The following bit has been inspired by Akuma-sama's ( excellent HP fic: The Snake who lived book 2: the Chamber of secrets.

If you have not read it, I highly recommend you do so.

Then you can convince the prat to continue it!

Chapter 10

Harry opened his eyes to find himself once again staring at the ceiling of the Hospital wing. With a slight gone he reached out with his hand for his glasses, which would traditionally be sitting on the table beside the bed.

He was surprised as tradition was broken when his hand instead hit something soft. He frowned and squeezed his hand. A gasp of surprise reached his ears.

Harry turned his head to see that his hand was currently resting on the thigh of a blurry Pansy Parkinson. He quickly removed his hand.

"Sorry Pansy." Harry said, "I was looking for……." Pansy held something out to him.

"Your glasses." She stated.

Harry put on his glasses, but was too embarrassed to look at Pansy.

"It's ok Harry." Pansy said softly. He looked up to see that her face was still quite red as well. "It was an accident."

Harry nodded.

"How long was I out this time?"

"Just over night." Pansy replied.

"What happened?"

Pansy shifted slightly in her chair. When she spoke, her voice was very strained.

"Death Eaters attacked numerous homes. Muggles and Wizards." She said softly, "At least thirty people died last night, mostly muggles." Pansy shifted nervously. "Harry, one of the homes attack was the Granger's."

Harry sat up quickly.

"Are they alright?" he asked.

"They're at St Mungo's." Pansy replied, "But no one's being allowed in because of all the other victims. Hermione's very upset. Ron's with her. Ginny and I have been swapping between her and you."

Harry nodded. He'd only met the Grangers in passing. But he knew that Hermione cared very deeply for them.

"Voldemort will pay." Harry growled in anger.

"He has." Pansy replied.

Harry blinked and looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Around fifty or so Death Eaters died last night as well." Pansy said with a slight smirk. "The Witch in Black wiped out most of the attackers. The Death Eaters are now very afraid of her and the Dark Lord is not pleased at all."

"How do you know all this?" Harry asked.

Pansy held out a letter.

Harry took it and began to read.

'Dear Pansy……..'

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Draco Malfoy watched as the Witch in Black slowly rose to her feet, staring towards Bellatrix Lestrange.

What followed would stay in Draco's mind for sometime to come, and would become legendary.

"So this is the Witch in Black." Bellatrix said, looking at her foe. "I don't see what's so scary about you."

"Lady," the Witch replied, "You haven't seen anything yet."

Bellatrix only smirked.

"I got your toy." She held up the sword.

"Not for long."

Bellatrix looked at the witch oddly. She then let out a scream as the sword in her hand suddenly became very hot. She flung the blade away, then glared at the Witch in Black.

"Cute trick." She growled.

"I have a lot of cute tricks." The Witch in Black replied, smirking.

"Crucio!!"

The Witch in Black stepped aside and allowed the spell to hurtle past.

"My turn." She said. She waved her hand, sending a large rock hurtling towards Bellatrix.

Bellatrix eyes went wide.

"Reducto!!" she screeched, shattering the rock before it reached her. She glared at the Witch.

The Witch nodded her head.

"Not bad." She said, "Think you can avoid a house if I drop it on you?"

Bellatrix glared at her in response.

"See, dropping a house on you means I get your ruby slippers." The Witch in Black continued. She then gave Bellatrix a huge smile. "Come on…. Just once I want to hear you say 'I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!'"

Bellatrix screamed in anger and cut loose with a string of curses. The Witch in Black nimbly avoided them and stood out in the street.

"Missed me!" she called out to Bellatrix in a sing-song voice.

The Death Eater's eyes flared with anger.

"Are you mocking me?" she hissed.

"If I was mocking you, I'd be on my knees begging to blow Ol' Moldywarts."

Bellatrix snarled in anger and fired off several more curses. The Witch in Black continued to dodge them. She then stood aside as the last one flew past her, slamming into a Mini Cooper parked in a driveway. The car exploded in a massive fireball.

The Witch looked back at Bellatrix.

"Somehow I don't think their insurance covers being blown up by an insane witch." The Witch then shrugged. "Anyway, you've had enough shots, it's my turn." She raised her hands and flung them forward at Bellatrix.

The ground under Bellatrix erupted in an explosion, sending the Death Eater tumbling through the air.

Spells, objects, and energy balls continued to hurtle through the air between the two combatants. At some point, several members of the Order of the Phoenix, led by Remus Lupin, arrived. They watched in a stunned silence at the power being displayed before them. Both of the combatants were extremely destructive with the surrounding landscape as they attempted to gain leverage over the other.

