But it turned out that finding Harry wasn't all that easy.

After sprinting the entire way back to the Common Room, Hermione had to take a rest. It was a long time since she'd run that fast and she doubled up with a splitting stitch in her side at the exertion. But it was nothing to the splitting panic in her mind, which was ripping through her with greater intensity with every lost second she spent in pursuit of Harry.

Then something else mentioned 'ripping' ...

So, so hungry ... oh to rip flesh ... to drink blood ...

"What?" Hermione yelped. "Pap? What did you say?"

"I didn't say that," Pap complained. "I thought you did."

"No, but you did hear it?" Hermione asked. Pap nodded. "What was it?"

"If you don't know, then neither do I," Pap frowned. "But whatever it was, it sounded dangerous. And not just the words ... that voice ... it was like liquid hate."

"And it sounded hungry," Hermione agreed. Then a whine of fear whirred through her mind. "Oh Pap! You don't think ..."

"I'm sure Harry is safe," Papageno told her reassuringly. "He's too clever to be caught out like that."

"But he was upset!" Hermione moaned lowly. "I upset him! So, so badly. I saw it in his eyes. I was so bad, Pap. Even after what Harry did with that singer-witch-wench, I never wanted that! I never wanted to hurt him, just to make him a bit jealous over me. Oh, a thousand curses on you, Hermione Jane Granger! Harry might not have been thinking properly. What if he walked straight into that thing - whatever it was - and it ate him! Oh Pap! I'll throw myself off of the Astronomy Tower if that's what's happened! I wont want to live."

"Calm down, Hermione," Pap admonished firmly. "You're ranting like a crazy person. That isn't what happened."

"How do you know?"

"The voice said it was hungry. If it just ate Harry, it wouldn't want another meal now would it?"

"Oh I don't know. There's not much of Harry, is there? He's a wiry sort of boy, after all. He might not be more than a light snack to a great big monster or something."

"Then get up those stairs and make sure he's in bed ... and alive enough to still be angry with you."

"Right," Hermione nodded firmly.

So she turned and sprinted towards the staircase to the Boy's Dormitories. But she hadn't taken three steps when her path was suddenly and unceremoniously blocked.

"What the - ?"

Hermione squealed as she skidded into something very hard and cold - right into the stone bodies of two statues that had sprung to life and barred the staircase from her progress.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hermione demanded, planting her hands to her hips and tapping her foot impatiently.

One of the statues, which were identical and equally emotionless, turned his head to her.

"You shall not pass."

"And why not?"

"You are female," said the other statue blandly. "And this staircase is for males only."

"Well that's just absurd," Hermione pouted. "I'm only going to find my friend. Let me through."

"No."

"I'm not going to do anything naughty," Hermione argued. "And it's really, really important that I get upstairs."

"No."

Hermione scowled darkly. "You are being very unhelpful, do you know that? There must be a way to pass."

"How many ages do you think we have stood guard here?" asked one of the statutes. "Do you have any idea how many females have tried to get by us for really important reasons?"

"And don't you think that if it was possible it would have happened by now?" the other added. "Students have threatened us with spells, tried bribery and harsh language. But the answer is always the same."

"And it is always 'You shall not pass'," the first statue finished.

"Fine," Hermione huffed, conceding defeat. "But know this ... I will make it my new goal to find a way past you before I leave this school. I swear that to you."

"As have a hundred girls have before you," one of the statues replied in a bored drawl. "And yet here we stand ... unbreached in a thousand years."

"Even by your cat," the second statue commented. "Even he can't come up here. He may be the first male we've ever denied access to."

Hermione span around at that, staring accusatorily at Papageno.

"You tried to get into Harry's dorm?" Hermione breathed. "Why?"

"How can you even ask that?" Papageno snapped back. "I haven't spoken to you in the best part of a month! Not just that, but I hadn't heard you in a month, either. You were even blocking your thoughts from me. I had nowhere else to go. I hoped Harry might have a better idea of what was wrong with you. Besides that ... I was lonely."

Hermione flopped down on the battered old couch, trying to make sense of Papageno's statement. It had shocked her deeply and her heart ached with the revelations.

"I pushed you away, too?" Hermione mumbled. "I had no idea. I just assumed you were still there. I cant believe I didn't notice you weren't around."

