"Unless we can find it...we are all doomed. Rachel, the Oracle."

"Three half-bloods shall find,

"The treasure that long ago was mined,

"From underneath a school in Britain,

"It shall be found with the help of the Titan's kitten.

"The flame, the death, and the wise must go,

"And save the world from a foe forgotten long ago.

"One of the questers shall have to choose,

"What do they have to lose?

"And if that one chooses the wrong path,

"All of the world shall feel someone's wrath.

"Beware, they shall walk paths lost long ago,

"And one girl shall save them, and earn the bow,

"Overlapping mysteries all around,

"Some remain lost forever, but others shall be found.

"Seek help from the two-faced legacy,

"But beware the raven dreamy.

"The death must silence the transparent souls,

"That roam around the endless halls,

"I must say, good luck, with the quest,

"This is not easy, only for the best,

"The fate of the world depends on you,

"No pressure, now shoo!

"Even I shall be affected if you fail,

"Go on now, you must prevail!"

"Everybody up!"

Mrs. Weasley's voice echoed from downstairs. I groggily fumbled around for my glasses and put them on. Yawning, I crawled out of bed and changed. Then I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and brush my teeth. Immediately my thoughts cleared.

Today was the first day of our make-up year at Hogwarts! I rummaged through my trunk and grabbed my uniform, then changed for the second time. I glanced at Ron. He was still snoring into his pillow. I shook him. "Ron, it's the first day of school, remember?" He grumbled.

"A few more minutes, Mum.." I sighed and looked around for a pitcher. I spotted one and filled it up with water. Then I poured it over Ron's head. He shot up like something had bitten him. "George! Ginny!" He sped downstairs without changing out of his pajamas.

After Fred had died, Ginny had filled in as George's partner-in-crime. I suppose Ron thought they had spilled water all over him, and I knew George and Ginny wouldn't rat me out, even though they hadn't done a thing.

I walked down to the kitchen to get my food. I passed Ron arguing with George and Ginny. His face was so red that it could've been a tomato. And he was dripping wet. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. As I passed her, Ginny gave me a wink, then yelled at Ron. I wasn't really listening, but Ron's face seemed to swell purple.

"'Morning, Mrs. Weasley," I greeted Ron's mum as I grabbed a plate and loaded it with food. She smiled. "Good morning, Harry!" She gave me a tight squeeze before sending a spell at the dishes, which automatically started cleaning themselves. "Would you mind telling Ronald to stop yelling so loud? The garden gnomes are staring through the windows." I looked, and sure enough, one of those devilish faces was peering in at us. He seemed to smile at me with his pointed teeth. I hate garden gnomes. "Sure." I stuffed a bit of buttered toast in my mouth and walked out of the kitchen.

"Ron, your mum says to stop yelling so loud, you're attracting garden gnomes," I called. The arguing stopped. I sat down at the table and greeted Hermione. She was staying at the Burrow because her parents were currently in Australia, with no recollection that they'd ever had a daughter. It was sad, but Hermione was determined not to let it drag her down. "After all," she had said, "I practically live in a wizarding world. I have a wonderful boyfriend," (Ron had smiled at that) "and many wonderful friends. I care about my parents, but as long as they're happy, I'm happy. Even if...even if they don't know who I am. I'll be fine."

"Hey Harry," she said. "I'm so excited! Isn't it wonderful we'll get to have a whole other school year?"

"Yeah, it's great. We'll get to see Luna and Neville again."

"I wonder what Malfoy's going to be like.."

I grinned. "I hope he learned his lesson. He deserves all the teasing he's probably going to get."

"I suppose." Hermione got up and poured herself some hot chocolate. Then she sat back down. "So, what's troubling you?"

I blinked. "Nothing!"

She raised an eyebrow and sipped from her cup, then winced as it was still hot. "I always know when something is wrong. C'mon, I won't tell."

