Harry Potter and the Hand of Gryffindor by Alice I

[Alice I]

Wow

Thank you so much Amon Rê.

I have finally figured out a big part of the struggle and conclusion for the story. And now I need to write in a little back plot so it may take a little time to get the next chapter up I have to see how I can start weaving in the upcomming stuff to introduce it sot of.

But boy you are so good for my ego, and quicksilver too.

She is a big help because she reviews it for me and got me to get Ginny to talk closer to her age than mine.

Thanks for the terrific compliments folks and I always listen to constructive criticisms too so if you think something and want to comment on it go ahead.

[Nobby]

[Nobby]

your just too good alice!

*hands alice an ice-cream*

[Alice I]

Dear Fan Fiction Area Moderator,
I can not send any PM's just now so I'll post this request here.

A couple of the other members wanted me to start posting full chapters and got permission from Paul so now essentially the first page of my posts are unnecessary as they are excerpts and will be reposted when those particular chapters go up.
Could we trim the actual excerpts out so that the thread doesn't seem so unruley?

I don't know if the Thread Title can be edited or not but when I started the thread I did not have a title for the story but now I do.

If it is possible to change the title to:

Harry Potter and the Hand of Gryffindor

that would be awsome.

Thanks
Alice I

[Writer]

This is a reeeeeeeeeally good story!!! You're so good Alice!

[Alice I]

Chapter Ten - Part 1
The Journey Back

When Ron spoke with Madam Hooch she actually highly recommended two first years that seemed to have natural skill in flying. A boy named Ryan Rutterfield and his twin sister, a rather small girl called Gem. Ron asked Ryan if he and his sister would be interested in trying out for the quidditch team. Ryan and Gem both looked quite surprised to have a school prefect and, from what they heard, the acting captain, ask them to play quidditch for their house team. They both agreed to meet Ron and the rest of the team hopefuls down at the field on Friday evening to show what they were capable of.

After two hours of game practice with everyone including the twins Ron called a halt and asked everyone to wait in the locker room. Ron felt that while the Rutterfield’s were young and a little unsure of themselves, they both never the less flew quite well and should improve with training. Ron pulled Ginny aside and spoke to her quietly for a few minutes before disappearing into the captain’s office for what seemed a long time before coming out and addressing the players and hopefuls gathered.

“We need all of the players here. Ginny, Gem and Ryan are going to be our primary chasers, Jack and Andrew will return as beaters and Dean we want to have you join the team as a reserve chaser but I want you to train as a beater as well. Ginny is our back up seeker and will play that position if Harry is still out come November.” This seemed like the best plan to utilize the players they had and to be honest they really did need a back up. Ron was pleased with the decision he had made with regards to the team and scheduled the first team practice at seven o’clock in the evening the following Tuesday.

All of the students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw and about two thirds of the Slytherin had signed up for the DA class. Bill did not have to worry about how to deny the class to Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle as none of them had signed up nor did a few other Slytherin sixth years including Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. The first and second year classes met on Monday evenings, the third and fourth years on Tuesday, the fifth years on Wednesday, the sixth years on Thursday and the seventh years on Friday. The classes were fairly large since every house was in every class.

Professor Dumbledore was quite pleased to see this, as the union of all houses needed to be encouraged. Bill was mildly concerned that he might have to break up fights because of the tension between houses but everyone even the Slytherins seemed to check their house identity at the door. Somehow all of the students felt that this was outside of the normal competition between houses; this was the place for working together and it made Bill’s job immensely easier. Ron and Ginny had the team meet on alternating Tuesday and Friday evenings so that they could practice around the DA classes and the other teams’ needs for the pitch.

Ever since the fight at the Ministry last June, Neville had undergone a remarkable change in his behavior and overall attitude. But while on the outside he displayed a greater confidence in himself, inwardly he was struggling with feelings that he couldn’t describe even to himself let alone someone else. At times he would have images of his mother, young and in pain, flash in his mind, but these images always faded so quickly that he could not hold on to them. Often times he would take on a distant look in his eyes as though recalling some distant memory and his hands would clench into tight fists.

One afternoon before dinner Neville was sitting in the Great Hall reading when this happened and Luna Lovegood, who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, noticed the strained look on Neville’s face came over to sit next to him. Neville did not notice Luna’s approach, but as she sat down she saw his hands clenched into fists so tightly that his knuckles were white and his fingernails were cutting into his palms. “What is it Neville?” she asked him softly in his ear but Neville said nothing. After a moment he seemed to come back to himself and looked over at Luna and said “Excuse me?” Luna reached out and gently took Neville’s hand closest to her and opened it. He had indeed left small cuts on his palm from his fingernails and from the look of it; it was not the first time that this had happened. Neville looked down at his hand and turned it over quickly while withdrawing it to his lap. “Talking about it helps you know?” Luna persisted but he did not want to answer and looked about quickly for a way to change the subject.

Abigail Tosh was just passing the table at that moment and Neville called out to her, “Mrs. Tosh!” She turned her attention to Neville and he asked “How’s Harry?” Abigail took a seat next to Neville and Luna and smiled warmly at the two of them while she touched Neville’s other hand that was still resting on the table. As soon as she touched him she received an immediate impression. She saw a young woman with the same round face as the boy sitting in front of her only the woman’s face was etched in pain and Abigail got the distinct impression that she was trying desperately to communicate something, then the vision was gone. She looked deep into Neville’s eyes and said “There has been no change with your friend yet but there has with you.” This statement took Neville completely by surprise and he said “Pardon me ma'am?” Abigail looked closely at Neville then she turned her gaze to Luna who looked serenely back with an unflinching gaze. Abigail looked back at Neville and touched his hand again and seemed to concentrate before answering.

“You have a secret buried deep in your heart child and it is beginning to awaken.” Neville’s mouth went dry and he looked terrified. Abigail did not need to sense Neville’s fear as it shown clearly in his eyes. “Do not fear your own heart boy, it will reveal its truth when you are ready, and you will find the courage to see that truth.” Luna looked at Abigail and asked “Will you help him to see?” Abigail had never met Luna before but she sensed a myriad of emotions from this young woman. Luna obviously felt great concern for Neville but she too seemed to hold within her secrets as well. Abigail had a little difficulty reading Luna’s emotions which was highly unusual and she found herself intrigued by this unusual young woman. She answered Luna’s question by addressing Neville directly. “When you are ready to open your heart I can help you, but only if you want me to and only if you are ready.” Abigail while looking at Neville was concentrating on Luna. She had expected to sense a stronger emotion such as irritation or resentment that she had addressed her answer to Neville instead of Luna but all she sensed from this girl was a feeling of serenity and perhaps satisfaction. Abigail could not further ponder this enigmatic young woman as just then her daughter entered the Great Hall and spying her mother walked over to the Gryffindor table.

“Mother I have been looking for you. Professor Dumbledore would like a word with you.” Madam Tosh sensed that she had interrupted something but was unable to read more in her mother or the two students with her. “Abigail turned to Neville and Luna and said “Please contact me if ever you feel the need to and I will come to you.” Then she turned and stood “I will go with you now daughter.” Neville and Luna watched as the two women left the Great Hall. When they started up the marble staircase Madam Tosh turned to her mother and said “Mother?” Abigail knew that her daughter wanted to know what she had interrupted but replied “The next time you see Mr. Longbottom alone you should give him some salve of Murlap Tentacles” Madam Tosh eyed her mother curiously but got no further reply so she made a mental note to make up some salve for Neville and did not further pursue the question. After Madam Tosh left her mother with Professor Dumbledore she told them both that she needed to return to London to attend to other duties and to send for her if she was needed. She left the office and went back to the hospital ward where she made up some salve for Neville and to check on Harry one last time before she left the castle. After leaving the salve for Neville with a note explaining how to apply it she transformed and flew out into the crisp evening air.

It had been twenty two days since the attack on Harry and most of the bruises covering his body had faded to a sickly yellowish green. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been coming up to the castle on weekends to visit Harry and to see their children but Charlie had gone back to Romania though he was keeping in close contact by owl post. Ginny was in the hospital wing doing Harry’s exercises when Abigail Tosh entered the ward and crossed over to them.

“Good morning Mrs. Tosh” Ginny said as she lowered one of Harry’s legs. “Good morning child. Tell me how is Harry this morning?” Ginny had moved to the other side of Harry’s bed and was flexing and moving his other leg. “I’m not sure, but he seems not stiffer, but harder to move today. It is almost like he is fighting the exercises.” Mrs. Tosh closed her eyes and seemed to be listening to something then she said “I think it is time to call him home. I can faintly sense him. He is confused; he does not remember the way back.” Ginny looked startled and set Harry’s leg down. “Is he alright?” she asked a little frightened. Abigail still had her eyes closed “He is looking for something.” She opened her eyes and looked directly at Ginny “or someone.” Ginny took Harry’s hand firmly and knelt down close to him. “I am here Harry. I didn’t leave you. Come back Harry, please come back!” Ginny had a strained look on her face as if willing Harry to hear her. Abigail came around the bed and put an old wrinkled hand on Ginny’s shoulder. “He will hear you child, I can sense it. I will send for my daughter and we will guide him home tonight. Are you ready for the journey child?” Ginny looked up at the old woman with tears forming in her eyes but they also held a fire. “I am ready”

Ginny was still white faced when she joined the Gryffindor table at breakfast. “What’s wrong Ginny?” Hermione asked her. “Mrs. Tosh wants to try and bring Harry back tonight. I will go with her into his mind to guide him back and she said that you should all be there including you Neville. Mrs. Tosh said that Harry will need to have his friends close to help him find his way.” Ron looked stunned, Hermione looked thoughtful and Neville asked “How can you go into Harry’s mind?”

“I’m not sure how it works. Mrs. Tosh can go to where Harry is inside his mind. Her body temperature will lower as well as her breathing and heart rate just like Harry. She can connect to him and guide him back.” Ron didn’t look stunned anymore now he looked worried. “Ginny if she takes you with her the same thing will happen to you won’t it? You could end up like Harry! Why does she need to take you? Why can’t she bring him back herself?” Ginny blushed and looked down. It was time to tell them the truth. Ginny told them everything that Madam Tosh had told her when her mother first found Harry and how both of them felt that Harry would not follow Mrs. Tosh unless Ginny was with her. When she finished they were all staring open mouthed at her.

“Ginny, why didn’t you tell us?” asked Ron. Ginny shook her head “I don’t know Ron, maybe because I didn’t really believe it myself. When Madam Tosh and her mother explained all of this to me, about how to get Harry back it scared me a little. Madam Tosh told mum and dad about it and even though mum is scared she said I could try this if it really would bring him back. They will be here tonight. Mum won’t let this happen unless they are here.” Hermione reached out her hand and put it on Ginny’s “Ginny you can do this, you can bring him back. I know you can.” Ginny smiled at her and she did feel a little better.

Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Neville ate very little at dinner. Ginny had come to terms with her uncertainty. She was not afraid of getting lost in Harry’s mind and she no longer feared having her heart broken. She finally admitted to herself that she was in love with Harry and would do anything to save him. He may never feel the same way about her but that no longer mattered. At eight o’clock they left the common room and headed for the hospital wing and no one spoke as they walked through the silent corridors.

When they arrived in the ward Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were already there. Harry’s bed had been moved to the center of the ward and two other beds were placed side by side with their heads at the head of Harry’s bed. There were several chairs around the three beds. Bill and Professor Dumbledore were also there and were talking quietly. As soon as she saw them; Mrs. Weasley came over to her daughter and hugged her tightly. She looked at Ginny searching her eyes to be certain that Ginny was ready for this. She saw the determined set to Ginny’s face but what eased the tightness in her heart was the peaceful acceptance in her youngest child’s eyes. Molly Weasley knew at that moment that Ginny had indeed fallen in love with Harry and nothing would stop her from bringing him back. There was a noise behind them and they saw Hagrid’s enormous form entering the ward.

Madam Tosh stood up with the arrival of Hagrid and said “I believe that everyone has arrived. Please take a seat and I will explain how all of you will be able to help us wake up Harry.” Everyone sat down except for Ginny, Mrs. Tosh and Madam Pomfrey. Madam Tosh directed Ginny to sit on one of the empty beds while her mother sat on the other. “As you know Harry has retreated deep into his own mind to recover from the traumatic experiences he has suffered through. Before he drifted away he saw Ginny and thought she was a guardian angel watching over him. Harry is showing signs of returning but he has lost his way. My mother will enter Harry’s subconscious and help to guide him home. Ginny must also go, as Harry will not follow my mother unless Ginny is with her. All of you gathered are Harry’s closest friends and family and you will all play an important role here tonight. The bond of love and friendship that you share with each other will act as a lifeline for Harry and Ginny.”

“How dangerous is this for Ginny?” asked Bill looking very worried. “Madam Pomfrey will be watching over Ginny. Her body temperature will lower, her heart and breathing will slow but she will be with my mother and all of you will be an emotional anchor for her. There is risk but I believe it to be minimal.”
Neville asked “How are Ginny and your mother going to get into Harry’s mind to find him?”. He was very interested in this and was fostering a wild hope that this process might be able to bring back his own parents locked in insanity through relentless torture. Abigail turned and answered Neville. “I will make a connection with Ginny then I will connect to Harry. He is closer now than before but he has lost his way. I can not explain how it actually works for I do not know myself. We will be gone from you and appear just as Harry does now until we find him and bring him back. The danger is not so much for Ginny or Harry as their bodies are young and strong and can more easily adapt to the changes in temperature and heart rate.”

Neville suddenly opened his eyes wide as the full implication of what the old woman said sunk in. “How much danger is there for you?” Mrs. Tosh smiled at him “My daughter is the finest healer I have known all these long years and with her to watch over me while I am away I am certain that I will be fine.”
Madam Tosh turned to Madam Pomfrey “All of my concentration will be taken.” Madam Pomfrey nodded. Then Ginny and Abigail laid down and closed their eyes. Madam Tosh sat in the chair next to her mother’s bed then turned to look at all of those gathered “Please hold the hands of those next to you. Professor Weasley you take Ginny’s hand, Hermione you take Harry’s and Neville please take my mother’s hand. Physical contact while my mother and Ginny leave will provide the empathic anchor they will need to return. Constant contact is not necessary once the journey has begun. Do what ever Madam Pomfrey tells you to no matter how odd it may seem.”

Everyone took the hand of the person next to them and Madam Tosh looked at her mother. “Are you ready mother?” Without opening her eyes the old woman replied “Yes daughter.” She took a deep breath and seemed to fall asleep. Ginny was lying very still and breathing evenly. Bill was holding her hand and watching her very closely. Madam Pomfrey was watching Madam Tosh as she pointed her wand at her mother and muttered “Specerecorpus” and her eyes rolled up into her head. A bright light filled the ward and everyone looked over at the healer. The light faded and when Madam Tosh looked down at the recumbent form of her mother she looked to be in a trance but her eyes darted purposefully back and forth over her mother’s body as if seeing something that no one else could.

Madam Pomfrey smiled slightly at the startled looks on most of the faces gathered and said “Not many people have seen a healer’s trance unless of course they are healers themselves.” Bill looked down at Ginny again and she had a slight smile on her face. “I think that Mrs. Tosh has connected to Ginny.” Madam Pomfrey turned her attention to Ginny. She was the only person who had not joined hands with the others as it was her job to monitor the physical health of both Ginny and Harry. She checked Ginny’s pulse and breathing. They were slow and even, though not nearly as slow as Harry’s yet and Ginny was still warm to the touch. “I believe you are correct Professor but they have not yet connected to Mr. Potter. Do not break contact with anyone.” Ron was between Hermione and Bill. Hermione was holding Harry’s hand which still felt cold. She gave it a squeeze and whispered “Come back to us Harry” Bill who was still watching Ginny felt something change with her. She seemed suddenly very limp, her breathing had slowed down so much that he had to watch to make sure she was still breathing. He felt a chill that seemed to pass to Ron then Hermione. “What was that?” Ron asked startled. Almost in answer to his question a blanket from the pile in the corner lifted itself and sailed over to cover Mrs. Tosh.

“They have left, Professor Weasley would you please get a blanket for Ginny?” Madam Pomfrey asked as she came around the beds to check on Harry. Ron turned to Hermione and whispered “Did you just feel something?” Hermione nodded her head but didn’t say anything. Bill let go of Ron’s hand and got up to fetch a blanket for Ginny. Hermione let go of Harry so that Madam Pomfrey could check his pulse. “What happens now?” asked Ron still feeling a bit disconcerted having literally felt his sister pass through him. Professor Dumbledore answered “I imagine we wait and watch now.” Bill put the blanket tightly around his sister. She was already starting to get cold. Madam Pomfrey having satisfied herself that both Harry and Ginny were in no immediate physical danger looked up at Professor Dumbledore. “Talk to each other, talk to Harry and Ginny. Let them know that you are still here. I will know when they begin to return.”

Ginny felt herself floating in nothing. She sensed Mrs. Tosh with her but there was no sight or sound. Something far away prickled at her senses. There was someone else here. She knew it was Harry and tried to feel for him. She seemed to be moving at great speed but felt no wind or movement. “Harry! Where are you?” she tried to speak but realized that talking wasn’t something you could do here either so she thought about Harry very hard. She pictured him in her minds eye. “Harry come home! Come home to me.” She thought. The prickling faded away and she felt panicky. She couldn’t find him, where had he gone. She felt a tugging from the other person with her. Mrs. Tosh was trying to lead her back and a thought leaden with sadness filled her mind “He is lost to us child. We must return” Ginny screamed in her mind “NOOO! Harry! Harry! Come back!” Ginny felt franticly with her mind trying to sense anyone other than the tugging of Mrs. Tosh. Another thought came to her “Calm yourself child. Listen with your heart.” Ginny relaxed her mind and forced the panic away. She was once again floating in silence listening feeling trying to perceive anything. Slowly she became aware of something far away and she willed herself to come closer to it. Once again she felt herself moving very quickly through the void until an image of herself came into her mind. “You came for me, you didn’t leave me.” Ginny’s heart filled with joy and relief. The thought came unbidden to her mind and she didn’t try to stop it. “I love you Harry, I will never leave you. Please come back. Come home to me.”

Nearly thirty minutes had passed and Madam Pomfrey was starting to look worried. She glanced anxiously at Madam Tosh now and then, who was still in the trance concentrating on her mother. Bill took Ginny’s hand; she was cold and limp. “Come back Ginny. Come back now.” Mrs. Weasley came over to Ginny’s bed and put her hand on Ginny’s forehead. “Ginny, dear it is time to come home.” She sounded calm but her eyes belayed her fear. Hagrid reached a huge hand over to Harry. “Follow her back Harry, she needs to come home. Go with her Harry, she needs ya ter go with her.” Hagrid’s voice cracked with emotion. Madam Pomfrey was checking Harry’s pulse when she looked up at Professor Dumbledore “Everyone gather around they are coming back.”

They all crowded close to the beds and held on to each other. “Call to them" said Madam Pomfrey. Bill was whispering in Ginny’s ear “Come back, come home Ginny.” Hermione and Ron were both holding one of Harry’s hands. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were sitting on Ginny’s bed. “She feels a little warmer” said Bill “Ginny, can you hear me? Ginny wake up.” Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Harry seemed warmer too. “Harry wake up” said Ron. Both Harry and Ginny were beginning to breathe a little faster and Harry started to stir. Suddenly his eyes flew open. “Ginny” he croaked. He tried to look around but felt incredibly stiff and disoriented. “Harry!” Hermione said “It’s alright we are all here.” She turned to Bill “How is Ginny?” Bill was looking worried, Ginny hadn’t opened her eyes yet. “Ginny, wake up honey. Ginny!” Bill sounded frightened and Harry rolled over to get up but fell out of bed. “Harry!” Hermione gasped and tried to help Harry back to bed but he pushed her hands away and crawled over to Ginny pulling himself up and grabbed her shoulder. “Ginny! Come back!” Harry’s voice was strained and horse. “Ginny, please you promised.”

Harry was shaking madly but he kept clutching Ginny keeping himself up on his knees. Ginny’s eyes snapped open and she looked over at Harry. “Harry! It worked. Oh Harry you’re back!” she cried as she rolled over and hugged him. Harry was very weak and fell to the floor in a heap when she let go of him. Bill helped him back to bed and everyone was talking at once. Mrs. Weasley pulled Ginny into a tight embrace “You did it Ginny. He’s back and you’re ok.” Madam Pomfrey was checking Harry and Ginny over and Professor Dumbledore stepped over to Madam Tosh. She had come out of her trance and had her face in her hands.

“Are you alright?” Professor Dumbledore asked her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Madam Tosh looked up at him. She looked drained and pale. “I am fine” Madam Tosh wasn’t the only one looking shaken. “Why hasn’t she woken up?” Neville asked looking at the old woman still lying motionless on the bed. Everyone stopped talking and looked over at Mrs. Tosh. She was barely breathing and her face was completely white. Madam Pomfrey handed a glass of water that she had gotten for Harry to Hermione so she could help him drink and bustled over to examine Mrs. Tosh. She was cold to the touch but was still breathing and had a low but steady pulse. “The journey was difficult on her. She will sleep for some time, I will stay with her.” said Madam Tosh. She took a deep breath and stood up to go and examine Harry.

Harry was bewildered. Why was he in the hospital wing with all of these people around? He looked over at the old woman lying next to Ginny. She was a complete stranger to him but he felt very worried for her. He looked up into the face of Madam Tosh who looked terrible; like she hadn’t slept for days. “How are you feeling Harry?” she asked looking at him critically. Harry looked around him and said “Confused” His voice was raspy and his throat was soar. He wanted more water and reached for the glass Hermione was holding. His hands shook slightly as he took another drink. “What happened? Why am I here?” Madam Tosh looked at Professor Dumbledore and they both nodded. Harry looked up at Professor Dumbledore and had a strange feeling that something really bad had happened. “What do you remember Harry?” Dumbledore asked him. Harry sat back against the pillows that Hermione had propped him up with. “I was walking back to the common room from the library...” He closed his eyes and frowned. He shook his head “I don’t remember anything after that; just a dream.”

Madam Tosh took Harry’s shoulders and looked at him “What did you dream Harry?” Harry didn’t answer for a moment, he seemed to be gathering his thoughts, and then he said “Pain, and the Dark Mark, but it wasn’t up in the sky, it was close to me. Then I remember seeing an angel who said I was safe and that she wouldn’t leave me.” As Harry was recalling this memory he looked over at Ginny who had come and sat down next to him on his bed. “It was you! It wasn’t a dream? You said that to me?” Ginny’s face was recovering some of it’s color now and she said “Yes Harry.” Harry felt an odd tingling deep down in his stomach but was too confused to be able to properly identify it just then. “Then the pain wasn’t a dream either. I was hurt somehow.” This was a statement rather than a question. Ginny took his hand “It wasn’t a dream Harry.” Harry looked around at his friends “I… I don’t remember anything.” He sounded frightened.

Madam Tosh could feel his fear and said “Harry you were badly injured. It took a long time for your body to heal. You will remember when you are ready. Right now you need to rest; that goes for you too Ginny. I would like you to stay in the hospital wing just for tonight.” Mrs. Weasley looked at her daughter concerned and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders more tightly. Madam Tosh looked directly at Molly Weasley and said “I do not believe that Ginny has suffered any ill effects; this is merely a precaution. You may all visit for a few more minutes before Harry and Ginny go to bed. Professor Weasley, would you please join me in Madam Pomfrey’s office for a few minutes.” Bill looked up at her and said “Of course.” He kissed Ginny on the cheek and gave Harry’s shoulder a squeeze “It’s good to have you back.” then he followed Madam Pomfrey and Madam Tosh into the office.

“Hang on; did she just call him Professor Weasley?” Harry asked completely bewildered now. “That’s right Harry, so much has happened while you have been asleep.” Hermione said and Harry had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “How long was I asleep?” Professor Dumbledore stepped over to Harry’s bed and sat down in one of the chairs next to him. “Tomorrow is October first Harry. You have been asleep for twenty two days.” Harry just stared at his headmaster. He must have heard him wrong. “October? But, how… twenty two days?” Harry started breathing fast and he felt sick.

