The Face of Evil

CHAPTER 3

'--------------,' finished Malfoy.

'Excellent,' said Voldemort thinking aloud. 'It amazes even me sometimes, how fate abets us in our cause.'

'I want complete information about my heir,' said Lord Voldemort, 'We must begin the conversion preparations.'

Hermione ran down to show the story to Harry; in her extreme haste she did not notice the return of Hedwig. Harry had finished with the garden work by then. Having had weeded the garden a few days back, there was not much to do. He collided with Hermione as he was taking out the garbage.

'Herm, what happened?' he asked concerned. 'You are hyperventilating.'

'Read this,' she shoved the newspaper into Harry's hands. Harry noticed that her hands were shaking.

His eyes widened as he read through the main story.

'Oh! My God, Herm, we could have prevented this!' said Harry in a weak voice.

They both sat down on the grass, too stunned to speak. Hermione finally spoke,

"No, Harry we couldn't have. Hedwig was not here. More over, this was done a few hours after we had woken up, I doubt if this could have been prevented.'

'No Herm, we could have gone next door and informed Ms. Figg,' said Harry, looking at his hands. What he didn't tell her was that he had the dream several hours previous of waking up. Because he was debating his confused emotions, he did not act. Those crucial hours would have been well enough to have stopped the prison escape.

Hermione's reasoning shot to nothing. She became depressed and they had totally forgotten about the existence of the monitoring post next door. It would have taken not more than a few seconds for them to call Dumbledore. Azkaban would have been secure within minutes and the entire fiasco would have been avoided. The thoughts and the consequences rang clear in her mind.

They both knew the reason why they had acted in that fashion. They had been too involved in their own private world of romance and had ignored their duties and responsibilities in the real one. The guilt weighed heavily on their shoulders. Each blamed him/herself for the deviation, yet they were both involved.

Harry rose from the grass. The Dursleys had been out all day. They wanted to have some family time together, but Harry suspected the real reason. They wanted to have as least of contact with him and Hermione as possible.

He walked up the stairs slowly, still deep in thought.

'Hedwig', Harry cried. 'You're back!'

Hedwig had chosen that time to make an appearance with the mail she had been entrusted with. She gave a happy hoot and stuck out her leg. Harry removed the letter that was there.

'It's from Ron,' he informed Hermione, who had come behind him into the room.

Dear Hermione and Harry,

I hope you're all right Herm. Those bloody Death Eaters...One day they will get what they deserve! Harry, please take good care of Hermione and of yourself, as you are probably their number one target. Dumbledore has put a vast array of protection spells around the burrow, but they only work for Weasley blood relatives, so it's useless for both of you to come here. Dam it!

Harry, has your scar shown any activity? It might give us a sign to what's going on around here. Voldemort is trying to lay low, only attacking a few places at a time. The Ministry is in chaos; dad figures that if Fudge doesn't do something soon, he might have a rebellion on his hands. Hedwig seems anxious to go, so I'll finish this letter here.

Love,

Ron

Ron's writing style did not go unnoticed. The rushed method of speech was not something Ron would do. The letter seemed superficial and lacked a certain amount of warmth. The ending was also quite peculiar.

'Poor Ron,' said Hermione, 'he must be so worried.' Her eyes darted to the "love".

'Harry, why don't you write a reply to Ron and I will write a letter to Dumbledore,' said Hermione, her voice crisp and calm.

They began their tasks and were finished in half an hour. The Dumbledore letter had gone through three drafts to get it right. Harry neglected to inform Ron about their new relationship and the guilt prevented Hermione from insisting that he did. Harry attached the letters to Hedwig's leg.

'This one is for Dumbledore, and this one for Ron. Give Dumbledore his first please,' he told her.

She hooted a yes, and flew off through the window.

'Well,' said Hermione with a sigh, 'we've done what we could do.'

'I know Herm, it just seems so late,' said Harry his mind still on their failure. Hermione sat next to him on the bed and took his hand and gave it a good squeeze.

Harry squeezed back, a tear forming in his eye.

'I'll always be there for you,' whispered Hermione.

They sat there for a period of time that they did not measure. It was only the arrival of the Dursleys back home that sent Harry to the kitchen.

