Chapter 21: Loss

Harry Potter sat down in the compartment he had grabbed for himself and his friends with a heavy sigh. While he was disappointed to be leaving Lisa behind again, a part of him was very glad the winter holidays had finally come to an end. So much had happened during the two week break this time, and not all of it good, that he really just wanted to put it all behind him, which was very hard for someone with his unique talent to do.

Sometimes, having eidetic memory was such a pain.

As he carefully floated his trunk into the storage compartment overhead, Harry reached into the magically expanded pocket in his pants and pulled out a rolled up newspaper. He unrolled it and stared at the front page headline, which contained a large image of a beautiful ballroom with himself, Daphne, the Malfoy's, and the Celestina Zabini standing in the center. The title read "The making of strong new alliances? Or a political scandal?"

The article was a very skewed and biased opinion piece detailing the events that had taken place during the New Year Gala. A good deal of the facts within it were not only way off base, but completely contradictory to each other. It almost felt like six or seven different people had a hand in writing it, couldn't agree on what to write, and just decided to combine all their thoughts into one large jumbled mess of biased opinions.

Harry suspected this was due to both Lucius and Celestina using their wealth to try and turn the article in their favor so they came out of this no-win situation in the best light possible, both for their own reasons, of course.

Harry had already read through it and memorized the entire thing, naturally, but he still kept the newspaper as a memento of his own inexperience.

There were many people throughout history who had been like him; confident people who believed they could change the world. These people, many of them starting out with wisdom and benevolence, often grew arrogant and became egoistical. This egotism caused them to make mistakes, their arrogance made them reckless, and in the end they ended up losing everything when they could have had it all if they had just acted with more prudence.

Harry had vowed long ago to never make those mistakes, but it appeared that putting these lessons into practice was much harder than it looked. That was why he was truly grateful to Celestina Zabini for her interference that night. His fame combined with his intelligence and ambition had made him arrogant, and that arrogance had cost him dearly. Even with Celestina's timely interventions, his reputation had taken a serious blow and people were now questioning his competence and ability as the Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter.

He had believed that he was ready to face the big leagues, to stand on equal footing with people like Lucius Malfoy, who had decades more experience in the political arena than he did. He had stepped into a field where his only advantages had been his fame, his anonymity, and Andromeda's coaching. It had served him well during his first New Year Gala last year, and he had believed it would be enough for this one as well.

Sometimes life liked to slap people in the face. It had certainly dealt him a heavy blow.

One of the many things that Harry had not thought over thoroughly enough was that the moment he entered the political arena, the advantage of being a pseudo-legendary figure that everyone knew of but no one truly knew was lost. People now knew him, not just of him, but knew him, the individual behind the myth of The-Boy-Who-Lived. He was no longer anonymous, and for someone like Lucius Malfoy, just knowing him was enough to dig up plenty of dirt with which he could use to slander slander Harry's name and cause his support to drop.

Really, what had he been thinking? Going up against Lucius Malfoy without an experienced politician backing him up. How reckless was that?

After that night, Harry had vowed not to let his arrogance get the better of him ever again. If he wanted his ambitions to become a reality, then he needed to be at the top of his game.

"Harry!"

Hearing his name being called and the door sliding open, Harry had just enough time to stand up and catch the bushy-haired missile that shot at him like a speeding bullet.

"Hermione!" Harry grinned down at his sort of self-proclaimed rival in school, thoughts on Lucius and politics put on the back burner. "You're here early. Normally, you and Tracey are the last people to show up."

"I woke up really early this morning and kept pestering my parents," Hermione admitted with a bit of a sheepish smile. "I think they got annoyed by how much I was...talking, and decided to drive me to King's Cross earlier than they normally do."

"You do tend to talk a lot."

"That's a mean thing to say to a friend."

Harry chuckled. "Sorry." He offered the girl a smile, which she returned with one of her own. The young boy with raven hair then looked around the compartment. "Since you're here now, I can only assume the others will be arriving soon. I guess that means I should expand this place a bit."

He pulled out his wand and was about to cast the expansion charm when Hermione grabbed his wrist. When he looked at her curiously, she said, "Would you mind if I try expanding the room? I've been practicing the wand movements and incantation, but I haven't actually had a chance to see if I could use it."

