Harry Potter and His New Standards

Chapter 13 - The Inheirpikus Charm, Lions, Eagles, & What Dwells In the Forest

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.

*()%()*

Professor Binns droned on about the giants' wars among themselves taking place in the 1800s, and how it brought their species to near-extinction. As his class had realized the joys of rebellion (talking while he was lecturing them) they had been given a seating arrangement. But this didn't stop them from communicating in one way or another.

Harry and Ron sat in opposite corners of the room, Ron in the front. Ginny had explained to them a useful little spell usually used by teenage witches. With 2 taps of a wand and the incantation 'Impaircep Convoyus' you could send a piece of parchment across a room, directly to someone else, in an inhuman form of Apparation.

"I still can't believe you snogged Cho! Ha! So Cho Chang just let you kiss her in all her glory? Really I do wonder what the world is coming to..." Ron had scribbled.

"What are you on about?" Harry had written back, "I'm not hideous!!"

"Maybe you think so.... Only joking, Harry. What's the reason you aren't going out with her, again? You weren't READY? Harry - that's sad. It really is. I mean, bloody hell, you have LOVED Cho for ages and then when you finally get the chance you AREN'T READY? You make me laugh... HA!"

"Shut it, Ron."

"Did I say anything?"

Harry read this written statement and realized he did have a point... Ron's mouth hadn't moved throughout this entire class. He glanced up from the sheet of parchment with their messages stacked on top of each other in the two different cursive scrawls. Ron was turned around in his seat and grinning at Harry. Harry shook his head and Ron shrugged, turning back around and resting his head on his hand, waiting for Harry's reply. He dipped his quill into his inkbottle shortly and began to write back. This class was ideal for 'note-passing' as Professor Binns hardly took notice of anything going on in his class. In fact, he didn't know all of their names - and had already had them for 5 years previous. Taking notes was just a waste of time, anymore. To everyone but Hermione, that is.

"No - I guess not. I just have my reasons for not choosing Cho, that's all." After he sent this message across the room he regretted it. Now Ron would be questioning him. A few moments later the parchment reappeared on Harry's desk.

"Why's that?"

"Dunno. I don't like commitment."

"Player."

"No way, Ron!!"

"Do you like my sister?"

"No."

The note was appearing and reappearing at top speed now. It was odd having a little squabble in this fashion. Ron's note reappeared a few seconds later. Harry, who had been staring intently at the blackboard, looked down at it and read his rejoinder.

"You're blushing, Harry. I bet girls just love the reddish quality of your face when that happens... you look like a deformed tomato with specs!"

"I'm not blushing!" Harry scratched.

"You are too..."

"How would you know?"

He watched Ron rub the back of his head, ruffling his hair, before daubing his quill back into his own inkbottle and beginning to write once more. "We're in opposite corners of a classroom, Harry, not opposite corners of the country."

"I can understand that. But I don't like your sister," he paused in his writing and glanced around to be sure no one was reading the note over his shoulder. Then again, he was in the back corner of the classroom, and next to him Parvati was dozing. He concluded his response with "like that."

Ron seemed to think for a second before he started to mark down his reply. The parchment, turned over now as they had to start composing their note on the other side for there was no more room on the other side. "Then why exactly were you blushing?"

Harry thought that that reply didn't need thinking about. He sighed and dipped his quill into his ink, writing down a reply. "It's a complexion thing. I don't like the subject of girls - if in the years you've known me you haven't taken notice. Besides - a guy accusing his best friend that he likes his sister is pretty embarrassing, but should be MORE embarrassing for you, as you are wrong." He tapped the message, whispered the incantation, and sent it to Ron.

"I guess that's true. Bell countdown... 5 - 4 -" A second after Harry read the message the bell rang and class was dismissed. He folded up the parchment and stuck it in his pocket - intent on disposing of it somewhere where no one would find it. Ron skirted down his row and made his way next to Harry. He grinned at him, but seemed to have decided to not bug Harry about Cho or Ginny anymore. Harry was extremely relieved but a bit puzzled - often times Ron didn't like dropping a subject when it constrained Harry to turning a fair shade of scarlet. He was so good at showing his Gryffindor colors. Holly and Hermione caught up with them a little bit later.

"Happy End of Wednesday Classes to both of you!" Holly said cheerfully. "Now I've just got to finish up homework, eat supper, and go to Quidditch practice for three hours..."

"I need to talk to Professor Kelldome about my essay..." Hermione said. "I need suggestions on books to look for references in. I really don't think 15 and a half inches is enough for an important composition!" she squeaked.

Ron, who was looking intently at her, smiled warmly and said, "Right. I'd come to the library with you when I'm done with my homework, if you want me to."

"Yeah, all right then," Hermione replied. Harry found that very strange - why in the world would Ron want to go to the library with Hermione? He pushed it out of his mind.

*()%()*

45 minutes later Harry and Holly were left in the common room, as Hermione and Ron had left for the library. Harry's wonder at why the heck Ron suddenly wanted to be in the library with Hermione had returned briefly. "Why in the world do you think that Ron chose to go to the library with Herm'?" he asked.

Holly, who had been staring absentmindedly at the flames filling the fireplace didn't answer at first. Her head turned towards him and her eyes flickered up to meet his. Before a second had passed she was looking back at the fire. "Hell if I know," she mumbled. She sounded relatively distant, like she'd rather not talk about it.

They sat in an awkward silence for a while. Naturally Holly broke the silence by singing the song that had probably been stuck in her head for the past 9 hours. "It don't do me any good - It's just a waste of time - What use is it to you - What's on my mind? It ain't comin' out - We're not going anywhere - So why can't I just tell you that I care?..." she sang very quietly. Harry could only just make out the words. He had the egging feeling to say 'You really like Ron, don't you?' but she didn't seem in the mood. Why he stopped himself from asking her, he wasn't sure, but she would have surely asked Harry why a thought such as that was on his mind.

It was just in her reaction to Harry's question that got him thinking for a second. He sensed that she knew something that he didn't, or maybe, with her strange instincts, she saw something that Harry, at the time, didn't see. He was just on the bridge of asking her what was wrong when a soft tapping noise distracted him. His gaze moved over to the window where the sky was rapidly darkening. Now he could hear whooshing of beating wings. He was looking at a large owl... and it was vivid electric blue. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, Holly staring at it, mouth open. "Why the heck is that owl...blue?" she asked quietly. Harry shrugged, got up, and decided to let it inside. (A/N: for some reason I always pictured the Gryffindor common room as, well, windowless... but... it's not.)

The owl swooped in and landed on the arm on the side of sofa that Holly was sitting on. She stared at it, and the owl stared unblinkingly back. It had a small parcel and envelope attatched to its leg, which it was now sticking out in her direction. Holly, still staring at the owl, untied the strings bounding the package to the blue owl without looking at the small box very long.

