Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or anything Harry Potter related!


The next few days passed by quickly. We received our schedules, and it turned out that I was in every class with Hermione. I was instantly cleared for Transfiguration, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Charms and Herbology. It turned out that since Slughorn had taken over Potions class, Harry and Ron were able to take it with their O.W.L. grades of Exceeds Expectations. It seemed like all the professors were trying to ensure that none of the sixth years would have any life at all! On the very first day of lessons, every single professor had a long speech prepared about how our N.E.W.T.s were just around the corner. I don't know what they're going on about! It was only sixth year! There was still all of this year and next before I had to start thinking about studying for N.E.W.T.s.

Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out that way. By the end of the first day of classes I had already been assigned four foot-long essays, in addition to practicing the spell we had learned in Charms today.

The only bright spot for today had been Potions class. Professor Slughorn had been a lot more patient than Snape had ever been with us, and definitely a lot more cheerful.

"Harry! My dear boy! How are you doing?" asked Slughorn, as he entered the classroom.

"I'm doing well, thank you. Oh, this is my girlfriend, Avery Alexander," said Harry, pointing to me.

"Avery! You wouldn't happen to be related to Deborah or Nathaniel Alexander?" he asked.

"Yes, they were my parents," I said, surprised that he knew them.

"Ah, yes. You look a lot like your parents. I taught your mother while she was at Hogwarts. I was aware of her... abilities," he said slowly. My eyes widened slightly.

"Oh," was all I could say.

"Tell me something – did you inherit her gifts?" asked Slughorn. I wasn't really sure what to say, but clearly he knew about the Elements. I think he was only asking me as a formality, but he probably knew that I had inherited her powers. There was no point in lying at this point.

"Yeah, I did," I admitted.

"Your mother showed me once. She was incredibly talented. Such a terrible shame when she died," he sighed.

"I agree," I said, with a small smile. He gave me a kind smile before making his way up to the front of the class.

"Oh, Professor. Ron and I didn't realize that we would be able to take this class, so we don't have any supplies," said Harry.

"Not to worry. There are textbooks and supplies in the cupboards at the back," said Slughorn. Ron and Harry went to the back of the class to get their stuff. A couple of minutes later Harry returned to his seat, looking a little bit miffed and carrying an extremely battered textbook.

"Somebody's written all over this book!" he sighed, showing me the pages, which were all covered in tiny, messy handwriting.

"Your own book will get here soon! Don't worry!" I reassured. Slughorn set us working on brewing the Draught of Living Death, with the prize being a tiny bottle of Felix Felicis. Harry started out extremely frustrated, squinting his eyes as he tried to look past the handwriting. But then, something miraculous happened. His potion started bubbling, exactly like it was supposed to. I actually stopped working for a second to watch him in amazement. He dumped in the Sopophorous Bean and the liquid turned the perfect shade of lilac.

"Wonderful job, Harry. The clear winner!" exclaimed Slughorn, handing over the tiny vial of golden liquid. As we left the room, Slughorn assigned us an essay about the proper brewing of the Draught of Living Death. As we left the class I couldn't help but wonder how he had done it.

"Harry? That was really well done. Don't be offended or anything, but how did you manage that?" I asked.

"That textbook had alternate instructions! I decided to try them out and they worked well!" he admitted. Hermione was definitely not pleased by this. She grumbled about it for the entire walk to Arithmancy, even after the boys had left us to go to their free period.

Arithmancy turned out to be extremely boring today, and we were assigned our fourth essay of the day!

"They're out of their bloody minds!" exclaimed Ron as Hermione and I caught up with the boys at the end of the day. Ron and Harry had a free period while Hermione and I had been in Arithmancy.

"Who?" I asked.

"Our teachers! Do you know how much homework we have?" he whined.

"You were on a free period! Stop complaining!" I snapped, as we entered the Great Hall for

"We got three essays assigned today, all due this week!" cried Ron, sitting down at the Gryffindor table across from me.

"Ava and I just got assigned a fourth!" argued Hermione.

"Well aren't you two bloody geniuses?" he muttered as he began to pile his plate with chicken. I couldn't help but laugh at Ron.

