Harry Potter and His New Standards

* Chapter 17 - Testing of the Charm, Explanations, Ginny's Homework, and Ron's New Secrets *

A woman may very well form a friendship with a man, but for this to endure, it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy.

"Cho!" said Harry in a tone of mild surprise. Actually, he was very surprised, but didn't think that throwing a fit and falling off of his chair in shock would be quite appropriate. He wasn't sure why she was there, but what startled him was that when she looked inside her eyes fixed upon him and she didn't seem to care of another person in that room.

"What happened?" asked Cho, stepping inside. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore, Lupin," she added hastily, nodding to each of them. Dumbledore managed a small smile, but the rest of them were all simply goggling at her. Ron looked as though he were about to ask 'why do you care?' when Ginny spoke up.

"I was just trying to find that out..."

"Well, now we both can," Cho stated, glancing over at Ginny to reply before setting her dark eyes back on Harry. He gazed at her for a while, but tore his eyes away, not being able to hold eye contact.

Was she or was she

not just refusing to speak to me for the past week? wondered Harry.

"Um," said Ron, "just wondering but... why - how... er... why are you wondering?" He looked up at Cho from his chair.

She shifted her shoulders uncomfortably before answering Ron. "That doesn't matter. Could I just hear it explained?" Harry took a deep breath again, and after getting a resigned nod from both Professor Lupin and Dumbledore, began to tell both Cho and Ginny the story.

*()%()*

Holly had remained with the blankets pulled over her head, curled up, eyes shut, blocking out the dim infirmary lighting with both the covers and her eyelids. After a short while of complete stationary silence (Draco had resumed looking around the room from the foot of the bed), she drifted off.

And, she had been to this place before.

Holly was standing outside of a huge white marble palace. It was, once again, the summer. There were oak trees all about, their roots curving around the short green grass. There were birds everywhere, lots of them. Chirping from the trees, hopping about on the ground... and all kinds. They seemed to come in pairs. Wrens, falcons, robins, blue jays, eagles, owls, warblers, macaws, gulls, she had even spotted a scarlet ibis and a phoenix in the branch of one of the gigantic trees. She padded across the grass, and the birds didn't fly away in instinctive fear of humans. They simply watched her with their small, colorless eyes... birds never flew away from Holly anymore.

She hurried up the shining steps and across the marble to the tall and narrow golden doors. They sparkled at her as she approached, and pulled them open by the handle that was carved to resemble a rolling wave. She stepped into the hall. The floors were made of silver, and her bare feet made no imprint in them. She looked around, once more, at the crystal-gemmed walls that shone no reflection, but seemed to glow, lighting the palace magnificently.

At the end of the hall stood the same woman who had been there before. Holly walked towards her without saying a word. The woman had been holding a cup made purely of emerald in her left hand, pouring water into it from a crystalline pitcher, it's lip made of emerald like her cup - shaped as a leaf. She set both down and smiled at Holly.

She was beautiful... she had to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She and Holly were the same height; it was exact. The woman was shapely, with fair hair and big aqua-blue eyes framed by long, dark eyelashes. There was no mistake she was either young, mid-twenties, or had no age at all - there wasn't a mark on her skin to be seen. She wore fitting teal robes with soft navy and white designs playing across it like wind depicted solid by an artist. Three brightly-colored birds were perched on the sapphire chair behind her. All the contrast of jewels, crystal, metals, and marble of the palace didn't clash the least bit, for a reason - unexplained.

"Holly," she said with a smile. Her voice was songlike and gentle. "You have returned." Holly nodded. "Are you wearing the Charm?"

"I-" she touched her own neckline and felt no chain, "I

was... but it was taken from me for a while. I'm not sure if it was ever put back around my neck... maybe. It has been returned to me, don't worry. But I think it's on the bedside table." She frowned, but the woman didn't look angry in the slightest.

"All is well. Have the powers of my magical avifauna in which I transferred into it come into effect?" she asked, her voice smooth like water on a day with no breeze. Holly bit her lip lightly.

"I...I don't know. I'm sorry-"

"It does not trouble me, miss." Holly let out a small sigh of relief. "But, you must test it. I would like to know whether the Charm operates for its purpose." Holly's eyebrows twisted with confusion. "What is it?"

"A friend of mine... she... she explained that each Cretionis Charm holds specific powers, or something like that, I really didn't pay attention..." The woman smiled at her guilt.

"Why is that? You seem to me like a rather curious young lady," she said. Holly glanced down at the floor when she answered.

"I... I'd rather not talk about it. But, if each Charm is supposed to have these certain things it can do, why doesn't mine?" She looked away from the floor back into the woman's blue eyes.

"It would have individual and unique powers, of course, but not in your case," the woman said lightly. Holly raised her eyebrows at her, not exactly sure what to think of this. "The moment you held it in your hand you removed all the power from it, and sealed it your own."

"What?!" Holly exclaimed in surprise and rising anger, "I took all of its power away?! That's a butt-load of crap!"

"Not to worry, dear Holly, calm yourself," she said, shaking her head. "It was meant to be this way. The heir before you was the one chosen to be, but she didn't seek out her powers. She was too noble to strive to enhance her power."

Holly blinked a couple times and stood in silence. After a while she said, "If you had said that with more dynamics in your voice I'd be a little more freaked out." The woman raised one of her arced eyebrows. "Afraid," Holly explained. Comprehension dawned on the woman's face.

"I see.... It wasn't meant as you heard it. You have gifts, Holly Black. Destiny looked upon your mother, but fate chose you." This made 0 sense to Holly - weren't destiny and fate the same thing? "It will be a while until they are explained to you in not very long, your gifts. I could tell you what your advancing in magic will bring, but you shall find out from a different source." She brushed a long, wavy lock of hair behind her shoulder with unlimited grace. It fell to her waist.

"No... no I'd

love to know now," Holly said with a winning smile and a nod of her head. The woman rippled a laugh.

"You will find out, my dear. Right now I wish to commence in testing your Charm," she said.

"But...it's not here."

"I do realize that," said the woman, "but I also know you are afraid of physically damaging yourself." Holly took a step back away from the woman, a look of rising fear on her features.

"You leave my limbs alone, lady!"

"I will only give you a small cut. It's not in my nature to hurt someone, especially an heir of my own! Certainly not! Now, come here, if you will...." The woman reached for a small, carved pebble that would easily draw blood from her. Holly shook her head fervently. After a long moment of pleading and encouraging looks the woman sighed. "You leave me no choice," she said. She pulled a wand from behind her and pointed it at Holly's forearm.

"Caedereum!" she exclaimed. Holly, even in the dream, felt the pain of her arm being slashed by the red light that had come from the wand. It seemed to be bursting from the inside out, the hurt beginning beneath the skin and then cutting through. She looked down at her arm and saw a cut nearly as long as her lower arm itself on the inside of her forearm.

She gasped in shock and found herself awake under the blankets of the hospital bed, bleeding onto the sheets.

