Harry was walking down a dark hall. All he could hear, besides the sound of his own steps, was the sound of his heart beating. Although he couldn't place it, Harry thought that he not only knew where he was, but also that he had been there before.
As he walked forward, he started to hear something else. It was something comforting, familiar even, but he still couldn't make out exactly what it was. As he continued along the hall, he now could also hear a second set of footsteps, coming from a distance.
As he neared the end of the hall, he saw a door, but not just any door. There was something strange about it. A light was emanating from around the edges, and the sound he heard earlier was much louder. Just as he was starting to place the sound, something else grabbed his attention.
He heard a high, cruel laugh. Harry knew it was Voldemort. Harry wondered what he was doing here. Harry turned around to look, but all he saw was a bright green light. Before he knew it, he was awake sitting upright in his four-poster. Harry got up, and walked over to the window. While Harry had thought he knew were he had been, now he wasn't so sure what it was that he saw. He also didn't know where he had been, but for some reason he felt he needed to find it, to go there if he could.
Harry saw that it was still dark out, and he was still tired, so he went back to sleep. Just when it seemed he fell back off, someone was shaking him.
Harry mumbled, "What is it?"
"You need to get up. We need to get ready for class," someone, whom Harry recognized as Seamus when he finally opened his eyes, said.
Harry quickly dressed and ran down to the Great Hall. He saw Hermione running toward him with something in her hand.
She gave him a peck on the cheek and handed him the thing she was holding, said, "I made this for you, but we've got to hurry. Class is about to start."
Harry thanked her, and as they were running toward their defense against the dark arts class, Harry downed the sandwich Hermione made for him. He was about to try to explain what happened last night, when Hermione told him to tell her later. They just entered the class as the bell rang.
There were only two seats left in the class, and they weren't next to each other. Hermione grabbed one next to Neville, leaving only the seat next to Ron. Harry wasn't comfortable, but sat down quietly next to him. Harry wanted to say something, anything actually, but the look on Ron's face told him it was still too soon.
Sirius got up and said, "first, I would like to tell you all what a great job you have been doing so far this term. You have done so well, in fact, that I think that you are ready for the next part of the course. To tell you the truth, I didn't think we would get to this until near the end of the term."
The class started to mutter to each other in excitement. Sirius waited for this to die down before he continued. "I am very pleased with this, because the more time we have to review, the better. Like the rest of professors are reminding you, I must emphasize that your O.W.L.s are coming up at the end of year, and they could be the most important tests that you will ever take in this school. So the more ground we can cover the better you should all do."
"Now up to this point in the class, we have been going over ways to protect ourselves against apparitions, but now we will learn how to call them to our aide."
Sirius rolled up his sleeves of his robes and took out his wand. "I trust you all remember how to summon an apparition?"
"Occia," the class said in unison.
Sirius smiled, and said. "excellent. Now can anyone tell me how we would be able to control the apparition when it appears?"
Hermione, who looked distracted, was a little slower on the uptake than normal. After a couple of moments, she finally raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"The Phaterius charm."
"Well done Miss Granger. Ten points for Gryffindor. Now can anybody tell me how exactly it works?"
Hermione was back in her element. The only thing she enjoyed more than studying was showing how much she had learned. She raised her hand again, and Professor Black said, "Yes, Miss Granger."
"It works in a similar fashion to the Imperius curse. It takes total control of the spirit, allowing you to direct it's actions. However, like the Imperius curse, the stronger the spirit, the more of an opportunity it has to fights its effects."
"Excellent work Miss Granger. I am very impressed. Yes, like the Imperius curse it allows the caster to direct the bewitched into doing their bidding, but as Miss Granger so eloquently put it, it doesn't work all of the time.
"Now, from my understanding, each of you have had an opportunity to battle with the Imperius curse, and one of you even was able to fight off it's affects," Sirius said as he glanced at Harry. When he did this, the class muttered excitedly among itself as several people pointed to him.
Harry was quite used to this by now, of course. Ron gave him half a glance that meant more to him than the whole rest of the class. Hermione meanwhile was beaming at him. It was all coming flashing back to Harry now, what happened last year again. He always hates it whenever the events of last year are brought up. Ultimately, the images always start to come back to him.
It was while he was battling Voldemort that he had managed to fight off successfully the effects of an Imperius curse that he had cast against him. He was going over the steps that lead up to it, when he came crashing back to the present by the sound of Sirius' voice.
"Since we don't know what is going to be on the O.W.L.s we have to prepare you as best we can. Now we will be taking turns practicing the Phaterius charm."
