With his head in his hands, Harry sat on his hotel bed. Though it had been two days since Ron and Hermione's disappearance, he still wore the dress pants and T-shirt he had been wearing underneath his dress robes. He hadn't eaten much, just the small plates of food Neville brought him every few hours. His classmates had come in one by one and tried to get him talking. Harry had snapped at everyone of them. He knew he was acting childish, but he didn't care.

Harry heard a light tap and ignored it. Probably Seamus wanting to invite Harry to go swimming or something. When Harry didn't answer, the tap came again. God, Harry thought, I just want to be left alone.

Harry reached over to the bed-side table and opened one of it's drawers. Inside was the St. John's Bible. Perfect. Harry reached in, grabbed the heavy book and waited. When the annoying tap came again, Harry threw the bible as hard as he could. It hit the door with a loud crash. Harry heard a gasp from the other side of the door. The tapping stopped immediately. Harry felt a strange, smug satisfaction.

Ron and Hermione were still missing. Though McGonagall still claimed everything was going to be fine, Harry could see the lines of worry pulling at her eyes. She had been so sure that they would be returned within the first day. But as the second day closed out, they were still missing.

Harry had more than one reason to be depressed. Though she had been staying at the same hotel as him, Harry still hadn't seen Susan. Not since she called him a monster. Harry grimaced at the memory. He remembered the few moments of happiness he had experienced with the girl with longing. It had been the first time Harry had ever felt like that. Cho Chang had been a childish infatuation. This was real and Harry knew it. Which only made things harder.

A firm knock sounded on Harry's door. Harry looked around for something else to throw, but it looked like he was out of ammunition. "Go away!" he groaned, trying to push his face further into his hands.

"Don't you use that tone with me, Mr. Potter!" a voice said.

McGonagall!

"What do you want, Professor? I'm really not in the mood for any more cheering up."

"I will not speak to you through this door, Mr. Potter. Open up, this instant."

Harry could tell McGonagall was pissed about something. Not that her yelling was unusual. It was her tone. She sounded distressed.

Harry pushed himself out of bed and stumbled over to the door. His muscles were tight and weak from not being used for the last two days. He opened the door.

"What's up, Professor?"

McGonagall had kept her hair in a bun since the banquet. Being surrounded by wizards again had made her revert to her old fashions. Harry saw her eyes widen when she saw him. "Harry, you look terrible."

Harry sighed heavily. "Professor," he prompted levelly.

McGonagall was wringing her hands fiercely. "What? Oh. Oh, yes. I need you present at the meeting this afternoon."

McGonagall and the headmasters of Salem and Stillwater had been meeting over the last two days. They discussed strategy and tactics. But they mainly just argued.

McGonagall had asked for direst support from the other two schools, but both of the American headmasters were unwilling to put their students in any more danger than was necessary.

"Why do I have to be there?" Harry asked. He just wanted to be alone.

"Student Representatives are being asked to be there. The headmasters and I realize that we don't really have any power without our students. We want the younger perspective." McGonagall said.

Harry shook his head. "You already know my perspective. I want Voldemort dead and I'll do almost anything to get to that end. You can quote me in the meeting." He began to close the door. McGonagall stopped the door with her hand.

"Harry, I realize that you are going through a hard time, but you must realize that I am still your teacher. You are under my supervision and therefore you will listen to me."

Harry looked down at his shoes. His attitude lately had been horrid and he felt ashamed. He looked back up at McGonagall. "Yes, Professor."

Harry saw a look of relief cross her face. Had she really expected him to refuse her? Well, going by how he had been acting lately, that wasn't all that unreasonable. He started closing the door again.

"Oh, and Harry?"

Harry opened the door again. "Yes, Professor?"

A small smile made its way onto McGonagall's face. "You should probably clean yourself up. Miss Posenjak will be at the meeting." With that, McGonagall walked down the hall.

Susan! Harry could have slapped himself. Of course she was going to be there.

Harry ran into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He was shocked at what he saw. It seemed like he had fallen apart over the last two days. His hair had become greasy and scraggly and there were food stains down the front of his tattered T-shirt.

