HARRY POTTER AND THE SEERS' TRUTH
BY Lady Lestrange
Sisshasss and Hisssuss
Chapter 35
(A/N: I know, I have to come up with a good name for the Ravenclaw chapter. So this is your review challenge. Help me out. Think of a good name, and you get a yummy picture of your choice: Tom, Draco Harry or Ginny under an Invisibility cloak.)
10 REVIEWS. Here's the new chapter—I really hate blackmailing you into reviewing, but hey, I'm a Slytherin. It's in my nature, so when there are 10 reviews for this chapter, the next one will magically appear. LOL Love my readers and reviewers. Answers to reviews follow the story.
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters and previous situations belong to JK Rowlings. No infringement is meant or implied. No money is made from this Fanfic. THANKS JK.
--LADY LESTRANGE
***
(A/N: I've been reading a number of fanfics in installments like this one myself, and find it is sometimes hard to remember exactly what has happened before-In a fic as complex as this one is, I thought having a reminder may be helpful for you. If you want to skip it, just page down FOUR times. --Lady Lestrange)
UP TO THIS POINT: Parvati has been having dreams and visions about the Dark Lord, Harry and a Prophecy Child. So far, they are not sure who the prophecy child is, and it is important for them to find him/her. The Sorting Hat is not sorting, so the students have "little brothers and sisters" to show around. The dream team thinks that The Sorting Hat failing is a plot to hide the Prophecy child from the teachers and anyone who can help insure that he/she stays on the side of light. No one is sure that the brothers and sisters actually belong to the house they are currently in.
The Hogwarts Express has been attacked. Dark Marks have been in the sky. The floo network is compromised. The Minister of Magic has been turned. Snape is now teaching both Defense and Advanced Defense, but it looks like Advanced Defense is just an excuse to let the Slytherins and Ginny and Edward visit the Dark Lord. Mrs. Figg is teaching potions and we know very little about her so far, except that she was against Dumbledore's suggestion to make Poly Juice Potion.
Beatrice is an animagus, a bunny. Edward's granny looks like she could have given the Dursleys a few pointers on cruelty. Slytherin is a house at war according to Snape, divided between Death Eaters and those who want to stay on the side of light. Harry uses his Invisibility Cloak and finds out when it is ripped, the Invisibility spell ceases. There is an unwelcome addition to Myrtle's bathroom, Olive Hornby. Peeves is his usual annoying self, but the Baron seems to have a little less control over him.
Samara, for some reason, lofts some wicked, powerful curses. She doesn't look like she has total control over them, which isn't really surprising since she's learned magic on her own from a book, that Harry is sure is a dark book. She seems to like Draco, but don't assume this is a romance. It is not. Ginny is still hearing voices in her head. Harry's scar is hurting more, and neither he nor Ginny know what this means. Ginny is closer with Harry this year, but again, not romantically. There is Edward, the new Gryffindor, who seems interested in Ginny, but Ginny really hasn't gotten over Tom.
We find out about Neville's powerful auror parents. We learn that Neville has a memory charm that was put on him as a baby. He's a more powerful wizard than anyone ever thought as evidenced by his yew wand and the way he reacts to Snape's ministrations in trying to remove the memory charm. We might wonder why Snape is trying to do this himself, instead of enlisting the help of Madam Pomfrey. Sirius and Lupin are on "fieldtrips" with the sixth and seventh years.
Of course we can also wonder why Snape is so determined to teach his classes advanced spells like the Patronus, or we can just chalk it up to Snape, being mean. The Fifth year class starts apparition classes and we meet Professor Sinistra. We also visit Hufflepuff, where we see The Wall, and Slytherin house, where we discover, to our amazement, a magic room that Draco shares with Samara, but Samara has a very unslytherin use for the room. Ravenclaw to come next weekend.
The chapter, CHAINED AND CHARMED, takes place at the same time as DANCING IS AN OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE-when Samara was in Slytherin, dancing. It is Saturday afternoon. Harry and the Gryffindors examine Samara's Dark Book, after they come back from lunch. They find an extreme potion, and decide they need to make a trip to the Chamber of Secrets. Ghastly Ghostly Dinner is when Gryffindor's meet with Samara after her little trip to Slytherin. Samara and Beatrice are persuaded by Edward to help him steal his snake back from his brother Ethan. Things get a little out of hand, and Samara learns more about Slytherin than she ever wanted to know.
Now the Gryffindors are mad at her. Samara wants to make up and be friends with them, but is it possible to befriend both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy? How far will she go to make up, or will she just find some valuable information to store away for future use? (So, don't you want one of those Tee shirts?)
LIONS AND TIGERS: We see a very stressed out Snap both in Harry's memory of what happened with Snap and Neville and in the actual DADA class. We find out Trelawney doesn't want Samara in her class and Samara decides to take Ancient Runes instead. McGonagall assures Samara that Trelawney has done her a favor. McGonagall further talks to Samara about her experiences in Gryffindor, opening the door to give Samara someone to talk to, if she so chooses. We also learned lots more about animagi in McGonagall's class. Snape dismisses the Gryffifndors and keeps the Slytherins after class. We find out it's because Snape wants them to practice their patronus because the Slytherins are so lousy at the spell. Could it be because there are so few happy memories to chose from? In DRAGON BREATH AND BLUDGER BATS, Ginny and Edward set the Slytherins up with fire mints, and Samara gets extremely angry at them both because they hurt her friends. In an effort to contain her anger, she goes to the Quiddich pitch where she meets Fred and George. After lobbing a few quaffles at them in her anger, they decide to ask her to be a Beater for Gryffindor. She refuses, but later when she talks to Draco, he is not very nice to her, (hey, who said Draco was a nice guy?) so she wonders whether or not she should take the Beater job. In WISH IT REAL; WISH IT NOT we see into one of Ginny's dreams. If you don't remember this dream, go and re-read chapter 28. In Chapter 29, THE SPELLING BEE, Samara is feeling homesick and friendless until Draco invites Samara back to Slytherin. Also, includes a short intro into what's coming up in potions class. In Chapter 30, CHILD OF GRYFFINDOR, Neville and Snape break the Imperio part of the Memory Charm. The trio discusses the Founders' spells, which put their gifts in the Sorting Hat; however they do not have the original parseltongue version of Salazar's spell. Ginny also sees Edward painting and the reader sees a bit of Ginny and Tom's relationship. In SLYTHERIN GAMES—Well, if you don't remember it, you better re-read. Voldemort is finally out and angry—burning and pillaging and we see a little-known inside version of Slytherin through Ginny's eyes. In STICKY SITUATIONS, Samara uses her adhere charm on the Weasley twins, Neville sticks Beatrice's wand to his with bubble gum, and Edward is sticking in Gryffindor. In OW POST the Slytherins get even for the Dragon Breath Mints, among other things—In the Ravenclaw chapter—I'm still trying to think of a good name for it—Help me please—we meet a number of Ravenclaws and find out a little more about the characters, in Ravenclaw as well as Edward and Samara. So do you think either of them are really Ravenclaws? Hmmmm?
