Disclaimer : Still no money, only blood and tears, are making me write, about Harrys years.

(If this is the best I can do, the Sorting Hats song is goint to be utter rubbish).

Summary :

Harry goes somewhere during the summer holidays after his forth year. He comes back a year later to teach D.A.D.A. (Defence Against the Dark Arts).

Authors Note :

Double wow. Only a few minutes after the second chapter was up and running, several people had already given hearwarming encouragement. Thanks to my latest reviews : Wolfmoon, zac-ravenclaw, Laterose and Selany. Thanks also to those who have put me on their favourite authors/stories list : you know who you are ;) .

Don't forget : reviews are always welcome, whether it be flames or praise, negative or positive, black or white, ying or yang … (you get the picture).

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The holidays passed, and soon it was September 1st. All the people Harry had written too had kept up a regular correspondance with Harry, who would regularly write back. He would still never give any information about his whereabouts, insisting that he had no idea where he was, which was believable. Dumbledore had tried to locate the letter by following the tracing charm. However, whilst the trail left by the letter was strong at first, it gradually faded till it was no longer detectable, much to the disappointment of Ron, Hermione, and, of course, Cho Chang.

Cho and Harry had been writing more often to each other than the others. Every other day, Cho would receive a letter, and send a reply back the day after. Cho was happy that she was finally learning about Harry. Whilst he wouldn't give away information easily, he was becoming more and more open to her as time passed. She still hadn't asked about details as to what had happened after the tri-wizard tournament, but was resolved to do so soon.

Cho was thinking about this as when was walking towards the platforms at Kings Cross Station. Her parents were walking next to her, telling her to behave, to work hard, and many things only parents consider to be on importance. Cho was only half listening, since her thoughts kept straying to Harry.

Walking through the wall between platforms 9 and 10, she arrived onto platform 9 ¾, where many fellow students were already putting their trunks onto the bright scarlet steam train. She looked for her house friends, but instead spotted Ron and Hermione, along with the rest of the Weasley family. Cho would visit weekly the Burrow, and Ron, Hermione and herself had become friends. She somehow had the feeling that she had been accepted into their group. 'It's no longer a threesome, but it's now a foursome' she told herself, allowing a smile to grace her pretty features.

That was probably the understatement of the year. She was popular, smart, hardworking, easy going, had a lot of good friends and was top of her year. She was also considered the prettiest girl in the school, that Ron had once asked if she had any Veela blood. 'Only one thing missing' she thought with a sigh. Love, with a capital L. However, her letters to Harry were starting to fill that particular void. Harry had promised that once he had had enough training, he would dream hop. He could already do that when the distances weren't great, but wasn't comfortable enough to do it for too great distances or for a very long time.

Finally spotting some of her fellow 6th year Ravenclaws, she hugged her parents goodbye, promising to write regularly, and went to join her friends.

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The train towards Hogwarts had prooved calm for Hermione, Ron and Ginny. Cho had dropped by just after they had left platform 9 ¾, and they had chatted for a for minutes. They had to deal with the constant flow of fellow Gryffindors, each wanting to know why Harry wasn't there. They had also been graced by the presence of Malfoy, although he hadn't stayed long after seeing Harry was missing. Ron was looking out the window, while Hermione and Ginny were quietly conversing.

"I wonder what he's doing right now …" Ron suddenly blurted out. Hermione and Ginny stopped talking and looked worriedly at Ron. Whilst he seemed to be OK on the outside, they bith knew that it was bothering him more than he let on. Ginny shared the bond with Ron that can only be found between siblings, and Ron and Hermione had grown much closer since she had stayed a whole month at the Burrow without Harry.

"All of his letters mentions training, he's probably learning some powerful spells, or maybe weapons fighting." Hermione suggested.

"Hmmm …" was the only reply he gave.

"Just think of all the things he'll be learning" she continued, while Ron rolled his eyes, "but I wonder what he'll do for his OWLs."

"Maybe he can pass them from where he is, or when he comes back."

"Possily."

A few minutes of awkward silence ensued before Hermione decided to try again. "Who do you think will be the new DADA teacher this year ?"

