Harry Potter and the Cry of the Phoenix

It started, or more accurately, continued one morning at the Kings Cross station in London. School had just finished for the year, and the students were taking the train back home. As it pulled into the station, and they started exiting the train, they were talking to each other about their vacations. Harry Potter, a short skinny kid with extremely untidy hair, was leaving the station with his two best friends in the world. He was very disappointed that he might not see them during the entire vacation.

As they were saying their farewells, something took Harry by surprise. Hermione Granger, one of his best friends, did something that was unexpected. She kissed him. She kissed him on the cheek, to be more precise. She hugged him, and he could have sworn that it felt as though she was nibbling on his ear.

He finally realized that has was dreaming, and it was really his pet owl, Hedwig, that was nibbling him on the ear. He had been having this dream a lot since he had returned from school.

As he slowly got up from bed, he realized that he was really in the smallest bedroom of Four Privet Drive. He put on his glasses, and looked around his room. He found that his owl Hedwig had returned from her nightly flight, she needed to stretch her wings after being cooped up in her cage.

He petted Hedwig on her snowy white head, and gave her an owl treat, which he kept by his bed. Hedwig, a snowy owl, wasn’t your usual pet, but Harry wasn’t your usual boy either. What made Harry unusual was that he was a wizard. Four years ago, he found out that his life had been a lie up to that point, and things have not been the same since.

That was when he enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Another one of the many unusual things about Harry is that, unlike most children, he hated summer vacation, and he loved everything about his school. In fact, he felt more at home at Hogwarts than he ever could at Privet, and couldn’t wait for school to start again.

Then, when he got up, he remembered that today was his fifteenth birthday. Another unusual thing about Harry was that until recently he didn’t look forward to his birthday at all. The Dursleys never gave him a proper birthday. In fact, until he went to school he had never even been presented with a birthday card. Now that he had friends for the first time in his life, his birthdays weren’t so bad. At least his friends always remembered, and that made him feel better.

Harry looked at Hedwig, and realized that she had a letter attached to her leg. He quickly untied the letter from Hedwig’s leg and opened it. Hedwig nibbled at his fingers, affectionately and returned to her cage. This is the way that letters were delivered in the wizarding world, by the owl that is.

When he opened the letter, his heart skipped a beat. It was from Hermione. For some reason he couldn’t get her out of his mind all summer, but this didn’t make any sense to him since he didn’t think of her in that way. Nevertheless, he kept wondering what it was that he feeling, because it wasn’t like anything that he had felt before. Several times, in fact, he thought about asking someone about this, but he was way too embarrassed to do that.

He stared at the meticulous handwriting on the envelope, for what seemed like an hour. Finally, he carefully, opened the letter, which was written upon thick yellow parchment. It was written on the same paper that most of the post was delivered on in the wizarding world.

Dear Harry,

Happy birthday. I have a present for you, but felt it would be better to give it you personally.

How are you doing this summer? Have you heard from Sirius lately?

Sirius was his Godfather. He was framed for a murder that he did not commit. He was in hiding, for now, until they can clear his name.

In addition, have you heard from Ron? We should arrange a time to meet in Diagon Alley to pickup our supplies for next year. I think it might be a good idea if we pick you up and go meet Ron there together.

I also got some news for the both of you. However, I’d rather tell you when I see you in person. Write back to me when you know when you will be going to London.

As always, Love from,

Hermione Granger

He kept reading the letter over and over again. He did this so intently that it wasn’t until something small and hard hit him in the head that he realized that he wasn’t alone.

As Harry rubbed his forehead, he realized what it was that had hit him. It was a small owl that belonged to his other best friend Ronald Weasley, the owl’s name was Pigwidgeon, whom Ron called Pig.

The reason Pig had such an odd name was, much to Ron‘s displeasure, his sister Ginny had given his pet owl that name one day, and try as much as he could, Ron couldn’t get him to respond to any other. It wasn’t however just Pig’s name that was different.

Pig wasn’t your normal, wizarding owl. It liked to show off, and it wasn’t always reliable, but unlike most of the other things in Ron’s life, this was truly something that was his, and not a hand me down from one of his many brothers.

He grabbed Pig quickly out of the air. Harry always had pretty good reflexes, but after three years of constant Quidditch practices his reflexes were now exceptional. Harry missed Quidditch almost as much as he missed his friends, and he was very good at it. In his first year at Hogwarts, he was placed on the Gryffindor house team, the youngest player to be named on any house team in nearly a century. Quidditch is a sport that is played on broomstick and involves four different balls high above the ground.

Pig was delivering a letter from his friend Ron. Harry liked the entire Weasley family, and felt that you probably couldn’t find a nicer family anywhere. They were a hard working family, but unfortunately, they were also extremely poor. Harry’s parents had a left him a small fortune within the vaults of Gringotts, the wizarding bank. This money, however, was only good in the wizarding world and wasn’t any help in the Muggle world he spent his summers.

He would be only too happy to offer his gold to the Weasleys, but he knew that if he did offer it to them, that they would never accept it, and it probably would make them feel pretty uncomfortable. That was why he was more than happy to give the 1000-galleon prize money to Fred and George Weasley. The very money that he had earned in the Tri-Wizard competition

He starred at the envelope that had Ron’s usual untidy writing on it and opened it.

Hey Harry,

Happy birthday. How are you doing this summer? I hope you’re feeling better after the end of last term.

Have you heard from Hermione? After what happened last year when we tried to pick you up I think it might be a bit awkward if we came back. I am pretty sure they still haven’t gotten over it by now.

Harry still had to laugh when he remembers what happened last year. When the Weasleys came to pick him up, they tried to use Floo Powder, but the problem was the Dursleys had boarded up their fireplace. It was a huge mess.

Fred Weasley “accidentally” dropped a piece of ton tongue toffee. It was hilarious, but he agreed it would definitely be a good idea if they did not show up again so soon after that.

Hermione says that her family would be able to pick you up and bring you to Diagon Alley, and we will meet you there. The earlier we make it, the sooner you can leave those Muggles you live with.

Send Pig back with your answer. I also hope you enjoy the present I sent you. I know it’s not much but I hope you like it.

Ron

P.S. I know you don’t get any wizarding news over there but the Chudley Cannons just had their best season, for as long as I can remember.

Harry opened the package that came with Ron’s letter. Apparently, Ron had given him a subscription to Quidditch Weekly. In addition to the first issue, it also gave a preview issue of the upcoming season.

He looked out of the window and saw that it was a lovely morning. As Harry was just starting to think of how lucky he was, his thoughts drifted to his parents. You see, Harry doesn’t live with his parents. This is because the Dark Lord Voldemort had murdered them. This happened when he was only a year old, and ever since he has been staying with his mother‘s sister’s family.

The Dursleys, the family Harry has been living with, were as unlike Lily and James Potter, Harry‘s parents, as you can get. They were what wizards called Muggles, people without any magical abilities. Not only were they Muggles but they couldn’t stand anything that differed from their quiet orderly world. This was especially true of Harry and his friends.

Harry had been living with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, and of course, their enormous bully of a son, Dudley. It has been 14 years of pure torture, with the only reprieve being the time he had at his school, Hogwarts.

Harry grabbed some of the parchment from his remaining supplies in his trunk, but before he had started to write to Ron, three more owls came quietly into his room. Seeing this, he put down his quill and parchment on his desk and went over to the bed where the owls were, whom where looking at Pig, who was still zooming around the room, with disdain.

He went first to the tawny owl and removed the letter from its leg. When he did this it quickly and silently flew out from his room. He saw the letter was from Hogwarts.

He went to a barn owl that was there. He removed the package it was carrying, and instead of flying off, he went to over to Hedwig’s cage afterward, and she moved over to let him get some water.

The last owl was am eagle owl. It had another package. He walked over to it and untied it. Unlike the other owls it just stayed quietly on his bed, not moving, as of it was waiting for a reply.

He opened the letter to find out whom it was from. As soon as he opened the letter, he recognized the writing as belonging to his godfather Sirius.

Dear Harry,

I want to wish you a very happy birthday. After everything you went through this past year you deserve one. I do hope you are feeling better.

I am still working on s special assignment for Dumbledore, so I am going to be moving around a lot, but I still want to hear from you. I am staying with Remus now, and he also sends his best.

As always, keep in touch if anything unusual happens. I also want to hear from you even if nothing unusual happens.

I know something very exciting is going to be happening at Hogwarts this year. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to tell you what it is, but trust me you will enjoy it.

I hope you enjoy the present I sent you. It will come in very handy soon enough. Before you say I shouldn’t have, I want you to realize that you are the most important person in world to me, and your happiness is very important, so enjoy.

I also might have some very good news for you shortly, but that is all I can say at this time. I also want you to write me back to tell me how you are doing and what you’re plans are for the rest of the summer.

Your Godfather,

Sirius

Remus Lupin was Harry’s defense against the dark arts teacher in his third year. He also helped as Harry found out that Sirius was innocent, and now was staying with Sirius.

Harry opened up the package, and what he saw literally took his breath away. It was brilliant. It was a broom, but not just any broom. No, this one was very special. Harry had never seen anything like it. It was the most remarkable thing he had ever seen. It was burgundy and gold, and extremely shiny. When Harry picked it up it glowed like crystal, it was lighter than air and stronger than steel. He looked on the handle and it read The Spitfire.

Harry, mind you, didn’t know as much as his best friend Ron about racing brooms, but knew this must be the best one of the best ever made. He wanted to jump on it right now and take off, but he couldn’t do it here in Privet. He had to wait until he was safe from prying Muggle eyes.

Harry scampered over to the desk and picked up the quill. He had to thank Sirius and tell him he was doing well.

Dear Sirius,

I am doing much better now, or at least I will be. I am happy to hear you and Lupin are doing ok. I want you to tell him that I miss him as well, and look forward to seeing him again.

I know you can’t tell me what is going to happen at Hogwarts this year, but you are going to drive me crazy trying to figure it out. I just wanted you to know that.

I know what you said about the gift, but you really shouldn’t have. This must have been very expensive and I feel guilty accepting something like this from you. I can’t begin to thank you, not just for the broom, but also for being there for me. I also want you to know that you are very important to me to.

Your Godson,

Harry

He attached the letter to the eagle owl and watched it fly out of the window. When he looked over toward Hedwig, he noticed that she was asleep and the barn owl had already left.

Harry was so absorbed by the broom that he wouldn’t have noticed if the Dursleys had flown out of his window.

Harry opened the letter attached to his last package. He could tell from the untidy scrawl that it was from Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts’ gamekeeper. He was the first person from the magical world that Harry ever knew, and was also a close friend.

Hey Harry,

Happy birthday. How are you holding up? I hope you are having a good summer, even with that lot of Muggles you live with.

When I see you at school, I have some news for you. Speaking of Hogwarts I can’t wait until the semester begins. Trust me; this will be your most enjoyable one there. Unfortunately, I can’t say any more.

Hagrid

Harry ripped open the package attached to Hagrid’s letter. He was praying it wasn’t another biting book. In his Harry’s third term at Hogwarts, Hagrid had taken over as the care of magical creatures’ teacher and had issued to his students a book called ‘The Monster Book of Monsters’. This book would attack anything unless you stroked it the right way. Needless to say, nobody, not even Hermione figured that out. However, to Harry’s relief it wasn’t a biting book.

When he opened it, he was shocked to find what he recognized as Quidditch armor, not the armor that he was using at school, but a much higher quality. He knew this must of cost Hagrid a lot of money. When he tried it on, it was almost as if it was custom made for him.

Harry heard the Dursleys stirring, so he decided to go down for breakfast and write to Ron and Hermione afterwards. Anyway, Pig obviously flew herself to exhaustion, because she was sitting next to Hedwig, with both of them having their heads tucked under their wings.

When he went down to breakfast, the Dursleys were already sitting down. The room became very quiet when he entered. When Harry sat down in the empty seat, nobody said anything to him, although Dudley kept giving him nervous glances.

Harry served himself some bacon and eggs and started to eat. He thought that that he should bring up leaving for the rest of the summer now, so that he could tell Hermione when to pick him up.

Feeling there was no better time than the present he coughed to get there attention.

“Excuse me,” Harry said tentatively.

Uncle Vernon grunted, still not looking up, to acknowledge that he was listening.

“I wanted to know if I could stay with my friends. They can pick me up to pick up my thing for Hog, err, school from Dia, err, London.”

Uncle Vernon looked finally looked up and looked like he was about to explode. He stammered, “those people will never set foot in my house again. After what they did last year I can’t believe that you would even ask ….”

Harry kept trying to interrupt him to tell him it wasn’t what he thought, but he hardly had an opportunity. After Uncle Vernon screamed himself hoarse, Harry said, “No, you don’t understand. The Weasleys aren’t the ones who are going to pick me up.”

He could tell that Uncle Vernon was a little relieved by this news, but he still looked nonplussed.

“Hermione Granger’s parents will.” Thinking quickly, Harry added, “They’re mug … like you.” Meanwhile thinking to himself that although the Grangers were indeed Muggles, they were probably nothing like the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon sat back down looking a lot calmer than he did before. “When will they be picking you up exactly?”

Harry could tell he was really meaning to ask how they would be picking him up. “They wrote me to ask when they could pick me up.”

Uncle Vernon looked at him again and asked, “how did they ask you? We haven’t gotten the post yet and nobody has called.”

Harry answered before they could stop him, “by owl.”

Uncle Vernon gave a violent shush saying, “how many times did I tell you not to mention your abnormalities in this house.”

Harry really didn’t care, but felt it would be easier if they consented. After realizing that they weren’t going to do that, he decided that he had to play his trump card.

“That’s ok if you won’t let me go,” Harry said. All of the Dursleys looked at him suspiciously. “I’ll have extra time to finish my letter to my godfather and tell him all about not being able to see my friends. He probably won’t be too pleased to hear that ….”

Harry had gotten accustomed to seeing Uncle Vernon going from purple to green to gray in the blink of an eye whenever he mentioned his godfather.

Uncle Vernon forced a smile and a laugh. It looked and sounded painful. “We never said you couldn’t go. Don’t be silly, of course you can go.”

With that good news, Harry finished off his breakfast and sprinted upstairs. He picked up the quill again and wrote to Ron.

Dear Ron,

I received the letter from Hermione and I am writing back to her to arrange to be picked up. Let’s just say that the Dursleys aren’t going to be a problem.

I wanted to thank you for the subscription to Quidditch Weekly. It looks really interesting.

I am going to write to you when I get to Hermione‘s. I also have a big surprise for you. I know you are going to really enjoy it.

Harry

By this point Pig was already up again and zooming around the room. Harry caught him quickly again and tied the note to his leg, with considerable difficulty. Finally, after attaching the note he let go of Pig and watched him fly out of the window.

He sat down and slowly, in his most meticulous handwriting started to write to Hermione.

Dear Hermione,

I have good news. There won’t be any problems my coming to your place. I have come to an understanding with the Dursleys. Let me know when you can pick me up. It would be preferable if you came as soon as possible.

I have heard from both Sirius and Ron. I sent Ron a letter telling him that we will write him to tell him when we will meet him at Diagon Alley. I am looking forward to seeing you again. I have loads to tell you.

Love

Harry

He read the letter several time to make sure it was perfect, or at least as close as he come to it. He walked over to Hedwig, who flew up to his arm.

“Do you feel up to a delivery Hedge?”

She cooed and stretched out her leg. He attached the letter to her leg, and petted her on the head before she glided out the window. He watched her fly for as long as he could see her, and continued to stare out of the window for a while.

When he finally turned around, he remembered that he had an unread letter. He went and looked at it. It was the letter from Hogwarts.

He opened the letter, expecting it to be the normal start of term letter. When he opened it he realized that this was different. When he removed the letter, he barely noticed as something else fell out of the envelope.

Mr. Harry Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a Prefect for the upcoming term. You will find enclosed a Prefect’s badge. When you arrive at Hogwarts at the start of term your duties, responsibilities and privileges will be explained to you.

Professor M. McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Harry was stunned. He didn’t believe it. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to believe it.

A Prefect?

Me?

This has to be some kind of mistake. Actually, it has to be a giant mistake. He could understand Hermione being a Prefect. He actually is expecting that she would be the one to receive this letter, not him.

After starring at the letter dumbstruck for a while, he put it down and picked up the prefects badge that was lying on his bed.

He could see why Percy was so fond of his. It was very impressive. Percy Weasley, Ron’s third oldest brother, was a prefect in Harry’s first year, and Head Boy in Harry’s third year. After a few minutes of staring at it he stopped. This was silly. His grades weren’t that good. This has to be a mistake.

Harry thought to himself, yes, when I go to Hogwarts they will tell me they made a horrible mistake, apologize, and take back the badge. That must be it. Harry threw the badge in his trunk and didn’t allow himself to think about it again.

He went downstairs to have some lunch. When he was finished, he went back up stairs. He started to look through some of textbooks to do some of his homework. After he finished a particularly difficult report for his potions homework, he decided to put away his schoolwork.

He took out the photo album Hagrid gave him in his first year, the one with pictures of his parents. He looked through the book and found a couple of pictures with his parents wearing their Prefect pins and some with their Head Boy and Head Girl badges.

After looking in the book for a while, he looked up and saw Hedwig glide through the window. She had a letter attached to her leg. After removing the letter, he petted her on the head and gave her a treat.

He saw Hermione’s handwriting and he opened the envelope. The letter was much shorter this time.

Dear Harry,

We will pick you up tomorrow at 7 am.

Love

Hermione

Harry went down for dinner and told them that he would be leaving at 7 am tomorrow. Uncle Vernon, not looking at him, grunted an acknowledgement. Harry went up stairs, packed up his things and went to bed. He had just had a big day, but he had no idea what he was in for though.

Harry watched as Hermione walked through the front door and before he had a chance to say something, she grabbed him around the neck and gave him a passionate kiss.

Harry jolted out of bed. Why does he keep dreaming about his friend like that? Did he really have feelings for her? By this point, he couldn’t go back to sleep. He put on his glasses and saw that it was 5 am.

He decided to use the time to double check that he had everything he needed. Harry took all of his things downstairs and waited.

Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley all dressed early and were waiting in the lounge to see who was going to be picking up Harry.

“You’re sure they are going to pick you up in a normal way,” grumbled Uncle Vernon.

“Yes, for the thousandth time,” Harry moaned. Not that he could really blame him after last year.

He had met the Grangers in his second year, but he didn’t really have much of an opportunity to talk to them. He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time. When the clock hit 7 am exactly there was a knock on the door.

Harry was relieved. He was pretty sure they were going to be much more presentable to the Dursleys that the Weasleys were.

Uncle Vernon opened the door and saw the Grangers dressed in fine business attire. Hermione was also looking stunning in a very pretty blue dress. Harry saw the shocked look on Dudley’s face, and he had to smile.

Uncle Vernon looked at the luxury car they drove in, and his impression of them changed immediately. Uncle Vernon raised his large hand to Mr. Granger, who had obviously heard about the Dursleys from Hermione, because he looked at them with contempt, but when he saw Harry in the stairway and the expression on his face warmed up considerably.

“Hello there Harry,” asked Mr. Granger.

“Hello Mr. Granger,” Harry replied.

“All your things ready?”

Harry pointed to his belongings and the Grangers helped him put his things in their car.

“Anything left,” asked Mr. Granger they put the last of the thing in the car.

“Just Hedwig,” Harry said.

Hermione said, “I’ll go up with him to get her, ok?”

“Ok honey. We’ll wait for you in the car,” Mrs. Granger said kindly.

Harry just couldn’t get over how different Hermione looked from even last year. After a couple of seconds of doing this, and almost walking into a closed door, he finally looked away. Hermione either didn’t notice this, or at least pretended that she didn’t. They went in to his room and she looked around as Harry picked up Hedwig’s cage.

When Harry looked at her, he noticed something was different. She still had her bushy brown hair, but it wasn’t quite as bushy.

“I thought you lived in a cupboard,” Hermione said, as she continued to look in the mostly empty room.

“No. I used to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs,” Harry said remembering his pre-Hogwarts days.

She shook her head as Harry picked up the box of owl treats on the end table.

“It’s very nice of your parents to come over here and pick me up,” Harry said.

“It’s our pleasure.” Hermione smiled adding, “I’ve got some news for you though.”

“I have loads for you too but I would rather leave now. We can talk while we are over at your place, ok?”

Hermione agreed, and the two of them went downstairs, quickly passing the Dursleys, who still had a dumbstruck look on their faces. Harry entered the car, and he said, “I want to thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Granger for picking me up this morning.”

Mrs. Granger turned around to look at him. Harry sat in the back seat with Hermione. “Don’t be silly. Of course we are happy to pick you up. The amount Hermione speaks about you, we feel that you’re practically family already.”

Harry went slightly pink saying, “the three of us are good friends.”

“Three?” Mrs. Granger said looking slightly confused.

“Hermione, Ron and myself,” Harry said, not sure of what she could have thought he had meant.

“Oh, yes. Ron. Of course.” she turned back around and it sounded like she giggled. This time it was Hermione that went slightly pink.

Harry felt that it would be better not to bring this up again and he looked out the window as they were leaving Surrey.

Nobody talked for about five minutes or so. Finally, Mr. Granger broke the silence. “Congratulations on winning that tri-wizard cup last year.”

“Thanks,” Harry said hoping they won’t ask him too many questions about it. It still was a painful subject to talk about. It seemed they were able to figure this out and didn’t ask him anything more on the subject.

A little while later, as they pulled up to a beautiful home in a nice neighborhood Mr. Granger helped take all of Harry’s things into the house. He said, “we have to go to work. I trust we can leave you two to fend for yourselves until we get home.”

Hermione said, “sure, no problem.”

Her mother looked at the two of them and said, “if you need us don’t hesitate to call, otherwise we will be home tonight.”

As her parents pulled away, Hermione ushered Harry in to the house. “Let me show you around.”

After she showed him around the house, including her bedroom, they went back to the kitchen “Would you like something to eat,” she asked.

“Sure, that would be great.”

She fried up some bacon and eggs, while Harry sat down and watched her cook. She smiled and brought over two plates.

Harry didn’t realize how hungry he was, he was so anxious to leave Privet Drive. It was very good and he enjoyed just sitting there with Hermione.

“I have some news, Harry,” she said.

“What is it,” Harry asked.

“I got a letter from Hogwarts yesterday,” Hermione’s sentence the trailed off.

“Yes?”

“They made me a prefect.” Hermione had both looked pleased and concerned of his reaction at the same time.

It almost slipped his mind. “Hold on,” Harry said as he went to his trunk.

Hermione looked at him, obviously not expecting this reaction. After a couple of seconds, he got what he was looking for. He sat back down at the table and showed her his own prefects pin.

Hermione beamed at Harry, and the she said exuberantly, “you too. This is great.”

“I still think it must be some kind of mistake. I was expecting you to get the letter, but I was stunned when I got one.”

“No, it’s not. This is going to be great,” she repeated, albeit in a slightly more restrained tone this time.

Harry, however, couldn’t get one though off his mind. “What about Ron?”

“What about Ron?”

“What if he didn’t get the same letter. The two of you are my best friends. I don’t want to lose him.”

“You won’t,” Hermione said, although she was not looking convinced of this herself.

After breakfast, Harry and Hermione went looking around the House again. Hermione’s parents had built a library for her. Everybody knew she loved to read, but Harry was flabbergasted at the number of books she had. Harry had no doubts that she had indeed, read all of these books.

Harry also finally saw her copy of, the now infamous, Hogwarts, a History. It was an impressive and fairly large book. Harry glanced through it, but he had too much on his mind to find where it says the ceiling in the Great Hall is bewitched or where that you can’t apparate or disapparate in Hogwarts grounds.

Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the day talking about everything, from who will be the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to the Weasleys.

Hermione still didn’t bring up the whole tri-wizard cup incident, and Harry was grateful. However if he ever was going to talk about it, he felt this was as good a time as any, and he could sense that Hermione wanted to ask, but was just being polite.

Harry looked up into Hermione’s chocolate brown eyes and said, “it’s ok,” and they talked about the events of that day well into the night. They only stopped when the Grangers had come back home from work.

They all decided to go out to dinner that night and Harry had a nice time. When they returned home, they agreed on when they will be going to Diagon Alley, to get their new school term supplies.

Hermione wrote to Ron telling him when they will be meeting him at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry attached it to Hedwig and the two of them watched as she flew off into the horizon.

Hermione showed Harry up to the guest bedroom, where he will be spending the night, and hugged him and wishing him a good night.

Harry looked into a mirror in his and looked at the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Of all the unusual thing about Harry, this was by far and away the most. It was even unusual in the wizarding world, and he has become accustomed, if not always comfortable, with people scanning his forehead when they found out who he was.

The reason it was so unusual was that a scar like this only come from being touched by an evil curse, and a powerful one at that. The scar was a remnant of the night Voldemort’s attack that took his parents lives, but failed to take his. Nobody really understands understood what happened that night, but as far as anybody could guess Harry was protected from Voldemort’s attack when his mother had sacrificed herself to save his life, but as to why his curse had backfired on him, nobody could be certain.

Despite this, Harry, being extremely content and tired after spending such a pleasant day with Hermione, quickly drifted off to sleep.

Harry found himself back at the graveyard where Voldemort returned to full strength. He looked down and saw the face of Cedric Diggory. His stomach dissolved at the sight.

He heard a high cruel laugh that he recognized at once. When he looked up he was indeed back in the graveyard again. He could see a house in the distance, and several tombstones of the Riddles.

He saw Voldemort standing in front of a group of men in hooded robes, with masks on. He recognized them as being the Death Eaters, a group that he knew only too well.

“Wormtail, you have blundered yet again. Tell me why I should spare your treacherous, miserable life.”

A short stocky man in the far right got up and said with a terrified sound in his voice, “b-but m-m-master. I helped bring you Potter here. I helped bring you back to full strength.”

He looked down at his cowering servant. “Yes, you did. That is the only reason you are still alive. But you allowed Potter to escape. You all did,” Voldemort said to the entire group around him, before returning his attention to the smallest of the group, “and what of your recent carelessness”

Harry saw now that all of the Death Eaters were visibly shaking at these words. Voldemort laughed as he witnessed this twisted sight.

Wormtail, trying to think fast, cried, “Please, my master. I will do anything for you. Just let me prove myself to you.”

Voldemort looked in his eyes and said, “Do not worry. You will have that opportunity.” He looked around at all of them, “You all will. I have a special assignment for each of you. Especially you, Wormtail.”

He let out another, yet more powerful laugh. With this Harry bolted upright from his bed. His lightning bolt shaped scar was burning with a pain that Harry had never felt before.

Harry must have yelled, although he really couldn’t remember doing so, because Hermione came running into his room. She was there in a second and sat down next to him.

A few moments latter Mr. and Mrs. Granger appeared outside his door. They all looked concerned as Mr. Granger asked, “what’s wrong. Are you ok Harry?”

At this Harry realized that he had his hand over his still searing scar, removed it at once and, thinking quickly, said. “yes, I am. I’m sorry I disturbed you all. I must have stubbed my toe on one of the posters of the bed.”

Mr. and Mrs. Granger obviously weren’t buying this, but realizing that they weren’t going to get a straight answer, left Harry and Hermione, advising them not to stay up too late.

After Hermione heard her parents close their bedroom door, she looked into Harry’s emerald green eyes. “What’s wrong? It’s not you-know-who, is it?”

Instead of saying anything Harry simply put his hand over his scar. It was still very painful, but was starting to become bearable. Hermione’s eyes were now watering nearly as much as Harry’s were.

Harry didn’t really remember much after that, all he can remember was waking up with Hermione asleep on the side of his bed, her head resting on his shoulder.

He wished this didn’t have to end, but realizing that this looked pretty dodgy, woke her up. He wasn’t sure how her parents would have reacted to this sight, but he would rather not take that risk.

After shaking her, he watched as she slowly woke up. Hermione was smiling at him, but suddenly, almost as if she just realized that she wasn’t dreaming, she sprang to her feet.

“Good morning, Hermione.”

Mrs. Granger appeared at the doorway. “I was coming to wake you up, but I see Hermie has beaten me to it.” Harry could have sworn that she had a smirk on her face, but since his glasses were off, he was possibly mistaken.

Mrs. Granger left the two of them alone. After a minute or so, Hermione also left without saying anything.

Harry put on his glasses and quietly changed. After he dressed, Harry went down to the kitchen, where he saw Mr. Granger sitting reading the paper. When Harry had entered the kitchen Mr. Granger put down his paper. “Good morning Harry. All right there?”

Harry, feeling a little embarrassed about the whole incident simply said, “yes. It was nothing. I am really sorry for disturbing you last night.”

Mr. Granger gave him a kindly look, saying, “don’t be silly. I’m just happy that nothing’s wrong.”

Mrs. Granger came over to Harry with a plate full of sausage and eggs. “Good morning dear. I hope Hermie didn’t disturb you too much last night.”

He was about to look at her with a stunned look on his face, when Hermione came jogging down the stairs.

“Good morning honey,” her parents said in unison.

“Good morning mom, dad, Harry,” she said as she sat down next to Harry around the table.

As he started to dig into his breakfast Harry saw something ginger from the corner of his eye. As he turned around he saw Crookshanks, a ginger cat with a bottlebrush tail, enter from the rear yard. The cat seemed to pause, as if looking around the room before walking over to Harry to brush up against his leg, purring loudly.

“Hello Crookshanks,” Harry said, looking down.

Hermione turned around and scratched Crookshanks behind his ears as he pounced into an empty chair next to her.

“Will you two be alright by yourselves,” Mrs. Granger asked. “If you want I can stay behind today.”

“No. We will be fine,” Hermione quickly interjected. Mrs. Granger tuned toward him and said, “Harry?”

“It’s ok. We’ll be fine,” Harry said.

Both of them kissed Hermione goodbye and told them to call if they needed anything.

“What do you want to do today,” Hermione asked.

“I want to fly,” Harry said in an exasperated tone, “but that is obviously impossible.”

Hermione had a mischievous look on her face as she said, “well, not really.”

Harry was absolutely stunned. “What do you mean?”

“Flying is not banned. If you’re not seen that is,” Hermione said. “Do you follow me?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, not really having a clue as to what she was talking about.

“Think - what do we have that could allow you to fly without being seen?”

It hit Harry like a ton of bricks. His father’s old invisibility cloak. He didn’t know what shocked him more though. Whether it was that he didn’t think of it, or that Hermione had suggested it.

Seeing that he looked hesitant she added, “well if you don’t really want to fly ….”

Before she could say another word Harry ran up to his room grabbing his new broom and his cloak and ran back downstairs.

As they went into the rear yard Hermione said, “be careful. If that cloak falls off you could get into big trouble.”

But Harry wasn’t listening at that point. He just wanted to get on his broom and fly off as fast as he could. He mounted his Spitfire and secured his cloak around it.

He kicked off the ground hard and before he knew what was happening he was at least 500 feet above the houses. This was brilliant. He was going faster than he ever had before. The control was remarkable. He did twists and loops and must have been up for about an hour before he saw Hermione wave aimlessly up in the air, uncertain of exactly where he was, indicating she wanted him to get back to the ground.

Harry reluctantly came back down. He was having a blast, but he needed to know what was wrong. When he landed he took off his cloak and asked what was the problem.

“Nothing,” Hermione said with a wide grin on her face. “But did you think that you would hog all the fun for yourself.”

Now Harry was really shocked, he knew that Hermione hated to fly. It was one of the very few things that she wasn’t very good at.

But before he could dismount his broom to let her have a go, Hermione had climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms tightly around Harry’s waist. Grinning broadly Harry re-secured the cloak, now around the two of them. He kicked off again, although not nearly as hard as last time.

As they were flying around, Hermione kept pointing out different things in the area, like her old school, the park, the zoo and a soccer stadium.

The only thing that seemed to be going faster than they were was the time. It only seemed like they were up for a few minutes, but it was starting to get quite dark. So Harry turned back and landed in the rear yard as gently as he could.

After they dismounted, Harry put his broom and cloak away. When he went back down he saw Hermione busily preparing dinner.

“Can I help?” Harry volunteered.

Hermione told him to set the table and prepare the salad. Harry could tell that she liked bossing him around, but he complied without saying anything.

