A Semester at a Glance

Harry Potter, along with his two best friends of a trio, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, were boarding the Hogwarts Express for their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. None of the three knew exactly how time seemed to have passed so quickly, and before they could realize, the summer holidays were coming at earnest, and the wheels of the locomotive were starting to roll again.

As an owl zoomed past the compartment window, Harry glanced outside and immediately fixed his gaze upon the little owl that flapped its wings joyously, gradually disappearing out of sight.

"Pigwidgeon, is it?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, hope he doesn't run into trouble again like last time," murmured Ron, who looked half-asleep sitting beside Harry. Crookshanks was purring loudly beside his mistress, and as Hermione gave him a nod, he immediately leapt off the seat and started stalking outwards into the carriage corridors. Catching sight of this, Harry remembered that Pigwidgeon was nearly strangled to death when it went pecking for Crookshank's food at the Burrow. Hermione explained that he merely thought Pig was a rat like Scabbers for his immensely petite size.

And that is about all they have talked about so far. None of the three seemed to have the slightest intention bringing up the subject of what just happened a few months ago, at a place not so far away, but distant in the soul. After all, it was a place where Harry lost Sirius Black, his godfather and only family left alive. Perhaps, the two friends did not want to hurt his feelings.

Harry, on the other hand, did not seem to bother with the memories, as he progressively distracted himself by reviewing the bliss of the stay at the Burrow during the latter half of the summer holidays, and by plainly looking out into the setting horizon. The sun burnt scarlet in the distance, like an inflamed serpent, so familiar, slowly slithering its way down behind the mountains. Harry enjoyed the sight, nevertheless, and thought that it was much more of a relief than a void of austere thoughts and tormenting memories.

Frankly, everything passed so quickly for Harry on the first day back: The Opening Ceremony, Dumbledore's annual opening announcement speech, the House Sorting for first year students, the feast, and of course, before he could even know it, the moment when he felt himself lying flat on his four-poster bed in the Gryffindor Common-room on the seventh floor atop the Grand Staircase. As he looked around the room, there was no one in sight, not even Ron. He initially thought he was dreaming, but as he looked at his bedside clock and realized that the time was only 8:13, he knew that he has slept too early…way too early. For the past five years he had been at Hogwarts, including the first, Harry has never slept so early. He then thought why, but couldn't come up with any thoughts. And then, just as he was about to stretch out his limbs, a voice by the doorway startled him a little bit.

"Been a long day, hasn't it?"

It was Ron's voice. Before Harry could answer back though, he heard another voice whispering at such an inaudible level that Harry had to turn around in his bed to make out the very sound. He recognized that it was a girl's voice, and from his blurry vision without wearing glasses, he somehow caught a glimpse of bright orange hair dancing in the little gap between the Boys Dormitory doorway and the sidewall, just like a ring of bright bonfire burning in the distance. Harry was dazzled and amused by the sight, as his lips gently lifted into a little smile. However, something in his mind then told him that he should turn around and go back to sleep instead.

Yes, the sixth year for Harry, Ron, and Hermione has begun, yet none of the three could really know what to expect. With the Ministry of Magic and the general public finally admitting the fact of Voldemort's return, everybody in the wizarding community has been keeping their mouths shut, and gossips and rumors began to disseminate at an unprecedented rate. People began coming up with conspiracies, fearing that their neighbors could be a follower of Voldemort's, and the Daily Prophet became a trash bin for accusatory complaints and horoscope demands. The owls were sometimes even late for their usual posts, and it was rumored that the Ministry has increased security checks in the posting network for detecting spy-messages intended to any suspicious addresses anyhow related to the whereabouts of the Dark Lord himself or his affiliates.

