Hermione sighed again. Fifth year sucked. It was already the end of October and they had still learned absolutely NOTHING in Defense Against the Dark Arts. In all the other classes, the teachers were piling on the work so that they would be ready for their OWLS, but in DADA they were reading from a book (she wouldn't dignify it by calling it a textbook) that purported that all threats had been resolved already, and talked about the legislation that had been enacted to that effect. Now in the mundane world, that might be realistic, but in the wizarding world every person was handed a lethal weapon at the age of 11 and told 'here, have fun! Try not to kill anybody!' And while most people were responsible human beings and tried to avoid hurting others, it was very easy for those not so inclined to use magic for ill intents. And it was criminal not to teach the basics of defense to people so that they keep themselves safe.

Not to mention the (sometimes dangerous) magical creatures that seemed to be drawn to witches and wizards.

"Fifth year sucks," Ron moaned, throwing his parchment to the table. "It's just October and we already have a crap ton of homework. I don't know how I'm going to survive until June." They were studying in the library, so he made sure to keep his voice down and didn't go full-on drama queen, as he was wont to do.

Hermione didn't argue with Ron about the necessity of homework – it was pointless. And he would end up doing it. Eventually. With her help. "Don't forget we have the Defense tutoring this evening."

"Don't remind me." They had had two sessions already, and it had turned into an OWL cram class. All the students who weren't fifth years had dropped out, including Ginny and Luna. Now it was half Ravenclaws, with the rest being Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. "George is a surprising good teacher." It had never before occurred to Ron to go to his wallflower older brother for help with schoolwork. Yet despite Ron's trepidations, it had turned out ok. Except it meant more homework.

"Hello, Hermione." The frazzled Gryffindor looked up at the sound of her name to see Daphne Greengrass slide into the chair next to her.

"Yes Greengrass? Do you want to join our Defense study group?"

"That's not.. Actually, why don't you tell me more about this study group?" Daphne quickly changed gears, listening as Hermione started into her sales pitch almost on autopilot. The Slytherin girl nodded along as she calculated the pros and cons of associating with lowly Gryffindors vs the benefits of actually learning Defense. "That sounds like it could be useful."

There was a pause as nobody was certain what to say. Finally, Ron blurted out, "why are you here?"

"Right. I was curious to see if you were illiterate or just rude. I am leaning towards the latter."

"Why you.." Ron was building up a head of steam when Hermione interrupted him. "Can the 'mysterious lady' routine, Greengrass. We can't read your mind."

Daphne humphed in annoyance, "Your friend transferred to a different school, where he doesn't know a single person. It would behoove you to write him at least one letter, to see how he's doing."

Ron was still staring blankly at the Slytherin in confusion when Hermione replied, "we weren't close with Neville."

"Yet you were all in the same house. That should count for something."

"I guess," Ron replied sullenly. He didn't want to write to Neville, but it probably was the right thing to do.

Daphne stood up and smoothed her dress, not that it was the least bit out of place. "And your Defense study group – I will be there." As she turned to walk away, she turned and commented over her shoulder, "it would be useful for me to learn more about how Gryffindors think before next Tuesday," her icy facade broke to reveal an mischievous smirk.

Hermione blinked, trying to think of what the Slytherin girl could be referring to. She turned to Ron. "Next Tuesday is Halloween right? Is the school doing something special?"

"I'm more worried that Malfoy is planning something." Ron scowled, "I bet she's taunting us."

Hermione sighed. She seemed to do a lot of sighing around Ron. "Ronald, Daphne is not like that."

"All Slytherins are like that. Some just hide it better," Ron replied mulishly. "If they don't start out that way, they turn into complete prats by second year. It's something in the air down there." Ron pointed downwards, in the general direction of the dungeons and the Slytherin dorms. "I'm going to go warn Ginny. She knows what's what"

\*/

It was Ginny who found Ron, at dinner that evening. "We need to do something about Draco."

Ron swallowed his chicken and nodded. "What's the slimy git up to?" He just knew that he was planning something nefarious, and it probably had to do with Halloween.

"He's harassing the firsties: threatening them and making them run errands for him."

"Oh." Ron nodded, deflating. He already knew that Draco was an ass. He thought Ginny had caught him taking the Dark Mark or something really evil.

"Don't 'oh' me, buster. We need to do something!" Ginny scowled, though her indignation was more from Draco's callousness on the Hogwarts Express on their way to school than his bullying the younger students. She just wanted to beat that smug smile off his face! How dare he joke about Harry's death!

"Look, Gin, I don't like Draco any more than you do, but I'm in my OWL year – I can't be getting detentions – I'm barely keeping up in classes as it is! I just wanted to tell you to watch out for Daphne – she's up to something. I bet she's conspiring with Draco as well."

"Fine, you be you!" Ginny stormed off. Who cared what the Slytherin girl was doing. Draco was the one who needed to suffer. She should have known better than to ask her brother for anything. Harry would have understood (or even Neville).

She headed down to the quidditch pitch to get some flying in, to clear her head. Besides, the quidditch season was starting soon, so more broom time could only help.

As she swooped through air, that was another thing that felt wrong. She had easily made the Gryffindor main team this year, replacing Harry as the Seeker. But even a month later it still felt wrong, like she was disrespecting everything Harry had done by so casually taking his spot.

