Harry Potter and the Forbidden Passage

Chapter 12: Expectations

Harry awoke the next day to a bleary, rainy London morning. The weather matched his mood perfectly. His anger at Hermione still lingered, leaving him irritable. And he'd had little sleep as the nightmares had continued. To make matters worse, his muscles and joints ached from all the bending and lifting he had done in the attic.

One thought however brought a smile to his face. He would see Sirius again today, looking out at him from his portrait. Harry had moved the painting the previous night to hang over the exact spot where Mrs. Black's portrait had been before.

After getting dressed, with no small amount of pain due to his sore muscles, he walked downstairs to go to breakfast. He couldn't help grinning as he saw the portrait of Sirius.

"Morning, Sirius," Harry said in greeting, stifling a yawn.

"Morning, Prongs…er…Harry. Sorry, but you do look just like him," Sirius replied as he studied Harry's appearance.

"So I've been told," Harry responded with mild irritation as he was once again reminded that this portrait was not of the man he knew as Sirius. Ever since he had seen Snape's memory of his father in the Pensieve earlier that year, he felt some distaste whenever he was compared with him.

"Harry," Sirius said frowning, "I should warn you, that red-haired bloke was cursing you this morning for something."

"Ron?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Right, that's him."

"What? Why?" Harry asked, puzzled. He frowned. Why would Ron be mad at him? He had acted perfectly normal last night.

"Dunno," Sirius answered, shrugging, "but it seemed to start after that girl left this morning." As Harry looked at Sirius in confusion, Sirius added, "Not his sister, the other one."

"You mean Hermione? She left?" Harry asked, surprised.

Sirius nodded. "About an hour ago. She seemed upset, but she was very nice when she said goodbye. Said she'd visit me at Hogwarts. It will be great to see the school again. Anything's better than this house," Sirius said, looking around the portrait hall with disgust. "I wonder if that charm that James and I placed on the Slytherin common room is still in place?" he said to himself wistfully, tapping his finger against his chin.

While Sirius continued to prattle on about some prank that he and James had pulled off in their fourth year, Harry's focus was now entirely on Ron and Hermione.

"Yeah, well...see you later, Sirius," Harry replied absently as he started walking away, confused as he thought about his friends.

He entered the kitchen apprehensively, not quite sure of the reception he might receive. Harry saw that Fred and George must have slept over after the meeting the previous night and were lingering on for breakfast. They were seated with Ron and Ginny at the long table. Fred, George, and Ginny were bent over the table and laughing at some object that Fred was holding. Ron, on the other hand, sat a little apart from his siblings and seemed to be pushing the food around on his plate, while accomplishing very little towards actually eating it. There was no doubt - he was angry.

Ginny looked up, still laughing. "Oh, good morning, Harry."

"Morning," Harry replied in greeting to everyone.

"You slept in again," Ron replied coolly, unwilling to meet his eyes.

"Yeah, well, I had a rough night. Didn't get much sleep if you know what I mean. And I had a really hard day yesterday," Harry replied defensively.

"Yeah, real tough day, I'm sure," Ron said sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked heatedly.

"Well, it's not everyday you alienate your friends. Oh wait, I forgot, it is everyday - for you!"

By these last words, Ron was on his feet and shouting. Harry gaped at him in outrage. Ron had never acted quite like this before. He had always been Harry's support against Hermione whenever she contradicted him.

"Ron!" Ginny said sharply in warning, but Ron continued his tirade.

"You know, Hermione left this morning," Ron said angrily. "She went back to her parents' home for the rest of the summer."

"Yeah," Harry said quietly, looking down at the plate of eggs and bacon that Ginny had passed him. "Sirius told me a few minutes ago. That's good...I mean she hardly ever spends time with her parents anyway." He tried to sound as though nothing was out of the ordinary, that it was only natural for Hermione to want to go home.

