Full Summary: After the death of Sirius, Harry muses over the time he had with Siri. But as the new year at Hogwarts approaches, he gets an idea from a comment that Luna Lovegood said at the end of 5th year. In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them. Now, Harry is heading back to the Department Of Mysteries to rescue Sirius And only one other person is going with him: Luna. Will they survive or is this the end of the wizarding world as we know it?

A/N: I love you guys! You guys have made writing this story worthwhile and don't know what to say anymore. sniffle I hope that you like this chapter, so enjoy! Oh yeah. There is also some of what some people would call a mentioning of Harry liking Hermione, but, I don't know if I mentioned this, there will be NO ROMANCE. Also, since the only font modifier that is working in the underscore, that is what I will be using instead of italics. Another thing, this is going to be a short story, only about 8 chapters or so..... sorry but the chapters are going to be long, if I can write that much.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Tonks, Luna, Harry, Remus and all the others belong to the great JKR. Just one question for her, tho: WHY SIRIUS?! Also, later on I used some Linkin Park lyrics.... if you know their music, you'll recognize them. And yes, I do not own them. Thank you. Also do not own Ancelin Byrne. She is owned by my beta and friend Jen.

Dedication: To Sirius-Hotness, the first reviewer for ch. 3, and the one person who has reviewed all of the chapters so far. Cookies and teen-Siri for you.

A/N2: Thanks to Ani Hart and Rashaka for the info on Isis. I have changed ch. 2 a bit, so you may want to go back and read it. I hope that I won't make that mistake again. shudders at thought of what Isis could've become

Ch. 4 Dialogues

But just then the oak door opened, and in walked . . .

"Professor Lupin!" cried Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. "What are you doing back here?"

Profesor Remus J. Lupin walked into the room, a smile lighting up his lightly lined face. He still wore his tattered robes, though they looked better than they had the last time he had taught, probably thanks to Mrs. Weasley. Briefcase in one hand, he walked slowly to his desk, where he soon was battered with questions. Behind him stood a woman with shoulder length brown hair, black eyes and dressed in dark blue wizard robes.

As Lupin explained to the class how Dumbledore had rehired him, the woman's form began to slightly change into that of a young lady with spiky bubble gum pink hair, violet eyes and black robes. She sat on the desk for a few seconds before Harry even noticed that she was there.

"Tonks!" shouted Harry in surprise.

Everyone within the class turned to face Harry, surprised at his outburst. Remus merely shook his head, his brown eyes mirroring something that resembled anger.

"What are you doing here, Tonks?" asked Ron.

"It's what she's not doing here, Ron," replied Lupin. "Tonks is only going to be here to see how I teach class. She will, unfortunately, be your sub during the time of the full moon. Otherwise, I will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Now, I understand that Dumbledore wishes to – " Lupin let out a sigh of despair. "Nymphadora Tonks! Please! Not now! I am trying to teach a lesson. Unless you wish to teach them the Death Charm?"


With those last words, Tonks immediately stopped throwing Exploding Snap Cards at Lavender Brown and sat at Lupin's desk, an unnatural serine look on her face. The look did nothing to compliment her, though she kept the face until the class ended. The trio stayed late after the class as it was already 4 p.m. and dinner would begin in an hour.

"What are you doing here, Professor?" asked Hermione. "I thought that the Ministry wouldn't let you come back and teach."

"Well, now that Dumbledore has same say in why goes on at Hogwarts again, he decided that I should be hired for the job, since so many of the students accepted me for who I was, not for what I become. Though I was none too pleased when he told me that Tonks here was going to be my substitute for when I would be away."

Tonks gave Lupin an indignant look and turned away, faking sobs. Lupin rolled his eyes and sighed. "You becoming more and more like Sirius everyday, Tonks. You'd –"

Suddenly, Harry gasped, causing everyone to look at him. Although his green eyes were hard, there was a spark of fire just flickering behind his green eyes, making them appear to be dancing with anger.