She tore her eyes off the bizarre owl, as others began to notice it and come forward to admire its color. She opened the letter and took a minute to read it silently then grabbed the box and began opening it. "Can I see the letter?" he asked her. Holly held it out and he took it, and began to read. It was a letter to Holly written in elegant cursive.

Dearest Holly,

Apologies for not being in touch with you since your return home, I have only just spoken with your father a week ago. I saw it fit to send you this as a belated birthday gift.

This pendant has been passed down from my mother, to myself. I gave it to your mother when she was a year younger than yourself, but after she passed away it was returned to me. Now that you have contact with your true family for the first time since you were only a baby, I see it time to pass this charm to you. Keep it close to you, and keep it safe. It was rose-colored when I wore it, clear as crystal when in your mother's possession, and now it is yours. If I remember correctly it was aquamarine when your great-grandmother owned it.

I would love to see you over the Christmas holidays, but I daresay you will be staying at Hogwarts. Your father, Sirus, has to get a lot of plans finalized over that week - and I'm not sure if he's sent you an owl yet to tell you that. I myself don't understand why the ministry sees it time to get him finalized into work over such a time. I would love to get an owl from you in reply. My best to yourself and Harry.

With love, your Grandmother Serene

Holly was now holding in her hands a thin gold chain. The latch of it was dangling off the end of her fingernails. She put one hand down and held the necklace in the palm of the other, looking at it intently. The people who had been goggling at the owl had dispersed, and now only she and Harry could see what she was holding.

Carefully attatched to the chain was a shining opal. Shaped in a perfect circle, flat on one side and round on the other. Upon closer examination Harry saw that it was incased in a gold backing and frame. He couldn't tell whether it was the light playing tricks on him or the natural nature of the gem, but the gray colored designs seemed to be spinning as though wispy clouds caught in a swirling wind.

"That's sure a bland color," Holly said, her nose wrinkling at it. "I wonder what else I'm gonna get that used to be someone else's..." She held out her hand for the letter Harry was still holding. He handed it to her and she began skimming over it once more. She read a few whispered words to herself then closed her hand over the pewter-gray jewel and squeezed it until her knuckles turned white. "Ouch!" she said, releasing the pendant abruptly.

"What?" Harry asked. Holly rubbed the inside of her hand.

"It burned me... well it felt like it burned me..." She opened up her hand and showed Harry - there was nothing there. Harry grabbed the golden chain of the necklace, which had fallen onto the sofa cushion. He held it up and watched the charm turn back and forth as the necklace twisted itself up.

"Will you look at that," he said in slight shock. He carefully touched the gem, and it was body-heat warm. It didn't burn him but the metal seemed to be tapping at his finger in a steady, even beat. The remarkable thing that he had first noticed, though, was that the opal had turned a deep-plum shade of amethyst.

"Ooo... pretty," Holly said shortly, taking the necklace from him. She squeezed the charm again and waited, but it evidently didn't 'burn' her this time so she opened her hand and began to undo the clasp of the chain. "I was never too fond of purple, though..."

"At least it's not brown or... black maybe or... green, huh?" Harry asked.

"Yeah... no offense to you or anything," Holly replied shortly as she managed to get the necklace secured on her neck.

"Wha- what do you mean?" Harry questioned, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Your eyes."

"Oh... oh yeah... and my hair," he said. He looked up and could only just see the tips of a few black strands. Holly smirked.

"You show the colors of true evil... mwa... muahaha!" she exclaimed with a mockingly shortened sinister cackle. Harry let out a sigh that was sufficient for a small laugh. Holly turned to look back at the large blue bird on her left.

"Why are you blue?" she asked it pointlessly, shaking her head slightly. The owl only watched her blankly. There was a brief silence. "That will definitely be one of my questions for my... Grandmother Serene," she concluded, glancing at the letter once more. She folded it up and slid it back into the envelope she had torn open rather hastily.

"When are you going to write her?" Harry asked. He now saw that the parcel had contained a flatter box, a velvety-looking black one. She opened it, revealing that it was a necklace case (he could see the imprint of the pendent and the indent where the chain it was on would rest) and snapped it shut over the envelope.

"Tonight," she replied. "You can go up to the Owlery, I'll find you there later," she added, turning to the owl. It seemed to understand her as it spread its wings and flew over to the window that Harry opened. It glided out when he opened it once more.

The arrival of the owl for her certainly seemed to take her mind off of whatever had been bothering her. She ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitories and dropped off her letter and neckwear case. When she came back down she had changed out of her school robes and into faded jeans and a turtleneck. Harry vaguely recalled hearing her say that she hated turtlenecks, but overlooked it. "Why in the world would you want jeans that looked like you had rubbed your hands over the top your thighs while you were wearing them for about 3 hours straight?" Harry asked.

"Because," she snapped, "they're stylish." There was a pause in her speech, which left a short silence in between them. Harry half expected her to start singing again... she did that a lot. "Duh," she added - breaking the quiet.

"Huh?" Holly waved her hand and shook her head as though to say 'never mind'. Harry sighed and shrugged to himself. He heard a creak as the portrait hole opened and in clambered Ron and Hermione, chatting happily. Holly was still standing on the bottom step that would lead up to the girls' dormitories, and Harry was sitting in an armchair by the fire.

As Ron and Hermione stepped nearer to them Hermione announced, "I just can't believe that I didn't check that book out before! I just overlooked it! It's full of vital information that would better me in Shaveire studies..."

"You overlooked a book, Hermione?" Harry said in disbelief, his eyebrows disappearing under his hair and eyes wide.

"Yes!" she answered in a high-pitched and faintly embarrassed tone.

"My God how did you sleep at night?" came Holly's question, voice thick with sarcasm. Hermione and Ron noticed her there now, and she slowly lowered herself off the bottom step to walk nearer the area where Ron, Hermione, and Harry were.

"Ooo...!" exclaimed Hermione, overlooking Holly's somewhat rude comment, "What's that Holly?" She was looking at her necklace that Holly had pulled over the neck-fabric of her white turtleneck.

"A necklace - but I wouldn't swear on it," she replied, fingering the opal. Hermione raised a you-could-just-answer-my-question-in-the-normal-fashion eyebrow and Holly told her about the letter, the owl, and the pendant.

"Hmm... that's interesting..." Hermione observed after Harry had told her about when he had touched it the pendant had been warm and he could feel a th-thumping underneath his finger. "I bet that's an Inheirpikus Charm," she stated.

"An in-whoo-pissy what?" Ron asked, his eyes screwed up in misunderstanding.

"In-air-pii-koos," she pronounced slowly, nodding her head with each syllable. "An Inheirpikus Charm."

"What's that?" Harry asked curiously. It sounded, at the time, like some form of magic that Professor Flitwick would be able to explain to him.

