Book One

Explosions

The Common Room was a bustle of activity that morning. Everybody was talking to each other. "What's up?" Harry asked, as he sat down for breakfast.

Lydia was practically jumping up and down in her seat. "It's so exciting it's… Seamus! Seamus, Harry needs the paper!"

"Here." Raven toseed her copy of the Daily Prophet down the table, and Eli caught it handily in mid-air and handed it to Harry.

LIFE AMONG THE STARS! The headline proclaimed. WE ARE NOT ALONE!

The article went on about an alien attack in America, in Coast City. Unfortunately, since Superman was locked up somewhere, the city was almost defenseless. Three Aurors were lost, valiantly trying and failing to stop the alien menace.

Fortunately, a brave muggle named John Stewart saved the day. Apparantly, he had some sort of strange device that allowed him to cast distinctly colored patronuses (whatever those were) and chase away the invaders.

With the realization that a few muggles were actually able to do things that wizards couldn't, Superman was obliviated and released. Meanwhile some people called Unspeakables were taken away from their previous jobs to form a unit devoted to studying the muggle so-called 'superheroes'.

"I heard about Unspeakables." Ron said. "They work in the department of mysteries. They're mad, the lot of them, but brilliant. They make all sorts of weird stuff to do all sorts of weird stuff."

Harry filed away his desire to break into this 'department of mysteries' until he was at least fifteen.

A good portion of the pages were devoted to the political upheaval in the Ministry. The Yaxleys, Malfoys, and Greengrasses had formed a group who wanted these 'super muggles' rounded up and killed. Another group, headed by the Brocklehursts, the Moons, and the Abbotts were pushing for abolishing the statute of secrecy since the muggles obviously weren't so scared of the supermuggles that they were burning them at the stake, so why should witches and wizards be scared of muggles?

Harry knew what he was going to write to grandpa about in his next letter.


Broomstick lessons were exciting. Ron was boasting about how his family were all great Quidditch players (except for Percy, but that was usually a given). Malfoy spread stories about his flying which always seemed to end with him being chased by a muggle helicopter.

Surprisingly, Lydia confirmed this; The Witch-Boy of Baskerville was very well known among cryptozoological circles, gaining almost as much of a reputation as Gremlins among pilots.

Harry felt butterflys in his stomach as Madame Hooch began to instruct them. "Raise your right hands over your brooms, and say up!"

"Up!" The chorus went out, and Harry was surprised to see that his broom shot to his hand. He looked around, and saw that only Draco and Eli had the same amount of success. Most brooms just rose up groggily. Hermione's broom was twirling around on the ground. Ron's broom shot up… and missed his hand, smacking him right in the nose.

"Shut up Harry." He muttered, as Harry couldn't hide his snickers.

"Right." Once everybody was back on their brooms. "When I blow my whistle, I want everybody to gently push off from the ground, and hover slightly. 3… 2…"

Neville lifted off of the ground early, and Madame Hooch immediately blew her whistle. "Mr. Longbottom get back down here!"

But Neville didn't get back down. In fact, he rose higher.

"Neville, what are you doing!" Hermione hissed. But it was obvious to Harry what was happening. Neville had lost control of his broom.

Their classmates yelled, as Neville rose higher, and he began screaming himself.

"What's going on?" Eli asked.

"Neville's lost control of his broom." Harry said.

"Where are those two?" Lydia muttered, looking around for her poltergeist protectors.

Suddenly, Neville fell off of his broom. They screamed as they watched him catch his robes on a statue of a warrior wizard.

And suddenly Harry felt a woosh of air beside him.

Eli had taken off.

Harry watched as Eli swooped in on his broom. Neville's robes tore, and he fell of the statue, and caught himself on a torch hanging lower down. Eli didn't miss a beat, and swerved his broom down to a completely vertical angle, rushing down on Neville. He slipped out of his robes and screamed as he fell for the ground, but Eli made a grab for him and caught him!

Eli swerved upwards, straining as he tried to keep Neville in his one handed grip. He managed to get the broom straight just as they skimmed the ground. Nevilles feet moved like panicked pistons as he ran along the ground, and when Eli let go he managed to stay upright for a bit, before he tripped when he tried to slow down.

Harry and the others ran for Eli. "That was wicked!" Ron cheered. "Are you sure you're blind mate?"

