A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I hope you like my story so far…

Chapter 13: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, again

Neville was on the floor screaming.

"Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!" Bellatrix said in her cold cruel voice. Harry didn't have to think; there was no choice fore him. He held out his hand in which the prophecy the Death Eaters wanted so badly was held. Malfoy jumped forwards to take it. Then, high above them, two doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley. The rest happened rather quickly: The members from the Order started shooting spells at the Death Eaters, who had a few spells thrown around the room already. As the people fought Harry and Neville, who had a nosebleed, were trying to leave the room. Just then Neville was hit with a Jelly-Legs spell. Harry tried to help his friend up the stairs, but had a very hard time.

"Come on!" Said Harry desperately, hauling at Neville's robes. "Just try and push with your legs" He gave another stupendous heave and Neville's robes tore along the left seam – the small spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before either of them could catch it, one of Neville's floundering feet kicked it, causing the prophecy to fly some ten feet to their right and smash on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them. The two boys could see it's mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could be heard. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.

"Harry, I'b sorry!" cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder. "I'b so sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do."

"It doesn't matter!" Harry shouted. "Just try and stand, let's get out of…"

"Dubbledore!" Said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder.

"What?"

"DUBBLEDORE!" Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body – they were saved. Dumbledore went into the battle and was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there and yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had him hooked with an invisible line –

Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" He yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened with shock. Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.

It seemed to take Sirius ages to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but thought it meant nothing – Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second…

But Sirius did not reappear.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!" He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he Harry would pull him back out... but just as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry."

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"It's too late, Harry."

"We can still reach him" Harry struggled hard and vicious, but Lupin would not let go…

"There's nothing you can do, Harry…nothing… he's gone… gone… gone."

That last word echoed through Harry's head as he sat bolt upright, his body covered in sweat. Tears were leaking out of his eyes and he put his hands over his face, as he sobbed into them. 'He's gone forever, you might as well get over it,' a little nagging voice in the back of his head said. 'SHUT UP! He's not gone!' 'You know I don't believe that, and neither do you, stop fooling yourself, he's gone…" That word started echoing again and Harry sobbed even more. He knew the little voice was right, but he would not admit it. He lay back down and cried himself to sleep.

(A/N: You all do realize that I did not write that dream myself, I got it from the 5th book, though I made a few slight changes.)

"Hey, Ron. Where's Harry?" Hermione asked cheerfully, as Ron walked over to her and Nora.

"Still asleep," he replied glumly, sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Hermione looked puzzled.

"Why didn't you wake him up?" Ron leaned forward, and Hermione and Nora did the same thing.

"Last night at about two in the morning, I was woken up by him screaming: 'Sirius'. A while after he stopped screaming I think he woke up, 'cause he'd stopped thrashing around, but then I heard him crying."

"What? Poor thing," Hermione cut in. Ron glared at her.

"Anyway… he sobbed for a bit and then it got worse. After another while he calmed down a little and about an hour later I fell asleep, and he was still crying," Ron finished and Hermione immediately began interrogating him. Nora however got up slowly from the table and made her way into the Entrance Hall, neither of her friends noticed she had left. Nora turned right and made her way to the Gryffindor Common room. It was almost completely empty as most people were either still asleep or having breakfast. She made her way to the Boys' dormitories, ignoring the glances from the few Gryffindor's that were there, and climbed up the staircase. Reaching the door to the '6th years' as the sign read, she opened it a bit to see if anyone else was in there besides Harry. It was empty, except for her friend, who was lying on his stomach, with his sheets on the floor. Nora knelt beside him, laid the sheets back on top of him and put her hand on his back.

Harry woke up and heard the door to his dormitory close; someone had just entered. He hoped it wasn't Ron coming to wake him up; he really didn't want his best friend to see him like this. He had cried all night, and probably looked awful. The person knelt beside his bed, picked up his bed sheets and he felt a hand on his back. It was very comforting, and just as he was wondering who the person was, a sweet smell of raspberries and fruits entered his nose and he immediately knew who it was: Nora. He didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to stay like this, though he felt embarrassed, too. The hand kept rubbing his back, and even though it felt really comforting and nice, he decided to open his eyes, to show that he was awake. He opened them and looked into Nora's dark brown eyes. She smiled weakly.

"Hi, are you all right?"

"I guess," he replied hoarsely. "How'd you know?"

"Ron told us he heard you crying…" She blushed a little and decided to look outside.

"I had a another… nightmare."

"I know, Ron said you shouted out Sirius, at one point, and that you kept muttering the word 'gone' for a while, before you woke up. Was it about the veil?" Harry nodded. A tear escaped from his eye. "Look, Harry," Nora had turned her gaze to him again, and he could see the seriousness in her eyes.

"I'm not going to Dumbledore, if that's what you're going to say," he said, feeling slightly angry. It was usually Hermione and Ron's advice: 'Go to Dumbledore; tell him about your dream. Tell him what's troubling you'. Nora shook her head, and he felt a bit relieved.

