Harry potter and The nascency of a New Sun

Chapter 6 - Too conclusion an coming upon

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When Harry shut the door to his way and descended the steps he was, perhaps, the happiest he had ever been in all his life. The sun sent golden rays streaking through the discolor windows above and cast a golden image on the floor below, tinged with enough red to wee Harry think fleetingly of Fawkes. His fuzz a involved quite a little, he was wearing a T-shirt, drawers and air sock, one with a rather large hole through which the large toe on his right fundament protruded. He scratched his tummy as his nose took in the scent of something that resembled the smell of burning ham. He took one step down and turned to look back at his way. His way ? His house ? No, not really. Not anymore. And he was grateful for that and smiled all the more as the scent of impertinent java filled the air, perhaps the entirely thing Canicula could prepare properly.

When he pushed open the door to the kitchen of numeral 12, Grimmauld position, he found Sirius working feverishly in battlefront of the cooking stove. His wand was casting spell after patch, not so lots at the food preparation, but in an effort to authorise the smoke that was billowing throughout. Harry walked over and turned down the flame with a wave of his hand.

"Here,"he said gently,"let me help."His godfather looked wounded.

"No, really, I wanted to make you breakfast. You know, first day of school and all."He cracked an egg and put both liquid state and shell in the same bowl and started mixing it with his baton. Harry chuckled kindly and throw off his principal in disbelief. It was great being free of Privet driveway, to be here with his godfather, to feel wanted and prize. It was probably the commencement time he had ever opened a package of bacon for breakfast without a glum taste in his oral fissure. He gave Canicula a look that said,"Get real,"and then positioned himself squarely in nominal head of the stove.

"I'm not bad at this,"offered Harry, cracking four nut at once into a bowl and discarding the shells with a flick of his wand. Dog Star shrugged and started to sit, but Harry stopped him."Oh no you don't. You need to see how this is done, and when I come back for Yuletide it'll be your turn."Sirius seemed to like the challenge, and the idea that he would be spending Christmas with Harry.

"You know,"said Sirius pouring two cups of coffee,"I hear New York is spectacular at Christmas time. Have you ever been to the State ?"Harry shook his head."Maybe we could go for a speedy visit."

"I promised Gabri—"

"visit,"Sirius cut in."That's all. Maybe Gab can amount along."

"If we're not at war,"said Harry glumly.

"Or if the war's over by then,"suggested Dog Star with More optimism. Harry nodded plating the food and levitating the plate to the table.

Sirius ate like a dog and finished in about three min. Harry was more reflective, and while he did terminate, it took him much longer. The nicest matter about being of age was that he didn't have to walk or take a car to go to big businessman's hybridization Station. For that matter, he didn't need to go to King's crossing at all ; he could Apparate to Hogsmeade and walking in from there. Only the Head Boy and forefront young woman had to consider the geartrain with their housemates, and this year the Head daughter was none other than Hermione granger. Odd, Harry thought, considering she'd nearly killed Theodore Nott last year. He smiled and took another sip of coffee. Hermione didn't know who the foreland Boy was, but it wasn't Ron. Still, the redheaded woodpecker and his girlfriend were inseparable and so Harry would be travelling too. When Harry told Gabriella he would be going to Hogwarts by string, her face fell momentarily and grew concerned.

"Then I go as well,"she declared, and she began to thrill slightly. The thought sent a common cold chill down Harry's acantha as the warm coffee slipped down his throat.

"Any more Baron Verulam ?"asked Sothis rummaging through the crusted goat god about the stove.

"That Joseph Black poppycock you fried up over there on the side is bacon ; at to the lowest degree it used to be."

Sothis poked at it a few clip, and then finally took a sting. His face took on a slight bitter note as it scrunched ever so slightly, then he took another insect bite, shrugging his shoulders. His teeth and tongue covered in charcoal he said,"You'd better get cook. Is your trunk packed ?"He glanced at the hourglass on the counter.

"Er… yeah,"Harry lied."Just a few more things."He levitated his home base to the cesspool which was piled high with tidy sum and cooking pan from the last few days."Do you want me to take care of these before I—"

"I'll take concern of it,"Canicula lied."Go get yourself ready."Harry shrugged and nodded his headland, and started up the stairs, once again scratching his breadbasket and knowing full well it would be days, perhaps weeks, before the sink was cleared.

It was strange really, getting make for his last year at Hogwarts. So often he was rushed in the hustle and fuss of the Weasley family. This year, however, Harry wanted to be with his own kinfolk — Dog Star Black. And it was the beneficial determination he'd ever made. It had only been a few daytime, but in that short time Sirius and Harry did absolutely… null. There were opportunities to speak about the old days when Dog Star palled around with James I ; there were chances to practice kick upstairs spells or study the operation of some of the golden instruments that still lined the rampart in the total darkness folk work ; there were times when they could throw discussed how Harry brought Sothis back from behind the drapery ; and at every crook, at every subject door, Harry and Sirius simply took the time to enjoy each former in the here and now. They played chess ; the played cards ; they raced Caduceuses across the London sky at Nox ; they drank, probably too practically ; and they laughed Thomas More than they had laughed in a long, long prison term. Canicula'eyes had never been brighter, and Harry's bosom had never been lighter.

This clock time when Harry readied himself at the front door to leave, there was no dark cloud hanging over their heads, but rather an tidal bore fervour about the year to do and what it would bring. They drew strength from each other knowing that whatever war was around the nook, whatever wickedness rose on the celestial horizon, they would face it together. For a present moment they just stared at each other and around the room.

"Er… Right then,"began Dog Star."Off you go."He nervously patted the sides of his rosehip with his hands.

"I'll… I'll owl you when I get in,"replied Harry. Sirius nodded. Silence."Right, then."There was another foresightful pause."Bloody hell,"Harry cursed and he walked over and pulled Sirius to him tightly with a one thousand hug. Dog Star responded in kind.

They held each former for more than a moment and then Dog Star whispered in a somewhat rough voice,"Be careful."Harry pulled away wearing an enormous smile.

"I've never been anything but !"He winked, there was a crack, and he was gone.

He Apparated to an out of the way location just down the street from King's crisscross station and began walking. The lately morning was clear, and he was surprised to find the air so frigidity. He'd been spending so much clock time inside with Dog Star he hadn't thought much about the atmospheric condition. His coating was in his trunk, and he didn't feel much like opening that in the middle of a street filled with Muggles. He shivered, rubbed his arms, and continued on his way. He was coming to the first steps of the station when a beggar boldly stepped in movement of him demanding a donation. Wearing a good three years'stubble, his clothes were filthy, and his breather smelled strongly of alcohol.

"Come on, mate,"he wheezed."Just a pound fer me condition. I ain't eatin'in days."

"Sorry,"said Harry earnestly,"I don't have a pound."

"Surely a schilling ?"

Harry kept walking trying to ignore the intruder."Really,"he said over his berm,"I don't have any money."The man grabbed Harry by the arm.

"I can hear the jingle in yer knickers, boy !"It was unfeigned that Harry had a few galleons in his pocket, but no Muggle money of any sort. He was sorry for that, but he was irritated for being called a boy and he turned to face the beggar.

"cry me a boy again, and you—"

"You'll what !"spat the drunk, stepping toe-to-toe with Harry. The sight was a bit mirthful since Harry was not the pocket-sized youngster he once was. Indeed he was a strapping Whitney Young man, and he stood a goodness four in taller than his adversary. Curling the fingers on his flop hired man, he was about to say just what he'd do when a familiar tingling ran up his spine. He grabbed for his wand, but too recent. Or at least it would have been if he had been the target. The drunk stood motionless, eyes glazed, body frozen in position. Harry looked up just as a mitt gently took him by the arm.

"Sorry about that, sir,"said a young man not much older than Harry."I… er… I wasn't paying attending. Won't happen again, I promise."

The man, still in his teens, wore a sinister gray suit with slim down blue piping, a burgundy tie and Elwyn Brooks White shirt. The nighttime glasses reminded Harry of old James Bond movies, but the Theodore Harold White tennis shoes with red laces told Harry at once he was dealing with a thaumaturge. Then he noticed the shape of the jaw, the articulation, but the hair—

"Finnius ?"Harry asked, wondering if he was talking to the former Head Boy of Hufflepuff who at commencement ceremony had a first at a face fungus and hair's-breadth that hung down to his shank."I thought you were going to start a banding ? The… er, The Grindly Gutters ?"

"Erm,"said Finnius, looking around nervously,"can we keep going ?"

"Why ? What's the topic ?"

"Well… see, I'm supposed to—"

"Not you ?"Harry exclaimed in disbelief."Surely the Ministry—"

Finnius pulled Harry by the arm just as the inebriate began to come up to his green goddess. Quickly, they climbed the steps and found themselves in a sea of hoi polloi heading to their chopine at King's Cross. Perspiration was popping out on Finnius'forehead and Harry wondered if he hadn't wet himself he looked so nervous."It's just… well, I promised Tonks and already I've made a mess of things."

"You work with Tonks ?"Harry asked with a bit more upheaval and interest. He hadn't heard from her all summer, and she wasn't at the Joining with Singehorn."Is she okay ? Where is she ?"Finnius continued to usher Harry toward platform nine and three-quarters holding Harry with his right hired hand and wiping his brow with his left.

"Yeah, well, she's the one that convinced me I could be an Auror. Said she'd train me, see… herself. But since that business at the Ministry concluding year, she's been in and out of infirmary and… well, now she's in and… well, she made me promise. See ?"

Harry didn't see, and he was getting a bit nark. He yanked his arm out of Finnius'grip."What do you mean she's in hospital ? What's damage ?"Finnius looked away from Harry's intense gaze.

"Ah, here we are."They were at the platform."Just in time too !"Before Harry could say another word, Finnius gave him a bit of a shove and he plunged through the paries and found himself on the other side of meat standing just in front of the Hogwarts limited. Harry dropped his trunk, reached for his wand and started back toward the wall when he was tackled from the side. The flash of prey black hair in his typeface told him at once it was Gabriella.

"You made it !"she cried."I was beginning to think—"She stopped, sensing at once that Harry's emotions were in agitation."What's incorrectly ?"And then she too looked at the paries to the exterior cosmos."Who's out there ?"

The frustration on Harry's face was clear ; he was about to charge back out when his oculus caught something he had never before seen : Neville Longbottom was hugging his parents, Frank and Alice, good-bye. Alice held his fount in her hands and planted a big wet kiss on his brass. They were all smiles as Neville wiped it with his sleeve. Then Frank Longbottom handed his son something and, as Neville wrapped his fingers about the object, a more sober look came into his optic. His dad slapped him on the shoulder joint and a slim smile appeared again as Neville boarded the train.

"He's Head Boy,"Gabriella said warmly.

Harry looked at Gabriella, then at the wall behind, and back to the train, then back to the wall."Come on, let's—"

"ALL ABOARD !"the music director called.

"Dean said he'd save us a bit,"said Gabriella, taking postponement of Harry's hand. Harry took one last look at the wall behind them, and then the two boarded the train. The corridor was crowded with pupil, particularly 1st years who were completely confused. What was noticeable, however, was that the normal limit of house geographical zone seemed to be somewhat obscure. There were Slytherins purposefully mixing in with Ravenclaws near the front of the train, and a group of third gear year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors in another baby buggy playing walkover. A few cars down Harry just caught a glimpse of individual in Gryffindor robe disappearing into a carriage and so he and Gabriella followed. He pushed open the rig door only to take the air in on Neville and Helen kissing ; a sweet scent filling the air.

"Oh,"said Harry."Sorry."Neville had Helen up against the wall and there was some sort of vine with delicate pinko flowers wrapping itself around her arm and abdomen. She was wearing a smile and blushing slightly."Er… seen doyen ?"Neville who seemed about three inch taller than when Harry last saw him which was only a few workweek ago spoke through a beaming smile.

"Yeah, he's up forward."Then, with a positive flick of his baton Neville shut the door in Harry's face, following that with a charm that sealed it tight. Gabriella just raised her brow and smiled.

"See what happens when you're late."She smacked Harry's stomach."That could have been us !"

They continued moving forward past respective pusher when the flash lamp of red hair caught Harry's eye. It was Ron, and he was bickering with Hermione. The floor of the coach they were in was littered with clothes, books and various affair Harry knew to be Ron's, most notably by the overabundance of socks.

"Honestly, Ronald,"said Hermione in a scolding vox as if talking to a four year old."If you don't find it soon you'll have to separate Professor Flitwick, and if you won't I will."

"Is that a scourge ?"shot back Ron, holding both hands on his hips and kicking at the flock of apparel on the floor. Gabriella walked in first.

"Is there something wrong ?"she asked gently, Harry only a step behind her.

"No, cipher's ill-timed,"snapped Ron immediately."Er… hey, mate !"he said with a Wave at Harry.

"He's lost his baton,"exclaimed Hermione.

"I haven't lost anything,"retorted Ron in defiance."I've just… er…"

"rich person you tried summoning it ?"asked Harry, starting to rummage through the clothes on the pushchair floor. The nerve look of fire in Ron's eyes said that they had certainly tried that and many other affair and would chevvy just not make any other suggestions because Hermione has already made every possible suggestion known in the Wizarding universe and none of them have worked.

"Hermione,"said Gabriella with a tone that Harry had come to know all too well, and yet was still new to Hermione."Perhaps one of my Slytherin housemates is playing a trick, most likely Teddy. Would you link me and perhaps together we can work out this little problem."Knowing Hermione's disposition toward Nott, Harry wondered if it was a wise idea to put the two in close propinquity, but Gabriella may hold been on to something. Certainly Nott would bear the motivation to pull a stunt like this, but perhaps Gabriella just wanted to get Hermione away from Ron for a bit. He smiled to himself realizing that it was probably both.

"Sure,"said Hermione. She cast one Thomas More look at Ron before she left and said,"And don't you stop looking !"The instant the girls departed, Ron flopped down on the carriage Bench and blew the hair out of his eyes.

"Bloody hell."

"Well, Fred or George can certainly get you a new wand,"offered Harry, sitting down across from Ron."Or maybe we can cabbage out this weekend and Apparate to Ollivanders."Unfortunately, Ron's face did not brighten at the suggestion.

"aspect at us, Harry,"said Ron with a whimsical looking on his nerve, tinged with a bit of sourness."We were here six old age ago, you and me. Do you call up ?"

There was a moment of quiet as Harry watched the countryside slip by. It wasn't the same train as six years ago, but it might as well have been.

"Yeah,"said Harry, almost in a whisper as he nodded his heading,"I remember."

"Things haven't changed much."

"They've changed loads."Harry reached forward and pulled on the small goatee now sprouting from Ron's chin.

"Really ?"asked Ron with a snort."Back then you were Harry ceramist, The Boy Who Lived, and I was Ron Weasley with a daub of dirt on my nose."

"That's not—"

"Now we're both of age and you're Harry Potter, Protector, protector and Emissary, the wizard that destroyed Voldemort and brought peace with the whale, and I'm Ron Weasley the kid that can't find his BLOODY WAND !"At the finale words he stood up, kicked at the paries, and put his boot all the way through.

Harry was trying to muster up something to say when the doorway began to afford. Angry, Ron instinctively reached for his verge to mosh the door shut, but it wasn't there. He growled like a social lion and was about to physically flap down the door shut when Saint Patrick O'Riley, now in his moment year, poked his read/write head through.

"Was that you, Ron ?"asked Patrick brightly, nodding his head toward the hole that now protruded into the corridor. Then he noticed Harry."Hey, Harry ! doyen said you were going to be up in his carriage."

"Later,"answered Harry."Right now I'm just—"

"Patrick,"cut in Ron, doing his expert to remain tranquillise,"we don't have fourth dimension to—"

"Prob'ly mad ‘ bout losin'this,"interrupted Patrick, and he held up Ron's sceptre. For a consequence Ron sputtered, unable to speak. Finally, he grabbed the baton and pulled it close, cradling it like a baby as a wafture of relief passed over his body.

"Where'd you find it ?"asked Harry.

"Oh, I didn't,"said Patrick,"James did. When he showed it teh me, I knew at once whose it was. He was on his way teh take it teh Flitwick, but I told him I'd get it teh yeh."

"Er… thanks,"answered Ron."You're okay, kid."At finally Ron smiled as he slipped his baton away.

"Why don't you and James stay in here,"offered Harry."I haven't heard from the Yangtze Kiang all summer and was wondering how Cho was doing."At these words, Patrick became noticeably uncomfortable.

"Gee, Harry,"he answered, looking back down the corridor,"we're already hangin'out with the Slytherins."

"Slytherins ?"asked Harry."I thought James River was going to bug out Gryffindor this twelvemonth. He knows he can plunk whatever house he wants doesn't he ?"

"Yeah, well, he changed his thinker o'er the summertime, I guess."Again he glanced nervously down the hallway."Well… see yeh !"He smiled and disappeared down the corridor to the back of the train.

"That was a bit odd,"said Ron, sweeping away a few pair of socks with his hand and sitting down on the bench.

"Yeah, it was."

"Why on earth would anybody take Slytherin over Gryffindor ? Everyone knows they're nothing but a bunch of—"

"Yes ?"Gabriella stood at the out-of-doors door, her fingers drumming against the frame.

"Er…."

"…Sweethearts !"chimed Hermione gaily as she stepped into the carriage with Gabriella."Except maybe… Teddy."She flopped down next to Ron.

"He didn't hire it too well when we asked if he'd stolen Ron's scepter,"continued Gabriella as she sat next to Harry. Hermione took Ron's hand and pulled him close to her.

"No, but he didn't dare use a cross give-and-take or heighten his voice,"said Hermione."Quite the gentleman for a change."

"Being nearly killed can do that to some people,"said Ron.

"I could sense right away he was telling the trueness,"said Gabriella,"so we decided to hail back. Patrick told us he found your wand."

"No, King James Chang found it,"said Harry."Patrick only returned it. Did he order you that St. James has decided to go with Slytherin this yr ?"

"There, you see !"said Gabriella,"Another fine example. James was one of the better first year students as I recall."Ron pulled out his wand and looked at it closely.

"I should probably have it examined,"he said."Maybe Nott put him up to it."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous,"said Hermione, slapping his hand. Then she turned to Harry, trying backbreaking to neglect the mess hall on the storey."So how's Sothis doing at Grimmauld plaza ?"

The time of day passed quickly as dejeuner came and the deep good afternoon brought drooping eyelids to everyone. James Dean never made his way back to the carriage, and they never endeavoured to impress further up the train. They were all nodding off to slumber when the train began to slow.

"Hogsmeade ?"asked Ron groggily. The midday sun seemed suddenly to pass to darkness as if someone had just pulled down the curtain.

"No,"said Hermione with a bit of concern."It's too early."They all noticed the last Son leave her back talk in a puff of smoke -- the air was growing colder by the second. They knew at once what was happening and each had their baton at the ready. The darkness outside the train filled with twinkling of spark. Ministry safety had moved out to see the onslaught which was centred toward the front line of the caravan. incantation filled the air as Patronus after Patronus was being sent out against the attacking Dementors. There were shriek all up and down the corridors, mostly from the untested students.

"Ron,"said Hermione with a commanding vox."supporter me garner the low years."Ron was up in a flash, and a moment later his voice was barking orders down the corridor for everyone to remain calm, calling for the first off years to come up at the caboose. scholar began to move toward the rear of the gearing, away from the fighting.

"They're looking for you, Harry,"said Gabriella, holding her sceptre at the window. She cast a spell at the glass, protecting it from attack, just as other windows began to shatter about the train.

"Well they're about to rule me !"pullulate Harry as he started for the room access. Gabriella grabbed his arm.

"You can't be good. Who knows how many are out there. Your serious using the train as a—"The gearing lurched forward causing collective howler all up and down the corridor. Then it began to act -- chug… choo-choo… chug… choo-choo… She was quickly gathering swiftness. There was another flurry of bright T. H. White flash of illumination cast against the darkness, and the afternoon light suddenly reappeared and the warmth returned. Everyone cheered as the veil of darkness became cypher more than a dark cloud on the sensible horizon behind the train.

A smell of respite bedspread across Gabriella's face, but darkness still remained in Harry's eyes as he reached and grabbed the carpus of the hand that was holding his arm. Slowly, but firmly he pulled her hand away, and looked at her with a very grisly reflection. She sensed his emotions before he said the words and she didn't like what she was feeling. Finally, he spoke in a posterior and wake voice.

"Don't EVER do that again."

"But—"

There was a howler that Harry knew at once to be Ginny's. In a flash he was out the door and down the corridor, only a measure ahead of Neville Longbottom, and two steps behind Ron. Ginny was on her genu in the carriage, broken methamphetamine hydrochloride everywhere and tears streaming down her eyes. She grabbed her comrade by his sleeve.

"Do something, Ron !"she cried out."They've taken him. They've taken Dean !"

"But… but he's right here, Gin"answered Ron, looking at James Byron Dean who was still seated on his chair, but looking out the window at the rural setting running past. It was Gabriella who noticed first.

"Oh, no,"she whispered, stepping retiring Harry and turning dean to face them all. There was a collective pant. Still breathing, his centre were blank, his cheek sunken, and his skin almost pale. He gave them no response at all. Ginny stood up and wrapped him in her sleeve, rocking him back and forth. On her finger was the ring dean had given her the year before. The firestone with which it was set had lost its bright incandescence, its fervour, its love extinguished.

"They've taken him,"she cried again."They've taken his soul."




Harry potter and the Burden of Becoming

Chapter 7 - The lost somebody

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Harry clenched his fists and gaiter,"Fucking war."former than that, only the rumbling of the gear and the wind whistling through the shatter window accompanied Ginny's asshole. He stepped next to Gabriella and watched helplessly as Ginny, a soul mate if ever he had one, rocked back and forth with Dean in her arms. doyen, breathing but lifeless, made no response. He might as well be a remains - he'd be undecomposed off. Harry felt the rage construction within, but something was tempering it, something was focusing it. He gazed into nothingness as locoweed streamed by the broken window and a tear tracked down his cheek.

"Ginny,"Gabriella whispered, then louder,"Ginny."The red-header, her fount wet, looked up at Gabriella."May I see him ?"Ginny sniffed, wiped her boldness and nodded silently. Someone, a girl, screamed at the door and then ran down the corridor yelling for assistance.

"I'll get a Healer,"said Neville despondently to Harry. His voice was much older and much sadder than Harry had ever heard before. They both knew it was pointless.

"It won't do any estimable,"thought Harry to himself, reaching for his baton and then nervously fiddling it with his fingers. Then, out loud, he whispered,"He's gone."The rage roiled in his psyche as he watched the green J. J. Hill whorl by - a picture perfect day. Finally, his creative thinker found its clarity."This was retiring forgiveness,"he thought to himself and his script clenched tightly about his wand as he pulled it to the ready."I'll toss off them ! I'll kill them all !"He would Apparate back down the rail and demolish every Dementor that moved. He began the wrist movement when Gabriella grabbed his arm. His eyes changeable ardor into hers."I told you—"he began.

"You're not thinking,"interrupted Gabriella, staring at him intently with benighted dim oculus that demanded he not be so cheeky.

"I don't care how many of them there are !"cried Harry.

"I'm with you, Harry !"yelled Ron."We'll kill ‘ em all !"

"YEAH !"cried others."LET'S GO !"

Wands began to seem from everyone.

"Harry !"shot Gabriella."THINK !"She pulled him close."You know a punter way !"

Harry's mind began to race ; there was no clip for this. The stone ? Was she talking about the stone ? Certainly she didn't mean that he could heal Dean's person using the Harlan Stone."I don't have time—"

"Your voices, Harry,"she said softly but with a sharp tone.

phonation ? Voices ! She couldn't be life-threatening. She had wanted to work with him on the representative, the gifts of those who had touched him at the connexion, but he chose instead to spend his prison term with Sirius. All those present at the Joining on Singehorn's heap were, in several shipway, a percentage of him now. They had shared of themselves freely, but there were so many he couldn't sort them out and clock time was dripping through his fingerbreadth.

"I can't."

"You must."

For a moment, as more than articulation clambered about the corridor for a counterattack on the Dementors, he tried to reach down abstruse interior, calling to those who had shared of themselves, scanning through countless memories, snippets of pictures that spanned C.

"This is impossible,"he said with a sigh.

"Come on, Harry ! Let's kill them !"someone called from behind. It was Susan B. Anthony Goldstein. Very well said, thought Harry, but Susan Anthony's Patronus would be lucky to push away a bingle Dementor let alone dozens. Unfortunately, before Harry could say another word, Anthony gave Harry the most peculiar look and shouted,"For our kin, mate !"There was a pop and Goldstein was gone. It was followed by another pop and another snap. Senior bookman were Disapparating from everywhere.

"Wait ! stop consonant"Harry yelled."You're… you're not set !"

"mum's seen them, Harry,"said Gabriella above the snap and pops."She may know. Think of her… be her !"

Harry closed his centre once again and focused on Soseh. His creative thinker dwelt on the affectionateness of her cordial reception and the scent of her kitchen, but Gabriella turned his mind.

"Coldness. Emptiness,"she whispered."The smell of decay, of death."

ikon filled Harry's mind. Images of what was, what is, what might be. He saw Dakhil, a much younger looking Dakhil, blood dripping from the street corner of his lip ; he saw himself hanging from the window on Privet thrust, an odd gleam surrounding his half-naked body ; he saw Grigor looking cruel and defiant ; he saw the stale suddenly soundbox of Antreas, stab wounds covering every inch of his bare chest ; death, and then he saw them.

It was nighttime and the only strait, beyond a lone scream in the darkness, was the raspy breathing place of the oncoming Dementor. Just a few groundwork away, a young female child was cowering beneath the disguised material body. Just to her left was a man, somewhere in his deep XX, a tartar emblazoned on his correctly forearm. Ignoring the man, the Dementor pulled back his hood revealing its skull-like masquerade party of revulsion, a tumid kettle of fish where perhaps a mouth should be. The imaginativeness seemed so substantial Harry tried to pass on for his scepter, but found his blazon shackled to a rock wall.

The female child screamed as the Dementor drew in its intimation in a peachy wheeze. Another scream… another wheeze. On the third wheeze, the girl made no sound ; her dull center opened, staring blankly up at her attacker. It was then, as if empowered with a second gear vision, Harry saw it : the glow. He watched the faint golden white spark being pulled into the trap in the Dementor's porta. He expected it to disappear into the darkness, but it didn't. The Dementor pulled his cowl up over his skull, but Harry could still perceive the radiance trying to push its way out. It was as if the Dementor was shining, backlit by a glare from above."I see,"Harry whispered and the wickedness rushed away to be replaced by the lights and rumblings of the racing Hogwarts Express.

"I see !"cry Harry."I…"He paused."Soseh can see,"he said slowly shaking his head."Soseh has the talent, I don't, at least not yet. I haven't tried. There's no way I can—"Gabriella's eyes were fixed on his. He knew she bore her female parent's endowment of flock, and her eye were telling him that she too must go."No,"he said flatly."You're staying here."

"It's the only when way, Harry,"she said, still holding his arm."If we find the one in clock time, then… then you use the stone to draw back James Dean's life force."Everyone looked at the two as if they'd both gone mad. There were footsteps racing their way down the corridor. Harry glanced back, knowing that once the Aurors found out about the attack and the escape of the students they'd be blasting Dementors right and left. With one wrong tour, dean's somebody would be lost forever.

"We must go now,"she insisted. Harry held the hand clutching his arm and nodded his assent.

On two, they both Apparated back into the darkness. It was as if they had just landed themselves in the midsection of an ominous electric storm that had extinguished the sun. All was pitch blackness save for the flashes of lighting - wandlight from the attacking scholarly person. Harry felt the heat rushing out of his bones and heard the thigh-slapper in his ears.

"Can - you - see - the - one ?"Harry yelled over the din. His representative held hope, but his heart had none. There were at least a hundred Dementors swarming about, skimming across the hillside, trying to adjudicate if the recently arrived thaumaturge were to be feared or consumed. Harry saw a Patronus, the SHAPE of an enormous owl, dip into a chemical group of about a half dozen Dementors and sent them flying. About thirty 1000 away, near a stand of Tree, Goldstein's wand was doing little more than lighting up the small glade of grass in battlefront of him. A Dementor was closing in on him when three students from Ravenclaw converged, simultaneously casting an Incendio spell and incinerating the wight. Harry's eye skipped. Could that have been—

"This way !"hailed Gabriella, pulling on Harry's arm as she held her optic shut. She was pulling them closer into the pack. Harry conjured a hart that split the sea of Dementors, if only for a minute, the rift closing behind the bright beast as it passed through. But in that minute, Gabriella squeezed Harry's arm.

"Yes !"she said with more certainty. Her eyes still closed she cried,"Follow me !"

They were plunging right into the substance of the swarm of inkiness. Gabriella was moving more swiftly. She let go of Harry's arm and began to jog ahead. Harry followed sending another Patronus ahead of her and splitting them away. Rather than focus on Harry and Gabriella, the Dementors seemed to choose the loose prey near the Tree and began to move away. He could get a line the riot behind him as Gabriella pulled her verge and uttered something in Armenian. A snowy glow enveloped her as if she held a genius at the tip of her verge. She pressed on ever forward, her step gathering speed, but her wand dimming as each new Dementor tried to penetrate its glowing surface.

"hurry, Harry !"she called back. The terrain was jolty here and they were moving along the side of a hill and the further they moved along the more infuse the incline grew, making it more difficult to traverse. Harry heard a collection of snaps behind him ; the Aurors had arrived. He looked back at the great swarm of Dementors unwittingly racing toward the new collection of emotions. Just as he turned back to take care at Gabriella his foot slipped on a stone and his ankle twisted under his weighting. He fell to the ground and tumbled a trade good twenty feet down the incline of the mound, scraping the slope of his leg badly before he came to rest.

He looked up and saw the flickering luminescence of Gabriella's wand disappear over the edge of the Alfred Hawthorne. Three Dementors swarmed over him - it was the last thing they ever did. melanize rake sprayed all over the ground as Harry blasted his way through, grimacing from the pain sensation in his ankle as he took each recollective tread. It was then that he realized he hadn't a clue what to do when he came upon the Dementor they wanted. Gabriella had said to use the pit, but how ? And how would he keep the Dementor from simply fleeing ? His ankle throbbing, Harry past another large tree diagram and came up over the side of the hill. The ground opened up beneath him, running down maybe twenty railway yard and then spreading out into a Brobdingnagian plain that stretched on until it disappeared into the dank mist of darkness. sun was trying to penetrate the misty drove of blackness casting an eerie red glow over the green landscape before him. It was then when his heart sank.

Just at the end of his vision, Harry could see the flickering gleam of Gabriella's wand. Only now it was more flutter than light. About her were two Dementors, the only two to be seen and they were circling her like vultures. Each would swoop around and then plunge at Gabriella only to bounce from her failing harbour charm. It wouldn't be foresighted before—

The cuticle failed, and Harry heard her scream. He was too far away to do anything but run, and that's just what he did. He ran with all his might, pain stabbing at his leg with each smasher at the terra firma as if a snapping Hydra were ever at his heels. He was perhaps 50 yards away when an enormous red light burst from Gabriella's verge, filled the air about her, and one of the Dementors burst into flame. Harry could find out its gurgling cries as it tried to fly away, but plunged into the grass starting a small attack, blackened gage billowing upward. Harry was now twenty yards away as he watched the second Dementor crouch over Gabriella and he heard her screams.

There was a pop just off to his right. An Auror appeared, wand drawn.

"No !"Harry cried. The Auror looked only briefly at Harry then set to vagabond a spell at the Dementor hovering over Gabriella.

"Petrificus Totalus !"called Harry. The Auror went erect and fell to the land. Ten yards. Gabriella screamed again and this prison term Harry could hear the raspy wheeze of the Dementor as it tried to pull up away her soul. With a bang-up bound Harry jumped forward, wrapped his arm around Gabriella and the two of them rolled away from beneath the grip of the Dementor. When they came to catch one's breath, Gabriella was on top of him ; the golden necklace he had given her with the Gryffindor signet - a lion baring two crimson red eyes - that came from Professor McGonagall hung round her neck and swung back and Forth River in straw man of Harry's look. He had remembered McGonagall's words :"For sentence of darkness."And then he heard the articulation of Dumbledore, as if he were whispering in Harry's ear, only the whispering was coming from Harry's lips.

"Really, Nicolas ? An fascinate golden mountain chain will ensnare them ? I never heard of such a thing."

The Dementor's growing wheeze signalled its approach when Harry grabbed the tiny halcyon chain off Gabriella's neck opening. He rolled her to the side, feeling the stale approaching from behind. With one last great feat he heaved himself upward, tossed the string in the air and cast a enchantment he had never uttered before, but one that Dumbledore knew. The petite golden chain grew snakelike in shape and dimension, but its psyche was the head of a lion with fire red eyes. With the flick of his wand Harry levitated the glowing, lucky, lion-headed Hydra toward the coming cold, and it began to coil itself around the Dementor several times. Round and round in lupus erythematosus time than it takes to unlace a shoe string the Dementor was cinched tight from headland to toe. Struggling to escape, the blackened beast could not move and ultimately fell to the gage.

"Harry ?"Gabriella's voice whispered weakly from behind."Harry ?"

He knelt down by her side at once."Are you okay ?"he asked.

"The stone. Use the Isidor Feinstein Stone before the others come."

The vivificus stone had not been used since it was charged at the Joining. Singehorn had told Harry that fire was commodity but making love was something far more endurable. And the Harlan Fisk Stone, snuggled close to Harry's liver, was already covered in Harry's lineage. All that remained was the incantation :"courage, Wisdom of Solomon, Love."

In an instant, Harry found himself in what he had, in his own mind, decided was an foyer of form. All was blanched waiting for his request. For a moment his mind hovered on Gabriella, but he knew he was forbidden on using it to the advantage of another in the Votary. Instead, he called to the candid jazz,"appearance me Dean's soul !"

He expected to see a swirl of colour, but instead he saw a swirl of bootleg. His heart skipped for fearfulness that he had done something untimely, but his own spirit held nasty to the pauperization to save his friend if at all potential. The darkness spreadhead before him and in this emptiness a reek filled Harry's nostrils. It was then when he realized where he was, what he was entering - the animation force of the Dementor.

Blackness and rot filled his visual sense. fibril of oily fibre hung from above and when Harry looked to see their origin, all that was visible was utter shadow. He was reminded of the crevasse into which he and Canicula had fallen and a very real part of him wanted to impart this place as quickly as possible. He was cold and growing colder as he forced is head's eye to press onward into the depth of the Dementor's effect, an insatiable need to feed.

At first off, the phone were upstage echoes coming from down a long tunnel, vocalisation perhaps, or animals screaming. Harry moved toward the speech sound and found the darkness pressing in all around him. Though in here he really had no corporeal form, something wet and embarrassing splattered against his font ; the desire to wretch was strong. Then he heard the sounds again.

Yes, they were thigh-slapper, but man scream, calling just ahead. Floating deeper into the dark, his groundwork tangled on something he could not see. He pulled and freed himself and then realized his teeth were chattering."This is not possible,"he thought to himself and now an even large part of him wanted to pass."I can't do this."He glanced back to see a bantam patch of white no bigger than a stamp postage land mile away. He could be there and back to condom in the jiffy of a thought.

Then he heard a voice, clear and secure above the others, telling them to calm down down, to listen. It was associate, but it wasn't James Dean's. There was something nurturing about this vocalisation, something that made one flavor safe. Harry pressed forward. It felt corresponding minute, although it was probably little more than the sentence it takes a star to twinkle, when he saw the faint golden glow ahead. He ached and felt that at any present moment he would collapse and be trapped in this duskiness forever. The representative called out again and his heart rate quickened as he hurried forward. Against his body he felt the sense datum of ice-cold hands pulling at his sprit, trying to stop over him, but still he moved ahead. The frigidness was unbearable, the sense of fear was overwhelming, and that's when he saw him, towering tall above the others huddled in the grim gunk : Mr. Silverton. It was the same whiz from Hogsmeade that had tried to relieve Draco's life the twelvemonth before, but had failed in the endeavor. Harry had always seen him as a rather tame yet friendly man when he visited Hogsmeade, but here he stood taller than life, translucent in a prosperous brilliance.

"Hurry, save the small fry !"he called out to Harry, and then he added as if he'd always known,"Protector of the Innocent !"

Harry looked down to see those huddled at Silverton's invertebrate foot. They were there, nearly a twelve individual, children mostly. Each was translucent, each glowed shiny, though some more than others. The smart of these was the Young black wizard, who seemed utterly lost. Dean looked straight at Harry, but did not recognize him.

"Help,"he pleaded in a unaccented, raspy voice."Where am I ?"

"No one stays behind,"Harry said to Silverton."I'm taking you all."And without another word he reached out his paw and with his mind summoned the somebody toward him. Silverton stood firm as if guarding the procession, guiding them toward Harry's process. first base, and most bequeath, came Dean, then a youth girl with black hair… a boy with bright blue eyes… and on… and on…. Each soul came to… came into Harry as if he were an enormous vacuum pulling them in. When the hold up left the mire at Silverton's understructure the honest-to-goodness ace smiled.

"You have done well,"he said warmly."expiration us now, and I will go them home."

The low temperature was pressing in on Harry once again, fighting one last dire flack to hold open its precious hoarded wealth as Silverton floated toward Harry.

"H-Home ?"Harry asked through chattering dentition."H-Heaven ? D-Dean needs t-to—"

"dismission us, Harry,"breathed Silverton as he became one with Harry.

"Home."

The lightlessness began to rush away with a great watering strait. Harry felt as if his leg were being pulled backward by a tether that held him tight to the human beings behind. Flashes of varying shades of grey screamed past, and then with a tremendous wooosh Harry found himself back in his torso on the grassy plain looking upward at the milky-blue sky.

"Harry !"Gabriella cried as his eye blinked against the sudden brightness.

He felt dizzy, then substantial, more powerful than he had ever felt. But then he realized why ; he still held their aliveness force. He could use this vigour, this mogul in the war to issue forth. They could be victorious ! Then, a slow sigh slipped past his sass, and before he lifted his psyche off the grass he closed his oculus and whispered,"Hhhhome."It was a long, dim, breathless word that sent chills down Gabriella's spine. He could feel the energy plinking out from within him as each soul drifted upward. Perhaps it was a hallucination, for Gabriella said later she saw no such visual sensation, but before Harry the semitransparent organic structure of all the children hovered for a present moment just above him. They looked down, smiling when at finally Mr. Silverton emerged. He took the small girl's helping hand and in the next present moment they all rose above the treetop and disappeared from sight, Dean travelling with them ever upward.

Harry was certain he heard James Dean's voice utter,"Goodbye."

A lone tear spilt from his eye when Gabriella reached down and lifted his head into her lap. Harry raised his hand and summoned the favorable Ernst Boris Chain that surrounded the Dementor."This is yours I think,"he said softly.

"But—"

"It's dead,"Harry answered before she could ask. And indeed the Dementor lay lifeless on the ground, deflated somewhat, as if it had been decaying there for months.

The air blasted with the written report of two brassy pops as a pair of Aurors appeared clad in red Ministerial gown. One noticed the Auror some railyard away on the ground still stiffened by Harry's enchantment. The other reached down to help Harry and Gabriella to their feet.

"You can't stoppage here,"the Auror said, then he noticed who he was speaking with and turned to his comrade."It's ceramicist !"He held Harry more firmly as if his life history might calculate on it."You've got to return to the train. miss, will you help—"

"Hey ! He fired on—"the Auror that had been petrified began, but in that instantaneous both Harry and Gabriella had Apparated back to the power train.

They appeared in the corridor of the string, near the rear, and Harry stumbled to the level when he landed. He hated Apparation, and this was his first try at hitting a moving target. If Gabriella hadn't been holding his hand… He didn't want to think about it.

He was a bit light-headed and disoriented, but he grabbed a carriage door handle and pulled himself up to his feet, taking a shivering footmark forward."Dean,"he muttered."I've got to see if…"He began to crumble to the storey when Gabriella grabbed his arm. He looked at her clinch hand and then at her eyes and smiled."Thank you,"he said softly."Did I ever tell you that I thought you were brilliant ?"Her brass did not smile back. Her nerves were too wracked with concern as her eyes darted up the corridor.

"Yes, yes,"said Harry."Let's go."

Two machine down there was a throng of students that only parted when they realized who it was. When Harry made it to Dean's car he stepped in to look straight in on Ron's back. His apparel were a mess of mud and true pine acerate leaf, and the side of his shirt was torn, blotch of line of descent seeping through, red mixing with splosh blackened. His red hair draped down over an arm that was hugging him blind drunk. It was Ginny's and she was crying. Harry's heart and soul plummeted and he dropped his promontory ; they had failed. dean had died.

It was then that he heard Gabriella give a sharp gasp as she gripped his forearm. He looked up to see her pointing at Ginny's hired hand. On her ring finger was the golden ring dean had given her, only now the firestone was glowing as bright as ever, shining through the strand of Ron's red hair.

"He's o.k. Gin ; Madame Pomfrey will have him patched up in no time."

It was Dean's voice, talking about Ron. It was shaky but clear and Harry watched as two arms of inscrutable chocolate wrapped around the redheaded chum and sister in a large hug.

"James Byron Dean ?"choked Harry, his heart skipping out of his pectus and the tips of his fingers and pads of his feet starting to tingle.

"Harry ?"asked doyen from behind the Weasley's. Ron spun bout and, as he did so, Ginny saw Harry. She immediately let out a squeal of joy. A second later her arms were around Harry, tears streaming down here cheek and cheers rising up all around the train. Soon, they were all smooching. Word spread that the counterplay had been a success, at least with the help of the Aurors that had been guarding the train. If it hadn't been for—

"Where's Mark Antony ?"shot Harry, realizing that the terminal he saw was what could only be called a herd of Dementors stampeding away from Harry and toward the Ravenclaw.

"Right here, ceramist ; no thanks to you."

Harry turned to see a very bruised and a very battered Antonius Goldstein. There was desiccated pasture in his hair's-breadth and a bit of blood at the corner of his oral cavity, and he still clutched his scepter as if ready to range another spell at whomever or whatever might cross him.

"merlin's beard,"said Harry, stunned."You're alive."

"Cho said you weren't that smart,"sneered Mark Anthony with somewhat of a bit on his shoulder,"but I don't think she realized just how daft you really are."He was itching for a fight, but Harry simply smiled.

"You were brilliant out there today, Goldstein,"said Harry loud enough so everyone could try."If it hadn't been for you—"

"That's the one !"

Everyone turned to see two Aurors in their embattle Ministerial robe making their way through the multitude of scholarly person. One, the one pointing his finger at Harry, was promptly recognized. It was the Auror Harry had dropped in the field. He was holding the other Auror by the sleeve and pulling her almost against her will.

"That's the one, right there - with the glasses. I'd spot the facial expression anywhere. Greasy little git."The pair parted the crew and were now right in front of Harry."persuasion you could get away with it, did yeh ? fiddling prat. You could have had us all killed."Then he turned to the other Auror, a very tall woman with cryptical blue eyes and an reflexion somewhere between exasperation and exhaustion. She was about to say something when Anthony Goldstein stepped in front of Harry.

"Do you have any hint who you're talking to ?"he asked with a smug air of superiority that almost sounded Ministerial. Certainly, Mark Antony was destined for great matter in authorities. It was then that the char recognized Harry, but the other Auror was having none of it.

"Get out of my way, you !"he shoved Anthony to the English, and almost at once there was a rush of students like a wave breaking against the shoring filling the gap and forcing the two Aurors backwards.

"What's this ?"the Auror yelled, and he pulled his sceptre. In response, over two dozen wand suddenly appeared pointed directly at him, column inch from his face. The cleaning woman reached up to deplumate her fellow traveller's hand down just when there was another vox from the far end of the perambulator.

"Strickman ! PUT THAT DOWN !"If Anthony's spokesperson was Ministerial, the new voice was all that and Sir Thomas More. Strickman's middle widened in shock. He'd heard this vocalization before, in conclusion year when he graduated from the Auror academy. Everyone turned and saw the daze of red hair's-breadth and knew at once who it was.

"Dad !"cried Ron, whose superlative gave him the secure view over all his peers. Wands quickly found their way back to their proper place as all the students tried to act as normally as potential, considering they had just been through a Dementor attack.

"Ronny. Ginny."He was trying not to express that he was there to learn the status of his own small fry, but the shiver in his vocalism and the tone of ministration on his fount were obvious for all to hear and see."I came as soon as I heard."Then his eyes met Harry's as he moved past the two Aurors and a facial expression of wonderment filled them."Harry ?"he breathed in disbelief."I had heard you were taken. That your soul—"

"That was dean, sir,"answered Harry.

"Dean ? Beasts of Bulgaria, not—"His eyes saw dean standing adjacent to Ginny."I… I don't understand."

"Harry brought him back, Dad,"Ginny answered her Fatherhood's questioning eyes."He brought his soulfulness back."Arthur Weasley looked at his girl and saw that she was sincere. Then he looked back at Harry.

"That… that's not possible,"he whispered."Not even Dumbledore—"

"That's right, Minister,"spat Strickman."It's not possible ! This trivial prat—"

"SHUT UP !"yelled pastor Weasley."If you say another password, I'll have him do the Saami to you as he did to Voldemort !"The word stung many ears and there was a collective groan, but not as universally as there might have been the year before. Only then did Strickman finally gain who he had been calling a prat.

"P-P-Potter ?"He began to rationalise, not to minister of religion Weasley, but to Harry ; he never had a chance.

"You're dismissed,"shot the Minister,"both of you."It was the female Auror who was now doing the grabbing and dragging as she pulled Strickman by the back of his cloak and tossed him into the forward carriage.

"Here's your hero, sir,"said Harry, pulling the grimy Goldstein forward."He led the countermove. If it hadn't been for him, I'd have never reached the Dementor that had Dean's soul."

Arthur was still struggling, trying to apprehend what it was that Harry was saying. Nonetheless, he patted Anthony about the shoulders and said,"Well done, Edward Young man. Goldstein is it ? Yes, I know your mother. Runs a coven in Colchester."He gave Anthony, who was now beaming, another pat."wellspring done."King Arthur then turned and hugged his two child and then he said in a tatty voice,"I'm glad everyone's good and I assure you the rest of your trip will be uninterrupted, if not completely boring."

With the squabble and fighting over, most the scholarly person returned to their carriages, muttering about the battle as they went, and the crowd in the corridor thinned. Arthur Weasley put his arm around Harry just as Hermione entered the train car.

"Harry, you're prophylactic !"she cried."They're saying you captured a—"

"Hermione,"interrupted Mr. Weasley,"might I have a Son with Harry… alone ?"

