Unofficial Portkey Archive

PLEASE NOTE: If you have read this story before August 31st then please re-read it, if you have the time. I've fixed some plot problems and lengthened a few scenes. One of the chapter has an entirely new scene. The same this goes for "Harry Potter and the Soul Crystal"

Thank you to reviewers: Shawn Pickett, juggling stars and serenity_bliss

Thanks and question answers for:

Tracey- This was a VERY short chapter. Was hoping for a little more since it's been so long since you updated! Please keep writing. I'm enjoying this story. [I apologize for that. Hopefully this one will make up for it. It's 2500 words.]

Lalala- you made a mistake: in a former chapter, you said Harry was playing Hufflepuff. then you made the quiddich scene with Slytherin. [ACK! I can't believe I did that! Anyway. It's fixed now. Thank you so much for catching that one!!!]

Please read and review. I love reviews! Thanks!

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Hermione sat in front of the fireplace with a large book in her lap. Harry, Ron and Wendy were all slumped on the couch, waiting for her to finish.

Finally, Harry sat up and stared at Hermione. "How can you be doing homework at a time like this!?" he said with exasperation.

Calmly, Hermione shut her book, looked up at Harry and folder her arms. "Oh, and your activity is so much more stimulating. Would you prefer I laze about on the sofa and count ceiling stones with you?" she said with deep sarcasm.

Harry sighed. "Sorry. It's just all this waiting is getting to me," he said as he pushed his hair out of his face.

Hermione's expression softened. "I understand that, Harry. But there's really nothing more that we can do," she said as she took her place next to him.

"Let's go get some snacks," Wendy said suddenly. "I feel like some crisps." Everyone just stared at her. She became uncomfortable under their gaze. "What??"

Hermione giggled. "You just spoke with a British accent."

Ron snorted. So did Harry. "I did not!" Wendy said with a slight indignation.

Ron paused in his laughing long enough to counter with, "Yes...you did."

"And you said crisps instead of potato chips," Harry chimed in.

Wendy growled in annoyance.

"It was slight, but it was there," Hermione said, her giggling slowing down. "I'm sorry, but you're always saying that you'll never loose your Massachusetts accent." Wendy folded her arms and pouted. "Oh come on, we were only teasing," she said as she put a hand on her friend's arm.

"Yeah, I know," Wendy replied. She then promptly stuck her tongue out at Hermione, with a smile.

Suddenly the sound of hands clapping caught everyone's attention. "All right everyone. Start your night time routines. It's nearly time for bed," McGonagall said crisply.

All the Gryffindors headed up the stairs to their respective towers. Harry noticed that, as usual, Wendy left the Common Room to go to the girls bathroom instead of following the others. Something about it bothered him. Lately he had noticed that she made sure that all the other girls had gone up the stairs before she left the room. "Why would she care if the other girls needed to go too?" he thought. "Maybe all this ghost business is getting to me." he wondered. "Still...."

Harry turned away from the stairs and followed his sister out the door. He felt like a jerk sneaking around behind her like that, but his curiosity wouldn't leave him alone. Finally, after peeking around a corner, he spotted her. She was no more than ten feet in front of him. "Wendy?" he said with uncertainty.

Wendy jumped. She dropped her glass, which bounced a couple of times before settling on the floor and rolling away from her. She turned around and glared at her brother. "Jesus, Harry!" she said with a trace of anger in her voice. She glanced down at the cup. "You are so beyond lucky that cup is plastic."

"I'm sorry. I just...." he paused, trying to think of what to say. Maybe I should just tell her the truth........Oh yes, Harry. Tell her you were spying on her. That'll go over real well. "...wanted to say goodnight," he finished, hoping she would buy it.

Wendy sighed and dropped her arms to her sides. "Well, next time do it when I'm not in a spooky hallway at night."

Harry suddenly noticed a small brown bottle in Wendy's right hand. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at the bottle.

Wendy's eyes went wide and she immediately began to stammer. "Um......that's um....my..." she looked down and squeezed here eyes shut, "medicine."

Harry swallowed. "Medicine? For what?" he said as he took a step toward her.

Wendy avoided his concerned gaze as she spoke. "It's....an anti-scar potion."

"What?! You mean you have one too?" he said with shock in his voice.

