**Halloo the house! I'm baaaack! I'm tanned, I'm cool, I'm ready to rock and roll! Spain rocks!!! It's like – major cure for writers block! (not that I ever get writers block of course, strictly hypothetically speaking).

I'm ready to understand that many of you will not be pleased with some of the contents of this chapter. One of our favourite characters, for instance, turns out to be a total coward – and ultimately a bitch – and an unlikely bid for romance crops up.

You do, however, get all of the reactions you wanted – AND more!!!

I did not leave such a huge cliffy this time, because as you know I am in the midst of a move and it may be some time before I can post again. I don't want that on my conscience!

A big formal apology to PhoenixPadfoot89 (the real one). For those of you who don't know, someone is very unkindly impersonating her and leaving mean reviews in her name. If you get a review in that name and it's unsigned – it's not from her!

I must also warn you that someone (possibly the same person) is now also using MY name to leave flames and cruel reviews to other people's story. I will henceforth always sign in before leaving reviews.

See you on the other side – or possibly before – depends how often I can escape from packing etc. **

Blinded by tears, Hermione ran along the corridors, her arms full of the books she hadn't been able to stuff into her bag, her hair covering her face. She wasn't sure where she was going – she wasn't sure she cared.

Suddenly she bumped into something on her shoulder. She kept running.

"Hey – watch where you're going, Mudblood!"

So, it was Malfoy. Hermione still didn't care – she kept going…

"Hey! Stop and face me when I'm talking to you!"

Hermione stopped, whirling around to face him. He was with a group of Slytherins, mainly large and bulky – but also, mainly stupid.

"I wouldn't talk to me like that if I were you, Malfoy," she said, trying to keep her voice casual. "I'm a prefect."

"So? What're you going to do? Take points from Slytherin because you were clumsy enough to bang into me? Really, I expected better of you, Granger."

"No, I won't take points. But I will keep on walking, if that's all right with you?" she asked, unable to keep a little vicious sarcasm out of her voice.

The Slytherins laughed. Hermione searched the corridors with her eyes without moving her head – there was no one there. Oh, where were Fred and George when you wanted them?

"You weren't really walking, though, were you?" sneered Malfoy. "Looked to me like you were running – that's not allowed, you know. What were you running from, Granger?"

Hermione glared at him, and turned away.

"Don't turn your back on me!" Malfoy's voice was suddenly different – not just sneering and disgusted – but harsh… evil…

Hermione turned around again, slowly. Malfoy had his wand on her.

"You wouldn't dare!" she said, reaching for her own wand.

"Don't do that, Granger," he said, softly. "I can curse you long before you get hold of anything – even one of those books to throw at me…"

The Slytherins all laughed again.

"What were you running from?" Malfoy asked again. "I don't see your two lover boys. Where's Potter and Weasley, Granger? Did you have a falling out?"

Pansy Parkinson shrieked with mirth.

"I don't have to stand here and take this," said Hermione, though her heart was beating like a drum inside her chest.

"Oh," said Malfoy, smiling evilly. "I think you do, Mudblood."

"Mr. Malfoy! I will not accept such language in these halls!"

Hermione looked behind her, quickly. It was Professor Little, hurrying towards them, looking distinctly ruffled. Malfoy quickly lowered his wand.

"It's almost time for class," Little said as she came up behind Hermione. "Twenty points from Slytherin and if I hear you talk to Miss. Granger – or indeed, anyone else, like that again it will be fifty or more. Now go line up outside whatever class you have now."

"Let's go," Malfoy muttered, and moved away, back down the corridor.

"Ugly lot," Professor Little remarked when they were out of earshot. Hermione looked up at her in shock.

"Well, they are," said Little with a smile. "I'm surprised at you, Hermione, you could have taken points off by yourself."

"He had his wand on me," Hermione admitted.

"He what?"

"It's a thing between him and the three of us – me, Harry and Ron, that is…"

Suddenly Hermione remembered what had got her into all of that in the first place, and the tears came back to her eyes. She tried to hide them, but the woman saw.

"Hermione… what's wrong?"

Unable to stop it any longer, Hermione burst into tears. Professor Little drew Hermione to her.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go talk this out."

~*~

Madam Pomfrey screamed.

No one moved.

Sirius let out a huge sigh of relief.

"It's not over yet, Padfoot," Remus called from the bed opposite Harry's.

"No," Sirius agreed. "But no one is trying to rip my guts out – yet."

"'Yet' being the underlined word," sneered Snape.

"All right, Dumbledore," said McGonagall, her teeth clenched as though she was trying to restrain some fearsome instinct. "Explain."

