A/N: Hi! Well, here we are again. Anyways, the story is nearing the end. Like what I said, the chapters are going to be pretty long. But it's all worthwhile!! Trust me!! Enjoy! R&R!

It Burns

     Alex then went back up to Gryffindor Tower and back to her dorm, where Hermione and Kris were anxiously waiting. She opened the door, and saw both of them giggling ridiculously.

     "Oh…hey Alex." Kris tried to stop laughing.

     "Well?" Hermione patted the space on the bed her and Kris were sitting on. "Tell us what happened you know."

     "Okay then. I'm kind of in a mood for talking anyway." Alex sat on the bed.

     "So why did Professor McGonagall and Professor Lupin take you?" Kris asked as she took a pillow to hold.

     "Well, I went to Professor Dumbledore's office." Alex said as Hermione gasped. "Don't worry, I wasn't in trouble. I was called in for some, let's say, self-discovery in a way."

     "What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

     "Hmmm, how should I put this?" Alex took a deep breath and said slowly, "My parents, aren't my real parents." Hermione and Kris wore the same expression, jaws dropped and speechless.

     "Uh…uh, then who are your parents??" Kris stuttered.

     Alex sighed. "Well, my father was Giovanni Drascir, a Slytherin Prefect, and my mother, Anya Leanne Verning, a Gryffindor Prefect. They were both Head Boy and Head Girl for their Houses."

     "Whoa! YOUR dad was a Slytherin?!" Hermione said shockingly. Alex explained to them about her parents, how they were one of the greatest wizards and witches of their House. Then, she got to the part of how her parents were killed. A few times Alex would sniff and rub her eyes and wipe off the tears.

     After almost two hours in the dorm, the three of them decided to go around the school to take a walk. It was rare for the three of them to have some time for themselves, because of their relationships and everything. Kris was happily with Harry, Hermione just got back with Ron, and Alex was in a clueless relationship with Oliver. On their way through a corridor, they heard a strange noise.

     "What was that?" Hermione wondered.

     "It sounded like someone barged in a room." Alex said. They went deeper into the corridor, and saw a door wide open. The door happened to be the door to Professor Lupin's office.

     "Who did this?" Kris wondered as she saw the mess inside the office. Alex looked around and saw that the shelf was mainly raided. Books were on the ground, and it looked like some were missing.

     "I think we better find Professor Lupin." Hermione suggested stepping on scattered papers.

     "Yeah, and fast." Alex agreed as they dashed out the door. The first place they headed, was Professor McGonagall, since she was the head of Gryffindor.

     "Professor McGonagall!" Hermione tried to catch her breath. "Someone broke into Professor Lupin's office!"

     "What?" her eyes widened.

     "Who's office?" A voice asked. It was Professor Lupin.

     "Professor! We passed by your office, and it looks like someone raided it!" Alex said. They soon headed back to his office. There they found his office, the same as how they saw it a few minutes ago.

     Professor Lupin looked around his office. "My Dark Arts books are missing…" He picked up some of his books.

     "But who would steal them?" Hermione wondered.

     "Thank you girls for informing us." Professor McGonagall said as she wore a worried expression.  

     "No problem Professor." Kris replied.

     "Each of you will be receiving five points from me. Thank you girls." Professor Lupin smiled.

     Afterwards, they headed back to the common room. They all sat down with everyone else, who seemed to be deep in a conversation.

     "Fred? Have you seen my charcoal pencils?" Melanie asked as she was searching her pockets.

     "Oh you don't have yours too? I can't find mine either." Cristen was getting frustrated. Fred and George looked at each other trying to say something to the other. Suddenly, Melanie and Cristen noticed it.

     "Okay you two…what happened to them?" Melanie asked.

     Fred went silent for a while, and so did George. They were all waiting. "Oh alright! We were trying to use them as firecrackers!" Fred sunk on the couch. George dropped his face on his hands. Melanie and Cristen gasped. The rest were trying to hold their laughs.

     "Shut up Ron." George mumbled.

     "Where's Harry?" Kris looked around.