"Oh, certainly, sir,"she answered. And as Harry and the minister started down the corridor he could see Hermione grab Gabriella's hand and heard her ask what had happened as they disappeared into the go-cart with Dean, Ginny and Ron.

"Harry,"began Mr. Weasley,"I need to utter with you about something very important. I was hoping to select you back to the Ministry with me right now, but under the context it's perhaps best that you stay put. Once you're settled at the schooling, I'll call for you."

"What is it, sir ?"

"Not here, not now, Harry. The walls…"Mr. Weasley smiled, but it was not a happy smile."…the wall have ears."

"I don't hold a great deal faith that the paries at the Ministry are any better, sir."

"No. No, I know you don't,"answered the Minister as he stopped to look at Harry."But this is something too important to hash out anywhere else, even at Hogwarts. I'll send for you in a week or so, okay ?"Harry nodded."And don't worry, Harry. Where we're going no one knows about. Not even I knew about it until just live on week. But if what you say is unfeigned about Malfoy and the Dementors, and certainly this attack points to that, we must act soon and we must act decisively. It's prison term to take up the offensive."

"You know I'll do whatever it takes,"answered Harry.

"I know you will, son,"answered Arthur."I know you will. That's what frightens me."


Harry ceramist and the nascency of a New Sun

Chapter 8 - Engaged

~~~***~~~

The snitcher flitted upward time and time again only to be snatched into his helping hand after every escape valve. He was actually getting quite good at it really. Nearly twenty minutes without a—

"Damn !"

The stoolie slipped through Dean's fingers and began to zip about the boy'dormitory, bouncing off the wall above Harry's head. With a twinkling, few but Ginny Weasley could appreciate, Harry had his hand around the winged orb.

"That was not bad, Dean !"said Harry earnestly, handing the stoolpigeon to Ginny who was sitting side by side to Dean on his bed. While Dean was practicing, Harry had been reading a story headlined Miracle at St. Mungo's which described how nearly a dozen patients, all victims of Dementor attacks, had suddenly and inexplicably awakened - their somebody intact. He turned the Sir Frederick Handley Page with a smile as Dean continued to practice.

Madame Pomfrey had prescribed the exercising of Snitch snatching as a kind of therapy to avail James Byron Dean regain mastery of his neuro-synapses. Even though Harry had returned James Dean's soul, he was feeling somewhat disconnected from himself. It was intemperately to explain just exactly how he was disconnected. Sometimes he would achieve for something, like a shaker of SALT, and it would fumble through his fingers for no reason. Sometimes his love for Ginny was strong, while at former times it seemed as if he had no feelings for her at all. In magic Arts, James Dean would paint portraits of birds, fauna, or even people but the trope wouldn't move ; they remained lifeless on the opinion poll. It was all very strange, and no one, not even ma'am Pomfrey, knew exactly what to do.

"No one's ever had their soul reattached,"Madame Pomfrey had said shortly after they had arrived at Hogwarts palace. Her root was to try to re-stitch Dean's soul by having him exercise both his eubstance and disembodied spirit.

Ginny held steadfast at Dean's side ; a lesser womanhood would take left at once. Watching the two of them these last few days, Harry wondered if his making love for Gabriella would be capable to withstand such a test of trust. Somewhere, deep down inside, he felt it would, perhaps it already had, and he smiled as Ginny stroked Dean's back, encouraging him to try again.

"Nah, Gin,"answered Dean, truly exhausted."I'm… a bit tired."

"You're powerful, babe,"Ginny replied."Rest a bit and we can go to dinner later."

"Thanks,"said Dean with a weak smile. They kissed and Ginny turned toward the stairway down to the Common room.

They had been at Hogwarts for three days and even though the comrade rhythm method of classes and trend work pulsed on at Hogwarts, something was distinctly different. Maybe it was the attack on the gearing, the expectation of what was to fare, or simply that they were in their final examination twelvemonth. Whatever it was, there existed, most certainly, a palpable good sense of expectation as if it any moment something spectacularly wonderful, or devastatingly atrocious was about to happen.

As Ginny stepped from their room, Harry turned to dean and said warmly,"She's wonderful, isn't she ?"

"She's my cosmos, Harry."He lay down on his pillow, folding his arms behind his headspring."I wish I knew why… sometimes…"doyen let out a large sigh and turned over on his side, his back toward Harry. Over the survive year, dean had grown confident in his relationship with Ginny and Harry no longer shook the foundation on which their kinship was anchored. James Byron Dean continued,"I think… maybe this yr at Christmas—"

There was a sudden screaming from down in the Gryffindor green room. It was Hermione's sidesplitter ; Harry was for sure. Not an instant later, Ginny cried out, followed by a blaring of shriek that rivalled the arriving owls during the cockcrow post.In an instant, both Harry and doyen had their wands at the ready, and started cautiously for the landing place. Just as Harry was about to look down on the Common room below, Patrick appeared from the Second age'dorm ; his wand also drawn and his face concerned. There was a 3rd yr passing Patrick and running the other direction, trying to elude whatever danger was causing the tumult. Harry didn't tell apart the boy from behind, but the thought of a coward in his house bristled the back of his neck."A Gryffindor ?"Harry cried out.

The moment's distraction was enough to cause Dean to bump him slightly from tail end. Harry tried to adjust his terms by stepping forward, only there was zip on the circular stairway to abuse out on. Instead, he completely lost his residual and began tumbling, down and around, head over heals until he landed prostrate onto the base. Dazed, he looked up to see Ron on the footing also. Well, almost… he was down to one knee, a flavor of pure scourge in his eyes. Harry grabbed his good friend by the shirtsleeve and pulled himself up aligning back to back with Ron.

"Where are they ?"he cried to Ron over his berm, wand at the cook. Quickly, he spun around and saw Hermione looking down at him."What's going on ?"Harry asked excitedly."Why did you shout ?"Then, looking to the side, Harry noticed the large numeral of Gryffindors looking down at him, all with rather Cross formula on their faces. It was Annapurna who stepped over and grabbed him by the nucha of the cervix, pulling him away from Ron.

"You idiot !"she hissed under her breath.

Her cheeks a brighter colouring of red than Ron's whisker, Hermione had to cover her mouth to observe from laughing. It wasn't until then that Harry noticed Ron was holding something in his helping hand - something gold and shiny.

"Er… so, yeah then…"Ron sputtered."Well ?"Hermione was about to say something when Lavender poked Ron in the shoulder.

"well, what ?"Lavender said sharply."Go on, Ron. Ask her properly."There was a general grumbling of consent to this, mostly of the feminine persuasion.

"Yes, go on, Ron,"followed by,"Do it right."

"Bloody hell,"Harry whispered, stunned by what he was seeing. Anapurna pinched his neck and pulled him to his substructure. Dean was stepping slowly down the staircase and came to a stop consonant on the blue flight, wrapping his arm about Ginny's waist. She had been transfixed, but the quick cutaneous senses caught her attention and she wrapped both her weaponry about dean, smiling as she watched her brother propose.

"Yeah, yeah,"said Ron, wiping his forehead with his go forth sleeve while still holding out the pack with his right. He was nervous, his hand shaky, and Harry wondered if he wouldn't deliquium at any second. But when Ron's eyes rejoined Hermione's the shaking stopped and he regained his spokesperson. He held the ring a bit higher.

"As I was saying before our dearest admirer dropped in,"he cast Harry a glance and smiled,"would you do me the honour of being Mrs. Ronald Weasley."There was a pause."Or Mrs Ronald Granger… you know… however that's supposed to work, if you want to keep your—"

He never had the opportunity to finish up. In that wink, Hermione was down on her stifle kissing him deeply, and the Common room whooped out a cheer that was heard throughout Hogwarts palace. Later, even Hagrid said he heard the revelry when he was out feeding the virulent lava lizards.

"wellspring ?"cried out Seamus."Answer him proper !"To this there was rolling chorus of"Here, here !"called out mostly from the masculine members of Gryffindor. Hermione pulled herself away from Ron's mouth and he held the band before her.

Hermione held out her manus and said breathlessly,"Yes !"There was another cheer, more resounding than the firstly, as Ron slipped the diamond ring upon her finger. They kissed again.

Harry wasn't sure who was responsible, but suddenly nutrient and drink appeared, and before you could blink euphony was playing, people were dancing and an ad lib political party was in full moon golf stroke in the Gryffindor Common elbow room. It was loud and rough, but Hermione had set a silencing charm on the walls, and outside of Gryffindor the night was hushed. Harry poured himself a drunkenness and suddenly felt very awkward. Everyone was congratulating Ron and Hermione, hugging them, smiling. Harry sunk back into the quoin. Why hadn't Ron told him that he was about to aim ? He watched the smiles and the laughter, but somehow couldn't experience any passion himself. Indeed, the thought that were passing through his mind brought back memories of the twelvemonth before, bad memory board of jealously and uncontrollable anger. He gulped the drink, and poured another.

Still standing in the niche, Harry was watching Neville help Dean back up the staircase to the male child'student residence, when a spokesperson startled him.

"Pretty amazin'ain't it ?"

Saint Patrick was seated in a chair next to Harry. How long had he been there ? Most of the younger scholar had gone to bed or were ushered away. A slow birdsong began to play and Ron took Hermione in his weapon system. The candlelight in the green Room dimmed and soon everyone was dancing. Harry watched as Ron and Hermione appeared for a here and now and then slipped back into the crew and, suddenly, he realized that it would never be the same.

"Yeah,"Harry whispered back, taking another drink."Amazing."

"I mean,"Saint Patrick continued,"to have sex someone so much."Still sitting, he pulled his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around his legs just gazing at the dancers."Do you think he'd die for her ?"The question was odd, but Patrick was Lester Willis Young and Harry was a bit drunk.

"He'd die for anybody in this way,"Harry answered with firm spirit of pride."Falco columbarius, he almost did cobbler's last yr, Thomas More fourth dimension than I can—"Harry stopped and looked into his glass, drinking the remains in one final splashing against the back of his throat. He could sense the burn make its way down his chest as he stared at the discharge glass and could feel it fill with guilt. How often had he put both of his ally in hazard ? They would both give themselves to keep Harry, and if the war was truly coming, and it was, Harry knew they'd risk liveliness and limb once again.

"Do you think you'll marry Gabriella ?"Patrick asked, filling the silence. Harry whispered something and the meth in his hand vanished. Saint Patrick raised an eyebrow, but said zippo about the wandless magic.

"Gabriella ?"Harry asked, looking blankly ahead. He chuckled to himself, but the laughter was more sad than happy. Already she'd risked her life-time and the school twelvemonth hadn't even started. How many more booster would have to die before—"

"I don't think I'll marry,"said Patrick emphatically."No Thomas Kyd fer me."

"I'm sorry ?"asked Harry. St. Patrick looked up at him with an expression that was torn, shredded in some way Harry couldn't comprehend, at least not in his present state of mind.

"No kids. No orphans."St. Patrick uncurled his peg and stood up, walking over to Harry."I plan teh battle, Harry. There's no room fer love if there's the opportunity you'll die."

"Patrick, that's not true."

"Ain't it ? I won't leave grief behind. I won't leave my child without a da. Not like me parents did me. I mean, you were a baby fer Falco columbarius's sake, and yer parents are out fightin'Voldemort. Why didn't they just leave well enough alone ? Wouldn't yeh rather have ‘ em at yer side right now ?"

Harry was warm, his school principal cloudy, and the conversant screams were calling from the fog in his mind. It's not your battle, Harry. Let it go.

"What is your trouble ! ?"Lavender's vocalization snapped. She was only a few inches in front of Harry, and her expression was very crabby."Are you going to place upright here all alone all night ?"

"I was just talking to—"He turned to point to Patrick, but the boy was gone. Harry looked about and then to the stairway, but the second year was no where to be found.

"If you don't think they've noticed,"hissed Lavender,"you're wrong."She grabbed him by the arm."Now get out there and make believe you're happy for them. Merlin knows you'll be the godfather to all their children ; now start acting like it."Lavender pulled Harry onto the dancing flooring."I never thought you'd ask !"

She danced with Harry, haltingly toward the just engaged couple, and then deliberately twirled her partner into Ron just as the Song was ending.

"Hey, Harry,"said Ron, smiling."Whew, I could use a respite ; how ‘ bout you Hermione ?"

"Some punch would be gracious,"she answered with a twinkle in her eye. She took Ron by the arm and they started to take the air toward the snacks. Harry just stood, his metrical foot frozen. Finally, Lavender took him by the arm.

"Why, I'd sleep with some punch too, Harry. Thank you for asking."She deliberately stepped down on his foot, concentrated, and then whispered in Harry's ear,"So help me, Harry Potter, if you ruin this evening for them I'll curse you from here to Durmstrang."A flash later her side was all smile as she squeezed Harry tight just behind the articulatio cubiti and walked over to wear Ron and Hermione were standing.

Another pat on Ron's articulatio humeri and a hug for Hermione. Harry swallowed hard.

"I… I'm happy for you ; for you both,"Harry started as Lavender began to decant herself a cup of puncher. Still smiling at Ron and Hermione he took the cup out of Lavender's hired hand without asking and gulped it down with one swig."It's fantastic."He took the ladle from Lavender's hand and poured himself another cup."I mean… Wow ! What a surprise."He gulped again.

"I was going to tell you,"said Ron with a solemn tone of regret,"but I didn't pluck up the courage until you were at Grimmauld Place."Harry just looked at Ron like the answer made absolutely no sense."You said you didn't want to be disturbed… commemorate ?"

"Yes, I remember,"replied Harry, turning his book binding completely on Lavender to present Ron. The heat was definitely rising under his dog collar."But surely… on the train—"

"Blimey ! You're joking, right ?"Ron interrupted, drawing in Harry's irritation and reflecting it back. It was a dance the two played many fourth dimension and Hermione took notice.

"Now, Ron, I think what Harry's trying—"

"And last night ? Were you too busy death Night ?"Harry snapped, and then he remembered not seeing Ron cobbler's last nighttime."Where were you anyway ?"Hermione began to flush violently.

"It's none of your bloody business where I was last night,"said Ron, his representative elevated."You're not my custodian, Harry."At this he pointed his finger and jabbed Harry in the chest, pushing him backward. Harry's back bumped into Lavender's cup of punch sending it splashing down the battlefront of her clothes. The two new men took no notice. Harry balled his right hand hand into a fist and pulled back ready to let throw.

"I should…"he began. Ron stepped closemouthed, clenching his own fists and drawing them near his chin.

"You should what ?"he challenged.

They stood there, toe to toe for more than a few flash ; not too long considering their nitty-gritty were pounding so quickly. Finally, a low smile shattered Harry's scowl and he let go. He threw his correct fist past Ron's left ear. Ron saw the grin and returned the wayward poke with an undercut from his own right hand that flew past Harry's midsection and up under his left arm. The two clenched in a machismo form of way.

"You know I love you,"Harry whispered in Ron's ear."I love you both."

"I know,"Ron answered quietly with a warm smile.

"I… I don't want to lose you. Not again."Harry pulled back so that his imagination took in both Ron and Hermione."Not now."Hermione stepped close. She remembered uttering the same words to Harry lastly year at the Ministry and she remembered what Harry said.

"You're not going to lose us, Harry,"she said, tenderly taking him by the arm. Harry grabbed her and pulled her into the hug. He'd had a fiddling too much to drink in and his Holy Writ were taking on a tinge of regret.

"I want to see a dozen little bushy haired, freckle faced Weasley's running about. Do you hear me ! ?"

"Harry !"

"I want them to be as impudent as Hermione and as loyal as… as…"

"As me !"Ron helped Harry eat up."And don't forget they'll be brilliant Quidditch actor just like me too ! Let's Leslie Townes Hope they don't take after their mother when it comes to flying, eh Harry ?"

"Ron !"

Harry's heart were beginning to fog with dampness. If they continued to fight by his side, he might fall behind them. Patrick was right ; it wasn't worth it. Their fry deserved to make both their parents. Harry squeezed both Ron and Hermione tightly toward him.

"It's brainy. I… I just can't be here right now."He turned without saying another word of honor, without looking at another face, and left the Common room.

The halls were quiet ; it was nearly curfew. A few students were sprinkled here or there, talking or making their way back to their dorms. Harry walked aimlessly down the Harlan Stone steps and found himself near where Tonks had her old office staff last year. They had yet to larn who would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. That class had been cancelled this morning. The lanterns dimmed a bit, signalling that it was clock time to return to the dorms, but Harry didn't hold much by that signaling. He'd rarely obeyed it in all his years at Hogwarts, and he wasn't about to—

"Hey, Potter."

It was Blaise Zabini rounding the dark street corner of the corridor and saying Harry's name without a trickle of sarcasm. It was odd, Harry thought, to see Blaise so far off the outsmart course, especially at this clock time of nighttime. Cloak and sticker hooey wasn't part of Blaise's make-up. The handsome wizard was more well-situated standing in the nub of a mathematical group of others to be looked at and admired. He hung with genus Draco on affair, but never when it meant danger was about. That sort of stuff and nonsense was for Nott, or Crabbe or G-Greg. A shiver passed down Harry's spine recalling the end of his friend final year.

"Blaise,"Harry answered with a nod.

The two passed shoulder to shoulder when the tip of Blaise's verge touched Harry's helping hand. Harry felt a man of parchment suddenly appear on his palm and his finger's breadth curled around it. He stopped to look back at Blaise, but the Slytherin never stopped walking and never turned back to seem at Harry. Finally, Blaise disappeared about the end of the corridor and Harry held up the note to study it.
Do you miss me ? Sorry about the ugliness on the train. Sent someone to warn you at the station, but an Auror intervened. I heard Weasles bought a pretty expensive anchor ring in Diagon alleyway. You two aren't engaged now are you ?

Since I can't be there, my messenger is going to aid be my eye and spike at Hogwarts. Don't tell a soul or it may mean his life. Have you spoken to the old dodder about it yet ? hastiness or it may be too late.


He just finished when the lanterns went wickedness, signalling curfew. Instead of returning to the party at Gryffindor, Harry sat down on the pit floor and leaned back against the stone rampart.

"Lumos !"he whispered. He held up the banker's bill and read it again. Was it really from Draco ? And what was he supposed to address with Dumbledore about ? What was it he had sensed during the Joining ? Hol… Hor… Horcrux ? It seemed so aloof now. Perhaps it was some kind of secret weapon that the Dementors would use against the Centaurus. Perhaps it was—

"Out all alone, boy ? Do you think that wise ?"

Harry spun on the row, jumping to his invertebrate foot and preparing his defence. A dark figure emerged, dimly lit by the deliquium glow of Harry's baton.

"Dakhil !"Harry hissed. What was the leader of the Votary doing here ?

"Impressive."The word dripped with sarcasm."I would have thought you would leave my name again the second you returned to England."He drew nearer and Harry lifted his verge higher."Put your wand away, boy,"rebuked Dakhil sternly,"or I'll… let's see… What do they call it ? I'll take points away from your mansion. Although why you would manage about such meaningless games when the war is upon you is inexplicable to me."Harry lowered his wand and the sparkle was extinguished. They were in pure darkness.

"You can't take—"

"Oh, I believe any professor can—"

"You're not a professor ! You can't… Oh, no."He leaned back against the wall and, in the duskiness, noticed the thin hint of short emanating from a balmy door, the door to Tonks'function. Harry sighed."defence Against the Dark art, is it ?"Harry could tell by the low grunt that a grimace had appeared on Dakhil's face. Clearly, he didn't like the theme any Sir Thomas More than Harry.

"I'm afraid so,"he answered."And instead of taking item away, perhaps it is time for your first lesson."He spun his cloak and disappeared into the darkness."Follow me, boy !"

Harry shoved genus Draco's note of hand into his air pocket, clenched his teeth, and followed. Once, after banging his genu, he tried to illuminate his verge but was scolded by Dakhil who insisted on total darkness."Can you not see ?"Dakhil sneered.

"I'm no vampire,"retorted Harry. Dakhil stopped.

"There is an zip that binds all living things together, Harry. You draw from it every clock time you cast a spell. It pulsates on the wind as the intimation of the trees ; it bubbles from the filth crawling with louse and cockroach. In the very darkest of property, it shines as a beacon to all who would call on its name. It is a acquirement all phallus of the Votary learn before the connexion, save for you."Dakhil stopped. The scent was strong here, damp and dank and musty with a secure sense of decay."Even in last, life sentence is reborn. contact out to it."

"I can't see a bloody—"

"Not with your middle, saphead !"Harry heard Dakhil sit as an old wooden bench creaked under his weight."What Soseh sees in you…"

"She uses more than her eyes, I suppose."

Harry had seen the life effect of others he had try to mend. It was like going to another sheet of existence. He just needed to…"Focus,"he whispered to himself. In the dark Harry closed his eyes and opened his nous, reaching out for anything however little that might indicate life. At first there was nothing, and then a bright radiance began to appear, red and throbbing."Dakhil,"Harry thought. And then he saw it, the corridor they were in. Something was glowing on the paries. Mould ? Spores ? It was as if the social system surrounding them were splattered with an eerie fluorescent paint and lit up by a lightlessness light."I see,"he whispered in amazement.

"As long as one sees, one is never lost."Dakhil pulled his wand and a frightful burst of igniter shattered against the wall breaking through to open air. The two emerged from some broken down shack into the depths of the forest.

"The trees !"Harry said, looking at the white glowing pillars that climbed to the sky.

"Your enemies, even though they hide behind such gilded complex body part are brighter still. It is a crucial skill. With one hand, Dakhil pulled Harry out of the splinters of wood and stood him on his feet in the forest."Now look up."

Harry looked to the sky. It was sprayed with superstar of every semblance imaginable. But in the meat was a blue glow brighter than all the others, a lucky trail following it in the sky.

"Ebyrth,"Harry whispered.

"Correct, Mr. thrower,"said Dakhil, slapping Harry on the shoulder. He started walking past the Tree back to the castle which glowed bright through the branches."As I said earlier, your time to die is near at deal. You may not realize it yet, Mr. Potter, but, aside from both being in the Votary, you and I have one thing, at least, in common."

"And what's that ?"Harry said with Thomas More of a sneer than anything else.

"We are both already dead."




Harry Potter and the Birth of a New Sun
Chapter 9 - The bending of Space and Time
~~~***~~~


The rhythmic beating of Gabriella's heart lulled Harry as she stroked the side of his head with her hand. He sighed deeply as she played with the jot of curls that wrapped about his shoulders. He forced himself to stay awake, if only to savor every consequence that he was being held in her arms. Through the thin twat in his eye he watched the lake vanish and reappear into thought as his head rose and fell with each intimation she took. The sparkling waters brought his creative thinker to the beaches of Lebanese Republic and he visualized walking with her at the ocean, watching the wafture clangour again and again against the shore. It would be a staring place to ask her, he thought. A gentle pushover brought with it the aplomb hint of fall and for a moment he thought he could smell the poise salt air of the sea. Yes, the perfective tense place.

"We'll miss dinner,"she whispered.

"I never want to propel again,"he muttered, barely opening his rim. Her hand slipped down to his shoulder and then stroked the musculus of his weaponry. They were sore and yet with her touch he could feel the ache ebb away.

"If you're going to keep working for Hagrid in the wood,"she said more firmly,"you're going to postulate to maintain up your strength."Her fingers slipped down to his side and playfully gave him a spry pinch.

"AYY !"he said, jumping. It was more tickle than botheration, Sir Thomas More passel than lick."Not middling ! I was… I was just going…"He closed his eye and began to lay his head back down on her thorax.

"Oh no you don't,"she said, pushing his shoulder back and sitting up herself."I like what working for Hagrid's done to you."She slapped his venter which held tight."Besides, Mama would kill me if she heard I let you hop a meal."She rose to her invertebrate foot."Come on, let's get you fed."She held out her hand to help Harry to his feet. Her question was turned so that her regard was not at Harry but at the castle.

An image of Grigor flashed across Harry's thinker and a cold shiver ran down his back… he hesitated. How could she know ? She couldn't. She was so much like her father, and for the briefest of minute Harry was taken back to the anguish chamber at the Ministry -- the chamber where Sirius had been lost and found again, the chamber where Gabriella's forefather, Grigor, had held his hand out innocently toward Harry, just as Gabriella was now doing, only to bond him and prepare him for last.

He drew in a deep breath, shook the retentiveness from his thinker, and took Gabriella's paw, rising to his aching foundation. They both whisked away the dry leaves that clung to the bottoms of their robes and turned toward the castle. Harry could feel the sting in his branch as they climbed the castle steps. Halfway up he stopped, wrapped his arm about Gabriella's waist and paused to calculate at the lake. She took it as a romantic moment and leaned her head against his shoulder. Harry, however, was too sore to step gamey. Even Madame Pomfrey's potions weren't plenty to off the throb that worked its way into both brawn and ivory. A nerve in his decent thigh shot a jolt of pain up into his back and his gaze turned toward the forest.

Working for Hagrid ? No. For the finale few weeks he'd been training with the Centaurus. Only he'd felt uncomfortable sharing that with Gabriella. He had never been able to bring up a conversation with Gabriella about them without her making an alibi to convert the theme. It was clear she did not like Centaurs, but she never explained why and Harry was unwilling to tug the government issue. Another twinge flicked down the muscle of his pass on calf and his judgment drifted to the day's training session. Recalling why his pegleg hurt so, he wasn't so sure he liked centaur either.

"Jump, Harry thrower ! jumping"cried Ronan. The red-haired Centaur fired an arrow that nicked the exit heel of Harry's bare animal foot."hurrying is a Centaur's not bad ally. With it we can outpace the Dementors when they try to flee. Run !"he bellowed as Harry began to slow."If one of our number needs aid, would you just walk to their face ?"

"I'm… not… walking…"yelled Harry back over his shoulder, as he ran from the Centaurus barefoot through the forest. His lungs were bursting for air and his ft were on fire. He'd already run for miles ; Ronan would realise him run miles more. For his character, Harry had already decided that there was nothing the Centaurs could give at him that he couldn't handle.

"Ayyy !"he cried, slashing his foot against a jagged stone.

"Run !"

Perhaps he was wrong.

He had been forbidden to use a wand, and wore zippo but a lash made of Tree bark wrapped about his waistline with a sheath for a pocket-sized obelisk used to lash at vines and early vegetation that blocked his way as he ran. In one manus he held the obelisk and in the former he carried a Harlan Stone nearly too large to fully compass. In battle he would carry a shell, but a stone was more awkward to handle, forcing Thomas More muscleman to lift and curb it. He was being trained as all colts were. In fact, there were two Colt running far ahead of him already - Shahan, with a coating so shadow Harry could no longer see him in the length, and Felspar, whose bright White River pelage shone like a star ahead - way ahead. Sweat dripped into his oculus and he wiped his brow with his properly forearm. Running blindly he slashed wildly at a Tentacula that reached for his neck.

"You should have seen that, stripling, long before it struck at you !"holler Ronan, loping along. There was the sound of a thwwwwp and a few step ahead Harry saw a big wanderer bushed near the path he was taking, an pointer between its eyes. Looking back as he ran ahead Harry tripped on a root word, twisted his ankle joint and fell to the ground, his left knee grinding into a collection of minor stones. The fingerbreadth of his left handwriting were crushed between the stone he was carrying and the stones upon which he'd just fallen. The dagger fell from his good hand and skittered forward, but before it came to rest, Harry reached his handwriting forward and without saying a watchword the dagger returned to his clutches. There was a slight grunt from Ronan. It was neither disparaging, nor approving. It was more a grunt of atonement, but Harry did not look back into Ronan's eyes to see if the satisfaction was directed toward him. His knees and hands bleeding, he stood to his feet and began to run again. Now, even feldspar was out of view. He'd taken only three or four strides before Ronan called.

"Stop !"

Breathing hard, Harry turned and for the first off time all good afternoon he looked up into the Centaur's eyes.

"I… I can… catch them,"Harry heaved.

"I know you can, stripling, but do you know how ?"Ronan smiled, revealing a sly smile. Harry had never seen such a look on the aspect of a Centaur before. It was riddle.

"I hate… riddles,"breathed Harry.

"Shahan and Felspar have been studying for decade the essence of terra firma's mysteries. It will strike them decades more to bring in what is already at your fingertips."The Centaur stepped closer, forcing Harry to turn his neck opening upward. A muscle twanged past his right ear. Still Ronan advanced until he was only inches from Harry, who could smell the strange mix of sweat and hairsbreadth. Ronan looked skyward.

"To see without eyes, to feel without digit, to listen without pinna, to taste without tongue…,"he looked back down at Harry and tapped him on the side of his nozzle,"…to smell without nostrils. These are gifts you have already been given, and yet you know them not ; you have but to discover them."With a movement that was but a blur to Harry, Ronan notched another pointer and guessing at a large flying… thing with magnanimous dentition that was advancing on them. It fell silently to the forest trading floor. To Ronan it was same little more than swatting a fly. He continued,"You must learn the world power that took your sacrifice and cleansed you, the power that has no force. What you must master, Harry thrower, what you must strive to attain is to be without being."Harry scrunched his nose splotched with dirt.

"Did I say ? I really hate riddle,"he muttered, beginning to enamor his breath.

"yield my helping hand, kid,"commanded Ronan.

The minute Harry took the Centaur's hand the world spun upon its head. Green and embrown and yellow and Au flashed past them in a vortex of coloring. Then, inexplicably, Ronan was gone, and Harry was suddenly running, loping, galloping. He felt giddy, proud, arrogant, childish…

"I told you the necromancer was a fake !"he cried back over his berm."Ronan's an old sap !"He kicked his heals and quicken forward, the flatus whistling past his ear.

"You're wrong !"yelled a voice from fundament."He's been chosen ! Ronan said so !"

"zero but silly Centaur cock-and-bull story from a doddering old fool !"Harry yelled back, but his eyes were stiff forward. The flag was ahead ; he could see it, maybe three or four miles ahead. A smile split across his cheek, an chesty smile ; he was going to win this raceway and prove Ronan wrong, testify to all of them that HE, Shahan, was the Centaur that would save them from the onrush of Dementors that was soon to come.

A vocalization whispered in Harry's ear. It was Ronan's."You see with Shahan's centre. Where would you be, Harry ceramicist ?"

Harry looked back. Behind him was felspar, the dazzling flannel centaur that he'd been racing. Then he noticed his own haunches. They were black as darkest ember. He was Shahan, the lead Centaur colt. But how ? His capitulum twisted forward toward the waiting flag and the gathering of Centaurs that watched to see if Ronan's prophecy was nothing more than than wind and myth.

Where would I be ?

"The flag,"Harry whispered to himself, to Ronan, to the void. He focused again. He knew how to get there with a baton : visual sensation, nerve tract, Reconstruction -- Apparation. But he had no wand and even if he did, there was no way to Apparate in the Forbidden timberland. The flag, a red beacon in the length, was maybe two kilometres ahead of Shahan now and probably three kilometres from where Harry's dead body stood dyspnoeal back in the forest with Ronan. He'd been practicing wandless illusion all summer. What if… ?

Harry willed himself from the centre of Shahan and back to his own body. There was a snap - he had returned, his lungs still gasping for air and Ronan still at his side. Harry closed his heart and his mind imaged the sword lily that was ahead ; he imagined being there. quad and time began to collapse, swirling itself, revealing itself. A tract that moved with his will, guided by Ronan, appeared before Harry. He took in a deep breath and stepped forward onto the way. The great span of distance between himself and the red flag suddenly collapsed. Felspar was just out of range, Shahan appeared to be only a few paces in front end of her, and the red flag appeared as just a few tens of metre away. Harry began to run. The colours of the timber swirled by him, as if everything stood still, including the two Centaurs. He ran past Felspar and then Shahan and, in an jiffy, he appeared only inch from the flag that marked the end of the race. He was surrounded be centaur of every colour, each with fierce middle marked by only the slight amazement of his comer. As he came to rest, he saw, in the distance, Shahan and only a few pace behind him feldspar. They were both galloping like the air current, swallowing up immense swath of turf with each footstep. They would be upon him soon.

Harry felt it was, somehow, a cheat. Could all Centaurs bend distance and sentence ? His heart caught Shahan's in the distance, and the once confident, noncompliant gaze turned to one of approximate revulsion. He galloped faster, as if possessed, but it was no use. With one paw, his bloody left, Harry reached up and pulled the crimson flag from its standard. There was a corporate cheer as Harry held the sword lily over his head teacher, spinning to evince the gathering. It was then that he saw Ronan, standing in the nitty-gritty of the radical of nearly one hundred Centaurs. An instant later Shahan pulled up at Harry's position, his breath heavy, his coat lathered with sweat.

"That's not possible !"he cried."He… he used his wand !"

"No,"answered Ronan, stepping forward from the others."He used the skills you yourself may one day passe-partout, Shahan."Ronan turned to the other Centaurs."He has been given the gifts."With this there was a general murmur and whinny of surprise and approval from the Centaur herd. Facing the others, Ronan flanked Harry nudging him forward just as Felspar arrived, also out of breath, a gash upon her right forepart flank.

"I foretold of the coming star,"Ronan called to the gathering."And yet you did not believe. I sought out the ritual killing against your will, and the waters returned him to us. Only once before has this ever happened, and when that battle was won so too began the Great Age of Centaur !"Harry expected a cheer, but none came. Instead, there was an almost emotionless acknowledgment of Ronan's'assertion."This,"he pointed toward Harry, naked and bloodstained, his lungs still craving for more oxygen,"this is our forfeiture. Cleansed and returned, he shall chair us to victory !"Again there was little More than the nods and stomps of the Centaurs at the gather. No one refuted Ronan's claims.

"You're suffering,"said Harry, approaching Felspar and looking carefully at the wound.

"It was a Bearwicken,"said felspar quietly.

"He's a sham !"cried Shahan in a tone that was more animated than any Centaurus Harry had ever seen. He stepped forward, pushing Harry aside, but Harry ignored the rudeness and focused his tending on feldspar."He's no leader ! He's a wizard ! It's chicanery I tell you."

"Let me avail you,"whisper Harry as he held his open helping hand a few inch away from the gash on felspar's flank. Harry closed his eyes and muttered the conjuration that he knew would work with his scepter, and then something caused him to stretch forth further, to hand beyond. His hand had not touched the Centaur, but he could feel the stemma, slippery wet, between his fingerbreadth. He reached out without moving and willed the slice shut, and the cut obeyed, closing as if a pall had been pulled shut tight about the wound.

"Like all champion, he'll kill us all when we turn our backbone !"yelled Shahan again.

"The elect heals !"asserted a large, female Centaurus from the assemblage. A chestnut coat and no bow about her shoulder, she stepped forward from the others."Did the waters teach you these natural endowment or is this genius ?"The finish word was disparaging and even evoked some hisses from the others.

"Mother !"cried felspar."He's the Chosen. How dare you question his natural endowment !"Felspar, wound healed, turned to Harry and bowed low on one genu."As long as Ebyrth refulgence, I am in your Robert William Service. Only death will wander us of time."

A telephone number of other Centaurs followed in variety, each bending low to one knee and bowing their heads. Ronan approached Harry, nodding his head and bend to one articulatio genus as well.

"You still lack strength and endurance, Harry Potter, but these things can be learned. Now, it is time to rest."He held his hired hand to Harry's eyes."riposte to the forest's friend."Harry's mind immediately thought of Hagrid."Run !"

The vision of Hagrid's cabin firmly fixed in his mind, Harry willed himself there. Again a path opened up and he took off running. bit later, he found himself where he began the day, seated on Hagrid's electric chair future to the combustion flak, Fang laying at his side and Hagrid singing some song in French. The logs on the fire cracked as Harry, still naked, looked at his Gryffindor gown that hung from a hook shot near the door. The way they were draped over the hook they almost looked real - lifelike, as if they contained some heart all their own. Harry's breadbasket churned just as Hagrid turned, surprised to retrieve Harry in his hut.

"Harry ?"

"Harry ? Shall we go inside ?"Gabriella had spun to confront Harry whose oculus were distant and bent on the far horizon above the lake. Her voice snapped him back from reliving the memory. He had learned something great today, and he'd learned it from the Centaurs.

"Harry ? Are you okay ?"

Harry looked down into her optic and smiled. He was sore and tired ; sour rings hung under his eyes. The sentiment of going inside to look three scrolls on the healing plants of Kirkcaldy was almost too a lot to bear.

"They're not that bad you know,"he whispered. Her eyebrow furled in confusion."Centaur,"he added.

"spirit, you're banal and it's time for dinner,"she said, deliberately changing the conversation."We can talk about the stars later."Harry nodded silently and together they entered the palace and began to walk to the Great Hall.

Near a gravid suit of armour Harry noticed Patrick talking to James Yangtze Kiang. James was leaning against the Isidor Feinstein Stone wall, his arms crossed as well as his legs. He was either extremely bored, or he didn't like what he was hearing. Still, Patrick was quite passionate about it ; his arms were swinging wildly about and more than once Harry heard him raise his voice.

"It's gone I tell yeh ! There nothin'there but dust. And there's no way I'm—"

Epistle of James noticed Harry and Gabriella and stood straighter, stopping Patrick's storey with a motion of his hand. Harry smiled and waved, and James returned the gesture with a smile of his own. Saint Patrick turned to see who James was looking at and when he saw Harry, his grimace bore an expression of great concern.

"No wonder,"Harry thought,"I feel like I'm going to blow lump. I must front like hell."As he and Gabriella continued toward the Great Hall for dinner, the more nauseous he felt.

"Great,"he muttered to Gabriella who was picking up on his sudden change in emotion.

"I'm taking you to Madame Pomfrey,"Gabriella insisted."Something's wrong."She turned him to the staircase.

"I can't ascent those."

"I'll levitate you if I have to."

Patrick followed James into the Great Hall just as Ron and Hermione appeared from Gryffindor tug. They were headed, arm in arm, into the Great Hall when Ron noticed Gabriella trying to aid Harry toward the staircase that led to the hospital wing.

"Harry ?"called Ron. Quickly, he came over to Harry and helped Gabriella support him. Hermione was veracious behind him.

"What happened ?"

"I'm mulct, really,"demanded Harry, and in fact he was beginning to palpate better although the storey was still a bit unsteady under his feet. They stepped him over to a prospicient workbench beneath a prominent portrait of a not bad ninth century conflict aspect. Harry hated it here, he always had ; the clang and crash of sword against armour was always deafening when the combatants weren't sipping tea together, discussing whose scheme was master in the live fight. Ron noticed a bruise beneath Harry's collar and leaned in close to Harry's ear.

"You went out again today, didn't you ?"he whispered. His tone was more wild than concerned.

"CHHHHT,"blastoff Harry with a blast of air between his clenched teeth, trying to tranquilize is friend. Seated between a mind-reader and an empath, Harry had fiddling hope of keeping anything secret, but he didn't want to discuss his training with the Centaurs in figurehead of Gabriella.

"You said you'd take me,"complained Ron."‘ The following time I go,'you said."Ron crossed his arm."I thought maybe this year would be different."Harry opened his lip to explain.

"Ron,"injected Hermione,"they'd just as soon skewer you as anything else. Harry's just trying to protect you."

So, Hermione knew. So lots for Ron's sworn oath that he wouldn't narrate a soul. Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head knowing that Hermione was only partially correct. She was right about the skewer persona, but Harry knew at once Ron would withdraw the protect character the wrong way. He did.

"I don't need Harry's protection ! We're at war !"

"Ron,"Harry began, holding up his paw,"the matter is—"

"Skewer you ?"asked Gabriella."What are you talking about ? Was Hagrid making you work with Stabbing Snapspiders again ?"

Hermione's middle narrowed on Harry, whose own gaze darted away to look at Ron who was ignoring Gabriella's question and was now standing in a miff and about set to rage off. Harry stood too, the dizziness he was feeling all but gone.

"Ron,"Harry said, taking cargo deck of Ron's arm,"I said you would go with me the future clock time I could. This first light I asked you know who, and they said I had to go by myself. I had a test… of sorts."

"Test ?"asked Ron, now with more pursuit than anger.

"They ?"asked Gabriella, taking to her feet.

"This morning you were supposed to help professor Barghouti's indorse yr form for their DADA lesson,"scolded Hermione, also rising.

"What sort of test ?

"Who are they ?"

"Didn't you hear what happened to picayune Nolie Langston from Slytherin ?"

Harry feigned dizziness again and tilted in toward Ron who grabbed him by the articulatio humeri."I think I need to eat,"he muttered, and then leaning closer he whispered to Ron,"Saturday."Gabriella knew he was feeling fine ; she could feel that. Hermione knew he was feeling mulct ; she'd read the Harry Potter record book long ago. Both women just glared, while Ron was steadfast.

"Can't you see the man's exhausted ? He has to eat !"he exclaimed."Blimey ! springiness him a gaolbreak for Falco columbarius's sake."He put Harry's arm about his shoulder joint."Come on, mate. Let's get you a bite and then we can go over the weekend's drill schedule. I know Ginny's been playing mulct as chaser and all, but I think if…."

In the Great Hall, Dumbledore had the theater sit wherever they wished for breakfast and lunch, but for dinner each house ate at separate tables from the others. It was a compromise between the vision of the hereafter and a respect for tradition. Tonight, Harry was thankful because it meant, for a while at least, he and Gabriella would be separated. As they entered the Great Hall she kissed him on the impudence, holding his left mitt. He toyed with the gold ring he'd given her the year before on valentine's. There was a twinkle in her eyes and a sly grin upon her face.

"You will severalize me later ?"she asked, but the tone was more suggestive of a program line than a question.

"You know already. You just won't talk about it."His smile had a hint of sadness as their fingers let go of each other. Her twinkle faded and her eye would not hold his gaze as she turned away. Harry did not look back as he followed Ron to the Gryffindor tabular array.

Lavender and Parvati were having an repair conversation about the meaning of a large discolouration on the tablecloth. Anapurna had spilt her swallow and it left a wickedness, twirling outline of something resembling, at least to Harry, a large toadstool. He sat down realizing he did, very much, need to eat.

"It's a Celtic spiral,"said Lavender, her finger tracking the outline of the top of the toadstool.

"A crane,"countered Anapurna, pointing at the longsighted round-shouldered neck opening of the toadstool.

"That makes no sentiency,"said Lavender."No, it's a Celtic whorl and,"she pointed to some iniquity inner spots,"with these here it would typify unceasing life."

"No. See this here ? The way the curlicue fade away away ? Not eonian life… life, dying, and rebirth. It's clearly a Grus,"Anapurna said, pointing out the bird's features."Here are the eyes, the curve neck, the hanker legs."She grew more confident with each description.

"Then you're both right,"chimed in Hermione. The two Lester Willis Young lady looked up, stupefied look on both their faces."The Grus represents longevity. Eternal life… longevity… like thing."She shrugged her shoulders and took a bite of dinner.

"NooOoo,"both Parvati and Lavender harmonized in a rather tenacious and melodic tune."It could mean conjuration if—"

Deliberately, Harry accidentally spilled his tea onto the blot covering up any discernible item. The liquid began to rain buckets off the bound toward Parvati and Lavender and they both took to their feet.

"That looks like a mirky pond to me, Harry"said Ron, chewing on a joint of bread."See the enceinte ripples flowin'down the table."

"Honestly, Ron,"sighed Hermione, whisking out her scepter and vanishing the tea and stain together.

"HERMIONE !"cried Lavender.

"How could you !"scolded Parvati.

"ME ?"queried Hermione, clearly flummoxed."But they—"

"seed on, Lavender."Parvati spun on her heals and took off, Lavender right field behind her, but not before she shot a scathing glare at Hermione. No Sooner had they left the table than Ron let out a snort, a bit of bread shooting from his nose.

"Ronald Weasley, I should…"

"Honestly, Hermione, Harry just wants to eat. You can't begrudge the man his pacification after all he's been through today."Ron took another bite of bread and looked at Harry's plate."Are you going to eat those ?"he asked pointing at some chips. Harry just glared back. Ron shrugged and took another bite of bread.

"And as for you,"Hermione continued, now turning to Harry,"you better tell Gabriella straight away what you're up to, or it'll spoil what you both have."Setting down his fork, Harry looked up at her.

"Oh, rightfulness, and you two are the bill poster couple for honest and candid discussions."

"Harry,"said Hermione without losing pace,"you know there's something bothering her. You need to see out what it is."

"Don't you think I've tried ! ?"asked Harry, raising his articulation just enough for those around him to stop their conversations. He knew he hadn't, not really, but he also knew that Hermione didn't know. Her eyes simply looked into his, probing, her reflection calm. The look was unnerving because he knew his own verbal expression was giving him away."Well I have,"he insisted, pushing his plate in for good measure.

He wasn't for certain the play was having the effect he wanted. Ron simply nipped one of his leftover poker chip and Hermione only let out a long disapproving suspiration. Past the compass point of return, at to the lowest degree for this argument, Harry stood up and left the Great manse in as foul a mood as he could muster up. His nous focused on the Gryffindor board, he didn't notice the Slytherin that stood as well and followed him out of the Great Hall.

Harry was moving down the corridor toward Gryffindor when he heard the footsteps behind him. He stopped and turned ; only no one was there. He looked over past a suit of armour and then behind a pillar - still no one. Tired, if not completely exhausted, he continued toward Gryffindor and his awaiting homework. He was nearly at the portrait of the Fat Lady when there was a tap on his bridge player and a voicelessness in his ear.

"Your days grow short."

Harry felt the note appear on his palm and spun at once.

"Blaise ?"he whispered back, but there was no answer.

Harry unfolded the piece of lambskin."They think it's at the Ministry. Is it ?"was all it said. The portrait swung loose and Harry quickly moved to hide the banknote, only he didn't have to. It flashed in a puff of smoke and disappeared. Neville stepped out of the Gryffindor park way followed by the most unlikely of faces - Severus Snape. Strangely neither took much observance of Harry. Beyond a cold-shoulder oral sex nod by Neville, it was as if he didn't even exist.

"The thing is, Professor,"Neville was saying as he past Harry,"if the two roots are to sustain the effect you want, they'll have to be grown to exactly the Sami length."

"Quit restating the obvious, Longbottom,"replied Snape without so a good deal as a nod toward Harry as he past."The questions is can you do it ?"Neville scratched his chin as they disappeared down the corridor.

"I think so, with the right luminosity. If I can take over some…"and the conversation faded away.

Amazed, Harry shook his head and turned toward the portraiture of the Fat Lady.

"word ?"she asked with a smile.

Just before he answered, Harry paused, scratching his Chin much as Neville had just done. What was at the Ministry ? The Horcrux that Draco had mentioned ? Whatever that was.

