Stress

Chapter 1 : Quidditch and Prefects

Harry Potter lay down on his bed in the boys’ dormitory, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about his best friend, Hermione Granger. Death Eaters had killed Hermione’s parents in an attack this past summer, just before the start of their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

They had been back at school for three weeks and Harry hadn't spoken to Hermione yet. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, but Harry didn’t really know how to begin a conversation with her after what had happened to her parents. After all, when he had found out the real way his parents had died, he had struggled to talk about it, and he still did to this day.

Hermione wasn't the only thing Harry thought about as he lay there in bed. The threat of Voldemort was as strong as ever, and the death of his godfather Sirius Black was still on his mind.

Harry was shaken from his thoughts as the dormitory door opened and his other best friend Ron Weasley entered the room.

"Hi, Harry what are you up to?" asked Ron.

"Not much," muttered Harry as he turned to look out of the window onto the Hogwarts grounds. "Ron, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Ron’s tone was uneasy and he shifted uncomfortably as he sat down on his four-poster bed. Harry’s awkward question suggested the direction this conversation was about to take, and Ron wasn’t sure he wanted to go there.

"Have you talked to Hermione yet? I mean since her parents.... you know."

"I’ve tried, but every time I tried to speak, she turned away from me, as though she didn't even want me there," Ron said, looking a little put out.

"She's just lonely," Harry reassured him.

"Well, she could at least speak to me or try and have a laugh for crying out loud. It's not like it's the end of the world,” moaned Ron.

"So what exactly did you say to her?"

" Exactly what I just told you," answered Ron. Harry jumped to his feet, startling Ron a little.

"Ron, you can be so thick at times!” shouted Harry, and he stared deeply into Ron's eyes, frustration and emotion building up inside him. “Don't you think this is difficult for Hermione? I mean, how would you feel if your parents died? She hasn't even got any family to go to. They all think she's to blame because she's the only witch in the family! DON’T YOU CARE? "

The tension in the room was palpable as Harry and Ron stared into each other's angry eyes. Finally Harry broke the silence.

"Ron, I know you were only trying to help her but saying things like that is only going to make things worse," Harry said softly. He turned away and left the room, leaving Ron to replay the conversation in his head.

Harry was sitting in the Quidditch dressing rooms awaiting the arrival of the students trying out for Gryffindor this year. He had been named the new captain since most of last year’s players were now gone. In fact, he, Ron and Ginny were the only original players left from last year’s team, although Ginny needed to tryout again as she wanted to become a chaser. Harry took a moment to revel in his team’s victory in the Quidditch Cup during his third year before fifteen Gryffindors came bustling through the doors to the locker room. Ron and Ginny Weasley broke from the crowd and strode across the locker room, confidently sitting down on either side of their friend Harry.

“Ron, I’m sorry for blowing up at you earlier, I’m just concerned about Hermione,” Harry said. Ron smiled and then nodded in acceptance. Harry stood up slowly, his legs feeling like jelly as he looked into the faces of the inexperienced players he would be expected to lead into a Gryffindor victory.

“Well er… welcome to this year’s tryouts for Gryffindor Quidditch team. We have some spare robes in that basket over there.” Harry pointed over to a rusty old basket packed with unwashed Quidditch gear. “So, if you would like to suit up, we have separate girls and boys changing rooms. Once you’re dressed, come out to the Quidditch Pitch and we’ll begin some basic tryouts.” The crowd moved as one towards the basket and Harry sat down gratefully on the bench, relieved that his first official duty as Captain, rallying the troops, was behind him.

As he spotted Ginny quickly nipping towards the girls’ room, he grabbed her arm and turned her around. “Ginny, I wondered if I could have a quick word.”

Ginny gave him a confused stare as she allowed Harry to lead her outside where it was still quiet before any of the hopefuls were out.

“Ginny,” the dark-haired boy stared at his best friend’s little sister, not knowing where to begin. He took a deep breath and let the words out with the first breath, “it’s Hermione. I haven’t seen her about for a few days and I wondered where she was.”

Ginny stared seriously into his eyes. “I think she’s still up in the prefect common room. You know, Harry, she’s really a mess, she won’t talk to anyone.”

“Yeah, I’m considering trying to talk to her. I just feel a little awkward, with what she’s been through,” said Harry.

Ginny replied softly, “Well if you ask me it’s worth a shot. After all, now that Ron has quit as a prefect…” Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise at Ginny.

“What ! Why ?” he asked.

“I think there was a lot of reasons really. One, he only took the job because mum made him. Two, he hated dropping his brothers in it, and three, he just didn’t like the responsibility.” Ginny looked at Harry with a little worry in her eyes. “Harry, if you didn’t know he had quit then I suppose you don’t know that you’re the replacement.”

She winced a little hoping that Harry wouldn’t get mad. He just raised his eyes into the top of his head. “And one more thing… I wouldn’t quit the job if I were you, Hermione was actually happy about that.”

Harry let out a long sigh. “I suppose I can do it. What were you saying before?”

“Oh yes, I would talk to Hermione if I were you, because now you are a prefect you can talk to her in your common room where it will be nice and quiet and relaxed,” Ginny said, beaming up at Harry.

“Thanks, I’ll think about it,” he said.

He returned Ginny’s smile as the younger girl turned and walked back to the lockers, then jogged up to the Quidditch Stadium.

The practice was quick and Harry felt confident he could find new players who could give the Slytherins a run for the House Cup. They were green, yes, but he had been as well when he started and that didn’t stop his team from winning the Cup in his third year.

Ron walked up to Harry. His cheeks were flushed and his breath was heavy after a hard practice. “So, Harry, how’s it going?”

“Not bad actually. I thought we might struggle this year with so many members of the team leaving, but the new players look pretty good,” answered Harry.

After discussing positions with the prospects, he and Ron finally made the choice of who should be on the new team. The new players reacted with joy as Seamus Finnegan, Ginny Weasley and Bruce Grimplehorn, a tall, pale third year, were named chasers and the chunky, dark Alex Ripper and Scott Perkins were added to the team as beaters. Scott Perkins was rather short and was a third year, as too was Alex.

Harry looked at the rest of the prospective players with a heavy heart. He hated this part, but remembered the words he’d heard Oliver Wood say many times before. “I’m sorry to anybody who lost out, it was a hard decision and none of you should feel that you have disgraced yourselves.”

*

Harry was on his way to dinner that evening when he bumped into a familiar foe. Draco Malfoy turned to face him. “Better watch where you’re going, Potter. Next time you might find yourself getting jinxed.”

“Not before I transfigure you into the slimy snake that you are,” Harry hissed mockingly, the bitterness rising through him.

“I would love to see you try,” Malfoy sneered, looking rather full of himself.

“I’ll spare you the embarrassment, Malfoy. After all, there’s nobody to help you out now that your daddy’s in Azkaban.”

“I still have mother, that’s more of a family than you’ll ever have, Potter,” spat Malfoy.

Harry leapt at Malfoy, tackling him to the ground. He would have broken a few teeth had it not been for Ron pulling him away. “Calm down mate, Malfoy’s not worth it.”

Malfoy got up abruptly, dusted off his robes and straightened them out as though nothing had happened. Ron sat Harry down on a bench outside the hall. “What was that all about?”

Harry raised an eyebrow at this question. “What do you think it was about? Just typical Malfoy, making fun of me for having no family.”

“Come on, let’s go and have some dinner,” said Ron.

“No, you go ahead I think I’ll skip dinner, I’m not hungry,” said Harry, and he turned and left Ron; walked back up to the common room and sat quietly on the sofa.

Chapter 2 : Emotions

Harry slowly walked to the door to the Prefects’ common room, pausing in front of it. He looked up to the ceiling and sighed deeply.

“Here goes nothing,” he said quietly to himself. He placed his hand on the door handle and began to turn it, but it wouldn’t turn the whole way. He banged hard on the door, hearing the girl’s sobs racking through the wood from the other side.

“Hermione, let me in!” Harry stood still, thinking for a moment. He muttered the Alohomora spell under his breath but the door still wouldn’t open. Clearly, Hermione had jinxed it somehow.

“Hermione, are you in there?” There was still no answer. “Well, if you won’t answer me, you’re going to have to hear what I’ve got to say anyway.”

Harry slouched down with his back against the door and began to speak very slowly and carefully. “Hermione, I know this must be really difficult for you, but hiding away isn’t going to make this go away. I know how it feels not to have any parents, but you should know that I will always be here for you if you need to talk or if you just need me for some support. And if you don’t need me for anything, I would really appreciate it if you would come out anyway because I…I…I miss you. I miss you a lot. School just isn’t the same without you.”

Harry sat up slowly and started to count in his head - 5-4-3-2-Hermione opened the door slowly. She stood up straight and stared into his eyes, hers red, bloodshot, and puffy from hours of crying. She ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Then she pulled him closer to her, muttering words of thanks into his shoulder. Harry held her tight and let the tears come.

*

Harry and Hermione walked to the first Defence Against The Dark Arts class of the year, not knowing who the new teacher was. He stopped Hermione outside the door of the classroom.

“Hermione, you should know I meant every word of what I just said.” Harry looked into her eyes, hoping to find some sense of what the girl was feeling.

Hermione nodded, her eyes still glistening with tears, as she gave Harry a smile and stepped into the classroom. Harry knew that people would want to know where she’d been and he was very protective of his hurting friend. Neither of them were surprised by the stares their classmates met them with as they came through the doorway. Taking her hand, Harry walked Hermione over to the desk where Ron was sitting and they sat down together to wait for their new teacher.

“Hermione?” Ron said quietly. “I’m sorry about what I said to you earlier, I didn’t mean it.” Hermione looked up and gave him a weak smile and a small nod of acceptance.

The next minute, the classroom door swung open and a familiar man stepped through the door. Harry’s face lit up as he recognized the professor before him. “Professor Lupin?” he said.

“Correct, Mr. Potter. Professor Dumbledore asked me if I would care to rejoin his staff and I accepted. I bet you’re all shocked aren’t you, a Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher lasting more than one year?

“I know you’re also wondering why I’m back. After all, last time you saw me I had been framed as a werewolf. But I assure you that you are perfectly safe and as long as you never catch me under a full moon you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

The students chuckled, but some in the class looked nervous. Professor Lupin ignored their titters and continued.

“Obviously, this subject is going to be very important this year, what with the War and everything, so throughout the year we will be learning some more spells which will help you to defend yourself. Or, in other words, beat your opponent to a pulp. Today’s spell is called the Ferano Armbre spell. If you are wondering what the spell does, I will show you. Harry, if you would please join me up here.”

Harry got up a little apprehensively.

“Nothing to worry about, Harry.” Lupin moved Harry to a spot directly in front of him about two metres away. He raised his wand, pointing it straight at Harry and shouted “Ferano Armbre.” A blast of yellow sparks shot at Harry and twisted themselves up his arms and then disappeared with a bang. Harry looked himself up and down, trying to see the effect of the spell, but nothing happened. “Good work, Mr Potter.”

Lupin pulled out his hand offering to shake Harry’s. Harry wanted to shake it but his arms didn’t, he tried to make them move but they just would not budge. “Now you know what the spell does. Your opponent will lose complete use of his arms for one minute.”

“Right. Mr. Potter, if you would care to sit down while you wait for your arm to heal we will continue to try the Ferano Armbre spell on a partner.” Lupin walked over to Hermione and looked her directly in the eyes. His eyes were soft and he gave her a caring sigh. “Hermione, I understand that this is a tough time for you, so I will leave it up to you as to whether or not you participate today.”

“Thank you Professor,” she said as she looked up at him with a smile. Hermione decided to participate with the rest of the class using Ron as her partner, as Harry was still recovering. Harry was then unfortunately stuck with the one student without a partner - Neville Longbottom. Neville pointed his wand up at Harry and muttered the spell. A blast of yellow sparks flew out of the end of his wand but did not hit Harry. Instead, they went completely passed him and hit Dean Thomas square on the back causing him to drop his wand to the ground as he lost control of his arms.

“Oh, nice one Neville,” sighed Dean. Harry walked over to Neville.

“Come on Neville, I know you can do it, remember last year’s DA lessons? You got better then so you can get better now.” Harry stepped back. “Now try again.”

Neville again pointed his wand at Harry. This time the spell went straight at Harry and wrapped around his body, freezing his arms. “Well done Neville,” Harry muttered. After many more minutes of practicing the spell the lesson finally drew to a close.

Ron walked over to Harry. “I’m off to work on some tactics to improve my Quidditch keeping even more, do you want to come along?” he asked.

Harry glanced over at Hermione and then back at Ron. “No, I’ll hang around for a bit, you go ahead.” Ron dashed out of the class.

Harry looked at Professor Lupin, starting to say something, but Lupin cut him off abruptly. “Sorry Harry but I must be off, I have some papers to mark. We’ll have a chat soon about Sir…you know…stuff.” Lupin left the room, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.

Harry smiled at Hermione. “So Hermione what did you want to do? We have a couple of hours off now,” he said.

“Oh, I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about anything other than my parents,” she replied quickly.

“I know it must be difficult for you Hermione,” Harry said softly. “Do you want to go for a walk by the lake? It will be quiet there and the fresh air might do you good.”

“Sure,” replied Hermione, a smile dawning on her face.

*

The sun shone down brightly on Harry and Hermione and in the light, Harry noticed just how beautiful Hermione’s shiny brown hair was. He stared at it for a while as they continued to walk on.

“Harry what are you looking at?” asked Hermione curiously.

“Oh, um, just the sun,” Harry said. He could feel himself blushing. They came to a circle of trees dotted with purple and yellow flowers with a hidden away bench inside. The bench was perched underneath a tall stone arch, which had flowers dangling over the sides of it. Harry led Hermione in and they sat down together on the bench staring into the clear blue sky.

“Harry, how did you find this place?” Hermione asked.

“I found it one day when I was flying around Hogwarts on my Firebolt, it’s a good place to escape from the school for a while. I thought you might like it.”

“It’s beautiful,” answered Hermione.

“So, Hermione how are you?”

Hermione sighed and held her head in her hands. “Not as bad as I was, I just feel so alone and deserted. I know it sounds silly but sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t be here because my parents aren’t.”

“That doesn’t sound strange at all Hermione; I’ve often thought that about myself.”

Harry noticed the tears rolling down Hermione’s cheek; he put his arm around her and pulled her to him in a warm embrace. “You’re such a great friend Harry,” she said.

Harry whispered gently into her ear. “I’ll always be here for you, Hermione.”

Chapter 3 : An Escape From Azkaban

Harry woke the next morning, way before the sun crept over the mountain. He had tried endlessly to get back to sleep but had had to give up, so he crept slowly down to the common room and perched himself on the sofa. At that second, Dobby the house elf appeared in front of him.

“Would Harry Potter like some hot chocolate, sir?” asked Dobby.

“Yes please, Dobby,” Harry replied in the middle of a long yawn. He heard footsteps coming from behind him, turned around quickly, and saw Hermione stagger down the stairs. “Dobby, make that two, please.”

Harry was startled at the sight of his friend coming down the stairs at that hour. “Hermione, what are you doing up?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

“You too huh? Come and sit down.” Hermione sat down next to Harry and laid her head on his shoulder. “So, any reason why you couldn’t sleep?” he asked her.

“I had a few things on my mind. I got a letter off Viktor earlier; he says we are officially broken up.”

“I’m sorry, Hermione.” Harry couldn’t help feel a little happy about the news; he never really took to Viktor.

Hermione looked up thoughtfully at Harry. “Harry, do you think I’m pretty?” she asked. Harry almost choked on his own breath; the only word he managed to choke out was “Huh?”

“Well, Viktor said I wasn’t pretty enough for him; that’s why he broke up with me.”

“Really? Well…um…I’m sorry.” Harry stuttered under the pressure of the question. He quickly faked a yawn. “I think I’m going to have to go to bed Hermione, I’m suddenly a little tired.” He walked quickly back towards his dormitory almost tripping up the stairs when Hermione called out.

“Harry, what about the question?”

Harry looked into Hermione’s puffy eyes. “Errm…you’re cool, Hermione … yeah…cool.” Harry turned and hurried up to the dormitory. He lay in his bed thinking about the event that he had just witnessed. I can’t believe I said she was ‘cool.’ I made such an idiot of myself. Hermione is way more than cool. She’s beautiful, intelligent and sensitive. She’s…the perfect girl. But what am I saying, she’s my best friend, I can’t say that to her. Harry rolled over in his bed with these thoughts spinning through his head for the rest of the night. Eventually he finaly got a couple of hours sleep.

*

“Harry wake up,” was the first thing Harry heard as he opened his eyes feeling rather stressed as usual. He peered through his glasses and noticed that it was Ron who was staring over him.

“Ron what is it?”

“It’s time for breakfast,” he said.

“Oh, right.” Harry pulled himself up and gave his eyes a huge rub under his glasses.

“Well mate, I have to hand it to you. You were right about Hermione. I don’t know how you got her out of that room. Did you threaten to snog her or something?” asked Ron.

Harry stomach did a somersault at Ron’s suggestion. “No, what makes you say that?” snapped Harry.

Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry. “Calm down mate it was only a joke.”

Harry sighed deeply and decided he had been too snappy with Ron. “Sorry Ron, I’m just tired. Come on, let’s go.”

*

When they got down for breakfast, Harry stared around the room, anxiously looking for Hermione. Oh no! What if I’ve upset her and she’s locked herself up again or something? “Ron can you see Hermione?”

“She’s over there in the corner,” said Ron pointing to the corner furthest away from anyone else. Hermione had her face in a book and her eyes were red; Harry knew that she had been crying. “Go on mate, work your magic like before. You can get her to come and sit with us.”

“I don’t know, she looks really upset again,” Harry answered quickly. He couldn’t deny that Hermione looked upset, but the worst of it was that he was the reason. If only he had told her that she was beautiful. Although, if he did that, he knew he would ruin the friendship. “I’ll leave her alone for a bit.” He sat down with Ron and piled bacon, eggs and toast on his plate as Hedwig came flying over his head, dropping the Daily Prophet on his lap. He looked at the front and saw a headline that made his rage with anger. “Lucius Malfoy escapes from Azkaban.” Harry moved down the page and read the article.

“Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco and husband of Narcissa, has today escaped from Azkaban prison. It is thought that he was helped out by an unknown source.”

The Ministry have sent out Aurors to search for Mr. Malfoy as our dementors have parted from us.

“We ensure you that Lucius Malfoy will be caught and we insist that our Magic Community remain calm.” Announced Minister Of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.

“Isn’t this great,” said Harry bluntly, looking at Ron.

“I knew this would happen. That Malfoy always gets out of everything.” Ron spat on the ground, disgusted.

“That’s right Weasley.” Draco Malfoy appeared behind him with the usual smug look stretched across his face. “Father will be back by his master’s side soon. And then he’ll watch Potter and all the mudbloods die.” Malfoy turned away and slid back down at the Slytherin table. Ron turned to Harry and noticed the concerned look on his face.

“You’re not worried about Malfoy are you mate?” he asked.

Harry shook his head and looked directly at Ron. “No, Ron I’m just concerned. You know how sneaky that snake Malfoy is, he could be anywhere, ready to hit me with the Avada Kedavra curse.” Ron looked back at him and patted him on the back.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, how could Malfoy possibly get into the school ?”

“I don’t know Ron, but I’m not going to put my guard down around the school.” Harry and Ron ate their breakfast quickly and Ron turned to Harry.

“Are you coming?” he asked as he saw Harry staring at Hermione who was in tears. “Hermione will be fine in a few weeks mate, I think she just needs some time alone.” Harry turned around sharply.

“Ron for the last time, when your parents die, that last thing you want is to be alone. I just don’t know what to say to her at the minute. I’ll talk to her again soon, but first we have to go to double potions.” Harry got to the doors of the Great Hall and turned for one last look at Hermione. But she was gone.

Chapter 4: A Duel In The Hall

Harry looked anxiously around the Great Hall, but Hermione was nowhere to be seen, and when he turned around he realised that he was alone, as Ron had already gone to Potions. Harry stepped down the empty hall, every footstep he took echoing loudly, when suddenly he heard a scratching sound, and saw the curtain to his right move slightly. Whoever this person was, he or she was under an invisibility cloak. Harry looked around him for a few more minutes.

“Hermione, where are you!” he called. Harry walked forward a few more steps and then stopped as he caught sight of something hovering in the air. Oh no, he thought. It’s the Dark Mark. Death Eaters have been here. Harry turned and ran out of the hall. He sprinted down three corridors before reaching the entrance to Dumbledore’s Office, muttered the password, and stepped up onto the platform to be carried up to the office.

Harry walked through an archway to find Dumbledore sitting at his desk. “Professor,” he gasped, “I think Hermione’s been kidnapped! I went to the Great Hall and one minute she was there and the next minute she wasn’t. Then I heard a noise and saw the curtains moving and then I saw,” Harry paused for a moment, gasping for air, “I saw the Dark Mark…it’s in the Great Hall.” Dumbledore nodded at him in a been-there-done-that sort of way, and looked Harry square in the eyes.

“Harry, I want you to do me a favour. Go down to the Great Hall and keep an eye out for any strange events while I get in touch with the Order.” As Harry turned to leave Dumbledore spoke again. “Harry, get out your wand, you may need it.” Harry pulled out his wand and raced down to the hall.

When he got there, he saw the Dark Mark there again, but this time he saw Hermione lying on the ground under it. He ran up to her and leant down to the ground, picked up her wrist and felt for her pulse. She’s still alive, he thought. Suddenly, Lucius Malfoy appeared across the room and pointed his wand at Harry.

“Crucio!” he screamed. Harry grabbed a chair and held it in front of him, and the spell shattered the chair to pieces. He grabbed his wand from the ground and pointed it at Lucius.