"Huh? Sure, I don't see a problem with that. Let's see what you can do."

"Thank you."

Hermione pulled out her wand and soon began making the necessary wand motions for the expansion charm. Like always, her movements were very precise and calculated. They were completely different from Harry's own wand motions, which he used with much less precision since he didn't actually need them and only used them because they helped focus his magic. The results were still the same however, and in less than a minute the room had been expanded to a reasonable size, though Hermione looked exhausted after doing so.

"Ugh..." the girl breathed heavily as she slumped down in her seat, a mild amount of sweat forming on her brow. She wiped at the sweat with her hand, and then leaned her head against the seat. "I don't know how you can expand the compartments every time we're on the Hogwarts Express. That was exhausting."

"The Expansion Charm is an above NEWT level charm due to the magical requirements," Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Small items such as a pocket or a book-bag don't drain you too much, but on anything larger it can be very taxing on your reserves. Expanding this compartment is normally something only an adult with an above average magical index can do."

He looked at Hermione, who was focused intently on him. Her fingers twitched, and Harry had the feeling it was only because she didn't want to miss something he said that she hadn't brought out something to take notes on.

"I suspect the reason you can do the expansion charm despite being so tired afterward is due to how precise your wand movements and incantations are. They help you focus your magic well enough that you don't waste any of it when you use a spell." Harry frowned. "That might actually be something we could experiment with later. Determining how efficient different people are at using their magic and how wand movements and incantations help. We could probably write a book on it."

Thinking about it, writing a book might actually be a good idea. He had not found any books on the subject of how wand movements and incantations help focus a witch or wizards magic to produce better and more consistent results. The only mention of it was in the more advanced transfiguration books and some of the arithmancy books.

Hermione beamed at the thought. "I've always wanted to write my own book."

As he and Hermione began discussing potential ways to figure out how much magic one person used over another due to their use of wand movements and incantations, their friends began arriving in small groups. Before too long the compartment was filled and soon enough they were off to Hogwarts.

XoX

"Alright, you lot! Quiet down now!"

An amused Harry sat next to an equally amused Katie within the Gryffindor team's locker room. And while they were sitting down wearing identical expressions of merriment, Oliver once more paced back and forth in front of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

As per the usual the team was dressed in their red and gold Quidditch robes while the ever insane captain of their team gave his spiel. Unsurprisingly it was the exact same spiel he gave every time they were about to play in a match.

While Harry and Katie sat together, a little off to the side were the twins, Fred and George. They were leaning against one of the lockers, their arms crossed and matching grins on their faces. Knowing them as he did, Harry knew they were just waiting for an opportunity to interrupt their ever serious and not-quite-right-in-the-head captain.

Sitting on Katie's opposite side were the other two other Chasers, Alicia and Angelina. Both looked as beautiful as they always did, which Harry was beginning to appreciate more and more as the days went by and he got more comfortable in his own skin, as it were. He actually kind of wished he could see what they looked like underneath those robes.

Yes, his hormones were still acting up. According to Emily Smith his body was likely going to remain overcharged with hormones until his puberty ended. Just when that was neither of them could say. He was an unusual case, according to her.

It was just as well. The thoughts didn't bother him as they once did, and he was now in perfect control of his faculties and ability to think without letting any lustful urges and desires get in the way. He was now more than capable of admiring a good-looking female without feeling dirty, shameful or embarrassed.

"This is the last match of the season," Oliver was continuing to say as he paced back and forth, locking eyes with each member of his team. "We're not facing Slytherin this time, but Ravenclaw."

"We have Harry to thank for that," George opined from where he stood.

"Huzzah for Harry!" Fred cheered with an equal amount of zeal.

What they were saying was indeed true. Now that all the teams used the same broom, the game was no longer a matter of who had better equipment, but who had more skill. Slytherin was not as talented as they would have liked to believe. Of the team, only Titus Button had any real talent for the sport. Harry determined that if he ever became captain, the Slytherin team would likely make a serious comeback in the future.

"Quiet you two! We need to stay focused!" Oliver snapped. "Our victory against Ravenclaw won't come easy. They've got a great line up this year, especially their Seeker." Ravenclaw's Seeker was Cho Chang, a pretty third year of Asian descent. She was also quite talented on a broom. "We have to be at the top of our game if we want to win!"

