"Here's the stones, Minerva" Arabella said, handing them to her.

She studied them, and looked up.

"What does this mean? These sparkles?"

There were sparkles showing up all over both the stones.

"Don't worry about it" Arabella said. "Sparkles mean Nostalgia."

"Yeah, but look at all this blue." Minerva said sadly.

"Depression. We better get going fast."

"Let's go see Albus."

"Provided Doctor Gus lets us in..."

They laughed. "It's a wonder he's been able to keep in bed this long."

********************************************************************************

They entered the Headmaster's living quarters. He was there in bed, enjoying a cup of tea with Gus.

"Hello" he said as they walked in. "Have you got the stones?"

Minerva handed them to him at once.

He sighed as he looked them over. "This is getting worse. Get Ron and Harry in here."

"As far as we know, Ron's in bed, and Harry is still in the den you told us about."

"Get them in here, I want to start the training right now. Get Ron, and tell him to go to the den to fetch Harry."

"Ginny is going to help to." Minerva said.

Dumbledore eyed her, but said nothing. "Sirius, will you go get Ron and Ginny?"

"What? Oh, yeah, sure." He was nearly falling asleep on his feet, even after the coffee. (But half of it ended up on the ground, remember?). "and then, for god's sake, go get some sleep!"

He walked out and headed towards the Gryffindor Common room.

"Sirius Black!" yelled the fat lady. 'Wha- wha- what are you doing here?" She had never really gotten over the time he slashed her up to get inside.

"Oh, right, sorry 'bout that incidence a couple years ago. Heat of the moment. But I'm kinda in a hurry, you know, business for Dumbledore. Can I go in?"

"Well, I guess" she said, opening for him, cautiously.

He walked in, and saw Ginny sitting in a chair by the fire.

"Ginny, do you know where Ron is?"

"Yeah, I think he's still in bed."

"Go get him, and come on, Dumbledore wants to see you guys."

She nodded, and went up to the common room, returning a few minutes later with a very sleepy looking Ron.

"Ron, go get Harry."

"Where is he?"

"The den."

"Oh right. We'll meet you guys."

"In Dumbledore's rooms. By his office."

Ron walked off in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked as they walked down the hallway.

Sirius yawned. "I think Dumbledore wants to start training you guys."

"But isn't he still sick?"

"Yeah, well, he's also as stubborn as a mule, and we're all worried about Harry and Ron."

They entered the room.

"Hello Professor." Ginny said. "How are you feeling?"

"Very well, Ginny, thank you. Where are Harry and Ron?"

"Ron went to get Harry out of the den."

The headmaster nodded. "Well Ginny, Professor McGonagall informed me you wish to help."

"Well, yeah. She said I could learn little spells, and keep and an eye on Harry and Ron, help them practice."

At that moment, Ron came in, dragging a very sleepy looking Harry behind him.

"Well, since were all here I guess we can start." He thought for a moment. "Yes, we'll have to move to the den."

"But we can't get into the den." Arabella said.

"I realize that, but there are some things in there that I need. Harry, Ron, lead Ginny to the den, I will meet you there. She will be let in, I think, since you trust her. I will be there in a minute."

The trio left.

"Albus, you're not supposed to get out of bed!" Minerva said, frowning.

"I think this is important enough. As long as I'm sitting down, I'll be fine."

"Gus?"

"Yes, I think he'll be okay."

"Fine then, let's get moving. Sirius, Arabella, stay here and monitor the stones."

Arabella nodded. "But don't do to much with them." She pointed to the stones. Another color had been added to them. "Black for exhaustion."

"I will try, but you know as well as I know, it is imperative we get Hermione back. Very soon."

**************************************************************************

"Wow!" Said Ginny, walking into the den. "Why didn't you tell me about this place before?"

Ron shrugged. "Because, well, it was our secret place."

They all slumped down on the comfortable couch.

"I've been sleeping in here for the past couple hours, and I'm still totally exhausted. I think I'm going to fall asleep again."

"Don't" Dumbledore said, walking through the door. "We have a lot to learn." He eyed the cauldron in the corner. "You'd think it'd be a little more ornate for such a powerful magic object..."

"That's the magic cauldron?" Ginny said.

"Yeah." Said Harry. "Ron and I got it back."

"Well," said Dumbledore. "Let's start. Harry, will you fetch me that big huge silver book, on the top shelf?"

Ginny looked up. The ceiling of the den was extremely high, the highest shelf was about twenty-five feet up.

Harry slowly levitated himself up to the shelf, grabbed the book off the shelf, and floated back down, handing him the book.

"Whoa, do we get to learn how to do that?" Ginny asked.

"No, first we're going to work on channeling power, so that Harry can bring back Hermione, with the help of all our power. After we can learn how to do stuff like that."

"Why Harry?"

"Because he's a true Druid. You are only studying Druid magic."

"Okay, let's get started, then."

The lesson grew more intense as it went on. They practiced channeling power through Harry, which was exhausting enough for them. But it was worse for harry, who had to learn to control all the power surging through him, and you it in the right way. And he was showing the strain too. He looked absolutely exhausted, and was starting to loose his concentration.

Dumbledore finally called it quits. "Good job you guys." He eyed his watch. "It's very late, so you should go to bed."

He conjured up three goblets of hot chocolate. They drank it thirstily, but right after Harry finished his, he fell asleep.

Ron and Ginny looked puzzled.

"I gave him a potion for a dreamless sleep. He looked like he needed it."

They nodded.

"Goodnight," Ron said, yawning.

He was almost out the door, when he stopped and turned around. Dumbledore was pulling a blanket over Harry.

"Uh, Professor, when-"

"Soon, Ron. You'll see her soon."

