The Face of Evil

It was simply beautiful. The entire wing was made from marble, with a skylight opening up to the sky above. They moved awestruck through the structure. The walls had greenery on them, green vines from which a variety of flowers bloomed. Waterfalls made a silent peaceful serenade as they flowed every where. Then they reached the prefect common room. It was in the form of a garden. A fountain lay in the middle with a statue of the house symbols in the centre. There were lawn chairs and tables spread all over the place.

'Like it?' said Alicia, who came in through the main entrance, amused at the stunned looks of the duo.

'It's beautiful!' said Hermione, 'but how?'

'Most of the beauty here is illusion charms, but the rest has been here ever since Hogwarts has been made. Hogwarts tends to treat its prefects quite well,' she smiled. 'The wing is redecorated every year with new charms and enchantments.'

'Let me give you the tour,' she said.

'That's why the Hogwarts's a History had a different description of the wing,' whispered Hermione to Harry as they followed Alicia.

Alicia pointed out the house rooms, the facilities available, the prefect's bathroom (which had a Jacuzzi and sauna), she also showed them the passageways and entrances.'

Harry couldn't help smiling, he had reached paradise. Being cooped up in the Dursleys house had not given him the chance to really see beauty of any sort. It was part of the reason why he had though Hogwarts was the greatest place on earth; it was his first exposure to the beautiful.

'The first meeting of the board will be held today evening in the Prefect Hall,' she said pointing to a room, 'see you then. Oh! And Harry congratulations on being captain, Fred asked me to inform you of a meeting in the Gryffindor common room after our meeting. We can go there together.'

Alicia moved off, slightly blushing. She had a small thing for Harry, but it was just a passing moment. He has his girlfriend, he is taken. Shaking the thoughts from her mind she went back to her room.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and realised this was perfect. They had been sent to paradise, a place where they could be with each other, when ever they wanted. No one in the dorms would know of their comings and goings.

Gryffindor Dormitories

Ron Weasley was deep in thought. Why do I love her so much? It's almost an obsession. It's not as if she's the most beautiful girl around. She is a book worm, hates Quidditch; she has bushy uncontrollable hair...

But, the way she smiles. The way she blushes when she's embarrassed. The way she laughs, the way she eats, the way she sleeps...

Why must I be like this? Drowning in a world of sorrow, love and lust...

At that moment, Ron's envy of Harry began to slowly edge towards hatred.

Prefect Wing of Hogwarts:

'Harry this is perfect,' said Hermione reaching to put her hand on his thigh.

They both were sitting in the garden enjoying the free time.

'I know Hermione,' said Harry holding her hand.

Snuffles arrived and marched up to them.

'Hey, Snuffles,' said Harry quickly removing his hand.

Snuffles suddenly lunged at Harry and began to sniff him over. Harry started laughing and giggling. 'Hey that tickles.'

Then Snuffles made a funny face at Harry and sniffed the air towards Hermione.

Hermione suddenly turned bright red and ran off towards her room.

Snuffles caught Harry's robes and led him off. Harry was totally bewildered at Snuffles and Hermione's actions. He led Snuffles into his room, locked it and set up privacy charms.

Snuffles turned into Sirius Black.

'What was that all about?' Harry demanded.

'Let me guess, Hermione is your girlfriend and you have a, err, physical relationship,' said Sirius grinning like anything.

It was Harry's turn to become red. 'How? Oh, err, the sniffing...'

'Now, Harry we have to talk about a few things.' Sirius said seriously.

'Um, like,' Harry said, a fearful look in his eyes.

'Well, first of all how have you been? Any nightmares, dreams that kind of thing,' Sirius asked, his lips turning into a slight smile, Harry didn't expect this sudden turn of subjects.

'No, nothing, I'm fine' said Harry immediately not wanting to worry Sirius.

'Harry, you need to learn how to lie better,' Sirius said, 'your father had the same problem initially; luckily he had us for friends,' he added proudly.

'Well there is one thing,' Harry said slowly.

'Tell me, I'm all ears,' said Sirius wriggling his ears.

