Chapter Five

The Return of Padfoot, Booky, and Moony

Harry had a very hard time falling asleep that night. When he did, his dreams were full of Ginny dying because of a power that made her glow golden. He woke up with a gasp and cold sweat running down his face.

"Rough night?" asked Sally, looking down at him.

"More so than you can imagine." he said softly, and then got ready for school. This morning he knew that he had to have a word with Professor Dumbledore, and he wanted to do it as soon as possible.

Ron woke up and followed him down to the Great Hall. Ron looked almost exactly how Harry felt, his hair all disgruntled and sticking up in odd places. In fact, if he had black hair and a lightningbolt scar, he could have passed as Harry's twin. He had dark circles under his eyes that could have rivaled Lupin's, had Lupin been there. When Harry entered the Great Hall, Dumbledore came towards him, as though he knew that Harry wanted to talk to him.

"Why don't you and I go to my office?" asked Professor Dumbledore. "Ms. Weasley is already there waiting for you."

Harry nodded and, leaving Ron looking thoroughly purplexed, walked with Proffessor Dumbledore up to his office.

"Cockroach Cluster." he said to the gargoyle, and it jumped aside for him. They climbed onto the spiraling staircase and went up to his office.

True to what he said, Harry saw Ginny sitting in one of the more comfortable chairs before Dumbledore's desk. There were also three other people that Harry had not anticapated.

"Harry! Love, you are a sight," said a voice that he knew well and, before he could put a face to that voice, he was swept into Heather's arms and she was kissing his cheek.

"Now now, Heather. You're making Ms. Weasley a little jealous." came the bear-like voice of Sirius Black.

"You're only saying that because you're jealous that I might think he has better looks than you." she retorted in a way that made Harry certain she was joking.

"Well, you know," he said, going along with the joke, "I just can't keep the girl's off me. Isn't that right Rose?"

Ginny shook her head and said, with a very good straight face on, "I think I'd probably prefer Sirius."

It was then that Harry suddenly realized that there was someone else in the room besides Ginny, Heather, Sirius, Dumbledore and himself. He looked by the fire and suddenly cried out, "Proffesor Lupin!"

And sure enough, there he was, in all his shabbiness and simplicity. He didn't look to good, which made Harry think that he probably hadn't had that many jobs of late. Of course, being a werewolf, that really didn't surprise him. But it did make him feel bad knowing that Lupin had probably been having a rough time ever since he had left Hogwart's two years ago.

"Hello Harry. Ms. Weasley here was just telling us about her most recent nightmare. Apparently she has been having them for quite a while."

"Yes. I have no idea if they're just regular nightmares, or if Lord Voldemort is trying to destroy Rose in her sleep. I don't think that we should take this lightly either way, because he might still be after her. The attacks meant for her during the summer makes me think that someone wants to get rid of her and fast."

"You're probably right," replied Dumbledore. " And that's why we are meeting here today. We've agreed that we should have someone near her all the time to make sure that she's okay. Nothing against her of course," he said with a kind smile to Ginny. "We just want to make sure that she is safe at all times. Although Heather here was slightly against it." He added with a nod.

Harry nodded too. He knew exactly why Heather probably was against doing that to Ginny, because almost the same thing was done for her while she was in school.

"I'm sure that Sally would be willing to stay with Rose during the night, and if there is anything needed, she can get me and I will contact you immediately.

"That sounds like a plan." replied Sirius. "What do you think Ginny?"

Ginny nodded in agreement. She figured that it would probably make her feel a lot better knowing that Sally was around.

"Well," said Dumbledore, smiling slightly as Harry went over to Ginny and put a comforting arm around her, "I believe that the two of you have classes to get to. Harry, if you would please escort the lovely Ms. Weasley to her first class, and I will write the both of you a pass."

Harry looked over at Sirius, Heather, and Lupin. "What are you-"

"Meet us in Hagrid's hut at the end of your classes." whispered Heather while Dumbledore twiddled his thumbs and hummed to himself (obviously pretending not to listen) "bring Ron and Hermione and we'll explain there."

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Harry as he and Ginny exited Dumbledore's office with their passes (two feathers from Fawkes).

"Yeah. I wish I hadn't said anything. Everyone is making a huge fuss, and I'm not even sure if the nightmares mean anything. What if everyone's getting all excited over these nightmares, and that's all they are? Nightmares and not messages from old Voldie?"

"Then at least we'll know you're safe. Better to be over protected over nothing then under protected over something." Harry said wisely.