"It's an opal or some other kind of gem - a diamond maybe - that is passed down from heiress to heiress, as it is most boys don't like pretty necklaces..." Hermione grinned.

"Well - what's the purpose of it?" asked Holly. Her eyes shined with a mild excitement - Holly loved to feel special. Hermione looked thoughtful.

"It's different for each Charm, I suppose. Some of them pass down luck, or grace maybe... others prick your senses. All that is for certain is that when the Charm knows it's owned by a new person with the blood of that individual who it belonged to before - it changes to that persons color aura.... Although I'd say you're personality makes you more of an emerald than an amethyst - a very dark amethyst- but we'll overlook that." Harry and Holly glanced at each other and both grinned shortly. He could see she was internally grateful that her color aura wasn't emerald, after all. "It's probably safe to say that some rather vain women have enchanted it so that it makes the possessor irresistible." Hermione heaved a sigh. "Then again they probably wouldn't pass it on if that was the purpose of it, and would end up being buried with it around their neck because it was 'Grandma's favorite necklace', wouldn't you guess it." Harry and Ron snorted, obviously thinking that a 90-year-old woman would never catch their eye.

"Or maybe it's just a sweet lookin' necklace that happens to be passed down a few generations," Holly mumbled. Harry raised his eyebrows at her. She cleared her throat and continued. "It belonged to my mom and was going to end up in my hands anyway. Who cares how magical it is if I don't know what good it does." She shrugged.

"Well, can you tell us anything about your mum that was... special?" Hermione asked a bit lamely. Holly looked up at her with a mixture between a hurt and soft expression, her eyes round and a bit sad. Hermione dropped the question, and there was an uncomfortable silence.

A savage thought flicked through Harry's mind. She may have never spent an hour with her mum but at least she has a dad around. But it wasn't in Harry's nature to be unkind or not understand, and the thought disappeared so fast he didn't even remember thinking it a second later. Ron looked from face to face and coughed.

"Um... it's time for dinner, c'mon you guys," he said, standing up quickly and rubbing his hands together in an I-sure-hope-that-worked way. Hermione, Harry, and Holly followed his lead and stood up. They clambered out of the portrait hole and made their way to the Great Hall.

Ron and Hermione went onto one side of the table as they faced it and Harry and Holly went onto the side opposite. The four of them skirted along the table's bench (A/N: Does it not say something about chairs in the books? Whatever it's a long bench in my mind...) then found a spot where both sides were open and sat down so they could face each other and discussion would be easier. Harry glanced over at Holly who had her elbow on the table, chin resting on the heel of her hand. She was gazing in the general direction of the far corner of the room at the base of the enchanted ceiling which had gray clouds moving steadily across it, caught in an imaginary high wind.

He looked from Holly's steady stare to the Ravenclaw table. He saw Cho was looking at him but when they made eye contact she quickly turned her head and began looking at her friend sitting next to her. Harry continued to watch Cho, but she didn't look back at him, and just kept on looking at the girl to her left. He sighed and tore his eyes away. She had been skirting around him since Sunday, and he wasn't sure if it made it better or worse that Professor Sinistra had called off class on Tuesday because she wasn't feeling well and couldn't find someone to fill in.

He had been doing pretty good at not thinking about her 24/7... as he did need to sleep for at least 7 hours a night. Also Quidditch and his close friends were worthy distractions. Then again part of his thoughts were still occupied by Ginny.

"Eat, Harry, you can't afford to get much skinnier," Holly said suddenly. He jerked out of a trance he didn't realize he was in, and looked over at her. She grinned at him. "Just kidding. C'mon, though, dish up..."

He glanced at her plate, which was stacked with baked carrots. He raised his eyebrows in a very what-the-hell sort of expression and she said, "What?! I'm in the mood for carrots!" in a very defensive way. Harry laughed weakly and decided on dishing himself up some mashed potatoes.

*()%()*

Thursday night rolled around, and Harry could be found walking, very slowly, in the direction of the Advanced Astronomy classroom. He continued to heave a deep sigh approximately every 47 seconds, and run his fingers through his hair in a nervous/frustrated way every minute and 26 seconds. Although he was not counting this out.

He entered the classroom to see Professor Sinistra standing alone. Considering that he was, according to his watch, 5 minutes late, Cho would definitely already been there under normal circumstances. She was usually at least 10 minutes early! But Professor Sinistra was leaning against her desk at the front of the room, looking at Harry who was framed in the doorway. "Where's Cho?" he asked automatically, overlooking his usual manner to greet someone when he walked in the room.

"Not feeling well, so she says," she affirmed with a small grin. She didn't comment on his tardiness. Harry felt his stomach lurch. How does she know!? Then he figured that Professor Sinistra thought that Cho was skipping - and had decided to give her a break, considering she was a very open and flexible person, especially compared to other Hogwarts professors. She had warm eyes that were marks of the fact that she did once had a childhood and made her look youthful, as she was.

Harry's thoughts had the capability to reel very fast. He had a hunch that Cho wasn't sick, indeed, but wasn't skipping either. She was effectively avoiding him. Harry clamped his jaw in an embarrassed rage. He didn't think it was in Cho's nature to hold a grudge... and with the oncoming Quidditch match... Complications, he thought painfully.

"That's too bad..." he recovered, "so I'm on my own tonight?" Professor Sinistra smiled at him (A/N: I put 'smiled down at him' then I remembered Harry isn't short anymore... hmmm... odd...).

"Can you handle it?" she questioned, her eyes twinkling in the darkness.

"Yeah. What's my assignment?" he asked. Professor Sinistra grabbed a large book off of the desk and opened it, revealing that it had no pages but was hollowed out. She lifted the first piece of parchment from it and handed it to him. On it was a magically sketched large circle with lines drawn out from it making 13 different sections, each numbered off.

"You are to map out the stars in galaxy seven tonight. It will be most visible from the large black telescope," she informed him, pointing to the large space labeled '7'. "I'll come and get you when your time is up," she stated. Harry nodded and walked out of the room and started up the stairs to his left that spiraled up to the top of the Astronomy Tower.

He thought more about Cho that night than the stars in the seventh galaxy that night. He ended up finishing his work, a little sloppily, just in time for Professor Sinistra to show up and tell him he could go to bed. He kept the parchment, as he would be working on drawing out the other 12 galaxies for a while. Professor Sinistra told him, before he left, that the seventh one in this circle was by far the largest, so he would be able to do two or three a night afterwards.

On the way back to the common room he passed the hospital wing and glanced inside the door. No curtains were drawn and each bed was empty. He sighed, knowing that he should have just listened to his gut when it told him that she wasn't actually sick - because if she was she'd certainly have gone to Madam Pomfrey and gotten a potion to cure herself so she could come to the tower anyway.

