Harry Potter and the Forbidden Passage

Ever since the first day that they met, Harry had thought of Malfoy as a bully, a spoiled rich brat, a thorn in his side, and a general annoyance. But for some time now, Harry had stopped thinking of him as a danger. Oh, Draco certainly liked to sound tough, but his threats were mostly empty. If one thing had become glaringly clear to Harry in the last five years, it was that Draco Malfoy was a coward. He fought in words, not deeds. And if Crabbe and Goyle weren't always hovering around him, Harry very much doubted that Draco would have even dared to say half of the things he had over the years.

So, it was somewhat of a shock to learn that Draco had enough gall to do what he had, not to mention the fact that he'd even put so much as a toe into the Forbidden Forest. He and Crabbe and Goyle had, without a doubt, been practicing Unforgiveable Curses on small defenseless creatures. They had not only broken school rules, but wizarding law. Though he wouldn't put it past them to kill for their own amusement, he couldn't help but think that there was a greater purpose. And Harry had the distinct feeling that if they were allowed to continue, the victims wouldn't be limited to small animals.

To Harry's complete and utter frustration, there was nothing he could do about it. And it was driving him mad. Every time he saw Draco, he wanted to curse him into oblivion. But all he could do was watch as Malfoy smirked and laughed and pretended that he was anything but a monstrous little cretin. His voice, his face, everything about Draco could now send Harry on edge almost instantaneously. And if he had to endure one more Potions lesson with Draco, he knew he would crack.

Unfortunately, it was his glass flask that cracked instead. The glass shattered into tiny bits and cut into his palm when Harry clenched it a bit too tightly as Draco walked past him.

Draco sat on the far side of the room and didn't look at all intent on his potion. He was talking to Theodore Nott and Harry could only guess what they were discussing. When Malfoy looked up at him, Harry glared in response. Malfoy smiled, or rather smirked wickedly in response. Harry averted his eyes but couldn't hide his disgust.

"I think he knows," he said in a hushed tone to Hermione. He carefully slid the bits of finely chopped althea root into his cauldron. He stirred the solution three times counter-clockwise and it turned from a muddy brown color to a more yellowish muddy brown color.

"Who knows what?" she asked, dipping a flask into her own potion.

"Malfoy. He knows that we know."

"Why do you say that?"

"He's smirking."

"He's always smirking," Hermione said dismissively.

"Not like this, for no reason. Remind me again why we can't just turn him in?" he asked, grinding out the words between clenched teeth.

"Shh," she whispered. "Snape's coming around." She vanished the broken glass away quickly as Snape's back was turned.

"He's three tables away. He can't hear us," Harry said dismissively. "What if we just told McGonagall-"

"Harry , you know very well that we can't accuse Draco Malfoy without any evidence."

"But I saw him!"

"You saw him walking towards the forest. You didn't even see him in the forest and you certainly didn't see him using any curses."

"But he was walking to that very spot the night before. I'm telling you, Hermione, he did it."

"I know, Harry. I know. And I feel as angry as you do about it. It was a horrible thing he did and it has to stop, but there's nothing we can do without evidence. If we told any of the teachers, what could they do without proof? They couldn't expel him. All we'd do is create trouble for ourselves by revealing that we went into the forest alone."

"There's got to be something we can do," he said, pounding his fist on the table. "Maybe I could use Legilimency against him. Do you think Ramsey would teach it to me if I asked him?"

"No, you're there to learn Occlumency, not Legilimency. Besides, it wouldn't do you any good anyways. What do you think Dumbledore or McGonagall would say if you told them you were using Legilimency against another student?"

Although he had to admit that she had a point, sometimes it did seem that Hermione took the fun out of everything.

He dropped his voice to a whisper. "We could use Polyjuice again."

"No," Hermione whispered flatly. "We're not doing that again. Besides, what use would it be? You still couldn't accuse him without revealing that you used an illegal potion."

Harry scowled and pounded the venomous tentacula seeds in his mortar with a bit more force. He imagined what he'd like to do to Malfoy as he mashed the bright green seeds into a fine powder.

"Listen, Harry, Hagrid said he would keep an eye out for them. All we can do for now is hope that he catches them in time. He hasn't found anything else in over a week, so maybe they've stopped."

He threw Hermione a look that clearly showed his skepticism but he didn't have time to respond before Snape approached the table in front of them. Hermione had already corked her potion in a flask. It was golden yellow, almost the precise shade of butterbeer, just as the instructions had specified. He looked at his own potion which was still brown and murky. He had spent so much time thinking about Malfoy that he had completely neglected his potion.

He quickly measured the venomous tentacula seed powder and poured it into his cauldron. Unfortunately, he hadn't had time to do anything about the cut in his hand and a drop of his blood fell into his Unctuous Unction. The thick liquid turned from brown to a pale shade of red, actually a bubblegum pink, and started bubbling.

Hermione looked at his cauldron and gasped. "What did you do to it?"

He held out his hand to show her the cut in his palm.

