, but powered it up.

“We should discuss this when we have more time later,” Harry said.

Before long they stepped into the tower to find themselves face to face with a crowd of smiling cheering Gryffindors. The anti-hex potion had been a great success. No Gryffindor had been forced to go to the hospital wing all day thanks to the cure and limited immunity effects of the potion. Ron seemed very at home with the praise and stayed down celebrating with the rest of the tower long after Harry and Hermione begged off to go to sleep.

Harry sat down next to Hermione on the lush grass overlooking the lake next to Hogwarts and wrapped his arms around her thin frame. She sighed and returned his embrace, hugging him tightly.

“Were we supposed to be discussing something?” she asked dreamily.

“Something about spell strengths, but it doesn’t seem so important anymore,” Harry replied.

“I’m so glad we can dream together. I think I’d fall apart from wanting to be close to you without this,” Hermione whispered.

“I feel the same way,” Harry replied.

“I know,” said Hermione. They could read each other’s emotions and thoughts perfectly now. Harry was even beginning to exchange some of his memories with Hermione, something that the book didn’t mention. They sat in silence for a while just listening to the rhythm of each other’s breathing.

“I wonder if there is a way to measure one’s magically potential?” Hermione asked finally, breaking the silence.

“I doubt it or else I suspect that young wizards would be tested. Remember that story Neville told one time about the uncle that tossed him out of a window to see if he had magic?” Harry replied.

“Good point, but its still obvious that some wizards are stronger than others,” Hermione said.

“Here, let me try to pass my memory of Dumbledore’s dual with Voldemort to you,” Harry said. He concentrated on those events and tried to will them across their link. Suddenly they were standing in front of the Fountain of Magical Brethren. Harry could see himself pinned behind one of the statues as Dumbledore shot an immensely powerful spell towards the Dark Lord.

“So that’s what it felt like,” Hermione said after the scene was over.

“You could really see the power dancing in his eyes,” Harry said, marveling over a detail that he had missed when he lived through that experience the first time.

“It’s a bit like the way your eyes look when we practice dual,” Harry continued.

“I was about to say the same thing about you,” Hermione replied.

“Lets dual and see if we notice anything different now that we know what to look for,” Harry said as he produced a wand from thin air.

“Do you think it will work in our dreams?” Hermione asked as she produced her own wand.

“Only one way to find out,” Harry said as he conjured a large shining silver shield. It was triangular with rounded edges and it had a picture of a rearing stag on its front. Hermione conjured a shield identical to his, but with a large otter on it. Harry looked at Hermione’s eyes and inspected them closely for the telltale sign of magic. They had a slight glint to them, but nothing like Dumbledore’s had in the memory.

“We’re not using our full power,” Hermione said. She fired a stunner that Harry deflected heavily off his shield. Her eyes were glowing brighter now, she had really put a lot of force into the spell.

“You are now,” he replied as he cast a bright silver crescent toward her.

“You too,” she grinned mischievously. They traded a few more blows before stopping and discussing what they’d learned.

“So basically we can gauge the power of an opponent with some certainty by observing the magic dancing in their eyes,” Hermione said.

“I’m not sure its that simple. It only seems to happen when we cast fully charged spells. Someone could be a powerful threat but just be casting complex spells that don’t require a lot of power to do their job.” Harry reasoned.

“I suppose, but then we’d recognize those types of spells and realize the danger anyway,” Hermione rebutted.

Harry grinned, “Remind me to never question you.”

Hermione walked over and embraced him again, “Please do, it keeps me on my toes”

Harry sighed contentedly as they set off to walk around the lake in peace for the rest of their dream.

Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand down the wide corridors of Hogwarts mind talking excitedly about the first Hogsmeade weekend. When Hermione had mastered the invisibility charm they discovered that she could see through invisibility too. Hermione believed that the ability to cast the charm probably gives an individual an innate understanding of the magic involved. Thus a caster can not actually see the person who is invisible, but instead they can see the magic that shrouds them. Regardless of why they could see through the charm the ability had quickly allowed them to spend a lot more time together without raising suspicions about their relationship.

“Maybe you should patrol invisibly too,” Harry suggested, “The Slytherin are managing to evade all the prefects and the teachers somehow.”

“This castle is just too big with too many people interacting all the time. Even the Marauder’s map is useless. There’s just no way to keep track of everyone.” Hermione replied.

“Even so, they’ve been far too successful. Some of those hexes have been too strong for even the potion to counteract. Malfoy must be getting help from daddy’s friends,” Harry said, frustration edging into him.

“Yes, this has all been much more cleverly done than I’d have ever given Draco credit for,” Hermione replied.

“Comon, I don’t see anyone in the halls now,” Harry informed her as he consulted the map.

“The Marauder’s would be peeved if they knew you were using their map to help a prefect,” Hermione said with a wink.

“Or they might think that I’m performing the ultimate mischief by using it for an unintended purpose,” Harry said wirily.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Hermione said as she stepped into the tower. Harry followed her quickly so as to not reveal that he had been with her the entire time. He was still invisible as he kissed her goodnight before they parted and walked up the stairs to their respective dorms.

Harry awoke to an enthusiastic Ron nudging him excitedly. Ron was already dressed and from the looks of things almost everyone else in the dorm was already gone. Harry glanced up at his calendar and noticed that there were just one empty space left before a big circle.

“Oi, what’s the big idea, its Saturday,” Harry muttered sleepily.

“It’s already late Harry, time for breakfast and then on to Hogsmeade,” Ron said.

“Alright, alright, are you ready for you know when?” Harry asked as he began pulling on clothes.

“Uh, well you see, the thing about that is, I planned on doing it today,” Ron stammered.

“You’re such a slacker,” Harry said in a mock scolding voice.

“Hey, this is the first time we’ve done this. Its all your idea anyway, you just want to impress her,” Ron said defensively.

Harry shot him a warning look. “Actually, I already got her a present and I didn’t want it to look weird with me being the only one getting her anything.”

“Whatever, same difference,” Ron said with exasperation, “So can we go eat now?”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” Harry said as he threw his cloak over his robes. Ron shook his head at Harry wearing so much garb, even his wizard hat, on a day off, but Harry didn’t want to be without the protection his outfit afforded him.

When they finally made it down to breakfast they joined Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna who had all congregated together at one section of the table. They seemed to already be finished eating so Harry didn’t get much on his plate. He wanted to save plenty of room for candy when he made it to Honeydukes anyway.

“Good morning Ronald,” Luna said in her usual dreamy voice.

“Hullo Luna,” he replied brightly as he sat down between her and Hermione.

Harry had sat down next to Neville, across the table from Hermione and flashed her a quick smile. She too was wearing her complete wizard garb. They had agreed back when Harry got the dragon hide clothes that they would wear all the protective gear that they could for safety’s sake. Everyone else, even Ron, was in more casual clothing, but no one seemed to take notice of either Harry or Hermione’s more cumbersome wear.

The trip to Hogsmeade was uneventful and the little village itself was quiet, even if it was bustling with Hogwarts students. Most people, especially the younger students, all seemed to be crowding Zonko’s or the Three Broomsticks. Harry and Hermione didn’t have anything that they wanted to do specifically so they mainly followed the others around. Ron of course wanted to go to Zonko’s and Honeydukes right away. Harry made sure to stock up on candies at Honeydukes and was immensely glad of the storage capacity of his wizard hat by the time they left. Ginny seemed to relish the time spent at Ron’s favorite locations too.

Neville and Luna on the other hand insisted on going to Dervish and Banges to browse through their huge variety of objects that ranged from the eccentric to the useful to the downright strange. Hermione had a fun time telling Harry what she had read about all the various items that she recognized. Harry thought he vaguely remembered some of the small silver items from Dumbledore’s office, but he didn’t mention it.

“Why don’t you take Hermione and get us some tables at the Three Broomsticks.” Ron suggested to Harry after he managed to drag him away from Hermione.

“You mean so she won’t notice you shopping for her gift?” Harry asked with a smirk.

“Yes, yes, har, har, funny man, now shoo,” Ron said with mock indignation.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Harry replied.

Harry grabbed Hermione’s elbow and began steering her toward the door. “The guys want us to go save a table while they’re finishing up here.”

“Alright, that’s probably a good idea, the Three Broomsticks gets busy during this time of the day,” Hermione responded.

The young couple made their way slowly down the crowded street that the Three Broomsticks was located on. The well kept building that housed the Three Broomsticks was predictably bustling as they walked inside. There were many Hogwarts students there, but also several adults. Harry noticed apprehensively that several of the older people there seemed to be eyeing him and Hermione even more than he was used to.

“I wonder what their problem is?” Hermione asked in a low voice as she apparently noticed the same thing that Harry had.

“I dunno,” Harry muttered back.

“Look, at that table over there, that witch just pointed out something in her Daily Prophet to her friend there before they both started looking at us,” Hermione said. Harry took a moment to admire her keen perception as they sat down at one of the few empty tables available.

Hermione fidgeted for a moment before jumping back up. “I’m going to go buy a copy of that bloody paper and see what the fuss is.”

“I thought you already got the paper?” Harry asked.

“No, I stopped my subscription over the summer, I didn’t want my parents seeing it, and plus, their coverage had gotten better hadn’t it?” she said. Harry watched as Hermione marched up to the main counter and gestured toward the rack of papers. The waiter seemed to hesitate, but then when he saw Hermione’s expression he grabbed a paper and handed it to her.

Harry scooted up close to Hermione as she spread the paper out on the table. There were all kinds of pronouncements from the ministry, the usual fluff, and buried in the middle of the paper was a Hogwarts column.

Parent’s Concerned as Attacks Mount on Dumbledore’s Watch

Aging Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore has recently acknowledged that there have been an increasing number of altercations at the prestigious school. While Dumbledore characterizes these incidents as pranks gone too far this reporter has learned that conditions at the school are growing increasingly dire. Unsurprisingly these shocking attacks on students revolve around the infamous Harry Potter who has been suspected of engaging in deadly pranks in the past. Three eyewitnesses claim that Mr. Potter cursed them with a very dangerous form of the incarceration curse that produces dementor like side effects on the victims.

“I told you that you shouldn’t have cursed them,” Hermione whispered tersely.

Dumbledore refused to comment on allegations that Mr. Potter may be a danger to those around him or to elaborate on the behavior one of his prefects who apparently took part in Mr. Potter’s alleged attack. (For details on Mr. Potter’s extensive list of altercations with authority see page 19) One Hermione Granger, (for details on Miss Granger’s activities at school see page 21), a long time friend of Mr. Potter, was alleged by aforementioned witnesses to have been complacent or possibly to have taken part in the assault. The Headmaster assured this reporter that an investigation would be launched and the proper punishments would be administered…

Harry looked over at Hermione as she emitted a half-strangled gasp before hissing, “What does Dumbledore think he’s playing at?”

“I don’t know, what was he supposed to say, he had to reassure the public,” Harry replied reasonably.

“He made you look guilty is what he did. The public won’t be reassured of anything except that you’re nutters,” Hermione seethed.

“There must be more to the story than we know,” Harry said as he tried to placate her.

“Then we should be hearing it from him not reading it second hand in the bloody Daily Prophet! I can’t believe you’re still standing up for him, after what he did to you the last time he kept secrets pointlessly,” Hermione said coldly. Harry could feel malice seeping in through their link and tried to pour some soothing emotions back to her.

“You shouldn’t influence my emotions Harry,” Hermione snapped at him, then softened, “but thanks, I feel better.”

“Here, let me go get us some butter beers,” Harry said.

Harry avoided the eyes of the waiter as he got their drinks and headed back to the table. They were sipping their drinks and reading the exaggerated details about their personal lives that the paper detailed when the others finally arrived.

“What’s going on guys?” Ron asked when he saw them huddled over the paper.

“Oh, you know, I’m an insane monster and Hermione is a bad prefect, the usual,” Harry replied casually.

“Its all in the sodding Daily Prophet, here, take a read,” Hermione said as she pushed the paper at them with disgust.

Ron looked a little shocked at Hermione’s language, but he was even more shocked as he started reading the articles.

“Daddy says the Prophet only cares about selling papers,” Luna said distantly.

“Maybe you should give another interview to the Quibbler Harry,” Hermione suggested suddenly.

“Oh yes, Daddy would love another interview after the first one. He’s your biggest fan now Harry,” Luna said softly.

“We should talk to Dumbledore first. This might be part of some plan and we wouldn’t want to do anything counter productive,” Harry said.

“Alright Harry, but I think you’re being far too easy on Dumbledore. If he pulls another stunt like last time I won’t forgive him,” Hermione said, rage edging into her voice again. Luna didn’t react, but Ginny and Neville looked fairly shocked at Hermione’s tone towards Dumbledore of all people. Harry shot them a glance that said “don’t ask” before returning his attention to Hermione.

“You know he meant well, it’ll be ok Hermione, we’ll make sure we know everything we need to,” Harry reassured her.

Hermione nodded slowly and took a deep breath. “Alright guys, lets forget about this and just have fun till we have to go back.”

“Ah, that’s the spirit, Hogsmeade only comes once a month,” Ron said delightedly.

Harry groaned with fatigue as they climbed the stairs to the main entrance at Hogwarts. The teens had laughed, talked, and drunk far too much butter beer after they shook off the bad experience of the news article. Luna had been by far the most entertaining with her long winding story of Snorkack hunting with all the camping and hiking that went along with it. Neville had just blushed furiously and insisted that he didn’t do anything interesting, but Ginny got him to tell about the vacation to the Amazon that he took with his gran. He had seen all kinds of rare magical plants, which Harry decided was more interesting to hear about than he would have guessed. Ron was still going on about the Chudley Cannons as they began winding down a less used hallway that led to Gryffindor tower.

As they rounded a corner they caught sight of a group of third years up ahead. As soon as they caught sight of them they began moving on down the hall. The blonde girl leading the pack hadn’t taken more than a half dozen steps when the floor erupted in a bright flash. The force of the explosion hurled her into the hallway wall with a dull thud. The others whirled around panic stricken as they looked for the source of the attack. Realization dawned on Harry suddenly as he looked at the floor. It was covered in thin strips of paper.

“No one move, the floor is jinxed,” Harry yelled.

Harry and Hermione whipped out their wands as they sprinted down the hall. Harry’s wand blossomed in pink light as he panned it back and forth over the hallway. He saw several blue patches scattered around and knew that the hall had been turned into a virtual minefield of explosive jinxes.

“How is she?” Harry asked as Hermione levitated the girl onto a stretcher she had conjured.

“Not good, I’m taking her to Madam Pomfrey,” Hermione said. Ron and the others walked up cautiously as Hermione grabbed the stretcher. She pointed her wand at herself and suddenly accelerated out of sight.

“What was that?” Ron asked bewildered at Hermione’s disappearance. Harry was dimly aware that they hadn’t tried to teach him that one yet.

“Later, go get a professor and have them join me here, I’m going to start sweeping these jinxes before someone gets killed,” Harry said. Ron didn’t fool around, he quickly set off in the opposite direction using well traveled halls that should be safe. Harry set to breaking the jinxes, most of which were as simple as they were dangerous.

He hadn’t been at it for very long when Ron came rushing up followed closely by Professor McGonagall. McGonagall’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw the pink light coming form Harry’s wand as he was unraveling a jinx.

“I see you already know what you’re doing Mr. Potter. That’s NEWT level you know,” she said as she muttered an incantation that brought a similar pink light from the tip of her wand.

“Er, yeah, came across this spell when I was reading for something,” Harry said vaguely as he returned his attention to his work. Between the two of them the hall was swept for jinxes in short order. A small silver bird flew around the corner just as they finished and settled in Professor McGonagall’s hand.

“It seems that Headmaster Dumbledore has had the rest of the castle inspected already. That was good work Mr. Potter, I believe fifty points to Gryffindor are in order,” Professor McGonagall said with a rare smile.

“Thank you Professor. I should be going now to see how the injured student is doing,” Harry said, mentally adding that he needed to talk to Hermione.

“I’m sure Madam Promfrey can sort her out,” McGonagall said as she left in the opposite direction.

Ginny, Neville, and Luna had already left to escort the other uninjured third years so Harry went alone with Ron to the hospital wing in search of Hermione. They found her standing over the little girl looking a little pale. The girl was sleeping, her foot wrapped up, but otherwise she looked good.

“Madam Pomfrey says she’ll be fine after she gets a night’s sleep,” Hermione said when she saw them come in.

“We’d best not stay then or she’ll be chucking us out,” Ron said. He wasn’t eager to get on Madam Pomfrey’s bad side.

“Comon guys, its library time,” Harry said determinedly as they walked out of the infirmary.

“What for?” Ron asked. Hermione looked puzzled too.

“Harry we’ve got homework that we really shouldn’t put off any longer,” she said.

“We’ve got to find something to counteract these jinxes. You know Malfoy and his toadies will be jinxing everything in sight now that they’ve had a success,” Harry said.

“Why can’t everyone just use that spell you were using earlier?” Ron asked.

“Because I doubt many of the seventh years can do it, let alone the first years. We can’t be everywhere all the time Ron so we need something like the anti-hex potion, but for jinxes,” Harry concluded.

“Harry’s right, we’ll just have to let our homework slide a little longer,” Hermione said.

The trio worked non-stop through the night and the following day. Ron kept falling asleep since he wasn’t as used to long nights as Harry and Hermione were becoming. By the time they finally found a suitable potion to help ward younger students against the jinxes it was morning again and nearly time for classes. Ron kept grumbling about why the professors weren’t doing this sort of thing, but curiously they appeared to be making no effort beyond patrolling the halls more. While that helped it still didn’t stop the random jinx landing other people, usually students under third year, in the hospital wing. The jinxes affected all the students too, not just mudbloods, which once again proved that Malfoy and his ilk cared about power not purity of blood.

“There’s no way we can get some of these ingredients,” Ron insisted as they drug themselves back towards the common room.

“I’ll have Fred and George get them for us,” Harry said.

“We need that stuff as soon as possible Harry,” Hermione reminded him.

“Right, see you guys later, I’ll go get Hedwig,” Harry said.

Harry hurried up to the tower that housed the owls and scribbled out a hasty note to the Weasley twins detailing the specific ingredient amounts he needed along with a note to authorize a withdrawal from his Gringott’s account to cover the expense. As Harry rushed back to the tower he kept running into other students, some of which called out sickeningly cheery morning greetings. After what seemed like forever Harry finally stood in front of the Fat Lady’s painting. He just opened his mouth to give her the password when the portrait swung open and Harry found himself face to face with Hermione.

“Comon Harry, we’ve already missed breakfast already but unless you can conjure something we’ll just have to live with it,” Hermione said briskly as she tugged him back in the opposite direction.

“Wait, I need my stuff,” Harry began.

“I’ve got it,” Ron replied as he emerged behind Hermione, then added hopefully. “So can you conjure food?”

“That’s difficult magic,” Harry said with annoyance, “if Hermione can’t do it then I’ve got little hope of pulling it off.”

“If won’t hurt you two to miss a meal, especially you Ron,” Hermione said pointedly.

“I’ve missed a lot of meals in my time,” Harry sighed, thinking about the Dursley’s.

“We’ll eat good tonight,” Ron said with a little too much enthusiasm.

Harry ribbed him hard and quickly added, “I’m sure dinner will be great.”

Ron scowled at Harry but didn’t say anything as they made their way down to the ground floor classroom that housed Tonks’ defense class. The room had been rearranged and the floor war marked off for dueling.

“I don’t like the looks of this,” Harry said.

“It appears we’re going to have to duel somebody,” Hermione replied.

“Alright class, as I’m sure you’ve all guessed we’re going to pair off into teams and get in some dueling practice. Now I want all the people not dueling to line up around the wall so we don’t have any accidents.” Tonks instructed.

Most of the class looked eager to do something more engaging than simply taking notes. Harry groaned inwardly as he tried to figure out how he was going to duel someone without revealing any of his unauthorized training. Hermione apparently was having the same thoughts.

“We’ll just use shields and stunners Harry. Ron is better than anyone else here, but he isn’t good enough to raise suspicions,” Hermione said from across the room.

“Alright, Lisa and Neville you two are up,” Tonks said, “I’ve tried to pair the lot of you based on your aptitude in this class so hopefully no one will find themselves facing an unfair battle.”

“I’m sure that Death Eaters will pair off based on the “aptitude” of their opponent,” Harry bristled at Tonks.

“Don’t be such a prat Harry, you know that Tonks just wants to make sure each student can last long enough to learn something,” Hermione said crossly.

“I suppose so, I wasn’t thinking. I plead fatigue.” Harry replied apologetically. Hermione gave him the mental equivalent of a grin and a shrug before returning her full attention to the duel.

The two combatants were starting to really lash out at each other with a variety of spells. Both had summoned hazy looking silver shields to reflect spells, but neither of them looked too solid. The battle ended when Neville fell over trying to avoid a spell after his shield broke and was then unable to avoid a final stunner. Neville had done much better than before though and Harry liked to think that his time spent in DA was at least partly responsible.

Two by two the rest of the students went up to the circle. Most of the duels were repetitive and Harry found his attention wandering to his many other plans. He glanced over at Hermione and saw her head was nodding. She needed sleep even more than he did he supposed. Ron had won his duel and was looking pretty pleased with himself. Everyone had been amazed at his skill on the field since he had never been considered a particularly talented wizard. Harry liked Ron’s new self-confidence and after all Ron deserved to feel good about himself.

“Potter, Granger, you’re up,” Tonks instructed.

“Arg, this is just effing great, now what do we do?” Hermione asked.

“Use low powered shields so we can just bash our way through them with stunners,” Harry suggested.

“Alright, but that won’t look too convincing,” Hermione said.

“Make it look like the magical equivalent of a brawl, no finesse, just brute force,” Harry replied.

Hermione nodded as she reached the starting point and raised her wand into the air. Harry similarly raised his wand and as Tonks shouted for them to begin they both slashed the air.

“Protego”

Harry and Hermione’s shields took form, but even though they uttered the words unnecessarily out loud their shields still bore their patronus icons.

“Stupefy”

Tonks felt her skin crawl as two very powerful stunners crossed each other before slamming into their opponent’s shields. A long hollow gong sounded but was quickly silenced as more shouts of “stupefy” sent a rapid fire of spells zinging back and forth across the open field.

“My shield is about gone, crank one up to full power and you can win,” Hermione said.

“Mine’s about gone too, we’ll both use full power and tie,” Harry replied.

As if doing a choreographed dance Harry and Hermione twirled their wands as they shouted, “stupefy.” Tonks’ eyes widened as she looked at the two of them, magical energy long buried was now twinkling slightly in their eyes as they cast their spells. The two stunners leapt across the room and shattered their shields at the same instant to send both of them spinning limply to the floor.

Tonks was undecided for a moment which to go to first, but she was saved the decision as they both groggily got to their feet.

“That was an excellent duel class, now someone tell me what they did that was different than everyone else,” Tonks said after making sure they were ok.

“They didn’t do anything except blast away at each other with as much power as possible,” a Ravenclaw named Anthony replied.

“Right, but why would they do that, they know like everyone else that power isn’t everything,” Tonks said. Everyone looked around at each other unsure of what to say.

“The reason that they didn’t use many spells is because of the strength of their shields. You all may have noticed the animals on them. Those are called iconic shield charms. Using tactics in duels is only wise if your tactics actually have a chance of overcoming the defenses of your opponents. In this case there was little point in doing anything except trying to break down each other’s shields. Of course there are spells more suited to that task than stunners.” Tonks explained.

Many people still seemed confused so after the last couple of duels Tonks assigned a lengthy research assignment to everyone except Harry and Hermione.

“Are you alright love?” Hermione asked when she saw him shaking his head slightly.

“Yeah, but its not a good idea to combine lack of sleep with a knock out spell,” Harry replied with a slight grin.

“I got just as much sleep as you,” Hermione reminded him.

Harry didn’t need any reminding. All through Hagrid’s class Hermione and Harry kept nudging each other awake in turn, except when Ron had to if they both fell asleep. After what seemed an eternity to Harry the class was finally over.

“I’m gonna follow you to class Hermione and sleep out in the hall. I just can’t bring myself to do anything else and that way we won’t have to try to find each other after you’re finished,” Harry said with a yawn.

“I see how it is,” Ron teased, “you don’t want to sleep outside my class.”

“You’ve got a double class. Besides, who wants to sleep outside the greenhouse anyway?” Harry replied.

Hermione settled into her usual spot in arithmancy as an invisible Harry conjured an invisible chair to sit in. She had convinced him to come inside and sleep in a corner so no one would trip over him or try to hex him out in the hall. He had cast silencing charms all around too in case he snored or thrashed around. Even with the invisibility charm making him appear a little washed out Hermione was having a hard time concentrating on Professor Vector’s lesson. It was much more gratifying to watch Harry’s peaceful features as he sat there sleeping.

“You’re never sitting in another class like that,” Hermione groused as they marched down the halls towards the greenhouses.

“Hey, I didn’t do anything,” Harry protested.

“You distracted me the whole time, I could barely concentrate,” Hermione said roughly, but she was smiling.

“It was your idea,” Harry pouted.

“Only because you wouldn’t go back to the tower like a sane man. Honestly, who sleeps in the floor?” Hermione said.

“So what do you want to study? We’ve got one final book on jinxes and that conjuring book you wanted,” Harry said to change the subject.

“Let’s do jinxes, I want to figure out how to break into the restricted section too. It has a huge collection of advanced and rare books. I read all about it in Hogwarts: A History,” Hermione said.

Hermione eagerly rambled about jinxes and how to break them for the next hour while they waited for Ron. Harry had a difficult time following her and found himself wishing that he had taken arithmancy back when he had the chance instead of that useless divination class.

“Don’t worry about it Harry. I can still teach you how to do it, it’ll just make it more difficult to figure out on your own,” Hermione had said when he voiced his regret.

At last the doors to the greenhouse opened and students began streaming out. Harry and Hermione got up to join Ron as soon as he appeared through the door.

“Shall we head on up to the Room of Requirement then?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, I’m done for the day,” Ron replied cheerfully.

“We need to plan for the next DA and get in some practice,” Hermione said, ever planning things out.

The trio made their way up to the Room of Requirement. Hermione was lost in her thoughts scheduling out everything they needed to do and Harry didn’t bother to distract her. He and Ron fell back about a step as they approached the door. Hermione opened it and stepped into the unusually dark room. Suddenly the lights came on brightly.

“SURPRISE”

Hermione appeared to freeze in shock but Harry saw her hand quiver and knew that she had been a split second away from flash drawing her wand.

“Happy birthday Hermione,” Harry and Ron said at the same time as they each grabbed an elbow to escort her the rest of the way into the room.

“Oh you guys, I can’t believe you did this,” Hermione said mistily.

“Its not every day a girl comes of age,” Ron said merrily.

“It’s not much, we just thought you’d like to take a break from work with your friends,” Harry said. Neville, Luna, and Ginny crowded around her wishing her well and pushing food at her. They were the only ones Harry had thought they should invite.

“We were going to do this in the common room where everyone could join in, but Harry insisted on this,” Ron said hastily.

“We can have a party in the common room later if Hermione wants to,” Harry said defensively.

“That’s all right, this is perfect,” Hermione said happily.

Hermione seemed more carefree than Harry had seen her in quite a while. They played games like exploding snap, wizard’s chess, and impromptu games like trying to banish little balls into targets. They tried to play a transfiguration game where each person would transfigure a little granite block into one magical creature and then they would do battle to see which was stronger. Everyone soon tired of this since Harry was the only one who could manage to keep up with Hermione.

“Alright, I give, this is impossible,” Ron joked as Hermione’s tiger pounced on his badger.

“Present time!” Ginny said excitedly as she passed a tall thin box to Hermione, “I know it isn’t much.”

“Oh, you guys didn’t need to get me anything,” Hermione said as she unwrapped a bottle of polish enchanted to keep one’s fingernails from growing.

“That’s great cause I don’t think Luna or Neville got you anything,” Ron laughed as he presented Hermione with a hairpiece with an enchanted lock to keep her hair up more reliably.

“We didn’t know about this until yesterday,” Neville sputtered defensively.

“Ronald and Ginny got our presents for us remember Neville?” Luna said. Ron blushed and stammered an affirmation.

“Nice save guys, but its really ok,” Hermione said.

Harry took off his hat and drew a box out from it. It was still wrapped in plain brown paper with a hasty scribble along the side that said “Hermione.” She carefully unwrapped the box before opening it.

“Ooooh Harry! Is this what I think it is?” Hermione gasped excitedly.

“If you think it’s a pensieve then yes,” Harry smiled.

“Wow, a pensieve, I’ve always wanted on of those,” Neville muttered.

“Pensieves are very useful. You can spot shades with them,” Luna said seriously.

“Its marvelous Harry, thank you,” Hermione said, refraining from rolling her eyes at Luna. “Thank you all, this has been a great birthday.”

The six teens stayed in the Room of Requirement for a while longer. Hermione tried out each of her gifts and everyone tried out the pensieve. It was immensely entertaining to watch their memories from an outside point of view. As curfew approached they began to disperse. First they walked Luna back to the Ravenclaw tower before going back to their own dorm.

“I’m beat fellas and we’ve got quiddich practice tomorrow Ginny,” Ron said once they made it back. After Ron and Ginny had headed off to their rooms the rest of the commons started to thin out. It was well past curfew when Hermione suddenly pulled out of her pensieve and groped around in her robes.

“It’s my parents,” she said as she finally drew the mirror out. “Hi Mum, hi Dad. It’s so good to see you.”

Harry got up and made to leave, but Hermione called him back. “Stay and say hello Harry.”

Harry sat down next to Hermione and she scooted closer to him so he could see the mirror too.

“Hello Mr. Granger, Mrs. Granger,” he said politely.

“We just wanted to wish our little girl a happy birthday,” Mrs. Granger said.

“I just got back from a surprise party,” Hermione said excitedly, “and look what Harry got for me. It’s called a pensieve, it lets you store memories and review them from an outside point of view.”

“That sounds very interesting darling,” Mr. Granger said.

“Well, I’d best be going,” Harry said uncomfortably. He felt like he was intruding on Hermione’s family time. “It was nice to see you both again.”

After Mr. and Mrs. Granger finished saying their good byes Harry went on up and got ready for bed. The last thing he thought about was how nice it was to see Hermione so carefree.

�Is it about done yet?� Seamus Finnigan demanded of Hermione as she balanced a thick book in one hand whist sending tiny puffs of hot dry air into the cauldron in front of her. They were making a special dust that would seek out jinxed surfaces, cover them in a bright colorful powder and work to nullify the spell.

�It�ll be done when it�s done Seamus,� Harry said crossly as he contorted himself with effort as he attempted to measure out the precise amount of ingredients necessary.

�Seamus get back and be quiet, this is the most delicate part of the procedure,� Hermione snapped at him.

Ron pulled Seamus back somewhat puzzled at why he was being so pestering. �Comon mate, give�m some space. I think those ingredients cost Harry quite a bit and if they mess up now they�ll have to start over again.�

�I didn�t mean, it�s just that you know Hannah? She nearly got her hand blown off yesterday,� he said sadly. Ron didn�t know that Seamus had a girlfriend, but he sympathized with his sentiment.

�Harry conjure up a porcelain tub, hurry,� Hermione instructed. Harry flicked his wand and the large white basin appeared. Harry hurriedly dug a pouch out of his robes and stuck his fingers in. Ron thought he heard a whimper from him as he sifted whatever the material was into the cauldron. As soon as he finished Hermione hit it with other blast of superheated air so dense that Ron could see it by the distortions it made.

�We need to knock it out now,� Hermione said as she flicked her wand. The cauldron levitated away from the flame and hovered over the tub. Harry had conjured a large hammer that he then used to beat the bottom and sides of the cauldron. Large chunks of dry caked pinkish powder fell out into the basin.

�Alright Hermione, do we need anything special to pulverize this with?� Harry asked.

�I think so, let me check the book,� Hermione said as she flipped pages. �Yes, conjure up two porcelain crowbars with bell ends.�

�Any idea what she�s talking about?� Seamus asked Ron as Harry began conjuring.

�Don�t look at me, I never managed to figure this one out,� Ron said as his two best friends as they began pounding the blocky mass. Before long he could see sweat standing out on their brows as they struck the contents of the basin in perfect rhythm. After about ten minutes of this they stopped and banished the crowbars.

�Harry you�re a mess and just what did you do to your hand?� Hermione asked.

�I had to measure the crushed rune stone properly, couldn�t use a dragon glove, it nullifies the dust,� Harry said as he grabbed his wand with his left hand. Three of his right hand�s fingers were swelling and breaking horribly.

�I�ll finish this, you start healing yourself,� Hermione instructed.

Harry sat down on the sofa and began bathing his fingers in a soft blue light that emanated from the tip of his wand. Ron could see some immediate success, or at least the injury stopped getting worse. Meanwhile Hermione was conjuring up a large quantity of what appeared to be incense lamps that were beautifully embossed with gold trimmings. Next she conjured a scoop and carefully put a measure into each of the lamps.

�Finally, that should do it,� Hermione said wearily as she shuffled over to where Harry was sitting and slumped next to him. She took her wand out and pointed it at his hand as it lay next to her on the sofa.

�Thanks Hermione,� Harry said softly as a soft blue light from her wand joined with his.

Seamus looked odd for a second, he hadn�t known that they could do healing spells.

�Here mate, take one,� Ron said as he thrust a lamp at Seamus.

�Are you going to be ok Harry?� Hermione asked. His hand looked much better, but it was still a little red and inflamed.

�Yeah, I�ll be good enough for class,� he replied.

�Good, we�re starting apparation today, you don�t want to miss that,� Hermione said.

�Hey, aren�t you guys going to take a lamp?� Seamus asked as Harry and Hermione headed to the door.

�No need,� Hermione grinned as she lit up her wand with pink light.

�Must be nice,� he muttered as he followed the trio out the door.

Transfiguration was interesting despite being a double note taking session. Professor McGonagall started out by lecturing them on the dire consequences of taking apparation too lightly. In addition to all the legal ramifications it wasn�t a good idea to splinch oneself and leave one�s loose parts laying about to get stepped on or eaten by passing animals. Professor McGonagall also informed the class that they would be portkeying out of the castle to work on their apparation skills once they had mastered the theory. Harry looked forward to this since the twins had always maintained that apparating was the greatest. It was definitely one of the more useful skills for a wizard to master, even if it was difficult.

After transfiguration the trio split up as Hermione and Ron had different classes while Harry had the rest of the day off. Harry decided to go ahead and make himself comfortable in the Room of Requirement. Hermione had been so busy between classes, training, and making extra potions that she had barely even mentioned S.P.E.W. since last year. Harry knew that she was putting off something she believed in deeply because she thought that there were more important duties for her to attend to first.

Harry pulled out some parchment and a quill as he sat down at the rectangular table that the Room of Requirement had provided. Hermione might not know it, but Harry had actually been paying a lot of attention to her numerous rants on elfish welfare. Her heart was in the right place, but he methods needed some refining and after eleven years of being diplomatic around the Dursley�s Harry had some idea of how to meet people half way. Of course he usually ended up meeting the Dursely�s the entire way, their way, but it was worth a shot.

Hermione had always been dead set on freeing all the elves, giving them wages, and other benefits. Even Hagrid knew that this approach wouldn�t work and would probably insult the elves immensely.

1. Elves shall retain the right to demand their master release their bond of service for any or no reason.

Now the elves would be able to enter into service like they wanted to, but they�d also have a legal out if they came to despise their master like Dobby did. Of course convincing the elves to use their option would be hard.

2. Elves shall retain the option to be paid whatever wages and benefits, if any, that both they and their master shall find mutually acceptable.

Not too pushy, not too weak, the elves are basically in control of their salaries if they should want them and if not then they don�t have to negotiate for any.

3. Elves shall retain all protections granted to wizards under Common Law with equal status and all entitlements and privileges afforded under the Law.

Harry studied number three for a moment. Hermione had always pushed for wand usage rights and representation on councils, but this would be far more comprehensive. Elves would be full equals with wizards, entitled to patents, property, licenses, and everything else that free wizards everywhere took for granted.

Next, after finishing the three main legal goals of his pamphlet on elfish rights, Harry outlined his experience with elves based mainly on Dobby and Winky. Harry knew how much he hated reading long things so he kept it as short and generic as possible. He didn�t mention Dobby or Winky by name, but he used their basic stories to draw analogies and explain why the proposed changes would help prevent that kind of abuse. Harry had been thinking on this for some time so he wrote confidently and was nearly finished when the door to the Room opened to let Hermione in.