Wendy suddenly looked very bitter. "No, I don't have a curse scar. I have an ordinary, run-of-the mill, makes people frown in disgust scar," she said as she stared at the floor..

Harry suddenly felt very sad for his sister. "Can I ask where it is?"

"You don't have to," she said, pointing to her temple, "The potion is starting to wear off."

As Harry watched, a section of skin starting on her right temple and ending on her forehead just above her right eyebrow, began to change . It became a sort of tanish yellow and sunk in just a tiny bit. When it was fully out it was wide enough to cover an area four inches long and two inches wide. It also had an almost white line bordering the entire thing. He felt his heart sink. To think she had been hiding this all that time."Why didn't you tell me this before?" he asked gently.

Wendy raised her eyes to Harry's. "Well, at first I didn't know how you might react to something like this. I was afraid you would freak out and not want me around anymore. I've...lost a friend that way before. After a while, the sneaking around just kind of became....habit. Sorry. I should've known you wouldn't desert me," she said as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's okay," Harry said with a smile. "And it's not that bad." Wendy gave him a skeptical look. "Really. If your hair wasn't pulled back in a ponytail I might not've even noticed it.

Wendy gave Harry a hug. "Thanks, Bro."

"No problem," Harry said as they released the hug. "Mind some company on the way to the bathroom?"

Wendy gave a relieved smile. "Please?"

Harry smiled as the two continued to the girl's bathroom.

Hermione crawled into her bed and pulled the covers high around her shoulders. McGonagall walked slowly around the room and then began to descend the stairs to check on the sixth years. Hermione wished she hadn't left. She didn't feel comfortable sleeping without someone keeping a constant vigil. "Just think about Harry. That should calm my nerves." she thought. Not long after that she fell into a somewhat fitful slumber, not noticing the two ghosts that had just come though the far wall...floating in her direction.

Professor Dumbledore and the teachers were almost halfway down the basement stairs when the stairs suddenly disappeared. They fell through and landed on a large patch of cushion mushrooms. Once the shock of the fall was gone Dumbledore sat up and took a look at his surroundings. They were in a room roughly thirty feet square. Aside from the mushrooms there didn't seem to be much in the way of vegetation. There were four sets of manacles hanging on the wall to his right. Several lit candles lined the walls and there was a door in the front. He recognized the room as one of the more ancient dungeons.

He stood and began to walk towards the door. He hadn't taken more than ten steps before a pair of ghosts shot out of the walls, grabbed him by the shoulders, and flung him back onto the mushrooms. Just as he had gotten himself back to a sitting position he heard a voice that had not crossed his thoughts for more than forty years. "It can not be." he thought in disbelief.

"Well well Dumbledore. Still poking your skinny nose into where it doesn't belong eh?" said a male voice just as another ghost came floating through the door. He was tall and thin with a sneer on his face that would make a Malfoy cringe.

Dumbledore's eyes went wide as spoke the name of the boy in front of him with shock and apprehension. "Jacob..."

Hermione suddenly felt herself surrounded by cold water and her eyes snapped open. She struggled to get to the blessed air above, but something...no...someone was holding her down. She also thought she heard muffled voices coming from above. She kicked as hard as she could and managed to get her right ear out of the water. {{"LET HER GO!!!"}} she managed to hear before she was shoved back down beneath the water.

Hermione recognized the voice. It was Harry's. She hated hearing that kind of distress in his voice. She kicked harder.

Harry struggled against the strong, yet nearly invisible, hands that kept him from getting to Hermione. "Why are you doing this?!!" he yelled.

A young looking male ghost, who seemed to be in charge and doing nothing but floating about in an appraising manner, spoke in a bored voice. "Because she," he said as he pointed to a sobbing Esmeralda on one of the pool house benches, "can't keep her big mouth shut." He floated over to her and stared down at her shaking form in mild disgust. "And because she seems to like you three," he said as he moved his finger in a circular motion to indicate Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ron was next to Harry, also being held back from reaching Hermione, "so much...I decided to teach her a lesson. Don't worry. Your turn is coming"

At this comment Esmeralda wailed even louder. "I'm so sorry Harry!" she said between sobs.

Harry couldn't stand it. Hermione was being drowned, right there in front of him and he couldn't do a thing about it. He wanted his wand. His eyes went wide and a lump formed in his throat as Hermione's body went limp. "DAMMIT!" he screamed in frustration.

