A Second Chance

Chapter 1 – Uninvited Guests and an Option

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: This is a story that I have been writing but haven’t got around to posting… hope you like it!

I would like to thank Turnlach for his BETA work :P, all mistakes are still mine though

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Harry Potter was a year out of Hogwarts and Voldemort was still lurking around in the shadows, attacking at will. But tonight Harry forgot all of that. Tonight was one of the happiest days of his life, his girlfriend of the last three years, Hermione Granger, had just agreed to marry him. So now all their friends were throwing a party for the newly engaged couple.

A lot had happened after the night Dumbledore had told him the prophecy, a lot. The things that Dumbledore had been keeping from him increased. It was not only the prophecy that Dumbledore had neglected to tell him about, there was also the fact that he was the last remaining heir of Gryffindor, that his parents vaults (that Dumbledore could get access to) contained a large amounts of his parents personal belongings. And last but far from least was the fact that the so called ‘blood wards’ at the Dursleys, the only reason he returned to their abusive household every summer, were nothing but ordinary wards.

Yes it was true, his mother did sacrifice herself to save him and by doing so gave him protection against Voldemort, but the protection had nothing to do with the wards set up around the Dursleys. Dumbledore had put them there and explained their ‘importance’ to Harry so that he would be kept in the dark. All his mail would pass though Dumbledore first, therefore allowing Dumbledore to control the amount of information Harry received.

Harry didn’t really know the reasons behind Dumbledore’s moves, but he could guess it was power over a ‘weapon’, something Harry now refused to be. Yes he still fought, but now he worked for himself. He had broken contact with Dumbledore about half way though his Sixth year and never looked back. A lot of the Order and all of the DA members had followed him after they found out what Dumbledore had done.

None of that mattered at the moment, Voldemort didn’t exist at the moment, for the next ten hours, the wizarding world in Harry and Hermione's eyes, was at peace.

Harry leaned over and kissed Hermione softly on the temple, loving the smell of her hair; she smiled at him before giving him a passionate kiss, which caused his friends to cheer.

At that moment a large BOOM went though the hall. Everyone spun around only to find themselves facing a huge amount of Death Eaters with Voldemort standing in the middle of them, laughing like a maniac.

There situation was bad… really, really bad. They were outnumbered four to one, and none of them had any armour at all. Harry and Hermione quickly pulled out their wands, others had already done so. Voldemort just stood there, a large evil smile planted on his face.

It was so quick it caught most of them by surprise; all of a sudden the Death Eaters had shouted the killing curse as one, hundreds of green bolts shot from the sea of black robes into Harry’s group, most of them hitting their mark.

It was hopeless after that, well over half of their friends had fallen to the first attack and now the rest of them were getting overrun. Harry, Hermione and Ron were fighting, shoulders to each other, covering each others backs. They were surrounded; Harry was too busy fighting off ten Death Eaters that he didn’t even noticed Voldemort had snuck around behind him, “Avada Kedavra!” Voldemort’s voice rang out behind him. Harry spun around just in time to see the green bolt hit his fiancée in the chest; she had a surprised look on her face before she fell to the ground, dead.

When this happened, both Ron and Harry weren’t concentrating on the fight, just looking at Hermione. It was then that another killing curse struck Ron in the back. Voldemort let out an insane cackle. Harry just looked around… there was no one left, all of his friends had been killed, as well as his best friend, and his soon to be wife.

He fell to his knees in front of Hermione, he no longer cared, had no more reason to live. He could feel the magic burning inside of him, but he didn’t try and control it like he usually had to. He let it go, letting go all control. He just laid his head on Hermione’s stomach and gave up.

What happened next no one would know… for there would be no one left to say what happened. Harry's eyes started to glow green, his whole body soon followed, green flames surrounded him. Most of the Death Eaters were too stunned to do anything, but it was already too late. The next second the green flames surrounding him pulsed and shot out faster than anyone could blink and the room was bathed in blinding light.

When the room faded back to normal, all the Death Eaters and Voldemort dropped to the ground, all wearing the same amazed and confused look. Not a second after the last Death Eater went into the next life, Harry also collapsed, following Hermione and his best friend into the after life.

The next day the paper headlines read…

MASSACRE AT HARRY POTTER AND HERMIONE GRANGER’S ENGAGMENT PARTY! EVERYONE DEAD, ALONG WITH YOU-KNOW-WHO!

That day people mourned the deaths of the people that had been leading the fight against Voldemort, while they celebrated the death of Voldemort and the peace that came with it.

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Harry opened his eyes, he didn’t know what to expect, and he knew that he was dead, but was very surprised when he found himself standing in front of what looked like a judging panel. ‘Much like court room 10.’ Harry thought to himself as he looked around.

“Mr Potter, you were brought before the council of Death because we have a proposal for you.” one of the people said. Harry for his part just nodded his head, still very confused as to what was going on.

“Because of the many Deaths you avenged, and the fact that once again you have saved the wizarding world, we would like to give you another chance.” the person continued. “We have agreed that if you want to, we will send you back to a time where you could do the most good.”

“Send me back in time?” Harry asked a little awed.

“Yes that is what we offer you, a second chance.” the person said again.

“What difference would it make?” Harry said softly.

“You could make a lot of differences, you of course would be sent back with your current knowledge still in place.” the person said again.

“But what will happen to the me in that time? Won’t it be weird to have two copies of me running around?” Harry asked, still a little confused.

“No, you would take over your body at that time, your mind at the time would disappear.” the person said. “There is one thing I have to tell you though. Voldemort will regain his body… that much is inevitable… and I suggest you allow it to be the same way as before… because if you don’t, he will find another way, and the course of time will change drastically.” Harry didn’t say anything for a while before he asked one question.

“Can I see my parents, Sirius and Hermione?” Harry said softly. The person in the middle just nodded,

“They are right though there.” the person said pointing to a room to the side. Harry got up quickly and walked in, straight away he was grabbed by Hermione, who hugged him half to death, before giving him a long kiss.

“Ahem.” a voice sound from in front of them; Hermione immediately broke the kiss, blushing a little. Harry looked past Hermione only to see his parents and Sirius. He slowly walked towards his parents, tears in his eyes.

“Mum… Dad…” he said softly. These words seemed to break the ice as Lily ran forward and pulled Harry into a hug that rivalled the one from Hermione. When she finally let go, James and Sirius also pulled him into a hug.

“We’re proud of you son.” James said. Harry looked down at his feet.

“I don’t know what to do… I could save heaps of people’s lives but… I don’t want to not be with you.” Harry said softly.

“Harry… you have to understand… we were always there with you.” Lily said hugging him again. Harry just nodded then turned to Hermione.

“But I don’t want to go without you either.” Harry said softly.

Hermione smiled at him, “But Harry… I will still be there.” she said.

“But that could be years… I couldn’t bear waiting that long for you.” he said.

“You would be getting sent back to the summer before your third year,” James said, “So you would know Hermione already.”

“But… we didn’t get together until sixth year… that’s three years! I couldn’t take it!” Harry said. Hermione just looked at him,

“Maybe you could ask me out when I really wanted you to then Harry… I told you when I first realized I was in love with you… maybe this way Ron and I wont ruin our friendship either.” she said.

Harry though about it, ‘Yes… she said she had loved me since the end of second year… and she went out with Ron at the start of sixth year because she thought I didn’t feel the same way… and they did ruin there friendship…’ Harry sighed,

“I’ll do it.” he said softly.

“I knew you would Harry…” Sirius said, “Er… do you think you could catch Peter early? So I don’t have to be on the run?” he asked.

Harry smiled at him, “Definitely… and I won’t be one of Dumbledore’s bloody chess pieces this time either.” Harry said, he then looked back over to Hermione, “I’m going to miss you…” he said softly.

“Oh no you won’t! I expect you to ask me out no later than two weeks into school mister!” she said in a mock serious tone.

“Oh don’t you worry… you won’t have to wait long for me to come around.” he said before giving her one last kiss, “I guess I should tell them my answer then.” he said softly, before giving each of them one last hug.

“I’ll do it!” Harry told the council when he was back in the courtroom.

“Very well… I must warn you though, to tell others what has happened would be dangerous… if you are going to let anyone know, make sure that you trust them completely.” the middle person said, again speaking for the panel. Harry just nodded; he already knew he was going to tell Hermione… he would tell Ron, but with Ron’s reputation, which he had gotten during their last couple of years at school… he would probably slip up.

All of a sudden Harry was engulfed in darkness, and when he opened his eyes again he found himself in the kitchen of Number Four Privet Drive cleaning plates, while the Dursleys and Aunt Marge were having dinner.

AN: Well? Tell me what you think!

Chapter 2 – Doing It Differently

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

I would like to thank Turnlach for his BETA work :P, all mistakes are still mine though

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Harry was stunned for a second, here he was standing in the Dursleys kitchen washing the dishes again… and if he remembered rightly… he blew up his aunt today…

“What are you doing boy staring off into space?!” Marge said, “Bring me my tea already.”

Harry brought the tea over to her, snarling at her before moving back to the kitchen.

“I saw that boy, don’t you dare look at me that way! You should be grateful that my kind brother brought you in! If it were up to me you would have been right back out on the street.” Marge said, Harry just ignored her; he was already planning how to get out of here… he was brought from his planning by something Aunt Marge was saying,

“…if there is something wrong with the bitch, then there is something wrong with the pup…” she was saying but was cut off by an icy voice.

“Shut up, you fat pig! You say another word, you will be surprised about the amount of pain I can cause you.” he whispered, though everyone in the room heard, his eyes were glowing green, and there seemed to be a phantom wind in the room, blowing everything around.

Harry quickly turned around and headed up to his room, he walked quickly over to the loose floorboard and grabbed out his wand. Using a little wandless magic, Harry removed the ministry tracking charms with a spell Hermione had found during their sixth year.

Then with a couple of flicks of his wand, all his belongings were packed into his trunk. Quickly casting a lightening charm, Harry easily picked up his trunk and headed downstairs. As he suspected, Vernon was already waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs,

“Move you whale.” Harry said, as if he was speaking to an object rather than another person.

“YOU BOY, ARE GOING TO PAY! WHAT DO YOU THINK…” Vernon stopped as he now found Harry's wand pointing at him, “You will be expelled from that freak school!” he said a small smirk growing on his face.

“No I won’t.” was all Harry said, and then with another small flick he sent Vernon flying backwards into the plaster wall, leaving a large hole in it. Harry then left the house and made his way to the bus stop were he saw Sirius for the first time.

When he arrived he looked over at the bushes where he seen him last time, and there as expected was the large black grim. Harry got down onto his knees and patted the ground, “Come here boy, come on!” Harry said.

Sirius came padding over and just as he reached him Harry had his wand out, “Hello Sirius Black…” Harry said.

The dog’s eyes went wide at this, it actually looked quite funny.

“Don’t worry… I know you didn’t do it.” Harry said and the dog started to relax a little, “And don’t worry… I know were Peter is.”

The dog’s head shot towards Harry when he said this, “Yes, we will get you cleared… but now would you change back so I can greet my long lost godfather properly.”

The dog changed back and there stood Sirius Black, looking the same as he did from the news report. Harry instantly drew him into a hug, which Sirius happily returned.

“How did you know it was me?” Sirius finally asked.

Harry’s eye went wide for a second before he masked his fear, he didn’t think about this… “I umm… found some books and photos in my vault… when I saw the picture of you on the muggle news, I knew who you were… in the vault there were also pictures of you getting named as my godfather and in your animagus form…” Harry said hoping it would work.

Sirius smiled and gave him another hug, “Always knew you would be a smart one!” he said happily, Harry breathed a silent sigh of relief…

“Um Sirius… do you have a wand?” Harry asked, he had never asked his godfather this before…

“No… they snapped it when they put me in Azkaban.” he spat, “And I haven’t really had time to buy a new one after I escaped.”

“Hmm… we will have to get you a new one then… and I have the perfect idea!” Harry said smiling broadly, “Quickly change back, we’re going to the Leaky Cauldron”.

Sirius quickly changed back into his animagus form and Harry added a couple of glamour charms to change his appearance. Harry briefly wonder why Sirius hadn’t asked how he could do magic… but then again he was a Marauder, and probably found the same spell when he was at school. Once he was done, Harry stuck out his wand and with a pop the Knight Bus arrived.

“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve…” Stan said but Harry cut him off.

“Leaky Cauldron and my dog is riding also.” Harry said as he handed the man two galleons, well above the price to ride, “Keep the change.” Harry said, as he and Sirius got onto the bus. Harry didn’t lie down on the bed, he sat on the edge while Sirius was laying down next to him.

About two minutes later Stan called out, “Leaky Cauldron!” Harry and Sirius got off the bus with a muttered ‘thanks’ before they went into the pub. Harry walked up to Tom,

“I was wondering if I could get a room for the rest of the summer.” Harry asked.

Tom looked up and noticed it was Harry, “Of course, Mr Potter” he said, saying Harry's name in a whisper so as to not drawn attention. He then handed him a key, “Room 12, you can pay when you leave.” was all he said before heading back to work.

Harry and Sirius walked into the room and Harry quickly dumped all his stuff onto one of the beds before casting some locking charms and silencing charms on the room. Sirius then changed back into his human form.

“It’s good to see you Harry…” he said softly looking at him, “Last time I remember seeing you was… that night… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gone after him! When Hagrid wouldn’t let me take you I should have went with him and got you from Dumbledore! I shouldn’t have gone after Peter…”

Harry just looked at him and smiled softly, “It’s ok, really. What matters now is that you are here and we will catch Peter and make him pay.” Harry said, Sirius just nodded before sitting down.

“So you said you have an idea?” he asked, looking at Harry for an explanation.

“Well yes… I was thinking, with a couple of simple glamour spells we could go into Knockturn Alley and get you a wand, then we could also get you some robes and maybe a haircut.” Harry said smiling softly.

“I also need to head into Gringotts and get the goblins to show me my parents will… from what I know of the Dursleys, I doubt very much that Mum and Dad would have allowed me to live with them… maybe I can be emancipated…” Harry said. Sirius seemed to growl at what Harry was saying,

“You’re damn right! Your parents requested that you either go with me or Remus… after that there were the Longbottoms, the Tonks’, Weasleys, or the Bones’. They actually said that you were not to go to the Dursleys at all!” Sirius said, rather angrily.

“Just another reason not to trust Dumbledore then...” Harry said to himself.

“You have more? Let’s hear them.” Sirius said.

“Dumbledore placed me at the Dursleys because he said there were ‘blood wards’ there, created by mum’s sacrifice… that’s a lie, there just normal wards… that Dumbledore placed.” Harry said, his eyes were glowing softly, “Then there is the Prophecy that he has yet to tell me about… the one that says I am destined to either kill or be killed in the final battle against Voldemort…” Sirius’ eyes went wide at this…

“That’s why they went under the Fidelius charm wasn’t it?” Sirius said softly looking down at the ground, a tear dropping from his eye.

“Yes… the only reason he was sending me to the Dursleys was so that any mail I got went though him… I was completely cut off from the wizarding world, he controlled all the information I got, he decided when I leave the Dursleys… he controlled his ‘weapon’.”

“I’m so sorry Harry… if I hadn’t gone after Peter you could have lived with me…” Sirius said softly.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference… he would have found some way to remove you from the picture… he didn’t think that you were guilty but did nothing to help prove it… after all, you were removed from the picture, all the better for him.” Harry said. He could see the anger spark in Sirius’ eyes as he growled under his breath.

“Oh… he is going to pay. I’m going to make sure of that…” Sirius said to himself.

“Don’t do anything stupid Sirius.” Harry said, “Even though he is a bastard and a manipulative fool, the wizarding world still sees him as their beacon of light… could you imagine what would happen to you if you did something?” Harry asked him, “And anyways… he will pay for what he has been doing.” Sirius just nodded his head; he knew there would be hell to pay if he did something to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was not only magically powerful but he was also very powerful politically…

“So… if we are going into Diagon Alley tomorrow… I guess you will be needing new clothes since you won’t be going back to the Dursleys…” Sirius said. Harry looked a little weird at this.

“Yeah… I guess… didn’t think about that…” he said. It had been ages since he had actually lived with the Dursleys so he’d forgotten he no longer had all his robes and muggle clothes from his time.

“Well I guess you might want a shower or something… doesn’t look like you have had one for a while.” Harry said jokingly, Sirius smiled at him.

“No you’re right... a nice warm shower will do nicely about now.” he said.

“Ok… well I’m heading to bed, I’ll see you in the morning.” Harry said before heading into one of the rooms.

“Goodnight Harry.” Sirius said softly to himself, before heading into the shower.

AN: There you go! the second chapter! hope you all like it. Well that’s it for now : )

Chapter 3 – Gringotts

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

I would like to thank Turnlach for his BETA work :P, all mistakes are still mine though

*----*

Harry woke up the next morning at around nine am; it took him a couple of minutes before he got used to his new surroundings…it was weird being thirteen again. He quickly got up and walked out into the living room to see Sirius there already, sitting on one of the couches.

“Hey.” Harry said happily, Sirius looked up and smiled at him.

“Hey pup, ready to get going?” Sirius asked

“Yeah, in about ten minutes… let me have a shower first.” Harry said with a yawn, before heading into the bathroom.

About ten minutes later Harry came back out, fully dressed in Dudley’s hand-me-downs. Sirius was up and waiting, Harry pulled out his wand and flicked it a couple of times, and watched as Sirius’ face changed.

He now had Blond hair, Brown eyes, and his facial shape was totally different. Harry nodded in approval and motioned Sirius towards the mirror.

“Good.” he said before turning to Harry, “Now for you.” he said. Harry just shook his head, and scrunched his eyes up in concentration. All of a sudden Harry’s hair became longer and changed from black to blond, matching Sirius, his face shape also changed slightly, and he seemed to be a little shorter. When he opened his eyes, instead of intense emerald green they were now a chocolate brown.

“Whoa! You’re a Metamorphmagus!” Sirius exclaimed, “I only know one other and that’s my cousin Tonks!” he said

“Yeah…I…err...found out when my aunt tried to get my hair cut but I manage to grow it back when we got home.” Harry said, again hoping Sirius would believe him. He did, it seemed, as Sirius doubled over laughing,

“By Merlin! I bet the muggles loved that!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, they didn’t seem to like it much.” Harry said with a large grin… it was so nice to have Sirius back… now all he needed was Hermione… ‘I should call her today, see if she wants to come to Diagon Alley early’… he thought, then decided to do it.

“Come on, let’s get going… lots of stuff to do.” Harry said and they both then left the pub and made their way into Diagon Alley.

“Where to first?” Sirius asked, “Gringotts?” he suggested. Harry nodded his head in agreement,

“Yeah... Probably better to get my account details and stuff worked out before we go on a shopping spree.” he said with a grin, which Sirius returned.

“Yes… I thought of something else that we will need to buy also.” he said.

“What’s that?” Harry asked.

“Well some pranks of course…” Sirius said, “I can’t let the son of a marauder go on without knowing about the art of pranking, now can I?” he asked in mock offence.

“No I guess you can’t.” Harry chuckled, ‘Oh poor Remus… the return of the marauders and he’s going to be teaching.’ Harry thought to himself, a little smile gracing his lips.

“What ya smiling at?” Sirius asked him.

“Oh nothing… just thinking the reaction of certain professors when they find out the marauders have returned.” Harry said with a small smile.

“YEP! McGonagall’s gonna love this year!” Sirius said happily as they reached the entrance of Gringotts. Harry and the disguised Sirius walked into the bank and to the nearest free Goblin.

“Hello, I would like to speak to someone regarding my parents will.” Harry said, smiling while not showing his teeth, as doing so was an insult.

“Certainly Mr Potter, if you would go though that door there, you will find Mr Grobbles’ Office, you will need to speak to him.” The goblin said politely.

“Thank you, may your endeavours be profitable.” Harry said, adding a Goblin compliment. The Goblin seemed to smile even more at his,

“And yours Mr Potter.” the Goblin said before Harry and Sirius walked through the door. They came to Mr Grobbles’ office and Harry knocked on the door, a voice drifted though requesting them to enter, so they did.

“Ah… good day Mr Potter, what may I do for you today?” Mr Grobbles asked.

“Well I would like to see my Parent’s will… for some reason I think there may have been problems with my placement…” Harry said. Mr Grobbles nodded and then called for his assistance to get the Potter will for him. Five minutes later, Mr Grobbles quickly looked over the will and frowned.

“I am correct in assuming that you are currently living at your muggle aunt and uncle’s house, Vernon and Petunia Dursley?” he asked, Harry just nodded. “I see… then your parents will hasn’t been followed… though I don’t see how this could happen…”

“The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, took me from my parent’s home and placed me with them.” Harry said.

“He did you say… well then he will no longer be your magical Guardian. You have a couple of options then Mr Potter, your financial records are enough to allow you to be emancipated, or you could see if one of the families on your parents will would be willing to take you in.”

“I would like to become an emancipated minor thank you.” Harry said strongly.

“You understand, that doing this you would gain control over you parent’s vaults, gain you inheritance as Lord Potter and Lord Gryffindor, and that you may be required to attend meetings and other business that may concern your family or finances?” the goblin asked. Harry just nodded.

“Very well if you would just sign this bit of paperwork.” the goblin said handing Harry an official looking form, “After you are emancipated, you are legally an adult, meaning that the underage restrictions will be taken off you. You may also apply for your apparation licence. Though alcohol and tobacco, you will still have to wait until you are of age.”

Harry quickly signed the parchment and two rings appeared in front of him. He recognized them straight away, the Potter and Gryffindor family rings. He had seen adults wearing family rings before but until he had gotten his he had never paid attention to them. He plucked them from the air and slipped them onto his fingers.

“I understand that it is possible to hire a goblin to… look over my account, an executive?” Harry asked Mr Grobbles.

“Yes that is true, are you wishing to do that now?” he asked, “It would be wise in your position as it would take some of the hassles off your shoulders.”

“Yes, I would like Mr Griphook to have the job.” Harry said. Grobbles eyes widened slightly.

“May I ask why you choose him, Mr Potter, not many wizards care who does it?” he asked.

“Mr Griphook was the first Goblin I met, and I trust him.” Harry said simply.

“Very well, I will call for him now.” Grobbles said. Five minutes later Griphook came though the door.

“Mr Griphook, Mr Potter has asked that you become his executive for the Potter and Gryffindor family.” Grobbles said, slightly envious; this would advance Griphook right up… especially with these two families. Griphook’s eyes widened at this and he turned to Harry.

“I would be honoured Mr Potter.” Griphook said.

“Thank you… oh and I was wondering, is there an easier way to withdraw gold without having to come back to Gringotts each time?” Harry asked.

“Yes there is. It depends on the size of your account of course, though I can already tell you that yours passes the requirements.” Griphook said, “It’s a new money pouch, it’s directly linked to you account, you simply put your hand in the bag and think of how much you want and you will get it. It works for both wizard and muggle money. Would you like one?” Griphook asked.

“Yes that would be helpful.” Harry said and Griphook left the room, coming back five minutes later with a nice, new, black money bag.

“Mr Potter, if you would put one hand in the bag, then lay the other hand with the family rings on the outside, we will bind this bag to you.” Griphook said. Harry did so and Griphook touched his finger to each of Harry’s rings, then to the bag and his hands glowed gold for each ring before they went normal again.

“There that’s done, is there anything else we may help you with?” Griphook asked, Harry thought for a moment before shaking his head, no. Harry and Sirius left the Bank then; Sirius was still wide eyed at what had just happened.

“Harry… when did you learn about Goblin culture and the banks procedures…?” Sirius asked.

“Well I was thinking about this all last year, so I was looking up information on the goblin race, and the banking system. That’s where I found I could be emancipated.” Harry lied.

“Wow… you really planned this out.” Sirius said looking impressed. He then looked at the rings on Harry’s fingers, “I had no idea that James was the heir of Gryffindor…”

“Another thing to thank Dumbledore, he failed to mentioned it to me also, though I should have guessed something like this last year when I pulled the bloody Gryffindor sword from the sorting hat…” Harry said.

“You did what! Why did you need to pull the Gryffindor sword from the sorting hat? In fact why did you even have the sorting hat in your second year?” Sirius asked. Harry grinned, ‘this will be funny…’

“Oh well, I had to use it to kill Salazar’s fifty foot Basilisk that he put in his chamber.” Harry said, in a serious tone. Sirius started to laugh, thinking Harry was joking, though stopped when he realized he was serious.

“You have to bloody tell me more about your couple of years at Hogwarts tonight!” He said staring at Harry.

“Alright… but now we need to buy some new clothes and other stuff that we will be needing.” Harry said. Sirius nodded at this, but asked for good measure,

“You will tell me when we get back?” he asked, Harry just nodded again.

“Yes I will tell you… now where to? Wand, clothes, pranks…it’s up to you to choose where to go first.” Harry said. Sirius seemed to be in deep thought….

“Wand, I need my new wand first.” he finally said, and with that they made their way to Knockturn Alley.

AN: There you go another chapter! Thanks for all the nice reviews by the way... most chapters I have written are around the 2,000 word mark... I didn’t feel like writing long ones...

Chapter 4 – Shopping! And Truths

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: AH! The next chapter, hope you like it!

“Wand, I need my new wand first.” he finally said, and with that they made their way to Knockturn Alley.

I would like to thank Turnlach for his BETA work :P, all mistakes are still mine though

*--------*

They entered Knockturn Alley and Harry led Sirius through the streets, knowing exactly where to go.

“Er... Harry… how do you know your way around here?” Sirius whispered.

“Er… during my second year, I accidentally flooed here instead of Diagon Alley, had to walk around a bit before I found my way out.” Harry whispered back, hoping the half truth would work. It seemed to as Sirius just nodded his head and continued to follow Harry.

About two minutes later, Harry entered an old worn-down shop; it didn’t have a name, though you could easily tell it was a wand making shop by the wands in the window.

“What can I do for you two?” a man asked, he looked to be around sixty years old… not too old for a wizard.

“I need to purchase a new wand… my last one was broken…” Sirius said, though since they were both still under their disguise charms, no one could actually tell who they were… except Dumbledore and maybe Voldemort… and even they couldn’t see though Harry’s.

“Certainly… now what was your last wand made out of?” the clerk asked.

“10 inches, Yew wood, with Dragon Heartstring core.” Sirius said. The clerk seemed to be thinking for a little bit before he headed into the back of the shop.

“This one should do it then.” he said, handing the wand over to Sirius. When he took hold, he gave a quick flick and the book on the table levitated up.

“Seems good, how much do I owe you?” Sirius asked.

“Ten galleons.” he said.

Sirius quickly paid him with the money Harry had given him beforehand and both Harry and Sirius promptly left the shop.

“Clothes now?” Sirius asked, Harry just nodded, he wanted to get out of Knockturn Alley, he never really liked the place and now that they had what they needed he wanted to leave as quick as possible. When they finally got back to Diagon Alley they quickly headed to Madam Malkin's.

Harry of course had to change how tall he was back to normal, and also changed his weight back as well. After all, he wanted the clothes to fit when he was normal.

Both Harry and Sirius entered Madam Malkin’s and a young lady came straight to them.

“Do you need any help?” she said, Harry could easily tell she was eyeing Sirius, and he had a smirk at the fact.

“Um, yes… we need two new wardrobes… for both of us… Muggle and Magical…” Sirius said. Harry just nodded in agreement.

“Right then, if you two would just follow me.” she said as she led Harry and Sirius though the store towards the back. “Mr Changlin will help the young man, while I help you.” she said to Sirius before they both left.

“Now what will you be needing lad?” Mr Changlin asked.

“Well I need two new wardrobes... one muggle the other magical…” Harry said to the man.

“Certainly!” the man said a large smile on his face, “Well let’s get going then!”

About three hours later both Harry and Sirius left the robes shop with a pocketful of shrunken clothes.

“So… how did it go? Get any snogging time in?” Harry asked innocently.

“What are you talking about, ‘snogging time’” Sirius asked, the tiniest of blushes coming to his face. Harry just smirked at him.

“Well… even I could see the hungry look she was giving you.” Harry pointed out, and Sirius blushed a little more, “…And by the look of your face I see you did indeed get some snogging time in.” Harry said grinning widely.

“Oh shut up…” Sirius mumbled, “I need a haircut anyway now.” Sirius said, trying to change the topic. Harry thought about giving his godfather a little bit more of a hard time but decided against it.

“Yeah… haircut time… We’re going to need to change your hair back though, we’re just lucky you were able to have a shower yesterday.” Harry pointed out, Sirius just nodded and they slipped in between a couple of shops. When they came out, Sirius’ hair was long again, though not as messy as is was last night.

They left Diagon Alley and headed out into Muggle London. Harry was wearing jeans, with a dark green shirt, while Sirius was wearing jeans and a black shirt.

They quickly entered the nearest hairdressers’ that they could find and Sirius’ hair was getting cut ten minutes later. It took about thirty minutes until it was done, after all thirteen years without a haircut leaves a lot of hair…

After the haircut Harry and Sirius made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron. When they got back in Harry’s room, Sirius sat down in front of Harry, looking at him.

“Alright, what’s going on?” Sirius asked looking intently at him.

“What do you mean?” Harry said, trying to sound innocent.

“Well, the fact that you knew who I was, then there is the fact that you know your way around Knockturn Alley, then there is the way you seem to know more about goblin culture than most wizards and that’s just for starters.” Sirius said ticking off the things he found strange.

“I-I explained them.” Harry said.

Sirius just looked at Harry, “Well then, you might know who I was though a picture, but the fact is we never had pictures of us in our animagus forms… and then who would tell you my name, the name of the person everyone suspected betrayed your parents. Then there is the whole way you somehow worked out I didn’t do it.” Sirius pointed out.

Harry let out a sigh, he was always going to tell Sirius anyways, but this was sooner than he had planned, “I guess my story did have a couple of holes in it didn’t it.” Harry said sighing in defeat.

“Just a couple.” Sirius said with a small grin.

“Well you have to give me some credit, I made most of the stuff up on the spot.” Harry said defending himself.

“Ok… so are you going to tell me the truth?” he asked, Harry just nodded.

“Ok… don’t freak out, but… what would you say if I told you I had come back from the future?” Harry asked softly.

“Are you telling me you’re from the future?” Sirius asked, Harry just nodded, “Well… if you had just told me I probably wouldn’t have believed you… but after everything you know… well I guess it sorta makes sense… but why come back?” he asked.

“On the day of my engagement party… Voldemort attacked… he killed everyone… and I ended up killing him, his Death Eaters and myself by releasing all my magic.” Harry said softly, a small tear dripping down his cheek.

Sirius was wide eyed… he didn’t know what to say to that so he just hugged him, but there was still something that nagged him, “If you died how did you go back in time?” he asked softly.

Harry smiled slightly, “Well, instead of passing straight into the afterlife, I came before the council of the dead… and they gave me the option of either going back, or going into the afterlife with my parents, fiancée and you… After the four of you talked to me, I decided that it would be best to go back… save everyone before anything really bad happened.” Harry said.

Sirius just nodded, and then a small smile crossed his face, “So… who is your fiancée?” he asked. Harry just smiled at him.

“Well, I suspect you will be meeting her in a couple of days… after all before I came back she demanded that I ask her out this year.” Harry said with a smile.

Sirius just smiled back before it dropped a little, “How did I die… you know… don’t want to make the same mistake twice…” he said, his smile coming back.

“Well… it was my fifth year… at the end of the year, Voldemort tricked me into thinking that he had you prisoner… my friends and I of course came to rescue you, only to find it was a trap for me. You, Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix came rushing in towards the end; you were duelling with Bellatrix Lestrange… I think you stopped and taunted her, and she got a stunner in… you ended up falling though the veil of death.” Harry said the last bit in a whisper.

“You have to be kidding me! I died from a stunner! A STUNNER!” Sirius yelled. This caused Harry to break out laughing, Sirius’ expression was priceless.

After Sirius finally calmed down, Harry had something else he wanted to bring up, “Sirius I think we should move.” he said, “After you died, I got all your properties… there is one in London, not far from here… about a ten minute walk actually. The wards on it stop anyone other than the owner from entering; it also has tons of other wards.” Sirius just nodded in agreement.

“Yeah… it would be better to stay somewhere other than the Leaky Cauldron… it’s not the safest spot for me at the moment.” he said.

“Ok… let’s go now then.” Harry said, he then went into his room and started to pack his trunk. After five minutes he came back into the living room and found Sirius there waiting, he had already used glamours to disguise himself. Harry quickly used his Metamorphmagus abilities to change his appearance.

“Oh and Sirius… it was Tonks that helped train my Metamorphmagus abilities by the way.” Harry said with a small grin, Sirius just shook his head before they left the room.

Fifteen minutes later Harry and Sirius arrived at the house. It was immaculately clean, just like it had been in Harry's time. The house elf that worked here wasn’t bonkers like Kreacher.

“Binky.” Harry called out and with a small pop the house elf arrived.

“Hello Binky, I’m Harry Potter and this is Sirius Black, the Master of this house.” Harry said kindly to the house elf.

“Master has finally come home!” the house elf cried out happily, “Binky will get some dinner cooking for Master and Master’s friend.” she said before with another pop she was gone.

“I’m going to use the phone… I need to call someone. The living room is just though there… you know how to use a Television?” Harry asked, Sirius just nodded and went into the room.

Harry walked over to the phone; it was one of the good things about living in the muggle world, electricity. He dialled Hermione’s number and waited for someone to answer.

“Hello Granger residence.” Came the voice of Jane Granger, Hermione’s mother.

“Oh hello, I was wondering if Hermione was there?” Harry asked.

“Yes she is. Can I ask who is calling?” Jane asked.

“OH! It Harry, Harry Potter, her friend from school.” Harry said quickly.

“Well hello Harry this is Jane, Hermione’s mother. We have heard so much about you! I will just get Hermione for you.” Jane said. A couple seconds later Harry heard an excited squeal, the sound of running footsteps and then the unmistakable voice of Hermione.

“Harry! How are you?” She yelled.

“Fine Hermione, no need to scream… I thought you knew how to use a telephone…” Harry said laughing softly.

“Oh sorry… how did you get my number anyways mister.” she asked.

“I… ah looked it up…” Harry said, thinking up quickly… he couldn’t really say I have known you parents number for years now could he…

“Oh of course, how stupid of me… so what’s up?” Hermione asked.

“Well I was wondering if you would like to come to go into London tomorrow… muggle mall or something? Just want to see you again.” Harry said softly.

“Oh I would love to! Where will I meet you?” Hermione asked.

“Well… I could come to your house first… I don’t really know of any malls…” Harry said.

“Ok… I’ll see if my dad can pick you up.” she said.

“No it’s ok, I’ll take the Knight Bus.” Harry said.

“What’s the Knight Bus?” Hermione asked in a confused voice.

“Well a bus for wizards…” Harry said, Hermione just said ‘oh’,

“So I’ll come around tenish?” Harry asked.

“Yep sounds great, see you tomorrow!” Hermione said happily.

“See ya.” Harry said before he hung up the phone and went into the dinning room. Sirius was there waiting for Harry, a large meal on the table. Harry just chuckled, Binky always made way too much food.

“What does this house elf think we are? Dragons?” Sirius asked Harry, looking at the amount of food.

“Get used to it… she seems to always cook way too much food.” Harry said chuckling softly.

“So… you make plans with your friend?” Sirius asked.

“OH… yeah I’m going to go into muggle London with her tomorrow… did you have plans or something?” Harry asked a little embarrassed, he had forgot about Sirius…

“Binky said she is going to show me some of the other properties that I own… and explain the wards… you know, just in case.” Sirius said, Harry just nodded. They ate the meal, making small conversation before they both went to their new beds.

AN: Last three chapters have been BETA’d, thanks Turnlach, and have been updated. (This one is yet to be checked)

BN: NOW BETA’D

AN: Yes thank you very much :P

Chapter 5 – Hermione

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Ah another chapter :P, thanks to Turnlach once again for his BETA work! Hope you all enjoy it!

Harry arrived by the Knight Bus in front of Hermione’s house in Canton at 9:55 am. He slowly made his way up her driveway and rang the doorbell. Not five seconds later the door was flung open and Hermione had jumped out, catching him off guard and sending both of them to the ground. Hermione was still hugging him, unaware of the position they were in.

An amused coughing from behind them brought Hermione back to reality and she quickly jumped off Harry, blushing as red as a tomato.

“Sorry.” she mumbled to Harry, quickly helping him up. Harry just smiled at her then turned to her parents. He fought down the urge to hug them, Harry loved Hermione parents, they treated him like one of their own and this time he was going to make sure he got to know them earlier.

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I’m Harry.” Harry said sticking his hand out to them, which they gladly took.

“It’s nice to finally meet you Harry. We hear about you all the time, it’s about time we met the boy behind our daughter’s stories” Jane said with a large grin, “Oh and enough with the Mr and Mrs., it makes us feel old… I’m Jane and my husband is Rodger.”

Harry turned to look at Hermione, who seemed to be blushing even more; he took it as a good sign that she might indeed have feelings for him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Harry said kindly with a large smile on his face.

“So… where are we going?” Harry said turning around to look at Hermione.

“Dad said he will take us to the Mall, it’s about a ten minute drive from here… I’ll just go get my things, I’ll be back in a minute.” Hermione said before rushing off to her room. Harry watched her go before turning back to her parents. He didn’t know why, but he was feeling nervous about meeting them again for the first time. It was Jane that broke the silence first,

“So Harry, how do you like your school? Hermione tells us so much about it.” Jane asked.

“Love it.” Harry said happily, “Only place that’s felt like home actually… my Aunt and Uncle don’t like magic all that much.” Harry said with a small frown.

“Yes… Hermione mentioned that you relatives were not the nicest of people… we were actually going to invite you over this summer just to get you away from them.” Jane said.

“Oh… it doesn’t matter anymore… I went into Gringotts the other day and asked about my parents will… it turned out it wasn’t followed, so now I’m an emancipated minor.” Harry said happily, “I am now staying with my godfather.”

“Really… well that’s good news… we would love for you to stay for dinner and maybe the night Harry… I’m sure Hermione would love the company… maybe you can stay at each others places until its time for Hogwarts?” Jane asked.

“That sounds great… it’ll be nice to have some company…” Harry said happily… he didn’t really know, but he got the impression that Jane was trying it set Hermione and him up… it was then that Hermione came back down the stairs in jeans and a light pink sweater.

“Well what do you think?” she asked Harry.

“Beautiful…” Harry said softly, which caused Hermione to blush and Jane to grin.

“OK kids… I’ll meet you at the car.” Rodger said, Harry and Hermione went out to the car and Rodger turned to his wife, “You’re trying to get them together aren’t you?” he said to his wife, who just grinned.

“Oh they would be perfect together don’t you think…” Jane said happily, “And I KNOW that Hermione likes the boy… and by what I have seen so far, he seems to like her as well.” she said happily.

Rodger just sighed… “Yes, I guess they would make a cute couple…” he said, “Just don’t do anything too obvious.” he said before heading out to the car.

The drive only took ten minutes and Rodger left saying that he will pick them up at around two o’clock. Harry and Hermione headed into the muggle shopping centre.

Hermione instantly dragged him off to the closest book store. She started looking though all the fantasy books, something that Harry found quite funny, considering she actually lived in a world of witches, wizards and magic. When he asked her about it she just shrugged her shoulders, saying that a lot of the books are nothing like the real magical world at all.

After the book shop Harry and Hermione window shopped through a couple of stores, Hermione stopped at a clothes shop where she saw a top she really like, but was a disappointed when she didn’t have enough money to actually buy it.

Harry being who he is, immediately offered to pay for it, Hermione tried to stop him, but her heart wasn’t in it and she finally let him buy it for her.

After that Harry and Hermione stopped in a phone store where Harry brought a muggle mobile phone. Hermione tried to reason with Harry that it wouldn’t work at Hogwarts and would be a waste of money. But Harry was determined to get it to work at Hogwarts… and even if it didn’t, now that he was no longer living at the Dursleys he would need a phone, since he would actually be allowed to leave the house.

Once Harry got the phone working, he immediately added some of Sirius’ numbers… the ones he could remember; he also added Hermione’s number to the list, along with her mum and dad’s mobile numbers.

They then decided to go to the movies, where Hermione convinced Harry to see Jurassic Park, which she said was a dinosaur movie that everyone was raving about.

About two hours later Harry and Hermione came out of the cinema. Harry seemed to be impressed with how realistic the movie looked. Due to growing up with the Dursleys, Harry hadn’t been able to see many movies but he really enjoyed this one. Of course, the movie was enjoyable for another reason…He looked over at Hermione; she was looking at him with a large grin on her face.

“What is it?” Harry asked her.

“Nothing… I just haven’t had this much fun during the summer in… well I haven’t had this much fun during summer ever…” she said happily, Harry grinned at her.

“I’m glad I could be of service Milady.” Harry said giving a small bow. Hermione just giggled and hit him on the arm. Both Harry and Hermione then decided to go to a café that they had seen before.

The café was fairly empty, there was only one other couple there. Harry and Hermione walked over and sat down on the couch that they had. They ordered two coffees before that sat silently.

Harry was nervous… he dearly hoped that she felt the same way he did… her self from his time said she did… he just hoped it was true. Pulling together all of his Gryffindor courage Harry asked her.

“Um… Hermione… how- how do you feel about me?” Harry asked softly looking down at his feet.

Hermione was stunned by his question, she was also rather nervous… was he worried that she liked him… would he feel weird about it…, “You’re my best friend Harry.” Hermione said softly also looking away… she didn’t want to risk her friendship over her feelings…

“Only… your best friend…” Harry said disappointed.

Hermione seemed to notice the disappointment in his voice and decided to take a chance, “You’re more than my best friend…” She said softly… “I care for you a lot Harry… more than you know…” she paused, “More than a best friend…” she said in barely a whispered, and Harry only just heard her.

His heart leaped at her words, “Hermione?” Harry asked and she looked up, she had tears in her eyes, “Hermione… wouldyoubemygirlfriend?” he asked really quickly. Hermione now had a large grin on her face.

“What was that Harry?” she said happily.

Harry took a deep breath; “Would you be my girlfriend?” he asked softly looking at her. She didn’t answer, just threw him into a hug, and then kissed him softly on the lips.

“I would love that.” she whispered in his ear. Harry just grinned and hugged her tightly.

After Hermione let him go she looked at his face and noticed the relief and happiness in his eyes.

“Were you afraid I would say no?” she asked looking at him. Harry just nodded his head.

“Yes… and I was afraid of ruining our friendship as well.” he admitted.

“Harry… let’s make an agreement… no matter what happens we will always be best friends… no matter what happens between us, ok?” she said softly.

“I will always need at least your friendship Hermione.” Harry said softly giving her another hug, “You mean more than the world to me.” he whispered.

Hermione smiled, “Same to you.” she said simply. She then looked at her watch, “OH dad said he would be meeting us in two minutes!” she exclaimed, before quickly jumping to her feet and grabbing Harry’s hand to drag him along.

They made it outside in record time, they still had thirty seconds until the time, though Rodger was already there waiting. He seemed to smile more when he noticed that Harry and Hermione were holding hands.

“Right on time.” he said, not mentioning the fact that they were still holding hands. “Jane’s in the car so you two will be riding in the back.” he said and they walked off to the car.

Jane was waiting in the car and suppressed a grin when she noticed they were holding hands, during the car ride not much was said. Harry and Hermione whispered to each other, mainly about things they could do for the rest of the summer. About ten minutes later they were pulling into Hermione’s house.

During dinner, Jane finally asked how their day was, Harry and Hermione smiled at each briefly before Hermione answered,

“It was great! We looked though heaps of shops, Harry bought me a top and he also bought himself a mobile, which was a complete waste really…” Hermione was cut off by Harry,

“Hey! I plan on getting it to work at Hogwarts!” Harry said with mock anger, though it didn’t fool anyone since he had a silly grin on his face… he found it funny that Hermione was the one saying that it was impossible, since it was her that had gotten mobile phones to work in Hogwarts, so that the DA and Order would have quick ways to contact each other.

Hermione seemed to be thinking before her eyes lit up, “I want to help you Harry! I think I have an idea!” she said quickly, Harry smiled and nodded.

“So… what else did you guys do?” Jane asked

“Well we then went to see Jurassic Park… it was really good.” Hermione said, “Then we went to a café and had some coffee before dad arrived.”

“Sounds like a nice day.” Jane said before turning to Harry, “Are you staying the night Harry?”

“Yes… I called my Godfather already.” Harry said happily.

Hermione turned to Harry in confusion, “Who’s your godfather? I though you had to live with those retched Dursleys.” Hermione asked.