"He's definitely faking." Harry said. "Take of the glasses Eli, you're not fooling anyone."

He blushed. "It was obvious where he was. He was screaming pretty loud."

Madame Hooch helped Neville up. "You're alright." She said, looking him over. "Just a bit of a sprained ankle." She looked around. "I'm taking him to the Infirmary. You boy, come with me." She gestured at Eli. "The rest of you, keep your feet firmly on the ground, or when I get back you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch."

She stormed off, Eli following behind her dejectedly.

As soon as she was out of sight, Draco laughed. "Oh look!" He said, holding up a glass ball. "The fat pig dropped something!"

"Give it here Malfoy." Harry said. He wasn't going to let Draco just take Neville's things.

Draco glared at him, and pierced his lips. "No." He said, with a sudden smirk. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." He mounted his broom stylishly, stepping onto it more than anything else, before flying a circle around the Gryffindors. "How about on the roof?"

He hovered above the courtyard, nonchalantly tossing the rememberall to himself. "What's the matter Potter? Bit beyond your reach?"

Harry gripped his own broom. Eli did it, he wasn't going to back down to Draco now.

"Harry, no! Way!" Hermione glared at him and Harry thought he'd have a heart attack.

"Of course he wasn't going to follow Malfoy." Lydia said, coming to Harry's rescue. Not when my friends are back."

"Ahem." Draco turned, and saw the two towering poltergeists. "Are you going to let us return Mr. Longbottom's rememberall?" Adam Maitland asked, holding out his hand.

Surprisingly, Draco didn't back down. "What are you going to do about it?" He sneered. "Ghosts can't hurt students in Hogwarts."

The Poltergiests exchanged glances. Then they turned to Draco and screamed at him, their mouths transforming into tunnels that could fit a train in them, their teeth becoming sharp and crooked, their tongues becoming long purple worms. Specks of ectoplasm flew out of their mouths, spraying Draco as he struggled to maintain his balance on the broom in the midst of the hurricane pouring out of their mouths.

"Take it!" He screamed, and flew back down. "Your friends won't be around forever Potter."

Harry remembered what his grandpa had wrote to him about Lydia being dangerous. He decided never to make her angry. Ever.

As Madame Hooch returned, Harry felt something slip into his pocket. There was nobody behind him.


Later he would fumble through his pocket and pull out a note. It read:

Dear Mr. Potter.

It would be mutually beneficial for you to meet me in the portrait two doors down from where the Exploding Snaps club meets. Please be there promptly at 7:30 when the Exploding Snaps club ends.

I assure you I mean you no harm. I have news pertaining to Snape that will benefit you. If you feel you cannot trust me, then you may bring friends, but if you cannot trust me, I cannot fully trust you either.

Sincerely,

Ms. Green

A secret meeting? Who would want a secret meeting with him? What would the secret meeting be about? And who was Ms. Green?

Green is a Slytherin color.

'Your friends won't be around forever Potter.'

Wow. If this was a plot by Draco, Harry was genuinely impressed. He was smarter then he'd thought. But no… Draco wouldn't pretend to be a girl just to get Harry alone… would he?


When Harry, Dean, Seamus, and a second year bloke called Cormac McLaggin went to the Exploding Snaps club that afternoon, Harry asked Ron to come with him. He'd feel better if he had somebody watching his back when he went to meet 'Ms. Green'. He would have asked Lydia for one of her ghosts, but Nearly Headless Nick said that ghosts were banned from Exploding snaps club, on account of cheating with ghosts.

Harry had never played Exploding Snaps before. Ron was more into wizard's chess, where he trounced Harry repeatedly.

Of course, at least when he played wizard's chess with Harry, he played with a normal board. When Padma said she wanted to play on one of her visits to Parvarti, and revealed that she'd never played any sort of chess before, Ron brought out his special set.

"What is that?" Padma asked, as she ogled the chess set that replaced every pawn with a queen.

"Well, you can't play somebody who hasn't had as much practice as you." Ron said. "Otherwise you dumb yourself down and get worse. So when I play somebody for the first time, I like to give them an advantage."

Fifteen teary eyed minutes for Padma later, Ron had her in Checkmate. "But I'm in Ravenclaw." She whimpered.

"Well… if it's any consolation, you didn't make the same mistake twice." Ron muttered. "I don't think I'll play against you with the special set after this." That cheered her up considerably.

