Chapter Six:

"Sit."

Dumbledore said it politely, but Harry knew he had no choice to begin with so he sat in the chair on the other side of Dumbledore's desk.

"I wanted to speak to you because I thought you would have many questions concerning what I have just said to the school." When Harry said nothing Dumbledore continued to talk. "I realize I do not have your complete trust, nor do I ever think I will, but I am going to attempt to be completely open with you, Harry. Of course, there are certain things such as Order business that I am forced to not tell you. I am speaking of classified information. Otherwise I will be open with you, because I feel that you were correct in stating that you have a right to know. How does that sound to you?"

"Good," Harry said simply.

"Good," Dumbledore repeated. "I am sure you would like to know about Remus?"

Harry nodded.

"I regret to inform you that there has been no news. The Order members are doing everything they possibly can to-"

"Snape. Why Snape?"

"Professor Snape is one of the most trusted members of the Order of the Phoenix. I trust him with my life."

Harry gaped at Dumbledore, "you've got to be kidding me."

"Oh, I can assure you that I am not. The truth of the matter is that we do not have many members to begin with. Voldemort's followers are much greater in number compared to the Order. That is why Professor Snape was instructed to go on this mission with our newest members."

"How many new members are there?" Harry asked.

"Three. I cannot say who they are, for they wish to remain anonymous for the time being. But I can assure you that they have potential and are some of the best witches and wizards. While Remus's fate is looking grim, it is not set in stone. He will be found."

"Alive? " Harry's voice cracked.

Dumbledore lowered his head and looked at Harry from the top of his spectacles.

"I hope Harry, but you know I cannot promise."

Harry nodded. He was surprised that his anger had not taken over yet. So far this conversation was going as well as it could possibly go.

"Harry, I am thrilled you are not angry yet, but I must warn you that this will not last much longer."

Was Dumbledore reading his mind?

"Is this about Occulemency?"

"We do have to discuss that in the near future, but no it is not. This is about your Quidditch ban."

Harry's heart skipped a beat.

"I can play, can't I?"

Dumbledore sighed and leaned back slightly in his chair, "No, I am afraid not." He closed his eyes, waiting for an outburst from the boy. None came.

Harry's breath came out in gasps as he struggled to keep the forming tears in his eyes from flooding out.

"What...what do you mean I can't, Professor?"

Dumbledore opened his eyes, which were suddenly very interested in his gnarled knuckles.

"I have tried, Harry, but the Ministry refuses to lift the ban. I am sorry. I am very sorry."

"But...but why?" Harry tried to keep his jaw from quivering.

"Minister Fudge feels that under these...circumstances it is best that you do not play."

"Circumstances? WHAT circumstances?" Harry stood up. His anger had flared.

Dumbledore looked grief-stricken, but did not bother to ask Harry to sit. This was something he would allow the boy to be angry over.

"He feels that it is a hazard to let you play."

Harry raised his voice, "A hazard! Oh, I get it! He thinks I'm crazy! He thinks I'm mental! And he's going to get the rest of the wizarding world believing that all over again!"

"You are not mental, I can assure you."

Harry closed his eyes and let a sigh escape threw his teeth.

"Sometimes I'm not so sure. Maybe I am."

Now Dumbledore stood, and looked at Harry. Harry's eyes were almost level with his own. Harry had grown considerably over the summer, though he was still quite thin. Dumbledore had also just noticed an uncanny combination of James and Sirius in the boy, though his mother's eyes still peered through his glasses.

"The only one who is mental is the twit we have for a minister."

Harry could not help but give a snort of laughter. Dumbledore also broke out into a smile.

"Unless you have anything else you would like to talk about, you may go. I am sure your friends are beginning to worry."

"Thanks, Professor." Harry said solemnly. His smile had faded and was replaced with sadness. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Harry, and keep in mind that I will do my beset to lift the ban. You will play seeker for Gryfindor again."

Harry simply nodded and walked out of Dumbledore's office. The spiral staircase hummed softly as it took Harry further away from the Headmaster's office. He did not know why, but he had believed Dumbledore's words. Believed them, but did not trust for them to lead to truth.

The next morning the students received their time tables at breakfast. Ron looked down happily at his.

"No potions! This year is going to be great!" He leaned over to look at Harry's. "Sorry, mate."

"No, I need this. I chose this." Harry still could not help but feel like he had made a mistake.

"Double Advanced Potions will come in handy," Hermione said. "And we do have Care of Magical Creatures together."

Harry smiled at this.