"Ah, don't worry so much, Ollie," Fred told him with a joviality that made the older student twitch, "We might have a bit more trouble than usual, but we've got this victory in the bag. Don't forget, we've got Harry."

"Your vote of confidence is most reassuring," Harry rolled his eyes just a bit. "But don't forget that there is more to a team than just a Seeker. And Cho Chang's going to be a tough opponent, even for me."

Through watching her other matches he had determined that Cho Chang's skills on a broom were almost on par with his own. Really, his only two advantages were his incredible situational awareness, and the lightning quick reflexes he had gained from his many years of studying martial arts.

But that was alright. This was exactly what he wanted. To beat an opponent who could truly test him, someone that could push him to new heights. Competing against someone on even grounds and proving himself superior was what truly mattered in situations like this. A half-assed victory over an opponent was not a true victory, and when he beat Cho Chang it wouldn't be because he had better equipment or was more prepared, but because he was simply better on a broom.

"And there goes Harry, getting that strange look on his face again."

"Excuse me?" Harry looked over at Katie, who was staring at him with a look that somewhere between amused and disturbed.

"That look," she said, gesturing to him, "Whenever you get really competitive about something you get this look on your face that just screams freaky. It's not as scary as Oliver's fanatical expressions―"

"Oi!"

"―But it's still pretty creepy," she concluded.

For several seconds, Harry said nothing. During this moment of silence he looked at all of the other people in the room, judging the truth from their expressions. He then looked back at Katie, his expression only slightly perturbed. "Do I really?"

"You really do," Katie answered, causing the others―even Oliver―to nod along with her.

"Oh." Well now he was feeling more than just a little embarrassed. He didn't know his competitive streak caused him to gain a facial expression of any kind that made people actually think he looked creepy.

"Don't worry about it too much, old chum!" Fred walked up and slung an arm around Harry's shoulder.

George soon followed suit. "We accept you, crazy and all!"

Harry could only look at the twins on either side of him with a deadpan stare. "Gee, thanks."

XoX

Harry's eyes narrowed as he glared through the lenses of his protective goggles. The air around him whistled by, buffeting his hair wildly. With his hands gripping the handle of his broom, the young man that had emerald eyes laced with steel performed a variety of acrobatic maneuvers that would have turned most people's stomach.

All around him other people were flying as well. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were flying in a tight arrow formation behind him while he continued his erratic areal performance to deter any of the other players from making a pass at them. And while he kept everyone away, teammates were using his wild maneuvering as a smokescreen for their play.

Twisting his broom around, he made a gut-wrenching corkscrew that pushed him down on his broom. He then took off faster than a bullet from a gun, traveling through the space between two of the Chasers on the opposing team and disrupting their play. Another stomach-turning maneuver brought him within range of the last Chaser, who was so startled when Harry appeared in front of him that he nearly fell off his broom despite them being nearly a meter apart. With his task done and the Quaffle now in the hands of his team, he flew back into formation.

"Katie passes to Angelina, who is looking mighty fine today if I do say so myself. Angelina passes to Ali―no, wait! It's a feint! Angelina feints a pass to Alicia―Roger Davies takes the bait!―and passes it back to Katie! Stretton tries to block, but is blocked in turn by Harry! Katie moves in for the throw, she shoots, and it's good! The score is now 110:70, Gryffindor!"

Lee Jordan's voice faded into the background for a moment as a loud cheer went up in the stands. Harry stopped his areal maneuvering and leveled out before looking at all of the people cheering them on. With his predator enhanced vision he was able to pick out his friends among the crowd. They were sitting together in the Gryffindor stand as a show of support, holding a large sign that changed from "Go Harry!" to "Win!" every one and a half minutes.

There were a good deal more people in the stands than usual. After traveling far above the field, Harry could see a number of people who did not go to Hogwarts sitting in the teacher's stand. A few of those people he recognized from having seen pictures of them in the Quidditch section of the Daily Prophet. They were prominent figures in Wizarding sports. At least two of them were owners of a Quidditch team.

