Disclaimer-I do not own Harry Potter.

A/n-Because I did not write a new chapter for so long, I felt that I needed to write the next one right away. And also, as I wrote in my bio-I do accept flames. You can flame all you want, as long as you have a reason. For example: If you say, "Your story sucks ass", and just leave it at that, I'm just going to ignore you. However, if you say, "Your story sucks ass because it's too short, or there's not enough Ron in it, or anything else", then I will take your opinion into consideration, and try my best to accommodate you (unless it's something stupid like D/Hr, or H/R or D/H so don't even bother).

                                                                The Switching Charm

                Harry slowly limped back to his divination class. Although he was still worried about what professor Trelawny had predicted, he tried to not let it bother him. "Whatever it is, Dumbledore will handle it," he kept telling himself all the way up to the tower where his divination class was in.

                As soon as Harry opened the trap door, which led to his class, a beautiful sight hit his eyes. The entire classroom was completely dark except for the middle of the room. And in the middle stood miniature version of glowing stars and constellations. The stars were all moving in perfect harmony with each other. The constellations were shining brightly illuminating how beautiful the stars surrounding them were. Harry could hardly believe that this was his divination class. Usually it involved nothing except professor Trelawny ranting about how Harry was going to die very soon. Even though it was for a good cause, Harry still felt a little mad at himself for not staying for the beginning of class, and missing what had happened.

                As quickly as he could Harry ran into to room [ignoring the pain in his leg], and took a seat closest to the trap door. Everyone was so interested with the class, that no one even noticed Harry come in; and if they did, they just ignored him, and continued to listen to what professor Trelawny had to say.

                "And as you see my darlings," professor Trelawny was saying. "Because the stars from Orion's belt move in perfect harmony with the stars from Asora's belt, that means that no tragedies will occur for the time being."

                'No tragedies?' Harry thought disbelievingly. 'Voldemort is back! I don't think things can get more tragic than that. The light show may look nice, but she still doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that I missed most of this class after all.'

                "And as you can see, Asora's comet is…" Immediately she gasped, causing the students to all turn in her direction.

                "What is professor?" asked Lavender, who was already on the edge of her seat.

                "The comet has shifted it's direction, and is now headed towards the eye of the constellation," professor Trelawny said, in a very low and mysterious voice.

                "Oh, no," Lavender and Parvati said in unison.

                "Yes my dears, it can only mean one thing…" she continued.

                'Here it comes,' Harry thought sarcastically.

                "DEATH my dears," she said causing almost everyone (especially Parvati and Lavender) to gasp. "I must examine this closer," she got up and moved over to where the constellations were. She moved right between them and examined the comet that had just flown by. She didn't say anything for a while; she just kept staring at the comet.

                'I bet I know whose death,' Harry thought to himself, while he just sat back in his chair waiting for professor Trelawny to yell out his name.

                "This is horrible," professor Trelawny said in a gasp. "According to this, the person will not only die in body, but will also die in spirit."

                "What is it professor?" Parvati asked in a whisper. She was also at the edge of her seat waiting for professor Trelawny to continue. "What does that mean?"

                "It is a horrible fate my dears, and it will soon befall on one of the people sitting in this room!" She finished dramatically, while pointing her right index finger to where Harry was sitting.

                The entire class gasped when they saw that professor Trelawny had pointed at Harry. Most of the class didn't gasp because of the prediction, but because it was Harry that she pointed to. They all knew that Harry's archenemy was Voldemort. And they all knew about Harry's close encounter with death in his previous year when Voldemort came back. And this prediction only exacerbated their fear of Voldemort, which was already great to begin with. The only one that didn't gasp [besides Harry] was Ron, who by now was without a doubt sure that professor Trelawny was a fake.

When Harry saw her point to him, he just yawned a bit, in order to show her that he wasn't afraid of her prediction, which caused some of the other students [including Ron] to snicker a bit.

                "So," professor Trelawny said, as she moved closer to where Harry was sitting. "You are not afraid are you?" She stopped right by him and leaned in so her nose almost touched Harry's. "That is good my dear," she whispered. "You should not fear the future, rather you should just accept it, and live the rest of your life as best as you can."

                Harry didn't say anything to this he just nodded quickly.

                "But aren't even curious of how you are going to die my dear," she continued, raising her voice to just above a whisper.

