Chiyoku says: Hey guys! Sorry I took so long.....---laughs uncomfortably---....I won't bore you with the details of my busy life....but to make up for it, this is my longest chapter to date! yay me! XD

I hope you're liking it so far, and if you don't like it....well....why are you still reading?

But to those of you who are enjoying it, Yay! I'm glad you like it! Whether you guys know it or not....I always take every review seriously, and any critique to heart, even if I don't always agree with it. So feel free to critique away! As long as it's not a flame, you know? Cuz those just don't help anyone.

Oh, on a quick general note, if you're not one to read A/Ns read this one! This is not going to be a slash story, so, sorry to those of you who were hoping for some Harry/Draco action or something. I'm pretty sure there's not gonna be any "action" so to say, for a while....I just....Harry's 11, I'm 20....it's awkward to think of little kids snogging and going at it...XD

And if you've been paying attention to the little things, keep at it! And some point or another, they will come into play.

Enjoy!

Alternation Nation

A fanfiction by Chiyoku Shibata

Recap: "All the charms and spells are still in place..." mumbled Dumbledore harshly to himself. "...the seed of fear I planted in the Dursley man has flourished properly...and the block I placed in Dudley is still in its proper place, and fully functioning...of course, he's a bit on the round side because of it.....but with his father being so fat they'll never suspect it..."

Harry leaned down and picked up the book carefully. He read the cover, property of Hermione Granger, Gryffindor. Harry's eyes widened, and he looked at the snake, "I don't understand?" Harry said.

"You should keep that, that girl issn't going to be missssing it anytime ssoon."

"Professor...I just..." she started to say, hesitantly; then she coughed and gathered her strength. "I just wanted to express my gratitude." she said.

"Whatever for, Miss Greengrass?" he asked softly, without a stutter. "The mudblood's out of my way, now. And Harry's back on track."

"Anything for a fellow Dark Witch or Wizard, of course." and his eyes turned red for no more than an incriminating second, Daphne's eyes widened and she gasped.

Dumbledore sat seething, and one could almost see the smoke rising out of his ears. He realized he had to act quickly.

Chapter 10: Schemes

Dumbledore growled out and threw the Daily Prophet on his desk with disgust and anger, the pages scattered. McGonagall, who had been summoned just moments before, gave out a startled gasp while putting her hand on her heart. Even after all this years, she was still not used to Albus Dumbledore's sudden bursts of anger.

She put her hands on her lap daintily, and slowly glanced at the cover page of the Sunday edition of the Daily Prophet; her hands flew up to cover the loud and shocked gasp that escaped her after she read it.

Glaring up at her in bold print read the title and subtitle: Lord Malfoy Rallies Behind Muggleborn-- Headmaster Dumbledore keeps quiet.

McGonagall almost fell out of her chair in her haste to grab the cover page. Dumbledore turned to her and stared as he waited for her to read it, his magic going wild and making smoke literally come out of his ears in anger.

"In a shocking move, Lord Lucius Malfoy announces his support in favor of young muggleborn student, Hermione Granger." McGonagall read aloud, "The student, a bright young Gryffindor, just starting in her first year at Hogwarts, was left in a coma after being forced to defend herself against a forest Troll. The teachers were nowhere to be seen at the time of the incident."

McGonagall jumped from her chair, knocking it over. "Albus! This is a disaster! What are we going to do?"

Albus clenched his fists behind his back and stood taller then ever, his anger giving him power. "That's not all." he said, "keep reading."

McGonagall frowned in alarm, there was more? what could be worse? she glanced down and kept reading, "The incident came to light thanks to a brave group of... Slytherins!" she finished loudly, looking up at Dumbledore with wide eyes. Then she looked down again when Dumbledore said nothing and, so she kept reading, this was getting worse by the second, what a scandal for Hogwarts! "...when it became obvious to them that ''...the Headmaster had no intentions of coming forth with the occurrence.'' We were unable to reach Headmaster Dumbledore for comment on the accusation."

Dumbledore growled when McGonagall read the last part, of all the times for him to be unreachable! He had been spending some time in his brother's pub, the Hog's Head, getting any gossip that might be of importance for him to know. And, of course, he was replacing the bottles of very expensive wizard liquor he'd broken.

He'd never liked for people to connect him with the seedy owner of the Hog's Head, even if the man was his own brother. It would be bad for his reputation as a Champion for the Light, especially considering the squalid appearance that the pub was kept in...something his brother was actually extremely proud of, saying he'd worked very hard –ironically-- to make it look like that.

Of course, the fact that it benefited him was besides the point. Still, no one who knew that Aberforth was his younger brother, knew the real reason why he kept it secret. He'd told his brother it wouldn't be convenient because he had many enemies, and it was also a good way for his brother to get information that Albus might otherwise have trouble getting.

All reasons for keeping the connection secret were true. It wouldn't work at all for Albus if people knew, especially because Aberforth would most likely lose most of his customers, along with most of the gossip that the customers brought with them and often let lose after a couple of pints of ale.

McGonagall kept reading the article, not noticing, or perhaps disregarding, Dumbledore's inattention.

"...The incident happened on the night of All Hollows Eve....11-year-old Hermione was crying her eyes out after being insulted for "being a very smart, and helpful muggleborn," clearly an act of prejudice!" finished McGonagall in shock. She huffed in annoyance of how ridiculous that sounded, prejudice in Gryffindor? Preposterous! Now, Slytherin, on the other hand...

