Chapter 11. I honestly am very concerned for this story. I have no idea how long it will be... oh well. I'm sure that you guys will still read when it gets really long, right?

Note: Pairing ideas are still welcome, even if the character you want hasn't been introduced yet. Only thing banned is fem!slash, cause I don't know how to write it! Please give me your ideas!

Disclaimer: If I've told you once I've told you a million times. I own nothing! I never have, and never will. It sucks, but it is true. Deal with it!

E.O.L. –54 – I will not strike a bargain with a demonic being then attempt to double-cross it simply because I feel like being contrary.

Last Time- The meeting wraps up, with everyone getting assigned their positions. Then Dumbles decides to call the resort and loses lots of money to two-thirds of an infamous gambling trio as most of the people he was certain would go to the same house get resorted.

"Parseltounge"

Warning: There will be both violence and swearing later in this story. It will not be incredibly graphic, but be prepared.

In response to the reviews:

Web Walker: The Azkaban prisoners will come back into focus at Christmas. It'll be between 3 and 10 chapters before they gain major roles, but they'll be mentioned, and there might be other conversations with them, but the main focus'll be off of them for awhile

FrequencyQueen: The start of this chapter will have some tempers flaring.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I only plan to address direct questions here, but anything you have to say is greatly appreciated!

DangerousDaringDimwits-ThenewimprovedAurors.

The next month progressed normally. Classes were dull, reporters made up horrifying and inaccurate tales – including an interesting romance between Draco and Harry – and Dumbledore was attempting to manipulate his weapon back into his control. See? Completely normal. However, Halloween was swiftly approaching. Ever since Voldemort tried to kill him as a baby, something bad happened to Harry on Halloween. Even at the Dursley's, something had always gone wrong. He once turned his teacher's hair blue and got no food for a week and a half because of it. But he hoped that embracing his Slytherin nature would put a stop to that awful trend.

Obviously, that plan hadn't worked. Right now, Harry is sitting in his common room having a shouting match over the matter of an essay. Or rather, he was ignoring an annoying brat who was shouting at him because of an essay. Now that he was trying, he found he did rather well on homework without Hermione's help. As such, an annoying sixth year pureblood (bearing the name Parkinson) was demanding that Harry write an essay or his father would have him expelled (sounds like early Rowling Draco, no?)

"You will do that Transfiguration essay, Potter! Your self-righteousness has let you think that you can just waltz in here and do whatever you want, but you can't. My father will have you expelled once he hears about this! I'll..."

Harry ignored him, and his own twitching eye, and went back to his own essay. The Potions paper was a make-up paper, to get his grade up to standards so he can remain in NEWT Potions. Snape wasn't bothering him nearly as much now, which made the original Slytherins that had stayed in the house think that Dumbledore had intervened. Of course, Snape had been 'talked' to by Kazuki so that he would see past his father. It also helped that Harry had decided to grow out his hair so that he no longer had the identical looks of the last twelve generations of Potter.

The Parkinson boy continued to rant, drawing multiple eyes, including the eyes of one Luna Lovegood. She smirked coldly as a plan formed, laughing manically, but only in her head. The only proof that she was plotting to those around her was the sharpening of her eyes, so that they were clearly focused on the one-sided argument. Walking over as calmly as she could manage, she sat down next to Harry. "Harry," She began, voice innocent, "I'm not quite sure I understand what we did in Transfiguration today. Could you possibly help me with my essay? Please?"

"Sure, since you asked so nicely." He said calmly, not batting an eye. The playful smirk that continually adorned his lips grew slightly, unnoticed by the other Slytherins, showing that he knew exactly what Luna was doing. And he hadn't even paused once to figure it out, not even for half a second! Luna felt like pouting. Harry really was smart enough to be a Ravenclaw if he really wanted to, but his ambition definitely put him in Slytherin. However, she disguised her mildly put-out look with frustration as she dug through her bag, searching for her book.

Parkinson scowled, rearing up for another attack, when the relatively quiet common room began to rumble from a nearby explosion. The younger students began to panic from the shaking and noise, and the older students soon followed when another round started.