During the fight, Draco noticed that Alecto had woken up and was lining her wand up at the Witch in Black. Draco quickly fired off a stunner, sending Alecto hurtling past the combatants.

Bellatrix stared at her nephew with a look of betrayal, while the Witch in Black nodded a thank you. She then turned and cast a spell into the ground.

Bellatrix leaped out of the way as the street before her suddenly rose up in a wave and came hurtling at her. The wave continued down the street, sending some members of the Order flying. Bellatrix saw this and smirked, before turning back to the Witch in Black. The Death Eater quickly accioed a car towards her, a car that had been parked behind the Witch in Black. The Witch ducked the car at the last second, but the bumper was able to clip her shoulder. It slowed her down long enough for Bellatrix to cast Sectumsempra several times.

Draco winced when he heard the spell being cast, and cringed further as several slashes appeared on the Witch's robes, followed by a slight spray of blood. One slash even went right along the lower part of her face, but when it hit the helmet, it cast off a shower of sparks.

The Witch in Black stumbled backwards slightly and let out a cry of pain before falling to one knee.

Bellatrix smirked as she walked over to the Witch and kicked her in the chest, sending her onto her back. The Death Eater pointed her wand right into the Witch's face.

"Bye bye bitch." Bellatrix said in a sing song voice. "Ava……"

"NO Aunt Bella!" Draco shouted.

Bellatrix turned in surprise at her nephew. Suddenly the Witch in Black leaped up, a ball of energy in her hand. She slammed it into the side of Bellatrix's head before collapsing to the ground once more.

Bellatrix dropped her wand and grabbed her head, screaming in agony. She stumbled away from the fallen Witch in Black before collapsing to her knees. Draco quickly ran to her side.

"Aunt Bella?" he asked softly.

"Get her out of here." A voice hissed form behind him.

Draco turned to see the Witch in Black slowly pushing herself off the ground.

"Get the hell out of here Malfoy." The Witch said again, "For Pansy."

Draco's eyes widened slightly. He then grabbed his Aunt and activated the port key. With a pop they were gone.

The Witch in Black looked over to see the Order members walking towards her. She lifted her hand, calling her sword back to her. Then before anyone could say anything, she vanished in a ball of fire.

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The Witch in Black reappeared moments later in the stone chamber.

"GEORGE!!!" She called out before collapsing to the ground.

George appeared a second later in a white flash.

"You don't have to yell! I'm……" George paused and stared a moment at the figure laying on the ground. Her eyes widened as she realized the person was laying in a puddle of their own blood.

A puddle that was growing larger by the second.

"Holy shit!" George swore before she grabbed the Witch and vanished.

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'…..I don't know what happened to the Witch after I left.' Draco wrote, 'But if Aunt Bella is anything to compare by, she'll be out of it for months. Professor Snape isn't even sure what Aunt Bella was hit with. No one knows. Mother has been very upset by it all.

Tell Granger I'm sorry, I wish I could have done more.

Draco'

Harry stared at the letter a moment, before looking at Pansy.

"Where are they?"

"Gryffindor tower." Pansy replied.

"Let's go."

"But Madam Pomfrey won't let….."

"I feel fine." Harry said, "And now I want to check on one of my Best Friends."

He started to rise from his bed, but stopped when the Hospital door slammed open. A very angry Hermione stormed into the room, Ron and Ginny meekly trailing behind her. The bushy haired witch didn't stop until she had reached Harry's bedside. Looking up at his friend, Harry could see that Hermione's eyes were still very red and tears still covered her cheeks.

"We need to get into Kirishima's office." She stated firmly.

Ginny and Pansy both inhaled sharply.

"Hermione," Harry said softly, "Are you sure that…."

"They went after my family Harry." Hermione stated, "The basterd went after MY family! I want to make damn sure we can stop the demon he's trying to summon as well as him. Kirishima has what we're looking for in her office!"

Harry sighed. "When do you want to do it?"

"Harry…" Ginny began.

"No Gin." Harry said softly. He then looked at Pansy. "You can even tell her if you want, but we need to get into that office."

Pansy remained silent.

"I can't help you." She finally said.

"I understand." Harry replied, cutting off the protest that Ron and Hermione had both started to utter. He turned and looked at them. "I won't place Pansy at odds with the person that took her in."

"Alright." Hermione stated, "I can accept that."

Harry nodded, then softened his look.

"How are they?"

"I was able to talk to them by floo." She said softly, "They said they were alright, but didn't quite remember what happened." Her face changed to one of anger. "When I find the person that did this, I'll….."