"Herbology is with the Hufflepuffs," Harry pointed out.

"Ancient Runes with Ravenclaw."

"Why do you bother with that class anyway?" Ron asked after swallowing the last bit of his pumpkin juice.

"Why do you bother with Divination then?"

"I...it can be useful." Ron scrunched his eyebrows and frowned."

Hermione snorted into her omelette.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I've made up little schedules for this week since we have a free slot where there is Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Harry and Ron groaned.

" Sorry, 'Mione, but I've already made plans," Ron said.

"Yea, me too," Harry quickly added.

Hermione scowled, "you two are hopeless."

With that she grabbed her books and left the Great Hall. Ron shrugged and reached for her uneaten blueberry muffin.

After a grueling double lesson with Snape, Hermione and Harry walked to meet Ron down at Hagrid's hut for their Care of Magical Creatures lesson, which they shared with Ravenclaw.

"How did it go?" Ron asked.

"Awful!" Harry said.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to bump into you," Hermione said in a not-so-reassuring voice.

"You know, Hermione, as well as I do that he purposely did that to make me drop my vial."

"Sorry I asked..." Ron moved to the front of the group of students. No sooner had he done this had Hagrid come out from the back of his hut with a large box covered in a black tarp. The box was shaking violently and a rattling noise could be heard from the inside.

" 'Lo there everyone! 'Ave a good summer?"

The students closest to him moved back as Hagrid set down the box.

"Got a real nice treat for yeh today. I 'ave had the opportunity to get me hands on a new batch of Sneezles."

"Of what?" a wary student in the front asked.

"Sneezles." Hagrid repeated. He looked around at his class, all who bore similar expressions of confusion. " 'aven't any of yeh heard of Sneezles?"

They all shook their heads.

"Geez, been livin' under rocks, yeh lot. These are Sneezles." He lifted off the black tarp and exposed this creatures in the box to the outside air.

"They look like snakes." Hermione stated.

"Ah, so they do. I'm surprised yeh've never seen one, 'Mione. They're a distant relative of the snake, but very different. For one they're not looked down upon as bein' evil like snakes are."

Harry gave an inaudible sigh of relief at this.

"I'll be teachin' yeh how to raise them, and in the spring we can extract their venom for Madam Pomfrey. For today's lesson I just want yeh to read pages 73-79 in yer text books. There's a passage that describes how to handle 'em, and their uses. After yeh've done that yeh can answer questions one though seven. Now get to work."

There was a brief sound of the flipping of pages as the students searched for their assignment. The rest of the lesson was spent in silence as they read about Sneezles. In the middle of his assignment, Harry looked up at Hagrid. He smiled and Harry nodded in return. After class ended, Ron and Hermione began to walk up to the castle for lunch.

"Harry, you coming?"

"I'll meet up with you two in the Great Hall. I just have to do something really fast."

His friends nodded, and Ron made a dash for the school, eager to eat.

"Hey there, 'Arry. How 'ave yeh been?"

"Oh...better. Listen, Hagrid, I just wanted to uh...to apologize for being such a-"

Hagrid waved his hand, "nah, don't worry 'bout it. I understand yeh were grievin'. Yeh doin' ok now?"

"Better," Harry said, hoping he sounded convincing.

"I 'spose yeh don' wanna drop in for some tea an' rock cakes sometime? Bring yer friends if yeh like."

"Thanks, Hagrid. I think I will."

"Oh, an'," Hagrid lowered his voice a bit, "if yeh wanna talk 'bout anythin' I'm always 'ere."

"Yea, thanks Hagrid. I appreciate it."

Hagrid smiled down at Harry. The giant said goodbye, and hoisted the box of Sneezles over his shoulder. He began to hum as he carried them to the back of his hut. With a sigh Harry began to walk up to the school.

"There you are, mate. You would not believe who came by asking for you," Ron swallowed his food.

"Who?"

"Luna Lovegood," he said.

"Luna..." Harry's thoughts drifted to the last conversation he had with her before the summer had begun.

"Yea, imagine that," Ron saw the look on Harry's face. "Hey, wait a minute. There isn't anything going on between you is there?"

"What?" Harry was brought back into present time. "No, of course not! I mean, no."

Ron shrugged, "just had a funny look in your eyes, that's all."

"Sit, Harry," Hermione made room for him at the table.

Harry hesitated, "I'd rather not. I should go see what Luna wanted."

"Harry, you're thin enough as it is. Sit and eat. You can talk to Luna later," Hermione said sternly.