When he entered the common room he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, and began walking blindly while doing so. When he had taken his hands away from his eyes and the dots of neon colors had cleared away, he saw swift movements. Everything was blurred for a second before he frantically put his glasses back on. It was Holly.

She appeared to be throwing a large rubber ball against the wall across the common room. It made no sound when it hit the stone wall and continued to bounce around the room before it made it back to her and she repeated the action. She seemed to be doing it in some blind rage. "Holly!" Harry hissed. Holly simply caught the ball and looked over at him through narrowed eyes.

"What?" she snapped in response. She pelted the ball across the common room again and it hit the ceiling and floor each once before it came back to her hands and she whipped it across the room once more.

"Bloody hell - what are you doing?" he asked, watching the ball hit the corner of the room this time and rebound off the walls, ceiling, and floor each before she snapped it into her hands. It was still making no noise.

"I'm levitating, Harry. Get lost," she answered simply. She threw the ball so hard against the wall this time that Harry was sure if she hadn't been a hard-practicing Chaser she would have thrown out her shoulder instantly.

This time it just hit the wall and came flying back at her. He jumped in front of her and snatched the ball. "Are you mad?" he asked, stepping away from her. She glared at him like a 3-year-old, angry that he took away her toy.

"As in pissed or insane?" she growled.

"Either!" he replied, his eyes popping slightly. She continued to stare angrily at him. "Are you practicing the Silencing Charm that Professor Flitwick taught us this week?" he questioned.

"Not practicing... just putting to use," Holly said quietly. She held out her hand for the ball but Harry only tightened his grip on it and looked straight into her eyes. They had a strange multi-dimensional look about them... as though her irises weren't really fixed onto the rest of her eyes well.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She darted towards him to grab her ball but he was only just too quick for her. His quick reflexes from years of playing Seeker on his house team let him manage to jump away from her and switch the ball from under one arm to the other.

"Nothing," she answered quickly, trying to snatch the ball once more. And again Harry outsmarted her planning. "Give that back."

"No. Not unless you tell me what's wrong," Harry said, drawing himself up and raising his eyebrows in what he hoped was a challenging and intimidating way. Holly fumed.

"I guess I can just go and get another one," she said simply, turning on her heel and starting to trudge towards the staircase leading up to her dormitory. He dashed in front of her and cut her off. "Urgh!" she exclaimed in a nearly-conquered anger.

"Do you, like, keep these stashed under your bed or something?" he asked, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head in a disapproving way.

"No I-" she began but he cut her off.

"Whether you can get another one of these or not," he said, glancing down at the ball under his arm, "doesn't matter as I'm going to stay down here until 4 in the morning if I have to wait that long to get the truth out of you. And if you just tell me now I'll let you throw your enlarged bouncy-ball around in peace."

Holly stared straight into his eyes and was breathing deeply. Harry looked right back at her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hold off that long. After a couple seconds she sucked her lips inward for a moment so her mouth was nothing but a black line underneath her nose. "Fine!" she hissed in defeat. Harry suppressed the urge to grin widely. "Fine..." she echoed in a melted tone.

"Go on then," he urged. Holly, who had turned so he was facing her side, gave him a quick sideward glance.

"Ron likes Hermione," she stated, with a deep sigh.

"...That's it?" Harry asked, feeling lost for information.

"Basically."

"So you stayed up past midnight to throw a ball around because Ron likes Hermione?" he concluded, raising his eyebrows as though this information was nothing he was interested in and her 'slight anger' was wasted.

"You bet."

"You're lying."

She gave him a sharp look, turning to face him. "What makes you think that?"

"Nothing..." he replied. He didn't really have reason to think she was lying, as Holly always did seem to overreact and/or blow things out of proportion. That's what he saw, anyway. Harry thought for a second and then met her eyes. "Did Ron tell you this?" She nodded. There was a very brief silence. "Explain."

"He told me because he probably just wanted to finalize that I'm not his 'interest'," she said shortly, making quotation marks with her fingers on the syllables of the word 'interest'. Harry blinked a couple times and he saw something in her eyes... as though there were thoughts flashing across them that didn't stay long enough for him to read.

"That's not all..." he said quietly. The look on her face told him that he was 100% correct. There was an awkward pause as Harry saw, out of the corner of his eye, Crookshanks emerge from under an armchair and bound across the room and up the stairs, probably setting off to. Apparently she had been hiding in fear when Holly had been chucking objects around the room. Holly held her expression for a second and then it tightened just before she launched into a somewhat unneeded and unhelpful explanation.

"Look at it this way - I didn't always look like I do now. I still have hardly a shred of self-confidence as I will never be good enough... but when I had caught on to the fact Ron liked me - I saw it as though I finally had something going for me. I've never cared that I can easily maintain over-average on a grading scale because, frankly, that doesn't matter right now. What matters now is what people think of me - and I used to do anything and everything to just matter to other people to little success. I restarted my life here but sometimes it's not any different." Harry was surprised she had answered him... and he was also shocked at the reply. He couldn't find anything to say, although he was pretty sure she had wanted to say at least some of this for a very long time. "I'll never even be close to the person I've dreamt up and I just have trouble accepting that. So... Ron having the hots for Hermione basically scratched another person off of my admirer list."

Harry just stared at her. He watched her tear up and she looked quickly away from him as her face went from pale to blotchy-red in a matter of seconds. He felt suddenly uncomfortable, and was, in a manner of speaking, scared to reach out and comfort her. It wasn't in Harry's nature to feel like his problems should come first, because he could have easily blamed her for Cho's absence from the Astronomy Tower that night - but he didn't. All he could do was watch her.

She drew in a deep breath. "You know... I'll never be perfect, but I'm perfect for him," she said in a choked voice. Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks now, and Harry had a sympathetic ache inside of him, but all his mind and body would allow him to do was look at her. She shook her head. "But I'm wrong. Keep the ball."

She walked around him and continued to walk up the stairs to her dormitory. Harry watched her and sighed. Poor Holly, he thought. Her troubles briefly distracted him from his own, and left him with a slight pained feeling long enough for him to crawl into bed and drift off.

*()%()*

Friday afternoon rolled along and Cho had been avoiding Harry all day. If possible, even more so than she had all week. It was as though she knew that he knew the reason she wasn't in the Astronomy Tower - and either of them could catch on to these statistics. Ron had spent most of his day with Hermione, and now more than ever Harry noticed that he did like her - a lot. Holly, instead of being her normal self and just snapping mean comments at him in her anger or sadness, just spent her day in semi-silence, only answering questions that were directly asked of her. Harry wanted to reach out and protect her from anything that might go wrong - a big-brother sort of instinct. Although he didn't see reason to avoid his best friend and Holly, in turn, didn't object to him spending time with Ron.