"Too late." Pansy said softly, "They're dead. Well, most of them.""

"What?" Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all turned and looked at the Slytherin. "They're what?"

"Malfoy wrote a letter." Harry said, "He was there."

Hermione's eyes went wide and her hands began to clench.

"He stopped them from killing your parents." Pansy said, "He said he's sorry and wished he could have done more to help them."

"So Malfoy killed his fellow Death Eaters?" Ron asked.

"No." Harry said, "The Witch in Black did."

"She's going on my Christmas list." Hermione stated, "Once we find out who she is."

"We may never know." Pansy said, "According to Draco, she and Lestrange had an all out battle that ended with them both down."

"Lestrange took out the Witch in Black?" Ron said, in awe. Ginny and Hermione stared.

"And vise versa. Draco says they don't know what Lestrange was hit with, nor when she'll recover."

"Did Lestrange torture my parents?" Hermione asked.

Pansy shook her head. "No. Rodolphus did."

Hermione nodded.

"Alright out out out!!" Madam Pomfrey walked into the room. "He needs his rest!. If he's well enough he'll leave later today. Until then OUT!"

Everyone turned to leave, Ginny though remained behind.

"I said out!" Madam Pomfrey shouted.

"She can stay." Harry said.

Pomfrey turned and glared at Harry, then muttered as she walked of to her office. Ginny approached Harry's bedside.

"Are you really alright?" she asked.

Harry nodded, then held out his arm to her. She took his hand, only to have him pulled her onto the bed beside him. Harry wrapped his arms around her and looked down at her face.

"Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I'm supposed to rest." He said, "And the last time I had a good rest in here was with you beside me so…." He closed his eyes. "Get comfortable, cuz your going to be here a while."

"Not that I mind." Ginny replied. She then closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest.

Several minutes later Madam Pomfrey came back out of her office to see the two laying in bed together. She was about to shout, but no words left her lips. She stared a moment at the peaceful smiles on the teens' faces, then decided to go back into her office.

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Harry was released by Madam Pomfrey a few hours later. Then he and Ginny proceeded back up towards the Gryffindor dorms. Along the way, they ran into Remus and Tonks.

"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks said in greeting.

"Hey Tonks, Moony." Harry replied, "I can guess why you're here."

"Meeting tonight." Remus said, "And its going to be very interesting."

"How so?"

Remus tapped his head. "Because we're going to see the memory I have of last nights fight at the Grangers."

Harry's eyes went wide.

"You saw the Witch in Black?"

Remus nodded.

"Moony, I have to be there. So do Ron and Hermione."

"Harry……."

"No Moony." Harry said, "I mean it. We need to be there."

Remus sighed. "Alright. I'll let McGonagall know."

He and Tonks then headed off towards the Headmistresses office. Harry glanced at Ginny.

"You're going to tell them about Malfoy aren't you?" Ginny asked.

"As much as I hate him," Harry said, "I do need to tell the Order about him. It's the least I can do for Pansy."

Ginny nodded. "Since Mum will through a fit if I'm there, I'll just stick with Pansy in the tower."

Harry nodded and the two continued walking.

"You know," Harry said, "I was thinking."

"Is that possible?"

"Ginny……"

"Sorry Harry."

"You think McGonagall would let Pansy stay in the dorms with us?"

Ginny paused in mid step and looked at Harry.

"Are you serious?"

"Well," Harry said, "I know all the beds in your dorm are taken, but maybe Hermione might let her stay in the Head Girl dorm with her." Still seeing the shocked look on Ginny's face, Harry added. "Look, she's a walking target in Slytherin house. Even with Kirishima here she was still hexed. At least this way….."

"Harry I'm not saying it's a bad idea." Ginny interrupted, "In fact I approve of it. But shouldn't you talk to her and Hermione about it before you go making plans?"

"You're right of course."

"I usually am Mister Potter. You'd do well to remember that."

"Of course Miss Weasley."

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That evening the Order of the Phoenix met in the Headmistress' office. Harry noted that neither Kirishima, nor her daughters were present. When he asked McGonagall about it, she had replied.

"Technically they are not part of the Order." She had said, "Professor Kirishima was here in her capacity of Dark Arts expert."

Quite a few members were present at the meeting. including all the Weasley's, minus Ginny but plus Fleur and Bill. Moody was present, as were Remus and Tonks.

McGonagall stood up at the head of the table that now took up much of the room in the office.

"This meeting has been called due to the attack on the Granger household." The Headmistress stated, "As such, we will view a memory of the battle as seen by Remus Lupin."

"Professor." Harry said, "I have something to present before we view the memory."