After the dinner was ready, and the table set, Hermione’s parents came home from work.

Harry enjoyed the next few days with the Grangers immensely, but like most pleasant things it ended far too soon.

The night before they were going to meet the Weasleys down at Diagon Alley, Hermione and Harry were strolling in the rear yard. Hermione told Harry to sit down and close his eyes. Harry had absolutely no idea what to expect, but did what he was asked.

He heard something, and sensed that Hermione was returning. He heard as she said, “you’re not peeking are you?”

“No, come on,” Harry said. Patience wasn’t exactly one of Harry’s strong suits.

Hermione told him that he could open his eyes. When Harry did he saw that Hermione was holding a pair of glasses. Harry hadn’t had a pair of new glasses in a long time, but he wondered what was so special about this, and why she couldn’t send them via an owl.

“They’re very nice,” Harry said, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.

“Try them on Harry,” Hermione coaxed him.

He removed his own glasses and put on the new ones. They were comfortable, but weren’t that special, or so he thought. Hermione took out her wand and cast a spell.

When she was through, Harry saw clearer than he ever had in his entire life. It was like he had been blind all this time and only now was he able to see properly.

“And that is not all they do either,” Hermione said, seeing Harry’s stunned expression.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“You’ll find out,” Hermione said, and she wouldn’t say anything else.

They walked back inside for a farewell dinner of sorts. It was a nice way to finish off after such a pleasant stay. They saw that Harry was wearing his new glasses.

“So I understand that you have some very important tests this year,” Mr. Granger said.

“Yeah, the O.W.L.s are very important toward our future,” Hermione said.

Mrs. Granger than looked at her and asked, “our?”

“You know what I mean.” Hermione said.

“Yes, dear. I know exactly what you mean,” Mrs. Granger said.

After diner they went out to the movies. Harry sat next to Hermione, and as the film started, he noticed that she was leaning her head onto his shoulder. This was very pleasant, but don’t ask him what happened in the movie, but he wouldn’t have a clue.

When they went back to the Grangers’ house they had some hot chocolate before they retired for the night. Mrs. Granger and Hermione went into the kitchen to bring it out, when Harry suddenly had to go to bathroom. As he was passing the kitchen, he heard Hermione and her mother talking, when suddenly he heard his name. Harry knew this was wrong, but he leaned next to door to try and hear as much as he could.

“I don’t now what you are talking abut mother,” Harry heard Hermione say.

“I think you do.”

“Of course I like Harry, he is my friend.”

“That is not what I mean, and you know it. Honey, don’t try to play like you don’t understand me. It doesn’t suit you. You are developing feelings for Harry, and that’s okay.”

“We’re just friends and nothing else.”

“I know you are, but that’s not the point. I can see that you are starting to get feelings for him, and I can’t blame you. He is quite the charmer.”

Harry, realizing that he probably heard way too much, left and returned to the lounge immediately.

“You took quite a while. Are you okay?” Mr. Granger asked.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Harry said, not really being fine. He was still going over what he overheard through their hot chocolate, and even when he went up to bed. Did Hermione really have feelings for him? If this was true, this changes everything. But before he would do anything on this he needed to absolutely sure, and he wasn’t right now.

Early Saturday morning the Granger’s drove them over to London, and walked them into the Leaky Cauldron. The four of them grabbed a table in the back toward the gateway, and waited for the Weasley’s to appear.

After a few minutes Ron and the twins came bustling through the rear entrance. It was nice seeing them again. Ron was about to sit next to Harry, but before he could Fred jumped in front of him and grabbed the chair.

Looking a little disappointed, Ron sat next to Hermione instead, and noticed Harry had on a new pair of glasses. “You got new glasses. Don’t tell me those Muggles bought you something.”

“No, definitely not,” Harry said. “Hermione got me them for my birthday.”

As Ron and Hermione started to talk, Fred lowered his voice to a little more than a whisper and spoke so that only Harry could hear him.

“We have some very exciting news, partner.”

Harry looked at the devious looks on the twins’ faces, and knowing them as well as he did, he very much doubted that he really wanted to hear this.

Fred and George kept craning their neck, obviously keeping an eye out for their imposing, though very pleasant, mother. She didn’t like the idea of them going into the joke shop business at all, and if she ever found out that Harry helped them do this…. He shuddered at the thought.

Looking at the two of them though, a thought had struck Harry. “You do remember the condition I insisted upon when I gave you the money. Right?”

George smiled, “Sure, no problem. Consider it taken care of.”

Last year Ron had a second-hand dress robe that looked like more like an old dress than a wizard’s dress robes. Harry felt really bad for his best friend, and wanted to make sure that it didn’t happen again this year.

“Very good. Now, do I really want to know this news of yours?”

The both of them laughed, but before they could answer Mrs. Weasley entered the run-down bar with her daughter Ginny close behind her.

When Ginny saw Harry, she tripped. Ginny was always very accident prone when around him. Fred, George and Ron all had a good laugh at this, but Harry and Hermione pretended that they didn’t notice it.

Fred and George were both in their last years at Hogwarts, although their academic careers always came as something of a disappointment to their mother, they nevertheless managed to do fairly well. They really weren’t bad students, mind you, but when compared to their older brothers, two of whom where head boys in their day, they always seemed to fall short.

Hermione was busy working over a large pile of books, when Ron asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m working on some practice O.W.L.s.” O.W.L.s, or Ordinary Wizarding Levels, are a series of exams that are taken after the culmination of your fifth year at Hogwarts.

Ron had a horrified look on his face as he said, “you’re kidding me, right? I mean the O.W.L.s won’t be until the end of the year. We have ages.”

“You can never have enough practice for them Ron. I should have spent more time preparing, but I was a bit distracted.” Harry noticed Hermione glance at him when she said this.

Mrs. Weasley interjected, “That’s right Ron. Your O.W.L.s are very important.” Harry noticed that she was looking at the twins with a bit of a frown on her face when she said this. The twins had managed to get quite a few O.W.L.s, but it was less than she had been hoping for.

Mrs. Weasley warmed up considerably, saying, “hello Harry dear. Alright?”

Harry nodded and said, “Yes ma’am.”

Mrs. Weasley than said more formally, “hello Hermione, and how are you?”

Hermione took her nose out of the books in front of her and, a little nervously, replied, “very well, thank you.”

Harry wasn’t sure if Mrs. Weasley had really gotten over a story that appeared in Witch Weekly last semester. He found out during his stay with the Grangers that Hermione was, in fact, still getting hate mail because of it. The story was about how Hermione had been toying with Harry’s emotions in an apparent love triangle with the Durmstrang champion Viktor Krum. The story was not true of course, but that didn’t stop almost everybody from believing it.

Now that Mrs. Weasley was there, the Grangers gave Hermione some money for her school things and kissed her goodbye. They told her to write when she got to the Burrow, where she would spend the rest of her holiday.

After looking around, Harry turned to Mrs. Weasley and asked where Mr. Weasley was.

“Arthur was very upset, but he was unable to make it here today. He had important Ministry business today.”

Mr. Arthur Weasley worked for the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Harry suspected that this was related to Voldemort’s return to power, but chose not to ask.

“Percy was also called into work?” Harry asked noticing that Percy, Ron’s older brother, wasn’t around.

“Percy is staring his first day in a new department, so he was unable to join us. He wanted me to pass along his best wishes and to apologize for his absence.” Mrs. Weasley said.

“So, Percy is no longer with the Department of International Magical Cooperation?” Hermione asked.

“When they replaced Mr. Crouch as head of the department, they reorganized it. He’s now with the Department of Experimental Charms. He’s very happy with his new assignment,” Mrs. Weasley added.

Mr. Crouch, who used to be the head of Percy’s old department, was killed by his own son last year at Hogwarts when Barty Crouch junior, who was impersonating Professor Mad-eye Moody, murdured him in the plot to return Voldemort to power.

The twins looked at each other with a look of disgust,

“Percy has become more insufferable than ever now,” Fred said.

“He thought has was going to take over after what happened to Mr. Crouch,” said George.

“So, when he didn’t and they brought someone else in, he couldn’t believe it.”

“He was making things so difficult on the new head that they had to transfer him,”

“Yeah, and afterward they said that they did it because they were ‘reorganizing‘.”

They both started to laugh, but that died away quickly when Mrs. Weasley shot them a disapproving look.

They proceeded into Diagon Alley and Mrs. Weasley led them all to Gringotts, the wizard bank. Gringotts was the only bank wizards used, and was one of the safest places to keep anything you wanted protected, except perhaps Hogwarts.

When Harry though about this he remembered when Professor Quirrell, working for Voldemort at the time, broke into one of the vaults while attempting to take the Sorcerers Stone. Fortunately Hagrid had already removed it earlier that very same day.

They went to one of the available goblins at the large counter and told him that they were going to be making some withdrawals, showing them their keys. Before they took the journey down into the vaults Hermione had her Muggle money changed into wizard money. She would be needing Galleons, Sickles and Knuts to buy things in the wizard world.

Since there were so many of them they took two different cars. Mrs. Weasley went with the twins in one car and Harry went with Ron and Hermione.

Their goblin, called Griphook, took them down the familiar roller-coaster ride to Harry’s vault. This was the first time Hermione ever took one of these rides, and she didn’t seemed too be to thrilled about it.

When they finally came to a halt, Griphook took a lantern and Harry’s key and unlocked his vault. When it opened, Harry wasn’t sure who was more embarrassed, Harry for having all this money, or Ron for wishing that it was his instead.

Harry walked into the vault and grabbed a bag full of as many coins as he could carry. He figured that he would probably be needing it this year. After they took the return trip back to the main level they all got off and rejoined the rest of the Weasleys. It was only now that Harry noticed Hermione was looking a little green , but she insisted that she was fine.

After they left the bank they decided to separate and rejoin later. Mrs. Weasley told them all to meet at Flourish and Blotts at noon. They went their separate ways, but not before she reminded the twins not to journey down Knockturn Alley.

Harry remembered his voyage down Knockturn Alley. It was his first trip using Floo Powder and as he didn’t say his destination clearly, he wound up in a horrible shop. Knockturn Alley was full of items used in the Dark Arts. He remembered seeing Draco Malfoy and his father in there that day. He was wondering whether they were there right now.

Harry, Ron and Hermione started to walk down the alley, looking at the various store windows, and discussing where they should go first. Hermione was trying to get them to go buy their supplies for the school term, but they somehow where able to lead her toward the Quality Quidditch store first.

In the store window was a magnificent broom. It was a Firebolt, just like the one Harry owned. Harry saw Ron looking longingly at it.

“If I had enough money, I would get that in a second.”

Harry understood completely were Ron was coming from, although obviously Hermione didn’t. She looked in the display and saw the prices for some of the brooms and saw that they didn’t even bother to put a price on the Firebolt

Without looking away from the display she asked, “Why would you spend all that money on a broom?”

Ron was so livid he couldn’t even speak. Before he had the chance he heard Fred call to him, “Oy, Ron.”

Ron pretended that he didn’t hear them as they continued staring at the Firebolt. George ran over to the three of them and said quietly to Ron, “we need to talk to you for a minute.” Ron simply shrugged to Harry and Hermione and followed George.

Harry and Hermione watched as the three of them were busy talking some distance away.

“What do you think that is all about?”

Harry shrugged. He knew exactly what this was about, but he wasn’t going to let on. Not even to Hermione.

Ron came hurrying over saying, “you wont believe it, but apparently Fred and George are going to be buy me a proper dress robe this year from Malkins. Apparently they made some money last year from their joke shop and they told me that they were going to pay me back for all the aggravation they have given me over the years.”

“I’m so happy for you, Ron. We need to have dress robes again this semester, you know,” Hermione said.

“I think we should all go, I need to get new robes anyway,” Harry said.

They all went into Madam Malkins Robes For All Occasions. They all got measured for their new robes and they picked out the dress robes that they wanted.

Harry picked out some that were mostly black but had some burgundy and gold, like the Gryffindor colors. Ron picked out robes of orange and black. Hermione picked out a long glowing robe of red and gold. Fred and George got identical robes of purple and black.

They paid for their purchases and went their separate ways. Fred and George had spotted their best friend, fellow Gryffindor seventh year Lee Jordan, and caught up with him.

The three of them went to restock their supplies at Abercrombie’s. After they left the store they saw that Ron looked visibly worried.

“What’s wrong Ron?” Harry asked.

“Well. You see. The thing is that, well, my family doesn’t have a lot of money, and,” Ron trailed off at that, turning pink at the thought.

Harry continued for him, “You wonder where they got the money, right?”

“Ron, didn’t you say that they made money from their novelties last semester?” Hermione said gently.

“Yes, but mom threw most of their stuff out.”

“They probably had a lot more hidden somewhere. Anyway your brothers are very resourceful. They probably figured out some way,” Harry said reasonably.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m worried,” Ron said.

Hermione looked at him and said in a whisper, “you don’t think they did anything illegal, do you?”

“I don’t know, but I definitely wouldn’t put it past them. Last year they resorted to blackmail to get some money. I think they would do just about anything to get their hands on some.”

Ron was talking about the incident last term when after they won a bet with the Minister of Magical Games Ludo Bagman. He paid them the winnings, from the bet he took from them on the Quidditch World Cup, off in Leprechaun gold, which disappeared shortly afterward. The twins wagered that while Ireland would win the match the Bulgarian seeker Victor Krum would catch the snitch, which is exactly what had happened.

Harry was in a difficult bind now. He wanted to tell Ron that his brothers didn’t do anything illegal for the money, but at the same time he didn’t want him to find out how they got it. So after considering it this for a few moments he came to the decision that he wouldn’t say anything, unless he didn’t have any other choice.

They went to purchase some parchment and ink. When they left the shop they ran into fellow Gryffindor fifth years Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. Dean, a West Ham soccer fan, and Seamus started talking about Quidditch.

Dean said, “Hey Ron, are you going to try out for the house team this year? They are going to have to replace Wood, you know.”

Oliver Wood was an enthusiastic, if not somewhat obsessed, former captain and keeper of the Gryffindor house Quidditch team.

“I will,” Seamus said quickly.

“Me too,” Dean added,

“Yeah, I guess I will,” Ron said, less than enthusiastically. Harry was surmised at Ron’s reaction, expecting him to be thrilled at a chance to make the team.

Seamus continued, “I bet even Neville will try out for the team.”

They all had a good laugh at this thought. Neville Longbottom was a round faced, extremely forgetful boy, who lived with his domineering grandmother.

After Dean and Seamus left them, Hermione, who also could tell something was obviously troubling Ron, asked what was wrong.

“Nothing,” Ron muttered.

Harry said, “it’s us, Ron. Come on. What’s wrong?”

“Well, you’ve seen my broom Harry. If I had to use that, or one of the school brooms, I won’t stand a chance,” Ron blurted, his face going very red now. Harry had to bite his cheek to stop from grinning. Yes, Ron was right of course, but Harry had a big surprise in store for him.

The three of them decided to have some ice cream while waiting for the others. Soon they were sat at the tables outside the ice cream parlor looking over their lists. All they needed now where their books. Hermione was trying to talk them into dropping their Divination class. She had dropped it in her third year. While Harry and Ron didn’t love the class they felt it was important that they keep it.

After enjoying their ice creams they walked over to Flourish and Blotts to meet up with the rest of the Weasleys, and to purchase their books.

When they approached the shop they saw the last person in the world they wanted to see. It was the sneering face of Draco Malfoy.

“Look, it’s the Scarhead along with the weasel and the mudblood.”

“What do you want Malfoy?” Harry said. Without even realizing that he was doing it, he put his hand over his wand.

Malfoy saw this and with his own hand hovering over his wand said. “So you want to duel again Scarhead?”

“No, Harry,” Hermione moaned.

Ron on the other hand was looking happier than he had in a while. “Come on Harry you can take him.”

They both realized that there were too many people to do this here so they lowered their hands without taking their eyes off each other. While Hermione looked relieved, Ron was obviously disappointed.

“I suppose you think you are going to make the team, Scarhead,” Malfoy said.

Harry shot a quizzical sideways look toward Ron, who just shrugged.

“What are you talking about Malfoy?” Harry asked.

“Don’t tell me you don’t already know?” Malfoy said gleefully, turning to look at Ron. “Your father and brother work for the Ministry, and you still don’t know? I’ve known for a month now.”

Hermione said, “either tell us what is on that extremely tiny mind of yours, or go away.”

Harry and Ron were now beaming at Hermione, while Malfoy just shot a nasty look toward her and walked away.

Finding the rest of the Weasleys inside the shop, they bought their books and went on to the Leaky cauldron where they used Floo Powder to get back to the Burrow.

After they got back, Mrs. Weasley started preparing them lunch while everybody was busy putting their things away. Harry and Ron went up to Ron’s room and Harry said “I have a surprise for you.”

Ron looked at him eagerly, “Yeah, I remember you writing me that you did.”

“Before I give it to you I want you to understand that you are my best friend and I want you to have it. And this is all of your birthday and Christmas presents for the next ten years.”

“What are you talking about?”

Harry pulled out a long thin package, and handed it to Ron, who was sitting on the bed, and waited for him to open it.

Ron ripped of the paper in less than a second and didn’t move for what seemed like hours. He stared at the magnificent Firebolt, and without speaking, he sat transfixed on it, caressing it lovingly. Harry recognized the look on his friend’s face, since it was basically the same reaction that he had when it was presented to him.

Harry grinned and asked, “do you like it?”

Snapping out of his stupor he said, “I can’t take this. Won’t you need it?”

“No. Sirius got me a new broom. I want you to have it.”

“I still can’t take it,” Ron said without ever taking his eyes off of it.

“Yes, you can.”

“This is too much. I can never pay you back.”

“Do you want to bet?”

Ron, finally taking his eyes off the broom again looked at him, watching Harry’s wicked smile.

“What?”

“The look on Malfoy’s face when he sees that you have something better than he does will be more than payment for it. Besides, Sirius gave me this broom and I am pretty sure he would agree with me that you should have it.”

“Ok, deal, but make it twenty years then.” Ron burst out with the same broad grin. Then, as if it just occurred to him he said, “wicked, but, if this is my broom now, where’s yours?”

Harry took out his Spitfire and Ron dropped his Firebolt in shock.

“Whoa. I read about those. They’re really rare. They are supposed to have only made five of them,” Ron said as he picked it up. “Sirius gave this to you?”

Before Harry could answer they heard Mrs. Weasley call them down to lunch. They went downstairs and saw Ginny and Hermione setting the table. They all sat down and enjoyed their meal.

Ron challenged the twins to a Quidditch match, Fred and George looked at each other and finally Fred said, “Ok, Ron and I against George and Harry.”

Ron said, “No. Harry and I against the two of you.”

They looked at each other and, grinning broadly, quickly agreed.

Ron and Harry ran upstairs, and grabbed their brooms. They proceeded to cream the twins, flying around them effortlessly.

After they landed they stared at Harry with his Spitfire and Ron with his Firebolt, Harry told them the story of how they got them and the twins couldn’t stop grinning.

Ron looked confused, “what?”

“With this, we have just got the house cup in the bag.”

Harry and Ron started to grin broadly too.

Harry was having such a good time that, naturally, it was over before he knew it.

The night before they were to leave Mrs. Weasley prepared a scrumptious feast. Mr. Weasley came in and sat down at the table. He wasn’t his normally cheerful self.

“Difficult times at the ministry now, with you-know-who being back.”

Harry asked, “are you making any progress Mr. Weasley?”

“Yes, Harry, but there is still so much to be done.”

Percy came strolling in, appearing considerably chipper than his father.

“Hello everybody. Busy time down in the ministry, They are really starting to rely heavily upon me now down at the office,” he said pompously.

Fred said, quite seriously, “really, excellent.“

George than added, “yeah, I’ll bet they even know your name by now, Weatherby.”

Almost everyone was trying their best to stifle their laughter, but Percy pretended he didn’t hear this. Percy’s old boss, Mr. Crouch insisted upon calling him Weatherby.

After finishing dinner they sat and talked for a little while until they all stumbled up to bed.

It was the morning now and Mrs. Weasley came around waking everyone up. She helped as everybody was busy bustling about looking for their things.

A couple of ministry cars pulled up and they pilled into them. Harry, Ron and Hermione took one, while Mrs. Weasley went with the twins and Ginny in the other.

At Kings Cross station their drivers grabbed some trolleys and put the trunks and cages onto them. By this time entering Platform 9 ¾ wasn’t a big deal, with the obvious exception of the time that a house elf named Dobby sealed the gate to try to prevent Harry from attending Hogwarts in his second year.

After they got onto the platform they boarded the Hogwarts Express and moved backward until they found an empty compartment, and put there trunks along with Hedwig, Pig and Crookshanks in it.

They went to platform to say goodbye to Mrs. Weasley. She wished them all a good semester and told the twins to behave. She said that while she would love for all of them to come for the Christmas holidays, they were probably going to want to stay.

Before they had a chance to find out what she was talking about the train started to move.

“What are you talking about,” Fred yelled. Mrs. Weasley just smiled and waved goodbye without answering.

The three of them proceeded to their compartment. Ron than looked at them uncomfortably.

Hermione looked at him and asked, “what’s up, Ron?”

“I told you both that I have news, but I wasn’t sure,” Ron said, his words trailing off,

Harry said, “go on Ron. What is it?”

Before he could say anything though, Fred and George came bustling into their compartment.

Fred sat down next to Rom and said, “have you told them yet?”

Ron turned red and looked down at the floor.

“Told us what Ron,” Harry asked.

“What’s going on,” Hermione asked.

Ron took a deep breath and said slowly, “ok. I wasn’t sure if they asked you, but,” his sentence trailed off ending with something they couldn’t hear.

“Sorry. What did who ask you,” Harry asked.

Ron looked even redder, if that was possible. The twins obviously thought that this whole sight was quite funny. Nobody spoke for a couple of minutes before Fred finally said, “Ron is now one of them.”

“One of whom,” Hermione asked.

George, holding his left arm over his forehead, said with a mock look of anguish, “I didn’t think we would be so unlucky as to get another one in the family.”

“Another what,” Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time, both sounding exasperated.

Fred and George looked at Ron as he slowly, without taking his gaze of the floor, showed them something. It was small, but they knew instantly what it was. A prefects badge.

Harry and Hermione beamed at each other after seeing it. Fred and George apparently weren’t expecting that reaction.

“That’s wonderful news, Ron,” Hermione said.

Harry said, “yeah, that’s great.”

Ron, who was still looked rather sullen about the whole thing though, asked, “what’s so great about it?”

At that moment, Harry and Hermione reached into their pockets and pulled out their own badges. After raising it to show the three of them, Ron cheered up considerably. Fred and George, however, looked as if they couldn’t have possibly heard worse news.

“Not you guys, too,” George moaned.

Fred, meanwhile, was just shaking his head muttering, “I can’t believe it” over and over again.

The twins got up and, after giving them another disappointed look left the compartment, leaving the three of them with mystified looks on their faces.

As they were moving closer to the Hogsmeade train station several of their friends stopped by. First Neville dropped in. It seemed that Malfoy was bullying him around again. It appeared as if Malfoy had been practicing curses on Neville again. They tried to encourage Neville to stand up for himself but the only person that Neville was more powerless against was their potions master, Professor Severus Snape.

Hermione, looking at what wad done to Neville simply raised her wand, and as she usual managed to undo the damage that Malfoy caused. Neville, whom everyone knows has had a crush on Hermione ever since first year, thanked her, and left the compartment.

Dean and Seamus came in. After they started talking Quidditch, Hermione, who had no real interest, and realizing they were going to be at it for a while, broke out her Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five, and buried her head in it.

Later into the trip Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil stopped by. Ron looked at Lavender the way Ginny usually looks at Harry. Harry thought this was very amusing, but tried not to show this. Unsure of whether he was succeeding or not, he thought it best to make sure he didn’t look at Ron.

Since Harry was acting oddly Ron must have taken it to mean that he might of still had feelings for his first date, Parvati, because he was giving Harry a sideways grin. Last year at the ball held at Hogwarts, all the champions had to come accompanied with an escort. Harry and Ron went with the Patil sisters. Harry went with Parvati, a fellow Gryffindor, and Ron with her twin sister Padma, of Ravenclaw.

Pretty soon they were alone, Hermione still reading, while Harry and Ron where playing a game of exploding snap. There was a knock of their door and someone came in. It was Ravenclaw Cho Chang.

Harry had a crush on Cho, who is the Ravenclaw’s seeker, since he first met her in their match in his third year. Last year, however, when he finally built up enough resolve to ask her to the dance, but was turned down. By the time he finally got up the nerve, she had already agreed to go with Cedric.

Cho, who already had on her robes said, “you three should really be up front with the rest of the prefects.” That is when Harry noticed that Cho had a prefect’s pin on her own robes.

Hermione, who was looking at Cho with something that looked remarkably like contempt said, “were fine where we are, thank you. Besides, were nearly there.”

“As you wish,” Cho said, and without taking her eyes of Harry gave him a gave him a smile that made his stomach melt, waved goodbye and left them alone in their compartment

Harry and Ron were now looking at Hermione, who still looked unnerved after Cho left. After a moment she said, “I think that we should put on our robes now. We really are nearly there. They put them on, and true to her word, moments latter they pulled into the station.

As they exited the train, the first thing they saw was the great form of the gamekeeper Hagrid waving a lantern over the crowd of stunned first years.

They rushed over to his side. “Hello Hagrid.”

“Hello there Harry, Ron and Hermione,” Hagrid said. He was beaming at them now. “I am so proud of the three of you. They couldn’t have picked three better prefects.” He was now wiping his eyes with his giant hands.

Harry figured that as one of the teachers he must have known somehow, because they still hadn’t put their pins on their robes.

“I’ll see you latter, ok,” Hagrid said. After they nodded, he started waving his lantern as usual shouting, “first years this way. Don’t be nervous. First years come this way.”

As they were walking toward the carriages, they saw Hagrid lead a large group of very scared looking first years toward the boats in the lake. Harry, Ron and Hermione were joined by Neville in one of the horseless carriages and after a few minutes their ride was over and they poured into the castle.

As they entered the Great Hall, Harry sat between Ron and Hermione. As soon as they sat down they looked up toward the staff table.

Harry saw several of the teachers from last year. He saw Professors Flitwick, the charms teacher, Sprout, the Herbology teacher, Vector, the astronomy teacher, and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher and Madam Pomfrey, the overprotective school nurse. As Harry looked at the end of a table he saw Professor Snape and as he saw him giving a very nasty look , he suddenly started feeling very ill.

Hagrid was still leading in the first years, and Professor Dumbledore hadn’t appeared yet. Professor McGonagall was preparing for the upcoming sorting ceremony. Every year all of the first years enter the great hall and have the sorting hat placed on their heads. The hat, which is almost as old as the school itself, considered each of the students and based upon the characteristics the school founder sought in their student, he placed them in the appropriate house.

Harry will never forget his own sorting ceremony. The hat, which takes varying amounts of time to sort the different students, took an exceptionally long time to sort him. When he had the hat on, he was listening to the hat think aloud as it was placing him. He kept thinking “not Slytherin,” and while the sorting hat was telling him that he would do well there, he was relieved when the hat placed him in Gryffindor.

Aside from the fact that he heard that Slytherin had produced more dark witches and wizards than any other house, there was another reason that he didn’t want to be placed there. Malfoy, who Harry didn’t like from the beginning, was placed there.

In Harry‘s second year, when people were speculating that he might be the heir of Slytherin, he had an opportunity to place the sorting hat on again, To his dismay the hat did not relent, stating that he still would have done well in Slytherin.

Later in that year, while battling the memory of Voldemort, Slytherin’s true heir, he was able to pull out Godric Gryffindor’s sword from the sorting hat though. This made him feel a little better about things, but despite this and Professor Dumbledore’s reassurances, he still had his doubts,

Harry was so preoccupied with these thoughts that by the time he came around, he noticed that Dumbledore was now in his seat. Hagrid was also back in his seat at the head table, and a large group of scared looking first years were now facing them, wondering what was going to happen next.

When Harry was starting to look up toward the front there were a pair of excited voices behind him. “Hello Harry,” Colin and Dennis Creevey said in unison. Colin was a small fourth year who idolized Harry since he arrived at Hogwarts. Dennis is his younger, even smaller brother, who joined Hogwarts last year.

“Hello Colin, Dennis,” Harry said. But the hat started to move, so the Creeveys took their seats.

Due to unusual circumstances, last year was the first sorting ceremony Harry had seen since his own. Everyone was silent, keeping their eyes glued to the old battered looking sorting hat sitting on a three legged stool up front, waiting for what was going to happen next. All of a sudden, the hat started to move, and the tear that ran along its brim started to move and it burst in song.

Welcome here young thirsty minds,

where I will place you with those of your kind.

From days long ago, to days yet to come,

I will search tirelessly to place you where you belong.

Whether you belong here or if you belong there,

I’ll place you based on what is in under your hair.

If you are brave and bold,

than perhaps Gryffindor is where you belong,

or maybe you belong with the loyal and true,

Hufflepuff is where the ones that are right for you ,

or perhaps if you are of a wise mind,

Ravenclaw will be where you find your own kind,

but perhaps if winning by any means is your ends,

perhaps Slytherin is where you will fit in.

But fear not, for I have never failed

in placing those where they will succeed.

The entire hall exploded with applause. Several people in the hall shouted, “brilliant.” The sorting hat took a deep bow and returned to his limp position on the table.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward and pulled out a large role of parchment. “As I call your name, you will step forward, place the hat on your head and take your seats.”

“Adams, John,” was the first one called. The sorting hat was placed on his head and after a moment the hat shouted “Gryffindor.”

“Atkinson, Sylvia,” was called next. She was a pretty girl with a nasty sneer on her face, like that of Mrs. Malfoy. She was placed in Slytherin. Harry wondered if she knew that she was entering a house that produces more dark wizards than any other.

As the sorting ceremony was proceeding, the ghosts started to enter through the castle walls. Most of the first years were taken aback by this but the upper class student took it all in their stride.

The Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick came to the Gryffindor table, looking around saying hello to the various students. When he approached Harry said, “hello Sir Nicholas. How are you?”

Sir Nicholas was beaming at them saying, “Harry, Ron and Hermione. Good to see you all again. I hope this class is up to snuff. We are going to need all the help we can get if we are going to win us another House Cup.”

Students at Hogwarts receive points for their accomplishments, while they lose point for any rule breaking. At the end of the year, they tally all of the points and award the house cup to the winner. The first three years Harry spent at Hogwarts, the Gryffindors have earned the house cup. Last year they never awarded the cup in respect for the loss of Cedric.

By this time a name caught their attention. “Delacour, Gabrielle”

They all turned around and saw her for the first time. Gabrielle’s sister was the Beauxbatons champion last year in the Tri Wizard tournament, Fleur Delacour. She walked over to the sorting hat, smiling at Harry on her way.

In the second task of the tournament last year, they took the person who was closest to the champion and put them in the bottom of the lake. The champions were given a clue stating that if you don’t bring them back in an hour they won’t ever come back.

Even though he was the first to reach the people down at the bottom of the lake, he wanted to make sure that they were all recovered. When Fleur didn’t appear he took Gabrielle as well as Ron.

Harry felt that he was such an idiot for believing that Dumbledore would ever let anybody get hurt like that. Apparently, nobody else took it that seriously.

She sat down on the stool, and when the hat was placed upon her head, the brim fell down, covering her eyes. It took a long time to make a decision. They could tell that she was shaking. Harry wondered if the voice in her head was speaking English or French.

After a minute that hat finally burst out, “Hufflepuff.”

They watched as she glided over to sit next to Justin Finch-Fletchley. They started chatting again as Professor McGonagall continued through the list. After a while she called someone that Harry thought looked familiar.

“Striker, Matt.”

Harry looked carefully, thinking that he recognized him from somewhere, but after a few seconds he thought it was probably just his imagination. He continued to pay attention though as Matt was placed in Gryffindor. He watched as he walked all the way over and sat across from him.

Matt sat down and said, “hi everyone. My name is Matt.”

Hermione was the first to greet him. “Nice to meet you Matt, my name is Hermione, and this is Harry and Ron,” she said waving at the two of them.

“Nice to meet you all.”

Harry finally found his voice, “where are you from Matt.”

“Kansas.”

