Harry pounded down the corridor, repeatedly looking over his shoulder. Every few seconds, a jet of red, green, or blue light would sail over his shoulder.

My luck is running out, Harry thought, as he ducked into the stairwell and began to race up the steps. He took a few seconds to pull out his luck potion and take a swig before he continued his running.

He heard a bang behind him and saw orange light reflected in front of him. The Slytherin bullies weren't giving up.

He passed the fifth floor, narrowly dodging a bolt of purple light. He pivoted at the floor and hurriedly started to climb the next flight of stairs. As he turned, he thought he saw a flash of blond hair. Oh no, not Malfoy again! Harry thought as he sprinted up.

He stepped onto the sixth floor, panting, trying to catch his breath. As soon as he stopped, he heard a faint shout of "Tarantallegra!" and a jinx slammed into his chest, causing his feet to start moving uncontrollably. Harry cursed under his breath, then proceeded to quickly murmur a charm under his breath to stop his legs from dancing and a shout of "Locomotor wibbly!" over his shoulder before he continued his climb. When he heard their shouts of dismay, he smiled, as thoughts of their wobbly legs filled his mind.

"Whew!" he said out loud. Too loud in fact. Filch's cat. Mrs. Norris, hissed loudly, and with a strangled meow, ran to the bobbing light a hundred yards down the corridor.

Quickly, he ran to the portrait of the Fat Lady, begging her not to give him any trouble before shouting "Caput Draconis!" and "Pig Snout!" in quick succession, hoping one of them was right. "Pick the right one," the Fat Lady requested. Annoyed, he just shouted "OPEN UP!"

With "Okay, okay," the portrait silently opened.

As Harry slipped around the corner of the portrait, he smiled as he caught a glimpse of Draco and his cronies being caught by Filch, but he felt a slight pang of fear as Mrs. Norris stared right at him before he disappeared into the Gryffindor common room.

.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione said concernedly as she and Ron rushed up to greet him and noticed the bruising on his face and the burn mark from the jinx on his shirt.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," replied, as he proceeded to faint and fall on the wool rug of the common area.

He woke up to snoring and a damp cloth on his forehead. As he opened his eyes he saw Hermione's silhouette in the light of the lamp behind her. "You're not supposed to be here!" Harry directed at her in a barely suppressed whisper.

"Don't worry," she whispered back, "I'm going soon."

Right after she finished her last word, Neville jumped out of his bed, whisper-shouting "Who's there?" and then a quick "Lumos!"

He instantly toppled over, stiff as a board. A shadow went up to him and a trace of red light emerged from Neville's chest as he fell limp.

"Thanks, Ron!" Hermione whispered over her shoulder, before quietly racing back to the girl's dormitories.

As Harry blew out the light, he saw a look of passion and longing on Ron's face, following Herminone as she ran out the door.

He decided against saying anything.