Hogwarts was also on the tightest security ever seen. Instead of placing dementors around the school like in Harry's third year, Dumbledore hired dozens of Aurors to patrol the school grounds and its outskirts from day to night. Likewise, school rules and restrictions have also tightened, and any caught unlawful would be punished not only with detentions, but this time, also with a consent letter sent to the parents for whom, upon receiving the letters for three times, would have to bring the child home and foster him or her until further notices. As far as Harry was concerned, he has already heard of two cases so far – a first year and a second year – being sent home to their parents. At a weekly Gryffindor House meeting, House Head Professor McGonagall even warned that older students could be receiving the same consequences upon discovery of severe violations.

Despite all the tensions immersing in the school's generally colder atmosphere, academic activities still carried on as usual, or so Harry thought. There were a few changes in staffing, as every year would, but this year's has been a little bit staggering to the trio. Professor Severus Snape, the all-time Gryffindor hater and head of Slytherin House, has been appointed by Dumbledore as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and another teacher known by the name of Professor Slughorn, heard to be invited by Dumbledore personally, took up Snape's prior Potions position instead. Harry did not really expect Snape to take up Defense Against the Dark Arts this year, despite that he did temporarily replaced Professor Lupin back in their third year. A feeling of dread was already building in his expectations even before his first class, as he knows that Snape is second-most, if not most, talented at taking points off Gryffindor for whatever reasons he can come up with – from speaking out of turn, to raising the hand at the wrong time. As of Professor Slughorn, he seemed much more friendly and genuine, and many students, particularly Hermione, already took a liking to his teaching style ever since his very first Potions lesson. From what Harry heard from some of the Slytherins discussing about Slughorn, he was a former colleague of Dumbledore's, and is therefore similarly rich in teaching experiences, methods, and knowledge.

Surprisingly though, not much else has been changed from the previous years, other than the more fearful atmosphere ubiquitous around the castle. Everyday seemed much more quiet than usual, not simply because Fred and George has left the school last year after ambushing Professor Umbridge ("the hag" as Hermione called her for her notorious reputations and greedy methods of seizing authoritarian control), but also due to an increased fear in every wizard and witch's heart. Nobody knew whether He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would come back or not and start a new war like the Wizarding War 16 years ago. Nobody even knew how he looked like since his defeat in the former war. Moreover, it was even rumored that there are his loyalists inside the school, right now, and it couldn't help Harry and the trio but to always keep an eye on the Slytherins. To half of their expectations, thankfully, they were right for being cautious.

...

"Big deal if the house elf starves?" mumbled Ron, with a little laughter, "Well Kreacher should be taught in a lesson, you know? He speaks and acts to all of us, even to Sirius, like as if we are mountain trolls trying to club him all the time!"

"But you couldn't take, like all his rights away, could you?" Hermione argued back, "According to the S.P.E.W., it clearly states that the people other than the elf's master or…"

"Why can't you just shut it about spew?" Ron interrupted Hermione irritatingly, "It's not like I want to become a specialist on house elf rights when I leave Hogwarts, or something along those lines,"

"It's S.P.E.W.!" cried Hermione miserably.

The three Gryffindors have just finished another Potions class, and were walking while chatting in a deserted Dungeons corridor. Dim candles lit the pathway ahead of them on either wall on the sides covered by carvings of snakes, and the corridor seemed so unfamiliar to Harry that he felt as if he walked it for the very first time. As the other two went on arguing about the validity of S.P.E.W., a topic in which they have started arguing since a couple of days ago, Harry concentrated on pacing himself forward, ignoring the chatters of his two friends. After a certain extent of time, he found that he was already walking several feet in front of Ron and Hermione.

"Hurry up, will you two?" Harry beckoned irritatingly.

The two immediately complied and caught up with him in no time. However, as they all stopped talking, Harry suddenly felt a sharp prickling in his scar.

"Wait!" He shouted rather loudly, halting in his steps and stretching out his arms. The other two were stopped rather by his shout than his limbs.

"What's the matter?" asked Ron.

"Wait," repeated Harry, pausing, "Are we really heading the right way?"