“Stupefy!” he yelled. Lucius ducked the spell. He spun around again and fired another spell at Harry.

“Serpensortia.” A snake about two metres long slithered towards Harry, backing him in a corner. He pulled out his wand and muttered the spell. “Impedimenta.” The snake wrapped around itself and froze in front of him. Malfoy cast another Crucio at him, but this time Harry ducked under the table. He threw himself underneath the chairs as he saw Malfoy walking towards him, his wand pointed out straight. Harry tried desperately to think of a spell, and all of a sudden it came to him.

He desperately raised his wand and screamed. “Ferano Armbre!” the yellow sparks flew out of his wand and wrapped around Malfoy’s arms, causing him to drop his wand. Harry then cast ‘Stupefy’ on Lucius, who dropped to the floor. Harry held his head, which was bleeding from cuts caused by the shattering wood off the chairs.

Harry crawled out from under the table and went to Hermione’s side. She was still breathing but appeared to be knocked out, so he picked her up and held her in his arms. As he looked around the room and there was still no sign of the Order, he decided to take Hermione first to the Hospital Wing and when he got there, heleft her with Madam Pomfrey. He then descended back to Dumbledore’s Office, and at his entrance, Dumbledore turned around quickly.

“Harry, what happened?” he asked.

“I just found Hermione and Lucius Malfoy was there. I fought Lucius off and took Hermione to the hospital wing. Where is the Order?”

Dumbledore looked at him with pain in his eyes. “They have been in battle with Death Eaters,” he said, “at Grimmauld Place. Unfortunately, we lost Kingsley. He was a fine auror and his life is a terrible cost to the Wizarding world.” He looked down to the ground, and so did Harry. “Where is Lucius?” asked Dumbledore.

Harry looked up at him. “In the Great Hall sir.” The two of them walked down to the hall but when they got there, Lucius was gone. “He was right here sir, I promise,” Harry pleaded.

“I believe you, Harry. My guess is that he had a portkey hidden somewhere in here and he is now back with Voldemort.” Dumbledore sighed deeply. “Harry, I have a lot of work to do. If you wish, you may skip lessons today and get some rest after your battle. I suggest you go to see Madam Pomfrey about those cuts on you head.” Harry nodded and made his way to the hospital wing.

When he got there he saw Hermione lying on a bed with her eyes closed. He carefully walked over to her and placed his hand in hers. He looked at her, with tears slowly falling out of his eyes. “How could anybody hurt you like this Hermione? You never did anything to deserve this, I’m sorry.”

“Hem hem.” Harry turned around and saw Madam Pomfrey staring at him. “She is not ready to wake up yet Mr. Potter,” she said briskly.

“She will wake up…won’t she,” Harry asked with worry written all over his face.

“Oh yes Mr. Potter, she will definitely wake up, I just don’t really know when.”

“Do you know exactly what happened to her?” Harry asked.

“Not exactly, but to my understanding she suffered the Crucio curse at least three times. She was also knocked out, and judging by the cuts on her head, I would say they were simply from a fist or a boot.” Harry looked up at Pomfrey, his eyes full of tears. He couldn’t believe what had happened to his best friend. “Looking at your head, Mr. Potter, I would say that you have a few cuts that need healing too. Stay here and I’ll just get a simple potion that will fix you up in no time,” she added.

It’s a shame she can’t heal my wounds inside, he thought to himself.

Madam Pomfrey returned a few minutes later with a yellow potion. “Drink this up Mr. Potter.” Harry swallowed back the potion a little nervously, and felt a soaring pain on his head as his skin stitched itself back together.

*

Harry stayed by Hermione’s side for the next two hours, mainly just holding her hand and stroking her hair. He realised that Potions was over when Ron came galloping into the room. “Harry what happened?” he asked. Harry told Ron the whole story of the afternoon. “I hope she’s ok soon, we have some tough work to do,” Ron said.

Harry looked at him disbelievingly. “Oh, Ron, could you be any more inconsiderate?”

“I was only kidding,” Ron laughed.

Ron sat with Harry by Hermione’s bed for about an hour before he heard a growling sound coming from his stomach. “Well I’m off for some dinner, then afterwards I suppose I should study, or I might just go to bed. I’ll see you in a bit?”

“Yeah maybe,” said Harry who wasn’t really paying attention to the question.

He sat with Hermione for a long time. She still hadn’t woken up when Madam Pomfrey told Harry that it was time for him to leave. “No, I won’t leave her!” Harry insisted.

“Mr. Potter, I cannot let you stay any longer. It is in the school rules.” she said firmly.

“Oh, to hell with the school rules, you expect me to be needed around this place when my best friend has been unconscious for the past eleven hours, and it’s all my fault!” Harry let out in a frustrated shout. “I cannot take this stress any longer. I am fed up with being the boy who lived, I am fed up with being the person who has to save the world, and I am fed up with not having any family, when it’s all my fault. And now I have a friend who could have died because of me.. My parents died because they were trying to protect me, my godfather dies because he was trying to protect me and my best friend nearly died because I didn’t go and support her when she needed it. Lets just face the facts, I am a problem to everybody in this world, and it would have been better if Voldemort had just killed me that night sixteen years ago and got it over with!” Harry was breathing heavily with anger, and staring a hole through Madam Pomfrey. She looked at him sternly and then her face softened.

“I’m sorry Mr. Potter. I suppose I can make an exception this one time. I will allow you to stay here as long as you like.” Madam Pomfrey left the hospital, leaving Harry alone with Hermione. He continued to hold her hand and stroke her hair through the night, until at last he slept.

Chapter 5: Early Morning Potions

Harry was awoken early in the morning by Madam Pomfrey’s footsteps. He didn’t realise that he had actually fallen asleep on Hermione’s lap until he noticed the disapproving look he received from Pomfrey. He sat up straight and tried to forget the embarrassing situation.

“I see she hasn’t woken up yet,” said Pomfrey. “Not to worry, Potter, you weren’t the only one up all night. I was awake too preparing a very complex potion that will hopefully cure Miss Granger.”

Harry darted up from his seat.

“Really?” he asked. “Will she be completely cured?”

“The only side effects she should suffer is a headache.” Madam Pomfrey whipped out a black bubbly potion. She put her hands under Hermione’s chin and tried desperately to open her mouth so that she could put the potion in. Harry quickly sat up.

“Look, I know this may sound strange but…can I do it?” he asked.

Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows at him.

“Very well.” She turned to Harry and put the potion in his hands. “Now be careful with it, it took me a long time to create.” Harry nodded and walked up to Hermione. He put his fingers gently on Hermione’s soft lips. It felt a little strange doing it as this was his best friend but he knew he had to help her. He prised her lips apart and slowly tilted the potion into Hermione’s mouth. Half of the bottle was gone before he finally noticed her eyelids flicker. He pulled away and pulled Hermione’s hand into his.

Madame Pomfrey was impressed. “She is waking. Give her a few more minutes and you can talk to her. I will allow you to stay with her, but I daresay it’s only because I don’t think you would leave her anyway.”

Harry looked up at her a little surprised by what she had said. “What?”

Madam Pomfrey looked back at him as she turned and left the room. “Well you haven’t left her alone for a minute since she arrived in here. You could give people the wrong impression about the two of you, Potter”

Harry was a little puzzled by her words but quickly turned his attention back to Hermione. The girl was slowly regaining consciousness. He still didn’t know quite what to say to her after the events a couple of nights ago, but he was more worried about her waking up right now.

Five more minutes passed until Hermione’s eyes flickered open slowly. Harry watched on anxiously as her body twitched. She pulled her hand quickly away from his. “Hermione.” Harry said slowly. “It’s me.”

Hermione looked up, her eyes weary.

“Harry?” she murmured. Harry smiled at her as she put her hand back in his, and he gripped it tightly. Tears started to roll down Harry’s cheeks; he was so thrilled to have Hermione back. Hermione sat up slowly and her eyes suddenly appeared as bright as ever. “What happened to me?”

“Well how much do you remember?” Harry asked slowly.

Hermione sat still and thought for a moment before finally speaking very slowly. “I remember Lucius Malfoy taking me to some dark room. He punched me in the ribs and then slapped me across my face.” She held her head as she thought back to what had happened. Her words became shaky as she held back the tears. “Then he kicked my across my forehead and that’s when I started to lose consciousness. I vaguely remember him using the Cruciatus curse on me, but that’s all.”

Harry acted on natural instinct and sat down next to Hermione before pulling her into a gently hug. She moved closer to him as he tightened his grip around her shoulder. Harry closed his eyes as he heard her sobs.

After a while Hermione pulled away from Harry and looked at him thoughtfully. Harry had a nasty feeling she was going to bring up what she had asked him the other night, but he was relieved when she pointed at his forehead. “Harry, where did those scars come from on your head?”

“Malfoy,” he said softly. “I duelled him before I brought you up here.” Hermione looked up at him softly.

“Oh, Harry you hurt yourself for me.” She sighed briefly before continuing. “Thank you.”

“Did you expect anything less?” he said. “After all, I told you I would always be here for you didn’t I?”

She hugged him again. “How long have you been here with me anyway?”

“Since I brought you up yesterday. You know it’s a good job you don’t eat like Ron or I would have broken my back carrying you up here.” Hermione gave an unusually girly giggle. He didn’t know what it was but somehow Harry found it rather attractive. He also started to really enjoy hugging Hermione and felt extremely comfortable in his current position.

At that moment Albus Dumbledore walked into the room. Harry quickly pulled away from Hermione and stood up abruptly. Dumbledore peered over his glasses and looked contently at Harry and Hermione. “It is great to see you have finally awoken, Miss Granger. I think it is best that you do not try any lessons for today.”

Hermione looked stunned.

“But sir, I can’t miss lessons I need to study for next years N.E.W.Ts.” she pleaded.

“I am sorry, but I think you need a rest from anything stressful. That is why I have organised special privilege for you and a friend to visit Hogsmeade today. But you must keep it quiet.” He said as he saw Hermione’s face light up. “I have a spare invisibility cloak which you can use to sneak out of the usual Hogsmeade passage. I will leave it to you to decide who you are taking.” Dumbledore left the room after secretly sweeping up a box of Sherbet Lemons from a table at the end of somebody’s bed. Hermione turned and looked at Harry.

“Well Mr. Potter, looks like you are having a day off at Hogsmeade.”

Authors Note: Right, thanks for the reviews so far. I know that some chapters seem a little rushed and a little short, but in my view the story really takes off from Chapter 7. I already have 13 chapters written so they will be up soon.

I've also noticed that some of you are surprised by Ron's coldness towards Hermione, but that will be key to the story later on.

Chapter 6: The Mistake

Harry and Hermione entered Hogsmeade via the passage that Harry had used in third year, thanks to the Marauder’s Map. Harry couldn’t help feel a little excited at the prospect of spending the day alone with Hermione. No matter how much he wanted to avoid it though, he knew that Hermione was eventually going to bring up the whole “do you think I’m pretty” thing again. But he tried to push that to the back of his mind as he and Hermione entered Hogsmeade.

As soon as they arrived at the village they bumped into Fred and George Weasley who now had their shop up and running. Fred started talking first.

“So, what are you two doing here? It’s not a weekend.” Harry glanced over at Hermione and then back at the twins.

“Dumbledore just thought sending us here would take our mind of things,” said Harry coolly.

“So are you coming to our shop? We were just collecting some supplies before we head back to Diagon Alley.” butted in George.

“No, not today I don’t think we really have time do we, Hermione?” said Harry who would prefer to just relax with his friend today.

“Ok, but you don’t know what you’re missing.” With that the twins left them and went back to their shop. Harry turned to Hermione.

“So what do you want to do first?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s up to you really,” answered Hermione, who started looking around at anything other than Harry. It was clear that they were both feeling a little uncomfortable.

Harry eventually broke the uneasy silence. “Well…we could go to The Three Broomsticks for a chat and a Butterbeer if you like? My treat.” Hermione smiled up at him.

“That sounds great,” she answered cheerfully.

*

The warm and friendly atmosphere of the Three Broomsticks enveloped them as they walked in the door. They got a table in a quiet corner of the pub and ordered two Butterbeer’s from Madam Rosmeta. It was a small corner table and they had to lean in to hear each other. Harry enjoyed having Hermione’s warm body next to him. He looked across at her and noticed that she had her head hanging down, staring at her lap.

“Are you ok?” he asked. She looked up at him with a few tears in her eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll be ok,” she snuffled. Harry knew that this time was difficult for her and he expected to see more tears this afternoon. He held Hermione’s hand in his and proceeded to talk.

“Hermione, I’m sorry about what happened to you. I should have been there for you the morning you were kidnapped.”

Hermione wiped away her tears with her sleeve. “Don’t blame yourself Harry, you can’t be with me twenty-four hours a day. You’ll always be my best friend whatever happens to me or you.”

Harry smiled at her and lifted a bottle of Butterbeer that was sitting on the table. “To friendship!”

“To friendship!” replied Hermione. They clonked their bottles together and each took a swallow. The warm sensation running down their throats. “Anyway, lets talk about you a little. I’m fed up with talking about me. So how are you feeling about Cho?” she asked softly.

Harry chuckled.

“I told you, I’m over her. She was just some silly childish crush,” he answered, in a so-what sort of way.

“So you won’t be asking her to the Yule Ball then?”

Harry’s heart leaped from his chest. He had forgotten that the Yule Ball would be coming up in about six weeks time. He knew whom he wanted to ask; it was just asking her that was the hard part.

“No, I don’t know who I’m going with yet. What about you?” Hermione shrugged a little.

“I don’t know either,” she said rather dejectedly. “I don’t think anyone wants to go with the bookworm.”

“Don’t be so silly, I’m sure you’ll find someone to go with you,” said Harry, surprisingly confident.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she sighed. “I might not go yet, it depends if I feel up to it.”

Harry looked softly at her. “Well if you do decide not to go, you won’t be alone. Because I’ll stay with you.”

She shook her head. “No, Harry you shouldn’t stay with me, you’ll miss all the fun.”

Harry put up a hand to stop Hermione. “I insist Herm, I will stay with you. I’m supposed to be your friend aren’t I?”

“Only if you’re sure?” she answered.

“Positive,” he said, smiling. Hermione smiled back at him.

The two of them talked for a couple of hours about the good memories of their childhood friendship and the adventures they’d had with Ron. Harry felt good listening to her talk easily, her eyes even sparkling at times. He even plucked up the courage to tell her about Dobby taking all the house elf hats last year, but that didn’t bother her at the minute. After all, she had more important things to worry about than house elves.

After their long chat they headed off to Mr Long-tie’s bakery. Harry bought them sandwiches, and they went to a small, quiet and peaceful park. The sun was shining down on them, but there was the usual November chill in the air around them. They sat down on a wooden bench when Hermione looked up at Harry thoughtfully.

“What’s on your mind?” Harry asked.

“Harry, it’s about the other night. When I asked you if you thought I was pretty… I never should have put you in that sort of position. It’s just that…I thought you would be honest with me. I’m sorry.” Harry shook his head at her.

“No, Hermione, I’m the one who should be sorry. After all, I was never honest with you in the first place.” Harry didn’t know what had made him say this to her but he felt strangely comfortable saying it.

“Harry, what are you saying?” she asked.

“Well…what I’m saying is…when I told you that you were fine I should have told you the truth,” he trailed off, suddenly feeling the pressure growing on him, as Hermione’s eyes followed him intensely.

“And the truth is?” Hermione asked him curiously.

Harry coughed a little. “You’re…beautiful. Not just you as in your face, hair and eyes, but your whole personality is what makes you perfect and beautiful.”

Oh sweet Merlin, what have I just said? he thought. Hermione gave him a small smile.

“Do you mean that?” she asked.

Harry moved closer to her, he held her hand in his. “Maybe this will help you realise,” he said. Before he knew what he was doing, he had moved his head slowly to Hermione’s, until his lips touched hers. The kiss lasted for about three seconds before Hermione leapt up from the bench. She didn’t even look at Harry as she ran away, leaving him as confused as ever.

Chapter 7 : The Traitor

Harry sat alone on the park bench replaying the events, which had just occurred in his head. Oh, I can’t believe I kissed her! What was I thinking? I hate these stupid teenage hormones. The frustration ran through his head, until at last, worry and guilt took over him. She had had a really rough time recently and now Harry had given her another reason to worry. He started to wonder where Hermione had gone and if she was safe. Especially after the recent kidnap by Lucius Malfoy. Harry knew that he had to try and find her; he couldn’t bare it if anything happened to her. He sprinted away from the bench and began his search of Hogsmeade, hoping that she would either be there or Hogwarts.

Harry searched Hogsmeade for about three hours. He had looked everywhere from The Three Broomsticks to The Shrieking Shack. The night was slowly drawing in and Harry pulled the hood of his cloak over his head as the cold air and fog whipped around his ears. He could see his breath in front of him and it looked as though it would freeze right there, it was so cold. If Hermione was out here, she would be in a lot of pain from this cold.

Harry made his way back to Hogwarts quickly. He ran up to the Gryffindor Common Room, he passed a few students on his way. Harry found Ron in the common room. He was sat by the fire, doing his homework. “Ron!” Harry shouted, as Ron turned around in shock. “have you seen Hermione!” Ron looked seriously at Harry.

“No, I thought she was with you,” he said quickly. Harry panicked even more, he knew that Hermione would be in the common room, by now, after all it was nearly ten o’clock.

“Oh, Ron I’ve made a mistake, it’s to late to explain. All I can say is that I lost her, do you have any idea where she might be?”

“Um…no…unless she’s at Diagon Alley, that’s the only place I can think of other than Hogsmeade,” said Ron.

“I’m going after her.” Harry said abruptly. He pulled up the hood of his cloak, and turned to leave.

“Wait!” shouted Ron. “You can’t go looking for Hermione now, Diagon Alley might not be as safe at night. And how are you going to get past the prefects, professors, Filch and Peeves. I mean I know that you want to find Hermione, and so do I, but I’m not going anywhere tonight. What you do is up to you, but I suggest that you wait for a while to see if she turns up.”

Harry sighed. “You’re right Ron, it is up to me what I do, and I’m looking for her. You don’t know what happened at Hogsmeade. I have to find her.” Ron sighed as Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak and rushed out of the common room without giving him chance to speak.

*

Harry held the invisibility cloak over him all the way out of Hogwarts. He had to breathe quietly so that nobody heard him. His footsteps were just as light. Harry noticed how everything looked a little different at night. He reached Diagon Alley after about two hours, so it was already nearly midnight when he got there. But he knew this was only part of the journey. He still had to find Hermione.

He walked briskly down the main streets of Diagon Alley noticing a few drunken wizards stumbling down the street, not to mention the one that was asleep on the bench he was walking past. He could hear shouting and loud music coming from the pubs, and he couldn’t help feeling the urge to have one of those nice warm Butterbeer’s trail down his throat. But he had to stick to his route.

He explored the main streets with the invisibility cloak still draped over him. He decided to take some of the dark back streets, where all he found was two cats vigorously fighting. The concern he felt for Hermione grew deeper and deeper as he explored more of the strange nighttime Diagon Alley. After searching for a little longer he reached the signpost to the one place he hoped he wouldn’t have to visit. But he knew that was the last place left to look. Yes, he was going into Knockturn Alley. He hadn’t been there since he accidentally landed there from the Weasley’s fireplace in second year. It had been scary then, at ten o’clock in the morning, not to mention now at one o’clock in the morning.

He slowly stepped into the place under his invisibility cloak. The dark witched and wizards were roaming the streets with their peering eyes. Harry almost felt as though they knew he was there. There were not many shops here, apart from the odd boarded up deserted shop. Harry crept slowly through the dark streets with his cloak wrapped tightly around him. He came up to a dark pub called. “The Dark Mark.” Harry looked inside to see the man with slick blonde hair. Lucius Malfoy. He could see but not hear Malfoy talking to a little wizard who seemed to be listening to the story intently. He turned around to continue walking when he bumped into a tall wizard. He had dark eyes, and a bushy black beard; he stared around looking for what had hit him. Harry scramble to his feet and stood on his invisibility cloak. Removing it from his body, he looked them man square in the eyes.

He turned and ran as the wizard ran after him. Harry ran for about five minutes, with the tall skinny man galloping after him. Some people turned their heads to watch but none of them tried to stop Harry. He leapt round two corners, before finally losing sight of the man. He leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily. He turned to look around when he felt a hand grab his throat, pushing him back against the wall. The man he thought he had lost sight of had his hand wrapped tightly around his neck. Harry struggled to breathe as the grip tightened.

“So, here we meet again Harry Potter,” the man hissed quietly.

“Who…are you.” Harry forced out. He noticed the man had a foreign accent.

“Oh, you know me, we met two years ago,” said the man. Harry only just noticed a sack on the ground when it started moving and screaming.

“Hermione.” Harry cried as he looked at the sack. He hit the man in the stomach but it didn’t really affect him too much as it wasn’t a very fierce punch, as Harry was so weak from his choke.

The man whipped Harry across the face with the back of his hand, knocking him to the ground. The man stepped back and pulled off his hat, revealing short black hair. He then removed the fake beard and revealed his full face. Harry couldn’t believe who it was. “Krum, Viktor Krum?” Harry gasped.

Krum smiled and let out a laugh, which was more like a cackle. “Yes, it is me,” he hissed. “I have turned to the other side, the side of the most powerful wizard ever, the side of Lord Voldemort. I have kidnapped the mudblood behind me, to prove just how evil I can be. Not that it will matter to you because she will be dead in a little while once she is with my master, and you won’t even remember it. That is, once I’ve conducted this little memory charm on you.” Krum turned and walked over to Hermione. He opened the sack and pulled her out. He wrapped his arm tightly around her neck as he turned her to face Harry. Krum had his wand up at Harry with the other arm. “Crucio!” the spell shot out at Harry, he felt the pain surge through him, as he heard Hermione screaming. As Krum laughed. Harry regained focus to see Hermione step on Krum’s foot, and then kick him in the groin. She ran over to Harry and knelt down beside him.