*()%()*

Harry had finished telling the story for what must have been the tenth time to Ginny and Cho. About halfway through the explanation they had both closed their mouths... although the story didn't seem to be shocking to Harry anymore. He had gone from curious of the mysteries being rolled out before him, to exhausted with them. As much as he adored his sister (even if she was riding the wildest of emotional roller coasters) he couldn't help but get... there was no other way to explain it... bored with her being his life's focus. It wasn't that he wanted the rest of his spotlight shining on himself and himself only, it just seemed like her problems were coming before his own. And although he didn't realize it, Holly was always open to being left to her own problems, as long as they weren't life threatening. But, remember the roller coaster, she usually enjoyed strutting around on 'center stage'.

After answering several of Cho and Ginny's inquiries and making them swear to secrecy ("Some things are best not explained until necessary," Dumbledore said) Cho asked for a word with Harry. Harry, a bit perplexed, cast a glance at each other person in the room as though searching for an answer, and then stepped outside the office with Cho. He shut the wooden door of Lupin's office behind him and turned to look at her. Her straight, dark hair fell onto her back, down only just to her shoulder blades. He hadn't been this close to her since after the Quidditch match, and although it was only a day ago, it seemed like an eternity. He supposed this might have been because then she had been avoiding him, not looking into his eyes. And now he was standing outside of Professor Lupin's office, on her request, ready to talk with her. Her dark eyes, lashes, and eyebrows contrasted with her slightly paled face. She pushed a stray hair away from her face and sighed.

"I don't suppose this is the best time to confront you with this..." she said slowly, "with all what's going on and-"

"Oh no, a change in subject has done me nothing but good," Harry said, truthfully, suppressing a smirk.

"Right. I'm not sure if this statement is out-of-date or not but... I'm sorry," she said sincerely. She turned her eyes back up to Harry, who was staring at her.

"For what?" Cho smoothed back her hair and narrowed her eyes.

"For... avoiding you. I didn't have a right to! You told me the truth, and I should respect you for that." Harry's insides twisted up... sure, he had told her the truth. Well, maybe it was that he simply hadn't lied, but not expressed the entire truth either. It was complicated. "You said you weren't ready to commit, and I should understand that. I once felt that way too. Sure, it hurt me but...." She broke off and glanced at the stone floor, looking uncomfortable. Harry's insides continued to lurch guiltily. "You're a great boy, Harry," being referred to as a 'boy' still reminded him of Fleur Delacour, but he overlooked it, "-and you have a good standard. You... you have a good grip on everything that goes on around you." What a lie. "All right, I'm going off on a tangent..." Harry laughed and Cho giggled a bit nervously.

"Huge tangent. But, that's okay. I enjoy the praise," said Harry, winking at her when he caught her eye again. He figured charm was sometimes the only and best way to win. She smiled up at him and tried to pull her speech back on track.

"Okay, how can I say all this?" Cho paused for a moment before continuing. "Ever since you came to this school... before you even knew who I was... you were getting into trouble. Not so much trouble with Filch, but... trouble with You-Know-Who. You risked your life over and over... and nearly every time you did it while protecting a friend... or just did it for a friend in general. I admit that you make me nervous.... You've been through so much, and you're so brave... but you stare down... death like Padma Patil stares at her mirror!" Harry laughed, despite the color of extreme modesty rising steadily in his face.

"Nice analogy," he complimented.

"Thanks," replied Cho. "But... people respect you. You risk things for another person like you have nothing to lose. It's ridiculous, but scary. After I heard about you heading to the hospital wing with that godsister of yours... I hadn't gotten the details on who had been hurt, how bad, and what had all happened. I started worrying. I hadn't with you for a week just because you told me you didn't want to be in a relationship right now. I realized you didn't need any more to worry about... and needed to apologize. It had been nagging me for a while... I only refused to speak with you because I was... embarrassed."

Harry blinked a few times, trying to make sense of all this. "It's okay," he said finally, figuring it all added up to an apology. "It's not your fault. For now, though... I'd really appreciate having a good friend."

Cho smiled. "You already have good friends. Not to mention the tons that would line up if the spot was open..." Harry raised his eyebrows at her and she shook her head as though to say 'never mind'.

"Well, sure I have good friends," Harry realized, "But they're... preoccupied." This was possibly the best word for it. Ron and Hermione were basically together (and if that was final, Harry was probably not to be Ron's first friendship-priority anymore), Holly had problems to deal with... not to mention she would soon be finding out that Ron and Hermione were most definitely about to make it official. He had other friends, but they had their pairs. Ginny was a year younger, and despite her growing friendship with Holly - she had her 5th-year-friends. Seamus and Dean were mates for life. He supposed there was always Neville...

"Aren't you?" asked Cho. Harry thought about this for a moment.

"Maybe," he replied, "But not as busy as usual. Which means there's always a spot open for you."

"It does?"

"Not really. But there is a spot open!" Cho smirked. "I'd settle for 'just a friend' basis, if that's good for you." Besides her small smile, she still seemed a little tender on the subject.

"I'd apply for that," she said. It was all adding up to be a rather cheesy moment.

Harry pretended to consider this for a moment before saying, "You're hired."

"What you did for her, by the way," Cho said, back to the previous subject, "-that was really brave of you." Harry smiled modestly and glanced away.

"...Thanks."

He had put his hand on the door handle to open the door and re-enter Lupin's office, but Cho stopped him by putting a hand on his arm. "I have a question for you, first," she said. He turned his head and looked down at her.

"Yes?"

"You... you said that you didn't see a future for us, right?" Harry winced but nodded. "But... you also said that we'd fit good together..."

"Er... yeah I did. Why?" Harry was already dreading the next thing she would say.

"What made you change your mind?"

*()%()*

Holly shrieked as she saw the long gash in her arm begin spilling blood rapidly. Her arm hurt horribly... it felt like the entire inside of it was on fire. She threw the covers off of herself and groped for the necklace on the bedside table. She was hardly aware of Draco's gray eyes round with shock and curiosity watching her closely. He gasped when his sight traveled to her arm.

"My Lord, Black, what...?" His features contorted as thick blood spilled out of the wound alarmingly fast and all over the thin baby blue bedspread of the infirmary bed.

Her fingers of the uninjured arm enclosed around the warm metal of her pendant and she squeezed it tight, gritting her teeth to find two spots to focus on... squeezing her Cretionis Charm and clamping her jaw shut. She watched as a light escaped the miniscule gaps of her fingers enclosing the Charm in her right hand. She watched as though through a sped-up film of a wound healing as the blood stopped coming. She saw, now, that the cut had followed the line of one of her veins, as the vein repaired itself and soon the skin was coming together and the scar of the cut was disappearing. The pain vanished, and Holly was left clutching her necklace, breathing hard, and staring at her arm.

"What the hell just happened, Black?" muttered Draco, staring at the girl. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office once more.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, no," Holly replied shakily, "I just dreamt I was dating him." She pointed at Draco. Madam Pomfrey gave her a suspicious look (not noticing the blood on the blankets - Draco must have been blocking the way), but seeing that no one was hurt, receded back into her office.

"I'm flattered," Draco said with a pleasant leer. Holly arced an eyebrow.

"It wasn't meant to be a compliment..."

"Sure it was!" he replied, his leer still in place. "You could have just said you were having a nightmare."

Holly cleared her throat and gave the Slytherin a funny look. "That was the effect I was conducing...." Draco waved a hand.

