The next day, Ginny felt a lot better about being in Ravenclaw, something that could be seen easily by Harry and Hermione and they were glad. Hermione and Ginny went down to the Ravenclaw common room after a peaceful night. They smiled when they saw Harry sitting in the corner, reading, he looked like he was too wrapped up in his book to notice anything. Hermione looked at Ginny for a moment before they both giggled and walked over to him.
"Morning Harry" Hermione said as she and Ginny sat next to him. Harry continued to look down at his book, smiling when he felt them sit down.
"You two seem happy this morning" he observed, raising an eyebrow as he looked up at them.
"Of course we are, we got the rat" Ginny said, saying 'rat' with distaste before continuing.
"And whatever Professor Qurill is up to might have something to do with a Horcrux, how can we not be happy" she said. Harry nodded to himself as he closed the book he was reading and placed it on his lap.
"Yes but what if he doesn't take the bait?" he asked, meaning what Dumbledore was going to use for Professor Quirrel.
"Harry, you need to have more faith in Professor Dumbledore, we have known him for years, he can do this" Hermione said. Ginny agreed, Dumbledore had been training them for as long as she could remember, if he set his mind, he could do nearly anything.
Harry nodded "I suppose your right" he said, he stood up and looked back at them expectantly.
"We should go to breakfast" he said, Hermione and Ginny stood up and followed him out of the common room, wondering what Dumbledore would use. They entered the Great Hall and walked over to the Ravenclaw table, laughing when they saw Ron and Daniel waving enthusiastically at them. They sat down and piled the food on their plates, Harry could feel Dumbledore watching them.
He looked up when he heard Hermione's breath hitch and notice that she was looking at Professor Quirral. He looked at the Professor and was shocked to see that the black aurora had grown.
"This isn't good, we will have to tell Dumbledore" Ginny said, trying her hardest to look away from the aurora that seemed to pulse with power.
"Here are your new time tables" said a voice, they looked up and saw Professor Sprout smiling at them, handing them cards. Dumbledore had given them different time tables to everyone else for obvious reasons. They had the same lessons as everyone else except four lessons that would be spent with Dumbledore.
"Thank you Professor" Hermione said before the three scanned over the cards. They had to go to Dumbledore's office for their first lesson, Harry thought that would be the perfect time to tell him about Quirral.
"Great,only a few of our lessons are going to be away from the other first years, that can give us the chance to look for others with this bond" Ginny said brightly. Harry smiled at her, he was glad she was feeling better, he didn't think about the others being in their year. Although, Ron, Daniel and Nevile were in their year so it wouldn't be strange if someone else was.
After breakfast, they left the Great Hall in silence, not wanting to talk about anything in detail until they were on their own. They stopped when they heard a voice, turning around, they saw Ron, Daniel and Nevile run over to them.
"Hey guys, we noticed that you got another time table, what normal lessons are you missing?" Ron asked. Harry looked over his time table again and nodded "we have four lessons that will be spent with Dumbledore" he said.
Daniel grinned "briliant, we better get to potions, see you later cuz" he said before he, Ron and Nevile left. Harry, Hermione and Ginny walked up the Grand Staircase to Dumbledore's office.
"Ah, hello, we will start in here and then we will go into the forest" Dumbledore said when he noticed them walk up to his office. They entered the office when Harry remembered what they had to say to Dumbledore.
"Sir, at breakfast, Professor Quirral, the black aurora around him had grown" he said.
Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment "He is becoming more powerful, if my theory is correct then soon, that small gray aura will be gone" he said sadly.
"Sir, have you figured out what to use yet?" Hermione asked as she and Ginny stroked Faux who seemed to love the attention.
Dumbledore smiled "yes, I have found just the thing, however, I can not speak of it yet" he said. He had sent Hagrid to the bank in diagon alley but did not want to tell them until he was sure that everything was going well.
"Well, that is enough talking, we will need to prepare" Dumbledore said, he walked over to his desk and looked through his draw.
