Memories and Predictions

This chapter is dedicated to my one and only reviewer for the moment!

AshleyWade757- Don't worry about the romance, it's coming a lot in later chapters, I like to keep people in suspense. Here's the next chapter for your reading pleasure. After all, you have told me to keep updating!

Disclaimer: I only own Harry's house from the last chapter, Draco's good side, and Augery and Noss. For the rest of it, a talented writer named J.K. Rowling created it, and then sold her soul to the demon of over- merchandising companies, the dreaded Warner Brothers. So don't sue me, you soon-to-be-patented-helper-of-the-devil, you!

At about noon, the trio reached Hogwarts Castle. As they boarded the horseless carriages, they pulled their cloaks tighter around themselves. The Hogwarts express had taken them back with the students coming back from Christmas vacation. Attracting a lot of weird looks was somewhat normal for Ron and Hermione, but Malfoy looked very disturbed by them.

When they entered the Great Hall, a swarm of relief flooded through them. "Ron! Hermione! What are you doing here?" A warm, congenial voice greeted them. The three of them turned around to see Neville Longbottom standing there, beaming. Malfoy couldn't hold back.

"Longbottom, you aren't still in seventh year, are you?"

"Very funny, Mr. Malfoy. No, actually, I'm the Herbology teacher, isn't that great?"

"Oh, that's wonderful, Neville! To answer your question, we're here to see Dumbledore." Hermione said, glad to see another friend, who was actually happy.

"Really? What's wrong?"

"We… just…uh, misplaced a few things, that's all," Ron said hurriedly.

"Oh, okay. Well, join us for lunch! See ya later"

They then left, and headed toward Dumbledore's office. A large, black dog was waiting for them in front of the gargoyle, and started barking when it saw them approaching.

"Hello Snuffles," said Ron, patting the dog on the head. Hermione then followed suit, and Draco (Though a bit confusedly). The gargoyle hopped aside, and Dumbledore glided down the moving steps. "I came down to see why Snuffles was barking. Well, I can see why! Welcome back! You can step into my office." He looked rather tired, in spite of his optimism. But, as always, he had that familiar twinkle in his eye that only left on special occasions. He looked older than ever, they realized, as he struggled a little, back to the steps.

He led the way up to his office, with the dog behind him, then Hermione and Ron, and Draco pulling up the rear.

When they got to the office, "Snuffles" immediately turned into his normal self, Sirius Black a.k.a. Padfoot. The only one who reacted to this very usual thing (doesn't everyone go transforming from one kind of creature to another without apparent reason, and have three names?) was Draco, who looked a bit shocked.

Sirius walked over to Ron, and gave him what seemed to be a fatherly/brotherly hug. Then Hermione gave him a hug. Black looked at Draco and walked over to him. Holding out his hand, he said, "Hello, I'm Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. Thank you." Draco took his hand. A warm but firm handshake.

"Well, onto business then," said Dumbledore, "you've said that you made a large breakthrough?"

"Yes, we did, sir. We have come to the conclusion that Harry was forced under the Fidelius charm."

Sirius' eyes darkened at this, and he asked, "Do you have any suspicions of where he might be?"

"Not at the moment," replied Draco, "we're trying to figure out the best person that the Dark Lord would choose to keep the secret."

"Mr. Malfoy, his name is Voldemort, always call everything by its proper name."

"Yes, sir."

"I assume that you will stay here for awhile? I, of course, will make sure that the library is fully open to you, I'll have a talk with Madam Pince. And Miss Granger?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Please try not to overwork yourself."

"Oh, Professor, sir, I have an idea of how we could find out who the secret-keeper is. It might be a bit dangerous, but it's not impossible," intervened Ron, saying all this very quickly.

Hermione and Draco looked at him with puzzlement on their faces. " May I suggest that you rest first, Mr. Weasley? By the look of things, you might have to discuss this a little more with your colleagues, too. We'll meet again on Sunday. That is two days of rest and research. Then you may propose this idea to us. Sirius, can you take them to Gryffindor tower? I think there is room in the 7th year dorms.