"Well believe it," Papageno replied scathingly, which Hermione accepted she deserved. "I haven't spoken to you since your first night back at school. And you've been keeping me from your mind for just the same amount of time. I didn't even know you could do that."

"Neither did I," Hermione whimpered. "I don't. I couldn't tell you how I was doing it. More than that, I don't know anyone who could. I wouldn't have thought that there was such a magic for that. I mean, who in this world would know how to keep their thoughts separate from their dæmon? Who here even knows about the connection?"

And the answer came to their reunified minds in the same moment.

"Tom Riddle!" they both hissed together.

"It has to be!" Papageno muttered. "Who else would know!?"

"Oh Pap! He got to us! Somehow, I don't know how, he got into my mind! Oh no, he might even still be there! Pap ... I'm so scared."

"Me too."

Then, just like that, Papageno gave into his nerve-searing longing and jumped into Hermione's waiting embrace, allowing human and dæmon to offer comfort to the other.

"I'm so sorry!" Hermione whimpered. "Pap, my love! Will you ever forgive me? Can you?"

"I do," Papageno whispered consolingly. "You weren't yourself. You were someone else. You were ... possessed!"

Hermione gasped in horror. "I was, wasn't I? There's no other explanation. But for how long?"

"At least since Harry's birthday, maybe before," Pap suggested.

"Harry! Poor Harry!" Hermione moaned. "I have to think this was to do with him."

"How do you mean?" asked Pap, snapping his head up. "You cant think he had any hand in this?"

"No, don't be stupid," Hermione sniped back. "No, what I meant was, this has to be about him, doesn't it? Riddle wouldn't target me just for being me. Remember what Serafina said? I have the power to influence and guide Harry. And Riddle is terrified of where that might lead."

"Ahhh ... so he's trying to drive a wedge between you!" Papageno exclaimed.

"Precisely," Hermione nodded triumphantly. "But he had to get inside my head first. He knew that a sensible me wouldn't overreact to Harry fancying the singer from the Weird Sisters. She's very pretty, after all. But she's at least twice Harry's age! She's never going to be a threat to me - to us - is she? I know that, and if Harry wants to fancy her, I don't mind.

"I just want to get him to fancy me more."

"Which he does already," Pap replied confidently.

"I love you, Pap!" Hermione grinned, hugging Papageno tight to her chest. "Have I told you how fluffy you're feeling today?"

"No, but don't get off track!"

"Right," Hermione nodded. "So, Riddle got into my head and made me act all stupid and ignore Harry. I cant believe I did that! What a moron I was! Then Lyra gave me some bad advice - which I'm so going to tell her off for, by the way - and it played into what Riddle wanted me to do."

"Which wasn't just to make Harry jealous, but to hurt him and break his heart," Papageno surmised.

"Dont say that!" Hermione squeaked sadly. "It hurts."

"I know. It hurts me, too," Pap replied. "But we have to feel it. Then we know how much we have to do to make it better. If we feel this bad, then Harry does, too."

"So when we feel better, we will know that we've fixed everything," Hermione nodded. "I understand. What I don't understand is how Riddle got influence over you?"

"I think it's quite simple," Papageno disagreed. "Despite our Separation, Hermione, we are still one. Whatever was affecting you was also acting on me. Perhaps not so deeply, but I wasn't feeling myself, either. The only reason I didn't go to Harry right away was that I retained some part of the real you. I didn't want to give away our secret - our big one - to him."

"But, in the end, you broke free and tried?"

Papageno nodded. "It was a last resort, but when I saw you losing your mind over that professor I knew I had to do something. It wasn't just the way you were acting, but him, too. He doesn't look at you in anything like an appropriate way. I was concerned for your very safety. And if I was worried, I knew Harry wouldn't rest until he was able to protect you."

"Thank you, Pap, for looking out for me," Hermione whispered, snuggling her dæmon lovingly. "I promise I wont let anything come between us again."

"Not even Harry?" Papageno teased.

Hermione blushed. "Well, you'll just have to close your eyes when I kiss him if you don't like it!"

Papageno chuckled. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back," Hermione sighed, feeling the truth of the words flow through her. "Right, I'm going to bed. I cant get to Harry tonight, but he better not try and hide from me tomorrow. I'm not such an awful Seeker myself, you know."

