The Hope of The Future

by MuggleDumbledore

Harry's life from his fourth year onward as he faces new challenges and fight his way through to his destiny. Story is tangent to canon except pairings. Story will encompass Harry's fourth to seventh year. No intentional bashing. T initially,may be M for later chapters.

25. B2: Chapter 25 - The Patrol & Corridor

Disclaimer : Don't own Harry Potter, although I wish I did but sadly it belongs to JKR.

A/N: Sorry for keeping you are hanging for so long. Without further ado...

Please Review.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Patrol and The Corridor

The great hall was busy with all the eating and talking, ghost moving around, the candles floating in mid-air, all that is expected during the dinner time. The group of four Gryffindors was about to leave so Neville signaled Hannah to meet him outside.

"I will see you guys." Neville rose from his seat to leave.

"See ya," Harry replied while Hermione just gave him a smile. Ron didn't pause his activity of shoveling food into his mouth and just hummed in response.

Once the couple was outside the great hall, they turned and started to walk towards the courtyard. Hannah was silent until they reached it and occupied a bench. "How you doing, Nev?"

"Ok, I guess," Neville answered, his uncertainty clear on his face.

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it." Hannah leaned in and curled her arm around his. "We can talk about something cheerful."

"Ahem, and what would that be?" Neville asked, his mind still thinking about telling her his thoughts.

"You know, there is a fourth-year 'Puff, Zacharias Smith." It was half question, half comment. She continued when Neville gave her a nod. "So, the fourth-years were leaving after a Charms lecture and on their way to the great hall, they crossed path with Peeves."

"And what did happen then?" Neville queried.

"Smith got cocky with Peeves and since then he is sporting magenta hair. He hasn't taken off his hat or robe's hood." By the end of the sentence, Hannah was laughing so hard that half her words were difficult to decipher. Neville couldn't help but join in on the laughter, he felt very relaxed at that moment.

"You know, Han, 'Puffs got a great laughing stock," Neville commented lightheartedly, Hannah was relieved to see Neville act normally after the incident of the afternoon.

"Gryffindors are the one to talk. It should be named 'house of idiots and clowns' instead of 'house of brave'." Hannah nudged him with her elbow, one of her eyebrows furrowed.

"Ouch, that scrapped my Gryffindor pride." Neville nudged her back the same way.

It took a moment before the laughter died down, to be replaced by a comfortable silence but the seeds of an uncomfortable discussion were already sown. The inevitable discussion was just around the corner, waiting for them to gather the courage. Neville took a deep breath and sighed, making a decision in the meantime. He needed to get it out of his head, he needed to talk but he didn't want to look weak in front of his girlfriend. More than that, he didn't want her to think that he was actually weak. "Before I tell you about it, please promise me that you won't judge me."

Hannah could see how vulnerable Neville was at that moment. She was aware that he was always considered weak and dumb by many students, but she also knew very well that it was nowhere near the reality. "You don't need to ever worry about that, Nev."

She rested her hand on Neville's shoulder, the gesture of emotional support didn't go unnoticed by Neville. He gave her a nod, to tell her that her words had the right effect. "Gran always told me how great my parents were, are. I know she is proud of them and so am I, hell, my parents are my heroes, Hannah."

He took a shaky breath, his knuckles turned white as his grip on the edge of the bench tightened. "I grew up listening to the stories of my dad's brilliance and my mum's abilities. I always wanted to be exactly like them, I still do."

His grip loosened on the bench, his hands moved to his face, rubbing it, his fingers going into his hairs. "Gran had great expectations from me, she still has. But she doesn't know that I am worse than my father was in his second year. I could never tell her how I am doing in school, she would be so disappointed in me. She thinks I am doing great in school, but if she knew the truth, it would break her heart."

Hannah's hand, which was resting on Neville's shoulder, coiled around him, drawing him closer to her, she rested her head on his. The contact helped Neville somewhat but he still needed verbal assurance. "You can never disappoint her, Nev. You are a kind and loyal person."

"She doesn't care about kind, she wants me to be strong and brave." He sat up straight, looking at Hannah. He had bared himself to her and that vulnerability showed clear in his red-rimmed eyes. "She just wants a replica of my parents, especially of my father. And by the look of my school life, I can tell that I failed her. I am a failure, a disappointment."

"No, you are not." Hannah stood up angrily. She couldn't bear for this self-loathing and self-depreciation to continue. She stood in front of him, both her hands resting on Neville's shoulders. "Look at me and just listen. You are not a failure or a disappointment. You are a good person, anybody would be more than happy to have you as a son or a grandson."

"You will be a great wizard, Neville, I know." She cupped his cheeks with her hands and turned his head so that he was looking straight into her eyes. "You are not supposed to be like your father, you are your own person and you are great at that. You don't need to be the best duelist, you already are brilliant at something and that is Herbology. I have seen the garden at your place which you have been developing this summer. And I know for a fact that your Granma loved it."

She waited for him to absorb and accept her words before she said anything else. "You know hunk, my mum says that I would be Lady Abbott when my father retires from Wizengamot and I expect it wouldn't be too long after my graduation that my father would mentor me to follow his footsteps. But I don't want that."

She sat back on the bench, her eyes looking in the distance. She has never discussed her vision for her future, not even Susan. "I want to be a businesswoman, politics doesn't interest me even remotely. I want to open my own pub like The Three Broomsticks and I would put Madam Puddifoot's tea shop out of business. That place is hideous."

"Yeah, it is." Neville clearly remembered the mentioned tea shop with its 'everything pink' decorations. "Han, why are 'Puff always revolving around food?"

