I'm back! And a little sooner this time, much to everyone's chagrin. This is the chapter where, as they say, "the plot thickens." So have fun!
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Chapter 3: Return to Number 12, Grimmauld Place
Harry was still holding the English-Latin translation dictionary, but both he and Hermione were staring at the ancient book which was lying open on the dinner table.
"Does that mean what I think it means?" asked Harry.
"I....I think so," said Hermione. "I've read about this book a couple times. It was supposed to be locked away for safekeeping from the dark lords." The two of them walked over to the tome and looked at the open page, on which the only print was the words which, when translated to English, read, 'The Tome of the Spellmaker'.
Harry turned the page to reveal an enormous table of contents.
"Dear me," said Hermione wide-eyed. "Creation and theory of spells, spell affliction and objectives, creation of dark spells......." her voice trailed off. "Do you know what this means?"
"Because we have this book it means that we've spent the last six years of our life studying magic for no reason at all?" smiled Harry. Hermione frowned at him.
"I'm being serious. It means that we could, theoretically of course, create spells that could do amazing things for our world! We could invent counter-curses to all known spells-" Hermione stopped and gasped. "We could come up with a way to block Avada Kedavra," she whispered.
"Two things Hermione," Harry said, now serious. "One, if there was an easy known way, Dumbledore would certainly have figured it out by now, this book being in his possession for, if I remember correctly from his letter, decades. Two, Voldemort already figured out how to do it, remember?"
"Oh. Right," Hermione said looking dejected. Harry smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry," he said. "I'm sure that we can come up with some excellent stuff with the help of this book." Hermione smiled.
"Well we should get started right away, the more time we have to do this the easier it will-"
"Dumbledore said to wait, remember?" commented Harry. Hermione frowned and gave a look that almost, no did, resemble pouting, which caused Harry to smile. "I'm sure that we'll have plenty of time at Grimmauld Place."
"I guess so," she replied.
"Come on, I'm sure there are plenty of 'other things' we can still do in the three days we have left here," Harry said smirking. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, but broke a smile.
"I should never have given you your birthday present early Harry, it's made you smug."
"Would you have it any other way?" asked Harry positively grinning now. Hermione crossed her arms, but giggled nonetheless.
"Most certainly not," she said walking over to the bed, Harry right behind her.
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The three remaining days at Number 4 Privet Drive passed without event, with the single exception that occurred after Harry and Hermione woke up on the day of their departure after a very exhilarating night.
Hermione woke and, to her surprise, found Harry already awake and staring into her eyes.
"You're up early," she yawned.
"I didn't sleep well," Harry replied. Hermione waited for more of an explanation, but when none came, she spoke up.
"Why not?" Harry looked down, slightly ashamed
"'eems," Harry mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Dreams," Harry said more loudly looking back up. Hermione's eyes widened.
"Dreams? Were they about Voldemort? Is your scar hurting? Are you-" Hermione began asking frantically but Harry held his hand up laughing.
"No no, nothing like that. I just uh, well this is a really stupid time to bring it up, but have we been....you know...." Harry motioned with his hands as if to ask Hermione to finish the sentence for him.
"No, I don't know," she replied. "What?"
"Well, have we been taking care of certain...precautions?" Harry whispered. "I just had a dream about....children, and I realized that I hadn't even asked you if it was taken care of-"
"Oh that!" Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes Harry, don't worry. It's all taken care of. Back before the school term ended I made the potion at Hogwarts and brought it home with me." Harry arched his eyebrows in surprise.
"You knew this would happen?" he asked. Hermione smiled at him.
"I had already committed to the idea of being with you for your birthday present. I expected it to happen at headquarters, but motive met opportunity before that so...." Hermione's smile looked as if it couldn't get any bigger.
"Pleased with yourself?" asked Harry wrapping his arms around her.
"Immensely," she replied pressing her forehead against Harry's. "I couldn't be happier with the results."
"Well then that makes two of us," he said. Harry kissed Hermione quickly on the lips before rising out of bed and stretching.
"What time is it?" Hermione asked also starting to rise.
"Not sure," Harry said squinting at his clock. He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and looked at his clock again. "Bloody hell! It's 11:45! Remus is going to be here at noon!"