"Well, we're supposed to be going the right way, and we should have reached…" Hermione began her assertions, but immediately ceased talking as she lifted her head to look towards the front.

As the three looked ahead, they saw the corridor stretching before them almost indefinitely, with the same features at every few feet. As they turned their heads to the back, it was the same scenery except for a slight bend in the distance. Everything was quiet, until the three heard the sound of a little drip of water coming from the front. As Harry looked more carefully, he realized that there were two openings on either side of the corridor several yards ahead.

"I, I don't remember coming to this place before," Hermione panted, staring blankly around.

"We're probably very deep in the Dungeons," sniffed Ron, "so deep that the Slytherins don't even come here."

"Let me take a look at where we actually are," said Harry, as he opened his bag and took out a blank piece of parchment. The other two smiled for a bit, for they have known all along that this was the Marauder's Map Harry had used to get around Hogwarts for all these years without getting lost.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry spoke aloud while tapping the tip of his Holly wand towards the parchment. At once, the title "The Marauder's Map" appeared at the top. However then, instead of mapping out the rest of Hogwarts like what it usually does, the parchment only mapped out the Dungeons area at the top right hand corner, and then, had the rest of it blank. As Harry frowned for a little, he suddenly noticed his name along with Ron and Hermione's, but they were not positioned in the middle of a long and distant corridor as how the map would normally show. Instead, blank space was all that was around them, leaving a few distances from the shown portion of the Dungeons on the map.

"Well, this is quite, odd," Ron began. The other two remained silent and skeptical. After about ten seconds or so, Hermione asked,

"Harry, are you sure the map is working right?"

"I've said this for countless numbers of times Hermione, but trust me, the map is never wrong." Harry asserted.

"Then, why are we all standing in the middle of this," Ron asked, then paused to think of a right word to use, and blurted out, "nowhere?"

Harry, of course, did not know what to answer. However, he knew that there must be a reason why they are here, and why only the dungeons portion is shown on the map. He pondered for a moment, staring into one of the candle flames on the wall, and asked softly,

"Has any one of you paid attention to where this corridor started?"

"Beats me, it just seems to pop out of nowhere and we're here, mate," Ron murmured, but then got interrupted immediately,

"Oh, I think I remember!" Hermione exclaimed, raising a finger, "I did feel a little weird when I was walking along here as well. Speaking of which, I remember that the entrance to this corridor was similar in shape to that of a huge doorway, which means that there should have been something that was there before…"

"A portrait," Harry nodded, catching Hermione's thoughts, "I remember that there was a portrait shortcut at the place where this corridor began. It would lead us to another end of the Dungeons that is closer to the staircases,"

"So, you're saying that we're walking in the shortcut right now?" Ron asked.

"Negative," Harry answered, shaking his head a little bit, "although I seldom took this shortcut, but I do remember that it was so short that it was only about half the length of the Great Hall, unlike this,"

He pointed both ways towards either direction of the corridor with seemingly no ends. Hermione sighed, while Ron groaned for a little bit.

"Mischief managed," Harry pointed his wand again at the Marauder's Map, and all the ink on the parchment immediately faded away and the parchment was a parchment once again. As he stuffed it back into his bag, he spoke aloud,

"Well, I guess we should decide whether to go back or to move on,"

Suddenly, sounds of footsteps gushed into the trios' ears, but since the corridor echoed the sounds, the three were unable to tell where the footsteps were coming from. Without any second thoughts, all three instinctually took out their wands at once and aimed towards the front.

There was nobody in sight.

They turned and aimed at the back.

There was nobody in sight.

The footsteps were becoming louder.

They turned towards the front again.

There was nobody.

They swiftly turned towards the back.

There wasn't anybody.

The footsteps were becoming slower.

They turned and aimed their wands at the front…

…at a figure standing about a hundred meters away from where they were. Hermione initially gasped for a little, but after a short while, the three made out that the figure was none other than the white blond posture of Draco Malfoy.

