Houses of the Holy

* * *

Chapter 1: Communication Breakdown

Harry stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. He feverishly reached into his pockets, his sleeves - where was it?

"I've left my wand in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom," he told Ron and Hermione. "I'll catch up with you in Care of Magical Creatures."

Ron shrugged, but Hermione frowned, and Harry could tell that she was going to tell him that he should not be so careless, but she never got the chance. "Come on," Ron grabbed hold of her hand and led her down the corridor.

Harry was not quite sure why he had been so absent minded about his wand. He did consider it quite a welcome change to actually need a wand in Defence Against the Dark Arts compared to what used to happen last year in Professor Umbridge's class. Tonks is a much better teacher, thought Harry. We're actually learning something. Harry really knew why Dumbledore had asked her to come for the year, though: every Monday night he was having an Occlumency lesson with her, which was actually quite pleasant considering what Snape's lessons were like.

Harry shook his head, trying to shake the cobwebs from it. Why on earth was he leaving his wand around? It was not exactly the wisest thing to do, especially considering -

He was so engrossed in his thoughts he had already arrived at the classroom. He turned the handle and went inside, but soon closed it again. He'd just walked in on two people kissing very passionately. Hang on a minute, he thought, wasn't that...? He ripped open the door again.

"Ginny!" They tore apart, and Ginny had the grace to look embarrassed.

"What are you standing there for Potter? I thought you knew passion was not a spectator sport!" an all too familiar voice drawled.

"MALFOY???!!!" Harry asked incredulous.

"What, Potter? You thought she would be able to resist my charms?"

Witty retorts flew through Harry's mind, when suddenly he realised something that took his breath away. "Ginny, what are you doing here? Our class only ended five minutes ago..." He watched as she stared at her shoes, and it dawned on him "...this isn't a one off thing, is it?"

Malfoy smiled smugly and Ginny went an even deeper shade of red. Harry's wand was in his hands before he knew it, and it was pointed at Malfoy's heart. Something flashed red in front Harry, and suddenly Ginny was standing in front of him.

"Ginny, get out of the way, this has nothing to do with you!"

Ginny hands were on her hips in a flash and she looked at Harry indignantly through her fiery eyes. "As far as I can tell Harry, this is all about me. And I'm not letting you hex Draco for no given reason!"

"No given reason! Ginny, he was mauling you! His hands were all over you!"

"Can we stop talking about me as if I'm not here? Ginny, I don't need you to stand up for me! I can take care of Potter myself," Malfoy said with a sneer.

"Draco, you're late for Care of Magical Creatures. Why don't you go down there now?" Ginny asked lightly, but her eyes remained on Harry.

Malfoy looked at Ginny, and then at Harry. "Don't for a second think that this is over, Potter."

Harry looked at Malfoy, surprised. "Of course it's not, Malfoy. It hasn't even begun yet."

Harry waited until Malfoy was down the corridor before he vented his anger on Ginny. "DRACO MALFOY???!!! His father has tried to kill you twice! Lucius Malfoy is a servant of Voldemort, who I might add would have killed your father last year if it wasn't for me! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HIM ?"

"It's not what you think, Harry."

"Oh, really? Famous last words, Ginny. You practically admitted that he was your boyfriend!"

"He is. Sort of." She looked uncomfortable talking about her love life with someone she had admired from afar for years. "I never really know what's going on between Draco and I - "

He waived her correction aside. "What do you see in him, Ginny?" Harry asked. He was disgusted and fascinated at the same time. "What convinced you to go with him?"

"Draco Malfoy is not who you think he is, Harry. He is not at all like his father."

Harry raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

Ginny sighed. "Draco is a big disappointment to his father," she began, and Harry recalled the time in second year when he heard Lucius Malfoy lecture Draco because Hermione had topped the year in every subject, instead of him. "Draco got into a lot of trouble when he got his O.W.L. results. And I'm not talking about the kind of trouble you or I would get into," she said quickly, but Harry did not think that Ginny could imagine what went on every summer at the Dursleys'. However Harry was shaken by what Ginny said next. "Lucius has used dark magic on Draco."