AND NOW ON TO THE STORY:
Detention with Filch was always a trying experience; Monday evening was no different. Tonight, Harry was on his hands and knees scrubbing the lower level boys' bathroom. The bathroom was in a little used corridor between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Truthfully, Harry didn't think it needed cleaned. Not that it wasn't filthy, but in four years at Hogwarts, he never knew that the bathroom was there, and doubted that many others did either. Shadows of letters on the metal door bore evidence to the fact that it once was labeled, "gentlemen", but now, instead of being clearly labeled as a boy's bathroom, it had only an old unmarked door that squeaked on rusty hinges when it opened. Filch had leaned on the door heavily to get it open. Harry had to let the water run in the sink for several minutes to clean out the rusty grime which came from the faucet before Harry could even fill a bucket with clean water.
Filch had been standing over Harry the whole time, telling him to scrub harder around the rim of the toilets or to be sure to clean in the corners of the tiles. He was disappointed with Harry's efforts and decided that Harry needed a brush to get in between the tiles better to clean off the green scum, so he went to fetch one, but not before warning Harry not to slack off working while he was gone. Harry was certain Filch was going to come back with a toothbrush.
Harry stood and stretched, putting his hands on the small of his back where it was aching. His head was throbbing from the combined cleaning fumes and whatever Voldemort was doing to send him these little messages of pain. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. He had removed his robe and hung it over a stall door earlier. Harry decided that he would leave the floors in the stalls until Filch brought the brush. Instead he moved to the sinks where a residue of yellow slime stuck all around the faucets. He cleaned one sink by filling it with water so that he wouldn't have to keep bending for the bucket. He had moved to the next, and turned on the faucet. It didn't work, so he filled the sink next to it and began cleaning.
He scrubbed, not really looking at the sink—not really thinking about what he was doing. His mind was on the homework he would have to rush to finish when he got back to Gryffindor Common room and the Quiddich practice that he was currently missing. He wished he had just remained with Ron and Hermione and stood still in a corner somewhere, and he wouldn't have been caught prowling the halls. The problem was, both he and Ron were taller now—especially Ron and the cloak no longer covered the three of them adequately. It seemed as if a piece of one of them was always sticking out when all three were under it—sometimes an elbow or a bit of a shoe. It was perfect for one person and useable with two, but three was beginning to be a problem. Obviously, one of them needed to become a small animagus if they were going to continue to use it with all three of them like Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail did.
Harry scrubbed hard on the bottom of the faucet. There was something stuck on the underside of the faucet and it wasn't coming off. He scrubbed for several minutes before he decided to look to see what it was. The poor lighting in the bathroom didn't allow him to see it, so he just ran his fingers over it, trying to scrape it off. It wasn't coming off. After a quick glance at the door to see that Filch wasn't coming back any time soon, he got his wand from his robe pocket, and pointed it at the stubborn area. "Pergo!" He said, hoping to clean it off, but the tiny raised squiggle of dirt remained in place. "Lumos," said Harry and he bent to look under the faucet. There was no dirt. What Harry had been scrubbing was a raised etching of a tiny snake.
Harry stared at it for several moments; his breath coming in short gasps. Was this yet another entrance to the Chamber of Secrets? He wondered how many of the bathrooms harbored little snakes somewhere on the plumbing? How could the Chamber of Secrets have remained a secret for so long? Well, he knew the answer to that. Even if someone saw the tiny snake, they couldn't open the Chamber without parseltongue. Harry stared at the snake for a long while, glanced at the door and then back at the snake. He went back to the door to check for Filch's return. The corridor was clear. This would solve their problem of fighting their way through the ghosts in Myrtle's bathroom if it was—Harry stared fixedly at the snake for several seconds and then opened his mouth. In a low hiss he said, "Open."
Instantly, the sink moved aside revealing a long dark tunnel with a gradual slope downward. Since this bathroom was already below ground, the tunnel looked more navigable than the one that issued from Myrtle's bathroom. He heard another noise and froze. It was Mrs. Norris, returning to the bathroom. No doubt Filch was not far behind. Harry turned back to the opening and hissed at it to close. Mrs. Norris spat and gave a loud low hiss herself. All of the hair stood up on her back, before she turned and darted back into the corridor to Filch's protection.
Harry continued to scrub the sinks as Filch hobbled in. "What did you do to Mrs. Norris?" he asked angrily.
"Nothing," said Harry.
Filch eyed him with contempt. "You did something, you nasty, lying boy—"
Harry applied himself to the scrubbing, and after a moment, Filch dropped a blue toothbrush into the sink. "Use that to get between the tiles. Do a good job, you lazy thing! And no magic!" Filch reached down to pick up Mrs. Norris. "Ah, my Sweet," he whispered to her, and she began to purr.
Harry said nothing, but his mind was awash with possibilities.
It was well after midnight when Harry returned to the common room. He was tired and achy and dirty. Although he really needed to do his homework, especially for Defense, he thought he'd just shower and go to bed. He'd have to find time to finish his homework tomorrow—somehow--
"'Fortes fortuna adiuvat" he said to the fat lady. Expecting to be the only one in the common room, Harry was taken aback by the sight of Ginny Weasley curled up on the chair beside the cold fireplace; a softly purring Crookshanks was sleeping in her lap. A single flickering lantern lighted her face, giving the freckles on her face a soft sheen. Her robe gapped a little at the neck and Harry couldn't help noticing that the freckles continued—down-- Harry took a deep breath. She was asleep. He walked over to her, hesitant to touch her. Even though he had washed his hands, he still felt grimy from the work he had been doing. Still, she wouldn't be rested if she slept in a chair. He should wake her, so she could sleep in her own bed.
Her hair was spilled out like an auburn mane against the gold of the chair. She muttered something and licked her lips. He caught the word, "Please—"As he watched, she moaned softly, her mouth parting in some whispered words that he couldn't catch.
Harry felt the pounding of his own heart in his chest and for just a moment the thought of kissing her right here, right now, consumed him. Then he reached out and grasped her shoulder. "Ginny. Gin," he said, shaking her gently. "It's late. You should go up to bed."
She opened her eyes and blinked at him, sleepily, as if she wasn't quite sure who he was. "Harry?" She muttered.
"Yeah." Harry seemed to have a hard time keeping his voice level. "You fell asleep in the common room," he said.
