Privet Drive

Dear Iris,

I am away at school. Lucky for you so is Dudley. I wanted to say I was sorry for the commotion the last time I saw you. I didn't get a chance to say so before I had to leave. Please don't tell my Aunt and Uncle I've written. My school has strict rules about the post. I have found a way around this; I have a friend of the family who'll forward letters for me. So, if maybe, you ever wanted to write to me, I have enclosed her address.

Harry didn't want to lie, but since the postman couldn't deliver to Hogwarts the letter was mostly true.

I hope you like your new house; apart from the Dursley's Privet Drive is OK.

Harry

Harry rewrote his letter on to his new stationary. "I guess my questions for Sirius will wait until you get back," he said to Hedwig. He didn't know what he was going to ask anyway, Dear Sirius, how do you act when faced with people who tried to kill you? He would settle with telling him about Quidditch, Ron's return and throw in a few lines about running into the Malfoy's.

Returning from the owlery Harry passed Prof. McGonagall 's office. "Yes, he's doing very well," he heard McGonagall say.

"I'd say better than expected." The other voice was Professor Sprout's. Harry couldn't help but listen into the conversation. He was sure they were talking about Ron. Prof. Sprout sounded disappointed that he was doing well. Why would that be a bad thing? Harry wondered. Maybe he could find out in a few days time in the Herbology lesson.

"It's a pity the holidays are over so soon," Hermione said wistfully, getting up from the Gryffindor table.

Ron raised his eyebrows, "I thought you lived for school?"

Hermione pointed in the direction of a group of Slytherin's. "I meant a holiday from them."

Harry looked over his shoulder; Draco Malfoy was talking with Pansy Parkinson. "Don't worry, I'm back now," Draco said to Pansy, loud enough for them all to hear.

"Oh, were you gone?" Hermione asked as he passed.

Not giving Malfoy a chance to answer, Ron pulled Hermione toward the entrance hall. "Mustn't be late for Herbology."

The greenhouse was empty except for Professor Sprout and Neville. "Just a few leaves Neville, you will hardly notice." Prof. Sprout was holding a pair of pruning clippers.

"No, I'm fine." Neville answered.

"We never expected this much, dear."

"I'm fine, Prof. McGonagall even said I was doing good in class. I . . . I've been taking good care of it, that's all." Neville was holding his plant, which had grown considerably, and had a few buds on some of the small branches.

"Okay dear, but if it continues at this rate I will trim a bit next week." Professor Sprout said, looking worried.

Harry hardly had any time to worry about Neville over the next week. Harry and Ron were at Quidditch practice three nights a week and the homework for 5^th years was unbelievable. "Have you managed to turn your cauldron in to a pot-bellied pig yet?" Ron asked, as he took off his muddy team robes.

"Nope." Harry said, flatly.

"Neville did it, but when he turned it back it continued to squeal."

Harry laughed. "Could you imagine Neville in potions class with an oinking pot?"

As the two trudged their way back, Ron asked, "Do you want to meet with Hermione in the library, to catch up on some homework?"

"Might as well, seems like double the amount of homework than last year." Harry held the arm of his glasses with his pinky finger out, "You must prepare your selves for the O.W.L.S." Harry said in his best McGonagall voice. Ron laughed, so did the twins behind them.

"If I knew how long our Mum was going to be on our backs, I'd have studied harder." Fred said.

"Yeah," said George, "A few more O.W.L.S would have made for a lighter summer."

They found Hermione in the library behind a stack of books. "Hello," they said in hushed voices.

"You looked frazzled Herm, what's up?" asked Ron.

"I've been looking in 12 books for information, when I know that if I just had the Mastering Higher Wizarding Levels book I could have most of what I need, and don't call me Herm."

"I've heard of that book," Ron said, "If you know that book cold you will get 60% of the O.W.L.S. Is it checked out?"

Hermione gave him an exasperated look. "Checked out? Are you joking? I've been on a waiting list for it for three weeks."

"Why don't we check to see if you're getting closer?" Ron ran his finger down the waiting list sheets, looking for the book, skimming over names. "Here it is, only two more ahead of you. See, there's Emily R, I think she's that blond girl in Hufflepuff and Albert M." Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know who he is."

Harry was reading a book about Boggarts. He felt the table tremble. "Did you feel that?" "What?" asked Ron, but no sooner had he said it than the rumbling sound got louder. Hermione had a tight grip on Ron's arm. "The bookcase!"

One of the large columns was tottering. Students were running from beneath it, where books were falling out from the high shelves. Madam Pince, pulling a wand from her robes, jumped on her desk, "Impedimenta!" The librarian called. The large bookcase stopped wobbling and Harry watched her with his mouth agape.