After he finished up all of his homework he decided to pay Professor Trelawney a visit and hand in his numerology essay for a rarely-offered few extra credit points. He tucked his Invisibility Cloak under his arm because after he finished his business in the North Tower he would sneak onto the Quidditch pitch to spy on the Ravenclaws' final practice before the match at 11:00 the next morning.

Alone he climbed the silver stepladder into the warm and perfumed room. He made his way to the back where Professor Trelawney sat in an armchair, gazing into a milky-white crystal ball. He cleared his throat. "I saw you coming, my dear," she said mistily, looking up at him.

"But of course," he said in a slightly-sarcastic tone. He covered it with a would-be warm smile. "I came to-"

"Hand in your essay for your extra credit points? Very well..." she said. He thought that this would be obvious, as Harry wouldn't enter the room other than class times under any other circumstance - and she probably knew that. He gave her the roll of parchment that was previously in his pocket. "Thank you very much, Mr. Potter..."

Harry thought, just out of fun, to ask her for a small foretelling before he left. He wasn't quite up to hearing a load of misery, and if she sensed that, perhaps she'd predict some good? He questioned her and she answered in her mistiest of voices. "Ah... you have challenges facing you, young Mr. Potter," she said.

Quidditch match, hello? Harry thought instantly.

"And one close to you is in great danger... there is a plot Mr. Potter... and it's beginning at this very hour," she finished. Harry tried his hardest to look a bit wary, knowing that someone close to him was always in danger as he was a magnet for trouble... and there's a different plot being set out every 5 seconds at this school, on average.

"Good afternoon, Professor," he said simply.

"You too, dear," she replied, her gaze shifting back down to the swirling shapes in the crystal ball. Harry turned and left the room, feeling as though Professor Trelawney simply didn't want him to live a happy life. After making his way down the stepladder he pulled on his Invisibility Cloak and traveled, absolutely inconspicuous to every set of eyes he passed, to the Quidditch field.

He carefully made his way up into the stands and sat down. The Ravenclaws flew in perfect formation, practicing in excellent precision. Watching the seven blurs of players whiz around in the air as they did made Harry sick to his stomach. If they wanted to beat Ravenclaw by 200 points, which was their sought-after goal, they would need to murder Cho so she couldn't catch the Snitch before him. It was a very grim thought.

He sat there for nearly half an hour, watching their different drills and plays and trying to take something from them... find something to advise his team to look out for. By the time he was making his way back down onto the ground and trudging up to the castle he had picked out a general area that the Gryffindors needed to improve on to defeat Ravenclaw. Everything.

Sad but true, Cho's team probably did better on broomsticks than on their exams. It was a horrible thought, but it didn't seem like they did anything wrong. Harry's stomach was in knots thinking about what was going to happen on the Quidditch field the next day. He hardly even had time to 'mourn' over the fact that Cho didn't even seem to think about her and Harry's current relationship status while she practiced - because that left her as amazing of a flier as ever.

He gathered his team in a corner of the common room when he got back and gave them the news. They all looked dumb-struck and horrified at the same time. He knew that his team was well aware of the fact that Ravenclaw was good, but somehow it seemed they previously couldn't accept the fact that any team could be equally good as they were. And Heaven forbid that there were 7 Quidditch players at Hogwarts that could possibly be BETTER than they were - it had been out of the question. But the truth hurts - does it not?

*()%()*

At around 7:30 the next morning Harry discovered that he couldn't sleep. He saw that the hangings were drawn back on both Ron and Seamus' four-posters and neither of them was there. Apparently he was not the only one who couldn't sleep. He dressed and made his way down to the common room, ready for a good and early breakfast as he was up. In the common room Holly was lying on the couch, the heels of her hands over her eyes. Ginny sat in the armchair next to her with her elbows on her knees and her forehead resting on her hands. Brandon was sitting on the arm of Holly's sofa, simply looking over at Harry.

When he entered the nearly deserted Great Hall he encountered Ron and Cameron who were bent over their oatmeal and eating very slowly in complete silence. Harry sat down next to Ron and all either of them did was look up at him, then turn back down to eat their breakfast once more. Harry tried to eat some bacon but it felt as though he had eaten more than his stomach could handle already.

*()%()*

At 11:00 Harry stood facing his team, who were all sitting down, in the locker room. He wasn't sure whether he should be nervous as hell or ridiculously excited. His team was good... very good. They excelled in talent, timing, and accuracy. Ravenclaw? Ditto... but even better. To beat Cho's team Harry's would have to play harder than they practiced for the previous week, minus the day before as Harry had given the team a break, as promised.

They all sat in 150% apprehensive silence, broken only by the nervous shifting of a random member of the team now and then. They already looked defeated. Faithless. It was as if now they knew, for certain, that outplaying the Eagles would be no easy feat... they felt at a loss. After all... faith is the substance of things hoped for - the evidence of things not seen. In this case... hardly even imagined.

Harry cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Team..." he said. There was a brief pause in which all six players looked up at him as though to reply, "Yes?". Harry wished that Ron would fill in as captain for a while, as he truly didn't like giving pep talks, and right now it felt more like a public speech.

"Ravenclaw... has got talent. A lot of talent," he added. "Now, we've been practicing hard all week, and your muscles should be well rested. To win this game we will have to play harder than we practiced - and not let a single thing distract us." The expression on each face in the locker room, including his own, changed from blank to determined. Harry saw this as a healthy omen.

"Take risks," he told them, "make the crowd gasp at your bravery because we are Gryffindors. Gryffindors are bold." It was easier to talk after he got going, but just now he felt like Oliver Wood elected as a democratic leader addressing his country in a hard time, revving up for war. "Just... don't hurt yourselves," he added as an afterthought. He smiled as his teammates did, and felt like that lightened things up just a tiny bit.

"And now I quote Holly in telling you to 'get your pep on'. But first, do some arm stretches. Ron, you count them off... I'm gonna go check on the crowd situation and give you a ratio of those wearing red versus those wearing blue... be right back," Harry said. He turned and heard the shuffle of Ron, Ginny, Holly, Seamus, Brandon, and Cameron getting to their feet and spreading out.

He walked out of the locker room and watched as the last half of the school filtered into the stands. He stepped out onto the side of the pitch where he wouldn't be very visible and looked around. The entire school was up in the stands excluding the 14 that were about to play, so it seemed. The Hufflepuffs seemed neutral, ready to clap for their schoolmates and the team members present watching play techniques, no doubt. The Slytherins seemed just to go because it was an excuse to get outside of the school. He could see them rearing on starting to boo and hiss the teams that weren't even out on the field. Madam Hooch was conversing with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick near the entrance, her broomstick in one hand, box of Quidditch balls under her arm, and her silver whistle glinting on a thin leather strip around her neck that blended in with her black robes.