�One second, I want you to read this and tell me what you think,� Harry said as he hurriedly scribbled a last few sentences before thrusting it at her.

�Harry, what is all this?� Hermione asked solemnly as she scanned the page.

�It�s just suggestions that�s all, you can toss it right out if you don�t like any of it. I just thought since you�ve been so busy I�d make some suggestions for S.P.E.W.� Harry said sheepishly.

�I notice you�ve cut out a lot of my original goals,� she said as she neared the bottom of the page.

�I was thinking that some of those might be more of a second stage sort of agenda. Start with small voluntary measures and then work our way up after everyone goes accustom to the changes,� Harry said tentatively.

�I�m really shocked Harry, but you�ve really done a good job, I�m proud,� she gushed at the end as she saw his expression start to drop when she said, �shocked.�

�So you think that this might work?� he asked.

�Well it is a more moderate approach. I suppose I was a bit overeager when I drew this list up during fourth year.� Hermione said slowly.

�We could post these on the house bulletin boards and pass them out to students and patrons at Hogesmeade,� Harry suggested.

�I really appreciate this Harry, I didn�t know you cared,� Hermione said seriously.

�I care about the things that matter to you,� Harry said sincerely. Hermione smiled fondly at him before shaking herself back to more pressing matters.

�All right, but enough of this for now, we�ve got to finish with the elemental book tonight because my conjured copy won�t hold in the restricted section jinx much longer,� Hermione said as she dug a big moldy tomb out from her bag. It had a picture in the middle of it�s cover depicting a big white gust of air colliding with a shard of ice, a tongue of fire, a drop of water, and a dark glass like stone.

�I think I�ve got all the basics of the spells down. I just need to practice casting them to get their full potential,� Harry said.

�I think so too, but we should give them a final go before I put the book back,� Hermione said.

The couple summoned shields and practiced shooting elemental spells at each other. It was quite taxing to reflect elemental attacks since they didn�t usually come at a person in a tight beam like curses or hexes. Harry winced as a rain of deadly shards impacted on his shield just as Ron came through the door.

�Watch it you two,� he shouted as a shard ricocheted near him, �bloody scary is what you guys are.�

�Sorry Ron, just making sure we knew how these spells worked before I return this book,� Hermione explained.

�We�re going now, care to join us in the library?� Harry asked.

�Might as well, I�ve got a ton of homework you know.� Ron grumbled.

The trio walked through the corridors of the castle toward the library. Harry and Hermione had their wands out searching for jinxes though with the advent of their powder jinxing incidents had gone down dramatically.

�I�ve never seen you kids in the library so much before,� Madam Prince said when they walked through the doors, �Well, except you of course Hermione.�

Hermione flushed with embarrassment and glanced around nervously. She was still insecure about her bookish tendencies after so many years of relentless teasing by other students.

�All part of your charm,� Harry whispered into her ear as they headed toward the back. Hermione blushed even deeper before ducking quickly into the restricted section.

�Ok, I put it back, no one the wiser,� she whispered when she returned to the table.

�Did you get us another one?� Harry whispered back.

Hermione opened her bag enough for Harry to see some books on curses, jinxes, and a midnight black colored book on the dark arts.

�Dark arts?� he hissed.

�You need to know what you�re fighting Harry,� Hermione said stubbornly. Harry was surprised that Hogwarts� library even contained such books, let alone that Hermione would want to study them. She had a point though, it would be easier to defend against something they were aware of themselves.

The trio worked on their long neglected homework until curfew forced them to return to the Gryffindor common room. Harry, Hermione and Ron stayed to themselves in a dark corner of the room so they could view their illicit books in peace. Ron shivered as Harry and Hermione traced their air with their wands in their familiar spell memorizing technique. These weren�t just powerful spells that they were learning, but lethal dark curses. Spells designed to eviscerate an opponent, or to punch through their defenses and bore through their exposed body, or to melt the flesh from their bones. He couldn�t imagine why these spells weren�t unforgivable but Hermione reasoned that it was due to the possibility of blocking these spells, unlike the killing curse.

�I can�t control these spells and I don�t want to,� Ron said suddenly. Hermione looked around nervously before glaring at him.

�Sorry,� he whispered, �but I won�t be a part of this anymore. Go ahead and learn ever trick who-know-who knows.�

�Ron, it�s not like that,� Harry whispered, �they�re just spells.�

�Fine, but I�m not going to study them. I�ll help with anything else but not dark magic.� He said emphatically as he got up and stalked off.

�He kinda has a point,� Harry said guiltily.

�Magic is just a tool, its power, what matters is how you use it not what it is,� Hermione said hotly. �You can abuse a shield charm to inflict harm on someone just as easily as protect yourself.�

�Yeah, I suppose,� Harry replied.

�Honestly Harry, fine, let�s go to sleep, we can pick this up again tomorrow after we�ve had a nice long talk about it,� she said.

Harry groaned as he changed for bed. His dream sharing with Hermione wasn�t going to be as pleasant as usual if they had to debate the proper use of dark arts all night long.

There was a cool breeze blowing out over the lake as Harry walked toward the still standing figure of Hermione. He gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she looked up at him rather grimly as they began to slowly walk.

�I know the dark arts are considered dangerous Harry, but we really don�t have any choice,� she said tentatively.

�I trust your judgement on matters such as these Hermione, you know that. It�s just that I don�t want us to be consumed by the evil we�re fighting. I�ve shown you what Voldemort has become as the result of his deep involvement with dark magic,� Harry replied.

�There is a fundamental difference though Harry. Voldemort has sacrificed lives to accomplish his goals, his intentions are evil, his actions have shaped what he has become, not the tools he used to get there,� Hermione replied.

�Why do so many wizards fear the dark arts then?� Harry asked.

�Who knows Harry, so much of what most wizards do still mystifies me to be honest. What makes them treat house elves so poorly or use people like tools whenever it suits them? I suspect that it�s just the way it�s always been so they continue doing it since they don�t know to change.� Hermione said.

�Well I understand it even less. You�ve read tons more about the wizard world than I have and our upbringings were equally uninformative about wizard customs.� Harry said, repeating the obvious that Hermione was already aware of.

�Maybe it�s not even cultural apathy, maybe wizard�s would rather blame some inherently dark outside force for all that is wrong in the world rather than put the blame for people�s decisions on the people who make them,� Hermione continued.

�In the end I think that these sorts of attitudes do more to harm us all than even Voldemort can accomplish. Voldemort only got where he is now because of the climate that unwillingness to accept responsibility has created.� Harry said thoughtfully.

�How so?� Hermione asked. Since when did Harry get philosophical? Since when did she put the ends ahead of the means for that matter?

�Voldemort is just one person, however powerful. If not for the stereotype of pureblood superiority he would have no base of followers to draw from. If not for wizard mistreatment of giants, werewolves, goblins, and many other creatures then he�d have no armies to raise from their ranks. He can offer them the rights they should have already had.� Harry said.

Hermione nodded slowly before the cool outdoors suddenly morphed into the Gryffindor common room. �I don�t feel like walking anymore, let�s snuggle.�

Harry looked at her rather incredulously. Since when did Hermione want to snuggle? Not that he had anything against snuggling he thought to himself as Hermione pressed herself against him gently.

�Sure, anything you want,� he said as they sat arm in arm in front of the fire. Harry just stroked her hair softly as they rested up for the next day. All too soon their warm safe dream evaporated into a bleary eyed morning of running around checking various potions they had boiling, getting their lessons together, running to the great hall, and then running off to classes.

Charms was both easy and time consuming at the same time for Harry. On one hand he could perform every charm required of him nearly flawlessly. Even Hermione, who was usually the only over achiever in the class, was impressed. On the other hand he didn�t have time to write up long essays on the theory of each spell and he wasn�t particularly motivated to write about the theory of a spell he had already mastered using. As a result his grades on practical tests were carrying his essay grades which were worse than usual due to inattention.

�Have fun in potions guys,� Ron said smugly as he headed off for quiddich practice.

�You need to catch up on our notes Ron, you�re getting behind,� Hermione shot back at him. Ron grimaced and sputtered some kind of hasty excuse before beating it on out of her presence.

�I don�t think he�ll ever change,� Hermione said indignantly, �but he really needs to study potions. Especially if he still wants to be an auror.�

�Maybe it would be better if he wasn�t an auror. I don�t think I�ll pursue it anymore,� Harry said thoughtfully.

�Oh Harry, why not, we could be aurors together,� Hermione said.

�I don�t think I want to take orders from the ministry. Especially not with all the decrees coming out of Fudge�s office these days. I think I�d rather just go along and do whatever I think would help the most people at the time,� Harry explained.

�I don�t care what we do Harry so long as we can do it together,� Hermione said wistfully as she gazed at him.

�Well if it isn�t Precious Potter and his faithful dog the mudblood,� Malfoy said as he saw the two of them round the corner.

�Malfoy, still with us I see, and how is Lucious?� Harry asked. He simply oozed politeness and civility, which seemed to enrage Draco.

�He�s a lot better than you�ll ever be Potter, your time is drawing to a close,� Malfoy spat back.

�Well then I�ll be sure to enjoy myself,� Harry said noncommittally as he continued toward the door.

�Maybe I�ll help you on your way,� Malfoy said as he grabbed his wand. There was a flash and then a sharp bang as Malfoy�s hasty spell bounced off of Harry�s shining silver shield harmlessly.

�POTTER, what is the meaning of this?� Snape roared as he rushed out of his room to see what the commotion was about.

�Malfoy tried to curse us,� Hermione said huffily.

�Shut up you stupid little girl,� Snape growled, �you�ll pay for this one Potter. Fifty points and a week�s detentions.�

�Sir, I didn�t attack Draco at all,� Harry said, bristling at Snape�s tone toward Hermione but realizing that he couldn�t lose his temper.

�Oh really, well then maybe we�ll just see what the last spell your wand cast is to get the whole story,� Snape said sarcastically.

�Of course, that�s an excellent idea,� Harry said with fake politeness as he held his wand out. Snape took it and muttered the incantation to bring out a shadow of the previous cast spell. His face contorted in rage as Harry�s shield floated in front of his face, mocking him.

�Fine Potter, no punishment. Class, now, all of you,� he hissed as he spun back into his room. Harry and Hermione walked quickly by Draco and Harry couldn�t resist smirking at him as they went passed.

�Potter, Granger, opposite sides of the room,� Snape said curtly as they moved to sit down. Snape slapped a paper in front of Harry. It was a perfect grade on a potion he had turned in. �I don�t know how you�re cheating Potter but I�m going to be watching you very closely.�

Snape kept his word and watched Harry excruciatingly close for the entire double potions period. Harry had to worker harder than ever to concentrate and not snap at the evil potions master. Hermione�s soothing voice chanting in his mind helped immensely.

�I thought I�d never get out of there,� Harry said as they left the class afterwards.

�It could have been worse Harry, you could have had detention. Plus I�m really glad we got to do blood replenishing potions. Did you put all your excess into vials?� Hermione asked.

�Yeah, they�re all tucked into my hat. That was really a brilliant piece of work by the way,� Harry replied as he patted his hat. Hermione had charmed them to contain a big empty space where they could store all types of things. Both of them were keeping an ever-increasing number of potions hidden away in case they needed them quickly.

Classes were getting more hectic as the professors all began to sense the oncoming winter holidays were getting near. Ron had increasing quiddich duties, Harry and Hermione continued their rigorous training, and all their classes appeared to suffer. None of them cared, not even Hermione, because they realized that the training they did in the Room of Requirement now far outstripped anything they were being asked to do as sixth years.

Snape�s vendetta was getting worse as well. Harry was often given a zero for no reason on days when Snape was feeling particular malice. Harry and Hermione were always on the opposite side of the room and Draco spent most of each class mocking them. Defense Against the Dark Arts on the other hand was more enjoyable than ever, if only because the professor wasn�t out to get them.

�Class, settle down, class, you all need to pay close attention today. This training is very important,� Tonks said. She looked even more nervous today than usual and her clumsy factor seemed to be skyrocketing as well. Since they had come in Tonks had dropped her book twice and even the words that she magically put on the board had more errors than normal.

�I know that you�ve all had experience with the Imperious Curse before, in fourth year, but Professor Dumbledore feels that the time is right for a refresher. All of you need to be familiar with this curse so you can fight it should you ever find it being used against you.� Tonks explained.

Tonks made them take agonizingly thorough notes on the Imperious Curse despite the fact that fake Moody from fourth year had given them a similar assignment. The only plus side that Harry could see is that much of this was review. During the second half of class Tonks began calling them up one at a time to practice resisting the curse.

�This shouldn�t be difficult for us Harry now that we have a firm link,� Hermione said as they watched yet another student do a funny dance as they unsuccessfully tried to resist the curse.

�I hope not, last time it was terribly difficult to resist and I was still incapacitated as far as fighting back with a wand was concerned,� Harry replied.

�Hermione Granger.� Tonks called. Hermione went to the front of the room and stood next to Tonks. Tonks waved her wand and called out the enchantment. Harry felt a flash in his mind, but it was off to the side, like it only indirectly affected him. He realized that this was the effect of the curse bleeding through his connection with Hermione. He focused on Hermione and realized that she hadn�t even moved to obey Tonks� demand for her to dance. Tonks tried again, but Hermione just stood there unconcernedly. The curse couldn�t even take hold.

�Er, uh, well done Miss Granger,� Tonks stammered. Clearly she had never seen anyone resist the Imperious Curse so successfully.

When Harry�s name was called Tonks watched him with apprehension as he approached. Clearly she was expecting some kind of repeat performance like the kind that had happened with Hermione since Harry was the best of his class in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tonks cast the spell and this time the flash happened in Harry�s mind. Last time Harry had been put under the curse he had been put into a kind of mental fog. This time however the flash that would have turned to fog in a weaker mind simply dispersed like the light quickly fades after a lightening bolt. He didn�t even have to convince himself not to give in to Tonks demands.

�Too weak,� he whispered to Tonks as he went back to his seat. Her curse hadn�t even been as strong as fake Moody�s. Harry suspected she didn�t have the temperament required to control someone else very well.

�Nicely done Harry,� Tonks said, �Ok class, you�ve seen two completely successful resistances now. I want everyone to continue working on the theory and I need two feet of parchment on resisting the Imperious Curse from everyone except Harry and Hermione.�

Care of Magical Creatures was particularly boring of late. On this day Hagrid had some slimy lizard looking creatures with unpronounceable names and Harry, for the life of him, could not figure out how they were useful for anything. He decided that it must be a thing of Hagrid�s to pull out some dangerous useless creature ever now and then just for amusement�s sake.

�Comon you two quit dawdling,� Hermione chastised Ron and Harry who had fallen considerably behind her.

�What�s the rush Hermione, classes are over today,� Ron wheedled.

�We�re port keying out for apparation practice tomorrow or did you forget?� Hermione said.

�Right, right, but we�ve already done the homework, what more is there to do?� Ron replied.

�Well Harry and I are going to go over the advanced apparation techniques from the book I lifted out of the restricted section,� Hermione replied, �I suggest you join us.�

Harry gave Ron a look that said �don�t get me involved.� Ron rolled his eyes.

�You know I can�t understand that stuff, its supposed to be for people who already know how to apparate anyway and none of us have done it even once.� Ron said stubbornly.

�Seriously Ron, if you understand the theory then you should be able to do it right off. Isn�t that right Harry?� Hermione argued.

�We�ll see tomorrow I guess. Apparating rapidly and silently is something we need to master though. That�s how Dumbledore fought against Voldemort last year.� Harry said.

Ron continued to grumble but in the end he sat up with Harry and Hermione until the early hours of the morning trying to prepare for apparation. Toward the end of their study it mainly consisted of Harry and Hermione peppering him with suggestions on how to apparate properly.

�Just think Ron, you�ll already be able to apparate as soon as school lets out,� Harry said encouragingly.

�I spose,� he replied sleepily as he crunched some toast. None of them had got much sleep but Ron wasn�t as used to it as Harry and Hermione had become.

When they arrived at class they were surprised to see two people accompanying Professor McGonagall that they�d never seen before. They were wizards from the accidental magic reversal squad on hand to undo any splinching that might be beyond McGonagall�s ability to reverse and to eventually act as counter certification for apparation licenses that would be handed out to those who demonstrated mastery in the skill. Professor McGonagall revealed that competence would result in their being licensed immediately but that even licensed wizards were forbidden to apparate until they came of age. After giving them all a brief lecture on safety and being on their best behavior one of the wizards produced a long thin pole. Everyone grabbed a section of it and portkeyed away to what Harry guessed was a dedicated apparation training facility.

There were platforms standing around at various heights all around a large open field. Their job was to eventually apparate to each of them as quickly as possible in a particular order. First, however, Professor McGonagall took them to a long flat patch of ground that resembled a sprinter�s track to practice simply learning to apparate from one end to the other.

The first group lined up and tried to apparate but didn�t meet with a great deal of success. Neville landed in the wrong place, one girl left her feet behind, and two other boys couldn�t do it at all.

�All right enough, next group, and you lot had better start studying that performance was abysmal,� Professor McGonagall chided them.

Harry and Hermione were in the next group. They traded some silent words of luck at they stepped up and waited to be given the signal to begin. Harry pictured the place where he wanted to go and then fed his power into that place. Harry was expected a tug rather like a portkey, but instead he felt a sensation that reminded him of how one might imagine water would feel as it flowed down a hill; if water could feel of course. A gentle pouring of himself from one cup to another and suddenly the crowd of students was several hundred feet away.

Harry glanced to his right and saw Hermione standing next to him. �Silent casting really made this easy didn�t it?�

�We did a lot of studying,� Hermione said. Studying always got the credit whenever Hermione had her way.

Harry didn�t disagree instead he jumped back to where he started. Hermione appeared next to him an instant later and together they rejoined the rest of the students.

�It�s good to see someone studied,� Professor McGonagall said curtly as she summoned the next group. McGonagall had always subscribed to the Hermione theory of giving all the credit for any success to studying.

The rest of the students continued to take their turns. Ron also successfully apparated on his first try but Harry noticed that a loud cracking noise accompanied his jump. He thought perhaps that when you apparated you couldn�t hear the noise because you had already left but he recalled that Hermione had jumped silently too. After everyone had taken their turns Professor McGonagall assigned them more homework and portkeyed everyone back to their classroom.

�We�ll be doing this every day now until you all get it properly mastered. Class dismissed. Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, a word if you please.�

Harry and Hermione approached her desk as everyone else filed out of the room. Ron cast a curious glance over his shoulders at them as he left but he didn�t dawdle because his herbology class hard enough to make on time as it was.

�Biscuit?� Professor McGonagall asked as she pushed a tray toward them. They each took one before settling into chairs that had pulled up behind them.

�Mr. Potter your grades are as mediocre as usual. Your practical use of magic is superb but your theoretical work is abysmal. I didn�t think too much of this until I noticed Miss Granger�s theoretical works taking a dive as well.� Professor McGonagall looked down her long nose at them. Hermione turned pink with embarrassment and Harry bristled slightly.

McGonagall continued, �Then today what do I see but apparation well beyond NEWT level qualification. The Headmaster can hardly apparate better than that and this was the first time for the both of you is it not?�

Both of them nodded, uneasy at where this was going.

�Are you doing it deliberately?� McGonagall asked bluntly.

�Doing what Professor?� Hermione asked tentatively.

�I�ve been checking into your other classes quietly and I�ve noticed the same thing. The two of you are immensely powerful, much more so than your grades would indicate.� McGonagall noted the appalled looks on their faces and then hastily added, �Don�t worry, no one else has noticed this, which is why I asked: Are you hiding your talents deliberately?�

�Actually, we�ve just been really busy and so we�ve not been putting so much effort into theory papers we already know,� Harry said evasively.

McGonagall �harumphed� loudly and peered down her nose at them again. �Well you�ll fool the casual observer that way but if you continue to display too many advanced skills people are going to begin asking uncomfortable questions.� She lowered her voice before continuing, �Voldemort would be very interested to find out that you are far more powerful than any sixth year should be. I smoothed over the apparation incident with the ministry wizards but I suggest in the future you both make a few more mistakes in all your classes except potions.�

�Why potions Professor?� Harry asked, bewildered.

�I like hearing Professor Snape complaining to the Headmaster every morning that you�re cheating somehow,� she said with a rare smile. �Now you�d best get going and if anyone asks I was giving you more homework.�

The pair left quickly and bid each other a short goodbye at the door as Hermione went off to arithmancy and Harry went to the Room of Requirement. Professor McGonagall�s advice sat prominently in their minds as they developed strategy for keeping their newfound strength a secret as long as possible.

Families Outraged, Dumbledore Plods On

Attacks in the prestigious school of witchcraft and wizardry have subsided during the last few weeks but parental ire against the aging Headmaster is stronger than ever. It has been weeks now since the attacks began but there has not been a single person apprehended or punished. An anonymous member of the Board of Governors is questioning whether Dumbledore is neutral enough to handle the situation given his relationship with Harry Potter. Mr. Potter, it has been speculated by many inside sources, is somehow involved in the fiendishly brutal assaults on Hogwarts’ students but yet it is unclear if the Headmaster has even placed Mr. Potter in a position of suspicion in his ongoing investigation. One student, Draco Malfoy, who has allegedly been singled out for abuse by Mr. Potter in the past, tells this reporter that Dumbledore has his favorites and it shows. An unnamed Professor echoes these sentiments and levels accusations of scholastic dishonesty on the part of Mr. Potter…

“Those foul, loathsome, evil, twisted,” Hermione broke off as Harry grabbed the paper.

“Don’t get so wrought up over it Hermione, you know how the Prophet is,” Harry said soothingly.

“Harry this could have serious consequences,” she said stiffly.

“I guess so, but there isn’t much we can do about it except trash my mail,” Harry replied.

“Here’s another one taking the mickey out of you too Hermione,” Ron said as he grabbed the paper away from Harry.

“Don’t read that rubbish,” Hermione snapped grabbing it back. Harry had sneaked a tiny peek at it earlier. He didn’t know that it was even legal for a paper to attack a prefect based on her grades and her friendships before, but that’s exactly what the Prophet was doing. It was comical too, Hermione’s grades were still some of the highest Hogwarts had ever seen though you wouldn’t know that from reading Prophet articles.

“Yeah, it really is pointless to try and keep up with it. The Prophet has been churning out one hit piece after another against all of us these days, especially Dumbledore and me,” Harry said.

“You’d think Dumbledore would complain or something,” Ron grumbled.

“Yeah, they’re real likely to respond to that. Look let’s just forget about it. You guys wanna go to the Room of Requirement and practice some?” Harry asked.

“Er, no thanks mate, I gotta go for quiddich,” Ron said.

“I’ve got to patrol Harry, but you can come with me if you want,” Hermione said sweetly.

Ron rolled his eyes as his two friends headed out of the commons. Harry vanished when he stepped through the opening as he cast an invisibility charm on himself. As soon as they started down the hall Harry felt Hermione’s long thin fingers wrap around his hand.

“Won’t people be suspicious of you gripping thin air?” Harry asked snidely.

“I doubt we’ll run into anyone but if we do I’ll let go before they notice. No one suspects you can become invisible at will, especially now that cloaks are banned.” Hermione replied.

“So what do you think is going on with Dumbledore? I’ve been sending him messages and trying to talk to him but he’s either gone or he doesn’t respond with more than a few vague lines.” Harry said.

“I don’t know Harry, but I do know that he owes you an explanation. Voldemort is getting bolder every day now and the death toll is rising among the Muggles too. He probably thinks that we can’t handle his precious plan, whatever it is.” Hermione replied bitterly.

“I guess we should just trust his judgement,” Harry said.

“Yeah, that worked good last time,” Hermione bit out, then instantly regretted her statement as she felt through her link Harry’s emotions freeze over.

“If I had just trusted him and you it would have been fine,” Harry said mournfully.

“I’m sorry Harry, I didn’t mean to bring Sirius up but it works both ways. Yes I suppose if you had blindly trusted Dumbledore things would have been fine, BUT you had no reason to trust him blindly. He should have told you why he was behaving oddly just like he should tell you now. If you had of known what he knew then Sirius would be with us now.” Hermione said forcefully. She knew that Harry understood this on an intellectual level, but emotionally it still ripped him apart. Without thinking she embraced him suddenly as he fought back long suppressed emotion.

“Thank you Hermione, for being there for me, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Harry said thickly.

“I’ll always be here for you Harry and I know that you’ll always be here for me,” Hermione whispered back fervently. She cast an invisibility charm and sat there motionless with Harry until curfew.

The next morning Harry awoke feeling vaguely guilty for dumping all his problems on Hermione, as usual. He didn’t read any of the newspaper except the headline that boldly proclaimed a rigorous new curfew for the wizarding world at large. He sighed at this latest ministry power grab as he went down toward the great hall. Everyone else was already there and several people looked unusually nervous.

“What’s going on with everyone?” Harry asked as he took his seat next to Hermione and Ron.

“Didn’t you see the paper Harry?” Ron asked anxiously.

“Er, no, not really, just the part on the curfew,” he replied.

“Voldemort just pulled off a coordinated attack on several muggle villages and a couple dozen muggle born families,” Hermione said in a thin voice.

“Hermione, are your parents ok?” he asked with a sudden sense of dread.

“They’re fine Harry,” she said, “Dumbledore put powerful wards on our house, remember?”

Harry felt relief that Hermione’s family was still safe. “Yeah, of course, they couldn’t be safer.”

Harry cringed at having brought up her parents at all. He certainly didn’t want her to worry about her family, especially when there was nothing more any of them could do to protect them.

“The ministry has authorized aurors to use the unforgivable curses again,” Ron broke in, shaking Harry out of his thoughts.

“What?” Harry asked, slightly stunned, “Against Death Eaters?”

“No, against anyone apparently. It’s a blanket authorization.” Hermione said.

Harry knew that no good could come of this. It was like during the last war. Aurors killing instead of capturing, show trials or no trials for suspects, storm trooper style tactics against civilians on the flimsiest of suspicion. It was like the ministry had gone insane. The campaign of misinformation against himself and Dumbledore, brutal tactics against innocent people, and even downright counterproductive actions against those like the Order of the Phoenix who were fighting Voldemort.

“Do you think Fudge is being controlled?” Harry asked, trying to grasp for some kind of reason for his bizarre actions.

“No, that’s still unlikely, I think he’s just exploiting the situation to enhance his own power like the ministry did during the last war,” Hermione said darkly.

“There’s no point in agonizing over it,” Ron interjected, “we need to prepare for the D.A. meeting tonight anyway.”

“Can you handle the rest of the lesson plan Ron?” Harry asked, knowing full well that Ron could and would immensely enjoy getting to lead the meeting again. Expectedly Ron beamed and eagerly agreed.

“Hermione and I are going to give a little speech first,” Harry informed him.

“What about?” Ron asked. Hermione looked quizzical too.

“Well we’ve been passing out pamphlets on sentient rights for some time now and I think we should address the whole of the D.A. directly,” Harry said.

“Is that really important now?” Ron asked.

“Yes it is Ron,” Hermione said fiercely, “I don’t think I need to catalogue all the damage that wizard kind has inflicted upon itself by oppressing its various members.”

Ron looked inclined to argue but Hermione’s expression was so grim that he seemed to chicken out of the confrontation before it even began. Hermione didn’t give him a chance to reconsider as she jumped up quickly and grabbed Harry.

“We need to do some last bits of research from the potions book I lifted before the shelf in the forbidden section realizes its gone Harry. We can’t put it off anymore,” Hermione said.

Harry nodded and followed her. The book had been most valuable but they had been so occupied that they hadn’t finished it as quickly as they had most of their other books. Harry supposed that they could trick the shelf again but Hermione seemed reluctant since she suspected that the protective enchantments were too strong to be fooled twice in a row.

The book was immensely old and engraved all over with large viscous looking snakes. The last few pages were even enchanted with protective spells to hide their contents from persons the book deemed unworthy for whatever reason. The reason for this soon became apparent as Hermione cursed the book into revealing its secrets.

“I didn’t know you could even do such a thing,” Harry whispered.

“The power of the basilisk made into a potion,” Hermione said in awe.

“That isn’t all, look here, this would be far more useful,” Harry said.

“Fallen enemies wouldn’t be able to be so easily revived by their comrades with this,” Hermione agreed.

Petrifaction Potion – This potion is the half potion of the death potion created from the essence of the basilisk. Use this potion with caution since all those who are touched by it will forever sleep in magical near death except when revived by a Mandrake Restorative.

“We can use brute force to overwhelm the Death Eaters and then assure ourselves that they won’t be revived when we move on in battle. It’s perfect.” Harry said.

They copied down the relevant parts of the book and returned it to the shelf. The ingredients needed for the potion were rare and dangerous. Harry was fairly certain that they were also probably illegal with the new restrictions handed down by the ministry. He would have to go to some of the more unsavory parts of the wizard world to track down the material he needed. Winter break was now upon them so he would soon have the opportunity.

“Now we need to get ready for the speech you decided out of the blue that we need to give,” Hermione said with a smirk. Harry snapped out of his thoughts.

“Well I was thinking something along the lines of a short statement of general principles followed by a question and answer open floor. We want to get others to talking about this issue so that we can generate some understanding,” Harry said.

“You may want to consider politics someday if you keep this up Harry,” Hermione said. Harry blushed as she continued. “It isn’t going to be easy to break through hundreds of years of wizard prejudice though.”

“We’ve been doing pretty good with our flyers. I think some people have taken notice,” Harry said optimistically.

“I hope you’re right, I guess we’ll find out tonight,” Hermione said as she went back to writing.

The day flew by and before Harry knew it he was sitting in the Room of Requirement, which was now equipped with a podium, worrying nervously over what he was going to say. Harry had never been comfortable in front of crowds and his bad experiences with fame over the years had not eased him at all. Hermione had stroked his arm comfortingly but as it neared the time for people to arrive she stopped to keep from giving their relationship away.

Members of the D.A. were not quite as security conscious as they had been during the dreaded days of Umbridge but Harry still made sure that they weren’t blatant in their arrivals. Staggered arrivals in varying groups ensured that no casual outside observer would spot any pattern to D.A. member’s behavior. Everyone was chattering animatedly amongst themselves as curiosity built over what Harry intended to do.

Harry cleared his throat and stepped up to the podium. Hermione was sitting on a chair next to him and slightly to the rear to help with the questions after his speech.

“Harry, there’s no point in being so nervous, you know everyone here and talk to them every day,” Hermione said.

“I don’t think my nerves will respond to logic,” Harry replied as his stomach clenched a little more. Suddenly he felt soothing calm feelings begin to wash over him as Hermione poured her thoughts into his mind across the link.

With a deep breath Harry began talking about all the things he and Hermione had been trying to convince people of for months, or in Hermione’s case years. The history of house elves, how that wizards had lied to them when they were first discovered and took advantage of their pliant nature. Next Harry described the plight of werewolves and how they were legally oppressed. The best jobs were denied to them by institutional discrimination, schools were closed to them, and even some businesses were barred from selling them things. They were barely allowed to own wands in many places, though England wasn’t that oppressive yet. Giants fared even worse by being herded onto reservations or outright banished. They were strictly forbidden wands, any job above menial labor was likewise prohibited, and had even less political power than werewolves.

“That was very compelling Harry,” Hermione complimented him as she stood beside him. The D.A. members all seemed to be a little confused but not outright hostile so Harry was hopeful.

“Why should we care about giving elves more rights if elves themselves don’t care?”

Harry couldn’t tell where the question came from as Hermione jumped on it.

“As Harry explained the house elves were once free before wizards discovered their existence. The elves were convinced to serve wizards through various lies and possibly mind control techniques. It wasn’t difficult since elves are very agreeable compromising creatures by nature. Thousands of years of subsequent brainwashing have turned them into the perfect slave race. Only wizards can undo this engrained servitude by slowly returning to the elves the rights that all sentient creatures should enjoy.”

“Well that’s all good and fine for elves, they’re harmless, but werewolves and giants are too dangerous,” a Hufflepuff girl Harry only just recognized said.

“Wizards can be dangerous too, that doesn’t mean we take away their rights,” Hermione said.

“How many of you thought that Professor Lupin was the best defense teacher we’ve ever had?” Harry asked. “Werewolves are people too and what matters is the choices they make not the condition they find themselves in.”

“That’s right, how many of you know someone kinder or gentler than Hagrid who is himself half giant as you all already know,” Hermione added.

“It isn’t right to prejudge people and mistreat them simply because of a condition that they can’t help. How would any of us like it if we were routinely discriminated against because we’re wizards?” Harry asked. “Let me tell you it doesn’t feel good. For ten years I had to live with Muggles that hated wizards and therefor hated me. I was treated like a criminal, confined in a cupboard, given terrible food, forbidden to go outside, and forced to do all the worst chores just because of my heritage. I didn’t even know why until my letter for Hogwarts came.”

Harry felt shock and revulsion come across his link with Hermione. She had known that his treatment was bad but he had never gone into such detail before. The other students were even more shocked and appalled. The discussion continued for another hour but after Harry’s outburst the tide had turned in their favor. It was revelations of Harry’s mistreatment for the crime of having magical ability that, more than anything, persuaded their peers as to the injustice of oppressing other sentient creatures simply because of what they were.

“I think that went very well Harry. You did a great job. We’ve probably got almost every one of the D.A. with us now.” Hermione said proudly as Ron began the instruction part of the meeting. They were not going to have enough time to do much since the discussion over sentient rights had gone on for so long. Harry could tell that Ron was quite disappointed since he had become so fond of teaching. Harry had suggested that Ron might want to teach at Hogwarts after he graduated and the idea had really seemed to perk him up.

“You’re the one who started everything with S.P.E.W. Hermione.” Harry replied modestly to her praise.

“You were very brave to tell everyone about your treatment at the hands of the Dursleys. I had no idea it was awful.” Hermione said.

“Well, I’ll be away from them soon. After I turn seventeen I’m moving to Grimmauld Place and never going back.” Harry said firmly. “Speaking of which, are you going to stay with me over the holidays?”

“I won’t have to, I’ll be able to apparate after we get our licenses. The next training session is also a testing session.” Hermione said.

“I’d almost forgotten about that,” Harry said, delighted that Hermione would only be a thought away from him.

“That reminds me of something that I’ve been working on. I think I’ve discovered a way to link us magically so that we can apparate to each other at will.” Hermione said. She explained how she had found a charm similar to the one she had used to make the galleons for the D.A. except that it also created a bit of a magical link between the users.

“That sounds a lot like the Dark Mark,” Harry said.

“Yeah, that’s what gave me the idea, except that these would be tokens to carry like the galleons, not a tattoo to be branded on us.” Hermione said.

“That could definitely be useful. Maybe we should bring this idea up to Dumbledore for use by the Order.” Harry said.

“Well, actually, I don’t think we should be so hasty about collaborating with the Order anymore,” Hermione said hesitantly.

“What? Why? I know you don’t like Dumbledore anymore Hermione, but he is leading the fight against Voldemort,” Harry said.

“Yes, that’s just it, he’s leading the war against Voldemort everything else be ignored. I don’t think we should take binding oaths and support the Ministry’s latest round of excesses just to defeat Voldemort. I know Voldemort must be defeated, but at the rate things are going now we’re going to defeat the Dark Lord just in time for the Ministry to gain absolute power over everything,” Hermione explained.

“You really think Fudge wants to become a dictator?” Harry asked. He knew Hermione was paranoid about the Ministry these days but she had hidden the depth of her fears from him until now.

“Universal curfews, internal floo passports, strict censure of the press, aurors on every street corner, and now there are rumors that he is pressuring the goblins to confiscate suspected Death Eater gold,” Hermione began listing off abuses.

“So you think we need a separate entity that we control, like the Order, to both fight Voldemort and be a check on the Ministry?” Harry asked.

“Yes that’s exactly what I was thinking of. We can call ourselves the Bearers of the Light, since we have the light of truth so to speak. I’ve already drawn up plans for organization and recruitment.” Hermione said brightly. Harry shook his head in amazement at all the scheming she had been up to. The D.A. must have just whet her appetite for secret organizations.

As soon as the D.A. meeting came to an end the trio headed back to the common room. Ron chatted to a mostly silent Harry and Hermione until he realized they weren’t paying attention.

“You guys are ignoring me again,” he grumped.

“Sorry Ron, we’re just considering how best to create some new tools called emblems to aid us in apparating,” Hermione explained.

“Oh wow, can I get one too then?” Ron asked.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not, assuming of course we can make them,” Harry said. “We want to be able to magically pinpoint each others location and apparate to them at will.”