"How can you talk about him like that? I thought that you cared about him, Remus. I never imagined the day that you would just forget about him and move on." Harry shook his head and ran out of the room and towards Gryffindor tower, leaving Tonks, Lupin, Hermione and Ron to stare after him in shock.

Hermione moved as though to catch up with him but Tonks caught her arm and held her back.

"Let him be," she said with a shake of her head. "He still needs some time. I think he'll be ready to talk after dinner."

Harry ran and ran, up and down the ever-changing staircases and through the never-ending hallways, and soon his muscles began to scream out in pain. After what seemed to be a lifetime of running, he collapsed just outside of the Gryffindor portrait hole.

"How could he, Sirius?" muttered Harry to himself, pulling his knees to his chest. "It's like no one cares anymore. I keep telling myself that it was my fault, that you never should've left and come after me. But that little voice keeps telling me that I never lost you, that you're waiting at the Place and that I will leave the Dursleys soon. But I know that it's not true. Nothing can save you from the Veil, and I will never see you again."

Harry rested his head on his knees and closed his eyes. Sleep soon clouded the edges of his mind and within a few minutes, Harry had fallen fast asleep outside of the common room. A few hours later, Harry was awoken by a gentle hand on his shoulder. Not expecting the touch, Harry grabbed the person's wrist and twisted it, causing the person to shout out in pain. A high pitched scream reached his ears and immediately Harry released the wrist. Turning to face whomever had touched his shoulder, Harry came face to face with Hermione. Her brown eyes were clouded over with the pain and she rested on one knee, breathing heavily.

"Hermione!"

Harry reached over to Hermione, who pulled sharply away from his gentle grip.

"Leave me alone, Harry. Please. Just leave." She shook her head, knowing that another brick had been set into place on the wall that had begun to build when Sirius had fallen through the veil, and ran to the Hospital Wing.

Harry sat on the cold stone floor and watched as Hermione grew smaller and smaller. It seemed like nothing was going right in his world now. He had just hurt one of his closest friends and it seemed as though he was going to lose everything that he deeply cared for one bit at a time.

Without knowing nor without feeling, another layer of ice formed over his hardening heart and seeped into his mentality. He got up slowly from the floor and stood, brooding, in front of the portrait hole.

"Everything alright, dearie?" asked the Fat Lady.

"Yes. Everything's great." He gave the portrait a fake smile. "Proxima Centauri."

"All right."

The portrait swung open and Harry dashed in and up to his dorm. Upon entering, Harry went directly to his trunk where he grabbed some parchment, a quill and an inkwell. He sat down on his bed and began to write a letter to a nameless person. It started off well enough. But soon it was nothing but rants. Rants of how life is unfair; rants on how everything is his fault. After about ten minutes of writing, Harry looked down to see his parchment full of nonsense things. But one sentence stood out from all those that he had written. Maybe it was because it was the most frequently seen on the paper. Or maybe it stood out, because Harry felt that it was the most true.

Nothing will ever be all right ever again.

Harry picked up the now crumpled parchment and slowly began to read what he had written.

These memories have consumed me and there's nothing I can do anymore. I can't hold on to what I want when I'm stretched so thin and it seems that everything is coming from this open wound in my heart that can't be closed. Nothing will ever be all right ever again. I don't want to be the one anymore that the battle always chooses and I'm sick of being the wizarding world's greatest hope for peace when I'm just a child. There's nothing left to do but run, but all of this helplessness inside and pretending I don't feel misplaced is making life so much harder. Nothing will ever be all right ever again. Get away from me! Give me my space back and just go. Everything comes down to memories of you. Nothing is ever going to be all right ever again. I've kept it in but now I'm letting you know, NOTHING IS EVER GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT EVER AGAIN!