She dodged between the towers and down along the wall, almost brushing the stones with the tips of her toes. She knew that she wasn't supposed to fly this close to the castle, but nobody had said anything about it yet, so in her mind, it was all good. She made a sharp turn to veer off before she passed in front of McGonagall's window, but as she did her foot clipped a crenelation, sending her into a spin. She slammed hard into the wall and just barely kept her seat on the broom.

She almost smashed into the ground, pulling up to a stop at the last moment so that she stumbled forwards as she landed, catching herself against the wall. Shakily, she stood back up and took a moment to collect herself. Her shoulder hurt like hell, and her robes had road rash, but she was ok. Ginny took a couple of breaths to calm down as she leaned against the wall and looked around. Thankfully, nobody had seen her.

'What now?' She had so much adrenaline coursing through her that her hands were shaking – probably best not to fly. But if she walked through the halls of the school carrying a broom, people would notice. She cast a quick reparo on her robes and got back on the broom.

As she took off, her broom wobbled. As the tip started to precess, she had to fight the broom to keep it from veering into the wall. 'It must have hit something on the way down'. She held on tight with her knees and her good hand as she gently lofted the broom up. The broom wobbled again and felt like it was just moments from giving out all together. Ginny had to keep adjusting her weight to prevent it from corkscrewing. Gritting her teeth, she flew over the wall and back towards the pitch. But the alternative was landing & carrying the broom back to the pitch. And there was no fucking way she was going to explain why she was walking with a broom. Ginny Weasley did NOT carry her broom – her broom carried her!

\*/

Daphne was having a hard time sitting still - it was almost Thursday, the high point of her week.

She was ensconced at her usual table at the library, books scattered around her, with several artfully arranged to block a clear view of what she was working on. Because she wasn't doing homework, nor was she writing in her little black book (where she stored all of the juicy gossip / potential blackmail material). Instead, she was writing a letter to Neville. She usually wrote a little each day, right before dinner (when there were fewer prying eyes around) and sent it out on Tuesday evening, when she took her weekly constitutional up to the Owlery.

Neville's replies usually came back on Thursday.

She assumed that the camouflage scattered on the table would suffice to prevent any of her fellow Slytherins from discovering what she was doing (for it wouldn't do for her to end up in somebody else's 'little black book') but anybody who saw the uncharacteristic smile on her face would know that something was up.

So far, Neville was adjusting to the new school ok, but the American kids were a little clique-y – most had known each other since first year, or even earlier. So Daphne made sure to keep him up to date on everything that was going on at Hogwarts, including the blasphemy against all things educational that was Umbridge, so he wouldn't feel lost.

\*/

"Get down on your knees and kiss it!" Draco held out his foot. His father had a painting of a peasant kissing a king's foot in his study, and he had always like that image. Goyle stood by his side and tittered. They had cornered a first year boy as he took a shortcut through a rarely used gallery on the third floor.

But rarely used didn't mean abandoned: Draco and his friends found it a convenient place to hang out and smoke, and woe unto any firsty that was foolish enough to enter their lair.

The Hufflepuff boy looked to be on the verge of tears as he looked up at the two larger teens, but seeing no recourse he got down on his knees and was just bending down to kiss the proffered shoe when a bucket dropped over Goyle's head. As Draco looked up at the yelp of surprise he was hit by a slug vomiting hex. He had barely enough time to glimpse somebody in the shadows before he was bent over double emptying his stomach. The Hufflepuff skittered away, ducking to avoid getting hit by the bucket as Goyle threw it off of his head. Goyle roared with rage only to be hit by a bat bogey hex before his eyes could focus on his attacker.

As bats exploded out of his nose, a jelly legs jinx dropped Draco into the pile of his vomit slugs. And a hiccoughing spell hit Goyle, so that he could barely breath, and ended up aspirating several bats as they tried to escape out of his left nostril.

As Goyle bent over coughing and Draco squirmed in the pile of slugs, their assailant turned and fled. The entire barrage of spells had been cast so quickly that the Hufflepuff hadn't had time to see who his rescuer was – all he cold tell was that it was a girl.

\*/

"Hey, Looney, what are you looking for?" Luna looked up – it was one of her fellow Ravenclaws asking – a third year girl whose name she had never bothered to learn.

"I appear to have misplaced by Herbology notes," she peered under he bed. Sometimes her notes end up down there.

"Maybe a Hairy Whumpass took them," the other girl said half to Luna and half to her friend. The two girls snickered.

"There is no such thing.. oof!" Luna face planted into the floor as one of the girls kicked her in the rear.

"See? A whump ass!" They giggled and left.

Luna pulled her notes out from under the bed and dusted them off, before running out of the dorm – she was late for class again. Even though there were several other girls in the dorm, nobody had mentioned anything. Now that the Potter boys were gone, sometimes days would go by without anybody talking to her, except for the professors in class.

\*/

"I know what I saw!" Ron replied mulishly, ignoring Hermione as she kicked him insistently under the table. They were in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, except today (as every day, this year) they were sitting at little round 'group tables' so that they could discuss the text book that they were reading. The tables were covered with a tablecloths and even had centerpieces, making them look like something out of an upscale restaurant rather than a classroom.