"Blood?" Hermione asked weakly. "Oh, Harry, you'll never be able to fix it in time. Blood changes the magical properties of the potion."

He was about to ask her what it did exactly when they were interrupted. Why did it always seem that Snape arrived at the absolute worst of times? Sometimes it seemed as though he was drawn to Harry's problems like a moth to a flame.

Snape hovered in front of them, his eyes narrowing sharply on the mixture in Harry's cauldron.

"Mr. Potter, would you care to explain why your potion is…pink?" Snape said this last word with the utmost revulsion. His voice had carried over the entire classroom. Malfoy snickered in his corner.

With some hesitation, Harry explained the drop of blood that had fallen from the cut in his hand. Surely, Snape couldn't blame him for an injury.

He was wrong.

"If you think that I'm going to send you to Madam Pomfrey now, Potter, you would be mistaken. It was your carelessness that caused your injury and the damage to your potion. Everyone in this class should know by now that open wounds represent a potential risk in potion making and should be healed before approaching an open cauldron. Ten points from Gryffindor for your lack of common sense." The corners of Snape's mouth curled wickedly.

"But," Snape continued, "your potion may not be a total loss, provided that you have brewed it properly, which I sincerely doubt." Snape turned to the class. "Does anyone know what happens when blood is added to Gregory's Unctuous Unction?"

Hermione, who would have normally raised her hand before a teacher had even finished asking the question, remained oddly silent. Harry had a deep sense of foreboding about what was to come.

"No one?" Snape asked, his eyebrows raised as he scanned the classroom. "Not one of my advanced students can answer this simple question?"

Sanpe turned to Hermione and towered over her. "Surely, you, Miss Granger, can answer. Or perhaps you would prefer to demonstrate the effects."

At this, Hermione looked up in horror at Snape. The smug look on Snape's face told Harry that he should prepare himself for the worst.

Hermione looked apologetically at him before answering with obvious reluctance.

"When blood is added, the effects of the potion are enhanced. Under normal conditions, the drinker would feel friendship for the giver of the potion. But if blood is added, instead the drinker will feel…romantic love for the blood's donor. Anyone who drank Harry's potion would fall temporarily in love with him."

"Your answer is incomplete, Miss Granger. The drinker will feel those emotions for twenty-four hours, but after that time they will feel nothing but absolute hatred. Since Gregory's Unctuous Unction is normally served to one's enemies, this isn't usually an issue. However, few know about that aspect of the potion and many use it in a misguided attempt to attract the opposite sex. As an ego boost one might say. But you hardly need that, do you, Potter?"

He had been sitting quietly and slowly simmering as Snape once again tried to humiliate him. But this was altogether too much.

"You think I intentionally cut myself to make some stupid love potion?!" he yelled angrily.

"Temper, Potter," Snape said icily. On the opposite side of the classroom, Malfoy looked positively gleeful. "Another ten points from Gryffindor. And if you speak to me again in that tone, I will add a detention. Bottle up your potion and turn it in immediately if you don't want a zero for today's work."

Harry would have rather vanished this particular potion and taken the zero for the day, but he couldn't afford to fail this class. If he didn't achieve a satisfactory grade in Potions this year, Snape would not allow him to continue. That was the deal Snape had made with McGonagall. And if he did not continue Potions, he could not become an Auror, though he was seriously starting to wonder if that career goal was worth the constant abuse from Snape.

After the disaster in Potions, Harry felt, if possible, even angrier with Draco. He couldn't help but think that if Draco had not averted his concentration, he would never have been injured and he would have had the time to complete his potion properly. The blame was perhaps unjustified but he took a sort of vindictive pleasure in it. And the anger provoked him into pressing Hermione once again on the Draco issue in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class that afternoon.

"I can't believe you just want to sit back and do nothing about it, Hermione. Aren't you the one that always wants to help other creatures?"

"Ratting on Draco won't do us any good, Harry. We have no proof that he was the one behind the killings."

"But-"

"No. I know you saw them, Harry, but you didn't see them using the curse. And you didn't even see them at the site."

Ron, who thoroughly supported Harry position on the issue, spoke up. "Hermione, he saw them walking to the same part of the forest the night before. Come on, you know he did it."

"Yes, I do, Ron. I believe Harry. How many times do I have to tell you both that? But the only thing we can do is outsmart Malfoy and be prepared for whatever he sends our way. And to do that, we need to start having D.A. meetings again."

Harry groaned inwardly. Hermione had been making a regular habit in the past week of bringing up the D.A. every chance she had.

"Hermione, it's not that I don't want to continue the D.A.-"

"Good," she said, "because I've already arranged the first meeting. It's scheduled for the night before the first Hogsmeade outing."

"What? That's a Friday, we have Quidditch practice on Fridays!"

"You're the captain, aren't you? Cancel it."

"Hermione, I can't just cancel practices anytime I feel like it."

"Er, hate to contradict you, mate," Ron interjected, "but, yeah, you can."

Harry glared at him.

