Unofficial Portkey Archive

Author's Note: - Apologizing in advance for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Disclaimer: - I do not own Harry Potter and anyone or anything related.

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Finally, the day of departure to Hogwarts arrived. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Ginny boarded the train and were back on their way to Hogwarts.

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Dumbledore's army and Revelations

Five of them were on their way to Hogwarts after a very happy and relaxing Christmas break. They found an empty compartment and after putting away their trunks, they sat down enjoying their activities. Harry and Ron started playing chess, Luna took out her Quibbler, reading it upside down, and Hermione started reading the book she had bought from Diagon Alley during their trip to the alley. Ginny had left the compartment to find her friends.

So it was just the two couples in the compartment. After Ginny left, Luna locked the compartment with her wand and cast a silencing charm so that nobody would disturb them or hear their conversations.

"So, Harry, Hermione" Luna said getting others' attention, "How's been your married life so far?" She asked excitedly.

Ron chuckled. Luna glared at him. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I had been trying to get details from Harry, but he didn't tell me a thing." Ron said defensively.

"And why would you try to do any such thing, Ronald. Does a word like PRIVACY exist in your limited vocabulary?" Hermione asked looking infuriated, also a light blush staining her cheeks.

"Awe...Look at our dear Mrs. Potter. She's blushing." Luna said teasingly. "So, are you guys going to tell us or we would have to try something else?" She said.

"Honestly Luna, you are just as bad as Ron." Harry said, trying to sound incensed, but ended up laughing.

"Enough of hitting around the bush, guys. You are our best friends and we have every right to know how you both are doing." Luna said seriously (at least as serious as she could without turning to her usual dreamy mood).

"Everything feels amazing, as though if I am dreaming." Harry said lost in his thoughts, as he looked out of the window remembering his past, "Durselys never loved me. In fact, they made me feel as insignificant as they could. I never knew what love was until Ron and Hermione came along. With Hermione as my other half, and you and Ron as my friends, I have never been happier. Now I can think of a future and a family I never had. With you guys standing with me, I believe I can defeat Voldemort." Harry finished looking at Hermione.

Her chocolate-brown eyes were filled with love and warmth her heart possessed for him. She just got up from her seat and hugged him tightly. Harry pulled her on his lap, wrapping his arms around her.

"I feel the same way, Harry. We will get through this war and we will have a future together." Hermione whispered passionately.

Ron and Luna looked awestruck. It was an unblemished evidence of how much Harry and Hermione loved each other; one would never survive without another.

Harry lightly kissed Hermione on the lips. His heart started thumping rapidly as Hermione deepened the kiss.

"Please! Don't start another one of your snogging sessions here. Some people prefer a pleasant conversation as well." Ron said to lighten the mood.

"Look who's talking." Hermione said in a mocking tone, getting up from Harry's lap and sitting back on her seat.

"If I remember correctly it were you guys," She said pointing towards Ron and Luna, "who took off to some secret place to snog each other's heads off just before New Year arrived."

"At least we found a secret place," Ron grumbled as his cheeks turned red. Both Harry and Hermione started laughing relentlessly.

Rest of the journey went on smoothly. With talking, laughing and eating, time passed very quickly. Ginny didn't come back up until the train reached to Hogwarts. She joined them as students started to get down from the train. When they reached to the Great Hall, she gave a quick smile to Harry and once again left to sit with her friends. After the dinner and a humorous speech from the headmaster, all the students were sent back went to their dormitories.

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January arrived with a penetrating cold. It was easy to stay in the warm castle and attend the classes. However, classes on the school grounds were difficult to attend due to intense cold and a couple of times classes were cancelled due to heavy snowfall.

World outside Hogwarts was growing as cold, but because of Voldemort and his death eaters.

Both magical and muggle world in England were terrorized due to the frequent attacks of death eaters. Students at Hogwarts were scared for their families and relatives. In every few days, there was some kind of attack. Muggles didn't know about the magical occurrences, as they called the attacks to be done by the terrorists.