"So?" Harry asked, even though he knew deep down that Malfoy would have had an even worse summer than he did, which was saying something. "How do you know?" he asked, curious.

"Draco told me."

Harry snorted. "I wouldn't believe what Malfoy said if the words were scantily clad and doing a can-can dance in front of me."

"Some dark magic leaves marks which do not fade," Ginny told him, and Harry knew that she had more evidence that Malfoy's word. "He did okay in most subjects, and pretty well in Care of Magical Creatures-"

Harry snorted again. "How? He never listens to Hagrid. He's always skiving off!"

"Hagrid wasn't there for more than half a year," she corrected him, and he conceded she had a point. "But he failed one subject quite miserably."

"Which one?" Harry could not help hoping it was Potions, but Malfoy was such good friends with Snape he knew his hopes were in vain.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"WHAT???!!!" Harry was amazed. That was the one subject he thought Malfoy would do really well at. "He comes from a family so immersed in the dark arts! How'd he manage that?"

"Umbridge was a pathetic teacher. I'm betting your classes were similar to mine?"

"About as amusing as feeding a flobberworm. But the rest of the year did pretty well!"

"Actually, no. The people you talk to did pretty well, but then they had a fantastic Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. They were members of Dumbledore's Army."

Harry blushed as she paid him the complement. "So what's this got to do with you and Malfoy?" he asked her, intrigued.

"Lucius Malfoy held the same view as you. He thought that if his son grew up in home that was saturated in the dark arts he should be able to pass a Defence Against the Dark Arts exam." Ginny smiled wryly. "Twisted logic, that just because he knows the spells he also knows how to defend himself against them, but then again, nobody's rushing to give Lucius Malfoy a prize for sanity, are they?"

Harry shook his head and waited for her to continue.

"Anyway, Draco was tortured constantly during the holidays. Lucius was trying to show him how much he needed to learn to defend himself. Apparently Lucius thought that Draco was not living up to the standard that he had set and if he continued like this he would not be able to enter the family business."

Harry's eyes widened. "He's grooming Draco to become a Death Eater?" For some reason Harry was not really surprised at this. Harry spent a few seconds fantasising what Hogwarts would be like with Malfoy in Azkaban....

Ginny nodded. "Anyway, Draco was determined that he was never going to have to endure anything like that again, so he decided to enlist some help when he got back to school. Out of all the Slytherins, he did the best in the subject, so they were no help. And the person who topped the year was his mortal enemy, and he couldn't bring himself to ask you to teach him." He smiled. Ron must have told her that he'd topped the year. Harry did not mind that information being passed around. Ginny plowed on. "So he asked someone who was taught by the master to teach him. Me." She smiled.

"You're teaching him Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Harry asked, amazed. "Why did he ask you? Why not someone else from the DA?"

"Well, it would have been insulting to his rather large ego to ask for help from anyone in your year or the year above. He needed someone who he could bully into keeping silent about these secret lessons. Which left the years below him. Considering the fact that Luna Lovegood, the Creevy brothers and I were the only ones who were below fifth year that took the classes, he chose me." A soft smile appeared on Ginny's face. Malfoy would have been seriously insane to ask for help from either Luna or Denis and Colin Creevy, Harry thought. But he could not help thinking that this was somewhat out of character for Malfoy...

"What happened, his lips fell on yours when you were teaching him the disarming spell one day?" Harry felt compelled by a curious revulsion to continue drilling Ginny.

Ginny smiled. "Something like that. Except he's quite good at disarming, he practiced with you."

Something in Harry's head said that this did not seem right. "How do you know he failed? How do you he didn't just make it up to get close to you? Most of your family is a member of the Order, you know."