"Hrm, hrm," Professor Umbridge waddled over. "You are needlessly agitating your fellow students. The Minister has already explained that you were attacked by deluded cultists that worshiped He Who Must Not Be Named."

"Your stupid Minister wasn't the one who was kidnapped and almost killed!" Ron retorted. He had kept it all in (at Hermione insistence), but this was too much. "He wasn't there, and he doesn't know what I saw. Voldemort is..."

"DETENTION!" Yelled Umbridge cutting Ron off before he could finish uttering the feared name.

The other students had all sat quietly during this confrontation, not looking at Ron for fear of being accused of supporting his views. Nobody wanted those to be true.

And nobody wanted to get on Um-bitch's bad side.

\*/

"Hello, Lucius," James fell into step with the Malfoy patriarch as he was exiting the Wizengamot chamber, "I was wondering if I could stop by to chat, at your earliest convenience, about the funding for the Auror department for next year."

Lucius frowned, "I'm really sorry – I am very busy right now. I don't even know when my earliest convenience is. Why don't you contact me secretary, and she will pencil you in." He strode over to the floo without pausing and pronounced "Malfoy Manor." And with a final smile and nod to the Potter scion, stepped through.

James sighed and headed back down to his office. 'Maybe I can at least get some paperwork done, so that the day is not a total loss.'

"No luck?" Sirius asked, joining him as he entered the DMLE.

"No. You?" Sirius just shook his head.

The ward that James had planted in Malfoy manor had activated weeks ago, indicating a large number of people with the Dark Mark had been present. James was desperate to get into the Malfoy manor and find out who was congregating there and why. It could finally be a lead on where Voldemort was hiding out (or it would be the hideout itself, though James doubted that Malfoy would endanger his family that way). But neither the ward nor having the Dark Mark were grounds for a search warrant, so James & Sirius had to be creative to develop an excuse to get inside and do some old fashioned digging. James had leaned on his political connections to the Malfoys, while Sirius had co-ordinated with Weasley, down in Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, to see if they could get a warrant based on leads that he had accumulated. Unfortunately, Weasley's information was not rock solid, and nothing short of an official complaint lodged with the Ministry would suffice to get the Department to issue a search warrant. Not for the Malfoys.

"We'll find something. In the meantime, I will let Dumbledore know." Maybe the Order could get information where official channels had failed.

\*/

Ginny quickly turned the corner and hid in the shadow of a suit of armor. Ever since Ron had warned her that the Slytherins were planning something, she had been extra careful. And today it had paid off - Tracy Davis was following her, no doubt for some nefarious reason.

As the other girl rushed by her hiding spot, Ginny stepped out behind her 'Encarcerous!" Ginny frowned as the 'ropes' looped around the Slytherin – they were a lot thinner than she had intended. Fortunately, Tracy wasn't athletic like Ginny, so even the twine that she had managed to conjure would suffice to hold her.

"Why are you following me, Davis?"

"I'm not. I have class."

"Which class is out this way?" The only thing down this corridor was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and a pair of unused classrooms that had been long converted into storage rooms.

"I am going to Care of Magical Creatures, but I was going the long way, because I had some things to think about.

"Like what?"

"Like…" Tracy look down at the floor, "Like would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

"Eh?" Ginny's wand drooped as her brain tried to add 2+2 and got 'ERROR. Does not compute'.

"I, um, like you," Tracy added as she shimmied out of the conjured ropes.

Ginny swallowed, "Um, yeah, sorry. I'm not like that. Sorry!" She turned and ran.

\*/

"We have to be ready," Ron pronounced at diner that evening. "I'm certain that the Slytherins are up to something."

"No, the real problem is Umbridge! We have to do something about her, she is insufferable!" Ginny retorted. She wasn't a nerd like Hermione, so she wasn't so upset about the curriculum (or lack thereof, but the way that women treated the students in her class was criminal!

Ron ran his hands through his hair. He was so frustrated with how his younger sister refused to listen to his warnings that he wasn't even paying any attention to his lunch, even through the elves were serving corned beef sandwiches, his favorite.

It was true that the fact that they weren't learning anything in DADA class was also not so good, but Hermione had that covered, with the Defense tutoring that she had arranged, so he didn't need to worry about it. Instead he was lecturing Ginny about Daphne, the new bane of his existence (she was even worse than Draco. Probably. Once he figured out what she was up to). "Um, Gin? Is everything ok?" He belated realized that Ginny had slumped part of the way under the table, so that she was mostly hidden from view except her head and shoulders, and even those were almost hidden by a strategically placed water pitcher.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Quidditch practice was just tiring."

Ron just nodded and went back to pedant-ing. Ginny glanced at the Slytherin table out of the corner of her eye. Tracy was talking to Daphne. 'I hope I didn't say anything stupid.' Those five minute after Tracy had confessed were completely blank in her memory. She had no idea if she had made a fool of herself or not. 'Maybe I should apologize, just in case. But what if she takes it the wrong way. I don't want to lead her on.' Though in retrospect she was somewhat impressed with the Slytherin girl's courage – given the attitude most purebloods had to same-sex relationships, asking her out must have taken a lot of guts. 'If one of my friends comes out, I'll definitely refer them to her.' But why did the Slytherin girl assume that she would be interested? Was she giving off some weird sign or something? Was she acting too 'boyish'? Ginny slid further under the table as Ron talked.