                'Old age?' Harry thought. 'Or being creeped out by you predicting my death all the time?'

                "That is what interests us all my dears," she continued in her normal voice, while moving away from Harry and heading back to her chair. "When and how and why we shall die."

                She slowly sat in her chair not saying anything for a minute, which made Lavender and Parvati almost fall of the edge of their seats. "That is why, for you homework this week, you will go to the astronomy tower for every night this week and use the stars to see how each of you will die. I want a report on this next Monday." She waived her wand once and the constellation quickly disappeared, and the torches on the side were once again dimly lit. "You may leave now my dears."

                Everyone slowly gathered their things and started heading out of the classroom. The only ones that stayed were Lavender and Parvati, obviously wanting to ask professor Trelawny some questions about that day's class.

                As soon as Harry left through the trap, door he met up with Ron, who was waiting for him at the bottom.

                "Can you believe it?" Ron said. "She wants us to predict our own deaths. That's kind of depressing isn't it?"

                "I guess," Harry said, in a low voice. "But at least I have a head start."

                "Yeah, I'd think she'd leave you alone with that just once; but looks like she's still going to keep at it."

                "Yeah, I guess so," Harry said in the same low voice.

                "Well come on then we have to get to charms class," Ron said with what seemed like glee in his voice.

                This surprised Harry a bit. Ron had never been happy about going to classes, especially when it came to charms. He wanted to ask him why he seemed so eager to go but thought better of it.

                "I'll catch up with you," Harry said. "I have to talk with professor Trelawny about missing class."

                "I'll wait for you," Ron said.

                "No that's okay."

                "Are you sure?"

                "Yeah, I'll see you in class."

                With that Ron walked down the stairs of the tower towards the exit looking back only once.

                The truth was that Harry didn't have to talk with professor Trelawny; he just didn't want Ron to notice Harry limping because of the pain in his leg. If he would, then he might start asking questions of how he got it and why he just didn't get madam Pomfrey to fix him up.

                Harry waited for a few minutes before heading down the stairs of the tower. His leg still hurt him as much as before, but he persevered.

                Because of his leg, Harry barely made it on time for professor Flitwick's charms class. All of the seats already seemed to be taken except for the seat between Ron and Hermione. He looked around and noticed that Olivea was sitting next to Lavender and Parvati. Obviously Ron and Hermione were saving that seat for him. Harry slowly walked over to the chair trying his best to hide his limp. This however only made his leg hurt more.

                As soon as he sat down he heard Hermione's voice nagging him about how he was almost late.

                "Relax Hermione," Ron said to her. "Harry just had to talk to that old fraud about missing class."

                "Why did you miss class Harry?" Hermione asked him, with suspicion in her voice.

                "Why do you care," Ron said before Harry could say anything. "Divination is a worthless class anyway, right."

                "That still doesn't give Harry the right to miss it Ron," Hermione retaliated.

                Ron was about to say something, but professor Flitwick came in and cut him short.

                Professor Flitwick was the short, kind teacher with a hooked nose and a very forgiving personality. Although this did not mean he was weak; for he was once a dueling champion.

                "Settle down class, we have a lot of work to do today," He said as he walked over and stood upon a few large books. "Now that we are in the fifth year," He started speaking, while he turned towards the class. "We are going to start on a few of the more complicated charms."

                This announcement made a few students shift their bodies in their seats.

                 "As you already know, you will be taking your O.W.L.'s this year, therefore you will have to study now more than ever. I of course will help prepare you for them as best as I can.

                "This year we will practice charms and spells that involve double-thinking."

                A few students, who were obviously confused, started to whisper among each other.

                "Now what does that mean?" professor Flitwick continued. "Well, let me show you an example." He jumped down from his stack of books and faced the chair behind his desk. "Wingardium Leviosa," he said, and the chair started to hover in midair. A few students just sat there obviously completely baffled as to what professor Flictwick was doing. Hermione was the only one who closely paid attention to what professor Flitwick was doing.

                "Now do you see what I did?" No one answered him. "I levitated the chair right here closer to me." Everyone just stared at him strangely. "Now I was able to do that because I focused my concentration on the chair, and moved it to myself. The chair was my primary thought." Still no one said anything. "But there are some spells that don't allow a single primary thought. Spells that force you to concentrate on two separate objects at once. That students, is where you have to learn to double-think."

