A/n: Holy cow

A/n: Holy cow. I did NOT think I'd get these many readers, let alone reviews, in a single day. I'm overwhelmed. Thank you. And a GIANT thanks to MacGyverMagic for catching that thing with the wizard publishers– as you can see, I clarified that in this chapter. Thanks again, all you people! You're wonderful! ~Jerry

After dinner that night Harry and Ron decided to get a crack on reading Harry's aura so that they would be ready for when McGonagall piled on the Transfiguration homework. The Gryffindor Fifth Years were expecting a hard year, for they were taking their O.W.L.s in the spring, and naturally teachers such as Snape, McGonagall, and Flitwick would squeeze in all the information they could possibly fit inside their students' brains to better prepare them.

Harry correctly predicted that Hagrid wouldn't have any homework for his class, but he and the rest of the Gryffindors were pleasantly surprised about what a promising class Care of Magical Creatures was this year. They spent their first day back plucking tail feathers from Fwoopers, which were African birds with highly wild colors decorating their plumage, ranging from lime green to purple.

Hagrid set forth a difficult task, telling his Fifth Years that he needed the Fwoopers' tail feathers to make quills that would be sold at Flourish and Blotts. He also added that each student would get commissions for their feathers, depending on how intact the feathers were.

Although the Fifth Years set out to do Hagrid's bidding with high hopes, they found that Fwoopers were irritable birds that hated having their tail feathers plucked, and they made silent squawking noises at the students. Hagrid explained that these Fwoopers had their voices muted because their songs were infamous for driving one insane. But the Fwoopers got their angry messages across as they scratched, bit, and ruffled their wings at the students. Even Draco Malfoy had to work hard to keep his Fwooper in control. All in all, it was an interesting first day back. Plus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made two Galleons and seven Knuts between the three of them.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted when Ron said rather rudely that he didn't have all night to work on Divination, especially when Trelawney said they only needed half an hour. Harry turned his attention back to Ron.

"Right. Let me just copy down my notes from class before we do my aura," Harry said. He pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and started copying down his notes.

Ron looked at what Harry was doing. "You think she'll take it?" he asked.

"Sure. I'm just spitting back what she said in class. Isn't that what teachers like?"

"Usually, yes, but…sometimes that doesn't work."

Harry sighed. He did feel a little scrupulous about just copying down notes and calling it homework…but not that scrupulous, as most, if not all, of the stuff that Harry turned in was made up anyway.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I'll just spice it up with some narrative flare," Harry said at last, crumpling up his parchment and rewriting his name on a new piece. Instead of simply writing down, "Ron's aura has a greenish color," Harry wrote, "I see a great field of green within my friend Ron Weasley's aura, which screams out his compassionate and sensitive side with a passion…."

"That's good," Ron said, reading over Harry's shoulder. Within less than ten minutes, Harry was done with his Divination homework.

"All right…my turn," Harry said.

Ron nodded. "Let's see…what does chapter six of our book even say?"

"Dunno, but I bet it's all rubbish."

Ron flipped to the correct page of his book. He started skimming until he found a few good things about Harry.

"Let's see…she's a total sap for you and your tragic life…why don't we just look for that sort of stuff?" Ron said as he skimmed.

"Yeah, good call," Harry said. "Okay. Too much blue means blocked perceptions…that'd be good. Didn't she say something about blue being easy to see?"

"Ah," Ron said in Professor Trelawney's misty voice. "I see you possess the mark of melancholy, worrying, rushing, and fearfulness."

Harry snorted. They continued on, making certain they got all the most tragic elements they could out of the yellows and blues without sounding redundant, and it took Ron less time to do his homework than it took Harry to copy his.

"I see you are working ever so hard on your Divination, for a change."

Harry turned and saw Hermione approaching. She peered over Ron's shoulder.

"Ah, of course," she said, "what would Divination be without a little bit of made up calamity?"

"Hey, there's no denying that the planets have spoken," Ron yawned.

"The same planets you made up last year?"

"Yeah. Those planets." Ron filed away his homework.

"What brings you here?" Harry asked as Hermione sat down in an easy chair. He noticed Hermione had that look on her, the look that clearly said she was up to something, and it must not be good for either Harry or Ron.

Hermione grinned. "They replied to me."

It took Harry a moment to think of what Hermione was talking about.

"So soon?" he asked.

Hermione held up an official looking piece of parchment.

Harry picked it up. Two words were written on it:

You sure?

"Naturally, I wrote back right away, saying I'd bet my life on it." Hermione looked smug.

"Hermione," Harry said. "Are you sure? I mean, I looked into your thing on wizard publishers this afternoon, and you weren't that accurate. Quidditch Through the Ages alone was published by Whizz Hard Books in Diagon Alley, and there are other wizard publishers out there too, like Obscurus Books and Merlin Publishers, Inc."

"Ah, but did you look up where those books were published?" Hermione asked. "Whizz Hard is a Romanian publisher, even though it has a branch in London. Obscurus Books is Russian, and Merlin Publishers, Inc. was originally English but moved to Scotland a few years ago."

Harry looked at Hermione, puzzled.

"Hermione, how do you know all this?" Ron asked.

"Because," Hermione turned slightly pink. "A few summers ago I thought I could get a story published. Nothing came out of it, of course, but I did submit to a lot of wizard publishers as well as some Muggle ones, too." She said all this very fast.

Harry looked at Hermione with his mouth slightly open as she sat there, looking into the fire.

"I didn't know you liked to write," Harry said at last, feeling as stupid as he sounded.

"Yeah. It's a small habit of mine," Hermione said, sounding like she was trying to sound off-handish about it.

There was a deep pause in the conversation.

"Hey, wait!" Ron exclaimed suddenly. "So that's the real reason you hated that Sveeter woman so much. She not only was famous for her works, but she made everything up!"

"Yeah, exactly," Hermione said, sounding pleased that Ron made that connection. "And it's also why I want to see what this Rowling person has in mind in writing about Harry. About us. I mean, is she in it for fame and fortune, or does she really care about her art?"

Hermione sighed. "Oh well. Off to bed, right?"

Harry and Ron nodded. They were tired; the ride in Hogwarts Express and the first day back were always trying. Harry yawned, which made Ron yawn, and then Hermione.

"All right. Time to sleep," Hermione said with a giggle. She stood, taking the parchment with her. Ron and Harry got up also, taking their Divination homework with them.

As Harry undressed that night and crawled into his bed, he couldn't help but wonder about this Rowling lady. He also wondered whether somehow, he was being watched in his own four-poster.

But even then, the idea seemed obscure to Harry.