"What do you think you're doing down here, Potter?" Malfoy sneered, putting his left hand on his waist.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ron, stepping forward, "and where are your giant buddies?" Ron was referring to Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's all-time loyal cronies that tagged along with him wherever he went.

"None of your business, Weasley," Malfoy spat at Ron, "This is the Dungeons, and I know better than anyone else here about this place,"

This leaved the trio speechless. Yes, Malfoy is a Slytherin, so he would know better than anyone else about the Dungeon's layouts for which, in this case, is not even labeled out on the Marauder's Map.

Perhaps the Marauders haven't gone to this place after all, Harry assumed.

"Well," Malfoy began walking quickly towards the trio, "there's no need for your weapons to be pointing at me all the time is there?"

"No," Hermione said firmly, as the three of them awkwardly lowered their wands and stuffed them back into their pockets, "but we would've preferred a friendlier manner than your typical unwelcoming approach,"

"I still haven't finished speaking, Granger," replied Malfoy harshly as he arrived a few feet in front of the trio, "so keep that big gob of yours zipped, you filthy little Mud Blood!"

Hermione tried to argue back, but Malfoy turned swiftly towards Ron.

"And you, Weasley, let's see," he paused, examining Ron's feverish stare, "is unmistakably a typical, smelly, weasel." Ron breathed hardly, while Malfoy leaned back a little bit and continued to speak in a colloquial manner, "oh, and you wanna know why? Well here's the thing: with a whole load of ginger hair you're wearing on your head, it simply makes you look more like a weasel than ever!"

Malfoy laughed impudently, his cacophonous sound echoing around the damp corridor walls. Ron's face turned virtually as red as an apple, his ears also boiling hot. He couldn't believe that Malfoy would insult him even when he hasn't got his usual company. He held out his right fist, but before he could punch Malfoy in the face though, like what Hermione did in their third year, something grabbed hold of him and pulled him back, seizing both of his arms and confining his freedom to move. As the trio turned their heads, they realized that Crabbe and Goyle have arrived from behind the three Gryffindors, and Crabbe has seized Ron by the arms while Goyle did the same to Hermione.

And then, Malfoy turned to Harry, and they both knew what was going to come. They started to search their pockets for their own wands at the same time under the inevitable tension formed between their gazes. When they found their wands, the two stared deeper and more indignantly into the other's eyes, while holding their weapons tightly with teeth gripping like that of werewolves. After what seemed like one whole minute of tension, Malfoy began to speak in a fast pace, breaking the silence,

"Well Potter, you see: Although you're famous all over the place now, but even the Ministry won't believe in you anymore!"

"What makes you say that, Malfoy," Harry simply asked back, although with an inferno burning in his heart, "And what has that gotta do with you?"

"Of course you know the answers to all that, Potter!" Malfoy answered back while walking slowly from left to right, "Father had reported all what you've done to the Minister for Magic himself. It was you who had betrayed him and freed his house elf against his wishes four years ago. He thought that you wouldn't evoke his anger once again, but you did, and a lot worse too. Remember what had happened in that chamber of the archway, at the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic a few months back? That stupid idiot godfather of yours had almost killed him! It was very nice indeed when Bellatrix Lestrange killed Black you know. He'll meet your head-jammed old father and your dirty mother, Potter! And believe me: you'll be just like your parents one day! You mark my words!"