"Don't lie. I mean - I know I'm good," he smirked imperiously, "-but I don't think I've ever made a girl cry out like that." Inclusion immediately formed on Holly's face before she wrinkled her nose. She couldn't help but give in to the desire to laugh quietly. After she had opened her eyes following the dream, everything seemed a bit more realistic than it had when she first awoke from her jinxed sleep. The impulse to hate Draco was still there... but what did she care? There were no other Gryffindors there to tell him to go wank off in a murky dungeon somewhere, and no Slytherins to assist him in his taunting. Why bother being completely wicked?

"Okay then," she said, shaking her head. She busied herself with unhooking the clasp of her Cretionis Charm so she could secure it around her neck again.

He watched her slip the thin gold chain under her hair and around her neck before bringing it to the front and hooking it carefully. He cleared his throat and met her eyes. "What happened?" he asked again.

Holly tried to decipher the look on Draco's face. It wasn't worry... no, it certainly wasn't that. Curiosity maybe? Interest? If there was any concern in him, he wasn't showing it. "Um... I cut myself."

"You did not! There was a spell that did that... and you were sleeping." He paused here, searching her eyes with his. Holly knew immediately that Draco had never looked so hard at her, and it managed to make her spine tingle. "What were you dreaming?"

Holly thought about this. Certainly she knew what she was dreaming. It was that woman in that palace again. With her birds and emerald cup. "I... uh... I don't really remember. I was talking with a woman about my necklace... that's all."

It was clear that Draco didn't believe this one bit, but somehow he overlooked it. "Is that a Cretionis Charm?" he asked, pointing vaguely somewhere just under her collarbone. Holly touched the gem in reflex.

"Yeah... it um... it heals wounds," she explained. Truly, that hadn't been what that particular Charm had done before... but that's what it did now.

"Clearly,"

Draco said, rubbing the back of his head. Even he was teetering on the line of being kind to her.

"Has Harry come yet?" Holly asked, in search of a new subject, pulling her pillows up and leaning back on them.

"Potter? No. No one has come since everyone was first here." He shrugged and turned his eyes away from her. "Perhaps the original group of Gryffindor friends has finally become tangled in their own lives and forgotten about you." Holly looked at him for a moment, but he did not look back. That wasn't something that was, but it definitely had the potential to be one of those situations that were still to come. She began running her thumb over the inside of her hand, along the bottom of her fingers.

Holly sighed and closed her eyes. What she would give for a French vanilla cappuccino right now. A box of Thin Mints didn't sound bad either. She put the image of the palace, the birds, and the woman back into her mind. It was all a dream... but how had she managed to be cut if it were only something her mind had projected to her? Before the woman had transferred the healing powers into her Charm - Holly thought. As soon as she was out of there... it was time to reunite herself with the library.

*()%()*

Really there hadn't been a change in mind embodied, but he had stated two things that completely contradicted each other. His hand gripped the door handle instinctively. He certainly knew why he had 'changed his mind'. He told her the truth, in one, he thought they could definitely manage being... together. If it weren't for Ginny. Or maybe 'if it weren't for the years of adolescent hormones'.

He might as well tell her what he could. Harry let go of the door handle and sighed. "I... I thought something was growing in between us. And I was very excited about it, I guess. But somehow..." he drifted off and knew that this wasn't sounding good. Then again, how could he make what he was trying to tell her sound good? It was ridiculous. "I," he picked up, "ended up realizing I had feelings for someone else."

Cho's expression hadn't changed. Harry wondered whether what he was telling her was better or worse than any assumptions she had harbored. His instinct was the latter. "Don't get me wrong," he continued, struggling to find the right words, "I still really liked you. But I didn't want to think about something else if I were to be with you. It wouldn't be fair." This was probably as good as he could make it sound. Harry scooted along the small ledge that hung over the drop off of details. "I'm sorry," he added, ill at ease, looking away.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Cho said, shaking her head. She caught his eye and gave him a small smile. It was a bit forced. After a pause she said, "We'd better get back in there, hm?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." said Harry. He grabbed the bronze door handle once more and pushed the door open. 4 pairs of curious eyes met them upon entry - one brown, one amber, and two blue.

*()%()*

Draco had finally been sent to make his way to Lupin's office and alert Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the professors of Holly's consciousness. He moved along the corridor with his incessant Malfoy simplicity. Draco was just perfect without trying - or he was quite sure of that, anyway. He was making his way there the only way he knew how - no secret passages for him.

He was no longer wondering about Holly's mysterious gash. He knew the spell that must have caused it, but still he had no clue as to how it had gotten there in her sleep. Especially considering he only knew of the curse through studies in Defense Against the Dark Arts - and it was a near-ancient spell, at that! But Draco didn't have the time or the patience to worry about a pitiful female Gryffindor's problems. In fact, he found no reason to care.

What was badgering him, though, was since she awoke the second time she had been uncharacteristically kind to him. Not that it mattered, but from that point on she had seemed more alert of what was happening - and she had 'forgotten' to be nasty towards him. But, then again, out of the Gryffindors, Holly was most likely the nicest to him. Even Hermione's more classic 'ignore him's were diminished by the 'shut up you unhealthy bastard!'s, or comments along those lines, he could get from her, Holly. Typically you had to pounce on the girl for something first before she started pelting you with her personal and well detailed opinion. Or... that was the way it went by what he had seen of her.

Of course - getting to her was just as easy that way.

By now the door of Lupin's office was visible, and he slowed his pace. He had all the time in the world (or so he thought), and the hospital wing made him a little nauseous.

*()%()*

After Ron, Ginny, Lupin, and Dumbledore had gazed at Harry and Cho for a few moments (Dumbledore's eyes lacking quite the infinity of curiosity found in the others'); the professors started talking about something they must have been discussing before. "Remus, I would like you to send a letter to Sirius and tell him what happened. Then reassure him that everyone is all right and he mustn't come detonating into the school in the middle of the night to make sure of it," said Dumbledore.

"Will do," said Lupin with a nod.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, turning to him, "I think it's time we make our way back to-" He stopped abruptly as there was the sound of someone rapping on the door. Lupin, who was rummaging through one of his drawers for parchment, ink, and a quill, looked up.

Apparently resolved to staying in his seat he cleared his throat and said, "Yes?"

*()%()*

Hermione and McGonagall had been flipping pages in silence for quite a while. Hermione's eyes grazed over astrological charts that weren't familiar to her, searching for the one she had read over before. Those interested in astrology and divination were classically the ones who put things in order by what the classifications of the degrees of collimation, not the date in which it will be found. She beat upon herself for not remembering the page number, which she could do for nearly any subject in school. Finally, over 4/5ths through the book, she found it.

"The alignment of the planets at this particular point in the Earth's life is very unusual. They are nearly in a perfectly straight formation of a line, although still a small bit scattered. These positions give us many signs to be wary of and, in addition, some to look forward to. Several of those are as followed: danger and evil; a great defeat with sacrifice; worldly celebration; bringing together and forcing apart; and unalterable fame."

"I found one, Professor McGonagall," Hermione said. She spun the book on the desk so it was upside down to her and pushed it towards the professor. Hermione tapped the caption under the diagram of planetary positions.

The professor read through the predictions with raised eyebrows. "Ah," she said as she finished the paragraph, "Why that sounds troublesome. Evil ails us; 'great defeats' come only with sacrifice; alongside 'bringing together' is the inverse... hm! Unalterable fame is not always the best thing life can offer - considering what a being could possibly be known for. With all this suffering there comes world celebration. Possibly the brightest prediction I have yet encountered." She shook her head darkly and saved the page with a golden bookmark shaped as a curved tail with a tuff at the end before shutting the book, and handing Hermione another volume.

