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Author: pottervader Story: Harry Potter and the Prophesied Six Rating: Teens Setting: AU Status: WIP Reviews: 19 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: Sorry for the long wait. Real life again gave me little time to write over the last two weeks. I hope you like this one. With the passing of April into May, the students found themselves inundated by tests, homework and constant revising as the end of the term approached. This was especially true for the fifth and seventh years whose O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, respectively, were just a little over a month away. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville spent so much time studying and revising that Harry seldom had time to be alone with Ginny. If their bond wasn’t there to let them talk to each other, Harry would have become depressed or worse, gone loony. The work load was got so heavy that Harry reluctantly reduced the meetings of the Dueling Club to once a week, on Fridays for just an hour. However, the New Marauders decided to continue their Saturday afternoon practices. Their animagus sessions were on hold since everyone had achieved their forms except for Harry and Ginny who were almost done with their second forms. The bonded pair decided to wait for the summer to finish their transformation. In the aftermath of Neville’s revelation to Rose concerning his relationship with Lisa, Rose and Neville fell into a routine of studying or sitting beside each other at meals instead of across from each other. After the New Marauder Saturday sessions, they’d walk together back to Gryffindor tower, talking about little things they’d never talked about before including their lives before coming to Hogwarts and how their lessons and studies were coming along. Rose even started to tell Neville more about her lessons with Madam Thunderheart. Among the other Marauders, only Ginny noticed this and smiled to herself at the thought that the girl who was like a sister to her was finally opening up to the person she’d had a crush on for so long. It was a good thing that Gryffindor was done with all their Quidditch matches so they didn’t have practice time to add to their workload. Their only worry now was how the last game of the season, between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, would go. If Ravenclaw managed to hold Slytherin to less than a 500 point lead or even beat them, Gryffindor would win the House Cup on games and points won. That match was played out on the third Saturday of May. The Gryffindors were almost all out in support of the Ravenclaw team. Harry found it weird and unsettling that he had to support Cho Chang’s team. Of course, she had stopped shamelessly flirting with him during the DC meetings after she lost the snitch to him at their last match, so he hoped it wouldn’t cause any problems. Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team sat in the middle of their house’s section of the stands. Ginny sat down on Harry’s right side while Rose sat on his left with Neville on her left. They greeted Ti as the younger boy sat down in the row below them, in front of Harry and he greeted them back. Harry noticed that, while most of Gryffindor wore something blue or yellow in support of Ravenclaw, Ti was wearing a shirt that was partly blue and partly green. To his surprise, the girl he recalled to be Romilda Vane sat down on Ti’s left, wearing a blue skirt that showed a bit too much leg and a green V-necked blouse trimmed with silver that showed her cleavage. Their conversation drifted up to Harry and Ginny. Ti grinned as he looked at his year mate. “Now Romilda,” he said, “You couldn’t possibly be supporting Slytherin dressed up in those colors, would you?” The dark haired girl replied in a nonchalant manner, “Oh, I don’t know. I looked in my wardrobe this morning and thought this would be a good combination to wear today.” Ti’s grin widened. “Oh I agree. It does look great on you.” “Well, you don’t look bad yourself,” Romilda said, grinning back at him. They sat there staring and grinning at each other. Harry looked around for a moment to make sure no one would be paying attention to him and Ginny when he talked to her through their bond. “Uh, Gin, what do you think is going on there between Ti and that girl?” Ginny rolled her eyes before answering him, “Harry, love, you know sometimes I can’t believe how thick you can be.” Harry scowled and asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ginny sighed. “Well, Ti’s clothes are in that combination of colors probably to show he’s supporting the Slytherins because of Draco as well as Ravenclaw because the rest of Gryffindor is. I think Romilda is in that outfit because she knew that and she wants to impress Ti. I think she likes him.” Harry’s eyes widened. “Oh.” He paused for a moment. “Um, do you think he like her back?” “It