“Oh, well you will meet my godfather tomorrow I guess… and well, this summer I left the Dursleys and went to Gringotts… my parents will wasn’t exactly followed, so now I’m classified as an emancipated minor… meaning I can do magic and such.” Harry said, he deliberately emphasized the words ‘exactly followed’ knowing that Hermione knew that it was Dumbledore who had left him with the Dursleys, and that she would figure it out. Hermione's eyes widened as she realised the fact, Harry just mumbled to her, telling her he would tell her later.

Once everyone was finished, Harry started to collect the plates but was forced into the living room and away from the kitchen by Jane, Hermione had then been dragged in to the kitchen by her mother. Harry smiled slightly at this… Jane had done the same thing when she noticed a difference in his and Hermione’s relationship last time.

“So… what happened today that you two didn’t say at the table?” Jane asked Hermione, raising one eye brow.

“Mhe mufph maskd ph out.” Hermione mutter, blushing a little.

“What was that dear?” Jane asked grinning at her.

“He asked me out.” Hermione whispered, looking away as she blushed, a large smile on her face. The next thing Hermione knew, her mother was hugging her like mad, “Mu-um?” Hermione said a little confused.

“I’m so happy for you dear… he is perfect, I can tell.” Jane said happily, before crushing her in a hug again. “So… you kissed yet?” she asked.

“Mum!” Hermione whispered, rather embarrassed.

“Well?” she prompted.

“Once…a little one.” Hermione said looking away from her mum, as her face became as red as a tomato.

“Well what was it like?” she asked, just making Hermione more embarrassed.

“Like heaven.” Hermione whispered softly, Jane just hugged her again before pushing her out of the kitchen, telling her to go to her boyfriend.

Hermione walked into the living room and sat down next to Harry, burying her head into his shoulder to try and hide her embarrassment. Harry just chuckled.

“So… your mum question you about our relationship?” Harry asked with a small smile on his face. Hermione looked at him strangely.

“How did you know that?” she asked looking at him closely, Harry just smiled at her,

“Well… first your mum threw me out of the kitchen and then dragged you in, now you have come out, the cleaning isn’t finished and you are blushing like crazy.” Harry said ticking off the reasons for his guess.

“Ok… you’re right.” Hermione said smiling softly, “She seems to think we’re perfect for each other.” Hermione said, her grin growing.

“I’m glad… I think along the same lines…” Harry said giving Hermione a small kiss on her temple. “I think it’s about time we went to bed.” Harry said softly, Hermione eyes went wide, “Separate beds… I mean.” Harry said and Hermione just grinned sheepishly.

AN: Another chapter finished! Stay tuned for the next chapter! Hermione will….

Chapter 6 – Retelling the Story

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work!

Hermione woke up to the sounds of someone mumbling, it sounded desperate and afraid. She quickly jumped out of bed and stuck her head out into the hallway listening for the sound. She noticed that it seemed to come from Harry’s bedroom. She silently opened his door and listened.

”No, no, Hermione, please… please be alive… NO! Sirius! No, no, no… I’ll kill you Voldemort!”

She realized that Harry was having a nightmare so she quickly went to his side, shaking him awake. Harry's eyes shot open, he then grabbed Hermione into a huge hug, tears falling down his cheeks.

“Shh… Shh… it’s ok Harry, I’m here…” Hermione said softly. Harry's cries seemed to die down.

“How long have you been having those nightmares Harry?” she asked softly.

“Since 5^th year I guess.” Harry said not thinking, his eyes shot open as he realized what he had said.

Hermione seemed to be wide eyed now also. “Fifth year Harry? Is there something you’re not telling me?” she said, her eyes boring into his. He knew he was caught… he could never lie to her anyways when she looked at him like that.

“Ok… don’t freak out ok…” Harry said, Hermione just nodded and sat down on Harry's bed, still looking at him.

“Well… I guess the first thing is to tell you that… I came back in time.” he said, looking at Hermione, all he noticed was that her eyes became wide; she didn’t say anything, waiting for him to explain more.

“When I was 19… about two years out of Hogwarts… at my engagement party… Voldemort attacked…” he said softly. “He killed everyone there… I was the last one, and I just gave up… I released all my magic, probably killing him but also killing myself as well.”

He looked back at Hermione and noticed she wasn’t looking at him, she had tears in her eyes as well, “What’s wrong Hermione?” Harry asked concerned, he hoped she didn’t hate him now.

“N-Nothing.” she said quickly wiping her tears away, she then looked at him strongly, “So… your engagement party… who was the lucky girl?” she asked, no emotion in her voice.

Harry understood now… she had thought it was someone else… “Well… I considered myself the lucky one… but it was… You.” Harry said looking quickly away from her.

“M-Me?” she asked, a little shocked, Harry just looked at her and smiled,

“Its always been you Hermione… always.” he said softly, “I-I can’t tell you how much I love you… I love everything about you!”

“But… I’m bossy… a bookworm.” she said looking down; she didn’t think she was good enough.

Harry took her chin and made her look up, “It’s your being bossy, that kept me alive… and…well, stopped both Ron and I from failing classes since our first year… and I love the fact that your eager to learn and love to read… there is nothing at all wrong with that.” Harry said softly.

Hermione’s smile reached her cheeks at Harry’s words before she launched herself at him, crushing him in her hug, before she lowered her head and gave him a sweet little kiss on the lips.

Hermione then seemed to get a mischievous glean in her eyes… “Wait ‘til I tell your fan club you’re all mine.” she joked, Harry just matched her grin.

“You did… and let’s just say they weren’t too happy about it.” Harry said and Hermione’s eyes went wide.

“You actually had a fan club? And I told them you’re all mine…?” she asked.

“Well… most famous people get a fan club… and it was rather funny the way you shoved your ring in their faces… they were quite annoying… well back to my story…”

“After I… died… instead of going into the afterlife I came in front of the Council of Death, I think they called themselves… they gave me the choice of either going back, or going into the afterlife. After a talk with you, my parents, and Sirius…I decided to go back.” Harry said softly, he looked down hoping she wouldn’t be totally freaked out. He was surprised when Hermione hugged him.

“I’ll help you every step of the way Harry.” she whispered… “By the way… who is Sirius… the name sound familiar…?” she asked.

Harry just grinned at her, “Well you might have seen him on the news… escaped murderer I think they’re calling him.” Harry said. Hermione's eyes went wide at this, “Oh… but he isn’t! he was sent to Azkaban without a trial… they believed he betrayed my parents, but it turned out it was Peter Pettigrew, one of their other friends… we found out at the end of third year… but Peter escaped… and Sirius was murdered in our fifth year…” Harry said softly, “But this time… this time is going to be different.” Harry said determinedly.

Harry then laid back in his bed, looking at Hermione. She didn’t know what it was… but she felt like Harry needed her company.

“H-Harry… would it be ok if I stay here… with you?” she asked softly, blushing like crazy… “It... might help with your nightmares?” she suggested. Harry sighed in relief… he never seemed to have nightmares when she was with him.

“You have no idea how much that would help.” Harry said honestly. He then pulled the quilt back so she could slip in. She quickly jumped under the covers and lay down next to him. She softly put her head on his shoulder and noticed that Harry had already drifted off to sleep. She then placed one arm around his waist and lay closer to him, loving the warmth his body was providing. She let out a contented sigh as Harry’s arm unconsciously came around her. She then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

*-------*

Jane Granger woke up rather early; looking over at the clock she noticed that it was 7:30am. She didn’t know why, but she had a strange desire to check on Hermione.

She quickly got up and put on her slippers before heading upstairs to Hermione’s room. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find it empty and after a little thought she walked over to Harry's room and looked in. She was greeted by the sight of Hermione and Harry, soundly asleep, holding each other. She fought down her motherly urges to rush in and grab her baby girl but could see that they were still both clothed, and she trusted her daughter.

Jane carefully tiptoed over to the bed and nudged Hermione softly awake. Hermione woke up slowly, though her eyes went wide when she remembered where she was… there was that, but it was mainly the fact she was here and her mother was standing in front of her. Hermione went to explain, but stopped when Jane held her finger to her lips then pointed for Hermione to come with her.

Hermione slowly got out of bed as to not wake Harry and followed her mum out of Harry's room and into her own. There was a growing fear about how much trouble they were in when she sat down across from her mother.

“Care to explain why you were sleeping in his bed?” Jane asked softly looking over at Hermione.

“I-I woke up, and could hear voices… I found out it was Harry… he was having a nightmare about his parents getting murdered again… he’s never told me about them before…” Hermione said softly, tears came to her eyes. Though what she was telling her mum wasn’t exactly true, the real reason still brought tears to her eyes….

“He was thrashing around in bed… covered in sweat, so I woke him up and we talked for a bit before we went to sleep… I stayed there in case he had another nightmare… nothing happened mum.” Hermione said softly. She looked over at her mum and noticed that she too had tears in her eyes.

“OH honey…” Jane whispered… “I’m sorry, I had no idea.” she said giving her a hug, “Well I guess it was better for me to catch you two rather then your father…” Jane reasoned. Hermione just grinned,

“You’re not angry at us?” she asked softy.

“Of course I’m not! That has to be one of the sweetest things to do Hermione.” Jane said seriously, “But I suggest if you’re going to go back to sleep, you stay in your own bed… it could be your father next and I don’t know whether he would be able to control his fatherly instincts of protecting his little girl.” Jane said chuckling a little.

“No… I think I might help you with breakfast.” Hermione said, they both then left to get breakfast ready.

*-------*

Harry woke up to the smell of bacon being cooked. He quickly got dressed and headed down into the kitchen where we watched as Hermione and Jane were making bacon and eggs. Jane was the first to notice him and she looked at him, a sly grin on her face,

“So… Sleep well Harry?” she asked sweetly, Harry's eyes went wide at this, he knew THAT grin, and THAT line. He quickly looked at Hermione, who had noticed Harry’s looks and had guessed he had been asked the same thing by her mum before. She was now blushing like crazy when she thought about what they would have been doing last time. Harry coughed a little, clearing his throat,

“Yes… best nights sleep in a long time.” Harry said, trying to sound normal, trying to not let his fear and nerves come though in his voice.

They made small talk during breakfast, but it was soon time for Harry and Hermione to head to Sirius’ house. They said their goodbyes, and Jane gave Harry a large hug before they left. Once out the door, Harry turned to face the house and started to flick his wand around, muttering in a language that Hermione couldn’t recognize under his breath. After he finished he turned and walked up to Hermione.

“Well?” Hermione asked, Harry just gave her a confused look, “What was that?” she said.

“Oh… I just put up some a couple of wards… magical presence detector so that only you, I, Sirius and the Weasleys won’t set it off. I also put up a Dark Mark Ward… it’s a ward that you made actually… stops anyone with the dark mark from entering the property.

“Did my parents die… last time?” she asked softly. Harry looked at her, sorrow in his eyes.

“Yes… in our seventh year… another thing I’m already putting a stop to… we didn’t have these wards when they got attacked… now no Death Eaters will be able to get onto your property.” Harry said softly, Hermione nodded.

“Thank you Harry.” she said giving him a hug.

“There is nothing to be thankful for.” Harry said smiling at her, he then stuck out his wand and the Knight Bus appeared. They quickly jumped on telling Stan that they were heading to the Leaky Cauldron.

Once they got off the bus Hermione and Harry started to walk down the street,

“Harry? Why didn’t we just take the bus right to the house?” Hermione asked as they were walking,

“Well, I didn’t want to actually take the bus there, just in case… he is a fugitive remember.” Harry said,

“Oh… yeah. I guess that makes sense.” Hermione agreed.

About fifteen minutes later Harry and Hermione were walking down the drive to the house. Harry didn’t bother knocking and just walked straight in. As soon as they entered a soft ‘pop’ announced the arrival of Binky.

“Hellos master Harry Potter, would yous or your friend be needing anything?” Binky asked. Harry just smiled down at the house elf.

“No thanks Binky… could you tell me were Sirius is?” Harry asked,

“He be in the living room, watching the television.” Binky said, she then disappeared. Harry turned around to Hermione and seeing that she was about to say something Harry quickly cut her off,

“Binky is a fully paid house elf with rights.” he said a small grin on his face. Hermione looked at him in amazement.

“How? How did know I was going to say that?” she asked, Harry just grinned more.

“This time… please call it something different… S.P.E.W was… well never mind.” Harry said before he walked off to the living room, Hermione hot on his heels.

“Hey Sirius!” Harry said, Sirius turned around, a grin on his face when he saw Harry, he then spotted the girl next to him,

“Ah… so this is the Hermione I have been hearing so much about.” he asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief, “So… Harry, have you asked her out yet? Or is that tomorrow?” he asked grinning madly.

“Actually, I asked her out yesterday. Sorry, your attempt to try and make me look embarrassed failed.” Harry said in mock anger.

Sirius just gave him a lopsided grin, “So… I’ve noticed she’s not screaming to the heavens… so I take it you have told her about me?” Sirius asked.

“Well I told her about me and the future… and that you were innocent… but I haven’t told her much about your story.” Harry said, Sirius just nodded and waved them over.

He then started to explain everything that had happened, from Dumbledore announcing that the Potters and Longbottoms were going under the Fidelius charm, told them when he suggested that they use Peter instead of him, since Peter would be less obvious. He then told them that Peter sold them out, and when he came to the house Hagrid wouldn’t let him take Harry, he was so angry, so sad, that he wasn’t thinking and went after Peter, then when Peter blew up Sirius thought he had killed him. He didn’t care how much trouble he would get in…

Then about two weeks before his escape he told them about the newspaper picture with a family of red heads… it was then that he saw Peter in his animagus form and it was then he decided it was time to escape, time for revenge. But then he met Harry, and Harry already knew who he was… and now… he didn’t really desire revenge, he just wanted his name cleared so that he could be free to live with Harry.

By the end of his story, Sirius had tears falling from his eyes, both Harry and Hermione went over and gave him a big hug, and after about five minutes he had settled down.

“So… what are we doing today?” Sirius asked.

“Well… first I want to send a note to the Weasleys asking if they want to pick up their Hogwarts stuff. Then I was thinking about getting this phone to work… so I could use it at Hogwarts.” Harry said, Hermione seemed to light up at the idea, while Sirius seemed very interested. “If I can get it working… I could call you whenever I wanted.” Harry told Sirius who now seemed to be very keen on the idea.

“Do you have any idea how to go about it?” Sirius asked.

“Well me… No… but I have a memory of Hermione explaining how she did it for the Defence Association Class… if we had a pensieve…” Harry said. Sirius stood up and walked over to a cabinet and came back with a pensieve, “When did you get this?” Harry asked.

“Yesterday… I removed some of the memories of Azkaban… decided to leave them in here for good… they’re not totally gone, but they’re more of a shadow in the back of my mind now.” Sirius said. Harry just nodded in understanding. He quickly drew the memory from his head and placed it in his pensieve, then grabbed Hermione and Sirius’ hands and entered it.

About half an hour later Harry, Hermione and Sirius came back out of the pensieve. Both Harry and Sirius had the most confused looks on their faces, while Hermione seemed to be in complete understanding.

“Oh my god… I don’t know why I didn’t see it earlier… it makes so much sense doesn’t it!?” she asked Harry and Sirius.

“Er… to tell you the truth Hermione… even with about six years more knowledge… I still don’t totally understand all of that… in fact I’m amazed that you do.” Harry said seriously, Sirius nodding in agreement.

Hermione blushed at the compliment, “Well… why don’t you send that note off to Ron and I will start on this then.” Hermione said. Harry just nodded and went off to write the note for Ron.

When he came back Hermione had the phone apart and was already casting spells on some of the parts... that was when he thought about it… Hermione was doing magic!

“Er Hermione…under age restrictions?” Harry asked. Hermione seemed to give him a smug smile.

“Well, other than the fact that Sirius removed the ministry tracking charm on my wand… he said this house has wards that even the ministry can’t see through.” Hermione said before she went back to her work. Harry settled down and started to read an advanced Defence book.

About three hours later Hermione announced she was finished with a shouted “DONE!” as she proudly turned the mobile on, “Now when we go to Diagon Alley tomorrow we will have to test it out.” Harry just nodded.

“So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” Harry asked, Hermione seemed to think for a bit,

“I need to finish some of my summer homework actually.” she replied, Harry's eyes went wide at this… he had completely forgotten.

“Opps… I have forgotten…” Harry said, it was now time for Hermione's eyes to widen,

“Well go get it now! We will do it now.” she said shooing Harry off to get his work.

When he came back down, they spent the rest of the day doing homework. Around sixish Hedwig flew in dropping Ron’s letter off for Harry, telling him they would meet them tomorrow at about 10am.

Harry told Sirius about this and the fact that he would need to go to the Leaky Cauldron early since he said he was staying there and that Hermione had arrived today. Sirius just nodded and left the table. Harry thought something was wrong but was shocked when he came back in.

“I spoke with the Goblins yesterday… they don’t really care about the wizarding world… but once I changed my disguise back and they realised I was with you… they were happy to give me access to my vaults.” Sirius said handing Harry a new broom, the word Firebolt in gold letters on the handle, “It’s to make up for all the missed Birthdays and Christmas presents.” he said softly.

Harry just jumped up and hugged him, “Thanks.” he whispered, before sitting down to look at the broom again. Not too long later they all headed off to bed.

Chapter 7 – The Weasleys

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks Turnlach for you BETA work!

*----*

Harry was suddenly awakened the next morning by Hermione jumping on his bed and tackling him. He laughed at her antics before giving her a sweet kiss on the lips. She beamed at him, before lying down next to her boyfriend.

“It’s time to get up…” She said softly. “We have to check into the Leaky Cauldron.”

“Yeah… in a minute… I’m kind of enjoying you being next to me.” Harry said, grinning cheekily at her and making her blush. She then turned serious.

“Are you going to tell Ron?” she asked him. Harry looked at her,

“About us? Or about me being from…you know?” he asked.

“Both, I guess.” she said.

“Well about us… I have no intention of hiding it from anyone!” he said with a large grin, hugging her again, “But about the future… no.” he said softly. Hermione looked at him in confusion.

“But we tell each other everything.” she said.

“I know… but in our sixth year… we find out Ron has… a rather loose tongue. He does not mean to tell people, he just sometimes lets it slip, or talks about it at the wrong time and someone overhears… I guess he’s sorta like Hagrid.” Harry said grinning madly when he compared him to Hagrid. This also caused Hermione to burst out laughing. “But yeah… if he accidentally let slip about the future… well it could be very, VERY bad.” Harry said seriously, Hermione nodded in agreement.

Harry and Hermione then headed downstairs. Sirius was sitting at the table eating breakfast, waiting for them to come down and when they entered the kitchen he looked up.

“Have some quality snogging time?” he asked grinning and raising one eyebrow. Hermione blushed at this, and as much as Harry tried not to he also blushed. Sirius just chuckled at getting Harry back for his comment in Madam Malkin’s.

All three of them started to eat breakfast before it was time for Harry and Hermione to leave. Hermione gave Sirius a hug, Harry also gave him one.

“I’ll call you tonight… and I will also call you about my Quidditch games… I put in some mental defences so that you can sneak past the Dementors without them noticing or affecting you…” Harry said softly. “We will catch Peter this year and get you cleared.” Harry said softly, Sirius just gave him a big hug.

“I think we will meet again this year… tell us when your first Hogsmeade trip is, I’ll meet you then.” Sirius said, Harry just nodded, giving Sirius one last hug before he and Hermione left for the Leaky Cauldron.

When they arrived they walked up to Tom, who was behind the bar.

“Well hello again Mr Potter, Miss.” Tom said.

“Hello Tom… We need two rooms… just the night.” Harry said, Tom nodded and handed them two keys.

“Oh and if anyone asks… I have been here since I first came, and Hermione here has been here for a day already.” Harry said slipping him another two galleons, Tom for his part just nodded.

Harry and Hermione went up to their rooms and put their stuff away. Harry had to put most of his stuff away, making it look like he had been here for nearly a week, while Hermione only had to give the image of a day. After that they both went down to the bar and ordered a couple of butterbeers and waited for the Weasleys to arrive.

About thirty minutes later a sea of red hair entered the pub. Harry looked up and waved to the Weasley family at which time Ron came running over to the table.

“HEY GUYS!” he said happily, “It’s great to see you again!”

“What’s got you so happy mate?” Harry asked him, trying to hide his laughter, Hermione just looked confused.

“Here look at this!” he said, handing Harry a cutting of the Prophet. It was a picture of all the Weasleys; in the background you could see the pyramids of Egypt.

“Cool, how was the Holiday?” Harry asked, while he handed the piece of the paper to Hermione.

“It’s was great! There were the normal muggle tours and all, but then there were the wizard only parts… I never knew I would ever enjoy learning.” Ron said, Harry laughed at this, Hermione seemed to brighten.

“Good, now I won’t need to bug you to study as much anymore.” she said happily.

“Hold up now.” Ron said, “I said I didn’t mind learning, I said nothing about studying.” Hermione seemed to scowl at this, but soften when Harry gently squeezed her hand under the table.

It was at this time that Percy came over, walking proudly, and his Head Boy badge pinned to his shirt. When he reached the table he held out his hand to Harry.

“Hello Harry, pleasure to see you.” he said pompously, giving Harry's hand a firm shake. Harry was finding it rather hard to keep from laughing. “I see…” Percy started but was cut off then as Fred, or was it George, pushed him out of the way.

“Harry, old man, it great to see you…”

“Splendid actually…”

“Spiffing…”

“Absolutely bloody…”

“Marvellous!” the twins said. He didn’t know how they did it, and they had never told them, but he found it amazing… it was like they could read each others minds.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Mrs. Weasley said, “Try and set a good example for Ginny here.”

Ginny seemed to blush when Harry looked at her. She mumbled a soft, “Hi” before quickly walking away.

Mrs. Weasley then turned to Harry, engulfing him in a hug, “How have you been dear? Have you been eating enough?” she asked. Harry just nodded, he loved Mrs. Weasley like his own mother, but sometimes she seemed to smother him.

“Have you heard the good news?” she asked him, Harry just shook his head. Mrs. Weasley’s smile grew and she put her hand on her chest, looking very proud, “Second Head Boy in the family! Percy got his badge!” she said.

Harry heard the twins mutter something along the lines of, “And last one in the family.” though it seems that Mrs. Weasley also heard them.

“Yes I guess it will be… I noticed that they didn’t make either of you prefects.”

“And why would we want to?”

“Ruin all our fun…”

“And stop us from pranking!”

“Not in our lifetime!” The twins said, saying the last line at the same time. They then quickly excused themselves and headed out into Diagon Alley.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron also left the pub and headed out into Diagon Alley.

“So… What you want to do? School stuff? Lollies? Pranks?” Ron asked.

“Well Hermione and I already have our school stuff… so I guess we will get your stuff first… get it over and done with.” Harry suggested. Both of them nodded and they made their way through the different shops, picking up all the stuff that Ron needed.

After about an hour they had finally got all of the school stuff done Hermione said, “I want to buy a pet… my mum said I could, and she gave me some money for one.” Harry and Ron just nodded.

“Er… do you know of any pet stores Ron?” Harry asked. Ron seemed to think for a bit before he nodded and started to lead them down Diagon Alley.

They finally came up to the shop that Harry remembered. When they entered it wasn’t very roomy, there were cages stacked all around the place. He noticed two large purple toads that he found familiar. Hermione started to look around the pets until she came across a large orange cat, Crookshanks. Harry grinned as Hermione seemed to fall in love at first sight with the large feline.

She then quickly walked over to the clerk and pointed out the one that she wanted. The lady seemed very surprised, and quickly got the cat and his paper and handed it over to her. She seemed very happy to be finally rid of the cat.

Harry then turned to Ron who was looking at owls, “Where’s Scabbers Ron?” Harry asked.

Ron’s face seemed to fall a little. “Ran away in the pub… I hope I find him again today…” he said sadly, while Harry was cursing inside. After Hermione had brought Crookshanks, Ron made some comment about it being ugly, which caused Hermione to whack him over the back of his head before she stormed off back to the Leaky Cauldron.

Ron seemed very confused and didn’t understand what he did wrong; Harry just shook his head, clearly amused before following Hermione. She dropped Crookshanks off in her room before the trio made their way back out into Diagon Alley.

They stopped at a number of stores, before they came across Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron gasped as he looked in the front window, there was a new Firebolt sitting there with a notice under it which Ron read aloud,

** THE FIREBOLT **

THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART RACING BROOM SPORTS A STREAM-LINED,

SUPERFINE HANDLE OF ASH, TREATED WITH A DIAMOND-HARD POLISH AND HAND NUMBERED WITH ITS OWN REGISTRATION NUMBER.

EACH INDIVIDUALLY SELECTED BIRCH TWIG IN THE BROOMTAIL HAS BEEN HONED TO AERODYNAMIC PERFECTION, GIVING THE

FIREBOLT UNSURPASSABLE BALANCE AND PINPOINT PRECISION.

THE FIREBOLT HAS AN ACCELERATION OF 150 MILES AN HOUR IN TEN SECONDS AND INCORPORATES AN UNBREAKABLE BRAKING CHARM.

PRICE ON REQUEST.

Ron was eyeing the broom in awe, “I wish I could just have a ride.” he whispered, Harry chuckled at this.

“You can have a ride of mine at Hogwarts then… you can also have my Nimbus if you want.” Harry said in his ear, quietly, he didn’t want to draw attention.

“YOU HAVE A FIREBOLT!” Ron exclaimed, causing everyone to turn to Harry. Harry just sighed and nodded slightly. Ron jaw dropped, as did everyone else’s.

“When did you get it? Can I see it?” Ron asked quickly,

“I got it yesterday… of course you can see it.” Harry said…, “Do you want my Nimbus? I won’t need it and it would get more use by you since you can use it during the summer.” Harry said. Ron’s eyes seemed to widen before he threw his arms around Harry in a hug.

“I’d love it! Maybe I could try out for the Quidditch team!” Ron said thinking aloud; Harry just shook his head, as they started to make their way back to the Leaky Cauldron.

When they got back, they went straight into Harry’s room, where Ron was closely examining Harry’s Firebolt. Hermione came up behind Harry and started to whisper in his ear.

“Should we tell him… about us now?” she asked, Harry just nodded.

“Um… Ron?” Harry asked, Ron just grunted and continued to examine the broom.

“Ron” another grunt, “RON!” this seemed to get Ron attention as he looked up.

“There is something we need to tell you” Harry said softly, “We… that is Hermione and I, err… well, we like, umm…”

“You like each other as more than friends?” Ron said. Harry’s eyes went wide as he looked at Ron who he seemed a little amused, “It’s about time… like the whole school hasn’t known since your first year.” he said.

“You’re not angry or anything about it?” Harry asked, Ron seemed to think for a moment,

“No… but don’t leave me out ok…” Ron said seriously.

“Oh Ron we would never! You’re our best friend!” Hermione said jumping over Harry and giving Ron a bone cracking hug. When Hermione finally let go Ron seemed a little confused. It was then that it hit Harry… Ron started to notice Hermione after the Yule Ball… he could only hope that Ron would still be happy for them.

They then noticed it was about time for dinner so they got up and went downstairs. Before Harry could make it to the table Mr Weasley stopped Harry and pulled him off to the side.

“Harry… what I’m about to tell you… a lot of people wouldn’t want me to…” He said seriously… Harry just nodded; he already knew what this was about.

“You have obviously heard about Sirius Black?” he asked, Harry again just nodded,

“Well I must ask you to be careful… it seems that Black thinks that killing you will bring You-Know-Who back to life… Hogwarts is going to have some extra guards… please don’t go wandering off at night.” Mr Weasley said. Harry just nodded and Mr Weasley patted Harry on the shoulder before they both went over to the dinner table.

Tom had to join two tables together so that the seven Weasleys, Harry and Hermione would all fit together. Once that was done they ate through a lovely five course meal before Mrs. Weasley announced that it was time for bed, since they had an early morning tomorrow.

Chapter 8 – The Hogwarts Express

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Once again a special thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work!

Harry was awoken by Mrs. Weasley banging on the door to his room. He groaned as the light shined in through the windows and buried his head into his pillows.

The next thing he knew, his door was thrown open and Hermione had pounced on him, just as Ron walked into the room. Hermione then gave Harry a small kiss on the lips which prompted Ron to make gagging noises from the doorway.

Harry sat up and threw a pillow at him, Ron just laughed and dodged it, “Come on, we have to get going!” Ron said before leaving the room.

Harry turned to Hermione and gave her another kiss, “You might want to leave too… that is unless you want to see me naked.” Harry said with a little smirk. Hermione quickly left the room, blushing like mad. Harry quickly threw on his clothes and grabbed his trunk; Hedwig didn’t seem to want to get in her cage so he let her fly to Hogwarts. He gathered up his stuff and went downstairs.

“So dad, how are we getting there?” Ron asked Mr Weasley,

“The ministry has lent us some cars… with Black on the run, it’s best to be safe.” Mr. Weasley said; quickly look at Harry before they loaded their stuff up into the car.

The drive to King’s Cross only took about twenty minutes and even with the ministry cars they were still only just on time. They went through the barrier in pairs, and then went as a group onto the train. Fred and George went off to find Lee Jordan, while Percy went to the Head student’s carriage. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny walked down the train looking for a free compartment. There was no free like Harry knew there would be so they went into the compartment where Remus Lupin was.

“Who’s that guy?” Ron asked.

“R. J. Lupin.” Harry said, reading the name on his suitcase, “The name sound familiar actually…”

“What do you think he is doing here?” Ron asked in a whisper.

“Well I dare say he’s a teacher.” Harry said.

“And since the only free position is Defence Against the Dark Arts, I guess he would be taking it.” Hermione guessed, while Harry nodded in agreement. Ron seemed to think about it before he also nodded.

It was then that their compartment door flung open and Draco Malfoy and his two cronies stood there looking smug, “Well, well if it isn’t Potty, the mudblood and the Weasel…” Malfoy said, though he did not get to say anything else. Harry had his wand in his hand quicker than Malfoy could blink, and which a quick flick he shot a banishing charm, sending Malfoy flying into the compartment across from them.

Harry then got up and closed the door. Hermione seemed to be thinking, while Ron had a star struck look in his face.

“That was bloody Brilliant mate!” Ron said, “I wish I could do that! You have to teach me that spell!”

Harry just gave a half smile and nodded before he turned to Hermione, she seemed to be a little disappointed, “Don’t give me that look Hermione, he is lucky that’s all I did to him.” Harry said seriously, Hermione accepted this and nodded, giving Harry a hug and kiss on the cheek.

The train ride was uneventful for the next hour of so, though then the train seemed to slow down, coming to a halt. Harry, Hermione and Ron looked around, they could hear people whispering. It was then that a cold breeze went though the train and the glass windows seemed to freeze up.

“Something’s out here…” Ron said, in a scared voice.

“What is it Harry?” Hermione whispered,

“Dementors.” was all Harry said softly back to her so that no one else could hear. She gasped at what he said, she had read about them, the guards of Azkaban…

Harry looked around as his friends started shivering, then noticed the looks of despair coming to their faces as the happiness was sucked out of them. Harry was glad that his mental shields were working and that the dementor wasn’t affecting him at all.

It was then their compartment door opened. There was a cloaked figure that seemed to hover above the ground, its black robes were torn in a number of places and you couldn’t see the face at all. Harry briefly thought about using his Patronus but then Remus woke up and sprung into action. He heard Remus mutter ‘Expecto Patronum’ and watched as silver vapour came from the end of his wand, driving the dementor off.

“Wa-what was that?” Ron asked softly, still feeling the effects of the dementors.

“A dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban.” Remus said softly. He then took a bar of chocolate out of his pocket and broke a piece off for all of them. “Eat this, it will make you feel better… if you will excuse me I have to see the driver.” He said before leaving the compartment.

Harry ate the chocolate and then turned to his friends, “How do you guy’s feel?” he asked them softly.

“Like I’ll never be happy again.” Ron said, as he shivered at the memory, “How can they put those… those things around Hogwarts!?” Ron asked.

“Fudge’s idea of helping.” Harry said snorting, Ron looked at Harry strangely.

“Fudge isn’t a bad minister.” Ron said. Harry then remembered that he hadn’t had much interaction with the ministry yet, so he just nodded his head.

Things went back to normal fairly quickly and they were back talking about school in no time. Lupin didn’t return to the compartment for the rest of the trip.

The train slowly pulled up at Hogsmeade station where Harry, Hermione, Ron, the twins and Lee Jordan all took a carriage together to Hogwarts castle. When they arrived, Draco pushed his way past Harry before he turned around sneering at him,

“It’s it true that you fainted Potter, scared of the little dementor?” Draco said sneering, Pansy laughed at Draco’s comment while Harry only raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know where you got the fainting bit from Malfoy, but I know for a fact that you squealed like a three year old girl… for Merlin’s sake I heard it all the way down the train.” Harry said smirking at the blonde haired boy. The people who had heard Harry’s comment erupted in laughter. Draco sneered once more at Harry before heading into the great hall.

The trio was about to head into the great hall when the voice of Professor McGonagall called out, “Miss Granger would you come with me please”, Harry sent Hermione a knowing look as she walked off with McGonagall.

Harry and Ron went into the Great hall and watched the sorting, nothing really interesting happened. After that was the feast, Hermione returned about five minutes into it.

“What did McGonagall want, Herms?” Ron asked, his mouth full of food.

“Nothing, and don’t call me Herms!” Hermione bristled. She then looked over at Harry who simply raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look.

About ten minutes later Albus Dumbledore stood up, “Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to mention tonight… some of them are very serious, so please listen carefully.” Dumbledore said seriously and waited until all the noise died down.

“As you are most likely aware, because of the escape of one Sirius Black, Hogwarts will be playing host to the guards of Azkaban, also known as the Dementors.” Dumbledore said seriously, “I must warn each and every one of you, the dementors are placed at all the entrances to Hogwarts. They will no be fooled by tricks… or even invisibility cloaks.” Dumbledore said, his eyes resting on Harry for a second.

“It is not in the nature of the dementors to be forgiving, so I must warn you not to give them any reason to harm you.” Dumbledore said scanning the sea of students, “The Head Boy, Head Girl and the prefects, I am looking to you to make sure the students do not run afoul of the dementors.” Dumbledore said, pausing to allow his words to sink in.

“On a lighter note, I would like to welcome, Professor Remus Lupin, who will be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year.” The students cheered at this, Harry watched in amusement as Snape sneered hatefully at Remus, others seemed to notice also, as some of the students started to whisper to each other.

“Unfortunately, Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher has retired… but I am pleased to announce that the position will be filled by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid, who will take on the position as well as his gamekeeping duties!”

The Gryffindor table burst into applause, the other tables clapped as well, though the Slytherin table did nothing. Hermione and Ron seemed stunned, Harry smirked at Hermione which seemed to break her from her shock and she started to clap also.

“We should have known… I mean who else would assign a book that tries to eat you.” Ron muttered before he also started to cheer.

After the announcements Dumbledore signalled that it is was time for bed. Harry, Hermione and Ron, instead went to the teachers table to congratulate Hagrid.

“Congratulations Hagrid, I’m sure you’re going to make a fine professor.” Harry said, as Hagrid gave him a bone crushing hug and he then also gave one to Ron and Hermione.

(AN: Can’t really do Hagrid’s accent… sorry…)

“It’s what I always wanted… and it was all down ter you three.” Hagrid said, “If you guys hadn’t got me name cleared… it wouldn’t have been possible.” Hagrid said before he swiped them into another bone crushing hug.

“It was nothing.” Hermione said happily, “You’re going to do great, I just know it!” Hermione said happily, “Have you got much planned yet? What are we going to be looking at?”

Hagrid just smiled, “Don’t you worry ‘bout that, I got some great stuff planned up for you guys!” Hagrid said. Harry found it funny as Ron’s face showed the look of doom. He clearly had a good idea that it was going to be bad.

They said their goodbyes and headed back to the common room where Ron finally spoke of his fears, “If he thinks it’s great… we’re doomed.” Ron said softly.

“What are you talking about? He will be a great teacher!” Hermione snapped at Ron.

“Hermione! This is Hagrid… he thinks dragons make good pets! I didn’t say he wouldn’t be good… but what are we going to be looking at!” Ron reasoned. Hermione seemed to know what he was talking about, so she turned to Harry.

“I’m sure everything will be fine… now I’m going to bed, need some rest.” he said yawning. He bent down and gave Hermione a soft kiss before heading up into his dorm with Ron.

AN: Ah another chapter :P, now I will give warning now! On the 5^th of June (About 3 weeks away) I will be going to Brisbane for six weeks for my trade school, something about them not doing the course up here anymore. Now… of course I wont have my computer :(… though the good news is that it looks like I may be able to convince my parents into buying me a laptop :P so everyone cross their fingers for me, cause if I get a laptop I could still work on my story’s put the chapters on my ipod and upload them at an internet café or something.

Chapter 9 – First day classes

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Cheers Turnlach for the BETA work!

*-----*

Harry, Hermione and Ron entered the great hall for breakfast the next day. Harry could see Malfoy talking to a group of Slytherins, and acting like he was fainting before the group erupted in laughter. Harry found it quite funny, even if he hadn’t fainted last time, Malfoy would have made it up.

“Don’t faint during class today Potter.” Malfoy sneered. The Slytherins behind him laughed again.

Harry just sent him his own little smirk, then with a little wandless magic, transfigured Malfoy’s clothes into a pink frilly dress, “Didn’t know that pink was your colour Malfoy.” Harry said, smiling happily at him. The whole hall broke out in laughter at this.

Malfoy stormed out of the hall, while Harry, Hermione and Ron went and sat at the Gryffindor table, Ron was still laughing at the image of Draco Malfoy in a pink dress. Harry dropped down into a seat next to Hermione and George, who handed them some timetables.

“These are the third year time tables.” George said looking at Harry, “Was that you Harry? How did you turn Malfoy’s clothes into a dress?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh yes was it? Mighty good prank.” Fred chipped in.

Harry for his part just shrugged his shoulders, giving the twins a little smirk before starting to eat his breakfast.

“Yes… I don’t know why Malfoy’s making a big thing like this; you should have seen him…”

“Yes when the dementors were down our side, the little piss ant came running into our compartment…”

“Nearly pissed himself when we threw him out he did.”

“Sure did, and then ran into the compartment across from us.” The twins said. Harry, Hermione and Ron’s heads were going back and forth between them,

“But don’t worry Harry…”

“Yep, we will wipe the smug grin off his face…”

“Especially after the first Quidditch match!”

“Can’t wait to see the team’s reaction to your new broom,”

“We haven’t said a word to anyone, we promise.” the twins finished, nodding to their words. Harry looked over at Hermione who was still studying her timetable.

“So Hermione, what class do we have first?” Harry asked. Hermione looked up at Harry for a second before looking at her timetable again.

“Divination… with Professor Trelawney, in the north tower…” she said, “We better get going… I have no idea where the north tower is.”

“I know where it is, don’t worry.” Harry said, before going back to his meal. About ten minutes later, Harry and Hermione left the hall hand in hand which caused a lot of whispers. Along with Ron by their side, they headed off for their first Divination lesson.

They arrived and the students were standing around outside, having no idea how to get into the classroom. Harry walked closer to the sign and a trapdoor with a ladder appeared out of thin air. Harry, Hermione and Ron then quickly climbed up into the room.

When the trio entered their senses were bombarded by the smells of burning incense and perfume, making the air only barely breathable. There were tea cups all over the classroom… for the tea leaf reading, Harry already knew.

Once the rest of the class was in the room, they were all looking around for the teacher; Harry already knowing just sat back on one of the cushions and waited.

“It is good to see you in the physical world at last my students.” Trelawney’s voice said, coming from the shadows in the corner of the room. She emerged and she looked just as Harry remembered her, rather short and very skinny, her glasses were so thick that they made her eyes look three times their normal size and made her look even weirder. Hundreds of chains and beads were around her neck and arms, making her look like a homeless person, wearing everything that they had.

“Welcome to Divination, My name is Professor Trelawney… you most likely have not seen me around the school, I find that the amount of people clouds my inner eye, and it takes a while to get it re-focused.” she said in a mysterious voice, Harry was finding it hard not to break out laughing.

“You have chosen to study the art of Divination… the hardest branch of magic there is…” Harry just rolled his eyes… hardest my ass, “You will find that books and knowledge will not help you much in this class… it’s a matter of having the gift or not having it.” Harry watched as Ron shot Hermione a smug look. Hermione just seemed to be surprised by the news… she also looked like she found the class rather boring so far.

Trelawney walked between the students, until she came to Neville’s desk, “My boy is your Grandmother well?” she asked in a mysterious voice,

“I-I think so.” Neville said, gulping a little.

“I wouldn’t be sure of that.” Trelawney said. Harry again just rolled his eyes.

“First we will be leaning the art of reading tea leaves, a very precise and honourable art… Then next term we will be moving onto Palmistry.” she said, shooting a glance at Parvati but saying nothing.

“In our second semester we will be moving onto the Crystal Ball and also fire omens… unfortunately in February classes will be disrupted by a severe bout of the flu.” She stopped and her face seemed to be sad… “We will… unfortunately lose one of our class members… to the afterlife this year I am afraid.” the class gasped at this, Harry once again rolled his eyes.

“Now… if you will please break off into pairs and open your books to page five and six.” she said. The class quickly broke off; Hermione was with Ron and Harry, since there were an uneven number of people in the class.

Harry didn’t even bother really looking into Ron’s…he already knew what he thought it said, “You have a bent cross… which apparently means… Trials and suffering… you also have a sun which is happiness… so you’re going to suffer but be happy about it… I already hate this class.” Harry said; muttering the last bit. Ron and Hermione just chuckled.

Ron picked up Hermione’s cup next and Harry watched in interest. In the future they would find out that Ron did actually have some real skills in divination… in fact he had gotten some of Harry tea leaves right, while Trelawney was wrong. He had in fact come into a large amount of money after the Tri-wizard tournament.

“Hmmm… this is funny… you have a book… apparently you’re going to have stressful time this year… difficulties with school or work…” Ron said looking weird, “Wow… I must suck… if I predicted that Hermione is going to have a hard time at school work.” Ron muttered, Hermione chuckled, while Harry grinned. Hermione was going to have a hard time… especially with all the work she had.

It was now Hermione’s turn to look into Harry’s cup… she stared at it for about a minute… “Well… it looks like an animal, a sheep or hippo… I don’t know.” she said in frustration. It was at this time that Trelawney was walking past and she quickly grabbed the cup and started to look at it. The whole class seemed to go quiet as she looked into the tea cup; she was slowly spinning it around, a frown on her face.

“The Falcon… I’m sorry my dear... you have a great enemy.” she said sadly.

“But that obvious!” Hermione said, everyone looked at her in amazement, well everyone except Harry who looked at her in amusement, “Well it’s true… Vol-Voldemort is Harry’s enemy!” Everyone shuddered at the dark lord’s name; Harry was surprised that she actually said it.

“You also have a club… the omen of an attack.” she said shaking her head sadly, “A skull as well… danger is in you path… my dear this is an unlucky cup.”

The professor then gasped and dropped the cup; it shattered on the ground, “My dear boy… I’m sorry… no, no! It’s better not to say.” she said.

“What is it!” came Dean’s voice though the crowd that was now formed around, Harry, Hermione and Ron’s table.

Trelawney looked at Harry for a bit, “My dear boy… you have… you have the grim!” she said sadly.

“The what?” someone in the crowd asked,

“The Grim, takes the form of a large black dog, it’s one of the darkest omens of this world. It’s the omen of death.” Seamus said, reading it from his book. A gasp went out though the crowed and Harry couldn’t help but snort at this, trying to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

Hermione who had been looking at the tea cup before, was now looking at the grim in her book, “I don’t think it looked like the grim.” she said flatly.

Trelawney looked at Hermione shaking her head in what appeared to be disappointment, “You will forgive me for saying so my dear, but I sense very little aura around you.” Hermione just huffed at this, and sat back down. The sound of birds ran thought the castle, signalling it was time for the next class.

Hermione, Harry and Ron quickly left and headed towards their transfiguration class. When they arrived everyone that had been in divination was still muttering about what had happened.

“What doing on? What had happened now?” Professor McGonagall finally asked,

“We had divination.” Harry said, as if it explained it all.

“Ah… I see… so, which one of you will be dieing this year?” McGonagall asked in an amused voice, Harry slowly raised his hand.

“Ah… you, is it Mr Potter… well don’t worry about it, Divination is a… well there are not many true seers in the world. Professor Trelawney has predicted the death of one of her students every year that she has been here… so far none have died.” McGonagall said. She then continued on with her lesson.

After transfiguration the trio made their way to the great hall for lunch. Ron still seemed a little shaken by Divination class, no matter what McGonagall said.

“Harry… you haven’t seen any black dogs lately have you?” Ron asked softly.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake Ron! Didn’t you hear what Professor McGonagall said, she is a crack pot!” Hermione bristled.

