Author's Note:: Thank you Julianne-Petals for your reviews! You seem to be my biggest fan at the moment. I'm glad you like my story. I'll remember the Sirius:Snuffles thing from now on. Thanks!

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Dear Harry,

  I got your letter and I'm glad I've heard from you. I'm not real glad by the news you have though. You say that Dumbledore asked the Ministry to make a Muggle a wizard? I'm not sure I think that was a good idea. What could that possibly do, especially with You-Know-Who on the rise?

  Thanks for telling me about your scar. I looked at the date on your letter and that was the day that You-Know-Who "liberated" Azkaban. I suppose that is why you felt your scar hurt. I hope you told Dumbledore.

  Just a reminder, Harry, but please refer to me as Snuffles when you write. I know that it's been a long time since you've written, but I'm not exactly freed yet. Keep me posted on everything.

                                                                                                                          Snuffles   

            Harry put down the letter that had been delivered by a couple minute owls and peered out the window. He wished a shaggy black dog would stroll across the lawn, perhaps with Crookshanks trotting by his side, just to know that Sirius was alive. The letter was sent a week ago and a lot had happened since then.

            Voldemort was rallying more Death Eaters back into his inviting presence and the death toll grew each day, especially among Muggles and Muggle-borns. Harry had heard of an attack near Bath and wondered if Sirius was there. He had no idea where Sirius, Lupin, Arabella Figg, or Mundungus Fletcher were. All he knew was that they were together, unless they had already started the inevitable assignment that Dumbledore had hinted at last year.

            Harry heaved a great sigh and decided to go get his things. He was due for his Inherited Magic lessons and it took him a while to get to Dumbledore's office. As he gathered a book called Gryffindor: A Guide to Relative Magic, and his wand (just in case) he noticed a tawny owl had just fluttered into the window of the boys' fifth-year dormitory. Dreading the contents of the letter that was tied to its leg, he walked over slowly to relieve the burden.

            The handwriting on the front of the envelope was very square and precise and it said simply Harry Potter. Curious, Harry tore open the letter and read.

Dear Potter,

  Imagine that! I, Draco Malfoy, wrote a letter to dear, Saint Potter. I'm afraid that the unfortunate time has come that we will be joining forces, and we will have to put up with one another. I hereby renounce my father and my family's ways of the Dark Side. I never believed anything I said to you, well maybe just a little, but nothing about Voldemort.

  I don't really know how to say this but, I don't want to be enemies anymore. Not friends! No, I don't think that that will ever happen, but on tolerable speaking terms. Meet me in the Great Hall tomorrow at nine.

Sincerely,

Draco Malfoy

            Stunned, Harry put the letter in a drawer of his bedside table. Malfoy was looking for advice from him? Malfoy was looking for an alliance with him? Something really weird was going on.

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            Aidan didn't know what do. He had tried owling Leigh for weeks yet he never received an answer. He didn't know anymore if she was dead or alive. His father had of course sent him a letter describing his new position at work and his meeting with Marc Rosier. He was sure that the new prison would be set up soon and that Madeira would be captured soon enough, but that wasn't good enough for Aidan.

            He stared gloomily back at his bowl of porridge and sighed. It had been weeks, in fact, that anyone had owled him. Was his alienation at Hogwarts the reason or something else? Who was dead or alive, safe or in danger?

            At that moment Hermione came rushing into the Great Hall with what looked like a copy of the Daily Prophet waving in her hand. She looked extremely disheveled and when she plopped down next to Ron, Aidan could see a single tear course down her cheek. "'Mione, what's wrong?" Ron asked, alarmed.

            "This, read this," she squeaked tossing the newspaper down on the table. The headline read Ministry Baffled, Death Eaters Close to Hogsmeade. Aidan didn't need to read anymore. He knew that they were all in danger now. "Shit!" he muttered.

            "Aidan, stop. Swearing isn't going to change anything, you know," Hermione mumbled. "Dumbledore's here, remember."

            "Well, that's a fat lot of help that is!" Hermione gave him a very patronizing look and turned back to Ron.

            "Harry's in trouble. That's why they're here near Hogwarts anyway."

            "I know, I know," Ron mumbled. "Does he know?"

            "Not yet. He's at his lesson with Dumbledore."

            "Well, that's good; he has an extra protection at least."

            "I know. Oh Ron!" she wailed and she flung herself onto his shoulders. He ran his fingers through her bushy hair. When she was finished crying he tilted her head upward and kissed her forehead. "It'll be alright. There're all types of protection around this castle."

            But right as Hermione was about to open her mouth to answer the Hall was filled with the familiar sound of owls whooshing overhead. Aidan looked up on instinct, yet he was surprised to see a very battered looking owl soaring his way. The owl flopped onto the table with a dull thud and stuck out its leg for Aidan to untie an equally battered piece of parchment. Disgusted though Aidan was, he took the parchment and read it quickly.

