Hello people,

Ok, I'm late but it's not really my fault: I had problems connecting and a big computer problem. And I'm not suicidal to the point of updating you from the desktop computer!

I hope you enjoy this chapter and a big thank you to les Varioufs for the translation that I cannot reread with him because I don't read English well enough to be of any use!

Good reading!

"Harry, you're cheating," Hermione protested, "there's already been an ace of clubs."

"We're playing with two decks," the young man replied.

"And I have the second one in my hand!"

"Ok, ok let's not count this round," grumbled Harry, picking up all the cards as Ron stared at him mockingly.

He redistributed the deck, sighing melodramatically and muttering about the total lack of trust the young witch had in him. A totally justified lack of trust, of course, but that wasn't the point. He grimaced as he looked at his hand, but Hermione's suspicious gaze dissuaded him from magically altering the value of his cards.

The curfew had come into effect twenty minutes ago but, since the first of September was a Friday this year, they didn't have any lessons the next day and therefore didn't need to go to bed early.

With this in mind, they had started a game of crazy eights after explaining the rules to Ron, who didn't know this Muggle game. Hermione had also bought two board games: the magical version of monopoly and a game of her own making; designed for their NEWTs, it was like trivial pursuit, with the questions being on herbology, potions, transfiguration, spells, etc… and Quidditch, of course. And each year the players could add a deck of cards corresponding to their year of study. Hermione hoped to help the boys revise in a fun way using this game.

For the moment, the young witch felt herself becoming increasingly angry when she saw the ace of diamonds for the third time, courtesy of Ron. She couldn't decide between making the boys happy by pretending not to notice anything, or having an enormous, angry fit before ditching them and going to read in the dormitory.

Just as Hermione was about to let herself be tempted by the second option, she heard sharp knocking on the Fat Lady's portrait. Dean Thomas, who was walking in front of it, automatically opened the door and recoiled.

"Thank you Mr Thomas."

Professor Snape walked into the common room and scanned the room. Harry, who had paled dramatically at the sound of Snape's voice, froze in his armchair, thinking that if he didn't move perhaps he wouldn't see him. While this technique worked well against a blast-ended skrewt, it was totally useless against his father.

"Harry, follow me, I would like to talk to you."

The sentence, although it was perfectly polite and said calmly, had a cooling effect on the common room. Snape was obviously angry. No one missed his expression and all of them were worried for Harry. Harry stood slowly, aware of the eyes on him but knowing that he must under no circumstances annoy his father.

Seeing that the young man was following him closely, Snape turned on his heel and stalked from the Gryffindor common room. Harry sped up so that he didn't fall behind Snape's fast pace, praying that the man wouldn't take him to the dungeons.

After a few hundred metres, the professor opened one of the disused classrooms with a flick of his wand and walked in, gesturing for Harry to follow him. He slammed the door behind him, locked it magically and cast a muffliato, making the young wizard tremble.

Then he leaned nonchalantly against a desk and crossed his arms. "Well?"

"Well what, Father?" Harry asked quietly, not knowing how else to respond and hoping not to set off an explosion of anger.

"Well, what part of being forbidden to fight did you not understand? What part of 'you will be severely punished' did you miss?"

Ah, he had found out about the train. Who had told him? Malfoy? No. He wouldn't have boasted about getting his wand out in the middle of the Hogwarts Express. Dementia? She wouldn't have betrayed him, knowing what it would mean for him… After all there had been witnesses from every year, who had perhaps talked about it among themselves… And his father tended to eavesdrop.

"I'm waiting," hissed Snape and Harry jumped, suddenly realising that he hadn't answered the question.

"It was…"

He stopped suddenly. It was his fault – that's what he was about to say. But that wouldn't be an excuse in Snape's opinion, just a confession. And then if his father asked him about it more, he would find out that he had taken his wand out first. Malfoy hadn't threatened him. He had just insulted him. Again. The more he replayed the scene in his head the more he thought he would be sleeping on his front tonight, if he slept at all.

"Harry!" snapped Snape – he was starting to lose patience.

"We didn't fight," the young man protested weakly as a last resort. "We did get out our wands – that's true – but we didn't fight."

"And Malfoy just fell over all by himself on the train?"