Were they coming there to recruit potential players to their team? Well, obviously, if they were taking the time out of their busy schedules to watch a school game then it was because they were in the market for new talent. He had noticed from the moment the game started that more then a few of those watching had zeroed in on him. Did that mean they were hoping to recruit him, or at least offer him a possible place on their team when he graduated from Hogwarts?

Absently rotating his broom along an axis, Harry dodged a bludger that sailed passed his head close enough to ruffle his hair. He made several quick observations of the Quidditch pitch to determine where all of the other players were in relation to him. Katie and the other two members of the Flying Foxes were pestering the Ravenclaw Chasers and doing what they could to keep the other team from being able to even pass much less score a goal.

A look to his left revealed Fred and George having at it with one of the bludgers, harassing Cho Chang and keeping her from trying to find the snitch while Harry continued helping wrack up points for Gryffindor with the three Chaser girls.

Deciding to get back into the game, Harry dove down towards where the Chasers were playing a game of cat and mouse.

"Katie has the ball. Passes it to Angelina who throws it to Alicia. Back to Angelina. Davies tries to intercept, but is blocked by Potter! Angelina catches the ball and shoots―no! It's another feint! She passes the ball to Alicia who shoots and its good! Another goal for Gryffindor!"

Harry smiled to himself as the score became 130:80 in Gryffindors favor. The plan they had come up with to beat Ravenclaw was simple in theory. The twins would keep Cho Chang busy dodging bludgers while making sure Ravenclaw's own Beaters couldn't do anything. Meanwhile, he and the three Chasers would simply wrack up as many points as possible before the snitch showed itself.

And speaking of the snitch, Harry caught a very quick flash of gold near the teachers stands. It was only a short glimpse, but he recognized the snitch as it flew behind the stand and hid on the other side.

Wanting to end the game quickly now that he had seen his objective, Harry bolted towards the teachers stand with very little in the way of warning. He blazed past Cho and the Weasley twins, startling all three of them as he flew straight towards his target.

"And Potter's off! Does this mean he's seen the snitch!?"

Keeping his body low so as to become more streamlined in order to cut through wind resistance, Harry flew forward. He curved around the teachers stand, hugging the corner tightly as he made the near ninety-degree turn. When he got behind the stand he saw it. There, just several feet in front of him, was the snitch.

As the golden winged ball darted off upon it spotting him, Harry took off after it. They moved back into the stadium proper, where everyone could now see that he was indeed chasing after the snitch.

"And it is! Harry Potter has seen the snitch and is on its tail like a gnome on a garden! And there goes Cho Chang, who has managed to break away from the Weasley twins bludger harassment!"

The chase that followed was one Harry had done many times now. The snitch seemed to have a reasonable degree of intelligence for a non-sentient object that had been animated by magic. Whenever he tried to get in close, it would twist and turn every which way in an attempt to throw him off its trail. And it worked too. Despite his talents on a broom, he could not make the sharp turns that the snitch did without losing speed, thereby allowing it to slip away from him at the last second.

Meanwhile, Cho Chang was catching up behind him. While the Nimbus 2000 was not as fast as the 2001, it was just as maneuverable, maybe even more so due to its slower speeds.

"Potter and Chang are neck and neck! The snitch is just in front of them!"

Out of his peripheral Harry saw that Cho Chang was indeed right next to him. She was so close that if he were to lift his hand and reach out, he would be more than capable of touching her. He judged the distance between them to be no less than a foot at most.

It seemed his opponent was getting a bit reckless.

Harry refocused the entirety of his attention on the snitch. It was right in front of them both, just two feet away, too far to grab but close enough that he had to resist the urge to reach out. Chang was already getting ready to reach for the small golden sphere with wings, with only one hand on the broom and the other hovering over a few centimeters off the sleek wooden surface of the handle.

His mind traveling a hundred miles a minute, Harry tried to figure out the best possible way to get the snitch before his female opponent did. They were about dead even right now. The superior speed of his broom meant very little when he couldn't go full-throttle on it. Right now it was all down to the individual skill of the riders. He quickly determined that if he wanted to win this, he would have to do something reckless and unexpected.

That something came a minute later during one of the snitches loop-de-loops. It seemed to be fond of those for some reason, as it had already done ten in the past five minutes. Rather than try to follow it, which was what Chang did, Harry simply barrel rolled until he was upside down, and then let go of the brooms handle.