"Yes, of course." Replied Black.

"Thank you, Professor," said Hermione. Draco and Ron also said their thank yous and they left Dumbledore's office. Sirius was back to his dog form again, obviously.

In the crowded common room, Ron, Draco, and Hermione sat playing chess near the fire. "I'm glad we're only here for two days," Ron was explaining, "since we still have to go to the Burrow. We can forget Harry's master's house."

"What is the Burrow?" Asked Draco, frustrated at the fact that they were always mentioning it.

"Oh, it's my house. Well…my parents house."

"Who cares about that? What was your idea, Ron?" Hermione was clearly, very impatient.

"Remember our fourth year? Barty Crouch? Mad-Eye Moody?"

"I remember him," Draco said disdainfully, with a look of embarrassment and disgust on his face. " He was the one who turned me into a--a--a ferret." He finished this sentence very quietly.

"Sorry?" Both Ron and Hermione asked mockingly, at the same time.

"He turned me into a ferret. Ok?"

"I still couldn't hear you. Could you repeat that a little louder?" Hermione simpered. "Fine! He turned me into a BLOODY FERRET!!!!" He shouted, and half of the common room stared at him as though he was a lunatic. "Bugger off."

Ron and Hermione erupted into laughter at this, and didn't stop until Draco threatened to hex one of them.

Hermione cleared her throat. " Anyway, are you implying that we do what fake Moody did?"

Yeah. It's not like we haven't done it before, and it's not that hard. I mean, we did that in our second year!"

"Not that hard? Ron, look what happened to me when we tried that! And what about time? You guys only stayed like that for an hour, and that was in the stupid Slytherin common room, where everybody was too dumb to notice it wasn't you! We'd be amidst Death Eaters, and for much longer than an hour. It could be a week, or more, let alone the prospect of a month!"

"You know, sometime, you're going to have to let me know what you're talking about." Draco said, he was very awkward in this whole situation. Especially about being in the Gryffindor common room.

"How about after lunch? I'm really hungry," Ron said, rubbing his stomach.

"You're just hungry because you saw the other students leaving for lunch," Hermione grumbled.

In the Great Hall at lunch, an infinite number of moans issued from Ron's mouth. "I can't believe I ever left Hogwarts! Their food is sooo good!" He said, his mouth stuffed with chicken.

"It's just slave labor, that's all." Hermione was still in a bit of a bad mood.

"Well, I don't see you starving yourself like you used to." Ron remarked.

"One must have their nutrition if they're going to be staying up late into the night, researching Polyjuice potion." Ron and Draco rolled their eyes. After they were finished eating, they decided to just chat.

"Well," started Ron, "I want to know what's going on with you. How've you been doing? Oh, and I'm sorry about the Krum thing. By the way, I noticed you still have your maiden name. Why's that?"

"It was Viktor's idea to keep my own name. Plus, it flows much better than Hermione Krum. And about my life? You know everything that's going on in my life, it's boring."

"Oh, come on? The bookworm, straight A student must have some fun! I mean you probably have a boyfriend, and boring family reunions, and a best friend, right?

"Um, no. First, I haven't had a boyfriend since Viktor died. Seond, my family's very small and I'm an only child. Third, I just don't have a best friend."

"Really?"

"No."

"Hmm."

Ron looked at his watch, which, of course, didn't have any numbers on it. The hand for him was pointing to: procrastinating.

"You guys, let's go get to work now. We're procrastinating."

"Says who? We're catching up." Draco disdainfully reasoned.

"My watch says so. Look." Draco and Hermione glanced at his watch, and sighed exasperatedly (A/N: that's a hard word to say). "Fine," he snapped.

They stopped at the library to get some books, and headed off to Gryffindor Tower. When they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady in the pink dress, they realized that they didn't remember the password. "Um, balderdash?" Hermione guessed.