Dear Aidan,

  You have no idea how lucky I was to find this piece of parchment. I've been starving and there isn't much to forage through. I'm in a cell at You-Know-Who's hideout, but I'm not even sure where that is. All I know is that the Death Eaters are after Hogwarts and you should know that their plan is to circle the castle and attack that way, so there's no way to escape.

  Tell Dumbledore.

Love---Leigh

            With a quick gasp, Aidan stood up and sped out of the hall. He headed to Dumbledore's office and was lucky enough to guess the password on his second try ("Fizzing Whizbee"). Dumbledore was on the opposite side of the room, staring out the window and folding his hands over in his lap. He was hardly surprised to see Aidan, yet the twinkle that Aidan had so depended on was extinguished. "Yes, Mr. O'Reilly?" Dumbledore asked sullenly.

            "It's about, Leigh, sir. And the Death Eaters," he added.

            "Please continue," Dumbledore encouraged with a wave of his hands.

            "I know their plan, sir. They're going to circle the castle any day now." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

            "And, may I ask how you know this, Mr. O'Reilly?"

            "Leigh told me. She wrote to me from a cell in Voldemort's hideout. She must have heard them talking."

            "Very well, very well," he said sadly. "You know, Aidan, ever since I saw the headline this morning, I've been thinking about whether or not this school is safe enough anymore. Now I think that this has confirmed my suspicions. I'm afraid we're going to have to close the school."

            "What! You can't do that! You're the best headmaster this school has ever had! And Harry, he's got to have at least some way of fighting the Death Eater's with his new powers. I thought that Gryffindor's were brave and they were the only true descendants who could beat Slytherin."

            "I see that you are very well informed by Mr. Potter. But I'm afraid that Harry is no where near the end of his training. He may be able to help stave off Voldemort for a few more years, but until then we won't be able to keep the school open. We have lost our alliances with the dementors and the giants won't come near us. We have ourselves, so we have to do all we can to be safe. I will be informing the school of this tomorrow morning at breakfast, Aidan, and I expect you to try and stop me, but I will be very displeased if you do." Aidan hung his head, noting the finality in Dumbledore's voice and began to retreat. He had only just gotten to Hogwarts, and now he would have to leave again.

            Making his way to his first class, Defense Against the Dark Art with Professor James Kopnik,, who surprisingly enough, seemed to know his stuff, Aidan pondered everything that was going on. What was going to happen to him, his family, and his friends? Could they possibly stay safe with all the torture, kidnappings, and death going on around them?

            Professor Kopnik kindly excused Aidan for being late when he walked in. Something in his eyes told Kopnik that Aidan knew something that none of the other students did yet and knew how much it was troubling him. Being an Auror of seventeen years, Kopnik had seen the whole picture of the fraction Aidan and the rest of the students were enduring. Soon enough, thought, soon enough.

            Their lesson on countercurses was extremely dreadful, owing to the fact that everyone in the room was thinking of how soon they were going to have to use them.

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            Nine o'clock came sooner than Harry would have hoped for. Just to be on the safe side though, Harry brought Ron along under the Invisibility Cloak and armed with his wand and the Marauders' Map. If Harry were to be tricked in anyway, Ron was going to be ready with a Stunning Spell and the Full-Body Bind.

            Before walking into the Hall, Harry checked the Map, just to make sure that Malfoy hadn't brought anyone along. Surprised that he hadn't, Harry walked coolly through the oak doors and made his way to the table at which Malfoy was sitting.

            "Potter," he said, when he noticed Harry coming through the Hall. His characteristic Malfoy smirk was still planted firmly on his pointed face. "I didn't think you'd show."

            "Well, you thought wrong, Malfoy," Harry answered, wishing he could have come up with a wittier come-back.

            "Let me get to the point, Potter. I don't want anything to do with my father or the Dark Lord. They're cowards. I don't want you to hate me, but I still don't want to be your friend. I'm just saying that if you ever need me, you know, when you're out doing some stupid heroic deed, I'm—" but he was cut off by Ron, who came tearing through the Hall, half-visible.

            "HARRY! THE DEATH EATERS—"

            BOOM! The oak front door was blasted to smithereens, bits of wood flying every which way. A group of black cloaked wizards were standing in a huddled mass at the doorway, led by none other than Lucius Malfoy.

            "—are here." Ron's voice squeaked, anti-climatically.

            The three boys stood frozen on the spot. Lucius Malfoy spoke, his voice laced with hate. "Well, well, well, what have we here? It seems that Daddy's little boy has joined with Boy-Who-Is-Going-To-Die and his Muggle-loving friend. I suppose you think that you can up-end me, do you, boy, by becoming a good-for-nothing Dumbledore-following—"

            "SUO EGA ROUC!" It was Harry. A ball of green light bulleted toward Malfoy Sr.'s head and he was knocked backward with the force of heavy metal beam. Draco looked to Harry with utter amazement, but there wasn't any time to chat about it. The curses were flying from there.

            Harry conjured a spell Patronus that Dumbledore had taught him, which blocked the curses from him, but Ron was hit with the Cruciatus Curse and was being thrown around with such force that Harry wasn't sure if he would be alive at the end of it all.