Hagrid said “Harry yer have been away but now yer back an that’s what’s important.” Harry looked up at Hagrid towering above everyone in the room. Trying to control the panic that was making his stomach turn in knots he said “Well what about Bill then?” Hagrid smiled broadly and said “Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny here’s who yer got ter thank fer that Harry. They got the DA started up again an its open ter the whole school. Bill is the professor fer the class.” Harry’s head was spinning. How could this be? He had missed the whole month of September, he had lost his memory, and Bill was a teacher at Hogwarts, what else has changed? Then he realized that he didn’t want to know. It was all too much to absorb at once.

[Alice I]

Chapter Ten - Part 2
The Journey Back

Bill took a seat and after closing the office door Madam Tosh said “I wonder if your remarkable classroom could be of assistance.” Bill looked puzzled. “I’m sorry I don’t follow you.”
“Harry will need to soak in a hot tub to relax his muscles after his physical therapy. It will be a while before he can even walk on his own and he is far too weak to walk to a tub room so I was wondering if your Room of Requirement might provide what Harry needs with a door leading to the Hospital ward.” Bill smiled brightly. “I don’t see why it shouldn’t work. That’s brilliant actually! I would never have thought of using the room that way.”

“Well I have been pondering this problem for a while now and it only occurred to me this evening to try and use the Room of Requirement. There is something else; Harry is a sixteen year old boy who will not want a woman, even his healer, to help him bathe. He can not bathe alone; it is too dangerous until he regains enough strength to be able to safely sit in a tub of water without falling over and drowning. Can we count on you to help us with this aspect of Harry’s recovery?”
“Of course I’ll help.” Bill noticed how drawn and tired she looked. “Madam Tosh if I may ask; how dangerous was this for your mother?”

“While my mother is a very powerful empath, at ninety three her body and heart would not have survived this journey if I had not kept them going while she was away looking for Harry. That is one reason why I insisted that Ginny go with her. Ginny is young and strong and has a vivacious spirit. She was a buoy for my mother in their journey and I truly believe that with out Ginny; Harry would not have followed my mother back. The risk to my mother’s life was too great to fail so I would only allow this if your parents and Ginny agreed to undertake this journey with full knowledge of the process and the results of failure.”

Bill was stunned. He had no idea that Mrs. Tosh could have died tonight, and would have if her daughter had not kept her body alive while she was asleep. He got up and crossed over to her and knelt down on one knee in front of her. He gently took her hand and kissed it on the palm then placed her hand over his heart and covered it with both of his hands. “On behalf of my family; I thank you and your mother for saving my sister and Harry. My family lives in your debt good lady and as long as I draw breath you have my fidelity.” Bill stood up gracefully and bowed low to both healers “Good night ladies.” Then he straightened up and silently left the office. Madam Tosh smiled after him. She was unfamiliar with the custom behind Bill’s formal declaration of indebtedness but she assumed that he had learned it abroad. I showed tremendous respect and she liked it; and Bill.

Madam Pomfrey said “His style is the same but his form has improved over the years.” Madam Tosh raised her eyebrows and looked over at Madam Pomfrey “So he has always been gallant and smooth?” Madam Pomfrey wore an expression of amused delight and replied “Oh yes, Bill Weasley could charm a Veela into submission. The girls loved him but his heart always belonged to adventure.” She sighed and said more sternly “He was a frequent patient during his school years.” Madam Tosh got wearily to her feet but added “I will have to keep my eye on young Professor Weasley. I want to clear the ward and get Ginny into bed clothes.” Madam Pomfrey was worried about Madam Tosh. She would never admit it aloud but the strain of keeping her mother alive during this had drained her enormously. “I’ll take care of Miss Weasley; you go check on your mum.” and Madam Tosh smiled gratefully at her colleague.

When the two healers entered the ward everyone was getting up and moving the chairs against the wall along the otherwise empty ward. “Miss Weasley come with me dear, we need to get you into bed clothes.” said Madam Pomfrey. Ginny kissed her parents and said goodnight to her brothers and friends then followed Madam Pomfrey as everyone else said their good buys to Harry. Madam Tosh was checking on her mother, whose breathing and heart rate were steady but slow. She was still very pale and cold so Madam Tosh put a couple more blankets on her then stood up and seemed to concentrate very hard. The bed that her mother was in and the bed Ginny had occupied lifted six inches off the floor and moved back to their original positions in the ward. Ginny and Madam Pomfrey had come back into the ward and as Ginny watched Madam Tosh move the beds around she asked “How do you do that without a wand or saying some kind of spell?” Madam Tosh smiled wearily “The strongest gift my mother bestowed upon me was telekinesis, the ability to move objects with my mind. I am not as powerful as she is of course but it does make furniture moving a bit easier.”

Ginny found herself constantly impressed with this healer and suddenly realized that she would miss seeing her regularly for now that Harry had awakened she imagined that Madam Tosh would be heading back to London. Ginny climbed into the bed next to Harry’s on the ward as Mrs. Tosh’s bed came to rest at the other end of the ward near the office window where Madam Tosh was erecting a screen around it. Madam Pomfrey checked Ginny and Harry one more time before she and Madam Tosh left the ward for the night.

After the healers had left Harry looked over at Ginny “Ginny?” She got up quietly and came over to sit on Harry’s bed. “You saved me didn’t you? I know you did I can feel it.” Ginny took Harry’s hand “When you woke up and I told you that I wouldn’t leave you I meant it Harry” Harry felt like the world had been turned upside down but Ginny seemed to be an anchor for him. He had no real memory of Ginny speaking to him; it was more like a feeling or a dream that he couldn’t quite remember. Without realizing that it had happened, Ginny had become extremely important to Harry but he didn’t fully understand what he was feeling and didn’t know how to tell her, so instead he asked “How can I thank you?” Ginny gave his hand a little squeeze and said “By regaining your strength and getting out of the hospital wing.” Harry smiled; Ginny was so straight forward it was refreshing. “Deal” he said. She bent down and kissed him on his cheek. “Goodnight Harry.” And they both slept peacefully undisturbed by dreams.

Ron and Hermione came to the hospital wing early the next morning to see Harry and Ginny. They were both awake and Ginny had changed into her school robes. “How are you feeling mate?” Ron asked Harry as he sat down on his bed. “I’m alright but I feel so weak.”

“That will last for a couple of days” said Madam Tosh who had just entered the ward. She came over to Harry’s bed and checked his pulse, breathing and temperature. “You have not used your muscles in nearly a month. You will need to work hard to regain your strength and agility. You will be very stiff for awhile. Ginny, Ron and Hermione have been working with you while you were asleep, moving your arms and legs to keep your circulation moving and your joints from freezing up. Now you will have to start exercising your muscles to get your full strength back. We will start small but understand that it will take time.”

Harry was starting to feel a little overwhelmed again. He tried to sit up on the edge of his bed and fell over on his side. Ron moved to help him but stopped when Madam Tosh put a hand on his arm to prevent him from helping. Harry pushed himself upright breathing hard. It took him a minute to find his balance but he did manage to right himself. “Walking will be as much of a struggle at first Harry, but with determination and hard work you will get there quickly.”
Harry looked down at himself. He examined his arms and wrists, then lifted his pajama top. His ribs were clearly visible again and he was still covered in yellowish green bruises. He lowered his shirt and sighed. “I’m skinny again.” He looked up at Madam Tosh “When will this end?” Professor Dumbledore had been quietly watching Harry struggle to sit up and examine himself. The anger he felt for Harry was very real and he stepped forward out of the shadows and said “It ends now Harry.” Everyone jumped except Madam Tosh who knew that the headmaster was there.

A sense of power radiated from Dumbledore like the heat from a blazing fire. Harry had seen and felt this power in his headmaster two years ago, when Dumbledore rescued him from Barty Crouch masquerading as Mad-Eye Moody. “While you are here at Hogwarts; this will never happen to you again. I will personally guarantee that.” Professor Dumbledore bent down in front of Harry and looking into his troubled green eyes said “Do you believe me Harry?” Harry did believe him. Professor Dumbledore had always made Harry feel calm and safe and he nodded mutely.

At that moment a large pure black owl soared into the ward and landed lightly on Madam Tosh’s shoulder. “Glenna it’s good to see you.” she said as she untied the note attached to the owl’s outstretched leg. Madam Pomfrey had entered the ward levitating a large tray of food. Professor Dumbledore said “Allow me.” and with a swipe of his wand the beds near Harry’s flew to the side walls and with another flick a table was conjured extending from the side of Harry’s bed where he was sitting out into the ward. Ron, Hermione and Ginny brought over chairs for everyone while Madam Pomfrey set out food. “I assumed that you would all be here this morning and had Winky fetch some breakfast for you.”

“Winky the house elf?” asked Hermione. Ron rolled his eyes thinking that Hermione was about to go off again about elf rights and S.P.E.W., but she nodded and remained silent. “Yes, the poor thing. When Mr. Crouch died she took it very hard. She truly loved the old fellow and the betrayal of young Mr. Crouch destroyed her. She has stayed here in the hospital wing with me lately and she does seem to be coming around a bit.” Madam Pomfrey’s eyes took on an almost maternal glow for a moment.

“I must leave for London at once, I have a baby to deliver but my mother has not awakened yet.” Madam Tosh said looking anxiously at the other end of the ward. Professor Dumbledore raised a hand “I will send Fawkes if she awakens in your absence.” She smiled warmly at him “Thank you. Harry, Madam Pomfrey will get you started with your rehabilitation but I will return as soon as I can.” Then to the surprise of Ron, Ginny and Hermione she turned into a great horned owl and flew off out of the ward door into the corridor followed by Glenna.

Ginny turned wide eyed to Madam Pomfrey “Is there anything that she can’t do?” she asked in awe. Madam Pomfrey smiled and said “Actually that woman couldn’t make a decent cup of tea if her life depended on it, and don’t get me started on her crumpets.” She then winked at Ginny as she set a bowl down in front of Harry. “This is beef broth Harry. You have not eaten in almost a month and your stomach will not tolerate solid food yet. We will start slowly. It will be broth and juice to start and we will see how you do.” Ron, Hermione and Ginny started serving themselves eggs and toast. Ron was looking intently at his sister. She had color in her face now and she looked alright but he had been very worried about her. Ginny looked up at him feeling his stare. “How are you?” Ron asked so seriously that Ginny had to smile “I am fine Ron. Nothing a good night’s sleep couldn’t mend.”

Professor Dumbledore had stepped aside and was speaking in quiet tone with Madam Pomfrey then he turned to face Harry “I look forward to seeing you up and around Harry.” He smiled at the others and left the ward. Madam Pomfrey went to the other end of the ward to check on Mrs. Tosh, disappearing behind the screen.
During breakfast Ron and Hermione filled Harry in on the DA course and how many people had signed up for it. They had only had three meetings since it started but felt that Bill was teaching them loads of really good defensive spells and counter jinxes. Ginny was quiet during the conversation; she seemed to be thinking of something else and didn’t respond when Ron asked her a question. Harry looked at her and said “What’s up Ginny?” She looked up at Harry then at Ron and Hermione.

“I have been thinking. Bill is teaching us great defense strategies for all sorts of magical attacks, but Harry has been attacked twice now without magic. We are all vulnerable against non-magical attack. We need to learn how to fight, not just with magic but with our hands and feet. Alex Kimm is a fifth year in Ravenclaw. He has a triple black belt in the martial arts; Karate I think, that’s a form of hand to hand combat.” Ron looked confused and Ginny said “Muggle fighting Ron, but not just fist fights. Alex can defend himself against any attacker even someone three times his size or even several attackers.” Ron scoffed at this. “Ron it’s true, no one can touch him if he doesn’t want them to and he can do it without magic! I want to ask him if he would be willing to teach others, maybe even during some of the DA classes. The point is no one can sneak up on Alex and I think we should all know how to do that.” Hermione who grew up in the muggle world knew all about martial arts and knew that Ginny was absolutely right. “You know Ginny that is a great idea but you will have to talk to Bill about it first.”

“Talk to me about what?” said a voice from behind Harry’s bed. All four of them looked around quickly at Bill coming through a door in the wall near the head of Harry’s bed that had not been there a minute before. Harry turned so quickly that he lost his balance and slipped down to the floor bumping the back of his head on the table. “Ouch” Bill moved quickly to the side of the bed to help Harry up saying “Harry are you alright?”

“Yeah, just a bit off balance” he said rubbing his head. “Where did that door come from? It wasn’t there before?” asked Harry. “I was trying something out for you.” They all looked puzzled. “That is the Room of Requirement. Madam Tosh wants you to have a soak later and this seemed like the best way to bring the tub to you.” Bill said with a grin. A soak sounded wonderful to Harry as he had obviously not bathed in almost a month and that thought made his skin itch.

“So what do you want to talk to me about?” said Bill pulling up a chair and helping himself to some left over toast. Ginny explained what she had in mind while Bill listened attentively. When she finished Bill looked at her for a minute then turned his gaze on Harry. He knew that Ginny wanted to prevent Harry from ever being beaten again and he agreed with that sentiment whole heartedly but this sort of non-magical attack is not what they would be facing when they found themselves fighting Death Eaters. As their teacher in Defensive Arts or as a General in Dumbledore’s Army, as some of the students had taken to calling him, his first responsibility was to arm all of his students with the skills they would need to fight Voldemort. He looked back at Ginny whom he loved more than life itself and could not deny her pleading eyes.

“Talk to Alex and see if he would be willing to stage a demonstration for next Thursday’s DA lesson. Ginny understand that I need to teach you how to fight Voldemort’s Death Eaters and I don’t know how much this Martial Art is going to help.” Bill turned and addressed Harry “What happened to you is terrible Harry, but the Death Eaters are not going to try and beat you up. They would be much more likely to use the Cruciatus curse on you. Frankly both are horrible and I don’t know which is worse, so let’s see what Alex can show us, but I will decide how much class time we devote to this approach.” He looked at Ginny “Fair enough?” Ginny smiled a giant smile and said “Fair enough.” She knew that if Alex did a demonstration her brother would be convinced.

Madam Pomfrey came from behind the screen with a grim expression and hurried into her office. “Who is behind the screen?” asked Harry. “Abigail Tosh, Madam Tosh’s mother” replied Ginny quietly. “She brought you back Harry.” Harry looked at Ginny “I thought you did that.” Ginny blushed and said “Mrs. Tosh is an empath and she took me with her into your mind to call you back. You didn’t know her and wouldn’t go with her unless I was there too. She is the one who was able to find you.” Then Harry remembered seeing the old woman last night. “You are awake and so am I but why is she still asleep?” Bill touched Harry’s hand. “Mrs. Tosh is very old and the journey into your mind to find you was long and difficult for her. She should be fine but it will take her longer to recover than it took Ginny.” Harry looked at the screen at the end of the ward full of concern for the woman who had apparently risked her life to save him. “Try not to worry Harry; Madam Tosh has taken very good care of her mother. She will be fine.” Ginny said.

Madam Pomfrey emerged from her office with a goblet in her hand and came straight over to Harry. She set the goblet down in front of him “You will want to drink all of this; you have a hard and busy morning ahead of you. Professor Weasley, Professor Dumbledore indicated that you were available to assist this morning?” Bill stood and bowed low with a flourish “Indeed lady I am at your complete disposal until noon.” He straightened up and winked at Harry. Madam Pomfrey was blushing slightly and said “Yes well please come with me to my office so that I can go over the exercises we will be putting Mr. Potter through.” and she turned on her heel and left for her office with Bill following closely behind her. By the time the office door closed behind them Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny were all stifling laughter and were still giggling over Ron’s imitation of Bill when a small creature with large bat like ears appeared at Harry’s side. Harry looked down into her large dark eyes and said “Hello Winky.” Winky looked much better than the last time they had all seen her.

She was wearing a clean blouse and a pink skirt. She also had on an identical hat and apron to Madam Pomfrey. “Is Harry Potter done with breakfast?” Harry smiled at her “Yes we are finished. How are you Winky?” Winky looked a little startled by the question but her ears perked up a little. “Winky is liking Hogwarts now young sirs and misses. Winky is having much work to do and is liking Mistress Poppy very much. Winky is very happy to see Harry Potter waking up.” Winky moved closer to Harry and whispered “Winky is very worried about Harry Potter. Winky is watching Harry Potter as he sleeps.” Harry looked a little startled then his expression softened and he said very quietly “Thanks Winky.”

If the color her cheeks turned could be called a blush for a house elf then Winky was blushing furiously and set about cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Ron, Ginny and Hermione had gotten up and Hermione was handing Ginny her school bag. They all said good buy to Harry and were leaving the ward when Bill and Madam Pomfrey came in from her office. With a swipe of her wand the table vanished and

Harry was sitting facing Madam Pomfrey and the now empty ward. Harry stood up and realized immediately that it was a mistake. His legs only held him up for a moment before crumpling under him. Both Madam Pomfrey and Bill reached out to catch him as soon as he stood up but he crashed to the floor painfully before either of them got to him. “That was not the way to begin” said Madam Pomfrey.
Bill and Madam Pomfrey each took Harry by the shoulders and lifted him back to the bed. “Why can't I walk?!” Harry said frantically. “For heavens sake, you are not paralyzed, you just haven't used your muscled in nearly a month.” Madam Pomfrey said crisply, then more softly “You need to start slowly. We will begin with simple movement. Raise your left leg into the air and hold it there for the count of three, then slowly lower it to the floor again.”

Harry did as she instructed and found that it was rather difficult to hold for the full three seconds. “Good now you will do that with each leg twenty times alternating legs and resting when you need to. Professor Weasley I will be back in a few minutes.” After several repetitions Harry was amazed at how tired he seemed. His legs felt like lead and his back and stomach muscles were sore and tired. At this point he didn’t want to sleep so much as just lay down for a few minutes but he had promised Ginny that he would get out of here as soon as possible and pushed on. After ten more minutes he actually felt a little better.

Madam Pomfrey had reentered the ward and was watching Harry with the last few repetitions and said “Well that doesn’t seem too bad. Professor if you would stand on Mr. Potter’s left I’ll take the right.” Harry looked a little startled as they each took one of his arms. “Alright up you get and she and Bill pulled Harry to his feet. Harry clutched at the hands holding him up but his legs held him up. Madam Pomfrey looked please and said “Ok let’s try a few steps.” Harry took a couple of tentative steps. His legs were wobbly and shaky and it took him nearly five minutes to walk the entire length of the ward. Bill and Madam Pomfrey were holding Harry’s hands more for his balance than supporting his weight. “Have a seat and rest for a minute before we head back.” said Madam Pomfrey.

By ten o’clock Harry had walked the length of the hospital wing six times and his legs were shaking badly. The rests that he took in between each length were getting longer and by the time he had finished his fifth length it took ten minutes for his overtaxed muscles to stop shaking. “Do you want to call it quits Harry?” Bill asked mildly concerned. Harry shook his head “No. One more length, I have to get back to the bed anyway.” He took a deep breath and stood once again. Twice on this final walk back to the other end of the ward Harry’s legs buckled under him but Bill and Madam Pomfrey kept him from falling until he could get his legs back underneath him. When he reached his bed Madam Pomfrey said “That will do for this morning.”

She turned to Bill and handed him a small vile with purple fluid in it that she had taken from one of her apron pockets. “Professor put this in his tub water. He should soak for at least twenty minutes. Now Mr. Potter when you are done soaking, Professor Weasley will have to help you to get out and get dressed. Your muscles will be completely relaxed and they won’t be much good to you until about one o’clock this afternoon. We will work on your upper body later.” Harry thought the sound of his muscles being completely relaxed was wonderful, but he wondered a little anxiously how long this rehabilitation was going to take.

He was completely amazed at how weak he felt and how difficult it had been for him to simply walk the length of the hospital ward. He privately decided that he would set some kind of speed record for this recovery. Ginny had saved him and he would keep his promise to her no matter how hard it was. Madam Pomfrey turned to Bill and said “Professor Weasley, I will leave Mr. Potter in your capable hands; and thank you for your assistance this morning.” Bill bowed low and said rather seriously “Madam; the pleasure was mine.” Harry turned his head and covered a laugh with a rather fake sounding cough. Madam Pomfrey left for her office but Harry could have sworn that she winked at Bill as she turned to leave.

“Well Harry, what do you think, one more stroll?” Harry took another deep breath and stood up again. He grabbed Bill’s arm to steady himself then took one wobbly step after another to the door that had appeared that morning near the head of his bed. When they got there Bill helped a very unsteady Harry over the threshold into a large chamber with an enormous tub sunk into the center of the room. There were steps leading down into the tub where in the center sat a chair with a high straight back and arm rests. The chair seemed to simply come up out of the bottom of the tub, as it was made of the same material. Harry looked at the steps and sighed. “Harry, have a seat” Bill said as he guided Harry to a comfortable chair next to the tub. Harry sat down still shaking. He had sweat running down the sides of his face and the back of his neck. Bill looked at the tub and decided that he would have to walk Harry down into the water. “Right then, you take a breather while the tub fills.”

Harry nodded and hung his head. His muscles were burning and twitching. He can’t remember ever feeling this physically tired. He wasn’t panting but he was breathing harder than a person should for just walking into a room and sitting down. He didn’t like feeling so weak had helpless, it made him nervous. As the tub filled Harry managed to get his shirt unbuttoned and off but Bill had to help him with the rest. Bill took off his cloths before he took Harry’s arms and they stood up. “You ready?” Harry nodded and they stepped down each of the five steps into the tub. This was far more difficult than simply walking on an even floor and Bill ended up supporting most of Harry’s weight as he descended the steps. When Harry got to the tub floor the water was up to his waist and the two steps he could have taken to the chair became four small steps.

Harry couldn’t believe how hard it was to move his tired legs through the water. When he reached the chair and sat down the water came up to his shoulders. He felt a little unsure of himself and took a firm grip on the hand rails of the chair. The warm water enveloping him felt wonderful and his muscles did indeed begin to relax a little, although his legs were still shaking a little bit.

Once Bill was satisfied that Harry was not going to fall over he walked to the side of the tub and got the small glass vile that Madam Pomfrey had given him. He opened the stopper and a strong but pleasant aroma of Heather and something else filled the air. When he poured the contents into the tub the water turned a deep shade of purple, then lightened as the potion spread through the water.

“This feels great.” Harry said sleepily and his head started to loll of to the side. “Stay awake Harry!” Bill said sharply making Harry jump. He didn’t want Harry to fall asleep and sinking under the surface. “Sorry” Harry said sheepishly. “Just a bit tired I guess. So tell me about the DA. What are you teaching? How did you end up teaching in the first place?” Bill had to be careful what he said. Madam Tosh and Professor Dumbledore had made it clear that Harry should be allowed to remember the attack on his own. Bill sat down on the steps in front of Harry.

“When you were hurt, Charlie, Mum, Dad and I came to school. Neville Longbottom was trying to get Ron and Hermione to start up the DA again, but as you were their teacher they had a problem. Somehow I got nominated to take your place and here I am. Professor Dumbledore hired me to teach Defensive Arts to the whole school as a course. There are no points or scores associated with this course and it is open to all the students. I’m teaching the students how to fight. I am essentially doing what you did on your own last year. Nearly every student in the school signed up so every evening there is a class.” Harry frowned “We started the DA because we didn’t have a proper Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and we needed to pass our O.W.L.s. But now that there is a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher…” Harry smirked and added “…or actually three of them, why do we still need the DA?”

“Harry; the DA doesn’t take the place of Defense Against the Dark Arts, rather it compliments it. There will be no tests other than the one where you may at some point in the future find yourself face to face with a Death Eater. The DA is a course designed specifically around defensive spells and curses, counter jinxes and other fighting skills depending on your grade level. I have been working with Remus and Mad Eye to put together a lesson plan for the different age groups and skill levels.”