()*%*()

After rapping on the door (Draco only pounded in emergencies that didn't classify as 'terribly important' to him) he waited with his hands in the pockets of his robe. After a couple seconds he pushed the door open a fraction and looked inside with one of his elegantly shaped gray eyes. Every individual inside the room was staring back at him. He cleared his throat, gladly noting that they were not performing some heinous thing he would rather not see, and pushed the door open further.

He raised his chin slightly with his trademark Malfoy sage and grace (but, perhaps in Draco's case there was arrogance in place of sage), leaving out the smirking winsomeness he had worked so hard to make his own. This is what Draco did when eyes of superiors were turned on him, making him feel, rare as it was, uncomfortable. "I was to come and retrieve Potter, Granger, Weasley, and Professors Dumbledore and Lupin. But as I see Granger is not with us, no need for her to come. Weasley wasn't to be requested directly, he," Draco looked intently at Ron after glancing at Ginny, "would just be an addition. There was nothing about Weasley Number Seven or a Ravenclaw mentioned." How Draco knew the exact number of Weasley children was a mystery... Bill and Charlie hadn't been around Hogwarts for Draco to know. "Black is awake."

Harry snapped into big brother mode. "She is?" he said, "Is she all right?"

"About as 'all right' as Black could be, I'd say," Draco replied nonchalantly.

"Holly's my friend," Ginny said, standing her ground, "I'm coming." She looked hard at Draco and he maintained looking nothing close to impotent or showing the least bit of empathy or, in that case, feeling at all.

"And may we be a party of six," he said shrugging, "Don't take it up with me, Little Weasley." Ginny fumed.

"You may come, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said before her eyes turned on him. "But I must request that you remain outside of the infirmary before a number of our company exits... I would predict Madam Pomfrey would be hassled enough with only two individuals badgering her patient... no more six or seven."

There was a short space in time in which nothing was said, and Cho's eyes suddenly got big. "No... no, I don't have to come. I have the information I need... and there's a set of Arithmancy problems on page 66 of my book that's waiting for me in my dormitory..." she said, stepping backwards towards Draco and the door.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, stepping forward, "You could come if you wanted..."

"No," she said, shaking her head, "no I don't need to. I'm not sure Holly knows me-" Oh, but she did! "-so it wouldn't be a very meaningful visit. I'll see you later?"

Harry nodded and put on a small smile that Cho only returned for a split second. She stepped around Draco and out the door. When the eyes of Lupin, Dumbledore, Ron, and Ginny had turned away from where Draco was, he dared a raised eyebrow at Harry. He got no reaction. Whether Harry chose to ignore this or didn't see it at all didn't matter. Everyone in the school knew a bit about the happenings between famous hero, Harry Potter, and pretty Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang.

"We will come then, shall we?" Dumbledore suggested. He put his hands on his knees to assist himself in standing. It was easy to forget that Dumbledore was an old man (to most), but when you saw that he couldn't stand up easily anymore - you knew. "Miss Black cannot be of the most patient. Remus, lead the way." Dumbledore gave Lupin a meaningful look, and Lupin returned it with one of uncertainty.

"Alright. Follow me, then," Lupin said after a moment. He led all of them a ways down the corridor, behind a tapestry, down the set of secret stairs and out from behind the suit of armor, and into another corridor. Soon the six of them were standing outside the door of the hospital wing.

"Mr. Malfoy," said Dumbledore, "You may return to your common room, if you wish. Professor Lupin and I will speak with you tonight after dinner." He certainly did wish to go back to his common room... of course he did! Draco wondered why Dumbledore hadn't just suggested this when they had first left Lupin's office. He couldn't wait to return to his own affairs, and have those tedious Gryffindors out of his hair. He would never follow one of those thickheaded, belligerent, scarlet and gold-dight gits anywhere again.

"Yes, I think I'll do that..." Draco turned on his heel without another word and glided away.

*()%()*

As Harry watched Malfoy walk away, he thought about thanking him for a moment. He hadn't done that yet, sincerely, but right now it looked as though he never would. What would happen if he simply waltzed up to him in the middle of Care of Magical Creatures or Potions and thanked him for his assistance in the whole... affair?

Still, after all Malfoy had done - over the years - he had hardly made up his encumbrance. He didn't truly deserve thanks.

Dumbledore told Ron and Ginny to stay outside the infirmary for a while; insisting that he and Lupin wouldn't be too long and they could enter afterwards. The two Weasley siblings agreed and stood against the wall. Lupin motioned for Harry to enter, and he did so, right behind the headmaster and his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Over Lupin's shoulder he could see Holly. She had the pillows propped up against the white headboard of the bed she was in, and was leaning against them, fingering her Cretionis Charm. Already she had put it back on, he saw. (Before they had come in she removed the blood from the sheets and bedspread with her wand.) A moment after they entered Holly looked up at them and smiled. "Hello, Professors," she said. Her eyes fell on Harry. "Hi, Harry," she added quietly. He smiled at her. And only now he noticed...

"My God, Holly," Lupin said, laughing softly, "your hair changes color yet again!" Holly's eyebrows twisted before she grabbed one of her thick curls and pulled it forward. Somehow it had righted itself, for the most part. Back to brown, although slivers of blonde still remained here and there. She gasped. Dumbledore, Lupin, and Harry approached the bed.

"I've got highlights!" she exclaimed, grabbing more hair and pulling it forward, examining the little gold still among it. Mind Holly not to notice that following her long and treacherous wait for her hair to right itself back to its normal state so Dean and Seamus would cease in referring to her as Barbie, she only commented that it had highlights. Harry had never figured out how Seamus had gotten hold of first year Emily Staton's Muggle Christmas catalog to give Holly this rather apt nickname.

"Permanently, until you turn gray, I daresay," Dumbledore added. "Luckily your variegation doesn't come in large portions. I had a dear friend, years ago, who had the same experience... and wasn't so fortunate to have thin remnants of his previous color. He spent the better part of his days looking like a tiger."

Holly laughed. First we talk about the Holly/Voldemort chapter for an age, and now onto her hair. Hmm, Harry thought dully. He stood off to the side as Lupin and Dumbledore asked her a few things. Harry didn't really listen, but the parts he did catch were basically questions of what had happened to her while she had been away from the rest of the group. He figured that they had the rest of the story put down by now, and only needed little pieces of her perspective.

Madam Pomfrey emerged from her office and talked with the headmaster for a while. Harry caught a, "Fine, they have fifteen minutes. Black will spend the night here, rest herself, and start her lessons again on Tuesday morning."

After they finished, Lupin did a final spell that was in ranks with that of Finite Incantatem and they left with a few parting words with both he and Holly. The professors didn't shut the door behind them, and Harry could hear Dumbledore permitting Ginny and Ron to enter. Harry moved forward to sit down on the hospital bed to talk with his godsister. First he accidentally sat on her knees, and when they had sorted that out, Ginny and Ron were there too. Ginny sat on the other side of the bed, and Ron stood beside her.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked her, trying to interpret the look on her face. She was thinking about something other than Harry's question - that was all he could get out of it.