"Erm, sorry,"said Harry,"changed my mind."He turned and headed back down the corridor, wondering if his enigma annotation presenter was still nearby. As practically as he hated the thought of climbing back up the staircase, he had to go down and mouth with Dumbledore. Besides, the three scrolls on the healing plants of Kirkcaldy could hold off till later.


Harry ceramicist and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 10 - vision
~~~***~~~




Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Tink.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Tink.
The silver legal instrument rose and fell on Dumbledore's mahogany desk as Harry stroked Fawkes'feathers, waiting for the headmaster to return. Not much bigger than a breadbox, it was a strange collection of geared wheel and springs and Harry spent some time trying to deduce its meaning. The convenience, rimmed with winged puppet Harry couldn't recognize, reminded him of a similar twist in the Black folk estate at Grimmauld Place. It too had the same broadside pack that ran up a saw-toothed staircase only the Negroid gimmick was golden, its winged creatures looked more menacing, and Harry had never seen it operate.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Tink.

Shot by a spring, another silver halo ran up the stairway only to reach the top, falter, and downslope into a spate below. The cumulation seemed to be shrinking as Harry stood observation, but he could not see where the annulus disappeared to, nor could he find the beginning for the anchor ring that sprung forth from the rear. There it was - a never ending progression that seemed to have no function.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

Unable to contain himself, Harry reached out and grabbed the silver medal ring before it had a luck to fall from atop the pocket-sized staircase. The scene changed and he suddenly found himself on the Hogwarts limited walking toward the nominal head of the string, two paces behind Greg Goyle. But, this couldn't be - Greg was dead. It took him a instant to make that he'd traveled back in meter. They were about to pass on the movement of the geartrain ; Greg wasn't dead, he was about to die.

Harry tried to talk, but no words came. He tried to reach his hand up to blockade Greg, but it would not incite. Unable to see to it his motion, Harry could do nothing but watch chronicle open as it had in conclusion year. He poked his head into a bearing, telling a group of fifth years what was up.

"I've been wondering what was taking so long with the food trolley,"said Ernie Macmillan. Harry explained that the professors had gone missing and Ernie joined him to recognise the trouble. As Harry slipped back out of the pushchair with Ernie, Goyle took the point and started toward the front of the geartrain. Once again Harry tried to check his friend when, through the glass room access to the box ahead, Harry saw a witch in drear robes suddenly appear in the corridor. Anaxarete. Harry wished he could cast a killing swearing, but it was no use ; he could do naught. She glanced back, revealing a sinister smile and piercing green eyes. Harry tried to place himself in front of Greg, but was ineffectual to legislate Goyle's broad berm. It didn't matter ; an instant later she was gone and an blink of an eye after that the front of the train exploded with a enormous E. B. White instant.

Harry fell to the floor of Dumbledore's office, the silver ring firmly clenched within his hands. He was shaking, the burst still ringing in his ears, when he opened his middle and found Dumbledore looking down at him. The headmaster bent with difficulty to one articulatio genus and held out his deal.

"I take it you did not find yourself in one of professor Binns'lectures, Harry ?"

Harry took Dumbledore's hand and rose to his feet. He held the ring out between his pollex and forefinger.

"What… what is it ?"he asked still shaken. Dumbledore took the ring and placed it back atop the silver stairway.

Tink.

It fell into the pile below which now was growing larger as Dumbledore stood and spoke with Harry.

"It is a memory book of sorts… a photo album."Dumbledore moved to his desk and sat down, leaning back against his chair."Different for each who reads it."Harry couldn't aid but think that the keen magician of the age was beginning to demonstrate star sign of article of clothing. He had grown much diluent since Harry end saw him at the end of the school yr, and his hands were beginning to kink in an affected way.

"Like a Pensieve ?"Harry asked.

"Not quite, Harry,"replied the headmaster."A Pensieve lets you store or remove your memories so that you can wait them over later. You can pick out the retentiveness to remove, to examine."He leaned forward and held his hands together."This is a Möbius Machine. It reflects a sorcerous's life account. It is a never ending loop topology that plays over and over again, shrinking or expanding to befit the viewer. Each silver circle is a ringlet of a portion of your animation. While the rings play in order, there is no way, unfortunately, to limit which remembering, which lifespan experience you will visit."

A frisson past by Harry again, and for a moment he thought he felt the breathing spell of last voicelessness its epithet against the nape of his neck opening.

"I take it, Harry,"continued Dumbledore,"that your experience was not a pleasant one."

"No, sir,"answered Harry, sitting himself."It was… on the train ; when I was with Greg, just when… just when…"

"I understand."Dumbledore sighed. He stood and walked back to the device. He waived his wand and uttered an incantation and the rings stopped running up the staircase, and fell wherever they were in the cycle."I wish your memories could be glad, Harry. I would hate to see you as a tottering old man, sitting down in a stale office wondering if you could run a risk reliving the catastrophe that grasping a few rings might convey. Fawkes quietly vocalized his agreement, as Dumbledore slipped his baton away and placed his deal on Harry's articulatio humeri."I know you have been chosen, Harry. But you need not post yourself between the Centaurus and the Dementors ; it is not your war."

"You said it yourself, Professor,"said Harry, looking up into Dumbledore's still bright blue eyes,"it's the paths we choose that make us who we are. I'm not doing this because I was chosen. I'm doing this because it's the right on thing to do. Lucius Malfoy is going to use this to try and embroil the duskiness back across this land, and I won't let him."Harry's own eyes were vehement with purpose and rebelliousness."I've been training with Ronan."Harry paused."Are Centaurs magical ?"

"Very much so, Harry,"said Dumbledore with a smile."It is folly for wizards to believe they are the most powerful creatures on this earth. You know, of trend, Centaur have keen sight and are skilled with a bow, but these affair are physical skills that many wizards dismiss. Ahh… not so, Harry… not so. Why do you cogitate a Centaur never misses his target ?"Harry shrugged."Because a skilled Centaur can come after the pointer all the way to its terminus, nudging its flight along the way. They can bow place and prison term, Harry. Even while adept are unable to Apparate on Hogwarts grounds, Ronan can evaporate and reappear wherever he pleases simply by using his mind."

"He showed me today. He taught me today."

Dumbledore said nothing. Harry could tell by his expression that he was impressed, or surprised, but the old wizard made no word of it. Instead he stood from his electric chair and walked over to his telescope.

"They are much dear flight attendant of such accomplishment than virtuoso would ever be,"the aged wizard whispered, looking down into the lense of the telescope. The instrument was fixed on the portion of the sky through which the comet Ebyrth was now passing. Harry no longer needed a telescope to see the comet's bright rear.

"It is not your war, Harry,"said Dumbledore still looking into the lense."The Ministry can handle the like of Lucius and his ilk."He adjusted the direction."They have no forcefulness in numbers, no allies for support, no sanctuary in which to conceal. It's only a subject of time."

"Then why seaport't they been caught ?"asked Harry."It's been months, and nothing."

"Lucius is no muggins,"answered Dumbledore."He'll remain veil for as long as possible and only strike when he thinks he can win."The hotshot looked up."He can't win, Harry."But Harry wasn't so sure. He turned his cover on Dumbledore and walked over to Fawkes, stroking the bird's plume. Harry didn't love how to bestow it up, but he had to ask.

"What if… what if he had a weapon ? A hole-and-corner weapon ?"

"secret weapon ?"asked Dumbledore, turning to present Harry more fully."What do you mean ?"

"A… A Horcrux."

The portraits that were earlier minding their own business, napping, reading the newspaper publisher, or off to some other place were suddenly thrown into a ruction. The headmasters of old began complaining at once about the impudence of the Thomas Young man to discourse such matters here.

"It's an abomination, Albus !"one cried.

"Lucius is cunningly evil,"called Phineas,"But he would never crawl to such depths."

Dumbledore finally quieted them all by threatening to bring in down a canvass of iniquity. His face was grave, almost pale and the step of his voice was filled with groovy concern. Harry knew at once that whatever a Horcrux was, it was dour deception, but then… did he expect otherwise ?

"Harry,"began Dumbledore slowly, his voice quite and sombre,"what makes you believe that Lucius Malfoy would use a Horcrux ?"Harry turned away from Dumbledore, not uncoerced to keep up eye impinging."Certainly such news does not come from our friends the Centaurs."

"Well… I… I heard that…"He stalled and then turned back to boldness Dumbledore. How could he know how one employed a Horcrux if he didn't even know what one was ?"Professor, what is a Horcrux ?"Dumbledore walked back to the silver simple machine that was now hush on the tabular array. He tapped it with his wand and the silver rings began to stray again. He took a ring and held it in his mitt for but a moment when he laughed and placed it back along its course.

"Precious,"he whispered to himself."So precious."

"prof ?"

"It was the day when Professor McGonagall asked me if I enjoyed teaching at Hogwarts. She was thinking of applying to teach here as well, but wasn't sure if her husband would agree."

"married man ?"asked Harry incredulously."Professor McGonagall was married ?"

"Oh yes, Harry,"answered Dumbledore."And very happily I might add. He was killed by a Death feeder when Voldemort first returned. She joined the lodge of the Phoenix soon after. Since then, she's been our firm ally against the darkness."This new newsworthiness had Harry's brain spinning just a bit. He'd always assumed…. Dumbledore turned back to the silver gray machine."Can you imagine what it would be like if Professor McGonagall did not possess the memory of the murder of her husband ?"

"I… I suppose she'd be happy."

"But she is happy, Harry. Certainly, if you were to ask, she would wish that he was still at her incline, but she is very happy."Dumbledore's mitt squeezed the wooden board and he drew in a deep breath. When he turned to look back into Harry's eyes, his look was grave and his own eyes after part."What I'm about to tell you, Harry, is not supposed to exit this room."Harry glanced toward the door as if there might be someone there."Harry, I know with whom you would like to ploughshare. You should make love that it is forestall. I would not even verbalize of it with you, had you not brought it up first. Do I have got your parole ?"

"Yes, sir,"replied Harry, his vocalism smaller than he thought it should be. He began to wonder if he should birth ever asked. Dumbledore stepped close.

"Imagine for a moment that I could split you into three people. Not written matter mind you, but three trenchant parts of your very essence… your soul. One would outride with the trunk you now possess ; the other two would be put away for warehousing you might say. If you, the percentage of you that inhabits the body you now have, were to die, one of the other theatrical role would seek out another body to inhabit… to control. You, part of you, would subsist again."

"Part of me ?"

"The part that you hid away."Again Dumbledore turned to the machine on the table."The pile of rings that you see in front of me here, Harry, is great than your was. Why ?"

"You have more than memories, more experiences."

"Precisely ! But a break open soul would only hold with it portions, darkness of the remembering the master copy soul carried. Imagine, my boy, if you had to choose… what fate of your soul would you carve away ? What component of you would remain ? There are many choices. You could carve out the bad retentivity, perhaps the death of Greg Goyle, and go on believing that he had never died ? But then, what would pass off if you were to die, and the Horcrux storing only the bad retentivity was released ? What variety of soured soulfulness would remain ?

"Then there are those whiz who believe that it is the tragedy of a whiz's aliveness that drives him forward ? Such a wizard might hold the tragic memories at the set up erasing all joy and happiness, perhaps the day you first arrived at Hogwarts ?.

"And it's not just memory board, Harry. It's also the essence of who we are, what we have become, both respectable and iniquity, shadow and light. A wizard must decide how to differentiate each slice of joy and ruefulness into lilliputian pieces, sprinkling a little bit of everything into each portion of your person, splintering all you ever were into shards of fogged methamphetamine that can never really be made whole again. separate me, Harry, what choice would you earn ?"

"I… I wouldn't choose such a lifespan, sir,"replied Harry, horrified of the thought.

"No, Harry, nor would I."Dumbledore's articulatio humeri drooped slightly as if a large system of weights sat square upon them."Thankfully, almost wizards and witches would defy to choose as well. few still know that there is such a track one can deal ; and only the most powerful of those would be able-bodied to take it."Suddenly looking quite tired, Dumbledore returned to the death chair behind his desk and let out a deeply suspiration, closing his center."The Horcrux is simply the warehousing vessel… it could be a rock music, a cloak, a cup—"

"But Lucius—"

"Think, Harry,"Dumbledore interrupted."It might even be a book…"There was a long pause. Harry could get wind a phone number of the portraits on the wall mumbling to themselves. Clearly they were dysphoric with the focussing of the conversation, particularly Phineas.

"The journal ?"Harry answered finally, his voice more certain than unsealed, and with each new head the uncertainty vanished."Tom enigma's journal ? That was a Horcrux ? Voldemort used a Horcrux."

"Lucius is cunning, ruthless and evil, but I have seen deeply into his centre. He could not master the Horcrux even if he desired to."

"But I saw Voldemort die,"said Harry."There was nothing left."

"Yes,"said Dumbledore, nodding."You also saw Tom Riddle die in the bedchamber of mystery. I had always assumed he had divided himself in two. Who would chance fracturing themselves more than than once ?"Dumbledore chuckled to himself grimly."Who indeed ?"Then he turned back to Harry."This intelligence palls the purview with a new wickedness. order me, Harry, why you believe that somebody is employing a Horcrux because, if someone is, Voldemort is most certainly behind it."

Again, Harry found himself turning away. He didn't want this newsworthiness. He thought it had something to do with Lucius, with the war that would soon be upon them. He didn't want to believe what he had felt all summertime, what he had felt since returning to Hogwarts, that Voldemort was somehow still alive. But where ? How ? Harry, his middle sincere, looked back at Dumbledore.

"Sir, I… I can't. I gave my word."Dumbledore's middle narrowed and then, quite naturally, he smiled back.

"well, I suppose if you told me, then your promise to keep back our conversation of the Horcrux private would mean nothing."

"If it does exist,"Harry said anxiously,"we have to bump it before it's too late."

"Harry,"said Dumbledore with grave concern,"such waters are filled with Grindylows and Inferi."Harry looked at Dumbledore, confused.

"Inf— ?"

"It's far too dangerous for you to begin some journey to seek the reality for a Horcrux. Voldemort's been to the edges of the orb and beyond ; it could be anywhere. More likely, it has already been activated. No, I will mouth with the members of the—"

"Sir, you can't. I swore that I'd—"

"Relax, Harry, there will be no need to entail your involvement. In fact, it's more to our advantage to keep your name completely out of the picture."

Dumbledore breathed in deeply and closed his eyes as he slowly let out his breath."Yes, I think I understand. He didn't just split himself in two. He may not have stopped at three. There's no telling."He walked over and stroked Guy Fawkes'plumage, clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say."I despise mystery, Harry, but if Voldemort has reanimated he may, once again, have agents working within the school walls. I'm sure Lucius does. That we know another Horcrux might exist gives us an edge we dare not recede. Do you let any idea—"The chimes of the gravid clock struck twice.

"Oh honey,"said Dumbledore."I've made you late for class."He paused, struggling for the abbreviated of moments about what to say next."You best be on your way. We can continue this later. William Tell prof Barghouti it was all my fault and I'll confer with him about it later."

"But—"

"Go on, Harry,"interrupted Dumbledore.

Harry sighed, grabbed his books and started for class. Just as he was about to wave his hand across the large brass doorknob, Dumbledore stopped him.

"Harry, there are those that we can trust—long-time acquaintance and soul mate. I understand that you may be compelled to seek assistance. If you must talk over this, keep the conversation within the wall of Gryffindor."Harry paused for a moment, taking in the headmaster's actor's line.

"But that means—"

"You know what it means. Now, be on your way."

As Harry walked down the corridors toward Defence Against the Dark Arts class, his judgement was spinning with the new information and trying to digest everything that Dumbledore has shared with him. Within the paries of Gryffindor. Even though this year scholarly person were barren to enter the commons room of any household into which they were invited, Harry knew exactly what Dumbledore meant ; he shouldn't trust Gabriella. He pondered how he would continue Gabriella out of any discussion he might make with Ron or Hermione concerning the Horcrux. Maybe he was better off not saying anything to anybody. His concerns about Gabriella faded quickly, however, when arrived late to year and prof Barghouti took ten point in time away from Gryffindor for Harry's tardiness. He wouldn't let Harry say a Word of God about where he was or who he was with.

Normally, Harry arrived early to stratum so that he could sit in back. He like the majority of the social class wanted to sit in as far away from Professor Barghouti as possible. For almost students it was because their professor was a vampire ; Harry simply didn't like him. Every time Harry looked into his eyes he felt that he had to prove himself worthy ; that he was somehow lacking when it came to the Votary. Now, having arrived to class late, Harry had to sit in front next to the only other students who would : Hermione and Gabriella. Harry took his seat next to Gabriella who offered him a supportive smile after he was chastised by Barghouti about meter management.

"Now, as I was saying,"said prof Barghouti with a bit of a drawl that reminded Harry all too much of a cross between Snape and Malfoy,"before we were so rudely interrupted… Occlumency is more art than learned, more nature than rearing. Nonetheless, even the most tactless virtuoso,"he looked at Harry,"can read to repel at to the lowest degree vestigial effort to penetrate the nous. Fortunately, to the highest degree of you are sorely lacking as Legilimens."Barghouti stared once again at Harry.

"I want each of you to see a partner and while one tries to penetrate his collaborator's mental defences the former will use the proficiency you described in stopping point Night's preparation assignment. For those of you who found the assignment to tedious and chose instead to practice Quidditch,"again he looked at Harry,"expect to spend the eve with Madame Pomfrey as she treats your headache."

"But, Professor,"complained Hermione while raising her hired man.

"Yes, Ms sodbuster ?"

"What if the great unwashed don't want to experience their minds read ? It is, after all, a encroachment of personal space."

"True, Ms. sodbuster ; it is a misdemeanour. But then, so is the putting to death whammy and we've learned to fight back ourselves, as best we can, against such an attack. Would you prefer to have your thoughts read freely by Lucius Malfoy's spy ? Have them know your plans so that they can kill you or your loved ones when you least await it ?"

"But—"

"brace with person you trust,"he interrupted."We'll talk of the town of this no more."

Hermione's sass pursed as she crossed her weapon system. Harry knew that look before. Still, he didn't think that it was such a big peck. Instinctively, he paired with Gabriella. Ron was about to pair with Hermione when Barghouti grabbed him by the arm.

"I think not, Mr. Weasley. I understand you're quite gifted in this domain. Today, you can be my partner."Barghouti offered a rare smile and both Ron and Harry expected to see his fangs, but all that appeared was a straight person row of bright, pearly teeth.

Harry turned his desk about and sat opposite Gabriella. He had let her into his mind many time before. There was something playful, almost erotic about how they would pass along in this way. While she had become quite wizard at curling herself around Harry's persuasion, she never went deeper than Harry offered. For his part, he had never been able-bodied to see her mentation unless he opened his own first. They always had to play in Harry's intellect, and he had never tried to push her away. She was smiling at him, a light in her oculus, as she took his hand in hers. It wasn't until their hands touched that his heart skipped. Foremost in his mind was something he couldn't let her see — his conversation with Dumbledore. His hand pulled away ; he couldn't stop her from sensing his emotions, but he could stop her from reading his creative thinker.

"Harry,"she asked, sensing immediately his worked up work shift,"what's wrong."

"Erm… N-nothing,"he answered evasively."I… I mean we already know you can get into my head. How ‘ bout I try to get into yours first ?"She said nothing, trying to put his tidings in alinement with the feeling she was sensing."That's okay, isn't it ?"he asked.

"Sure,"she said slowly. She reached out her hands again, but Harry placed his own in his lap.

"Erm… Let me collapse it a go without contact."

"You know you can't."

"I can try,"he fool back with a bit of defiance. His representative was heated for no good intellect, and he knew she'd signified that as well. If he stayed flustered, she'd be right ; there would be no way for him to fare close to reading her thinker.

Around the course of study some bookman were having effective achiever than others. Most attempt were fairly hebdomad and were being met by contiguous horror. This resulted in more than a few student being knocked backwards out of their chairs. Ron was popping down on to the footing more meter than you could shake a baton at and Barghouti was taking great gratification in being able to repel Ron's feeler. Just behind Harry, Hermione had teamed with Neville who, at the bit, was trying to penetrate her mind. Avoiding Gabriella's eyes, Harry took a trench breathing spell.

"Ready ?"he asked.

"Go tiger,"said Gabriella with a smile.

Harry began to center as best he could on Gabriella's thoughts, but all he was sensing was the binding of his eyelids. Squeezing his eyes closed more firmly, he heard another boastfully thump that he took to be Ron's derriere once again striking the ticket flooring. It felt like an eternity, but at some head he could get word Gabriella calling his figure. Not with her mouth, but with her psyche. Instead of pushing him back, she was trying to coax him in. Even with the help he was finding it extremely difficult to drive his way through the darkness to her thinking. Not aware that he was now grabbing the sharpness of the desk with his hands, he redoubled, tripled his try to force his way in.

Suddenly, there was a jounce from behind. Trying to penetrate into Neville's mind, Hermione had been repelled backwards and fell against Harry. She grabbed his shoulder and began to displume him backwards. Without thinking and still focused mentally to sink in Gabriella with all his power, he reached out toward her. She grabbed his hands and when she did the scene in Harry's mind changed. The sound was sucked out of the room and all was swarthiness. He had penetrated Gabriella's brain ; but what was this… her memory or something more ?

The rumpus of the class had disappeared and an eery silence surrounded him. He heard first, a rushing of water, a drip-drip-drip, a rustle of leafage and then crying… Then the air filled with a musty, wet fragrance of pine and loam… The Forbidden Forest, he knew at once. Slowly, a luminousness began to open up before him and he realized that the watchword came from the babe he was holding in his weapons system. This was no memory ; Harry was himself in this imagination. He found that his robes were soaked. Both he and the young child, still less than a year old, looked as if they'd just come from the lake. The baby, glistening wet, was wrapped in dark folds of damp textile, dripping on his boots. A manus touched his shoulder from behind.

"You'll have to consider attention of him now, Harry."It was Hermione, her voice seeped in sorrowfulness."She'd want it that way."

A rush of reverence began to pour itself over Harry. He was common cold, shivering, teeth chattering, the nestling in his subdivision continued to cry out for its mother, but Harry knew that it was a cry that would never be answered. He wanted to call, to run, but when the nestling looked at him his heart warmed and his resolve strengthened. Slowly Harry's fingerbreadth brushed the child's brass.

"You know,"he whispered, quelling the fry's tears,"you have your mother's eyes."


Harry Potter and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 11 - Notty Boy
~~~***~~~

bass hammering, strings reverberating, the band was garish and Harry was not feeling all that well. He slumped back, sinking into the enceinte, overstuff chair and rubbed his synagogue. Why did he let Ron and Dean challenge him into a imbibing affaire d'honneur upstairs ? The Quidditch match against Hufflepuff was tomorrow and he swore he wouldn't take a sip. But then Ron convinced him that they were two-hundred point favourites over their sister house and why not celebrate… a piffling ? It was Halloween after all ; their last at Hogwarts.

Feeling a bit drunk, he then had let Neville win over him to eat far too a good deal during the feast. Why not ? It was, after all, their last Allhallows Eve together. And then when he had stepped outside for some fresh air, Hermione started in on him again.

"I saw it. You saw it. By the way she's acting, all three of us saw it, Harry."Her spokesperson was more openhearted than chiding as she set her manus upon his shoulder. She had tried this approach once already ; it hadn't worked then either. Harry didn't know why she wouldn't just let it go. Okay, that was a lie - he did know. That was just what Hermione did. She wanted to work out a problem that she didn't understand and not knowing the answer was driving her mad. Nonetheless, after her protestation, Harry had simply rolled his eyes and shrugged his articulatio humeri.

"If she doesn't want to talk about it, then—"

"You need to tell her what you saw,"Hermione had said, stepping in more closely to Harry, but his mind had grown foggier than ever. Instead of being refreshed by the dark air, he was just cold and drunk. He shook his principal, disagreeing with Hermione, unceremoniously pushing her entitle deal away, and had wandered, stumbling a bit, back into the terpsichore, where he had found the nice cushy chairman he now was melting into. Frustrated, Hermione had left his incline before he entered the Great Hall, and he was thankful for that. Rubbing his temples, Harry considered the new song. Yes, the band was very loud, but everyone was having a great prison term.

The Great manor hall was dark save for the spot that bathed the band in an eerie orange tree and purple illumination. Now and then a row of taper burning at the front of the leg would flash bright, sparkling into the air. It was the sole time you could piss much of anything out, except when a professor's wand grew burnished, lighting up two snogging scholar typically in a darkened recession covered by the fog that floated some three ft off the floor.

Harry was surprised to see St. Patrick dancing with a 3rd yr young lady from Slytherin, if you could anticipate his whirling dancing. The lad was flailing his sleeve and pounding his metrical foot ; Harry expected to see him smiling, but Patrick didn't seem too please with it. Ron was nowhere to be seen, which put a momentary smirk on Harry's face, for it was Harry who had won their earlier bet. He smiled even more broadly, thinking that Ron would have to go three nights straight without wearing any air-sleeve. There was another bright trice and he caught mass of Gabriella passing by King James I Chang as she entered the Great Hall. heart blurred, Harry thought she had been carrying something, but couldn't make out what it was before the room went blue again. His stomach churned ; he did not feel well at all. A bit later she was at his position with a Edward Durell Stone mug in her hand, steam boiling out the top and rolling down over her hand.

"You owe me for this !"she called out over the raging music."Ginny told me what you did upstairs. You can't do that, Harry. It's too dangerous for you to be this vulnerable."She handed the mug to Harry, who was nodding his head even though he couldn't make out a single word she was saying, and squished in next to him on the oversized cushion. Harry took a provisionary sip. Feeling her warmth next to his, Harry was certain she had been praising him for drinking Ron and dean under the table. There was another instant of sparks and he noticed a few of the new scholar including Saint James the Apostle and Patrick were leaving. He looked back down into his mug, mustered up the braveness and swallowed down the rest period. The force was nearly immediate. The nausea passed and his imaginativeness began to discharge. He was feeling better, but he was growing tired. When he set the mug down, Gabriella took him by the hands.

"You did a grand job helping prof Flitwick with the medal. The snake in the grass that kept swallowing first years was quite creative."

"A Slytherin inspired me,"replied Harry, smiling back at her now that the ringing was leaving his ears. He glanced over at the snake that was over in the corner of the Great vestibule. The few showtime year students that remained were still lining up to be swallowed by the large, greyish tool with fierce yellow centre. Once swallowed, students were transported to the front of the stage where the band was playing. It was the merely way the young students could form their way to the front of the swarm that crushed up against the degree. If they were favorable, they got to sing with the band. If they weren't, the older students would toss them to the vertebral column of the crowd. This belated, it became more a game than anything else with first old age finding some sort of treat or concoction from Fred and George's shop in their air pocket by the prison term they were flung out of the gang.

"I can't believe you're the only one who offered to help,"said Gabriella.

"Flitwick usually does it all himself. Er… last year… I made a promise, I guess."

Harry was suddenly skittish, remembering where he was and what he had done last year at Halloween. At first he tried to count away, but he could experience Gabriella's black eyes penetrating his feelings, so he turned to her and tried to alter the subject to something he knew she wouldn't want to talk about, especially not here.

"You know… Hermione thinks you should tell us what we saw."

At best it was hard to hear, and with the foresighted pause and total lack of response on Gabriella's part, Harry wondered if she'd even heard him. He tried to repeat himself.

"I said, Hermione thinks—"

"I know what Hermione thinks,"Gabriella snapped."AND I know what YOU think."She let go of Harry's hands and crossed her arms and legs. Her middle were not raging, they were sad, almost frightened.

"I didn't mean to—"

"You just don't understand, Harry."Her jaw was set as they watched another first year go flying off the leg and be thrown to the spinal column of the Great Hall, disappearing into the swirling fog that hung low on the floor. Without looking at Harry, she yelled,"Is there somewhere we can go so we're not screaming at each former ! ?"

Harry was taken aback. He didn't expect that she'd want to peach at all about it. His centre darted toward the antechamber off the Great Hall. No one could get in there save professors ; yet professor Dumbledore had taken Harry there the yr before and he remembered how to get in. Still he hesitated, but then his eye began to slipstream a bit, thinking of the possible action. It was dark ; if they stayed stopping point to the wall no one would see them fall away behind the stage.

"well ?"Gabriella called out.

Harry took her oral sex and nodded for her to follow. It wasn't easy making it to the paries, but the crew was focused on a particularly shrieking song by the conduce Isaac Merrit Singer with freshwater bass notes that pounded the storey and tossed folks off their feet. Undetected, Gabriella and Harry slipped into the side room and the music instantly fell away. The foyer was dimly lit by the ardent freshness of the fireplace and a handful of lit candles. Beyond that there wasn't another stick of furniture in the blank space. Harry paused, thinking about the right enchantment, but before he put it together, Gabriella had conjured up a prissy tete-a-tete near the open fireplace.

For the briefest of minute he thought to ask Gabriella about what he had seen in her mind, but being in this particular room on this particular Nox caused computer memory of Cho to race over him. His emotions were coalesce between excitement and concern. He hadn't heard from Cho since schooltime let out and when Gabriella offered to chaffer Cho at her abode, Mrs. Yangtze said that she had gone to the States and wouldn't be back for the rest of summer. The alone bookman who had any contact lens with her at all was Anthony Goldstein who seemed to be her boyfriend now. He seemed to crow that he knew something that Harry didn't and he wouldn't say a countersign about what Cho was up to ; only that she was levelheaded and glad and that they'd be seeing a lot Thomas More of each former after he graduated.

"Has she answered your letter ?"Harry whispered without thinking.

"Who ?"asked Gabriella, a bit befuddle.

"Cho. Only Antonius seems to know anything, but he seems to be playing Prince Valiant by keeping mum. Have you heard anything ?"

"You know I haven't,"answered Gabriella."Why do you—"

"I hope she hasn't relapsed,"said Harry with concern.

To Gabriella, Harry's sudden concern for Cho was odd, out of topographic point. Why here ? Why now ? Still, it was somehow heart-warming, and she took his hands again as they sat down together by the fire.

"If something was legal injury, we would hold heard,"she said comfortingly."If anything, Antonius's filled with pride and felicity. I can smell it. He feels as if he's doing something tremendously important. Is it so bad if he won't parcel ? Why ?"She smiled devilishly."Are you jealous ?"Gabriella pinched Harry's side and made him yelp.

Harry put on his Charles Herbert Best Humphrey DeForest Bogart impersonation."These optic are only greenness for you, sweetheart."

He leaned over and kissed Gabriella hard against the lips. It had been ages since they had been truly alone together, and she pressed her lips firmly back against his. Her arms wrapped around his cover and she pulled him taut to her knocker. His work force slipped to the warm, diffused flesh of her belly. Thoughts of Centaur visions slipped past both their judgment in favour of other, more gratifying, body process.

Later, as Harry was tying up the lace of his flight simulator, he realized how artfully Gabriella had managed to hold open him from asking her about the visual modality they'd seen. She kissed him one last sentence as he reached for the pommel on the threshold that led back out to the Great Hall. There was still a throng of people crowding against the point when they slipped back out of the ante-chamber. They chose not to trip the light fantastic and instead made their way out to the front of the palace. It was well yesteryear midnight, but there were still a few distich huddled together, watching the night sky. It was the most prominent Halloween Harry could think. The stars were brilliant, but then he saw it. His regard froze and his smile fell.

"What ? What's the affair, Harry ?"Gabriella placed her hand against the side of Harry's face and then looked to the heavens above her articulatio humeri."What's wrong ? What do you see ?"

"Ebyrth,"said Harry flatly. Gabriella leaned her head against his shoulder and patted his vertebral column, saying zilch. Harry sighed deeply."I… I just don't get it."

"What ?"

"I don't see how it can turn much brighter. I see it during the day now."

"It may be bright for you,"she answered quietly,"but about the rest of us can't yet see it at all."

"Where's the war ? I don't know why things haven't started already,"said Harry, but then a deep, scratchy voice broke the night's stillness.

"What makes you think they haven't ?"

Both Gabriella and Harry jumped. It was prof Barghouti. The moment the other couples saw him they began to shinny up the fronts steps of the rook, constantly casting backward glance to make sure he wasn't following them, and occasionally reaching for their cervix as if to reassure themselves that they hadn't been bitten. Harry forced himself to regain his composure, but Gabriella had beaten him to it.

"Dakhil, where have you been ?"she asked."I've been looking for you all day ?"

"I had a visit with a werewolf,"he answered."Only fitting, don't you think ?"He laughed at his own gag and while Gabriella laughed as well, Harry was having none of it.

"Just got back then, did you ? Wings a bit play out ? Slurp up a few holidaymaker along the way ?"

"Harry !"Gabriella snapped.

"Yes, boy,"said Barghouti unimpressed,"as a matter of fact…,"he ran his glossa across his teeth, and this fourth dimension a row of jagged, razor-sharp tooth appeared,"…I did."

"Dakhil !"chided Gabriella. Barghouti merely chuckled again and the teeth became straight and pearly albumen.

"You may not see it, boy,"said Barghouti, tapping Harry across the face with his large handwriting,"but your war has begun. Does that ca-ca you feel better ?"Harry's eyes were incredulous.

"What do you think of ?"he asked."There hasn't been an incident since the train."

"The Centaurs of the Great Forest are not the only Centaurus in the world, boy. And, as lots as you might like to believe that England is the centre of the world, it is but a very little section of it."He looked at Gabriella."It is as I had feared. The war has begun at home."

"I thought you said you didn't fear about the war,"queried Harry."Why the farseeing face now ?"

"Because, oh chosen one,"Barghouti sneered,"your Friend Lucius Malfoy has enlisted the supporter of lamia and hence his option of firstly smash - the Carpathians. Only they're not just killing Centaurs, they're wiping out anything and anyone in their path - all of them Muggles. A whole Village was destroyed. The Muggle theme are reporting that the ravaging was due to a gas explosion."A volley of air popped between his lips."I must return to Singehorn for a few days. I fear my old ally may strike to intervene and repeat old mistakes. Professor Dumbledore has been informed and Professor lupine will hold fear of my classes."

"waiting ! I'm going with you,"said Harry emphatically. Barghouti snickered and turned."I said—"

"You wish to save the Earth, boy ?"Barghouti snapped, spinning back upon Harry. He was clearly angry, as if Harry had started the whole thing ; as if Harry had placed the comet in the vault of heaven himself."Why don't you try saving this school first ? Why don't you try saving THEM ?"His script shot out toward the trees that surrounded the school ; all was darkness. Harry squinted, which only made Barghouti all the more exacerbate.

"wealthy person you learned NOTHING ?"he cried. There was a minor squeal from one of the remaining pupil near the palace room access who quickly ran inside, slamming the door behind her."Can you not SEE ?"

Harry looked again into the duskiness, squinting. Then he remembered. He took a inscrutable hint and closed his eyes. Then, he reached out with his mind toward the forest. As Dakhil had shown him before, all living affair began to appear before him - the grass, George W. Bush, and Tree all glowed brightly. He scanned further out and then saw it : a Centaur some ten railyard into the trees, bow in hand. Motion to the right caught his vision again - another Centaur, another bow. Harry continued to scan. Every thirty to fifty yards another Centaurus stood sentry go, watching over the schoolhouse in the darkness. But Harry couldn't tell if they were trying to keep something out, or something in.

"What are they doing ?"he whispered.

"I am weary of teaching the ignorant,"Barghouti muttered."The Centaurs can smell out the dark, jester. It is already upon you. You would be judicious to find its source before it swallows you whole."In a swirl he disappeared before Harry had a chance to say another word. The auditory sensation of flapping fender, faded to nothingness. What he noticed, after the debris settled, was that Gabriella's fingerbreadth were digging into the delicate material body of his forearm.

"What— ?"He looked over at her and saw pure awe on her face. She was mesmerized, staring intently at the duskiness of the wood. Then he realized that she was searching for what Harry could see, but she could not. She was afraid of the Centaur. She took a step behind Harry, almost as if using him as a shield against the wickedness, and then pulled him toward that castle doorway.

"Let's go inside,"she breathed.

"They're protecting us, Gab,"said Harry, trying to calm her nerves."They won't hurt you. They would never wound you."Her heart never left the forest and, if anything, the fearfulness that filled the contraband pond of her optic slipped toward ira.

"Now."

Harry sighed and nodded his forefront."Alright,"he acquiesced, and followed her up the step, noting that she was ever sure enough to keep his body between her and the darkness of the afforest. When the door finally closed behind them, he could see the weight heave from her shoulder and the stand-in counterpane across her expression. She leaned back against the door, placing her script over her cheek. Harry stepped closer, touching her berm softly.

"Baby, what is it ?"he asked."What's ill-timed ?"The hands upon her face began to tremble and bust began to streak down her buttock, one by one, but she would not cry, not out loud. Slowly, her eyes turned to the side to look at Harry. He'd seen that look when Gabriella lost her Father, Grigor. It was a look of uncertainty, of care, of death. Without saying a word, she shook her chief and turned to walk away. She'd gone only a few paces before Harry called her to lay off, but she wouldn't listen. She past the stone tower and began to manoeuver down to the keep, to the entrance of Slytherin. Her foot did not make the first off tone before Harry grabbed her by the arm and spun her around.

"Tell me what's—"He never finished. She didn't use her scepter ; she didn't need to. Her free hand came up under Harry's neck and he was out common cold on the floor.

When he came to, he was lying on a slate floor, but he wasn't at the top of the stairway leading down to Slytherin anymore. He was bound with ropes, unable to move, in some way, well lit by torches. The wall were endocarp, and along their top was a crown-moulding made of oak. Along its face, every few foot, was engraved a snake's head.

"Slytherin,"Harry hissed.

"Well done, Potty."The voice came from behind and Harry had to range over to see who he knew to be there.

"Hello, teddy bear,"Harry said, knowing Nott hated the epithet. Harry was not surprised to find Crabbe at Nott's position."Taken to snatch now ? A step up from watching murder I suppose."

"Just gathering road-kill, Potty,"Nott retorted."A niggling bird told me you'd been drinking… a bit too much. Imagine my surprisal when I found you passed out on the stairs to Slytherin."Nott stepped closer."Were you trying to find your true love life ?"Harry said cipher."I can find you a mirror if you'd like."

"I see you found yours,"Harry smirked, tossing his brain in Crabbe's direction. Crabbe took more than offensive than Nott and kicked Harry in the side. The blow was knockout and a burst of air shot from Harry's mouth.

"Why don't you untie me Crabbe, and then let's see how brave you are ?"Harry's center were on flaming. Fearful, Crabbe stepped backward.

"I… I wonder how w-well Gryffindor will do without their Seeker tomorrow,"Crabbe shot back shakily.

"So that's it, is it ?"asked Harry.

"I wonder,"added Nott,"what the Wizarding world will do without its hero sandwich. How ever will we get on… once you're dead ?"Harry's eyes narrowed on Nott. Crabbe's heart darted nervously toward Nott.

"Dead ?"he muttered under his breather. Evidently, he was not in on Nott's good program.

"That's a bit bold for you, shimmy, isn't it ?"

"Did you know ?"asked Nott, ignoring Harry's question and Crabbe's care."Malfoy's enlisted over two dozen vampires and Sir Thomas More are joining every day. They're crushing everything in their path, and soon, they'll be here at Hogwarts. Soon, they'll be coming for you, and they don't die, Potter."

"Oh, they die, shimmy. I've seen them die. Didn't you know ? I was attacked by them this summer. Turns out that a well placed Centaurus arrow… thwup… and they die."Harry chuckled deliberately."singular thing, vampires. When they're pierced, their vampire shell sheds away and for a min they're who they once were, the lunacy gone."Harry looked up at the park ceiling."I like to retrieve that in that moment, goodness had a chance to race in and occupy their souls once more. They have a chance to be saved."

"rubbish,"dig Nott, believing more than disbelieving.

"Yes,"said Harry still looking upward."Vampires, at least, have a bit chance."He turned to face up Nott."You on the early hand… I suppose you'll rot for all eternity."Crabbe's face was white, but Nott's was flushed with ira and foiling. It was his round to recoil Harry hard in the gut. It was all Harry could do not to vomit.

"Don't worry, Potterkins. You won't die tonight. But you will lose to Hufflepuff in tomorrow's—"

"Bloody hell ! I knew it !"

A newsbreak of red pilus told Harry at once who had just entered the room. Ron was breathing hard, his sceptre drawn, but his hand was shaking noticeably, not because he was scared or winded, but because he'd had too much to drink. Harry could make out a New York minute of cat valium robes behind him ; he assumed it was Gabriella which, with Ron in his present condition, he was grateful for. Both Nott and Crabbe turned toward Ron still standing at the door, wands drawn.

"How'd you find this position, Weasley ?"tiff Nott.

"A slight bird told him,"said the voice behind Ron. It wasn't Gabriella, it was King James Chang ; Harry's apprehension began to originate once more. There wasn't much of a chance if Ron couldn't pull it together… and quickly. The moment year who had freely chosen to be in Slytherin this semester stepped in nominal head of Ron with his scepter drawn.

"Chang ?"Nott asked, almost laughing."You little—"

"Obliviate !"chanted Epistle of James, casting a patch well beyond his years. A burst of Orange light erupted from his verge throwing both Nott and Crabbe against the wall, knocking them unconscious, and wiping their minds of recent storage. The specialty of the Obliviate spell determined how a great deal storage was removed. Normally, a sec year wouldn't even be able to cast the magical spell, but Harry was certainly that the effect would be lasting.

Ron released Harry from his ties while James bound his two house buddy."They'll be the ones missing the equal tomorrow,"he whispered with a smile pursing his rim.

Rising to his ft, Harry felt a picayune light-headed, the nausea once again returning, and had to tilt on Ron for reinforcement. He looked over at St. James the Apostle, wanting to thank him for his help, but more singular about the spell.

"Epistle of James,"he asked,"how did you—"He was struck from can.

"Harry !"

It was Gabriella, followed closely be Patrick. She wrapped him in her subdivision.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sooo sorry."She kissed his neck and cheek, and then looked into his eyes."Can you forgive me ?"Harry looked over at the two Slytherins on the story and back at James.

"Let's go,"he said, a nerveless sweat beading on his forehead ; the potion Gabriella had given him earlier was obviously beginning to don off."This berth gives me the creeps."

They made their way up a narrow row of stone steps that opened out on the Slytherin common elbow room. Harry hadn't been here since he was a foremost year. James and Patrick nonchalantly split away from the grouping to utter to some other second years that had just returned from the evening's party while Gabriella walked Harry and Ron out. The three began their trek up to the Gryffindor tower. By the time they made it to the tower, Harry was feeling much bettor and it was Ron that was leaning on Harry and Gabriella.

"I hope Henry James blasted Nott's retentivity to the Harlan Stone Age,"said Ron.

"No you don't,"answered Harry coolly, recalling his conversation with Dumbledore about the Horcruxes."Two years ago I think he might have taken this chance to toss off me, just to prove himself to his father and the other Death feeder. Tonight, he was just a bag full of hot air. He's learned something since then, since his Padre died."Harry paused."compassionateness I think."

"Oh, p-lease !"cried Ron."Nott ? Compasshhhionate ? King James I said he was goin'to wrench you over to them… to the dying feeder. He might not have delivered the blast, Harry, but he still would sustain been dancin'on your grave."

"Saint James the Apostle told you that ?"asked Gabriella."Patrick told me that they were going to throw him in the lake."

"If they had tried, they wouldn't have gotten very far,"said Harry calmly.

"What makes you say that ?"asked Ron, just as the reached the portrait of the Fat gentlewoman.

"Centaurus,"answered Harry, he looked at Gabriella."At nighttime, they've got the rook surrounded."

"Cool,"said Ron with a smile, rocking a bit on his own two pegleg. Harry didn't think it would take lots to strike hard him over."I'd like to see Nott with an pointer up his arse."Gabriella tried to muster a smile, but couldn't.

"Ron,"she said,"you go on in. I need to speak with Harry alone for a moment."Ron grinned.

"Sure,"he said."I get it."He turned toward the paining."Err… Erm…."He turned back to Harry."P-Password, mate ?"

"Toffee drib,"said Harry and the painting swung assailable and Ron stumbled through. Before it shut, he looked back at the two, pointing his finger in no particular proposition direction and shook it."But not too long, P-Potter. It'sss biz dark !"

A few present moment later, Gabriella and Harry were alone in the corridor outside the Gryffindor plebeian room. Gabriella walked him over to a Lucy Stone judiciary and the two sat down. Even though the walls and floor were now spotless, he never liked sitting here, remembering the Dementors that had nearly killed prof McGonagall the year before. There was a gumption of expiry in the air and for a irregular Harry felt a cool rush swim up his spine, whispering death's name. Gabriella held his hand, but would not keep his gaze. Instead, she watched their finger's breadth intertwined and mingling.

"mommy has the passel,"she began."You know that, Harry. Me… I can only smell the emotions of others. I can't see the room access and Windows that open on to the other planes."

"But—"

"Shhhh."She put one hand gently across his lip."Since I was young, before I ever went to Al Bsahri, I have had one sight. Sometimes years would pass before it would yield, the same scenery, over and over. Since we've returned to Hogwarts this yr, it comes to me nearly every day."She leaned her school principal against Harry's shoulder."Yesterday, I asked mamma what happened when you and Hermione plunged into the scene that has been playing in my mind without you for so many years."There was a long pause, and Harry could discover laughter coming from way down the staircase below ; it died away.

"And ?"he asked, nudging Gabriella along.

"A vision from another planer is like a finely cut gem, a baseball diamond with many facets. One can expect in and see different images from all angles. You and Hermione became part of my visual modality and somehow shared it from your own perspectives. We all saw the Saame thing, but all differently. And what we each saw can mean different things."

"Then why don't you want to—"

"No vision is perfect, Harry ; and, like time-turners, there are also principle about looking into the future. Most would make alteration based on the imperfect noesis they see, often changes that lead to more devastating outcomes. Only the best, those like mummy, have any hope of moving the Sand of clock time to mold the outcome of the former woodworking plane. Others go mad trying to convert what n-never was to c-come."She began to tremble as she delivered the conclusion words and in the silence that followed Harry felt a split drop onto his forearm. He put his arm around her and held her tight.

"Gabriella,"he asked,"what is it ? You need to rise this weight from off your psyche. I swear I won't do anything to convert the future."Her eyes met his ; she did not think him, so he repeated himself more forcefully."I swear on my parents that I won't do anything to change the hereafter. Please, secern me what you saw."Again there was another silence, and then Gabriella squeezed Harry's hired hand. Finally, not looking into Harry's centre, she began to whisper.

"It begins with a flashing of light, a fire erupting from a glistening emerald lake. We are surrounded by them. There is a howler and then silence. And then there is me… face down in the tall grass. I… I am utter, Harry. Buried deep in my spinal column is the retentive wooden arrow of a Centaur."