"Oh—" she said, still apparently half asleep and confused. Crookshanks jumped down off of Ginny's lap and proceeded to wind himself around Harry's legs.
Harry jammed both hands in his pockets. He was acutely aware that it was nearly the middle of the night, and he and Ginny were alone. There was little chance that anyone else would interrupt them at this hour. She seemed not to realize how much her dewy-eyed innocence was affecting him. She was just sitting there looking at him, and he grew self-conscious. "Did you have a nightmare?" he asked.
"No."
"Oh."
The silence stretched between them, broken only by Crookshanks mewing. "I was waiting for you," Ginny said at last. "I wanted to know if you found it—"
"Found—" He broke off. She was talking about the Chamber of Secrets. She had known there was another entrance! Suddenly all romantic thoughts were dashed from his mind. "You knew," he said. "You knew there was another entrance. How many are there?"
"I'm not sure," she said, straightening her robes, at last. "I know of three—for sure--the two bathrooms and one in the kitchen, under the sink. I believe that Tom knew more of them. I was trying to get him to—trying to think of—um—to remember—you know—"
Harry looked at her puzzled, and she blushed. "Well, I should go to bed," she said turning. "It's late."
Harry caught her hand and encased it in his own. She felt so warm. "Ginny," he said softly. "If there is anything you want to talk about—" he hesitated. "About that time, I--I understand."
They stood there for a long minute, the magic around them fairly crackling.
"I know you do," she said, and pulling her hand from his she turned to go up the stairs to the girls' dorm. On the step, she stopped and looked back at him. With a ghost of a smile, she murmured, "Pleasant dreams, Harry."
"You too," repeated Harry absently, and after she left, he wondered how many pleasant dreams she had, or how she knew his dreams were so haunted. Pleasant dreams: it was probably a vain wish for both of them, he thought as he mounted the stairs to the boys' dormitory, Crookshanks weaving between his legs and threatening to trip him. "Oh, Crookshanks, what is wrong with you lately?" complained Harry as he picked up the cat. "You should have gone to the Girls' Dorm with Ginny. You belong to Hermione, you know, not me." He licked Harry's hand, his sandpapery tongue feeling strangely comforting.
==
Between Quiddich practice and schoolwork, it just seemed like Harry couldn't quite catch up with his schoolwork. He just barely did the regular work that needed to be handed in daily. The projects for various classes just kept getting pushed back, much to Hermione's dismay.
"Harry," she admonished him. "You have to concentrate. We have OWL's this year! You can't fall behind. You'll never have time to study for exams."
At least Ron wouldn't bug him about getting his work done on time, thought Harry, but even Ron agreed that Wednesday night it was imperative that they stay up and finish their latest Defense project—For Ron, that was--a four foot essay detailing the uses of at least five different blocks that would withstand fourth level spells and above. "You, Potter," said Snape, just as he was ready to leave class, "You should use blocks that withstand seventh level spells instead." Everyone, including Ron, had gone to bed by the time Harry dragged himself back up to his room. His scar was throbbing unmercifully. He lay across his bed and rubbed his eyes. Snape was such a prat, thought Harry, as he looked at what seemed to be the first rays of morning sunshine lightening the dark sky. Then Harry closed his eyes and fell asleep, without turning down the blankets and without changing into pajamas. Crookshanks curled up at his feet.
==
Harry was dreaming about the Dursleys. Well, not actually, he was just on the edge of waking and dreaming, and he could hear the garter snakes murmuring under the Dursley's porch.
Loussssy two legs. Sssstinking place—Fsifss—smells of shit. And ssso cold. Don't thessssse two legsss ever light a fire?
Harry opened his eyes and stared at Edward's snake. She was the one murmuring to herself. Not garter snakes. She was lying quite still. The cold causing her to become lethargic.
"Sssstinks. Fsifss," the Snake complained.
Harry shivered, and rubbed his fingers over his throbbing temple. It was cold—no—damp—due to the lack of a fire and four days of cold, steady rain, and a distinct odor was coming from the uncleaned cage.
Harry finally pulled his blanket up to his chin and rolled over—McGonagall wanted him to talk to the snake. She had no idea what she was asking. Snakes had no concept of right and wrong—good and evil. All they thought of was eating and sleeping comfortably. What was he supposed to say? Hey, snake, have your young masters ever tortured you or anything? And what sort of snake word would translate for tortured? The closest he knew of was sisshasss, which meant kill or devour completely, thus making whatever was devoured part of your power, but to a snake, it had no evil connotations. It just meant, well, eat well and become powerful. Torture or hurting something just to hurt it, wouldn't make any sense to the snake.
OK, he thought. Forget Slytherin. What about Hufflepuff? He could ask, do the twins remind you at all of—what—how to describe Hufflepuff to a snake—cute little fluffy animals. That would be hisssuss, prey. Not exactly what McGonagall had in mind either. He lay there, listening to Kauket's hissing. She was complaining about the cold and the fact that Edward hadn't cleaned her cage, but maybe she would tell him something important without his speaking.
SSSSSSSSSSo—I wonder why the two legsssss moved me—Sssso—cold---
Harry really didn't want to talk to her. He had made the mistake of talking to the Dursley's garter snakes. They were so fascinated with him, after that, that they wouldn't leave him alone. They talked to him incessantly, and since they did their hunting in the evening, that meant, they talked mostly at night. If Edward's snake did that, it would make him conspicuous to Edward, besides keeping him awake even more than he already was, but still--
Harry pulled his wand out from under his pillow and did a warming spell on the box that Bea had transfigured into a makeshift cage.
"Thanksssssss," murmured the snake.
"Don't mention it," Harry replied in parseltongue.
"It ssssssssssssspeaksssss. The two legssssss ssspeakssss." Hissed the snake excitedly.
"Yessss," said Harry. "I guess you have never heard another two legs speak."
"Yesss. Another one ssssspeaksss," said the snake, surprising Harry.
Instantly Harry was awake. This made a difference. He glanced at Edward who was still sound asleep, and snoring softly. Was he or Ethan a parselmouth?
"Sssstinks. Fsifss," complained Kauket again.
"Pergo!" said Harry, pulling his wand from beneath his pillow and cleaning the cage of waste. "Your young masters?" asked Harry. "Do they speak to you?"
"No. He is sshiss, said the snake, a word that translated roughly to a threat or a predator to be avoided. Kauket began to slither around the cage, obviously she was happy to have it free of waste and rotting animal bones.
"He?" questioned Harry. "Which one—Edward or Ethan?"
"They are one," answered the snake. "sshiss."