"It's not about how clever you are." Pavarti tried to assure her. "Nobody's perfect at a game on their first go."

Harry knew that. He just hoped he wouldn't be terrible at Exploding Snaps. It couldn't be more difficult then Poker could it? At the very least paying poker would give him a solid grounding right? But then, wizards wouldn't necessarily follow the same rules as muggle card games, would they?

They met in a wide class room with several tables, and kids of all ages gathered around them. "I told you there would be girls here." Cormac said, in what he clearly thought was a macho tone of voice but was ruined by his twelve year old vocal chords.

As soon as he left (Harry thanks his stars) they were approached by a Huffpleuff girl with long auburn hair, eyes as green as Harry's and a smile that could give the sun a run for its money. "Hi! You must be Harry! I've been looking forward to meeting you!"

Harry was flattered, wondering why she was looking forward to meeting him. He jumped, as Raven appeared right behind him. "This is my friend Cory. She's the club's hufflepuff representative."

"How do you do that?" Harry gasped.

"How was your first month?" Raven asked, ignoring his question.

"It's okay." Harry shrugged. "I've made friends, I've made enemies. I love charms, I hate potions. My friend Lydia knows every ghost in the castle personally, my friend Eli made Gryffindor Seeker as a first year, and my friend Ron can beat Irene at chess. You?"

She shrugged. "People are still stupid. Cory is still stupid but tolerable. Love Defense, hate History. Been avoiding Cormac as much as possible. What's he doing here?"

"He heard there was a pretty girl here, apperantly."

Cormac suddenly caught sight of the pair of them, and came over. "You'd better…" Harry turned to Raven, and found out she was gone. "Leave."

I have got to find out how she does that.

Cormac looked annoyed, and tried to start up a conversation with Harry, but was interrupted by a Slytherin. "Hullo all. Welcome to the exploding Snaps club. For you first timers, I'm Alastor Bones, the Slytherin representative. But you can call me Al. First timers, over here please."

Harry and the Gryffindors move over the front of the classroom. There were no Hufflepuffs, and only one Ravenclaw. There were four Slytherins, Draco, Nott, and two girls but Harry couldn't recall their names. Was one of them Greengrass?

"Does anybody here not know how to play Exploding Snap?"

Harry raised his hand, as did Dean, and the Ravenclaw boy.

"Well, does anybody feel like having a first go?"

Harry stepped forward eagerly. It would probably be embarrassing when he lost his first try, but it was the fastest way to learn. The Ravenclaw boy stepped forward too.

"Very good." He smiled. "Now, do I have a volunteer to show them the ropes?"

"I'll show 'em how it's done." Cormac stepped up with a goofy grin on his face.

"I'd be happy to help too." Draco said, smirking at Harry.

"Excellent." Al said. "Come here, sit down at this table. I hope you all pay attention you lot."

Harry sat down next to Al. Cormac took the seat next to him, and Draco the seat opposite.

"Alright you lot, here's the game." Al began shuffling a rather large deck of cards. "At the beginning of the game, you take two cards out of your deck. Those two will be your Snapper, and your Fuse." He dealt the card into five decks, one for each of them. "Put the top two cards on your deck in front of you, with their faces down."

Once they'd done that, he nodded. "Alright. Now, the Snapper is the card you want to keep face down. Well, you want to keep your Fuse down too, but you have to show it." He chuckled. "You play the game like this."

He put a card down in the middle of the table. It was a 17 with the symbol of an ankh. "You put cards down, to make the number on the cards increase or decrease. If the number reaches your Snapper, then you win. If the number hits your Fuse, you're blown. That means you're out of the game."

Harry looked at his cards. He had a 24 and a 7. He decided to go with the 7 for his Fuse. The four of them flipped their Fuse cards up. Cormac's was a 4, Draco's was an 18, and the Ravenclaw's was a 29.

"Now, you can only put down a card with the same house as the one here." Al said, pointing to the Ankh. "Unless you have an equal number. For example, I could put down the 5 of Fate right now, but not the 2 of Wands. However, I could put down the 17 of Stars. Sometimes, that'll change the whole game."

Harry's Fuse card was the 7 of swords, so he felt pretty safe. But a second look at his Snapper revealed that the 24 was of the Fate variety, sporting the same Ankh as the 17 on the table.