Harry Potter and the nativity of a New Sun

Chapter 12 - Blind Fortune
~~~***~~~

The air was fond for fall, yet the sky was a heavy Second Earl Grey. Flying with the magic spell of his Caduceus P2 off, Harry could feel the wetness in the air. He knew it would rain soon and that, more than anything else, focused his energies on finding the sneak. It had been hard concentrating. live year, Ron had lost Harry's ling when he had been attacked flying into the tunnel. So this year he was riding the later model of Caduceus, the new P2, P for Potter. Cleansweep was paying him a small hazard to use his figure for their new ling, monies that Harry was using to assist the families who had lost loved ones in the war. That didn't seem to count much. Even his own planetary house was ribbing him for the branding of his name and it didn't aid that sapidity in the heart of the visitor stand was a ten foot by twenty foot crystalline portrait of Harry flying the new Scots heather and wafture at the bunch. Every so often words would appear : The Caduceus P2. So flying it'll blow the challenger away. It was a play on the storey run by the Daily Prophet about Harry's frustration of Voldemort. The story said that the piece Harry dramatis personae was so powerful, not only did it destroy Voldemort, but it nearly took the Ministry down with it. Even now, the Ministry was digging out and repairing the gaping fall into nihility that remained after the base of the death bedroom fell away, swallowing unscathed the Curtain of Phenolem and the dais upon which it stood. Harry glanced again at the vast sheet of crystal, his own prototype smiling back at him and waiving, and shook his head to clear his thought.

He'd been distracted all day and most folks thought it had to do with first game jitter. He was Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain this year and nearly everyone believed it a folly decision. Since the attack on the geartrain, the hale school knew that he was going to be fighting the Dementors when the war with the Centaurus came. How could anyone concentre on training their squad with a burden like that on their berm ? Indeed, even Professor McGonagall thought that Ron Weasley might draw the better selection ; she told Harry so.

"If I can't have your mind on the game, you're no use to the team, Mr. thrower,"she had said in confidence."Ron Weasley bleeds Quidditch and his mind is incisive when it comes to analyzing the other team'weaknesses."Harry had nodded and had turned to leave behind her office when she stopped him."But no one commands loyalty like you, Harry. It takes seven to win a Quidditch match and all Gryffindor would sooner fly into the lake than let you down. The question is — can you keep from letting all Gryffindor down ?"

"No, ma'am. I mean yes ma'am,"Harry sputtered."I mean…"He sighed."I won't lie, professor. Ron's the expert strategist, and there's no one better in northern United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland when it comes to keeping a Quaffle from skewering the mob. Dennis Creevey is the fastest in all Hogwarts and is starting to follow up with romp I could never dream of. jackass Sloper's put on XXX Egyptian pound since go twelvemonth and he can knock a pansy off a fencepost at fifty beat. Slytherin was the simply team that had a prayer to beat us, but with Malfoy gone they don't have a chance. The team doesn't need me to lead them ma'am. Anyone can maneuver us to the cup."McGonagall looked at Harry over the top of her spectacles.

"Is that so ?"she had asked."Well then, Mr. ceramicist, I suppose you'll do then. I want the team roll, to include the player replacing Katie at pursuer, and the weekly exercise schedule by tomorrow morning. And, to sustain you motivated since this will be such an easy year, let's say that if we don't win every plot by Sir Thomas More than one-hundred fifty power point, you'll be back in my office on Dominicus for detention."

"But—"

"triad hours, each hebdomad. Good-day, Mr. Potter."

Harry had thought the challenge simple-minded enough, but sorting out the squad proved more difficult than he expected. They couldn't find a good Chaser and when jimmy Peakes tried out for Beater he played ferociously, unseating Hooper from the team. Finally, Harry selected Demelza robin as Chaser, if for no former reason than she was particularly near at dodging Bludgers. The shuffle caused a lot of growing bother and hurt feelings, but after three hebdomad of practice Harry was confident once again that the squad could not be defeated.

Now, flying high over the pitch, Harry wasn't so sure enough. Trying to snub his own face, he glanced at the scoreboard to find Gryffindor up by forty which, as far as Harry was concerned, was pathetic. They should possess been clobbering Hufflepuff from the starting time, but Ron was letting nearly every Quaffle through. Having heard that the four-in-hand of the Magpies, Bernard Bennegin, was coming specifically to scout Ron's carrying out he was a aflutter crash. To create matters unsound he was suffering from a hangover and was having trouble seeing the Quaffle, let alone stopping it. The only good news was that jimmy and manual laborer were keeping the Bludgers off the team while Dennis and Demelza were scoring nearly at will. Ginny could consume been too, but she was so fussy yelling at Ron for being such a git she hadn't scored a single goal.

Harry scanned the skies once more, searching for the sneaker. The Hufflepuff Seeker, Summerby, had seen it about an hr earlier. Harry had been well out of positioning, and if it hadn't been for a well placed Bludger by Sloper, Gryffindor would throw lost. It was then Harry turned off the magical spell of his Calluna vulgaris, hoping that he might better sense the Snitch's locating. Suddenly, the lily-livered incline of the pitching erupted in sunshine ; Hufflepuff had scored. Harry forced himself not to see at the scoreboard. He had to remain alert, but before you could say snicklfritz the gang erupted again - another mark for Hufflepuff. Finally, Harry called timeout.

The squad gathered over by Ron whose pinna were flaming red with embarrassment. Ginny began to tear into her brother.

"So help me, Ron !"she yelled,"The future Quaffle that goes through one of those rings is going to find its way up your—"

"bent on !"Harry interrupted."We're not here to fight with each other ; we're here to find a way to win."

"You could be looking for the Snitch !"snapped Ginny as she pulled out her wand."So help me, if either of you two drink on a game nighttime again, I'm going to hex you both back into Professor Trelawney's category !"

"You think you can peril me ?"yelled Ron at his sister as he pulled his own sceptre, however shaky his helping hand was.

"period it !"yelled Dennis above the fray. With a no-nonsense voice that commanded attention, Dennis Creevey, who was still the smallest on the squad, began to point out what needed to be done.

"Ron, they're constantly feinting right and shooting left. If you move gamy in the air and hold position just a little prospicient, you'll blockade them. Ginny, we could use a little more of your attention on the Hufflepuff side of the field. Dem, they're starting to catch on to Harry's first few plays."His heart dotted to Harry who nodded in arrangement."I think we should motivate on to what he was showing us hold up weekend."

"But we've only flown that three or four fourth dimension,"argued Demelza.

"Dennis is correct,"countered Ginny."At the big we'll have given them a new look. At the best we'll score three or four before they catch on."

"old salt, jimmy, you guys have been unflawed. Just keep back the Bludgers off our backbone and we'll sexual conquest for sure."Then Dennis looked at Harry."Harry, I don't blame you if you tell me to sod off, but…"

"Go on,"said Harry.

"wellspring, it seems like you've been day dreaming up there, Harry. I know there are a m things you should be thinking about besides Quidditch, but we're gon na demand the stoolie today, and if Summerby sees it again we've lost. Are you with us ?"

Harry had to smile at the new general on the battleground."Our own little Napoleon I,"he thought. Madame hooch blew the whistle for play to restart. Hufflepuff broke their scrum and began to fly into position. Harry looked down on the pitch below. There was nix he loved more in the world than flying.

"I'm with you,"he said with self-confidence."Summerby won't have a chance. I swear."Harry shot into position just to the west and a little below Summerby. If anything, the sky was growing darker and the air colder, but he resisted the temptation to prosecute the magical spell of his broom.

Dennis had been right. Over the next forty min or so, Ron had blocked six uncoiled Hufflepuff attempts while the Gryffindor chaser had scored four times. Still, they would need the Snitch. He flew over by the Slytherin stands and try a handful of hisses, and one sunniness.

Harry could think of few Hogwarts cleaning woman besides Gabriella Darbinyan able to hold up the taunts and mockery of Slytherin for being Harry's girlfriend. Of grade, there were no twit or jeers, because all of Slytherin was deathly afraid of Gabriella. Perhaps because she came from a shoal known for its dark legerdemain, but more because any comment usually meant the commenter had a one-way just the ticket to the infirmary wing. Harry looked down and saw her smiling up at him.

"Go, Harry !"she cried. Harry waved back, smiling and giving her a thumbs-up."NO ! GO !"she yelled, pointing her finger. The gesture and the gasp of the crowd told him at once that the sneaker had been seen. He spun to see Summerby plunging toward the turf at the north end of the slant. Below him was a glint of amber, racing low and heading toward the visitors'stands. Summerby was ahead by at least fifty meters when Harry began to charge.

"You bloody idiot !"Harry cursed at himself as he clenched his teeth."You flobberworm sucking idiot !"The breaking wind roared furiously at his grimace. The Snitch was flying low to the turf and Harry could see that it would have to sprain or rise once it hit the stands on the opposite side of the pitch. Even as good a flyer as Summerby was, he would not arrive at the stoolpigeon until it hit the paries. Harry leaned forward, accelerating his broom."It will mount,"Harry whispered to himself, focusing wholly on the atomic number 79 globe that was coming closer."It will rise."He chose to fly the straightaway line of business to intercept the stoolpigeon where he thought it would be. If the Snitch turned left or right at the wall, Summerby would have it before Harry could react. If the stoolie flew up… Harry groaned. At this swiftness it was still inconceivable. Harry poured all his Energy into making his broom accelerate. The butt of his robes began to tatter in the deplorable wind and his goggles were pressing hard against his side. The air pressure tunnelled his visual sensation, but he didn't care. He could still see the golden glint growing with child before him."Faster ! Damn it ! Faster !"

The pitch below him was a daze ; the tie-up faded to dark and all that Harry could see was the favorable Snitch and the trail of yellow that followed it -- the track of yellow that Harry was passing. Faster ! A sheet of purple — the visitors'stands. The golden stoolpigeon flying upward. Yes !
Harry's fingers pressed firmly against the winged canary when he heard the sidesplitter of little terror. They conflicted with his own sense of joy.

"We won !"thought Harry, feeling the hard metal in his clutches."Why would anyone be— ?"
Then everything went violently red… just before he lost consciousness.

Waking, and still feeling a bit groggy, the for the first time thing Harry recognized was the sound of plastic being unwrapped, shoot and then crumpled. The rhythmic mastication that followed told him at once that Ron was nearby. Harry smiled. He tried to open his centre, but couldn't. He leaned to his right incline and felt a dull ached that ran up the left one-half of his organic structure. With his flop mitt he felt the plane about his chest, the pillow behind his head, the bandage that wrapped his face.

"He's awake,"whispered Gabriella out of the darkness. A affectionate touch took his hand."Hi, sweetie,"she said softly."How are you feeling ?"

"Hey, mate,"Ron added before Harry could answer."Erm.. don't concern ; Madame Pomfrey will have you back to new in… in no time."The voice had a bit of a earth tremor in it and it wasn't because a chocolate toad found its way down the wrong pipework.

"That's right,"added Hermione with a stiff and unnatural tone. And then voices, dozens of vocalisation it seemed to Harry, added their agreement.

"You'll be fine, Harry."“ Don't worry, Harry."“ Flyin'in no time, you'll see !"“ Shut up, stupid."“ Hey, I didn't mean—"

"Alright… Alright…"echoed the vox of Madame Pomfrey."You've seen him move, now be off, all of you."

A numeral of kinsfolk touched Harry's good arm. He felt of few buss against his impertinence. He heard a few cheery Good-byes and Later, mates, but he also heard a few sniff and prick. The room access swung closed with a trench thunk.

"I'm still here,"whispered Gabriella and she took his hand once more. With his sore arm Harry reached up to pry off the bandages that wrapped about his human face, just to have a peak.

"No you don't, Mr. potter !"cried Madame Pomfrey. She grabbed his arm and gently pulled it down."The patch are to remain on for the succeeding three workweek if you wish to give birth any Leslie Townes Hope of seeing again."

okey. So he had been growing more and more apprehensive since he first became conscious. And the bandages were starting to freak him out… just a bit. Something in the backrest of his mind had said the word, but he had pushed it back down. Only problem was… the dark recession of Harry's intellect were shouting now.

"See again ?"he asked."What the infernal region does that think of ? I… I'm subterfuge ?"he asked weakly. Madame Pomfrey let out a tremendous sigh.

"Oh, dear,"she said quietly,"I didn't mean for it to come out that way."Gabriella's hand tightened about Harry's and he felt her shudder.

"It was the crystal portrait, Harry,"Gabriella said sadly."You slammed right through it, sending splinters of spyglass everywhere. They shattered your goggles and your… your…"

"Your heart were shredded, Mr. thrower,"cut in Madame Pomfrey."I wish I could say I've seen worse, but I haven't. I had Healer Sventstein from St. Mungo's do the operation. If it were up to me, you'd still be there, but Professor Dumbledore insisted that you remain within the castle."

"You've b-been out for two days, Harry,"said Gabriella, another shudder of sadness cracked her vocalism. Harry reached up and touched the bandage wrapping his face.

"Mr. thrower,"snapped Madame Pomfrey."If you keep touching your wraps you'll assuredly disturb their charm ! I will not have you go blind ! Do you hear me ! If you keep moving your munition I will pin them."Her voice was buirdly. She'd been crying ; Harry could assure. The sadness in the room was almost overpower. Finally, he turned his head in the direction of Gabriella.

"Did we win ?"he asked.

"What ?"she replied, still dazed.

"Did we win ?"he repeated."I did pick up the canary. hooch saw that, didn't she ? We did win, didn't we ?"

"Harry, how can you—"

"RON !"Harry screamed. In a flash the room access burst give.

"What ? What is it, Harry ?"Ron called nervously.

"Did we win ?"Harry asked. Without Harry saying another word, Ron began an exposition that was nearly poetical. At least… he thought it was.

"Blimey, Harry,"he began,"it was amazing. There you two were, screaming across the pitch to the compass north. Everyone was standing, even professor Snape. Although, who he was cheering for, I don't know. But he was screaming just the same. Summerby was flying low to the ground, his robes flicking up dehydrated grass and tossing it into the air. The blowing debris made it take care as if his Scots heather was on flak.

"I thought for for certain we'd lost, when you spun over and started closing in from on senior high. The Snitch was flying just to my right and I could have sworn there were Spark flying out the fanny of your broom. It was glowing red. Heading toward the stall, it was acquit you were going to pass Summerby, but you were too high gear ; everyone could see that. But it didn't subject. No one has ever seen somebody fly that fasting at Hogwarts… ever ! Crimey, maybe in all Britain !

"When you passed Summerby, I thought you'd honkytonk to void the viewpoint, to take hold of the Snitch that was still screaming low to the ground. But you didn't ; you stayed straight on. When the Snitch darted up toward you…"Ron sighed in ecstasy."It was a miracle, mate. Like you were calling out to it and it obeyed. Pop ! Right into your mitt."There was a long intermission."It's when everyone's center popped up with the stool pigeon we saw what was going to happen. That's when the screams began."Ron walked over next to Harry's bed."Summerby smashed into the supports down low. Broke his leg and lost a couple dentition. He got out of the hospital yesterday. You… you…"Ron swallowed difficult.

"You held on, mate. Yeah, we won, alright."Ron patted Harry on the dresser."Best damn seeker in all Britain."

"You still think Krum's better then, do you ?"asked Harry with a smile. Ron sat back down next to Gabriella.

"well, now,"Ron answered,"I know you've had your average share, Harry, but I still think Victor can care a stab to the head with a Bludger better than you."

"That's because there's nothing up there to hurt,"added Gabriella.

"Okay, okay you three,"said Madame Pomfrey."Mr. potter needs his rest."She shuffled the two admirer outside the room, but not until Gabriella kissed Harry on the sassing.

"I love you,"she whispered into his ear."Whatever happens, I love you."

When the room access closed, Madame Pomfrey walked over to Harry's bed. He was wondering if he'd ever look into the dark consortium of Gabriella's eyes once again. He was scared.

"Harry,"she said softly."We'll do everything possible, but you need to give them time to bring around. The wrapper will stick on for at least three weeks. Your eyelid will be sealed farsighted still. Even when you can unfold your middle, Harry, I don't suspect you'll see more than shades of light and dark. Once we know what you can and can't see, Healer Sventstein can set about making the proper corrections. You'll have to be patient, my dear, very patient."

He could pick up her folding some composition, putting rubbish away he thought, and then she stepped over to the face of the room and stream something into a chicken feed or goblet.

"I need you to fuddle this,"she said, helping him sit up and twine his hands around the cup. He winced when she held his go out arm."Yes, the unit left side of your body was pretty much ground beef meat. We've summoned out all the glass shards we can. There may be a few that aren't responding. I'll workplace on that more tomorrow."She sounded tired, so Harry decided not to debate about the deglutition and swallowed it down in one prospicient draught. The pain running down his side ebbed away and the apprehension about his imaginativeness faded. Soon he was asleep.

When Harry woke, he found himself confused and alienated. He couldn't understand why he couldn't see and he began to thresh around, rising out of bed, the stone trading floor stale beneath his bare feet. He was about to arrive at up to his side when a handwriting took him by the arm. At get-go he was startled, but the vocalisation settled him at once.

"Easy there, flyboy."It was Sirius."Bad dream ?"

"Sirius ?"Harry asked to the darkness, reaching out and touching Sirius'human face.

"Afraid so,"Harry's godfather responded."I was in the country ; thought I'd stop in."Harry began to move forward.

"Hold on ! cargo hold on !"Sirius stopped Harry from running into the wax light hovering at his bedside."Let's er… let's get you back in bed."Canicula helped Harry wax into bed and pulled the sheets back over him."There, that's better."He patted Harry's right leg and remained standing at his bedside.

"What clip is it ?"Harry asked.

"Not quite three in the morning."

"ternary in the morning ?"He paused, rising up on his elbows and looking about the elbow room."Anyone else here ?"

"Just you and me little comrade. How are you feeling ?"

"Blind,"Harry answered flatly, dropping back against his pillow.

"Yeah,"agreed Sothis smartly."That's what I hear."Harry could hear Sirius drop back into his professorship and suspiration."I have to accommodate, Harry, that was the fastest I've ever seen a broom fly, and I've seen a few Quidditch match in my day. When you hit that damn portrait with your picture on it, the thing exploded. It was like a giant star crystal pyrotechnic. And that you still held onto the Snitch… well, it's been all over the papers. Most figure you broke the book, but the folks from Cleansweep want you to come out and perform a fly-off against Comet — 20 thousand galleons to the winner's charity."Harry turned on his side, his back toward Sirius.

"Like that's ever going to befall,"he muttered.

"What do you stand for ?"

"You know what I mean,"Harry answered curtly."If they've told anybody, they've told you. I'm subterfuge and I'm… I'm going to stay blind."

"That's not true, Harry,"began Sirius."Madame Pomfrey—"Harry spun and faced Canicula. Sirius didn't need to see Harry's eyes to lie with the look he was getting right now. He sighed."Ten percent is not zero percent,"he whispered.

"Yeah, right,"Harry replied and dropped back down again. Likewise, Sothis sunk back into his chair, crossing his weapon system and searching for what to say. There wasn't much he could say. Harry, after all, was correct. Once a witch or ace lost their eyes there was often little that could be done—eyes simply hold too much magic. Healers could re-grow many thing, but the eyes… the eyes, particularly of a powerful witch or wizard, were nearly unsufferable to animate. Dog Star let out a low groan as the silence stretched between them. After that, the flicker of candlelight was the only racket that accompanied their breathing. At last, it was Sirius who began again, not sure if Harry was even still arouse. His vocalisation was unsteady, recalling a percentage of his past he had never shared with Harry.

"When I… when I was in Azkaban, there was nothing to see but darkness, nothing to smell but the stench of death, null to hear but the cries of lament, nothing to savor but the remnant of rent that had farseeing since died away, and the only thing one felt was the dusty breath of despair. What food they gave us was more like black gruel with a consistency somewhere between mud and slime."Sothis chuckled grimly to himself."When the Dementors departed, leaving this black goo behind, I would smile. It was the only joy I had, sensing their departure, knowing that however awful the nutrient was, the vacancy that screamed from my belly would soon be staved for another day. That crusty stadium of shite and my pure hatred for peter Pettigrew were all that kept me alive.

"I never dreamed that one day…"Sirius'vocalisation halted and he had to swallow to conglomerate himself."That one day… the son of my honey supporter would parlay my ten-percent of aught and keep open me… not from the Dementors of Azkaban… not from the curtain of Phenolem, but… from myself. I was used up inside, Harry ; a cuticle of a wizard and less a man. You've shown me, even now as swarthiness rushes in toward us, how to live again… how to roll in the hay again. I'm amazed that today, I once again walk the halls of Hogwarts—a free man, not because I'm gratuitous of the horrors of Azkaban, but because I'm free of the wickedness and hatred that once consumed my individual. Because of you, I'm gratis to taste the toothsome fruit of life once again."

"Erm, surely you're not referring to your cooking ?"asked Harry, turning back to face Sirius. Because I think you could start your own restaurant for pitch blackness sludge."

"If I could smell you, I would,"dissipate Dog Star, kicking the mail service of Harry's bed with his understructure, a tear sliding down the incline of his face.

"Bring it on, old man !"called Harry, rising up in bed and brandishing two clenched fist that were swinging wildly in the air—something akin to a boxer's perspective."I can take you with both eyes tied behind my back !"Harry was smiling as Sothis rose to his feet. The aged wizard wiped his eyes and then, gently, took Harry's hands in his own.

"You just have to trust that it'll get break, Harry. It will. I know it will."The smile on Harry's face drooped.

"Canicula, if I can't see, I can't battle… I can't fly… I can't…."Harry shook his head and then looked toward where he knew Sothis to be."So many people are depending on me. I can't let them down. I can't—"

"enough already ! Stop telling me what you can't do ! I don't want to hear it anymore !"This metre Canicula'voice was heated."I still wake in the middle of the Night grasping for my sheets, fearing that it has all been a pipe dream, wondering if in the nothingness of night I'm really still trapped behind the drapery of Phenolem. One day the nightmares will end ; I know so, because I believe they will. Until they do, I will go to sleep at Nox, searching for those dreams that will carry me through money box dayspring.

"Harry, you need to believe that one day you will see again."

"Yeah, but—"

"And more than that,"Sirius interrupted,"until the day comes when your vision returns, you'll have to find a way to see through your blindness."Harry's immediate reaction was to let a burst of air push through his lips in scoffing dismissal of Sirius'words. He began to lessen back into his pillow when he stopped himself and held fast to Dog Star'hand. To see through sightlessness ? Might it still be possible ?

Not sure what to expect, Harry reached out with his mind as Dakhil had shown him — to see without seeing. Why hadn't he thought of it before ? Almost immediately he could distinguish the cleverness of Sirius before him. It wasn't an paradigm so much as an halo of light that shown bright. Harry leaned forward in his bed. Reaching out further he began to contract in the dim freshness of the constitutional life that clung to the walls, ceiling and trading floor. Without saying a Word of God he let go of Sothis'manus and rose out of bed.

"Harry, I don't think—"But Harry held up his hand and his godfather simply watched.

What Harry was ‘ seeing'wasn't so very much an image as an imprint of all that was around him. It would adopt time to decipher the soma, chromaticity and intensities. There was a glow coming toward them. Harry pointed at the doorway.

"individual's coming,"he said. Canicula spun, confused. An insistent later, Madame Pomfrey walked through the door.

"Harry ceramicist !"she cried."Get back in bed this jiffy !"Harry smiled as she reached over to help him, but he moved out of the way before she could reach him.

"I should give known it was you by your colour,"he said happily."Bright blue — the colouration of a healer's spell."He looked back at his godfather."Sothis, you're a bit Orange River right now. You were brighter a minute ago. What's wrong ?"

"My god,"whispered Sirius."You can see."


Harry Potter and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 13 - The New plus
~~~***~~~

"The flow. The stream ! Do you see the stream ?"

"Ye… yes, Ro… Ronan. I… I see… the bloody… stream."

"jumping !"

Ronan didn't need to tell him. Harry had already started the bounce.

It had been bitterly cold all day, but with all the running Harry was beginning to regret his decision to have on clothes. They were pushing the limits between physical and sorcerous exertion and Harry's feet, well clad in a pair of trainer, were on fire. The light crown and pants he was wearing were suffocating and felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.

Once again he was training with Shahan and Felspar. Over the live on few daytime, the three had been put though their paces by Ronan, Firenze and others — running, lifting, and shooting arrows from one slope of the Forbidden wood to the other. Harry was exhausted — a feeling he was beginning to revel. If anything, he preferred to be out in nature.

Still blind, he was developing his fix power to achieve out and sense the aura of life around him. While he could make effect about where things were at Hogwarts, occasionally very uninfected objects would miss his attention. A group of Slytherin fourth years had discovered this about a week after Harry had returned from infirmary and had taken to conjuring marble in areas where they knew Harry would be walking. Harry, in turn, developed a few spells that helped clear his way. The tinkling of marbles usually meant that a Slytherin was nearby, waiting to watch Harry break down. But since Harry could honor someone's aureole, even through bulwark, the culprit was usually found fastened to the wall with their underwear on their heads and nothing else. It was a Page out of what Nott and C. Northcote Parkinson had done to Ron last twelvemonth and Harry didn't mind a slight playful retribution.

In the wood, however, Harry felt as if his vision was better than having sight. Everything was alive and vivacious. Trees and vegetation, the largest animate being and the pocket-size spores, Harry could see it all as if he'd never been blind.

Shahan had cleared the stream ahead and was already pulling away. Felspar came a bit short and she splashed piss into the air. Harry, just a step behind feldspar, was shorter still, landing a full phase of the moon meter away from the coin bank's edge. His feet landed firmly in the piss and he struggled to observe his balance so as not to lessen into the icy water completely. He'd only taken three steps when he noticed the coldness around his feet. When he focused his attention downward he could smell out clearly that his flight simulator were gone, the bottoms of his pants in tatter. Where the splash from Felspar hit the front of his jersey it had dissolved away as if it had been burned by acid, the aura of his bare skin underneath beaming through.

Stepping backward as he moved out of and away from the flow, Harry focused at the running water. For the first metre he noticed that its colour was different than the other stream he'd seen through the forest. The illume emanating from this pee was ashen, to a greater extent crystalline, more pure. With a great bound Ronan, who had been following, jumped from bank to money box with easiness. Harry expected to be chastised for stopping, yelled at for falling fanny, but Ronan said nothing. Harry noticed that the whitish-gray of Ronan's atmosphere warmed a bit. He'd learned, at least with his protagonist, that such a change meant a smiling. He wondered what it meant with a Centaur.

Shahan had long disappeared in the underbrush ahead, but Felspar stopped short of the thickening trees and returned to Harry and Ronan.

"Is something wrong ?"Felspar asked.

"Only one of the three has seen it,"answered Ronan coolly."I asked you not to calculate on your site and to reach out with your vision."

"But Shahan said—"Felspar began, but Ronan cut him off.

"You are your own Centaur, feldspar ! You have passed these urine so often, and yet you still can not see ?"feldspar stepped closelipped to the watercourse, staring down at its ripples.

"Not with your eyes, foolish one !"snapped Ronan. Felspar stepped back and closed her oculus. A moment passed before she rose up on her stern wooden leg and spun toward them.

"The falls !"she cried with excitement."The watercourse that feeds the falls !"Then Felspar stepped over to Harry, noticing his bare feet and articulatio talocruralis."Harry ceramist, your fetlocks are bare."She stepped tightlipped."But the flesh is unharmed. If ever I held doubt in the elect, they have forever washed away."felspar nodded with a slight bow. Harry nodded in return and the smiled as he saw Felspar own fetlock joint.

"And I thought you couldn't be any whiter,"Harry said, grinning.

"The boy is right, felspar,"said Ronan."Your own fetlocks have grown brighter. Like the chosen, you now wear socks."He laughed as felspar looked down to see that indeed her Patrick Victor Martindale White coat was glistening Thomas More brightly from the knee joint and hock down.

"Perhaps you should jump in wholly,"suggested Harry.

"No,"said Felspar immediately, backing away from the water."I would not place the purity of my pump at such a monetary standard. Indeed, if I had known these were the very waters…"

"Felspar,"said Ronan,"catch up to Shahan if you can and evidence him that we are done for the day. He has, once again, failed the test. You are fortunate that you stopped to return. In these times we must think of to think of the herd before our own interests."Felspar bowed.

"Shahan will not be pleased,"Felspar said to the soil.

"As I am not,"retorted Ronan."For three straight person days Shahan has failed to grasp the example. Firenze says Shahan did not even bother to search for Ebyrth. The centaur is of no use to the heard if he refuses to learn our ways. I care not that he is young."Then Ronan stepped closer to feldspar ; his posture becoming rigid."You would be wise not to hear to Shahan's view, Felspar. That your coat should change colour at all is not a good sign. Your female parent has raised you better."Then Ronan's demeanour changed back to one of teacher.

"Focus your thinker on where you need to be, Felspar."He said nothing more, but Felspar turned toward the part of the forest through which Shahan had disappeared. A import later in a streak of white she was gone.

"Is that not an Apparation ?"Harry asked.

"One can not Apparate on these grounds, Harry Potter. The earth is too filled with magic. The centaur can bend space and dense time so that distances travelled can be covered far more quickly than on hoof alone. You have accomplished this already. What's more you have learned to leave your mortal physical structure and travel with the other living spirits of the forest."

"You helped me… when I was with Shahan."

"Yes,"answered Ronan."But I need not show you again ; these attainment are yours to command. Do you sense the Bowtruckle staring at us from across the stream ? Perhaps he can help you see what you've thirsted for. hand out to the creature's mind."

When Harry did reach out, he found it far easier than he first expected. The energy of the forest seemed to imbue him with added insight, guiding his thoughts as he became focused on the wight, leaving his own self, releasing his corporeal form behind and melding into the gist of a control stick. In a news bulletin he was one with the woody Bowtruckle. His optic blinked. Ahead, across the stream were a Centaur and Lester Willis Young man with shattered pants and no shoes. Harry tried to tread forward, but the creature would not respond. It was as if he were simply eavesdropping. Suddenly, he felt quite hungry. Instead of looking ahead at the two across the stream, Harry found himself looking down. There was a rather large stink louse wriggling its bellying head between two leafage. He bent down, sniffed the cruddy thing at pulled it up out of the soil grinding gut and earth between his teeth.

"yak !"said Harry, returning to his own eubstance and spitting out what wasn't there. Ronan remained expressionless.

"Well done, Harry Potter. It has been less than a twelvemonth since the Cleansing, and already you have learned the Centaur Arts. It will remove much Thomas More time to master them and many years to understand their true nature. It is…"Ronan paused looking toward the western sky."…unfortunate that we have so lilliputian time."His hoof clawed at the ground."It does not go well for our brothers in Eastern Europe. superstar have joined the Dementors and brought a new ally to the war."These last words were spoken with the most emotion Harry had ever heard from a Centaur—contempt.

"vampire,"said Harry quietly."It's the work of Lucius Malfoy."

"It is the work of Ebyrth. Malfoy is but its tool."

Harry could sense darkness falling, and for the first sentence he was beginning to feel cold. Ronan sensed this at once.

"It is time for you to return to the castling, Harry Potter. I have been training you far too hard and far too dissolute, I'm afraid. So it is with Shahan and Felspar. You are all learning before your ability to cover. If we were peachy in number…"Ronan let out a long suspiration as Harry turned to front him.

"Why wage war,"asked Harry,"simply because Ebyrth has returned to the Heaven ? How is it that this solstice is any different than utmost ?"

"That is not a question for the Centaurs, Harry ceramicist,"said Ronan defiantly."It is a question for the Dementors. It is not our war ; it is theirs. It is not the Centaurus herd that are destroying the villages of Eastern Europe. That is the work of the Dementors and their ilk. They are the single swayed by Ebyrth's return ; we are simply defending ourselves."

"I read that in the engagement of the one-fifth Age the Centaur herd nearly obliterated Dementors from the face of the earth."

"Would that we had,"said Ronan coolly."Their dark has no intent other than destruction. Near the end of that war, only a handful escaped into the swamps and bog through which we could not travel. It was there they learned to fly ; it was there they developed their thirst for souls. Now, from a disconnected few, their progeny have multiplied. They outnumber the Centaur two to one. For that we can thank the Wizarding earthly concern and the cosmos of man whose greed has consumed the earth and produced sustainment on which the Dementors feed.

"No, Harry Potter, you fight on the side of righteousness, as the Centaurs have for C. But, I am afraid, virtue alone will not be enough to direct us to victory. We will need your strength and more."

"It doesn't assistant that I'll never see again,"said Harry, rubbing his limb with his hands to bring some fondness to them.

"It is the will of Ebyrth. There is a reason and you will discover it. Already your blindness has taught you to see many things."

"Yeah, right,"said Harry a bit sarcastically."I see that everyone's their own pretty colour. If I had a few one C I might be able to tell apart everyone's particular hue."

"It is a window to the spirit that lies within. This imaginativeness you have goes beyond external appearance and penetrates the essence of the creature before you. My people hold their emotions well, so they appear gray-headed or white. Have you noticed that sign of the zodiac elves are nearly always—"

"Green. Er… greenish. Yeah, I noticed."

"Goblins, whose natures are always angry, are almost always heyday with red. While wizards and witches carry the colours that suit their nature, colours the trained centaur judgement can tell apart. It does not take long to spot the given hue."

"Or hues,"added Harry.

"Excuse me ?"asked Ronan."What do you mean ?"

"wellspring, when they have to a greater extent than one colour. You know, say green that sometimes turns blue."Ronan was staring blankly at Harry."You know, the guy's kind of low-spirited sometimes, sort of light-green other times… right ?"

"Unless there is a phenomenal transformation, a flavor carries but one hue, Harry Potter. It may brighten or darken, but the hue remains the same. Unless…"

"Unless what ?"asked Harry. Ronan stepped back from Harry and scanned the forest about them.

"Do you see this in many ?"he asked cautiously. Harry had to think for a minute.

"No, not really. Now that I think of it. Just a handful… in the school."Ronan stepped closer.

"There are manner you might see two chromaticity, Harry ceramist. Some wizards or witches are known Animagi. The creature inside can present a different hue, although even among the Animagi it is rare. Usually, the creature reflects the nature of the beldam or wizard."There was a recollective break.

"And the other ?"asked Harry.

"It can be the work of a fracture spirit, someone who is really two citizenry, or possibly under the controller of another."

"The Imperius Curse ?"Harry asked.

"Perhaps. Such is the way of wizards and my knowledge falters there. I hope this is not someone close. Someone in your self-confidence ?"

"Erm, no… not really,"Harry lied."I've got to go, Ronan. Thank you for your teachings today."Harry's idea was clicking of the listing of public figure. He focused on bending the blank space between where he was and Hagrid's hut."I think I can find—"Before he finished his sentence, Harry had warped time and found himself outside Hagrid's presence room access. He'd covered the distance, some Admiralty mile, in little Thomas More than the blink of an eye. Still, in so doing he'd exhausted what slight resources of military posture he had left. His clothes shredded, he was about to knock on Hagrid's room access when he sensed that person was hidden in the Tree behind the garden. Harry reached for his wand and held it at the quick. Barefoot, he began to tread silently toward the spy. It was one technique taught him by the Centaurus and for the fleet of moments Harry thought he'd prefer a notched arrow right about now.

Stealthily, Harry moved closer. The figure of speech, with a bright emerald unripe aura, didn't movement. Its position continued to rest against the tree. Just a few yards away Harry's nostrils took in the smell of smoke, a distinctively aromatic smoke.

"Draco !"Harry hissed quieten and low. This close, Harry could see the figure, still leaning motionless against the tree, bring his hand to his oral fissure. He was taking another drag on his fag. Harry could hear the exhale, long and slacken.

"red cent, Potter,"Dragon said, pulling himself away from the tree and turning to face Harry."I thought you'd never get here."genus Draco took a footfall closer."Merlin, what the hell happened to you ?"

"Dragon, you can't be here. Do you be intimate what will bump if—"

"You don't know yet, do you ?"said Draco in a long low drawl. He liked knowing more than than Harry and didn't mind showing it, if only for a moment."How long have you been in the forest ? All day ?"

In the darkness from far up the pitcher's mound Harry could hear the forepart doorway of the castle unfastened with their characteristic cleft. What he didn't expect to hear next was Ron Weasley's voice.

"He should be there by now, I'm sure."

Followed by his Father-God's.

"I should hope so, Ron. I don't have much Sir Thomas More clock time and this is quite important."

Harry spun to see three figures walking their way down to Hagrid's hut. One he didn't recognize, but was sure was Mr. Weasley. The other two were Ron and prof Dumbledore.

"I thought the old man would be all in by now,"said genus Draco with a matter of fact tone as he pulled what was left of Harry's jersey toward some thicker underbrush. Harry acquiesced and the two withdrew deeper into the woods as Ron, Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley made their way to Hagrid's hut. When Hagrid answered the whang he was black-and-blue.

"Yeh should make been here an hour ago !"he called from inside."I don't care what Ronan tells yeh ; the woodland ain't safe after dar—. Er… Professor Dumbledore, sir. Erm… Minister. I… er… I wasn't expectin'company."

"I take it,"said Dumbledore, making his way into the hut,"that Harry has not yet returned from his time with the Centaur ?"A second later and the door shut leaving Harry alone with genus Draco once again.

"What's going on, Draco ?"said Harry not holding the right line of wad with Draco's oculus."I thought you were going to use Blaise to—"

"So it's true,"said Draco, waving his hand in battlefront of Harry's face."You're blind."Able to see the glowing from the life-forms that clung there, Harry grabbed Draco's arm.

"You can read !"said Harry dismissively."It's been in every paper I can think of."Draco ignored the crack, reached up and touched the side of meat of Harry's case.

"Does it hurt ?"

"I'm too cold to feel anything right now,"said Harry rubbing his munition again."What's up with Blaise ?"

"Blaise has been… compromised. He and I have a magical apprehension phrase that we use to ensure the other is mentally devoid from any… tampering. For the conclusion two weeks, Blaise has tried to contact me without using that phrase. He's individual else's now."Draco took another foresightful drag on his cigarette."How father found out… I don't know."His words were deeply riotous. It was an emotional duty period in Draco that Harry had rarely seen."We were heedful ; more than than careful. You need to recognize that there's a spy in the castling. I thought maybe Nott, but he doesn't have the acquisition to cast the Imperius."

"You're r-risking your life to tell me there's a spy ?"asked Harry incredulously."There's p-probably a 12 !"His dentition were beginning to twaddle as the stale set in.

"And you're supposed to be our Christ ? We're screwed."Draco flicked his butt into the air and it vanished."Here."He passed Harry his cloak and wrapped it around his shoulder joint."You know, aside from being scratched bloody, having essentially no clothes, and looking like you were just run over by the Hogwarts expressage, you're in pretty skillful configuration. Maybe if you stopped running around the afforest fundament naked—"

"T-Training,"Harry interrupted.

"rightfield, like that's going to bring through your dingy ass. I don't know what potions you've been taking, but you meliorate rouse up and see what's going on around here."

"I don't know where the hell you've been, Draco, but I've been here since day one. I think I know what's going—"

"Cho and Goldstein are going to be married over Noel. Did you know that ? A hole-and-corner wedding."

"What ? What are you talking about ?"

"I've been here since day one,"Draco mocked Harry."Yes, you're so in strain, so enlightened. Hell, Harry, that's not even the interest news."

"Married ? Goldstein ?"

"Not even her niggling Brother knows they're getting married. Quite scandalous."Draco chuckled to himself and then sat cross-legged on the ground."But I suppose you, all knowing oracle of the blind have insight to that."Harry said nothing, but sat down next to Draco crossing his munition and legs under Dragon's cloak.

"Come on, Potter,"drawled genus Draco once again."Surely you can guess why Cho and Goldstein would want to… nay… would need to get tie secretly."Again there was a long pause and Harry pulled Draco's cloak tighter about his shoulder joint. He was feeling a pang of jealousy and he had no right to. He had loved Cho and he would always bed her, but their track were never meant to trip together. His route was and would forever be entangled with Gabriella. It wasn't perfective tense but the attraction was inviolable and the love business firm and the precariousness of any given day that kept Harry forever on boundary tickled a very Slytherin voice of his flavour that wriggled rich inside him. Finally, Harry breathed.

"Cho's pregnant,"Harry whispered."That explains why they've been meeting secretly for months. Goldstein won't say where."

"Anatole France,"answered Draco with a sly smile."Don't Tell anyone, Harry, but Goldstein's guardian may be their chaperone by day, but at night he's a expiry Eater in my father's avail. It's a tryst of slight consequence to my male parent and it pays the vizor for Henry, the chaperone, but I knew you might bear a limited interest."

"I never thought that Goldstein and Cho would—"

"Oh, but I'm not done, Harry. Cho Changjiang spends her days in France, in a piffling Francisco Villa just north of Marseille, a town called La Mure. She and the—"

"When's she due ?"Harry asked."Do you know how far along she is ?"At this Draco smiled.

"enchantress can enshroud that fact until the very day of saving, Harry. Have you ever seen a significant witch ?"For a second, Harry pondered the musical theme. No, he hadn't ever seen a pregnant crone. And then he remembered that he'd seen Geoffrey Hooper's mother just a few weeks before her baby was born and she looked no dissimilar than the yr before.

The door to Hagrid's cabin opened and the giant stepped out for just a moment looking toward the wood."Should be any moment, sir,"he said to the folk music inside."Any moment."Then more quietly to himself before he went back in he whispered to the forest,"Harry, where in Singehorn's gens are yeh ?"Harry began to stand, but Draco pulled him back down. For a flash, Harry was irritated, but caught himself.

"You know, Dragon,"Harry said gently,"if we walked in there right now, together, Dumbledore and the minister would shoot you back. You'd be—"

"Dead in about two day,"cut in Draco."Not by the Ministry's hired man, but by its dark underbelly."

"Then why are you risking your liveliness right now ? It's not to gossip on about some girl and guy you couldn't kick in a shit about. What's so crucial that—"

"They've found it,"Draco interrupted."Months ago I asked you to find it first, and you didn't even try. Now they have it."He flicked a branchlet into Harry's face."Blaise risked his life and you did nothing. Now he's been found out."Draco leaned over and grabbed the cloak about Harry's neck opening. Harry could palpate the cloth tighten, not by Draco's hired man, but another force-out."You're going to get it back, dearest, or I'll kill you myself."The cloth tightened further. Harry reached for his wand, but found the cloak held his hand tight.

"Dragon,"he gasped,"I don't know what you're—"

"Save it for someone who gives a damn."He leaned over Harry who was gasping for breath now."Funny thing… magic cloaks. They can hold so many enchantments."He pressed Harry firmly against the sod as the Gryffindor desperately tried to gain air."Understand, Harry, I don't want it and I sure as Hell don't want my Padre to get his helping hand on it. But he will if they have their way. Get it out of the Ministry before it's too late."

All of a sudden, the cloak released Harry and he began to cough, heaving in as practically air as he could. Draco took to his animal foot and wrapped the inkiness cloak about his shoulders, his prospicient blonde hair starkly white in demarcation. Still coughing, Harry stumbled to his feet and pulled his wand. Draco ignored the gesture and turned to leave. But then he stopped as if suddenly remembering a draw a blank thought. The door to the Hagrid's hut opened and Ron stepped out. He'd heard the sound of Harry's cough.

"Harry ? !"Ron called to the darkness.

"Oh, and Harry,"Draco said, looking Harry in the centre even if the glance was not returned."Cho isn't pregnant."He turned to leave."It's a newborn baby boy. Well, not so very much newborn any more. You'll never guess the birthday… it's the Same day as yours."

"Harry !"Ron called again. This time, by the tone in Ron's part, Harry knew they'd been seen. He focused back toward the hut, but when he turned back to Draco, the Slytherin was gone.

"That's not potential,"he whispered at the emptiness. The sound of footsteps came charging up from behind and Harry could hear the commotion on the front porch of Hagrid's hut. A hand touched Harry's articulatio humeri.

"Was that who I think it was ?"Ron asked quietly. Harry simply nodded."That can't be secure,"Ron muttered.

"No. No, Ron, it's not."

"Harry ? Is that you my boy ?"Arthur Weasley called from the hut."Harry, come inside. Get out of the cold."

"I told you, Arthur,"Dumbledore said gently from within the hut,"nothing to interest about. derive in and let's finish our tea."

"My god, Albus !"cried Chester A. Arthur as Harry and Ron returned to the cabin."Look at the boy !"Harry was still barefoot, what remained of his clothes in tatters, his face covered in mud and now a thin red pipeline that wrapped about his neck shown through the grease. As he climbed the steps with Ron's assistance his dentition once again began to chatter.

"Yes, yes,"said Dumbledore, dispassionately."I see they've been working you rather hard today, Harry."The statement was Thomas More dubiousness than anything."A lot to mean about ?"Harry just nodded and walked through the door."Well, it's not going to get any easier, young man."

"Get o'er by the fire, lad,"said Hagrid, offering a mantle. But before Harry had a opportunity to accept, Dumbledore pulled his wand and tapped Harry's shoulder. The grime disappeared and a Hogwarts robe covered his organic structure. The flimsy red line about his neck opening and the ache muscles, however, remained.

"Hagrid,"said Dumbledore,"perhaps some tea and some…"Harry tried to catch Dumbledore's eye to evidence him to stop, but found, as it had been since his accident, he could no longer effectively communicate silently with his oculus."…stone cakes."

Warming his muscles by the fire, sipping a bit of tea, and pretending to enjoy Hagrid's rock-hard stone cake, Harry was beginning to feel himself again. He assured Arthur Weasley that he was fine and that his dishevelled appearance was all in a day's oeuvre, training with the Centaurs in the woods ; but the Minister was none too convinced.

"Your clothes were in tatters, Harry, and it still looks as if you've been strangled."

"Just a slight work with Devil's snare drum is all, sir,"answered Harry, rubbing his neck with his go out hired hand and sipping some more tea with the other. If they could see his eyes, they would know he wasn't listening to a word they were saying. Dragon probably thought his little show would center Harry's head fully on some Horcrux that the Ministry had no dubiety just found, but Harry's mind was anything but centred. After a bit more give-and-take about schooltime, regrets about Harry being blind, and news about the battles raging in Eastern EEC, Chester A. Arthur Weasley finally got down to the determination of his visit.

"You know, I'm sure,"he began,"that we have been excavating the prostration that occurred at the Ministry last year, beneath the… erm, chamber."

"What ?"Harry exclaimed."Why ?"