At night, they resorted to their configuration of Harry on the floor. Hermione had now known better than to protest. Sleep overcame her quickly.

But for Harry, the night would not pass easily. He couldn't sleep and kept turning and mumbling. He had failed in his responsibility; the deaths of many would be on his hand. Finally, he gave up and just stared at the ceiling.

Time slowly passed, a human body lay down next to him. He turned his face to see Hermione. Before he could react she silenced him with a single finger on his lips. She cuddled up to him and he cuddled back. The night became peaceful for both and sleep finally visited them.

The next morning, they awoke in each other's arms. Harry was the first to wake and his movement caused Hermione to do so as well.

'Thank you,' he whispered to her.

She nodded a meaningful nod. Harry rose carefully from the floor and went for his morning abolitions.

The morning passed as uneventfully as can be at the Dursleys. Since the Dursleys would not be leaving the house, Harry and Hermione were asked not too kindly to remain in their room.

The secret of which, probably lay in one of Aunt Petunia's bridge club friends, who had commented heavily on the presence of a young teenage girl in their house. A cousin was invented for that very purpose.

They spent time playing cards, a pack of which Hermione had brought with her.

Hedwig and another owl soon arrived, much to the surprise

of Harry and Hermione; the speed had been quite phenomenal.

Replies from Ron and Dumbledore were taken from their legs.

Harry read out Dumbledore's letter aloud.

Mr. Potter,

I am glad you have notified me of your dream. This is a crucial piece to the puzzle of what Voldemort's plans are. I will not include more details in this form of communication, due to the hazards of interception. The Ministry car will pick Miss. Granger and you at 11:00 am sharp. Please keep me informed if you see anything else.

Yours truly,

'He hasn't put his qualifications at the end, the way he usually does,' said Hermione.

'Maybe not in personal letters,' Harry ventured, 'lets open Ron's.'

Dear Harry,

This is quite bad. Now, not only do we have to deal with You-know-who, but also his heir. His heir must be quite powerful by now. I wonder if the heir was at Hogwarts at some point. Dumbledore should know! Have you heard about the incident at Azkaban? Dad says only and all of You-know-who's supporters were freed. Fudge is trying to cover up the incident. Now, with his fanatic army back, I don't know what will happen. Just take care of Hermione, ok. Tell her I said hi.

Ron

This sounds like the old Ron, Harry thought, but he noticed the stiff "hi" to Hermione at the end. He must be going through a great deal, thought Harry. Guilt of not informing him of his new relations to Hermione came rushing back. I will owl him he thought with determination.

The school owl flew off only to be replaced with a subscription owl from the daily prophet.

Hermione paid and read the headline aloud.

"Azkaban Prison Escape"

"Today at the Ministry held press conference, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge took questions. The transcript of the session is given...

Reporter: Minister, Why won't the government release the names of the escapees?

MM: That should be obvious. We want to be one hundred percent sure of who is in and who is out. Ministry resources should not be wasted on finding people already caught. A list will be given to the public in due course.

Reporter: Minister, Has the Ministry any theories on how prisoners escaped?

MM: We believe that the entire escapade was orchestrated and masterminded by none other than Sirius Black. He is the only one to have escaped from Azkaban; he used the same route to take out the other prisoners.

Reporter: Minister, Do you expect any more escapes?

MM: No! We have discovered the escape route used and have sealed it.

Reporter: What about the rumor that You-know-who has returned?

MM: Lie. That rumor is being spread by Sirius Black and other death eaters to create panic in our society.

Reporter: But, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore believes other wise?

MM: I have great respect for the Headmaster. But at his age, people are known to hallucinate or make rash decision. The man employed a werewolf as a teacher for Merlin sakes! No more questions, that's enough I have work to do.

The Minister of Magic at this point walked off from the conference. Questions remain unanswered. Has the Dark Lord returned? Is this the work of Sirius Black the mass murderer? And why is the Ministry keeping quiet on the names of the people escaped. The Ministry better answer these questions soon, the public grows impatient.

'I'm sorry, Harry,' said Hermione.