“Harry are you ok?” she sobbed.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He saw Krum getting up again and he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Krum. Showing the true coward that he is, Krum ran away quickly yelling the words. “We’ll get you Potter!”

Harry looked up at Hermione, only just realising that she was wearing only her shirt and jeans. “Here take this,” he said, putting his cloak over her shoulders. “Did Krum take your cloak?”

“Yes,” she answered.

Harry noticed a small trapdoor next to him, he opened it up and looked down, he could see nobody and it looked as thought there wasn’t much there anyway. “Come, on let’s get in here,” he said, as he took Hermione by that hand, he led her down and they both muttered the ‘lumos’ spell. Hermione spotted a light switch and she turned it on. After all nobody could see them as there were no windows. They had no idea where they were or if they were safe.

“Somehow, I think we’ll be ok here for now.” Harry said. They sat down on a pile of wooden crates in the otherwise empty room. There was a long drawn-out silence.

“Harry”

“Hermione” they both said together. They both let out a nervous chuckle afterwards. “You first Harry,” said Hermione.

Harry looked into her deep brown eyes. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he muttered. “I don’t know what came over me, it’s just…you looked so beautiful and I knew you were hurting…so I guess I just thought I could make it better.” Hermione gave him a weak smile.

“That’s all fine Harry but to make me feel at all better, you didn’t need to kiss me. Why did you do that?” she asked.

Harry felt the nerves burning through him again. “I…I…I did it because…you know…” he trailed off feeling very apprehensive to tell Hermione how we felt; he knew that it was now or never.

“No, I don’t know Harry, did you just do it because you felt like snogging your best friend?” she snapped.

“Hermione, you know I would never do that to you,” he said softly. “I did it…because I like you Hermione. And I don’t mean just as a friend, I mean I really like you.” Harry felt a slight weight off his mind after he had finally told her, but he was still worried about how she would react. He looked up slowly at her and their eyes met. He noticed Hermione smile ever so slightly. She finally spoke.

“Harry…I think it’s sweet that you like me like that but I’m not sure if I feel that same way about you. Besides what would it do to our friendship?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t think our friendship would be any different to how it is now, after what I just told you. But I respect your opinion if you don’t like me the same way that I like you, but I am willing to give it a try if you are.” Harry cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently, but this time she kissed him back. It was a soft and gently kiss. They slowly broke away and Harry smiled at Hermione. “How do you feel after that?” he asked.

Hermione smiled and giggled. “Ok, I admit I felt something there. And I guess I’m willing to give this relationship a go.”

Harry felt happiness and relief inside him as he heard her words. “Hermione, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she answered casually.

“Why did you run away from me earlier?” he asked curiously.

Hermione shrugged slightly. “I guess I was just scared. I was scared of what this could do to our friendship, and I didn’t know if I could handle anything else this year.”

Harry put his arm around her and pulled her close. “You’ll be fine Hermione, trust me,” he whispered in her ear.

And with that they slowly drifted off into a soft sleep in each other’s arms.

Chapter 8: Secret Out

BANG!

Harry jumped from the crates where he had been sleeping restfully. He looked up at the trapdoor to see if he could see any sign of what was making the noise. He noticed Hermione twitch behind him as she stumbled to her feet. “W-What’s going on?” she asked groggily.

“Keep quiet.” Harry whispered. “stay behind me.” He put out an arm like a guard for Hermione; his wand gripped tightly in his other hand. There was another huge bang as Harry noticed huge foot break through the wood, streaks of sunlight beaming through. He looked up in surprise when he saw the red-haired boy, Ron Weasley. “Ron! what are you doing here?” Ron stumbled down the ladder and landed next to Harry.

“Well, you didn’t expect me to let you do all the work did you? Besides I was worried about you, I wanted to make sure you were both ok, and that you got home safely. We’ve been searching for you all morning.”

Harry eyes Ron suspiciously. “We?”

“Oh yeah, that big foot you saw wasn’t mine, it was his.” Ron pointed up at the hole where the trapdoor once was. Harry noticed that the half-giant Rubeus Hagrid was beaming at them.

“Alrigh’ Harry?”

Harry returned his smile. “We’re fine,” he said, smiling at a rather red Hermione.

*

Hagrid left the trio once they arrived back at Hogwarts as he continued back to his hut. Harry and Hermione had told Ron the almost whole story of what had happened that night. They somehow missed the part about their kiss.

By the time they arrived back it was lunchtime and the three of them had an hour-long break. They were sitting in the common room; Harry and Ron were playing wizards chess, and Hermione had her head buried in a book as usual. She looked up from her book to see Ron’s knight be-head Harry’s bishop. “Don’t you think you two should be studying as well?” she asked.

“Yeah we should,” sighed Ron. “But that doesn’t mean that we will. Right Harry?” Ron looked Harry directly in the eyes, as Harry saw Hermione glance up at him. He knew that he should be studying, but didn’t want to make it seem too obvious that he was siding with Hermione a lot more these days. After all, if Ron found out about them, Harry didn’t know how he would react.

“Um…actually…maybe we should study…McGonagall would go mad if she thought I was slacking off, after all I have to do well if I want to be an auror.” Harry thought he had handled the situation rather well. He had done the right thing by choosing to study, and he hadn’t made it seem like he was agreeing with Hermione.

“Ok, it’s your choice mate, but I’m going to the library.” Harry and Hermione looked up in shock. “Oh, no not to study or anything, I want to read about the new version of Wizard’s Chess that’s coming out this Christmas, bye.” With that Ron departed the common room leaving Harry alone with Hermione for the first time since their kiss.

Harry got up slowly and sat down next to Hermione, he still felt rather nervous about the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing but he plucked up the courage to put his arm around her waist. He felt her tense slightly next to him, but she relaxed and laid her head on his shoulder. “What are you studying?” he asked, knowing full well that Hermione now had her eyes shut and was enjoying his embrace.

“Oh… um…Arithmancy. I won’t bore you with the facts though.” She pulled one of her arms around Harry’s waist as they straightened up slightly, their eyes locked. Harry knew that any normal couple would kiss right now, but he and Hermione were still knew to this thing and he didn’t know how far she wanted to go. She was so close now that he could feel her breath. He thought that she would have pulled away by now had she wanted too. He moved his mouth to hers as they shared a light kiss. He slowly pulled away from her as they stared into each other’s eyes. They kissed again but this time it was a little bit deeper. Harry felt the sensation running through his body, as he kissed her more passionately.

What the two didn’t know was that Ron was in the entrance of the common room, and was watching on with his mouth open in shock. He crawled in from the portrait hole and stepped inside the room. Harry and Hermione continued to kiss, as they didn’t even notice him there, until he let out a light cough. They broke apart quickly and stared blankly at Ron.

“Ron!” they both exclaimed at the same time. Ron looked deeply hurt, as he stared a hole at Hermione rather than Harry.

“What’s going on?” he asked slowly.

“It’s not what it looks like,” said Harry, flustered.

“Oh, so snogging your best friend is as common as playing Quidditch is it?” he snapped.

“Ron, we can explain.” Hermione pleaded.

Ron took a step closer to Hermione and looked her directly in the eyes. “Go on then, explain!” he snapped back, his voice rising with every word he spoke.

Harry stepped in and grabbed Ron by the shoulders pulling him away from Hermione. “What the hell are you playing at? Just here us out.” Harry let out a long sigh before continuing. “You see, last night when I saved Hermione. Um…we…well…we sort of…kissed.”

“Well, I must say you looked like it wasn’t your first time when I came in!” answered Ron. “I think I’ve heard enough of this little story. Are you two a…couple…or not?”

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and then slowly returned their eyes to Ron. They both knew that they weren’t sure about their relationship but they had to give Ron an answer now that he had found out. One of them finally spoke, but this time it was Hermione. “Yes, we are a couple,” she said firmly. “I’m sorry Ron, I know this is hard for you but…you’re going to have to try and get used to it, and I know that it’s going to take time but…” she was cut off sharply by Ron.

“Oh shut up!” he shouted. “I’m fed up with you saying ‘I know this, I know that’ every couple of minutes. You have no idea how the hell I am feeling at the moment so don’t you even try to understand!” He turned away and stormed out of the common room.

Harry turned to a sobbing Hermione after a couple of minutes of silence. He wanted to throw his arms around her but he had to know why Ron was so upset with her. “Hermione, what’s going on?” he asked softly. He looked down at her. She continued to sob as she tried her best to get her words out.

“Ok, you deserve to hear what happened. Earlier this summer Ron sent me an owl, asking me if I wanted to go to the Burrow. He also asked me if I would like to go to the Yule Ball with him this year. Well, I sent a reply saying that I didn’t think it would be a good idea to get involved like that with one of my best friends. So he sent me a reply…he was really upset that I had said no to him, and he told me all the feelings he had for me. So the only thing I could do was to tell him how I felt about him.”

“And that is?” Harry butted in, a little worriedly.

“I told him I didn’t like him the way that he likes me, and we haven’t spoken directly since.” She broke off her sentence as she continued to cry harder than ever. “And now I’ve ruined our friendship.” Harry pulled his arm around her as she leaned on his shoulder and cried her heart out.

They stayed in the same position for about an hour when Harry finally spoke to her. “Hermione, can I ask you something?” he said in a voice that was barely a whisper. She nodded her head in approval. “If you said that you didn’t want to get involved romantically with any of your best friends, then is that why you were reluctant to try anything with me?”

“Of course it is. But things change, and I’m starting to feel, like I want to have a relationship with you Harry. I just feel so guilty about what I said to Ron,” she answered.

“I’ll talk to Ron, don’t you worry anymore,” he replied gently.

Hermione looked at him with severe worry on her face. “No! don’t you talk to him; I know what you two are like. It will start off with a quiet conversation when hardly anything is said, then one of you will say something wrong, and the next minute punches are thrown. Please Harry, don’t try,” she pleaded.

“We’ll see,” he said softly. He then kissed her gently on her forehead.

*

After Hermione’s tears had dried up they headed off for their first Divination lesson of the year. Hermione had decided to re-join now that any students from fifth to seventh year will be doing lessons with Firenze the Centaur. Students who were below fifth still had old Trelawney.

They arrived in the dark Divination Room about five minutes early. They saw Ron sitting at a table alone, he appeared to be trying not to look at anyone. Harry and Hermione sat down next to each other, awaiting the arrival of Firenze with anticipation, as did the rest of the class. They all waited for about ten minutes but there was still no sign of Firenze, when Professor McGonagall darted into the room. “Hello students, I am here to tell you that this class is cancelled.” There was an array of groans from the class. “Please go directly to your common rooms. The rest of your house will be there already. Please do not ask questions.” She turned, and left without another word.

There were a lot of questions being asked around the class, such as ‘why’ and ‘do you think he’s ok?’ Harry and Hermione had to be in charge for a while and keep all the terrified first years quiet, after all they are prefects. Professor McGonagall stepped back into the room after what seemed like an eternity. She had a sad and distraught look on her face. “Students, we have some terrible news. Firenze the Centaur has been killed,” she said in a weak voice. Harry looked down to the ground, not wanting to look anybody in the eye. The students were silent awaiting more news. “He was killed by a Death Eater. You have the rest of the day off, but going outside of the castle is strictly forbidden.” She walked briskly over to Harry and Hermione. “You two are still welcome to go outside but be on your guard, it may not be safe.”

Harry knew that they were both prefects; therefore they had special permission to do things. But they both decided it was best to stay indoors. They went up to the Prefect Common Room and pulled out their books to do some revision. Neither of them said a word for an hour or so. Infact the whole school was quiet since they had received the news. The silence was broken when there was a knock on the door. Harry and Hermione turned their glances to the door of the common room sharply. Harry slowly stepped up. “Hermione, take out your wand, but stay behind me.” She did as he said, but was not about to back down. Harry put his hand on the doorknob, turned it slowly and pulled it open quickly. But they soon lowered their wands when they realised that the person there was no Death Eater, but a Professor.

“Professor Lupin!” Harry exclaimed.

“What are you doing here?” Hermione added.

“Um…I just came to talk to Harry, but I can see it’s a bad time, so I’ll leave,” he said.

“No! It’s ok, you come in, I’ll just wait outside for a while,” said Hermione. She walked out leaving Lupin and Harry alone.

“Harry, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“Ok, Professor but I have to be quick, I’m supposed to be studying.” Harry said.

“I know Harry, but this is important. It’s about Sirius. You see Harry in his will he left me Grimmauld Place, and well, I wondered if when school is over and all, at the end of next year. You might come and live with me there. How does that sound?”

“You’re kidding?” Harry’s face lit up, this was too good to be true.

“No, Harry I’m not kidding.”

Harry beamed up at him. “This is great, but what about Hermione, she has nowhere to live at the moment?”

"Well, I've got that covered too. It is completely up to her, but at the end of this year, she can come and live with me if she wants too. You can always come and visit at the end of the summer."

"Really? I'll ask her later," answered Harry brightly.

“And Harry there was something else that Sirius left. For you.” Lupin pulled a medium sized broach and handed it to Harry.

Harry opened up the broach and couldn’t believe what he could see. It was his Mum and Dad. “Sirius wanted to wait for the right time to give you this Harry.” Lupin added. “Give that picture of your parents a rub Harry.” Harry rubbed the picture as hard as he could with his thumbs, until he noticed the picture moving and talking.

“Hello, Harry we created this for you in case anything happens to us during this war so you always know that you can see us and hear us. We love you Harry.”

Is what his parents said. Harry stared blankly at the picture as it faded away. He closed the broach and opened it again and once again the picture was there. He closed it up as a tear rolled down his cheek. “Thank you,” he said as he looked up at Lupin.

“It’s all yours Harry,” said Lupin. “By the way, when we’re not in class, you can all me Remus. Now off you go.” Once Lupin had left, Harry sat down quietly on the sofa in front of the fire. He opened up the broach and started talking, holding back the tears.

"Hi, Mum...and Dad,” Harry swallowed hard as he spoke, fighting his tears. “I hope you can hear me somewhere when I say this. Thank you for leaving me this broach, and I love you too. And I want you to know that I am going to kill Voldemort."

Tears streamed out of Harry's eyes as he was talking, he really had to force out the words. "I'm going to protect this school and my two best friends. Especially Hermione, she's very special too me. Once again I love you, and…goodbye." Harry snapped the broach shut and put it into his pocket. He hadn’t noticed that Hermione was standing behind him. He stood up and turned around to see her staring at him, her eyes tear stained. “I didn’t know you were here Hermione.”

“What were you talking to?” she asked.

“Um, something Lupin gave me. Did you hear what I said?”

She smiled at him. “Yes, Harry I did. It was really sweet.” He returned her smile as she walked up to him, kissed him on the lips, and hugged him tightly.

Chapter 9: O.W.Ls and Duels

The rest of the day past by quietly. Harry and Hermione still hadn’t talked to Ron; he seemed to be deliberately avoiding them. They were inside the main common room awaiting the arrival of Professor McGonagall, who had earlier announced that they would be receiving last year’s owl results. The results had been delayed due to the war, and Harry was a little nervous of how well he would do.

Once Professor McGonagall had handed out the results, Harry and Hermione dashed up to their common room to find out how they had done. Hermione opened hers first. She unfolded the envelope and pulled out a sheet of parchment.

Potions - A = Acceptable

Arithmancy - A = Acceptable

History Of Magic - O = Outstanding

Care Of Magical Creatures - A = Acceptable

Defence Against The Dark Arts - O = Outstanding

Charms - O = Outstanding

Herbology - E = Exceeds Expectations

Transfiguration - E = Exceeds Expectations

Muggle Studies - A = Acceptable

Harry looked over her shoulder, and noticed that she had passed all subjects, including Arithmancy, which was the one subject she struggled with. “Well, done Hermione, you deserve it.”

She beamed up at him. “Thanks, now you open yours.” She could see how nervous he looked. “Don’t be nervous Harry, remember that if you don’t do quite so well in these, there is still a chance of becoming an Auror. The N.E.W.Ts are the big exams that will mostly decide your future.”

“I guess you’re right,” he answered to her confident tone. He flipped open the envelope and tore out the parchment.

Potions - E = Exceeds Expectations

Divination - A = Acceptable

History Of Magic - P = Poor

Care Of Magical Creatures - A = Acceptable

Defence Against The Dark Arts - O = Outstanding

Charms = O = Outstanding

Herbology = A = Acceptable

Transfiguration - E = Exceeds Expectations

He read the parchment over twice, and was delighted to see that he had received an E in Potions. He never expected to do well in History Of Magic or Divination, so he was pleased that he had only failed one. “I did it, I passed eight out of nine!” Hermione hugged him tightly. “You know, maybe something is going right for us at last.”

*

Harry woke up the next morning, feeling a little better than normal. He rolled over in his bed in the boy’s dormitory. He could see that Ron was still fast asleep. Harry knew that he needed to talk to Ron, especially as they were playing Quidditch together today against Ravenclaw. He rolled out of bed and tapped Ron on the shoulder. “Wake up Ron,” he muttered. Ron twitched in his bed, and sat up to stare at Harry.

“Oh it’s you,” he said gloomily.

“Yes, it is me, your friend, Harry,” he answered bluntly. “Ron, listen. I know you’re mad at me, and Hermione told me why…” But Ron cut him off.

“What! she told you?” Ron snapped with a raised voice.

“Keep it down Ron, you’ll wake up the others.”

“I don’t care if I wake up the others! I don’t care about you, and I don’t care about HERMIONE!” The rest of the dorm had woken up and were now on the edge of their seats as though they were watching a Pay Per View special. Ron stood on fuming, whilst staring at Harry.

“Ron, you’re going to have to face the facts, me and Hermione are together, and we are happy. I don’t even know how long this relationship will last, we’re just trying it out for a while.”

“Oh, so now you’re just ‘trying’ Hermione?”

“IT’S MORE THAN THAT RON!” Harry bellowed. “I REALLY LIKE HERMIONE, AND… I MIGHT EVEN LOVE HER!” Harry was breathing fast and hard, he couldn’t believe that he had just said that he might love Hermione.

WHACK! Ron’s fist landed on Harry’s jaw, sending him flying back on to the ground. Ron stepped back after doing this, only just realising what he had done. He then turned and ran quickly out of the room.

Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom were gathered around Harry to see if he was ok. Harry had to admit than Ron packed one hell of a punch, he even felt slightly concussed.

“Are you alright, Harry?” Neville croaked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, I’m just a little concussed.” Harry stumbled up to the ground before collapsing onto his bed.

*

Harry opened his eyes, his vision a little blurry. He could see Hermione watching over him with concern. “Where am I?” he mumbled.

“You are in the Hospital Wing, Mr Potter,” butted in Madam Pomfrey.

“I can’t be here, I have to play Quidditch today,” he answered.

“Quidditch? You missed Quidditch yesterday,” she answered.

“What?”

“Ginny filled in for you as Seeker, Neville played as chaser.” Hermione added.

“Did we win?” Harry asked anxiously.

“Yes, Ginny caught the snitch, and Seamus and Bruce played a good game as chasers, and Neville was…ok. But anyway forget about Quidditch, what happened to you? Nobody knows.”

“Oh…um…didn’t the anybody tell you, even Seamus?”

“No.” Hermione answered quickly.

“Oh…err…I fell…yeah that’s it.” Harry stuttered.

“Looks like more than a fall to me, Potter,” questioned Pomfrey.

“Ok…ok…Hermione get ready to gloat because you were right. I talked to Ron and one punch was thrown…at my jaw.” He smiled half-heartedly but quickly stopped as he noticed Hermione’s frown.

“You promised me you wouldn’t,” she said, looking and probably feeling a little hurt.

“I was only trying to make things right, I’m sorry,” he pleaded with his deep green eyes.

“Oh, how can I stay mad at you with those eyes,” she said playfully. She moved her head down to kiss him, but Madam Pomfrey coughed.

“Sorry to break up this little re-union but this is a Hospital Wing. Now Mr Potter, you may leave, but I want you to stay away from anything that may make your injury worse, for the next week. And when I say things that will make your concussion worse, I mean Quidditch.”

“Bu-” Harry started as he was cut off, by Madam Pomfrey.

“Now, go along Potter, and Miss Granger, you make sure that he doesn’t do anything foolish.”

They left the Hospital Wing, and made their way down to Breakfast. As they entered the Hall, Harry received numerous stares. He was quite thankful that Dean, Neville, Seamus and even Ron hadn’t told everybody the story of how he sustained the injury. They sat down next to Neville and Seamus.

“Alright, Harry?” asked Seamus, with a grin on his face.

“Not bad,” answered Harry, he turned to Neville. “Thanks for helping the Quidditch team, Neville.”

“That’s fine, I quite enjoyed it, once I had got my broom off the ground.”

The whole table chuckled before making there way to Defence Against The Dark Arts, Harry’s favourite lesson.

*

They arrived at the classroom, just in time to hear Professor Lupin’s footsteps coming from the corridor. They were all wondering why there was a long blue carpet spread down the centre of the room. Lupin entered the room, and stood up at the front of the class.

“Hello, class. Today we will be learning some more spells to help you in battle. The spells that you learn will then be put into practice, which explains the blue mat. You see when you have learnt the spells, you are going to use them in a duel.” Excitement and nerves ran throughout the class, after heading the Professor’s words. “Now, I about to conjure an Unreal Enemy, usually known as a UE. A UE is basically a wizard, that isn’t real, doesn’t exist, fight back, or talk and walk. But spells and charms can be performed on it to full effect, without risking injuries. Now, watch carefully as I perform four simple spells.” Lupin stepped back, and pointed his wand at the Unreal Enemy.