"Holy shite!―"

"Lee Jordan! No―oh my!"

"―Harry Potter just let go of his broom!"

Harry ignored the chorus of cries that rung out loud enough that even he could hear them. He ignored the teachers trying to shoot the levitation spell at him as he fell. He ignored everything except that tiny ball as it fluttered about in front of him.

Quicker than lightning itself, Harry's hand flew out and snatched the snitch from the air. He brought his hand into his chest and then looked down to see the earth looming closer and closer with each passing second. None of the teachers had been able to catch him, though he could see what looked like Professor Dumbledore trying to, but the fact that he had straightened his profile and was now dive-bombing towards the ground made it so that he was too fast for any of them to catch.

Looking down at the ground, Harry Potter narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. He swung his legs forward, forcing his body to rotate until he was falling towards the ground feet first. He then began channeling as much of his magic as he could into his shoes, imagining himself not falling, but slowly gliding towards the ground. There was no way he would be able to keep himself from stopping his descent, but he could at least slow it enough to the point where he could absorb the rest of the impact relatively easily.

His feet soon hit the ground, and Harry immediately bent his legs to absorb most of the shock from the impact. He then threw himself into a forward roll, ignoring the small jolt of pain in his knees as he rolled along the grass, then kipped back up a second later.

Silence. The entire crowd had gone silent as they watched Harry fall to the earth. Looking up at the stands he could see several gaping mouths with his enhanced vision. His friends were also looking like they'd just shat themselves.

Within the silence, Harry raised his hand and showed them the snitch.

"Harry Potter has the snitch! Gryffindor wins!"

XoX

After the Quidditch game between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, everyone from all four houses who wanted to come were invited to a party within the Great Hall. The celebration had come about thanks to a discussion Harry had with Professor McGonagall on building closer ties between the four houses. After mentioning how he would like any victory by Gryffindor to be shared with the rest of the school and visa versa, the normally stern Transfiguration professor had gone to Headmaster Dumbledore and the other three Head of Houses about his idea to host a party at the end of the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup for all of the houses. All of them with the exception of Snape had agreed that it was a good idea and had the house elves set the party up in advance with the only thing needed being the decoration to celebrate the house that won.

All around the room, hanging on the walls and ceiling were red and gold banners with the image of a lion that was sitting on it's haunches. Every so often the lion would let out a ferocious roar. Floating around the room were more banners for the other four houses, as well large posters that depicted some of the best maneuvers and plays pulled off by the various teams and individuals during the Quidditch season. Among those posters were seven specifically for the Gryffindor team, each one showing the plays and moves pulled off by one of the teams members.

The four long tables had been removed from the room, and there was now only a single table set up in the center. Plates and bowls were filled to the brim and overflowing with drinks and food: yams, potatoes, various types of meat and breads, as well as a a number of different deserts.

As per Harry's suggestion there was more than just pumpkin juice to drink this time. Several of the bowls containing beverages were filled with fruit punch, fizzy drinks, mundane sodas like coke and pepsi, along with some butterbear. The house elves had really done outstanding work to get all of the drinks Harry had suggested. He was going to have to do something nice for them.

The staff table was still in the room, set up near the back as always. It was there that the professors conversed amongst themselves and watched their students interact from afar. They all seemed quite pleased with how well everyone appeared to be getting along―with the obvious exception of Snape who looked like he wanted to be anywhere other than where he currently was. None looked more pleased than Dumbledore himself however, who was beaming brightly as he watched the students mingle.

As he looked around the room, Harry saw a good deal of people from all four houses. There were even a few Slytherins that were not among his group of friends who had chosen to see what this was all about. They were keeping mostly to themselves, but the mere fact that they were there at all could be taken as a victory as far as Harry was concerned.

The twins were over on one side of the room and looked like they were putting on a comedy routine of some kind. He didn't know what they were doing exactly, but the crowd surrounding them, laughing and cheering seemed to be enjoying whatever display they were putting on.

Over in another corner he could see the three Gryffindor Chasers, Katie, Alicia and Angelina, speaking with the Chasers from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Even with his enhanced sense of hearing, he could not make out what they were saying. He could lip read however, and it looked to him like they were discussing Quidditch tactics and strategies.