"He didn't fall over, his gormless friends caught…" Harry protested, falling silent quickly when he realised he had fallen into the trap like a first year.

Snape raised a mocking eyebrow at Harry's crestfallen expression. He grabbed a chair and sat in it.

"Right. You have five minutes."

"What?" Harry asked.

"You have five minutes to convince me that I shouldn't take off my belt and make it so that this conversation stays etched onto your back, instead of just into your memory, for a whole week."

Harry swallowed hard. He opened his mouth several times but no words came out.

"Very eloquent," Snape commented coldly. "Three minutes."

Harry felt panic beginning to take over. His explanations wouldn't convince Snape and he knew it. How could he explain to him how he felt when Malfoy had stopped him from approaching Dementia? When he had put him down yet again?

"Time's up!" hissed Snape, standing up and grabbing his belt.

"No," moaned Harry, retreating towards the door. "No, please, I'm sorry."

"Oh you will be, I promise."

"Please… Professor… Father…"

"So tell me, for Salazar's sake! Tell me what happened! Do you really think you have anything to lose?"

"I don't know what happened!" Harry cried, losing his cool. "I don't know anything! I just wanted Dementia to give me some money so I could buy something to eat. It wouldn't have happened if I had been able to go to Gringotts to take out some gold!"

"What did Malfoy say to you?" asked Snape, letting the mention of Gringotts slide.

"Nothing… nothing that justified me disobeying you, I know," Harry replied, disheartened.

Snape sighed. He didn't really want to punish Harry so soon after arriving at Hogwarts and, after the turbulent summer that they had spent together, he hadn't thought that the teenager would have disobeyed him in such a way without good reason. According to what he had heard in the Slytherin common room, the two boys hadn't fought. They had drawn their wands but Dementia had intervened. The pest had been careful not to tell him about that part of the journey.

He had interrogated Malfoy, who unsurprisingly had told him that Potter had thrown himself at him like a scorned hippogriff for no reason. He had dropped the matter and warned the young prefect that he would not tolerate this type of behaviour at Hogwarts.

He wasn't stupid. Malfoy claiming that it was for "no reason" left him more than confused, and he wanted Harry's version of events.

He had tried to find out more from Dementia but the young woman had used the 'Fifth Amendment' excuse and had disappeared before he could retort that they weren't Americans, they weren't Muggles, and the Fifth Amendment couldn't be used in this case.

He sat back down and held out a hand to his son. "Harry, come here."

The young wizard hesitated for a moment, then he came closer slowly, tensely, ready to jump back nimbly if there was a threat. With a simple wave of his wand, Snape summoned another chair.

"Sit down. Please."

Pale as a ghost, the teenager obeyed.

"Tell me what Malfoy said to you. I think I have proven to you over the last few weeks that I'm not going to physically punish you wildly and without listening to your side. You still have the chance to avoid it Harry, so take it."

Harry sighed and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?" Snape asked. "I know I have good hearing but I must admit that I didn't understand any of your mumbling."

"He told me I wasn't allowed to talk to Dementia."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Snape said, raising an eyebrow.

"He told me I was worthless, that I had to ask for charity and that Dementia wouldn't resort to mixing with a friend of mudbloods."

"I see. I don't think that's a good enough excuse, Harry. It's not the first time Draco has insulted you…"

Harry tensed and bowed his head, unable to meet his father's gaze.

"However, I have let Draco's behaviour slide and it would be unfair if I didn't do the same for you, knowing that you were provoked. After all, you didn't cast any spells, although I think only Dementia intervening stopped you and you weren't inside the castle. But this cannot happen again, Harry. I'm not joking. Next time, I won't even ask you for an explanation, do you understand?"

The teenager nodded nervously. Snape stood up, dusted off his robes with a swish of his wand, unlocked the door and then cancelled the silencing charm.

"Come, I will take you back to your common room."

Neither of them spoke on the way back. Once they reached the door, Harry muttered the password and the Fat Lady opened the door without saying a word, the professor's presence making her stay quiet. Snape leaned through the doorway and grabbed Harry's arm.

"If Malfoy starts to annoy you too much, you shouldn't hesitate to tell me."

"I'm not a snitch!"

"What?"