“Trihaza!” he yelled, as blue and white sparks zoomed out of his wand, as the enemy froze still, and dropped to the ground. “The Trihaza spell paralyses your opponents entire body. Next.”

Lupin used the usual charm movement, flick and swish, as he muttered the spell ‘Bula-Buyaha’ the enemy just moved its head around as if looking for something. “Right, that spell might had looked useless, but in a battle it can be very effective. The Bula-Buyaha spell, causes your opponent to lose his memory for a brief moment, giving you chance to fight back.”

Lupin stepped back again, and pointed his arm out straight at the enemy. “Prenon!” he yelled. The Unreal Enemy fell backwards, and landed flat on its backside. “Well, I think you can see what that basic, yet effective spell does. Onto the next and last spell.”

“Blindovara,” bellowed Lupin, the enemy clutched it’s head in it’s hands as Lupin held his wand in the same position, once he let go the spell was lifted, and the enemy was revived. “That spell blinds your opponent, until you change the position of your wand. Right, grab a partner and then I will pick a couple of you to duel.”

After about twenty minutes of practice, Lupin announced that Draco would be Duelling Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy won.

“Right, I think we have time for one more duel. Potter, Weasley, your good friends, have a friendly duel.” Harry gulped, he knew Lupin was unaware of his and Ron’s argument, but he still felt a little annoyed. He wasn’t about to back down though as he saw Ron at the far end of the carpet, his wand out ready. Harry stepped at the other end, with his wand out.

“Duel!” called Lupin.

“Fira!” yelled Ron, an array of red and orange sparks flew at Harry, sending him flying backwards. He knew he doing this activity would anger Madam Pomfrey, but he really had no choice. He stumbled up to his feet, but he was down again as Ron used the same spell.

“Come on Harry, can’t you fight after I weakened you?” Ron called.

“I won’t fight you Ron, this is wrong. We’re friends and Hermione shouldn’t come between us!” Harry shouted back.

“You’re the one that loves her! And it’s not fair that she doesn’t like me, when she likes you. Why do you get everything Harry? Why?” Ron stormed out of the room, leaving the class and Lupin in shock.

“Well,” said Lupin, breaking the awkward silence that had developed. “Maybe we should end this lesson now, off you go, all of you.”

Harry and Hermione walked quickly outside. They went to the place that Harry had taken her at the start of the year. They sat down on the bench and there was a long silence. Hermione knew that Harry just liked to come here and think, so she didn’t say anything for a while, bit when she did, she knew that she wanted to say.

“Hermione, I’m sorry about all of this, I never thought that us having a relationship would ruin our friendship like this. I understand if you want to leave me.”

Hermione shook her head. “I don’t want to leave you Harry. We’ll get through this, and at some point we will have a chance to have a real relationship. But, Harry there is another thing on my mind…I listened to what Ron said…and he said something about you loving me…is that true?”

Chapter 10: A Message From The Enemy

Recap: “But, Harry there is another thing on my mind…I listened to what Ron said…and he said something about you loving me…is that true?”

*

Harry stared up into the girl’s deep brown eyes, this was it, and he was going to say those three fatal words. “Hermione…I love you,” he said gently. He felt tense, like he was about to face Voldemort in the last ever battle.

“Oh, Harry, this might be a little soon for me,” she answered, with a half smile on her face. “But, you should know that when I’m ready I will say it back. I don’t know how long it will take, but when I know for sure, I will let you know.”

“That’s fine Hermione,” he said, although he was a little disappointed, “I understand that it’s quite a big thing to say.”

There was a strained silence between them, when Hermione spoke. “Harry, what are we going to do about Ron?” she asked.

Harry was relieved that she had changed the subject. “I don’t know Hermione, I’ve tried the reasonable option, I’ve tried being the sensible one but he just will not accept the fact that me and you are together.”

“I have an idea…” Hermione started.

“And that surprises me.” Harry answered sarcastically. She raised her eyebrows at him.

“Just hear me out ok? I’m guessing Ron feels lonely right now, so we have to make him not feel lonely, if that makes sense?”

Harry nodded. “So you’re saying that we need to find something or…”

“Someone, for Ron,” Hermione butted in.

“Ok, but who?” Harry asked. “Ron’s kind of picky.”

“And you’re not?” she answered.

“Obviously,” Harry replied, smiling. She gave him a playful punch in the ribs before giving him a long kiss on the lips. They then headed off to the common room to eye up their candidates.

They sat quietly in the corner of the common room for about half an hour before finally making their shortlist.

“Ok,” said Hermione. “First are the Gryffindors, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. Then Hufflepuff, Susan Bones, and finally Luna Lovegood of Ravenclaw. Are you sure Ron won’t mind the last two not being Gryffindors?”

“Well, it’s worth checking them out, we’ll keep a close eye at dinner tonight.” With that, Hermione placed the list in her bag and they headed off to Potions.

*

When they arrived in the dark and dingy Potions room, Snape was already standing at the front of the class clenching a rectangular jar filled with some sort of green goo.

“Today we will be learning how to create Plimo juice. You will need to know how to do this if you want any chance of passing next year’s N.E.W.Ts. Plimo is a juice used to create lolth, which is used in a potion which will awaken somebody from a sleeping draught.” Snape began bluntly. “Your ingredients are already on your desk, I want the snails removed from their shell, dead-headed, the fingernails crushed and the entire green liquid added. When your Potion is complete it should look something like this.” Snape pointed to the green jar, which was now on his desk. “Begin,” he ordered.

Harry looked awkwardly at the snails; even he didn’t like the idea of cutting heads off them. Although he wasn’t the only one, as he noticed Neville’s pale face and Hermione’s expression said it all. He quickly picked up a knife and chopped off all of the heads at once, he looked to his right and noticed Hermione’s horrified expression.

“How can you do that?” she asked.

“Well I have to if I want to pass Potions, here. I’ll do yours if you like.” He grabbed her board where the snails were laying; he was about to pull them out of the shell when he felt a cold hand land on his shoulder. He turned around to see Professor Snape glaring down at him.

“No helping Potter, you know that,” he said coldly.

“Bu-”

“No questions,” he snapped back before turning and walking back to his desk.

Hermione pulled back her snails. “It’s ok Harry, I can do it.” Harry nodded and glanced at the desk across the room where Ron was sitting with Dean Thomas. He was starting to miss Ron now, although he wasn’t the one who wanted to argue, it was Ron. He still needed to help Hermione decide on whom they were going to try and fix Ron up with. He was removed from his thoughts when he heard someone mention his name.

“Potter” came the eerie voice. “Recognise my voice? You know who I am. I suppose you know of the murders that I have carried out, it started with the mudbloods, and then it was the centaur. I will remove anyone who opposes me, you just better keep an eye on your Mudblood.” Harry then heard Voldemort’s evil laugh before he was awoken.

He opened his eyes to see Hermione, Snape and Neville watching over him.

“Harry are you ok?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Harry stuttered.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes Hermione, I’m sure” he said re-assuringly.

“What happened Potter?” asked Snape sternly.

“It was nothing, I just went a little faint.” Harry lied. Snape eyed him suspiciously, before ushering out the class. “End of lesson,” Snape called out.

Harry walked quickly away from the class and made his way outside, he didn’t know where to go, he just wanted to get outside, he noticed Hermione rushing behind him.

“Harry, stop a moment!” she called out.

Harry stopped and looked back at her, their eyes locking for a moment.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Not inside…for now,” he answered, looking a little nervy.

“Well, I have to go to the library to get some books out on Arithmancy but…”

“No! You can’t go alone Hermione.” Harry pleaded.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because…because of something Voldemort said.”

“Voldemort?” she asked, her eyes full of concern.

“That’s what just happened,” he started softly. “Voldemort talked to me, he talked about killing your parents and Firenze. Then he said…he said that…well…”

“What did he say Harry?” Hermione asked, her eyes starting to well up.

Harry stared deeply into her eyes, he wanted to hold her now, to protect her from everything, and he knew that he had to face the truth. The war was here. “He basically said that you were his next target Hermione,” he choked out.

The two of them didn’t say anything; they just held each other in their arms until the pain had slightly eased.

Authors Note:

Sorry this chapter took so long, I have been suffering from slight writers block. I know that there wasn’t too much action in this chapter but I hope you still enjoyed it, please review, they are what make me update at all.

Chapter 11: Reunited

“How are we going to get her?” the Death Eater snarled.

“I have a plan, do not worry,” hissed Voldemort.

“Well what is your plan then?”

“Don’t you back chat me man,” he hissed back at the masked death eater.

“Sorry sir,” he answered quickly.

“You can make it up to me later, perhaps you can polish my wand. Onto the plan, to get this girl we are going to need to do something un-expected, something she or Potter will not be expecting, something that will make the death worse than ever.” Voldemort turned his head to a man who was bound to a chair by rope; he had a cloak over his head. Voldemort walked over to him and whipped off the cloak to reveal Percy Weasley.

“What do you want with me?” asked the redhead nervously.

Voldemort smirked a little. “All we want from you Weasley is a favour.”

“What sort of a favour?” he snapped.

“The sort of favour that will give you that power that you have been so desperately seeking for all these years. And all I ask from you is one little favour and I will give you that power that you so badly want.” Voldemort gave him a sly smile while Percy eyed him suspiciously.

*

Harry sat in the library with his head in a transfiguration book; he had to learn how to turn a quill into a toad. He was about to try the spell when Ron tapped him on the shoulder. He looked round in surprise to see Ron half smiling. “Harry…could I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.

Harry frowned slightly in suspicion of what Ron wanted to talk about. “Sure…I guess,” he answered. “But not here…this is a library after all.” Ron nodded and they made their way up to the common room, which was empty. Ron sat down opposite Harry. Ron suddenly became interested in his hands.

“Harry, look, I’m sorry about the last few weeks. When I saw you and Hermione…you know, I just felt really hurt after what Hermione had told me. I felt like once again I had lost out to you, but I understand that you and Hermione love each other, and I will try my best from now on to deal with it. Besides, there are other fish in the sea.”

Harry laughed lightly. “Thanks Ron, that means a lot. Just so you know, Hermione and me aren’t even sure what our relationship is yet, I told her that I love her, but she still isn’t sure. You should also know that Hermione has been killing herself trying to think of someone to fix you up with.”

Ron chuckled. “You can always count on Hermione to try and sort things.”

“Yes you can,” said Hermione as she strutted in from the portrait hole. The two boys were startled to see her.

“Hermione, how long have you been there?” Harry asked.

“Long enough to hear your soppy make up,” she said shakily with a smile on her face. Tears then started to fall from her eyes as she ran up and hugged them both tightly.

“By the way Hermione, there is something I was supposed to tell you.” Harry said. “Lupin wants you to live with him this summer, he has loads of space.”

Hermione beamed up at him. “Really? Oh this is great news, I’ll have to thank him…and of course accept.” Harry and Ron returned her smile, as the famous trio were re-united.

Authors Note : I know this chapter wasn’t as long, but it sets up the next chapter quite well. Please review or I might not update, as I am starting to lose momentum.

Chapter 12: My Duty

After Harry, Ron and Hermione had studied together for another hour, they made their way to the Charms classroom; they sat in their usual seats beside each other and awaited the stout Professor Flitwick’s instructions. Once Flitwick had climbed up onto a pile of books he pulled out his wand. He had made them practice old spells over and over again until they were as perfect as possible. They did this for the duration of the lesson.

Afterwards the trio headed off out of the corridor when Ron spoke. “So, next weekend is Hogsmeade time, it’s so that we can all get some new dress robes for the Yule Ball the week after. But I already did some thinking, and I though we could go together, but I’ll give the two of you some time alone as well, sound ok?”

“That sounds fine Ron, but are you sure that you’re ok with this?” asked Harry.

“I’m sure, besides I already have a date.”

“What?” snapped Hermione? “But I-”

“Sorry, but I found my own date.”

“Who is it?” asked Harry keenly.

“It’s a surprise my friend, you will find out at the Yule Ball,” answered Ron confidently. Hermione was about to speak when Professor McGonagall approached them.

“Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger. Somebody would like to see you in the Forbidden Forest, I cannot tell you what the matter concerns as I do not know, but off you go, and be quick.”

Although the three were puzzled at her announcement they made their way to the forest, Percy hadn’t been seen for the whole summer since his fall out with the other Weasley’s. They reached the outskirts of the forest, the three of them looked a little nervous and Harry couldn’t resist placing a hand on his wand as they entered. The forest was murky and misty, the fog was freezing and Harry felt a shiver run down his spine, he pulled Hermione closer to him in an attempt to keep her warm. They froze in their spot when they heard something that sounded like a tree branch breaking. This time Harry whipped out his wand.

“Don’t worry Potter, I won’t hurt you,” hissed a voice that sounded strangely like Percy’s.

“Percy is that you?” asked Ron.

“Oh, hello Ronald. Yes it is me,” he answered.

“What do you want us for?” Ron replied.

“I am here to carry out my duty, and to get the very power that I want,” Percy said sternly, he was still nowhere to be seen.

They then heard Percy mutter a couple of quick spells, when Ron dropped to the ground followed by Harry. Hermione looked around anxiously, she wanted to check on her two friends but knew she had to defend herself. She pulled out her wand and felt a shoulder on her back, the arm gripped her around the neck and she felt herself choking.

“Hello Granger, you remember me don’t you mudblood, I was always Percy the smart arse who everybody laughs at. But before I carry out my duty and murder you, I would like you to know that your life wouldn’t be worth living anyway. After all, you too are very clever and people laugh at you for it, but you could never be in the position I am in as you are too loyal to your friends and family, if you had one that is. What I am saying is that your life would have been pathetic. Of course there is a second choice if you do not wish to die. You can join Voldemort and become a Death Eater like me, so what do you say mudblood?”

Percy heard her mumble something under her breath. “What was that Granger?” He eased his grip slightly.

“I said I would rather eat toe nails than join your stupid group,” she hissed back at him. His face turned from pleasure to anger. He released her and performed a spell that bound her to a tree with rope. He walked slowly up to her.

“You know Granger, I always found you rather attractive,” he started, as Hermione looked utterly disgusted. “And before I kill you I would like just one…little…kiss.” He gripped her face tightly with his hands, and rolled his tongue up and down her lips. She wouldn’t budge and open her mouth so he instantly pulled out his wand and pointed it at her neck. “Well if that’s the way you want it.” He stared coldly at her before beginning a bone-chilling laugh, but he was cut off when he dropped to the ground revealing Ron Weasley with his wand pointed at his brother. He tore the ropes off Hermione.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you Ron.” She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug.

“Harry should wake up soon, remember I took the spell before, that’s why I woke up first,” he said, releasing the hug.

*

Harry woke up a short while after, and the trio explained to Dumbledore the whole story, and Percy Weasley was sent directly to Azkaban.

A/N : I hope I didn’t make Percy a little too much of an…what’s the word…idiot ? Yeah, that’s right. IDIOT !

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A/N: This chapter is a little lighter than the previous chapters, I though the gang had earned a much needed break from all the angst, although there is still a little in this chapter.

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Chapter 13 : A Very Hogsmeade Christmas

The next couple of weeks flew by between Percy being arrested and Harry's usual prediction of death in Divination.

Before he knew where he was he was attending Hogsmeade with Hermione and Ron. Once they arrived they first did what Ron wanted. To eat. They brought a stack full of sweets from Honeydukes and they made their way out to a small park and tucked in to their snacks. Ron was rummaging through his sweets when he looked up, horrified.

"Ron, what is it ?" asked Harry.

"I forgot to get any Christmas Creams, I'll be right back." With that Ron dashed off back to Honeydukes.

"Ron, does he ever think of anything other than food," said Hermione sarcastically.

"Sometimes I wonder that myself," replied Harry. "But one good thing, we have some time alone." They smiled at each other, and Harry pulled Hermione into his arms, they looked around them at the thousands of Christmas decorations.

There was barely an inch in the entire village where there wasn't a Christmas decoration.

"I love Hogsmeade at Christmas time," sighed Hermione, who was slightly in awe of the decorations. "It'll be strange this Christmas, not going home for it. My mum and dad were always suckers for Christmas, my house was like a giant Christmas tree." She chuckled to herself, although her face was sad. Harry placed his hand gently under her chin and turned her head to face him, until their eyes were locked.

"It'll be ok Hermione...I'm here for you, and as long as we have each other we will get through anything," he answered softly. Hermione gave him a half smile and they both leant in, about to kiss, when Ron's footsteps were heard, they broke away quickly.

Ron came up to them with another handful of sweets. The three students finished off their sweets, well Hermione and

Harry did, Ron on the other hand felt a sudden urge to get to the bathroom, while his face grew paler by the second.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you later," he mumbled.

"Well I guess we should get started on finding those dress robes then," stated Harry, rising from his seat and offering out a hand to Hermione, who gladly took it.

The couple looked at dress robes for a little while when Harry realised that Hermione was no longer with him. He had been looking at some dress robes and thought that she was with him. He decided to begin his search for her at the first place he thought she could be.

He wandered into the changing rooms area, he stumbled between various witches and wizards before stepping on a coat hanger and slipping across the floor and falling straight through the curtain to one of the changing rooms knocking a female witch to the ground. He looked up to see who he had hit and realised that is was Hermione, but this wasn't the Hermione he was used to, this Hermione was more beautiful than ever, and she was in her bra and panties. Harry did the first thing he could think of, cover his eyes !

"I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't realise that you were in here, I slipped on a coat hanger while I was looking for you and…well…well here I am."

"You can look up now Harry, I'm dressed," answered Hermione. Harry looked up and saw Hermione in a beautiful long red silky dress, it was accessorised with the perfect earrings and shoes, 'boy did she look beautiful,' Harry thought.

"Whoa Herm, you look great!" Hermione beamed at hearing Harry's words.

"You really mean that?"

"Have I ever lied to you?" he answered. She smiled at him again and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

"Now, you should go Harry, people will get suspicious if you stay in here for too long." She ushered him out of the changing booth and left him to look at some dress robes with the now refreshed Ron.

"Ok Ron?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, I just had one to many Christmas Creams. So have you found any new dress robes?"

"Well I found some but they're a bit boring, just black pants, jacket and tie with a midnight blue shirt. I think I'll go try it on."

A few minutes later Harry returned looking incredibly flustered and pale. "What's the matter with you, you look like you've just seen Snape in a thong," chuckled Ron.

"Very funny." Harry answered sarcastically. "Actually I'm having a little trouble with my tie." At that moment he felt two hands grip his neck, he noticed that they were Hermione's.

"Honestly Harry, aren't you ever going to learn how to fasten your tie," she moaned between tuts and tugs at Harry's tie.

Harry sort of enjoyed the way Hermione was being so bossy and motherly with him at times. "There, all sorted, and I must say you look lovely."

"Thanks Herm, maybe next time you can help me with my pants," he said playfully.

"HARRY!" she snapped as she slapped his arm, she heard Ron giggling in the background. "And you can stop laughing too Weasley."

Chapter 14 : The X-Bolt

The three friends returned from Hogsmeade later that afternoon and they were on their way to the Great Hall for dinner when Hermione announced that she needed to go to the bathroom first. She made her way into the Girls room as Harry and Ron went to dinner. She was about to open a door to one of the stalls when a familiar person met here.

"Um...hi...Cho," she said, not wanting to look her in the eye.

"Hermione." Cho answered coldly. "So, I hear you're going out with Harry?"

"Yeah, I am."

"I must say I'm surprised, especially after all those things Harry said about you."

"What?" asked Hermione, suddenly curious.

"Oh, I thought you would know what he said about you by now. It was last Valentine's Day when we went for coffee. He said how controlling and bossy you were, and how he got really annoyed with you sometimes but couldn't say anything to you because you were so emotional."

"I don't believe you, Harry cares about me." Hermione stuttered, holding back her tears. It was true that she was very emotional.

"Oh and you keep telling yourself that dear," Cho started, she then put an arm around Hermione's shoulder before continuing, "but just remember those things that I just told you, because that is something that you really deserve to hear.

Anyway, I better be off, bye." With that Cho left Hermione alone to role Cho's words around in her head.

*

Harry and Ron sat together at the Dinner table awaiting Hermione.

"So, Quidditch tomorrow, I'm looking forward to mashing those Slytherins into the ground, how about you?" asked Ron.

"Oh I don't know about mashing, I prefer the term beating those Slytherins into the ground," answered Harry joyfully.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up." Harry and Ron turned around to see the slick haired Draco Malfoy.

"Oh hello Draco, come to get a look at the seeker that's going to leave you for dead tomorrow morning?"

"I wouldn't be so confident Weasley, after all, your friend Potter isn't the only one with a fast broom. Which brings me to my next point. Potter, would you care to come to the Quidditch pitch for a moment?" sneered Malfoy.

"What for?" Harry asked, getting up from his seat.

"I just want to show you something that is going to ensure us victory tomorrow."

"A new seeker?" asked Ron. Malfoy scowled at him.

"Ok, I'll come," said Harry.

"Me too," added Ron.

*

When they reached the doors to the Quidditch Stadium, Malfoy muttered the Alohomora spell and they made their way inside to the changing rooms. Malfoy opened the door and Harry saw something that made his mouth open slightly in awe.

"Bloody hell!" murmured Ron.

Harry glared at seven black coated broomsticks engraved with silver writing on the end of the broom was the word "X-Bolt."

"Yes Potter, the newest version of the Firebolt, anyway you've seen enough, get out!" hissed Malfoy.

"This won't make you win Malfoy," Harry taunted as he left the stadium with Ron.

"I can't believe Malfoy's got an X-Bolt!" cried Ron, as they returned to the Great Hall, where they saw Hermione sitting alone quietly. "Ok Hermione?" asked Ron, sitting down next to her. She didn't say anything.