Oliver Wood, looking rather overjoyed at having won his second Quidditch Cup in a row was speaking with a few older gentlemen that most definitely did not go to Hogwarts. Recruiters, Harry knew, as they had already spoken with him about possibly becoming a member for the teams they represented after he graduated from Hogwarts. While the idea of being an international sports star held some appeal, it was not something he felt would benefit him at the moment, so he had politely declined but promised to keep in touch.

"And Harry Potter strikes again it seems," Tracey's words diverted Harry's attention away from his observations of the room and towards her. Like always he was surrounded by his friends. Blaise and Neville were talking with Lisa about plants that were historically used to brew potions, and Terry and Tracey were, or had been, arguing about one thing or another. It now looked like Terry was talking to Hannah and Susan about something. Daphne was, as per the usual, standing by his side, absently sipping at some fruit punch. She seemed to have taken a liking to the stuff.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't give me that look," Tracey said when he raised an eyebrow at her. "We all know this party is your doing. You're the only one that could have possibly thought something like this up."

Harry shrugged, not denying her accusation. "I may have suggested the idea to Professor McGonagall after class one day."

"I knew it!" Tracey snapped, grinning like she had just won the lottery. He didn't know why she was so excited about being right over something like this, but then, Tracey was a bit of an oddball. She was a very excitable girl. "Mr. Big-shot politician strikes again!"

Harry just barely managed to contain his grimace. Talk of politics reminded him of the epic disaster that was the New Year Gala. It would be a long time before he got over how his arrogance had cost him a good deal of political support.

"This has nothing to do with politics," at least not the kind of politics Tracey was talking about. Harry didn't actually gain anything from this function. No one aside from his friends and the professors even knew the idea came from him. He was simply trying to help promote school unity so his plans later on would be accomplished that much more easily.

"Sure it doesn't," Tracey gave him a sly look, "And I'm the bloody tooth fairy."

"I'm surprised you even know what the tooth fairy is."

"I am a half-blood you know," crossing her arms over her chest, Tracey gave her raven-haired friend a pout. "I know what the tooth fairy is."

"Tracey's thoughts aside," Daphne intruded before any more banter could be thrown about, "I do think this was a good idea. Ever since the war with You-Know-Who, Hogwarts has suffered from prejudice of one kind or another, depending on which house you're in. This is an excellent way to bridge the gap."

"Thank you," Harry accepted her praise graciously, giving the young girl by his side a smile that Daphne returned just has readily.

"Ugh, look at you two, acting all lovey dovey," Tracey pretended to gag, causing Daphne to glare at her. "Seriously, you guys are twelve. Do you guys really have to put on that adult act of yours all the time?"

"No," Harry was the one to answer, "Just most of the time."

"Whatever."

"Hey," Neville's voice interrupted all the other conversations within their small group. When Harry and the others looked at him, it was to see the boy looking a tad bit confused. "Does anyone know where Hermione is?"

Harry blinked, then looked around. Now that Neville had mentioned it, he'd not seen Hermione since the start of the party.

"I think she said something about needing to use the loo," Lisa answered Neville. Her face then took on a befuddled expression that caused her brow to wrinkle and her lips to purse. "Though that was almost fifteen minutes ago. Going to the restroom shouldn't have taken that long."

"Isn't the closest restroom the one on the second floor?" asked Hannah.

"No," Lisa shook her head, "The closest restroom to the Great Hall is in the dungeons, but Hermione probably used the one on the second floor just because no one really likes using the ones in the dungeon." Most of the students felt the dungeon was creepy, especially those who did not come from a magical background. The idea of using the loo in the dungeons disturbed them.

"If I'm not mistaken, that's the restroom that Myrtle haunts, right?" asked Harry as he dredged up the memory he had learned that piece of knowledge from. Myrtle had been a student at Hogwarts, but was killed during another incident in which the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, according to Professor Dumbledore.

"Yep," Tracey nodded her head emphatically, "Don't know why she would want to use that bathroom though. I mean, who wants to deal with Moaning Myrtle while they're trying to use the loo?"

Conversation flowed throughout the hall for several more minutes before Peeves flew in through the Great Halls entrance doors.

"Death! Death! There's a dead person in these halls!" The Poltergeist shouted, silencing the entire room. "Seen it with my own eyes, I have! She's dead!"