“Actually, I don’t think it will be quite possible to have three like that,” Hermione said. “The charm is based on the magic that makes the Dark Mark possible. I think I can make two emblems that can home in on each other but three would water the charm down too much. The most we can do is make client emblems that are slaved to the magic of the main two.”

“Is this what you had planned all along?” Harry asked suddenly.

“Yes, it’s the safest way I know of to be able to call people when we need them,” Hermione replied.

“What are you two talking about?” Ron asked.

Hermione quickly gave him an overview of their plans to create a new organization that would be loyal to them first, not to the Ministry or Dumbledore. Ron seemed a little skeptical but he accepted their plan easily enough. When they returned to the common Ron sat down on one of the big squashy sofas to keep watch while Harry and Hermione huddled over a table in a corner of the room.

Fortunately no one came about to disturb the prefects and the Boy-Who-Lived while they were in the process of creating their emblems that Ron had dubbed the Light Marks. Ron scrutinized them as they worked. He could see sweat standing out on their foreheads as a dark mist flowed out of their wands. On the table sat two D.A. galleons that absorbed the mist as quickly as it flowed out. Slowly the coins turned into a puddle of golden colored goo before reforming into a wire frame design that resembled a burning torch. The mist flow diminished as the torch forms hardened.

“I think we did it Harry,” Hermione said weakly. Harry slumped out of his chair onto the floor.

“Oi, mate, are you ok?” Ron asked as he jumped up.

“All…my energy…drained,” Harry gasped.

“He’ll be ok in a minute,” Hermione said in a stronger voice. “That pushed us to our limits though.”

“Scary, I’ve not see either of you collapse like that before,” Ron said with a shudder.

“Don’t worry, I’m feeling loads better now,” Harry said.

Hermione dug around in her hat and pulled out two small bottles. “Here drink this.” She instructed as she downed the contents of one of them. Harry quickly drank the other and felt a warm rejuvenating feeling permeate through him. “Restorative potion, works like a muggle stimulant except its revitalizes magical power too, in addition to alleviating physical fatigue.”

“Nice one,” Harry said thankfully.

“Ok Ron, now give us your D.A. coin,” Hermione said. Ron passed it over and Hermione waved her wand over it a couple of times. The material shimmered and rearranged itself into a wire frame imagine of a burning torch except that it was silver instead of gold like Harry and Hermione’s emblems.

“Ok, there you go, we can send you a message across the link that basically amounts to a “come forth” signal. When you feel the call you can apparate to us instantly if you so choose. Unlike our emblems though you won’t be able to apparate to us unless we first tell you where we’re at by calling you. We’ll always be able to find and apparate to you though so long as you wear it.”

“Well, better than nothing,” Ron said. He sounded slightly miffed at getting the second rate emblem.

“It can’t be helped,” Hermione said when Harry began sympathizing with Ron. He reluctantly agreed and wished again that Ron wouldn’t take everything so personally.

Harry found himself wishing that again as Ron got done taking his apparation test the next day. Harry didn’t know what the big deal was since Ron passed his test well enough. His instructor said that his technique was quite acceptable, even if it was a little slow. His sulky attitude worsened though when Hermione took her turn. The test was a series of obstacles that each applicant was to apparate to as quickly as possible in the correct order. Hermione flitted quickly from place to place and even earned some brief applause when she reappeared back at the starting point.

Harry also passed his test with ease and was given a license dated for his birthday so that it would be valid the instant he became of age. He found apparation to be increasingly simple, as easy as thought. Most of the students were able to pass their tests though many people found the process tedious. Many of them muttered discontentedly about how broom flight was much better and Harry recalled Mad Eye telling him that many wizards never bothered with apparation.

After they all were returned to the castle Ron went stomping off muttering about packing for vacation. Harry and Hermione hurried along behind him to try to console his flighty mood.

“You did really well today,” Hermione said soothingly, “You’ll be able to apparate now.”

“It takes all my concentration to do it. You and Harry jump around all over the place like you could juggle and cast spells at the same time.” Ron grumped.

Harry considered that his assessment was probably correct but he didn’t say that. “We’ve just practiced more than you have Ron. I’m sure with a bit more experience you’ll be able to apparate as swiftly as you want to.”

Ron seemed to cheer up a little but he still went up to his room pretty quickly after they got back. Harry and Hermione sat down on the chairs for a few moments while most people were likewise busy packing. Harry took out his wand and began twirling it in his fingers idly.

“Harry, that isn’t safe,” Hermione chided him.

“Sorry, I was just thinking…” Harry said.

“What about?” Hermione asked.

“I never told you this, but my wand is rather unique,” Harry said.

“It’s the brother wand of Voldemort’s right?” Hermione replied.

“How did you know?” Harry asked.

“You showed me the battle at the graveyard. I recognized the effect that happened when you dueled him. I didn’t want to say anything until you were ready to talk about it,” Hermione said.

“I should have told you long ago. I guess I was embarrassed for some reason. I just hated the idea of having anything in common with him,” Harry said.

“Here Harry, take my wand,” Hermione said as she extended it toward him. “I’ve been thinking about a solution for this problem for some time now.”

“Do you think this will work?” Harry asked, as he understood what Hermione was trying to do. With her wand he would be able to duel with Voldemort without having to worry about the prior incantato effect. He grabbed the wand and gave it a flick. Bright sparks flew out from it.

“See, I knew it would work,” Hermione squealed with delight.

“But what will you do for a wand?” Harry asked as he performed a few simple charms.

“Silly, I should think its obvious,” Hermione said as she pointed at his wand. Harry nodded and handed it to her. She waved it and similar sparks burst from its tip.

“Harry, our minds are so merged now due to our link that our magical auras are nearly identical. I doubt our wands even realize that they’ve changed owners.” Hermione explained. “You can defeat Voldemort Harry, I know it.”

Standing there with his beloved’s wand confidence swelled Harry’s heart and for the first time since he heard the prophecy he actually believed it.

“Alright, you’re clear,” a deep voice intoned toward a kindly old man as he passed through a tiny entrance at the Ministry of Magic. The tag on his vest said magical maintenance but the auror on duty had to inspect all incoming traffic regardless. The old man continued about his business idly picking up scattered trash along the way. He supposed he could use a spell just as easily, but he found that he enjoyed the exercise. He also hadn’t had to buy a copy of any major newspaper in the last twenty years. It was amazing how much people tossed away that was still perfectly usable. He glanced at the Prophet’s headline, another jab at Dumbledore as usual.

He snorted as he continued along reading the paper. Dumbledore was the only thing that stopped Voldemort from taking over the last time around. If it hadn’t been for him the Dark Lord would have succeeded in conquering the world before the Potter boy had even been born, but the Ministry just didn’t like anything it couldn’t control. The old janitor rounded a corner and came upon an elderly wizard in deep purple robes.

“The Minister will see you now, sir.” A voice came from inside an open door. The tall figure replaced an odd looking golden watch into his clothing before stepping into the room and disappearing from sight.

The walk back from Kings Cross was uneventful for Harry. Hermione had hugged them all good-bye before apparating back to her home. Mad Eye and Remus were the escort that had drawn the duty of taking them all back to Grimmauld Place. Harry figured that they’d be happy to get out and about but both of them seemed pretty dour. Harry decided that the increasing escalation of the war must be taking its toll on their endurance.

It was getting dark when they arrived and there were very few people at Grimmauld Place. Harry quickly stowed the things he had brought with him and descended the stone staircase that led to the potion room. He didn’t think that the ingredient he needed for the petrifaction potion was in there and after a bit of searching he was convinced that he was correct.

When Harry made his way back upstairs he found that Remus had went out and only old Mad Eye was left sitting nervously as if he expected an attack at any moment. Having had prior experience with Mad Eye’s cooking Harry made himself, Ron, and Ginny some sandwiches. After the three had finished eating they retired to their respective rooms to get some rest. Harry hadn’t been asleep long when Hermione fell asleep too and joined his dream.

“Enjoying your first night of vacation?” Harry asked her.

“Yes, well enough. Its good to see Mum and Dad again even though I didn’t miss them nearly so much this term thanks to your lovely mirror,” Hermione said.

“I’m glad you can talk to them whenever you like. So are you going to come over tomorrow?” Harry asked.

“Yes, we’ve got tons of stuff to do. We need to talk to Fred and George about recruiting for the Bearers of the Light.” Hermione said.

“Assuming they join. We need to get the essence of basilisk for the petrifaction potion too,” Harry reminded her.

“I also wanted to look through the library again. I’m sure there are tons of things in there that we’ll find more useful now than we did during the summer.” Hermione said. Harry grinned at her typical eagerness to reacquaint herself with a library. They chatted all through the night about their plans for the Light Bearers, new potion experiments, the latest news from the government press, and the Order’s unusually low key behavior.

Harry awoke refreshed the next morning and feeling ready to accomplish things. It was an exuberant feeling that he hadn’t felt often since Sirius had died but one that a long night’s talk with Hermione seemed to be able to bring out in him.

“Kreacher?” Harry said into the empty room. There was a faint popping sound as the old elf appeared in the dark room.

“Master, how can Kreacher be serving you?” he asked reverently. Harry was shocked at the tone of the elf. He had heard Kreacher use that kind of simpering admiration before toward his old mistress Mrs. Black, Sirius’ mother. Harry decided that the elf’s curious change of attitude needed investigation but there was no reason too not to forge ahead with his question.

“Can the anti-apparation wards in the house be altered to admit additional people?” Harry asked.

“Of course Master, Kreacher can be making all the adjustments,” Kreacher replied.

“Good, then I need you to add myself, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger so that we can disapparate and apparate at will,” Harry commanded.

“Master can already apparate, wards never block Master, but why would Master wish for blood traitor and mudblood to gain access to his home?” Kreacher asked darkly.

Harry felt something begin to click in his mind about Kreacher’s new attitude so he decided to give him a more cryptic response. Harry grinned slightly as a thought flickered across his mind that he was becoming nearly as observant as Hermione. In fact Harry was acting more and more like Hermione all the time.

“I will not explain all my purposes to you Kreacher,” Harry snapped. The elf seemed to take this very well because he bowed low, his eyes full of admiration, before popping away. Harry waited for a few minutes before Kreacher returned announcing his success.

“Hermione, you can apparate directly into Grimmauld Place now whenever you want. I had Kreacher set the wards to recognize and admit you.” Harry said.

“Ok Harry, I’ll be there after I eat,” Hermione replied.

Harry decided that eating would be a good idea so he headed down to the kitchen. He missed Molly’s cooking as he made some toast and tried to ignore Mad Eye’s obsession with his magical eye. The retired auror had it out in a bowl of water as usual, poking it with his wand.

Harry decided that he just didn’t want to eat with that eye spinning about so he grabbed his toast and headed toward the library. He had made it about half way there when Hermione appeared in front of him. She was dressed casually in muggle clothes just like Harry was. They had been cooped up in constrictive dragon hide and robes for so long that it was refreshing to wear something more comfortable.

“Hey Hermione, I was just heading to the library,” Harry said.

“You, heading to the library on your own,” Hermione teased.

“Yeah, its still to early for Ron or Ginny to be up,” Harry said, “besides, I actually like spending time in the library these days.”

“We are becoming more alike aren’t we,” Hermione said. It wasn’t a question.

“Do you think it’s the Itomanic bond?” Harry asked.

“Seems kinda obvious don’t you think? You’ve become more logical and calm, I’ve become more brash.” Hermione said.

“Seems like you got the worse end of this deal,” Harry smirked.

“I wouldn’t say that. Being more forceful seems kinda natural to me actually. I was rather timid when I was younger but I tried to cover it up by being knowledgeable about everything. I still let people run over me though.” Hermione explained. Harry thought back to their first days at Hogwarts when everyone had picked on Hermione and realized that she really had been a rather shy withdrawn person for all her bossiness.

When they reached the library Harry grabbed Hermione’s elbow and pulled her aside to explain Kreacher’s bizarre behavior. She listened attentively until he finished and then apparently came to the same conclusion that he had.

“So you think that Kreacher’s been reading the Daily Prophet about all your dark wizard traits and has decided you’re a worthy master after all,” Hermione said with a grin.

“Well, that would be the most logical explanation for his sudden change of heart,” Harry replied.

“So you want to see if I can get in on his good side too,” Hermione said.

“It’s almost like you can read my mind,” Harry smirked. He outlined his plan briefly and Hermione nodded that it was worth a shot. Having Kreacher loyal and devoted to them would be a great benefit even if they could never fully trust him.

Harry and Hermione opened the library doors with the key since they had been locked down at the end of the summer to prevent unauthorized access. The library appeared to be unchanged but Harry summoned Kreacher anyway. The elf appeared straight away still throwing off radiance towards Harry but he kept his more frigid attitude toward Hermione.

“Kreacher, did you make sure that no one disturbed this library like I instructed?” Harry asked gruffly.

“Yes Master, the nosey one with strange hair tried to break in but Kreacher keeps his Master’s secrets,” Kreacher said. Harry assumed he must have been talking about Tonks.

“Then perhaps we need additional security, what do you think Hermione?” Harry asked. Hermione immediately stepped into the plan.

“A wise precaution,” she intoned as she took out her wand. Kreacher watched on as Hermione conjured up two great stone statues of fell hounds. Next she conjured up stone pillars on either side of the entrance to the library. The great dogs leaped up onto the pillars, their red eyes glowed briefly before they froze in place. Satisfied with her corporeal guardians Hermione next began drawing a complex symbol in the air in fiery red lines. The symbol grew with every wand stroke until it split into dozens of identical smaller copies that settled on each bookshelf. The master symbol burned dark lines into the entrance doors before fading away. Harry recognized the magic and knew it was barely non-lethal. Kreacher apparently recognized the dark magic too because he was looking at Hermione in a whole new light.

“That should keep away anyone who would tamper with this place,” Harry said proudly.

“If the spell doesn’t stop them the guardians most assuredly will,” Hermione said.

“Thank you Kreacher, that will be all for now,” Harry said, snapping the old elf back to reality.

“Yes, Kreacher is delighted to serve, Master, Missus,” Kreacher said as he bowed low before disappearing.

Harry grinned. “Well done my Dark Queen.”

“Stuff it,” Hermione said while grinning back. “Let’s get to searching, I want to find something on wards.”

“Wards? You mean like the protections on this house?” Harry asked.

“Or the protections on Hogwarts. Wards are like permanent self sustaining spells, but only certain types of spells like anti-apparation jinxes are suitable for being placed in a ward.” Hermione said.

“We don’t really need any new wards though. This house is already protected as well as it possibly can be, Sirius told me that his family put every protection available on it.” Harry said.

“Wards aren’t just for buildings, they can be used anywhere. For example, if we can store up powerful defensive spells in wards then we can use them quickly to buy us time to escape from traps.” Hermione explained, “Or we could even use them for simple detection purposes.”

“All right then, wards it is, but I didn’t see any the last time,” Harry said, still slightly skeptical.

“Some books are charmed to be incorporeal except in the presence of wizards of sufficient power,” Hermione said, “and unless I miss my guess I’d say we’re both several orders of magnitude stronger than we were this summer.”

“Probably true, maybe some other types of books have revealed themselves too,” Harry said as they started down the first isle. He noticed that there were several books that he hadn’t seen before but none of them were particularly useful. Harry wasn’t even totally sure that they were new since there were so many books in the library that he couldn’t hope to recognize each of them even if he had seen them before.

“Found one,” Hermione said. “It looks fairly incomprehensible, we need one on the basics.”

“Here’s something,” Harry said as he spotted a huge black book. “It isn’t about wards though, it’s some kind of dark magic.”

“The runes on the cover roughly translate to Bane of the Living or Banish Life,” Hermione said softly. “These curses are in the same class as the Killing Curse, but not quite as potent. They don’t kill instantly nor are they undefeatable.”

“They should still be Unforgivable,” Harry said darkly.

“There are many spells that should be, but what is truly unforgivable is when any spell is used for evil,” Hermione replied evenly.

They had been amassing books for several hours straight when Harry finally began to get tired. He placed the final book he had found on the pile they were setting aside for further study before going up to the second story of the room to find Hermione.

“Let’s take a break, I’m tired and we’ve not eaten all day,” he told her.

Hermione was chewing on her lip anxiously as she peered at her latest discovery. “Oh, I suppose you’re right Harry, we should at least get something to drink before dinner.”

“I think Ron said that Molly is going to be dropping by to cook again, thankfully,” Harry said. Hermione locked the library with a charm as they left on the outside chance that someone would wander into it and discover the rather thick pile of dark books they had gathered. Neither of them figured that the Order would be too pleased about their unsupervised studies.

Harry and Hermione walked arm in arm back downstairs toward the kitchen to get a snack or at least some butter beers. Hermione was really enjoying herself Harry could feel the warm pleasant emotions radiating off of her as she chattered eagerly about their impending trip to Diagon Alley. Hermione wanted to do some shopping besides their more serious business.

“Oh Harry we’re going to have so much fun tomorrow,” Hermione said, “I enjoy Diagon Alley so much more than Hogsmeade.”

“Hogsmeade does get a little boring after a while, there isn’t as much to do after all,” Harry replied.

Hermione started humming something that Harry recognized and soon they were both singing God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs as they made their way down the hall. Harry couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so happy.

“Sounds like some of us are having a good time then,” Remus said as Harry and Hermione walked into the kitchen. Ron, Ginny, Molly, Tonks, Remus and Kreacher were all there too. Harry had never seen Kreacher willingly in the same room with the Weasleys so he assumed that Molly must have been using him for something.

“Where’ve you lot been?” Ron asked grumpily, “it’s been right boring.”

“Er, library Ron, there’s still a lot of searching left to be done,” Harry said hesitantly. He didn’t want people to start prying into the library. Remus seemed to pick up on his discomfort because he quickly changed the topic.

“So I hear you’ve all been qualified for apparation. How does it feel?” he asked.

“Can’t you apparate too?” Harry asked.

“Apparation feels differently for each wizard depending on their power and technique,” Hermione said exasperatedly as if that were common knowledge.

“Oh, well, I suppose it feels a bit like I’d imagine flowing water to feel,” Harry said.

“It’s more of a fuzzy feeling to me,” Hermione said, “like I’m falling apart and then being put back together really quickly.”

“Lucky you guys, it feels more like getting drug across some bramble bushes for me,” Ron interjected.

“Yeah, that’s about what it feels like to me too,” Remus said. “I avoid apparating whenever I can.”

Tonks, however, was not to be so easily put off by Remus’ attempt at shifting the topic. Her scowl deepened as they chatted until finally she looked like she was about ready to burst.

“You know you really shouldn’t go into that library alone. It could be dangerous, there could still be creatures, and you might find books on dark magic without realizing it. I think you both should stay out of it until I can give it a good going over and toss out all the dark things.”

“Tonks, we are very careful aren’t we Hermione,” Harry said.

“Yes, really we are, and I don’t think that we should be so hasty to toss things out. Knowledge is never useless.” Hermione added.

“Some things ought not be known,” Tonks bit back peevishly. Harry grimaced at the young auror’s bitter mood.

“Tonks, please, I’m sure they’re careful and I’m sure that we’ll go through the library together as soon as possible,” Remus said diplomatically.

“Besides,” Molly added, “If it were really that dangerous don’t you think Dumbledore would be taking a bigger interest in it?”

“Well in the mean time everyone should stay away from it,” Hermione said briskly, “I’ve placed protective enchantments to keep the room sealed except when Harry or I am there.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing child,” Tonks said loudly at this bit of information. “You’ll bloody well do something disastrous with those evil books.”

“YOU WILL NOT SECOND GUESS MISSUS!” Kreacher shouted suddenly. Everyone froze and stared unbelievingly at the old little elf. Kreacher was just getting wound up though. “Nasty blood traitors bossing and talking, always talking bad about Missus…”

“Kreacher, enough,” Harry said, finally regaining his presence of mind after Kreacher’s outburst. Kreacher whirled around and bowed lowly with a grimace.

“Kreacher is sorry Master but she shouldn’t speak ill of Master or Missus,” Kreacher groveled.

“Tonks is our friend and guest Kreacher, remember what we discussed this morning,” Harry said softly. “Why don’t you go see to your duties Kreacher.”

“Yes Master, Kreacher is honored to serve Master and Missus,” Kreacher said as he gave another couple of scraping bows before vanishing.

Remus sat there a little slack jawed and Tonks looked like she was getting ready to put on a rage worthy of Uncle Vernon. Ron and Ginny looked bewildered at what had just taken place.

“Your elf is certainly loyal to the two of you,” Molly said finally.

“Yes, so he is, we think that you can thank the Daily Prophet for that,” Hermione said.

Remus nodded understandingly, “He thinks you’re dark wizards.”

Tonks’ eyes flared with alarm, “Dark wizards indeed, but it would take far more than a couple of newspaper clippings to convince something like Kreacher of that.”

“Now Tonks let’s be reasonable. A lot of people were convinced that Harry was a powerful dark wizard because he defeated Voldemort,” Molly said.

Tonks shuddered at Voldemort’s name. “Nothing good will come of this, mark my words. If you kids are dabbling in dangerous things…”

“Tonks,” Remus said sharply, “you know Harry wouldn’t do anything like that.”

Tonks finally seemed to decide that a larger row was pointless and settled down but all through dinner the tension was still thick. Hermione didn’t linger long before making a hasty retreat back up to the study. Harry and Remus soon followed since they really didn’t want to hang around a glowering Tonks. Harry could feel disappointed and sad feelings coming from Hermione.

“What was that all about?” Harry asked when they were all alone in the study.

“Tonks has voiced some…concerns…about Hermione and her, uh, influence on you,” Remus explained.

“You mean Tonks thinks I’m dabbling in dark magic and sucking Harry into my evil ways too,” Hermione bit back.

“I suppose you could put it that way,” Remus said.

“That’s preposterous, Hermione isn’t a dark witch,” Harry said indignantly, “and Tonks should know better than to pay attention to the Prophet by now.”

“Actually, she probably thinks that we’re obsessed with power to defeat Voldemort or something,” Hermione said insightfully.

“Tonks’ main motivation is concern over the two of you. She cares for you both very much, she doesn’t want you to get hurt,” Remus said. “She was also probably disconcerted by Kreacher’s sudden change of heart towards a muggle born, as was I.”

“Well, Tonks may not be reading the Prophet but Kreacher certainly has been. He thinks that Hermione and I are dark wizards or at least dark enough to be worthy of being his masters.” Harry explained.

“Kreacher isn’t that easily convinced,” Remus said knowingly.

“If you really must know Kreacher watched me create the new protections for the library. I used a nightmare infection curse to attack the mind and conjured stone guardians to attack the body.” Hermione explained.

Remus gulped, “I guess that would convince him alright.”

“Should we tell him about the prophecy?” Harry asked.

“No, we can’t risk it, Remus goes out undercover for the Order all the time. He may even be acting as a double agent with the werewolves. Anyone skilled in Legilimency could conceivably be able to pry it out of him.” Hermione said.

“Don’t worry about it Remus, those safeguards aren’t lethal, they’re just to insure that no one starts destroying rare books that we might need later.” Harry said. Remus appeared to be mollified and Harry appreciated how much the werewolf trusted his judgement even when he didn’t know the full story.

“Well I’m going to get out of here for the night,” Hermione said suddenly, “Harry and I have business to attend to tomorrow in Diagon Alley so I want to get some sleep.”

Hermione gave Harry a hug before apparating back to her own home. Remus didn’t say anything but Harry could tell that he wasn’t totally approving of their impending visit to Diagon Alley.

“Don’t worry Remus, we’re going to wear cloaks so no one will recognize us,” Harry said.

“You’re going whether anyone else approves or not?” Remus said.

“Its very important Remus or else we wouldn’t bother.” Harry affirmed.

“You won’t take a protection team?” Remus asked hopefully.

“I doubt that would be a good idea. Two people being guarded by several more is bound to draw attention. We’ll actually be safer by ourselves and it isn’t like Diagon Alley is a prime target for Death Eaters.” Harry said.

Remus sighed gently as if in deep contemplation. “I won’t try to persuade you not to go then but keep in mind that the Order may be mighty upset. Most members of the Order wouldn’t think that you’re responsible enough to go out alone.”

“You disagree though?” Harry asked.

“Unfortunately most people still seem to easily confuse you with your father. Well I actually knew your father and I can assure you that you are not him.” Remus said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Harry asked aggressively. He knew that his father had some issues with rule following but he still bristled at any negative implications about him.

“What that means is that your father was quite reckless at your age Harry. Let’s just say that if you were like James I’d sleep even less soundly than I do when Fred and George drop by to visit.” Remus said with a smirk. Harry couldn’t help but grin back. His father had been apparently quite the practical joker.

The next morning Harry got up early when Hermione apparated into his room. The noise of their conversation woke Ron up.

“Oi, what are you two doing this early?” Ron asked irritably.

“We’ve got a lot to do today and we want to leave before anyone else from the Order shows up,” Hermione said.

“We’re going over the list of things we’re going to get one last time,” Harry added.

“What are we waiting for then?” Ron said excitedly.

“Ron, you can’t come,” Hermione said. Ron’s face immediately fell.

“Why not?” he demanded.

“How do you think you’re going to get there?” Hermione asked.

“Er, I dunno,” Ron replied.

“We can’t use floo, Harry can’t apparate, and it would be too suspicious to have the Knight Bus come around anywhere near headquarters to pick us up.” Hermione said.

“Well then how are you two going?” Ron asked.

“Honestly Ron, have you forgotten that we can fly?” Hermione said exasperatedly.

“Oh, yeah, I guess so,” Ron said, defeated.

“Ron even if there was a way for you to go we would need you to stay here. We need you to cover for us while we’re gone or else the Order might try to come get us.” Harry said.

Ron brightened up a little at the thought of being needed. “Sure thing, no one will ever miss you if they think we’re all off somewhere else. We can be doing homework or something.”

“All right then, if that’s settled the we should probably be going,” Hermione said. She gave her wand a flick and her clothes transformed into a set of black robes that Harry had never seen before. They were shorter and closer fitting than normal wizarding robes so as to prevent the wearer from tripping. Over those fell a long black cloak that attached at the throat. The cloak itself was nondescript except for the outline of a burning torch that was etched in gold and adorned the right shoulder. Harry could feel powerful spells woven into it.

“You made us new clothes?” Harry asked as Hermione flicked her wand again and Harry was suddenly arrayed in an identical outfit. He realized that the dragon hide he had purchased for them was also a part of the uniform.

“We’re going to need them if this is to be our first recruiting trip,” Hermione said briskly, “plus I put much more powerful spells into these.”

“Wow, when do I get a set?” Ron asked.

“As soon as I can make some more, these took me a couple of weeks, but I think I’m getting better at it now,” Hermione said.

Harry and Hermione walked over to the window after saying a last farewell to Ron. Harry opened the window before he and Hermione transformed into their animagus forms.

“I’m a little out of practice,” Hermione said as they flapped awkwardly into the air.

“Yeah, I think I am too,” Harry said as he pulled along side her. They soon got used to the sensation of flight in the open sky as they quickly made their way to Diagon Alley. They landed and transformed in a secluded part of a muggle housing community near the entrance to the alley. Hermione led the way since she used the muggle entrance more often than Harry had. Before they entered Hermione took out two long scarves that they wrapped around their heads so that only their eyes showed.

“They’ll just think that we’re hags probably,” Hermione said.

“Are there male hags?” Harry asked.

“No, but would you want to be recognized in the company of a hag?” Hermione asked.

“Er, well, I don’t guess, that is to say, is this a trick question?” Harry spluttered.

Hermione’s laughter rang through is head, “Don’t worry Harry, it looks like a lot of people are dressing discretely these days.”

Harry glanced around at the few other people who were in the street and realized she was right. Most people were wearing cloaks and hoods or else keeping their heads down. Apparently Diagon Alley wasn’t perceived to be the haven that it once was now that the Death Eaters were bold again. Harry and Hermione marched briskly toward the wizarding bank Gingotts to get the money that they would need.

Harry immediately noticed that the bank was transformed from the last time he had visited it. There were guards posted at the entrance and all the goblins looked like they were on edge. Many of them were carrying strange items Harry assumed were weapons that he had never seen before. One of them approached the couple as they entered the main lobby.

“I am Grimshaw. Do you have business?” asked the gruesome looking creature bluntly.

“Yes, I need to add someone to my vault access and make a withdrawal,” Harry said.

“Harry, you don’t need to add me to your vault,” Hermione said.

“Yes I do, if you need money and I’m not available then you might need access to my account. We’re going to need cash to support the army we’re going to build.” Harry replied. Hermione caved at his logic and agreed, though with some feelings of reluctance.

“I will need your key sir and you will need to verify your identity,” Grimshaw said.

“Not here,” Harry muttered.

“Of course sir, step this way please,” Grimshaw said. He led them to a row of doors past the teller booths and ushered them inside what Harry presumed was his office. Once there he and Hermione removed their scarves.

“Mr. Potter, I am surprised to see you,” Grimshaw said as he took the key Harry held out. “I assume that Miss Granger here is the person to be added to your account?”

“Yes and I trust that all transactions here today will be strictly off the record,” Harry said.

“Of course, we don’t report to the Ministry,” Grimshaw said with a touch of offense in his voice.

“I’m glad to hear that, what with the Ministry tightening its grip on all our lives these days,” Hermione said.

The goblin looked at them with a touch of surprise but quickly moved on to business. He put Harry’s key in a strange little box, which he then turned upside down and reopened to reveal two identical keys. Grimshaw handed one to each of them.

“Miss Granger has been added to your account successfully. I will accompany you to your vault now if you are ready.”

Harry and Hermione put their scarves back on before following the little goblin out of his office and toward the entrance to the catacombs that contained the vaults. After a short fast ride on the sled they arrived at Harry’s vault. Harry felt Hermione’s shock as they entered into the rather large money filled space. He quickly began filling a sack with galleons, eager to get out as quickly as possible. Harry always felt embarrassed for anyone else to see his fortune since he felt it was so undeserved.

“I knew you were wealthy Harry, but I had no idea,” Hermione said softly.

“I just hope it can help us beat Voldemort,” Harry replied.

“Most guys would love to show off their wealth,” Hermione said knowingly.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t earn this and I don’t really deserve it,” Harry replied.

“I’d say that it’s small compensation for the hardships in your life,” Hermione said with a small sad voice.

“I guess, can we just go?” Harry pleaded ucomfortably.

“What’s this stuff over here?” Hermione asked as she pointed to some trunks and boxes.

“Well most of it is the few things that were salvaged from my parent’s house and that long box is my Firebolt. Professor Dumbledore had it sent here since I was banned from quiddich,” Harry said. Hermione didn’t reply, not wanting to bring up Harry’s parents anymore than she already had. She knew he really didn’t like to talk about them very much and she highly doubted that he would want to go rummaging about their old things.

“Comon, lets get out of here, we’ve still got a lot of stuff to do,” Harry said. He closed the vault and jumped up on the sled before extending his hand to help Hermione get on board. Another short wild ride ensued as they returned to the lobby.

Hermione looked wistfully at the ice cream shop as they walked down the street toward Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. Harry wished that they could just loiter about all day enjoying themselves like they used to do before Voldemort decided to start his second war but of course they couldn’t. No one else seemed to be able to either judging by the deserted nature of the once bustling street.

Fred and George’s place was relatively empty when they arrived. The twins were no where in sight either so the couple went to the counter that was positioned like an island in the center of the store. Hermione rang the tiny bell that was sitting on the counter after they finished looking around. Almost immediately two red heads popped through a door near the rear of the store.

“Just a minute,” Fred called.

“How can we help…” George cut off as he and Fred finally saw the two of them. The twin’s hands suddenly dipped inside their robes.

“That won’t be necessary you two,” Hermione said.

“Hermi…” Fred started, but was cut off again by Hermione.

“Quite, we need to talk someplace private, can you close your store for a minute?” she hissed.

“Er, sure, slow day anyway,” George said. The twins looked pretty nervous about their unexpected appearance.

“There’s nothing to worry about guys, everything’s fine, we just didn’t want to be recognized by anyone,” Harry said, attempting to ease their minds.

“Why don’t we go back into our office,” George said. Harry and Hermione had removed the scarves covering their faces before following the twins to the back of the store.

“So what is this about?” Fred asked. The twin’s usual jovial demeanor had disappeared at the sight of Harry and Hermione dressed like a pair of grim reapers.

“Do you two still want to join the Order of the Phoenix?” Hermione asked.

“I don’t know,” George said, “they don’t seem to think we’d be of any use to them.”

“I think Mum is trying to keep us out too,” Fred added.

“Harry and I have…lost confidence…in the ability of the Order to be effective,” Hermione said slowly.

“In light of the, er, well let’s be honest, the Order is Dumbledore’s and Dumbledore doesn’t always focus in on the right course of action,” Harry said.

“Dumbledore is obsessive with trying to defend everything, everywhere, at all times. So far he hasn’t done anything we can see about actually taking the fight to Voldemort’s forces. The closest he has come to diminishing Voldemort’s army is to convince groups not to join.” Hermione said.

“Unsuccessfully, for the most part,” Harry added. In truth the giants, werewolves, vampires, and trolls were mostly siding with the dark forces. Not to mention that purely dark creatures like dementors were on board from the very start.

“That’s all very fascinating but what does it have to do with us?” Fred asked.

“Harry and I have founded a new group to fight against Voldemort. We call ourselves the Bearers of the Light and we want you both to join.” Hermione said.

“You want to form a secret group behind Dumbledore’s back because you don’t like his methods?” the twins asked in unison.

“Well, I suppose you could put it like that,” Harry replied.

“Did we ever mention that you two would make great Weasley twins?” George asked.

“Bloody brilliant, of course we’ll join,” Fred chirped.

“I knew we could count on you two. I really can’t imagine why the Order hasn’t already recruited you actually,” Hermione said as she took two small boxes out from under her robes. The boxes grew quickly into two briefcases. Hermione pushed one at each of the twins who opened them. Inside was a set of robes with a necklace sitting on top.

“These are your uniforms and your emblems. Wear the emblems at all times but the robes are only for when you’re on a mission for us. The emblems are client charms to the master charms carried by Harry and I. As long as you have them on we can find you and apparate to you at will. When we want you to apparate to us you’ll feel the call through these emblems and we’ll also be able to direct you to us. When we call conjure your uniform and make sure you have your wand out because you may be apparating into a fight.” Hermione explained briskly. The twins nodded and admired the spell work that went into their new equipment.

“After all this is over we’d love to have you dream up spells for our joke shop,” George added with a wink.

“There is also one other thing we want you two to do because of your unique qualifications,” Harry said. “We want you to recruit more people, especially fully qualified witches and wizards since Hermione and I will be tied down to Hogwarts for the foreseeable future.”

“We know that you two are very well connected, far better than Harry or I,” Hermione added. “That’s why I can’t believe the Order hasn’t tried to recruit you two.”

“You can count on us,” Fred said proudly.

“We know tons of reliable people who would be willing to join up,” George affirmed.

“Thanks you guys, you don’t know how much this means to us,” Harry said.

“Now that we’ve settled that,” Fred said with a grin, “I’m sure our favorite investor would like a tour of the shop.”

Fred and George were really in their element as they showed Harry around their store. Hermione even seemed to enjoy herself as they showed them all their latest inventions. Some of them they had seen before, like their enchanted fireworks and portable swamp. Other things were new like a pair of extendable eyes that they made based on the same idea as the extendable ears. As usual most of their items had questionable uses like their biting lunchbox and screaming sneakers.

“Do people actually buy a lunchbox that tries to eat them?” Harry asked.

“Absolutely, they’re great to keep people from lifting your lunch when you’re not watching it,” George replied.

“So, Harry, do you need any more supplies, I bet you’re running low after a whole term in school,” Fred put in. The twins had gotten Harry a big box of their wares for his birthday.

Harry smirked, “I’m surrounded by prefects guys, it’s a little hard to prank. Don’t worry though, I’ve got some second and third year patrons who’ve been helping me out. I hear Snape had an awful term.”

“Honestly Harry,” Hermione said with a shake of her head, but she was grinning too. “It’s been fun you two, but we really should be going. We’ve still got other things to do.”

“I guess you’re right, we’ll be in touch you two,” Harry said. He and Hermione put their scarves back on before waving a farewell to the twins on their way out.

There were a few more people out as Harry and Hermione made their way toward the shady Knockturn Alley. Harry felt his skin crawl when they made the turn to head down the narrow street. Vendors with strange wares dotted the side of the road but they ignored their urgent pleas to make a sale. Hermione led the way and Harry suspected that she had grilled Mundungus Fletcher about where to find the type of ingredients that they were looking for. She stopped in front of a building with a dirty faded sign Harry could make out but that did have a cauldron hanging over the door.