"Are you listening to this rubbish, Albus? Prejudice! Listen to this! Sources inside the school, say that Hermione was verbally attacked by non other than fellow Gryffindor Ronald Weasley. The student in question, is the sixth son of outspoken muggle-lover and self declared fervent light wizard, Arthur Weasley."

"Yes, I read it, Minerva." said Dumbledore as he finally sat down and tried to relax enough so he could think. He could still salvage the situation, it would just require some finesse on his part. Then he heard McGonagall gasp again, and he looked at her. She looked back at him, shock reflected in every part of her face.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in question. Minerva spoke up again, "did you read the whole thing?" she asked, pointing the cover page to his face. Before he could answer, she looked down again and continued reading, her voice fast and with a slight fear to it.

"Arthur Weasley, who is known for working in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office in the ministry, is also known for being a loud devoted follower and supporter of Albus Dumbledore.

In light of the incident, the people are left to question whether Arthur Weasley's love for all things muggle is just a front. And also, if esteemed Albus Dumbledore might also share this view of prejudice against muggleborns. If the son and friends of a supposed extremist of the light is seen being prejudiced towards a muggleborn girl, we should probably question what exactly is being taught to our young at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore sighed in annoyance, he'd already read the whole thing, obviously, otherwise he wouldn't be quite so angry. But Minerva could be slow on the uptake at times. The article was troubling, all the more because it wasn't written by Rita Skeeter, who's famous for exaggerating and altering the truth.

"And that disgusting dark wizard Malfoy! Using this incident to his advantage!" exclaimed McGonagall, "listen to what he said!" she exclaimed, " Every magical children in the world is important to me. And they all deserve to feel safe when they go to school."

Dumbledore had to give credit to Lucius, that was well played. And the public was eating it all up, most likely.

"This is completely and utter rubbish, Albus! Lucius Malfoy doesn't care for anyone but Lucius Malfoy! ...and maybe his son, but only because he's his only heir..." said McGonagall in anger, shaking the cover page in her hand with abandon. "We have to do something!" she exclaimed loudly.

Dumbledore strummed his fingers against his desk, and then grabbed a lemon drop from a silver bowl. He played with the lemon drop, turning it between his thumb and middle finger, he frowned pensively, looking at it, and yet beyond it. He sighed softly, "I'm guessing you haven't gotten to the part where Harry Potter gives an exclusive about the situation to the Prophet?"

McGonagall almost choked on air at that, and she fell over herself to look over the cover page. Her eyes flew right through each word fast, skimming the text, she saw a comment by the Minister, but she didn't read it, and yet another comment by Lucius Malfoy...something about taking over some of the reins from Dumbledore...right, like that could ever happen...she huffed and kept skimming....there!

She straightened herself and read aloud, "The Headmaster called me to his office the morning after the Halloween incident...I couldn't understand why...he's just my Headmaster, after all...nothing more...He called me up and told me every little detail about the unfortunate incident with poor Ms. Granger. I don't know why he would tell me of all people....but it's suspicious...it almost felt like he wanted me to feel guilty about it. But why should I? It was the Troll who hurt Ms Granger, and it was the teachers who failed to protect her."

Before Dumbledore could offer McGonagall his biased and opinionated thoughts on the matter, or rather, how he regretted trying to guilt Harry into joining Gryffindor; but still how could that brat even think he has the right to tell the blasted newspapers what happened in the privacy of his office. He really had not counted on the fact that Harry really was a fast learner, as the Malfoy brat tended to boast. Apparently those slimy Slytherins had taught his precious Golden boy a lot more than would have been safe for him to know.

Really, if it was up to Dumbledore, Harry would have never learned anything at all about the wizarding world besides what the teachers taught and whatever Dumbledore himself would tell him, but things had a way of getting out of control rather quickly...At least he could count on the Dursley's to do what he asked them to, or rather, to do what he forced them to do, with the help of a great number of permanent potions, and well placed charms. Really, if only Petunia could remember that at one point she'd been thinking of fixing things between Lily and herself, that could not do at all.

But before he could voice any of his thoughts to his loyal pet Minerva McGonagall, a charm went off alerting him that Severus was now going up the steps to his office.

Dumbledore counted to himself the seconds it would take for Severus to make it to his door. Everyone had patterns, after all, Severus could be counted on never being patient enough to wait for the stairs to bring him up, so Dumbledore knew it took the man about 8 seconds from the moment the charm alerted him, to when the man was at the door. Minerva took 15 seconds, and 12 seconds on the days when a portrait would alert him of an incident between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin.

It tickled Dumbledore silly that no one ever knew how in the world he knew someone was at the door, and the reaction was even better when he said the name of whoever was walking up to his door.

"Come in, Severus." he said when the man stopped by the door, about to knock, but never quite managing it before Dumbledore called out to him.

Severus Snape walked inside, and looked around for a moment, assessing the situation. Minerva was sitting on a chair, with a page from the Daily Prophet in her hands. She had a shocked look on her face as she looked at the page. He'd already seen it, of course, which was why he was here now.

He noticed the rest of the pages scattered on Dumbledore's desk, and realized the man had already had the expected fit of anger, so Severus felt safe. After Dumbledore had fits of anger, the man usually went into thinking mode, where he carefully analyzed a situation and decided what he'd do. Severus had tried to carefully time his entrance, because it wouldn't do at all to come into the man's office right in the middle of his anger, as the man would have blamed everything on Severus, and that just wouldn't do at all, it would have ruined his whole Sunday, the one day of the week when he didn't have to withstand the whiny brats.

"I read the article, Albus." he stated, as he stood there in the middle of the office, expressionless. Albus gave him a calculating look, "Did you know about it?" he asked. Severus snorted, "of course not, Albus, they obviously did it in secret. They probably knew I would have had to tell you about it if I knew, and thus, didn't ask for my advice or help; still, they managed it well enough."