Ron looked confused, “Kansas?”

“Yes, Kansas. In America. You have heard of it, right?”

Hermione had to stifle a laugh, but Ron didn’t seem pleased at all. “So why are you coming all the way here.”

“We got the letter, my parents and I, and we heard that this was supposed to be a pretty good school, so we decided that I should come.”

When they heard “Wilson, Candice,” they knew they were close to the end of the ceremony, which was a good thing since they were hungry now.

The ceremony finally ended when “Zackery, James became a Gryffindor.”

Professor Dumbledore stood up and the hall fell silent. “I would like to indulge you with a few start-of-term notices if I may. Our new defense against the dark arts teacher has been unavoidably detained, but should be with us tomorrow morning.”

“I would like to remind you that the dark forest is out of bounds to all students. Also all third year students and latter who have received permission from their parent or guardian may attend visits to the nearby town of Hogsmeade during the term.”

“I also am very pleased to announce something very exciting will be taking place this term at Hogwarts. After the success we had with the tri-wizard tournament, we are bringing back something that has not been done in almost three centuries. Instead of having the Quidditch tournament as we usually do, we will be doing something very different,” but before he could finish his thought, Fred and George shot up.

Together they shouted, “you can’t get rid of Quidditch again.”

Dumbledore chuckled, “no, we are going to indeed have Quidditch this year, but it will be different.”

They both sat down, a little red, but listening intently.

“Now that I have your attention again, instead of having house teams, we will have one school team. This team will participate in an eight-team single elimination tournament. Schools from all over Europe will be participating. The matches will be scheduled at the different schools.”

“We will have try outs the morning of Halloween day, before the Halloween ball. There will be a starter and a reserve for each position. Anybody interested in trying for the team either tell your house advisor, or Madam Hooch. The schedule should be prepared by the time the team is announced.”

At those words, the school was abuzz with excitement. Dumbledore waited patiently for the hall to quiet down. When it finally did, he said, “now let the feast begin.”

The golden plates in front of them filled up with all sorts of delicious things. They all helped themselves to everything they could reach.

As they were eating dinner Ron looked over at Harry and said, “what do you think,” as if they were continuing a conversation just interrupted.

“About what?” Harry asked with a mouthful of pie.

“The team. You should be the seeker,” Ron said mater-of-factly. “I mean with Cedric gone, and Malfoy being … well, Malfoy.”

Harry gave him a grave look, “yeah, but Cho is pretty good.”

Hermione turned and looked at him and said, “you are ten times the player she will ever be.”

Harry didn’t necessarily agree, but appreciated their support all the same.

Ron continued, “what about the beaters.”

“Fred and George, no doubt about it,” Harry said.

Ron looked over at his brothers and said, “agreed.”

Fred than leaned over and said, “what are you doing?”

Ron said, “same thing you are. Trying to figure out who will make the team.”

George, who came over said, “what about you Ron.”

“What about me?”

“Are you going to try out,” Fred asked.

“Me,” Ron asked. “I’m not sure.”

“Why not,” George said. “With Wood gone we could use a keeper, and you aren’t that bad.”

Ron didn’t say anything, but Harry knew exactly what he was thinking of, the entire Gryffindor team representing the school at the tournament. Harry was thinking the same thing.

After the last of the dessert cleared their plates, Dumbledore stood up again. “Now that you have all been fed and watered it is time to go to bed. Prefects, please lead your houses up to dormitories please.”

Hermione got up and told Harry and Ron, “Come on.” She called out to the confused looking students around them, “Gryffindor first years, follow me. Come along.”

Harry had forgotten again that they were prefects. He followed her, not really knowing what to do. Ron followed suit, apparently not having anymore of any idea than Harry did. When they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione told everyone the password was “golden snitch.” As she said this, the fat lady nodded and swung open allowing the Gryffindors to scramble through the portrait hole.

Hermione continued, “this is the house common room. You will spend most of your free time in here. The boys dormitory is up the stairs and to your right, while the girls is up and to your left. I suggest you all go up to bed; you are going to have a busy day tomorrow. You will find all of your things have already been brought up for you.”

Hermione had said it as if she had been doing this for years. Harry figured that all of this was probably written down somewhere, but didn’t really want to ask. Ron, meanwhile, looked at Hermione bewildered, but impressed. “How did you know the password?”

Hermione just looked frustrated and said, “honestly, you two don’t read at all, do you?”

Ron asked, “what are you talking about?”

Hermione just said, “look at your prefects letter,” and she went up to her dormitory.

When Harry and Ron got up to their dormitory, Ron opened his trunk, got out his letter and read out in shock, “and the password for your common room will be ‘golden snitch.’ So that’s how she knew.”

Harry, tired and contempt, quickly changed and fell off to sleep right away.

After a quiet night, Harry woke up to find that Ron was the only other one left in the room with him. He got up and changed quickly. The two of them hurried down to find Hermione waiting in a nearly empty common room.

She got up when she saw them, “finally, let’s go.”

They hurried down to the great hall and joined the Gryffindor table. They sat down and, as Harry was serving himself pancakes, they were joined by Matt, the new kid.

“Morning,” he said to nobody in particular as he sat down. A few people returned the greeting, Hermione being the only one to do it by name.

As Harry was poring syrup over his breakfast, he heard an unpleasant drawl from behind him,

“Hey Scarhead, hanging around with another mud blood, and a yank to boot,” Malfoy sneered.

Before Harry could say anything, Matt shot out of his seat, and in a low growl said, “what did you call me?”

“You heard me.”

“I asked you, what you called me.”

“A yank mud blood.”

“That’s what I thought you said. Don’t mess around with me,” Matt said.

“Or what,” Malfoy sneered as he and Matt were reaching for their wands.

Malfoy raised his wand, but before he could cast a spell Matt beat him too it, causing him to loose his wand. Draco was surprised at this and was unprepared for what came next. Matt threw his wand at Malfoy, who was holding it with a stunned look on his face.

“What is going on over here,: asked Professor McGonagall, who was handing out schedules.

Everyone turned around to look at her, but Matt was the first one to answer. “Professor. Thank god you’re here. I was talking to. I’m sorry, but I don’t even know his name. Anyway when I was telling him how happy I was to be attending such a fine school, and he attacked me. Threw my wand clear across the room.”

McGonagall gave Malfoy a severe look, “Malfoy, such behavior, and from a prefect.” That is when Harry saw, for the first time, the pin on his robes.

Malfoy was stammering, but McGonagall ignored him, “twenty points from Slytherin, and I will speak with Professor Snape about this.”

When she turned around Matt reached and grabbed back his wand, “I told you, don’t mess with me,” and the whole of the Gryffindor table exploded with laughter, as Malfoy stormed away red faced to retrieve his own wand.

Ron warmed up considerably after this. “Welcome to Gryffindor, Matt, it’s good to have you here.”

Hermione, meanwhile, was looking thoroughly displeased. As much as she did not like Malfoy, she obviously thought that this was inappropriate behavior. It looked as though she wanted to say something, but as all of the Gryffindors were swarming around him, she never had an opportunity.

McGonagall returned a few minutes latter continuing to hand out schedules. As she approached Harry and Ron she looked disappointed, saying, “I am not pleased with you two.”

They looked at each other, wondering what she could possibly be talking about.

“Your badges. Why are you not wearing them,” she said. “Miss Granger is wearing hers, so what is your excuse.”

Harry, realizing now what she was talking about, turned and saw that Hermione did indeed have on her prefects pin. Before they could say anything, McGonagall said, “I trust you will fix this. Next time I will have no choice but to take points.” Before she left, she gave them their schedules.

Hermione gave them a look that said they should have known better. Ron, meanwhile, looked upset, scowling at Hermione’s direction. Harry wasn’t sure if it was because Ron forgot his Pin, or the fact that Hermione didn’t forget hers, that upset him more.

Harry looked at his schedule and saw that they opened with defense against the dark arts class. At the very least, they were going to see their new teacher for the first time. They wanted to go straight to class, but Hermione made them go and get their pins first.

When they finally reached the classroom, they looked in and were surprised to find that their teacher was none other than, Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black.

Harry ran to the front of the class, “Sirius. I can’t believe it. What are you doing here?”

“I’m your new defense against the dark arts teacher. I want to talk to you after class though.” Sirius looked at Ron and Hermione and said, “you two also, ok.”

The three of them said ok and grabbed the desk in front of the teacher.

Sirius smiled and said, “I have a pretty good idea of what you have been over so far, and we will have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.”

Everyone started opening their bags and pulling out their books when Sirius said, “put all that away. We’re going to be starting the class with a little practical experience.”

The class put their things away, and looked very excited at what was going to be happening.

“Now I understand that Professor Lupin covered dangerous creatures, and Crouch covered hexes.”

Bartemius Crouch jr., the son of the late head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, was pretending to be their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mad Eye Moody, last term, in his plot. He taught them about curses, including the unforgivable ones.

The class all nodded, wondering what would be next. They didn’t have to wait long.

“I want you all to take out your wands, and follow me.”

They did as instructed and followed him up the stairs, and up the tallest tower. As they entered the top of the astronomy tower, he stopped and waited as the class gathered around him.

“Today we are going to start covering protective charms and spells. Mr. Potter, here, has already had some experience in this field,” Sirius said as the class turned to stare at him. They returned their attention to the teacher at once when Sirius continued. “having learned how to summon a fully corporeal Patronus.”

When he said that, the class gave a collective gasp, turned their gaze toward him and started muttering.

“We are, however, not going to start with anything nearly that difficult.”

Harry remembered a year and a half ago, when Professor Lupin taught him how to summon a Patronus to defend himself against the Dementors. They are horrible, blind, creatures, which live off emotionsof others. Sirius was right. It was a difficult charm. It took Harry mot of the year to learn how produce a proper one.

The reason the Dementors were there was, at the time, they were searching for Sirius, who escaped from Azkaban. They believed that he was seeking Harry, to kill him, because he had been working for Voldemort, and had killed the Potters and later their friend Wormtail. Harry, Hermione and Ron and later found out this to be false, of course.

“The first one we will be working on will protect you against certain kinds of ghouls.”

When he said this, the class started to mumble with delight.

Sirius laughed when he saw this. “Yes, I know that you have been having a problem with a certain ghoul here. That is why I chose this one first, because you will have plenty of opportunity to practice it.”

They all laughed at this.

“The reason I brought you up here is because I found out that your ghoul loves this tower. Now, how do we bring him up here to us?”

Hermione raised her hand.

“That was a rhetorical question, but, ok Miss Granger, tell us how we can do this.”

Hermione, now looking a little hesitant, said, “you could cast a summoning charm.”

Sirius considered her for a moment, nodded and said, “ah, but which one.”

Most of the class looked confused, the only summoning charm they knew was accio.

Hermione said, “Occia.”

“Very good Hermione. Take ten points for Gryffindor,” Sirius said. “Now unlike accio which works on solid objects, Occia will work on non-solid objects, such as ghosts, ghouls or spirits. ok, now when we have summoned a ghost, or ghoul as the case will be, what are we going to do to them?”

Once again, Hermione raised her hand. Without even looking at her Sirius immediately said, “Yes, Hermione.”

“The Panatries charm,”

Sirius, now looking very impressed now replied, “excellent work Miss Granger. Take another ten points.”

Harry and Ron, who where used to her getting tons of points in this fashion beamed at her. Twenty more points, plus the twenty Draco lost.

“Now everyone, I want you say panatric sismus.”

They all did this, without anything happening.

Sirius took out his wand and drew a diagram in the sky. “Don’t worry about not having parchment. I will give you an opportunity to write this in the next class. But if we are going to have any practice today we are going to have to be able to conjure up a proper Pantries.”

He went from person to person, taking quite some time with Neville showing them what to do. After about 30 minutes, everyone, even Neville, was producing an undefined scarlet mist.

Sirius looked satisfied. He turned to look at the class and asked, “now, what is the name of your ghoul?”

“Peeves,” they all shouted at once.

He smiled and said, “ok, we are going to need a volunteer for when we call him over here.

Several people raised their hands, and to everyone’s surprise, including his own, Neville raised his as well. Sirius looked pleased and called Neville over. He told him to relax and went over what he had do one more time. He waived his wand, illuminating what he had written in the sky and said, “occia Peeves.”

In a flash, Peeves appeared in front on Neville. He looked surprised and not pleased, but after he gained his bearings he turned his attention to the class that was staring at him.

With his usual cackle he said, “you rang. Ickle studeys wanted a word with old little Peevsie.”

Sirius nodded, and Neville’s resolve stiffened. Peeves, however noticed this and floated over to Neville. As Peeves came closer and closer, Neville raised his wand and shouted, “panatric sismus.”

At those words a large scarlet image, a little more clear, but still not definable, appeared. It sought Peeves and he floated away as fast as he could. He floated off the side of the tower and out of sight. The class gathered around Neville, congratulating him on a great job.

“Excellent work Neville,” Sirius said. As the bell rang out he said, “I want you all to read on the Occia and Panatries charms for the next class.”

Harry, Ron and Hermione waited for the rest of the students to leave. When the last of them left Harry ran up to Sirius and gave him a big hug.

Hermione asked, “how are you here, with us Sirius?”

“You caught Wormtail,” Ron asked eagerly.

“That was what Lupin and I were doing over the summer. We went looking for Pettigrew, and we found hum. We had him cornered and after we captured him, we presented him to the ministry. That is why I wasn’t able to be here for the sorting ceremony.”

“So, they have him then,” said Harry, “and you are free now.”

Sirius looked disappointed saying, “yes and no.”

“Hermione said, “yes and no?”

“First, the good news, yes, I am free. When we presented Peter to the ministry they had no choice but to reverse my conviction.”

Harry, so happy about the good news, almost forgot there was also bad news, until Ron asked, “and the bad news?”

Sirius sighed heavily, “after we handed Peter to the ministry, he was sent to Azkaban. Nobody really knows what happened next, but somehow he escaped.”

“What do you think happened,” Harry asked.

“Let’s just put it this way, it’s not that easy to escape from Azkaban, not even for an animgai. I should know having spent 12 years there myself. But I’ve heard disturbing things.”

“What kind of disturbing, things,” Ron asked.

“I’ve heard that Voldemort has worked out a deal with the Dementors. As part of the deal they released Wormtail. I hope it is just a rumor, because if it is true then,” his sentence trailed off, as if it was so horrible that he couldn’t bring himself to actually say it.

Sirius turned to look at Harry. “When I saw you last I asked you,” Sirius started but he never had a chance to finish his thought.

“Yes,” Harry shouted as loud he could, causing everyone to jump back a bit.

“Yes?” Sirius said tentatively.

“Yes, I will live with you,” Harry said much more quietly.

“Are you sure?” Sirius asked.

“No, actually, I think the Dursleys are starting to grow on me,” Harry said.

“Oh,” Sirius said.

“Are you insane, I would have lived with you in that cave, rather than live with the Dursleys,” Harry said.

They all had a good laugh at this image. Harry had a lot he needed to tell Sirius about since his last letter, including his dream, but he figured this would take awhile and he wanted to do this in private anyway.

It occurred to Hermione, so she asked, “what happened to Buckbeak?”

“Remus is taking care of her now. We thought of releasing her, but he needed the company, so they are staying together for now.”

Harry was thinking, ‘thank god’ that they had lunch after a double session of defense against the arts. Even though they were supposed to be in the great hall for lunch, they skipped it, deciding instead to stay and catch up with Sirius. He brought them back to the classroom where they retrieved their bags, and Sirius conjured up lunch for them to share. It was a very pleasant morning, so naturally, they saw they had Potions next and, what was worse was it was still with the Slytherins.

None of them were pleased about this at all, but Ron was especially disturbed by this news.

“Bloody hell. It’s bad enough that we have to have potions with that man, but why do we have to have it with them as well.” Ron proceeded to curse so bad, and for so long that Hermione blushed, and gasped in shock. Harry, meanwhile, had to laugh, because he completely understood and agreed with Ron on this one.

As they approached the dungeons, they saw a group of Slytherins standing in front of the classroom. A group of Slytherin girls looked enviously at Hermione, as they walked past. Yes, Harry had to admit to himself, Hermione has definitely become rather attractive, and he could understand why they would be jealous of her. After all, she was already the smartest student, and Harry was now feeling that she might be the most attractive as well.

Harry could hardly believe that he was thinking like this about one of his best friends. This was all becoming a bit too much for him, and for some reason, Krum telling him that all Hermione was talking about was him, seemed to keep coming to mind.

However, all that changed when he heard the nasty drawl, that he came to know and loathe, “hey, mudblood lover.”

Harry wasn’t in the mood, but with Malfoy, he never really was anyway. Before he could say anything Ron stepped forward and said, “what do you want. I would offer to duel you, but apparently you can’t even beat a first year.”

The Gryffindors that were around howled with laughter. Harry saw even a few of the Slytherins had to suppress a smirk. Draco went red again, and he grabbed his wand.

“Come on Weasley,” Malfoy challenged him.

As Ron was reaching for his wand Hermione stopped him, grabbing his wrist.

“No,” she said. Before Ron could protest, she added, “not now. You would like to provoke us, so Snape would do the dirty work for you. If he wants to duel so badly, we’ll teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget. But no, not now.”

Harry and Ron looked stunned at each other. Did she just challenge Malfoy to a duel? Nobody else knew how to react as the bell rang and Snape came out to the hallway to usher the rest of the class into the dungeon.

Before they went in Malfoy muttered in little more than a whisper, “ok mudblood, you’ll have your duel.”

Potions class was torture, as usual. They learned how to make potion that made you depressed, which Harry thought was completely unnecessary, being that the potions class managed to do a magnificent job of that, all on its own.

The bell ending the class seemed to take three and half days, and Harry kept wondering whether it was broken or not. After Harry had doodled another picture of Snape suffering, in the most horrific manner that he could conceive, the bell came finally ending the class.

When all was said and done Professor Snape had managed to take 10 points away from Neville, his second favorite target, behind Harry himself that is, for messing up his potion.

He also left them with- the largest load of homework they had ever received. Apparently, he felt it was just as important to make them just as miserable when they were away from class as they were when they were in it.

They were, however, only too happy to leave after the grinding double period. They dropped off their things in their dormitory and headed to the great hall for dinner. The twins ran up to them and grabbed Harry and Ron.

Fred said, “did you sign up yet for the team.”

With everything that happened in his first day, he completely forgot about it. Apparently Ron did as well, because he had a look as though it was just coming back to him.

“No, not yet, but we will. At least I will,” Harry said, not wanting to answer for Ron.

Ron quickly added, “I will too.”

George said, “excellent. Since we don’t have a captain for the Gryffindor team, and since we need some practice, I booked us the pitch on Wednesday.”

They were both excited. This would be the first time they both played with the Gryffindor team. They sat down to dinner when three owls came and gave them notes. They all said the same thing, you’re prefect orientation will be given tonight after dinner in the room behind the great hall.

They enjoyed dinner, talking about the day’s events, and teasing Hermione for challenging Malfoy like that. She didn’t defend herself, but rather waited until they had gotten it out of their system, and without her fighting back, it became rather boring, and didn’t last very long.

After dinner, they walked up to the front of the hall and past the teachers’ table and into the room behind it. Harry remembered this room, because it was the room that was involved with the tri-wizard tournament. The night of the selection from the goblet of fire, they all were directed into the room, where they received their first instructions. On the last day of the tournament the families of the champions met in the room, and spent the day with them. Mrs. Weasley and their oldest son Bill came on Harry’s behalf.

When they entered the room they saw about a dozen people. He recognized all of them, including Cho, but before he could say anything, the meeting has begun, so he grabbed a seat between Hermione and Ron.

Professor McGonagall entered the room and cleared her throat to get their attention. “First off I would like to welcome you as our newest group of prefects. You were all selected because we feel you can bring something to help current and future students here at Hogwarts.

“As a prefect, you are not only responsible for your own house, but can, and must take care of problems anywhere in the school that you can deal with. You can penalize a student house point, but I seriously remind you not to abuse this.

“If you cannot handle something it is your responsibility to bring it to the attention of a professor, either for guidance, or for assistance as they see fit. We have a long and proud tradition of choosing prefects that have had long and successful careers afterward. Now some of you probably are wondering why you were chosen to be a prefect, am I correct.”

Several of the people in the room nodded their head, including Harry and Ron. McGonagall continued, “we used several criteria to determine who to make a prefect. First, we look at grades. We do not require you to always receive top marks, but they must be at least respectable. Second, we look at the way you interact with your classmates. Lastly, we have looked at how you have affected your houses. We looked at how many points you have gained and lost for your house. When we take all that in account, we have chosen you as the newest group.

“That pretty much covers your duties and responsibilities. As a prefect, you may find yourself dealing with an unexpected situation. We trust that you will be able to use your best judgment, and think what would be the responsible thing that should be done.

“Now before I let you go, I want to briefly discuss some of your privileges. First, you will be able to roam the corridors after hours without permission, since you are responsible for your fellow student behavior we trust you will not abuse this. Second, you all have your own bathroom. It is on the third floor, and the password changes only once a year. This year it is sandbox. Before we finish this seminar are there any questions.”

Either nobody had any questions, or they were afraid to ask, so she let them go and they headed up to the Gryffindor common room. They were tired and when the entered they saw that the common room was completely empty, so they bid each other good night and Hermione left Harry and Ron as she went up to girls’ dormitory. When Harry and Ron got upstairs, their three roommates were all asleep. they quickly changed and went right to sleep.

The next morning at breakfast, as they were serving themselves plates of ham and eggs, they looked at their schedule. They were going to open the day with Herbology, with the Hufflepuffs. A few minutes latter, the hall was filled with owls, each delivering a letter or package to its owner.

Neville usually forgot several things, and as usual, his grandmother would send them to him later on. Ron received some mail from his parents, and Hermione received her copy of the Dailey Prophet. When she got it she opened it and after reading for a few seconds she started shaking the paper frantically, shoving it excitedly into a somewhat bewildered Harry's hands.

Harry looked at the front page and saw a picture of Sirius, with the headline, “Sirius Black Innocent.” Harry read the article below it excitedly.

The Daily Prophet has learned that convicted murderer Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges after a stunning revelation.

It has been learned that Black, whom the ministry was still searching for, had turned up unexpectedly up front of their offices with Peter Pettigrew. With this evidence of his innocence the ministry immediately dropped its conviction of Black.

“We are all terribly embarrassed about this while unpleasant incident. We, of course, apologized, but under the circumstances, with all the dark activities at the time and with you-know-who about, you can understand how this happened,” said Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

Black was believed to have been responsible for murdering Peter Pettigrew, a wizard, in front of a large group of Muggles. Having been convicted without the benefit of a trial, Black had since escaped.

Ever since escaping from Azkaban, the wizard’s prison, a prison that had been believed to be inescapable, he has been traveling in an effort to prove his innocence. In an odd twist of fate, after being taken into custody, Pettigrew also escaped under mysterious circumstances.

Black was believed to have been working for he-who-must-not-be-named. When he had escaped two years ago, many had suspected that he would seek revenge on Harry Potter, the one who had defeated the dark lord.

Black, who oddly enough, has now taken the position of defense against the dark arts teacher at Hogwarts, was unavailable for comment.

With a broad smile, Harry handed the paper to Ron, who quickly read it also, After he was finished, he handed back the paper to Hermione, as Harry was asking her if he could have it when she was done with it.

After breakfast, they headed down to the greenhouses, where they found Professor Sprout waiting in front. Sprout directed them all to greenhouse five. They had just gotten use to greenhouse three and now they were moving again.

“Welcome, fifth years to greenhouse five. We will be going over plants that portray more animal characteristics. Now, there are several different kinds of plants that process these traits. She went over plants that can talk, plant that can walk, even plants that can play games.

“We have already dealt with a plant that has these attributes, can anyone tell me which one it was,” Sprout asked the class.

Hermione shot her hand up.

“Yes, Miss Granger.”

“The mandrake roots.”

“Very good, 10 points for Gryffindor. In your second year we all dealt with mandrakes. They possess many of the attributes that are similar to people. They can talk and walk and even develop relationships. They are extremely valuable in potion making, and helped bring back those students that were petrified that year.”

Sprout was talking about the time the heir of Slytherin, Voldemort, had opened the chamber of secrets and attacked several students and the caretaker’s cat Mrs. Norris with a basilisk. It petrified several students, including Hermione, and after the mandrake draft was prepared, they were all restored.

“Today we will be dealing with the parrot plant. Can anyone tell me about the plant?”

A few people raised their hands, but Hermione was stretching hers high into the air.

“Yes, Miss Granger.”

“The parrot plant, also known as the pantragonus plant, was originally discovered in Argentina. It mimics a person once it has become accustomed to hearing their voice.”

“Excellent, and 10 more points. Now I want you each to grab one and see if you can get it to recognize your voice,” Sprout said.

The class all went up and grabbed the oddly shaped, multicolored plant. Harry had to admit that he felt pretty silly talking to a plant like this. He looked around and saw that the rest of the class seemed to look just as awkward, which helped a little.

After spending the remainder of the class saying everything and anything that could come to mind, the best any of them could do was to get it to look in their general direction.

Afterward they had care of magical creatures, and while they were looking forward to seeing Hagrid again, they were less than thrilled at what he probably had in store for them. Another reason they didn’t enjoy this class as much as they normally would have is because they share it with the Slytherins.

They got there as quickly as they could, because they wanted see Hagrid before class arrived, and also because they didn’t really want to talk Draco and his gang.

They were relieved to see that they were the first at arrive to Hagrid’s hut by the forbidden forest. He was waiting in front with his faithful boarhound, Fang.

“Hello, you three,” Hagrid said as they approached.

“Hello, Hagrid,” they replied in unison.

“I know you are all busy, with school starting and all, but when you get a chance, stop on by for some tea.”

As they promised Hagrid that, they would visit him when they had a chance, the rest of the class started to shuffle in. They were looking less than thrilled, and Harry really couldn’t blame them. Hagrid would never intentionally allow the students to be presented with anything dangerous. The problem though, is that Hagrid didn’t seem to have any concept of what danger was, or at the very least, it was no where near what most people would consider acceptable.

In the four years Harry has spent at Hogwarts he has discovered that Hagrid has befriended a giant spider named Aragog, wrestled with trolls in the forest, bought a three headed dog from someone in a bar, traded with a stranger for a dragons egg, and created an illegal creature called a Blast-Ended-Skrewt. The only good thing Harry could think of the Skrewt was, at least they were managing to kill themselves off, thus eliminating the problem.

“Gather around all. Don’t be shy,” Hagrid said, motioning them toward the pumpkin patch behind his house. “I know what you are all thinking.”

Meanwhile Harry was wondering if Hagrid had any idea what the class was thinking, because when it came to creatures he had an enormous blind spot.

“I bet your thinking, how are we going to beat last year’s class. Well don’t worry. I have just the thing,” Hagrid said proudly.

Everyone went from not knowing whether to be afraid, to knowing to be very afraid.

“Look over to the largest shed over there. We have a rare treat for you,” Hagrid said.

The class walked tentatively toward to the shed. When they got there, they were surprised to see some of the most beautiful creatures they ever saw in Hagrid‘s class. They have the body of a lion the wings of a giant eagle and the face of a human. There were about 20 of them, and while they looked very powerful, they didn’t look intimidating.

“Come on everyone. Step up and take a close look,” Hagrid said.

The class, while they looked with interest at them, nevertheless kept their distance. Harry decided to help out Hagrid again and stepped up. He thought that judging by the size of them, if this didn’t go well, he wouldn’t last long enough to feel anything.

As he approached the closest one, it lowered its head, and Harry, using Crookshanks as an example, started scratching under her ear. When he did this the cat fell on to her back and started to purr. With this the rest of the student ran on to the field and started to follow suit. When he was close up he saw that the things that were sprouting from its back were wings. Did these things actually fly?

“Thanks a lot Harry. Beauties aren’t they,” Hagrid said beaming down at him. He looked around at the class and continued, “they are called Lammasus. Lammasus are said to be noble creatures that look after those that are good. They prey on those creatures that are evil. They are strong creatures they can easily take down larger creatures with its lions claws.

“As you can all see they have wings on their back, and they can fly like birds.. Like cats they are fast, they can see at night and have outstanding hearing. However, they actually learn to fly before they can walk. While they can run at around 50 miles-an-hour and they can fly faster than that, although nobody is certain of how fast they can fly.

“If you want you can even go on a ride on one of them,” Hagrid said.

Harry remembered his first trip on Buckbeak. It was not very comfortable, but he did it for Hagrid. Looking around he saw nobody else was going to step up, so he did.

“Very good Harry,” Hagrid said. “Now, grab it by the small of the backs, and when it unfurls it’s wings you can mount it behind it’s front legs.”

Harry did this, and after he got on the cat looked around at him. When Harry nodded, he turned back and started to jog. After he built up some speed, he spread his wings and took off gently. This was much better than Buckbeak, although not as good as his Spitfire was. He was flying around the class, gaining speed. The faster they went the more it became difficult to keep his balance. After a few minutes he figured out how to direct the creature he was on. After a little bit more, he steered it back to land beside the group. The rest of the class followed suit, each taking their turn.

Hagrid pulled Harry aside from the rest of the class and said, “do you like the gift I sent you?”

“I love it, but it must have cost you a small fortune. I can’t possibly accept it,” Harry said.

Hagrid patted Harry on his back, almost causing him to fall over, and said, “nonsense Harry, Olympe, and I want you to have it.”

“How is Madam Maxime doing,” Harry asked.

“Wonderful,” Hagrid said.

“I bet you hope we play a match over there,” Harry said, looking at Hagrid’s expression.

Hagrid, as if snapping back to the present said, “speaking of the matches, have you begun practicing yet?”

“No, not yet. We have our first practice tomorrow.”

“Very good. With only one team the tryouts will be intense, so I want you to be careful. Ok?”

“Ok,” Harry said as the rest of the class started to land. Harry was happy to see that Malfoy was grabbing his cat around the neck and was looking a little green.

After the bell rang, the class went to their common room to clean up before they went down to lunch. When they were almost at the great hall Harry heard Sirius call him, Harry told Ron and Hermione that he will meet them at the Gryffindor table. They said ok, and walked in with the rest of the class.

“Harry, I want a word with you,” Sirius said as he approached,

“I also need to talk to you,” Harry said.

“In that case, we should have some privacy” Sirius said. and led him toward his office. When they got there he motioned Harry toward a seat next to his desk and sat down opposite hum. “You first then.”

Harry told him everything that happened since his last letter, even mentioning what was going on with Hermione. Sirius just sat there, looking intently, waiting making sure that Harry had actually finished before he spoke.

Sirius took a deep breath said, “interesting, very interesting. You said you saw a group of Death Eaters around Voldemort, What were they doing?”

“They were just standing there as Voldemort berated them.”

“Berated them? What for?”

“For letting me escape. He also ripped into Wormtail for, what did he say, for his carelessness.”

“Good, very good. That is when he said that he had an assignment for them, Did he say anything about it.”

“No, only that it was important, especially for Wormtail.”

“Interesting, very interesting.” Sirius repeated. “I also want you to know that I am very proud of you for giving the Firebolt to Ron like that.”

“I thought that you would see it my way, Ron really deserves it.”

“I completely agree, and I am very proud that you did it on your own, however, about Hermione. You are having these dreams about her and the two of you flew together during the holiday, and you heard her speak to her mother about you?”

“Well, yes, but we are just friends.”

Sirius considered him for a few seconds before saying, “are you sure?”

“What do you mean?”

“All I am saying is that if you are sure, well, you have to take other people’s feelings into consideration, I am not telling you what to do, because let’s face it I don’t exactly have the best track record in this area, but all I am saying is that if you are absolutely certain you shouldn’t lead her on.”

“I don’t even know for sure if she feels anything for me.” Harry, wanting to get off the subject, quickly asked, "Did you want to see me for something?”

“Oh, yes. I have something for you. Your mother presented this to your father when he became Quidditch captain,” Sirius said as he gave him a beautiful burgundy and gold watch, It had a moving picture of the Gryffindor lion on it’s face. “I hope it gives you luck for the try outs.”

“My father was Quidditch captain?”

“Yes he was, even though he took the title reluctantly.”