"Besides," Hermione continued "most of your team is on the D.A. anyways."

"But-"

"Not right now, class is about to start," she interrupted.

Harry glared furiously at her, but Hermione shrewdly avoided his gaze. Instead she focused on the front of the classroom where Professor Ramsey was setting up a number of brightly colored potions in pairs on a long table. This was the last thing Harry wanted to see after his disastrous Potions lesson that morning.

But it turned into a very interesting lesson. They had spent several weeks working on defensive spells but Ramsey had decided to break up their regular coursework with a lesson on dangerous potions. He showed them a number of potions in pairs that looked exactly alike, except that one of the potions would have no effect and the other was deadly or deceptive. But Ramsey taught them various methods to detect what type of potion each bottle contained. For most of the potions, a slight difference in smell or consistency was the key. Thinking back to the previous year, Harry was somewhat disappointed that he hadn't had a class like this before Umbridge had tried to serve him Veritaserum.

Grudgingly, Harry had to admit to a building respect for Ramsey. His practical lessons in Defense Against the Dark Arts were certainly never boring and suited to the new threasts that surrounded them as the result of Voldemort's return to power.

But respect and trust were two very different things. And trust was what had been preventing him from making more progress in his Occlumency lessons. Unlike Snape, however, Ramsey eventually understood this. And in his last Occlumency lesson, Ramsey offered something to Harry that Snape never had and never would have offered - the chance to feel and see the power of true Occlumency..

The first time Harry used the Legilimens curse on Ramsey, the spell had been completely ineffectual due to his inexperience and anxiety. He was completely bewildered and unprepared when Ramsey had first suggested it. He had never used the spell before. His only experience with Legilimency was the series of images he'd seen from Snape's mind the previous year, but that was the result of a rebounded curse without any intention on Harry's part.

The second time, he was careful to gather his concentration before proceeding. He knew he had done it correctly when he felt the power of the spell flow through his fingertips and out through his wand.

But no images came to him. Instead, as the spell should have hit Ramsey, he had felt forcefully repelled. Although nothing had physically touched him, the feeling had caused him to step back. It was almost as though an invisible barrier had suddenly appeared in front of him. And with it, a white light had filled his mind, so bright that it had distracted and disoriented him, despite the fact that it wasn't real.

While Harry had been so affected that he wouldn't have been able to continue without taking a moment to clear his head, the spell had not seemed to affect Ramsey in the slightest. Harry had never imagined that Occlumency could be quite so powerful. But Ramsey had been quick to warn him against using that style of Occlumency except in extreme circumstances.

"Occlumency can do more than simply block your mind," Ramsey had explained. "Once you master it, you will have the capability to deceive your enemies by projecting false images. And in most cases, this will be the far more advantageous solution. If the scene you convey is natural enough, the Legilimens will be fooled into thinking that they have succeeded."

When they tried once more, instead of the white light Harry saw a detailed image of the Hogwarts grounds. He could see the wind blowing through the trees and the water rippling on the lake. Students were laughing and strolling around the grounds. Some sat by the lake and watched as the giant squid's tentacles broke the water's surface.

It was an odd feeling to be looking at Ramsey and to see this image at the same time. He had concentrated so hard that the knuckles wrapped around his wand had turned white. And with some frustration, Harry had noticed that it was so effortless for Ramsey that he could continue his Occlumency without even looking in Harry's direction..

But when Ramsey finally had looked up and their eyes met,.the image of Hogwarts immediately vanished. Another image flashed in its place before almost immediately being replaced by the bright white light once more.

As soon as Harry had lowered his wand, the world had snapped back into focus. It was quite obvious that Ramsey had dropped his guard down and had released an image that had not been intended. But the image had flashed by so quickly that he couldn't be quite sure of what he had seen. All that he could remember was a flash of red. Not crimson or scarlet or blood red, but more of a dark copper color and sort of…shimmery.

He had hoped that if he had seen this red thing one more time, he might have been able to identify it. But Ramsey had not allowed that chance again. His thoughts thereafter had been completely impenetrable, and not once in the remainder of that session did Ramsey's gaze ever meet Harry's again

And still, now, even in class, Ramsey avoided looking at Harry directly. Ramsey didn't ignore him, but it reminded Harry all too much of Dumbledore the previous year. Ramsey would look to the side or over his head but he would never make eye contact. It was a bit unnerving and certainly didn't help with the trust issue.

Nonetheless, he had to admit that Ramsey was a decent Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. In the first few weeks of classes, they had already learned scores of counterjinxes that Harry had never even heard of before. Ramsey's experiences abroad seemed to play a large factor in this. Magiventry was a highly dangerous line of work, as Hermione repeatedly told them, and Ramsey had clearly encountered more than his fair share of dark magic.

The Gryffindor students had already progressed beyond basic defense spells and were starting to study more complex and lesser known curses, like the slashing curse that Dolohov had used against Hermione. They had all learned so much in fact that Harry began to wonder what his role in the D.A. could possibly be anymore. What was there left to teach them?

