Well the creative juices were flowing so I decided to whip out another chapter. (and I was trying to escape from summer assignments...)

Thank you: Hannah Abby (yes Harry is Damion), Yoshi-fan2003, WolfMoon, Skysong, and Fire-Mage (I'll miss your reviews while your on vacation! ^_^) for reviewing!!!!!!

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"WHAT!" roared Sirius, "Ginny's missing?" Dumbledore nodded soberly. Mrs. Weasley buried her face in her hands, and her husband tried to comfort her.

"For all we know she could still be in the castle, right?" Lupin inquired. Dumbledore denied this.

"The Marauder's Map witch Sirius and Lupin were kind enough to show me has no sign of Ginny anywhere. After she took out a very old book on the defenses and protections around Hogwarts, she just disappeared." Babble broke out among the teachers present at the emergency meeting. Madame Maxime made several suggestions, only to be drowned out by Professor McGonagal's angry shouts at a sneering Snape. There were only two students there with them in Dumbledore's office. Hermione turned to Ron who just stood there shocked, his face deathly pale.

"There is also the fact that our Professor of the DADA is missing at well. He had wanted the book Ginny got hold of earlier in the year, but I would not let him have it," Dumbledore informed them.

"ATWELL!" now it was Hagrid's turn to get angry. "I knew he was not to be trusted from the start! If he harms one hair on that girl's head I'll-I'll-" Maxime and the new headmaster of Durmstrang. Yorn Kostroph, attempted to calm him down. As Hagrid's arm spun about like a windmill the Marauder's Map floated gently of Dumbledore's desk and over near the door. With a sigh Hermione bent down and picked it up.

"Ron, Hermione," Mrs. Weasley suddenly called them. "Please go back to the Common Room." The two reluctantly obeyed.

"Oh," Hermione suddenly stopped short a few feet away from the closing gargoyle to the Headmaster's office. "I forget to give them the Map... Uhh, Ron?"

"Yeah?" Ron answered her numbly.

"What's the password to get back in?"

"I dunno." Ron gazed back at the gargoyle, then to the Map in her hands, then to-wait! Hermione was glowering up at the immovable gargoyle.

"Hermione!" Her head jerked around to catch the silvery glow from the parchment. She rolled it out flat. They watched breathless as new lines appeared on the map. Curving around the very door Ron and Hermione were in front of a stairway sketched itself out till it met a corridor, and stopped. Two dots stood on the miniscule threshold: Ginny Weasley and Damion Atwe-It suddenly stopped, and the name erased. Now the person walking beside Ginny was... Harry Potter!

"Professor! PROFESSOR!" Hermione gave the gargoyle a desperate kick. "Open up or I'll turn you into rubble!"

"They can't hear us 'Mione," Ron breathed. He watched the moving dots. "Hermione, the entrance to this looks like... It's right here!" He pointed to the opposite wall. On the Map it showed them stopping at the wall and saying "Please open." No sooner did the words leave his mouth when the wall melted and there were stairs leading upward. Hermione and Ron stared at one another, their eyes wide, for a moment.

"Come on!" They vanished around the spiral staircase, the wall building itself up behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is all in preparation, Wormtail?" Voldemorte hissed out at his servant. He did not turn to look at Pettigrew's shivering form, but watched instead the fearsome glow flowing off the door. This door wasn't in the wall leading into another room. Instead its threshold was at his feet in the center of the floor. Strange runes shimmered over its surface.

"They await your orders, my lord."

"Good." Voldemorte turned and gazed out onto the great expanse magicked near the Riddle house. It teemed with every manifestation of evil imagined. Vampires, trolls, rebel goblins, giants, dementors (There was quite an open space around them, none of the other's wanted to come near), werewolves, acromantulas, runespoor (three-headed snakes), Red Caps, hinky-punks, boggarts, banshees, warped mummies, poltergeists, his faithful Deatheaters, and so many other strange monsters that there were no names for. His thin white lips curved into a smile.

"Soon, Dumbledore. Soon I will strike you down and that troublesome boy Potter. And as for your masked helper... I know now how to deal with him." He let out a cry of triumph. Nothing, no one would stop him now!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deep below Hogwarts Harry reeled and stumbled against the wall, clutching his scar. Ginny gave a cry and rushed over to him, begging to know what was wrong. Harry gasped out struggling to catch his breath as if he had just run from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade and back again. Finally the pain receded.

"We've gotta hurry, He's already completed his army, and he will soon know how to open the portal..."

"What portal?" Ginny asked. Harry smiled.

"I'll explain later." The pair continued down the winding twisting corridor. Ginny kept sneaking glances at Harry, even though she had gotten quite a good look when he had transformed...

~~Flashback~~

The mist had melted away from Harry and he felt life he had just removed a thick muffler away from his face. Glancing up nervously he wondered what Ginny's reaction would be... A small cannonball of head hair and black robes slammed into him.

"HARRY!"

"Ginny..." Harry choked, "Ginny, I can't breathe..." Realizing what she was doing Ginny quickly scrambled away from the tight embrace she had been giving him, blushing furiously, bumping into the desk, and narrowly missing the basket of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Harry," she sputtered looking anywhere but at him, "I'm so glad you're back. S-sorry I..." Harry laughed.

"I was sorta afraid you'd slap me instead, Ginny." She stared at him. His messy black hair had gotten even longer, falling over his face, but never hiding his emerald eyes. He was watching her puzzled. But there was a gentle smile on his face. He leaned down to help her off the floor. His face was about a foot away from hers now. They both blushed and scrambled to their feet.

"Uuummm.... Why would I slap you?"

"Well, you seemed to be angry with me for leaving."

"Just you wait till Ron and Hermione get their hands on you."

"I'll bet..." There was silence for a while.

"Where... Where were you Harry?"

"I'll explain later," he began, heading for the door. "But Ginny..." He turned to face her.

"I need your help."

~~End Flashback~~

If they had had time, Harry would have loved to explore some of the objects lining the walls. There were large ornate doors leading off into rooms that looked extremely tempting. Various weapons were hung along the walls, some looking huge enough for a giant to wield. There were crystals hovering in midair throwing sparkles all over the walls. There were a few pensieves, too. One said Merlin on it. Oh, how he wanted to explore that! Finally he and Ginny reached the end of the hallway. On the step leading up to the largest pair of door yet there was a large stone lion. Ginny gave it a wondering look as they passed. Harry reached for the large bronze doorknob.



"And where, ggrrrr, do you think you're going....gggrrrrrr?" Spinning around Harry and Ginny were face to face with the huge red golden eyes of the statue, its marble tail swing back and forth, its teeth looking quite sharp despite being merely stone...