Ron was fuming, he looked angrier than ever as Harry tried to justify Hermione's absence. "I should have figured. And did that portrait also tell you that she left because you're a bloody git?" His voice rose with every syllable.

"Wait just a minute here!" Harry said in outrage. "What did I do? She's the one who had to go running to Dumbledore and meddle in my business. She was telling me to forget about the portrait, to never speak to Sirius again! Whose side are you on anyway?"

"Hermione's!" Ron shouted without hesitation. "She's been a much better friend than you lately."

Harry was steaming. Why was Ron so mad at him? He hadn't done a bloody thing to Hermione, she was the one who had betrayed him, not the other way around. What had he done to deserve this kind of abuse from his best friend?

"Well, if she's so much better," Harry spat, "then what are you still doing here?"

As soon as he had said the words, he regretted it, but Ron had just stretched his temper to the breaking point.

"Hey," George stepped in, "shut it, you two. You don't want Mum to hear you fighting."

Fred looked at Harry more cheerfully and cast him a mischievous glance. "Don't mind our little bro, Harry. He just misses his girlfriend."

Ron blushed and glared at Fred. "She's not my girlfriend," he replied forcefully. "I mean she's my friend and she just happens to be a girl, but she's not - Hey! Stop laughing!"

The twins were shaking with uncontrolled mirth and Ginny seemed to be having difficulty holding back as well as she covered her mouth with her hand, trying to suppress whatever sound wanted to escape.

"Harry, tell them!" Ron demanded.

Harry struggled to contain his own grin. "They really are just friends," he finally said, trying hard to keep a straight face.

"Oh, Ron, calm down. They were just trying to get a rise out of you," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"And apparently it worked," George added, still laughing softly.

"Yeah, we know you and Hermione will never be anything more than friends," Fred said, smiling devilishly and trying to look serious. "At least at the rate you're going," Fred muttered, too softly for Ron to hear. Fred's comment was met with another bout of uncontrollable, infectious laughter from George. Both twins were in tears and doubled up from their laughter in moments.

Ron surveyed his brothers, looking cross and confused. "You're both a pair of nutters," he said, shaking his head. Then Ron looked at Harry as though he expected him to explain this strange behavior.

Harry smiled and shrugged. "They're your brothers." If Ron truly didn't realize what everyone else had seen for ages, then Harry wasn't about to be the one to explain it all. He had long ago decided to keep himself out of this situation at all costs.

Ginny's grin disappeared as she turned her head towards the stairs. "Shh," she whispered to Fred and George to silence them, "Mum's coming. She'll think you're up to something." Fred and George were still laughing and Ron's face had turned a vibrant shade of red.

"What are you two on about?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She looked suspiciously from Fred to George and back again.

"Nothing, Mum," Fred and George answered simultaneously, immediately sobering up and attempting to sound casual.

"Hmmph." Mrs. Weasley glared at them both suspiciously before she noticed Harry. "Oh, good morning, Harry dear. I'm afraid you missed Hermione this morning."

"I heard," Harry said quietly, not wanting to start another fight with Ron.

"Well, the post has just arrived and I've brought your Hogwarts letters," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Is there a letter for me, Mum?" Fred asked anxiously.

"Why would there be a letter for you?"

"Not a Hogwarts letter," Fred said impatiently. "Just a letter from…er…a friend."

"Not from a girlfriend is it, Fred?" Ron teased maliciously, to which Fred responded by kicking him under the table.

Mrs. Weasley ignored him and continued, "No, Fred, no letters for you or George. But here's one for Harry and one for Ron," she said, passing out the letters. "And here's your letter, Ginny dear," she said kindly. She looked at her daughter affectionately as she handed her the last letter. Harry couldn't help but notice that Mrs. Weasley handled Ginny's letter with great care as though it were something precious and fragile.

Ginny accepted the letter slowly. She looked with concern at her mother, and then at the envelope in her hand. When Ginny turned away to open the letter, Mrs. Weasley looked over her daughter's shoulder expectantly.

