Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Slayer, The Avatar And The Guardian Of Light
Chapter 72 - The 4th House Of Harry Potter - Godrics Hollow
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 14th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Wales
Location: Godrics Hollow
Time: Early Evening
Harry, for once, managed to stay on his feet as he exited the fireplace.
Looking around, he saw that he was in a dark living room. It was early evening by this time, but very little light was entering through the now filthy windows.
The entire room was thick with dust and dirt, but more than that, the walls, floor and ceiling were all covered with vines and plants were nature had broken the windows and taken over the house.
He remembered how Remus had told him that it was Potter tradition that the first born of the current head of the Potter family would move to the Hollow after he or she was married so they could enjoy married life before they had to move back to the Estate upon the death of the previous Head of the Family to take up their role as the new Head of the Family.
He walked to the middle of the room, it wasn't overly large, there were two arm chairs as well as a settee positioned in front of the fireplace, all over grown with vines of every variety. Turning, he saw above the hearth, a large Muggle picture of a wood, showing a stag, a wolf, a large black dog, and a rat standing together as comrades.
Walking out of the room, he headed out of the stiff front door and walked around to the back garden, the lawn was equally as overgrown as the house.
There were large pine trees along the gardens borders, in front of them and around the rest of the beds were very long and fiercely overgrown plants, the lawn itself was covered in foot tall grass interspersed with weeds.
There was one section of the garden that was totally dead; a black strip of long deceased plants extended from the far end, passing through the line of pines, leaving a section of dead wood on the trees on either side of the strip.
Harry could feel the black magic seeping from the stains. He just knew that that was where Voldemort had walked, how evil was he if even his mere presence destroyed life.
Walking over to the tree, Harry waved his hand over the bark in a complex pattern which resulted in four new branches bursting out from amongst the blackened bark, pushing the dead material aside and causing them to break off, leaving the branches to continue to grow normally, hopefully the remaining patches of black magic would not be able to interfere with any more of the trees growth.
He repeated the procedure with the other tree before turning back to the strip; he would heal the grass later.
The black strip extended to the back door, following it Harry walked inside, the door itself was hanging on one rusty hinge.
Just inside the walls were stained black, there was a large amount of wreckage from a fight and on the floor was the charred outline of a body where a flame curse had burnt one of the houses inhabitants, it appeared to be male.
His father.
He had died trying to protect his wife and son.
Harry saw a wand lying discarded on the floor under an upturned table at the other end of the hall, presumably where it had been thrown during the battle. Those who found his father had obviously not seen it.
He bent down and picked it up, brushing the dust off it, he held it in his hand. It was the same length as his own; he remembered Mr. Ollivander's words exactly.
"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches."
He had never found out what was in the core of his father's wand.
Or in his mothers.
"Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow."
He pocketed the wand and turned to follow the black marks up the stairs, the marks had now turned into ascending shoeprints.
The occasional black smear could be seen on the walls or the banister where Voldemort's cloak had brushed against them but most of the time there was just the continuing footprints.
Not much nature had reached the upper floor of the house; it was mostly just dirt and dust.
The footprints led around to the left to a room where the door was lying on the floor, now stained with the same black footprints.
As Harry entered the room, he could sense the magic present there, the whole room was saturated with it, he didn't even want to attempt to do magic here, a simple lighting charm would probably blind him.
The room held a bed, dresser and in one corner a cot; hanging over the side were a child's clothes.
Harry picked it up a garment and turned it over in his hands, he had worn it once, long ago.
Putting it back he turned to the rest of the room, the bed clothes held a slight indentation where a body had dropped onto it, ruffling the quilt.
The arms had fallen above the head and a few red hairs lay attached to a hairbrush at the top of the bed.
His mother's hair, preserved by some fluke of magic, probably due to the massive amount of power that had been released when Voldemort was defeated.
He picked up a few and ran them through his fingers until they all ran in the same direction.
He noticed that the hair was a deeper shade of red than that of Ginny and the Weasley's.
He now had something of both his parents.
He carefully stored them in a pocket, making a mental note to find some way to preserve them, they might only be hairs but along with his father's wand they were his only real links to both his parents.
He turned and walked to a partially opened window. Plucking a flower off a branch that had snaked its way into the gap; he returned to the bed and laid it down where his mother's would have lain.