But when the first D.A. meeting arrived a week later, this was no longer an issue. A much bigger question weighed on his mind - how was he going to teach them all?

They had arrived ten minutes early to the Room of Requirement to prepare it for the meeting. But instead of finding an empty room, they found well over a hundred students from various houses gathered in the seventh floor corridor. At the entrance to the Room of Requirement, Ernie MacMillan was desperately trying but failing to bring some order to the chaos.

Harry gaped at the scene in front of him. This was supposed to be a D.A. meeting not a D.A. convention! Who were all of these people and what were they doing here? He had a good idea who would know the answer.

"What's going on here?" he hissed, turning on Hermione. "I can't teach all of these people!"

Hermione withered slightly under his gaze and blanched as she looked around at the crowds in front of them.

"I don't know, Harry," she said uneasily. "Honestly! I swear I didn't invite them…well, maybe one or two…but I didn't invite all of these people. I used the coins to call the meeting. Only the D.A. members would have known the time - they must have invited the others."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Ron suggested weakly. "Flitwick's office is down the hall. Maybe he's scheduled…something?"

Harry crossed his arms and responded with a look of unveiled skepticism.

As if on cue, Susan Bones approached them with a small group of Hufflepuffs.

"Hey, Harry, I brought a few friends tonight. I hope you don't mind. A few extra won't matter, right?"

No, of course not. Why should he mind? What was another five or ten among a hundred?

There was no earthly way he could possibly teach all of these people. The D.A. had worked so well the previous year because he had been able to work with everyone individually. To teach this many people he'd either have to hold D.A. sessions every evening or use a Time-Turner, neither of which sounded like a very appealing proposition. His head began to throb with a dull ache which threatened to grow exponentially as the evening progressed.

"It's not that bad, Harry," Hermione said. "Just wait a minute. I think I might have an idea."

She pushed her way through the huddled masses until she was completely engulfed by them. A moment later the crowds started thinning as everyone filed into the Room of Requirement.

Tonight, the room was organized into neat rows of chairs and benches, enough to seat everyone. It would have almost looked like some sort of business meeting if not for the fact that the chairs were all different sizes and shapes. The room must have pulled them from all over the castle. There were simple wooden classroom chairs, benches from the Great Hall, and even a comfy red armchair that Harry recognized from the Gryffindor common room. There was also a rigid high-backed green leather chair that he could only presume was from the Slytherin common room. He wondered if anyone had been sitting in these chairs before they had magically disappeared.

Hermione was standing at the front of the room on a small dais.

"Everyone, please, take a seat," she called out. Once everyone had been seated and the room had quieted, she spoke again. "If you're here for the Defense Association meeting, raise your hand."

In unison, everyone in the room raised their hands with the exception of Harry and a small Ravenclaw boy, whose hand quickly shot up after a glance at his friends.

"As you may have noticed," Hermione continued, "we have a larger turnout tonight than we had planned. It's wonderful that you're all interested in practicing defense and we'll make sure that everyone is able to participate."

Harry cursed under his breath and glared furiously at Hermione. She caught his eye and acknowledged him with an almost imperceptible nod.

"However," she continued, "Harry will not be able to teach all of you."

The cries of protest that followed drowned out Harry's sigh of relief. Some even walked out of the room. Hermione tried to call everyone's attention back, but they were all speaking at once which made it rather difficult.

Ron suddenly stood up and yelled, "Shut it and listen up!"

The room fell silent once more. Hermione smiled appreciatively at Ron (who flushed in response) and continued.

"Now, I know you were all probably hoping to learn from Harry directly, but realistically that's not possible. However, I think I may have an alternative that will work. Since we'll have to divide up into separate sections, perhaps Harry can occasionally attend different meetings."

She paused, looking to Harry for his approval. He nodded his consent.

"Who's going to teach us then?" a Ravenclaw boy called out.

"Ah…well, last year's D.A. members have enough experience that they should be able to teach you what they've learned. Now, we still have to determine which members of your houses would be willing to train you. So, if you could all return to your common rooms now, we'll have a meeting of last year's D.A. members and sort all of that out. Then they will update you when we're through here."

This seemed to appease everyone because the Room of Requirement soon emptied out, leaving behind the previous year's D.A. members and a lot of empty chairs. When the room sensed that the chairs were no longer needed, the extras vanished and presumably returned to their former locations. They arranged the rest of the chairs into a circle for the meeting.

"All right then," Hermione said once they had settled. "I suppose our first order of business should be to determine who will tutor each house. Ron and I can handle Gryffindor." She picked up a clipboard that had magically appeared on a table and began writing their names.

Ron sputtered in a small sign of protest at being volunteered, but Hermione stared crossly at him and he silenced.

"And don't forget us," Ginny said reproachfully, indicating Neville, who was sitting next to her, and herself.

"Count me in for Hufflepuff," said Ernie.

"And me," chimed in Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott.

It was at this point that Harry realized someone was missing.