"Mum, please," Ginny said sternly, rolling her eyes.

Mrs. Weasley took the hint and walked away, frowning.

No one else seemed to have noticed this interaction. Fred and George were talking animatedly about business at the joke shop. And Ron had already ripped open his letter and was complaining about the number of books required for N.E.W.T. level classes.

Harry tried to concentrate on opening his own letter, but he couldn't help but stare as Ginny slowly broke the seal on the back of her envelope and pulled out the sheets of parchment inside. She frowned as she read the letter. Setting the letter aside, Ginny picked up the open envelope and shook it upside down.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked her.

Ginny looked startled by the question. "N-no, nothing's wrong. Everything's fine…as expected really." Her expression said completely the opposite though and she looked rather disappointed.

"So," Mrs. Weasley asked somewhat anxiously when she returned to the table, "do we have something to celebrate, Ginny dear?"

"How should I know?" Ginny said, sounding irritated.

"You didn't receive…" Mrs. Weasley trailed off, looking slightly puzzled.

"No," Ginny answered flatly. "You weren't really expecting it, were you, Mum?"

"Well, you're very bright, dear, and your grades have been very high. After Ron became one, I just thought-"

Ginny cut her mother off before she could finish what she was saying. "Well, you thought wrong. I'm not the brightest in my class, Mum. Rosemary Bennett is loads better than me at Transfiguration and Charms. And how could you expect Professor Dumbledore to make me a prefect after my first year?" Ginny was clearly trying to sound as though the possibility of becoming a prefect had never crossed her mind, but her voice betrayed her with a note of bitterness and disappointment.

"Aw," Fred said, pretending to wipe away an invisible tear, "George, our little sister is following in our footsteps."

"Way to go, Ginny. We're so proud of you," said George, enthusiastically shaking her hand.

Mrs. Weasley gave them a cross look.

"Come on, Mum," Fred said. "You can't expect us all to be perfect prefects like Percy and Ron here."

"Well, I never expected it from you two," Mrs. Weasley said sharply, glaring at them. "How could I, after receiving an owl about your behavior every other day?"

"Only every other day?" Fred asked, frowning.

Mrs. Weasley sighed with exasperation. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot against the stone floor. "Don't you both have a shop to be attending to?" she said impatiently.

"Aw, Mum, are you trying to get rid of us already? It's only," Fred paused and looked at his watch, "ten past nine."

"Come on, Fred," George said as he stood up, "we know when we're not wanted. Besides, that shipment of Billywig stingers is supposed to be delivered this morning."

"See, Ginny," Fred said proudly, "we're living proof that you don't have to be a prefect to be successful. And don't worry about the O.W.L.s either, you can always come to work for us if you fail."

"Thanks a lot," Ginny replied sarcastically, but she grinned at the twins' retreating forms as they left.

"Those two," Mrs. Weasley said with frustration, shaking her head. She turned to Ginny, "I'd better see at least seven O.W.L.s from you, young lady. I don't care if your brothers are doing well with that silly joke shop of theirs, I don't want you following their example."

Ron laughed slightly and Mrs. Weasley turned on him, glaring. "And you, Ronald Weasley," she said sternly, "have nothing to laugh about. Only six O.W.L.s, and three A's among them! I would have expected better from a prefect. And may I ask, which N.E.W.T. level classes have you qualified for this year?"

Ron gulped and looked down at his letter. "Well…er…Care of Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, and Divination."

"You passed Divination?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I scraped an A. I guess the examiner couldn't exactly fail me on the crystal ball since what I saw was true, even if it was his reflection."

"Only five classes, Ron?" Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Well, you'll be lucky if I can persuade Minerva to accept you into her advanced Transfiguration class."

"Yeah, really lucky," Ron muttered sarcastically, his voice low enough so that only Harry could hear.

