Author's note: I know I'm updating after a long time. I've been beta-reading six amazing stories. So that took some time. Hope you like these chapters.

Legionary Prime: I say, you do the guesswork right. Haha. That's three times in a row. Anyways, thank you for the review and hope you like this chapter as well.

Maesde: Thank you for the review. I'm glad you liked it. Hope you like this one as well.

Starzinmieyez: That's a surprise. Thank you for the review. It means a lot. Enjoy this chapter as well.

Reishin Amara: Thank you for the review. It means a lot. I'm glad that you have been enjoying my story. Hope you like and enjoy this chapter.

Harry and the others roamed around the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom when Draco and Blaise went to sign up for the IS. They went to show some support to the boys who were putting on a brave face and signing up for the danger. They had come out with grins on their faces and smirked at the Gryffindors as they made their way out of the DADA corridor shoving and shouting insults at the younger students with their chest puffed out and a silver 'IP' i.e. Inquisitory Prefects inscribed on their school robes. They had made it to the prefects team even without an interview and so far Harry's plan regarding 'IS' was going well.

Harry had selected a total of ten DA members who he wanted to sign up for IS and as he predicted six of them got selected, most of them being Ravenclaws. That evening Harry called up the DA's 'Inquisitory Squad's' meeting.

"As planned you eight have managed to enter the IS and two of you have made it to the prefects." He gave a small smile before continuing further, "This does not mean we are out of danger but it means that you eight are constantly going to be under her eye. Be alert around others and make sure you do not speak anything about DA, not even to fellow DA members. If you want to get across any message contact Ron and he'll tell me. The DA meeting's notice will come to you guys personally as I don't want it to be delivered when you are with Umbridge, Luna and Neville will get it to you. Keep your eyes and ears open around her. If you think something is off or different contact any of the DA Core member immediately. Right now there is no bigger threat to us than Umbridge."

They had all sat a little late into the night researching some spells and study material. The DA's study project was going excellent as per Dean and Seamus had reported and Harry had shifted the responsibility of the study groups to both of them.

-….-

A hissing sound accompanied by the sound of light footsteps vibrated off the brick walls as he walked ahead. It seemed to be a maze of corridors but it looked like he had been there almost every day and knew his way around blindly. He knew he had never visited that place before. Small beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he took a sharp right turn and a left one next. He was sweating and his shirt stuck to his back as he moved ahead, corridor after corridor making sharp lefts and rights.

The silence was deafening and his wand was clutched tightly in his right hand expertly as if he had mastered the art of using a wand ages ago. Even though he was sweating from head to toe his palms were dry – a good sign he thought as he moved ahead. He heard a hiss again and he looked at his right to see his snake gliding silently beside him.

"We are almost there." he whispered to the snake who hissed back in excitement.

"The wait is finally over Nagini." He hissed at his snake, his eyes trailed ahead on his path.

He took a right turn and stopped. There in front of him stood that door. It was black with faint markings on them. He smiled and moved ahead, his footsteps small and slow. At last he reached the door and observed the faint markings on the door. There were scratches in the middle as if some human had been frantically scratching at the door with his fingernails.

His fingers almost trembled with excitement as he reached forward to turn the door knob. His long fingers curled around it and he turned it, a small click was heard. As he pushed the door open he felt a small tug near his stomach and before he could react he was pulled away from the door into the darkness. A sharp and a loud cruel NO sounded from his lips as he disappeared into the blackness.

Harry woke up to the sound still vibrating off his ears. He was drenched in sweat as he sat up on his bed. That was not the first time he had dreamt about it. There had been several times when he had the same dream but he hadn't paid much attention to them, but that day it was different. The dream had felt real unlike the other times and he could have sworn it was him walking through that door.

He just sat there the entire night, fearing what he might witness if he slept again. He did not fear the nightmare, he feared that it was he who was walking with Nagini, the long snake like fingers belonged to him and he would have given anything just to not get compared to the evil wizard. Harry felt violated and bruised. He refused to give in to his sleep as he sat there twirling his wand in his hand as he sat there deep in his thoughts.