But Harry did, indeed, try and hide from Hermione.

It was a Sunday, which meant no classes, so Harry had plenty of opportunity to slip away without Hermione catching him. And she'd gotten up really early, too. But Neville told her how in vain her efforts were.

"Harry isn't in our dorm," he informed her over breakfast. "His bed is still made, too, so I don't think he came back to our room last night at all. That didn't surprise me ..."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, flushing at the coy look on Neville's face.

"Well, he spent half the evening telling me about the birthday date plans he had for you," Neville quirked.

"He said it was a date?" Hermione whined. "Really?"

"Not in so many words," Neville replied. "But he was taking you to see baby unicorns. Alone. Girls like that sort of thing, don't they? And Harry was so excited about it he was practically bouncing off the walls. Sounded disgustingly romantic, if you ask me. It had date written all over it."

Hermione slumped so much she almost face-planted her porridge.

"I just assumed that you and Harry, er, stayed out all night," Neville went on. "I mean, you look a bit spazzed out yourself."

"Thanks," Hermione snapped, pulling anxiously at her frizzy fringe.

"I just thought that's what a night rolling around in the Forbidden Forest looks like!" Neville grinned.

"Shut up! I didn't go with Harry to see the unicorns, all right?" Hermione retorted bitterly. "I wish I had. If it had been a date, I'd be telling the whole bloody school about it! I'd have had t-shirts printed and everything!"

Neville sobered up in a second

"Are you saying you weren't with Harry all night?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying," Hermione hissed.

"But you do fancy him?" Neville asked cautiously.

Hermione blinked hard. "Ok ... yes, I do. Just don't tell anyone ... please."

"Of course I wont," Neville promised faithfully. "You're my best friend."

"I am?" Hermione asked, thrown off-guard in her surprise. "Since when?"

"Best girl friend, I meant," Neville clarified quietly. "Harry's my best friend of all, I think. No offence."

"Why are you whispering?"

"Because," Neville grinned. "If Harry hears me calling you my girlfriend he might slit my throat while I sleep. And I really don't want to die before I hit thirteen. Harry likes you quite a lot, in case that has slipped your attention. I think murdering a love rival is well within his remit!"

Hermione felt the floor disappear beneath her feet. Her heart throbbed hard as she gripped onto the breakfast bench for support.

"H-has he told you that?" Hermione asked shyly.

"No, but it's obvious," Neville replied simply. "He talks about you all the time. Literally, he never shuts up about you. It's actually quite boring. But it does help the rest of us fall asleep. Then there's the picture."

"Picture? What picture?"

"He has a picture of you on his nightstand, didn't you know?" Neville quipped. "It's one of you holding Hedwig down by the Great Lake. He claims he keeps it there because of his owl, but he's not fooling anyone. Even Ron knows better than to go anywhere near the photo. It's like Harry's most precious thing, so we all stay far away. I keep trying to catch him kissing it before bed, because I'm sure he does. But by the time Harry blows out his candle the rest of us are all snoring away after listening to the latest chapter of What Hermione Did Today!"

"Shut up, Neville!" Hermione told him off, grinning madly as she did so. He smiled warmly at her. "You wont tell him, will you? What I just told you?"

"Of course I wont," Neville replied. "But maybe you should. I think he'd like to hear that!"

"Not right now he wouldn't," Hermione grumbled. "He's very upset with me."

"Why? What did you do? Shy of getting a boyfriend, I think Harry will forgive you almost anything!"

"I hope you're right," Hermione returned. "I really hurt Harry's feelings, that's all you need to know. But I need to find him and start making it up to him. Where could he be, do you think?"

"Well, I did hear a certain Miss Perks say she was heading to the Quidditch Pitch after breakfast," Neville answered dryly. "And she tends to make a beeline for Harry when you aren't around to protect him!"

Hermione leapt up like she'd been set alight. She squeezed Neville's shoulder in thanks and raced from the Great Hall. The cold air of the morning hit Hermione bracingly as she shot into it without any sort of cloak or coat to protect her. But she was driven by restless adrenaline now, and that would just have to be enough to keep her warm.

