Mm. Yes. Last chapter was bit depressing...but perhaps a ray of light can be seen through the gloom?!

Hedwig floated onto Harry's shoulder with a soft hoot. She looked around disapprovingly. She did not care for dungeons.

"Hedwig! You're back!" Harry exclaimed in delight, caressing her feathers.

Eagerly he removed the parcel attached to her leg.

There was a letter from Ron:

Dear Harry,

Hope you're feeling better now. Have to say, you did seem quite down when you left. Well, since they've gone and made you stay with Snape again, course you're not going to be feeling great! Bet he was really mad it was you who saved his life last month, he'll have to be grateful to you now! Well, never mind, mate, only a few more days now and we'll all be turning up.

Hermione's Head Girl, has she told you? It was pretty obvious it would be her, really. Ernie Macmillan's Head Boy. At least it isn't Malfoy, how awful would that be.

Not much been happening here. In fact it's pretty boring. Loads of people said to say hi but I can't remember all of them, you'll know who I mean I expect.

See you soon!

Ron.

Harry smiled slightly, and laid the parchment aside. Then he picked up the next letter, which he assumed (correctly) would be from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

Thanks very much for your letter, I was worried about you. I found what you wanted in Diagon Alley, as you might have seen by now.

You'll never guess, I've been made Head Girl! I'm a bit concerned about it, actually. I mean it's a lot of extra responsibility, and it is our NEWT year and everything.

I have messages for you from Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Fred, George, and Lupin. They all send their love.

Harry, I do hope you're working at the Occlumency this time. You know how important it is.

Anyway, I need to go. I haven't read all the set texts for this year through again yet. You miss so much on the first couple of readings, don't you find?

Love

Hermione.

Harry smiled again, feeling guilty for his surliness with Ron and Hermione over the past few weeks. Finally, he picked up the little package that he had requested Hermione to buy for him.

Yes.. it was just what he had wanted. He stored it carefully away. He had another Occlumency lesson scheduled. He was starting to rather enjoy the mental battles, now he had got the hang of it. He was a bit disappointed that Snape had apparently thought it necessary to borrow Dumbledore's Pensieve again, though.

Still. He began to clear his mind by way of preparation.

At last, I thought. The Hogwarts train would be arriving within the hour. Potter would finally be departing from my spare room, my personal life, and - I rather hoped – from my list of things to worry about. Once he was back where he belonged in the Gryffindor common room, I would cease to be responsible for anything except his execrable Potions-making, and I could endeavour to forget the events of the summer had ever happened.

Yes. I was looking forward to it.

I had taken the bandages off his arm earlier that day, and given him an unguent salve which should remove most of the scarring. (Because that is going to be oh so important in his future career, isn't it, an inward voice sneered. Sternly, I silenced it.)

I was scratching away at my notes when he gathered up his remaining belongings and made to depart.

"OK," he said. "I'm going now."

I muttered something under my breath, glancing up for the briefest of moments.

"I just wanted to say," he said, rather more loudly, "thanks. I think I've finally got the hang of Occlumency, and, thanks as well for...well...you know."

I waved a hand vaguely in his direction. He knew where the door was, why wasn't he walking through it by this stage?

I was obliged to put my quill down, though, because Potter did not move towards the door – he approached my desk and laid a small package in front of me.

"This is for you," he said gruffly. "As a thank you."

I stared at the package for a long moment, then looked up at Potter. I was startled. I could not remember the last time I had been given a present. Ah yes – now I recalled. It had turned out to be...well, let us just say unpleasant substances. Given to me in order to amuse certain persons in my class at school.

My lips thinned.

Slowly, I picked the package up. Potter showed no sign of moving. I supposed it would be ungracious to send him on his way, so I could open whatever he had given me in privacy.

I removed the wrappings. Beneath, there was some sort of pin device. I did not know what it was.

"It's a dicta-pin. You attach it to your robes," Potter told me. He sounded anxious. "It's sort of like – well, an audio-Pensieve. It can record your thoughts for you, and then transcribe them ... I thought it would be useful for you in the lab, you know...so you don't have to be always stopping to write stuff down..."

I stared at the dicta-pin for a long moment. Slowly I turned it in my fingers. I did not know what to say.

"OK, then," Potter said finally. "I'm off now...yeah..well. Thanks."

I held the dicta-pin the palm of my hand as he turned to leave. There was an odd tightness in my throat. He was half-way through the door before I managed to force the words out.

"Potter!" I said imperatively. He turned "I -...Thank you. It was a.... thoughtful gift. Thank you."

Then I turned back to my researches. I was scratching away with my quill when I heard the door bang shut.

Potter was gone.

"HARRY!" Hermione squealed, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Hi mate." "Hello, Harry!"

Harry grinned at them. He had waylaid Ron, Neville,Ginny and Hermione on their way into the Great Hall.

"So how was life with Sunny the Cheerful Bat?" Ginny demanded brightly.