"Look, I'll grab something on the way." Harry reached for a roll and buttered it sloppily. "Now, I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I'll see you in the common room." With that Harry dashed off in search for Luna.

"What is with him?" Ron shook his head in disbelief.

"Luna!" Harry ran up to a table Luna was sitting at in the library. He was out of breath.

"SHHH!" the librarian hissed at Harry.

He looked over at the old woman briefly and then quickly shifted his gaze to a solemn Luna, who was reading a book on the myths of the Cotton Fairy.

"Luna, I heard you were looking for me?"

"Oh, yes. Hello Harry," she said quietly.

"Is something wrong?"

Luna sighed and propped her head up with her right hand.

"No, Harry. I just thought you would want to talk."

Harry grabbed the chair across from her and sat down.

"About?"

"About..." Luna trailed off. She leaned her head against her left hand now. "About....things..."

"Luna, what's bothering you?" Harry felt uncomfortable at her unusual behavior. While she was never completely direct, the care-free part of her seemed to be completely gone. He always found her to be intimidating at times, with her strange outlook on life. Now that she was acting so serious he found her to be absolutely unbearable. "Luna! What is wrong with you?"

"SHHH!"

"Sorry!" Harry muttered harshly. "Luna," he said softer, "something is wrong and I want to know what."

"Why do you care?" For the first time in the conversation she lifted her gaze from her book and looked into Harry's eyes. He could see a slight hint of tears behind her deep-sea blue eyes.

"Because what happened at the Department of Mysteries turned you into a good friend. I know that, as well as you do."

"Fine." She stood up so suddenly she startled Harry. "But not here. I want to talk somewhere else."

"Where?" Harry asked.

"The Room of Requirement. Come on, let's go." She closed her book with a thud, and walked out of the library. A puzzled Harry followed.

The Room of Requirement looked completely different from what they had used for their DA meetings. Two purple recliners sat across from each other. Between the chairs stood a coffee table decorated with a white satin cloth. Upon the table stood two mugs of hot cocoa and a plate of biscuits. A fireplace was on the left wall of the room, where it stood unlit but loaded with wood.

"So I guess it really does change every time." Luna said with a faraway look of sadness in her eyes.

"Yea, I suppose so. Er...let's sit then." Harry grabbed a biscuit and sat in one of the recliners. Luna did the same, but sat as ridged as a board.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I did not mean to detain you from any personal tasks you might have."

"It's ok. I've got a free time slot after lunch anyway. Now, what is this all about."

"I know your friend is gone, Harry."

"Remus? How do you know?"

"Because..." Luna paused as if trying to find the right words to say. "I know because my mother became a very good friend of his before she died."

"She knew Remus? How?"

Luna swallowed the lump in her throat, "she died trying to cure him. He was my father's second cousin. After your parents died and your godfather was convicted of their murder, my father became something of a best friend to him. Of course, after Remus almost bit me when I was three when he had no Wolfsbane, my father became angry at him. They have not spoken since. My mother, on the other hand, saw it as a reason to help him. So she spent six years researching a powerful ancient spell that could cure him of his affliction. That spell went horribly wrong..."

Harry sat there, stunned. When he did not speak Luna continued to talk. Tears were now spilling onto her pale cheeks.

"I am named in his honor, you know. Luna means moon, and Remus is...Harry, I want to find him. I want to find him so I can help him just like my mother tried to. I want to finish her work, Harry. Harry?"

Harry slowly unhinged his jaw and said in almost a whisper, "Luna, I think we should do this together."

"I knew you would understand!" A huge smile erupted from Luna's face as she threw herself at Harry. Her arms wrapped around his neck and engulfed him into a hug. Harry awkwardly patted her back.

"Would it be ok if we didn't mention this to anyone for the time being? At least until we know more about it, that is."

Luna nodded. "I do not know what to do yet, but I am sure we can think of something."

Harry smiled at her. Inside he was swarming with emotions. He was scared for Remus, shocked at Luna's confession, and wrapped in excitement. With the help of the most unlikely person he would get Remus back. He would show Dumbledore how it was done. Not with spies and wizards new to the Order, but with the love of two teens who shared the same fiery determination their parents had left them.

A/N: I just didn't know where to stop in this chapter. I changed around the end of it so much and finally decided to combine part of chapter seven and put it into six. I really hope Hagrid's dialogue went well...I am certainly no expert on Scottish accents. I got the idea for Luna's part in the story yesterday. Let me know what you think.