Albus gave him another look, over the rim of his half-moon glasses, "Do you approve of what they did, Severus?" he asked.

Severus returned the look, "You know I do, Albus." McGonagall turned to him with a shocked look. "How dare you! You traitor!" she exclaimed, "To turn on Albus like that!"

Severus' eyes danced with laughter as he stared back at McGonagall, but the rest of his face remained expressionless. "I didn't actually do anything, you know?" he answered in response to McGonagall's exclamation. Then he turned to Albus, "besides, I approve of it merely as an action worthy of Slytherin house. When you, Albus, didn't immediately go to the ministry or the press with what happened, they took advantage of it. You shouldn't have waited, Albus, they beat you to it." he finished saying.

Dumbledore looked away, "I wasn't expecting this to happen." he said, and Severus snorted again, "Don't tell me you expected the students to keep quiet, did you?" he said. Dumbledore looked back only with his eyes, and looked away again after three seconds.

Severus smirked, with some incredulity and growing realization showing on his features , "You did, didn't you! That's why you didn't report it right away! You didn't expect that the students would tell!"

Severus shook slightly with repressed laughter, and Dumbledore refrained from covering his face with his hands in embarrassment. McGonagall just watched the interaction between the two quietly, because now that Severus had explained himself, she had to admit he made sense. If Albus had only come out with the whole thing right away, he'd have been able to use the ministry and press to his advantage, but due to inaction, and some stupid thinking, he now looked like he'd been trying to hide something, and he looks bad!

Really, thought McGonagall, how he ever thought that the students wouldn't immediately write letters to their parents about a bloody Troll entering the school escapes me completely!

"Really, Albus," said Severus, "that's some rather slow thinking on your part. A Troll attacks the school, and you didn't think the population of Hogwarts would want to tell their parents?" he shook his head slowly, as if he was a parent disappointed in his slow-witted child.

"I mismanaged the situation, Severus" bristled Albus, "I think in my more than one hundred years of living, I'm allowed a mistake or two."

Severus gave a smirk and a snort, while McGonagall rolled her eyes. Dumbledore gave a small cough that called for silence and attention, and McGonagall immediately turned to stare at him, at full attention, while Severus just stared in a get it over with already manner.

"Regardless, I still have what you would call an ace in the hole. Even if I wasn't planning on having to use it so soon." said Dumbledore in a mysterious voice, with his hands crossed on his desk.

Severus narrowed his eyes in suspicion, while McGonagall smiled in anticipation. Whatever it was, they both expected it had something to do with Harry Potter.

While Severus never liked James, he had actually come to like Harry, especially because he'd become friends with Draco and his group; the boy didn't act like an arrogant, and reckless Gryffindor at all. On the contrary, he was quiet and observant, much like he himself had been, he was also a quick learner who was lately starting to come into his own while showing Slytherin pride and careful thinking, he wasn't that quick to react to provocation, much like Lily in that regard, actually.

On the whole, Harry Potter, despite the unfortunate last name, was actually very much like Lily Evans. From the moment the boy had been sorted into Slytherin, much like Lily had been, Severus had immediately started finding Lily Evans in him.

And, if he was honest with himself, he was starting to doubt that all his feelings towards James Potter were realistically accurate. Not that he'd ever admit it out loud, but seriously, if James Potter really had been the quintessential Gryffindor, as Albus liked to point out every other day, then the man would have never considered attempting to win over Lily; muggleborn or not, Lily was a Slytherin, and James Potter was a Gryffindor. If the man really had been everything he'd come to believe when he was younger, then the man would have never wanted to go out with Lily so openly, let alone marry her, no matter how good looking she was.

This deserved more analyzing, but for the moment, Severus turned his attention back to Dumbledore, who was slowly pulling out a parchment from one of his desk drawers. The parchment was folded, and it looked like it had writing on it. On more careful inspection, as Albus unfolded it with a conniving look on his whole countenance, Severus noticed the parchment had enchantments on it. Of what nature? he couldn't guess, but Severus did guess that both him and Minerva would be finding out pretty soon what information the parchment actually contained.

Dumbledore unfolded it completely, and straightened it. Then he cleared his throat, and read aloud, "Authorization for permanent magical guardianship of minor." then he gave both teachers, and followers, in front of him a half smile, and a raised eyebrow, and turned the parchment so they could both read it themselves.

Severus quickly waved his wand and the parchment floated in front of them, so they could both read without trouble. He had a very bad feeling about this.

He read the first few lines of the parchment, this was not good at all:

" Authorization for Permanent Guardianship of Minor

Child:

Full Legal Name: Harry James Potter. Date of Birth: July 31st, 1980. Gender: Male.

Parents:

Father: Full Legal Name: James Potter. Date of Birth: March 27th 1960.

Mother: Full Legal Name: Lily Potter. Date of Birth: January 30th 1960.

Guardianship Beneficiary:

Full Legal Name: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore Date of Birth: August 2nd , 1881. Gender: Male

Instructions for signing:

Place wandtip over designated space below for magical signature, cast the Signature spell without moving wand from place. In case of Child under the age of 5, place child's left or right thumb over designated space and cast the Baby Signature spell directly over the thumb, keeping child in place. (Baby Signature spell may only be cast by the Father or Mother)

Severus stared at the spots where the magical signatures were supposed to be, his hand went up and he lightly touched the place where Lily's signature was...there was something about it that made his internal senses shout at him. But what? It had been a while since he's been exposed to Lily's magic, so he couldn't be sure; he frowned in suspicion as his fingers slightly tingled from the magic in the paper. Then he took a deep breath and decided to think about it later. He never noticed Albus staring at him with a weird look in his eyes.