He walked round to the side of the bed; the quilt on this side of the bed had been pulled as if something or someone had slid off the bed and onto the floor, a meter away from the bed a large black circle stained the floor where the footprints concluded, black patches that almost looked like spray marks covered the rest of the room, the originated from the black circle.
This was it.
This was the spot where his parent's murderer had been defeated by a child with only his mother's love as a defence.
Harry drew his father's wand again.
Here Harry decided.
Here Harry made his pledge.
His father died to save his family and his mother had died to save him.
And now his father's wand would be used to save the Wizarding World.
His father's wand would kill Voldemort.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 14th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Staff Quarters
Time: Late Evening
As Harry got to his feet after emerging from the fireplace, Fleur moved to his side.
"Are you alright Arry?" she asked, the question relating more to Godrics Hollow than to his fall.
"I'm ok," he replied "I found a couple of things that I've brought with me but the rest can stay there for the time being."
"What things?" asked Fleur.
Harry pulled out his father's wand then carefully extracted his mother's hair; he had managed to remove quite a lock from the hairbrush.
Fleur looked at the hairs for a moment before looking up at him sympathetically.
"If you give those to the Goblins, they may be able to preserve them."
"I'll do that." Nodded Harry "But before that we have two students two recruit."
"Eermione and Ron?" she asked.
"Yes." He nodded "Can you go and get them while I tell your parents we need to borrow the training room."
"Of course Arry." she nodded turning and walking out of the room, relieved that he didn't seem too affected by his visit.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 14th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Gryffindor Common Room
Time: Late Evening
"How do you think Harry will be when he gets back?" Asked Hermione as she paced up and down the Common Room.
"He was ok when he saw the graves so he should be ok seeing the house." Replied Ron from his laid back position on the settee "But there is no way for us to know, so there is no need to keep PACING!" He said loudly, startling Hermione out of her line of thought.
Her anxiousness had already cleared everyone else out of the Common Room; it was amazing how distracting a pacing prefect could be.
As soon as the portal swung open Hermione was there, not even giving Fleur a chance to speak.
"Is he back? How is he? How did he...."
"Hermione!" called Ron "Give her a chance to speak."
Hermione blushed in embarrassment before turning back to Fleur for her response.
"Arry seems ok, but he would like you both to meet him."
"Why didn't he come here?" asked Hermione.
"He wants to meet you in private." Explained Fleur.
"Where?" asked Ron, standing up.
"Follow me." She explained, turning around and walking out of the portal, the others following behind.
She led them down the stairs, through several hallways, down into the Entrance Hall and out onto the grounds, much to the student's surprise. As she stepped onto the grass she cast Disillusionment charms on them, before leading the confused pair towards the edge of the wards, the two students were mystified as to where they were going.
As soon as they reached the edge she cast the charm that Adam had taught her to temporarily ‘numb' the wards around them, the spell only worked on a very small area for less than ten seconds and repetitive use reduced the effect, not to mention the fact that it was extremely draining on the users magic.
Ushering the pair across, she just got through before the wards adapted and returned to normal.
She then withdrew a quill from her pocket before holding it out to the pair.
"Take a hold."
"Where are we going?" asked Hermione.
"You will find out in a moment, don't worry your perfectly safe."
Uncertainly the pair took a hold of the quill before feeling the familiar tug of a portkey.
________________________________________________________________________
Landing hard Hermione and Ron rolled to the floor in the training room.
"Sorry, I forgot to warn you, taking a portkey through wards can be uncomfortable."
"We're ok." Commented Hermione as they climbed to their feet "Where are we?"
"The Chateau Delacour." Said Harry as he walked in through the door "How was the trip?"
"Bumpy." Replied Ron, rubbing his leg where he had landed on it.
"Harry, what are we doing here?" asked Hermione.
"You're here to be recruited, take a seat and we will explain."
"What do you mean, be recruited?" asked Hermione, Ron having to push her towards the circular table in the middle of the room as she seemed quite content to just stand where she was and demand answers.
"As you know there are two forces outside the Ministries battling for who will control Wizarding Britain; The Order and The Death Eaters." explained Fleur "You are here to be recruited into the third group; The Alliance."