"Well, a badger isn't a great company with an empty stomach, hunger is its worst enemy," Hannah commented with a twisted smile.

"So you are implying that Ron Weasley belongs in Hufflepuff?" Neville asked with raised eyebrows.

"Ahaan. Maybe." Hannah shrugged.

"Why are you always trying to get a hit against Ron?" Neville asked with a confused look. "The Twins are enough for that, don't you think."

"It's personal." There was that mischievous grin on her face. The friendly tussle and exchange of quips was a staple when Hannah and Ron were around each other and the whole group enjoyed their banter. "Don't worry, I won't hurt the ginger, much."

There was the silence again, it was peaceful this time. "Don't think too much, hunk, people can see your potential even if you don't so stop doubting yourself. And those who can't see you for what you are, those dimwits are just blind bats."

Her words and assurances wouldn't completely erase his self-doubt but they were a push in the right direction and Neville was hopeful that he would be able to get through this.

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

Susan was getting irritated and pissed and most of all, she could feel the hatred for Ronald Weasley at that moment for his foot-in-the-mouth nature. She was on the prefects' patrol with her assigned partner, Draco Malfoy and for Merlin's sake, she wanted to wipe that smug look from his face. The only thing that was keeping her composed was the knowledge that Harry was just a couple of steps behind her, under his invisibility cloak.

She was delighted about the fact that she was one of the handful people who knew about Harry's family heirloom. She felt honored to be considered a close friend to know the secret of the invisibility cloak. She was surprised when Harry asked to talk to her during the lunch while Hannah was trying to cheer Neville up.

"Susan, can I talk to you? Outside?" Harry asked as he finished his lunch and placed his spoon on the plate. Susan looked at Hermione to gauge her reaction, Hermione looked surprised but nothing concerning so she nodded in agreement and stood up from her seat.

"Lead the way, Mr. Potter." Susan extends her arm and waited for Harry to walk ahead. They walked out of the great hall, towards the kitchen. It was deserted at the time, as usual for the mealtimes. Once they were far enough from any eavesdropper, Susan couldn't help but ask, "what's going on, Harry?"

"Hermione told me that you are on the patrolling duty today." It was a statement but Susan took it as a question and nodded in agreement. "I just want to help you get through this."

"It's alright, Harry, I can manage." Susan was happy that Harry cared enough to suggest to her but also felt bad for being underestimated by him.

"I know you are strong and don't need my help." Harry stepped closer and placed his right hand on her shoulder before giving it a gentle squeeze to convey that he believed what she was saying. "It's just that it's Malfoy and the ferret can really piss anyone off so just to make sure that you aren't troubled by him."

Susan chuckled at the phrasing of the sentence, her insides felt warm at the concern Harry was showing, it made her gleeful. But then a practical problem came to surface about the plan. "Harry, that's not possible. You can't be outside your common-room during after-hours."

"Oh, believe me, I can, Susan." Harry had a mischievous grin on his face which turned into a smug smile as he explained to her about his family heirloom.

"Wow, it must come handy." Susan was intrigued by this magical artifact. She could understand why it was a secret which was known to a handful of people alive.

"You have no idea." Harry was happily talking about it and this gave her a feeling of satisfaction that Harry is on the way to bury the demons of what he suffered last year. She was brought out of her lost state of deep thinking. "So, do I have your permission to stalk you tonight while being invisible when you are busy wandering along the dark passages of this castle?"

This made her laugh and she did not stifle it. "You have the permission, Mr. Potter."

She was brought out of her reverie when she heard Draco cast a spell. She froze in reaction, subconsciously knowing that Harry was there, yet leaving herself vulnerable to a surprise. Harry had already drawn his wand but it was unnecessary, Draco had his wand pointed out in front of him. Susan missed what the spell did but she was brought out of her stunned state by Draco again.

"Hah! Dimwits." He jerked open the broom closet that was a few steps ahead. "Lumos!"

"Ahha! The princess of the penurious and the dolt from Ravenclaw." The tip of his wand lit and so did the dark broom closet. It was another surprise for Susan and a shock for Harry as they noticed the occupants of the closet. The boy was tall and thin with mop-hair, it was Michael Corner from their year. It wasn't the boy that surprised them, it was the person he was with. The girl was none other than the youngest Weasley. Harry didn't need to hide his shock, the cloak did that for him but Susan's surprise stood in stark contrast to Draco's jubilation. "Looks like someone is in trouble."

Susan recovered quickly from her surprise and before Draco could give them disproportionate punishment, Susan interfered. "Five points each and get going."

"Wait! Nobody is leaving. Head of your houses will be informed and I will recommend you two for a detention." Draco compensated for Susan shooting down his opportunity to intimidate Ginny Weasley. "I won't be lenient on the likes of you, Weasley."

"You should be careful, Ferret or you might get turned back in your real form," Ginny responded, her temper getting better of her. Susan had to intervene before the situation worsened. "Five more points from Gryffindor for the unnecessary reaction, Ginny. Leave now or I would be telling about this incident to McGonagall myself."

Ginny wasn't ready to take her words seriously but Michael had to drag her away from further escalation of the confrontation. "Let's go, Ginny, it's better that way."

Draco waited till the couple was out of earshot before turning towards Susan, his nose flared and his eyes reflecting the anger. His pointed-finger inches away from Susan's chin, he was taking full advantage of his height to intimidate her. "Never undermine my authority, Bones or you will face the consequences."