He knew something was wrong…something was happening and he couldn't understand what. His nightmares were a jumble of puzzles and he didn't know which one would fit where. He had witnessed a series of scenes in the past month but he wasn't sure they were just a dream as the thin line between dreams and reality was overstepped.

His thoughts drifted off to one such scene he had witnessed in the last week.

Sebastian Roberts kneeled in front of the figure seated on a king-sized throne. His robes brushed against the black titled ground as he waited for his master's orders to get up. His head was bowed, his nose almost touching the ground, the wand in his waist pocket poked him painfully but he didn't dare make a sound.

"Get up Sebastian." The voice commanded and Sebastian stood up. He looked into the red eyes of his master's and he knew he would pay for his mistake.

"My Lord…" he whispered and bowed his head again.

"You have failed me." Voldemort said in an almost bored voice.

"Master I'll not fail again." his voice shook as he pleaded silently to his master to spare him death.

"I do not want your shallow promises. You know the rules Sebastian. You fail you die." Voldemort stood from his throne like chair, his wand twirling lazily in his left hand. He walked over to him and stood towering above him. Sebastian bowed his head even more, his palms wet with sweat.

"Tell me Sebastian…" Voldemort asked walking past him and stood with his back to him. "…how are your wife and little kid?"

"Fine my lord." He whispered. He didn't dare turn around and face him. He knew it was his and his family's end.

"Good. I'm sure your wife will miss you." Voldemort turned around to face him again and he shivered as the words hit him.

"My Lord…please. Forgive me." he pleaded, his back still facing Voldemort.

"I do not forgive and I don't forget Sebastian." Voldemort walked around and stood in front of him again.

"Please my Lord. The work is almost done. The wards will be down soon and you will be free to act as you wish. It was a mistake to send him near that door. It won't happen again. One more chance master. Please." He whimpered and waited for his master to speak.

"The wards are almost down?" Voldemort asked.

"Yes my Lord. Most of it has been figured out. That old fool of a headmaster had added loads of his own as well. But we are almost there." he said his voce still pleading.

"So you did not fail me entirely." Voldemort said in a small voice lost in his own thoughts.

"My Lord…" he whispered.

"Last time Sebastian…" Voldemort said looking straight into his eyes. "…if you fail me again you'll have to face my fury and answer me before you die. I'll make sure it'll be as painful as possible."

"Thank you…thank you my Lord. You are the greatest and the most powerful." He fell to his knees again and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.

"That will be enough." Voldemort said as he moved away from Sebastian.

"Send for Lucius and tell Avery to hurry up with the wards my patience is withering."

Harry had woken up after that. He wasn't sweating nor was his heart beating at an unnatural pace. He had just gotten up like he normally did. He wasn't able to fall asleep after that. He knew after witnessing that scene, what Voldemort was exactly planning to do. The wards of Hogwarts were almost down and that Voldemort was going to strike soon. It didn't take a genius to understand the danger. He wanted to run to Dumbledore with that piece of information. But he wasn't there and there was no way Harry could let him know and there was nothing Harry could do.

The dreams swirled around his head and everything looked even more puzzled than before. After all these night of dreams he was sure of just two things: first, Voldemort was going to attack Hogwarts soon and next there is something behind that door which Voldemort wants but can't reach. But what could it be? Many possibilities ran through Harry's mind; a weapon, a powerful spell, a powerful ritual for something? But each sounded absurd as many more options became available.

Harry decided to leave the mystery of the door behind for some time. He instead decided to concentrate on what he could do to stop Voldemort from attacking Hogwarts. Sadly, there was nothing much that Harry could do except try and protect Hogwarts himself.

-…-

Blaise Zabini was quite good with strategies and so Harry had teamed him with Ron who was in Harry's term 'brilliant' in that field. Blaise was quite shocked to see the red headed boy having an in-depth knowledge about this subject and he couldn't help but gape openly at him when Ron gave some of his few ideas the first time they had sat together to discuss some strategies.