There was silence for all of one or two seconds, right before the entire hallway became chaotic. People started shouting, many started panicking, a good number also just seemed frozen solid, as if unsure of what to do. Among the mass of fearful students, Harry stood with his friends, a sinking feeling in his gut.

BANG!

A loud sound like a canon going off echoed through the Great Hall, causing everyone to stop whatever they were doing and turn to look at the staff table. Professor Dumbledore was standing there, his wand out and still smoking from the spell he had used.

"I must ask that everyone remain calm," Dumbledore said in an even voice. When he got silence in return, he nodded. "Good. Now then, will the Head of Houses and prefects please escort everyone back to their common rooms. The rest of staff will come with me."

The faculty quickly took charge of the situation, with each Head of House gathering up their students and leading them out of the Great Hall.

Harry and his group were soon split up. He and Neville went with Professor McGonagall. Meanwhile, the others each went over to their respective Head of House. As the young man with raven colored hair walked alongside his friend and the dozens of other Gryffindor students, all of whom were talking to each other in hushed whispers, the sinking feeling in his gut began to grow.

Hermione still hadn't returned from her trip to the bathroom.

XoX

Harry, Neville and the other Gryffindor students were all directed back towards the common room, whereupon entering they congregated around the main room instead of heading up to the dorms. They were all too restless to try and get any sleep despite the hour.

Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and a small, almost unnoticeable frown etched onto his face, Harry Potter resisted the urge to start pacing. There were few things in this world that he could say truly agitated him. Not knowing something that someone else did was one of them, and not being constantly aware of what was happening around him at any given time was another.

This particular instance was a case of the latter.

"Hermione's still not back yet," Neville said. Harry turned his head to look at the slightly round-faced boy. His friend wasn't leaning against the wall like he was, but standing in place with his left leg bouncing up and down with the hyperactivity of a person with ADHD who'd just been fed several pounds of sugar. Like Harry, Neville also looked rather worried.

"No, she hasn't." Harry didn't say anything else. There was no need to. They both knew what the other was worried about, and neither of them wanted to be right.

Glancing around the room revealed a glimpse at all the other students. Everyone was looking at least a little bit off-kilter, as if they still weren't sure what to make of Peeves announcement. Harry knew how they felt.

While he was observing the crowd, Fred and George Weasley walked up to him.

"Harry," there was no playfulness in Fred's tone, "Have you seen Ginny?"

"Ginny?" Harry frowned, "You're sister?"

"That's the one."

Harry's frown deepened as his mind searched through his memory, rewinding the time from the point just after he'd caught the snitch to now. He soon came to the startling realization that he had not seen Ginny at all. Even after backtracking further in the day all the way to when he first woke up this morning. Odd. He usually saw Ginny sitting alone at the Gryffindor table at least once a day during breakfast.

"I'm sorry," Harry addressed Fred and George with a genuinely apologetic look, "I don't know where she is. I haven't seen her all day."

"Damn," George said, biting his thumbnail in worry, "I was hoping you might have seen her."

After studying the two nearly identical twins, Harry couldn't help but ask, "Is something wrong?"

Fred and George looked at each other. They then looked back at Harry. Fred shrugged. "We're...we're not sure. Ginny's been acting odd ever since this summer. We all just thought it was just pre-Hogwarts jitters. I mean, everyone gets nervous when they first start going here. But even after school started up, she continued acting strange. She hasn't made any friends as far as we know. She hasn't even made an attempt."

"Ginny's never been the most outgoing of people," George added, "But she's not some wall flower either. We expected her to make a few really good friends at the start of school, but it's now nearing the end of the year and she still hasn't made a single friend. It's like she doesn't even care."

Harry didn't know Ginny very well, or at all really, so he couldn't judge how accurate their words were. Knowing the twins as he did though, they were likely speaking the truth. Pranksters they may be, but they wouldn't lie about something like this.

"Have you asked any of the other first years?" he asked. The twins nodded their heads.

"Yeah, and they said they haven't seen her all day either."

"I see. Sorry I can't be of much help."

"It's fine," George said, looking tired, "It was a long shot. We know you don't really spend any time with her. We just thought you might know where she is because she's got an uber-large crush on you."