It was Friday of the last week of January. Most of the students were in their common room as it was very cold outside and classes for the day had already ended.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room doing their homework. Hermione had already done hers and was reading the same book she was reading on the train. She put her book down and looked at Harry.

"Harry," She called to gain his attention.

"Yeah," He said looking up at her.

"Umm...what do you think about starting Dumbledore's Army again?" She asked hesitatingly.

Harry looked a bit surprised at her question. He hadn't really thought about Dumbledore's Army since their fifth year. Even Ron looked eager with their talk (more like it was a good excuse to take a break from his homework, especially with Hermione sitting there).

"But why? Umbridge is not here anymore. We are allowed to practice the spells and Professor Goodwin is teaching us so well. Why do we need DA now?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"Yes, Prof. Goodwin is an excellent teacher for DADA and we are allowed to perform the spells." Hermione explained. "But don't you think we should prepare ourselves for the war. Looking at the attacks that have started this year, we should learn how to face them and defend ourselves. This time it's going to be real. Everyone must be given a fair choice whether they want to fight or not. They should be trained at more advanced level and Prof. Goodwin can help us with the training and learning new things. War is just looming over our head and when will it break out we never know, but it will happen, that's for sure. We can ask Prof. Goodwin what he thinks about it. If he approves, we can talk to Prof. Dumbledore." She finished taking a deep breath.

"I think she's right, mate. You are already training with Dumbledore. But we also want to help you as much as we can. Remember, you are not alone in this war, you'll always find us by your side, Harry." Ron said.

Harry looked at his best friends of seven years. He could see in their eyes, they meant every word they said. "Okay then, we will talk to Prof. Goodwin tomorrow morning after breakfast. And if he and Dumbledore agree with our plan we can inform others about it." He said with determination in his voice. Both his friends looked at him with pride.

That night Harry and Hermione spent their time together at astronomy tower laying in each other arms staring at the starry night. In school it was a bit easy to spend time together alone. They had cast a warming charm around to prevent from getting cold.

"Hermione," Harry said.

"Hmm…" She murmured looking up at him.

"One day when all these things about war and Voldemort will be over, we will have a real wedding in the presence of all our friends, Weasleys and your parents. I know you missed them at our wedding." Harry said.

"Really?" Hermione said looking astonished.

"Really," Harry confirmed, laughing at her expression. Hermione surprised Harry by kissing him full on lips that he returned gladly.

After spending some more time at the tower, they made their way back towards Gryffindor tower under Harry's invisibility cloak. They went straight to Hermione's private quarter and slept there for rest of the night.

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Next day Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to Prof. Goodwin's office after finishing their breakfast. Hermione knocked on the office door. "Come in," they heard from inside the office and entered the office. Prof. Goodwin was sitting in his chair sipping his morning tea. He had blue eyes just like Dumbledore's. He had light brown, shoulder length hair, tied in a ponytail.

"Good morning students," Goodwin said with a smile.

"Good morning Professor," Trio said in unison.

He gestured them to sit. Three of them sat down. "So what brings you three here on a Saturday?" He asked good- naturedly.

Hermione started "Professor, we wanted to talk to you about Dumbledore's Army. It was a defence club we started back in our fifth year."

Before Hermione could continue further, Prof. Goodwin interrupted her. "I have heard about it. You three formed this group in your fifth year because of ministry's insistence about not to learn spells in practical form. And Harry helped others, who were willing, in learning the spells." He said as he looked towards Harry, impressed. Harry felt a bit embarrassed by the praising words.

"Hermione and Ron helped a lot." Harry said.

Hermione took over from there, "Sir, we want to start the club again. Looking at the current circumstances it would be better if a proper training is provided to those who are in fourth year or above. It will help in fight against Voldemort. What do you think about it, sir?" Hermione asked a bit uncertainly, "DA can be useful for the order as well." She added as an afterthought.

Goodwin seems to ponder their idea for some time. Then he spoke "I think it's a very good idea, Ms. Granger. It would be an extra learning for students and very beneficial as well and I agree with you, it will help in the war as well. But who will run this club, as Harry is already very busy with the training. Will you be able to take this responsibility?" He asked looking at Harry.