Susan wasn't one to back out of a confrontation, even though she looked like a soft target. "Lower your finger, Malfoy. Keep in mind that we have the same authority."

There was that smirk again, followed by the trademark sneer. He lowered his arm and stuffed both his hands in his pockets before taking a step back. "You should be careful with whom you stand, Bones. Be very careful as the times are changing."

"Was that a threat, Malfoy? My aunt won't be very pleased with such a behavior." Susan tried to use Malfoy's own tactic of intimidation but it seemed as if she failed.

"It wasn't a threat, merely the reality. Your aunt has already faced the consequences of sticking with the wrong crowd." He turned to walk away, the victorious smile on his face. "Severity of the consequences will be extreme if you don't realize the fault in your judgment."

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

There were no more words spoken between the two prefects for the rest of the evening. Harry was walking with Susan who was walking a good ten paces behind Malfoy who was enjoying the power he wielded. They were walking towards the office of McGonagall to hand her over the list of rule-breakers and the corresponding points deducted.

Malfoy knocked on the door of her office, it echoed through the empty corridor, Susan had never felt this spooked with her surroundings. The door swung open, providing the entrance to the office. As they entered the room, McGonagall asked them about their first patrols as prefects.

"I hope you had an uneventful evening," McGonagall asked from her seat behind the ornate desk, a cup of tea in her hand.

"Quite contrary, we had our hands full this evening." He glanced at Susan, gave her a wicked smile before turning back to McGonagall. "But nothing out of ordinary."

Susan was slightly taken aback by the response. She was certain that he was going to point out the 'Ginny incident' and maybe tell her that most of the rule-breakers were predominantly from Gryffindor. She didn't get any chance to get her footing before McGonagall shooed them away. "If that's all, off you two go."

They bid their farewells to the Deputy Headmistress before stepping out of her office. "You should pick your friends wisely, Bones, and enemies even more so."

Draco didn't even look at her before going his own way. Susan was left puzzled but then she remembered that Harry was there too. "You still here?"

"Here," Harry answered but didn't remove the cloak, he preferred to be some distance away from McGonagall's office before doing so. They started on their way to Hufflepuff common room.

Susan didn't need him to walk her back and she made it clear. "Thanks for the tailing Harry but I can go to my common room on my own."

"A gentlemen never leaves the lady halfway from the home," Harry commented with a wink. "Hermione would bite my head off if she came to know that I left you at McGonagall's doorstep."

Susan didn't protest much and to avoid awkward pauses, she attempted a conversation. "What do you think of my aunt Amy?"

Harry just shrugged. "Seems pretty good."

When he didn't say anything further at all, she tried again to rekindle the conversation. She hated to be quiet. "You think she is a good teacher?"

"Till now, better than Quirrell and Lockhart, very much in the same league of Lupin, but you have to give credit to the fake-Moody for the grand entrance." Harry was also trying to be in a positive mood, trying to keep away the details of the patrol from his mind for the time being. He bumped his shoulder to get a response out of her. "Your aunt didn't beat him, he had style."

"No one can beat the revolving blue-eye, Mr. Potter." She bumped him back, Harry had to slightly correct his footing after that. "And he got Neville talking. That's something."

"Yeah, even Prof. Sprout couldn't do it." Harry was in his thinking mode, not looking ahead. "Even Snape was quiet last year, maybe he too was wary about Moody."

In his focused thinking state, he didn't see a couple of stairs in front of him and stumbled, losing his balance completely. Susan tried to stop his fall but it didn't help at all. She got pulled down too as they landed hard on the floor, Susan falling on Harry's back. Harry couldn't control his laughter as he waited for Susan to get off him and then got back on his feet, dusting his robes with his hands. "If my girlfriend thought that you fell on me intentionally, she would hex you first and I will be next in line."

"I like not being hexed more than lying on a guy, Potter." She replied with cheek for Harry's remark. "But I think I can hold my own against Hermione."

"Hah! You wish." Harry scoffed, throwing his arms up to emphasize his point. "She would wipe the floor with your sorry behind without breaking a sweat."

"Too confident about your girlfriend's chances?" Susan asked with a raised eyebrow and folded arms.

"I am confident of her knowledge and skills with a wand," Harry replied with the same cheek. "You seem pretty confident of your chances."

"We Bones stand our ground Mr. Potter, whatever be the opposition," Susan said in the element of emotion.

"You would remain standing when Hermione stuns you and then you will fall flat backward. I have seen that happen. In Ron's words, "it was brilliant but scary!". Harry wasn't going to stop defending his girlfriend.

"We will see, Mr. Potter!" She gave him a look that held a friendly challenge. But they couldn't maintain that banter any longer and the tension was released as Susan turned to walk towards her common room.

"Hey Susan, can I ask you something?" Harry had something on his mind that he wanted to ask Susan for a long time but never got the right opportunity. Susan gave him an affirmative nod, so Harry continued with his question. "Last year, when the tournament was taking place, I never saw your aunt."

"Yeah, I know. She wanted to be involved in the management and security of the tournament. And she wanted to come and see the events too. But Fudge had ordered that Aurors should stay away from this whole event so that they wouldn't spook the guests with their presence." Harry gave her a confused look. "I know it sounds stupid because it is. Fudge was just trying to show that everything was normal here. Politics!"

"Got no interest in politics?" Harry asked her as they neared their destination. "With your aunt being a part of the Ministry and all."

"I could care less about politics." Susan made a disgusted face as if even the words made her nauseous. "I would prefer to be left alone with my life."