"She's pretty spry, for an old bird." Ron said, craning his neck to see. All the books that had been on the shelves were now in a heap on the floor. Hermione still had a grip on Ron's arm with one hand while her other was over her mouth. A few of the books started to fall away from the pile.

"There's someone under there!" Yelled a first year, hiding under a nearby table. Madam Pince waved her wand and the books returned to the shelves. A small girl was on the floor; she looked shaken, but not seriously hurt. After she was taken to the hospital wing, the library closed early.

"Did you see who that was? Do you think she was climbing up for a book to make it off balance?" Hermione asked, piling her books on a table in the common room.

"I saw the emblem on her robes, she's a Ravenclaw. She looked awfully small to disturb such a big column." Harry said, adding his book to the pile.

"What's that one?" Hermione asked.

"It's a book about creatures. Sirius asked me to look something up for him."

"When did you hear from him? Is he OK?"

"Yeah, he's good." Harry looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was listening. Ginny was showing Neville a charm she learned that day. "Next weekend, when we go to Hogsmeade, he said I could meet him."

"Can we go, too? It should be a great weekend, Hogsmeade, Sirius, and the Halloween feast too." Ron said excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess," Harry wanted to say no to Ron, so that he and Sirius could talk more. "I'll write to him and ask when Hedwig gets back."

"Gets back from where?" Ron asked with a smirk, "Have you been writing love letters?" Harry's face started to go pink.

Hermione shot Ron a look. "Did you use your new stationary?"

"I wrote to her a few days ago." Harry said, not sounding a bit embarrassed, surprising Ron. "It will take a few days longer for muggle post than the time it takes for me to get an owl, if she writes back to me at all."

"She will." Hermione said confidently. Her eyes batted at Harry and she made a dramatic hand gesture. "Ooo, the boy next door in her new neighborhood writes to her from far away at, where is that again?"

"St. Brutus' for Hopeless Criminal Boys." Harry said comically.

Hermione placed the back of her hand on her forehead. "Ooo, he's a rebel, too. The kind of boy Mum hopes you stay away from. That alone makes you positively irresistible." Hermione said with her hands over her heart as she comically swooned and fell in to Ron's arms. Ron held her in his arms and fanned her face with a book. Hermione burst into a fit of giggles. Harry was laughing at them, even though he could feel his face getting redder.

~~*~~

The hallways were abuzz. It was Halloween and many of the students would be going off to Hogsmeade. "I'm a bit surprised Dumbledore let you go." Hermione said to Harry.

"Why shouldn't he? Things have been quiet." Ron said.

"Maybe he's letting me go because he knows I'll see Sirius."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "You're going to be there all day, we don't meet with Sirius till 3:00."

Harry knew she had a point, but he would rather come up with stupid explanations with Ron than admit she was right. Besides, he hadn't seen Sirius since the start of the term.

"Can I have a word with you, Harry?" Harry quickly turned to see Professor Paetulus.

"I'll meet you at breakfast." He said to Ron and Hermione. Ron's face had dropped.

When Harry walked off with Prof. Paetulus he could hear Ron's voice, "Happy now? They're not going to let him go."

"I can't go, right?" Harry asked sullenly, to her.

"You can go. I don't have to tell you that you will be safer here." She said as she looked at him solemnly. But we can't stop living, can we?" Harry shook his head. He didn't really know what to say. He hated that he felt selfish for wanting to go and have a good time with his friends.

"I have something for you. Prof. Dumbledore and I thought this would be a good idea." She pinned a tiny gold pin to the crest on his robes. It looked like the golden snitches that were on the hair ribbons the girls were wearing to remember Cedric.

"The pin has an apparitions charm on it. I have one here for Prof. Dumbledore. He won't have to know were you are to apparate to you. Sirius also has one, I know you can't apparate yet, but if Sirius needed to he could get to you, but only while you are off the school grounds." She smiled at Harry. "It makes me feel a little better about you going past the boundaries of the school."

"Does it have a panic button on it?" Harry asked, only half sarcastically.

"I'll get right to work on that for you." She answered. Harry laughed. "Is it 3:00 you'll be meeting Sirius?" she asked, checking her watch. Harry looked surprised for a moment. He kept forgetting that she, too, was in touch with Sirius.

"Yes, at 3:00," he said. Harry ran as soon as politely possible to catch up with his friends.

"Can you go?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I can go." Harry told them about the pin.

"Too bad you can't use it here. You could apparate right to him. I can't wait to learn that, no more floo powder." Ron said, brushing off imaginary ashes from his shirt. Hermione had thought that the hardest part of apparating was to end up in the right place. So, with having the pin to direct you it shouldn't be too hard to do. Harry made a mental note to ask Sirius about that being true.

They finished breakfast quickly to head out to Hogsmeade. They met up with Neville and Dean at the entrance hall waiting for Filch who was checking off names at the door.