                Professor Flitwick quickly used his magic to levitate an old wooden stool to his side. "The simplest spell that involves double-thinking," He started once again when the stool was in place next to him. "Is the switching charm."

                 A few students started whispering once again.

                "Do not confuse the switching charm for a simple switching spell that you learned in your tranfiguration class," professor Flitwick immediately said. "The switching charm and the switching spell are too different things.

"The switching spell," he pointed his wand at the chair. "Only concentrates on one primary and one secondary." He said the enchantment and switched the legs of the chair with the legs of the stool. He turned back to the class and said, "Do your see, my primary concern was to transfigure the legs of this chair with the legs of the stool, my secondary was the chair and stool themselves. It was basically one primary thought and one secondary thought. However, a switching charm requires a little more concentration than that. Watch," he pointed his wand towards the stool and said, "Racco," then he pointed his wand to the chair and said, "Swasso." And immediately the chair and the stool switched places. Professor Flitwick turned back to the class and said, "Now you may wonder: 'why would I need to learn such a complicated charm, when I can just use the switching spell?' right?"

A few students nodded when he said this.

"Well the answer is because, the switching spell has limits to how much you can transfigure, while the charms limits extend to as far as your innate powers. In other words, the switching charm can be used to switch houses, classes, mountains, and can even be used for minor teleportation." He pointed towards Olivea and said, "Racco," then he pointed to himself and said, "Swasso." Immediately both Olivea and professor Flitwick switched places. "You see," professor Flitwick called from Olivea's seat. "You can't use a switching spell to do that, can you?" He used the spell on Olivea and himself one more time, and placed Olivea back in her seat, while placing himself right in front of the class, where Olivea just stood.

"Even in a place like Hogwarts," he said as soon as he reappeared. "Where apparition is not allowed, the switching charm will work on humans, as long as you concentrate carefully."

The students once again started whispering among themselves, this time in amazement.

"Now I don't expect any of you to get this right away, but I think it would be best if we start right away." He went behind his desk, opened a drawer and took out two boxes. "Come on up and I will give each of you a needle and a match. You will start with something little today. We'll move on to bigger things later."

One by one the students came up to professor Flitwick's desk, took their needle and match, and headed back towards their seats to try and make the charm work.

Professor Flitwick was right, no one in the class was able to make the charm work for them. Even Hermione was struggling with this one, much to Ron's delight.

"Having a bit of a hard time," Ron said in a gloating-like voice.

Hermione just turned to him and said, "I wouldn't speak if I were you. I still know about a hundred times as many spells as you, while you don't even know what a proton is, so you have nothing to gloat about."

Ron turned to his side and pretending to sulk, when he was really laughing about how defensive Hermione got.

"How are you doing Harry?" Hermione asked, facing him.

Harry felt a little nervous at that moment. This was the first time he said anything to Hermione since the previous night, when he had detention with her. "I haven't tried it yet," he said shortly.

"Well, go ahead then," Hermione urged.

Harry pointed his wand at the needle, said "Racco," then pointed it at the match, said "Swasso," and nothing happened.

"You're not concentrating enough," Hermione said.

 "Like you can do any better," Ron said with glee in his voice.

Hermione just ignored him and continued working on her own match and needle.

On their way to lunch, Ron and Hermione argued with each other about what happened in class the entire time. In fact they were so into their argument that they failed to notice Harry limping alongside them-much to his delight.

At lunch Ron and Hermione were still arguing over what happened in charms class while Harry just sat quietly between them, eating his lunch and focusing his mind on his own thoughts.

"Well, well, well," a cold voice sneered, snapping Harry out of his thoughts, and causing Hermione and Ron to stop arguing and look up. The voice belonged to none other than Draco Malfoy, who was as usual accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle.

"It's been awhile Potter. You never visit, you never write. I was beginning to think that the dark lord caught you already," he said with a chuckle, while Crabbe and Goyle started laughing hysterically.

Harry just ignored him, while Hermione and Ron gave Malfoy a look of loathing.

"Looks like you've been working out," Malfoy continued, ignoring the looks that Hermione and Ron were giving him. "Training for the big duel huh?" Harry still didn't answer him. "Well, I have news for you. You wont be the big winner this time, I'm afraid I will be taking over that role."