"well, to try to recover the consistence, Harry,"answered Mr. Weasley, surprised somewhat at Harry's reaction."Many Aurors lost their animation that evening and their eubstance have never been found — at least, not until concluding workweek. Since the collapse we tried for calendar month to find the fundament with no achiever. We encountered one wizard portal site after another, and the workers were none too inclined to accidentally stumble across the pall itself."

"You recovered the drape of Phenolem ?"cried Ron."Why ? Why in bloody—"

"No, Ron,"interrupted Dumbledore,"the curtain and the dais were destroyed in the fall. No, just the consistence, torso from both sides, have been returned to their loved ones."

"wellspring, yes, Albus,"added Arthur with some nervousness."to the highest degree of them, anyway. We have yet to find Dragon Malfoy's remains."Ron began to cough.

"Hagrid,"he asked, clearing his throat once again,"do you have any more gemstone bar ?"

"Why sure, Ron,"said Hagrid with hilarity."Come on in teh the kitchen."Ron stood and followed Hagrid, patting Harry's shoulder on the way.

"I don't really see what any of this has to do with me, sir,"said Harry."I mean… well, I've put that behind me now. haven't I ? There's another dark we need to stave in off, isn't there ?"

"Yes, yes, absolutely, Harry, absolutely."President Arthur patted Harry's lap."But there was one other recuperation at the very profoundness of the gaping fissure."All at once, Mr. Weasley's atmosphere faded and Harry knew the following lyric were a lie."They pulled it up today, just before lunch. I looked for you earlier, Harry, but you'd already left for the forest."Arthur Weasley stood from his hot seat and looked out the window facing the castle, the colour returned to his aura."I was thinking we could have a allegiance of sorting. You could come to the Ministry as we put it on presentation. It would certainly remind the hoi polloi in these sorry clock time that we can vanquish darkness."

"I'm sorry, sir, but what did you regain ?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry, Harry,"answered Arthur."I've wanted to discuss our hunting since you and I spoke on the string. I never knew taking caution of the Ministry would eat so much of my time."His middle wandered for a mo and then returned to satisfy Harry's."No matter,"he whispered."In our search, we recovered the cloak. The blackened cloak of… You-Know-Who. The only remnant of his iniquity and a symbolic representation to all of his defeat."

"Voldemort ?"snapped Harry."You have Voldemort's cloak ?"Harry turned in his president."Burn the shucks thing. Destroy it !"

"I knew you might feel this way, Harry,"said Arthur with understanding."That's why I came myself. You must realize what an icon you've become in the Wizarding earth. Just one flick of you, perhaps wand drawn, future to the cloak of the iniquity you destroyed would signify so lots to—"

"It's insane !"said Harry, rising to his feet."Do you make love what that might be ? It could—"

"Harry,"said Dumbledore sternly, silencing Harry's blah."I think it would be wise for you to contract some time to consider what all the implications are. clock time to consider what's best for… everyone involved."Harry expected to see the warmth of anger build in Dumbledore's aura, but if anything his light dimmed with a coolness of concern.

"I… I'm sorry, sir,"said Harry, cooling his own temperament."Yes, that's what I need Minister… time."

"Please, Harry, you needn't call me—"

"Excuse me, sir. I need to go. It's just… I'm really tired is all."Harry reached out his script to stimulate, and Chester Alan Arthur Weasley took it."Let me get my caput together, and I'll get back to you. Just a day or two."

"Certainly, Harry, I understand. Until then, we'll keep it safe ; I can assure you."Harry started for the door."Here, let me take the air you to the castle."

"I got it dad,"said Ron, dropping one of the endocarp cakes on the table with a thud."last your tea and have some more… er, cakes."Ron ran to the door next to Harry's side. Staring at the bar and then Hagrid, Chester Alan Arthur was about to say something when Dumbledore spoke out instead.

"Excellent idea, Mr. Weasley,"he said to the younger redheader."Please determine Harry safely back to the castle."

"Goodnight, Hagrid,"said Harry to the giant still in the kitchen, baking up another hatful of patty for his guests."Thanks !"

"Sure matter, Harry,"called Hagrid."Anytime."Then he turned to Mr. Weasley just as Harry began to shut the door."Minister, try another one, hot out of the oven !"

By the time Harry and Ron were at the castle step, Harry had answered most of Ron's questions.

"I just don't get it, Harry,"said Ron shaking his head."It's just a man of fabric. You killed him."

"Ron, you saw my clothes tonight. They were burnt away because I fell into the magical stream that feeds the surrender. Remember when you fell in last class ?"

"Pulled in you mean,"said Ron, rubbing his right wrist."Yeah, I remember. My clothes disappeared."

"They didn't disappear,"corrected Harry."They were burnt away. clothes are unclean. They can't survive the innocence of the water."

"That's a Centaur tale,"said Ron dismissively.

"narrative or not, the pee destroys material. I doused Voldemort in nearly ten Imperial gallon of the stuff. It was enough to dissolve every iniquity bone in his torso, but the cloak… Damn ! I should have known when I saw it then. The cloak survived. But why ?"

"So you think it's the…"Ron's voice dipped low,"…the Horcrux Dragon was talking about ?"

"I don't see how it can be,"resolve Harry."If it's part of Voldemort, it should consume been destroyed."Harry sighed."Maybe Hermione will know."Ron shrugged and nodded in agreement as he reached to open the castle threshold. Ron heaved on the heavy handle just as Harry's hand stopped him and exclude them again.

"Ron ?"he asked."You have a lot of comrade and sisters. Erm… how long does it take to… er… for a beldame to… you know… hold a sister, after… you know."For a instant, Ron just stared at Harry, and then reaching ever so slightly to the sentiment on the tip of Harry's idea he understood.

"Oh ! How long does it take for a infant to be born after design ?"he asked.

"Yeah… yeah, that's it."

"wellspring my mum's always going on how I took longer than most… ‘ Forty two weeks, and in the middle of the war !'she'd say.

"So… figurin'my birthday, what would you say… you know… for my kinfolk to…er—"

"Do the nasty ?"said Ron with a grin. Harry simply nodded. fountainhead, Ron thought for a moment, touched his fingers and counted backwards, and then a luminescence of a grin crossed his face once again.

"Pretty damn near to Halloween, Harry."He poked Harry in the costa."Do you think they were wearing costumes ?"Harry didn't react in the way Ron expected. Instead, he leaned his back against the rook room access and slid down to a sit on the stone landing place.

"Oh, merlin,"he whispered in a sickly sort of spokesperson."Oh, bloody, fucking, Merlin."

"What ? What is it, Harry ?"

"Ron… I think… I think I'm a father."


Harry potter and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 14 - Wedding Plans ~~~***~~~

When Harry and Ron passed through the portraiture of the Fat Lady, Harry found the Gryffindor coarse elbow room, lovesome than rule. Near the fireplace sat the halo of Parvati, Lavender, Gabriella, Hermione, Ginny and Dean. Towards the spinal column, Neville was helping Patrick and a few others, Harry had yet to agnise, prepare for their Herbology exams. Evidently, the test involved a burning industrial plant of some sort, perhaps fireseed, Harry thought, since there was a balloon swarm of skunk that hung over the grouping and cypher seemed to mind.

Harry, his creative thinker fractured at the moment, brought his aid on St. Patrick. The bullet was clouding his ability to see the air of those at the book binding table, but the filtrate igniter emanating from Saint Patrick was the same as it had been since Harry first met him after the fortuity - blueness and K. Each colour waxed and waned, growing more green whenever he was excited or near Harry.

"St. Patrick ?"Harry thought silently to himself, but the thought was short lived.

"Harry ! Ron !"cried Dean. His phonation brought Harry's attention back to the mathematical group about the fireplace. The birdcall sounded like a plea for help, as if Dean felt, at the present moment, like a entrap rat in a ophidian's John Milton Cage Jr.. He began to stand when Ginny grabbed his arm.

"Oh, dean,"she said breathlessly,"isn't it beautiful ?"Hermione was projecting an ikon of a young woman in a white wedding dress. The little girl stood, suspended in the heart of the five students and modelled the dress she was wearing, slowly turning in all directions so that everyone could see, everyone that is except Harry.

"Er… yeah, great,"muttered Dean miserably, sinking back into the couch.

"I don't know, Gin,"said Lavender cautiously."I think the train's a small long."

"Lavender's right, Hermione,"added Anapurna."You don't want to consider with all that dragging behind you even if it's levitated."

"You could have fairy's carry it."

"I variety of like it,"Hermione said as she held her hand to her chin and tapped her cheek with one digit."But I think the second…"Dean let out an audible moan, but the daughter ignored him while Hermione began to scoot through model after model, attire after dress, as if thumbing pages of a book. It was only then when she noticed that Ron and Harry had entered the uncouth room.

"Ron !"she exclaimed."You're just in time."Dean's center grew panoptic and he shook his head as nondescriptly as he could to ward them off. Ron caught it, but Harry did not."We were just looking over wearing apparel when—"She stopped herself mid-sentence, noticing the manifestation on Ron's fount."What's awry ?"

Gabriella stood and came over to Harry."You both look like individual died. Did Filch watch you sneaking into the kitchens again ? Out with it… what happened ?"Ron looked at Harry, and Harry looked blankly above the daughter.

"Nothing,"they said simultaneously.

Gabriella patted Harry's impudence.

"goose egg ?"she said, sensing the swirling swarm of emotions that must possess shown like a lighthouse for everyone to see."Would you like to conjoin us ?"she asked."We were just—"

"No thanks,"interjected Harry. While he had grown accustomed to seeing educatee from former houses in the rough-cut room, he had completely forgotten that the girls were going to get together this evening to hash out Hermione's wedding program for the summer."I need to get ready for the Potions exam tomorrow."Ginny stood, looking at Harry.

"I thought you were supposed to be out training all day today,"she said, questioningly.

"I was."

"But you're screaky clean,"she replied sceptically."You know, if you weren't working out in the timber today, we could own gotten at least three time of day on the pitch."

"I was in the timberland today !"Harry exclaimed."Besides, you know I can't Seak. Not like this."He waved his hand in front of his oculus.

"You're the team chieftain ! It's you're responsibleness to—"

"These aren't your robe,"interrupted Gabriella, rubbing the cloth in her fingerbreadth."These are new."

"Dumbledore cleaned him up,"offered Ron. This was followed by a Greek chorus.

"Dumbledore ?"

"Well, er… he and Dad were at Hagrid's and—"

"Dad ?"asked Ginny."Dad's here ? Why didn't he say he was coming to school day ? Where is he ?"It felt, suddenly, as if sharks were beginning to circle Harry and Ron.

"Well, he only had a minute,"said Ron, stepping closer to his sister. She had risen to her foundation and Dean took the opportunity to quickly dart away and head toward the helical staircase to the boys'dorm."And he needed to see Harry, so I took him over to—"

"So he saw you, but he didn't have fourth dimension to see his only if girl ?"

Less than a moment later everyone was talking at once. Ron and Harry were being bombarded with enquiry about everything from the Minister's visit, to why Dumbledore needed to conjure Harry new robe, to what model Ron intellection would be overnice for the new china.

Unexpectedly, there was a loud blowup from the back of the elbow room that caused everyone to pipe up. A rather great human dynamo spewed forth from the table where Neville and the others were working. It was Neville who stopped it from lighting the altogether place on fire by casting a squelch charm.

"Damn it, Patrick,"Neville said irritably, while a few of the early students laughed,"I told you not to mix fireseeds with fraxinella powder ! If you do that in the test tomorrow, Professor Sprout will fail you for sure."

The disturbance that had surrounded Harry, quickly gathered about the binding table and the scorched faces that stood there. Harry took the opportunity to follow Dean's footsteps up the staircase. Near the top he heard a rather dejected Patrick apologize, but what he saw was a bluish aura beaming with superbia. Then Harry noticed Patrick flash him a thumbs-up from within the retentive sleeve of his robe, a signal that no one could see.

"Sorry, Neville,"said Patrick with a shrug of his articulatio humeri."I'm just no good at this kind of stuff. I'll be favourable to make it to the third year at this rate."

Gabriella looked back toward the open fireplace to find Harry and before she could find where he was Harry disappeared into the boys'dormitory. Inside he found James Byron Dean, belly down on his bed, reading a book about Quidditch. He loved the secret plan so, it was a shame he wasn't any salutary at it. He looked up as Harry entered.

"Are they gone ?"he asked."Did you have to blow them all up ?"

"wellspring, I—"

"Because that'd be fine by me, Harry. I was about to blow out myself up if I had to take care at one more than china pattern."He looked back at the book and turned the Page."Talk about pressure… blimey."He turned another page."I mean… I love Ginny and all, but does she actually think I'm going to ask her to tie me ?"He turned another Sir Frederick Handley Page ; clearly not having read the last."So… cobbler's last year… yeah, maybe. But that's your fault."doyen looked up, pointing a finger at Harry.

"Me ?"

"fountainhead, I mean, I was in a battle — fighting you for her. You know. That sort of thing, well… it gets a guy in the humour. But this hooey downstairs… wedding party dresses, and colours of table clothes, and…"Dean sighed."public lecture about deflating."Without looking back down to the book, he turned another varlet. Then, quite suddenly, James Dean groaned and turned over on his bed, placing the open up Book over his chest."pigeon hawk, I love her."There was muteness and he sighed again."She's been my world. She brought me back after the accident."Dean held his hand up, flexing the fingerbreadth in forepart of his face. His soul had been reconnected to his corporeal configuration and Ginny had been there every step of the way."She didn't need to do that."

"She loves you,"said Harry, walking over to his bed, taking off his new school robes and putting on a relax pair of jeans."Face it, Dean, you're her world too."

"I just don't want to be thinking about marriage ceremony while I'm still in schooltime,"answered Dean, sitting up on the edge of his bed and lining Harry."There's enough to be getting on about without having to vex about in-laws… china patterns…"

"…children,"added Harry quietly.

"Merlin, no,"shot Dean."I can't even imagine. But then Ginny's Handy with a sheathing appealingness. We're careful… you know ?"Harry nodded as a burl twisted in his stomach."Can you conceive Neville and Helen ?"continued doyen."Neither one of them used any protection their first few metre. Hermione found out and had a fit."

"Hermione ?"queried Harry.

"Well, I told Neville that he was being an idiot. I told him how Lee Jordon told me that Fred told him that St. George hooked up with some girl in Hogsmeade last year and wound up with a case of runespoor verruca. Had to go to St. Mungo's to get them removed. Can you believe it ? Yeesh."Lee covered his crotch with his helping hand and grimaced.

"But why Hermione ?"

"If you want to have it off any spell, charm, or hex to get the job done, Harry, who do you go to ? Hermione."Harry looked a bit disgruntled and crossed his branch. James Byron Dean sensed Harry's pride and added,"After all, everyone knew she and Ron were together since the evenfall of utmost yr. She knew how to be good, and Neville sure as shooting wasn't going to talk to Ginny."

Harry wasn't sure how to take aim that. He didn't have a clue until last Christmastide that Ron and Hermione were together. Yet, everyone else seemed to have it off. Further, he was pretty sure that last-place year Tonks had used her metamorphosis skills to necessitate on the appearance of Helen so that she could sneak into Gryffindor tower with Neville. It brought up memories… bad retentivity. Suddenly, going to talk to Hermione about anything didn't seem like such a near idea. Harry began to beat his desk with his finger, then crossed his coat of arms and just looked down at the floor. He could see the aura's of the keep organisms that his mates had tracked in under their shoes. Maybe Aunt genus Petunia wasn't such a half-baked bat after all - at to the lowest degree as far as wiping one's animal foot at the doorway was concerned.

"What's up, Harry ?"asked Dean."Why are you so wound up anyway ?"

Barefoot and shirtless, Harry walked over to the window. Xmas was a week away and, sadly, no snowfall had fallen. The curtilage below and the surrounding wood glistened brightly in Harry's blindness. He placed his go away script on his breast, just above Asha's gist, the gem that even now sat hidden within him. Focusing mellow above the treetops he found nothing but blackness. Late in the evening, clouds had moved in, covering all in a dark blanket through which no stars shone. He peered at the Lapplander quadrant of sky in which he knew Ebyrth hung, growing ever closer. He closed his center and dropped his read/write head heavily against the glass window.

Voldemort's cloak should have been destroyed by the water from the falls, but it wasn't. Why ? Was it the Horcrux genus Draco thought it was, or simply an object of power that Lucius craved ? There was a spy in the palace, probably within Gryffindor or Slytherin that had given up Blaise. He was now under a end feeder's Imperious curse. Who was the spy ? Could they have turned St. Patrick too ?

It wasn't enough that war was raging in Eastern Europe and would soon decorate the forest about Hogwarts, if not the castle itself. Now there was a shaver. Could it really be his ? That was a dullard question. Of course it could be ; the timing was near perfect and they had been… well, dolt. It was just before the Halloween spread. Harry was going to tell Cho about Gabriella… let Cho cognize that they couldn't be together, that Gabriella was the one he truly loved. But then she touched his arm… the flavour in her centre. Even now, the computer memory sent a tingle down his spine and made his insides quiver. Neither of them was in the veracious soma of head, but they both knew what they wanted. Now they were both paying for it. At least Cho was. Harry began to wonder… if the minor was Harry's, did Antony jazz, or was Cho simply using him ?

Harry shook his head, trying to earn his muddled sentiment. Maybe he was making a big deal of nothing. Maybe Anthony was the sire. But the vision… Gabriella's vision that both he and Hermione shared. He'd seen a child. Gabriella saw her own demise and yet Harry saw spirit. He thought it was their nipper, his and Gabriella's. Now, Harry wasn't so sure as shooting.

The window was frigidity and a shiver ran across his organic structure. He turned and walked over to his storage pectus, opening the lid and feeling around for a shirt.

"Harry ?"dean asked."I know something's bothering you. What is it ?"

"William Tell me, Dean,"said Harry as he found a shirt. He began to bollix up about for a duad of air sock.

"Yes ?"

"Ah…"Harry held up two sock."Do these match ?"

"Kinda,"answered doyen, looking at black and maybe a dark Navy wild blue yonder.

"Good… beneficial,"replied Harry and he slipped the shirt and drogue on. He sat back on his bed and slipped on his boots without saying a word.

"Harry ?"asked Dean probing."Where are you going ?"

"Accio cloak !"Harry called with his ripe hand in the air, fingers outstretched for a haul. His cloak flew into his face."Almost,"Harry muttered. He stood and put on the cloak on and then slipped his wand into his sleeve and stepped toward the door.

"doyen,"he said,"please give my apology to Professor Snape. I'll miss the exam tomorrow I'm afraid. It's sad really. Since the Joining, I think I had a pretty adept opportunity of acing it. Severus, after all, shared a bit of himself with me that night."Harry rubbed the scar on his proper arm.

"Slow down, better half,"said James Dean, taking to his feet."You can't just go off—"

"Whew ! I made it !"cried Ron, jumping into their way."I never thought I'd get Hermione's care. I finally had to go in through the backdoor, if you know what I mean."He tapped his head."She'll be up in a… Whoa. Where are you going ?"he asked Harry.

"Actually Ron,"began Harry,"I was just telling Dean that—"

"What's all this about the Horcrux ?"asked Hermione as she entered the way.

"Shhhh !"cried Ron and Harry simultaneously, ushering her interior.

"You found it ?"she asked in a near whisper.

"Maybe… if you can believe Malfoy,"answered Ron.

"Malfoy ?"asked James Dean."Not Draco ? I thought he was—"Gabriella entered the elbow room.

"What's going on ?"she asked. Then looking at Harry she queried,"Where are you going ?"

Harry, who had leaned up against the wall near the door, began tapping it nervously with his fingers. He glared at Ron."Great architectural plan, mate."

"Well,"said Ron,"I tried to—"Harry held up one finger to his mouth and Ron lowered his voice."I tried to—"Harry shook his finger at Ron. There was a bit of a rumble and Ginny burst through the door.

"What's up ?"she asked. Then she noticed Harry."What's with the cloak ?"Harry crossed his arms.

"Bloody hell,"he whispered.

"Is that what's got you so agitated Harry ?"James Dean asked as Ginny slipped into his arms. Then he turned to her."Did you know Dragon was alive ?"It was a question she didn't expect and it caught her off guard. Her eye shot immediately to Ron and the facial expression gave her away at once.

"You did !"cried James Byron Dean."How could you not tell me ? Did you all be intimate ?"Harry could see the fire building in Dean's emotions. nonentity said a Christian Bible."How recollective have you known ?"

"Get over it, Dean !"Harry snapped."Draco wanted it secret and we're keeping it that way. We know because we were there. Ginny knows because her sidekick has a big fat mouth."Harry gestured at Ron without looking his way."Draco's heart is here at Hogwarts, Dean. Until we can make his name we can't make him out as a fugitive."

"clear his figure ?"said Dean."He was… he is a Death Eater."

"He saved my lifetime, Dean,"interjected Ron."That you do know. That I've told everyone. But my Holy Writ isn't enough to keep him out of Azkaban. I should know, the Minister's my Dad and, no, he doesn't know about genus Draco either."

These words cooled Dean's fires, if only a smidgin, and his hands found his pocket. There was a moment of silence and then he turned to Ginny reached out and took her hand.

"You know, Gin,"doyen said gently,"if we're going to spend the rest of our lifespan together, we can't be keeping secrets from one another. Secrets… they… they sour someone and twist corporate trust. If you'd have just told me to keep mum, you know I would have. All you had to do is ask. You know that… don't you ?"Ginny reached her deal to Dean's impertinence and kissed him.

"I know,"she said softly. Then she held him tightly in her arms."I'm sorry."

"Well… honorable,"said Harry uncomfortably."Erm… Ron, order your Dad that we can have the ceremonial with Voldemort's cloak this Saturday after exams."

"But that's three days, Harry,"Ron said,"isn't that too long to—"

"right hand,"cut in Harry,"so that's why you… all,"he waved toward the group,"can cypher out how we get the cloak tomorrow night. I'll meet you at the incoming to the Ministry at midnight. Have the plan ready and I'll avail you however I can."He grabbed Gabriella's hand."Come with me."They started for the door when Hermione grabbed the back of Harry's cloak, stopping him in his rails.

"What do you mean ? Where are you going ? Your Potions exam is tomorrow."Harry turned back, his case bottom but his eyes blank.

"number one, I'm going to see a ally of mine in Ravenclaw, and then… then I'm going to France."

There was a collective,"What ! ?"from everyone but Ron.

"It's one secret I'm afraid,"said Harry, raising his hand to tranquillize his admirer,"that needs to be kept… at least for now."Again he took Gabriella's arm."cum on."Everyone turned to Ron as Gabriella and Harry left the room. Almost immediately, Gabriella began to ask questions, but Harry held a finger to his lips.

"Not here… not now,"he whispered.

They were about to clear out through the portrait of the Fat Lady when Lavender stopped them near the hearth.

"So I guess Hermione's done looking at dresses for the night ?"she asked.

"I think she and Ron might be having a bit of a row,"said Gabriella insightfully."She's definitely done for the night."

"Ooooh,"hummed Lavender as she cast a gossipy glance toward Parvati.

"Men,"said Parvati flatly. Gabriella simply nodded, taking Harry by the arm and walking out of the Gryffindor common room.

The two didn't speak until they reached the staircases. It was quiet with only a few students roaming about. most were likely studying for tomorrow's test. The others were either heading toward or returning from the program library. The two found themselves alone on the staircase as it slowly began to slew into place. Finally, Harry gathered the courage.

"Did you know… ?"he began cautiously."Did you know about Cho ?"

"Cho Chang ?"Gabriella asked blankly.

"Yes, Cho Yangtze Kiang !"Harry snapped."How could you not know ? You two were inseparable at the end of last year. She helped you through test. Merlin, you spent more fourth dimension with her than with me. How could you not cognize ?"

The stone stairway came to lie against the wall. The two climbed off that one and onto another that began to slide into yet another direction.

"So we're going to see Antonius,"Gabriella said knowingly. Harry said nothing, wishing only that the staircases would move more quickly."William Tell me Harry, are you still so envious ?"

"Jealous ?"Harry asked angrily."Jealousy has zilch to do with this. I have a rightfield to know !"His last tidings were loud and reverberated off the Harlan Stone paries.

"They have a right to their privacy, Harry,"Gabriella replied with an edge in her vocalism."They have a rightfield to celebrate the Daily oracle out of their biography. Frankly, I don't see how it's any of your business organization. It's absolved Cho knew what she was talking about when she asked that I keep this from you. She said you'd react this way."

They turned and began to make their way up to Ravenclaw tugboat. A third class Ravenclaw joined them on the moving casing upward. Harry moved close to Gabriella failing miserably at keeping his representative hushed.

"None of my job ? None of my business ? !"

"Yes ! None of your line of work ! They were poor fish, Harry,"Gabriella said struggling to maintain her equanimity in front man of the tierce class, although Harry could feel the ire edifice within her."It was a misapprehension, a error that Mark Antony's wizard enough to set straight. Can't you see that he's trying to do the the right way thing by caring for what will soon be his family ?"

At this, the third year Ravenclaw looked back over his shoulder at Harry and Gabriella. Gabriella flashed him a smell that put the boy's nose back into the book he was reading. The stone staircase came to a halt and the boy stepped off followed by Harry, but Gabriella grabbed his arm.

"What do you mean to do ?"she asked."Confront him ? Hex him for getting your… your mistress pregnant ? If that's what she was. You hardly carry the more baronial ground."

Suddenly Harry realized that Gabriella knew, but didn't know. She knew that Cho had had a minor, but she didn't know that Harry could be the Church Father. He stopped and leaned against the handrail. The delay was just long enough that the stairway began to move again.

"She was not my mistress,"Harry said quietly to the darkness."I… I was not myself last class. You know—"Gabriella put her hands about Harry's shoulders.

"I know,"she whispered sadly. Harry turned to face her.

"I've only ever loved you,"he said.

"I know that too,"she said with a smile that Harry could not see but could sense. She kissed him gently on the cheek and pulled him close. They held each other that way for some time and when the staircase came to a stop Gabriella moved to get off, but Harry stood still.

"I'm not jealous because of Anthony,"spoke Harry to the spread out air before him."It's just that… I could be the father,"he said softly.

"What ?"

"I could be the father,"he repeated, stepping close to her."It wasn't Anthony that was the stupefied one ; it was me - Hallowe'en of hold out year. Cho's child… it could be mine."

Harry waited to see the chemical reaction, but none came. The news had no effect on Gabriella's air. Either she knew already, or had suspected all along, or the word simply didn't effect her emotions.

"I see,"she finally whispered."That muddies things a bit, doesn't it ?"

"I need to ask Mark Anthony where she is,"he said firmly."I need to see her ; I need to know."

"It seems to me,"Gabriella said slyly,"that, for someone who's not supposed to lie with anything, you know quite a bit already. You know there's a child. You know she's in France."

"La Mure,"added Harry.

"Then you know all there is to screw, Harry. The town's not that turgid and a few well placed interrogative sentence will get us to where we need to go."

"Us ?"Harry asked.

"Don't be silly,"answered Gabriella."It's far too dangerous for you to exit the castle alone. Besides, prof Snape has already released me from tomorrow's exam for—"

"—for luxuriously German mark,"interrupted Harry."Yeah, I know. I know."He paused for a few present moment and then shook his read/write head. But before Harry could say a parole Gabriella began.

"Harry,"she said gently, holding her hand to his face,"I don't charge how well you can see what others can not."She took his hand."You're blind. It makes a difference. You can't go somewhere you've never been, talk to people you've never met and think that it's no big deal."There was another hanker pause.

"Cho's escort is a death eater,"Harry said, more to himself than to Gabriella.

"You're joking, right ?"

"He's not much of one, but Cho's escort is a decease Eater."He paused, churning the suggestion in his judgement. Finally he said,"You're right. I probably wouldn't get a chance to see her… not without help."He squeezed Gabriella's helping hand."Besides, you need to be there. I need you to be there."

It took twenty dollar bill moment to get what they needed before they could sneak out through the hidden tunnel to Hogsmeade. It took half that meter to pretend it to Le Mure. Gabriella was right, Harry would hold been lost without her. It was bad enough trying to remember his Gallic ; it was worse trying to compute out what hand motion or facial expression went along with it. screen, he could find none of it, but Gabriella was nearly arrant. In fact, Harry began to wonder if she had known the way all along. Finally, knowing that Cho's apartment was just around the city block, the two decided to spend the night at a small inn and wait until dawn. It was the low gear they'd been truly alone since the summertime.

Harry offered to sleep on the floor, but Gabriella pulled him close to her. There was a fondness to her tactual sensation that meant more to him than anything in the all reality. That nighttime he laid his someone bare, telling her everything he knew, everything she'd listen to, including Draco's theory about Voldemort's cloak. Only when he touched on his training with the Centaurs, would she noticeably change the subject. He fell asleep in her weaponry and woke the side by side morning the Lapp way. The sun was just breaking into the windowpane as he stroked her farseeing melanise hair, wondering with some fear what the futurity would add.

After breakfast, they walked down the back street toward the pocket-size apartment construction that the innkeeper had described to Gabriella. When they finally arrived, Harry covered himself with the invisibility cloak. Gabriella knocked at the door and the door opened, held open by an older man with gray hair and a tired look on his font. There were entry and Gabriella slipped inside. The door shut before Harry could follow. There was a consequence of silence and then squeals of joy. Harry knew the strait ; Cho was inside. A few mo later the man left, jingling coins in his scoop. Harry's architectural plan had worked - Gabriella, handing the man a duo galleons, suggested he go to the corner pub for a bite and a beer or two. He wasn't to the sidewalk before there was a snap and he had Disapparated. Then the mussitation began ; louder, then piano, then louder again. Finally, Harry heard,"Don't be silly."A moment after that, the door opened and Gabriella ushered him inside.

All the piece, Harry had seen the auras of the two young women and the old man. He watched as they moved back and forth, and as Gabriella hugged what he figured to be Cho. It had been the starting time fourth dimension he had observed a Disapparation without his heap and he noted with interest the sudden burst of get-up-and-go that accompanied it. But Sir Thomas More than anything else his aid was focused on one affair above all - a dim reddish glow that glimmered from the back of the apartment. Through all the paries it could experience been anything - a cat, a dog. But Harry knew, by how well its colours blended with Cho's, what was there.

"Harry ?"Gabriella asked to the nothingness before her. Cho stood only a few feet away. Harry sensed warmth mix in with catch. As for himself, he could feel the exertion of his ribbon as he reached up and slipped off the cloak.

"Cho ?"he asked to the glow before him. The atmosphere didn't motion, the someone didn't speak, but the colour began to blanch almost immediately. Then her hand went to her face, covering her lip.

"Oh, Harry,"she croaked."Tony told me about the accident, about…"Slowly she walked over to him.

"This ?"Harry asked, holding his hand near his synagogue."It's nothing. Just a bit of spyglass. Surgery's scheduled for succeeding month ; should have me good as new."Cho took his manus and then touched his grimace.

"I'm so good-for-naught,"she whispered."I should have come to visit."She took him in her arms and held him tight. He could sense her quivering in his arms."I couldn't… I couldn't bear to see you again."

"Great,"Harry drawled."Always dependable to know you're idea of kindly."

"Harry !"snapped Gabriella shortly. She took Cho gently by the arm and said,"Cho, can we come in and accept a sit ?"Cho loosened her suitcase on Harry and wiped her face with her script.

"Oh, yes,"she said, sniffing,"of course."

The piazza was larger than Harry expected, compared to what it looked like from the outside, but it was sparsely equipped and what trappings there were appeared old and tattered. As they entered the kitchen he noted a few Ravenclaw memorabilia here and there. He even recognized a broom, the ling he bought her hold up year, was propped up in the turning point. Cho offered them some coffee, they accepted and together they sat at a pocket-sized mesa in the kitchen. There was a small lecture about the weather and schoolhouse.

"Are your exams over ?"Cho asked."Tony has Arithmancy tomorrow."

"Tony,"muttered Harry through gritted teeth. Maybe he was a bit jealous of Susan Anthony."Er… yeah. Gab and I are done for the semester."

"That's great,"said Cho softly. There was an inept silence, and then, finally, Harry could wait no longer.

"I heard… I heard you and, er, Tony were going to tie the knot… get married. I told Gab we should get along by and find out when. Ask what you might require to, erm…"He looked around at the ratty furniture."… spruce the situation up."

"Soon,"answered Cho without hesitating."But we're not telling anyone until after the schooltime year. Not even my family. They think I'm here studying art."

"I also heard,"continued Harry, not really listening to Cho's words,"that you two had a child ; a baby boy is it ?"Before Cho could respond Gabriella took her by the manus.

"It's so exciting, Cho !"she said joyfully."I'm sure you're a wonderful mother. The babe is so lucky to have two such wonderful parents. Both Ravenclaws !"

"Thank you, Gab,"said Cho warmly."T-Tony's been great."

"Can we see him ?"asked Gabriella excitedly."I've wanted to see him so."Cho was hesitant.

"Well,"added Harry,"I can't see him, but I have a pretty good estimate that he's right through there, isn't he ?"He pointed to the back room and swallowed."I think it's corking that you and… er, Tony are doing the… er, redress matter. It sure as shooting would be great, at least for Gabriella, to see him. Just a peak ?"

"He is due to eat breakfast soon,"Cho said cautiously."Perhaps… just for a moment."

When she returned to the kitchen, Cho was carrying a baby boy dressed in a small red jumper. He smiled and muttered a few phone as she sat him in his chair, offering him a cooky to chew on. The thudding fog of Harry's eyes were focused somewhere above the boy's oral sex, but his mind's eye was captivated on the golden red glow before him. It was bright, almost blinding, and Harry wondered if the brightness of the glow was because he was a sister or something more. The biscuit snapped out of Cho's hired hand and flew into the waiting clench of the baby's.

"feeling at that ! So soon ?"cooed Gabriella."He's just perfect."And then she began to babble out baby talk to the minor.

"Yes, he's pretty special,"answered Cho.

Harry could sense that she was looking at him, centred on his reaction, but he was at a loss. To do it for sure he would have to ask straight out. Now, here they were, and Harry didn't know what to do. He half wanted to dig the babe with a stick to see what it would do.

"Has he,"Harry began,"shown any other signs of magic ?"

"No. Not really,"answered Cho cautiously."But he can brook with assistant and he's already tried to walk."She paused."I think, maybe, he'll be in Hufflepuff,"she added wistfully."He loves it when I take him to the zoo."

"What's his name ?"asked Gabriella.

"Jamie,"answered Cho.

"After your brother ?"

"We just liked the name,"Cho said, not committing.

"I have to include,"said Gabriella,"that he's the burst image of you. And that's a commodity affair ; you're much better looking than Anthony."She laughed and Cho did too. It sounded as if it had been the first off time Cho had laughed in quite some meter. But then the tone in Gabriella's voice changed.

"In fact, he doesn't look much like a Goldstein at all. You're both so dark, and Jamie's skin is so pale."

"He… he doesn't get out much,"said Cho, growing nervous.

"Cho, you know I love you like a Sister. Don't you ?"Gabriella asked gently."fountainhead, I think Harry has a right to know. You see, he told me that you two slept together at Hogwarts - just once, on Hallowe'en. Caught in the heat of the moment, I guess."Gabriella took a breathing space, gathering her persuasiveness."I don't maintenance why it happened. And it doesn't bother me anymore that it happened. The fact is it happened… nine month before little Jamie here was born."

"Well—"

"Cho,"Gabriella interrupted."Harry may stimulate his distrust, but he can't see what I can, and the eyes never lie. You and Susan B. Anthony, you both have brown eyes. Both your parents each have brown centre. It would take a powerful wizard to produce a boy with anything former than Robert Brown optic and the magic would most certainly be to turn the colour of the eyes to his own."Cho said zilch. Harry said zero."It's true, Jamie is the divide simulacrum of his beautiful mother. But the eyes… I think he has his Father-God's eyes."Cho remained silent. Once again, Harry watched as her aura blanched.

"What do you mean ?"asked Harry blindly. Gabriella took his bridge player.

"They're green, Harry,"she said quietly."Almond shaped and brilliantly green. Just like yours."


Harry Potter and the birthing of a New Sun

Chapter 15 - Another Potter
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Beyond the babbles of the baby sitting beside Harry, there was secrecy. Perhaps, if one were to listen closely, the phone of a bird chirping or a distant bus creaking to a stay could be heard, breaking the stillness of the aurora. Then Cho's foot began to nervously tap against the English of the table. In front man of Harry, she had been confronted by Gabriella with the true statement, but still she would not, or could not speak. Harry had known before they came to France that the child would be his, and though he had not heard the countersign from Cho's sass, he wasn't about to become angry ; it was hard enough not to show how panic-stricken he was feeling. No, if anything, he needed some clock time himself to get over the sinking belief in his tum, as if he'd just fallen off his Scots heather. He would hold back for Cho to be ready. He breathed deeply the aroma of his coffee, took a sip, set the cup down and put out his finger, with which the fiddling boy began to bite toothlessly.

"Jamie ?"Harry said tenderly."I… I like that name."

He smiled and put his hand on the boy's head.

"Oh, my. What a heading of haircloth ! Is it disgraceful ?"This simple interrogative was purposefully directed at Cho. There was the meter of a interruption before she answered.

"Yes,"she said quietly, with a bit of a gap in the word. Harry could get word her swallow.

"Thank Merlin he's got his mother's looks,"Harry said with a chortle. He took another sip of chocolate.

"You'll see him one day, Harry,"said Gabriella with an encouraging timbre. Harry tilted his head down and shake it slowly.

"I don't think so,"he said quietly, his lips still turned in a slight smile.

"What do you signify ?"asked Cho, surprised."Surely they can—"

"I was just examined by Madame Pomfrey,"interrupted Harry."The vision charms aren't knitting. There's still too much glass."

"But couldn't they just—"

"There are dozens of tiny shard - too many and too low to vanish without vanishing man of my eyes and if they summon them out they'll shred whatever healthy eye tissue that's left."Cho gasped.

"I… I didn't know. I thought—"

"No subject,"said Harry taking to his feet."I can see the firing in his psyche, even if I can't see their colour of his eyes."He went to the umber pot to pour himself one Thomas More cup. On the way, he tripped on a small toy that had fallen on the floor and what liquid that was in his cup spilt.

"Woops,"said Harry. Cho stood to clean the spill, but Harry had it off the ground nearly before it landed with a uncomplicated wave of his paw. Since losing his sight, his power without a baton, abilities he rarely used in front of others, had strengthened. Without skipping a beat, he poured himself another cup, but rather than twist he continued to face the cabinetry. Yes, he could see the fire in the boy's gloriole, but he would give anything to have his eyesight back… to see his child, his son. He began to tremble. For the first time in calendar month he was cold with fear, and it wasn't fear of a Dementor or Death Eater. It was reverence for his child and his baby's female parent, fear for a future that was already so uncertain, so grim. It felt as if all the air in the room was being sucked away.

"At least,"he said, holding the affectionate cup in his hand,"Anthony won't need to… to depend into my oculus and wonderment. I… I wouldn't want that."Cho stepped up behind Harry and placed her deal on his shoulder joint.

"Marcus Antonius Goldstein, Ravenclaw Prefect at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and wizardry ?"asked Cho."He might be a bit proud at fourth dimension, but he's no motley fool, Harry. He knows."She turned Harry to face her."He's always known that… that Jamie is your son. He came up with the name. Your f-father's name."She placed her deal at the side of Harry's look."He knew that too. I… I didn't."With these words, Cho began to cry. She held Harry by the front of his shirt and pulled him close, sobbing into his chest. Gabriella left her chair and the three hugged for some clip while Cho repeated over and over how good-for-nothing she was, and Harry repeated over and over that it was okay, that he was the one who was sorry. It was piffling Jamie who broke up the terzetto as he began to cry.

"Oh… he's hungry,"said Cho blotting her eyes. She picked the boy up into her arms and ushered them all into the front room where the hearth sat frigidity, but the slightly tattered chairs were more comfortable. Even without the firing, Harry watched with wonder the warmth that filled the room. He could say she loved the boy deeply. Nor, was the emotion lost on Gabriella, sitting at Harry's English, who was gathering a glowing herself as she took in the room's emotions of love. He took Gabriella's paw and for the maiden time in a long time Harry tried to loosen up, letting the swirling fears of the future fade from his head. It was Cho that started the conversation as Jamie continued to give suck.

"I wanted to keep this surreptitious, Harry - secret from my parents, secret from my buddy, secret from you. At showtime I was ashamed and then—"

"But—"

"Let me complete,"asked Cho."I need to finish, or I may never be able to."Harry nodded."hold out year you wanted to tell me about Gabriella."Cho looked at Gab."He did so want to labour me away, to tell me of the Muggle fille he had met back home."Her centre returned to Harry."But I could see that, just under the skin, there was a fire of desire and I… I wanted… my split consistency wanted to be desired."

"He was cross-hexed by my parents,"said Gabriella. The words were meant to be explanatory, but Harry noted a tinge of rancour or sadness.

"I know that now,"answered Cho."Maybe I knew it then, at least that he wasn't in his correct nous. I could have used a sheathing charm. I thought about it. I even reached for my wand before it happened Halloween night behind the Great Hall."Gabriella snap Harry a glance that he could not see."But then I stopped. I wanted this."Cho looked down at Jamie."I wanted to have something in case… in case…"

"In case I died ?"asked Harry."Like Cedric ?"Without speechmaking, Cho simply nodded.

"I was being stupid. As if I could ever… And then, when I found out about Gabriella, when we actually spoke…."Cho smiled."I was so happy for you, Harry, and you were so sad."She sighed, shaking her school principal."So I hid it - I hid my gestation and I hid Jamie."She put the babe over her articulatio humeri and began to pat its back."I thought that after You-Know-Who had been destroyed I could tell you, but then I heard about the new war… that Malfoy's Death feeder were out to kill you. What would they do if they knew you had a son ?"She shook her head."This summertime, I travelled to the United DoS with Anthony… Tony. One Nox, I fell asleep in his arms and when I woke up the next morn the befuddling spell had warn off. I was significant for all to see. In that blink of an eye I panicked, horrified by what he might think, what he might do, and in the next I felt Tony's touch, lovesome and caressing on my stomach. He stayed at my side and he's never left."Jamie let out a rather telling belching and everyone smiled.

Grinning, Cho held Jamie in her lap and said something in Taiwanese as she wiped the milk from his mentum.

"Tony's hired Chalmers"said Cho, referring to the guard that was probably now close to finishing his aurora meal,"to watch over Jamie and I, while he finishes school. It's costing him every knut he has. Once we're married we'll qualify for benefit from the Ministry. They offer lodging and, maybe, we can find a skillful blank space to—"

"Benefits ?"bickering Harry, his spine snapping unbending."From the Ministry ? You can't be serious ! You're not going to engage a dime from the Ministry. As far as I'm concerned there all a gang of crooks !"

"Harry !"called Gabriella.

"fountainhead, Ron's dad. But the rest of the lot ? Crooks !"He took to his fundament."And as far as animation in Ministry housing… never ! I won't allow it."

"What do you mean you won't allow it ?"said Cho a bit heatedly."You have no say in the matter."Harry ignored her.

"You'll stay at the castle. It's far enough away from what's happening… yes, you'll be prophylactic there."

"We're safe here,"said Cho, standing herself, the babe held snugly in both subdivision.

"condom ! Are you kidding me !"cried Harry."What's his name… Chambers ? He's a Death eater !"

"Oh,"Cho chuckled,"now you're just being ridiculous. Chalmers wouldn't hurt a fly. He's only working for Tony because of the kindness in his heart. He hardly makes plenty money to get by on."

"So he moonlights for Lucius Malfoy as a Death Eater !"exclaimed Harry."At least he doesn't know that the boy is mine. Thank Falco columbarius for that."Cho's face dropped with surprise at these give-and-take.

"How could you potential know that we haven't told him ?"she asked. Now Gabriella stood, stroked Jamie's cheek and took him in her own branch, patting his rachis as he rested against her shoulder.

"Because,"Gabriella said softly with a melodic vocalization as if she were singing to the baby,"if Chalmers knew, Lucius would know. And if Lucius knew, his son would know."

"genus Draco ?"breathed Cho."I thought Draco was…"Her phonation quieted and she strode over to Harry and slapped him on the shoulder."You piffling liar. You looked me straight in the eye and told me he fell into the abyss."Harry turned his back.

"Don't you look away from me !"Cho yelled."Let me see your face."Harry acquiesced. When he faced her, any anger he felt evaporated and his shoulder joint slumped.

"This is pointless,"he breathed."He'll be back here any here and now. Maybe he's a kindly old doddered just trying to realise a horse any way he can. Cho, you can't take a chance."He placed his manpower on her shoulders."I have money and it's my responsibility. Let me at to the lowest degree assistant pay the bills until Marcus Antonius graduate. Let me at least give you a roof over your header where the fireplace works and you'll know you'll be safe."

"It's beautiful there,"added Gabriella."common fields… azure seas… cute Greek boys with bare chests."She winked and kissed Jamie on the head. Cho crossed her arms and walked over to the hearth that had no fuel for the fire.

"I… I'll have to ask Tony,"answered Cho."Do you think… I know it's hard overseas, but do you think we could connect to the floo web ? I miss the family so, and we are going to tell them… after Tony graduates."

"That's one thing the Ministry can do,"said Harry, suddenly happy Cho was changing her mind."But you can recount Tony later. First, we need to—"There was a cracking and an trice later the front door opened. Gabriella motioned for Harry to enshroud. He had just enough sentence to dart under his cloak and gather himself into the corner before Chalmers walked through the front door.

The sure-enough man was too fragile and not practically taller than Cho. When he entered he took his coat off and hung it against the wall with a sticking charm.

"Beautiful day today, Miss Changjiang,"he said with a toothy grinning."Beautiful Day !"He stepped over and gave Gabriella a nod."And thank you missy for the delicately meal."He paused."It's been a while since…"His boldness grew wistful, but then he shook his headland."No matter."He slapped his work force together and pulled his wand."Let me clear these peach for you."Harry stood silently against the rampart as Chalmers walked with a bit of a hitch into the kitchen. There was a distinct calendar method to the cadence of his walk that Harry, two months ago, would not otherwise have noticed. It was then that Harry saw a change in Gabriella's aura ; something was amiss.

"Oh,"said Chalmers with a flavour of surprise in his vocalism."Three loving cup. Did you have another visitant today ?"Without waiting for an answer he levitated the dishes into the cesspit where the scrubbers began to wash them. Cho was frozen, but Gabriella stepped over without disinclination.

"Yes,"she said quite calmly,"a girlfriend of ours, also from Hogwarts. She had to depart early to get back for her afternoon exam."Chalmers nonchalantly straightened the professorship.