"I'm a'right," she replied, "and you?" Harry smirked.

"I'm fine as long as you are," he said kindly. Holly chuckled and looked away. Before she looked at Ginny, her eyes fell on Ron. They just looked at each other for a moment, and their expressions were a mixture in between blank and sadness. Holly looked like she was about to say something - but a sigh decided against it and she brought her gaze down to look at Ginny.

"Do you need anything?" Ginny asked her, searching her eyes. Holly pondered this for a moment, looking off towards the ceiling in one of the far corners of the room. "Nice hair, by the way."

"Yes," agreed Harry, "back to brown."

"Thanks. And, now that you mention it... I'd really like some hot chocolate," she smirked. "And I'd like one of you to get Lavender or Parvati to bring in any letters I got, and... some clean clothes," she stated, with a clarifying nod at the end. Ginny raised her eyebrows. "I'm just taking advantage of being stuck in here for a night... and I don't really need the hot chocolate." Truly, she didn't need her letters or clothes either.

"That's okay," Ginny said, "I'll get you any letters and a change of clothes... Ron, you get your arse into the kitchen and get her a big mug of cocoa." Ron gave Ginny a look of protest, but the youngest Weasley simply stood up, gave him a stern look, and told Holly she would be back in shortly. Ron sighed, fatalistically, and walked out - probably destined for what lies behind a painting of a fruit bowl.

"Those are some faithful friends you have," Harry mused, looking at the door that Ron had just closed.

"Either that or friends who don't like the hospital wing... or maybe just one friend with an obedient big brother..." Harry looked at her, but she was looking in her lap at her hands. She had long fingers tipped with carefully filed and glazed nails. Three of her fingernails were broken off on her right hand - the ones that presumably held her quill when she wrote.

Harry broke his gaze and looked up at Holly. She didn't look at him right away, of course, but continued examining her hands. If anything, she now looked sorrowfully pensive.

"How ya doin?" she asked, finally looking up at her godbrother.

"I'm fine. Do you need anything?" Holly smiled.

"I've already got people covering that, Harry," she stated, smile playing innocent. Harry glanced around the hospital wing, but found nothing new to examine. He had been in this place many times.

"So... uh... what did you do while Malfoy was in here?" he asked, trying to avoid silence and yet the topic of all what had gone on in the past 24 hours. Holly shrugged.

"Not too much... Madam P. was too near to do anything." Harry's eyes widened in leavening horror. "I'm kidding," she assured him. "I slept most of the time. He just bummed around. I woke up the first time... I think I was a little woozy still. I don't even remember what we talked about... I just hope anything I said to him was witty." She bit her lip and Harry shook his head sadly. "Then I fell asleep again, woke up again, and from there it's all a very vivid memory of doing basically nothing. What have you been doing?" Harry smirked.

"About the same."

"Really?"

"No," Harry admitted, "I went to Lupin's office, Dumbledore came in and told us all about Voldemort being gone-"

"I sorta figured that would happen... damn it," Holly said nonchalantly. Now she was looking in the general direction of the foot of the bed.

"Oh, you didn't know that did you? Well... he did," Harry said with a sigh.

"Yeah and lemme guess... they went to find him, he wasn't there, came back, yadda, yadda, told you all about it, tried to figure out where he could be, blah-dee, blah-dee, sent someone out to look for him and haven't heard anything on the subject since." Harry rolled this over in his mind for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah... that's about it," he said agreeably. He was rather shocked and a bit relieved that she hadn't been panicky about this, and just let it slide - although as to why... Harry couldn't be positive. Holly shrugged insouciantly and sighed.

"I'm a genius." Harry grinned. "What else happened?"

"Er... we told the professors about the centaur message - don't worry we're not in trouble, I lied a little..." Holly smirked.

"You're the best, my little gutter rat."

Harry scowled momentarily, but Holly's light meant that she either didn't mean what she was saying, or didn't know what she was saying. "I know it. Anyway, McGonagall and Hermione went to the library to find the books she had looked into about the prophecies and whatnot-" Harry noticed, now, that Holly hadn't said a word about Hermione, but what was to be expected? "-I told a couple other people about the whole ordeal-" Holly didn't even look as though she were going to break in and ask 'who?', and simply nodded. "-Then I talked to Cho."

"You talked to Cho?" she said, her eyes widening in curiosity along with immediate speculative. Harry nodded. "...And?"

"And...

she, er, said she was sorry for not talking to me for telling her I wasn't ready for a relationship." Holly snorted, knowing perfectly well Harry was ready but it was she who made him stake this claim, mostly. "And after agreeing to be friends she asked me why I said both that I thought we'd be great together and that I didn't see a future for us..."

"And?"

Holly pressed again.

"And,

I told her the truth," he finalized, drawing himself up in what could be described as a strange variant of pride.

"Even about the triple-overtime tongue hockey game with Ginny?" Holly impelled. Harry hesitated for a moment, pondering whether there was an 'overtime' involved, then realized that wasn't funny and answered.

"I doubt she could handle that much truth," Harry said confessedly.

"Sleaze-ball. But," she nodded, "for the time being I suppose you could leave it at... what did you tell her?"

"That I had feelings for somebody else too," Harry answered, glancing at his own hands, this time. Long fingers, not quite as skinny as hers, nor did they have the cared-for fingernails. But it was Harry - Harry didn't pay attention to such things. Holly sighed.

"Yeah, I s'pose that's true." She paused for a moment, and Harry could feel that she was looking at him. "You don't have to look away, it's not like it was me who you had those 'feelings' for," she added. Harry looked back at her and smiled.

"True," he said. Holly smiled kindly. She lacked a bit of the warmth she normally possessed... then... she had for a while. It was simply amazing how wrought up over someone of the opposite sex Holly could get. Or perhaps that was just girls.

*()%()*

Draco walked down the relatively empty corridors for what seemed like forever. Why that was, he wasn't even positive. He had been stared at by every person who passed, and that seriously disturbed him. Male or female... why did they all have to goggle? From Ravenclaw to Hufflepuff... oh the shame of being desired by those damn badgers.

By now he found himself walking down the somewhat damp and dark corridor leading down into the dungeons. When he was facing the apparently solid wall, he stopped to think of what the password had been changed to at the beginning of the month. "Ah, yes, now I remember!" he said with dry enthusiasm when it came to him, "Chimaera."

The door appeared and he pulled it open, stepping forward into the Slytherin common room. The low room was, as usual, glowing green. But Draco would much rather have green light than bright, cheery, yellow. Often times - green was good.

He could see the silhouettes of Crabbe and Goyle emerging from the high-backed chairs around the fireplace. They slouched forward, beautiful as boulders covered with mold, and stopped in front of Draco, deaf to his impatient 'ugh'.

"Yes?" he snapped, staring up at his fellow sixth-years.

"Where've you been to, Malfoy?" asked Goyle, with his classical slurred voice. He only seemed to know how to speak with the far back of his mouth and the highest point of his throat.

"I've been out for a walk," he said.

"You've been gone for an awful long time..." Crabbe said, in the same monotone voice as Goyle's.

"Don't - worry - about it," Draco said through his teeth, glaring at them. One thing of his father's he was glad to inherit was his ability to stare ... with power. Even though he was a foot shorter than Crabbe and Goyle each, glowering at the two of them made them both take a step back.