Harry understood her sentiments but did not speak anything in response. That was the last piece of conversation they had before they reached the entrance to her common room and bid farewell for the night.

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

It was the first weekend after the classes began, the school was abuzz with an energy that was the clear sign that the burden of studies wasn't much in the first week. The seventh year students of Gryffindor (except the Head Boy) acted like there was nothing important in the school, except Quidditch and whatever the Twins were busy with. Ron and Hermione both had been on their prefect patrols and it was noteworthy that there were no problems as of that point.

Although Ron had a poker face when he returned from the patrol duty. A shit-eating grin appeared on his face and a blush covered his freckled skin as the Gryffindor mates of his inquired about his evening. All he said to the group was that his sins of last Yule Ball were now washed away and he was forgiven, getting a new beginning with Parvati as a result. What he didn't tell was, he had to get on both his knees and ask Padma for her forgiveness with folded hands. That wasn't all, he had to go to the library with her and carry all the books that Padma needed from library to her common room till Halloween. Ron wasn't complaining particularly about spending extra alone time with the graceful and gorgeous Ravenclaw prefect.

Hermione's patrol duty was preceded by a small disagreement with Harry.

Hermione got up from the couch and started to leave for her patrol duty but she stopped as Harry called her from behind. " 'Mione, wait a moment for me, I will be back from the dorm."

Hermione wasn't sure what he meant by that. "What? Why?"

Harry motioned her to sit on the couch again so he can tell her the reason. "My cloak is in the trunk. I will get that and we can be on our way to your patrol duty."

Hermione was shaking her head as if she was starting to get irritated with the naivety of a child. "You don't need to tail me, Harry, I can take care of myself."

"I am well aware of that and I agree." Harry was trying to phrase it so that he didn't cause any more strain in the argument. "I would feel better if I accompanied you, just like I did with Susan."

"She had patrol duty with Malfoy, I don't." Hermione tried to tell him calmly although the response was flat. "I will be with Terry and I have known him for the last two years."

This was brand-new information for Harry, he never knew that Hermione had any guy friends apart from their mutual friend-circle. And it reflected well on his face. "What? How?"

"We share arithmancy together, he was my project partner last year," Hermione replied with a concerned look. "I told you, don't you remember?"

Harry was sure that this never came up or maybe it did but he was worried about something more important. "I don't think so."

Hermione shrugged, "Anyways, he is a decent person, respectful and I don't think that there is any chance of me getting into any sort of trouble with him."

"Yeah, that department is my monopoly," Harry said sarcastically. The sarcasm was completely amiss on Hermione as she replied, "exactly. We will talk when I get back, finish your homework in my absence, would you?"

Truth be told, Harry was jealous. He was jealous that his girlfriend would be walking around the ancient castle with another guy friend of hers during the beautiful night. But he knew that telling this to her would get him a mild scolding which he didn't want to go through right now. So he did the right thing and kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to start an argument about something this trivial but he was expecting that Hermione is more understanding and considerate about it without the need of him explicitly explaining it to her.

Besides, it gave him the opportunity to check out the third-floor corridor in person, to keep his mind off the fact that his girlfriend was wandering the castle with Terry Boot. He pulled out the map from his pocket after collecting the cloak from his trunk. He stepped out of the common room and activated the map, the cloak stuffed in his pocket. He managed to avoid even the slightest possibility of a confrontation with another human being. Although he had to dodge Nearly Headless Nick.

He felt the light coolness on his body as the featherweight heirloom of his covered his body as he entered the corridor next to his destination. He deactivated the map and stuffing it in his pocket before going ahead, yet keeping his wand tightly gripped in his hand. The door to the prohibited corridor was locked as expected but all it took to unlock it was 'Alohomora!'

The door swung open with a screeching sound, Harry entered the long corridor, lined with torches in the brackets on both the sides of the corridor, they lit up as Harry took a step forward. It was dusty, the thick layer of dust covered the whole floor, webs were adorning the walls and ceiling like ghostly wall hangings. It looked like no one had entered the corridor since the first year but he knew it was occupied by the two pranksters. They had done a great job in hiding all the shreds of evidence of their presence, even their footprints on the floor. Harry removed the cloak, he wouldn't need it unless someone else barged in. He needed to lock the door before going ahead to prevent that scenario. He put up a ward just in case some couple unlocked it and entered, in search of privacy.

His footsteps echoed through the empty and silent corridor, sounding as harsh as a cannon blast to his ears in the eerie silence of the setting. The door to the chamber needed unlocking before it swung open. Harry had never noticed the room in his two previous visits to this location, all his attention was commanded by 'Fluffy' then.

The cube-shaped room was forty feet high by his estimation, the trap door was in the center of the floor. There was no light source within the confines of this room and except the entrance and the trapdoor, the only article present in the room was the hook to tie up Fluffy. The room was engulfed in darkness after Harry closed the door and locked it from inside. The next moment, it was flooded with the ethereal silvery white light as Harry's wand tip lit up with the incantation of 'Lumos'. Harry opened the trapdoor, expecting Devil's Snare on the other end of the column. He was surprised to find a rope ladder hanging there. It was a more than an acceptable and sophisticated alternative to Harry's plan of using 'Ascendio' to get back up on his way back, although slower.