Harry sighed, wondering why he even bothered to walk outside of the locker rooms. He looked around. The sky showed him gray clouds, floating by rapidly being pushed by the western winds - it was a dim and dank sort of day. He tried to put his hands in the pockets of his Quidditch robes, but after rubbing the fabric a few seconds he realized he had no pockets and sighed once more. He privately wondered how many times he had sighed in the past 7 days. He thought of Cho, and their rising tensions, and wished that they would subside. He wanted to be friends with Cho, at the very, very least - and he cursed himself for ever letting 'damn teenage hormones' get the better of him. Harry stood there for a few seconds more, then turned to enter the locker room once more.

His team was done with their stretches now, and were split into groups, some rolling their shoulders in preparation or from nerves, some rubbing their hands together apprehensively. Ron grinning at Seamus who was apparently doing an imitation of his random-girl-to-tease for the week. Brandon and Cameron were talking under their voices, and Ginny was trying to engage Holly in a short conversation that Holly seemed not too keen on having, only smiled weakly and answered any questions asked. He heard a roar from the crowd, probably meaning that the Ravenclaws had just walked out onto the field.

"Ready?" Harry questions as the heads gradually turned to face him. The look of vigorous resolution tapped onto their faces once more, and each nodded in turn. They all grabbed their broomsticks, and as Harry gripped his into his hand a miniscule bit of the fear he had been feeling dissolved. He privately wondered at how he, and the rest of the team, had gone to feeling pre-game defeat to seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. He squeezed the broom handle of his Firebolt and merely said, "Let's do this."

The 7 players clad in scarlet and gold marched onto the field, each chin held high in a slightly intimidating superiority. They were Gryffindors, after all. There were window-shattering cheers from their supporters, polite applause from the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs... sadistic hisses from the Slytherins (A/N: NOT the sex-related definition of 'sadistic'. Thank you....).

The Ravenclaws were already facing Madam Hooch in the middle of the pitch, standing in a semicircle. Harry and the team marched over, heads held high and not a flinch of fear on any features, although they were all quite terrified. The Gryffindors took their places and Madam Hooch commanded Harry and Cho to step forward and shake hands. They took a step towards each other and Harry held out his hand, and Cho took it. Her hand was considerably small in his, and there was no movement of their arms as they, very briefly, lightly pressed their palms against each other's. They dropped their arms, and Harry found a new boost of confidence when Cho mumbled, "Good luck."

It startled him for a second, as he felt like he had forgotten how she sounded, and that at one point they were building up a terrific friendship. "You too," said Harry with an automatic smirk of thanks. Harry's stomach tightened as Cho didn't smile back, but a flicker of a grin flashed across her features before she stepped back into position, as did Harry. He could hear Dean doing his commentary somewhere in the back of his brain.

"The real question," he was saying rather dramatically, "is whether the Eagles will continue to fly high in victory or will the Lions devour them - inducing birdy-defeat?" There was a scatter of weak snickers.

"Mount your brooms!" The 14 of them obeyed. "On my whistle!" said Madam Hooch. There was a sudden gust of wind that ended just as quickly as it started. Harry felt his legs tense and could see his knuckles white on the handle of his broom. "Three...two...one..." she gave a short blast and they all rose into the air as one. Harry darted up higher than the rest, Cho just behind him, and began circling, listening hard to Dean's voice as he couldn't watch the game while looking for the Snitch.

"Ravenclaw in possession of the Quaffle under the arm of Evan Stoll. Stoll flying towards the Gryffindor goal posts - passes to Patil. Patil dodges a Bludger and passes to Nathan Harren. Harren - oomph - gets hit by a Bludger coming at him from Seamus Finnigan - way to go Seamus! Quaffle taken by Weasley - Ginny Weasley for Gryffindor throws the ball up to Emerson, Emerson down to - UGH! Intercepted by Harren for Ravenclaw..."

Before Dean could say much more Nathan Harren had succeeded in getting past Ron - scoring the first goal of the game and putting Ravenclaw in the lead. Harry cursed under his breath, knowing that early points gave teams automatic faith and confidence. He only hoped that it made his team more determined. Ron saved Gryffindor twice more before Parvati Patil put the Quaffle through the far-left goalpost. Harry saw, out of the corner of his eye, Brandon swoop down and grab the Quaffle, loop the other 2 goalposts and get back into the game, holding up two fingers to indicate the challenging Reverse-Pass play. When Brandon was out of his range of vision once more he distantly heard his three Chasers yelling to each other, commanding the play.

"Left!" was the first voice, he recognized as Ginny's. There was a 'whoosh' as the Quaffle was passed back to her.

"Left!" shouted Holly after Ginny pulled into the lead. There was a pause in which Harry was certain Ginny had passed the ball back to her.

"Right!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Left!" yelled Brandon.

"Right!" came Holly's voice, but Harry heard Dean swear and the re-directing of brooms beneath him.

"THOMAS!" snapped Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry Professor... and it's Dean," he replied in clipped tones, keeping it short so he could go back to his explanation of the game. "Quaffle intercepted by Stoll. Stoll zigzags through Patil and Harren, ducking out of the way of a Bludger... C'mon, Ron save-!" but his words were cut short as joyous and excited shouts and cheers from the Ravenclaws broke the sound barrier. Ron snatched the Quaffle angrily and passed it to Ginny. Harry took a quick glance around and saw Cho tailing him, then he zoomed into view of Madam Hooch and signaled her, calling a time out. She blew her whistle and Harry landed, waving for his team to join him, as they were all looking about curiously. Ginny tossed the Quaffle to Madam Hooch and the Ravenclaws made their way to the ground. When his team had landed in front of him, he rubbed his hair shortly in thought.

"Okay, team," he said looking around at them, "You're putting up a fight, and you're holding them off, but we still aren't even on the board..." he said. All 6 of them launched into explanation but he shushed them. "What we need... is to take risks, and move quicker. They are intercepting passes like I've never seen... they're quick and cunning - damned Ravenclaws - but you'll soon see that they aren't fast enough."

"What do we need to do, Harry?" Brandon asked shortly. Harry glanced at each of his team members and continued quickly because Madam Hooch was walking towards them.

"We need to get 50 points up so we can be in a good running for the cup - that means that we need to play this game a little differently. Cameron and Seamus... you have to hit those Bludgers harder and fly faster... we can't have any of those Bludgers hitting our side, got that?" They both nodded once to show that they did. Harry continued, urgently and fast. "Ron, you need to use those limbs to the better, and when you prepare to block the Quaffle, be just below the hoop of the center post, that way you don't have to fly down and over if the shot goes to your right or left - it's best."

"Okay," Ron said quietly.

"Ready to resume play?" Madam Hooch, who had just approached, asked them.

