Harry grabbed his glasses from his bedside table and jumped out from under his covers. Or, at least, that was what he meant to do. His legs got tangled in the sheets, and he tumbled painfully out of bed. Still fumbling with his glasses, he kicked away the tangle of sheets and stood up, finally putting his glasses on.
Just then the door burst open, and Naomi ran inside. "Harry! Did you just get up? We have to leave in two minutes!"
"T-two minutes?" said Harry hoarsely. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was 7:58. He snapped to his senses and dashed after Naomi, who was already out the door. Together they hurtled down the corridors and stairs, skidding around corners, until they came to the North courtyard; the same place they had met up with Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Lupin's voice cried out, "Hurry up!" the minute they burst through the door. Harry and Naomi dashed over to where Ron, Hermione, and Lupin were standing by the fountain, Hermione holding an empty flowerpot.
Panting, Harry looked at his watch again. They had about thirty seconds until 8:00.
Naomi quickly touched the pot, and Harry and Ron did the same. Lupin looked at Harry and said, "Take care, Harry. You and Naomi try not to cause too much damage around the school." He smiled and suddenly Harry felt a jerk around his navel, and Lupin along with the courtyard and castle disappeared from his sight.



Harry felt his feet hit the ground, and he toppled over onto something very soft. Sitting up and looking around, he saw that he was on a pouf in the Gryffindor common room. Ron had fallen to the ground, Naomi had tripped over a table, but Hermione was still standing.
"Very graceful," she laughed, putting down the flowerpot.
"Yeah, well..." Naomi muttered as she got to her feet.
"Shut up, Hermione," snapped Ron, sitting heavily on the couch next to Harry.
Hermione laughed and sat down on Harry's other side. Naomi sat on the arm of the couch, facing the rest of them with her feet on the cushion.
"So...it's Sunday. What are we going to do today?" she asked casually.
"Homework," said Harry automatically.
Hermione looked sharply at him. "What are you talking about? We didn't have that much, it shouldn't have taken you all weekend!"
"I know! We had the Quidditch match yesterday, and we only got back today, Hermione. You know that!"
Naomi laughed. "You should have been smart like us. We did it on Friday."
"Well, good for you," said Ron irritably. "You just go and enjoy the rest of your day while we sit here slaving over our stupid homework."
"Great idea! Come on, Naomi. Let's go find Ginny," said Hermione, jumping up and heading for the exit.
"Hey, wait! I was being sarcastic! You're supposed to stay and help us!" cried Ron.
"What do you think books are for?" asked Naomi playfully, turning back a bit as she began to climb through the portrait hole.
Ron slumped in his chair and glared ahead, recognizing defeat. Harry thought he and Ron deserved some help, so he gave it a shot.
"Hey, if we do our homework today, will you check it for us later?"
"Whatever you say, your majesty," said Naomi with a mock curtsy.
Harry grinned, then tried to look very superior. "Of course. Whatever I say goes. I expect you back here at four o'clock."
Naomi burst out laughing and said, "Yeah, if you're finished by then?"
Harry dropped the superior look and cried, "Hey!"
But Hermione and Naomi slipped out of the common room before he could say anything else.
Behind Harry, Ron chuckled. "Good job, mate. You got them to check our homework, and you got Naomi to obey your every command."
Harry laughed in a falsely grim way. "Let's see how long that lasts."
They both snorted with laugher and headed up to the dormitories to get their work.
"Where do you reckon everybody is?" said Ron as they climbed the stairs.
"At breakfast, Ron. It's only eight o'clock."
"Oh...yeah," said Ron, realization dawning on his face. Harry rolled his eyes and continued through the door to the sixth years' dorm.
They grabbed their bags and made their way back to the common room.
Both of them had been bent over their homework for about an hour when Harry leaned down to look something up in his potions book. Just as he straightened up, Harry stopped as he heard a soft tap, tap, tap.
Knowing that sounds by now-and glad for the interruption-he got up and walked to the window to let in the owl that was there. Harry took the letter from it and it swooped off out of the open window. Just as he was about to open it, another owl came in and flew over to Ron. Ron took the letter, looked at Harry, and shrugged as the second owl swooped off.
Harry saw that he didn't recognize the handwriting on the front of the envelope. He turned it over slowly and opened it, removing the letter from inside.

Harry,
I realized that Dawn and I never got to say goodbye to you, so I thought I'd just write you instead. Have you found anything we can use to compare the handwriting to? Remember, ask his father if what the letter said was true, and send me the letter and the handwriting to compare it to. I'll see if I can't figure something out. Naomi will keep me posted on what's going on with her, but I think it'd be a good idea if you did, too-just because she might not know everything, and I'd like to try and get all sides of the story. I'll let you know if I find anything, but as you probably know I can't put too much in a letter. You must understand that if these letters are intercepted, we're in trouble. Write back if you need to tell me anything about what you've found out.
Talk to you later,
Shadow

Harry had to read it a few times through to make sense of it, just because Shadow couldn't name specific details in a letter, which Harry knew well by now. After reading it three times, he thought, Of course, he's talking about Percy.
Harry then noticed that there was another piece of parchment behind the first. He put down Shadow's letter and read the next one.