"So, Albus," said Severus, "what are you planning to do with this, then?" he asked, pointing with his head at the parchment, still floating between them.

Albus almost smirked as he grabbed the parchment again, "I'm going to force my ward to switch to Gryffindor, of course."

The sorting hat, laying on a bookcase, observing the proceedings, started laughing. But as Albus and the two professors turned to it, it went quiet and looked another way.

Phineas Nigellus Black, still sitting in his throne-like chair in his portrait, lifted an eyebrow, and his hold on the chair seemed to tighten. He would make sure this information reached appropriate ears.

McGonagall almost did a little jig right then and there, she was just extremely happy right now. With Harry in her house she would shower the boy with points and finally steal the house cup from the clutches of the evil Slytherins.

"Thank you, Albus! Thank you!" she exclaimed earnestly, jumping a bit on her heels and clapping her hands once.

Snape's lips turned white from the strength he was putting on them. He coughed once, and sighed, to try to cleanse himself of the murderous intent that was plaguing him. "What are your other plans for the boy, then, Albus?" he asked, finally, as he sat down.

Albus sat down as well, followed by McGonagall. "Well," he started responding, "after I switch him, I plan to make Harry apologize to the Weasley brat and beg for the boy's friendship."

McGonagall squealed in delight, and clapped her hands again, she sighed in happiness. Albus smiled at her indulgently.

"Apologize?! What, in Merlin's name, is the boy supposed to apologize for!" exploded Snape, not able to contain his anger any longer. There's no way he was in agreement with any of these outrageous things that Albus wanted to do, but there was little he could do to prevent much of it from happening; but if there was one thing he wouldn't stand for is Albus trying to force a "friendship" between the redheaded menace that is Ronald Weasley and one of his snakes, not matter that the snake in question was Harry Potter.
Harry Potter had, after all, befriended Draco and his little group, fit in well with them, and from what he'd seen of the boy lately, he was quickly learning and putting into practice everything that Draco (and most likely Lucius, through Draco) had taught him.

...speaking of Lucius, he'll probably need to try to contact the man and let him know what Albus plans to do...after all, Lucius has a lot of influence in the ministry, almost more so than Albus, because Lucius has influence with important people that don't like Albus at all. Albus mostly has influence with the "little people" of the ministry....people with menial jobs, like Arthur Weasley.

But regardless, if Albus is really Harry Potter's guardian...there's not much that even Lucius might be able to do. Still, it doesn't mean Harry can be forced to befriend people he doesn't like, it just doesn't work like that. It'll be interesting to see the boy's reaction...

"Severus..." started saying Albus, "the boy must make proper friends. And due to recent events..." he said, dropping the newspaper cover page on the desk, "I've come to realize that changes must be made faster than I had planned. Of course...I never counted on Harry deciding that he'd rather be friends with the high class stuck-up pureblood, rather than the low class and modest pureblood."

Severus smirked, "from what I hear, the Weasley brat was literally drooling when he saw Potter's galleons on the way to school on the train....aaand, he practically snatched Potter's snacks from his hands...I don't suppose his tactlessness fell in well with the boy, after all, I hear he only found out he was famous to us after Hagrid picked him up. It seems to me, Albus, that...however unintentionally...everything you made me believe about the boy was a lie. He may look like his father at first glance...but only in his glasses and his dark hair...other than that, the boy is proudly resembling his mother more and more each day." Severus finished his mini-speech, and smirked widely, it seems Albus never expected his little follower to speak out so candidly.

McGonagall was bristling like a cat, almost baring her teeth and "claws" at him, while Albus looked very stiff and serious. "How...daring...of you to speak out so boldly...Severus." he said in a hard voice. Severus merely chuckled a bit, with his mouth in a smirk, "I merely speak facts, Albus. In fact, now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like Potter was confident at all, does it. Compare his personality now, with the way he was when he first got here...it's really telling, in my opinion, he's really nothing like James at all. Which, of course, reminded me that Petunia, Lily's sister, always hated that her sister was magical and she wasn't...and eventually that hate for her magic, turned into hate for Lily; And you, Albus, implied again and again, that Potter was treated like royalty by his family....now I dare think he wasn't...after all, that deep seated hate and envy doesn't just go away...I've known Lily and Petunia long enough to guess that much...and seeing Harry Potter all this time....from the moment he came into the school....got chosen for Slytherin and befriended Draco...I've come to realize that he is just so much like Lily, there's no way Petunia could have ever gotten over her hatred for her by seeing him every day."

Severus finished speaking and just stared at Albus without any expression that revealed his true feelings. Albus was trying to contain his anger, because now that he knew that Severus had knowledge on how Harry was really like, he knew Severus would no longer confuse Harry for James. All that work, wasted. All that effort he put on, subtly making it seem like Harry was treated like a god on earth...wasted. All his careful plans, to make Severus hate Harry and treat the boy like rubbish...all of it gone. Now Albus knew that Severus would be treating Harry the same way he treats all his other snakes....nicely...ugh. Just the thought made Albus want to puke.

"Out! Both of you!" Albus yelled out suddenly, waving out his arm, just as a king would when waving away his subjects.

McGonagall and Snape both hurried out. And Albus once again exploded, but this time it wasn't in the privacy of his hidden office, and Phineas Black, from his place on the wall, was careful to pay attention to everything that Albus was yelling in his anger.