seems that way,” Ginny said, looking at the two of them. “They have been spending a lot of time together lately. I do find it hard to believe he’d like her, considering that girl is a bit shallow and conceited. Just look at what she’s wearing. It’s a bit too revealing. But then, maybe being with another girl is just the thing for Ti to get completely over Rose. Then they can go back to being friends.” Harry screwed up his face as he tried to process how he’d feel about Ti and Rose just being friends instead of a couple. In spite of his earlier disapproval to Rose’s dating, he had warmed up to the idea of having Ti as a brother-in-law in the distant future. Now, that would not happen and never would, if Ti came to like other girls. The voice of Lee Jordan announcing the teams’ arrival on the Pitch drew his attention away from those thoughts. He focused on the game, knowing what it meant for Gryffindor and the Cup. The game turned out to be a hard fought one. The Chasers of both teams were in top form, determined not to lose the last game of the season. The Beaters were also doing their best to knock their opponents off their brooms. Even the Keepers flew and blocked better than they had all year. After two hours, the score was 40 to 30 in favor of Ravenclaw, the lowest scoring game of the year so far. Neither Cho nor Draco had spotted the Snitch in all that time, though Harry had already seen the golden ball twice. As the game came up to its third hour, the Slytherins’ tactics started to turn foul. Their Chasers attempted to ram their Ravenclaw counterparts on several occasions. Warrington even pulled on the tip of the broomstick of one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, Kevin Bradley, causing him to drop the Quaffle which was picked up by Montague who managed to score and even the game. Madam Hooch, unfortunately, didn’t see Warrington’s tactic so no foul was called. Suddenly, Lee Jordan shouted, “Malfoy and Chang have seen the Snitch!” All attention was now focused on the two Seekers. They both reached the golden ball at the same time but it suddenly rose vertically, forcing them to give chase. The crowd watched with bated breath as the Green and Blue clad Seekers jockeyed for position while racing after the Snitch. They pushed and shoved at each other. Then, to everyone’s shock, Draco reached out and grabbed the handle of Cho’s broom, causing her to momentarily lose her balance. Cho slowed down and Draco shot after the Snitch. Unfortunately, just as Draco was reaching out for it, the Snitch doubled back toward Cho with Draco in hot pursuit. The astonished Asian girl just managed to close her hand around it before Draco came barreling into her, knocking both of them off their brooms. They fell 20 feet and slid across the ground for another 10 feet before coming to a stop in a tangle of limbs. The entire school watched in stunned silence as Professors Dumbledore, Flitwick, Snape, Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey ran and Madam Hooch flew down to the two motionless Seekers. The silence was replaced by a cacophony of talking and shouting students while the school nurse checked them out, casting a few spells on them. Dumbledore conjured two stretchers while Flitwick and Snape levitated their respective Seekers onto them. The noise level increased as the two Heads of House steered the stretchers out of the Pitch with Madam Pomfrey, probably to head back to the castle and the Hospital wing. The students quieted down as Dumbledore turned to face them. He pointed his wand to his throat for a moment, probably to cast a Sonorus spell before he started to speak. “As you can see,” Dumbledore began, his voice reaching everyone in the stands clearly, “Both Miss Chang and Mr. Malfoy had an unfortunate collision. Except for a few broken bones which Madam Pomfrey has already mended, they are merely unconscious. It was deemed best by our esteemed school nurse that they should be taken to the hospital wing to recover. I ask that their friends wait for an hour before visiting them.” “Professor Dumbledore,” Lee Jordan called from the stands, “Professor, did either of them have the Snitch? We can’t end the game unless a Seeker caught it.” “Oh yes,” Dumbledore said, a twinkle shining in his eye, “I believe Miss Chang was holding the Snitch in her hand.” “Yes!” Lee shouted, “Ravenclaw wins the game, 170 to 40. That means Gryffindor wins this year’s Quidditch Cup!” The Gryffindor stands erupted in cheers. Harry and the rest of the Lions’ Quidditch Team, both the main and the reserves, descended to the ground of the Pitch for the awarding ceremony. Professor Dumbledore handed the Cup to a beaming and teary eyed Angelina Johnson who raised it above her head amidst cheers from her fellow Gryffindors and most of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Angelina then handed it to Professor McGonagall as the rest of their house mates descended