Harry hasn’t had a watch since his was destroyed in the second task of last years tournament. He put it on and it felt almost as nice as it looked. The two of them went down to the great hall. When he reached the door Ron and Hermione were just exiting.

“Sorry about that, but there were a few thing we needed to talk about alone. I hope you understand.”

They both nodded, and Hermione gave him something wrapped in some napkins and said, “I realized you probably were too busy to eat anything so I made this for you.”

It was a sandwich, and Harry thanked her and ate it on their way to transfiguration class. As they grabbed the table in the back of the class, Ron noticed something.

Ron asked Harry, “what’s that on your wrist?”

Harry picked up his arm to show the two of them and said, “Sirius gave it to me, It belonged to my father. My mother had given it to him when he became Quidditch captain.”

Hermione the started, “your dad was head boy and,” but before she could finish her thought Ron interrupted her.

“Bloody hell, Quidditch captain too.” Ron seemed to be more impressed by this than the fact he was head boy.

Hermione seemed to disagree, but before they could get into a discussion over the merits on whether was more impressive, Professor McGonagall got their attention.

“Before we begin class today I have an announcement to make. First, the Quidditch tryouts will be held in the stadium on the morning of Halloween, and we will announce the members of the team as well as the schedule that night, anybody who is interested in trying out should tell me at the end of class today.

“Second, after the Halloween feast there will be the first of our two balls this year. The ball will be open to any student in their fourth year or above. All members of the school Quidditch team must come escorted, so if you believe that you might be on the team, I would prepare as soon as possible.

“Now, up to this point on class we have been turning living creatures into inanimate objects. Today we will learn how to turn inanimate objects into living creatures. We will start by turning these feather dusters into birds.”

By the end of the class Hermione was the only person to manage to turn hers into a proper bird. Harry had managed to turn his into a bird but it was still inanimate, Ron somehow got his feather duster to fly and Seamus had set two of them on fire by the end of the class.

At the end of the lesson, Harry and Ron went up to Professor McGonagall along with several other students to tell her that they were going to try out for the team. Afterward they went up to their dormitory and put their things away. Ron turned to Harry and asked, “who are you going ask to go to the ball with you?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea. How about you?”

“Me? I am not even sure that I am going to make the team. I mean the house team is one thing, but against the whole school, that’s quite another.”

“You heard what McGonagall said. If you think you might make the team you should be prepared, besides I think you have a really good shot at it.”

When they went down to the common room, Hermione wasn’t there. Harry figured that since they took a while, that she went ahead of them. When Harry and Ron reached the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall they didn’t find her there either. They figured that she was probably at the place she usually was when she wasn’t with them, the library.

They sat down and served themselves dinner, when all of sudden Hermione turned up looking flustered. They looked at her, and then at each other.

Harry asked her, “what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” she said, but it was very apparent that this was most definitely not the case,

Ron persisted “come on Hermione, what’s going on?”

“It’s just that Neville,” Hermione started.

Harry asked, “what about Neville?”

“Well, he asked me to the ball and,” Hermione continued.

Ron prodded her, “and?”

“I said no. He looked devastated. He ran away, crying, and I tried to run after him, find him, but I couldn’t.”

Harry and Ron had to do everything in their power to stop from falling on the floor with laughter. They thought Neville was a nice enough, and considered him a friend, but couldn’t help but think that this was incredibly funny. Last year Neville had asked Hermione to the ball. She turned him down, because at the time she was already going with Krum.

Harry, when he was able to regain his composure, asked, “what exactly happened?”

“When I came down to the common room tonight Neville came up to me. He asked me to go to the ball with him. I wasn’t expecting this, so he taken me by surprise.”

Ron muttered under his breath, “yeah, who could have possibly seen that coming, maybe, if she didn’t drop divination…”

Hermione ignored Ron, and continued, “well, I didn’t want to hurt him, of course, I told him that I liked him and I just wanted to stay friends.”

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes and exchanged really disgusted looks to each other. Harry has only been on one date and never been in a relationship, but even he knew that was the last thing in the world a guy wants to hear.

Hermione had a puzzled look on her face and asked, “what did I do wrong?”

Harry said, in as gentle a voice as he could muster, “Hermione, I know you think you were doing the right thing, but.”

Ron continued in anything but a gentle voice, “what were you thinking. That is the last thing in the world any guy wants to hear, and you have to know how he feels about you.”

Hermione sobbed, “what should I have done?”

Harry looked in her eyes and said, “I know you were put in a difficult position, but you need to take other people’s feeling into consideration in a situation like this.” As Ron was nodding next to him all Harry could do was think of Sirius telling him the pretty much the same thing earlier that day, and now he understood, perhaps for the first time.

After dinner, they went to Hagrid’s hut. As they sat around Hagrid’s table, he made them some tea and some rock cakes, as he asked how there day went.

When Hermione told him what she did, the boys smirked while Hagrid winced at first, but afterward he was far more sympathetic than either Harry or Ron.

After Hermione finished explaining what had happened, Hagrid said, “don’t worry Hermione, Neville will get over it. It’s really no big deal.”

They went to bed early that night. The next day will be their first Quidditch practice of the year, and they needed the rest. Harry, however had a difficult time going to sleep, not only was he nervous for Ron, but he still couldn’t get Hermione out of his head.

Harry was so preoccupied all day that during charms class, when they were learning the deflating charm, forcing flying things to land, he kept missing his target. Harry once missed the balloon that he was supposed to be aiming at, and struck Parvati’s hair in front of him instead. She gave Harry a nasty look. Flitwick immediately corrected this mistake, and Ron found it very funny, but Harry hardly noticed.

After lunch, they had History of magic. When Harry finally woke up at the end of class, he went up to his dormitory with Ron and grabbed his Quidditch equipment. They ran down to the Quidditch pitch and met up with the remainder of the Gryffindor team.

There were the twins, Fred and George, as the Beaters. There were the three chasers, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell, whom also returned. In fact, the only member not to return was Wood, who is now on the Puddlemere United Reserve Team, and now the remaining five players will be graduating at the end of the year.

All of the players met in the locker room and after they changed nobody said anything, so Harry decided to step forward. As he cleared his throat, the entire team looked at him.

“I know that I am not the most senior player, and I am not even the best player on the team either but I just wanted to say something. I didn’t know Oliver as long, or as well, as the rest of you, bur I know that he would be chomping at the bit for an opportunity like this.

“There is no reason that the seven of us can’t represent the school in this tournament. We aren’t just the best team collectively, but we are also the best team individually. I understand this is your last year and I think that we can finish it with another championship.”

Since nobody said anything, Harry sat down next to Ron and waited. The twins looked at him and Fred gave Harry a wink, and got up.

Fred said, “Harry’s right, we can do this, come on.”

They all ran on to the field and had a pretty intense workout, The chasers were beating Ron on a pretty regular basis. After a while, some more of the Gryffindors joined them, and they had enough to have a full match.

Just about everyone was there, even Neville seemed to get over Hermione sufficiently enough to show up. Neville was playing as the opposing keeper, and was doing so badly that after a while Katie, looking sympathetically toward him, just threw the Quaffle right into his chest, so he would have at least one save. Unfortunately, when she did this it almost unseated Neville off his broom.

The next month and a half was exhausting. In addition to all the Quidditch practice they could get, they also had so much homework. If that wasn’t enough, on top of that Hermione had started scheduling O.W.L. practice sessions for all three of them. When Harry was leaving Quidditch practice one morning, he ran into Cho.

“Hello Harry,” Cho said.

“Hello Cho.”

Harry was walking with Ron when Cho asked if she could have a word with him in private. Ron looked at him, gave him a little bit of a grin, and said that he will see him latter.

Once Ron was out of earshot Cho said, “Harry, I want to ask you about the Halloween ball. Are you going with anybody yet?”

“No, not yet. How about you?”

“No. So I was wondering, would be interested in being my escort for the night?”

Harry couldn’t believe his luck. Ever since he first met her in a Quidditch match in his third year he was attracted to her. He tried to compose himself, not wanting to appear nervous.

“Ok, I would love to,” Harry said in the most relaxed voice he could muster.

Cho smiled, and said, “I’ll meet you in front of the Great Hall then.”

Harry said ok and walked back to the Gryffindor common room, where Ron was waiting for him.

“Well, what happened?”

“She asked me to the ball,” Harry said as they sat next to Hermione.

Ron waited and finally asked, “and what did you say?”

“I said yes,” and when Harry said this, Hermione took her eyes off the book she was reading, looked at him for a moment, and then returned to her reading,

Ron meanwhile looked amazed, asked, “what does it feel like to have anything you want Harry?”

“I don’t have everything I want,” Harry said defensively, before he quickly changed the added, “have you asked anyone yet, Ron?”

Ron went slightly pink, as he stammered, “me, uh, no, not yet.”

“Well, you should. I mean, we only have a week left before the ball. How about you Hermione?”

Hermione immediately changed the subject to their schoolwork without answering his question. Taking the hint, he didn’t press the subject any further.

On the last practice session before the Quidditch tryouts the Gryffindors were down to only 10 people showing up, most of the students stopped showing up after a couple of sessions. After the practice, on the way to their dormitory, Ron asked Harry an interesting question.

“How are they going to select the team members?”

Harry thought about for a minute. He really didn’t have any idea how they were going to be selecting the squad, Maybe they will use a hat, or a broom in this case, to make the choices, like the sorting hat does, or maybe they will have a person, like Madam Hooch, pick the players. Harry simply shrugged.

Harry spent the night wondering about Ron’s question. In a fair competition, he felt he had a good chance. However, what if this wasn’t fair? What if Snape was the one to select the team? After a while, despite this depressing thought, Harry eventually fell asleep.

The next morning Harry and Ron, escorted by Hermione, where among the first to arrive at the Quidditch stadium. Fred and George, who were already there, walked up to them. Harry asked the twins if they knew how they will be selecting the team.

Fred said, “well, we heard,” but before he could continue, Madam Hooch called them over.

“First I would like to thank you all for showing up. I also would like to wish all of you good luck. We are going to be selecting a starter and a reserve for each position. We will be starting with the beaters, and then we will be moving on to the chasers, then the keepers and lastly the seekers.

“When your turn is over, you may either wait in the stands for the rest of the tryouts, or you may return to your house common room. We will announce the team’s roster tonight during the feast. Now, those who will be trying for the beater position, follow me, and everyone else proceed to the locker room. I will come for you when we are ready.”

About eight other people went with the twins and Madam Hooch, Including Dean and Seamus. As Harry and Ron grabbed seats on the bench next to each other in the locker room, Cho approached them,

“I wanted to wish you luck Harry, and you too Ron.”

“Thanks Cho, and the same to you,” Harry said.

”Yeah, good luck to you too,” Ron said and as she was walking out of earshot he said in a lower voice, “you’re going to need it.”

Malfoy, as he approached Harry and Ron holding proudly his Nimbus 2001, looked at their Brooms and dropped his own.

“Weasel, where in the world did you get one of those?”

Ron could see now what Harry had been talking about earlier. The look on Malfoy’s face was precious.

Ron didn’t say anything, so Malfoy continued, “your family couldn’t afford one of those in a million years. Where did you get it?”

Ron grinned and said, “from something that you never had, and probably never will have.”

“Oh yeah, and what exactly is that, Weasel?” Malfoy said with his usual sneer.

“From a true friend,” as Ron said this Harry beamed at him and the rest of the locker room exploded with laughter. With that, Malfoy sulked away into the corner of the locker room, without uttering another word.

After that, the locker room became quiet again. Apparently, everyone was so nervous about the tryouts that they were too nervous to talk. After about an hour Madam Hooch returned and called on the people who were trying out for chaser. Harry and Ron wished Alicia, Katie and Angelina luck. Harry, however felt that they were the best in the school and had no doubt that they should be selected.

Ron was looking through a Quidditch book that Hermione had given him, apparently trying to get any edge that he could. Harry thought that this was a good idea, but was surprised Ron, who didn’t exactly like to read, would be doing this.

After about 90 minutes, Madam Hooch returned. She called for those whom were trying out for the keeper position to come with her. Harry whispered to Ron, “you’ll be great. Just relax.”

When they left, there was just Harry, Cho and Malfoy as the only ones remaining in the locker room.

Harry was thinking of strategy again. Maybe he will try that Wronski Feint for the first time. He wondered how they were going to test them. They probably were going to release a snitch and see who would be the first with a capture.

An hour latter Madam Hooch returned and called the last three of them to follow her. When Harry went to the pitch, he saw in the stands Ron was sitting next to Hermione. They were waving at him now, so he waved back. In addition to Ron and Hermione, there were Fred, George and several other members that had tried out in the stands. Something took him by surprise. He saw Charlie Weasley, Ron’s second oldest brother, and Wood was there as well. Harry wondered what they were doing here. Maybe they were just here to watch the competition. Madam Hooch gathered them into the center of the pitch and began to tell them what was going to happen,

“This is the fourth and final part of the team trials, for the position of seeker. When we begin, we will release ten golden snitches. You will have precisely one hour to catch as many as you possibly can. When you catch one, you must release it, and it cannot be caught again for three minutes. To calculate how many you capture, and to make sure you don’t capture any illegally, we have recruited the assistance of several of your former captains to judge this.”

When he heard this, he saw Roger Davies, the former Ravenclaw captain, Marcus Flint, the former Slytherin Captain, and several other people he didn’t recognize.

Madam Hooch continued, “I will release the snitches, and you will mount your brooms. After ten seconds, I will blow my whistle and you will take off. After one hour, I will blow my whistle again and you will land. Do you all understand?”

After the three of them nodded, she opened a wooden crate and ten snitches were suddenly flying in all directions. Harry mounted his Spitfire and waited for the first whistle. At this point, his heart was almost beating out of his chest. She blew her whistle and he kicked off the ground hard.

He was flying fast off the ground when he spotted his first snitch. He flew as fast as he could and grabbed it, raised it for a second, and released it. After he twisted, he saw another one. Apparently, Cho saw it too, and she was closer, so he rocketed over and beat her to it. He smiled at her as he released it.

He went up higher to get a better look at the field when he saw Malfoy about to catch a snitch that he was only about a foot away from. Harry somehow got there in time to grab it just before Malfoy was able to clamp his hand on it. Before Malfoy could say anything Harry released his third capture and flew clear across the field.

After about 15 minutes, the most difficult part was remembering which ones you could capture, and which ones to ignore since they had already been captured less than three minutes ago. Harry decided that after about 20 minutes he didn’t care if the snitches were good or not and he caught as many as he could get to first. He figured he would just catch as many as possible and let the judges sort them out later. After about 30 minutes, Harry figured that he caught about 30 snitches, but only 14 or 15 were good captures.

When the second whistle blew an hour after he took off, Harry released his last snitch and landed on the ground. Harry stopped counting a while ago, but he figured he probably caught about 80 snitches, however he also thought that perhaps only 30 or so where going to actually count. He hoped that was going to be enough.

After he dismounted, a moment later Cho and Malfoy landed near him. While Malfoy, who had a nasty look on his face, left the pitch without saying anything, Cho was smiling at Harry, and congratulating him on his performance. With a smile, she reminded him that she would meet him in the entrance hall tonight, before the ball.

After Harry left the field, he found Ron and Hermione waiting for him in front of the locker room. Ron looked at him uncomfortably, and started to say something to him before his twin brothers, Fred and George, interrupted him.

Fred jumped from behind Harry and shouted, “brilliant Harry, just brilliant.”

George pushed Fred aside and said, “yeah, you really kicked their butts out their Harry.”

”How did the rest of us do?” Harry asked the twins. Since the beaters went first they would have seen the entire competition.

“Great. I think we really nailed this down,” Fred said.

“I agree. Even Ron over here did well enough,” George said.

Lee Jordan, who announced all of the school Quidditch matches, came over. He was congratulating them all, on their performances. Harry could now tell Ron really wanted to speak with him, so he excused himself, and went up to the dormitory. A few seconds later, Ron joined him.

“Congratulations Ron. The twins seem to think you did well enough to make the team.”

“Yeah, but...” Ron was still visibly nervous.

“What’s wrong Ron?” Harry was now starting to get concerned. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine it’s just, well, there is something I need to tell you.”

Harry sat down on the corner of his four-poster and asked, “what is it?”

“You know the ball tonight?”

”Yeah,” Harry said, finally thinking he knew what the problem was. “You weren’t able to get an escort for tonight?”

“No, that’s not exactly the problem.”

Harry was getting frustrated, as he asked, “well. What is it then?”

“I. I mean, you didn’t ask her, and well,” Ron was getting pinker by the second.

“Ron, calm down and tell me what you are talking about,” Harry said in as calm a voice as he could muster.

“You see, Hermione, well,” and Ron stopped again, leaving his though incomplete.

“What about Hermione?”

“I asked her out,” Ron blurted out.

Harry was a little surprised, but Ron had done the same thing last year, so he asked, “and what happened?”

“She said yes,” Ron was now talking to Harry’s feet by this point. “I asked her after my turn on the Quidditch tryouts were over.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Well, it’s just that, since I know you have feelings for her,” Ron said.

“What are you talking about Ron? We‘re just friends. You know that,” Harry said.

“That’s what you say, but you can’t see yourself when you're around her.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you,” Ron said, as he laughed.

“Ok, Hermione,” Harry said, as they both were laughing now.

They went down to the common room, where they found Hermione waiting for them, having a nervous look on her face.

“Everything ok,” she asked, tentatively.

“Yeah,” they said together, and Hermione looked relieved.

That night, as Harry went down to dinner with Hermione and Ron, he was pleased to find that Oliver and Charlie were still there. They were sitting at their old house table, waiting for the feast to begin, while Fred and George were harassing them for the results of the tryouts. The three of them joined them, sitting down across the table from the pair of alumnus

“Hello Oliver, Charlie,” Harry said.

Charlie beamed at him, greeting him, “hello Harry, good to see you again.”

“Great job today, Harry. You have developed into quite a player,” Oliver said.

“I agree, Harry that was an excellent bit of flying today.”

Harry was a little embarrassed by this, thinking that he didn’t do that great a job.

“I got frustrated after a while, trying to figure out which ones were good, so after a while I caught anything I could get my hands on,” Harry said.

Charlie grinned and said, “yeah, and you frustrated the heck out of the other two, because everything they were about to catch, you caught first.”

Oliver turned to Ron and said, “that was a really good job you did out there Ron, I was impressed.”

Ron was looking a little pink, “I gave up a bunch of goals though.”

“Ron, you were facing three chasers, without any defense, and without any Bludgers. Of course you are going to give up goals, but you still gave a very presentable performance,” Oliver said.

Noticing that Ron was turning rather red by now, Harry decided to change the conversation.

“How do you like it with Puddlemere, Oliver?”

Oliver brightened up immediately, “I love it there. We had a pretty good season last year, and I am hoping to make the starting team this season.”

Harry turned to Charlie and asked, “how are the dragons treating you in Romania?”

“Things are just great, thanks,” Charlie said, smiling at Harry.

Oliver looked appalled, “you were a brilliant seeker Charlie, and you threw that all away. You could have played for England.”

“So they would have lost 240-160 instead of 390-10. Besides, I love what I do.”

“You were the best seeker that I ever saw,” Oliver said. “until Harry, that is.”

Harry turned very red at this, however Charlie appeared to take it in his stride.

“At least I’m not a second string keeper on a lousy team,” Charlie calmly replied.

Things were getting ugly and Harry didn’t like this at all, so he looked to Hermione, who remained unusually quiet.

Before she could say anything, Dumbledore stood up and the hall went quiet.

“Welcome everyone. We have a very special night in store for you. After the Halloween feast we are going to have our special Halloween Ball. The ball will start at midnight precisely and will continue for as long as any of you wish to partake.

“The usual curfew has been temporarily suspended for this evening. However, every place that is usually out of bounds to students, shall continue to be,” Dumbledore, said, eyeing the twins. Needless to say, they didn’t look to thrilled to hear this reminder.

“You will have ample opportunity to prepare for the ball tonight after the feast,” Dumbledore continued. Hermione, along with several of the other girls, didn’t look too thrilled at this. Last year it took her the better part of six hours to get ready, although Harry very much doubted that she would spend anywhere near that time for a date with Ron.

“I would like to welcome our illustrious alumnus to tonight's festivities. They, along with their escorts, will be joining us for the ball. While I know you are all looking forward to our scrumptious feast, I have a very special announcement. There is a little matter of announcing the starting members of the first unified Hogwarts Quidditch team.”

There was a sudden buzz in the hall, and Dumbledore waited a few minutes for it to die away before he began.

“Before I announce the members of the team I would like to congratulate each and every student who tried out for the team. The turnout was better than we could have hoped for, and you all performed admirably. Unfortunately, we cannot take everyone, and this was by no means an easy decision. Those of you whom did not make the team will be relied upon to show support for those who did. You will be contributing in a very real, and important manner by doing this.

“So with no further ado, the starting Hogwarts Quidditch team. Where is that list? I had it here somewhere,” Dumbledore said as he fumbled through his robes.

Finally, McGonagall handed him a role of parchment and he said, “ah, ahem, yes, here we go. First, the starting beaters will be, whom many people have called the human Bludgers, although they certainly cause more trouble and damage than any Bludgers I have ever seen, Fred and George Weasley.”

Most of the hall applauded, with the Gryffindors making up for the silence of the Slytherins.

“Next, the Chasers. I have to admit this was a particularly difficult one to pick. First, you all played extremely well, but unlike the other positions, chasers must work as a unit. The more experience a group of chasers have with each other, the better they perform, especially against the quality of teams that we will be facing.

“So, after a considerable amount of consideration, we have made our selection, because as good as they are individually, and trust me they are very talented, as a group they are one of the best sets that we have had in a long time.

“So, the chasers are, in no particular order, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet.”

Once again, the crowd applauded loudly at this selection. When the noise once again subsided, Dumbledore continued.

“Next, as for the keeper, and since all of the keepers from our last house tournament have graduated we will be starting someone new this year. Once again, this was a difficult choice, but after a long session, we have come to a decision. The person that was chosen has had several members of their family that are, or have been, members of their house Quidditch team over the years. We feel that he should be able to live up to the high standard of play that his family has demonstrated. Now help me in congratulating our starting keeper, none other than Ronald Weasley.”

The crowd applauded loudly at the news, but the entire of the Gryffindor table was smothering him. Harry was thrilled at this news. He felt that Ron deserved a chance to have his name in the spotlight for a change.

After a few minutes to allow the Gryffindor table to return to their positions, Dumbledore once again went on, picking up a golden chalice with a picture of a broom and a golden snitch etched on it along with a name Harry couldn’t see properly.

“And lastly, we have our starting seeker. I would like to take a moment beforehand to make another announcement if I could. Last year the school lost someone near and dear to everyone in Cedric Diggory. Cedric, the former Hufflepuff seeker, was taken in a cold, cruel and malicious act by a coward, and will never be forgotten. However, to make sure of this we are starting a tradition at Hogwarts.

“Starting from this point forward we will present an award to the player who most represents bravery, courage and determination that epitomized the late Hufflepuff Captain. This will be known as the Cedric Diggory Memorial Trophy. To that end, I hope you all will join with me in honoring him, by supporting the effort to capture the Quidditch cup for Hogwarts this year.

“Now, for the seeker, we have selected a player who in many ways, show the determination, courage and leadership that made Cedric so special. This person has overcome a number of obstacles that would have made a lesser person falter, maybe even stop trying altogether, however, perseverance is one of the candidate’s many endeavoring qualities, and the seeker should prove to be an enormous asset in what should be an extremely difficult tournament.

“So, once again I ask you in joining me, not only in welcoming our new seeker, but also our first recipient of the first annual Cedric Diggory Memorial Trophy, Harry Potter.”

The hall exploded with applause. Even the Hufflepuffs were applauding loudly, which Harry was pleased to see. The Slytherins were quiet and moping, which made Harry very happy.

This time it was Harry’s turn to be swarmed by his classmates. When Hermione got through the crowd, she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

After a long time eventually, the hall calmed down enough for Dumbledore to tell them that the feast shall begin, as their plates and goblets filled and they enjoyed a very pleasant meal. Most of the girls left early, including Hermione, presumably to get ready for the ball.

After they finished their dessert, the rest of the students went up to their dormitory to prepare. Harry and Ron were busy congratulating each other on their way up. After a few minutes, Harry and Ron finished preparing for the ball, and talked a little bit more about the upcoming tournament.

Harry had to admit that Ron looked much better in his new robes then he did last year. When he was looking him over, he noticed that Ron was holding something in his hands that looked a lot like a flower.

“What’s that?”

Ron looked a little embarrassed, and said, “my mum told me to give this to Hermione. It’s a corsage.”

Harry suddenly felt like an idiot for not thinking of that himself.

When Harry and Ron went to the common room, he saw several people meeting up there. Fred was going with Angelina again. He went out with her in the last ball. George was going out with Katie.

“I’m going to wait for Hermione here,” Ron said.

“I’m going downstairs to wait for Cho,” Harry said, still not really believing that he was actually going out with her.

Harry got downstairs and saw several other people waiting for their partners. After several minutes, Cho came strolling up from her house dormitory.

Harry’s jaw dropped. He was stunned. He always thought that Cho was pretty, but the way she looked tonight was incredible.

Harry, finally closed his mouth, and after composing himself all he was able to say was, “you look nice Cho.”

Cho smiled, flashed her baby blue eyes at him, and said, “thanks Harry, so do you.”

They were talking for a couple of minutes when something unexpected happened. His two friends were coming downstairs from the common room, and what Harry saw amazed him.

Hermione was wearing her burgundy and gold robes, although he was surprised at how she looked in them. Harry was picturing how she had strolled into the entrance with Krum last year, and how much he hadn’t expected her to look the way she did. This time it wasn’t as much of a shock, but he couldn’t help but think that she was even prettier then last year, if that was possible.

Harry noticed that his jaw had dropped again, and he closed it as quickly as possible. Looking at Hermione made him think of how Ron reacted when he saw Harry’s Spitfire. The Firebolt was brilliant, but when you compare it to something that is that precious, it looks quite ordinary by comparison.

Cho gave him a disapproving look, but didn’t say anything. Harry, realizing the way that he was staring at his friends, turned and tried to focus his attention on Cho. He looked around and saw that several of the students looked very nice, especially Parvati and Padma Patil, but Harry felt that he and Ron were with the two best-looking girls in the school.

Professor McGonagall got their attention. “In a few minutes you will enter the great hall for the ball. When you do, you will take your assigned seats at your respective tables. The members of the school Quidditch team will follow a few minutes latter with their escorts.”

After a minute, everyone was gone, except for the team members, and their escorts. Besides Harry and Cho, Ron and Hermione, Fred and Angelina, George and Katie, the only others were Alicia, and her escort Lee.

After a few minutes, they entered in pairs, strolling along the hall to an empty table at the far end. Fred whispered to Harry, “last year Parvati, and this year Cho. Not bad at all.”

Harry looked at him and said, “you guys didn’t do too badly either.”

George grinned, “too true.” The two of them put their arms around their dates and continued walking. They sat down at the head table and waited for the ball to start. They interchanged boy and girls at each of the tables and Harry wound up sitting down between Cho and Hermione.

When everyone took their places Dumbledore, now wearing handsome dress robes of silver and black, rose up, and said, while we prepare for the evening’s festivities, please take this opportunity to talk among yourselves."

Harry looked at Hermione, and was going to say something, when he felt something on his hand. He looked over and saw that Cho was, not so subtly, trying to catch his attention. When he looked over again, he saw that Ron was doing the same thing.

They talked for a while, until they saw the headmaster take his position. He got up and introduced the band that will be playing at the ball. Harry remembered the name from the wizarding radio in the Weasleys’ house. When the Wandering Wizards were announced, the students stood up in applause. After they got up the tables were moved to the side to allow people to dance. Cho grabbed him by the hand, and the two of them started dancing.

Harry now was where he had been dreaming of for the past three years. He was dancing with Cho. She was extremely pretty, and she was perfectly nice. So the question was why wasn’t he happy? He looked across the hall and saw Ron and Hermione dancing and he suddenly felt ill. However, the sight of his two best friends like this really unnerved him, although he wasn’t sure why.

He peered closer and saw they were talking. He was trying to see if he could make out what they were saying, but they were too far away. Meanwhile he was completely ignoring the girl who was less than six inches from him.

Cho must have been talking to him, but he was so preoccupied that he didn’t notice until he felt a pain in his shin. Apparently she kicked him, and he finally looked at her properly again.

“Earth to Harry. Are you in there?”

“Were you saying something?”

“I said congratulations on making the school team.”

“Thanks Cho,“ Harry said. “I’m sorry. I guess I have things on my mind.”

“I can see that,” Cho said, looking from him toward Hermione. “Is there something going on between you two?”

Harry was confused, “what are you talking about?”

“Look, I may have been born on a Tuesday, but it wasn’t last Tuesday. I can see how you are looking at her. Is there something going on?”

“No, were just friends.”

“Can I ask you something Harry?”

“Anything.”

“When I asked you out, why did you say yes?”

Harry was really taken aback by the bluntness of the question. “What do you mean?”

“Listen, Harry, I know why I asked you out, but I want to know why did you agree to escort me?”

Harry, uncertain on what to say at this point said the first thing that came to his mind, “I like you.” He knew that this was a lame answer as soon as it came out of his mouth.

Cho considered him for a few seconds and said, “you like me? If the truth be told, you really don’t know me at all. I mean you say you like me, but what do you really know about me.

“Do you know where I am from? Do you know what my parents do? Do you know where I spend my holidays? Do you know what I want to do after I leave school? Do you even know who any of my friends are? In fact, the only thing you know about me is that I used to date Cedric and I am the seeker for the Ravenclaw house team.

“Look, from what I know about you Harry, I like you too, and yes, I would like to get to know you better, but before that can happen you have got to get over this, because otherwise you will never be able to give anyone the attention they deserve.

“You go and do what you got to do to get over this.” Cho gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, “If you are right, and you are just friends, you know where to find me, and I will be more than willing to give you another opportunity to do this properly.”

Harry was unprepared for anything like this. Hermione was with Ron now, and he had to face that. Harry said, “I don’t want to spoil her night.”

Cho smiled, and said, “it doesn’t look like she is having that great a time anyway.” Cho nodded over to Hermione who was sitting alone in a corner of the hall.

Harry hesitated until Cho said, “go on. Get it over with”

Harry took a deep breath and walked over to Hermione, whom he finally noticed was wearing the corsage that Ron had earlier.

“Hello Hermione. Where‘s Ron?”

Hermione smiled as he walked over, and said, “he went to get some drinks, and where’s Cho?”

“She had to powder her nose,” Harry lied. “You look nice tonight.”

“Thanks, and so do you.”

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Oh, yeah. I though this was going to be weird, but it has been very comfortable.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

“Congratulations on making the school team.”

“Thanks,” Harry continued quickly before he had an opportunity to lose his nerve, “look Hermione, I need to talk to you about something.”

Hermione looked a little curious, “go ahead. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I think we need a little privacy for this though.”

“Wont Cho miss you then?”

Harry, seeing Cho already dancing with someone else, said, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”

“Ok. Let’s go for a walk.”

“Wont Ron miss you?”

Looking a little guilty, Hermione said, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”

The two of them quietly exited the great hall, went through the main doors, and walked toward the lake. It was a little chilly, so there weren’t many people outside.

After they walked a couple of minutes, Hermione looked at Harry and said, “What is it then?”

“What’s what?”

Hermione hit his arm softly, and said, “don’t be silly. You wanted to talk to me about something, right?”

Harry was flustered. He really didn’t know where to begin. After a minute, he finally said tentatively, “well, you see, the thing is, what I really mean.” Harry wasn’t able to finish his thought, because he was busy thinking to himself that those must be the sweetest eyes he has ever seen.

Hermione, speaking softly and slowly said, “what are you talking about?”

Harry knew what he felt, but wasn’t exactly the most eloquent speaker, so he couldn’t think of exactly what to say. Finally, Harry said slowly, “Hermione, I have been thinking a lot about you lately. I value your friendship too much too much to say or do anything to jeopardize that.”

Hermione, who was facing Harry now, seemed to have lost her voice, but simply nodded.

