Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch

by Author Name Changed

-completed- Harry's crazy sixth year: one hyper student, a mysterious character that keeps popping up , dreams, secrets and, oh!, my, do those Defence teachers never stop changing? R&R. Pairings: RH, Snape?, Sirius? Post Ootp

15. Snaeritaserum and Returns

Disclaimer: I don't own too much, just Jack Towers, Amala Wright, the plot and a few other stuff which you can't find in J.K' s series. Oh, and the songs belong to Luca Turilli. He's a great metal singer. And there's a small part from Cher.

Author's Note: Whoa! Well, I can't believe it turned out this long. Yeah, I expected it to be a bit longer, but it's about three times longer than I imagined it would be. Well, have fun reading!

Chapter 15 Snaeritaserum and Returns

"I can't believe what I've seen there In the fantasy world of mystery Many warriors and Kings Golden Swords of Steel, All united for victory!"

"Um, Professor?" Harry asked, staring at Towers who was humming in front of the class. "What are we supposed to do today?"

Malfoy was snickering, but not too much, since he still didn't dare say anything ever since the first incident with Towers.

The Professor looked at his class, checking on every face, every person.

"Today - we discuss."

The class was looking odd at him.

"Discuss?!" Ron asked, amazed. "'Bout what?"

"Well, I've done some thinking since the attack. Maybe knowing hexes and creatures is not enough. It never was enough, either, but still. Now we need to talk more than ever. "

"But talk?! As in chat?" Ron asked.

"No. Or maybe yes. I've been doing some research lately - keep your ears opened, Mr. Malfoy, you might want to send this information to your father - and I've come to several conclusions."

Draco reddened. Yep, Towers knew them all.

"First: there are some of you who might want to join Death Eaters."

There were some gasps through the classroom.

"And I will not interfere with you decisions."

The gasps and gaps seemed to be the only thing students could do.

"What do you mean, you won't interfere?" Harry asked, startled.

Towers gazed at him.

"Of course I won't Harry. What do you take me for? There is no way in which I can take decisions for any of you. It is not my meaning to judge. It is my duty, however, to tell you exactly what happens if you do it."

A few Slytherins rolled their eyes.

"At first you will get power and protection from your Lord. He will be. um. how can I put this? Friendly."

Harry looked at him, gaping. Voldemort, friendly?

"Well, not friendly as in 'let's be pals', the teacher continued, seeming to read his mind, but friendly as in 'join me and I'll give you anything you ever wanted'. Don't fall for it. It's not gonna happen. He won't offer the world to you on a silver platter. He will, however, give you money, power, whatever might make you feel good, and protect you within his ranks."

'How nice of him!' Harry thought.

"Then, he'll ask you to do things. Steal, torture, kill. It all comes with a price. And once you're in, you can't get out. Ever. If you do, they will haunt you and try to get you. By 'they' I mean the Death Eaters. They will never be your friends. And one more thing. If you are faithful and do your best to comply his little task, but fail, he will still torture you."

Harry looked around the classroom, seeing Draco a bit paler than usual.

"But if you comply his tasks, he will reward you. But don't think that he will be good with you even if you do the worst things he asks you to do and then fail with one. And God bless you if you're not up to his expectations."

Towers started pacing through the classroom, looking in a distant land and seeming to be lost in his thoughts.

"Even the shadows were crying All was so sad on that tragic day
Their love was marred by one stupid war

And their holy flame will not burn anymore

But something seems to be not right

His cosmic heart wants to pound yet

His soul is so full of love for his queen

And rage for the triumph of that bloody king

He'd like to change all that happened

The story so bad was written

He called the essence of cosmos itself

The stars in the end made a wonderful spell."

Harry stared at the singing Professor.

"Um, Professor, what are you singing?" he asked.

Towers didn't look at him and Harry was seriously considering asking again after about half a minute, when Towers answered.

"A song that a friend of mine sometimes sings. Tell me, if you have listened to it, which are the main feelings 'he' has in the song and what this is about."

Hermione raised her hand -not a surprise- and so did Ron. But the boy didn't wait to be asked to respond.

"He loves somebody" Ron answered.

Towers smiled, still not looking at anybody.

"Yes, he does. What else?"

"Um. I don't know?" Ron answered.

"Good. Sit down. Hermione?"

"He's almost dead, but then he wakes up."

Towers stopped looking into space and looked at her instead,

"Yes, true. Is that all?"

"And there is something about a spell."

"Indeed" the Professor responded and leaned against his desk. Harry noted how weird it was for a teacher to do that. "Well, it's about a wizard who is nearly killed in a battle against a king. The wizard's queen was badly hurt, nearly dead. And then, he felt rage for everything that happened and decided to have his revenge and save his queen. But in order to do that, he must go to the cores of magic itself and ask planets and stars to help. Can any of you tell me which is the greatest law, if you may call it so, in the Bible?"

Harry looked at him oddly. What did the Bible have to do with all this?

"Thou shall not kill" Lavender answered.

"Many people think so" Towers replied. "But it is a wrong concept. The real answer is a one-worded one. 'Love'".

Harry remembered how his mother had died to save him -her love had saved him.

"Love is the greatest law. Some saint -I can't quite recall who- said 'Love and do what you will'. It is because when you love, you can't go wrong. When you truly love, all is possible and you can't hurt anyone. If you love, than you can even do real magic, not what you're doing here."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "Isn't this magic?"

"Of course it is" Towers answered and smiled at her. "But it is not all that is possible. What is the essence of what you learned to do? Move objects -levitate, summon, all these-, create different feelings to people -cheering charms, pain curses, like Cruciatus-, transfigure objects -desks into pigs, like Mrs. McGonagall enjoys doing, Animagus training-, disarming charms -basically in the 'move objects' category-, repelling creatures and charms and other things, time charms, healing charms and the killing charm. Did I miss anything?"

Nobody considered he did. In fact, neither did Harry. It sounded like so little when he said it like that. But what else was there to do?

"But do you know a charm which can make people genuinely happy? One that brings back people from the dead? One that makes people see the truth? One that can create a batter world? One that can make Voldemort STOP BEING SUCH A BLOODY IDIOT?!"

Harry pushed himself at the back of the desk, away from Towers who boomed his last words. He heard a lot of gasps and even a small scream in his back, but since he was in the front desk, he couldn't see this behind him.

"Of course not" Towers continued, as if nothing had happened, "Nobody does. But I tell you that it is possible to do all this. It really is. You can even melt a rock hart."

Harry thought about Amala, sitting in his back. She did melt a rock hart and she did save Sirius from death.

"Death can't be conquered, but it can be persuaded not to take some people. People can be happy because of your magic. People can see the truth."

He smiled at them.

"It can all happen because of our hearts. Love can make it all happen. If you love -and I don't mean couple-love, I mean as in love everybody-and- everything-love-then you can save your beloved from death and you can do anything."

The bell rang and Towers jerked his head up.

"Is that the time? Gods, I didn't see it. We'll continue next time."

They all started getting up.

"And I want three foot-essays about what spells you would like to be able to do, but aren't possible of doing and about couples you know that are more powerful together and love-songs you like. Muggle or wizard, it doesn't matter, I know most of them."

They all sighed and went out the door.

"Do you think he's gone crazy?" Ron asked. "Spells, couples and love songs?"

Hermione looked at him and answered, looking a bit concerned.

"Well, I never thought I would say this, but it seems so. Maybe he's lovesick and found out about Snape."

"What about Snape?" Lavender asked. Harry stared at her in shock. He hadn't realized she was there.

"You don't know?!" Amala asked, popping out of nowhere, making Harry gap at her. Luckily, Lavender didn't notice, staring too intense at Amala. "Snape is in this school now because of a woman. She loved him and he loved her."

"Snape in love? Ugh" Lavender replied.

"But she was killed before the fall of You-Know-Who and he, heartbroken, decided he would come here and quit his job as a spy for Dumbledore, becoming a teacher."

"And what does this have to do with Towers?" Lavender asked, looking at her weird.

"Well, she seems to have been with another woman, who was also killed. Recently. Snape's story must have remembered him of her."

"Who was Snape's girlfriend?" Lavender asked.

"Lily Rumens. And Towers. well, it's said that Monica Kane was his girlfriend. He did use to visit her at odd times, you know what I mean?"

Lavender's eyes widened.

"Ooh."

"And then he was held responsible for her. Maybe now he's charged or something."

"Gods! Had no idea!"

"Yeah, so that's why he was melancholically or something, you know. Or, you know him, sometimes he's just plain weird and that might be his reasoning."

A chuckle which soon developed into a roar of laughter sounded behind them and Harry turned to see what was going on. Towers was laughing with every bit of his being.

"How nice of you -chuckle- to call me weird, Mrs. Wright. -chuckle-. I do believe that --- this has happened before, right? You do have some bad luck. First, Snape, now me, who knows who'll be hearing you!"

Amala was as red as a tomato.

"Oh, don't worry, I've heard worse." The amused Professor said. "Towers is the freak whose loyalties lie only with himself, the psycho dude, etcetera. And nice story about me carrying on with Mrs. Kane."

Amala was horror stricken, Harry could easily see that.

"Very nice, indeed. And Snape, a girlfriend?! No way, his reasoning was completely different. Gosh golly, where do they get rumors from today?"

Harry looked at Towers, who still had tears of laughter in his eyes.

"Well, it's great to see what students' imagination can create, but I really have to go, a staff meeting and all. But, Mrs. Wright, maybe you could tell me some other time about these gossips, eh? I like them more and more each year."

Towers went through them, still chuckling.

"Well, there goes the 'had a girlfriend and is now sad' theory." Hermione concluded.

"And you -you're lucky he didn't say anything about you calling him weird" Ron said towards Amala.

"Definitely" she answered.

They left together towards the Great Hall, Harry having the weird feeling that Towers somehow knew more things than he let on to know. They walked down the corridors, talking happily and made it to lunch.

"Mmm, it smells wonderful" Ron said and Hermione and Amala chuckled.

"You're always hungry" Hermione said.

"Of course, I have to survive these days, right?"

They sat at the table, Neville somewhere close to them.

"Hello, guys" Ginny said from somewhere across the table.

"Hello" they replied and sat. Harry took some mashed potatoes and steaks in his plate and started eating. After a while, he noticed that Amala was talking. He'd been to hungry before to see it. Now, what was the topic?

"The thing is" Amala continued some previously started conversation, "that dragons are quite awful sometimes. Really. My mum and dad had some rather nasty burns before we left home."

"Yeah, tell me about it?" Ron asked. "Charlie was all burned up when I last saw him. And yet he said that he'd rather not do anything else. Said something about loving them."

"You can't not love them" Amala said. "Not after you've been near them and befriended them. Not after you've felt their power, their."

"Fire, powerful fire" somebody behind Harry said and he turned, seeing somebody whom he did not expect to see at all.

"Malfoy!"

"Potter"

The blonde Slytherin was looking at them superiorly.

"And that's what dragons have, Wright, fire. They are lords of fire and chaos and mayhem. No wonder Muggles thought they were all evil."

Amala returned his look.

"And their fire is also symbolical. It is a transformation, the fire that purifies everything. But what are you doing here, Blonde Dragon?" she asked ironically.

It took Harry a good deal of time before he realized that the Slytherin's first name was Draco which of course meant Dragon. Draco looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Just telling you that Professor McGonagall wants to see you. Something about your Gryffindor problems. What's this, Wright, got in trouble with your housemates?"