"W-we were just... worried about you, Malfoy," spluttered Goyle. Draco sighed out of his nose and nodded disbelievingly.

"Right. I'm going up to my room," he said. Draco turned and walked off, away from the two slack-jawed idiots that he was forced into being friends with. He ascended the stairs, past all the other dormitories, to his own.

The Malfoys, being a very wealthy family, were a special case in nearly everything they did. Draco's dormitory, two floors above the common room below and on the second floor of the school, was his own. His father had requested and provided generous pay to give his only heir a bedroom of his own at Hogwarts. It wasn't that Lucius did not approve of the individuals he had known would be sorted into Slytherin before Draco's first year, but he wanted the best for his son. And for the first time, this possibly was the best Draco could get. Being around the ultra-dull Crabbe and Goyle scattered his senses, and took the little color he had in his life away.

He opened the door and walked into the familiar surroundings of his room. He took off his robes, under which he wore black, dare we say, 80% cotton and 20% polyester trousers. Wearing elastic was a sin - thus there was none around his ankles, and hidden ties around his waist. A warm gray sweater, nothing like those made by Molly Weasley, adorned his torso and warmed his arms.

He took one of those Home-At-Last deep breaths and started walking towards his desk to finish off his Transfiguration homework. As soon as he had pulled out the chair and bent his knees to sit down - there was a knock on the door. He put down the quill he had picked up, stared at the wall in annoyance for a moment, and turned to answer the door. He pulled it open and found himself facing one of his seventh-year Chasers, Bobby Olimb. The guy wasn't too horrible. Much smarter than Crabbe or Goyle, certainly, and with a lot more personality. Bobby's closest friend and another of Draco's oldest Chasers, Jack Martell, was standing behind him.

"Do I have news for you, Malfoy," Bobby said with an unusual cheery smile. Draco pushed a stray blonde hair out of his eyes with a casual flick of his hand and stared at the other boy.

"Do you?" he yawned. "Hopefully it's important, because I'm hardly ready to put up with anyone's badgering, Olimb."

Bobby grinned. "Maybe not important, but good nonetheless." Draco crossed his arms in front of him and raised an eyebrow, ready for the explanation. "I shagged Kelly Prelvetz last night."

The youngest Malfoy choked. "What?!" Bobby grinned again. "Did you have to tell me that?! How could that be possible!?"

"Oho, it is possible. Very possible." Draco stared. He had known Kelly for a very long time, and knew for a fact she had her own definition of 'evil, psychotic bitch'. And besides it - why did Bobby have to inform him of this? Arithmancy had to be so much more fun! Draco shook his head in shock, and Bobby picked up with more to say. "This wasn't meant to happen... it's one of those wild, chemical, ripping off of a 10-Galleon pair of lacy knickers connections."

Draco shut his eyes in horror. "Thanks. That will go right by the visual of my grandmother getting out of the bathtub." Bobby and Jack (in the background) laughed softly.

"I'm going to meet up with her again on Friday." Draco's eyes snapped open.

"You are not using my room," he said quickly. Bobby shook his head.

"I wasn't planning on asking you. I'm still going to ask her out, though," Bobby said matter-of-factly.

Draco stared. "You haven't asked...?" Bobby shook his head. Draco paused, looking at him in unpalatibility. "I am... impressed." Bobby smiled widely, for what must have been the millionth time, and after a moment, Draco started talking again. "But, Olimb, she's the devil!"

Bobby snorted. "I can't help it...she's sexy!"

"No," Draco explained, "you only think she's... sexy because she's made of HELLFIRE!"

Bobby sighed, and thought for a moment on how to explain this to his fellow Slytherin male. "Okay, what if you were stranded with her on a desert island?"

"I'd Disapparate as far away as I could."

"No Disapparating. No wands." Draco looked hard at him and sighed.

"Murder/suicide," he concluded, nodding.

"Alright, picture her in a bikini made out of coconuts!" Draco mentally put himself on a little island with white sand and palm trees and sat Kelly Prelvetz in front of him in a coconut bra and grass skirt, a couple flowers in her black hair. After that, he threw in her personality.

"Malfoy!" she snapped, "you need to make the signal fire! I don't give a damn if your hands are bleeding! Hurry up!" She crossed her arms for a moment before letting out an 'ow!'. "I've got a splinter!" she said, looking down at her chest and grabbing one half of her coconut bra. "Why didn't you grab a tweezers when the ship went down?!" She looked away with an impatient noise. "Moron."

"That was unpleasant," Draco stated.

"Just do what I do!" Bobby suggested. Draco sighed and put himself back on the 'Desert Island', but this time, blocked out all the sound. After he saw Kelly mouth the word 'moron' he found himself back where he was supposed to be - his bedroom.

"...God! She is sexy!" Bobby gave him a 'see?' expression and Draco shook the thought out of his head. "What do you want, Olimb?" he snapped coldly.

"I want to tell you that you... need to get out more! Find a girl! Have it off!" Bobby exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air as though this is something you normally told Malfoy.

"Augh!" Draco exclaimed, "I don't need anybody right now! If I wanted a pretty little bird in my life I'd go - out - and - get one! I'm Draco Malfoy! I don't need to go banging around after girls - they - come - to me. Now, if you don't mind, I have Arithmancy to do and privacy to enjoy. Out." He pushed Bobby, who had been trying to hook him up with someone for the past three months, out of the door, shut it, and locked it with two manual-locks and a charm. Draco had had enough of girls to last him a good long time. Gryffindor girls, especially.

*()%()*

After a while of silence between Holly and Harry, Ron returned. He handed her a large mug of hot cocoa and set down a plate with a sandwich cut in quarters on her lap. Holly looked down at the sandwich and back up at Ron.

"I didn't need a sandwich," she said. Ron didn't say anything, and Summoned a chair from the next bedside and sat down in it the wrong way.

"You must be hungry. Besides," he added, "you look pale." Holly frowned.

"The sun's ultra-violet rays aren't as harmful during the late months of the year, what can I do?" she deadpanned. "Thanks, though," she added in a smaller voice, wrapping her fingers around the large mug.

"No problem," Ron replied, in a voice just as quiet. Harry looked in between them and sighed - it was just pathetic. It was then that Ginny entered the hospital wing. She had clothes draped over one of her arms and two letters in her opposite hand.

"I was thinking," she said, "that you really didn't need these clothes. If Madam Pomfrey lets you out tomorrow morning you could just run and get your own outfit. Nonetheless, it was an adventure going through your closet. Is it color-coded, or was I just imagining it?" Holly blushed slightly.

"Yeah... I get bored... sometimes," she said, taking the garb from her, folding it up, and setting it down on top of her other clothes on the bedside table. Ginny smirked and handed her Holly letters. "Thanks, Gin." Ginny shrugged as though to say 'don't mention it', and Madam Pomfrey came out of her office.

"It has been twenty minutes now! Your friend will be out of here tomorrow, but she needs rest! Shoo!" she exclaimed, motioning towards the door. Really, Holly had been sleeping (in her own body or not) for a good long time, but that was Madam Pomfrey for you. Harry patted Holly's hand.

"I'll see you tomorrow night," he muttered.