"It's really quite simple…" Dumbledore began.

"SIMPLE?" Hagrid roared. "HE BETRAYED LILY AND JAMES! HE KILLED PETER PETTIGREW! I'LL KILL HIM!"

"Don't you DARE!" Harry yelled at him just as the half-giant lunged towards Sirius. "Hagrid – listen – Sirius has been taking care of Buckbeak all this time!"

Hagrid fell back, his eyes awash with tears – his expression as shocked as Harry had ever seen it.

"Thanks Harry," Sirius breathed.

"Harry – how can you – I mean… look, I know that this is maybe a bad time to tell you this… but Sirius Black betrayed your parents to Voldemort…"

Harry looked at Madam Pomfrey. "Oh come on. You didn't think I hadn't worked that out by now?"

"Harry!" said Sirius and Remus at the same time.

"And you, Remus," choked Professor McGonagall. "How can you be a party to this?"

"No, Professor," Harry tried. "The thing is – Sirius didn't betray my parents – and he didn't kill Pettigrew…"

"Don't be silly, Harry," said Madam Pomfrey immediately. "Now, I know you were very distressed at the end of your third year – yelling this sort of thing around no end – but haven't you got over that by now?"

"I must say, this is incredibly interesting," said Snape, a slimy smile pasted all over his face. "If this is what it takes to convince three people – imagine the reaction of the rest of the world…"

"Severus – you are in on this, too?" asked Professor McGonagall, her voice still hoarse.

"I've had it briefly explained to me this summer," said Snape. This surprised Harry – who had thought he had finally managed to sort out who knew about Sirius and those who didn't. "The finer details still fascinate me, though."

"I'm glad you're amused," Sirius growled. "All right, listen up. To put it shortly – I wasn't James, Lily and Harry's Secret Keeper. That was the plan, anyway. Then – I came up with an alternative. I felt that having me as the Secret Keeper was way to obvious – short of Dumbledore – so I told James to switch to Peter instead. We didn't tell anyone about this plan. I reasoned that the Dark Lord was bound to come after me – sort of the 'bad guy never suspects the weakling' idea."

"You were bait," Professor McGonagall whispered.

Sirius looked up at her, his eyes shining. "Do you know," he said. "I've never really thought about it that way."

"All righ'" said Hagrid. "So… You-Know-'Oo went after Peter then, did he?"

"Oh no, Hagrid," Remus interrupted. "Peter went to Voldemort without needing encouragement."

There was a stunned silence. "Peter?" croaked Madam Pomfrey. "No!"

"Yes," said Harry. "And it was him who tried to kill Justin in the Entrance Hall the other day."

"WHAT?" Hagrid boomed. "You mean he's still alive."

"Not until I catch up with him, he's not," Sirius growled.

"How?" said McGonagall. "You already killed him!"

"No, Professor," said Sirius, quietly, without meeting her eyes. "I didn't. I went after him of course, after I'd seen Hagrid off, with Harry… but he was ready for me. He blew the street apart behind his back – killing all those Muggles in the process – and cut his forefinger off. All I could do then was laugh at the hopelessness of it all."

"You're going a little fast for me…" said Madam Pomfrey. "He cut his finger off… and then what?"

"He turned into a rat and ran down the sewers."

Professor McGonagall laughed. "All right," she said. "That proves it. You're out of your mind. You're implying that Peter Pettigrew was an unregistered animagus."

"He is," Sirius insisted. "And is it so hard to believe? You've just seen what Harry here can do, after all."

"What?" Hagrid interrupted. "What can 'e do?"

"I'm an Animuchos, Hagrid," Harry said, a little fed up with the interruptions by now.

"You're a WHAT?"

"Never mind."

"Anyway…" said Sirius, eyeing Hagrid a little nervously. "Me, Peter and James became animagi in our fifth year – to help Remus out, you see."

"You too?" said McGonagall, still disbelieving.

Sirius stood up and bowed – changing into a dog in mid-bow.

"Oh my goodness!" Madam Pomfrey gasped.

"I've seen you before!" said McGonagall. "You were here last year!"

"I've been here all along, Professor," said Sirius, changing back, giving her a sad look. "But often in other parts of the world."

"This is how you escaped from Azkaban, I suppose," said Madam Pomfrey.

"Of course. Is that everything? Do you believe me now?"

"So you don't want to kill Harry?" said McGonagall, apparently still letting all this sink in.

"Why would I want to kill him?" said Sirius – smiling for the first time. It made him look ten years younger. "He's saved my backside more times than I'd care to count."

"And Beaky?" said Hagrid, hoarsely.