"Oh, shut up" she said and got up and started walking towards the doors, through which McGonagall had already passed.

Harry noted how weird it was that Draco, of all people, would deliver the message, but tucked back into his food.

"Ron, will you stop eating as if you wouldn't have had any food for months?" he heard Hermione's voice.

"Bu'mione'mangry"

"What?" she asked.

"But Hermione, I'm hungry" he complained after swallowing.

"Yeah, I can see that" she said and sighed. "But still, a bit of auto control never killed anybody."

Harry chuckled in his plate.

"You're incorrigible!" she said, seeing the boy still eat the same. "So, Harry, what do you make of Towers?"

"He's weird, as Amala said" he answered. "Quite weird. Does any of you know how he ended up at Hogwarts?"

The Gryffindors around shrugged.

"No clue" Neville said. "None at all. He just popped up in class, you know?"

"Yeah, we never found out why he just came here." Dean replied.

"And there's this news about him in the press and some things people suspect he did. I don't know what to make of it" Ginny said and Harry raised his head, surprised. He hadn't noticed her around.

"He's blamed for Monica Kane" Neville said. "I really wonder."

"What about his Master?" Hermione asked. "He always seems to be talking about him. Weird"

"More than weird" Harry said. "And he didn't tell us of how awful and what a bad decision it would be to join the Death Eaters."

"But he did make a few points, you know?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. And remember, Amala said she's send him before."

"When?" Ron asked and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"When she had that veil experience"

"Oh"

"What 'veil experience'?" Dean asked.

Hermione looked at him and made up her mind quickly.

"She passed through some weird veil and got to a room she shouldn't have gotten in and then he came around. It was something she did a while ago."

Harry was surprised. Basically, Hermione wasn't lying. But she didn't tell the truth either.

"Ooh, something to do with her old school?" Seamus asked.

"Something like that."

"So, what did she say about him?" Harry asked, trying to get the talk back to Towers.

"That he seemed weird and didn't say anything about her breaking rules or anything."

Ah, yes, back to Towers.

"Well, he seems like that now" Harry added.

"Wow, look, we better go, the next class comes soon" Hermione said.

"Yeah, let's go" Harry agreed.

They took their things and went to their other class.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Harry was sitting on an armchair near the fire that evening. He didn't have detention with Towers until Sunday. Well, he still called it 'detention', although it was more like private Defence lessons. Amala had gone to Snape's detention and Harry was feeling quite sorry for her.

Hermione took her books and sat near him.

"How are you, Harry? You look tired." She said.

"Yeah, I am a bit. You know, we have our first Quiddich match on Saturday."

"Of course I know, Harry. Against Hufflepuffs, right?"

"Yeah. I'll be competing against Cho."

Hermione sighed and asked:

"Do you still like her, Harry?"

"Um, no, it's nothing like that, I just feel weird."

She looked at him sympathetically.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Thanks, Hermione. Where's Ron?

She looked at him, a bit amazed.

"Ron? I. don't know. Why?"

"We better make our homework for Charms. We don't really have any homework for tomorrow, but then again, we have the match on Saturday and Angelina decided we should switch the practice day. And on Saturday we have the match and on Sunday I don't know how much time we'll have left."

"I'll go look for him."

"Will you? Thanks. Oh, and did you do your homework?"

"No, not yet, but I don't have any Quiddich practice tomorrow. And I'll be knitting a few clothes for elves."

Harry jerked his head up in surprise.

"You still do that?!"

"Of course I do, Harry! I want all those elves to be free, don't I?"

Hermione looked proud of herself.

"But I haven't seen you do it this year."

Hermione sighed.

"Well, people didn't really feel good about that and I decided to be a bit more secretive about it."

"Yeah, it's a good point", Harry agreed. "Well, have fun knitting!"

"Thanks" she said, smiling widely.

He leaned on his armchair and stared at the fire. Poor Amala, having to go face an angry, blood-thirsty Snape!

/*-/*-/*-/*-

Severus Snape was sitting in the teacher's room right after his last class, alone. Today, he'd have detention with the awfully annoying girl and, to tell the truth, he didn't look forward to it. He wanted his revenge, but he'd rather not see her at all.

Suddenly, the door opened and he jerked his head up from the pile of test papers he was grading.

"Hello, Minerva" he said to the Transfiguration teacher.

"Good to see you, Severus" she answered. "How are you?"

Severus raised an inner eyebrow. Was that why she came? To chat?!

"Fine, you?"

Well, he might be polite, while he was at it, right?

"Also. Listen, Severus, I want to talk to you about something."

This time, he actually raised a physical eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"I couldn't help but hear" McGonagall said, looking a bit uncomfortable "about the girl who blew up your classroom."

"Stupid girl." He replied, pretending to go back to his paper grading. "Can't remember a few instructions. I told her not to put the."

McGonagall saw it coming and quickly interfered.

"Um, yes, well, I never knew too much of Potions, Severus, so please, let's skip technical details, shall we?"

Snape opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. He might have taken about fifty points from the student who said it, but he didn't want to say anything nasty to McGonagall before she told him what this was about.

"Fine" he said and the other Professor sighed with relief.

"Well, I was out in my cat form yesterday, patrolling the corridors."

Severus raised an eyebrow. And this concerned him-why?

"And I made it in front of your own classroom."

Well, this was starting to get interesting.

"There was a girl, crying on the floor, seeing nothing around her and clutching her right hand. She was saying something between sobs, Severus. Something about a stupid mistake and about losing something. Or someone."

Severus looked at her with an impassible face, but his interior didn't feel so cold. So, the girl had been crying over him, eh?! Well, her problem! And now his, since McGonagall came to see him. Speaking of McGonagall, she sighed and tried to smile.

"What did you do to her, Severus? She was totally wrecked. More on the inside, I'd say. And there is something you might not know. She likes you, Severus. As a man, not only a person."

Hell he didn't know! Of course he did! She had made it obvious when she had kissed him on her second detention. Even a blind man could see!

"What makes you think that, Minerva?" he asked, trying to sound as cold as usual.

"I heard her say so. And she was honest about it. I could see it in her eyes."

"She told you?" Severus said, raising an eyebrow. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Oh, no" she said, chuckling. "Students never do that to elder people. But I heard her say so to Potter, Weasley and Granger."

Severus felt a bit enraged. She told them. How could she do that?! Now, it was probably all over the school! And, gah, what a mistake to accept her! Probably everybody was making fun of him now!

"Really?!" he asked, as cool as usual.

"Yes, and they already knew about it. I didn't stick around to hear more, though; I had a class to teach. You have to admit that she was brave doing that, you're not exactly what I'd call their greatest friend."

Snape was considering glaring evilly at McGonagall. Instead, he didn't.

"So, what are you saying?"

"That you should try to. be nice to her. I'm not saying you should go right ahead and kiss her or anything."

Snape had a bit of a problem. That was exactly what he'd done.

".but you could consider not torturing her, you know"

The woman knew him too well. He smiled in an evil way and said:

"I'll try. But I make no promises. And thank you for telling me this."

McGonagall stared at him speechless.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Amala was heading towards the dungeons. She had been walking around the castle for a loooong while, trying to gather herself. Now, she was near the classroom. There, one more corridor. here she was. bang, bang, you shot me down. bang, bang and I hit the ground. She shook her head. She didn't want songs in her head right now. Especially not this one. Too much of a resemblance with what had happened. Gah, what a time to have Cher in your head.

She made it to the door and knocked, then opened it. Snape stood at his desk.

"Hello, Professor" she said, looking down.

"Hello" he answered. "Come here."

She obeyed and sat down at the chair in front of his desk.

"Do you know what this is?" Severus asked, taking out a vial.

Amala looked at it. It could be many things, actually. How could she know?

"No, sir"

"It's a vial of Veritaserum" he said and she dared, for the first time, to look him in the eyes. Was he going to tell her to drink it? Probably. In fact, why would he have it if not for that? "Would you drink it and then answer my questions?"

She looked at him. Should she? She definitely didn't want him to know some things about her. What if he asked? Oh, boy. She didn't want him to know all her secrets. But, then again, it hadn't been a question. It was an order. She made up her mind.

"I will" she answered.

Severus took a glass of water and put two drops of the potion inside and handed her the glass. She smiled and raised her glass.

"To you!" she tried to joke and drank it. It was a weird feeling.

"So, have you told Mr. Potter and his little gang every detail of what has happened here?"

Amala gulped.

"Not every detail. Almost." Her mouth added. Shit.

"And did you have fun with it?" he asked.

Oh, great! He had to put it that way, didn't he?! GREAT!!!

"Yes" she answered and then added on her own: "It was great to see their faces. Funny" she added. The truth he asked for, the truth it would be.

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"How many people know about your detention?"

"The whole school" Amala answered. Why did he have to ask stupid questions??? Duh, everybody knew she had detention and no matter how hard she tried to answer Severus' real question, her mouth kept answering the question that was exactly put.

"You told EVERYBODY?!" Snape snapped.

"No. You should ask more specific questions, you know" she said, looking at his angry face. "Everybody knows I have detention. It circled the school."

It was a good thing he hadn't give her too much of the potion and she was able to say other things except the answers to his question.

"Oh" Severus said. Oops. He asked a dumb question. "How many people know what happened during detentions? Between you and me" he spat, not really wanting to say that.

"Five, including you and me" she answered.

"And do the four of you have fun at my expense?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Yes" she answered, against their will.

Severus glared dangerously at her.

"What part?"

Oh, please, please, please don't! Don't ask this!

"You having greasy hair and always snapping at everybody and everything" she answered, quietly.

"How about my memory from the Pensieve?"

"What memory?" Amala asked truthfully.

"The one Potter knows about"

"He didn't tell us a thing" Amala answered, looking curiously at Snape. "Well, not me at least."

Severus didn't show it, but he was in shock. Potter hated him and he hadn't even told his friends about the Pensieve? His father would have. His father would have told the whole school. And yet, Potter junior hadn't even told his close friends. At least, not the new one in the group. Why?

"Forward. What do you think of me?"

She tried to keep her mouth shut. But, noooo! He had to ask that, didn't he? He had to ask that! And now, great, her mouth was going to say everything!!!

"I think you're a greasy-haired git sometimes", she answered. Not good. Not good. "And I think you're very smart and a wonderful Potions Master and that something could melt your heart". She wanted to cry. That was not meant for him to hear. Definitely not. Yeah, the part about smart and good Potions Master would do, but the rest?! "And I think that you're so cold because you were a spy" Did she? Obviously, she did. "And I think you're brave to do that and I think you're actually a good person. And I think you kiss wonderfully." That had to come out, right? "And I think that you're right to do this to me" Wow, she thought a lot of things. Maybe she should take Veritaserum more often, get to know what she thought of certain things! "But I also think that you don't know the context of why I said that. And I think you could wash your hair more often" Personal hygiene. Great to be brought up. "And I think you could be a wonderful person, if you wanted to, but now you're building security walls to protect you"

Snape was staring at her, not bothering to hide his amazement any more. He had almost made a face about her considering him 'a greasy haired git', but then cheered up when he heard about the smart thing. Of course, the 'something could melt your heart' thing he hadn't been too pleased. Well, she was wrong about the 'being cold because you were a spy' part. He had been cold even before. It was him. He goggled his eyes at the 'kiss wonderfully part', happy that she looked down. And he was surprised at 'you're right to do this to me' part. And he glared at 'wash your hair more often'. He did wash it often, but it was because of those blasted potions why it was greasy! And he looked at her incredulously at 'could be a wonderful person'. He shook his head and took a glass of water, to drink from it. Meanwhile, she continued.