to the Pitch to congratulate their team. Colin Creevey had the both teams gather around their Head of House for a picture. Just before they dispersed, Lee Jordan announced a party in the common room later that evening. As the team started to disperse, Ron turned to Ti. “Hey Ti, did you see the underhanded thing your brother pulled on Chang? If that isn’t a sign he hasn’t changed then I don’t know what is.” “Hey, it was just one instance,” Ti said. “He was probably getting desperate.” “Yeah, right,” Ron said, “Whatever you say. That just proves you can’t trust him.” Ti just glared at Ron and left before anyone could say anything. “Ron,” Harry said, running his hand down his face, “Why the bloody hell did you have to do that?” “Even if that’s true,” Harry said, “There are better ways to do make him see that. Saying it straight to his face like that is just going to push him away from us again.” “Why do we need him, anyway?” Ron asked. “You’re kidding, right?” Rose asked, glaring at him. “Hello! He’s our friend.” “Ron, you insensitive prat,” Hermione said, poking him on the chest. She looked pretty mad. “How could you do that, again? Wasn’t it enough the first time you tried to tell him off about Draco? Then of course there’s that thing given by Rose two years ago, you know, the prophecy.” She whispered the last word. “Oh yeah,” Ron said. “I, uh, forgot about that.” “I think we all did,” Neville said. “Forget that stupid prophecy,” Rose said, “He was already our friend before I gave out the stupid thing.” She turned to Ron, still glaring at him. “So help me, Ron, you find and apologize to him right now or you’ll get to find out which of us has the worst Bat Bogey, me or Ginny.” Ron gulped and took off at a run after Ti. The rest of the New Marauders made their way slowly back to the castle. ******* As was usual over the past few weeks, Neville found himself at the back of the group, walking beside Rose, Ahead of them Harry and Ginny were walking with their arms around the other’s waist. Neville realized that over the past month, the feelings he’d already had for Rose seemed to increase as he found out things about her he didn’t know before. Neville glanced at Rose who seemed to be both angry and sad due to the incident between Ron and Ti and felt a lot of sympathy for her. “Hey,” Neville said to Rose, catching her attention, “are you all right?” “Yeah, I guess,” Rose said, shrugging her shoulders. She sighed. “No, not really. It’s just so frustrating. I thought we’d managed to get him back with us. Then Ron goes off again about Draco.” “You really like Ti, don’t you?” Neville asked, wondering internally why he was asking her, “Even after he broke up with you.” Rose shrugged. “I do like him. We have a lot in common. I thought we could be more than just friends because of that.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “It seemed that way in the beginning but after a while, it lacked something. I don’t know what you’d call it…that spark….that feeling of wonder between two people like you see between Harry and Ginny. I thought I’d find something like that with Ti but I never felt it with him. In the end, I decided we’re better off as friends. Even then, I like spending some time with him but its okay if he can’t.” The silence stretched between them as they neared the steps leading up to the castle. Then Neville asked her, “So, is there anyone now who you might think will form that spark with you?” Rose looked at him in surprise for a moment then narrowed her eyes as she asked, “Why would you be interested in knowing that?” Neville flushed and looked down at his shoes as he answered, “Um, no reason.” He looked up at her for a moment before looking away. “Look, forget I said anything. I know it’s none of my business. I’ve got to go. I have to catch up on my revising before lunch and our Marauder session this afternoon.” He hurried up the steps, leaving Rose behind to stare at his back. ******* Rose wondered what was up with Neville as she watched him walk rapidly into the castle. Why did he ask me that? What does it mean? Is he somehow interested in me? He couldn’t be, could he? She shook her head. This was all confusing. She was still upset by what Ron had done to Ti. Now, Neville was acting weird around her. She began to wonder why she had felt the need to explain to him about the real reason she had become Ti’s girlfriend six months before. She’d never told anyone something so personal, not even Harry or Ginny. But after all the time they had spent together over the past month, just talking as they ate or studied in the common room or library, it just felt so natural to talk to Neville about anything that came to her mind. She didn’t have the feeling of butterflies in her stomach anymore when she talked to him. Instead, she had this warm feeling over her whole body whenever he was next to her. She’d wondered about that before. Do I still have a crush on him