Disclaimer: If anyone thought that the standard of this fan fic is at any height to be able to get the author of this fan fic sued, they must be a nutter, I own nothing, nothing I tell you, NOTHING!

Author's Note: Did you like my disclaimer? As usual I am going to dedicate this chapter to one of my friends this time it's going to be For Sabah, because I haven't seen her scince school and I miss her. Well I miss everybody from school actually. Sorry this took so long to post up, I was going places and seeing people, you know real life stuff. No thanks to my sister who did not help me proof read this, she deserves nothing, and you will see a definite increase in the standard of the writing (JOKE! Incase you did not get that which you probably didn't anyway). Please Read and Review, cause I really want to know what you think.

Chapter 7

Harry just stood there, he didn't really know what he was feeling, he was sort of numb. Harry trudged up to Gryffindor tower, as he mechanically walked a thought continually circled his mind, 'Aren't I over-reacting' he thought, but it felt too real to be an over reaction. He did not recognize where he was going, his eyes were half lidded and he was wearing a frown as though extremely cross with something.

It was about midnight when Harry reached the Gryffindor Common, it was empty, except for one person who was wearing a blue dressing gown and her hair was brown and bushy. Hermione had lines around her eyes from where she had screwed them up in anxiety for so long. There were fingernail marks all over her face.

'Well, uh… how did it go?' asked Hermione tentatively, she spoke in a barely audible whisper and even though Harry was standing six feet away from her, he heard every syllable. Harry didn't answer, he just stared at the floor in front of him. Not knowing how to speak.

'I…I saw Ginny' at this Harry tilted his head towards Hermione so quickly he cricked it. 

'Well...um…she…um…uh' stammered Hermione, Harry glared; his temper was rising swiftly and silently. Hermione seemed to understand this quite well because she stopped stammering and said quickly.

'Ginny told me that you said you like her'

'Yeah, so?' said Harry aggressively.

'Well, she told me that she said she didn't like you'

'Bingo!' said Harry angrily.

'Did she tell you anything else?' asked Hermione really quickly as though it wouldn't interrogate Harry or affect him in the slightest if she said it quickly.

'No' he said shortly but wondering what Hermione might tell him all the same.

'I don't think she wanted me to tell you but I think that you should know' Harry softened, he started feeling strangely anxious. 'Harry' she started 'Ginny likes someone else' Harry felt as though someone had just punched him in the face, he had to actually close his eyes for a few moments to stem this huge unknown current passing through him, he didn't know why but he felt a sort of sharp pain coming from the left side of his chest, as though someone was sticking a huge needle through his ribs. He wanted to say a million things, from anger to hurt to pain, but all he mumbled out was, 'Oh' and his voice was croaking. Hermione was looking at him anxiously, 'are you okay?' she asked quietly as though she was not quite sure if her question was rhetorical or not.

'I will be' said Harry more to himself than Hermione, he was now back to studying the floor, he glanced back at Hermione after a while to see her expression, she looked as though she was debating with herself on deciding on something, and then Harry acted before he could stop himself,

'Who does she like?' said Harry with dangerous politeness. It was Hermione's turn to stare at the floor now.

'Uh...I, I don't think I can tell you'

'Right' there was along pause. 'Has she been going out with this person at all?' asked Harry mechanically; not really wanting to know the answer but something was driving him to ask it.

'Actually, she has been erm, dating this person for about a month now' said Hermione, her tone was loaded with sympathy, this would've annoyed Harry, but he was too numb at the moment.

'Okay' said Harry and that was end of it, there was a painful, cold tension in the common room and Harry couldn't take it anymore, without saying another word to Hermione he went up to the sixth year boys dormitory and instead of flopping onto his bed and forcing himself to go to sleep he grabbed his invisibility cloak and the marauder's map, then he walked subconsciously down the stairs to the common room. Hermione opened her mouth to say something urgently but Harry had already put on the invisibility cloak and scrambled out of the portrait hole before she could utter a single syllable.