Everyone looked at Harry curiously.

"Very well Mister Potter." McGonagall said, "Proceed."

Harry rose and then gave Hermione a quick glance. She was sitting beside Ron, his hand firmly clamped in hers. She looked at him and gave a nod. She then directed her attention to the floor.

"As you know, Pansy Parkinson was saved from the attack on her home by Draco Malfoy." Harry saw several people nod, while many continued to stare. "This morning, Malfoy sent Pansy a letter in regards to last night."

"He was there at the Granger home." Remus stated, "I saw him portkey away with Lestrange."

Harry nodded. "He saw everything that happened before the arrival of the Order." Harry pulled out the letter that Pansy had handed him and began to read from it.

When he told of Hermione's parents begin tortured, several people paled. Tears rolled down Hermione's face. Harry continued to read. He read how Malfoy had stopped the torture, and then how the Witch in Black had announced her arrival.

As Harry described the battle that followed, several members of the order became very ashen. Even those that had arrived at the scene afterward and seen the bodies paled as they heard how that body had come to be.

Then he reached Bellatrix's arrival.

He read about the Witch in Black losing her sword, and then when the duel had become serious.

"At this point," Harry said, "It would be best to view Remus' memory."

McGonagall pulled out a stone bowl and set it in the middle of the table. It looked like a regular pensive, but had very odd runes running around the edge. Remus touched his wand to his forehead and pulled out the silvery strand of memory and placed it into the bowl. McGonagall then tapped the bowl with her wand. Within seconds, an image of the Granger home and the front yard appeared on the table..

Frozen before them were the Witch in Black and Bellatrix Lestrange, both caught in mid casting of a spell. Around them lay the bodies of the dead Death Eaters, as well as Hermione's parents.

Hermione inhaled sharply when she saw them. Harry reached over and gently held her left hand, her right still gripping Ron's.

Remus then spoke.

"When we arrived, Lestrange and the Witch were going at it." He stated, "We stayed out of the way because quite frankly, we've never seen the like."

Moody frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Watch." Remus said. He then nodded at McGonagall.

Immediately the memory went into motion. For the first time, the order watched as the Witch in Black fought. The fact that she was fighting what was considered to be the deadliest witch on the side of the Dark Lord wasn't lost on them.

Several people shouted out in surprise when they saw Draco stun Alecto. McGonagall immediately paused the memory.

"Was she captured?" the Headmistress asked.

Tonks nodded. "She currently has a cell all to herself in the Ministry."

McGonagall nodded and the memory moved on.

Everyone watched in awe as the car came hurtling up from behind the Witch in Black. They then winced as Lestrange cast Sectumsempra. Everyone was shocked when the Witch in Black went down. They were even more shocked when Draco saved the Witch. They then watched as the Witch in Black took that moment to hit Bellatrix with the energy ball. They watched the Deatheater writhe on the ground in agony. Moments later Draco ran to his Aunt's side, and after the Witch in Black had said something to him, portkeyed away. They then watched as the Witch called her sword back to her, before vanishing in a ball of fire.

Silence dominated the room for a long time.

Harry rose to his feet and held out the letter again.

"Malfoy says that Bellatrix is out of commission for several months at the least." He said, "No one, not Snape, nor apparently Voldemort himself, (several people cringed) has a clue what she was hit with."

Moody was nodding his head.

"Not bad for a Trollop in black leather." He said, "Bad luck to be hit by that car, distracted her enough to be cursed. Still, she took out a squad of Death Eaters and fought the most powerful Dark Witch of our time to a draw." He glanced at the others. "The scary thing is I think she was holding back."

That got a chorus of 'What!?!?' from around the table.

Moody pointed at the pensive image of the Witch in Black.

"That Witch was holding back!" he stated, "She's thrown off curses before. Hell, she's taken out more Death Eaters on her own than all of us combined. The bodies of those Death Eaters she cooked are still burning in Diagon Alley! I'm telling you: She was holding back against Bellatrix Lestrange!!"

"Why would she do that?" Molly Weasley asked, "She almost died!"

"Who knows!" Moody replied, "But I tell you she was playing with Lestrange!"

"Iz there any idea what that last spell she used was?" Fleur asked.

Everyone looked at Moody. The old Auror shook his head.

"Never seen that one before." He said, "But if I had to guess, it attacked her mind."

"Not that she had much left of one." Harry murmured.

McGonagall rose.

"Very well." She said, "Continue with your tasks. Baring anything else happening, we shall see each other at the next regular meeting."

Everyone began to rise to their feet. Hermione quick stood and went after the Weasley twins. Bill and Fleur walked over to where Harry stood.