Harry was impressed and surprised. He never would have dreamed that their defiance of Umbridge with the secret DA meetings would become a legitimate course at Hogwarts. Bill told Harry about some of the things that his year had been working on in the class and how well or poorly on the whole the students were doing. “Everyone from your DA class, Harry, has done a marvelous job and are miles ahead of even the seventh years that come on Friday evenings. You did a very good job with them Harry, you should be proud.” Harry smiled at this statement. He was proud of the DA members, especially Neville.

While Bill was talking Harry started to feel very tired. The heat of the water and the relaxing potion were working together on Harry so that he seemed to be hearing Bill through a haze. Harry heard another voice from far away. It was a woman’s voice “Come home Harry.” The voice said. Harry’s mind seemed sluggish, he knew that voice but he couldn’t place it at the moment. “Just lean forward Harry, you can come home to me.” The voice changed somehow. It was still a woman’s voice but underneath it there seemed to be another voice. A small voice in Harry’s mind cried “NO! Harry don’t listen.” But that small voice was so far away and it was hard to make out the words. “Come home Harry, come home to me.” With a shock Harry realized whose voice he was hearing “Mum?”
Bill looked up at Harry “What did you say Harry?” but Harry didn’t hear Bill speaking. His eyes were still open but unfocused. “Come home to me my son. Lean into the water to find me.” “Mum? I can’t see you, where are you?” Harry mumbled thickly. “Harry are you alright?” Bill asked a little concerned. Harry didn’t answer him; he just leaned forward and slipped under the water.

“Harry!” Bill shouted and crossed over to Harry as quickly as he could. He grabbed Harry by his hair and pulled him up out of the water sputtering and coughing. Bill was now supporting Harry under his arms and holding him upright out of the water. “Harry, breathe. Can you hear me Harry?” Harry blinked water out of his eyes still coughing and said “I must have fallen asleep.” Bill’s heart was pounding and he said “Well it has been about twenty minutes so let’s get you out of here. Can you stand up?” Harry tried to stand but the warmth of the water and the potion had relaxed his muscles so thoroughly that Bill had to help him to get up and hold him around the chest to keep him upright. When Harry tried to step up on the first of the shallow stairs leading out of the tub his legs buckled and Bill ended up picking him up and carrying him out of the tub. Bill got Harry dried off and into clean clothes before getting dressed himself.

Harry felt more alert now that he was out of the water and all of the aches from this morning’s exercises were completely gone. Bill turned to Harry and asked him how he was feeling and Harry said “Actually I feel pretty good now.” Bill helped him up and he wobbled a little but he did take more fluid steps and made it to the door and into the hospital wing much more easily than that same walk only half an hour ago.

Madam Tosh and her mother were sitting at a table that had been set up in the ward near the study area next to Harry’s bed. Harry and Bill also took seats at the table. “Well you are looking much better young man.” said Mrs. Tosh. Harry looked at her and said “Thank you ma’am, for everything.” She smiled and said “You are most welcome child.”

“Are you alright ma’am?” Harry asked the old woman realizing that she was the real guide that led him back to reality and consciousness. “I am quite well, thank you. The journey to find you was long and difficult but as I told your young lady, my daughter is the finest healer I have ever known and I had no fear that she would see all of us through our travels together.” Harry smiled slightly at the reference to 'his young lady' and he felt a warm sensation deep in his chest.
“How was your soak Harry?” Madam Tosh asked. Harry took a moment to answer as he savored the warmth he felt when thinking about Ginny. “I feel really good now. The morning was hard work, but the water and the potion Bill put in it were wonderful. Except for nearly drowning I’d say it was great!”

Madam Tosh looked up sharply at Bill. “Harry dosed off and slipped under the water for a second. The odd thing was his eyes were still open, and he was talking to someone, trying to find them.” Bill turned to Harry who was staring open mouthed at him “Harry it was just like when you were talking in your sleep your first night home at the Burrow, but you weren’t asleep before you came over all funny. I didn’t realize that you had fallen asleep because you never stopped looking at me while we were talking.” Harry felt the warmth drain from him as he tried to remember what had actually happened in the tub. He couldn’t quite remember the dream or what ever he had, it was just on the edge of his consciousness but he couldn’t seem to pull it to the front of his mind. When he thought about it trying to recall the details they drifted away like so much smoke. Finally he sighed and said “Well this kind of thing has happened before and I don’t think there is much we can do about it.” Madam Tosh was not so willing to let the subject drop however. “Professor what exactly did you hear Harry say?” Bill stopped and frowned in concentration. “He was mumbling but I know he said Mum. He was looking for her and said ‘Mum? I can’t see you, where are you?’ then he leaned forward and slipped under the water. I grabbed him and pulled him out.”
Harry had a tight knot in his stomach. He had been dreaming about his mother and he couldn’t remember it so maybe it had something to do with Voldemort.

Mrs. Tosh looked at him kindly as she got up slowly and made her way around the table until she was facing him. It seemed to Harry that movement was somewhat difficult for her just as it was for him right now and he felt a great swelling of empathy for her. She gently placed her hand on his forehead and closed her eyes. Harry felt a quiet calm wash over him and he heard the voice again. This old woman, this muggle, was extracting the memory of what had happened to Harry just like Professor Dumbledore did during occlumency training only she didn’t use a wand or a spell. It seemed to Harry for a moment that this frail old woman possessed as much power as Professor Dumbledore.

After hearing or remembering the woman’s voice as well as the small voice in his head Harry was shaking slightly. “He tried to kill me.” Harry said as all of the color drained from his face. Bill looked sharply at Harry then at the old woman who bowed her head in fatigue. “What? Who tried to kill you? What is going on?” Mrs. Tosh raised her head and she and Harry locked eyes for a minute. “You must be on your guard.” she said as they looked at each other “Listen to the right voice, you know the one.” Harry nodded and turned to Bill who was utterly perplexed by the unspoken communication that had obviously passed between Abigail and Harry.

Harry explained to Bill and Madam Tosh what had happened in the tub room, and how Voldemort wanted him to drown. “But if I was there this attempt would have failed anyway so why did he bother?” Bill said. Harry thought about it “When I am seeing Voldemort through our connection it isn’t always clear where he is or who is with him. Maybe he didn’t know you were with me.” Bill got up and was pacing the floor “Maybe he was testing you to see how difficult it would be to control you, to get you to do what he wants. Maybe it was not important that I was there to save you.” Harry looked stricken at this thought and Bill felt a little guilty bringing it up. “Look Harry, I’m not trying to scare you but this is a possibility that must be looked at. You are vulnerable to the Dark Lord right now and you have to be prepared for this kind of attack. In any case I will discuss this with Professor Dumbledore and I am sure he will want to start your occlumency training again right away.”

“How has your stomach felt today, Harry?” Madam Tosh asked him. It took Harry a moment to register the question as he was still lost in the implications of what had happened in the tub room this morning. “I haven’t been queasy or anything.” Madam Tosh looked pleased and said “That’s good. Winky is bringing up some lunch for you. It will still be broth, though a little thicker with soft vegetables in it. If you do alright with that then we can add a few crackers and maybe some rice for dinner.” The talk of food got Harry’s stomach rumbling and he realized that he was actually hungry. Almost in reply to Harry’s rumbling stomach Winky appeared levitating a huge tray laden with food and began setting the table for lunch. “By the way, was it a boy or a girl?” Bill asked while ladling beef stew in to a bowl and passing it to Mrs. Tosh. Madam Tosh smiled broadly “A beautiful bouncing baby girl.”

By the time Harry had finished the thick broth he was feeling very sleepy. Bill looked at him and said “You look like you could do with a nap, and I have to go and see Professor Dumbledore. Harry, if you are going to lie down clear your mind first and do your concentration exercises.” Harry smiled up at Bill and promised to do as he was told. “I’ll stop by tonight before class.” Bill turned to Madam Tosh and her mother and bowed low. “Good day to you ladies.” He stood up and disappeared through the door to the Room of Requirement and a moment later the door vanished.

Madam Pomfrey came back into the ward and started clearing the dishes to the tray and Harry got tentatively to his feet. His bed was five or six paces away and he was determined to get there with out help. It didn’t take him very long to traverse the distance and he felt terrific that no one had to come and catch him from falling. He sat down on the edge of the bed to rest for a moment. Madam Tosh walked over to his bed and looked at him closely. “That was very good Harry. With the kind of work you are putting into your rehabilitation you should be out of here and back to the tower by the end of the week. You do look tired so we will do your upper body work a bit later.” Harry nodded wearily but instead of lying down he began to picture a snowflake in his minds eye in minute detail.

[Alice I]

Chapter Eleven - Part 1
Voldemort’s Plan

Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville all came to see Harry that evening. Hermione brought stacks of parchments and notes that she had put together for him while he slept. Harry looked at the mountain of work he had to catch up on and felt a little panicky. He glanced down and noticed a parchment that Ron had been doodling on depicting a small ball with feathery wings. Suddenly Harry remembered that he was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

“Blimey! Quidditch, we were supposed to have tryouts, do we have a team, what’s going on with that?” Ron smiled and said “Don’t worry mate. We had tryouts, and we have a full team as well as one reserve player.” Ron sat down next to Hermione and told Harry all about the tryouts and the new first year twins.
Harry noticed something unusual about his friends as both Ron and Hermione seemed different somehow but he couldn’t quite place it.

He looked back at the stack of notes and sighed. I guess I had better get started on all of this.” He said in a very resigned and deflated voice. “Don’t worry Harry we’ll help you get caught up.” said Hermione cheerfully. Harry smiled back at her but it seemed hopeless to him even with their help. Much to Harry’s surprise as he read through the notes that Hermione had left for him, the material seemed strangely familiar as though he had learned it all at some point and had only forgotten. Over the course of the next three days Harry continued with his physical therapy making remarkable progress and in the evenings started getting caught up on his homework and studies.

On Thursday evening Harry was looking forward to the visit from his friends. They would be having dinner with him on the ward then they would all go to the DA class for sixth years where Alex Kimm would be demonstrating Martial Arts defense techniques in Karate. Harry was walking much better now and wanted to go back to the Gryffindor tower. He had had enough of the hospital wing to last him a lifetime and had finally convinced Madam Pomfrey to let him move back to the tower that evening after the DA class.

To make things easier for Harry and to placate Madam Pomfrey, Bill decided to use the door to the Room of Requirement for Harry in the hospital ward. Harry was pacing the ward when everyone arrived followed by Winky and Dobby. Harry stared open mouthed at Ron and Hermione as they walked into the ward for he had just realized what was different about them. For one thing they seemed more comfortable with each other than they ever had been and they were holding hands. “You two, You’re… you’re dating!” Harry said looking at them in mild shock. Ron smiled and Hermione blushed. “Took ya long enough to notice mate.” Ron said grinning. “How… when did you… You know it’s actually about time.” Harry was so happy for them both.

It had been pretty obvious for the last two years that they belonged together but they both seemed too stubborn to admit it. Dobby and Winky set up dinner for everyone and the meal was rather light and gay. “So Ginny; this Alex Kimm, who is going to help him with this demonstration?” Harry asked. Ron piped up “You mean who is supposed to be attacking him, you’ll never believe it.” Harry looked at Ron then back to Ginny. “Well the best way for Alex to show how he can defend himself would be to have his opponent be a lot bigger so I asked Stewart Creevey to help out.” Harry looked shocked for a minute.

Stewart Creevey was a very large boy and probably towered over Alex Kimm although Harry had no idea what Alex looked like. It might be a very interesting evening. After dinner they got up and entered the Room of Requirement through the door at the head of Harry’s bed to find Bill and a somewhat small boy talking quietly in the far corner of the room. A few minutes later Stewart Creevey came bounding into the room from the corridor and he walked immediately over to Harry and the others. “Hiya Harry! I am so glad to see you up and out of that hospital ward.” Stewart said “Er thanks Stewart.” Harry replied not anxious to engage the largest Creevey brother in conversation

“Colin and Dennis said that you were coming back to the tower tonight. That’s really good.” Alex called Stewart over and he turned to join Alex and Bill near the front of the class room. Harry, Neville, Ginny, Ron and Hermione found good seats and waited while the rest of the sixth years filed into the room and took seats. Many of them walked over to say hello to Harry before finding seats themselves. Professor Dumbledore as well as Mad Eye had also entered the classroom and took seats at the back. Once the room had settled down Bill stood up facing the class. “Tonight we are going to see a demonstration in Karate, as a way of protecting ourselves from non-magical attack. This is Alex Kimm a fourth year student who has a third degree black belt in Karate, as well as black belts in Judo and Tae Kwan Do.”

Alex was a rather small boy for his age with straight jet black hair and almond shaped deep liquid brown eyes and he was wearing a kind of white pajamas that many of the students did not recognize. Those who grew up in the muggle world recognized the garment as a do-gi or the training outfit worn by Karate students. He looked quite unimpressive standing in his do-gi next to Stewart Creevey who quite literally towered over him by four inches. Alex, however had a strong and commanding voice that carried easily through the crowded class room.

“Hello, I am here to give you a demonstration in self defense. What I must impress upon you is that size does not always matter when you are being attacked. There is no witch or wizard in this school who could physically harm me, without magic that is, except maybe for Hagrid.” There were quite a few mutterings at this statement but Alex didn’t mind at all. He had grown up in the muggle world and began training at the age of three. He had obtained his first black belt at age nine and often was underestimated by his larger opponents.

“The "kara" of karate means "to render oneself empty". Master Gichin Funakoshi, who is the Father of Japanese Karate, wrote, ‘The student of karate-do must render his mind empty of selfishness and wickedness in an effort to react appropriately toward anything he may encounter’. Karate's roots go back to the Shao Lin and other ancient fighting arts of China, where these physical training methods were needed to build the endurance and strength required to carry out the rigid discipline of their religion.
Karate utilizes all parts of the body, and increases strength, speed, stamina, coordination, reflexes, and balance. It is the ultimate art of unarmed self-defense.” Several of the students were whispering about some of the strange words that Alex had shot out at them but mostly people were interested in seeing a demonstration. Alex turned to Stewart and said “Stewart if you please, go ahead and attack me.”

Stewart had spoken with Alex in advance but seemed to want to hold back. He was easily two times larger than Alex and did not want to hurt him. He swung his fist out half heartedly at Alex who ducked the swing easily. “Now Stewart how can I demonstrate self defense if you are not going to actually attack me?” Alex said and Stewart lunged at Alex and tried to grab him by the arms but Alex easily blocked his advance and managed to grab hold of one of Stewarts outstretched arms and spun him around so that Alex now had his arm pinned behind his back. He gave a shove and pushed Stewart forward releasing him.

Bill was now going to assist and both he and Stewart came at Alex from either side. Stewart was trying to punch Alex in the chest while Bill tried to reach his arms to pin him down. Alex jumped lightly into the air and roundhouse kicked Stewart throwing him backward and as Alex rotated in the air he reached around grasping both of Bill outstretched arms. As Alex landed on the floor he continued the rotation of his body taking Bill off his feet where he landed heavily on the floor. Alex let go of Bill’s arms and stood in a crouched stance waiting for further attack. Neither Bill nor Stewart who was bleeding from his lip continued the attack though.

The whole room was staring fixedly at the front of the room for a moment then exploded in excited talking. “Wow did you see that jump?” “Are you alright Stewart?” “He took them both down in about a second.” “He moved so fast” “Can we learn how to do that?” Alex had stepped over to Stewart and was checking him over. “Are you alright?” he asked him. Stewart had gotten up and was wiping blood from his lip. “I’m ok, that was awesome!” he said excitedly. Bill had also gotten to his feet and was rubbing his shoulder. “Well that was quite a demonstration Alex. There may be some merit to this ‘Martial Art’ after all.”
Alex addressed the class again “What you saw was a culmination of many years of training. I am not saying that you will not be able to learn this but remember that I started training when I was three.” Some of the students wanted to see another demonstration and volunteered to attack Alex. After three more attempts to take Alex to the ground by as many as four attackers at once the class and Bill were convinced that this skill even if in a rudimentary form is one that should be taught at least to the sixth and seventh year students.

Dumbledore was quite impressed with the Karate demonstration but found the philosophy behind the training most interesting. Harry had been quiet through the whole demonstration although he felt that the skill Alex was demonstrating was an important skill to have. Alex was addressing the class again “What I am trying to convey with this demonstration is that no matter how large or how many opponents you are facing, with enough skill in the art of Karate you can defend yourself. Are there any questions?”

Harry raised his had into the air. “Yes Harry?” Alex said looking at him with Stewart still standing at his side. Harry took a deep breath “What you showed us tonight was really impressive, but how do you defend yourself when you are attacked without warning and have been hit so hard in the chest that you can’t breath?” Stewart took this to be a request for another demonstration and spun around with his fist and punched Alex with incredible force knocking him backward into the wall. Alex’s eyes opened wide and he was gasping for breath but when Stewart came at him and grabbed him around the neck Alex brought up his arms between Stewart’s and pushed them outward breaking his hold around his neck. Alex was still gasping when Stewart made to punch him in his ribs. Alex saw this coming and spun at the last moment and Stewart ended up hitting the wall instead and howled in pain as he cracked his knuckles on the stone. Alex was still sucking air as Stewart had punched him very hard and had completely knocked the wind out of him but he straightened up and looked at Harry and said “That…. is how… you…. defend against…. unexpected….. attack Harry.” Alex said between gasps of breath.

Harry was staring at Alex and Stewart, all the color had drained from his face for without realizing it Alex and Stewart had reenacted the beating Harry received from Dudley on his birthday over the summer. The obvious differences were that Alex was still standing and had only taken the first unexpected hit. Dumbledore was watching Harry closely and decided that it was time to call it a night. “Mr. Kimm that was quite a demonstration and we all thank you for generously giving your time to us.” He looked around at the participants who were bleeding from their mouths and noses and continued “I doubt whether Madam Pomfrey will approve however. If all those needing her attention would go through the door at the far end of the class room she can fix you up before you retire to your dormitories.”

The class filed out of the room talking excitedly and trying out some of the moves they had seen Alex perform while the injured stepped through the door that led to the hospital ward. Harry was still sitting in his seat when Professor Dumbledore walked over. “Harry, are you alright?” he said concerned as the color had not come back to Harry’s face. He looked up at Professor Dumbledore and nodded but he did not really want to talk to anyone right then and got up from his seat and headed for the door followed by Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville. Once they had gained the corridor Neville spoke up. “Harry is that what happened, I mean on your birthday?” Harry spun around and looked at Neville. “How did you know?”

Neville looked down his face red and Ron looked particularly uncomfortable. “Harry I told him. The night you were er… hurt. Neville has always stood by you; by us; Harry and well…” Harry interrupted Ron “It’s ok Ron, Neville that is what happened only I am not Alex Kimm and Dudley pretty much beat the snot out of me.” Neville looked up at Harry and said “I’m sorry Harry; I didn’t mean to make you feel worse.” Harry looked directly at Neville and then all of the others in turn “Look Neville, you didn’t make me feel worse, and Ron is right, you have always stood by me even when everyone thought I was crazy or a liar last year. I’m going back to the common room, I’m tired.”

He turned and headed for the staircase leading up to the tower without looking back. He wasn’t angry that Neville knew about the attack on his birthday but it bothered him that Ron hadn’t told him that he had spoken with Neville. Ron realized his mistake but didn’t want to talk to Harry until they were alone. The common room was very crowded as all of the sixth years were telling the rest of the house about Alex’s demonstration in vivid detail. Harry had no interest in listening to this so he headed straight to the stairs up to the boy’s dormitory. Ron spoke quietly with Hermione for a moment then he gave her a kiss on the cheek and followed Harry upstairs.

Harry had changed into pajamas by the time Ron arrived and was sitting by the window staring out at the tops of the trees in the forbidden forest. Ron came over and sat down next to him and said “Harry, I’m sorry. I should have told you that I talk to Neville about this. He was very worried about you when you got… er… hurt and I confided in him about Dudley. I forgot that I had told him or I would have said something to you when you woke up, honest Harry.” Harry wasn’t trying to ignore Ron but he just couldn’t think of anything to say to him. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much that Ron had told Neville.

Then Harry did think of something to say. “Did you tell anyone else?” Ron looked at Harry and said “No Harry, I didn’t tell anyone else and I know that Neville hasn’t said anything to anyone. I’m really sorry Harry, I shouldn’t have told him but it’s too late now. I’m really very sorry.” Ron got up to leave but stopped when Harry said “Ron, It’s ok that you told Neville. I just wasn’t expecting his question that’s all.” Ron looked relieved but vowed to himself to keep his big mouth shut in future. Harry climbed into bed although sleep didn’t come for quite awhile but he was spared having to listen to Neville apologizing as he had finally dropped off by the time the rest of his dorm mates came up to bed.

Harry was walking along the third floor corridor when suddenly his arms were pinned to his side from behind by someone much larger than him. At the same time a sack was thrown over his head and a cloth was roughly shoved into his mouth. He was being dragged to the side into the classroom next to the statue of the one eyed witch. He was thrown roughly to the floor but he reached up and got the sack off his head before he was grabbed from behind again and pulled to his feet.
There were two large people in front of him wearing Slytherin robes, but it was their faces that held Harry horror struck for both of them had the flat snake like face and red gleaming eyes of Lord Voldemort. The Voldemort on Harry’s left punched him in his face and then the Voldemort on his right began to strangle him. His scar exploded in pain and he tried to scream through the gag that was shoved into his mouth. The Voldemort on Harry’s left punched him hard and said in a high cold voice “You can not escape me Harry Potter” The Voldemort on his right kicked his knee shattering it and said “Not at home; Not at school” The pain was threatening to engulf Harry but he struggled madly and began to slip free from the grip of the person behind him. He glanced back and saw a third Voldemort with white blond hair. This Voldemort yanked Harry’s arms backward with such force that his right shoulder ripped out of its socket with a horrible popping sound Harry screamed in pain and fear. This Voldemort said “In the end, you will die slowly and painfully.”

Harry was rolling around in bed screaming and holding his hands over his forehead. Ron was trying to shake Harry awake. “Harry! Harry! Wake up!” Neville, Dean and Seamus were wakened by Harry’s shouts and began lighting lamps. Harry stopped shouting and backed away from Ron wildly flailing his arms and fell off the bed on the other side near the wall. Ron ran around the end of the bed and with one mighty jerk moved the heavy four poster to get at Harry. Harry was dazed and trying to get to his feet when Ron grabbed his shoulders. Harry instinctively hit Ron’s hands away and back up further from him until he hit the wall. “Get off! Get back.” Harry was looking around frantically for some way to escape, but the others had climbed up onto the bed and Ron was blocking the only other way out.

“Harry! It’s Ron. Are you awake? Harry?” Harry blinked and looked around then down at himself. He put his hands up to his face to feel for the bleeding but found none. “Harry are you ok?” asked Neville in a small voice. Harry looked at the floor then punched it with his fist. He was still breathing fast and he was staring at the floor as all of the memories that he had refused to face came flooding back into his mind. “Harry? Say something.” Ron was almost pleading. Harry looked up at Ron and saw how worried he was while Neville, Dean and Seamus had varying degrees of worry and fear in their eyes.

“I remember.” he said without looking up “I remember everything.” Harry’s voice sounded hollow even in his own ears as if he was speaking from far away. Ron reached out and put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, but he shrugged it away and moved out of Ron’s reach. He got up and said “I’m going down to the common room for a while. You all go back to bed.” Neville, Dean and Seamus got off Harry’s bed and backed away so he could get up over it. Harry climbed over his bed and started pushing it back into place when Ron grabbed the end posts and helped. “I’ll go with you Harry.” he said as he came around the end of the bed.
Harry was facing the door with his back to Ron and the others “No...” he said without turning. “I need some time Ron. We’ll talk tomorrow ok?” He was still facing the door and Ron suddenly realized that Harry didn’t want to turn around so Ron grabbed a robe and handed it around to him and said “The fires are probably out. You should take this.” Harry took the robe being careful not to touch Ron and said “Thanks” then left the dormitory closing the door quietly behind him.