Harry took over the lead and pushed through the door into the store. The room was fairly large, dank, dark, and filled with all manner of curious items that reeked of evil magic. There was an ancient looking witch sitting on a stool behind a counter at the far end of the store so they headed back there.

“Looking for something specific?” the old crone asked.

Hermione waved her wand, creating a bubble of silence around them before speaking. When she did Harry didn’t recognize her voice since she had magically disguised it with a deep wheezing rasp.

“Yes, we seek essence of basilisk,” she hissed.

The proprietor looked a bit frightened, which Harry supposed was the effect Hermione was going for, but she nodded and disappeared behind the counter. A moment later she reappeared holding a small dark green bottle.

“Three hundred galleons,” she said flatly.

“What a small bottle,” Hermione hissed back.

“Rare and illegal,” the witch replied stiffly.

“Yes, it would be a pity if aurors happened to search this store for contraband,” Hermione hissed.

“They wouldn’t dare, they have no cause,” the witch said, now looking a little scared.

“Aurors may search at will during war,” Hermione replied. “Fortunately for you we’re willing to take that off your hands before you get an extended trip to Azkaban.”

“Two hundred galleons,” the witch said. Hermione just stared at her.

“Fine, one hundred fifty galleons, but not a knut less, I’ll destroy it first,” the witch said defiantly.

“Acceptable,” Hermione intoned as she motioned to Harry to pay her. Harry quickly made the transaction as the witch wrapped the bottle into a box to keep it safe.

Harry and Hermione slowly made their way back out of Knockturn Alley. They tried to be unobtrusive about their presence and Harry felt that they succeeded. Most of the patrons of the shady alley were cloaked and hooded just like them. When they finally made it back to Diagon Alley Harry let out a breath of relief.

“That place gives me the creeps, though not nearly as bad as it did when I fell in there at the start of second year,” Harry said.

“I’m not anxious to go back anytime soon, that’s for sure,” Hermione replied.

A sudden commotion at the other end of the street, near Gringotts, caught their attention. Harry and Hermione surged forward to see what the problem was. Someone screamed and as the crowd thinned out they could make out two people surrounded by four masked men in cloaks.

“Death Eaters!” Harry said. Hermione gave him a grim nod. “Where are aurors when you need them?”

“I don’t know Harry but they’re torturing those people,” Hermione replied. “We’ve got to stop them or it will be killing in another minute.”

“Ok, I’ll take the two on the left,” Harry said as he started to draw his wand.

“You can’t Harry, you’re still underage, the Ministry will detect it,” Hermione replied.

“Are you kidding me?!” Harry asked incredulously, “I’m not letting you tackle them alone.”

“Harry we can’t afford for the Ministry to get wind of our activities which they will if they find out that we were here today. We don’t have time to argue, just trust me, I can handle it,” Hermione said tersely.

They were now less than a hundred meters away from the attackers and could make out their victims, Neville and his gran. Harry heard one of the Death Eaters call out crucio again as Neville rolled shrieking on the ground.

“Filthy blood traitors, you fought against the Dark Lord and now its time to reap your reward,” one of them said.

At that moment a powerful spell struck the man square in the back causing him to crumple and fall face forward onto the street. The other three whirled around in shock at being confronted so quickly by this strangely dressed person. Harry glanced around the emptied street and could see a few people staring out of windows at the events transpiring outside.

“No one is reaping anything today,” Hermione said with ringing authority as she raised her wand high in the air. The Death Eaters felt an anti-apparation jinx settle down around them like a heavy wet blanket.

The Death Eaters said nothing, instead choosing to reply with spells. They had barely mouthed the curses though before Hermione had summoned a shining silver shield to absorb them. She let off another spell that caused a second one of their number to crumple to the ground. The remaining two attackers let out a bellow of rage and stepped apart to make themselves more difficult targets.

“Avada Kedavra,” they yelled at the same time. Harry remained motionless even though his stomach lurched because he could feel sure confidence radiating off of Hermione. The twin beams of green light sped toward her with deadly intent but Hermione didn’t attempt to dodge. With a flash of light the beams exploded an instant before they would have struck her. Harry flinched slightly as his eyes adjusted so he could see what Hermione had done. Several large cobblestones from the street were floating lazily around her and several more had been reduced to powder when they intercepted the killing curses.

With great calm Hermione flicked her wand and dropped another of the masked men. The fourth turned to run but it was futile. Hermione brandished her wand like a whip, exactly as Harry had seen Dumbledore do during his duel with Voldemort, which caused a long thin tendril of fire to lash out and wrap itself around the fleeing Death Eater. The man staggered and tried to perform a counter spell but he was immobilized long enough for Hermione’s follow up spell to render him unconscious.

People began to emerge from hiding as shadowy ethereal chains burst from her wand tip and coiled like serpents around the fallen attackers binding them together. Harry knew that the combined power draining effects of the chains and the stunners would keep them unconscious for some time. He could see that Hermione’s eyes still burned with barely restrained power as she jerked the masks off of each of the men and rolled up their sleeves. There was no dark mark burned into their arms and Harry recognized none of them.

“They’re not even Death Eaters, they’re just mercenaries or recruits or something,” Hermione said.

“Doubt they’ll get into the Voldemort fan club since they botched their first mission,” Harry said.

“I’m going to check on Neville, keep watch for more Death Eaters or aurors, we can’t be caught here,” Hermione said. She whipped off her hat, bushy hair spilling down, and pulled two vials out of its magically enlarged space. People were starting to crowd around now.

“You let her fight those four alone?” one man groused at Harry.

“You saw the result,” Harry replied gruffly, but he still felt his face burn uncomfortably.

“What kind of wizard are you? They were using unforgivable curses.” Several bystanders were starting to work themselves up.

“You wouldn’t understand what kind of wizard he is,” Hermione said as she walked up. Neville and his gran had finished drinking the restorative potions that she had given them and were standing shakily. “He trusts and respects my talents. Not that any of you have a right to question him since I didn’t see any of you helping me out.”

Someone coughed and the first man that had spoken looked a little abashed. Hermione’s eyes had died down but now they blazed with power again. She pointed her wand at the street in front of the captured Death Eater recruits and a silver light shot out. It splashed into a misshapen glob before shimmering and morphing into an image of a burning torch.

“What do you think of the Light Mark?” Hermione asked.

“Very nice, your own original spell,” Harry said, pride at Hermione’s exceptional skill swelling in his heart.

“I know there are more here who serve Voldemort,” Hermione shouted to the gathering crowd, “Go tell your master that the Bearers of the Light will see him dead.”

“Going for the dramatic eh?” Harry asked as Hermione stood next to him. The crowd had broken out in nervous chatter over Hermione’s bold proclamation.

“Yeah, but now its time to leave, aurors just apparated in,” Hermione said. Sure enough, a half dozen men bearing the insignia of the Ministry were running toward them.

“Halt, no one leaves here,” one of them shouted.

Hermione flicked her wand and two powerful invisibility charms shrouded them. Everyone gasped as they vanished from sight unexpectedly. The aurors drew up short and fumbled around in their cloaks. They quickly donned some odd looking blue tinted eyepieces that fit over their left eye like a patch. Immediately they began scanning the area but when they came to Harry and Hermione’s location they still looked right through them.
“The invisibility charm is stronger than those eyepieces,” Hermione said in awe.

“What does that mean?” Harry asked.

“That means that my charm is stronger than whoever created the revealing spell used by the aurors,” Hermione said. That was some accomplishment indeed since aurors only used the best equipment created by the most powerful wizards. “Comon Harry, we still shouldn’t linger, we need to get back before we’re missed.”

They walked swiftly to get away from the crowds so they could reappear and take on their bird forms for the trip back to Grimmauld Place. No one noticed the owl or the falcon as they sped off purposefully into the sky

Ron was waiting at the window to let them back in when they arrived at Grimmauld Place. He looked very anxious as he waited for them to transform and hide their Light Bearer uniforms.

“Everything’s fallen apart while you guys were gone,” Ron babbled as soon as they were in human form again, “Death Eater’s struck all over England and they’re not just hitting muggles anymore, they targeted several top ministry officials, aurors and their families, and several Order members.”

“We know,” Hermione replied, “Four masked men attacked Neville when we were in Diagon Alley.”

“What happened, is he ok?” Ron asked in a strained voice. Almost everyone liked Neville and the trio had become especially fond of him after he stood with them against Voldemort during the battle in the Department of Mysteries.

“He’s fine Ron, Hermione saved him,” Harry reassured him.

“I’ll put the memory out into the pensieve later so we can all study it,” Hermione added. “First though we need to get this down to the potion room and get started if we want to finish before the holidays end.”

Ron glanced down at the brown box that concealed the basilisk extract that was so vital to the completion of the petrifaction potion.
“I’ll get the book,” Harry said, “Hermione take that package down, Ron run interference in case anyone gets suspicious of what we’re doing. I’m pretty sure this counts as dark magic.”

“No need, the house is empty, everyone is trying to respond to Voldemort’s attacks,” Ron replied. “Remus was coordinating as each new attack came in until he had to leave himself. Dumbledore said that Voldemort has created some new kind of warriors called avatars, whatever that means.”

Hermione paled and gasped, “Harry this is bad. Voldemort has invoked an ancient dark ritual to enhance his follower’s powers.”

“What? How come we’ve never heard of this before?” Harry asked.

“It’s very dangerous, not just to the people the ritual is performed on but to Voldemort too. Basically avatars gain the power of the one whom performs the ritual so Voldemort would only allow his most trusted and loyal followers to take part. The process is horrible though, it leaves the avatars burnt out empty shells doomed to a cursed half-life because of the unicorn blood involved in the potion component.” Hermione explained.

“So basically all of Voldemort’s inner circle are supercharged monsters now,” Ron said dimly, “No wonder everyone looked like they were expecting to go die.”

“Comon, there’s nothing we can do about it right now, we just have to trust the Order to hold things together a little longer,” Hermione said as she tugged the two boys toward the door.

“Kreacher?” Harry called. The elf appeared instantly awaiting instructions. “Does this house have medical supplies?”

“Yes Master, are you injured?” the elf asked anxiously.

“No, but injured people may be coming here soon, gather the supplies we have and assist anyone who arrives here,” Harry instructed. The elf’s eyes narrowed with distaste at the thought of having to aid the Order.

“Those who will be arriving are currently doing battle with your master’s enemies,” Hermione added angrily.

“Of course Missus, Kreacher is eager to aid Master’s goals,” Kreacher said hastily. As soon as the elf vanished the trio headed for the potion room in the dungeons, Ron still shaking his head at the elf’s conviction that Hermione and Harry were dark wizards.

The ingredients and method to making the petrifaction potion were complex, but now that Hermione could use magic the process was greatly simplified. Still, it was only several grueling hours later that they drug themselves back up the stairs, the potion would be left simmering for the next few days. Harry was growing increasingly concerned that not a single member of the Order had yet returned.

Kreacher had assembled a small pile of magical remedies on the dining room table. The trio knew of nothing better to do so they simply sat down and waited. Ginny had gone home to the Burrow with Molly and neither of them had come back but Ron didn’t want to send an owl for fear of interception or exposing Grimmauld Place’s location.

Then, suddenly, terrifyingly, people started to materialize all over the house. Some were apparating in but many were too injured and had to use unauthorized port keys prepared by their comrades.

“The attacks were just traps,” Remus wheezed as Shacklebolt helped him into a chair. He had a silver spike protruding from his shoulder. “Voldemort wanted us to think that it was just more routine harassment so he could wipe us out.”

“Don’t talk Remus,” Shacklebolt said as he flicked his wand and yanked out the spike.

Hermione pointed her wand at Remus and poured a deep blue light into his wound. Shacklebolt did the same and under the combined effect of the two healing charms the injured werewolf began to heal at an accelerated rate. By Harry’s command Kreacher had begun helping the other injured, mostly aurors and Ministry officials who were secretly in league with the Order.

“Shouldn’t we get Mr. Weasley to St. Mungo’s?” Harry asked. Arthur had a deep gash and what appeared to be a puncture wound in his torso.

“No can do Harry,” Arthur said between gritted teeth, “can’t blow my cover, last time I went to St. Mungo’s I nearly lost my job.”

“He’s right, why else do you think we’d come here instead of going to Mungo’s directly?” Shacklebolt said sardonically.

Harry just nodded and tried to stay out of the way. With Kreacher expertly administering the prepared medications and Hermione using her healing charm there was little else for Harry to do since magic was still forbidden to him. Thankfully there was no injury beyond Hermione and Kreacher’s considerable talents to heal, especially with Shaklebolt adding his auror field healing training.

By the next morning the true magnitude of the disaster was finally beginning to be comprehended. The Order had lost three of the aurors that it had working on the inside and it had nearly lost two more. Those two had been on official Ministry business so they were treated at St. Mungo’s. The Ministry had lost over a dozen aurors from a force that only numbered in the low hundreds and was already stretched thin.

A weary looking Hermione tossed the latest edition of the Daily Prophet down in front of Harry as she sat down to eat. Harry was expecting to see headlines roaring about the latest escalation in the war but instead there was nothing except the newest ministry decrees.

“They buried Voldemort’s attacks and they didn’t even mention any deaths,” Hermione said as she flipped the paper open. “The interesting part is here though.”

Vigilante Mayhem in Diagon Alley

Two masked individuals, one of whom was likely a witch, took the law in to their own hands yesterday in a daring showdown with alleged Voldemort supporters. The persons in question dubbed themselves the Bearers of the Light after subduing four men who were torturing two undisclosed persons in a daring broad daylight assault. An auror on the scene after the incident declined to comment except to say that these types of lawless battles between civilians are dangerous to everyone involved. These vigilantes were witnessed using dangerous spells and eyewitnesses say that Killing Curses may have been exchanged. The public is urged by the Ministry to refrain from taking any action during an attack except to contact the proper officials in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. (Continued on page 7)

“Somehow I expected a little more, er, gratitude or something,” Harry said.

“Well I can’t say I did, not after Fudge’s vendetta against you and Dumbledore,” Hermione replied.

“I guess somehow I thought that Fudge would be trying to unite all of the people who are fighting against Voldemort instead of turning many of us into criminals,” Harry said glumly. Hermione made a non-committal noise that Harry interpreted as “don’t be so optimistic.”

After the less injured people began clearing out of Grimmauld Place Harry, Ron, and Hermione snuck away to tend to the petrifaction potion. It was a fairly boring job at this point filled with Harry stirring whilst Hermione did something incomprehensible to the heat source that was designed to harden the mixture. Harry wished he had more time to study exactly how the potion was made so he could be more help but he had to settle for listening carefully to Hermione’s instruction.

Without warning Kreacher appeared before them whimpering. “Master, Missus, the one who contradicts Missus, the one with pink hair, and the shackley one are attempting to break into the library.”

“Ron can you handle this, it’s just stirring, and make sure that you add a chip of granite when the sand runs out of the hourglass,” Hermione said frantically.

“Right, right, just go, I can do it,” Ron said quickly as he took the silver stirring instrument from Harry.

Harry and Hermione ran up the stairs toward the library before anyone could trigger their defenses. They heard a heated discussion as they scurried down the hall to where Molly, Shacklebolt, and Tonks had been joined by an irate Remus.

“What’s going on here,” Harry asked loudly.

“What have you done to this door, why can’t we get in,” Tonks asked angrily.

“No one can get in without myself or Hermione here,” Harry replied.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell them,” Remus interjected. Molly looked very distressed and unsure of what to do.

“You shouldn’t be putting spells on things, I can’t believe you are so irresponsible,” Shacklebolt said, his voice sounded heated too.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into the both of you,” Tonks said darkly, “I didn’t want to say anything, but you’ve not been doing very well in my class, especially you Hermione. You didn’t even turn in all of your written assignments.”

Harry had to work to keep from smirking and he felt mirth mingled with disappointment radiate off of Hermione. McGonagall had figured it out but the young auror obviously hadn’t. Molly seemed a little shocked since she knew Hermione so well. Remus and Shacklebolt were non-pulsed, though for different reasons.

“What spell is this,” Shacklebolt asked as he tapped his wand on the door. Hermione’s seal burned crimson at his intrusion.

“It’s called a nightmare infection curse,” Harry said, “It will just keep…”

“Dark magic!” Shacklebolt hissed as he cut him off, “Get back, he might be a polyjuice.”

Remus cried out in protest as Tonks hustled him and Molly back. Shacklebolt shouted something Harry couldn’t make out as he leveled his wand on him. A bright purple bolt lashed out and instinctively Harry’s hand dove for his wand.

“Harry!” Hermione’s warning rang in his head and he remembered not to use his still forbidden powers. Moving with unnatural speed Hermione conjured a shining silver shield that was adorned with an otter and placed it in the path of Shacklebolt’s spell. The spell impacted against the shield harmlessly but Shacklebolt immediately readied another blast. Hermione pointed at him with her wand and Shacklebolt’s wand was wrenched violently from his grasp.

“That’s enough!” Harry shouted, “Have you all gone crazy? We’re not polyjuiced.”

It was Hermione more than Harry’s words that froze them in their place though. In an instant everyone in the hall were made irrefutably aware of the fierce power possessed by the young witch that stood before them, eyes blazing, her entire being crackling with energy. Harry had only seen such raw force once before, when Dumbledore stormed into the Department of Mysteries more than six months earlier to save them from Voldemort.

“I can’t believe that the people I consider being family would act like this,” Harry said scathingly.

“Especially those who have known us for so long,” Hermione added acidly. Tonks and Shacklebolt just glowered at them in return, but Harry thought Tonks looked a little hurt.

“Everyone, let’s just calm down, we’ve had a bad couple of days now, we’re all on edge.” Remus said, always trying to be the middle ground, always trying to restrain everyone around him. Harry saw why Dumbledore made him a prefect in hopes that he would keep his unruly friends in line.

“They shouldn’t be messing with dangerous spells like a nightmare infection,” Shacklebolt hissed. He holstered the wand that Hermione tossed back to him and was still looking at her apprehensively although her power had receded back to dormancy. It wasn’t usual for a sixth year to get the drop on an auror.

“You shouldn’t be trying to raid Harry’s possessions, Sirius’ possessions, and attacking him because of how he decided to protect them. Protections, might I add, that in light of your attempted actions here were wholly justified,” Hermione bit out angrily.

“We’re only trying to protect you; there may be dangerous things in there,” Tonks said gently.

“Then you should have asked us. I have no problem with you all inspecting the library so long as you don’t start throwing things out,” Harry said. He walked over and opened the door, then tapped the statues on the inside to prevent them from activating when he left.

“We just want to be involved in whatever you’re going to do. This is Harry’s house, I don’t think we’re asking too much,” Hermione said.

“Kreacher, you can come out now,” Harry called to the little elf that had been hiding. “Stay with them, come and get me if they try to remove or destroy anything.”

“If you still have a problem, Mister Shacklebolt, then perhaps we should go take it up with Dumbledore. Maybe while we’re at it we can ask him why, after the disaster that happened last year, the Order is still making the same mistakes. Maybe,” Hermione cut off as Harry interrupted her.

“Hermione, lets just go before this gets anymore unfortunate,” he said quietly.

“You know my feelings on this matter Harry,” Hermione said tersely. Now the adults were gawking openly at their strange exchange, painfully aware that they were only seeing a tiny facet of some far deeper issue.

“Please Hermione…” Harry said, “You know I’m right.”

“I know,” Hermione deflated, “but you know that I’m right too.”

“I know,” Harry sighed. The couple turned and left leaving an even more puzzled group of adults behind. Harry realized that Hermione was right, the Order was becoming more unreliable by the minute it seemed, but he was right too, the Order was doing the best it could and they needed to trust them even if Dumbledore refused to share all relevant information with them.

They met Ron on the stairs leading down to the dungeon and after he assured them the potion was fine the trio returned to the study where they told him everything that had happened.

“Blimey, you’re kidding, Tonks and Shacklebolt both?” Ron said incredulously when they finished.

“They seem to be more convinced than ever that we’ve gone dark or we’re irresponsible kids,” Hermione huffed.

“Well we have been going behind their back quite a bit,” Ron said.

“They don’t know that though, their only basis for suspicion is a spell on the library to prevent unauthorized access. Its beyond ridiculous, they have the gall to suspect Harry even after all he’s went through.” Hermione said.

“It’s ok Hermione,” Harry said soothingly. He put a comforting hand over hers, which seemed to calm her. Hermione still twitched with barely restrained anger that had been coming to the fore ever since she found out about Dumbledore’s withholding of information that ultimately contributed to Sirius’ death.

Over the next few days the trio spent most of their time in the study. Ron spent most of his time catching up on the latest quiddich news even though the war had been interfering with the season. Hermione on the other hand was delving into the two books on wards that they had managed to recover before the library was invaded. Harry attempted to balance his time between his two friends but in the end he helped Hermione learn the art of ward crafting far more than he talked about the Chudley Cannons.

Kreacher was beside himself with worry over the library the entire time. Harry finally had to order him to stay in the library where he was supposed to be overseeing the inspection Shacklebolt was making since he kept popping in and out of the study to complain. After Hermione’s little display with Shacklebolt the elf was more devoted to her and Harry than ever. Hermione thought that Kreacher seemed to be more stable and even Ron admitted that he muttered fewer insults to those he traditionally didn’t like, such as Tonks. Harry wasn’t convinced that his improved behavior was a positive sign, but instead yet another manifestation of Kreacher’s conviction that he was helping his dark master fool his houseguests. Still, everyone welcomed his improved politeness.

Politeness that was now tempered with near hysterical worry for Harry’s library. It took all of four days for Tonks, Remus, and Shacklebolt to go through all the shelves to their satisfaction.

“Master, the pink haired one tells Kreacher that they are done,” Kreacher said.

“Comon Harry, now we’ve got to go stop them from throwing anything out,” Hermione said.

“Reckon Shacklebolt will try to hex me again?” Harry joked.

Hermione gave him an annoyed glance, “Don’t joke Harry, he just might.”

“Maybe we should just let them do whatever they want,” Harry whispered so Kreacher wouldn’t hear. The little elf was tagging along behind them about fifteen steps as they walked. Hermione didn’t reply but he could tell she didn’t agree with that option.

The main table in the library was piled with volume after volume of magically knowledge that the three adults had deemed unsafe. Only Remus looked a little squeamish when Harry and Hermione walked through the door.

“We waited, since you insisted,” Shacklebolt said tersely, “but all these texts need to be removed immediately and some of them need to be destroyed.”

Harry and Hermione went over to the pile to see what they had found. Harry even recognized a couple of books that he and Hermione had already read.

“This could be useful,” Hermione muttered out of the corner of her mouth as she indicated a book on advanced shield charms.

“What could possibly be dangerous about a book on shield charms?” Harry asked as he held the book up.

“Dark magic,” Tonks piped up.

“No, I think what Harry asked is, how could it possibly be dangerous?” Hermione bit out.

“These particular types of shields use a semi-physical barrier that, when broken either from attacking spells or by choice of the caster, can be turned into a rain of deadly projectiles. Very dark magic.” Shacklebolt said through gritted teeth.

“What exactly constitutes dark magic?” Harry asked.

“Anything that has as its main purpose to rend the body, mind, or soul,” Remus said.

“So you mean almost every effective combat spell?” Hermione asked incredulously.

“No wonder we’ve been losing almost every encounter with Voldemort’s forces,” Harry said in a shocked voice.

Shacklebolt flushed furiously, “We’re not dipping down to Voldemort’s level and for your information we were facing enemies beyond your comprehension.”

“You mean the avatars,” Hermione said scathingly, “the ones that have access of all of Voldemort’s powers? I kinda doubt you’ll be stopping them with a Jelly Legs Jinx and a few stunners.”

“Why don’t you use elemental magic then?” Harry asked, “Surely it doesn’t fall into the category of dark magic.”

“It’s difficult for most wizards to learn,” Tonks said.

“Then why aren’t you out learning it instead of trying to put a lid on the only skills useful to combat Voldemort?” Hermione said.

“We hold ourselves to a higher ethical standard,” Shacklebolt retorted, “These skills are evil.”

“I’m sure we’ll all be patting ourselves on the back about our high ethical standards as Voldemort kills everyone we care about,” Harry said quietly. “I’ve heard enough.”

“So have I,” Hermione said heatedly. She waved her wand and conjured a black obsidian cabinet against one of the open walls. Another flick of her wand sent the collected books flying onto its shelves.

“What are you doing?” Tonks asked hastily.

“Sealing it up,” Harry said. Hermione began tracing another symbol in the air in flaming lines. As the spell took shape it burned green for an instant and then flew over to the cabinet to attach itself onto the closed doors. The cabinet resembled a huge armored beetle now with gleaming smooth black surfaces.

“If you want to destroy those books then you’re welcome to do so, you’ll never get through that seal,” Hermione said confidently.

“You can’t do this,” Shacklebolt shouted.

“I just did, if you don’t like it take it up with Dumbledore, you know how eager I am for that discussion,” Hermione said. “Harry has been kept in the dark for too long and my patience is gone. Only his patience remains.”

“And its beginning to wear thin too,” Harry said darkly, his eyes narrowing.

“You can bet Dumbledore will hear of this,” Shacklebolt said as he stormed out. Kreacher hurried out behind him to see what the auror was going to do.

“What’s happened to you Harry?” Tonks asked sadly as she moved toward the door too.

“I don’t want anyone else I care about to die,” Harry said gently.

“I can’t say I disagree with you really,” Remus said when they were alone, “but you two are pushing pretty hard. Wizards don’t like to change.”

“Remus you know as well as I do that the wizarding world is stuck in the past,” Harry said.

“A past that I don’t think even existed. They’re enthralled with their own myths.” Hermione added.

“You know better than anyone that things need to change,” Harry said.

Remus winced, “The dark arts are often considered to be dangerous to the person who uses them just as much as the person they’re used against. I’ll be frank, you two are the most powerful people I’ve ever met besides Dumbledore, but I still worry that you’re too young to fully comprehend the powers you’re trying to harness.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Harry said vaguely.

“Let the Order handle it, you don’t have to get so involved,” Remus pleaded.

“Voldemort decides who is involved and who isn’t. He’s tried to kill Harry four times now, we don’t have a choice Remus,” Hermione said.

“I knew I couldn’t talk you out of it,” Remus said resignedly, “just don’t do anything you can’t take back.”

Harry felt a little queasy as Remus left them still sitting there in the library. Hermione jumped up and went over to the cabinet she had conjured and opened the doors. Harry joined her and together they removed several books including the advanced shield charm book.

The rest of the holidays were rather joyless with Voldemort’s supporters attacking all over the place. It was especially brutal whenever a group led by an avatar would strike. The only two places spared from Death Eater assault were Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic itself. Hermione worked feverishly to master the new spells they discovered, especially the modified shield charms. Harry couldn’t actually cast the spells but he memorized the incantations and wand movements in preparation for silent casting. The petrifaction potion was a success too and yielded over a hundred vials capable of rendering anything magically frozen.

Tonks had come around to try and convince them to allow the books to be destroyed. She left in a huff when Hermione wouldn’t recant the spell. Shacklebolt brought in Bill Weasley to help during the hours spent in front of the cabinet trying to open it or penetrate it with a spell but were unsuccessful and ultimately gave up in frustration. Dumbledore would appear for Order meetings but he didn’t talk to Harry or spend any time at headquarters beyond what was necessary for the meetings.

Harry was actually relieved when it was finally time to go back to King’s Cross to meet the train back to Hogwarts. Harry packed up the few things that he had brought back with him and took them down to the front door. Ron and Ginny were already loitering about, as was their surly looking guard.

“Where is Hermione, its almost time to go,” Harry said.

“She was doing something,” Ginny said noncommittally.

Harry hurried back to the room she shared with Ginny and knocked on the door. “Hermione, we need to go, are you ready?”

“Yeah just about, you can come on in,” Hermione called back. Harry opened the door to find her stuffing books into her trunk. She was hadn’t put on her robes yet, just her dragon hide suit that Harry had bought. Harry felt himself flush, the dragon hide was rather form fitting. Hermione felt his discomfort through their link and laughed.

“I’m sorry Harry, am I bothering you,” she teased.

“Er, no, that is, uh, are you about ready?” he stammered as he blushed even deeper.

Hermione waved her wand and her loose muggle clothes appeared over the dragon hide. “Is that better?”

“You’ll probably draw less attention that way. Dragon hide is pretty unusual for the London underground.” Harry joked back. Hermione levitated her belongings and moved toward the door but before Harry could leave she cornered him. Harry stood pleasantly surprised as Hermione planted a firm kiss on his lips.

“We’ve only kissed three times in the real world,” Hermione said softly. Due to their mind link the couple could kiss quite frequently in their dreams but fear of their relationship being discovered and exploited kept them from expressing their feelings for each other regularly.

Harry gently kissed her back, “Make it four but we’d better go before someone comes to check up on us.”

“I know,” Hermione sighed as Harry held the door open for her.

The walk back to King’s Cross and the train ride were largely uneventful. Harry noticed that there were fewer students returning to Hogwarts than had left, undoubtedly due to fears of Voldemort. Of course Hogwarts was probably the safest place in the entire world when it came to Voldemort but obviously not everyone thought so. Harry’s elation at being back in school and having his powers available to him again was short lived though. Standing at the entrance to the main grounds stood four aurors. All of them were equipped with their funny blue eye patches that afforded them a range of heightened senses including the ability to see through invisibility cloaks.

There were at least a dozen aurors scattered around the school and it was clear that none of them were Order members since Harry had met most of the Order’s aurors. Harry wished that Ron and Hermione were there with him instead of off attending to some prefect meeting so he could get their imput. Many students seemed relieved to be surrounded by the Ministry’s top cops but Harry felt only a deep dread.

Harry had already taken his seat in the Great Hall in expectation of the welcoming back feast when Ron and Hermione finally made it back.

“Its bloody awful Harry,” Ron moaned as they sat down.

“They’ve cut curfew back three hours including for prefects, aurors will patrol at night now.” Hermione said.

“Quiddich is suspended indefinitely,” Ron added.

“Many people have been banned from Hogsmeade including us,” Hermione said.

“All of us?” Harry asked.

“No, just you and Hermione,” Ron said.

“That doesn’t make any sense, you’re just as big of a target as Hermione,” Harry said.

“You’re the only one banned for your own safety Harry. I’m banned because I’ve been deemed a high risk.” Hermione explained. “Most of the other high risk students are Slytherin.”

“They think you might be a collaborator?” Harry asked stunned. Anger coursed through him when he realized that only Tonks or Shacklebolt could be behind this.

“Or maybe under the imperious,” she nodded.

“You can’t be,” Harry hissed under his breath.

“We know that, they don’t, and apparently there is no way to tell,” Hermione said.

“We can explain it to Dumbledore,” Harry decided.

“No, we can’t, because Dumbledore isn’t responsible. These are Ministry decrees and it wouldn’t matter even if they weren’t. Dumbledore is on board with all these changes. According to Professor McGonagall he is the one that requested them.” Hermione explained.

“Why would he do such a thing?” Harry asked.

“Well it didn’t make any sense at first but have you noticed anything derogatory in the Daily Prophet about the Order lately?” Hermione asked.

“You think Dumbledore cut a deal with Fudge?” Ron asked incredulously.

“It would explain all of this,” Harry said as he waved his hand around at the lurking aurors.

“I’m almost certain of it. I asked McGonagall a few questions after the meeting but she was hiding something from me, I could see it,” Hermione said firmly.

“You read minds now?” Ron scoffed.

“Legilimency,” Hermione hissed back softly and Ron’s eyes widened as he remembered.

“Speaking of which, when are you going to let us teach you Ron?” Harry asked.

“I don’t like it,” Ron said stubbornly. “The times you tried to teach me before it left my mind feeling all fuzzy like someone stuffed straw into it.”

Hermione sighed, “Do you want Harry to tell you again what it feels like to have Voldemort in your head?”

“Just drop it,” Ron scowled.

Dumbledore was absent from the feast so there was no explanation whatsoever about the new auror presence or the new school rules. Due to the new earlier curfew rules everyone was shuffled off to their respective house dorms as soon as dinner had been concluded.

“How are we supposed to study if we can’t even get to the library,” Hermione fumed as the trio plopped down on the sofa in front of the common room fireplace. Of course Harry and Hermione could use their invisibility charms but that didn’t help any of their friends unless they were there to cast it for them.

“I’ve got an idea,” Harry said. “If you want to break a few rules that is.”

“An idea to get us into the library? No thanks.” Ron joked.

“I’ll be right back,” Harry said. He went up to his room and returned moments later with a hefty book that Hermione recognized.

“A few rules Harry? Don’t you mean a few laws,” Hermione said softly.

“What are you talking about?” Ron asked.

“Harry wants to create invisibility cloaks,” Hermione whispered.

“How are we supposed to do that? We’ll never be able to get the materials needed to weave one, not with all the Ministry bans.” Ron said.

“Unnecessary, there is another way to make a cloak besides using demiguise hair,” Harry replied, “namely corporeal spell casting.”

“You’re kidding right?” Ron asked. “I’ve heard Dad talk about corporeal casting. Most wizards end up in St. Mungo’s with something blown off.”

“Yeah, the book warns that if it isn’t done correctly all the energy that’s put into the spell will violently decompress.” Harry affirmed.
“So we’ll practice in the Room of Requirement. In the mean time Harry and I can cast invisibility charms on people when we’re around.” Hermione said.

“Yeah, we’ve already found out that auror eye patches can’t see through our charms,” Harry added.

The presence of the aurors was soon disruptively oppressive to all the students, though the trio suffered more acutely than most. Every night at a random time after curfew a pair of aurors would enter each dorm and do a head count. As a result Harry and Hermione had to wait sometimes for hours before they were able to sneak out to the room of requirement to practice corporeal casting. Then even with one of them holding a shield charm while the other cast they still suffered some injury in the process.

“I think we’re starting to get the hang of it,” Hermione whispered to Ron as the trio walked down the passageway toward their charms class. “We’ve had a cloak last for over a day now and it may be permanent.”

Ron shrugged noncommittally and made a funny noise. Harry looked at him askance but had no time to consider his reaction since an auror pair selected that moment to round the corner directly in front of them.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Potter, Granger, and their pet,” sneered one of the aurors with a look that would have made Snape proud.

“We’d better be careful, they might try to curse us or jinx our napkins at breakfast,” the other said as he smirked at Harry and Hermione.

“That’s what you get when you’re raised by stinking muggle trash. Uncivilized brutish creatures scurrying about wrapped in their own ignorance.”

The trio broke out laughing. “I see you’ve met the Dursley’s then.” Harry replied grinning.

The expressions on the bullying auror’s faces turned evil. “Don’t cheek us you arrogant little twerp or we’ll see you expelled along with your little friends.”

Harry and Ron’s eyes narrowed while Hermione positively scowled at such unprovoked behavior. Harry grabbed Ron and Hermione’s arm as he pushed around the aurors to escape down the hall.

“Ignore them, we can’t get in trouble now and they just might be able to back their threats up,” he pleaded.

“You’re right Harry,” Hermione said, then added mentally, “I swear your brashness keeps rearing up in me more and more.”

“Good thing I’ve got your calm logical approach dominating my personality now,” Harry smirked. “Honestly though, you don’t know how much your indignation on my behalf means.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea,” Hermione said. Harry felt her warm compassionate feelings flow into his mind across their bond and smiled contentedly as he sent his own emotions back to her.

Classes flew by quickly and there was a new sense of urgency in most of the professors. Harry and Hermione also felt a deep sense of urgency to master some of the more useful spells they had discovered over the holidays. By the time the first Hogsmeade weekend drew close Harry and Hermione felt that they had mastered the art of creating invisibility cloaks out of corporeal charms.

“It’s just as well we can’t go,” Hermione said as they waved Ron off, “Gryffindor tower will be largely deserted.”

“Yeah, even the first and second years will be busy studying for exams. You can come up to my room so we can begin making enough cloaks for everyone.” Harry said.

“It’s time to finish the Light Bearer uniforms and finalize our choices for unit commanders too. This needs to be the last meeting of the D.A.” Hermione urged. Harry sighed but nodded. He had known that this day would come for a long time now but he was still reluctant. Hermione had convinced him that they needed a force not beholden to Dumbledore or the Ministry and even if he didn’t trust his own judgement he trusted Hermione’s implicitly.