"Professor McGonagall said you have a wand you wanted looked at?" Bill asked.

Harry nodded and pulled out the gifted wand. Bill took it and looked it over. He even went and waved his wand over it a few times, muttering several spells.

The wand remained still.

Bill then took the wand and, after giving it one final looked over, gave it a wave.

As Harry expected, nothing happened.

"As far as I can tell," Bill said, "This is simply a stick of wood."

"Harry." McGonagall said, "Give it a wave for them."

Harry picked up the wand and waved it.

Bill and Fleur both leaped back in surprise as the blinding burst of sparks appeared.

"Bloody 'ell!" Fleur swore, getting a rather surprised look from Harry, Bill, and McGonagall. She then realized what she'd said and bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

Bill took the wand again and waved it.

Nothing.

"Now you see our problem." McGonagall stated.

Bill frowned as he looked over the wand again.

"Fleur." He said softly, "You have the tester in your purse."

Fleur nodded and opened her purse. She reached in and pulled out a rather tall device.

Even having been a part of the Wizarding word for seven years now, Harry still found such things amazing to see.

Bill took the device from Fleur and set it on the table. He then placed the wand inside. It floated there a moment as the device hummed and emitted a glow. Suddenly it stopped and the device spat a piece of parchment out of its side. Bill took the parchment and read from it.

"Holly," he said, "Eleven inches. Core: hairs from a set of doublets."

McGonagall, Fleur, and Harry all blinked.

"The Wand's core is made from shirts?" McGonagall asked.

Fleur looked at the Professor curiously.

"The English have 'airy shirts?"

"No…." Bill murmured, lost in thought. "This sounds familiar, but I can't place it."

"Is it a bad thing?" McGonagall asked.

Bill shook his head. "No, I don't believe it is, otherwise I'd definitely remember it. I think it was more of a neutral thing, a balancing if you will." He frowned as he tried to pull up the knowledge from the depths of his mind. "I'll have to check out a few things. But I don't see any problems with the wand."

McGonagall nodded, then looked at Harry.

"I suggest Mister Potter," she said, "You start practicing with this wand."

Harry nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

Harry said good bye to Bill and Fleur. Bill shook his hand, while Fleur grabbed him in a hug and kissed him on the cheek. She then thanked him for watching over Gabrielle With a slightly stunned look, Harry stumbled out of the Headmistress' office to find Hermione and Ron waiting for him.

"What kept you?" Ron asked.

"They checked my wand." Harry replied.

"And?"

"Well McGonagall said I should practice with it."

"Excellent." Ron replied with a grin. He then looked over at Hermione.

"We're going to get into Kirishima's office tomorrow." She stated firmly.

"How?" Harry asked, "We haven't got a password."

Hermione smiled.

"I spoke to Fred and George. They're going to send us something tonight to bypass the password."

Harry blinked and looked at Ron.

"Can they do that?"

Ron shrugged. "They've been working on a lot of things. Course when Hermione asked them, they assumed she had finally been corrupted by us and were going to play a prank on her."

Hermione blushed slightly. Harry smirked.

"And you didn't bother correcting them?" he asked, "Hermione, I'm shocked."

"We've spent seven years together." Hermione replied, "That's more then enough time for you to 'corrupt' me."

"Wait…" Ron said, "If we corrupted her just by being around her, what did we get?"

"Well I know my study habits have improved, as have my grades." Harry said with a smirk. Hermione smirked back. "Ron got something better though."

"What did I get?" Ron asked.

"Simple." Harry said, "You got her." A large smile appeared on Hermione's face and she started to hug Ron.

"Oh." Ron frowned.

Hermione froze and glared at Ron.

"What do you mean 'oh'? Is there something wrong with me?"

Ron quickly backed up.

"No no!" he quickly said, "You're wonderful."

"Just wonderful?"

Ron looked pleadingly at Harry.

Harry shook his head.

"Sorry Mate, can't help you."

"Mione……" Ron pleaded.

Hermione let out a little harrumph, then turned and grabbed Harry's arm.

"Let's go Harry." She said, "I need to explain to you how this works. And while we're doing that, I can tell Ginny how her brother is acting."

Ron stared as his best friend and girlfriend walked off down the hall. Just behind him, another pair of eyes watched as well, before vanishing into the floor.

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The next morning at breakfast, both Ginny and Pansy seemed to be rather distant to the trio. It didn't take but a moment to realize that they had probably figured out that Harry, Hermione, and Ron planned on breaking into Kirishima's office. They'd been in the common room when Hermione had been explaining the device to him. Harry could understand why Pansy was staying away, but Ginny……..Ginny would usually be right their with him.