"Where's Justin?" he asked the Hufflepuffs. Justin Finch-Fletchley was curiously absent from the group that evening. And as Harry thought about it, it occurred to him that he couldn't remember ever seeing Justin yet this term.

"Haven't you heard?" said Ernie, looking surprised. "He's not coming back this year."

"His parents wouldn't let him return," explained Susan. "They didn't really want him to come back after his second year, after being Petrified and all. But with You-Know-Who back, they've decided that the wizarding world isn't safe enough."

"He's not the only one," piped in Anthony Goldstein. "There are a few Muggleborn Ravenclaws who haven't returned this year either."

"And one of my dormmates in Gryffindor," added Colin Creevey. "Mum didn't want us to return either," he said, indicating himself and his brother, Dennis. "But we talked her into it eventually. Telling her we were taking extra defense classes certainly helped."

In hindsight, Harry supposed he should have thought of this as a possibility. Naturally, parents would be worried about the safety of their children. But the idea of being pulled out of Hogwarts and the wizarding world for affectionate concern was unthinkable. If he was forced to leave the wizarding world at this point, he had no idea what he would do. He couldn't imagine being content sitting in a Muggle school somewhere after being trained as a wizard. Not to mention returning to life with the Dursleys year round.

They all sat around looking glum for a moment before Hermione encouraged them to get back to the task at hand.

"We're getting a bit sidetracked here. Ah…let's see," she said, looking at her clipboard, "we still need someone for Ravenclaw."

"Michael and I can train Ravenclaw," Cho said brightly, looking over at Michael Corner, who was sitting beside her.

The fond look she gave Michael made Harry slightly nauseous. He wasn't interested in dating Cho anymore, but it still felt miserable knowing that she had been able to move on so quickly. Wondering if Ginny felt similarly since Michael had been her last boyfriend, he glanced over at her only to find that she was looking at him. And she had apparently been thinking the same thing because she threw a glance to Cho and rolled her eyes. He felt a bit better after that.

"I can help," Luna added in a misty voice.

Hermione jotted down their names. "Well, now that that's been decided, maybe we should…" She looked up and frowned, staring at a corner of the room where a tall boy was emerging from the shadows.

"Hold on a minute, you've forgotten Slytherin," said the boy, who Harry now recognized as Blaise Zabini.

Ron let in a sharp intake of breath. "What are you doing here?" he asked sharply.

"Excuse me? This is a defense group isn't it? Why do you think I'm here then? I want to be able to defend myself."

"But Slytherins are the reason we need the D.A. to begin with," said Ron, his face turning red with anger. "You're probably just here to spy on us. Aren't you roommates with Malfoy and his gang?"

Blaise glared back at him. "I have better things to do with my time than to spy on you. And, yes, I share a dormitory with Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott. But that doesn't mean I'm one of them, and in case you didn't know, I'm a half-blood."

Ignoring Ron, Blaise looked to Hermione and glanced briefly at Harry. "Listen," he said in a hushed voice, "I know that Malfoy is organizing some kind of group to practice the Dark Arts and I want to be prepared if any of them ever turn on me. So I'd like to join your defense group, and there are others in Slytherin that would join too if you'll take us."

"Of course we will," Hermione said instantly.

Harry and Ron both stared at her.

"What? So you're just going to believe him then?" Ron asked, outraged.

"Would you excuse us for a moment, please?" Hermione asked Blaise sweetly. She yanked Ron firmly by the sleeve of his robes. She dragged him out of the room and called back, "Harry, you too."

Once they were out of earshot, Hermione began a blistering attack.

"Are you a complete idiot, Ron? Can't you see that Blaise could help us catch Malfoy? He knows what he's up to. He overhears things in their dormitory. He's the answer to our problems. If he can tell us when Malfoy's next meeting is, we'll have him."

Ron and Harry looked at each other.

"She's got a point," Harry acknowledged.

"Fine, Zabini's in," Ron said in a pained voice. "But why do we have to take the other Slytherins?"

"The Sorting Hat said that all four houses have to work together to succeed," Hermione explained. "And that has to start somewhere, so it might as well start with the D.A. Besides they have just as much of a right to join as anyone else. We're doing this to help people, and it shouldn't matter whether they're Slytherins or not. The more people we can bring to our side, the better, and especially if they're in Slytherin."

Ron sighed deeply. "All right," he conceded.

And so it was done. The D.A. would now accept Slytherins and Blaise Zabini began practicing with the original D.A. members that very evening. They decided to spend their first session practicing everything they had learned the prior year, which allowed Harry to assess how much Blaise already knew. By the end of the evening, he felt fairly certain that Blaise would be able to catch up with the rest after only a few more sessions. And somehow, by the end of the evening when everyone began to leave, Harry actually found himself arranging to give Blaise a private lesson on the Patronus charm.

Soon the room was nearly empty except for a few of the Gryffindors and a lot of debris. Hermione (who felt sorry for the house-elves that would have to clean up after them) insisted that they all should at least straighten the room up a bit before returning to Gryffindor Tower.