The Quidditch Pitch soon loomed up ahead. Hermione's heart gave a hopeful bound as she saw the snow-white plumage - that undoubtedly belonged to Hedwig - soaring over the stands. She was keeping pace with a broom that was doing laps of the stadium. A single broom, Hermione noticed happily.

Then it fell out of sight. Hermione reached a turn in the stepped seating and noticed Harry standing a short distance away. Hedwig was perched protectively on his shoulder and both boy and owl seemed as one. If Hermione hadn't known better, she'd have sworn Hedwig was Harry's dæmon ... their bond was simply that obvious.

Harry seemed to realise he was being watched just then, as he turned to look at her. He started to walk away but Hermione put on a burst of speed to try and reach him before he escaped.

"Harry!" she called out. "Please wait!"

"Go away," Harry snapped back. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"I know, but I want to talk to you!" Hermione volleyed back. "Please ... I need to explain -"

"There's nothing to explain," Harry spat. The hurt in his voice caused Hermione to ache, as though his pain were her own. "Just leave me alone."

"No! Not until you listen to me!"

Harry stopped and rounded on her. "Look, I've already had to set Hedwig on Pap so that he would go away. Don't make me have her peck at you, too!"

Hedwig barked angrily in readiness and flapped her wings aggressively. Hermione recoiled in her wariness.

"Harry, please! I need to talk to you!"

"Tough! I'm flying today. Leave me be!"

And with that, Harry kicked off and took flight once more. Hermione watched him speed away, as her anxiety threatened to overwhelm her fraught brain.

There was only one thing for it.

"Up!" Hermione commanded to the wobbly old Comet 360 that she found in the broom shed. The aged broom jumped into her hand. It didn't feel anything like as steady as Harry's Nimbus when Hermione had practiced with that, but it would have to do. Hermione mounted it, wondering at the odd vibration that made it feel as if the Comet wanted to fly off on its own orbit around Hogwarts.

Hermione took a terrified breath, then pushed up into the air.

She squeaked shrilly as she went higher and higher. The sound alerted Harry, who span sharply to watch. Up and up Hermione flew until she was roughly on a level with Harry, even though he was half the stadium away.

Then Hermione looked down ... and promptly froze in her panic.

She was at least seventy feet in the air, and she'd never been a great fan of high places. Her mind began to tailspin in a gout of vertigo, as the stadium swam in her dizzy vision and the floor seemed a long way away. And very hard, too. She took her hands off the broom and held them over her eyes, not bearing to look.

The broom tilted upwards at the movement, then began to list and roll to the left ... then oddly righted itself.

Hermione peeked through her fingers. She lost her breath as she saw Harry practically nose-to-nose with her. He was sitting expertly astride his broom, but holding hers steady with his hands. His face was white and terrified.

"What are you doing!" he hissed desperately. "You're going to get yourself killed! What are you doing up here!?"

"I have to talk to you! And this is the only way!" Hermione squeaked in a frightened voice.

"But you hate flying!" Harry cried back.

"No, I-I hate h-heights!" Hermione corrected with a stutter. "I actually quite like flying ... so long as it's lower down."

Harry couldn't help but grin, in spite of the fact that he was supposed to be angry with his best friend.

"But you aren't low down. We are seventy-odd feet in the sky!"

"I know! I'm trying not to think about it!"

"Well you'd better think about it!" Harry shot back. "We have to get you down."

"I-I don't think I can!" Hermione confessed. "Harry ... I'm scared."

"It's alright," he soothed. "I've got you. It'll be okay."

"You wont let me fall?"

"I wont. I promise."

"Even though you're mad at me?"

"Mad as all hell!" Harry grinned. "But I'm expecting the explanation to be epic if you've flown all this way to tell me about it!"

Hermione felt her heart literally melt as Harry smiled at her. It was her own personal smile from him, she knew that innately somehow. It was a smile Harry kept for her and no-one else. And he looked like he knew it, too. Later - when they were all cosy and intimate again - she was determined to tease him about how easy it was to get him to forgive her indiscretions.

But they had to get her to the ground in one piece first.

"Right," Harry announced in a business-like manner. "I wouldn't trust that broom you're on to sweep the floor with, let alone fly! It's ancient. So ... you're going to have to jump onto mine."

"Jump?" Hermione replied, her lip trembling.