"Hopefully earlier," Holly said, nodding her good-bye. He smiled at her, and stood up. Ron mumbled a quick closing, Ginny said something that made Holly laugh and give her a quiet reply, and the three of them left together.

*()%()*

It was nearly time for dinner when Harry, Ron, and Ginny had re-entered the Gryffindor common room. Ginny sat down at a table, which was covered with the homework she had left there, and the boys made their way up to their dormitory. At the top of the spiral staircase they entered the deserted bedroom and took off their cloaks and scarves before double-checking whether or not they had any uncompleted homework.

"'Wonder where Hermione and McGonagall are," said Ron, rummaging around in his trunk for something. Harry, who was pouring himself some water from the pitcher, looked down at his kneeling friend.

After a moment he said, "'Dunno. If you honestly wanted to know I'd let you use the map...." Ron looked up from the trunk, a book in his hand.

"Could I?" he said hopefully. Harry nodded and set down his glass, opened his own trunk, and found the Marauder's Map under his Invisibility Cloak. He pulled it out, unfolded it, and grabbed his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,"

he said. Harry watched the ink lines start spreading across the parchment for a moment before handing the map to Ron.

"How'd you get this back, again?" Ron asked off-handedly, looking at it. Harry thought about this for a moment, knowing that it had been at the beginning of his fifth year at Hogwarts - an event that had meant so much to him over a year ago.

"Oh! - I found it on my desk the first time we had class with Professor Espeseth. Apparently Dumbledore had found it in Moody's... well... Crouch's old office and by the heading, knew it was mine. By then he knew the story of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. I'm surprised the 'Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers' thing didn't make him change his mind," Harry explained, "I think he told Professor Espeseth to give it to me." Ron nodded; his eyes fixed on the map.

He put his finger down on a spot and said, "Right here. 'Looks like she's coming back from McGonagall's office." Harry assumed that he was talking about Hermione. He handed the map back to Harry and said, "Thanks."

Harry nodded and looked at the map before clearing it. He could see the 'Draco Malfoy' dot sitting stationary in an unlabeled room, 'Holly Black' placed inside a square marking a bed in the hospital wing, and 'Cho Chang' moving down a set of stairs. That dot met one labeled 'Lisa Turpin' and they were close together for a moment before they split and went opposite ways. There were other dots all around the school, some moving and some not, but Harry didn't take the time to examine them. It was spying, really. He tapped the parchment, said, "Mischief Managed!" and folded it back up.

"Want a game of chess before dinner?" Harry suggested, when he re-opened his trunk and set the map inside. Ron shook his head, book still in hand.

"No... I still have four chapters to read in The Vipertooth Saga for Warlock Literature," Ron wailed, holding up the book. On it was a picture of a Peruvian Vipertooth dragon with smooth scales the color or copper, and black ridge marks. It was looking up at two people standing up in a balcony, a ravenous look in its eyes. "I can't believe I even took this bloody class."

Harry laughed. "You could always drop it. You'd have less classes than the rest of us next year if you did," he stated.

"That's true," agreed Ron, "George told me that it's required at Hogwarts that in your seventh year you need to take some sort of language class." Harry nodded.

"Yeah - I remember Hermione saying she wanted to take Mermish or something. God only knows why someone would want to know Mermish..." Harry said, eyes going unfocused in confusion. Ron shrugged.

"She thinks merpeople are fascinating," he stated easily. Harry nodded, wondering vaguely what other language courses were available to seventh years.

"I'm going to go down to the common room," he said, "I'll come and get you when I leave for dinner, should I?" Ron nodded and settled himself down in his bed, opening The Vipertooth Saga and leaning back against his pillows.

Harry opened the door and left, closing it with a click. Ron waited until his footsteps died away before getting up, and kneeling down in front of Harry's trunk. "Alohomora,' he said, pointing his wand at the brass lock. He heard it click and opened his best friend's trunk, only feeling a little bit guilty. He pulled out the Marauder's Map and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He watched the ink lines spread across the paper, intersecting, filling in different lines for staircases, and writing (other than the heading) appearing in the center of rooms and next to all the tiny dots. That thing was just fascinating.

His eyes grazed over the parchment until he found her. The small dot labeled 'Hermione Granger' was at the end of the corridor containing the portrait of the Fat Lady. He watched his pinprick-sized friend move steadily near the portrait, passing two dots labeled "Dean Thomas" and "Seamus Finnigan" going the opposite way. He cleared the map and put it carefully back into Harry's trunk, locked it, and stood up.

After setting The Vipertooth Saga down on his bed, Ron made his way out of the dormitory, down the stairs, and snuck carefully out of the common room. Harry's back was turned to him, so he made his way out without being seen by his best friend. Just outside of the portrait hole he met Hermione.

"Wanna go for a walk?" he asked her, pushing the portrait shut.

"Oh, Ron, I'm not too keen on going outside right now..." Hermione said sadly, gazing up at him. And still, she managed a brilliant smile.

"Around inside the castle, then?" he suggested, "I want to talk to you." Hermione thought about this for a moment before she sighed and nodded.

"Alright then. Let's go," she said, smiling again. He offered his arm to her with a small smirk. Hermione laughed and took it. The two of them made their way away from the Fat Lady, who was smiling kindly in her frame.

*()%()*

Upon entering the common room, Harry had looked around and found not one fellow sixth-year to talk to. He saw Ginny sitting at her table that was previously sprawled with homework. Now all the books were closed except for one, and she sat with her head resting on her hand, writing something at the top of a piece of parchment.

"Hey, Gin," he said. Ginny looked up at the tall, black-haired boy standing next to her. It took her only a split second to register that it was Harry (she had only just been daydreaming while trying to complete her Divination assignment).

"Hi, Harry," she said, straightening up and putting down her quill.

"Could I sit down?" he asked kindly, putting one of his hands on the wooden chair he was standing behind.

"Oh! Sure," she said, trying to regain the feeling in her hand had fallen asleep by flexing her fingers under the table. Harry pulled out the chair and slid into it.

"What are you doing?" he asked, cocking his head to the side in efforts to read the heading of her paper. Ginny sighed in despair.

"Graphing the increases and decreases of the use of levitating crystal balls from the year 1600 to the present at 50-year-intervals," she told him, secretly hoping that Harry didn't realize that she had signed up for Divination in the end of her second year solely because she had known he was in it. Harry reached for the parchment and turned it so he could read off of it.

"Why is there a loop in your line?" he asked innocently. He couldn't hold the curious expression long before he started to laugh. "How the hell do you get a loop in a line graph, Ginny?"

She could feel herself turning red, even though she knew Harry was only joking. "It's dead hard to do!" Harry shook his head.

"Ginny - there are four things in this world that are extremely hard." She raised her eyebrows, awaiting his information. "One - steel. Two - dragon scales. Three - diamonds. And four - getting on Snape's good side."

"Not if you're a Slytherin," she pointed out.

"I said extremely hard," Harry rejoined, "not impossible."

"I see," Ginny said, trailing off. This was true.

"My point is... this," he motioned to the parchment, "is not hard. Well... not that hard. I had to do the same assignment, in fact. You want some help?" Ginny blushed scarlet.

"Alright then," she said quietly, "What am I doing wrong?"

"Well," Harry said, pulling out his wand and removing the line past her loop, "we'll just have to see. First off... you need to plot points before you graph the line..."