'How, on earth?' said an astonished Harry.

'Animagus, benefits,' said Sirius, 'now, you were saying...'

Harry began to tell Sirius of all the nightmares he had had. When he came to the latest one, his eyes began to glaze over and he retuned to the monotonic voice. He placed his head in Sirius's lap as he finished.

After calming down a little, Harry finally said. 'Sirius that girl died because of me...'

Sirius sighed, 'I knew you would say that Harry, it's typical of you, but it's not true. What Voldemort did was a heinous horrible act, but he did it, not you. If you were not there he would have still done it. But what you can do is realise how evil he is, and strengthen your resolve to resist and fight him.'

'I know Sirius, but it's just...' Harry sighed, knowing he was going on a guilt trip. 'I understand, thanks Sirius.'

'I certainly hope so! But what I am worried is why you didn't immediately tell me about your nightmare!' said Sirius very sternly.

'I, I don't know,' said Harry his face downcast. 'I had already told Dumbledore.'

'Harry, I'm glad you had the sense to do that. But please do tell me, I am quite worried about you,' said Sirius.

'I'm sorry Sirius,' said Harry meekly, 'I'll definitely inform next time.'

'No problem, now let's shift to different topic,' Sirius said sensing it useless to harp on the same issue, 'what's between you and Hermione.'

Harry blushed another shade of crimson.

'She's my girlfriend, I love her,' said Harry finally.

'Good choice Harry,' said Sirius beaming, 'she's one heck of a gal.'

'Thanks,' said Harry.

'Em, Harry since James is not around, I have to err, Harry do you know about the birds and the bees,' Sirius was stuttering and slowly turning pink

'What are you talking about?' asked Harry, clearly surprised at the hesitation of his Godfather; he had never seen him do that.

'I mean Harry, do you know about sex?' said Sirius finally.

'Of Course I do!' said Harry indignantly, 'I'm in the fifth year; I'm fifteen for Merlin sakes.'

'Okay, okay it's embarrassing for me to try and talk about it!' said Sirius, 'what have you been using for protection? You have been using protection right?'

Harry flushed, 'Sirius, we haven't done anything of the sort! And if you mean condoms I know all about them.' Suddenly Harry realised he didn't know where to buy them in the wizarding world.

'What's a condom?' asked Sirius clearly interested.

'Muggle thing,' said Harry quickly, 'never mind.'

Chalk up another thing I need to know about the wizarding world thought Harry.

'Well, there is a potion that you can brew, or order. Its quite simple actually, it'll work for a week,' said Sirius.

'I don't think I'll need it,' said Harry. Well maybe I will, but I sure as hell won't admit it.

Sirius took out a vile and handed it to Harry. The liquid inside was pale yellow, with silver particles suspended like a colloid.

'In case of emergency take one sip for one week. Only take a sip at a time, more can produce err, rather embarrassing problems,' he said.

Harry knew he was not going to win this so he pocketed the vile.

'Feel better?' he asked Sirius.

'Much better,' came the reply. 'And, now there is a slight thing about "Snuffles".'

Sirius jumped on him. The sound of laughter, tickles and pleas of mercy filled the room.

Evening, Prefect Board meeting, Prefect wing

Roger Davis and Alicia Spinnet head boy and head girl sat at the designated head of the round table. Hermione told Harry, that the table had been fashioned after the famous round table, of Merlin's time.

'Right,' said Roger Davis pompously. 'We call this meeting to an order.'

'First, an introduction of our new fifth year prefects, as I say your name please stand up.'

'From Gryffindor House: Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.'

'From Hufflepuff House: Susan Bones, Ernie McMillan.'

'From Ravenclaw House: Mandy Brocklehurst, Terry Boot.'

'From Slytherin House: Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson.'

Draco stared across the room at Harry Potter, his face concocted into an expression of pure loathing and hatred. Soon, he thought, master will have his revenge. He mouthed the word, 'Mud-Blood.'

Hermione whispered to Harry, 'just, ignore him.' With this the tension which had been building up in Harry slowly left.