However, before Harry could answer, Hermione answered it for him. "Sir, Ron and I will help with this. We will not let him get distracted from his actual training and you will help us as well. Won't you?" She asked.

"Of course I will." Goodwin replied.

Four of them went to meet the Headmaster to ask for his consent. He gladly gave them permission to start the duelling club. He announced it to the other students on the dinner that night.

After they had eaten, he called for their attention.

"Everyone, can I have your little attention please? I have some important announcements to make." Dumbledore's voice carried throughout Great Hall.

Everybody fell silent and looked towards the Headmaster. "We are going to restart the defence club, which was started 2 years back, as some of you liked to call it my army that frightened some of the high post personnel at the ministry."

Many students chuckled at this. "Those who want to join can contact the head girl Ms. Granger. Rest of the information will be put on the notice board of common room of each house by tomorrow morning. Well this is all for the night. Go and rest your overly loaded minds. Good night." He finished in an amused voice. Students were excited about the latest announcement and had started to murmur about this while retreating to their dormitories.

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By the time next morning arrived, notices were already put on the notice boards of the each house.

Dear Students,

This notice is for the students who are in fourth year or above. This is about to inform you that school will be starting the duel club which was started 2 years back by some Gryffindors for practicing spells. This time many advance spells will be taught. This would be a kind of training that would help you in defending yourselves and fighting against Lord Voldemort. As students started this club, they will handle it completely. There would be no direct involvement by any teacher, except Prof. Goodwin, who has agreed to guide and help with the club. Those who want any other information about the club can contact Head Girl Miss Hermione Granger and those, who want to join the club, can give their names to either her or Ronald Weasley, a Gryffindor student. Names must be given before 7 PM on the upcoming Wednesday.

By

Prof. Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

P.S.:- This training will nothing be like that of a normal class. It will involve the training like that of a war camp. Those who join should consider it thoroughly, it's not a game for fun but a preparation for what is out there waiting for you. Choice will be yours.

Trio was excited with the response they were getting from the student population. Many students had already given their names. All the students in or above fourth year in Gryffindor house had submitted their names on the day of the announcement itself. Others were also coming forward to give their names. By Tuesday night, almost all the students who were eligible to participate in the training program had given their names.

Nobody had expected Slytherins to participate in the program. However, the most interesting fact was that some of the Slytherins also gave their names. They assumed that even if Malfoy had wanted to join he wouldn't have, as he could not speak due to charm Hermione had placed upon him, which made them laugh harder. Malfoy hadn't crossed their path since the holidays.

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On Wednesday night, Harry, Ron, and Hermione informed Dumbledore about the response they had received from the students. The first meeting of club was scheduled on upcoming Saturday at 7 PM in the Room of Requirement. Students were told about how to enter the room.

On Saturday evening, everyone who had signed for the club was present in Room of Requirement. Seeing the number of students that were at least around 150, room expanded itself. There were many books on the shelf about advanced defensive spells. There were also some sneakoscopes, dark magic detectors, and other magical equipment required in dealing with dark magic.

Hermione started speaking, "Hello everyone. I am Hermione Granger; this is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter." She said gesturing towards Harry and Ron.

"We already know them." Said a Ravenclaw girl dreamily, which Hermione assumed was from fifth year.

"Right, so we have gathered here to learn how to defend ourselves from the attacks that are happening in the outside world. Those who were in this club two years back would know about some of the defensive spells we learned that time. This time it's an official club so we will have no problem as far as staff is concerned. However, this time we would be adding some different things apart from defense in this training. We are dividing the training in 3 parts; they would be Attack, Defense and Healing. Everyone will be trained with basics of all the three elements, but more stress would be in learning the thing you would be better at. By this, we can help each other. On weekdays we would be training each day for 2 hours and on weekends it would be more than 4 hours and there would be break as well, to do your school homework and for your personal time as well." she added before anyone started complaining.

None of them complained which showed that they understood the importance of training in current circumstances.

"Any questions," Hermione asked.