"Well, maybe not literally!" Harry laughed. "But I'm going to fly right alongside you, then you just slide over onto my broom."

"Will it take the weight of us both?"

"Hermione - you're a skinny little thing!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm sometimes amazed you cant fly without a broom. A decent gust of Scottish wind should be enough to give you lift off!"

"I think there's a compliment in there somewhere!" Hermione scoffed. "But we'll leave it till later. Right ... I'm ready."

Harry nodded, then eased his Nimbus up until it was parallel with Hermione's old Comet. When the broom noses were touching Hermione hauled her leg over the bough of the Nimbus and shifted her thighs until she was sitting right in front of Harry. She pressed her back firmly into his chest and felt the astonishing warmth and solidness of him.

Hermione's breath vanished somewhere at the contact. Her heartbeat must have gone with it, as she couldn't feel it anymore, but Hermione wasn't afraid of the loss. She could feel Harry's own pounding heartbeat against her spine, as his right arm came around her and gripped his broom firmly. His firm beat was powerful enough to keep the both of them alive, Hermione was certain of that.

"What should I do with this?" Harry asked breathlessly, holding up the spare broom as Hermione fully became his passenger.

"Let it go free," Hermione quirked.

So Harry did. He eased his grip on the Comet, which hovered a moment under lack of human control, then flew off wildly in the general direction of the Forbidden Forest.

"You promise you wont let me go now, will you Harry?" Hermione whispered, tugging Harry's other arm around her slightly shivering frame.

"You're cold," Harry observed gently.

"Freezing," Hermione confirmed.

"Let's get you somewhere warm," Harry replied.

"D-don't let go."

"Never," Harry breathed into Hermione's hair. She shuddered as his hot breath traced along the goosebumps of her neck ... or had it caused them?

Either way, Hermione grabbed onto Harry's arms for dear life as he slowly circled in a shallow descent. She was eminently thankful that he was so considerate of her fears, choosing to take his time rather than simply fall into a steep dive. It also allowed Hermione to enjoy the situation they were in.

For if she closed her eyes really tightly she could imagine that this wasn't actually a rescue ... it was really a cuddle.

The thought made her grin stupidly to herself as Harry landed them gently on the grass. He jumped off first, offering an arm to help her dismount. Hermione ignored his outstretched forearm, and chose instead to interlock their fingers. Harry didn't seem to mind that one little bit. He was still holding her hand as a voice suddenly reached them on the wind.

"Oh ... are you finishing, Harry? I thought we could fly together today."

"Not today, Sally. Sorry," Harry replied simply, turning to the Hufflepuff girl as she approached.

"No, today Harry is taken," Hermione added, curling into Harry's shoulder and smiling at him.

Harry grinned smugly and just shrugged as Sally-Anne hitched a crestfallen look onto her face.

"What she said!" Harry confirmed, then guided a laughing Hermione away from the Quidditch Stadium.

Harry and Hermione spent the day pretending to be satellites of the Great Lake. Or at least, they orbited it so many times that they might as well have been. They both launched into a confused set of apologies and attempted explanations for why they had each been acting so bizarrely, but they made almost no sense. In the end, Harry took charge and demanded to know what he had done to upset Hermione in the first place.

"I wasn't really upset," Hermione told him. "You just seemed to forget about me on your birthday ... after you met Maria Edge."

"Oh! Is that what it was!" Harry cried in something like relief. "I suppose I can see where you're coming from. I was a bit star-struck, I have to admit."

"Star-struck!" Hermione choked humorously. "You spent the entire time with your tongue hanging out!"

Harry blushed deeply. "Well ... she is a good-looking star!"

Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, I suppose she is."

"But that doesn't excuse me being a dick. I'm sorry. It was a great present - the best one I had. I really enjoyed myself ... I thought you did, too."

"I did ... till the end."

Harry frowned in his confusion. "But I don't get it. I thought you liked the Weird Sisters, too? Weren't you excited to meet them after the show?"

"I was," Hermione agreed. "But I hoped we could enjoy it together. In the end it was like you didn't need me there at all."

"Sorry," Harry mumbled reticently. "You didn't deserve that, especially after all the trouble you went to arranging it. I was a muppet. Forgive me?"

"Only if you forgive me," Hermione insisted. "For not meeting you last night ... or for the dozen other instances of me being a total gimboid to you lately. I don't know what's come over me."

