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Harry Potter and the Robbery Return

Chapter 5 - Passion

"Hey, guys." Hermione sleepily sat down at the Gryffindor table in the great hall the next morning, looking particularly tired. Ron smirked, "Been up all night getting a head start on studying, have you?" Giving him a glare she replied, "No silly. For your information, Parvati has allergies and she kept me up all night with her snoring." She rolled her eyes and rested her head on her hand. Harry rubbed his eyes, he, too, was tired. That night he had another one of his many dreams. He had them a lot. Some were good, and some were bad. Of course, this one was bad. Voldemort was back-probably due to his run in with his father-and he wasn't scared. "Schedules! Schedules!" Professor McGonagall cried, frantically passing out pamphlets as she passed. Ron grabbed his from her and took one look at it and started to complain, "Ugh! Double Potions first." Sighing in reply, Harry and Ron made their way down to the dungeons- in order to be on time-and Hermione lagged behind them, barely awake. As they entered the potion's dungeon, joy spread throughout their bodies. Snape wasn't there as well as no teacher at all. He was never late! They earnestly waited in their seats looking back at the door every few seconds, but no one came. When the three of them turned back to the front of the classroom, they found Dumbledore standing there, his hands folded. "Ahem. Professor Snape has been sent to the Ministry of Magic under legal circumstances. For the time being, I will fill in as your teacher until a suitable substitute." Dumbledore said calmly. "But as I do not remember much about potion making, you will please talk amongst yourself for the rest of the hour." Half the class cheered under their breath. Others, among Malfoy and his pals, looked traumatized. All anyone could talk about was about whether or not Snape was in trouble or not. After all, it as the Ministry. "I think that Snape isn't at the Ministry! He's somewhere else-to secret for us to know anything about. Yeah, that's it." "Nah, he's just in danger with the wizard world." "He's just helping the Ministry! I don't know what you're talking about." "No way!" Harry, however, didn't know what to think, and frankly, he didn't care. He knew what kind of dilemma he had been in before. Snape had worked for Voldemort, years and years ago. That's the only thing Harry could think of, that is, in which he'd be in trouble with the Ministry.

"Well, hullo there, Harry, Ron, Hermione," Hagrid greeted them before he started his Care of Magical Creatures class and turned to the rest of the group. "Welcome back all of yer! Ready for another year, I reckon?" Groans echoed throughout the group. "Yes.well, this here's a creature I jus' got this year. "It's a Nogtail. They are found in Australia, Russia, and America," Hagrid explained as he pointed to a creature tied up to a tree nearby. It looked particularly like a pig. "It's tied up 'cause this little demon is hasty and darn right hard ter catch. Also, accordin' to The Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, they are locked up 'cause of this an' will be returned ther' at the end of this lesson." The pig-like-creature, struggling to escape from his leash, almost took the tree down with him. "Well, go an' touch him!" Hagrid ordered nicely. Several students cautiously approached the creature, taking a giant leap back every time it lurched forward. It wasn't mean, it was just a weird form of friendly.

The rest of the day dragged on until by the end of the afternoon, they had two hours worth of homework. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were just finishing there's in the Great Hall-well, Hermione at least. "This homework is a drag! And on the first day! Honestly, they have no consideration for our social lives!" Ron complained, slouching on the bench. "Social lives? Oh please! It you would stop stalling you'd be done!" chuckled Hermione, who closed her books for the night. Harry however wasn't listening. His eyes and ears, as well as the rest of his body were focusing on Cho Chang, a beautiful Ravenclaw in seventh year. Brilliant! He wanted to think once more, but he couldn't. Last year, Harry had asked her to the Yule Ball, however, he was turned down-politely-as she was already attending with Cedric Diggory. Something was different about her. Where was his passion for her that he had before? It just didn't feel the same.

That night in the Gryffindor common room, Harry sat awake, partly to finish his homework and partly to think. He lay down on the big red couch and propped his head up with his hands. The stars outside the window sparkled and lit up the night sky as Harry walked. "Harry?" He shot up. "Oh. Hello," it was Hermione. She gave him a puzzled look, "What are you doing?" "I think I should ask you the same question." "Parvati.I couldn't sleep." she answered. Harry offered Hermione a seat, "Er-I'm doing homework." He waited for a sharp reply, but there was none. They sat for a long time on the couch just staring into the dying fire. "Oh.um, do you need help with your work? Harry turned to her and he caught himself gazing into her eyes. It was then that he realized where his passion was, and it was beautiful.