For the remainder of the class, they called on various ghosts to the classroom, and practiced casting the spell on them. Neville was unlucky enough to call the Bloody Baron, the Slytherins' ghost, and well, let's just say it didn't go well at all. On the bright side though, Madam Pomfrey says that Neville should be out of the hospital wing in a day or two.
Meanwhile, Harry was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. First, he was depressed that he still didn't have his best friend now, when he could really use one. Second, he was starting to get dreams of his parents again, and they were more vivid then ever before.
Later Harry was sitting down at the Great Hall with Hermione, playing with his toast, when she looked at him with a concerned look on her face and said, "what's wrong Harry?:"
Harry was about to say that nothing was, but when he looked into her eyes, he couldn't. Instead, he told her everything that had been eating away at him, and it made him feel a little better.
She just sat there and listened, patiently waiting for him to get everything off his chest. Harry went on for most of the lunch break. When he finally stopped, Hermione just looked at him, and without saying anything, she had helped him more than she could understand.
Harry didn't eat much, and when lunch had ended, something took Harry by surprise. He saw Ron standing near the entrance of the Great Hall, talking to Cho. He thought this was very interesting. Maybe they were going to be starting the "Why I hate Harry Potter club." The way he was feeling now, he would be their first member.
As Harry and Hermione were heading to their History of Magic class, he thought, at least he can get a quick nap. History of Magic was, by far and away, the most boring class in the school. It also was the only class that was taught by a ghost. One day, Professor Binns had passed away by the fire in the staff room. His entire life he had rigidly followed his routine, so that he didn't even allow a minor little thing, like him being dead, from continuing his normal schedule.
The class was staring to deal with events that are more recent in magical history, and as such, was slightly more interesting. Binns was starting to go over Dumbledore's defeat of Grindewald, when it happened again. Harry found himself in the hallway again. This time he felt another presence. He tried to say something, but wasn't able to.
He walked toward an unknown door again. As he came closer, he was able to make out something he couldn't last time. It was something familiar, comforting even. He recognized it as the phoenix' song. Harry remembered it from his second year at Hogwarts, when Fawkes came to his aide in his battle with the memory of Tom Riddle.
When Harry reached the door, he tried for the doorknob, but there wasn't one. He looked around trying to figure out how to get in. He tried to push the door, but that didn't work. He tried to speak again, but he still couldn't.
He heard footsteps coming from somewhere, growing louder. Off in the distance, he felt a presence that he couldn't see properly. He had an increasing sense of unease, but at that moment, as he turned back to face the door, he felt something.
After a second he realized that he was no longer in the hallway, but instead back in the classroom. Hermione had shaken him awake.
"Come on Harry, wake up. Class is over," she whispered to him.
Was Harry asleep? This didn't feel like any dream he ever had. He felt the door clearly, and heard the sounds of the footsteps as clearly as he was hearing Hermione now. He even remembered a dank odor that had permeated the corridor. Surely, he couldn't have dreamed all of it.
Harry and Hermione were the last to leave the class. He explained what had happened to Hermione as they were going to their dormitory to return their things.
Hermione asked, "what do you think this means?"
"I don't know, but I know one thing," Harry said. "I am going to need to find it, if it even exists."
After dinner, Harry went to the Quidditch stadium for another practice session. He took out copies of his game plan, that Hermione had helped him copy, and passed them out to the rest of the team. As he was doing this he announced, "based on the information I got from Gabrielle, and after conducting extensive research, I have come up with some ideas."
They discussed each of the plans, point by point, until they had covered them all. After they had finished they had another productive practice session. After practice, Harry made a decision.
"We have gotten as much as we are going to get out of just practice. We need to have some matches."
Fred looked at him and said, "ok, with whom?"
Harry said, "well, we do have a second string team, right?"
They all looked at him, but George said, "you're kidding right?"
"We need to measure ourselves against someone else, and believe me, they will have all the inspiration in the world to push us."
They agreed, but left the responsibility of notifying their reserves onto their captain's shoulders. Later, back at the castle, Harry went about finding, and telling the second unit of their upcoming practice matches. Most of them quickly agreed, since they all wanted to have an opportunity to play.
There was only one left, and he definitely wasn't looking forward to this one. He asked the twins, and the three chasers to notify the final member, but they all simply laughed, patted him on the back and wished him luck.
When the moment finally came, Harry saw Cho in the entrance hall. He was about to approach her, and get it out of the way, when he saw Ron with her again. Harry was wondering whether Ron was going to do this for him. A moment latter he realized that this had absolutely nothing to do with Quidditch.
