Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
The Time Meddlers
Chapter Twenty - Preparing for a New War
Harry and Hermione stared at Luna Lovegood in shock. Neither of them had known she was a Seer, but then again, neither had asked her. Hermione glanced toward the hallway, glad to see Neville and Ginny were too far away to hear, while Luna's eyes went to their normal vacant expression.
She blinked and asked, "Why are you staring at me? Did a Wrackspurt enter my mind again?"
"Er, that must be it, Luna," answered Harry. "We'd better get moving or the train will take off with us still aboard."
"Oh, I don't think they'd do that, unless someone was hiding under an Invisibility Cloak or something."
Harry blinked as he instantly recalled Malfoy hiding him under his cloak just before 6th year began. "I'd still like to get there."
"You're right. There will probably be pudding."
They quickly dismounted and caught up with Neville and Ginny. The two younger girls went off with Hagrid when he called, "First years!" while the remaining trio headed toward the thestral-drawn carriages. They hardly paid any attention to the conversation they had with Neville as they longed for privacy to discuss this new prophecy. Harry even considered using the Time-Turner, but he couldn't do that without letting Neville see it. Besides, he and Hermione had agreed that they wanted to stop using it for every little thing. Their discussion could wait. Besides, Harry was hungry.
--TM--
About an hour later, the students in the Great Hall were just finishing their desserts. The sorting had occurred with Ginny making Gryffindor and Luna making Ravenclaw. Harry and Hermione had hoped Luna would be a Gryffindor this time around, but obviously hadn't had enough time to influence her enough to request it. They still vowed to try to help Luna in any way they could because they knew the Lovegood girl had a rough time there.
"Look over there." Hermione's command brought Harry out of his thoughts. He moved his gaze to where his girlfriend was pointing and grinned as he saw none other than Cedric Diggory, wearing a brand new prefect badge, leading the first-year Hufflepuffs out of the room.
"It's good to see him alive," he whispered to Hermione. "I hardly got a glimpse of him last year."
After walking with Neville and a few other Gryffindors to their dormitory, the couple agreed to meet later on that night, once everyone was asleep.
--TM--
"So, what do you think?" asked Hermione. It was just after midnight and they had snuck into the Come and Go Room.
"It's too bad Luna didn't get sorted into Gryffindor."
"Yes it is," she hissed, annoyed, "but you know what I'm talking about."
He took a deep breath. "Yeah. The prophecy is real. Trelawney was just like that when she made her two."
"We need to break it down to figure out exactly what it means." Using Harry's Pensieve to relive the prophecy, they quickly were able to write down every word of it.
"A Shadow of Pain is rising," read Hermione before sighing. "That doesn't sound very pleasant."
"Nope," agreed Harry. "It must be about the deaths and disappearances that have been happening, though."
"Agreed." She looked thoughtful. "It has all been done with no witnesses, so you could say it was done in shadow."
"But so far the killings have been Avada Kedavra's, which are supposed to be painless."
"There have been disappearances as well," countered Hermione, "and who knows what happened to them." She closed her eyes in grief. "And more is probably coming."
"Very likely," agreed Harry. "What's the next line?"
"The boy twice born who has vanquished the Dark Lord will now face this new evil." Hermione grimaced and looked at her boyfriend. "You're going to have to face this Dark Lord, too."
He nodded his head while muttering, "Dammit. Why can't they leave me alone?" Hermione reached out and took his hand in hers.
Hermione continued. "Crueler than the Dark Lord and twice as foul, the Light created this Shadow…"
"So we're right," said Harry. "It is our fault somehow."
"I guess so," she nodded sadly. "And this new evil sounds like he's even more pleasant company than Voldemort."
"Looks like," he said with a smirk.
"It has the power to cover the world in darkness, extinguishing the Light…"
"So this evil can win," muttered Harry. "I suppose I'm the light he can extinguish."
Hermione grimaced as she read, "Yet his Lady of Light stands with him…"
Harry squeezed her hand and looked at her with love in his eyes. "As always."