I sighed. "You're right. Well," I began spilling my secrets, "This past week I've been having a lot of nightmares. About darkness spreading throughout the world, and a black-haired boy holding it back. I don't know how- well, it's a dream, isn't it- but the darkness was funneled around this one, I don't know, shield-sized part and the boy was holding it back. But then..." I swallowed.

"But then a girl appeared...and she...and she...she grabbed a knife and threw it at the boy's foot. It hit its mark, and the boy cried out and fell. The darkness wrapped around him, and the last thing I saw was his face. He had such a look of betrayal on his face, you wouldn't believe it, Hermione, the look on his face.

"He cried out a name, I didn't quite catch it. 'How could you?' he said. 'How could you betray me like this?' And then she walked up to him- the darkness didn't seem to affect her at all- and stepped on his fingertips. 'Betray you? You've betrayed me a thousand times.' And she walked away from him, her black cloak flowing behind her. The boy screamed out again, but it was too late. He was gone." I took a shuddering breath.

"And it's the same one over and over again, but each time the girl changes. One time red hair, the next black, the next a brunette. I just can't pinpoint what she looks like."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows worriedly. "You don't think this has anything to do with..." For the first time since the war Hermione faltered in saying his name. "With Voldemort?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I really don't know. I haven't had a glimpse of him, or any Death Eaters, but my scar has started to feel funny. Not like when Voldemort was in power, just...different." I half-heartedly chewed on what was in my mouth. I'm not exactly sure what, it all tasted like cardboard.

Hermione sighed. "Well, hopefully it's nothing bad...it's something bad. But I just can't see what we can do now, so just..go with the flow. It'll reveal itself to you eventually."

I nodded. She was right, but I couldn't quite get those images out of my head. I speared an egg with my fork and looked up to see George, Ron, and Ginny entering the kitchen with plates of food, still glaring at each other. I gave Hermione a glance, and she nodded. She wouldn't tell.

Ron sat down next to me. "Can you believe it, mate?" He whispered. "George and Ginny dumped water over me and they won't admit it!" I stifled a smile. "Mhm."

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Stop spreading lies, Ronald!" She called from the other side of the table.

"They're not lies!" Ron's face flamed with anger. "You two dumped water over me!"

"No we didn't!"

"Then who did?!"

Silence.

Ron slowly turned to look at me. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Uhh.."

"Harry!"

I jumped up. "I'm not so hungry anymore..." I ran outside. I could hear Ron spluttering; "He-just-I-water-HEY COME BACK HERE!" I heard his chair being pushed back, his pounding feet running across the wooden floor.

I looked back and saw Ron holding a pitcher of water running at me. I ran faster. I barreled out into the backyard and grabbed my Firebolt. But just before I could mount it, I felt water dumped on my head. "RON!"

"Goodbye!" Mrs. Weasley waved to us as the Hogwarts Express train started moving. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and I were finally on the train to Hogwarts. Luna was with us too. No, do not ask what happened after I got soaked. I will not tell you.

The door slid open. "Something from the trolley, dearies?" The lady with the trolley smiled at us. Something felt wrong, but I ignored it and jumped up. "Sure, just let me..." I reached into a pouch and grabbed some coins. Then I paid for some candy.

I was just about to step back into the compartment when she smiled sweetly at me. "Come, now, such a sweet boy like you, I'll have to give you something special." I blinked, and said, "What?" She stepped closer to me. "Well, maybe I could give you a kiss..."

I shook my head, but my brain was getting clouded. I noticed for the first time that she wasn't the usual trolley lady, she was someone else, maybe one or two years older than me. "Sure..." I smiled. She was so nice, I didn't even think about Ginny. I stepped forward.

"Yes, that's right, let me give you a kiss," she crooned. We were a foot away from each other when the compartment next to us opened.

"Excuse me, we still haven't gotte-" A blond-haired girl froze, then leaped up. She punched the trolley lady in the face. "Hey," I complained. Then my mind cleared.