or is it something more? Grinding her teeth in frustration, she decided to go look for Ron to make sure he had apologized to Ti. She hoped that Neville wasn’t put off by her reaction to his question. She didn’t want to lose the level their friendship had reached. As she reached the Entrance Hall of the castle, she wondered where she’d go to find Ron and Ti. Then she realized there was a way she could look for Ron without moving far. She moved past the Great Hall to nearest classroom she found empty. Once inside, she sat down at one of the desks, closed her eyes and looked for her magical core. Once she found it, she molded it to an image of Ron and found him in just outside the hospital wing. It just took a couple of seconds for her to do that. She was about to come back to herself but stopped when she noticed the frown forming on Ron’s face. He appeared to be listening to something. Rose pushed her awareness to hear what Ron was hearing. “How could you do that?” said a voice she recognized as Ti’s. It was coming from inside the hospital wing. “Look, I’m sorry it happened, okay?” another voice, also from the hospital wing, answered Ti. It took Rose a few seconds to realize that it was Draco’s voice. “I guess old habits die hard. I just wanted to win.” “Well that was a dirty rotten trick to pull, Draco,” Ti said, “And for what? You still didn’t win and got hurt in the process. You’re lucky Madam Pomfrey was able to heal almost everything.” “Yeah, I know,” Draco said. “I realize now it was wrong. I already apologized to Chang, okay?” “That’s good,” Ti said. There was a pause for a second then Ti spoke again. “Romilda sat beside me at the game today. By what she was wearing, she was supporting both teams, just like me” “Oh, really,” Draco asked, his tone clearly containing a smirk, “Tell me more about it.” Rose flew back out of her body as fast as she could. She shuddered at the thought of Ti falling for Romilda Vane. She wished she could talk to him about that cow but she didn’t want to undo the progress they’d already accomplished fixing their friendship. Sighing, she decided to go check on Ron and make sure he wasn’t caught eavesdropping on Ti’s visit with Draco. She arrived at the corridor outside the hospital wing to see Ron kneeling down just outside the door. She came up behind him, cleared her throat and said in a voice that sounded very much like Professor McGonagall, “Mister Weasley!” Ron jumped a foot in the air then his foot slipped on the floor, causing him to fall hard on his back and bum. Rose jammed her fist in her mouth to stifle the laughter that threatened to break out. Ron looked up and glared at her. “What the bloody hell did you do that for?” he whispered. Rose crossed her arms across her chest and glared back at him, “Serves you right for eavesdropping on Ti and Draco.” “Yeah, well,” Ron said, getting up from the floor, “I was waiting for Ti to come out so I could apologize to him just like you wanted. Wait a minute, how did you know I was eavesdropping on them? Were you using one of those seer powers you told us about? I bet you listened in on them too, didn’t you?” Rose flushed, “I did it to find you, you git. I wanted to make sure you apologized to him.” “All right, all right,” Ron said, “That’s why I’m here. Let’s wait for him over there.” He walked over to the other side of the corridor then sat on the floor. Rose joined him. After a few seconds of silence, they started talking about the Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, especially the Chaser and Beater moves. Ten minutes later, they heard the door of the hospital wing open. Looking up, they saw Ti being shooed out of the hospital wing by Madam Pomfrey. “Mr. Malfoy needs to rest, Mr. Black,” the matron said to Ti. “You can come back this evening after dinner.” “Fine,” Ti said sulkily. He turned around and was surprised to see Rose and Ron. He narrowed his eyes and asked, “What are you two doing here? Are you going to give me more accusations against Draco?” Rose nudged Ron and whispered, “Go on, Ron.” Ron stepped forward. “No, Ti. I’m here to apologize for saying those things and upsetting you. I-I said them b-because I’m concerned for you as a friend.” “Well, a friend wouldn’t force me to stay away from my brother, Ron,” Ti said. “I know, I know,” Ron said. “I guess my concern for you combined with my reaction to what he did during the game to Cho Chang. I’m sorry for saying what I did. From now on, I’ll keep my opinions of Draco to myself. Your friendship is worth more than any old grudge I have against him. Plus I can’t lose the only decent chess player in the group.” Ron grinned as he said the last statement. Ti looked at him for several seconds before nodding and saying, “Okay, I guess I can accept your apology. I had a talk with Draco about that dirty tactic of his. He claims he did it out of desperation to win and his willingness to use a dirty trick like that