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Author: pottervader Story: Harry Potter and the Prophesied Six Rating: Teens Setting: AU Status: WIP Reviews: 11 Words: 374,905
Disclaimer: This story was made without any intention of profiting from it. Only the original characters and the plot are mine. The rest of it belongs to JKR. A/N: Here’s the next chapter. It’s shorter than usual but at least it didn’t take as long to write as the previous ones. I hope you like what happens here. Please leave a review if you do.
“You’re going to wear a path on the carpet doing that,” he said to her before breaking into a smile. “I can’t help it,” Rose said as she continued pacing. “What if he doesn’t come?” “He’ll be here, Rose,” Harry said. “You told him in your letter to Floo over at ten o’clock. It’s still a couple of minutes before that.” “I know that,” Rose said. Finally, she sat down on one of the low settees located just in front of the fireplace. “I just can’t wait for him to be here. It’s already Friday. I haven’t seen him in almost a week. Watching you and Ginny over the past three days was pure torture, almost like being under the Cruciatus again.” “Hey, I resent that,” Harry said. “It was quite enjoyable, really. You’re lucky Ginny is too busy doing her chores at the Burrow right now to have heard that. She’s never had to hex you before but she just might make an exception in this case.” Rose opened her mouth but whatever she wanted to say in reply never came out, for at that moment, the fire in the fireplace flared green and the person Rose was waiting for stepped out of it. Rose instantly jumped to her feet and hugged Neville tightly. “I’ve missed you so much,” she murmured to him before pulling his head down to her lips. It wasn’t that far for Neville to lean down since they were almost of the same height. Harry smirked as his sister and her boyfriend continued to lock lips. After a couple of minutes passed with no sign of them separating, he cleared his throat noisily. He did it twice more but it seemed they didn’t notice, causing him to sigh and look away. Finally, after what seemed to Harry like hours, they broke slightly apart to stare at each other. “Wow,” Harry heard Neville whisper before he grinned down at Rose who said, “Yeah, wow.” “All right, lovebirds,” Harry said. “You can get back to that in a while. How are you, Neville?” Neville grinned sheepishly at him as he pulled further back from Rose. “Great, Harry.” Harry laughed. “I bet you are, especially after kissing my sister like that.” Neville shrugged as he placed an arm around Rose who just glared at Harry. “What can I say? I missed her.” “Yeah, mate, I know the feeling,” Harry said. “Even with our soul bond, I still miss Ginny when she’s not with me.” “Come on, Neville,” Rose said, pulling on his arm, “I want to show you the garden.” “Rose,” Harry said, “he’s seen the garden before.” “Not this year,” Rose said, “Come on, Nev.” Neville allowed Rose to drag him out the porch door into the garden with little protest. Harry watched them go before shaking his head. “They’ve only been dating for a week and he’s already doing whatever she wants. He’s whipped.” “And what about you, Potter?” Ginny’s voice sounded in his mind, “Do you do whatever I want?” “Most definitely, Miss Weasley,” he replied. “Not that it’s a bad thing. In fact, I love it.” “You’d better,” Ginny said. “I intend to do that for the rest of our lives.” “Looking forward to it, Gin,” Harry said. “Can’t you come over today?” “I’m sorry, love,” she said, sounding quite annoyed, “but Mum decided to air out all the bedrooms today and dragooned me and Ron to help her.” “What about Fred and George?” Harry asked. Ginny huffed. “That’s just it. The twin gits vanished as soon as breakfast was over, leaving me and Ron. They told me last night that they’ve found a place in Diagon Alley to set up their joke shop. I have a feeling they plan to move out of the Burrow soon.” Harry whistled. “That is big. Your mum won’t be happy. With the way things are, she’ll be worried about them being on their own.” “I know,” Ginny said. “She’s already worried about Bill and Charlie. Then there’s that git, Percy. She still worries about him even if he hasn’t contacted us in almost a year. Given what happened to her brothers in the first war, I think she’s worried some of us might not make it to the end of this war.” Harry could feel the same fear flitting through her mind and wished he could be there to