"No, sorry dear."

"Oh DARN!" Said Ron sarcastically," How about mangy cur?" He started laughing, and got a blank stare from Draco, and a patronizing one from Hermione.

"No," the Fat Lady said sternly, "and if you're trying to sound like that lunatic of a painting Sir Cadogan, well, you're doing a good job of it. Ron stopped laughing.

They waited at the painting for about five minutes, trying out different passwords (all of which failed), before a little 1st year came walking down the hall.

All three stared with wide eyes, and open mouths at the girl, who was asking if they needed any help. The little girl was medium height, perhaps a bit taller than her fellow first years, with long bushy brown hair, freckles, and bright, deep blue eyes.

"Excuse me, sir, may I help you and your friends?" She repeated, an edge of impatience in her voice as she spoke to Ron.

"Um, yes. We need the password to the tower," Hermione said, getting over the shock of seeing someone who looked so much like her. Well, except for the height, eye color, and traces of freckles, of course.

"You're a bit old to be in this school, aren't you? And all the teachers know the passwords. Well, at least Professor McGonagall does." She said Professor McGonagall with such reverence that they started to stare again.

"Mmm, yes, well, Dumbledore said that we're-"

"Professor, sir," she corrected him.

"Right. PROFESSOR Dumbledore said that we're to be staying in Gryffindor Tower, we're his guests, and if you don't believe us, you may ask him, but we still must know the password." Draco said this with his arrogant and powerful expression, demanding to know the password.

The girl looked him up and down with disgust that faintly resembled the same look Ron had the first time he saw Draco, and then said, "Fine. It's fairy lights." She scowled, and put her nose high in the air. The portrait opened, and she stomped in, closely followed by the three, who were laughing.

"May I ask what your name is? What year are you in?" Hermione asked her.

"I'm Augury, and I'm in first year. My big brother goes here, too. My five other brothers are not old enough yet. Anyway, my big brother's name is Nostradamus, Noss for short. He's a prefect! In fifth year. I hope I become a prefect! Professor McGonagall says that with my current grades, I'll be one without a doubt." She said all this very fast.

"Oh, and do you do anything other than study?" Ron asked, grinning at Hermione.

"Oh, yes! I'm already on the Quidditch team, isn't that great? They told me the last time that happened was when my uncle got to be seeker in his first year, except that I'm a beater. Also, I love playing Wizard's chess, it's so fun! And I'm really good at it, no one's beaten me yet!" She said this very fast, too, now with a look of excitement. Hermione smirked back at Ron.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to Transfiguration now. Don't want to be late on the first day back from vacation." Augury ran up the stairs to her dorm, ran back down with her bag, and dodged out the portrait hole. It took about five more minutes to get the common room empty again. They sat down and started looking through the books, taking notes, etc. It was a comfortable silence, until Draco broke it.

"The Gryffindor Tower's much brighter than Slytherin, I must admit. Though, that doesn't mean I think Gryffindor is better in any way. It's kind of strange being here." The other two nodded, wanted to keep their attention on work. Suddenly, the portrait hole opened, and two boys walked in. "Jeez, my sister's annoying." One of them said, and continued in a high-pitched voice, "Noss, will you please get my broom for me? I have to do my homework!" He resumed his normal voice. "Well, she should get her own broom. I have homework, too, but I don't start working on it before practices. She needs to sort out her priorities."

The other boy talked now. "Don't worry about it, Noss, I'll get the brooms. " He was older, maybe in seventh year. The one talking about his sister caught sight of the three non-teacher adults sitting by the fire.

"Hey, I'm Noss, Gryffindor prefect. Are you guys here to apply for the DADA job? That one never seems to last long." They turned to him to answer his question, but stopped. He was tall, lanky, with bright red hair, no freckles to be seen, and chocolate-brown eyes.

~Evyfleur