"And what about you, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked, suddenly smiling and looking hopefully at him.

Harry was startled by the question and looked down at his envelope. Realizing that he still hadn't broken the seal, he glanced at Ginny, who was watching him intently. "I…er…haven't looked at my letter yet," he answered, blushing. "Wait a minute." Harry opened the envelope quickly and removed the letter. He unfolded the parchment and scanned it quickly for the answer.

"Well," he finally said, "it looks like I've qualified for Care of Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, and…Potions." Harry felt a bit reluctant to acknowledge to Ron that he had been accepted into Transfiguration and Potions when Ron hadn't.

"At least N.E.W.T. level classes are optional," Ron said to Harry. "I mean you don't have to take Potions. Merlin knows I couldn't stand another year with that…" Ron stopped abruptly as he was thrown a stern look from Mrs. Weasley.

"Of course, Harry will take Potions. It's a very useful subject," Mrs. Weasley responded sternly to Ron. She looked warmly on Harry and smiled. "Congratulations, Harry dear, that's a very respectable list of classes. Now, if you all give me your lists, we can arrange to pick up your books in Diagon Alley next week."

Harry passed her the letter, still left unread for the most part. He felt some disappointment at the prospect of missing the annual visit to Diagon Alley for the second year in a row. He had hoped to have the chance to see Fred and George's shop before returning to Hogwarts, but that didn't seem likely now. There was virtually no possibility that he would be allowed to leave the house for such a trip, especially after what he had done at the Ministry. And besides, it appeared that his punishment of preparing the attic as an extra bedroom would take up the rest of the summer.

By the end of breakfast, Harry was feeling somewhat better as Ron seemed to have forgotten completely that he was ever angry with Harry. Everything seemed to be back to normal as they conversed happily about the coming year and their plans for the new Quidditch season. They discussed who else should try out for Chaser, with Ginny being a given, and the necessity of replacing Sloper and Kirke as Beaters. They contemplated who would be selected as the Gryffindor captain, with Harry insisting that it would be Katie while Ron was adamant that it would be Harry.

On the whole, Harry was feeling pretty cheerful by the time he and Ginny started working on the attic again. But as Harry tried to continue the Quidditch discussion with her, she seemed reluctant to talk about it. As Harry thought about it, he realized that Ginny hadn't had much to say at all since her Hogwarts letter had arrived.

"Are you still upset about not being made a prefect?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Oh," she said, startled, "well…not really." But she was still frowning.

"I would understand if you were," said Harry with sympathy. "To tell you the truth, I was a little upset about it last year. It really threw me for a loop that Ron was made prefect. I mean I was happy for him and all, but…well, you know."

He thought about telling her how Dumbledore had confessed that he had denied Harry the position because he'd thought that he "had enough responsibility to be going on with," but decided against it. Nothing was going to change, so it was better for Ron to continue to believe that he had earned the position outright.

"I don't really care about the position so much," Ginny said. "At least I won't have the extra responsibilities, and I can spend more time on Quidditch training and studying for the O.W.L.s. Honestly, if Ron hadn't had Hermione around last year to handle the prefect duties, I think he would have had a breakdown from all of the stress."

She looked away and sighed. Despite all of her reasoning, it was quite clear that something was still upsetting her. "But," she continued slowly, sounding forlorn, "I was hoping for a new broom. I've never had my own broom and I thought if I became a prefect that Mum and Dad would finally buy me one. But...well...I guess I'll just have to make due with one of the school's old Shooting Stars."

"They didn't seem to give you a problem last year. You flew really well," Harry said encouragingly. "I'm sure it will all work out. You have a guaranteed spot on the team as far as I'm concerned."

"Eh, I wasn't that great last year," she said dismissively. "If I had only caught that snitch ten minutes sooner against Hufflepuff..." her voice trailed off. "I just know I could perform so much better with a good broom." She sighed. "Well, there's no use getting upset over something that wasn't meant to be, right?"