Obviously the snake didn't differentiate between the two of them. Harry found that strange. Even though they were identical twins, snakes didn't relay that heavily on sight. He would have thought the snake would realize they were two people by scent/taste and hearing, but there was something more important that Harry wanted to ask.
If the snake had spoken to another parselmouth, there was only one possibility—Voldemort.
"The one who spoke to you," said Harry excitedly. "Is he—"Harry hesitated trying to convey the idea of a man with snake-like features to the snake. He chose the analogy of a two legs with a snake skin shedding off to reveal a man underneath.
The snake corrected him. A two legs shedding off his human skin to be a powerful snake underneath said Kauket He is sisshasss, a powerful snake, who has eaten many.
Harry sucked in his breath
"Yes, a very powerful snake, who eats well," Harry agreed. "When was this?"
"Long ago, when I shared a warm, sunny, place with Nagini," Kauket told him. "We ate hissuss until we were full and passed fsifss and slept in the sun."
Harry sighed. He wished that snakes had a better sense of time. "What did you talk about?"
"Nagini's snake-man has many plans to ssisshass--devour ---------Nagini calls him Great-one-always-hungry, Ssisshass-A-ssisshass.
"When?" Harry wondered again, but there was no word for when in the snake's vocabulary. How can this be accomplished?" asked Harry.
"He will come into the nest—" began Kauket. "When the best hunting—"
"Probably in the dead of night," thought Harry. "But which night."
"And Ssisshass-A-ssisshass will devour the eggs. When the young ones are gone, no one will grow to be sshiss. Roughly translated a bird of prey who would be a threat to a snake. The foolish two legs will become lethargic as with cold. They will not fight. They will become hisssuss, food to sustain the Great-one-always-hungry.
There was a long pause, as Harry considered. What did the snake mean by "nest" School? Hogwarts? Harry knew that to Kauket, the plan made infinite sense: eating the eggs before they grew to be birds of prey. The thought filled Harry with dread."
Why are you silent, Kind one?
"I am a young one," said Harry and –" He stopped. If he told the snake that he believed Hogwarts was the nest, she would take him literally and panic. Could it be that the snake was talking about the attack on Beauxbatons? It was already over.
Perhaps you are not in danger if you leave the nest. You will be safe—"
Perhaps, said Harry, "But what of the other nestlings?"
"The strong survive," said Kauket with typical snake-like logic.
"There is one young one who must survive said Harry. "But I don't know who it is."
"Many mysteries," said Kauket. "Great-one-always-hungry also seeks to kill/eat/devour this special delicacy young one. The sshiss seek to ssisshass this young one.
"The sshiss?" questioned Harry. "The two who are one?"
"Yessssss!" Said the snake. "They ssssseek under all the rocksssss to find and devour their prey. Sssssseek under rockssss in ssstrange country."
Harry felt his guts tighten with fear, and yet, that might not be what Kauket meant. Ssisshass was a complicated word. It could mean eat/devour/kill and it could also mean power/greatness/becoming more than you were, a great snake, because to a snake, eating meant taking the power of the prey and making it into a part of yourself. Harry suddenly knew exactly what ssisshass meant. A new meaning--it meant Death Eater.
A cold shiver of dread filled Harry as Edward stretched and rolled over.
"Ssss-silence," demanded Harry. "sshiss stirs."
"Morning," said Edward as he climbed out of bed. He stretched again and rubbed his neck absently as he began to get ready for class.
While Edward was in the bathroom, Harry woke Ron and started to tell him about what Kauket had said.
"You have to tell Dumbledore," said Ron. "They think Edward is the prophecy child!"
==
Harry stood in front of the Gargoyle near Dumbledore's office. Maybe this was a mistake. The discussion with McGonagall had upset him, but that wasn't why he was finally seeking out the headmaster. It was because of the conversation with Kauket. What could he tell Dumbledore? Kauket considers the twins as predators, sshiss, and she's been with Nagini and Voldemort, but I have no idea of when that happened or when anything else is happening. My scar isn't hurting any more or less, but—what if? There were too many 'what ifs' and Harry wasn't sure what to make of them."
Dumbledore opened the door from the inside. "Harry?" said Dumbledore. "I was just going down to breakfast, but it can wait. Come in."
"Would you like some tea?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry shook his head.
"You look troubled. What is it you wanted to tell me?"
"Professor, you told me to tell you if my scar hurt, but this year it's been hurting all the time. I didn't want to bother you."
"You are not bothering me, Harry."
"Last night, it was hurting worse. I know it doesn't seem like anything, because I've had the headaches all year, but it felt different. I can't quite put my finger on why—I just feel like—impending doom." --Gawd, He thought, I'm starting to sound like Trelawney."
"Have you had any more dreams, since the one the night Beauxbatons was attacked?"
"No." Harry rubbed his hands across his face. "But who can sleep?"
"You're having trouble sleeping?" asked Dumbledore. "Why is that?"
"Headaches," said Harry shortly, "But that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about. Professor McGonagall wanted me to talk to Edward's snake. I did."
"Go on."
"Kauket—that's her name—considers Edward and Ethan to be one. That's very strange because snakes don't usually rely on sight to identify things."
"I understand," said Dumbledore.
"Anyway, she considers them to be predators. She tries to avoid contact with them. And— what concerns me." Harry paused. "She's spoken to another parselmouth—"
"Voldemort," said Dumbledore.
Harry nodded.
"When?" asked Dumbledore.
"I don't know," said Harry. "There's no concept of time, for snakes—the best I could do, was 'long ago', but she said Voldemort would attack the nest at night, and that Edward and Ethan also seek the prophecy child. At least I think that's what she meant. If they are seeking the child, neither of them could be the child, could they?"
"I don't know," said Dumbledore. "I think the best thing for us to do is to be very vigilant."
"Sir?"
"Yes, Harry."
"Do you think that it's that important? I mean, what if the prophecy isn't even true?"
"Of course it's true, Harry. Part of Trelawney's has come true already when you saved Sirius. Plus, Parvati's twin prophecy gives credence to Professor Trelawney's. No, Harry, we know the prediction is true. Why else would someone go to such lengths to stop the Sorting Hat from functioning properly?"
"I just really hope you're wrong about Edward. If he's the prophecy child, I don't think there's much hope for the side of light."
"There's always hope, Harry. There's always hope."
==
Breakfast time on Thursday morning brought a flutter of owls to the Gryffindor table. Hermione's copy of the Daily Profit fell onto the table followed by a owl that neither Harry nor Ron recognized. The owl fluttered to Ron, and stuck out his leg. Another owl, Hermes, flew stoically in a circle, waiting for the first owl to get out of the way. He seemed resigned to wait patiently and didn't land on the table until Ron had opened the letter that the strange owl brought. Immediately, Ron refolded the letter and put it into his robe pocket.