'Why! Why do they have to blame Sirius for everything when he is innocent?' Harry raged, 'that pathetic excuse for a man Fudge! It's no wonder the Ministry is not releasing the names; everyone will realize that Voldemort is back!'

'Harry, calm down,' said Hermione, 'Fudge is not worth it!'

Harry counted till ten, a method he had perfected, staying with the Dursleys.

'You're right Herm,' said Harry through ragged breath.

'Ron is right, we must find out who is Voldemort's heir,' said Hermione, 'let's try to logically analyze this.'

Harry smiled; Hermione would be the one to start a logical analysis at any point and time.

'Gender,' said Harry managing to control his anger shifting it to the new exercise.

'No real indication, it could be either Male/Female,' said Hermione. 'Think carefully, did Voldemort use any gender specific words?'

Harry ran through the entire dream again, but could not remember any such words.

'No, he did not,' said Harry. 'Studied at Hogwarts?'

'Most probably, since the heir was born in Britain,' said Hermione.

'But, why would he go to Hogwarts being Voldemort's heir, with Dumbledore as the headmaster,' countered Harry, 'he could have easily gone to Durmstrang for that matter.'

'A distinct possibility,' said Hermione trying to sound very scientific, 'he would not risk being under Dumbledore's nose.'

'Riddle was under Dumbledore's nose,' said Harry, 'even though Dumbledore was suspicious, he did not catch him in time.'

'Well, if he was at Hogwarts he was probably a Slytherin,' said Hermione. 'But he could be at any of the schools in the world.'

'But, Voldemort's heir would have to be a Parselmouth!' said Harry raising a single finger to emphasis his point, 'surely that would stand out.'

'Yes there is also that,' said Hermione her mind trying to solve the puzzle that was emerging.

'Maybe the heir hid the ability! No one knew about it until the duel between Malfoy and me' said Harry, with look of triumph on his face.

'You may have a point there,' said Hermione noting another point in the list she was making.

Harry leaned over to read.

The Heir of Voldemort

'That covers the entire Slytherin alumni, if assume he studied at Hogwarts' said Hermione. 'If we only had more to go on with.'

Harry sighed; this was not going to be easy. 'How old do you think he is?'

'He must be at least eighteen,' said Hermione 'Voldemort stressed the fact that his heir was grown up.'

They continued their discussion into other topics.

Time flew quickly in Privet drive, which was quite unusual for Harry. Usually, he would count the hours and the minutes left for his return to Hogwarts. But the presence of Hermione was a new variable altogether. Over the days, they began to form a deep bond of love and trust through their new intimacy. Though they occasionally shared the same bed, it was for companionship. They shared intimate details of their lives, details they had not told anyone before. Hermione had cried when she heard the treatment of Harry as a child.

They would occasionally head down to Mrs. Fig to be with the gang. Harry especially wanted to spend time with his Godfather. Sirius had lived off rats months ago, to be with his godson.

Soon the 29^th of August arrived.

'Harry, the Ministry car has arrived!' yelled Hermione as she ran up the stairs. Warned in advance, the Dursleys stayed out of their way, much to the relief of Harry.

Harry dragged his trunk down, along with Hermione's suitcase. The ministry official magicked the trunk into the car and with a quick salute, he took the drivers seat.

Harry and Hermione shouted goodbyes and half hearted thank yous as they left Privet Drive for Diagon Alley, London. The Ministry car dropped them off in front of the leaky cauldron. Harry thanked the driver who winked at him before moving off. They took individual rooms at the inn and Tom the innkeeper took up their luggage.

'Hermione,' Harry just realized, 'where is your school trunk?'

'Oh! It's at the burrow. Mr. Weasley said he would put it on the train for me,' Hermione replied.

They sat in the lounge sipping Butterbeer.

'What happened to the Skeeter woman?' Harry replied. 'I totally forgot to ask you.'

'Oh, Rita. Well, I was getting bored, so I gave her the ability to speak while in her beetle form,' said Hermione, 'we became friends of sorts, and after making her promise not to slander, I set her free.'

'Then why hasn't she written any articles?' asked a curious and suspicious Harry.

'Simple, she's taken a vacation. In fact, she should be back within the week.' Hermione answered.