"And I think you're very nasty to students, even when it's not necessary"

She was correct.

"And I think you have something against Harry"

Was she right! He took another sip of the water.

"And, judging by the way you kiss, I think you would be great in bed"

He suddenly spat the water and chocked, also pouring some of the water in the glass on himself. He coughed, putting the glass with the remaining water down.

"WHAT did you just say?!"

She looked horrified, but answered.

"Judging by the way you kiss, I think you would be great in bed" she repeated, horror stricken.

"Stop. Don't say anything more until I ask you to" he said. Wow. unexpected. very unexpected. he took his wand and cleaned up the mess on himself and the floor. She still looked horror-stricken. He recovered quite quickly and decided not to comment on the last statement. No matter how completely weird it was. Wow, somebody thought he might be a good. No, wait, don't think of that! "You said something about the context of the statement I've heard. What about it?" he asked, deciding to take something neutral.

She sighed in relief.

"Well, Harry, Ron and Hermione were with me and I was telling them about us the day before. I said that I'd like you to stop glaring at me."

She wished him to stop glaring at her?! Well, that made sense.

"And Ron started joking and said that you were a block of ice and Hermione tried to cheer me up and Ron also tried, in his own way, and they wanted to make me laugh and I went with it and thought of the bad things I could say about you and put them in one statement. But I meant no disrespect and I didn't know you were behind me or I wouldn't have said it."

So, they were joking! Just. joking.

"Do you love me?" he asked quietly, before he could stop himself.

She looked in his eyes.

"Yes."

Surprisingly, she didn't seem too bothered to say this. She looked at him honestly, not nervously as she did before. Snape felt very weird.

"Are you mad with me?"

"A little"

He was right about to ask her 'can you forgive me?' but then changed his mind. He'd be damned if he ever said that! Instead, he considered it was all over and she should go to bed.

"Thank you. The potion will last for one more hour, the most. Now, off to bed!"

She nodded and left.

He remained alone in his classroom. Great! Just perfect! Couldn't have been better! He had just hurt and put under Veritaserum the only student in the school who loved him and she was mad at him and - why the hell did he care?!

He went to his personal office after locking the door to the classroom and then from there he opened his all-faithful passage to his dorm. The dorm had three secret passages leading to and from it and one door. The door was opening toward a corridor in the dungeon, a secret passage went to his office, another one went to some upper level and the third he hadn't explored totally, there were still some secret passages in even that one.

Surprisingly, he didn't feel insecure in the dorm. He felt quite safe. Nobody knew the passages. He collapsed on the bed, putting down the vial of dreamless potion he had brought with him. He had a feeling that otherwise he wouldn't sleep too much. He got dressed in his night robes and grabbed the vial and drank it from one gulp.

His eyes suddenly looked horrified towards the vial and he dropped it on the stone floor. A feeling of panic went through his body and soon a desperate cry went through the castle.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!"

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Dumbledore was in his office, preparing to call it a night and go to bed, when, all of a sudden, a desperate Snape burst in through the door. Well, there was something weird. You don't see desperate Snapes all the time, do you?

"Severus, anything I could help you with?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, there is something! I can't teach tomorrow, Albus! I really can't! It's not possible."

Dumbledore looked at him amazed.

"Why? Is there something wrong? Perhaps you are sick? Oh, my, I should get you to Poppy."

Snape glared at him and responded quickly.

"It's not like that, you old mage! It really isn't! You've got it wrong."

Dumbledore did a double-take. Usually, Snape was calm and cool.

"I drank a whole vial of VERITASERUM, Albus! And you know what effect it has on me, don't you?"

Dumbledore chuckled. Of course he knew. Most of the people would just start coughing up their secrets at that amount of the potion, but Severus was one of the select few who could keep control of themselves. Unless somebody asked him a question.

"Oh, dear. How much do you reckon you will be under the effect of the potion?"

"Maybe 3 or 4 days. Better get me a replacement, I wouldn't want anybody asking me anything, since I will answer anything they ask!"

Ooh, too tempting.

"What if I told you I can't do this?!"

Snape paled.

"Then I would tell you that I can't go to class, then you'd probably tell me I must and until the end you'd probably win over me and I'd go to class tomorrow and somebody would ask me a question and I would start answering whatever he said and I'd probably spit out my secrets and then I'd be back here in a moment and there would be two possibilities: one you're here and I yell and curse and mean it and you'd probably listen calm two: you're not here and go back to my dorm and do a lot of cursing and then when I find you I'd jump to your neck."

"Enough, Severus" Dumbledore said, a twinkle in his eyes. "You're under Veritaserum, alright. I'll take care of your classes somehow and your detentions also. You just lie down. You might need it."

Snape nodded and bowed.

"Thank you sir."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Amala was jumping around the school, nearly singing "he forgave me!" Because, of course, Snape hadn't been a bloody idiot and not seen that she was sorry. Actually he was quite intelligent and maybe. maybe she still had a chance!

And then she saw the most horrible thing she could have seen: Argus Filch. She paled and checked her watch. Oh, boy, she was late!

"Well, well, what are we doing here? And so happy!" he sneered. "Had a meeting with."

Amala widened her eyes! Oh, no, she was still under Veritaserum and she couldn't lie! Shit. Well, better stop him now, before he says something she might not want to answer.

"I had a detention with Professor Snape!" she said urgently. "And I was returning to my dorm."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I have never seen students coming happy from detentions before" he said.

"Well, it is the truth" she replied.

"How would I know?" he asked. Maybe you're just a lying little freak, as all the others!"

Not good.

"I'm under a potion, sir." she replied. Whew! The potion was wearing off! Now, she still couldn't lie, but she could leave some parts out, it wasn't like before when her mouth spoke for her.

"Aha" Filch said and looked at her weirdly. "There are cheering potions?"

She blessed the fact that he didn't ask her whether or not she was under a cheering potion. She had the feeling it wouldn't have been good for her if he knew she was under Veritaserum.

"Of course, sir" she replied.

"Are you sure you've been in detention until now?"

"Yes, sir. You can ask Professor Snape if you like."

Filch was glaring.

"I think I will. Off to bed."

She smiled broadly and left for the tower. Well, that was luck!

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Harry was reading one of his letters that just came and Ron and Hermione were looking over his shoulders.

Dear Harry,

I'm so glad I can finally write to you! It's been a while, I know, but it hasn't been safe to do so.

I think that the Jack guy finally has something that could clear me. He popped up -literally- here yesterday, saying that he had proof that I'm innocent and that although it might take a while, I should be cleared relatively soon. I wonder what he has.

So, that means that we'll meet again, eh, kiddo? Can't wait to see what's been going on since I've been gone. And I know I asked you before. Would you like to come stay with me once I'm cleared? Molly said they finally managed to get my mum off the wall, so no more screeches in the middle of the night!

And I've heard Buckbeak is doing great. Hope you're ok, Harry and see you soon! I miss you.

And say hi to Ron and Hermione for me, will you? And don't you dare forget Amala! I have a lot to thank her for!

See you soon,

Snuffles

Hermione was jumping up and down the walls.

"Finally!" she was crying.

Ron and Harry were grinning widely at each other.

"Sirius is gonna be alright!" Harry said.

"Yeah, mate, ain't it wonderful? Hermione, stop, or you'll make me really dizzy!" Ron added.

"And speaking of Amala, where is she?" Harry asked. "Shouldn't she have been back yet?"

"Probably" Hermione answered. "Oh, Harry, he'll be ok."

At the moment, as if on cue, Amala entered through the portrait, nearly dancing around. Harry noticed the other Gryffindors staring weirdly at all of them, including Amala, whom everybody knew had had a detention with their 'beloved' teacher Snape.

"Snuffles is coming!" Harry cried.

"That's wonderful!" She cried and then stared at everybody around the room. "Oh, guys, mind to come outside a bit? I need your help with something!"

The other three stared at her and then followed her through the portrait.

"Sorry, I couldn't talk there, I'm under Veritaserum" she said quickly.

"Veritaserum?!" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you know, the truth serum. Severus gave it to me. Oh, I think he's on his way to forgive me!"

She grinned at them.

"So, who's Snuffles?"

They looked at each other and burst into laughter. Of course they hadn't told her! They always referred to him as 'Sirius' in her presence and when they showed her his letters. No, wait, they never did show her the letters. Only told her about them. And even if they did say 'Snuffles' in front of them, they never told her that was actually him. Of course she didn't know!

"Sirius!" Harry chocked out.

"Ooh." she said, understanding dawning on her face. And then, suddenly, she started jumping up and down, in excitement. "He'll be back, he'll be back! Yahoo! Is he ok? When's he coming? Where will he hide from the Ministry? How's he doing?"

Harry grinned at her widely.

"He's fine and I don't think he'll be hiding anymore! He said that Towers came up with some evidence to clear him!"

"Oh, that's WONDERFUL!" she cried and jumped and hugged them. "WON-DER-FUL! So, when's he coming?"

"He doesn't know yet, but he hopes it'll be soon!" Harry said, grinning.

"We should get back!" Hermione said. "Oh, Amala, try to lie!"

"I'm sad! I hate my life!" she said. "Great, the Veritaserum's gone!"

"What do we tell the others?" Ron asked. "She said she needs our help with something"

Hermione grinned.

"Let's make up an excuse, shall we?"

She took out a rock and her wand and muttered a spell. The parchment turned into a cat.

"Wow, Hermione!" Ron said. "Good transfiguration!"

"Thanks!" she said. "The story is you've found the cat and couldn't get it out of her hiding place. You needed our help."

"Ok" Amala answered and they all went back to the common room, where their story had a great credibility.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Amala was very surprised to find out that Snape was feeling ill and couldn't take her in detention, so she had a detention with McGonagall instead and had to do some serious transfiguration so that she'd turn back goblets in animals. She asked Hermione and Ron about Snape ever being sick, but they said that such a thing had never occurred before.

Saturday had come maybe a tad too quickly. Harry was pretty nervous about the match against Hufflepuff, even though they had trained very hard.

There he was again in the middle of the changing rooms, putting on his Quiddich robes.

"Alright, everybody!" Angelina said. "Up and let's go win us a Quiddich cup!"

Ginny and Ron were done preparing too and they all went on the pitch. Harry saw the cheering crowd and he felt a bit nervous. He mounted his broom and they all flew up in the sky.

Madam Hooch released the balls and everybody started zooming around. Harry stood up in the sky, looking at the Hufflepuff seeker and all the players in general.

Soon after that, he heard the commentator cry:

"AND GRYFFINDOR SCORES! 10-0 FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry turned towards the person and saw that it was Orla Quirky from Ravenclaw. If he recalled correctly, she was a third year.

He zoomed across the field and dodged a few Bludgers on his way. The other Seeker was dogging him and Harry felt a bit unnerved. Fine, if that was the way he wanted it to be, that was the way it would be!

He flew around the Gryffindor hoops, giving a thumbs-up to Ron, who was doing greatly, then pretended to see the Snitch and did the 'Wronsky Feint' with the other Seeker. Well, he wasn't as good as Krum had been at the World Cup, but then again, neither was the Hufflepuff Seeker who just went into the ground. Harry raised his broom and went back up to the air, while the poor bloke was being nursed by Madam Hooch -who always gave first help- . Harry searched frenetically for the Snitch, but it appeared to be nowhere in sight.