"Look at Weasley," Drawled Draco as he passed Gryffindor on his way to the Slytherin table. "Must be his birthday or something--Two owls at once. Oh too bad, doesn't look like either of the packages are big enough to hold some new robes. You'll just have to suffer through with the current rags."
Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.
"Stuff it, Malfoy," snapped Ron. "Obviously you need to borrow Harry's glasses. These are new robes, but you still have the same old insults." He looked meaningfully at Crabbe and Goyle. "The stupidity must be rubbing off," he said.
Draco pulled his wand.
"Tut, Tut, Malfoy," said Harry. "Are you sure you want to do that in the Great Hall?"
Draco glanced up at the head table, where McGonagall was watching her Gryffindors.
"Later, Weasley," muttered Draco, putting his wand away.
"Who's it from?" asked Harry. "Your Dad?"
"This one is," said Ron, patting his robe pocket. With a scowl, he threw the second letter at Harry. "Percy--What a git—"
"Dear Ron," began the letter. "Of all the hare-brained ideas you've gotten this is the barmiest."
"He gets right to the point, doesn't he?" asked Harry, but Ron ignored him.
Harry continued reading: "Wasn't it bad enough Mr. Crouch was under the Imperious Curse last year? Now the Ministry is just starting to gain respect again and my own brother is spreading these vicious rumors. Please cease and desist! Percy."
Harry folded the letter and handed it back to Ron. "What does your father say?" Asked Harry.
"I'll tell you when we get back to the room," said Ron as the Great Hall began to crowd with people coming in for breakfast.
==
Harry walked through his classes in some sort of dream world—perhaps that was because he was sleeping so poorly at night. Defense; as usual was a double-edged sword. If you got there early, Snape was likely to ask you to show him your Patronus. Consequently, everyone wanted to come into class just seconds before the start of class. If you came late, of course, you lost house points. Even the Slytherins seemed to be avoiding coming early. Harry shrugged. It was too hard to try to figure it out. With OWL's coming this year, the teachers were already piling on the homework and the trio still hadn't gotten any further with the prophecy, except that Harry repeatedly discussed with them what McGonagall had said about Edward.
Ron was warming up to the idea that maybe Edward was the prophecy child.
"What?" exclaimed Harry shocked.
"After all," Ron said, "The prophecy seems to say they would have some traits of all the houses, but not all the traits of all of the houses. It seems to me that Slytherin and Hufflepuff sort of cancel each other out. You would have to be a little crazy to have both of those traits inside of you, don't you think? And he did beat me at chess once."
"I don't know," said Harry. "I never thought of it that way."
"Well, I was thinking of Ginny," said Ron. "You know how having Tom possess her in first year still sometimes bothers her? I think she couldn't quite deal with having Gryffindor thoughts one minute and then Voldemort's thoughts the next. I think this prophecy child shouldn't be that hard to spot. He should have major mood swings."
"Well, I don't think Edward fits that description," said Hermione. "Anyway, I don't see much Hufflepuff in his actions."
Harry told her about the wall in their bedroom, yawning exaggeratedly, and rubbing his forehead. "Oh, and your cat followed me to bed again last night. Can't you keep Crookshanks in your room?" asked Harry.
"He just wanted out. I thought he'd go play in the common room, or chase gnomes for a while," said Hermione. "He can't stay cooped up in my room all the time."
"So Harry, what time did you finally go to bed last night?" asked Ron.
"About four," said Harry, "but I did get my Defense done."
"I didn't," muttered Ron.
"Well, try to stay awake in Defense, Harry," said Hermione with a frown. "Gryffindor can't afford to lose any more points. Samara has already lost enough for the whole year, and it looks like Ron is trying to catch up with her."
==
Harry was so tired and preoccupied that in Defense, even though he did his Patronus several times on cue, twice he couldn't do it. Of course Snape didn't care about the times he got it. Harry even let Snape disarm him—twice. The second time, Snape had hit him with a stunning charm and growled at him to wake up. After that he paid attention. Harry was proud that Snape couldn't get his wand again, even though Harry had a splitting headache. He didn't know if it was from his scar or the stunning charm.
Harry even managed to disarm Ethan. Ethan reacted by punching him in the face and breaking his nose. The Slytherins thought it was hilarious and Snape told Harry to quit complaining and took house points. Samara sprang to his defense and magically threw Ethan against the wall breaking not only his nose, but also several teeth and putting a serious dent in the dungeon wall. Samara also lost house points and got detention, along with Ron, but Harry couldn't help but be glad she was acting like she was back in Gryffindor. Then Snape sent both Ethan and Harry to Madam Pomfrey, with Draco as their chaperone. Amazingly, Harry got the feeling that Draco hated Ethan almost more than he hated Harry.
After Harry returned from his trip to Madam Pomfrey, he forgot to spell his cauldron closed in potions and lost more house points. At this rate, Harry thought he'd soon catch up with Samara for most points lost. He was almost ready to borrow Neville's rememberall.
He hurried to the Quiddich pitch for practice. The first game, Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw, was coming up soon. After a whole year of no Quiddich, Harry was anxious to get into the sky and catch that snitch, even if the Ravenclaw seeker was Cho Chang. With a smile, he remembered Wood's almost maniacal zeal for the game. The very first game Harry had played as seeker had been against Ravenclaw and he remembered Wood's comment about Cho: "knock her off her broom!"
Harry arrived at the Quiddich Pitch in time to see the tail end of the Ravenclaw practice. Cho was in a spectacular dive after the snitch, her black hair trailing out behind her like the tail of a streaking comet. Harry found himself coaching in his mind—pull up—pull up—you're going to hit the dirt—but at the last minute she pulled out of the dive with the snitch in hand, and Harry realized it wasn't Cho flying the Nimbus.
Applause from the locker room area made him turn to see Cho Chang applauding. "Great job!" she said, coming forward to congratulate her little sister, Ming.
"Bloody hell," muttered Ron. "I hope they didn't change Seekers. That was one bold dive."
"No fear," said Harry. "It makes a big difference. Cho flies well, but much more conservatively—"
"So did you lose your Seeker job?" Ron teased Cho.
"No, not yet," she said. "Ming is a Chaser this year—youngest chaser in an age-- but Ravenclaw will need a new Seeker soon. It's never too early to get in a little practice." She paused. "How are you, Harry?"
"Fine." Harry looked into her big brown eyes that seemed more liquid than they had a moment ago.
Silence descended like it always did when Harry talked to Cho. It seemed that neither could look at the other without thinking of Cedric. He still thought she was very pretty—but---
"Well, see you—" said Cho, shouldering her broom and walking off the pitch with Ming and the other Ravenclaws.