Much of it was useful information that he would eagerly relay to the proper ears.

"Ok, listen to this one!" exclaimed Blaise, as he burrowed into the couch in the common room. Harry was sitting next to Blaise, in the middle of the couch, and Pansy had stolen Daphne's spot next to Harry. Draco, as usual, was sitting on his own, while Daphne sat in an armchair she'd borrowed from another corner of the common room.

Blaise had a small book in his hands that he was reading from, and they were all listening attentively, Harry more so, since most of these things were new to him.

Blaise continued, "Magic is colored by the intent of the practitioner. Human nature being what it is, most magic therefore tends to be gray."

"That makes sense," commented Draco, "after all," he continued, "you could just use a tickling charm on someone until they just died from being unable to breath properly."

Harry's eyes lit up, "Or!" he said excitedly, "one could just use a strong summoning charm on someone, and take their heart. They'd die instantly."

Pansy eyes lit up as well, in excitement at the prospect of summoning a couple of mudblood's hearts, she looked at Daphne, who had a similar look on her face, and they both giggled.

"That's so creative, Harry." exclaimed Daphne, and Harry glowed from the praise. Draco nodded in agreement with Daphne. "I have another one!" added Draco. "If you use a drying charm directly in someone's mouth, it'll probably just dry their insides, which means, goodbye blood, and goodbye life." he finished with a smirk.

Blaise rolled his eyes, and interrupted, "which brings me to the next part in the paragraph, guys." he said, and they all looked at him expectantly, so he continued, "Those who practice magic for selfish ends and malevolent purposes can be dangerous enemies. Especially if they're as creative as you two!" he finished, pointing at Draco and Harry, who glowed again and smiled in amusement, they all laughed a bit.

Blaise then looked back down at the book, and frowned a bit, "but look at this part, If someone uses a hex or a curse on you with the intent to harm, it is best to never be tempted to retaliate in kind- this would simply be delving into what's commonly referred to as the Dark Arts, and it will lead you into a path away from the light, and deep into a state of fear and pain."

Harry frowned, "didn't the book just state that all magic is basically gray, and it's us who make it good or evil? Now it wants to classify it? Besides, as the muggles say, the best defense is a good offense, which in this case would mean that if someone wants to harm me, tries to harm me or even plans it, the best thing would be to actually retaliate in kind, or in a similar manner."

Daphne nodded, "I agree, Harry. The book seems to suggest that if someone places a hex or curse on us that we shouldn't do anything to the person who did it....I'm sure even Gryffindors would object to just take it lying down."

Pansy scoffed, "The 'puffs might just cry, if it happened to them, the author must be a former 'puff"

Draco huffed, "Yeah..." he said dismissively, "so, hey, Blaise? What else is there in that book?" he asked, and Blaise just rolled his eyes and held the book up, "lots of stuff" he answered. Now it was Draco's turn to roll his eyes. "I know, genius. I meant...what else is there in there that's actually interesting!"

Blaise huffed, and kicked Draco lightly as he looked down at the book again. Draco ignored the kick, and just got more comfortable.

"Well...there's interesting stuff about vampires...and there's a whole chapter on possession..." said Blaise, in answer to Draco's question. Daphne, though, looked up at Blaise quite sharply when he mentioned possession.

"The chapter on possession is actually one of the reasons why I asked my mother to send me this book." added Blaise, looking first at Daphne, and then at Harry. Blaise, then, made a motion for everyone to huddle close, and he whispered, "I think Professor Quirrell is possessed."

Daphne chocked on her own saliva and started coughing loudly, leaning back from the group. Harry looked at her in shock and concern, and he quickly offered her some water from a bottle he conveniently always had with him.

Before Blaise had a chance to keep speaking about his theory of Quirrell being possessed, though, they were interrupted by a young looking girl, probably a third year, who was clutching a newspaper in her hands and biting her lip in nervousness.

Harry looked at her, and noticed how nervous she was, "Can we help you?" he asked kindly, and the girl coughed once and brought herself up straight, gaining strength.

"I...was wondering...if you would sign my Daily Prophet?" she asked. Harry and his group looked shocked, and they looked at each other. The girl almost looked nervous again, and looked around for a second, noticing other students were paying attention.

"It's because I thought it was so cool what you guys did! In one article, you made the Headmaster look bad, you made Gryffindor look bad, aaaaaand! You actually made Slytherin House look kind of like the heroes! I'm gonna be framing this article, now, and I figured, why not get the people who made it happen to sign it? If...if you guys agree, of course...." the girl explained, first speaking fast, loud and enthusiastic while the rest of the students who were paying attention now nodded in agreement with her, then she finished hesitantly and extended her hands so as to hand over the newspaper to one of them.

Draco puffed up in pride, and took the newspaper from the girl's hands. "Of course, anything for a fellow Slytherin." he said, and then signed it with a flourish with the girl's quill. He passed the paper to Blaise, and then Harry, who found it weird, but as long as his friends were all signing too, it was alright.

The girl grinned at them, "thank you!" she said, and quickly went back to her sit on the other corner of the common room, where her friends were waiting for her.

"So," said Draco once the commotion had ended, "what's that you were saying about Quirrell being possessed?" he asked. Harry nodded in enthusiastic agreement, while Daphne nodded with a nervous tick, so as not to appear too suspicious.

"Well...." answered Blaise, "according to my book, which is why I asked mother to send it to me, Quirrell has all the symptoms of a possession. Culminating with the event of the Troll two days ago, which is what gave me the final clue. You see," Blaise explained, "Professor Quirrell is an expert in Trolls...there's no way he'd ever be afraid of one. So...my theory is, the spirit possessing him must have been killed by a Troll....and that caused the spirit to become afraid of Trolls."