He made a slight pause to catch up his breath, but still continued in no time, pointing a finger straight at Harry's nose,

"And after father had told Fudge everything you've done to us over the years, he claimed he and the Ministry to be disappointed in both you and Dumbledore, Potter! That dumb old dump had…"

Harry's frustration became unbearable. However, he was also confused in what Malfoy was saying, by that everything he said contradicted with everything he knew of. How would Fudge take in account the words of a Death Eater like Lucius Malfoy's, Draco's father, despite that the two had an apparently friendly relationship in earlier years? How would the Ministry be disappointed in Dumbledore for all he had done to fight and hold until the time for Fudge and the Wizengamots to witness Voldemort in person? He is probably merely coming up with rubbish in anger of what Sirius has done to his father during the battle at the Department of Mysteries, thought Harry, gulping uncomfortably. Nevertheless, as he focused his attention back on Malfoy's speech, he carried on talking about how awful Dumbledore is, and Crabbe and Goyle were both smirking like a pair of hooligans suffering inside an invisible and non-existent wonderland. Harry couldn't control himself anymore, and without any hesitations, pulled out his wand to aim straight at Malfoy's face. To Harry's surprise, however, Malfoy pulled out his wand at the same time as well, aiming back at him. He ceased his words, and Crabbe and Goyle also stopped smirking. The silence came back between them all, but for a very brief moment this time. Their gazes locked as tightly as a pair of shackles, until finally, both of them couldn't hold onto the rope of frustration anymore. They impetuously yelled out their spells at the same time, as Hermione shouted from the side in protest,

"Stupefy!"

"Impedimenta!"

The two spells hit the two teenagers at almost precisely the same time, and both flew for a few meters and fell down on the ground. Both struggled to get back up as well.

"Stop it, you two," Hermione cried, protesting against Goyle's irresistible grip, "Harry, you're not supposed to duel in the corridors. You're breaking the school rules! You can get caught and you know what will happen!"

"But we both are breaking the rules," Harry murmured, standing up-right once again.

"Come on, Potter," Malfoy spat, "It's just between you and I, and I'm gonna make you suffer the same way as how my father had,"

Another spell was fired towards Harry in no time, but he was ready this time and casted the shield charm to deflect it, hitting a sidewall to send some bricks crumbling down. Harry then fired back, and Malfoy dodged as the spell zoomed past his forehead and missed by a few centimeters. Then, the two fired at the same time and also simultaneously casted the shield charm. The next thing they knew was that they both got hit by their own curses and flew in opposite directions.

"Stop it, stop it Harry!" Hermione yelled.

"Go Harry, go and teach Malfoy a lesson," Ron encouraged for the duel instead, while Crabbe and Goyle sent cheers for Malfoy as well. As the two struggled back up again, Malfoy raised his wand above his head and casted,

"Serpensortia,"

At once, a snake seemingly leapt out of the tip of Malfoy's wand. Staring down at the viper, Harry merely smirked, and said, "You did it once; not going to work again,

"Vipera Evanesca!"

Harry aimed his wand at the snake, and the viper was disintegrated into flames in no time.

Malfoy bit his lips, and then, aimed his wand at the sidewall on the left. Harry didn't know what he was intending to do, but he was chanting a spell unknown to him at the wall. Initially, nothing happened; but then, two of the snake carvings on the wall slid aside, and out gushed countless black, little crawling legs. It took Ron a few seconds to figure out that they were spiders.

"Attack him!" Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry, and the brigade of spiders all obediently started crawling in Harry's direction. Facing the gradually building army of spiders heading towards him, Harry raised his wand and swept it across the floor,

"Arania Exumai!"

At once, a bright blue light was swept across the frontier of the spider army, and countless numbers of them vanished into ashes. However, countless more of them were gushing out of the opening of the hole on the wall, and the army was only building in numbers.

"What do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" cried Hermione, while Ron looked as if he has frozen to death, "this is mental!"

"None of your business, Mudblood," Malfoy merely sneered back without turning his head, "This is my business with Potter, not with you!"

The spiders carpeted the floor as a black mass, and Harry had to retreat a couple of steps to ensure that the foremost ones did not reach him. And then, knowing that it is not the best spell to use, he casted it anyway,

"Aqua Eructo!"

At once, a stream of water forcefully gushed out of the tip of Harry's wand, and all spiders at the front were washed back with the continually pushing current. This time, it was Malfoy's turn to back away, as the water rushed all the way towards his shoes and soaked them both.