comfort her. He also had the same fear for his family, especially now that his dad was the Minister. It was something they seldom discussed but was always at the back of their minds. He knew her greatest fear was that he would not survive, even if he defeated Voldemort. “Gin,” he said gently, “none of us know what will happen in this war. We can only do our best and stand up against Voldemort. I do promise you that I’ll do my best to live through this war and be with you for the rest of our lives.” Harry could feel the tears running down Ginny’s cheeks as she said, “You’d better make sure you fulfill that promise, Potter, or I’ll hex you into next week.” ******* Unaware of her brother and best friend’s dark musings, Rose laughed as she pulled Neville along past the neat rows of bushes covered with blooming flowers that formed the main part of Potter Manor’s garden. The sun shone brightly in the sky, typical of a lovely June day. Neville looked like he wanted to stop and examine the various botanical specimen in their garden but Rose simply continued to pull him along. The bushes soon gave way to trees, all blooming with flowers as well. “Hold on, Rose,” Neville said. “Where are we going?” “You’ll see,” Rose said, not relinquishing the hold she had of Neville’s hand. “It’s just a little further. We’ll climb up that tree,” Rose said, pointing to a huge oak at least 20 feet high and five feet thick at the base, set at the edge of the clump of trees they were running through. Just beyond the trees, they could see a 10 foot high stone wall. Rose started to climb the oak tree as soon as she was at its base. “What’s up there, Rose?” Neville asked as he looked up at her climbing figure. He could barely see her due to the thickness of the leaves growing from the tree. “Something you’d like, Nev,” Rose said, motioning to him to follow her, “Not the tree itself but what it lets you see beyond the wall.” “All right,” Neville said. “Hold your horses. I haven’t climbed up a tree since I was six.” After a few minutes, he reached the thick branch she was perched on which was more than 10 feet above the ground. “Now what?” he asked once he was level with here. “Look over there,” Rose said. “Look over the wall.” Neville gasped. Beyond the wall was an open field at least a mile wide, covered with flowers of every color. “That’s so beautiful, Rose,” Neville said, awe evident in the tone of his voice. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” “Well, knowing how you liked plants so much, I thought you’d like it,” Rose said, grinning at him. “This is one of my favorite hiding places. No one can see me when I’m up here during the spring and summer. Not even Harry knows about this. I often come here to think. It’s inside the grounds so it’s within the wards and far enough from the house that no one bothers me when I don’t want to be.” Then she added in a softer voice, “I’ve never shown it to someone before, not even Ti.” Rose leaned back on the trunk of the tree and Neville sat next to her, looking out at the sea of multicolored blossoms as far as the eye can see. “Thanks, Rose” Neville said. “I’m honored that you’d share this with me. It’s a beautiful sight but not as beautiful as you.” He leaned down to capture her lips with his. Rose threw her arms around his neck and he encircled his own around her waist as they continued to kiss. After several minutes, they broke apart for some air. Somehow, they had turned around so that Neville was now leaning against the tree with Rose nestled up against him. When they had managed to regain their breath, Neville said, “I’m so glad your parents allowed me to see you today. I was going mad back home with only your letters. I couldn’t even concentrate on my plants.” Rose looked up at him. “I find that hard to believe, knowing how much you like working with plants.” “Well, you can ask Maggie the next time you see her,” Neville said. “She couldn’t resist teasing me about it.” “I just might do that,” Rose said. “Why don’t you bring her around tomorrow. I’m sure she’d love to get out of your house. She can play with Andrew and Daisy. “Thanks,” Neville said. “She might like that. She looks up to you, you know, said she thought of you as a sister.” “She does?” Rose looked up at him in surprise. “Yeah, you and Ginny,” Neville said. “In fact, she’s quite happy you and I are together.” “I’m glad, too,” Rose said. “I like her, too. Ginny, Hermione and I do consider her a younger sister.” “That’s