Ginny watched Harry use his somewhat dirty and course but flawlessly carved hands point out to her what to do. For how faulted Harry seemed to some, why to her did he have to be so perfect?

*()%()*

Holly took a sip of her cocoa and looked around for somewhere to set it. After finding that her bedside table was piled with clothing, she pulled the rickety chair Ron had Summoned to her bedside earlier closer, and sat her mug down on that. She grabbed one of the letters Ginny had brought for her. It was a rolled up piece of parchment tied with a purple ribbon. After struggling to get the ribbon off of the parchment for a while, she noticed it was stuck on with Spellotape.

Feeling a bit stupid, she decided on untying the ribbon instead off pulling it off the letter, and after a while, successfully unrolled it. Naturally it was from her grandmother, Serene.

Dear Holly,

I am so very glad to hear your Cretionis Charm made it to you all right. I'm not quite sure why the Charm caused you a burning sensation when you first grasped it, although I'm certain there must be books in your school library that can explain that. It did not happen to me when I first received it, many years ago.

In explanation of the owl: your late grandfather had notoriously poor eyesight. To make Aife more noticeable to him (she used to hop around on the table while he was reading with a letter and your grandfather would curse her, thinking it was the neighboring family's mad dugbog "again") I turned her plumage blue. After that, he never mistook her for something else. Although, once in a while I would catch him attaching a letter to a similarly colored sitting room vase.

But, do see if you can return home during the Easter holidays. If so, I would make a point at coming to your house to meet you and Harry.

Sincerely,

Grandmother Serene

Holly sighed and put the parchment down to open the envelope that the second letter came in. She had concluded that her grandmother was a bit dull and rather proper - but what were she to expect? After ripping the flap of the envelope awkwardly (she was never good at these things) she triumphantly pulled the folded piece of parchment out and read the letter from Sirius, which was much less formal.

Holly-

How are things at Hogwarts? You had better not be getting in too much trouble, or I swear you'll be grounded for half of the summer holidays.

Holly laughed, seriously doubting this. It was probable that Sirius hadn't even meant it.

I've been finishing off Harry's adoption papers, my 'custody-of-my-own-daughter' papers, signing on the line for stuff to do with the house, AND my license to keep Buckbeak. He's a hippogriff that you haven't yet met, but had been traveling around with me for two years before my name was cleared. He would have to stay in the Magical Beast Shippen in town, though.

But over the Christmas holidays I'm going to be in London with the Ministry, signing into my job - and you and Harry won't be able to come home, unless you want to sit there all on your own. I'm really sorry - but they said that would be the only time they could formally place me into office. Otherwise they would be booked until sometime in the spring, and they insisted "the sooner the better".

I sent an owl to Harry with the same message, just because I'm that organized. Keep safe, don't wander, and if you do - borrow Harry's map or cloak (or both) so you don't get caught. That way, you won't be sitting at home washing dishes and sweeping floors with your Nimbus all summer. I think Hogwarts has seen enough Blacks to last itself.

(Here there was something scratched out, but it looked like the first four letters of her father's name.)

Dad

*()%()*

Hermione and Ron walked along an empty corridor; their arms no longer interlocked. Ron was, basically, leading the way. It was clear to Hermione that in the small conversations they had had while walking about the castle that Ron hadn't said what he wanted to.

They were heading down a hallway only half as wide as most of Hogwarts' corridors that Hermione hadn't been down before. Ron stopped suddenly and turned to his right. Hermione did the same and found that they were facing a large mirror on the wall. "I hope this is the right one," he mumbled as he pulled out his wand.

"Right what?" Hermione asked.

Ron didn't answer. He pointed his wand at the mirror and very carefully pronounced an incantation. "Perambulo Zothecae!" Suddenly the mirror had a transparent and rippled appearance, and beyond it she could see an empty stone room. Ron wrapped his fingers around Hermione's wrist and led her right through the surface of the mirror into the room behind it.

It was a small room, the walls a tan-colored, course stone. There was nothing in it. "I must say," said Hermione, "that I am impressed! How'd you know about this room?" It was lit magically, no torches or windows to be seen. The mirror-entrance had turned solid again, and the back of the mirror was a smooth gray.

Ron looked around it, as though hoping to see something new. "Charlie once told me that there were rooms hidden behind mirrors in Hogwarts, and I looked up the incantation to open the doors to hidden rooms in one of Fred and George's old books over the summer." He shrugged. "It's a good place for privacy, I guess."

Hermione knew that whatever words were going to come from Ron next, were probably the ones he was meaning to tell her. "Hermione, I-" he started, but broke off, at a loss for words. Hermione waited patiently, not saying a word. "Hermione," he began again, "I was wondering..." he stopped again and ran his hand up and down his arm like he did when he was either uncomfortable or embarrassed. "I was wondering," he repeated, "if you would want to... or like to... or if you would-" he paused, looking angry with himself for a moment, "-be my girlfriend."

Hermione practically fell over. Sure she and Ron had been spending lots of time together lately, and even held hands a time or two, but she hadn't expected him to ask her this. Not today, anyway. She gazed at him for a moment, not exactly sure that "okay then" was the right way to answer that question. After a moment she simply nodded.

"R-really?" Hermione smiled and nodded again, and Ron let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. But, just... one thing..." Ron was looking shifty again.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I... I want to keep it, you know, secret for a while. Because..." he stopped, once more, and looked away from Hermione. "Just because," Ron finished lamely.

Hermione nodded, knowing exactly why. "That's just fine. We can pretend to hold one of those intense, secret, romance-novel relationships for a while." Ron laughed nervously.

"Sure, if that's what you want." Ron grinned. "It's just - I wanted to end my day off with this," he stated.

Hermione raised her eyebrows in confusion. "With what?" Ron, playing it cool, stepped closer to her and took her hands in his. She looked up at him and he bent his head, to become a little more level to her.

"With this," he said off-handedly, leaning down and kissing her.

*()%()*

QUOTE: "Friendship" Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher. Human, All Too Human, chapter 7, (1878). > Just a little tidbit on girl/boy friendships (focused on Harry and Cho for the time being) - if there is to be any 'physical antipathy', it would be later on. <

A/N:

Classically, I didn't get quite as far as I wished I would... once more. But the chapters just get so long before I can go as far as I want and... I just stop so I don't keep you all waiting all too long for the next chapter.

If you didn't read the author's note at the very top, you should have noticed that I did change the name of the Inheirpikus Charm to one more logical... I did a little Latin-word-searching.

Today I drew out a somewhat odd class schedule for our Gryffindors, and took out the "double" class sessions, gave them each of their core classes 2 times a week and their 'cooptative' ones once. I based a lot of it on the days I said they had classes before, but there have been a few minor switches. Okay, there have been several.

A big thank you to all of the reviewers! And if you read it - please review!!!

COMING UP SOON:

>It could be in the next chapter or the next 3 for how dependable I am< Harry goes down to dinner alone. Draco talks with Professors Dumbledore and Lupin about the events of the previous day. Classes start up on Monday with Herbology! Holly takes a shower, gets another letter from a friend in her previous home, makes a Christmas list, and goes to the library. People, other than Harry (and Malfoy, I suppose), start noticing that Ron and Hermione are acting a little bit different. Dean and Seamus, for example.