There were a couple of first years in the common room trying to master a basic levitation spell when they walked past. Hermione stopped for a minute to instruct one of the little girls on her wand technique and Harry grinned at her constant strive to better everything around her. About half way up the stairs to Harry’s room Hermione pulled out two slips of paper and stuck them on the wall opposite to each other. The symbols on them burned red for a moment before they and the paper they were written on faded from view.

“Alarm wards,” Hermione said, “we can’t be too careful. We’ll be alerted by a sharp stinging sensation when someone passes them.”

The couple conjured chairs and a huge stack of ornately decorated boxes to put their finished products into. Each box had a specific combination necessary to open it. Any attempt to open the box otherwise caused it to destroy its contents. As each box was filled with a uniform, invisibility cloak, and Light Bearer emblem it was shrunk down to a tiny size. Hermione would then stick it in a piece of parchment with labeling to tell them precisely what was in the box before she put it into a larger sack. The sack was charmed to keep a number of frivolous items always on top. It was the perfect disguise since prefects were allowed to keep the illegal items they confiscated for a while before turning them over to Filtch. It wasn’t economical to have the prefects running to the grisly old man every time they snatched a Fanged Frisbee or a quick notes quill.

“Do you think we should test these invisibility cloaks somehow before handing them out?” Harry asked.

“If aurors can’t see through our charms then they shouldn’t be able to see through these either since they’re just our charms imbued with a permanent physical form.” Hermione said.

“I know, but what if something went wrong. I’d hate for someone to get in trouble from using something we told them was safe.” Harry said.

“I suppose we could have Fred and George test them out. They could probably keep from getting caught if the cloak failed.” Hermione suggested.

“Good idea, we need to send them a couple anyway,” Harry replied.

“This is getting exhausting,” Hermione said after another couple of minutes. “I need a break.”

“Me too,” Harry said as he wiped some sweat from his forehead. They cleared away their work with a wand flick. “Show me those area shield wards again.”

Hermione took out a piece of parchment that she had copied the ward information down on. They were becoming more protective of their books and less willing to take them from their secret hiding place in Harry’s trunk.

“See, basically it’s a modification of the enhanced cylinder shield. It absorbs damage until it shatters and the fragments that remain can be used offensively. Of course when it is expanded and put into a ward it becomes impossible to harness the shards as an offensive weapon except as one might use any physical object.” Hermione explained.

“Right, and the bigger the area the weaker the shield is correct?” Harry said.

“Correct, at least that’s what the book said, we need to test these wards as soon as possible. Who knows when we’ll need them.” Hermione said.

Harry and Hermione discussed the complexities of the ward for a while longer before Harry attempted to make one himself. Hermione guided him as he conjured the ward base and then use wand writing to impress the necessary symbols onto the base.

“Alright Harry, now add the seal and the side indicator,” Hermione instructed. “You need to begin the other three components immediately. All four have to be created close together to bind their power together so that they will work together when they’re deployed.”

Harry conjured another base. “Right, first symbol again….”

Harry felt a sharp stinging all over his body and looked up at Hermione. She shrugged slightly and gestured for him to continue since, after all, they weren’t currently doing anything questionable. The door burst open unceremoniously and the two aurors that had harassed the trio before stormed into the room.

“Random inspection,” the first auror said. “What’s going on in here.”

“We’re studying,” Hermione said shortly.

“Right, why are you “studying” up here in the boy’s dorm behind a closed door instead of down in the common room or the library?” the second auror asked.

“First years were making too much noise,” Harry shrugged. Inside he was seething at their thinly veiled insinuation. Hermione’s own indignation was seeping through their link along with apprehension. She was also wondering what made them come to the conclusion that she and Harry were together.

“Are those wards?” the first auror asked suspiciously. When Hermione nodded the aurors exchanged surprised glances. “How can you be making wards already, that isn’t a sixth year skill.”

“We like to study ahead sometimes,” Harry replied.

“Yeah right, check them,” the second auror said. Before Harry could protest the first auror muttered some enchantment that caused Harry and Hermione to glow blue.

“This is an outrage,” Hermione said jumping up, “You’ve no right.”

“We have every right to enforce school rules,” the auror said as he cut off her protest. He looked very disappointed.

“We know you’re up to something, we’ll be watching,” the first auror said as the pair backed out of the room.

“What was that all about?” Harry asked after they had left. “What was that spell and why did we glow blue?”

“Er,” Hermione flushed scarlet, “it’s called the virtue spell.”

“You mean it tests for…that?” Harry asked, outraged when he finally understood what the aurors had been checking for. “That can’t be legal, we’ve got to tell McGonagall.”

“Actually, it is legal, it’s one of the school rules that students are not supposed to fraternize in that way. I’ve never heard of it being enforced with a virtue test before, at least not in the last few hundred years. They just were hoping that they’d get to humiliate us with the accusation.” Hermione reasoned.

“There’s more than that going on here. None of this makes any sense.” Harry insisted. “Why would people we’ve never met be out to harass and humiliate us? I know our press has been bad, but bad enough to inspire this kind of hatred?”

“Alright, but what?” Hermione asked.

“I don't know, but it doesn’t feel right. I mean who would have ever thought that Dumbledore would allow a bunch of aurors to run amok at Hogwarts. We’re banned from Hogsmeade along with most of the Slytherin who have suspected Death Eater connections but everyone else isn’t.” Harry said.

“That bothered me too, why ban quiddich as a safety risk when it happens on school grounds and still let everyone go to Hogsmeade?” Hermione said, frowning in thought.

“Well I suppose it would be easier for someone to hide out near the pitch and assassinate someone than it would be for them to attack in the middle of Hogsmeade when its protected by all the professors.” Harry said, though he was unconvinced of his own reasoning.

“Come on Harry, we can worry about it later, lets finish the cloaks before we have another random inspection,” Hermione said lightly. “Your ward is ruined anyway, they disrupted the process too long.”

“Yeah, we’ve not got much time left before people will start coming back anyway,” Harry agreed. He picked up the ward piece that he had already finished and it crumbled in his hand like it was made out of sand or something.

Harry closed the door again while Hermione conjured more of her special empty boxes. The two worked as quickly as they could so by the time everyone began to return from Hogsmeade they had the last of the boxes filled, shrunk, and hidden in Hermione’s bag of confiscated items.

Harry was sitting down in the common room while Hermione was off stashing their equipment when people started filtering in. Harry and Hermione making the suspect list was the running joke of the tower after everyone had been on the receiving end of the trio’s helpful magic. Harry didn’t realize just how thankful everyone was for the potions and spells that had helped protect them from Slytherin jinxes until now though. Several people had brought Harry things from Hogsmeade, mostly candy and other edibles.

“What’s all this Harry?” Hermione asked as she descended the steps.

“Our friends brought us some stuff from the village. There, grab a butter beer and some chocolate, it’s really good when you’ve not had any for a while.” Harry replied.

Ron stepped through the doorway looking a little ragged. “How’s it going guys? Hogsmeade is the same as usual.”

“Better now, some of the guys brought us some stuff back,” Harry said raising his butter beer bottle slightly.

“Oi, I see you guys already got butter beer,” Seamus said as he sat four more down on the table.

“Thanks Seamus, we can always use seconds,” Hermione said with a smile.

“Yeah, we appreciate it,” Harry echoed.

“Anything for you guys, I’d probably have had to spend a week regrowing bones in the hospital wing if it wasn’t for your anti-jinx dust,” Seamus replied as he moved on.

Ron glared at him as he retreated. “What a ponce, always kissing up.”

“Ron,” Hermione scolded, “That was very thoughtful of him. I know he can be a little dramatic at times but he was actually sincere.”
“Whatever, you like all the attention,” Ron scowled back.

Hermione flushed and sputtered with embarrassment, “That’s not fair Ron, it isn’t like I asked for any of this.”

Ron didn’t say anything, he just got up and stalked off toward the stairs.

“Ron, wait, really, what’s wrong?” Hermione called after him but Harry restrained her with a hand placed on her shoulder.

“Just let him be, he’s tired and upset. He helped too you know, but he hasn’t really gotten much of the credit.” Harry said as he looked after where Ron had gone with an expression of guilt mixed with compassion.

Harry plopped down in a squishy chair next to a pile of parchments that he was fairly certain Hermione was lurking behind somewhere. He grabbed a hand full of the papers to see just what she was working on so diligently. Some of them were complex diagrams of magical objects that Harry had never seen before and a few that he had, like a sneakoscope. Others were spells, potions, and lists of exotic materials that Harry also was mostly unaware of.

“What is all this stuff?” he asked.

“Fred and George sent it along with a list of credentials of the new people they’ve recruited,” Hermione replied, “Some of the new recruits sent us whatever they thought might be useful.”

“Are we sure that these people are reliable and not dark spies?” Harry asked.

“Well that’s part of the reason they’re sending us these backgrounds on them. Plus each person is isolated for now, none of them have much knowledge of our overall operations. Besides, Fred and George have only managed to recruit four people so far,” Hermione said. Harry raised his eyebrows with faint surprise. “Honestly Harry did you really expect people just to flock to our banner for no reason? These four wouldn’t even have joined except they saw first hand our fight in Diagon Alley.”

“We should be able to recruit quite a few students here in Hogwarts from the D.A. membership.” Harry said.

“Yeah hopefully and we need to move swiftly to call another D.A. before all these bloody aurors somehow manage to foil us. They could seize the Room of Requirement any time for all we know. I’m sure that foul Umbridge told the Ministry all about the room.” Hermione said.

“Did you say something about the D.A.?” Neville asked. He and Ginny had just come down their respective staircases. Harry and Hermione looked at each other meaningfully. It was still early enough in the morning that it would probably be safe to discuss their impending dissolution of the D.A. with their friends.

“This will be the final D.A. meeting,” Hermione said bluntly. Harry had planned to dance around the details of their plans but Hermione insisted through their mind link that Neville and Ginny had a right to know ahead of time.

“But why? We need the D.A. now more than ever. Tonks is a good teacher but you and Harry…” Neville protested. Hermione held up her hand to indicate she would explain.

“The D.A. is no longer sufficient for our fight against Voldemort so Harry and I have decided a more direct approach is required. D.A. isn’t being disbanded its being replaced.”

“All D.A. members will be given the opportunity to join the Bearers of the Light,” Harry said with a sense of pride at the fledgling group Hermione had envisioned to replace her first idea, the D.A.

Neville goggled at them, “Really? How do you guys know them? They’re the ones that saved me and gran in Diagon Alley.”

Hermione smirked, “Didn’t you notice anything strange about those two?”

Neville shook his head. “I was too busy thrashing around on the ground to see much. Although, now that you mention it I thought it was strange that only one of them fought. Gran was a little miffed that the wizard didn’t even help the witch.”

“The wizard couldn’t help, he isn’t of age yet,” Hermione grinned.

Neville’s jaw dropped, “It was you two?”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Ron’s cover story was horrible by the way. I thought you two were off, er…” Ginny trailed off sheepishly at Harry and Hermione’s twin glares. Thankfully Neville seemed oblivious to Ginny’s incorrect guess and near outing of their relationship.

“We needed to keep it quiet while it’s in the development stage. We’re going to eventually displace the Order and the Ministry as the leading faction against Voldemort. Not that it will be difficult as ineffective as their resistance is at the moment.” Hermione said.

Ginny and Neville looked uncomfortable in the face of the Ministry and especially the Order being spoken of in such unflattering terms. Hermione took out a box and enlarged it to accommodate her mass of papers. Harry helped her shovel them into it as they continued to talk in low tones to Neville and Ginny.

“Planning to take over the world?” Ron asked obnoxiously as he drug himself down the stairs.

“Glad to see you could finally make it,” Ginny replied. It wasn’t really late but she loved tweaking her brother.

“We can’t all be so energetic,” Ron bit back somewhat more rudely than necessary.

“Comon Ron, we were just telling them about the Light Bearers and as a founding member you should be in on it,” Harry said consolingly.

“He’s not really a founding member,” Hermione said.

“Aw, Hermione, cut him some slack, all our friends are founding members even if they can’t handle a controlling emblem,” Harry replied. The emblems were difficult to create and dangerous should they fall into the wrong hands. Hermione was adamant that only she and Harry were strong enough to hold them.

“I suppose but we can’t let everyone think that they have a veto on our operations. Ron has all the details including the prophecy, no other members do,” Hermione reminded him.

“No thanks, I’m going to be hearing enough lectures today without adding one. We should be getting to charms anyway or else old Flitwick will bust a vessel.” Ron replied.

“Shouldn’t we eat first?” Neville asked.

“Be my guest,” Ron replied. “I’m going to charms early so I can finish my essay, I’ll eat later.”

Everyone goggled at him. Ron never missed a meal when he could help it and he certainly didn’t go in early to finish homework.

“We should too, comon Harry,” Hermione said primly. Harry groaned slightly.

“Hermione, we’re way beyond this class, who cares about some essay?” he asked.

“You know as well as I do that we’ve got to keep up appearances. Doing homework poorly is one thing, not doing it at all is another all together.” Hermione replied. McGonagall had cautioned them to not let their lessons slip too far.

The tiny little Flitwick was already there when the teens arrived and took their usual seats. Harry got out his quill and began scribbling as fast as he could to try to get somewhere near the length that was required. The tiny charms professor tried to look busy with some books on his desk but Harry was sure that he was watching his unusually early arrivals with interest.

Hermione was still scribbling when Harry decided that he had written enough to scrape an acceptable grade. He took his essay up to Flitwick’s desk and put it on the stack of papers that had already been handed in.

“Glad to see you’re still managing to at least do the assignments Mr. Potter,” Flitwick grumped. “Don’t think that just because you’re good at the practical aspects of magic that you can shrug off the theory. Not knowing why something works as it does can be just as hazardous as not knowing how to do something properly.”

“Yes sir,” Harry replied sheepishly.

Harry felt anxious for the rest of the class as Flitwick lectured them and made occasional veiled comments about people not taking their homework seriously enough. Hermione made an occasional perturbed sigh, which made Harry feel a little better. Still, he was very glad when the class dismissed, at least for a few moments.

Harry cringed when two familiar figures wearing auror robes came into view. “Potter and Granger, what are you two doing skulking about this corridor?”

“Potions class sir,” Hermione replied.

“Can’t even talk for yourself now Potter? It’s a wonder you don’t ask your little tittering fan club to carry you about,” spat one of the aurors vilely.

Harry looked at him bewilderedly and just managed to keep from blurting out a confused question as to just what the petty auror was talking about.

“I’m going to potions too,” he said instead.

“Wonderful, empty your book bags, both of you,” the first auror demanded. “We’re checking for contraband today.”

Harry and Hermione turned their bags on end, their contents spilling about on the floor. Included in Hermione’s pack was the large ornate box that contained all the stacks of parchment that they had been examining earlier.

“What’s in that,” one of the aurors asked.

“Its just some papers,” Hermione replied.

“Open it.”

“That won’t be necessary Langley,” another voice said in an authoritative tone. A tall thin man in an auror cloak came striding down the hall toward them.

“Sir, I think we should take all precautions possible,” the man now identified as Langley replied. “There could be dangerous contraband in here.”

“You and Gangstrom have had several complaints logged against you by students. From what I just saw they were probably justified, now get back to your patrol and quit wasting time.” The head auror demanded. Langley and Gangstrom reluctantly left, scowling back over their shoulders at the two teens.

“My name is Tram, I apologize for Langley and Gangstrom. I take it that this isn’t the first time they’ve badgered you like this.” Tram said kindly. Harry and Hermione exchanged a look before nodding. “Its just difficult for them to get used to our new arrangement. None of the aurors are used to working with Dumbledore yet and, well, you two have gotten some rather bad press.”

Harry bit his tongue to keep from reminding Tram that the bad press was the direct result of Ministry leaning on the papers. Hermione though seemed to be jolted by this bit of information.

“What do you mean working with Dumbledore?” she asked tersely.

“We’re coordinating with the Order of the Phoenix now, I assumed you two of all people would be aware,” Tram said with a touch of surprise in his voice. “We’ve been working together for some time now.”

“Things have been busy, I’m sure that Professor Dumbledore just didn’t have the time to give us all the details,” Harry said quickly as he tugged on Hermione. “We’d better get to class before Professor Snape gives us detention. Thanks again for helping us out.”

“My pleasure,” Tram waved cheerfully as they scurried away. Hermione was not pleased.

“Harry how could he? He knows what Fudge did last year, his idiocy helped Voldemort regain his influence, he’s had you assassinated in the press, he’s turning the Ministry into a dictatorship, he’s…” Hermione sputtered, her face reddening uncharacteristically.

“Hermione please we don’t know the whole story, you’re reacting just like I did last year, please, we know how badly that turned out,” Harry said urgently.

“No Harry, I won’t listen this time, if Dumbledore had of kept you informed properly Sirius would have lived. He said it himself Harry and now he’s doing it again, worse than ever this time because you’re not even attempting to find out what he’s hiding.” Hermione said heatedly. Neither of them realized that they were now standing right outside Snape’s dungeon.

“Dumbledore had a good reason for not telling me and just because there were other options that would have worked in hindsight is no reason to dismiss his judgement now,” Harry whispered fiercely.

“What if he’s making another mistake though? Are you willing to risk your life?” Hermione replied stubbornly.

“Yes, I promised myself I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice,” Harry replied promptly.

“Are you willing to risk my life too?” Hermione retorted hotly.

Harry felt his throat catch painfully as he whispered back, “That’s not fair Hermione.”

“What is this?” a voice intoned from behind them.

“Uh, well,” Harry began as he wheeled around to find himself point black with Snape.

“Mr. Potter and Miss Granger arguing in the hallways how very delightful,” Snape said loudly as he drug them into the class. “I’m sure the two of you appreciate the seating arrangements that I selected for you earlier in the year after all.”

The Slytherin students all snickered as Harry and Hermione took their separate seats, both still looking a bit haggard from their discussion. Snape had taken great pleasure in keeping them from sitting together and unsurprisingly he liked to rub it in too.

“While I’m sure the two of you think that the drama which is your lives is more important than attending class I’m afraid I must disagree. Forty points from Gryffindor.” Snape said smugly. “Potter seems to be rubbing off on you Granger and considering how your grades are dropping I should hope that the two of you would be more rigorous in attending class.”

More snickers and a couple of catcalls echoed through the dank dungeon as Snape began lecturing them on the day’s assignment. Harry felt even worse because Hermione’s bad mood was transferring to him across their link and she wouldn’t even talk to him. Every time he tried to continue their conversation he felt a sense of despair flash across her mind and she would just tell him she needed to concentrate. Having Snape hover over him didn’t help either and Harry ended up ruining his potion for the first time all year.

Potions was a double class so by the time it let out Harry was fairly irate. He waited in the hall for Hermione to emerge and then settled into her fast pace when she tried to get away.

“Hermione you’re over reacting,” Harry said desperately.

“You don’t even care about what I think all you do is stick up for Dumbledore,” Hermione said raggedly.

“You know that isn’t true Hermione,” Harry said, then whispered, “If you don’t believe me then look into my mind, use legilimency, do something, please, you know I trust you more than anyone else.”

Hermione seemed to wilt, “I don’t need to look into your mind Harry, I know how you feel about me and I’m sorry I snapped at you, but I’m not sorry about what I said. You’re committing the same error that you did last year in reverse.”

“I don’t know what else to do, I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” Harry said.

Hermione grabbed two fist fulls of robes and pushed him behind one of the statues that lined the hall, her eyes gleamed with tears. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” she sobbed.

“I won’t, it’ll be all right, please don’t cry,” Harry whispered soothingly as he held her shaking form.

“No Harry, you can’t promise me that,” Hermione said, crying harder. All the worry and strain that had been building up in her seemed to pour forth like water finally breaking through a dam. “This is beyond either of us, we may both have to die.”

Ice gripped Harry’s heart, “No, you can’t, I couldn’t bear it, Hermione, promise me that if I fail you’ll leave England, take your parents and escape.”

“There won’t be any escape,” Hermione said, her voice slightly stronger, but her face was stained with tears. “Voldemort will be unstoppable and he’ll conquer the world. Harry, you have to promise me that you won’t die for me and that…you’ll let me die for you, if I have to.”

“I-I can’t, don’t ask me…” Harry choked out, on the verge of tears himself at the thought of Hermione dying. Suddenly all his dreams from the summer were rushing back at him in powerful waves. He could see Hermione wince at the intense emotion that racked through him as he pictured a bright green beam impaling Hermione with death.

“Harry, I couldn’t stand to live without you, if one of us has to die let it be me. If you don’t survive I won’t anyway. Please, promise me,” Hermione pleaded.

“You think I could stand to live without you?” Harry croaked.

“No Harry, I know you couldn’t, I know a part of me is being selfish, the part that is asking you to stay alive even if it means my death, but we know this is beyond either of us. Voldemort will enslave the entire world if you die because you’re the only one who can stop him. Please Harry, I know you love me, now promise me that you won’t let that happen even if it costs you me.” Hermione said, ending with a sharp sob.

Harry felt his eyes become unfocused as he mouthed his assent in a ghostly whisper. “I promise.”

Hermione hugged him tightly and for a few moments they allowed themselves to forget their impending struggle in the war. Harry’s heart couldn’t stop clenching in horror whenever the thought of losing Hermione flickered through his consciousness.

“Come on Hermione, we’ve got to go to dinner or people will wonder what happened to us,” Harry said finally. Hermione reluctantly loosened her grip on him and together they walked down the corridors towards the Grand Hall. When they sat down at the Gryffindor table they noticed several people looking at them rather oddly. As if mustering up great courage to talk to them Seamus shoved a paper at Harry.

“We’re really sorry Harry, we had no idea,” he said sheepishly.

“What are you going on about Seamus?” Harry asked as he looked at the paper. His emotions still felt raw from what had just transpired. In the segment on Hogwarts there was a tiny paragraph that Seamus was pointing to.

Harry Potter may be too afraid to visit Hogsmeade anymore according to inside sources at Hogwarts but he isn’t afraid to ask the people around him to bring back things from the small village on his behalf. Several people were reported as purchasing various luxury items for the Boy Who Lived out of their own pocketbooks despite the well known fact that Mr. Potter is the heir to a sizeable fortune…

Harry quit reading and pushed the paper to Hermione who had been craning her neck to try to read it for herself.

“It’s not your fault Seamus the press has been after me for nearly two years now and they’ve never had any problem cooking something up yet,” Harry said dejectedly. Now he could add spoiled brat to the long list of derogatory adjectives that were commonly used to describe him.

Hermione gave a short cheerless laugh, “If this is the best the Prophet can do then they’re losing their touch. You must not have been reading the papers much for the last few months Seamus.”

The rest of the evening dinner went a lot more smoothly after that and soon everyone had forgotten about the newspaper article except for Harry and Hermione. Hermione didn’t want to let on like it bothered them but Harry knew that every attack added upon every other attack to have a cumulative effect of assassinating his character. Harry was used to this a bit more than Hermione so it still bothered her more than him. The thing that worried Harry the most was that the Prophet had taken to aggressively targeting Hermione with their false reporting.

Hermione had been eating quickly, like she always did when she had something else to do. Harry had barely eaten half of his food when she jumped up to leave.

“Go ahead and finish Harry, I’ve got some final preparations to do to get ready for the last D.A. meeting. Don’t forget to change the date on the coin when you get back to the tower though,” Hermione said through their link as she left.

Harry watched her leave but did as she said and continued eating. He hadn’t eaten well in quite a while so the food was particularly good, really good in fact. Suddenly Harry felt a sharp stab of guilt that he had ignored someone all year.

“I’ve got to go,” he mumbled as he jumped up and hurried out of the hall. He didn’t know why he was hurrying since a few more minutes really wouldn’t matter now after several months. Harry reached the painting of the fruit basket and tickled the pear. The painting swung open so that Harry could step inside.

“It’s Harry Potter sir,” a familiar voice said exuberantly.

“Dobby!” Harry exclaimed as the little elf threw himself at Harry and embraced him in a warm hug.

“Dobby is so happy that Harry Potter is seeing Dobby,” Dobby said.

“I’m sorry I haven’t come before now Dobby, I bet you thought that I had forgotten you,” Harry said apologetically.

“Dobby knows many things he does sir. I is watching Harry Potter and seeing how busy he is so I isn’t disturbing him,” Dobby said proudly.

“That’s very thoughtful of you Dobby but I want you to disturb me. If I don’t come visit you then please come visit me and don’t worry about disturbing me, ok?” Harry said firmly.

“Harry Potter is so kind,” Dobby said with a little sob, “Dobby promises to visit Harry Potter. Where is Harry Potter’s Miss and his Wheezy, they is always visiting Dobby with Harry Potter.”

“Hermione has been busy too and I don’t know where Ron has gotten off to actually. He was at dinner but now that I think about it he left shortly after Hermione did.” Harry said thoughtfully. Ron had been acting rather strange of late, going off at unexpected times, snapping at people more than usual.

“Harry Potter’s Wheezy often gets himself into trouble he does sir,” Dobby said, blinking his big round eyes seriously. “Dobby sees Harry Potter’s Wheezy get waylaid by the nasty wizards. They treats Dobby so badly they does, almost as if they were Dobby’s old masters.”

“What are you talking about Dobby? Is Ron in trouble now?” Harry asked.

“Oh no sir,” Dobby squeaked. He went on to describe how Ron was being picked on by two aurors that Harry immediately recognized as Langley and Gangstrom. Then another auror, who sounded like Tram from Dobby’s description, had come to his rescue. The way Dobby described it though Tram was even more menacing than the others.

“I know him, his name is Tram, he’s a good fellow,” Harry said defensively.

“If Harry Potter says so, Dobby is not liking him though,” Dobby replied uncertainly. In Harry’s experience Dobby was often suspicious of wizards he didn’t know due to his poor treatment at the hands of the Malfoy family.

Harry chatted with Dobby for a while longer before the little elf began to get anxious to return to his work. The other elves also took the opportunity to push food at him so by the time he left he was laden down with tons of tasty pastries. Harry made his way back to the commons and sat the excess down on the table in the middle of the room so that anyone who wanted something could help themselves.

“Harry, can you come to the Room of Requirement for a while?” Hermione’s voice popped into his mind.

“Yeah, I was just wondering where you were,” Harry replied.

“Get Ron and Neville too,” Hermione said. Harry climbed the stairs to the boy’s dorms and roused the two from their studies.

“Comon guys, Hermione and I need your help in the Room of Requirement,” Harry said.

“It’s almost curfew Harry,” Neville said nervously, “and I don’t want to get caught out again after last time.”

Harry didn’t ask what had happened last time. “Don’t worry Neville, we won’t be that long and if we are I can get you back undetected.”

The three boys walked swiftly through the halls to the unobtrusive location of the Room of Requirement. The door was already there, appearing much as any broom closet door, since Hermione was presumably inside. When they entered they found not just Hermione, but also Ginny and Luna. Harry felt another twinge of guilt for not paying any attention to Luna all year either, except for during D.A. meetings.

“Good, everyone’s finally here. Harry I trust that you set the coin to call the meeting, right?” Hermione asked.

“Uh, yeah, I set it to the time you told me earlier,” Harry confirmed.

“Alright then, Luna, Neville, Ginny, do you all have your coins?” Hermione asked. “Put them over here on the table.”

The three teens did as Hermione requested. Each of the galleons Hermione had created to tell D.A. members when to meet were still slightly warm from having only recently been altered. Harry sat down at the table across from Hermione and took his wand out. Together the two began pouring energy out of their wands and into the coins, altering their fundamental makeup as well as their shape. Harry was only dimly aware of the presence of the others in the room as he concentrated to hold up his half of the process. The task was less taxing than it had been previously when they had manufactured the controlling emblems though. Harry imagined that between the two of them they could make many of the client emblems with only modest exertion. When the couple had finished each of the coins had been transformed into silver torch emblems on silky metal chains.

“Here you go, are there any questions?” Hermione asked as she handed over the emblems to the three. Harry assumed that Hermione had already explained the details of how the emblems worked before he arrived.

“They’re very pretty,” Luna said in her usual dreamy voice, “don’t you think so Ronald?”

“Er, yeah, they’re right spiffing,” Ron replied dubiously.

“You’re such a male Ron,” Ginny teased. Ron cast an askance glance her way as the three new members donned their necklaces.

“I was going to give these out to everyone who joins at the next meeting but I think it would be better if you four already had yours,” Hermione said cryptically as she enlarged four ornate boxes that Harry immediately recognized since he had filled a good number of them himself.

Hermione demonstrated the proper sequence to turn the inset crystals on the top of the box to open it without destroying the contents within. Neville looked scandalized by what he saw.

“Invisibility cloaks,” Ginny gasped, “but if we get caught with these we’ll be criminals.”

“Nevertheless you’re going to need them from time to time in all likelihood. Invisibility is a tremendous advantage which is why the Ministry has been trying to get rid of them,” Harry said.

“But how did you guys get a hold of so many?” Neville asked when he finally regained some composure.

“Harry and I made them ourselves,” Hermione said proudly, “these aren’t woven from demiguise hair, they’re corporeal invisibility charms.”

Neville’s eyes widened, “Wow, you guys can do corporeal spells? My gran says that the mark of a truly great wizard is when his spells can last beyond his own life. The founders could cast spells that powerful but there aren’t many wizards alive today who can.”
“Voldemort can,” Harry said darkly as he thought of the diary that nearly killed Ginny during his second year and the silver hand that he had conjured for Wormtail.

“Don’t be such a kill joy Harry,” Ginny sniffed disdainfully at Voldemort’s name. Ron and Neville still shuddered, much to Hermione’s annoyance.

“We should get back to our dorms, even with the cloaks we could still get caught if they have a random bed check,” Hermione said. They all packed up their gear and slung on their cloaks except Harry and Hermione who instead just cast invisibility charms on themselves.

As they crept through the halls they heard muted voices coming from up ahead. Harry motioned for silence and crept forward around the corner so he could see what was going on. Dumbledore was standing in the middle of the hall along with two aurors and Tonks. They all seemed to be discussing something heatedly but no matter how close they got their voices still seemed jumbled.

“They’re using some kind of spell that prevents eavesdropping,” Hermione said through their link.

“What do you think they’re doing out here in the middle of no where?” Harry asked.

“Looks like they’re getting ready to leave,” Hermione said. It was soon apparent that leaving was indeed their plan as Dumbledore took out a thin flat disk and waved his wand over it. The disk glowed blue as it was transfigured into a portkey. The aurors turned and scanned the halls once more with their eyepieces before everyone grabbed the disk and vanished.

“I guess Tram wasn’t kidding us. The Order really is going on missions with the Ministry,” Harry said.

“I wonder if the Ministry now knows that Tonks was working as a double agent the whole time or if they still think she’s just an auror,” Hermione mused.

“Don’t know, but we’d better get moving again,” Harry said. After making sure Luna had safely made it to the Ravenclaw quarters they all went back to the deserted Gryffindor common room. Harry and Hermione materialized out of no where as they let their charm drop. The others struggled out of their cloaks and put them into the ornate boxes that Hermione had given them.

“Are you guys coming?” Neville asked as he and Ron started up the stairs.

“In a bit, Harry and I are going to work on wards. You want to stay and help?” Hermione asked brightly.

“No thanks, some of us like to sleep,” Ron replied crossly before hustling Neville on up the steps.

“Ron this is really important you know,” Hermione said.

“Everything is really important to you,” Ron bit back, “Do you just enjoy rubbing it in our faces that we’re not as talented as the cleverest witch of the century?”

Hermione looked stricken, “Ron, I didn’t mean it like that, I just thought that you might want to help.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing this whole bloody time? I’ve worked more on this boring junk than ever before and I don’t even have quiddich anymore.” Ron groused as he finished disappearing up the stairs. Harry felt a twinge of unease at Ron’s increasing moodiness but refrained from getting involved since his track record at mediating their disputes was less than stellar.

Hermione grumbled something that sounded like “lazy git” before pulling out the stacks of parchments she had been sent by Fred and George’s recruits. She sifted through them before pulling out some that were obviously ward guides.

“Portkey dispersion wards,” Hermione said with a grin, “We can block incoming or outgoing portkeys with these.”

“So that’s why Voldemort never portkeyed into Hogwarts, he can’t,” Harry said with dawning realization.

“Yeah, but the wards can be set to admit certain people unlike anti-apparation wards.” Hermione explained.

Under Hermione’s instruction Harry conjured a ward base and began burning the symbols onto it. Thin black wisps of smoke trailed out of the end of his wand lazily before they impacted with precision onto the ward base.

“The more power you put into it the larger the affected area will be,” Hermione said. “At this rate the ward will probably cover an area the size of Hogwarts.”

“How many of these have you done?” Harry asked.

“I’ve got five different sizes right now,” Hermione said. Harry raised his eyebrows with surprise. Hermione grinned coyly. “What? I work on them before I go to sleep.”

“Did I ever mention you’re brilliant?” Harry replied proudly.

Hermione blushed and quickly gestured for him to complete his ward. Harry lost track of how long they worked as they tracked from one type of ward to others of increasingly more difficulty. Hermione had plans for unplottable wards which wizards used to hide locations, sentry wards that could have offensive spells tied to them, memory wards that could impart a pre-selected memory onto whoever triggered it, and many others that they didn’t have time to study fully.

The next couple of days went by quickly in a pattern that was becoming all too familiar to Harry. Most of his professors spent their time issuing snide remarks to him or Hermione about their lack of work ethic except for Tonks, who tried not to look at them and McGonagall because she actually had a clue. The grandmotherly old witch had guessed during their apparation lessons that the two of them were much more powerful than there grades let on. One time when she handed back an incomplete essay to Harry she made some remark about him “working hard” and winked at him. Harry had nearly fallen out of his chair, but in retrospect McGonagall was always one of the cleverer professors, maybe even more so than Dumbledore.

“Are you ready for this Harry?” Hermione asked as they stood outside the Room of Requirement. Harry and Hermione were wearing their golden trimmed Light Bearer cloaks. Flanking them was Ron, Luna, Ginny, and Neville, also dressed in their new silver trimmed Light Bearer uniform cloaks.

While Harry and Hermione’s cloaks had a golden torch emblem on their right shoulders the other four had silver torch emblems on their left shoulders. Ron’s cloak had four parallel silver bars on his right shoulder indicating that he was the supreme commander of their new organization. Luna had three silver bars outlined in blue to indicate her status as one of two wing commanders. Ginny had similar bars but with a red outline, though she was a little upset about it. Neville wore the markings that Ginny had wanted, two silver bars that indicated he was to be the commander of the first special champion breaker team that would be formed to fight the toughest of the Death Eaters. Harry knew that it would be suicide to duel the strongest of Voldemort’s supporters one on one. Champion breaker teams would be trained to use their superior numbers to quickly overwhelm and kill such dangerous individuals.

The only rank not showcased by the six founding members was that of squad leader, the basic unit of organization. These units were envisioned by Hermione to act as their own cells and be able to operate with a great degree of independence unless called together into a greater unit. Despite the fact that Hermione knew it would be pointless to resist if Harry were killed she had designed the structure of the Light Bearers to be able to carry on even in the event of a complete decapitation of its leadership.

“Ok, I think I’m ready and I doubt anyone else will show up now,” Harry finally replied.

“Does everyone know what to do?” Hermione asked. Four heads nodded. “Right then, let’s do this.”

Harry flicked his wand and the door to the Room of Requirement opened up. The room had configured itself into a huge open space for some reason as if it were anticipating some use not currently required of it. Neville, Ginny, Ron, and Luna marched in rather impressively in their matching uniforms with shining rank symbols. Harry and Hermione followed in behind them causing several people to gasp as they recognized their outfits from the Daily Prophet story on their encounter with the Death Eater recruits in Diagon Alley.

Harry looked around nervously at all the people staring at him even though he knew that they were his long time friends and associates. They were gazing with curiosity at the four silver trimmed teens too no doubt wondering what all the different things on their uniforms meant.

Harry cleared his throat and prepared to speak. Hermione insisted, as usual, that he do all the major speaking despite the fact that he hated being a leader. He was much more comfortable when Dumbledore or even Hermione was telling him what to do. He sighed inwardly; Hermione was trying to get him to trust in himself instead of relying on others. How ironic, Hermione was bossing him to be bossy.

“I’m sure most of you have already heard of the Bearers of the Light from the article that appeared recently in the Daily Prophet,” Harry began, trying to remember everything that he was going to say, wishing that he had written it all down. “The truth is that the conflict with Voldemort is approaching the scale of a civil war and now is a critical stage.”