Harry chose to answer Ron’s question honestly, “Actually I have. When I left my aunt’s… remember Hermione I told you about it.”

Hermione knew Harry was talking about Sirius, “Oh yes, probably a stray” she said dismissing it. Ron had gone pale, and was looking at Hermione like she was mad.

“Hermione… if Harry has seen the grim… it’s bad… my uncle saw one and he died like two days later!” Ron said seriously.

“You can’t tell me that your uncle died because he saw a dog Ron. Honestly!” she said, getting annoyed, “Anyway… Divination seems like a very woolly subject… lots of guess work.”

“There is nothing woolly about seeing the grim in that cup! I bet you Harry is going to die.” Ron said.

Harry just raised an eyebrow at this, clearly amused.

“I can’t believe you, saying Harry is going to die because of some wacko teacher!” Hermione hissed. Ron seemed to have the look of realization on his face.

“Oh… I get it… you don’t like the subject because you don’t have the right aura! You just don’t like that you’re bad at it!” Ron said, the sound of victory in his voice.

“Let’s go to Hagrid’s class!” Harry said, putting an end to their argument. Hermione instantly got up and walked hand in hand with Harry to Hagrid’s first class, Ron was following them.

They were the first to the class, though the rest soon came, “Alright, c’mon now, follow me.” Hagrid voice boomed out. The class followed, none of them had any idea where they were going except Harry. Harry was already making a plan on how to stop Draco getting hurt… not because Draco being hurt was a bad thing, but Buckbeak shouldn’t have to suffer because of Draco’s stupidity.

The class came up to a fenced off field where Hagrid stopped, “Well yeh will need ter open yer books…”

“How.” Malfoy cut him off rudely.

Hagrid looked around the class in surprise, his eyes finally came to Harry who had his book open, “’Arry, tell em how you open’d yeh book.” Hagrid said,

“Er… you have to stroke the spine.” Harry said.

“Oh smart Potty and how did you discover this?” Malfoy drawled,

“I asked the person in the book shop you idiot.” Harry said, this seemed to shut Malfoy up.

Hagrid seemed happy that Harry knew how to open the books he had assigned, “Er, well righ’ then, yeh have signed up for Care of Magical Creatures. Today, we will be lookin’ at…well I’ll go an’ get em first, hang on.” Hagrid then opened the gate and walked off around the corner behind the trees.

“Gods… this place has gone to the dogs. What was Dumbledore thinking hiring that oaf…? I think the man’s getting senile.” Malfoy said arrogantly.

“Shut up Malfoy.” Harry said,

“What are you going to do Potter!?” Malfoy sneered,

“You know… instead of changing you clothes into a dress, I could simply make them disappear…” Harry said offhandedly. Malfoy didn’t have time to say anything else because Lavender let out a squeal as she pointed to Hagrid. Behind him was a herd of about six hippogriffs.

Hippogriffs! Beau’iful aren’ they!?” Hagrid said happily, “Now if yeh come in a bit closer, I can point out some of ‘is marks.”

No one seemed to want to move, though Harry walked casually up to the fence. Hermione followed him, knowing that it must be safe. The rest of the class soon came to the same conclusion as both Harry and Hermione were not ripped into tiny pieces.

“Now, there is a lot of things yeh gotta know about Hippogriffs, firs’ is that they’re very proud.” Hagrid said in his most serious voice, “Yeh never want to insult one, ‘cause it might be the very last thing yeh do.”

Harry noticed that Draco wasn’t listening… again…; he was talking with his two gorillas Crabbe and Goyle.

“Now… when yeh approach a hippogriff, you have ter wait for ‘im to make the firs’ move, yeh have ter bow, an’ if he bow’s back yeh can touch ‘im. If he don’, slowly back away.” Hagrid explained.

“Ok then, who wants ter ‘ave the first go with Buckbeak ‘ere?” Hagrid asked a large grin on his face.

Malfoy arrogantly pushed his way though the group, “I’ll go…” he said, sneering at Harry as he passed, Harry knew this was different, and that he would have to put his plan in motion earlier.

Since Malfoy hadn’t been listening, he didn’t even bow. Buckbeak took this as an insult and in a matter of seconds Buckbeak let out a cry, and jumped back on his hind legs.

“Accio Bloody Malfoy!” Harry yelled, and Malfoy was flung backwards, Buckbeak’s hoof just missing Draco. Draco landed on the ground near Harry but Buckbeak wasn’t finished and came running after Draco. With another quick flick of his wand, Buckbeak ran into an invisible barrier and Hagrid now had time to shoo Buckbeak off.

Harry looked down at Malfoy who was panting on the ground, “Bloody idiot Malfoy.” Harry said before walking back to Hermione and Ron. Most of the class seemed to be staring at Harry in awe; none of them had even seen the stuff Harry had just done before.

Hagrid dismissed the class, saying that next lesson they would be learning more about the hippogriffs. The trio started walking back to the castle, when Ron let out a happy sound.

“One good thing about third year… the free period! So what do you want to do Harry?” Ron asked a large grin on his face, “Told ya you shouldn’t have taken so many classes Hermione.”

“Sorry Ron… I’ve got Ancient Runes.” Harry said. Both Hermione and Ron’s head shot to him in surprise, “What? I signed up for it over the summer… just forgot to tell you two.”

“Oh, well ok then… I guess I’ll go to the common room then.” Ron said a little disappointed before he turned down the corridor to the Gryffindor tower.

“Well come on then Hermione.” Harry said happily. Hermione seemed to be thinking fast, Harry knew what she was thinking about and pulled her into the nearest classroom.

“You know that I know about your time turner right?” Harry asked. Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

“I didn’t know… obviously some things will change… and I didn’t know if you knew about this.” Hermione confessed.

“Well I do… so then let’s head to Ancient Runes shall we. Hermione just nodded and they both left, heading hand in hand for their Ancient Runes class.

*-----*

AN: There you go another chapter I hope you enjoyed it! R/R!

Chapter 10 – Defence Against the Dark Arts

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work!

~~~~

The next day they had potions first up… with Snape and the Slytherins. It was everyone’s least favourite class… well if you weren’t in Slytherin that was.

Malfoy walked into the classroom five minutes late and sat down without an excuse. Harry just shook his head at the fact that Snape could openly favour his house so much.

Snape started to explain the de-aging potion that they would be making this class, Harry zoned out, ignoring Snape’s lecture. That was until he felt something like a worm entering the back of his head. Harry's eyes slowly went to Snape, who was glaring at him. Quickly looking away, Harry thought he would have some fun.

Harry brought up his Occlumency shields and started projecting thoughts of Snape; things that he would like to say to him, the things that he thought of him. Harry was trying to control his laughter when he noticed the hatred and anger that was growing in Snape’s eyes. He then felt Snape try to pull out quickly and hard, something that would give Harry a splitting headache. Instead of letting Snape do this, Harry grabbed hold of the worm and stretched it before letting it fling out of his head and back into Snape’s.

Harry watched at Snape’s hands went to his head; the headache he would have at the moment must be huge!

“Start making your potions!” he hissed before going into the backroom of his office, most likely to brew a headache cure potion.

“Harry, did you hear?” Seamus whispered to him, “They spotted Sirius Black, not far from here!”

Harry just shook his head; he also noticed that Draco seemed to be listening intently to their conversation.

“Yeah… well he was spotted by a muggle… so by the time the ministry got there he was gone.” Seamus said, Harry was cursing… what was Sirius thinking! He would have to call him tonight on his mobile.

Ron seemed to mutter something like, “Not far from here”, when Draco spoke up.

“So Potter, going to catch him then huh?” he sneered.

“And why would I do something stupid like that Malfoy you idiot.” Harry said. Though Malfoy continued on like he had not heard him,

“If it was me, I would have already done something; I know I would be wanting revenge.” Malfoy said.

“You know Malfoy… that’s very Gryffindor of you?” Harry said which caused Draco to narrow his eyes.

“Don’t you want revenge Potter?” Harry ignored him, “You don’t know do you.” Malfoy said laughing, Harry turned to him.

“Oh, I know he was sent to prison for betraying my parents… but I don’t see that as a reason to go and get myself killed.” Harry said. “You would have to be an idiot to do that… Maybe that’s why you were suggesting it… after all you are an idiot Malfoy.” Harry said, Ron started to laugh.

Malfoy was about to retort when Snape walked back into the classroom. Ron was still laughing and Snape narrowed his eyes at him. “20 points form Gryffindor, Weasley!” this instantly shut Ron up. The rest of the class seemed to go as it normally did; Neville lost another ten points since his potion wasn’t right. Snape didn’t try to invade Harry’s mind again that class, but he seemed to be shooting glances at him.

The next class was the first one with Lupin. Harry didn’t know what he was going to do with Remus. He wanted Remus to know he knew who he was… but he needed a way to tell him.

The class settled down, and everyone started to take out their books, except Harry. When Hermione asked him, Harry just winked at her. She stopped taking her stuff out as well, after all Harry already knew what this class was about.

Remus entered the classroom, “Put your stuff away, this will be a practical lesson… and we will be going to a different room for this lesson.” Remus said. The class started to pack up their stuff, Harry and Hermione who already had all their stuff packed stood up and went to the door, standing next to Lupin.

Harry watched as Lupin shot Harry a quick glance, while Harry gave him a look. A look as if he knew him from somewhere, but couldn’t remember.

“If you will follow me please.” Lupin said, once the class was ready. They walked down the hall and entered the staff room. The room was empty except for Professor Snape who seemed to be just leaving.

“A word of warning Lupin.” Snape sneered, “You have Longbottom in your class… a walking disaster.” he then started to towards the door, but Harry quickly used a type of Legilimency/mind-control technique which gave the person urges to do certain things.

Snape spun around just as he reached the door, “Oh and Lupin… I love you!” he said the last bit in a light voice, before he left the room like nothing had happened.

The whole class was silent; Lupin was wide eyed, his mouth slightly hanging open. In a matter of seconds the whole class broke out in uncontrolled laughter. Hermione could see the happy/smug grin on Harry’s face and sent him a questioning look, which Harry only answered with a wink. Hermione giggled at this.

Professor Lupin decided it was time to get on with the class, and called the students to silence, “ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, settle down…” he called and the laughter soon died down. “Well as I was saying, before Professor Snape… lost his mind…” the class chuckled at this, “We are here because there is a boggart in the closet over here and I thought it would be perfect for our first lesson.” Remus explained. As if on cue, the closet shook.

“Now… what can you tell me about Boggarts?” He asked the class. Instantly Hermione's hand shot up, “Yes. Miss Granger?”

“A boggart is a shape-shifter.” She said, “It changes into the form of your greatest fear.”

“Correct, Five points to Gryffindor… can anyone else add on that?” Harry slowly raised his hand.

“Yes, Ha-Mr Potter.”

“A boggart uses a form of Legilimency to find out what you fear.” Harry said, most of the class seemed confused with this.

“Yes… Correct, ten points to Gryffindor… that’s an advanced answer, and something that we will not be looking at though.” Professor Lupin said, looking at Harry in amazement.

“Well, a boggart likes to live in dark, enclosed spaces.” Lupin said, “They can change into anything, and use a type of Legilimency as Mr Potter said to find out what you fear and change into that very thing. The way to fight a boggart is with a rather simply spell, it will change the boggart from something that you fear into something funny.” Remus explained.

“We will practice this charm, without wands first. After me… Riddikulus!”

“Riddikulus” the class said together follow Professor Lupin’s example.

“Very good, now to try the real thing… Mr Longbottom, would you come here please?” Lupin said, Neville came nervously forward. “Now Mr Longbottom, what is it that you fear the most?” he asked.

“Muph ruphf.” Neville muttered.

“What was that?” Lupin asked,

“Professor Snape.” Neville muttered, causing Lupin to laugh.

“Yes… I do too, especially after his last comment.” This caused Neville to crack a smile. “Now when you cast the spell, picture your grandmother’s clothes and Snape wearing them.” Neville just nodded.

Lupin then stood to the side, “Ok… NOW!” he said and released the door, the picture perfect image of Professor Snape stepped out.

“R-R-Riddikulus!” Neville yelled. A popping sound went though the room and now the class were viewing the image of professor Snape wearing old lady’s clothes, a large fur scarf around his neck and a stuffed vulture hat on his head.

“Very Good! Now form a line and take turns!” Lupin called out and everyone jumped into line.

Parvati was the next forward and the boggart changed into a mummy. She said the spell and with a crack it fell to the floor, the bandages making a ball which rolled around the ground.

Seamus was next and the ball changed into a banshee, which let out a wailing shriek. Seamus yelled the spell and the Banshee grabbed its throat as a hoarse croak came out, its voice now making frog sounds.

Next was Dean, and with a ‘crack’ the Banshee changed into a severed hand, which began dragging itself to wards Dean. With another ‘crack’ it changed into a hand caught in a mouse trap.

“KEEP IT UP! RON YOU’RE NEXT!” Lupin yelled,

Ron came forward and the hand changed into a very large spider. Ron whimpered slightly before doing the charm, with another crack each of the spider’s legs now had roller skates on them, and it was trying, and failing to stand up.

Harry was next, Harry was interested in what he feared now… he knew if wouldn’t be a dementor, since we was no longer afraid of them. So he lowered his shields. Lupin seemed to flinch like he wanted to stop what was happing, with a crack, the boggart changed, this time though it was more than one thing.

Voldemort was standing over Hermione’s body she seemed to be still alive but then in a flash Voldemort, uttered the two lethal words and the green bolt hit the fake Hermione's body and she went limp.

In a flash Harry’s wand was out and a purple blast hit the boggart, making it exploded in a shower of rainbow colours. The whole class was quiet and they all noticed that Harry's eyes were glowing green, hell they could feel the power radiating off him. Harry quickly calmed his emotions and pushed his magic down. Lupin quickly announced that the class was dismissed. Though Harry didn’t move, he waved Hermione on, telling her he will catch up.

Harry turned to Professor Lupin; “Remus Lupin,” Harry said simply, “Tell me how I know you.”

Remus was surprised by this, he hadn’t expected Harry to know him, “You remember me?” Remus asked softly.

“I know your name from somewhere… I can’t place it though… so you know me?” Harry asked.

Remus just nodded, “Yes… I was friends with your parents… good friends… I knew you when you were a baby.” Remus said softly.

“Moony.” Harry said. Remus’ eyes shot to his, “Ah so it is your nickname… I also remembered that… somehow with your name…” Harry said with a small smile which Remus returned.

“Would you like me to tell you about your parents? I have photos and stuff I could show you… if you wanted.” Remus offered. Harry smiled at him.

“I’d like that a lot… but now… I have to get to my next class.” Harry said with a small smile, and Remus just nodded.

~~~~~

AN: Ah another chapter uploaded :P hope you all enjoyed it! R/R!

Chapter 11 – Hogsmeade Weekend

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Here you go another chapter :D, thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work once more!

~~~~~

Harry was sitting in the changing rooms, along with his fellow team-mates. Wood was pacing back and forth in front of them; today they were starting training for this years Quidditch tournament.

“Well! This is my last chance…my last chance to win the house cup for Gryffindor. We have had many things go wrong, injuries and such, which has caused us to miss out on the cup the last couple of years.” Wood said shooting a glance at Harry, “But I know we have the best team here, and THIS YEAR WE ARE GOING TO WIN!” The team cheered at his.

“We have a great team and the best seeker that has graced this school in over a century… oh and we have me.” Wood said a little sleepily.

“And a fine Keeper you are too Wood.” Fred said happily.

“Bloody good.” said George.

“Smashing!” said Fred, who then looked over at Harry, Harry just nodded.

“We actually have something to tell as well.” said George happily,

“Our wonderful…”

“And Handsome…”

“Seeker here has decided that if Malfoy wanted to donate brooms, then he would too.” The twins said. Everyone was looking around excitedly, it was then that Fred leaned over and pulled off Harry’s cloak from out of thin air. When the cloak was removed, everyone was staring at the brooms in awe…Firebolts!

At once everyone jumped up and tackled Harry who just laughed…everyone except for Wood that was who was standing in the same place staring at the brooms, his mouth hanging open slightly.

“H-Harry… this must have cost a fortune… we couldn’t take them.” Wood said softly. All the team members seemed to think on this and nodded in agreement.

Harry just grinned, “Well you have to… I can’t take them back, they’re already register to you. Oh and they each have your last name engraved on the handle. You should have seen the look on the guy’s face when I asked for seven Firebolts…” Harry said shaking his head in amusement.

“How could you afford this…?” asked Katie.

Harry just gave her a small half smile, “Malfoy may brag about having lots of money… I don’t.” Harry said softly. Katie just nodded; everyone guessed it was from his parents.

“OK! We will take them Harry… and thank you so much, BUT we do NOT tell anyone! I want to surprise Slytherin.” Wood said with a large grin. Everyone nodded in agreement and then went out to practice.

*------*

The rest of the week went fairly fast, it was now Friday and tomorrow they would be going to Hogsmeade for the first time. Well first time in this… time. Harry, Hermione and Ron were all sitting in the common room before it was time to head out for classes. It was rather weird, they all seemed to wake up early, though put it down to the excitement of going to Hogsmeade.

“OH it’s going to be great! I heard that there’s a shop that just sells quills!” Hermione said excitedly, Ron snorted at his, though Harry looked at him.

“Oh I don’t know Ron… you do know you can buy auto-note quills don’t you? And auto-correcting quills.” Harry said seriously, he nearly laughed as Ron brightened at this.

“Really!? I have to get one. Um…Harry you wouldn’t be able to lend me some money if I need…I’ll pay you back.” Ron mumbled. Harry was shocked, Ron was usually jealous that Harry had more money, and not once had he asked to borrow some.

“Sure Ron… it’s no problem.” Harry said with a small smile, which Ron returned.

“That’s just like you Ron, buying a quill that will…” Hermione started but was cut off by a loud meow from Crookshanks who then went running for something in the corner. It was then Harry saw it…Scabbers! Ron must have also seen his pet rat/Death Eater since he quickly ran to rescue him but the two pets had already left the common room. When they got outside they found Crookshanks sticking his paw into what looked like a mouse hole.

Harry was cursing inside; he had been looking out for the rat ever since he got back to Hogwarts! If only he had the marauders map! It would be so much easier to find him!

“Your stupid bloody cat Hermione! Why did you even buy the thing!” Ron yelled, “I’ve been looking for Scabbers since I got back to Hogwarts and when he finally shows up your thing chases him away!”

“All cats chase rats Ron! It’s in their nature! Maybe if you took better care of your animals he wouldn’t have run away in the first place!” Hermione hissed back at him. Ron seemed offended by this comment.

“I look after Scabbers! It’s you! You don’t care if your thing eats other people’s pets!” Ron yelled.

“YOU HAVE NEVER CARED ABOUT YOUR BLOODY RAT BEFORE! IN FACT I REMEMBER YOU SAYING THAT YOU WISHED HE WOULD JUST DIE! Don’t you dare say I don’t care! You’re the one that does not care!” Hermione yelled before stalking down the great hall. Harry followed her.

“You’re taking her side!” Ron accused Harry.

“Nope, I’m taking no sides in this, I just want some breakfast.” Harry replied. Ron soon realized too that it was time for breakfast and followed after them.

The day went normally though Ron and Hermione didn’t utter a word to each other. In fact Hermione had been very cosy with Harry the whole day, making a point to kiss him and snuggle close to him. Harry knew that she was trying to annoy Ron but could also tell through their link that she was rather enjoying herself.

It was nearly the end of transfiguration when Professor McGonagall called the lesson to end, “Now tomorrow is Hogsmeade weekend. Since I am your head of house, you will need to hand your permission slips over to me today.” she said.

Neville slowly raised his hand, “Umm professor I think I left mine at home…” he said nervously.

“Your grandmother has already sent it through Mr. Longbottom.” McGonagall said.

Everyone then got up and handed their slips to McGonagall and left the classroom. Harry waited behind though.

“Yes Mr Potter?” she asked.

“I’ll need another slip to sign… I left mine at the Dursleys before I left there.” Harry said.

“You need your guardian to sign it Mr Potter, you cannot sign it yourself.” She said sternly, Harry just gave her a half smile.

“Well… they’re not my guardians anymore… I’m classified as an adult. I got emancipated during the summer actually.” Harry said. McGonagall’s eyes shot up at this announcement.

“I will need to check the files first. Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute.” Professor McGonagall then walked into the office in the back of the classroom. She came back out two minutes later with a permission slip in her hand.

“Just sign this, and you’re allowed to go.” she said handing Harry over the slip which he quickly signed and handed back to her. Harry then turned to leave the classroom.

“Mr. P-Harry?” she called before he left, Harry turned around to see she was smiling at him, “I’m glad you got out of their house… though I don’t think Dumbledore will be too happy about it. I will keep it quiet for you.” she said, Harry just smiled.

“Thank you.” he said before he left the classroom.

*------*

Harry, Hermione and Ron arrived at Hogsmeade and just stood at the entrance to the town, looking around at all the shops. Hermione took Harry's hand before she rushed into the street. Ron was laughing at the two of them as he followed.

The first shop that they came across that they needed to visit was Dervish and Banges to get Ron’s sneakoscope looked at. When they entered the store Harry noticed lots of simple dark detectors hanging around the shop. He also noticed some of the things that they had modified in the future to do different things.

Ron handed over his pocket sneakoscope, saying that it seemed to be going off for no reason some times. After the clerk carefully examined it he handed it back saying that there was no problem with it, that it was working fine and that when it went off something must be happening without them knowing or seeing it.

Harry knew the reason it went off was because of Peter but he couldn’t really tell Ron that his pet rat was actually an animagus Death Eater. They left the store when a ringing sound came from Harry pocket. He pulled out his mobile and saw that Ron was just looking at him strangely.

“What’s that Harry?” he asked though Harry shushed him as he pressed the answer button and put the phone to his ear.

“So you’re at Hogsmeade?” Sirius asked,

“Yeah… we’re there now… have the whole day here. Are you coming?” Harry said talking into the mobile phone.

“Yes, I’ll be there in about an hour. I’ll meet you at the entrance in my usual disguise… don’t forget to call me Maurice Sampson.” Sirius said, happy since he was going to be seeing Harry again.

“Ok, so we will meet you in an hour then.” Harry said before he hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. When Harry put the device away, Ron decided it was ok to speak again.

“What in the name of Merlin was that thing?” Ron asked pointing to his pocket where the phone now was.

“You know the muggles how they have a telephone?” Harry asked. Ron nodded, remembering something about that and the way muggles used them to talk to each other.

“Well that was a portable one of those.” Harry said. Ron just nodded, still not completely understanding what he was talking about.

“Who was it Harry?” Hermione asked.

“Oh it was Maurice… he’s going to be meeting us in about an hour at the entrance.” Harry said. Hermione nodded, knowing who he was talking about, Ron though didn’t.

“Who’s Maurice?” he asked.

“Oh, he’s someone I met during the summer, helped me out with a lot of banking stuff and things to get me away from the Dursleys.” Harry said. Ron just nodded again.

“So where to now?” Ron asked.

“Well… Scrivenshaft’s Quills is just over there.” Harry said pointing out the quill shop. They then headed over there.

They were in the store for about thirty minutes as Hermione was looking through the hundreds of different kinds of quills. Harry had given Ron some money and he too was hunting through them.

Hermione ended up buying an auto-notes quill and about ten other different kinds of normal quills as well as some more ink.

Ron had also bought an auto-notes quill as well as an auto-correction quill and an auto-copying quill that copied the text from one piece of parchment to another. Harry had just brought an auto-notes quill; he didn’t need any new quills but knew this one would be handy in History of Magic.

After that they headed into Honeydukes. Ron when wild, again Harry had lent him some money. When they finally came out Ron had two large bags, packed full of lollies, most of the students were looking at him in amazement. The amount he had was ridiculous! Hermione was muttering something about a waste of money, while Harry was just chuckling to himself. He knew any normal person wouldn’t be able to eat all the sweets Ron had… but then again when it came to food, Ron wasn’t exactly normal.

By now it was time to meet Sirius, so the three of them made it back to the entrance. They were waiting for a couple of minutes before a familiar blonde walked up to them.

“Hello Harry, Hello Hermione.” he said, he then turned to Ron, “and I don’t think we have met before.” Sirius/Maurice said holding out his hand to Ron.

“I’m Ron, Ron Weasley” Ron said.

“Ah yes of course, Harry’s other best friend…well his best friends without… advantages.” Sirius said with a raised eyebrow at Hermione which caused her to blush. Ron started laughing, he already like this man.

“So! What do you say we head to the Three Broomsticks?” Sirius/Maurice said with a large grin. The three teens nodded and walked down to the pub.

When they got to the pub they saw that it was fairly crowded. Looking around they could see heaps of different people. There were a couple of vampires in a dark corner of the bar and there seemed to be two ogres in here as well.

The four of them ended up finding a free table towards the back of the pub. A young lady came up to them and took their drink orders. Ron, Hermione and Harry all ordered Butterbeer while Sirius/Maurice got a Firewhiskey. Hermione was on the edge of her seat when she got her drink. She took a quick sip and let out a small groan.

“Oh this is great!” she said before taking another small drink. Harry just laughed softly and Hermione scooted over closer to him, so that Harry could wrap his arm around her.

Ron was taking small sips of his Butterbeer but seemed to be eyeing Sirius’ Firewhiskey. Sirius also seemed to notice this and called the waitress over again and ordered another three shots of Firewhiskey.

When the lady was gone, he passed one to Ron and another to Harry. Hermione’s eyes went wide when he did this.

“You can’t give them this! They’re underage!” she hissed at Sirius. Sirius just grinned, there was that sparkle back in his eyes again. Harry pulled Hermione back and softly whispered in her ear.

“Trust me… nothing’s going to happen, in fact watch Ron…” Harry said with a grin.

Ron picked up the shot of the amber liquid, he looked at Sirius with admiration, “You’re the best adult I have ever met!” he said with a large grin on his face before he gulped the shot down. Instantly, his eyes went wide as steam shot from his ears… Sirius just laughed, he then lit his drink, letting it stay on fire for a bit before he blew it out and drank the drink.

“You have to light it up first.” Sirius said with a grin, “Or else that happens.”

Hermione seemed to be stifling her laughed as Harry also lit his drink, then blew out the flames. He offered some to Hermione. She took a tiny sip before putting it back down and drinking half her Butterbeer.

“Now I now why it’s called Firewhiskey.” Hermione said, “It burns the hell out of your throat.”

Harry just chuckled before slamming the shot down. He after all had been drinking this on occasion in the future.

They spent the rest of the day in the pub talking about a number of different things. One of the main topics was Quidditch between Ron and Sirius. When this happened Harry and Hermione would usually have their own little conversations and gave each other small light kisses every now and again. When Ron saw them this caused him to make gagging sounds, which earned him a glare from both Harry and Hermione.

When it was time to go, they said their goodbyes and Harry promised to call Sirius more. They then left and walked back up to the school.

~~~~~

AN: There you go! Will what did you all think? R/R!

Chapter 12 – Quidditch and Dementors

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work once again!

~~~~~~

Harry woke up at five in the morning. He quietly slipped into some training clothes he had bought over the summer and headed towards the Room of Requirement. He had decided that it was time to start working out again. Once he had started in his sixth year, it had helped a lot. He was able to last longer in a duel and could play Quidditch longer without getting exhausted. He also knew that if he started training now it would definitely help in the Tri-wizard Tournament.

The room had changed into a large track; in the middle of the track were a number of different kinds of muggle weightlifting devices. Harry started out with the usual stretches before starting to jog around the track.

After his tenth lap Harry was panted heavily. He wandered over to where the muggle weight lifting equipment was and there was also a water fountain there now. The room had made it appear when Harry had need for it.

After Harry caught his breath he began to use the muggle devices to work out. Today he was mainly working his upper body, concentrating on his chest and torso. He had decided that he would work out five days a week and have the other two days for his body to recover.

About two hours later Harry left the Room of Requirement. His body was aching, much like it had when he first started to work out. He knew that in a couple of weeks it wouldn’t hurt as much after a work out but he also knew the results were well worth the little bit of pain.

*------*

The full moon was this weekend and Harry knew what was coming for Defence. Everyone was surprised when Professor Snape strolled into the room his cloak billowing out behind him as he closed all the windows with a flick of his wand.

“Er… where is Professor Lupin?” Hermione asked. Snape just glared at her.

“Lupin is currently feeling under the weather so I will be taking this class.” Snape said before walking over to the desk, “Now Lupin has left nothing of what you are doing…”

“Oh! We have been learning about Boggarts, Redcaps, Hinkypunks…” Hermione started,

“I did not ask for a run down Miss Granger! I was simply commenting on Mr Lupin’s poor organization and management skills! I would expect first years to be able to handle Redcaps!” Snape said.

“Professor Lupin is the best teacher we have had!” Dean said rather bravely. Luckily for him, Snape seemed to ignore his comment.

“Today we will be learning about… werewolves.” Snape said, a large smirk on his face. Harry just rolled his eyes and looked at Hermione in amusement; he could easily see that she was quickly working out that Remus was a werewolf.

“Harry…I need to talk to you later… alone.” Hermione whispered to him. Harry just nodded and opened his book to the section on werewolves. The class was rather boring, it was mainly writing down facts about werewolves and how to spot them. Harry knew that Snape was trying to get the students to find out about Remus.

After the class, Hermione quickly dragged Harry out of the classroom, and when no one was looking into a broom closet.

“You do know what people usually do in here don’t you?” Harry asked, his voice clearly amused.

He could see the small smile form on Hermione’s face, as she leaned forward and gave Harry a sweet innocent little kiss on the lips.

“Now Harry… I wanted to ask you…” Hermione started.

“About Remus being a werewolf?” Harry finished for her.

“Yes…so he is one?” Hermione asked. Harry just nodded.

“Yes he is… he is also one of my father’s and Sirius’ best friends.” Harry said softly. Hermione smiled and gave him a hug. She then lent forward and gave him another kiss, though this time she ran her tongue across his bottom lip. Harry quickly allowed her access and Hermione deepened the kiss. Harry and Hermione had never kissed like this yet. Sure, they had kissed each other but they hadn’t actually snogged yet.

Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione’s waist and one of her hands went into his hair. She let a soft groan escape her mouth as their tongues duelled each other. About a minute later Hermione broke the kiss and leaned against Harry’s chest, breathing heavily and trying to catch her breath.

“Wow…” was all she could say, Harry just smiled and hugged her, giving her forehead a soft kiss.

“As much as I would love to stay here holding you… I have to get to Quidditch training.” Harry said with a small smile. Hermione just nodded and gave Harry another small kiss before he left.

*------*

“Ok… this is it… Our first game… and it’s against Slytherin.” Wood said as he paced in front of them, “We have a superior team, and better brooms but DO NOT get cocky!”

Everyone in the room just shook their heads; they found it rather amusing how Wood took Quidditch. “Don’t worry old’ Woody.” George said,

“We will be good…” Fred said.

“…and hit a couple of snakes!” George finished.

Wood continued on with the speech while Harry was quickly reinforcing his metal shields, everything was the same as last time, it was raining hard, there was lots of wind, and Harry would bet every galleon he had that the dementors would come… the only difference was that this time they were playing Slytherin instead of Hufflepuff.

“Ok let’s go!” Wood said. Harry got up, though then remembered something. Taking off his glasses he tapped them with his wand, muttering the words ‘Impervius’.

“What was that Harry?” Wood asked.

“Huh? Oh it makes them repel the water.” Harry said with a shrug, “Oh and by the looks of it… it might be smart to put heating charms on our clothes.”

“Brilliant thinking!” Wood beamed as the team muttered the heating charms. “OK TEAM LETS GO!” Wood roared and they headed out onto the pitch.

Slytherin was entering as well and they met in the middle, Flint and Wood walked up to Madam Hooch. She was the first to notice the team’s new brooms.

“Merlin! You’ve all got Firebolts!” she exclaimed. Wood watched as Flint eyed his broom and looked at him, Wood just gave a smirk.

“What, never seen one before?” Wood asked innocently. Flint didn’t say anything.

Madam Hooch tossed the coin, which Wood called then selected the north goals to defend.

“ALL RIGHT MOUNT YOUR BROOMS!” Hooch called out over the rain. The Gryffindors mounted their Firebolts while the Slytherins mounted their Nimbus 2001’s. Hooch kicked the lid open and the bludgers and the snitch flew out. She then picked up the quaffle and threw it high into the air, blowing her whistle.

“And they’re off!” the voice of Lee Jordan roared out, “Gryffindor with the Quaffle! Spinnet to Johnson! Oh close miss there, Johnson with a LOOP PASS AND BELL SCORES! 10 nothing to Gryffindor!” Lee was screaming, though over the wind and rain it came out normally.

“Now I think it might be a good time to inform everyone. We would like to thank Mr Harry Potter as he donated seven BRAND NEW FIREBOLTS to the Gryffindor team! Saying it was a going away present! And since he was already on the team… he was not buying his place like a certain Slytherin…” Lee started but was whacked over the back of the head by McGonagall, though he could see her smiling.

“Oh fine bludger by Fred or George Weasley! Who can tell them apart? Knocking the Quaffle out of Vaiseys hands, which was then intercepted by Spinnet! Spinnet is soaring up, OH AND THROWS IT DOWN TO JOHNSON! WHO SCORES…A PERFECT PORSKOFF PLOY!!! 20 NOTHING TO GRYFFINDOR!”

By now Harry was searching for the snitch. He couldn’t remember where it was but he remembered that it led him into the clouds. Malfoy then decided to pull up beside him.

“Where did you steal that broom from Potter.” Malfoy drawled.

“Bought it Malfoy, as well as the six others.” Harry said, “Unlike you I don’t brag about having money.” Harry said before he shot downwards, flying straight towards the ground. The crowd had stopped speaking as they watched Harry plummet to the ground at around 200 miles an hour. Malfoy, who thought Harry had seen the snitch was following after him.

Harry pulled the broom up as hard as he could, levelling out, as his knees skimmed the grass. Malfoy wasn’t as lucky, as Harry heard a sickening crash as Malfoy slammed into the unforgiving earth.

“OH MY GOD! HARRY POTTER HAS JUST PULLED OF THE WRONSKI FEINT! A PROFESSIONAL QUIDDITCH MOVE!!” the voice of Lee could be heard along with the roaring cheers of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

That was when Harry spotted it, a glint of gold coming from above him. He shot off as fast as he could, pushing the broom to it limits, the spectators watched in awe, as Harry Potter turned into a blur, heading straight for the sky.

The snitch seemed to see him coming and took off, heading into the clouds, higher and higher. Harry could feel the air getting thinner and that was when he felt the air go cold…dementors. He pushed his broom even harder and had just managed to grab the snitch before he had to quickly dive under a dementor.

Harry quickly pulled into a dive, heading as fast as he could for the ground. He had to dodge a number of dementors but finally broke from the clouds. He all of a sudden heard hundreds of people start to scream. Looking behind him he noticed that the dementors were following him.

When Harry turned back, he didn’t have time to turn as he went flying straight though a dementor, which let out a wailing shriek, before the black robes slowly fell to the ground. Oh now they had it in for him…he had just killed one of their own.

Harry quickly landed on the ground; he turned to see at least a hundred dementors swooping down towards him. Not even thinking about it Harry whipped out his wand, “EXPECTRO PATRONUM!” Harry screamed out.

Instantly a large stag, at least three times the size of a real stag and about four times the size of Harry, ripped from his wand and went flying towards the dementors. It ran full pelt into the creatures, sending them tumbling and into retreat. Once its job was done the stag slowly came back, bowing to Harry before it faded away.

“HARRY!” the voice of Hermione screamed out, Harry spun around thinking that she may be in danger only to find himself tackled to the ground by her. She then gave him a deep, long kiss, which Harry happily returned and made Ron making gagging sounds. When Hermione finally broke the kiss she dug her head into his chest. She was crying, mumbling how she thought he was going to die. Harry softly whispered comforting words in her ear.

It was then that the teachers came running towards them. Dumbledore was first, “Harry my boy are you ok?” he asked quickly, looking around to see if there was any other dementors. Harry just nodded; he could see the sincere look in the old man’s eyes. It was this that made Harry decide that he would try and change Dumbledore instead of cutting him completely off.

“If you are alright Harry… I think it might be best if you and your friends headed back to your tower… I expect that Gryffindor will have a lot to celebrate tonight.” Dumbledore said with a small smile. Harry for his part just nodded, and he, Hermione and Ron started to make their way back.

As they were walking back Harry took them off course, heading towards the seventh floor.

“Harry? Where are we going?” Ron asked, confused.

“You said you wanted me to teach you some spells, I’m showing you where we are going to learn them.” Harry said as he paced back and forth in front of the blank wall. All of a sudden a door appeared, and Harry entered, followed by Ron and Hermione.

On one side of the room were a couple of nice soft looking couches and about five bookshelves packed full of books, all on combat and duelling. The other side the room was made into a training area; there were practice dummies, targets, as well as the muggle weightlifting equipment.

“Welcome to the Room of Requirement.” Harry said holding out his hands.

“Wow…” was all Ron said, Hermione was still looking around wide eyed.

“Harry… who did this for you.” she asked softly. Harry just smiled at her.

“No one… when I was pacing in front of the room before, I was thinking that I needed a place to learn and teach Defence magic and the room supplied me with what I needed… it can do practically anything.” Harry said as he made a table with three butterbeers appear in front of them. “See” he said handing them the drinks.

“COOL! You have to show me how to do that!” Ron exclaimed. Hermione’s mind was swimming with the possibilities, which caused Harry to laugh.

“Ok… we will come here… say two or three times a week, and I will teach you heaps of defence spells… I can guarantee in about a month you will be the best in Defence Against the Dark Arts.” Harry said. Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement before they left the room and headed for the party that was no doubt happening in the Gryffindor tower at the moment.

~~~~~

AN: AH another chapter uploaded! Well tell me what you think! R/R!

Chapter 13 – Training and Maps

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Another chapter! Thanks Turnlach for your BETA work!

~~~~~

“Alright… well I guess the first spell I should teach you is the stunner.” Harry said as he was pacing back and forth in front of Ron and Hermione. “It is used to… well stun your opponent. The incantation is Stupefy and to reverse it you have to use the Enervate spell.” Harry said. He then showed them how to use the spell as a red beam shot from his wand and hit the target across the room dead centre.

“Now you guys have a go.” Harry said. Hermione was the first to try, the spell worked, though her aim was way off. Harry also noticed that she was holding her wand wrong, well wrong for duelling. She was also standing in the wrong position. He quickly told her this, and showed her the right way. The next stunner she sent was a lot more accurate.

Ron’s stunner wasn’t accurate and it was also a lot weaker than Hermione's. He told Ron about his stance and the way he was holding his wand like he had done with Hermione but the power of the spell was another problem.

“Ok… Ron… I want you to do the disarming spell.” Harry said, Ron did this and it was fine, the power in the spell was above average. “Ok… with the stunner… like the disarming spell, you really have to ‘want’ to subdue your enemy. Your will and your desire to perform the spell has a lot to do with how powerful the spell will be.” Harry explained.

Ron nodded and tried again, this time Ron’s stunner was bright red like Hermione's was, not the pinkish colour it was before. Ron was beaming, thinking of all the possibilities… Malfoy won’t know what hit him!

“Ok… that’s good. We will practice that more in a second, but first I also want to show you the basic shield charm. The incantation is Protego and if it is performed correctly, then a silver shield should appear in front of you. This charm can deflect most minor spells, like the stunner but the stronger ones will require a stronger shield… which I will show you another time. Of course depending on how powerful your shield is will determine how many times it can take certain spells… though if it is too weak, it may not even block one.” Harry said. He then showed them the spell, doing it again so they could see the wand movements it required.

Both Ron and Hermione got it on their first try; they seemed really pleased at how they were progressing.

“These spells should have been taught to us this year by Lupin… but since we have had such crappy teachers… we are a bit behind…” Harry said with a half smile, “After I have told you most of the spells that we should have leant I will move on to the more advanced stuff.”

Ron and Hermione nodded and they went back to practicing. Harry would suggest something whenever he noticed that they were doing something slightly off.

After about two hours Ron and Hermione had practically mastered the Shield charm and Stunner and though they were nowhere near as powerful as Harry's, they were good, and would only get better the more they practiced.

“Um… Ron… Harry and I will catch up with you.” Hermione said to Ron when they were leaving, “I want to ask him something… in private.”

Ron looked at her for a second before nodding his head, “Ok… I’ll save you guys a seat.” he said before heading down to dinner.

Hermione looked around to see no one was around before she dragged him back inside the Room of Requirement. “What is it Hermione?” Harry asked, looking in to her chocolate brown eyes.

“You were really good Harry… almost like you have taught a class before.” Hermione said, “You didn’t happen to be a teacher did you?”

Harry just smiled at her, “Nope… though we did run a defence club… in our fifth year when we get a really bad Defence teacher… that’s all I’m saying.” he said before he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss.

Hermione seemed to huff at the lack of information, though she then looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. “Harry… could you tell me… do I become a prefect next year?” she asked.

Harry just looked at her, amusement clearly in his eyes. “Do you really need to ask that Hermione? Of course you do!” he said. Hermione now had a large grin on her face, “Oh… and you become Head Girl.”

This caused Hermione to jump at him knocking him to the floor were she proceeded to snog him senseless. After about five minutes Hermione was just laying on top of him, hugging the life out of him.

“I think we should get to dinner now, don’t you think?” Harry asked. Hermione just nodded and gave him one last lingering kiss before she got up. Harry also got up and they walked hand in hand to the great hall.

*------*

The next day, they had defence for their last lesson. Remus was back and Ron was thanking the gods… he didn’t know if he could handle another lesson with Snape teaching it.

“Alright… Now who can tell me what you covered with Professor Snape?” Lupin asked the class. He was greeted by several people yelling.

“STOP! One at a time, now who can tell me? Mr Weasley?” Lupin asked.

“He didn’t even listen to what we told him we were up to, he didn’t even bother asking us! He just told us to open up to the part on werewolves and then assigned us two foot of parchment on them for homework! We haven’t done anything on them before!” Ron’s rant was cut off by the Professor, though by the looks of it Ron could have gone on for hours.

“Very well… since I am back now, don’t worry about completing that assignment.” Lupin said. The class cheered at this. Hermione sent a thankful look at Harry. She would have already finished it if it wasn’t for Harry telling her it would be cancelled.

The rest of the class continued on as normal, today Professor Lupin was teaching them more about Hinkypunks and had brought one in, in a glass container. When the bell rang through the tower everyone gathered up their stuff and headed for the door.

“Er… Mr Potter, could I have a word.” Lupin called out. Harry waved his friends on and turned back to Lupin. They didn’t say a word until everyone was gone.

“Harry… when did you learn that spell that you used on the Quidditch pitch?” Lupin asked looking carefully at Harry. Harry just shrugged his shoulders.

“Over the summer… I found it in one of the books that I bought.” Harry said, as if it wasn’t a very big deal.

“That’s a very difficult spell Harry… most adult wizards cannot perform it. In fact I don’t think I know of anyone that could have driven off that many dementors… other than Dumbledore.” Lupin said, “You are a powerful wizard Harry.”

Lupin then sighed… “Though that is not the reason that I called you back I am afraid… there is something that I need to tell you.”

“What is it?” Harry asked, already knowing that Remus was going to tell him about Sirius Black.

“It’s concerning Sirius Black and your parents. During school, your father, Sirius and a boy called Peter were my best friends… we did everything together. When we finally left school… your parents went under a spell called the Fidelius Charm… Voldemort was after them. What the charm does is…”

“It hides a house, only the secret keeper can tell someone where it is.” Harry said. Lupin was shocked for a second before he nodded his head.

“Yes… Sirius Black was your parent’s secret keeper… he was the one that betrayed your parents to You-Know-Who. I know if must be hard to comprehend but Sirius Black escaped Azkaban to try and get you.” Lupin said softly.

“I knew that Sirius Black was after me… but about my parents… so he was the rat that betrayed my parents.” Harry said, emphasizing the word rat, hoping to get Remus thinking. It seemed like it worked as Remus seemed to have a thoughtful look in his eye, before it went away.

“I guess I should be going…” Harry said. Lupin just nodded.

“Be on your guard when you go into Hogsmeade tomorrow, Harry.” Lupin said. Harry also nodded before he left the room, leaving Lupin to think about what had happened all those years ago.

*------*

Harry, Hermione and Ron were making their way to the entrance of the castle, talking about the things that they wanted to do in Hogsmeade today. It was then that the twins came around the corner. Their eyes seemed to light up when they spotted Harry.

“Ah Harry my boy!”

“We’ve been looking for you we have…”

“All over the castle…”

“Mind if we have a quick word in private?” the twins said, Harry just nodded.

“I’ll catch up with you guys.” he told Hermione and Ron who just nodded and continued through the castle.

Fred and George took Harry into the nearest classroom and locked the door. They then turned to look at him.

“You see Harry…”

“We have been thinking…”

“After you gave us the Firebolts we have been trying to think of something we could give you…”

“And then I had the perfect idea, I did…”

“So… we have decided to give you…”

“The secret to our success!” the twins said together. George then handed over a blank piece of parchment which Harry recognized instantly as the Marauder’s Map.

Fred then pulled out his wand and tapped the parchment, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.”

Harry watched as the ink appeared on the map…

Welcome, oh son of Prongs!

Was the first line that appeared. Harry knew that the twins would have never seen that before,

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

Harry smiled at the map, the twins looked confused. “What’s with the first part?” George asked Fred who just shrugged. Harry looked at them with amusement in his eyes.

“I could tell you that… well you see…Prongs is actually my dad’s nickname.” Harry said and nearly laughed when the twins’ eyes went wide.

“Y-you’re the son of one our hero’s!?” George gasped. Harry just smiled and tapped the map again.

“Mischief Managed!” Harry said and the map disappeared.

“How did you know what to do?” Fred asked looking at Harry in awe.

“Well… I have their notes on how they made this in my vault… I could get you a copy if you wanted?” Harry asked, “It also has notes on hundreds of different pranks as well.”

The twins’ eyes were alight, they slowly nodded before they dropped to their knees, “Oh we thank you noble son of Prongs!” Harry just laughed at them.

“You do know that there is a Marauder working here don’t you?” Harry asked. The twins were wide eyed again.

“Moony works here… also known as…Remus Lupin.” Harry said slowly. Large grins grew on their faces.

“We thank you oh son of Prongs for this information, and we must take leave now.” Fred and George said in unison before leaving the classroom, most likely to find Remus. Harry just chuckled, tucked the map into his pocket before heading down to Hogsmeade.