"Er… I mean I don't tell on people…"

"You complained to Dementia every time I looked at you strangely," Snape exclaimed, indignant.

"That's not the same," grumbled the young man.

"Alright, fine, deal with it yourself! But not by fighting, is that clear?"

"Yes," Harry snapped moodily.

"Yes what?" scolded Snape, raising his voice slightly.

"Yes, Professor," the teenager replied innocently – he hadn't forgotten the conversation they had had about names before leaving the manor.

Snape, who also remembered it perfectly, rolled his eyes. He'd backed himself into a corner and couldn't say anything about it. He nodded curtly and turned on his heel, finally letting the Fat Lady close the portrait behind him.

Hermione quickly approached Harry, and the conversations in the common room began to die out.

"Are you ok, Harry?"

Harry nodded in the direction of his classmates and led Hermione and Ron into his dormitory, where Neville and Dean were already sitting.

"Harry, is everything alright?" Dean asked.

"Yes," the young wizard replied, smiling. "I got a mega-long morality lesson and was threatened with being locked up and the key thrown away if I did anything wrong again… but everything is fine."

"Professor Snape didn't do anything to you?" Neville asked, incredulous.

"I swear he didn't. He isn't stupid – he knows that Malfoy wasn't completely innocent."

"Since when does that normally annoy him?" muttered Ron.

"It's different now, Ron," Hermione explained. "Harry is his son, so he'll come before Malfoy. Or at least, they'll be equally important," she corrected herself, seeing the openly sceptical looks on her classmates' faces, Harry included.

"And imagine Dementia's reaction if Harry had been punished and Malfoy hadn't…" snickered Ron.

Harry smiled at the memory of how his sister had threatened Malfoy on the train. He hoped that it hadn't been an empty threat and that the young woman was really going to write to Malfoy's father to complain about his behaviour.

As a group, the five students decided not to go back down into the common room, so that Harry didn't get any unwanted attention for no reason. Hermione went back down to find the card game and the two board games, then came back and sat in the dormitory with the boys so they could continue playing. She left just before midnight to join Lavender and Parvati in her own dormitory.

Harry, Ron, Dean, Neville and Seamus, who had finally joined them in the dormitory, played Exploding Snap for another hour before giving up and going to bed.

The next morning, a tired Harry and Ron muttered as they followed Hermione, who was perfectly awake and was lecturing them about their sleeping habits, and how they must change if they wanted to pass their OWLs.

Still half asleep, the boys managed to refrain from arguing that they hadn't even started lessons yet, and couldn't help but shiver in horror when the young woman announced that she was going to make them homework timetables as soon as they got their timetables. They sat at the Gryffindor table to eat their breakfast while Professor McGonagall handed out said timetables.

"Hey! We've got lots of free lessons!" Ron exclaimed, delighted, causing Harry to gesture for him to be quiet.

"That will give us plenty of time to do our homework and revise!" Hermione said firmly. Ron deflated and smiled weakly as the young woman added, "I'm going to make my plan now. I'll do both of yours when I know when you have Quidditch practice, Harry. I'll ask Angelina. Ron, I'll give you the same free time as Harry – I suppose you'll want to watch training."

The two boys smiled in resignation as she walked off. The idea of arguing with her didn't even occur to them, and Harry knew that he would need her help and organisational skills anyway if he wanted to achieve the results Snape demanded.

Speaking of Snape… He looked up at the professors' table and saw Snape and Dementia in the middle of a discussion, clearly quite agitated. He met Snape's gaze, and Snape acknowledged him with a nod. The young man was relieved to see that there was no anger or resentment in Snape's eyes.

Dementia smiled at him and stuck out her tongue, then stood up and walked over to them, using their presence as an excuse to escape from a conversation where she had been failing to convince Snape of the benefits of making Potions optional after first year.

She sat down at the table next to Ron and facing Harry – the seat where Hermione had been sitting. Before she even said hello to anyone she hastily tried to clear things up with her brother.

"It wasn't me!"

"What wasn't you?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I didn't tell Dad about what you did on the train!"

"I know."

"He told you?" the young woman asked incredulously.