"Herm, what is it?" asked a concerned Harry.

Hermione looked away from him as she got up and left the table. "Nothing," she muttered as she left.

*

Michael Corner was walking down the hallway past the girl’s bathroom when an arm pulled him inside. "Cho!" he cried, and then a smirk developed on his face. "Couldn't you resist me?"

"Save that for later, for now all I want from you is a favour. First drink this." She handed him an ugly looking Potion.

"Polyjuice Potion?"

"Yes, I want you to drink it, turn into Harry Potter, take me to wherever Hermione Granger is and kiss me senseless."

"Cool," he answered, and he swallowed the Potion.

"Great, come on quickly." They made their way down a few corridors when Cho spotted Hermione; she quickly made her way to another corridor, which Hermione would pass next. "Right, take me," ordered Cho. Michael (Harry) pushed Cho against the wall and pressed his lips to hers, Cho wanted to make this as believable as possible and started making a lot of heavy breathing noises, even more so when she heard Hermione's footsteps. "Make it more believable," she whispered. He bent his head down and started kissing her neck gently; she let out a soft moan and then turned to face Hermione. She gave her a sly smile as tears began to squirm from Hermione's eyes as she ran back to the Prefect Common Room.

*

Harry woke the next morning; he still hadn't seen Hermione since she had left him at dinner. He didn't have time to worry for long though because before he knew where was he was standing in the Quidditch changing rooms talking to his team.

"I know that some of you will be a little nervous as this is your first game, but trust me, once you are out there and you are beating those pathetic little Slytherins all the fear will go away."

"But what about their X-Bolt’s?" asked new chaser Bruce Grimplehorn.

"If there's one thing I've learned about Quidditch, it's that not only the broom helps you win a match, you need spirit. And we have that, so lets go out there and give the best game we ever have!"

They strode out onto the Quidditch Pitch as Harry felt the cold air chill his spine. He flew up high and focused his attention on the crowd in desperate search for Hermione. But she was nowhere, she never missed one of his Quidditch matches, even though she didn't like Quidditch she always support him and Ron. He turned his attention back to the match when the whistle blew. The Quaffle was released, then the Bludgers and then the Golden Snitch.

"The Snitch has been released, and that means the game has begun," called new commentator Dennis Creevey. The quaffle was collected by Ginny first, she flew forwards as fast as she could in an attempt to beat the Slytherin beaters but she was struck in the arm by a bludger, a Slytherin chaser caught the quaffle and zoomed forward towards Ron, who had no chance of stopping it. 10-0 Slytherin.

"Where were you all!" yelled Ron, waving his arms about frantically.

Slytherin put the Quaffle past Ron four more times, it appeared that the new team were struggling to cope with the X-Bolts with the score 50-0. Harry knew he had to catch the Snitch. As the thoughts entered his head he caught a glimpse of some gold about ten metres ahead of him, he sped forward towards it, closely tracked by Malfoy, who was gradually edging ahead due to his new broom. Harry pushed as hard as he could until he got slightly ahead of Malfoy who began tugging on his robes, they were now neck and neck as Malfoy pushed harder against Harry. He didn't know what had made him do it but he swung an elbow out at Malfoy catching him square in the nose, he clattered off his broom and Harry head Madam Hooch's whistle blow.

"Harry Potter, you are out of this game due to Violent Conduct," she announced. Harry didn't even bother to argue, he knew he had done the wrong thing and that he had cost his team the game, he watched Malfoy scramble back to his broom and fly to catch the Snitch easily.

Authors Note : I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I thought I would bring some more characters into the fic a little. Now that I have done my part in posting this chapter, I want you to help me. I would like it if in your reviews you told me what you would like to see more of, and what you would like to see less of from now on in the fic.

And I bet you all say : Less Cho !

Authors Note: I've noticed that a few of you have said that my chapters have been rushed. Well I hope this chapter will make up for it, because it is a little longer, and I don't think that it is too rushed at all.

Chapter 15 : Friend Or Foe ?

Harry was walking back to the changing rooms when Professor McGonagall stopped him. He turned around to meet her soft gaze.

"Mr Potter, I am sorry that you were disqualified today but you crossed the line with Mr Malfoy. Generally we allow the odd push and shove but you struck your opponent from his broom. Therefore you are suspended from the next match."

"But that's not fair! " Harry argued.

"I am sorry Mr Potter, but I have no alternative." She walked away leaving Harry to think about what he was going to say to his team when he got back to the locker room. He couldn't believe that he had given them that big speech about spirit and giving them the best game they could and now he had cost them the match.

When he got to the entrance he held his head back and let out a long sigh. He slowly opened the door and he saw his team dotted around the room, all staring at their feet. He swallowed before talking. "Well what can I say...you did the best that you could...and...and I failed you...I'm sorry," he trailed off. He didn't know what to say to them after what had happened, not to mention the fact that none of them seemed to want to acknowledge him.

After what seemed like an eternity Ron lifted his head and walked over to Harry. He patted him on the back on his way out. "Don't beat yourself up about it Harry. I'd have done the same thing." Ginny then walked over to Harry too.

"Ron's right, Malfoy deserved what he got Harry...you're still out captain, and we still respect you as our captain, despite what happened today." She started to leave with Ron but Harry stopped them.

"Wait!" he called. "There's something else...I'm banned from the next game," he looked down at his shoes as he took in the strained silence, you could cut the tension with a knife. He was expecting somebody to say something but instead everybody left the locker room, he got the odd pat on the back from the players as they made their exit.

*

Harry went quietly back to the Prefect common room, not being able to face everybody yet. At least he could talk to

Hermione if she was there. He opened the door and saw Hermione sitting quietly on a large scarlet sofa. He slowly sat down opposite her as he slouched back in a comfy armchair.

"What a wonderful start to the day!" he sighed. "I'm glad we've got a couple of study hours, I need a bit of a rest."

"Hmm," mumbled Hermione, who had still not looked up at him.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked, moving to sit next to her.

"Are you saying you don't even know what you did wrong?"

"Yes, because I don't know what I've done wrong," he answered.

"Well that just makes it so much worse! If you can sit there and condone what you've done then I don't think I know you as well as I thought I did!" She then started to cry a little as Harry moved his hand slowly to touch her arm but she pushed him away. She got up from her chair and walked quickly out of the room.

Harry was in disbelief about what had just happened. What could he have done to upset her? He was removed from his thoughts when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" he groaned. He quickly stood up when he saw who it was.

"Cho? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I just saw Hermione, she seems really upset. Do you know what's bothering her ?"

"No, she just says that I've done something that has upset her."

"Typical Hermione." Cho said sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you know, she never gives anybody a chance to speak, she always has to be right, so I wouldn't try arguing with her."

"But if I don't talk to her, I'll lose her," Harry sighed.

"Is that really such a bad thing?" asked Cho softly.

"What are you playing at?" Harry asked sternly. "You didn't give a crap about me last year, so why are you trying to suck up to me now?"

"I'm sorry about last year, I was so upset about Cedric..."

"YOU WERE UPSET! WHAT ABOUT ME! IT WAS HARD FOR ME TOO, I WAS THERE WHEN HE DIED REMEMBER!"

"Calm down Harry, I just want to give us another chance," she pleaded.

"Well you might, but I don't. I’m over you Cho, now get out!" He pointed at the door, anger raging through him.

"You know what? FINE! Go back to your whore!"

"DON'T CALL HERMIONE THAT!" Harry yelled.

"Believe what you want Harry, she'll never forgive you fro what you did to her!"

"How do you know what I did to her?" Harry asked suspiciously.

Cho turned to face him with one hand on the door. "Well, let's just say that she didn't like our little kiss."

"What? I never kissed you, well not since last year anyway!"

"What can I say? A little Polyjuice Potion goes a long way," Cho answered in a very sly way. She then left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Harry turned around, full of anger. He threw an empty water goblet against the wall shattering it into a thousand pieces.

After about half an hour of cooling off, Harry fell into a deep sleep.

He was walking up a long, winding, cobbled path. There was mist on either side of him and he felt a cold chill run through his body. He could see nothing but mist both at the sides of him, and in the distance. He continued walking for what seemed like miles, he eventually saw a long stretch of muddy grass where there were a few stones bulging out of the ground. He walked up to the grass and noticed that the stones were tombstones. He noticed a few names, one of which was Sirius Black. He glanced next to them and noticed two more. Lily Potter and James Potter. "Mum, Dad, Sirius!" he yelled, in almost a scream. He touched one of the stones and a large oak door swept around them blocking him access. He tried to walk around the door but it appeared to be never ending. He noticed a large Phoenix flying high above him, the Phoenix swept down towards him....

Harry woke up with a start. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses when he realised it was a dream. But what did all that mean? It was certainly turning out to be an eventful day!

*

Harry made it to Defence Against The Dark Arts only just in time. He took his seat next to Ron and Hermione. Hermione still wasn't paying any attention to him. Professor Lupin entered the classroom and announced that they would be revising various ways to protect yourself in battle from books. Hermione beamed at the idea, while a large majority of the class groaned. Hermione made her way to the front of the class, no doubt to ask for more books. Ron then turned to

Harry.

"What's going on with you and Hermione?"

"At first I wasn't sure, but after a discussion with a certain Cho Chang I think I know what the problem is." Harry quickly told Ron what had happened.

"When are you going to talk to Hermio-" Ron trailed off when he noticed that Hermione was now standing opposite them.

"Uh...Hi, Hermione."

"So, what was that about me?" she asked, dropping a pile of books on the table. She then stood up straight, hand on hips.

"Ron was just asking me when I was going to talk to you," Harry stated.

"I don't want to hear it!" she said harshly.

"Hermione, I know what's upsetting you. But it's not what it looked like..."

"Oh, so now your not only a cheater, you're a liar!" She turned around and stormed out of the classroom, turning everybody's attentions to Harry.

"Professor, may I be excused?" Harry asked.

"Um...yes, but I want you to make up for what you will miss by reading one of those books for next lesson," Lupin answered. Harry nodded and made his way out of the classroom.

*

Harry couldn't find Hermione inside the school, so he decided to look outside. He stepped out into the cold, it was now raining heavily. He looked around and noticed a green light in the distance. He guessed that Hermione could be using the Lumos spell, so he made his way towards the light. He didn't realise until he got there that the light was coming from the old tree house under the Whomping Willow that his father, Sirius, Lupin and Wormtail used to use. He opened the small door and crept in quietly. He noticed Hermione sitting on a sofa in the corner, wiping her eyes.

"Hermione," he said softly. She looked up quickly at him.

"How did you find me here?" she asked between snuffles.

"I saw the light from your wand. Listen, I talked to Cho today and I know why you're mad." Hermione got up to leave again but Harry grabbed her arm tightly.

"Ouch, Harry you're hurting me," Hermione whimpered.

"I'll elt go when you promise you'll listen to me," Harry said seriously.

"Ok, I'll listen." Hermione cried. Harry released his grip and ushered her to sit down, which she did. "Why did you do it Harry? Why would you do this to me?"

"I wouldn't...and I didn't. I know it sounds odd but I didn't kiss Cho. She let it slip today that she used a Polyjuice Potion, I don't know who took it, but they turned into me. I would never do anything like that, I care about you far too much Hermione."

"Cho also told me that you said some horrible things about me, something about me being to controlling and bossy."

"It's true, I said that you are so controlling and bossy, they are two of the best things about you."

"Oh Harry!" Hermione ran up to him and gripped her arms around him tightly. Harry put his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him.

"I love you Hermione." Hermione pulled away and looked directly into his emerald green eyes.

"I love you too Harry." Harry beamed at her and crushed his lips against hers. He touched her bottom lip with his tongue as she opened her mouth, granting him access. Their tongues duelled as the kiss deepened, a slight moan escaping Hermione's lips. She tilted her head back allowing Harry to send a soft trail of kisses down her neck, making her shudder under his touch. He leant her down onto the sofa and climbed on top of her kissing with more passion than ever. He slid off her robe and slowly unbuttoned the bottom button of her shirt, but she pulled away quickly.

"Harry, we should stop." She muttered, gasping for air.

"Yeah, I guess your right," he answered, a little shaky from both excitement and nerves. They were both a little red, but they stayed together for a little while as they waited for the heavy rain to ease.

Authors Note: If you notice any changes made to Christmas and the Yule Ball, I have made slight edits to go along with my story.

Chapter 16: Memories and Dances

A few days had passed and it was Christmas Eve, the day of the Yule Ball. All students had the day off while the school was decorated. Ron, who was always lively at Christmas, woke Harry up.

"Harry, it's Christmas Eve, I'll be going home to get my presents tomorrow!"

Harry eased slowly up from his bed. "Good for you," he mumbled, in the middle of a yawn.

"You can come and stay with us at The Burrow if you like? I know Lupin doesn't have Grimmauld Place ready yet."

"I'm fine Ron, besides I can do some extra studying," answered Harry. Just then Hermione walked in. "I didn't say what."

Harry added, grinning at Ron.

"Didn't say what?" asked Hermione curiously.

"Oh...I..." Harry started.

"We were just discussing Christmas Presents," Ron added. "Speaking of which, I'll have to leave your presents here for you."

"That's fine," said Harry coolly.

"And I'll take mine with me," said Hermione joyfully.

"Yeah.... what?" asked Harry, in shock.

"I'm going to stay with a friend."

"Oh...yeah...cool," answered Harry, who suddenly felt like finding the highest part of the castle and jumping from it.

"That got you worried didn't it," taunted Hermione. Harry smiled up at her.

"Well Miss Granger, I shall have to teach you a lesson won't I ?" Harry answered, putting his arms around her waist.

"Ok, get a room!" Ron stated, standing up. "Now Hermione, if you don't mind this is the BOYS dormitory, and we need to get dressed."

"Ok, ok, I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast. By the way, have you looked outside? It's snowing! I love snow!" she announced.

Hermione then left the room quickly.

"Well, she seems happy," said Harry.

*

After a heavy breakfast, some sudden thoughts filled Harry's mind. He had just remembered that he still hadn't told Hermione about his dream and his Quidditch ban.

"So, let's go outside, I feel like a snow fight." Ron said.

"Actually, I'll catch up," said Harry. He then grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her close to him.

"Harry, not here, we're in the Great Hall remember," mumbled Hermione.

"No, I need to talk to you." Hermione looked up at him, her eyes full of concern.

"What is it?" she asked softly.

"Let's go to the common room, it should be empty."

When they arrived at the common room, Harry sat Hermione down next to him.

"Hermione, the other day when we had fallen out. A couple of things happened. First of all, we lost the Quidditch match, because I got disqualified."

"What! Why?" Hermione shouted.

"I elbowed Malfoy in the face," he said quickly.

"That doesn't sound like you," answered Hermione, surprisingly coolly.

"I know, I think it was just with everything that's happened this year, and what had happened between us, I just had to let out my aggression on somebody. I'm sorry if I disappointed you."

Hermione lifted Harry's head up to face her. "Harry, you would never disappoint me. You're a wonderful person, and a great frie…boyfriend."

"Thanks. But that's just the start." He then proceeded to tell her about his dream with the Phoenix and the door.

“What do you think it means? Do you think it was a dream or a vision?” asked Hermione.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like that before, so I don’t think it can be real.”

“You’ve also not been everywhere in the world Harry. So for all you know, it could be real. So if there anything else?”

“No,” answered Harry quietly. Hermione got up to leave, but Harry’s voice pulled her to a halt.

“Wait! There is something else.” Hermione sat back down next to him. “Hermione, I know it sounds strange but, would you like to open my Christmas present to you.”

“Aren’t we going to open them with Ron before he leaves tomorrow?” asked Hermione.

“I know, I just thought you might like to open this one while we’re alone. I’m not sure how you’ll react.” Harry replied gently.

“Ok, I will,” she answered. Harry ran up to his bedroom, and Hermione awkwardly followed him. She stopped nervously at the door and watched on. She felt her heart skip a beat as she watched him bed down under his bed. She stopped quickly when he turned to face her.

“You can come in you know, I don’t bite,” he said playfully. She walked in and sat down on the edge of his bed. He sat down in the middle of the bed and turned her to face him. He put his hand on top of hers and placed a small black box in front of her. “Open it,” he said.

Hermione slowly flipped open the leather box and discovered a gold necklace and some sort of broach gleaming at her. She first pulled out the necklace and held it up in front of her with her finger and thumb. “Oh Harry this is beautiful. But it must have cost you a fortune!”

“What’s cost when you’re in love?” he answered confidently. She smiled at him, and then removed the broach from the box.

“This is lovely,” she said, a little in awe of the decoration on the outside.

“Take a look inside.” Harry replied softly. She looked down at the broach in her hands and slowly opened it up revealing a picture of her parents. Harry tightened his grip on her arm. “I had Professor Lupin track it down, it appears that every family with a witch or wizard has one of these made. It’s of you and your parents at Christmas, do you like it?” She didn’t say anything for a while and Harry noticed a couple of tears run down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, it’s not your fault Harry,” she croaked out. “It’s just that the day before my parents died, they said that when I came back this Christmas we were going to have a really traditional Christmas, which is what I’ve always wanted.” She began to cry more and more as the words came out, and the memories returned. Harry even felt tears in his own eyes. “They told me that they would pick me up from the train station, and take me home. They told me that my presents would be waiting under the tree, and now none of that’s ever going to happen again.” Her tears now streamed out of her eyes, and Harry pulled her into his arms. He wanted to hold her, to kiss away her pain, just like a few days ago in the Whomping Willow. But he didn’t think that she needed that right now. She just needed to be held and protected.

About half an hour passed before either of them spoke. “Well there are a couple of things today that you have to look forward too,” said Harry.

“What’s that,” asked Hermione, snuffling.

“Snow, and the Yule Ball.”

“Thanks Harry,” replied Hermione, a slight smile developing on her lips. She then kissed him gently on the lips. The kiss deepened slightly and Harry suddenly started to wonder what she did need at the moment. They fell backwards on Harry’s bed and continued to kiss when Ron walked in. They quickly jumped apart and blushed badly.

“Where have you two been?” asked Ron, looking ill.

“Sorry, we got a little side tracked,” said Hermione.

“I bet you did,” answered Ron.

“Not like that, we had things to talk about.” Harry added.

*

Later that evening, Harry and Ron were finishing getting ready for the Yule Ball and were making their way to the girl’s dormitory. Harry knocked on the door. Hermione opened it and his mouth fell open slightly. She was wearing the beautiful red dress from when they were in Hogsmeade, and although he had seen it before it still took his breath slightly.

“You look wonderful Hermione,” Harry said, beaming.

“Thanks, Ron who is your date anyway?” asked Hermione.

“Here she comes.” Ron pointed to the average height, long ginger haired girl coming up the staircase behind them. They all knew her as the Hufflepuff Susan Bones. She was wearing a dress similar to Hermione’s only hers was green. “Guys, this is Susan Bones.” They all introduced themselves and then made their way to the hall.

They took their seats in the hall and listened to Dumbledore’s speech. “Welcome to the Yule Ball. I must say that you all look marvellous, as does the school’s decorations. Tonight will start off with a Christmas feast. Then you may dance and talk as much as you like until midnight when the dance is over. I hope you all enjoy tonight, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.”

A moment later bowls full of food appeared in front of the students and they piled their plates up with food. Once they had finished their meal they walked out onto the dance floor and a slow song started to play. Harry put one hand around Hermione’s waist and the other in her hand.

“Well, we certainly didn’t have Susan on our list did we?” asked Harry.

“No, I completely forgot about Susan. But I’m glad Ron found somebody, I just hope it works out for him.”

“Yeah me too. Are you ok now?” asked Harry softly.

“Yeah, I just needed that cry earlier. I thing it was a good thing in a way. It always makes you feel better to get it out of your system.” Hermione answered.

Harry was just leaning in to kiss her when the music cut off. “I am sorry to cut off the music, but I must ask you all to get under the tables and to not make any sudden movements and keep as quiet as possible.” Dumbledore announced. Although the students were in utter shock and panic, they obeyed their Headmaster and did as they were told.

“I wonder that’s going on?” whispered Hermione, as they got under the table next to Ron and Susan.

“I don’t know bu-” Harry trailed off as he felt a cold chill run through his body. He felt like he was suffocating from the cold air, as though he was going to pass out immediately.

“Harry what is it?” Hermione asked in concern, grabbing his hand.

“De-de-mentors.” Harry mumbled out.

“Harry, stay awake! Think of something happy, block them out. You can fight them!” Hermione encouraged.

Harry felt cold overtaking him, and then he suddenly thought of kissing Hermione for the first time, he felt strength within him and he sat up straight, as he kept the happy thought inside him.

“I’m ok, I think I’m fighting it,” he stated. “What are they doing here?”

“I don’t know, but this is one way to start a relationship!” cried Ron.

Author Notes : Some of you may consider this chapter to be rated PG-15. I can’t really say why, because it will give away the chapter. But proceed with caution!

Chapter 17: Love

Harry remained under the table, Hermione still clutching his arm tightly. He was fighting the memory of Hermione against the Dementors. As he did this he caught odd glimpses of silver smoke and mutters of Expecto Patronum. He guessed that the professors were fighting the beasts. He felt the sudden urge to get up and help; after all he was one of the few students who could conjure a patronus by fifth year. Without another thought he leapt up from under the desk, wand pointed out. “Expecto Patronum!” he yelled, continuing the thoughts of his love for Hermione. The silver wisp of smoke shot out of his wand causing two dementors to flee. He heard numerous other patronus’ cast, as he noticed Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin battling the Dementors. He suddenly felt the cold chill disappear. Hermione and Ron then crawled out from under the desk.

“Nice one mate,” said Ron. Hermione punched him in the arm.

“Harry, you could have got yourself killed!” she cried.