It was past midnight on Tuesday and the DA Core once again found themselves spending the night in the Room of Requirement. Daphne and Theo had kept to the dungeons for the night since they had some homework due the next day. Ginny was teaching Hermione and Luna her advanced bat bogey hex. Neville had shocked Draco with his knowledge about plants and medicine and they were sitting together talking more about the subject.

Harry was sitting from across Blaise and Ron near the fireplace. The Marauder's Map was open in front of them on a small coffee table. Several parchments lay across their laps as they discussed several strategies to protect Hogwarts in case of an emergency.

"There are total twelve ways of getting out of Hogwarts without detection, except the main doors. That will make it thirteen." Ron said pointing on each of the exit ways with his quill. "And four of them are quite far from each other."

"It'll be difficult to guard all twelve exit ways." Blaise said looking up at Harry. "We don't have that many members to spare."

Harry nodded mutely. "But there's a possibility that they might not know all these twelve entrances. How about we just cover the main ones? I mean which at least a few people know of?"

"That is the only way Harry. If we look at the main ones there are total four of them." Ron said and Blaise scribbled something on his parchment. "First is the passage behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy, second, the passage behind the mirror on the fourth floor, third, the passage behind the statue of one-eyed witch and the fourth one is here so it's out of option."

"That leaves us with three." Blaise said.

"And which of these three leads to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked his eyes fixed on the yellowed parchment.

"The one on the fourth floor and there's one behind the statue of one-eyed witch which leads to Honeydukes and it's in Hogsmeade." Blaise said reading from his parchment.

"That's the two we have to guard." Harry said straightening up.

"How can you be so sure mate? I mean they can come from anywhere." Ron said leaning forward on his chair.

Harry had told them about the dream he had seen about Sebastian and Voldemort and they all had agreed to take matters more seriously. "I know. That's the only way they can come."

"But Harry…" Ron started but Harry cut him before Ron could argue.

"Look, more than half of them have not been used for years and from what Sirius told me some of them are blocked, even they couldn't get across those. Others don't lead anywhere but to the other part of the castle. And Hogsmeade is the most likely place from where they'll enter. They'll want their entrance to be grand."

"I guess Potter's right." Draco commented from his seat beside Neville.

"Are you sure?" Blaise asked.

"As far as I know my father, yes. They all are not that different from him. They all like to get noticed and yes, grand entrance is something they will go for." Draco said getting up from his seat and slumping beside Ron. Neville sat beside Harry picking up some of the written parchments to read.

"Alright then, we will focus on these." Harry said. "Blaise and Ron, I leave these things to you. Get your strategies ready by tomorrow. Let me know how many DA members you need and how exactly you are going to protect these entrances."

Blaise and Ron nodded their approval as they picked up their parchments and Marauder's Map. Harry then turned to Draco and asked,

"How's the IS going?"

"She's up for something big, and as far as we know the Minister is playing his part well in her plan." Draco said looking sincerely at Harry.

"You mean, the minister…" Neville trailed off.

"Yes, even the minister." Blaise said keeping his parchments in his bag. "As far the gossips in the dungeons are concerned, he has become paranoid. Most of the Ministry workers are parents with their children in this school and they are pressurizing the minister to let Dumbledore take over again."

"But he's adamant…" Draco continued. "He's not giving in to their demands. He wants Umbridge to have control of the school at any cost."

"What exactly he is trying to prove? With the removal of Dumbledore he already proved what a dunderhead he is!" Ron said giving a disapproving look at everyone.

"We don't know what's exactly going on…" Harry said after he heard everyone's opinion on the matter. "We are being kept in the dark. There is no doubt that the Minister had claimed his control over the press. The Daily Prophet is not reporting anything and even Rita Skeeter's mouth is shut which is enough for us to understand that something big is going on which the minister doesn't want anyone to know."

"But we don't know so I suggest, we carry on the way we are doing. We just have to be careful and alert. We don't know, who will backstab us and when."

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Yes, I know I took long to update. I've been beta reading six amazing stories and that took up most of my time. The next update will be on Friday at the most since I've exams from Monday to Wednesday.

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