The other seeker was soon returned to his normal functions and started going back into the air when Harry saw it: the beautiful golden Snitch was zooming around the Gryffindor hoops. He heard the commentator cry:

"And yet another wonderful protection from Weasley, who catches the Quaffle skillfully and yes, the score is still 70-20 for Gryffindor! But, oh, my God, is that the SNITCH?! Harry Potter rushes towards it. Where is the Hufflepuff seeker? There he is, 10 feet behind Potter! And. HE'S CAUGHT IT! HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!"

Harry had a feeling of déjà vu. Oh, yes, it had happen before!

"220-20 to GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry zoomed around the pitch, carrying the small thing clutched in his hand. Life couldn't be better, as he landed and was carried around by happy Gryffindors and even a few Ravenclaws were joining in. Slytherins were all booing, of course!

Amala and Hermione were jumping up and down with the other Gryffindors. Harry, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the team, however, couldn't do such a thing since they were carried around on the other people's hands.

"Marvelous!" Harry heard a voice he had grown to know well. Towers was there, cheering. "Great Seeker knowledge, Harry! Good work, GRYFFINDORS!"

The students had nearly dropped him when they noticed their Professor between them. However, they put him down gently and everybody headed towards the castle, celebrating the event.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

The party for the great win of the Gryffindors still hadn't finished and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Amala were heading towards the kitchens to take some food and drinks.

It was a bit after the sleeping time and they were sneaking around, hoping they wouldn't get caught by anybody. They moved quietly down the corridors and suddenly they heard steps and the voice they feared.

"What is that, my dear? Do you smell anybody?"

They froze.

"Filch." Amala whispered.

"Quick, through here!" Harry said, pulling them towards another corridor.

They ran and ran, until they had the feeling that they were safe.

"Well, that was close!" Hermione said. "Thing about it, two Prefects and two other sixth-years sneaking around after bed time, this could've been serious!"

"Yeah, but we're safe now!" Harry said. "Let's go!"

"Where are they, my dear, do you smell them?" they heard Filch's voice again and Amala had to bite her lip not to cry out in surprise.

"Here!" Ron said, dragging them to a door.

They entered and shut the door and Hermione quietly locked it.

"I think we're safe now" she said.

"Uh-huh. But maybe we should wait here a bit, just in case" Harry said and the others agreed.

He looked around the room. It was a dusty old room with a few chairs in it and a few shelves on the walls. A desk was in the front of it.

"I've never been here before" he said towards his friends.

"Neither have I", Ron answered.

"It looks like nobody has been here for a long time. Odd" Hermione said, looking at the dusty floor.

"Maybe house-elves don't bother with it anymore" Harry said.

"Maybe" she answered.

They explored it. The shelves were completely empty, not a single book or vial or anything on them.

"It looks normal to me" Hermione said. "Wonder why it hasn't been used."

Suddenly, there was a short cry and everybody turned towards Amala, who was on the floor.

"I tripped" she explained and they helped her up.

"Hey, look! What's that?" Ron asked, pointing to a bit of a glittering thing under the dust on floor.

Harry went towards it and wiped off the dust, revealing a golden image of a dragon.

"Oh, let me do this!" Hermione said and took out her wand. "Maybe there's more. Scourgify!"

The floor cleaned and she did the same to the walls and everything around. When she was done, the floor appeared to be covered in small, golden paintings of animals -dragons, griffins, birds, and other creatures-, the walls were white and the chairs and the desk looked completely different now.

"Wow!" they said, looking at the now majestic room.

Amala was looking awestruck.

"Gosh, look at this place!" she said. "Wow!"

"I quite agree" Ron said. "Why would anybody abandon this room?"

"Beats me" Hermione said. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Dunno" Harry answered and then he hit his head. "The Marauder's Map! Of course!"

He took out the piece of parchment and Ron looked at him and smirked.

"Couldn't think of it earlier when Filch was hunting us, could you?"

Harry took no notice and pointed to a place.

"According to this, we're somewhere in the dungeons. Yeah, we did come down a lot."

"Where's Filch?" Hermione asked.

"Back in his rooms and. oh" he replied.

"Oh what?" Amala asked.

"Oh Towers' around. He might be friendly and all, but I still don't want him to catch me out in the night. You?"

"Guess not" Hermione answered. "So, what do we do?"

"Explore!" Amala said and jumped to look at the floor, while the others smiled. Trust Amala to be very curious and child-like! But, since they didn't have any better idea, they started looking around again."

Harry looked through the room and landed on top of the dragon in the middle of the room. All the others were looking at the floor or the walls. Frankly, there was nothing about the room that could interest him, so why look around?

Hermione came and sat in front of him.

"Bored, eh?" she asked.

"Yeah"

Amala and Ron joined soon after. Harry had no idea why they sat on the marble floor, when they could have just taken the chairs. But it was nice and comfy there and somehow the floor wasn't cold. It was warm.

"Is it safe to go now?" Ron asked and Harry looked at the map.

"I think so" he answered and they all got up the floor. All but Amala.

"Funny", she said. "I feel like singing."

The others looked at her weirdly.

"It's as if there was music in the room. And, do you know that feeling in a dream when somebody says something and you know that if it has a good meaning, the whole dream turns into something wonderful? And if it is bad, then you have the worst nightmare?"

They all looked strangely at her.

"Are you ok, Amala?" Ron asked.

"Yes, I'm just trying to figure out if it is a good meaning or a bad one" she replied calmly.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.

"The song. The music in the room. Don't tell me you can't feel it!" she said.

"We can't!" Ron said and Amala looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I'll give it a try" she said.

"Give what a try?" Harry asked.

"Sing" she responded.

"Sing?" Hermione asked incredulously, but she already started.

"We're the Kings of the Nordic Twilight We're the Lords of Ice and Snow For the glory we will fight For the peace we will ride For the skies we'll reign together!"

They all stared at her.

"Mate, I think we should get her to St. Mungo's" Ron said.

But as Amala finished her song, the wall cracked and opened, revealing a new room that the others hadn't seen on the Marauder's Map. Amala jumped to her feet.

"Shall we go in?" she asked, calmly, while the others were gaping.

"How did you do that?" Harry asked.

"You guys are so thick!" she said. "Not in your minds, but you're just like Muggles, can't see what's in front of your nose!"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, awestruck.

"There's magic all over the place! And you can't feel it!"

Amala looked a bit unnerved and then fell down to the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she whispered. "I don't know what came over me! You see, ever since I was a kid, I could feel things around me. I can feel when somebody gets close and I can sense when magic is done somewhere. I'm not too good at normal magic, but this I'm good at."

They all looked at her.

"So, are you psychic or something?" Ron asked.

"I think so" she said and shrugged, picking herself up from the floor. "It's weird, as if already knew some things. You know, when I was small, a man told me that I was very open towards things and that my spiritual master will guide me well because of that. It's been weird. I know things sometimes and I try to understand them, but it's hard. And I never told anybody from my past school about this, only you and my parents know."

They were still staring at her.

"And I think I know what my role around here is" she said. "I had a good part in bringing Sirius back, but from now on, I'll be a messenger and tell people what will happen and what I feel. I think that. I really do. And now, with the music. I had to sing. I knew it. It wasn't because of me. It was because of you. Gosh. It's weird to have it all out of my system. I had kept it a secret for a long while."

"Yeah" Harry said, still staring at her.

"Get used to it" she said and walked in the room. "It might happen for a while."

They entered after her and Harry decided not to think about it just then and inspect the room instead. It was quite a difference from the past room, especially the way it first looked when they came in.

It was a 10 on 20 meter room with a fireplace -actually lighted! - in one of the sides. They had entered through the wall somewhere in the middle of it. Near the fireplace there were three comfortable-looking armchairs and a small bookcase. In the middle of the room, there were four armchairs around a table and a larger bookcase. In the right side, opposite the fireplace there were some other armchairs, put in a circle. The whole room was colored in blue and gold and the armchairs were brown. The floor had rugs on it of different colors and it was quite fluffy. It was a very comfortable and pleasant-looking room.

But just as they all entered, the wall went back to its usual place and they all screamed in surprise.

"How are we all going to get out?" Ron squeaked.

Amala got out of the state of shock and answered:

"We will easily. But first, let's have a look around."

The girls went and picked up some books in the bookcase and started looking through them.

"Whoa!" Hermione said. "'A Short Guide to Escapes'. Short? It's at least 600 pages long."

"'The Spells of the Ancient'" Amala read. "Look at these spells! Protection charms, phoenix charms."

Harry decided to look through the books himself.

"The Dark Wizard Typology" he said and chuckled. "I wonder if Voldemort is in here..." He looked through the book. No Voldemort. Must be before that. He looked better. No Grindewald, either. How old were these books? However, there were a few wizards mentioned, but he had never heard of them.

"Look!" Hermione cried. "'Hogwarts: The History!' See, I told you it was a well-known book! It's spelled wrong, but that doesn't matter!"

She opened the book, a happy look on her face and almost immediately gaped.

"This is definitely not 'Hogwarts: A History'" she said.

"What do you mean, Hermione?" Ron asked, looking at her.

"I've read 'Hogwarts: A History' so many times that I almost know it by heart. This is not it. Listen: "The Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry was founded near the year 1000. More precise, the construction for the building began in 987, but it was finished, even though just partially, in 999. The four founders, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin have all worked through magic or otherwise at the construction!" Do you see it?"

The others stared at each other.

"Um, no" Harry said and Hermione rolled her eyes in despair.

"Nobody ever mentions when Hogwarts was founded because nobody knows! But, the author of this book obviously does! He speaks of the precise dates. Oh, and look here! "The founders were out on a hunting day in the year of grace 1000 when they were attacked by a group of hungry vampires. They all fought bravely against them, but there was no way the ones could be mastered. When all hope was lost, however, a man appeared and helped in battle, easily bringing the founders to a victory. They were very grateful and asked the man what he wanted as a reward for saving their lives and therefore, even the school, which was about to have its first students that fall and offered him gold and help for whatever he wanted. It is said that the man just laughed at their ideas and told them he needed none of their help or money. However, there was one thing he wanted as a payment: he wanted the school itself, their beloved Hogwarts."

"What?!" Ron said. "But - such a thing was never mentioned in History classes.

"I know" Hermione said. "On we go! "The founders refused at first, not wanting their own school to go in the hands of the man, but he insisted and told them he was the Lord of the Darkness."

"A Lord of Darkness saved Hogwarts?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Apparently. "They all remembered his fighting on the light side and told him that they still didn't want to join them. But then he swore that, through his immortality, he will always guard upon the school and that he will place charms on it so that it would be very well-protected against the dark side. Finally, they accepted."

"They DID?!" Harry asked, jumping up in surprise. "And what's this immortal part?"

"Dunno" Hermione said and shrugged. "The founders led him to Hogwarts where he placed many wards, such as the Anti-apparition one and the Great Ward of Light, which was supposed to come in action when the dark side really attacked the school and which he could not fight. He put wards of incredible power and then he summoned the core of magic itself and asked it to guard the castle and live in it. From then on, everything came to life and stairs started moving and armors started talking and the whole castle came to life. It is said that for the school, he called the stars and planets and the elements in order to place the wards."

