Life since Valentine’s Day had returned to its calm and meandering pace. Everything in the Gryffindor common room was back to how it was supposed to be, crackling with stress. With less than three months left until the O.W.L and N.E.W.T’s, the fifth and seventh year students were sitting on a knife-edge constantly, except for Harry and Ron that is. They didn’t much care for stress; they were too busy being happy that their little group was back to normal. Now that the tension had been dispelled Neville had returned to spending time with them, Harry and Ron being terrible teasers, had put him through a strict interrogation about his absence. “So where have you been?” Ron asked him as he moved his Knight forward a space, he was in the process of hammering Harry at chess yet again.
“I’ve been…around,” Neville replied. He was watching Ron’s expression carefully to see if he believed this.
“We were beginning to think that you’d dropped off the face of the earth. Is there any particular reason you haven’t spoken to us in so long? Is our company that appalling?” Harry mocked.
“No!” Neville immediately protested. “It’s just that I like Susan’s company better, she’s not liable to bite my head off.” He gave them a small smile.
“How naïve is he?” Ron said to Harry as he poked a long finger in Neville’s direction.
“They’re all capable of biting your head off, at least with us you’d get some warning,” Harry advised him.
“Maybe he doesn’t like us any more? Maybe he’s too cool for us now that he’s a Defence Against the Dark Arts whiz?” Ron said with an emphatic wiggle of his fingers in a very dazzled manner.
“I’m not a Defence whiz!” Neville said with an embarrassed grin, praise from Ron was high praise indeed.
“Did you notice how he didn’t say that he wasn’t too cool for us?” Harry asked Ron.
“Oh, I spotted it all right. Mr. Big Shot is too good to hang around with the little people these days,” the Head Boy said with a shake of his head.
“Okay, you can stop now! I just didn’t want to end up playing piggy in the middle with you two arguing over my head, so I thought that I’d steer well clear,” Neville explained in a very hurried fashion.
“So, what you’re saying is that we’re such bad friends that we wouldn’t hesitate to drag you into our argument?” Ron glared at him.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying!” the round faced boy said defiantly.
“You have to admit that he knows us really well,” Harry grinned, as did Ron. The three friends chuckled about the tense situation that had enshrouded them well into the night.
Harry had found his sleep restless in recent weeks, he wasn’t really sure why. He frequently woke up with a jolt and found himself twisted in his bedcovers, but when he searched his mind for the cause of his distress, he couldn’t find anything. He put it down to subconscious pangs of anxiety about the forth-coming exams. It wasn’t so much the exams that he was worried about; it had more to do with what would come after he left school. He knew that the battle was getting closer, he could feel it in every fibre of his being, and he felt like there was some omnipotent force pulling him towards his fate. But he wasn’t ready; at least he didn’t feel it. He had no special power or knowledge or anything really that could save him from Voldemort.
He kept thinking about the Killing Curse, he would have to use it; it was the only way to kill Tom and make sure that he was dead. But could he actually do that? Could he actually point his wand at another human being and say the fateful words that lead to certain death? A voice somewhere in the back of his mind told him that Voldemort wasn’t human anymore, but for an unknown reason that didn’t provide him with any comfort. Ellie had told him that the answer to the riddle was inside him, but where? How was he supposed to find this power that he had if he didn’t even know where to look? She had told him that when the time was right he would find it, when would the time be right? Would it suddenly come to him one day when Ginny was dancing naked in front of him wearing nothing but Dobby’s tea cozy? Or would it have to wait until he was staring down the long wooden shaft of Voldemort’s wand? Every night he posed these questions to himself as his roommates slept on and every night he fell back asleep no wiser than he had been when he woke up.
Even Dumbledore was able to recognize the signs that Harry was becoming more restless and agitated about his fate. Mental clarity was an important factor in Occlumency, hence why so few wizards had the ability to pursue that branch of magic with any degree of success. “That was rather shoddy work, Harry, I had come to expect better from you,” he said, allowing the slightest tinge of disappointment to seep into his voice. He understood the pressure that Harry was under at the minute, it may have been a long time since he himself was seventeen but that didn’t stop him from remembering the pains and strains accurately.
“I know, I’m not focused enough,” Harry snapped in frustration.
“Would you care to discuss it with me?” Dumbledore asked and waved his hand over the seat that Harry had fallen from during the last offence raged on his mind.
“I’m just getting irritated,” he explained.
“And what is the cause of your irritation?”
“I don’t feel like I’m any further forward than I was at the beginning of this year, or last year even. It’s like I’m just standing still while everyone around me is moving and it doesn’t seem to matter what I do I just can’t get going,” Harry yelled, his aggravation finally coming to a head; he was like a volcano just waiting to erupt.