"You draw five cards. If you, or somebody else, hits your Snapper, then you've won. If you're the only person who hasn't been Blown, then you've won. There are cards without numbers on it; the Fate card will randomly change the number in the middle. The Sword card will randomly change the cards in the hand of the one closest to winning. The Ace of Cauldrons will take back the last card you played. And the Ace of Wands will randomly change the house designation on your card."

Harry thought he could wrap his head around the game. He wondered how they would 'randomly' change the card's number. He quickly drew five cards. The Ace of Swords, the 7 of Wands, the 2 of Cauldrons, the 13 of Cauldrons, and the 20 of Fate.

"Alright. Goldstien, right? You have the highest Fuse, so you're up first, and you get to choose who goes next."

Goldstien looked at his cards. Harry noted that he held them up to his face like a fan. If anybody in the audience was watching, they could send secret signals to the other players. Even if they didn't send secret signals, anybody could read the faces behind him. Harry could feel the anxiety coming from behind him.

Anthony put down the 4 of Fate. As he set the card on top of the 17, the 4 shimmered, and the ink ran along the card and formed a 21.

Of course. This is a magic card game.

"Draco can go next." He said.

Draco grinned. "Up." He said, as he put down the 22 of Fate. Harry's eyes widened as he realized that the number in the center could exceed the numbers on the card.

"Er… how do you make the numbers go down?" Harry asked.

"Just say down." Al said. "Draco demonstrated good form by declaring Up even though it was going that way anyway. If the last card played went up, the card you play will go up to, unless you declare otherwise. And Vice Versa for going back up. If you play a card to switch the house, then it doesn't go in either direction."

Harry nodded. He examined his cards, all of them face down, he only lifted the corners up for a peek. "Down." He declared, putting down the 20 of Fate. The card transformed to reveal to score at 23 of Fate. All he needed was a one and he'd win.

Strategically, it made sense for Draco to take the game into high numbers. Harry had no idea what the other player's Snappers might be. He might have hit it accidentally by bringing it back under twenty nine. But then again, there was only a one in 112 chance that he'd accidentally hit one of their Snappers. Even less then that when you accounted for the houses.

He drew the 10 of Fate, keeping his face still as a mask.

Cormac grinned and put down the Ace of Wands. It was a risky move, Harry thought, as the ink ran on the card. It could turn into a house that he didn't have any cards in.

It settled on the 23 of Wands, and Goldstien grimaced. It was an obvious tell. "Er… what if I don't have any cards in that house?" He asked.

Al came over and looked at his cards. "You can play an Ace no matter what house the center number is." He said helpfully. "But if you ever really can't go, you'll have lost, and you'll know it."

Harry gritted his teeth. He really didn't like learning a new card game by learning the rules as he went along.

Anthony put down the Ace of Cauldrons, and the deck spat his last card out at him. He picked up the 4 of Fate, and the center number shrank down to 19.

Draco looked smug. "What say we make this interesting Potter?"He drawled. He placed a single shining Galleon on the table.

Al instantly snatched it up and put it back in Malfoy's hand. "No gambling allowed in the club unless you're a seventh year." He said sternly.

Malfoy looked like he wanted to object, but then thought better of it. "Very well." He said. "I'll just settle for beating you the old fashioned way." He smirked at Harry when he said it, and he put down the 10 of Wands. "Up." He said.

The ink melded into a perfect copy of Anthony Goldstien's fuse.

Now, Harry thought he'd realized that, this being a game called exploding Snap, and this being a magical game, the cards might explode. He just thought it would be a cutesy explosion, like the card flying up in the air, showering down in front of the loser's crying face.

What he didn't expect was a full blown Hollywood style explosion. The type action heroes walked slowly away from as it exploded behind them, the type that only comes when a trainload of TNT comes crashing into a barrier on the tracks.

Anthony Goldstien flew out of his chair.

Thankfully, when he landed, bouncing, he got up looking unharmed. "And that." Al said. "Is why you don't play exploding snaps unless you know the cushioning charm, or are sitting in a Snaps approved chair. Sooner or later, no matter how good you are, if you play the game long enough you will get blown. You have been warned."

Harry's heart rate sped up several beats. He was not expecting that.

"It's your move, Potter." Draco said.

"Up." Harry said meekly, putting down the 7 of Wands.