After breakfast, the trio left the great hall and paused briefly in a corridor near the DADA classroom. Harry pulled out the Marauder Map.

"No one on this floor." Harry murmured.

The trio walked quickly down the corridor and opened the door to the DADA classroom. Closing the door behind them, they approached the door to Professor Kirishima's office. They spent several moments staring at it.

"Well?" Ron asked.

"First things first." Hermione said, pulling out her wand. "Alohomora!!"

The door remained locked.

"Told you." Harry grumbled.

Hermione didn't reply. Instead, she pulled out the item she had received from the Weasley twins. She pointed it at the door.

"Open sesame."

Harry and Ron both turned and stared at Hermione.

"You didn't just say that." Harry said.

"She did." Ron replied, "She really said it."

Hermione turned red, but kept the now glowing device pointed at the door.

"Look it's what the Twins said would activate it!" she sputtered, "Why else would I say it?"

"A moment of insanity?" Ron asked.

"Ron, when I set this thing down, you are so going to be hexed."

Ron cringed and started to back away when the door to Kirishima's office suddenly glowed red. With a loud bang, the red vanished. Hermione let out a yelp as the device suddenly spat out sparks and began to burn. She quickly dropped it and held her hands to her chest.

The device continued to burn a moment, before it let out a long hiss as the flames finally died.

"I think the twins need to work out a few bugs in that one." Harry said. He then looked at Hermione. "You alright?"

"Yeah." Hermione replied, looking at her fingers. She then looked at the door.

Ron approached it and gave the knob a twist. With a click, the door opened with a creak.

"It's open." Ron said.

"Yeah," Hermione said, looking down at the device. "But we won't be able to close it the way she had it. Looks like whatever spell she had sealing her door over powered it."

Harry gave the device one final looked, before facing the now open office door.

"She would find out anyway." He said, "Pansy and Ginny would have told her."

"Ginny wouldn't…" Ron began before getting a look from Harry.

Harry walked up to the door and swung it open. He gave a quick glance around inside before entering, Hermione and Ron right at his heels.

Nothing much had changed since Harry had last been here. The desk was now cleared of all papers and a new photograph had appeared on it. Besides the four muggle photographs was a wizard photo taken at the Yule Ball. It must have been taken just before Kirishima and her group had come down to the hall. Kirishima sat in a chair, flanked on either side by Dawn and Pansy. Sitting on the floor in front of her was Sayoko. Kirishima kept smiling and glancing over at Pansy, who smiled and looked back. Sayoko seemed to be constantly adjusting her skirt, while Dawn gave Kirishima bunny ears.

"…….really notice that you've been here

Dolefully desired
Destiny of a lie

Set me free
your heaven's lie
set me free with your love
set me free……"

Harry jumped and whirled about at the sudden sound of music.

Ron looked sheepishly at his two friends, his hands still on the muggle stereo. Hermione quickly walked over and shut it off.

"Really Ron!" Hermione snapped, "If you don't know what something is ASK!"

"Sorry." Ron replied.

Harry chuckled and moved behind Kirishima's desk to look at the case with the sword in it. Hermione moved beside him.

"That's not an English sword." She murmured.

"Oh?" Harry said, surprised, "When did you look up swords?"

Hermione blushed slightly.

"After Second Year." She admitted, "I was curious about Gryffindor's sword." She pointed at the case. "That sword appears to have been done in the Norse style."

"Norse?" Harry repeated, "Like the rune on Ginny's necklace?"

"Yes, Norse." Hermione frowned as she looked closer at the runes on the plaque. "These runes don't look right."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. He honestly couldn't tell one rune from another.

"These don't look like Norse runes." Hermione replied. She pointed at the blade. Harry blinked. Up close, an examination of the blade showed runes just above the hilt.

"Those runes are Norse." Hermione stated, her hand still pointing at the blade. "But those….." she pointed at the plaque. "….I….I don't know."

"You don't know?" Ron said from where he was standing, looking at the shelves. "Hermione actually doesn't know something?"

"Don't make me hex you." Hermione snapped. She pulled a piece of parchment out from a pocket and quickly began to copy the runes on to it. Meanwhile Harry walked over to Ron by the shelves.

"Check it out mate." Ron said pointing to a string instrument sitting on a shelf, "Kirishima plays violin."

Harry stared a moment at the violin, then looked beside it. Two figures stood there, each about six inches tall. For a moment, Harry thought they were small figurines of Knights in armor, but at a second glance, they didn't seem to be wearing any armor he'd ever seen before. Both were human in shape, but their heads looked very demonic, one was practically a skull. There were also strange wing like objects coming out of the upper shoulder areas on each side of the head. One figure was all in silver, with a splash of red here and there. The other was mostly purple, with green here and there.