==
Practice went well, with the regulars, but the substitutes were not so good.
"Forget it," said Ron. "Let's just eat. I'm starving." But after putting away their brooms and heading up to the Great Hall, Ron decided he needed to go up to the dorm room. After several minutes of waiting for him, Harry started to become annoyed. "I'll meet you at dinner," he told Ron.
"No wait," said Ron.
Everyone had finally gone to dinner except Ron and Harry. "Come on, Ron," said Harry. "What's keeping you?"
"I just need to put this stuff away," said Ron, fussing with several books that Harry had never even seen Ron open. "Psst! Get off, Crookshanks. Ah—here it is."
"What?" asked Harry.
"My dad's letter. Now that everyone is gone, I can show it to you." He handed Harry the letter to read.
Dear Ron,
First of all, your mother insists that I tell you how disappointed we are to hear that you were eavesdropping on a teacher's private conversation. I know you do not like this particular teacher, but I would have thought you had more respect for Headmaster Dumbledore. However, I will not dwell on that topic. What I have to say is more important.
In a very delicate and embarrassing conversation, I voiced your fears to Professor Dumbledore when he visited the Ministry this past Friday. Of course, I masqueraded those fears as my own. Although he knows that the Ministry official you mentioned has been avoiding the press all summer about declaring that You-Know-Who has risen, I informed him that the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts has seen an increase in magical mischief among muggles and my department is not the only one affected. I feel that it is possible that a high official or officials are in league with You-Know-Who. Dumbledore flatly denied it, saying that those officials may be stupid and should be closely watched, but especially the official you mentioned, is not evil.
Ron, say nothing about what you saw. I'm afraid lives or at least one life may be at stake. Even though he may not be your favorite teacher, I'm sure you don't want his death on your conscience. I am hesitant to owl more. I hope you can read between the lines. I will talk to the twins when they next are here, and if you wish, you can discuss this with them. If what you say is true, DO NOT OWL. Owls, especially Pig, are fickle creatures. The stupid bird delivered your message to me at the Ministry, and didn't even wait for a reply. I don't blame you for the mistake. I saw you addressed the letter to home, but Pig didn't take it there. Do not reply with this ministry owl. Simply feed him and send him back to me. We'll talk soon.
Be careful and don't take anymore midnight strolls. These are dangerous times.
Love,
Dad.
"Dumbledore denied it?" Repeated Harry.
"Yeah," said Ron. "That's what I thought. Strange huh? He denied that Fudge is a Death Eater? We both heard Snape! How could Dumbledore deny it?"
"Well," said Harry. "If Snape really is a spy for the Light, I guess if would get him in very big trouble with Voldemort if everyone knew about Fudge, especially if only Snape and Voldemort know about Fudge."
"So Dumbledore is protecting Snape." Ron shook his head.
"That must be it," said Harry, scanning the letter again. "He seems to spend a lot of time protecting and defending Snape," Harry added bitterly. Neither of them mentioned Dumbledore's supposed lack of protection for Harry, but it was on both of their minds.
"Come on," said Ron. "You'll feel better after dinner. And if you want to take anymore midnight strolls," added Ron. "You know I'm with you, no matter what Dad says--"
"Thanks," said Harry. "It feels good to know that I'm not totally deserted."
"Well, it's not like Dumbledore has ever been there when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is attacking you—"
"It's different now," said Harry.
"You're not sure," said Ron.
Harry didn't answer right away. "Let's go to dinner," he said.
==
At dinner, Hermione nudged Harry almost as soon as he sat down. "Did you see who is at the head table?" she asked.
"Professor Lupin," said Harry excitedly, and looking near Lupin's feet he saw his godfather in his animagus form. The dark eyes of the dog rested on Harry and when Harry looked at him, he started to get up, and then thought better of it. Instead, he thumped his tail wildly on the floor.
"Let's go see them," said Harry, standing and heading for the table. There was so much he wanted to tell Sirius, he was nearly bursting. "Hi Professor Lupin," said Harry. "It's good to see you back safe and sound."
"Yes," echoed Ron and Hermione.
Harry patted Sirius. "Do you think Snuffles might like to go for a run outside after dinner?" asked Harry.
"I think he'd like that,"' said Lupin. "I was going to send him up to your room for a while tonight."
"No," said Harry quickly. "I don't think that's a good idea."
The thumping of the dog's tail stopped and he whined softly.
"After dinner, then," said Harry and the trio went back to finish their meal.
"I'm so glad Sirius is here," said Harry softly. "I would have sent him an owl earlier—"
"Why didn't you?" asked Ron. "After what Snape and Dumbledore said about—" Ron's voice dropped to a whisper—"The Ministry."
"I couldn't," said Harry. "I haven't gotten Hedwig back yet from Hagrid. I'm starting to get worried about her. I mean I could have sent a school owl, but—" Harry shrugged. "Anyway, after what we heard about Lupin, I hated to bother Sirius with my problems."
"Harry," Hermione admonished. "I'm sure Sirius wanted to hear from you."
Harry shrugged again. "Anyway, I'm glad he's here now," he said. When dinner was finished, they collected Snuffles and went out the main door onto the grounds. Snuffles bounded ahead to Hagrid's cabin and the trio realized that Sirius had a plan. Once inside of Hagrid's cabin, Snuffles transformed into Sirius Black and hugged Harry.
"It's good to see you," Sirius said. "Dumbledore suggested we use Hagrid's hut to talk. I was worried about you."
"I was worried about you too," said Harry. "Especially after the message you gave to McGonagall."
Sirius frowned. "How did you know about that message?" he asked.
"Invisibility cloak," said Harry, "but that's not important. What's important is that Cornelius Fudge is a Death Eater!"
"How would you know that?" snapped Sirius concerned.
"You have to believe us," said Harry, but he was hesitant to tell Sirius how he knew. In fact, he wondered if his little piece of information endangered Snape's life. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. Snape and Sirius were not exactly friends.
"I do believe you," said Sirius, "But this news obviously isn't as top secret as Dumbledore thought it was."
"Yes, it is," said Ron. "Harry and I overheard Snape and Dumbledore talking in the library."
"You mean you eavesdropped," said Sirius. "This isn't child's play," he admonished. He shook his head, and conjured some tea. "Sit down and tell me what happened," he said as he filled the cups. "Much as I dislike Snape, I don't want to be the cause of his death."
Sirius listened intently as the boys filled him in about the conversation that Dumbledore and Snape had in the restricted section of the library. Finally, he nodded. "That is at least part of what Lupin and I are trying to do—warn the people at the Ministry. We are the only two wizards that Dumbledore has told since we are working in that area. Unfortunately, we don't really know for sure where other wizard's loyalties lie--"
"Snape wants Dumbledore to give me to Voldemort," blurted Harry.