"You survived all right then!"Ron said. No missing limbs or anything? Snape never tried to blow you up sort of accidentally on purpose?"

Harry's smile faded a little. "No," he said seriously, in reply to Ron. "He was really nice to me."

Ron snorted disbelievingly as they took their place at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. "Right." All sorts of rich and appetizing smells wafted towards them. The table was laden with a great array of dishes. Harry's mouth watered.

Harry settled into the hubbub. You remember how to do this, he said to himself firmly, as he laughed and smiled along with the others.

He wished he was back in the security and tranquillity of Snape's chambers.

Ron, at least, was fooled. He was quite visibly relieved that Harry was acting more like his usual self. Hermione said nothing, but she looked at Harry speculatively from time to time. Harry saw her eyes track from him to Snape at the staff table.

Harry couldn't help it. His eyes followed hers.

Snape was scowling at his plate, shoulders hunched, radiating bad temper. The teachers around him were obviously used to his merry and sociable disposition at the dinner table, and talked over him with unconcern.

As Harry observed him, Snape glanced up. He directed a particularly nasty scowl in Harry's direction and looked away almost at once.

Harry sighed. He was going to miss Snape, he realized. Suffering his sarcasm while sitting in Potions classes with scoffing Slytherins would hardly be the same.

"Harry! Harry!" Ron prodded him. "Have you decided who you're going to take to the seventh year party?"

"Huh?"

"The seventh year party! You know!"

Harry blinked, remembering. The Sorting Hat's continued call for friendship and unity at Hogwarts had encouraged staff to arrange inter-House social events. There are been some modest successes. And so far there had only been two hospitalizations, three duels, and one exploding owl who had got caught in the middle.

"Oh.. I don't think I'll take anyone," Harry said at last. "You don't have to, do you?"

"No. It's just..." Ron's eyes slid sidewise to Hermione, who was talking animatedly to Ginny and Neville, and his ears went slightly red.

Ah, thought Harry. "It's all right," he said to Ron, feeling more genuinely amused than he had the whole evening. "You can take someone. Doesn't bother me. I mean, there'll be plenty of other people to hang around with, won't there?"

"You could ask someone," Ron encouraged him. "Doesn't have to be a seventh year, if they're a guest.." His eyes slid again: this time in Ginny's direction.

"I'm not taking anyone," Harry said firmly. "At least... I don't mind inviting Ginny or Luna, so they can come, but not as a date." He had quite enough to worry about, in his opinion.

Ron looked disappointed.

A second year student suddenly ran up to them, obviously petrified. He stopped in front of Hermione.

"Hermione Granger?" he babbled nervously.

"Yes?" she said kindly. "Is something the matter?"

"N-no, it's just... Professor Snape asked me to come and give you a message. He says can you come and see him in his office after the feast."

The second year dashed off again, obviously relieved to be out of the evil and dangerous clutches of the seventh year students.

"Snape?" Ron said aggressively. "What's he want with you, Hermione?"

"I've got no idea!" she said, seeming completely baffled. "Harry, you've seen Snape most recently..."

"I've got no idea, either," Harry said shortly. He felt slightly injured. Why was Snape sending for Hermione?

He shoved his fork into his treacle tart, and jammed a large chunk into his mouth.

At least it stopped people expecting him to speak to them.

It came to me during the middle of the Great Feast.

I was hunched sourly at the staff table, regretting the tranquillity of the holidays, when I was allowed to eat my meals in solitary peace. (Well. Except for Potter)....But, really, it was most unfair, I thought, returning to my familiar grievance. Dumbledore didn't insist on Trelawney eating in the commons. He didn't make the centaur bring his haybag into the Great Hall.

Potter.

I raised my head, and found him staring at me. I gave him a repressive scowl and returned to contemplation of my plate.

Some time later, a familiar but most unwelcome voice smote my ears. "Severus, my dear..."

I groaned. Sybill Trelawney. What was she doing here? My nostrils flared as her heavy, spicy perfume assaulted my senses.

Flitwick had bustled off after the main meal. I gathered that Trelawney wanted to take his place at the table and join me for coffee. I could hardly stop her, I supposed. At least, I could...but I was fairly confident Dumbledore would not approve use of those hexes that sprang to mind.

"I felt the need to come to talk to you," she informed me dreamily, fixing me with her bulging eyes. "My Inner Sight has been probing the mysteries of the universe..."

I grunted.

"...and I have Seen matters I feel I should inform you of. It is my sacred duty." She assumed a tragic and noble expression. I sipped my coffee gloomily, and endeavoured to give her a gentle hint by ignoring her completely.

She rustled crossly. "You do not seem very interested, but what I have seen concerns you very nearly..."

Oh, for Merlin's sake. Maybe if I got her to spit out quickly, she would make my evening and go away. "What?" I snapped.

"The cards," she intoned. "I received a powerful reading, and I am sure it is for you..."