is a habit he’s finding hard to break. I told him he’d better try harder if he wants to continue being on good terms with me.” “Good for you, Ti,” Rose said. “It isn’t enough for Draco to treat you right. He has to change his attitude and ways completely. Otherwise, it’ll be easy for him to fall back into the way he used to treat you.” “Yeah, I figured that out,” Ti said, “I hope he really does try harder.” Ron looked like he wanted to say something but a look from Rose stopped him. Instead Rose said, “I hope he does, Ti.” She looked back at Ron. “Uh, yeah,” Ron said, “I hope so, too.” After a couple of seconds of uncomfortable silence, he asked, “Have you had a chance to read that book me and Hermione gave you for your birthday?” “Yeah, I have,” Ti answered. “Good,” Ron said. “I think we have time for a game before lunch. Come on.” ******************* The next day, Rose told Martha about her success in locating Ron with her seer powers. Her mentor gave her a brilliant smile as she said, “Very good, Rose. That was very well done. I was wondering when you were going to use one of your powers on your own. I haven’t said anything before because I didn’t want to put any pressure on you. Only you can decide when you want to use them.” Rose was surprised by this. She stared at Martha for a few seconds before she said, “I thought you’d tell me when I could use them.” “Oh no, Rose,” Martha said, “Because using a seer’s power requires achieving a peaceful state of mind, it is the seer’s choice if he or she wants to use them. No one can force you to use them. If anyone tried to force you to use them against your will, you will be unable to concentrate. This is especially true about the Imperius curse. An Imperiused seer will be unable to use her powers.” “Oh,” Rose said. She pondered what Martha had said. “Do you think I’m ready to do use them regularly?” “As I said, only you can decide that. But seeing what you can do and how quickly you managed to find your friend, I think it’s safe to say you are ready.” She paused for a second. “Now, let’s practice your Forward Sight power. Instead of this office or your common room, try someplace you will be in a few hours from now.” Rose nodded and raised her hands so Martha could take them. She looked within herself to find her magical core. Once she did that, she thought about where to go. She decided to look in on the Great Hall during dinner that evening. She concentrated and found an image of the Great Hall. It was empty at the moment. She willed time to move forward until it was filled with the students and faculty and the sconces on the walls were lit, indicating it was evening. It appeared to be near the end of the meal. Suddenly, Dumbledore stood up. The students looked up from the remains of their meal with interest. “Now that we have filled ourselves with this wonderful meal,” Dumbledore said, “Professor Potter would like to make an announcement.” He waved his hand at James who stood up as the Headmaster sat down again. Rose watched her father as he looked around at the students before speaking, “Well, if you all remember, at the first class of the year, I told everyone that we’ll be having a dueling tournament at the end of the year. Due to some problems, I haven’t been able to tell you more about it at the beginning of the term after New Years like I promised. However, I’d like to announce now that we are going on with the tournament.” He paused as the students let out a great cheer. Once the noise had died down, he continued, “As I said then, each year level will have a separate tournament. The entire thing will be held in the week after exams. All participants per year level will be paired. Only winners of each duel will advance to the next stage. At the end, there will be only one winner for each year level. The duels themselves will take place here in the Great Hall governed by internationally accepted rules for dueling. Professor Flitwick, who is a former dueling champion, has graciously accepted to be the overall judge. Each match will last until one of the duelers has been rendered incapable of continuing the fight. No Unforgivables or any spell considered by the Ministry to be Dark will be allowed. Any violation of this rule will result in the offender being immediately disqualified and given an appropriate detention. I’ll post all the rules in each common room today. Signup sheets will be in the common rooms until Wednesday night after dinner.” He then sat down. The air in the Great Hall almost exploded as the students started to discuss the tournament. Rose came back to herself. “Wow that was interesting.” She turned to Martha. “I can’t wait for this evening to find out if that is true.” Martha laughed, “Oh, I don’t doubt it will come true, Rose, based on your past success.” “Great!” Rose said, “Because I intend to sign up. I bet Harry and the rest will, too.”
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