Harry just looked up at him and said, "Have fun."

Malfoy sneering face immediately turned into a stunned one. "What do you mean by that?" He said quickly.

"I mean, I'm not entering."

Malfoy's eyes widened for a second, then lowered back to normal. 'We'll see about that!' Malfoy thought to himself as he signaled Crabbe and Goyle to leave.

"What do reckons up with him?" Ron said, as soon as Malfoy left. "Why did he leave so soon?"

"He's probably mad about Harry not entering the Wizard's Duel," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, you're right," Ron said after thinking for about a minute. "He's so cocky, that he thinks no one is worthy of facing him besides Harry."

"I don't know about that," Hermione said fixing her eyes at the Slytherin table, to where Malfoy sat down. "I think it's something else."

While Ron was looking at Malfoy, his eyes wandered over to the staff table. "Hey Harry," he said, nudging Harry on the side with his right elbow and pointing to the teachers table with his left hand. "I think McGonagall wants to see you."

Harry looked up and saw McGonagall motioning Harry to come to the staff table.

"She probably wants to talk about my remaining detentions," Harry said, as he stood up. "I'll be right back." With that he walked over to the staff table, once again trying to hide his limp.

"What is it professor?" Harry asked as soon as he arrived at the staff table.

"Why aren't you wearing your prefects badge?" she said in a stern voice.

 "Oh, sorry." Harry immediately dug into his pocket, took out his shiny silver badge and pinned it to his Hogwarts uniform.

"Make sure you keep it on you at all times!" She said in the same stern voice.

"Yes professor," Harry replied.

"For reasons that he couldn't tell me professor Dumbledore told me to postpone your remaining detentions."

Harry just nodded.

Professor McGonagall leaned in a bit closer to Harry, and whispered, "Albus told me he returned to book to you, is that right?"

Harry nodded.

"Did you find out anything new about it?" she whispered once again.

Harry just shook his head.

"Well, make sure you don't tell anyone else about this, not even Miss Granger or Mr. Weasley, do you understand?" she ended in her same stern tone.

"Yes professor."

"Good," she said sitting up and speaking in her normal voice. "I will inform you of your next detentions by owl. Now go finish your lunch, your first arithmancy class is after this."

Harry nodded and returned to his seat.

As he was going back, he noticed a few people staring at his new badge. Fred and George pretended they were going to cry when they saw it.

"Say it ain't so Harry," Fred said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Say it ain't so," George said, doing the same thing.

Harry just ignored them and went back to his seat between Ron and Hermione.

"Wow!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're a prefect too?"

"Harry," Ron said in a low voice. "You're a disgrace to the Marauders."

"Be quiet Ron!" Hermione said, hitting him on the shoulder. "I think it's great that Harry's been made a prefect."

"You would."

Hermione just gave him a dirty look.

"What's next," Ron continued ignoring Hermione. "Are you going to start taking arithmancy?"

Harry just sat there, not answering.

"Harry?" Ron said, with suspicion in his voice.

"He already is," Hermione said victoriously.

Ron quickly turned to face Hermione, and then turned to face Harry once again. "It's like I don't even know you anymore," he said with mock sadness.

"Be quiet," Harry said lightheartedly.

"No really, what's next? Are you gonna make top marks too?"

"What's wrong with making top marks?" Hermione said, sounding a little hurt.

"Nothing for you," Ron said, turning back to Hermione. "But for me and Harry, it's a big deal."

"First of all," Hermione started in her tutting voice. "It's 'Harry and I'. Second of all, I think it would be wonderful if Harry made high marks, especially since we have to take the O.W.L.'s this year."

Ron just rolled his eyes.

"And don't roll your eyes at me! Now is the time to stop playing all your little games and become more studious."

"Yeah, whatever Hermione," Ron said sarcastically, as he went back to eating his lunch.

Hermione just sighed and went back to her food.

Harry on the other hand, just put his knife and fork down, and excused himself from the great hall, without even bothering to wait for Ron and Hermione's response.

As soon as he was a few corridors away from the great hall, he leaned his body against the wall and sighed from despair. "The way they're talking. They're pretending like everything is the same as it always was," he said in a weak almost breaking voice. "But it's not. Everything's changed. I've changed."