I raised an eyebrow at her. That was all the encouragement she was going to get. She seemed disappointed. What had she expected? That I would raise my hand to my brow, gasp in fevered anticipation, and declaim my undying awe of her?

"So," she said finally, with a bit of a snap. "The cards... There was the King of Swords: a dark and scathing man." She looked at me pointedly, then clearly recalled she was supposed to be in the midst of a Mystic Fog, and resumed her dreamy air. "..the Fool...reckless, naïve, blindly stepping over the precipice...the Ten of Swords, ruin....the Devil, a dark power...the Page of Swords, the cool use of logic....the Hanged Man, the sacrifice....the Star..."

She smiled at me as if she had bestowed on me some great gift. I preferred the dicta-pin. I raised my hand to where it was pinned to my robes, then recalled myself abruptly; I had become aware that the corners of my mouth were starting to lift.

A nervous twitch, I dared say.

"All right," I sighed. "What does it all mean?"

She opened her eyes even wider. "Why, Severus, I fear it means your doom approaches."

She always said that. Every time she Saw me with her Inner Eye, and Mystic Vision.

Divination. A thoroughly foolish branch of magical inquiry. You could interpret cards any way you wanted, it seemed to me...

I ran over the cards she had listed again. Different interpretations. Variant traditions. A memory wriggled in the depths of my mind.

"Thank you, Sybill," I said, for once sounding as if I might actually mean it, a gleam of triumph sparking in my eyes. She looked a little taken aback by my rather positive reaction to her reading. She would doubtless have preferred me to shrivel in horror at the thought of the dark fate in store for me. "Now if that is all..."

She got the message and drifted off in her cloud of shawls. I was breathing rather more rapidly, I realized. Now ... I needed... what did I need...

Help. I needed help. I needed somebody who could read Ancient Runes. Somebody who could keep their mouth shut. And somebody who was skilled in research.

Granger.

I needed Granger.

I allowed my gaze to rest on her bushy head, and sighed. I had spent most of the summer, it seemed, taking care of Potter, and now, I had to spend my leisure time with the Granger girl as well.

I leaned across the staff table and impaled a second year boy from Slytherin with my gaze.

"Damion!" I snarled. "Come here!"

Reluctantly, he approached the staff table, oozing fear. I wondered if someone had at some point transfigured him into a rabbit and not quite got the reversal spell correctly. "Y- yes, Professor Snape?"

"I want you to deliver a message."

Satisfied, I watched him scamper across to the Gryffindor table. I saw Granger's jaw drop. I watched Weasley square his shoulders aggressively. I watched Potter... look hurt? No.. Surely not...hurt...?

Once more, I ran through the cards Trelawney had mentioned.

The Star. She had definitely ended her recitation with that card. I knew what the Star meant.

Hope.

It meant hope.

CloudMaxwellReincarnate - Thanks lots!

OntheOtherSideofDarknessLiesLight – wow, that's nice! How do I keep my facts straight? I am a HP geek who knows the books practically by heart...

we3 - Thanks for reviews!

Rasgara –TY!

Beth5572 – TY..updated as you see...

Padawan Jan-AQ – So glad you liked it. Yes, it was a bit sad.....but....

Meggplant – ooh, another new reviewer. grins....now Hermione, she can keep a secret (Lupin, the timeturner)... Ron? Now that is different....

LeikoThananoir – thanks a lot – always great to have nice feedback.

tomfeltatonofme - me? Evil? nooooooo.........you haven't been somehow reading my chapters to come, have you?!

Read300300 – Thanks so much... I kind of enjoy the eternal youth of the internet, so I'm not telling you how old I am, but... I bet I've just had more practice!

mysticalpanther - once again... thanks lots!

ShadowedHand – hmmm...yes... some sad themes....but..mm...well! can't say anything at this point....

Alynna Lis Eachann – TY!

charlie-potter1 – yes, he is a sweetie really!

dobbiessweetie - I'm afraid I can't say at this stage where the story is going. But it is R-rated as angst/drama for 17 only, with a note in the summary that tragic consequences are a possible outcome......so readers can expect some painful and harrowing themes along the way.......That's all I can say just now. Sorry..........

Pure Black - TY

Vyxagallanxchi – Lol, don't worry about your reviews being too long....!! I worry about book 7 and who will and will not survive..sniffs.

lucidity – our brilliant Potions master is shortly to be on the case......And if there is any touching of Snape to be done...er I'll stop just about right there!

cdkobasiuk – yes, indeed.. Snape thinks it's horrid too....

athenakitty – TY..and Harry will I think find out..but when? Hmmm

crookshanks87 – TY – yes, the prophecy and its interpretation is going to be pivotal...

Lady Lynn – aw thanks.

rosiegirl – I expect it won't be long...I just can't put this story down!

snarkyroxy – Glad you are still addicted!!! I am, that's why I keep updating so quickly. The inconvenience of a full time job just does get in the way...