He stuffed his wand in his front pocket, hilt first so that both his hands were free for use and he climbed down through the dark and hollow column of stone. It took him around an hour to traverse the whole length of the hidden chamber. He was observing every bit of it, remembering all the memories he had of the place. He was walking down the long stairway and was about to reach 'The Hall of Twelve Arches', for the lack of knowledge of the real name of the location, it was the place where the Mirror of Erised was kept. There were twelve arches, five on each long side of the rectangular hall, one each on the rest two sides. There were seven steps of stairs going down from all sides to the floor of the hall. The mirror wasn't there anymore but a ghost was hovering at that spot, its back towards Harry.

Harry was in a dilemma, should he return without being seen by the ghost or should he wear his cloak and hide behind a pillar to be unnoticed by the ghost. He picked the second option. The ghost was that of a woman, her attire was a medieval style gown, reaching to the floor where it turned into a ghostly mist. Her hair was open, cascading her back from view, reaching to her waist.

"Spying is an unacceptable activity, more than wandering the castle at this hour." The ghost said, her voice sounded rough to Harry's ears as if it wasn't used for years. All blood drained from his face as the ghost recognized his presence. He was worried that he would get the biggest point deduction and detention of his life today if the ghost alerted the teachers.

Harry stepped out from his hiding spot behind the pillar of the arch, the cloak sliding from his head, revealing his face and then sliding down to pool at his feet. He needed to think and do something to salvage the situation. "Pardon me, my lady. I didn't want to intrude nor did I want to disturb your peace."

Harry took a tentative step forward, both his hands raised above his shoulder to signal that he meant no harm or ill-will. He noticed that the Ghost looked angry and Harry could understand why. Before Harry could say anything more, the ghost turned into a silver orb of light and passed through the wall on the far side of the hall. Harry couldn't remember the name of the ghost but he was certain that he had seen her before, hell, all he could remember was that she was some Lady.

As the ghost disappeared, another dreadful thought crossed his mind. 'What if the ghost informs McGonagall or worse, Snape.' He picked up his cloak and ran as fast as he could, his breath heavy as he reached the rope ladder. It took him another minute to exit the prohibited corridor. He thought about putting something that he learned very recently to his use. He pointed his wand at his own feet. 'Silencio'

The result was better than he had expected, there was no noise as his feet touched the solid surface. He pulled his cloak over him and dashed towards the common room. He was about to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady when someone called him from the opposite direction of the portrait. "Slow Down, Mr. Potter."

His breath caught in his throat as the feeling of dread overcame him. He turned to see the source of the voice. His face turned into a frown and he removed his cloak in a single fluid motion and rolled it on his arm. "You minx!"

There was standing Hermione, laughing like mad but without any sound except the occasional snort. Her hands on her stomach, trying to control herself.

"Sorry, but it was worth, your reaction was memorable." She said amidst her laugh.

"You will pay." Harry ran towards her and caught her before she could react. A tickle attack began from Harry. Hermione's noiseless snorty laugh increased even more. "Harry... Stoohpp... nowww... Gettt... away..."

Their activities were interrupted as they heard footsteps approaching the corridor. Harry didn't waste any more time in covering both of them in his cloak and nudged her to enter the common room. They entered the common room unnoticed and walked up to the base of the stairs leading to the dormitories as it shadowed them from the few of anyone sitting in the common room before removing the cloak and walking out of to the common room. Luckily the person coming in was just Ron.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked, stepping out from the staircase. Finding the couch occupied, she sat on a chair closer to the staircase, signaling Ron to take the opposite chair. "You weren't on patrol duty."

"Enjoying the perks." He replied, flopping down the chair. His hair was wet, not so much so that water would drip down but enough so that his hair stuck to the side of his face. "Perfects' Bath is brilliant you know."

"You aren't allowed outside the common room when off duty during the night, Ronald." Hermione reminded him of the rules of prefects, folding her arms in front of her. Harry dragged another chair closer and sat near Hermione. "Only seventh-year-prefects are. Hopefully, you didn't get us a point deduction."

"Hey! Don't jump on me, ok. Harry was out too." He pointed at Harry, trying to shift focus away from himself. "Besides, nobody crossed my path."

"I have my cloak, Ron." Harry pointed out to his friend. Hermione gave him a look of agreement that conveyed that he said what she would have said.

"Well next time I will borrow the bloody cloak." He replied, irritation clear on his features. "Happy? Can we change the topic now?"

Hermione gave a reluctant nod, while Harry was happy that it didn't turn into an argument. Harry then narrated his trip to the chamber and the incident in the hall. Hermione asked if the ghost was Grey Lady. "Thank Merlin, I couldn't recall her name."

"Yeah, she is the Ghost of Ravenclaw House, doesn't like to talk much." Hermione clarified with a distant look. "I tried to talk to her a couple of times in the first year but she never responded and vanished away."

"Although she is gorgeous, isn't she, mate?" Ron added as received the look from Hermione which he usually gets whenever he says something foolish. "What? I'm just admiring the beauty, no harm in that, is there?"

"I know where your perverted mind is wandering, Ronald Weasley." Hermione scoffed, shifting back in her chair.

"If you know what's in my mind then whose mind is more perverted, Granger?" Ron asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. No reply came from Hermione and Ron cheered for his brilliant wordplay stumping Hermione into speechlessness. He leaned back in his chair, the front legs of which lost contact from the ground. Harry couldn't hold his laughter in and received a punch to his arm from his girlfriend.

"You are incorrigible, Ron." Hermione stood up from her chair and went to her dormitory without wishing Harry goodnight.

"I missed my goodnight kiss because of you." Harry accused Ron with his index finger pointing at Ron.

"Don't look at me, Harry, I'm not giving you one." Ron laughed at his cheek and lost his balance, falling flat on his back, his laughter turning first into shock and then in a groan.