Lisa Turpin, a seventh year Ravenclaw, raised her hand. "It was mentioned on the notice that Prof. Goodwin will guide us." She said.

"Yes, he has agreed to help us. However, he would not be completely involved in this but he will guide with new and advanced spells. Now the thing is that we would make a committee that will manage the club. It would be good to make the committee from the sixth and seventh year students, as they are more experienced in spells and learning than others are. Does anyone have any kind of objection to this?" Hermione asked looking at everyone. She waited for their answer. All were murmuring among themselves.

Harry was listening to Hermione very carefully. Trio had discussed with Prof. Goodwin about operating the DA, before the meeting. Hermione and professor had come up with the idea of dividing the group as per the strength everyone possessed. Hermione was in her element when she was speaking. She wasn't the girl insecure of her looks or a girl without friends like back in first year, but a girl who had confidence in her abilities and knowledge, who was proud to be called a bookworm and who could fight against inequality different living beings suffered. That's what made her unique, different from those girls, who were more interested in fashion and looks, than worrying about injustice in the world. Harry was staring at Hermione lost in his own thoughts.

Hermione nudged Harry on the side, before anyone noticed him staring at her. He looked at her and gave a private smile to her.

"Day dreaming Mr. Potter," She whispered playfully.

"Oh yeah, about a beautiful girl," He replied in mock dreamy voice.

Before Hermione could reply, Ron interrupted, "Guys, don't start here, next you would be snogging in front of everyone." He said with a smirk, and then added, "Ginny was looking at you both very closely. Be more careful or she'll figure out something." He said, his voice turning serious, which was very unusual for Ron.

Everyone agreed with the suggestions presented by Hermione. It was decided that two members would be selected from each house, either from sixth or seventh year. And it was up to the members of the house to decide who will represent their house in the committee.

"Okay then, we will have our first meeting on Monday at 7 PM here. By then each house should decide their two representatives for the committee. One more thing, we are not going to change our schedule due to Quidditch practices. In fact practices must be scheduled around the meetings, captains agree?" All the captains from each house except Slytherin captain, who was not present in the meeting, agreed to what Hermione said. They knew that it was wartime and it was very important for them to be prepared for what was waiting for them outside.

With that, everyone made their way towards their respective houses.

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It was Sunday. Harry and Hermione were sitting in the common room chatting about DA and school, while Ron was somewhere with Luna in the castle. Ginny joined them after sometime.

"Hi," She said coming over to them and sitting next to Harry in an empty chair. "So what you guys are up to today?" She asked casually.

"Nothing, we were just thinking about going to meet Hagrid." Hermione said looking at Harry.

"Would you mind if I join you?" Ginny asked sweetly. They both looked at her with bewilderment. Never before had Ginny joined with them on their visits to Hagrid, the gamekeeper of school. Seeing their expression, she added, "If you don't want me to go with you, it's ok. I understand." With that, she got up to leave, but Harry stopped her by saying "No Ginny. It's ok. You can join us."

Ginny immediately perked up. "Oh Harry. Thank you so much."

But then her excitement faded as she looked at Hermione who had an unreadable expression on her face. "If you don't want me to come, Hermione, it's okay with me. I mean it's your personal visit and I don't want to spoil your fun. I know we haven't been on best of terms since you and Harry broke up." Ginny said looking at the floor, sounding like it was her fault they broke up.

Hermione snorted under her breath, but Harry heard her and looked at her, feeling confused. "I have no problem, Ginny. You can come with us." Hermione said with a forced smile on her face.

"Thanks Hermione," Ginny said looking happy as she hugged Hermione. Hermione just rolled her eyes at Harry, who shook his head in response.

Three of them made their way towards Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was sitting outside his hut at the door, as it wasn't very cold today. He looked at them coming towards him.

"Harry, Hermione nice to see ya both and Ginny's also here. Come in yer." He said happily.

"Hello Hagrid. How have you been?" Hermione asked as they entered the hut.

"Am absolute fin'" He replied, "An yer all?"

"We are doing just fine." Harry said sitting on the chair, "We are starting DA again."