"Almost," Harry replied in a voice that sounded out of breath. "Holly, Ginny, Brandon... stay tight-knit... squeeze those plays together and focus on your accuracy, that way they won't reverse the plays anymore... it's just as much up to you as it is to me to get us into play for the Cup." They all nodded and Harry took a deep breath. He really hoped that the time-out he had just called was worth calling.

They kicked off into the air again and reverted back to the Quidditch match, but in a very different way. Harry looked around, rather frantically, for a glimmer of gold or flutter of wings. Cho seemed to be keeping behind him, and the more he tried to face her the quicker she flew. He knew what she was doing... tailing him in a matter. But, being behind him, she could dive for the Snitch without him knowing and it could be a quick and clean victory. Dean Thomas' commentary seemed to be much different than before.

"Quaffle taken by Ravencl- whoa! Never mind! Quaffle yanked rather violently away from Harren via 'double-attack' by Black and Weasley and they're flying back up the field. Black, Emerson, and Weasley flying side-by-side... Black hands off to Emerson and drops a couple feet, Emerson pulls an around-the-back over to Weasley... Black replaces Emerson's spot-"

Harry did a quick loop in the air and got behind Cho. She tried to get behind him again but he was too fast for her. Suddenly the exuberant cheers broke his train-of-thought from the Gryffindors as Brandon succeeded in changing the score to 10-30. Next Holly put one through... then Ginny tied them up. It was happening so fast, and Harry really wished that he could watch the game because it sounded intense. Before long it was 70-30 and the Ravenclaws were thoroughly startled and scandalized by Gryffindor's sudden comeback. Stoll got the Quaffle past Ron a couple minutes later making it 70-40 but in response Holly put it past the Ravenclaw keeper, putting Gryffindor 40 points up once more.

"Ravenclaw in possession and it's Harren with the Quaffle passes down to - wait - Emerson for Gryffindor with the turn-over! Passes to Black, hands off to Weasley, back to Emerson, down a couple feet to Black and up to Weasley.... She's in the scoring area now... c'mon, Ginny! YES! Weasley makes it past Galle, putting Gryffindor 50 points up... 90-40 to Gryffindor and iiiit's Harren back in possession..."

10 points to Gryffindor thanks to Brandon only a few minutes later put the crowd in a miniature-riot. It took a few seconds for them all to see that Harry and Cho were both flying straight up into the air after a miniscule winged, golden ball better known as the Golden Snitch. There was a collective gasp.

Cho had seen it first and Harry was gaining on her quickly. Her hand was outstretched as he hadn't even passed half his arms over the tail of her broom, but the Firebolt was fast. He flattened himself against it, held out his arm, knocked her hand out of the way and she snatched at thin air as Harry clasped the Snitch in his hands. As both he and Cho stopped there was a strange silence to as he was so high above the game he couldn't hear the game below. In addition the commentary had stopped and every member of the crowd was silent, all looking up at Harry and Cho, waiting in both hope and fear to see which of them had caught it, as they had both grabbed at something and stopped, meaning that one of them had it.

Slowly Harry smiled a smile visible to the crowd and held out his hand, in which you could see a glimmer of gold along with silver wings, which escaped through two gaps in between his fingers. There was a starting rumble that developed into an ear-shattering roar as each of the Gryffindors realized what had happened. The game stopped, Dean was shouting into the magical megaphone with joy, announcing the score to the spectators. The Hufflepuffs clapped, the Slytherins looked solemn and emotionally unmarked for the most part, and the Ravenclaws scowled with defeat.

Harry dove happily, straight to the ground. Before he could even dismount, his team had joined him, all bounding across the deadened grass of the pitch. Ron, with his long legs, was there first and he grabbed Harry by the shoulders and shook him, yelling some sort of congratulations that he couldn't quite make out. Brandon was there next, giving Harry a few hard thumps on the back shouting with joy. Holly was there next, and she practically knocked Harry over as she grabbed him in a hug, smiling and laughing, but she pulled away quickly to allow Cameron to punch him a couple times in the arm telling him that he was awesome. Gryffindor supporters were now coming down from the stands, and Hermione had soon kissed Harry on the cheek and started jumping up and down with Holly. Harry had half a second to enjoy seeing Holly in such a great mood through his own when Ginny made her way over and threw her arms around Harry. Each word she said to him was clear.

"Way to go, Harry!" she shrieked merrily in excitement, "We won! We won! Ha-haaaa! YES!" She hit her fist lightly on his back and let go, leaving Harry blushing and smiling wider than ever. The crowd dispersed - most making their way back up to the castle. It looked like a pretty promising party for the Gryffindors that fine Saturday.

He jogged over to the 7 people standing on the opposite side of the field, looking somber and a bit hindered. The rest of his team spotted him, and followed. They all shook hands with the Ravenclaws in turn. Harry told the team he'd meet them in the locker room and they ran off, still talking in loud and happy voices. Harry turned to Cho and put his hand on her shoulder. He was a bit uncomfortable, but his euphoria made him feel a bit better.

"Good game," he said once more. Cho smiled at him, but it was a very tired, weak, and a bit unwilling of a smile.

"You too..." she answered. He realized how much he had missed the sound of her voice at those two words. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. I... uh... I'll see you later, okay?" Cho took a breath and nodded, turning to her team, and they walked in the direction of their locker room. Alright, so it wasn't much of a way to mend a broken relationship - but it was a start. Harry watched her walk away for a moment, then turned and jogged to his own locker room where his team was waiting for him.

After everyone had changed (Holly and Ginny in a smaller room than the rest of the team) they jumped around a bit more. Harry addressed the team, along with Ron, and both presented them with well-deserved congratulations. They packed up their Quidditch stuff in bags and walked back up to the castle, laughing and joking. There wasn't going to be another practice session or game until winter was over.

When the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and the team was visible to everyone inside the common room, there was another explosion of noise as all seven of them were yanked inside. The festivities lasted late into the night. Ron and Harry had taken a break from the noise and disappeared to Hogsmede through the passage concealed beneath the one eyed witch to get away from the noise for a while and to bring back a sack full of butterbeer from The Three Broomsticks and sweets from Honeydukes.

At around 8:00 that night Harry saw Holly out of the corner of his eye, pulling a sweatshirt over her head before wrapping her cloak around herself and walking towards the portrait hole. He made his way through the crowd and met up with her right as she reached to open it. "Holly! Hey!" Her head jerked up and she looked at him sharply, her expression clearing when she saw whom it was.

"Hmm?"

"Where are you going?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows. It wasn't common for people to sneak away from celebrations, he figured. She reached up for the portrait again.

"Walk," she answered shortly.

"Wh-why?" Harry stammered slightly. She was stepping through the portrait hole now. She shrugged and looked at him. Apparently she read his bewildered expression as that of slight worry, which Harry was quite sure wouldn't show up on his face. Evidently he was wrong.