Harry frowned in thought at Blaise's theory, "but that still doesn't explain why he's being possessed..." said Harry. Blaise turned to him in question, "...explain..." he said in curiosity.

"Well," Harry answered, "maybe the spirit is possessing Quirrell because he was killed...either on Hogwarts grounds....or by someone in the castle...maybe the spirit wants revenge, then?"

Blaise nodded thoughtfully at Harry's theory, "it makes sense....it'd certainly explain the Troll, then." he said.

"How so?" asked Daphne, while Pansy was more concerned about looking at Harry while alternately looking into her mirror.

"Well....Quirrell is a Troll expert, so in theory....even if the spirit was killed by a Troll...Quirrell's knowledge and fascination with Trolls should override the spirit's fear of them."

Harry looked thoughtful again, "So....it was Quirrell who let in the Troll then? Maybe someone here in the castle did kill the spirit possessing him...so in revenge, they let in the Troll?"

Draco shook his head, "I think you're only partially right, Harry. Even if they did let the Troll in...what would be the odds that whoever the spirit's trying to get revenge on would actually come across the Troll...especially since it was let in during...dinner time..." Draco trailed off as a thought hit him suddenly, he looked at Blaise, who was frowning. Harry looked confused, "what?" he asked, "what did you just realize?"

"Harry! If Quirrell and the spirit did let the Troll in, they didn't want it to actually harm anyone! Think about it!" exclaimed Draco in excitement as he leaned in close, "Who would let a Troll into a school as revenge, and do it right during dinner time? When they'd know that everyone in the castle would be present in the Great Hall? It wasn't done with the intention to harm! It was a distraction!"

Daphne hit her forehead with her hand in wonderment and then she looked up at her friends, "so someone wants to distract the teachers, but they don't want the students to be harmed, so they set up the distraction when they know all the students are supposed to be safely gathered in one place....not only that but the Troll was supposed to be wandering the dungeons.....the farthest place from the Great Hall." she said, in a soft but shocked voice.

"Right." nodded Blaise, and Daphne put up her hand to signal she wasn't finished. "So the Headmaster," she continued, "in his infinite wisdom, instead of telling everyone to calm down and stay in the Great Hall, actually sends everyone out, to wander the hallways in a panic, without any teachers to protect them? The idiocy in that man continues to astound me!"

"Maybe...and I know this sounds awful..." Pansy piped in suddenly, shocking her friends, who didn't even know she had been paying attention, "...maybe...Dumbles knew that Quirrell actually let the Troll in...so he let the students out of the Great Hall as his own form of distraction...? Maybe he figured that Quirrell would be too distracted by trying to make sure none of the students were harmed so he wouldn't have time to do whatever it was he wanted to do...?"

Harry looked at Pansy, almost in a new light, with a shocked look on his face. Who would have thought that Pansy could be insightful? thought Harry. "You're right," answered Harry to her, "which means...whatever Quirrell and the spirit wants....has nothing to do with the students...but...it still doesn't make sense...."

Daphne tapped her chin with her index finger in a pensive manner. Her face lit up, "maybe the spirit wants revenge against one of the teachers! ...it figured that by letting a toll in, it could lure all the teachers out, while keeping the students safe."

Draco shook his head, looked down and tapped his foot, "but what he didn't count on was Dumbledore sending the students out." he said.

Blaise leaned back on the couch and looked at Daphne, "he also didn't count on the mudblood being the only student absent from the Great Hall." he said, then he looked away from Daphne and just looked over his friends and added, "what are the odds that she'd be the only one in danger?"

Daphne visibly tensed, and she grabbed her legs tightly with her hands, "it's Weasley's fault that she was in danger, remember? He made fun of her....as well he should...and the sensitive little sod just had to spend all day crying!" she said in a hard voice, her lips tight.

Blaise looked at Daphne with narrowed eyes, and she looked back at him tensely. But then Draco laughed, and the moment was over. "Yeah," he said, "if Weasley had any good qualities at all, this is it." he laughed. Pansy laughed, as well and agreed, "yeah, making fun of her sure seems like a good pastime, too bad she's in a coma now!"

Harry wasn't laughing though, "but she didn't have any friends....I mean....bad as she is and all...being mudblood....you'd think at least other mudbloods or muggle lovers would be friends with her..." he said in a low voice, looking down at his lap.

Daphne frowned and leaned over to put her hand on Harry's lap. "There's obviously something wrong with her, then. Nothing's preventing her from becoming friends with others like her. She's always alone, buried in her books, and if someone asks for her help with anything she just says no or worse."

Pansy nodded enthusiastically, "yeah, and I've even heard from some gossipy Gryffindorks that when they asked her for help on some Potions homework, she said if I can do it, so can you, so why don't you just pick up a book instead of wasting time socializing and learning makeup charms!"

Daphne snickered quietly, and said, "oh, yeah. She's so mean, no everyone takes to reading so easily. Besides, there's no reason why she can't just study and make friends. What does she do when she's not studying, anyways?"

Harry's eyes widened when Daphne finished speaking, and he smacked his right hand against the palm of his left hand and stood up abruptly, running to the stairs room and leaving behind his perplexed friends. Then he turned around halfway up and made the universal come on, follow me motion to his friends. His friends quickly gathered their things and made their way up. They followed Harry to his and Blaise's room to find him rummaging through his trunk.