'I still don't trust her, Herm,' sighed Harry.

'You worry too much. We can still black mail her for being unregistered..." she said with an evil smile most unbecoming of her. It had the desired effect. Harry chuckled and his spirits lifted.

'Come on,' he said, 'we have to buy our school supplies.'

They moved out of the Leaky Caldron and went through the barrier into Diagon Alley.

As usual, there was a huge rush, mainly Hogwarts students trying to buy their school supplies. Hermione and Harry walked through the crowd holding hands.

'Right, where should we go first?' said Hermione.

'General supplies,' said Harry, 'let's finish the small stuff, other wise we would have to lug the major stuff around for a long time.'

First, they stopped at Gringotts, the wizarding bank. They then went through the maze of by lanes, stopping now and then to pickup what they needed. Hermione had to drag Harry away from window-shopping at 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' ('Aw Herm just a few more minutes,'). After a quick visit to 'Madam Hivre's Robes for All Seasons', they were of to 'Flourish and Blotts', the famous bookstore.

'I don't have to get any books, Harry, I bought the entire set before the summer vacations,' said Hermione.

Harry sighed. Hermione was a book addict. He wondered if there were rehabilitation centers for people like her.

''Right, lets see, what do you need?' said the man behind the counter. 'Hogwarts, fifth year?'

'Yes,' replied Harry.

The man took Harry's list and began pilling up books on the counter.

Harry paid for the books and they left the bookstore. As they were moving outside, Harry bumped into someone.

'Watch it!' the person shouted.

Harry turned to apologize.

'Malfoy,' he said.

'Well, if it isn't Potter and his mud-blood girlfriend. Shame on you Potter, I hear you've been sleeping with her,' Draco sneered at them.

'Shut it Malfoy,' said Harry tersely, his mind running in circles with fears of what Malfoy knew.

'Better a mud-blood than a robe kissing scum like a Malfoy,' retorted a very angry Hermione.

Both Harry and Draco were taken aback; they didn't expect Hermione to say something like that.

Draco quickly recovered, 'What did you say?' he asked threateningly.

'I said, better a mud-blood than a...'

Draco lunged at Hermione, but was intercepted by Harry. There was a large cloud of dust on the ground where the two boys were trying to punch each other out. There wands sensibly still in their robes. Oh! No! Thought Hermione, trying to separate the two. Suddenly, two very large hands picked the two up. Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts had arrived. He put Draco down first.

'You be off now, ye hear,' he told Draco.

'My father...' he sputtered.

'Ain't, at this here moment,' replied Hagrid.

Realizing the Half Giant was right, Draco slinked off. 'You'll meet your end soon, Potter, just like your parents.'

Before Harry could react, Draco was out of sight. Hagrid put Harry down.

'I'm ashamed of ye. What ye doin' fightin in the streets, with a Malfoy at that,' Hagrid said spitting the name Malfoy out.

'Harry was only protecting me Hagrid,' Hermione said in a small voice.

'Oh Very well, bu't keep out o'trouble,' Hagrid finally said 'I'ave go t' go, business in Knockturn alle'y. See ya in school arry.'

Hagrid quickly left towards Knockturn Alley, leaving Harry and Hermione alone.

A castle in Scotland.

The Dark Lord's cold voice rang through the stone room, 'welcome back Severus.'

CHAPTER 4

'Give one good reason why I should spare you,' said Voldemort in a classic, cold and snake like voice, which would probably scare most people to death. But then again, Snape was not like most people.

'My Lord, I never left your service; I was at Hogwarts keeping an eye on the Potter boy,' Snape said quivering. 'My conduct towards him have been quite suitable.'

'Liar. I admire the risk you took in coming here. Pity you work for the light,' Voldemort said as his eyes turned a darker shade of red.

Crucio...

Snape fell to the ground, twisting and screaming with pain. Every nerve in his body felt it was being irked. After thirty seconds, Voldemort stopped.

'You shall not enjoy the pleasure of such a quick death, even though it would be a painful one,' Voldemort said with a twisted smile. 'Take him away. I shall deal with him later.'

Two Death Eaters came in, picked up the limp body of Severus Snape using their wands and guided it towards the dungeon.