Dean and Seamus had already gone back to bed but Neville was stood staring at the door for a long moment. “I wouldn’t want to remember either.” he said as he climbed into bed. Ron cast another worried look at the door before getting back into bed himself. He was thinking about what Neville had just said and how Harry had backed away from him when he tried to touch his shoulder.

Ron had to stop for a moment to remember what Harry looked like the night they had found him. Harry now remembers the attack and he had to admit that if he had suddenly remembered being beaten nearly to death he wouldn’t want anyone to touch him either. Ron knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before Harry remembered that night but he had not really realized the renewed trauma the resurfacing of this memory would naturally cause.

Harry went down the staircase to the common room and the fire had indeed gone out. He wrapped his robe around himself a little tighter as he reached the bottom of the stairs and saw something move in the far corner by the fireplace. “Dobby is that you?”

A small creature came out into the light of the only torch left burning. He was wearing a Weasley sweater with odd socks on and one of Hermione’s hats with his large ears sticking out of holes in the top. “Harry Potter sir. Come and sit down sir. I will light the fire for you. Dobby is so happy to see Harry Potter back in the tower. So long you were away. Dobby has been very worried about Harry Potter sir.” Harry smiled a little. Dobby was probably the only person that Harry wouldn’t mind being around right now. Dobby never tried to touch him and if Harry told him to go he probably would. So Harry took a seat and let Dobby make the fire. “Dobby when did you find out about me being attacked?” Dobby turned and fixed Harry with those big dark eyes. “Dobby finds out from Winky. She does better in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey than in the kitchens. She saw you brought in and came to tell me. We is going to the hospital wing to see… and Oh Harry Potter sir; Dobby was very afraid for Harry Potter. And you sleeps for so long sir. But your friends they come every day, they help you to move while you sleep. They talk to you and do their school work too. They reads you school notes and they are looking through books from the restricted section to find a way to help Harry Potter protect his mind from He Who Must Not Be Named.”

Harry didn’t know how to feel. Dobby had just told him more about the time he had lost than anyone else had and he wasn’t sure if he was grateful to Dobby or upset with his friends for not sharing any of this with him. “Dobby, what about Ginny? How often was she there?” Dobby smiled a very big smile. “She is always with you unless she is in her lessons or practicing quidditch. She never is leaving Harry Potter sir.” This did make Harry smile. “Dobby were you there when I woke up?” Dobby looked up at Harry and seemed worried about something. “I am not supposed to be in the hospital wing that night nor Winky sir.” Dobby started wringing his hands and Harry not wanting any out bursts said “Never mind Dobby.” Dobby stopped wringing his hands and looked very solemnly at Harry. “Miss Ginny is saving you Harry Potter sir. She became cold and lifeless like you were all those long weeks. She risked all for Harry Potter.” Dobby jumped up as though he were burned “I must go I have other things that need to be doing. Good night Harry Potter.” And with that he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Harry sat there staring at the flames were Dobby had just been standing. He knew that Ginny had somehow helped to bring him back from where ever he had gone but he had not realized how dangerous it had been for her. He felt a slight warm tingling deep in his stomach that went unnoticed as his thoughts turned inward remembering the attack. His memory of the actual attack was somewhat disjointed as he had a sack over his head and was disoriented. He tried to picture the pain he felt in the best sequence he could remember. Certain things stood out; such as when he was strangled, when his knee was broken, his shoulder being dislocated, his scar hurting and Voldemort’s voice. Everything else was a painful blur. He went over the specifics that he could remember carefully and then compared them to his dream and everything fit. He knew who had attacked him but he could not prove it.

The last thing that Harry wanted to do was sleep but it was four o’clock in the morning and there was no where he could go so he just sat watching the fire and waiting for dawn. He looked at his wrist watch after staring mesmerized by the dwindling flames and saw that it was quarter to six. He got up quietly and headed upstairs to the dormitory. Everyone was still asleep and he got dressed quickly and left the room closing the door silently behind him.

The sun was coming up by the time he came back down to the common room and headed for the portrait hole. As Harry walked along the castle corridors he found himself checking the corners around adjacent corridors and doors. He looked out the fourth floor corridor windows at the wide open spaces of the grounds and decided that outside was preferable to inside, but he did not make his way down to the front doors, instead he turned down the staircase that led him to Professor Dumbledore office. Once he found himself facing the Gargoyle that guarded the spiraling staircase to the headmaster’s office Harry sat down on the corridor floor opposite the statue to wait. He had only waited twenty five minutes when the gargoyle suddenly jumped aside and he stood up as Professor Dumbledore stepped down from the moving spiral staircase.

When he saw Harry standing there Professor Dumbledore’s brow creased in a frown as he saw Harry’s eyes. “Good morning Harry. Would you like to come up to my office?” Harry said “No sir. Could we go outside?” Professor Dumbledore nodded “Of course. It is a beautiful morning.” Professor Dumbledore allowed Harry to lead the way. Harry headed for the front doors of the castle and led his headmaster down the stone steps out onto the grounds. Dumbledore noticed that Harry seemed much more at ease when he left the castle and entered the grounds. They walked down to the bank of the lake and stared out at the rising sun over the top of the forbidden forest. Professor Dumbledore stopped just behind Harry and waited.

“I remember.” Harry said quietly. He stood facing the smooth surface of the lake for a few moments gathering his thoughts then turned to face Professor Dumbledore but could not read what was in those blue eyes. “I remember everything. I had a nightmare last night because I was dreaming about it. When Ron finally woke me up I realized that it had all come back.” Harry fell silent and turned to look out over the lake again. Professor Dumbledore put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, but he moved away out of Dumbledore’s reach. “I know who beat me up.” He said in a steely tone. Dumbledore’s eyes opened wide. “Did you see your attackers?”

“No sir they threw a sack over my head.” Harry told Professor Dumbledore everything he could remember about the attack itself then he told him of his dream. “The pieces all fit together. I know I was attacked by three people, one smaller and two larger. Malfoy has already threatened me. I know it was them but I can’t prove it.” Harry picked up a stone and hurtled it out into the smooth surface of the lake then watched the ripples growing. “Now that I can remember all I want to do is forget again. I thought I was going to die.” Harry turned back to face his headmaster. “I wanted to. I just wanted it to stop…” Harry paused and looked up at the sky “I think I still do. My mum and dad died trying to save me from Voldemort, Sirius too. Cedric died because he was with me. You lost your freedom last year to cover for me, and Ginny risked her sanity to bring me back. So many people have died or suffered because of their association with me.” Harry picked up another stone and hurled it as hard as he could into the lake.
“I don’t have a future; I don’t have my own life all I have is a destiny to fulfill! I hate it, I hate Voldemort, I wish I had never been born.”

Dumbledore looked at Harry for a moment. He was very concerned and planned on contacting Madam Tosh immediately to come and speak with Harry then he said “You have remembered because you are ready to cope with what has happened. Trust in yourself Harry and trust your friends. You are experiencing the emotional trauma of this attack for the first time. Your body’s wounds took time to heal; so too will these wounds. Give yourself time to heal, Madam Tosh can help you, your friends can help you.” Professor Dumbledore was suddenly struck by a memory of a similar conversation with Harry after the Triwizard Tournament. The night Voldemort came back when he told Harry that numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when he finally felt it. Harry was going through that delayed pain right now. Harry looked up into the morning sky again and said “I wish I were an animagus.” Dumbledore looked down at Harry and asked “What animal would you want to become Harry?” Harry answered immediately “A bird; something that can fly high above the clouds.”

“It sounds to me as though Gryffindor House needs its quidditch captain back in the air.” Harry looked at Professor Dumbledore. “As I myself am from Gryffindor I must admit to a certain favoritism during quidditch and you are a much better flyer than your father was.” Harry’s jaw dropped. This was the highest praise Harry had ever received in his life and he was stunned by it. The prospect of flying actually raised Harry’s spirits somewhat and it suddenly occurred to him that he wasn’t afraid to fly anymore, as a matter of fact he wanted to get up in the air away from everything as soon as possible.

It was seven thirty and the Great Hall would start filling with students for breakfast soon. They began to walk back to the castle together and Harry was quiet as he mulled over everything that his headmaster had said to him. A couple of times Harry got a flash of memory from the beating and his stomach wrenched in a knot. He wanted to bring his weight up, so that meant that he would have to force himself to eat then he began dreading the crowd in the Great Hall and eating porridge and people crowding around him.

Harry stopped walking and was breathing fast. He broke out in a cold sweat and his heart was pounding. He stood frozen looking up at the front doors to the entrance hall shaking visibly. Professor Dumbledore did not touch Harry but said “Harry take a deep breath. Allow your mind to empty of all thought by picturing your snowflake.” He spoke as though they were about to begin a lesson and Harry automatically obeyed the command. After a minute of breathing deeply and slowly Harry felt the tightness in his chest and stomach ease up. He opened his eyes and looked at Professor Dumbledore. Not knowing what to say about his sudden attack of nerves said “I guess I’ll have to practice more.”

Professor Dumbledore smiled. “If you put as much determination into that as you did regaining your strength you should have few problems. Lets go get some breakfast shall we?” He was smiling at Harry but watched him closely as he walked ahead of him up the stone steps to the castle. When Professor Dumbledore and Harry entered through the front doors into the entrance hall Ron, Hermione and Ginny were coming down the staircase and headed straight for Harry when they saw him. Dumbledore noticed that Harry backed up and moved so that he was slightly behind him. “Good morning Professor Dumbledore” said Hermione but she was looking at Harry. “Good morning Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and of course Miss Weasley”

“Have you had breakfast yet?” asked Ron awkwardly. Professor Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eye and said “Mr. Potter and I were just headed into the Great Hall.” He moved ahead of the group and led the way into the Hall. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione took seats at the Gryffindor table. Harry sat next to Ron but made sure there was enough space between them that they wouldn’t actually be touching. “Ron told us about last night. Are you alright Harry?” Hermione asked very concerned. Ginny was watching Harry closely and he was feeling uncomfortable as people started moving past him to seats at other tables or further along the Gryffindor table. “I’m alright.”

Then Harry made a decision “No I’m not. Look I have to trust you; you’re my friends.” Harry told them everything that he had told Professor Dumbledore. He also told them that crowds, corridors or anyone touching him made him very uncomfortable. As it was; the crowded corridors at lesson changes were not as bad as Harry thought because Ron and Hermione walked on either side of him and acted as shields from the press of bodies in the crowded hallways. Harry realized that Professor Dumbledore was right; he needed to trust in his friends. He had a bad moment when he entered the third floor corridor and realized where he was and stopped dead. Ron and Hermione had both taken two steps before they realized that Harry had stopped then they looked around at where they were. "Harry, you ok mate?" Ron asked. Harry was looking around at all of the shadows in the corridor. He was shaking slightly then Ron and Hermione came back and stood on either side of him. Harry took a deep breath and walked resolutely down the corridor moving rather quickly as they passed classroom next to the statue of the one eyed witch.

After lunch they made their way down to the dungeons for Friday’s double Potions with Professor Snape. Harry was dreading this lesson more than anything so far. It would be Harry's first encounter with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Anger and fear were warring with each other in his heart. Harry dragged his feet over lunch and they arrived as everyone was walking into the dungeon. Harry made straight for the empty table he, Ron and Hermione shared and took the seat furthest away from the rest of the class. Ron sat down next to him looking a little worried and casting hateful glances at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Professor Snape turned over the blackboard and said “You have just over one hour to prepare this antidote. Begin now.” He swept up and down the aisles slowing slightly as he past Harry.

Harry kept his head bent to his work and tried not to flinch when Snape passed by his seat but as he heard the swish of Snape’s cape and couldn't stop himself. He moved back toward Ron but didn't look up, then he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and continued copying down the ingredients list for the antidote. Snape looked down at him for a long moment before moving on. Harry remained so intent on his work that the lesson went by quickly. He never looked at the Slytherin table and did not over hear any of Malfoy’s remarks, though both Ron and Hermione were red faced and angry by the end of the lesson. To everyone’s surprise Snape gave Harry full marks for his antidote which was as good a potion preparation as Hermione’s. “You did finally seem to get it right Potter. I will now expect this level of competence from you and anything less will receive no marks.”

Harry did not know how to feel about this. He was extremely pleased that he had received full marks from Professor Snape, something that had never happened before, but to get no marks for anything less than a perfect potion was ridiculously unfair. Harry just looked at Snape unable to read anything in his black eyes before packing up his cauldron and turning to leave the dungeon.
“This isn’t fair. Snape can’t expect nothing less than perfection from a student. I mean Harry your antidote was great but to get no marks if you forget one ingredient or stir it too long or the wrong direction or what ever. I’m going to say something to Professor McGonagall.” Hermione was looking furious. Harry stopped and said “No you are not Hermione. This is between Snape and me. If he wants perfection then I’ll give it to him. I’ll play by his rules and beat him.” Harry had a fire in his eyes that frightened her a little. Ron was just staring at Harry and Hermione. “Blimey Harry, how are you going to get it perfect every time? I mean let’s face it, Potions may be one of Hermione’s strong points but it is defiantly not ours.” Hermione stepped forward careful not to touch Harry. “I’ll help him. Harry’s right he needs to beat Snape at his own game and Harry will learn Potions very well in the process.” Harry was already feeling better and they all started off for Transfiguration.

[Alice I]

Please give me some feed back now as I am starting to post chapters I am feeling less confident with.
The story is in a transitional phase where back story has been added hopefully seemlessly.

Thanks

Chapter Eleven - Part 2
Voldemort's Plan

As soon as the sixth year students left the dungeon Snape entered his office and pulled out the silver quill and snuff box and pulled a piece of parchment forward.

Harry Potter remembers the attack.
Quidditch practice has begun, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin in November
Dumbledore has hired two new teachers both teach defense,
one is a Weasley teaching Defensive Arts
but the students call themselves Dumbledore’s Army;
the other is a muggle who will be teaching self defense muggle style.
Dumbledore has an American wizard working with him,
trying to find the Death Eater responsible for the
three muggle deaths in August
I have heard a name; “Barnstodt”
I do not know if this is the American or someone else.

Snape folded up the parchment and placed it in the snuff box, then pointed his wand at the parchment and said “incendo”. The parchment burst into flame and burnt to ash. Snape closed the lid to the snuff box and slipped it back into his desk drawer.

Harry was starting to feel very tired having been up all night. He actually nodded off about half way through McGonagall’s lesson and Ron had to kick him in the foot to wake him up. Near the end of the lesson Harry nodded off again and it was Professor McGonagall’s voice that woke him “Mr. Potter!” Harry looked up quickly and took a moment to focus. “Please see me after class. Homework is an essay on The Transfiguration of Humans; Basic Essentials, twelve inches due Monday.” Everyone started packing up their books. “We’ll wait for you in the corridor Harry.” said Ron as he and Hermione headed for the door.

Harry trudged up to Professor McGonagall’s desk expecting to get chewed out for falling asleep in class and said “I’m sorry I fell asleep, I didn’t get too much sleep last night.” Professor McGonagall looked at Harry with a calm expression but her voice was as crisp as ever. “I am aware that you had trouble last night, and the nature of that trouble. I wanted to speak with you about how far behind you are. I would like to set up some tutoring sessions to bring you up to scratch in your Transfiguration. May I please see your schedule?” Harry pulled out his class schedule and handed it to her but pulled his hand back quickly. She noticed his quick movement and searched his eyes for a moment her expression unreadable. Then she looked at his schedule for a minute and said “You have one free hour every Tuesday afternoon. I will meet with you here during that time until you are caught up.” She handed the schedule back to Harry and looked at him now with an almost motherly expression and spoke softly.

“Harry, I am your Head of House and as such am always available to you. I just wanted to remind you of that. Your friends are waiting for you so you’d better get going.” Harry had never heard her use this quiet tone and she looked completely different at that very moment than he had ever seen her. Harry realized that he was seeing a side of Professor McGonagall that few people had probably ever seen and that made him feel privileged somehow. “Professor I... thank you.” he said quietly. For some reason he suddenly felt ashamed and his face turned red. He looked down and quickly left the room. She watched him go concern for him evident in her eyes.

Dinner that evening was pure torture for Harry. All of the Gryffindor students now knew that Harry could remember the attack so naturally word spread through the Great Hall very quickly. The noisy voices and stares were making Harry very uncomfortable. After ten minutes he told Ron and Hermione that he wasn't hungry and wanted to get back to the common room while it was still empty. He got up and left the Great Hall at a very fast walk and didn't breathe easier until he had left the crowd behind.

At the foot of the marble staircase he bent over panting and sweating. His hands were shaking but he remembered Professor Dumbledore's instructions this morning and forced himself to take deep breaths and tried to empty his mind of all thought using his concentration exercise. After a minute he had the feeling that someone was watching him and looked around the Entrance Hall. “I am here” called the familiar voice of Madam Tosh from half way up the staircase. “I am glad to see that you are practicing your occlumency training.” she said as she started down the steps. “It allowed you to sense that someone was watching you; a truly essential skill.” Harry was not sure if he was glad to see her. He realized why she was here and Professor Dumbledore had indicated this morning that he was going to contact her.

“Talk to her Harry.” Ginny said from the door leading into the Great Hall. Harry turned around and looked at her. “Please Harry; talk to her.” Harry nodded to Ginny who turned and went back into the Great Hall. Harry looked back to Madam Tosh and said “Do you want to take a walk?” Madam Tosh glanced at the oak front doors and smiled “I would love to Harry.”

They walked out into the grounds, the unseasonable warmth of the day was fading with the setting sun and there was a definite chill to the air. Harry and Madam Tosh walked in silence until they ended up near the edge of the lake. Harry was outwardly calmer being outside the confined spaces of the castle but his heart and mind were still in turmoil. He did not want to talk to Madam Tosh about the attack; he wanted it all to go away. “I know who did it.” Madam Tosh nodded slightly “I know” She made a move to touch Harry’s shoulder but he moved away from her.

“When someone touches you; you remember.” Harry nodded. “And you don’t want to remember.” He shook his head this time. “Harry you must face your memory; it is the only way to get past it.” Harry knew that she was right but he was so tired of everything. Suddenly anger flared up in him at the injustice of all that had happened. He knew that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had beat him up but he couldn’t prove it, Snape was demanding perfection from him in order to receive any marks for Potions, Lucius Malfoy was running loose and Voldemort had targeted him yet again for torment. He sank to his knees and pounded his fist into the ground. “I hate this, I hate my life, I hate Voldemort, I hate being Harry Potter!!” Harry pounded the soft earth with every statement venting his anger and frustration. He sat there on his knees panting until his anger subsided. “I don’t have a life you know. I only have a destiny to fulfill but I don’t know if I can.”

Madam Tosh sat down on the ground in front of Harry. “You can not wish away who you are Harry. You are the only person who has ever defied the Dark Lord and lived not once but four times and that is no accident. Harry; of all the souls that I have treated through the years, yours is the strongest and most resilient I have come across, save one.” Harry looked up at her “Who?” Madam Tosh looked into Harry’s green eyes, his mother’s eyes and replied “Lily Potter.” Harry’s eyes opened wide “You knew my mother?”

“I knew both of your parents Harry. I was their healer. Let me think; what is the muggle word?” She thought for a minute “I was your mother’s midwife.” Harry stared at her unbelieving. “Yes Harry; I delivered you and you have been a fighter from the moment you entered this world as was Lily. I see so much of her in you. You do have the strength to face your destiny; your mother gave you that strength.” Madam Tosh looked deep into Harry’s eyes searching them for something. After a few moments she said “When your mother died trying to save you and giving you protection from Voldemort, it is possible that she transferred more to you than just that protection.” Harry’s head was spinning. This healer had been there at his birth and had known his parents. What could his mother have transferred to him in her death? “I don’t understand what you are saying about my mum.”

“I have wondered from the time you came to St. Mungos if Voldemort really had killed Lily.” Harry’s head snapped up abruptly and he looked at Madam Tosh. “As I said; I see so much of her in you and I wonder if it is possible that she transferred her spirit; her soul if you will, to you in the moment that her body died. When I look into your eyes I see Lily. It may just be wishful thinking on my part, for Lily was a very close friend to me, but I have felt her in you. Your delivery was not easy for her and she nearly died when you were born. When she saw you for the first time however I felt a power surface in her unlike anything I had ever felt before or since; until I met you again. Both of your parents were remarkable people but your mother was the strongest and purest spirit I have ever known. Harry your heart is as true as hers, your spirit as pure so I know without even the remotest doubt that you will not only fulfill your destiny but find love and peace in your life that will last.”

Harry couldn’t believe what he had heard. The thought that his mother’s soul may actually resided inside of him was outrageous but he had seen and heard odder things in the six years he had been a part of the wizarding world. “I have given you an awful lot to think about Harry. I will be staying here at the castle throughout the weekend but I can see that you need some time to process all of this.” She reached out purposefully and held his shoulders and he didn’t flinch away from her. She looked deeply into his eyes and said “Trust yourself Harry, trust your friends.” Harry looked at her and remembered that Professor Dumbledore had said the very same things to him that morning.

He got up and headed back to the castle with Madam Tosh. Once they gained the entrance hall, Harry went up the marble staircase to his dormitory and Madam Tosh turned left into the Great Hall and headed straight for the head table and Professor Dumbledore. Ginny had seen Madam Tosh enter the Great Hall and she got up and left for the common room assuming that Harry had gone there. When she got there she found him sitting by himself in one of the big squashy armchairs by the fire. He looked lost in thought and she just sat down near him and waited. Harry’s mind was spinning with all of the things that Madam Tosh had said. He was aware that Ginny had come into the common room and took a seat near by and before he realized what he was even doing he started talking.

“She knew my parents; she was their healer... She delivered me.” Harry looked up at Ginny who looked quite surprised by this information. “Madam Tosh was your mum’s healer?” Harry nodded and said “Apparently she was very good friends with my mum. She thinks that maybe my mum didn’t really die when Voldemort killed her.” Ginny looked completely confused. “She reckons that when my mum died trying to save me that she transferred her soul to me along with the protection I got that kept Voldemort from being able to kill me.”

Ginny raised her eyebrows. “Do you believe that Harry?” Harry looked back into the fire. “I don’t know Ginny. Madam Tosh said it might just be wishful thinking on her part because she was very good friends with my mum, but she says she sees her in my eyes. I wish I had Sirius to talk to.” Harry looked over at Ginny and realized that what he had just said was very tactless. “Ginny it’s not that I don’t want to talk to you it’s just that Sirius knew me and my parents. I wish I could ask him if he sees my mum in me too. I know he sees my dad but I look just like him. Sirius never really talked much about my mum.”

Harry looked back at the fire thinking his own thoughts for a while. Ginny didn’t talk to him because she had the feeling that he just wanted to have the company but not answer any questions or hear someone else telling him what he should think or feel or do, so she just sat there quietly with him watching the fire too. After a while Harry said “I’m not afraid to fly anymore.” Harry turned and looked at Ginny “Let’s go out to the quidditch field. No one has booked the pitch for tonight.” Ginny sat up and said “You want to practice?” Harry looked directly into her eyes “I want to fly.”

Ginny smiled a bright smile and said “I’ll get my cloak and broom.” She got up and headed for the girls staircase as Harry headed up to his own dormitory to get his cloak and his Firebolt. They didn’t talk while they walked out of the castle with their brooms slung over their shoulders nor all the way down to the quidditch field. The sun was low in the sky and they only had about an hour left of daylight. The closer they came to the stadium the faster Harry’s pace and Ginny kept right up with him. They were running and laughing by the time they entered the stadium and they both jumped on their brooms and kicked off hard into the air.

Ginny didn’t rise as fast as Harry did on the Firebolt but the cleansweep that she was using was a good broom. Harry felt that marvelous sensation that he felt the first time he flew. All his care stayed on the ground as he soared up into the setting sun. Harry flew up at least a hundred feet before turning and diving steeply. Ginny felt a thrill of fear for him but it was replaced with joy when she saw the look on his face as he came closer. The fear that he had been struggling with over the summer was gone and he looked wonderfully happy; laughing as he abruptly swung skyward again in a perfect spiral. Ginny had stopped flying and was hovering and watching while he dived. He flew up to her with the biggest smile that she had seen on him in too long. “Harry! That was wonderful!” she reached over and hugged him with her free arm and whispered in his ear “Your back.”

