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Chapter Fifteen: Life Goes On

The first Defense Against the Dark Arts Lesson was rather interesting, as Lupin had begun a unit on Vampires for the new term. This was scheduled to take them through the end of the year and the following year Lupin said that they would start learning about some of the lower level Dark Magic and the defense tactics that go along with it. Harry could hardly wait, as when learning about magic, there was a chance he could learn something new he could use in a practical situation such as getting jumped by crazed ex-Death Eaters when going to Hogsmeade with one of his friends.

After Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Harry decided he would remind Lupin of his promise to teach Harry how to defend himself against Dementors.

"Ah yes Harry, rest assure I haven’t forgotten and have been giving the matter a great deal of thought," commented Lupin lightly. "How does Eight O' Clock in the History of Magic Classroom on Thursday nights sound?"

It was perfect, as Flint usually on his worst nights let out Quidditch Practice around Seven Thirty.

"That sounds good, Professor," responded Harry. "I suppose I'll see you then."

"Yes, Harry, but you better hurry off or you'll be late for your next lesson," said Lupin.

Harry nodded before hurrying off. Lupin had a strange feeling despite the Patronus being one of the most difficult light magic spells to master, Harry would not rest until he would learned with complete perfection.

Harry was walking to the hallways when he heard a heated argument.

"Hermione, you better tell that cat of yours to lay off Scabbers!" screamed the angry voice of Ron Weasley. "That thing's a menace and poor Scabbers is nothing but skin and bones because that fur ball is stalking it."

"Honestly, Ronald, all cats chase rats, Crookshanks doesn’t know it's wrong to attack Scabbers," said Hermione in an exasperated voice.

"Control that cat, or I'll control him for you, Hermione," threatened Ron angrily.

"Is that a threat, Weasley?" asked Hermione in a dangerous voice.

Harry winced; she had been spending too much time with other Slytherins. He heard snickering behind him and Isabelle and Ginny were laughing at the argument.

"What's so funny exactly?" asked Harry calmly.

"It seems like little Ronniekins fancies Hermione," said Isabelle in a mischievous tone of voice. "Seriously, he is following her around all the time. Kind of scary at times, don't you think?"

"Poor Ron, he's in for a bit of a disappointment as Hermione still hasn't forgiven him for how he treated you during your first couple of years at Hogwarts, Harry, even if you don't really care anymore," added Ginny shaking her head.

"Meaning?" asked Harry.

"Hermione doesn’t like Ron at all due to what he pulled last year," said Isabelle. "She should be storming in looking ticked off right about...now."

Hermione came storming in, looking rather agitated.

"Honestly, he does not get the point at all, if he kept a better eye on that rat, he would not worry about Crookshanks going after it all the time," ranted Hermione.

Harry walked off to Transfiguration, letting Hermione rant on to dead air. It seemed Hermione was starting to slowly crack underneath the stress of taking too many classes. Harry had not had any chance to research methods Hermione could be using to take multiple classes at once with all the other things he had on his plate at the moment.

In his office, Dumbledore prepared to undergo the ritual. Dumbledore looked on his hand, which was giving a decaying odor for the past couple of weeks. His skin was beginning to rot off the bones from his hand again. Dumbledore had been undergoing these rituals so he could keep this primitive form past the time when most antiques began decaying. His primitive body died sometime during the 1970s but thanks his foresight of using the Elixir of Life and some extremely dark rituals decades earlier, he managed to keep this weak form from decaying too badly by performing the rituals every three years. The only draw back was Dumbledore could not perform complex bits of magic without taking several weeks off as his magic was severely weakened in this form. Once the artifact was destroyed, Dumbledore could shelve this half-life and return to the glory he had during a previous existence.

Dumbledore opened up his cabinet, pushing the Pensieve to one side before he pulled a switch back that looked like a human skull, revealing a secret space behind the cabinet that contained the Pensieve. The Headmaster looked at the bones scattered among the floor. Bellatrix Lestrange's recent killing spree had been a blessing in disguise as Dumbledore acquired quite a bit of supple, young human flesh during some grave robbing to last him until the three years before he had to do this ritual again.

Dumbledore walked over to the clear vase with the werewolf blood and Elixir of Life mixture bubbling in it. Waving his wand, three tubes shot out of it. Dumbledore stuck one end of the first tube into the vase and the other onto his right arm. The second tube was fastened onto his left arm before getting fused into the table with human flesh lying on it, arranged to fit Dumbledore's exact body size and structure. The third tube was attached to Dumbledore's head all the way to his wand. Dumbledore then started a time delay charm, as the old skin from his primitive would rot to dust before the new skin would be fused to his bones. The werewolf blood and Elixir of Life mixture would be the glue that sustains the primitive form that Dumbledore was currently cursed with.

Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione were eating dinner. Harry had yet to join them at this moment. Their conversation was disrupted when an owl delivered a note. Hermione took it, before reading it with a bit of a disappointed look on her face.

"Malfoy got what he wanted, Buckbeak is being put on trial by the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures," said Hermione in a low voice.

"I'm actually surprised it took this long," said Daphne. "Lucius Malfoy normally gets what he wants from the Ministry straight away."

"I believe it's because the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures is dealing with an outbreak of werewolf attacks," said Theodore. "Another nine were turned during the last full moon, twelve were killed. It seems Greyback is behind this."

"He's horrible," said Daphne shuddering. "I remembering overhearing my parents talking about him, You-Know-Who used to set him against people who would not join him."

"Back to Hagrid," said Hermione. "He obviously needs help to research this case so he can get Buckbeak cleared..."

"Hermione, I really hate to break this to you, but Buckbeak is not getting cleared," said Daphne. "Lucius Malfoy will make sure of that, he has quite a few friends in that department especially."

"It's hopeless, Hermione," said Theodore dismally.

"What's hopeless?" asked Luna who had appeared at the Slytherin Table.

"Nothing, Luna," said Hermione a little too quickly.

"Okay, Hermione, if you say so," said Luna not really believing her. "I do have something to ask. Have any of you seen Harry or Ginny recently?"

"No, I haven't," said Hermione frowning. "It's very strange for either Harry or Ginny to be gone for this long. Harry has Quidditch practice after Dinner."

At this moment, Harry and Ginny were deep down in the chamber underneath the Slytherin library. Ginny had begged Harry relentlessly about training her in ninjitsu and Harry reluctantly gave in. Harry saw potential in his friend but he still was afraid she would get in over her head if she thought she could handle herself with just a little bit of training.

"Okay Ginny, against my better judgment, I am going to train you in Ninjitsu," said Harry in a tense voice. "First of all, let me make one thing perfectly clear to you. An enemy, no matter how harmless they seem, should never be taken for granted and you should never overestimate your own skills. Many have taken on more than they can handle and it is costly."

"Harry, I understand exactly where you are going and I agree no one should be underestimated. If nothing else, the incident with the diary taught me that" said Ginny shuddering in remembrance of her first year and also wondering if Harry was talking about the mysterious attack that happened over the summer to Harry that her friend was vague on details with.

"For proper methods of attack, you need to learn how to focus your mind and meditation is the most common method in accomplishing this task," lectured Harry, as everyone of Master Splinter's lessons were burned into his memory and he could remember them as if they were lesson. This was one of the first things Splinter told him about Ninjitsu.

Ginny nodded, paying more attention to Harry than she did for the majority of her classes. She had only being instructed by Harry for a few minutes but Ginny already felt he was perhaps one of the best teachers she had ever had, just eclipsing Lupin by a small margin. Than again, as Harry was her friend, Ginny felt she might have been a little biased.

"Sit down Ginny, relax your mind," said Harry in a soft voice. "Let thought flow in and out of your mind naturally, under no circumstances, don’t strain yourself to focus, allow it to occur in a gradual cycle. Failure to do this may have dire consequences."

Ginny obeyed Harry, sitting down as Harry did the same. Her mind was still recovering slightly from the mess involving the diary and she inadvertently pulled some shadowed partial memories that made her scream out in horror. Ginny then knew what Harry meant by dire consequences and wished she had heeded his warning.

"Ginny, calm yourself, relax," said Harry although he seemed rather frightened at his friend screaming in horror in that manner. "Try and ease your mind away from the diary, your obsession with burying Tom will not allow you to focus, as with every attempt to bury him, the focus comes back to him. I cannot teach you any defensive or offense fighting unless you do that Ginny."

Ginny relaxed her mind, attempting to not let the darkness of what happened in the past consume her with hatred for Voldemort as Harry had put it in the weeks following the diary. By the end of their hour together, Ginny managed to arrange her mind to focus a little better and burying the diary incident deep within her memories became less of a priority.

"I think you have had enough for today, Ginny," said Harry quietly.

"I think I should practice some more tomorrow. Please, Harry?" pleaded Ginny, looking up at Harry.

Harry avoided looking at Ginny’s eyes, as he knew his will power would weaken for reasons he could not figure out if he did. He must put separate his ability to teach and his friendship, so Ginny could learn the art of Ninjitsu properly at a slow, acceptable pace, and not an accelerated rate that would leave her prone to mistakes.

"No Ginny, you need a couple of days to reflect upon what I’ve told you," responded Harry sternly. "I don't want to teach you any more than you can handle in a short amount of time. There’s so much I can teach you but at the same time there’s also still so much I have yet to learn."