~~~~~~

AN: Im sorry to say I will no longer be posting 2 chapters a day :(, I was doing that to catch up to where I was on FFN, now they will have to slow down… after all you wouldn’t want me to run out of Pre-written chapters now

Chapter 14 – Holidays, Quidditch and Party’s

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work!

*-----*

The Christmas holidays quickly approached and before they knew it the students were coming back from their holidays. Unfortunately Harry had not been able go back to Sirius’. Peter had disappeared off the map… he was obviously not on school grounds anymore.

Over the holidays Ron and Hermione's training had progressed in leaps and bounds, they were now learning more of the advanced stuff. At the moment they were currently working on the Patronus charm. So far only Hermione had managed to get a thick vapour shield while Ron’s was rather thin. They now had a number of useful spells that could be used to capture and hold a person and Harry had also taught them a couple of stronger shield charms. Harry knew that this time when they went to the Department of Mysteries that it would be different. They would catch the Death Eaters themselves, and Sirius wouldn’t die. Harry would also kill Voldemort in the atrium this time.

But first they needed to get Sirius free and to do that they would need to capture Peter Pettigrew, who was currently missing. Harry was wondering where he was disappearing to, but then reasoned that there were places on in the castle that were not on the map, and that he may in fact be hiding somewhere.

Harry was broken from his thoughts by the sound of Crookshanks hissing and spitting. That could mean one thing… Peter was somewhere. Harry quickly followed Crookshanks line of sight and his eyes landed on the rat. Harry quickly jumped to his feet, and Crookshanks also pounced. Peter quickly ran out of the common room.

Ron must have been walking up the stairs since he heard Ron call out.

“SCABBERS THERE YOU ARE!” There was a moment of silence before Ron yelled again, “GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU STUPID CAT!! OUCH!” Harry came around the corner only to find Ron holding his hand and Crookshanks’ paw once again in the wall.

Harry knew that Peter had gotten away again, so he went over to Ron and helped him up.

“That cat’s scared Scabbers again! And Scabbers bit me since he was scared!” Ron said to Harry, throwing a glare at Crookshanks as the cat walked back into the common room. Harry and Ron then heard Hermione voice came from inside.

“Oh Crookshanks! Your paw is bleeding!” Hermione voice said. The colour from Ron’s face vanished.

“WHAT!” he screamed! And ran inside, Harry on his tail.

“What Ron? Crookshanks has some blood on his paw…” Hermione stopped when Ron’s face went as red as his hair.

“YOUR DAMN CAT KILLED SCABBERS! HE WAS CHASING HIM AND MUST HAVE GOTTON HIM!!!” Ron yelled, “YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE’S PETS! AND NOW LOOK WHAT’S HAPPENED, YOUR STUPID ANIMAL HAS FINALLY KILLED MINE!” with that Ron stormed out of the common room.

Hermione broke down into sobs and Harry quickly comforted her, holding her as she cried.

*------*

Ron and Hermione didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the Christmas holidays. It was starting to get on Harry nerves. Ron would always send glares at Hermione, and also glare at Harry when he talked to her. Harry just ignored Ron when he did this though.

The time was coming for the next Gryffindor Quidditch match. This time they would be playing Ravenclaw. Wood had been holding training session after training session, to get them ready. Hermione’s work load was also starting to weigh her down, though Harry had said nothing about it yet.

Ron, though still not speaking to her still talked to Harry, and had been asking him how Hermione was managing to get to all of her classes. He had even brought forward points that people in her other classes had said Hermione hadn’t missed a lesson, which according to Ron was impossible since she was with them in a different class.

Harry for his part just shrugged his shoulders. If Ron had been talking to her, he might have told him about the time turner, but their recent fights had stopped him, knowing that Ron was one to let secrets slip when he was angry. After all, it was during a fight between Ron and Harry in their sixth year, which led to everyone in the school knowing about the prophecy. That was then followed by newspaper article after newspaper article picking apart Harry's life and all the times it involved Voldemort.

*------*

It was the day of the Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor match. Hermione was now swamped with work but still managed to come down to watch the game. She gave him a quick good luck kiss before she headed up to the Gryffindor stands.

Wood gave them the usual speech before they headed out into the field. Hooch called Wood and Davis in to shake hands before the coin was tossed. Once again Wood won the toss and chose to defend the north goal.

In a matter of seconds the game was off, Harry shot into the air searching for the snitch. Chang was following his every move, trying to block his path. But her Comet didn’t even come close to comparing to his Firebolt and he quickly avoided her.

Lee’s voice echoed over to Harry, as Gryffindor scored their second goal. Ravenclaw was still yet to score. Harry pulled into a sharp dive, plummeting towards the ground. Cho had followed him, though she must have guessed or learned from Malfoy since she pulled up just in the nick of time. Harry watched as Angelina pulled off a nice reverse pass to Katie and then Katie passed the Quaffle behind the goals to Alicia who scored. Harry had to admit they were good, he had forgotten how good they were actually.

Harry shot off into the air again as he looked around for the snitch. He circled around the pitch, dodging a couple of bludgers that were shot his way. It was then he saw it, on the other side of the pitch. Harry noticed that Cho was closer, so he shot off after it as fast as he could. It looked as if Cho might actually catch it first for a second before she let out a high pitched scream.

Harry looked over to see what had happened, and he watched as three dementors hovered over towards him. Harry instantly remembered what had happened last time… it was Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry whipped out his wand and sent a banishing charm at the three, which knocked them off their brooms and sent them falling down ten feet to the ground.

Harry just smirk and looked back for the snitch, however to his dismay it was once again gone. He then heard Madam Hooch blowing her whistle to call the game to a halt.

“Hold the game!” she yelled out as she went over to the three black cloaks that were now rolling around on the ground. Harry also flew down and landed next to them. McGonagall and Snape were the first people to arrive and Snape quickly pulled the robes off the boys. He then turned to look at Harry, the anger was easily visible though his eyes.

“You will be banned for this Potter! Attacking students while playing! Detention and 100 points from Gryffindor!” Snape hissed.

“OH I don’t think so Professor Snape! These boys were not playing this game and dressed up as dementors to try and cause havoc! They will be serving detention for the rest of the year and will be losing 50 points for Slytherin! Mr Potter did nothing wrong!” McGonagall said. Snape looked furious before he dragged the three boys back to the stands.

Madam Hooch soon resumed the game though it didn’t last long as Harry saw the snitch two minutes in and in another twenty seconds he had it in his hand. The crowd went wild, well all except for the Slytherins who booed as usual. Wood was ecstatic, and Fred and George announced that there was a party in the Gryffindor Common room.

As they were walking back to the common room Fred and George came up to Harry.

“Harry… could we borrow the you-know-what?” Fred whispered.

“Yes… we need to pick up some supplies for the party.” George added with a grin. Harry just nodded and quickly rushed up into his dorm and gave them the map.

About an hour later they were back and they handed Harry the map before they called everyone to silence.

“People! It is time to thank Harry! And ourselves! We have a treat for you!” with that five crates of Butterbeer appeared on the table, as George removed the invisibility charm.

Everyone in the room cheered and started thanking Harry, George and Fred. Harry grabbed two bottles of butterbeer and then went looking for Hermione. He ended up finding her huddled in a corner quickly writing down on some parchment. Harry walked over and sat down next to her.

“Hi Harry.” she said, not even looking up to see if it actually was him.

“How did you know it was me?” Harry asked raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t know… I just did…” Hermione said before she quickly went back to her work.

“Come on Hermione, have some fun.” Harry said in a sigh.

“I can’t… I have to do this! I need to get all the homework and stuff I already know done so that I can start studying the stuff I don’t know.” Hermione said in a sigh. Her work load was really starting to wear her down.

“Ok… I’ve got a proposition for you.” Harry said. Hermione instantly looked up; she desperately wanted a way to get more time.

“I will do the work that you already know for you… so that you can work on the stuff that you need to study.” Harry said. Hermione just raised an eyebrow.

“Umm… Harry… but you don’t take half of my classes. How would that work…?” she said trailing off as she noticed Harry raised his eyebrow.

“Trust me when I say I can do third year Arithmancy, Runes, and if you remember I lived with muggles so I don’t think Muggle Studies will be a problem.” Harry said with a smile.

Hermione instantly pulled him into a rather passionate kiss which Harry happily returned. When she broke the kiss she sighed and hugged him, “You’re a life saver Harry.” she said softly.

Harry just gave her a lopsided grin, “I try to please.” he said, which caused her to giggle.

“So now… how about we enjoy this party?” Harry asked. Hermione nodded. She took his hand and they walked out into the crowd and begun to dance.

*-----*

AN: Will there you go another chapter! I hope that you enjoyed it :P R/R!!

Chapter 15 – The Quidditch Final

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work

*----*

Wood was back to working them as hard as possible, they were training at any possible opportunity but still Oliver did not think they were ready. Though they had run out of time… they were sitting in the changing room while Oliver was giving his pre-game speech.

“This is it! We can do it!” he kept saying over and over. He then turned to Harry, “You know you cannot catch the snitch until we reach a sixty point lead right?” Harry nodded his head for the thousandth time this week, “If you catch it on fifty or lower we lose…”

“I KNOW!” Harry said, finally had enough, the rest of the team snickered at this. Harry just glared at them.

“Alright! It’s time… let’s do this!” Wood yelled.

“Gryffindor!” the team said as one. They then left the changing room and started to walk out onto the pitch. The crowd started to cheer as they walked out of the changing room. Red and gold banners were being waved around. The crowed cheered once more as Hufflepuff entered the field, following Cedric Diggory.

Wood and Diggory met at the centre of the field. Diggory won the toss and chose to defend the south goal, which caused the Gryffindors to cheer… after all their stands were right next to the north goals… and in the past other teams keepers manage to somehow transfigure into animals and such during games. Of course no one knew how it happened…

When Hooch blew her whistle the two teams shot into the air. Lee’s voice could be heard roaring over the crowd.

“WELCOME TO THE QUIDDITCH FINALS!!! TODAY IS HUFFLEPUFF VS GRYFFINDOR!!!” he paused until the cheers died down slightly, “OF COURSE FAVOURITES GOING INTO THE MATCH TODAY ARE THE UNDEFEATED GRYFFINDOR LIONS!” yelled Lee, which caused the other Gryffindors to cheer while the Slytherins and some Hufflepuffs booed.

“Lee! Stick to the game.” McGonagall hissed at him.

“CERTAINLY PROFESSOR… KATIE BELL HAS THE QUAFFLE, QUICK PASS TO JOHNSON… OHHH! GREAT BLUDGER BY THE HUFFLEPUFF BEATER MARCUS, THE QUAFFLE IS TAKEN UP BY CADWALLDER WHO PASSES IT TO… WAIT IT’S INTERCEPTED BY SPINNET WHO SHOOTS AND SCORES!!! FIRST GOAL TO GRYFFINDOR, 10-0!” The crowd started cheering and red and gold sparks started to fly into the air from the Gryffindor stands.

Harry was clapping, but then had to dodge a bludger that was sent by Samuel. Fred snapped by and hammered the bludger back at him, which narrowly missed.

“…ANOTHER GOAL BY GRYFFINDOR, TWENTY NOTHING, JONES NOW PASSED THE QUAFFLE OUT TO PERKINS, PERKINS DODGES A GREAT BLUDGER BY ONE OF THE WEASLEYS, HE THROWS IT DOWN TO CADWALLDER, WHO QUICKLY PASSES IT OFF TO MITCHAEL WHO SHOOTS… BRILLIANT SAVE BY WOOD!!!”

Harry shot upwards looking for the snitch while still carefully listening to the score. He couldn’t let Cedric catch it before they got at least sixty in front.

Harry was now over the Gryffindor goal post when he looked over towards the forest. Sitting there just inside was Sirius in his animagus form. Harry smiled briefly but was brought back to reality by Wood.

“Harry! Get moving!” he yelled out and Harry shot off.

“… BELL WITH THE QUAFFLE, DODGES ONE, TWO BLUDGERS, PASSES IT TO SPIN… WAIT A REVERSE PASS TO JOHNSON, JOHNSON GOES HIGH, SHOOTS! NO WAIT PASSES IT DOWN TO SPINNET WHO SCORES WITH A PERFECT PORSKOFF PLAY WITH A REVERSE PASS THROWN IN! FIFTY NOTHING TO GRYFFINDOR!”

That was when Harry saw the snitch, though it was too soon to catch it, he tried to keep an eye on it, but Cedric must have also seen it, as he shot off after it. Cursing Harry shot off too, quickly catching up with Cedric. Harry rammed into him, trying to knock him off course, though Cedric quickly swerved back on.

That’s was when he heard Lee’s voice call out, “60 NOTHING, GRYFFINDOR STILL IN THE LEAD.” Harry thanked the gods and pushed his broom harder towards the snitch. Harry extended his arm as far as he could manage and with one more lunge he grabbed the snitch and shot upwards though the clouds, coming flying back down moments later and landing softly on the ground.

His team had also landed and was now running over to him. Harry could hear the loud bang and squeaking sound as Lee dropped the announcement box and rushed onto the field.

“HARRY!” Harry turned around when someone yelled his name and found himself grabbed by someone with bushy brown hair, who then proceeded to give him a good snog.

Wolf whistles came from the crowed and Hermione broke the kiss, burying her head into Harry’s chest to hide her blushing face.

“PARTY IN GRYFFINDOR TOWER!!!” Fred yelled out.

“EVERONE INVITED!” George added, which caused everyone from the other houses to cheer. The Gryffindor parties were rumoured to be legendary.

As everyone was heading back to the common room, Fred and George, pulled Harry aside,

“Er would we be able to borrow it again?” Fred asked. Harry just smiled.

“I know something better… Dobby!” Harry said, and then with a soft ‘pop’ Dobby appeared.

“The Great Harry Potter calls Dobby! What can Dobby do for Harry Potter, Sir!” Dobby said in excitement.

“Dobby we need a large supply of butterbeer in Gryffindor Tower… there is going to be a large party there.” Harry said.

“Dobby will do it, Sir!” he said nodding his head before popping away. Harry then turned to the twins with a large smile on his face.

“Expect A LOT of butterbeer to be there.” Harry said. The twins nodded and rushed off to the tower. Harry was about to go also when his mobile vibrated in his pocket. Quickly checking to see if anyone was there Harry pulled it out.

“Hello.” Harry said, the caller ID said that it was Sirius.

“Hey Harry! Great game… I was wondering if you would like to meet up with me.” Sirius asked.

“Yeah that would be great. Where are you?” Harry asked, already looking forward to seeing Sirius again.

“Did you see me while you were playing?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah, I saw you in the forest a little.” Harry said.

“Well, meet me there… don’t forget your cloak either.” Sirius said.

“Ok see you in a bit.” Harry said before hanging up the phone.

Harry then started walking back to the tower. When he was getting closer he could already tell the party was in full swing. He walked around another corner and found Hermione waiting for him.

“Hey you.” she said, smiling at him, “What kept you?”

“Er… Maurice… wants to met, you want to come?” Harry said, using Sirius’ nickname, since he didn’t know if anyone was listening. Hermione just nodded her head, “Well come on, I’ve got to get my cloak first and probably a couple of butterbeers.” Harry said as he wrapped one arm around Hermione’s waist and they headed up the tower.

Once they arrived Harry made his way through the crowd, stopping at the large container that was absolutely filled with bottles of butterbeer. Harry shrunk some down and stuck them in his pocket before walking up into his dorm. He pulled out his invisibility cloak and headed back down. He found Hermione waiting at the entrance.

They quickly walked out of the common room, and when no one was looking Harry threw the cloak over both of them. Then together they both silently made their way back out to the Quidditch pitch.

They walked over the pitch and went just into the forest where Harry had seen Sirius before. He then took the cloak off both of them and looked around for Sirius. A large black dog walked out of the shadows and then transformed back into Sirius. He then quickly gave both Harry and Hermione a hug.

“It’s great to see you two again!” he said happily.

“It’s good to see you too Sirius.” Hermione said, as Harry pulled out three shrunken bottles of butterbeer, enlarged them and then handed one to each of them.

“It’s good to see you too… I wish I could have come home during Christmas… but it would have been too suspicious.” Harry said with a sad sigh.

“Its ok pup, I understand completely!” Sirius said giving him a soft slap on the back.

“Any luck with Peter?” he then asked softly.

Harry just shook his head. “No, but he should show up soon… we caught him at the end of the year and that’s not far away.” Harry said softly and Sirius just nodded.

They talked for about an hour before Sirius pointed out that they better be heading back. After all Harry had just won the game, and people would be wondering where he was. Both Harry and Hermione agreed and with one last hug they both left under Harry's cloak again.

They walked through the corridors, and when they were about half way back Harry took the cloak off and tucked it in his pocket. Hermione then turned to him, a gleam in her eyes.

“Time to kiss the champion seeker.” she said softly before she put her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. Harry ran his tongue across her bottom lip and Hermione opened her mouth eagerly allowing him access to her mouth.

Harry let out a soft groan as Hermione hand knotted in his hair and Hermione swelled around his mouth. Harry was doing the same, taking in all she offered. He was softly running his hand up and down her spine which caused her to shiver slightly.

After about five minutes Hermione broke the kiss; both of their eyes were softly glowing in the dim light.

“I love you Harry.” she said softly, not looking away from his eyes.

“I love you too Hermione… don’t ever think otherwise.” he said before giving her another soft kiss, “We better be getting back… or they will think we have been doing more than snogging.” Harry said a small twinkle in his eyes.

Hermione blushed at this, but also agreed and they headed into the common room. When they entered, everything seemed to pause until they all erupted in cheers and wolf whistles.

*----*

Well on Friday im going to Brisbane for six weeks… good news is that I got the laptop :D. I will most likely update again on Friday but after that it will probley be once a week for the time that I am away….

R/R!

Chapter 16 – Catching the Rat

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Ah another chapter :P, thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work !

*-----*

It was the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year and they were again meeting Sirius at the Three Broomsticks today. Harry had done like he had said regarding Hermione and helped with the work that she didn’t need to study. It seemed to lift a great deal of stress off her shoulders. Harry meanwhile was growing rather frustrated, there had not been any sighting of Peter anywhere and they were running out of time.

The trio entered Hogsmeade, they had decided to stop at Honeydukes and pick up some more sweets, Ron’s stash had finally ran out and Harry had agreed to lend him some money again. Once again people were staring at Ron wide eyed at he left with a large bag packed with every kind of treat imaginable. They then headed towards the Three Broomsticks.

When they entered they found the bar to be as packed as it usually was. Students were going from table to table talking to each other, trading wizarding cards and playing other small games, or just sitting down with a butterbeer having a chat. They walked around the bar and finally found Sirius/Maurice towards the back.

“Hello you three, good to see you guys again!” Sirius/Maurice said happily.

Harry, Hermione and Ron all said hello as well before they sat down and ordered some butterbeers.

“So what’s been happening at school?” he asked. The trio spent the next hour or so telling Sirius/Maurice the going’s on at Hogwarts, before they finally came to now. That was when Harry realized that he had not told Sirius that he had the Marauder’s Map.

Harry pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over, “Do you recognize that?” Harry asked a small smile on his face.

Sirius was speechless, “H-How did you get it? It was confiscated by Filch in our seventh year…” Sirius whispered as he looked at the parchment. Harry just gave him a half smile.

“Ron’s twin brothers… Fred and George stole it back in their first year. I don’t have a clue how they managed to work the password out…” Harry said with a small frown. He had never thought about that.

Sirius/Maurice took out his wand and tapped the parchment, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” he said and writing appeared on the parchment

Welcome back Mr. Padfoot!

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

Sirius/Maurice then slowly opened the map, looking over it and watching the teachers and students walk around. He then looked outside and his breath caught. A low growling sound came from him.

“What is it Maurice?” Harry asked a little concerned.

“Peter! He is near the Hogwarts Entrance!” Sirius hissed.

“Who’s Peter?” Ron asked clearly confused.

“No time to explain Ron. Come on, let’s go! We have to catch him. Si-Maurice, keep checking the map as well. Let’s go!” Harry said quickly and all four of them got up.

“We will use the Honeydukes passage; it’s the closest way there.” Sirius said as the trio followed after him. They quickly entered the sweets shop and swiftly snuck down into the cellar where they went though the trap door.

The passageway was dark so the trio lit their wands as they made their way down. Sirius was keeping an eye on the map, so far Peter hadn’t moved. “Quickly let’s go!” Sirius said as they ran along the passageway.

When they got to the entrance they quickly got out, not caring if anyone saw them. “He’s moving! He’s just gone outside, we have to hurry!”

The four of them took off running towards the castle entrance. When they reached there Sirius kept going, not stopping. “Follow me, I know where he is going.” Harry also knew where Peter was going… the Shrieking Shack.

When they reached the Whomping Wwillow, Sirius stopped in his tracks and cursed, it had always been Peter that had pressed the knot in the tree to stop it. Harry though had other ideas. He quickly whipped out his wand, he didn’t say a word though a bright white blast hit the tree and it stopped moving.

Sirius didn’t say anything and quickly ran for the little entrance, sliding down the hole, Harry, Hermione and Ron right on his tail. Taking one last look at the map, Sirius watched as Peter disappeared, the map didn’t cover the shack. Realization dawned on Harry… that must have been where he has been hiding all the time.

Sirius turned to face them, “There is no way out of the Shack, cast silencing charms on your feet so he won’t hear us coming.” The three of them nodded and cast the spells, they then made their way towards the shack.

When they finally entered, Sirius cast a locking charm on the door. “We will search each room, he’s an animagus and his form is a rat so look for him.” The three of them nodded. Harry glanced at Hermione, he had never told her Scabbers was Peter, but by the look on her face she had worked it out now.

They went from room to room, ripping them apart until they finally came to the last one. Sirius cast another locking charm on this door before turning and facing the room. “Come out Peter… It’s time.” Sirius said softly in a sing-song voice, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

They started searching everywhere but couldn’t find him. It was then Harry had an idea, “Accio Peter!” Harry yelled and then out of the rubble Scabbers came flying, though Harry didn’t catch him, he hit the wall behind them.

“SCABBERS!” Ron exclaimed. He went to go grab him but was stopped by Sirius/Maurice. “What are you doing!? I want to get Scabbers.” Ron asked very confused now.

“That’s no rat Ron.” Sirius said softly. “That is a Death Eater.” Ron looked at him like he was crazy.

“Are you saying that Scabbers is Peter?” Ron asked, Sirius nodded, “You’re bonkers, Scabbers has been in our family for…”

“Thirteen years.” Sirius said, Ron was wide eyed, “Yes…long time for a rat isn’t it?” Ron was now pale… he had been living with a Death Eater for thirteen years…

Sirius quickly flicked his wand and Scabbers began to transform slowly, and by the looks of it, painfully.

“Is it safe now… is the dark lord dead?” Peter instantly asked.

“Oh save it you Death Eater!” Sirius/Maurice hissed.

“I don’t know who you are! But I am not a Death Eater!” Peter said, trying to defend himself, but even an idiot could tell he was lying.

“Oh… you don’t know who I am? Well allow me to introduce myself.” Sirius said. He then flicked his wand and removed his glamour. Ron let out a shriek.

“I-It’s Sirius B-Black.” Ron stammered, Harry just looked over at Ron with a half apologetic smile.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you before mate… but he is not a murderer. In fact, the person he was sent away for killing is right in front of us.” Harry said pointed to Peter. Ron looked back and forth between Peter and Sirius not knowing what to believe. So instead of saying anything he just stayed quiet and let whatever was going to happen, happen.

“Tonight you will answer for your crime Peter! I will finally commit the murder I was sent to prison for 13 years for!” Sirius hissed.

“No… don’t Sirius; he’s not worth being killed by you.” Harry said stepping forward. Peter’s eyes widened and he quickly crawled over to Harry.

“Thank you Harry, thank you! James and Lily would be so proud!” Peter said. Harry just let out a growl and kicked Peter square in the face.

“Don’t you dare speak my parents name you bloody traitor! I said you weren’t good enough for us to kill! I’m going to make sure you get the kiss you bloody piss ant!” Harry growled, Peter shuddered as her held his nose, blood was now freely flowing from it.

It was then the door was blasted opened and all of a sudden Sirius, Harry and Hermione were disarmed, Snape then walked slowly into the room. “So, So, So, what do we have hear… planning with murderers are we Potter… I will have you in Azkaban for this.” Snape hissed glaring at Harry, he then turned to Sirius, “Ah I was hoping to be the one to catch you Black.” Snape said spitting Sirius’s name.

“What do you want Snape, my innocence is cowering right there.” Sirius said pointed to Peter. Snape looked over at Peter and his eyes widened for a moment, “Well too bad… do you think that it will stop the dementors.” Snape hissed, a thin smile growing on his lips.

“Expellio!” Ron yelled, and watched with a large smile on his face as Snape was went straight through the door, sending splinters everywhere. He didn’t get up. “I have wanted to do that for three years!” Ron said happily. This caused all four of them to laugh despite the situation. Everyone stopped laughing though when Peter tried to join in.

“N-nothing l-like picking on old S-Snape e-eh S-Sirius?” Peter asked nervously, Sirius just glared at him before a red bolt shot out across the room and Peter fell to the floor stunned.

“Come on, let’s take the piece of filth to Dumbledore’s office.” Harry said. He then looked over at Sirius, “It might be better if you transformed into a dog until we got there though.” Sirius for his part just nodded and changed back.

Harry then levitated Peter into the air and started to leave. He chuckled softly as Ron looked into where Snape was, he found the huge smile that Ron was wearing highly contagious.

They walked down the length of the passage and out of the base of the Whomping Willow. Harry could see the sparkle in Sirius’s eyes as he looked out over the Quidditch pitch and up to the school.

“Come on let’s go!” Harry said and they all headed towards the castle. Walking to the Headmaster’s office they didn’t come across anyone, thankfully. Harry really didn’t want to explain why he was levitating an unconscious person. When they finally reached the stone gargoyle statue Harry just looked at it. He then reached out and placed his fingers on its eyes and then it slowly opened, revealing the revolving staircase.

“Er… Harry… what the hell did you just do?” Ron asked amazed, Hermione also had wide eyes, though she might have a better idea and her next comment proved that.

“You’re Godric Gryffindor’s heir aren’t you?” Hermione asked, Harry just gave her a half smile and nodded. Ron’s jaw nearly hit the ground.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ron asked, a little disappointed.

“Well… I only found out this summer... and I guess the opportunity never came up. I mean what would you have said if I just came up and said, ‘Hey Ron, guess what! I’m the heir of Godric Gryffindor!” Harry reasoned.

Ron seemed to think for a minute before he nodded his head in agreement. They walked up the staircase until they came to the headmaster’s wooden door. Harry reached out and knocked.

“Enter.”

*-----*

There you go! I hope you all liked it :P I got my laptop hooked up to the hotels network for $(AU) 10 a week so I have broadband connection in my room :), next chapter coming soon!!

Chapter 16 is now uploaded… had to ad this Author’s note because last upload didn’t work, this was to allow you to get an Alert…

Chapter 16

Luke

Chapter 17 – The Hearing

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here we go another chapter! Thanks Turnlach once again for his BETA work :D

*----*

They walked up the staircase until they came to the headmaster’s wooden door. Harry reached out and knocked.

“Enter.”

*------*

To say that the headmaster was surprised when Harry, Hermione and Ron walked into his office, levitating someone’s limp body and with a large black dog following them would be an understatement.

Harry took great amusement in seeing the headmaster surprised, “It’s not every day you see the great Albus Dumbledore looking surprised.” Harry said with a slight chuckle, he was still set on changing the headmaster.

Dumbledore noticed the humour in Harry’s voice and, personally he had to agree, so chuckled himself, “So… what have you brought me this year Harry?” Dumbledore asked with a half smile, the twinkle full bloom in his eyes, which caused Harry to intensively reinforce his mental shields.

“When you ask a question headmaster… you should wait for the answer and not go searching your self.” Harry said giving Dumbledore a piercing gaze which caused Dumbledore to reinforce his shields… something he had not needed to do in a long time.

Dumbledore was even more shocked by Harry’s statement and all he could do was nod in agreement, “So… what have you got here Harry?” he asked.

“Well… on my right, we have evidence proving Sirius Black’s innocence…” Harry said simply, which caused Dumbledore’s eyes to widen, “…and on my left we have Sirius Black himself.” When Harry introduced him, Sirius changed back into his human form. Dumbledore instantly went for his wand, though stopped when he found Harry’s wand pointed at him. Harry's eyes were also glowing slightly.

“Harry… this man is a murderer…” Dumbledore said cautiously.

“Didn’t you hear me Headmaster… if you recall before I introduced Sirius I said we had the evidence proving his innocence.” Harry growled softly. Dumbledore nodded then did something unexpected, he apologized.

“Yes… sorry about that…” Dumbledore said softly, “Care to explain the evidence then?” he asked and Harry just nodded.

“Well this man is Peter Pettigrew, who also happened to be my parents Secret Keeper and the one who betrayed my parents. When Sirius tracked him down… he blew up the street killing the muggles and well as cutting off his finger and changing into his animagus form… a rat… also known as Ron’s pet Scabbers.” Harry said. Dumbledore’s eyes were wide.

Harry knew Dumbledore didn’t know about Peter being the Potters Secret Keeper, but he had thought that it was Sirius who killed the muggles and then Peter.

“I-I am sorry Sirius.” Dumbledore said softly, “If I were you I would change back into your animagus form. I will call the ministry so that we can get you cleared… that is unless you have another idea?”

“No… that’s was what we were hoping.” Sirius said with a nod and transformed back. Dumbledore then went over to his floo and threw some powder into the fire, calling out ‘Ministry of Magic, Minister’s Office’. Dumbledore’s head was in there for about a minute before he removed it and about another minute later two Aurors came through.

Dumbledore spoke to them for about a minute explaining the situation, leaving out the fact of course that Sirius Black was currently in the room. The two Aurors seemed to be in shock as they went over to look at Peter.

“You say you know how to contact Black?” the Auror asked and Dumbledore just nodded, “Tell him to come by tomorrow and we will question Peter under Veritaserum.” the Auror said before they went back through the floo with Peter. Sirius changed back, now with a large smile on his face.

“I think that it’s time that we all finished off the day… I think we will need to have a talk after the meeting tomorrow.” Dumbledore said and they all nodded and went to leave.

“Um Sirius… I don’t think it would be best to wander around the school… at least not without a glamour or something first.” Dumbledore pointed out.

“Oh…yeah.” Sirius flicked his wand over his head and his face changed to match Maurice once again. Harry then took them all to the Room of Requirements where they spent the rest of the day.

*--------*

Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore and Sirius/Maurice Black entered the Ministry of Magic via the floo. They then quickly made their way down to the same courtroom where Harry was put on trail before his sixth year, Courtroom 10.

The group entered right on time, Minister Fudge was waiting just inside for them.

“Ah Albus!” He exclaimed, he then looked at Harry, Hermione and Ron, “Mr Potter, it’s nice to finally meet you!” he said shaking Harry's hand. Harry bit back the urge to hit the Ex-Death Eater minister.

“And this young man must be a Weasley, easy to tell with the hair.” Fudge said shaking Ron’s hand, he then turned to Hermione and held out his hand.

“And of course, Miss Granger! We have heard only good things about you here.” Fudge then looked up at Sirius who was still wearing his disguise, “I’m afraid I have no idea who you are…” he said holding out his hand. Sirius shook his hand, a smirk on his face.

“Well… you didn’t expect a wanted murderer to waltz into the Ministry without a disguise did you?” Sirius asked, Harry bit back his laughter when Fudge’s eyes went wide.

“Mr Black is it then?” he muttered, Sirius quickly flicked his wand removing the glamour.

“In the flesh… now… could we get to making me a free man again?” He asked, a low growl in his voice.

“Of course! Of course! If you would all take a seat.” Fudge said quickly showing them to their seats then hurrying up to the councillors table.

“This hearing is now in session!” Madam Bones called out, “Due to certain circumstances, I will be standing in for Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore.” She said in an official voice, “We are here today to look at the case of Sirius Orion Black, as new evidence has come to light… Administer the Veritaserum!”

An official looking Auror quickly poured the potion down Peter’s throat and then waited a minute. When Peter’s eyes glazed over he started the questioning.

“What is you name?” the Auror asked.

“Peter Samuel Pettigrew.” Peter said in an emotionless voice.

“What part did you play in the murder of James and Lily Potter?” was the next question the Auror asked.

“I was made James and Lily’s secret keeper. I then told my master the location of the Potters so that he could murder them.” Peter answered. A soft gasp went out among the council.

“What really happened when Sirius Black confronted you in a crowed muggle street?” the Auror asked.

“Sirius was in a state of despair, I used this to my advantage when we duelled. We duelled for about ten minutes. I then yelled out so that the people near could hear what I said. I said that he had betrayed the Potters and that he was working for the Dark Lord. I then sent a Reducto Maximus which killed the twelve muggles. Before the dust settled I cut off my finger and changed into my animagus form.” Peter answered.

“What is your animagus form?”

“A rat.”

Harry could hear some of the council members muttering to each other. They seemed to find it slightly funny since some were muttering ‘fitting’ when referring to Peter’s animagus form.

“Where have you been for the last thirteen years?” the Auror asked, many of the members listened for his answer, also wondering the same thing.

“I was found by someone called Percy Weasley, who brought me home with him. He was my owner for nine years before I was handed down to his youngest brother Ronald Weasley.” Peter answered. Harry noticed that Ron hanged his head in shame. Harry grasped his shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze which Ron returned with a half smile.

“Did the Weasley family know of who you really were?”

“No they did not, they always assumed I was a magical rat because of my long age.” was Peter’s answered.

The Auror looked towards the council table, Fudge gave him a small nod, and the Auror administered the antidote.

“The council will take a brief recess before we decided on the appropriate action.” Madam Bones said before the council left into the back room.

Harry turned to see that Sirius was scowling at Peter, who seemed to be cowering… a lot, “If he does not get the kiss, I will make sure there is an accident in Azkaban.” Sirius muttered to Harry.

“Oh… don’t worry. If he is sent to Azkaban I can assure you there will be an accident.” Harry said. There was a gleam in his eyes that told Sirius Harry was being nothing but truthful.

About ten minutes later the Council re-entered the courtroom and took their seats. Once everyone was seated, Madam Bones stood up.

“The Council has come to the following decisions…” She said and then turned to face Peter.

“Peter Pettigrew, firstly you will have your Order of Merlin stripped from you.” Bones said, “Second, on the charge of helping in the murder of the Potters, we sentence you to life in Azkaban.” Peter cringed at this, but also seemed a little relieved.

“On the charge of the murder of twelve muggles, you are sentenced to life in Azkaban.” Bones continued.

“On the charge of following a Dark Lord, and using the Dark Arts you are sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban.” Bones said, she then looked around before continuing.

“The council has decided, because of the amount and the magnitude of the charges against you… you will receive the Dementor’s kiss.” Bones finished.

Peter started to cry out, trying to change their minds, though it was hopeless. He then tried to beg Sirius, Harry and Dumbledore to give him a second chance. None of them paid attention to him.

Madam Bones then turned to Sirius, “Sirius Black, we find you innocent of all charges that were laid against you. One million galleons has been deposited into your Gringotts account because of your lost time. The ministry is deeply sorry that it took so long for the truth to come out.”

Sirius for his part nodded to Madam Bones and then turned to Harry, a large smile on his face. He then pulled Harry, Hermione and Ron into a tight hug, “It’s all because of you three… all because of you three… thank you.” Sirius said softly.

They all left the courtroom and found Arthur waiting just outside, “DAD! What are you doing here?” Ron asked, giving his father a hug.

“I knew you were coming here today, so I thought I might drop down and say hi. So how is everybody?” Arthur asked, his eyes then landed on Sirius. “I am sorry Sirius… I’m shamed to admit that I had thought you guilty after it happened.”

Sirius just grabbed his hand and shook it, “No worries mate! No hard feelings. I’m just glad I’m free of it… just want to put it behind me.” Sirius said with a large grin on his face.

Ron was looking back and forth between his father and Sirius, “You know each other?” Ron asked confused.

“Of course, we were both in the Or… started working at the ministry about the same time.” Arthur said. Ron seemed to take Arthur’s quick cover up and nodded.

“Mr Black?” Came the voice of Fudge from behind them, “Mr Black?” Sirius turned around to face him, “I’m sorry about the past minister’s actions… and I hope to try and make it up to you. I know nothing can replace the time lost but I would like you to have these… six tickets to the Quidditch Cup this summer… in the Minister’s box.” Fudge said handing over the tickets.

“Thank you Minister, I’m sure Harry would love to go.” Sirius said. Fudge just nodded his head and continued up the stairs, “Can you think of anyone else who would like to go Harry?” Sirius asked.

Harry turned to Ron, “Want to go Ron?” Ron quickly nodded his head. Harry was about to ask Hermione when Arthur cut in.

“That won’t be necessary… I wanted it to be a surprise… but I have tickets for my family… also in the Minister’s box. I guess we will see you there.” Arthur said with a large smile. “I expect you to keep it a secret Ron; I would like to surprise the rest of the family.” Ron just nodded, his eyes bright with excitement.

Harry seemed thoughtful for a moment before his eyes shot open to Hermione, “Do you think your parents would like to come?” Harry asked. Hermione beamed.

“OH they would love it! They have always wanted to see magic!” Hermione said happily.

“That leave’s one ticket then Harry, who else?” Sirius asked. Harry just gave Sirius a smile.

“Well I was thinking about us speaking to Remus… if you wanted to of course.” Harry said. A large smile formed on Sirius’s face at the mention of Remus and he just nodded.

“I think that’s a great idea.”

*-----*

Well that’s it for now… tell me what you thought in a review! Cheers

Luke

Chapter 18 – Talks and Heading Home

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here is another chapter, thanks Turnlach once again for his BETA work :P

*------*

Harry and Sirius went straight to Remus’ class when they got back. Sirius had told Harry what he wanted to do and was now in his animagus form walking beside Harry.

Harry opened Remus’ door without knocking and found him sitting behind his desk marking papers. Remus looked up and a smile formed on his face when he saw Harry, “Ah Harry, what can I do for you?” he asked.

Harry kept a straight face the whole time, “Well, I just wanted to show you this dog I found.” Harry said indicating to the dog that had just come out from behind the table. Remus’ eyes went wide and all the colour in his face disappeared.

“Har…” but he didn’t have time, Sirius was now changed back, wand in his hand and smiling at his old friend. Harry was also smirking.

“Oh… that’s right, you already know Sirius.” Harry said and then sat down at the closest desk. Sirius still had a large smile on his face while Remus had a very confused look on his face, but still had his wand pointing at Sirius.

“I guess we should bring you up to date,” Harry said, Remus just nodded. “Well yesterday we captured Peter Pettigrew who had been hiding as Ron’s pet rat Scabbers for the last thirteen or so years… and today we have just got back from a hearing declaring Sirius a free man and cleared of all charges that were against him.”

Remus’ eyes went wide again “What...” was he all managed. He then turned to look at Sirius who had a large grin on his face, “But I thought you were the secret keeper…” Remus said softly.

Sirius’s face fell, “I was going to be… but I convinced them to change to Peter… I though it would be less obvious.” Sirius said, looking down at his feet and shaking his head. Remus got up and walked over to him.

“Forgive an old friend?” He asked holding out his hand. Sirius took his hand but instead of shaking it he used it to pull himself up and he pulled Remus into hug.

“Of course, old friend.” Sirius said.

“I’ll let you guys catch up… I have to see someone anyway.” Harry said. Remus and Sirius just nodded before they sat down and started talking about the past and the present.

Harry quietly walked to the headmaster’s office and used the same trick he had done before with the stone gargoyle to enter. This time he didn’t even bother to knock on the door and just walked in. Dumbledore looked up in surprise but didn’t say a thing as Harry sat down.

“What do you want to talk about?” Harry asked. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. “Don’t kid around professor… do you really think I’m that stupid. I could tell that you wanted to speak to me before.” Harry said, sighing a little.

“You are right… I did want to speak to you… but how you knew… perhaps you are a natural at the art of Legilimency.” Dumbledore said, more to himself than to Harry.

“So… what did you want?” Harry asked. Dumbledore looked him in the eye and Harry raised his Occlumency shields.

“I just wanted to inform you that I had a talk with the Dursleys and they will be treating you better this summer.” Dumbledore said. Now it was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow. Dumbledore didn’t know about his emancipation… he must be on good terms the goblins for them to keep this news from Dumbledore for him.

“And what made you think that I was actually returning to the Dursleys?” Harry asked. Dumbledore was a little shocked by this.

“They are your guardians you have to return to them.” Dumbledore said. Harry just smirked.

“Oh. No, they aren’t my guardians anymore… I made sure of that this summer.” Harry said. Dumbledore’s eyes got wide at this.

“Harry… you must understand… the protection your mother gave you and the wards around your aunt’s house…” Dumbledore started.

“Have nothing to do with each other.” Harry stated, “Did you really think that I couldn’t tell… I know those wards are just normal wards, except for the fact they are set up by you.” Harry stated coldly.

Dumbledore was surprised but it didn’t deter him, “Harry that may be true… but since I am you magical guardian you WILL be going back there for the summer.” Dumbledore stated forcefully. Harry was once again smiling.

“Nope, I took care of that too… you are no longer my guardian, I am what you call an emancipated minor… meaning that I am legally an adult.” Harry said happily.

Dumbledore sighed, “Harry… I must insist that you return.” he said softly. The game was now starting to get on Harry's nerves.

“You can INSIST all you want Dumbledore! But you will not get your way.” Harry said coldly, “I suggest you quit with the manipulations or you will find yourself against me.” Harry said; Dumbledore’s eyes shot open at this. Harry knew what he was thinking, “No I will not join Voldemort nor will I turn to dark magic. I will however cut myself off totally from you.” Harry said, his eyes now glowing softly in the dim light.

“Think about that.” was all Harry said before he left the office.

Dumbledore sunk back in his chair and let out a sigh. He then turned to Fawkes, “I have really screwed this up haven’t I.” he stated with a sign, Fawkes for his part let out a small trill, sounding like he agreed.

*------*

Dumbledore must have taken Harry’s advice since he had not said anything further about him going back to the Dursleys. It was now that time again, the end of the year and Harry, Hermione and Ron were pulling their stuff to the Hogwarts Express.

Harry had turned down the offer to just Floo with Sirius and Remus, who was now going to be moving in with them. He had turned them down, saying that he liked riding the train with his friends.

The last two weeks of school had been chaos. Sirius was going all out, teaming up with George and Fred Weasley and pulling pranks on just about everyone… though they had no luck with Harry… he always seemed to stop them or avoid them.

Snape had been their favourite target, Sirius was harbouring a grudge about Snape trying to get him kissed by the Dementors and Harry couldn’t blame him. The school praised Ron after they found out what he had done to their least favourite Professor. If this didn’t annoy Snape enough, Ron didn’t get into any trouble for banishing the Potions Master into a cabinet.