"As always." It took a great determination not to kiss at that moment, but Hermione managed to move her gaze back at the parchment to read, "Together, the lovers twice born, the meddlers with time, must shine through the Dark Shadow or fate will destroy the world."
After taking a deep breath, Harry concluded, "We're going to have to work together or fate will get even with us for changing history."
"By destroying the whole world?" questioned Hermione.
"Looks like it." Harry looked at his feet for about a minute as they sat in silence. He finally raised his head and asked, "So what are we gonna do about it?"
"If we were Dumbledore, we'd do nothing and let events unfold," said Hermione in a calm tone of voice reminiscent of the old man.
"Do I look like Dumbledore?" he asked with a mock glare.
"Of course not. I'd never kiss you if you had a beard like that. Gross!"
Harry chuckled at that before he took on a serious expression. He grimly stated, "We've got to prepare for a new war."
"Agreed. First, we need to continue our training…" Harry nodded. "…and we need a new D.A."
Harry stared at her for about thirty seconds before replying. "While I agree that it would help to train the students since they'll likely be victims, no one is going to want to learn defense from a second year - no matter how pathetic Lockhart is."
"I know that, Harry," she answered him. "You're not the only person in Hogwarts that's good at defense. We'll simply have to ask someone else, an upper classman, to start up a dueling club."
A huge grin came on Hermione's face as Harry asked, "Who?"
--TM--
While Harry did agree with his girlfriend's suggestion of which student to ask to run a dueling club, they both agreed to wait a few weeks so that this person could experience a few Lockhart lessons and realize the need for extra help in that subject. For now, Harry decided to concentrate on more ways to humiliate Gilderoy, one small prank at a time. At least he made sure each student only had to get one of the stupid books. For second years, it was `Gadding with Ghouls.' Harry briefly considered trying to sneak the Weasleys' ghoul to his DADA class to scare Lockhart, but knew the poor thing was comfortable where he was in the Burrow's attic. For now, Harry felt the class would enjoy his and Hermione's first prank.
Lockhart did his introduction the same way that he did the last time around, but his pop quiz was different. He only had questions taken out of the one book for this class. While there were some of the original questions, like what Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition is (although if it's published, how is it secret?) and his greatest achievement to this date (which Harry wrote was getting to teach at Hogwarts). However, due to lack of content, a few of the questions weren't pointless. For example, one asked what a ghoul was, which is an important question for anyone who might deal with a ghoul.
After Lockhart had graded the tests, he began his lesson on, "…Freshly caught Cornish Pixies."
Seamus Finnigan couldn't control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror. Hermione took advantage of this distraction to perform a silent spell on the cage while Harry put a notice-me-not charm on her.
By the time the spells had been cast (including removing the notice-me-not from Hermione, Lockhart was saying, "Let's see what you make of them!" He then grabbed the cage door to open it, but it didn't open. Lockhart's toothy smile faded for a moment, and he tried again. "Hehe. This door seems a bit stuck. It'll only be a moment." He turned his full attention to the cage, where the pixies were getting even more upset than he'd already made them by tapping his wand on the cage while introducing them to the class.
He made a two-handed yank on the cage door, but all that happened was the cage itself nearly falling. He then pulled out his wand as the class watched. Harry had already heard a few snickers from other students. "Al-More-Al!" Lockhart shouted, showing his lack of knowledge of spell pronunciation. When nothing happened, Gilderoy tapped this wand on the cage while repeating that spell, and Harry found himself wishing that wand would break, but that would be too lucky. "Sometimes it helps if your wand is actually touching the target with that spell," he commented, trying to look calm despite his reddening complexion and the sweat forming on his brow.
Hermione raised her hand. When he called on her, she asked, "Isn't the spell Alohomora?"
"Right you are, Miss Granger. Right you are," he replied with his fake smile. Ten points for catching my deliberate error. I was hoping that one of you would notice that." He turned his attention back to the cage and said, "Alohomora!" causing a clicking noise to come from the door for a moment, but it didn't unlock. The pixies were getting even more annoyed.