“If I am wrong about this, I hope you can forgive me,” Harry said, as he slowly leaned forward, and placed a small, soft, gentle kiss on her lips. It was awkward, and probably very uncomfortable, but at least she knew how he felt. Harry pulled away quickly, not really knowing what to expect.

When Hermione didn’t move, when she didn’t say or do anything, Harry’s nerve had a chance to stiffen again and he placed his hand behind Hermione’s neck and leaned in more forcefully. This was a much better kiss. First off, he was a lot less nervous that she might run away screaming. Second, he was actually able to breathe this time, which helped a lot.

After a couple of seconds, he felt Hermione put her arms around his neck, and started to return his kiss. Harry could actually feel her heart beat against his, and he didn’t want this to end. After a while they finally broke their embrace, Harry looked in her eyes, and she in his, and when she returned his smile, he knew things were never going to be the same ever again.

Harry was happy, really happy, perhaps for the first time in his life. He was happier than when he found out about Hogwarts, happier than when he first flew, happier than when they won the house cup, happier than when they won the Quidditch cup, perhaps even happier than when Sirius told him he was going to leave to Dursleys.

They spent the next couple of hours in front of the lake, talking and kissing, then kissing and talking. Before they knew what was happening the sun was starting to rise. They went back to the castle hand in hand, hardly believing that this had actually happened. When they reached the entrance, they found Cho and Ron waiting for them in front of the Great hall with the remnants of the party.

When Cho saw them, she simply nodded and walked away. Ron, on the other hand was in a state of utter disbelief. He saw the two of them, looked down at their joined hands, which they quickly released, and ran upstairs, without a word.

“I’ve got to go, Hermione.”

“I understand, Harry,” Hermione said, and she gave him a quick little kiss before he ran after Ron.

Harry bolted up the stairway after his other best friend. He knew that this was not going to be pretty, but he had to do this. When he was in front of the fat lady, it took him a few moments to remember the password. He said the first thing that came to mind, and the fat lady, who apparently also spent the night partying said, “whatever.” and let him in.

Harry ran up the stairs to the boys’ dormitory, where he found Ron in front of their room, holding his Firebolt. Harry wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He was half expecting him to start beating him about the head and shoulders with it.

Instead, he just tossed it to Harry.

“Take back your broom, Harry. Since you know I like it, you will take it away from me eventually anyway.”

“Look, Ron, I want to explain.”

“Explain? You want to explain? Do you want to explain how you lied to me about how you feel about Hermione? Do you want to explain how you stole her, right out from under me, on our first date? Or maybe you want to explain that when you did figure out how you feel about Herm, you didn’t come to me first?”

“Look, Ron, this isn’t about you.”

Harry realized right away, that was the last thing he should have said.

“Of course it‘s not. It’s never about me. It’s always about the famous Harry Potter, with his scar, and his brooms, his large pile of gold and his defeat of you-know-who. And who am I? I am that red headed kid, you know, Harry Potter’s friend.

“The one night I get a little glory of my own and you show me up again. I make the school team and then you get that stupid award. I came to the ball with the prettiest girl in the school, and whom does she leave with, you. It’s all about Harry. It’s always, all about Harry, in fact. Well, I am tired of living under your shadow, so take back your broom and...and...”

Ron ran into the room without finishing his thought, slamming the door behind him. As Harry stared into the closed door, he realized one thing. This was much deeper than the situation with Hermione, and had been building up for some time now. As Harry stared at the closed door, the thing Sirius had said to him came flooding back into his head. When he talked about other people’s feelings, Harry obviously forgot to include his best friend’s.

Harry was extremely happy that he was in his first relationship, but he was miserable that he might have lost his first best friend.

After a couple of weeks, Ron and Hermione seemed to get past their problems, which just reinforced Harry’s beliefs that it was just the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak, and their problems were a lot deeper than the Hermione situation.

Harry would be more than willing to swallow his own pride and go to Ron, but he feels that this is something that Ron needs to sort out on his own first, so he was willing to give him as much time as he needs.

Since Harry was spending almost all of his free time with Hermione, he found himself spending an abnormally large amount of time in her favorite place, the library. The last time he frequented the library this often was when Harry and Ron had a falling out last year after Ron accused Harry of putting his own name in the Goblet of Fire.

As Hermione was timing Harry on yet another O.W.L. practice run, he wished that Ron were around, so he could have someone to complain about his overly studious girlfriend to. In fact, the only time that he and Ron spent together now, outside of class that is, was during Quidditch practice.

During lunch period, Harry and Hermione decided to pay a visit to Harry’s Godfather. As they approached Sirius’ office door, Harry heard a familiar voice. Hermione was reaching to knock on his door, when Harry grabbed her hand and placed a finger over his lips. Harry leaned his head toward the door to try to hear what going on. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on placing the voice, when it came to him. It was his old Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Remus Lupin.

Remus, sounding concerned, said, “Sirius, aren’t you worried.”

“Of course I am, but we are doing everything that we can. All we can do now is watch, and be there if, and when, he needs any help.”

“Do you think he’s ready?”

“Ordinarily, I would say no, but he has never ceased to amaze me. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

“So why don’t we tell him what he is in store for then?”

“Because it’s too much, and it’s too soon. He may be ready, but it’s an awful lot to put on him now, considering everything that he already having to deal with.”

“Yes, of course you’re right. I just wish there is something more that we can do.”

“The best thing that we can do is prepare him as best we can, and hope it’s enough.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Besides, he has those friends of his. They have never let him down before, and I don‘t expect that they will now.”

“You’re right, of course. It’s remarkable just how much like his father he is, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is, and that is what concerns me. He is just as selfless, and I am afraid that he will risk everything for the Order.”

“But like you said Sirius, all we can do is prepare him and hope for the best.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Something happened that made Harry and Hermione jump. All of a sudden, there was a slow greasy voice that Harry recognized at once.

“What are the two of you doing,” Snape said, with a sneer on his face, “tut-tut. Skulking around the hallways, people will think you are up to something. And where, Potter, is your other shadow?”

Hermione was about to say something when Harry said, “we are here to see Professor Black.”

Snape definitely didn’t look happy at that. “Then why are you waiting here?”

“Because he is talking with someone, already,” Hermione said.

Snape opened the door and, when Sirius and Lupin turned to see who came in, he said, “you have two people waiting for you out here, Professor.”

Sirius smiled, and said, “will you please show them in.”

Snape moved aside, and Harry and Hermione walked into the room.

“Harry, Hermione, please sit down,” Sirius said warmly. He turned to Snape and said, “thank you Severus. Is there anything else you need of me?”

Snape didn’t say anything, but just walked out of the office in a huff.

“Hello Lupin,” Harry and Hermione said together.

“Please, call me Remus, seeing as I am no longer your professor after all. Where is your friend, Ron?”

Harry and Hermione shared an uncomfortable stare, and Harry decided that he needed to change the topic of conversation. “It’s really great seeing you Remus, but what are you doing here?”

Remus shot Sirius a quizzical expression, but after a moment he just shrugged, and they didn‘t pursue it further.

“I had to talk to Sirius about something.”

“I hope we’re not interrupting you then,” Hermione said.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hermione. I was hoping I would see you both before I had to leave,” Remus said.

“You mean that you will be leaving us soon then?” Harry asked.

Remus frowned, and said, “unfortunately yes, I still have tasks that need to be completed, but as soon as I have, I shall return.”

Hermione asked Remus, “what are you working on?”

Remus smiled at her and said, “you know that I would love to tell you, but the fewer people who know, the better.”

Sirius looked at the two of them and asked, “is there something that you wanted to see me about?”

Harry thought quickly, but the best he could come up with was, “the Quidditch tournament. Our first match isn’t far off, and I wanted to make sure you’ll be there.”

Sirius chuckled, “quick thinking. Yes, of course I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

Harry looked hopefully at Remus, and asked, “what about you?”

“I can’t make any promises, but I will do everything in my power to be there.”

Harry and Hermione both smiled at the two of them.

“Look Sirius, I’ve got to go. About what we discussed,” Remus said.

“Understood. This is all going to work out.”

“I really hope that you’re right,” Remus said, shaking his head. He turned to Harry and Hermione, “this isn’t goodbye. I will see you later, count on it.”

Remus got up, and left Sirius’ office, leaving Harry and Hermione alone with Sirius.

Harry the glanced over at Hermione and looked down, “Sirius?”

“Yes, Harry?”

“Remember what we talked about before?”

Sirius looked at Harry, and paused a few seconds to consider him before he said, “yes, I think so.”

“Well, I messed up, really badly.”

“I understand.” Sirius said after a second, he added, “and what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” Harry said, looking down at the ground.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure out something.”

“I hope so,” said Harry, finally looking up. “I really don’t want to lose him.”

“Harry, never give up on your friends, or yourself,” Sirius said smiling. “They both have a way of surprising you when you least expect it.”

Harry, not really completely understanding, smiled and nodded silently. Hermione also looked much happier now.

Sirius got up and said, “lunch is almost over. What classes do you have next?”

Hermione beamed, “arithmancy.”

“Interesting subject, if not a little dry,” Sirius said. “And you Harry?”

“Divination,” Harry said dejectedly.

Sirius laughed, and both Harry and Hermione starred at him. “I’m sorry, but I was just remembering when I was here. We all took divination, and we all hated it, especially James.”

“My father took divination?”

“That’s right Harry,” Sirius, who was still chucking, said. “The best part was that they kept on predicting his death. I mean, like 10 times a day, every day.”

Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

“It wasn’t so bad though. We all made a little game of it, you know. We would all try to come up with the most original and gruesome ways to go. I hate to admit it, but James was the best at it.”

Harry now was thinking about Ron again, and he cringed. That was how he had managed to survive two years of Divination.

“Who teaches it now, Harry?”

“Professor Trelawney.”

“Trelawney, you say. I don’t remember that particular professor.”

“You won’t. She never leaves her tower,” Hermione said.

“Never? Really? That’s odd,” Sirius said.

“Odd is a perfect way to describe her,” Harry said.

Sirius laughed again. “I guess you have to be a little different to be able to teach that subject. I remember my divination teacher, Professor Hagistrom, very strange man.”

“Why didn’t you just drop the class then,” Hermione asked.

“You know. I really don’t know. It just seemed important to finish it, although five years of that was pretty painful.”

Harry knew what he meant, and completely agreed with him. Yes, it was unbelievably painful at times, but at the same time, he had a feeling that he needs to continue to take it.

Harry asked, “was my mother in your class?”

“Yes, but Lily dropped it in her third year.”

“Why did she drop it?”

“She usually was the best student in all of her classes, so when she took divination, and she wasn’t, she got frustrated. Finally, after being told she didn’t have the Inner Eye, or whatever rubbish, she dropped the class. She spent the next four and a half years trying to get us to drop it also.”

Harry looked across to Hermione, who had a sly grin on her face.

“What classes did she take,” Hermione asked.

“You probably won’t believe this, but all of them. After working herself into the ground, she dropped divination and Muggle studies. Nobody knows why she took Muggle studies, considering that she had Muggle parents anyway.”

Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. If you change the names around, he could have just as easily been talking about them. This was uncanny.

“Where’s you’re first match Harry?”

Harry was about to say that he didn’t know, when Hermione said, “France.”

They both looked at her, and Harry, who has never ceased to be amazed by her, asked, “how in the world do you know that?”

“After they announced the team, they posted the schedule of the first round matches,” Hermione said taking out a roll of parchment. “I copied it down. You see here, at Beauxbatons. I am only assuming that they are in France, since they all spoke French.”

“Are you practicing hard Harry?”

“Yes, very hard. We all want to win this.”

“Good, very good,” Sirius said as the bell rang, ending lunch period. “Well, we all must be off. Class will begin soon enough.”

As Harry and Hermione parted at the stairway, she gave him a quick kiss, and told him that she would see him after class. Harry trudged off up the stairs towards to the tower that divination was held in. When he reached the top floor, he looked up the ladder that leads to the trap door. When he reached the classroom he found himself, as usual, overwhelmed by the heat and the powerful odor of perfume in the air.

As Harry was walking toward his seat, he noticed that several people were crowding around pointing at some sort of catalog. Harry thought this was strange, but instead of looking into it, he just grabbed a seat near a window. He opened the window slightly, so he could at least have a nice cool breeze waft along his face, when he would be told in which horrific manner he will die today.

After a minute Harry saw Ron enter the classroom, and for a second, he hoped that he was going to join him as he usually would, but after a moment, his hopes were dashed, as he saw him turn and head over to sit with their dorm mates, Seamus and Dean, in the opposite corner of the class.

Professor Trelawney stood up, and in the misty voice that Harry has become accustomed to, said, “we have gone over many ways to unlock your inner eye, and peer into the future. Today, however, I have a special treat for you.”

With this news, Lavender and Parvati, whom where both extremely fond of her class, edged their seats even closer to her, They were both mesmerized by Trelawney’s lessons, and prided themselves that they were the top students in her class.

“Today we will learn a way to use our wands to foretell out destinies. Now, I want you all to take out your wands, and do what I tell you.”

The class quickly complied, doing what they were instructed. While Harry felt pretty silly, at least he would be using his wand. With the exception of his broom, this was his favorite magical possessions.

“Ok, I want you to hold it in your non-wand hand. That means that if you normally use the wand in your right hand, you should hold it in your left, and if you normally hold it in your left hand, you should hold it in your right.” Without looking right at him, Trelawney said, “the other hand, Neville,” and he switched hands yet again.

“Now, I want you to take a deep breath, and completely clear your mind of all thoughts. I want you to feel the air filling your lungs, and it leaving again. Feel your heart beating, pumping blood through your body. Hold on tight to your wand, and when you have completely relaxed it should start.”

Harry wondered what she meant by, it should start. He couldn’t seem to shake the nagging thought that this was stupid, but apparently, other students were having more success at it. They were getting different color sparks shooting from the ends of their wands, but not much else.

After a while, the effects of the perfumed air, in addition to the hot temperature and the cool breeze, finally worked it‘s magic on Harry. He didn’t really know what exactly happened next, only that when he came to, the entire class was gathered around him. Professor Trelawney had her usual grave look on her face. She peered down at him with her enormous eyes, which were magnified by her oversized specs.

Harry was wondering what had just happened. Why was everyone standing over him? He could see Ron in the back of the class. He seemed to have a look of concern on his face. Harry didn’t know what troubled him more though, that Ron looked worried, or that Trelawney looked delighted.

“Very impressive, Mr. Potter. I must admit, I didn’t think you had it in you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is exactly what I was talking about, and you all just saw the results for yourselves.” As the bell ending the class rang, she added, “I want you all to read chapter 17 and tonight, before you go to sleep, I want you all to try again. Maybe some of you will have similar success to Mr. Potter.”

As the class was gathering their things, Harry was dying to ask someone, preferably Ron, what had just happened, but he couldn’t do it. When he went downstairs he found Hermione waiting for him, He told her everything that he could remember, which wasn‘t much.

“You should tell Sirius,” Hermione said. That was her solution for pretty much any problem, tell a teacher and read a book. The book idea would be pretty useless since she didn’t know what had happened, so she went with plan b, tell a teacher.

“Tell him what? Um, Sirius, I feel asleep in divination, and when I woke up I the entire class was standing over me? No, I think I need to have a better idea of what exactly happened before I talk to anybody,” Harry said.

Hermione thought for a second, and said, “why don’t you ask Ron?”

“No, absolutely not,” Harry said emphatically. “You didn’t see the look on his face when that happened. If he wants to tell me, that’s one thing, but I won’t make him.”

Hermione muttered something that sounded very much like stubborn boys, as she escorted Harry to the Quidditch pitch.

Harry had his first Quidditch practice with his Hogwarts team. When Harry entered the changing room, he saw something disturbing, there was Fred holding one of those catalogs, pointing at it as he muttered something to George. As he approached them, he asked what they were up to. George looked frantically around the room, as Fred whispered, “we have our catalog ready. We tried to tell you in the Leaky Cauldron, but we were interrupted.”

As George saw Professor McGonagall approaching he said, “we’ll tell you later though, ok?”

After Professor McGonagall handed out their robes, she said, Harry looked at the ones that he was given. They were scarlet, black, and gold with the school crest over their chests. “before the tournament you should select a captain to represent you. I will leave you to select this person any way you choose, but I need the selection as soon as possible.”

As she walked out, Fred and George pointed at each other and said, “he should do it,” at the same time. They all broke up laughing at this.

“I think we should nominate candidates, and then take a vote,” Angelina said.

They all agreed, and Fred spoke first, “I nominate Harry.”

“I second that,” George added.

Harry was not very pleased with that, but thinking quickly he said, “I nominate Fred.”

Ron, not missing a beat, said, “I’ll second that.”

Harry smiled, but the twins didn’t.

Ron added, “I nominate George.”

Harry picked up on his cue this time, and said, “I’ll second that.”

George said, “I nominate Ron.”

“I second that,” Fred said.

Harry, realizing this was already way out of hand said, “I nominate Angelina.”

Katie said, “I second that.”

Angelina said, “I nominate Katie.”

“I second that,” said Alicia.

Katie finished it off, “I nominate Alicia.”

“I second that,” said Angelina.

They all had a good laugh at this. Fred announced, “ok. Now we vote, but since we all have been nominated we need someone impartial to run this.”

“We can have Hermione do it. She is just outside,” Harry suggested.

After a moment, George commented, “we said impartial, and I hardly think your girlfriend counts.”

Harry and Ron both looked uncomfortable at this, but Harry said, “you all know her, and know she would be fair, regardless. But if you have another idea, name it.”

Nobody said anything, so after a minute, Harry went outside.

Hermione, who was reading, looked puzzled, “are you finished, already?”

Harry smiled and said, “no, but we need you.”

Hermione looked perplexed, “you need me?”

“Come in here, and we’ll explain,”

Hermione put her things away, and followed Harry into the changing room. As she entered, she looked around. It was the first time that she had been in there. As she was looking at the faces of the members of the team, she went from looking pleased to nervous.

Angelina, seeing that Hermione looked uncomfortable, smiled and said, “we need your help Hermione.”

Hermione smiled, “how can I help?”

Katie addressed her, “we have a little situation here.”

Hermione answered, “what kind of situation?”

Alicia said, “we have to select a captain for our team.”

Hermione still looked confused, and slowly asked, “ok, and you need me, why?”

“We were nominating members for the position,” Fred said.

“And we nominated everyone,” George finished.

Hermione smirked, “oh, I see. So you want me to handle your election then?”

Ron finally said, “exactly. We needed someone impartial.”

“Ok,” Hermione said, as she rummaged through her bag. She pulled out a piece of parchment, which she ripped into seven pieces, a bottle of ink and seven quills. She handed them a piece of parchment and a loaded quill to each member of the team.

Next, she took out the box that she kept her SPEW things in and told them to write their selection and put it in the box. After a couple of minutes they handed back all seven pieces of parchment. She looked at the pieces of parchment. After she finished she shook her head, and looked through them again.

After a minute, she looked up and said, “ok, we have a tie.”

Fred asked, “who?”

“To be more specific, it is a seven-way tie. You all got one vote apiece.”

The twins thought this was very funny, but Hermione didn’t seem to find the humor in the situation.

“Do you all want to try again?”

They looked at each other and nodded. Hermione ripped up seven more pieces of parchment, and they recast their votes. After she got these back, she tallied them up.

“Ok. You have a winner.”

“Who is it then?” Fred asked.

Hermione looked them all over before her gaze fell onto Harry, saying, “I don’t know if congratulations are in order, but you’re the new captain, Harry.”

Harry was surprised by this news. Who would vote for him, he wondered. The rest of the team swarmed him, with the notable exception of Ron, who kept his distance. Although Hermione stayed back, not showing what she thought of this turn of events, she still managed to shoot Harry an encouraging look, making him feel a little better.

After a few minutes to change into their new robes, they went out to practice. Fred saw Ron walking with his old shooting star, and laughed.

“What do you think you are doing, Ron?”

“I’m going to practice,” Ron said indignantly.

George, seeing this now, waved at Ron‘s broom, “we know that, but what are you doing with that?”

“This is my broom.”

Fred, looking a little annoyed said, “ok, enough joking. Go and get your Firebolt and we can start practice properly.”

“I don’t have a Firebolt. This is my broom, ok?”

Fred and George looked from Ron to Harry, then back to Ron, and then at each other. Ron meanwhile walked out onto the field. The rest of the team joined him and started practice. They had an intense workout, but one thing was obvious. They needed to start preparing a game plan.

When they were back in the changing room after hours of practice, Fred said, “we have got to start getting ready for Beauxbatons, since we will be facing them first.”

George said, “first thing we need to do is get Ron a new broom.”

Fred said, “yes. I agree. I don’t know what happened to your Firebolt, and I don’t want to know, but you can’t use that in the tournament.”

“There is no way. One loss and we’d be done. So we will get you a proper broom before the first match,” George added.

Angelina said, “and we’re also are going to need to get some information on our opponent.”

“Yes,” Katie said, “but where are we going to get that?”

“It’s not as if any of us has seen them play,” Alicia added.

Ron said, “I wish the Beauxbatons students were still here, maybe we could get something useful.”

When Ron said this, Harry looked at Hermione, who was still in the changing room.

“We may indeed have a potential fountain of information,” Harry said.

George asked, “what are you talking about?”

Hermione asked, “what if there was someone here that has seen them play, already?”

“That would be great, but who here has seen them play?” Ron asked.

“Not here,” Harry said, waving his hand around the room. “I mean in the school.”

Most of the team caught on, except Ron. “Who are you talking about?”

Hermione looked at him, and said as if talking to a small child, “Ron, remember last year. Part of the Beauxbatons contingency that is with us now?”

The slow look of comprehension brightened in Ron’s face as he finally understood, “Gabrielle?”

Harry smiled, “exactly, she is our only hope.”

Fred said, “that is, if she knows anything,”

“What makes you think she will tell us?” George finished.

Hermione said, “well, there is one person here that she thinks she owes her life to, after all,” as her gaze moved onto Harry.

“That’s brilliant.” Fred grinned

George asked, “but will it work?”

Harry rubbed his chin and said, “dunno, but it’s our only real chance, if we want to prepare properly that is.”

Before they left the changing room, McGonagall returned and asked, “did you come to a decision?”

Harry nodded, without saying anything.

She looked at him, and after a second asked, “and?”

Harry didn’t need to say anything, because at this the rest of the team, and Hermione, pointed at him, McGonagall had almost a bemused expression on her face. “I see. In that case,” she said as she waved her wand adding a burgundy C, with gold and black trim, on the left shoulder of Harry’s new robes.

“Now I assume that there will be those of you who will want to invite friends or relatives to your matches. Since our first will be at Beauxbatons, please let us know so we can make arrangements.” She looked at Hermione, “please allow me to know if I was correct in presuming you will be joining us for the match.”

“Yes, Professor,” Hermione replied.

“Very well. Since the first match is during Christmas break I will need to know as soon as possible,” she said as she left the room as the team looked at what she did to Harry’s robes.

As they left, Hermione asked nervously, “hey, Harry?”

“Yes, sweetie,” Harry said, realizing that he was going to need to get her a better nickname than that.

Hermione, now looking toward the ground, said, “would it be ok if I invite my parents to the match?”

Harry put his hand under her chin so her could look into her beautiful brown eyes, and said, “of course it is. I would love to see them again.”

Smiling Hermione said, “you know, I love you Harry,” and she threw her arms around him and gave him a big kiss.

Harry was caught off guard by this. She loved him? When he tried to respond to her, to say something, to say anything actually, he found that the words were stuck in his throat.

Walking towards the great Hall for dinner, Harry and Hermione talked about the appropriate strategy of getting the information from Gabrielle. When they got to the house table, Hermione poked him in the ribs, and nodded toward the Hufflepuff table. Gabrielle was sitting alone there, and as Harry glanced at Hermione, she nodded.

Harry got up and walked over to her. As he approached, she looked up and smiled.

“Hello Gabrielle,” Harry said.

“Bonjour, ‘arry. It iz zo nice to zee you.”

Harry pointed to the seat next to her and said, “do you mind?”

“Ov curse not, pleez zit.”

“How are you doing? Do you like it here at Hogwarts?”

“Oh yez, I luve it 'ere, mais it iz a biit cold, non?”

“No, err, I mean yes, I guess it is. How is your sister Fleur?”

“Shee iz, er, 'ow you say, very well, merci. Shee waz talking a-bout zee 'Ogwarts Quidditch team.”

“She was interested in our school team?”

“Oh oui. When I err, told 'er 'oo waz on our team, she waz err, interested in 'oo.”

“Really? Did she mention who was on the Beauxbatons team?”

“Err, Fleur is ze captain.”

Before she could continue, Harry, interrupted her in surprise, “Fleur is on the team?”

“Ah oui. C'est er final yeer at Beauxbatons. Natasha et Marie are ze beaters, et Paulette, Tanya, et Rosa are ze chasers. Monique is ze keeeper.”

“There aren’t any boys on the team?”

Gabrielle laughed and said, “non, they err, do not 'ow you say, rely on ze force, but err, use zeir speed to win.”

“Have you ever seen them play?”

“Ah oui, many, many timez.”

“Do you know much about Quidditch?”

“Oui, Fleur 'as taught me... Everything I know.”

“What do you mean by force?”

“Well, zey do not block each ozer, et ze beaters will only hit ze bludgers away from zeir own playerz, et no towards ze others.”

“Really? So the games must be pretty quick then?”

“Oui, et, if ze other team zeeker comes close, zey err, 'av a zecret weapon.”

Harry was now intrigued, “secret weapon. What is it?”

“I err, regret, mais, I cannot tell you. I err, 'ope you understand.”

Harry wished her luck on her courses, and went back to his table. He wished he knew that secret weapon was, but he still had enough information to help the team. Sitting next to Hermione, he told her everything that happened.

She handed him a load of books on Quidditch to help him come up with a game plan. She looked at him thoughtfully and said, “secret weapon, do you have any idea what she was talking about?”

“No, she said she couldn’t tell me. Since her sister is still on the team, I can understand why.”

“Fleur is on the team?”

“Yes. She is the captain and seeker.”

It looked as if something had occurred to Hermione. Harry looked at her and asked, “what is it?”

Hermione shook her head, “nothing, at least not yet, that is.”

During dinner, Harry was going through some of the books that Hermione had given him, they were very interesting, and after he read for a while, Hermione gave him some parchment and he started drawing up a game plan.

After dinner, they went to the library to study some more. When the Madam Pince, the school’s librarian shooed them out for the night, they returned to their common room, which was already empty. She kissed him goodnight and they went to their separate dormitories.

When Harry saw Ron, he had a fleeting hope that they were ok again especially after what had happened in the changing room. Apparently, he was wrong, because when he came in Ron quickly closed the drapes of his four-poster.

Harry’s heart sank at this. He changed quietly and, after a busy day, he fell right off to sleep.

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.

The next two weeks dragged by rather slowly. The teachers where giving them more homework than ever before. They were almost exclusively going over O.W.L.s now, and Hermione was even more frantic about their study schedules. To top that off, Harry had increased the number of practices for the Quidditch team to three times a week, as well as one match a week with the second string unit.

Harry didn’t have time to think about much else these days. Since he was so tired, he fell asleep quickly at night, and he wasn’t having those visions anymore, not that he missed them. On the morning of their Hogsmeade trip Harry was serving himself some porridge, while talking with Hermione about their plans. A swarm of owls flew into the hall, as they went about making their morning deliveries.

Harry, who had spent the last two weeks looking for a certain delivery, smiled as he saw what he had been waiting for. An eagle owl came swooping in, holding a long thin package. It came gracefully to their table and stopped a short way down, next to Ron. Harry wanted to run over to Ron and watch him rip it open, but he just poured some sugar on his cereal instead.

He heard Dean and Seamus wonder aloud what Ron had gotten. They quickly went over to help him open it. When they had finished, he heard them gasp at what was in front of them. After staring at his new acquisition for a while, he finally realized that there was a note attached.

After he read the note, Ron said, “I don’t believe it. I finally own a decent broom.”

Harry winced a little at this, but he didn’t say anything. Hermione must have known what Harry was feeling, because she put her hand on top of his. When she did this, it stopped his hand from shaking. Harry glanced over at her for a second before returning his attention to Ron.

“That’s not just any broom,” said Dean, who was awestruck, gasped, “that’s the new Clean Sweep Eight.”

Seamus, who was looking closely at it, asked, “those are pretty expensive. Who got it for you?”

Ron read the letter that came with it, and smiled as he said, “my mum. She got it as a gift for me becoming a prefect.”

Dean said, “that’s amazing.”

“Cool. You’re so lucky Ron,” Seamus added.

After a few minutes, they started getting up and filing into the entrance hall. Harry saw that Ron was on the other side with Cho. She was looking on intently as Ron was proudly showing her his new broom. Harry didn’t think that he could feel any worse. He was wrong.

There was a nasty drawl of a voice that came from another end of the hall, “hey, Weasel. What have you got there?”

Ron pretended that he didn’t hear him, as he continued to show off his new broom to Cho.

When Malfoy walked closer, he said louder, “you got a new broom? What happened to your Firebolt?”

Ron, who continued to ignore him, now wasn’t talking at all anymore.

Malfoy continued to taunt him, “don’t tell me that you don’t have it anymore. Did your true friend take it back?”

As Malfoy was talking his two enormous bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle, guffawed stupidly behind him. Ron however was now starting to shake slightly.

“Or maybe, you realize that you don’t really have a true friend after all. I mean what true friend would steal your date right out from under you, not that she any great loss.”

Ron was now holding his broom in an odd manner. Harry had a bad feeling about this. He was holding it from its end, like a bat. Cho apparently noticed this too, and pulled it out of his hands.

“So you got a Clean Sweep. That’s more of a Weasel’s speed after all. But, my, my, a model Eight. I guess your family won’t mind going hungry for a year to afford it after all,” Malfoy said as his two goons continued to chuckle.

Ron faced Malfoy, and quickly pulled out his own wand from his robes. Malfoy, however, was ready for him, already pointing his wand at him. Crabbe and Goyle had stopped laughing at this point and where rubbing their knuckles menacingly.

Before they could do anything, they heard a reproving voice from the entrance of the Great Hall, “what, exactly, is going on here?”

They turned around to see the stern face of Professor McGonagall,

Before they could say anything Hermione, thinking quickly, said, “they are showing each other their wands.”

Everyone turned to look at Hermione, and a few chuckled softly. Professor McGonagall, however, simply nodded, before turning to Ron and Malfoy, “ok. Now put them away. You don’t want people to think you are up to anything, do you?”

“Yes, Professor, No Professor,” they muttered as they put their wands back in their robes.

“Now, off you go. I assume you all have places to be.”

As she said this, the crowd slowly dispersed. Malfoy, closely followed by his two cronies, headed down the stairs toward the Slytherin common room. After Cho handed Ron back his broom, he headed up the marble staircase toward the Gryffindor tower.

When they were alone Harry stared at Hermione, and asked, “showing each other their wands?”

“Best I could come up with,” she shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly going to say that they were about to duel, was I?”

Harry just shook his head and said, “Hermione, you never cease to absolutely amaze me.”

She smiled, and said, “I do try.”

They waited for a couple of minutes before heading up the marble staircase themselves. When Harry walked up to his dormitory, he saw Ron exit as he entered.

Harry grabbed his cloak and went down to find Hermione waiting for him. They went to the entrance hall, where Filch was checking people off against a list of people who had permission to visit the nearby wizarding village. Filch, who was a Squib, didn’t trust any of the students, giving them each a suspicious look as he checked them off, one by one.

Once they had reached the grounds, Hermione took hold of Harry’s hand and they walked toward the front gate. Harry saw Ron and Cho doing the same thing some distance ahead of them, and he had a queasy feeling in his stomach again.

After they saw Ron and Cho enter the Three Broomsticks, Hermione led Harry of into an alleyway, to a little café. Harry had never noticed this little out of the way place until now. There were a few students in there. Harry noticed that they were mostly couples who were seeking some privacy.

They sat down at a little booth that was next to a window that could look out toward the main street. Harry took the seat that had the better view of the passersby, and Hermione ordered two butterbeers before she joined him.

After a minute, a plump witch came up to them and brought them their order, and said to call her if they needed anything else. Hermione thanked her, and she left them alone. After a minute or so, of looking at Hermione, but having his thoughts elsewhere, he finally realized that she was talking to him.