"Well, George's doing a great job." Dean replied. He had been sitting on Ginny's other side. "Speaking of, do you think we should take up a collection? It's not fair that he does all that work for free."

Ron paused, mouth open to respond, as he considered. On the one hand, it was George. He was a push over – he always agreed whenever Ron asked him to do his chores for him. But on the other hand, more money for the family was a good thing.

But before Ron could formulate a response, Dean had already moved on, turning to Ginny. "Hey, runt, don't you have a game against Ravenclaw next Sunday?"

Ginny groaned and sat up straighter. Quidditch season had started on the first Sunday of November with the Slytherin vs Gryffindor game. They had barely managed to eek out a win, and Slytherin sucked. This coming match was against Ravenclaw. "Yes. We're going to get hosed!" With their two top players gone, the team was going through some teething pains. As the new Seeker, Ginny was terrified – Harry had set a (very) high bar. But at least she could fly. Jack Sloper's only strength as the new Keeper was that he was so huge that he blocked much of the goal just from shear bulk. Unfortunately, he also flew like a brick. But for much the same reason, nobody had been willing to try out against him.

'I wish Harry was here. Or Oliver Wood.' She quickly amended. Actually, having Oliver would make more sense, as they needed a Keeper. She might not be as good a seeker as Harry, but she certainly was better than Draco.

But she still missed her best friend more.

\*/

Hermione was pacing the Common Room. Most of the other Gryffindors had already gone to bed, and the few that were still up, working or chatting, had gotten used to tuning her out. When the Portrait-door finally opened, she looked up to see a haggard looking Ron enter.

"Are you ok? What did that witch have you doing?" Ron had been serving his detention with Umbridge, and it had run long. Really long – it was almost eleven.

"I'm fine." Ron turned away from the bushy haired busybody. He didn't want to talk about it. Or about how he had felt completely powerless as Umbridge talked down to him, telling him that he had imagined everything. And made him write lines with a blood quill. It had been humiliating. He wanted to punch the old hag, but he didn't dare do or say anything, otherwise he would get even more detention.

And he was the good Weasley. He had to make up for the embarrassment that was his sister. His father would be ashamed of him if learned about this.

"I'm fine," Ron repeated and slunk up the stairs to the boys dorms. Maybe Ginny was right. Maybe Umbridge was a bigger problem than Daphne or Draco.

\*/

December was colder than usual, and snow swirled through the air everyday, though there hadn't been any heavy snowfall yet. All of the fifth years were working like crazy as winter break approached, bringing with it the midterm exams. Even Ron had his nose to the grindstone.

Ginny sighed. She was bored. All of her friends (those that were still alive, added a bitter little voice in the back of her head) were a year older, and thus were unavailable.

'I can go climb something.' It was against the rules to go flying during school hours, even if you had a free period. Ginny's eyes turned to the Gryffindor tower. Climbing that was also against the rules, but it was forbidden ALL the time, meaning that it was just as permitted to climb it now as it was after dinner. A smile spread across Ginny's face as she almost ran up to the tower and grabbed hold of the Winding Ivy. 'This time, I'm going to get to the top.' She had climbed the Tower a bunch of times, but each time she had gotten off at the third floor gallery, where most of the Winding Ivy stopped. If she went higher, she would have to free climb, holding on to just the rocks. 'The mortar's pretty worn. There are a ton of handholds'. And what was the worst that could happen? If she died she would get to see Harry again.

Ginny threw herself upwards, following a familiar route. As she climbed, students in the courtyard below stopped to watch, and several ran off shouting. It wasn't clear to Ginny if they were getting a teacher of they were calling their friends to come watch, but she didn't much care. She needed to escape the constraints of Hogwarts.

"Wow, look at her go!" Somebody shouted from below.

"She's going to be in so much trouble – I bet she's going to get suspended this time."

Several voices sounded their agreement

"Ginny, don't listen to them keep climbing. GO Ginny! Yay!" Somebody started cheering her on. It was actually kind of nice. She made her way past the third floor, carefully selected hand holds. Up at the fourth floor level her arms were getting tired, and it was getting more challenging. She pulled herself up with her shaking arms, but her determination didn't flag. 'I'll stop when I get to the top.' She was just reaching for another notch in the mortar when she felt herself pulling backwards. Panic raced through her and almost yelled when she realized that she was levitating.

Slowly the spell lowered her back to the ground, to face Professor Dumbledore. His eyes weren't twinkling. "Miss Weasley, if you feel the need to climb, please make sure that you use safety equipment. And preferably have a member of the faculty supervise."

"It was a spur of the moment thing, Professor," Ginny mumbled, looking down. She knew what she had done was foolish. But she just needed to do something.

Albus sighed and considered. "I am not averse to you climbing, Ginny – we can start a climbing club, with the proper safety procedures – but you can't keep doing this without any planning. Think of how your family would feel if anything were to happen to you."

Ginny nodded morosely.

"Very well, Ms Weasley. 20 points from Gryffindor, and a detention."

"Which she will serve with me!" Professor Umbridge interrupted as she power walked over to the scene. "I have seen how you coddle the students, Albus. That won't do. If the punishment does not fit the deed, they will never learn!"

Professor Dumbledore opened his mouth and then closed it without saying anything. The Ministry had appointed Delores, and they had given her broad authority to 'straighten out' the school, to the point that she could over-ride most of his statements.