The assembled students began to murmur softly as Harry continued. “The Ministry has covered up the true extent of the ongoing struggle for reasons that frankly make no sense, though I’m sure some of what I’m about to say will be vaguely familiar. All of you are aware of the battle that took place nearly a year ago now at the Ministry. What you have not been told is why Voldemort’s forces were there. Voldemort was trying to get a weapon, the one thing that can potentially assure his complete victory.”

Looks of panic broke out now, especially among the youngest of the D.A. members. Harry was glad that they hadn’t invited anyone below fifth year if only for the sake of their nerves.

“Obviously his efforts failed or else we probably wouldn’t be here, but the point is that he would have succeeded and there is nothing the Ministry could have done to stop him,” Harry said grimly. Harry made a sweeping gesture with his arm to indicate the others standing beside him. “We six have formed the Bearers of the Light because we know the truth, the whole truth or something very close to it, about what Voldemort’s true aims are. We intend to stop Voldemort at any cost, but more than that we intend to secure equal rights for all sentient creatures that have so long been denied to them. Only with the help of all magical creatures can we hope to prevent future Dark Lords from threatening our lives and freedoms.”

“If you know all of the truth then why not just go to the Ministry with it?” Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw in the same year as Harry, called out as soon as Harry stopped talking.

“The Ministry is compromised, part of the whole truth is the weapon I mentioned. The weapon is knowledge and if Death Eaters hidden within the Ministry were to learn of it all of our efforts would be put in great peril.” Harry explained. “Obviously those of us who know cannot tell anyone, the risk is too great.”

“We’re not just asking you to join so we can wage a private war on the side,” Hermione interrupted. “The primary purpose of this group beyond defeating Voldemort is to defend its members and their families from the ever escalating Death Eater attacks. We will supply tools, training, and the promise of whatever support and sanctuary that might become necessary.”

“What can you do that the Ministry can’t?” someone else shouted out.

Hermione took a tiny box out of her robes and enlarged it. From it she took the standard Light Bearer equipment that they were planning to hand out.

“Everyone will get protective clothing along with instructions or assistance in making more for their families. We’ve also uncovered many valuable potions from rare books we have come into the possession of recently. This invisibility cloak is completely undetectable by most Death Eaters and even Ministry aurors. Finally, we will give everyone one of these…” Hermione said as she took out the chain around her neck to hold up the emblem.

“This emblem will bind us all together, we will be able to find any of you and respond instantly in case of an attack. It also allows us to call anyone who wears another emblem to us. We can assemble the entire strength of our forces together in an instant to protect a single person.” Harry explained.

“What’s to prevent Voldemort from getting a hold of one of these and luring us all to a trap?” Terry spoke up again. Ravenclaw intelligence certainly isn’t underrated Harry thought.

“I was just coming to that,” Harry said, “There are two master emblems held by myself and Hermione. We will broker each summoning, in essence deciding who will apparate where and when. We will be the only ones who can find all other members. Most members will be unaware of each other much of the time and we will ensure secrecy by performing a fidelius charm as soon as this meeting is complete.”

Some people seemed to be impressed at the mention that they could perform a fidelius charm but Terry wasn’t done raining on their parade.

“So you want us to be your Death Eaters,” he accused.

Harry felt the blood drain from his face and Hermione stiffened sharply. “No, absolutely not,” he said hastily, “that isn’t the point at all. Everyone will wear an emblem, nothing will be burned into your skin.”

Hermione broke into Harry’s clumsy protest. “The emblem isn’t compelling. Anyone can remove it at any time if they choose. You can only put the emblem on willingly and you can only take it off willingly. However once taken off it will crumble to dust to prevent any tampering.”

“Do these controlling emblems work that way too?” Terry asked, somewhat mollified.

“Unfortunately no, the nature of the spell requires them to have more flexibility,” Hermione said.

“Then what makes you qualified to hold them? What will happen if Voldemort overpowers you?” Terry persisted.

“You will all know if the emblems change hands, but it won’t matter anyway. If the emblem is taken from me it will be because I’m dead and if I’m dead then there will be little that anyone else can do,” Harry said. He tried to dance around telling them outright that their cause was lost if he died.

“Even so, why does Hermione get the only other one. No offense Hermione, I know you’re the smartest witch of our year, but surely there are others more qualified in combat who could safeguard such a crucial thing.”

Harry waved a hand for silence at Hermione when he felt a wave of indignation coming from her. “I need Hermione to be the one for purposes of coordination. She is one of the few people who has all the relevant information, remember? Besides, if Hermione falls then our cause is most likely lost too. No one could guard the emblem more capably than she.”

Several people made little snorting noises and Terry scoffed openly. “Come now, we know that you are both very strong, we’ve read about how you handled those Death Eaters in Diagon Alley and we all appreciated the potions you provided earlier in the year, but surely you can’t expect us to believe that.”

Harry started to protest but now it was Hermione who waved him to silence. “Then perhaps a demonstration of true extent of our powers is in order for those who doubt our ability despite the cloaks and the very existence of these emblems.”

“Are you sure Hermione?” Harry asked through their link. “This could be dangerous.”

“As long as we don’t use unforgivable curses I think you can handle anything I throw at you,” Hermione replied. Harry looked at her quizzically and noticed she was smirking.

“Alright fine, if you want a demonstration we’ll give you one. Everyone stand back along the walls and conjure shields just in case something slips by one of us,” Harry said.

“Don’t bother, I’ve got wards,” Hermione said smugly. She took out four slips of what appeared to be paper and slapped them into the air in four opposite positions, North, South, East, and West. The wards shone bright red before flying toward the walls and forming a narrow shielded path a few feet wide along each wall.

Hermione and Harry moved to opposite sides of the room before drawing their wands. Each of them held their wand aloft in traditional stance of respect for their opponent.

“I’ve wondered for a long time which of us is stronger Harry,” Hermione said. “This is a perfect chance to find out.”

“Agreed.” Harry replied, then added dramatically, “Don’t hold back Hermione, defeat me!”

The room’s large size finally made sense to Harry. They would need the space for their duel. He vaguely wondered how the room anticipated their need as he saw movement from the corners of his eyes. Everyone shuffled as they pressed shoulder to shoulder along one wall to watch the duel that was about to begin. Harry concentrated on all the spells and techniques that he had been studying for months now as he called forth the full measure of his power. Harry and Hermione were used to keeping their powers in check during class practices but neither of them would hold back this time.

“Look at their eyes,” Luna said rather loudly. Harry’s gaze flickered to Hermione’s eyes and saw the familiar shine of a blazing gleam that betrayed her full power. He realized that a similar burning light must have been coming from his own eyes. A fearsome looking twinkling that he had first seen when Dumbledore came to their rescue in the Department of Mysteries.

With the precision of a choreographed dance routine Harry and Hermione simultaneously let their wands fall from their starting stance as they began their first spells. Not knowing what to expect Harry summoned a shining silver shield gilded with the head of a stag. Hermione had likewise summoned a shield identical to his except adorned with an otter. As soon as they had finished their shields both had sent a powerful incapacitating spell sizzling in their opponent’s direction but both spells were harmlessly absorbed by the other’s shield.

Harry knew there was only one way to bring down a shield as strong as Hermione’s and he also knew that she would be trying to bring his down as well. Who ever dropped the other’s shield first might very will gain enough advantage to win. Harry and Hermione side stepped at the same time which had the effect of causing them to circle each other like predators trying to corner their prey. Wands slashed rapidly and noiseless lightening flashes filled the room as tiny pinpoints of energy from their breaker curses slammed into each other’s shields. Harry’s arm felt numb after a few seconds as a portion of the force behind each hammer blow transferred to his body.

Harry felt his shield break apart at the same time as he saw Hermione’s crack and knew that he had lost the race. Hermione calmly fired seven beams of light on slightly different angles trying to ensnare him. Desperately Harry focused and jerked his wand upright. He was rewarded by a tiny crystal gleam from the air in front of him as his barrier charm took effect and absorbed the hex Hermione had just cast.

Hermione didn’t even flinch at his successful defense since she had him on the run now. A bright tongue of flame flared up at the end of her wand and then multiplied into a swarm of fiery projectiles that homed in on Harry like angry insects. Each one of them was actually rather weak, but all of them working together were swiftly overwhelming Harry’s barrier. Each time a piece of fire impacted against it the barrier flashed white before reverting to its normal transparent nature. The attacks were impacting so swiftly that the entire barrier was taking on a white tinge within a few seconds.

Harry readied a huge blast of air and cast it through his own barrier, shattering it, but also scattering Hermione’s flames from their intended target. Harry’s wand summoned another gilded silver shield as his left hand came up, palm flat, to bring the swirling shards of the shield into a tight formation in front of him. With a wave of his hand the jagged shards of broken shield were accelerated toward a defenseless Hermione.

Hermione pointed her wand at herself and with a flash of motion she was gone. The shards impacted harmlessly where she had stood an instant before. Harry quickly whirled until he found where she had stopped moving and discovered that she had taken the time to summon a new shield. They were back at the same stalemate that their duel had started with.

There was a thin mist clinging to the floor now as the result of Harry’s barrier and Hermione’s flame attack. Apparently the barrier left behind some residue when it was vaporized or ground into dust after being used as a weapon. The crowd was beginning to get restless too.

“What was that?” asked someone in an awed voice. “Is this duel real?”

“It’s like something from a dream,” answered a voice that definitely sounded like Luna.

Harry raised his wand again and summoned masses of silver spikes with a spell that was typically used to fight werewolves. As each set of spikes appeared they slashed downward with alarming speed toward Hermione and then exploded harmlessly or else missed her entirely as she fired some kind of curse at them. Since neither of them were calling out their spells Harry couldn’t be sure what she was doing since several spells could have similar effects.

Hermione flipped her wand in her hand so that she wielded it like a dagger. Harry’s eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do. With each slash a great white gash was torn into the fabric of the air that surrounded her before hardening into a thin edge and speeding toward Harry like a scythe. Harry began running to dodge the white crescents before they could cut him in half. He couldn’t afford to stay so far out from Hermione any longer or else she was going to win the long range fight.

Harry quit running and pointed his wand at himself for an acceleration charm. He held his shield rigidly in front of him and then hurled himself at a rapid speed toward Hermione. At the last second Hermione realized what he was doing and put her own shield between Harry’s blunt attack and herself. A sharp high-pitched metallic clang reverberated through the confines of the room causing some to wince in discomfort. Now at pointblank range the two battered each other’s shields mercilessly with breaker curses designed to eat away at the strength of their protective charms.

Curses flew rapidly back and forth across the mere inches that separated the two combatants. Wands raised high, shields cracked, and the raw magical energy of their spells simply exploded in an uncontrolled reaction. Harry felt himself flying through the air as they were blown apart. He landed heavily and immediately pointed his wand at himself to perform a rejuvenation charm to heal the fatigue his body was feeling.

“They’re going to kill each other!” Hannah Abbot wailed, “Someone stop them.”

“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine,” Ron interjected roughly.

“Are you sure mate?” Justin Finch-Fletchley asked. “They’re using deadly curses.”

“If they have that much confidence in each other then who are we to doubt?” Ginny said, “Now just hush and watch, you all wanted this.”

Hermione had finally regained her feet as well and went back on the offensive. She twisted her wand oddly and sent forth massive gouts of flame. Unlike her previous fire attack designed to overwhelm a static defense this burst of liquid fire was to melt flesh from bone. Harry realized there was no way to dodge it and with a silent wish that he had studied the elemental book a little more closely he summoned a laughably thin aqua colored bubble around him.

To the outside observer Harry’s entire body was immersed in deadly blue-green tinged flame. The watchers all stood rigid in horror as Hermione poured an ever increasingly intense jet of fire onto Harry’s last location. Finally she gasped for air, unable to maintain the assault any longer, and conjured another shield warily. The fire was still burning and indeed acted like a liquid as it pooled in thick clumps. In the middle of this molten lake there was a small bubble that was itself covered in the dripping fire. The fire began dying quickly and the liquid portions hardened before flaking away. Harry emerged from a cocoon of flaky dust that had built up around his water elemental shield.

Cautiously Harry knelt and put his wand tip to the floor. Instantly the temperature began dropping as Harry sucked the heat from the room. The shield protecting the bystanders mitigated the effects for them but they still felt the cold seeping through. Hermione was incased inside a prison of ice in a flash and for a moment it looked like Harry had won. The ice shattered and a blue skinned Hermione gestured violently at the shards causing them to hurl toward Harry just as Harry had attacked her earlier with his barrier fragments.

Harry stood, waved his wand, and summoned a bubble of hot air in the path of the incoming attack. Ice hissed and turned to steam as the shards failed to pass through the bubble of superheated air. Without Harry holding the ice spell the rest of the frozen room reverted back to its normal state and in the process left behind even more mist to cloud the arena. Undaunted Harry conjured a piece of solid black stone shaped like two pyramids joined at the base. Holding it aloft the shard spat out dozens of identical pieces toward Hermione who conjured the tongues of flame she had used earlier against his barrier. Shards of black stone impacted and pulverized themselves against little flame daggers.

Harry tucked the black stone into his robes and conjured a fresh shield. Just battering away at her with all his might wasn’t getting him anywhere. He needed a strategy to get him through her defenses long enough for one stunning spell. Hermione started slashing white gashes into the air again, each one hardening and turning into a crescent moon shaped scythe of destruction. Not wanting to retreat from his position again and leave himself open to another attack he summoned great silver disks to defend himself. Each spinning silver disk was lined along its edge with razor sharp spines that were designed to rip werewolves and other dark creatures apart.

Metallic clangs sounded and sparks flew as the attacks collided before ricocheting off of each other. The conjured items turned to powder as they fell to the floor, useless to their respective masters. Hermione’s eyes flashed more brilliantly than ever as she summoned a dark magical fire attack Harry recognized as the Life’s Bane elemental spell. Corporeal fire that ancient goblins had used to make burning weapons for undead warriors in conflicts long forgotten. The fire that Hermione conjured rose into the air and formed a large ball. It churned like something Harry imagined the surface of the sun might look like before pieces of it began to detach.

Long spears of fire began raining down toward a defenseless Harry. He knew that his elemental bubble wouldn’t work against this fire. Desperately he reached into his robes and pulled out the black stone. It was the only thing that even approached the power of the flame Hermione now wielded. He hurled the stone to the floor, shattering it, and then began infusing it with magical energy. The fragments of the stone formed a circle around Harry before enlarging and springing up to form a thick armored barrier around him. Harry could feel the impact of each spear of flame vibrating through the stone dome he had constructed to keep himself safe. Harry didn’t know if his improvised defense was going to hold and wished that he could simply apparate. That was the tactic described as most effective in the elemental book that documented the spell.

As the dome began to crack Harry conjured up a thick shroud of super cold air and enlarged his shield to give himself the most protection possible. He felt a spike of magical energy surge through the air and knew that Hermione had launched her final attack, probably the entire ball of fire she had been building up. It was now or never, so Harry quickly blew out the wall of his shelter and performed the acceleration charm. There was a deafening crash as the corporal fire impacted and shattered against the floor of the room. Apparently the Room of Requirement could become very durable when necessary because a blast like that would have torn apart a normal structure.

Again Harry felt himself impact heavily against the floor but this time he wasn’t able to perform any healing charms before he had to scramble to his feet to deflect more spells. Hermione had reverted to more conventional high-powered spells in an attempt to overwhelm his shield. People were staring at him with wide-eyed fear as he staggered slightly, his clothes giving off a little smoke from their charred ends. Harry pointed his wand like a one would point a finger as he hid beneath his shield. A tiny black ball formed at the tip of his wand and then sped straight toward Hermione. She tried to block it but at the last instant it unfurled itself into a huge black sheet and enveloped her completely.

“Soul Drainer curse,” Neville whispered into the now totally silent room, “my gran told me about it. Its supposed to be only one step away from an unforgivable curse, black magic at its worst.”

Harry said nothing instead taking the opportunity to cast some healing charms on himself. The dark mass that enveloped Hermione would easily block any other spell he might try to cast on her. Seconds ticked by as Harry waited for the inevitable. It came suddenly, first as a tiny pinprick of light, then as large gashes all across the dark mass. Hermione burst the black curse apart and emerged from its grasp enveloped in a sheen of white light that clung to her form.

“I didn’t think you had it in you Harry,” Hermione croaked feebly. The attack had obviously drained her far more than it had appeared on first glance. “I don’t think I could handle another curse like that.”

“You’re in luck then,” Harry rasped back, “I don’t think I could cast another one right now.”

Hermione smiled wanly and swayed in place as they both prepared for their final offensive. Hermione pointed her wand at herself and cast an exertion charm. Reluctantly Harry followed suit knowing that if he didn’t he would be swiftly overwhelmed. The exertion charm allowed the user to access their remaining physical strength for a short period of time at the cost of complete collapse with exhaustion once its effects ended. Vigor rushed through his body as he completed the spell and he focused on Hermione, trying to imagine what spell she would evoke next.

Expecting her typical level of finesse Harry was nearly knocked off his feet by the impact of her first breaking curse as it tried to crack his shield. Harry quickly returned fire, matching Hermione curse for curse as they repeated their earlier performance of trying to bash through each other’s shields with brute force. This time instead of circling each other at a distance they marched straight at each other, rapidly closing the distance to point blank range. Hermione swung her shield physically against his as she tried to slip a spell under his defense. The both kept moving in a weird sort of dance as they each worked to keep the other’s wand in front of their shield instead of their body.

Hermione pointed her wand at her own shield and infused it with something Harry didn’t recognize. He swung his shield at hers again and immediately regretted it. For the third time he found himself flying through the air from the force of a magical explosion. He managed to land in a crouched position and roll out of the way of her follow up stunner that was intended to end the duel in her favor. The enclosed space erupted in an ear-shattering clap of thunder from Harry’s retaliation. Magically created lightening sizzled through the air toward Hermione who merely held up her wand, Harry’s wand, and let it hit.

“It’s over,” Hermione said confidently as the lightening was absorbed into the wood, “I enchanted this wand to be impervious to lightening long ago. The weakest of the elements.”

Harry slowly got to his feet, never taking his eyes off of her. “You should have finished me then when you had the chance.”

Hermione’s eyes narrowed and she shot a stunner even as Harry pointed his wand at himself. Conjured metal strained and shattered as their shields connected one final time. Harry saw an opening and jabbed his wand into Hermione’s exposed torso. He dimly felt something blunt digging at his ribs as he willed a powerful stunning spell from his wand and blacked out.

A hazy voice from what seemed to be impossibly far away spoke. “Look, they’re moving.”

Harry felt as if he had run all the way to London and back a few times. Feeling slowly returned to his limbs and he was aware of Hermione stirring next to him, no doubt feeling just as exhausted.

“What happened?” Harry asked, renewing their mental communication that they had suspended voluntarily during the duel.

“I think we tied,” Hermione replied. “We can sit up if we lean against each other.”

After a little struggling they got themselves into an upright position. They had never exerted themselves to the limit of their physical and magical potential before. The experience was painful to say the least. At some point their hats had fallen off, Harry didn’t remember when, but Hermione was summoning them.

“Restorative potion should revive us enough, at least physically, to go on until we can rest properly,” Hermione said as she fished two vials out of her hat. They downed the contents together and immediately Harry felt relief spread to his limbs.

The other students had been trying to help them but were unable because the shield ward that Hermione had used blocked physical passage too, not just spells. None of them had been able to blast their way through it or bypass it so everyone had been forced to wait while they were unconscious with no idea how badly they might be injured. Everyone seemed to have a sense of awe at their friends abilities and disbelief that they could stand up again so quickly.

Hermione held up her hand and the four wards disconnected from where they had planted themselves to return to her. With the shields down everyone crowded around them, though Ron and the others tried to keep them back a bit.

“Really, we’ll be fine,” Harry insisted for the third time. “If we were knocked out for hours at a time after a tough fight then we really wouldn’t be much use to anyone now would we?”

“Everyone should stand back a little,” Hermione said, as the crowd pressed uncomfortably close, “our proof isn’t over yet.”

“You all should see that we cannot be tortured or spelled into betraying your trust either,” Harry said as he caught onto what Hermione’s next demonstration would be.

Hermione pointed her wand at Harry and uttered the unforgivable incantation, “Crucio!”

Harry would have heard the gasps of horror from everyone around them, even Ron had no idea that they had been practicing unforgivables, but he was too busy stifling a scream and struggling to keep his feet. At last he wrested control of the pain and shoved it aside.

Harry pointed his wand at Hermione and repeated the incantation. Now an intense searing pain that burned within every nerve of their bodies was pressing into both of them. Their wands trembled as they made tiny twisting motions like someone grinding a dagger into an open wound.

After what seemed like an eternity they both lifted their wands and staggered back gasping for air, as the curse was broken. “You cannot block or resist the Cruciatus Curse,” Harry said, “but after continued exposure and with the disciplining of your mind you can function somewhat even when it is affecting you.”

“The Imperius Curse on the other hand can be thrown off entirely through strength of mind,” Hermione said, then pointed her wand at Harry and uttered the incantation. “Bow before me.”

Harry cringed and his eyes went glossy for a moment but then the gleam of his power surged again as he shook the spell off. Harry didn’t bow, he instead he pointed his wand at Hermione and said the same words. “Bow before me.”

Hermione now jerked slightly but she didn’t bow either. “If we cannot control each other Voldemort cannot control us either, though undoubtedly he is stronger than we are.”

This pronouncement seemed to chill their audience who Harry suspected was already bordering on information overload. Nevertheless there was nothing else to do but forge ahead. “So who will join us?”

Seamus gave a hollow little laugh, “Why do you need us again?”

“Honestly,” Hermione said impatiently. She was still feeling the physical and mental fatigue of their duel. “Terry touched on this earlier, we need all of you for the same reason Voldemort needs Death Eaters. We’re only two people and anyone who can cast a killing curse can bring us down in a flash no matter how strong we might be. We can’t be everywhere nor do everything.”

“All right,” Seamus said at last, “You told us we could quit at any time right? I’ll join, where do I sign up?”

“Follow us,” Hermione said. Everyone followed them to where Hermione enlarged the ornate boxes that contained the basic supplies that they were going to issue each new member.

“As we said earlier, just place the emblem around your neck and we will be able to find you. When we call you will apparate blindly following the guidance of the magic in the emblem. Apparate after conjuring your uniform and concealing your identity with wand drawn ready to battle since we won’t be able to communicate the details before you arrive.”

Harry and Hermione showed everyone in turn how to summon their uniform properly, along with instruction for feeling the pull of the emblems guiding magic. The fifth years would have to be in training since apparation would alert the ministry to their underage magic. Hermione had insisted that they be included though so that they could be trained properly and so they could help with lesser tasks like the brewing of simple potions. In the end everyone who came joined, much to Harry’s surprise despite his faith in Hermione’s ability to judge character.

Harry managed the explanations and dissemination of their equipment for the most part so that Hermione could concentrate on the difficult task of casting the fidelius charm to prevent anyone from divulging the secrets of Light Bearer either intentionally or by accident. Only Hermione would be able to hand out that information even though Harry and Ron would know everything. Of course the charm wouldn’t be fool proof because of the nature of the information they were trying to conceal. Someone could still unravel their identities if they found out too much.

The meeting had drug out late into the evening well past curfew so everyone donned their new invisibility cloaks and went out in pairs while both ends of the hall were watched to make sure no one showed up. Harry had the Marauder’s map out but he insisted on a visual guard too just in case someone knew how to conceal themselves from the map. Remus always insisted that the map never lies but in Harry’s experience someone strong enough or smart enough could overcome any magic device.

Hermione was anxious over the next few days that their newest recruits would inadvertently act differently around her or Harry and raise the suspicions of the aurors that seemed to be watching them closer than ever. She need not have worried though, Harry had made it clear that everyone was to act normal and take no action unless they got a summons through the emblem. In a few days after the newness of being a member of a new organization wore off everyone had settled back into their normal routines with out a second thought.

With much grumbling Ron had covered for many of Hermione’s prefect duties so that she could devote more time to wading through the piles of parchment that accompanied all of Fred and George’s outside activities. Besides recruiting new members they were also setting up various caches of supplies, funded by Harry’s account, in secret locations that would be used as staging areas and safe houses. Hermione had a keen mind for detail and had drawn up all kinds of supply lists for potions, extra wands, specialized equipment, and even recommended strategies for operatives. Currently Harry was trying to create magical eyepieces like the aurors wore to enable their followers to see through solid objects and invisibility. He was having little success though, so instead he generally focused on creating various types of wards. Hermione insisted that every member should have access to all the wards and potions that could possibly be useful in combat.

Hermione motioned for Harry to come over when he finished his last ward piece that he was working on. There were several people in the commons so they put their heads close together to whisper. They could have went up to Harry’s room but with as much time as they had been spending together lately that would have probably been just as suspicious. As it was no one was really paying attention to them so Harry figured that they could get away with it.

“George thinks we may get a source inside the Ministry soon,” Hermione whispered excitedly, “and they’ve forwarded us six more people who are prepared to accept the emblem.”

“Are they trustworthy?” Harry whispered back. He wished they could just use their mind link but they figured that the two of them working without speaking at all might draw attention.

“Who knows? I mean obviously there isn’t anything in their backgrounds that Fred and George could find to suggest that they might betray us to Voldemort. There is no way to know for sure though, which is why I’ve instructed the twins to keep each cell small right now. Their only link to anyone else will be the twins and us.” Hermione said.

“What instructions are we sending out right now?” Harry asked. Hermione insisted that he be appraised of everything in case something happened to her.

“Basically for everyone to pay attention to what’s going on around them, watch out for anything that might suggest Death Eater activity and of course to keep their eyes open for anyone suitable to be recruited. They are to pass names along to the twins for investigation and contact when they think they’ve found a suitable person.” Hermione replied as she finished up the last touches on her latest orders for the new recruits.

“Harry, sign,” Hermione said thrusting the paper at him. Hermione insisted that Harry countersign each official order that was issued to low ranking members to add a layer of reassurance that the instructions were real and to make sure that both leaders had equal recognition within the ranks. Harry pointed his wand next to the silver lettering that read “Greywing” and added a splotch of silver that shimmered as it hardened into the word “Fantail.” When he had finished Hermione sealed the letter and stamped a round circle with lines coming off of it on the outside. The sun symbol was their correspondence identification rather than the usual image of a burning torch so that if the letter were intercepted there would be no visual evidence to associate it with the Bearers of the Light. The letter was also charmed to destroy itself if it were not opened properly and only the twins, Harry, and Hermione were currently aware of the procedure.

The portrait swung in and Ron stepped into the commons, snapping irritably at a first year that was hanging around too close to the door. He spotted them and came over to sit down on the sofa across from Hermione.

“What’s that?” he asked, nodding at the letter.

“Er, for the twins,” Hermione said shortly.

“Again? All you do is send them mail,” Ron replied, his eyes narrowing.

“Everything’s having to be set up right now, no time to lose,” Harry said.

“Mum says their business has been suffering some from lack of attention. Couldn’t you guys lay off?” Ron asked.

“This is more important than money Ron,” Hermione said tersely.

“We can’t Ron,” Harry said plaintively, “and they haven’t complained. You know that I wouldn’t let their business fail.”

Hermione’s dig on money seemed to strike a nerve with Ron though. “Oh no, its never about money for you is it Hermione, you know you’re set already. Did you think I missed the little fact that you’ve got a Gringotts key now? I wonder who’s that could be.”

Harry grimaced, “It’s not like that Ron, you know that Hermione needs access to our capital, I just can’t oversee every necessary expenditure by myself.”

Ron wasn’t listening though he was building up a full steam that was very reminiscent of Molly when she got on a rampage. “It must be nice going around bossing people around, having others do your work after you complained at me all last year about prefect duties, showing off all the time with your enchantments and potions that none of the rest of us can understand.”

“Ron, come on now, that’s out of line,” Harry hissed under his breath as he felt himself starting to get angry, especially when he saw the expression on Hermione’s face and the pain that radiated from her across their link. Hermione had been sacrificing everything that mattered to her, her grades, her prefect responsibilities, and now she was getting upbraided for it. “We’re all on the same side here, Hermione isn’t doing this for the fun of it, we’re trying to build a viable resistance to Voldemort.”

“I knew you’d take her side Harry,” Ron said, getting even angrier as he whispered hoarsely at them, “you’ve gotten just as bad, you act just like her, all holier than thou study freak.”

“Ron!” Harry said slightly louder, “What’s gotten into you? You know better than anyone why I have to study and its not like I’ve tried to exclude you from anything.”

Ron made some kind of snort, “You tried to pretend that you weren’t but when push came to shove you decided I was too weak to be a full partner, I’m just a lackey like the twins, too weak to do anything but run at the beck and call of real wizards like Hermione or yourself. Everyone’s been rubbing it in my face now for days about how great and powerful you two are.”

“This is all about you being jealous?” Hermione squeaked with disbelief.

“Ron you’ve become one of the best wizards I know, your strength isn’t why you don’t have a controlling emblem,” Harry said, though it wasn’t entirely true. Ron wasn’t strong enough to resist the most powerful of the Death Eaters like Hermione was.

Ron still wasn’t listening though, he jumped to his feet prepared to storm off but decided to shout out one last parting shot. “You think you’re special just because some old bat made some vague…”

“RON!” Hermione shrieked. Everyone in the room was staring at them now. Harry’s wand was out and even though Ron was still talking his voice was silenced. Harry was truly enraged now at Ron’s behavior.

“You’ve crossed the line Ron,” Harry growled. Ron grabbed for his wand in a panic but it flew out of his robes and into Harry’s hand. Harry’s eyes burned with power as he immobilized him and levitated him up toward the dorm. “It’s time we talked about this.”

Harry must have looked especially menacing because as soon as the two had disappeared one of younger students cried out, “Someone go get Professor McGonagall, he’s gonna kill him.”

“Don’t be foolish,” Hermione snapped, but a third year ran for the door anyway. Hermione’s wand was out in a flash and before anyone could move she had appeared in front of the door with the aid of the acceleration charm. “No one’s going anywhere or telling anyone.”

Seamus looked at her oddly. “Maybe we should make sure they’re ok…”

“They’ll be fine,” Hermione said coldly, her wand still pointed at the room. “Come here Seamus.”

Now Seamus looked very concerned, but he approached her anyway. Hermione leaned over and whispered in his ear whilst watching everyone. “Remember that thing we told you all that was dangerous for anyone to know? Ron almost let it slip.”

Seamus’ eyes widened at the implications of such dangerous forbidden knowledge being nearly let out. “I’m going to go up, make sure no one leaves.”

She need not have bothered though for Harry reappeared at that moment. “We’ve straightened it out,” Harry said, “Ron refused to come back down though, but he said that if anyone wanted to see him he’d stay up a while.”

One kid that Harry remembered was pretty fond of Ron hesitantly went up the stairs. Hermione gracefully walked over to him and they whispered together for a moment no longer caring how conspiratorial it looked, their cover was somewhat blown regardless of what they did at this point.

“What did he say?” Hermione asked.

“He’s just been under a lot of pressure, as soon as he realized what he’s almost done he was devastated,” Harry said. “You know he’d never do anything to hurt either of us.”

“So he just…snapped?” Hermione said hesitantly.

“We have been ignoring him more than usual, he felt left out, and he is very loyal to his family obviously. We should let the twins know that they shouldn’t hurt their business, there’s no need for that.” Harry said. “Really, he was embarrassed more than anything.”

“I feel terrible,” Hermione said as she eyed the staircase, “I should go apologize. I have been bossier than usual...”

“Just give him some time alone, he doesn’t want us traipsing in on him again so soon,” Harry said. Ron had been under a lot of strain lately. Harry knew that he had always somewhat resented being under the shadow of Harry’s fame and wealth. He wouldn’t hold a grudge against Ron for his sensitivities and instead kicked himself for not being more attentive to his best friend’s feelings.

“Harry we’d better see to sending out the letters then before curfew,” Hermione said. “Maybe we should both go so if Ron wants to come back down he won’t be too uncomfortable.”

Harry nodded in agreement and helped Hermione gather up her other papers. He waited for a minute while she took the box of parchments upstairs to her room. Harry took the letters and held the opening to the room for her before following her out into the hall. A very disturbing and unexpected scene immediately confronted them.

Dumbledore was standing opposite their door looking very washed out and transparent. Hermione’s voice immediately shouted in his mind.

“Keep going Harry, don’t let on like you see anything, he’s under an invisibility charm.”

They had only taken a few steps when they saw Tram lurking behind a statue, concealed from Dumbledore, and also apparently using some kind of invisibility, probably a cloak. Hermione radiated confusion and Harry was sure that he was as well.

The situation got even weirder when the nearly stumbled over the two aurors who had harassed them before, Langley and Gangstrom. The two surly looking wizards were also cloaked and taking turns peering around the corner to observe the hallway.

“Something is going on,” Harry said as they continued to walk briskly toward the tower that housed the owls. “I’ve never seen Dumbledore out like that before.”

“We’ve not been able to see through invisibility charms for that long Harry. For all we know he does this regularly.” Hermione replied.

“That doesn’t explain the others though. They all seemed to be unaware of each other, except maybe Langley and Gangstrom.” Harry speculated.

“Why would they be watching Gryffindor tower though?” Hermione asked. “What do they think is going on? Something connected with Voldemort?”

“I can’t imagine what else would prompt Dumbledore and three aurors to stake out our tower. Maybe they’re watching me.” Harry said.

“That doesn’t make any sense though, maybe they’re watching for a student instead? Maybe they think that the Death Eaters have a student working for them” Hermione said thoughtfully.

“No, that doesn’t make any sense either. Even if a student couldn’t cast avada kedavra they could easily kill any of us in our sleep with poison or even a knife,” Harry replied. “There’s no way Dumbledore would let someone that dangerous just wonder around where they can threaten lives.”

“I don’t know Harry, but we need to figure this out and fast,” Hermione said. She then added hesitantly the same phrase she had been repeating all term. “Maybe we should go to Dumbledore.”

“I think you’re right,” Harry said as he pulled Hermione over to the side of the hall. Hermione was stunned and pleased that Harry finally agreed it was time to go for some answers. She didn't get to say anything more before Harry took off his hat and dug around looking for the Marauder’s Map. They hurriedly activated it and tried to locate Dumbledore. They looked at Gryffindor tower but found only Tram was still there. He was talking to a little bubble whose name Harry didn’t recognize.

“I think that’s a first year,” Hermione whispered.

The bubble moved away from Tram and entered the tower. The couple watched as Tram quickly began heading toward the main entrance before dropping off of the map entirely.

“He left?” Harry said puzzled.

“Where’s Dumbledore?” Hermione said urgently. They finally found him next to a bubble that read Gangstrom. They were near a part of the castle that Harry recognized as the kitchens.

“Looks like Langley is snitching a bite,” Harry smirked as he pointed at the bubble in the kitchens.

“Oh no, Dumbledore and Gangstrom are leaving,” Hermione said. Sure enough the two bubbles representing them disappeared in the same direction as Tram had.

“Then there’s nothing more we can do tonight,” Harry said dejectedly, “We’d better send the letters and get back before curfew.”

After giving Hedwig her assignment the couple returned straight to the tower encountering no more strange things on along the way. The entire castle seemed subdued as if it were holding its breath for something. Hermione went up to her dorm early and Harry decided that he would as well so they could analyze the day’s events in their shared dream.

Harry entered the dark room and listened to Ron’s restless sleeping for a moment. He walked over to the bed and put his wand down on the nightstand while yawning sleepily. The last thing he remembered was putting a hand on the covers before collapsing to the floor unconscious.

“Harry!” a voice echoed distantly through his consciousness.

Harry groaned as his mind floated on a hazy cloud of contentment. What was this pesky thing bothering him?

“Harry!” the voice called with a much more insistent tone this time.

Harry’s eyes flew open as he finally snapped out of whatever trance had been gripping him. Hermione’s tear stained face came into focus as she hovered inches above him.

“Oh Harry,” she sobbed, “I couldn’t hear you, it was like you were dead.”

“What happened?” he asked weakly. Hermione kissed him urgently before hugging him tightly again. He stroked her hair gently as she brought her emotions under control.

“I don’t know Harry, I was worried because you didn’t dream last night but time passes differently in a dream, especially when you’re not there to give it any perspective, so I woke up before I realized it was morning. Then I waited for you downstairs and everyone else left for breakfast, but you didn’t come down. I’ve been trying everything I know to get you to wake up but you wouldn’t budge. I only knew you were alive because you were breathing.” Hermione babbled hysterically. Harry wrapped his arms around her to continue to try and sooth her.