"Dunno. I hope it's professor Lupin. He was definitely the best we've had so far." He gave a small sigh. "I think we'll be needing these lessons more than any of the others in the near future."

Hermione frowned slightly. "I think we'll be learning some very interesting potions this year. Some should proove very useful. We'll be doing healing potions, for one."

"I know. I'm still smarting about how many corrections you made on my potions essay. I ended up having to re-write the whole thing."

"You're still grateful I did bother to correct it, aren't you ?"

"Yeah, but I doubt that it'll make a big difference for Snape."

"Unfortunately, you might be right about that one."

They eventually decided to play exploding snap, the fun only increasing as Seamus and Dean, 2 fellow Gryffindor 5th years joined in. Not even the rain which started shortly after midday could dampen their spirits …

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The beginning of the year went smoothly. Ron, Hermione and Cho were grateful to be able to send their mail to Harry without having to ask someone else to do it for them. Lessons went well, especially since Remus Lupin was back to teach the DADA classes, much to the delight of almost all of the students, Syltherins included. The only students who voiced and complaints about it were Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe, but their voices weighed little compared to all the other students, so they kept their complaints to themselves.

Dumbledore had explained the real reason of Harry's dissappearance to the Hogwarts staff. Flitwick had falled of his chair, Hagrid sniffed loudly despite having been one of the few to have received a letter from Harry, McGonagall just gasped and stayed, mouth gaping at the headmaster. Trelawney started going on how she already knew thanks to her inner eye having warned her beforehand, before being quietened by the glares from her fellow teachers. Even Snape, whose animosity towards Harry was well known, was strangely subdued during that particular staff meeting.

At the great feast, however, he had given a washed down version, explaining that Harry would be gone a year for additionnal training. Whenever Malfoy crossed paths with Ron or Hermione, however, he would go on loudly that Harry had gone into hiding from the Dark Lord. This usually resulted in points being taken from the Syltherin house by Hermione, who had been made prefect (the other Gryffindor prefect being Dean Thomas, Ron being immensly glad he hadn't been made prefect). Snape would make up for it in potions lessons, but to a lesser extent than before. And, strangely, if he ever heard a remark about Harry's whereabouts, points would be removed, even from his own house.

Since Harry had been the Gryffindore seeker, tryouts were being held for keeper and Seeker position, plus reserves for the next year. Ron Weasley was made keeper, whereas Ginny was made seeker, bringing to 4 the number of Weasleys on the Gryffindor team. Seamus and Dean were made reserve beaters, and reserve chasers had been chosen. They still had to find a reserve seeker, however. As soon as they had been anounced the news, Ron had written to Harry, urgently sending the piece of parchment to Harry. Just one hour later, Harry had answered, saying he would send a present. What they got, however, was beyond whatever they had expected …

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"Ron, wake up. Practice …"

"Bugger off, I wanna sleep." Ron answered whoever it was that was trying to wake him.

Sighing, Fred was left no choice. Pointing his wand towards Rons head, he muttered a few chosen words. Ron was soon soaking wet.

"Oy !!! What was that for ?!?" Ron splutted angrily.

"You wouldn't get up," Fred answered back, the grin he was wearing barely visible in the dark. "Our captain (Katie Bell had been made team captain) wants us to go train." It was barely mid-september, but Katie was being almost as absesive as Oliver Wood had been. Ron had made the team as keeper, and Ginny was made seeker.

"All right, I'm coming."

Quickly getting dressed, he left his dorm and made his way down to the common room. The team was gathered in front of the fire, where 2 long boxes were to be found.

"What are you all doing there ? Waiting for me ?" Ron managed to say before a yarn interrupted him.

"Actually, yes, we were waiting for you."

"Huh ?" Ron answered back.

Katie spoke up : "We came down to find 2 boxes in front of the fire. Next to them was a letter, with Ron written on the envelope. We decided to wait."

Ron walked up and took the letter Katie was holding out to him. Opening the envelope and taking the letter, he read :

Dear Ron,

I decided to send you a present. If my memory serves me well, the first Quidditch match is coming up soon (Slytherin, in 2 weeks time). In the box is 2 broomsticks I made ("He made them ?" the rest of the team exclaimed). The biggest of the two is yours, the other going to Ginny.