"The Alliance?" asked Hermione, surprised by what she was hearing "I've never heard of it."
"You wouldn't have, it's only been in existence since this summer, but already its leader has saved your life twice."
"Its leader has....the masked man!" exclaimed Hermione "You're allied with him?"
"Yes, he's called The Avatar, but not just with him," smiled Harry "We have many allies including The Veela Colonies, The Goblin Parliament and the House Elf Parliament."
"Bloody Hell!"
"Ron, don't swear." Said Hermione automatically, though she thoroughly agreed with the statement. "Are you serious Harry, what about Dumbledore and the Order?"
"Dumbledore is a fool." replied Harry, making Hermione gasp "All he ever does is watch and wait. He is extremely intelligent and very powerful I admit, and also a very good ally but he is reactive not proactive, whereas The Alliance is."
"We are not actually against Dumbledore," explained Fleur "We have the same objective, but we actively seek it rather than just waiting for Voldemort to act."
"How do you mean?"
"We want to end the string of small conflicts, we want to stop the small surprise attacks on individuals and actually face Voldemort and his Death Eaters in one huge battle to end them once and for all."
There recruits were silent for several seconds before Ron managed to ask:
"Have you gone stark raving bonkers?"
Harry snorted before replying.
"Possibly, but none the less, it is the only way to end the war once and for all."
"These small battles will just mean reduced numbers for both sides who will then rebuild and the cycle will start again." Added Fleur.
"Point taken." Nodded Ron, Hermione seemed much more hesitant, Harry had known that she would be harder to sway to the cause; she respected Dumbledore despite everything and liked authority, order and rules. Hopefully now that she knew what the Dursley's had done to Harry due to Dumbledore's slackness she wouldn't follow him so blindly.
"Why are you involved in this, I know that we cannot totally separate ourselves from the war but is going and looking for trouble really a good idea, why not just continue schooling until the trouble comes to you?"
"Because I can't." replied Harry "You remember that prophecy in the Department Of Mysteries last year."
They nodded.
"It was about me and Voldemort, given to Dumbledore by Trelawney, it said: ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches....born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies....and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not....and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives....the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies'."
During his recitation Hermione had gasp as she realised what it meant.
"Simply put, at the end it's got to be him and me alone."
Hermione immediately got up and moved around to Harry, dropped to her knees in front of him and hugged him tightly.
"Harry," she said pulling him tighter against her "You won't be alone....no one is ever alone as long as they have friends and as so long I am your friend neither shall you. I will stick with you until the end."
"So will I." Nodded Ron firmly.
A little stunned by their reaction Harry uncertainly pulled away from Hermione; he could see Fleur beaming beside him.
"Err, Hermione, that wasn't me saying I want to do this alone to protect you, that was just me saying I have to kill him and no one else can."
"Oh." Blushed Hermione, realising she had completely misinterpreted his statement.
"But thank you, none the less." He added with a smile, giving Hermione a chance to get off her knees and return to her seat.
"Who else is in ‘The Alliance'?" asked Hermione, obviously wanting to know more before committing and taking full advantage of the chance to change the subject "Anyone we know?"
"Tonks and Bill."
"What!" shouted Ron "Why did you ask them before us?"
"We didn't," replied Fleur "Bill recognised Colette and myself when we went with The Avatar to Eermione's house; he ambushed us when we got back here, volunteered and then we jointly recruited Tonks."
"Anyone else we should know about?" continued Ron half laughed.
"Just my parents, Madam Maxime, Mr Ollivander, Colette of course and Viktor."
"Oh, not many people then." Exclaimed Ron sarcastically.
"What's the overall objective of ‘The Alliance'?" asked Hermione, starting to ask the sensible questions.
"Defeat Voldemort, act where the Order watches, fight when the Ministry does nothing and oppose anyone who threatens any of our members whether they be individual, organisation or government." Explained Harry.
There were several seconds of silence before Hermione added.
"So nothing too big then."
"Do you deny that it needs to be done?" asked Harry.
"Well of course it needs to be done but I'm just surprised that someone's actually doing it." Explained Hermione "What else are you trying to do?"
"Before I answer that, you need to agree to join us." Explained Harry "We can't tell you anymore until we know your allegiance."