Harry didn't really know what he was doing he was too busy thinking, his feet took him to wherever they wanted to go, and he occasionally glanced at the marauder's map subconsciously just to make sure no one was coming his way, though, if there was someone walking towards him he probably wouldn't have noticed.

As the numbness ebbed away after about half an hour later, Harry thought that he was going over the top with this business, sure he liked Ginny but he couldn't do any thing about her dating someone else…right? Isn't that right? Of course it has to be right, if he could do something what could he do? Nothing…exactly.

'I have to stop this' he thought 'this is just getting bang out of order, why was…why am I so upset over this? Why should it bother me so much, I only like Ginny. Right? Yeah of course, this is just stupid.' But it wasn't.

All the way on his walk there was a little annoying voice at the back of his mind which questioned everything he thought of, he once stopped himself and asked the little voice whether one plus one was two or not and it still questioned his judgment. 'Right, so what are you going to do Potter?' Harry asked himself. 'I am, going to act normally, like nothing ever happened, just like everyday, Ginny said she wanted to be friends, so she'll act normally as well, nothing to be afraid of, everything will turn back to normal, and you'll never listen to Hermione ever again, no matter how clever she is. Okay, so what now? Get back to the common room' so he stopped and looked on the marauder's map to see where he was, but he wasn't on it, he turned over the page and found a tiny dot with his name scrawled neatly on top of it, but it was not only his dot on the map, there was a room right in front of Harry that contained countless of dots, they all moved irregularly and seemed not to care where it went, the dots kept banging into the walls and the door.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Harry walked carefully across the hall and looked to his left, he cast a glance down to the Marauders map and saw what he expected. The tiny dot labeled Harry Potter was directly opposite the many-dotted creature with no label, there was deep feeling of excitement mixed with anxiety that was spreading through him from the pit of his stomach Harry extended his arm to turn the door handle, it was obviously locked and a whispered alohamora had sorted that problem neatly. The door now open made a creaking sort of noise; Harry pushed the door a segment, but before he had a chance to look inside the room, the door suddenly slammed against its frame with a loud clang. The sound rang throughout the dark corridor. Harry looked down in panic at the map and was relieved to find that nothing had stirred anyone in the castle, except that the creature on the other side of the door had stopped moving, it was now sort of moving very slowly towards the door, as though being cautious.

Harry stepped back, panic now coursing through him agonizingly slowly. The door was still open, as Harry had unlocked it, hence the door had gracefully slithered open slightly, still obstructing the room from view but there was a strip of moonlight emitting from the open door, slowly and cautiously a spider-like leg with a lot of hard and spiky hair, slithered across the floor, it looked like it was exploring the stone floor at first with the pointed end of the leg groping at the cracks and dents of the paving.

All too suddenly the leg stopped searching the floor and stood silently, Harry didn't know how but thought that the leg had sensed his presence, this eeriness made Harry take another step backwards but then he instantly regretted his move as the leg seemed to be certain of Harry's company. Even though the leg had no eyes or face it looked upwards into Harry's direction or more accurately, his face, this made Harry's insides squirm. He stood very still; he did not move or even breathe, like a dog going to inspect you before it decides weather to bite you or not. But somehow the leg knew where he was as it slithered towards him, without a nose, it sniffed at him, it then paused, full of fear and panic the leg zoomed back into the room as quickly as possible without a moments hesitation.

This turn of events startled Harry and he had to take a few moments to register what had happened, usually unknown creatures were not afraid of Harry, he was usually inferior to them, but this leg thing just did not want to be any where near Harry. Harry hesitantly put his ear next to the door and could hear nothing; he looked down quickly at the map and saw that the dots were coming closer together, backing against the opposite wall, as though crouching.

Harry stepped back from the door, he just noticed that his heart was beating so fast it was likely to come out of his chest, he had cold sweat trickling down his face and strangely, his scar burnt a little. He stared at the door for a moment and wondered what to do. Should he go into the room? Or should he just go back to the common room. Harry opted for the latter and firstly briskly walked away from the corridor he then broke into a run and reached the snoring fat lady within five minutes. Harry had to actually bang his fist energetically on her portrait to wake her up.