He kept trying different ways to get the cage open over the next five minutes, agitating the pixies more every second. When he began to stick his wand into the cage door, Harry thought for sure it would break. But what happened instead was that the pixies together grabbed the wand and pulled it inside their cage so Lockhart couldn't touch it. "Give me that back, you bloody insects!" he shouted at them, even throwing the cage on the ground in fury before noticing the laughter coming from the class. He turned toward them, with another fake smile, and said, "Class dismissed."
Harry and Hermione made sure to be among the last out of the room, and Hermione sent a spell to open the cage door, freeing the angry pixies, just before closing the classroom door, making sure Gilderoy didn't see who did it. Then she locked the classroom door so he couldn't escape.
--TM--
The next time Lockhart was spotted, he was completely disheveled and bruised, headed toward the hospital wing. Rumors of students seeing Cornish Pixies flying throughout the castle were being spread around rather quickly.
The next few weeks passed easily. Harry sent a certain form (through muggle post and using the Grangers' address for the reply) to the Dursleys during the first week, and his Marauder name - Tox - received a letter from Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Tox,
I thought I'd let you know that Sirius Black's posthumous case is now coming under review with Amelia Bones as Minister, as well as the other changes she has created. I'm sure you read that I'm now Head Auror, which has kept me rather busy these past few weeks.
I believe that under the new administration, Black's name will be cleared soon. It is too bad that Madam Bones wasn't already Minister when you brought us Pettigrew.
Kingsley Shacklebolt,
Head Auror
"That's good news," Harry commented before handing the note to Hermione. Luckily, Neville hadn't arrived at breakfast yet so he wouldn't have questions about the note. Harry and Hermione had begun actually waking up early to do their daily training rather than using the Time-Turner for it, which resulted in them being among the first in the Great Hall every morning. It had been a few months since they'd heard from Kingsley, so they were wondering about his progress, but did understand that these things took time, especially while everyone involved is getting used to a new promotion. They made sure to pass the news onto Terry Cochran (Sirius Black's alias - they had made it a point to start using it all the time so that they wouldn't mess up when they publicly met him at his shop and became friends).
--TM--
It was September 17th, just a few days before Hermione's birthday, when Harry finally approached the person she'd suggested would be a good leader for a defense club. Dinner was getting over when he saw the fifth-year prefect get up from the Hufflepuff table. Harry put down his fork and got up while muttering, "I've got to go." Hermione understood exactly why, but Neville didn't know what Harry was up to, but saw no reason to object.
"We'll see you later," the Longbottom boy replied.
"Bye, Harry," said Hermione as Harry left the Great Hall in a hurry to catch up to his former co-champion in another life.
He saw his quarry walking toward his Common Room with a few other Hufflepuffs that appeared to be his age. Realizing that at this time, Harry had no reason to make sure no one knew he was talking to this person, he did not make his bag rip. Instead, he called, "Cedric…Cedric Diggory," as he hurried toward them.
The Puffs stopped and turned around. The prefect spoke. "Yes…" His eyes flicked up to the most famous scar in the Wizarding world. "Harry Potter. What can I do for you?"
"Can I speak with you alone?"
Looking very curious, Cedric replied, "Alright." He turned to his friends. "I'll catch up with you later."
"Sure, Ced," they answered and walked off. Harry and Cedric walked to an empty classroom.
When Harry closed the door, Diggory asked, "What's this all about?"
Suddenly feeling nervous, Harry shuffled his feet for a few seconds before asking, "I'm sure you've had a few Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons with Lockhart by now?"
"Yeah."
"What do you think of him?"
"Er," Cedric replied nervously, as though he didn't want to badmouth a teacher. "I've had better teachers. Why?"
"Well, I, er, don't think he's really half as skilled as he claims, and some of the events in his books make no sense."
"I guess I'll agree with you. Why do you ask?"
Harry took a deep breath. "I don't think anyone is learning Defense properly from Lockhart, and I for one want to be able to defend myself."