"All right, Neville?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't get much sleep last night." He looked like a wreck.

"You haven't had a good nights sleep in about a week." Harry said, looking worried, remembering the conversation between Neville and Prof. Sprout. "You sure you're alright?"

Neville blushed, "I'm fine," he said, unconvincingly.

There was a chill in the air, but the sun was bright. There were many students in Hogsmeade this weekend. Harry, Ron and Hermione hung out with Neville and Dean for the better part of the morning. After strolling along Hogsmeade and checking out several shops Harry checked Hermione' s watch. It was almost 2:00.

"I'm going back to Honeydukes," Harry said to them, "I forgot that Sir-er Snuffles wanted me to pick something up for him. I'll meet you there at 3:00." Harry said, hoping this didn't sound like he was ditching them. He hoped to get some time to talk to Sirius alone.

Sirius woke with a start. It took him a moment to realize where he was. He quickly rose to his feet. His left hand slid up to feel for the gold pin on the lapel on his robes, while the other reached for his wand. His eyes were fixed on the door, as if he was trying to look straight through it.

Harry walked to the edge of town, to a small inn, with a box of sweets in hand.

"Snuffles?" Harry said hesitantly knocking softly on door number 6. Harry waited, listening hard to hear for Sirius. It hadn't occurred to him that Sirius might not be there before 3:00. He knocked again, harder this time, the door opened and Harry stepped back, his heart racing. Sirius had answered the door with his wand raised.

"Harry, it's you!" Sirius exhaled as if he'd been holding his breath for a while. "Sorry about the wand, I wasn't expecting you yet." Pocketing the wand, he motioned for Harry to come in.

"I could come back, if you're busy?" Sirius had walked over to the sink, splashing water on his face.

"Just resting my eyes." Sirius said. "I've stayed with friends for a while now. A good houseguest doesn't crash on the sofa in the middle of the afternoon. It's a real treat to have a room all to myself. Helps to have a clear head to think."

"And rest your eyes?" Harry added and Sirius grinned. Harry explained that Ron and Hermione would be there at 3:00. Nodding at Harry, Sirius wasted no time.

"Harry, I got the owl with the information you looked up for me on Boggarts. I was hoping to be wrong, but I don't think it was a coincidence that a Boggart happened to come along to the wardrobe Ron was in. Although Boggarts are not uncommon to Hogwarts, it isn't in their nature to hide out in close proximity with another one." Harry explained that lots of furniture had been moved to that room.

"Maybe so," Sirius said, "All the same Harry, there are a few things I want you to watch for. It seems like there have been a lot of close calls on random students." Sirius said with a concerned look.

"I always thought close calls were as common as owls at Hogwarts." Harry said, thinking of his last four years.

Sirius grinned, "Trouble does find you, Harry. But, if someone's trying to make it look like Albus doesn't have things in hand, I think those close calls might not be so random after all. Find out the name of the girl who was hurt in the library, and Harry, - keep an eye on Longbottom." Harry had an astonished look. Sirius was again staring near the door listening. "Your friends are here." Sirius said, and, as if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Sirius laughed at the awed look on Harry's face as he let them in.

"Oh it's quite nice here." Hermione said, as she and Ron entered the room where Sirius was staying.

"Thanks, Carmella was kind enough to get me signed in here for the night. Which reminds me . . ." Sirius wrote a quick thank you and gave it to Harry. "Would you please deliver that for me with the chocolates Harry?"

"Carmella?" Harry hesitated.

"Professor Paetulus" Sirius answered. "Dumbledore has always kept me up to date on you Harry," Sirius paused, "But Carmella is so much more detailed, I feel like I'm there with you when I read her letters."

Sirius noticed that Hermione was smiling. "It's a girl thing," she said.

"It's true," Ron said, grabbing hold of Hermione' s shoulder, "You should see our girlfriend's schoolwork." Harry and Sirius both grinned.

Ron's face was suddenly as red as his hair. "You know what I meant!" Ron said indignantly. Hermione smiled and looked down at Ron's hand. Ron took his hand from her shoulder so quickly, it made Harry laugh out loud.

Sirius winked at Hermione then said, "It's OK Ron, you can tell us the truth."

Ron pouted a while until the conversation came around to his getting on the Quidditch team.

During the Halloween feast Harry couldn't resist, with a big smile he picked up his goblet "To friends" he said. Ron's face went pink.

Dean and Neville also raised their goblets. "To friends." Ron looked at Harry with teeth clenched.

"Gotten any mail lately?" Ron instantly wished he hadn't said it when he saw Harry's face drop.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed up to discuss the day.

"Lucius tried to get rid of Dumbledore before, he couldn't think it would work now." Hermione said.