"That's not what I was going to say. I was going to tell you that you're not the only one going through this, you know." Harry looked a bit confused. "We're all going through this too, me and Ron… and Hermione even more. You should've remembered that she lost her mother a while ago, and that her father is momentarily in jail." Harry looked horrified. He was so busy with himself that he hadn't even had time to comfort Hermione. "Don't worry, she's not mad at you, I just wanted to let you know, that if you need some one to talk to, she's the one to go to, she'll probably feel the same as you." Harry nodded and angrily wiped away his ears.

"Thanks." He then got up, and Nora left the room to let him get dressed. After he came out, the two made their way to the Great Hall, where Ron and Hermione were undoubtedly waiting, a bit crossly, for them.

"Where were you? We were talking and suddenly I realized you'd sneaked off! We were dead worried!" Ron was telling Nora. He didn't even notice that Harry was with her.

"What do you mean? It's Hogwarts, not the Forbidden Forest! Have you even noticed that Harry is here with me?" Ron snapped his head up.

"Harry! Good to see you, mate! Sit down, have some breakfast." He rushed Harry over to a seat next to him. While the two boys ate she told Hermione everything that happened and that Harry would probably try to talk to her sometime today. Hermione nodded and the two sat across from Harry and Ron. After breakfast the four walked out into the Entrance Hall, Harry and Hermione were walking outside. Ron made to follow them, but Nora grabbed him by the back of his robes and dragged her struggling friend to the library.

"What are you doing? I want to go outside too! I hate being in the library; it means I have to do homework! Ouch!" He yelled as Nora pushed him into a chair between two large racks that were filled to the ceiling with books.

"Harry and Hermione need to talk. And if we do homework today, you won't have to do anything tomorrow, when Hermione and Harry do." A glint came into Ron's eye and he immediately grabbed his books and began writing the assigned essay for transfiguration.

After Ron had finished all of his homework he left Nora behind in the library and went to the Great Hall for lunch. Nora struggled to finish her potions essay and when she was finally done she slammed the book closed, cursing Snape's parents for bringing the greasy git into this world. She left the library, still muttering angrily to herself, to go to her common room and drop off her schoolbooks. Along the way she saw Harry and Parvati snogging in the middle of a corridor.

"I can see you're feeling a bit better," she muttered as she made her way passed them. Harry turned his head around to grin at his friend's back, before Parvati demanded his attention again.

Nora dropped her books off and just as she was going to leave, Terry came up to her and handed her a list.

"What's this?" she asked looking at the piece of parchment.

"Chores. McGonagall gave all of the Heads and prefects chores to do in the castle. Kind of like spring-cleaning in the winter. The prefects didn't get much to do, but it's like we have to clean the whole castle. Every single one of the Heads got about a hundred chores to do. Better get started, or you'll be busy 'til midnight," he replied,

"But, wait, aren't the house elves supposed to do this kind of stuff?"

"I thought so, too, but McGonagall said we just have to check up on things, and the house elves have to prepare the evening meal now. Personally, I think she was lying. But you'd better get started, or you'll be busy 'til midnight," he repeated. Nora groaned as she looked down the list again. This really was going to take her until midnight.

She decided to get started and walked out of her common room to do the first chore: Re-label the bottles of ingredients in the Infirmary properly. Madam Pomfrey welcomed her warmly and Nora walked to the cupboard where the ingredients were stored. After half an hour she walked out of the Hospital Wing to go to all of the Girls' Bathrooms and check if everything was all right there. 'If not, go see Filch.' The list said. Along the way she met Hermione, who was heading for the dungeons in a very bad mood indeed and on the third floor she nearly walked into Draco, who didn't even bother to apologize and walked straight towards the Astronomy Tower without a second glance at her. At ten fifteen Nora entered the Gryffindor common room, to do her last chore: Check the Gryffindor common room and dormitories of both the Girls and the Boys, feeling very relieved she was almost finished. Nora walked up the stairs and checked everything. At half past ten she walked back down and found Dean, Seamus and Ron sitting by the fireplace. She dragged herself over to them, exhausted, and fell onto the sofa between Dean and Ron. After having said 'Hello' to her, they continued talking and slowly she fell asleep.

"So, you're saying that You-Know-Who is being hidden by someone, like Quirrell did?" Seamus asked Ron, who nodded vigorously.

"Yup."

"But no one's wearing a turban," Dean pointed out.

"Well, no," Ron said, and then launched into his theory of Voldemort being hidden by Professor Spring, which was why his rear was so oversized. The other two laughed.

"So, you're saying that Professor Spring is hiding Voldemort on his ars?" Seamus asked Ron, who was nodding his head again, as if he was trying to get it to fly off.

"But wouldn't you hear an 'Ouch' every time Spring sat down?" Dean offered.