"What do you think?" Harry asked, smiling. "I couldn't picture you getting me into trouble like that. I think he just heard the Slytherins talking about it in the common room – that and Malfoy told him his version of what happened. You know, the usual rubbish where he is innocent and good and I'm the evil Harry Potter who's always trying to hurt baby Malfoy."

Dementia and Ron burst out laughing while Harry innocently helped himself to some pumpkin juice.

"By the way," he asked eagerly, "did you write to Malfoy's father?"

"No."

"Why not?" Harry asked, clearly disappointed.

"Because compared to Lucius Malfoy, Dad is a loving, patient and tolerant father. If I tell Lucius that his son was disrespectful to me, and given the punishment he will get, I would have to explain to Dad who got their wand out first… so it's fair, of course…"

Harry glared at his sister, who smiled angelically back at him. He shrugged. Fine, he would just have to wait for another day to know that Malfoy was worse off than he was.

"Hey," Ron said, changing the subject, "it's sunny – should we go to the lake?"

"Good idea," Harry said approvingly. "Are you coming with us, Demi?"

"I can't," groaned the young woman. "Madam Pince wants to show me how the library works. I told her that any random Squib would know how to run a library but I don't think she took it well…"

"Don't worry," Ron sighed, discretely pointing at Hermione, who was coming back. "We have the same sort of problem."

The boys snickered as Hermione stared at them suspiciously. She categorically refused to go with them to the lake; she had timetables to finish and wanted to ask Madam Pince for permission to read in the library before it got overrun with students.

Harry and Ron shrugged and set off in the direction of the lake. Dementia watched them enviously and, after glaring at her father, who was half smiling at her mockingly, she quickly trudged after Hermione.

The boys had sat down near the edge of the lake so that they could talk without, as Ron phrased it, "potentially over-emotional women" being around.

"So?" the redhead asked, lying on the grass.

"So what?" Harry asked carefully.

"Harry, please, not to me," Ron sighed. "When Snape came into our common room last night you were as nervous as Mrs Norris surrounded by werewolves. So I got worried…"

"You don't have to worry," Harry retorted in what he hoped was a firm voice.

Ron sat up quickly, apparently indignant at his friend's response. "I don't have to worry? Personally, I think that when I see you shaking like a leaf when Snape's around, even though you fought Quirrell in first year, the Basilisk in second year, Pettigrew in third year and You-Know-Who last year, after already fighting a Hungarian Horntail and swimming with Grindylows, I think I actually have a good reason to be worried. Bloody hell, Harry, what has he done to you?"

"Nothing," Harry reassured him. "Nothing that you don't already know. Seriously," he added, seeing Ron's sceptical expression. "But he banned me from fighting, he promised me that if I got into a fight, he would make sure to punish me again, and I kind of lost my cool with Malfoy on the train. You might know what happened but I was in the middle of it all and believe me, it makes a big difference. But when he's punishing me, I have to stay quiet and still and just grit my teeth and wait until he decides to stop hitting me."

"And he's only hit you twice, right? You'd tell me if it was more?"

"Yes, Ron, I promise I'd tell you."

Ron sighed but didn't reply. He simply lay back down, using his cloak as a cushion. "Well, it's going to be wicked this year…"

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well… if you can't come out at night anymore or do our pranks… and, if I understood properly, have to work – more than normal I mean – it's going to be… great…"

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly going to become a second Hermione, am I?"

Ron sighed again in response. Harry frowned and angrily threw a few stones into the water. A few seconds later, the two friends were sprinting desperately back to the castle, followed by a stream of random objects thrown belligerently in their direction by an angry tentacle.

"Great aim, Harry!" grumbled Ron.

"I wasn't aiming!"

They arrived, panting, at the steps to the castle, where they collapsed, laughing uncontrollably.

"What do we do now?" Ron asked once they had managed, with great difficulty, to calm down. "We could go to the common room, since you got us chased away from the lake."

"It's not my fault he's not nice! And how was I supposed to know that he was right at the edge like that?"

"I think it's actually a 'she'."

"Oh right, well that explains everything…"

The two boys burst out laughing again, thanking Merlin that Hermione wasn't there to hear them. When they were calm enough to walk straight, they walked to the common room to play a game of chess.