great,” Neville said, leaning down to give Rose a soft kiss on the lips. After a few seconds of silence, Neville asked, “So how’s your Dad? Has he been telling you what’s going on at the Ministry?” Rose sighed. “Yeah, it’s not going that well. Most of the Department Heads are giving excuses to delay the reforms he’s been pushing for, especially for magical creatures like werewolves and centaurs.” “That’s not good,” Neville said. “It would be harder for Voldieshorts to recruit the werewolves if the laws against them were revised to more reasonable ones.” “I know,” Rose said. “But people are so pigheaded and stubborn. They just don’t understand how Voldie operates. At least Dad has the Aurors in better shape now, even if he kept that Scrimgeour bloke as head.” “Dad and Mum said Scrimgeour’s a good Auror though he’s got a politician’s mind,” Neville said. “He recognized your dad has a better inkling of how to fight Voldie than Fudge had.” “That’s for sure,” Rose said. “I’m sure anyone would be better than Fudge, except maybe that Umbridge woman. Nev, are you worried whenever your Mum and Dad go to work, especially now there’s a war on?” Neville was silent for a few seconds then he sighed. “Yeah, I am. They’re in the front line of the fight against Voldemort. I know that according to that Prophecy that we, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Ti are somehow supposed to be the ones to get rid of that bastard but right now, my parents are the ones fighting him and his Death Eaters. It scares me sometimes, the thought that they might not come back. I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.” “I know how you feel,” Rose said. “Now that he’s Minister, I bet Dad is a real big target for Voldie and his goons. It’s a good thing the Manor is warded and hidden. Your place is also warded, isn’t it?” “Yeah, I think so,” Neville said. “Dumbledore came over last summer to inspect the wards. I think he added a few to the ones that were there. We should be safe there.” They sat silently for some time after that, just enjoying each other’s presence. Then, they heard a pop on the ground. “Mistress Rose?” they heard a squeaky voice call from below them. Rose peered down to the ground to see one of the house-elves looking up. “We’re up here, Mini,” Rose said. “Master Harry asked me to look for you,” the house elf said. “It’s time for lunch.” “All right,” Rose said, “We’ll be down in a minute.” Rose turned to Neville and found him looking out at the sea of flowers beyond the wall with a gleam of longing in his eye. She giggled and kissed him on the tip of his nose. “I promise you, Nev, when this war is done and it’s safe, we’ll go out there and you can tell me the names of all those lovely flowers.” He grinned back sheepishly and nodded his head. ******************** Neville spent the rest of the day with the Potters, including a few hours playing with Daisy and Andrew. Rose pulled him back to the garden for some more privacy before he had to go home. Rose reminded him to bring Maggie along on his next visit. The next afternoon, Neville came back with Maggie to find that Ginny and Ron were there as well. The Potter, Longbottom and Weasley teens had a great time playing three-on-three Quidditch, boys versus girls. Maggie turned out to be a pretty good seeker and chaser and Harry suggested she try out for the team when they went back to Hogwarts. She could fill one of the reserve positions, especially since Rose and Ginny would now be in the regular team after the graduation of Angelina and Alicia. On Sunday, Dumbledore played an unexpected visit to the Potters. He told Harry that he’d start the wandless and wordless magic training for him and Ginny the next day. The others were permitted to try as well, though he believed only Neville had the power to do what Harry and Ginny could. So on the 1st of July, Harry, Rose, Ginny, Ron, Neville, Maggie and Ti were again gathered at Potter Manor. Hermione was still out of the country with her parents and brother and the Weasley twins had said that they were not interested in that part, especially since they were busy with their new business. Professor Dumbledore soon arrived and beamed as he looked them over. “Well, I see many of you are interested to try this,” he said. “Yes, sir,” Maggie said. “When Harry told Neville about it, I wanted to see if I could do it as well.” “I hope you realize, Miss Longbottom,” Dumbledore said, “that only a handful of wizards and