Ron leaned closer at the figures.

"There's something written on it's arm." He said, "Eva…..Eva….gell…..on…Eva…… Bloody Hell I don't know what it means."

"Don't worry about it." Harry said, "Let's try and find that book eh?"

"What's this?" Ron asked, moving away from the figures. He was now looking at a rather odd device, about the size of a quaffle.

"Don't know." Harry replied, "Don't touch it."

Ron shrugged and resumed looking at the shelf. Harry started looking at the books. Most of them dealt with Defense, Occlumency, or the Dark arts. Several unlabeled books caught his eye. He pulled out one and opened it. His eyes widened as a page full of muggle photographs met his eyes.

"It's a photo album." Harry murmured. He flipped through the pages. It didn't seem that old, as Sayoko Ikari appeared to be the same age in the photos. Dawn Chase was present as well. Kirishima herself was in a few. Harry found it rather odd to see her dressed in muggle clothes. Every time they had seen her at school, except for the dance, she'd been dressed in black robes. He discovered several photos of Sayoko Aida. Harry frowned. From the memories he had from Kirishima, Aida had bright blue eyes. The photos showed her eyes to be a very cold grey. Though she seemed happy in the photos, the look in Aida's eyes was very familiar to Harry. He'd seen it in his own eyes when he looked in the mirror.

Harry closed the photo album and placed it back on the shelf. As he did, he noticed the book he'd seen passed from Dawn to Kirishima.

"I found it." Harry called out.

Hermione and Ron moved beside him as he pulled the book from the shelf. As he did, Hermione let out a gasp and grabbed a book that had been beside it.

"This…." Hermione began, "this is a book about Merlin! Merlin Harry!"

"So?" Ron replied, "There's lots of books about Merlin."

Hermione glared at Ron before opening the book to the first page. Her eyes went wide before she quickly shut the book.

"We need this book." She stated.

"Hermione," Ron groaned, "There's lots of books about Merlin in the Library."

"None of those have anything about the Demons and Shadows in them." Hermione stated, "This does."

Ron blinked. "Oh."

"Take it." Harry said. He turned his attention back to the book in his hands. He opened it and flipped through several pages. "It's all in runes."

Hermione glanced over his shoulder.

"We'll have to translate it." She said, "That will take time but……."

"….we need to know what this says." Harry finished. He then frowned. One of the pages in the book had been folded over, marking a page. Hermione looked over at the folded page.

"How could anyone do that?" she growled, "That's hardly the proper way to mark a page! Especially………" Her voice trailed off.

Ron and Harry turned their heads and looked at her. Hermione's face had gone extremely pale.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Hermione pointed to the top of the marked page. She pointed at the runes that line the top of the page and pronounced each one.

"Azaz …….El." she stated, "or Azazeal."

Harry blinked and looked down at the page. The runes still didn't make any sense to him.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked. Seeing the look that appeared on Hermione's face he quickly added. "Sorry, of course your sure."

"The only reason I know is because of my search for information about Azazeal." Hermione stated, "Now we….."

Her voice trailed off again as a loud snicker echoed through the office. The three looked at each other with equally terrified looks.

"Peeves." They groaned.

"Heeeeeeeeeeee's back!" came the voice.

The poltergeist suddenly burst through the wall the shelves were on, blew a raspberry at the students, then flew off and out the door.

Hermione let out a sigh.

"Well that wasn't so bad." She said.

"We'll have to watch out when we leave." Ron pointed out, "He has a tendency to hang out over doors with buckets of water. But yeah, that wasn't that bad."

"It's worse."

Hermione and Ron turned and looked at Harry. His eyes were locked on the shelf. They followed his eyes to see that the strange device that Ron had pointed out earlier was gone.

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"We are in so much trouble." Hermione muttered as they raced out of the DADA classroom.

"It can't be as bad as you're thinking." Ron replied.

"Ron," Harry said, "We broke into a Professor's office. The Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor's office. We let Peeves the Poltergeist take an object from that Professor's office."

"Again…. So?"

"Considering the kind of objects Moody had in his office, Kirishima probably has similar, if not worse ones."

Ron winced. "Ouch."

The three stopped at an intersection of corridors.

Ron glanced off to the right. "Which way?"

"I don't know." Hermione replied, looking off to the left.

"I hate to say it." Harry said softly as he looked further up the corridor, "But we're going to have to split up."