"So why would someone want it to look like Dumbledore hasn't got things in hand, if they aren't trying to get rid of him?" Ron asked. After much discussion they finally dragged their feet up the steps to the dorm rooms.

Both Dean and Neville were asleep. Neville was tossing and turning violently. Harry looked to Ron, "Should we wake him up?" Ron and Harry watched for a moment and Neville went still. Quietly lying there, no movement, no sounds. Harry leaned over him.

"Is he breathing?" Ron whispered.

"Yes, in fact very calmly." Ron rubbed his head, "Do you think he's OK?"

"He seems OK now. We should get him to talk to Dumbledore in the morning." Harry climbed onto bed, leaving the red velvet curtains open to watch. He was thinking about Neville's parents and how no one seemed to know that they were even alive.

"You know Ron, - we should be better friends to Neville." Ron nodded watching Neville's still body give a quick twitch.

"Harry, well - I know you were just winding me up before. You'd think having Fred and George as brothers I wouldn't be such a prat, and well - I'm sure you'll probably get a letter really soon."

Harry took his gaze off Neville to see Ron's nervous smile. "Yeah, sure . . ." He started saying, then Harry jumped; Neville had shot upright in his bed. For a brief second they thought he had awoken. Neville's eyes widened as if Voldemort himself was standing in front of him, and he let out a blood-curdling scream.

"What's going on?" Dean yelled jumping behind his bed.

"Get Dumbledore!" Ron yelled to Dean. Neville continued to scream, cringing, with horror in his eyes.

"Maybe if we could wake him up he'll be OK." but nothing helped. Harry was trying to hold Neville from falling off the bed, for what seemed like forever, when Dumbledore came in.

With a wave of Dumbledore's wand Neville went limp in Harry's arms. Hermione came in behind Dean to see the horror-struck expressions on Ron and Harry's faces, and Neville's limp body on the bed. Hermione made a high shrieking sound from behind her hands.

"What is all the commotion in here?" Professor McGonagall had made her way through the crowd of students on the stairs. As she entered the room Neville was being placed on a stretcher. "Oh my," she said gravely, "Shall I get Professor Sprout?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, please Minerva."

Harry, Ron, Dean and Hermione waited outside the hospital door. Professor Sprout came rushing in with a small bag of supplies in one hand and Neville's plant in the other. The plant was no longer the sprout Neville had started with, but a large plant with full blooms. "Whoa, did you see that?" Ron said in amazement.

"That can't be the same plant." Hermione insisted. After forty minutes of waiting Prof. McGonagall came out to tell them that Madam Pomfrey and Prof. Sprout would be a while and it would be best for them to go back to the dorm and get some sleep.

Dean looked back to them as they climbed the marble staircase, "Neville and me hang out a lot, but he doesn't have many friends. I know it meant a lot to him today when we toasted our friendship." Harry gave Dean a weak smile as a pang of guilt swept over him. He had only done it to tease Ron.

As they got back in to bed Ron stared at Neville's empty bed. "He's always been asleep before us, it's strange seeing his bed empty."

Harry nodded pointing to Ron's bed, "It wasn't that long ago your bed was empty." Harry closed the curtains on his bed, visions of the last few hours replaying in his head. The thought of Neville limp in his arms reminded him eerily of Cedric.

At breakfast Prof. McGonagall told them they could go to see Neville when they finished eating. Harry spotted Prof. Paetulus in the entrance hall. "Be right back," he said to Ron.

"Hi Professor, this is for you." Harry handed her the box of chocolate. "It's from Sirius."

"Thank you," She smiled at him. "Harry, if you ever want to talk, come and see me." Harry returned the smile. She was growing on him, and he could see why Sirius and Hagrid talked him in to giving her a second chance.

"Okay, bye," Harry said, as he dashed off to meet Ron and Hermione.

In the hospital wing Neville was asleep. There, on the bedside table, was his plant. The once leafy, full, flowering plant was now a sad looking stem with a few leaves and buds.

Harry thought it was ironic to see the trimmed off branches and flowers in the bin. Were they his discarded memories? Professor Dumbledore watched Harry glancing in to the bin.

"He wasn't supposed to remember so much so fast. The plant was to grow as Neville nurtured it. If he found it was getting too much to handle he could make small adjustments." Dumbledore explained.

"Like cutting off a few branches?" Ron asked.

"No, Neville would have to deal with what he had, but he could slow down the process if he wished." Dumbledore said. Harry could see the wheels turning in Dean's head. Dumbledore hadn't told anyone that Neville had memories from the past. Most assumed the plant was to help him to be less forgetful. Neville had improved in classes by leaps and bounds.

Professor Sprout had come back in from Madam Pomfrey' s office. She told Albus that there was in fact some growth plant potion missing from her cupboard.

"I have noticed supplies dwindling, but being Halloween and all, I assumed Hagrid had been growing pumpkins again."