As Harry began working, he was distracted by the sound of laughter. He looked up to see Ginny and Dean both doubled over, laughing so hard they were fit to burst. At first Harry thought they might have still been practicing and had hexed each other with the Tickling Curse. But as their laughter subsided, he realized that it was genuine.

"Can you believe those two?" Ron said, coming to stand beside him. "They've been like that all night. You'd think they'd take the D.A. a bit more seriously. But that's Ginny for you."

Harry thought this was a bit hypocritical of Ron considering that he had seemed to be having a good deal of fun throwing hexes at Michael Corner and yelling in triumph whenever he landed one squarely. Hermione had had to remind him several times that he was supposed to be practicing with her, and not Michael.

"Do you think she's really going out with him?" Ron asked glumly, still looking over at the corner where Ginny and Dean were now talking animatedly.

"Looks like it," Harry replied.

"Sometimes I think she's just having a go at me. I mean, Dean's never mentioned Ginny to us, has he?"

Come to think of it, Harry couldn't remember Dean ever saying anything about Ginny as a friend or otherwise. But then again, Ron had made his feelings about his sister's relationship with Michael Corner perfectly clear to all of his roommates the previous year. He wouldn't blame Dean in the slightest if he chose not to mention any attraction to Ginny in front of Ron.

"Do you think he's asked her to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Dunno. Probably," Harry replied.

Ron sneered in disgust but then his mouth turned into a mischievous and unsettling smile as he looked at Harry.

"What?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"Why don't you ask her?" Ron said.

"Me? What?"

"Ask her to come to Hogsmeade with us. Then we can find out for sure."

"Why me? She's your sister."

"Because she'll just think I'm interfering if I ask," Ron said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Well, aren't you?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but she doesn't have to know that. Come on, if you ask her, I know she'll come."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't be so sure. Remember what Hermione said - she's not interested in me anymore."

"She'll come," said Ron confidently. "Trust me."

"What do you have against Dean, anyways?"

"Nothing. He's a good friend and all. I just don't want him dating my sister. They just don't belong together. Ginny belongs with someone…else."

Harry rolled his eyes. He doubted anyone would be good enough for Ginny in Ron's opinion.

"Look," Ron said, glancing pointedly to the corner where Dean and Ginny had been, "Dean's talking to Seamus now, so she's free. Quick, ask her before he comes back."

"Fine," said Harry, exasperated.

Reluctantly, he walked over to Ginny and was already cursing himself for getting involved. He should have just said no. Why hadn't he? He thought about turning back and telling Ron that he'd changed his mind. But when he looked back, Ron was smiling and nodding encouragingly at him and making a slight shooing movement with his hand. He knew he would likely regret it later but he approached Ginny anyways.

"Ginny, could I…er…talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she said distractedly as she collected some of the books that Neville had knocked over when he had been hit by Parvati's stunning curse.

"I just wanted you to know that you could…er…join us on the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow…if you want that is…I mean if you don't already have plans."

Her smile faded and her eyes narrowed.

"Did Ron ask you to say that?" she questioned.

"Er…No," Harry lied unconvincingly.

"Yes, he did," she said flatly, rolling her eyes.

"Well, all right, he did," Harry confessed, "but you're still welcome to come with us. I mean, I certainly wouldn't mind."

Ginny sighed. "Listen, that's nice of you, Harry, but you can tell my nosy brother that I've made other arrangements."

"Well, if you change your mind-"

"Yes, maybe then," she interrupted impatiently. Her tone was clipped and her face rigid. But then she softened and looked up at him, the corners of her lips turning up into a small apologetic smile. "Thank you, Harry. It was kind of you to ask all the same."

"Er…right…no problem." An uncomfortable silence fell between them. After a moment, he said, "I think I'm going to kill Ron."

"Well, that makes two of us," Ginny said brightly. "Here, help me with these books. When we're done with this, maybe Hermione will finally let us leave."

Happy that the awkward moment was over, Harry gladly helped Ginny to tidy up the books. When they had finished, they didn't wait for Hermione's approval and left while she was busy ordering Ron, Dean, and Seamus to do some other task.

"So what do you think Ron's going to do when he finds out?" Ginny asked as they walked back to Gryffindor Tower.

"What do you mean? Finds out what?"

"About Viktor Krum of course! I mean Hermione swears that her meeting with him tomorrow in Hogsmeade isn't a date, but I don't think she's being very realistic about it. It may not be a date to her, but that doesn't mean it isn't to him. And if Ron sees them…"

Harry stopped on the spot and Ginny's words faded as his mind began churning. He had forgotten completely about Hermione's meeting with Krum. He had sworn to Hermione that he would hold a Quidditch practice and keep Ron away from Hogsmeade that day. But it was too late now, they had already made plans. He couldn't just disappoint the whole Quidditch team and tell them they had to stay behind for a practice at the last minute. He would just have to find some other way to keep Ron from seeing Krum, but Hogsmeade wasn't exactly a large town and they were bound to run into each other at some point. Hermione hadn't exactly seemed concerned about it, but he knew there would be trouble if Ron found out.