"Well, you know how Mr. Goldstein feels about visitors, Miss Chang."He settled himself into one of the cushioned electric chair and began to stretch out the newspaper publisher, still scanning the room with the eyes."At least strangers."Harry could tell apart that the old man was on guard, sensing something that was not rightfield."Just tryin'to keep you and the baby good he is."

babe Jamie babbled something and then pointed at Harry hidden beneath the cloak. The movement was enough to cause Chalmers to call on and look back into the far street corner at the cracked and void wall. Jamie babbled again and gave a sluttish laugh. Chalmers smiled.

"well, wee Jamie is happy enough to have guests."He held up the social movement page."What's your friend's name, missy ?"

"Hermione… Hermione Granger,"answered Gabriella. There was the slight pause and she added,"And I should be on my way as well."She gave Cho a hug and kissed Jamie's impudence."Thanks so much for letting us visit. He's just endearing and you're a wonderful mother."

"Thank you, Gabriella,"answered Cho, kissing Gab's cheek."I couldn't ask for a kinder, warmer friend. Please come visit after the wedding. I think I'll feel more comfortable then - Mrs. Goldstein."

"Oh ! That reminds me,"said Gabriella suddenly."Mr. Chalmers is it ?"Chalmers set his paper in his lap.

"Just Chalmers, missy."

"Cho was showing me the nursery and I noticed the back window. We had discussed placing a sealing spell, but I wasn't sure if—"

"Yes, miss,"cut in Chalmers proudly."The all house is sealed tight. No one can get in without permission. It's a Bucinum charm."

"Oh dear,"said Gabriella."A Bucinum charm ?"Chalmers nodded his caput."I think a Trepidus charm would be safer."

"Trepidus appealingness ?"asked Chalmers blankly.

"Oh yes,"added Cho."A Trepidus charm would be ideal."

"Certainly,"continued Gabriella,"I mean, if someone tries to fracture in the Bucinum appealingness blows them up. That could harm the sister. Do you cerebrate you could show me where you set the charms ? Together we can ca-ca the replacement."

"Oh, please do, Chalmers,"asked Cho pleadingly."Gabriella's a first base grade witch. She studied at Al Bsahri you know."

"Did she now,"said Chalmers with interest as he took to his feet."I've heard they reopened the school this year."

"Yes,"said Gabriella,"it's quite lovely."

"Well, let's have a look around and see what we can do."Together, Chalmers and Gabriella made their way to the back of the sign of the zodiac, leaving Cho and Jamie alone with Harry. Even as Harry moved toward the front room access beneath his invisibility cloak, Jamie followed him with his regard, pointing with his hand. Cho walked to the room access and opened it.

"When… when do you marry Gold— Anthony ?"Harry asked.

"Dec 25,"Cho answered. She tried to make the discussion auditory sensation exciting and vibrant, but it fell flatcar.

"Cho, you don't have to—"

"Don't I ?"Cho snapped."Don't I ? Tony loves me for all the world. He'd risk his life to protect me… and your son. He's honest, hardworking, and… and… and I'm marrying him on Christmas."Jamie wriggled in her sleeve, both hands outstretched toward Harry.

"You deserve to be happy,"said Harry quietly."You deserve ..."but Harry's words failed him."I'm so sorry."Cho ushered Harry outside to the front stoop and shut the threshold behind her. She lifted his cloak to unveil his face.

"Harry,"she said."Tony… he looks at me… he looks at me the way you look at Gabriella. What girl wouldn't want that ?"She leaned over and kissed him on the lips, and then draped the cloak back over him."I'll ask him about your offer. He's a lofty man, Harry, and a bit unregenerate. You should be able to appreciate that."

"I love you, Cho. If there's ever anything you need… anything at all, let me bed and it's yours. I'll see to it, I swear."Cho smiled, but her eyes were sad. Jamie began to take up on his digit. The door opened and Gabriella appeared followed closely by Chalmers.

"Ah, here you are,"said Gabriella. The sun was ardent on her face as she put her arms out and gave Gabriella a hug."The apartment is sealed tight."Cho took in a deep breath.

"Good, thank you,"she said."I was just giving Jamie a small sun."

"Which he can get through the windowpane, my dear,"said Chalmers herding Cho back into the planetary house."Now come inside."He seemed quite protective, but Harry wondered if it wasn't something more."A pleasure to fulfil you, Miss Darbinyan, was it ?"

"Yes, and a pleasure it was to meet you,"Gabriella replied."It's dear to see my friends in such fine hands. Cho, I'll be by before prospicient with those gifts I promised."

"endowment ?"Cho asked."Oh, yes, gift. Yes, yes, anytime. Be safe ; there's a quiet outer space to Apparate just behind that gray-haired building over there."They kissed good-bye and Gabriella began to walk down the street, Harry at her incline. Chalmers stood for some time after Cho had gone inside, watching from the stoup. Gabriella waved one last clock time as she turned the corner out of lot. Harry was about to pull off the cloak when she stopped him.

"Stay hidden,"Gabriella whispered."We're being followed."Harry spun and there behind the building they'd just passed were the auras of two small figures. They hadn't been there a arcminute before.

"Did you see them ?"Harry asked."I didn't hear an Apparation."

"house elves,"Gabriella whispered,"at least one of them. The other… I can't tell."

"But there weren't any home elves at the theater,"said Harry.

"I know,"she replied."They must belong to someone else, or one's with its master."

"Who ?"

Gabriella just shrugged.

"How did he know your name ?"asked Harry.

"It just slipped out. But I don't think—"

"You don't think Lucius would just as soon see you up on a freeway as me ? It was foolishness !"

"He'd have found out soon enough,"said Gabriella with a sigh as the two turned another turning point. The street was deserted save for two young boy playing football near the end by a chain-link fence. Gabriella pulled her scepter. She was going to attack the two that were nearing the niche, but Harry stayed her hand.

"Gab, no,"he whispered."Grimmauld Place."

"But—"

"Now !"

A moment later they found themselves on the streets of London, just outside of act twelve, Grimmauld Place. They waited to see if they might throw been followed, then checked that the streets were sack. Finally, Harry uncloaked and walked up the steps to the doorway, knocking twice. The doorway opened of its own accord and the two walked in. There was a rustle, a thud, and then Sirius appeared atop the staircase wearing boxers and a t-shirt. Wand drawn he pointed it blindly toward the threshold.

"Freeze !"he screamed."Or I'll obliterate you !"

"I hope not,"answered Harry."I'm kinda hungry."

"Harry ?"Sirius said, blinking his eyes."Harry what the hell… Gabriella ?"Canicula made an attempt at slicking back his pilus and started down the stairs.

"It's after midday,"Harry said."Don't tell me you were still sleeping."

"I was up late conclusion night. Remus finished grading written document and we— Hey, isn't your Potions exam today ?"Sirius'eyes shot to the doorway."And why didn't you use the floo ? What's going on ?"

"Erm… can we eat first,"asked Harry.

"What,"shot Sirius in a singularly insistent flavor,"is… going… on ? !"

"Sirius,"said Gabriella softly,"I think it best if we sit down."

"You do, do you ?"snipped Sirius, but Gabriella's black eyes caught a soft-spot in Sirius'bark."Well… okay."

The three moved into the kitchen and Canicula started toward the stove. He grabbed a spatula and summoned some sausages when Gabriella took his handwriting.

"Here,"she said softly,"let me do that. You sit with Harry."Sirius moved to the table and sat opposite his godson.

"Well ?"Sothis queried."It's obvious something's afoot. spatter it out."Harry tried, but he couldn't declare his godfather's gaze.

"I… I, erm…"He sucked in a magnanimous draught of air and exhaled."Igoterpregnant."

"What ?"Sirius asked."What was that ?"

"I… I got her pregnant."

"What !"Sirius stood and spin out towards Gabriella."You're significant ?"Gabriella turned the sausages with her wand."How could you—"

"Let him finish,"she replied, floating three plate out onto the mesa.

"Not Gabriella,"Harry said. Sothis turned back to face Harry."Cho… Cho Chang."Sirius fell back into his electric chair.

"Are you sure ?"asked Sirius with a disbelieving timbre."Because sometimes beldam can—"

"Oh,"cut in Gabriella sharply."He's sure."

"Merlin,"he whispered, scratching his Chin."Harry, you should make love better."

"I know. I know I should have it away better."

"And you,"Sirius said, turning back to Gabriella,"why are you here with this cheating scum if Cho's running around pregnant ?"Expressionless, Gabriella placed the blimp on the plates and added some warmed noodle.

"It was close year,"she answered sitting down and handing Sirius a fork.

"The baby was born in July,"said Harry."On my birthday. His name is Jamie."

Sirius'fork fell with a clank onto the home, splattering red edible bean onto his white-ish t-shirt.

"A b-boy ? Jamie ?"

"They're living in a wasteyard,"said Harry quickly,"and I can't have my son living like that. I won't have another Potter live with dust and wanderer, not as long as it's in my power. So, I offered to birth them rest at your castle. You know… until Mark Anthony graduate. Falco columbarius save his soulfulness if he ever—"

"My rook ? Anthony ? Who's Anthony."

"Goldstein. Well Cho calls him tonus. How cheesy is that ? Anyhow, the thing is…."

It was well into the evening before Harry had set Dog Star straight on all the particular, uncertain as they were. Sirius then began a manner of speaking that lasted for nearly thirty minutes and included a few references to Harry's parents. But when Harry began to dig into mystifying Dog Star changed the theme. After venting about Harry's foolishness, he had agreed to take Mark Antony, Cho and Jamie in and facilitate in any way he could.

The sausages Cho cooked little more than a computer storage, Sirius grew thirsty again and he convinced them to go to a Central Thai restaurant that he had found just a few pulley away. When they arrived, Harry discovered that it was run by an old Muggle, but frequented by a number of witch and wizards. The occasional flashes of magic that occurred never seemed to faze the old man. Sirius called him a savant, a Muggle in tune with the magic of the natural man but possessing no skill his own. Harry was half-way through his Panang Curry when he realized that tonight he was to see Ron and Hermione at the Ministry.

"The cloak,"he muttered suddenly to himself, before taking another bite.

"What's that, Harry ?"asked Sirius. Harry looked up into Sirius'eyes ; they were smiling. Harry's blindness didn't allow him to see that the wrinkle that had once drawn the position of Sirius'optic down were now curling upward. But he could sense the brightness of the aura in his godfather's expression. For a consequence, Harry considered telling Sirius of their design at the Ministry. Gabriella touched his helping hand.

"More tea ?"the waiter asked, and all three nodded. Harry continued to look toward Sirius who was as felicitous as ever. The thought of asking Sirius to avail them, particularly at the Ministry, curdled the curry in Harry's stomach.

"I said I almost choked,"Harry said with a cough.

"You're eating too fast,"said Gabriella knowingly, rubbing his arm and smiling."It's not a race."

"Probably the curry,"said Sirius, taking another sting."It's a bit spicy tonight."

"Yeah… yeah that's it,"Harry answered. He wiped his backtalk with his table napkin and set it on the table."Erm… Actually, I think I near be—"

"Harry,"interrupted Gabriella,"I have to go before it gets past midnight."

"Is it getting that former ?"asked Sirius, his mouth half full. Harry shot her a glance ; his oral fissure frowned. He didn't want her at the Ministry any more than he wanted Dog Star. There were too many memories—bad computer memory. Then she said something that surprised even Harry.

"I need to see Jamie,"she said,"just for a moment. I should deliver taken care of it this morning, but I forgot. I've not been in melodic line with the old ways for some metre. Mama would be disappointed in me."Unconsciously, Harry began to rub the tartar scar that was emblazoned on his ripe forearm.

He remembered what Gabriella's mother, Soseh, had said at the end of last shoal year."The blessing is inscribed on the males of each generation by the cleaning lady of the coevals before. It will be Gabriella's tariff to pass the benediction to your sons."Once it was light that Harry would take on Jamie as his son, it was Gabriella's responsibility, by oath, that she pass to him the benediction of Asha.

"The Votary,"Harry whispered quietly, staring down at the pipe bowl of yellow and gold. Then his thudding middle looked toward hers."It's too severe,"he said sharply."What if Chalmers has told them. What if he knew all along ? What if they're still there ?"

"They ? They who ?"asked Dog Star.

"We were followed after we left Cho's apartment,"said Gabriella."But it makes no difference. By honour, I have no pick. It must be done, and the Sooner it's done the groovy the top executive of Jamie's boon, of his auspices. He'll pauperization Asha's service in these times of darkness."

"You mentioned the destruction Eater bodyguard, but you didn't mention that you were followed,"said Sothis, his optic turning toward Harry with a more grave glare.

"Draco said that Chalmers doesn't work nights, at least not for Goldstein. Canicula, you need to go with her, keep back her good. That way you can see Jamie and strait on the tidings, maybe convince Cho to affect into the castle tonight while Chalmers is away."

"And you ?"Dog Star asked.

"I'll just head back to Hogwarts. If the two were a couple of Lucius'thugs out to get me it'd be just if I wasn't there."Canicula sighed, looking longingly at an untouched barbeque spare rib. He licked his lips and pushed his plate forward.

"Very well, let's go."They paid and made their way outside and down the street, finding a more remote alley often used by the visiting witches and wizards to Apparate. Canicula took Harry by the arm and looked him in the eyes, but Harry turned away to look down the street as a car past by.

"straight person to Hogwarts,"said Sirius sternly,"okay, Harry ?"

"Straight to Hogwarts,"Harry agreed. Gabriella kissed him on the boldness.

"I can see your emotions roiling,"she whispered in his ear."Be vigilant and say, ‘ Hi !'to Ron and Hermione for me."She pulled her wand as did Sirius."Oh, and don't worry ; Jamie will be exquisitely. I'll make sure as shooting that no evil harms your child."Harry tried to muster a grin.

"Did I ever tell you how much I loved you ?"he asked and then they kissed."I'll see you at school in the morning. Keep her safe, Sirius."There was a snap and both Gabriella and Sirius had vanished. Harry focused his vision to another part of London and in the adjacent here and now found himself at a telephone box above the entering to the Ministry. As off-putting as Apparating was for Harry, he was ill prepared for what happened next.

"Stupefy !"The fire of red visible light hit Harry squarely in the thorax, knocking him backward some ten to twenty feet, his wand tumbling from his hand."There, Harrington,"a turgid mask soma said with a rather blusterous voice, picking up Harry's wand,"and you were about ready to wet your pant. He is a boy, after all."Still on his back Harry could smell out them stepping toward him.

"I… am not… a… boy !"he rasped. This made the closelipped ace jest, but the pocket-sized man behind him said nothing.

"Well, I've got your wand, piddling man. I doubt you'll—"

"Diffindo !"Harry hissed, stretching his veracious arm forward. Orange light erupted from the shoulder joint down and extended out and beyond Harry's fingertips.

The front of the Death feeder's cloak looked as if a large sabre had just slashed across it, tearing cloth and flesh alike up and outward. Harry could palpate the blood splashing his case. The Death eater screamed falling to his knees. Unsteadily, Harry stood. The whole place seemed to be spinning. He was dizzy and a get together sensation of nausea was building inside.

"Accio wand !"he cried, wrenching his scepter from the expiry Eater's grasp and in to his own hand. Limping forward he yelled"BOY ?"Then he placed his wand on the forehead of his foe."BOY ?"stemma continued to dribble from beneath the crouching death Eater's rib and between the deal that clutched his chest."Who do you influence for ?"Harry asked, already knowing the response.

Harry had focused so lots attending on the great Death feeder, he had neglected the smaller one that had retreated to the phantom.

"I said WHO - DO - YOU - employment FOR !"Standing over his cowering victim, it was then that he noticed the Light - lots of lights. Five more aura had Apparated ; he was surrounded. Seemingly emboldened by the new arriver, the smaller demise Eater emerged from the shadows and held out his wand.

"Expel—"There were three spells cast almost simultaneously that stopped the wizard before he had a prospect to stop.

"Stupefy !"“ Diffindo !"and Harry's shield charm,"Contego !"

Only, Harry didn't need the shield charm… for himself. The beginning piece came from one of the approaching auras Harry presumed to be More Death Eaters. The bolt, not the stiff Harry had ever seen, knocked the smaller wizard backward, albeit only a few groundwork. Fearing for his life, and rightfully so, the diminutive decease Eater Disapparated. The mo charm came from yet another aureole, pocket-sized yet vivid. It was directed at the crippled wizard crouching before Harry. The solution was frightful and instantaneous ; the expiry feeder's head word fell to the gravelled paving and his torso slumped forward, draining blood at Harry's foundation, a boiling consortium of light source like lave erupting from a volcano.

Harry spun to present the five wizards approaching him, holding his verge high. Two showed hints of both red and greenish in their nimbus as they drew nearer."overbearing oath ?"Harry wondered. And then a representative came to him that startled him more than that of the previous Death Eater.

"Bloody hell, James ! What in Merlin's name did you do that for ?"

The colour, the canter, the tone… Harry knew at once it was Ron Weasley.


Harry Potter and the birth of a New Sun

Chapter 16 - The loading call
~~~***~~~

"He was reaching for his wand,"said James, pointing at the decapitated Death Eater at Harry's feet."He was going to kill Harry !"

"He was on his articulatio genus,"snapped Hermione."Harry had him firmly in control."

"He didn'have the… that lilliputian guy in control,"countered St. Patrick."I had teh take him down."

"You're just lucky he was as frightened as a molamar in water,"said Anthony Goldstein with a rather supercilious voice.

"Goldstein ?"asked Harry in surprise as the group converged on him.

"Damn, Potter,"said Goldstein,"you're a damn deal. And I do mean bloody. Scourgify !"The splash covering the front of Harry's face, shirt and pants vanished, though the kitty on the paving remained."There, that's better."

"Who in underworld told Goldstein ?"cried Harry.

"Actually, Potter,"replied Goldstein,"I stumbled on this merry troupe as they tried to mouse out. Seemed like a ripe DA mission.

"Are you kidding ?"snapped Harry, gazing at the glory of the man who'd be his son's father. There was a pureness about it, but Harry was to inflamed to view it."You… you can't be here. It's too dangerous."

"Yes, I see that,"said Goldstein with a rather sarcastic step. Gingerly, Harry stepped out of the bloodline, pooling at his base. Hermione ran over to him and hugged him.

"Who were they ?"she asked."Nobody's supposed to live we're here."

"That's what I thought,"answered Harry."I was trying to get an result when James here decided to play the butcher."Harry turned to the second year."The next metre I need your help Chang, I'll ask for it."Harry sensed at once the anger construction within the smaller maven, but then it subsided almost as quickly as it came.

"I… I was just trying too difficult I guess,"answered King James I."It was scary."

"And why are you two,"Harry pointed to both James and Patrick,"here in the first berth ? Stumble across the troupe as well ?"He shot Ron a coup d'oeil and wished he could take eyes of death.

"Patrick overheard our plans and said he'd snitch if we didn't bring ‘ em along,"answered Ron."It was supposed to be quiet ; I didn't number we'd run into Death Eaters."

"If that's what they were,"said Harry, still holding his wand at the ready."They acted more like hired thugs than demise Eaters."

The dark air was cold and muted. He could feel the damp of a thin mist wrapping about his case, sending thrill down his spine. For a moment he thought of Dementors, but the iciness, this chilled clamminess was something else, something more visceral. The voicelessness of Death were swirling ; somehow Harry knew that. And not for the man that had just been slain, the susurration were telling Harry that more would soon join the drained man at his feet. But who ?

"Goldstein,"Harry said suddenly,"Anthony, really you… you have to—"

"fountainhead, we're here now,"said James."Dispatchio !"The utterly wizard and the pool of blood beneath him vanished."Let's say we get in, get the cloak and get out before anymore… er, dark ace show up. Wouldn't want Luci—"

"Where'd you learn that spell ?"queried Hermione."That's fifth year."James shrugged his shoulder.

"My sister I guess,"he said."She's the smartness one in the family."

"Yeah… I see,"said Harry, noticing Epistle of James'nimbus slicing from green to red then back from red to green. For the first gear metre, he thought James might not really be an ally."Ron, maybe you should take—"

"James is rectify,"interrupted Anthony."Best if we get down into the Ministry before another dozen Death eater Apparate in."

"But—"

"Harry,"interrupted Hermione,"let's just get downstairs. We can talk then."Harry heaved a suspiration and the mathematical group squeezed into the phone booth. Ron said the password his forefather had told him and a silvern orb appeared, scanning Ron in a sickly white light. Then, with a jar, the elevator began to plummet. Harry tried to take care at Ron and suggest to the redhead that he should say Harry's mind, but his eyes were blank and Ron didn't recognize the facial expression as he once would let. Harry silently cursed his cecity.

Harry's spunk began to vivify. If the two second geezerhood were under the Imperious Curse, they were likely in Lucius Malfoy's control. He was feeling strongly like he wanted to wretch onto the refined marble trading floor just as the room access opened onto the resplendent entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic. The six stepped out, wands drawn.

After only a few paces, they all saw where the cloak was to be displayed - it was obvious. A bombastic Methedrine example had already been erected. On a terminal was the torso of a form and next to that a gold statue of Harry with his wand drawn. They all stepped closer. There was no cloak, but there was a memorial tablet. It read,"This web site commemorates the licking of the Dark superstar Voldemort by the one thousand Wizard Harry Potter, Order of Merlin, First social class, who faced his foe wand-to-wand and struck him down."
"Holy Order of Merlin ?"asked Goldstein surprised."I didn't know—"

"Neither did I,"cut in Harry.

"They'll probably award it to you during the ceremonial occasion tomorrow,"said Hermione brightly. Harry turned to her.

"If we do this right, there won't be any ceremony,"said Harry shortly."No iniquity cloak, no getting even of Voldemort, no ceremony. Ron, do you have any approximation where—"

There was a reverberance coming from down the hall and a faint glow that was growing nearer. It sounded as if mortal were humming. The grouping began to pull back, away from the show sheath ; all, that is, except King James I. Harry went to catch his arm, but the boy wouldn't relocation.

"Is this it ?"he asked, still staring at the re-enactment before him."Is this how it happened ? You struck him down ? Nobody could tell apart me for for sure, not even Gabriella."Harry held more tightly to James'robes and began to deplumate him bodily across the floor.

"James River,"Harry said, huffing between his dentition,"there are some things you can't believe. first, never believe a countersign Trelawney says unless she sounds like a goblin on fire whisky. moment, never consider a word written in the Dailey Prophet, unless it's written by Luna Lovegood. And finally, never… ever believe anything the Ministry says - ever !"He continued dragging Epistle of James by the vertebral column of his arrest until they were hidden between two marble columns.

"boldface words, Harry,"continued James passively."But I never believed you could thrum Lord Voldemort wand-to-wand. Tell me, is there still a part of the Dark Lord that courses through your veins ? That could be useful, if—"

"Shhh."All was silent, save for the occasional cracking ember from one of the fireplaces that surrounded the wonderful entrance Charles Francis Hall and the humming that was growing louder by the minute. Again Harry tried to meet Ron's attending, but he was busy whispering something in Hermione's ear as they clung together behind a suit of armour opposite the Fountain of Magical blood brother. At another column just behind Harry and James, Patrick and Anthony crouched. The whispers of death were growing louder. So loud, in fact, that Harry turned to see if perhaps a ghostwriter or something more were at his right English. Only James was there, kneeling quietly on the floor.

The light grew brighter and then the witch appeared. Harry could piss out her aureole, a shimmering Au, but not her features at this aloofness. In presence of her was a cloak levitated some two feet off the priming coat. She was approaching the display case when St. James the Apostle began to wriggle under Harry's hand.

"cargo deck still,"he whispered, but the marble bulwark took in the strait, echoed them about, amplifying the noise such that it was audible to the witch at the display case. Harry noticed the faltering. He expected her to turn, but she did not. Instead, she levitated the cloak onto the body within the display case and closed the glass door. She cast a charm with her wand and then turned as if to leave. In turning, she revealed her face to the others, but Harry was still ineffectual to know who the enchantress was. From the syncope gasp from across the foyer it was clear that Hermione, for one, knew who it was. The crone stepped toward the outflow and took something out of her pocket, perhaps a coin, Harry couldn't William Tell. In a motility that was as refined and as cunning as any Harry had ever seen, she flipped the objective into the fountain. It birl senior high into the air and, just as it crested in its arc, her other mitt pointed her verge toward it and cast the spell.

"Immobulus !"Harry recognized the voice at once ; it was molly Weasley, Ron's mother.

Half of the light leaving her wand passed the coin cleanly and struck the witch and thaumaturgist by the suit of armour. The former one-half, however, glinted off the coin, reflecting toward and blasting the two wizards next to the column behind Harry. With one charm she had immobilized Ron, Hermione, Susan Anthony and St. Patrick. Again, Epistle of James wriggled under Harry's clasp and again Harry held him fast.

"I know you're there,"Mrs. Weasley said with a vocalisation that held no fearfulness."I'm afraid it's well after hours. If you're lost, I'm surely I can help you encounter your way. follow out from behind the column and let's see where you belong. Shall we ?"

Again James pushed against the weightiness of Harry who was pressing him concentrated against the marble trading floor. Finally, Harry had had enough. He couldn't risk what Saint James might do.

"Incarcerous !"he called. Ropes sprung from his wand and began to wrap themselves about James.

"Sectumsempra !"cried James, slashing the rope with his scepter and pushing Harry away. Then he pointed his wand at Mrs. Weasley."Avada Ked— !"
"Stupefy !"she called, her spell interrupting the boy's. The red light nearly chance upon James who deflected it at the last moment, sending the shaft of light into the cap above, showering them all with opus of marble and splinters of walnut. This was no mo yr wizard.

Harry jumped to his feet and cast his own stunning patch, but again James deflected it. It was then that mollie Weasley noticed who he was.

"Harry ?"she called.

"Hide, Mrs. Weasley !"he cried in regaining."Hide !"

James cast a jet of red light Harry's way. Harry focused on where he needed to be—out of the beam's course. Suddenly, everything slowed and he found himself running to the right, toward the natural spring, just as the bolt of red passed his left elbow. James smiled.

"Impressssive, Harry,"James hissed in a much high, colder vocalism, a spokesperson that shook Harry to the core. It couldn't be."You've learned well from the Centaurs. I did as well ; although I suspect my method of extracting the cognition I required were somewhat different than yours."There was another dash, K, and again Harry disappeared and reappeared into another region of the grand hall.

"Diffindo !"called Mrs. Weasley. Her spell struck James I on the left shoulder, leaving a nasty slash. James IV spun on the crone.

"Avada Kedavra !"

This sentence the green light sailed toward mollie Weasley. Harry began to levitate a marble Bench into the irradiation's path, but quickly realized the Bench was too heavy and would not move around fast enough. Instead he ran, slowing time and bending the quad between them tightly together. He grabbed her by the shoulder joint and pushed her to the ground just as the eruption past the yoke, smashing into the wall behind and showering them with dust and rock. Harry landed on his vertebral column as Mrs. Weasley landed on top of him, knocking the air out of his chest of drawers.

"Harry,"she said sternly as only a mother could,"what are you doing here ? What's going on ?"

"It… it's Voldemort,"he gasped trying to feel air that wasn't there."He's… back."He wheezed, sucking in a short breathing time of air."In… James."Without questioning further, Mrs. Weasley's back went rigid and she rose to confront James, to face Voldemort.

"Nooo,"Harry rasped, struggling to sit up, but barely capable. She ignored his beckon and faced the diminished boy now standing only a few feet in nominal head of her.

"parting the boy, Voldemort,"she commanded, brandishing her wand."He can't possibly be of any use to you, now we know the truth."

"Truth ?"queried William James as his centre shot toward the night cloak still protected behind the sealed glass. Harry rose to his knee, trying to bring air back into his lungs."The accuracy is that there are only two matter in this way I want… and you're not one of them."His sceptre rose in unison with Harry's, only Harry was ineffective to gasp the enchantment.

"Avada Kedavra !"

Placing himself between Mrs. Weasley and Voldemort, Harry tried to rise up in front of the jet of green but the killing curse would win the airstream this clip ; he knew that. For her division, mollie Weasley cast a shield charm about them both, hoping to deflect the spell, but they all knew it wouldn't workplace. In her final stage heartbeat of life her custody gripped Harry by the shoulder and she cast a glance down into his unsighted eyes, a glance that held love and compassion, a glance that was filled with concern not for herself but for the boy before her… a glance he couldn't see. She fell bushed to the floor.

"NO !"cried Harry as he spun and contrive another slashing spell against James who deflected it with rest."You're being controlled, James ! fight back !"James only laughed.

"YOU stood face-to-face with the Great Dark Lord Voldemort and defeated him ?"James mocked."What a joke !"

With Mrs. Weasley dead, the go she cast on the other four wizards began to wear off. Slowly, they were coming to there sentiency, working to find command of their motions. James walked over to a groaning Patrick who was still prone on the floor. He grabbed Patrick's hair and pulled his nous off the primer.

"This one here,"called James, his vox echoing off the rampart,"thinks of you as a brother, Potter. He'd sooner die than see you come to harm. Yet he's betrayed you at my every command. Shall I kill him following ?"

"Expelliarmus !"Harry cried, but once again James deflected the magical spell.

"Haven't you figured it out yet, Potter ? Even with the skill of the Centaur, you're as slow as your dead parents. Nonetheless, you could be useful ; the Malfoy boy suggested as much. I heard, perhaps, he's not as dead as everyone thinks."He released Patrick whose oral sex cracked against the stone floor. But instead of striking at Harry, Saint James the Apostle held his scepter to the methamphetamine hydrochloride display eccentric."Diffindo !"The blast of light struck the glass, but held firm as if swallowing the vigor of the fire, the glass began to glow. For the first sentence, the smile on St. James Yangtze River's face disappeared."Diffindo !"he called again, and again the energy was absorbed and the glass grew brighter still.

"You've killed your sole chance for opening the display case,"Harry sneered."But then… I always heard that that was one of your enceinte weaknesses… TOM… being stupid !"

Another blast of wakeful scene toward Harry ; it was red not green, not a killing curse. Once more than, Harry slipped out of its way. This time he moved quickly around and behind Saint James the Apostle reappearing with his wand drawn.

"Stupefy !"Harry cried, sending a fire of red at James'back, but again the thaumaturgist deflected the spell as if swatting a fly and then turned back toward the display causa."You're not trying to kill me, Tom. Why not ?"

"I'll kill you sssoon enough,"James I slithered."First, the cloak. Then, I need to educe something of mine that you stole from me when you were a babe. Soon, I will be—"Suddenly two to a greater extent spells came from beyond the fountain. Ron and Hermione had revived themselves enough to fight, but barely.

"No ! Get out of here !"Harry screamed."It's Voldemort ! Run !"

"I don't have meter for this,"cried James IV, sending three Thomas More gust of lightness at the glass case. On the third bolt the glass cracked, but only just. Harry could tell that the tour that James had cast over the last few minutes were draining him. He looked tired, almost vulnerable. At the Lapp moment the fervor ringing the rarified hall roared to spirit.

"Finally,"Harry whispered,"some help."Wizard after wizard appeared at each hearth, brandishing their verge."Whatever time you thought you had has just expired, Tom."

The room erupted in red light. heptad attack came at the low star by the video display case. Two struck dependable while the others struck the glowing glass, shattering it completely. The great glass shard that scattered the floor, however, were still glowing as brightly as ever. There were more blasts of red directed at Harry.

"It's me !"he yelled."Harry Potter !"

"Harry !"cried Hermione from the far side of the hall."It's not the Ministry ! It's—"A blast of red dropped her to the ground.

"Hermione !"cried Ron."He cast a tour knocking the whizz by Hermione backward into the wall with a forte crack. He pointed towards another wizard and ran at him."farewell her alone, you bloody—"There was a flak of purple and he too fell to the floor.

"We're educatee !"Harry yelled, but it only focused the care of another shelling of red dash his way. Harry cast a shield charm and sent them flying in every conceivable direction. The gust weakened him."Are you crazy ? ! We're—"And then he noticed it - the unmistakably bright emerald green aura of genus Draco Malfoy, stepping from the flame of one of the open fireplace. He had warned Harry and now it was too former.

Simultaneously, ropes began to twiddle about Ron, Hermione, St. Patrick, and most importantly James who was still motionless on the floor. Somehow Anthony had managed an escape and stood at Harry's face. There were nearly a dozen Death feeder moving in on them.

"hire the cloak, Draco,"drawled a marvellous wizard in shadow black robes with crimson liner.

"Lucius ?"Harry sneered in the wizard's focusing."Is that you ? I should have known by the sickening icteric colour."The wizard said nothing, trying to ignore Harry."Now that I'm subterfuge, you're much better looking in — ten-strike that. No you're not. You're still as often a pig as you always were. Still, somehow… missing an arm courting you. How'd you lose it again ?"The goading worked.

"Big row for a unsighted boy, Potter,"he snapped.

"Now, now… stick and stones…. But then I guess six calendar month with Dementors and dullard will clabber anyone's colloquial capabilities."Harry could see that Draco was moving over the radiate glass and into the shell to regain the robe. Harry turned to face him.

"Hey ! Blonde bastard ! I wouldn't go in there if I were—"

"What's this ?"Draco cried out. He had come to Molly Weasley's body. The gloss of his aura blanched."I gave specific orders ! Who cast a killing hex ?"Harry could tell immediately that genus Draco was livid.

"gather the cloak !"yelled Lucius.

"But father—"

"NOW !"

"Don't do it !"yelled Harry.

Draco moved forward toward the sheath. Suddenly, the shattered glass that was still glowing with the muscularity it had absorbed exploded in a brilliant white flash. Draco flew up into the air, nearly striking the ceiling, and then landed with a sickening crunch against the marble floor.

"Draco !"cried Lucius. Goldstein took the beguilement as his chance. His verge erupted with brilliantly bluish light, but instead of being directed at one of the dying Eaters, it was directed toward one of the portrayal hanging high on the wall of the grand antechamber. The portrait sparked, zapping the aged necromancer that had, so far, slept through the ruckus.

"Hey,"the wizard in the portrayal yelped."No need for—"

"Get avail you idiot !"yelled Goldstein. The wizard in the portrait, seeing the end, disappeared instantly."It won't be long now,"Goldstein muttered, staring at the empty portrayal.

There was another flare-up of spells headed at the two superstar and together they fended them off, but Harry was growing weaker by the moment. Lucius ignored Goldstein's call for aid, he ignored the battle of sceptre, and he ignored the wrinkle heap on the floor that was his son. Instead, unwilling to touch it himself, he pointed to the cloak that was still standing in the windowless presentation case.

"The cloak !"he yelled again. After some disinclination, another Death feeder approached the smuggled fabric and grabbed it just as James I, still bound by rophy, began to come to his sense. With lust-filled eyes, Lucius only half glanced at genus Draco, still motionless on the floor, blood dripping from the corner of his mouthpiece. Instead, he focused fully on the Shirley Temple robe held before him.

"Luciusss,"uttered King James breathlessly,"you fool."

Malfoy wrenched the cloth out of the Death eater's hands. Quickly, he slipped it on and waited as if anticipating something to happen.

"You expected, maybe, a enthronement ?"Harry sneered."Perhaps a crest and huntsman's horns as we all bow down to kiss your arse ? It's a dazed piece of cloth !"

"Kill him,"Malfoy drawled, pointing with his honest arm toward Harry."putting to death HIM !"Harry grabbed Anthony by the arm as the deadbolt of green approached and in an instant they were on the former face of the resplendent residence that now appeared more like a war zone than the showpiece of the Ministry. Looking back, they saw that the spot where they once stood was naught now but a volcanic crater. Goldstein grabbed Harry's arm.

"How did you do—"

"You are NOT going to miss the nuptials,"Harry snapped. He took in a deeply breath, reaching out with his mind to cull any magic he could from the world around him. He let out a long, tiresome exhale and pointed his sceptre at the level.

"Festio !"he cried, ripping dozens of marble tiles upward and sending them toward his adversaries. The Death Eaters tried to shatter the roofing tile with spells, but the natural action only served to create thousands of tiny rocket all headed in their direction. A few stamp shell charms in time, but most were struck. Above the din of belly laugh, Harry could listen James cursing Lucius.

"Release me, you idiot ! give up me now."But Malfoy, ignorant of James'true identity, ignored the boy's pleadings. He had what he came for and was beginning to take the air toward his son when elasticity began to take the room. Auror after Auror was Apparating within the sumptuous lobby. In an minute, spells were flying everywhere. flak after blast of light, cutting down wizard after wizard, hag after witch. The way was filled with utter havoc and Harry, his shoulders slumped with fatigue, moved to inscribe the disturbance. Before Harry could take a full stair, Goldstein grabbed him by the shoulder.

"You're no good to anybody idle,"he whispered."We need you, Harry. Me… I'm not much more than canon fodder."And then he charged forward ahead of Harry, taking down two Death feeder before he too was stunned and fell to the ground. It was then that Harry noticed James. He was beginning to slip give up of the bonds that held him. Lucius, on the early hand, had abandoned everyone, including his son, and was racing to the floo. A bolt of lightning of orange light struck the wall behind Harry, casting endocarp and scatter down his back. Lucius was about prepare to miss. Harry focused on where he needed to be and before Lucius had taken another footmark, Harry was standing in straw man of him, blocking the entrance to the open fireplace.

"Silencio !"Harry whispered, holding his mitt between the cloak's folds of black-market textile and directly against Malfoy's chest. The wizard tried to regorge a go, but was mute."Now, what with the sporty arm and all… that's what I call an improvement. You should retrieve to button up before you step out, Lucius. Now, take off the cloak before I blast it off."Malfoy's eyes glowed with pure hatred and he raised his scepter."Expelliarmus !"Harry whispered again and Malfoy's wand flew from his helping hand. There was an expression of surprisal in Malfoy's eyes that made Harry smile.

"Now,"continued Harry,"as I was saying, pick out off the—"With a sudden shove from behind, Malfoy fell forward onto Harry and they both tumbled to the level. It was then that Harry noticed that James had freed himself and now, forgoing the use of a wand, had his work force around Malfoy's throat, squeezing… squeezing. He was in a craze of pure hatred and ire.

"Do you know who I am ?"cried Jesse James."Look into my centre !"

Lucius, even Harry, saw the flaming of red light in Epistle of James'eyes.

"N-Not pos-sible,"he gasped, ineffectual to emit."D-Dead."Then the fully realization struck him."I-I never knew."

"You know now,"James spat between gritted teeth."And now is sssoon enough."A blast of red light came from the far paries and struck St. James the Apostle in the incline, but before he released his grip on Lucius, a dismal blistering green goddess issued from his oral fissure and nostril. To Harry, it was a stream of green wickedness leaving the red tooshie. James'clutch on Lucius released and the blonde wizard gasped for air, but instead of air he sucked in zip but weed. Voldemort had penetrated him. Stunned, Harry saw the green surround the yellow and snuff it out. Lucius took to his invertebrate foot as a fire of red struck him in the back. Nothing happened. It bounced off him, off the cloak he was wearing, like urine off a duck's back. Before Harry could react, Lucius, Voldemort and the cloak had vanished in a swirl of green fire.

There were a twosome more blast, a mates more snaps, and a mates more riot of pain sensation, but finally the room fell silent. Only the auditory sensation of rock candy scraping against the base, as the remaining Aurors stepped across the junk, broke the secrecy.

"government minister, over here. It's your… over here, sir. Please."For the first clip, Harry realized that Arthur Weasley had been among the Aurors that had come to protect the Ministry. He watched as the wizard walked toward the tattered show instance, while the Auror that called him levitated a wooden beam that had fallen over mollie Weasley up and out of the way. It landed with a wearisome thumping.

"mollie ?"he uttered as if trying to gently wake mortal from a deeply sleep."Molly,"he said again only louder."MOLLY !"He grabbed his married woman in his arms, pulling her up out of the rubble ; pebbles cascaded to the floor."Oh my god, no. No… no… no… no… NOOO !"he screamed. The grand piano Charles Martin Hall rumbled, shaking mortar loose from the bulwark onto the base below as Mr. Weasley buried his headway into the nook of his wife's cervix. He continued to warp swell sobs as Harry looked down at Saint James, prone on the story, weapon system outstretched toward the open fireplace. The common was gone ; only blue remained, but the sparkle was weak and flickered. He was near death. The second twelvemonth began to arise, slowly looking up to witness Harry.

"H-Harry ? H-Help… I… I can't…."And he collapsed to the floor. Harry looked around at the devastation. James was not the only one near destruction. Instinctively, he pulled his wand to summon the Heart of Asha, but before he could cast the spell, cracking after snap began to replete the Charles Martin Hall ; Healers were appearing. In a matter of s nearly a dozen Healers had Apparated into the Ministry. One, an older necromancer with shaggy white tomentum, was at King James'English almost instantly. Scanning the boy with his verge he turned to Harry.

"You're the Potter boy, aren't you ?"Without waiting for an result he said quickly,"Tell me, was it a stunner ? Because I'm not detecting any—"

"He was possessed by Voldemort,"Harry cut in. The healer cringed, looking up at Harry with skepticism.

"Look son,"he said derisively,"you shouldn't go around—"

"Damn it !"Harry screamed."His spirit's been sundered ! It probably has been all year. Voldemort just left him to take on another server. If you don't hurry, he'll die."For only a endorse, the Healer tried to study the aspect of Harry's face. He was old enough to know what Harry meant. He remembered the old war and he didn't need to be told twice. Without saying another word, the therapist rose to his metrical unit and a flash of grand purple light left his wand bathing King James I in its glow from foreland to toe.

Harry stepped back, twisting his ankle on a John Rock beneath his foundation. He cursed. former than the multitude swarming about the residence, it was difficult to spend a penny anything out. His visual sense was truly failing him in the rocky mess. He could see Mr. Weasley and heard his sobs, and tried to pick his way through the dust as Auror and Healer alike seemed to choke him by as they rushed to another's aid. It was as if no one knew him, or no one cared. His emotions were sloshing back and Forth. He needed to help… he needed to go after after Lucius, after Voldemort… he needed to —"

"pastor !"someone cried out."diplomatic minister ! It's your son !"Harry turned his care on a incandescence that lay prone on the level near an Auror's feet.

"My god, Harry Hotspur ? !"cried Mr. Weasley still reeling from the loss of his wife.

"No, sir,"the Auror replied."It's your youngest boy, Ron. Looks like a knockout is all."

"That's not possible,"whispered Arthur Weasley, unsure just what to do."He's at Hogwarts."Then he noticed Harry, stumbling blindly toward him."Harry ? My god, Harry why are you—"

"He's back,"said Harry weakly. He was tired and sore, and his justly arm was starting to prick with pain."Voldemort's back."

"What ?"

"A Horcrux,"Harry whispered nonsensically, stumbling closer to Mr. Malfoy and rubbing his good forearm with his left hand. It itched."There must get been more than one. We… we came for the cloak."

"Jonah,"called another Healer to the old man that was working on James,"I need your avail. It's the Malfoy boy. What's his epithet, Draco ?"

"I thought he was dead ?"the old man called back. The jr. therapist looked down at Dragon and then back up.

"Well, if he wasn't before—"

"You knew ?"asked Mr. Weasley, his vocalization sceptical. Gently he kissed his wife's cheek and lowered her to the base."You knew they were coming ?"

Harry was feeling dazed. He looked toward Draco, toward Arthur Weasley. His in good order arm was aching. He had reached Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and his heart began to slump further.

"No one was supposed to be here,"Harry said thinly, his part hoarse with sorrow."I just wanted to destroy the cloak before… before…"Mr. Weasley rose to his metrical unit.

"She loved you like a son !"he yelled and slapped Harry hard across the face."AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY HER !"

The setback knocked Harry backwards and he slipped on the loose stones that scattered the floor. Rising to one elbow he could taste the rake that was dripping from his cut lip, and then he noticed his mighty forearm - it was glowing. A lean etch of a rune had appeared, the Viswa Vajra. Harry had always wondered when it would happen, in what manner it would demonstrate itself, and even though he'd never seen such a glow, he knew what it meant, and he knew he had no pick but to obey.

The pastor of conjuration who had loved Harry as his own son was demanding answers, reply Harry desperately wanted to give. Draco and James II lay near death, and Harry had it in his mogul to easily save them both. Voldemort had escaped with a new physical structure and another piece of his soulfulness, and Harry anxiously needed to chase after them - the Wizarding domain was again at risk. Once Thomas More, death began to whisper in his ear and he began to shudder.

In spite of that, none of it mattered. He had sworn an oath ; it was a core all appendage of the Votary carried. He was being summoned and so, clutching his wand, he focused on where he needed to be. He felt a soft touch on his shoulder joint and see Hermione shout his name. He looked up at her, wishing he could convey the sorrowfulness weighing on his soul.

"Harry…"

He was gone.


Harry Potter and the nascency of a New Sun

Chapter 17 - The summoning
~~~***~~~

When Dakhil left Harry at the I. F. Stone steps leading to the look door of Hogwarts Castle, Harry had pleaded that he too fight the onrush of Dementors and Death eater raging against Dakhil's homeland in the Carpathian Mountains. The vampire should cause been gone for only a few Clarence Shepard Day Jr., but it had been hebdomad and Dakhil had not returned nor had he sent word of the status of the battle. The Daily prophet had been worthless, only reporting the trouble that the assorted European Ministries were having trying to disguise the numerous atrocities as innate tragedy. More worrying was that Antreas had left shortly after Dakhil and had not been heard from since. Everyone who had left to fight seemed to vanish into a corking whirl of jazz.

Before he disappeared, Dakhil had told Harry that his job was to protect Hogwarts, to protect the Centaurs of the Great timberland from a darkness within the schoolhouse. Harry brushed the notion of darkness inside the castling walls aside, believing it was a backhanded abuse toward Harry, but now he was paying for it. Maybe that's why they were summoning him, he had failed in his one delegacy. Voldemort had not only elude, but he had captured his Horcrux and was ready to return to big businessman. Or was he ?

Voldemort had said he needed only two affair in the grand hall of the Ministry - his old nigrify cloak and Harry. He had asked earlier if there was still part of the Dark Lord that coursed through Harry's veins. What King James I, what Voldemort didn't know was that the darkness, Voldemort's stain, had been washed away by the Cleansing of the falls in the Great timberland. Perhaps, Voldemort was too weak without this other constituent of himself, perhaps—

It was hot, painfully hot - the number one thing Harry noticed when he finally appeared at the summoning website - hot and dark. Not wickedness in the sentience that there was no light, although it was that too ; a lack of loose wouldn't matter to a blind man. No, it was dark in the sense that Harry saw nothing. There was no aliveness here, no life in any direction, just heat, an intense, blistering heat that appeared, to Harry, like a dull haze as he looked to the night sky and saw Ebyrth shining as bright as ever.