The following fifteen minutes were the most hectic that Harry had ever gone through, and that was saying something. Thankfully, Hermione knew some simple packing spells, so they were nearly done packing when Remus apparated into their room precisely at noon.
"Remus!" shouted Harry and Hermione in unison. Harry walked over to Remus and shook his hand before pulling him into a very father-son type of hug.
"Glad to see you again Harry," he said. "And you too, Hermione, I like what you've done with the place" he added giving her a hug as well.
"It's good to see you too Remus," said Harry. "Thanks for the birthday present."
"Ah, I'm glad to hear you got it. I take it you haven't really used it yet since Dumbledore told you to wait to start any new projects?" Harry nodded. "Well, are you two almost done packing? We should get going when we can. Dumbledore only lowered the transportation wards around here for a short time. They could come back on at any time."
"Transportation wards?" asked Harry.
"Of course, you don't honestly think that Dumbledore wouldn't have put up protection to prevent, say, a certain dark lord from apparating right into your room while you were asleep do you?" Remus replied chuckling.
"I guess not," Harry replied sheepishly.
"Ok, all done," said Hermione dragging her trunk over to them. "Let me just shrink the room and we can get going." Remus nodded and Hermione shrunk the room back into it's normal state.
"Ok, grab hold of this book. It'll be our portkey to Grimmauld Place." Hermione nodded and touched the book. Harry was about to also, but suddenly had a thought.
"Remus, seeing as this is my last year at Hogwarts and all, maybe it would be ok if I said goodbye to the Dursleys once and for all?" Remus' brow furrowed slightly, but then a grin broke on his face and he nodded.
"Alohamora," said Harry pointing his wand at the door. It flung open and he found himself looking a Uncle Vernon, whose hand was raised about to knock. Upon seeing Remus and Hermione, he instantly turned his most brilliant shade of purple.
"Well, I'm leaving now," said Harry walking over to his uncle. "I daresay I won't ever be coming back here, so I hope that doesn't disappoint you too much." Harry was taking great pleasure in the distress he was causing his uncle. "Oh by the way, this is Hermione, I think you've seen her around before. She's been helping me through my difficulties this summer."
"That-that-girl has been here all summer?" Uncle Vernon said starting to shake with anger.
"Oh yes, and she's been quite helpful," Harry said trying to contain his amusement at this situation. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be off. Please don't give Dudley or Petunia my regards." And with that, he walked over to Remus and Hermione, grabbed his trunk, touched the book Remus was holding, and felt the familiar tugging sensation behind his navel which signified that he would never again return to his "home" of 17 years.
The three of them landed with a 'thud' on the floor of the basement kitchen. Harry stood up and brushed himself off, then helped Hermione up.
"I hate portkeys," Harry said. "I guess I have Voldemort to thank for-" Harry didn't have time to finish his sentence, because an all too familiar force had hit him in his stomach, squealing with delight. Harry chuckled when he regained his breath. "Hello Dobby."
"Welcome to your new home Harry Potter!" squeaked the house-elf in excitement. Harry looked up at Lupin.
"So it is mine, then?" he asked.
"Of course it is, Harry," replied Remus. "The moment Sirius got away from Hogwarts with your help that night a little over three years ago, he wrote a will just in case anything ever happened to him. I would've given it to you sooner, but you still seemed to be grieving over his death last summer." Remus pulled a piece of rolled-up parchment from his robes and handed it to Harry. "You'll also notice, that should you decide to visit Gringott's anytime, that the amount of gold in your vault has increased significantly."
"The last thing I need is more money," Harry said taking Sirius' will from Remus. "I would rather it go to you."
"Come now," said Lupin. "I have no need for money, you know that. Dumbledore is taking care of me, and as long as you permit me to continue to reside here as I've been doing, I see no reason that I would need any type of money in the future." Harry nodded.
"Of course you can stay here Remus," he said. Harry then looked down at the ecstatic elf who was still clinging to his robes.
"He really likes you, doesn't he?" asked Hermione.
"Well I did free him from the Malfoys. Hey, speaking of house-elves, where is Kreacher?" Harry spat the name of the old house-elf like it was something he had drank which Snape had spit in.