He explained his dilemma to Ginny, hoping that she might have some answer.

She looked thoughtful before she answered. "If you really want my advice, I wouldn't hide Ron from them. I would absolutely make sure that he sees them. This might be just the thing Ron needs to give him a push in the right direction."

"Either that or it will end their friendship."

"No, no," Ginny said dismissively. "They're too close for that. And besides, Hermione may not act like it, but deep down I think she really wants to make Ron a bit jealous. Otherwise she wouldn't encourage Krum so much. And she and Ron really thrive on conflict. If you ask me, this will only bring them closer and I think we'll all be a bit happier when that happens."

Harry wasn't so sure that allowing Ron to see Hermione and Krum together was a good idea, but he supposed that Ginny knew a bit more about these things than he did. He certainly was never going to understand how a girl's mind works. And if Hermione and Ron could finally sort it out with each other, that just might be worth the nearly inescapable fighting that was surely going to ensue.

"Password?" said the Fat Lady when they had reached her portrait.

"Felix Felicis!" Ginny said to the Fat Lady's portrait. The portrait swung open.

He watched as she entered ahead of him, her bright red hair shimmered in the candle light before she ducked into the shadow of the portrait hole.

Bright red…copper color…shimmering. An overwhelming sense of déjà vu suddenly swept over him. His mind was reeling. The image that Ramsey had not meant for him to see…the flash of shimmering coppery red - it was red hair. But why was Ramsey thinking about red hair?

Ramsey had sent the flash of red when he had looked into Harry's eyes…his green eyes…his mother's eyes.

The pieces of the puzzle were all coming together so rapidly that the feeling was almost overwhelming. But he had to be sure and there was one source he knew of that might have the answer.

The only problem was that half of Gryffindor was blocking him from it. Since he and Ginny had arrived first, all of the Gryffindors who had been turned away at the meeting were awaiting their return. So they found themselves besieged as soon as they stepped through the portrait hole.

Pulling Ginny aside, Harry whispered hurriedly to her. "I have to go. There's something I have to do. Can you deal with them without me?" he asked, nodding towards the crowd of students.

"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked with concern.

"No, but I have to go. I'll tell you about it later," he said as he turned and rushed up the stairs to his dormitory.

Once he'd reached his room, he threw open the lid of his trunk. Pushing aside the heaps of clothing and rubbish that littered the top half, he finally found what he was looking for - his mother's seventh year diary. If what Harry suspected was correct, then the diary would likely confirm it.

Quickly, he flipped to the last entry he'd read and scanned the page. Instantly he found the passage he was looking for.

…I received a letter from Edgar this morning. The first word I've heard from him in three months. It appears that he's been traveling constantly since leaving Hogwarts and is living in India at the moment. Strange to compare last year's Head Boy with this year's…

Last year's Head Boy? Hadn't Lupin mentioned in his letter that Ramsey had been Head Boy? Could Ramsey be this Edgar in his mother's diary?

Scrounging among the books and papers on his bedside table, he found Lupin's letter peaking out beneath an old copy of The Daily Prophet. He found the portion about Ramsey halfway down the page.

…I knew Edgar Ramsey from my Hogwarts days. He was in Ravenclaw, a year ahead of me. Very bright student, among the top of his class - Head Boy in fact as I recall…

So Ramsey was this Edgar character. There was no doubt in his mind now that the red flash he had seen definitely had something to do with his mother. But why was Ramsey thinking about her? Obviously they had known each other. Were they friends? If so, his mother had not sounded particularly happy about hearing from him.

He felt like an idiot for not noticing the links between the diary and Lupin's letter before. But then again, the last time he'd read the diary he hadn't even met Professor Ramsey yet. And he'd been interrupted with the news of Umbridge's trial, which had seemed quite a bit more interesting at the time.

He went back to the diary, reading for any further mention of Ramsey. The next few entries were mostly about classes, homework, or teachers, nothing too exciting. A mention of Voldemort here and there caught his attention briefly. The atmosphere of fear and terror in the wizarding world at that time could be sensed through her writings and Harry began to wonder if his world would now fall into that state. Perhaps the absence of some of the Muggleborns at Hogwarts was only the first sign of it.

But amidst these more serious entries, Harry found no mention further mention of Ramsey, other than one sentence that said that she'd received another letter from him, this time arriving from Thailand. With some disappointment, he also saw no further mention of his father until he reached Halloween of that year.

October 31st,

Oh, Merlin, what have I done? This is a disaster. Why did I say it? Why? Why? I didn't mean to say it, the word just came tumbling out. Why did I say yes? And now I'm caught, I have to go through with it. I have to go on a date with James Potter. I hope I haven't made a mistake.

What brought me to this moment? I always vowed to myself that I would never go out with anyone like Potter. No bullying toerags with egos large enough to accommodate the entire school. So why then did I accept Potter this time?