Harry cleared his head, and said, “sorry, what did you say?”

“I was asking you, what was a matter,”

“Nothing.”

Hermione smiled at him, and said, “well, you seemed distracted.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”

Hermione, who knew exactly what it that was bothering Harry, said, “don’t worry. He’ll get past this. He has before.”

Harry, who was now staring at their joined hands, said, “yeah, but what if he doesn’t?”

“Don’t think like that. He’ll come around. I know he will,” Hermione said, although she sounded more hopeful, than convinced.

Harry never felt closer to anyone than he did right now. He leaned over to her, and she did the same in turn, and he said, quietly, but clearly, “you know I love you, don’t you?”

There was a tear coming from her sweet brown eyes now, and she nodded. Harry leaned forward a little further and gave her a deep, passionate kiss. Harry didn’t know how he could have gone through the last couple of months if it wasn‘t for her.

Neither of them spoke for a while. They just sat there, drinking their butterbeers, and looking into each other’s eyes. Finally, Harry saw something out of the corner of his eyes. It was Malfoy and Pansy, or more specifically, it was Pansy, dragging Malfoy by the hand down the main street. Crabbe and Goyle were following a little distance behind.

Hermione noticed that something had gotten Harry’s attention, and turned to see what he was looking at so intently. After she figured it out, she started to giggle. Harry had to admit that this was a pretty amusing sight. He watched as the four of them disappeared into the Three Broomsticks.

Hermione looked at Harry, and said, “Pansy and Malfoy?”

Harry gave her a bemused look, “yeah, well they deserve each other, or at least it protects two other people from having to be with them.”

“What about Crabbe and Goyle?”

Harry realized that they were tagging along again, unescorted, which he enjoyed to no ends, “I wondered about that, yes, but I try to think about them as little as humanly possible.”

They laughed a little at this, and returned to staring into each other’s eyes.

Hermione asked, “how is the team coming along?”

“We should be ready, and we’d better win, because if we don’t, I’ll never hear the end of it from Oliver. He’s been pelting me constantly with owls ever since he found that I was named captain.”

Hermione looked surprised by this, as she asked, “really? What has he been telling you?”

“He’s mostly been giving me advice on how to prepare the team. I bet this is eating him up that he couldn’t still be here for this.”

“I thought that he would be thrilled that he is playing professionally now.”

“Ordinarily, yes, but this could be a once in a lifetime experience. Also, I have read, from the Quidditch magazine I have been receiving, that Oliver isn’t getting much of an opportunity to play.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Well, you see he is a reserve, and since the starter pretty much plays all the time there isn’t much of an opportunity for him.”

“That’s too bad, but he’ll get his opportunity soon enough, I’m sure.”

“Well, that’s not the only problem. The magazine is also speculating that his team is already looking for a replacement. They seem to think that he isn’t going to develop.”

“It’s a shame. He’s such a nice person.”

“He’s also a good keeper. I don’t know what the problem is, but whenever I ask him about it, he either ignores the question, or simply says that there isn’t any problem.”

“Well, maybe there isn’t.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”

After Harry and Hermione finished their drinks, Harry left some gold to pay for them. They strolled out onto the street, and started to do a little window-shopping, showing each other some item they would like to have.

When Hermione looked admiringly at a flower, Harry took the cue and purchased it for her. They bought a few things from Honey Dukes, and they walked over toward the Shrieking Shack where they enjoyed some of the sweets that they had just purchased.

They looked at the old building, remembering their visit to it at the end of their third year. Harry was thinking just how much his life had changed in that relatively short period. Some of it was good, he thought, as he looked at Hermione, who was finishing a chocolate cream ball. He also thought of Sirius, who had become a part of his life.

In the last year there have been several thing that have been troubling Harry. Harry remembered when Remus, whom Harry thought was, at the time, his favorite Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, was forced to resign. He also thought of the problems he has been having with his best friend, and of course, it seemed that he couldn’t go a night without reliving Cedric’s last few moments of life.

Harry was now lost in deep thought when Hermione broke his concentration, saying, “Harry, are you ok?”

Harry looked at her, grabbed her free hand, and said, “yeah, I’m better than ok.”

Hermione beamed at him, and they started back to the school grounds, walking hand-in-hand. When they were approaching the Three Broomsticks, Harry saw Ron and Cho leaving. He yanked Hermione into an alleyway behind the pub.

Hermione, who was picking up her things that had flown out of her hands at the sudden movement, said, “what was that all about?”

“Didn’t you see them?”

“Yes. So what’s the problem? I mean you already knew about them.”

“Yes, but they don’t know that I know about them.”

“What are you going to do, hide every time you see them together?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re hopeless, you know?”

“Yes, hopelessly in love with you,”

Hermione sighed, gave him a kiss on the cheek and asked, “can we go now?”

Harry snuck a look around the corner, and when he couldn’t see them he said, “ok, let’s go.”

As they passed the front gate to the school grounds, Harry suggested that they pay Hagrid a visit. Hermione agreed and they walked toward his hut. When they were about to knock, Harry heard people talking inside.

Harry placed a finger over his lips, and pointed toward a window. He walked over and peeked inside to try to see the source of these voices. What he saw made his heart sink. Inside were Ron and Cho, sitting and having tea with Hagrid. Harry was upset that Ron would do this, believing that this was somehow betraying him.

Harry looked at Hermione, and pointed toward the castle. Hermione shook her head, and pointed toward Hagrid’s front door. Harry shook his head, and pointed to the castle again.

They must have been making noise, because he was startled by a booming, jovial voice, “are you two comin' in or are you goin' to stand out 'ere and wave yer arms all night?”

Harry turned around to see Hagrid’s smiling face, and said, “uh, hello Hagrid.”

Hermione said, “we were coming by to pay you a visit.”

Hagrid started to chuckle, and said, “the door is over there, unless you were planning on coming in through my window.”

They both gave him a weak smile, and forced a little chuckle. Hagrid waved them in, saying, “come on in then.”

When Harry walked in, he exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Ron, before he diverted his gaze. He sat down in an empty seat next to Hermione, who was saying hello to Cho.

Hagrid said casually, “you know, this is the first time I’ve seen the three of you together, outside of class that is, in a long time.”

There was an awkward silence after that for a few minutes, as they were all exchanging nervous glances at one another.

Ron broke the silence, saying, “we really should be going now.”

Hagrid had a disappointed look on his face, “but you jus’ got ‘ere.”

“I know, but we have to, uh, study,” Ron said.

Cho was giving him a quizzical look now, but remained silent. Ron got up and opened the door. Cho followed his lead and got up. She shrugged said goodbye to Hermione, and followed him out. Once the door was closed, and Ron and Cho had left, Hagrid gave the two of them a piercing look.

“What was that all about?”

Hermione looked at him, and said uneasily, “well.”

Hagrid shook his head, and said, “you lot aren‘t still going on about that, are you?”

Hermione was about to say something, when Harry, who was looking down at the large wooden table, said, “no, this isn’t about that.”

Nobody said anything for a moment, until Hagrid said, “then what’s the problem? I mean, you’re best friends, right?”

Hermione placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder, as he said, “I really don’t know anymore.”

As Hagrid was about to say something again, Harry, who didn’t feel like discussing this in great detail, said, “I think we should go too.”

Hagrid was clearly taken aback, asked, “why? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. We just need to study.”

Hagrid was clearly disappointed, said, “ok. I’ll talk to you…”

Harry sprung up from his seat and was out the door before Hagrid could finish his thought. Hermione chassed after him, asking in a slightly shocked voice, “what was that all about?”

“I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“About what?”

“Any of it.”

When Harry continued to walk away from her, Hermione grabbed his arm, and shouted, “Harry James Potter, what is your problem?”

Harry turned to face Hermione, and barked, “it’s over. I’ve come to peace with it, why can’t you.”

Hermione had a shocked and hurt look on her face, “what are you talking about?”

He couldn’t look her in the eye anymore, so he looked down toward her knees instead, and said, “I have just realized that I lost my best friend…forever.”

Harry wrenched his arm out of Hermione‘s grip and walked into the castle without saying another word. He said for the first time what he had known for quite some time already.

After he stormed off, he went up to his dormitory, not wanting to have the same pointless conversation with Hermione again. When he entered, he was pleased to see that it was still empty, so he lied down on his four-poster and pulled the drapes shut.

Harry closed his eyes and thought to himself that he had to apologize to Hermione. This wasn’t her fault, and he really shouldn’t take it out on her. No, he thought to himself, his problem was with Ron. Harry knew that there wasn’t anything that she, or anyone else for that matter, could have done about it.

As his watch chimed, he heard as the other Gryffindor fifth years starting to come into his dormitory. He pretended to be sleeping as they started to get ready to go to sleep. After a little while, he noticed Ron enter the room, through a gap in his drapes.

After a moment, Harry closed his drapes the rest of the way, and turned around. He removed his glasses, wiping a tear from his eyes. He placed his glasses on his bedside table, and closed his eyes. His thoughts started to drift, as he was getting drowsy.

Harry started to think, with Christmas nearing, he was going to need to find an appropriate gift for Hermione. He also thought about the looming first match of the tournament. He thought that the team was getting better. They were playing beyond Harry’s expectations, and he had to admit that even Ron was proving to be an asset.

In the morning, Harry went down to the great hall with Hermione, who was still upset with him. When they got to the Gryffindor table, they saw Professor McGonagall was checking with people who were going to be accompanying the team to the tournament at Beauxbatons.

As Harry was serving himself some bacon and eggs, there was a flurry of activity overhead. He looked up and saw the post owls were making their morning deliveries. Harry looked up hoping that Hedwig would stop by, even if she didn’t have a delivery for him, since it has been some time since he had last seen her.

Harry was taken by surprise when an owl other than Hedwig stopped in front of him. Hermione had noticed this as well, and looked on as Harry started pulling a letter from the tawny owl in front of him. When he had finished removing the letter, the owl took off at once, and Harry quickly opened his letter. He was surprised to see that it was from Fleur.

Dear Harry,

I am pleased to hear that you are doing well. I look forward to seeing you again, as well as having an opportunity to face you in competition again. I must warn you, however, that I will have a much more presentable performance this time.

Gabrielle has informed me that you have been made the captain of your Quidditch team. I am not surprised by thus, because you showed real leadership in our tournament. I have learned not to underestimate you, and I will not make that mistake again.

I have found out that you have been getting information on our team from my little sister. At first I was outraged, but as you no doubt know by now, I have done the same thing. As they say, all is fair in love, war, and Quidditch, eh?

We have been preparing for this match for some time, and I know that you have as well. I am looking forward to a good clean match, and I may the best team win. I must to admit that I was happy to see that we were facing Hogwarts first.

There isn’t much time left before we see each other again. When you arrive to Beauxbatons, I will be only too happy to show you around the grounds. Will your little friend be coming with you?

Yours truly,

Fleur

Hermione, who was reading the letter from over Harry’s shoulder wasn’t too pleased. She shook her head, and said, “little friend. Who do you think she was talking about?”

It was a rhetorical question, as they both knew exactly whom she was talking about. Harry was happy, however, to see her get so upset by this. It took her attention off her being upset with him, for the time being at least.

The last couple of weeks before the Christmas break where hectic to say the least. Most of their professors were giving them a little bit of a break from their homework, to get ready for their first match. That is, with the noticeable exception of Professor Snape.

When he wrote their homework assignment on the board after a particularly difficult lesson, the class moaned. Snape looked around the room, and in barely more than a whisper said, “while I understand many of you will be taking potions for the last time this year.” His gaze fell on Harry as he said this and smiled, “I will make sure that you will all be able to achieve at least an Acceptable by the time of the O.W.L. exam.”

Harry had scheduled one last Quidditch practice for the team, just to get a little last minute work before their match. The practice did wonders for Harry, helping him get some of his stress out. After a thorough workout, Harry was pulled aside by the twins.

Fred, who looked concerned, asked, “have you figured out what their secret weapon is yet?”

Harry shook his head, and said, “no, although I think Hermione might know.”

George looked around, and whispered, “well, we have to take some precautions, just in case.”

Now Harry was concerned, as he asked, “precautions? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry about it mate,” Fred said, grinning. “We’ll take care of everything.”

The twins walked away, and Harry tried not to get too concerned, but that was pretty much impossible, considering that he knew the twins were capable of doing pretty much anything, given the right motivation.

Harry tried his best to put this out of his mind as he went over to Hermione. She had apparently forgiven him for his outburst by now, and Harry was grateful for that. The two of them walked over to the library to do get started on their holiday homework.

After they had been working on their homework for a while, Harry’s thoughts were starting to drift. When he looked up toward Hermione’s bright eyes, he noticed that she was saying something to him. Harry shook his head to try to regain his focus, and said, “sorry, what did you say?”

Hermione looked at him for a second before she asked, “I asked you if you were concerned about the match? It’s less than a week away, you know.”

“A little bit, I guess.”

“What’s on your mind then?”

Harry grabbed a hold of Hermione’s hands before saying, “I was just thinking of how lucky I am.”

Hermione smiled, and they continued to work on their homework for the better portion of the night. When they were finished Harry went to his dormitory, and as he was packing his things, a flood of questions came over him.

Harry was going to be leaving the country for the first time in his life. What was France going to be like? Harry knew that Hermione went there a couple of years ago, but not much else. How also wondered how they going to get there, and where were they going to stay?

There was also the persistent question that has been in the back of his mind for some time now. What was their secret weapon? After finishing getting ready, Harry drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, Harry noticed that most of the school had left for the break, leaving only those students who where going to be traveling with the team. The Gryffindors’ common room, however, was still packed.

Apparently, most of the house was going to be going to the first match, which Harry was happy to see. Harry, who saw Hermione sitting alone near their favorite corner, walked quietly behind her and placed his hands over her eyes, and gave her a kiss on her neck.

Hermione said quietly, “you better be careful. Harry could be along at any moment.”

Harry pulled away his hands, and walked around to face her, as she started to giggle. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and said, “I saw you coming a mile away.”

Harry looked deeply into her soulful brown eyes, and said, “if I wasn’t in love with you, Miss. Hermione Jane Granger.”

Hermione grinned, and said, “you’d what, Mr. Harry James Potter?”

Before Harry could say anything, Fred and George came sauntering over to them.

In an exasperated voice, Fred asked, “will you two ever give it a rest?”

“You’re a couple. Ok, we get it,” George said.

Harry had a small grin on his face as he turned to face the twins, “you guys aren’t jealous, are you?”

The twins shared an offended look with each other before George said, “us, jealous? Perish the thought.”

“Besides, we’re already spoken for,” Fred said.

Hermione had a surprised look on her face, as she asked, “you’re spoken for? By whom?”

Fred replied, “sorry, but we’re not at liberty to say.”

Harry, who thought this was pretty funny, asked, “what? Don’t they know they’re going out with you yet?”

Hermione pretended to cough, in a miserable attempt to cover up her laughing.

The twins gave them both reproving looks as they walked away without saying another word. Hermione watched as Harry sat down next to her, and she asked, “do you think they’re serious?”

“Dunno really. It’s difficult to tell with the two of them.”

“You’re right of course. Are you all packed?”

“Yes. How about you?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any idea how were getting there?”

Hermione thought for a moment, and said, “I have given it some thought, and I have it narrowed down, but I’m still not sure.”

After talking for a few minutes, they walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As they sat down and started serving themselves, someone stopped by. It was the Creevey brothers.

Colin, a highly enthusiastic fourth-year, said, “hey, Harry.”

Harry automatically responded, “hello, Colin.”

Colin, who was carrying his camera, as he usually did, took a deep breath and asked, “Harry, would you like some pictures of your team?”

Harry thought for a moment as he looked at Hermione, who simply shrugged, and said, “sure Colin. That would be great. Are you guys coming with us?”

Colin quickly said, “oh, yes. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Harry paused, before he replied, “ok, Colin. You can take our picture over there then.”

Colin was beaming now, as he said, “sure thing Harry.”

As the Creevey brothers went off, Harry saw Hermione look at him intently.

“You never cease to amaze me, Harry. You know that?”

Harry had a broad grin on his face, as he said, “I do try.”

After they finished breakfast, Harry and Hermione went upstairs to get their cloaks. They were going to be leaving that afternoon, so they decided to try to enjoy their last day at Hogwarts for some time.

The first thing they agreed to do was to pay Hagrid a visit. Harry wasn’t too happy at the way he behaved the last time he was there, and he liked Hagrid too much to treat him that way.

Harry knocked on Hagrid’s door, and was greeted by the booming barks of Fang, his boarhound. They heard Hagrid’s deep voice saying “Down, Fang” before the door creaked open slightly. An eye looked them up and down before the door opened. As Harry walked into his hut, Fang bounded into his arms, and started to slobber all over him.

After managing to get past Fang, Harry sat down as Hagrid served them some tea, and a plate of rock cakes. As Hagrid was fussing over them, Harry couldn’t help but feel even guiltier at the way he had treated him last time.

“Hagrid, about last time,” Harry started to say.

Hagrid said in a gruff voice, “don’t you think about that one second.”

“But I’m really sorry,” Harry tried to continue.

Hagrid waved his massive hand dismissively, as he said, “I know you are, but its ok really. I know you’ve been going through a lot lately.”

Harry looked down at his cup of tea, and said, “but, Hagrid you’re my friend, and I really shouldn’t have treated you that way.”

Hagrid gave Harry a pat on the back that knocked him into the table as he smiled at him, and said, “I consider myself lucky to be one of your friends.”

After talking for a little while, Hermione asked Hagrid, “will you be coming with us, to the match?”

“Of course I will. You just try to stop me.”

Harry looked up at him and said, “I bet you are looking forward to seeing Madam Maxime again.”

It appeared as if Hagrid was blushing, at least it appeared that way from the little exposed skin that Harry could see anyway. Hagrid coughed, and said, “oh yeah, that. I, uh, guess it would be nice to see her again, yeah.”

Then, as if it has just occurred to him, Harry blurted out, “what exactly did the two of you do last summer?”

Hagrid started stammering even worse, as he said, “uh, that. Well, I’m really not able to say. I mean, well, it’s something that we are still working on, and all.”

“You’re still working on it?” asked Hermione.

“Uh, yeah. We don’t have much time left, and I have to finish getting ready, so if you don’t mind,” Hagrid said, as he ushered the two of them out.

As they were walking back toward the castle, Harry asked, “what do you think that was all about?”

Hermione thought for a moment, and said, “I’m not entirely sure, but Hagrid is right about one thing. We don’t have much time left.”

As Harry followed Hermione into the entrance hall, he saw that most of the students were gathered around the marble staircase. No sooner had he wondered what was going on then his question had been answered. Harry saw Professor McGonagall at the top of the marble staircase.

As they joined their classmates, they heard the professor clear her throat, and say, “ok, now that we are all here, we will be leaving. I want you all to follow me now.”

She wheeled around, and started down a series of corridors. The students hurried behind her, trying their best to keep up. Harry was wondering where she was leading them, but he was to busy keeping up with his classmates to have a chance to ask Hermione.

They had walked into an area that Harry couldn’t seem to recognize. It was a long, barren hallway. There were no paintings, no doorways, no suits of armor, nothing at all by which to measure the hallway, making it seem longer than it probably was.

After they had walked for what seemed like hours, McGonagall finally came to a stop at the bottom of what seemed to be a turret that wasn’t familiar to Harry. He waited as the remainder of the students continued to file in behind them.

The professor waited as the last of the stragglers finally entered the atrium, and she was checking of each of the students off a mental checklist. When she completed this, she said, “very good. I need to explain to you what will be happening now.

“This tower,” she said as she waved her hand to the building in which they were standing, “will not only be the means of your travel to Beauxbatons Academy, but it will also be where you will be staying while we are there.”

She paused a moment, as the students were taking in what she had just said. Harry was wondering what she meant when she said the tower would take them there. Was it going to be taken by a team of large horses, like the Beauxbatons Carriage was last year?

Several people where discussing this, until McGonagall had cleared her throat and the students went quiet once again.

“All of your things have been brought to where you will be staying. The dormitories are on the seventh floor. Sleeping arrangements have already been prepared, and you will find a list of where you will be staying posted by the entrance to the dormitory.”

Seamus asked, “Professor, when are we leaving?”

“We, Mr. Finnegan, have already left.”

The students started to look around, not understanding what the professor was saying, when Neville weakly asked, “we have?”

McGonagall looked at him and said, “yes, Mr. Longbottom, we have. If you would all look out the windows, you will see what I am talking about.”

The class fanned out to the different windows, and as Harry and Hermione reached a window, they looked outside. To his astonishment, Harry saw at the foot of the tower what appeared to be a cloud where the ground should be. They also seemed to be moving, which Harry thought was brilliant.

Harry was looking around and all he could see was the clear blue sky for what seemed like forever. The vast empty sky combined with the feeling of flying made Harry feel as if he was on his trusty Firebolt.

Harry felt something in his hand, and when he looked down, he saw that Hermione had placed her hand in his. He looked up into her eyes, and saw that she was just as taken by this sight as he was. To be perfectly honest, Harry was a little surprised, because he knew that she wasn’t exactly enamored with flying.

After a few moments, they turned around, and McGonagall called out to them, “we will be arriving at Beauxbatons by this time tomorrow. While we are there, I expect you to behave responsibly. You will be representing the school while you are there, and we want to make a good impression.”

After she said this, she leered at the twins, and their friend Lee Jordan. After a moment she continued, “while we are there, you will be spending most of your time, including meals, on their grounds. This is an important opportunity for us to gain better relations with our fellow wizards and witches, so I want you all to make an effort while we are here. This is far more important than just a Quidditch match after all.

“Everything that you will need has been provided for you here. We have a dining hall, a library and even a hospital wing. You all have plenty of time, but just keep in mind that although we are not at Hogwarts, we still have the same curfew, and we are still keeping track of house points.”

As everyone was starting to look around, trying to figure out where to go, McGonagall continued, “you will each be provided with a map, where you will find everything you will need. Lunch will be served in exactly one hour, so until that time you might wish to take this opportunity to become familiar with your new surroundings.”

As they got their maps, Harry proceeded to follow Hermione. After a couple of moments of Hermione leading the way, Harry was less than surprised to see that they where in front of a smaller version of their library.

Harry really wasn‘t interested in starting his vacation in the library, so he grabbed hold of Hermione’s hand and led her grudgingly away from her little sanctuary. Harry saw something that grabbed his interest, and after a few minutes, the two of them wound up on top of the tower.

As they felt the cool breeze hit their faces, Harry saw that several benches had been placed along the perimeter of the roof. Harry noticed that some of their classmates had decided to come up as well, probably for a chance to glimpse the spectacular views.

After looking around, Harry chose the most remote location that he could find and guided Hermione over to it, motioning for her to sit down next to him. Once he sat down, Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry’s waist, and placed her head on his shoulder.

“When will your parents be arriving?”

Hermione paused for a moment, and finally said, “in a couple of days.”

“That’s nice.”

“My dad has been asking about you”

Harry, who was a little taken aback by this, said, “really?”

Hermione said, “it’s not a big deal. He just wants to know you a little bit better.”

Harry liked Hermione’s parents just fine, but he was a little surprised by this, but he just nodded, smiled and said, “sure. That would be nice.”

Hermione smiled at him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. After a little while, they were starting to get a little cold, and they figured that it would be lunchtime soon anyway, so they headed downstairs.

As they walked into the room that was marked as the dining hall on their map, they saw a small room with several small round tables. Harry and Hermione grabbed a table near the window, and watched as the rest of the students filed in for lunch.

Harry grimaced as he watched Ron and Cho sit, he was certain purposefully, in a nearby table. While he was sitting, Harry suddenly ha an epiphany. After thinking it over for a minute, he noticed that Hermione was giving him a concerned look. As she started to ask him something, he interrupted her.

“Will you excuse me Hermione? I’ve got to do something.”

Hermione hesitated for a moment before she said, “ok.”

Harry saw the concerned look on her face and said, “I’ll tell you later, ok?”

Hermione smiled, and nodded as Harry set off. He figured he would take care of the most difficult first, and went over to Ron and Cho. As he stood in front of their table, they proceeded to ignore him. He cleared his throat, and they continued to act as if no one was there.

It seemed futile, so he said, “I need to have a team meeting after lunch. We need to go over something, and I am going to need everyone. The meeting will be held on the roof, and, uh, bring your brooms.”

Ron nodded without looking at him. Since Cho didn’t he added, “you too, Cho, ok?”

After a moment, she nodded as well. Harry was satisfied, and he proceeded to go around notifying the rest of the team and reserves of his impromptu meeting. They all quickly agreed, and Harry quickly rejoined Hermione.

As he sat back down, Hermione asked, “what was that all about?”

Harry looked at her, and said, “I have a surprise for everyone tomorrow.”

“Really? What is it?”

Harry grinned as he said, “I was thinking about something Mr. Weasley told us last year, and well, I decided we need a proper entrance.”

“What are you planning Harry?”

Harry’s grin grew wider, “I really don’t want to say now, but I called a team meeting after lunch.”

Hermione gave him slight frown as she said, “ok.”

Harry put his hand under Hermione’s chin, as he said, “it’s going to be brilliant. Don’t worry about it.”

Hermione had a look of recognition on her face as she said, “I know what you’re hoping to do.”

Harry, not really surprised by this, laughed and said, “you probably do.”

“It’s dangerous you know?”

“We’ll be ok.”

“Well, this is against my better judgment, but ok.”

“You’re the best, Hermione.”

She smiled, and said, “if you’re going to do this you are going to need to do it properly.”

“I have a plan.”

“Well, that may be, but you need something really big.”

Harry was surprised by this, as he asked, “and you have something in mind, do you?”

Hermione looked around, and said in a quiet voice, “as a matter of fact, I do.”

Harry, who couldn’t believe what he was hearing, asked, “what is it then?”

“I have it with my things. I’ll bring it to you before your meeting, and tell everyone to bring their wands.”

Harry stammered, “their wands?”

Hermione gave him a mischievous grin that Harry had never seen before, and watched in stunned silence as she walked off toward her dormitory.

After he finally regained his composure, he advised all the team members of the admittedly rather odd request. Every one of them pointed out to him that wands are illegal in Quidditch, which Harry already knew, with the obvious exception of the twins, who looked as if Christmas had come early.

After getting his broom and wand from his room, Harry walked slowly up to the landing underneath the roof, and waited for Hermione. After a few minutes, she finally showed up and she handed him a role of parchment.

“Sorry it took so long, but I didn’t exactly know that we would be using it. I highly suggest you practice it, because it could go horribly wrong, ok?”

Harry was scanning the parchment as she was talking, and he said, “yeah, sure.”

Hermione gave Harry a kiss on the cheek and said, “good luck Harry.”

As she walked away, Harry continued to look at what she had given him, and after a moment he turned, and went up onto the roof where the members of the team where waiting for him.

Fred had a smirk on his face, “good of you to show up. You did call this little shindig, you know?”

George added, “yeah, were you just trying to freeze us to death or something?”

Angelina asked, “what’s this all about anyway?”

As Katie picked up her wand, she asked, “and what’s with the wands?”

Alicia said, “we cant use them in a match you know?”

Harry raised his hand and they went quiet. He took a deep breath, and said slowly, “as we were having lunch something came flooding into my mind. It was something Mr. Weasley had told me last year.”

Fred asked, “was it that you should bore us with unnecessarily long speeches?”

George added, “and that you should freeze us to death in the process?”

Harry, ignoring the twins’ complaints, continued, “he said when we get together we like to impress one another.”

One of the reserve chasers said, “yeah, so?”

Harry continued, “I am certain that Dumbledore has something special in mind, in addition to this flying tower we’re in, but I was thinking that as the school team, we needed to do something spectacular.”

As he said these words, the team looked at him eagerly. Fred asked, “what, exactly do you have in mind?”

“We need a proper entrance, so I used some Muggle inspiration, and thought some precision flying to mark our arrival.”

As they started to mutter the approval, George asked, “what’s with the wands then?”

“Have any of you heard of the Flying Tigers?”

Several of the team members tentatively nodded their heads.

Fred said, “I think so. That was over a hundred years ago. What do they have to do with this?

“This idea came courtesy of Hermione.” He took out the parchment she gave him, and put it out so everyone could see it. “We are going to be the New Flying Tigers.”

Ron whistled and said, “can we do that?”

Harry looked around and asked, “is there anyone here who doesn’t think they can do this?”

When nobody answered, he said, “good, because I know we can do this, but we will need a lot of practice, starting now.”

They practiced well into the night, until they had it perfected. As Harry entered his room, he finally realized that he was roomed with Ron. He was too tired by all the practice sessions to care now though. As he changed, he thought of how well their little performance will go tomorrow, and he made a mental note, that he should do something special for Hermione to thank her for everything.

As he went over the plans several times, his thoughts began to drift, and he was starting to have difficulty concentrating. The image of their flight over the gasping crowd the next morning was vivid in his thoughts as his mind went blank.

He could feel himself flying, and as he saw the crowd beneath him, he decided that he would go and take a closer look at them. As he descended, he picked up speed. Before he reached the crowd, he decided that he was going to buzz them.

As he came closer to the crowd, he started to see individual faces. Colin was busy, madly taking pictures of his approached. Most of the crowd was either scattering around, or looking up, too scared to move.

Harry saw Dumbledore, who clearly had a bemused look on his face. Professor Snape, on the other hand, looked livid. He was beside himself with anger, as he leering at him as he approached. Harry had a difficult time reading McGonagall’s reaction. She had a stern look on her face, but she usually did, so he couldn’t really tell from that.

He saw Hermione, and his heart did a summersault. She was looking amazing, with the breeze he was creating causing her hair to flow, just so. He hoped against hope that Colin would take a picture of her now, because he wanted to remember her just like this.

He wheeled around to get a better view of what they had just created, when something took Harry by surprise. Instead of what he had been expecting, he saw something altogether different. When he looked up, he saw what was unmistakably a Dark Mark.

When he saw that, he bolted up in his bed and looked around. He was breathing heavily, but apparently hadn’t woken up Ron, for which he was grateful. He decided that trying to go back to sleep was pointless so he got up, and after getting ready, went to the roof.

The cold morning air felt very nice, and it was helping him wake up. He sat down on a bench, and looked around, losing track of time. After what seemed like ages, he felt someone put their hands over his eyes and kiss him on the cheek.

“Better be careful. Hermione could be here any second.”

Hermione walked in front of him, and said, “ha, ha, ha. Very funny you.”

“I saw you coming,” Harry lied.

She leered at him with her sweet eyes and, looking as if she didn’t believe that, asked, “really?”

“Absolutely,” he said. He the pointed to his eyes and added, “vision, it’s very important for a seeker, you know.”

Despite making, what Harry thought, was a persuasive argument, she still looked as if she didn’t believe him. She thought for a moment, and finally said, “let’s go. You should eat something before we get there.”

Harry didn’t feel much like eating now, but thought that perhaps he could drink something, because his mouth was getting a little dry. As they entered the dining hall, there was a smatter of applause, and several people wished him luck.

Most people were wishing him luck on the upcoming match with Beauxbatons, but what they were about to attempt was weighing heavily on him. Hermione seemed to have sensed this, and in a gentle voice said, “it’s going to be ok.”

Harry was lost in thought, and barely heard what she had said. He looked at her, and with a weak smile, said, “I hope so. This is difficult, and we only started practicing it last night. On top of that, this hasn’t been done since…”

After he stopped, Hermione finished his thought, saying, “a hundred years. I know. But if anyone can do it, I know that you can.”

All Harry could think of was that nobody had been able to do this in a hundred years. While it was going to be difficult, it would be brilliant if they could pull it off.

Hermione looked as though she had been lost in thought herself, said, “have you thought about how you are going to start this?”

Harry thought about this, and said, “I figured we would go to the roof and go down when everyone has taken their places.”

She nodded, and said, “there is one problem with that. Do you think that they won’t miss the entire team?”

She was right. They won’t leave them behind as they were going down to the field. As he was thinking about setting up a distraction, Hermione looked around, and said, “I think I can give you enough time, but it will be tricky.”

Harry smiled, and thought that he was definitely a bad influence on her, as he asked, “and how, exactly, will you do that?”