Harry and Ginny left the chamber underneath the Slytherin library, walking in silence. From what Harry could tell, Ginny seemed to pick the first lesson up more quickly than he could have ever expected. The only thing that tore Harry apart was how he had to let the lesson settle in for a couple of days and not get to spend time alone with Ginny for that hour. Plus, he was going to start his lessons with Professor Lupin to try and combat the Dementors.

That Thursday, Hermione, Daphne, Theodore, and Harry were talking during the third year break period.

"From what the Daily Prophet says, it seems like things of dark orientation are getting restless," said Daphne. "Between the Werewolf attacks, the Dementors becoming more horrid..."

"As if they are not horrid enough right now," responded Harry with a shudder.

"And the Hogsmeade attacks are still going on," said Daphne.

"It's almost like they feel like there is going to be something big involving You-Know-Who," said Hermione. "Lestrange and Black, two high ranking Death Eaters, also broke out of Azkaban, all these little things seem to be leading to something big."

"Voldemort could come back," said Harry, ignoring the shudders from the other three. "I am very uneasy that nothing sinister has been happening that would connect back with Voldemort this year."

"You-Know-Who has been rather quiet recently," said Theodore. "After the Stone, his present self seems to have vanished into oblivion."

"Although there have been those horrid Albania rumors," said Daphne.

"What are those?" asked Hermione.

"There have been a lot of mysterious disappearances in a forest in Albania," explain Theodore. "The last one's were a pair of Muggle hikers just a month before this year. The Muggle authorities have cautioned people not to go into the forest at all. It is pretty much an accepted fact that whatever is left of You-Know-Who is carrying out the attacks."

Harry closed his eyes, it could sense something coming, something rather evil. The reality struck Harry hard; he needed to allow Voldemort to come back to full strength in order to defeat him once and for all. Fate, as much as Harry disagreed with its existence, mandated several things to happen and one them apparently was Voldemort bringing himself back from his spectral form.

"He'll be back at some point unfortunately and even more unfortunately at full strength," declared Harry in a quiet voice. "Whether it be next week, next month, next year, but he will come back and attempt to finish what he started."

"Harry this’s..." said Hermione anxiously, not able to find words.

"He won't beat me, I won't let him do it," said Harry definitely. "Maybe there was a point last year when the majority of the school seemed to hate me due to that Chamber of Secrets mess but not now. I have way too much to lose."

Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione seemed unable to respond to what Harry was saying so Harry continued.

"To many people, I am the Wizarding World," continued Harry. "As much as I hate my fame, it is no longer an issue with the younger members of the Wizarding World. It is only an issue with the press and the politicians. I could care less what they think."

"Yes, but Harry they can be very powerful and could become yet another opponent for you," cautioned Daphne.

"Much like the Voldemort thing, I’ll cross the bridge when I come to it," answered Harry. "The Dementors, Black, Lestrange, Voldemort, and everything else that attempts to destroy me, I could care less about. I won’t live my life in fear!"

After all of these months, Harry had finally got what his dreams had been trying to tell him. He had to fight Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and assorted dark creatures that decided to join him. If he went down, then the entire Wizarding World went with him. If he failed to live his life, then the entire Wizarding World would fail in living theirs. One thing for sure, it was not the other way around. The Ministry of Magic could crumble and Harry would not be the least bit affected. If anything, there was a chance Harry's life could improve.

The only thing Harry worried about now was that infernal block Dumbledore placed on his power. He needed it removed, not for his own benefit but to protect his friends and family. Harry needed every bit of his magic at his disposal should he ever face off against Voldemort.

In the History of Magic classroom at Eight O’clock, Harry arrived, prepared to master the spell Lupin was going to teach him to defend against the Dementors. Lupin arrived a few moments later, carrying a suitcase. Seeing Harry's inquiring expression, Lupin decided to tell Harry what he was planning.

"For obvious reasons, I could not acquire a real Dementor to bring in the castle," explained Lupin. "Therefore, we will have to use a Boggart due to your greatest fear being a Dementor. When the Boggart sees you, it will change into a Dementor."

Harry nodded, as Lupin decided to continue.

"The spell I am going to teach you is extremely advanced, Harry," said Lupin. "Few witches and wizards have ever mastered it, due to their powers being depleted in the presence of a Dementor. This is way beyond anything that will be taught at Hogwarts. Now, the incantation for the spell is Expecto Patronum and the spell is called the Patronus. It conjures something that formed by a happy memory that will help distract the Dementor. If powerful enough, the spell will drive a Dementor away from the caster."

Lupin paused for a few seconds to allow what he said to soak in.

"Now, I would like you to take a moment and think of a happy memory, Harry," said Lupin

Harry thought long and hard for a memory. The first time he mastered a ninjitsu technique that Master Splinter had taught him seemed promising.