"Oooooh Kreacher was a bad elf, Harry Potter sir," piped Dobby.
"Was?" asked Harry. At this Dobby's eyes grew wide and he looked at the floor.
"Well when Sirius died, Kreacher was no longer bound to Grimmauld Place. So he left, along with the painting of Sirius' mother, I might add."
"He just packed up and left?" asked Harry sounding disappointed. "I really wanted to give him his wish and put his head up on the mantle with alongside the others."
"Harry!" said Hermione with exasperation.
"He would've deserved it Hermione. I'm not going to argue with you about this," replied Harry. Hermione looked taken aback at Harry's resolute tone and was about to make a counter-point, but the look on Harry's face made her decide against it. Just then the door to the kitchen opened and a short red-haired female walked in.
"Dobby, have you seen my - HARRY!" Ginny shrieked as she ran over to him and crushed him in a hug. "Oh it's so great to see you. And you too Hermione!" She said giving the very shocked brown-haired girl a hug too.
"How come you're so happy to see us?" asked Hermione suspiciously.
"Can't a girl be happy to see her friends?" replied Ginny.
"She's happy because she's tired of listening to Ron all summer," said Fred waltzing into the kitchen.
"Can't blame her either," said George, who was right on Fred's heels. "He's done nothing but mope ever since he got your letter, Hermione."
"He seemed happy enough from the tone of his letter," she replied.
"The letter that I wrote for him," interjected Ginny.
"Yeah well, he seems to think that you two were having all the fun without him," said George.
"There is some truth to that," Harry whispered in Hermione's ear who giggled. The other four people in the room looked at them. Fred and George immediately sprouted grins larger than anyone could think possible and quickly ran over to Harry.
"Harry, maybe you should come with us," they both said in unison. "We have things we need to talk to you about."
"You too, Hermione," said Ginny now grinning as well. "I need to ask you about something from.....uh....."
"School?" Hermione finished.
"Yeah," said Ginny snapping her fingers. "That's it." Ginny pulled Hermione out of the kitchen and disappeared.
"Remus, good old boy, perhaps you could give us a moment with Harry here?" asked Fred. Remus chuckled slightly and nodded, ushering Dobby out of the room with him.
"If Harry Potter needs anything, just say Dobby's name and I will be there for you sir!" squeaked the house-elf as Remus and he left the kitchen. Harry sat down at the table and was accompanied by Fred and George.
"So, what's to talk about?" asked Harry.
"Hang on Harry, we need someone else to join us," replied George. "Would you like to do the honors, Fred?"
"Most certainly," replied Fred pointing his wand at his throat. "Sonorus. RON! KITCHEN! NOW!" he shouted at the ceiling. He quieted his voice again and pulled some dust out of a pouch in his robes and threw it at the door.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"This," George said pointing to the pouch in Fred's hand. "Is charm dust. It's what we had Ron get Peeves to retrieve for us at the end of last year."
"What does it do?" Fred and George smiled.
"The more appropriate question, Harry, is 'what doesn't it do?'" replied Fred with an even bigger smile. "It does whatever you want it to. For example, I just threw it at the door to lock it securely, since mum will be down any minute to yell at us for summoning Ron so loudly. It will prevent her from unlocking the door at any time, nor will she be able to hear our conversation, simply because that's what I wanted it to do."
Harry's eyes grew wide in amazement. "That's bloody brilliant," he whispered.
"We thought you'd approve," said George leaning back. "Ah, and here's our guest of the hour too." Ron floated down through the ceiling with his arms crossed. His expression immediately changed when he saw Harry.
"Harry! Good to see you made it, mate." Ron said floating down into the chair next to Harry. "So what do you two want?"
"Harry here," began Fred.
"Has been involving himself in certain adult activities," continued George.
"Which we want to know all about," said Fred.
"And we thought you'd like to hear it too," finished George. Harry blushed and Ron smiled.
"So you did get there, then?" Ron asked. Still looking at his feet, Harry nodded. The twins let out a whoop and the ghost simply crossed his arms and chuckled.
"About time," Ron whispered to Harry. "I thought it would take forever to happen."
"Why are you guys making such a big deal about it?" asked Harry now slightly laughing along.