He stripped off his dirty clothes and jumped in the shower. He turned on the water and shuddered as hot water covered his skin. He gave himself a thorough scrubbing and washed his hair.

After he was satisfied that he had sufficiently cleaned himself, Harry left the shower and dried himself with a towel. He went to the sink and brushed his teeth and combed his unruly hair. He knew that any style he tried to put his hair into would come undone as soon as his hair dried completely, so he just made sure any tangles were brushed out before he looked at himself again.

Harry saw that his face was covered with a two-day fuzz. Ron had packed a razor for the trip, and it was on the side of the sink. Harry, whose facial hair didn't come in with any regularity, didn't have much experience with shaving. He spread some shaving cream on his face and began the slow process of removing the offending whiskers.

When he was satisfied that he had shaved all of his face, Harry went back to his bed. He opened the trunk that sat at the bottom of his bed and pulled out a clean outfit. He settled with a clean collared shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He put them on and left his room.

Because he had taken so long in getting ready, the meetings had already started when he entered McGonagall's hotel room. McGonagall had at some point had a small round table brought up to the room, and she, Headmaster Gabriel and Headmaster Corey were all seated around it. There seemed to be a heated argument taking place.

Quentin and Susan were in the room as well, but they weren't seated at the table. Quentin was sitting on the floor, leaning against one of the walls. He was listening to the conversation taking place at the table and there seemed to be a look of mild disgust on his face. Susan was standing by the window staring out into the hotel's courtyard. She didn't seem to be listening at all.

When Quentin noticed Harry's entrance, he sprang up from the floor. He walked over to Harry and shook his hand. In a whispered voice he said, "What's happening, Harry?"

Harry couldn't help but smile at Quentin's honest, black face. "Not much." Harry gestured to the table with a stab of his chin. "How are things going with the planning?"

Quentin gave a heavy sigh. "Not good." he whispered. "Nothing's getting done. They're just fighting." He gave a small laugh. "Sometimes adults are so immature."

Harry gave a sympathetic nod and asked, "Why aren't you participating?" There were enough chairs for the three Representatives to sit at the table with the headmasters.

"I was sitting at the table, but all the arguing got on my nerves. They said they wanted our opinions, but they weren't really listening to anything we had to say. Susan and I just gave up."

Harry looked over at Susan who was still standing by the window. She hadn't even looked at Harry when he entered the room.

Quentin must have noticed Harry's line of sight, because he said, "You should talk to her."

Without taking his eyes off of Susan, Harry said, "This coming from the guy who needed me to help him ask a girl to dance."

Quentin's smile widened. "Shut up. Besides, I don't think she as mad as she seemed. She's been asking about you."

"Really?"

Quentin nodded. "Go talk to her."

Harry didn't have any idea what he would say to her. "Let's take care of this problem first." he said motioning to the table. "Follow my lead, and don't let them push you around."

Harry walked over to the table and sat in the empty chair next to McGonagall. The adults didn't even spare him a second's glance. They just kept arguing. At present, they were yelling about the best way to find Voldemort.

"Let's face it," Gabriel was saying, "we have no idea where Voldemort is. Even the Ministry and the W.B.I. have no idea. They don't even have any clues. He's probably somewhere in England, but that's about all we know."

McGonagall snorted. "We've been over this, Thomas. Just because we don't where he is, doesn't mean we can't start preparing!"

"I agree, Minerva." Gabriel said. "But any defenses we set up at this point could possibly be irrelevant. We have no idea what kind of numbers Voldemort has on his side."

"That information is hard to come by. We have a spy on the inside, but his colleagues don't exactly trust him because if his past. But it won't be long before he is in the inside circle, and will be able to relay us all the information we need."

Harry knew McGonagall was talking about Snape. Surprisingly, Harry found himself worried about the horrible, Potions teacher. Snape had been mean, unfair and intolerant of anyone outside of the Slytherin house, but now he was off on a mission that would probably get him killed. And he was doing it for the good of the wizarding world.

When Harry brought his mind back to the conversation taking place in front of him, Gabriel was speaking. "I'm sure this spy you have is doing his best, but we need to know more before we can begin setting up defenses."