"Ya hear' about it. It's really nice that students can learn to defend themselves." Hagrid said while pouring each of them tea from kettle.

"And yes Hermione, Grawpy miss' yer." He said with a chuckle. Hermione turned red with embarrassment while Harry started laughing. After sometime, Hermione started laughing as well. Ginny sat quietly feeling envious, as Harry and Hermione laughed at their shared joke.

"Did I miss something?" She asked trying to sound polite.

"Oh it's nothing," Hermione said dismissively while staring daggers at Harry who was still laughing hard.

"Our dear Hermione has an admirer." Harry said in a singsong voice. Hermione just gave him a look that said 'wait till i get you alone'.

Next few minutes were spent talking about school and Quidditch amongst other things. By the time they finished it was already past noon.

"Oh! We have already missed the lunch." Hermione said checking her watch.

After saying goodbye to Hagrid, they walked back to the castle. On the way, Ginny and Harry continued to talk about Quidditch, as most of the talking was done on the part of Ginny. As they already missed the lunch, they decided to take something from the kitchen. Dobby was very happy to see them and served them with whatever they wanted. He was especially very good with Ginny, which confused Hermione. As far as she knew, Dobby hardly knew Ginny. After having their fills, they made their way towards the Gryffindor common room.

"Thanks for letting me come." She said to Harry and Hermione, though most of her attention was on Harry. She kissed Harry on the cheek and left. Hermione was practically fuming.

"How dare she?" She said angrily.

"Hermione, calm down," Harry said, squeezing her shoulder. She immediately felt her anger fading away.

"So, will you care to tell me what was happening between you and Ginny this morning? You two being not on the best of terms?" Harry asked.

"Well, since we got together in our sixth year she hadn't been a very good friend to me. Of course, she never got over you. After that, we just kept growing distant. It had never been the same anymore." Hermione said feeling a little sad. "I think she needs to grow up and to be truth I don't trust her as I used to. I think she is expecting you to ask her out or maybe she will ask you herself." She added with a smirk.

Harry gave a horrified expression. "How did you know I was going to ask her out? You were never supposed to know about my other girlfriend."

Hermione hit him on his arm "Ouch!" Harry whined mockingly.

"You are such a cry baby, Potter." Hermione said, laughing. Harry just loved to see her laughing. Her laugh was infectious and he too started laughing with her.

After sometime when they stopped laughing, Hermione spoke, "Harry, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. Can we go somewhere more private?"

"Yeah sure, let's take a walk around the lake." Harry replied, getting up from his seat and dragging Hermione along with him towards the portrait.

As they were walking near the lake, "So what was it you wanted to talk about?" Harry asked curiously.

"You remember you mentioned about how all of a sudden you started to feel attracted to Ginny." Hermione said. Harry nodded thinking where the conversation was leading.

"Yeah I remember that. One day I was dreaming about you and next day I was attracted to Ginny. But, you don't think I still harbor feelings for her. Do you?" Harry asked nervously looking at Hermione.

"Oh no Harry, it's nothing like that. I know you love me and I love you too." Hermione assured him, touching his face lightly with her fingers.

Harry sighed with relief. "Then what is it about?" He asked, pulling Hermione in his arms.

"Well...ermm" Suddenly Hermione looked anxious, "Look don't take it wrong way, it's just that those feelings weren't real. Someone tried to meddle with your emotions, either through some spell or potion. I had bought a book in Diagon Alley along with some other books. It was about spells and potions that affect and alter our feelings towards others. You told me that your feelings for Ginny appeared all of a sudden, so I decided to do a bit of research."

Hermione stopped to take a deep breath and then continued, "I found about some spells and potions that attract you to others. They are not like love potions. They just attract you. Some witches and wizards used to brew these potions around 300 years back. They preferred these potions to attract their lovers or spouses after many years of marriage to revive the old passion in their marriage. Love potions were developed few years later after that. So whosoever it was, either he or she just wanted to break us apart or wanted you to be with Ginny." Hermione finished her explanation waiting for Harry's reaction.

Harry was appalled. "You mean someone put a spell on me or gave me a love potion so that I'll fall for Ginny and leave you. But who would do it?"