The day went quickly, and so did the next. It was Sunday night before they even realised. Hermione cheerfully made the most of Dementia's presence and squatted in the library, which was still shut to students. Madam Pince turned a blind to this little bit of rule breaking. She particularly liked Hermione, who always respected her precious books.

The boys had therefore barely seen her over the weekend, making Ron repeatedly say, "Lessons haven't even started yet…"

Harry had carefully avoided finding himself face to face with his father, not wanting to hear the rules and threats for the coming year again and, to his great relief, Snape had also not tried to find him to have this conversation again.

On Sunday evening, Hermione joined them in the common room and, with an amused smile, she handed them their timetables, which she had checked and completed.

"Go on then, complain…"

Ron and Harry exchanged sad looks but refrained from arguing. What good would it do? Arguing would only make Hermione launch into one of her endless speeches on the importance of revising from the beginning of the year in order to pass their exams, especially in their OWL year.

Instead, in unison, they folded their timetables four times and put them in their pockets without even looking at them, looking at Hermione defiantly. The latter rolled her eyes at their childishness, but refrained from commenting at all, even if she was itching to explain to them precisely why this year was essential.

Instead, she curled up in her armchair and watched the boys finish their chess game, which Harry lost, just like the four previous games. Then she agreed to play wizarding Monopoly.

"But just one," she stressed. "Classes start tomorrow, so we can't get to bed too late!"

"Bloody hell, 'Mione," Ron protested, setting up the board. "Don't start that again!"

"Ronald!"

"Seriously, 'Mione, drop it," Harry joined in.

"Harry!"

"No, listen, we promise we'll play just one game and then we'll go to bed, ok?"

Hermione muttered something unintelligible and rolled the dice. Half an hour later, the game came to an end with Ron in the lead; he had fleeced his two opponents and controlled two thirds of the board at the moment. Hermione carefully packed up her game and then, wishing her friends a good night, went up to her dormitory. Less than two minutes later, she had come back downstairs and was desperately rummaging in her bag.

"Is something up, 'Mione?" Harry asked.

"Yes," moaned the young woman. "I got my diary out in the library earlier to take out a piece of parchment and I was sure I had put it back but I think…"

The young woman trailed off, biting her lip, then suddenly emptied her bag all over the floor.

"Hermione?" Ron tried.

"I must have left it there," moaned the young woman, on the verge of tears. "It was leather-bound, I must have confused it with a book and put it on the trolley with the others. What if someone finds it! Merlin, what if a Slytherin finds it!"

"What's in the diary?" Harry asked.

"Everything! Absolutely everything! My fears, my desires, everything about me is in there! I didn't even protect it with a spell! How could I have been so stupid?"

"Ok, ok, don't panic," Harry replied, "you said you left it in the library?"

"Yes," Hermione replied in a small voice.

"Good, it's closed to students, so no one will have found it except Madam Pince or Demi, and neither of them would read it."

"But what if no one found it, or Demi tidied it up with the others? I stacked the books according to subject, so she might not necessarily have looked at the books before putting them back!"

"Calm down, 'Mione," Ron said. "We'll work something out! Could you go tomorrow before class?"

"The library doesn't open until 9 on Mondays, Ron! And the Slytherins don't have any lessons from 9 to 10, but we do!" Hermione said, sounding more and more hysterical.

"Right," declared Harry, "there's only one solution."

He stood and quickly climbed the stairs to his dormitory, coming back several minutes later with two objects the trio knew well in his hand.

Hermione shook her head. "Harry, no! Not on the first day! Professor Snape will kill you!"

"He won't know anything about it, 'Mione! Do you want a Slytherin to find your diary?"

"No," murmured the young witch.

"Good. Demi should still be in the library."

Harry handed Ron the invisibility cloak and pointed his wand at the map he held in his hands. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

He quietly watched as the map of the castle appeared as if drawn by invisible hands, then looked at the footsteps that were moving. "Ok, Demi is in the library. Filch is on the 7th floor. Mrs Norris is in the girls' toilets on the 4th floor. My father is in his rooms. The coast is clear."

Ron hesitated for a moment before hesitantly speaking. "You don't have anything to prove, Harry. We can go without you, you know."

As a response, Harry grabbed the invisibility cloak and threw it over them. "Don't be stupid, Ron, let's go and find this bloody diary!"