Harry stared at his words for the longest time. Everything in his life was no longer going to the good but to the bad and he felt that there was no way to keep up with it anymore. One thought came to mind as a poem surfaced in his head. It had come from one of Dudley's books in his room, one that had gone unnoticed and unread for obvious reasons. It had been written by an anonymous author and was entitled "Time".

"It has been said," said a voice in his head, "Time waits/For no one./Well,/I am no one./So,/Will time wait/For me?"

Harry laughed silently and shook his head. How that poem fit into his life now. Time wasn't waiting for Harry anymore. Oh no. Time waits for no one and besides, Harry was someone. Someone who was needed in the wizarding world to destroy the Dark Lord. Someone who was to be their savior. But Harry wanted nothing of this. And on top of all that anguish that his new world had put upon him, he had just hurt one of his very best friends.

With a sigh, Harry grabbed the parchment and threw it into his trunk, along with his quill and inkwell. He sat there, leaning against his trunk, pondering on what he should do. Without thought of what was going on, Harry grabbed the mirror and returned to his bed. Nonsense words began to pour out of his mouth. His reflection listened quietly as he spilled his heart out. But he soon realized that he was telling the mirror his feelings for Hermione. He told the mirror that he had hurt her, both emotionally and physically. But, even though he was alone in his dorm, he couldn't utter the words that were hurting him the most – that Hermione, his best friend ever since his first year, now hated him for what he had done. Nothing, he felt, would ever change.

Harry fingered the crude designs on mirror, the dulled golden color of the setting reflecting what little light there was in his room. Putting the mirror on the cherry wood nightstand, Harry took off his glasses and closed his eyes, willing the sleep to take him.

The never-ending blackened hallway in the Ministry of Magic once again surfaced in his dreams. Harry followed the windowless passageway until it reached a doorway at the end. A cold doorknob touched his hand as he pushed the door open. A circular room encased with doors met his eyes. Harry entered the room, memories of the past event plaguing him. Once stepping fully into the room, the door slammed behind him with a great crack and the room suddenly became pitch black in spite of the blue flames flickering in their holders. A grumbling noise met his ears as the room abruptly began to spin. Faster and faster it spun, the flames forming a solid neon line against the blackened wall. Just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped.

Harry stood there, starring at each door, trying to remember what was contained by each door. Suddenly, a door to his right sprung open, revealing the stone benches of the amphitheater. Harry slowly made his way into the room, his feet echoing off the stonewalls.

The room of which he now entered was large and rectangular with the center sunken in, forming a pit about twenty feet below. On each tier, sat stone benches placed evenly around the room. Harry walked slowly down the tiers, his eyes never leaving the center of the pit where the crumbling archway stood. It stood there like it had that fateful day last year, its black veil billowing slightly in the windless room. Harry stopped in front of the damned archway, starring into its black depths.

Suddenly, the veil whipped out, almost as if caught in a strong wind. Harry scrambled back and onto a higher tier. A hand suddenly grabbed the veil and pulled it to the side, revealing a familiar figure. His face had a slightly wasted look, though it still seemed to have retained the handsomeness of his youth. His black hair was straggly and just dusted his shoulders. His ghostly brown eyes stared right at Harry, almost as if trying to look right through him.

Sirius Black stepped out of the archway and onto the dais. He pointed to Harry and opened his mouth to speak.

Harry sat bolt upright in his bed, scarlet sheets once again ensnaring his legs and feet and a slight twinge came from his scar. A light sweat covered his body and his breathing was slightly heavy. Swallowing, Harry realized that his throat was raw. Fighting his way through the bed coverings, Harry made his way to the window seat, where the waxing moon was just now visible over the mountains, his hand massaging his forehead. Harry sat on the red velvet window seat and stared at the moon. He wondered what the dream meant, as it was the same one he had been having for the past few months. Each time, the dream ended in the same place, with Sirius opening his mouth to say something. And as always, Harry would wake up before he could hear what Sirius had to say.