Now don't be alarmed about their initial appearances. Thay have to activated. You have to place a drop of your blood on the tip of the broom. It bonds you to your broomstick, making it impossible to ride for people you don't want to ride it. There are other personnalized features, but I'll leave you each to discover them for yourselves. Keep me up to date.

On a more prudent note, don't say where you got the brooms from except to the rest of the team and to those you can trust, such as Dumbledore. And make sure to rub Malfoys nose in it.

Love, Harry.

"Wow, he made us a broomstick." Ron said in awe. He didn't know how much effort was put into making a broomstick, but it wasn't any old wizard or witch that was able.

Placing the letter to the side, he slowly opened the box. His first impression was one of disgust. Seeing the state of these brooms, he prefered to keep with the schools Comets, but rembered the letter 'They have to be activated'. Handing the smaller broom to Ginny, he asked : "Should we activate them together ?"

"No go ahead first."

Ron carefully placed the broom on the floor. Taking his wand, he cast a spell which makes a painless slit. Slowly, a drop of blood dripped from the slit to the broom. The effect was amlost immediate. The broom started to glow with a bright red light, and literally transformed. The tail twigs straightened, the handle grew a bit in length and smoothed out. Runes, shining with a rich blue or green light, started forming, starting at the tip and heading towards the tail. Everyone was watching, awe being the enly emotion present on their faces.

About a minutes later, the light receded, leaving probably the most beautiful broom they had ever seen hovering next to Ron.

They stood there for all of 5 minutes, before anyone could say anything. Ron finally managed to turn to Ginny, and say "your turn."

She closed her gaping mouth, and nodded. She then proceeded to perform the same charm as Ron had, with much the same effect, but not quite. For a start, her handle was longer than Rons, and slightly thinner. The tail twigs were also longer. The runes were different, too, and shone with a purple and red light instead of Rons blue and green.

"Wow Harry, that's one hell of a present." Was all Ron could get out of his mouth. No one else could say anything, so they just nodded. Turning to Ginny, Ron grinned and asked : "Wanna try them out ?"

Ginny, too, grinned. "Do I ever ?"

They grabbed their respective brooms and quickly left to go to the Quidditch pitch, followed by the rest of the team.

Needless to say, the brooms were exceptionnal, light years ahead of what was presently for sale in "Best brooms". Ginnys had brilliant flying possibilities, being fast and manoeuvrable. She also found some of Harry's extras : gold-coloured objects glowed slightly, but this could be avoided by touching a certain rune. She could also give her broom a short burst of extra-high speed, but only for a short time, roughly the length of the Quidditch pitch. Harry, being a seeker himself, knew what was useful on a seekers broom. Rons broom was by no means inferior. Whilst not as fast as Ginnys, he had better accelaration and braking. Plus the quaffle would leave a kind of trace so that it was easier to guess its trajectory. And Ron reckoned that it was still faster than a Firebolt, despite its being a keepers broom. But he was sure that he still had a lot to learn about his broom …

Needless to say, they easily beat Syltherin 2 weeks later : 370 – 0. Malfoy would be fuming for weeks after …

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It was mid-October. Cho was busy studying in the RavenClaw common room. It was late, and little light shone threw the windows. Only some candles and the fire from the fireplace provided light.

Putting the finishing touches to her transfiguration essay ('Dangers on becoming an Animagi'), she was ready to go to sleep.

Just a few minutes later, she was in bed, and had fallen asleep.

/* Dream sequence */

She was … somewhere. It was as if she was floating in the sky on a sunny day, yet she definitly felt something underneath her feet. She tried walking, and whilst she had the impression whe was moving, she was visibly getting nowhere.

"Trying to get awway from me, are you ?"

Cho spun around. About 10 meters away … stood Harry.

"Harry ?"

"No an evil ghost come to haunt you in your dreams. Of course it's me."

"Harry !!" she exclaimed, running to Harry and throwing herself at him, hugging him as if he would die tomorrow.