"Er…right," Harry replied slowly, not quite sure how to respond.

Quick to change the subject, he opened a new box and asked Ginny for her help in sorting through the contents within. It turned out that the box was full of old copies of a magazine called Wizarding Pride, reputed to be the "one source of information to the wizarding community produced, written, and edited entirely by pure-bloods."

After spotting her grandfather, William Weasley, in a group photo on one of the covers, Ginny spent the rest of the morning combing through the magazines. Harry, meanwhile, continued to work through the rest of the attic. But Ginny's time was not spent in vain, as it soon became apparent that the magazines were loaded with information on the families of most of the Death Eaters and, perhaps even more importantly, the ties between them. If only Sirius had discovered those magazines during the previous year, Harry thought wistfully. His godfather might have found some satisfaction in being able to produce information that could yet prove valuable to the Order's ongoing efforts..

Over the next few days, working in the attic turned out to be a godsend for Harry, despite the sore muscles and the clouds of dust he inhaled. It occupied his mind and made him feel useful, blocking out the depression that had threatened to destroy him since Sirius's death. And every night, he would fall asleep so exhausted that it left his mind blank and often free of the nightmares that seemed to haunt him perpetually.

So the days passed quickly and before Harry knew it, a week had gone by. Remus had returned from his transformation, looking quite a bit worse than when he had left. His face was gaunt and pale and Harry had the distinct impression that the transformation hadn't gone quite so well this time. Not helping the matter was Remus's reaction when he first saw and heard the portrait of Sirius. Needless to say, it came as quite a shock when Remus heard Sirius asking Harry, "Who's the old man?" moments after Remus had walked through the door upon his return.

In fact, the portrait seemed to unnerve Remus completely. He looked like he would be sick every tme that he passed it. For this reason, if no other, Harry found himself somewhat relieved when Dumbledore came to take away the portrait. Surprisingly, Harry was not all that sad to see it go. He knew he would be able to see the portrait again when he returned to Hogwarts in less than two weeks. And, although he loathed to admit it, he found that Hermione had been right to some extent - the portrait's inhabitant bore little in common with his godfather other than a shallow physical resemblence.

After a few days, Harry had found his anger towards Hermione starting to ebb away. By the end of the week, he was starting to miss her presence at Grimmauld Place. But a letter they had received from Hermione indicated that she was glad to be spending some time with her family before leaving them for another year. It was with some discomfort that Harry read about Hermione's anticipation of meeting them in Diagon Alley when they went to collect their books and supplies for the coming year.

The problem was that Harry wouldn't be able to meet her. And Ron's enthusiasm for the trip was growing increasingly annoying. Fortunately, he was still spending most of his time working in the attic with Ginny.

It was truly amazing what they had accomplished in a week's time. What had once been a filthy, musty storage room, unfit for human habitation, was now a relatively clean, spacious room. And it was much brighter now that they had removed the coverings over the large round stained-glass window and Mr. Weasley had replaced the old candles with some of his magically enhanced lightbulbs.

Looking around at the new room that they had created, Harry felt proud of their accomplishment. Just a few more things remained to be done and then it would be complete. The room felt so inviting now that Harry actually found himself envying its future occupant.

"I think we might be able to finish it tomorrow," Harry commented to Ginny as he mentally took a tally of the tasks that were left.

"Tomorrow?" Ginny asked, perplexed.

"Yeah, I think we'll be able to get more done while everyone's away."

"Harry," Ginny looked confused, "I'm not going to be here tomorrow. I'm going to Diagon Alley with Mum. I've already arranged to meet Dean at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh…I see," Harry said slowly, failing to conceal his disappointment. He had not expected this. For some reason, he had just assumed that Ginny would be staying behind also, completing the work on the attic with him.

"Well, it's not like you'd really want to be here with me anyway," Ginny said, laughing slightly. "I mean I know you would have preferred to have Ron for company this week. You know, I'm sure he would stay here if you asked him."