"Don't worry I'm not going to get lost," she assured him. His face relaxed slightly. "I'm a big girl... I tie my own shoes and everything," Holly informed him. He grinned.

"I'm glad to see you in a good mood," he said.

"Me too," Holly replied, grinning back. There was a moment's pause. "If I'm not back in the morning," she stated, jokingly, "send out a search party." Harry smirked and Holly shut the portrait hole, than began to skirt along the corridor, hoping not to be seen. She wasn't sure of the exact hour you were supposed to be in your house tower on Saturday nights.

When she exited the Entrance Hall outside, the cold night air stopped her breathing for a second. She carefully shut one of the huge oak doors behind her and padded down the stone steps and along the grass. It was still windy and her cloak blew against her right side as she walked along.

Truly she wasn't in that great of a mood, and wanted to get away from all of the noise. Nothing annoyed her more than people who could switch over their emotions faster than they could transfigure a beetle into a button, and didn't realize that often times she was one of them. But not that night. Of course she was happy about winning the Quidditch match - why in the world would she not be? But she hated watching Hermione and Ron converse in the far corner of the common room over chocolate and butterbeer, as though there was not another soul in the room. It made her feel sick, as though something had been pressing on her stomach for a long period of time. She had been so close...

Holly was standing on the edge of the forest. How she got there, she had no clue. She noticed that the windows of Hagrid's hut were alight, and decided to go and visit him. She began to walk along the edge of the trees, but she had only gone a few paces when something made her stop dead in her tracks. Hagrid's cabin was still a long walk away, but she couldn't move. Her hair blew around her face, and she tried to push it behind her shoulder, cursing it. There was something wrong... she knew it, but how she was so sure of this she had no idea. Something inside of her had just kicked in. She turned in a circle on the spot. She was standing with her back to the forest and sighed. You're getting paranoid... she thought.

Then she began hearing something that made no sound - which would be the best way to describe it. The forest. The forest. The forest, was being repeated somewhere at the base of her skull. Her heart started to pound. She waited for a moment, thinking she just might be losing her mind. Then she looked over her shoulder and looked into the absolute darkness of the forest. She started breathing faster in panic. She saw something emerge from the darkness, whipped her entire body all the way around to face it, and screamed. But her ear-piercing shriek lasted less than a second - as it was cut short by result of an incantation.

*()%()*

Four hours later, Holly's eyes snapped open. It was pitch dark and it took a while for her eyes to focus. But when they did she looked around. She was kneeling on a patch of dead leaves and small twigs in a dense part of what must have been the Forbidden Forest. Everything around her, although she couldn't see more than 30 feet in any direction, was cast into a bluish light. Her arms were not hanging at her sides, as her hands were magically manacled to two different trunks of trees on either side of her. She looked down and saw that her feet were on longer chains, but they too had heavy metal rings confining them to the spot. Her cloak had slid off of her shoulders and she couldn't shake it back up, it was cold. A light snow was starting to fall from the small gap in the trees, and with her cloak not up around her shoulders she began to notice the cold. A hooded figure became visible to her, as it slid slowly out from behind a tree. Holly didn't notice it but her entire body was shaking with panic.

As it drew closer she scrambled clumsily to her feet, staring at it and glancing over her shoulder once very quickly to be sure nothing was advancing on her from behind. She saw that her hands were magically manacled to two separate tree trunks The figure reached up and pulled down it's hood, and instead of following her instinct to scream Holly gasped, and her teeth chattered. She was looking into the pale face of a man that looked nothing at all like a man. He had white and scabbed-looking skin, wide red eyes, two vertical slits for nostrils, and a nearly lip-less mouth. She was frozen to the spot with horror.

The man, or whatever it was, approached her and bowed. He took her hand in his long, white, spider-like fingers and kissed the back of it. She was so shocked that she didn't yank her hand away, as she would have done under any other case. His fingers and lips were so cold that her skin seemed to burn. "Welcome to the forest, Miss Black," he said. His voice was as cold as ice, and it gave her goosebumps. She stared at him in fearful shock, but still found that her entire body seemed to be dead weight on her feet. A few strangled sounds escaped her lips, but she couldn't say much more.

"Rarely," the man said calmly, "have I seen someone put up an unconscious fight such as you, Holly." She had half a mind to wonder how he knew her name. "The Imperious Curse is usually only fought consciously... how you did thrash about in the trees... it was quite curious, indeed. In fact - you've got a fine gash across your cheek in merit." He pointed a long finger at the right side of her face. Realization suddenly hit Holly and her throat contracted momentarily.

"Voldemort," she said in such a quiet whisper she hardly heard it herself. She had only gotten information about this character when she asked for it... and the little knowledge about him that she had triggered this recognition. He was so hideous that for a fleeing second she hoped that Harry didn't dream about this... this man often. That was the being that killed Harry's family... this man was the reason Harry lived his life in constant danger, why he had a scar on his forehead, why he was famous, and why his life could be so painful. She hadn't known Harry long - but hatred suddenly clicked inside of her. He laughed cruelly, his pitless red eyes narrowing slightly.

"Excellent guess," he hissed. Holly lunged at him, but couldn't pull herself more than a few inches from where she was standing. There were the sounds of the metal-like chains tightening as she pulled at the trees over and over; as though determined to eradicate them so she could get at Voldemort. He laughed again and shook his head.

"Bring me BACK!" she shouted, jerking over and over at her chains, as she gained better use of her voice. "What are you going to do with me?!" She was as close to Voldemort as she could get, and he stepped closer.

"I have a plan in which you will be very useful..." he said easily, "but you really need not know the details." His red eyes, which nearly glowed in the bluish light of the semi-clearing, looked at the Inheirpikus Charm dangling from its chain on her neck. He secured his fingers around the jewel-like pendant, and pulled it off of her neck. In rage Holly yanked at the chains bounding her to the tree again. He smiled coldly. "Very lucky you have this... it will be of great help to me." He repaired the clasp that he had broken when yanking it.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked again, now fear blending with her anger in tone. Voldemort's smile widened. She was having trouble imagining how someone so evil could do something as good related as smile. But his smile wasn't even lukewarm.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt," he said, drawing his wand out of his pocket and pointing it straight at her forehead, the Inheirpikus Charm clasped in his other hand. "Then I wouldn't be sure... as it has never happened to me."

*()%()*

NEXT CHAPTER - Who will be the first to realize Holly didn't return that night? Harry and Co. set out to find their missing Gryffindor counterpart, and Malfoy repays part of a debt. Other than that bit of information I'm not exactly sure how I'll set out my feeble plan. We'll just have to see.

QUOTE- "Evil" - Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist.

AVRIL LAVIGNE- 'Things I'll Never Say'