Harry Potter and the Mortal Enemy

Harry went over to his bed. Walking over there, he saw that as usual, his trunk had been placed at the end of his bed like normal - probably put there by one of the house-elves. He vaguely wondered if Hermione was going to continue her S.P.E.W. Campaigning this year, and wondered where he had put his badge.

Once he had opened his trunk, which had been packed carefully but hastily, the first thing he took out of it was his treasured Firebolt. This had been a Christmas present from his godfather, Sirius, and was always placed in its position of honour at the end of his bed.

Although he had come upstairs to unpack, he decided that he would have plenty of time to unpack the rest of his trunk. He took out his wand and laid it on his bedside table, then went back down to the Common Room to meet Hermione. Hopefully her parents had finished talking to Dumbledore and McGonagall, and would be down in the Common Room to tell him and Hermione where they would be staying, although he presumed that it would be somewhere such as the teacher's wing, or guest quarters.

Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, he could see that Hermione's parents weren't finished their meeting yet, but that Hermione had finished all of her unpacking.

She had taken out all of the books from her trunk, and, being Hermione, there were several of them. These were stacked neatly on two of the tables closest to the fire, and she was arranging her quills, inks and parchment on a third.

She looked as he walked over to her to see him grinning at her. "What's so amusing?"

"Oh, nothing! I was just wondering, isn't studying generally done in the school year? Not in the holidays! And you haven't even got this year's list of books yet!"

She crossed her arms and mock-glared at him. "For your information, I fully intent to make use of the Hogwarts library. I never get a chance to have a really thorough look at several of the books in there. Some of them look quite fascinating!"

He groaned. "But you can't leave me alone with all of the professors when you're memorising the entire library - not that you haven't done that already!"

"I have not memorised the whole library!" She grinned, "Don't forget, there's the Restricted Section. I've only memorised the other Section - the one everyone's allowed to use. Actually, I haven't. There are too many books in there for even me to read. But I'm sure that you, Mr. Potter, should be able to find something to do with your time while I'm in the library if you don't want to come and read with me...something along the lines of Quidditch?"

Harry pretended to consider this. "You're right. Yet another advantage to having to relocate to your magical school in the holidays - being able to play Quidditch and going flying. Actually, speaking of flying, I'm going to have to get you more than two feet in the air these holidays, and teach you how to fly. Who knows? By the time I'm finished with you, you might be good enough to become the new Gryffindor Keeper. We need a new one now - we didn't need one last year because of the Tournament."

She looked at him with horror, and he could see that her face had gone deathly white. "No way, Harry. There is absolutely no way in the world that you are getting me on a broomstick!"

He heard the Common Room door open behind them, and assumed it was Hermione's mother and father. As he turned around to face them, he muttered to himself, "We'll just see about that!"

Hermione walked over to join her parents, and attacked them with a barrage of questions. "What did Professor Dumbledore say to you? Where are you going to be staying? Will the Weasleys have to come here, too? Has there been an attempted attack on them yet, or any reports to attack them?"

Mr. Granger held up a hand. "One question at a time, Hermione. We cannot tell you yet what Professor Dumbledore told us, but we will when we feel it is necessary. We will be staying in the teacher's wing, and both you and Harry have been given access to it so that you can visit us. No, the Weasleys will not have to come here yet, although that may change, depending on the situation. And no, there has not been any attack or plans to attack them just yet. Does that answer your questions?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, thanks, Dad. Are you two going to stay for a while or do you have things to do?"

Her parents quickly looked at each other, exchanging a glance, before shaking their heads. "No, we have to go and 'get settled in', as Professor Dumbledore put it. Besides, we have both been asked to do a couple of things for him. Also, Professor McGonagall has asked to have a word with the two of you. She said that it was 'secret Gryffindor business'. So I advise that you go to her office as soon as possible. I assume that you know where it is?"

"Yes, we do. I've had to go up there numerous times. And none of them were my fault! Well, most of them weren't! I couldn't help that we lost control of the car and it flew into the Whomping Willow..." He trailed off as he saw Mrs. Granger concealing a grin.

"Well, I doubt that you two are in trouble yet - term, let alone actual school, hasn't started yet! Actually, to tell you the truth, both John and I know what this 'secret business' is about, and it is nothing bad. In fact, I think you'll both be extremely pleased!"

Hermione's parents turned and walked out through the door, leaving Harry and Hermione together in the Common Room.

Harry turned to Hermione. "I have no idea what this is about, but I suppose that we had better go and see McGonagall. If we don't go she'll probably try and take off house points. Actually, she won't, but we should head to her office now."

She nodded. "You're right. Let's go." She turned around and walked out of the Common Room, with Harry trailing behind her.