     "He's up in his dorm." Ron replied. "You're not going in there are you?"

     "It wouldn't hurt." Kris said going up the stairs. She felt a little awkward, but she just wanted to talk to Harry. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She knocked again, but it was still silent. "Harry? Are you there?" Still there was no answer. "Harry?" She forced herself in and saw Harry on sitting on the edge of his four-poster, his forehead on his hand. "Harry? Are you okay?"

     Harry obviously wasn't. "My scar, it's burning. It hasn't burn like this since…" He didn't want to say. The thought was just too scary. "I feel like, something's going to happen."

     "What? Maybe we should go and see Hagrid or something." Kris said worriedly. But all Harry did was shook his head. "Harry if you're not feeling well…" Kris sat down on his bed as he tried to apply pressure on his scar.

     "It's okay. I'll be fine." Harry tried to sit up as he looked Kris in the eyes. "Please, don't worry so much about me.

     "Sorry, I'm just worried about you." Kris apologized. Kris patted her lap as Harry put his head on her lap as she massaged his head. "You're thinking too much."

     "There's too many things to think about. Mom, dad, and my whole past, it's affecting me now. Maybe that's why my scar's burning." Harry wondered as Kris stroked his hair.

     "Well, don't try so hard. A lot of things are just rushing nowadays…like Alex. She just discovered her past." Kris assured Harry.

     "Hmm, at least I know that there are people out there who go through the same stress I go through." Harry sighed. Kris looked at her watch, and it was almost six o'clock.

     "Come on, let's go down to dinner. Looks like you need some apple cider." Kris stood up and smiled.

     "Yeah…" Harry nodded and returned a smile. He stood up and gave her a soft kiss, and took her hand as they left the dorm. In the common room, Fred had fell asleep on Melanie's shoulder as she rested on a pillow, while George had fallen off the couch as Cristen laid on the couch, facing the ceiling.

     "Alright there Harry?" Ron asked as he and Hermione looked like they were about to end a game of chess.

     "Yeah…"Harry didn't mention anything about his scar.

     "Where's Alex?" Kris asked. Hermione pointed near the fire. Alex was laying on a couch right next to the fire, reading a book.

     "Um, I'm kind of hungry." Alex put down the book. "It's almost time for dinner, could we go down now?" They all agreed. They all woke up the pairs of twins.

     "I want the rocket blaster wands mum!" said George tossing and turning until Ron smacked him in the head.

     The next day, they decided to go to Hogsmeade. Most of them were so bored that they just had to get out of school. In the morning, they dressed into their casual clothes and put on their cloaks and boarded the train to Hogsmeade.

     "Have you seen my scarf?" Hermione asked. Kris spotted it on the floor and tossed it over to her. They ran down the stairs with one strap of their bags on one of their shoulders.

     "Is the train leaving yet?" Alex asked as they all rushed through the portrait hole.

     "In about 3 minutes!" Kris said looking at her watch as they rushed down Gryffindor Tower.

     "We are so dead!" Hermione said as they were almost through a corridor to the entrance hall. When they finally reached the entrance hall, they were fighting off a bunch of Ravenclaw girls talking gossip near the stairs. When they were out of the school, they could see students boarding the train.

     "Wait!!!" Alex yelled out as they were running as fast as they could.

     "All aboard!!!" one of the train attendants yelled out.

     "OVER HERE!!!" Kris screamed as the man stared at the three girls running.

     "Thank you sir." Hermione thanked him as they went in to look for Harry and the rest. They found Harry, Ron, and the twins sitting in one compartment.

     "Where were you three?" Melanie wondered.

     "Alex was sleeping a bit too long." Kris said giving Alex a look.

     "I said I was sorry." Alex sat down next to Fred. She checked her bag again and made sure she brought money. In no time, the train had left for Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade wasn't far away, it was just a 15 minute ride from Hogwarts.

     "Oy Fred! I heard there's a new shop in Hogsmeade. You heard of it?" George asked while Cristen put her head on his shoulder.

     "You joking? Never heard of any!" said Fred eating some Berti Botts Every Flavored Beans.