"Wait, what- she- who- whaaa?"

The girl snapped her fingers. "Oh, just forget about that. It's not important." I nodded. She was right. Then I stumbled back into the compartment. I sat down and handed out the candy, and it wasn't until Luna started waving her magazine around me when my mind cleared.

"What- hey! What are you doing?"

"You're surrounded by Nargles," Luna confided. "They're everywhere. Just hold on a second, I'll get them away." She continued waving her magazine around my head. I groaned. This was going to be a long ride.

"Ronald, stop eating like a pig!" Hermione scolded Ron as she swatted his hands that were reaching for another potato. "Why? Surely that's why all this food is here, right?"

I grinned. "No, you have to eat like a chicken." Before Hermione protested, I whispered, "Wait. This is going to be epic."

Ron looked confused for a second, then bent his head and started eating his mountain of food (WITH ONLY HIS MOUTH). "Are oo er ee haf do ee ike dis, 'Arry?" he asked.

"I'm sure," I assured him. "Absolutely convinced." After a minute of him eating like that and Hermione and I watching, I said, "Hey Ron, it says 'gullible' on the ceiling." Ron looked up, confused.

" 'ere?"

"Nowhere. You're gullible for thinking it said 'gullible' on the ceiling." A pause. "And for the chicken thing."

Ron blinked and swallowed. "So...people don't really eat like this?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course not, Ron. Look around you!"

"Oh. Right."

I laughed. Suddenly, a curly-haired boy bounced over. (No, I don't mean literally.)

"Hi! I'm Leo, and you are?"

I was shocked for a second. "Are you from here?"

Leo wagged his finger at me. "Uh, uh, uh, manners! Answer my question, and I'll answer yours!" He grinned maniacally.

"Um... I'm Harry Potter." I was slightly surprised he didn't know me.

"Oh, you're Harry Potter. You know, there's a blond haired boy over there making fun of a Harry Potter. Hopefully you have an identical twin with the same name. Probably not though."

I looked over at the Slytherin table, and sure enough, Malfoy was making fun of me. Some things never change. "So..um, answer my question now?" It came out as more of a question.

"Oh yeah, your question! I'm from America, I'm new! I came here with my, uh... cousin Annabeth, and...my..." He thought for a moment. "My...dad's cousin's son, Nico." {A/N: I know Nico's actually Leo's great uncle's son, but the age difference would be suspicious.}

"Oh."

"Yup!" Leo looked around for a second, then spotted a pastry-looking thing. "My gods is that...?" He shoved it into his mouth. "Yes it is!" He started eating even faster than Ron, which Ron seemed to take as a challenge. Soon, they were having a competition, and had gotten Seamus to referee.

"Ready, set, go!"

Hermione shook her head disapprovingly. "Boys.." She muttered it under her breath, but I heard her.

"Hey!"

"What? It's true."

"Um, er, I suppose..." I looked at Hermione's plate. She somehow had managed to get a jelly donut. I started salivating. "Hey, are you going to eat that?"

"Boys!"

"So you have a pet giant squid?"

"No. There's a lake in Hogwarts grounds, and a giant squid lives there."

"So the squid belongs to Prof. McGonny!"

"Uh, her name's Professor McGonagall...and no, the squid is a wild animal."

"But he lives in Hogwarts grounds...and McGonny is the heedmister- whatever that means- of Hogwarts."

"Professor McGonagall, and headmistress," I muttered. But I couldn't ignore Leo's strange logic. "I suppose you're right." Leo grinned and yelled over at Ron, who was talking to Hermione. "Ron, you owe me a galleon!" Ron walked over. "Don't tell me Harry, you said he was right, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah..?"

Ron groaned frustratedly and handed Leo a galleon. He grinned wickedly.