"Then let's talk about that," Harry replied seriously. "Tell me about this diary, what it's been doing, and where this dirty creep Lockhart fits into it."

Harry was suddenly so angry that his magic flared again. A bramble bush on the side of the path caught fire with the expulsion, and Hermione had to put it out with water from her wand.

"Calm, Harry," Hermione soothed. "Lockhart hasn't done anything. Well, you know, like that."

"I should hope not," Harry snorted acidly. "And at least you've stopped calling him Gildy!"

"Oh dear, was I really calling him that!?" Hermione asked in abject horror. Harry nodded semi-teasingly. "Well, that's one habit I'm dropping right now!"

"What happened though?" Harry pressed.

"I really don't know," Hermione confessed. "I'm still trying to work it out. One moment I was scoffing at him, the same as you do, next minute he's all I'm thinking about. If I didn't know better I'd say I was ... love potioned."

The thought hit Hermione like a thunderbolt of disgust.

"You can brew love?" Harry asked in astonishment. "I didn't know that."

"Don't be silly, of course you cant," Hermione told him haughtily. "You cant fabricate love any more than you can whip up a batch of abject hatred. Such things are too raw and powerful to be created artificially. What you can brew is obsession and infatuation. And lust, as a by-product. No, Harry, if you ever fall in love, you'll know the difference. You'll know it's real."

"I-I will?" Harry stuttered. "How?"

Hermione smiled prettily at the look Harry was giving her. Her heart was doing flips.

"You just will. Your heart will tell you."

"I just hope I'll know the language when it does," Harry answered shyly. "I think I'd like to be in love."

"Y-you would?"

Harry nodded. "My Mum and Dad seem to like it. Sirius, too - even though he wont admit he is in love. So it must be a good thing, don't you think?"

"Oh yes, very good," Hermione replied breathily.

"But you weren't in love, were you?" Harry asked in a painfully tiny voice. "With Lockhart, I mean?"

"No!" Hermione shrieked. "Not at all! But someone wanted me to think I was."

"Lockhart?" Harry hissed angrily.

"Maybe," Hermione mused. "But maybe ... Tom Riddle. Perhaps both."

Harry gasped in shock. "Lockhart ... and Voldemort? But why?"

"Like I said, I don't know yet," Hermione answered. "I'm going to find out for sure, but I can only guess at this point."

Harry stopped Hermione and turned her bodily to face him. "Then tell me your guesses. I trust them more than most cold hard facts."

Hermione blushed hard. It was so difficult not to just reach out and kiss Harry right now. But maybe that would spook him too much. It didn't seem the right time, but it was so tempting.

"Okay, this is my working guess," Hermione began. "The diary got to me. It was powerful enough to block my thoughts from Pap's. That's frightening enough. But it also tried to stop us from being friends anymore. It was only the terror of that which allowed me to break it's hold on me. You're my best friend, Harry Potter, and I never want to lose you."

Harry blushed at Hermione's words and looked at his shoes. "I ... I don't want to lose you either. I thought I had. It made me so sad."

"Hey, that hasn't happened," Hermione hushed softly, easing Harry's drooped head back up. "And we wont let it, okay?"

"Okay," Harry agreed firmly. "Friends forever?"

Harry held out his hand again, but Hermione disregarded that. Instead, she stepped in close and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck.

"I prefer hugs to handshakes," she whispered in a trembly voice.

"Me too," Harry hummed back, shyly snaking his arms around her waist. They held the pose for seven full seconds, then seemed to simultaneously realise what they were doing and snapped apart as if they'd been electric-shocked.

"Okay then," Harry started in a high-pitch. "So you think this diary somehow put an enchantment on you?"

"That's my guess, yes."

"How? That would take some seriously Dark Magic."

"Which is why I suspect Tom Riddle," Hermione explained. "I don't think it's a coincidence that Pap was affected, too. And who else knows about my world and is nefarious enough to try and hurt my dæmon?"

"Apart from someone who has practised such Dark Magic on his own!" Harry hissed. "That utter scumbag! Pap ... he is okay, isn't he?"

"Yeah. As dopey as ever but otherwise unharmed!" Hermione joked.