"Because ye are the boy-who-lived Harry!" shouted Fred. "Excuse me, I got that wrong. You are now the man-who-lived!"
"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?" asked Harry grinning.
"Nah, not for a while anyway," replied George. Suddenly they were interrupted by a banging on the door and a shout from an all to familiar voice.
"FRED! GEORGE! YOU OPEN UP THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!" the voice of Mrs. Weasley came wafting through the door.
"She's just angry because she can't eavesdrop on us," George said grinning. "Fred?" Fred nodded and took a small pinch of the same dust and threw it at the door. The door burst open and Mrs. Weasley waltzed in, her face flushed enough fury to match that of her hair.
"That damned dust," she said. "I swear if you two had put your minds to more productive things in school-"
"This is quite productive!" exclaimed Fred standing up. "How can you say that a material which does whatever you require it to is not productive?"
"Well stop using it around the house at least. We should have no secrets from each other here," replied the mother of the ghost and twins, the redness draining from her face a little. "Harry," she said walking over to him and pulling him from his chair into a hug. "So good to see you again."
"If good to 'ee 'oo too Mifiz Weezey," Harry said muffled. She released him from his hug and rounded on the twins again.
"So what was so important that you needed to shout for Ron from all the way down here for?" she demanded.
"Wow, Fred, look at the time," said George looking at his watch.
"Dear me, my brother you're right. We best be going to our shop, don't want to let Neville be overrun at rush hour," replied Fred. The two of the ran out of the kitchen chased by Mrs. Weasley.
"So," began Ron now that he and Harry were alone. "How was your summer?" Harry sat down next to Ron and saw that he was grinning. "And be honest."
"Can we do magic in here?" asked Harry quietly. Ron nodded and Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door. "Colloportus. Silencio." The door slammed shut with a squelching noise.
"Well?" asked Ron again. Harry looked at him and smiled.
"Best month at the Dursley's in my life," Harry replied.
"So I take it that you and Hermione....you know."
"I already gave the answer to that while the twins were here."
"Just making sure," said Ron. He leaned over to Harry. "It's amazing, isn't it?"
"I couldn't believe it," replied Harry. "It was better than quidditch." Ron looked at him as if Harry had just uttered an extremely foul swear. Harry couldn't help but laugh at the expression his best friend gave him.
"I can't believe you just said that," Ron commented. "Even though it's true." Harry's laughter was immediately silenced and he looked at Ron with his eyes wide.
"I never thought I would hear the day that Ron Weasley said that something was better than quidditch," Harry said. To his surprise, Ron hung his head after hearing this.
"I give up the ability to even fly if I could have her back in my arms again." Harry immediately knew that he had hit a sensitive spot in his previous comment.
"I'm sorry Ron, I didn't mean it like that."
"I know," Ron replied. "I just miss her so much." At that point, there were vibrations from the door, and Harry deduced that sometime was trying to come in.
"Finite Incantatem," he said. The door opened and Hermione walked in, looking very embarrassed.
"I hope the conversation I had with Ginny wasn't even remotely related to what Fred and George wanted to talk to you about."
"It probably was," replied Harry. Hermione sighed and sat down next to him, oblivious of the fact that Ron was in the room.
"I swear, I cannot wait for that girl to have sex so that I can bug her with all the embarrassing questions that she asked me," she said sighing. Harry chuckled and knew that Ron was being silent behind him on purpose. "Have you seen Ron yet?"
"I'm right here," Ron said leaning forward in his chair so that Hermione could see him. Hermione's face immediately turned bright red and her eyes widened in shock.
"Ron!" she said. "I didn't see you there."
"Apparently not," he replied. "Nice to see you too."
"Yes, well. Have you been there the entire time?"
"Didn't you hear Fred yell for me earlier?" asked Ron grinning.
"Oh. Right," replied Hermione looking slightly distraught.
"Come on now, don't be so disappointed, Ron's happy for us!" said Harry wrapping his arm around Hermione's shoulder. "Aren't you Ron?"
"Ecstatic," Ron said in a drawling voice not unlike Malfoy's. Harry took a friendly swipe at Ron, but his hand passed through the Ron's body sending a shiver through Harry. "You keep forgetting I'm dead," Ron noted. At that moment Dumbledore walked through the door to the kitchen humming a tune which sounded vaguely reminiscent of "Weasley is our King".