“I understand your frustrations, Harry, but rest assured that you have made considerable progress,” the headmaster assured him.
“How can I? I haven’t learned anything!”
“The most important lessons do not come from foreign sources, Harry, they come from within ourselves and we are often so blinded by what is outside that we don’t see what is inside. The second that which is important becomes necessary to survival, you will see it for what it truly is,” Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
“But that’s stuff I already know, and all it does is send me round in circles!” Harry complained.
“I understand that it must seem that way, but I would implore you to trust in yourself, that is the only advice that I can provide. When the day and time comes you will know what you need,” the headmaster assured him.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I have faith in you.”
That night his sleep got more restless than ever; but this time it was not without reason. When his eyes had finally closed he had floated around in the darkness of his mind before he was drawn to a light that appeared to be in the distance. As he got closer and closer to it he realized that it wasn’t in fact a light at all, it was a view of a group of people. Harry seemed to be staring at it from above rather than on the ground or through another’s eyes. There was a large circle of at least twenty Death Eaters, in the centre a tall skeletal figure was pacing back and forth slowly but purposefully.
“Tell me the news,” said Lord Voldemort’s icy voice, he did not sound happy.
“As yet we have been unable to locate any of our targets, my Lord,” Mulciber answered fearfully.
“He still eludes us?” there was sharp anger in the Dark Lords words.
“Yes, master.”
“This will not do! If we do not locate him presently the all my plans may go to ruin,” Voldemort hissed.
“We’re doing the best we can, my Lord,” Wormtail said in the most grovelling manner he could muster.
“Obviously you are not; otherwise we would have him already!” Voldermort bellowed. “Crucio!” Peter convulsed on the ground for several minutes before the curse was lifted. “Come forward, Severus.”
“I live to serve the Dark Lord,” Snape said proudly as he knelt down at his master’s feet.
“Tell me about the boy, where do things stand with him?” The anger dropped away from the steely voice and was instead replaced with the faintest hints of disquiet.
“The fool believes that he may have already taken the final step towards achieving his power,” Snape revealed.
“And has he made known what this power is?”
“No, my Lord, I believe that only two people know, him and…”
“The girl.” There was a loathing unlike any other in his voice. That wretched Elizabeth seemed to always be in the best position to destroy him and she was becoming a very large and annoying thorn in his side. With her still alive the boy would be difficult to reach and almost impossible to obliterate. She regarded his life far above her own and Voldemort knew that this was delicate and powerful magic, with her around he would have to tread very carefully, past mistakes had taught him that.
“Yes, my Lord,” Snape responded obediently.
“Does she still trust in your allegiance to her?”
“I believe so, master.”
“Then you know what you must do.”
“I do, my Lord.” Snape made a final bow to the Dark Lord before pressing his way out of the circle.
“In the meantime we shall redouble our efforts to find him; it must be done as soon as possible, I do not want there to be any time for our enemy to prepare.”
That was the last thing that Harry heard before he sailed away from the scene and back towards consciousness.
Harry had shared his dream with Professor Dumbledore at his next Occlumency lesson but all the headmaster would say was that it was interesting. When Harry had inquired if they had any ideas who Voldemort was talking about, a simple no was his answer. There were no explanations or suspicions; Dumbledore didn’t even comment on the mention that Harry had taken the final step towards his power. All he did was sit in silence and watch the dream with the most curious expression. Harry had come out of Dumbledore’s office feeling very annoyed about the whole situation so he decided he would do what he always did when he wanted a straight answer, he would go to Ellie. He grabbed his Pensieve from his dormitory and made his way down to her office but someone was already in there, and they were having a heated debate with her. “I’m not in the mood to have this discussion right now,” Ellie’s voice permeated the door loudly and sternly.
“Well perhaps you would rather have it after you are dead?” hissed another low voice that Harry couldn’t distinguish.
“Don’t be so overdramatic,” she scolded.
“He will stop at nothing to get at the boy and right now you are standing in his way!”
“And I will continue to stand in his way. I’m not going anywhere. I am going to stay right here and protect Harry,” she shouted.
“Then you are leaving me little choice.”
“There is always choice,” she said much more calmly.
“Not when you stand in my position,” the other voice said in finality. The door to Ellie’s office was suddenly wrenched open and Harry stood looking at a very red faced Severus Snape. “What are you doing here?”
“He’s one of my students, not to mention my cousin, so he has every right to be here.” Ellie’s eyes flashed warningly.