Dear Harry,
I'm so sorry I never got to say goodbye to you, but I had to be somewhere else at the time. Shadow told you everything that really needs to be said, but I just wanted to write.
Best wishes,
Dawn

There was a hastily written added note under the graceful, curvy signature.

P.S. Don't tell Shadow I told you this, I'm just adding it in quickly while he's getting the owl to send it with. Anyway, I know Remus told you to stay out of trouble, but that doesn't mean you have to follow all of the rules. You probably already know that, but I just thought I'd remind you to remember to have a little fun now and then, and I never found following every single rule to be fun. I hear Shadow coming back, got to go!

Harry smiled. Dawn's personality had always seemed to be excited and adventurous, and this letter proved it for sure. Folding up the letters and slipping them into his pocket, he walked back to Ron, who was staring at his letter with a look of mingled annoyance and relief on his face.
"What's up?" asked Harry.
Ron snorted and waved the letter around a bit. "It's mum. 'Remus told us what happened, and I don't want you ever going into that forest again, Ronald Weasley!'" he said in a high-pitched voice. "On and on. But at least she didn't send a howler."
"It wouldn't have mattered much, everyone's outside now anyway."
Ron looked at the still open window, and Harry could feel the cool autumn breeze blowing across his face.
"Wish we were," muttered Ron.
Harry sighed and looked out at the perfectly blue sky, broken by white clouds.
"Why don't we just go out for a little while?"
"Because Naomi and Hermione are out there. And Ginny, too. They'd see us."
"Well...can't we just walk around the school for a while?"
Ron immediately jumped up, throwing down his quill. "Fine by me!"
Harry stuffed a bottle of ink, a quill, and some parchment into his pocket, then followed Ron through the portrait hole.
The two of them set off through the castle, walking along corridors and looking through the windows out to the beautiful grounds.
Eventually, Ron's stomach let out a loud grumble. He moaned and said, "I'm starved. Want to get some food from the kitchens?"
"Nah, you go ahead," said Harry. "I want to send a letter."
"Right then. I'll save you something, just in case."
"Sure. Thanks."
Ron hurried off in the other direction, as Harry walked towards the owlry. He got there and looked around for Hedwig. He finally spotter her, far up in the rafters. Deciding not to wake her until he was ready, he sat down against a wall and quickly wrote a letter to Shadow. All Harry really put in it was that he didn't have anything to send except for the mysterious letter itself, and that he would send Shadow something as soon as he found it. When he finished scribbling the note, he stood up and brushed off the straw from his robes.
"Hey, Hedwig!" he called. A few owls woke up irritably, including Hedwig. She glared at Harry from her perch, and he said, more quietly this time, "I need you to deliver a letter."
She swooped down to him, and in a minute or two she was flying out the window with the letter.
Harry left the owlry and walked aimlessly down a corridor. He paused at a window and looked outside, leaning up against it. Gazing at the surface of the lake, he saw short, choppy waves forming from the cool breeze. Hearing a sniff somewhere nearby, he snapped back to reality.
Looking around, Harry wasn't sure how long he'd been there. He made his way towards the noise and just as he rounded a corner he saw Cho Chang walking slowly towards him, constantly rubbing her eyes and looking very preoccupied.
Upon seeing Harry, Cho froze and quickly wiped her eyes and sniffed again. "Harry!" she said hurriedly. "W-what are you doing inside?"
Harry shrugged. "I'm supposed to be doing homework."
Cho smiled a little. "Hard to concentrate today, isn't it? Such nice weather out."
"Yeah." She's talking about the weather, Harry thought. Something must be up.
"Why don't you go outside?"
"Hermione and Naomi know Ron and I should be studying, and they're both outside."
She giggled slightly, looking like she was recovering from whatever it was that had her so upset. "So..."
"Why aren't you out there?" asked Harry, trying to keep the conversation going.
Cho looked at the wall. "I dunno."
"Want to walk with me?"
She just nodded and the two of them set off again, with no particular destination. After about a minute, Harry glanced sideways at her. "I'm sorry about everything I said to you before."
Cho swallowed. "It's okay...really. It was true, and I think I needed to hear it."
"So," said Harry. He stopped, turned to her, and held out his hand. "Friends?"
Cho nodded and shook Harry's hand. "Friends."
Harry smiled. "Cool."
With a weak smile, Cho started walking again. Harry noticed she was still looking teary-eyed.
"What's wrong? You look upset about something..."
"Oh, it's nothing, I just...Oh, Harry! What have I done?" She sobbed suddenly as she slumped against the wall, her face in her hands.