"In my experience, punishment rarely leads to reform, Delores," he finally stated in a disappointed tone of voice before turning and heading back towards his office – he had work that he needed to catch up on. Despite all of her authority, Delores didn't actually deal with any of the paperwork that her 'Educational Decrees' generated.

\*/

Ginny had just thrown herself into one of the overstuffed chairs in the Gryffindor common room when Colin Creevy approached .

"Um, Ginny? Here," he held something out tentatively. Ginny didn't even look - she wasn't in the mood for chatting. She was busy sulking at being treated like a small child. "I took of photo of you climbing."

Ginny turned almost despite herself to look at the photo. "That's pretty good."

"Yeah. I think so. You were brilliant!" Collin beams at Ginny. "Do you want a copy?"

"Yeah, sure," Ginny replied ambivalently. On the one hand it's nice to be appreciated. She glanced over to the other side of the room, where Hermione was tutoring Ron again. 'See? I can have my own fan club as well.' But on the other hand, this was Collin, and he was 100% dweeb.

"Oh, um.. Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me next week?" He added in a rush.

"I.." Ginny wasn't certain how to respond, "maybe, if I don't have too much homework." Hopefully it was neutral enough not to offend the sightly hyper boy.

"Ok! I'll see you then!" Collin waved and ran off, his supply of courage exhausted.

\*/

"Where is it?" Voldemort hissed, leaning in like a snake about to strike, an image that was exacerbated by his lip-less, nose-less face.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't get it, My lord! It's enchanted so only the principles can take it out of the room!' The middle aged man cowered on the floor, not daring to look up. Several robed Death Eaters stood around him, watching with trepidation.

"In that case, you are of no further use to me, fool. Avada Kedavra!" As the spell struck the quivering man, a wet groan emanated from him and he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Ron started awake – he glanced at the clock – it was still early, just 11:30pm. 'What is wrong with me?' It was the second time that he'd dreamed that he was Voldemort. The first had been followed by days of angst, as he wondered if he secretly wanted to be the monster. This time, there was just confusion. 'Why am I seeing what he sees?'

Ron got up and and got a glass of water. He knew he wasn't going be able to fall back asleep for a while, so he went down to the common room – at least the fire there was cheerful. But when he arrived at the plush chairs facing the fire, he found one of them occupied. "Ginny? What are you still doing awake?"

Ginny was sitting with her legs pulled up and her chin resting on her knees as she stared morosely at the flames.

"Couldn't sleep. Why are you up?"

"I.. had a dream – I dreamed that I was Voldemort," Ron replied, guiltily. He really didn't really want to talk about it, but the words sort of spilled out of him.

Ginny sighed in exasperation. "Well, go talk to Madam Pomfrey. It's probably something you ate!" Probably everything that he ate. It's a miracle he didn't have indigestion all the time, with the junk he crammed into his stomach at all hours of the day.

"It's not the first time this has happened!" Ron retorted, which just confirmed Ginny's suspicion, but he then continued, "last week I dreamed that Voldemort had tortured a muggle-born woman to death. And the following day, her death was reported in the Prophet!"

"Did you talk to Hermione about it?

"Yeah, no. I know what she would say – she will find some explanation for how it's all in my imagination, that I saw the newspaper and then had the dream, rather than vice versa."

Ginny nodded. Hermione was a smart girl, but sometimes she was too smart for her own good. Sometimes, the simplest explanations were the correct ones.. "Maybe you should talk to Dumbledore instead of Madam Pomfrey in that case. Maybe Voldemort is sending you visions."

"But why would he would do that?" Ron asked in exasperation. Why was Voldemort always out to get him? What had he ever done to him?

"I don't know. That's why you should ask Dumbledore."

"Why do girls always say 'ask somebody else' instead of doing it themselves!" Ron exploded. Thing is, he had tried to see Dumbledore, but he was nowhere to be found. Ron stormed back up towards the boys dorms.

"Maybe because sometimes you need somebody else!" Ginny called after him.

But Ron didn't stop – he might have already been above the noise canceling charm that protected the dorms from the common room.

Ginny sighed. 'Maybe I will go with Collin to Hogsmeade.' She had missed the one he had invited her to, but there was a Hogsmeade weekend the week after they got back from Christmas break.

\*/

"One more day!" Ron crowed as he packed up his potions kit. It was December had one more day of classes (and accompanying mid-terms), and then it was Christmas break! Visions of glazed ham, pudding and more ham danced through Ron's head. And there would even be presents (though his dad never got anything fancy. Last year it had been a subscription to a quidditch magazine).

"You're going to be in for a surprise tomorrow," Hermione whirled in surprise to see Daphne Greengrass behind her smirking.

"Wait, what?" But the aloof Slytherin didn't reply, walking out, followed closely by Tracy.

"I knew it. Something bad is going to happen!" Ron glowered after the Ice Queen. She just had to come along and spoil his good mood! "As soon as midterms are over, we need to find out what she is plotting." He turned to Hermione, "You're a girl, so you can follow her and see what she is up to."

Hermione whirled and glared at Ron, "Oh, so now you notice that I'm a girl! I thought I was just your personal butler!"

"What's gotten into you?" Ron looked up in confusion, his notebook drooping in his hand.