"Do you trust this....‘Avatar' Harry?" asked Hermione.
"He has my full trust." Replied Harry, he heard Fleur mentally snicker at the question "And even if he does not, the Court of Commanders, of which we are both members can stop him if they want to."
"What would we be required to do?" Hermione added.
"At the moment nothing, we along with the House Elves are the Avatars eyes and ears at Hogwarts, we have many non-human allies but we need to recruit as many people as we can, preferably people who already have skills that we could use, like Order members and the DA. But at some point of course you will need to fight and you already know of the risks involved in that."
Hermione thought for several very long seconds before answering, almost making Harry think she would say no.
"Ok Harry, I'll join."
Ron also nodded "If you think I'm being left out, you've got another thing coming."
Harry grinned widely at his friends.
"I knew I could count on you." He smiled as he withdrew the Treaty and a quill from his pocket before handing it over; he watched as Ron and Hermione read the document, after several minutes Hermione placed the Treaty on the table and signed before handing the quill to Ron who also signed.
There was the short flash of light before the rings appeared and their names disappeared from the document.
"What are these?" asked Ron, holding up his rings.
"It's a sign of your membership, like the coins from the DA. It's so others can recognise you are a member without saying anything; they can only be seen by those also wearing a ring." Harry and Fleur brought their hands into view so that their rings could be seen while their newest recruits donned theirs.
Slipping on hers, Hermione looked at their silver rings and compared it to her own.
"What is the significance of the colour?"
"Rank." Replied Harry "Silver means you are a member of the Court, Bronze means you are normal member and there is a single gold ring worn by The Avatar. All new members since the initial signing are to become Bronze members unless several Court members agree to let them join the Court."
"The Court members are the only people who know the true identity of The Avatar," explained Fleur "But in answer to your earlier question, currently the House Elves are busy doing espionage on the Death Eaters and others to find out as much as they can, the Veela and Goblins are preparing for a war and the humans are busy recruiting more people, Madam Maxime and my parents here in France, Viktor in Germany and Bulgaria, Tonks at the Ministry and us at Hogwarts and amongst the Alumni."
"I take it you're thinking big then."
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 14th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Wales
Location: Godrics Hollow
Time: Early Evening
Harry, for once, managed to stay on his feet as he exited the fireplace.
Looking around, he saw that he was in a dark living room. It was early evening by this time, but very little light was entering through the now filthy windows.
The entire room was thick with dust and dirt, but more than that, the walls, floor and ceiling were all covered with vines and plants were nature had broken the windows and taken over the house.
He remembered how Remus had told him that it was Potter tradition that the first born of the current head of the Potter family would move to the Hollow after he or she was married so they could enjoy married life before they had to move back to the Estate upon the death of the previous Head of the Family to take up their role as the new Head of the Family.
He walked to the middle of the room, it wasn't overly large, there were two arm chairs as well as a settee positioned in front of the fireplace, all over grown with vines of every variety. Turning, he saw above the hearth, a large Muggle picture of a wood, showing a stag, a wolf, a large black dog, and a rat standing together as comrades.
Walking out of the room, he headed out of the stiff front door and walked around to the back garden, the lawn was equally as overgrown as the house.
There were large pine trees along the gardens borders, in front of them and around the rest of the beds were very long and fiercely overgrown plants, the lawn itself was covered in foot tall grass interspersed with weeds.
There was one section of the garden that was totally dead; a black strip of long deceased plants extended from the far end, passing through the line of pines, leaving a section of dead wood on the trees on either side of the strip.
Harry could feel the black magic seeping from the stains. He just knew that that was where Voldemort had walked, how evil was he if even his mere presence destroyed life.
Walking over to the tree, Harry waved his hand over the bark in a complex pattern which resulted in four new branches bursting out from amongst the blackened bark, pushing the dead material aside and causing them to break off, leaving the branches to continue to grow normally, hopefully the remaining patches of black magic would not be able to interfere with any more of the trees growth.
He repeated the procedure with the other tree before turning back to the strip; he would heal the grass later.
The black strip extended to the back door, following it Harry walked inside, the door itself was hanging on one rusty hinge.