Sirius' eyes narrowed. "That black-hearted bastard," he swore. "At least, Dumbledore would never do that!"
"I'm not so sure," said Harry. "Dumbledore said 'as a last resort' he might have to—"
"No. No. No." said Sirius. Dumbledore would never do that. Never. You must be mistaken.
"I heard it with my own ears," Harry protested.
"Invisibility cloak?" asked Sirius.
"Yes," said Harry.
"Well, I guess you are making better use of it than your father and I did. Mostly we just used it for pranks. I'll have to talk to Dumbledore about this."
"No!" shouted Harry, Ron and Hermione together.
"You can't," continued Harry. "We were in the restricted section of the library at midnight when we heard this—Please--"
"There's something else too," interrupted Hermione. "It's about the Longbottoms. Do you know anything about them? Anything about when they were tortured?"
"Not really," said Sirius. "I was already in Askaban when the Lestranges, Barty Crouch and Chuck Snood were arrested. The Malfoys were implicated too, I believe, but they claimed they were under the Imperious curse."
"They weren't," said Harry. "They were there. Snape's been trying to break a memory charm that's on Neville. I didn't want Neville to go there alone, so I went with him."
"Under the Invisibility cloak again?" said Sirius.
"Yes."
"Bloody hell, boy, you're going to get yourself killed. I've a good mind to take that cloak off of you!"
Harry's voice was suddenly cold. "I've been taking care of myself, for quite a few years, Sirius. What I need from you is information, not lectures. That's been the trouble all along. No one ever tells me anything! For example, I wouldn't have known about you if I hadn't used the Invisibility cloak. Nor would I have been able to help a certain Hippogrift to fly one evening. And another thing--did you know that I—or my mother's protection—killed someone?"
"Laurel Avery," said Sirius. "The Ministry thought she tried to finish what Voldemort started. Whoever was with her, just took Voldemort's wand and left you in the ashes."
"Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?" shouted Harry.
"What could you have done about Laurel Avery?" asked Sirius. "Nothing. So there was no need to upset you."
"I go to school with her daughter," yelled Harry.
"So what? It's not like you're friends with her," Sirius yelled right back.
"Of course not. She's a Slytherin!"
"Stop it, you two," interrupted Hermione. "This isn't helping anything. You care about each other. This isn't the time to fight."
"You're right, Hermione," said Sirius, pulling Harry into a tight embrace which Harry didn't return. "I love you like you were my own son, Harry. I'm worried about you. I don't think Voldemort will ever give up trying to find you. Until Voldemort is dead, you are in danger. Please be more careful. Promise me."
Harry nodded shortly, unsure of how to react. He had so few hugs in his life, that when Sirius got like this, he wasn't sure what to do.
"About Snape and Neville," said Harry. "I would have tried to break Neville's memory charm myself, but after he tried to Imperio Snape—"
"Imperio! That doesn't sound like a memory charm," said Sirius. "From what I understand, it hurts to remember, and therefore, most people just ignore the memory. That's the beauty of it. The person under the charm, doesn't want to remember. If the memory itself is unpleasant—something like Neville's parents being tortured—it doesn't make sense to add a memory charm—most of the time a baby will forget anyway--unless the memory charm is for something else that the Longbottom's said while being tortured."
"The Malfoy's gave them veritaserium," said Harry. "Snape was putting the thoughts into a pensieve and that's where it goes solid silver—right after the veritaserium."
"Even so," said Sirius. "Imperio wouldn't be part of a memory charm. The idea is to keep from drawing attention to the memory. Usually people get the facts mixed up and their answers to questions about the memory don't make sense. If the wizard tried to use Imperio, it would undermine the secrecy. Do you see?"
"Could it be two separate spells?" suggested Hermione. "Perhaps one was put on Neville as a baby and then extra reinforcement was added by Crouch last year."
"Right," said Harry. He explained to Sirius what had happened to Neville last year in DADA class when Moody did the crucious curse, and how Moody took him aside and had tea. Neville also told them that Snape gave him tea, and Harry saw Snape put a potion in the tea.
"The potion was probably a good thing," said Sirius, his eyes suddenly took on a strange haunted look. "Although my only experience with having memories sifted through is by dementers, it's my understanding that it is never pleasant, even when done by a very caring medwitch or medwizard. I doubt that Snape is the most gentle person to remove a memory charm. And if it's not done correctly, the memory can be permanently damaged."
Harry shivered. "Well, Neville seems to be all right. They're just working on the memory charm now. Neville finally broke the imperio after Snape made him realize that it was Barty Crouch, Jr., who placed the charm last year.
"Would the placement of the memory charm damage the memory too?" asked Ron. "Neville is terribly forgetful."
"I don't know enough about memory charms to tell you that," said Sirius. "But I think this is something that Dumbledore ought to know about. I know Dumbledore thinks that Snape is totally turned around and he has renounced his ties with Voldemort, but this just shows that Snape wants to hold all the cards. I wouldn't be surprised if that bat is playing both sides in this war."
Harry nodded. "That reminds me of something else," said Harry. "When we were in the library, Snape was looking at a book. It was chained and he didn't want Dumbledore to know that he was looking at it. He banished it back to the shelf before Dumbledore saw it."
"Do you remember the title of the book," said Sirius. "Or could you even see it?"
"I saw it," said Harry. "It seemed familiar somehow, but I couldn't remember where I saw it. The title was 'Mors Mordre'."
"Harry!" Hermione interrupted. "You didn't tell me it was Mors Mordre! That's the spell for the Dark Mark. Don't you remember?"
"That's it!" said Ron. "Snape must have conjured the Dark Mark above the Hogwart's Express!"
"Not necessarily," said Hermione. "He could have been looking for a way to tell who actually did conjure it."
"What!" Shouted Sirius. "What Dark Mark!"
"Didn't you know?" said Harry. "The Dark Mark was conjured above the Hogwart's Express after the train crash."
"No!" said Sirius in a rush. "I didn't know. I thought there was a mechanical failure—"
"I still think it had to be a student," said Hermione. "Snape wasn't even on the Hogwart's Express."
"Daily Prophet," said Ron.
"It wasn't a mechanical failure," said Harry. "And the first years were locked in—someone had it in for them, but Dumbledore didn't want to cause a panic among the first years. Ron and Hermione and I got on our brooms and got some of the students out—all the upperclassmen did. By the time we got to the first years' compartments, the Hogwart's wards had nullified the locking spells. Everyone got out all right except some people got some burns. They even had the Sorting—a lot of good that did—"
"Yes," said Sirius. "Dumbledore told me about the Sorting Hat not sorting. So how's that mentoring thing working out?"