He saw that Ron was leaning toward Cho, and that she had her arm around his waist. That was when something caught him completely by surprise. He saw Ron lean in, and give Cho a kiss. Harry ducked behind the marble staircase, and just watched in disbelief.
Harry, who's feet seemed to be cemented in place, couldn't seem to move. He just watched as Ron and Cho walked, hand in hand into the Great Hall. Harry couldn't seem to get started again after that. Finally, after a few minutes he felt someone wrap her arms around his waist, and kiss his cheek. He turned to look at Hermione's smiling face.
"What's the matter Harry?"
Still not really believing what he had seen, he said, "I saw Ron and Cho."
Hermione smiled and replied, "Ron and Cho, what?"
Harry looked at her more intently, and he repeated, "Ron and Cho."
After a moment, it seemed as though Hermione finally understood. "Ah, I see. And the problem is?"
Harry the choked out, "it's Ron, it's Cho."
"Harry James Potter, you are taken, so what do you care if Cho is going out with someone?"
"It's not just someone though. It's Ron."
Hermione chuckled for a couple of seconds, then after composing herself, said, "come on Harry. You should be happy for him. I mean he deserves to find someone, and Cho is very nice, and she is very pretty, right?"
"Yeah," Harry said without thinking, but after looking at Hermione, he recovered and continued, "although, not anywhere near as pretty as you."
Hermione smiled, gave Harry a kiss on the cheek and they walked into the hall. Ron was at the Gryffindor table, while Cho went to the Ravenclaw table. Harry told Hermione that he would join her in a second, and walked over to Cho.
"Uh, hello Cho."
"Hello Harry."
"How are you doing?"
"I'm fine and you?"
"Good, thanks. There is something I need to ask you."
Cho looked at him, and waited, without speaking.
"Cho, we are going to playing some practice matches to prepare for the tournament, and we would like all of the players to come. The rest of the team knows. We will have our first practice match on Saturday, ok?"
Cho continued to look at him for a minute or so, finally saying, "I heard that you were the team's captain. Is that right?"
Harry just nodded, not really having anything to say.
"Interesting," Cho said, and after a moment she continued, "yes, Harry, I'll be there."
Harry was relieved, and after he thanked Cho, he walked back to the Gryffindor table, where he sat next to Hermione. As Harry started to serve himself lunch, Hermione eyed him suspiciously, asking him, "what was that all about?"
"Team stuff," Harry moaned
Hermione, who went from looking suspicious to worried now, asked, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just that was unnecessarily painful."
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing, it was just awkward."
"Well, what did you expect?"
"Yeah, that was exactly what I expected, although it could have been worse."
"Oh? How?"
"Malfoy could have edged her, and I would have had to look for him instead."
They both laughed. Harry was relieved that he got that out of the way, but he still had a lot on his mind, not the least of which was what he saw between Ron and Cho. Try as much he might, he wasn't able to shake this image out of his mind.
The next morning Harry got ready for practice. Ron was there, but they still weren't speaking, so he got ready as quickly as he could and went downstairs. Hermione was sitting by the fire, stroking Crookshanks, when Harry came. She got up, picked up her books and joined him as he went to practice.
As Hermione went to take a seat in the stands, Harry went to retrieve the Quidditch trunk, before making his way to the changing room to put on his robes. The reserve team, in an effort to make things simpler, put on their old house uniforms, but since they were all from different houses, it looked like an all-star team, with the amalgamation of different robes on their side.
Harry put the trunk in the middle of the pitch and waited as the rest of the players came onto the field. As they all took their positions, Harry opened the trunk and released the balls. Harry mounted his broom and they all shot into the air.
Harry always saw the field extremely well, but now with the glasses that Hermione gave him, it was like night and day. He was actually able to see the time on George's watch from across the field. As he was looking over the field he started looking at Ron, and he cringed a bit.
Ron was having a difficult time of it. It wasn't so much that he wasn't playing well, but rather that his broom was keeping him back. It was way too slow, and it didn't seem to have the quick lateral movement that a keeper really needs.
Harry saw that Cho was marking him, so he thought he would have a little fun and try the Wronski Feint on her. He turned on his broom and acted as if he could see the snitch, and when he started his move, she bit and followed him. He accelerated as fast as he could and went into a dive. Cho continued to follow him down. When Harry was less than about five feet from the ground he pulled up. Cho, who was about 100 feet behind him, had barely been able to pull up in time herself.