"Mmm," Harry replied vaguely.

He knew that Ron would most likely stay if he asked him, but Harry couldn't request that knowing how much Ron had been anticipating the trip to Diagon Alley. And the truth was that he really had been enjoying Ginny's company. He had never felt the necessity with her to provide answers the way he did when he was with Ron. Although Ron was his best friend in the world, lately Harry had felt the pressure of unasked questions between them. Ron clearly wanted to know what had happened at the Ministry and Harry still wasn't ready to talk about it. Nor was he ready to relate any of the other secrets that were still weighing on his heart; the things that he saw in his nightmares, his mother's diary, the vision he had had of his parents in the Pensieve, and worst of all - his destiny and the contents of the prophecy. When he was with Ginny, for some reason, he did not feel this deep tension. He could relax with her and he laughed far more than he would have thought possible.

Harry suddenly felt a distinct feeling of dislike towards Dean. He was surprised because he had always liked Dean very much and considered him a true friend. Harry shook his head as if to clear his mind. He was just being silly. Ginny could go out with whoever she liked. It had never bothered him before.

And yet…it did bother him now. But why should it matter? There was absolutely no reason for him to be upset with Dean or with Ginny. He didn't have any right to expect her to stay. Why would she want to stay with him instead of going out with Dean? If he had the choice, he certainly wouldn't choose to stay here. Maybe, Harry thought with distaste, maybe spending all this time with Ginny was turning him into an overprotective older brother…like Ron. Yes, that must be it, he rationalized.

"Hey, Harry," Ginny said, startling Harry abruptly from his thoughts, "why don't you just ask if you can come with us? Maybe they'll let you."

"I doubt it," Harry said gloomily. "Not after what happened last week."

"Well, it couldn't hurt to ask, right? You'll never know unless you try."

* * * * *

Ginny's words proved to be true as slightly less than twenty-four hours later, Harry found himself in Flourish and Blott's with Ron and Hermione. True, Moody was Disillusioning him before he left every shop and there were about four undercover Order members within ten feet at any one time, but, nonetheless, he was in Diagon Alley as desired.

Hermione was piling books into Ron's arms. Their book lists for the coming year truly were extraordinary, at least five books per subject for the advanced level courses. The only advantage was that most of the books would be used again the following year. Harry was pleased to see that two of the books for Defense Against the Dark Arts were among those that Sirius and Remus had given to him last Christmas. They all took this as a good sign that the new Defense teacher might at least have some reasonable knowledge of the subject.

"C'mon, Hermione, hurry up," Ron said impatiently as Hermione looked at yet another stack of books for her Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes. "We've been in here for an hour already. I want to make it to Quality Quidditch Supplies before they close."

Hermione sighed in exasperation. "Fine, but I don't know why you want to go there anyway. You already have a new broom. Well, I'm almost through here. I just have to find," she paused as she scanned a long scroll of parchment, "The Modern Scientific Approach to Ancient Runes by Lenora Lapis."

Ron roughly dropped the piles of books in his arms into a basket. Then he snatched the parchment out of her hand and scanned it. "Blimey, do they really expect you to buy all of these books?"

"Well, no," Hermione answered, "these are just extra books that I thought might be useful. I made a list last June before we left Hogwarts and Madam Pince made a few recommendations."

"A few? Hermione you're buying over a dozen extra books!"

"We're in N.E.W.T. level classes now, Ron, if you hadn't noticed. Things are going to be much more serious now. We're all going to have to put in a lot more effort."

Ron groaned. As Hermione collected her final book and entered the queue to make her purchases, Ron whispered to Harry, "You can always count on Hermione to create extra work for herself."

"And for us," Harry noted as he nodded his head towards the extra defensive theory books she had persuaded, or rather ordered, them to buy.