~*~

The two of them arrived at McGonagall's office, which was on the first floor. Hermione stepped up to the dark brown oak door, and knocked soundly on it three times.

From inside, they could hear McGonagall's reply. "Come in."

Hermione entered first, with Harry following behind her. McGonagall was sitting at her desk, busily writing on some parchment. Harry guessed that she was looking after the student information for the first years.

As they walked over to her desk, she looked up. She smiled when she saw who it was. "Hermione! Harry! Thankyou for coming - you must have gotten my message. Now, I won't keep you long. Did your parents tell you what this was about, Hermione?"

Nodding, Hermione replied. "Well, they told us that it was 'secret Gryffindor business', but they didn't really tell us much else. But they did tell us that you had told them what it was, Professor."

"Ah, yes, this Gryffindor business. To tell you the truth, it's not really that secret. As you would be aware, every house has two fifth year prefects, along with two students from the sixth and seventh year. Now, the selection of the prefects has always been a difficult task, as there are always many capable candidates, and the Hogwarts Staff have always spent many hours deciding who is worthy of the privilege. But I am pleased to say that you two have been chosen as the Gryffindor Prefects - hence, the 'secret Gryffindor business.' "

Hermione let out a squeal, and rushed over first to Professor McGonagall, and threw her arms around her neck, saying to her, "Thankyou so much, Professor!" then racing back over to Harry and throwing her arms around his neck.

Harry's reaction was not as animated as hers, but although he did not express it in the same way, he was still pleased. "Thankyou, Professor. I'll do my best to do a good job."

She smiled at him. "I have no doubt that both you and Miss Granger will do an excellent job - for that is one of the reasons, along with other things such as your academic record, that we chose you to for the job. Also, Mr. Potter, there was another matter I wanted to talk to you about while you were here. I am sure that you are aware that we are in need of a Quidditch Captain for our team, seeing as Oliver Wood left the school two years ago - of course we did not need a captain for last year as there were no Inter-House Quidditch matches, because of the Triwizard Tournament, but we now need one. Can either you or Miss Granger, although she is not on the team, think of someone who would be a good choice?"

Both Harry and Hermione thought about it. Harry was the first one to say who he thought would be a good choice. "I think that one of the seventh years would be a good choice; maybe Angelina or Alicia. It's probably better that someone who has been on the team for longer is made captain, since they'll know all of the best tactics and strategies."

"I don't think so, Harry," Hermione spoke up. "I actually think it would be better if it was someone who wasn't a seventh year was made captain. Since pretty much everyone on the team is going into their seventh year, they'll all be leaving at the end of the year, so you'd have to select a new captain anyway. That's what makes me think that it would be better to have somebody else as captain."

McGonagall was nodding. "I agree with you, Hermione, and so does the rest of the team. I owled the rest of the team recently, and they all agreed with both of us. In fact, they all thought that Harry would think that somebody else should be the captain, and all agreed that he would be the best choice. So Harry, I am offering you the position of Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor. Would you like to accept it?"

He stared at her, open mouthed. "What? Me? Captain?"

"Yes. You. Captain. Now, can you make a sentence out of it?" Hermione said, grinning.

"Well, I suppose if the rest of the team and you two think that I should be captain, I don't really have a choice. But there's no way that I'm scheduling practices at some unknown hour like certain people did..."

Professor McGonagall smiled. "Of course, that will be up to the captain to schedule practice - and tryouts. But now that that's sorted out, there is only one thing I need to speak to you about - your school supplies. As you are aware, everyone else would have received theirs through owl post, but as you are here, we will simply give it to you. Professor Dumbledore and I have also spoken to Miss Granger's parents, and we have arranged for you to go to Diagon Alley to buy your things in a couple of days. Is that okay with you two?"

The two of them nodded. Looking pleased, McGonagall told them that they could both go. As they turned around to leave, Professor McGonagall said one last thing. "Oh, and Mr. Potter? The password to the headmaster's office is 'Sugar Quill.' Just in case you need it."

He nodded, giving her his thanks, and followed Hermione out of her office.

~*~

The rest of the day passed quickly for Harry. Almost as soon as they had arrived back in the Common Room, Hermione had ripped open the school supplies list they had received from McGonagall, and was quickly scanning the booklist.

Harry did the same, only not in the same way - usually it was easy to tell what kind of teachers he would be having from the selection of books they had chosen. Surprisingly, this year's list was considerably longer than normal. He supposed that it was because they would be studying their O.W.L.s this year, and they would have to learn more than previous years.

Hermione, however, looked pleased at the sight of a long list, and most likely, the prospect of reading the set texts. "This looks like a really long list, Harry, and there are heaps of books that look like we'll be needing them for Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. It's a good thing that I already have some of them, since I got some extra last time I was in Hogsmeade for some more light reading. I haven't gotten around to reading them, so I will be able to start now."