"Ok, let's call a truce. They are being a little bit ridiculous aren't they?" said Harry.

"These are N.E.W.T. classes now. They had to prepare us for our exams," said Hermione.

"Alright, enough talk about lessons!" I demanded. "Harry, when are quidditch try-outs going to be?"

"I haven't even really thought about it yet. McGonagall gave me a list of people that want to try out. There are so many people that want to try out!" he sighed.

"Well, obviously Harry. You're captain now! Everyone wants to be a part of Harry Potter's quidditch team!" said Hermione.

"Well, let us know so that we can sign up!" I said.

"You don't have to sign up! You've already got a spot!" he said, rolling his eyes.

"I appreciate it, but I really don't want you to play favourites here. Ron and I will try out like everyone else!" I said.

"Speak for yourself, mate," said Ron. I heard a thud under the table, from Hermione kicking him.

"Ow! I mean, yeah. We'll try out," he said hastily, shooting Hermione a dirty look.

"Ok, ok. Are we all finished dinner?" I asked, glancing at everyone's clean plates.

"Yeah, let's go to the common room," said Ron. We all grabbed picked up our bags and left the crowded Great Hall. The common room was relatively empty, so we decided to take advantage of the rare silence to start some of our mountains of homework.

I sat across from Hermione and Harry. I noticed that Harry kept glancing at his watch nervously. After about an hour of productive studying, he got up and gathered his books.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Oh, I need to go to the library to look up a few things. I'm going to go drop my stuff off in my room first," he said with a shrug. He started up the boys' staircase, so I got up and went after him. I followed him into his bedroom.

"Hey, I think I'll come with you. I was going to go tomorrow, but if you're going to go now then I could tag along," I said.

"NO!" he said, a little bit too quickly.

"What's going on, Harry?" I asked, suspiciously.

"Oh, I just need some quite while I look these things up," he said, glancing down at his watch. I think he meant to be subtle, so that I wouldn't notice but obviously I did.

"Alright," I said slowly.

"I'll see you soon," he said, leaning in and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before walking past me and down the stairs. Well, that was weird...

I went back downstairs and resumed my seat beside Ron, who was doodling on his parchment. I decided to push Harry's odd behaviour out of my head and concentrate on the Transfiguration essay I was trying to work on.

"I'm going to go take a shower. I'll be back in a few minutes," said Hermione shortly after, getting up and leaving her books at the table. I nodded, before turning back to my parchment. Since my concentration had been broken, my mind wandered back to my encounter with Harry. I decided to talk to Ron about it. After all, Ron was Harry's best friend.

"Ron, can I ask you something?" I asked.

"Of course! What's the matter?" he asked, pushing aside his work.

"Well... do you think Harry was acting oddly earlier?" I asked casually.

"What do you mean 'oddly'?" he asked.

"I don't know. He kept checking his watch and when I offered to go with him, he made up some lame excuse about needing quiet in the library," I explained.

"I didn't really notice. I'm sure it's nothing though. Why do you ask?" he asked me.

"I don't know. Just curious," I lied, my thoughts instantly flashing to Cho.

"Listen, Ava. I know Harry pretty well. It's probably nothing, but if it is something important, he will tell you," said Ron. I nodded.

"Thanks, Ron," I said, turning my attention back to my paper. Hermione came back downstairs a little while later, with wet hair and clad in cozy sweats. She immediately sat back down and started working without a word to Ron or me.

An hour later, I was almost finished my Transfiguration paper. I glanced around the common room, and saw that Harry was still not back. I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. I knew Harry well enough to know that two hours in the library was not his idea of an exciting evening.

Eventually, about half an hour later, the portrait hole swung open and Harry entered.

"Hey, guys," he said.

"Hi, Harry. You were at the library for a long time," I said, nonchalantly.

"Yeah, about that. I didn't go to the library," he said. My eyes widened.

"So you lied? Where were you?" I demanded, my mind instantly jumping to the worst case scenario (i.e. Harry and Cho in a broom closet somewhere).

"I went to go see Dumbledore," said Harry. Well that certainly was not the answer I had been expecting!


Thanks for checking out this chapter! New one tomorrow! :)