He had been capable to Apparate across the TV channel. From there he had tried once more, but couldn't make it across Germany. He was drained, ineffectual to cast another turn, and the grandness of the earth's free energy, normally bountiful in this sphere, was parched like an desiccate desert. There was cipher for Harry to trace on to fill again what magical energy he could puke. Instead, he used the mightiness of the Centaurs to twist infinite and slowly meter, and he ran. He ran until his shoe wore through and fell away ; he ran over rivers that supported his free weight as if they were frozen self-colored ; he ran past flying fowl that hovered in the air like floating balloons. He ran for what felt the likes of days, stopping only to pledge from the occasional stream or brook. At one full stop, just extraneous Vienna, he had grabbed half of a sandwich from the hand of a passer-by who might as well have been a statue frozen in time. His peg ached, his lungs wanted to burst and all he could hear was the voice of Ronan compelling him forward, not to match the Call of the Centaur, but to answer the evocation of the dragon.

By the fourth dimension he had begun the final examination acclivity, his judgment was blurred with fatigue. He had paid no card to the quite a little he had been climbing. elbow grease burning his blind eyes, he had ignored the shriek and the fires through which he had past. He didn't see the passage from life history to death. He only knew one affair - the summoning site. He would not flush it again, even as the finally drops of strength left his being.

This… this was the spot ; he was for certain. Huge swig of air splashed down his burning lungs ineffectual to quench his thirstiness for oxygen. His bare feet burned. Almost forgetfully, he held out his verge, hand shaking from exhaustion and mind knowing that he would not be able-bodied to put a tour even if he wanted to. Sweat dripped down his frontal bone ; the heat was unendurable. He stood for a moment, scepter outstretched, squinting with go wrong eyes into the dark. merlin, it was hot. He moved to engage a tone forward, an acrid odour filling his nostril, when his left leg cramped and he fell face first hard into the stony flat coat. He didn't have the energy to pull out away from the scorching Lucy Stone, nor could he ptyalize out the Baroness Dudevant and bantam pebbles that filled his backtalk and burned his spit.

"Maybe,"he thought,"if I rest for just—"He passed out, dropping his scepter at his English.

Unconscious on the sweltering globe, swirl of grass and brightness level coalesced in his mind forming a scene of darkness and despair. Even in his dream the flavor of burning flesh was unendurable. Yet, in his dream he could see - his imagination, his sight was as just as ever. The dope and the scent cleared and he found himself at the falls, the evenfall where Gabriella lay face down in the tall Grass, an arrow sunk oceanic abyss into her back. In the air was sadness. No… more than sadness - there was ire. It was Ron, screaming, screaming….

"NOOOOOOO !"

The Earth shook.

"Take him ! Take him now ! hurriedness !"

The scene changed. He was flying… flying in the air. Bounce. On a Hippogriff. Bounce. Harry felt a jarring painful sensation against the side of his ribs. He blinked. The cecity had returned, but he could sense that there was a Inner Light beneath him. bounciness. A person.

"rushing !"

The voice… he knew that voice. The darkness was clearing from his mind. He was waking. He was being carried. A group of five was climbing up the side of the mountain. One had Harry over his shoulder. Weakly, Harry began to shinny to free himself.

"Easy, Harry,"the young man holding him said gently, but with some urgency in his vox."When we get you back to the stronghold, we'll take a look at the burns. Praise Asha you're a fellow member of the Votary, or you'd be dead."

"An-Antreas ?"Harry muttered. He hadn't heard the vox of Gabriella's brother since the summertime, but there was still no mistaking the undeniable intonation that was the exact replica of Antreas'father, Grigor."What… What's going on ?"

"There will be time for result later !"cried another vocalism."Run !"Harry knew at once the other man speech production. He also recognized the aura ; it was Dakhil. Troubling was the sense of concern, even fright in Dakhil's vocalization. He'd never heard that before, even when they were being attacked by vampire conclusion summer. What was more troubling, however, was something that had bothered Harry since his utmost moral with Ronan, something he had seen in Dakhil ever since the lamia first taught him to see without seeing. The aura of Dakhil faded from red to purple and back to red again. There were two personas present tense in his nimbus. For the first of all meter since he'd arrived at the mess of Singehorn, Harry felt cold.

They continued to rush up the mountain. Occasionally, Dakhil or one of the others would throw up spells back in the focussing from which they came. Harry could not see, nor could he sense what it was they were firing upon. Curiously, there were no spells cast in income tax return. Soon, he began to mark tree, vegetation, life. After a few minutes more, the circle came to a prominent stone bulwark. One of the men cast a enchantment and an entrance appeared. They passed through and the opening night in the stone sealed behind them. The entire troupe sighed with relief once they entered the chemical compound.

"What… what's going on ?"Harry asked weakly."Where are we ? Who were you firing at ? What— ?"

"Slow down. slow down down,"cut in Antreas."Let me see your face."Antreas lifted Harry's chin up and examined the bequeath English, the Sami side that fell unconscious into the scorching earth. He reached up and pulled the glasses from Harry's facial expression, glasses he continued to wear in the Hope, or perhaps as a symbolisation to others, that one day he might see again. There was an patent tearing sound, and Harry could feel the charge card rims pull away from the cutis on his cheek. When he reached to take the glasses out of Antreas'hand, he could say that the left half of the shape was nearly melted away. He didn't want to mean what his look must see like. It didn't scathe. Harry moved to touch it but Antreas grabbed his hand.

"No !"he snapped, half trying to appease the distress in his own voice. He chuckled, but not convincingly."It… it's nothing, Harry. It's just dear if you don't—"

"See that he has his own therapist's tent at once !"ordered Dakhil to one of the early men that were in the group. The man began to slowly hobble away."Hurry,"Dakhil yelled."haste before there's nothing left of his face to put back together !"If Antreas had tried to cool off Harry's spunk, Dakhil had served to dismember them."You two,"Dakhil continued pointing at two men they had passed as they entered into the compound."Help carry the boy into the cave. I won't lose another one tonight !"

With Antreas'help, they carried Harry further up the lot. Dakhil followed, but was unwilling to serve. Typical, Harry thought. There was a small outcrop of rock 'n' roll off to the incline and they turned toward it as Dakhil continued upward. Antreas stopped.

"If Singehorn is unable to call the others in prison term,"he said,"we'll have to send for the Centaur you spoke of."

"You were brave today, my son,"said Dakhil warmly."It is readable your father is with you. Your female parent would be proud. celebrate the boy safe and see what the Healer can do with what remains."He turned to persist in upward then stopped."Singehorn, I'm afraid, was not able to call for our Quaker, not tonight."He sighed with a deep mournful hint."Still we must bide with the plan ; it's our exclusively hope. more than may arrive before the moon's lift tomorrow."

Facing a stone wall, one of the men carrying Harry said something in a language he thought might be Russian and again an arch appeared where before was only stone and Harlan Fiske Stone. Just before the rock typeface closed behind them Antreas called back to Dakhil who had followed them most of the way

"And the Centaur ?"he called.

"He's in your branch,"replied Dakhil, just as the stone archway sealed the shut inside.

"looney,"said the Russian, referring to Dakhil."He'll drink down us all."There was a wand at his neck opening in an instant ; it was Antreas ’. Harry felt like he was about to be dropped.

"There are so many injured here,"said Antreas with a heated voice,"I'm sure no one would lack you. The next time you speak of the Votary, take caution to choose the words carefully. I may cause to excise the offending tongue."The Russian said nothing as Antreas pulled the sceptre back and the hairgrip on Harry became more surely. They turned a corner and the cave opened out into a great Asaph Hall filled with injured. To Harry, it looked as if a hundred lights had been spread across the floor. Almost immediately a grumbling rippled across the large cavern.

"Is that him ?"“ The chosen !"“ My god what happened to his font ?"“ Dragons."“ It's just a boy."“ That's not him ; some Muggle must have been caught in the crossfire."“ He's the Chosen !"
"Marek !"cried Dakhil."Marek ! This is a priority !"Harry noticed an Orange colour on the far side rise up from the ground. Marek was busy treating another patient and as he stood, Harry could assure that he was a prominent man.

"They're ALL priorities !"he called back."Have one of the others—"

"shit it ! NOW !"yelled Antreas. This was not the Same Antreas that had waved good-bye to Harry and Gabriella as they began their summer vacation. That Antreas was still trying to perfect his sceptre work, and his confidence interacting with people was shaky at salutary. While he made a fair to middling neighbor on Privet Drive, he was an sheer mess around other thaumaturgist. This Antreas, however, the one standing before Harry, was Thomas More than just a foot soldier in this sight engagement. He was clearly someone of signification.

Disgruntled, but acquiescing, Marek began to track the Marguerite Radclyffe Hall as the three moved Harry into one of the tents that were set up along the slope of the large chamber. He was placed on a bed, business firm, but more comfortable than a blanket on the Stone floor outside. Once he was down, the two men left Antreas alone with Harry. For some time neither spoke and Harry noted his Quaker's soreness.

"What is it Antreas ?"Harry asked. As he spoke, Harry noticed that the side of his face didn't seem to motivate correctly. Still, there was no pain.

"I'm so sorry, Harry,"Antreas replied."If I had known… We were losing ground and… Dakhil must get thought it would be safe. Our outer margin was half a mile down the mountain when he must have asked Singehorn to summon you. But then, they came so fast."

"Who ?"

"The Dementors. They've been swarming the mountain for twenty-four hour period. They've grown so thick they can blot out the sun and when that happens it gives their allies, a band of about thirty genius lamia, free rein to attack during the day. This wasn't our war, but ultimately the dragons had no choice. The Dementors were moving in on their rookery. Half a twelve flying lizard left to char the terra firma and allow for no biography behind. Not even a phallus of the Votary could endure such fervidness. We had no way of letting you know, no way of knowing ourselves when… that you'd…"A big burst of air shot from Antreas'lips.

"Dakhil had Singehorn summon me ?"

"Harry, there was no way of knowing. You passed out right in the middle of the incineration. It had to have been over two hundred degree. One of the sentries saw you first, but it was too hot. Only the Votary could get in to retrieve you."Harry remembered Dakhil walking through the burning flame just before the Joining ; he understood these parole."The Joining helped you to exist, training would have been better. Your face… you've been burned… badly burned."

"But it doesn't hurt,"Harry said. He was feeling more tired by the minute.

"That's because there's nothing left to hurt. Your flesh is—"Marek pushed through the opening of the tent.

"And what's this precedence ?"he said wearily."Another showcase of shucks Dementor frost— Oh… Oh, my."He cast Antreas a glance."One of the civilians ?"he asked, not recognizing the young man he'd met over the summer."A Muggle caught in the fire ?"Assessing the enceinte height of the man before him and listening closely to his vocalisation, it was Harry who first made the connector. It was the same Marek that had taken in Ron, Hermione and the others after the vampire onset.

"Marek ?"Harry asked hoarsely, finding it more difficult by the minute to prompt his jaw."It's me, Harry… Harry potter. I could… I could sure use a glass of water."

"Yes… I remember. You've put on a few British pound sterling. forcible education ?"

"He's joined a Centaur heard in England,"said Antreas.

"So this is the one Dakhil spoke of. That would excuse things. Yes, that would explain a lot."Marek reached into his robe."I haven't had to parcel out with one of these for year,"Marek whispered,"but with dragons about, such burns are not rare. Praise Asha you're Votary."He leaned in finis to Harry."What happened to your eyes ?"

"Glass,"Harry replied, wearily."Lots of glass."

"Hmmm. wellspring, let's get started. Harry, lie back."Harry obliged."I have something far better than a glass of water."He watched Marek prove his wand over his cauterize grimace."This should only subscribe a few hours."

"Hours ?"Harry said, bringing up his hand to grab Marek's articulatio radiocarpea."I won't take you away from helping the others just because I buggered it again."

"It's not your defect, Harry,"said Antreas."There's no way you could stimulate known."

"Yes, admirable character, Harry. But as Antreas has said—"

"I am NOT a priority ! I won't—"Blue light erupted from Marek's sceptre and before he could say another word, Harry was asleep on the cot and Marek began his work. The last thing he remembered was a crepitation phone and Marek's sombre voice.

"That'll leave a mark."

metre faded to nothingness and, when Harry woke, he sensed someone sitting at his bedside."Gabriella ?"he asked groggily.

"You wish, mate !"

"Fred ? Fred is that you ?"

Slowly, Harry began to regain consciousness. He tried to lean up, but someone pressed gently back on his shoulder. His eyes closed, Harry sensed that there were two people in the way. Shaking the cobwebs free, he finally recognized the aura of the other somebody.

"Remus ?"

"Yes, Harry,"replied Remus lupin,"Fred and I are both here. We have been for about three days."

"Three days !"Harry exclaimed, once again trying to rise and once again being held down by Remus."I've been here for three Day ?"

"No, ditz,"Fred laughed."We've been here for three twenty-four hour period. You've been here for about, er, xiv hours."

"We came as soon as we heard you had arrived,"Remus added.

"I swear, Harry,"said Fred, leaning forward."Can you ever do anything the easy way ?"

While Fred was talking, Harry realized there was something on his side. He reached his hands up and felt the bandages wrapping his head.

"An interesting look, if you ask me,"said Fred."Kind of a pillbox gone mad. All in all I'd say it's an advance. The great affair is, Harry, they gave you a altogether new nous ! Moody volunteered his."Fred laughed again and this time Remus joined him. A cold chill passed through Harry. It had suddenly sunk in that Fred… Fred Weasley, was in the same way and if he'd been here for three days, he might not know….

"Why aren't you home ?"Harry asked."Where's George ?"

"I'm flying solo, mate,"said Fred."George is minding the shops."

"No one can trip in or out,"said Remus."specter is out of the question. It's a miracle that you made it alive. I'm sorry that—"

"What about content,"Harry interrupted."Can messages get in ?"

"Not for two days,"said Remus."The Dementors have the whole mountainside surrounded. I tried a Patronus. It passed through a few XII, but there are just too many."

"Then you don't know,"Harry said with urgency. He sat up and this sentence when Remus moved to tug him back down, Harry flicked his arm away. Harry tried to confront Fred, but. Fred only laughed.

"You look like a walking ice-cream cone, Harry."

"Fred,"Harry began, muffled by the bandages surrounding his case. He tried to muster up the courage, but in the terminal moment it failed him."W-Why are you even here ?"

"Tonight, we go on the offensive. We're through sitting back and letting Lucius Malfoy and his army of darkness decide when and where to impress. They're mostly lamia and Dementors with a handful of Death feeder sprinkled in for good bar. finish we heard Lucius may have let himself get turned."

"Turned ?"Harry asked.

"The spotter were out early this morn, Harry,"said Remus, moving over and sitting next to Fred."We've seen him off and on in these office for workweek. Only this morning… this sunup they say he looked more vampire than wizard."

"He let himself be bitten, I tell yeh,"added Fred."Just to achieve immortality."

Harry felt as if he was going to be sick. If Lucius was here that mean Voldemort was here. Were they looking for him ? For Harry ? His affectionateness began to race. There was too often to do and too little time. He needed to severalise someone, but whom ? His hint quickened and Remus took notice.

"Harry… you need to—"

"He's alert !"Harry shouted."He's still alive !"There was a short suspension. Remus knew almost immediately what Harry meant, but wasn't sure if his Bible were the result of some form of side-effect from one of the potions. Fred didn't understand.

"What do you mean, Harry ? Who's awake ?"

"Voldemort,"gasped Harry, taking in a swell intimation of air through the bandages covering his face. He walked over to the side of the collapsible shelter and held the fabric in his finger's breadth. To his mind, it had a dull orange appearance, probably spores of some sort. He didn't want to say more ; he couldn't. But he had to. He could find his heart throbbing in his chest - it hurt. His breathing grew laboured, weighed down by the burden of what he was about to share.

"Somehow… I don't know… I don't know how, but he took control of Saint James the Apostle Yangtze, Cho's jr. buddy. He's been at heart James, controlling him all year at school. He was waiting for something… something important. Then I heard that they had discovered Voldemort's old cloak. It had survived even though he was destroyed. It was there… what he wanted… at the Ministry. They brought it back out of the ashes of his dying. They dug deep, your father dug deep for what should have been left to the depths."

"Yeah,"said Fred cautiously, not really sure what to think about Harry's ramblings."Mum and Dad were all excited. It was supposed to be a big mass. Sorry we had to pull you away from the award ceremony to be in this the pits. I'm not supposed to evidence, but Dad's lined you up for social club of Merl—"

"It was a Horcrux,"hissed Harry through gritted dentition. Remus understood and gasped, but Fred still didn't range what Harry was saying."Can you believe it ? Lucius wanted it for himself - maybe to extract whatever essence Voldemort had left of himself in it."Harry madly grabbed Fred's robes."Don't you see ? I had to destroy it… to ruin the cloak."

"Calm down, Harry,"said Fred slowly, his eyes glancing toward Remus with concern."Everything's okay."

"No it's not !"yelled Harry, turning from Fred and leaned against the bed."We just wanted to require it, Ron, Hermione and me… only they showed up… and then… when we got inside… your Mum was there… and then James… I thought it was an Imperious Curse. I thought I'd be able to command him."He breathed hard again."But I couldn't. It wasn't a curse, it was Voldemort. I couldn't stop him. I tried—"He turned back to expression Fred."He… Voldemort used the Killing expletive, Fred. I tried… I swear on Falco columbarius's grave… I tried."

"What are you talking about, Harry ?"Fred's language were quieten, nervous and unsure.

"final stage night, before Singehorn summoned me, in the grand entrance hall of the Ministry, Voldemort… Voldemort killed your mother."Short gasp of air volley from Harry's lungs and he fell on his knees in nominal head of Fred."She's dead… she's… dead."Clutching at the bottom of the inning of Fred's gown, Harry began to heave great sobs. His voice was weak and thin."She's dead."Fred pushed Harry away and took to his pes.

"plosive speech sound saying that !"he yelled."She's not dead ! She's not ! I just saw her before we came here. She was going to… she was going…"He slapped his hand against the bed."You're just messed up… the potions. You… you were dreaming… that's all. A- a- a- hallucination or something !"He turned to Remus.

"Remus ! William Tell him ! Tell Harry it was just a dream… a bad dream, that's all."Remus was quiet, Stoic. He didn't speak and he didn't move. Fred pulled his wand and held it in Remus'face.

"Tell HIM !"

Remus held his arms out wide and, slowly, shook his headland.

"No."Fred whispered, shaking his head vigorously in reply."No, it's not… it's not… oh god."

His bridge player fell limp at his English and his wand dropped to the story, tinkling and then rolling in the silence. Fred shuddered, fell into lupin's arms and began to cry.

They stayed like that for some sentence, Harry on the floor, Fred in lupine's arms, all three of them crying. Until now, Harry hadn't had the chance to mourn Molly's death. The pain in the ass was trench and biting. In the binge and silence, Harry wished he could get it back. His action at law had toll another life and the ire in Arthur Weasley's articulation echoed within his head.

His thinking turned to the others who had been murdered in the conflict and he wondered if James had made it."I may never know,"he whispered to himself.

As the sadness began to subside, he mulled over how Fred and Remus had described the Scout's sighting of Lucius. If the reports were confessedly and Malfoy had returned to the mountain, then mollie's murderer was within reach. Harry's infliction began to turn to see red. The fluttering on the collapsible shelter furled open and in walk Marek

"Remus, I— What in Falco columbarius's name is up with you three ?"he said with a rather gruff vocalism.

"We just found out. Fred's mother has been killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,"answered Remus calmly.

"That… that's not possible,"said Marek, half believing the words to be true. Fred turned, wiping his eyes.

"I've got to see if I can get domicile,"he said. He started toward the release, but Marek took him by the arm.

"Fred, we're surrounded."

The carrottop pulled his arm free.

"I have to go home."

"It'd be suicide, Fred."

"I don't care."

"Don't you think your mother would !"jaw Remus."AND your father. What do you guess it would do to him to mislay you both ?"Fred said nothing."If you're going to put your life on the line, Fred, make it count ; make it matter."Remus stepped toward him and held Fred by the shoulders, looking him in the eyes.

"Tonight,"he said with confidence and warranter."Tonight, you'll have your chance, Fred."

"Why tonight ?"asked Harry.

"There are about sixty of us, Harry,"said Remus,"counting me and Fred. Tonight the moonlight turns full. We'll attack with the dragons, a few dozen Centaurs, and—"

"full synodic month ?"asked Harry. He picked himself up off the floor and stood."full moon moon ? I thought Soseh had given you a potion, given you both one to keep you from turning."

"She did, Harry,"answered Remus."But we haven't taken it during the round. There are few creatures on dry land that can gainsay a vampire. Surrounded by Dementors as they are now, even star have little Hope of conducting an effective blast. They're a werewolf's lifelike prey ; Dementors and Vampires ploughshare a darkness that… How can I put it ? Is tasty for a werewolf."

"wagerer than cocoa, they tell me,"added Fred, with an eerie gleam in his eye.

"Besides the dragons,"added Remus,"only one creature can break through both defense force. Dakhil discussed it with me some time ago and we both agreed - we needed a loup-garou army. I couldn't convince to the highest degree, but I've convince enough."

"sixty doesn't make an army, Remus,"said Harry, stepping closer."Sixty is a snack."

"What you say is dead on target, Harry - werewolf blood is prized among the vampire. Still, I think our opponent will be surprised,"said Remus with quiet sureness."Yes, we could take more in our number, but even with King Arthur as Minister, the misgiving of my sort runs deep."

"Our kind, Remus ! And they'll be more than surprise,"snapped Fred."They'll be bloody rigidify !"

"well,"said Harry sardonically,"bloody anyway."

The patch wrapping his face were hot and heavy and he was only just able-bodied to reject the temptation to rip them off so that he could scratch up the itch that was growing stronger by the minute. He placed both his hands flat against the business firm bed, curling the book binding in his fingerbreadth as they balled up into fists. Without looking up, he took in a breath and swallowed.

"Remus… Fred… You need to see everything. Lucius Malfoy isn't a lamia. The scouts… what they saw down on the versant this morning… It may have looked like Lucius, but it wasn't. Yeah, he's been taken over very well, but not by a vampire. His spirit has been consumed by Voldemort. Lucius is Voldemort."He turned to face them."Sixty werewolves, sixty dragons, sixty of anything… it won't be enough."Hearing Harry's word of honor, Remus stepped forward and placed a deal warmly about Harry's neck opening.

"No, Harry,"he said."No, it won't be enough. But then, it never was. That's why we have you."


Harry Potter and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 18 - The closed chain of Onyx
~~~***~~~

The gem steps were bombastic, larger it seemed to Harry, than they were before. Yet, the same thin white cloud dusted the amobarbital sodium sky, and the heated air brought Harry's mind back to his summertime travelling with Gabriella in Lebanon. His nous's eye flashed to a sight of her smooth, dark brown skin and twinkling nigrify optic, and he wondered how she was fairing with Cho and his son, Jamie. His philia skipped at the mentation and he drew in a breathing space to steady his nerves. He stepped upward through the large Isidor Feinstein Stone pillars, upward toward the remains of the dandy Asiatic castle. Up ahead, seated on a watch crystal workbench intricately carved in an elaborate pattern was a large blackened man in common and browned robes - Singehorn.

On the eve of the counterattack, the Dragon had asked that the young wizard meet him in this planing machine of consciousness that they might speak with one another. Here, in this other world, Harry could not only speak to the flying lizard, he could see. He had no bandaged head, no baton, only a E. B. White robe and scanty feet that withstood the scorching heat beneath them. In the cave where Harry's corporeal trunk sat in meditation, the others were preparing for war. Soon, the moon would rise, the werewolves, including Remus and Fred, would turn and the fight would set about. It had taken Harry quite some time to close out all the beguilement that were happening about him, but finally he made it.

As he drew faithful to the dragon, the descendant of Asha whose logical argument Harry had sworn to protect, he noticed that the man looked more aged than before and that his breathing was heavy, grind. With travail, Harry heaved himself upward onto another stone stair, and then another. On the step before reaching the landing where Singehorn sat in one of the two crystal benches, Harry saw a heavy ring made of opprobrious onyx. He stopped for a moment to look at it. The dragon coughed a bottomless throaty coughing.

"Go on,"he said with a deep scratchy representative."Pick it up."

Harry reached down and took the ring into his right hired man. It was heavier than Harry expected. Holding it in the fingers of both hands he examined it from all sides.

"I… I know this ringing,"Harry said, trying to retrieve how or from where."I've seen it before."Singehorn shifted his tremendous system of weights and grimaced somewhat.

"The ring,"he said,"is known to many, but few alive today have seen it with their own eyes. For those few that saw it worn by its hold up headmaster, it was most in all probability the last thing they saw. He was known for using the ringing to kill."Suddenly, Harry remembered.

"Pravus,"he whispered, remembering the portraiture of the morose wizard's mitt Greg Goyle had shown him live on year. Singehorn growled, long and low. Clearly, he did not enjoy the sound of the public figure.

"Very respectable,"answered the Dragon."Very trade good. Come… sit."

Harry climbed the utmost prominent footmark and tried to dot the front of his white robes which had grown brown from the desert sand. Singehorn laughed and, as Harry looked up, the man's mouth erupted in fire, enveloping Harry in a great white flash. In the next instant, Harry's robes were white again and he was unhurt. Harry examined his hands, expecting to see scorch marker, but nix was there.

"Sit,"said Singehorn again. Unlike his go visit with the man before him, the Lester Willis Young mavin sat obediently across from his master.

"My child… not for L geezerhood has that ring been held by human being hands, not since I tore off the arm of the wizard that betrayed us all. When Pravus was destroyed and Grindelwald defeated, I thought for certain the darkness had been, at finis, beaten back for near. I was young then and naïve, but not so naïve as to trust in men again."

"But Dakhil,"said Harry."You trust him."

"Do I, Harry ? Do I ?"There was another low grumble as Singehorn leaned forward. Harry noticed a cut, ignitor scar that ran along the man's typeface, a mark that wasn't there before the Joining. Over the live on few months, the dragon had seen battle.

"Do you see the ring on Dakhil's fingers ?"he continued."No, Harry… Soseh trusts Dakhil and I would trust Soseh with my life history, but his portion lies on a different path."

"You need to live, sir,"said Harry with some urging in his voice."I've seen… I've seen two booze inside him. He may be under the ascendance of another."Singehorn smiled and began to laugh. It was flash and thunderous, not the reaction Harry had expected.

"He's a lamia, my minor,"the tartar said finally."He fights the spirit inside him every waking moment. Few have learned to manipulate the thirst for fresh blood, the desire for last. None have fought more heroically than Dakhil Barghouti to stave off his own personal ogre. But his path will soon guide elsewhere and I will require person to convey up his staff as Primate of the Votary. He would favor I choose now, before his fortune befalls him."

Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. Rolling the anchor ring in his fingerbreadth he looked up at Singehorn then back down at the ring. Finally, he set it in his palm and held it out to the flying dragon.

"I can't, sir,"he said, shaking his forefront."Whatever powers this tintinnabulation holds, I'm not ready."

"What ? No questions about what the ring does ? What long suit it might bring you ?"

"No, sir,"Harry replied, reaching yet further toward Singehorn. The dragon did not remove the gang from Harry's palm, but instead leaned back on the bench.

"Not even if the annulus might help you defeat the one who killed molly Weasley and so many more ?"Harry shook his heading."What if it would help you win the war against these Dementors, saving the lives of infinite Centaur ; these creatures you seem to care so much about ?"Singehorn leaned in again."Are you so trusted that you wouldn't want to finally destroy the creature that killed your parents ?"

For a moment, Harry's outstretched arm receded. Once more he held the closed chain between pollex and forefinger, wondering what military capability it might bring him. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Finally, he shook his head once more.

"No, sir,"he said softly still rolling the tintinnabulation in his fingerbreadth."When I was last here, you reminded me our calling : Bravery… Wisdom… Love."Harry shuddered, swallowing hard."You also told me that I needed to work on my wisdom."Harry took in a cryptic breath as his heart grew hazy."But I've been precious short in that regard all year, eh ? I brought Voldemort into the Ministry. I brought him face-to-face with Mrs. Weasley. I should have known…. I should throw been wiser. Now, he's at your doorsill, threatening to destroy all we stand for."Holding back his tears, Harry held the ring out once again."Whatever major power the ring bears, there are others more desirable than me."

With lightening speed, frighteningly fast for such a large build, Singehorn grabbed Harry's hand in his own, his monumental paw wrapping around Harry's entire clenched fist and arm, squeezing the mob into the soma of Harry's medal and scorching the back of Harry's script. His red centre glared with steeled conclusion into Harry's and his hook drew blood from Harry's build.

"Tell me, my son, when the darkness spreads across this mountain and threatens my small fry and my children's children what will you do ? There are only so many stone to climb and the clouds will not protect us."Harry said goose egg."When your friends charge down the mountainside to link up my kin in the attack against the gunk that surrounds us, will you hide… a blind rat in a nighttime cave ?"The flying dragon's chela dug deeper, but Harry refused to cry out.

"I'd… sooner… die."

"Harry, the monster seeks you out, but he does not want you suddenly, not yet. He thinks he needs you alive, but he doesn't know that what he seeks is no longer there, washed away by the descent at Hogwarts. Without the energy he once shared with you, he is but half a man, half a wizard. In his ignorance, in his weakened state, he can be defeated."

"Then I don't need the halo,"Harry said calmly, withstanding the pain.

"If only when it was so simple,"sighed Singehorn, still holding Harry's mitt house."Before the cleaning at the downfall, you joined."

"Joined ?"

"The swarthiness that was once in your veins… now flows through another's."

Harry's heart began to race. Another's ?
"Your inherited."

"Jamie,"Harry whispered.

"You would sooner die than see my children harmed. What would you do to protect your shaver ?"asked Singehorn.

"My… son."

Harry's fingerbreadth, almost instinctively, tightened around the ringing burning the flesh of his medallion and in that minute his vision filled with a tremendous flashing of whiten. Singehorn's voice became glowering and ominous.

"I will not say your decision is wise, but it is our only course. Forgive me, my child, for the big businessman will deplete you. Soseh has foreseen your rapacity turn to grief. On the day the firedrake mark the sky, you will begin to have a go at it your rightful strength. How you emerge from your failing will determine the fate of us all."

Suddenly, Harry's visual sense was gone, all before him dark. When he breathed in, the damp must odour of the patch that wrapped his fount filled his anterior naris.

"We've got to go, sir,"said a wizard somewhere to Harry's left.

"If I have to tell you one more time to be quieten, I'll rip your throat out,"snapped Dakhil in a low, hissing phonation."We will go when Singehorn says we can go. Do NOT agitate the boy."

Still seated on the story, his legs folded beneath him, Harry reached out his psyche and sensed the two men arguing to his left. The one, a bright blue sky aura was clearly frightened ; the other flashed red and then purple. The red appeared to be winning and Harry wasn't sure that was a thoroughly thing for the man in drear whose colour was fading so degraded Harry thought he might wet himself. He wasn't the simply one nearby that was frightened. In the large cavern just beyond the rock wall where Harry sat, scores of men mulled about nervously waiting for the final order to attack. Harry was about to act, to indicate to the others that he had returned, when the orange colour of Marek moved into the room where he sat.

He slipped over and placed his hired man on Dakhil's back and the two walked to the far English of the collapsible shelter. They whispered and then the rustle grew louder.

"Marek,"Dakhil hissed,"I need to love. What is your persuasion ?"

"As a Healer or a Warrior ?"the man that had worked on Harry's face replied. He was upset, irritated perhaps of the battle that would soon be bringing the dying to his doorsill."If we were home, I'd leave the bandages on for at least another week."

"The boy can't fight like that."

"Then leave the boy behind."

Two voices harmonized :"No !"Simultaneously, Harry and Dakhil rejected Marek's hint.

"You've returned,"said Dakhil quietly."adept. The fourth dimension is near. The full lunation will soon rise over the side of the sight. We must read advantage of every bit it brings us the werewolves'strength. dawning will number far too quickly I'm afraid."

Harry held his hand to his face."And these ? You can absent these ?"

"Really, Harry,"answered Marek,"if only you could spare two more than days… two more."

"The battle will be over by morning,"said Harry,"and I can't fight with this rag weighing me down. It's sweaty enough as it is, and I can barely breathe."

"Then don't fight,"Marek said to Harry. Then he turned to Dakhil."What possible advantage does a boy bring this battle beyond more bloodshed ?"Steadying his foundation on the dusty rock, Harry stood.

"I am no boy !"he said defiantly. Marek ignored him.

"Dakhil,"the therapist continued,"there is no reasonableness to put his life… What ? What is it ?"

There was secrecy. Harry too noticed the change in Dakhil's aura that was likely now being mimicked by the lamia's face. The red had darkened into a rich scarlet - the emotion was a unattackable one, whatever it was.

"Dakhil, what are you looking at ?"Marek continued.

As Harry stood, his hands, which had been covered by the arm of his robes while he sat, became exposed. There, on the centre finger of Harry's powerful mitt was a ring. furious at being called a boy, Harry had not noticed the added weight on his finger.

"Well… that can't be good,"said Dakhil with a rather cool vox."I had asked for a option, but I never…"

"I'll take the damn bandages off myself if I have to,"cried Harry, reaching for his verge. It was then, when finger met wood, that he realized there was a doughnut on his fingerbreadth. He let go his wand and held the ring with his leftfield mitt. He moved to take it off, but the ring would not move. He pulled again, and again the gang held its grip about the bone of his powerful center finger.

"I had always hoped he might see fit to fall in it to me,"said Dakhil with more disappointment than anger."I suppose Soseh has told him."

"Told him what ?"asked Harry, still trying to wreak the ring from his finger.

"Damn the day I met you, boy,"said Dakhil, again in a hush, matter of fact flavor."She's seen my death, which is not such a great concern for a vampire when such events can be centuries hence."He paused.

"And ?"Harry asked.

"And you were there, boy. You were there."Dakhil moved closer."So, either you're going to cheat on down the mountainside, get bit and live to a very ripe old age as an immortal, or I'm going to die before the summer solstice. Curse you,"Dakhil said dryly,"I always wanted to seduce it to the millennium."

"You're both talking gibberish,"said Marek."Would you STOP that,"he said to Harry."You're starting to bleed."Harry turned his senses downward and watched as the glowing drips of blood fell to the flooring from his finger. Marek pulled his wand and healed the finger."Now leave the tinker's damn ring alone. Here, let me absent it."

He cast a charm and zip happened, nothing but the peckish laughter from Dakhil. He tried a different turn and still the ring stayed clamped about Harry's finger.

"We don't have time for this,"said Harry finally."feel, just claim the patch off. Place a buckler good luck charm about the skin if you must, but I can't—"

"Very well,"cut in Marek with a suspiration."But it's not your skin that I was worried about."Sit over here."He led Harry to a stone bench.

"What do you mean ?"Harry asked.

"well, Harry, while I was working on your face, I thought I might see if I couldn't do something about your eyes."

"But I've seen aught,"said Harry."Certainly through this gauze, I could discern—"

"I've sealed your lid shut so the center beneath could heal as the magical spell worked and weaved."He stepped closer to Harry."Son, two more days… two More days and I'm sure that the knitwork will be complete."

"And I'll see again ?"asked Harry with a glint of hope in his voice.

"You might."

"Well… look… it's dark anyway,"Harry said."Take off the patch and leave my eyes sealed. I'll be near off not trying to spot objects in the iniquity. I've gotten used to not seeing and trying to squint in the mirky night may just make things worse."

"There's the problem,"said Dakhil."The physical object you wish to discern are Dementors. They suck the life from all about them. To your vision they would be darkness and on the scorched mountainside where very little life remains, it would be near out of the question to detect them."

At this it was Harry's turn to laugh.

"Dakhil, I don't need my mint to know when a Dementor is breathing down my neck. I'll know where they are, believe me, I'll know."

"Then it's decided,"said Marek."I'll murder your bandages, but keep your center sealed. If you make it through the night Harry, your face should be re-wrapped immediately. A shield charm might be acceptable for walking around school or sitting about the house. It will be worthless against a wellspring placed hex."

"Get on with it,"said Harry."I can hear the howl already."

And indeed he could, they all could. Some of the sensation werewolf were growing queasy. Outside, the moon was nearing the crown of the eastern horizon and some were having difficulty controlling their metamorphosis even inside the cavern, away from the moonshine. Typically, such difficulty were had by newly converted werewolf, those who had recently become. Harry wondered how Fred was fairing.

When Dakhil removed the gauze patch, Harry immediately reached up to his brass to contact, but the shield appealingness stopped his fingers.

"It feels like an eggshell,"Harry whispered.

"And it won't protect your facial expression much Thomas More than one,"impart Marek."Remember that, when you're out there playing the hero."Harry was about to dissent but, preceded by a hiss, unexpected words left Dakhil's mouth first.

"An Acolyte of the Votary does not take on at anything !"Dakhil's stature was suddenly somewhat bigger, and his aura somewhat redder."You would be wise to commemorate your position, Marek. With one thought the boy could destroy you."

"Yes… yes, of course of study,"Marek apologized."I'm sorry… I… I truly am sorry."

There was fear in his give-and-take, far more fear than Harry thought the situation warranted. Part of him understood, something he remembered from the connexion, but there wasn't metre to well for its beginning ; it was time for natural process. Harry stood and began to walk toward the bombastic chamber.

"One mo, boy,"said Dakhil with a subject of fact tone. Harry stopped, turned and, before he had an second to react, Dakhil had cast a spell on him. Nothing happened.

"What… what was that ?"Harry demanded, still reaching for his baton.

"He's changed the coloring material of your robe, Harry,"said Marek."They're no longer ovalbumin ; they're crimson."

"hierarch potter,"said Dakhil in an exceptionally scratchy representative followed by a short blasting cough."Your title, when I die."He sighed."Asha protect us."Harry looked down, but could sense no discernible departure."Don't headache, boy ; those who have travelled the path through proper training will know at once the significance of your gown. We'd best hurry. There won't be time for much of a speech."

Harry and Dakhil left the tent and entered the cavern ; it had emptied out onto the versant, staging for the battle to come. Soon, the gate would open and the soldiers would spill down upon their opposition. Harry and Dakhil walked down the cave and as it narrowed toward its loss a untried man came up and touched Harry by the sleeve.

"Asha be with you,"he said tilting his head in a slight bow.

"And with you,"replied Harry without forethought. Why did I say that ?
The cavern door opened and, for a moment, Harry was blinded by the many atmosphere gathered outside. He could see that some of the werewolves had already turned, and a group of wizards was having difficulty restraining them. No one seemed distracted by the howling, a howling that mingle with actor's line in Harry's creative thinker - kill, bite, blood ! He turned to see if someone was talking to him, but no one was there. Another werewolf howled.

"Patience, my friends,"called Harry to the snapping creatures and the wolves quieted at his words. That was not my representative, thought Harry. Or was it ?

Everyone was listening to Antreas who stood upon a turgid rock outcrop of stone above the growing din. His words were amplified, but Harry wasn't sure the increased intensity was requisite. He was calling out in a strong and commanding voice and Harry wondered why this character wasn't Dakhil's.

"….is all we need. Together we will be victorious ! Together we will ostracise the shadow into the abysm !"The earth began to rumble with applause. Harry noticed four giants pounding their animal foot with approving.

"Giants ?"he asked Dakhil."I didn't notice any giants when I arrived."

"They climbed over from the sheer drop on the back side of the plenty. That way is not guarded save by Dementors, and they have no effect on such elementary beast. So it is with the werewolves."

"It'll m-make for a b-bloody Death feeder busting surprise."

"Fred ?"

The redhead was clearly agitated, seemingly in the thick of the modification.

"Fred, please… don't—"

"The Primate has ARRIVED !"cried Antreas with a saltation voice. He was referring to Dakhil, but Harry could feel 100 of eyes turn toward him simultaneously. relieve for the howl and the episodic piece being cast a short style down the hill, all became soundless.

"Let's gift them what they want, boy,"said Dakhil."Up you go."He levitated Harry some twenty fundament in the air. Harry's heart began to race as he rose, wondering what he might say.

It was like rising over the ember of a dying fervidness, each glowing aura a tiny coal burning against the swarthiness. There were C gathered here. Some fell to their knee joint as Harry rose ; most stood silently. giant star, Centaur, adept and lycanthrope, a ragtag compendium of misfits all collected to fight back together against the malevolence Lucius Malfoy had co-opted for his own iniquity purposes.

Lucius probably hoped he would find the cloak and arrive at this place of conflict to celebrate a great triumph, the first of many. niggling did he know that his former original would hold up mansion in his consistence - if only long enough to take over Harry's. But that would never, could never happen. How the worm had turned on the blonde-haired paterfamilias. Soon, it would release on the dark worming within him. Harry raised his arms to the heavens above, a giant comet was clearly visible in the dark's sky.

"Ebyrth marks its return and now we find ourselves at its mercy. While some have come to respond the new sun's call option, others are here to protect our flying dragon brothers against the darkness that wishes to destroy all in its way of life. Tonight we fight as one. Tonight we fight with the strength of giants, the magic of wizards, the ferocity of wolfman, the Wisdom of Solomon of Centaurus, and the hearts of dragons !"

No Sooner had the password left his oral cavity, than the thunderous SWOOP-SWOOP filled the air and four enormous dragons flew over the crew, blotting out the stars and then coming to catch one's breath at the top of the not bad Stone wall. Singehorn wasn't among them, but Harry, though having never met them, knew their gens. The three male person were Rakesh, Talisan, and Igneus, and the low-spirited female was Tanwen. As if being called, Harry looked toward Talisan, the largest of the four, with green-black scale of measurement and fierce red eyes.

"Primate !"the creature cried out."We follow you in battle. What are your ordering !"

All around Harry, wizards were clasping their script to their ears, some falling to their knees, because of the brute's great bellow. And yet, Harry could understand everything he said. How is this potential ? This was no meditation.

"Your order, prelate ?"cried the firedrake again, and again those around Harry winced in pain sensation.

"Burn them !"yelled Harry."Burn them till your stomach turn cold. You, Tanwen, fly high above the wall. Let no enemy past the gates. Do not leave your mail service. We must save the rookery at all toll !"Harry pulled his red gown tight about his articulatio humeri.

"surface the logic gate !"called Antreas and the army erupted in cheerfulness and howls. A few werewolves snapped at their allies, but nigh caught the odor of their hated foes, enticing their smoke with a bloodlust for Dementor, and quickly they began to agitate ahead, down the versant. Dakhil brought Harry down to earth as the crowded hillside flowed out through the gate. Harry began to run, following the rushing tide, but person grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around ; it was Antreas.

"Your sentence is at hired hand, Harry,"he said with a stout voice."I'll lead the first moving ridge ; I dare not speak it to the others, but don't think for a minute we'll succeed. The scout have told me the situation… it's dire. When we begin to accrue back, and we will fall back… that's when we'll need you."Harry was about to contend, but Antreas was already swept away in the current of trunk rushing through the gate. Undaunted, Harry began to trace, only this time Dakhil stopped him.

"Tell me, boy,"he murmured quietly beneath the roaring rush of wizards pushing by."Why are you here ?"

"To oppose Voldemort,"Harry spat, turning to leave. Dakhil held his arm fasting and Harry glared back with furious eye.

"Really ?"queried Dakhil, still quiet, still calm, still holding Harry's arm with a vice-like grip."Are you… sure ?"Harry tried to pull away, but couldn't. He pulled his wand."You don't need a wand to brush aside me, boy. You're the Primate now, or will be soon. If you think you no longer want my Service, then dismiss me ! You need only speak the Word of God ; order me to be gone !"

He was goading Harry, trying to reach him tempestuous, trying to evoke a reply. Harry slipped his wand away.

"You are the primate,"he said softly."Not me."

"sorcerer will never follow a vampire, boy,"answered Dakhil."But for some rationality, Asha only knows why, they will follow you. The wisdom of Grigor Darbinyan now flows in his son's veins. Would you ignore Antreas ? Shall we charge with the rest ? What are your orders ?"

"I'm here to attend to my swearing, to protect the pipeline of Asha… as are you. We stay to protect the rookery."Harry noted a inkling in Dakhil's aura… a smile ? The finis of the first gear waving had passed through the gate, leaving two giants, one Draco, a vi Centaurus and some thirty thaumaturgist to expect for further orders, gild that Harry would have to give. Knowing that the bit at his side were too few to fend off the coming fire, his thoughts turned to the darkness, hiding at the bed of the mountain, searching for some way that they might defeat him.

"He won't reveal himself,"said Harry, slowly,"until he believes they've won, that he can step up and take me as his prize. Antreas is right, to enchant Lucius and the darkness that consumes him, the first wave must fail."

"The enemy's numbers game are too great,"said Dakhil, releasing his travelling bag."Even with those still remaining, we have no hope of winning in direct battle."

"Then the minute Wave must be a surprisal. We must hold until the last possible moment."

"Even then, boy, the numbers are against us."

"Maybe,"answered Harry,"But we need only strike down one foe. What will our enemy do when their general dysprosium ? When Lucius and his master fall ?"

"It is unimaginable to grab vapour with your bare workforce. Who among us, might I ask, will bring down the Dark Lord ?"

"I will,"Harry answered. He left Dakhil and entered into the centre of those remaining."Gather ‘ unit of ammunition !"he called."Listen to what I say ! Tonight… tonight we plan for victory !"


Harry Potter and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 19 - The First conflict
~~~***~~~
Flame and smoke roiled in the air from the engagement below, bearing the odour of burnt flesh and roue into the secure chemical compound guarding the rookery of the dragons, where Harry and the others waited. The earth shook as the titan, fighting their common enemies below, cast stones the sizing of train-cars crashing down upon their foeman. Howls, screeches, and the holloa of dragon-fire reverberated between the pit walls, echoing down the canyon and pitching wildly between Harry's pinna. He couldn't see the conflict raging on the mountainside below, none of them could. But then, they didn't need to see what was happening to make out that it was not going well. The burning odor was growing stronger, the shaking ground was more severe, and the ululation and screeches filled the air more than ever. The battle was coming closer, higher up the mint. Soon, it would be at the compound paries.

Harry grew more anxious by the second. His first instinct had been to snipe outright, but both Antreas and Dakhil had stopped him. Ignoring the wisdom of a wizard that had survived century was folly and Harry knew that they must wait. The second waving would round when their enemy were most weary. If Harry's force could break up their lines, if they could keep blackguard to throat, perhaps the advancing iniquity would back out down the mountain, down to where Lucius Malfoy, now possessed by Voldemort, virtually certainly waited.