"I hope Hedwig didn't peck him too hard," Harry grimaced. "Her beak is as sharp as her bark!"

Hermione laughed at that. "Pap will be fine. He's a stern old goat."

"So where does Lockhart fit into this?" Harry went on. "It would be quite the coincidence to have two Defence Professors under the influence of Voldemort."

"I don't think we can rule it out, Harry," Hermione replied darkly. "I mean, think about it - we both know that Lockhart is a total fraud. He can barely spell spell, let alone cast one. But yet the entire world and his Grim eat up his books like they are gospel."

"What are you suggesting? That he somehow uses his books to hoodwink people?" Harry gasped in astonishment.

"I don't know. All I see is the evidence of Lockhart's ineptitude standing in opposition to his published works. People know him, know how limited he is as a wizard. But yet he has the world convinced he's done all the things he's written about. Something just doesn't add up."

"And, when you factor these diaries into it, it reeks of Dark Magic," Harry scowled thoughtfully. "But I was talking to Neville about it, and he agreed. Our dream diaries don't have the words fade into them. But yours does. That's worrying."

"I'd call it sinister," Hermione corrected. "Because the girls in my dorm say it happens to all of theirs, too. It seems to just affect the girls of the school."

Harry swore loudly, then apologised immediately. "So what you're saying ... is that Lockhart knows all the dreams of the girls in the school ... by using these diaries to get them to confess to him?"

"It would seem that way," Hermione nodded. "But I think, somehow, that the diaries feed back into the girls. Lockhart must have some sort of power with words. It makes people believe whatever he writes."

"And he has written that you should all be in love with him!"

"Something like that," Hermione blushed. "But I wouldn't put it past him for him to be convincing us all to brew our own love potions, to make ourselves obsessed with all things Lockhart! If we do it to ourselves, he cant be accused of anything."

"That's Dark Magic if ever I've heard of it!" Harry cried. "It's a violation! An outrage! He put an enchantment on you!"

"But I broke it," Hermione reminded him quickly. "Because of my lo - ... lovely friendship with you. It saved me."

Harry swallowed hard and tried to bring his pulse under control. It was misbehaving again.

"Do you ... do you think Voldemort taught Lockhart some sort of Dark Spell?" Harry pondered.

"I don't know, Harry, but one thing is for certain," Hermione replied quietly. "Tom Riddle was trying to be a Dictator ... and every Dictator needs a publicist, someone to spread their doctrine. Even Lord Voldemort wouldn't change hearts and minds without someone skilled at propaganda. Someone had to be penning his speeches and slogans"

"And now he's teaching us a perverted version of Defence," Harry breathed. "Not only that, but he has access to you ... to us. You think Voldemort called in a favour from Lockhart?"

"That's my guess," Hermione confirmed. "And it's further strengthened by the voice that I heard last night. The one you heard on my birthday."

"How so?"

"Think about it, Harry!" Hermione implored. "What is it that you and Tom Riddle can do, but nobody else we know can?"

Harry thought a minute. "We can speak to snakes!"

"Exactly!" Hermione nodded excitedly. "And that's what I think I heard. I don't know what it was, or what it means, but I heard a voice that wasn't there. And it wasn't a human voice. And if we assume that Tom Riddle had taken control of my mind, then maybe the effect had lingered long enough for me to hear the voice of some sort of serpent nearby."

"But how will we know for sure?"

"We hunt it down ... together," Hermione insisted firmly. "And if we hear the same thing again we'll know I'm right. So I'm going to keep the diary close for a little bit. I wont write in it again, but I will read it a bit, just to keep the connection going."

"No, that's too dangerous," Harry told her, shaking his head. "I wont let you do it."

"It's alright, Harry," Hermione smiled. "I'm immune now. I have you to protect me. I can do this ... we can do it, if we stay true to each other."

They shared a hard but determined look. Harry knew Hermione wouldn't budge an inch on this.

"Okay. But at the first sign of trouble I'm pulling you out. Deal?" Harry insisted. "And you keep me close at all times."

Hermione flushed shyly. "I can promise that for sure!"

"Come on then," Harry replied, heart fluttering wildly. "Let's hunt us some snake!"

With that they raced back to the school. Unbeknownst to them, though, was that while they were making up something had beaten them to the hunt ...

And it had already claimed its first victim.