A few seconds later, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, and Kopnik appeared in the Hall, apparently ready for the battle that was being engaged in. The five teachers each conjured a Patronus and started shooting curses at the Death Eaters as well. Dumbledore in the lead shouting curses and shooting balls of light identical to Harry's from his hand and knocking out several Death Eaters at a time. "YLT NAL AHC NON!" he shouted, resulting in five Death Eaters being thrown backwards, knocked out, and causing the domino effect on their fellows behind them. They were still outnumbered heavily, though.

Mr. Malfoy was still sitting, dazed, on the ground, groping for his wand.  Without a second thought, Harry shouted the first spell that came into his head to stop him from getting up again. "EVOL!" and Mr. Malfoy was again flat on the floor, his wand lay forgotten a couple meters away.

"Harry!" came a voice. Harry spun around to his right to see where the voice had come from. Malfoy, it looked like, was taking his head and banging it against the nearest house table. Imperius Curse, he thought to himself. And predictably, a few meters away, stood a tall masked man holding his wand above his head and moving as though it were connected to strings and Malfoy was his marionette. "EV ARB!" Harry shouted, and the Death Eater dropped his wand and stumbled drunkenly into a table and passed out.

Seconds later, a curse missing Harry by inches, singed the hairs on the side of his head. It was then that Harry knew his Patronus had died. He conjured up another stag-Patroni, but before he could bellow another spell, his scar exploded with pain. "ARGH!" he screamed. Dumbledore turned and one look at Harry holding his head in pain told him all he need to know. "DRACO, RON! GET OUT OF HERE!" the headmaster bellowed, sounding very un-Dumbledore-like indeed. Yet Ron lay unconscious under the Ravenclaw table.

There was another loud BOOM! And a tall, skinny, man with red slits for eyes appeared in the front doorway, just as Aidan appeared in the other. The Death Eaters fell silent as their master glided into the hall, each dropping to their knees in worship. His voice was cold as he spoke and every single teacher and student present shivered at it. "Hogwarts," he hissed. "So many memories."

No one spoke at this, but the Death Eaters bowed even lower. Voldemort walked over to the tall Death Eater that had passed out over a table and muttered, "Madeira, pathetic." He shook his head.

Upon noticing Dumbledore standing a few feet way, Voldemort's thin mouth twisted into an odd sort of smile. "Dumbledore, we meet again."

All Dumbledore could do was hold his wand out. "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort said lazily, and Dumbledore's wand flew out of his hand. "Not so clever now, are you, old bat?"

Harry looked up at Voldemort from his position on the floor, his eyes tearing from the pain in his head. Nothing but pure hate and determination could describe what Harry was feeling at the moment. He got up slowly and grabbed his wand. "Dumbledore has greater powers than you'll ever have," Harry whispered venomously. Voldemort turned towards Harry and smiled his twisted smile once more.

"Potter, we meet for the fifth time. How glad I am to see you. I see you've become very sentimental, Potter, but you tell naught but lies."

Aidan hurried forward, his wand hand outstretched. He had no idea what he was doing. He stood next to Harry.

"Another noble friend, I see?" Voldemort said, sneering at Aidan. "O'Reilly I presume?" Aidan just glared. "Not too talkative I see… CRUCIO!"

Aidan was on his back positively screeching in pain. All he new was pain, but he could faintly hear Voldemort's high-pitched laugh and a curious spell being shouted. And the pain was over.

Harry lay on his back, as did Voldemort and some surrounding Death Eaters. Aidan looked around, perplexed on the scene that lay before him. McGonagall looked terrified and Flitwick gaped. Dumbledore's hand was outstretched and smoke seemed to be wafting from it. "Don't worry, they've just been knocked out. Harry will be fine, but we had better get this filth out of here."

Dumbledore proceeded to pick up Voldemort's wand and snap it, but when he picked it up, he discovered that it was hot as coals. He dropped it back down immediately while Kopnik rounded up the knocked out Death Eaters and conjured and unbreakable glass cage. McGonagall conjured up stretchers for Harry, Ron, Aidan, Malfoy and Snape, who had all been hurt, and levitated them all to the hospital wing. Dumbledore also made up an enclosure for Voldemort.

"Sir, how did you do that?" Kopnik asked after the commotion had died away.

"I'm a Gryffindor," Dumbledore replied. "But I'm afraid that Voldemort will not be held for much longer, which is why I am trying to teach Harry as fast as I can."

Kopnik nodded his head, but Dumbledore continued. "There is only one spell that will finish Voldemort for good. But I'm afraid it is very advanced magic, and no where near as complex as the Killing Curse. Harry will have to be the wizard who performs it or all hope is surely lost. In the meantime, check to see how that new prison is doing. O'Reilly is in charge. Get to Hogsmeade and Apparate straight away.

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A/N:: Yay! I'm finally done with this chapter. I'm so bogged down with school that I hardly have time to write and No, I have not forgotten this story. Reviews would be very much appreciated! -----Gred