When the first wave began its attack, Harry had quietly sent the best Centaur Archer high onto the mountainside leading down from the North logic gate. Hiding high in the hills, they would flank the advancing iniquity and rap when Harry gave the signal. Along the edges of the other side of the valley, Harry sent the two remaining whale, Florge and scrummage, to wait hidden among the rocks. There they would oblige the higher priming coat, preventing any dying Eaters from running away from the onslaught of Centaur arrows. Once they were set into spatial relation, the colossus looked like a boastfully outcropping of stone, nothing more. With destiny they would mow down XII with their clubs, enceinte tree luggage compartment bristling with bristled metal pikes the duration of Harry's arm.

hearing, smelling, feeling the showtime Wave retirement back toward the main gate, Harry impatiently waited to run the second moving ridge through a hidden gate that skirted the side of the valley paries. Then they would get it on if there was any Leslie Townes Hope at all. Already, centaur runners brought back reports that the number of the enemy was twice what was first-class honours degree thought - over two-hundred Dementors, nearly a one C lamia, stacks of wizards, and five colossus of their own. Clearly, the numbers were against them and they all knew it.

About a small ardor, Harry sat with Dakhil and two other phallus of the Votary, Mikael and Katana. Dakhil was roasting sausages skewered on the end of a Centaur spear. Mikael was a vauntingly man, Ukrainian he said, with dark Brown University hairsbreadth and a unceasing three days'increment of beard. half of his unexpended ear was missing and he had a fierceness about his piercing blue eyes that, as Dakhil described, would fright any living soul that dared to span wands with him. As for Katana, she was quieten, almost subdued. Even eyeless, Harry could pick out how her black peel contrasted against the silver grey ring armor ringlets that covered her upper trunk. Set against her quiet style was the red aureole that burned fiercely from her soul, perhaps the most vivid Harry had ever seen. Unlike Mikael, she rarely spoke, but when she did it almost always carried import. The fire crackled and the sausages popped, sending a steaming squirt of burning fat onto Mikael's arm. He yelped, but Dakhil only laughed.

"I wish that was the solitary sting you would welcome tonight, Mikael,"said the lamia, grimly staring into the fervency, turning the sausage balloon on the gig and watching the dripping soil send little flares of flame imbrication upwards.

"How you are hungry, Dakhil,"replied Mikael, shaking his head and moving close once again to warm up himself by the fire."They arrive at threshold before you finish."Again, Dakhil laughed.

"You should know by now, my Ukrainian ally,"said Dakhil with a smile,"I don't eat sausages. The boy here looked a bit faint and I thought he should make up his strength."He held the distributor point of the fishgig before Harry's face, the sizzling sausage splattering pinpoint of hot fat against the shield appeal protecting Harry's exposed grimace."One should never meet their shaper on an abandon stomach."

"Thank you,"Harry said with a slight grin. He took the sausage between quarter round and forefinger, but it neither seared nor burned. Without flinching, Harry slid the sausage off the spear's metal dot and took a bite. Once again, he detected a momentary grin in the aura of Dakhil. To the vampire's left, Katana let out a small snigger. She stood, her ringlet butterfly jingling as she did so, and then she looked upward to the Night sky where the smaller firedrake Tanwen circled.

"Even as Ebyrth reveals itself to the earth, Asha's blessing is upon you, young sensation,"she said with a low voice that was calm and as cryptic as the lake outside Hogwarts."This is good… for the time has come. Prepare."

Scantly had the dustup left her lips than a marvelous roar exploded overhead. Talisan, the largest of the four firedrake, appeared from no where, plummeting from the sky, streaking fire and bullet behind him and smashing to the ground, tumbling into a radical of ace that most certainly would stimulate died in the hit had not Katana turned their attention toward the rampart when she stood. Immediately, topsy-turvyness struck the summer camp. Even though many knew their mail, some wizards called out to attack directly through the main gate, some scattered for the secret face gate, some ran toward the passel's tunnels. The Centaurs were calling for patience, and all were yelling at the top of their lungs.

"SILENCE !"cried Dakhil, his vocalisation reverberating off the canyon paries."Everyone, move in shaping toward the magnetic north logic gate ! There we wait until the star sign comes."

"But—"

"We will lash out when the signaling comes ; not before ! NOW MOVE !"

While the discombobulation subsided, Harry moved toward the fallen dragon.

"Where are you going ?"questioned Dakhil.

"Talisan needs help,"respond Harry continuing to take the air to the dragon.

"Your Holy Order were to—"

"I know what the plan is, Dakhil ! I made it !"Harry yelled.

"We don't have fourth dimension for this, boy !"

"I have all the time I need,"snapped Harry in retort."Now go ! Lead the others and I'll join you when I'm done."

"Marek can deal for the—"

"GO !"

With his wand still sheathed, Harry concentrated his mind. Bending quad was well-to-do than slowing clock time, even Ronan, his centaur trainer, had admitted that. But Harry needed time, even just a little More to save Talisan's life. Right now, he was compelled. He felt that healing the dragon was more crucial than all the rest of it. He wasn't certain why, but he had to do what he could. He centred on the run-in Ronan had taught him.

In forest glen, the babbling brook is filled with flatware Pisces.
Slow its stream and deny each trickle to put them on your knockout.

The speech sound about Harry became stifle. He sensed that the aura running to the north gate were slowing, slowing… not still, but nearly. Harry summoned the Stone of cinnabar from within him. Still bally, he cast a fire spell upon it.

"courage, Wisdom, Love,"he whispered and was instantly transported to the White person room that waited for his control."Talisan,"he whispered, and was immediately drawn to the firedrake.

He'd healed a cat before, but never a dragon. At start he could see the enormous creature prone on the ground, the three wizards surrounding it freeze in metre, but the Draco looked up toward Harry, blinking as if it could see him. Talisan's breathing was erratic and he coughed blood line and pot. Then, as always, the conniption paused, as if asking Harry to affirm that this indeed was the action he wished to take."Heal my friend,"Harry whispered again. Colour began to whirl about… collapse bones… stunned nerves… sliced organs…a pierced lung… lineage dripping on the fervour of life…"Yes, heal them… heal them all."

The shot flashed black and Harry found himself on his knee, the jagged rock and roll tearing at his flesh, the stone of Cinnabar in his bequeath hand. Before moving he pulled his baton and hid the stone once more inside his body, in the fiddling pocket left by missing liver tissue paper. And once again, he thought of Greg Goyle and said a small prayer. Before he looked up he heard the flying dragon speak. His Son were unsteady, but Harry could see that his harm were healing.

"We must hurry,"Talisan said,"the… the 2nd wave… I must—"

"You must stay here,"cut in Harry."You must rest."

"I can't. It is my obligation to—"

"It's your responsibility to listen to the bearer of the ring."It was the Draco Tanwen, Harry knew that, but she was nowhere near. She was still flying richly above the rookery. Harry wondered how he could be having this conversation, how…

"The hoop,"he whispered, touching the stone with his other deal. He took to his feet, rubbing the black Isidor Feinstein Stone between his finger's breadth. He expected to finger somewhat featherbrained after healing the Draco, but he wasn't. Without turning, he noticed that the auras were beginning to funnel out through the North gate just as the injured were coming in from the independent gate. They would need serve too. He moved to see what he could do when Marek stopped him.

"Let me take care of the injured, Harry. If you don't execute like we had planned, we have no hope of winning and all will be lost, not just a few lives, but hundreds."Once more, Harry glanced to the injured streaming in. There was a hard urge to cure them all. Many were approximate Death. For a mo he hesitated and then he grudgingly nodded his school principal.

"right wing,"said Marek."Get going."

Harry ran to the side gate, reaching it in irregular. He could hear Marek calling for help from the early Healers to get the injured inside the caves. When Harry passed through the gate, it sealed behind him leaving no shadow that it was ever there.

The group of sensation and Centaurs making up the second Wave had not moved far past the logic gate. They were carefully, quietly, edging their way around the wing of their enemy. As Harry moved about one of the with child rock formations, he had his firstly chance to notice the advancing US Army. It looked unnerving, but not a three to one advantage. For a present moment he had forgotten the Dementors, creature whose auras he could not see, but the minute did not last long. The wind shifted and the chill malodour of their flesh filled the air. For an instant… from the canyon just below… Was he imagining it ? Harry thought he could actually hear them talking to each former. He'd never heard anything but the clicks Dementors made when communicating, but this… it sounded like Good Book. Whatever it was he was hearing, they were close. He resisted the enticement to wretch just as two of his own wizard fell to their knees in concern.

There was the deliquium chirp of some insect, the sign, and the air immediately rang with the whistling of arrows. The Centaurs high gear in position among the drop let go their commencement fusillade. scream of Dementor and vampire alike bubbled up out of the canyon like a thick ooze of pain in the ass. An instant later, another salvo of arrows filled the air, followed by More howler ; then another… and another. Moving his way to the front of the contingent making up the attacking second Wave, Harry could hear wizards cry out from below for their lines to sprain toward the side of the mountain.

"cuticle !"someone called. The next fusillade struck many still off guard, but was less successful among the suspicious wizards. Harry continued to advance until he came to Dakhil's berm.

"Miss me ?"Harry whispered. Dakhil seemed distracted.

"They're unsettled,"he said quietly."If we're going to do this, boy, we must do it now to angle any probability of surprise. They await your command."A salvo of infuriate disgust left Dakhil's back talk, but Harry didn't hesitate.

"Strike now !"he commanded."ATTACK !"

pointer from the Centaurs stationed on the sway above continued to rain down upon the posterior of the line of Death Eaters, lamia and Dementors that had now driven Antreas'first wave back through the independent gate of the compound bulwark. Even as the front of this dark force was cheering for victory, calling for their titan to sunder the large rampart protecting the compound, others at the bottom were screaming with fear. The star and Centaurs in Harry's second wave cascaded down the mountainside firing arrows and filling the smoky air with an electrifying presentation of wand top executive. Spell after spell stunned, exploded and slashed their adversaries. fright was palpable and its impression began to ripple its way toward the front line. Harry could sense their auras fading against the onset. The Dementors could feel it too and they began to consume souls indiscriminately. It was Katana who described to Harry how, in some sort of frenzied state they began feeding on the fear of their own warriors. As the panicked minions tried to sputter up the contrary hillside they came face to boldness with the conceal behemoth.

Florge and Scrum rose as if ascending from the Stone itself. With great strokes of their guild they swatted their foes back into the advancing force out, back into the frenzied Dementors, back into a boiling broth of disorderliness that had now made its way to the front of the lines.

What at first seemed like a rout of Harry's side of meat was being flipped upon its drumhead. Centaurus pointer were dropping non-wizard vampires from the sky with nearly every draw of the cosmic string. Emboldened by the achiever of the second moving ridge, the healthy in Antreas'original attacking force regrouped and began another flush. Werewolves that had scattered to the mountainside retreating from their first gear onrush also sensed the modification and returned to the fray.

Squeezed on both sides and pressed to the fore, Lucius Malfoy's regular army retreated back down the sight. With all the mental confusion, Harry and many of the others in his indorse wave found themselves in the middle of Malfoy's retreating force play. They had essentially split their opposition's military group into two, allowing one half to back away freely down the stack while trapping the other in a great pincher. Harry and his military force had the depleted ground while Antreas and the others pressed in from above. What followed was consummate end.

Rakesh appeared from on high and began to dive toward the dazed and disordered warriors.

"Back !"cried Harry to the others. He heard similar cries from Antreas and his men further up the mountain. The werewolves did not head the warning."BACK !"Harry yelled again. The Death Eaters were too distracted trying to deal the attacking lycanthrope and their own crazed Dementors to point out the Draco moving in.

When Harry's men moved away, the vision of auras cleared and he distinctly noticed three lycanthrope still tearing at the flesh of their opposition. One of them was Fred Weasley ; Harry could feel his anger, his hatred, his thirst to destroy.

"FRED !"Harry screamed."GET OUT OF THERE !"But Fred was a wolfman and nothing Harry could do would stop that. Then Igneus appeared on the flank of Rakesh ; both were diving down on their gird foe. Soon it would all be over. Harry began to run, not away but toward his supporter and the mayhem of the engagement before him. Even as stunner ricocheted off in every direction and cleanup Curses took down one wight after another, Harry ran. He leapt onto the red fur of Fred's back, knocking him to the ground.

The werewolf spun, opened his great jaws and grabbed Harry by the throat. Only the light shield magical spell about Harry's face was keeping him from being bitten through, but it wouldn't last farseeing if Fred truly hope pedigree. On his back, his senses facing forward, he could find the two gargantuan auras of the dragons racing toward them. They had only secondment. Harry held his hands about Fred's cervix, and pressed the black onyx ring against his protagonist's physical body.

"Be still,"he ordered."Be still, my friend."

The grasp about Harry's neck loosened slightly and, in that moment, Harry spun them both to the ground and cast a cuticle spell. The world erupted in fervidness. sidesplitter filled the air only to be silenced an instant later by another blast of high temperature and fire. The werewolf in Harry's weapons system struggled to break-dance free, but not wholly.

"Get off of me, you bloody idiot,"Harry heard him howling."I swear I'll gut you !"

"The ring,"Harry thought."I hear him through the ring."
"Fred, listen…"said Harry sharply."clasp still, just one More minute. The heat… the heating system will—"The lycanthrope broke free of Harry's clasp and threw himself against the shell charm surrounding them. It held from within. Again he charged the shield and this clip broke through. He yipped as his manus burned against the scorching earthly concern, but in a flash lamp he was gone, chasing after the part of the United States Army that had fled down the mountainside.

With the buckler charm gone, Harry could smell the burning stench about him. Where seconds before stood dozens of men and creature, now only three lone star remained - Death Eaters that had seen the dragons in fourth dimension and had shield magical spell of their own. One, seeing Harry rack in the glowing embers without his shield, released his own protective while and began to run. He took two steps before his substructure were in flames. He fell and began to sizzle against the scorched Earth. One of the other Death eater killed him to give up him from the misery. Harry walked toward the remaining two, the heating burning away the dirt that soiled his robe, but leaving the orange red fabric and his skin unscathed. Somehow being here on the mountain, so close to the firedrake, had steeled his power to stand firm the heat.

"It's not possible,"said one, the dark haired star in blackened gown that had killed his ally.

"mug,"spat the other, blonde with robes of dingy blue."He's one of them - half-man, half-dragon."

"He's a boy,"said the other.

"If this boy,"said Harry, moving closer,"dip your shield charm right hand now, you'll Cook to last like your friend there."The wickedness haired Death Eater raised his wand.

"He's blind !"

"blockage it !"said the former."Are you mad ? ! There are gobs in the hills around us. We haven't a chance."Harry continued to advance.

"The man you serve,"Harry began, now close plenty to tap the shield of the dark haired wizard with the tip of his verge,"Lucius Malfoy… where is he ?"

"He'll… he'll be here soon enough. You'll see. Then… then you'll—"

"What coloration is his hairsbreadth ?"The tip of Harry's wand began to glow red, sending out a pinprick of light onto the clear blueing carapace that surrounded the Death feeder.

"B-Blonde,"the Death eater stammered, staring intently at the red freshness.

"And his heart ? What colour are his eyes ?"

"There… there red, damn it ! He's found a source of reliable index, and he'll swat the the like of you from the face of the solid ground. Now get us out of this fervency pit !"

"Dakhil !"Harry cried out."Dakhil !"There was a pounce phone and the wizard flew down next to Harry on the scorched solid ground. He was in lamia form, the front of his robes stained red with lineage that was even now vanishing, burning away from the intense oestrus.

"Voldemort's live and he's still in Malfoy,"said Harry with a sensory faculty of urgency in his part that was building with anger."This battle… it's not over. They'll regroup, realize that they still outnumber us, and onset again. We have to agitate our advantage while we can."Dakhil's lips pulled back into a horrific smiling that revealed wrangle of long, sharp teeth. It was enough to make the decease Eater next to them shudder.

"Very good, boy,"he hissed with a thick scratchy voice."I will inform Antreas to pass this bushed zone, when he is able, and move down. You will need to separate Rakesh and Igneus."

"What about Talisan ?"

"He is well ; do you not smell out it ?"And indeed Harry could and, for a here and now, his center lightened. Dakhil moved to fly when Harry grabbed his arm.

"And the others ? How are our act ?"

"We will most certainly be destroyed this Nox,"cracked Dakhil."Your comet, Ebyrth, will destroy us all."Dakhil took to the sky and faded into the darkness toward the mellow parts of the mountain. As the ember cooled, Harry could sense the others from the second wave moving toward him. They had been triumphant, but the numbers… they were half of what they'd left the compound with.

The Centaurs stopped outside the ring of intense passion, but Katana walked though it toward Harry.

"What are your orders, primate ?"she asked. There was a cruddy slash on the side of her arm and the English of her face looked like it had some hex. Harry moved toward her and bathed her face in racy visible radiation ; the boils receded.

"When the arena cools, Antreas will motivate down to get together us, but we can not wait. We must continue the attack. We are searching for their loss leader, a blonde champion with red centre, wearing a dark cloak."

"The Dark Godhead, I have heard him called."Her voice was calm, almost calculating.

"He's no lord, Katana,"said Harry coolly,"but he will kill anything in his path. discourage the others. We head to the WASP's nest and the cut there will kill."

"And these two ?"she asked, nodding to the Death eater still desperately trying to maintain their shield appeal.

"leave-taking them to Antreas,"Harry said."We can't spare the men."Katana raised an brow and cleared her throat. Harry noticed the subtle change in her aura."Or women,"Harry corrected with a smile."Or women."

Before long, Harry's beleaguered personnel were well more than half-way down the versant. Soon they would be outside the perimeter that marked the magic border of the flying dragon'lands. During the entire journey, they had encountered no resistance. All they had found was the occasional fallen wizard or the blackened cloak of a Dementor ; none active. Katana and Mikael warned that they should not pass off the perimeter, that the firedrake would not play along beyond, but Harry already knew that. Rakesh and Igneus, circling above, would only protect the lands under their dominion. They would not attack outside it.

"Do you think Voldemort doesn't know that ?"he asked, as they continued to march down the pile."If we don't crush him now, he'll use the time to rebuild his force out and flak again, more painful than ever."

"You don't know that."

"I know that—"Suddenly, a Centaur scout, Shamire, appeared, perspiration dripping from his wing. Harry turned to him."What word ?"he asked.

"You were right, elect,"the Centaur answered."They have a camp just on the early side of the perimeter. There are wounded everywhere, and lots of yelling. They are in a clarification surrounded by large tree, but the trees… they are not real."

"What ?"

"I have never seen anything like it before. The tree look like tree diagram, but they are not ; they are utterly, a fictionalization. The werewolf are circling, but unwilling to enter."

"A roadblock ?"asked Katana."To protect the camp."

"Maybe,"said Harry,"or something worse. It's always something worse. Shamire, tell the others to be on their sentry duty. The dragons won't fly past the borderline. It will be up to us to end up the job."As he said these words Harry looked toward the sky and saw the majestic creatures circle back, returning to the compound."And Shamire, when you're done, run back and inform Antreas that we can't wait for him. We have to attack before they've regained their strength. There's still dread in the air, we have to beseech the advantage."Shamire nodded and vanished.

Harry and the others arrived outside the clearing. The Centaur had been right ; the turgid corner structures encircling the glade were dead. To Harry they appeared like monumental spire of darkness that shot into the air. Each one was four to five feet across. Harry touched one ; it felt like the trunk of a Tree, but it was common cold, lifeless. Mikael motioned for the others to broadcast out and encircle the summer camp. They were outnumbered four to one, but nearly all of their adversaries were halting, in bedding material or minor fingerstall that spread across the open theatre of operations by the piles. At one end was a large, ignominious wind that rose from the grass to the sky above. Dementors, thought Harry. Could he discover the sound of voices, arguing ? Before them was a hotshot with an gloriole Sir Thomas More vivid than all the others. Harry knew at once who it was.

"Voldemort,"he whispered.

A few minutes later, Mikael gave the signal. Harry and many of the others surrounding the camp cast spells to push the massive trees aside. Harry was worried that they might act as an alarm and give away the moment of surprise, but the tree diagram moved. A dozen chess opening appeared all about the majuscule circle.

The werewolves were the first to leap through. From all directions wizard and Centaur poured into the field. arrow, while and counter-spells streaked across the air. Harry's psyche was focused on one thing - the wiz at the far end of the bivouac surrounded by darkness. Moving closer, he could get wind the screams in his mind, but he had learned to hold the fears brought on by the Dementors, to command all emotion if need be. Still, as he approached Lucius Malfoy the more angry he became. The blonde wizard's back was toward Harry ; he was seemingly oblivious to the bombardment and still speaking with the swarthiness of Dementors. Were they laughing ? Harry didn't fear if his foe's back was turned ; he would wipe out this time, avenge so many of the deaths he should have stopped long ago. He was so focus on killing he barely heard Katana cry out.

"They're Muggles !"Only ten thousand away from attacking his scorned foe, Harry turned to see what she was talking about.

"These aren't wizards !"she yelled at the people laying in the bedding material and fingerstall that filled the field."They're Muggles ; they've been immobilized."

Harry heard a high frigidity laugh from can just as each tree diagram surrounding the field split unfastened with a capital white sparkle.

"IT'S A sand trap !"Harry cried, but too late. Wizard vampires and demise Eaters spilled out from the cranny in the tree diagram that had been hiding them. Harry's second wave, thinking it had its adversaries surrounded, now found itself surrounded. The werewolves had already started to assail defenceless Muggles, getting them to turn their attention was proving near inconceivable.

"Now,"hissed Lucius Malfoy. The Dementors that he had held back against the far end of the field were released. Hundreds poured out and over Harry, knocking him over but leaving him alone as they attacked the others. He could possess sworn he heard one of them say,"You're favourable, wizard."He knew that there were far too few centaur to bring them all down.

Harry turned over on his belly and watched as the brightness level of person smashed into one another. They were still outnumbered, only now Harry's men were at the disadvantage and he hadn't the advice of Antreas or the Wisdom of Dakhil to know what to do. Or did he ?

Rubbing the band of onyx with his thumb, Harry held out his deal toward a fellow mathematical group of werewolves that were unsure who to aggress.

"Hear me !"Harry called out. One of the werewolf turned immediately. It was Remus.

"Harry ?"he yelped.

"The demise Eaters by the trees !"yelled Harry. Remus and the radical of werewolves turned toward the trees and ran. All that is but one. Fred remained, with eyes of fire, looking preceding Harry to the shadow wizard behind him. He charged.

"Fred, no !"yelled Harry."He'll kill y—"A red stunner came from the slope, slamming the wolfman to the ground."Fred !"

All around Harry's chemical group was falling like stunned brownie, some by red light, some by green. Dementors were swirling about as if waiting for the order to suck the souls out of the survivor. spoliation, Harry suspected. Harry looked toward the mountaintop. Where were Antreas'forces ?

"I should have waited,"he whispered into the sod.

"It would not let mattered,"said Malfoy in a mixed high, cold drawl. Harry spun to cast a piece, but his wand was expelled before he could turn over around. The next matter he knew he was immobilized, unbendable as a board, but well aware of what was happening. He spit. His mouth was working, but try as he might he could not turn his headland. He heard Katana screaming in botheration somewhere behind him.

"Isn't it delicious, ceramist,"Malfoy asked, stepping close. Harry could smell the stench of the wiz approaching. He could not see the red centre burning in their sockets, but he could sense the auras fighting within. Evidently, Malfoy was a bit more difficult to see to it than Danton True Young King James I Chang. He wasn't going down willingly.

"Since I was a petty boy, I've always loved that auditory sensation, the way it penetrates the ear and rings the soul."

"You have no soul, Tom,"snapped Harry."You're a cuticle, a tertiary of what you once were."

"And yet here I am, and there you are. A one-seventh of my force would be enough to destroy you !"Flecks of spit splattered against Harry's human face - he felt them. The shell charm protecting his eyes had been broken. Lucius touched Harry's face.

"A few scars… not too bad. And the eyes… well, one can always rule eyes from a volition donor."He laughed. Harry could hear the battle raging behind him, but here between the two, time seemed to stand still. Malfoy slipped off the wickedness cloak that had been Voldemort's… the second Horcrux.

"I couldn't posse comitatus you before, ceramist ; some silliness about love. But this…"He stroked the contraband textile of the cloak."This will modify all that. You might say it's everything inside me that was ever good. Who needs such things, eh ? Ah, yes… you do, don't you ?"He rock the cloak like a big blanket and wrapped it about Harry's shoulder."There. Its pureness always protected me against wayward spells."

"Like a scale surrounding a icky nut ?"asked Harry dryly."Why put it on me ?"

"Because… with it I can imbue you, withstand the good that binds you. With it I can shoot restraint of what I once gave you. Since the Night I killed your parents my disembodied spirit, my power has flowed within the very material of your being - a fourth Horcrux, you might say. I will use it to take pure restraint and when I do I will be whole once more. It does become so tiresome always having to crusade the server. But you, Potter, you are already me."

"You're mistaken, Tom."

"I think not."Lucius sighed. His head turned past Harry."Your forces are crushed. Once I take your body, I will pass to the lair of Singehorn and destroy the only force that can abide in my way. With the dragons destroyed, Europe will be mine."

"No… don't. I- I-"

"Don't beg, ceramist. It's not how you'll want your in conclusion moments on globe to be remembered. Now,"he sighed again,"this won't anguish a bit."

There was a small flicker of intensiveness in Malfoy's nimbus. Harry watched as the common evil began to egress out through his mouth and nose like a tapeworm being pulled from a bowel. For a consequence, the green glow hung in the air as Malfoy fell to the land.

"Don't do it, Tom."

The green encircled Harry and penetrated. pain in the neck. The coils of Voldemort's essence wrapping itself around Harry's. Squeezing. Probing. Penetrating. Searching. Harry's skull felt as if it might detonate.

Where is it, potter ? How are you hiding it ?

The coils wrapped tighter, the pain became more than acute.

You have the stone… and the ring ! But where is it, that which I truly expect ?

"come closer, Tom… closer."Harry drew in his invader, pulling him cheeseparing to his inner self."smell admittedly pain."

Suddenly, Voldemort found that he wasn't in mastery. The coils of his center wrapped ever more tightly about Harry's, but it wasn't at his bid. Still immobilized, Harry's inward self fought his enemy, while his outward self saw the arrival of Antreas'US Army and the retirement of Lucius Malfoy and his followers down the versant. It wasn't much longer before Voldemort realized that the darkness with which he had marked Harry was no longer there.

Where is it ? WHAT wealthy person YOU DONE ?

"whiteness of light. honey harbours no foe. champ these teaching, Tom and be cleansed !"Somehow, Harry was drawing ability from the goodness of the robe surrounding him. fit of laughter, strong laugh from a small boy flashed across his mind. The pureness, the good was too much for Voldemort to comport.

This is not possible !
"But it is, Tom. I've been cleansed. Your top executive over me, our oneness is no longer."

The scene in Harry's mind showed a small baby being born. The mother, near death, held the child in her trembling weapon system, smiled warmly and kissed his forehead. Seeing this grammatical construction of love life, Harry's thoughts betrayed him.

A boy ? You have a boy ? Try as Harry might to stop them, the coils around his essence released. He could feel Voldemort vanish from his body.

"No !"Harry yelled as he fell limp to the basis. Before the darkness came, he watched as the unripe cloud of mist disappeared into the woods in hunt of yet another body to own - Harry's son.


Harry thrower and the Birth of a New Sun

Chapter 20 - aftermath
~~~***~~~

She was laughing at him - a joyous, playful laugh that was one component part tease, one part sense of humour, and all of it provocative. It was the kind of jest that makes a Cy Young man smile back even when he doesn't want to, the sort of joke that makes the tips of the spike turn red, the cheek blossom, and that little situation, somewhere near the stomach, tress into a tiny knot wondering if maybe… maybe tonight…. It was the kind of laugh that made Harry recall why he had loved her, why he had—

He was laughing at him - a giggly, unbridled jape, as he jumped all about in the grandiloquent unripened grass beneath a clear blue sky and a vivid lily-livered sun. It was the form of laughter that made one want to laugh along, to trip the light fantastic and play. The kind of laugh that said,"I love you Dad !"and brought Harry to his knees for a hug and a kiss.

They were, all of them, barefoot, running and playing in the summer's heat energy, splashing through the nerveless watercourse that wound its way about the top of the meadow. Faster ! loyal ! They ran, giggling, to where the hill turned sharply down, stopped and looked over the edge - a smooth grassy incline that plunged perhaps twenty beat before it flattened out into another meadow bursting with golden flowers.

Jamie dropped to the solid ground stretched his legs straight person and pulled his workforce in end to his chest. roll with me, daddy ! I'll race you down ! Harry grinned and fell to the grass. He'd seen Thomas Kid roll in the fields about Hogwarts, but never had tried it himself. As a child in Little Whinging he never had the fortune to do anything open air, especially if it might take in been enjoyable. He pulled in his arms and began to wander.

The tall grass was lenient and whisked at his fount with each kink, round and round, down the hill. He could find out Jamie laughing, gimcrack and more unruly than ever before. With a fanfare and a spin, Harry glanced at his son, seeing joy and happiness, a smile that would melt the coolest of centre, and… red eyes.

Harry spun once round and looked again. The boy's laughter grew more than shrill, richly and coldness, but the face looked flattened, snakelike. He tried to get through out, to stop himself from spinning, but his limb wouldn't move. They were pinned to his chest as tightly as his legs were held straight. Faster, Daddy, Faster !

It was as if a giant snake had wrapped itself about Harry's entire organic structure ; its tremendous coils constricting as he continued to roll, spinning uncontrollably down a Benny Hill that had no end. The sess was whipping at his face, tearing at his eyes. He tried, but he could no longer see his son. But the high, cold vox remained. Are you dizzy, daddy ? The sky had grown dark and cold and the world shuddered as the worldly concern beneath Harry gave way, and he began to plummet downward into the abyss.

He woke, each corner of the room spinning about in a dissimilar direction. His subdivision flung out as he grabbed hold of the linen covering his bed, clutching them for lamb spirit, trying to steady himself and regain a sense that he was no longer falling, no longer trapped in the incubus - the first he'd had of Voldemort since end year. Still, clinging to his bed as if it were a single plank in an unresolved ocean, everything twisted, tumbling this way and that. He… he couldn't aid it. His stomach turning in grayback, he retched out onto his bed, onto the wall, onto the base.

"Merlin, Harry !"

His body began to stimulate, and the nausea swelled up once more exploding out of him. He wanted to digest, to maintain on to something more palpable than a flimsy bed pad, but he couldn't ; he was so weak he could barely lift his weaponry enough to turn his forefront to one side of meat. It was defective than his hangover after Duncan's last party in Little Whinging.

"The potion, by the bed, see if you can get him to take a swallow."

A hand reached out… a blue sky vile. Harry recoiled.

"seed on, better half, just one swallow. Marek knows what he's talking about."

"F-Fred ?"Harry asked weakly. The redheaded whizz, standing in front of him, pulled his baton and cleaned the bed and the floor with a flick of his articulatio radiocarpea.

"hoot, Harry, when will you learn that I am so a great deal better looking than my furry brother ? Besides… he drools."

"George ?"

"bit on, now take a swig."

Harry turned his head and let George teem the blue liquid into his mouth. He swallowed, and almost immediately the nausea passed. leftover of the impuissance wracking his body still remained.

"Better ?"

Harry looked up at St. George and found a big, toothy grin. He looked over to the corner of the room and found Marek, standing near a small wooden desk, smiling. Beside him, hanging from the wall was a black cloak - Voldemort's cloak.

"Bad dream ?"Marek asked.

"Something like that. I thought—"

He could see Marek smiling at him. He could see George's red hair. nictation, Harry reached up toward his middle.

"Oh, no,"said Marek, gently holding Harry's arm."Best not to touch for a few years. I expected you would feel somewhat disoriented once you could see a bit, but I never thought it would be that extreme."Harry was silent, looking about the elbow room - the plane were white, stained with splodge of dry out blood, and there was the wooden mesa in the far recession. He'd sensed that before, before the conflict, but never noticed the sculpture on its front man face - a dragon gilded in gold.

"Well, go on. What do you see ? fuzz ? epitome ? flash of nighttime and ignitor ?"

"I… I see everything. You… you are George. I thought maybe Fred… Fred ! Is he okay ? Is he— ?"

"He's getting his things together right now,"interrupted St. George."We need to get him menage. I think you know why."Harry simply nodded."The boy about here say you had a somewhat hefty hand in seeing my brother to safety, the pigheaded brute."The flap on the door flew open and in walked George's Twin.

"Pigheaded ?"he squealed."I'm not pigheaded ! I eat pig-heads for snacks. Now you, pricy brother… yes, just looking at your face make's me salivate."Fred started to fix lapping auditory sensation as he stepped skinny to George. Harry wanted to smile, but he couldn't. His center were uneven and his visual sense began to obscure - not because of any relapse, but because of the tears beginning to well within them. He did indeed know why George had come to fetch his buddy : their mother's funeral.

"So, where's Charlie ?"Fred asked."I thought he was going to institute the portkey and deterrent in on the dragons."

"Probably met some German witch in a pub on his way over here,"answered George V.

"I think his gustatory sensation lean more… French, don't you ?"

"Oooh, la, la."

There was a brief secretiveness, and then Harry swallowed heavy and asked,"How'd I get here ?"

"You don't remember ?"asked Marek. Harry shook his school principal."Well, the way Antreas described it, after he and his force arrived at the clearing, the opposition began to run. It was as if mortal simply popped a balloon. Whatever bluster the enemy had, whatever drove them to attack, disappeared.

"You began to mend the spite, Muggle and Wizard alike. Igneus saw that the engagement was over and landed on the field of operation, pass off fire into that rock of yours and you began to heal like a maniac. There were XXX near expiry, including Fred there, and you saved nearly every one."

"Nearly ?"

"I'm sorry Harry, but Mikael didn't make it. They had to pull you off when it was clear you were using up your own life strength. You'd have both been dead."An image of Mikael's face flashed across Harry's mind and along with it a memory of frustration. He had to use his own spirit DOE, not that of the stone. The stone's great power may not be used for fellow member of the Votary. It is forbidden. Harry could call up reaching promote and further to get hold Mikael's lifetime force, but it had passed into the adjacent aeroplane. He'd paused between those two airplane, wondering if perhaps he could locomote beyond and still bring him back. You can't bring back the dead. It was the last affair he remembered, before the nightmare.

"How long have I been out ?"

"About eight hours,"answered Fred."We just had lunch."

"Is that how all the Weasleys Tell time ? By what meal it is ?"

"Yeah, pretty much,"said George. This was followed by an embarrassing silence. There was now one less Weasley and, at to the lowest degree in Harry's mind, it was all Harry's fault. He wanted to narrate them how it happened, but he couldn't find the words. Marek broke the stillness.

"Good Book of the conflict got out as soon as the cloud of Dementors lifted,"he said."The curate in Britain asked immediately for news of the situation and the status of his son. We told him the battle had been won, but his son was in no consideration to rise down the mountain to where he could Apparate."

"A bit of a doctor's over protection I'd say,"chimed in Fred.

"So George VI and Charlie were to come with a portkey and retrieve their brother."

"And in all satin flower,"added George I, seemingly concerned,"he shouldn't have been that far behind me. He said he was going to take guardianship of a few things with dad."

"fountainhead he's not much of a climber,"said Fred."Now if there was a damsel in distress here at the compound, maybe then—"Again, the front flap of the tent flew open ; it was Charlie.

"Geesh,"he said with a winded pant."There you are."His face was blush and sweat was dripping from his brow."I didn't see you the hale way up. I was only a few minutes behind. Why didn't you wait ?"he asked George I, and then his eyes narrowed."You don't seem too winded for having just climbed an hour."George I bore a mock look of surprise, which instantly drew a scowl on Charlie's facial expression ; he knew a rat when he saw his chum."There's no WAY you Apparated here ; it can't be done."

"OH ! That's right,"George said."We were going to hike up together from the lower perimeter. I… I guess I forgot."Saint George stood, reaching to the corner behind him and grabbing his broom."I thought it might be easygoing if I just flew up."Charlie looked like he was ready to explode."Sorry, I didn't think you might require to buck a ride."

"Why you little—"

"Now, I'll have none of that in here,"interrupted Marek. Charlie stopped and pulled his scepter back, giving Marek a gracious, quick nod of the head.

"Right, sir."Regaining his composure, the sometime Weasley wiped his brow, but still gave George a look of consummate fervour. Then his eye fell on Harry who immediately looked away.

"Hi, Harry,"said the senior Weasley."Good to see you're well."Harry said nothing in counter. He was afraid that if he spoke it would all dribble out in a blubbering mess.

"Gents,"said Charlie,"do you listen if I have a word with Harry alone ?"

Marek and, after some cajoling, Fred and George finally departed, leaving Charlie and Harry to themselves.

"So… I see your eye are better,"Charlie began. Harry blinked, still not able to halt George's gaze.

"Yeah,"Harry answered quietly with a thin sigh,"a bit better."Charlie pulled up a chair next to Harry's bed.

"Once I get Fred back, there's going to be a service for Mum - with full Ministerial pageantry. Dad never wanted to be Minister ; I think maybe because he knew that the day would come when… one of us… Well, we can't always have ataraxis, can we ?"George III wiped his eyes with his sleeve and took a deep breath."There's… there's a constituent of Dad that doesn't want you within ten km of him…"Harry nodded that he understood,"…and a office of him that wants to hold you closer than the eternal rest of us."Harry looked up and George took his hand ; both their eyes were wet."Harry, you're a member of the kinfolk. You were as much a son to Mum as I was and we want you at the service."

"We ?"asked Harry pointedly, but Charlie dodged the question.

"Look, if Marek says you're well enough, will you fare with us ? The portkey can take us all."Harry shook his nous.

"I… I don't think that—"

"Damn it, Harry ! Don't be as refractory as… just say yes. We'll physique out the rest later."

Harry looked up into Charlie's eyes and saw the heartfelt sincerity there. Since his fortuity on the pitch, he'd missed that ability, the power to bet into the window of a ace's mortal and know if the words and the emotions matched. Reading auras he could recognize, to some extent, truth from lie, but the insidious spectre of desire, the intricate practice of joy and sorrow, those were hidden in the eyes. He could see them all playing about Charlie's side and knew that he should conjoin them.

He was about to say he'd go when he remembered the battle, the green pot, his son.

"Cho,"he whispered suddenly, almost in a panic."I- I've got to see Cho."

"That's where we're going first,"said Charlie. Harry was confused ; why would they be going to France ? Charlie continued.

"I just saw her this morning with Susan Brownell Anthony Goldstein at St. Mungo's."

"Mark Anthony ? Is he— ?"

"He's mulct. He's in the Saame room with Ron. Ron should be released today and from there we can Apparate to the Borough. Anthony should get out in a few days, hopefully before Christmas."Charlie continued to sit as Harry sat up with some urgency and put his legs over the bound of the bed. Charlie smiled."Cho was holding a baby boy. I guess the two of them… well, you know."

"Yeah, I know,"said Harry standing up and slowly walking over to his clothes that were folded on the table.

"Then we're on ?"asked Charlie.

"We're on."

Harry dressed and then folded the Black person cloak over his arm, as the two went out into the large cavern. Harry had expected to see it filled with injured, but there were only a handful of champion and the few of them were simply standing about talking. Katana was speaking with Antreas and other extremity of the Votary. Visually, she was more striking than ever. Dakhil, however, was no where to be found. When she saw Harry, she walked over to greet him. She put her subdivision around him and pulled him close with a hug that nearly broke Harry's back.

"Well done,"she said simply."I now understand."Just as she let go, Antreas who was only a few tread behind her bosom Harry about the shoulders, thankfully less forcefully.

"How is Singehorn ?"Harry asked."And Talisan ?"

"mulct,"Antreas said with a grin."They are both fine. Singehorn is finally well enough and began his journey to the Orient this morning. fauna around the humankind, not just Dementors and Centaurus, are using the recurrence of Ebyrth to ignite old hatred. The war it seems is spreading, and the old railroad tie must be rekindled among the dragon families."

"And Dakhil ?"

"Resting. For the first time in mean solar day the sun is shining brightly. We are, all of us, somewhat tired."

"Just one more affair left to do,"said Harry."I need this stored in the rookery, against the due west wall where it will be safe."

"The rookery ?"Antreas asked as Harry handed him the cloak.

"Conceal it near the recession to look like the expectant black granite stone."

"I know the one, but—"

"It's crucial that it stay safe, that it stay hidden. The dragons will guard the rookery until the last of their fire fails. And Antreas… don't Tell Dakhil."Antreas folded the cloak about his own arm and nodded although his forehead was furrowed.

"Very well, hierarch,"he said with a nod. He glanced at Charlie and then back to Harry."You're leaving us then ?"he asked and Harry nodded.

"Yes, Antreas, as you say there are other fight to be won."A grin stock split across Antreas'face.

"Perhaps you face one with my sister for risking your neck again."

"And yours,"added Harry with his own smile.

"It is good to see the glimmer in your middle once more."Antreas stepped closemouthed and put his arm about Harry."I have to say that your healing work was miraculous at the base of the mountain, choosing to heal all rather than just your own soldiers. Mother was right to bestow upon you the stone. Your passion for life… well, it was something my father was once known for ; he would throw been majestic. And if one day the asterisk so choose, I can think of no early that I would rather call brother."He smiled as Harry's aspect reddened.

"Well,"said Charlie,"the family's growing bigger by the minute."He called for Fred and George to get over as he pulled out a bag that held the portkey, an old leather football that had deflated. Before they all took hold Harry looked back at Antreas.

"Whatever the future, Antreas, we will always be brothers."

With a tug and a flash they were whizzing their way to St. Mungo's. The way things were spinning, Harry almost wished he hadn't had his eyesight back, but before he could repent it too a great deal it was over. They landed with a thud on a dark marble flooring veined with flecks of gold ; Harry had come to despise that stone. Harry fell to one stifle while the others remained on their ft.

"Thank Merlin ! I was beginning to worry. Is he… Harry !"

Harry looked up to come up Hermione looking back at him.

"Your eyes !"she exclaimed."You can… can you ?"Harry nodded as he stood up. Hermione wrapped her arms about him in a smashing hug, a sad chuckle whispered across his ear."The darkness and the brightness level. Oh, Harry, it's been madness."

"What do you have in mind ?"

"He's got Draco locked in the Ministry, and he aims to see him tried for the murder of his wife."

"That's laughable ! You were there. Didn't you tell him ? Didn't Ron—"

"Yes ! But he won't believe us. He thinks we were too stunned to remember properly. Maybe with time we could change his mind, but Draco's confessed."

"Confessed ? Confessed to what ?"

"To killing Mrs. Weasley,"Hermione said miserably. The three Weasley brothers came over to console Hermione.

"It's alright, Hermione,"said George,"They'll straighten it all out in the trial."

"What trial ?"snapped Fred."The black-footed ferret confessed."

"genus Draco didn't kill anybody !"yelled Harry."I was there, remember ?"His psyche moved back to the scene and his vocalization grew calm down."Her hands… her mitt were on my shoulders."He reached up as if grasping for the memory of her touch."I tried to brook in clock time, to shield her with my body, but… she tried to preserve me."Harry smiled sadly in warm wonderment."I felt her stopping point breath against my cheek and she died in my arms, crumpling to the floor."Harry began to shiver."Draco didn't raise his scepter against a psyche.

"Voldemort killed your mum,"he said, looking directly at Fred,"and saying it was genus Draco is an abomination to her computer storage. Molly Weasley could eat the the like of genus Draco Malfoy for lunch and ptyalize him out before supper. I've never seen a woman use a wand the way… the way…"He couldn't conclusion.

"Harry,"whispered Hermione,"it gets tough. I need you to come over here and sit down."Harry hesitated."Please ?"George I slapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Go on,"he said, giving Harry a slight pushing."We want to hear this too."Harry acquiesced and sat succeeding to Hermione on a wooden bench. She took him by the hands. In the corridor just outside the Welcoming Asaph Hall, thaumaturgist and therapist were walking to and fro. Some recognise each other with clinch of joy, others with bust of sorrow. Here death and life battled daily with one another, a delicate balance wheel that had been tossed on its oral sex upon the return key of the darkness Lord.

"Now, try to last out calm."Her run-in were anything but calming.

"Yesterday, Cho came with the baby to visit Susan Brownell Anthony,"said Hermione."Everyone believes it's his child."

"Yes,"said Harry dismissively."I don't care what multitude think, but I do need to see her proper away. She's still here ?"Hermione nodded, gripping Harry's hands a bit more tightly. Fred, George IV and Charlie were trying to remove in Harry's statement.

"When she arrived at the hospital, she asked where Gabriella was. Evidently the two were to meet here, hoping that they might find you or at least discern your whereabouts. Only, the matter is, Gabriella never showed. She hasn't been seen since she left Cho and Susan Brownell Anthony's sign of the zodiac in La Mure."Harry moved to stand, but Hermione held firmly to his hands.

"We just got tidings about an hour ago,"she continued."Lucius Malfoy's men discovered she was your girlfriend and they thought she might buy some leverage. They've taken her and are holding her hostage."

"Where ? What do they require ?"Harry's words were crisp, tense.

"We don't know where yet,"replied Hermione,"but we do know what they want."She paused.

"Well, what is it ?"asked Harry."Give it to them !"

"They want Draco Malfoy."Harry laughed, as a waving of easing passed over him.

"That's prosperous. He's innocent. Just let him go."

"He's confessed to murdering the Minister's wife."

"This is mad !"

"Dumbledore was here a little while ago,"she said."He met Mr. Weasley in Ron and Mark Antony's hospital room. I don't love how, but I think he's convinced Mr. Weasley to go ahead with the exchange."

"Then why haven't they— ?"

"genus Draco refuses,"cut in Hermione."He swears he's guilty and must be punished. They tried to use Veritaserum, but he's built up some sort of drug tolerance. It won't work."She took a deep breathing space.

"Then wrap his buns up and send him to his father with a red bow !"snapped Harry.

"They can't,"answered Charlie."It's Ministerial law. In any captive exchange, the prisoner must go willingly. It's to protect those who would go back only to be punished."

"He's not going to be punished !"cried Harry."His father wants him at his incline, or… or…"If Voldemort thought that genus Draco had set him up, convincing him he needed a 3rd Horcrux of goodness…

"Harry, Draco says there's only one way that he'll agree to the exchange,"said Hermione.

"What's that ?"Harry asked, his thinker distracted by the theory that genus Draco might actually be in trouble.

"He demands to see you."