A Little Of This, A Little Of That

It turned out that Dean was telling the story a little bit too much on the numbers. The first and second years as well as the majority of the third year where free of the Dark Mark and had been allowed to go about the school. Harry had been to see Tonks before she left, and she told him that they didn't have enough holding cells to keep those Slytherins who had the dark mark prisoner. Harry thought about this for a few moments.

"Where are they now?" he asked.

"In their common room and dorms" Tonks said. She was feeling a little overwhelmed at the last few weeks, and how she had gotten the job of being Minister in the first place. "We can't send them to Azkaban because that would be unfair on those who have been put under the Imperio curse" she added. At that moment Professor McGonagall entered the small chamber that Harry and Tonks where in.

"Ah, Minister. I did want to talk to you, but it seems I was beaten to it" she said.

"Harry and I where just talking about how to keep the Slytherins locked up. We can't use the Room of Requirement, because that will provide a door for them to leave" Tonks's face screwed up in concentration as she tried to think of a solution.

"Leave them there" Harry said simply, and both witches looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Keep all those with the dark mark in the Slytherin rooms, and seal them inside. Those that don't have the dark mark can live in some other place can't they?" Harry asked.

"There are a set of rooms that are used when we accommodate visitors to the school" McGonagall said, referring to the times the Ministers or examiners from the W.E.A stayed one or several nights.

"Those that are under the curse can be moved to there when we cure them, and we get an accurate number on the bad to the core Slytherins" Harry added.

"It does seem the fairest way to do things" Tonks said.

"Perhaps, though how do we move so many at one go?" McGonagall said sounding puzzled. Actually, scared would have been more accurate. The pure logistics where so complex, not even Eddie Stobart could shift them. "Perhaps you should go and get a start with your homework" she said to Harry.

"Yeah, I know the Transfiguration teacher gets upset" Harry said managing to keep a straight face. He got up and left Tonks and McGonagall to what ever they had to talk about, and returned to his tower. As he did so, he saw some students still celebrating the fact that most of Slytherin had been placed under arrest. The moment he stepped inside the tower, he made a bee line for Hannah and Susan – the schools resident rumour mill operators.

"What exactly happened?" he asked as he sat down on his favourite chair.

"From what we heard, each Slytherin was asked to stand in front of McGonagall and Tonks and asked to pull up his or her sleeves. If they had the dark mark on their arms then they got hit with a stunner and taken to their common room. If they didn't, well they where allowed to leave with no problems whatsoever" Susan said.

"We got some inside information" Hannah added. "But we can't reveal our sources" she grinned.

"Not even to me?" Harry asked.

"No, sorry" Hannah said. "But we'll make it up to you later" she added raising her eyebrows at the hint of what was in store that night.

"Looking forward to that" Harry said, and then thought about something. "What about Luna and Neville?" he asked.

"Luna has gone to see Professor McGonagall and Neville has gone to your room to sleep" Hannah said. "We'll be using our room" she added, reading the question on Harry's face.

"Right" Harry said. He thought about the nights 'Activities' and then put it in a spare space in his mind. There was a knock on the door, and the three looked at each other puzzled. If it was Luna coming back, she would have simply opened the door, or if she had an armful, got Dobby to take her past the door. Harry got up and crossed over to the door, and opened it to reveal……….

"Hermione, what a nice surprise" Harry said brightly.

"Can I come in please?" she asked, and Harry nodded and made way for Hermione to pass him.

"Nice place you got here" Hermione commented. The common room was not messy, but it had the feeling of being lived in. Photographs, both magical and muggle, sat on the walls in various places, and a poster of a Tachikoma flanked the three house banners above the fireplace. Homework was piled on the wooden table along with several text books that where being used to help Luna get upto 6th year level – Luna still needed tutoring because she skipped the 5th year.

"Hi Hermione" Hannah greeted.

"Hello" Susan called. Both girls had forgiven Hermione for what she had done on account that she could not have helped it. Hermione was trying to help rebuild the trust that had been lost (Harry kept telling her that he still considered her a friend, not that she was listening) by looking in the libuary for ways to help defeat Voldemort. True to form, she carried a large book under her arm.

"What you got for light reading?" Harry asked, and Hermione made a face at him.

"I was working in the Gryffindor common room on my History of Magic homework, and needed to know what one of the subject items was. So I got this book and when I opened it, the first thing I saw was this reference to things called Horcruxes" Hermione said. "Look at this though" she said. "I think I found why Voldemort was able to come back" Hermione added and opened the book and turned to a certain page and pointed out the relevant passage.