"Okay, Harry, think of that memory and say the incantation," said Lupin.

"Expecto Patronum," said Harry holding his wand. Some kind of silver mist came out.

"Excellent for a first try, Harry, most only manage a few sparks, even without a live Dementor," said Lupin. "Now, ready to try it with the Boggart."

Harry nodded, bracing himself for the Dementor, attempting to partially block their effects at the very least. Lupin pointed his wand towards his suitcase, before causing it to open. The Dementor came out of the briefcase.

"Voldemort, you will not have him," said a female voice. "Please not Harry, if you have any humility left, you will kill me instead."

"Stand aside you silly Mudblood girl," said a second voice, this one cold, dark, and brooding. "The boy will die, quit stalling for time and stand aside so I can kill him. No matter what obscure forms of magic you learned as an Unspeakable of the Department of Mysteries, you will not stop Lord Voldemort. It is my fate to rule the Wizarding World and you will not tamper with it, Lily Potter"

"Kill me instead, do it Voldemort," said Lily. "I’m just another person in your way, one less person that you have to deal with. Unless you’re not the Dark Lord everyone fears and are instead a gutless coward who can't even kill a twenty one year old girl."

"You will pay for that remark, Mudblood," hissed Voldemort. "You have been a thorn in my side too much and for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry attempted to jerk himself out of that horrible night when Voldemort killed his parents and force himself to remember his memory.

"Expecto Patronum," muttered Harry weakly but he could get nothing. He fell to his knees, attempting one last vain attempt but the mock Dementor seemed to overwhelm him.

Lupin blasted the case shut, looking at Harry with a bit of concern.

"I didn’t expect you to get it the first time with an actual Dementor," said Lupin before handing him a Chocolate frog. "Better eat that, it will replenish your strength."

Harry ate the chocolate frog. He realized it was moments before Voldemort killed his mother but Voldemort mentioning tampering with fate had chilled him to the bone. Perhaps he should have died that night; perhaps he was not supposed to live. Or perhaps Voldemort was just rambling on with psychotic delusions and Harry was being paranoid attempting to tie that night into the two times he heard fate was tampered with in the past from first the Centaurs and then Fawkes. Harry decided he would gain nothing by dwelling on the past and gave his head a shake to clear his mind of these vicious thoughts.

"Perhaps another memory would be better, Harry," said Lupin. "Try again."

Harry closed his eyes, fishing for another memory. The relief that he felt when Ginny was safe from Riddle smacked him in the face. It was so obvious, that he did not even think of it before. Then, Harry had a wild theory. How would a Patronus turn out if he focused on a person, as opposed to a memory?

"Now, Harry, before we try this again, I am going to ask you if you want to go on with this," said Lupin. "I shouldn't have really showed you this, as it was a complex bit of magic."

"Professor, I have to learn," said Harry in a definite voice.

Lupin waved his wand and the fake Dementor popped up out of the briefcase again, sucking all the life out from the air around it and flexing it's scaly fingers towards Harry. Harry was hit with another wave of darkness.

"Like the Phoenix I have risen from the ashes and into my fire you shall...

"Expecto Patronum!" cried Harry; focusing on Ginny with every bit of his mind he could muster. A silver undefined but still solid form shot out of his wand, backing off the Dementor.

"Harry that was incredible," remarked Lupin, fighting hard to keep favoritism out of his voice. "I have never seen a solid but undefined Patronus against a Dementor, rather fake or otherwise. It's normally mist for several weeks."

Harry sank down; he channeled a lot of magic. Too much magic, if Harry cared enough to dwell on the matter for too often. That block was going to be the death of him, especially when he reached a point where he could only use the limited amount of magic he had at his disposal.

Remus saw Harry's tired expression. He threw a lot into that one spell and that is what worried Remus.

"Harry, I believe we should conclude for tonight," said Remus, handing Harry a large bar of chocolate. "Eat all of this, you should feel better after eating that piece of chocolate and having a good night sleep."

Harry ate the chocolate before walking from the History of Magic classroom. Thoughts entered his mind, flowing in and out, but the most perplexing thing was the memory of when Voldemort murdered his mother. Voldemort seemed to want to spare her for some reason but Lily had basically goaded Voldemort into throwing that killing curse at her. Almost a strange thing, as if Lily did some kind of spell work that sealed Voldemort's fate once he killed her.

Fate was a strange thing. Black betrayed Harry's parents, sending Voldemort to them and that indirectly caused Voldemort's downfall by Harry on that Halloween night.

No matter what happened in the past, whether it is all what it seemed or not, life goes on each and every day each with separate surprises.

Harry went to sleep, vowing not to dwell on the past, rather look forward to what the future would bring, whether it be good or bad. Then, as it happened, Harry prepared to meet what came head on.