Just inside the walls were stained black, there was a large amount of wreckage from a fight and on the floor was the charred outline of a body where a flame curse had burnt one of the houses inhabitants, it appeared to be male.
His father.
He had died trying to protect his wife and son.
Harry saw a wand lying discarded on the floor under an upturned table at the other end of the hall, presumably where it had been thrown during the battle. Those who found his father had obviously not seen it.
He bent down and picked it up, brushing the dust off it, he held it in his hand. It was the same length as his own; he remembered Mr. Ollivander's words exactly.
"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches."
He had never found out what was in the core of his father's wand.
Or in his mothers.
"Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow."
He pocketed the wand and turned to follow the black marks up the stairs, the marks had now turned into ascending shoeprints.
The occasional black smear could be seen on the walls or the banister where Voldemort's cloak had brushed against them but most of the time there was just the continuing footprints.
Not much nature had reached the upper floor of the house; it was mostly just dirt and dust.
The footprints led around to the left to a room where the door was lying on the floor, now stained with the same black footprints.
As Harry entered the room, he could sense the magic present there, the whole room was saturated with it, he didn't even want to attempt to do magic here, a simple lighting charm would probably blind him.
The room held a bed, dresser and in one corner a cot; hanging over the side were a child's clothes.
Harry picked it up a garment and turned it over in his hands, he had worn it once, long ago.
Putting it back he turned to the rest of the room, the bed clothes held a slight indentation where a body had dropped onto it, ruffling the quilt.
The arms had fallen above the head and a few red hairs lay attached to a hairbrush at the top of the bed.
His mother's hair, preserved by some fluke of magic, probably due to the massive amount of power that had been released when Voldemort was defeated.
He picked up a few and ran them through his fingers until they all ran in the same direction.
He noticed that the hair was a deeper shade of red than that of Ginny and the Weasley's.
He now had something of both his parents.
He carefully stored them in a pocket, making a mental note to find some way to preserve them, they might only be hairs but along with his father's wand they were his only real links to both his parents.
He turned and walked to a partially opened window. Plucking a flower off a branch that had snaked its way into the gap; he returned to the bed and laid it down where his mother's would have lain.
He walked round to the side of the bed; the quilt on this side of the bed had been pulled as if something or someone had slid off the bed and onto the floor, a meter away from the bed a large black circle stained the floor where the footprints concluded, black patches that almost looked like spray marks covered the rest of the room, the originated from the black circle.
This was it.
This was the spot where his parent's murderer had been defeated by a child with only his mother's love as a defence.
Harry drew his father's wand again.
Here Harry decided.
Here Harry made his pledge.
His father died to save his family and his mother had died to save him.
And now his father's wand would be used to save the Wizarding World.
His father's wand would kill Voldemort.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 14th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Staff Quarters
Time: Late Evening
As Harry got to his feet after emerging from the fireplace, Fleur moved to his side.
"Are you alright Arry?" she asked, the question relating more to Godrics Hollow than to his fall.
"I'm ok," he replied "I found a couple of things that I've brought with me but the rest can stay there for the time being."
"What things?" asked Fleur.
Harry pulled out his father's wand then carefully extracted his mother's hair; he had managed to remove quite a lock from the hairbrush.
Fleur looked at the hairs for a moment before looking up at him sympathetically.
"If you give those to the Goblins, they may be able to preserve them."
"I'll do that." Nodded Harry "But before that we have two students two recruit."
"Eermione and Ron?" she asked.
"Yes." He nodded "Can you go and get them while I tell your parents we need to borrow the training room."
"Of course Arry." she nodded turning and walking out of the room, relieved that he didn't seem too affected by his visit.
________________________________________________________________________
Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 14th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Gryffindor Common Room
Time: Late Evening
"How do you think Harry will be when he gets back?" Asked Hermione as she paced up and down the Common Room.
"He was ok when he saw the graves so he should be ok seeing the house." Replied Ron from his laid back position on the settee "But there is no way for us to know, so there is no need to keep PACING!" He said loudly, startling Hermione out of her line of thought.
Her anxiousness had already cleared everyone else out of the Common Room; it was amazing how distracting a pacing prefect could be.
As soon as the portal swung open Hermione was there, not even giving Fleur a chance to speak.
"Is he back? How is he? How did he...."