Harry closed his eyes and put his still twinging forehead against the cool glass of the window. When he reopened them, after what he thought to be only five minutes, the sun had risen and Gryffindor tower was just starting to awake. Harry slowly got dressed and soon made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast, where he sat down between Hermione and Ron. The three made no move to talk, but their silence was filled the surrounding air with everything that wanted to be asked and their answers.

This is how the following weeks and months passed. Soon, Halloween came and passed. Classes continued, and the wizarding world seemed to be in a lull as there had been no word of Voldemort anywhere. Tonks substituted in Defense Against the Dark Arts once a month and the D.A. was re-established in the Room of Requirement. Quidditch had resumed and Gryffindor once again had a full team. Although their practices were sporadic, all four house teams were at their best.

Harry and Ron sat in the Gryffindor common room one Saturday, just one month before Christmas, playing a game of chess that had now been going on for over an hour.


"Pawn to C3," said Ron with a slight edge on his voice.

Harry stared at the board in concentration. He had already taken out most of Ron's men, leaving him only with a pawn, a castle and his king, whereas Harry still had his king and queen, along with his two bishops.

"Bishop to C3," said Harry with a smirk.

Harry's black bishop took out Ron's white pawn without any difficulty. Moving the broken pieces off the board, Ron made his turn to move. At that moment, Hermione made her entrance into the room.

"You two coming?" she asked as Harry's bishop took out Ron's castle. "It's time for dinner."

"Yeah. Hold on," said Harry. "Bishop to E5." With a smile, Harry said, "Checkmate!"

"Bloody hell!" swore Ron as Harry's bishop took out his King. With a sigh of defeat, Ron grabbed the broken pieces and put them off to the side to repair later.

"All right, let's go. I'm starved."

The three of them walked down the changing stairs to the Great Hall where everyone was waiting for dinner to begin. The Great Hall's ceiling was a bluish purple of the evening sky and was lightly sprinkled with stars. Chatter immediately ceased as the tables were laden with food and three hours later the entire school walked to their respective dorms where they sat by the flickering fires that the house elves had prepared for them. A waning gibbous moon was hung outside the window when there came a soft tapping noise. It now being the late of hour of almost midnight, Harry, Ron and Hermione, the only three Gryffindors still awake, did not expect to see a medium sized barn owl gliding effortlessly outside their window. Hermione ran to the window and threw it open, allowing both the owl and the cold night air to enter the common room.

The owl flew in and landed on the high backing of one of the scarlet chairs that littered the area around the fireplace. Ron relieved it of its burden, where it then ruffled its feathers and flew out of the room and back into the frigid night.

"Who's it from, Harry?" asked Hermione as she settled herself back into her chair.

Harry tore the letter open and skimmed it. "Luna," he replied after a few minutes. "She reckons that we should have a D.A. meeting tomorrow. As we do not know when Voldemort -- will you get over it, Ron!-- will return, she had the idea that we should get at least one meeting under our belts before the Christmas break. I reckon that most students will be going home then, anyway."

"I think that's a brilliant idea on her part," said Hermione. "We should set it for tomorrow afternoon, too. Room of Requirement at, say 3 p.m.? And that way, we can see whom other people know that would like to join."

"Excellent."


Harry walked over to his black traveling cloak, which was hanging on the oak cloak rack in the corner of the room, where the fake gold galleon was hidden in the inside pocket. He turned the galleon to give it the correct date and time, which would then be sent to the other D.A. members.

"Done," said Harry as he put the golden coin away.

"Good," said Hermione. "Now all we have to do is wait."

Sunday morning dawned cool and clear, though this would not impede the members at all as Dumbledore's Army met inside within the Room of Requirement, which had been shown to them by Dobby the house elf their previous year, during the reign of the Toad. As Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way down, previous members of the D.A., informing them that they knew of the meeting, bombarded them.

By midday, Harry was in a mess, trying to figure out what to teach them that day.