"That must have been some serious magic" Ron said, but Hermione took no notice.

"After this was done, he signed a contract with the founders which made him the official owner of the school and copied it in three copies. One was to be put in Hogwarts, in a place that only he and the founders knew, the second he gave to the founders themselves and the third he kept himself. Then, he parted from his castle and went off in his own battles once more." Wow! Do you guys know what this means?"

They all shrugged.

"Hogwarts has an owner! And if he is immortal, then we might end up with him around here!"

"But, Hermione," Harry said, "don't you need the Philosopher's Stone to become immortal? And wasn't Nicholas Flamel the first maker of the Stone and isn't he just 600 years old? This guy's supposed to be 1000!"

She looked a bit thoughtful.

"I don't know."

She put the book back, but soon afterwards she took it out again.

"Aha!" she cried. "Look at this! It's a very correct version! "Soon after it's founding, Hogwarts started hiring house-elves to do the household work, since it was practically impossible for the wizards to handle it, even with self-cleaning charms!" I never read that in 'Hogwarts: A History'"

Harry chuckled.

"So, how do we get out?" Ron asked and the others felt a pretty big problem around.

Amala stared at the wall.

"Open!" she said, but it wouldn't move. She gulped and went to it, touched it and then retried: "open".

"Try that song you were singing" Hermione said and the girl nodded.

"We're the Kings of the Nordic Twilight We're the Lords of Ice and Snow For the glory we will fight For the peace we will ride For the skies we'll reign together!"

The wall didn't move.

"Must have a different password" Amala said and gulped, trying not to look despaired.

"No problem, we'll get out of here" Hermione said.

"Um, alohomora!" Amala tried, but the wall didn't move.

"Let me try" Harry said. "Reducio!"

The wall didn't even seem affected.

"It doesn't work on enchanted walls, Harry" Hermione said. "Can you try to parseltongue it?"

"Parseltongue it?!" Harry asked, not understanding.

"Yeah, mate, as in try to speak in parseltongue it" Ron said.

Harry looked at the wall.

"Open!"

"I understood that" Hermione said and Harry thought hard of a snake.

"Open!"

"Still not it" Ron said and Harry imagined a snake, slithering next to a door. He closed his eyes.

*-Open-*

"That was good mate" Ron said. "But it's not working"

Harry opened his eyes.

"I guess not"

They stared at the door, each trying a worse and worse solution for the problem. Suddenly, Ron shot towards Amala.

"If you - if you would have kept your mouth shut, we wouldn't be here now!" he cried.

"Ron, it's not her fault" Hermione said, shaking her head. "Let's concentrate on how to get put of here and not who's guilty of us being here, ok?"

He looked enraged towards Amala again and then calmed down and let himself fall on an armchair.

"We're doomed" he said calmly.

"Not necessarily" Amala said and they looked towards her. "I don't feel anything right now, but I know something: if there's a way to get in, there's a way to get out."

"Except that we don't know it" Harry pointed out.

"Yes, well, think like this: if anybody opens the door accidentally, like me, they must have a way to get out. The problem is how"

"Good morning, sunshine" Ron said mockingly. Amala took no notice.

"And then you can definitely get out in a way that must be told from the inside. It's good that there are four of us, that way we might figure this out faster and it's wonderful that Hermione is the here! She's the smartest witch around, she can definitely find the answer!"

Harry thought she had a point. A good one, too.

Hermione looked at her and smiled sadly.

"Except that I can't think of anything now."

"Let's look in the books. Maybe."

Hermione jerked up and started looking through every book that was in her reach.

"No, no, no, odd, this one's empty, no, no."

Harry stared at the wall, until she said 'odd'. Then, he turned to the witch that was quickly looking at the covers of the books which she had spread on the table.

"Wait! Where's the empty one?" he asked.

Hermione looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Two words: Tom's diary" he said and her eyes widened.

"I forgot" she said and threw him the book. He caught it and looked at the cover. It was blue with golden stars on the cover. He opened it.

"Hermione - it's not empty" he said.

On the middle page, where he accidentally flipped it, there were many words written, although the rest of the book was indeed opened.

The books cannot be taken out, nor can the room be opened by them who do not know the password and it can't be opened from the inside as long as there is someone on the outside who knows not the password. The books will tell the story and the Lord of Darkness will rise again when his time will come.

And for you who have been called and do not know the reason, hear it now! It lies within you, and it always will. Heroes and kings, the Lord welcomes you all! Wizards and witches and mages and shamans, you are greeted by him. Ones who need help and ones who need shelter, you will find it here. And if by mistake you're here, it means there is a reason.

And if you do not know the secret of leaving this blessed place and your steps go in circles, it means that he has not come with you. If you lie trapped in this golden cage, let this old book guide your steps. Its pages are blank for the untrained eye, but it might contain more than you think and welcoming you here is just the middle of your journey, which is yet to be written. Or are you at the end, coming to see old friends in this chamber? Or has your journey just begun and guided here you've been to meet your destiny? Either way, I will now tell you the secret of leaving this room.

You can leave in one of the two ways, but which way will you go? Will you return to where you've been before, or shall you go forward with great courage? If you're at the beginning, you shall go forward, for there is no other way and you will be guided always forward. If you are at the middle, you can choose and then you shall see. And if you're at the end, you will move forward until there is no end and you will know why.

And chose your way, if you are in the middle. Go back considering your chances and come back here when they are good. Your chances are the key. The chance to go back is given by three things. Choose them wisely. And once you know, then you will be welcomed back and forth as a friend.

And to go forward it's a problem. For that you will need courage and you will have to think of the way to do it and try. Are you ready to go forward? Speak your purpose.

"Well, that's weird" Hermione said. "It's obviously a riddle. And I don't know whether the 'forward' and 'backward' are symbolical or not. Well, there's obviously a password. Let's see. What pulls you back?"

"Um, not being powerful enough" Amala said.

"Attachment" Ron added.

"Fear" Harry said.

Hermione looked at them.

"Weakness, attachment, fear" she said and smiled. "You know, if you take the first two letters of the last words and the first four of the first, you get 'weak feat'. That could also get you back."

"I don't think it's 'weak feat', no offence, Hermione" Amala said.

"Neither do I, I was just making an observation."

Ron sat down on an armchair.

"So, we're stuck."

It was the truth. They were stuck.

"How about we go forward?" Harry asked.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I don't know, let's speak our purpose" he said.

"Oh, great!" Ron said. "Going back to the Gryffindor Tower so we won't be late and we get some sleep tonight!"

"That could be one of the reasons to go back" Amala noted.

"The other would be that we don't have a clue about why we're here" Harry said.

"And the third would be because we're not supposed to be here" Hermione said.

"Not it" Ron mumbled.

"How about because we're not supposed to be here yet?" Hermione asked. "I hate riddles that might end up with us remaining here."

"Not good reasons" Hermione noted after she saw that nothing happened.

"How's this for a reason?!" Ron boomed, angrily. "WE'RE HERE BECAUSE AMALA SANG AND WE WANT TO GO BACK!"

"I don't know" Hermione mumbled. "Maybe the things are objects. Oh, why did we come in here?!"

"That's IT!" Amala cried. "They might not be objects, but close! We got in here because I sang and because. Darn, I can't find any other reason."

"You were sitting on that dragon and expected something to happen" Hermione said. "But I don't see how. oh."

"Oh what?" Harry asked.

"We should sit somewhere and do something and expect the wall to open. Amala, got ay singing ideas?"

"Nope, sorry" she answered.

"I just wanna go back, this isn't going anywhere" Ron mumbled, leaning in the armchair.

"Well, so do we!" Hermione said. "But we're working on it and who knows how much it will."

The wall cracked and opened.

".take" Hermione finished. "What the-"

They all stared at the wall and Ron most of all.

"How did it open?"

"That's IT!" Hermione cried. "Of course, how could I not think of it?"

"Think of what?" Ron asked.

"You did it, Ron!" Hermione said, excited. "Way to go!"

"What did I do?" Ron asked, not understanding.

"Three things! Of course! Wanting to go back, understanding you can't go forward and giving up. None of these can take you forward. We were still trying to figure it out, so we were trying to go forward and understand what we must say. But, if you give up on everything and stop trying to go anywhere and just. lie down, you go backwards! Of course!"

"How does she think like that?" Ron asked the others and Amala and Harry shrugged.

Suddenly, they heard a thump and turned. The blue and gold book had fallen on the floor and opened.

"Well, that's weird, I could have sworn I put it in the middle of the table" Harry said.

Hermione picked it up and almost shut it when she cried:

"Look! It's changed!"

So, backwards you shall go. Until you shall go forward, you will not know that way, but once you go back once, you can always do it. He has seen and welcomed you as friends and has given you a password. The answer to the riddle has been that you want to go back and that you say it and that he lets you do it.

Until next time, take care. And your password be 'light warriors.

"Well, it's a bit of a different than what I thought it was" Hermione said.

"Who is 'he'?!" Ron asked.

"Dunno" Harry answered.

"The Lord" Hermione answered. "Remember, it was said in the book something about a Lord"

"Yeah, you're right" Ron said. "As usual. Come on, let's get out of here, before it changes it's mind."

They all exited and the wall went back.

"Let me try something" Hermione said. "Light warriors"

The walls opened.

"Close" she demanded and the walls did so. "well, looks like we can come back whenever we want to"

"Yeah, but I don't think I want to." Ron said.

"I do" Hermione said. "Saw those books? Bet they aren't in the library! But, just to check, I'll ask Madam Pince about them"

"You do so, now let's go back, everybody must wonder where we are" Harry said and looked at his watch. It was near midnight.

/*-/*-/*-/*-

Amala was wondering around the school at night. She yawned and let her feat take her wherever they wanted.

It was an hour before the sleeping time and she walked around, thinking about various things and especially her parents and old friends, whom she missed terribly. Not that she would admit it! She loved Hogwarts and Harry, Ron and Hermione were just wonderful and even more of her psychic powers started showing. Her parents knew, of course, but none of her older friends did. They just didn't take things seriously enough, so how could she have told them about something that meant so much to her and then have her small gift be known throughout the whole school and her friends making fun of her? Plus, it wasn't nearly as strong as now. Ever since she had met death -literally- she was much stronger in that part. Maybe she should have taken Divination.

She stopped in her tracks when she realized where she was: in the dungeons, just three meters away from Severus' classroom. Well, since she was already here, why not ask him what was wrong, why her detention had been with McGonagall and not him.

Just as she was about to open the door, she asked herself whether that was a good idea or not. Maybe not. But, she could ask him whether he was healthy, right? And maybe she would get kicked right out of the classroom. Why not try it, though? She had been very daring about that kiss, hadn't she? And it turned out fine, hadn't it?

She opened the door and entered the classroom and looked inside. It was empty, but she entered anyway and looked around.

"Professor?" she asked quietly.

"Yes" came a voice from his office.

She went towards the half-opened door.

"Good evening, Professor" she said towards the man sitting behind his desk.

"Mrs. Wright, may I ask you what the hell you're doing here at this time of night?" he asked.

"It's not past the time when we must return to our dorms. Are you in good health, Professor?" she asked shyly.

"Yes, I am" came the reply, spat out as if he didn't mean to say it. "And I will ask you to leave my office and classroom now" he said.

"Sure, sir" she said, but then turned back to him. "Why didn't you take me in detention, sir?"