Harry had not known that. Though now that they had mentioned it, all that stuttering and blushing she did when they ran into each other in the halls made more sense now.

"Anyway, we're going to keep asking around," Fred continued where they left off, "If you find out anything, you'll let us know, right?"

"Of course," Harry nodded.

The two older Gryffindor boys waved at Harry as they waded into the crowd once more. Cupping a hand to his chin, the young wizard prodigy thought about this new information he'd been given.

Truth be told he'd not paid much attention to the youngest of the Weasley's. It had nothing to do with dislike or anything negative. She simply didn't appear on his radar. There was no real benefit to going out of his way to befriend her. All of the friends he had now he'd approached with a purpose. Lisa and Terry were in Ravenclaw, and therefore could help him bridge the gap between their house and Gryffindor. Blaise, Daphne, and Tracey were in Slytherin and served the same purpose. Blaise and Daphne were also members of two very powerful Ancient and Most Noble Houses and held a lot of political power in the wizarding world. Susan and Hannah were in Hufflepuff, and Susan's aunt was the head of the DMLE, a very prestigious position. That she belonged to one of the Founding Five was just the icing on the cake. Neville was a Longbottom. Longstanding tradition dictated that he and Harry were allies due to the Potter/Longbottom alliance that had been forged several hundred years back. Befriending him was a given.

Each of them held value that gave him a reason to approach them. It might seem callous of him, but Harry had not initially held any intention of actually being their friends, at least no conscious intention of befriending them. Discovering that he actually truly liked the people he'd formed such close bonds with was something that had come later. And though he could say he really did like the people he had befriended, it didn't change how he thought. Ginny was a non-entity. She could not offer him anything, could not bring anything unique to the table. There was simply no benefit to letting her become a part of his circle of friends.

It was while he was thinking these thoughts that the portrait entrance swung open to reveal Professor McGonagall. From the very moment Harry had set eyes on her, he could tell something was wrong. The normally imperturbable woman looked positively frazzled. Not just in her appearance, which was nowhere near as immaculate as usual, but in her demeanor. She appeared downtrodden, weighed down, as if she bore a heavy weight on her shoulders. Not only that, but there was also a deep sense of loss and foreboding coming off her in waves. Even Neville, who had no real experience with catching the emotions of others could feel it, if the way his body was tensing under the woman's presence were any indication.

The transfiguration professor swept into the common room, causing everyone there to cease any and all conversation and focus the entirety of their attention on her.

"There has been an...incident," Professor McGonagall said, pausing for a second as if she were not quite sure how to word what she wanted to tell them. "Two more attacks have occurred. One of those attacks has left one student dead and another taken." Gasps emerged from just about everyone in the room. Harry's fists tightened until his knuckles turned white. "The person who was taken is Ginny Weasley." Almost as soon as she spoke Fred, George and Percy were marching towards her with the purpose of demanding to know more. Professor McGonagall stopped them in their tracks with a freezing look. "Your parents are being notified as we speak. It is likely they will be here within the hour, along with a group of aurors."

Here, Professor McGonagall paused. The internal struggle going on was clear as day to Harry, who could almost feel the blood draining from his face when the woman's gaze flickered over to him and Neville.

"The student who has been killed is none other than Hermione Granger." More gasps came. Harry felt his legs weaken and threaten to send him spilling to the floor. "Her parents are also being notified and we are making every effort to find her attacker. Because of this attack, Hogwarts is being shut down while the aurors begin their investigation." She looked at all the students with the most grave expression any of them had ever seen. "All students including prefects are not to leave their common rooms until the aurors arrive to escort you to the Hogwarts Express. Anybody attempting to leave will be punished severely."

She looked back at Harry and Neville with a pitying gaze, and then swept out of the room, leaving many of the students in an uproar and Harry feeling like someone had just gouged a hole in his chest.

We're nearing the end of book 2 of my Harry Potter series and it looks like I've dropped a bomb on you guys. I'm sure this chapter is going to catch a lot of flak. I'm equally sure that a good number of people will probably stop reading this story alltogether. If you wish to find out what my thoughts were when I wrote this chapter and why I did what I did (and you guys all know what I'm talking about), then you can check out my blog tomorrow where I'll be posting my reasons.