A/N: I know you are all really tired of my excuses, so all I will say is that school has started and please bear with me, and in a few weeks I will have regular updates again, on like a four day basis. Please don't lose interest! And review. Things will be back on track soon, I promise.

Chapter Twenty:

The next morning was dreary and rainy. Harry awoke in the morning with somewhat of a feeling of trepidation, and he didn't know why. He sat up and closed his eyes, trying to figure out whether something was wrong. He felt- lighter; somehow- as if a weight had been lifted from his soul. But the emptiness wasn't right. Just then an image came floating into his head as the curtains around his bed were yanked open. The image which appeared in his head out of little swarming lights- was none other than the grim. "Sirius?" he found himself saying, bolting upwards.

"Er-" It was Ron. "Are you all right, mate? It's me. Lenore's really upset and says she needs to talk to you. It sounds important. Something's gone, she's saying. Have any clue what she's going on about?" he then asked curiously.

Harry frowned. "Yeah, I actually do. Something is gone… it feels really strange. Do you feel it?"

"Not exactly…"

"Right." Harry swung his legs over the bed, grabbed his glasses, and started downstairs. Suddenly, Ron gasped. "Harry!"

"What?" asked Harry, confused.

"Your scar's gone! What the hell- did you do something? It's gone!" Harry, horror-stricken, immediately rose his hand and felt under his bangs. Ron was right. This was bad- no, not bad, maybe… something had to have happened.

"What the-?" began Harry. "I didn't do anything! I swear!" Ron stared at Harry, wide-eyed, in the middle of the stairs. "We," began Harry shakily, "Need to talk to- Hermione."

"Flatten your bangs so nobody notices it's gone," whispered Ron as they reached the door to the Common Room. Harry nodded, shaking, and made a beeline to Lenore, Hermione, and Ginny, who were sitting together. Lenore was hyperventilating, and Hermione and Ginny were looking at her as if she was going crazy.

"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione, relieved, when she saw him. "I don't know what's wrong with Lenore, but she is going on about something being gone, but I don't know what it-"

"Lenore," said Harry as he reached her. "You're right… it is gone." She looked up, and somehow her eyes seemed a bit blank.

"Harry- our connection is gone, and it feels really strange; and we can't talk to each other anymore in our heads and—"

"I know," whispered Harry. "And- You guys, listen," he said quietly. "My connection to Voldemort is gone. My scar's gone."

"What?" exclaimed both Ginny and Hermione so loudly that the whole common room turned to look at them. "Er," whispered Hermione, "let's take this discussion elsewhere."

"Where?" asked Ron.

"How about… the Room of Requirement? We haven't been there in a while. And I think most couples are back to using the Astronomy Tower, so we shouldn't be disturbed." Harry nodded, and the group set off towards the familiar room. When they reached it, Harry paced in front of the doors three times, thinking, We need a place to study and to talk about magical links between people and prophecies. When they entered the room, it looked a lot like the old DA room, only the books on the shelves were about prophecies and magical bonds, and instead of bean bag chairs and cushions there were two tables, each with five chairs surrounding it.

The moment the door was closed, everyone erupted into chatter.

"Harry, are you sure? How would that happen-? There has to be some kind of logical explanation; do you think the correct books will be in here? As Head Girl, I am allowed to look in the Restricted section and all, so it shouldn't be much of a problem, but—"

"Good Merlin, Harry! Are you quite all right? I mean, did you have a dream about You-Know-Who? Did you feel it when it left? Could it really have something to do with Him?"

"And I just woke, up, and I felt it, but when I tried to talk to you it didn't work and it felt like you were dead or something! All of you!"

"QUIET!" yelled Ron. Everyone shut up abruptly and looked to the tall red-head. "All right, then. Hermione, what happened and why is Harry's scar gone?"

"I- I don't really know," said Hermione frantically. "I wish we could talk to Dumbledore about it- I mean, the only logical explanation is that V-Voldemort somehow severed the link. But I don't understand why he would do it; wasn't it good for him as well as good for our side?"

"I thought it was bad for our side," said Ginny, "And that was why Harry had to do Occlumency?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "That's what I always thought. I mean… it's the reason that some- people- are gone, you know?"

"But it was helpful, wasn't it?" asked Ron. "I mean, it saved Dad, after all…"

"Maybe Voldemort's planning something," said Lenore worriedly. "Maybe there's something that he knows he can't allow you to see… Maybe he's going to reinstate it after whatever he does is finished?"

"But how?" asked Hermione. "How on earth would he break the link? Even Dumbledore couldn't do it…"

"With dark magic?" asked Ron helpfully.

"Yes, but- Yes, that could be true. We can't eliminate the idea, because that's Voldemort's biggest weakness; underestimating things he doesn't like."

"That's very true," said Harry thoughtfully. "But it isn't just the scar that's gone! The whole entire connection… and- well- when I woke up this morning, I could feel it's absence. And then I closed my eyes and I saw… I saw…"

"What did you see?" asked Hermione urgently. Harry exchanged glances with Ron.