Severus glared at her and answered between his teeth.

"Because I drank a whole bottle of Veritaserum and I had, and still have, the effects"

"Oh" she answered.

"Leave now" he said, glaring at her. "Or I will start taking house points"

She nodded, but didn't move, although he was glaring furiously at her.

"Are you mad at me, Professor? For what I said? Or have you forgiven me?"

Severus glared at her furiously.

"I'm not bloody mad at you, I made a mistake! I have forgiven you, 50 points from Gryffindor for you being a bloody Slytherin!" he spat.

"Very well, sir" she said and turned to the door and made to leave, when she heard him.

"Mrs. Wright, wait!"

"Yes, sir?" she asked.

"If you tell anybody about me being under Veritaserum until I'm off the effect, I will take fifty points from Gryffindor and one hundred for any blasted student that dares come in here asking questions. Got it?"

"Yes, sir" she replied. "And how long do the effects last?"

"For 30 more hours. This is not the point!"

"Very well, sir" she said and turned to leave again and then had a bad thought. "Do you mind if I call you Severus, when we're in private?"

"No. Damn!"

She chuckled. Why not be a Slytherin?

"And do you think we could be together?"

"Yes. ONE HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, YOU ANNOYING GIRL, NOW LEAVE BEFORE YOU'RE LEFT WITH NO SPARE POINTS!"

She looked at him, a bit afraid. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to do such a thing.

"That's all I wanted to know. Thank you, Severus, good night!"

She rand out of the room, leaving a very angry Potion Master behind.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

The next morning, everybody who looked at the point board had a huge surprise: Gryffindor was on the last place, with only 180 points, while Hufflepuff had 210, Ravenclaw 290 and Slytherin 331. And they were all so sure that Gryffindor had had at least 300!

However, five students knew about this thing.

"I can't believe you did that!" Ron whispered to Amala.

"He, he, I'll get those points back."

"We lost 150 points on one night too when we were on our first year at Hogwarts" Harry whispered. "Just that then it was me, Hermione and Neville who did the house-point loosing, not just one of us."

"Yeah, well, you were young" Amala said. "So, let me see, if I lost already 200 points for a crush on Snape and gathered 100 and lost ten more, it means that I have to get 110 points in order for the Gryffindor house to be as good as it would have been without me."

"Good math" Harry said.

"Thanks. Oh, well, there go all my nights, studying for house-points."

"I won't argue with you on that" Ron said as they started eating their breakfast.

"You know, our first lessons are canceled" Hermione said. "It would have been double Potions. Not a surprise either. But what happened to Snape? You didn't tell us."

"I'll tell you tomorrow" Amala said. "I promised I wouldn't, under the threat of losing more house points. And I don't want to do that. You know, if he put me under Veritaserum once, he can do it again."

"So, you'll tell us tomorrow?" Ron asked. "Why won't you tell us today?"

"Tomorrow it'll be safe" she replied.

They ate breakfast and then went to the library, where Amala seemed to be trying to read every book that reached her hand, especially on the subjects they would be learning soon.

After two hours, they went to the Charms classroom, where Flitwick finally decided they should move on. After a small test.

"Very good students, very good" he said, as jolly as always. "Now, it's time we try our spells last time, good? I want you to think of a song, something complicated and then say the incantation, alright? Remember, veni cantus!"

Hermione tried hers first and Harry recognized 'Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.

"Perfect, Mrs. Granger!" he said happily. "Now, Mr. Weasley"

"Veni Cantus" he cried and Harry recognized a song by the Weird Sisters.

"Perfect! Mr. Potter?"

Harry was a bit nervous. Ok, let's think.

"Veni Cantus!" he cried and the song came out perfectly.

"Hotel California, a great song!" Flitwick said merrily. "Mrs. Wright?"

She took out her wand.

"Veni Cantus!"

Harry didn't recognize this one.

"What is it?" he asked the happy girl when she came back to her seat.

"Scorpions-'No one like you'. Oh, I've an idea! Professor!"

Flitwick turned towards her.

"Yes, Mrs. Wright?"

"Can I try another one? This is relatively simple."

"Well, of course, dear" he said.

"Veni Cantus!"

Harry decided: she was crazy. This was one of the most complicated songs she could've chosen. It sounded like Mozart or Vivaldi to him.

"Oh, I know this one!" Flitwick cried. "Beethoven, isn't it? The 9th Symphony?"

"Why, yes it is, sir!" she said. "I like it"

"Oh, very well done! It is quite difficult to do it. 10 points to Gryffindor!"

"Thank you sir!" she said and sat down near Harry again.

"That was good" he said,

"Thanks" she replied. "You know, I still have 100 points to go."

"You have a real stress, did you know that?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I do, but if the Gryffindors don't win the House Cup, it's my fault."

"Too much of a stress" Harry whispered.

She smiled and nodded.

/*-/*-/*-/*-

Snape returned to his classes on Tuesday and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Amala had a great deal of fun hearing and remembering Amala's meeting with the angry Professor.

On Tuesday night, however, Amala had to return to Snape's detention and she was wondering whether he was still mad for her 'acting like a Slytherin'. Well, she did have her small little cheating things.

She reached for the dungeons and opened the door.

"Hello, Severus" she said when she saw him alone at his desk.

"Hello, Mrs. Wright" he said.

"Please, call me Amala" she said and entered properly, since she had just put her head through the door before.

He looked murderous. In fact, the girl started wondering why he hadn't snapped before.

"Fine, Amala" he sneered and sat down at his desk. "Sit"

She did as he asked her to, wishing that she could treat him like a normal boyfriend and say she was angry with him about the Veritaserum thing and act upset, but there were two reasons not to do that: one: he was her Professor and overall-hard-to-reach-rock-hearted-ex-spy and two: she had done the same bloody thing! But she at least wished she could make his life hell for treating her like a dog. 'Sit'. Hmpf.

"What the hell were you thinking for asking me questions while I was under Veritaserum?" he asked.

"That you'd answer with the truth" she replied.

Well, she did have a point.

"Annoying brat" he mumbled.

"Not as annoying as others" she replied.

"What do you mean with that?" he asked, upset.

"Nothing. Just that others are more annoying than me, you know" she said. "And it's not my fault that I'm too damned curious and courageous, although I probably should have stopped myself."

"Yes, you should have" he said, glaring at her.

She decided to take another measure, since this was not working.

"But I'm sorry" she said. "I really am. I wanted some answers which you wouldn't have given to me if you hadn't been under the potion. Now I'm sorry I did it, it clearly upset you."

He looked at her, defying him somehow, yet apologizing.

"It's just that I knew you wouldn't answer like that once the potion's effect was off you. You're too. suspicious at everything that moves"

That was true. He was very suspicious.

"Too many years of working as a spy" he mumbled, not realizing that he did so.

"Why?" she asked, gaining interest.

"Why what?" he asked, suddenly looking up in her eyes.

"Why did you say that you had too many years of work as a spy?" she asked, curiously.

"Nothing" he answered.

"Please, do tell" she pleaded.

"Nothing"

"Please?"

He shouldn't have said it out loud! Darn. But.

"I don't trust anybody" he replied "until I really know everything about them."

"Quirrel" she whispered. "You knew what he really wanted, didn't you? Harry said you did."

He looked at her weird.

"What did he say?"

"That in his first year, he saw you. talk to Quirrel on a few occasions and you threatened him and at first he thought you were the one who wanted the Stone, but then it turned out that you were, um, a good guy and smelled Quirrel before anyone else had. And he said you saved his life, at a Quiddich match in that year."

Well, those were a few things he didn't know. So, Potter had been talking about him, eh? And saying things that weren't bad about him.

"Yes, there was something about Quirrel"

She smiled.

"Nearly nothing, just Voldemort attached to the back of his head, that's all."

He shivered at the name.

"Do not speak the Dark Lord's name" he hissed, anger behind his eyes.

"Ok" she said, a bit afraid of him. "Um, are you still cross with me?"

He looked at her, sitting there so scared and vulnerable and asking him if he was still upset. Well, it wasn't her fault that she didn't know not to speak the name in front of him.

"No" he answered, wondering whether it was true.

She smiled, a bit scared.

"Thanks for forgiving me" she whispered. "I hate it when you're cross with me"

He had to guess the last words. She was so. so small and frightened, and yet she had had the nerve to kiss him on that detention. And she nearly made him sorry for giving her Veritaserum. Nearly. He decided to pretend that he hadn't heard the last comment. She lifted her eyes from the desk, where she was looking and got up and circled the desk.

"What are you doing, Amala?" he asked, using her first name without irony for the first time.

She looked at him and smiled.

"Deciding that I'm too far from you" she whispered.

'The nerve.' he thought admiringly. Wait! Had he been taking any weird potion lately? This was not him. Of course, kissing students wasn't him either. 'I wonder.'

Amala looked at him, still smiling, as he pulled himself up from the chair and made a step towards her. He pushed his head towards her and she did the same thing, their mouths meeting in mid-way.

It was a wonderful kiss, for both of them. Severus was a good kisser and she loved to feel his mouth on hers, him surprisingly gently sucking her lower lip.

When he broke the kiss, she was -there was no other word for her- sparkling.

"Wow "she whispered and looked him in the eyes.

He was just wondering what he was supposed to do, when the door opened and he glared at whoever came in. and that just happened to be Dumbledore.

"Oh, hello, Severus" he said, smiling a little. "I just wanted to ask whether you might have some spare Wolfsbane Potion. Remus has run out of it, you know, and he has to go there."

"Yes, I just happen to have some" he answered and walked towards his office.

Dumbledore was looking at Amala who was composing a neutral face, after having reddened from head to toe.

"Having a bad time in detention?" the Headmaster asked.

"Um, yeah" she answered and reddened again.

"You might be interested to know that Sirius's case is just being judged at the Ministry."

"Really?!" she said, grinning. "Is he ok? How long will it take until he's cleared?"

Dumbledore smiled at her.

"Not long. Not long at all. He hasn't been at the Ministry yet, since they'd probably lock him up for the period, but I've met him and he said, amongst other things, to thank you again. And I do thank you, Mrs. Wright"

She looked at him and smiled.

"Thanks, but." Should she say it? "I think I've had help, Professor. I think that Professor Towers helped me."

He looked at her, a bit more serious.

"I don't think it was him. Most likely, it was his Master."

"I keep hearing that, Headmaster. What is about his Master?" she asked and Dumbledore looked as if he were thinking.

"Well, there's not much I can tell you, actually. He's one of the weird people who have great powers and know great secrets and stay in the shadows."

"Aha" she said. Although this didn't answer her question, it was still something.

Severus returned with a few vials of potion, which he handed to Dumbledore.

"Thank you, Severus" the Headmaster said and nodded in goodbye, going out the door.

"Well, um." Amala started saying. "I think I should be going. It's getting late and all that."

"Yeah" Severus answered.

She was just about to leave, when she turned back and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"Good night" she said, smiling.

"Good night" he answered, still a bit in surprise.

He watched her leave. Was he doing the right thing? And what was wrong about him?! He didn't just do things like kissing girls he was previously upset with. Although, he couldn't say he minded what came out of the situation.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. He rushed towards the small library he had in his office and picked up one of his favorite books about potions and opened it at 'Veritaserum' and looked at the side effects and aftereffects.

"Dizziness, lost of concentration. no, no. aha! 'After drinking a great amount of the potion and getting out of its effect, one may find himself not thinking as accustomed and maybe a bit more careless.'"