'Wha…who?  What d'you want?' she yawned.

'Buttocks' panted Harry impatiently and the portrait hole appeared. The common room looked dimmer as the grate was full of glowing ambers. It then just occurred to Harry that he had been out of the common room for a very long time, he checked his wrist watch and found that the time was three o'clock, but he didn't care. Harry was too full of energy to care what the time was… he needed to tell somebody about that leg-thing! His first thought was Ron but he must be dead sleep now, Harry turned around to face the boys staircase, he then noticed a second thing that night, Hermione was sitting by herself, on one of the armchairs, half asleep and half dead with worry.

'Hermione!' Harry exclaimed. Her head snapped upright and her eyes were now as round as Dobby's.

'What Harry? What is it!' she screamed, obviously startled.

'What are you doing here?'

'Huh? Oh… yeah, I was really worried when you just ran out of the room' she said disapprovingly but her mind seemed to be still sleeping, 'so I waited for you to come back, you were gone for ages' Harry was about to retort but then what he had just seen flashed into his mind and he realized with more empathy that he had to tell someone and seeing as Hermione was around he didn't have to wake up Ron any more.

'Listen Hermione, I saw something really weird when I was walking around'

'Just wait a minute Harry, I can't talk to you when I can't see you'

'Oh… right' Harry had forgotten that he was still wearing the invisibility cloak; he ripped it off and launched into speech. 'I was walking around then there were dots on the map and then I opened the door then this leg thing came out then it went away from me and I don't know what happened and I don't know what to do!'

'What on earth are you talking about Harry?' said Hermione annoyed from his speed talk.

'There were these weird dots on the Marauders map, and they were on the same corridor as me. I went to the room and I could here loads of banging and stuff'

'And?' said Hermione eagerly but still sleepily.

'I opened the door cause it stopped moving, but then it shut again, but I unlocked it using magic so it was still open'

'Oh no' said Hermione under her breath.

'Yeah, the thing's leg sort of stuck out of the door, and I dunno but I think it could sense me, thing is, I didn't see it's face, and I don't think that the leg had a nose or eye' Hermione didn't say anything so Harry continued 'So when it sensed me it just zoomed back into the room and it shut the door and didn't make another sound.' he stopped, Hermione was now in deep thought. There was a few moments of silence and Harry was starting to wonder weather he should just go to the dormitories when suddenly Hermione said quietly from the armchair.

'Go to Dumbledore'

'What? It's three o'clock in the morning!'

'Dumbledore, will definetly want to know about this'

'Please, he probably already knows!'

'Just go to him! He will probably give you some answers' she persisted. And not wanting this to escalate into something nasty especially with a snappy Hermione, he proceeded to the portrait hole.

'Great, your going to disturb my sleep…. again.' said the fat lady angrily, Harry just ignored her and made his way to Dumbledore's office. When he reached it he remembered like all other times he tried to barge into the office that he didn't know the password, he stood there stupidly doing nothing and ironically wondering what to do.

'Uh' he muttered, then convincing himself that speaking into the darkness was not a stupid thing at all, he said. 'Um… sugar quill? Nosebleed nougats? Fainting fancies?' The stone gargoyle was as still as stone and Harry had to think about the Gryffindor common room password to try and help him with finding the head master's password. 'Buttocks? Bums? Broken noses?' and to his great surprise the Gargoyle sprang from it's spot to reveal the spiral staircase. 

Harry stepped towards the strong oak door, where he suspected Dumbledore slept in but no sooner had he thought this that Dumbledore himself appeared right in front of him.

'Hello' he said swiftly, not giving the faintest idea that he was tired.

'So what are you doing here, at this hour, Harry?'

'I came to tell you some thing.' Said Harry quietly, getting the feeling that he was being very irritating.

'What might that be?' asked Dumbledore.