“It’s ok Hermione, I’m fine, I’m not going anywhere, let’s just figure out what happened ok?” Hermione nodded and he could feel her spirits lifting as their link reestablished itself. “Now the last thing I remember is coming in here and getting ready for bed. I came over and touched the sheet…”

Harry pulled them back from the bed. “I touched the sheet and that’s the last thing I remember.”

Hermione whipped out her wand and began performing revelation charms on the sheets to see if they had been cursed.

“I left my hat downstairs, where’s yours?” Hermione asked when nothing showed up.

Harry grabbed the wand from off the nightstand and summoned his hat. With a flash he was tossed back against the wall. Hermione shrieked as ran to him and began casting healing charms immediately.

“My hand, so cold,” Harry wheezed as he gripped his wand hand. “Some kind of jinx.”

“Death’s Touch jinx,” Hermione muttered, hysteria beginning to grip her again, “we’re lucky you were just summoning something. A real spell would have flash frozen you….”

“I think that’s helping,” Harry said as he felt warmth return to his hand. “Now we know why I was knocked out. Someone wanted the opportunity to try and kill me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense Harry, if they wanted to kill you they could have used lethal poison or avada kedavra on you instead of just jinxing your wand.” Hermione reasoned.

“Can the jinx be lifted?” Harry asked as he looked warily at the wand.

“Probably, but I don’t have any idea how yet,” Hermione replied as she prevented Harry from reaching for the booby-trapped item. “It’s my wand, I’d better do it, I know all of its nuances better than you.”

“Hermione this can’t be a coincidence,” Harry said suddenly. “Think about it, Dumbledore and three aurors are watching the tower last night. Then I get knocked out and my wand is jinxed just a few hours later.”

“Yes, I agree, there’s something more going on but none of it makes any sense. If Dumbledore suspected something like this would happen then why leave before thwarting the attack? How did the attacker get into the tower to poison you and then get in again to jinx the wand? What’s the point of just jinxing your wand instead of killing you outright?” Hermione said, rambling off questions rapidly as her mind went into overdrive.

“I don’t know,” Harry said, shaking his head. He went over and retrieved his hat by hand. “Let’s see what was put on my bed.”

“It’s some variant of the dreamless sleep potion,” Hermione said after using a discovery potion on it. “Only its faster acting and obviously transfers by touch instead of needing to be ingested.”

“Should we should dispose of these,” Harry asked, “or keep them for further analysis?”

“It won’t matter, the potion is dissolving the sheets, it will be like none of it ever existed in a few more hours,” Hermione said. “Seems like a lot of trouble to go to.”

“This makes less and less sense by the minute.” Harry agreed. “I’m going to get dressed.”

“Right, I’ll wait for you outside this room, if you’re not out in five minutes I’m coming back in.” Hermione said sternly.

“Actually I was hoping you could just conjure my clothes since you have a working wand,” Harry replied. Hermione rolled her eyes, but waved her wand. Harry’s clothes switched and he was in his protective robes instantly.

Hermione scooped up the jinxed wand and tucked it behind her belt as they walked down the stairs. The common room and the halls were deserted as they walked toward the Great Hall for breakfast. The hall was buzzing lively with the usual friendly chatter of the morning when they made their way to the Gryffindor seats. Hermione had wanted Harry to go to Madam Pomfrey but he convinced her that he was fine. Also, until they knew what was going on Harry thought it might be wise to say nothing to anyone before talking to Dumbledore. Thankfully Dumbledore was sitting at the front of the room eating so they would be able to corner him after the meal and finally get some answers hopefully.

Harry took his usual seat next to Ron with Hermione sitting across from them. Hermione looked at Ron oddly before asking a tentative question.

“Ron, did you notice anything strange last night, like say Harry crumpled up next to his bed?”

“Er, no, I mean yeah, but he falls out of bed from time to time, why?” Ron asked.

“Someone poisoned him and jinxed his wand,” Hermione hissed. “Did you notice anything strange or not?”

“Nope, not a thing, came in, went to sleep, got up, that’s all I remember,” Ron said nonchalantly. Hermione looked positively venomous at his casual attitude so Harry tried to smooth it over.

“It’s ok Ron, you’re a heavy sleeper and like you said, I do fall out once in a while.”

Hermione shrugged, but Harry could tell she was still miffed, and took out the hexed wand. Hermione began running a jet of soft yellow light all over it to reveal the jinx and hopefully dissolve it.

Harry leaned in close so he could see what she was doing. Hermione’s delicate spell work was beginning to make some headway on removing the jinx afflicting the wand. It looked like little hairs were shedding off of it as the destructive spell was eaten away. Harry jerked back as a platter of sweet rolls popped into existence right in front of him. He took one unconsciously as he continued to watch Hermione work.

Hermione felt an uncomfortable tingle in her chest suddenly and glanced up half way expecting to see a dark curse flying towards her. The light being emitted from her wand, Harry’s wand actually, was not only a tool for unraveling harmful spells but it also detected and identified such spells. In addition it made the user hyper sensitive to the magic that surrounds them at any given time. Something was definitely wrong.

Hermione flicked her wand and let the light spill around her like a searchlight trying to find something illusive in the dark. The yellowish glow fell on the platter of sweet rolls that had just appeared. Hermione’s eyes widened in terror as she stared back at a ghastly black skull that looked roughly like a dementor preparing to perform the kiss.

“Harry, don’t eat that,” she yelled as she lunged at him, but it was too late, he had already taken a bite.

“What are you doing…” Harry’s question died in his throat as he convulsed and fell to the floor rolling in agony.

Hermione jerked her wand frantically and moved the table aside. People were yelling and scrambling away from them, Dumbledore had lurched to his feet uncertain of what was happening. With a thud Hermione crashed against the table behind her. Groggily she looked around to discover what had happened and saw Ron, his wand pointed at her, standing over Harry. Rom dropped a small round object onto him and immediately Harry vanished.

“What are you doing?” Hermione asked, echoing Harry’s last words as she groped for her own wand.

Ron laughed hysterically, eerily, “I’m not doing anything now, it’s already done.”

“What are you talking about Ron? Where’s Harry?” Hermione asked again, still bewildered. It was like the world had turned inside out. Nothing was making sense anymore.

“The Dark Lord has him now,” Ron said nastily.

“No, Ron, you couldn’t, you didn’t,” Hermione whined, but she knew he did. She could see the truth staring out at her from behind his eyes.

“Oh yes, right now the Dark Lord is getting ready to perform a ritual that will make him invincible and I’m the one that will be rewarded,” Ron cackled. “There’s nothing any of you can do. You will never find him before the ritual is complete, not even with all your power Hermione.”

“quadrifariam aculeus,” Hermione shouted, momentarily losing the mental clarity that it takes to perform silent magic. Four flashes of blinding light seared into Ron from different directions causing him to drop his wand and fall to the floor whimpering.

People scrambled to get away from Hermione as she seemed to morph into a demon of vengeance. Her hair and robes flapped as if in a strong breeze. Most terrifying of all were her eyes that seemed to literally burn with her favorite element, fire.

“Betrayer,” she whispered, then shouted, “Betrayer!”

Ron tried to crawl backward but Hermione wouldn’t allow escape as she advanced on him with deadly intent.

“Avada…” she began.

“Miss Granger, NO!” came a shout from the front of the room. Dumbledore had finally caught up with events that were spiraling out of control. A tendril of flame shot out of his wand and tried to wrap itself around Hermione but failed, instead only managing to ensnare her wrist. It was enough.

“Kedavra!” Hermione finished, but her wand was no longer pointed at Ron. The fiery rope that Dumbledore cast had pulled her hand up into the air. A huge angry burst of green light slammed into the enchanted ceiling causing it to rain down masonry. The other teachers leapt into action to freeze the huge chunks before they could crush anyone.

The rope of fire vanished in a flash and Hermione turned her wand on Dumbledore. “Why did you stop me...”

“Ron is under the Imperius Curse,” Dumbledore said calmly. Hermione swayed in place as what she had nearly done impacted her. She turned around and flung herself at the stricken boy she had tried to kill only moments before.

“Oh Ron, how could I have been so blind,” she whispered as she hugged him, “I should never have doubted you.”

Ron was unresponsive, still chuckling slightly, and Hermione surmised that he had reached the end of his controller’s orders. Without hesitation she conjured a stretcher and levitated him onto it. Suddenly her thought process caught up and realization slammed into her conscious mind. A fresh stab of rage twisted through her guts causing her to spin around toward Dumbledore again.

“You knew!” she accused scathingly at Dumbledore, “you knew all along and you let it go on!”

“I had no choice,” Dumbledore said firmly, “we were trying to apprehend the person controlling him and there was no way to do anything without tipping them off.”

Now it was Hermione’s turn to laugh hysterically. “So you decided to let someone under the Imperius Curse just run around, not to mention his Death Eater, when you must have known who they were. There are only a handful of new people in the castle with the ability to pull this off and they all wear auror cloaks.”

“I admit that I made a mistake in not foreseeing this, I had anticipated something different,” Dumbledore started.

“YOU DON’T COMPREHEND WHAT YOU’VE DONE IN THE SLIGHTEST,” Hermione screamed at him. Everyone was staring at them both now, mostly in shock and bewilderment. Hermione continued in a deadly calm voice. “I’m taking Ron to the hospital wing now and when I return you will accompany me to rescue Harry. You had better hope that we get him back or else you’ll wish that Voldemort had you under his wand instead of me.”

“Miss Granger please,” Dumbledore said, “We’ll do all we can to find him but that may be difficult…”

“I can find him,” Hermione said, “As soon as he wakes up from whatever was in those rolls.”

“No one is going anywhere,” a voice called from the big double door entrance. “With any luck He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will be dead within hours.”

Seven aurors led by the surly Gangstrom and Langley were blocking the door with wands drawn.

“What are you babbling about,” Hermione hissed, “Get out of my way or everything will be lost. You’re meddling in something you cannot possibly understand.”

“That’s rich coming from a silly little muggle born girl,” Gangstrom sneered. “We’ve found a way to fulfill the prophecy. Those rolls that Potter ate had a nullification potion in them. After the ritual the Dark Lord will simply cease to exist.”

Realizations again pounded mercilessly into Hermione’s brain as she absorbed the auror’s words. A nullification potion had to be ingested before it could begin to negate someone’s very existence. Then the potion acted against someone’s magical essence, not just their physical form. That could only mean that Voldemort somehow planned to absorb who Harry was, his life force, and in the process these aurors hoped he would absorb the potion that would even now be killing Harry. They hoped that the potion would fulfill the requirements of being the power Voldemort would know not and cause him to die.

Even more horrifying though was the knowledge that they had to have been privileged to in order to have concocted such a scheme. Five people knew the prophecy but only one would have told the Ministry.

Disgust and contempt burned in Hermione’s eyes as she faced Dumbledore once again. “You told the ministry.” She said in disbelief, but it wasn’t a question.

“It was necessary…” Dumbledore began.

“Necessary for what? You needed a little alliance with the likes of Fudge? Have you forgotten everything that he’s done to undermine our cause? Are you blind to his excesses in the name of this war?” Hermione raged, her wand pointing at Dumbledore again.

“The Order has suffered too many losses,” Dumbledore said pleadingly, “The Ministry was compromised, we needed each other’s help…”

“So you just trotted into this compromised Ministry and handed Voldemort the one thing he needed to win!” Hermione shouted. Students and teachers alike were gaping at this exchange. They felt like strangers looking in on a private dispute and in many ways they were, “Even worse, you didn’t feel the need to tell Harry about any of this after you promised to keep him informed.”

“Precautions were taken, Fudge couldn’t have disclosed…” Dumbledore began but Hermione cut him off.

“Precautions?” she snapped, “Look at the results before you, your precautions did nothing. The only way Voldemort would kidnap Harry is because he thinks he can absorb his soul and become invincible. Who knows, it might even be possible.”

Now their audience was turning pale with fear, not wanting to believe what they were hearing. It didn’t take a genius to catch the direction that these revelations were heading in. The aurors were torn between annoyance at being ignored and mirth at the great Dumbledore getting chewed out by a muggle born student.

“He trusted you Dumbledore, he believed in you,” Hermione said, her voice shaking for a moment. “Do you know what the last thing we fought over was? I wanted him to confront you, he knew you were keeping secrets, but he wouldn’t do it, all he’d say is that if he trusted you then you know who would still be alive!”

Hermione didn’t want to say Sirius’ name out loud since the idiotic Ministry still considered him a criminal. Dumbledore looked like she’d slapped him, his knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the table to keep his feet. Hermione wasn’t finished though.

“Now, not only have you given Voldemort what he died to protect, you’ve given him his godson too,” Hermione said. New vehemence filled her voice as rage continued to throb through her heart at what had been done to Harry. Hermione spat out her last words. “If we don’t get Harry back I’ll kill you myself, or turn you over to Voldemort, I’m sure he’d love to. We might as well all walk through the veil if we lose Harry now.”

The students and professors stood rooted in place unsure if Hermione’s proclamation was more shocking or Dumbledore’s seeming acceptance of it as just. The aurors all stiffened as Hermione levitated Ron and prepared to leave.

“Have you forgotten that no one’s leaving? Your little tirade was amusing child, but the Dark Lord will be dead in a few hours. Not that you could find him anyway.” Gangstrom said.

Hermione flicked her wand and Ron was sent floating to one side. “You can’t stop me. This is your last chance to get out of my way.” Hermione intoned dangerously.

Gangstrom just laughed but his laughter died on his lips as Hermione’s stunner smashed into his chest. The remaining aurors howled in anger and conjured shields. Their training was superb, as was their tactics. Before Hermione could react they had paired off into three teams of two and taken up a triangular formation around her.

Jets of red light bounced off of Hermione’s gilded silver shield or missed her all together as she moved to try and break out of their trap. The formation moved with her though and in the limited space of the Great Hall she was kept corralled. Her clothes whipped as if in a strong breeze again and her eyes glowed with power fueled by rage at the auror’s interference. Hermione summoned a cylinder shaped barrier shield around her to intercept the newest round of hexes and curses the aurors were firing. As soon as they shifted for a better position Hermione waved her hand causing the barrier shield to crack into dozens of tiny jagged fragments. The aurors huddled behind their shields but the flying crystal like pieces still ripped into any exposed clothes and flesh.

Hermione picked two aurors she deemed to be the weakest and advanced on them rapidly firing off breaker spells the entire way. Light flashed as hammer blows rained down on their swiftly cracking shields. One of the auror’s shields broke apart suddenly exposing him to attack. He attempted to summon another but silver spikes slammed into his hands and shoulders impaling him against the wall.

Hermione staggered and wailed when a Cruciatus Curse hit her in the back but instead of falling to the ground in her agony she retaliated with a hail of silver spikes. She summoned a new cylinder barrier shield as the aurors, now doubly angry for losing two of their ranks, pounded her from all sides with their most potent curses. Dumbledore had been observing the entire time and now decided that action must be taken.

“Severus, Minerva, Filius, we have to lend Miss Granger a hand,” he said with a clipped tone.

“Headmaster?” Snape replied dubiously, “It appears that the aurors will subdue Miss Granger momentarily. Perhaps it might be wiser if she were unconscious for a while seeing as how distraught she is right now.”

“No Severus,” Dumbledore said sharply, “Miss Granger is not about to be subdued, as you put it. She has been holding back out of desire not to hurt people unnecessarily, but if she arrives at the conclusion that there is no other way to win she will start killing them.”

“Surely not,” McGonagall said, horrified.

“She knows we’re all dead anyway if she fails. This isn’t open for discussion, help her now,” Dumbledore shouted as he let loose with a powerful spell of his own. The four professors blind-sided the aurors who were all focused on the unexpectedly tough Hermione. Within seconds they were laying scattered about the floor stunned. Hermione summoned Ron and stalked out of the room angrily without even a glance at them.

“My office, now,” Dumbledore said, then added, “run, time is short.”

The three bewildered professors ran along as quickly as they could behind Dumbledore. McGonagall gestured wildly at the prefects and ordered them to get all the students to their dorms before following.

Hermione walked briskly into the hospital wing looking grim. Madam Pomfrey bustled over immediately asking a myriad of questions about what had happened to Ron.

“Ron is under the Imperius Curse,” Hermione said. Madam Pomfrey looked appalled that a student could be under such a spell. “Get a cure for the nullification potion ready immediately.”

“But why?” Madam Pomfrey asked, looking up from her care of the stricken red head.

“Harry has been poisoned with one and kidnapped by Voldemort. If we get him back he will need the cure immediately. If we don’t I suggest you flee England as soon as you can. I can’t explain Madam Pomfrey, take care of Ron,” Hermione said over her shoulder as she walked back out. She forced down all the fear, doubt, and grief that threatened to consume her. Hermione still couldn’t feel Harry in her mind but she adamantly refused to consider the possibility that he might already be gone.

The staircase descended behind Dumbledore and the three professors as they entered the Headmasters office. The pictures were all in an uproar over what they had heard, some were shouting insults at Dumbledore, and others were shouting accusations of disloyalty at the critical paintings. They all settled down, albeit reluctantly, when Dumbledore shushed them with an unmistakable tone of urgency.

“As you’ve no doubt gathered I have made some rather grievous errors, even for me,” Dumbledore began. “As Miss Granger indicated in her rather lucid recriminations if Harry doesn’t survive and come back to us we’re frankly doomed.”

“But how can that be?” McGonagall whispered. Her eyes were wide and a little wild as she grappled with too many things happening too quickly.

“The prophecy that Voldemort tried to capture was not lost. I heard the original and in short it says that the only person who can defeat Voldemort is Harry.” Dumbledore explained.

“Preposterous,” Snape sputtered, but Dumbledore silenced him with a sharp look.

“Now is not the time Severus. Any moment now Miss Granger is going to come up those stairs. She and I will be leaving to attempt a rescue of Harry assuming we can find him. If we fail it is likely none of you will ever see me again. Miss Granger or Voldemort will kill me I’m afraid.”

“You can’t be serious,” Flitwick squeaked.

“I no longer have the power to stop either of them,” Dumbledore said sadly, “nor would I even try. If Harry is gone I have failed and this life would be too burdensome for me any longer. Not to mention pointless.”

“We need you still Albus,” McGonagall said shakily. “You can’t abandon us now.”

“I will never willingly abandon you Minerva, but the choice may be out of my hands.” Dumbledore said. “That is why you all need to prepare now in case I do not return. Severus you will alert the Order to begin a full out offensive on all known Death Eaters and their support base. If we strike now we may be able to evacuate more people. Filius you will coordinate said evacuation of the general population with the Ministry. Set up port keys and take everyone you can, civilians first, to the United States if they will accept us or at the least to the continent. Minerva you must get the children out of Hogwarts and then destroy the castle behind you. We dare not let such a powerful magical structure fall to Voldemort. I will empower the wards to accept your instructions.”

A grating of stone on stone announced the fact that Hermione was at the door. She didn’t have the password so she promptly forced her way in. Even Snape was impressed as the stairs extended upwards at a far more rapid rate than usual with a still irate Hermione perched on the top step. Without pause or glance she marched into the room, slapped a wand onto the desk, and began performing an incantation on it.

“The wand was jinxed?” Dumbledore asked softly. He recognized the spell that Hermione was using.

“Yes, brilliant job on watching the tower last night by the way, I’m sure I’ll sleep good with your eagle eyes on the lookout.” Hermione said sarcastically.

“You saw me?” Dumbledore asked with surprise.

“Your feeble invisibility charm can’t hide you from a real witch or wizard,” Hermione said scathingly. She was exaggerating of course, they could only barely see Dumbledore when thusly disguised, but her rage was so great that she felt like being condescending. Considering what Dumbledore’s poor judgement had caused Hermione considered mere condensation to be rather charitable.

“While you were busy running around someone got into Harry’s room last night and jinxed his wand,” Hermione said. “Now I’ve got to finish lifting this sabotage before we go so that I will have a wand I can use against Voldemort.”

“What are you talking about?” Snape interrupted derisively.

Hermione glared at him. “Harry and I switched wands. We figured that since I can’t defeat Voldemort it only made sense for me to have the wand that Voldemort can’t duel against. Harry took my wand so he would have an effective weapon.”

“Your wands work for each other?” McGonagall said with surprise.

“The power he knows not,” Dumbledore said in a hushed voice.

Hermione looked at him sharply. “Harry had the power he knows not before he ever met me. He showed me what happened when he was possessed at the Ministry.”

Dumbledore didn’t say anything, instead he simply watched as Hermione continued to demolish the spell affecting the wand. Hesitantly he broached the topic that he had feared to mention ever since she arrived.

“Hermione,” he said gently, “you said you could find Harry…”

“As soon as he regains consciousness I will know where he is. Don’t even bother to ask how I won’t tell you.” Hermione answered shortly. Snape bristled but settled down at a frantic gesture from Dumbledore.

“Maybe we could help if you told us what you were going to do,” Dumbledore said soothingly. Hermione looked up at him and felt a pressure just behind her eyes.

“Don’t try to get in my mind for more secrets to give away,” she said angrily as she expelled him.

With a tiny wisp of smoke the jinx on Hermione’s wand finally dissipated. She breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. Now all that remained was for Harry to wake up. Sitting there in Dumbledore’s chair, eyes closed, as the four adults watched her, it was almost peaceful. Hermione thought that under different circumstances she would have enjoyed herself.

The image of a ramshackle cottage flashed into her mind. She felt as Harry’s presence begin to assert itself and along with it his magically enhanced perceptions of the entire area around which he was being held. Voldemort was there, but none of his followers. A flash of insight washed across Hermione’s mind. The ritual Voldemort planned must incapacitate him for long enough that he dared not risk having his followers nearby for fear of them taking the opportunity to overthrow him.

“I know where he is,” Hermione said, “Voldemort is there too and there are wards to prevent apparation or portkey access. I don’t believe the wards are strong enough to allow discretionary access either so Voldemort will have to drop them to call in reinforcements.”

“It doesn’t matter if they are, we have no choice,” Dumbledore said resignedly.

“Let us go with you,” McGonagall said pleadingly.

“No,” Hermione said firmly but politely, “You would only slow us down. I’m sorry Professor.”

“Miss Granger is correct Minerva and if you’ll recall you already have things to attend to,” Dumbledore reminded her gently.

Hermione conjured a rod shaped like a capital letter T so that eventually each of them would have a place to grasp the port key. It shimmered blue as she transfigured it to a location outside the effects of Voldemort’s wards. Wands at the ready she and Dumbledore grasped it for a few seconds before disappearing.

Harry felt like he was being ripped apart from the inside out. He was hanging chained to the wall in the basement of someplace he knew no one was aware of. The last thing he remembered was sitting with Hermione at breakfast and then waking up in his current dank location. The shackles that bound him somehow served to block whatever limited powers he could have otherwise called on without a wand. A heavy constricting feeling told him that apparation was impossible.

Harry felt despair well up in his chest as he realized that no one could know where he was. He pictured Hermione’s face in his mind as he sadly considered that he would likely never see her ever again. He wouldn’t have long left at this rate. He had failed everyone. Voldemort would win, everyone he cared about would die, the world would be enslaved to the darkness. Silent tears dropped down Harry’s cheeks as unconsciousness claimed his beaten body once more. An instant before the darkness engulfed him he registered a strangely familiar voice echoing through his thoughts. All it said was “I’m coming.”

The sky was fittingly overcast when Hermione and Dumbledore arrived at the edge of Voldemort’s portkey dispersion wards. As Hermione suspected these wards were only designed to keep people from port keying in, not out, much like those wards that guarded the Ministry. Hermione remembered that Dumbledore was able to portkey Harry out of the Ministry after the duel with Voldemort even though Voldemort was obviously prevented from using port keys to simply appear inside the Ministry. It would have been pointless to lure Harry to the Ministry had it been so simple as to portkey himself in.

“It would appear that Tom has a few anti-muggle enchantments in place but nothing that should impede us or reveal our presence.” Dumbledore said.

“Good,” Hermione replied. “We’ll use invisibility and acceleration charms to get us in close, fast, and undetected.”

Dumbledore nodded and the pair faded from view. Hermione didn’t put all her strength into her invisibility charm to ensure that Dumbledore would be able to see her. Also, she wasn’t quite ready to reveal the full extent of her skills to the old wizard. As soon as they were hidden from view they pointed their wands at themselves and sped away toward the cottage where Harry was being held. Extended use of the acceleration charm could be dangerous but they had little choice.

Moments later they found themselves within close visual range of the cottage. Two guards stood outside the door that Hermione had not been able to detect when she appraised the situation through her link with Harry. Hermione didn’t recognize either of these two Death Eaters but judging by the scowl on Dumbledore’s face he knew of them.

Fortunately these two Death Eaters had obviously been chosen for their loyalty and not their combat ability. Voldemort didn’t want anyone powerful and ambitious on hand for the period of vulnerability he would suffer during the ritual. They didn’t seem to be considerably alert either, probably due to the fact that their location would normally have been very well hidden. Undoubtedly they considered discovery to be virtually impossible this soon after the hunt for them had begun. If it weren’t for Hermione’s connection with Harry their complacency would have been justified.

Dumbledore motioned his hand to indicate that Hermione should take the one on the right and started forward. Hermione likewise moved forward cautiously to keep from making any sound or doing anything else that might give their presence away. Icy terror lanced through her being as she heard a shrill high-pitched noise. They had a sneakoscope or some similar device to alert them to covert dangers around them. It was as shocking to the Death Eaters as it was to Hermione because instead of running into the cottage they looked around in a panic. That error was all it took to salvage the situation from failure.

A red beam slammed into the first Death Eater and jolted Hermione into action. She cast her own stunner and dropped the other Death Eater who had started, belatedly, to run inside. Hermione felt her face burn with embarrassment that she had hesitated so long and nearly allowed one of the guards to raise an alarm. Silently she was thankful that the powerful old wizard was along on this mission. He had literally more than a century of experience in all things magical and he had fought at least two wars before. His knowledge on these types of things was immense despite whatever other shortcomings he might have.

Hermione put invisibility charms on the two captured Death Eaters after Dumbledore had stunned them a second time to ensure that they wouldn’t awake at an inopportune time. She looked to Dumbledore to decide what to do next.

“We can’t go in the door,” he said softly, “Tom will have placed wards to alert him to any entrance.”

“Then how are we supposed to get in?” Hermione asked.

“Tom didn’t expect to be found this quickly and he was always very confident. His defenses are probably geared primarily to keep his guards from betraying him.” Dumbledore reasoned.

The old wizard and Hermione circled the cottage warily to see if they could find another point of access. They got lucky on the southern most wall of the house. There was a tiny window set into the attic part of the cottage that was hanging on one hinge. It was far too small for a person to get through, but an owl would have no problem.

“I can fly up there and then let you in,” Hermione said as she explained her animagus form to Dumbledore.

“Tom may have additional traps placed inside the structure and it would trigger the alarms to open the main door no matter whether you opened it from the inside or not,” Dumbledore said. “I have a far better idea. You can transfigure me into a mouse and then carry me with you.”

Hermione kicked herself for not thinking of such a scheme on her own. Dumbledore nodded at her as she waved her wand and transfigured him into a white shaggy haired rodent. Hermione quickly shifted to her form and grasped the Headmaster gently in her talons before he could scamper away. A few strong beats of her wings later and she tumbled rather clumsily into the attic. Once they had both returned to their normal forms they surveyed the attic to determine their next course of action.

Dumbledore led the way, carefully opening the door that led down into the main house, all the while doing something Hermione didn’t quite understand to check for traps along the way. When they reached the main hall Dumbledore held up a hand and leaned over close so he could whisper to Hermione.

“There is some kind of movement detection charm on the floor,” he explained. “We need to get across all the way to where the hall turns without touching it.”

“I can’t fly reliably in this tiny space,” Hermione replied.

“You don’t need to, we will levitate each other there,” Dumbledore said. “All you have to do is levitate me, I will do the rest.”

Hermione obediently levitated Dumbledore and he levitated her at the same time. Hermione held the connection while Dumbledore fidgeted for a moment doing something else that Hermione didn’t quite understand. Slowly they began floating down the hall, passing a large set of double doors that reeked of icy black magic, and picked up speed as they went. As soon as they crossed some threshold that only Dumbledore could see he let Hermione dropped.

“This way,” Hermione said once they were back soundly on the ground. “Harry is in some kind of basement chained to a wall.”

Dumbledore took over the lead again when they approached a door that Hermione felt was probably the correct one. It only took a moment for Dumbledore to defeat whatever charm was keeping the door closed and pushing his way inside. They descended a narrow set of stairs into a damp stone chamber that was dimly lit by a couple of torches burning with magical fire.

“Oh Harry,” Hermione said as she rushed toward his limp figure. A strong hand grabbed her shoulder.

“Don’t go near him,” Dumbledore said forcefully, “there are enchantments all around him to prevent escape and raise the alarm should he be tampered with.”

Hermione saw that he was right and felt humiliation burn her face again at what her rash emotional actions had almost done.

“Can you take them down?” Hermione asked. She had never seen these kinds of spells before specifically. They were powerful deviations of more common enchantments that most wizards were familiar with. Hermione winced at her own inadequacy and swore that she would redouble her efforts to discover the most elusive of magical secrets should they make it out of this alive. Knowledge was indeed more important than mere power.

“I can but it will take time,” Dumbledore said, “and we do not have time. As soon as I begin Tom will be aware of us.”

“Fine, then I will go and hold Voldemort off while you save Harry,” Hermione said, sounding braver than she felt.

Hermione thought that Dumbledore was going to protest but he only nodded sadly. “You have to hold him off as long as possible, I don’t know how long this will take.”

Hermione took out Harry’s wand and gave it to Dumbledore. “He may need this to survive when you get him free,” Hermione said, tears threatening to break free. “If I don’t make it…if I don’t see him again…tell him that I love him.”

“I will,” Dumbledore said, “but don’t think of that. You’ll tell him yourself.”

Hermione nodded fiercely. “Give me to the count of five and then begin.”

She would have taken Harry’s wand herself but he might need its protection and she didn’t dare try to use the difficult prior incantato effect for such an extended period of time. Harry would be weak and prior incantato might be his only chance to escape.

Hermione took a deep breath and then flew up the stairs counting to herself as she went. She approached the hall with the sensitive floor on four and hit the area with the alarm at five. She stopped counting then but on what would have been seven she reached the huge double doors they had seen earlier. The icy darkness still seeped out of them almost like the aura put off by dementors.

“Avada Kedavra!” Hermione shouted as she pointed her wand at the door. With great force the door was blown inward into a million tiny splinters. The interior of the room was dimly lit and much more expansive than the size of the cottage would have normally allowed. Voldemort had enlarged this room to several times its original size for whatever reason.

The room was mainly bare of furniture or decoration but in the center stood several immense stone walls. Each wall segment was over two meters tall and at least a meter wide. They stood in a circular patter like great grey dominoes overlapping yet allowing for some small space in between. Hermione took a tentative step into the gloom alert for any sign of movement or attack.

A thin tall figure in a black cloak stepped out from between the stone walls and glared at her. Hermione had seen Voldemort before in Harry’s mind and in a memory he placed in her pensieve. It was still shocking to see his menacing red eyes, pale reptilian skin, and sticklike figure. Voldemort appeared surprised to see her too.

“Potter’s mudblood, how interesting,” Voldemort said in his eerie high-pitched voice. “Clearly those arrogant fools underestimated your talents. It’s amazing how even the most crafty of wizards can be blinded by silly prejudices.”

“Ironic, you speaking of prejudice, when your goal is to secure the wizarding world for purebloods,” Hermione replied icily.

“Unlike my ideologically challenged followers I merely desire immortality and power.” Voldemort countered, “Though I do admit to admiring the long traditions and inclinations toward dark magic that most pureblood families have. I did not create the pureblood movement though. I merely attached myself to it because it was the strongest position. Purebloods have more money, more knowledge, more tangible resources if for no other reason than they have been around longer.”

“So if the so called mudbloods had exhibited more influence then you would have tried to overthrow purebloods?” Hermione asked in confusion.

“I would have gathered together all those with the vision to acquire the power needed to reshape the world of magic in my image,” Voldemort said smoothly.

“Why are you telling me this?” Hermione asked next.

“You are about to die. This is your reward for finding such a well hidden location and your punishment for being so shortsighted as to come alone.” Voldemort replied.

“Maybe it is you who are about to die,” Hermione retorted.

“You cannot kill me child,” Voldemort said, no longer amused, “Only one can kill me and he is in no condition.”

Hermione feigned surprised at this revelation and Voldemort lit up with delight.

“Did no one tell you? Your precious Dumbledore has been hoarding his little secrets as usual,” he laughed.

“Don’t use that name in front of me,” Hermione hissed. She hadn’t counted on a chance to misdirect Voldemort about the disposition of the relationship of the forces against him but now that it was offered she took it eagerly. Not that she had to feign dislike of Dumbledore at this point.

Voldemort laughed harder at her apparent distaste of Dumbledore. “You’re not half as mad at the old muggle loving fool as you should be. He didn’t just let one of my Death Eaters parade around Hogwarts he also allowed me to discover the prophecy that you yourself helped prevent me from hearing a year ago. Potter is the only person in the world that can defeat me, it has been foretold, and once this ritual is complete he will be neither alive nor dead. With Potter’s essence trapped inside me, in a state of undeath, the prophecy will be forever in play and I will finally be immortal.”

“Will it really be that easy?” Hermione smirked. Let Voldemort worry a little about his plan.

“I assume you are referring to the attempt to infect me with a nullification potion?” Voldemort chuckled. “I knew about the Ministry’s plan to entrap me, the antidote to the potion they fed him will liberate Potter from its effects moments before I consume him. I have engineered everything that has transpired here from the very beginning.”

“You’ll never win,” Hermione promised with gritted teeth. If they failed here the world would be doomed and Harry would be condemned to a fate worse than death.

“I already have…” Voldemort cut off sharply as if stung. “Filthy mudblood!”

Hermione summoned a shield as a powerful spell burned through the air toward her. Dumbledore must have found some way to begin disabling the restraints on Harry without tipping Voldemort off after all but that had obviously not lasted long.

“You brought him with you didn’t you,” Voldemort spat. “You’ve been playing me, stalling for time…”

“Why yes Tom,” Hermione said sweetly as the dark lord grew even darker with rage, “and you went along marvelously. I was just expecting to duel with you for a while but you obligingly stretched it out even longer with your endless gloating and self congratulation at your wonderful plan.”

“You will die quickly and painfully...Avada Kedavra!” Voldemort yelled.

Hermione rolled to the side and blew the floor in front of her apart. When she returned to a standing position huge chunks of floor swirled around her.

“Avada Kedavra!” Hermione yelled back. Voldemort conjured something solid to take the blast.

“I see you know how to play after all child,” he growled. Voldemort struck back with a spell Hermione had never seen before. He no longer bothered to use the killing curse since he knew Hermione would just block it with debris from the floor.

Hermione shuddered under the impact of his spell but her strongest shield held, though it suffered such a serious crack that she let it dissipate. Hermione retaliated immediately with a hail of razor sharp silver disks hoping that one of them would get though. Voldemort waved his wand lazily and the disks vanished in a wisp of vapor.

“I’m not a werewolf silly girl,” he laughed at her disks. “I can see you have strength, but you lack the wisdom to use it properly.”

“I haven’t even begun yet,” Hermione said determinedly. Her chest heaved with exertion as she poured all her power into conjuring up the deadly elemental fire known as Life’s Bane. Voldemort’s eyes widened as she launched dozens of the insidious fireballs at him. The cottage shuttered under the multiple impacts of the fiery projectiles. Everywhere they touched they lit fires, melted holes through stone, and caused violent explosions. Voldemort disappeared in the storm for a moment but then reappeared surrounded by a light blue halo that protected him from the deadly flame.

“Better,” Voldemort taunted, “but still nothing I couldn’t have done in my seventh year.”

“I’m in my sixth,” Hermione bit back. Voldemort glared at her and fired off another killing curse in his anger. One of Hermione’s floor chunks blocked it with ease. Hermione got off another quick spell to buy her enough time to prepare a soul drainer curse. A tiny black ball formed at the end of her wand before zipping across the room to envelop Voldemort. She remembered how difficult it had been for her to break out from this curse and she figured it would be a challenge for Voldemort too no matter how powerful he thought he was.

Laughter boomed through the magically enhanced space. Instead of struggling it looked like Voldemort ate the ball of pure black magic. “You cannot trap me with that spell young one. It should only be used on kindhearted souls.”

Hermione racked her brain for something else to try as Voldemort started walking toward her unconcernedly. She tried the most powerful jinxes and hexes that she knew but the evil wizard batted them away like he was swatting flies.