Harry groaned inwardly. The last time Hermione had shown him and Ron her idea of 'light-reading', she had brought out a thick volume several hundred pages thick. And if she had bought these books for some light reading, they would most likely be very big too.

He looked up from quickly skimming the rest of the letter to see Hermione sorting through the books on the two tables, and pulling out certain books. "Defence Against the Dark Arts Training for Students, I know it's here somewhere!"

He walked over to have a look at the books that she had pulled out of the piles. Surprisingly, some of them actually looked interesting for once. And to his relief, there were also no books with Gilderoy Lockhart's face on the front.

Hermione put down the list. "Well, that's all of them. I still need to get a few, but I'll have to get them when we go to Diagon Alley in a couple of days. Oh, yes! While I remember, I found this book on Wizard Chess tactics. Did you want to have a look at it, Harry? Maybe you could pick up a few tips and actually beat Ron next time you play him."

She had Harry's interest. In the four years that he had been playing Wizard Chess against Ron, he had never beaten him once. "So you've actually found a book that has its uses? Yeah, I know, Hogwarts: A History can have its uses sometimes, but still, how many people do you know that have read it. Only joking!" he said hurriedly, as Hermione fixed him with a look. He picked up the book, and began flipping through it. It looked pretty interesting, so he sat down in one of the chairs by the fire and began reading it thoroughly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione picking up one of the set texts, and sitting down in the seat opposite him.

Time passed quickly for Harry as he ploughed deeper into the book, picking up several useful tactics as he went. Just as he finished the sixth chapter, How to beat your opponent without them noticing, Hermione waved her hand in front of his face. Startled, he looked up.

"Hermione! What was that for?"

She looked at him with a mischievous grin on her face. "Well, calling your name wasn't exactly working, was it? What else did you expect me to do?"

Blushing, he answered, "Oh. That's ok then. What did you want me for anyway?" Glancing at his watch, he blinked in surprise. "What? I cannot believe that it's time for dinner already! Are we eating in the Great Hall?"

Nodding, Hermione began to pack up the few books she had been browsing through. "Yes, I think so. That's where we usually eat, even when there isn't many people here, isn't it?"

He stood up and headed towards the portrait hole, with Hermione following behind him. She caught up to him, and they walked side by side on their way to the Great Hall.

~*~

Walking into the Hall, both Harry and Hermione could tell straight away that they would not be eating at their house tables - for one thing, there was nobody from the other houses. There were also only a few of the professors there - Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and the other Heads of House, who were all sitting at the same table. Harry was depressed to find Snape was at Hogwarts also, although he hid it well.

They walked over to the table to sit next to Hermione's parents, and as they were walking over it became clear that even when there were very few people at Hogwarts, the house elves still managed to put on a great feast.

Dinner was quite pleasant, and Harry found himself talking to his professors with ease, while Hermione was talking to her parents and explaining about certain things from the Wizarding World that they asked about.

Harry especially enjoyed talking to Professor Dumbledore, who was telling Harry about Hogwarts, and the way it changes. "So, Harry - how do you like the way that the stairs change and have missing steps?"

Harry was a bit confused at this change of subject, but went along with him. "Well, Professor, it's alright after four or so years, but it is a bit annoying when the stairs decide to change which steps are missing. And which corridor they are heading to. But it is pretty easy to get used to. What about you? Do you know where they all go?" Then he remembered once, last year, how Dumbledore had said that he did not know all of Hogwarts' secrets.

"No Harry, I do not. Although I know where the majority of the stairs go to, and which steps are missing, they always change. As a matter of fact, they have all decided to go and change - every single one of them! It is getting frustrating to continually get stuck in the stairs - but I'm sure you know what it is like. Don't you?"

All too soon, they had finished a delicious meal, and the teachers headed back to their wing, while Harry and Hermione walked back to Gryffindor Tower.

They began to walk up the last flight of stairs, carefully skipping the step that was missing. Suddenly, about halfway up, Hermione's foot fell into a gap between two steps, where it appeared that there was a step. Then Harry remembered Dumbledore's warning that all of the stairs were changing to be sneaky.

He grabbed her by the hand, and hauled her out of the hole, telling her about what Dumbledore had said before.

They continued walking up the stairs, being careful to make sure that each step was actually a step, and not just a fake one. Then Harry realised that he was still holding Hermione's hand, but, surprising himself, didn't let go. Neither did Hermione.

Entering Gryffindor Tower, Hermione covered a yawn with her other hand. "I am so tired! But I don't know why - it's probably got something to do with being back at Hogwarts. I think I'm going to go up to bed. Good night, Harry." She leaned over, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then went up the stairs to the Girl's Bedroom.

Harry stood there for a minute, completely confused as to why she had done that.