Part 1
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Albus Dumbledore stood at the top of the astronomy tower. He looked out across the Hogwarts grounds, the green fields stretching out toward thick, leafy forest. "Did Sirius Black seem off to you the last time he was here?"
Severus Snape raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "In all honesty, headmaster, I don't pay much attention to that mutt. I can look into it, if you wish."
Dumbledore nodded. "I would appreciate it. Has your dark mark activated yet?"
"No, it hasn't. And I can't fathom why." Snape looked at the rising sun. "The dark lord even contacted me recently and doesn't want any death eaters to activate their marks."
"Hmmm." Dumbledore stroked his beard in thought as Fawkes dropped a note and a vial with black liquid into his hand. He opened the note, and read Grindlewald's writing.
Be wary of rats where they do not belong.
Dumbledore turned to Snape. "Any sign of Crouch or Pettigrew?"
Snape shook his head. A small smirk crept up Dumbledore's face as bright red light seeped from his clothes. "Maybe it's time that changed." Snape raised an eyebrow as he was handed the vial.
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Part 2
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Harry stepped off the Hogwarts train, stretching his arms and legs. He looked up at the old Scottish castle. Hermione and Cedric followed behind, talking about possible ways to stop the killing curse from killing someone.
Ron stood by Harry patting him on the back. "It's gonna be so weird having Percy teaching classes."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What about your mom?"
Ron shrugged. "She's been healing me and the rest of the family my whole life."
They both laughed walking toward a line of wagons. Most of them were already full. The only one left had a blonde girl with a blue shield on her robes. Cedric walked to the front of the carriage and started petting the air. "Hey Ragus. How are you doing?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged concerned glances. Harry walked up to Cedric. "Uh...Cedric? What are you doing?"
"What?" Cedric looked at Harry. He raised his eyebrows. "Why are you-oh. Right." He facepalmed. "You've never seen death."
Harry's face drained of color. "W-what?"
"You can see them too." The blond girl said.
Cedric turned. "You too huh." A somber look crossed his face. The girl nodded. Cedric stuck out his hand. "I'm Cedric by the way."
She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Cedric Diggory. I'm Luna."
"Yeah. Luni Lovegood." Hermione said under her breath.
Cedric and Harry glared at Hermione, before Cedric turned to Luna. "Hold on. Lovegood? Like Pandora Lovegood?"
Luna did a double take. "You-know my mother's name?"
Cedric nodded. "Yeah, she was a genius. One of the best inventors of her generation." He winced at the sad look on Luna's face. "Sorry. Didn't mean to hit a sore spot."
A small smile formed on Luna's face. "It's all right." She frowned thinking for a moment. "How do you know about her?"
"Oh, I read some books over the summer. My girlfriend recommended, Fire and Nargles, that was a really interesting read." Cedric thought for a moment. "Hey, you're a Ravenclaw. Do you know Cho Cheng?"
"Cho? Yeah I know her. We don't hang out though." Luna shrugged.
The two kept talking as Harry, Ron, and Hermione tried to follow the conversation.
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Part 3
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Harry felt his eyes drooping as he climbed into bed. Ron kept complaining about hunger, despite eating more than twice as much Harry. Harry yawned, closing his eyes as a face with large round eyes and pointed flashed before him.
He opened his eyes, face to face with a house elf. Harry blinked, sitting up to look at Dobby standing next to his bed. "Uh...Dobby. What are you doing here?-How are you here?"
"Well, I do work at Hogwarts, Harry Potter sir." Dobby said.
"Yeah...but how did you get into Gryffindor Tower?" Harry asked.
Ron and several other Gryffindor fifth years were now looking at the small house elf. Dobby just shrugged. "I'm an elf."
Harry shook his head. "Ok...so why are you here?"
"It's about Winkie sir. She's been concerned that she hasn't gotten any contact from her friend Kreacher, and since Kreacher serves you Godfather, Dobby thought you might know something."
"Oh." Harry shrugged, then thought about it. "Wait, why didn't you ask me at the feast?"
"Dobby didn't want to disturb you during the feast." Dobby said.
"But, it disturbs someone most when their sleep is interrupted. I think."
"But you're not asleep sir." Dobby said. Ron and a few of the other boys started laughing.
Harry facepalmed. "That's not-whatever. I'll send an owl to Sirius and ask."
"Thanks." Dobby snapped his fingers, disappearing.
Ron glanced and forth between the rest of the Gryffindors. "Uh...should we be concerned that house elves can just apparate in here?"
"I'm not awake enough to care." Harry lay back down, the warm air from an open window lulling him to sleep.