Then she pulled away from him and took off toward the other end of the pitch and hollered back “Hey, catch me if you can!” and she sped off. Harry wasted only a moment on surprise and was off after her in a flash. Ginny swooped and spiraled and was doing an unbelievable job keeping ahead of him. Harry found himself really very impressed with Ginny’s flying skills and was thoroughly enjoying the chase. He could have caught her quickly as the Cleansweep is no match for his Firebolt but chasing after her making her push herself to her limits to stay ahead was more fun and a small part of his mind was evaluating her as a player on his team.

After a good fifteen minutes of this he flew up beside her and tapped her shoulder then said “Your turn” as he sped off, this time with her in chase. Harry hadn’t felt this free and happy in the air since flying away from Privet Drive over a year ago. Harry and Ginny continued their spirited game of cat and mouse until the sun was blazing across the sky in a magnificent sun set. Panting and laughing they both stopped to enjoy the grand view. Harry was starting to feel a little tired and looked back at Ginny. He was going to suggest that they head back but stopped and just stared at her for a moment.

She was smiling and breathing hard from their spirited flight. Her hair was blowing in the light breeze and the vivid golds and reds of the sunset were shining on her face lighting it up even more. As he hovered there looking at Ginny a thestral shot up through the canopy of the forbidden forest rising up over the tree tops. With the brightness of the sunset shining toward Ginny and the thestral rising in the distance behind her there was a moment when the great winged horse was silhouetted in the sunset with Ginny making them both look as one. It was only an optical illusion but Harry felt a chill run down his spine.

Seeing Ginny and the thestral together was extremely unsettling to him and the smile vanished from his face. Ginny noticed this and flew over to him “Harry what’s wrong?” Harry shook his head and pointed toward the forest. “Thestrals.” Ginny quickly looked around at the forest but obviously could not see any thestral for only people who have seen someone die can see the beasts. He smiled again but with out the blithe air he had when they were flying and said “Maybe we’d better start back. The sun’ll be down in a few minutes.” Ginny sighed “Yeah, we should get back, but Harry…” Harry looked at her and she said “I had a lot of fun.” Harry smiled more naturally now and said “Yeah, me too. Let’s leave the brooms in the shed since we have a practice tomorrow.” Ginny nodded and they flew down to the broom shed by the locker rooms. The unsettling feeling Harry had gotten seeing the thestral and Ginny churned away inside of him as they walked through the grounds back to the castle.

As they neared the castle, Ginny cast a few sideways glances at Harry to see if he was looking nervous. The hallways were bound to be less crowded in the evenings but he still was having trouble in confined spaces. Much to her relief the flying seemed to have relaxed him enough that he seemed relatively calm all the way up to Gryffindor tower even when they past the large group of seventh years making their way to the Room of Requirement for their DA class. When they entered the common room Ron and Hermione were over in the far corner by the fire and looked up when Harry and Ginny approached. Ron looked concerned and said “How are you feeling mate?”

Harry dropped down into a squashy armchair by the fire and said “I’m ok, just needed some air. Look you guys just keep talking, I’m gonna practice.” Then Harry laid his head back on the chair and tried to picture a snowflake in minute detail. Ron, Hermione and Ginny all understood that Harry wanted to practice his occlumency and Hermione was very pleased and a bit relieved that Harry was practicing. Having remembered the beating was bound to make him a lot more susceptible to Voldemort’s attacks because of the strong emotions associated with it. Harry did try to clear his mind but wasn’t concentrating very hard. He felt drained now; as if all the flying had emptied him of any reserve energy he may have had so while the evening bustle of the common room flitted around him Harry sat there thinking about nothing in particular in a kind of half dazed stupor.

After a while he sat forward and looked around. He had some homework to finish but he really didn’t feel like doing it and decided instead to go up to bed. He said good night to the others and headed for the staircase leading to the boy’s dormitory. Harry did sit quietly and clear his mind before lying down and while he slept fitfully having odd surreal dreams of thestrals and angels flying together in the falling snow where each snowflake was clearly visible in minute detail hundreds of miles away Lord Voldemort was planning again.

Lucius Malfoy a tall sleek looking wizard stood silently next to a grand fireplace in a large dark room. The light from the fire was shimmering on his long white blonde hair. His long black robes were impeccably neat and pressed. His face was composed and calm though he had a trickle of sweat running down the back of his neck under his hair. He knew that Draco and his friends had been too zealous in their ministrations with Potter. He was supposed to be made to suffer not nearly die.

Now that Potter had regained consciousness Lucius was fervently hoping that his master’s displeasure would be somewhat dissuaded. He was very careful to clear his mind of all thought for he knew that his master would watch him carefully for signs of weakness, doubt or guilt.

The door at the other end of the room opened soundlessly and Voldemort glided into the room stopping just outside the circle of firelight. He moved around the circle never taking his eyes off Malfoy who immediately bowed low and said “Master, I am here to serve you.” Malfoy remained bent over while Voldemort circled the firelight again. Then he moved up to his servant silently and whispered “Stand up Lucius my friend.” Malfoy straightened up, relief rushing through him. Voldemort turned away from him and moved to the chair to the left of the hearth. “Sit here Lucius” Malfoy obeyed and sat in the large wing backed chair.

“That fateful day when the prophecy of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort was forever denied to me and I possessed Harry Potter for a brief time, the means to Potter’s end were made clear to me Lucius. I worked endlessly throughout the summer to beat him down and break his spirit, but carefully. He had to believe that he was falling apart all on his own. Manipulating Potter’s dreams was delicate work, for he could not be allowed to sense my hand in his own torment. I was getting close to breaking him when something happened that was almost more than I could have hoped for. That muggle cousin of his beat him up. Ahh Lucius my friend, the pain and fear that Potter experienced were exquisite. It allowed for a much stronger connection to him and offered me a new method of attack as well as manipulation.” Voldemort crossed to the fireplace and stared into the flames “Dumbledore was right about one thing; there are worse fates than death. I will kill Harry Potter Lucius, but not before I break him.”

“I knew that once Potter arrived at school I would loose some of my control. He would begin occlumency training again and my connection to him would begin to falter. Indeed Dumbledore must have suspected something for he began the training with him before school even started. The answer was simple. Potter must face the same fear he experienced when his cousin beat him. Deprived of sight, his hands and the ability to call for help drove fear strongly into Potter. The pain of the beating intensified his fear so that my connection to him was so strong that I was able to plant thoughts and knowledge that I will call upon when the time is right. I was able to verify that a Death Eater was still loyal to me with my own eyes.” Malfoy stirred “Who do you speak of my Lord?”

“Someone I had feared was lost to me, but that is no concern of yours.” Voldemort who had been silently moving… almost gliding around the firelight stopped and turned to face Malfoy. “Mere hours later, however, I lost all connection to Potter. He was no longer where I could reach him. I feared he had died yet only I, Lord Voldemort, will kill Harry Potter.” Voldemort stared hard at Malfoy, his cruel red eyes boring into his servant’s very heart. Malfoy moved slightly in his chair but remained calm in appearance. Voldemort broke his stare and continued “Fate smiled on Lord Voldemort yet again, Potter had not died as I had feared but had entered a deep protective trance.” Lucius shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “For nearly a month Potter had time to recover. He was untouchable. My plans for him seemed thwarted. Your failure Lucius; nearly cost me all my careful planning and work.”

Lucius Malfoy was beginning to sweat more and his placid features faltered ever so slightly. Voldemort paced to the fire and back to Malfoy. “The day finally came that Harry Potter woke up from his sleep but he remembered nothing of the attack on him and I could not bring those memories forward. He had walled off that memory so that I could not get to it. I found myself having to start over. Imagine my frustration Lucius.”
“Master I am sorry. Crabbe and Goyle did not realize that they had gone too far. Potter is rather weak and…”
“Silence! All is not lost my friend for Potter has dredged up the memory for himself. I can now work with him again. You have an opportunity to repay your debt to me Lucius and make up for your failure with Potter.”
“As you command so shall I serve, Master.” Lucius said bowing his head.

“As I said; I will kill Potter but not before I utterly destroy him. I will twist him. I will turn him against his own precious values. I will make Harry Potter kill in cold blood in front of Albus Dumbledore, the Minister of Magic and the entire school. He will go to Azkaban Prison where I will torment him into insanity, then kill him at my leisure.” Malfoy opened his mouth then closed it. Shock registered on his face, the first obvious sign to a break in his placid facade. “How will you accomplish this My Lord?”
“I will handle the details, you have one job only; you are to teach Draco the killing curse.”
“My Lord I do not understand.”
“Don’t you my old friend? How can I make Potter kill?… Ask yourself this; what would drive someone who is good to commit murder?” Lucius was starting to feel a knot of fear twist inside of him but he answered. “Revenge”

“Ahh Lucius you do see my plan.” All the color drained from Malfoy’s face and he said “My Lord; Draco is my only son, my only child.” Voldemort ignored this.
Lucius Malfoy now white as a ghost pleaded. “My Lord… you would have me sacrifice... My Lord please.” Voldemort rounded on Malfoy who stopped speaking abruptly. “You owe me thirteen years of service and you have failed me once already. You will do as Lord Voldemort commands.” Voldemort’s red eyes bored into Malfoy’s. “As you command so shall I serve, Master.” Malfoy said in a barely audible voice. “You will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams Lucius. Your debt will be repaid and you will take your place at my right side. Is that not where you have always seen yourself my old friend?” Lucius Malfoy bowed to Voldemort then got up and left the room silently while Voldemort watched him.

[Meg Boyd]

I haven't read the entire story yet, but from what I have read I think it is super! I have cleaned up this thread on your request and have retitled it for you. If there is anything else you would like done, please let me know! Keep up the good work,

Meg

[Alice I]

Feedback Please



Chapter Twelve - Part 1
Gryffindor’s Team

Harry woke up early the next morning and had to stop himself moaning when he tried to get up. Every muscle in his body it seemed was screaming in protest to his moving around. He couldn’t believe how soar he was. ‘After nearly a month flat on your back how did you expect to feel after flying around like that last night?’ Harry thought to himself. Well, he knew that there was only one thing for it; and that was to get up and keep moving. He got up and dressed quietly, then grabbed his school bag and headed down to the common room. It would be at least another hour before the house started waking up so he had time to plow through as much of his homework as he could. He would be spending nearly the whole day out on the field as Ron had booked it for the entire day at the beginning of the season.

At first this did not sit well with the other teams, but Professor McGonagall had overruled all objections when she pointed out that with Gryffindor’s team captain out of commission indefinitely, short one player and only one other player with a full year’s experience that the Gryffindor team needed to spend the entire day practicing to have any kind of chance for the cup. This quelled the objections of the other teams except for Slytherin who’s new captain this year was Malfoy. When it was announced that today was a Hogsmead visiting day any lingering undertone of griping had died away.

Harry finished his essay on Human Transfiguration for Professor McGonagall and turned to his Defense homework. Tonks had given them an essay on conjuring spells, and he still had to finish his back Potions work before he could start on the new essay Snape had ordered due in a fortnight but that he would do later with Hermione. By the time that people started to come down from the dormitories Harry had nearly finished his essay for Tonks. Ron came over and sat down near Harry a few minutes later as he was packing everything back into his school bag. “How are you feeling today?” Ron asked him in what he hoped was an off hand manner. “I’m actually pretty soar. I went out flying last night and I guess I’m a bit out of shape.”

Ron smiled “Yeah, Ginny told us. So I guess you solved it then, the flying thing?” Harry smiled and said “I don’t know if I solved it or not. All I know is it’s not a problem anymore.” Ron was very relieved to hear this but he couldn’t understand why Harry had been afraid to fly in the first place. He decided that he was going to talk to Hermione about it. Something seemed wrong to him about this whole thing and Hermione would know what to do. “Hermione and I are going into Hogsmead, you want anything?” Harry smiled and said “Hang on ok?” and he ran rather stiffly back up stairs. When he came back down a few minutes later he handed Ron a pile of coins and said “Yeah, were going to work the new chasers hard and the rest of you this afternoon. Pick up some sweets and butterbeer for everyone later.” Ron pocketed the coins and said “Wish you were coming.”

Harry leaned closer so that no one else would hear him say “I don’t really want to be around all the crowds.” Then he said in a more conversational tone “The quidditch pitch is better, and don’t be late coming back I want the rest of you on the field by two o’clock.” Ron stood ridged and saluted Harry “Right you are captian!” then he laughed “Don’t worry mate we’ll be there.”

Just then Ginny and Hermione entered the common room from the girls dormitories and Hermione came over and stood very close to Ron but looked over to Harry “You look better today.” Harry smiled at her “Yeah I’m fine.”
“You don’t mind us going into Hogsmead today do you Harry?” Hermione asked “Not at all. Ginny and I are going to spend the morning working with Gem and Ryan; I really want to see what these kids have got.” They all headed for the portrait hole to go down to breakfast and Ron said “Their flying isn’t bad, I’d be more worried they’d drop the quaffle. Gem is kind of small and she had some trouble holding on to it when we tried her and Ryan out but her size is a real asset in her speed and agility. I think Ryan will be better with handling the quaffle but he did seem a little unwieldy on his broom.” Ron fell in beside Harry telling him every detail of the twin’s tryouts while Ginny and Hermione followed.

Harry was listening to Ron so intently that he did not see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle standing near the foot of the marble staircase. As Ron and Harry reached the bottom of the stairs the three of them jumped out in front of Harry and all yelled “Boo!” Harry was so startled he fell backward into Ginny who was two steps behind and above Harry and she fell backward into Neville who had just caught up with the others. Malfoy Crabbe and Goyle were roaring with laughter as were Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls. Ron was red with fury and pulled out his wand but everything came to an abrupt halt at the sound of Professor Dumbledore voice alight with anger “HOLD!”

Harry, Ginny and Neville had regained their feet and Ron lowered his wand. Hermione was looking between Professor Dumbledore and Ron then to Malfoy and his friends. Malfoy looked startled and a little unsure of himself but he did not have his wand drawn as Ron did. Professor Dumbledore who was standing at the first landing of the marble staircase said in a clear ringing voice “Everyone proceed down to breakfast except for you five he said pointing at Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Harry and Ron. Dumbledore looked very angry and the stairway and entrance hall cleared rather quickly.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had moved away from the stairs and were standing halfway between the stairs and the oak front doors. Ron and Harry stayed at the foot of the stairs off to the side to let the other students pass. Dumbledore made his way down the stairs and stopped to look at Harry. He was pale and shaking, but only slightly. Dumbledore could tell that Harry’s heart was racing because a vein in his neck was throbbing madly. “Are you alright Harry?” he asked quietly. Harry nodded. “Go get some breakfast.” He said and nodded towards the Great Hall. Harry glanced at Ron who was not holding his wand ready but was still standing there with it in his hand. Harry could do nothing else but leave Ron there to face what ever consequence there were for drawing his wand on Malfoy right in front of the headmaster.

Professor Dumbledore turned to Ron and said “Mr. Weasley, you drew your wand to use it against another student. I will have to take five points from Gryffindor. As a prefect in this school I expected better from you.” Ron’s face grew bright red and he looked stricken. “I’m sorry sir.” he croaked. Professor Dumbledore regarded him then said “Very well” but had a twinkle of humor in his eyes. When he turned and faced Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle however there was no trace of humor in his blue eyes. He reached into his pocket and drew out his own wand quite slowly. Malfoy’s face went pale as Professor Dumbledore pointed his wand at his chest and said “Accio!” The Prefect badge affixed there ripped from his robes leaving a tear and zoomed into Professor Dumbledore’s outstretched hand. “Be careful Mr. Malfoy, be very careful. Fifty points each from Slytherin and detention starting immediately after breakfast. You three will report to Mr. Filtch at nine o’clock.” Then he turned on his heel and walked into the Great Hall.

Harry went straight to the Gryffindor table and slid in next to Ginny and Hermione. His heart was still racing and he felt shaken and vulnerable. When they had jumped out at him Harry felt for the briefest moment that he was back in the classroom on third floor corridor and his heart filled with a cold fear and his scar had begun prickling furiously. His hands were shaking when he reached for the coffee and he put them down on the table to still them. Ginny was worried and asked “Harry are you alright?” The last thing Harry wanted was more attention and somehow the look in Ginny’s eyes; was it pity?; made him feel determined not to let any fear show. “Yeah Ginny I’m fine. Malfoy is such a git. I was just startled that’s all; how about you and Neville?” Harry said and looked over at Neville. “I’m fine Harry” he said quietly. “So am I.” added Ginny. “Professor Dumbledore looked really angry. I hope he does something awful to those three.” Neville said in an unusually forceful voice.

Hermione was watching the door to the Great Hall but said “Oh I’m sure that Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are not going to come off well in this. I told you on the train Neville that they will get theirs and I think they just did, look” she said and pointed to Professor Dumbledore who had just entered the Great Hall and he looked frightfully angry. Mr. Filtch the caretaker was standing over near the staff table and Professor Dumbledore walked straight to him and spoke quickly and quietly. Filtch looked as though Christmas had come early and hurried away with a look of sheer glee on his face. Neville, Hermione and Ginny were all smiling but Harry said “I just hope that what ever Dumbledore told Filtch doesn’t include Ron.”
They all turned and looked at him for a second then looked anxiously back at the doors. Ron came through a moment later and spotted them. He came straight over and started speaking quickly. “Boy was Dumbledore angry. I hope he never gets that mad at me.”

“So you didn’t get in trouble for pulling out your wand?” Hermione asked a bit relieved. “Well, yeah I did. He took five points from Gryffindor. Malfoy got it a bit harder though. Dumbledore took his Prefect’s badge and took fifty points a piece from Slytherin and they all got a detention with Filtch.”
“Crikey I hope I never get on his bad side,” said Dean who had been listening. “Well that is less than they deserve!” Hermione put in hotly. Dean looked startled “Hang on, I wasn’t sticking up for those filthy gits, so don’t bite my head off ok?” Hermione blushed and said “Sorry Dean, it’s just that finally they are getting a little payback. It’s not nearly enough to square the ledger but finally it’s a start.”

Harry was very glad that Professor Dumbledore had imposed such a harsh punishment. With the loss of one hundred and fifty points Slytherin will have slipped below Hufflepuff and were now in last place. Harry was also pleased that they would miss out on the trip into Hogsmead. He had overheard Malfoy talking about what they were going to do in the village at their last Care of Magical Creatures class and knew that they had planned on going. Then the gleeful look on old Filtch’s face seemed to seal their fates and Harry wondered what Dumbledore had given Filtch permission to do.

The rest of the Great Hall had started buzzing about the incident in the entrance hall and Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had obviously decided against breakfast as they failed to follow Ron into the Great Hall. Ron piled his plate high with sausage and eggs while Harry just picked at his food. Ron noticed that Harry wasn’t eating and nudged his elbow. When Harry looked over at him he said “What’s up.” in a voice only Harry could hear. Harry shook his head and said “Nothing, I just want to get out to the field.” He looked over at Ginny and said “I’ll meet you down at the pitch. Come on down when Gem and Ryan have eaten.” Then Harry turned to Hermione and Ron and said “Have a good morning in the village, and I’ll see you at two.” He said this last looking at Ron and Dean, then he got up and left the table. Ron watched him leave feeling worried and knew what he was going to talk to Hermione about on their way down to the village.

Harry made his way down to the quidditch field and got his Firebolt from the broom shed. Then he went into the captain’s office and got out the large box that held the quidditch balls out and carried it with some difficulty out onto the field. It would be at least twenty minutes before Ginny would be down with Gem and Ryan so he mounted his broom and shot up into the brisk morning air and all of his nerves and worries stayed on the ground. He felt free and completely safe up in the air now and he couldn’t believe that he had been afraid of flying only a month ago. How could he ever have feared this marvelous sensation? He rose up so high that he could easily see Hogsmead and the line of students starting out for the village knowing Ron and Hermione were among them.

Harry turned back toward the pitch and dived fast, the wind blowing in his face. He was plummeting for the ground at incredible speed when mere inches before he would have hit he pulled up hard and spiraled back up into the air. Ginny and the twins were just coming from the broom shed and watched Harry dive. Gem and Ryan were astonished by Harry’s flying; Ginny on the other hand was red faced and her heart was pounding madly in her chest. When she saw Harry dive she pointed him out to Gem and Ryan but as they watched him speed toward the ground Ginny started to feel scared because it looked like he was going to crash then he pulled up just in time. She turned to the others and said to wait for a minute and she mounted her own broom and kicked off. She had every intention of telling Harry off for scaring her like that but when she flew up to him he was smiling brightly and looked happier than he had been in so long that she held her tongue.

Harry looked down and saw Gem and Ryan and headed for the ground near the box of balls. The others joined him as he was removing the quaffle. Harry looked them over and asked “How much do you two know about quidditch?” Ryan answered for them “Everything! Gem and I have been watching it since we were kids and we love it. The Falmouth Falcons are our team.” Harry looked at them and thought ‘You’re still kids.’ but then again he had started playing quidditch at eleven also. “Good. I want to start today with passing the quaffle between us, so mount and kick off.” Harry grabbed his Firebolt and kicked off followed by Ginny, Ryan and Gem.

Meanwhile Ron and Hermione were walking down to the village together holding hands. The relationship that had blossomed between them felt so natural that they were slightly surprised by the looks that they seemed to be getting from their classmates. Pansy Parkinson who was walking a few paces behind Ron and Hermione said in a loud voice to her companions “At least Harry Potter or even that Victor Krum were a bit better choices than a Weasley! That family hasn’t got two knuts to rub together.” They all laughed and Millicent Bulstrode said “Well, Granger grew up with muggles so she has lower standards in wizards than real witches do.” More roars of laughter followed this statement and Hermione stopped dead and turned to face them. Ron stayed right by her side and put a hand on her shoulder for support but also to hold her back if she decided to do anything in anger. The admonishment he had received from Professor Dumbledore was still stinging a little and he didn’t want Hermione to get into trouble with the headmaster also. Hermione simply looked at the group of Slytherin girls who had also stopped. Millicent put her hand into her robes as if to reach for her wand but hesitated pulling it out as other students who were walking down to the village noticed the stand off and stopped to watch.

“What’s the matter Granger, can’t find a boyfriend who will stick up for you?” Pansy said with a vicious grin at Ron who had tightened his grip on Hermione’s shoulder but said nothing. Hermione looked completely nonplussed and said in an almost light and airy tone “I was just noticing that none of you have escorts today. As a matter of fact I don’t believe I have ever seen you with a boy. No wait… That’s right Pansy did go to the Yule Ball two years ago with the son of a Death Eater. Lets see, that means you are averaging one date every four years. I suppose I might be a bit cranky too if it was going to be at least another two years before I went out with a boy again.” Then Hermione turned and walked away to the sound of uproarious laughter from the onlookers. Pansy was red faced and angry for there simply was too much truth in that to deny and her Slytherin girlfriends and Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had recently become decidedly less popular with in the school even among other Slytherins.

Ron gave Hermione’s hand a squeeze. “You know, you handled that so nicely, and to think I was getting ready to hold you back.” Hermione looked up at him “Hold me back? Ron when have you ever seen me scuff it up with someone?” Ron raised his eyebrows and said “Well, you did hit Malfoy around the face three years ago. I figured you might be due for another go-round.” Hermione blushed and looked down. “Oh yeah, I had forgotten that, well as a general rule I am the one who has to do the holding back.” It was Ron’s turn to blush and he recalled the headmaster’s remark to him this morning. “Look I wanted to talk to you about Harry.” Hermione looked up at him puzzled. “What about Harry. He seems to be doing better now that he is flying again.” Ron said “That’s just it Hermione, why is he suddenly ok with flying, I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he isn’t afraid to fly anymore but what happened to change that? What made him fear it in the first place?”