"Hermione!" called Ron "Give her a chance to speak."
Hermione blushed in embarrassment before turning back to Fleur for her response.
"Arry seems ok, but he would like you both to meet him."
"Why didn't he come here?" asked Hermione.
"He wants to meet you in private." Explained Fleur.
"Where?" asked Ron, standing up.
"Follow me." She explained, turning around and walking out of the portal, the others following behind.
She led them down the stairs, through several hallways, down into the Entrance Hall and out onto the grounds, much to the student's surprise. As she stepped onto the grass she cast Disillusionment charms on them, before leading the confused pair towards the edge of the wards, the two students were mystified as to where they were going.
As soon as they reached the edge she cast the charm that Adam had taught her to temporarily ‘numb' the wards around them, the spell only worked on a very small area for less than ten seconds and repetitive use reduced the effect, not to mention the fact that it was extremely draining on the users magic.
Ushering the pair across, she just got through before the wards adapted and returned to normal.
She then withdrew a quill from her pocket before holding it out to the pair.
"Take a hold."
"Where are we going?" asked Hermione.
"You will find out in a moment, don't worry your perfectly safe."
Uncertainly the pair took a hold of the quill before feeling the familiar tug of a portkey.
________________________________________________________________________
Landing hard Hermione and Ron rolled to the floor in the training room.
"Sorry, I forgot to warn you, taking a portkey through wards can be uncomfortable."
"We're ok." Commented Hermione as they climbed to their feet "Where are we?"
"The Chateau Delacour." Said Harry as he walked in through the door "How was the trip?"
"Bumpy." Replied Ron, rubbing his leg where he had landed on it.
"Harry, what are we doing here?" asked Hermione.
"You're here to be recruited, take a seat and we will explain."
"What do you mean, be recruited?" asked Hermione, Ron having to push her towards the circular table in the middle of the room as she seemed quite content to just stand where she was and demand answers.
"As you know there are two forces outside the Ministries battling for who will control Wizarding Britain; The Order and The Death Eaters." explained Fleur "You are here to be recruited into the third group; The Alliance."
"The Alliance?" asked Hermione, surprised by what she was hearing "I've never heard of it."
"You wouldn't have, it's only been in existence since this summer, but already its leader has saved your life twice."
"Its leader has....the masked man!" exclaimed Hermione "You're allied with him?"
"Yes, he's called The Avatar, but not just with him," smiled Harry "We have many allies including The Veela Colonies, The Goblin Parliament and the House Elf Parliament."
"Bloody Hell!"
"Ron, don't swear." Said Hermione automatically, though she thoroughly agreed with the statement. "Are you serious Harry, what about Dumbledore and the Order?"
"Dumbledore is a fool." replied Harry, making Hermione gasp "All he ever does is watch and wait. He is extremely intelligent and very powerful I admit, and also a very good ally but he is reactive not proactive, whereas The Alliance is."
"We are not actually against Dumbledore," explained Fleur "We have the same objective, but we actively seek it rather than just waiting for Voldemort to act."
"How do you mean?"
"We want to end the string of small conflicts, we want to stop the small surprise attacks on individuals and actually face Voldemort and his Death Eaters in one huge battle to end them once and for all."
There recruits were silent for several seconds before Ron managed to ask:
"Have you gone stark raving bonkers?"
Harry snorted before replying.
"Possibly, but none the less, it is the only way to end the war once and for all."
"These small battles will just mean reduced numbers for both sides who will then rebuild and the cycle will start again." Added Fleur.
"Point taken." Nodded Ron, Hermione seemed much more hesitant, Harry had known that she would be harder to sway to the cause; she respected Dumbledore despite everything and liked authority, order and rules. Hopefully now that she knew what the Dursley's had done to Harry due to Dumbledore's slackness she wouldn't follow him so blindly.
"Why are you involved in this, I know that we cannot totally separate ourselves from the war but is going and looking for trouble really a good idea, why not just continue schooling until the trouble comes to you?"
"Because I can't." replied Harry "You remember that prophecy in the Department Of Mysteries last year."
They nodded.
"It was about me and Voldemort, given to Dumbledore by Trelawney, it said: ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches....born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies....and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not....and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives....the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies'."