     "You're not going to buy more of those blow-up cauldrons are you?" Melanie raised an eyebrow.

     "Oh of course not honey!" Fred smiled with his eyes widened. "Not thinking of buying any of those! No sirry! Gonna get in trouble with mum if I do! Right George!?" Fred gave him a look.

     "Oh! No way we're not buying any of those anymore!" George scratched his head smiling.

     "You better not. I'll never forget that notebook that spits out ink!" Cristen said eyeing on George.

     "I apologized didn't I?! Come on now, when was the last time we accidentally put one of our stuff with yours?" George asked.

     "Hmm, my cloned wand? Was it Fred? Or was it the eraser that blotches paper?" Melanie asked sarcastically.

     "I said sorry! I promise it won't happen again!" said Fred vanishing the empty box of candies.

     "Promise?" Melanie and Cristen asked both of them.

     "Promise!" They both replied.

     "Finally you guys stopped. I was waiting for a moment so I could actually have a conversation." Said Ron but the train suddenly stopped.

     "HOGSMEADE!!" The train attendant yelled.

     "Don't worry Ron there's always later." Hermione assured him. They all got off the train, and headed into Hogsmeade. Everyone split into groups. Fred and George of course went with Melanie and Cristen, while Harry, Ron, Kris, and Hermione went off to the bookstore nearby. Alex separated herself from the rest to look inside a different bookstore, the shop of the Dark Arts. For some reason, she feels drawn to that shop, like she knew what she was in for.

     She entered the gloomy shop filled with cauldrons and tons of books. It seemed like no one dared go in here. "Hello?" She called out. There was no one behind the counter. Then she decided to go into one of the aisles, looking at the titles of books such as, "Dark Arts: Weapons of Offense" or "Black Mages of the Century."

     "Is anyone here?" A voice called out from the counter. Alex was a bit startled, but then came out from the aisle to see who was there. She saw a tall young man with dark hair, green eyes, and not much of a happy nor angry face. "Oh, can I help you?"

     "Um, I'm just looking around." Alex said nervously. She then noticed, why was she looking in here? The worker soon wore a suspicious face.

     "Are you from Hogwarts?" the young man asked.

     "Yes." Alex nodded looking at a bunch of books. Then the cashier noticed her patch on her cloak.

     "A Gryffindor I see?" he eyed on her patch. She nodded. "What would a Gryffindor like you be doing here? The only Hogwarts students I see coming in here are from…"

     "Slytherin?" Alex interrupted.

     "Exactly." He smirked.

     "My father was in Slytherin, and my mum was in Gryffindor." Alex said.

     "I bet you were supposedly was to be in Slytherin." He presumed.

     "Maybe. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but what is it your business?" Alex became defensive.

     "Hmph. There is only one family that has mixed Slytherin blood with Gryffindor, the Vernings." He raised his eyebrows.

     "What? Is there a law for Slytherins?" Alex joked him.

     "Preferably, you should've been in Slytherin. My father knows yours, they knew each other like family." He said.

     "And who is your father?" Alex asked suspiciously.

     "Lucius Malfoy." He replied. Alex's eyes widened. "I'm Anguis Malfoy. I'm sure you've met my younger brother Draco."

     "Of course. He's now in Gryffindor." Alex replied.

     "Surely a big shame to our family." Anguis said.

     "Well, I would have to be going. Nice meeting you." She immediately left and bumped into Vince. "Could you please watch where you're going?" He ignored her and went into the shop. Alex went over to Three Broomsticks to meet with the others. She suddenly saw Harry sitting next to Kris and had his face in his hands.

     "What happened?" Alex rushed over.

     "His scar is burning again…" Kris whispered.

     "How?" Alex wondered.

     "Well, we came in here and in just a few minutes, his scar started to burn. I honestly don't get what's happening." Kris kept her voice soft.

     "Hmm," suddenly Alex started hearing the voice that was in her dream. Join me and we will be…victorious. "Did you hear anything?" Kris shook her head. "I think we better get back to school."

     They both helped Harry up and met up with everyone as they boarded the train back to Hogwarts.