Severus closed the book upset. So, it was because of a potion he forgave her like that and mumbled things out loud and let her come so close and kissing her. For the first time in a veeeery long period of time, a few words escaped his mouth:

"I hate potions."

Then, he glared back at the book. Why didn't it warn him? But maybe it was better this way. Now, Hogwarts' Potion Master had -unofficially- a girlfriend. He let himself to the strange Veritaserum aftereffect urges and smiled.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Amala had just finished telling Harry, Ron and Hermione about her detention -without some of the things she said under Veritaserum, of course and without the exact details of the wonderful kiss and some details, ok, maybe a little more, but including the things Dumbledore had said and a somehow much shortened version of the story-.

"Whoa. What's wrong with him?" Ron asked.

"Well" she said, smiling sheepishly, "after I found out he drank way too much Veritaserum, I decided to do a bit of research. And I came up with a few not so well known facts."

Ron rolled his eyes, clearly wondering whether all girls were bookworms when they found out something interesting.

"And I sort of a found out that under Veritaserum you can't attack people. Maybe it was an additional thing, since you don't want to have yourself killed instead of anybody answering your question, right? And drinking a huge amount of the potion makes you stop thinking and cough up all your secrets, unless you're one of those people, who are lucky enough to keep their heads, although losing it when asked a question. It wears off after a while, but there are a few effects that are quite unpleasant if you're one of the 'lucky ones', such as migraines and other physical effects. And even when you think all the effects are gone, you can lie, but you feel safer around people and have a tendency to let your guard down and maybe even change your way of thinking a little. So, that might explain it a little."

"Snape with migraines!" Ron said, dreamily. "Christmas has come early."

The others laughed, including Amala.

"Well, I'll let you get away with it. Now" she said, looking mischievous.

They laughed again and then Hermione proposed they'd call it a night and go to bed. None argued.

/*-/*-/*-/*-

On the following day, they went down to the Great Hall feeling especially jolly. And it turned out they had a good reason, when the owl post came.

"Harry, LOOK!" Hermione cried, tossing the Daily Prophet to him.

The rest of the Great Hall was gasping and gaping and everybody seemed to be talking. Harry picked up the paper and stated reading.

Sirius Black-Could He Be Innocent?

Everybody at the Ministry was shocked when well-known wizard and current Hogwarts teacher Jack Towers, also of great help during some Auror actions, came up yesterday with piece of evidence that Sirius Black might have been innocent all these years.

The tall, black haired, blue eyed wizard just came into the Minister's office yesterday and said, according to witnesses, "Fudge, a mistake has been done and it is time we correct it". When the Minister demanded to know what it was all about, the wizard explained that Sirius Black has been badly charged 15 years ago! The well known escapee from Azkaban is supposedly innocent of the charges that have been brought against him. He said that one of the 'killed' people was Peter Pettigrew, former housemate of Sirius Black at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and it was not Black that killed the other people, but Pettigrew himself.

The Minister told Towers that such a thing was not possible, since Pettigrew had died himself and therefore could not be charged, but Towers told him about Peter Pettigrew being an unregistered Animagus -wizard who can change himself without a wand into an animal- and having the form of a rat and escaping in his rat form from the scene of the crime.

The Minister has asked for proof and Towers showed him pictures -which he refused to say how he got- with Pettigrew and claiming they were recent shot. He also claimed that Pettigrew had a great role in the resurrection of You-Know-Who, taking care of him until he could get a body.

"It was amazing!" Auror Nymphadora Tonks says, "He just stormed in, saying "Fudge, a mistake has been done and it is time we correct it" and then the Minister asked him what he was doing there and Towers said: "Sirius Black is an innocent man unrightfully charged and I can prove it". Then, he started to tell him about James and Lily Potter, who knew they would be hunted by You-Know-Who and asked for help. Then, Albus Dumbledore proposed the Fidelius Charm, which hides a person, object, place, whatever, from anybody who hasn't heard about it from the Secret Keeper, who of course keeps the secret within himself.

And then, he explained how the Secret Keeper should have been Sirius Black, but instead was switched to Peter Pettigrew who betrayed the Potters and then You-Know-Who went to kill them". At this point, she has tears in her eyes. "And he wanted to kill little Harry. Oh, well, you know the story. Then, Sirius Black went around their house and saw it destroyed. He gave his motorcycle to Rubeus Hagrid, who delivered Harry to his aunt and uncle and then went out to find Pettigrew. Seeing no signs of struggle, he realized something was terribly wrong and set out to find Pettigrew and bring him to justice. Unfortunately, Pettigrew pulled out a stunt and pretended to be killed by Sirius Black and also killed a dozen Muggles in the process and ran away in his rat form. When Aurors arrived at the spot soon, they found Sirius Black laughing like a maniac. When Fudge asked how come somebody would laugh at that, Towers said: "Mind you, I'd laugh like that too, when I had just lost my best friend and his wife in the past day and now, trying to get the one responsible for this, I get framed for the death of a dozen Muggles and the real responsible person, the rat, gets away and is even considered a hero.

Fudge was extremely skeptical at this explanation, but then Towers continued, saying that Pettigrew had run off and found You-Know-Who and helped him gain back some kind of a body and then, nearly a year after, You- Know-Who did some serious dark magic, bringing his master into a real body by taking Harry Potter's blood, a bone of his father's and the arm of his servant. Then he said that Pettigrew has a silver hand.

Anyways, the Minister didn't believe him, but then Towers took out about 30 pictures and showed him Pettigrew in each of them. You should have heard them afterwards, the Minister was starting to lose his temper, but Towers continued calmly to talk. It was soo weird."

Well, the wizarding community is wondering whether escapee Sirius Black would be cleared. Until the final verdict, the Daily Prophet will keep you with news updates every day!

Special correspondent,
Rita Skeeter

"Wow! Wow, wow, wow!" Harry said, grinning like mad. "Sirius is gonna be cleared!"

"What do you mean, Harry?" Lavender asked from across the table. "Are you happy this will happen?"

Harry stopped grinning.

"If he's innocent, of course I am" he said.

"I'm not. Think about it" she said "he's been in Azkaban for twelve years and then escaped. You've got to know some serious dark magic to do that."

"Maybe yes, maybe no" Hermione said. "But I don't think so. He's been James Potter's best friend; I don't think he would've chosen a dark wizard as a friend."

"Some friend!" Parvati said. "Did you read the 'Secret Keeper' part?"

"Yes, I have" Hermione said. "And I believe Towers."

"I don't" Lavender said again. "I've never felt safe in his classes, now I'm feeling even worse. You know, he's a suspect for Monica Kane's murder and even for having a part in the Death Eater attack against Wick"

"He hasn't done anything wrong! He might be weird and a bit. dark, but he's not evil. Then, we'd have to blame Snape as well!"

"What if Snape is on the bad side?" Lavender asked. "He's rumored to have been a Death Eater and old habits die hard."

"He's not a Death Eater!" Amala said, her eyes shinning.

"Are you talking about Towers or Snape?" Lavender asked.

"Both!" Amala said. "I trust them both and I have a very good intuition!"

"Hah! Good intuition!" Parvati started.

"I trust Towers" Neville said from farther away. "Although I don't really like Snape."

Amala smiled at him.

"He's a nice guy. Towers" she said.

"Yeah, him and You-Know-Who!" Parvati said.

Amala was glaring.

"He's a nice guy, trust me. I know"

"How do you know?" Lavender asked.

"I just do."

"Listen, I might not like Snape, but I think Towers is ok" Harry jumped in the conversation.

"Thanks" Amala mouthed.

"I trust him" Ron said.

"And I do too" Hermione said.

"Oh, come on, how can you trust him? Did you see what he did to Malfoy? And he brought the Necrow to class! And he's acting. weird"

Harry suddenly noted a presence that had been there for quite a while, although he hadn't really seen him. Must have been a magic thing. Anyway, the man was standing right behind Lavender, Neville and Parvati, looking amused.

"Thank you for the nice description" he said. "I get called that a lot. Weird, I mean" Towers said, smiling, as the two girls jumped and looked back, while Neville just gaped. "I will not take any house points, that would be unfair and nearly useless since everybody seems to be talking only about this and Sirius Black. So, since I don't want to reset the house points, I'll just pretend I haven't heard anything. But, please continue, I'm having the time of my life."

"You. you." Lavender started.

"What about me?" he asked, smiling a bit.

"You."

He sighed.

"Well, I'll be heading for the Head Table; obviously my presence has stopped you from conversing freely. Gosh, shouldn't have talked."

Harry stifled a laugh. Towers did have humor. And Sirius would be alright, hopefully.

/*-/*-/*-/*-

Thursday and Friday passed by quickly, with Daily Prophet articles about Sirius's process. It seemed to have been a problem that the 'Azkaban escapee', as they called him now, was not really there, but a trial had been started and everything seemed to be going on alright.

Amala was doing surprisingly well with Severus. Well, 'well' was a way to put it, since he was back to 'rock-hearted-ex-spy' stance. So, that meant that he wasn't so accepting, but it was still going well. Sort of. Anyway, Harry thought that Amala seemed to be happy. She told them they were back to talking, just that now he was actually saying more than 'uh huh' and 'yes'. He started wondering in how much time he would start acting like a normal boyfriend and how much patience Amala had left.

The weekend passed just as quickly and they were all, Amala included, back to Towers' 'extra classes' as they called them now and he thought them spells and talked about his life experience -and that was quite fun and educational. Harry liked the story about him meeting a griffin and a dragon and getting scared to hell when they chased him through the forest. "And that means", the Professor said, "that you should never ever scream terrified when you find two magical creatures sitting one next to another in a clearing in a forest"- and even though he did have fun stories, he also seemed to have done everything he said he did -and some were great deeds- and when they asked him to retell a story, he always got the details right, so he was no Lockhart.

However, on Tuesday they had the greatest surprise of all.

The Daily Prophet brings you-

Sirius Black, cleared of all charges

The Daily Prophet has been informed that the trial for Sirius Black has ended yesterday night and the verdict was-innocent. Sirius Black himself came and talked to Towers, whom he greatly thanked. When asked what he would do first, as a free man, he answered: "I think I'll go to Hogwarts, Harry is there and he's my godson, after all".

As odd as it may be, Sirius Black is indeed the godfather of famous Harry Potter. The now-freed man will now meet his godson for the first time and the Daily Prophet will be there to find out how this goes.

......

"Wow, Harry, he's cleared!" Amala said and hugged Harry who was near her.

Ron and Hermione were sparkling with happiness, but more than half of the Great Hall didn't look too happy. In fact, they looked horror-stricken.

"He's a murderer and he's coming here!" Hannah Abbot was saying, horrified.

"He's not a murderer!" Harry cried over the table.

"How would you know?!" she asked. "And, plus, he'll be coming here!"

"I just know, alright?" Harry said, glaring.

Hannah was about to shout something, when Dumbledore stood up and asked for silence.

"Perhaps this is something the Daily Prophet should have said" he started explaining. "Mr. Black has really been cleared, there are no mistakes whatsoever and he is therefore innocent and not a murderer."

Towers was smirking, Harry could see even from his place at the Gryffindor table.

"So, there is no need to panic about his visit here."

"What about the incidents three years ago?!" Seamus shouted.

Dumbledore looked at him.