"Never mind!" Hermione slung her book bag over her shoulder and stalked out of the Potions classroom.

\*/

It was the following day, and Hermione was walking back from the library. She didn't have any more classes until after Christmas break, but she couldn't take Ron's monologuing anymore. All of dinner, he had gone on and on about what the Slytherins must be planning, each plan more absurd than the next. 'He's worse than a Bond villain.' As a little girl, she had loved the James Bond movies with Roger Moore. They had been exciting and magical and the good guys always won. It was part of why she liked being in Gryffindor – it made her feel like she was that sort of hero, even though she realized that she probably never would be – she was just too mousy and bookish.

She still musing introspectively, walking towards the Gryffindor dorms, when she walked into somebody coming down from the direction of headmaster's office.

"Oof, sorry!" She managed as she tried to keep from falling.

"It's ok."

The voice was familiar. Hermione's head whipped up. "Harry?"

"Yeah."

Hermione grabbed his torso and squeezed, burying her head in his chest, "You're alive!"

"Yeah."

"Are you ok?"

"No - can't breath!"

"Prat," Hermione let go of Harry, "I mean.. You know what I mean. I guess you're ok, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Does Ginny know you're alive?"

"No, I wasn't ready to face people until just now, so my parents didn't announce it to anybody until last week."

"Well, lets go tell them the good news!" Hermione linked arms with Harry and almost dragged him the last little bit to the Portrait.

"Um, is this normal?" Harry asked as they stopped in front of the Fat Lady. At Hermione puzzled look. He added, "I mean for you to grab my like that."

Hermione blushed, "I, no.. it's just I was so excited to see that you were alive. I'm not normally touchy feel-ly, I mean not that there is anything wrong with it, but I think that it's not proper in public, except maybe for dating couples. Not that I am implying anything. I mean with you, since, you know, Ron, I.. like.." She made panicky gestures between herself and Harry and the portrait (though that was probably intended to point inside, at Ron's putative position).

"I meant that completely seriously – I know who you are: You're Hermione Granger. But I can't remember the details of how we interact. It's all fuzzy."

"Oh," Hermione's exuberance collapsed. "You're not ok, are you?"

"No. That's why my parents decided to send me back to Hogwarts – they are hoping the familiar environment will refresh my memory."

"Well. Let's go in and get started. If things get too much for you, just let me know and I'll bail you out." Hermione felt good. She would actually get the chance to repay Harry for saving Ron, if only in a small way.

"I'm no coming back just yet – I'm probably going to come back for sixth year."

"Are you going to have to repeat a year?"

"I don't think so – my folks are tutoring me so I can catch up. My mother has written up a schedule. It's pretty intense. And Sirius scribbled himself in for Sundays as well."

"Oh, ok. Not having you in the same classes would be weird." Hermione commented self consciously, "I missed you this year."

\*/

[[Flashback]]

Harry was walking along a grassy... field? Path? He wasn't certain where he was, or how he got here. All he remembered was a green light, and then lots of yelling and banging.

It had been loud.

He didn't like it, so he had started walking

His head hurt and his vision was tunneled down to a small spot of the ground directly in front of him. He staggered as he tripped on something, but he managed to keep his footing. There was a slight downward slope here, so he kept walking until the reached the bottom – there was a split rail fence, and then a dirt road. The fence was only waist high, but Harry wasn't certain how to get over it, so he sat down.

"Hello, sir? Are you ok?" It was some time later, and Harry looked up to see a man in a glowing blue uniform leaning over him. He wasn't certain how long he had been sitting. Since he also wasn't certain if he was ok, he didn't reply.

"Here, let me help you up." The man helped him stand up and then led him into a car.

As Harry lolled in the back seat, he vaguely heard the man talking, and the crackle of a radio but he couldn't make any of it out before he lost consciousness again.

\*/

When Harry next woke up, he was laying on a gurney. Everything was fuzzy, like when he looked through an out of focus telescope, and there were fluorescent lights overhead

"Yes, he passed out in my car on the way to the hospital." He could here somebody saying, "He doesn't smell of alcohol, but you should do a blood test for heroin."

"Does he have any identification on him?"

"No, nothing. We're going to have to wait for him to regain consciousness before we know who he is."

"Well, John Doe he is." Harry turned his head to see a young man in a light blue long sleeved t-shirt and matching cloth pants. He had a name tag. "Oh, you're awake. Do you know what your name is?" And he had sort of umbra - a glow - around him, though his was a light teal that clashed with his scrubs.

Harry didn't know the answer to this either. Why was everybody asking him such complicated questions? He just turned to lay back more comfortably and closed is eyes – that made his head hurt less.

"Or we can wait for a missing person report to come in." The voice sounded concerned.

\*/

Harry woke up, feeling better. His head didn't hurt, though he still couldn't remember much. Surprisingly, that didn't bother him. He amused himself with looking at the beeping machine that was to the left of his bed. After a moment, he realized that it was attached to him by wires. He had a momentary urge to peel of those wires, but then couldn't find the motivation.

He was in a room screened off by curtains. Of to one side, the curtains were only half drawn and he could just see another bed, this one with a middle aged man laying on it, asleep. He had a bluish umbra around him, except it was fluttering as if in an invisible wind, looking like it might tear away at any moment.