"Serves you right." Harry had a victorious smile.

"Ha ha ha, shut up, already. I have something to tell you." Ron pulled himself back up, turning serious as he sat back on the righted chair. "Let's go to the dorm."

They were on the staircase when Ron continued the conversation. "Sirius called, he wanted to talk to you about something important."

He pulled out the two-way mirror from his robes and handed it to Harry. "Couldn't talk to him in the dorm or common room. I thought, let's try the Prefects' bath."

"Thanks, Ron." Harry was really grateful and surprised as well as Ron's thoughtfulness. "What did he say."

"He wanted you to go and meet Prof. Bones, in private, outside the school time." He said entering the dorm and moving towards his bed. "Bring the mirror along."

"I will do that soon." Harry stuffed the mirror in his bag and zipped it close. "I need to talk to the twins first. Want to come."

"Nah, the bath was too relaxing, want to continue the relaxation." Ron kicked off his shoes and pulled the robes above his head to remove. "I'm going to sleep with my sweetheart now."

He gave an exaggerated kiss to the bed and pillow, Harry chuckled at his actions and turned to leave to talk with the twins. "I'll see you in the morning."

"You mean disturb my peace in the morning, especially on a Saturday morning." Ron quipped as Harry left the room, his head shaking.

He walked up to the entrance to the dorm of seventh-year boys and knocked without hesitation. He had to wait for a few seconds before the door opened slightly and the head of the Quidditch announcer of the school appeared through the crack. "Wassup Harry?"

"Errr... Lee, I wanted to talk to the twins about something." There were some noises coming from the inside of the dorm room, laughter was certainly one of them. "Is it a good time?"

"I'm afraid it's not, Harry. Sorry but can't let you in right now." He replied with an apologetic smile on his face, his dreadlocks going haywire. There was a sound of breaking of glass, Lee turned to see what was happening. Harry noticed that Lee's ears were like a goblin, long and pointy.

"Testing some new stuff?" Harry asked, curious about the goblin-ears.

'Who is it, Lee?' One of the twins spoke from the inside of the room. "It's Harry!"

'Let him in!' Lee opened the door to allow Harry entry. The room gave Harry a mild shock, mild because Harry was expecting a plethora of changes in the dormitory, they exceeded his expectations by a relatively small margin. The room had a look of a workshop, the three four-poster beds pushed to one side of the room, with a compartmentalization between each of the three. The opposite side of the room had a three-feet wide workbench with various materials stacked and dumped on the top, a couple of cauldrons bubbling and steaming. On the side opposite the door, there were cabinets, shelves, and cupboards. In front of it were three tables joined to make a big one, around which sat the rest of Gryffindor Quidditch team. Alicia called him over as the rest greeted him. "Heya Harry, join us."

The table had butterbeer bottles, fire whiskey bottles and shot glasses, a bowl filled with weird looking candies and a stack of black and white cards. Harry pulled a chair from the workshop side and sat with Katie on his left and Fred on his right. Harry turned to look at the twins, "having a party?"

"Oh no, no, it's just the weekly unwinding," Fred answered, raising his mug to take a swig.

"Pick a board game, add our flavor to it and have fun." George continued. "Want to play? We just started."

"Umm... sorry guys but maybe some other time?" Harry replied uncertainly.

"Oh, you are definitely playing Harry." Angelina chimed in. "I'll explain the game. There are a set of cards, white ones are the 'Question' cards and black ones are the 'Action' cards. If you get a white card, the person on your left would ask you a question which you have to answer truthfully. If you get the black card, you can either do the dare or have to take a candy. Or you can pass by taking a shot of firewhisky in either pick."

"Let's make it butter-beer for him, he is just fifteen," Katie commented and the rest of them agreed.

"Wait a minute, why is the candy an option to dare?" Harry asked with a real confusion reflecting on his face.

"Because we made them." The twins said in unison.

"Got it." Harry gave a nod. "And I believe Lee's ears is the result of it?"

"Good observation, Harry." Alicia praised but it made everyone laugh as she sounded like a trumpet.

"Sorry to disappoint you all but I just came for a quick chat with these two." His thumb pointed towards the twins. "Needed to ask something important. But I promise I will join your Friday unwinding some other time."

"So Harry, what did you want to ask us?" Fred asked, passing a candy to Harry. Harry wouldn't have picked one from the bowl but he had to accept the one Fred passed to him. "Don't worry, it's harmless and just a bit of laugh."

Harry took the candy but kept it in his hand. He wasn't going to be a soft target for the pranks of these two. "Maybe after we talk about what I wanted to ask."

"The corridor we talked about, how far did you venture inside it?" Harry asked after receiving nods from both the twins and assurance that it was safe to talk in front of all of them.

"We examined the area to its farthest extent," George replied, his face serious for the first time since Harry entered the dorm. "But all we needed was the first hall in the chamber. So, we didn't bother much about the rest of it."

"Yeah, the rest of the area was locked for the most part, although sometimes lovebirds came in the outer corridor for some alone time." Fred continued the explanation in the same tone as his twin. "Although, we had put some protections against someone trying to enter the entrance chamber."

"Ok, great." Harry relaxed with that answer, he had assumed that the twins had seen what lay throughout the chamber, the things had he had to go through in his quest to stop Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer's Stone. "So, there was nothing out of place, right?"

"Except the huge chessboard, no, nothing was out of the place." George provided him with the answer. "If you want some help with the warding off that place, we still have the scheme that Bill helped us design. Just ask if you want that."