'Um, I saw something today, well just now really' said Harry lamely.

'Come and take a seat.' Said Dumbledore invitingly, Harry obliged and took a seat in one of the squashy chintz chairs placed near Dumbledore's Table, they were just like the ones from the hearing. Dumbledore sat at his armchair, facing Harry. 'What did you see?'

'I was walking around the school…' he paused here wondering weather he would be in trouble now that the headmaster new he was out of bounds, but Dumbledore just continued to look at Harry with interest. 'I heard noises coming from one of the classrooms, and I opened the door and a sort of hairy leg stuck out of it. Sir, do you know what that thing is?' Dumbledore considered he was now looking as though he was caught out at a secret.

'How did you find this creature? It was safely secured in a locked corridor' asked Dumbledore calmly.

'I uh… actually don't know sir, see I was sort of um… semi conscious at the time'

'How do you mean?'

'I was, thinking very intensely at the time, when I found the leg thing' Dumbledore now looked as though there was now way he could escape.

'I do know what that animal was Harry, but If you want to know all the answers of all the questions that are buzzing around in your head, you'll have to be patient and listen carefully to a very long story.' Harry just nodded his head, not believing that he is talking to the headmaster at three thirty in the morning about a sinister beast and about twelve hours ago he was playing Quidditch.

'Harry, that animal you have just witnessed is called a Stagon, the Stagon lives in forest areas around the world, they live for only a year and their egg hatches about a thousand years after it was lain. So, the Stagon is very rare and there are about five of them living within the millennium so you will only get to see one every two hundred years, and that is if you search the entire world.'

'But sir, what is it doing at Hogwarts?' asked Harry, Dumbledore did not answer at once he just looked at Harry as though making up his mind about something, in the end he did answer him.

'Aurors under my instruction brought it to Hogwarts, The Order of the Phoenix have intelligence that Voldemort desires to own the Stagon and wishes to obtain it. So we are holding from Lord Voldemort, preventing him from having it'

'Oh' said Harry, Dumbledore had this glint in his look now which firmly told Harry he was not going to know anymore than that. 'Then um, sorry for disturbing you…sir'

'You were not disturbing me, I wasn't sleeping'

'Okay, um… thank you for listening to me, sir'

'Goodbye Harry' said Dumbledore, and without further ado Harry zapped out of the faster than light, he felt very interfering barging into Dumbledore's office in the middle of the night.

Harry had been experiencing so many different feelings that day that now he just felt completely exhausted. From glee and happiness, to hope and anxiety, to depression and despair, to shock and trauma, and finally downright annoyance.   

Harry walked incredibly slowly back up to Gryffindor tower, he didn't care if he was caught out of bounds or not, he just needed some time to drain everything out of him. By the time he reached the common room, Hermione was fast asleep in her armchair, Harry shook her until she was semi unconscious but she just mumbled something about squares. Harry trudged up to his dormitory and slept fully clothed, sprawled on his bed.

He had had the longest day ever.

Author's Note: Did you like it? Please review, here are my messages…

Miraboo: thanks for your review, I absolutely loved it, Aimi Spence will come, patience is a virtue. I am really touched how you say you are never disappointed and hope this doesn't make you disappointed in me.

Melvianna: Once again, I don't understand a single word you type. But thanks for the review. I know I am my own individual, and I am not going to lean on anyone for my writing abilities, However JKR has inspired me greatly, but I am not fussing over weather my fan fic is as good as her standard. Hope your Goblin is okay, thanks for your review, and I hope you liked this chapter.

Ted M. Hammet: You lost as an author at the beginning, I don't think that you would have read this Chapter either. I have to disagree with you on believing that JKR made Ginny and Harry a star crossed love relationship, I honestly don't have a clue who Harry will be going out with in Book 6 and 7, but this is My fan fic, and I can tell you that not everything in this plot is sinking in despair. Just try and read the rest and you'll find out what will happen.

HgandRHrforever: Good to know someone thinks it is sad! Thanks for reviewing and hope you liked this Chapter.