A dark look flashed across Ginny's face temporarily. "You don't think I'm that stupid do you? I checked after he asked me to teach him."

"You got access to O.W.L. results? They're confidential! How?" he demanded.

A smile crept broadly over Ginny's face. "Fred and George."

"What? No, I don't want to know."

Harry felt anger building up inside him. He was now shaking with rage. He had tried to be reasonable with Ginny, but she wasn't listening. Harry could stand it no longer.

"GINNY IF YOU DO NOT DUMP HIM IMMEDIATLEY I WILL MAKE YOU DUMP HIM! HE IS NOTHING BUT BAD NEWS! HE IS EVIL! YOU DON'T KNOW HIM LIKE I DO! GET RID OF HIM NOW!

Ginny was trying to keep her own temper under control but was failing miserably. "What right do you have to tell me who I can go out with? I AM GOING OUT WITH DRACO MALFOY AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!"

"GINNY, DRACO MALFOY IS NOT WORTH IT! DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT WHO HE IS? YOU'VE GONE CRAZY!'

"Well, if I'm crazy, Harry Potter, I think you'd end in on the 'stark raving mad" ward in St. Mungo's!' Ginny stormed out of classroom, slamming the door behind her.

Hang on, thought Harry, what just happened here exactly?

* * *

By the time Harry got to Care of Magical Creatures, the lesson was nearly over. Hagrid came up to him with a concerned look on his face.

"Alrigh' Harry?"

"Yeah Hagrid, I'm fine"

"Listen Harry, I know yeh go' ... problems, bu' ... well, now that you're in sixth year, you can' really miss classes any more. Yeh going teh have teh make it up somehow," Hagrid had an awkward look on his face, as if this was the hardest thing to tell his favourite pupil.

Harry felt anxiety flow through him. Not another thing he has to do? "How, Hagrid?" he asked cautiously.

"Well, yeh can ge' the notes from Hermione, but I'm going teh need yeh to come back tomorrow night for a make-up lesson."

Harry felt relief sweep through him. He had been through worse at night with Hagrid, including entering the Forbidden Forest. Harry grew anxious again when he realised that this may be part of the lesson, and visions of centaurs trying to seize him came flooding back.

"Sure Hagrid," Harry said as normally as he possibly could. "I'll see you straight after dinner tomorrow night." Harry was relieved that it was not a Quidditch practice night. Being captain of the Gryffindor team was taking up more time than he anticipated. It had also strained his friendship with Ron quite severely....

RON. A plan started to form in Harry's mind which made him smile. He ran to where Ron and Hermione were walking back to the castle for Transfiguration and grabbed Ron by the sleeve.

"Ron, I have to talk to you."

"Harry, what do you think you're doing now?" Ron asked irritably. He must have been fighting with Hermione when Harry interrupted him.

Harry glanced at Hermione. "Alone," he told him. Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Guy problems," he explained quickly.

"Like I believe that for a second. Since when have you two left me out of conversations which include your embarrassing attempts to get girlfriends?" Harry glared at her. "Fine!" she sighed, and marched off to the castle.

"What was that all about, Harry?" asked Ron, slightly less annoyed.

"She'll try and stop us. You know her." Harry shrugged.

Ron narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Stop us doing what?" he asked.

Harry glanced around for any sign of Malfoy and his cronies. "Listen Ron, when I went back to get my wand, Malfoy had his hands all over a girl in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom."

Ron shrugged. "Since when do you care about Malfoy's love life?"

"Since the person he was mauling was your sister."

"GINNY???!!! And MALFOY???!!!" Ron swore.

Harry was surprised at the colourful language Ron had managed to aquire during the holidays. "I'm not sure that's physically possible, Ron."

"What are we going to do about this?" Ron hissed.

Harry smiled. "I have a plan."

When Harry had finished outlining his plan, Ron groaned. "Why can't I take your part?"

Harry felt anger rising within him. He swung around to Ron, with metaphorical smoke poring out of his ears.

