Disclaimer: I still don't own anything you'd recognize from HP books.


AN: Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I know I said I'd do it sooner w/shorter chapters but a lil thing called school got in the way lol. It's all over now though ...at least until August, when I will start college! I promise I'll try to work on this more during the summer :)



Chapter 20

Harry was supposed to be asleep but he couldn't. He had woken up a few minutes ago and he just stared up at the ceiling. He was in the middle of counting the tiles when he heard someone yell about having potions. Harry's eyes opened impossibly wide and he sat straight up.
'It's Snape!' he thought, He knew the voice after hearing it for three years and the potion part itself was a dead giveaway. 'Snape is here?' he thought worriedly. He cursed quietly under his breath, making Hedwig look at him disapprovingly. (just like a mum, huh?)
"It's Snape," he whispered to her and she seemed to nod her understanding. If it was possible for owls to have looks of disgust, then Hedwig definitely had it.
Harry heard Pomfrey yelling fairly softly for a minute before full-out yelling; then there was complete silence. Less than 30 seconds after that, Pomfrey was at his side, asking if she had woken him up. After he assured her that she hadn't and she finally stopped fussing, he felt a sort of tingling in the air. It seemed to almost vibrate with a spell towards him and Pomfrey. It took him less then 10 seconds to realize what it was.
"Someone is listening," he whispered to Pomfrey. A dark look covered her face and she stormed out to the front of the infirmary. The yelling that she had started before checking on him returned in full force. After a minute or two of that, the yelling stopped and he heard the Infirmary doors open and close. Harry thought the silence might be permanent but he heard Pomfrey start yelling at Dumbledore through the fireplace this time.
'I knew it was Snape,' Harry thought with a grin. He knew Madame Pomfrey would give the Potions Professor hell and that greatly improved his mood.
After hearing Pomfrey yell for five minutes, the silence seemed impossibly loud at the end of her conversation with Dumbledore.
"So sorry about that Harry," Pomfrey apologized as she made her way over to Harry.
"It's okay. You were just trying to look out for me; and it's not your fault that Snape is a spying git," Harry said with a grin.
Pomfrey should have reprimanded him for the last comment but since it was the truth, and she was so mad at Snape, that she remained silent about it. She did ask Harry about something though.
"How did you know Severus was listening in?"
Harry thought for a moment before answering. "I'm not completely sure how I knew. I saw some sort of vibrations of magic in the air aimed towards us. Somehow I knew what the spell was and the caster of it," he tried to explained.
Poppy quickly wiped the shock off of her face and just muttered "interesting" under her breath. "Well, anyways," she cleared her throat. "Professor Dumbledore is coming to see you in a few minutes."
"Actually, I'm coming to visit right now," Harry and Pomfrey heard a voice say.
"Ah, Albus, nice timing," Pomfrey said. "Too bad you missed Severus's performance though," she spat out.
"Well, from the way you described it to me, I feel like I was right there watching it with you," Dumbledore said, trying not to smile. "And don't worry; I will be talking to Severus about this later."
"Good." Pomfrey huffed. "Well, I will leave you two alone to talk." She walked back into her office, grumbling under hear breath about Snape the whole way.
"So, Harry, how are you doing?" Dumbledore asked.
"Good, Professor," Harry answered, hoping that Dumbledore would believe him.
Dumbledore stared intently at Harry before saying, "Good, good. Now onto what I came here to talk to you about."
Harry opened his mouth to say something but Dumbledore cut him off.
"I've spoken to Mrs.Weasley, and Ginny and Hermione will be coming here in two days," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling brightly.
Harry's face lit up at the thought of getting to see two of his friends but his smile soon turned into a frown when he thought about what would happen. He was planning on telling them why he was at Hogwarts, but now that he knew they were coming, he was having second thoughts
"Are you alright?" Dumbledore asked, looking Harry straight in the eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine," Harry answered, looking away.
"Just remember Harry, they're your friends and can be of great help, if you let them in," Dumbledore said seriously. He waited until Harry looked at him before smiling reassuringly at him and turning around and leaving the room.
Harry sighed, not sure of what he should do. Part of him truly wanted to tell Ginny and Hermione what was going on, but the other part was completely against it.
"My life will never be simple, will it," Harry sighed quietly and Hedwig hooted back quietly.

Two Days Later

"C'mon, girls!" Mrs.Weasley yelled up the stairs.
About ten seconds later, Ginny and Hermione both came bounding down the stairs, in quite a Ron fashion.
"Ready!" they both yelled at the same time, grinning at each other. Mrs.Weasley shook her head at both of them but was grinning herself.
Ron came bounding down the stairs right after the girls. "I still don't get why I can't come too," he whined. All three females sighed and tried not to strangle Ron. Ever since he heard about the girls 'vacation with Mrs.Granger' he had done nothing but whine about not getting to go.
"We have been over this at least a hundred times Ronald," Mrs.Weasley said. "It's a girls' vacation for your sister, Hermione, and her mother. And anyways, you were not invited by Mrs.Granger, and even if you were, I still wouldn't let you go. You may not admit it, but I know you've been helping the twins with their pranks." She glared at Ron, her silver and green eyes almost glowing, as she laughed inwardly.
"But they were trying to prank me!" Ron complained.
"Not like it'd be the first time you helped them create something that they tried to use on you," Ginny said with a smirk.
Ron's ears turned bright red as he remembered the last incident with that...
"Well, that's that," Mrs.Weasley said briskly. "Come on girls. Ron, please tell your father that we have left and I should be back late tonight. Okay then, girls, pick up some powder," she said, handing a bowl of Floo powder to them. "Hermione first, then Ginny, and I'll go last. Remember to speak clearly."
"Erm, mum," Ginny said. "Hermione's never used the Floo before."
"Oh, well, Ginny you go first dear. Hermione, all you need to do is throw some of the power into the fire, step in, and say where you want to go...and make sure to do it quite clearly. Don't want any mishaps now."
Ginny threw her powder into the fire, jumped in and yelled "Diagon Alley!" and disappeared. "Now you dear."
Hermione looked at the fireplace nervously before repeating Ginny's actions, with Mrs.Weasley right behind her.
Hermione stumbled out of the fireplace and coughed as some of the soot got caught in her throat.
"Are you okay dear?" Mrs.Weasley asked, as she stepped out of the fireplace.
Hermione just nodded as she coughed out the rest of the soot. "I'm okay," she finally said.
"Good," Mrs.Weasley said. "Would you like to do some shopping first, or head straight to Hogwarts?" she asked.
Ginny and Hermione looked at each other for a second before saying "Shopping!"

I have a little more written but not enough to where I could put it in here and have it make sense. I feel sooo bad about taking so long to post so I hope this can tide you over. Now that I have my own laptop, I can type this up in my room whenever I want so I should hopefully post more often. I'm also getting ready to post a Stargate-SG1 fanfic I've already written. So if you like that show, go read and review please! ...once it's up of course lol.

Thank you to my wonderful beta and everyone who reviewed last chapter...too lazy to go and see who all did lol.