"Thanks, guys, really appreciate it," Harry said and stood up from his chair to leave when the twins interrupted his exit.

"Not so fast, Harry," Fred said with a mischievous grin.

"Tell us what that candy taste like first." George injected the rest of the thought.

Harry decided that he can do that much for them for their honesty and help, although he was certainly not fond of eating something that was the creation of the twins. "Okay, fair enough."

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

Harry was on his way back to his dorm, it had been fifteen minutes since he went to the seventh-year dorm. He noticed that Hermione was sitting in front of the door to his dorm, a book in her hand and the tip of her wand lit. He leaned on the side wall of the gallery of fifth-year dorms. "Hello 'Mione."

Harry tried to be as smooth as possible with his pronunciation but a weird slur was present in his voice or just the sound that came out. Hermione jumped as he spoke, she was completely immersed in the book. She got another shock as her eyes moved to his face. He had grey bunny ears coming out off his head and his nose was transformed into a bunny nose. Hermione stood up from her position, her arms crossed in front of her, holding the book close to her body, a frown on her face. "What is this and where have you been?"

"With the twins." Harry stepped closer and put his arms on around her shoulder, his ears flipping around. "Needed to ask them something."

"Did they hexed you or something?" Hermione touched his nose and checked his ears, they felt as real as a rabbit's. "Transforming a student in the school is not allowed, I need to have a chat with them."

She was horrified that the twins would transform Harry's ears and nose as part of a prank. She intended to give them a piece of her mind but Harry stopped her by putting both his arms on her shoulders from behind and shifting his weight on her. He said softly in her ears, nuzzling her neck with his furry nose, "It's ok, 'Mione, I agreed to do it".

"What?" Hermione could not comprehend why he would agree to do something like that, she turned in his arms to look at him again. "Why would you subject yourself to such a prank?"

"Don't worry, Hermione, it's safe. Plus, it would wear off within an hour." Harry answered with a cheeky grin, his mind wandering towards a wicked idea. "Moreover, I am thinking of experimenting with something."

He leaned in to kiss her, she pulled back of a moment but then relented and decided to go for it. The kiss didn't last more than a couple of seconds as Hermione started to laugh. Harry could not help but ask her. "What's so funny?"

"It tickles, my nose is ticklish," Hermione answered. She pushed him back again as he leaned in for another kiss. Their moment was interrupted by the door to the fifth-year dorm opening.

"Guys, please find someplace, people are trying to sleep." Neville walked out, still half asleep, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to see clearly. But the first thing he saw was the transformation Harry had had. "Merlin's bottom, what's that?"

"Just a prank from the twins, I will tell you tomorrow and sorry to disturb you," Harry said, his voice coming out at squeaky, making both his fellow Gryffindors chuckle. "Good night, Nev."

" 'Night." Neville turned and closed the door after him, leaving the couple alone in the corridor.

"We should probably sleep too, I will tell you everything tomorrow at breakfast," Harry told her and she agreed. She gave him a peck on the lips before leaving to go to her own dorm.

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

Harry was at the house table, having breakfast when The Daily Prophet was delivered to him by a delivery owl. Harry put it aside, not wanting to read it while having his first meal. Hermione didn't waste any time in snatching the newspaper and started reading it. Her expressions began to change as she read ahead. Her feature molding into an angry scowl. She just passed it to Harry to read the lead article. Harry's reaction changed even faster.

'Former Department Head Under Departmental Review and Enquiry'

By Regina Cogburn

The new DMLE Director, Lord Corban Yaxley has spoken to the reporters this evening after authorizing a thorough inquiry into the activities of the department prior to his appointment as the director. He has mentioned that after the primary investigation and review of the working of the department, he had noticed an abundance of irregularities and lack of professionalism under the directorship of the previous department head.

"After a surface review of the working of the department under the last director of this prestigious department, a plethora of glaring irregularities have been brought to my notice which needs some explaining and rectifications."

Upon further probing he had explained that as the director of the department, he had launched a probe into the functioning of the department in the past. This 'Review Probe' submitted its report yesterday and due to nature of the matter, a thorough inquiry needed to be authorized post-haste.

"Many pending investigations have been neglected for months now, the arbitrary nature of the allocation of the cases has also been observed. Some crucial investigations have been wilfully delayed and haven't been looked into for a considerably long time. Being the 'Master of Roster', it is the duty of the director of DMLE to assign an Auror to such investigation and it's the job of the Head Auror to monitor the progress of investigation underway. There has been a serious deficit of professionalism in the conduct of the people in these esteemed positions."

Moreover, Lord Yaxley had told that all individuals involved or related to the matter will be questioned and enquired by a select panel of esteemed individuals from the wizarding community of Britain. "We are here to serve the wizarding population of Britain and each and every mistake committed in the past needs to be brought to light and rectified. I have been appointed to set things straight in this department and I intend to do just that."

The high profile individuals under the examining eyes are former DMLE Director Madam Bones and Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour. Another important person is the lead investigator in Sirius Black's escape and the ensued search operation Auror Sturgis Podmore who is already undertrial for trespassing in the Department of Mysteries and can be sentenced to Azkaban for six-months. Auror Hestia Jones has also been included in the list of people to be investigated, readers might remember that she is the lead investigator in the disappearance of a Hogwarts' student Cedric Diggory in the aftermath of the multi-school event in June.

The inquiry is authorized through the executive order of the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Madam Dolores Jane Umbridge.

We, at The Daily Prophet, hope that this crusade to get rid of deeprooted inefficiency in the ministry for the good of the families of wizarding Britain.