"RON, HAVE YOU FACED VOLDEMORT FOUR TIMES?" Ron glared at him, but Harry continued. "DO YOU KNOW MORE JINXES AND HEXES THAN ANYONE ELSE IN OUR YEAR? WHO TOPPED THE YEAR IN DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS-"

"Alright, stop it. The plan stays as it is."

Harry grinned apologetically. "I knew you'd see it my way."

* * *

Harry had never remembered Transfiguration lasting so long. Which was not a good thing, considering the fact that what they were doing today was extremely difficult.

"Class, today we are starting on Conjuring spells. As you all achieved 'Exceeds Expectations' in your OWL's, which I must say I am quite pleased about, you all are proficient at Vanishing spells. Although the incantation for Conjuring spells is simply saying the words you used for the Vanishing spells backwards, this is amongst the most advanced Transfiguration we are permitted to teach you at Hogwarts. Which is why I have decided to start teaching you this in sixth year, to give you sufficient practice before your exams next year. Well, you all know the incantation. Begin!"

Harry tried to concentrate hard on the Blue Ringed Octopus he was supposed to be conjuring. McGonagall had told them that the Octopods they were conjuring would go to Snape to make a new potion. Harry did not want to think what kind of potion Snape was making. He hated Snape with a vengeance now, and he loathed the fact that in order to become an auror he would have to take Potions both this year and next year. Every lesson he pictured himself walking out of there and never coming back. And it seemed Snape imagined the same thing. It took all his will power to stay there.

"Harry, watch out, they're poisonous!" yelled Hermione.

Harry watched in horror as the one tentacle he had managed to conjure was moving slowly across the desk towards him. Harry said the first thing that popped into his head.

"Stupefy!"

McGonagall heard Harry's voice from the other side of the room. She rushed over, and quickly said the spell to make it visible. It was lying there, not moving. She prodded it with her wand, and one tentacle moved slightly. She sighed, relieved. "Class, Potter has raised an interesting point. You are not, under any circumstances, to stun these creatures, as they are so small that the spell will kill them. Luckily, Potter's is still alive, but if they come towards you, vanish them again, as they are more placid when invisible. Now, get back to work." McGonagall turned to Harry, puzzled. "There was only one tentacle visible when I got here, Potter. Why did it attack you?" she mused. "What were you thinking about when it started attacking you? What were you feeling?"

"Er, angry, Professor."

Harry thought he saw a triumphant smile cross her face, but it was soon replaced with a frown. "Potter, you need to be able to control your emotions. I cannot express to you important that is!" Her voice was so strange that Harry looked into her eyes and saw that she was rather anxious. He could tell she was no longer talking about Transfiguration.

After that incident, the rest of the class seemed to go quite quickly. Before he knew it he was out in the hallway giving Ron looks that meant it was time to get rid of Hermione. Hermione, however, was not all that easy to get rid of.

"I don't know what you two are up to, but the fact that you're not telling me means you know that you shouldn't be doing it," she told them after a particularly obvious bunch of furtive looks. She stopped and looked at them. Harry was resolute. There was no way she was going to talk him out of this. Apparently Ron had a similar look on his face because she simply threw her hands up in the air, muttered "Boys!" and stalked off to Gryffindor Tower to get ready for dinner.

Harry smiled, relieved. "Okay Ron, you know what to do."

Ron nodded, and they set off towards the Slytherin common room.

* * *

Harry did not expect to get into the common room, but by going straight there from Transfiguration he was hoping to waylay his prey before it actually got there. They arrived there, and there was no sign of them. Harry started to panic. Two Gryffindors hanging around the Slytherin common room would be particularly suspicious. To calm himself down, he observed the outside of the common room. It looked exactly the same as it did in second year when they had tried to break in. What? You thought they changed dungeon decor every couple of years to match the new look? Harry thought to himself irritably. As a particularly burly bunch of fourth years went in, Harry wished he had his invisibility cloak with him.