"Hermione and me went back in time the day he was meant to be killed, Hagrid," said Harry, quietly. "Sirius and Buckbeak escaped together."

Hagrid sniffed, then moved to Harry's side and gave him a trademark bone-crushing hug. Then he hugged Sirius too – as Harry and Ron exchanged sympathetic glances.

…

Juliet Weasley was waiting for her friend Sarah to finish changing when Ginny came looking for her.

"Jules? You coming?"

"Yeah, in a minute," Juliet said moodily, as she watched Sarah pull on her robes backwards.

"Ok… we'll see you down there then."

"What's the point?" said Juliet. She was feeling crabby – and people usually avoided her when she was crabby – if they knew what was good for them. "Your friends don't like us hanging around with you anyway."

"So? I like hanging around with you. Coming?"

"God – yes already!" Juliet stomped out of the room and down the stairs, fuming.

Ginny shrugged and turned back to Sarah, who was having trouble fastening her cloak.

"Is she always like that?" Sarah asked as Ginny came over to help. "Grumpy in the mornings?"

"Oh yes, always," Ginny said, casually. "But only until she's had breakfast. Once she's had something to eat she'll be as rowdy and as Fred and George."

"Yes," said Sarah. "I noticed that myself."

Ginny laughed, and Sarah smiled.

Yesterday morning, when she had come into the Great Hall with Harry, was the first time Ginny had ever seen Sarah Pordell smile – and she now realised that the first year had a very pretty smile indeed.

"Ginny, "Sarah started when they were halfway down the stairs to the common room.

"Yes?"

"Juliet – sort of told me – you had a crush on Harry Potter."

Ginny felt her cheeks going pink.

"My cousin talks to much," she told Sarah.

"Is it true?"

Ginny avoided meeting the little girl's eyes – a full red flush took ages to get out of her skin – but answered. "Well… it was true."

"How did you get over him?"

Ginny stopped dead. Sarah looked guiltily up at her. Ginny opened her mouth to say something – but there were a few people in the common room after all.

"Not here," she whispered, and pulled the girl out of the portrait hole, down the stairs and around the corner. When she was sure no one was listening, she faced Sarah, the two of them standing alone in the dark corridor.

"You fancy Harry?" Ginny breathed.

"Well," said Sarah. "Maybe just a little." Before Ginny could answer she rushed on – "I mean – he's so nice. All the other boys I know are loud and annoying and bothersome – and they wouldn't think twice about doing something nice for anyone. I walked in on Harry at the worst time possible –"

"Oh?"

Sarah went pinker even than Ginny. "I walked in on him when he was changing. He's got scars everywhere – and I was even stupid enough to ask how he got them!"

"Ah," said Ginny.

"But he wasn't mad or anything – well, not for very long… I mean, he helped me out with my Chaser moves and stuff – what kind of person does that for you after you nose into their personal life?"

After this burst of speech, Sarah stopped and looked up at Ginny, her eyes pleading for some form of help or advice.

Ginny shook her head slowly. She knew there was only one thing she could say.

"Listen to me Sarah. Run now, while you have the chance. Do not involve yourself too much with Harry Potter. He might be nice – but to be his friend – even to know him – puts you in danger. I realised that when Voldemort took me over in my first year."

"What?" Sarah gasped.

"Never mind. The point is – I was chosen because Voldemort somehow knew that I had a special connection with Harry. I've warned Ron about this – subtly – countless times, but he won't listen to me. Please Sarah – listen to me. Trust me – do not get involved with Harry Potter. In the end – he might not be killed – but thousands of people around him will. I like you too much to let you be one of them."

And with that, Ginny fled down the corridors, her red hair streaming behind her, leaving behind a small, frightened, dark haired little girl whose grieving eyes seemed to sear into her very soul.

…

"All right, Hermione," Professor Little said when they were inside the classroom, and Hermione had been seated on the desk at the front so that she and her rescuer were eye to eye. "What's all this about?"

"I really don't know if I can, Professor…" Hermione tried to say through her tears.

"Call me Wendy, dear. If someone had told me in my youth that children would one day be calling be Professor, I'd have told them to obliviate themselves on the spot. Now, what did that Malfoy twit do to make you so upset?"

"Professor!" Hermione exclaimed in shock.

"It's Wendy, dear. And Malfoy is a twit – all the Malfoy's are. If I wasn't a teacher now I'd use stronger words. Now what did he do to you?"

"It wasn't him!" Hermione burst out. "I never thought I'd say it – but it wasn't him at all!"

"Oh?" said Wendy. "What is it then?"

"It's Harry and… and Ron!" she sobbed. "I can't believe they could do this!"