Horcruxes

A Horcrux is the name for an item that is used to store part of a person's soul. It is made by splitting the soul into seven parts and giving away six of them into various objects. The objects can be any item and can include a living person. The practice of making Horcruxes was banned in 1756, but it should be noted that many Dark Witches and Wizards continue to create them to keep stay alive. Using this method, the Witches or Wizards can live for an extremely long time.

"So that's how he manages to survive" Harry muttered. "I wondered how the bastard did it, and now I know" he said.

"How do we destroy them?" Hannah asked, looking at Harry's rising anger that he fought to keep under control.

"The book says we have to destroy it with a sword of great power" and Hermione frowned. "Where do we get a sword from? And one that has great power" she added. They stood puzzled and thinking for an answer.

"I've got it" shouted Harry. "What about the sword I pulled from the sorting hat in our second year? Its Godric Gryffindor's and he was one of the founders" he pointed out. "Would that do?" he asked.

"I think that might do" Hermione said. "But where is it?" she asked.

"Well last I saw it was in the Headteacher's office, but I'm certain that Dumbledore would have had it removed to somewhere else" Harry said.

"Question is.. Where?" asked Susan, and everyone fell silent.

"GRINGOTTS" Hermione spoke so loud that it made everyone jump. "Dumbledore would have put it in his safe at Gringotts. When he was jailed, all his vaults were emptied or transferred to Harry's ownership, so that means it should be there" and she explained the rest of her thought out idea.

"We'll have to ask Griphook for that" Harry said "But first we have to figure out what he could have put his soul into" and everyone thought hard.

"Do we have any clues at all?" asked Luna from one of the deep armchairs. The girl had let herself in so quietly that nobody had noticed. She got up and crossed over to the table where they had all sat round.

"Nothing comes to mind" admitted Harry. He thought of any clues that Dumbledore may have said either to him, or that Harry had heard him say.

"Lucky we have the world's first human libuary with us" Hannah said and Hermione was embarrassed.

"Where do start to look?" Susan asked.

"I have no idea" Hermione said.

"I do" Harry said. "Accio parchment, quill and ink" he called giving his wand a flick, and the three items came across the room and Harry sat them on the table.

"What you thinking of?" Luna asked.

"You know when I went into the Chamber of Secrets and saw the memory of Tom Riddle?" and everyone nodded. "Well what if he made the Horcruxes at different times of his life, and one of those was the diary?" Harry said, and it made sense for Voldemort to have made one at different stages of his life as a sort of back up plan.

"That has to be one" Hermione beamed at him. Harry wrote 'Tom Riddle's Diary' at the top of the parchment.

"One down, five to go" he said. It was almost ten at night when they decided to call it done for the night.

"I'm going to be, bye" Luna announced and skipped up the stairs and vanished from view.

"Harry? Can you come back with me to Gryffindor tower please?" Hermione asked. "Ginny is going to be there, and she hasn't said a word to me, but she's made it very uncomfortable when we are both in the common room" she added.

"Sure, I'll come with you" Harry said, and Hannah and Susan said that they would tag along just for something to do.

"Thanks" Hermione said, and the four set off for Gryffindor tower.

The walk back to Gryffindor tower was rather nice. Moonlight shone through the windows, giving an unearthly feel to the corridors. When they reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry drew his wand before giving the password to her. Hermione looked surprised at Harry's reaction before he entered the common room.

"Judging by recent actions of certain Gryffindors, I'm not taking any chances" he said, and nobody could argue with that, and the four walked through the portrait hole.

The common room was around half full but the noise dropped to a very low whisper as they saw the new arrivals. Hermione went up the left set of stairs and went straight up to the 6th year girls dorm, Hannah and Susan went up as well, and all three where followed by Harry. He walked up the steps without a care in the world and didn't set off any of the wards and charms set up – something that was the puzzlement to most of the common room and caused them to talk very quickly amongst themselves. When Harry reached the door to the right dorm, he gave several polite knocks. Harry heard several soft clicks and felt the warm effect of a charm being removed, and the door was opened by Parvatti.

"Hello Harry" she greeted.

"Hi" he greeted back. "Can I come in?" Harry asked.

"Sure" Parvatti replied and allowed the door to open wider to admit Harry entrance. He walked in to see Hermione sitting on the edge of her bed talking to Lavender who was wearing a thick purple dressing gown, while Parvatti was wearing just a pair of very small black bra and knickers. She didn't seem to mind Harry seeing her in almost nothing, but smiled when she saw Harry going ever so slightly red when he saw her. "Don't worry" she smiled, "I know your with Hannah and Susan so my body is safe from the rape and plunder of a teenage boy" and Parvatti laughed lightly.

"Hope nobody goes to get a teacher" Harry pointed out, and Parvatti had to agree. "How's Hermione coping?" he asked in a low whisper.