After Harry and Ron had paid for their books, they proceeded enthusiastically to Quality Quidditch Supplies with Hermione following behind somewhat reluctantly. Upon approaching the store, they saw the usual assortment of first and second year students standing outside and drooling over the latest broomsticks in the window display. This year, it appeared that there were several new brooms. Harry and Ron walked inside to get a closer look.

As it turned out, there were four new brooms, each part of the new Nimbus Professional line. Each broom was specifically designed for a different Quidditch position. There was one designed for Chasers, one for Beaters, one for Keepers, and one for Seekers. Each broom had specialized features for its rider, such as superior pivoting ability and handless directional control for Chasers, a stability control system for Beaters, and improved speed and maneuvering capability for Keepers. The Seeker's broom was advertised to have a top speed that went slightly faster than the Firebolt, but Harry was still unsure whether the handling would be comparable. They were not cheap by any means of the imagination, but the pricing was somewhat reasonable if you compared them with the cost of the Firebolt.

Although he certainly was intrigued by the new broomsticks, Harry decided that he would still rather use his Firebolt, as it had never performed anything but perfectly for him. And although Ron probably would have liked a fancier broomstick, he was still proud of the new broom he had received from his parents for becoming a prefect. So, Hermione was able to drag them out of the store without too much argument. When they were halfway to the stationery shop next door, Harry thought of something and stopped in his place.

"You two go ahead," he said, "I'll meet up with you at Fred and George's store. I just remembered something that I wanted to buy."

Ten minutes later, Harry walked out of Quality Quidditch Supplies feeling somewhat nervous and yet pleased with what he had done. Buying the broom had been impulsive and maybe a bit rash but it felt good to him. And with his inheritance from Sirius, it wasn't as if he couldn't afford it. In fact, he was certain that the cost of the Nimbus Chaser would hardly even make a dent in the mounds of gold in Sirius's vault. Besides, he had decided to only use the money selflessly, and this was certainly a selfless act, wasn't it?

The more he thought about it, the more he was pleased with the gift. It was the right thing to do and it was what she really wanted. She deserved it. He only had to make sure that no one ever found out that the broom was from him. He imagined how Ron would react to a gift of that magnitude. He would probably see it as charity and so would the rest of the Weasleys. But it wasn't really charity, Harry reasoned, it was for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. It would help them win this year. Besides he had given Fred and George his Tri-Wizard winnings, it was only fair to do at least this for Ginny, right?

Still, his stomach lurched at the thought of anyone finding out that he had bought the broom for Ginny. But he had taken precautions. Moody and Remus had waited outside while he made his purchase, and Tonks had been too wrapped up in finding a broom for herself to notice exactly what he had been doing at the time. He had purchased some orange Chudley Cannons socks for Dobby also, just so he had some excuse for returning to the store. And he'd ordered the broom to be sent anonymously to Hogwarts directly on the morning of September 2nd. Only the shopkeeper knew who had really bought the broom and he had made her swear not to tell anyone. If all went as planned, Ginny would have her broom in a week's time and no one would be any the wiser.

Harry felt very satisfied as he followed Remus through the crowded winding street towards Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. He couldn't help grinning at the thought of what Ginny's reaction might be when the post owls arrived with her broom.

They turned a corner and as Harry looked ahead, he was pleasantly surprised to see Hermione talking to Oliver Wood, not far from Fred and George's shop. Ron was nowhere in sight, so Harry assumed that he was in the store. Hermione must have just run into Oliver. Certainly Ron would have wanted to see him too.

Harry quickened his pace and was about to call out a greeting when he noticed that Hermione's face had changed, she was no longer smiling. He watched as the color drained from her face and she stopped speaking altogether. Her eyes widened, she looked fearful for some reason. Harry was staring so intently at her face that it took him several moments before he took in the whole scene. His heart leapt into his throat as he realized that Oliver, looking very grim now, had pulled out his wand and had it pointed at Hermione's heart. With his wand still aimed discreetly, Oliver pushed her ahead of him a few feet and turned into an alley, vanishing from sight.