"Good question, Mr. Finnigan. Sirius Black was indeed looking for Harry Potter."

There were a few gasps through the Great Hall.

"However not for the reason that you all suspect. He was not trying to kill Harry Potter, quite the contrary. You probably remember that he was trapped in the school for a night and then he told me about what had really happened and I must say I believed his version. He told me that he had seen Peter Pettigrew, in his rat form, in a picture and had decided to save Harry from the man that betrayed his father and mother."

There were a few whispers through the Great Hall that were clearly stating that the whisperers did not agree.

"How did he escape? From Azkaban. And Hogwarts." Asked somebody in Ravenclaw.

"Ah, that is also a good question" Dumbledore said. "Unfortunately, this is classified information. I'm sorry."

Towers seemed to ask Dumbledore something, because a small exchange of words happened between them and Dumbledore sat down and Towers sat up.

"I know" he said "that many of you think that I'm crazy or weird or dark or anything in that area."

Lavender blushed furiously and some laughed.

"Now, I'm not saying that bothers me. I frankly and sincerely have great fun with it and, by all means, continue to do it, I'm really having the time of my life here!" he said, smiling widely. "But I will tell you this, no matter what kind of a weirdo I am, I think I did well to all of you by clearing Sirius Black. I just happened to have some very interesting pictures of Peter Pettigrew with a silver hand, you know, close to Death Eaters. I want you to welcome him here. He is a man who has been charged by betraying his best friend and his wife and then by killing a dozen Muggles and a wizard and spent twelve years in Azkaban for this, although he was framed. He has been through more things than many of you can imagine. He is going to come here and I'm sure that Harry and his friends will welcome him greatly. I want you all to follow his example."

Towers sat down and Dumbledore didn't seem to rise again. Harry, Ron, Amala and Hermione were again dragged into pro and anti Sirius talks.

/*-/*-/*-/*-

The next day, the whole school was tensely awaiting the come of Sirius Black.

And indeed, during breakfast, the doors of the Great Hall opened and Sirius appeared in the opening, looking happy.

"Sirius!" Harry cried from his seat and the man saw him and went fast towards him. Needless to say the whole Great Hall was as silent as the grave, awaiting to see what would happen.

"Harry!" he said and hugged the once small kid. "I've missed you!"

"Missed you too!" Harry replied.

Hermione had also gotten up from her seat.

"Nice to see you again, Sirius!" she said, grinning and he hugged her too.

Ron was also on his feet.

"Hello!" he said simply and hugged him.

"Ron" came the reply.

Amala was last and she too was standing.

"Hello, Sirius!" she said, grinning.

"Hi and. thank you" he said and also hugged her.

The Great Hall was still gaping. It was obvious the four knew the man and that they were friends.

"But ho--?" asked Dean, shocked.

"Well, Black, I see that, as always, you forgot good manners and ran off to meet your friends" came the cold voice of Severus Snape.

"Snape" Sirius said, looking less happy.

Dumbledore decided to interfere and asked Sirius to sit at the Head Table. The grinning just-cleared man did so and sat between Towers and Sprout.

"Well, it is my great pleasure to introduce you to Sirius Black" Dumbledore said. "Not that you didn't know him, of course."

It was the weirdest breakfast Harry had ever had in the Great Hall. Everybody was looking at him and Sirius weirdly and not many were speaking.

However, after breakfast finished, Sirius came to see him at his table.

"So, how've you been, kiddo?" he asked happily.

"Great! Although I hated the way we parted" Harry replied.

"And you?" Amala asked, grinning. "Last time I saw you, you looked quite as happy as you're now. "

"I'm great!" he replied. "I've lived in a nice little place and waited for things to clear up."

"Thanks for owling" Harry said.

"No problem, kiddo" he replied. "So, has Snape given you a damned hard time?"

"Yeah, as usual" Harry said after making sure he was still at the Head Table.

Neville decided to pop up in the conversation.

"So-how's it to be on the run like that?" he asked shyly.

"Not too good, I can assure you" he replied. "But way better than being in Azkaban"

Neville smiled.

"How did you manage to escape?" he continued with the questions.

"Personal secret" Sirius replied. "And you are-?"

"Oh, I'm Neville Longbottom" he said.

"Pleased to meet you, Neville" he said grinning.

"And where did you hide all this time?" Dean asked, gathering his courage.

"Also a personal secret" Sirius said and grinned.

"Oh, I'm Dean" the boy said.

"Pleased to meet you" the Animagus said.

Soon, everybody gathered around him and started asking questions. It was a great sight, to see him genuinely happy and surrounded by all those students.

"So, they've cleared you, eh, Black?" said a nasty voice behind him.

Sirius turned and looked at the blonde boy standing in front of him.

"Yes, they have" he said stiffening a little.

"No wonder they have. You're not smart enough to be a Death Eater."

"And this is Draco Malfoy" Harry said, glaring at the Slytherin.

"Ah, Lucius' son" Sirius said, looking his age.

"That's right" Draco continued and just as he opened his mouth to say something else, he was stopped by somebody behind him.

"And ten points from Slytherin if you don't apologize for calling this intelligent enough to escape from Azkaban man stupid."

Draco glared at the one who spoke, but realized whom he was-Towers. He paled a little.

"Sorry" he mumbled.

"No problem" Sirius said and Draco nodded at him and left. Once again, he was surrounded by people asking him one thing or another.

Harry grinned at the sight and thought that the world was finally starting to go straight. Sirius soon forgot about the Malfoy incident and started chatting happily about one thing or another with everybody who wanted to talk to him. He laughed out straight when he found out that History of Magic was still taught by Binns.

"I can't believe it!" he said. "He used to teach us a long time ago, too. Of course, then he wasn't a ghost. Don't you find it a bit weird that the History subject is taught by someone who is history?"

Harry wondered how they got to that subject. Everybody seemed to be more and more ok with Sirius. Finally, the bell rang and they had to head for their classes. Hermione was grinning.

"Wow, I can't believe they accepted him so easily!" she said. "And still - it's a bit weird, don't you think? I feel something odd's going on. And Malfoy. Did you see that?"

"Yeah, he was such a git" Ron said.

"No, that's not what I said." Hermione explained. "Did you see the note he passed to Sirius?"

"What note?" Amala asked.

"He passed a note, while insulting him" Hermione said.

"I didn't see anything, Hermione" Harry said.

"Me neither" Ron completed. "Why would Malfoy give a note to Sirius?"

"Dunno. Yet." She said. "But I'll find out"

Harry started to admire more and more the determined personality, intelligence and attentiveness his friend had. She was definitely going to find out about it, if she said so. Yeah. Hermione, the one who always studied hard and got top marks and who figured out the potion test in the first year and the basilisk in the second and Remus' secret in the third and Rita Skeeter in the fourth and. well, she did find out a lot of things. Definitely. She probably was Einstein reincarnated. Harry laughed at the thought, but nobody noticed since they were already in class.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Somewhere in a wood, there was a cloaked figure, shining under the full moon. It seemed he was awaiting something. Another person appeared, a tall man with no cloak and with blue eyes.

"How are you, sire?" the new-arrived man asked.

"Fine, thank you. And will you please stop calling me that?"

"Sign of respect" the blue eyed man answered.

The other laughed.

"Voldemort has to torture for such a thing, I can hardly convince you not to call me that, can't I?"

"Well, you are my."

"Don't say it." The man said, looking at the moon. "There is really no difference between the teacher and the student once the last is on his way. The teacher can only watch over his protégée while he is weaker than his teacher, ain't I right?"

"Yes, you are" the blue eyed man said. "Why is it that you've called me here?"

"Watch over him" the other man replied. "Watch over him, I can't hold Voldemort back much longer. He will strike and Harry needs you."

The blue eyed man nodded and then decided to ask something.

"But can't you? You have enough power." he said slowly.

"It's not about power" the cloaked man said. "It's about what I am allowed and what I'm not allowed to do."

"I see"

"I guess I could. But then something might go wrong and instead of doing right, I might do wrong. Future, destiny, are tricky things. Do you know about the third year Harry Potter had? He saved his godfather by using a time turner. You see, he didn't know it then, but it was destined for him to do that. It was however not meant for Sirius Black to die."

"That's why he's alive" the blue eyed man whispered.

"Correct. You know, many people are very sorry for Harry Potter not having parents and wished he did. But then, the world would be a lot worse. Voldemort fell because of his mother's death and without that, the wizarding and Muggle world would never be the same. It is meant for this to be as it is. If I were to change the destiny by protecting Harry now, I might do a great deal of bad. No, I won't do it. But I want you to watch over him, Jack. Watch over him."

Jack nodded.

"I will."

"Now, go back before anybody sees that you are missing."

Jack bowed and left, leaving the other man alone. When he disappeared with a pop, the man whispered:

"I'm so sorry, Harry"

Then, he looked again at the moon and his body started melting and turning into light, silver moonlight, to be exact. Soon, there was nobody left in the wood. Hundreds of miles away, a certain Harry Potter was waking up from a dream.

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

Wow! FINISHED! And now, my friends, I remember why I actually wrote this all in one chapter. Because of my own little author note at the end of my last chap. Else I would've kept Sirius' return for myself for a bit longer.

I'm eager to post this, so if I double check it and something turns out wrong, then I'll just change it and replace it, ok? But I don't think I will.

So, review and tell me what you think!

And thanks to the ones who've reviewed since my last post!

The Red Dragons Order: Towers is gonna be baaack and Jane Chase won't wait long until she joins the action fully-forced. -Mind you, I haven't planned it and I'm still working on her coming in the story-. Oh, and there's a little something. May I remind you?

"::chuckle:: annoying isn't it, when people (or deamons in this case) do that to you, heh? ::rubs hands evilly:: now, for me sweet revenge...

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I'll figure it out soon enough.

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One moment, please.

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While we're at it, update soon!

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And thanks for Jane Chase.

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I think I'm getting there. I'll get back to you.

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That was a looong time ago. Chapter 6. And my reply.

"You're going to have your sweet revenge, eh? Can't wait for it!!! You update soon too. Oh, and the rest of my little fic about the unfortunate review is going to be posted on King Akvar's account. You're welcomed for Jane Chase."

And next.

"Mate, I'm The Red Dragons Order, savvy? Of course I'm going to get my revenge! ...

Sorry about that, Jack Sparrow moment. Yes, indeed, that fic is highly interesting, my dear Watson. I really cannot wait to see what happens next, just plain elementary Doctor Watson... AH, Sherlock Holmes moment as well! Oh, the HORROR!

Anyways, update soon and I really cannot wait to see what happens in both this and the other story. To quote myself: This is going to be amusing as hell!"

Well, I'm still curious how you're gonna have your revenge. *sniffs* Have you forgotten me? He, he!

Attado de lengua: Yes, I know she reviewed chapters 4 and 5, but I think a thank you written over here will do. Well, I'm glad you like it and I couldn't see Percy just coming in and apologizing either, so. And I'm glad you like Amala! And don't forget to review!

Babyjayy: Thank you. I did.

Balleke: No comment on that one.

Naomie: Thank you! And look, Sirius is back, so. Hope you enjoyed it!!!

Well, I'm done with this and sorry if you consider the reviews short. The length of the chapter will just have to deal with that, I suppose.

So, READ AND REVIEW! Read and review! READ AND REVIEW! Read and review!

And since you probably read to get to this part. REVIEW! REVIEW!

*chuckle* See ya soon!