Chapter Thirteen: Do I Hear Friendship Bells?

Harry had not been getting very much sleep for the past weeks. First of all, it seemed as if the teachers all had the same idea: to pile on the homework right before the Christmas vacation. They seemed to think that they had to start preparing the students for the NEWTs now, even though they were in June. Every night he was up very late to finish his homework, but when he got into bed, it was hard for him to fall asleep. He was afraid of having those strange dreams again, and did not want to go back to Dumbledore or Lupin, after seeing how upset they got when he told them about the dreams. His fight with Ron was lasting quite a long time to, and this was troubling him quite a bit. Hermione was also spending all of her free time with Draco, and it seemed as if the inseparable three had been broken. The only time Harry was truly happy without a care in the world was when he was with Ginny.

"Hi Ginny! Hi Ron!" Harry said to Ginny and Ron as he sat down at the table for lunch. Although as soon as Harry said hello to Ron, Ron got up from the table and walked out of the Great Hall, followed by Lavender. As Lavender and Ron walked out of the Great Hall Hermione and Draco were coming in although they did not part at the doors as they usually did. Draco was walking with Hermione to the Gryffindor table!

"Hello Harry, Hello Ginny, do you two care if I sit here today?" asked Draco as he walked over to the table. Harry was surprised by this but he didn't see why not. Then he looked at Ginny.

"Sure!" Harry and Ginny said in unison. As Draco began to sit down.

"So, Harry big Quidditch match on Saturday, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, it should be fun." said Draco trying to start a conversation between himself and Harry. Recently he has discovered that Harry wasn't as bad as he thought. He didn't see any reason why he shouldn't try and stat a friendship. Surprising they both had a lot in common.

"Yeah, may the best man win," replied Harry in the joking manor. He was begging to take to Draco.

Harry didn't understand what happened in the last month but all he knows is that Draco is a nice guy. They became really close friends. Harry now felt so distant from Ron, Ron couldn't understand how Harry could be friends with a Malfoy. Harry at first didn't understand it either, but Hermione was right. Draco had changed. Harry just wished that Ron would also understand that.

The week before Christmas break was a nightmare. All of the teachers seemed to feel obliged to give the students as much homework as possible and it was getting horrible. Night after night, Harry spent his time in the common room, sometimes studying for his own tests, sometimes helping Ginny. It was especially hard to concentrate on his Divination studying, and it was much more fun when Ron was around to make fun of it as they usually did. This fight was going on for record length, lasting almost three months. It was no where near the fight that they had in their fourth year, where Ron grew jealous of Harry for getting all of the publicity. To get away from all of these stresses, Harry spent time with Ginny. Their relationship was growing stronger each day. He loved being around her. She was funny, sweet, gentile, and kind. She was truly the only person who made him happy to be around. Each night before he went to bed, Harry wrote letters to Sirius. Sirius was in the process of getting his name cleared, but it was not going very well. Everyone refused to believe him that Pettigrew was still alive, and there was no proof that he was.

Harry looked up from his work to check the clock. It was almost one o'clock in the morning, yet Ron and Lavender were still in the corner studying, and Ginny was curled up on a couch, half looking at her notes, half asleep. Harry went back to reading his book when he felt a sudden twinge in his scar. Panic flooded him. He closed the book loudly and Ginny's head jerked upward and was suddenly awoken.

"What's wrong?" she said to Harry with an anxious tone in her voice.

"Er, nothing Ginny. Just go back to studying," he said reassuringly. Ron glanced up from his books, looking at Harry in a worried way, but then snapped out of it realizing that they were not friends anymore. Harry rushed up to the boys dormitories grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and began to write.

Dear Sirius,

My scar just hurt. I don't know if this is a sign or not. Please write back as soon as possible.

Harry

He started at the paper, looking at the few sentences. Reading it over he thought it sounded stupid, but a voice in the back of his head told him to send it anyway. He was never the type to follow his conscience, but he knew that since Voldemort was back in power, he should do as Sirius, Lupin, and Dumbledore had told him. He jumped out of the door of the common room, and ran straight up to the owlery.