During his recitation Hermione had gasp as she realised what it meant.
"Simply put, at the end it's got to be him and me alone."
Hermione immediately got up and moved around to Harry, dropped to her knees in front of him and hugged him tightly.
"Harry," she said pulling him tighter against her "You won't be alone....no one is ever alone as long as they have friends and as so long I am your friend neither shall you. I will stick with you until the end."
"So will I." Nodded Ron firmly.
A little stunned by their reaction Harry uncertainly pulled away from Hermione; he could see Fleur beaming beside him.
"Err, Hermione, that wasn't me saying I want to do this alone to protect you, that was just me saying I have to kill him and no one else can."
"Oh." Blushed Hermione, realising she had completely misinterpreted his statement.
"But thank you, none the less." He added with a smile, giving Hermione a chance to get off her knees and return to her seat.
"Who else is in ‘The Alliance'?" asked Hermione, obviously wanting to know more before committing and taking full advantage of the chance to change the subject "Anyone we know?"
"Tonks and Bill."
"What!" shouted Ron "Why did you ask them before us?"
"We didn't," replied Fleur "Bill recognised Colette and myself when we went with The Avatar to Eermione's house; he ambushed us when we got back here, volunteered and then we jointly recruited Tonks."
"Anyone else we should know about?" continued Ron half laughed.
"Just my parents, Madam Maxime, Mr Ollivander, Colette of course and Viktor."
"Oh, not many people then." Exclaimed Ron sarcastically.
"What's the overall objective of ‘The Alliance'?" asked Hermione, starting to ask the sensible questions.
"Defeat Voldemort, act where the Order watches, fight when the Ministry does nothing and oppose anyone who threatens any of our members whether they be individual, organisation or government." Explained Harry.
There were several seconds of silence before Hermione added.
"So nothing too big then."
"Do you deny that it needs to be done?" asked Harry.
"Well of course it needs to be done but I'm just surprised that someone's actually doing it." Explained Hermione "What else are you trying to do?"
"Before I answer that, you need to agree to join us." Explained Harry "We can't tell you anymore until we know your allegiance."
"Do you trust this....‘Avatar' Harry?" asked Hermione.
"He has my full trust." Replied Harry, he heard Fleur mentally snicker at the question "And even if he does not, the Court of Commanders, of which we are both members can stop him if they want to."
"What would we be required to do?" Hermione added.
"At the moment nothing, we along with the House Elves are the Avatars eyes and ears at Hogwarts, we have many non-human allies but we need to recruit as many people as we can, preferably people who already have skills that we could use, like Order members and the DA. But at some point of course you will need to fight and you already know of the risks involved in that."
Hermione thought for several very long seconds before answering, almost making Harry think she would say no.
"Ok Harry, I'll join."
Ron also nodded "If you think I'm being left out, you've got another thing coming."
Harry grinned widely at his friends.
"I knew I could count on you." He smiled as he withdrew the Treaty and a quill from his pocket before handing it over; he watched as Ron and Hermione read the document, after several minutes Hermione placed the Treaty on the table and signed before handing the quill to Ron who also signed.
There was the short flash of light before the rings appeared and their names disappeared from the document.
"What are these?" asked Ron, holding up his rings.
"It's a sign of your membership, like the coins from the DA. It's so others can recognise you are a member without saying anything; they can only be seen by those also wearing a ring." Harry and Fleur brought their hands into view so that their rings could be seen while their newest recruits donned theirs.
Slipping on hers, Hermione looked at their silver rings and compared it to her own.
"What is the significance of the colour?"
"Rank." Replied Harry "Silver means you are a member of the Court, Bronze means you are normal member and there is a single gold ring worn by The Avatar. All new members since the initial signing are to become Bronze members unless several Court members agree to let them join the Court."
"The Court members are the only people who know the true identity of The Avatar," explained Fleur "But in answer to your earlier question, currently the House Elves are busy doing espionage on the Death Eaters and others to find out as much as they can, the Veela and Goblins are preparing for a war and the humans are busy recruiting more people, Madam Maxime and my parents here in France, Viktor in Germany and Bulgaria, Tonks at the Ministry and us at Hogwarts and amongst the Alumni."
"I take it you're thinking big then."
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