Snape had been brutal during the last week; Ron had lost a total of three hundred points for Gryffindor, for things such as breathing too loudly. It had all worked out fine though when McGonagall happened to witness Snape taking fifty points from Ron for blinking too many times. She had automatically restored all the points that Ron had lost.

In the end Gryffindor won the House Cup along with the Quidditch Cup. Slytherin had come second in both, a fact that made them livid and made the Gryffindors go crazy. And now it was all over, another year at Hogwarts finished.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were now sitting in their compartment. Harry had his arm around Hermione’s back, while she leaned softly into him. By now Ron was totally used to seeing them together like this, in fact it now seemed that they were never any different.

“So Harry, what are you, Sirius and Lupin going to be doing over the summer?” Ron asked.

“Umm… I think Sirius wants to buy a house… all the Black Houses are usually full of Dark Arts and stuff. Other than that, the World Cup is about it.” Harry said, scratching his chin.

“What about you Hermione?” Ron asked. Hermione just shrugged her shoulders.

“World Cup and nothing else really…” Hermione said. Ron nodded, he seemed to be thinking, and his eyes then went wide.

“You guys should come over for a couple of days or something… before the World Cup. All of you can come, Hermione and her parents, Remus and Sirius.” Ron said a large smile on his face.

“Sound like a great idea mate.” Harry said happily. It was then that their compartment door was thrown open, revealing Malfoy standing there with a snarl on his face.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Potty, his mudblood and his pet weasel.” Malfoy drawled. Harry made to get up but Ron stopped him.

“Can I mate?” Ron asked with a gleam in his eyes. Harry just nodded and bit back a smirk.

“Pfffft… what are you going to do Weasel… make yourself vomit slugs again.” Malfoy said, laughing mockingly.

Draco didn’t even get time to respond as Ron launched himself forward and throwing his fist as hard as he could. He hit Malfoy square in the jaw and actually lifted him off the ground, causing him to turn 180 degrees before he landed face first in the hallway… out cold.

Hermione seemed to have a disapproving frown on her face, as well as the look of controlled laughter. Harry didn’t bother trying to hide it, he burst out laughing and Hermione soon followed him. Ron had the biggest grin on his face, the last time Harry had seen it was when he knocked Snape out. When the rest of the school heard about this Ron would be a hero all over again.

“Ron, if it was anyone else I would disapprove… but since it’s Malfoy… great shot.” Hermione said with a large smile on her face.

The rest of the train ride went fairly quickly. They had bought sweets off the food cart and spent the rest of the time talking about different things and playing wizard’s chess.

Once they arrived, the trio left the compartment, stepping over Malfoy’s still unconscious body, before they hopped off the train. Hermione spotted her parents and quickly gave Harry her bag before running off to give them a hug.

Sirius, Remus and the Weasleys were standing next to them. Harry walked up to Remus and Sirius, trying to hang on to his luggage and Hermione's.

“How was the trip?’ Sirius asked. Harry just smiled.

“Great! Ron got to knock Malfoy out.” Harry said, as if it was an every day occurrence. Sirius had a grin on his face and gave Ron a thumbs up. Hermione then came over with her parents.

“Ron… could you come over here for a second.” Sirius called. Ron quickly came over.

“I was trying to find a way to thank you guys properly for what you did… and I have decided that I would give you these.” He said, handing Ron and Hermione a gold Gringotts key each.

Ron looked shocked, while Hermione looked confused. After all, her parents were muggles and she had never actually seen Harry's key before. “What is it Sirius?” she asked, examining the key.

“That my dear, it a Gringotts Vault key… containing some of the money the Ministry gave me. The key in Ron’s hand is for another Vault containing some as well.” Sirius said with a large smile on his face.

Ron had gone from shocked to catatonic, his eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly agape, Sirius chuckled at his expression. “I-I can’t take this! It’s your money.” Hermione protested, trying to hand the key back to Sirius.

“Hermione… I’m the last of the Black line… let’s just say that they’re quite well off. And Harry here… gods the Gryffindor line and the Potters… the Potters alone was at least twice the size of the Malfoys and the Gryffindor one is larger than that. Trust me when I say that nether of us will be needing money.” Sirius said softly. Harry gave her a half smile and nodded slightly.

Hermione let out a sigh in defeat before she pulled Sirius into a hug, “Thank you.” She said softly, giving him a kiss on his cheek before turning back to her parents. Mr and Mrs. Granger were rooted on the spot… they were staring at Sirius unblinking.

Since they were Muggles and didn’t have a vault, they always exchanged their money so they knew the kind of money Hermione had just been given.

“Y-You just gave our daughter one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.” Mr Granger said softly. “And we don’t even know you.”

Sirius just smiled at them, “I’m Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black.” He said holding out his hand.

Jane gasped, “You’re the man from the news… the murderer that escaped from jail.” She whispered in fright.

“The Muggles don’t know I was found innocent yet?” Sirius said with a sigh. “Great, I’m going to have to talk to Fudge about that.”

“What, oh no… it was on about a week ago that recent evidence that you apparently collected and gave to the police proved you innocent. Are you saying that it was Hermione who did that?” Jane asked wide eyed.

Sirius grinned, “Well her, Harry and Ron here did that.” Sirius said grabbing Ron on the shoulder. This seemed to snap him out of his dazed state and back into reality.

“SIRIUS I CAN’T TAKE THIS!” Ron practically yelled, Sirius just sighed.

“Ron, I’m not explaining the situation again… now you are taking it no questions asked.” Sirius said softly. Ron, who really didn’t agree with his previous statement but thought it was the right thing quickly agreed with him.

Ron then turned to his parents, “Umm… mum… dad… err… Sirius gave me a vault with some… err money in it for helping getting him free.” Ron said nervously.

Molly smiled, “That’s nice of him…” Molly said, “How much did he give you.” she asked remembering that the Blacks were quite well off.

Ron seemed to get really nervous at this question, “Well you see… it’s like this… Sirius was given money from the ministry that he didn’t want… so he was thinking about what to…” Ron started rambling, hoping that his mother would just forget her question.

“Ronald… how much?” She asked softly, Ron gulped.

“Fifteen thousand galleons.” He said quickly covering his ears.

“SIRIUS ORION BLACK! GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!” Molly screamed. Harry watched as Sirius flinched and he stifled his laughter… he knew how proud the Weasleys were. Harry had tried on many occasions to give them money but was turned down all the time.

Sirius slowly turned to look at Molly, “Yes Molly?” he asked.

“What do you think you are doing? We cannot take your money!” she asked as if he were insane.

“Well you see Molly… if it weren’t for Ron here helping get Peter for me I would still be on the run… and also if Ron had not sent Snape into the wall knocking him out I would most likely be a soulless corpse. So that money is Ron’s to keep… I am not taking it back. I have informed the Goblins that I am to accept no money returns form that vault or the Weasley Vault.” Sirius said with a small smile.

Molly did something that no one expected, she hugged Sirius. Sirius was stunned… as were Arthur, the Twins, Ginny, Hermione and Ron.

“Thank you.” She said. Sirius just nodded and gave her a small smile.

“Well… we should be off then.” Molly said, “I expect all of you to visit the Burrow this summer, that includes you Rodger and Jane.” Molly said. Everyone nodded in agreement before the Weasleys left.

The Grangers, Harry, Sirius and Remus left soon after, Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand. “I will see you soon.” Harry said quietly, giving Hermione a soft kiss, Hermione nodded.

“Love you.” she said softly.

“Love you too.” Harry said before him, Sirius and Remus headed back though the barrier to take the Floo to Sirius’s house.

*----*

Well there you go! I hope you all liked it :P, thanks to everyone that has been reviewing, I try and respond to most of them but since I am currently away from home it is difficult, I still take the time to read every signal one though

Chapter 19 – A New Home

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here is another chapter :) I hope you all like it! Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work once again

*-----*

“So! What do we want to do this summer?” Sirius said happily, loving his new freedom.

“Umm… I was thinking that… we could maybe… buy another house.” Harry said, “I want to live in a normal size house… not like this one. And I don’t think I want to live in any of the houses my parents owned yet.” Harry said. Sirius seemed to be thoughtful.

“Yes… I was actually going to suggest the same thing… this house is way too big for my liking and since there is only the three of us…” Sirius said, “What do you think Moony?”

“It’s your money… it’s not up to me.” Remus said

“Now, now Remus! My money is your money, you better remember that! And anyway… I doubt I could spend all of the Black money if I tried.” Sirius said seriously. Remus just nodded.

“Ok then, it’s decided! We’re buying a house! Anywhere you’re interested in Harry? Hogsmeade? Diagon Alley?” Sirius asked.

Harry just shook his head, “No, no I want it to be in a muggle area. I don’t really want reporters pitched in front of the house… and we don’t really want Voldemort and his followers knowing where I live.” Harry said. Sirius and Remus nodded their heads in agreement.

“Yes I can see your point… anywhere you can think of then?” Sirius asked. Harry was thoughtful for a bit.

“Actually… Canton seemed like a nice area… wouldn’t mind living there.” Harry said, Sirius nodded, while Remus looked at Harry suspiciously.

“So… why Canton Harry?” Remus asked raising an eyebrow.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders, “Hmm… No real reason.” Harry said, lying through his teeth. He didn’t really want to tell them that Hermione happened to also live there.

“Ok then! If it’s where Harry wants to live, it’s where we will live. He deserves to live in a place he wants after those damn muggles…” Sirius said, growling out the last bit, then his eyes took on a mischievous gleam, “Harry… you said your uncle worked at a drill company?” Sirius asked.

“Er… yeah Grunnings” Harry asked slightly confused. It then dawned on him what Sirius was thinking, “Oh My God! That would be great!” Harry said his eyes wide.

“What are you two planning now?” Remus asked, as he watched the two of them.

“Well Moony old pal, could you imagine the look on Harry’s uncle’s face when he finds out that Harry happens to own the company he works for?” Sirius said a large grin on his face.

A large grin grew on Remus’ face at the idea, “Well old Padfoot, I would say he would be… devastated.”

“Another time then! We have to go house shopping!” Harry said. Sirius and Remus both nodded but Harry could tell that Sirius was still planning his revenge on the Dursleys.

The three of them left via the floo to the Leaky Cauldron and then took the Knight Bus into Canton, telling Stan to drop them off near a real estate office.

The three of them entered the office and went up to the reception desk, a fairly young lady looked at them, with a smile on her face, “Hello, how may I help you three today?” She asked sweetly.

Sirius had that mischievous look in his eye again, “Hello, we need to speak to someone about buying a house here in Canton… we were hoping to make the purchase today.” Sirius said. The lady’s eyes seemed to widen at this.

“Umm… yes… Mitchell should be able to help you… will you follow me?” She asked getting up and leading them into an office just around the corner.

A lady, who looked to be in her mid thirties stood up and greeted them, “Hello, I’m Mitchell; I hear you are looking for a house in the Canton area?” She asked.

Sirius smiled and nodded, “That’s correct, we are looking for one and hope to make a purchase today.” Just like before, Mitchell’s eyes widened,

“Umm… Do you know the house you want to buy?” She asked. Sirius shook his head, “So… you want to find and buy a house today…” this time Sirius nodded. “I see… well… what price range are you looking at?”

“Any… the price doesn’t matter.” Sirius said, Mitchell nodded and started looking though her computer.

“There are currently only four houses on sale in Canton… which I can show you now if you would like?” She asked.

“That would be lovely.” Sirius said. The four of them then left the office and took Mitchell’s car to the first house.

The first house was nice though it was a little too small for Harry’s tastes, Remus and Sirius seemed to agree with him… after all it wouldn’t always be the three of them.

The second house was an old run-down place which they turned down before they even stepped foot inside the house.

The third one they looked at was lovely. It was a two storey house, with a large basement. Sirius and Remus also seemed impressed by it. It was a relatively large house, 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, dining room, lounge room, basement, and a kitchen. It was still nowhere near as big as most of the Potter and Black houses. The outside of the house was a white. When they went inside it was even nicer, the walls were an off-white colour so that it wasn’t too bright.

The furniture was nice, and suited each room very well; the thing that sold it for Harry was the fact that it was only a two minute walk from Hermione's… and the fact that it wasn’t a dump like the last one.

“So… what do you think Harry? It’s your choice remember.” Sirius asked. Harry could see Mitchell’s eyes widen at this in the background.

“I like it… and I think we should take it.” Harry said happily, Sirius smiled and nodded at Mitchell.

“We will take this one… how much is it?” Sirius asked.

“Umm… this house is three hundred and fifty thousand pounds.” Mitchell said, Sirius just nodded.

“We will pay them… four hundred and fifty if they let us move in today.” Sirius said. Mitchell’s eyes widened again at this.

“I-I-I’ll just call them… give me a moment.” She said before going into the next room. She came out about ten minutes later with a large smile on her face, “They said that they are very happy and will happily allow you to move in.” she said.

“Thank you… We will go see our bankers now and have the money transferred… do you have the banking details?” Sirius asked.

“We can do it from the office…” Mitchell said, but Sirius cut her off.

“Well since we are having this money deposited straight away, we have to go in… unless it will actually take a couple of days before the money actually goes into their account.” Sirius explained, Mitchell nodded, though she had a confused look on her face. She then wrote down the family’s banking details and handed them over to Sirius.

About two hours later they were back in the real estate office. Mitchell was gobsmacked that the house was already paid for… she didn’t know what to say, she just got them to sign the required documents and handed them the keys.

Once out of the office Sirius used a duplicating charm on the keys and handed a set to Remus and Harry, “Ok! Lets go get settled in!” Sirius said happily. The three of them then found an empty alley and apparated right into the living room of their new house.

They then separated and went to move into their rooms. After leaving Gringotts they had packed and shrunk all of their stuff. About an hour later they were done and back in the Living Room.

“Binky!” Sirius called, Binky appeared in a soft ‘pop’.

“Master Sirius be needing something?” Binky asked, smiling happily.

“Well Binky… we will be living here from now on and we were hoping that you would come with us?” Sirius asked, Binky was crying softly.

“Binky would be honoured, Master Sir… Binky will get to setting up the house.” She said and with another ‘pop’ she was gone.

“Well, what are you guys going to do today?” Remus asked.

“Well I was thinking about setting up some wards around the house… then taking a look around the neighbourhood.” Harry replied. Remus’ eyes widened at this.

“Er… Harry… Where did you learn about warding?” Remus asked. Harry looked towards Sirius and nodded his head.

“Remus there is something that we have to tell you.” Sirius said. They spent the next hour explaining what had happened to Harry, how he was from the future and what they had been doing during the summer. Remus was so shocked he just nodded.

“I guess it explains how you could perform a corporeal Patronus.” Remus said still in a state of shock. Harry just smiled.

“Actually… I learnt it in my third year… you actually taught me how to perform it.” Harry said smiling at the man.

“That’s nice to know.” Remus said and then he had the sparkle in his eyes… “So… you and Hermione engaged eh?” he asked, teasing a little.

“Shut up Remus.” Harry said before laughing. When the laughter finally stopped Harry stood up and walked into the living room. “I think I will set the wards now.” he said.

Harry then began waving his wand in all different motions, softly speaking long lengths of Latin and other ancient languages that neither Remus or Sirius had heard before.

About fifteen minutes later, Harry had lain down an anti-apparation field, only allowing in the ones on the permitted list. So far that was, Harry, Remus, Sirius, The Weasleys and Hermione. He had then laid down his anti-dark mark ward, but this time didn’t use the anti-magic field.

He also added some emergency wards; these were a more… severe anti-apparation ward, where if they were not on the list, instead of harmlessly bouncing off they… most likely would survive. There was also an anti-magic field with these emergency wards… again meaning that anyone that was not on the allowed list would be completely unable to use any magic.

Once Harry had laid the wards he explained them to Sirius and Remus, who were amazed that Harry could actually do this. He then, said his goodbyes and headed off down the street. To anyone watching it looked like he was aimlessly walking down the street, but in fact Harry had a destination.

*-------*

Harry arrived at a familiar looking house and began to walk down the drive. Before Harry even reached the front doors they were thrown open and Hermione had attacked him.

“HARRY! What are you doing here! I didn’t expect to see you today.” She said, planting small kisses all over his face. Harry just laughed.

“Well actually… I was just having a look around the new neighbourhood.” Harry said. Hermione looked at him in confusion. “You see… Sirius just happened to buy a new house… that happens to be about two minutes walk that way.” Harry said pointing down the street, a large smile on his face.

Hermione's mouth dropped open before she slowly closed it and a large smile formed on her face, “This means I get to be with you through the summer!” She said happily, drawing him into a bone-breaking hug. Harry just smiled.

“So… you want to come over and see the new house?” Harry asked. Hermione nodded.

“Come on, we will go tell mum and dad.” She said grabbing Harry's hand and dragging him into the house.

“MUM, DAD?” Hermione yelled out.

“In here dear.” came Jane’s voice. Hermione and Harry followed the sound into the living room where they found Rodger and Jane sitting on the couch watching a movie.

“Oh… Hello Harry, it nice to see you.” Rodger said. Harry smiled.

“Likewise, Mr. Granger.” Harry said politely.

“Harry… what have I said about the Mr and Mrs.…” Rodger said slowly.

“Oh… yeah sorry… Rodger.” Harry said, feeling a little weird.

“Mum, Dad you will never believe it,” Hermione said happily, Rodger and Jane just looked at her waiting for her to tell them, “Harry moved in down the street!” she said a large grin on her face.

The two adults then turned to Harry, looking at him suspiciously, “What? I-I wasn’t the one to buy the house! It was Sirius!” Harry said defending himself.

“Oh… and who chose the house now Harry dear.” Jane said sweetly, a smile on her face. Harry’s face reddened before he looked down at the ground and mumbled ‘mine’.

“And why did you happen to choose that house in particular?” Rodger asked, also grinning at him. Harry had given up; he knew his ‘major’ plan was busted, so there was no point lying.

“Because Hermione lived down the street... and I wanted to be with her during the summers.” Harry said his face now redder than the Weasleys hair.

Hermione looked at him a large smile on his face, “You chose that house so that you could be close to me?” She asked softly, a small smile on her face, Harry just nodded. Hermione kissed him softly on the lips… right in front of her parents; this caused Harry to quickly look at them after the kiss. He was relieved to see they had smiles on their faces.

“I’d buy the world for you Hermione.” Harry said softly, so that only Hermione could hear it. She just smiled at him, before turning to look at her parents.

“Mum, Dad we are going to go have a look at Harry's house. Is that ok?” She asked. Rodger and Jane just nodded.

Harry and Hermione walked down the street hand in hand, Harry then led her down the driveway towards a rather large house. When they entered Hermione gasped… it was amazing. Harry showed her around the house and she was wide eyed the whole time.

It was after the tour that two soft ‘pops’ announced the arrival of Sirius and Remus. Harry and Hermione went into the living room to say hello.

“Hey you guys. Where were you?” Harry asked.

“We went over to Diagon alley to pick up some fl… oh hello Hermione. I guess you’re the reason Harry likes this part of England so much.” Sirius said with a smile on his face.

“So I have heard.” Hermione said, causing Harry to blush and Sirius and Remus to chuckle.

“I knew there was something Harry.” Remus said, Harry just nodded, admitting defeat.

“So I take it Harry has shown you around?” Sirius asked, Hermione nodded, “So. What do you think?”

“It’s great! It has to be one of the nicest houses I have seen.” Hermione exclaimed to which Sirius smiled smugly.

“Merlin Sirius… you sound like a Malfoy… showing off your house.” Harry said, a teasing grin on his face. Sirius’s smile dropped and he turned to Harry.

“I’ll get you for that one, pup” He said, an evil looking gleam in his eyes and a large smirk on his face.

Harry couldn’t stop himself… he gulped.

*-----*

AN: Well there you go I hope that you all like it :P, Another chapter coming your way soon I promise!! Oh and I would also like to say, I have NO idea how much a house would cost in England, and well the moving in right away bit, with them offering another 150, well they got lots of money why not make others happy :P

Chapter 20 – Harry’s Birthday

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here is another chapter I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks to Turnlach once again for his BETA work!

*----*

It was three weeks into the summer and Harry and Hermione had been practically glued to each other. They seemed to take turns at staying at each others house, even though they were just a two minute walk away.

The past week Hermione had been rather persistent that Harry stay at her house, in fact she had kept him away from home for a week. Harry had a fairly good idea what was going on… it had been the week leading up to his birthday that Hermione had been keeping him busy, and now… on his birthday they were heading back… surprise party indeed.

Harry decided to play along with their party; after all they had obviously been working on it all week. Hermione seemed to have an excited look on her face, which gave it all away. Harry quickly stopped himself from chuckling at the fact as Hermione opened to door to the house.

“SURPRISE!!!!” came the voices of a lot of people. Harry didn’t need to act surprised… he was. The house was decked out to the max with decorations but that was not the half of it… it looked as if Sirius and Remus had invited half of Gryffindor!

Hermione turned to him, a large smile on her face, “Well Harry? Surprised?” Hermione asked. Harry just nodded as he looked around the crowd.

“I have to admit… I had an inkling that you guys were planning a party but this…” Harry said waving his hands around the room, “I did not expect.” Harry said.

“We thought you might figure it out… so we tried to make it as big as possible.” Sirius said happily.

“Well… you sure did surprise me” Harry said happily.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY Harry!” Came Ron’s voice, Harry turned around and grinned at his best friend, “Nice place you guys got here Harry… Sirius tells me it’s only a two minute walk away from Hermione's also.” Ron said wiggling his eyebrows. “That wouldn’t have anything to do with your decision to move here would it now?”

“Hmm… Maybe a touch.” Harry said, smiling at Hermione, “After all how could you not want to live near her.” Harry said. Hermione smiled and then kissed him.

When Hermione kissed him everyone started to cheer and wolf-whistle, causing Hermione to blush softly but it didn’t stop her from finishing the kiss with Harry.

“I love you Harry.” Hermione said softly, Harry just smiled and kissed her forehead.

“Love you too.” he said just a softly.

It was now time to open presents… there was such a large pile that Harry didn’t know where to start. He picked up a small box that was from Colin; opening it he found that Colin had got him a wizard camera. The list went on and on, most people got him small things like sweets and such, the twins had given him a large amount of sweets. He also noticed that there were some Ton-Tongue Toffees and some of their other inventions mixed in there.

Remus had gotten him a series of books on Transfiguration and its uses in combat, while Sirius had gotten him, a very old and very expensive set of books on advanced Defence.

Ron had gotten him something that Harry had been looking for, but had stopped when he remembered that they had not been invented yet. It was broom hold, made for his Firebolt, it held the broom, shrinking it and making it as light as a feather, the holder also had room for your broom servicing kit and other small add-ons.

Hermione had gotten Harry a book on very advanced Charms, on her note she also mentioned that she had another present for him that she wanted to give to him alone.

After all the presents were opened the party started getting into full swing, there was music from the muggle stereo, and a nice silencing charm kept the neighbours from complaining to the police. It was about midnight that Harry, Hermione and Ron slipped off from the group and headed into the kitchen.

“So Ron… done anything with the money Sirius gave you?” Harry asked. Ron’s smile fell a little at this.

“Well I managed to by myself a Firebolt, a case, some new Quidditch gear, a set of the Cannons uniforms and a ton of sweets before mum took the key saying I need to save it.” Ron said a little sadly, “She got the goblins to start investing it and stuff… so that it makes some profit… she set up another vault where half the profit goes into… I can access that at anytime. Oh and of course we’re going to use it…” Ron said mumbling the last bit, Harry didn’t question him. He knew how Ron felt about his family’s financial problems.

Harry and Hermione nodded, “Yeah… Hermione did the same thing with her money… well similar anyway… she doesn’t have her mum holding her key hostage though.” Harry said with a small smile. Ron chuckled softly at this.

“Hello you three.” Came the voice of Albus Dumbledore from the doorway, “I was wondering if you would allow Harry and myself to have a chat?” He asked. Harry looked at Hermione and nodded.

“Of course headmaster.” Hermione said before her and Ron both left.

“Hello Dumbledore.” Harry said, Dumbledore seemed to slightly cringe at the total lack of respect in Harry’s voice.

“Harry… I-I can not start to say how sorry I am…” Dumbledore said looking down at his feet, “I… put defeating Voldemort above your own happiness… and it was not my decision to make… our talk at the end of the year made me realize what I had actually been doing… and I’m ashamed at what I have done.” Dumbledore said softly.

As Dumbledore was talking Harry was also quickly using Legilimency, easily pushing past Dumbledore’s shields without him being the wiser. Everything that Dumbledore was saying was truthful, Harry was glad that he would have Dumbledore as an ally again.

“I forgive you headmaster… but think about every end the next time you’re in the position to make a decision like that again.” Harry said softly. Dumbledore nodded in agreement, then held out his hand, which Harry happily took and shook.

“Now… I think I should give you my presents.” Dumbledore said, handing over two boxes. Harry opened the long one first. He was surprised to see that it was the sword of Gryffindor. He looked up to the headmaster; he noticed that Dumbledore had a guilty look in his eyes.

“Harry… another thing I have been keeping from you I am afraid… your heritage, you are in fact the…” Dumbledore was saying but Harry cut him off.

“If you’re going to say I’m the heir of Gryffindor… I already know… the goblins told me when I was emancipated.” Harry said softy and Dumbledore nodded.

“There is one other thing I will have to tell you Harry… but I don’t think now is the right time… it is important… but I am afraid I cannot tell you yet.” Dumbledore said, Harry knew he was talking about the prophecy, so he just nodded in acceptance.

Harry then opened the last box; inside was a pensieve. Harry looked up at the headmaster with a confused face, “Do you know what that is Harry?” Dumbledore asked.

“Is it a pensieve sir?” Harry asked, Dumbledore smiled and nodded.

“Yes it is… I also have one. I find it easier to go over certain events to find out more details using the pensieve.” Dumbledore said, “And when you have as many different things running around your mind as I do they can also be helpful.”

“Thank you sir.” Harry said softly.

“It’s my pleasure Harry.” Dumbledore said. “I think we should be getting back before we are missed.” Dumbledore suggested. Harry just nodded and followed Dumbledore back to the party.

When Harry and Dumbledore re-entered the party, the fact didn’t go unnoticed by Sirius at all. Once Dumbledore was away from Harry he came right up and asked him what had happened.

Harry had calmed Sirius down, saying that Dumbledore had realized his mistakes. Sirius let out a deep breath and nodded his head in understanding; he also knew that Dumbledore would be a great ally.

The party went on for another four hours before everyone started to head home. Now only the Grangers were left.

“Well we better be off.” Jane said, “It was a lovely party.”

“That it was… Happy Birthday again Harry.” Rodger said, with a smile.

“Thanks, Rodger, Jane… it had to be the best party I have had.” Harry said with a smile.

“No problems Harry.” Jane said, she then turned to Hermione, “Are you staying the night here dear? Or coming home?” Jane asked.

“I’m staying here mum.” Hermione said, Jane nodded.

“Ok… well I guess we will be seeing you tomorrow Harry… and you Sirius and Remus in a couple of days for the Quidditch match.” Rodger said.

“Yes, see you then.” Remus said with a smile, Jane and Rodger then left the house for the short walk back to their home.

“Well, you guys should be getting to bed.” Sirius said, Harry and Hermione just nodded and went up stairs to their rooms. Hermione gave Harry another birthday kiss before she headed into ‘her’ room.

Harry couldn’t sleep, it was like he had forgotten something but couldn’t remember what it was. It was then he noticed his door being quietly opened. He looked up and saw Hermione trying to sneak into his room.

She was wearing her pyjamas, a thin cotton gown. Harry thought she looked absolutely beautiful in it.

“Well hello.” Harry said in a soft voice, Hermione's eyes snapped to his.

“… I didn’t know that you were awake… you scared me.” Hermione said softly, blushing a little.

“So… what are you doing in here anyway?” Harry asked.

“Well… I forgot to give you the birthday present that I said I was going to.” Hermione said softly.

“Oh that’s it! I knew I was forgetting something.” Harry said, finally figuring out what was plaguing his mind.

“Well… I was just going to leave it on your stand… but since you’re awake… here.” She said giving him a small wrapped box. Harry sat up in his bed and Hermione sat down next to him. Harry looked at the box for a second before slowly opening it. When he got the wrapping off, he found himself holding what looked like a jewellery box.

He slowly opened the box and what he seen inside made him gasp… it was an open silver locket, on one side was a picture of him with Hermione in his arms… on the other it looked like a picture of his parents, his mother in his fathers arms. In both of the pictures the people were smiling up at him.

A tear slipped down his cheek as he turned to Hermione, “Thank you.” he said softly before pulling her into a soft hug. “I love you… so… so much.” he whispered.

“I love you to Harry.” Hermione said, before leaning up and giving him a kiss. Harry felt her tongue run across his bottom lip and he opened his mouth, allowing her access which she happily accepted. Her tongue waged war against his for about five minutes before their mouths parted.

“Stay.” Harry said softly, Hermione just nodded and slipped under the covers with Harry. She laid her head softly on his shoulder and one arm across his chest before they both fell asleep.

*----*

AN: Awwww…. Lol well I hope you all enjoyed it :P, leave me a review and tell me what you think.

I have to apologise about the delay in this chapter but I have a good excuse :D, while on holidays my laptop blew up, leaving me unable to post or write anymore of my story’s :’(, luckily now im back home :D

Chapter 21 – Quidditch Camp

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here we go again, thanks to Turnlach as usual for his BETA work!

*----*

Harry was awoken by two people whispering to each other. Instead of telling them that he was awake Harry decided to hear what they were speaking about… after all, what could Sirius and Remus be whispering about while on his room?

“What do we do?” Sirius whispered.

“I don’t know… leave them alone?” Remus suggested.

“What! They’re in the same bed!” Sirius whispered back obviously shocked.

“So? They are both fully clothed, so I doubt anything happened between them.” Remus reasoned.

“How do we know that?” Sirius asked urgently.

“Well… why don’t you wake them and ask.” Remus said sarcastically.

“Too late, you two have already woken me up.” Harry said, announcing that he was awake.

“Come out into the hall Harry.” Sirius said in a demanding voice. Harry had to bite back a chuckle at the tone of his voice. Harry gently slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake Hermione. He then cast a silencing spell on the hall so that Sirius wouldn’t wake her.

“Yes Sirius?” Harry asked innocently.

“What the hell is Hermione doing in your bed?” Sirius roared at him.

“Er…sleeping.” Harry said simply, he noticed that Remus was fighting back his laughter.

“Sleeping! SLEEPING! Is that all Harry?” Sirius yelled. Harry was getting sick of being yelled out so decided to yell back himself.

“YES AND WHAT FUCKING BUSINESS IS IT OF YOURS!” Harry said, his eyes sparking with his temper.

“I’M YOUR GODFATHER!” Sirius roared.

“AND? I’M LEGALLY AN ADULT IF YOU WILL REMEMBER!” Harry yelled back, “SO WHAT IF WE WERE SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED, SLEEPING IS JUST THAT SIRIUS!”

“Are you saying you did nothing but sleep?” Sirius said, his voice now normal, but still angry.

“Yes! Only sleep and it wouldn’t be any of your business if there was more anyway.” Harry said, his voice still containing his anger.

“You… you don’t want me in your life.” Sirius said softly, his voice easily carrying the sadness he felt.

“Did I say that I didn’t want you in my life?” Harry asked softly, “Well if I did I didn’t mean it, I love you Sirius… but going off at me like that is annoying.” Harry said with a jokingly smile. Sirius just gave him a hug.

“Sorry about overreacting Harry… I just worry about you is all.” Sirius said to which Harry just nodded. “Well I guess you better go back in before Hermione notices you’re not there.” Sirius said with a teasing smile.

Harry walked back into his room and carefully slipped back into the bed, Hermione automatically wrapped her arms around him in her sleep. Harry smiled at this, and then leaned over and softy kissed her on the lips.

“Wake up sleeping beauty.” he said softly before kissing her again. The only difference this time was that Hermione kissed him back. The kiss deepened and Hermione moaned softly against his lips as Harry's hand slid up the side of her body to softly cup her breast.

They spent the next half an hour, kissing, touching and exploring each others bodies through their clothes. After that they just laid there holding each other.

“I could get use to this.” Hermione said sighing softly while snuggling in closer to Harry, loving the feeling of the heat his body gave off.

“I agree… but as much as I would love to stay and hold you… we have to get up.” Harry said softly giving her forehead a soft kiss. Hermione groaned softly, before finally pulling herself from his bed and heading back to her own room.

*------*

The next couple of days passed quickly and before they knew it, Harry, Sirius, Remus and the Grangers were in Sirius’s living room waiting to take the portkey to the Quidditch camp grounds.

“All right,” Sirius said standing up, “it’s time, everyone grab hold.” He said handing out the end of the rope to the Grangers.

“Now, in about thirty seconds you will feel a pulling sensation behind your navel, then before you know it we will be at the camp area.” Sirius said, explaining it to the Grangers who just nodded.

They all felt the familiar tug behind the navel and they were off. When they landed nearly everyone stumbled, well except Harry who also caught Hermione from falling over. The Grangers stumbled a little but still remained upright.

“This way”, a man said. “Follow the road down until you come to a booth where you have to pay for you space.” Harry recognized him from the first time; Basil was his name if Harry could remember correctly.

The group continued down the road until they came to a muggle sitting in a booth.

“Um hello, you wouldn’t happen to be Mr Roberts would you?” Sirius asked. The muggle turned to them.

“Aye that I would. You paying for a campsite this evening?” Mr Roberts asked.

“Yes, under Black, maybe Sirius Black.” Sirius said, the muggle nodded and flicked through some of the pages in his book.

“Ah, yes here we are, Sirius Black, two nights, three tents, correct.” Mr Roberts asked, Sirius just nodded, “So are you paying now?”

“Ah yes, one second.” Sirius said pulling out his muggle wallet, he then handed over Mr Roberts some cash and took his change before they headed down the road, following the map that Mr Roberts had given them.

After about ten minutes they came across their area. Their tents were already set up, “Well… that ones for Remus and myself,” Sirius said pointing to the one on the left, “The one on the right is yours, Rodger, Jane and I guess the middle one is for Harry and Hermione.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and then went to their tents to unpack their stuff. Once they entered, Harry heard the Grangers gasp; the tents seemed rather small on the outside, though on the inside they were quite large. Harry and Hermione’s tent looked like a three man tent but on the inside it had two separated bedrooms, each with a queen sized bed and also a bathroom, living room and kitchen.

When they had finished looking though their tents everyone was back outside. Sirius and Rodger and Remus had already started a fire and were currently sitting around it drinking some beers.

“What say we go look around? We might run into the Weasleys.” Harry suggested, Hermione nodded then told her parents that her and Harry were going to explore.

Harry immediately led Hermione to where he remembered the Weasleys were camped; it took him about twenty minutes until he finally spotted three red heads walking their way.

“Hey! Ron, Fred, George!” Harry called out; all three of them spun around and grinned when they noticed Harry there with Hermione. The three of them quickly made their way over to them.

“Harry old friend!”

“So nice to see you again!” the twins said.

“You too guys, so where are you camped?” Harry asked.

“Just up that way” Ron said, “Want to come up? I’m sure mum and dad would love to see the two of you.” Harry and Hermione both nodded, and followed the three red heads back to their camp.

“Mother dearest!” Fred called out.

“You will never guess who we ran into.” George piped in,

“Harry and Hermione” they both said together, grinning like the idiots they were. Molly just rolled her eyes at them before turning and engulfing both Harry and Hermione in a hug.

“Harry, Hermione is good to see you two again!” Molly exclaimed, “So have you two been behaving yourselves?” both Harry and Hermione blushed a little at this; after that night of Harry’s party they had spent the next two nights in the same bed… they felt a need for contact while they were sleeping.

“Arthur! Look who is here! It’s Harry and Hermione.” Molly called out, Harry looked past her to see Arthur talking to Barty Crouch. They both made their way other to where they were.

“Ah, nice to see you again, Harry! Good summer I hope?” Arthur said happily, Harry just nodded, “Well good, good, oh I would like to introduce you to Mr Bartemius Crouch.” Arthur said pointing out Barty.

“It’s nice to meet you sir.” Harry said sticking out his hand, Crouch took it and shook it.

“The pleasure’s all mine Harry… I don’t mean to be rude, but I really must be heading off.” he said. Harry just nodded in understanding before he left.

Harry and Hermione then walked off with Ron and the twins, “So what have you guys been up to this summer?” Harry asked. Fred and George beamed.

“We’re glad you asked that Harry,”

“You see…”

“We have made a decision,”

“Us… Like the marauders…”

“And hopefully with the help of a couple,”

“Have decided to start selling our own pranks!”

The twins said, George then handing Harry over one of their order forms, “We will start it as an owl order service,”

“But after be graduate we hope to open a shop,”

“That is if we can raise the funds of course.” Fred said, George nodded.

“Mum hasn’t been much of a help,”

“Yes she’s not too keen on our idea.”

“I think it’s a brilliant idea.” Harry said happily, smiling at the twins, “And I’m sure that Sirius and Remus would love to help. In fact, I’m sure they have notes and other ideas stuff around somewhere.”

Harry then turned to Ron, “So Ron? What have you been up to this summer?” Harry asked.

“Umm… nothing much… been practicing Quidditch… I’m thinking about trying out for the keeper position.” Ron said softly.

“That’s a great idea!” Harry said happily. He knew there wasn’t any Quidditch this year but if he just out and told them that he would blow his cover and that was something he didn’t want.

“So you been doing anything else?” Harry asked. Ron just shook his head.

“Naw… nothing much except be a test subject for those two and their new pranks.” Ron said. Harry just nodded his head.

“What about you two? Been up to much?” Ron asked.

Hermione shook her head, “Not really… went to the movies a couple of times but other than that mainly stayed at home.” Hermione said with Harry nodding in agreement.

“What’s a movie?” Ron asked.

“A movie is a story acted out by people; it’s recorded and then enlarged onto a big screen to re-watch.” Hermione explained. Ron mouthed an ‘oh’, still not completely understanding.

Hermione then looked up to Harry, she noticed that the sun was setting quickly and that her parents would probably be getting worried.

“Umm… Harry I think we should probably be getting back now.” she said.

“Yeah… we will see you guys tomorrow.” Harry said. The twins and Ron bid them farewell and Harry and Hermione started to walk back to their own camp site hand in hand.

*----*

Well that’s it… Small yes I know, next chapter the WORLD CUP!!! :P hope you all liked it!

Luke

Chapter 22 – The World Cup

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here is another chapter for you enjoyment! Thanks to Turnlach for his wonderful BETA work!

*-----*

“Come on! Come on! Up you get!” Came Sirius’s voice while Hermione, who had taken to sleeping in the same bed as Harry, snuggled in closer to him, trying to go back to sleep.

“We’re up!” Harry yelled to Sirius who was still banging on the tent, yelling at them to get up. Harry took a look at his watch, ‘6:00 a.m.’ it read. Harry groaned again and lay back down in bed.

Harry leaned over and kissed Hermione softly and she sighed, loving the feeling of his lips. “Come on sweetheart… we better get up.” He said softly. Hermione just groaned at this but did slowly get up.

About thirty minutes later both Harry and Hermione were out of their tent, showered, and eating their breakfast. In another ten minutes the group was making their way to the Quidditch stadium.

While on the road, Harry noticed a sea of red hair ahead of them, “Ron!” Harry called out. One of the people turned around.

“Hey Harry!” he called out and the entire group came to a halt and waited for them to catch up. When they finally reached them, the adults said hello to each other before they started talking about god knows what.

“So how do you think the game is going to play out?” Harry asked, already knowing how it would.

“Fred and I have forty galleons on Irish winning, though Krum catching the snitch.” George said proudly.

“Yep, that should be a good start for Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes.” Fred said, puffing out his chest and making himself look like Percy. Harry just shook his head, while Ron laughed and Hermione giggled softly.

“What about you Harry? Got anything riding on the game?” Fred asked, Harry just shook his head ‘no’.

“It wouldn’t be fair you know.” Harry said.

“Why?” both the twins asked in unison.

“Well you know, I myself having the inner eye, already know the outcome.” Harry said, making a perfect impression of Trelawney. Everyone started to laugh at this.

The rest of the walk took about ten minutes, until they arrived at a huge stadium in the middle of nowhere.

“Come on guys! We’re all in the Minister’s box, right at the top.” Arthur said excitedly. They all started making their way up the number of different staircases.

“Harry look at this!” Came Ron’s voice, Harry looked at what he was staring at; “It’s Viktor Krum! Bulgaria’s seeker!” Ron said excitedly.

Harry could feel the hate boiling up inside him, he had a vivid memory of the last time he had seen that man.

--- FLASHBACK ---

“Ron!” Harry yelled out, Ron turned around to face him, “WHERE IS SHE!?” Harry screamed.

“I-I don’t know! S-she said she was meeting Krum… said he had something important to tell her.” Ron said, his fear growing. Harry turned on his heel and bolted from the room. Once out of Hogwarts grounds he apparated right into Diagon Alley.

“Hermione!” Harry screamed though his link.

“Harry… please…” he heard the desperate cry of Hermione’s voice.

“Where are you?” Harry thought quickly

“In the basement of the Hogs Head.” she said quickly through their link.

Harry didn’t think, he apparated right in front of the Hogs Head and threw the door open. The bartender looked up as Harry made a very loud entrance.

“Where the FUCK is your basement?” Harry whispered, though the bartender clearly heard him. The man pointed to the door on his left, shivering in fear at the sight of Harry’s glowing emerald eyes.

Harry quickly opened the door, just in time to see Krum hit Hermione across the face. Harry's anger soared at the sight. With a have of his hand he sent Krum flying and watched as his back hit one of the buildings support beams and twisted around it, easily breaking his spine.

Harry then rushed over to Hermione, checking her quickly before giving her a deep kiss...

--- END OF FLASHBACK ---

“Harry. Are you alright?” the voice of Hermione came, breaking him from memories of another time.

“What… oh yeah I’m fine.” Harry said softly, Ron and Hermione just nodded and they continued up to the Minister’s box.

“What was it Harry?” Hermione whispered so that only he could hear.

“Nothing… just memories of Krum.” Harry said though he practically spat Krum’s name out.

“Can you tell me?” Hermione asked softly, while giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“No… you know that if I told you this stuff… a lot could go wrong… it doesn’t matter though, it won’t happen this time.” Harry said softy. Hermione nodded her head in understanding. She hated the fact that Harry couldn’t tell her everything, but she understood why he couldn’t.

When they finally made it to the minister’s box they showed the Auror guards their passes and entered. All of the kids went instantly to look over the edge of the box out into the crowd.

“WOW! This is going to be GREAT!” Ron said happily.

“Live it up Weasel, I doubt it’s ever going to happen again. What did your family do? Sell your sister into slavery to get these tickets?” Came the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

“You know Malfoy… I bet no one would be able to prove anything against us… if you were to say, fall over the edge to your death.” Came Harry’s cool reply, his eyes flashing dangerously. Draco backed up a little at Harry’s words before giving one last sneer and turning back to his mother and father.

“Ah, Harry! Nice to see you again.” Came the voice of Cornelius Fudge, “Doing well I hope.” he said, holding out his hand, which Harry shook… only because it would have been rude not to have.

“Yes doing fine.” Harry said. He could see Percy looking at Harry with jealousy etched on his face.

“Have you met Lucius before, and his wife Narcissa?” Fudge asked, introducing the two Malfoys.

“Yes, we have met a couple of time.” Harry said, his voice betraying no emotion. Harry nearly killed the senior Malfoy right there when Harry noticed his eyes flicker to Hermione’s parents, and sneered.

“Oh yes, and of course you know young Draco Malfoy here, one of your friends at school.” Fudge said pointing out Draco, who just sneered at Harry.

“Yes… we know each other.” Harry said, Iit was then that the Bulgarian Minister walked into the box, he was talking quietly in Bulgarian to a young looking wizard before he spotted Fudge and walked over.

“Ah yes, the Bulgarian Minister this is Harry Potter.” Fudge said point to Harry. Harry nearly laughed when the minister gave Fudge a strange look, Harry knew that he could understand English and was just playing with him.

“You know… Harry Potter! Boy-Who-Lived…” Fudge continued, but the Bulgarian was still playing stupid. Fudge sighed then pointed to his forehead and then to Harry.

The Bulgarian minister looked at Harry’s forehead and then started pointing excitedly at Harry’s scar, quickly speaking in Bulgarian.

“Knew we would get there soon… personally I’m hopeless with the languages! Need Barty for that.” Fudge said then started to look around, “Speaking of Barty… he should be here… oh wait, there is his house elf saving his seat.” Fudge said pointing out Winky, “Well I will see you later Harry.” Fudge said before turning back to the Bulgarian minister and started to try and explain something.

“Bloody idiot Fudge.” Harry mumbled as he walked back over to his friends. He had been tempted a number of times in the last five minutes to cut loose, but managed to get his temper under control.