"Well, that's why I didn't want to talk to you in my room," said Harry. "I'm not too sure about some of the new students. First, there's Edward, whose twin is in Slytherin, and McGonagall and Dumbledore think he's the prophecy child. Then there's Samara who seems to be dating Draco—but I do think she belongs in Gryffindor. She has detention tonight. Lou is almost surely a Ravenclaw, but he wants to stay in Gryffindor. He's Neville's 'little brother' and I think Neville really likes him, but now with this memory charm thing, I'm not sure Neville should trust him either. I've been double locking my trunk with a muggle lock and using wizard wards too.
Sirius shook his head. "Harry, I had no idea. I think we need to talk to Dumbledore right away."
"I'm a little nervous after he said he would turn me over to Voldemort if it would keep this new prophecy child safe. And he told me to try to be friends with Edward. I just don't trust the boy. Sirius. I don't know who to trust."
"You can trust me," he said softly. "And you can trust Dumbledore too. He would never turn you over to--Voldemort. He must have been just pacifying Snape. You don't know how he can get. Once he sets his mind to something, he's like a dog with a bone—"
Ron burst out laughing.
"What?" asked Sirius.
"Well, Snuffles," began Hermione.
"Oh. I see," said Sirius with a sheepish grin. "I guess I should have said he can be as persistent as a Hufflepuff." His grin widened.
Considering Snape as Hufflepuff-anything was ludicrous, and Harry said so.
Sirius shrugged with a twinkle in his eye. "I'm going to see Dumbledore. You coming, Harry?"
"Tonight?" said Harry.
"Yeah. Why not? The sooner the better and I think you should come with me."
Harry nodded. "OK," said Harry thoughtfully, but when they reached the castle, Dumbledore was not in his office. Sirius knew the password: 'Peppermint Poppers', but instead of opening wide, a message appeared on the door. 'Headmaster Dumbledore is not available. If you have an emergency, please see Professor McGonagall in her office on the first floor.'
"That's strange," said Harry. "It never did that before."
"New security? Perhaps?" suggested Ron. "By the way, Sirius, do you know what happened to Fred and George? They're back, but Dumbledore is keeping them in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey said they're fine, but she wouldn't let me see them."
"I'm sure Dumbledore is updating some security measures," agreed Sirus Black. "There was an accident at the Ministry. Lyle and the twins were with Remus when it happened. I'm sure Dumbledore doesn't want the whole school to know the particulars. He'll make an announcement when he thinks it wise, and we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him."
"I guess," said Harry and the threesome headed back to Gryffindor tower.
"Just as they entered," Hermione tugged on Harry's robe and whispered, "Do you think Neville is still with Snape? I didn't want to say anything about that in front of Sirius."
"I'm getting my cloak," replied Harry, but when he went upstairs, he saw Neville lying stretched out across his still made bed. All of his clothes were still on including his shoes, but he was snoring loudly. Harry pulled off his shoes. He tried to get his robe out from under him because it was going to be terribly wrinkled, but Neville was too big for Harry to lift. In the end, he just pulled a spare blanket up over Neville's prone form, and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Invisibility cloak in his pocket, to talk to Ron and Hermione.
"We must have missed his session with Snape," Harry lamented. "Neville is already in the room. And he's asleep. Ron," said Harry as he pulled out the Invisibility cloak. "Let's go see the twins in the hospital wing. Coming with us Hermione?"
But Hermione had already set up the books on the table for a late night study session. She moved Crookshanks off of her papers and onto a pillow that she put out for him, although he hardly seemed inclined to stay there. "Harry! Ron! You don't seem to be concerned at all that OWL's are in just a little over eight months. It's hardly enough time to prepare!"
==
REVIEW. Only 10 reviews needed for the next chapter to magically appear.
A/N: Coming soon: More about what happened to Sirius and Lupin, the first Quiddich game, Hermione gets some interesting mail from Viktor, and of course, more of our favorite Slytherins. I estimate that there will be approximately 50 chapters total in this book. Right now, I have 45, but I may split a couple, when I do the re-writes.
MY FAVORITE PART—CHEERS TO ALL OF MY FAITHFUL REVIEWERS. WHILE YOU ARE WAITING FOR AN UPDATE ON THIS FIC, GO READ MY OTHER FICS. If you are looking for a good read, most of my reviewers have some good stories on fanfic. Check them out!
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Reiven: You are just awesome. Love your insights. So you figured out the Basilisk skin, core. And don't be too rough on Cho; she's lost Cedric, remember. She's just a little bitter.
Kemenran: Thanks for the review.
Raven: Glad you liked Tom, Baron and Myrtle, and the Ravenclaw stuff too. Probably 50 chapters or so, but I'm already working on a sequel.
Silverfox: I've read your fics. No doubt in my mind. You're Slytherin, even though you like the Hufflepuff Wall and Stuffed Badgers. Come to think of it, most Slytherins like their badgers stuffed. Lol.
Trillium: Glad you liked Ravenclaw and Crookshanks. Cho doesn't know what happened with Harry and Voldie. Harry never told her in my book. Of course, he never even told Ron and Hermione. I do have a website that I got a lot of the aura information. I'll look for it and try to remember to put it here.
Plash Ricrem: Did you like Filch's punishment for Harry? And I I'm sorry it took so long to update. I was out roaming the street looking for Snape. Oh, well, maybe the old bat flew away.
Melbell: Sorry you had to wait so long for Ravenclaw. Hope it was worth it.
Reiven: OK that you are reviewing more than once. I'm excited that you can't wait around for the other people who don't know what they are missing. Also, I agree with some of your thoughts about Dumbledore and OOP. I like yours better. Why don't you write a fanfic about it. lol. Anyway, I wrote a poem on OOP, something like The Night Before OOP. It's a paraody but for those of you who loved OOP, you shouldn't read my poem.
Reiven: You just stumbled across this story or chapter One? Anyway, thanks for the comparison to JK. Wow!
Reiven: Kneazel? HMMMM. Lily Potter? JK mentions the color of Crookshanks eyes. They are yellow, and Lily's are green. You were right. Yours was the tenth update, but I was at a horse show and didn't have the review answers typed until today. Sorry for the delay.
Blue blond sorcerress: So you are sticking me to my computer are you? Lol Ravenclaw is up, so don't get your wand out. No need for Crucio.
Now to all of those who haven't yet reviewed this chapter. Now is the time. Review. Click the little button on the left corner and tell me what you think. Remember, 10 reviews equals a new chapter. Sure beats paying for it, doesn't it?
Lady Lestrange
(Good stuff coming. You don't' want to miss it.)
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