“I almost wish you were one of my followers,” Voldemort said wistfully as he wrapped thin black wires around Hermione. “You certainly have more courage and power than most of them. Unfortunately I fear you lack the one trait that I require…or should I say you have the one trait I cannot abide…a conscious.”

“You will fail,” Hermione said defiantly. “Harry will stop you…”

Voldemort wrapped his long fingers around her neck and squeezed to choke off her airflow. “You’ll never know,” he hissed.

Hermione opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Voldemort wasn’t attacking her body; he was invading her mind. She felt something foul and black stabbing into her consciousness, leaving destruction wherever it went. Her eyes, which had been burning with the full force of her magic, faded slowly as her thrashing body went limp.

Harry blinked groggily as he opened his eyes and stared into the long white flowing beard of Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore was working hastily to melt through the bonds that held Harry in place on the wall.

“Headmaster?” Harry said weakly.

“Yes Harry, I’m here, you’ll be free soon,” Dumbledore said soothingly.

“What happened?” Harry asked.

“I’m afraid that this is my fault,” Dumbledore sighed. “Your friend Mr. Weasley was being controlled by the Imperius Curse. He was forced to use a portkey to take you to this place. Voldemort is here, Hermione is dueling him even as we speak.”

As if to affirm his words the cottage shook violently as something impacted upstairs. Dumbledore severed the third bond and Harry let out a low moan. Dumbledore didn’t know what was going on with his young charge but he didn’t think it was good.

“Hermione…no,” Harry groaned, thrashing about awkwardly in his suspended condition.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow but continued working. One moment the boy had been fine, now suddenly he was off in a daze.

“Won’t…let…you,” Harry protested. “Won’t…let…you…go.”

Harry’s eyes flew open and he looked more alert than he had since Dumbledore had first noticed him awakening. He appeared wild and desperate, his eyes blazed with anger.

“Wand,” Harry gasped as he struggled against the last bond.

Dumbledore took out Harry’s wand and pressed it into his hand. Harry closed his eyes for a moment in concentration and the final bond began glowing white. Dumbledore didn’t recognize any spell. Instead Harry simply poured magical energy into the bond until it was overwhelmed and shattered.

“Harry wait,” Dumbledore said as he took off up the stairs. Dumbledore followed as quickly as he could, his own wand at the ready. He had dropped quite a ways behind him as they rushed toward Voldemort’s main chamber but he still felt Harry’s cry of rage and anguish like he was standing right next to him.

“Hermione!” Harry cried out as he stumbled into the huge room. Hermione’s limp form dangled in Voldemort’s vice like grip. Dumbledore looked into her eyes and saw that even though her body still breathed what made her Hermione was already gone.

Voldemort laughed. “You’re too late Potter, your precious little muggle brat is already gone. Normally I’d let you join her, but I have other plans…”

Harry ducked as Voldemort sent a powerful curse blasting toward him while at the same time holding Hermione in front of him like a shield. Harry summoned Hermione’s wand that had fallen at her feet. Now with both wands in hand he advanced on Voldemort sending forth a fury of different attacks, most of which Voldemort banished effortlessly.

Harry lifted both wands at once and summoned streaks of light to impale Voldemort from all sides. Black vapor poured off the evil wizard where the light pierced him and for a moment he quivered with agony. The attack faded but it has succeeded in loosening Voldemort’s grip on Hermione enough for Harry’s summoning charm to finally wrench her loose.

“You’re welcome to that empty shell Potter,” Voldemort hissed, “You can spend your final moments with it.”

Voldemort took a small skull out of his robes and gripped it tightly. “These wards are more sophisticated than you assumed Dumbledore.”

Death Eaters began appearing everywhere as they were brought in by portkeys set to allow them passage through the wards when given a specific signal from their master.

“I never assumed anything Tom,” Dumbledore said conversationally as he finally made it to Harry’s side. He held out the three-pronged pipe and draped Hermione’s hand over one of the handles.

“No!” Voldemort shouted, “Stop them…”

It was too late. Harry’s hand grasped the final hold and the three of them disappeared as they were whisked away back to Dumbledore’s office. When they landed Harry didn’t say a word or wait a moment. He marched right out of his office still cradling Hermione in his arms. As soon as he was gone the three professors, who from all appearances hadn’t moved an inch, looked wildly at Dumbledore.

“What happened? Was she…her mind was gone,” Snape said shakily.

Dumbledore nodded sadly. “Yes, Voldemort destroyed her, but it may be difficult to get Harry to accept it. However, he doesn’t seem to be the only one who has difficulty following spoken instruction…”

Snape shut up. He, Flitwick, and McGonagall just stood there looking nervous. Dumbledore’s eyes narrowed when he saw their guilty stances. Why had they not dispersed to carry out his instructions? McGonagall responded as if reading his mind.

“We tried Professor but it was no use. The Order has begun its delaying actions but the known Death Eaters have all disappeared into deep cover. We can’t find them to hit them. The Americans have refused us sanctuary saying that they have no wish to become involved in England’s latest policing action and with no where to send them the children were safest here at Hogwarts.”

Dumbledore sighed. He should have expected as much.

“Shouldn’t we follow them?” Snape asked hesitantly.

“Yes, we probably should,” Dumbledore said tiredly.

“Dobby!” Harry yelled as he stumbled down the hallway toward the hospital wing as quickly as possible. He heard a crack next to him and then the patter of tiny feet as the little elf struggled to keep up with him.

“Harry Potter sir, Dobby is sorry sir, Dobby tried to be stopping them but they is overpowering Dobby…is Miss hurt?” he sputtered in a horrified tone. Harry ignored most of the elf’s babblings.

“Yes she is Dobby and I need your help to fix her again. I’ll need food precisely every twenty-four hours and absolute quite for the rest of the time. I also need you to give Ron a message, you know, Weezy, that he is to get the regulars and maintain a double guard in secrecy. Can you do all that Dobby?” Harry asked. His body felt like it was going to fall apart any instant but his concern for Hermione drove him on.

“Dobby can sir, but Harry Potter should know that Weezy is in the hospital wing already. Stricken by a black curse he was sir,” Dobby squeaked.

“Fine, then give the message you were going to give Ron to Ginny instead,” Harry replied.

“Harry Potter can count on Dobby,” Dobby said before cracking away.

Harry reached the doors to the hospital wing and kicked his way inside. Madam Pomfrey bustled over toward him but he ignored her. Harry laid Hermione on a bed gently so that he could use his wand to conjure up two soft chairs. He transferred Hermione to one of the chairs and sat down across from her.

Madam Pomfrey shook her head sadly as she inspected Hermione’s condition from the side. Where the girl’s mind should be was instead a hollow shell festering and tainted by an evil essence. Harry didn’t care; he just stared into her eyes.

Madam Pomfrey had gotten Harry’s attention briefly when she explained that he had been infected with a nullification potion but after drinking down the antidote Harry immediately went back to staring at Hermione.

“Harry stop,” Madam Pomfrey said gently when she deduced what he was going to attempt, “even I can see the extent of the damage. No legimency can restore her now, she’s already gone.”

“You don’t know the situation, leave us,” Harry said shortly as he stared into Hermione’s eyes with intensity.

“Harry this is dangerous I won’t let you risk your life for nothing,” Madam Pomfrey insisted, now with her wand out.

“Back off,” a voice came from across the room. Ronald Weasley might be lying unconscious in his bed but Luna knew what she had to do. She might not know what was going on exactly but she knew that after today’s revelations no one would interfere with Harry or Hermione if she had anything to say about it.

“Miss Lovegood!” Madam Pomfrey exclaimed with shock. “You can’t be serious.”

“Listen to her Poppy,” Dumbledore’s voice intoned from the doorway.

“Headmaster?” Madam Pomfrey said, now utterly confused. “What he’s trying to do can’t be done. He’ll kill himself.”

“Not if there is a soul bond in play here,” Dumbledore said. It all made sense to him now. Hermione knowing where to find Harry, the extent of their relationship, Harry’s dogged determination to save Hermione’s physical form. Hermione’s mind must have retreated into Harry’s body across their bond when threatened with annihilation.

“A soul bond? But how?” Madam Pomfrey replied.

“I knew they were strong,” McGonagall said from the doorway. The other professors had finally caught up. “I had no idea that they were that strong.”

“Or that in love,” Snape added dryly. McGonagall sent a surprised glance in Snape’s direction that he would have so much information on the rare soul bond.

“I get the sudden feeling that Mr. Potter and Miss Granger have far more fingers in the stew, so to speak, than any of us yet realize,” Dumbledore said cryptically. No one bothered to ask what he meant.

As if to bolster Dumbledore’s speculation Dobby, Ginny, and Neville appeared in the doorway. Ginny and Neville whispered urgently with Luna for several moments before all three of them left. Dobby approached the collection of adults with a determined nervous look on his face.

“All of you must be leaving now,” Dobby said strongly, “Harry Potter says he must be alone and quiet, he tells Dobby to make you all leave him alone.”

“We need to monitor him,” Madam Pomfrey replied soothingly.

“Dobby must insist,” Dobby replied hotly.

“Yes of course Dobby, we will wait outside, but Poppy needs to stay to care for Mr. Weasley.” Dumbledore said in an attempt to compromise. Dumbledore led the other three professors out of the hospital wing. “Minerva would you please contact Mr. and Mrs. Granger. They need to be informed at the very least and if they desire to come here, as I suspect they will, then they must be brought here as soon as possible. The Weasleys should also be notified if they haven’t already.”

Nearby inside the room Harry sent a gentle tendril of his own consciousness into the burnt out core of Hermione’s mind. The damage was extensive, large portions of her memories were gone and the regions of her mind that normally housed her essence was completely destroyed.

“I remember your mind, but it is a rough template at best. I need your help Hermione if I am to fill in the gaps,” Harry said.

“I don’t know how much I can do right now,” Hermione’s weak reply echoed, “I feel like I’ve been torn into a dozen tiny pieces and then slapped back together randomly.’

“Just watch as closely as you can and tell me if I do something wrong,” Harry said. With great care Harry began channeling his own reserves of magical energy into Hermione’s mind. The process was tedious and exhausting but Harry persevered with a calm determination. He knew that if he were to go to fast he could do more damage and he would risk physical collapse before he could finish the healing.

First Harry tried to remove the dark cancer like elements that Voldemort had left behind during his intrusion. Then once an area was sufficiently purified he used the template of Hermione’s mind, along with her guidance, to recreate the elements of her mind that were gone. It was a bit like rebuilding a house exactly as it was before after it had been burned down.

Erwin and Sarah Granger hurried along the hallways of the massive castle behind the surprisingly quick Professor McGonagall. They clutched their borrowed cloaks over their muggle clothing and avoided the stares of the students they met along the way. In any other circumstances they would have undoubtedly been amazed at the wondrous sights that Hogwarts had to offer and would have taken the time to enjoy their trip. Unfortunately such pleasures were utterly foreign to their minds ever since they had been informed that their only daughter had been critically injured during a battle and that it was still an open question as to if she would even survive.

When they reached the hospital wing they encountered a small knot of people standing about including Dumbledore. The old wizard looked more worn and forlorn than they remembered the last time they had seen him when he had placed magical defenses on their home. In addition to a couple of other adults, one of which appeared to be the school’s nurse, there was also a blonde haired girl and a strange little creature that looked like what Hermione had once described to be a house elf. They also recognized Mrs. Weasley from their encounters in Diagon Alley.

“Where is Hermione? Is she going to be ok?” Mrs. Granger demanded shakily as soon as they were within hearing.

“She is currently behind those doors. We know nothing about her condition beyond what Minerva has already informed you.” Dumbledore said in a pacifying voice.

“We want to see her,” Mr. Granger said. Clearly neither distraught parent was pacified in the least.

“No one is disturbing Harry Potter or Miss,” the little creature interrupted. “Harry Potter told Dobby he must not be disturbed and Dobby is not allowing it.”

“Harry is with her?” Mrs. Granger asked.

“Yes, Harry is doing everything he can to heal your daughter, though it remains to be seen how much success he will have. I won’t deceive you. Hermione is beyond anything that we can do for her. I believe that Harry may have a chance though.” Dumbledore explained.

“What can another student possibly do?” Mr. Granger asked harshly.

“Harry Potter is a great and powerful wizard sir,” Dobby said indignantly. “He defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he freed Dobby, if it can be done then he will be doing it.”

“Why can’t we see her?” Mrs. Granger broke in again, nearly sobbing. “We just want to be with her.”

“I believe that Harry told Dobby that he would be taking a break every twenty three hours,” Dumbledore said diplomatically, “Perhaps it would be possible for us to all visit then.”

“Harry Potter isn’t saying this is unacceptable,” Dobby said uncertainly. “You is still have to be waiting three more hours though.”

“Please, we just want to be with our little girl,” Mrs. Granger said thankfully.

The little elf eyed them suspiciously and went over to the blonde haired girl. They whispered together for a few moments before she took her leave. Dumbledore and McGonagall were also whispering together, casting glances toward the elf every so often. Whatever Dumbledore was saying apparently didn’t agree with McGonagall because the elderly witch was shaking her head roughly every little bit. A few minutes later the Grangers noticed a new, yet somewhat familiar girl with flaming red hair showed up and started whispering with the elf.

After what seemed an eternity the little elf allowed them all to enter into the hospital wing. The Grangers had no idea what to expect but they were still surprised by what they saw. They knew what a hospital was like and hard some vague idea that Hermione would be resting comfortably in bed while various treatments were being administered. Instead Hermione and Harry were sitting in two plush chairs situated across from each other. Both teens were slumped as if they had collapsed out of sheer exhaustion and not at all resting comfortably. Hermione looked especially worn out and listless. There was something very wrong with her that they couldn’t quite describe but that anyone could see just by looking.

“Harry, have you made progress?” Dumbledore asked.

Harry didn’t respond for a moment. Everyone stood there looking confused and worried. Mrs. Weasley seemed torn between going to the less injured Ron or staying close to Harry and Hermione. Slowly his head turned and his mouth moved like he was trying to figure out how to form words again.

“Harry is too tired,” Harry said. The Grangers just goggled at him in confusion but Dumbledore looked like he grasped what was happening. “This is Hermione.”

The Grangers looked around wildly in alarm, Mrs. Weasley in shock. Dumbledore broke in to explain. “Minerva told you that a soul bond has formed between your daughter and Harry. When Voldemort attacked her she fled across their link into Harry’s mind. Harry is, for lack of a better term, asleep, and this has allowed Hermione to take control.”

“Not…quite,” Hermione breathed raggedly through Harry’s mouth. “My essence was damaged…disembodied like this it is difficult to remain…myself. Harry has subordinated himself to preserve me.”

Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked bewildered about what their proper response to this situation should be. They didn’t get long to decide though before Hermione spoke again.

“You’ve got to make Harry stop,” she wheezed. “He is risking his own death…tell him to stop being selfish. He has…to…let me…go.”

Mrs. Granger’s eyes widened in horror. “I will not tell him to let you die…”

Hermione broke into her mother’s tirade before it got started. “He must or I’ll die anyway, along with everyone else. Only Harry can defeat Voldemort and if he continues he will fulfill enough of the prophecy to allow him to die.”

“I can explain,” Dumbledore interjected once again. Hermione was having trouble breathing, let alone talking. “There is a prophecy that stipulates that Harry or Voldemort must die by the other’s hand. Hermione clearly fears that if Harry tries to save her from something Voldemort has done it will be enough to fulfill the prophecy and allow Harry to die at Voldemort’s hand, even if indirectly.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Mrs. Granger asked pleadingly.

“Couldn’t risk it,” Hermione gasped, “Voldemort could have captured you…taken the knowledge from your minds.”

“Then why tell us now?” Mr. Granger asked.

“I’m afraid that would be my fault,” Dumbledore said sadly. “I made a pact with the Ministry in part by informing the Minister of Magic about the prophecy. I took steps to make sure that he could never reveal the prophecy to another person but apparently he found a way around it. Voldemort now knows the prophecy due to that leak so there’s no point in hiding it anymore.”

“I cannot stay any longer,” Hermione groaned, “My strength is gone, even with Harry suppressing himself.”

The group watched as Harry’s head sagged briefly before coming back up again with a more robust demeanor.

“Don’t worry,” Harry said in a stronger voice, “Together we will restore Hermione to the way she was before.”

“What about the prophecy?” Dumbledore asked.

“Hermione and I have argued about it or hours now. What I am doing cannot fulfill the prophecy. It says that one must die by the other’s hand, in other words by an intentional action of the other. Voldemort did not intend to do anything beyond kill Hermione so this situation does not qualify. So you see, I’m not being entirely selfish and I didn’t break my promise.” Harry added the last part as if talking to someone else, presumably Hermione, since it made no sense to any one else there.

“What if you’re wrong though?” Dumbledore pressed. Prophecies had a way of being unclear until after they were fulfilled.

“I’m not wrong,” Harry said sharply. “Dobby, food, liquid only.”

“Yes Harry Potter sir, just as you asked,” Dobby said. He made several bottles filled with a pink looking substance appear from no where. Harry drank them greedily before dismissing them all so he could continue.

“Please, we want to be with her,” Mrs. Granger begged.

“Very well, you can stay, but if you make a sound you’re risking her life. I have to have total concentration. No matter what you see you cannot interfere,” Harry warned.

The Grangers and Dumbledore stayed for a while but they soon left of their own accord. It was too unsettling to watch them stare into each others eyes, bodies limp, as if that intangible connection were the only thing keeping them upright in their seats. Every once in a while one of them would twitch or thrash about slightly like they were struggling against some shadowy force.

They noticed that there was always at least one student near the hospital wing and of course the elf never strayed an inch from his appointed post. Mrs. Weasley had Ron removed from the hospital wing so she could be with him more easily without disturbing Harry.

Ron had been slowly waking up from months of unending haze, like a dream or a mental fog, which had been the result of an extended exposure to the controlling curse. He had been forced to watch helpless as he slowly distanced himself from his friends to ensure that when the ultimate betrayal occurred everyone would believe he had done it willingly. Killed by his friends for treason. A fitting end for a blood traitor or so Tram had told him on several occasions.

On the third day Ron showed up alone, apparently having recovered from his own trauma, although the details were still confusing to the Grangers. Added to that frustration was the fact that no one would give them any specifics at all about the circumstances surrounding the battle in which Hermione was injured.

They had managed to gather a few things though. The professors had found a first year Gryffindor student thrashing about in the hallway and after searching his room they discovered the modified dreamless sleeping potion that had been used on Harry’s bed. The fact that a first year had so quickly begun to resist the Imperius Curse had apparently made Ron even more depressed. The boy sat dejectedly in front of the doors for hours waiting for the next opening so he could go in and see his two best friends. However, once the doors were open he was reluctant to go in after all, instead he just paced about anxiously for a few moments.

“Harry Potter asks for Wheezy,” Dobby said tentatively. Ron hesitated a moment still before finally going into the room. Mr. and Mrs. Granger followed but kept back a distance, unsure what was going to happen.

When Ron saw Harry and Hermione sitting there he reacted as if he had taken a physical blow. He went over and sat down in the floor where he could look up into Harry’s face. After so many hours without sleep Harry had developed dark rings under his eyes; his face was gaunt and pale looking.

“I’m so sorry Harry,” Ron whispered desperately, “this is all my fault.”

“Ron,” Harry whispered back, “It isn’t you fault that a Death Eater controlled you. I know you would never willingly hurt us.”

“If only I had studied Occlumency like you and Hermione asked me to I could have resisted, I could have…” Ron insisted.

“If only Harry had studied Occlumency then Sirius would still be alive,” Harry whispered. Mr. and Mrs. Granger then realized that it was Hermione speaking but Ron seemed to miss that detail or perhaps hadn’t even been informed of their situation. “How many times have you pointed out the fallacy of that kind of thinking?”

“This is different,” Ron began, but Hermione interrupted him again.

“No different,” she wheezed through Harry’s mouth, “We cannot see other possible futures. Even your complete mastery of Occlumency might have preventing nothing. They could as easy have used someone else. It’s pointless to second-guess yourself now when all you can do is move forward and do your best.”

Ron looking like he might completely fall apart. “I am also sorry,” Hermione spoke again, “For having so little faith in you that I nearly killed you.”

Ron looked taken aback so Hermione explained. “When you used the portkey on Harry and said all those awful things I tried to cast the killing curse on you but Dumbledore stopped me at the last instant.”

The Grangers absorbed this new information with shock. Hermione had tried to kill someone? It was too much for them to believe that their sweet little girl could be capable of such a thing.

“Hermione?” Ron asked, bewildered.

“Yes,” Harry’s body breathed heavily, “I fled into Harry’s body when my mind was destroyed.”

“Then where is Harry, can he hear?” Ron asked.

“Harry knows everything I know and I know everything he knows. Our minds were partially merged even before this,” Hermione explained.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Ron said, but it wasn’t really a question, more of a plea to allow him to undo the damage he perceived himself as having caused.

“Fantail and Greywing have fallen, perhaps forever,” Hermione said unhappily. “Harry insists he will survive but I am still unsure. Regardless, Gleamtooth must take over the Light Bearers immediately. They are too young to survive without strong leadership. Inform your brothers about what has happened and help them continue to build up a suitable infrastructure. If we do not survive then take everyone to the United States. It is the only wizarding community large enough to hide in and strong enough to shelter so many from Voldemort.”

Ron blanched at this and the Grangers found themselves more confused than ever because suddenly they could no longer hear Hermione. With great effort she had managed to cast a silencing charm to prevent details of the Light Bearers from getting to them.

“The American’s won’t take us,” Ron spat out vehemently.

“They don’t need to know, go with stealth,” Hermione instructed.

“I will do the best I can,” Ron said. He stood and clapped a fist over his heart in an ancient wizard version of a salute.

“That is all any of us can do,” Hermione said.

Ron made a swift retreat back out of the hospital wing eager to begin making self-imposed amends. Hermione hoped that he would accept that what happened wasn’t his fault as time went by. She could feel that Harry didn’t blame him either.

“You two can quit hiding now,” Hermione said, wiggling a finger slightly. The Grangers approached somewhat abashed for listening in like they did.

“What just happened?” Mrs. Granger asked. Hermione didn’t reply, instead pretending to not have heard anything.

Mr. Granger changed track suddenly, “Hasn’t it been over an hour already?”

“My mind has been restored,” Hermione said, “all that is left to do is transfer my essence back into it. For that I need to be strong and coherent so Harry is letting me control his body for a longer period. Even if I mange to get back I still may die and the exertion could kill Harry too.”

“I see,” Mr. Granger said. He really didn’t see, but he doubted any additional explanation would be helpful and he didn’t want to tax Hermione with the effort.

“I will be glad to be able to move again,” Hermione said wistfully.

“Can’t you move now?” Mrs. Granger asked.

“No, Harry’s body is too foreign to me. It is heavy and awkward, I can’t imagine how he manages to play quiddich so well.” Hermione smirked.

Harry’s head nodded for a second as Harry re-emerged. “It is time,” he said.

“Should we leave,” Mrs. Granger asked concernedly.

“There is no need, what this requires is not concentration but power. Power that unfortunately has nearly been exhausted, but there is no helping it. Hermione’s body cannot survive without her consciousness much longer,” Harry replied.

The Grangers watched as Harry and Hermione locked gazes again. Harry’s breathing increased rapidly and his eyes burned brightly as he tapped into his last reserve of magical power. Dobby appeared for a moment, looked shocked, then disappeared again, but the Grangers barely noticed his intrusion. Hermione was breathing deeper now and her eyes were moving again. Abruptly Harry collapsed and Hermione shook her head as if trying to orient herself.

“It worked,” she said, looking down at her hands, “Oh Harry!”

Hermione jumped up to try and get her wand from the nearby nightstand but collapsed to the floor. The Grangers hurried to the aid of their daughter but she drove them back.

“My wand, get my wand,” she wailed, “hurry.”

Once she had her wand she began casting healing charms on Harry, but they seemed to have little effect. She flipped the wand around and summoned her hat. She pulled three bottles out of it and tried to move again but failed.

“Lift me up,” she told her parents. The complied quickly, unsure of what she was trying to do.

Hermione forced the contents of one bottle after another into Harry until his eyes fluttered open again. He grinned at her.

“I told you it would work,” he said.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him urgently, much to her parent’s shock. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. I thought I’d lost you.”

Dobby had arrived soon thereafter with Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey. Between the pair of them the got Harry and Hermione into bed and asleep. Madam Pomfrey pronounced that Hermione was by far the stronger of the two.

“She didn’t expend any of her energy,” she explained after casting the information charms, “Hermione’s damage was mainly mental and Harry repaired that. Her physical and magical energies are really in quite good shape all things being considered. Harry on the other hand completely exhausted his magical power down to the level of a squib, or maybe even a muggle, and his body was severely strained from days without sleep or movement.”

“Will he recover?” Dumbledore asked with concern.

“I really don’t know,” Madam Pomfrey replied. “There is no precedent for this, I could speculate, but not reliably.”

The school was continually in an uproar soon thereafter and even locked away in the hospital wing all the time the Grangers were still able to pick up the gist of what was happening. Someone named Fudge had withdrawn the magical equivalent of policemen from protecting the general population. Some people were trying to seek refuge at Hogwarts and other prominent wizard strongholds but were being turned away since it was impractical.

Hermione was up and about, but still very weak. It was decided that she would return home with her parents immediately. Harry would also soon be returning to the protective wards at the Dursley home since it was hoped that they would help heal him. Hermione had promised Harry that she would come to him as soon as possible before he was whisked away by portkey along with Dumbledore.

The Grangers were not at all consoled by the happy outcome though. News of the prophecy had swept the wizarding world and already the swiftly widening conflict had taken on a new ominous name: The Prophecy War.

A\N: I'm sorry that this took so much longer to put up than I originally planned. My computer's hard drive quit on me and I've been busy with university work. I don't know how soon anyone should expect the conclusion to the story that I started with the Bearers of the Light. I've got about 30,000 words written in four of 15 planned chapters but I can say confidently that I'll have to add more chapters before I'm done. I don't know if that helps anyone judge how long it will take to finish but that's where I currently stand in terms of progress.



Harry Potter and the Prophecy War will pick up immediately where Bearers of the Light left off. Harry and Hermione will continue to explore their powers, but the bulk of the story will focus on their actions in the war. Prophecy War will be much darker than the Bearers of the Light and will wrestle with the difficult issues of what war can justify and what it does to those who must fight it. People will die, lots of people, and everyone is potentially on the chopping block including main characters so if you aren't comfortable with that sort of thing you might want to think about it before reading. I'm not sure how big a role romance will play but I'm already sure it will be more prominent than in Light Bearers. Enough of me talking though, here is a preview of Harry Potter and the Prophecy War. Sorry if its too cliffy for you.






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It was a peaceful night not unlike any other night but for some reason that he couldn’t quite put his finger on the old man most people knew simply as Gramps was worried. For the fourth time he peeked through the curtains to observe the street of the small village where he lived with his son and granddaughter but couldn’t see anything noteworthy.

“Come on dad, for the last time, there’s nothing out there,” young Robert Tambly said. He was finishing up some accounting work that he hadn’t got done down at the office.

“Put that bean counting away and get your wand,” Gramps hissed back, “I see something moving.”

“Dad, don’t be ridiculous, its probably just a cat. I can’t believe you’re so paranoid.” Robert replied in a bored tone.

“You weren’t old enough to remember how it was last time, not like I do, now don’t argue with me get your wand before—“ Gramps fell to the floor as the house shook from a massive explosion. Down the street excited whoops and yells from reveling Death Eaters made the situation seem even more unreal. Gramps peeked out the window again and saw several muggles being bounced around the street, limbs hanging at odd angles.

“What’s that?” Robert asked, visibly shaking. He had his daughter in one hand and a wand in the other now.

“This is our ticket out of here, now grab hold,” Gramps said as he pushed back his sleeve and revealed a beautifully decorated ornate bracelet. His son did as instructed but when Gramps pushed the little jewel that activated the portkey nothing happened except a strange tingling sensation.

“Dispersion wards,” he muttered grimly. “We’re going to have to run.”

“What? They aren’t even coming up here, let’s just hide.” Robert whined.

“Use your brain boy,” Gramps snarled at his son as he pawed around in his jacket, “your mother was a muggle and I’m only a half blood myself. We’re exactly what the Dark Lord has sworn to wipe out.”

“What’s that?” Robert asked, eyes widening as he saw his father clutching at a little silver medallion shaped like a torch. “You’ve brought them all down upon us.”

“Don’t be an idiot, no one knows I joined, now hush and let me concentrate,” Gramps said. He tried to focus like the noisy red haired brat had taught him.

Bright flames shot up all around them and the top of the house was sheered off by a powerful blast of magic. Gramps grabbed his shell-shocked son and drug him out the backdoor. Silently he berated himself for his poor physical condition when he became winded only a few steps down the street. Many of the other houses in the small village were in ruins and the residence of the other wizard family was reduced to a smoldering hole in the ground.

The air shimmered and a dark cloaked avatar stepped into existence in front of them, wand clutched in long black gloved fingers. Gramps heard his young grandchild wail with fright and he clutched the little silver emblem again in a desperate plea for help. Black wires shot out and slammed them into the ground so that the Death Eaters could enjoy another round of sport with their victims.

Sharp cracks echoed all around the gutted town and suddenly there were dozens of tall black cloaked figures standing on what had once been houses. Gramps looked through fuzzy eyes and saw two figures with golden trim on their uniforms standing atop the tallest remaining structure, eyes glowing with vengeance. “We’re saved.”

Final Author's Note:

Greetings everyone, its good to finally be back and ready to post my long under construction story: Harry Potter and the Prophecy War. Since it's been several months between the first installment and this sequel I feel that I should probably set a few things up. This is certainly not a story that will make sense if you are coming at it from a Book Six perspective.

Harry Potter and the Bearers of the Light replaces Book Six and sets the stage for this story. There are many aspects of magic and how I treat it that won't make sense if you try to apply the rules set down in the real Book Six. A few differences:

*There is no side along or co-apparation in this story. Each person can only apparate themselves, no one else. This only makes sense if you ask me, otherwise why wouldn't Lily have simply grabbed baby Harry and apparated away when Voldemort attacked? Why wouldn't the guards who came to bring Harry to Grimmauld Place simply have apparated him rather than take a long risky broom flight?

*Portkeys can be blocked in a variety of ways, which I attempt to explain as I go along. Basically, you can block them one way, both ways, or employ a selective blocking. It's the only way I could think of to remain consistent with the crazy portkey usage in and out of Hogwarts.

*Fudge is still around, which may or may not bother people so I thought I'd mention it.

*Magic is considerably more powerful, but hopefully not illogically so.

*This story mostly revolves around war and in my opinion is much darker than Light Bearers was.

That is not by any means an exhaustive list, but hopefully most of the story when read in conjunction with Light Bearers will explain itself. I don't know how rapidly I will post this, but seeing as how the story is already written it will be rather quick. The only constraint on how fast I post each chapter will be schoolwork, which is considerable for me at the moment, and the possibility that I will be taking a few short trips that may deny me computer access for a day or two at a time.

In that spirit of not posting every day let me tell you that I won't be posting the first chapter of Prophecy War for a few hours. The reason behind this is 1. It's really late right now where I live and 2. People who have not ever before read Light Bearers are now encouraged to do so (shameless promotion finished) and people who have might possibly want to re-read it since it has been a long time. Thanks for your patience and for all the many wonderful reviews that I have received over the months. I can only hope that you will all have as much fun reading this story as I have had writing it. As always, if you've seen it in Harry Potter I don't own it.

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Now comes the long awaited update on my progress with Harry Potter and the Secret of Sorcery. I could tell you roughly how many pages I've written (over 100) or how many words those pages contain (nearly 50,000), but it wouldn't really inform you at all about when to expect the finished product. The reason for that is the fact that my progress is dictated by events outside my control, namely school, an endeavor to which I dedicate upwards of 80 hours per week right now (as some of you are guessing, it isn't undergraduate school anymore). As a result I can't tell when I might get finished (I've got a ten page draft paper that has to be researched from scratch and turned in six days from now). I get projects like that all the time, not to mention a hefty reading schedule. Enough excuse making, the point is that I haven't quit or disappeared. A finished product will be coming eventually. For all of you waiting for that finished product I'm sorry its taking so long, but I trust you will all understand that real life must come first to our hobbies. For those of you not waiting, hopefully this will bump these two stories back up to the top (I'm posting this update in both my stories because people may not be watching both of them for updates) where new readers can be exposed to them (that isn't too shameless, right?). So, until you see me again, keep shipping for Harry and Hermione, the best couple in the HP universe and enjoy this tiny excerpt from Chapter 4 - Fear and Loathing, though, as usual, everything is open to change.

Septimus and Sense both smirked as they took up inconspicuous positions next to the door. Sense twirled an idle strand of her nearly white blonde hair that had fallen down from the elegant spiral atop her head.

“Please try to be respectful Lucius,” Fudge muttered before approaching a full length mirror that hung unobtrusively on the wall.

“Pretentious scum, calling itself Morbus,” Lucius muttered in such a way that Percy doubted the Minister heard him. “This had better work.”

Fudge touched the ornamental framework that the mirror sat in along several different decorative ridges before stepping back. A moment later a familiar thick darkness began to coalesce inside the reflective area, slowly taking on the roughly human shape of the vampire who called himself Morbus.

A shiny black boot and the attached leg stepped out of the mirror followed by the rest of the vampire liaison. Percy noticed some subtle changes between the Morbus in the memory Fudge had shown him and the Morbus that had just finished walking through the mirror. His skin was less pale, his hair slightly longer, and his fangs no longer protruded past his thin lips.

“A delight, as always Minister,” Morbus said as his eyes darted to the location of the two Artemis siblings. “But was it really necessary for those things to be present?”

Lucius' face, normally placid, hardened noticeably.

“Ah, Lucius, my good friend,” Morbus said jovially. “You were no doubt overjoyed to hear about the success of young Vitter's potion.”

“Ah, there will be plenty of time to reacquaint later,” Fudge interrupted. “I'm afraid we have urgent business to attend to.”

“My followers stand ready to fulfill our part of the bargain,” Morbus said.

“How good to hear,” Lucius said. “Potter is still causing trouble and now it seems as if the Americans are involved too.”

“This had better not interfere with our arrangement Minister,” Morbus said sharply. “If the Americans catch on to what we're doing it'll be troublesome.”

“They won't have a clue until the situation is beyond their ability to interfere with,” Fudge said reassuringly. “What we must do is prevent potential revolutionary factions from igniting the civil war that You-Know-Who's death was supposed to suppress.”

Morbus made a rumbling noise deep in his throat. “I should hope so, for the sake of our bargain,” he said. “But keep in mind that our agreement does not include us fighting your war for you Minister.”

“Of course, of course,” Fudge said, still trying to be reassuring. “Your forces will merely do routine patrol and other mundane policing work. Your job is to free up our forces to intensify their ongoing counterrevolutionary duties.”

“Do you think you can handle that?” Lucius asked brusquely.

“Don't worry,” Morbus said. He grinned in a way that Percy thought almost sinister. “My followers and I shall protect England's magical community like a faithful shepherd watches over his flock.”

“Excellent,” Fudge said before Lucius could bring a full blown scowl to bear against their guest. A feat which was rather intensely frightening as a result of his scarred visage left over from some battle Percy knew had something to do with the defense of the Ministry. “Inform me when your preparations are complete.”

“As you wish,” Morbus' voice said echoing as his form lost its shape and dwindled away as a dissipating cloud of black mist.

“Lucius, don't let your temper get the best of you,” Fudge admonished once their guest had departed.

“Minister, you know what that abomination,” Lucius began, teeth gritted with pent up rage.

“I know and I sympathize,” Fudge interrupted sharply. “Why do you think I'm taking this opportunity to get those bloody monsters out of the country? For now we have to make our move before this nation is ripped apart again by people who want to side with demons like that.”

“Yes, Minister, it's just that,” Lucius said, but let his voice trail off with an uncharacteristic note of pain.

“Lucius, you've been my greatest supporter and one of the few people I can truly name as a friend,” Fudge said sincerely. “Can I count on you again?”

“Of course Cornelius,” Lucius replied.

“Thank you,” Fudge said, jovial again. “Go find Dolores and Vance. This won't be like the end of the first war where the enemy got to linger until he was ready for us. This time we're going to clean them out so fast that they won't know what's going on.”

Lucius nodded and turned away smiling. If Fudge wanted those two then he was finally going to get his wish and this time Dumbledore wouldn't be around to foil him.

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