"Hello Cho," he said softly.

Cho was now crying onto Harry's chest. He was dressed in ordinary black Hogwarts robes, as was Cho. When she finally stopped crying, she stepped back to take a good look at Harry. She knew that she had finaly reached her tallest, measuring 5'8" (about 1m75), and harry was about half a foot taller. He was no longer skinny and looking like he was underfed. He was larger, his frame having filled out well. His features were more or less the same, just a bit more mature. His hair was the same, however, and still stuck up all over the place. He was wearing his glasses, and Cho wondered why he still had them since this was a dream.

Harry smiled at her, and said "I told you I would visit you soon."

Cho smiled back, and replied "Yes, and I'm grateful for it."

"I'm afraid I can only stay for half an hour. I'm not strong enough to stay longer."

Cho gave a reassuring smile, and said "don't worry, any time spent with you is a blessing."

Harry smiled happily at this, and stepped up and hugged Cho. It wasn't a brotherly hug or a reassuring hug, it was tender, loving. Cho smiled inwardly at this. She could tell : he had feeling for her too.

Breaking the embrace, Harry sat down on the sofa that was just behind him. Cho was suprised, as it hadn't been there a second earlier, but then reasoned that anything was possible in her dream. She sat down next to Harry, just content at being next to him. She held his hand in hers, and put her head on his shoulder.

After a few minutes, Harry broke the silence. "I'm sorry to break such a pleasent moment, but …"

"Yes ?"

"If I came tonight, it's because in one of my first letters, I promised to tell you what happened … to Cedric."

Cho gulped slightly at this. But she wanted to know, HAD to know, what had happened to Cedric and Harry. She had to know how Cedric had died. But, she realized, she was also desperate to know what Harry had gone through. She could vagualy (spelling???) remember sometimes seeing Harry walking through the corridors, head hung, other students pointing him out and whispering behing his back.

Looking up into Harry's emeranl green eyes, she firmly said, "I want to know what happened. Not just concerning Cedric. Everything."

"I'm warning you, it isn't pretty."

"Thats not the important issue. You were involved. And what concerns you concerns me too."

Harry tilted his head while looking at Cho, then gave a small nod. Standing up, he helped Cho get to her feet. "Hold both my hands." She compiled. Harry closed his eyes, and the scenery changed. The clouds turned black, and some form of land rushed up from below. In no time at all, the whole scene played from Harry's point of view. She saw Harry writher in pain while Cedric was killed by the killing curse. She was the death eaters, and gasped during the duel with Voldemort. Seeing Cedric ask Harry was too much for her, as tears started to fall down her face. Finally, she saw Harry run away and portkey away with Cedrics body.

The blue sky and white coulds came back. Harry, too, had tears in his eyes. And Cho couldn't stop crying. They hugged, both being comforted by the presence of the other.

"Thank you, Harry."

"What for ? For making you cry ?" he managed to joke back through his own tears.

"For showing me what happened, without holding back."

"It was the least I could do. I still feel guilty, despite what everyone says."

"Harry, objectivly speaking, no one could have done anything."

Harry sighed and looked Cho directly in the eye. "Thanks. It help to hear you say it, and not read it from a letter."

They continued hugging for a few minutes, before Harry said he had to go, but not before promising to be back soon.

Cho woke up. Looking at her alarm clock, she saw that she had only been sleeping for half an hour, just like Harry had said. Content, she lay back down, and fell asleep once agin for pleasent dreams about Harry …

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The rest of the year passed calmly. Hermione was studying like there was no tomorrow and telling everyone they should do likewise. "You realize OWLs are this year, don't you ?" was what she seemed to say the most. Ron would usually just roll his eyes, but was surprised to find himself studying more than before. 'It's probably because Harry's not here to drag me into trouble.' Thinking of Harry made Ron think of Voldemort. Nothing new had been heard of him, making Fudge become smug at his ignoring Dumbledores warning. He voices his thoughts to Hermione one day.

"Do you have any idea why we haven't heard anything new concerning You-Know-Who ?"

"Not really. My guess is that since he wants Harry, he won't attack unless he's sure Harry's here."

"I suppose so."

