Title: Harry Potter and the Staff of Slytherin

Summary: A friend of Harry's comes to visit, and with her come strange things. What does she have to do with the new events?

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter related things belong to Joanne Kathleen Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Books, Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., inc.

Rating: PG-13 for Violence, Language, and minor Sexual Content

Pairing: Harry Potter/Invented Character, Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger

Authors Note: I officially have this whole thing planned out, so I can insert mystery at will. There may be a few side stories though and I don't know where those are going. Sorry I've been so busy, but with everything going on in my life, there hasn't been time. There's been summer school, overnight camp, and a whole business of redoing myself. I am changing how my room is organized, leaving friends behind, changing nick names and how people know me, etc. It's something I've been planning to do, but now is the best time. And so because of that, I took an extremely long time making this chapter.

EMERGENCY NOTE: ANYONE WHO KNOWNS HOW TO POST THESE STORIES WITH INDENTS WITHOUT THE NEED OF SKIPPING LINES PLEASE CONTACT ME. ALSO, ANYONE WHO IS GOOD AT EDITING PLEASE CONTACT ME ABOUT BEING MY BETA! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!

Chapter 4
Too Much Information
How could he lie to her? She knew that he was a wizard, the whole wizarding world knew who he was, so why didn't she tell him the whole story? She was a witch, and from the looks of it had been one for a very long time. There was something about her he just didn't understand. Even if he hadn't seen her in a while, she still could have written.

Michelle had went to speak to Dumbledore while everyone else returned to their respective houses. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all sat together in the common room and discussed the new student.

"I think she's a fugitive," Ginny said, eyes shining in the same light as the elder Weasley twins had at the thought of excitement. "Or maybe she was too ashamed to say that she was kicked out of her previous school."

"No way Ginny," Ron said, shaking his head.

"Well something was going on," Hermione interjected in her know-it-all manner "it was her uncle that was killed. No one had heard of her uncle, so that means that he was either a muggle or a non person."

"No 'mione," the male redhead said through a mouthful of chocolate frogs "Non persons aren't able to be seen by muggles when in the wizarding world."

"Uncle Jonathan..." The group became silent. Harry hadn't spoken since dinner. "If Michelle is a witch, then Uncle Jake knew about it. Jake was her guardian."

"So Michelle has nowhere to go?" Ginny said.

"I guess not... But why did she lie to me? Why did she never tell me she was a witch? I would have accepted her!" Harry stood up, fuming with rage.

"Come on mate, even I know the answer to that one," Ron said proudly "the Dursleys wouldn't take her back."

"I wouldn't tell anyone though."

"Except us," Crookshanks came over to Hermione and jumped into her lap "I assure you that, them being the nosy prunes they are, someday would have heard it through the grapevine."

"What's that?" the two redheads said in unison.

"Muggle thing," the others replied.

---

Michelle didn't come into the common room until midnight. Harry was on the couch, pretending to be asleep, and so when Michelle saw him, she fell for the act. She went up to her dormitory and brought down a large quilt of hers, draping it over the skinny frame of "the boy who lived" before sitting beside him.

"Harry... I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything. Uncle Jake said it wasn't smart, that you wouldn't understand. In a way he's right. There's too much to tell and if I told it to you, you would hate me even more than you probably do now..." a single tear dropped down her cheek.

The frail brunette rose from beside her friend and went to go rest her tired eyes. Never would she know that Harry had heard everything she said, and forgave her more and more with every word that escaped her lips.

---

One week later, the schedules were passed out. Harry, since he was training to be an Auror, had to continue classes with his least favorite teacher, professor Snape. "Double Potions... with Slytherin."

"Aw, cheer up mate. It isn't as bad as you think," Ron said through an apple.

"Oh yea Ron? What do you have first?" Harry put his schedule away.

"Same as you, but I'm looking on the bright side. Michelle will be there."

How did he know? Michelle hadn't been seen by him all morning. "Wait a minute, when did she tell you this?"

"I was comparing classes with her earlier. She's fair game you know," a devilish grin was plastered on his face.

"All men are pigs," Hermione plopped down in the place beside Harry.

Ron turned his nose up in reply "Are not, we just like to keep our options open."

"But did you ever think about maybe being normal and not slobbering over every woman who is prettier than you, which would be all of them."

"And what about Vicky? He's such an ugly brute I'm sorry for any woman who has to look at him!"

"Don't call him Vicky, Ronald. And you used to worship him."

Harry rolled his eyes "Get a room you two." With that, he stood up and walked out of the great hall. If he was going to take potions, he might as well give it a fresh start.

He stood by the entrance to Snape's classroom in the dungeons. As he waited, he saw Snape coming down the hall with another person's arm laced within hisown. Harry stood a little out of sight, just able to see who Snape's companion was. When the light caught the other person's face, the person revealed to be "flirting" with Snape was none other than the missing mystery girl, Michelle.

"Michelle, I want you to be careful."

"But Sevvy-"

"Don't 'but Sevvy' me. I don't want to see you get hurt. I was there to witness what remained of his body. I don't want to see that happening to you," that was the most amount of concern Harry had ever heard come from Snape. Then again, he had never seen Snape look concerned. And since when had anyone called Snape the sinister "Sevvy"?

"It wont Sev, you know it wont. I can't get hurt."

"The overconfident are the first to fall."

"And the worrywarts die for them. Stop acting like a mother hen. I have to have a class with you next and students will start arriving soon. If they see you like this they will no longer fear you."

"Or respect me."

"Dude, they never respected you."

Snape chuckled and then they both walked into the potions classroom.

Harry cringed. Snape did sound very much like Mrs. Weasley, all worrisome. It was disturbing. Why was Snape acting like that around her? Were they dating? Harry cringed again. Too many things were happening for his brain to process. So he entered the potions room.

"Mr. Potter, I see you have decided to trouble us more by coming on time. I think I am in shock," Snape awaited eye contact, hoping to give Potter one of his signature glares.

But Harry couldn't look him in the eye.