Harry pulled out Hermione Granger's journal cursing his own stupidity for forgetting about it. But who could blame him, really, considering the last couple of days had been a whirlwind; what with the meeting with Dumbledore the morning right after Halloween, then baiting Weasley with the information the man had given him, and finally, getting Draco to send his father everything they knew. Lucius had then contacted someone he knew in the Daily Prophet, and made the article, which had been scheduled to appear on the Sunday Prophet, which more people tended to buy over the Prophet from any other day.

It had been a busy few days, not to mention classes and assignments aside from all the extracurricular activities of gossip and espionage. Harry was having the time of his life, though. He'd never had so much fun in school before.

"Ok, look at this." said Harry quietly after Draco closed the door to the room. Harry sat on his bed and showed his friends the journal. "I haven't read it, yet." he added.

Daphne and the others looked shocked and impressed. Draco asked, "How did you get the mud-blood's journal?"

Harry smirked, "it was in Dumbledore's office. I found it on the floor right next to my chair, as if it was just waiting for me."

Blaise frowned, "why was it in Dumbledore's office?" he asked in suspicion. Harry frowned in thought, and answered, "I doubt Granger was ever in there.....so Dumbledore must have taken it from her right after she went into a coma."

"Makes sense, but what could be written in there that he'd be so interested in it?" asked Pansy. And Daphne smiled in anticipation, "let's find out, shall we?" she said, rubbing her hands in excitement.

Harry nodded, and went to open it, but found he couldn't, so he frowned and looked at his friends, and shrugged. "I can't open it....must be the privacy charms." he said.

Pansy jumped in excitement and raised her hand quickly, "I bet I can open it!" she exclaimed, and quickly, she pulled out her wand, cleared her throat and cast a spell that Harry didn't know. The book glowed and then opened on its own in Harry's hand.

Draco scoffed in shock, and Blaise nodded in appreciation. Daphne just rolled her eyes, every girl who had a magical journal knew that spell. Harry looked impressed, and he smiled widely at Pansy, who in turn glowed almost as brightly as the journal moments before.

They all gathered around Harry, who moved to the floor so they would all be able to look at it properly. The Journal was open to the first page, and it was written in a neat script.

Dear diary, I have been practicing extensively with a quill, and it is proving quite difficult. It is a constant struggle to balance strength, speed and the amount of ink I use. But I will prove successful, because I am constantly practicing with it, even when I am reading, I take notes...and so I practice. Speaking of books, scientists would have a field day with all these books of magic. Nothing makes sense, at least not at first glance, however, I am quite determined to find a pattern to this magic, some way to make sense of it, because nothing just occurs without a reason or a logic behind it.

They read over the first part and then just sort of skimmed over it, it seemed the first pages were simply her thoughts on magic; it was dated a week before school had started.

I have been trying to make sense of how the wizarding world operates, and I am starting to gather evidence that they evolve more slowly as a society than...muggles... (I am still trying to get used to that word).

"Slowly, she says!" exclaimed Draco when he read that part. Pansy was frowning, too. Harry, on the other hand, was finding everything in the diary quite interesting. Having lived in the muggle world all his life, he could definitely connect with some of Hermione's opinions, and it seemed she had a habit of writing down a lot useful and interesting information in her journal.

Harry skimmed through the text a little bit, until he spotted his name, and he read the few lines of text, "what's the House of Lords?" he asked aloud, "and who's Lord Black?" he added.

Draco was startled at the question, "where did you see that?" he asked, scanning the text. Harry pointed it out and read it aloud, "here, see? Lord Black's position in the House of Lords is in temporary hold at the hands of the Potter family, it seems that Lord Black is godfather to the Boy-Who-Lived, which would give Harry Potter two seats of power in the House of Lords, he already has one as inherited from his father, Lord Potter."

Draco's eyes widened, the mudblood's pretty smart, he thought to himself. "uhm...Lord Black is Sirius Black....he's kind of like my second cousin....since he's the cousin of my mother, who's also a Black. He's....uhm......" explained Draco before hesitating and going quiet.

Harry looked at him, "What....Draco?" asked Harry in suspicion. Blaise and the rest, meanwhile, stayed quiet.

Draco sighed while looking at the floor, then he looked up again and turned to Harry. "Supposedly, he's the one who gave your parents away to the Dark Lord."

Harry's eyes widened, and he looked away for a few seconds, then he frowned and looked back, "what do you mean, supposedly? And how did he give them away?" he asked.

Daphne grabbed Harry's hand, and he looked at her. "Everyone knows the story, Harry. For some reason, the Dark Lord wanted to kill your whole family....so they went into hiding using a spell..." she explained carefully, and Draco looked thankful that he didn't have to explain, so she continued, as she noticed she had Harry's attention.

"...the spell is called a fidelius charm, and it involves two people, one who casts it, and one whom it is cast upon. Basically, it's a spell that hides a secret within one person, and it makes it impossible for anyone to know the secret, unless the person who's hiding the secret, tells it. With me so far?" she explained and then asked.

Harry nodded, he could see where this was going. Daphne continued, "The story says that your parents went into hiding and chose Sirius Black as the person to guard the secret of their location...but Sirius Black was secretly a follower of the Dark Lord....at least according to the story...so because of this, he went directly to the Dark Lord and told him where your parents were hiding. Soon afterwards, he was caught in a muggle street, because he got into a fight with a friend of your parents, and there was an explosion...a lot of muggles died, so his wand was snapped, and he was sent to Azkaban."

Harry was surprised when he heard the story, and he felt a bit of shock and the beginnings to a feel of betrayal; Sirius Black, his Godfather, according to Granger, and also betrayer of his parents. But there was something wrong with the whole thing, something nagging at him...almost like an old memory wanting to surface. "You keep saying supposedly, and according to the story. What do you mean by that?"