Hermione just shrugged. "There are many people who don't want you to be with me. According to them, someone like me doesn't deserve you. You deserve so much better." Hermione said last part in a soft whisper looking at the ground, but Harry heard it.

He tightened his grip on Hermione and raised her chin to look into her eyes. "I deserve you. Hell no. I don't deserve you, especially, after what I did to you, but you gave me a chance. You are the most amazing, beautiful and reliable person I have ever met, Hermione, and I am luckiest person to have you in my life."

"Now that I have made my point clear there will be no more talks about not being good enough. Do I make myself clear Mrs. Potter?" He said in a mock stern voice.

"Yes sir," Hermione said laughing and kissed Harry tenderly.

After some time, Hermione pulled away. "So who do you think would have done it? Any suspects?" Harry asked.

"It can be anyone, may be Malfoy. But, I think Ginny can do it as well, especially after seeing her behavior these past few days. I was surprised when she was insistent in knowing about why we broke up, as though if she knew but wanted me to say the words." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"You think Ginny did this to us?" Harry said, surprised.

"I know it's difficult to believe as we are friends. I wish my doubts are not true." Hermione said thinking about her once only best girl friend.

"Now that you are mentioning it, she asked me about our break up while we were at Burrow. She also asked me if I was interested in someone else, but I said no. It seemed like she wasn't expecting me to say that." Harry said.

"I think we should ask Madam Pomfrey to examine you and tell us if there was any spell on you or were you been given any potion." Hermione said. Harry agreed, as he also wanted to know whether his unexpected feelings for Ginny were real or just an end product of a potion or a spell. He wished it were a spell or a potion. He still hadn't gotten over what he did with Hermione, how much he had hurt her despite loving her so much.

Later when they talked to Madam Pomfrey, they were surprised to know that their theory was correct.

After their walk near lake, they went to Hospital Wing to ask Madam Pomfrey about their suspicions. Madam Pomfrey was sitting in her office reading a magazine.

"Madam Pomfrey," Hermione called.

"Yes," Madam Pomfrey said, coming out of her office with a magazine in her hand.

"Oh Ms. Granger, and Mr. Potter is also here. Don't tell me you have once again managed to injure yourself, Mr. Potter." Medi-witch said in a stern voice.

"Oh no Madam Pomfrey, he is not injured." Hermione answered, "Actually we wanted a little help from you. Can you examine Harry and see if he has any kind spell on him or if he has been given any kind of potion other than the usual ones?"

It was a good thing that Madam Pomfrey didn't ask too many questions. "Of course Ms. Granger. I'll check it." Madam Pomfrey replied...

She asked Harry to lie on the bed. After Harry lay down on the bed, she took out her wand and started performing some non-verbal spells, moving her wand in a complicated fashion. After some movements, her wand started to glow bright orange. She stopped her wand movements and frowned a bit.

"Well Mr. Potter it looks as if like you had been given a potion that has emotional impact your feelings." Both Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"And what could it be Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione asked in a worried tone.

"He has been given Kissing Concoction. It causes the drinker to become infatuated with the giver of the potion or to the person whose hair has been put into the potion." Madam Pomfrey explained, "It seems like Mr. Potter had been under potion's influence for quite some. But it has not been given to you for at least a month now, but its residue is still in your system. Did you feel any kind of attraction towards anyone, Mr. Potter, except Miss Granger?" Madam Pomfrey asked seriously.

"Err...yes, but I don't feel it any more. In fact it was very short lived." Harry said.

Suddenly Hermione squeaked, as a thought crossed her mind, "Can it be that his own magic or say his strength of mind and heart was fighting against the effects of potion?" Hermione asked Madam Pomfrey. "Maybe that's why effects of potion were so short. Otherwise as you said Madam Pomfrey, he was fed with it for quite some time, then definitely effect of the potion should have been longer, but it wasn't."

"A very good guess, Ms. Granger. Five points to Gryffindor." Medi-Witch said smiling. Hermione blushed a bit.