Leo had turned out to be not-so-crazy, but a little hyperactive, like he had drunk a gallon of Kool-Aid with three times the normal sugar. Hermione looked down on him, probably because of his eating competition with Ron. Ron was estatic to know someone who shared his love of food, ("No one understands." "I know right! You just see it on the plate, calling your name...the food conquers all!" "All hail the food!" "The food, the food!"). His cousin Annabeth was pretty nice, if not a little scary, with that look that she was going to gut you. His...dad's cousin's son Nico was quite friendly, but moody and reserved. He had that look in his eyes like he couldn't quite believe that he was accepted as who he was.

Ginny came and sat next to us. "Hi Harry, Leo, Ron." Ron looked offended. "You say hi to me last?" She shrugged. "You're not important."

"What?!" Ginny laughed at the expression on his face. "I'm kidding, Ron, you're my brother." Ron relaxed.

"But I have five- four other brothers just like you." Ron tried to look offended, but he had heard Ginny clearly, and it brought back memories of Fred.

"Haha," he said sarcastically. "Very funny."

Leo's eyes lit up. "Punny!" He noticed us staring at him and waved a hand dismissively. "Ah, never mind."

"We should be getting back now," Hermione said. "Tomorrow classes start!" I hadn't even noticed her there, but I nodded.

"Yeah, we should be getting back now. Uhh...Leo?"

Leo glanced up from where he was poking at the mud with a stick. "Yeah?"

"Um..what house are you in?"

"House...?" Leo momentarily looked confused. Then his face lit up. "Oh yeah! I'm a Gryffindor."

I sighed with relief. "Good. You're with us. Good thing you're not a Slytherin." I wrinkled my nose with distaste.

"You seem to have forgotten that Slytherins and Gryffindors are no longer enemies," reprimanded Hermione. "We should start acting civil to one another."

Ron shrugged. "Whatever you say." Normally Ron would say something like, "Civil? I'm not being bloody civil to Malfoy!" (then, under his breath, "What in the world does civil even mean?") but being in a war really messes you up. As well as dating a girl.

We headed back towards the castle and entered the Gryffindor common room. Leo freaked out over the Fat Lady's (who we found out her name was Beatrice, but it didn't feel right) portrait, muttering about hinges and motion sensors. He laughed hysterically over the fact that we had dormitories- for some reason this was funny to him.

We found out that both Leo and Nico were sharing our dormitories. They argued fiercely over the not-thrown-up-on bed, in which Leo managed to catch on fire again, even though there weren't any fireplaces nearby, and Nico said something like, "Oh for the love of hay- jeez!" Eventually Nico got the bed, but Leo managed to burn up the thrown-up-on bed - how does he do these things? - so Nico said he had to sleep on the floor. Leo can really throw a tantrum, let me say. They started arguing- no, yelling is a better word- at each other once again, in which Leo said something like, "Oh go rot in tartar sauce!" and Nico stopped and looked at his feet and Leo let him sleep on the not-thrown-up-on-or-burned-to-ashes-bed, agreeing to sleep on the floor. Nico must really not like tartar sauce.

Anyway, everyone got settled down and went to sleep. Finally. Except me, of course. I stood up and sat on the windowsill like I used to do with Hedwig when I was younger. Just the thought of Hedwig made te- it attracted dust to my eyes. Yeah, that's right. Dust.

I swallowed the lump in my throat (er, I must've had a throat disease. Maybe strep throat. Yeah, that's right. Strep throat) and walked back to my bed. I took out a collage of pictures of the people- and owls and house-elves- in my life who died and looked at it. Sirius, Lavender, Snape, my parents, Dobby, Fred, Hedwig, etc. I turned it over where it was clearly labeled, BAD GUYS. On that side was Crabbe, Voldemort, Bellatrix, etc. I really didn't know why I went to the trouble of collecting a photo of every single person who had died as a result of my relationship with Voldemort. Maybe as a reminder.

I sighed and slid the collage under my pillow. As I fell asleep, it was like I could hear my mum's voice, bidding me good night.

"Good night, Harry. Sweet dreams..."