"Oh good, you're awake!" A young nurse – she couldn't have been more than a few years older than him – had entered the room and noticed him craning his head to take a look at the other patient. "Do you remember anything?"

"No." It took Harry a couple of tries to reply – his mouth was very dry. "Can I have some water?" The nurse also had a funny blue halo around her.

The nurse beamed like he had just answered all the questions correctly on his OWL, making her pudgy face attractive. "I'll go get that for you!"

\*/

[[now]]

Ginny was sitting, chatting with Collin, though in truth it mostly consisted of her listening to him go on at length about whatever topic had caught his attention that day. And everyday it was something different: That boy had an endless supply of wonder. It was kind of nice, and it forced Ginny out of her own head, forced her to stop worrying about all the nonsense she knew that shouldn't be worrying about.

"Hi".

Ginny didn't register the greeting at first, but she noticed when conversation in the Gryffindor common room petered away and stopped.

"Harry!" Ron shrieked like a fan girl and raced over to the revenant teen. He paused for just a moment when he reached him (probably considering the propriety of hugging another guy) before enveloping him in a bear hug and slapping him on the back. "You're not dead!"

"Yeah. Mostly," The messy haired teen replied sheepishly. The rest of the Gryffindors drifted towards him.

Ginny had also gotten up, but she wasn't certain what to do – there wasn't much space around Harry, as her brother and Hermione were already flanking him. And she was dating Collin now, so rushing over to another guy would be.. weird. She self consciously joined Collin in the press of people surrounding Harry. 'I'll talk to him later.' The important thing was that Harry was alive.

"How did you survive?" Ron asked, "I.. I saw the killing curse hit you!"

Everybody else fell quiet as well – apparently others had been wondering this as well (and some had been wondering if maybe Ron had made the whole thing up).

"My dad thinks that I blocked most of the spell when I threw the handful of dirt into its path. But it got me good anyways - I couldn't remember who I was for months, and I still have some holes in my memory."

"Do you remember me? I'm your girlfriend!" Parvati simpered as she truck a pose.

Harry froze in panic before he saw Dean cracking up (and Lavender smirking in the background).

"Don't tease Harry like that!" Hermione scowled at Parvati, taking a step in front of Harry protectively, "He almost died, and he's still recovering!"

"Um, yeah. But the reason I'm here is to help me remember. I'm not going to be coming back to school just yet, but my parents want me to come visit a couple of times, just to help jog my memory."

"Oh, sorry," the shallow Indian witch actually sounded contrite.

"You know, with the way you cheated death, you're like that guy from the Beadle the Bard tale, The Master of Death!" Ron joked. He wasn't certain how to act around Harry - he felt guilty for what had happened, even though it wasn't really his fault. He wanted to do something nice for the guy, but that skill wasn't really part of his repertoire, so the best he could offer was a cool title.

"Ron, don't be insensitive!" Hermione chided the redhead, one hand on her hip as the other wagged in his general direction.

"It's ok, Hermione." Harry shrugged, "But I wasn't really hit with the spell, so I don't think it counts."

"It's still in poor taste!" Hermione scowled at Ron, to make sure that he understood that just because Harry wasn't upset was not an excuse for him to say things like that again.

"Yeah, it wasn't." Harry agreed with an amiable shrug and a smile.

Harry spent the rest of the evening chatting. Ginny sat next to Collin and mostly listened. 'I'll drop by the Potters over winter break and we can animate some snow men to spook the muggles.' A secret smile formed as Ginny fantasized about the sort of pranks they could pull.

Harry finally left around 10:30, going to the Headmaster's office to floo home.

So he wasn't there when Ron woke up in the middle of the night, screaming that a snake had attacked his father.

\*/

Harry leaned back in his chair and looked around – it was Christmas lunch, and this year it was Petunia's turn to host. Her condo was small but very tidy – there was not a piece of dust anywhere. It was really quite impressive, given that she accomplished all that without magic. And speaking of 'without magic', the Potters were all dressed muggle, as Petunia had invited a work friend – Jack, from accounting – as well.

Everybody was crowded around a dining room table that just barely fit inside the dining room. The conversation was all flowing amiably as Lilly subtly interrogated Jack (from accounting).

It was nice to be around family, but the room was too crowded and too stifling. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go for a walk." Harry announced, as he got up from the table..

"Are you ok?" James asked solicitously. Ever since he had returned to the living, both his parents had been overly careful of him. It was a little annoying.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need a little fresh air."

Lilly was just about to recommend that Neville join them when Petunia beat her: "Dudley, why don't you go with your cousin. Just make sure you're back in an hour."

Seeing that Neville still had a full plate, Lilly just nodded her acceptance.

The two teens made their way out into the late December air. It was pleasantly brisk after the stifling heat at Petunia's – she always kept the temperature cranked up too high.

"Thanks for getting me out of there," Dudley commented as they strolled down in the direction of the park. "That Jack guy was annoying."

"You think your mom's going to be dating him?"

"God, I hope not." Dudley flexed his massive bicep, "He's a twig. I could break him in two." Though that could be said of Harry as well. After a moment, Dudley added, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No." At least, he didn't think so. 'I remember hanging out with Ginny, but I don't think I had any feels for her.' And he was pretty certain that Hermione was dating Ron, and Neville was dating Luna. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"I'm the boxing champion at my school – I'm on the varsity team, and I can beat even the seniors. At my school, all the girls want the Big D," Dudley jerked his thumb at his chest proudly.