Hermione thought about this. Ron had a point. Harry had never been afraid to fly before, rather he loved it immensely, so what had created the fear? “Do you think it has something to do with You Know Who?” she asked quietly so that no one else would overhear their conversation. They had entered the village and Ron steered them up High street toward Honeydukes. “I don’t know Hermione it’s just that Harry has always loved flying and all of the sudden he was afraid to do it. He told me that he had lost his nerve but that just isn’t possible. I know that there is something more to Harry’s fear and these nightmares than there appears to be.” Hermione looked at Ron sharply “Has he been having more nightmares?”
“Out side of remembering the attack no; not since that first night when he dreamed about killing us.” This statement, said allowed, sent a shiver down Ron’s spine. “You don’t think that well… you know who, is trying to brainwash Harry into actually killing one of us do you?”

Hermione frowned but said “It could be Ron, but if he is then it won’t work.” They stepped into the sweetshop which was packed with students. Hermione lowered her voice again and said “I don’t think that You Know Who can make Harry hurt us.” They moved to the back of the shop and started picking out various sweets for the team. “That doesn’t mean that the Dark Lord isn’t trying to do just that, but like I told Harry last month, I will never fear him. Ron you know Harry as well as I do. He could no more kill us than chop off his own hand. It just isn’t in his nature. He would die trying to save us but never try to kill us.”

Ron knew that she was right of course but he still had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. “Well I guess I should be glad that he isn’t so dodgy up in the air if we are to have any hope at all of winning the cup this year.” Hermione tutted loudly and said “Harry isn’t the only player on the team and you really shouldn’t lay the winning of the quidditch cup on his shoulders.” Ron turned and stared at her for a moment “Hermione it is on his shoulders. He is the team captain and he is the seeker, who is the only player that can end the game. I am only a fair keeper and I’m sure Ginny will be pretty good at chasing but honestly Hermione the rest of the team is hopeless, at least from a winning point of view.”

“Well, that may be true but winning isn’t everything and Harry has enough stress already.” Ron shook his head and mumbled “You just don’t understand about quidditch.” as he walked away from her up to the counter with the chocolates and other sweets they had picked up. Hermione was not ready to give up this argument yet and as soon as they gained the street she continued “I may not ‘understand about quidditch’ but I do understand about friendship. I’m glad that Harry is not afraid to fly anymore too, but just because he can fly again doesn’t mean it’s his fault if Gryffindor doesn’t win the quidditch cup this year.” Ron stopped and was staring at her “I didn’t mean it that way. Of course it’s not his fault or it won’t be anyway. I just meant that as the captain it is his job to get us all to play our best and he couldn’t do that if he wasn’t ok in the air.”

Back at the quidditch field Harry had Ryan and Gem hover and pass the ball between each other at first. Gem was fairly small and she did have a little trouble getting her arms securely around the quaffle even with the gripping charms placed on it. After she dropped it the fourth time Harry collected the ball and called out to her “Gem try to hold the quaffle in front of you instead of the on the side, that might help!” Harry threw the quaffle at her and Gem reached out for the quaffle and scooped it to her chest. She didn’t drop the ball but had to work out a way to then throw the ball to the next player. They practiced throwing the ball back and forth for nearly forty minutes when Gem and Ryan had both caught the ball and thrown it successfully several times in a row. “Ok let’s try this while flying from one end of the pitch to the other.” Harry and Ginny started out flying from one set of rings to the other passing the quaffle between them. When they flew back still exchanging the ball Harry took the quaffle and tossed it to Ryan and said “Ok you two have a go.”

It was disastrous. Gem dropped the quaffle almost every time Ryan threw it at her. Ryan didn’t drop the ball so much but when Gem didn’t drop the quaffle and managed to throw it at Ryan he nearly fell off his broom as he tried to catch it. Harry and Ginny looked at each other then shook their heads. They flew over to the two and started giving them tips. Harry finally decided to have Ginny fly beside Ryan while he flew beside Gem and they helped talk them through the motions of catching and throwing the quaffle while flying. By the time the noon bell sounded up at the school Ryan and Gem were exhausted and Gem was close to tears. Harry didn’t want to push her any harder so he said “Gem, you are actually doing quite well. Let’s stop for now and get some lunch and the whole team will meet back here at two o’clock.” Gem smiled gratefully at Harry and headed for the ground. Ryan and Gem had actually made some progress. By the time they were ready to quit both Ryan and Gem were able to pass the quaffle between them while flying the length of the pitch and Gem only dropped the ball once.

The crowd in the Great Hall still made Harry nervous and he walked along the wall with Ginny beside him to avoid brushing into anyone but he didn’t think it showed on his face which he was grateful for especially while he was with Ginny. Once again Harry had no real appetite even though he had had almost nothing in the way of food that day but he filled his bowl with stew anyway. Gem was feeling better now that she had gotten something to eat and was talking animatedly with her brother about the morning practice. Harry managed to actually eat a little more than half of the stew he had served himself when he looked up at the staff table and saw Madam Tosh catch his eye. She clearly wanted to talk to him so he said good buy to the others and reminded them that they all needed to be back to the field by two o’clock then got up and headed for the entrance hall.

He wandered over to the oak front doors and waited for her. After only a moment or two she came out of the Great Hall as well and crossed over to him. “Shall we walk?” she said and Harry stepped out into the bright sunshine. They wandered down to the edge of the lake and started walking along the edge of it. “How are you feeling today Harry?” she asked him in a conversational tone. “I’m ok. I went flying last night and it felt pretty good. I’m not afraid to fly anymore. I still don’t like crowds though.” Madam Tosh looked down at him walking beside her and said “I think that will change with time Harry. Flying seems to be helping you quite a bit but I do want you to be careful up there. You have not yet regained your full strength. I imagine you were a bit sore this morning; were you not?” Harry looked at her surprised “How did you know that?” She smiled and said “I was taking a stroll last night and happened to see you and Ginny out flying above the quidditch field. I stopped to watch you for a while and I can see why so many people have said what a good flyer you are. You pushed yourself quite hard though and I suspected that it was more than your muscles may have been prepared for. I did worry for a moment but it was clear to me that you were very happy and I knew then, that you would be alright. You just needed to give yourself time and to trust in your friends.”

Harry was confused with what he was feeling at that moment. He felt that the time he and Ginny shared last night in the air was private and he wasn’t sure he liked the idea that someone had been watching them, but at the same time a part of him wanted his healer to know that he was with someone who made him feel happy. Madam Tosh sensed these misgivings in Harry but let it go. She could clearly see that Harry was starting to fall in love with Ginny but he had to discover those feelings on his own. It would do him a great disservice to try and explain to him what he was feeling and why.

Once Madam Tosh had brought up the fact that Harry was probably sore; his muscles seemed to renew their protests to the continual flying that he had forced them to do all morning after being sore from the previous night. Harry started to absentmindedly rub his shoulder as they walked and a thought occurred to him. “How is your mother?” Harry had not seen Mrs. Tosh since his first day waking up. “She is doing quite well. She left to see friends of ours who have just had a baby.” Harry looked up at her and said “You mean the baby you delivered?” Madam Tosh smiled “Yes the very one. She will be returning tomorrow to say good buy to everyone before she heads back to Dublin.” Harry smiled for he really wanted to thank her for bringing him back.

[Alice I]

Chapter Twelve - Part 2
Gryffindor’s Team

The afternoon practice was long and grueling. Harry put every player through the paces and for Andrew and Jack that meant practicing with the clubs. Dean needed club practice as well as work with the quaffle. Ron was doing a very good job as keeper and Ginny was flying quite well also. Gem and Ryan did better with passing the quaffle during the afternoon practice but had a hard time flying around the bludgers that were being hit at them by the beaters. Dean was the worst beater on the team. He seemed to feel unsteady in the air while holding the bat and had failed to actually connect with any of the bludgers as he kept flinching when they approached. He was pretty good throwing the quaffle though and after nearly an hour of him not connecting with a single bludger Harry had him work with Gem and Ryan trying to get a score past Ron.

Jack and Andrew were now trying to hit the bludgers at Harry and Ginny who were easily dodging them. “Come on you two, knock us off our brooms!” Harry shouted at them. Jack and Andrew exchanged glances and when both bludgers were near; they hit them as hard as they could at Harry. Ginny watched feeling very anxious as Harry flew loops around both bludgers. Somehow he just seemed to be flying faster than he needed to and he actually followed one of the bludgers while the other headed toward Ginny who looped it easily enough. Harry turned quickly in mid air and hit the bludger he had been following with the rear end of his broom sending it back toward Jack who hit it back at Harry with tremendous force just as Andrew did the same thing. Harry didn’t see them hit the bludgers as he was momentarily distracted because Gem, Ryan and Dean had managed to score past Ron, who had been watching Harry’s flying with a mixture of awe and trepidation, and were cheering loudly. “Harry LOOK OUT!” Jack yelled and Harry turned to see the both bludgers coming right at him like speeding cannonballs. He looped the first hit by Andrew but there was no avoiding the second one which hit Harry in the center of his chest with enough force to knock him off his broom.

Ginny screamed “HARRY!” just as Harry yelled “Accio!” and his broom soared right to him as he was falling though he did not have his wand with him. He grabbed hold of the handle and swung his leg over regaining his seat. His heart was pounding madly but he felt an odd thrill of excitement at the same time. Everyone was flying over to see if Harry was all right. “Harry how did you do that?” Andrew asked awe struck. “Are you alright Harry?” Ron was calling even as he flew over to join the group. Ginny had lost all of the color in her face and simply looked frightened. “I’m sorry Harry.” said Jack. “Don’t be Jack! That’s what you are supposed to do. Good hit.” Harry was smiling and panting because the bludger had winded him. “But how did you use the summoning charm without a wand?” Andrew persisted.

Harry had to stop and think for a second. “I dunno but I’m glad I did. Look everyone this was a really good practice but maybe we should call it quits for today. I would like to practice again tomorrow but Slytherin has booked the pitch so let’s meet on the other side of the lake past the whomping willow after breakfast. I’ll bring the spare set of balls and we can practice over there.” Everyone was willing as they all really wanted to beat Slytherin and as long as the weather held no one was inclined to protest.

By the time everyone had stowed their brooms and was headed back to the castle for dinner Harry was really starting to feel physically tired. His muscles having been seriously overworked were sore and his chest where the bludger had hit him was tender to the touch. Ron and Ginny hung back and helped Harry get the ball box back into the captain’s office. “Harry that was some flying today.” Ron said in an odd voice. Harry looked at him and frowned “But?” Ron’s face grew red and he said “Oh nothing it’s just I’m glad you are back and that the flying isn’t a problem anymore, but I dunno maybe you might want to slow down a bit. I mean we have four weeks before the match with Slytherin.”

Harry rounded on him more forcefully than he had intended to and snapped “Four weeks is barely enough time to get this team into shape and maybe it isn’t enough time. I have to push them or we might as well forfeit the match!” Ron’s ears turned red now as his temper flared and he said “I wasn’t talking about the team mate.” Then he turned on his heel and walked away without looking back. Harry felt badly about shouting at Ron and turned to look at Ginny. “He is just worried about you Harry.” she said gently.

Anger suddenly flared up in him “I wish everyone would just stop being so bloody worried about me. I’m not a baby you know!” and Harry stalked off toward the forest and away from the castle. Ginny didn’t follow him because it was clear that he wanted to be left alone.

Harry found himself on the edge of the forbidden forest before he even realized where he was going. Why was he so angry? His scar started to prickle and he sat down and cleared his mind of thought. The prickling continued but muted somewhat and Harry began to go over the practice in his mind. How had he used the summoning charm without his wand, which was in the captain’s office at the time? It’s not the first time he had used magic without a wand. Last year when he and Dudley were being attacked by dementors Harry had said ‘Lumos’ while groping around for his wand and the tip lit at his command, so maybe it wasn’t all that unusual. After ten minutes Harry was pulled out of his reverie by Fang, Hagrid’s enormous boarhound, who had bounded up to him and started licking his face. Fang had always liked Harry and usually jumped up on him when he came by to visit Hagrid.

“Hello Fang.” said Harry pushing the dog off of him and standing up. “Alright there Harry.” called Hagrid who was coming up to him from his hut. “Hi Hagrid.” Hagrid eyed Harry curiously and said “Whater yer doing out here all by yer self Harry? I’da thought yerd be up to ther school havin a spot o’ dinner after flying all day.” Harry looked down at his feet and felt ashamed for yelling at his friends. “Your right Hagrid I should get back to the castle.” he said and started walking away from the forest. “I’ll go with yer if it’s ok.” Hagrid said with a slight frown then he turned to Fang “Fang go on home.” Fang whimpered, but obediently turned and headed for Hagrid’s place.

“Harry, I’ve known ye fer six yers’ now and it’s plain that somethin’ is eatin’ at yea. Can I help?” Harry didn’t say anything right away and just kept on walking but after a minute he looked up at Hagrid and said “I don’t know why I keep getting so mad at the people who are only trying to help. It seems like every time I look at my friends they are worried about me for some reason. I don’t want people to be worried about me or feel sorry for me all the time. I wish people would just see me as a normal kid like Dean or Ron or just someone else.”

There was a edge of anger in Harry’s voice and his scar started prickling but he refused to raise his hand to his head in front of Hagrid. Hagrid was looking at Harry and his beetle black eyes held concern. He stopped and looked directly at Harry. “Harry yer not ‘just someone else’ an people can’t look at yer any different than they see yea. Yer have had a lot o thin’s happen’ ter yer this year an yer friends are worried fer yea. I’m yer friend an’ I worry fer yea sometimes. Harry its only caus’ we care about yea, an that’s not a bad thing.” Harry knew that Hagrid was right and he thought about how he would feel if no one cared what happened to him and he realized it would be like it was living with the Dursleys. “You know Hagrid, you’re right. Thanks.” Hagrid smiled broadly and clapped Harry on the shoulder nearly knocking him to his knees. “Come on let’s get some dinner.” Harry smiled up at Hagrid feeling a bit better and found that he was finally hungry for the first time that day.

Harry joined the Gryffindor table and sat next to Ron. He looked at Ron and Ginny and said “I’m sorry for snapping at you back there. I guess I’m just a bit edgy, but I shouldn’t take it out on you guys.” Ginny smiled and Ron said “That’s ok mate.” but he avoided Harry’s eye. He was still concerned about Harry especially after watching him fly today. He was taking unnecessary chances and that made Ron nervous. Hermione noticed that Ron was avoiding eye contact with Harry and decided to have a talk with him after dinner. The last thing any of them needed was for Harry and Ron to have a row with each other. Ginny noticed Ron’s reaction to Harry as well but she decided that she should keep quiet for now.
Harry ate heartily at dinner and was feeling quite sleepy afterward but he had a lot of homework that he needed to finish tonight so that they could spend the whole day practicing tomorrow. “Well, I’ve got a pile of homework, you coming?” Harry said to Ron, Hermione and Ginny. Ginny got up to leave with Harry but before Ron could say anything Hermione said “Ron and I’ll meet you in the common room in a bit.”

Ron turned to Hermione who gave him a significant look and he said “Yeah, we’ll see you up there.” Harry and Ginny left for Gryffindor tower and Ron turned to Hermione and said “What’s up?” Hermione fixed him with a stare and said “What’s going on between you and Harry?” Ron looked surprised and said “Nothing. What are you talking about?” Hermione had an exasperated look on her face and she said “Well Ron, if there is no problem then why did Harry have to apologize to you when he came in, and why wouldn’t you look at him all through dinner? Neither of you need to go having a fight; so spill it Ron what was that all about?” Ron sighed and told Hermione about the way that Harry was flying, about falling off his broom and then summoning it without a wand. He also reiterated his fears about Harry’s sudden change in attitude about being in the air.

“I am really glad that he isn’t afraid of flying anymore but he seems to have gone a bit wild. Now he is flying like a maniac although that bit of summoning magic was really cool.” Hermione looked concerned and said “I think I’ll come and watch you all practice tomorrow.” Ron wasn’t sure that was such a good idea and said “Look Hermione he nearly bit my head off when I mentioned his flying to him and he yelled at Ginny because he thinks we are treating him like a baby. I just don’t want you to go giving him a hard time tomorrow and have him get all angry again.” Hermione glared at Ron “Harry is my friend too, but you don’t seem trust me to be able to talk to him about something important enough to get you both upset with each other.” Ron held his ground “First of all we are not upset with each other and well… Hermione you can come off a bit strong sometimes, just ask Pansy.” Hermione turned scarlet and Ron quickly added “Sorry.” He reached over and took her hand “Look maybe it’s just a relief for him to not be afraid anymore. He’ll calm down after a while.” Now Hermione was the one not backing down “But what if he doesn’t, what if he gets knocked off his broom again and can’t summon it like he did today!” Ron rolled his eyes and threw up his hands “Hermione its quidditch, sometimes you get knocked off your broom, that’s the way the game is played. Even if he had fallen to the ground he wasn’t high enough to get killed.” Hermione threw her hands down on the table with a loud slap drawing stares from a few of the students near them as well as a quick look from Professor Dumbledore “Well I just don’t get why you all want to play a game where one of you could end up in hospital!” she shouted and got up and left without saying anything else to him. Ron watched her go shaking his head. ‘She just doesn’t understand quidditch’ he said to himself and got up and left for the tower.

When Ron entered the common room Harry was busy with his Transfiguration homework. He had books spread out all around him and had gotten about halfway through the twelve inches that Professor McGonagall wanted for Monday. Ron sat down near Harry and asked “How much more do you have to do?” Harry didn’t look up but replied “About another six inches. Hang on…” and he checked one of the open books then said more to himself than Ron “I knew I had heard this somewhere.” and he finished jotting down something on his parchment. Ron said “I guess I had better get my essay done too.” and he got up to go get his school bag when Harry said “Wait a minute! I haven’t read this chapter. I was in the hospital wing when you covered this.” Ron turned and looked at Harry and smiled. “Hermione was right.” Harry looked up at Ron “What was she right about?” Ron laughed “Well she insisted on reading to you while you slept. She read all of the chapters we were working on and her notes to you every evening. She said that she had read that people in comas have waked up and been able to repeat conversations that people had while they were out of it.”

Harry stared at Ron then looked over at Ginny who was sitting in the large chintz arm chair, that she liked, reading. Ginny looked up at Harry and laughed lightly “Well, don’t look so surprised. Hermione is usually right about things.” Harry was stunned “But, she read to me every night? I didn’t know.” Then he looked around “Where is she anyway?” Ron blushed and said “We had a bit of a row just now. She’ll be back before too long.” Ginny looked cross at her brother “What did you fight about?” Ron was slightly annoyed “Well if it’s any business of yours we argued about playing quidditch.” Harry looked up at Ron and said suspiciously “Quidditch?” Ron did not want to talk to Harry or for that matter Ginny about this and said “I’m going up to get my homework and if it’s all the same to you two my relationship with my girlfriend is my business ok?” Harry and Ginny looked taken aback but went back to their work.

After Ron left Harry looked up at Ginny and said “Did we deserve that?” Ginny looked toward the boys staircase and said “Well, I guess it really isn’t our business what they were fighting about, so yeah I guess we did.” Ron came back down a few minutes later and apologized for snapping at them. “Hey its ok mate, we shouldn’t have been prying.” Harry said rather sheepishly. Harry finished his essay for Snape and was relatively pleased with his work but he was going to have Hermione check it over for him before the end of the weekend. Ron had only gotten about four inches written because he kept looking over at the portrait hole. Finally he got up and said “I’ll finish this later. I’m going to go talk to Hermione.” and left through the portrait hole.

Ron knew where she would be and headed for the roof between the tower and the owlery. Hermione was indeed up on the roof staring out over the grounds. She was sitting there holding her knees to her chest while her hair blew all around her face. Ron just looked at her for a moment then he came over quietly and sat down next to her. “I’m sorry.” He said as he put his arm around her. She leaned into him and rested her head on his chest and said “No I’m the one who is sorry. I just worry about all of you up in the air. You and Harry and Ginny are dear to me and I get carried away sometimes.” She laughed “Like you said I can come off a bit strong.” Ron hugged her and said “That’s one of the things I love about you.” They both stayed up on the roof, their feelings for each other keeping them warm against the October chill.

Sunday morning brought rain with it and Harry found it very difficult to get moving when he woke up. Every muscle in his body was protesting angrily to the continued work he was putting them through, but he simply didn’t have time to baby himself if they wanted to beat Slytherin; and beating Malfoy was the one thing Harry wanted to do more than anything else. He envisioned Malfoy loosing the match and that gave him enough resolve to force himself to roll over and get out of bed. It took him twice as long to get dressed and his legs shook slightly as he walked down the stairs to the common room, but he wasn’t going to let a little muscle fatigue stop him flying or training his team.

At breakfast a few of the team members complained weakly about practicing in the rain but one look at Harry’s determined face quelled those complaints completely. Ron spoke up when Malfoy entered the Great Hall. “Hey Harry, do you reckon Malfoy will cancel practice? You know how he hates playing in the rain.” Harry looked over at Malfoy who was looking up at the ceiling of the Great Hall which was enchanted to look exactly like the sky outside with a grimace on his face. “I don’t know, he might. If he does then we’ll practice on the pitch, but until we hear otherwise we will stick to where we agreed to meet. I know it’s raining but it usually does in November and we all need to be able to fly in this.” He looked at every member of the team “Eat a good breakfast you will need it.” Then he piled eggs and sausage on his plate and began to eat with the others following suit.

Malfoy did not cancel his team’s practice especially when he saw that Harry was leading his team to the other side of the grounds. The rain kept up in a moderate downpour all morning and was causing a lot of visibility problems for the others. Harry used the impervious charm on his glasses and instructed the others to work the charm on their faces to keep the rain off. Gem and Ryan had to have Ginny charm them as the impervious charm was above their skill level.

The practice in the rain went from bad to worse for Gem and Ryan. With the rain pelting down Gem had even more trouble holding onto the quaffle and Ryan nearly slipped off his wet broom handle twice. Harry wanted Ron and Ginny to work with Gem and Ryan on handling the quaffle and he was determined to get Dean to be able to hit the bludger with his bat. He had Andrew and Jack both helping Dean with practice swings and the three of them were pelting the bludgers at Harry.

Dean actually hit the bludger with some good force but fell off his broom as his swung at it. Harry zoomed down at lightning speed and grabbed Dean by the collar and lowered him safely to the ground. Dean looked up at Harry to say thanks but instead yelled “Look out!” as a bludger was headed for the back of Harry head. Harry pulled up hard and rolled dodging the bludger but Dean didn’t duck and the bludger hit him in the face breaking his nose. Jack came flying over “Dean! Dean! Are you alright?” Just then a scream from Gem drew everyone’s attention. She had almost fallen from her broom and was now hanging on by one hand. Ron and Ginny flew under her and helped her to get back on. At this point Harry called a halt to the practice. Dean needed to go to the hospital wing and have his nose fixed and the rain was simply too much for the rest to deal with.

As the team walked back to the castle everyone felt dejected and Jack kept apologizing for hitting the bludger that broke Dean’s nose. Harry was having serious doubts as to whether they stood a chance of even scoring let alone winning this year. His mood was not improved when he looked out over to the quidditch pitch and saw the Slytherin team flying and seemingly having a very good practice. “We’ll keep working Harry. Don’t worry we will beat Slytherin.” Ron said in an encouraging tone but it made very little impression on Harry. Ron was also not convinced by his own words as he saw the Slytherins in the distance.

The next two weeks were very long and difficult for the Gryffindor team as Harry had them out practicing every night. He continued to fly all the different positions and often times performed fast and dangerous aerial acrobatics as he zoomed from position to position correcting or advising the less experienced players. It continued to rain every day and by November first, every member of the Gryffindor team was flying fairly well in the wet conditions. This was more of a relief to Harry than he told any of his friends. He had been having unsettling dreams for the last week about trying to outrun something on his broomstick. He mentioned this to Professor Dumbledore who was clearly interested in the dreams but felt that they didn’t represent an attack from Voldemort.