Ludo Bagman then walked into the box, “Ok everyone! Are we ready?” He asked as he walked out to the stand, he then pointed his wand at his throat and mumbled “Sonorous.”

“Welcome everyone to the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!” he said, his amplified voice carrying out though the stadium.

“Today the Bulgarian National Team will be playing the Irish National Team.” he yelled out. In the crowd, thousands of flags were being waved.

“So without further ado, I would like to welcome Bulgaria’s team mascots!” he said and now hundreds of Bulgarian flags were being waved more vigorously into the air, as about a hundred Veela glided out onto the pitch. He watched with a smirk as Ron and Draco slowly got up from their seats and wondered to the edge. He remembered when he was affected by them, he wanted nothing more than to jump off the edge and join them on the field.

The Veela started to dance and Harry softly chuckled at the large goofy smile that was planted on Ron’s face, he then looked over at Hermione who was looking back and forth between Ron and Harry, a confused look on her face.

“What’s so funny?” Hermione asked, Harry chuckled and leaned forward to give her a light kiss on the lips.

“You know what Veela are right, love?” Harry asked in a whisper, she seemed to be thinking of a little while before she mouthed ‘oh’ then looked back at Ron and giggled.

When the Veela stopped dancing Ron seemed to snap out of his daze and look over at Harry who had a large smirk on his face.

“What?” Ron asked confused as he slowly walked back to his seat. Arthur leaned forward to Ron.

“Ron, I suggest next time the Veela start to sing you block your ears.” Arthur said, “They have a… certain effect on males.” he then looked over at Harry, “I don’t understand why it didn’t affect you though Harry.”

“Oh it did… but I had Hermione right next to me, and personally she is much more attractive than any Veela.” Harry said, Arthur smiled knowingly.

‘Yes they really are in love if Hermione can stop a Veela from affecting him’ Arthur thought to himself.

“And know I would like to welcome the Irish National Mascots onto the field!” Came Ludo’s voice.

A green looking comet shot from the changing room, it had a gold tail that seemed to be floating down onto the crowd, which made them go wild. When the comet finally passed them, you could see that the comet was actually made up of about a thousand tiny little men, all dressed in green. When the tail passed hundreds of Galleons fell from it, bouncing off everyone’s heads onto the ground.

“Leprechauns!” Mr Weasley exclaimed.

“HERE.” came Ron’s voice and he shoved a handful of galleons into Harry's hands. “That’s pay back for the money you lent me last year.” Harry nodded and took it; he didn’t have the heart to tell Ron that the money would disappear.

Hermione bent down to start collecting the coins, but Harry stopped her, she looked at him in confusion before he explained.

“Leprechaun gold isn’t real… it will vanish in about 28 hours.” Harry explained, Hermione then nodded in understanding.

The comet then settled on the other side of the pitch form the Veela.

“And now ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team!” Ludo said, the Bulgarian side of the crowd cheered wildly.

“I GIVE YOU… DIMITROV!” Ludo said, a person dress in scarlet robes flashed out from the changing rooms at the bottom of the stadium.

“IVANOVA!”

Another player shot out, they were blurs since they were moving so fast.

“ZOGRAF!... LEVSKI!... VULCHANOV!” Ludo said, as the scarlet figures shot out into the field.

“AAAAAAANNNNDDD KKKRRUMMM!” the last figure that shot out got the loudest applause. Harry watched though his Omniocculars that he had brought for everyone the night before and scowled as the thin figure with a large nose flew around the pitch.

“And now I would like to welcome the Irish National Team to the field!” Ludo roared, this time the thousands of green flags were being waved into the air.

“I GIVE YOU… CONNOLLY!... RYAN!... TROY!... MULLET!... QUIGLEY!... AAANNNDDD THEIR SEEKER… LYNCH!” Ludo said, naming each player as they came out onto the field.

The game went exactly as Harry remembered it, Lynch getting ploughed when Krum performed the Wronski Feint. The Bulgarian side getting vicious when they were losing, giving off manly fouls for Ireland.

The uncalled beater hit that happened to break Krum’s nose just before he once again caused Lynch to get Ploughed before he caught the snitch, ending the game Bulgaria 160, Ireland 170.

“Why the hell did he catch the snitch? They were too far behind!” Ron screamed out.

“He knew they were not going to win, so he ended it with him catching it not Lynch.” Harry reasoned, Ron agreed with him.

“He looks pretty messed up.” Ron commented looking though his Omniocculars. Harry then looked down and agreed. There was blood flowing from his nose, and his uniform looked covered in it.

“Come on guys! Let’s head back to the camp!” Sirius said. They all nodded and left the box, talking rapidly to each other about the match.

*----*

Well that it for now… Next chapter we will see how the fight at the world cup plays out…

Luke

Chapter 23 – Troubles at Camp

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Ah, here we are once again :P, special thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work… well now on to the chapter! ENJOY!!

*------*

Walking back to their camp site they watched with grins on their faces as the Irish partied on, singing songs and having drinking contests.

When they got back, Sirius started the camp fire with a flick of his wand and they all sat down around it.

“So… what did you think Jane? Rodger?” Sirius asked them a large smile on his face.

“That… That was bloody AMAZING!” Rodger said. He then turned to Harry, “You play that at school” he asked.

“Yep, I’m the seeker on the Gryffindor team.” Harry said proudly, a large grin on his face. “Our games are not as exciting as theirs is though.” Harry added.

“I don’t know Harry… the way you were playing last year… I think it was better if not at the same level than the two seekers were playing at today.” Hermione said. Sirius and Remus nodded in agreement.

Harry blushed a little, yes, in the future he did have a number of offers to join the English National Side, but there was too much going on with the war for him to agree.

“This whole… thing is just amazing… I wish we could see what Hogwarts is like.” Jane said, looking around, watching as the Irish played magical drinking games.

“We could ask Dumbledore if you could visit this year.” Harry suggested. The Grangers looked at him wide eyed.

“You think we could?” Jane asked, excitement dancing in her eyes.

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t allow it.” Harry said. He knew they would be allowed to come and watch the tournament events.

“That’s would be great!” Rodger agreed.

They spent the next couple of hours talking about the game before they all decided to head to bed. Hermione cuddled up with Harry before they both drifted off to sleep.

“HARRY! HERMIONE! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!” Came the urgent voice of Sirius. Harry bolted awake; he knew why they had to get up…Death Eaters.

“Come on, we have to go!” Harry said quickly as he and Hermione got dressed. They didn’t bother changing in different rooms; they just stripped down in front of each other. When they realized what they had done they both blushed before getting out of the tent.

There were people running everywhere, smoke was drifting between the tents, it was impossible to hear anything over the peoples screams. It was then he saw them…a group of ten Death Eaters, tightly packed together. They had their wands facing upwards as they juggled four muggles. It was then that one spotted Jane and Rodger. Harry guess it was Lucius since he was the only one Harry knew that had met them.

One of the Death Eaters waved their wand and a yellow beam shot out from their wand at the Grangers. Harry moved quicker than the eye could see, and a white shield snapped into existence, the yellow curse hit the shield and seemed to be absorbed into it.

When the shield dropped, Harry Potter was standing in front of the Grangers, his eyes were pulsing green.

“Get out of the way boy, before you get hurt.” Harry heard one of the Death Eaters sneer. Everything seemed to have gone quiet, the people that were running had stopped a safe distance away and watched as a boy stood up to the ten Death Eaters.

Harry smirked, held out his hand and the Gryffindor sword appeared in his hand, “Now… which one of you would like to die first?” Harry asked in a calm voice. Even though he said it quietly everyone had heard him.

The group laughed at his, “You little muggle loving bastard.” another Death Eater sneered, “Avad…” was all the Death Eater got out as Harry moved quickly again and an orange bolt snapped out from his wand and flew at the Death Eater. The man didn’t even have time to duck as the spell hit his wand, causing the wand and his hand to literally blow up. The man shrieked in agony before with a large ‘pop’ he disappeared.

“Now… which one of you would like to die first?” Harry asked again, his voice completely calm. The people around them were watching in awe, as this boy stared down ten Death Eaters. The ministry Aurors still hadn’t arrived.

Harry watched the Death Eaters closely, he could see them making small hand gestures that would have gone unnoticed unless someone was paying attention.

Then, all of sudden all of the Death Eaters whipped out their wands, “Stupefy!” the nine Death Eaters cried at the same time. Harry watched the spells come towards him, he let his magic go and time seemed to slow down.

“Protego!” Harry whispered and a blue shield snapped into existence and each of the stunners ricocheted off into the night sky. After the Death Eaters first attack fail, it became an all out brawl.

“Eviscero!” Harry heard. He quickly jumped to his right sending a banishing charm at the Death Eater. Unlike his aim, Harry's was dead on and the Death Eater was thrown back ten feet before he hit the ground hard and unconscious.

Harry then dodged the green blast of a killing curse before firing off another couple of stunners. “Stella Clavis!” Harry dived out of the way as a beam of lighting shot out from a Death Eater’s wand, “Diffido Sparsi!” Harry yelled and the shotgun like blast hit the Death Eater in the side; Harry could see blood start to seep though his clothes.

It was now that everyone seemed to be shocked out of their daze as people begun to scream again. Harry looked around and then he saw it, the Dark Mark handing in the air. When the Death Eaters also saw it they Apparated away, well all of them except the one that was unconscious on the ground.

Harry quickly sent a binding charm at the Death Eater just as the Aurors finally showed up.

“Hello, Goodbye.” Harry said to them and tried to walk past them to Sirius. But one of the Aurors reached out and tried to grab Harry’s arm. This turned out to be a nearly fatal mistake as the Auror now found the Gryffindor sword resting against his throat.

“Don’t ever, try and grab me again.” Harry whispered dangerously before removing the sword and heading over to Sirius. Hermione came running from the group and launched herself into Harry's arms.

“DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN HARRY POTTER!” She said sternly before giving him a rather deep and passionate kiss, “You scared me half to death.” she whispered once she finally broke the kiss. Harry looked past her to see that Rodger and Jane were grinning at the two of them, while Sirius and Remus, who knew a lot more about the danger Harry was just in had a half smile half frowning face… it looked a little weird.

“Come on, we have to go see who set the mark off.” Harry said, motioning of the others to follow them.

It only took about a minute before they reached the area where Ron, Ginny and the twins were standing, five Aurors surrounding them. Harry pushed pass them to get to Ron.

“Oi what do you think you’re doing boy?!” one of the Aurors yelled but Harry didn’t pay attention to him.

“You ok Ron? What happened?” Harry asked looking around at the Aurors.

“Er, yeah we’re fine… but they seem to think that one of us set off that.” Ron said pointing at the dark mark and shivering a little. Harry then looked at the Aurors, disgust clearly evident on his face.

“You people are pathetic… you think that they could have set it off?” Harry said shaking his head sadly, “Merlin help us if we rely on Aurors like you lot to keep us safe.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about kid” one of the Aurors snapped, clearly not happy with the insult Harry had just issued.

“I suggest you lower your wand moron before I force you to bloody lower it.” Harry snarled getting rather annoyed with the idiots. It was then that Arthur, Fudge, Crouch and Diggory came to the scene.

“Put your wands down! They’re my children you’re pointing them at!” Arthur yelled outraged.

“They are suspected of setting off the dark mark.” one of the Aurors said.

Arthur looked at the man as if he was crazy, “Do you seriously think that these children could have set that spell off.”

“Lower your wands! There is no way these children would have been capable of that.” Fudge snapped.

It was then that more Aurors arrived at the scene; these were the ones that had been at the fight Harry was in earlier. One of the Aurors recognized Harry immediately.

“Mr Potter, what was the spell you used to knock out that Death Eater?” the man asked. Everyone that didn’t already know what had happened gasped in surprise.

“It was just a banishing charm… he got knocked out when he hit the ground. Why?” Harry said.

“Nothing really, he just seems to have lost some of his memory.” the Auror said.

“Sir! I think I found who set the dark mark off!” and man said from behind them, Harry turned around to see an Auror holding up a house elf that happened to have a wand in her hands.

“HEY THAT’S MY WAND!” Ron said immediately, grabbing his wand from the house elf’s grip.

“Could we see your wand for a second lad?” Asked Amos Diggory. Ron seemed to think for a moment before nodding and handing him his wand.

“Prior Incantato!” Diggory said, a miniature dark mark hovered from his wand, “Deletrius!” the small dark mark then vanished.

One of the Aurors then revived Winky, “Elf, did you conjure the dark mark?” Diggory asked harshly.

“I-I dids not sir.” Winky squeaked out

“Do you really think that Mr Crouch’s elf would be the one to conjure the dark mark?” Harry asked a little annoyed.

“Yes Amos, do you really think that I teach my elves dark magic?” Crouch asked.

Diggory seemed to stutter a little, “B-b-ut t-the wand.” the said.

“It wasn’t Winky.” came Ron’s voice, causing everyone to turn to him, “Er… it was a much deeper voice, not squeakily like Winky’s.”

“You see Amos.” Crouch asked, Harry knew it wasn’t Winky, but he also knew that Winky knew who did it. The only problem was that if Harry were to say something, or go find Crouch Jr, then Voldemort’s rebirth would be ruined, he had already taken Peter out of the picture, but that was unavoidable… he only hoped that someone would be able to take Peters place… After all the rebirth was one thing that he wanted to go as if had before.

“I’ll deal with my house elf, Diggory.” Crouch said, he then looked down at Winky, “There will be clothes for this.” he said bitterly. Winky started to wail.

“NOOO PLEASE MASTER! WINKY GOOD HOUSE ELF!” Winky said crying her eyes out, but Crouch didn’t pay her any attention.

“Harry?” called Sirius, Harry turned to look at him, “We should get going.” he said holding out a portkey. Harry just nodded and grabbed hold. With the familiar pull behind the navel they were gone.

*-----*

AN: Well… there is another chapter :P, I hope that you all like it. About Harry's display of magic, I know I know he isn’t keeping the secret very well, but everyone sees him as the Boy-Who-Lived so I guess they think he is powerful… Dumbledore knows that Harry is powerful also and would probley put it down to a “Heat of the Moment” thing.

Next chapter, they head back to School!

Luke

Chapter 24 – Back to School Again!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Of course thanks to Turnlach once again for his BETA work :P

*-----*

Once they arrived home, the Grangers headed back to their house while Hermione decided to stay with Harry. They all went straight up to bed; Hermione crawled under the covers with Harry and almost instantly fell asleep.

*-------*

Harry awoke the next morning to find his bed empty and the smell of cooking bacon coming from downstairs.

Groaning, Harry slowly got up and headed into the shower. About ten minutes later Harry was dressed and heading downstairs. When he got there he found Sirius and Remus eating breakfast while Hermione was talking with Binky… ‘S.P.E.W. here we come’ Harry thought. Then he reminded himself to tell her to think of a better name this time.

Harry sat down next to Sirius and started to fill his plate with the bacon and eggs that were currently on the table. About five minutes later Hermione also filled her plate.

“So… what was in the paper today?” Harry asked, already dreading what was most likely in there.

“Hmm… I don’t think you’re going to like it… it’s nothing bad, but I know you hate the publicity.” Hermione said softly.

Harry sighed, “Ok… hand it over then.” he said, almost sadly.

Hermione handed Harry the paper and the first thing that he saw was a picture of him standing against ten Death Eaters. Harry groaned when he saw the picture. Though he groaned even more when he noticed the headline.

HARRY POTTER SAVES THE DAY!

Harry had the urge to throw the paper out now, though he was curious to see if she was actually being nice to him or not. So he decided to read on…

After Ireland won the world cup against Bulgaria, we all went back the camp site to celebrate the victory. The celebrations though were brought to a halt as ten of You-Know-Who’s followers decided to make an appearance.

But luckily for the wizarding world, Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived was there once again to save the day. I was there personally to witness as this young hero deflects the Cruciatus Curse and stared down the ten Death Eaters.

Before any of them could react Harry Potter sent an unknown spell which seemed to blow up one Death Eaters wand and serially injure his/her hand. The next move was by the Death Eaters who seemed to work together and send nine Stunners at young Mr Potter.

It was then that Mr Potter showed the power he held and easily raised another shield which blocked all nine stunners, sending them off into the night’s sky!

After that the fight turned into a brawl, the Death Eaters lost their formation and started to attack Mr Potter.

Mr Potter seemed to either dodge or block every spell, sending a banishing charm which effectively knocked out one Death Eater, and also a Blasting Charm which seemed to wound another, since the Death Eater apparated right after being hit.

It was then that the ministry Aurors finally arrived and the Death Eaters manage to apparate away. But not before leaving the Dark Mark in the air.

When the ministry was questioned, a Ministry official named Arthur Weasley stated that no one was killed, though there were a couple of people injured. This statement though goes against the rumours that several covered bodies were removed from the site.

One must wonder what the world is coming to when the Ministry hides the details from the press, though I think we can all agree that we are glad that Mr Potter was there to save the day once again.

Rita Skeeter

“Mr Weasley will most likely get in trouble for this, even though he did nothing wrong.” Harry sighed. Hermione looked at him and nodded sadly.

“Trust me we I say this… this will not be the last we see of Skeeter either… and I expect that she will not always be as nice to me as she was in this article.” Harry said, looking around.

“What do you think is going to happen to you Harry?” Sirius asked, concerned that Harry may somehow get in trouble.

“Well I see two possible out comes… first, I get a reward or something from Fudge as he tries to make himself look good. Or… nothing at all happens. I doubt he will try and charge me, after all it would make him look bad in the eyes of the public.” Harry said, shrugging it off.

Hermione, Remus and Sirius just nodded, agreeing with what he thought.

Remus was the first to voice his opinions on the matter, “I think that he won’t do anything personally… if he hates you as much as you say Harry, I doubt he would want to give you anything.”

“Yes, but he would if it would make him look good.” Harry pointed out.

*------*

The next couple of days passed quickly, Fudge had done nothing other than send an owl, thanking Harry for what he had done, though that was it. Harry was glad that the minister didn’t try and hand him an Order of Merlin or some other reward, after Fudge not seeming to like it when Harry turned him down.

Before they knew it, they were all heading to King’s Cross station to head back to Hogwarts. Harry didn’t know how to feel, he was excited about going back, but he also wanted to just go back home with Sirius, Remus and Hermione. It was the first time he was having mixed feelings about returning to Hogwarts.

Harry looked over at Hermione and she seemed to be having the same problems as he did. He scooted over closer to her and took her in his arms; she let out a contented sigh as he wrapped his arms around her.

They pulled up at King’s Cross Station; the Grangers had ended up taking Harry and Hermione since Sirius and Remus needed to talk with Dumbledore, though they promised to meet them all at the barrier.

They quickly loaded their stuff onto a couple of trolleys, Harry had already told Hedwig to fly to Hogwarts, he didn’t know why he had nether thought of it before, after all it was a lot easier than having her on the train.

They then met Sirius and Remus at the barrier, before they all went though.

“So, what did Dumbledore want?” Harry asked. Sirius and Remus just smiled.

“That would be a surprise Harry.” They said together. Harry knew they were talking about the Tri-wizard tournament, and wondered why they always seemed to forget he already knew about this stuff.

“Oh… ok, will we find out at school?” Harry asked, playing along. They just nodded.

Saying their goodbyes Harry and Hermione boarded the Hogwarts express and found a compartment for themselves. They were in there for about five minutes before Ron and Ginny came into the compartment, Neville also came in not long after.

“Hey, how was your summer Neville?” Harry asked.

“It was ok I guess… helped my Gran out with some stuff she needed done, and she got me a Herbology kit since she didn’t want to go to the world cup.” Neville said, Harry nodded in understanding.

“YOU DIDN’T GO! OH MY GOD IT WAS…” Ron started, but Hermione cut him off.

“Shh! Listen!” she said, everyone was quiet and they could now hear the familiar drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

“. . Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do. . .”

Hermione then shut the compartment door, she looked rather angry, and Harry had to admit, she looked hot when she was angry… well when she wasn’t angry at him of course.

“I wish he went to Durmstrang!” she growled softy. “Would have made our lives a hell of a lot more peaceful”.

“Isn’t Durmstrang another wizarding school?” Ron asked.

“Yes…” Harry said. Hermione then decided to explain more.

“There are three main schools Ron; Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. From what I read there has always been a lot of rivalry between the three schools, each saying their school was better. Of course there are other schools, but they’re smaller ones. Like in the States there are about forty different schools, but each one is nowhere near as big as Hogwarts.” Hermione said, slipping into her teacher tone.

“So what country are Durmstrang and Beauxbatons in?” Ron asked.

“Well of course no one actually knows.” Hermione pointed out, Ron just looked confused.

“Honestly, haven’t you ever wondered why no muggles haven’t happened to ‘walk’ into Hogwarts?” Hermione asked exasperated, Ron still just looked confused.

“There are wards around the castles Ronald.” Hermione said in a slow voice like she was talking to a three year old, “God, anyone who had read Hogwarts; A History would know that.”

“Only you then.” Ron pointed out, Hermione growled.

“Hey, I have read it.” Harry said jumping into the conversation. Ron and Hermione just looked at him in shock. “What? There’s some interesting stuff.” Harry defended himself.

Ron seemed to nod, “Yeah I guess, well at least you don’t read it over and over again.” Ron said, looking at Hermione.

“She doesn’t Ron.” Ron just looked at Harry weirdly, then started to say something but Harry continued, “The book has some kind of enchantment on it, it updates so to speak.” Harry said, Hermione looked at him, the look of pride shinning in her eyes.

“Umm… Harry… did you know that your…” Hermione started softly.

“That my parents are mentioned in there?” Harry finished, Hermione nodded softly. “Yes I do and I’m not at all angry that you didn’t tell me.” Hermione let out a sigh of relief but it was then that their compartment door was thrown open. Draco Malfoy stood in the entrance, Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

“Potty, his Mudblood and his pet Weasel…” Draco started but then caught a look at the dress robes Ron had.

“Good god Weasel what the hell are these!” Malfoy said, grabbing the robes and holding them up. “We’re not in the seventeenth century anymore.”

“Shut it Malfoy.” Ron growled under his breath, Malfoy just smirked.

“What are you going to do abou…” Malfoy taunted, Ron quickly drew his wand, Harry watching, was quite pleased at how fast he drew it. Before Malfoy had time to react Ron cast a spell.

“Furnunculus!” the spell hit Malfoy directly in the face, which then proceeded to rapidly break out in boils. Malfoy dropped to the ground and Crabbe and Goyle started to move forward but stopped when they found that both Hermione and Harry now had their wands facing them.

They both let out a weird grunt before picking up Malfoy and leaving. Ron sat down, a large grin plastered on his face. “I have been wanting to do that since you taught us that spell Harry.” Ron said happily. Harry chuckled at this, Hermione who was trying not to also laughed softy.

“Umm… Ron… if you had Sirius’s money, why did you buy…those?” Harry asked tentatively.

“Mum seemed to have forgotten and bought these… when I pointed it out she said that she had bought these and there was no sense in wasting money.” Ron said. Harry could see the fear that Ron felt of having to actually wear the things.

“Mate, if you want I could lend you some cash for some new ones… you could pay me back some other time.” Harry offered, Ron just looked at him a large smile on his face.

“You’re a life saver mate… I was not looking forward to wearing these.” he said, throwing them into this trunk. Harry was amazed that Ron even took the money, but put it down to him actually having the money to pay him back some day.

The rest of the train ride went without disturbance, they played chess and talked about a number of different things and before they knew it they were on the carriages making their way to the castle.

*------*

AN: Well I thought I would be nice and post this before I went to work :P, God I spoil you guys :) hope you all like it!

Chapter 25 – The… Tournament…

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Some of this was copied from GoF, just the hat song and also the part where Dumbledore explains about the tournament.

AN: Thanks once again to Turnlach for his BETA work!

*-----*

Harry, Hermione and Ron made it into the great hall and took their seats with the rest of Gryffindor house. Seconds after they sat down Colin Creevey came rushing up to them.

“Hi Harry!” Colin said. Colin was now in his third year and ever since he had started at Hogwarts he had followed Harry around… along with his damn camera, though to be fair his photos did come in handy every now and again.

“Hey Colin, how was you summer? Harry asked happily.

Colin seemed happier than usually, it was then that Harry remembered that Dennis was starting today.

“It was great! But guess what Harry, Dennis my brother is starting! He’s getting sorted today!”

“That’s great news.” Harry said, a smile on his face.

“Yea, I hope he’s in Gryffindor, keep your fingers crossed!” Colin said before making his way back to his seat.

The first years were then led in by McGonagall. Harry spotted Dennis and watched as he mouthed something to Colin, most likely about the fact that he fell into the lake.

McGonagall then placed the sorting hat on the old wooden stool, for a moment it did nothing, but every so slowly the hat’s crinkles seemed to make a face that began to sing.

A thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known:

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,

Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

Shrewd Slytherin, from fin.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

They hatched a daring plan

To educate young sorcerers

Thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders

Formed their own house, for each

Did value different virtues

In the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were

Prized far beyond the rest;

For Ravenclaw, the cleverest

Would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were

Most worthy of admission;

And power-hungry Slytherin

Loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide

Their favourites from the throng,

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

He whipped me off his head

The founders put some brains in me

So I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!

The great hall broke out in wild clapping and whistling when the hat finished its song.

One by one the new students were sorted into there houses, about forty minutes later Slytherin now had 10 new students, Hufflepuff had twelve and Ravenclaw and Gryffindor each had thirteen new first years.

Dumbledore stood. His eyes were twinkling away, “I’m guessing that instead of an old man boring you with speeches… you would like to eat first.” he said happily, “So I have two words for you… Tuck in!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the four house tables were magically filled with food. Ron instantly started pilling food onto his plate, eating it before he had even fished. Hermione and Harry just shook their heads and started to fill their own plates

“’Bout time, the sorting took ages.” Ron said between mouthfuls. Harry was about to respond when Nearly-Headless Nick came floating over.

“You’re lucky there is even a feast tonight.” He said, coming to a halt in the middle of the table, in between the trio.

“What do you mean by that?” Ron asked. He seemed to be terrified that something had nearly ruined the feast that he was now consuming.

“Peeves of course, reeking havoc, scaring the house elves…” Nick said, there was a clanging sound as Hermione dropped her knife and fork onto the table and stared up at Nick.

“There are house elves here! I’ve never seen them before!” Hermione said.

“Hogwarts has the most house elves in Britain, about one hundred and twenty I believe. And as for you not seeing them, well of course you haven’t, it’s the making of a good house elf to not be seen.” Nick said.

“But they get paid and have holidays and sick leave right?” Hermione asked.

Nearly-Headless Nick just looked at her weirdly, “Paying, Holidays and Sick leave? House elves don’t what any of that.” he said in a confused voice.

Hermione put her fork and knife on her plate and crossed her arms, “Slave labour!” she said angrily. Harry just sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist; he then leant closer to her and whispered in her ear.

“Love… I know you mean well, but you have to listen to me now… do not, do not go and try and free all the elves…” Hermione looked at him angrily.

“And what?! Leave them as slaves?” Hermione hissed softly at him, Harry again just sighed.

“You remember what I have done right?” Harry whispered again, Hermione seemed to relax and she nodded, “Good, now… the house elves don’t want to be freed, they are happy to work. What you need to work on is improving their care… the house elves at Hogwarts would be treated well, what you have to try and stop is people abusing them, like the Malfoys did to Dobby, understand?”

Hermione nodded softly, she then turned her head and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, which to Hermione’s surprise brought a couple of glares from the female side of Hogwarts.

“I see some people are jealous of you.” Harry whispered softly to her. Hermione just giggled before going back to her meal, her mind racing with ways that she could help the house elf race.

When the feast was finally finished Dumbledore once again stood up, a large smile on his face.

“Welcome! To another year at Hogwarts!” Dumbledore said happily, the students cheered.

“Now I have some announcements! Mr Filch would like me to remind you of the banned items, see his office door for the full list of items. A reminder, the Forbidden forest is just that, Forbidden to everyone, also Hogsmeade is only for third years and above.” Dumbledore paused for a bit, and Harry could swear that the twinkle in Dumbledore’s eyes grew.

“Unfortunately I must also inform you that the inter-House Quidditch Competition will be cancelled this year.” Instantly the hall broke out in noise, the only one that seemed to be calm was Harry. Hermione looked at Harry, expecting him at least to be disappointed, but the blank look she got was confusing.

Harry could feel Hermione looking at him, he turned to her and gave her a warm smile and Hermione raised an eyebrow at this. Harry only winked in return before turning back to Dumbledore.

“The reason for this is because Hogwarts will be hosting a tournament…” Dumbledore’s speech was cut off by the Great Hall’s doors banging open. Mad-Eye Moody walked slowly up to the head table, his wooden leg clanging on the stone floor. When he reach the head table Dumbledore leaned over and shook the man’s hand. Moody then went and sat down in his seat.

“Oh… Yes I would like to introduce our new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody.” Dumbledore said, a few people clapped but a lot were still in shock.

“That must be Mad-Eye Moody, the guy Dad went to help.” Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione. Harry nodded in agreement.

“Did you see his face, I wonder what happened?” Hermione said and Ron shrugged in reply.

“Well he’s an ex-Auror, apparently he’s was one of the best, so I dare say when Voldemort was all powerful that’s when it happened, battle between him and Death Eaters most likely.” Harry suggested. Hermione nodded in agreement.

“Now as I was saying,” Dumbledore said, gaining everyone’s attention once again. “Hogwarts will be hosting a tournament known as the Tri-Wizard tournament.”

At this the hall broke out in excited whispers, the people that knew what it was told the people who didn’t and in less than half a minute the whole hall knew basically what it was.

“You’re JOKING!” rang the voices of Fred and George Weasley, causing most people to laugh.

Dumbledore chuckled softy, “No, I assure you I am not joking, now some of you may know what the tournament is, so for those of you that don’t, allow me to explain.” Dumbledore said.

"The Tri-wizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities - until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"Death toll?" Hermione whispered, looking alarmed.

But her anxiety did not seem to be shared by the majority of students in the Hall; many of them were whispering excitedly to one another, and Harry himself was far more interested in hearing again about the tournament he’d already won once than in worrying about deaths that had happened hundreds of years ago.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "None of which have been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Tri-wizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

“I’m doing it!” Fred hissed down the table. Hermione looked at him like he was crazy.

“Are you insane?! Didn’t you hear Dumbledore? People have died!” Hermione said.

Harry slipped his arms around Hermione’s waist again, which made her calm down a little, “Don’t worry love, I’m sure Dumbledore will have something so that no one under qualified can enter.” Harry said, giving her a soft kiss on her temple. Hermione relaxed, knowing that he was right.

As if on cue Dumbledore spoke up again, “The heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years or older - will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration.” Dumbledore had to raise his voice to get over the not so happy voices of the students.

“I will personally see to it that no one under seventeen will be able to enter their name.” Dumbledore's eyes flicked to the Weasley twins.

“See, told you he would do something like this.” Harry said softly. Hermione nodded and gave Harry a soft kiss on the lips, which once again earned her a few glares.

The hall then emptied out, Fred and George were talking about different ways that they would hoodwink who ever chose the champions, while Harry was inwardly rolling his eyes. Once they entered the common room, Hermione gave Harry a goodnight kiss before heading up to her dorm. Ron and Harry headed up to bed also.

“I think I’m going to enter… a thousand galleons.” Ron said almost dreamily.

“Why? And don’t give me the money stuff Ron, Sirius gave you fifteen thousand galleons remember.” Harry pointed. Ron nodded,

“Well that’s it; Sirius gave it to me… I want the money for something I did. I have always been the youngest Weasley male… I want to do something I will be known for.” Ron said. Harry nodded, knowing full well that Ron felt like a no one.

“What about you Harry? You going to try and enter?” Ron asked, though by his voice Harry could tell that Ron really, really didn’t want him to.

“Nah… I think I have found my self in too many dangerous situations already.” Harry said with a soft chuckle. Ron nodded and smiled as they then went to bed.

*-----*

AN: Ah another chapter :P, well I hope you all enjoyed it! Leave a review and tell me what you think, it only takes a couple of seconds and each and everyone makes me want to write more!

Don’t forget to check out my Yahoo group also! The link is here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hhr_fanfics/

Luke

Chapter 26 – Defence with Mad-Eye Moody

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: AH, well here is another chapter! Once again we thank Turnlach for his wonderful BETA work, and remember any mistakes are mine and not his!

*----*

The trio was sitting down at the Gryffindor table; Hermione was once again practically sitting on Harry's lap, a fact that once again brought her more glares from her classmates.

“Seems like a good day.” Ron said after stuffing his mouth full of eggs and bacon.

“Ron! Don’t eat with your mouth full, honestly it’s disgusting.” Hermione said in her bossy voice. Ron looked at Harry as if asking for some backup.

“Er… sorry Ron but I have to agree with Hermione on this one, it is rather a disgusting sight.” Harry said weakly. Ron just mock glared at him.

Ron finished his mouth full this time, “As I was saying before being rudely interrupted,” Ron said looking at Hermione, who in return just rolled her eyes, “It seems like a good day today, outside all morning.”

“Yep, then you have double Divination.” Harry pointed out to which Ron groaned softly, “Die a couple of times for me will you.” Harry said laughing softly.

After finishing their breakfast they all headed out to the Herbology greenhouses.

“All right class gather around.” called Professor Sprout, “OK, today we have Bubotubers that need squeezing. You will be collecting their pus.”

“Pus!” Lavender said in a very disgusted voice.

“Yes, pus Miss Brown, it is extremely valuable so I don’t want to see anyone wasting it. You will need to wear your dragon-hide gloves as the pus does some nasty things to the skin when it is undiluted.” Professor Sprout then went on demonstrating how to milk the thing of its pus. It was quite disgusting as it looked like popping a boil.

After the lesson they headed across the grounds and down beside Hagrid’s hut where he held the Care of Magical Creatures class. Harry couldn’t help but having an uneasy feeling in his stomach, knowing what they would be working with today.

“Morning, Harry, Hermione, Ron.” Hagrid said happily, the three of the waved.

“Alright, got a treat for yeh ter’day! Blast-Ended Skrewts!” Hagrid said happily. Harry shuddered a little while Ron and Hermione looked at the creatures in the cage. Harry noticed that many other people had disgusted looks on their faces also.

“Jus’ hatched! So yeh will be raising ‘em as yer firs’ project!” Hagrid said proudly.

“What do they do?” Malfoy asked in a disgusted voice, “What point do they have?”

Hagrid seemed to be thinking a little, “Tha’s for the next lesson Malfoy. Ter’day yeh will be feedin’ ‘em. Now I don’ know wha’ ‘ey will go for, so I a bit of everthin’.”

The class then were each given their own Blast-Ended Skrewt and were currently trying to find out what they liked. By the end of the class, Neville had been burnt when one blasted off and Malfoy had just avoided being stung.

The whole class then left heading for the next lesson; all of them dreading their next Care of Magical Creatures class.

After lunch all of them started walking to the east side of the castle, Hermione and Harry now had Ancient Runes while Ron had Divination. Harry had done what he should have done last time and dropped the useless class.

“Oi! Weasel!” Came the voice of Draco Malfoy behind them, his voice had a glee to it, telling them that whatever he wanted was not good for them.

“What do you want Malfoy?” Harry asked in a bored voice.

Malfoy didn’t seem to notice as he was looking at Ron, a large smirk on his face, “Your Dad made the paper Weasley.” Malfoy said holding up the newspaper.

“Apparently he’s a disgrace to the Ministry, and look there is also a picture of them at your house… if you could call it a house.” Draco said distastefully.

This time Harry didn’t bother holding Ron back like he had done before, Ron lunged at Malfoy catching him totally by surprise as Ron’s first connected with Malfoy’s face one after the other. After the tenth time Ron hit him, Harry finally pulled him off and dragged him off to class, leaving Malfoy to the aid of his two gorilla friends.

“You shouldn’t have stopped me.” Ron said fuming that he hadn’t been able to inflict more damage upon Malfoy’s face.

“I decided it was probably best to pull you off before a teacher came.” Harry said. Hermione had a disapproving look on her face.

“You shouldn’t have reacted, he won since you did.” Hermione said, both Harry and Ron looked at her like she was crazy.

“First Hermione, that git deserves to be hit again and again, and second how can you say Malfoy won?” Ron asked. Hermione was about to argue her case but Harry cut in.

“Malfoy expected us to walk off doing nothing to him, so if you did that he would have won, thinking he could tease and bully without consequence, so if we had not reacted he would have won.” Harry said looking Hermione in the eye, “Plus he deserves a lot worse than a couple of punches.”

Hermione noticed the look in Harry’s eye, and the last bit told her that Malfoy had done something seriously wrong. She sighed and nodded in agreement, “Fine… but I don’t have to like it.” she said smiling a little.

They then parted ways with Ron and headed to their Ancient Runes class. Hermione looked around to see if anyone else happed to be around.

“What did Malfoy do Harry?” she asked softly, Harry knew she was talking about the future.

“Raped Ginny.” Harry said softly, “Not this time though, I will kill him before he even has the chance.” Harry voice was ice cold telling Hermione that he was serious.

Hermione was rendered speechless by what Malfoy had done, she now definitely agreed that he deserved a lot more than a couple of punches. She hugged Harry, a soft sob escaping her lips.

“Shh… it’s ok Hermione… like I said, it won’t happen this time.” Harry whispered softly in her ear. Hermione nodded and wiped her eyes before taking his hand and walking to class.

Ancient Runes passed rather quickly as it was an interesting lesson. They were starting to learn about runes used in making strong wards. Of course Harry knew some about it, but there were a couple of small things that Hermione had forgotten to teach him.

*------*

The days passed fairly quickly, word had gotten around about how good Defence Against the Dark Arts was and now everyone couldn’t wait to see it for themselves.

Harry, Hermione and Ron were now walking towards the Defence classroom. When they entered Harry looked around, the room was once again covered with all different kinds of Dark detectors. The three of them took their seat at the front and everyone took out their text books, except for Harry.

“Put those books away, you won’t need them.” came the gruff voice of Professor Moody.

“Ok then, I have gone over the stuff Professor Lupin had you working on last year and you seemed to have covered Dark Creatures quite well… you are however very far behind on Curses.” Professor Moody looked at the students, his magical eye spinning around his head.

“Now Professor Dumbledore has asked me to teach you this year to bring you up to speed… Ok right onto curses then, there are a lot and I mean a lot of nasty ones out there. Now the ministry says that you are not supposed to see what any of these look like until your sixth year, though myself and Dumbledore think that you will be able to handle it.” Moody said, most of the class looked excited at this.

“Ok, now there are a number of illegal spells, but there are a certain three that are classified as unforgivable, meaning if you use one on another human then expect to spend the rest of your life locked in Azkaban. Now can someone give me one?” Moody asked.

Slowly Hermione raised her arm, “Yes Miss… Granger” Moody said.

“Umm… the Imperius Curse.” Hermione said softly.

“Ah yes, the Imperius Curse, this curse give you complete control over the person or animal that you cast the spell on.” Moody then walked over to the jar on his desk and tipped out one of the spiders that was inside.

“Imperio!” Moody muttered, and thin silver light hit the spider which then stood up on it two of its legs and started to dance, the spider then stopped dancing and started to do a number of back flips and cart wheels.

Everyone in the room was laughing at what the spider was doing, well everyone except Professor Moody and Harry.

“You think this is funny, complete control, if I had used it on one of you I could make you do anything, do you think it’s funny?” By now no one was laughing.

“The curse can be broken, but it’s extremely difficult and not many people are able to do it. I will be trying to teach you how to break the connection but its best to avoid being hit by it, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” Moody barked, everyone in the room jumped except Harry who was ready, he now had a slight smirk on his face.

“Ok, who else knows another?” Moody asked.

Harry watched as Neville raised his arm, Hermione of course also had her hand in the air.

“You.” Moody said pointing to Neville.

“T-the Cruciatus Curse, sir.” Neville said softly.

“You Longbottom?” Moody asked, Neville nodded, Professor Moody, nodded once but didn’t say anything else on it.

“Yes… the Cruciatus, another nasty. This curse is used to torture, it was used to interrogate people during the first world war, but after the ministry noticed the damage it inflicted they labelled it as an Unforgivable… the ironic thing about it was that it was the ministry that created the spell.” Moody once again took a spider from the jar.

“To see the effects properly I will need to enlarge the spider… Engorgio!” Moody said, the spider then tripled in side, “Crucio!” the dirty yellow beam hit the spider which then started thrashing on the ground, its legs curling up as the pain intensified. Harry watched stone eyed as the spider was tortured; he had been hit enough times to know about the pain the spider would be in at the moment.

“STOP IT!” Hermione yelled out, Harry turned around it see that Neville had gone ghostly pale. Moody also noticed Neville’s expression and ended the curse.

“Yes… nasty curse that one… now who knows the last one?” Moody asked.

Harry looked around and noticed that no one had their arms up, Hermione was too busy worrying about Neville and was not listening. Harry sighed and raised his arm.

“Ah yes, Mr Potter should know about this one.” Moody said.

“The killing Curse, the Avada Kedavra.” Harry said in a monotone voice.

Moody nodded, “Yes the Avada Kedavra, most commonly known as the killing curse.” Moody said as he picked out another spider.

“Avada Kedavra!” Moody yelled, the green blast left his wand and hit the spider which fell dead.

“There’s no way to block it, in fact the only one to have survived being hit by it is sitting right in front of me…” Moody said, Harry felt the eyes of everyone on him, “It requires a fair bit of power, all of you could point at me and try and cast it and all I would receive would be a nose bleed.”

Harry snorted softly at this, he knew that he could properly cast the curse… he had tried a couple of times while in duels with Voldemort.

“These are the three Unforgivable…” Moody started but Harry raised his hand, “Yes Potter?”

“What about the Dolens Mortalitas?” Harry asked softly. Moody’s eyes widened at this.

“Very good Mr Potter! Five points to Gryffindor. You are correct, the Dolens Mortalitas is a lot like the Cruciatus curse, the only difference is that it will kill the victim. This is a very, very old spell that was classified as unforgivable before the Killing, Cruciatus and Imperius were even invented.” Moody said seriously, “I personally cannot perform this spell, so I’m unable to show you it.”

The rest of the class went on with Mad-Eye explaining the history of the curses and even some of what he knew about the Dolens curse, they spent the rest of the time taking down notes.

When the chime rang though the castle, signalling the class over, everyone broke out talking in awed voices about the curses. Harry had walked over to Neville asking if he was alright.

Neville had said he was fine, though a little too quickly then entered the classroom again when Moody asked to speak with him.

*----*

AN: WOW! There it all is… well I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did :P, please leave a review as it only takes a couple seconds, and as I may not reply to all of them I do read all of them.

Luke

Chapter 27 – The New Students

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well I was feeling extra nice and decided that I should post the next chapter already! Thanks to Turnlach for his beta work!

*-----*

The next week went along normally; Malfoy had not said a word to them and many of the Gryffindors had congratulated Ron when they found out that he had beaten Malfoy to a pulp.

Harry had decided that they should start their training again and now they were back in the Room of Requirement two nights a week learning many spells and duelling tactics. Harry had even made them work their way though simulated situations where they were under attack by Death Eaters. Ron had frozen the first time he had seen them and passed out when one of them cast the killing curse at him only to have it hit him and do nothing. The part that Harry found the most amusing was how Ron instantly felt his forehead.

The three of them walked into Defence with the rest of the class and took their normal seats waiting for Professor Moody to begin the lesson.

“Right, today I will be seeing if any of you can resist the Imperius curse. I will be placing you under the curse and you will try and fight it” Moody explained.

“B-But, but isn’t it illegal?” Hermione asked wide eyed, “You said if you use it on another human it’s…”

“Look Dumbledore wants you to know what it’s like, if you would rather learn the hard way its fine by me.” Moody said.

Moody then started to call up the students one by one and put them under the Imperius. Harry watched them a small smile on his face as Dean hopped around the classroom, Lavender acted like a squirrel and Neville did a number of amazing flips and tricks that he would never normally be able to do. So far no one had shown any signs of being able to resist it at all.

“Potter! Your turn, come up here.” Moody called. Harry hid a smirk as he walked up to the centre of the room.

“Imperio!” Harry felt the feeling like he was floating though he quickly pushed it away, already defeating the curse.

Jump onto the table

Harry smirked and winked at Hermione, the whole class was watching waiting for Harry to start doing something.

JUMP NOW!

Harry grinned at the class which was now totally confused. Harry turned around and faced the Professor.

“I think your spell needs a little work.” Harry said with a smile.

“Now that’s more like it!” Moody barked out. “Potter fought and beat the curse, that’s what I want you to be able to do!”

Harry took his seat and Mad-Eye went thought the rest of the students, the only other people that showed any signs of being able to resist it a little were Ron and Hermione who hesitated on Mad-Eye’s first order but followed it when he commanded more firmly.