"Ah, Harry, Hermione, how wonderful to see you. I trust there were no problems getting here?" he asked smiling.
"None at all," Hermione replied.
"Good good," said Albus. "Harry, would you like to take a walk with me for a minute?" Harry looked quizzically at Hermione who shrugged. Not having the slightest clue what was going on, Harry stood and followed Albus out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
"So Harry," began the headmaster. "I assume that you and Hermione enjoyed your time together?"
"Ugh, why is everyone bothering me about this topic today?" asked Harry to no one in particular.
"Simply because I like to ask you how was your summer was in trying to keep you oblivious to the fact that I already know precisely everything that has already happened," replied Dumbledore with the infamous twinkling extremely pronounced in his eyes. Harry looked at the headmaster.
"Knowing you, you're probably not joking about that either," replied Harry disdainfully.
"Don't be so glum about it Harry, I won't intrude on your personal affairs if you don't want me to. I was merely interested in whether or not you were informing people that you and Hermione had fully 'acquainted' yourselves, which I see you aren't."
"Ron, Ginny, and the twins know, but that's it, I believe," replied Harry. "So what exactly are we doing up here?" They were now on the landing of the third floor.
"Well when I asked Dobby if he would come here to fix up the house, he seemed to want to turn one of the room into your own personal quarters." Dumbledore led Harry to a door that Harry had not been through before. "I must say he has done a rather excellent job on it too," added the headmaster opening the door.
Harry's initial reaction was that it was some sort of an illusion. An elaborate prank of some sort conducted by Fred and George that Dumbledore went along with. But when he stepped into the room, he realized it wasn't an illusion.
There was a queen size bed with the headboard against the left-hand wall. There was fresh sky-blue carpeting on the floor, and the room had been painted a dark red. Towards the back of the room there was a door on the right-hand side leading to a private bathroom with a shower. None of this, however, could top the posters that, Harry guessed, Dobby had put up on the walls around the room.
At first glance, Harry thought they were Chudley Cannon posters. Upon closer inspection, however, he saw that they were posters of the Gryffindor quidditch team, all of which featured Harry.
"Wow....." he said in awe. "Is that really me?"
"It is indeed," replied Dumbledore. "I must say you just made a fine catch in that one over there Harry," he said nodding towards the one on the right of Harry's bed. Harry went over to it and watched himself in the poster waving the snitch while on the shoulders of Fred and George, who were still sporting their beater's clubs.
"Harry, I'm glad I found you. Snape just came in downstairs and said that he needed to talk to Dumbledore and-" Hermione didn't finish her sentence because it was then she noticed the room she had just run into. "Harry," she whispered. "Is this your new room?"
"Yeah, apparently Dobby did it for me," Harry replied. Hermione looked around the room in awe for a minute, then Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Well perhaps I should go and see what Severus wants. Harry, your induction into the Order will be at the weekly meeting on Friday. I suggest you prepare some kind of speech, as I'm sure some of the other members of the order will like to hear your views on the matter." And with that Dumbledore exited the room leaving Harry and Hermione by themselves.
Harry sat down on his new bed, watching Hermione study the pictures. He laid down with his feet hanging off and closed his eyes.
"So this is what it feels like to have a real room of my own," he thought. His next thought, however, was interrupted by a gasp from Hermione.
"Harry!" she yelled. Harry quickly stood and ran over to her. She was looking at one of the posters on Harry's wall. "Why are you kissing Ginny here?!"
"What are you talking about?" he asked. "I've never kissed Ginny in my life."
"Well you're doing in right here!" Hermione shouted pointing at the poster. Harry was, indeed, kissing a very attractive red-head right in the middle of the quidditch pitch, holding the snitch in his left hand.
"Dobby!" Harry shouted into the air. Immediately the house-elf appeared next to his knees. "What is the meaning of this poster? I've never kissed Ginny Weasley in all my days." Dobby looked at his feet.
"Well you see sir-" Dobby began.
"Hang on. In this picture I'm holding the snitch in my left hand. I only caught the snitch with my left hand that one game in my second year. What in the-?" Harry never finished his sentence, because at that point, the two people in the poster broke off their kiss and turned to face Harry, Hermione, and Dobby.