“Well, it’s a little complicated. I can’t explain, but just make sure the team is ready, so when I give you the signal, you can go, because you won’t have much time.”

“And how will I know what the signal is?”

“You’ll know, and you will also know what to do when it happens so be ready.”

At the far end of the dining hall was a group of tables on a raised platform. These were set aside for the staff. Professor McGonagall stood up from one of them and the smatter of conversations came to an end.

“We will be arriving after lunch today, so I want you all to be prepared, and assembled at the entry hall, where we were when we first left Hogwarts. From there we will make our way down to the grounds together.”

After breakfast Hermione said, “I have to get ready myself. Make sure the team has everything they will need in position, because I can’t guarantee you how much time I can give you, but it won’t be long.”

Harry still wasn’t quite sure what Hermione had in mind, but he had learned never to underestimate her. As he nodded she bounced up the staircase toward her dormitory, and Harry went about telling the team to put their brooms on the roof, and carry their wands, because they won’t have much time.

Harry couldn’t find Hermione until lunch, when at the dining hall, he saw her saying something to herself. He was a little worried, as he asked if something was wrong. She continued to talk to herself, and without saying anything, just shook her head.

Harry spent most of lunch in complete silence, but with Hermione’s continual muttering, he found it difficult to stay calm. Finally, just before lunch had ended, she returned her attention to Harry, and asked, “are you ready?”

Harry, figuring that she was talking about the team, “yes, we are.”

“Good.”

Harry was going to ask once more what were they supposed to be getting ready for, when Professor McGonagall rose up from her seat again, and said, “if everyone is ready, we shall make our way down to the entry hall. Please follow me.”

As they headed down to the entry hall, Harry kept alert for any sign of, well, of a sign, any sign. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, and went into the middle of the Entrance Hall, Harry saw something he hadn’t noticed before.

He saw a large, ornate mirror in the far end of the hall, where the archway that they used to enter yesterday was located. Like the Mirror of Erised, it had writing all along its top fringe that Harry couldn’t read. There was something unnatural about the mirror, but Harry couldn’t place his finger on it.

The class was all seemed to be taken by the mirror, and as they all gathered around it, trying to get a better look at it, McGonagall stepped in front of it, and said, “this will be the method by which we transport down to our waiting hosts.” She looked at a watch she had in her hand, and said, “we should be directly overhead by now.”

The class let out a collective gasp at what she had just said. They were going to be traveling through this mirror? McGonagall waited for the noise to subside, and resumed, “to go down, all you have to do is walk through the mirror, and you will wind up on the other side, at the mirror Madam Maxime has so graciously placed within their chateau. Who would like to go down first?”

After she said this Hermione poked Harry in the ribs. Harry quickly, and painfully, got the idea, and he raised his hand, quickly followed by the rest of the team. McGonagall gave a very slight smile, and said, “very well. The team shall go down first.”

Harry wasn’t sure what Hermione was planning, but he was able to guess that this was the sign, and so, he played along. Hermione glanced over toward a dark space behind the stairway, and motioned with her eyes.

Harry quietly followed her as she went over there. After a moment, the remainder of the team had followed suit and joined them. Hermione took out her wand, and after she had cast a spell, the team looked in stunned silence at what was before them.

Hermione had somehow created a mirror image of the team. Harry was about to ask how she had done this, when she gave them an urgent look, and motioned toward the staircase. They all sneaked away, quickly and quietly up the staircase, watching as it appeared that they were disappearing into this mirror at the other end of the hall, closely followed by Hermione and the rest of the school.

“That was bloody brilliant,” Fred said, and the rest of the team murmured their agreement.

Harry was too stunned to say anything, quietly marveling at how brilliant his girlfriend is. Finally he said, “we’d better hurry, Hermione said we won’t have much time.”

They rushed up the staircase, and quickly mounted their brooms. This was it, Harry thought. Something Harry had heard once came to him, as they were walking up the staircase. It was that success isn’t for the meek or the frightened, and that it is better to try, and fail spectacularly, than to play it safe, and never knowing what you are capable of.

He thought to himself as the reached the roof, that they were either going to do something that they will be talking about forever, or they were going to fail spectacularly. As Harry thought about this, he felt that was the story of his life so far, but he quickly shook that off.

Harry checked that the entire team had mounted their brooms, and motioned forward, to start their show. They took off, and headed down to the wide expanses of the field below. He saw the Hogwarts students next to the student body and faculty of Beauxbatons.

As they descended toward the field, Harry saw several students point up at them. He saw Professor McGonagall with a severe look on her face, while Dumbledore was beaming up toward them. Harry gave the next signal and they lined up one behind the other.

They started flying in a circular formation, and took out their wands. As one, they pointed at the center of the formation and shot beams of light creating a flying cartwheel. Even from their present altitude, Harry could hear the applause from the crowd below.

They quickly morphed from that formation into a diamond pattern, a double helix, a shooting star, and then an arrowhead formation. With each new formation, the applause grew louder, and after flying for twenty minutes or so, he realized it was time for the finale that Hermione had provided for him.

He gave the signal and the team took their positions, awaiting the mark to begin. Harry knew this was for all the marbles. He was nervous but confident at the same time. For better or worse, this was it, the culmination of their efforts.

As he was preparing for what was coming, the sound of the crowd’s cheering was drowned out by the sound of his frantically beating heart. He took a deep breath, and motioned for the team to start the big ending. The reserves took the lead and Harry stayed as far back as he could, while still watching all of the action. The starters all took out their wands, and cast the spell to start the grand finale.

They created four large animals, representing the four Hogwarts Houses. The twins created a large Slytherin serpent, to which they added a mask of Professor Snape. Harry wanted to ask why they had one of these handy, but he was too busy with the task at hand to do so, although he did make a mental note to ask them afterward.

The chasers created a large form of a Gryffindor lion, Ron created a large Hufflepuff badger, and finally Harry created a large Ravenclaw eagle. They positioned themselves as to appear to be saddling their respective animals.

They arranged their animals in diametrically opposing positions, and after a moment, Harry pointed his wand to the center creating a large bright sphere. After it appeared, the four animals proceeded toward the center target.

As they all reached their target, there was a large explosion, and the seven players radiated out from within it. Harry shot straight out from the top, and when he reached the apex of his climb, he look down, and saw a giant gleaming Hogwarts crest.

As the roar of the crowd grew to it crescendo, Harry looked around at what they had managed to do in one day. He scanned down at the crowd, and saw Hagrid, whom he could spot clearly at this extreme height because he so overshadowed the crowd surrounding him.

Harry spotted standing right next to Hagrid, the sweet, smiling face of Hermione, and he glided down toward her. His classmates swarmed him when he finally managed to touchdown. The rest of the team was quickly engulfed by the mass of students who were waiting to greet them.

Harry battled though the crowd, and found his way over to Hermione. Her proximity to Hagrid made it easy, since he was a hard target to miss. As he got there, the crowd started to part, and the rest of the team, a little ruffled, but otherwise unharmed, appeared.

When the students resumed their prior positions, Harry saw the staff members lined up in front of them. Harry took a deep breath, and braced himself for the worst. He wasn’t quite sure of what was going to happen next, but he was sure that whatever it was a small price for the opportunity to do what they had done.

Snape looked surprisingly serene, which concerned Harry absolutely no end. This couldn’t mean anything good, he thought. He saw McGonagall, who had a severe look on her face but Harry could have sworn there was a slight smile in her thin lips, unless he had been very much mistaken.

Hagrid walked over, and patted Harry on the back, almost knocking him into the ground. As he recovered, and looked around, he saw Professor Dumbledore looking down at him with a rather pleased look on his face.

The silence seemed to be more deafening than the crowd had been. Harry was hoping that someone would say something, anything in fact. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Professor Dumbledore started to clap, slowly followed by a steadily increasing number of students, until just about everyone was clapping.

The noise was deafening, and Harry wasn’t sure whether it was appropriate to bow, or make any other sort of acknowledgement, since he still wasn’t sure if they were in any sort of trouble. As he looked around at the team, they seemed to be struggling with the same quandary, but ultimately they decided it was best to play it low key, and wait to find out what the consequences of their little unauthorized performance would be.

After a couple of minutes, the applause died away, and the silence returned. Dumbledore said, “I have to admit, that as impressive as the entry I had planned was, it seems that my own students have found a way to overshadow me. Very well done, indeed.”

Madam Maxime was clearly taken aback by this, as she said, “yoo meen zat thees waz not yoor dooing?”

Dumbledore chuckled, and said. “no, I am afraid to say that I had absolutely nothing to do with this.”

Madam Maxime didn’t seem convinced however, “shoorlee yoor teachers ‘ad a hand in zis.”

“Not that I am aware of, although it wouldn’t be the first time that something happed in the school without my knowledge.” Dumbledore looked around at the other professors around him, and asked, “have any of you assisted in this most excellent performance?”

As Dumbledore surveyed all of the professors, one by one, they all shook their head slowly, and stared at each other eager to find out who had been responsible. After he had scanned all of them he said, “it appears that this was completely of their own doing.”

Madam Maxime huffed, and asked, “I am zupposed to beeleef zat zees studants of yoors were abble to do sumsing thees compleecated wissout any asseestance, watsoever?”

Dumbledore grinned, and said, “I must admit a certain amount of responsibility I suppose.”

Madam Maxime had a triumphant sort of air in her voice, as she said, “I sought so.”

“It is, however, not what you think it is. While I was a mere student at Hogwarts, all those many years ago, I and several of my classmates had surprised our fellow students with a similar performance, although I have to admit it palled in comparison to the show that we had just witnessed.”

There was a pause, and as Harry let Professor Dumbledore last few words wash over him, he was stunned. He had learnt never to underestimate his headmaster, but he never really gave much thought to his time at Hogwarts as a student.

After a few moments, he was able to regain enough composure to stammer, “s-s-sir. I never realized.” Harry had so many questions he wanted to ask, but before he could stop himself, he got out, “when? Where? Why?”

Dumbledore had a kind smile on his face, as he said, “yes, Harry, I did this a long time ago, although I have to admit I couldn’t have picked a better occasion than you have. It was on my last year, and several of my classmates decided that we should leave on a bang, so on our graduation, we came up with something special.”

Harry asked, “how did you come up with this?”

Dumbledore said, “we found several components of our performance in different texts, and we added a few of our own. I need not ask for your source of information though.”

With this, everyone turned to look at Hermione, who tried her best to hide the mischievous smile she had been wearing. As Harry stared at her, he was wondering if it really had been a coincidence that she had this particular parchment with her, or if she had intended for something like this from the start.

Madam Maxime, who seemed to have regained her composure, said, “now that ower guests ‘ave, uh, arrived, may we all proceed to the Great ‘all, whair we shall ‘ave a feast to welcome zem to ower hallowed ‘alls.”

It was considerably smaller than Hogwarts, and it didn’t have any turrets. The students followed as Maxime led the way into the castle. As they walked toward the Castle, Harry noticed that Snape was leering in his direction. He looked as if he had just found out that Christmas had been cancelled.

As Harry passed him by on the way to the hall, he had to fight the urge to laugh at his reaction. As he walked into the room, Harry saw that it was filled with several circular tables that each sat approximately 15 people. These tables were arranged all around a larger oval table that was on a raised platform up front, near a large set of drapes bearing the Beauxbatons crest.

Harry and the team took one of the tables close to the platform, where Hermione joined them. One by one, the team stopped by Hermione on the way to their seats. Fred and George said something, to which Hermione gave a little laugh.

Angelina gave her a small hug, whispering something into her ear as she walked over to her seat. Katie and Alicia also gave Hermione a hug, as they passed her by. Ron gave Hermione a small peck on the cheek after he had said something to her. While Harry wasn’t too crazy about this, Cho looked absolutely livid.

The reserves walked past Hermione, saying something quickly on the way to their seats. Cho simply glared at her for a second, before taking a seat between Ron and a fellow Ravenclaw reserve. As the rest of the people where taking their seats, Harry was thinking about what Dumbledore had said, and was starting to paint a mental image of a much younger version of his headmaster.

When everyone had taken his or her seats, Hermione wound up sitting to Harry’s right side, while Angelina had taken the seat to his left. There was a buzzing sound around the room as people were still excitedly talking about what they had just witnessed. This quickly died away as Madam Maxime stood up from the center of the front table.

“I wood like to welcom our gessts from ‘ogwarts, and I hope sat zey enjoy zeir stay wis us, az we eenjooyed our stay over zere. I ‘ave to admeet zat when I zaw the sedule, I waz pleazed to zee whom we would be fasing.

“zees should be ze very challangeeng match for both zides, I am sure. Our gessts haz proveen to be, uh, ratheer rezoursefull. zey zhould prove to be ze inteersting oponants, and I am zure zat we can count on a very inteersting match in ze coople of zays.

“In ze meentime, I would eencourage you all to take advontage of your time ‘ere and get to know us a leetle better. Seence last time we were leemeted to a small conteengent, you should be able to have ze beetter idea of what we are like.

“Unless my counteerpart haz anetheng to add,” Maxime said this and paused as she glanced over toward Dumbledore. He smiled, and briefly shook his head.

Maxime turned back to the sea of students, and said, “in zat case, let ze feest beegin.”

As she said this, several bowls began to fill with different kinds of food. Harry was a little tentative as he saw several things that he had never tried before. He poked the ladle into several of them, noting one bowl of something that looked particularly disturbing. He looked at a tureen of something else that didn’t look much better. No, overall, things didn’t look to appetizing.

Hermione saw his reaction, and said, “I know last time you didn’t try anything, but the food is really quite good.”

Harry wasn’t convinced, but with the alternative being hunger, he took small portions of the least threatening looking thing he could find. He took a deep breath, and sampled them. Hermione was right. Some of the food wasn’t too bad. It was better than going hungry anyway.

Harry looked across the table and saw that Ron was having as difficult a time dealing with the menu as he was, maybe even more so, if that is possible.

Hermione looked at him after he had tried a few different things, and asked, “well?”

“Well, what?”

“How do you like it?”

“It’s, uh, edible.”

She shook her head, and mumbled something that sounded oddly like boys. As the feast went along, Harry found a few things that he liked. He tried to remember them, since he had a bad feeling that he was going to be living off this stuff for the duration of their stay here.

Dessert was thankfully better than dinner, but it still left much to be desired. Harry spent most of the night lost in Hermione’s eyes, so he wouldn’t have to look at what he was consuming. He could see that Hermione thought this was romantic, and he figured that its better that she didn’t really know why he kept his gaze locked on her.

Madam Maxime stood up, the hall went quiet, and the plates magically returned to their pristine condition. Afterward they set out of the chateau, to the where the mirror that Maxime had created for them had been placed.

It was slightly different from the one that Dumbledore had created up in their flying tower. The only thing that it appeared to have in common with their portal was the unusual writing that was etched on the top of it.

Harry and Hermione were two of the first people to take the trip back up to the tower, and when they arrived back in the entrance hall, they started up the stairs. As they were walking up toward their respective dormitories, they paused at the landing that separates the boys from the girls.

Harry asked Hermione, “when will your parents be arriving exactly?”

“Sometime tomorrow.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes. I’m pretty tired now. See you in the morning, ok?”

Harry said, “ok,” and leaned forward and kissed her goodnight.

The day went far better than Harry could have possibly hoped for. He strolled up to his room, and quickly changed and climbed onto four-poster. Ron was still out when Harry closed his drapes. Harry very much suspected that he probably was out with Cho somewhere.

Harry closed his eyes, and started to visualize the performance his team gave. He started to think that he wanted to do something like this for graduation. Although, he thought, he would need to prepare something even more spectacular than this.

As he started thinking about what he would need to improve upon their performance, he started to drift off to sleep. Just before he fell asleep, he saw Ron sneak into their room, although he really couldn’t see much without his glasses on.

Since they were elevated above the clouds, the sunlight from the early morning light shined brightly in Harry’s face, causing him to wake up a little early. He got up, and he dressed quietly, seeing Ron still fast asleep with his curtains drawn.

As he walked down the stairs, he found Hermione waiting for him in their common area, sitting reading a book. As he sat down next to her, he saw she that the book she was reading was about the history of house elves in France.

As he sat down next to her, something from the night before came to his mind. He leaned forward, and Hermione took her eyes off what she was reading. She leaned forward and kissed him good morning.

“About yesterday,” Harry started.

Hermione still had a mischievous smile on her face, as she said, “yes?”

Harry paused a moment to think about how to phrase it, before he said, “uh, meione, about that sheet you gave us yesterday.”

“Yes. What about it?”

“The fact that you had it with you wasn’t a coincidence, was it?”

Hermione’s mischievous grin grew a little wider, “no, I suppose not.”

“You set that whole thing up didn’t you.”

“Well, not exactly. I knew that you were going to try something, so when I found this I thought that this would be perfect. And when I saw who the last to do it was, I was sure it would be perfect.”

Harry leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, and he said, “I don’t know what I have done to deserve you.”

She leaned in and grinned as she said, “who said that you do?”

Before he had a chance to respond, they noticed that several people were starting to come downstairs. They decided to go down to the dining hall to get some breakfast. As they sat down at one of the tables, Harry, thankful to see some familiar food, loaded up his plate.

As they were enjoying their meal, the hall was quickly filling up. After a few minutes, something took most of the people in the hall a little off guard. There was a flurry of activity overhead, and Harry looked up to see the familiar sight of the owls searching for their owners, to make their deliveries.

As he continued to eat, Harry saw the snowy white form of his owl Hedwig glide down in front of him. As he petted her head, he saw that she had a letter attached to her leg. He untied it, and gave her piece of toast before he opened it.

On opening the letter, he saw that it was from Remus. When Hermione asked who he had received the letter from, he started to read it to her in a hushed voice so that only she would be able to hear him.

Dear Harry,

I heard about your little performance last night. I am truly sorry that I couldn’t make it out there, but Sirius filled me in on it, and I want to tell you how impressed I am that you were able to pull it off. It is quite a feather in your hat.

I also understand that you somehow managed to keep this a secret from the rest of the school. That is almost as impressive a feat as the performance itself. I should know, because when we trued to plan something along those lines, it was all over the school before we could even really get started.

I also must tip my cap to you, because we never were quite able to get that trick down, so we never were able to do what we were planning. The funny thing is that it was Lilly who found the book for us, that got us going in the first place.

I would have asked you how you had found it, because I am sure that that they removed from it from the library after our little stunt, however, Sirius and I can see Hermione’s fingerprints all over this. Since I am assuming that you are probably reading this to her, I would like to tell her, very well done indeed.

I am almost certain that I will be able to be there for the match, but if something unexpected comes along, I would like to wish you, and the rest of the team, luck for the match. I have faith that you should do well.

Best of luck,

Remus Lupin

After he finished reading, he looked at Hermione, who was looking a little apprehensive. It was almost as if she could sense his next question, so he decided to hold off on that for a moment. He decided to bring up something a little less awkward first.

“Remus should be here for the match. I am happy to hear that.”

Hermione, who clearly was expecting him to have said something else, had a look of relief on her face, as she said, “me too.”

After a couple of minutes, he decided that he really wanted to know, so he tentatively asked, “are you going to tell me, then?”

Hermione took a deep breath, and said in little more than a whisper, “I had this parchment sent to me. I am not sure whom it was from exactly, but I believe that it was from Sirius. I thought that he suspected that you might do something like this, or maybe he might just have been hoping. I couldn’t tell exactly, but when I got the parchment, I decided it might be wise to hold on to it.

“I also decided to do some research into it, trying to find out who had tried it last, and their results. What I found out reinforced my suspicions. I added a few notes, hoping to complete the parts that might have been their undoing.

“After I found out what you were planning to do, I knew what I had to do. I went to Sirius, who reluctantly told me everything that happened. I looked it over again, making a few additional changes before I gave it to you. I started planning a way for you to keep this as quiet as was possible, including getting you some time to make your appearance.”

Harry waited for a few seconds to take all this in, and then he asked, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“Sirius asked me not to say anything, so I respected his wishes. In addition, I started to wonder whether he was the one that had sent me the document after all. Since I wasn’t sure, I decided that I shouldn’t say anything.”

Harry understood, and now he was wondering what obviously had been tugging at Hermione’s mind. Which was, who was it that had sent them this particular document?

After they finished eating breakfast, they decided to go on a stroll of the Beauxbatons grounds. It was a bit cold, but still considerably warmer than it was over at Hogwarts. They spent most of the morning walking around, when suddenly Hermione looked saw the time on Harry’s watch.

She said, “I have to go.”

Harry looked at her, “what? Why?”

“My parents are going to be here in a few hours, and I’ve got to get ready.”

“What do you mean you’ve got to get ready?”

“I look like a mess. I need to be perfect for when they arrive.”

“You look beautiful.”

Hermione kissed him on the cheek and said, “thank you, but I really have to go. I will see you later, ok?”

Before he could say anything, she had walked off into the mirror and Harry was all alone now. He continued to walk around, before deciding he ought to return to the castle for some lunch. As he was on his way back to the mirror, he ran into Fleur.

“Harry, vere are you in such a rush to?”

“I was heading back up to our castle?”

“Vaht on ‘eavens for?”

“I’m going for lunch. I am getting pretty hungry.”

“Don’ be zilly. I will take u to lunch here.”

Harry didn’t really want to, but really couldn’t say no, so he nodded and followed her as she took him to the great hall again. He saw that they had several large tables set up in place of the smaller tables of the night before.

As he sat down next to Fleur, he saw several things that were different. He looked up from the table to Fleur’s smiling face and waited to see what she was going to eat first.

Fleur saw this, and said, “’arry, cloze your eyes.”

Harry was surprised and he stammered, “what?”

“Cloze you eyes pleaze.”

Harry reluctantly complied, and he heard her say, “now open your ‘outh.”

Harry opened his eyes again, but she said, “now, now. If you do wat I zay you will get ze big zurprize.”

He was really nervous about it, bit did as he was told. After he closed his eyes, he opened his mouth, and she placed something sweet that tasted similar to chicken. It was pretty good, and he opened his eyes, and asked, “what was that?”

“Poulet,” she answered.

Harry asked, “poo what?”

“Poulet, uh, cheeken.”

They spent lunch together and Harry found out that French food wasn’t as bad as he originally thought, although he still avoided the snails. After all, he wasn’t that adventurous. He also decided that he wasn’t going to tell Hermione about this.

After lunch, Fleur took Harry on a tour of the campus. He was having a good time, and after a while, she said that she would show him the Quidditch stadium now that is had been retuned to its original playing condition.

As they walked into the arena, Fleur put her hand on Harry’s shoulder. He really was starting to get a bad feeling now. He was wondering what she was doing. She gave a gentle giggle as she cornered him near her locker. He was starting to feel trapped, but he wasn’t sure what exactly to do.

“Harry, I ‘ave zometheng that I ‘ave to amit to ‘oo.”

Harry paused a moment, and said, “uh, what?”

“I like ‘oo.”

Harry was a little surprised by the turn of events. He thought that if Ron knew about this he would hate him more than he already does. He thought for a moment, then he uttered out, “I like you too, Fleur.”

“No, I reelly like ‘oo,” she said. As she was saying this, she was leaning closer. Too close Harry thought.

Harry backed up as far as he could, but the wall was preventing him from going any further. Finally, she leaned in and placed a small kiss on his lips.

Yes, he was attracted to Fleur, but this was wrong. He pulled away, although not as quickly as he probably should have. When he did, he saw Hermione in the doorway to the locker room. She had a tear in her eye.

Harry pushed past Fleur, but by that point Hermione was already gone. He looked back at Fleur, and he wanted to be upset that she would do this to him, but he wouldn’t. He realized that this was his fault for letting himself be put in that position.

Harry said, “I’m sorry Fleur, but I’ve got to go.”

Before she had an opportunity to respond, Harry ran out of the changing room, determined to find Hermione, and try and set things right again. This wasn’t going to be easy, but he told himself anything worth doing seldom is. His mind was racing. He wondered where to look first.

He ran to the portal back to the castle. As he reached the entrance hall, he scampered up the staircase up to the common room. When he got there, he found Mr. Granger pacing around. He saw that he didn’t look very happy.

He asked, “have you seen Hermione?”

He walked over to Harry, and said, “yes, Harry, I did. She came storming past us toward her dormitory. She was crying, so her mother went up to find out what was wrong. You wouldn’t happen to know what happened by any chance, would you.”

Harry wasn’t sure exactly what to say, as he choked out, “well, you see.”

He couldn’t finish his thought, when Mr. Granger interrupted him, “I don’t know what happened, and I really don’t need to, but my daughter appears to be hurt, and that’s all that I need to know.”

“I need to talk to her.”

Mr. Granger considered him for a minute before he said, “yes, maybe you do, but not now.”

“Mr. Granger, I love your daughter. I need to explain to her what happened, so she can understand. I would never do anything to hurt her.”

Mr. Granger‘s face softened a bit, and after he cleared his throat, he slowly said, “yes, I expect that you do have a lot to explain, but this isn’t the right time. She seems to be hurt, and I believe that she needs an opportunity to recover before she will give you another chance. If you really love my daughter, you need to give her as much time as she needs to get over this.”

Harry wandered around the tower, and without realizing where he was going, his feet took him up to the roof. He found himself at the bench where he sat with Hermione on their first night after they left Hogwarts for Beauxbatons.

Now that Hermione was upset with him, he was all alone now. He hadn’t felt this alone since his twelfth birthday, when he hadn’t heard from any of his friends from school, and he thought that they had forgotten about him. Things were so bad that summer that he actually imagined that his entire first year at Hogwarts was just a dream.

As he sat on the top of the magnificent tower, he was lost in the blackness of the night’s sky, which contrasted with the countless shining stars above him. As he stared up into the heavens, he had plenty of time to think about the fine mess that he had put himself in.

He kept wondering if she would ever forgive him. The thought of losing Hermione tore away at his soul. Losing Ron was one thing, but he couldn’t bare the idea of losing Hermione. As difficult as losing his best friend, Ron, which was still killing him, he couldn’t imagine what school would be like now without Hermione.

As he absent mindedly scanned the sky, and his eyes fell onto the full moon, it came to him. He needed to show her how much he would be willing to do to make things right. He wondered what he could do. He thought for a while, about it, but all he could think about was Hermione.

Harry closed his eyes, and he saw the past four years play out like a film. He pictured the moment when he was on the Hogwarts Express, and she walked into his compartment, into his life as it wound up. He saw Hermione cowering in a corner of the girls’ bathroom as a giant troll attacked her. He saw when she helped him on his way to the Sorcerer’s Stone.

He remembered as along with Ron, he went into the abandoned girls lavatory, and watched Hermione busily preparing the Polyjuice potion. He chuckled as he remembered when he saw what had happened when she added the hairs off Millicent Bullstrode’s robes, believing that she had taken some of its owner’s hair. It wound up that it belonged to Millicent‘s cat instead, and since the potion wasn’t designed for animal transformation, she wound up looking like a cat. The image of her laying, immobile, in the hospital wing after she had been petrified in their second year stuck in his mind. After he shook it off, he pictured the image of Hermione, as she came running into his arms, once she had been restored that is. Whenever he thought of this, it always made him smile.

Harry remembered when he was in the hospital wing recovering from a Dementors’ attack, the first thing he saw was Hermione’s face, and he felt safe. He flashed to the scene in which Hermione placed the time turner around his head. After that, he remembered the time when she joined him on Buckbeak’s back, as they flew up to rescue Sirius, and how she held him tightly in the cold night’s air.

He thought back to last year, he remembered at the Yule Ball. He saw a stunning girl walk into the Entrance Hall, escorted by the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum. He also remembered how he felt when he realized that it was Hermione. The memory of the second task of the tournament came to him, as he saw Hermione in the bottom of the lake, and about how he tried to rescue her after he extricated Ron from his shackles, even though Ron was his only responsibility, and Cho and Gabrielle where both there. He also remembered what happened as they reached Kings Cross, when Hermione kissed him so sweetly on his cheek.

He remembered earlier in the year, as he was on the banks of the lake, and he kissed Hermione for the first time, and later on, when he was in a small shop in Hogsmeade, and he told her that he loves her for the first time. He also thought of yesterday, as she summoned a copy of his team, allowing them to do their crazy stunt.

Harry knew what he needed to do now, and he ran down to the common room again, hoping that his plan would work. He thought that this might be his only chance. When Harry entered, he saw Hermione's father sitting in the comfortable chair beside the fire. After slowly approaching him, Harry sat at the chair next to his.

Mr. Granger saw the look of anticipation on Harry’s face, and said, “I’m sorry Harry, but it’s still too soon.”

Harry said, “yeah, I know, but I need your help.”

Mr. Granger appeared to be taken aback by this, and after a moment, he asked, “what is it that I can do for you?”

“I want to show Hermione how I feel about her.” Harry, paused, took a deep breath, and when Mr. Granger remained silent, he continued, “I know now what I need to do, but if it’s going to work I am going to need you to help me with it.”

Mr. Granger thought for a minute, and with a slight grin on his face, he said, “ok, I see that you are serious about this. Whatever help I can provide, I will be only too happy to do so.”

Harry told Mr. Granger all about what he was planning, and what help that he was hoping to receive. Mr. Granger listened, nodding occasionally, remaining silent, until Harry had finished his request.

“Very ambitious, but I suppose that I shouldn’t be surprised by that.” Hermione’s father paused for a moment, and he continued, “ok. I think it’s a splendid idea, and while I’m not sure how well it will work, I will provide all the help that I can. As for those things you requested, yes, you may have them.”

“Thanks, Mr. Granger.”

“It’s not a problem son, but where do you want me to give it to you?”

That’s was an excellent question, since he didn’t want what he was doing to get back to Hermione before he was ready, so he thought, and told Mr. Granger to meet him on the tower’s roof first thing in the morning. After Mr. Granger agreed, Harry walked away, felting a little relieved, but he understood the most difficult part of the plan was still ahead of him.

Most of the people were on their way down to dinner, but Harry really didn’t feel like eating, and since he wanted to avoid an awkward encounter with Hermione for now, he went to his dormitory. As he had expected the room was empty, so he opened his trunk, and started looking through his things for some of the items he would need.

The time went by so fast, that before he knew what had happened the lamps had turned on, and people had started returning from dinner below. Ron walked into the room, and he looked as if he was about to say something, but thought better of it.

Harry was tempted to tell Ron everything. He wanted to tell him about the letter from Lupin, and the kiss he had with Fleur, and most importantly, what he was planning for Hermione. When he saw Ron turn away from him, going toward the other end of the room, Harry realized that as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t turn to him now.

Harry put his things away in his trunk, and after he changed, he quickly fell off to sleep. He had to go to sleep early, since he had to meet Hermione’s dad early in the morning. He also hoped that from their vantage he might have an opportunity to see their opponents get in some last second practice in the morning.

After a pretty restless night, spent mostly tossing and turning, he got up at the crack of dawn. He saw that Ron was still soundly asleep, so he changed his clothes as quietly as he could, and started off to the roof. When he got there, he saw Mr. Granger sitting on one of the benches, waiting for him.

Harry walked over, and sat down next to him, where he was greeted with a warm, “Good morning.”

“Good Morning.”

“How are you doing this morning?”

“Fine,” Harry lied.

Mr. Granger turned to face him, and said, “I see you didn’t come down to dinner last night.”

“I wasn’t hungry,” Harry said plainly.

“Funny, but neither was Hermione. We tried to get her to come down, but she was steadfast.”

While Harry felt a little bit better that Hermione seemed to be taking this as badly as he did, but it wasn’t much of a comfort.

“I brought what you asked for,” Mr. Granger said, handing a large box to Harry.

Harry looked through the box, and it was exactly what he needed. “Thank you. This is perfect.”

“Well, I am glad I was able to help. I have to admit that’s a very creative idea you had there.”

“Thanks, but I just thought of Hermione, and after a while, I thought, ‘of course.’ it made perfect sense if you know her.”

Mr. Granger nodded, and said, “yes it does, and it is clear that you know her very well indeed.”

Harry was a little embarrassed, as he said, “well, we have been friends for the past five years.”

“Yes, I know. It seems that all I hear is Harry this, and Harry that. At first I thought it was because of everything you have done, but now I expect it is because she has grown attached to you.“

“And, I have grown rather attached to her.”

“I can see that, since you are going through a considerable amount of effort to prove it.”