"Calm down, Harry," said Hermione. "You don't need to teach us a thing today. Just review what we've learned."

"R-R-Right," stuttered Harry. "Yeah."

At half past two, the three of them made their way down to the room, the Marauders Map held firmly in Harry's hand, which was concealed within his robe pocket. They reached the room by twenty to three.

Think of a room with all the necessary items needed for defense, thought Harry as they walked by the Room of Requirement's wall three times.

As they passed by for a third time, a wooden door appeared. The three of them shared a grin as Ron reached for the knob and opened the door. Inside was large enough for the entire D.A. to fit comfortably as they worked on their spell work. To one side was a huge bookcase, filled to the brim with defense, transfiguration and charm books.

Harry took out the map and wiped it clear. At exactly three, people began to show up. First came Ginny and Luna, followed by Colin and Dennis Creevy and their cousin Isis. After them were all five Hufflepuffs. Tow minutes after that came the rest of the D.A.

"Filch was prowling the halls by the stairway that lead to here," said Lavender Brown, a Gryffindor 6th year.

Harry just nodded in understanding as the rest of them scattered around the perimeters of the room. They soon began to review what they had learned last year, which included the Patronus and many other useful charms, hexes and jinxes. They spent all of three hours reviewing before they realized that they would be missed at dinner.

Harry quickly grabbed the Marauders Map and helped the others get out of the room without being discovered by Filch or any other professor walking by the area. Soon it was only Harry, Ron, Hermione and Luna (was left behind as Ginny had run ahead with Dean Thomas) left in the room and headed down to the Great Hall for dinner.

The four of them decided to take a shortcut on the Defense floor that would take them right down to the Great Hall doors. The hallways were semi-dark and silent, their footfalls echoing off the stone walls. Wooden torch holders with orange flames dancing within them graced their presence every few feet, glaring on the Gothic windows and casting shadows on the cold floor. They soon made their way closer to Lupin's classroom, where two voices seemed to be in a conversation, one most likely belonging to Lupin.

Slowing down their footsteps and making their way soundlessly nearer to the room, they soon realized that it was indeed Lupin speaking. The other voice belonged to Tonks. The four of them looked at each other before inching closer to the stone doorway so that they would be able to hear better.

"She's being totally unreasonable about the entire Sirius thing, Remus," said Tonks. "The entire Unspeakables department is ready to sack her if she doesn't calm down about his death."

Harry and Luna exchanged quick glances, as did Ron and Hermione but they quickly reverted their attention to the conversation at hand.

"Why sack her?" remarked Lupin. "Ancelin was their best Auror before they promoted her to the Department of Mysteries. She caught many of Voldemort's followers within her first year and was a close spy on them. She and Snape did make a good team, good enough to convince Voldemort and the rat that they were loyal to him."

"Although their frequent arguments were almost as famous as mine and Narcissa's as I wasn't 'worthy enough to be related to a Black' as well off as she."

Lupin chuckled at Tonks imitation of Narcissa Malfoy, her cousin. The Metamorphmagus had even transfigured her face to that of Narcissa and matched her prim and proper tone of voice, making it all that much more humorous. The four outside the doorway had to hold their hands over their mouth as not to let the adults know they were there.

"Anyway," said Tonks as her face returned to normal, "Kingsley reckons that I should go and talk to her. But the thing is, I have no bloody idea of what to tell her. I can just imagine going up to her and saying 'Ancelin, I'm sorry, but we can't bring Sirius back. There's nothing we can do to get him out'. That'll go over quite well. And she being the Auror that she is, I can be hexed until the return of Merlin. I will not put myself into that kind of danger."

"What about owling her? Have you thought of that? It's less dangerous too. For you and for her."

"I have. But . . . I don't know." A mischievous glint suddenly entered her violet eyes. "Why don't you do it, Remus? You've always been good at calming people down and better at writing letters. You'd - "

"No," said Lupin firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"C'mon," pleaded Tonks. "Please?"