Harry had more on his mind at that point in time then simply self presevation. As he leant against the cold hard wall, he looked at Ron. Why had he been so enraged when Ron suggested he take on Malfoy? Ginny was his sister after all. Worst of all, he could not get the sight of them snogging out of his head. It was as if he was watching a Quidditch match with the instant reply stuck on. Why did he go off at Ginny simply because she was snogging Malfoy? He hadn't cared about any of her millions of other boyfriends, and Ron was right, since when did he care about Malfoy's love life? He wasn't... no, he couldn't be, that's the most ridiculous idea he had come up with today. I mean, she's Ron's sister he thought.

Suddenly he heard a very familiar drawl.

"You should have been there. The look on Potter's face will make me laugh for the rest of my life."

Harry nodded to Ron, who stepped out behind Crabbe and Goyle. "Stupefy!" he whispered, pointing his wand at Crabbe. Goyle turned around when he saw his friend drop to the floor beside him, but before he could do anything, Ron had whispered "Stupefy!" again, this time with his wand pointed at Goyle.

"So, Malfoy, how about starting it now?" Harry stepped in front of him.

Malfoy turned to Crabbe and Goyle to get support from them, but all he saw were their bodies on the ground and Ron with his wand pointed at him.

"I was thinking somewhere a little more private would be better, don't you?" Harry asked with a huge grin on his face.

* * *

Harry and Ron led Malfoy to the nearest classroom which was not a dungeon, which coincidentally happened to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Well, Potter, you're more chicken then I thought you were. You need your little friend here be able to fight me."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Do I? Well, Ron was just leaving."

A dark look passed across Ron's face, but Harry knew that Ron would stick to the plan. He left the classroom, and set about the task of making sure nobody knew that he had stunned Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry turned to Malfoy. "Well, why are you doing it?" he demanded.

"Doing what?" Malfoy knew perfectly well what Harry was talking about, he could see it on his face.

Harry sighed. "Why are you scheduling make-out sessions with Ginny Weasley? I know you hate her family." Harry told him through gnashing his teeth.

Malfoy sneered. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Malfoy, I swear that if you don't start answering me, I will MAKE you answer!"

Anger flashed across Malfoy's face, but he hardly showed it. "Jealous, are we Potter?" he sneered.

"No, I'm not!" Harry realised that his face had turned the colour of Ron's hair.

"Oh I believe you, millions wouldn't!"

Harry raised his wand, pointed it at Malfoy's chest. "Start talking." Malfoy looked disdainful.

"Do you want to try me?" Harry demanded.

"That red hair. Gets me every time." Malfoy continued not to be serious.

Harry was getting angrier by the second. He was going to have to show Malfoy that he meant it. "Petrificus Totalus!"

But Malfoy had dashed for the door. Harry raced after him, through the corridors, up the stairs. Then Harry realised what room Malfoy was going to.

Malfoy was waiting just outside the Great Hall, as if he was a friend waiting for Harry to catch up with him.

As soon as Harry was within earshot, he started walking again.

"You're right about her family Potter, they're a bunch of deadbeats. But I can get over that because she's absolutely fantastic in bed."

Harry froze. Something snapped inside of him. He knew that was not good. Things started flashing before his eyes. Ginny and Malfoy kissing. Cedric Diggory dying. The vision of his parents pacing around when he was fighting Voldemort. Then he heard voices. His mother crying out to Voldemort that he should not kill her son. Sirius telling Wormtail that he was going to kill him. Sirius...

Rage flowed through Harry's veins, unlike any rage he had felt before. He was not actually thinking at all. He only knew that he had to vent his rage on someone, and the person who was causing him so much misery was smirking at the look on Harry's face. I'm going to wipe that smirk off his face permanently, thought Harry...

Harry turned to Malfoy and said the words that he never thought he would hear himself say.

* * *