'You're right Herm,' he said looking back at Draco coolly.

The meeting wore on with the assignment of duties for the year, the planning out the new meeting schedules, as well all disciplinary issues were all discussed. Finally, Alicia called it to a close. The various prefects went about their business.

Alicia, Hermione and Harry headed for the Gryffindor common room. The entire Quidditch team was waiting for them. Hermione went off to the side and sat down to read a book. Ron, was no where to be seen.

'Well, it's about time!' said Fred, Angelina sitting on his lap.

'What took you so long,' whined Katie.

'Sorry,' said Harry, 'Davis was refusing to close the meeting.'

'Right,' said George. 'First things first, congratulations Harry!'

The entire team said their congratulations and patted him on the back.

'But, Why me?' said Harry, 'shouldn't one of you be captain?'

'Ah!' said Fred 'You see, George and I here, don't handle responsibility that well, Angelina didn't want to, and Katie here, well lets just say her report card wasn't very good last year, and Alicia says she had enough work being head girl.'

'So, don't fret Harry,' said George winking, 'you got the job on your own merits.'

'Thanks you all,' Harry said feeling much better about the captaincy.

'We have to tryout for a new keeper,' said Katie, 'Oliver, was too good, we don't even have a reserve.'

'How the day after tomorrow?' said Harry, 'we can reserve the field, put up a poster in the Gryffindor common room and wrap up the tryouts.'

'Great,' said Angelina, pleased that Harry was growing into his role as captain. 'I'll talk to Madame Hooch.'

'I'll make the posters,' added Katie.

'We'll shout the message around!' said Fred and George.

'Right, I think that wraps up the meeting, it's quite late and we DADA running tomorrow,' said Harry.

The others nodded and groaned at the thought, but they accepted and the group dispersed to their various dorms. Harry took Hermione, and Alicia led them back to the Prefects Wing.

There was something they had forgotten, Harry's mind nagged him as they reached the wing.

The old castle in Scotland...

The Death Eater made his ways to the balcony. The journey from Hogwarts to the castle was full of peril and the danger of being caught large. But, this information was too precious to trust to owl post.

Voldemort was on the balcony of the throne room. He was staring up into the sky; the stars twinkled down in the cloudless night.

'My Lord,' said the death eater bowing low.

'Good, you have come. Report,' said Voldemort, his voice with an expectant edge to it.

'My Lord, I have given them the message. I have also told them not to harm the Potter boy,' said the death eater.

'Excellent,' said Voldemort.

'Master, may I ask a question?' said the Death eater.

'Since, you have succeeded, you may,' said Voldemort concentrating at a particular group of stars.

'Lord, why not just have the boy killed or port keyed out of Hogwarts?' asked the death eater.

'The old fool has set up anti-portkey wards all over, including a personal one on the boy. I need his blood, alive,' said Voldemort with a hiss, 'leave now.'

The death eater bowed and backed out of the balcony.

Voldemort turned his attention back to the sky.

'Mars is bright,' said Voldemort, regretting that he did not discover the potion earlier.

Harry and Hermione kissed their goodnights, they both agreed they were too tired and should get some sleep.

Harry went into his room in the Gryffindor Male Wing, to see his room-mate Charles Wellington reading a book. The room was quite spacious, especially since the closets and study area had been enchanted to be quite big. They had their own wooden desks with named stationary.

'Late night stroll?' asked Charles peeking up from his book.

Charles, from Harry's first impressions was quite a sombre studious student. He had a penchant for abiding by rules, but put loyalty to his friends and house above them. He was a sixth year, with chestnut hair, black eyes and was fairly tall.

'Quidditch Team meeting,' said Harry. 'The keeper try outs are in a few days. Do you plan to try?'

'I don't play Quidditch,' came the monotone reply.

Great, thought Harry, stuck with an anti-Quidditch dead beat.

'But, that does not mean I don't love it!' Charles added, 'so please wipe that look of disappointment and disgust off your face.'

Harry was astonished, were his emotions that obvious?