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Cho was Seeker for her house Quidditch team. She, too, had received a new broom from Harry, and was amazed with it. During the match (Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff, 190-20), she had had to get used to the broom. She had received it only about one week prior to the match. She didn't mind. Harry had taken the time and made the effort to make her (and Ron and Ginny, she knew) a marvellous broom.

This made Cho think : not only had he the time and the patience to do so, he also had the power and the know-how. Harry would talk about a training plan during his letters and dream-hopping sessions, and she started to wonder what he was learning. As she continued to write every other day, she took the oportunity to ask about his training.

His answer was brief : everything. He was learning almost every potion that had ever existed, learning transfiguration, charms, curses and counter-curses. He also learned about magical creatures and herbology. Without forgetting astronomy and runes. He also mentionned rune magic, but Cho had no idea what that was. And Harry said he couldn't tell her what it was in a letter, but that he would show her when he got back. From the sounds of things, he was more advanced than her, in every domain. She would sometimes ask questions, and he would always answer the next day. And although he had proposed, she wouldn't let him correct her essays.

Harry was also very happy that Cho was good friends with Ron and Hermione, and but could approve of the friendship the 4 now shared.

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Christmas came and went, the only notable event being the Christmas ball. Harry had managed to send presents to everyone of his penpals (beautiful necklaces with protectice charms on them), and, of course, they had all sent Harry a present using the 'Envoyus Urgentes' charm (Cho had sent a silver necklace, Sirius and Remus sent a prank book and a wizard camera, Ron a book on quidditch, Hermione sent a scrapbook full of pictures taken by the Creevies, and Ginny sent pictures of the quidditch team, before and during the match, not forgetting the celebration party). Ron finally had the guts to admit to Hermione that he had feelings for her. They've been an item ever since. Cho didn't go. She had turned down every boy that had asked her to go, saying that the only person she wanted to go with wasn't there. She stayed in the common room doing her homework.

After finishing her essay for the night, she put her things away and went to bed. Fingering the beautiful fine gold necklace with a tear-shaped saphire, she wondered what Harry was doing. She was soon asleep.

She was, for the third time, in her cloud dream where Harry would visit (A/N : nothing noteworthy happened the second time.) However, the scenery soon changed to become the Great Hall. The tables and benches had been moved to the side, and Christmas decorations were hanging all over the place. Multi-coloured lights were floating around. It was indeed a beautiful sight.

She was standing in the middle of the hall when the doors opened. She turned to see Harry, dressed in long dark green dress robes, with gold runes along the hem. Looking down, she saw she was dressed in dark blue dress robes, with silver runes along the hem.

"Hello Cho. You look beautiful tonight." Harry said as he arrived in front of her.

Cho blushed. "As do you, Harry. Green is so you."

Harry grinned. "I could make them bright orange and pink if you want."

Cho rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the smile from reaching her lips.

"Well, I provided the place and the people. For the rest, I'm going to need you help, Cho."

Cho gave Harry a puzzled look. "What do you need my help for ?"

Harry gave a small smile. "Just think of a song you like."

Cho, despite finding the small demand strange, complied, thinking of different songs she would hear on the wizard radio. She found one she liked, as was surprised to hear the song being played. The music filled the hall, and it was impossible to say where the music was coming from. She looked at Harry, "How did you do that ?"

"I didn't do anything. You chose the song." Harry said, giving her his trademark lopsided grin. Bowing low, he offered her his hand and said : "May I have the pleasure of this dance ?"

Cho looked at him, the smile growing on her face. Looking around, she said "I dunno, there's so many people to chose from."

Harry gave her his best puppy-eyes look, failing miserably. This sent Cho laughing hysterically, and Harry joined in.

"I'll have to work on that look, among others."

"Which others ?"

"My evil look, for one." He made an attempt at glaring. To Cho, however, he looked like he was trying to squint and become cross-eyes at the same time, while sticking out his lower lip. Of course, this set Cho laughing again, and it was several minutes before she managed to regain control of herself.

Looking at Harry and holding his outstretched hand in hers, she said : "I would be delighted to have this dance."