“Of course, I will speak with you later,” Snape snapped before he and his billowing cloak swept out of the room.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Ellie mumbled under her breath. “So, Harry, what brings you here on this lovely spring afternoon?”
“I just wanted to have a chat,” Harry said casually, he didn’t really want to tell her that he was probably here about the same thing that Snape was. In the end he decided to forgo telling her about his dream, he would leave that up to her grandfather; at least he was used to dealing with Ellie’s temper.
“What’s bothering you? Ron? Hermione? Ginny?” she asked jovially.
“None of the above, I just…wanted to get away from working,” he shrugged.
“Oh, N.E.W.T work getting you down, is it?” she nodded understandingly.
“Something like that,” he said quietly.
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Harry, you’ll be fine You just need to make sure that you don’t get yourself to caught up in everything, leave that to Herimone, she deals with it better,” she smiled an patted his hand in a sisterly way.
“You’re right, I’m overreacting,” he nodded at her.
“That’s it,” she said winking at him. “Oh, I meant to ask you, do you want to go home for Easter?”
“Why not?” he shrugged. It would be nice to get away from the overwhelming atmosphere of pressure that was building in the castle.
“Okay, don’t forget to tell the others. Why don’t you invite Neville as well?”
“That sounds like a good idea,” he smiled. She really did care about everyone but herself.
“Well, that settles that then. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?” she smiled at him in a very sweet way. Here was his chance, if he wanted to talk to her about his dream then now was the time to do it. He couldn’t, she was glowing with happiness now that Snape was gone.
“No, everything else is fine,” he lied.
“In that case, I shall see you after lunch tomorrow.” She winked at him before going back to a stack of parchment in front of her. He left her office feeling quite guilty about not being honest with her.
That night he had the most horrible dream that he had ever had.
He was standing on the school lawn with the sun just beginning to settle over the forbidden forest. Dark shapes were littering the grass at his feet along with a large pile of ashes; he leaned down to touch the large profile that was nearest to him, he was startled to find that it was actually a person, and when he rolled them over he was horrified to find Ron’s wide blue eyes staring up at him. He was dead. There were great long gashes down his face and the masses of blood that had seeped from them had now dried coating his face in a ruby veneer and matting his long hair together. Harry recoiled from the agonizing sight; there was a pain in his chest that just kept stabbing away at his heart. He fanned out through the mass of bodies on the grounds and nearly lost all his resolve to continue when he found Hermione not far from Ron. She looked like a sleeping angel, her face was also bloody but not to the same scale as Ron’s, there was a large sword protruding from her chest. As he wandered around he recognized many of the battered and bruised faces of his friends and colleagues, Dean and Seamus were piled almost on top of one another and Luna’s body was as stiff as a board. Neville was face first on the ground with his wand still clasped menacingly in his hand.
He fell to the ground suddenly and realized that he had tripped over something, when he looked back he recognized Ginny’s delicate hand. Her eyes were wide and had a startled look, and her mouth was agape too. He put his hand up and pressed her eyelids shut. “Ginny,” he whispered. He rested his forehead on her chest and began to cry, she was dead, and his Ginny was gone. A sorrow like no other swept through his veins like ice and froze his heart. He had the urge to kill himself because his life wasn’t worth living without her. Something, he didn’t know what, compelled him to get up and keep moving, he was searching for someone. Someone that he found not two minutes after leaving Ginny. Albus Dumbledore’s tall fallen figure was stretched out on the grass a little further up the hill. All the wrinkles that were usually settled into his features were gone and he looked surprisingly relaxed, it was as though death had taken all his strains away and he was now at peace with the world around him.
“Intriguing isn’t it?” Voldemort’s voice rang through the air. “The way death has such wide ranging effects, not one of them looks the same.” He glanced over the other corpses with disgust.
“What’s going on here?” Harry asked as he straightened up.
“It’s just a glance of how things will be afterwards, you will not be here to witness it but I could not deprive you of such a delightful sight. The Order of the Phoenix destroyed, Albus Dumbledore shattered, that pathetic excuse for a school in ruins,” he said pointing up at the smouldering building.
“This isn’t going to happen, I won’t let it,” Harry said resolutely.
“You still don’t understand, do you?” Voldemort mocked. “You cannot stop it.”
“I can and I will, so get lost because I’m not playing your games anymore!” Harry snapped and forced himself to wake up.
He was dripping with sweat and his bedcovers were twisted and drenched with his perspiration. He couldn’t let that happen, he had to do everything in his power to stop it.
A/N: I know that you were wondering where Voldy was and here he is, he’ll be back to normal soon. The next chapter is….Ron’s Questions. See you then!