"Harry!" cried Ron, as he finally broke free of Crabbe's book-sized hands and rushed towards him with a panicking face. Then, a spell hit Harry squarely in the chest, causing him to break free of the water charm and fly for a few meters before collapsing onto the ground. As he got up again, he saw that Crabbe and Goyle were both stunned unconscious, and Ron and Hermione were replacing him to duel with Malfoy alone. With all the spiders gone along with the flood, Ron was finally able to find the courage back inside him and start dueling. Hermione on the other hand, despite knowing that she shouldn't, but after being freed by Ron, couldn't help but aid him in the duel. Malfoy was casting the Shield Charm and dodging the spells fired at him one after another. Not after long, he shouted out loud before turning his back to run towards an opening on one of the sides of the corridor,

"Confringo!"

As Ron and Hermione leapt away on time, the spell hit the floor behind them covered with water, and made an enormous splash. By this time, Harry has got beside the other two Gryffindors, although struggling from the pain of the third blow of spell, and Malfoy has already disappeared from view. As the trio reluctantly made an attempt to chase up Malfoy by heading in the same direction as he headed, they immediately stopped in their tracks as they heard a booming yet familiar exclamation coming from behind them,

"What in Merlin's beard!"

As the three peeked from the side wall of the opening towards where the duel took place, they saw a bulging Professor Slughorn heading towards the huge puddle of water left on the floor with a few of the surviving spiders crawling up the sidewalls. Behind him, not so surprisingly, came Professor Snape, walking in a rather slow and gentle manner compared to the agitated Professor a little ahead of him.

"What's with all these water," asked Professor Slughorn rhetorically, glancing around the scenery with enlarged eyes, "and with all these spiders?"

As Snape arrived beside his colleague, he spoke in that cold, slow, and bitter voice Harry has heard him speak under all circumstances throughout the years, "Perhaps, a leakage in a pipe in the sidewalls?" He pointed towards the opening between the two snake carvings created by Malfoy. Slughorn beamed in the direction Snape was pointing at.

"Ah, yes, that does apparently seems to be the case, Professor,"

"The question is," Snape continued as soon as Slughorn ceased his words, "Who has done it?"

Harry shivered a little bit as Snape's words somehow gave him a few goosebumps. He thought he saw Hermione did the same too.

"Wh-what do you mean, Severus?" Slughorn twisted his belly and frowned up at Snape a little, "you don't think this is simply a natural deterioration of the pipes for the sake of Hogwarts' archaic history?"

"That could be possible," said Snape softly, glancing downwards towards the floor, "without students lying around the floor,"

Hermione gasped, but got her mouth covered by Ron on time. Snape was staring at the stunned bodies of Crabbe and Goyle, each lying against a side of the wall on either side of the corridor.

"Merlin's beard, Merlin's beard! How could this be?" exclaimed Slughorn, shaking his head while staring at the two Slytherin students.

"By the looks of this, Horace," Snape turned slowly towards Slughorn, staring gravely into his eyes, "there has been an accident…no, an intentional one…so, it must have been an attack,"

"Let's get out of here," Hermione whispered. However, just as they were about to retreat their gazes from the scenery, Harry thought he saw Snape suddenly lifting his head and staring in their direction. Whether he saw them or not, he did not know. He just knew that he, along with Ron and Hermione, must run and get out of the Dungeons immediately.

...

Eventually, the trio did make out of the Dungeons via a flight of stairs that took them to another side of the Grand Staircase. With a few pants and sweats, but that was the only attack Harry and the trio has encountered in their first semester. They haven't heard any accusations in the days that followed, and therefore, were relieved to believe that Snape hadn't seen them after all. Of course, the three never went to pay another visit to that corridor again after every Potions class.

However, Harry's scar did hurt from time to time, although he did not know why.

Yet.