Harry glanced up from his work when the shaking started. He wasn't worried, however, as he knew the first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were in Potions and something always blew up in that class. Snape made them all too nervous to stay completely focused. But the second explosion made him frown. This was a very bad sign. "Harry?" Luna asked, startling him out of his thoughts. "Did the Weasley twins come back for a visit?"

"We wouldn't be able to feel the explosions they would cause." Harry muttered softly. His old Gryffindor personality was thrashing at him just below the surface, trying to force him to go investigate. Apparently Luna was working with it, because she dragged him into the hall towards the epicenter of what felt like a very long-lasting earthquake. They approached the Potions lab meant only for staff members with reluctance, unwilling to get in trouble. Remembering the clear fear in the eyes of the younger students, Harry sighed and swung the door open. In the back of the room stood the esteemed Headmaster, working with his head bent down over a dangerously smoky cauldron. Oblivious to their entry, and muttering to himself, Harry found that Dumbledore's actions deserved further investigation. Casting a disillusionment charm over himself and Luna, they crept forward until they were close enough to hear what Dumbledore was saying. "...gotten into the boy. This'll fix him right up though. Oh yes, he will soon be back into our hands, master, yes. Albus will make sure of that. He may be ungrateful now, but he will so be grateful to us again. Oh, yes. The boy will..."

Sufficiently disturbed, Harry and Luna slipped out of the room unnoticed. They removed the charms on themselves and walked back into the common room to find Snape attempting to calm panicked first years. Finally they quieted down, and Snape sighed. "Does anyone have any idea what caused this?"

Luna was about to say something, but Harry sent her a look before anyone noticed. They'd share their findings of a strangely Smeagle-like Dumbledore at a later date, when it could do more damage to his reputation. Harry listened to Snape talk about keeping together just in case something else happened, and he prayed to every god he could think of, even the Egyptian ones, that the costume party after dinner would go relatively smoothly. He also prayed that the next three hours leading up to dinner would go okay. He really didn't want another incident to occur.

Nothing else happened until lunch. At lunch, Dumbledore saw him walk in and spontaneously broke into maniacal giggles. Yes, giggles. Though this was odd, it was the only thing that happened.

That is, until dinner. Harry had been sitting with his friends, eating, like any other normal day. As soon as he swallowed the first sip from his goblet he knew something was wrong. The pumpkin juice was too smooth, too rich... and too sour. His eyes widened as he realized what had happened. There had been something in his drink. A pain began to blossom in his stomach, and he glared up at Dumbledore. The pain steadily worsened, and he stood up to fight it. He had to get to the hospital wing, or somewhere else that Dumbledore would be banned. Who knew what the barmy old man was planning! As he took his first step towards the door, his knees buckled from the pain. His vision was blurry, and he had to hold onto his stomach to try to ease the pain. Looking in the direction he knew the staff table was, he spat out. "You'll regret this, Dumbledore." He coldly, voice shaking slightly from the pain. But as he tried to stand again, it proved to be too much for him and his vision went black.

DangerousDaringDimwits-ThenewimprovedAurors.

Harry groaned as he woke up, the light shining in his eyes was too bright. It wasn't as bright as it normally was when he woke up in the hospital wing, though... was it night. He attempted to force himself into a sitting position, but his arms gave out. "Where am I?" He asked, voice cracking from his dry throat. No one answered him. "Anyone there?" He asked quietly. All of the sudden pain raced through his legs and up his body, and he bit his lip to keep from crying out. The sudden weight on his legs felt like they were cracking in half, very very slowly. "Get off my legs." He muttered, still not able to see who was sitting down there.

There still wasn't any response, but the weight did shift off his legs. A few moments of silence, before a childish voice asked softly, "Big Brother?" Harry snapped into a sitting position and found himself face to face with Rose Potter. Harry snapped into a sitting position, ignoring the pain, and looked around wildly. He recognized the surroundings only from the two way mirror. Please be a dream... a horrific nightmare... This can't be real!

"Hey kiddo, you alright?" A smooth, rich voice asked from the doorway. Harry's eyes snapped in that direction and, seeing who was standing there, rolled back into his head as he passed out.

DangerousDaringDimwits-ThenewimprovedAurors.

Alright, for the smoothest transition, I'm cutting it off there. Please review!