"She's fine most of the time" Parvatti said. "But she wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night screaming from the nightmares she's having – we have to cast a muffling spell so that nobody disturbs us when we take care of her. Other times she is a little bit wary when boys come near her, I just she gets over this soon" she added sadly shaking her head.

"Thanks for letting me know" Harry said putting his hand on the girl's shoulder. Parvatti smiled and Harry went to sit with Hermione, Lavender, Hannah and Susan. They sat and the group talked about things such as the weather, homework and the Quidditch tables (something Hermione didn't know too well). After half an hour of making sure Hermione was settled, Harry, Hannah and Susan got up to leave, but a call from Hermione stopped him. She came over slowly, and hugged him tightly around the waist.

"Thanks" she said very quietly.

"That's alright" Harry said, looking into Hermione's eyes. "Theres nothing you could do to help it" and he let Hermione go and she went to her bed and pulled the curtains closed with Lavender doing the same thing – letting her dressing gown fall to the ground to reveal the fact that she went topless in bed.

"Time we where off" said Hannah, and Harry nodded.

"Just a moment" Parvatti said and pushed two small objects into Harry's hands. He looked down to see it was a pair of girls underwear, and he looked at Parvatti in surprise. "We don't want to disappoint those downstairs do we?" she asked with an evil grin on her face, and then switched to a smile. "Don't worry; it's a transfigured school bag so it's nothing to worry about" she added.

"Thanks" Harry said, and with a last goodbye to all three girls, Harry, Hannah and Susan left the dorm and left Gryffindor Tower. As they did so, everybody saw the underwear in Harry's hand and they could only guess (wrong as they where) about what had happened.

They decided to make a quick stop to the kitchens and send Dobby on a mission to get a crate of butterbeer from Hogsmeade and then returned to the shared tower, where Harry kicked off his shoes and lay across the entire sofa and sighed tiredly. Hannah looked at him with concern, while Susan unpacked the butterbeer and placed the bottles on a small shelf.

"Are you alright?" Hannah asked Harry, and Harry didn't reply for several moments.

"I was just thinking that somebody out there" Harry began "Some of my fans, no doubt, will probably be writing a fan based story about my life. I bet that some of them will put that I'll end up marrying Ginny!" he added.

"That would be a bad thing" Hannah said solemnly and Susan snorted in agreement. Harry, meanwhile, yawned very loudly as he stretched out his limbs.

"You tired?" enquired Susan as she sat on the edge of the sofa.

"A little bit" Harry replied as he felt Susan run her hands along the side of his body.

"Too tired for this?" she asked.

"Not for this" he replied smiling, as Hannah crossed over the room to join them. In a short time, they had taken off their clothes and lay naked on the sofa which Harry had expanded. Hannah and Susan lay in his arms and Harry was very contented with his life.

"Harry?" said Susan softly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I just wanted to say that I'm ready now" she said looking into his eyes.

"Ready?" Harry asked confused.

"To do it" Susan said. When it had been their wedding night, Susan has said she wasn't quite ready to go the whole distance and lose her virginity, and Harry had said that he was never going to force Susan to do anything she didn't want to do.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "Because once it has gone, you can never have it back" he said.

"I'm certain" Susan said firmly, and Harry nodded while Hannah changed position so she was out of the way.

Harry began by moving his hands over Susan's chest and allowing them to run over her breasts lightly. Susan allowed a soft moan to escape from her lips, and kissed Harry on the forehead. Harry let his mouth move downwards towards her navel and Susan shivered at the sensations she felt. Harry meanwhile had let one hand snake downwards towards the space between her legs and moved his fingers in circles so they lightly brushed her warm core and Harry's touch made Susan go wet. Harry's other hand was gently tweaking the nipples on Susan's breasts just hard enough for it to make her cry out, but not enough to hurt – Harry wanted this to be special for Susan. She moved one of her hands down and took a tentative grip on Harry's hardened shaft, and gave it a little squeeze which made Harry moan as well. By now the fingers on Harry's lower hand where now dipping into the entrance of Susan and he let them go all the way to the hand, but slowly so she got used to it. Hannah was watching the entire thing with interest and was slowly rubbing herself to get relief from the ache she was getting.

"You alright?" Harry asked Susan.

"Yes" Susan replied, and started to stroke Harry's nipples – something she knew he liked having done to him.

"Just wanted to know" Harry said.

A/N:

So, Slytherins are not entirely under arrest, and a turning point occurs in this chapter. Harry discovers what Voldemort has been doing, and that he has been very busy. Added the scene with Parvatti and Lavender because we need to see how well Hermione is coping from a different perspective, and I hope it was well done.