'Soon, my heir,' said Voldemort, 'soon, you shall return to your true family.'

The Leaky Caldron

It was late evening. The market place in London had begun to shut down and the pubs and other night haunts were coming to life. Harry and Hermione were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, nursing their third Butterbeer

'Honestly Harry, if you have one more of those you'll bloat,' Hermione said.

'Look who's talking,' Harry jibed back. He received a sharp blow to his shoulder for his trouble.

'Er, Herm, how do we tell Ron?' asked Harry, he had not been able to find the courage to write to Ron all summer about Hermione.

'Tell Ron what? Harry,' she asked back. 'That we are prefects?'

They had got their letters and badges along with the fifth year supply list.

'Um, about us, you and me,' Harry said, blushing slightly.

Hermione bit her lip. She had totally forgotten about Ron.

'He is going to be so mad when he finds out,' she said fiddling with her fingers.

'Herm, looking back I think he had something for you,' Harry finally said it.

'I know Harry, ever since the Yule Ball, but I've always thought of him as just a great friend, nothing more. I was always in love with you,' she said this as she took his hands.

God, I'm drowning in her eyes, Harry thought. He shook himself back to reality.

'Herm, I think he may think that I stabbed him in the back,' he said. The thought had been twirling in his mind ever since Hermione has kissed him finally came out.

'Look, Harry you-we-have done nothing wrong. Ron never made his feelings clear to either of us. Throughout the fourth year he acted like an immature prat,' she said simply. 'He will just have to deal with it.'

'I know, Herm. I know,' said Harry, 'my only problem is how he is going to deal with it. You know him as well as I do, he has more than just a tendency to blow up. You remember what happened when my name came out from the Goblet of Fire. You remember how he acted!'

'We will be there to help him,' said Hermione now the defensive, 'we know now how he will react and we can be prepared.'

'Fine, but we have to tell him the moment we see him,' said Harry.

'Of course Harry, of course,' said Hermione trying to soothe him, gently stroking the palm of his hand.

'Remind me again why we didn't tell him about us being prefects?' said Harry.

'Because he would react badly,' said Hermione using the same excuse again.

For some reason that he could not identify, Harry remained unconvinced.

The 1^{st of} September crept up on them. Packing was not a great problem and they were outside the Leaky Cauldron well in time.

'Harry, how do we get to the station?' Hermione asked, suddenly realizing that King's Cross Station was quite far.

'The Knight Bus,' he answered simply.

'How do you call it?' Hermione asked vaguely remembering what Harry had described in their third year.

'Just stick out your wand hand and ...'

Before Harry could finish there was a loud bang as the knight bus pulled over. Hermione screamed and hugged him tightly.

'Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening.'

Stan looked at the couple in embrace. 'Es'cuse me, you did flag us down dincha?'

Harry took control of the situation 'Yes, please we need to get to King Cross Station.'

'Look Ern,' he shouted at the driver 'It's Neville, I mean Harry.'

Stan helped Harry take the luggage up into the bus. Harry put some silver in Stan's hand and the bus was off with a bang.

Hermione and Harry sat down watching the wizarding world rush by. Two stops later they reached King Cross Station. Harry and Hermione got off with their bags and Stan gave them a salute as the bus disappeared with its usual bang.

'I'm glad you sent Hedwig off to Hogwarts earlier Harry, or we would have had a hell of time,' said Hermione, relieved that they required only one trolley. They placed their luggage onto the trolley, and headed of towards platform 9^3/4 (Nine and three-quarters).

Trying to blend in with the crowd, they moved down the platforms. A leap of faith later, they entered platform 9 ¾ through the wall. Harry felt like giving a whoop as he saw the Hogwarts Express, the beautiful silver train that took him every year to the place he considered his true home.

They looked around the platform, but there was nobody they recognized.

'We must be early,' Hermione deduced.

'Might as well take a compartment then. We'll wait for Ron,' Harry said totally forgetting that they had to occupy the prefect's compartment.

They climbed into the train and found it to be almost empty; they took a compartment at the very end.

'I've always wanted to see the view from behind,' explained Hermione.