'Anyways, good night I have a long day tomorrow,' said Charles, flicking his hand over a red ball so that his side of the room went dark.

Harry marvelled at the capability of illusion charms, as he saw that while Charles side was completely dark his side was lit, the two parts did not affect each other. This will take some getting used to he thought as he turned off his side of the lights and lay down on his bed.

Gryffindor Common Room

Ron was already in bed and asleep when the Quidditch team ended its meeting. The dreams began to flow.

He was in a cloud. The blue sky around him sparkled with rainbows; a soft waterfall could be seen, the noise bringing serenity to his much agitated mind. He followed the trail of water as it flowed over the misty surface, until he caught sight of his inner self.

'Hello there,' said IB (Inner Being)

Ron walked over to him.

'Where are we?' he asked.

'The depths of your mind and imagination,' said IB, walking around Ron.

'Why are you here?' said Ron.

'I thought we covered this part of the conversation, last time. To give help and advice you,' he said in calm and serene voice.

Ron snorted, 'Illegal Love Potion? What type of advice is that?'

'Never mind that, tell me what troubles you. I know already, but it would help if you spoke of your own accord,' said the IB.

'Oh, very well. My friends Harry and Hermione want to ignore me. I guess the feel I'm an interruption in their lives. First, they move of to that Prefects Wing, and then they don't even bother to meet or talk to me,' said Ron.

'You consider Harry your friend? Even now,' said the IB raising an eyebrow.

Ron went deep into thought and finally made up his mind. 'No, you are right. He is a stranger to me, perhaps even a rival.'

'An enemy?' added IB thoughtfully.

Ron did not reply and IB left the sentence to hang in the air.

'But you are justified about Hermione, she should not have abandoned you,' said IB.

'Yes, that's true,' sighed Ron, 'I love her so much, and yet she refuses me even friendship, why?'

'Its probably because of Harry, he has poisoned her mind against you. He considers you a rival and to him you must be removed,' said IB.

Ron went into another session of deep thinking.

'You know, you are right. It's the only explanation that makes sense to me. Well, I've had it! I have already lost my pride trying to hang around where I'm not wanted, trying to be with those two,' said Ron.

'Be careful of Harry Potter, who knows what he might try. Remember, he is Quidditch captain. He will try to ruin your chances as keeper, so that you cannot impress Hermione,' said IB slowly fading away along with the dream.

Room in Prefect Wing Gryffindor Male Dorm

Harry immediately felt sleep wash over him and then it started again.

This time he was in a hallway. It seemed like the interior of a house, there was a family portrait with father, mother and a child. Oh God! he thought not another child.

'Harry, Harry, Harry,' came Voldemort's now familiar voice. 'You really should keep your appointments. Come,' he beckoned with a gnarled spider finger.

Harry tried to stop, not again, not again his mind screamed. He could not bear the mental torture all over again. Voldemort led him to a room in the house, clearly the room of the child.

Imperio...

'This is Timothy Simmons,' said Voldemort, 'a thirteen year old muggle.'

Harry tensed himself up for what he was sure was going to happen next.

'Oh! Don't worry I don't intend to physically torture the lad,' said Voldemort as he whispered something into the boys ear. The boy exited the room and Voldemort followed. He went up the long hallway and entered another room. Voldemort crept in and whispered something in the boy's ear and gave him something that Harry could not see.

On the bed lay a man and woman, probably the boy's parents. Suddenly, the boy screamed and pushed the dagger into his mother's heart. Voldemort took of the imperious curse just as the father woke up. The father saw the scene before him, but could not see Voldemort or Harry. The boy looked down at his hands and screamed.

'A much better show, eh? Harry' said Voldemort his eyes filled with maniacal pleasure. 'It was specially arranged for you, did you like it?'

Harry was yanked back to his dorm from the nightmare. He cried himself to sleep once again.

Head Quarters Order of the Phoenix.

The Head Quarters was bathed in a dim glow of night. Five, members of the Order were seated around the discussion table talking; the tone of the conversation was quite serious. These were Arabella, Sirius, Snape, and Remus.