“Harry, perhaps you are trying to work something out for yourself and the dream is a manifestation of your feelings.” Harry wasn’t exactly sure what that meant but it was clear that these dreams had nothing to do with Voldemort. Two weeks before the match with Slytherin Harry assembled his team on the Quidditch field. It was overcast but it looked like they may have at least some flying time before the rains stared again. Harry wanted to work with Gem and Ryan in a new move that should work to their unique skills. Gem had short arms and had trouble holding the quaffle but she was so small that she could fly very fast and she had excellent steering. Most players carry the quaffle on their side as they fly and Harry wanted to use Gem’s speed and agility on her broom as a sort of javelin. She would fly up behind and alongside the player with the quaffle and punch it out of their arms so that her twin could catch it and there by take possession of the ball.

Ryan was very good at reverse flying and so was adept at flying around both bludgers and other players but he was pitiful when trying to throw the ball for a score; that’s where Ginny would come in. Ryan needed to get the recovered quaffle to Ginny who would then throw for the score. Harry had briefly considered having the three of them work on the Hawkshead Attacking Formation but abandoned it as Ginny was the largest of the three and the whole point of the formation is to intimidate the opposing team and force other players aside.
Ron had been working on a keeper defense called the Double Eight Loop where he had to fly at high speed around the three goals to block the quaffle. This move would have been more effective on a faster model broom but Ron was determined to perfect the move and worked on it at almost every practice.

By the noon bell Gem, Ryan and Ginny had managed to get the quaffle from Harry, Andrew, Jack and Dean all of whom took turns hitting bludgers at the chasers while trying to carry out this move. Harry was very pleased with their progress and the cleverness of the tactic that he had come up with. Harry let his team have the afternoon off and congratulated them on how hard they had worked and how far they had come. Slytherin had the pitch booked for the afternoon so Harry decided to take advantage of the fact that; it had threatened rain all day but as yet the sky had not opened up; to fly on the other side of the castle over the lake.

Ron and Hermione were playing wizard chess in the common room and Ginny getting tired of reading, stepped over to the window and was looking out at the grey sky. She caught sight of Harry flying over the grounds between the whomping willow and the forest. He was flying with reckless abandon and she caught her breath when he swooped down and preformed a barrel roll followed by a tight spiral. He came unseated from his broom but was still holding on by one hand and swung himself back up onto his mount.

Ron and Hermione looked up at her sharp gasp. “What is it Ginny?” Hermione asked and stood to join her at the window. Hermione looked out and saw Harry flying doing loops and rolls. Then looked back at Ginny “You alright?” Ginny blushed and said “I’m fine, I think I’ll head down to the library, I need to get some work done for Professor Sprout.” and she left for the portrait hole leaving behind a slightly confused Hermione. She looked out at Harry once more but he had flown out of view. When she sat back down to finish her game with Ron she asked “How has Harry been in practice Ron. I mean is he still… how did you put it? Is he still flying like a maniac?” Ron looked sharply at her then at the window then the portrait hole as if figuring something out. “He is taking some chances in the air but he is also trying to play three or four positions at once. The team has really shaped up under his training Hermione and I don’t want to mess with that success, so don’t say anything to him ok?”

By the next morning the rain had begun again and that meant a wet practice for the Gryffindor team but they were getting used to it by now. Hermione and Neville had decided to watch the practice even though it was wet and cold out. Hermione brought her umbrella and used an engorgement charm on it to make it large enough to cover both of their seats and also brought a large mason jar in which she lit a magical fire for warmth. Both Hermione and Neville were stunned by the progress that this hap hazard team had made in their playing. Both had seen some of the practices especially during Harry’s stay in the hospital ward and it really did seem hopeless from that point for the continued possession of the quidditch cup by Gryffindor. Hermione gasped a couple of times with near misses Harry seemed to have, but Neville didn’t seem to see any problem with Harry’s flying, or if he did it didn’t show.

After two hours Harry was satisfied with his team’s performance and halted the practice much to the relief of everyone. “That was a great practice everyone, Gem, Ryan and Ginny you have really got it with the new move; excellent work. Let’s get in from this” and he headed to the ground followed eagerly by his team. Hermione and Neville waited for Harry, Ron and Ginny before going back up to the castle. The players didn’t bother trying to get under Hermione’s umbrella as they were soaked through anyway, but Harry was pleased to see both of them. “It’s pouring out here, what are you two doing in this rain?” Neville was pink faced and replied “You were terrific up there Harry, oh and you guys too. Hermione had a fire so we weren’t cold and her umbrella kept the rain off. It was great watching a practice. Can I come and watch again sometime Harry?” Harry shrugged. He actually liked the fact that Neville was watching and appreciated the support. “You can watch anytime you want to Neville but if you ask me I wouldn’t be sitting in the rain just to watch a practice.” Ron laughed and said “No he just wants to fly in it!” and they all chuckled.

Once everyone had dried off and had some lunch it was back to the tower to try and finish the weekend homework. Harry ended up playing exploding snap and wizard chess all afternoon before he realized it was dinner time. “Oh well, I’ll finish Snape’s homework tonight.” Harry said off handedly which earned him a scowl from Hermione.

[Alice I]

This is a long chapter so I'll post it in three parts.
I really would like to hear some kind of feedback at this point.
I know I say that at the beginning of my chapter posts but it doesn't seem to be working.
Let me know what you are thinking so far.
Feel free to point out mistakes if you see them, I have already fixed lots of little errors pointed out to me by Quicksilver and Phelp.
Hope you like it

Chapter Thirteen - Part 1
The Boy who Loved

After dinner Harry did start on his Potions homework as well as Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tonks had given them four defensive spells to practice and would be testing them next week. Harry did his other homework first before starting on Potions as it really was his least favorite subject and ended up dosing off while doing it. The common room had almost emptied and Ginny and Hermione were the only other people up. Hermione glanced over at Harry and Ginny said “Go on Hermione, I’ve got two more chapters to read then I’ll wake him before I go to bed.”

Hermione glanced at Harry’s homework strewn all over. It looked as though the Potions paper was the only thing left undone but there was time before breakfast to finish. Hermione had worked very closely with Harry on his homework feeling that he simply had more than enough to be concerned with to be particularly disciplined about it. Ron felt a little put off by her attention to Harry’s essays over his own but realized that she was quite right that Harry needed the extra help. What with quidditch practice almost every night, current homework; since he had finally got caught up on the work he was behind in, extra lessons with Professor McGonagall, occlumency, now twice a week, DA classes and scattered private lessons with Alex Kimm, that only Ron, Hermione and Bill knew about Harry barely had time to breath. Hermione said goodnight to Ginny and headed up the girls staircase.

Ginny looked over at Harry from where she was curled up in the big chintz chair beside the fire. He was sitting in front of the fire, books and parchments scattered all around. The chair Harry was sitting in was wing backed and his head was resting on the left wing and he was obviously sound asleep, his eyes moving under his lids, and Ginny knew he was dreaming. She hoped that it was a good dream for Harry had had enough bad dreams to last a lifetime as far as she was concerned.

Ginny felt the stirrings of a deeper emotion as she sat watching Harry sleep and she smiled to herself and bent back to her reading. She had just finished her second chapter and looked up at Harry still peacefully sleeping across from her. She put her book back into her bag and looked up at Harry again when his eyes suddenly flew open and he sat up with a start. For a fleeting second panic flashed in his green eyes then he focused on the fire and then on Ginny.

“Alright there Harry?” Ginny asked him a little startled herself. Harry blushed with embarrassment “Yeah, it was the falling dream you know when you feel like you’re falling and it wakes you up” Harry had been dreaming once again of flying as fast as he could on his Firebolt trying desperately to out run something but he couldn’t remember what. In this dream he must have fallen from his broom and that is what woke him with such a start.

Ginny smiled, she knew exactly what Harry was talking about. When she had first joined the Gryffindor quidditch team last year she had that dream a lot. Her long red hair was cascading down the side of her face casting some of her features in shadow but the firelight shimmering on her hair looked almost like fairies dancing. Harry was suddenly struck by how pretty Ginny was.

She looked at Harry seriously and said “Harry there is something I have been wanting to talk with you about.” Harry sat up a bit and said “What’s up?” Ginny took a deep breath and plunged forward.
“Harry you are the best flyer I have ever seen and believe me I have seen some of the best in the world. It’s one of the places in your life where you have control and you’re good at it, great actually. In August you didn’t want to play quidditch, you didn’t really even want to fly. You got talked into going back as the Gryffindor seeker…” she blushed scarlet then continued “… Well I talked you into it, even while you were still so tentative up in the air, then you were attacked here at school and missed the early practices… but now... Well Harry, now you’re flying recklessly. It’s like you don’t care what happens and maybe if you fly hard enough and fast enough you will out run your demons.” She got up and started pacing in front of the fire.

“Look Harry, I know better than anyone what you are facing. I was possessed by a young Voldemort…” she paled slightly at voicing that name but continued resolutely “…before he came to full power; you have to face him at the height of his power. I don’t know what I would do. I would probably run for it or hide or just go crazy. What I do know it that there isn’t a witch or wizard in the world today that can truly defeat him except you. You were born to defeat him Harry.” Ginny stopped pacing and looked hard at Harry and said “Is getting yourself killed on the quidditch field the future you want for yourself or the rest of the world for that matter? Harry you can’t out-fly your destiny… but you don’t have to face it alone.” Ginny had an intensity in her gaze that glowed like the fire she was standing in front of.

Harry’s mouth had dropped open and he was staring at her dumbfounded. She had just voiced what his heart had been trying to tell him for the last couple of weeks. Somehow Ginny always seemed to know what he was feeling underneath everything and had demonstrated that many times over. “Ginny you are the most amazing person. How do you know what is in my head?” Ginny smiled at the praise and said “I pay attention.” She also remembered what Madam Tosh had said about her having some limited empathic abilities but she still had a hard time believing that.

She crossed over to Harry and sat down on the floor looking up at him. She took his hands in hers then looked up into his eyes. Harry was struck once again by how pretty she was and his heart began to beat faster in his chest. Ginny looked so earnest when she said “I want to ask a favor of you” that Harry suddenly felt foolish sitting in a chair looking down on her so he slid down to the floor and sat facing her. They were still holding hands. “Please promise me you will stop taking unnecessary risks in practice or in the game against Slytherin.” Ginny was looking deep into his eyes as if willing him to agree. She was stunning, her hands felt warm and Harry was acutely aware of her knee touching his leg. He had no idea what made him do it, but instead of answering her he leaned over and kissed her. Her lips were as soft as velvet and she smelled nice; clean; like rain water or springtime. They lingered for a moment and when they parted she was smiling warmly at him. She reached up and touched the side of his cheek with her finger tips and said “Good night Harry”

She stood up in one smooth motion and walked over to the staircase leading to the girl’s dormitory. Harry watched her until she turned out of sight. He could feel where her fingers had touched his face and he could still smell her. It took Harry a moment after she disappeared through the door to the girls staircase to realize that he that he needed to breathe. He could not believe what he had just done and just as shocking was Ginny’s reaction. There was a tingling deep in his stomach, his heart was pounding in his chest and he was breathing again but slightly faster than was normal.

His books and parchment forgotten Harry got up and climbed the stairs to his own dormitory. He was not remotely tired now but he didn’t care. When he got into his pajamas instead of going to bed he sat by the window looking out over the dark grounds. The stars were bright tonight and they seemed to twinkle more. Harry stared up at the stars thinking nothing in particular and just feeling happy.

Ginny went straight to Hermione’s dormitory. Even if Ginny didn’t know which of the five four posters was Hermione’s it would have been easy enough to tell. Hermione never slept with the curtains drawn around her bed. She said it made her feel like she was sleeping in a coffin. Ginny crossed right over to Hermione’s bed and climbed in. Hermione woke up as Ginny started closing the curtains around the bed. “Ginny? Whatsa’ matter? What time is it?” Hermione asked groggily. Ginny raised her wand and said “Lumos” and her wand light lit up the bed now that the curtains were closed around them.

“Harry just kissed me.” Ginny whispered. Hermione’s eyes flew open wide and she sat right up. “What happened? I want every detail.” Ginny smiled with a mischievous grin and began to tell her everything that had happened, and what they had been talking about. Hermione had her hands clasped tightly together, mouth gaping as Ginny related the story, squealing slightly when Ginny got to the kiss. “And by way of answering you; he kissed you? I had no idea that Harry could be so romantic.” Ginny giggled. “It was rather nice.....but listen, just don’t tell Ron yet, Harry should be the one to do that.” Hermione nodded vigorously “Absolutely!” then she reached under the curtains and pulled a small box of chocolates out from under her bed.

“Celebration chocolates.” she explained, with a sly wink. “Parvati and Lavender gave them to me when Ron asked me to be his girlfriend. I’ve been saving them for just this occasion. I knew that somehow he would finally realize what was going on.” She handed Ginny a large, fat chocolate square, who accepted with a large grin.

They chatted excitedly, talking of their boyfriends and their futures, far into the night until the chocolates were gone and the wee hours of the morning made their eyes droop when Ginny finally said good night and made her way to her own dormitory.

Harry woke up early the next morning even though he hadn’t gone to bed until well after one in the morning. He may not have slept much but he felt energetic and well rested. Checking his wrist watch he saw that it was only six thirty in the morning. Everyone else was still sleeping so he got up quietly and got dressed. When he came down to the common room he took a few minutes to gather up his school books and parchments. He hadn’t finished his Potions homework and to Harry’s immense surprise he was not particularly worried about it. He had plenty of time between now and breakfast.

So he gathered up his bag and headed for the Great Hall. As he walked down the deserted corridors feeling the early morning sun on his face he felt on top of the world. He turned down the third floor corridor and ran right into Filtch. “Good morning Mr. Filtch!” Harry said in a cherry voice. Filtch was completely taken aback. Then he recovered himself and growled “What are you doing prowling the corridors at this hour? You should still be in your common room.” Harry smiled back at him completely nonplussed “Well I have some Potions homework to finish and I want to get a head start on breakfast so I’m just heading to the Great Hall.” It was nearly seven o’clock by this time so Filtch couldn’t say that Harry was out of bounds but his odd behavior unsettled the caretaker and he gruffly added “Well get on with it then!” Filtch stalked off in a huff grumbling to Mrs. Norris, his pet cat, in low tones.

When Harry walked into the Great Hall it was indeed empty so he took a seat halfway down the Gryffindor table and spread out his Potions homework. It actually only took him twenty minutes or so to finish it. His mood was so light that all of the frustration he had been feeling last night while trying to finish Snape’s essay was completely gone. He found that he could think much more clearly today. 'Wow that was some kiss’ Harry thought to himself and a big smile spread crossed his face.

By eight o’clock Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Dean all came into the Great Hall together and joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. Harry and Ginny’s eyes met and they smiled at each other but didn’t say anything. Ron said “Um Harry, I wanted to ask you something.”

Harry tore his eyes away from Ginny and looked at Ron with a big grin on his face. Ron stopped for a moment and looked surprised “What’s got you so happy today?” Ron asked curiously forgetting for a moment what he was going to ask for. Ginny and Hermione exchanged a quick glance and suppressed knowing smiles. “The sun is out for a change and I have completely finished all of my homework and as of this moment I have nothing pending.” Ron raised an eyebrow and said “That’s great; well er… what I wanted to ask you is this. I mean we have all worked really hard and I really want to beat Slytherin as much as anyone but I was thinking that er… maybe we could er… take a night off?” he looked as though he were bracing himself for a furious onslaught and added quickly “We have been practicing almost every night for the last two weeks and…”

Harry was holding up his hands and laughing “Whoa Ron, you’re right we have all worked very hard and have come a long way. We have two weeks to polish our technique and we have earned a night off, but we have to be right back at it tomorrow, agreed?” he said this last looking at Ron, Ginny and Dean who were all listening. “Absolutely” said Ron, “You got it.” said Dean and Ginny just smiled. Hermione seemed pleased and Harry wondered if she and Ron were hoping for some time together, then he thought that he would like to spend some time with Ginny and he looked at her and said “You know you haven’t had much practice catching the snitch this year.”

Ginny smiled wide and said “Well I was thinking about asking you if I could give that a bit of a go at practice this evening, but as its just been canceled…” Harry smiled brightly and said “I was planning on going out myself so why don’t we have a game of who gets the snitch first?” Ron was looking from Harry to Ginny suspiciously. “Are you two up to something?” Harry looked at Ron and raised his eyebrows innocently “What? Why do you think we are up to something?” Ron shrugged and said “I dunno, you just seem like you know something that the rest of us don’t.” Harry clapped Ron on the shoulder and laughed “Getting’ a bit paranoid are we?” Ron shook his head and said “I guess.”

He looked at his watch and said “I didn’t finish my Potions homework yet so I am going to head for the library. See you later.” He leaned over and gave Hermione’s hand a squeeze and left the table. Harry had already had something to eat and he was mulling over what he should do now. He was in a bit of a quandary. Ginny was the girl for him and he wanted to ask her to be his girlfriend but he didn’t know how to do it and he couldn’t figure out who to ask. He couldn’t talk to Ron, not yet anyway, and he didn’t think he should talk to Hermione as she and Ginny were so close. Harry wanted this to happen the proper way and he needed to speak with an adult. Hagrid was not someone Harry would ask how to ask a girl out and he didn’t feel comfortable asking Professor Dumbledore as there were so many important things for him to be concerned with right now but who else could he talk to?

A memory floated to the surface of his mind. “Harry, I am your Head of House and am always available to you. I just wanted to remind you of that.” Harry simply couldn’t picture himself talking to Professor McGonagall about how to ask a girl out but he couldn’t really talk to Bill, or any of the Weasleys for that matter, so that left Professor Moody who was filling in for Tonks this week. Harry realized that he didn’t really know Professor Moody that well even though he had been their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry’s fourth year. The only problem was that the person Harry got to know was not Alastor Moody, but Barty Crouch Jr. masquerading as Moody to get at Harry. Harry wouldn’t know where to begin with the real Moody since he had not spent any real amount of time with him and Professor Lupin was not at Hogwarts right now. Well, Harry was determined to do this the right way so he took a deep breath and headed up to Professor McGonagall’s office.

Harry kept going over in his mind what he wanted to say but couldn’t seem to find the right way to broach the subject when he found himself in front of Professor McGonagall’s office door. He had no idea what he was going to say but he knocked and waited for a reply. The door opened and Professor McGonagall said “Come in Potter” from her desk where she sat grading essays. Harry stepped into the office and shut the door. He walked up to her desk and said “Er... Professor I need to ask you something.” She put her quill down and said “Yes?” Harry stammered and shifted his feet uncomfortably “Well er… it’s like this… you see I don’t really know how… erm…”

Harry was rocking from foot to foot and he was looking down and his face had gone beat red. “Spit it out Potter, what do you want to ask?” Harry took a breath and said all at once “I need to ask a girl out and I don’t know how.” Professor McGonagall’s eyes widened in surprise then narrowed suspiciously “What do you mean you don’t know how Potter. You asked a girl out for the Yule Ball.” Harry turned even brighter red but plunged on “That was to go out on a date ma’am; I want to ask someone to be my... er... my girlfriend. I know that there is a right way; a traditional way to do that but no one has ever told me how. Professor …” Harry looked directly at her and continued “this girl is very important to me, I need to get it right.” He said that last bit with such an earnest look that Professor McGonagall's features softened immediately.

She looked at Harry with an expression he couldn’t read. She sniffed and said “Well if you want to be traditional and formal about it then the first thing that you must do is to ask this girl’s parents for permission to go out with their daughter. Then you have to talk with the young lady herself. I recommend an evening stroll down to the green houses. The winter roses are flourishing.” She got up and came around the front of her desk and indicated that Harry should take a seat on one of the straight backed chairs by her fire while she sat down in the other. “Harry, if this girl is that important to you then you should think about a pin or a bracelet for her. Traditionally a boy who is ‘going steady’ with a girl has given her a token of that relationship like a small piece of jewelry, something that she can wear all the time.” She looked at Harry and she was sure she knew who Harry was interested in and said “Given the fact that Professor Weasley teaches in the evening I think that he might be persuaded to allow you use his office to meet with the young lady’s parents.”

Harry looked up puzzled and said “But how will using Bill’s, oh… I mean Professor Weasley’s office help me to meet with the girls parents?” Professor McGonagall looked stern again and said “Potter, you have been exposed to the wizarding world for six years now. You have heard of the Floo Network haven’t you?” Harry’s frown smoothed out and he smiled and said “Right. I didn’t think of that. I’ll send them a message right now.” and he got up and hurried over to the door but stopped and turned around “Professor… er, thank you.” Then he slipped out the door and ran all the way to the owlery.

When Harry arrived up at the owlery he pulled out a parchment and quill and sat down to think about what he wanted to write to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Hedwig spotted Harry and soared down to sit on his shoulder and nuzzle his ear. “Do you feel up to a long flight today?” Hedwig hooted softly and hopped down off Harry’s shoulder so that he could write. After three abandoned tries he came up with this note:

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Weasley,
I would like to ask you something that is very important to me.
I was wondering if you would mind coming to Hogwarts to see me.
I would rather speak to you both in person about this rather than
putting it in a letter. I am hoping that maybe we could talk in Bill’s
office just after dinner at five thirty. I hope you can come.
Thank you
Harry Potter

Harry read, then reread this note and rolled it up and sealed it. “Hedwig this letter is for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Can you get it to them by this afternoon?” Hedwig hooted and held out her leg so Harry could attach the note. Harry went down to Potions feeling light as air and arrived just as the class was filing into the dungeon. “Where have you been? I though you were going to be late.” Ron asked Harry while they were all unpacking their bags. “I had to send a letter.” Harry replied but further discussion was impossible as Snape had closed the dungeon door with a loud clang.

He swept up to the front of the room and addressed the class “You will use the notes you have taken from the last three week’s lessons and the essay you are to hand in today as reference along with your admittedly limited knowledge to brew a simple truth potion. Your potion will be tested on each of you under my supervision. Begin now.”

The entire class shifted restlessly in their seats for Snape had not put an ingredients list up or a specific potion for them to brew. Parvati Patil raised her hand tentatively “Er, sir. Are we supposed to make up our own potion?” Snape rounded on her and said in a silky voice “Miss Patil, you should be able to use the reference materials I just mentioned to; how did you put it? ‘make up your own’ potion, that is if you wrote a competent essay and took appropriate notes in class. If neither is the case I am afraid that you may find your potion to have some possibly harmful effects.” He smiled wickedly at her and she turned white.

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other then pulled out their books and notes. Harry was sure that the text had mentioned using Jobberknoll feathers and something about Pogrebin brains. He started looking through his notes and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi but he didn’t see Pogrebin in them.
Ron was having a worse time of it than Harry. He had haphazardly finished his essay on truth potions for Snape this morning and didn’t have time for Hermione to check it over for him. He turned to her to ask a question just as Snape passed by their table. “Mr. Weasley you will sit over there.” he said pointing to a table near the front of the room and off to the left, far from Hermione. Ron’s face turned red but he said nothing as he collected his books and cauldron and stomped off to the front of the classroom with Snape sneering meanly at him. Then he turned to Harry and said “Mr. Potter you will take a seat over there.” he said pointing to the seat at the front of the room on the right directly in front of Snape’s desk.

Harry felt that Snape was being ridiculously unfair splitting them up when they hadn’t even been talking but it didn’t really bother him that much. He shrugged and smiled benignly up at Snape while picking up his things to move. Snape wasn’t sneering anymore, but looked suspiciously at Harry. Harry spread out his essay, notes and text in front of him again looking for the reference he had read about Pogrebin still not finding it. He decided to pull out his old Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them text and look up Pogrebin to see if it was in there and found it.

According to this book the Pogrebin is a Russian demon that can make its victim feel melancholy and eventually fall into a state of lethargy and despair. It took him another fifteen minutes to find the reference he had been looking for and oddly enough it was one of the topics that Hermione had read while he was asleep. Harry went back four chapters in their text and compared them to the notes she had taken then to the notes he had taken last week and found the correlation he was looking for.