Nodding, Cedric said, "I suppose there are people out there who would like to get revenge on you."
"That's true," said Harry hesitantly, "but I think a lot more people than me need to learn that subject. I think there should be a Defense club at Hogwarts for us to learn properly."
Cedric's eyebrows raised for a moment as he considered it. "That might be a good idea. What does it have to do with me?"
"I'd, er, kind of like you to run it."
"What?" Diggory replied in shock as his eyes bulged out. "Why me?"
"For one thing, I found out from Professor Lupin that you're one of the best in your year." Harry paused before explaining, "He was a good friend of my parents."
"Oh. That's nice of him to say. What other reason?"
"You're a Hufflepuff," the Boy-Who-Lived answered simply. "The Slytherins hate Gryffindors and the Gryffindors hate the Slytherins. If a Ravenclaw led the group, everyone else would believe it would be nothing but theory and would expect to have to write essays about whatever gets covered."
With a small chuckle, he said, "You're probably right."
"You should probably get a staff sponsor before Lockhart finds out. Otherwise, he'll probably try to take over the club and render it useless."
"You seem to have given this a lot of thought," the prefect replied pensively.
Harry smiled. "I have. I've also heard that Professor Flitwick was a dueling champion, so he might be a good suggestion for a staff sponsor, unless you have a better idea."
"Hm. Let me consider it for a few days. I'll let you know."
"Good enough," Harry replied, holding out his hand to shake Cedric's. He was sure that he'd convinced Diggory. "See you later," he said before opening the door and leaving.
--TM--
On Saturday, September 19th, Harry threw Hermione another birthday party, but this one wasn't a surprise. If you keep throwing someone surprise parties, they'll be expected soon, and no longer be a surprise. At the party, he gave her store credit for Flourish and Blotts, remembering to honor their agreement not to give each other romantic gifts until they officially started dating the next year.
A week later, Harry and Hermione were sitting at breakfast when the mail arrived. Hedwig was carrying two packages, which Harry knew were from the Grangers, since that's where his owl had been for the past few days since Hermione sent a letter to her parents. One package was very familiar and always brought a smile to the Boy-Who-Lived's face - his latest comic book. The other was a letter from the Grangers that said the Dursleys had signed Harry's emancipation papers, and they were being filed in the muggle world. With any luck, Dumbledore wouldn't find out about that until the summer - far too late to Obliviate people to stop it from happening. It would be in the computer system, which he didn't think Dumbledore knew how to access. Harry was reading the legalese when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see Cedric Diggory standing behind him.
"Hi, Cedric."
"Hi, Harry. I thought I'd let you know first. I talked to Professor Flitwick and he agreed to sponsor a Defense club, so we'll be having our first meeting this Saturday."
Harry grinned at the fifth year. "That's great! I'm looking forward to it."
--TM--
At the same time somewhere in London, a meeting was taking place in a muggle restaurant. Anybody who got near enough to hear the two people talking only heard a light buzzing sound. The man with black, greasy hair, wearing all black muggle clothes said, "Well…Shadow…your proposal is very intriguing. I just want to know that you'll be able to do what you've promised. If you fail, I'll be…."
Suddenly the man found himself under a unique curse. He felt fine if he was perfectly still, but if he moved at all, he would feel pain worse than the Cruciatus curse. However, the only indicators of his situation were the beads of sweat forming on his brow. He was very used to hiding his emotions.
"Now, Severus," the Shadow replied softly. "I will do exactly what I said, and you will be rewarded for your…cooperation. By the time Dumbledore finds out about our little agreement, it will be too late for him."
--TM--
Please review. Thank you to those who have.
I know that JKR apparently said Cedric would've been a 4th year at this time in an interview, but she also said Hermione's middle name was Jane in an interview. Her interviews aren't entirely reliable, so I take canon facts from the books. In the books, all we're told is that Cedric was 17 during the Triwizard Tournament. His being a 5th year prefect now works best for my story.
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