“I’m sorry Herm, but I had to do this. Besides, I wouldn’t have been killed, just lifeless.” He laughed lightly but quickly stopped when he noticed Hermione’s frown. They heard a light coughing from behind them, and they looked up to see Dumbledore standing at the front of the hall.

“Everybody please re-take their seats. I do not think that the Dementors will return; however I think it is safer that you return to your common rooms for the night. If both house Prefects would escort all students back to their rooms it would be greatly appreciated.”

*

When Hermione and Harry had finished leading the students back to the common room, they took their seats in there and were approached by Colin Creevey.

“Hi guys! Look at these pictures I got of those Dementors,” he squealed. Harry and Hermione looked on at the pictures. “Do you think the Daily Prophet will publish them?”

“Let me ask you something Colin. Do you really think that people are going to want to see that…that…thing on the front of the newspaper while they are eating their breakfast?” asked Hermione. She took notice of the confused look on his face. “Ok, I’ll answer for you. No they are not! That thing is hideous!”

Colin looked disappointed. “I guess you’re right, but I might send them in anyway.” The excited reporter hurried off to show other pupils his photos. Harry noticed Neville looking extremely queasy when he glanced at the images. Harry turned sharply when he felt Hermione’s hand touch his shoulder.

“Oh, Hermione, sorry you startled me. What’s up?” he asked.

Hermione had a huge grin on her face, but looked like she wanted to hide it. “I want to show you something. Now don’t get too excited because I have to show McGonagall first, but I think this might be very helpful.” She sat down opposite Harry at a small table in the corner of the room. Then Ron walked over.

“Hi guys, what’s going on?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet, I’m about to find out, take a seat.” Harry replied. Ron pulled up a seat next to them. Hermione then pulled out a thick, leather coated book. It must have been a thousand pages long. Harry then noticed the engraved writing on the front. “Official Quidditch Rules: Revised Edition.”

“Right, this is the official Quidditch rule book, revised last year. I read through every rule, and I think I have finally found something that can get you back on the team. Here it is,” she said, opening the book. “Page six hundred and fifty six. Any Quidditch player who physically attacks another player should be immediately removed from the match and banned from the next league game. Unless, said player was physically provoked by the player he attacked,” she read aloud. “If I show this to McGonagall, surely she can send it somebody at the Department of Magical Games and Sports.”

“I don’t see any problems, that should shut up that idiot Malfoy,” hissed Ron.

“Thank you Hermione,” said Harry, beaming. “I can’t believe you would put so much effort into something that you’re not even really interested in.” Hermione just smiled sweetly at him.

Ron looked around and noticed that they were the only students still awake. “Well, I don’t know about you guys but I am whacked, I’m off to bed, night.”

“Night,” they both said together.

Harry moved his chair closer to Hermione’s. He placed his hands over one of hers and looked deeply into her chocolate colour eyes. “You know Hermione, seeing what you did for me here tonight, makes me realise just how lucky I am. I mean you don’t have to show an interest in my interests or listen to my problems, or get up in the middle of the night and help me recover from a nightmare. You really are one of a kind,” he said admiring her.

She looked down, going a little red. “I could say the same about you Harry,” she answered softly. He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

“I’m off to bed, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he kissed her on the cheek this time and made his way up to the boys dormitory.

*

The next morning Harry was woken up by a few excited voices. It took him a while to realise it was Christmas Day, until he saw Ron bounding around the dormitory. He leapt up out of bed and rushed past Ron down the stairs. Ron quickly followed him. Harry looked around in search for Hermione. “Have you seen Hermione?” he asked.

“Not since last night. Hey Ginny, have you seen Hermione?” Ron asked.

“Yeah, I think she’s just getting changed.” Ginny answered.

Harry sat down on a cushion on the ground and suddenly felt a thump in his stomach as Ron shoved a present onto his lap. Harry opened up the present and noticed a slip of paper and a bottle.

“It’s a five galleon gift voucher for Fred and George’s shop, and a bottle of broom polish to keep the old Firebolt up to scratch.” Ron said quickly.

“Thanks Ron, I’ll be sure to spend the voucher wisely.” He then unwrapped Ginny’s gift.

“It’s for you and Hermione really, but I want you to open it now,” encouraged the excited redhead. Harry opened it and discovered a framed picture of himself and Hermione at the Yule Ball this year.

“It’s wonderful, thank you Ginny. I’ll show Hermione when she comes down.” After a little more time spent exchanging presents Harry started to worry about Hermione. He walked up to the Girl’s Dormitory and opened the door a crack. He could hear somebody talking quietly and it sounded like Hermione’s voice. He eventually guessed that she was talking to the broach that he had given to her.

“Hermione,” he said softly.

“Harry, come in,” she said rather brightly. After Harry hadn’t entered for a few seconds, Hermione spoke again. “You can come in.”

“But, Hermione this is a girl’s room.”

“It’s ok, we don’t bite. Besides, I’m the only one here.” Hermione replied. Harry then walked into the room. He caught his breath slightly when he noticed the thin silk dressing gown Hermione was wearing. Clearly Ginny was wrong about her getting dressed.

“Uh…are you ok,” he managed to squeeze out.

“Yes, I was just looking at my parents, I wished them a Merry Christmas. Harry, why aren’t you looking at me?” she asked. This caught Harry off guard as he fought the urge not to look at the slight bit of cleavage showing beneath her gown.

“Sorry Hermione, I think its breast…I mean best if I go.” He turned towards the door, but he felt Hermione’s hand pull him back. He turned to face her, as she pressed her lips against his. He felt her chest touch his and he couldn’t fight it any longer. He relaxed into her kiss and turned her against the wall, he pressed his body hard against hers as he assaulted her lips with his. He felt Hermione running her fingers through his hair as he kissed her jawbone and neck. They fell back onto Hermione’s bed as he slowly pulled open her gown.

A while later, the two lovers pulled away from each other and sat up in Hermione’s bed.

“Hermione…I…err…think we may have gone too far just now.” Harry said slowly.

“I don’t know what happened, I couldn’t control myself.” Hermione replied. The two nervously glanced around at the clothes on the ground.

“I should go, people will be getting suspicious,” said Harry. “Do you mind not looking ?” Hermione looked away, as Harry pulled on his pyjamas, and left the room.

Story: Stress

Chapter: 18

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Author Notes: I just had another read through the chapter, and I realised that it does seems a little confusing. Just to clear things up, they DIDN'T do it. They were close, but they didn't. They just nearly did, therefore they went a little too far. I hope that makes sense. This next chapter is very intense, and doesn’t really break from the intenseness. Please review when you have read it because this is a different chapter to some of the others and I would love to know what you think.

Chapter 18: War & Death

Harry sat quietly opposite Hermione in the library. They hadn’t said much to each other after the earlier events between them. What had nearly happened both excited Harry, and made him rather nervous.

He and Hermione were now the only students left in the school, everyone else was away for the next three days for Christmas. Harry glanced down at his Potions book; Hermione had insisted that they use this spare time for studying. Harry stopped reading the book for a moment when he felt an eerie feeling in the air. He looked around the Library but could see nothing other than Madam Pince the librarian. He turned back around and then spotted a small shadow silhouetted under the window in the corner of the room behind Hermione. He slowly got up and walked over to the shadow, Hermione followed him curiously. He was about to reach the shadow when he felt a jolt of pain in his scar. It was more pain than he had ever felt before; he then heard the cold voice of Voldemort.

“Well, well, well Potter, alone for the holidays are we? Well I thought by now you would have learned to keep an eye out in situations like this. Now, Potter, it is time for you to wish that you had watched your back.” The pain disappeared when Voldemort left him and he heard Hermione scream. He turned sharply and saw Hermione lying flat on the ground, he was about to walk over to her, but he noticed the shadow move. He turned on the main lights of the library and revealed the small shadow to be the house elf Kreacher.

“What are you doing here?” Harry hissed.

“Me,” snarled the snout nosed house elf. “I am here to help in the capturing of another worthless wizard, just like I did to your Godfather last year.” Harry heard the Avada Kedavra curse in the background and ducked his head quickly. He looked up and saw Madam Pince fall to the ground. He then felt a cold hand grab his shoulder; he stomped on the person’s foot and elbowed them in the face. He glanced around and saw that it was the Death Eater Walden MacNair. Harry moved his hand to his pocket to pull out his wand, but it was gone.

“Where’s my wand!” he yelled.

“Potter,” taunted Kreacher, who was dangling Harry’s wand in front of his face. Harry was about to grab it but was thumped in the ribs by MacNair.

“It’s not only animals I specialise in executing Potter! I also specialise in teenage girls.” He turned a dangerous glance at Hermione, who was still on the ground. Harry didn’t know if she was alive or not. He then turned back at Harry. “I’m going to save you for the Dark Lord, and there is nothing you can do about it.” Harry felt MacNair’s grip tighten, but only for a short while, as he then felt MacNair drop to the ground.

“No, but I can.” Harry heard a voice say. He turned around and saw a revived Hermione, with her wand pointed high. “Harry, are you ok?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” he answered, pulling her into his arms. “Is MacNair dead?”

“No, just stunned.” Hermione answered.

“Oh break up the love fest,” they head someone say. The two of them turned around and saw Bellatrix Lestrange standing before them. “Hello, remember me Potter? How’s my dear cousin? Oh yeah, he’s dead isn’t he?” She then eyed Hermione. “Put your wand down you silly girl, or I will be forced to kill you like I did your little mummy and daddy,” she taunted. Hermione kept her wand out, but it was removed with an Expelliarmus spell. They noticed that the conjurer was Lucius Malfoy, who was then joined by Percy Weasley, Viktor Krum and Professor Karkaroff. Harry didn’t know that Karkaroff had re-joined Voldemort.

“How are you all getting in here?” Harry asked.

“We apparated, it is very easy to lift the spell cast over this castle when you have the right amount of intelligence,” hissed Lucius. Harry snorted at his words, and this caught his attention. “Don’t you dare laugh at me boy, Mobilicorpus!” he yelled. An array of invisible strings bound around Harry and Hermione’s arms and legs, causing them to fall to the ground. “Death Eaters,” he ordered. Bellatrix, Percy, Krum, Karkaroff and the now conscious MacNair drew out their wands at Harry. The all muttered the Crucio curse, and Harry felt the effect of five Crucio curses hit him. He felt the pain cursing through his body, he felt like his blood was about to burst through his skin. He screamed and screamed until the pain finally eased after about five minutes, and he noticed that there was actually blood coming from under his skin in on his arms. Harry looked to his right and saw that Hermione was un-harmed. But Bellatrix had her wand pointed at her.

“Stop!” Harry heard a voice yell; he looked up and saw what could be the biggest shock of his life. Draco Malfoy had his wanted pointed in the direction of his father.

“Let them go father,” he hissed.

“I thought I told you to stay in your common room when I kicked you out of the house!” Lucius shouted.

“I don’t care what you say, I never agreed with what you were doing anyway. For years you made me praise up Voldemort, for years you made me worship him. And I’ll admit that you nearly made me become the pathetic human being that you are. But I’m not, Voldemort is nothing more than a filthy, sly murderer!”

“You forget your place Draco, you better apologise for what you just said because I will have no problem killing my son. After all, I’ve already killed your mother!” he hissed.

“How dare you!” Draco screamed. “You may think I am useless, but I am very handy when it comes to finding help.” Draco turned to the door behind him and watched it swing open. In stepped Snape, Lupin, Tonks and Moody, wands out. Harry noticed Malfoy slip behind a bookcase, as the four order members started duelling the Death Eaters. Harry looked to his left and saw Draco Malfoy with his wand pointing at him.

“Incendio,” cast Draco. Flames erupted around the now visible ropes and they burned apart breaking Harry free. Draco did the same to Hermione. Harry snatched his wand from the grasp of Kreacher, who Hermione lifted by the throat.

“I usually stand up for house elves, but I really dislike you,” she said sternly, as she threw him into a bookcase.

“Thanks Malfoy,” mumbled Harry.

“No problem Potter, but just because I saved you, doesn’t mean I like you,” answered Draco. They then turned their attention to the Death Eaters and noticed that three others had appeared. They were slowly being out numbered but just as those thoughts entered Harry’s mind he saw Ron walk up behind him.

“What are you doing here?” Ron asked, glaring at Draco.

“Helping Potter and his mudblo…girlfriend,” he answered.

“What are you doing here though?” Harry asked Ron.

“I heard from the Order that you were in trouble so I came to help you.” Ron answered; he then pulled out his wand.

Harry walked up towards the back of Krum, who had his wand up at Draco. “Stupefy,” he shouted, as Krum fell to the ground.

“Mobilicorpus,” added Draco, and Krum was caught. They both turned their eyes to Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape.

“Petrificus Totalus,” yelled Snape.

“Protego,” answered Lucius, and the spell was deflected. “Face it Severus, you’ll never beat me, you couldn’t live with being a follower of Voldemort. You are not strong enough to beat me…Avada Kedavra,” he hissed. The spell caught Snape off his guard and appeared to connect, collapsing him to the ground. Lucius turned to his son. “You see how powerful I am? You don’t stand a chance against me…”

“Avada Kedavra,” they heard again. This time Lucius Malfoy fell to the ground, face first. Snape stood up behind him, he wasn’t dead after all. “Playing dead is a good tip, that’s why I should be Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher.” Snape hissed, continuing on his pursuit. Harry smiled slightly, but his smile was cut off when he heard another Avada Kedavra. He glanced around the room, looking for who was on the receiving end. But all he saw was Dumbledore enter through the door, causing the remaining Death Eaters to flee.

“Who had we lost?” Dumbledore asked.

“A boy,” answered Moody. He nodded to the far corner of the room and Harry saw Ron lying lifeless in the corner. He rushed over to his side, followed by Hermione. Draco hung back a little, allowing them to see to their friend.

“Ron wake up, please, WAKE UP!” Harry was screaming through his tears. Hermione didn’t say a word; she just sat still watching on in disbelief, tears roaming her face.

“Ron you can’t be dead, wake up, wake up, please, wake up…” he trailed off into deep sobs, as he placed a hand on Ron’s cold face. Hermione put an arm around Harry’s waist as they held each other tightly through the tears. Harry felt as though half of his life had been wiped away, it was all so sudden, and he wasn’t even there to help him. He kept thinking of that young redhead that he met on the Hogwarts Express, he was the first friend he had ever had, and now he was gone…forever. The whole room felt cold, as the lifeless bodies were sprawled across the room.

“Remember what you said Harry, as long as we have each other we can get through anything.” Hermione forced out. “And with time, we’ll get through this.”

Author Notes: I hope you enjoyed that chapter, as I said earlier let me know what you think of the different style of chapter. Also, what do you think about the shocks with Draco and Ron? I’m sorry about Ron, but it is necessary to the story.

Story: Stress

Chapter: 19

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Author Notes: If you didn’t get chance to read the comments I left in the review pages, I announced that there would be a sequel to this story. I may post a few snippets and bits of info about it there, so keep a look out.

Chapter 19: The Elixir Of Life

Harry returned back into the main part of the school, along with Hermione, Draco, Dumbledore, Lupin and Moody. Tonks had reported back to the rest of the Order. Dumbledore lay Ron down on a sofa in his office.

“Mr Potter, Miss Granger, I am very sorry for your loss. We never intended on letting students’ battle, but Mr Weasley showed great heart today. He was there for you as a friend, and as a fighter.” Dumbledore peered over his glasses at Draco.

“My Malfoy, I am sorry about the loss of your father,” he said.

“My father got what he deserved,” hissed Draco, who was rather quiet, and looked a little uncomfortable.

“Are you feeling ok Draco,” asked Lupin.

“No…I was just thinking…about Weasley.” Harry raised his eyebrows at Draco as if to urge him on. “I was thinking…that…that I might be able to bring him back.”

“What!” exclaimed Harry. “How?”

“At my mansion, in my room. My family have inherited something. It’s some sort of an elixir, it can bring one person back to life…but it can only be used once,” said Draco slowly. “If I can get back to the mansion without my mother seeing me, I could get it…and I’ll use it on Weasley.”

“Are you serious?” asked Harry.

“A Malfoy always is,” answered Draco. “Of course, I will need your help…well your invisibility cloak anyway.”

“Ok, I’ll come,” answered Harry without a thought. “Hermione, you stay here with Ron, we’ll be back soon.”

They noticed Moody performing a spell on an old lamp of Dumbledore’s. “Here is your Portkey to Malfoy Mansion boys,” he said.

*

After Harry had gathered up his invisibility cloak, he touched the lamp, along with Malfoy, and they were transported to the main hall of Malfoy Mansion. Harry swept the cloak over them.

“Be on the lookout Potter, Kreacher will probably be here, along with my mother.”

Harry looked around the dark house; every wall was painted white with no pictures or decoration at all. There were dark wooden beams on the ceiling and the floor was black marble. Harry crept up the long winding stairs with Malfoy next to him. He still couldn’t believe that Malfoy was helping him, somehow it didn’t seem right. When they reached the top of the stairs they stopped abruptly when they heard a voice. They stayed close to the wall and tried to breathe as quietly as possible. Harry noticed a tall, thin old looking man pondering around the mansion muttering to himself as he went along past them.

“Who was that?” Harry whispered.

“Ledley, our butler. You could say he is a little grumpy,” answered Malfoy. “My rooms down the hall to the right.” They continued their pursuit when they reached Draco’s room, he pulled to a halt.

“You look behind us Potter, you never know when somebody might show up, and I’ll enter the code to get in.”

“Why do you have a code to get into your room?” asked Harry curiously.

“So I could keep away from father.” Malfoy entered the room and they heard somebody whimper. “It’s Kreacher, I don’t know how he got in here, but do you see that small black filter?” Harry nodded. “That’s what we’re after.” Kreacher was looking up at the open door, he looked very scared. Even more so when Malfoy dropped the cloak. The house elf was about to scream but was cut off when Malfoy pulled out his wand, “Silencio,” he muttered, and Kreacher was shut up.

“I’ll get the elixir,” said Harry, but Malfoy put out an arm to stop him.

“No ! I know how to deal with Kreacher, you stay back.”

“No I won’t, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Ron has sort of been my best friend for the last six years and I would like to help him!” Harry yelled back.

“Very well,” answered Draco coolly. “And Keep your voice down.”

“Impedimenta!” Harry called, his wand pointed at Kreacher, but the spell seemed to be blocked by an invisible shield. “What the?” Harry said as Malfoy watched on with a smirk on his face.

“Kreacher is no ordinary House Elf. My father created a potion for him, he drank it and now he repels any spell but one.”

“What’s that?”

“This,” answered Malfoy. “Blizzaga!” Ice pellets shot from Malfoy’s wand, freezing around the elf, it dropped to the ground and Harry dived to catch the filter just before it hit the ground.

“Nice catch Potter, maybe you should take up cricket. Although with moves like that, maybe ballet.” Malfoy sniggered.

“Your dad was a busy man, it’s a shame he never made a potion to decrease the size of your head,” taunted Harry. Malfoy just smirked.

“Come on Potter, let’s go.” They pulled back on the invisibility cloak and they made their way out of Malfoy Mansion.

*

After taking Dumbledore’s created portkey (Malfoy’s bed) they arrived back at Dumbledore’s Office. Harry handed Dumbledore the elixir. The old wizard pulled open the filter, opened Ron’s mouth and poured in the potion. They waited a few moments and Ron’s eyes started to slowly flicker open. “Bloody hell! What am I doing here?” he asked, sitting up. “And what are you doing here?” he snapped at Malfoy.

“Bringing you back from the dead Weasley,” he answered.

“Ron are you ok?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah, I feel fine.” He looked around the room, looking a little confused.

“Ron, do you know who killed you?” asked Harry.

“Yeah, him,” he said, pointing his finger at Malfoy.

“What!” Harry yelled, grabbing Malfoy’s robes.

“I can explain, I was aiming for Bellatrix and she ducked. If I had meant to kill Weasley I wouldn’t have used this elixir on him would I?”

“I suppose not,” said Harry, lowering him to the ground. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks…Malfoy,” added Ron slowly. “My death is the last thing I remember, and I can still remember everything else from my life. Does anybody else know about my death?”

“Not yet, but the school will have to be informed, as will your parents.”

Author Notes: If you hated me before, I bet you hate me even more now. It was quite funny reading all the devastated reviewers comments. I knew that I was bringing Ron back, but I do apologise for making it so real. Mr and Mrs Weasley will finally be introduced in the next chapter, and Krum will be dealt with accordingly. We will probably find out more about Malfoy, as we will throughout this story as I intend to make him a main character, so I hope you like how I write him.

As always leave your reviews, they make me very happy and inspire me to continue writing.

Story: Stress

Chapter: 20

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things I own are the plot, any characters, spells etc that you do not recognize.

Author Notes: This chapter is written a little differently to others, it focuses on different characters stories. It will be simply separated with a ***. This may be the way the rest of the story is written but I am not yet sure. We may even get into the mind of some of the other characters, but you’ll have to wait and see. At the bottom of this chapter there are a couple of snippets of info about the sequel.

Chapter 20: Seeking a Seeker

After Dumbledore had announced that Ron had died and then come back to life, the school heaved a huge sigh of relief, although they had been very confused. Most of them had been called back early from their Christmas break.

Ron was sitting outside with Harry and Hermione when he saw his mum and dad walking up towards him. He sat up and Mrs Weasley pulled him into her arms.

“Oh Ron, I’m so glad you are alright. Hello Harry dear, hello Hermione,” gasped Mrs Weasley, barely pausing for breath.

“Harry…Hermione,” said Mr Weasley, shaking their hands.

“Harry, I have to go, I have things to do,” said Hermione. She quickly walked away, leaving Harry and Mr Weasley alone.

“So Harry, any new eklectric appliances come out over the summer?”

“Err…yeah, I think there were some new four slice toasters,” lied Harry.