'I still don't get it,' said Remus, 'why is Voldemort doing this to Harry? Apart from the fact the he is evil.'

'I believe he has given up all hope in trying to make Harry join the dark side,' said Arabella

'The dark lord either recruits you or destroys you,' said Snape, 'he is trying to mentally damage Harry. Any child, anyone who witnesses such a scene would definitely be affected and badly.'

'How do we stop him?' growled Sirius, extremely upset at the predicament of his Godson.

'I'm not sure we can,' sighed Remus, disturbed at this sudden turn of events. 'Not much is known about curse scars and their induced dreams and connections, especially one as power full as Avada Kedavra.'

The circle went quite. Silence flowed through the night as each sat and thought about the situation.

'What about Dumbledore's meeting with that Skeeter woman?' said Arabella.

'I don't trust her,' said Sirius flatly remembering the horrid articles about Harry, Hermione and Him.

'I agree with Black on this one,' said Snape his face concocting back to the familiar sneer everyone was used to.

'Rita has joined the Order of the Phoenix,' said Dumbledore as he walked into the hall.

The people on the table turned their heads to acknowledge him. Some were about to get up in a mark of respect, but Dumbledore waved them down.

'But, Headmaster is that wise?' said Arabella cautiously, as Dumbledore took a seat.

'Trust me, she has realised that there is nothing be gained by fighting against the light side, in fact she is pleased to get such insider information,' said Dumbledore, 'And I had the photograph for further incentive.'

'Headmaster, about Harry,' said Sirius.

'Harry is in the midst of a transition, from a gifted boy to a very powerful wizard; his mind should not be played or interfered at this point. It can have disastrous results,' said Dumbledore, 'we must stop Voldemort.'

'Headmaster,' said Arabella, 'what is the solution?'

'Severus, please make an extra powerful dosage of dreamless sleep potion, I think Harry will need it quite often in the coming days. We can no longer rely on Harry for our intelligence.'

The old castle in Scotland

Voldemort paced the floor; he was alone in his chambers. Such power is there in this loneliness, he thought, the ability to think not beyond oneself, the art of clarity of action without need for regard of others.

Yes, he thought to himself I am alone. I shall not for a minute delude myself to think that any of these followers are truly loyal to me. Maybe in the new crop, his mind wandered back to Barty Crouch Jr. I could have used him, one of my greatest followers. The Lestranges were the same kind. But Azkaban had taken its toll on them and they were for the short-term useless and incompetent.

He turned his thoughts to Harry Potter. Poor, boy he thought. I sympathize with him; he is quite like me in history. Yet, on the wrong side, but his blood is powerful as is mine. The potion of invulnerability requires the blood of an enemy, a mage enemy.

But I have my heir. With you by my side we will rule the world. Even, if I don't succeed in immortality, my legacy will continue. He took out a small diary from his pocket. It was made of leather; the sign of the serpent was etched into the front.

My great ancestor, you were truly a genius. He took the diary and began to read it for the hundred thousandth time. Voldemort doubted even Dumbledore knew his own true secret. He was never against mud-bloods or Muggles. His father and family had been an exception, not the norm.

But, what propaganda it made! The cause! For the name and the mission supporters from everywhere flocked to him, begging to join the movement of pure-bloods. Every great leader in history gathered followers for one or two basic causes. Religion and God for the prophets and Jesus, Nazism and Germany for Hitler, freedom and democracy for Napoleon, Freedom from enslavement for the Urg the Unclean, Purity of blood for Grindelwal and now the same for him.

Unlike what most people thought Voldemort had a great interest and fascination with Muggle technology. Being of Muggle background gave him the knowledge and second as a tool for domination. Most wizards were too disconnected from the Muggle world to realise some of the powerful weapons and objects that they had. But he had to hide this; it would not be prudent to appear a hypocrite.

He took out a gun from his robe. The gold and solver plating shone when brought into the light. The silencer attached on the top increased the menacing look and feel. He caressed the weapon, thinking of the cyanide and Basilisk poison that the bullets contained. He smiled sometimes the best backup need not be the most efficient. A gun, the most barbaric of weapons, yet most wizards didn't even recognise it. It was his worst case scenario.