Using a combination of the Draft of Peace using Pogrebin instead of essence of hellebore and a memory potion using Jobberknoll feathers brewed using the technique for the memory potion should in theory produce a simple truth serum. Harry spent the next twenty minutes writing down all of the ingredients and the steps to brewing this potion. Snape walked by Harry’s desk several time glaring down at his papers and looking suspiciously at him but couldn’t seem to find any error in the work Harry was doing.

By the end of the lesson Harry was pleased with his potion and put a sample in his vile and stoppered it. He placed it on Snape’s desk and turned to clean up his work station. As soon as he vanished his potion he heard a crash and turned to see Snape smiling maliciously at him “Oh dear, your sample seems to have broken Potter. What a pity, no marks for today.” Harry, to the immense surprise of not only Snape but Ron and Hermione as well, smiled back at Snape and said “Oh that’s alright Professor; Accidents do happen and I happen to have an extra sample of my potion.” He pulled a new stoppered vile out of his bag and took it up to Snape’s desk.

The smile had vanished from Snape’s face and he stared hard at Harry with his cold black eyes. “How very fortunate for you Mr. Potter." he said in a silky voice. "May I inquire as to why you happened to have a separate sample?” Harry looked back and said “I thought I would test it on myself, you know to make sure it worked properly.” This statement was a mistake and Snape sized the opportunity to wipe the smile off of Harry’s face. “Did I not say at the beginning of this lesson that your potions will be tested under my supervision? Fifty points from Gryffindor for attempted cheating.” He said in his silkiest voice with a mean sneer on his face.

Harry looked stunned and Hermione stepped forward and took Harry’s arm to steer him toward the door before he could say anything and get more points taken off or worse get detention so that they couldn’t practice for the upcoming match against Slytherin. Harry seemed to be thinking along these lines as well and held his tongue.

[Alice I]

Chapter Thirteen - Part 2
The Boy Who Loved

On their way to Transfiguration Harry was very angry about Snape taking fifty points but did not want to discuss the matter further even though Hermione and Ron were both going on about how unfair Snape was being. “He was stalking over you all lesson looking for a reason to take points Harry!” Hermione said loudly as they entered the class. “It’s not fair to take all those points from Gryffindor, you weren’t doing anything wrong!” Harry found the injustice of Snape’s actions indeed to be appallingly unfair but he had looked out the windows while they ascended from the dungeons and felt the sun on his face. He thought about Ginny and points didn’t seem to matter so much anymore. Ron was also angry but found himself relatively calm next to Hermione who seemed to be ready to explode. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said “Relax Hermione we’ll make the points up when we play Slytherin.”

Professor McGonagall had entered the classroom and was watching her class as they took their seats. “But to take fifty points for cheating when he wasn’t doing any such thing?!” Hermione sat heavily in her chair and crossed her arms looking very sullen. Ron shrugged and sat down next to her. Professor McGonagall had obviously overheard what was being said because she opened the class by saying “Miss Granger would you please collect the homework and bring it up to my desk?”

Hermione got up and started collecting papers while Professor McGonagall instructed the rest of the class to take out their Advanced Transfiguration texts and open to Chapter five. When Hermione deposited the homework essays on Professor McGonagall’s desk she said quietly to Hermione “Thank you Miss Granger; Gryffindor may take fifty points.” McGonagall winked at Hermione who was staring at her in shock, and then Hermione turned scarlet and walked back to her seat.

Harry found it hard to concentrate in Transfiguration as his mind kept wandering out the window to the sunny grounds and his date with Ginny this evening; then a thought occurred to him that burst his mood. If he was meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley after dinner when was he supposed to fly with Ginny? All of the sudden things seemed to become very complicated and he felt slightly panicky.

At lunch Harry kept watching the door to the Great Hall for Ginny when she finally made her way over to the Gryffindor table. Before Harry could talk to her about meeting on the field tonight Ginny spoke first “Harry I am sorry but I have to meet with Professor Sinistra after dinner. I still want to practice with the snitch but it will have to be a little later than five thirty. I’m sorry I completely forgot that I had a meeting with her. She stopped me in the hall to remind me.”

Harry was so relieved to hear this and said “That’s ok Ginny, I forgot about someone I had to meet with also. Let’s plan on meeting down at the pitch some time between six and six fifteen. Any later than that and we won’t have enough daylight to work with.” Ginny smiled and looked very relieved that Harry wasn’t upset with her. “So who are you meeting with after dinner?” she asked conversationally.

Harry nearly choked on his cornbread. He was not expecting to have to come up with a name and said “I have to be in Bill’s office at five thirty, er… could you pass the stew?” Harry was looking around frantically for something to change the topic and Hermione noticing his distress piped up “Ginny, we have to tell you about how awful Snape was today.” Ron looked up and said “Yeah Gryffindor lost fifty points for no reason!” Ginny had forgotten about asking Harry who he was meeting with this news. “But I just saw the hourglasses and it looks about the same as this morning. When did we loose these points?”

Hermione blushed and said “Oh we lost them alright in Potions this morning but Professor McGonagall put things straight. She gave me fifty points for collecting the class homework and bringing it up to her desk.” Harry and Ron both stared open mouthed at her. “What!?” they said together. “When did she do that?” Harry asked and Ron just looked at Hermione disbelievingly. “She said it quietly to me when I brought the papers up to her. She must have heard us talking about Snape when we first go to class.”

“But McGonagall would never!” Ron said still not believing what he was hearing. Harry smiled and looked at Ron “She is tough Ron but she’s fair too. If she heard Hermione grumbling about losing fifty points because of Snape’s prejudice she would set things right. Look at what she did last year when she returned from St. Mungo’s, awarding points back to Gryffindor because of Snape and Umbridge. Hermione I think that’s great but keep that between us.” Hermione frowned and said “Of course I’ll keep this between us. I’m not likely to go blabbing on Professor McGonagall when she’s just done us a favor.”

Harry spotted Bill at the staff table and watched to see when he was getting ready to leave the Great Hall and followed him “I’ll see you at the green houses.” he called as he quickly left the hall after Bill. Harry caught up with him in the entrance hall. “Bill… er I mean Professor Weasley could I have a word with you?” Bill turned and said “Certainly Harry, what’s up?” Harry walked right up to Bill and lowered his voice “Would it be alright if I use your office to meet with someone this evening?” Bill looked surprised by this request “Who do you want to meet with, and why would you want to meet in my office?” he asked curiously. Harry couldn’t think of any way to explain himself with out telling Bill the truth so he plunged ahead. “You see Bill; I sent a note to your mum and dad and asked them to come to Hogwarts tonight, to come to your office so that I could ask them… er something.” Harry was blushing and looked down at his feet. “Harry you are more than welcome to use my office.” Then he put a hand on Harry’s shoulder and said “Good Luck.” winked at him before walking away.

During Herbology that afternoon Harry did ask Professor Sprout if he could have a few miniature roses from greenhouse one. Professor Sprout saw no harm and led him to the green house so that he could pick a few of the blooms. Harry looked over the rose bush carefully and chose three perfect rose buds. “What do you plan on doing with these buds Mr. Potter? Now that they are picked they will wither quickly as you have plucked only the buds themselves without a stem.” Harry looked up at her and said “I am going to try and transfigure them into glass or metal.” Professor Sprout raised her eyebrows and said “Wait here for a moment Potter.” and she disappeared through a door at the back of the green house. After a few minutes she reappeared and handed Harry a book entitled How to Make Beautiful Charms ‘a transfiguration guide to turning flowers into jewelry’ Harry stared up at her wondering how on earth she knew and she just smiled at him and said “Chapter seven has a lovely spell for these miniature roses turning them into crystal pins or earrings. You will be late for Care of Magical Creatures if you don’t hurry so off you go.”

Harry thanked her for the book and the flowers and ran down to Hagrid’s hut. He put an impervious charm on the roses so they wouldn’t get squashed in his bag and slipped them in along with the book from Professor Sprout. After Care of Magical Creatures Harry said good buy to Ron and Hermione saying that he might see them at dinner and rushed off before they could say anything to him. Ron watched Harry walking off and turned to Hermione and said “What is up with Harry today? He is acting so strangely.” Hermione smiled and shrugged her shoulders “I don’t know, but I’m sure he’ll tell us sooner or later.” She took his hand as they walked up to the castle and asked “So what do you want to do this evening?” Ron smiled down at her mischievously and led her off to the castle.

Harry found a quiet spot in the courtyard and pulled out the book that Professor Sprout had given him. Turning to chapter seven he found three transfiguration spells that would turn the flowers into silver, glass or an iridescent crystal. There were instructions for attaching the flower to a chain or pin, as well as either engorgement charms or reducing charms to make it the right size. In the back of the book the index pointed to two different spells to transform some ordinary object like a shoelace or piece of string into a shimmering silk thread or a silvery chain. Harry took off one of his shoe laces and read the spell twice before trying it. What he got was a silver colored shoelace.

He sighed and reread the spell trying to figure out what he was doing wrong and after four more tries and his other shoelace he managed to transform his second shoelace into a shimmering silk strand. He went back to the transfiguration spells for the roses and decided to try on a couple of leaves first. After fifteen minutes of frustrating efforts he had a small pile of half metal half glass leaves. He even had a chunky glass leaf but nothing that looked very pretty.

“You are mispronouncing the incantation and your wand movement is not quite right.” Harry spun around quickly and saw Professor Dumbledore standing in the shadows watching him. Harry felt a flush of embarrassment at being caught by the headmaster trying to make a gift for a girl. Professor Dumbledore walked over to Harry and pulled out his wand. “Observe the movement first” Dumbledore instructed and he made a figure eight then reversed his wand movement to make the same figure in reverse. “Go ahead and try the motion.” Dumbledore instructed. Harry tried it three times before he was satisfied with his wand strokes. “The incantation is pronounced ‘Plah so Hou awe lo s’” Harry repeated it and looked to Professor Dumbledore for confirmation. Dumbledore nodded then pointed his wand at a reddish gold leaf that was resting on the bench near where Harry had been sitting and said “Plasso Hualos” and the leaf lifted slightly and turned into a crystal form that still held the reddish color but now it was iridescent. Harry was impressed and pointed at one of the rose buds he had picked. He concentrated very hard and moved his wand saying “Plasso Hualos” The rose turned to the same iridescent crystal reflecting the sunlight in a brilliant prism though the crystal maintained most of the deep reds in it’s center. Professor Dumbledore smiled and said “I think that she will like it very much. Good luck Harry.” Harry just looked at Dumbledore for a moment then said “How did you know?”

Dumbledore smiled at Harry and said “It is the only reason I can think of for turning a perfect rose bud into a piece of jewelry.” Dumbledore reached down and picked up Harry’s transfigured shoelace. “This is very good transfiguration Harry. Professor McGonagall must be pleased with your spell work.” Then he picked up the leaf he had transfigured and examined it. “I think I’ll keep this, it is quite lovely, well Harry I was just on my way down to the Great Hall for some dinner, I bid you good evening.” He turned and walked back into the castle. Harry looked down at the rose crystal he had just made and set about affixing it to the silk strand. Harry went down to the Great Hall after leaving his bag up in his dormitory, but he pocketed the necklace he had made for Ginny.

Harry did not eat much at dinner as he was feeling very nervous about meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in a very short time. Ron kept glancing over at Harry wondering what was making him so restless. At ten minutes to six Harry couldn’t stand it any longer and got up from the table having barely touched his food. “I have to go, Ginny I’ll see you down at the pitch in a while.” She smiled at him and promised to be there. Before Ron could ask Harry where he had to go Harry was walking toward the door to the entrance hall. He arrived at Bill’s office in only a few minutes and knocked lightly on the door. Bill opened the door and stepped back to allow him to enter where he found that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley already seated and Harry’s knees started shaking. Bill kissed his mother on the cheek and shook his father’s hand before saying “Well, I need to get my classroom ready.” and he turned to leave. As he passed Harry he put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze.

Harry was standing there looking at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley feeling very self conscious and shifting from foot to foot, not knowing how or where to begin. Mrs. Weasley came over to him and said “Let’s all sit down.” And once everyone was seated Harry looked up at them and took a deep breath. “I would like permission to ask Ginny out. I have very strong feelings for her and I want her to be my girlfriend.” Mrs. Weasley reached over and hugged Harry and wiped tears from her eyes. “Oh Harry dear, of course you may ask Ginny out.”

Mr. Weasley looked soberly at Harry and said “It’s a wonderful feeling isn’t it Harry?” Harry nodded but his mouth had gone very dry so he didn’t speak. Mr. Weasley continued “You have permission to date our daughter; you two make a fine match.” He looked so proud and Harry was feeling very relieved. He didn’t think that they would forbid him to date Ginny but asking for permission was kind of nerve racking. “Have you asked Ginny yet dear?” Mrs. Weasley asked him. Harry turned scarlet and shook his head saying “Not yet, I wanted to do this the right way so I asked you first, then I made this for her because I can’t just go to Hogsmead whenever I want to get her something.” he said pulling the necklace from his pocket. “Do you think she’ll like it?” he asked holding the piece out for Mrs. Weasley.

“Oh Harry, this is beautiful, Ginny will love it.” She handed the necklace to Arthur and wiped more tears from her eyes. Mr. Weasley was turning the rose bud over in his hands and looked up at Harry, “This is excellent transfiguration work Harry. Where did you get the silk?” Harry smiled feeling much more relaxed now. “That’s actually one of my shoelaces. I had to try a few times before I ended up with a decent looking strand.” he said and raised his pant legs to show his lace-less shoes. Mr. Weasley smirked broadly and Mrs. Weasley hugged Harry again and said “I am so happy for you and Ginny.” They talked for a few more minutes when Arthur noticed Harry looking at the clock on the wall. “Harry if you want to meet with Ginny this evening you had better get going.” and Harry’s face broke into a smile of relief.

Harry was running a bit short on time but he wanted to go back to the dormitory and put laces in his shoes and grab his heavy cloak as the chill in the air was more pronounced this evening. After saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley he ran full out up to the tower and arrived at the field by six thirty. He went to the captian’s office and got the snitch from the ball box then reentered the field staring out over the tops of the forbidden forest lost in thought when Ginny quietly came up behind him. “Are you ready to play?” she asked softly and Harry spun around quickly, startled. He had the snitch in his hand and absent mindedly let go of it as he stared down into Ginny’s blue eyes. “Absolutely!” he said with a big smile and he picked up his broom and swung his leg over as Ginny mounted her own broom. “First one to catch the snitch wins!” she said.

Smiling and feeling lighter than air Harry took off into the stadium searching for the glint of gold although the setting sun made seeing it much more difficult. Several times both Ginny and Harry took off after what they thought was the snitch just to loose sight of the glimmer as soon as they sped off in pursuit. Harry was genuinely looking for the snitch but he also kept looking at Ginny. She flew very well and she looked quite natural in the air as though she really enjoyed flying as much as he did.

After about ten minutes Harry spotted the snitch but it was very close to Ginny. His quidditch instincts took over and he went into a steep dive to try and get her to follow him, but she was way ahead of him. She had seen the snitch out of the corner of her eye and went soaring off after it. Harry realized that his feint did not fool Ginny as she zoomed after the tiny golden ball. He abruptly came out of his dive and zoomed after her but she got to it first and closed her fingers around the ball struggling to get free.

“That was great Ginny!” Harry called as he flew up to her. “You weren’t fooled by my dive.” Ginny was breathing hard from racing down the snitch but she said “I almost did follow you then the sun reflected off the snitch and shined into my eyes and I followed it instead.” Harry was smiling at her “You have good instincts Ginny and you work really well with Gem and Ryan too.” Ginny blushed and said “Well you are a terrific captain.” The sun was setting quickly now and they only had a few more minutes of useful flying time but Ginny became lost in Harry’s green eyes and as they stared at each other; without realizing it, their brooms drifted together bringing them close enough that Harry was dimly aware of Ginny’s breath on his face. As she lost herself in his gaze she let go of the snitch and without even thinking Harry reached out his hand and closed his fingers around the small golden ball but he hardly noticed as they came closer to each other his heart pounding in his chest. He had an extraordinarily strong impulse to kiss her but suddenly realized that he needed to do this properly and came back to himself rather abruptly.

“Do you want to take a walk?” Harry asked suddenly. Ginny blinked and seemed to almost be coming out of a semi dream state. She blushed deep red and said “Err, yeah ok.” and they flew down to the front of the field. Harry put the snitch back in the ball box in the Captains office while Ginny put the brooms in the shed. The sun was dipping below the horizon casting long shadows over the grounds as they started to walk up to the castle together. Harry wasn’t sure what made him do it but as he walked beside Ginny he took her hand and held it while they walked. Just holding her hand sent a shock wave of tingles down to his stomach. Her hand felt so diminutive in his but strong to. She tripped slightly on a tree root and her grip tightened while she caught her balance and he realized that she had a surprisingly strong grip for her size.

Instead of going to the front doors Harry steered her around to the side and over to the courtyard he had sat in earlier trying to transfigure a rose into a crystal. As they entered the court yard Harry walked her over to the bench and motioned her to sit down, then he knelt down on one knee in front of her and said “Ginny, I made something for you.” He reached into his robes and pulled out the rose pendant. “I was hoping that you would wear this, that is, er … I hope you would want to wear it as a… er… a token of my feelings…” He took a deep breath and plunged forward “Ginny, I would like to …” he stammered again and sighed. This wasn’t coming off the way he had thought.

He looked up into her eyes and took a steadying breath and said “Please accept this token of my affection.” He held the necklace between his hands so that she could see it. “Oh Harry this is so beautiful. I would love to wear this.” Harry leaned forward and reached around her neck to tie the silk strand; her face was very close to his and she reached up and put her arms around his neck as his arms were still around her and in that spontaneous embrace they kissed, gently yet electric in nature that lasted an eternity, but when they parted it seemed too short. Harry looked at Ginny and said “You promised me that you wouldn’t leave me and you didn’t. I talked to Dobby the house elf. He told me that you never left my side. I owe everything to you.”

Ginny’s smile faded and she looked down and sighed. Harry felt his heart sink. What had he said wrong? Why did her smile go away? “What is it Ginny?” Harry asked. Ginny held the tiny rose up to the fading light and looked at Harry “I love this Harry and I do want to wear something that you made for me, but I don’t want you to like me because you feel grateful to me. I want you to like me for who I am not because I sat by your bed while you slept.” A tear escaped her and rolled silently down her cheek as she continued “Harry I don’t want your gratitude, I want your love.”

Her words hung in the air between them then she gasped at what she had just said and brought her hands up to her mouth with a look of surprise on her face. The knot of fear that Harry felt eased up. “Ginny, I’m sorry. I’m a bit thick I am. I have known you for, what; five years? You are smart, strong, passionate, loyal; a true friend. You fight for what you believe in, you don’t give up, and…" he looked down for a moment then back up into her troubled eyes “…and you are everything I could ever want. I am only now seeing you, and that makes me the thickest oaf you have probably ever laid eyes on.” He took both of her hands and held them tight. “You promised that you wouldn’t leave me and you didn’t, you never left, you were there believing in me when everyone thought I was crazy or a liar, you risked your life to come with me to save Sirius last year, and last month you risked your sanity to bring me back. Ginny you kept that promise even before you made it. You have been keeping that promise from the moment we met.” Harry had a new fire in his eyes that Ginny had never seen before and she felt her heart pounding with a mixture of fear, excitement and something else that she couldn’t quite put a name to.

Harry squeezed her hand and said “I want you to really know what I am feeling.” Harry reached into his pocket and brought out a small pouch. He opened it and dropped a pearly white stone into the palm of his hand. “Do you know what this is?” Ginny looked at the stone and said “No.” Harry fixed her gaze and replied “It’s a saxulmens; a feeling stone. When you hold it and feel something the stone picks up that feeling and amplifies it, then spreads it all through you. You have to be careful though because it works the same way with negative feelings.” Harry held his hand out to her with the stone in it and said “Do you trust me Ginny?” She nodded mutely and he said “Hold my hand.”

Ginny took his hand and the stone was now in contact with both of them. Harry leaned over and kissed Ginny again and the stone warmed up in their hands. It shown very brightly with a white pure light that illuminated the entire courtyard and a tingling warmth spread through both of them. It was the most wonderful feeling that either of them had ever felt. Ginny suddenly understood all of the feelings that Harry had because they were flooding into her. The stone also picked up Ginny’s feelings and Harry now knew, without a doubt, how Ginny felt about him because her feelings came rushing through him from the stone held between their hands. The light that the stone gave off faded now and the stone turned back to pearly white. They still held hands and Ginny spoke first “That was the most amazing thing I have ever felt Harry.” Harry was in complete agreement with her. This is the most connected he had ever felt with another living soul. “So will you wear the necklace now?” Harry asked her with a grin and a twinkle in his eye. Before she could answer Harry scar burst into white hot pain and Ginny began screaming. They both reached their hands up to their heads and the stone fell to the ground. Ginny slipped forward off the bench and Harry caught her even as he felt a seething anger burning inside of him but it wasn’t coming from him.

Voldemort was furious and he rubbed his head with one hand while he held Ginny with the other. She had stopped screaming and was holding her face in her hands weeping. “Ginny, are you alright? Ginny!” Harry took her by her arms and looked into her frightened eyes. She had turned ghostly white and she had tears streaming down her face. “Is that what you feel when your scar hurts?” Harry looked stunned “You felt that?” Ginny just nodded then she said “Yes, and I felt anger…, no… horrible blinding rage.” Harry blanched and said in a shaken voice “That was Voldemort. When he is really angry or happy I can feel it. It makes my scar hurt. He is angry right now, and I think scared or… or I don’t know there was something else, something I have never felt before. I can’t believe you felt that. It must be because of the saxulmens, we were still holding hands with the stone.”

Ginny was breathing hard and she had stopped crying but the color had not returned to her face. “You must tell Professor Dumbledore about this Harry.” Harry shook his head “Ginny this happens sometimes. It has ever since he came back and this connection became stronger. I haven’t been practicing my occlumency as often as I should.” Ginny shook her head and had an almost frantic edge to her voice “Harry please, tell Professor Dumbledore. What I felt can’t be normal even for this connection that you have. Harry the pain was terrible.”

Harry looked down at her concern filling him again. She had screamed in agony and he felt very badly that she had felt that pain. “Ginny it’s been loads worse than that sometimes. There isn’t anything that Professor Dumbledore could do about it.” Professor Moody and Professor McGonagall came storming out into the courtyard. “Miss Weasley, Mr. Potter what is happening! We heard screaming.” Professor McGonagall was red faced and breathing hard as though she had been running. Moody was looking all around the courtyard to see if there was anyone else around. “It was Harry’s scar Professor. Voldemort is angry about something.” Ginny looked resolutely at Harry and continued “You have to tell Professor Dumbledore Harry.”

Harry sighed and said “Alright.” then stood up and faced Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody “If your scar hurt Potter then why did Miss Weasley scream?” Moody asked gruffly. Both Ginny and Harry blushed. Ginny looked down and saw the saxulmens lying on the ground and she scooped it up. “We were both holding this when it happened, so I felt what he did.” She shuddered involuntarily and handed the stone back to Harry who pocketed it. “Miss Weasley, are you alright?” Professor McGonagall asked looking at her with a worried frown. Ginny was very pale and shaking slightly. Harry felt a stab of fear for her. “Do you want to go see Madam Pomfrey?” Harry asked looking very concerned. Ginny looked back at him and said “No, I do not want to see Madam Pomfrey; I do want to see Professor Dumbledore though.” Professor McGonagall said “Let’s go then.” and led them both back into the school; Moody thumping along behind Harry and Ginny. Harry kept his arm around Ginny as she seemed so shaken by this experience. True his scar had hurt fairly badly but not enough to warrant what Ginny seemed to have felt. Harry knew that the saxulmens amplified feelings but then why hadn’t he feel that the pain was unusually strong?

[Nobby]

WOW!!! Like ive said many times before, your brill!!!!!!!!!!!!!