“Well. She’s worth it.”

“Yes, she is, I couldn’t agree with you more. Shouldn’t you get going?”

“Pardon me?”

“You’re match is today isn’t it?”

Harry slapped his hand on his forehead and as he headed off he said, “you’re right. I’ve got to go, but thanks again.”

As he went into the staircase, he heard Mr. Granger say something that he couldn’t make out. He scampered down the staircase, and when he reached his dormitory, he saw Ron getting ready. He realized he had some time, so he put the things that Hermione’s dad gave him and went down for some breakfast.

When he reached the dining hall, he found the rest of the team quietly eating breakfast, those of whom that weren’t too nervous to eat that is. Harry grabbed a seat at an empty table and quietly ate some breakfast. He wasn’t particularly hungry, but he needed to get something in his stomach before the match, especially since he skipped dinner last night.

Harry saw Hermione walk into the dining hall, and he wanted to call out to her, but he stayed quiet. He just watched quietly as she took a seat at another empty table, across the hall from his. He ate as much as he could, which was hard considering that he didn’t really have much of an appetite.

He closed his eyes for a second, and as he opened them, he scanned the hall. He looked at Hermione, hoping to gain her attention. When she kept her eyes locked onto her plate, Harry was relieved, not knowing what he would have said to her had he gotten her attention. He wasn’t sure if this was too early or not, but he didn’t feel like pushing his luck.

After struggling with this dilemma, he got up, and went to his dormitory to recover his things for the match. He was grateful that he was going to be on his broom. He always knew, no matter how bad things were, he always had a reprieve once he was in the air.

In addition, this was going to be his first real game of Quidditch in almost two years, not to mention the first on his Spitfire. After he grabbed all of his things, he walked slowly over down to the entrance hall. It was still empty as he walked through the portal that transported him back down to the grounds.

He walked directly to the pitch, so he could look at it beforehand. He also wanted to get in a couple of laps around the field before the match to help him shake off some of the nerves he was building up. When he arrived on the field, he quickly realized that he wasn’t the only one who had gotten that idea.

As he looked up, he barely saw someone flying high above the field, but the rising sun obscured his view. He shielded his eyes, and he watched as someone started to descend in his direction. Harry just stood there, rooted to where he was standing, waiting to see whom the mystery flyer was.

As the figure came closer, he could see that it was a female, which wasn’t really much of surprise, considering the entire Beauxbatons’ team was comprised of girls. As she landed next to him, Harry started to feel ill.

“Hello Fleur,” Harry mumbled, as she glided next to him.

“Good to see ‘oo before ze match ‘arry”

“Yeah. Look, I came down to get some work in before the match, so if you’ll excuse me,” Harry said briskly.

“Vat oz ze russh ‘arry? Tell me, ‘ow is yur little girrlfrand?”

Harry leered at her, and without saying anything he quickly mounted his broom and kicked hard off the ground. The breeze felt nice on his face, and he was able to put everything out of his mind, at least for a little while anyway.

After he completed a couple of laps around the field, Harry started to look around the stadium. He saw the twins walk onto field after a few minutes, and quickly mount their own brooms, joining him in the air. The rest of the team started to appear, and quickly joined them.

When the last member of the starting unit had arrived, Harry looked at his watch, and saw that the game was about to start. Just as he realized that, he saw the crowd work their way to their seats, mostly clad in the familiar silver and black colors of Beauxbatons.

Harry started down toward to the field, but not before quickly scanning the crowd in an effort to see if Hermione was already there. When he couldn’t see her, he hoped that his worst fears wouldn’t come to pass. He hoped that despite everything that had happened, she would still make it to the match.

When they landed, Harry led the rest of the team off the field, into the locker room that their hosts had set up for them. The team quietly changed, and they all sat down, waiting for their captain to say something, but Harry really couldn’t think if anything.

After a few minutes, he realized that he had to say something, even if he really didn’t feel up to it. He got up, and looked around at their expectant stares, and in barely louder than a whisper, Harry said, “losing is not an option.”

Fred turned around to George, and said, “see, I told you it wasn’t an option.”

George then, mocking surprise, said, “I thought it was.”

The rest of the team chuckled quietly, and Harry realized that he wasn’t doing a very good job, although he felt a little more relaxed now. Harry figured if his little speech wasn’t going to be good, it should at least be short, so he looked around, and said, “for most of you this could very well be your last game, so let’s do this right. We can win, and I know we will win, and make Hogwarts proud of us.”

Fred jumped up, and said, “yeah, let’s go.”

The team grabbed their brooms and marched toward the entrance, where they were waiting for their introductions. After a while, they heard someone in that magically magnified voice saying something, but since it as in French, they hadn’t the slightest idea what the heck it was.

The team just started at each other, bewildered, until they finally heard something they recognized, when the announcer said, “’ogwarts.”

They lined up, and when they heard their names, they mounted their broom and rocketed onto the field, one by one. After a few moments, Harry was alone in the locker room, and when he heard his name, he took a deep breath, and after he straddled his Spitfire, he bolted into the arena.

He heard a combination of applause, along with some taunts, or at least he assumed they were taunts. Since they were in French, he hadn’t the slightest idea what they were saying, which, in this case, wasn’t such a bad thing.

He saw a man in black robes drag a trunk into the muddle of the field. He knew that this must be the referee, and watched as he settled in the middle of the pitch. He said something in French, and kicked open the trunk.

When all of the balls shot up out of the trunk, there was a scurry of activity. Harry shot up as fast as he could, and he soon had a clear view of the field. He kept an eye out for the snitch, hoping that might be able to get a quick capture, to end the match.

As he continued to scan the field below him, Harry heard something behind him that took him by surprise. It was Fleur, and she said, “’arry.”

He took his eyes of his search to look behind him, He saw Fleur marking him, less than 50 feet away. She had a mischievous look on her face, and looked as if she was about to say something else, but Harry decided he didn’t want to hear it, so he shot across the field, leaving her before she had an opportunity to say anything.

As he started scanning the field again, he saw something quite disturbing. He noticed the twins looked a little disoriented. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he was quite sure it couldn’t be any good. He wound his way near the Hogwarts’ goals, when he heard Fleur again.

This time, however she wasn’t talking, but rather, she was singing something. He hadn’t the slightest idea what it was, although he kept thinking to himself that it was the nicest thing he ever heard. He thought that he should dance to it. Yes, that would be appropriate.

He started moving his broom in concert with her singing, when he decided that this wasn’t enough. He needed to do something more impressive, so he stood on his broom, and started to dance on top of it. Maybe if he jumped off, it might be more impressive, when he felt something, and he noticed that Ron was next to him, and apparently, he had just slapped him across the face. When he didn’t react, Ron did it again, and again, until he finally picked up his hand to stop him. Harry was upset with Ron. He was wondering, why was he hitting him?

Ron shouted, “call a timeout.”

Harry, realizing that he was completely lost, agreed that was a good idea, and when he did, they quickly landed on the field. He looked around at the rest of the team, and saw that while the guys looked confused, the girls looked rather upset.

Angelina yelled, “they’re cheating.”

Harry, still confused, asked, “what?”

Ron said, “apparently, Fleur isn’t the only Vella on the team.”

Ron gestured over to the twins, who were still slapping each other, although Harry was getting the distinctive impression that this wasn’t necessary anymore.

Harry was starting to regain his senses, and he asked, “ok, what’s the score?”

Alicia said, “50-30, theirs.”

Harry thought for a second, adding, “down 20 points, things definitely could be worse.”

Katie said, “well, it’s a good thing that we aren’t affected by that, otherwise this game could already be over.”

Angelina asked, “Ron, how come you don’t seem to be affected as much as the others?”

Ron looked a little embarrassed as he said, “I am, but you see, they stopped trying to affect me, or at least I think they have. I guess they don’t think it’s worth it or something, so after a couple of minutes it wore off.”

Harry saw someone run toward them, and to his relief he saw it was Hermione. She stopped, holding her chest for a second, as she tried to regain her breath.

She looked around at the team, who were staring intently at her, and said, “I thought that this might happen, so I had been working on a contingency for this situation, just in case.”

The team looked on expectedly as Hermione sorted through her bag. As she was searching, she said, “I remembered that during the World Cup, neither team seemed to be affected by the Vella’s song, so I figured that they had to know something.

“I was getting nowhere, so I figured I would ask the Irish and Bulgarian Quidditch teams. When I didn’t receive a response from either team, I started to get desperate. I started looking at different locations for information, and after a while, I eventually got back an answer. It was complicated, but after some effort,” Hermione said as she pulled out something from her bag.

She handed something to each of the male members of the team, and continued, “I found out that this is what they used, but getting my hands on it wasn’t easy. I had to ask for a favor to get this, but this should help you, no matter how long the match lasts.”

George looked at what he had been handed, and asked, “what, exactly, are we supposed to do with this?”

She grabbed the one she gave Harry, and tore it in two, and said, “you put it in your ears,” as she mimicked doing so. After she handed back the object to Harry, they saw the referee walk toward them. Harry was busy putting this odd substance in his ears, but saw Hermione appeared to be having a discussion with him. The referee nodded, and walked over to the Beauxbaton team.

After the last of the team had put their own in place, she nodded, and walked back toward the stands. Once she had cleared the field, and the teams had mounted their brooms, the referee blew his whistle. The teams shot off the ground, and Harry resumed his search.

After a moment, he realized that Fleur had resumed marking him, and he tried his best to keep as much distance as he could from her. Harry looked down, and thought to himself that the Beauxbatons team was fast. He saw them score of a quick no-look pass along Ron’s right hand side.

He saw as Angelina started out, passing it to Katie, who passed it to Alicia, who left a drop pass for Angelina, who riffled a shot past the keeper. Meanwhile, Fred and George, having regained their senses, started having some fun.

He saw as they kept the Beauxbatons team scurrying as they hit the Bludgers in their direction. Their beaters tried their best to protect their players, but they weren’t able keep up with them. He looked up at the scoreboard, and saw that they had tied up the score at 70 apiece.

Harry saw a glint of gold out of the corner of his eyes. He turned around and saw the snitch across the field. He wheeled around, and set out for the distant target. After a moment, he realized that he did indeed spot the elusive snitch.

As he was bolting toward the snitch, he noticed that Fleur was just ahead of him. When she was next to him, Harry saw that she was attempting to sing again. Harry couldn’t hear anything, and he came to the realization that Hermione had indeed, been succeeded.

Apparently, Fleur figured out that something was amiss, because she abandoned her initial plan and started to push her broom as hard as she could toward the snitch. She was drawing very close, when Harry pushed his Spitfire a little bit.

Afterward a scarlet streak blew past Fleur, and when it stopped, it was Harry that pulled up high in the air, waving the snitch for the crowd to see. He was about to look in the stands to see where Hermione was, when his teammates all mobbed him, forcing him to head toward the ground.

As soon as he landed he saw most of the Hogwarts contingency rush them. Harry searched through the mass of students, but with no success. If Hermione was amongst the mob, Harry couldn’t see her. He saw the towering above the teams of students, Hagrid, who easily created a path toward them.

Hagrid was wiping his beetle-black eyes with his enormous hands. As he reached them the team looked up at him, as he said, “I’m just so proud of all of you.”

The team all smiled, and continued to celebrate, but Harry really wasn’t in the mood. Yes, they won, and that was great, but Harry still had more pressing concerns on his mind, not the least of which was what Voldemort and his minions were up to.

As the crowd started to thin a little bit, Harry caught a sight if Dumbledore beaming, and Madam Maxime scowling. This cheered him up a little, but he still wanted to get up to the castle, hoping to find a little seclusion.

When there was enough room for Harry to make his way from the crowd, he sneaked over to the portal, and up to the sanctity of their tower. Harry hoped to find Hermione alone, so he searched everywhere.

He searched the library, the dining hall, the common room, and finally the rooftop, but with no success. He figured that either she was still down below or more likely in her dormitory. Harry slumped over on one of the benches, and started working on his plan again.

Christmas was almost upon them, which meant he had to work fast. He headed down to his dormitory, hoping to retrieve what he has accumulated before the rest of his mates returned from the match. Harry proceeded to the roof to continue his work.

He worked deep into the night, until it became too dark, and he was getting too tired to continue. As he returned his things to his dormitory, he looked down at his watch, and saw that dinner had just started, so he went down to the dining hall.

When Harry reached the dining hall, he started to look for an empty table, but before he had a chance to do so, Fred and George ran over to him.

Fred grabbed his arm, and said, “there you are. We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“Yeah, honestly. It was as if you fell off the face of the earth. We won, you know,” George said pulling his other arm.

They dragged him over to the table where the team was sitting, and thrust him into an empty seat. By the time he had adjusted his glasses, he saw that he was sitting next to Hermione. He saw that she looked as uncomfortable as he felt.

Hermione broke the awkward silence, without looking at him, she said, “congratulations on the victory.”

Harry looked at her, and said, “uh, thanks. We couldn’t have done it without your help though, so thanks a lot.”

“No problem. It was my pleasure.”

Angelina said, “you never told us, where did you get that information anyway?”

Hermione paused, and hesitantly said, “it was one of the members from one of the world cup teams.”

They all stared at her, but it was Fred who asked, “which member, of which team?”

Hermione said something that nobody was able to hear.

George the put his hand to his ear, and said, “sorry, what was that again?”

She them said, in a barely audible tone, “it was Viktor.”

Ron spit out what he was drinking, and choked out, “Krum? It was Krum? When did you have a chance to ask him anyway?”

After another moment, she said, “well, we have been writing to each other ever since the end of last year.”

The table went deathly quiet as their eyes kept shifting from Hermione to Harry, and back again. Harry wasn’t sure how to react, but figured that this wasn’t exactly the right time to show that he is outraged over something like this.

Alicia said, “I wonder if Durmstrang has already played their first match yet.”

Hermione nodded, saying, “uh, yeah. They won.”

Fred asked, “what was the score?”

Hermione answered him, “170 to nothing. It was over in less than ten minutes.”

Ron dropped his cup, and Fred and George just stared at each other. Nobody said anything for several minutes as they all took this in. Harry knew Krum was good, but ten minutes, against the best a school had to offer.

Finally, Fred let out a low whistle, “170-zip. Who did they play?”

George said, “Helen Keller’s school of the deaf and blind?”

Angelina the cut off Hermione before she had a chance to answer his question, saying, “that doesn’t matter. We have to worry about our game, not theirs.”

Harry looked at the fire in her eyes, and spoke up, “she’s right, or course. We have to work harder if we want a chance to beat them.”

They spent most of the rest of dinner talking about what they did wrong in the match, and things that they will need to work on before their next match. When they were discussing it, Fred said, “I wonder when the next match is.”

Hermione, still staring at her plate, and looking thoroughly disinterested in their conversation, said, “it’ll be during the Easter break.”

The all returned their attention to Hermione, who did not say anything else. George asked, “how do you know that?”

Hermione looked rather uncomfortable, but didn’t answer. After a minute Ron said, “I wonder who we are playing.”

Hermione started to say something, but stopped herself. They all seemed to have noticed this, and Angelina asked, “what is it Hermione? Do you know?”

Hermione shook her head, and said, “no, but we will find out on valentine day, after they have sorted out the second round pairings.”

They finished dinner quietly, and after a little while, the students started to take their leave, heading to the dormitories. After a few minutes, Harry and Hermione were alone at their table. Hermione looked up from her plate for the first time in a while, and after a moment were it looked as though she were going to say something, she stood up, and made her way out of the dining hall.

Harry sat alone for a moment with his thoughts, before he got up slowly, and made his way slowly to his dormitory. He changed and went to bed, but he could not get to sleep. He stared out of the window into the dark night’s sky, lost in thought.

As he listened to the rhythmic sounds of Ron’s breathing, Harry decided to finish working on his Christmas gift for Hermione. After he took the box, and placed it on his bed, he worked hard deep into the night, until he saw the first signs of dawn appearing in the horizon.

He looked at what he had completed, and with a feeling of satisfaction, he placed it back in the box, and into his trunk. After finishing for the night, he decided to try again to get some sleep. Harry drifted quickly off, thinking that he would find out soon enough if his plan was going to work or not.

Just after Harry had finally managed to fall off to sleep, he felt something warm in front of his face. As he opened his eyes, the sight of two large green eyes greeted him. He jolted up, and after catching his breath, gasping, “Dobby, is that you?”

Dobby smiled, and after a moment he said, “yes, sir. I am most sorry for disturbing you.”

After recovering from the shock of being woken up by Dobby again, Harry regained his composure, and after taking a deep breath, he said, “that’s ok Dobby, but is there something you wanted?”

“Yes, there is. I know what you are planning on doing tomorrow.”

Harry looked at Ron, who was still fast asleep, and he tuned back to Dobby before he asked, “what do you mean?”

“I know what you are planning on giving Miss Hermione for Christmas, and I want to help.”

Harry was stunned by this, and after he considered it, he said, “I appreciate it, but I think I have it under control.”

The house elf smiled, and said, “yes. I am sure that the great and good Harry Potter has done something wonderful, but I want to help in some way.”

He was a little confused by this, and he asked, “why?”

“Well, the thing is, she showed concern for us house elves, when no one else has, and I want to pay her back for that.”

Harry looked at Dobby for a moment while considering what his request. After deciding that he had a valid point, he nodded and said, “ok Dobby. What is it you want to do then.”

“I beg your pardon sir, but I am going to need to see what you have done so far.”

Harry looked over at Ron once more, to make sure that he was still asleep, and once he appeared to be satisfied that he was, he grabbed his box. After he pulled it out, he took out his project and handed it to Dobby. Dobby quietly looked through what Harry had done. After a few minutes, he snapped his fingers, and handed it back to Harry.

As Harry looked at his gift, he was confused. With a bewildered look on his face, he asked, “what did you do Dobby?”

Dobby gave a weak smile, and said, “you will find out soon enough, but I must go for now.”

“Goodbye Dobby, and thanks.”

“No, it is I that should thank you.”

“I’ll see you later then.”

Dobby smiled, and said, “if you say so, then I know you will,” and he snapped his fingers, and disappeared.

Harry was curious as to what he had done, but he was also getting pretty tired, so he put it back into his trunk, and he dropped off to sleep as soon as his head touched his pillow.

The next several days passed by rather quickly, and Christmas Eve was upon them. Harry was walking alone on the grounds of Beauxbatons, turning over the events that have lead to this point over in his head. After a while, he saw his owl Hedwig glide over to him, and he stretched out his arm for her to land.

“Hello Hedwig.”

She cooed, and nibbled affectionately upon his fingers. As he looked upon her, he saw that she had a delivery for him. He untied the letter from her leg, and quickly opened it. When he began to read the letter, his spirits picked up a bit when he realized whom it was from.

Dear Harry,

I am sorry that I was unable to make it to your first match. I hope you can understand that I did try my best to make it, but I was unavoidably detained.

I heard that you had won, and while I was hardly surprised by this, I was still pleased by this news. While that was an excellent start, you still have two matches remaining, so I need not remind you that you still have a long way to go.

I heard about you and Hermione, and I would like to wish the two of you luck. Relationships are tricky, and you are going to have your share of problems along the way, but I haven’t seen two people that were better suited for each other since, well, since a long time ago.

I also want to tell you not to worry about Ron. You are closer then you may think, and I believe that everything will work out in the end.

I want to once again congratulate you, and tell you that I look forward to seeing you again in the near future.

Best of luck,

Remus

Harry put away the letter, and walked back toward the portal to the castle, when he ran into someone that he would rather avoid now.

“Pardon moi, Harre,” Fleur said.

Harry looked at her and after a moment he simply nodded, and said, “yes?”

“Ure upset wit me, and I cannot blaime you. I just wanted to apologize for my behavior. It was most inexcusable.”

Harry looked at her for a moment, before he nodded, and said, “forget about it.”

“I hope your little girlfriend forgives you. If there iz nething I can do, pleaze let me know.”

Harry took a deep breath, the he calmly said, “thank you, but this is isn’t your problem. This is something that I am going to have to deal with myself, thanks.”

Without waiting for a reply, he walked away from her, thinking of how he got himself in this position to begin with. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the portal. After he passed through, he saw that that the castle had been magnificently decorated for Christmas.

As he walked up to toward the dormitories, he saw an enormous tree set up in their common room. When he saw this, he wondered whether he should present Ron with the gift that he had bought him. He purchased it while they were in Diagon Alley, and now he wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate, or if it would even be appreciated.

He wrestled with the decision as he walked to the Dining Hall for dinner. As he walked into the hall, he thought to himself that he has not dreaded Christmas this much since before he started attending Hogwarts.

He sat down at an empty table, for what he hoped would be a quiet dinner. After a few moments, he realized that he was not going to get his wish, as Fred and George pounced onto the seats on either side of him.

Fred looked around, apparently attempting to make sure nobody would be able to overhear them. When he appeared sufficiently satisfied that they had an appropriate degree of privacy, he quietly said, “we have some good news.”

Harry, figuring that he knew what they must have been talking about, interrupted them, “if you’re talking about your catalog, I already saw it.”

George shook his head, “no, not that. That’s small potatoes compared to what we have in store now.”

After Harry looked onto their eager faces, he paused for a moment before saying, “what are you talking about?”

“Look, we aren’t going to be in school much longer, so we have to prepare for our future,” Fred said.

“We have spent a good deal of time preparing for life after Hogwarts, but, as much as we enjoy this tournament, it has set back our plans considerably,” George explained.

Fred added, “you see, we were expecting be off for the holidays. But this diversion has opened up some unforeseen opportunities.”

Harry was getting a really bad feeling in his stomach now, “what kind of opportunities?”

“We really can’t get into that here, but since none of this would have been possible without your help, we wanted you to have something,” Fred said.

“You really don’t need to give me anything,” Harry protested.

George said, “we spent a lot of time discussing it, trying to figure out what we should give you, without much success.”

“That was, until we found this,” Fred said, as he Handed Harry a small box wrapped in gold wrapping paper. “Happy Christmas.”

As Harry took the package, he started to open it when George quietly said, “not here. Open it later when you are alone.”

Harry quickly put the package into the pocket of his robes, and thanked them for his present. After they left him, Harry was considering whether to open it or not, when someone else joined him at his table.

“Hello, Harry,” he heard a familiar voice say. As he looked, he saw Cho standing in front of him. He was surprised that she was speaking to him. He looked at her for a moment, wondering what it was that she wanted.

“Hello, Cho.”

She motioned to a chair at his table, and asked, “may I?"

“Please do.”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Won’t your boyfriend mind?”

“Well, that’s actually what I want to talk to you about.”

“Go on.”

“When I started going out with him, it was more to get back at you than anything else.”

Harry had suspected that, but he just nodded waiting for her to continue.

“But in the last couple of months I have gotten to know him, and,” she trailed off.

“And?”

“This is tearing him up. I mean you are his best friend, and while he won’t admit it, he misses you.”

Harry was grateful to hear that Ron seemed to be taking their separation as badly as he was. He looked at her and said, “Ron has made it very clear how he feels. If he has had a change of heart he should come to me.”

Harry saw Ron walk into the dining hall, and when he saw Harry and Cho together, he shot them a scathing look, as he headed to a table across the hall.

Cho shook her head, and said, “I got to go, but if you miss him as much as he misses you, maybe you should be the one to swallow your pride and make the first move, because neither of you is benefiting from this.”

With that, Cho got up, and walked over to Ron’s table, where she sat next to him. They were having a pretty heated conversation, but even if he would have been able to hear any of it, he was to preoccupied to pay it any mind.

As he was lost with his thoughts, he was suddenly brought back to realty by a concerned sounding voice, “are you ok Harry?”

Harry looked up at his godfather’s face. “Yes, I am,” he lied.

Sirius looked into his eyes, and leaning forward he said, “you know you’re a terrible liar, don’t you?”

After Harry didn’t say anything Sirius said, “it’ll be nice to get back home.”

“When are we leaving?”

“The day after tomorrow. We’re staying for Christmas, and then we will be off.”

At least that was something he could look forward to. As much as he enjoyed his time here, he thought that it would be nice to return to the familiar Hogwarts grounds.

After dinner, Harry went up to his dormitory, and when he found that it was empty, he assumed that Ron and Cho had been able to work out their little squabble. After putting the last few finishing touches on his presents, he changed and fell off to sleep.

After a pretty restless night, Harry woke up to find that it was still dark out. He looked at his watch and saw that it was only six in the morning. He would have tried to go back to sleep, but he was too restless, so he got up and gathered his presents and headed down to the Christmas tree in the common room.

Harry was the first to arrive at the common room, and he deposited his presents with the pile at the base of the tree. He saw that a few of the packages under the tree had his name on it, so he grabbed the biggest one and sat down on a chair in an isolated corner of the room.

When he looked at it, he realized that it was from Mrs. Weasley. He opened it up to find a green sweater, along with several pies. Harry felt a little guilty accepting the gift, considering the problems he was having with Ron.

As Harry was about to open another present, he heard someone coming downstairs. As they approached, Harry slid back in his chair, hoping that they wouldn’t notice him. He saw someone sit down in front of the tree and start grabbing packages.

From the light of the fireplace, he saw Ron’s flaming red hair. He sat as quietly as he could, hoping that Ron wouldn’t notice that he was there. Harry had heard him unwrapping several presents, but when the noise seemed to stop, he leaned forward slightly to see why. There was silence, and Harry could just see Ron's head as he looked at something in his hands.

After a moment, Harry thought he knew why he had stopped. He felt sick as he realized that he must have gotten to his present for him. He wasn’t sure how Ron was going to react, but he would rather have not been here for this.

Harry was about to get up from the chair, without gaining Ron’s attention, when he heard someone else coming down. He quickly sat back in the chair, hoping that he would remain undetected. He saw someone coming from the girls’ dormitory, but he wasn’t able to make out whom it was.

When the girl had gotten close to the light from the fireplace, he was able to make out that it was Cho. She walked over, and sat down on the floor next to Ron. When she sat down, she gave him a kiss. Harry thought that this would be a perfect time to make his exit, since he assumed they would be preoccupied.

He must have been too busy concentrating on them to notice that several other people had come down. Harry got up, and walked around the perimeter of the room, but before he got to the staircase to the boys’ dormitory, he walked into someone who had just come down from the girls’.

As he was about to apologize, he realized that it was Hermione that he almost knocked onto the floor. As they looked into each other’s eyes, Harry wanted to say something, but he was having a hard time of it. Before he could think of anything, Hermione walked past him.

Harry put the only present that he had collected into his trunk. He went up to the roof, hoping that he would have some privacy. When he got there, he was relieved to see that it was vacant. When he sat down, he felt happy that he had decided to bring his sweater, since it was quite chilly up top.

In the cold morning air, all he could do was think of his friends, who were sitting downstairs in the warm common room, and how he wished he could be with them now, instead of up here alone. He wiped a tear from his cheek, and rocked back and forth on the bench.

After a few moments his hands were getting cold, so he put them in his robes to keep warm. When he did this, he realized that he still had the present that Fred and George had given him earlier. Harry took out the package, and slowly started to unwrap it.

He looked at what the twins had gotten him and he hadn’t the slightest idea of what it was. He rotated it in his hands, put it up to the light, shook it, did everything he could think of, but he still was no closer to figuring out what it is supposed to be.

Harry was starting to get very cold, and he had given up on figuring out what it was that Fred and George had given him. He looked at his watch, and realized that it was nearly lunchtime. Harry got up and went back down to the common room.

When he found that it was empty, he retrieved the rest of his gifts, and took a seat near the fireplace. When he chose the first gift, he had a sick feeling in his stomach. The gift was from the Dursleys. It was a cotton ball. He just shook his head as he placed it in the pocket of his robes.

Affixed to it was a short note from his uncle.

Harry

Here is your gift. We hope you decide to stay at school for your next holiday, and maybe you can talk to them about the summer while you are at it.

Vernon Dursley

After he crumpled it up and tossed it into the fire, he reached for the next package. Harry was surprised to see that it was from Ron. Harry wasn’t entirely certain whether he wanted to open it or not, but his curiosity got the best of him.

He quickly tore off the wrapping paper, looking at what Ron had gotten him. It was a miniature model of his Spitfire. After Harry let it go, it hovered eyelevel in front if him. Harry admired the replica of the broom for a while before grabbing it, and placing it in the pocket of his robes.

There was one package left unopened. Harry looked at the meticulously wrapped package and knew whom it must be from even before he saw the card. He looked at Hermione’s gift for a few minutes before he started to unwrap it.

When he had finished unwrapping the box, he saw that Hermione had given him a quill. It was a phoenix-feather quill to be exact. Harry wondered what special abilities it might have, if any. He picked it up and twirled it around his fingers. It had a really nice feel to it. Great balance, he thought.

It was getting late and Harry was pretty hungry, so he went down to the dining hall, that he found was still full. As he looked for a place to sit, Fred and George corralled him, and brought him over to the table where the team was sitting, and thrust him into the seat next to Hermione.

Harry wanted to say something to her, maybe thank her for his gift, but decided against it. When he looked over, he saw Hermione appeared to be looking at him, but quickly looked away when he turned to her.

After a moment, Angelina got up and brought a large box over to Hermione, who was obviously surprised by this, “this is from the team. Merry Christmas.”

Hermione looked speechless as she took the box. She carefully unwrapped the box, and eventually pulled out a set of the teams Quidditch Robes with Granger and a number 1 on the back.

Hermione gasped, “what is this?”

Fred then smirked and said, “I know you may not like Quidditch, but those are Quidditch Robes.”

“And she is supposed to be the top student of her class,” George added.

Hermione snapped back to the moment, and said, “I know what it is. I meant why are you giving it to me?”

Alicia said, “because we all feel that you are a valuable member of the team.”

“You’ve helped us so much already, we need something to show you that we really appreciate it,” Kate added.

Hermione beamed at them all and, then looked at her gift as they finished dinner. When Harry got up, he was feeling pretty tired, and headed up to the dormitory, where he fell straight of to sleep.

Then next morning Harry woke up to find that they had arrived back at Hogwarts. He changed and headed back to the grounds as quickly as he was able to. The first place he decided to go to was the Quidditch pitch.

Harry always felt comfortable there. He took a seat high in the stands, and thought to himself that this was weird. He never had an opportunity to sit up here before. He tightened his robes as a gust of wind blew, ruffling his already untidy hair.

After a few of minutes, he saw a couple of people enter the stadium. They apparently spotted him, and made their way up to where he was. As they came closer, Harry saw that it was Fred and George, and they were wearing their traditional Weasley sweaters, although he noticed that they apparently switched, with Fred wearing the one with the G and George wearing the one with the F.

George sat to one side of him, and said, “you couldn’t wait to get back here either, eh?”

Harry shook his head, and said, “Beauxbatons was nice and all, but it’s not the same.”

“Yeah,” Fred said. “We couldn’t wait to get back here either. When is our next practice Harry?”

Harry thought about it for a moment, before he said, “in a couple of days.”

“Speaking of which, I can’t wait to find out who we are playing,” George said.

Harry was just as curious, “neither can I, although the only two schools I know of are Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.”

“That’ll be fun, playing against Krum, eh Harry,” Fred prodded him.

Harry didn’t answer, but all he could think of was the way Krum had thoroughly outplayed the Irish seeker in World cup, and how he didn’t want to be embarrassed like that.

Harry was busy the next week preparing a game plan for a team he doesn’t even know yet, while starting team practices as well as matches against the reserve team. Although he didn’t know whom he would be facing, he decided to find everything he could on Krum, just in case.

Before he knew it, it was New Years Eve. He was grateful that the year was coming to a close, thinking that next year had to be better than this one. He was sitting alone in a chair by the fire as the common room slowly started to empty.

He looked down at his watch, which was giving a sleepy growl, and saw that it showed that there was one minute left. Harry wished that Hermione were with him now. Thirty seconds to go. He would be happy with Ron. Fifteen seconds now. He would even settle for Dudley now rather than being alone. Ten seconds remaining. He was wondering if he should just go to sleep. Five seconds. Harry took a deep breath. Three seconds. He closed his eyes. One second.

He felt someone place her arms around his shoulders and he felt whomever it was give him a small kiss on the cheek. He took a deep breath, before saying, “you better be careful. Hermione might show up.”

The person who kissed him was walking around to his front, and as he looked up, he was surprised to see whom it was.