Mr Weasley gasped, “And does it work…with a plug?” he asked. Harry nodded and quickly turned his attention to Mrs Weasley.

“Come on Arthur, we should leave these two to their studies, I am glad you are all right dear,” Mrs Weasley said, pulling Ron into another tight hug. “Tell Ginny we stopped by.”

“I will,” moaned Ron. Once the two Weasley’s were out of sight, he turned his attention to Harry. “Parent’s can be so embarrassing.”

***

Hermione made her way to up the Grand Staircase, once she got to the top she moved down a corridor until she was facing the door to Professor McGonagall’s office. She knocked on the door.

“Come in,” answered McGonagall. Hermione entered and noticed that the strict Professor didn’t even raise her head to look. She was grading some papers, but she quickly looked up when Hermione dropped a huge heavy book on her desk. “What’s this Miss Granger?” she asked.

“It’s the official Quidditch rule book. I was reading through it and I think I have a way to get Harry out of his ban,” she said confidently. “According to this book, a player must only be suspended if they attacked a player without first being provoked.”

“And?”

“And…Harry was tugged on the robes by Draco Malfoy. He told me himself, so I wondered if you could maybe put in a word at the Ministry Of Magic?”

McGonagall sighed deeply. “Miss Granger, dear, I understand that you want to help out your friend but…there is no proof that Mr Malfoy provoked Potter. And without evidence the Ministry won’t give it a thought. If you can find me some proof I will gladly get in touch with the Department of Magical Games.”

“Don’t worry Professor, I have an idea,” said Hermione thoughtfully. She turned and left, searching for the key to her plan.

***

Draco Malfoy sat quietly in the dark Slytherin Common room; Crabbe and Goyle were staring at him like he was an uneaten cupcake.

“What’s your problem?” spat Draco.

“What’s our problem? You are!” bellowed Goyle.

“Yeah, why were you helping Gryffindors?” blurted out Crabbe.

“I was doing the right thing,” answered Draco confidently.

“Since when do you do the right thing?” Goyle asked.

“Since when do you ask questions?” replied Draco.

“Me and Crabbe were thinking…”

“I guess there is a first time for everything,” butted in Draco sarcastically.

“We were thinking that we don’t want to be friends with somebody who betrays the Dark Lord!”

“Ok,” said Malfoy coolly. Crabbe and Goyle scowled at him, but Malfoy took no notice and walked by them, leaving the common room. He was on his way outside for the lunch break when a bushy haired girl stopped him. “Oh, it’s you Granger,” said Malfoy, continuing along, but she walked up quickly behind him.

“Malfoy, I need your help with something,” she panted, having to walk faster to keep up with his pace.

“Sorry Granger, no time,” he added, continuing along.

“Will you just stop for a moment,” she pleaded. Malfoy turned sharply, startling her.

“Ok, what do you want?” he snapped.

“Umm…I just need you to help with Harry’s Quidditch ban.”

“Oh yeah, when he blindsided me in the nose…I didn’t know he was banned.”

“Well he is, and the only way I can get the ban lifted is if you…if you…”

“If I what?”

“If you admit to McGonagall that you pulled Harry’s robes first.”

“What! I’m not doing that, I might be thrown out of the game,” he yelled.

“I’m sure you won’t, I’ve been researching this rule book for the last week, if you just say that you provoked Harry into doing what he did, the ban will be dropped.” Hermione was pleading so hard with him that she might as well be on her knees.

“Look, Granger, I understand where your coming from, but I don’t think I can risk the chance of losing my place on the Slytherin team…sorry.” With that, he turned and left Hermione to sit down on a bench in the busy corridor.

Why couldn’t he agree, Harry doesn’t deserve to be banned…I want to help him so badly, she thought to herself. She wiped her eyes slightly; the tears were just from sheer frustration of the whole year.

“Hi Herm,” said Harry. He sat down next to her and put an arm around her neck. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…just tired,” she lied. “Where’s Ron?”

“He’s up at the common room, I think Ginny took the news pretty hard, he’s trying to be a good big brother.”

Hermione opened her eyes wide. “Our Ron being a normal big brother? Whatever next?”

“Well he had to turn into a human at some point,” replied Harry. They both laughed a little, and it was the first time they had really done so all year. “So, any news on tomorrow’s Quidditch match?”

“Oh Harry, I’ve tried…but I don’t think I can help you out any further with this, I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it Herm, I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. I just don’t know who to pick as a seeker, Neville hurt his back…he fell over at his Gran’s. I think the only option is to forfeit…Ron already knows, he understands, so that’s one team member who’ll still like me afterwards.”

“None of the team are going to dislike you just because you have to forfeit one game.”

“Your probably right…I’m more annoyed at the minute, I would have loved to have beaten Cho to that snitch.” Harry spat. “And this was my last chance, because this is her last year, although that’s probably a good thing.”

“No, it is a good thing,” answered Hermione, smiling.

“Well,” said Harry, standing up, he put out a hand to Hermione who gladly accepted, as he pulled her to her feet. “What do you want to do for the rest of the day? We still have one day left of the holidays.”

“Well we are prefects, we could go into Hogsmeade?” questioned Hermione.

“Ok, Christmas Dinner on me,” confirmed Harry.

*

They arrived in Hogsmeade at about 2:00pm, the ground was covered in snow, and the village was covered head to toe with Christmas lights and decorations. They walked into the Three Broomsticks and took a seat in the corner, when Madam Rosmerta came over to them. “Hello, Merry Christmas, what would you like to eat?”

“We’ll have two Butterbeer’s…and two Christmas Specials, thank you.”

“Thank you for your order, your food and drink will arrive shortly.”

Harry sat close next to Hermione in the small corner booth, the pub was not too crowded, as a lot of people were home for Christmas, and infact the Three Broomsticks was the only place that appeared to be open.

Once their meals had arrived, and they had squeezed down every last bit, they sat back and finished their Butterbeer. Harry put an arm around Hermione’s waist and kissed her gently on the lips. “Merry Christmas, Hermione.”

“Merry Christmas,” she answered with a huge smile. “And Harry, you’ve made this Christmas just as special as what mine could have been. Thank you.” She beamed at him, and he returned her smile.

“This is definitely my best Christmas, despite the hectic morning, everything else had worked out ok. Oh, and I have the best present too, that watch it certainly one of a kind.” Hermione had had a watch specially made for Harry, it was made of black leather and told him where Hermione was. Harry looked into the eyes of the young woman he loved, and the usual thought popped into his head. God I’m lucky.

Author Notes: Well I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. I know there wasn’t much happening in this chapter, so I hope you don’t get too bored with it. I hope I’ve tidied some things up for Christmas, and I guess it’s time to give you a few bits of info on the sequel.

• It will be titled “Emotions”
• The book will start off at the Dursleys, hopefully making it a much more complete story than this one.
• Harry and Hermione will face a huge test at various points, whether it is their relationship that will be tested or tested as in N.E.W.Ts, you will have to wait and find out.

Story: Stress

Chapter: 21

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things I own are the plot, any characters, spells etc that you do not recognize.

Author Notes: In response to dolphingurl (hope I got the name right) you will be given a link when the story is updated, or you can keep a check on my profile page. (http://fanfiction.portkey.org/index.php?act=profile&userid=2780) there you will see any other stories that I have written. My very first fanfic is there too.

Chapter 21: Insight

The next day, Harry was in the locker room receiving anxious looks from his players. He had called them in an hour early; he was about to tell them he was going to forfeit the match. He had noticed that Ginny hadn’t said a word to anyone, and she was sitting quietly in the corner. He had to wave that aside for now though, as he had to tell them the truth.

“Well, it appears that my ban is not going to be lifted, therefore I am afraid to say that we must forfeit the match. I’m sorry.” The team exchanged glances with each other, they looked a little disappointed, but Harry didn’t think they hated him.

“Stop! Potter, get your kit on.” Harry turned around to see Draco standing in the doorway. “Your ban is lifted…I turned myself in.” Harry smiled a little, but then came back to his senses.

“Why?” he asked curiously.

“It was the right thing to do,” answered Malfoy coolly. “Break a leg,” he added, leaving.

Harry watched the rest of the team leave, apart from Ginny, who was still sitting alone in the corner. Harry slowly walked over to her; he put his hand so lightly on her shoulder that she probably couldn’t feel it. He pressed down a little harder and she jumped a little.

“Harry, you made me jump.”

“Sorry, are you ok?”

“Not really Harry…” she trailed off and started to cry slightly. Harry sat down next to her and put an arm over her shoulder. He was a little apprehensive, probably because this girl had a crush on him for four years, she was a girl, and he had a girlfriend.

“What’s the problem?” he finally asked.

“I’m…I’m scared. I’m scared of this war; I keep having nightmares about my family being killed, and Voldemort taking over. After what happened with Ron yesterday…it just brought things to reality.” She threw herself into Harry’s arms and sobbed harder. Harry had no option but to hug her back.

“I won’t let anything happen to you or your family Ginny, I promise,” he said softly. She pulled away from him and stared deep into his eyes. “Now let me see that smile.”

Ginny smiled slightly. “Thanks Harry.”

*

An hour later Harry led his team onto the Quidditch Pitch, it was a cold but sunny day, and the full strength team flew high into the air. Harry looked across the pitch and noticed Cho Chang flying on her broom, she hadn’t looked up at him, and he was glad. Madam Hooch released the balls and Dennis Creevey came to the microphone.

As the Quaffle was released Harry saw Ginny grab it straight away. She sped through the air like a bullet and drove the ball past the Ravenclaw keeper. “Ginny Weasley scores for Gryffindor, 10-0.” The crowd roared and Harry noticed Hermione clapping furiously in the crowd. The Quaffle went backwards and forwards as Ron made a couple of easy saves, Ravenclaw caught them on the counter attack after the whole team had flown up the pitch. “It’s Paul Lingleton zooming forward for Ravenclaw, he goes by Grimplehorn and leaves Seamus Finnegan for dead, 10-10.” Harry had heard a little bit about Paul Lingleton, he was only a third year, and was new to the team. Ravenclaw had been bragging about their new talent, and Harry had to admit that he was good.

Harry started to panic later in the game as Ravenclaw were starting to get back into the game. The score was 60-50 to Gryffindor. But as Harry looked at the score he caught sight of the tiny speck of gold. He urged his Firebolt forward as Cho kept close behind him.

Meanwhile, Lingleton was once again zooming forward, he turned past Seamus, twisted past Ginny and was then nailed in both sides of his stomach with two Bludgers from Alex Ripper and Scott Perkins.

Back with Harry, he was now moving in on the snitch, he could almost reach it when he felt a hand grab his foot. He noticed Cho tugging at his shoe.

“Cho, get off, you’ll get me killed,” he yelled.

“I’m sure I can live with that,” she spat back. She finally managed to remove Harry from his broom, but she obviously hadn’t noticed the snitch move down. As Harry fell towards the ground he threw out a hand and enclosed it around the snitch. The Firebolt moved itself between Harry’s legs as he flew high.

“Harry Potter has the Golden Snitch! Gryffindor Win! And with the news that Slytherin lost to Hufflepuff earlier today, that means that Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup!”

*

The next few months flew by for Harry. Malfoy still appeared to be on their side, but he and Harry were far from friends. Ron was back to his usual self after his death and Ginny seemed to be coping a lot better. Harry had enjoyed a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with Hermione, and there had been no news of Voldemort going into April.

***

Draco Malfoy walked into the Astronomy Tower, he sometimes liked to go there and think about how much he hated his mum and dad. He knew that it was only taught in occasionally. When he arrived, he had some unexpected company. He stared at Ginny Weasley, who was perched in a window seat, gazing across Hogwarts grounds. She had her chin rested on her knees as they were curled up in front of her.

“What are you doing here?” Draco asked.

“Draco! I was just…thinking,” she answered, still now moving. Draco decided he would be safe to sit in the window seat opposite her. Ginny got up to leave but he stopped her.

“You can stay, I don’t bite…often.” Ginny nervously sat down.

“I appreciate what you did for Ron but I still hate you!” hissed Ginny.

Draco raised his eyebrows. “Ok, I deserve that, and I understand that you hate me but…”

“Oh shut up! I’m not in the mood to listen to a spoilt little brat wind me up with his cockiness. You have no idea what it is like to not have anything you want, you have no idea what it is like to have to work for something that you want.” Ginny snapped.

“Well let me tell you something Weasley. Do you have any idea what it is like to have your mother and father beat you to a pulp every day of your life? Do you know what it is like to be forced to believe something that you don’t want to? Do you know what it is like to be thrown out of your own house? You may think I hate you Weasley, but the truth is…I envy you. I would give anything to have a family that loved me, that cared about me. You should count yourself lucky, because you don’t know how good you’ve got it.”

“I’m sorry Draco…I didn’t realise.” Ginny said softly.

“Not many people do. But just because I’m cocky doesn’t make me a bad person, that’s just part of my personality.”

There was a rather long silence between the two, but it was cut off when Ginny pulled her arms around Draco. It took him by surprise but he relaxed into it. “Do me a favour, call me Ginny.”

“Ok…I guess,” said Draco. It took Draco a while to realise that they had been hugging for about five minutes. He had never been held by somebody for so long. He suddenly noticed that Ginny’s mouth had started to touch his neck, and he was…enjoying it. She moved her head away and stared deeply into his eyes.

He moved his lips onto hers and they initiated the kiss before finally kissing. It was a strong, passionate kiss and Malfoy couldn’t resist her sweet taste. He continued to kiss her with fury and passion, until he realised that they were now up from their seat. He pushed her back onto a big desk at the front of the room and proceeded to push his body hard against hers. He then kissed her throat, down to her neck. He tore off her tie and unbuttoned her shirt. He looked down on the beautiful body underneath him and he moved his hands up her stomach. He was about to reach for her bra strap when she pushed him away.

“I’m sorry…I don’t know what came over me,” panted Malfoy.

Ginny got up slowly, her entire body shaking. She buttoned up her shirt and straightened out her clothes. “I better go,” she turned, and left quickly. Malfoy stood alone, thinking about what had just happened.

Author Notes: Well there you have it, a new ship! I hope you don’t mind, and I hope I didn’t go too far with Draco and Ginny. I really wanted to give some insight into Draco’s personal life, so hopefully I succeeded. It was nice to write about two different characters, and hopefully that has refreshed the story somewhat. If this chapter seems a little dragged out then I apologise, because I am actually suffering from big writers block. Also, I hope you're enjoying the Malfoy/Harry relationship. I like that they are friends, but are still rivals. I hope you do too, let me know your comments on everything I mentioned above and more if possible. I apologise for using “hope” so often in these comments, but I can’t really think of another word.

Story: Stress

Chapter: 22

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things I own are the plot, any characters, spells etc that you do not recognize.

Author Notes: I know I screwed up the Quidditch teams, and players in the last chapter. I realised shortly after I had posted. Maybe I should try reading my work through from now on. But I have a good excuse…I was writing at 2am! I just haven’t been able to stop writing for the last few days; you’ve probably noticed by the speed that the chapters have been posted.

On another note, I am really struggling with ideas at the moment, I just don’t know how to fill in chapters. I could really use a beta, so if anyone is interested at just shooting me some ideas, e-mail me @ silvandy02@lycos.co.uk, experience at beta-ing IS necessary.

Chapter 22: Rhamine

Hermione was lying back on her bed when she heard the dormitory door creak open. She noticed Ginny enter the room, but she kept quiet and didn’t take any notice of Hermione. Hermione however, was curious. “Hi Gin,” she said softly.

“Oh, Hi Hermione.” She got under her bed covers.

“Everything ok?”

“Um…yeah,” answered Ginny, who seemed a little flustered.

“I don’t think you’re telling the truth,” said Hermione. Ginny sat up in her bed.

“Ok, ok. I’m not.”

“What is it?” asked Hermione, walking over to sit on Ginny’s bed.

“It’s…a boy.”

“And?”

“And…I think I might like him.”

“Well give me some hints…who is it?”

“I can’t say. But he’s tall, and he’s a year older than me.”

Hermione suddenly got worried. “It’s not Harry is it?”

“Oh, no! Not at all,” recovered Ginny quickly.

“So, has anything happened between the two of you?”

Ginny shrugged. “We kissed…and we nearly did a lot more. If I hadn’t had any self control I don’t think I could’ve stopped.”

“Don’t worry Ginny, that’s happened to me and Harry a couple of times. But so far, I’ve managed to keep a level head.”

The redhead looked up at Hermione in admiration. “You really like Harry don’t you?” asked Ginny softly.

Hermione nodded and her eyes glazed over with thought. “Yeah…I do.”

“What made you realise that you liked him?”

“Once we had kissed. You get a feeling deep down and somehow you know that that person is the right person for you.”

“Maybe your right…thanks Hermione.” Ginny got under her covers and turned off the lamp, her thoughts filled with that blonde Slytherin.

***

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together at breakfast the next morning. “Pass me some toast will you mate?” asked Ron. Harry passed him a couple of slices of toast.

“Care of Magical Creatures first lesson then,” confirmed Hermione, rolling her finger down her timetable. “Who’s teaching us?”

“Hagrid,” answered Harry. “Grubbly-Plank retired.”

“Should be an interesting lesson then,” added Ron.

After breakfast, the trio made their way outside towards Hagrid’s hut. The half-giant was standing in front of something that looked like a cage.

“I hope he hasn’t got a dragon!” cried Ron.

They joined the rest of the class and stood about five metres away from Hagrid. He stepped aside and revealed the cage; inside it was an average height, four-legged animal. It had silky brown fur, with a white streak trailing over the top of its body from its nose, right down to its backside. It was actually quite beautiful.

“This is a Rhamine. It ‘as lightnin’ fas’ speed, and has one very special ability. It’s immortal. This Rhamine has been sen’ over from Australia, where it originates from. This is the only Rhamine in the entire world. So you are seeing a rare animal. It is male, and I like to call it Rhammy.” Hagrid chuckled to himself. “Now, don’ try to hurt ol’ Rhammy here, b’cos if ye do, you’ll have to face the consequences.”

“As if we’re supposed to believe that,” spat Goyle. “Impedimenta!” The spell flew out of the end of his wand and struck the Rhamine in the side of the stomach, but it deflected back and hit Goyle, stunning him to the ground. Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed, while Draco smirked joyfully.

“What are you smirking at?” asked Crabbe angrily at Draco.

“Your buddy. And don’t spit at me next time you speak.”

Crabbe grabbed Malfoy by the collar. “Don’t you irritate me, or you’ll pay for it.”

Malfoy shoved his hand away. “Can it pork pie man!” Crabbe threw a punch at Malfoy but he ducked and flung a right hand at Crabbe, sending him flying back to the ground.

“Eh, eh, eh, break it up, break it up. Draco, you better go to Professor Snape’s office. Off you go now,” ordered Hagrid.

Draco dragged himself away from the class and up to Professor Snape’s office. He knocked on the door.

“Enter,” said Snape coldly. “Mr Malfoy, what is it?”

“Hagrid sent me here.”

“And what did you do?”

“I punched Crabbe.”

“And what possessed you to do such an idiotic thing?” spat Snape.

“He swung at me first.”

“That is no excuse. You have detention tonight with Mr Filch; you’ll be taking Weasley’s place in polishing the trophies. Goodbye.”

Draco stormed out of the classroom, he looked for somewhere to go and cool off, the first. He made his way through every floor, when he reached the seventh floor he noticed a tapestry on the wall. He looked at it for a moment and then his mind came back to Crabbe. Damn, I hate him! he thought. He paced backwards and forwards in front of the tapestry, and he noticed a door appear in the wall. Curiosity over took him and he walked up to the door. “Room Of Requirement” he read aloud. He opened the door, and saw somebody he did not expect, Ginny Weasley.

Story: Stress

Chapter: 23

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things I own are the plot, any characters, spells etc that you do not recognize.

Author Notes: Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you will see that there is info on the sequel, a name change.

Chapter 23: Riddles

Draco proceeded into the room, he saw Ginny turn around. “What are you doing here?” he asked. She rose up from her seat.

“I’m here for you…Draco,” the Ginny standing before him suddenly transformed, and she took the shape of a he. There was a tall man standing in front of Draco, he had slick brown hair, grey eyes and was wearing a red shirt with a black jacket, tie and pants. The jacket was long and nearly touched the floor giving the man a rather daunting look. He also had a black goatee, and gleaming black shoes.

“What are you doing here? How did you do that?” asked Draco nervously.

“I’m here for my money,” he hissed.

“For the lab?”

“Yes for the lab,” the man glared at Malfoy, sending a chill down his spine. “I heard about the incident with your father, and I dearly hope that you have the money he owes me.”

“I don’t…why don’t you ask my mother?”

“She’s dead.”

“What?” although Draco’s mother was as bad as his father, it still came as shock to him.

“She committed suicide last night. Now where’s my money!”? He grabbed Draco by the neck and held him in a tight grip.

“I told you, I don’t know!” Draco yelled. The grip was tightening on his neck.

“Where else can I get the money? What about that Potter kid? I heard he inherited a small fortune. You must know, you’ve been to school with him for the past six years.”

“Let go of me!” The man reluctantly loosened his grip on Draco’s neck and shoved him to the ground. “Potter isn’t my friend.”

“You don’t need to be his friend to know if he has money or not. Now tell me, so I can find him!” Draco didn’t say anything, so the man pulled out his wand.

“Ok, ok,” conceded Draco. “Potter…Potter’s money is nothing to do with you or me!” Draco swept out a leg and tripped the man up; he then pulled out his wand and pointed it at him. “Mobilicorpus!” The invisible strings tied up the man. “How did you turn back into yourself at the time when you wanted? I know you can’t do that with a Polyjuice Potion.”