Hermione began to feel the blackness seeping in around her mind. "No...please...not like this. I can't...die...like thisss." she managed to think before the darkness swallowed her completely.

Esmeralda bit her lower lip. She kept looking from the lead ghost to Hermione. "I can't fight Malcolm. He's too strong...but...I can't stand seeing Harry looking so sad." She gulped. "I have to try..." She stood up, and with a cry of rage and frustration, leapt at Malcolm.

Malcolm looked up in confusion as he felt the full force of Esmeralda's body slamming into his. The two ghosts crashed onto the floor. Malcolm, who was on the bottom of the pile, sank into the stone floor a bit before he managed to re-solidify himself. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!" he roared.

Ron recognized Malcolm's voice now. It was the same ghost who had dragged poor Esmeralda away the first time he had spoken to her. He watched as, along with his indignant yell, Malcolm blasted her with some kind of dark energy. She careened backwards. She spiraled her arms, but wasn't able to keep her balance. She barely de-solidified herself just in time to avoid a nasty collision with the bench she had been sitting on earlier.

Ron's attention was drawn away from the brawling spirits when the hair on his arms stood up. He could feel static-like energy coming from his right. He looked over at Harry and froze. "What the bloody Hell???"

Harry didn't hear his best friend, not even a little bit. All his attention was focused on Hermione's submerged form. His hands formed tightly balled fists as his body began to tense up. He could feel his power rising. It was happening again. Just like in the Forbidden Forest.

Ron, for his part could do nothing but stare at Harry's eyes. They were glowing with a fierce white light. It was so all consuming that none of his eye's features could be seen. Ron was scared. No, make that terrified. "Why? Why do his eyes look like that?" he thought as his eyes went wide.

A visible ripple went through the air around Harry's body as the two ghosts that were holding him were thrown backwards into the wall behind them. Since they were still solid at the time they were knocked unconscious. "AHHHHHHGGGG!!" Harry screamed in rage as he cupped his hand and thrust them outward. "Phantasma interfector!" he screamed.

Ron watched in amazement as a ball of lightning formed in between Harry's hands. It shot forward with the force of a wrecking ball at the ghosts who had been trying to drown Hermione. They barely had time to blink before the ball hit them and literally blew them apart. Ron's heart would not leave his throat. "He killed them!" he thought in utter shock. "That shouldn't be possible! Not at our level!" He had heard Harry's story of how he had killed the Soul Beast, but he seeing his best friend's power in real life was a whole different story.

Harry turned his attention to Malcolm, who had been staring at him during Harry's attack on his underlings. Malcolm knew he was in trouble. He dove through the floor and out of sight.

Harry suddenly remembered Hermione. His eyes reverted back to normal as he made a mad dash for the pool. He held out his hand in Hermione's direction. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted. Hermione's limp body floated up and out of the water. Harry drew his hand backwards and she began to move towards him. As soon as she reached his position he grabbed her and laid her down on the floor. He held out a shaking hand over her blue-ish tinted body. "Consanesco."

His fear now gone, Ron now knelt down beside Harry. "Merlin, let him know what he's doing." he pleaded in his mind.

Hermione's form suddenly convulsed and her upper body was forced upward a bit as she coughed up the water in her lungs. "Am I...safe?" she thought as she started to become conscious. Then she heard that all too familiar voice, like it was being spoken from very far away.

"Mione. Mione are you alright??" Harry asked as he choked back the tears that had started to form.

Hermione fought to open her eyes. When she finally succeeded she saw Harry and Ron hovering over her. "Harry...?" she said hoarsely.

Ron made a small smile and a look over relief washed over Harry's face. "Oh Thank God....thank God," Harry said as he pulled Hermione into loving embrace. After a moment he broke the hug and looked over at Esmeralda, who was still staring at him in shock. She noticed he was looking her way and floated over to him. "Thank you." he said softly. "Without your distraction...I might not've been able to concentrate. I owe you...," he looked down at Hermione, "...everything."

Esmeralda smiled, and for the first time since they had met her, it was truly happy.

.........TO BE CONTINUED

Latin spell translations: Phantasma interfector= Ghost killer |||| Consanesco= be healed