Harry's first instinct was to turn and look at Susan to check if she had read the news and see her reaction to it. She had certainly read the news as her eyes were focussed on her aunt sitting at the teachers' table. She looked as shocked as her aunt, eyes wide open yet a look of questioning in it. He also noticed that Susan was not the only person in the hall looking at Madam Bones. Madam Bones did not react to the news, nor did she react to the eyes focussed on her, observing every action of hers. She finished her breakfast and made a graceful exit from the Great Hall, Susan followed the suite. She didn't even look at the group of her Gryffindor friends as she walked out of the hall.

"I need to talk to Padfoot." Harry looked at Hermione, putting down his cutlery. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah." She finished her breakfast and stood up to leave, signaling Ron to come too. He motioned them to go and that he would join them soon.

The couple went to the Gryffindor Tower and into the fifth-year boys' dorm. It was a good thing that no one was there, providing them the necessary privacy. Harry had just taken out the enchanted mirror when Ron walked in, he closed the door behind him and put the latch on.

"Sirius!" Harry called in his mirror. A few moments later, the face of his godfather appeared in the said object.

Sirius noticed the look on Harry's face and guessed the reason behind the worries. "Read the article?"

"Yeah." Harry gave a solemn nod and shifted slightly on his bed so that Ron could sit on his left, Hermione had already occupied the right-hand side of his. "It doesn't look good."

"It's worse than it looks." Sirius pointed out. He looked stressed and tired, more than when they left a week ago.

"What's going on?" Ron asked, he hadn't read the newspaper and had no idea what they were talking about.

"Madam Bones is under investigation," Hermione replied. "And Hestia Jones and Sturgis Podmore."

"And your father," Sirius commented, his eyes fixed at Ron. He saw the absolute shock on the faces of the three Gryffindors.

"What? Why? Bloody hell!" Ron finally found his voice. "What do they think they are doing? Have they gone mad?"

"Calm down, Ron." Harry tried his best to keep his temper under check. "Order and Dumbledore must be doing something to handle this."

"We had a meeting yesterday when we found out about this. We were caught completely off-guard and by the time we decided on a plan of action, the news was already under publication." Sirius told them, rubbing his growing but a well-maintained beard. "Hopefully we will be able to do some damage-control but right now all we are able to do is talk to the members of Wizengamot. They are responsible for selecting the members of the Select Committee. We are trying to get our members on it."

"And how are they selected?" Harry asked he was curious about the procedure.

"Well, you know that there are fifty members in Wizengamot with permanent membership status and voting powers including the ex-officio members too, while there are ten members with observer status. Every select committee has five members in it, they need not be part of Wizengamot." Sirius was explaining the procedure in a very formal tone, no emotions or expressions present on his face. "The process begins with nominations, every nominee requires five seconders, for the nomination to be valid. Nominees can be anybody and the seconders can be any member of the Wizengamot, regardless of his membership status."

"That sounds logical. And the next part?" Harry asked, not getting what the catch was.

"Then the permanent members are asked to arrange their choice in the order of preference. It's a single transferable vote system to achieve proportional representation. But every member needs at least twenty-five votes to be a member of the select committee." Sirius completed his explanation with a sigh. "It's been a long time since the last time I had to explain it to someone."

"That's bad." Hermione pointed out. "Dumbledore must be having a nightmare of a time arranging the votes."

"Why is it so bad?" Harry had to ask, he didn't get why proportional representation would be bad.

"Because the if the majority of the Wizengamot is leaning to one side, you could replicate the same in the committee with some good poll-engineering and floor management." Ron tried to explain, he had surprised himself with the immediate understanding of how it would work and affect the composition of the committee.

"Floor-management?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"To control the votes to provide a particular favorable outcome," Sirius explained further to make Harry understand.

"But that would mean that the committee will be against the people on our side." The seriousness of the complexity dawned on Harry.

"Dumbledore is trying to engineer a list of nominees least unfavorable to Wizengamot and yet leaning towards us," Sirius said, providing some insight into their plan of action. "It's a real pain though. Because if members of Wizengamot are under the investigation or the inquiry, they can not participate in the process of the selection of the committee in any capacity. That leaves us with a very small number of options."

"What would happen to those who are being enquired?" Hermione asked, hopeful that the extent of the punishment for these frivolous inquiries is monetary in nature, at best.

"They will lose their jobs, they might lose their membership of the Wizengamot and they might end up in Azkaban for up to six months," Sirius answered somberly. "Don't worry much, we have contingency plans in place too."

"And what are those?" Ron was skeptical about this plan, he was justified in it as his father was also being enquired about.

"We are prioritizing whom we can save if the proceedings go completely against us." Sirius' eyes were focussed on the floor, he knew that the contingency meant that some people might end up worse than anyone would expect.

Ron was the most concerned and he verbalized his thoughts on the matter. "I hope dad is high on that list."

"He is certainly close to the top." Sirius tried his best to assure the kid. "Dumbledore wouldn't let Arthur into any serious danger, Ron."

"I hope so," Harry said it out loud, there wasn't much hope in those words but he tried. "When is it scheduled for."

"Nominations are to be submitted by Friday, next week, while the vote is on monday after."

-0X0-0X0-0X0-

A/N: Hopefully I'm not too rusty. I apologize for this long break. I just want to ask you guys something, actually for some assistance. If someone would like to help me complete this story, being less of a creator and more of a scribe, he/she can PM me and we could arrange something. The only criteria are that you have written at least 50K words and have 50 member reviews.

Please Review.