“You’re right. But you can do it when you’re a shapeshifter. You see back in high school I was on my way to my research lab that I had set up. I walked up to a muddy hilltop where I had a trapdoor in the ground that led me to my lab. I was down there one day minding my own business when I noticed a leak in the side of my lab. There was some sort of a mucky substance souring through the hole. At first I just thought it was crap from a sewer about twenty metres away. It turns out that that sewer was filled with Polyjuice Potion, and it was run by your father. It was fresh, so no hairs had been added. Therefore when the Polyjuice Potion destroyed my lab, I swallowed some and now have the ability to become anybody I like, whenever I like, for as long as I like.”

“What did my father want with all that Polyjuice Potion?”

“He sold it. To people who didn’t have the ingredients or intelligence to make their own. It was just another way for him to make money from other people. Your father still owes me money from when I let him use my new lab for his potions. One day Draco, I will get that money.”

“That’s if I ever release you,” answered Draco. “But I’m not like my father, I will release you, and I will get you your money. How much do you need?”

“It’s Muggle money. £500,000.”

“Ok.” Draco removed the ropes. “I’ll have you the money as soon as possible.”

*

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting by their lake after Care of Magical Creatures. Harry had dozed off next to a tree.

He was standing in front of that large oak door again; he looked to the side and saw the graveyard again. Sirius, James and Lily. He noticed the Phoenix in the air again, it dropped a small piece of Parchment it nestled neatly in the ground.

“Harry.” Harry jumped from his sleep and Hermione smiling at him. “You fell asleep.”

“Sorry, I was dreaming.” He put his hands in his pockets and felt something in there. He pulled out a small piece of parchment. “It’s blank. I was just dreaming about a Phoenix dropping a piece of parchment and here it is.”

“Aparecium,” muttered Hermione. A few lines of text were now visible. Harry read the text aloud.

“Hello me friend,

You have been sent this because your heart desires something more than anyone else in this world. I am no person, but a riddle. Follow these riddles, and you will get what you are really after.

In the heart of these riddles is something you cannot hire, it will bring to you what you truly desire.”

“What do you think it is?” asked Hermione.

“I don’t know. I desire a lot of things but I don’t know what I truly desire. I have to find more riddles.”

“It’s probably just a hoax,” stated Ron.

“I don’t think so. Not after it appeared in my dream. I wonder how I get the next riddle.” Just then another piece of parchment appeared on Harry’s lap. Hermione turned the ink visible again, and Harry read.

“Keep an eye out my friend, however strange this sounds, what you are seeking lies outside the grounds.”

“So it’s outside the castle, but where?” pondered Hermione.

“We need more riddles,” said Harry. But this time nothing appeared.

Author Notes: A new character, a new mystery…let me know what you think. As for the sequel.

Name Change: I have come up with a much more suiting name for the sequel. It will now be called…. WAR!

Story: Stress

Chapter: 24

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things I own are the plot, any characters, spells etc that you do not recognize.

Author Notes: In this chapter, Ron talks to Susan, Draco gets the cash, and Harry and Hermione discuss their relationship.

Chapter 24: A War Of Good And Evil

Harry pondered over the mysterious clues for the next two weeks, although he still hadn’t discovered any new ones.

He was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room playing Ron at Wizard’s Chess. As usual, Ron was creaming him.

“So, how are things with you and Susan?” asked Harry.

Ron moved another piece on the chessboard. “Checkmate. And things are…ok.”

“Ok… in what way?” They moved over to the table where Hermione was sitting with her head buried in a textbook.

“Well, I haven’t really spoken to her since the Yule Ball. I don’t know why, I just guess I don’t know how to start.”

“Hello would be good,” said Hermione, just before Harry could speak.

“I thought you were studying?” he said, smirking.

Hermione turned her attention back to her book.

“Your right of course,” added Harry. Hermione snapped the book shut and beamed at Harry.

“Thank you,” she replied. “Now Ron. Go and see Susan, say hi. That’s the first step. Then ask her how she’s feeling, or tell her she looks pretty.”

Ron looked positively sick at the thought. “Are you sure?”

Hermione sighed. “I’m a girl aren’t I?”

“Ok…I’ll try…later.”

“No! You’ll try now,” insisted Hermione.

“Bu-”

“Now!” she ordered.

***

Draco Malfoy had just got back from Gringotts Bank. He had received special permission to go because it was about his father. What the Professors didn’t know was that he was selling his father’s mansion. He made his way to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, where Eric Sullivan, the shapeshifter, pulled him in.

“You got the money?” he hissed.

“Yeah,” answered Draco casually. “Here,” he opened up his bag and pulled out a briefcase. He passed it to Eric who opened it cautiously. “Five hundred grand.”

The money was there all right. “Why are you so cool about this?” Eric asked.

“I have my reasons,” he answered coolly.

Eric grabbed him by the shirt. “If I fund out you are conning me, I will kill you in a second. Got it?”

“Ok, well first, let go of my robes, you’re creasing them.” Eric released him. “Second of all, you have your money do you not?” Eric nodded. “Well then, why would I be conning you?”

“I must say Draco, you are a much better businessman than your father.” Eric put out a hand to Draco, which Draco shook.

“I know,” he answered.

***

Ron walked down a corridor towards the Hufflepuff common room and saw Susan sitting on a bench outside, reading. He suddenly felt his forehead get wet. Get it together Weasley; it’s only a girl for crying out loud, he thought. He approached Susan and stood in front of her as though he expected her to instantly notice him. When she didn’t he knew he had to speak. “Err…hi…Susan,” he forced out. She looked up at him.

“Ron? Hi,” she answered.

“Hi,” he said back.

“Hi,” she said again. There was a few minutes of silence between the two. “Do you want to sit down?” she asked.

“Oh…ok.” He sat down slowly, as far away from her as the bench would allow. “I’m…I’m sorry about what happened a few months ago…at the Yule Ball.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault. It’s not like you sent the Dementors in to wreak havoc is it?”

“No,” he said quickly. As though she was accusing him.

“That was a joke Ron,” she added.

“Oh,” he said in a small voice. Come on, you’re a Weasley; you’re a walking joke, his thought continued in his head.

“So, did you want to go out again?” she asked. Ron felt his stomach feel suddenly loose; he nodded quickly and ran to the boys’ bathroom.

When he got there he opened a toilet door, leaned over the toilet and let his nerves out. He had never been sick like this before. About five minutes later he heard the door open outside and he went out to see who it was. It was Draco Malfoy.

“Weasley,” said Draco coldly.

“Malfoy,” answered Ron, just as coolly.

“Did you eat one too many chocolate frogs?” Draco asked.

“No, I said too many words to a girl,” he answered.

“It happens to us all. I, on the other hand have other issues.”

“Like what?” asked Ron, suddenly intrigued.

“A Shapeshifter.”

“A what?”

“A shapeshifter, I met some guy who can transform into anybody he likes, whenever he wants. I had to pay him some money.”

“Why?”

“Suddenly nosey aren’t you?” asked Draco.

“No, just curious,” recovered Ron.

“My father used his laboratory to create Potions, he never paid him.”

“Well it can't be that much money, after all who would want to use a toilet to create potions?”

"That's a lavatory you idiot!"

“Oh, right. So how did you raise the money?”

“I sold Malfoy Mansion.”

“Really! Why are you being so cool about this?”

Draco sniggered. “Hey, it’s in my personality. And, I only owed him five hundred grand.”

“Only?” said Ron, mouth open.

“Well Malfoy Mansion went for two million. I can buy my own place.”

***

Harry was up in the prefect common room; he was sitting in an armchair awaiting Hermione. She had been at the library for a while, and he was starting to worry. His worry was lifted however when she walked in through the door. She looked tired out; she dropped her bags and collapsed onto his lap, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“I’m shattered,” she mumbled. “I got a little caught up in my Arithmancy book…” She trailed off as Harry started placing gently kisses on her neck. She started to melt into his kisses but pulled away when her thoughts came back. She got up abruptly from his lap. “I’m sorry Harry.”

“What is it,” he asked, getting up to face her.

“It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you, and it’s not that I don’t want to do…it. But whenever we kiss we always nearly do…it. I’m just not ready, and when you kiss me like that it is hard for both me and you to stop ourselves. We both know that.”

Harry just smiled at her. “Hermione, you trust me don’t you?”

“Yes, but…”

“Then trust me when I say, that I promise we will not go any further than kissing. I perfectly understand the way you feel, because I don’t think that I am ready for that yet either. But when the time is right for both of us, we can consider it. Ok?”

Hermione nodded. “Ok, where were we?” Harry sat back down on the chair and she jumped onto his lap, and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Did you find anymore clues while I was gone?” Harry sighed deeply. “I’ll take that as a no shall I?”

“Yeah. I know that these clues could be good, but it’s starting to get to me now. At first it was just interesting, but the longer it’s going on the more I’m thinking about it. I just want to get these clues and solve them.”

“Remember what the letter said Harry, it’s something that you desire. So what do you desire?” she asked.

Harry thought for a moment. “A family, your safety, Voldemort dead. The list could go on,” said Harry in deep thought.

“Well if it is one of those, at least it will be a good thing won’t it?”

Harry smiled and gave her a long but gentle kiss.

***

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office listening to some of his Aurors. “Albus, what do you want to with him?” asked Mad-Eye Moody, who was pointing at Viktor Krum who was trapped inside a magic cell. “We can either send him to Azkaban or free him, the choice is yours.”

“Send him to Azkaban. Now that the Dementors are gone I will happily send him. I just didn’t want to send him there while there was a chance of Dementors appearing. He didn’t deserve that at such a young age.”

“Right, come on lad, let’s teach you a lesson,” snarled Moody, who seemed ecstatic at escorting a Death Eater to Azkaban. They released Viktor from the cell, and Moody, Tonks and two unknown Aurors grabbed him. He tried to fight them off a little but his attempts were in vain.

Once they had left, another person appeared in the office, Severus Snape. Dumbledore peered up over his glasses. “Ah, Severus, I am glad that you are here,” he said softly.

“What can I do for you Headmaster?” he asked.

“First, you may take a seat,” suggested Dumbledore. But Snape shook his head.

“I prefer to stand.”

“Fine.” Dumbledore answered calmly. “Now Severus, I am here to talk to you about what happened at Christmas. When you killed Lucius Malfoy. I understand that you were only doing what you could to help, but I am unhappy that you have killed.”

“I was only doing it out of goodness,” answered Snape, coldly.

“I know, and I understand that there will be Deaths in this war…”

“Not to mention the fact that those Death Eaters would kill any of us in a second.”

“Quite true Severus, quite true. But if we can keep Deaths down to as few as possible, excusing Voldemort of course, then we will be doing even more good for this world. After all, this is a war of good and evil is it not?”

“Quite right sir, is that all?” asked Snape.

“Yes, you may leave.”

“Thank you,” answered Snape, who left with a cold look on his face.

Authors Note: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, you’ve probably noticed that I have started to break characters off a little into their own adventures, with Harry and Hermione sticking together. Obviously, Harry, Hermione and Ron will still be the trio, and Malfoy may help out at times too. But I hope you like what I am doing with the story. The only character that I am unsure about the future of is Eric Sullivan. However, I have a few ideas in my head. Now, REVIEW! I want to try and get 100 reviews after this chapter, I currently have 89.

Story: Stress

Chapter: 25

Rating of Chapter: PG-13

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things I own are the plot, any characters, spells etc that you do not recognize.

Author Notes: Prayers Answered

Chapter 25: This is the last chapter of the fic, but the sequel will be started ASAP. I know some characters have been introduced a little late but they will play roles in the sequel so do not fear. Also, this fic finishes a little differently to your usual HP stories, but this is Fan Fiction.

Another month later Harry was walking through a corridor when he heard something. He put his hands up to his ears, as the screeching grew louder, he stumbled round the corner and bumped into Draco Malfoy. The sound disappeared.

“Ok Potter?” asked Draco.

“No, not really. Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That, that screeching?”

“No, where was it coming from?” Draco asked,

“Outside…I think, I’m going to find out.” Harry walked outside where Draco followed; he saw Ron and Hermione come out from another exit.

“What are you two doing?” asked Ron.

“Potter’s hearing noises,” answered Draco. Hermione moved to catch up with Harry.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“I heard something coming from out here, I’m trying to find out what it is.”

“What’s this?” Draco said, picking up a sheet of parchment and handing it to Harry.

“I think it’s another riddle?” said Harry.

“This is no time for games Potter,” said Draco. Ron, Harry and Hermione frowned at him.

“Aparecium,” muttered Harry, causing the ink to reveal. He read the clue out. “What you are seeking may well be hidden, and where it is could possibly be forbidden.”

“The forest,” said Hermione. “We can look later, after Potions.”

“No Hermione, I’m going now, I can’t wait any longer.” He gave her a determined look, as he gazed deeply into her eyes.

“Then I’m coming with you,” she said.

“Me too,” added Ron.

“And I’d like to see what’s going on,” said Draco.

“You’re not coming,” sneered Ron.

“Let him come,” said Harry.

They made their way to the edge of the forbidden forest when Harry stopped them quickly. “Remember to keep a close eye, there are Centaurs here, as well as Grawp… and other things. Keep quiet.” They stepped into the forest and the cold chill swept through them, it had been a warm day, but the forest was as cold as ever. Harry took Hermione’s hand and pulled her close to him to keep her warm and safe, Draco and Ron were walking slowly behind them.

They had been walking through the mist for about half an hour before Hermione tripped on a branch and fell to the floor. “Hermione!” said Harry, a little too loudly. “Are you ok?”

“I think so,” she said, nodding her head slightly. Harry lifted her up, but she winced in pain. He looked down at her leg and noticed that it was bleeding slightly.

“Draco, you take Hermione back to the Hospital Wing,” he ordered.

“No, I won’t leave you Harry,” she said. Harry looked down at the adamant look on her face; he could see how serious she was about all of this.

“Ok, but I’m carrying you as much as I can,” he stated, as he swept her up into his arms.

“How romantic,” said Draco sarcastically.

Harry was still carrying Hermione when he saw something dark in the sky. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing up.

“I don’t know, keep moving,” said Ron. They carried on walking until they reached the start of a cobbled path. They could see nothing in the distance, and Harry knew where they were.

“This is the place from my dream Hermione,” he whispered in her ear. “Draw you wands,” he said. Hermione scrambled out of his arms, drew out her wand, and pointed it at Harry.

“Don’t try and stop me again or I’ll hex you into next week,” she said seriously. Harry smiled and pulled out his own wand. They moved forward at a steady pace, and then they encountered something that was not in Harry’s dream. Spiders.

There were four black, hairy spiders, all about a metre high. Harry heard Ron squeal behind them, he looked around to see Hermione and Draco looking extremely scared. The spiders started creeping towards them. “Impedimenta!” Harry yelled, and the first disintegrated in front of him.

All four of them continued to stun the spiders, but more and more seemed to be coming, Harry heard a scream and noticed that Draco had a web knitted around him; it was ravelling up towards his neck and face. He tried to get there but he was still fighting off spiders. He saw Hermione casting numerous ‘Stupefy’ spells to the spiders. Ron was doing the same. “Try to help Draco!” Harry yelled to them. They seemed to be being held off though as the web moved around Draco’s neck. Harry felt panic and guilt rise through him as he could see Draco choking, but every time he tried to cast a decent spell a spider would intercept. But the fear was removed when he heard a spell cast. “Incendio!” somebody cast, and the web was burned away. Harry turned around to see the tall, brown haired man. “Who are you?” asked Harry, as the man destroyed the remaining spiders.

“Eric Sullivan, I’m a friend of Draco’s,” he said offering a hand to Harry, but he refused to shake.

“You’re the shapeshifter!” exclaimed Ron.

“That I am,” he said, smirking. He helped Draco up.

“I didn’t know you could fight,” he said.

“I don’t believe that is the first thing that you haven’t known about me,” answered Eric. “What are you four up to anyway?”

“That’s none of your business,” said Hermione stubbornly. “Why should we trust you? We don’t even know who you are!”

“I can be anybody I like,” he said. He then took the shape of first Snape, then Dumbledore and then Mrs Weasley, causing Ron to squeal yet again. Once he had returned to his usual self he asked them what they were up to again.

“We’re just trying to solve a mystery,” said Harry.

“Any room for another member of the group?” Eric asked.

“Sure,” said Harry, smiling.

Harry led them down the path and they reached the familiar oak door. He tried to open it but it wouldn’t budge. Four Death Eaters then appeared behind him. He turned to face them, wand out. They all muttered a quick spell and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco and Eric were trapped inside a small cell.

“Face it Potter, your no match for the army of Lord Voldemort,” hissed Bellatrix. “Now we can kill your friends here, and then deliver you to the dark lord personally.” She pulled out her wand along with Karkaroff, Avery and Percy. “There is nothing you can do now.”

Harry closed his eyes trying desperately to think of someway to escape, but when nothing came to him he heard a loud screeching again, it appeared he was the only one able to hear it still as nobody reacted.

“Oh, is little Potter scared,” taunted Bellatrix, the other Death Eaters cackled stupidly. Just then the large Phoenix appeared above them in the sky, it was attached to a blue beam erupting from Harry’s wand. It flew down closer to them and released an array of silver sparkles, they could no longer see the Death Eaters, and their vision was filled with silver. When the sparkled cleared the Death Eaters and the cell were gone, as too was the Phoenix. Harry got up from the ground and swept up the piece of parchment. He read the riddle, which was no longer written in invisible ink.

“Congratulations, you have made it this far, below is your final riddle.” Harry looked around at the people surrounding him. He suddenly felt very nervous about reading the end. Hermione walked up to him and placed an arm on his shoulder.

“Read it Harry, whatever it is we’ll be here for you, trust me,” she said softly. He turned his eyes back to the parchment, and read it aloud.

“The person you are seeking is a very tall male, last time you saw him he fell through the veil.” Harry now knew what it was, but he kept his composure and continued to read. He saw a small diagram of a wizard pointing his wand up high, and casting a spell. He did the same and yelled the spell, which was written down. “Hiritzo Cravine!” Bolts of lightning cracked down around him and he put his arms over his face in an attempt to shield his eyes from the blinding light.

Once the lightning had died out, he looked in front of him to see his Godfather standing before him. He beamed at Harry, and Harry returned his smile before running into his arms. “Sirius,” he yelled, his eyes full of tears and his heart pounding through his chest. He pulled away and gazed into his Godfather’s eyes.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” he exclaimed.

“Me neither Harry,” answered Sirius. “How did it happen?”

“I don’t really know, I guess dreams really do come true.”

*

“So what was it like behind that Veil?” asked Harry. He, Sirius, Ron and Hermione were sitting around a table inside Dumbledore’s office. Draco and Eric had left them alone.

“To be honest, I don’t really remember anything, the last thing I can remember was Bellatrix blasting me with that spell…but anyway, what do you have to tell me? It seems like a few things have changed since I was last here,” he said, grinning at Hermione, who turned a dark shade of red.

“Ok, me and Hermione are sort of….a couple,” confirmed Harry.

“About time,” said Sirius. “What about Draco? And that other chap, what were they doing there?”

“Draco brought me back to life, after he accidentally killed me, it was some vial or something, and that other guy…well I don’t really know much about him other than that he’s very good with spiders,” said Ron very quickly.

Sirius laughed. “Learn to take a breath next time Ron. It sounds like you’ve had a very eventful year.”

“Yeah we’ve had some good times, and plenty of rough times.” Harry said, gazing off into thought.

Draco and Eric then entered the room. Draco walked over to Ron. “Weasley, could I talk to you for a moment?” he asked. Ron nodded, a little confused. He got up and walked over to the corner of the room, while Eric got settled in with the others.

“Weasley, I wanted to give you this,” he said, putting a sack in his hand.

“What is it?” asked Ron.

“Five hundred Galleons, I want you and your family to have it.”

“Don’t you need it for your house?”

“No, I’m living with Eric, plus, that’s only half the money I made.”

Ron smiled a little. “Thanks,” he said.

“What are friends for?” answered Draco, without a smile. He and Eric then left the room, but were replaced by Remus Lupin.

“Sirius,” shouted Lupin. Who pulled Sirius into a brotherly hug. “I can’t believe it’s you…I just re-decorated Grimmauld Place.”

“I guess it will have two owners now,” added Sirius.

“Sirius, there is something you should know…I told Hermione that she could move in, her parents were murdered during the summer, I hope that’s ok,” Lupin said quietly.

“The more the merrier,” said Sirius with a smile on his face.

*

Later that day, Harry was sitting on a bench with Hermione lying in his lap. “I can’t believe there is only one month left of the year,” she sighed.

“I know, it’s gone so quickly. But I think I’ve made the best discovery since I’ve been here,” said Harry.

“What’s that?”

“Falling in love with the most wonderful woman on the world,” he said softly. Hermione giggled slightly and sat up to face him.

“Harry, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me this year. If I didn’t have you then I don’t think I could have made it through. I love you so much,” she said.

“I love you too Hermione.” He pulled her into a long kiss, as the sun beamed down on them; this had certainly been a stressful year.

Authors Note: Well there you have it! The end! I know things don’t usually end before the end of the year, but it just felt right to end it now. I hope that I have finished the story to your expectations and I will tie up any questions left open in the sequel. For now I’d like to thank all of my reviewers for giving me inspiration to continue writing my first feature-length fic. I will post another chapter providing you with a link to the sequel. Now I would like to ask you some questions.

What has been your:

Favourite Chapter

Favourite Character

Favourite Ship (I can guess that one)

Favourite Moment

I would love to hear some of the above; it’s always nice to know what you have enjoyed. Also let me know anymore of your favourite things, such as favourite line etc.

Goodbye for now and I’ll see you when the sequel is released, probably next week.

Well, the sequel is up…the first chapter anyway. Click the link below to go there.

http://fanfiction.portkey.org/index.php?act=read&storyid=1231