witches are capable of wandless magic. Wordless magic is easier and we do teach that in sixth year. Most wizards can do a bit that kind of magic after enough training. But wandless magic is much, much harder and takes a lot of power.” “Why is that, Professor?” Rose asked. “Well, Rose,” Dumbledore said, “to answer that, you must ponder first why we use wands to cast spells.” “A wand allows us to focus our magical energy,” Rose said. “Correct,” Dumbledore said. “A wand lets us channel the magic within us contained in the magical core Martha taught you about in your lessons. It also allows us to do this in an instant. Without a wand, you have concentrate harder to focus your energy so you can cast a spell. The wand also amplifies our energy using the magical material that forms our wand’s cores. That is why spells cast without a wand are less powerful. You need a lot of magical energy to get the same effect wandlessly as you would get with a wand.” “What about wordless magic, Professor?” Neville asked. “You said it’s taught at Hogwarts in the sixth year.” “Yes, Mr. Longbottom,” Dumbledore said, “that is actually part of Defense against the Dark Arts. Wordless magic is sometimes called Silent Casting. You must think the incantation rather than say it aloud.” “That’s what I did in the duel with Draco,” Harry said, “I said 'Protego' in my head while waving my wand.” “Exactly, Harry,” Dumbledore said, “That’s the way to do it. We shall separate the two forms for now. Before we can start trying wandless magic, you must learn to focus your magical core to something other than your wands. Usually, you focus it to your hand. Like this…” He placed his wand on a table, stepped back then said, “Lumos!” while waving his hand. The tip of his wand lit up. “Now, we’ll start with something you’re all familiar with from first year,” Dumbledore said. He brought out seven feathers from a pocket in his robes then conjured a long table in the middle of the room. The seven teens sat down behind the table in a line and Dumbledore placed a feather in front of each one. “I’m sure you all remember this particular exercise from Filius’ class,” he said, his eye twinkling. “You may begin trying to levitate your feather. No wands now.” The seven teens exchanged wry grins and set to work. “Wingardium Leviosa!” was said seven times as they waved their hand over their feather. None of the feathers moved. They continued trying for more than an hour. By the time the session ended, only Harry and Rose had managed to get their feather a couple of centimeters above the table while Ginny and Neville’s feathers had only moved slightly. All of the teens were exhausted. “That was hard work, Professor,” Harry said. “True, Harry,” Dumbledore said, “but you managed to do it. With more practice, you should be able to do more.” He turned to the others. “Do not be discouraged by your failure today. Continue practicing when you have the chance. I shall be back tomorrow.” The teens bid farewell to their Headmaster and slumped down to the floor to rest. “That was exhausting,” Rose said as she leaned against Neville. “You can say that again,” Ginny said from a similar position beside Harry. “I didn’t realize wandless magic required so much energy,” Neville said. “At least your feather moved,” Ron said testily from his prone position on the floor. “Mine didn’t even twitch. On top of that, I can’t even move a muscle.” Just then, one of the house-elves popped in. “Excuse me, Master Harry. Lunch is ready.” “Thanks, Lamni,” Harry said, “and for Merlin’s sake, please stop calling me Master.” Lamni tilted her nose in the air. “I’m sorry, Master Harry. I can’t do that. It’s not proper.” She disappeared with another pop. Harry heard the door open and looked up to see Ron leaving the room. “Hey, Ron, I thought you couldn’t move a muscle.” Ron just shrugged before replying, “It’s lunchtime.” The other teens chuckled as they slowly got to their feet to follow Ron from the room. They continued practicing the levitation charm wandlessly that afternoon for a couple of hours with better results. All seven of them were able to raise their feathers a full three centimeters above the table by the end of the day. These lessons continued for the rest of the week with rapid progression. By Friday, all seven were working on doing the Protego charm wandlessly, much to Dumbledore’s pleasure. It was during their afternoon session that Rose had her next vision. ******* Rose grinned as she felt