"I don't like that idea." Hermione said frowning.

"I hate that idea." Ron his face scrunched up.

"We need to find Peeves." Harry pointed out. "Hermione, take the books back to the dorm and then head towards the Dungeons. Ron, head towards the Great Hall. I'm going to head towards the Astronomy Tower."

The other two nodded and the trio split up.

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"Why aren't we stopping them?" Ginny asked as she and Pansy walked down the corridor. "I mean, technically they could get in big trouble for breaking into a Professor's office."

"I'm well aware of how much trouble they could get in." Pansy replied, "Umbridge, remember?"

Ginny winced.

"Yeah, I don't like thinking about it either." Pansy replied at Ginny's unspoken comment.

The sound of laughter from above caused them both to stop.

"Eh?" Pansy looked up just as she and Ginny were engulfed by a brilliant white flash.

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Harry moved quickly down the corridor, glancing into several classrooms as he searched for Peeves. He rounded a corner and paused at the sight before him.

Two sets of robes sat in a heap on the floor. Both wiggled about as if something was inside trying to escape. Harry cautiously approached the robes and poke at one with his wand.

The thing in the robes let out a yip.

Harry reached out and pulled aside part of the robes, revealing a red fox. Quickly Harry leaped backwards in surprise and held his wand out, pointed directly at the fox.

The fox stared at him with large brown eyes that seemed very familiar. He glanced at the robes the fox had been hidden under. His eyes widened as he spotted the Gryffindor badge on them. He quickly glanced at the other pile of robes. The thing within was still struggling to get free. As it struggled, Harry caught sight of the Slytherin badge. His eyes quickly went back to the fox.

"Ginny?" Harry asked.

The fox nodded its head. Harry then noticed the lump under the Slytherin robes had stopped moving.

"Pansy?" Harry asked, "Is that you?"

The response he got was a rather drawn out whine.

Harry slowly opened up the Slytherin robes to reveal a very unhappy Pug dog with hazel eyes.

"Oh Pansy." Harry murmured. He and the other Gryffindors had long ago thought that Pansy had looked like a pug dog. She'd grown out of it, much as Hermione had.

"Who did this to you?" Harry asked the two girls.

Ginny and Pansy both responded by barking.

Harry closed his eyes and dropped his head. Of course they couldn't speak, what had he been thinking. Harry then looked up. Thinking……..

"Which one of you saw who did this?" Harry asked.

The fox glanced over at the pug who pawed at the air.

"Pansy," Harry said, "I'm going to try and use Legilimency to see what happened. Ok?"

He got a whine in response.

Harry stared into the pug's eyes.

"Legilimens!"

"I mean, technically they could get in big trouble for breaking into a Professor's office." Ginny said

"I'm well aware of how much trouble they could get in." Pansy replied, "Umbridge, remember?"

Ginny winced.

"Yeah, I don't like thinking about it either." Pansy replied

The sound of laughter from above caused them both to stop.

"Eh?" Pansy looked up.

Peeves floated above them, holding a strange device. He pulled the trigger and the device emitted a bright flash…… and then all went dark.

Harry blinked as he pulled out of Pansy's mind. Besides the memory, he could feel the pain that the Slytherin was in. She apparently knew of the Gryffindor comments about her looks and now……

Harry gently picked up both animals. He placed Ginny just behind his head so that her body was wrapped around his neck. He then held Pansy in his arms.

"I'm sorry about the comments Pansy." He said softly, "It was a different time then. I know you now and I have to say you are rather beautiful." Harry cringed as he heard a growl coming from beside his head. He glanced over to see Ginny glaring at him.

"I guess I was right then." Harry said, giving the fox a smirk.

Ginny cocked her head to the side questioningly.

"You are pretty foxy Miss Weasley."

The fox rolled her eyes before giving his cheek a lick.

"Now." Harry said, "Let's go find Peeves."

The two animals barked in reply.

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Harry entered the Astronomy tower and looked around. The room appeared empty, but looks could be deceiving when dealing with a ghost. He gently set Pansy and Ginny on the floor, then moved further into the classroom. Pansy and Ginny both padded off, looking around the room.

"Peeves?" he called out, "Are you here?"

No response.

"Ginny? Pansy? Anything?"

He got two whines in response.

"Guess he's not up here then." Harry said, "Come on. Let's go see if Ron or Hermione had better luck. Harry started to turn around, and found himself face to face with Peeves.

"Umm…" Harry looked down to see that Peeves still had the device and was pointing it at him. "Hi Peeves."

"Potter you rotter!" Peeves cackled.

There was a brilliant flash of light and everything went dark for Harry.