"This way then" he said happily as he walked out of the office, Harry, Ginny and Hermione following him. They quietly walked out onto the grounds and towards the forbidden forest, making sure that no student saw them. They were a mile into the trees when Dumbledore finally stopped.
"For your first lesson, there are four objects hidden here, each will have a grey aurora, one will be darker then the rest, you need to bring that one to me" he instructed. The three turned into their animagus forms and waited for him to finish.
"Professor Mcgonagall and Professor Sprout have set obstacles in the trees, be prepared for anything, you have one hour, you may go" he said. Harry climbed onto Ginny's back as the three ran through the forest.
It had been nine minutes before Harry heard something "did you here that?" he asked, Ginny nodded as they ran to where the noise was. Hermione flew above them, looking through the trees.
"There!" Harry called when he saw a faded grey which seemed to surround a small wooden box. Hermione turned back into her human form, she walked up to the box but was stopped by a sudden hit to her side that knocked her against a tree. She groaned as she tried to sit up, she felt Harry and Ginny at her side in their human forms a moment later.
"Hermione, are you ok?" Harry asked as he and Ginny helped her to her feet, she nodded, trying to see what hit her.
"I'm fine, just caught off guard, what was that?" she asked, standing up and rubbing her head.
"It looks like one of Professor Sprout's obstacles" Ginny said, studying the plant vine that came out of nowhere.
"Be careful Ginny" Harry said, he didn't want that thing to hurt someone else but Ginny just waved it off.
"I am just going to burn it" she said, changing into her animagus form, she huffed in annoyance when Harry stopped her.
"You cant just burn it when we don't know what it is" he said, standing in front of her so she couldn't burn it. She shook her head in disagreement and took a deep breath in.
"Ginny, Harry's right, we need to know what it is first" Hermione said as she walked to where they were. Ginny looked between the two and rolled her eyes before she turned back into her human form.
"Fine but I still think I should burn it" she said, Harry and Hermione watched her amusedly before they turned to the plant. Hermione examined it for a moment, she knew she had read about it before but where, she gasped.
"It's Devil's Snare" she said, quickly taking a few steps back, away from the deadly plant.
Ginny grinned "ha, we need fire, I knew it" she said triumphantly before she turned back into her animagus form. She took a deep breath in before releasing her fiendfyre, it surrounded the plant before closing in on it. After a moment, the plant began to shrivel until it was covered with the fire, effectively killing it. Hermione rushed to the box and opened it, inside was a simple blank book.
"Three more objects, come on" Harry said as he climbed back onto Ginny's back, she clomped her front feet before she ran through the trees. Hermione changed back into her form and flew in the opposite way, hoping to get more ground covered.
It had been twenty minutes when Hermione finally found another aurora, this one seemed to be darker then the last. "Harry, Ginny!" she called, a second later, they were at her side, looking at the aurora. Harry walked forward and picked up the large owl feather, he looked around and was surprised to see that nothing had happened.
"Maybe Dumbledore is being nice" he said, shrugging when everything remained calm and quiet.
"Let's just get out of here in case" Hermione suggested, looking around nervously. Harry walked back to them and showed them the locket.
"The book seems to have a darker aurora" Hermione said before they turned back into their animagus forms, in search of the other objects.
.
Dumbledore looked at the clock at the front of the school, shaking his head. It had been fifty-five minutes and there was no sign of them. He thought that he must have expected too much of them too soon when he heard footsteps.
"Come on, we don't have that long left" came Hermione's voice before the three were seen rushing out of the forest.
"Five minutes to spare, have you got the darkest object?" Dumbledore asked, maybe they were further along then he thought.
"Yes Sir, out of the book, owl feather, brass key and teddy bear, the one with the darkest shade of grey aurora is the teddy bear" Hermione said as she passed it to him.
"Excellent, now if I am correct, you have Herbology in five minutes, you best go now" Dumbledore said as he took the objects from them and let them leave.
"We have Herbology with the Gryffindors" Harry said happily as they walked to the green house, wondering what Ron and Daniel had planed. Ginny grinned as she thought of it while Hermione just shook her head.
"Come on, we should hurry" Hermione said before they rushed to the green house, eager for the lesson.