the shield she had just created wandlessly absorb the stinging hex Ginny had cast at her. Suddenly, the training room vanished and she found herself on a dark unfamiliar street lit by street lamps. Where the hell am I? Is this another vision? She pulled out her wand just in case it was not. The light from the street lamps was just bright enough for her to see that the street was made of concrete and lined by small houses. It was also deserted. Looking around, she spotted a small clock mounted on top of a pole. It said eleven fifteen. A sign below the clock had the name Lower Covington on it. Then she heard the unmistakable sound of Apparation from behind her. Turning around, she saw several figures in dark cloaks and silver masks. Death Eaters! She felt a sense of dread. One of the Death Eaters pointed his wand at a house and said something she couldn’t hear. The front of the house suddenly exploded. The other dark wizards did the same thing and soon the whole row of houses was on fire. Figures started running out of the houses. The Death Eaters started throwing curses at them, laughing all the while. Rose felt sick as she watched the carnage and heard the screams. Tears started running down her face as she saw a boy who looked no older than six get torn apart by cutting and severing curses from three Death Eaters. She watched as two Death Eaters grabbed hold of a girl who was probably only thirteen then proceeded to rape her. Her screams and their laughter pierced Rose’s heart as she clamped her hands over her ears to drown them out and closed her eyes. She heard someone else screaming and it took her a moment to realize it was her. Suddenly, she was torn from the vision. Opening her eyes, she looked into the bright green orbs of her brother. Harry’s arms were on her shoulders. “Rose, are you all right?” he asked. “Was it another vision?” Rose didn’t answer. Instead she threw her arms around Harry and started crying into his shoulder. Then the world turned black. Much later, Rose slowly woke up, confused about where she was. She looked around and saw that she was in her room, on the bed. The clock on the night table on her right showed it to be six in the evening. “Hey, you’re awake,” a familiar voice called to her from her left side. Turning that way, she was surprised to see Neville sitting in her desk chair just beside her bed. “How are you feeling?” Neville asked. “W-what happened?” Rose asked. “Why am I in my room?” “We’re not sure,” Neville answered. “You were practicing doing the Shield Charm wandlessly with Ginny when you suddenly went stiff. After a couple of minutes, you started to scream as you put your hands over your ears and closed your eyes. Harry managed to bring you around but then you started crying and fainted. “ Rose remembered then what had happened, including the images she saw of the attack. Tears started forming in her eyes again as she sat up. “Rose,” Neville began, “what’s wrong?” “Oh, Neville,” Rose said, “I had another vision. I-I saw some Death Eaters attacking a village at night. They blew up some houses then started cursing the people as they tried to escape their burning homes. I s-saw two of them r-raping a girl who couldn’t be have been older than Maggie.” Neville’s face turned pale but he gently drew her into his arms. “Shh,” he said. “We’re going to stop those bastards. Do you know the name of this village? What about the day of this attack?” “I saw the name of the village below a clock,” Rose said. “It’s Lower Covington and the clock was at fifteen past eleven at night just before they Apparated in. I just have no idea what day it was.” “Tut, tut,” they heard from the door, “I let you stay in here to tell us when she woke up, not to get cozy with her.” They looked in the direction of the door to find Harry standing there with a smirk on his face. “For your information, Harry,” Rose said, “he was comforting me before I started to freak out again.” The smirk vanished from Harry’s face and he sat down on the bed, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. “Sorry, Rose,” Harry said, “I almost forgot what happened earlier. Was it another vision?” “Y-yeah,” Rose said. She told him what she had told Neville. Harry’s face hardened and he said, “I’ll let Professor Dumbledore and Dad know. Hopefully, we have time to stop this attack. Are you all right?” “I still feel a little out of sorts from seeing all that,” Rose said. “I’d like to stay here for a bit longer.” “All