"I dunno, maybe he's extremely well in Silencing charms," Ron said, shrugging. His friends shook their heads in hilarity, laughing in amusement. They talked a bit more until Seamus asked what time it was.

"Quarter to twelve, why?" Ron answered.

"We'd better go to bed, one of us is already asleep, and otherwise we'll wake up way too late tomorrow," Seamus replied, the others agreed. Nora was still asleep. Dean picked her up and then stood still.

"What?" Ron asked him

"Do any of you know the password to the Heads' and Prefects' common room?"

"Er… no."

"Then how am I supposed to put her into her bed?"

"Uhm… she could sleep in your bed? It's big enough for two people isn't it?" Seamus told him. Ron frowned at the suggestion, not liking the thought of one of his best friends in bed with a boy.

"I suppose, but if she wakes up yelling, I'll tell her it's your fault." Seamus nodded his approval and the three made their way towards the boys' dormitories, receiving a few weird glances from the few people that were still left in the common room. To them it obviously looked very… erm… odd: three boys carrying a girl to their dormitory. Ron opened the door to their room and the three walked in. Neville was already asleep, so was Harry, and to their surprise so was Parvati, who was kneeling beside his bed. Seamus and Ron changed into their pj's as Dean put Nora under the covers of his bed before lying on top of them beside her. He kissed her forehead and put his arms around her. The room was soon filled with snores.

When Nora woke up, she smiled at Dean, who still had his arms wrapped around her protectively. Looking around the room, she noticed that Ron, Seamus and Neville were already downstairs, and that Harry and Parvati were still asleep. Nora gave Dean a soft and tender kiss on the lips, causing him to wake up. He smiled.

"You're not mad at me, for putting you in my bed?" he whispered, Nora smiled even more.

"Of course not." She yawned widely, feeling very rested.

"It was Seamus' idea, just so you know." She laughed.

"I'm not mad, don't worry. I think it's very thoughtful." Dean leant forward and put his lips gently on hers. They were soon snogging.

"Ahem…" The two broke apart and looked up at the person who spoke, hoping so very much it wasn't McGonagall, who would almost certainly explode. It was Harry, looking at them with his eyebrows raised. "Are you planning to eat at all? If you are, you can walk with us." Dean nodded and the two followed Harry and Parvati, who were holding hands, downstairs to have lunch, as they had slept through breakfast.

The days flew by, and before they knew it, it was Saturday, and everyone who was spending Christmas at home got on the Hogwarts Express. The ride was long and eventless. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Nora, Ginny, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Parvati and Lavender had all squished into one of the compartments, some sitting on the others' laps, and were talking merrily. After a while the boys were playing exploding snap, and Nora, Ginny, Parvati and Lavender were talking about the gifts they had gotten for their families. Hermione had decided she would rather read a book than talk about gifts, and was engrossed once again in Hogwarts: A History. Gradually it grew darker, and after a while everyone took off their Hogwarts robes. When the train had halted, they walked out onto the platform, where they said goodbye to each other. Harry, Ron and Dean were busy snogging Parvati, Lavender and Nora until Ginny said:

"Can you guys do that and walk, 'cause everyone's waiting." She looked slightly annoyed and the three couples broke apart at once. When they left platform 9 ¾ and walked out of the busy station, every one was greeted by their family. Dean and Seamus left together with Seamus' mum, Neville left with his Grandmother and Parvati and Lavender left with Parvati's parents. Mrs. Weasley led the remaining children to a car that belonged to the Ministry of Magic. It was charmed so that every one was able to fit in nicely, and after their trunks were put in too, the driver took them away. Hermione and Nora looked at each other nervously. They hadn't told Harry they were going to Sirius' house.

"What's wrong? Why are you two looking so worried?" Ron asked after a while, sick of their glances at each other.

"What? Oh, nothing," Hermione replied quickly. Ron didn't trust her answer but decided to let it go. After an hour or so the car stopped.

"That was fast? Are we already at your house Ron?" Harry asked his friend as they all got out. He turned to look at the Burrow, but found himself standing in front of Black Manor. He stopped dead in his tracks, causing everyone behind him to bump into each other. Mrs. Weasley led Harry towards the house.

"Now, dear, I know you'd rather not be here, but there is no choice. It's safer for us here." Harry looked at the house and he immediately welled up. Looking around the outside of the manor he noticed a golden sign above the doorframe that read: 'The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.' He rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe them dry. As the whole group walked inside, Harry noticed the familiar entrance hall, with the curtain over the painting of Sirius' horrible mother.

"Is Kreacher still here?" he managed to ask, his anger rising at the thought of the evil and deranged house elf.

"Yes, I'm afraid he is." Mrs. Weasley told him sorrowful. When the entire group was inside, she closed the door and told them to put their trunks upstairs and then to come back down for dinner.

A/N: Hope you like this chapter.