He nodded, and the brother and sister left, oblivious of the sleeping potion they had drunk.

They would be asleep before their heads hit the pillow- literally. Hopefully, not too much before.

He stood up and examined the cauldron. He wished he could bring Hermione back himself, but it simply wasn't possible.

Harry had no idea how powerful he was.

********************************************************************************

"Dumbledore better call it quits soon." Arabella said, leaning into Sirius.

He sighed and pulled her closer. The stones were in her lap. A shadow hung over the other colors, especially Harry's.

"How much longer does this have to go on" Sirius asked, exasperated. "I hate waiting."

Dumbledore walked into the room, and collapsed onto his bed.

"So?" Arabella asked.

"They're nearly ready." He said. "Or as ready as they're going to be. We really can't afford to wait any longer."

"When can we do it?" Sirius held up the stones. "There is too much blue in here."

"Tomorrow Sirius. Tomorrow." He sighed again. "Arabella, go see Minerva and tell her to contact Miss granger's parents, explain to them what we're going to do, and why it's so important. Sirius, I want you to go up to the Gryffindor common room, and make sure Ginny and Ron got safely to their dormitories before collapsing. I might have given them a bit too much sleeping potion."

"Um, Albus- The fat lady..."

"Oh right. Well, Sirius, you really didn't need to slash her to pieces."

"I know, but well- heat of the moment. I really wanted to get the Pettigrew and strangle the daylights out of-"

"Sirius, that's enough." Arabella said. "I'll go. Go back to your place and get some sleep, you look like you're about to collapse."

"I'm going to get some sleep" The headmaster said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight" said Sirius and Arabella, leaving the room together.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Sirius said.

"No, go home. I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye." He gave her a short kiss. (Or at least compared to some of their others...) and walked down the hall.

********************************************************************************

Ron and Ginny entered the common room, completely exhausted.

"Hey," said Dean. "Where've you guys been?"

"Around" Ron said, nonchalantly. "Look you guys, we're really tired, so I'm going up to bed."

"Yeah, sure." Said Seamus. "Goodnight."

"Ron, I'm just going to sit by the fire for a while."

"Okay, see you tomorrow."

They turned back to their homework as Ron began to climb the stairs.

But they turned their heads quickly when they heard a series of thumps.

"Ron!" said Neville.

He was tumbling backwards down the long flight of stairs. He landed with a thump.

Everyone in the common room winced.

Dean, Seamus and Neville ran to the bottom of the stairs.

He was a sleep.

"Ginny, did you see that?"

But Ginny was out too, sprawled in one of the chairs.

They tried to shake Ron awake, but to no avail.

"Don't bother" came a voice from behind them. "It's a magic enduced sleep. Dumbledore must have given them too much.

"Who are you?" Dean asked.

"Arabella Figg. A friend of Professor Dumbledore, and of Harry and Ron." She looked up. "Did he fall down the stairs?"

They nodded.

"Okay, take him up to the dormitory. And will some one take Ginny, please?"

Parvati and Lavender volonteered.

"Okay, I'm going home. If Ron's sore when he gets up, tell him to go see Madam Pomfrey."

They nodded and she walked out of the common room, and went home to Sirius.

********************************************************************************

"Did you hear that, Lily? I get to go back! Tomorrow!" She hugged Lily. "Oh, miss them so much."

Lily smiled. "My dear, I know. But realize, things could be very different when you go back. It will be wonderful to go back, but remember what you are facing. You are all going to go through rigorous training, especially you and Harry."

"I know, but I think it will be better than watching from up here."

She felt a small hand in hers.

"But Hermi, if you go, who's going to keep me company?"

She smiled down at the little girl. "Desi, Lily will. You know I can't stay."

"Are you going to save Harry and Ron?"

"I hope so." She said, smiling.

Desiree got up on tip toes to reach her friend. She whispered in her ear,

"What's Harry like?"

"Well," Hermione said. "He had green eyes, like emeralds, and hair, black like a raven, that will never ever lie flat, no matter what I do. He's pretty short, and has the greatest smile. He can always make me smile or laugh.' She felt a tear run down her cheek. "Or cry. He's my best friend in the whole world, as well as Ron. And, and, I love him. I really truly honestly love him."

"Wow." Said Desiree. "I wish I could meet him."

"Maybe one day you will."

"Is Ron free?"

Hermione laughed, despite her tears. "You know what, Des? He's not your type. You can do much better..."

********************************************************************************

Lily leaned into James and wiped away her tears.

"Come on, lil, don't cry."

"James I can't help it. It's too much. They're only children. How they hold all this responsibility on their shoulders?"

"Lily, come on. They can handle it. And it's not like they have a choice."

"Harry was so happy... and now..."

"Lily, he'll have Hermione back. And I think that will be make a world of difference. They're happy together."

"They deserve each other. I'm just scared they won't have enough time. I don't want them to end up like us."

"They won't. But they're just like us..."

"Yeah, madly in love. But at least they both have sense, unlike you."

"Hey!" He laughed. "Nothing is going to happen Lil. Hermione and Harry are extremely powerful, and Ron is too, even without Druid powers. They'll be okay."

"That's what they said about us..."





Okay, that was a horrible part, and I'm sorry I've taken so long!

I admit, I made a big boo boo in the last part. (Did you see it?) When Ginny went to snape to asked whether prof. McGonagall was back yet, he said, "Yes, Miss Granger", not "yes, Miss Weasley" Sorry, I hope I didn't confuse you!

Please review, I'll try to have the next part up soon. (Yes, I'll bring Hermione back). Please stay tuned,

Review!

Thanx,

~Danie