right,” Harry said. He got up from the bed and headed out the door. Just as he got to the door, he paused, “Oh Neville, you can stay with her as long as you want. Just don’t tire her out.” He was out of the door which closed firmly behind him before Rose could find her wand to hex him. “Git,” Rose said. She turned to Neville whose face was the same color as a Weasley’s hair. She grinned and took hold of his hand. “Don’t let the overprotective brother bother you, Nev. Let me thank you for staying with me.” Neville didn’t resist as Rose placed a hand behind his neck and drew him down to her. “You’re welcome,” he murmured just before his lips met hers. ******* Harry headed down the stairs to the living room. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Maggie and Ti were all there, quietly talking. Harry knew Ginny must be telling them about Rose’s vision. He didn’t say anything as he stepped over to the fireplace. He waved his hand and said, “Incendio!” The fireplace ignited. He took a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the flames. Once the fire turned green, he stuck his head in and said, “Minister of Magic’s office.” Once his head had settled, he found himself looking into a large office with shelves filled with books and a large ornate desk behind which sat his father. “Dad!” he called. James looked up and said, “Harry! Is Rose all right?” “Yes, she’s fine,” Harry said, “She did have a vision just as we suspected. There’s a village called Lower Covington that’s going to be attacked by Death Eaters at fifteen past eleven at night. She just didn’t know which night.” “All right, son,” James said, “I’ll find out where this Lower Covington is and get some Aurors to stake it out. You better tell Albus.” “Okay, Dad,” Harry said. He removed his head from the fireplace, severing the connection. Taking another handful of Floo powder, he threw it into the fire. Placing his head inside the green flames, he called out, “Hogwarts, Headmaster’s office.” His head swirled through several fireplaces before it settled in a familiar room with several strange instruments around the large wood desk and a phoenix stand in the corner. “Professor Dumbledore!” he called out. A few seconds later, his elderly mentor made an appearance, “Ah, Harry. Has Rose awakened?” “Yes, Professor,” Harry replied. “You were right. It was a vision. She saw the village of Lower Covington being attacked at fifteen past eleven at night. She just wasn’t sure if it was tonight or another night.” “Very well,” Dumbledore said. “I will send a couple of Order members to the village and keep watch. Have you contacted your father?” “Yes, sir,” Harry replied. “He’s already sending some Aurors over to watch the village for the appearance of Death Eaters. Um, Professor, can I help out with this attack?” Dumbledore sighed. “We shall see, Harry. Maybe if we’re sure Voldemort won’t be there. I don’t want you to confront him yet. I’m not sure you’re ready yet.” Harry felt his temper rising. “Forget I asked then,” he said curtly and drew back out of the fire, severing the connection. He felt a pair of small arms curl around his waist and a head lean against his back. He felt soothing feelings through his bond with Ginny calm the wild storm in his head. He spent several seconds reveling in her love. “Why is he holding me back, Gin?” he said softly. “I want to help fight these monsters. He knows I can handle it.” “He’s just being careful, love,” Ginny said, “He wants you to have the best chance to defeat Tom. He doesn’t want you to get killed by some nameless Death Eater, and neither do I.” Harry sighed. He turned around and encircled Ginny’s waist with his arms. “I’m sorry for almost loosing my temper. It’s just that all this training is not enough. All the practice in the world can’t replace actual experience. Moody told me that once after one of his classes, just before the third task. I bet if he were here, he could convince Dumbledore to let me fight.” “We’ll just have to train harder and show him we can handle ourselves, Harry,” Ginny said. “Don’t worry. We’ll get some action soon.” He looked down at her and smirked. “Are you getting seer powers as well, love?” Ginny slapped him lightly on the arm. “No, but it’s just a feeling I have.” “All right,” Harry said. “Want to fly around a bit? There’s still enough light to see. I need to release some of this tension.” “Great,” Ginny said, “Let’s go.”
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