Harry snorted audibly. All the faces in the room turned to him. They seemed surprised that he had interrupted. Well, maybe not McGonagall.

"Is there something you want to say, Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. He turned to look at Gabriel. "With all due respect, Headmaster. How do you intend to get that information?"

Gabriel sighed, annoyed by Harry's question. "We could interrogate those that we know are Death Eaters. Those cowards would sell there own mothers to save their skin."

Harry shook his head. "You seem to have forgotten, Gabriel." Gabriel's eyes widened at being addressed so informally by a student. Harry ignored it. "The ministry of Magic still doesn't believe that Voldemort has come back. They will never sanction such acts of kidnapping and interrogation. The Ministry's support in this war is already very thin, and a stunt like that will break all connections we have with it. Think again, Gabriel. That won't work."

There was a few moments of shocked silence before anyone thought to speak. Every one in the room stared at Harry in surprise. Finally, Gabriel seemed to have regained some of his dignity when he said, "So, what do you suggest, Mr. Potter."

Harry sighed heavily. "To tell you the truth, I can only suggest so much. Voldemort will not wait until he has recruited all he can before attacking. It's not his style. I have no doubt about this coming to an all out war before this is over. But Voldemort will try and weaken us before he risks open confrontation. He wants to make sure we lose all hope before he finishes us. He wants to attack our hearts, our hopes. The only way I can see him doing that is by trying to kill Dumbledore. Dumbledore is the real driving power behind the war effort. Then again, I wouldn't exactly call Dumbledore defenseless. Voldemort is back to full strength, but Dumbledore's the only person he has ever feared. Voldemort won't dare attack Dumbledore. Not yet."

All faces in the room were on Harry, waiting for him to continue. Harry thought they just wanted him to get everything out of his system before they told him to leave and let them do the real planning. But the truth was that they saw before them a leader of men. They saw the man Harry Potter would grow into, and they couldn't help but listen.

"So what do you suggest?" McGonagall asked. Unlike the others in the room, McGonagall had seen Harry like this before. Over the last five years, McGonagall had seen young Harry Potter face situations that would make a grown man whimper in fear. And while he had come close to breaking after the tragic death of Cedric Diggory, Harry still fought on.

Harry, unaware of the effect he was having on the others in the room, continued. "Well, if Voldemort can't get to Dumbledore, he'll probably attack our largest ally, the Ministry. While they do little to help us now, once the Ministry is convinced of Voldemort's return, they will be an immeasurable help to our side. Voldemort can probably see this, and he will try to bring the Ministry down before they become a thorn in his side."

At that moment, the door opened and ragged figured walked into the room.

Harry looked up, saw who it was, and felt his throat close and tears spring to his eyes. "Hermione." he choked.

The others in the room looked on and saw the commanding presence of the Boy-Who-Lived disappear, and in his place stood a sixteen year old boy crying over the return of one of his friends.

Harry ran over to Hermione and hugged her fiercely. "God, I was so worried!" he said as he buried his face into her small shoulder.

Hermione was crying too. But it wasn't tears of relief or joy. Harry noticed and pushed Hermione to arm's length. "Hermione, what is it?"

Hermione continued to sob.

Something in Harry's brain clicked. In an anxious voice, Harry asked, "Hermione, where's Ron." He was scared of the answer.

In between great bouts of tears, Hermione gasped, "There...there keeping him!"
With that, Hermione collapsed in Harry's arms, her sobs resounding off the hotel room walls.

Thanks to Taryn for bringing me back down to earth. I had forgotten all about the Weasley family and how they don't know about...anything. Next chapter: More of Ron's point of view, but also Harry volunteers to go back to England to tell the Weasley's
Forgive me, reviewers, for I have sinned. Before the last chapter, it had been weeks since my last update. I figure the only suitable penance is to put out my chapters as quick as possible to make up for it. So, here you go. I know nothing really happened in this chapter, but I thought it was very important. Not only to show Harry's despair at having his friends disappear, but also to show you his real strength. The fact that he stared down a Headmaster is a pretty big deal. But the even bigger deal is that the adults accepted his leadership, even if it was only for a moment. I think this will come into play when it's finally showdown time, and Harry has to take control of the situation. Please review.