They turned to walk under an overpass – it was a common shortcut to the park, but on Christmas day, the road was empty. Harry blew on his hands – it was getting cold.

Dudley gave a sudden nod. "You know what, you should come with me to one of my school dances. I'll introduce you to some girls." Seeing Harry hesitate, he added, "You can sneak in no problem – the teachers never check IDs."

"I.. Guess I could, couldn't I." Harry realized that since his parents were going to home school him for a semester, he could actually go. Harry stopped at the edge of the park. "Something is wrong." As he looked around he spotted them – a pair of Dementors were approaching them!

"Dudley, run!"

Harry drew his wand.

Dudley didn't run – running away from things was not something he did (in his world, people were scared of him, not vice versa). Especially when he couldn't even clearly see what he was running from.

But as he finally caught a vague sight of what Harry was looking at, he felt a sense of overwhelming dread grow in him at the visage of the... thing? People? That were approaching.

"Run!" Harry repeated, trying to concentrate on a happy thought. "Expecto." But one of the Dementors swooped in faster than he expected and back hand him across the face. Harry staggered back in shock, both that a Dementor would resort to a physical attack as well as the sensation of despair that momentarily coursed through his body at the contact. His heel caught the curb and he toppled backwards, arms pinwheeling. He hit hard, knocking his head against the asphalt.

The two Dementors pivoted towards him, like sharks scenting an injured prey. Harry scrambled to retrieve his wand as they drifted closer. The blow to his head was making everything fuzzy again – or maybe it was the fact that his glasses were missing. Also, he was back to seeing the auras, except the Dementors' auras didn't surround them like with a normal person. Instead, each had a black thing that fluttered behind them, attached at just their throats.

The two monsters clustered around Harry as he skittered backward on all fours.

"Hey," Dudley tried to yell. He wasn't certain what was going on – he could just see glimpses of something horrible attacking Harry – but all of his worst memories were surging up, all of his teen insecurities and terrors. He felt powerless again, like when mom and dad were fighting all the time. His throat clamped tight so all he manged was a hoarse whisper. "Leave him alone!" He tried, a little louder.

The Dementors paid no attention to Dudley. One leaned in towards Harry, as if to kiss him. Harry finally snatched up his wand, and remembered the sensation when he was at the rehabilitation center, realizing that he was a wizard, jabbed his wand right into the monster's throat, "Expecto Patronum!" He yelled. The spell was weak, producing just a thin burst of golden light, but Harry had jabbed the tip of his wand right into the knot connecting the black aura to the Dementor's body. The mist coated the knot in a golden sphere, severing the black aura like a sword.

Dudley watched in horror as a skeletal body appeared on top of Harry. His cousin staggered up, pushing the thing to the ground, where it collapsed into a pile of dust.

The sense of terror faded.

"What happened" Dudley asked. He glanced down surreptitiously to see if he had lost control of his bowels. Fortunately, he had not.

"I think I just destroyed a Dementor. I didn't know that was possible." Apparently, the other Dementor hadn't know it was possible either, as after a stunned moment, it had fled faster than Harry had ever seen them move before.

\*/

[[Flashback]]

Harry sat down on the bench outside the Center. It was a warm September afternoon, and he had become accustomed to the routine at the Rehabilitation Center. After breakfast, he worked with a therapist, trying to recall things from his life. She would show him pictures, and they would talk about what he saw, and how that made him feel. It was kind of fun, but not very productive. He still couldn't remember who he was. But on the other hand, he wasn't certain why he should care. Everything was enveloped in a soft cocoon that insulated him from the world. It was pleasant, and nothing seemed important.

He did feel better than when he arrive. His head aches were gone and things didn't look blurry anymore (it turns out that he just needed gasses!) but most people he saw still had some sort of umbra around them. His therapist claimed that he must be experiencing synaesthesia, and that he must have gotten hit on the head.

Harry scratched at his arm. There was something there, but he couldn't be bothered to check. It had been getting itchier and itchier the last few weeks, though. He couldn't remember if had washed that spot when he last showered – something about it made him forget about it except when it was itchy. Though out of the corner of his eye he could sometimes see some sort of stick stuck to his arm.

Harry leaned back to enjoy the sun, like a cat.

Suddenly, he felt the temperature plunge, and his good mood disappeared. Harry bolted upright, his heart hammering away in his chest.

A wild haired woman was pointing a wand at him. Just as his eyes focused on her, a voice hissed from a bundle in her other arm: "Kill the spare"

The woman jabbed the wand at him. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry returned to his senses just as a black clad figure - a Dementor – exited the old age section of the Center. An alarm was going off inside, signaling that a patient had gone into 'code'.

Harry took a fighting stance, but the Dementor flew off in the other direction, not even glancing his way.

As Harry lowered his wand, he was filled with a sense of elation. He was a wizard!

He knew who he was!

Harry walked down to the edge of the road and lifted his wand up, shooting sparks to call the Knight Bus.

Author Note:

Yes, I have set the pairing to [Harry x Hermione]. Please note that this is aspirational at this point. Harry is really clueless when it comes to girls, and Hermione is disastrously bad at relationships. We will see if they actually get together.