Was it his looks? I mean he has improved a bit in that department, I'll admit, but I sincerely hope I'm not quite that shallow. Or maybe it was because he's not really a bullying toerag anymore and his ego has deflated a bit. He doesn't seem nearly as cocky now as he did last year and he actually seems to be taking some responsibility now. I thought he'd use the Head Boy position to his own selfish advantage, but he's actually been very good about it. He's always early for rounds and he seems to take all of our duties very seriously. He even cut his Hogsmeade visit short today to help with the decorations for the Halloween Feast. It was so embarrassing to arrive back late and find him charming the last pumpkin into place. But I don't think I would have accepted him just because he's acting like a decent human being. It has to be something more.

Maybe it was because he stopped asking me out everyday. I thought he had finally given up. I guess I was wrong. It was so nice for the last few weeks, being free of that. It wasn't that he was ignoring me completely, we still had rounds together every evening, but the tension between us relaxed a great deal. I suppose it gave me the chance to get to know the real James Potter. And to be perfectly truthful, I like the real James Potter. He's funny and charming and too clever by half, but really very…sweet. Oh, Merlin, I've just talked myself into this date, haven't I?

Well, it's only one outing in Hogsmeade, how bad can it be? Very bad actually, but I'll hope for the best. He did ask very sweetly during rounds tonight. Had he asked in the common room in front of everyone, I'm sure my answer would have been somewhat different. I only pray that he holds back from telling Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew immediately. But after spending more than six years with that lot, I think I would be safe in assuming that they're already well aware and that everyone in school will know by breakfast tomorrow. I'll just have to grin and bare it.

From what Harry could judge by the next entries, the date did go very well and there were many more dates that followed. By December of that year, they seemed to have been spending so much time together in fact that Harry wondered how Sirius and Remus had felt when James must obviously have stopped spending as much time with them. James even visited Lily's home during the Christmas break. It occurred to him vaguely that this was probably the first time his father had met his Aunt Petunia and he wondered if Aunt Petunia was as cold to James then as she was to Harry now.

The entries became more sparse as the year progressed and almost every one of them was about the progress in his parent's relationship. But as content as Harry was now to discover the true nature of his parent's courtship, he found that he didn't really want to know all of the details (especially the bits about snogging). But then he finally found what he was looking for - another mention of Ramsey.

March 2nd,

I have come to a strange conclusion. I think, no, I know I am in love with James. If someone had told me a year ago that I would say those words, I would have cursed them on the spot. But it's true, I love him. Suddenly, I find that I can't imagine my life without him somewhere in it. I feel intense mind numbing joy whenever he so much as looks at me and an aching longing when he isn't near. Sometimes I even have the urge to go up to the boys dormitory in the middle of the night just to see what he looks like when he's sleeping.

I never thought I would love again after Edgar. Silly crushes perhaps, like my former attraction to Remus, but not love. I felt so betrayed by Edgar - betrayed for believing that he was more than he proved to be. I couldn't believe that the man that I thought I loved could do such a thing. I know that in the same situation, James would not have disappointed me the way that Edgar had.

And now I have to wonder if I ever truly loved Edgar. As a friend, yes, certainly I loved him, but as a romantic love? And if that was love, then what is this? What I feel right now for James is so much more than anything I've ever known.

James Potter, what have you done to me? You've turned me into some silly school girl prattling on about love. I am NOT that kind of girl.

Unfortunately, that was the final entry in the diary. But it proved what Harry had suspected about the relationship between his mother and Ramsey - namely that there actually was a relationship. This explained so much. It explained the enmity between Ramsey and his father and yet the relative kindness that Ramsey showed him compared to Snape, who also hated his father. It explained the flash of red that Ramsey saw when he looked into his eyes and Ramsey's attempts to avoid any further eye contact. But what it didn't explain was what horrible thing Ramsey had done that had disappointed Lily to such an extent that it had ended their relationship.

Lupin had also mentioned something that Ramsey had done, something that he said Dumbledore wouldn't have known about. Could they have been talking about the same thing? There was only one way to find out. He'd have to get in touch with Lupin, tomorrow if possible.

He thought about using the fire in the common room to contact him, but he could still hear noise from there. From the sounds of it, it seemed that most of Gryffindor was still down there. Looking at his watch, he noted that it was well after midnight. But just as he began to wonder why none of his dormmates had come upstairs yet, the door burst open. Ron, whose face was as red as his hair, marched through the doorway.

"KRUM! She's seeing Krum tomorrow and you didn't tell me!"

Harry sighed, rolled over and closed the red velvet drapes surrounding his bed to muffle Ron's shouting. At least he didn't have to worry anymore about Ron finding out. That was clearly well taken care of. Now he would just have to keep Ron far enough away from Hermione to give her some peace. But now that Ron knew, that was going to be close to impossible. Maybe Ginny was right, maybe he should just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Tomorrow promised to be a very interesting day indeed.