The next few rounds were full of tension. Cormac, who Harry now suspected of being what Slytherins thought of when they thought of Gryffindors, put down the 3 of Wands, and acted like he'd just triumphed. Draco brought it back down to thirteen, and Harry moved it into the Cauldron house.

Cormac smugly changed it to Fate, and then Draco brought it back down to 14. Now was Harry's chance. Harry had the 10 of Fate, if he put it down he'd win.

It was Cormac's misfortune then, that he leaned in just then. "Hey Harry, I've got a plan. Show me your cards."

Harry stared at him. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"Because together, we can win, see?" Cormac showed Harry his cards.

Harry looked away immediately. "Don't show me your cards!" He hissed. "What is wrong with you?"

"If we work together, we can bring this Slytherin down." Cormac said with a sly grin. A grin completely oblivious to what Harry had just said. "No need to think me. Although, I saw you talking to Raven earlier. Maybe you could introduce me after the victory…"

And that decided it. Harry put down the 10 of Fate. But instead of saying up, he looked Cormac straight in the eyes, and said "Down."

Cormac's eyes widened like a cartoons as the card on the table became the 4 of Fate.

*Kaboom!*

"Great distance." Al commented as he watched Cormac go flying.

Even Malfoy smirked, but then he became deadly serious again, and change the house to Swords. Harry gulped and looked at his own hand. He had only two sword cards, the Ace and the 6. He put down the 6. "Up." He said.

The next card he picked up was a Cauldron.

The next round, he could put down his Ace, but then he'd have no more cards. And if he didn't draw a sword, and if Malfoy didn't change it, then he'd lose.

He promised himself he wouldn't feel ashamed if he lost on his first card game. When he made that promise, he didn't know he'd be playing against Malfoy.

Malfoy played the 14 of Swords. Then Harry realized something. He was almost relieved enough to laugh, but he didn't. He just put down the Ace of Swords.

"What the…" Draco looked at his cards, expecting them to change, but they didn't.

Because the Center card was the 24 of Swords's. Harry's Snapper was the closest, so the sword card changed his hand.

Was Harry imagining it, or was Draco sweating?

Draco put down the 9 of Swords. "Down." He said.

Harry put down the 13 of Fate, and changed the house.

Draco beamed, and he put down his next card.

The 9 of Fate.

"Up." Draco said.

And Harry flipped over his Snapper, to show Draco what a big mistake he just made, and yelled the victory call of poker players everywhere.

"Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!"

His triumphant call was drowned out, as Draco was blown out of his chair.


Harry and Ron left the Exploding Snaps club exhausted. He had won every game he played, and most of them were against Draco. Al said that at the rate the two of them were going, they could probably play against the second years next meeting. Draco made a face, which afterwards Ron described as the 'what am I smelling' face.

And now he and Ron were going to a secret meeting, with the mysterious Ms. Green. Harry had been watching, but the Slytherins had all left in a bunch. So it couldn't have been any of them. Which left Anthony Goldstien, assuming that the mysterious Ms. Green was a member of the Exploding Snaps club.

The portrait the note indicated was as large as a doorway. It was an oil painting of a dark room, the full moon shining through the grimy windows. A barn owl stood perched on a chalice flowing with some suspiciously blood-like fluid.

"Er, how do we get in mate?" Ron asked, sounding like he really didn't want to get in at all.

"You simply step through."

The pair of them jumped, as they realized a pair of eyes were watching them from inside the darkness.

Harry put a foot forward, and hesitantly moved into the portrait. His foot passed through the frame, and he followed it, landing on the warped wood floor of the inn's portrait. Ron followed him. It was strange being inside a portrait. The moonlight suddenly became very real, and though the sun was just setting outside, the sunlight in the hallways didn't shine any light into the room, as if the window into reality were only a painting of sunlight.

"Of course, that's not all there is to it." The mysterious voice said. "My brother told me about this room when he discovered it. He said that it's where Salazar kept his liquor. You have to feel fear in order to into the portrait, and so he thought to exclude any Gryffindors. Or at least the foolhardy ones, absent of all Slytherin qualities."

"Ms. Green?" Harry asked.

The figure stood up, and stepped into the moonlight. She was a Slytherin girl, wearing a serpentine mask that wouldn't be out of place in a masquerade ball. "Apparently."