They danced for what seemed hours. Cho thankfully knew enough songs to avoid hearing the same song twice. There were fast songs, and quite a few slow. Harry prefered these, often repeating that he was a really bad dancer. However, the time spent together was bliss for each of them. They would talk while they danced.

Eventually, the dream came to a close. They parted with a kiss, and Harry promised to come back.

Cho woke up. Looking at hear clock, she saw it was 7 o'clock in the morning. She had spent all night dreaming about Harry.

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Voldemort was fuming. Harry was nowhere to be found. His spies couldn't find anything. None of his 'faithful' Death Eaters had any news except Snape. Snape had recently come back, saying that he hadn't come back after the first calling so as not to arouse Dumbledores suspicions. Voldemort performed the Crucio curse on Snape, causing him to writher in pain for several minutes before the curse was lifted.

Voldemort didn't trust him completely yet. He had come back too quickly for his taste. However, he was the only one who could bring back some news, any news, about the boy-who-lived.

"Snape !!!" he yelled.

A figure, wearing a long, black, hooded cloak, his feature indistinguishable behind a mask, stepped forward and bowed. "Yes, master ?"

"Do you have any news about Potter ?"

"No my lord. It seems the boy only writes every fortnight, as Albus only gives us news of the boy being alive every 2 weeks. If this regularity is kept, Dumbledore should receive a new letter in 3 days time."

Snape stepped back, filling the hole he had created in the circle of death eaters. Voldemort looked around the circle. "And why is it that only Snape can give me some information ?"

"My lord, it seems that the Potter boy has dissappeared from the face of the earth …" said a voice on Snapes left.

"CRUCIO !!!" Voldemort screamed, causing the death eater to scream in pain as the Cruciatus curse acted. After keeping the curse for a whole 10 minutes, he lifted the wand. The man was alive, but only barely. "At the next meeting, I want to hear something, anything, from everyone !!! GOT THAT ?!?!"

A murmured "yes lord" swept through the assembly before all the death eaters dissapparated away to their respective homes, save Wormtail, who left to the place (you couldn't call it anything else) he and Voldemort were staying so as to make preparations for his masters return.

"I have to wait, because these incompetent fools aren't able to find one stupid, idiotic, boy" he hissed. "I can't attack Hogwarts, since that muggle-loving fool could hurt me. I have yet to attain the same power I had before forcefully leaving my body. I am forced to wait. Being patient, as any self respecting Syltherin is, and being forced to wait are 2 completely different things. And Lucius. He was useful before, but now, he seems incompetent. He can't even convince his son, his own flesh and blood, to follow me. I will have to keep a better eye on him from now on." He continued this monologue for some time, before leaving the scene, leaving little trace of the meeting that had just occured.

And while no attacks were made against Hogwarts, a few attacks were made against muggle-born wizards or against those who were very outspoken against the dark lord. Fudge, of course, continued denying that Voldemort was back, much to the dismay of many.

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The month of June approached. Everyone was studying for their end-of-year exams. 5th and 7th years were under even more stress because of their OWLs and NEWTs. Even Fred and George, being in their seventh and final year, were seen studying, although they vehemently denied doing anything of the sort( they DID have a reputation to defend, after all).

The exams came and went. The sky was blue, and since they no longer had lessons, they could laze about a bit and enjoy the weather. Ron, Hermione, Cho and Ginny would take long walks around the lake, or visit Hogsmead village. Cho had, once again, come out top of her year. Hermione and Ron would have to wait mid-summer before the results of their OWLs came And Ginny had done very well. Whilst not top of her year, she was certainly in the top five.

Eventually, slowly, the end of June came. Fred and George played a huge prank on the whole school, themselves excluded, at the end-of-year feast (the cup went to Ravenclaw), turning everyones skin different colours with polka dots and their hair another colour. They wanted to leave with style, and what better way to do so than that. Their belongings packed and placed in the scarlet steam train that would bring them to Kings Cross station. Upon arrival, they took their stuff and left the magical world into the muggle world. After promising to keep in touch and to see each other soon, Cho and Hermione left, while Ron and Ginny went home with their parents to the Burrow.