They sat down and started the long wait. After about fifteen minutes, Hermione was bored; she had forgotten to bring some books along.

'Harry, I think we can spend the time doing something more interesting,' she smiled a very innocent schoolgirl smile.

'I thought you would never ask...'

With those words, he pulled her towards himself and lifted her easily off the ground. Hermione in turn wrapped her arms around his waist. They started kissing passionately, having had plenty of practice to perfect the method.

Harry was in seventh heaven and soon his legs turned to jelly as Hermione did something to his ear using her tongue. He sat down with Hermione still on top of him, kissing his socks off.

'Harry, Hermione there ...'

The two lip locked lovers turned to see Ron Weasley at the door. His face grotesque with a myriad of emotions shock, anger, hate, jealousy all combined with passion into one look that could kill...

An old castle in North England

Severus Snape finally woke up. He looked around and tried to take in his surroundings. He was in a stone room, probably some kind of dungeon. There were bars preventing his escape and torches filled the area with a gloomy light. He tried to get up but fell miserably on his face.

'Drat! They must have done more damage to me than I expected,' he thought out loud.

He remembered the events of the previous night, a Death Eater party. He was tied to a revolving disc, one of the games. The objective was to try to hit him with the Cruciatus Curse, as he swung and spun from pole to pole, like a pendulum.

He shivered as he remembered; he must have thrown up at least ten times. He coughed and a little blood came out.

I must be internally bleeding he thought, his face in the grips of agony.

A draft of cold air rushed through the dungeon. Snape looked around for anything to warm himself. Beyond the bars of his cell, he saw a torch, heating its surroundings.

Maybe if he concentrated real hard, he could draw some heat. He had heard a person had done this before. Magical energy could be manipulated in some small ways without a wand.

Suddenly the lights in the room went out. Something in his head snapped and a strange dizziness took over him. He sank slowly to the ground and crawled into a corner. There he huddled like a ball shaking uncontrollably.

HQ of the Order of the Phoenix (A society lead by Dumbledore against Voldemort)

Three men were seated around a table deep in discussion. They were in a large room, decorated with golden strikes across the wall. A portrait of a phoenix hung on one of the walls. There were no windows to let light or intruders in. The worry on their faces was clearly visible.

The door suddenly opened and a single woman walked in.

'We have located him,' said Arabella Figg.

The three men jumped up from their seats and followed her outside.

Hogwarts Express

Ron turned away from the couple and ran. He didn't know where he was going, he just passed compartment after compartment until he reached a dead end. He stopped and lay down on the seats trying to absorb what he had just seen.

His best friend Harry with the girl he loved. It was too much to take. He was in love with Hermione. Surely Harry knew that! The way they were kissing, this could not have been spontaneous. This had been going on for quite sometime. They, they must have come together over the holidays. No, maybe even earlier!

He clutched his now aching heart. His breath had become much faster and was slightly ragged. His mind refused to accept it, but his heart seemed to, easily. The tears, which were bubbling, finally decided to start pouring out.

They didn't even tell him, maybe they never intended to. If he hadn't caught them now, they could have gone on, and he would have made such a fool of himself. I bet they are both sitting there laughing their heads off.

Ron, out of the most things, felt betrayed. Over the years, he had felt a drift between him and Harry. As Hermione got closer the void began to increase. Two is company; three is a crowd he thought bitterly. That is what I am; unwanted, the meddler. They didn't even bother to come after me.

Time and people change he reasoned, I don't think they really were my friends after the Triwizard Tournament, not really. Harry and Hermione were spending al their time together, using the tournament for an excuse. The name Victor Krum moved slowly through his head. That's why she accepted to go with him; it was to hide the fact of her involvement with Harry. Perhaps, he thought Rita Skeeter was correct in her reasoning about them all. After all, she was in her bug form, who knows what secret interludes they had.

I won't give them the satisfaction; I won't be weak, he said to himself, as he determined to keep a straight face. But there is no escaping the fact that they both have betrayed me. He suddenly started to hate Harry very much.

Meanwhile in the last compartment of the Hogwarts Express.

The duo had disentangled themselves quickly.

'Herm, we should go after him,' said Harry getting up. This was not the way Harry had wanted Ron to find out.