"Harry, sometimes I think you're wiser beyond your years."

"Thank you very much."

They were quiet until they stopped outside of Transfiguration, which was Ginny's first class.

"Well," said Harry, running his fingers nervously through his hair. "I guess I'll see you later." Then he slowly lowered his head and kissed her lightly, and quickly, on the lips.

"Thanks." said Ginny slightly breathless. "I probably needed that. See you later."

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione ran down to Hagrid's hut as quickly as they could to find out what was going on. They were slightly breathless as they banged on his door.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'." came a loud voice over the booming barks of Fang.

Hagrid opened the door slowly to make sure that it was them, greeted them with a hearty smile, and ushered them inside quickly before closing the door in a hurry.

"Hello everyone," said Heather kindly. "Pawn, you look terrible."

Ron still wasn't looking to good, pretty much like he had that morning. He looked disgruntledly around at Lupin, Heather and Sirius and said, "What are you doing here?"

Harry shrugged to the three of them, because they were glaring at him. "Busy day. I could hardly get a word out, so I could only tell Pawn and Books to meet us here."

"I'm glad you're here." replied Hermione to Lupin, Sirius, and Heather. "But I want to know why. I mean, I understand Sirius and Heather, but why the sudden interest in being here Professor Lupin?"

"Because of the events of last year, Professor Dumbledore thought it would be best if the people who knew the school best, besides himself, were all here making sure that every part of it was secure." answered Professor Lupin.

"Plus, who doesn't want to pass up the opportunity to bug the heck out of Snape?" said Sirius, and they all had a laugh at that.

"Harry, since I'm sure that you and Rose never had a chance to, you might want to tell Pawn and Books about the new nightmares." said Heather.

With that, Harry and Ginny went into what the nightmares were like, and how often they happened, for Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid. By the time that they had finished, they all had worried looks on their faces.

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Hermione, looking like she was going to pass out.

"I'll murder the man." murmured Ron, loud enough for everybody to hear.

"Don't be stupid, Pawn. At the moment, there's nothing that anybody can do but wait. Sally will stay with me at night to make sure that I'm okay. If there is any need for any of you, she'll come and get you." said Ginny calmly. She didn't want Ron to be all over her 24/7 making sure that she stayed out of harms way, she had had enough of that over the summer.

They all had casual talk until the bell rang for dinner, when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny turned to look at the adults.

"Out of curiousity, where are the three of you going to stay?" asked Harry.

"There a few extra rooms throughout the castle where guests are allowed to stay, without being in the way of the students." explained Professor Lupin.

They walked out of Hagrid's cabin together after Sirius put on his disguise as "Paul." Ginny held back.

"No, you all go ahead. I want to go see something." she said apologetically, as Ron and Hermione beckoned her to hurry up.

They shrugged, knowing that it was probably best just to leave her alone. Harry cast one last concerned look her way, and followed the rest of the group back up to the castle.

Ginny walked slowly across the grounds, over to where the two broken stones lay. She clutched her cloak tighter around her. It was only the start of September, but already there was a slight chill in the air that was getting ready for the fall. She looked at the Phoenix Flower that was glittering there in the last shadows of the sun. She knelt down and feltt all the pain coming out of her at once.

"Rossse?"said a small voice. Ginny turned around, wiping the tears from her eyes, to look at Sally. "What'sss wrong?"

"I just wish that I could do something. All those deaths, I want to be able to bring those little kids back to life. And I'm afraid to go to sleep now. I don't want to be the next name on the stones."

"It'sss okay dear," said Sally comfortingly as she climbed up Ginny's leg to get up to her face. "You can't help that all thossse kidsss died. And asss for you being the next name on the lissst, over my dead body. It'll turn out okay, everything alwaysss doesssss around here."

"Thanks Sal. Lets go in to eat. I have a bad feeling right now, I think somebody's watching me."

Sally nodded slightly, and Ginny slowly stood up, regaining her balance carefully, because she was still a little shaky from kneeling down for so long. Sally turned her head while Ginny was walking, and thought that she saw a cloak suddenly swish behind a tree and the profile of a body leaning against it as she looked. She did a double take, but when she looked again, the figure was gone. Still, she had an uneasy feeling that Ginny must have shared because her pace quickened. They didn't look left or right until they finally were inside the castle.

Totally sorry for not posting, I have computer problems. I promise to be more efficient in the future!!! And this is Lily, once again, pretending to be me. –Tish