She leaned across the table, and stroked the owl. It hooted once. "Nobody outside of the portrait will hear us now." She said. She took a bottle from the shelf behind her. "Pumpkin juice? I'd hate to encourage drinking in minors, but there's nothing else."

"Thanks." Harry said. "But we'd rather not."

She shrugged, and replaced the bottle. "Suit yourself. Have a seat."

"Why are you wearing a mask?" Ron asked.

"Because I don't trust you." The girl replied. "I've been watching Harry since he came to Hogwarts, and I think he's Slytherin enough to trust. But I haven't trusted you." She turned her gaze on Harry. "I told you to come alone. I would have unmasked if you were."

"Well good." Ron said. "We're Gryffindors. Through and through. We don't even care about your name."

She shrugged. "And I don't care whether you don't care or not. I have a proposition for you."

"We're listening." Harry said.

"Not very well." Ron added. "We're listening like we listen to stuff in the background. So you better be worth it."

"How droll." She sniffed. "Now, Mr. Potter. You have become enemies with Draco Malfoy. I don't know how that happened, but ever since he's come to Hogwarts, he's been acting like a changed man."

"Aha!" Ron said. "So you're with Draco! You must be Pansy. You're the only girl he hangs out with."

"I don't like gangs." Ms. Green said. "Gangs are too confining for me. I am Draco's childhood friend, and probably the only person he considers an equal… aside from you Mr. Potter. But I am not part of his little gang. I don't know what happened between you, but ever since then he's been acting less like a spoiled brat. I mean, he's still an arrogant privileged bully, but at least he's not relying on his father's name anymore. He's carving his own name for himself, making people fear him instead of threatening them with his father. Whatever you did… thank you."

Harry shrugged. "I only petended that I mistook him for a girl. In front of his dad."

Ms. Green appeared stunned. "Did you really? Well, that would do it. He's never been so badly insulted before, and nobody's ever tried anything in front of his father."

"So what, you want us to thank you for improving your boyfriend?" Ron asked.

"No." She snapped back. "I'm here to tell you how Snape figured out what you were doing. Unless you'd rather leave?"

Ron snapped shut.

"Why would you tell us something like that?" Harry asked.

"I was watching you during your impressive game." Ms. Green said. "I saw that you could have won. But instead, you blew Cormac McLaggin. As far as I could tell, the only reason you did that was because he made a crude comment about Raven. Your whole scheme to make Slytherin lose the house cup? When he was picking on you, you didn't say a word. But when Snape got on Lydia's case, your poker face slipped, and anyone could see you were two cruel words away from hitting him."

"What d'you mean by poker face?" Ron asked.

Now Harry was really interested. Ms. Green had confirmed that she was a first year Slytherin with that comment. But not only that, she was a Slytherin who knew about muggle stuff like poker.

"You react to somebody going after your friends, the same way Draco reacts to comments about his gender." Ms. Green said. "In exchange for my services, I want to be your friend."

"What?" Harry asked. That came completely out of left field.

"Well maybe not your friend. You obviously don't trust me enough. But your ally. I have an ally in every house except Gryffindor." She leaned over the table and extended her hand. "I think you'll find an ally in Slytherin house very profitable."

"That's it?" Harry asked. "You just want to be my… ally?"

"Don't let Draco color your perception of Slytherin. There are many different ways to be ambitious, and some of them include concepts like friendship, and courage. If I'm not mistaken, the Sorting Hat offered you a place with Slytherin too."

Harry had heard speeches before that could turn a crowd, but they were always on the telly. Ms. Green had just hit every single right note. He could say no of course. But he wasn't about to cut of his hand to spite his face.

He took her hand. "Alright. Allies."

She nodded. "Good. Now, to Snape. He found out what you were doing using Legimancy."

Harry looked to Ron, but he was just as confused as he felt. "What's Legimency?"

"He read the information straight out of your mind."

Ron shot up. "That greasy git's been nosing around in our minds?"

Ms. Green nodded.

"Is there any way around it?" Harry asked.

"There's Occlumency, but it's really hard to learn. I started training months ago, and I still can't do more than struggle like a fish on a hook when a true legimence wants in on my mind. Your only condolence is that Legimency works like a truth serum. He has to ask a question if he wants an answer. You can't stop him looking in your mind, but you can throw him off. Like, say, if he wants to know whether you've done anything hostile against Slytherins. He'll look for that, but he'll never find anything about me in your mind because he's not looking for you being f… allied with a Slytherin. Your best refuge, is to do things so implausible that he won't think to see whether you did them or not. If you plan on doing anything troublesome." She added with a shrug.