The next morning the entire Gryffindor House breathed a sigh of relief, when the message indicating the cancellation of DADA morning reached them. A few went back to bed, the rest already up, decided to finish that last homework, play exploding snap or just roam around Hogwarts.

By the time Harry was down he had recovered from the previous night's torture at least physically. Mentally he knew it would be a long time until he fully recovered. He knew he wouldn't survive another night and resolved to speak to Dumbledore.

He reached the Gryffindor Common room with a half-asleep Hermione just as Ron came down. They had agreed they would spend more time there than in the prefect wing.

Ron was feeling wide awake. His sleep had been refreshing, and he felt as if he could take on the world. He saw Harry come down towards the common room. Great he thought the boy who lived decides to grace us with his presence.

'Ron!' said Harry.

'Good Morning, you two,' said Ron desperately trying not to stare at Hermione.

'Look you two I need to talk to you about something,' said Harry leading them to the corner.

'What is it?' yawned Hermione her mind still in sleep.

'It's about, what happened after you left Dumbledore's room, and what I have been keeping from both of you,' he said as he sat on the ground. Harry had made the decision in the morning to tell them at least part of the entire tale.

This shook Hermione from her sleep and Ron began to listen attentively. Harry explained the situation telling them everything except him being a mage warrior.

'So! You're the Heir of Gryffindor!' said Hermione.

'Shh! Not so loud Herm,' said Harry, looking around to see if anybody had heard. He did not see Ginny Weasley, sitting behind an armchair. She had been reading a romance novel, and couldn't help hear the entire discussion.

Great, thought Ron, another little to his achievements, rich, handsome, hero, popular, prefect, Quidditch captain and royalty.

'Wow!' said Ron trying to sound pleased and surprised.

But this time Harry was not fooled. Why is Ron, acting so distant to removed? A few months ago he would have gone wild, exclaiming all the possibilities. This was a new Ron, a Ron he didn't like very much. Then it dawned on him. We've been ignoring him! Oh! We were so stuck in our work and each other we barely made time for Ron.

Hermione meanwhile was trying to work out all the connotations and results of this new discovery. She snapped out of it when she heard Harry speak.

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

'What, what, did you say?' said Ron, not believing his ears.

'I'm sorry,' he said again.

'For what?' asked Ron surprised.

'For ignoring you all this time, for not telling you everything over this summer, for spending too much time with Hermione and less time with you, for moving out of the dorm, for..' before he could finish. Ron jumped and hugged him, tears streaming down his eyes.

'What the...,' said an astonished Harry, being looked upon by a very shocked, guilty faced and ashamed Hermione.

Hermione was feeling horrible. She was the sensible one, she was the mature one, and she was the one that always set things between the three right. Not noticing Ron's detachment and their breaking relationship when it was staring her in the face was pathetic.

'I'm sorry Harry, for acting like a twit,' said Ron truly believing what he said.

'Hey, we're the ones who made the mistake, you have nothing to apologise for,' said Hermione also sniffing. She joined them in the now group hug.

A voice from behind chimed, 'may I join in it looks fun!' The three quickly sobered up, untangled and turned.

'Ginny!' said Harry.

'Ginny, err. How long have you been here?' asked a red faced Ron, who had realised Hermione had been hugging him.

'Too long, I want in,' she said her arms crossed.

'In what?' said Hermione, hoping against hope that she did not hear about the Order.

'Into the Anti-You-know-who squad and all, to help Harry,' said Ginny.

'Ginny, it's dangerous and you are still too small, and, and, a girl,' Ron sputtered.

'Hey! I resent that,' said Hermione amused at Ron trying to be protective. Ron shot her a please-help-me look. Hermione melted.

'You three were fine battling in your first to fourth year, I'm no longer a baby. I a fourth year for Merlin sakes, I have already met Riddle you know!' she said going red with anger.