"Harry..." Hermione whispered. There, standing and waving at them, were James and Lily Potter (or maybe she was still Lily Evans when the picture was taken), and now realizing who they were, Harry saw an all too familiar dog running around at their heels.
"Dobby thought Harry Potter would like having a poster from his father's old school days," Dobby said still looking at his feet. Harry turned to the house-elf with tears in his eyes and knelt down so that he would be at eye-level with the elf.
"Thank you so much, Dobby," he said pulling the very taken aback house-elf into a hug. Dobby's tennis ball eyes grew wide in surprise, then welled up with tears of happiness.
"Anything for you sir," Dobby said sniffling a little. "Dobby must be off now, dinner needs to be cooked." Harry nodded and Dobby disappeared with a snap of his fingers. Harry stood up to face Hermione who was standing looking at the poster of Lily, James, and Sirius with tears in her eyes.
"Hermione?" Harry asked tentatively.
"Oh Harry," she sobbed throwing herself into his arms. "I'm so sorry that you had to live for 16 years with those horrible people. You should've been able to grow up a normal life with your parents."
"Well," contemplated Harry. "I have to admit, if it hadn't been for Voldemort making me 'The Boy Who Lived', then I doubt you would've paid any attention to me on the train all those years ago." Hermione looked up and smiled at him.
"I guess. I'm just so happy that I'm with you now."
"That makes two of us."
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The next few days passed without incident, and Thursday, the day before Harry's induction into the Order came around very quickly. Harry, with the help of Hermione, had just put the finishing touches on what Harry thought was a very respectable speech, when there was a knock at his door.
"Enter," said Harry in his most Snape-like voice. Dumbledore walked through the door smiling and closed it behind him.
"I do say, Harry, you have a remarkable ear for the voice of your potions teacher." Harry grinned.
"What can I do for you sir?" he asked.
"You can lend an old man an ear while I babble on about your induction tomorrow."
"I hardly think that Harry's induction in something to 'babble' over," Hermione said with her best McGonagal look.
"And you, Ms. Granger, have an uncanny ability to mimic the smirk that Minerva makes whenever she disagrees with anything." Hermione immediately blushed and turned back to proofread Harry's speech one more time.
"So what do I need to know about tomorrow?" asked Harry.
"Well first of all, be prepared for certain people to disagree with your nomination."
"Nomination?"
"Well to be honest, you aren't officially inducted into the Order until you get voted in by a 2/3 majority," said Dumbledore smiling slightly. "But I have no doubt that you will meet that requirement with little objection. You will give your speech before everyone casts their votes, so they may think better or worse of you." They sat there for a few seconds until Harry spoke up.
"Well Hermione and I have been working on the speech, it's just about done isn't it?" he asked Hermione looking over his shoulder.
"I'm just fixing the errors in spelling now," she said. Dumbledore smiled.
"Very good. Oh, and I think it will be of pleasure to you that we have found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for this upcoming year," said Dumbledore standing to leave. Harry and Hermione exchanged glances.
"Professor?" asked Harry as Dumbledore was at his door. "Who is it?" Dumbledore turned his head back to them and smiled.
"I believe you both know him quite well," said Albus. Harry and Hermione's eyes widened.
"Remus?" they both asked with excitement. Dumbledore chuckled.
"No, not Remus, I think perhaps I should not give you clues as to information anymore, I seem to be getting less and less good at it as time progresses."
"Well who is it then?" asked Hermione getting slightly impatient. Dumbledore gave his greatest twinkle and replied,
"Viktor Krum." And with that he left Harry and Hermione sitting on Harry's bed in complete silence.
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A/N: Folks, here's the thing. I appreciate that you guys find my story interesting enough to read and all, but it gets harder and harder to will myself to write for days on end when people don't review. I'll say it like this: Reviews are my fuel and the tank is starting to run low. I don't care if you write only one or two words, just take ten seconds and put one up there to make me feel good about myself :)
Oh and don't worry, I didn't forget about the Spellmaker, I'm saving the more interesting stuff involving it for another chapter or two. Don't worry, next chapter will be VERY big in terms of plot and such...