"Miss Granger is right. The amount of potion you were given. Mr. Potter, it should have worked almost as a love potion. But it didn't. It means either you already had very strong feelings for someone else or your magic is very powerful." Madam Pomfrey said.

"Is there any antidote?" Harry asked.

"Yes there is an antidote, not that you need that. But it would be good to take it as a safety precaution." Madam Pomfrey said. With that, she went back to her office and came back with a small phial, which contained a bright blue colored potion.

"Here, take it with you. Take one sip each day, for one week. It will completely clear your system from the lasting effects of the potion." Medi-witch said.

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey" Harry and Hermione said together.

She just waved it off, "If you have any problem or side effects, come to me." They both nodded and left the hospital wing.

"Well that went better than expected." Harry said as they walked through deserted corridor. He linked his hand with Hermione's almost absent-mindedly.

"Yeah we were lucky she didn't ask who it was." Hermione said with relief, "Also your love for me won the battle in the end, so no more guilt trips for you." She said smiling widely at Harry.

Harry stopped her and pulled her in his arms. "I am glad more than I can ever tell. I was feeling so bad for hurting you that I couldn't live with myself. But I was also acting like a hypocrite because I broke up with you and then didn't want you to date with someone else either." He said.

"You shouldn't have worried yourself over it. I never wanted to date anybody else either. Only person who asked me was Terry Boot, but luckily, he went with that Ravenclaw girl, Lisa Belluci. So I didn't have to go with him." Hermione said.

When Hermione mentioned Terry Boot, Harry looked at her sheepishly. Hermione looked back at him suspiciously, "It didn't have anything to do with you? Did it?" She asked.

"Well… I just gave him a piece of my mind and hinted him to stay away from you." He replied nonchalantly, though his lips twitched upwards.

Hermione just shrugged out of his arms "Harry James Potter, you are just incorrigible." She said in a low but stern voice. A panicked expression appeared on Harry's face.

Hermione burst out laughing at his predicament. Harry was dumbstruck at her reaction. Then it dawned onto him that she was pulling his leg.

"Why you little..." He said as he made to grab her, but she had already started running away from him. He ran after her and caught her at the end of corridor. He held her tightly by waist from behind.

"Won't let you go so easily love? You were making fun of me." He whispered in a rough voice, sending chills down her spine.

"So what will you do about it?" She asked defiantly.

"Don't you want to know?" He said nuzzling her neck and kissing her jaw line. She turned around in his arms and put her arms around his neck, "Of course I do." She whispered more boldly than she actually felt. With that they both started making out passionately in the empty corridor and then in an empty classroom.

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"Should we tell Ron about our suspicions regarding Ginny?" Harry asked Hermione. They were sitting in the Gryffindor common room on Monday morning, waiting for Ron to come down from boys' dormitory.

"I think we should wait. At least until we have a solid evidence of what Ginny did." Hermione replied thoughtfully, "It won't be easy for him. Ginny will always be his little baby sister. We should not make him choose sides. And though most of our theories about this are correct, we are not 100% sure that it's Ginny."

"Yeah, it would be good to wait for some time." Harry agreed.

"Did you take your potion yesterday?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I took it before going to bed." Harry replied.

"Today we are having first official meeting of DA. Feeling nervous?" Hermione asked understandably.

"A bit. But I have you and Ron with me. I can get through anything." He said looking determined.

"We will always stand by your side, mate, even if Hermione can be an insufferable and know- it-all and well, list goes on and on." Ron said with a chuckle. He had just arrived from his dormitory. Hermione threw the cushion she was holding at Ron "Prat!" She said.

"See, told you..." Ron said, laughing.

"Are you ready to face another grueling day, my dear friends?" Ron said in a mock serious voice.

Both Harry and Hermione grinned at his antics. "Yes sir, absolutely," They both replied together playfully.

With that, three best friends with an unbreakable bond between them made their way towards the portrait hole to face another challenging day.

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A/N: - Prof. William Goodwin is a new DADA teacher, an old friend of Dumbledore and Dumbledore didn't die in sixth year. Goodwin is also a member of order of phoenix.

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