Harry gulped as memories of the chamber of secrets came flooding back. Ron, was speechless Ginny looked too much like an angry Mrs. Weasley, he just sputtered and muttered incoherently.

'Ginny, be reasonable,' pleaded Hermione trying to take Ron's side on the matter.

'No!' said Harry with such vehemence that even Ginny was taken aback. 'I will not be the cause of more death and suffering.' With that he got up and stormed off.

'Handle Ginny,' Hermione whispered to Ron, chasing after Harry.

Harry had to get out, he broke into a run. Images of Cedric, Anne and Timothy flashed through his mind as he left through the main doors of Hogwarts castle. On a whim, he headed to the lake and collapsed on the bank and tried to regain some calm.

Hermione caught up to him.

'Harry,' she said, 'what's wrong?'

'Nothing,' he grunted, 'just, a little worried about Ginny.'

'Harry, this is not worrying, this is hyperventilating,' she said taking his hand, 'now tell me what's really wrong.'

Gryffindor Common Room

'Ginny, no, you can't,' said Ron throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.

The rest of the Gryffindor's stayed away from the arguing duo, no one dared to interfere in a brother-sister fight.

'Ron, don't act that way! You never said anything to Hermione!' said Ginny.

'But, that was different!' Ron said quickly.

'And how was that different?' said Ginny crossing her hands in front of her.

Ron was speechless, time for desperate measures he thought.

'You are just doing this to get close to Harry,' he said in a hushed voice.

'And if I am?' said Ginny flustered that her intentions were so obvious. 'I'll going to Prof. Figg, I'm sure she will have something else to say.' She turned around and left.

Ron swore he had heard her say, 'chauvinist,' before she left.

Ron quickly went down to the entrance hall trying to locate Harry and Hermione.

He moved with an extra skip. Things were back to normal, he thought, feeling guilty about all the things he had thought about Harry. Just the way they should be.

Lake Side Hogwarts Castle

Ron came running down the path.

'Harry, this is not worrying, this is hyperventilating,' she said taking his hand, 'now tell me what's really wrong'

Ron heard Hermione just as he reached.

'Sit down, Ron,' said Harry.

Harry started telling them about his dreams, including the latest one.

'Harry, my god! I, I had no idea' Hermione said close to tears, 'you seemed a little off for the past few days, but this'. She shook her head.

'I'm so sorry Harry, I don't know what to say' said Ron. Ron felt a fresh wave of guilt pass over him. This is the boy, I envied? No one deserves this kind of pain.

'I keep feeling it's my fault,' Harry said, raising a hand to silence the retort that was about to come. 'I know, I know, Sirius already told me. But, I just can't help feeling a little guilty,'

Hermione hugged him closer, 'I know,' she said, 'that what makes you so special.'

'That's right mate, we wouldn't have you any other way,' said Ron, only to be pulled into the hug.

A few seconds later they separated.

'You should tell Dumbledore,' said Ron.

Harry nodded his assent.

'And we will be late for breakfast!' exclaimed Ron.

Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.

'What?' Ron asked looking at them.

'Nothing,' said Hermione, getting up. 'To breakfast!'

'And beyond,' Harry added. Hermione giggled.

'Wha?' said Ron as he was grabbed by Hermione.

'Sorry, Muggle joke, said Harry already holding on to one of Hermione's hands.

And the three united friends headed back to the entrance hall.

Somewhere else

'NO!!!' screamed the figure in black. 'Days of work, down the drain!'

The Great Hall - At breakfast

Ron told them what happened with Ginny (leaving out the last Harry part).

'You, thing Prof Figg will allow her?' questioned Harry munching on a piece of toast.

'She might, if Ginny was determined enough,' sighed Hermione.

'I don't think so,' said Harry.

Ron nodded his head in agreements, 'I hope not, I don't know what I'd tell mum if something happened to her.'

Suddenly owls began to arrive.

'Owl Post!' exclaimed Ron and the three rapidly walked to the Gryffindor table. Copies of the Daily Prophet began to fall on the tables.

Suddenly, there was a horrible scream.