Without thought or reason, Harry whipped out his wand and ran as fast as he could towards the alleyway. Forgetting completely about his Disillusioned state, he pushed his way through the crowds, knocking over half a dozen witches and wizards, who looked around in confusion. Every second felt like an eternity as he sprinted the few dozen yards between them. With wand drawn and his heart pumping, he was just about to turn the corner when something pulled him back. A hand clamped over his mouth and another arm wrapped around his chest, binding his arms and pulling him backward until they were standing flat against the wall, mere inches away from the alley.

He struggled against his captor in vain and listened helplessly to the distant sounds coming from the alley. Someone was speaking in low, even tones that sent a chill to his heart. The voice was strange and cold, but there was no doubt that it was Wood.

"Where is he?" Wood demanded.

There was no answer from Hermione.

"We know who you are and your connection to him. And we know where your parents live, Mudblood. Unless you want something unfortunate to happen to them, I suggest you tell me Potter's whereabouts and the name of his Secret Keep-."

"STUPEFY!" screamed two voices at once.

Harry looked up in time to see Moody and Tonks running into the alley with wands drawn as he was pulled backwards. His captor let go of his mouth to open a door behind them and Harry screamed. The busy crowd in the street, which had seemed to ignore the scene completely when his friend's life was in danger, suddenly turned as one and stared at Harry for a fraction of a second. Almost instantaneously, Harry was thrust bodily into the room behind him and the door to the street was slammed shut. He skidded a few feet across the smooth wooden surface and knocked over a display of fireworks.

"Colloportus!"

Harry looked around to the source of the voice and saw Remus looking cautiously out of the window. Remus turned and stared down at Harry, who was still lying in the position where he had fallen. Remus had been his captor, Harry realized with dawning comprehension. And the man outside threatening Hermione, that couldn't have been Wood. Oliver Wood would never call anyone a Mudblood. This didn't make any sense. It had to be a Death Eater in disguise, unless...unless Wood was under the Imperius curse.

"Harry, be quiet and stay low," Remus whispered. "Go to the back room, all of you."

Harry stood up slowly and turned around. Fred, George, Ron, and Mrs. Weasley were all staring at Lupin in shock behind a glass counter filled with Canary Creams, Ton Tongue Toffees, Truth Truffles, and Skiving Snackboxes.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her voice wavering with fear.

Harry answered breathlessly as he pointed towards the alleyway, "Her-Hermione-"

Ron rushed to his side. "What's happened to Hermione?" he insisted, his eyes widening with alarm.

"Hermione will be fine," Remus stressed. "Moody and Tonks are handling the situation. You have to get out of here. Go, now! Molly, take them to headquarters."

"But what about Ginny? She's still at the Leaky Cauldron," Mrs. Weasley said in a panicked voice.

"I'll get Ginny. Trust me, I'll bring her back, but you have to leave now. What are you waiting for? GO!"

"All right, we're going. Come on, boys," Mrs. Weasley said tearfully.

"No! Hermione-," Ron objected, struggling against his mother's hold on his wrist.

"Portus," Mrs. Weasley said as she aimed her wand at an item Harry recognized as the Headless Hat that the twins had developed the year before. The hat glowed blue for a moment. "Fred, George, take Harry." Harry felt Fred and George hook their arms firmly around his as he looked helplessly between Remus and the area outside where he knew Hermione must be. "I've got Ron," Mrs. Weasley continued. "Now, be ready on the count of three. One…two…three…"

Harry felt the jerk behind his navel as his focus blurred. The smooth wooden floor suddenly disappeared beneath his feet. The room swirled around him and all he could see was a whirlwind of violently brilliant colors. Then the colors vanished completely, to be replaced by cold, empty blackness, before Harry felt solid ground beneath him once again.