"I saw… I saw the grim, actually…"

"Oh, please," said Hermione, rolling her eyes, though everyone else seemed thoroughly shaken. Ron, however, agreed, though he still looked upset that Harry had seen the grim.

"If you believe that you might as well go ask Trelawney what happened to the connection. She'll blame it on Jupiter's correlation with Pluto at the new moon which will cause you to get into a tragic accident next Monday- honestly," he said. Hermione laughed, and Harry mustered a grin. But he knew that he'd seen the Grim- it had been so clear! If it wasn't Sirius, it had to be the grim, as much as Harry didn't want to believe it.

"So what should we do?" asked Harry a moment later. "I mean… we have classes in ten minutes."

"And Quidditch practice starts tonight…"

"Don't we need a new Chaser?" asked Harry, distracted.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter right now-" broke in Hermione. Suddenly, a loud pop sounded and somebody was in the Room of Requirement with them. Harry recognized her immediately. It was Vega.

Everyone began to back up slowly, and Ginny screamed. Vega looked up, smiling. "Hello, hello! Long time no see, Potter. Do you like what I did to your link with the Dark Lord?" She giggled. "My power never ceases to amaze me… The reason I'm here is to ask you a question. When are we going back in time? I'm so excited to meet my formal self! And maybe if we see Merlin we'll know who came back as him, and I can finally get my romance on the road… and then I can work on taking over Earth! Oh, and I've decided to help you kill Riddle, because he's been annoying the hell out of me. I'll wait until he's dead to concentrate on killing you, all right? Or, of course, I can wait a few hundred years until you die of old age… after all, I'll be eighteen forever!"

"Harry?" asked Lenore fearfully. "What is Amara doing here?"

"It's, well… not Amara," said Harry apprehensively, wondering about whether to trust her right now. "It's Vega. Calli's twin sister…. But she used to be Amara, but Voldemort resurrected her or something to train her. And now I'm a bit confused…"

You're confused? demanded Ivy, slithering out of Lenore's sleeve. This isn't supposed to happen! There's nothing in the future that-

"Umm- What do we do?"

"Well nobody's leaving this room until some of my questions are answered," said Vega promptly. "I have a few… Number one- Where's Calli? I haven't seen her in years, and I think it's time for some sisterly bonding."

"What?" demanded Hermione. "You're Calli's sister?"

"They're twins," said Harry. "That's why Calli looks like Amara… Voldemort used Necromancy to bring Amara back, and wanted Mrs. Wentworth to give birth to her, but I guess they didn't know she was already pregnant, and they simply became twins."

"Well how do we know that Calli isn't really Amara instead of Vega?" asked Ginny, confused.

"Because people brought into the world by Necromancy have different Auras," said Hermione. "But I still don't understand-"

"Very good, children," smiled Vega. "But I have a more important question. When are you going to the future? Because I hope you know that I'm coming."

"I think only the heirs can go," said Ron thoughtfully. "And are you on our side or You-Know-Who's side?"

"I am a Non-Partisan," smiled Vega. "But I'll take Riddle's place… he's an heir. And I am an heir, because technically I descended from Acacia. Okay? That's what I thought."

"Excuse me, Vega?" asked Hermione worriedly. "We really need to get to class; we're late!"

"Well class will have to wait, won't it?" she asked, grinning.

"How and why did you break the connection?" asked Harry quietly. This girl was pure evil. Even if she wanted Voldemort dead- she was evil, and Harry wasn't about to trust her.

"The connection?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "It's such a long story, Harry, dear. Can't we talk about something else? Like how dearest Severus is? I haven't seen him in years… and my sister! What of her? And how's Dumbledore?"

"You were the one who poisoned him!" exclaimed Harry.

"ME?" she asked innocently. "So what if I was? I felt like meddling in affairs. And besides- Riddle is paranoid and beside himself. He's convinced that Dumbledore's tricking him and that he's going to attack any day, as soon as his guard is down. And I just visited him this morning." She squealed. "He thinks it's you who broke the link! It's so funny to watch… I swear, everyone with him has been Crucio'd at least ten times this morning… he's in such a bad mood! And that bitch Bellatrix has been given the task to go to Hogwarts and kill Malfoy's son, who supposedly didn't tell the inner circle about this crap going on!" She laughed gleefully.

"You're mad," said Ron.

"Actually," smiled Vega, "We're quite happy."

"We?" asked Ginny doubtfully.

"The voices and I," chuckled Vega. Harry's stomach dipped. They were trapped into a room with a lunatic. And things didn't seem to be improving- and it wasn't even breakfast yet.

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A/N: Okay, I had major writer's block but I like this chapter and will be updating very soon. Tell me what you think in a review!

P.S.- The reason Lenore wasn't in the last chapter was because I really really don't want her to become a Mary Sue if she hasn't become one yet, which I don't think she has, though she's close… :-D

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