Most of the class left, still with a bit of the light and fuzzy feeling that the Imperius curse caused.

“You have to help us Harry! I want to be able to block it out too.” Hermione said when they were leaving the classroom.

“You’re kidding right?” Harry asked eyeing her like she had gone insane.

“Why would I be kidding?” Hermione asked, she was now rather confused with the way Harry was acting.

“Um… Hermione you do know that if I cast that spell on you… and someone finds out I would go to Azkaban for life right?” Harry asked.

“Oh… yeah… forgot about that part.” Hermione said, her cheeks turning a little pink. Harry laughed softly before wrapping his arms around her waist. Hermione instantly melted into his arms, loving the feeling of them around her. When a couple of third years glared at her she simply raised an eyebrow… oh yes… it was funny to tease them.

“You know Hermione, teasing them is a little mean.” Harry said, as if reading her thoughts. Hermione looked at him amazed.

“What? How did you…” Hermione said Harry chuckled again; he then leaned forward and kissed her ear.

“Look it up.” he said simply before giving her another soft kiss.

“Eww… come on guys, stop that before I throw up.” came Ron’s voice from behind them. Harry smiled and looked at him.

“What’s up?” Harry asked. Ron then pointed to the large notice on the notice board.

The students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at six o’clock on the 30^th of October.

Lessons will end half an hour early so that students have time to return their books and bags to their dormitories.

All students will then assemble at the front of the castle to welcome our guests before the welcoming feast.

“Brilliant isn’t it.” Ron said, “Snape won’t have time to test us all with the poison tomorrow.”

Harry nodded his head and put up a fake grin, “Yep perfect timing.” They then left and headed down to dinner.

*-----*

The next morning Harry, Hermione and Ron headed to the Owlery, Hermione wanted to send a letter to her parents and Harry also happened to have one for Sirius and Remus. When they entered they found Fred and George talking in whispers to each over.

They were only able to hear a couple of words, “Avoiding us” and “can’t forever”. Harry wouldn’t have said anything but Ron always seemed to want to know secretes.

“Who’s avoiding you?” Ron asked. Fred and George quickly sent the owl off before turning to Ron.

“Wish you would.” Fred said. Ron knew from experience that he wouldn’t get anything out of them.

“So any idea’s on how to enter the tournament yet?” Ron asked, while Harry and Hermione were tying their letters to Hedwig.

“We tried to ask McGonagall but she just yelled at us and told us to get on with our work.” George said a little bitterly.

“I wonder what the tasks will be.” Ron said. Fred and George nodded.

“No idea… we read about some of the past tournaments, the tasks are always different.” Fred said.

“I recon we could do it…” Ron said. He then turned to Harry and Hermione, “What do you think? We have been in dangerous situations before.” Ron asked.

“Yeah but we have always had the three of us, plus I’m guessing you have to do this in front of judges and spectators.” Harry said.

George nodded, “Yep, you have to do it in front of judges, they award you points on how well you did.” Fred said.

“Any idea who the judges are?” Ron asked.

“Well there are the heads of each school on the board… and I’m guessing a couple of people from the ministry.” Hermione said, she noticed all of them were looking at her in that ‘how the hell do you know that’ way, well all except Harry who was looking at her amused.

“How do you know that?” Ron asked. Hermione huffed and was about to answer but Harry got in before her.

“You need to read Hogwarts; A History mate.” Harry said seriously.

Harry nearly laughed when Ron’s eyes went wide and he started to imitate a fish out of water.

“Wha... mate y-your turning into Hermione!” Ron pointed out horrified, Harry just grinned. Hermione glared at Ron, which caused him to flinch a little.

“Is that a bad thing Ronald?” she asked. Ron knew she was mad; she only called him ‘Ronald’ when she was pissed.

“I… err… no...” Ron said weakly, Hermione huffed once more before dragging Harry down to breakfast, leaving a rather terrified Ron in her wake.

*-----*

The rest of the day went quickly, unfortunately for Ron, Snape said that they would still be testing the potions during their next lesson. The Gryffindor were now standing in a group while McGonagall walked around inspecting them.

“Weasley straighten your robes, and Potter put on your hat!” McGonagall ordered, Harry grumbled and put on the pointed hat, god he hated these.

“Miss Patil, take that thing out of your hair.” McGonagall snapped. Harry watched as Parvati glared at McGonagall while taking the butterfly clip out of her hair.

“Ok, now first years in front, then seconds years and so on, stand up straight!” McGonagall said snapping out more orders.

“It’s six.” Harry said, looking down at the watch Sirius had got him.

“Wonder how they are getting here?” Ron asked.

“Don’t know.” Harry said, he then pulled Hermione into his arms, she didn’t complain at all.

“Watch above the forest” Harry whispered in her ear. Hermione smiled and started to scan above the trees.

“Maybe they will apparate.” Ron suggested.

“Can’t apparate to Hogwarts remember.” Harry said, even though he knew that he could if he wanted, something about being the direct heir of a founder… in fact the only reason Voldemort couldn’t was because Salazar Slytherin had been banished from the castle.

“Ah I think I see our friends from Beauxbatons approaching.” Came Dumbledore's voice. Most people were asked where when Hermione gasped as she saw the carriage just above the tree line.

“Over there!” Dean yelled out and everyone’s heads turned to the carriage that was just above the tree line.

“What are they.” a second year asked.

“Dragons!” someone else called out.

“It’s not dragons, it’s some kind of horse.” Colin yelled out as he quickly took pictures of them approaching.

When they finally landed Harry looked at the magical beasts, they were beautiful. When Madame Maxime stepped out of the carriage most of the people gasped as Dumbledore greeted her. Harry smiled as he watched Hagrid’s future bride exchange pleasantries with Dumbledore.

Harry watched as the students slowly emerged from the second carriage, they were all shivering since they were only wearing robes made of thin silk and none had any cloaks. Harry couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

After Maxime finished talking with Dumbledore she led her students into the great hall so that they could warm up.

“I wonder how big Durmstrang horses will be?” Dean asked.

“Don’t know but if they’re bigger than that Hagrid wouldn’t even be able to handle them.” Ron said.

“That’s if they come by horses.” Harry whispered softy in Hermione’s ear, he then pointed towards the lake. As if on cue the waters started to ripple, then the top of a ships mask slowly emerged.

“Look at the lake!” Ron called out. Everyone turned to watch as the boat fully emerged from the water, once the ship was finally out it slowly sailed over to the waters edge. The sound of a dropping anchor was heard followed by a plank being dropped to the shore.

Slowly the people started to emerge from the boat, from this distance they all looked like they were the size of Crabbe and Goyle but once they got closer people finally realized that they looked that big because of the large fur coats that they were wearing.

The one leading them, Igor Karkaroff, walked right up to Dumbledore and shook his hand.

“Dumbledore! How nice it is to see you again! How have you been?” Karkaroff said happily. Harry watched as Dumbledore shook his hand, his eyes twinkling away.

Harry smirked slightly, knowing full well that Dumbledore was currently reading his thoughts, “As good as ever Igor, shall we head inside, Maxime has already arrived.” Dumbledore suggested.

“Yes great idea. Victor come up here.” Igor called, “Victor here has a slight cold, best to get him in fast.” Dumbledore nodded and they entered.

“It’s Krum!” Ron exclaimed! Hermione turned to look at Harry, and watched the dark clouds that quickly passed over his eyes at the mention of Victor’s name.

“Yes I see… well let’s head inside, I’m freezing out here.” Harry said. He gripped a little more tightly onto Hermione and the students all went back inside to enjoy the welcoming feast.

*-----*

Wow… well that’s it for now, since I was really nice I think all of you should be to and leave me a review :D, oh and I have also made a new website for my stories, even the ones not posted anywhere else. It also has a forum so you can ask questions and a blog where I will post regularly so you know what’s going on with updates. Come check it out and join the forum, the link is: http://www.freewebs.com/hhr_fanfics

So tell me what you think!

Luke

Chapter 28 – The Champions

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here is another chapter! Thanks Turnlach once again!

*------*

By now the rest of the students were seated at their house tables, the Beauxbatons students had sat down with the Ravenclaws while the Durmstrang students were still standing, waiting to hear where they will sit.

“Harry, move over! Maybe we can get Krum to sit here!” Ron whispered excitedly.

“Jeez Ron he’s only a Quidditch player, you’re acting like he’s the love of your life.” Hermione said, looking at him like he was insane.

“J-just a Quidditch player! He’s one of the best in the world Hermione!” Ron hissed at her, he then turned to face the Durmstrang students, “Sit here! HERE!” Ron was hissing it over and over.

Ron groaned loudly when Victor Krum went and sat down with the Slytherins. “Thanks a lot Hermione.” Ron said bitterly.

“What! I didn’t do anything so don’t blame me that your crush is sitting with the Slytherins.” Hermione hissed angrily at him. Harry also glared at Ron.

“What?” Ron asked Harry, totally confused about why he was glaring at him.

“Hermione had nothing to do with bloody Krum sitting with the bloody Slytherins so don’t blame her.” Harry hissed. Ron just looked at him like he was mad. Hermione on the other hand smiled, she liked it when Harry stood up for her.

“Welcome everyone!” Dumbledore called out. “It’s a great pleasure to welcome our guests to Hogwarts; I hope you all enjoy your stay!” Dumbledore said happily, his eyes were twinkling like mad as he scanned the students.

“The tournament will be officially started at the end of the feast… Enjoy!” Once the last word left Dumbledore’s mouth food appeared on all the tables. This time though there were all different kinds of food. Hermione was actually in the middle of explaining to Ron what some of it was.

About twenty minutes into the feast, Harry had finished eating his main meal and was currently feeding Hermione a little bit of cake.

“Excuse me, are you finished with ze Bouillabaisse?” a girl’s voice asked from behind them. Harry straight away knew who it was, Fleur Delacour, also Bill’s future wife.

“Yep, it’s all yours.” Harry said with a sincere smile.

“Yeah, it was great.” Ron said in a goofy voice. Fleur gave a small smile before thanking them and heading back to the Ravenclaw table.

“She’s a Veela!” Ron hissed to Harry and Hermione.

“I doubt that, I don’t see anyone else acting stupid around her.” Hermione said.

“She could be half or quarter.” Harry suggested. Hermione thought about it for a second before nodding in agreement.

“I’m telling you they don’t make them like that at Hogwarts!” Ron said leaning over to keep a look at her.

“Na… they make them better.” Harry said softly before giving Hermione a soft kiss on the lips, this along with his words caused her to blush a little before she leaned more into him. Ron just scrunched up his nose before turning back to look at Fleur.

It was then that Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch walked into the hall and sat down at the free seats at the staff table.

“If you pulled your eyes off the girl for a second Ronald you would be able to see who just came in.” Hermione said pointing to the front.

“What are they doing here?” Ron asked.

“Well they helped set this up, if it’s my guess they will be the other judges.” Hermione said in her know-it-all tone which caused Harry to grin.

Dumbledore once again stood up and waited until everyone had stopped talking, “The time has come” Dumbledore said with a big smile, “but before we start I would like to introduce the last two judges, Mr Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and also Mr Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sport.”

All the students cheered loudly when Ludo’s name was read out, most likely because he was a very famous ex-beater. When the cheering finally died down Dumbledore continued.

“Mr Bagman and Mr Crouch have worked non-stop over the last couple of months to be able to bring the tournament to us this year and will be joining my self and the other headmasters on the judging bench.”

Dumbledore paused as Filch brought what looked like an old miniature coffin up and laid it in front of Dumbledore.

“As some of you know, there are three champions that will enter the contest. One from each school, they will compete in three different challenges and will gain points on their magical prowess, daring, their power of deduction and their ability to cope with danger.”

By now the whole hall was silent, carefully listening to every word that Dumbledore was saying.

“Now as there are only three competitors in the tournament, you will need to place your name and hope that you get chosen. To choose the champions we will be using, the Goblet of Fire.”

Dumbledore pulled the goblet out and stood it up on the table, everyone could see that the goblet was very old and looked very, very valuable.

“Anyone wishing to have a chance to compete must write their name and school on a piece of parchment and place it in the goblet. As you have all been told, there is an age limit of 17. Anyone that is old enough has twenty four hours to place their name in the goblet.”

Dumbledore paused as some people began muttering between themselves, though it quickly stopped.

“Now to stop anyone under the required age, I will personally be placing down an age line, which will not allow anyone under seventeen to pass though it.”

“An age line!” Fred said excitedly, “Well that should be fooled by an aging potion!”

“Yep and by the sound of it once you get your name in, the goblet can’t tell the difference.” George said happily.

“I doubt anyone under seventeen will stand a chance.” Hermione said. “I bet that the reason Dumbledore is putting it there in the first…”

“Speak for yourself.” George said quickly. Hermione just sighed and leaned against Harry.

“Don’t worry love, they won’t get past the line.” Harry whispered in her ear, his eyes were twinkling just like Dumbledore's did.

It was then that everyone started to leave the hall and go to bed. Harry, Hermione and Ron all stood up, though Ron was jumping up and down looking for someone.

“Where is he? Did they say where they are sleeping?” Ron asked still looking around.

“Ron they came here on a ship, I bet there are beds on it.” Harry said. Ron stopped jumping around and now had a disappointed look on his face.

“I guess you’re right.” Ron said before turning around and walking straight into Igor Karkaroff, “OH SORRY.” Ron said quickly.

“It’s no prob…” Karkaroff started though stopped half way when his eyes landed on Harry’s forehead.

The rest of the Durmstrang students also came to a halt behind their headmaster and they too soon noticed ‘The Harry Potter’ standing there and started whispering to each other.

By now Harry was rather annoyed and let go of his magic slightly, everyone close to Harry felt the power wash over them, “Can I help you?” Harry asked politely, though his eyes seemed to have lighting bolts contained in them.

Karkaroff flinched slightly, “No, no problem, come along students.” Karkaroff called before leaving the great hall, his students sending quick looks at Harry as they passed.

“Come on let’s go.” Harry said, they all then left and headed to Gryffindor tower.

*-----*

Since the next day was a Saturday, most people would usually sleep in. Harry, Hermione and Ron on the other hand woke up nice and early and quickly walked down to see the goblet. They were not surprised to see other students up this early also, having a good look at it.

“Anyone entered yet?” Ron asked no one in particular.

“All of Durmstrang have, but I haven’t seen anyone from Hogwarts yet.” said a sixth year Ravenclaw that none of them knew.

Harry turned around just as the twins entered the hall; they seemed to have a very proud look on their faces.

“We just took it.” Fred said.

“Yep, one drop each, only need to age a couple of months.” George added proudly.

Hermione was about to say something when Harry quickly stopped her, she looked at him and could see the amusement in his eyes, so decided to just watch.

Fred and George slowly walked up to the line and both jumped over it at the same time, they seemed to think it worked as everyone cheered, though then a soft hissing sound came. When Fred and George took one more step they were all of a sudden thrown backwards, both of them now had large white beards.

“Well I did warn you” came the amused voice of Albus Dumbledore; most people gasped expecting them to be in a lot of trouble.

“I suggest you head down to the hospital wing, Poppy is also treating Mr Johnston and Miss Smith, they both also tried to age themselves… but I must say neither of their beards look as good as yours.” Dumbledore finished in amused voice.

Fred and George couldn’t help it, they started laughing hard… they couldn’t believe that Dumbledore cracked a joke when they had just tried what he had told everyone not to do.

Fred and George then left the hall and headed to the hospital wing, while Dumbledore went to the teachers table to have breakfast.

“Well I did it.” Someone said from behind them, everyone turned to see Angelina standing there.

“You entered! I hope you get it!” Hermione said happily.

“Thanks Hermione.” Angelina said with a smile.

“Good luck.” Harry said, Harry then looked at Ron but saw that he was distracted. Beauxbatons had entered the hall and Ron was staring at Fleur again. Harry nudged Hermione and pointed this out which caused her to chuckle.

The Beauxbatons students lined up and each put their names into the goblet one by one before taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast.

*-----*

For most people that couldn’t wait to find out the champions the day seemed to take forever. But for Harry, who was dreading tonight the day seemed to fly by.

Harry remembered last time this happened the Halloween feast also seemed to last a lot longer than usual, though this time to Harry it felt like the shortest dinner he had ever had.

The whole hall fell into silence as Dumbledore stood up, “I think that it is now time to pick the champions for each school.” Dumbledore then walked from the teachers table and to the goblet that was right in the middle of the hall.

When Dumbledore reached it the goblet all of a sudden ignited in a blue flame.

“If your name is called you will stand and enter the door next to the teachers table.” Dumbledore said pointing to the door.

The flame all of a sudden changed from blue to green, a piece of parchment was sent out and was hovering above the flames. When Dumbledore took it, the flames turned back to their blue colour.

“The champion for Durmstrang will be… VICTOR KRUM!” Dumbledore called out.

The whole hall broke out in applause as Victor stood and walked over to Karkaroff, shook his hand before heading through the door. When the applause finally died down, the flame once again changed green and another piece of parchment flew out.

“The champion for Beauxbatons will be… FLEUR DELACOUR!” Dumbledore call out.

Once again the hall busted into applause, Fleur walked over to Maxime and gave her a hug before entering the room. Harry could see some of the girls that had not been chosen were now crying. Once again when the applause died down the goblet turned green again. Dumbledore grabbed the parchment.

“And the Champion for Hogwarts will be… CEDRIC DIGGORY!”

“NO!” Ron yelled out, though no one heard as the Hufflepuffs started applauding the loudest. Cedric shook Dumbledore’s hand before also continuing though the door. When the applause died down Dumbledore spoke up

“Now that the champions have chosen…” though Dumbledore stopped when the goblet once again changed green and another piece of parchment shot into the air.

With reflexes not many knew he had Dumbledore grabbed the parchment, before reading it he looked up and his eyes shot to Harry for a second. Dumbledore cleared his throat.

“HARRY POTTER!”

Harry knew it was going to happen, so he sat there making himself look like he was in complete and utter shock. He then turned to Hermione and Ron.

“I didn’t put my name in… you know I didn’t.” Hermione nodded, while Ron just sat there blankly.

Dumbledore cleared his throat once more, “Harry Potter” Dumbledore called, “Come on Harry.”

Harry slowly got to his feat and walked over to Dumbledore; he could feel everyone’s eyes on him and couldn’t blame them either.

“Though the door Harry.” Dumbledore said softly. Harry nodded and entered. Inside the other three looked at him strangely as he sat down.

Fleur was the first to speak, “Do zey want us back in the hall?” she asked. Harry just shook his head.

It was then that Bagman came in, “Extraordinary! Ladies and gentlemen I introduce the fourth champion!”

“What? Is this a joke, he somehow cheated to get in and now he gets to compete!” Krum said angrily.

“Shut it Krum before I make it so you can’t walk let alone catch the damn snitch. I didn’t enter my name at all.” Harry said angrily.

Harry noticed that both Fleur and Cedric were frowning; it was when that the headmasters and McGonagall entered the room.

“Madame Maxime!” Fleur said when her headmistress entered, “Zey are saying zat zis little boy is to complete also!”

Harry could feel the angry boiling under his skin.

“What is ze meaning of zis Dumbledore?” Maxime asked. Igor nodded in agreement with her question.

“Yes Dumbledore, we were under the impression that your age line wouldn’t allow people fewer than seventeen enter or else we would have brought more people”

“Don’t blame Albus, this is Potter's fault.” came Snape’s sneering voice.

This did it for Harry he stood up and looked Snape right in the eye, “And what reason would I have for entering this fucking tournament you snivelling piece of shit.” Harry spat. He was barely keeping control of his magic and everyone in the room could feel the power washing off him.

Dumbledore knew it would be bad if Harry was to lose control, “Harry calm down and Severus leave, now!” Snape sneered at Harry before leaving, slamming the door shut.

“REASON! REASON!” Karkaroff bellowed, “How about a thousand reasons!”

Harry stared at Karkaroff in distaste, “A thousand galleons… a thousand galleons… that’s petty change.” Harry said, his loathing for the man clearly evident.

“Harry” Dumbledore said, Harry turned to look him in the eye, “Did you put your name in the Goblet?” he asked. Harry could feel the probe and let it past his shields, after all he was telling the truth.

“No.”

“Did you have another student place it in there?” Dumbledore asked, again Harry let the probe through.

“No.”

Harry then felt the probe retract and Dumbledore nodded, “This is an outrage! Hogwarts cannot have two champions!” Karkaroff yelled.

“I’m afraid you have no choice.” came the voice of Professor Moody. Harry resisted the urge to snort, after all it had been Moody that entered him. “Rather good plan actually…”

“I will be lodging complaints! To the Minster and the department…”

“The only one who should complain is Potter, but he doesn’t seem to be doing much.” Moody growled.

“And why should ‘e! ‘E has been chosen to complete! Ze honour of ze school if not the money! Most people would die to be where ‘e is!” Fleur said.

“Yes… maybe someone is hoping he will do just that.” Moody responded.

“Do what?” Maxime asked.

“Die for it, of course. It’s an impressive plan, he can’t back out.” Moody said gruffly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“And what proof do you have of that!” Karkaroff asked, looking at Moody as if he was mad.

“It would take an extremely powerful Confundus Charm to confuse that cup into thinking it has to draw four champions. It’s my guess that whoever did it put Potter under a fourth school or something, so that he would definitely be called.” Moody said.

“You seem to have a great deal of knowledge on this Moody.” Karkaroff said eyeing him suspiciously.

“I’m an Auror, it’s my job to think and work out these things.” Moody growled.

“That’s enough, it does not matter anymore, we have no choice but to accept the fact that Harry will also have to complete.” Dumbledore said softly.

“But Dumbly-dorr-…”

“Madame my dear, if you have an alternative I would be glad to hear it and I suspect so would Harry here.” Dumbledore said softly.

When no one said anything Dumbledore motioned for Crouch to begin.

“Right, now for the first task we will be testing your daring.” Crouch said looking at all four of them. “Therefore we will not be telling you what you will be facing.”

It was then Bagman stepped in, “The first task will be on November the twenty-fourth, you will have nothing but your wands.” Bagman explained.

“That’s all… oh and also because of the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament you will not have to sit end of year tests.”

Crouch then looked back at Dumbledore, “I think that’s all Albus.”

“I think so.” Maxime then led Fleur out quickly, Karkaroff also led Krum out, who glared at Harry before leaving.

“Harry, Cedric, I suggest you both also head back. I dare say both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are wanting to throw parties.” Dumbledore said softly, they both nodded and left together.

“So… did you enter your name?” Cedric asked softly.

“No… I have no reason to… I have enough money and I’m already bloody famous enough.” Harry said sighing softly.

“For what it’s worth, I believe you… though I doubt many others will.” Cedric said softy. Harry just nodded and they parted ways, heading for their respected dorms.

When Harry entered the common room he was once again blasted by people cheering for him. It took him half an hour to finally get away and head to bed. He had tried once again to tell them he hadn’t entered but just like last time it didn’t work.

When he got into his dorm, Ron was laying there in his bed, Harry sighed softly, knowing what was coming.

“Well congratulations.” Ron said sarcastically.

“For what… I didn’t enter.” Harry said softly.

“Ah-huh… but really how did you do it… it couldn’t have been the cloak, because I could have entered then as well.” Ron said.

“Look Ron, I didn’t put my name in the damn goblet, someone else bloody did.” Harry said angrily.

“And why would anyone want to do that, why would anyone want to give you the chance at the fame and glory and not themselves?” Ron asked raising an eyebrow. “You know you can tell me the truth, its not like I’m going to tell on you…”

“I didn’t fucking put my name in!” Harry yelled at him.

“What ever Harry, you better get to bed. I bet they’ll be wanting the famous boy-who-lived and the Hogwarts champion for a photo shoot or something tomorrow.” Ron sneered before pulling his hangings shut. Harry just sighed and collapsed into his bed. It was going to be just like last time… only this time Ron seemed to be even angrier at him for getting in.

*-----*

AN: Well there you go I think that answers all your questions on whether on not Ron would be Jealous… I don’t know why but I really, really don’t like Ron at all… there is something about his character that I don’t like so hes not always in the best light in my stories… as you probley know.

Anyways don’t forget to check out my Webpage: http://www.freewebs.com/hhr_fanfics/index.htm

Join the Forums or something… oh well please leave a review and tell me what you think!

Luke

Chapter 29 – Rika Skeeter

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks to Turnlach for his wonderful beta work as always

*------*

When Harry woke up the next morning he let out sad sigh, well this is it, he thought to himself, knowing full well that now half the school had turned against him. He only hoped that Hermione believed him again. Quickly getting out of bed Harry noticed that everyone else was already up. He quickly jumped into the shower and walked into the common room about fifteen minutes later.

Harry let out a relieved sigh when he saw Hermione standing there with a plate of toast.

"Hey." Harry said softly.

"Hey... you want to go for a walk?" Hermione asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea...Room of Requirement?" Harry suggested. Hermione nodded, took his hand and led them both out of the common room.

"So... how many people believe that I entered myself?" Harry asked softly.

"Hmm... everyone... well everyone except Cedric actually. I heard him saying that someone else had entered your name, no one believed him though." Hermione said. Harry sighed.

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry asked softy, Ron was taking this a lot harder than last time.

"Umm... yes... he was mumbling to himself, saying stuff about you always getting what you want or something." Hermione said softly.

By now they had reached the black wall where the room was located. Harry paced back and forth in front of it thinking of a relaxing place to talk. On the third pass the door appeared and they entered, it was a simple cosy room, had a fireplace and a comfortable looking couch.

Harry sat down and Hermione then dropped herself onto his lap. Harry grunted softy before wrapping his arms around her.

"You can do it right?" Hermione asked softly, her lip trembling a little.

"Yeah... I could do them last time so I can easily do them again... though this time I will make it easier on myself." Harry said softly. "It’s the backlash of actually being the 'fourth' champion that somehow cheated his way in that I’m not looking forward to."

"I’m sure everyone will treat you fairly." Hermione said softly.

"I’m sure Gryffindor will, but not Slytherin..." Harry said but Hermione cut him off.

"Since when are they nice." Hermione pointed out.

"I know but it will be worse, then there is Hufflepuff. They won’t like me since I stole their flame so to speak... Ravenclaw will most likely be split, as will the public." Harry said sighing.

They sat in silence for a moment before Hermione once again spoke up, "What do you have to do for the first challenge?" Hermione asked.

Harry smiled at her, "Well you’re not suppose to know, but since I have done it before... well actually we have to steal a golden egg from a mother dragon." Harry said as if it wasn’t much.

Hermione on the other hand went stiff, "YOU WHAT!" she yelled. She was about to continue though Harry cut her off with a kiss.

"Now don’t worry Hermione." Harry whispered when he broke it, "I know exactly what I’m going to do."

Hermione looked at him with those, 'oh you better know' eyes, "Well?" she asked.

" I’m going to put up a number of illusions of my self, use an invisibility spell and sneak up, if that doesn’t work then I will simply stun the dragon." Harry said softy.

"What? Stun a dragon, are you crazy Harry!" Hermione said looking at him like he was mad, "You know dragons are very resistant to magic..."

"Yes but if he spell is powerful enough..." Harry explained.

Hermione's eyes were wide, "You’re powerful enough to stun a dragon...?" she whispered.

"So will you be." Harry said softly. Hermione once again looked at him like he was crazy, "trust me Hermione, you’re a very powerful witch."

Since Harry didn’t want to face the school yet, they spent the rest of the day practicing and learning new spells.

*------*

Harry was exactly right in his assumptions, the Slytherins were teasing him a lot more, the Hufflepuffs who were usually on good terms with the Gryffindors were cold towards them and the Ravenclaw were torn down the middle.

The first class that they had with the Slytherins was Care of Magical Creatures, and Harry already was in a bad mood.

"Ah if it isn’t the fake Hogwarts champion." came the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy, "So Potter how long are you going to last, personally I think you won’t last ten minutes, though father says five tops." Crabbe and Goyle laughed at Draco’s stupid joke.

"Seriously Malfoy, when are you going to give up on this petty little grudge you have against me? You now I always came out on top." Harry said with a sad little shake of his head before heading over to listen to Hagrid.

During Care of Magic Creatures Hagrid was making them walk the Skrewts, though Harry manage to get out of it by talking with Hagrid. Hermione of course came with him and also got out of walking him.

By the time they left Harry was happy that Hagrid also believed him and nearly laughed as he watched Malfoy walk back to the castle muttering under his breath, his robes had a lot of burn holes on them.

*------*

The next day Harry and Hermione were walking down to Potions with Snape, Harry knew today was the day that Malfoy would have his badges out, but Harry already had a plan for this.

"POTTER! OI POTTER" came Malfoy’s amused voice, "Like the badges?" he asked pulling his robes out so it stood out.

SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY

THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION

All the Slytherin’s behind them were also wearing them and were sniggering at Harry. Harry only smiled in return.

"Oh but that’s not all Potter watch" Draco said. All the Slytherins pressed their badges and the message vanished, Harry then quickly flicked his wrist, the movement was so subtle no one noticed, after a second the badge wore a new message.

MALFOY STINKS!

The message was flashing red, Malfoy looked at it shocked, before he pressed it again, instead of changing back it stopped flashing red and started to flash green.

"Wow... great badges Draco." Harry said with a chuckle. Draco then reached for this wand and pulled it out; Harry however was fast and had his wand out now.

"You really don’t want to do that Malfoy." Harry said seriously.

"Densaugeo!" Malfoy yelled.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled.

Harry's spell hit and sent Malfoy crashing into the wall knocked out, though of course Malfoy missed Harry and hit Hermione.

"Finite!" Harry said pointing his wand at Hermione, stopping her teeth from growing, they were only about an inch to big.

"Common I’ll fix this." Harry said quickly picking up Hermione and taking her into an empty classroom around the corner.

"Um... Hermione... last time this happened you had Pomfrey fix your teeth a little more than they were, do you want me to do that?" Harry asked softy.

"You mean fix my teeth so I don’t have buckteeth anymore? Yes! That’s great." Hermione said happily. Harry waved his hand in front of her and her teeth slowly went back to normal, he continued the spell until they were perfect, just like she had done last time.

Harry then conjured a mirror and showed her. Hermione beamed at Harry and she then gave him a rather passionate kiss.

“Come on, we better get back before Snape gets there.” Harry said breaking the kiss. Hermione nodded and took his hand and they walked back to the class hand in hand, Hermione with a large grin on her face.

When they got back, they noticed that Malfoy was still knocked out on the ground. Harry looked at some students near them questionably, but they just shrugged in return. It seemed that even though most of them didn’t like Harry since he was also a champion, they still hated Malfoy more.

When Snape came out he seemed to be in a bad mood, “GET IN CLASS NOW!” he roared.

“Sir, Malfoy…” Pansy started, but Snape cut her off with a glare.

“I SAID IN NOW!” Snape yelled again, Pansy let out a same whimper before heading into the class room. Lucky for Harry, Draco was behind the door so Snape never noticed him.

“Today, we will be testing your antidotes!” Snape said with an evil grin, his eyes met Harry's. Harry for his part raised an eyebrow which caused Snape to get even angrier.

“The first person will be P…” Snape started cut was cut off by someone knocking at the door.

“COME IN!” Snape yelled, when the door opened Colin Creevey stood there looking rather nervous.

“Yes?” Snape asked coldly.

Colin seemed to be sweating slightly, “I, umm need to get Harry Potter upstairs.” Colin said a little nervously.

“Potter has another hour of potions, you can wait.” Snape said in his usual cold tone.

“B-but sir… Mr Bagman wants him… All the champions have to be there…” Colin said, now he really was sweating.

“Fine, Potter leave your things, you will be testing…” Snape said but Colin cut him off… everyone held their breath, no one had seen anyone cut Snape off.

“No, they have to take all their things, all the champ…” Colin said.

“Fine! Get out of here Potter!” Snape yelled. Harry gave Snape an evil little grin which seemed to make him even angrier.

When the door closed behind him Harry flicked his wand over his shoulder using a delayed enervate spell.

Colin then led Harry to a classroom, he hadn’t said anything since they left Snape’s classroom and Harry guessed Snape scared the shit out of him.

“Good luck Harry.” Colin said before leaving. Harry then entered the same small classroom that he had last time, Cedric was talking with Fleur while Krum stood in a corner by himself. Harry noticed Krum’s glare and gave his own glare back.

“AH! Here he is Champion number four! Now come on Harry, the judges will be here along with the specialist for the wand weighing in a second.” Ludo said steering Harry over to a seat.

“Oh, yes this is Rita Skeeter, she will be doing a small article for the Prophet.” Bagman said.

“Maybe not so small anymore.” Harry hear Rita mumble to herself, “Mr Bagman I was wonder if I could have a word with Harry before we start… you know youngest champion and all.” Rika asked sweetly.

“Certainly!” Ludo said happily, “That is of course if Harry has no problems with it.”

“No thanks.” Harry said immediately, Harry noticed a look of anger shoot past Rita’s eyes.

“Come on now Mr Potter, just a small interview.” Rita said grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the room. Once Harry was outside he ripped his arm free.

“I said no you old bat.” Harry spat at her.

“You will give me an interview.” Rita said angrily.

“I will only say this once you slag… FUCK OFF!” Harry said, yelling the last two words.

It seemed that Dumbledore had perfect timing and happened to come around the corner at the same time as Harry yelled the words.

“How dare you… Dumbledore did you hear what his foul mouthed boy said.” Rita said in a ‘fake’ offended way.

“I heard a bit more than the last two words Rita and I don’t think Harry would like to give you an interview… now if you will please.” Dumbledore said, not a trace of apology in his voice.

Rita re-entered the room in a huff, Harry quickly turned to Dumbledore, “Sorry about that sir… not my best couple of days…” Harry said sighing a little.

“No problem Harry… but please try and refrain from using that language again” Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, Harry just nodded, “Now I think we better get in before they start without us.”

Harry and Dumbledore entered the room; Harry noticed that everyone had their eyes on him… after all they must have heard what happened outside.

“Ah now that we’re all here,” Dumbledore said, all the eyes now left Harry and turned to Dumbledore, “May I introduce Mr Ollivander. He will be checking your wands today.”

Ollivander went through everyone’s wands checking them over and using a simple spell; he once again took longest to check Harry’s, even though Harry had polished it for the last two weeks to get it looking as good as new.

*-----*

The next day Rita’s article on the tri-wizard tournament came out, and even though Harry had not said anything to her she had still reported an interview.

Once again she had gone on to say how he still cry’s about his parents, how he thinks they would be proud of him and are looking out for him. That wasn’t the part that annoyed him the most though, it was the in depth report on his relationship with Hermione that really had him angry.

The article had Draco once again at it and Ron still was not talking to him, something that he knew would most likely happen. Though the thing that worried Harry the most was maybe that Ron wasn’t only jealous that Harry had got into the tournament. What if he was also jealous that Harry was going out with Hermione… When Hermione had broken up with Ron last time and started dating him, Ron didn’t talk to Harry for half the year and his friendship with Hermione was all but ruined. He could only hope that it wouldn’t happen this time.

*------*

AN: Sorry about the wait on this chapter, just had a lot going on and didn’t have the time to post it :/, well as always review! And don’t forget to check out my webby , the link can be found in my profile :p

Luke

Chapter 30 – The First Task

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Well here is another chapter, as always thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work!

*-----*

The first task was growing nearer and Harry didn’t know what it was but he felt like he was forgetting something… he had gone down to watch the dragons and could feel Mad-Eye watching… at least now he wouldn’t have to go with Hagrid and listen to him try and talk romance with Maxime.

But there was something… something bugging him, it was something that he had done last time, but he couldn’t remember…

Harry was broken from his thoughts though when Hermione jumped onto his lap. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ron scowl for a second and his fears were confirmed, Ron was jealous about him dating Hermione…

“Come on Harry, we’ve got to go to Hagrid’s class.” Hermione said happily, giving him a soft kiss on the nose. She then jumped off his lap and pulled him to his feet. “You coming Ron?” Hermione asked, Ron just grunted. Even though Ron wasn’t talking to Harry, Hermione still tried to keep them together. Harry on the other hand was letting Ron sulk for a bit and then he would talk to him when he was ready.

When they arrived at Hagrid’s hut Harry was rather annoyed to see Skeeter walking away with a rather smug look on her face, her expression brightened further when she noticed Harry there.

"Oh Harry, how nice to see you!" Rika called out. She then started to quickly make her way over to him but was surprised when she walked head first into an invisible shield; Harry paid no attention to her and kept on walking to class.

*-----*

By lunch time Harry still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was forgetting something... he started thinking about all that had happened last time, Hagrid showing him the dragons with Maxime... then it was like a light bulb going off... all the champions would know about the dragons… except Cedric!

Quickly scanning the hall Harry noticed that Cedric was nowhere. He quickly got up and left, Hermione followed him outside into an unused classroom, giving him a questioning look.

"Aperio Marauder’s Map!" Harry said firmly, a blank piece of parchment faded into his hand.

"I solemnly swear I’m up to no good." Harry said tapping the parchment with his wand. Quickly scanning the map Harry noticed that Cedric was walking towards the great hall form the Hufflepuff common room, fortunately no one else was with him.

"Hermione don’t worry I just have to tell Cedric something... it would probably be best alone." Harry said giving her a small smile. Hermione nodded and gave him a little kiss on the cheek before going back to eat lunch. Meanwhile Harry left to speak to Cedric before he got to the hall.

Harry waited for Cedric at the last staircase that he would come down; when he did come Harry quickly waved him over.

"Hey Harry... um I’m sorry about the shit people have been giving you... I tried to tell me house but...” Cedric said apologetically.

"Don’t worry about it." Harry said with a half smile, "But I should tell you... the first task... we have to get something off a dragon." Harry said seriously. Cedric’s eyes widened at this.

"A dragon... how do you know? And why are you telling me?" he asked quickly.

"Well I know because I have seen them, and the reason I’m telling you... well there are two actually, first you believe I didn’t place my name in the goblet and second I’m sure the other contestants know by now also." Harry said.

Cedric nodding slightly, he seemed to be in deep thought, most likely thinking about the dragons. "Thanks Harry." he said sincerely. Harry nodded and then left back to the hall.

*----*

The week before the first task went very quickly for Harry and before he knew it he was walking down to the task area. He quickly entered the tent and sat down next to Cedric who gave Harry a small smile. Harry looked around the room. Fleur looked nervous, she obviously knew what was coming and Krum had his hands over his face so Harry couldn’t actually tell what he was thinking.

It was then that Bagman walked, in a large grin on his face as usual. "Good-o you’re all here, now to explain the task!" he said happily. When everyone was paying attention to him he continued.

"Right, in a moment you will each pick an object out of this bag, they contain a model of the creature you will be facing! Your task is to collect the golden egg the creature will be protecting. Now if you all will pick a model... Fleur you first."

Fleur quickly put her slightly shaking hand in the bag and picked out the model of a Welsh Green Dragon, she had no sign of surprise on her face telling Harry that she had definitely been told.

Krum was next and picked out the model of a Chinese Fireball; he too showed no surprise and simply looked at the ground again covering his face.

Cedric slipped his hand into the bag and pulled out the model of the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon model, he sighed softly before looking at the ground.

Harry, showing no signs of nervousness, slipped his hand in and picked out the model of the Hungarian Horntail, the number four under the model. He leaned back against the support pole in the tent, his face not giving off any emotion. Normally he could have easily got past the dragon, just place a shield around himself and walk right up. But that would be showing power that Dumbledore could barely do and that was something he didn’t want to do.

Ludo then asked for a word with Harry and just like last time he tried to offer any advice he could. Harry once again said he was fine, knowing full well that Bagman had placed a large bet on him winning. When he came back in Cedric was called out first. All of them sat there in silence while the commentary could be heard.

About fifteen minutes later the crowd started cheering signalling that Cedric had got the egg. Fleur was the next to go, leaving Harry and Krum alone. Harry stared at Krum a small grin on his face.

"So Victor...any ideas what you’re going to do?" Harry asked innocently, Krum didn’t speak.

"Oh come now, I might be the last person you speak to before the dragon out there rips you in two." Harry said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Krum still didn’t say anything but he did look up and glare at Harry. Harry’s grin only grew.

Harry was about to say something else when Bagman entered the tent again, "Victor you’re up now!" he said happily. Krum stood up, throwing another glare at Harry before leaving.

Harry listened to the commentary and the crowd cheering as Krum battled the dragon. About five or so minutes later the crowd let out a massive cheer telling Harry he had got it. Bagman then walked into the tent.

"Come on Harry, you’re up now!" he yelled. Harry nodded and followed him out.

When Harry walked into the arena he was greeted with a familiar scene, hundreds of eyes on him, and at the far end a massive dragon standing protectively over her eggs, the golden egg sitting with them. Harry wasn’t nervous; he knew that if anything went wrong he could get out of it. The sound of a horn then sounded and the timer started.

Harry started to make his way quickly towards the dragon…the crowd was dead silent. When he was about fifty meters away Harry flicked his wand over his head, the familiar feeling of having an egg cracked on his head washed over him as he became invisible.

The crowd gasped at this and he could hear Bagman going off, "POTTER HAS USED AN INVISIBILTY SPELL! NO ONE THOUGHT OF THAT!" Harry then walked out of his hiding area, trying to be as quiet as possible, he was doing rather well until a rock that he stood on gave way.

Harry watched as the dragons head snapped to where he was and let off a massive fire ball; he was in between two rocks and couldn’t jump out of the way.

"MAXIMUS PROTEGO DRACONOS!" Harry yelled and a bright green shield snapped out of nowhere in front of him. The fire ball from the dragon parted around the shield missing Harry.

"Statua Effingo!" Harry whispered. After the spell was complete there were several soft popping sounds and now standing around the dragon were seven copies of Harry.

All at once the copies raised their wands, "Stupefy!" they all yelled at the same time. Seven red bolts shot out and hit the dragon knocking it backwards where it fell unconscious. The crowd was completely silent as Harry ran up and grabbed the egg.

Harry was a little nervous, the clones’ spells held next to no power but hopefully the people in the crowd or the judges wouldn’t know that. Once Harry had the egg and everyone realized what had actually happened, they went wild. No one had ever seen what he had done before.

“HARRY POTTER STUNS THE DRAGON!” He heard Ludo over the crowd. Harry started to walk back to the entrance when he saw a bush of brown hair bolting at him. Before he knew it Hermione had launched herself into his arms.

“Don’t you do anything like that again!” she said firmly, before giving him a nice deep kiss, which in return caused most of the crowd to cheer, and the Slytherin’s to ‘boo’.

Harry was beaming when Hermione finally broke the kiss, he could see McGonagall, Hagrid and Moody waiting for him at the Medical tent. Harry looked around hoping to see Ron, but to his dismay Ron was nowhere to be found… Harry only hoped that Ron was waiting for a private moment.

“Well done Harry.” McGonagall said, her voice full of pride. Hagrid was crying and Harry couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he guessed it was some kind of congratulations when he hugged Harry, nearly crushing him.

“Come on Harry, we have to see your scores!” Hermione said, grabbing his arm and leading him outside where he could see the judges.

“You were easily the best. Cedric transfigure a rock into a dog to try and distract the dragon… it worked mostly since he got the egg but the dragon went after him forgetting about the dog and he got a little burnt.” Hermione said in her teacher’s voice.

“Fleur used a trance charm, it worked a little, the dragon got a little sleepy and she got the egg, but the dragon snorted and she got a little burnt also. The next best after you was Victor, he hit the dragon with a Conjunctivitis Curse but the dragon stomped a lot of its eggs so he lost points…” Hermione said. She stopped when she noticed the judges were ready to give out the scores. Maxime was first, she held out her wand and a golden nine shimmered into view above her. Barty Crouch did the same except a golden ten appeared; Dumbledore also gave Harry a ten along with Ludo Bagman. It was now Karkaroff’s turn, last time he had given Harry a four, though he easily deserved more… a golden five shimmered into view above him. “A FIVE!” Hermione yelled, though she collected herself when she felt Harry gasp her hand, “OH HARRY! You’re in the lead!” Hermione said excitedly grabbing him for another hug. When the scores were announced the crowd went wild, well except the Slytherins and Durmstrang students.