As they went back up in the air, she gave Harry a nasty look, but at least he knew that he could pull off that move in a real match. They played several matches through the course of the day. The one thing that became apparent was that Ron was going to need a new broom badly. He obviously knew what he was doing, but with his broom, he was always a second or so late.
After practice, the twins pulled Harry aside and with frantic looks on their faces, they pointed toward Ron's retreating back.
Fred yelled, "give Ron back your Firebolt."
Harry was outraged at this, as he shouted, "I didn't take back the Firebolt. I gave it to him and it's still his as far as I'm concerned."
"Maybe we could give Ron your Firebolt, and say that we bought it," Fred said.
Harry looked at him and said, "there is a little problem with that plan."
George, who was starting to look hopeful frowned and shouted, "oh, yeah. What, exactly, is that?"
Harry looked at the two of them and said, "Ron was already wondering how you were able to afford his robes. You get him a Firebolt, and he is either going to think that it was mine, and he won't take it, or he is going to think I helped pay for it, and he won't take it, or he is going to think that you're criminals who are making tons of money doing illicit, if not outright illegal activities. And do you want that getting back to your mother?"
"Good point," they both muttered.
Fred thought for a second, and said, "ok, we have to get him a new one, perhaps a Clean Sweep?"
"Yeah, we can get him the new one. The model eight," George said.
Fred had a grim look on his face as he said, "yeah, but that is still pretty pricey, and we have to be careful."
Harry looked around, and said quietly, "I already thought about that. You can send an owl to your mother, telling her that you would like to help her get Ron a broom, as a gift for being made a prefect."
"She won't buy it," George said.
Harry smiled and said, "that's just it. She won't have to. You see, in the same letter you explain that he made the school Quidditch team, and he needs a better broom. When you offer to help pay for it, well, that should be enough."
"She'll just assume that we are getting it to help our team," Fred said a lot more cheerfully.
George still wasn't convinced though, "and what about the money?"
"That's easy. If she asks, and I'm sure she will, you simply say that the entire team contributed to the gift. She doesn't know anything about the Firebolt, and she knows how important Quidditch is to everyone, so she shouldn't ask many questions about it."
George asked "won't Ron wonder why he's getting a broom now?"
"Got that covered as well. When she mails the broom to Ron, she writes a note that she was trying to find a present, for making prefect that would be appropriate. Since Ron already has an owl, she didn't need to get him one, as she did with Percy. When he made the house Quidditch team, she knew what he needed. That should take care of pretty much everything."
"That's brilliant," Fred shouted.
"I can't take the credit for it though. It was Hermione who thought of it."
The twins shouted goodbye as they ran off toward the castle. Harry assumed that they were heading for the Owlery.
Hermione appeared at Harry's side, casting a suspicious look at the twins.
"What was that all about?"
"Uh, nothing." When Hermione gave him that same suspicious look, he quickly amended his statement, "nothing important, I mean."
"Why were they pointing at Ron like that?"
"Remember what we were talking about?"
Hermione thought for a moment, before saying, "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to be a lot more specific than that. I think we have talked more the last couple of months, than in our first four years combined."
"Remember when I told you about the situation with Ron's broom."
Hermione thought for a second, but said, "I think so."
Harry knew that Hermione probably tuned him out when he went on about Quidditch, just as he tuned her out when she goes on about the different books she has read.
"Ok. Remember when I told you that Ron wouldn't use his Firebolt anymore. That he tossed it to me."
"Oh yeah. You told me that he gave you back your Firebolt, the night…," Hermione started, but somehow couldn't finish.
Harry was about to argue that it wasn't his Firebolt again, but when he looked into her eyes, and saw how much this was tearing at her, he decided against it. So instead, he said, "anyway, the thing is that you helped me come up with a way to get Ron a new broom."
"Ok. So you told them your plan then."
"Well, I sort of told them that it was yours."
Hermione had a sort of relieved look on her face, as she said, "no wonder they were smiling at me like that. I was starting to get concerned."
Harry laughed as Hermione gave him a reproachful look. Eventually she broke down and started to giggle herself as they walked toward the castle.
"Harry, have you been noticing that there have been unusual things happening lately?"
Harry knew exactly what she was talking about, but decided to play dumb, asking, "like what?"
"I'm not really sure. It just seems like there is something going on around us, and I am getting concerned."
"Isn't it possible that it's just your imagination? I mean with, everything we have been through, it would be easy to have your imagination play tricks with you?"
Hermione took a deep breath, and said, "well, I guess so. But I keep getting the impression that the twins are up to something, but I am not really sure what it is."
Smiling, Harry looked at her and said, "you always think the twins are up to something."