He barely picked himself up, and started walking again. "They don't understand, nobody does," he said to himself while he was walking. "I should have never come back. I can't be the same person that they once knew, no matter how hard I try." Harry grabbed the stitch in his chest and held it tightly. "It…just…hurts…too…much."

He slowly walked into an empty classroom that was near him and sat in the nearest desk, still clutching his chest. 'Why can't things go back to the way they were?' He thought in despair. 'Why does it have to be this way?'

'Don't worry, we'll get through this together. I promise.' A familiar voice said in his mind.

Harry looked up and mouthed the word "Hermione".

'She was always there for me, no matter what. When everyone was against me, she still stood by my side. She didn't care what happened to her. She only cared about helping me.' Harry took a deep breath, exhaled and said, "she still does. I really don't deserve it, but she still does."

Harry slowly got up and out of the chair, walked out of the classroom, and continued walking aimlessly around the castle.

He walked for about fifteen minutes with the same thoughts in his head. Of how much things have changed, and how much things were going to change in the future. He truly felt scared of what was happening and what was going to happen.

He continued on this path for another few minutes, until a rustling noise snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw that he had somehow stumbled upon the owlry.

'I wonder if Hedwig came back yet?' Harry wondered at that moment. 'It's been a few day since I sent her off to deliver a letter to Sirius.'

He slowly walked up the steps, and was about the door, when the door opened itself up, making Harry stop in his tracks.

"Olivea?" Harry said in surpsise.

"Harry?" Olivea gasped, just as surprised as Harry.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Owling my father, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see if Hedwig came back."

"Hedwig?" Olivea looked at him curiously.

"My owl. She's a white snow owl, have you seen here in there?"

"Yeah, actually I have." Olivea nodded. "It seems like she just came back from a long trip, and is resting up. She had a letter tied to her leg too."

Harry's eyes widened a bit when he heard this. "Really?"

"Yeah, why don't we go read it together?" Olivea offered.

"Oh no," Harry said quickly. "It's kind of private personal mail, I hope you understand?"

"No problem," Olivea said casually, as she walked by Harry. "By the way," she said as she turned around to face Harry once more. "Are you alright?"

Harry nodded and said, "Of course, everything is just fine."

"Are you sure?" Olivea said.

Harry just gave her a fake smile and said, "Yeah."

"Okay then, see you in arithmancy." With that she walked off down the hall.

As soon as Harry saw that Olivea was out of sight, he dashed into the owlry, and immediately started searching for Hedwig. He found her in no time, being that she was the only snow owl in the barn.

"Hey Hedwig," Harry said, as he was walking up to her. "How have you been?"

Hedwig just nibbled his hand affectionately, while Harry removed the letter that Sirius had sent. "You obviously didn't fly down in the great hall, because you knew there might be a chance of somebody intercepting it there. Good job."

Hedwig proudly stood up, and flew over to another part of the barn to rest. 

Harry opened the letter and started to read it.

Dear Harry,

I'm glad you took my advice and returned to Hogwarts. For a second there, I thought I would have to drag you onto that train kicking and screaming.

Listen. I've been hearing many strange rumors about Voldemort lately. It appears that he's been keeping it quiet for the time being. They say he's after some kind of weapon, although I don't know anything about it. And I've been hanging around some of the men from Voldemort's inner circle (don't worry they just think that I'm a stray). That's right. Whatever he's doing is so secret that he doesn't even trust the death eaters closest to him. He's obviously been very careful about the amount of information that he's released.

Harry you must stay on your guard no matter what!

And if anything out of the ordinary happens to you, tell Dumbledore immediately! Even if your scar just itches a little funny! Don't risk it! Tell him! We are living in a very fragile time now, and I feel like even the smallest catalyst can shatter everything we know and love.

Owl me as soon as you can with any new developments in Hogwarts.

                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                Snuffles

PS: Keep your eyes on the Slytherins. I don't care what Dumbledore says, they can't be trusted, especially Malfoy's son.

Harry rolled up the letter, quickly walked out of the owlry. 'I'll send him a letter tonight.'

A/n: Honestly, I didn't mean for it to happen again, but once again my story ran long. So once again the chapter that I intended to write (about 4 chapters ago) will have to be postponed. Sorry. R/r.