"I see." Harry muttered. "Well, that's good to know. That you." It was frightening, but it was good to know that if he was smart enough he could avoid Snape fingering around in his mind. Now all he had to do was be smart enough.

"Don't thank me yet." She said. "One of my sources in Ravenclaw's revealed that Snape's going to have proof of it before the night is up."

"What?" Harry and Ron yelled in unison.

"One of your Gryffindors has betrayed you. I don't know who, but he was planning on using your absence from Gryffindor Tower this afternoon to find the mathematics you used to predict the best methods of getting Slytherin in trouble."

"No Gryffindor would betray a Gryffindor." Ron said firmly.

"Before tonight, I bet you thought no Slytherin would be friendly towards Gryffindors either, did you?"

Ron paled. "We're doomed."

"We'd best get going." Harry said. "Maybe we can do something… try to figure out a way to counter this."

"Counter this?" Ron asked. "Snape can read our minds!"

"Yes, but he needs evidence to convince others who can't read minds." Harry said. "If we can get rid of the evidence, then it doesn't matter what Snape knows." He stood up. "Thank you for telling us. Is there anything else?"

Ms. Green shook her head. "I know how to get in touch with you. If you want to get in touch with me, just slip a 24 of Fate underneath the goblet in this picture." She tapped the rim of the goblet with the bloody looking stuff in it.

"We will." Harry said. "Thank you."

They stepped out of the portrait and rushed down the hall. "Who do you think would betray their own house?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." Harry said.

"What sort of Gryffindor would go against a plan to win the house cup?"

"I don't know."

"You don't think it's Percy, do you? The prat! I'll kill him!"

"I don't know!"

"Maybe we could say that whoever stole from us made up the evidence to frame us?"

"I would never do something like that!"

They froze. Harry groaned inwardly, as he recognized the voice. They were just one corridor away from Gryffindor's common room. It was a corridor two far.

They turned around to the sneering image of Severus Snape, a predatory smile on his face, perched like a big black bird of prey ready to pounce.

Behind him, was an indignant looking Hermione Granger, holding in her hand the incriminating time-tables.

"Potter." Snape sneered. "I think you and I should pay a visit to the Headmaster."


A/N: And you too can play Exploding Snaps! All you need is a deck of cards that go up to twenty nine in each house (or some pieces of paper and some artistic talent), a four sided dice to randomly decide the house when you play the Ace of Wands, and a twenty sided and ten sided dice (rolled at the same time, and then subtract one from the total) to roll to decide the random number chosen by the Ace of Fate. Disclaimer: If you play muggle Exploding Snap, the cards will not explode, or change the numbers on their faces. Warning: If you do make Exploding Snap card that explode, do not play with them, contact the proper authorities and get help.

Today we introduce Cory, an OC based on Starfire, who is simply a good friend for Raven. We also introduce Al Bones, Susan Bone's older brother, and Green Lantern. For Green Lantern, I'm using the origin story from the Green Lantern movie, but replacing pilot Hal Jordan with marine officer Jon Stewart.

Also introducing, the mysterious Ms. Green. Who could she be? Ooooooh.

Anybody intrested in wether Dean's dad is a Death Eater, evil, a productive member of society, or Other, please take the poll on my profile (and if Other, please say who you want his dad to be in a review).

I like the inversion of the usual 'Ron is a fool and he shouldn't be Harry's friend' and 'Hermione is perfect' scenario. I hope you like my take on a Hermione who, while not evil, certainly isn't an antagonist. Also, what do you think of Eli as a seeker? And the first blind Quidditch player ever? Too outlandish? I think it's cool. I had originally planned for Exploding Snaps cards to go all the way to 100, and for there to be integers (1/2, 3/4, etc.) but in the end I decided it would be horrible to shuffle that many cards. For those of you who think Harry's hand was tailor made for him to win, the game in this story is a blow by blow of an actual game of muggle exploding snap I played with my family. I took the role of Draco, because my talented younger sister managed to be too awesome for her not to be Harry.

I hope you enjoy the chapter. Read and Review!