'No Harry, leave him alone, let him clear his head,' she said 'once he is in a sane frame of mind, he'll come back, and then we'll talk.'

'I hope your right,' Harry told her retaking his seat. 'I don't want our friendship to suffer, not after all we've been through.'

The Hogwarts Express started off at that moment; waves and wails of parents could be heard through the open windows. Harry smiled; it brought back such great memories.

The old Castle North England.

The castle had been built by Muggles in the dark ages. But forgotten by history, it was taken over by one evil wizard after the other, finally coming into the hands of Voldemort. Isolated and Un-Plottable it was the perfect place to hold prisoners in secret.

A black dog ran across the courtyard. The Death Eaters positioned as guards were young and cocky, and they had seen too many strays to bother. The black dog continued its journey through the castle, finally arriving at the dungeon cell of one Severus Snape.

The black converted into its true form of Sirius Black. He saw a figure lying asleep inside the cell, barely visible, in the dim light of the dungeons.

'Snape,' he whispered 'Snape.'

'Wake up man,' he said a little louder.

But Snape did not move. He just remained motionless. Sirius looked around; no one was there. He took out a box of muggle matches and a candle and lit it. He daren't use his want, for all the magic detectors would sound off.

He was unprepared for the sight that greeted him. Snape lay on the floor, his features badly mutilated in a pool of his own blood. I'm glad Dumbledore made us take muggle training in the refined arts of espionage; I never thought I would use them. Taking out a hairpin, he tried fiddling with the lock. After about ten minutes of trial, the lock sprung open. I need to use this more often.

Well, well, well. Trust Voldemort's hate of Muggles and Muggle technology to blind him to a simple hairpin. He went over to Snape and took his pulse.

Snape suddenly woke up.

'Who, where what?' he looked around, then recognizing Black. 'Black is that you?'

'Yes,' Sirius sneered, years of hatred and loathing shinning through.

'Thank God,' Snape whispered, hugged Black and began to sob uncontrollably. Black awkwardly patted his back trying to console him.

In a single moment, years of hatred and loathing went out the window. Sirius took out a cigar case from the pockets of his robes, and opened it.

The Portkey sucked both of them out, just as the alarm resonated throughout the castle.

They appeared back at the HQ, of the Order of Phoenix. Just then, three other figures arrived from thin air.

'Good, you got him back,' said Lupin.

'He's in a terrible state,' commented Arabella.

'We better get him to the hospital wing,' said Sirius.

Petrificus Totalus

'That will stop his condition from worsening,' said Lupin gravely.

Slowly, the group set-off for the hospital wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hogwarts Express

Ron slowly moved through the compartments of the train, back to where Harry and Hermione were. He didn't even pause when Malfoy taunted his family and financial situation in the prefect's compartment.

He reached the door, and with great determination and resolve, he opened it.

'Ron,' said Harry moving to hug him welcome. Ron accepted this gesture of emotion and hugged back, but only to a certain degree.

'We have to talk,' said Hermione in a small voice.

'Yes, you have both some explanations to give,' said Ron, sitting down. Outwardly calm, but internally seething.

The entire events of the summer vacations were recounted for the benefit of Ron, leaving out the part about the towel, details of their kissing sessions and especially about their sleeping together.

'So, you see Ron, we didn't know until the very last week and we thought we would tell you personally,' said Harry, trying to decipher the look on Ron's face, which was just pale and blank.

Harry however was wrong; Ron felt that they were lying, and drew his own mixed conclusions. He finally said, not believing a word, 'look, you two, I'm really happy for you both, but you have to give me sometime to get used to the fact.'

Hermione and Harry smiled and nodded. Hermione was happy that Ron seemed to have matured through the holidays. But they were wrong; Ron was just using a barrier of pretence and masks to hide his feelings.

Things on the surface seemed to be returning to normal, Harry and Hermione thought.

'Hey, who do you think will be the next DADA teacher?' said Ron in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

'Maybe, Dumbledore will gave Snape a break and let him have it,' said Harry jumping at the chance.

'I doubt it,' said Hermione, 'Then, he would have to bring someone else to teach potions. Even Snape can't teach two all year compulsory classes.'