I also included the Harry/Susan sex scene because it needed to be done, as it was something that was unresolved from a previous chapter. I know it was a little bit brief, but after work for a solid 26 hours on fanfics, I think I have the right to end there.

Chapter 30 is going to be a little controversial as it will contain some nasty things, that some of you may disagree with.

Reviews in the normal manner please

Regards;

Pixel

King of the Singing Potato Men

Supreme Pringle Eater

Co Founder of the Crumple Horned Snorkack Lovers Society

SECOND AUTHORS NOTE:

I RECIEVED THIS MESSAGE AS A PRIVATE MESSAGE, AND I CAN NOT BELIEVE THE SHEER CHEEK OF THE PERSON WHO WROTE IT. hERE IS THE MESSAGE IN THE FULL ENTIRE CONTENT:

From: Dragon Symphony

Awful. That's the only thing I can possibly say about this crap. This has to
be one of the biggest character derailments I've ever seen in a fanfic.
Hermione and Ron ditching Harry? Harry ending up friends with nobody's like
Hannah and Susan? Dumbledore being a thief and the root of all evil? This is
the kind of crap that should stay in someone's head. This fanfic does nothing
but spit on everything that constitutes the Harry Potter universe. Have you
even read any of the books? It's like you basically just skimmed a couple of
pages and read up the characters on Wikipedia or something. I think my
favorite (and by that I mean things I laughed at most for being so bad) was
everyone's casual reaction to the beloved Dumbledore being the root of all
evil. Oh and apparently Sirius and James and Lily all saw through him despite
having been members of the Order of the Phoenix and him having helped them
hide from Dumbledore.

Of course, I only got to about chapter 10 so it might very well be that you'd
reveal he was the one who told Voldemort the prophecy in order to kidnap
Harry! The FIEND! And somehow, despite all the good Dumbledore has done for
the wizarding world, everyone is up and willing to be a witness to prosecute
him despite the fact that, if my reading ability serves me correctly, Harry
offered no proof to them other than "Hey guys, Dumbledore is evil!" Oh and I
love how you basically tossed Snape out of the fanfic. He was arrested...for
what, exactly? Did I miss something? I also love all the convenient plot
devices you threw in for Harry. Dobby's not even a character. He's just a plot
device to give Harry whatever he wants. And that awfully convenient school
rules book which supposedly not even Dumbledore knew about but somehow Neville
did.

But I want to talk a little more about how you derailed the characters. Ron,
Hermione, and Ginny having no place in the fanfic other than being
Gryffindor's version of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle is laughable. I especially
enjoyed the part where Hermione, despite normally being a dignified character,
draws her wand and curses Harry despite being the one to actually stop Harry
and Ron from doing so to Malfoy on many occasions in the books. And poor old
Hagrid! Apparently imperiused for years under evil Dumbledore's will. You were
ever so kind to have Harry relieve him of the charges. The lovely giant could
have been nothing but mind controlled to have ever followed that demon
Dumbledore. The main "5" are also quite funny. Luna is especially painful to
read through because she's actually one of my favorites in the book and you
just threw her on a train track and derailed away. Luna doesn't "blush", she
doesn't like Neville, and she's always distant. Neville has also been
described as being terrified of Luna. Why would they be together? Not to
mention how he's somehow now an uber Quidditch player despite the fact that he
couldn't so much as mount a broom without almost killing himself.

And then there's Harry. Oh dear, where do I begin with Harry? Somehow he's
always in control of the situation, despite the fact that the books have
always been about the fact that he's basically just a normal, yet lucky boy.
His reaction to Dumbledore's evil betrayal is to toss him in jail? Normal
Harry would need time to sort these things out in his head, not immediately
commission for big D to go to jail for life. Whatever happened to Lucius
anyway? He hates Harry! He should have been a negative influence in Harry
getting that stupid little dorm.

All in all, your fanfic sucks and you should feel bad. It's sad, really.
Fanfics, in essence, are supposed to be about us creating and expanding upon
what the author has given us, feeling that he or she did not give us enough,
and we want more. But this is not Harry Potter. You slander the name by
labeling it as such. The characters are only from the books in name only.
Truly sad. If I were a more sensitive person, I would perhaps shed a tear at
the slaughter you have inflicted on the magic that Rowling wrote for us.

Unfortunately, this page says it has to be critique, so I have to say
something to you that would improve your writing ability. Hmm...

Well reading the books would be a start! There. I don't much know the rules
of FF. This will probably be removed for abuse. But I don't care. As long as
you realize that your fanfic is NOT Harry Potter, that's good enough. I can
only give a sigh of relief that while FF may have no standards for accepting
fanfiction, publishers do. It would be hell on Earth to see this being revered
as something actually readable by people who's IQ exceeds their shoe size