"Harry and Ron?" said Wendy, surprised. "What did they do to you?"

"It's nothing they did to me," Hermione protested. "They're too sneaky for that – they've been like it for days – like they could talk to each other without speaking… or…"

"Hermione," said Wendy, calmly but firmly. "Please tell me what has happened."

She sounded so much like Professor Dumbledore then that Hermione had to look up. "It started yesterday evening," she said obediently. "I had a fight with Ron because he had a scar on his hand and he wouldn't tell me where it was from – he said it was broken glass but it was far too cleanly cut for that…"

Hermione took a deep breath. "And then this morning I came to meet Harry and he wasn't there, so I went to breakfast by myself – and then Nick – the ghost, you know – said that Ron had told him not to tell me where him and Harry were, so I went to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom…"

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom?"

"Yes – and I was awfully scared at first because there were supposed to be loads of snakes in there…"

"Snakes?"

"Harry put them there, I think – but anyway, there wasn't a single one there at all, so I sat there for a while – but then Myrtle came up from the pipes and…"

"Yes? Then what happened?"

"She told me… she told me what happened on the first night of term…"

"What happened?"

"She… she said… she said Ron and Harry had come in really late…"

"Harry and Ron? In a girl's bathroom?"

"Well… it's kind of our special place, you know, for when we want to do anything secret – nothing against the rules of course," she added quickly, "just when we don't want any other students to see…"

"I see," said Wendy frowning. "So what else did Myrtle tell you? What did the boys do then?"

"She said… they made cuts on their hands with their wands… and then joined them together… and they were sitting there for hours over one of the basins and…"

At this point Hermione found herself unable to continue, as though the compulsion to speak that had been on her had been lifted. She dissolved into quiet tears, hugging her knees to her chest.

Professor Little looked as though she might explode. "That stupid boy!" she exclaimed. "That idiotic, half-crazed twit! I can't believe he would do something so utterly and entirely witless!"

She stormed around the room, papers flying all over the place in her wake as she flung her arms about her head.

After a while she seemed to calm down. She turned back to the teenager perched on her desk. "Hermione, do you know what this means?"

"It means they're Blood Brothers," Hermione said through her tears. "Blood Brothers – and without even telling me!"

"What else does it mean? Do you know anything of the dangers involved?"

"Dangers? Apart from losing all that blood, you mean?"

"The blood is nothing compared to the rest. A blood tie – an intentional blood tie – you know what those are, don't you?"

"When it is agreed by two or more people that a tie is to be established. This is done in advance and in preparation for what lies ahead," Hermione recited.

"Very good. Now, what you have to understand is that there are lots of different types of intentional magical ties. The blood bond between two males is the most dangerous of all…"

"Males?" Hermione demanded.

"Of course. Have you ever heard of a blood sister?"

Hermione had to admit that she hadn't.

"Well, there you are then. Anyway – in short – a blood tie has to be predestined. Otherwise, both subjects die."

"Die?"

"Yes. Unless the tie is predestined."

Hermione scoffed. "I don't believe in any of that nonsense."

"No, you don't believe in divination – telling the future. What you must believe in is destiny – fate – call it whatever you want. We do not know what is predestined until it happens. Ron and Harry could not have known the extent of the dangers – but evidently, since they are both still alive, they survived the tie. This bond was written in the stars since the beginning of time – hypothetically of course," she added at the disapproving look on Hermione's face.

"Was it predestined that they wouldn't tell me about this?" Hermione demanded, still looking sceptical.

Wendy seemed to think about that. "Well – no, I suppose something like that would have been up to the boys themselves."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "In that case – they're both going to get it – in the most painful way I can think of."

A sly smile came to Wendy's lips. "I think we can come to a mutual agreement," she said.

**Ahh… my hands hurt from all that typing in one go! Ahh… I am going to be flamed for what I have done to Ginny!! All in all – it could be a bad week!!

A word of explanation about Ginny. Her account of what took place in her first year is no more her fault than it is mine. The situation during that period was never fully explained to her, and she assumed on her own that the sole reason she was chosen to be the Heir of Slytherin's instrument was because she was in love with Harry. This, of course, being a total misconception, has never been corrected and she now firmly believes in it – perhaps somehow due to Molly's over-protective nature.

Anyway (yawn) I will now go and see if it is at all possible to post (is there a time when the site is ever working?) and then try to get some sleep!! (yawn, yawn). Oh yeah, and I have to chat with Sarah (Pordell) to see if she's ok with what I did to her character. Even if she isn't I'll still post it but it doesn't hurt to find out, I guess. Right? Right? Of course right!

~*Laterose*~

**

**Chapter Re-posted**