'Maybe they intend to bring back Professor Lupin,' said Ron, happily remembering their favorite defense teacher, who had to leave when the fact of his being a werewolf had come out.

'I don't think so,' said Harry, 'prejudices don't change overnight'. He sighed; he very much wanted Lupin to be back.

Just then, Fred and George Weasley came into the compartment.

'Hey you lot,' said George with a grin on his face.

'Fancy a toffee?' added Fred trying to put on an innocent look.

The trio, well experienced with the ingenuity of the current Kings of Pranks at Hogwarts and future joke shop owners, declined.

'We promise nothing bad will happen,' said George.

Harry snorted, and the rest just chuckled.

'Forget it George,' said Fred, 'they have wizened up to us,' taking the large toffee and eating it. 'Delicious!'

'Hey! Half of that was mine,' said George, feeling cheated out of the toffee.

The trio stared.

'You mean it does nothing?' exclaimed a surprised Hermione. This did not fit with their usual expectations of the twins.

'Not at all, why would we give our fellow Gryffindors and friends something evil,' said Fred looking quite hurt.

'Here Ron, have another one,' said Fred, holding out an identical one. Ron eagerly took the large toffee. There was a flash, and he had turned into a little badger, a little red badger. The compartment filled with laughter, which turned to yells as the red badger bit Fred and George.

Then with another pop, Ron was back, his face as red as his hair.

'Ron, you should have known better,' admonished Hermione.

'What's the big idea of biting us?' said George still nursing his foot.

Ron broke into a grin, 'have teeth, will bite!'

They all burst of laughing again at this jest.

They raided the food cart that arrived after fifteen minutes. Soon, the entire compartment was munching on chocolate frogs and testing fate with the every flavor beans.

'We better change into our robes,' said Ron finally. 'We're nearly there.'

There was a scramble as every body rushed around to change their muggle clothes and wear robes. The Hogwarts Express pulled in five minutes later.

They saw Hagrid and waved to him, he waved back and went on to the difficult task of gathering the first years into the boats. The carriages pulled up, and the students began to pile into them. Hermione, Ron and Harry managed to get a carriage all by themselves.

'Harry, any luck with finding out who's the heir of You-know-you?' said Ron breaking the eerie silence. He had still not looked Hermione in the eyes.

Hermione took out the list and showed it to Ron.

'This is what we've come up with,' she said.

'Problem is that this covers the entire Slytherin alumina and then some,' said Harry.

'I wish Dumbledore would tell us what he thinks,' said Ron, impatience clearly showing.

'He must have his reasons,' said Harry not believing his own words.

They pondered over this problem in more silence as they entered the great hall.

'The feast,' exclaimed Ron, the color returning to his face.

Hermione and Harry smiled. Nothing like food to get Ron's mind off things. He charged to the table and sat down.

'Come on! Hurry up with the sorting,' he said impatiently.

The Gryffindor ghost came through the wall and sat down at the head of the table, as did the other Ghosts.

'How have you all been?' he glowed.

The Gryffindors murmured a general good.

'Excellent. I hope we have a good selection of students this year,' he said.

'How have you been?' asked Hermione politely.

'Not so good. Since I cannot join the Headless Hunt, I have formed a new organization, The Society of the Nearly Headless,' he said solemnly.

'That's great,' said Harry sincerely meaning it, 'but, then why not so good.'

'Membership problems; so far we have one member, me' he said.

'Ron, where is Ginny?' Hermione asked trying to change the subject.

'I'm right here Hermione,' said Ginny walking and sitting down at the table.

Hermione hugged Ginny, and Harry gave her a smile. Ginny blushed crimson, but quickly recovered.

'Where were you?' asked Hermione.

'Oh, I stopped to help out Hagrid with the first years, Peeves showed up and decided to have a water balloon party,' she said giggling. 'You should have seen Professor McGonagall, she was quite upset.'

'Ah! Peeves,' mused Fred, 'he will be the only one to carry on tradition when we leave.'

They looked up to see Professor McGonagall lead the first years for the sorting ceremony.

The sorting hat cleared its throat to get the attention of the entire hall and started to speak.