Daphne and Draco shared almost uncomfortable looks, and Draco answered. "He was never given a trial. So, despite it being common knowledge that he was a follower of the Dark Lord and betrayed your parents... he was never officially sentenced. It's out of protocol, really, everyone is supposed to be given trials... but for some reason, Sirius Black is the exception. He was sent directly to Azkaban, no trial, his wand was snapped the second his was caught at the scene, and, according to my mother, he's being kept in the most secure area of Azkaban, and he's not allowed visitors."

"...so it's possible he's innocent?" asked Harry in a whisper.

"...I don't want to give you empty hope, Harry..." said Draco, "...but my mother thinks it's possible...especially considering that...well...if anyone would know if Sirius Black was a follower of the Dark Lord or not it would be us...my family most of all..." explained Draco carefully in a whisper. His eyes were drawn to the floor and he was leaning with his arms slightly folded over his legs.

Harry looked thoughtful, "I wonder if there's something I could do? After all, he's supposed to have betrayed me. If I were to....I dunno...ask if I could see him...or...ask around to be shown proof of his guilt....if they can't show me any proof....I could demand a trial...right?" he finished saying, looking at Draco in question.

Draco had narrowed his eyes in thought, "that's a good point, Harry. I'll send a letter to my father, see if maybe he can do something."

"Thanks." responded Harry with a small smile, "Now," he added, looking at the journal in his hands once again. "What's the House of Lords?" he asked, looking around to his friends, and then looking at the journal again, "should I care that I have two seats of power in it?" he asked.

Blaise looked thoughtful, and reached for the journal, bringing it closer to himself. "Let's see what Miss. Mudblood has to say." he commented as he looked through the current page for the relevant information. "Ah! Here it is." he said seconds later, putting the journal closer to Harry so the boy could read with him and understand better.

"Look, Harry, she wrote it down. The wizarding government here seems to operate with a Minister, much like the muggle counterpart, but I have found evidence that the Minister relies and depends heavily upon the approval of different groups within the government, most prominently, what's commonly referred to as the "House of Lords", which according to the book I am using ("Introduction to Government" page 345), consists of titled members of families, and their position within the House is hereditary." Blaise finished reading the paragraph

Draco frowned, "I don't think that book is in the library here." Pansy scoffed, "Of course it isn't. Dumbles will only allow books that paint him and his beliefs in a good light. At least according to my uncle."

Harry shook his head, "he's probably right....your uncle, I mean." Harry then sighed, "the more I learn about the Headmaster the less I like him."

Blaise was looking at the journal with wide eyes. "Uhm....if you don't like him now....wait until you read this...." he murmured, slowly passing the journal to Harry, who nervously took in Blaise's shocked features.

He looked at the part where Blaise was pointing, the section was right under the part that said he had two seats, in his confusion he had probably missed it. Now, what did it say? Harry read it aloud, "At further investigating the matter, it seems that, given Harry Potter's underaged status, both of his seats are currently in the "care" of Headmaster Dumbledore, because apparently he is the boy's Magical Guardian." Harry read through it fast, and they all remained quiet for a few seconds.

"What!" yelled Draco in shock, startling Daphne and Pansy, who were both frozen with shock. Harry wasn't sure what a magical guardian was, but he was pretty suspicious about it, and seeing Draco's reaction, he didn't think he'd like the implications.

Harry was further shocked when Draco abruptly got up from the floor and ran out of the room. Daphne watched him go and got up too, "I'll go get him." she said, and left as well.

Harry gulped, "...what's a magical guardian?" he asked in a quiet voice. Blaise answered him, "Magical guardians are people who take the place of your parents basically. They have almost complete control over you...most importantly for you, Harry, if Dumbledore really is your Magical Guardian, it means he can try to control what you do, who you're friends with, where you're allowed to go...even what you study and what you're allowed to spend money on." explained Blaise.

Harry's eyes went wide, "No way! That's not fair! I've been living all my life with disgusting muggles who called themselves my family and treated me like dirt! Where was Dumbledore all those years?" he yelled while jumping up from his seat on the floor. The journal fell forgotten on the floor.

"I had no idea about anything until I came here and met you guys. There's no way I'm gonna allow some old fart I don't know to control me!" he yelled, gesturing wildly with his arms. He was so mad all of a sudden that he started sparking with magic.

"No way!" he yelled again, breathing harshly, "there has to be something I can do! My parents....wouldn't they have written a will or something? Draco told me all families write wills as soon as they have their first son! Especially during times of war! And if my parents knew that the Dark Lord would be coming for them, then especially they would have thought ahead, wouldn't they? I really doubt they would name Albus Dumbledore, of all people as my guardian, they would have had other people in mind....friends, distant family....I refuse to believe that Albus Dumbledore is my guardian! And I will do everything in my power to make sure I find my parents will and find the right person to be my guardian!"

"I'm afraid that won't be an easy task, Mr. Potter." said someone from the doorway. Harry, Blaise and Pansy all turned in shock to look at the man standing right outside Harry and Blaise's room.

How could they not notice? Now they were caught, and of all people to catch Harry speaking so boldly it had to be him! Now I'm in real trouble, thought Harry as he gulped.

End of Chapter~~~

Chiyoku says: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And hey, how many of you caught things in this chapter that were introduced in the past? The "little things" I mentioned before, there's a pretty big one in this chapter.

I hope you review! Even if just to say, "good one" or "hated it" XD or... "update faster, you bloody snail!" heh.