Author's Note: Well that promise of updating quickly was not exactly upheld, sorry!

~ ~ ~ Dear Diary,

I went to the gargoyle and surprisingly the person cowering in the shadows was Professor Lupin, for someone who is meant to thrive in the darkness he seemed kind of uneasy. His face was gaunt and pale. He immediately directed me along unknown passageways, keeping close to the walls and avoiding the moonlight shining through the windows.

I have no idea what route we took, there were very few portraits and the all were covered in veils as if the corridors were hiding something. I was shunted into a large, gloomy room.

"Take a seat", ordered Lupin, pulling out a chair from a writing desk. Seeing a small gap in the curtains, Lupin leapt towards them and stopped the beam of moonlight abruptly by drawing the curtains tightly. He moved hastily to the desk and using his wand lit a candle. All through I was silent; everything was so urgent, so rushed, not like Lupin.

"I suppose you are wondering why I want to speak with you." He said drawing up a second chair and sitting down.

I nodded silently in response. The candlelight was very dismal but I could just make out that Lupin had his hand firmly gripped upon his wand and his eyes were fixed upon me.

"Well, I have chosen to tell you something that will probably be shocking but in the long run will be to your avail." He said staring straight at me.

Of course I was interested, who would not be but also I has was worried what he was going to tell me. At first I thought he was going to tell me I had failed my homework, whatever he was going to tell me it seemed a solemn affair by the glum look on his face.

Lupin continued, "Since my return to Hogwarts, I have been keeping a close eye on the it's goings on. Voldermort is gaining power and the order has always known that Voldermort is after Harry; we also know that he is going to take more time and care over his next attempts, as he now knows the prophecy. You are intelligent, so you probably guessed that. Am I right?"

I nodded in agreement; the prophecy had been on my mind during the summer.

"The thing is, Ron and you are Harry's closest friends but that also means you are also Harry's weakness." He took a short pause; he strengthened his grip upon his wand. " I think that the school is being intercepted by spies, and if any of these spies could in some way control Ron or you, I do not even want to think about the power they would have over Harry, let alone what they would do to him."

I sat in a stunned silence, I had always known that Ron and I are Harry's best friends but I had never thought of us as his greatest weakness and spies inside our school! At this point I thought it could get no worse but it did.

"I have chosen only to tell you, Harry and Ron may be unable to cope with the stress and I would probably get Dumbledore to tell them, as Ron would probably go off the deep end."

I let out a weak chuckle but it was totally superficial, inside I was hurting. I loved Harry like a brother and this was ripping me apart!

"I thought about this long and hard, I have decided I will give you extra tuition, if you wish, so that you can protect yourself, primarily, but also help the others. Of course you can tell no one, not even Ron or Harry."

"OK" I said feebly, this was all a kind of a shock to system and needed some time to sink in, "If you think it will help then I will."

I am not quite sure exactly what I have let myself in for, all I know is it will be very hard. Lupin spoke for another hour; he said that we have to meet at different days, times and places every week, so no one can guess I am training. He, also, said that the training will be hard and stressful but he said he has his full confidence in me. The thing is I usually would jump off a cliff to gain responsibility but I think this may just be too big for me to handle. Well, I'll see how it goes. I imagine that Lupin would not put me in this situation unless he thought I could cope.

Lupin said one thing that baffled me, "'Mione trust no one, do not confide or show weakness to any but your closest friends. Do not tell any pupil, nor muggle, nor order member about these meetings or what you have learnt. Not even any other Professor! You never no who is on Voldermort's side."

Obviously Dumbledore knows but why has Lupin not shared this with other Professors or order members. How odd!

I have been sitting in the common room for over an hour now, thinking over what happened a few hours ago. The whole experience has sunk in but now it seems even more perplexing than before!

And as I sit here, drifting between a world of consciousness and a state of dreaming bliss, the only thing on my mind is Professor Snape. Oh and this thing with Lupin.

Yours truly,
Hermione

* Well I hope you like, and if you do please review!!! Oh and I promise on the next chapter I will thank all my reviewers separately but I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you!!!!!!