Hermione than looked at him, quite seriously, and said, "well, they usually are, aren't they?"
Harry chuckled, "yeah, I guess they are."
"And, for the last couple of weeks I have been seeing lots of students walking around pointing at some sort of catalog, but whenever I get close, they all seem to disappear. When I ask them about it, they pretend as if they don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about, or they show me something else. I don't know what they are up to, but I will, I promise you that."
Harry just shrugged, and was trying to figure a way to stop her, but couldn't think of any. Before he realized what was happening he found himself in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. Hermione said the password and they shuffled up the portrait hole into the nearly empty common room.
Harry saw a copy of the twins catalog lying around in one of the seats by the fire. He sat down quickly on top of it and hoped Hermione didn't have a chance to see it beforehand. He motioned her over to the seat next to him and before they could say anything Crookshanks lightly jumped onto her lap and started to purr as Hermione absentmindedly was scratching behind his ears.
Hermione looked over at Harry and said, "did you see the notice about our first Hogsmeade weekend?"
"No, I guess I missed that. When is it?"
"In two weeks. Do you want to go?"
"Yeah, sure. It should be fun."
"Aren't you going to ask me if I want to go?"
Harry sighed, and asked, "ok, do you want to go?"
"I am not sure. Maybe not."
Harry said, "ok. I'll tell you how it was then."
Hermione smacked Harry's arm so hard, it caused to Crookshanks to jump out of her lap, as Harry started to laugh at her reaction. She continued to smack his arm repeatedly. It was starting to hurt a little, as he said, "oww, I was just joking."
When she stopped, he smiled at her, and she warmed up considerably.
"Do you think that they will be going?"
Hermione look a little confused, and she asked, "they?"
Harry couldn't bring himself to saying it, but after a minute Hermione caught on to what he was saying. "I really don't know Harry, but I guess they probably will be going, I mean especially if they are a couple now."
Harry, who was rather glum now, said, "maybe it's best if we don't go."
Hermione reached over, and gave Harry a hug, whispering in his ear, "it's not going to be so bad. I mean they'll probably be too busy to even notice you, and besides you will be way too busy to notice them."
Harry knew that Hermione was just trying to make him feel better. It wasn't working but he appreciated the effort all the same, saying, "thanks Hermione. I guess I'm just being silly."
"It's getting pretty late. We should really go to bed."
Harry gave her a mischievous look, and Hermione gave him an exasperated look, quickly saying, "that's not what I mean, and you know it."
Harry laughed, "I know. I was just having a little fun."
"You're hopeless. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, and damn proud of it."
Hermione shook her head, and said, "if I wasn't in love with you, Mr. Harry James Potter."
Harry leaned overt and said, "you would, what, Miss Hermione Jane Granger?"
Hermione just shook her head, and said, "I'm going to bed now, alone, mind you."
"Spoil sport."
When she got up, Harry who started to get up, quickly sat back down.
"Aren't you coming?"
"No, go on. I'll go up in a minute."
She leaned over, kissed him goodnight, and went up the staircase to her dormitory. When she was out of sight, Harry got up and picked up what he was sitting on.
It was very impressive. It had in big letters on the cover, "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." It was a fairly big color catalog that showed items that they are selling, as well as items in development.
He started flipping through the pages, looking at some of their merchandise. On page 27, something caught his eye. Dribble Cauldrons. The caption below it read, "have hours of fun messing up your friends' potions with this little beauty, and at only five galleons, it's a real bargain."
Harry was randomly flipping through the pages after a while, when he spotted something else. It was The Never-Ending Candy. It had a picture of what appeared to be a normal pack of candy. Beneath, it read, "trick your friends, or punish your enemies, with this candy that doesn't dissolve and can't be removed, until you want it to."
He flipped toward the back of the catalog and saw something that took him by surprise. The heading of the page read, "Items Currently Under Development." He saw what appeared to be a piece of jewelry and a pair of glasses. It was listed as "The Outer-Eye." Harry eagerly read its description. It said, "With these seemingly harmless items, you can read the minds of your friends or associates. Never wonder again whether what your girlfriend says is what she means. Now you'll know, and although it is not ready for sale, we are already taking advance orders. Prices will be given upon request."
Harry was pleased that they were making such good progress, and when he entered his dormitory, he tossed it into his trunk. Everyone else was asleep, so Harry quickly changed and fell onto his four-poster. He took off his glasses and looked at the moonlight streaming from an open window, going over the events of the last couple of days in his mind. Harry quietly fell asleep, his last thought being that things could be worse.