Harry and Hermione walked back into the medic tent, Harry quickly congratulated Cedric and Fleur, though didn’t even mention Krum. Hermione shot him a questioning glance but didn’t say anything when Harry gave her a look that clearly said he would explain later. It wasn’t long until all the judges walked into the medical tent. Ludo had the biggest smile on his face Harry had ever seen… most likely because of the fact Harry had taken first place. “OH good everyone’s here!” Ludo said happily, “Well I may as well explain the second task now then.” he said and waited until everyone was paying attention to him. “Now, the key to the second task is that egg you are all holding, you will see on the side it has a hinge and the other a latch. Well, you must solve what is inside the egg to figure out the second task!” Ludo exclaimed. “The second task will be held at half past nine, on February the twenty-fourth.” Crouch added in a bored tone. All of the competitors nodded. Now the only people left were the competitors and their headmasters. Dumbledore congratulated Cedric on his transfiguration work before turning to Harry. “Well done Harry.” he said seriously, “Would you mind coming to see me on Monday night? There are a couple of things I would like to talk about.” Harry just nodded and let out a sigh after he had left. He knew Dumbledore wouldn’t be fooled by his little trick. *------* AN: …Hmmmm… I wonder what Harry is going is going to come up with to get out of this one? Or will he tell Dumbledore the truth? Well I guess were going to have to wait to find out. Don’t forget to check out my webby, the link can be found in my profile :P Luke

Chapter 31 – Viktor Krum

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Ah well here is another chapter! Thanks to Turnlach for his BETA work once again!

*----*

That night after the first task there was a huge party in the Gryffindor common room, where everyone learned first hand what the inside of the egg sounded like while not submerged in water.

Hermione had been picking at him to tell her what it all was about but Harry would simply wink at her, saying that he would explain it to her later on. After about an hour of not getting anything out of him she finally gave up.

It was now about three in the morning and most of the partiers had gone to bed. Only Harry, Hermione, the twins, Ginny and Ron were still down the common room.

Harry had been watching Ron most of the night, though Ron didn’t speak to Harry once; he seemed to be having an on going confrontation in his head.

“Er…Harry, could I speak to you for a moment?” Ron said a little nervously. Harry nodded his head and followed Ron just outside the Fat Lady.

“Look… I… I know you didn’t put your name in the goblet… my guts told me you didn’t but for once my brain had to come forward… I have been a right prat, I guess all I can say is I’m sorry.” Ron said softly.

“It’s okay mate, we all have lapses in out sanity every now and again.” Harry said with a sincere smile. He then pulled Ron into a quick friendly hug, one that is shared between two best mates when the time calls for it.

“Let’s get back inside.” Harry said, Ron nodded and they both went back inside. Hermione was smiling at the two of them, already knowing that they had made up.

Harry sat back down next to her, and gave her a warm smile. Hermione gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and out the corner of his eye he noticed the look of jealousy cross over Ron’s face before it quickly disappeared. Inwardly Harry sighed…

*-----*

It was now Monday night and Harry was making his way to Dumbledore’s office for the ‘meeting’ that Dumbledore had asked for, though inside Harry thought that it would be more like a questioning.

When Harry arrived at the stone gargoyle he didn’t know the password so once again he touched the Gargoyle to open it, in his own personal way.

“Come in.” came Dumbledore voice just as Harry was about to knock. Harry smirked slightly at this. He knew Dumbledore loved being able to do that.

“Ah Harry, tea?” Dumbledore asked kindly when Harry entered the room.

“No thank you headmaster.” Harry said politely before taking one of the seats in front of Dumbledore’s desk.

“Very well.” Dumbledore said before pouring himself some tea. “Harry… I was wondering. How did you manage those spells you used during the first task?”

Harry smiled slyly, he silently congratulated himself on his acting skills, “Well you see sir… when one has Hermione Granger as their girlfriend… you tend to study a lot more.” Harry said. Dumbledore chuckled softy at Harry’s little pun.

“Yes, yes Harry I figured you had been studying over the summer, but the power required to stun a dragon… I myself would have trouble to do that.” Dumbledore said seriously.

Harry reinforced his mental shields when he felt Dumbledore probe, he allowed Dumbledore to see emotions of shock and amassment, “I-I don’t know.” Harry said softly.

Dumbledore seemed to regard him for a moment, “You have the potential to be a very powerful wizard Harry,” Dumbledore said softly. Harry was a little shocked at how sincere Dumbledore was being, “I hope that you don’t make the same mistakes I did when you get into a position like my own…” he said in almost a whisper.

“Actually… do you have any idea what you want to do?” Dumbledore asked, obviously happy with Harry’s explanation on the first task.

“Well… I thought about it a little… I wouldn’t mind being an Auror… or perhaps a… Teacher.” Harry said with a small smile. Harry noticed that Dumbledore’s eyes seemed to light up at the mention of him wanting to be a teacher.

“Fine choices I must say Harry… and with your grades at the moment, both well within your grasp.” Dumbledore said giving Harry a genuine smile.

“Thank you sir.” Harry said.

“Its been nice speaking with you Harry, but I must get on with my work… and I’m sure Hermione is dying to see you again.” Dumbledore said with a little chuckle.

“Yes… good day headmaster.” Harry said before making for the door.

“Harry…” Dumbledore called out when he reached it.

“Yes sir?” Harry asked.

“Call me Albus when in private… I think by now you have proven that you are an adult.” Dumbledore said with an almost sad smile, like he was wishing that Harry was still a child, or had a childhood at least.

“Thank you S…Albus.” Harry said with a small smile before leaving the room.

*-----*

A week had passed since the meeting with Dumbledore; Harry was happy that now most of the school had stopped giving him the cold shoulder. The only ones that still did were the few Hufflepuffs that still thought Harry stole their glory, and well the Slytherin’s… although that was nothing new.

All of the champions were now in a small room with Dumbledore, Maxime, Karkaroff, Crouch, Bagman and McGonagall.

“It is tradition, to have a Yule ball during the Triwizard tournament.” Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling away. “It is also tradition to have the Triwizard champions open the ball.”

Harry couldn’t resist the urge to glare at Krum… this time HE would be taking Hermione to the ball… in fact he hadn’t danced with Hermione since before they came to the past… he was missing the feeling of holding her close, and swaying gently to the music…

Before Harry knew it they were all dismissed. Looking at his watch Harry knew that Hermione would most likely be in the library while Ron would be in the common room, most likely bored.

Weighting up the odds he decided to go and ask Ron if he wanted to go for a fly. It had been a while since Harry had been on his broomstick and he missed the free feeling he got from flying.

*-----*

Hermione was sitting in the library studying hard… she was often a little jealous of Harry, having been from the future and having all this knowledge. But she pushed it from her mind, knowing the pain he had been though, that he was trying to prevent this time round.

It was then she noticed someone approaching her, she knew it wasn’t Harry, she could ‘feel’ when he got close. Looking up she saw someone that she had not expected at all, Viktor Krum.

“Hello my name is Viktor.” he said holding out his hand. She was a little hesitant, she knew that Harry loathed Krum, and it was most likely for a good reason.

“Oh… hi my name is Hermione.” she said shaking his hand, though instead of shaking it, he kissed her knuckles.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Herm-own-ninny.” he said having a little trouble with her name.

“Um… is there, err something I can help you with?” Hermione asked.

“Vell you see, at Christmas, the school vill be holding a ball… I vas hoping you vould come with me?” He asked softly.

“I… umm I’m sorry, but if there is a ball then I will most likely be going with my boyfriend…” Hermione said quickly.

“Vell why hasn’t he asked you already?” Viktor persisted.

“He doesn’t need to ask me, though I’m sure he will. I haven’t heard anything about the ball so how do I know he has?” Hermione said; she was starting to get a tad nervous.

“I am sure that your boyfriend vould’nt minds… so you will come yes?” he asked again.

“No, I’m sorry.” Hermione said once again.

“But…” Viktor started, but now Hermione had had enough.

“Look, I said no. now go ask someone from you little fan club to go with you, I need to study.” Hermione said before picking up her book again.

Viktor didn’t move for a bit, but then quickly left the library. Hermione watched him leave then noticed the few girls that followed him around glare at her, though some of them were nodding.

*-----*

Hermione didn’t tell Harry about what had happened in the library, she figured that Harry already hated Krum enough and she really didn’t want him trying to fight the guy. Personally she didn’t know why Krum wanted to go with her so much, she guess that it was mainly to get at Harry.

Everyone was now eating their deserts when Dumbledore stood up; causing practically the whole to hall fell into silence.

“I’m hoping everyone is enjoying their meal” Dumbledore said happily, “Now as some of you may know, it is tradition to have a Yule ball during the Triwizard tournament. So this Christmas starting at eight, Hogwarts will host a Yule ball. Dress robes are required and Hogsmeade will be open this weekend.” Dumbledore paused when all the girls started to whisper between themselves; he noticed a couple of them giving Harry hungry looks.

“Hermione.” Harry whispered in her ear.

“Yes?” She whispered back.

“Well after seeing the look some of the other girls were giving me I though I better get this done now… will you come to the ball with me?” Harry asked, a small smile gracing his lips.

“Of course I will silly.” she said, she then kissed him softly on the cheek.

“Now there is one more thing I must mention, the ball with be for fourth years and above I’m afraid.” Dumbledore said, this received a number of moans from the girls below, and a few sighs of relief from the boys below the age limit. “That also means that Hogsmeade this weekend will be for fourth years and up only.” This comment received moans from all the third years.

*-----*

Two days had passed since Dumbledore’s announcement of the Yule ball; Harry had been asked by a total of seven girls so far and Hermione was receiving a lot more glares. Krum had also tried to ask Hermione on both days.

Hermione was once again in the library when Krum once again came up to her.

“Herm-own-ninny, vould you please come to the ball vith me?” Viktor asked for the god knows how many time.

“Merlin! I have told you no how many times! Take a hint, I’m going with my boyfriend! And my name is Hermione!” Hermione said. She was getting very, very pissed off. She had told Harry about it, and she had to stop him from going off and cursing Viktor. She also knew that Harry would be here any minute.

“Why vould you vant to go vith Potter anyways?” Viktor asked, his distaste for Harry evident as he practically spat his name out. It was then that Hermione felt the familiar presence of Harry coming up behind Krum.

“Leave me alone!” Hermione said once again.

“But why vould you choose Potter…” Viktor started by was cut of by Harry’s voice coming from behind him.

“I believe she told you to get lost Krum… I suggest you do just that and leave her alone.” Harry said, he voice deadly calm.

“And what vould you do about it Potter?” Viktor snarled.

“You may be taught in a dark arts school Krum, but trust me when I say I know A LOT more curses that you do.” Harry said, his eyes glinting dangerously.

Krum sneered at Harry before turning and leaving the library. Once Krum was gone Harry turned back to Hermione.

“You ok love?” he asked concern coming though his words.

“I’m fine love, he was just annoying is all.” Hermione said before patting the seat next to her. Harry sat down and wrapped one arm around her waist allowing Hermione to lean into him.

None of them noticed the beetle that was sitting on top of the bookshelf.

AN: well? What did you think? R/R! don’t forget to check out my website here is the link for ya’s!: http://www.freewebs.com/hhr_fanfics/index.htm

Chapter 32 – The Yule Ball

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

AN: Thanks again to Turnlach for his BETA work!

*-----*

The next morning Harry and Hermione headed down to the great hall hand in hand. Hermione didn’t know why but she noticed that she seemed to be receiving a lot more glares than usual.

When they sat down Hermione finally found out the reason why when she picked up the morning’s Prophet.

THE-BOY-WHO-LIVED and LOVE POTIONS?

Hermione Granger is one of Hogwarts finest witches and has been rumoured to be dating Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived for the last year.

But is everything as it seems? No, this reporter has gathered through her own eyes and heard from a number of students that what appears on the inside may not be what is really happing.

Yesterday afternoon this reported overheard one Harry Potter and also the Famous Seeker from Bulgaria, Victor Krum arguing over the affections of Miss Granger. Is this witch using love potions to get the two most eligible bachelors? Well this reporter went to the students to ask their opinion.

“Granger is always meddling in Potions, and last year Potter all of a sudden fell in love with her. She isn’t even pretty and would have no chance at getting Potter without doing something.” Said Pansy Parkinson.

Also young Mr Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, best friends with young Mr Potter since first year also stated that there seemed to be something wrong with the relationship and was also quoted saying that he wouldn’t put it past Granger to use love potions…

Harry muttered under his breath before turning the page where he found another article by Rita Skeeter.

DUMBLEDORE’S GIANT MISTAKE!

Recently discovered by this reporter is the number of dangerous teachers that have been hired by Albus Dumbledore. This summer Dumbledore hired one Alastor ‘Mad-eye’ Moody to come in to teach Defence against the Dark Arts.

This once great Auror has since turned into a ‘Jinx happy’ old man who after retirement is rumoured to have gone insane. Though Mad-Eye Moody appears to be a gentle old man compared to Hogwarts’ Care of Magical Creatures teacher, one Rubeus Hagrid.

This unusually large man is said to use his new position to terrify the students. According to members of the class numbers of students have been seriously injured. Though what does Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school do? Nothing but turn a blind eye.

“I was nearly killed by a Hippogriff last year and my friend Crabbe nearly lost his finger when a Flobberworm bit him.” Said Draco Malfoy a fourth year student, “None of the students like him, but we’re too scared to actually say anything about it.”

Harry cut the articles out of the paper after Hermione had read them; she looked at him weirdly to which he just said he would tell her later. They both then quickly got up and left the hall, most of the students’ eyes following their path.

When they were out of the hall they happened to run into Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. All three of them had rather smug looks on their faces. Malfoy was about to say something when he was caught by surprise when Harry’s first slammed right into his nose.

Malfoy fell to the ground like a puppet having its strings cut. Instantly Crabbe and Goyle started to advance on Harry but stopped when they found themselves facing both Harry and Hermione’s wands. With an unintelligible grunt they both picked Malfoy up and hurried to the hospital wing.

“Was that really necessary Harry?” Hermione asked a little angrily.

“Very.” Harry said before heading to Hagrid’s hut. Hermione followed after him with a little huff but didn’t say anything else, inside she was actually quite pleased with what Harry had done.

The two of them quickly hurried down to Hagrid’s cabin. Hermione knocked softly on the door and was a little surprised when no one answered.

“Hagrid! It’s us!” Harry called out, but still didn’t get an answer. This time Harry knocked even harder and yelled.

“HAGRID IF YOU THINK WE CARE ABOUT THE ARTICLE YOU’RE WRONG! AND IF YOU DON’T OPEN THIS DOOR I WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE CHOICE.”

It was then the door opened but instead of Hagrid, Dumbledore was standing there.

“I fully agree with you Harry.” Dumbledore said before he turned back to Hagrid who was sitting in the corner, “Don’t you see Hagrid, the ones that care for you are not bothered by this.”

Harry and Hermione quickly entered the room and gave Hagrid a hug which he happily returned.

“You see Hagrid, they still want you to be a part of their lives.” Dumbledore said in a caring voice.

“Hagrid! If you think for one moment that we would leave you because of some article that Skeeter cow wrote you are sorely mistaken!” Hermione said crossing her arms and looking at Hagrid with that ‘you’re not getting away with it’ look.

They spent the next hour down in Hagrid’s cabin and he finally agreed that he would continue teaching, but asked Dumbledore if he could take a week off which Dumbledore happily allowed.

*-----*

Harry, Hermione, Ron and his date to the Yule Ball, Lavender, were all heading into Hogsmeade so that the girls could buy their new dress robes. It was when they reached the Hogsmeade’s entrance that they were surprised.

Standing there waiting for them were Sirius, Remus, Dan and Jane. Hermione straight away ran up and hugged her parents; Harry quickly walked up and also hugged Sirius and Remus. He then turned to the Grangers and shook Dan’s hand but when he went to shake Jane’s she brushed it away and grabbed him also into a hug.

“Now… I believe us girls have some shopping to do?” Jane said indicating to herself, Hermione and Lavender.

“That’s right, and us men…” Sirius said, waving his hands in the air, “Will be waiting for you in the Three Broomsticks.” He said with a smile.

The three girls nodded and Hermione and Lavender quickly led Jane to the nearest robe store.

Harry and Ron followed the men, more than a little disappointed that they wouldn’t get to watch their dates try on a number of beautiful dresses. Dan seemed to notice this and decided it was probably best to point something out.

“Don’t worry boys… if you had gone with them you would have been stuck waiting while they tried on gowns in private so they could surprise you.” Dan said giving Harry a pat on the back.

Harry nodded, knowing full well it was true… there had been numerous times when Harry had gone shopping with Hermione only to be told to sit and wait as she tried on all different outfits in a private room.

“Come on guys, we will have a couple butterbeers on me while we wait!” Sirius said happily. Harry noticed that Ron seemed to cheer up slightly at the mention of butterbeer.

They were waiting for a good four hours before the girls finally showed up at the Three Broomsticks, carrying a number of different bags. Harry kept trying to look into the bags only to have his hand slapped away by Hermione.

Sirius finally stepped up and shrank the bags for the girls so that they could put them in their pockets and enlarge them once they got back to Hogwarts and were allowed to perform magic again.

They sat in the Three Broomsticks talking about the school year so far and talking about the up coming task for about half an hour before Harry stood up and announced that he and Hermione needed to do something and should be back in about an hour.

Hermione looked at him questionably before following him outside and taking his hand.

“What are you talking about Harry?” Hermione asked softly so that no one would over hear her.

“I need to get something from Gringotts, something for both of us.” Harry whispered to her. Hermione for her part just nodded and let Harry lead the way.

Harry and Hermione quickly ducked behind a shop where no one could see them and grabbing hold of Hermione they both disappeared with a barely audible ‘pop’.

When they arrived they seemed to be in a small alleyway between a couple of shops. Giving Hermione a soft kiss on the cheek Harry quickly led her out into the main street of Diagon Alley. Walking quickly they arrived at Gringotts and made their way through the giant white stone doors.

Instead of making his way to the booths where someone would usually go to access their accounts Harry turned down a long hallway. They walked about halfway down until they came across a door that was labelled, Potter/Gryffindor.

Harry and Hermione entered the room and found Griphook sitting behind a large desk looking though some papers. The goblin quickly looked at and smiled when he noticed Harry standing there.

“Ah, Lord Potter it’s a pleasure to see you again and… Miss Granger I presume?” Griphook asked.

Hermione gave a small smile and nodded. Harry on the other hand sighed.

“Griphook, please just call me Harry.” Harry said with a smile. Griphook nodded and also smiled slightly.

“Certainly Harry. Now what can I do for you today?” he asked in what seemed to be a cheerful manner.

“I need to pick up a couple items from my vault.” Harry said, “Oh and I would also like to add someone to my vault’s access list.”

Griphook nodded, “Certainly, I assume that the person you wish to add is one Miss Granger?” Griphook asked. Harry nodded and Hermione’s head snapped to him. Harry for his part looked away and avoided her eyes. She was mad enough last time he had done this and they were engaged at the time.

Griphook quickly scribbled something down on a form before placing it into a tray where the paper disappeared.

“Now, we will finish that later. If you will follow me we will go to your vault.

Harry and Hermione followed Griphook into a back room where there was another door, but this one also had a stone on a pedestal next to it; the stone was glowing a light blue colour.

“Now Harry, you will need to place your hand on the stone, state your full name and title and state that you allow access to Miss Granger, so that she to can come through the portal to your vault.

Harry nodded and placed his hand on the stone; the stone stopped glowing blue and was now glowing white.

“I, Lord Harry James Potter allow Miss Hermione Jane Granger access to the Potter and Gryffindor Ancestral vaults.” Harry stated. The stone then briefly glowed red before going back to its normal blue.

“Very good, now if you will follow me.” Griphook said and went through the door. Harry and Hermione followed him and found themselves now at the entrance of his vault.

“Harry if you would enter and turn your key.” Griphook said and Harry did so. Griphook then ran his finger down a line that was engraved in the vault door. After several clicking sounds the vault door slowly opened and Hermione gasped.

The vault was about the size of the great hall and there were mountain loads of different colour coins along the back wall. She could see the gold Galleons, the silver Sickles and the bronze Knuts but there were also these other coins that seemed to be black.

“Umm… Harry what are the black coins?” Hermione asked softly, finally getting over her shock.

“They’re called Mercs, there is a hundred Galleons in one Merc. Most people haven’t even seen one.” Harry said as if it wasn’t very important.

Hermione’s eyes were even wider now… there were… a lot of those coins there.

“Umm… Harry… how much money do you have here?” Hermione asked softly.

“Er, Griphook could you get a balance sheet?” Harry asked. Griphook nodded and quickly went to grab a piece of parchment that was attached to the wall and handed it to Harry.

Inventory Status, Potter/Gryffindor Vault

602,854 Mercs

8,758,581,568 Galleons

7,854,852 Sickles

1,456,783 Knuts

3,457,895 Pounds

800,697 Books (Ask for complete list)

Prototype Snitch…

Harry stopped reading, knowing that he had answered Hermione’s question. Her eyes were now wide and her mouth slightly open, he couldn’t help but laugh at her expression. Her mouth had fallen open when he mentioned the amount off books he owned.

“Griphook, would we be able to get a list of the books when we head back up?” Harry asked. Griphook nodded.

Harry then softly kissed Hermione on the lips; it seemed to snap her out of her daze.

“H-Harry… you have to be one of the richest people in the world!” Hermione stammered.

“Yeah I know…” Harry said softly, “Can you understand why I never like to talk about money with Ron around now?” He asked softly.

“Yeah… I can see how he would be jealous of this.” Hermione said looking around. “I can’t believe you have so many books.” she mumbled and Harry chuckled.

Harry then started to walk to the back of the room where there were a number of chests; Hermione was currently looking over some of the books that were stacked into a couple of shelves.

Quickly looking through the chests he found two, one had ‘James Potter’ labelled on it, the other had ‘Lily Evans’ on it. He had looked through these a number of times in the future, and would do so again. But now wasn’t the time and there was something that he needed from inside them.

Quickly opening both chests he found two rectangle boxes which he quickly grabbed and closed the chests again.

“Coming Hermione, we better be getting back.” Harry called out. Hermione quickly came over to him, he noticed she had a book clutched in her hands; it looked like a very old book.

“Umm… Harry I was wondering… could I… I will understand if you wouldn’t let me…” Hermione said rambling.

“You can borrow the book Hermione.” Harry said cutting her rambling off.

Hermione beamed up at him, “Thank you Harry.” she said softly, giving him a little kiss.

“Now, what book did you find anyway?” Harry asked, trying to get a look at the cover.

“It’s an old book about the history of the elves… I was hopping I could find something on house elves in here.” Hermione said. Harry nodded and they left the vault and re-entered the door they had came through, finding themselves once again in Griphook’s office.

Griphook took his seat behind his desk once again while Harry and Hermione took the seats in front of his desk.

“Now, Miss Granger you need to sign these couple of paper to finish the process of adding you to Harry’s vaults.” Griphook said handing a couple of parchments over.

Hermione looked at Harry and was about to say something but Harry cut her off, “Look Hermione, you and I both know that you would be added soon or later.” Harry reasoned.

Hermione sighed and finally nodded being signing the papers and then handed them to Griphook, “Good, now that that it done… this is for your Mr Potter.” Griphook said handing over a black book, “It’s a list of all the book’s that you own, it there is one that you need send us an owl and we will happily send it to you. That know includes you Miss Granger.” Griphook said, Harry nodded and chuckled softly when Hermione snatched the black book and started looking over the titles.

“Miss Granger, this is also for you.” he said handing over a money pouch that looked just like Harry’s. He then explained what it was and how to use it.

“Thank you Griphook, but we must be going now” Harry said with a smile.

“No problem, have a good day.” Griphook said.

“You too.” Hermione called out before they left the room. They both quickly left Gringotts and headed behinds some shops. A moment later they both disappeared.

*-----*

Harry laughed as Ron paced back and forth in the common room. Hearing his laughter Ron turned to glare at Harry.

“What’s taking them so long…? I mean how long does it take to throw a dress on?” Ron asked.

“Well for a girl… ages, and by the looks of it we have about another thirty minutes until they will be ready, so come play some chess.” Harry said gesturing at the board

“Fine… at least you’re a challenge now… before I could easily beat you in ten minutes.” Ron grumbled before he sat down opposite Harry and commanded his first piece.

About forty minutes later Ron once again took his king, ending the game. It was then that Lavender came around the corner of the girls’ dorms. Harry nudged Ron and nodded to Lavender.

Ron’s jaw dropped slightly at the sight of Lavender. She smiled at him and took his hand before looking over at Harry.

“She will be down in a second.” Lavender said. Harry nodded just as Hermione came around the corner.

She looked absolutely stunning, her hair was once again done up and no longer bushy, she had just enough makeup one to highlight her face, but not too much. The only difference was that this year she was wearing a strapless dress, the same colour of Harry’s eyes.

Taken her hand for the last two steps, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

“You look more beautiful than you usually do.” he whispered. Hermione beamed at him.

“You look very handsome yourself Mr Potter.” she said playfully. Harry was now wearing a goofy grin before he kissed her once more. Looking out the corner of his eye he noticed a look of jealously cross Ron’s face. Sighing silently Harry took Hermione’s hand and led her out of the common room and done to the great hall where the ball was being held.

Entering the hall, Harry noticed as many heads seemed to turn and look at himself and Hermione. Harry gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before leading her towards where the champions had to wait.

The other three champions were already their and like last time Cedric was with Cho and Fleur was with Roger Davis. Krum was with one of the girls that seemed to follow him around everywhere. He didn’t know what her name was but he did know that she was a seventh year Hufflepuff; she also seemed to be jumping with excitement.

As if feeling Harry's eyes on him Krum turned to look at Harry and Hermione. He glared at Harry, hatred pouring from his eyes. The hatred intensified when Harry smirked at him though.

It was then the music started playing and the champions walked out onto the dance floor, the partners arms looped with theirs. Harry was a little shocked by the hall; he expected it to be the same as it was last time but it wasn’t… it was completely different in fact.

Instead of the usual great hall they seemed to be in an ice cave, there was a soft mist that floated about a foot off the floor and fairies were flying around giving the room a more magical look.

The tables seemed to be ice sculptures coming out of the floor, though the floor still seemed to be stone by the feel of it but you couldn’t see it though the mist.

Unlike last time, Harry knew how to dance. He’d had to learn with the number of social and ministry events he had to attend. Hermione, as he found out, had taken dancing lessons before she had gone to Hogwarts and was a rather good dancer herself.

It definitely showed that Harry and Hermione were the best dancers on the floor as they twirled around the floor effortlessly, while the other champions were stiffer and didn’t flow with the music.

When the song finally finished Harry leaned forward and gave Hermione a long sweet kiss. She was smiling broadly as a slow song started being played and wrapped her arms around him and leaned into him, her head resting on his shoulder.

Harry kissed the side of Hermione’s head before they began to softly sway to the music. It was then that he noticed Ron glaring at the two of them from a table while Lavender sat there with a disappointed look on her face.

Harry softly told Hermione what he saw, and when she was facing in the direction of Ron and Lavender she sighed.

“You should ask her for a dance Harry.” Hermione said softly. Harry nodded in agreement.

They danced for another two songs and Lavender was still sitting at the table with a disappointed look on her face while Ron was still glaring. When the song ended they both made there way over to the table where Ron and Lavender were sitting. Hermione sat down while Harry walked over to Lavender.

“Wanna dance Lav?” Harry asked with a smile. Lavender looked quickly over at Hermione who nodded. Lavender beamed, quickly jumping to her feet and pulling Harry over to the dance floor where a song had just started.

Hermione watched as Harry twirled Lavender around; both of them had smiles on their faces and laughed every now and again. It was then she noticed Ron was staring at her.

“Yes Ron?” Hermione asked politely.

“Dance?” Ron asked. It sound a little more like a demand than a question.

“Er… no thanks Ron… I’m a little tired at the moment” Hermione said thinking quickly, she didn’t want to dance with him, defiantly after he had just spent the last half an hour glaring at her and Harry.

About a minute later Harry came back to the table, only Lavender wasn’t with him.

“Where’s Lavender Harry?” Hermione asked, arching an eyebrow.

“She’s dancing with Dean, he asked if he could cut in.” Harry said with a smile before sitting down next to Hermione, who decided Harry’s lap was a much nicer seat than her current one.

“Come on Hermione, one last dance before the meal.” Harry whispered in her ear.

Hermione nodded quickly before dragging Harry back out onto the dance floor. Harry noticed Ron scowling at Hermione as they left.

Hermione instantly wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and started to sway to the music when Harry whispered in her ear.

“Is there a reason that Ron seemed rather angry with you?” He said, his breath causing her skin to tingle.

“He asked me to dance… I didn’t really want to dance with him so I made up an excuse saying I was tired… I guess it proved to be a lie since I readily agreed to dance with you.” Hermione whispered back. Harry just nodded and they continued to dance.

When the song finally ended Harry gave Hermione a soft kiss before leading her to the ‘champions table’ where the champions, their dates and judges were seated.

Harry noticed like last time Percy was there, filling in for Crouch. Hermione took her seat next to Percy while Harry took his next to Dumbledore.

Both Harry and Hermione ordered the pork chops and made light conversation. He found it quite funny the way Krum was glaring at Harry, while totally ignoring his date. Harry in turn would just smirk at him which only seemed to make Krum even more angry.

After about half an hour Dumbledore stood up and announced that they would be once again opening the dance floor. The Weird Sister started playing a slow, lovely song.

Harry lead Hermione back onto the dance floor. Hermione draped her arms around his neck as Harry’s arms came around her waist and they started to sway to the soft music that drifted though the hall.

After about half an hour Harry asked Hermione if she wanted to go for a walk which she happily agreed on. They walked through the grounds until they came to the Quidditch pitch. They hadn’t started growing the maze yet so it was still completely flat.

Harry sat down on the grass, leaning against one of the goal posts, while Hermione sat down between his legs and leaned back into him.

“Hermione.” Harry said softly.

“Yes.” she asked softly, turning slightly to grin at him.

Harry seemed to fiddle around in his pocket before he pulled out a small velvet box, “Hermione…” Harry started. Hermione gasped when she noticed the ring box, “Hermione… this is a promise ring… I was hoping that you would allow me to give it to you.” Harry said softly, looking directly into her eyes.

Harry then flicked the box open to reveal a simply looking ring with a emerald gem stone in the middle flanked by two small diamonds on each side.

“Oh my god… it’s beautiful.” Hermione whispered in awe.

“My dad… gave it to mum as a promise ring in their seventh year.” Harry said softly, “I think she would like it if I gave it to you.”

Hermione then held out her hand and allowed Harry to slip the ring onto her ring finger. Once it was on she flung herself at him knocking him backwards. She was then lying on top of him and proceeded to give him a very deep and passionate kiss. Once they broke apart both of them were panting softly and looking each other in the eyes, love radiating from both of them.

“I love you Hermione.” Harry whispered softly before giving her another soft kiss.

“I love you too Harry.” Hermione said. She then captured his lips in another deep and passionate kiss as the soft music from the ball washed over them.

*------*

An: Don’t kill me I know its late but I have had a very hectic week… well that’s it for now I hope you all liked it :P please leave a review I love reading them.

Don’t forget to check out my webby either!

http : // www. Freewebs . com /hhr_fanfics/index. htm

Luke

Chapter 33 – Fighting and Eggs

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!

*-----*

The next morning both Harry and Hermione were the first up and they headed straight down to the great hall, their stomachs grumbling. Harry was still wearing a blissful grin on his face while walking hand in hand with Hermione.

Hermione seemed to be sneaking glances at the ring that Harry had gotten her as if making sure that it hadn’t disappeared.

“Harry?” Hermione asked softly. Harry looked at her, still with the blissful expression on his face.

“Yeah?”

“What do you know about the egg?” She asked quietly. Harry looked around before whispering to her.

“I’ll show you tonight, meet me in the common room at midnight… bring something to swim in.” Harry said to which Hermione nodded. She had a slight confused look on her face but didn’t question him anymore as they walked into the great hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table.

There weren’t many students in the hall when Harry and Hermione started to eat their breakfast, the students started coming about half an hour later.

Everything was normal until a loud cry came from down the table. Everyone looked to find Lavender wide eyed, one hand over her mouth while her other was pointing at Hermione’s hand. Once the people noticed the ring on Hermione’s finger whispering broke out around the hall while all the girls from Gryffindor swarmed around Hermione.

About half an hour later both Hermione and Harry left the hall. Hermione had explained what the ring was about a hundred times before the she was able to escape the throng of giggly girls.

For the rest of the day they wandered around the school grounds. While they were walking around the lake Harry's mobile started vibrating. Quickly flipping it open the caller id showed it was Sirius.

“It’s Sirius.” Harry said to Hermione, who just nodded. Harry then answered the phone and started speaking to Sirius. It was then that Hermione remembered that she had not called her parents after the Yule ball; she had made a habit to call them once or twice a week to keep them updated.

Pulling out her phone, Hermione flipped it open and called her parents’ house. It was her mum that answered the phone.

“Granger residence.” Jane’s voice came.

“Hi mum.” Hermione said happily.

“Hello honey! It’s lovely to hear from you again, how are things?” Jane asked happily. It was obvious she liked the fact that she could talk to Hermione regularly now.

“Everything’s great.” Hermione said.

“So how was the Yule Ball?” Jane asked.

“It was amazing, Harry was the perfect gentleman.” Hermione said, sighing at the thought, “There’s something I have to tell you though.” Hermione added, sounding a little nervous.

Jane noticed the change in tone and was a little worried, “Is everything all right?” she asked quickly.

“What, oh yes, everything is fine… it’s just, after the Yule ball Harry… he gave me a promise ring.” Hermione said, holding her breath.

“And how do you feel about it?” Jane asked, her voice didn’t betray any feelings towards the subject which made Hermione even more nervous.

“I’m extremely happy.” Hermione said softly, she hoped her parents were too.

It was then a loud squeal came from Jane’s end. Hermione had to hold the phone away from her ear.

“I can’t wait to see the ring this summer! Oh I wish I could see you sooner!” Came Jane’s very happy and excited voice.

“You might be able to work something out… talk to Sirius about it.” Hermione said.

“Yes I will do that.” Jane said. There was silence for a moment before Jane spoke again. “Hermione… have you and Harry… umm… have the two of you consummated your relationship?” Jane asked seriously.

Even though no one could see her Hermione blushed at her mother’s question, “No, not yet mum.” Hermione said softly, she was very embarrassed.

“That’s reassuring to hear dear.” Jane’s said softly, “It does put your father heart at rest.” There was another long silence before once again Jane spoke up, “How far have you and Harry… gone?” she asked softly.

“We haven’t gone past kissing and cuddling mum… Harry wouldn’t force me into anything I didn’t want to do.” Hermione said firmly.

“I know that dear… but it is a mother’s duty to look after her baby girl.” Jane said.

“Could we just change the topic now?” Hermione asked softly.

“Alright, so how is that golden egg thing that you were telling me about coming along?”

“Harry and I are going to look at it tonight actually… we haven’t really done anything about it yet.” Hermione said.

“Oh well I hope you figure it out soon.” Jane said happily, “I must be heading off now dear, your father and I have to go to an important meeting.”

“Ok, bye mum, speak to you later.” Hermione said happily. She was glad that her parents were ok with Harry giving her a promise ring.

“See you soon.” was the last thing Jane said before she hung up. Hermione pocketed her phone and turned around to see that Harry was already finished and waiting for her.

“What did Sirius want?” Hermione asked, leaning into Harry when he wrapped his arms around her.

“Nothing much, just catching up on things.” Harry said with a smile, planting a small kiss on her temple, “What did Jane want?”

“Same as Sirius… she was quite happy when I told her about the ring.” Hermione said smiling. Harry seemed to pale slightly.

“A-and your d-dad?” Harry asked nervously.

“I don’t know, he probably wasn’t angry as he didn’t threaten to castrate you the next time he saw you.” Hermione said with a twinkle in her eyes. Harry let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding.

“Well that’s good to know.”

*----*

It was now ten to twelve and Harry was waiting for Hermione down in the common room. He had promised to show her what the egg meant tonight and was hoping that she hadn’t forgotten about their plan to meet.

His worries were washed away when she came down the girls’ dorms stairs. When she noticed Harry she smiled happily, giving him a light kiss on the lips.

“Well where are you taking me?” She asked. Harry just smiled and pulled his invisibility cloak from out of his pocket, wrapped his arm around Hermione and draped it over the two of them.

“Come on we have to head to the prefects bathroom.” Harry said. Hermione was about to question him but Harry cut her off, planting a soft kiss on her lips, “Don’t worry love, you will understand soon.” was all he said before they both silently made their way out of the common room.

When they arrived at the statue of Boris the Bewildered Harry muttered the password that was being used the last time he had came here, “Pine Fresh”, once the words had left his mouth the statue moved aside to reveal a huge bathroom that seemed to be completely made of white marble.

Harry removed the invisibility cloak and walked over to the hundreds of taps that were next to the small swimming pool bathtub thing. Personally, Harry couldn’t see how anyone could call something this big a bathtub. Once Harry had the pool filling up with water he looked back and found Hermione staring around the room, her mouth hanging open.

“Hogwarts a History just doesn’t do it justice does it?” Harry said with a smile. Hermione seemed to snap out of her gaze and nodded her head.

“You’re definitely right about that… it… it’s amazing.” was all Hermione could say. Harry chuckled softly and looked over at the pool to find that it was full and that the taps had magically turned themselves off. Harry took of his shirt, grabbed the egg and jumped into the pool. Once he surfaced he motioned Hermione to come in also.

Hermione seemed to hesitate a bit before she took off the clothes she was wearing to reveal a yellow bikini. Harry gulped softly, it didn’t matter that he had seen her hundreds of times naked; she would always have his effect on him.

“You look… beautiful Hermione.” Harry said softly. That seemed to be the thing that Hermione was wanting to hear as her nervousness seemed to pass and she dived into the pool. She surfaced right in front of Harry with a small smile gracing her lips.

“Now, I guess you want to know about the egg?” Harry said asking the most obvious question in the world; Hermione just nodded her head while rolling her eyes slightly. “Well you have to listen to it under water so take a big breath.”

With that both Harry and Hermione took a breath and dived under the water. When they were both under Harry opened the egg and the voices started to sing:

Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you are searching, ponder this:

Wove taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour- the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won’t come back.

(Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire – JK Rowling)

Once the song had finished both Harry and Hermione surfaced. Hermione seemed to be thinking quickly as she was biting down on her bottom lip, a little thing that Harry thought made her look so cute. She seemed to finally figure out what she was thinking when she turned to Harry.

“So, they cannot sing above the ground, I’m guessing that means the merpeople in the lake.” Harry just nodded, telling her that she was right so far, “They have taken something that you will miss and you have an hour to find it or else it will be lost forever.” Hermione concluded.

Harry was beaming with pride, “You definitely are the smartest witch of your age Hermione.” Harry said with a grin; Hermione for her part blushed slightly under the praise.

“Thank you Harry, I take it that I’m right then?” Hermione asked.

“Yep one hundred percent correct.” Harry said nodding his head. He slowly moved over to where Hermione was standing in the water and placed a soft kiss on her lips. He then pulled back smiling.

“God I love you.” he said softly, the words held that much emotion that Hermione's eyes watered.

Hermione captured his lips with her own, Harry opened his mouth slightly and Hermione deepened the kiss, hungrily sliding her tongue into his mouth and causing Harry to let out a small moan as his arms wrapped around her waist.

“Touch me.” Hermione whispered before once again plunging her tongue down Harry's throat. Gently and slowly one of Harry's hands travelled up the side of her body, sending a tingling feeling through her before it came to rest on her right breast.

Hermione let out a moan when he started to gently massage her breasts. Hermione dropped one of her hands from around Harry's neck and squeezed his bum before she slowly slipped her hand into his pants and wrapped around his throbbing erection. Hermione's move caused Harry to gasp, before it turned into a moan and she started to slowly move her hand up and down.

Harry broke the kiss and started to trail small kisses down her jaw, neck and down her chest where he stopped at her bikini top. Harry looked up at her only to find her staring down at him; her brown eyes seemed to be glowing a soft emerald green.

With his free hand Harry untied the bikini top and allowed it to float off in the water. He was now staring down at Hermione’s breasts before he slowly took her right nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it. It seemed like the right thing to do as Hermione gasped in pleasure and arched her back, pushing her beast harder into his mouth.

Harry groaned as Hermione sped up, sliding her hand up and down his shaft faster. He felt his balls tighten before pure pleasure washed over him. He didn’t stop with Hermione though, sucking on her right breast while his hand massaged the other, it didn’t take much longer as Hermione arched her back even more before she bucked a couple of times, panting his name.

They were too caught up in each other to notice the intense wave of magic that burst from the two of them, sending the loose items in the room flying.

*-----*

The next day Harry and Hermione walked down to the great hall hand in hand. They both were wearing large smiles, both happy with the progress of their relationship. It was then that Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He quickly whipped around only to have someone’s fist slam into his nose, easily breaking it. Harry stumbled back while holding onto Hermione and causing her to trip over.

Harry had to act quickly as another fist came flying at him, which Harry was barely able to block. Harry looked over at the attacker and felt his angry rise, KRUM! Harry mentally screamed, he didn’t notice when Hermione winced slightly; Harry had thought it that loudly that even Hermione was able to hear it though their still un-developed link.

Harry blocked another two punches that Krum threw before striking faster, using his magic to enhance his speed. To anyone watching all they would have seen was Harry's hand blur before Krum was lifted into the air before falling heavily to the ground.

“Get up you pansy.” Harry hissed, anger and hate basically flowing from his mouth. Krum pushed himself up before glaring at Harry.

“Shut up Potter, Herm-own-ninny vill be mine.” Krum spat. Harry just laughed at Krum which seemed to make him even angrier. He then rushed at Harry trying to tackle him to the ground, once again Harry moved faster than humanely possible, stepping to the side and ramming his knee into Krum’s stomach. Harry slightly cringed as he felt a couple of Krum’s ribs break.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!” came the screaming voice of McGonagall. Harry hadn’t noticed but they were about fifteen meters away from the doors of the great hall and practically every student was staring though the doors.

McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore and Karkaroff made their way through the students and came to where Harry and Hermione were standing while Krum was groaning on the ground. Karkaroff, upon seeing his student groaning in pain on the ground rushed forward to see if he was alright before glaring at Harry, then turning to Dumbledore.

“I DEMAND THAT YOU EXPEL HIM ALBUS!” he screamed. Dumbledore’s face remained neutral before he turned to Harry, wanting an explanation.

“If anyone should be expelled it’s him!” Hermione said in disgust pointing at Krum, “The coward attacked Harry from behind; all Harry did was defend himself.”

“LIERS, that’s all you are little girl a little lying mud…” Karkaroff started but stopped when he felt the tip of Harry’s wand rest against his forehead.

“Say it, I dare you.” Harry said in an angry voice.

“Harry…” Dumbledore said softly finally speaking up. Harry glared at Karkaroff before putting his wand back into his holster.

“Dumbledore I demand that you expel him now, pulling a wand on another headmaster!” Karkaroff spat, Dumbledore still just eyed him calmly.

“I think Karkaroff, that you should be thankful that Harry didn’t do anything, especially when you were about to call the person he loves something rather disrespectful.” Dumbledore said in a calm voice that brought no argument.

“Fine! But what about him attacking my student! Won’t he be punished for that?” Karkaroff said glaring at Harry, who simply raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me? But I didn’t attack anyone… he attacked me, I thought we had already pointed that out.” Harry said, his voice matching Dumbledore’s.

“LIE...” Karkaroff yelled but Harry cut him off.

“I’m sure a little bit of Veritaserum would be able to easily sort this out.” Harry said looking over at Dumbledore who nodded.

“Severus?” Dumbledore said. Snape pulled out a small phial from his robe pocket; Harry wondered why he carried around Veritaserum…

“If you will Harry?” Dumbledore said handing Harry the phial, “You will only need two drops since we only need to ask one question.” Harry nodded and dropped two drops on his tongue. Almost instantly his eyes glazed over indicating he was under the potion’s influence.

“Did you attack Mr Krum?” Dumbledore asked clearly.

“No Viktor Krum attacked me from behind; we proceeded to fight until Viktor gave up.” Harry said in a monotone voice before his eyes became normal once more. Harry shook his head as the effects wore off.

“Now? How will Krum be punished?” Harry asked glaring at Karkaroff.

“I will deal with my student and he will be properly punished.” Karkaroff snapped before helping Krum off to the hospital wing. Dumbledore then turned to Harry, his eyes twinkling away.

“I hope the rest of your day will be much more enjoyable Harry.” He said with a smile. He then pulled out his wand and flicked it twice. Harry felt his nose heal and the blood vanish.

“Thank you, sir.” Harry said.

“Not a problem, now I suppose the two of you would like some breakfast?” Dumbledore said turning back to the Great Hall. Harry and Hermione followed him in before heading to the Gryffindor table, ignoring all the students gawping at them.

*-----*

AN: WOW he updated! – is probley what you are thinking now, followed by the strong desire to throttle me… I know, I know I am very, very, very, very… (you get the point) late

Well here is my excuse: …

I don’t have one… ive been busy what can I say? Well sorry once more, but since none of you know were I live im not that worried :P

Here is your chapter! Love it? OH and btw this was my first EVER venture into smut… was it ok?

Luke