"No."

"You'd be saving my skin and the Ministry their best Auror if you did. And we really need people like her now that Voldemort's back. Please?"

Lupin gave a sigh of defeat and nodded. Tonks gave a whoop of victory and hugged him.

"Here's her address," she said, handing him a small piece of parchment. "She lives near Diagon Alley, so the owl should probably be sent at night as to not alarm the Muggles. C'mon, dinner should be ready."

Remus nodded and put the parchment on his desk. Blowing out the candles that dimly lit the room, the two of them walked out into the hallway, just narrowly missing the four.

As the two professors walked into the shadows of the blacked school hallway, Harry sprinted into the black room.

Pulling out his wand, he muttered a quick "Lumos" and went for the wooden desk. Ron, Hermione watched in confusion as Luna sprinted after Harry.

"What are you going to do with that, Harry?" asked Luna.

"I don't know," said Harry. "But she may have some of the answers that I'm looking for."

With a quick look into the hallway to make sure no one was coming, Harry tapped his wand against the parchment, making an exact replica of the parchment and address. Taking great care, he placed the original back on the desk and the copy into his cloak pocket, making sure that everything was in its respective place.

Extinguishing his wand, he entered back into the hallway where Ron and Hermione stood waiting.

"Dinner might be over by now," said Harry. "We should go back."

"Yeah," agreed Hermione. "Can you find your way, Luna?"

"Oh, I should be able to," she said dreamily. "Fare well."

"Loony," said Ron as Luna walked away. "Completely off her rocker, that girl is."

Hermione shook her head. "C'mon now, Ron. Let's get back to Gryffindor tower."

The two of them set off toward the Tower, deep in thought. Harry stood at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom door, staring at the address before running to catch up with Ron and Hermione. There would be at least one owl going out that night.

There you go! The long awaited ch. 4! I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. I will begin writing the next chapter as soon as I can. But this one took a lot out of me. And I must consult with my beta on some things first. Please, as always, review. Thank you!

REVIEWS!

Sirius-Hotness: Still my first reviewer. I'm so glad that yo like it...... I'll try and work on your fic soon... but it probably won't be until after I finish this thing.

Erynwen: I'm glad that you liked it.

Crazy Rei luva: Still another of my loyal reviewers. Thank you.

AzSapphire: I don't know if Sirius is not dead. You'll just have to wait and find out like the rest of us. Well, I know what's going to happen and so do my betas but that's it.

harryforeva: I'll ponder on your suggestion. Thanks for the reviews!

ChennaiChica: Thank you for adding me, I feel honored. And it is both. Yay.

thekecmaster: Sorry, but he is used in this chapter but only mentioned. And I really wasn't going for a great cliffie, but it worked for what I wanted.

Silently pensive: There definitely will be more of Luna, don't you worry.

KimmyStarr: Well, Tonks is being used. So, I hope that's good.

Kaizer Knuckz: thanks

totallystellar: But caps lock is so much fun! HEHEHEHEHEHE. cough Ahem. It is both, thank you for your vote. There will not be a recount.

Mr Padfoot1: I feel loved.... thank you.

MissPanther: Glad you liked it.

PadfootsNoxed: Who doesn't like Remus?

Wow... that's 15 for this chapter. Thanks again for the reviews!

Remember: "The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans are suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you." - Rita Mae Brown.

Legolas: climbs up elepant animal and grabs arrow and shoots person 95 grabs arrow and shoots another person 96 cuts ropes holding the "saddle" holding all the ppl making them fall to their deaths slides down trunk where he meets Gimli

Gimili: That still only counts as one.

LotR: Return of the King

FawkesnFlame and Moony

P.S. Did anyone see the PoA trailer? Were any of you confused on the choir? I might've just been me..... Can't wait to see the entire thing!