Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one). Also, Maleficent (who is mentioned in this particular chapter as a reference) is a trademark of Disney Inc. and is mentioned here only in passing with no intention of claiming ownership or any form of monetary gain.

Chapter 17: The Basilisk of Randomness

Ernie and Harry reached the Room of Requirement with just as little trouble from the staff as when they were headed to Dumbledore's office. The room they got was quite cozy and appeared to be very private as well. Harry was sure that the room misread their intentions when they said they needed a room where they could talk in private. Yes it was certainly a room where one could talk in private, and snog and do all sorts of other things that he and Ernie had no intention of doing together

In the center of the room was a king sized bed made of satin which was shaped like a heart, and the entire room was a bright shade of pink. There were chairs that felt like they were covered in silk and on the wall was a bunch of random paraphernalia. Only some of which Harry knew what it did. Harry was surprised that such a room existed in a school. When he looked at Ernie he looked just as baffled as Harry felt.

"You didn't have any other intention when you brought be here right?" Ernie asked, in a rather wierded out tone.

"No…did you?" Harry asked sarcastically, he was certain that this was a random fluke. He was certain Ernie was not like Seamus, but even if he was he wouldn't have cared and this hardly seemed his style anyway. Apparently the room took some creative license when one wasn't very clear on what he needed. He would have to ask Hermione if she knew who had made that room. It was very curious to him.

They both decided in that split second to leave and ask the room again for what they needed, and a bit clearer this time. What they got was a lot more what they intended originally. It was merely an empty room with two comfortable chairs and a couch. It actually looked quite a bit like the Gryffindor common room, but without the red. It even had a fireplace. Ernie sat down on one of the chairs and Harry sprawled himself lazily on the couch. They both stared at each other for a while. Harry wasn't sure why, because of the awkward conversation they had had in the hall or the awkward moment they had had with the pink room.

Eventually Harry spoke, "Ernie…do you think you could be one of Slytherin's heirs?" He asked timidly.

Ernie shrugged, "I don't know, there is no way to tell is there?" He said, "I do know that I have wizarding blood as far as my family can count back generations but that is only ten or twelve of them, which may seem like a lot but is nowhere near a thousand years worth."

"But you are a parselmouth and so it is likely that…" Ernie looked angry all of a sudden.

"You see, that's the problem, one wizard who happens to be a parselmouth ruins it for everyone and of course because of the community's obsession with blood it suddenly means that everyone who is a parselmouth MUST be related to this person. Anyone who actually studied parseltongue would know that is totally not the case however." Ernie said.

"For one being a parselmouth has absolutely nothing to do with one's ancestry. Neither of my parents are parselmouths and no one in the family other than myself in all the twelve generations was a parselmouth either. They wondered where it came from. My parents at first were scared of me. It really sucked, what's a five year old supposed to think when his parents are scared of something he has been able to do his entire life? They hadn't explained to me what it meant at that point because they hardly thought it relevant to a child." Ernie sighed as he said this. The memories were obviously painful ones that he would just as soon forget. Harry could almost see the energy draining out of the boy as he spoke. Harry had memories like that, so he understood. He found he understood his friends a lot better lately, even Hermione.

"After getting over the fact that I could talk to snakes, which took a few months, they realized that I wasn't automatically a dark wizard because of it. I was scared for those months. They kept me in the dark then. After that they told me what I was, and explained to me what that was supposed to mean. I didn't really understand at the time, but it really didn't matter because both my parents were determined after that to get the real truth about parseltongue. So we contacted Arthur Weasley who we knew worked in the ministry. Of course you know him, he was well known for being a klutz and a muggle lover but he was also known for being open minded and willing to accept things and listen to them. He used a few of his contacts who were unmentionables to learn the real truth about parseltongue. After that we no longer feared it, instead we feared what the rest of the wizarding world would think of it. It was then that I started hiding what I was, with that event in our second year only reinforcing that note."

Ernie's angry expression got harder as he almost yelled, "But it is horrible what people think! That all parselmouths must be related to Slytherin! So he was a parselmouth, so what? There were parselmouths before him and there will be parselmouths after us! If all parselmouths were Slytherins then wouldn't they be called Slytherins instead of parselmouths? It's sick really. It is this reason more that anything that made my parents think twice about what wizarding blood means. While they weren't death eater potential they weren't very fond of muggle born wizards, and they liked half bloods even worse. But after learning more about how parselmouth didn't follow bloodlines they figured that blood couldn't matter nearly as much as many wizards claim it does."

He then sighed exhaustedly. "And yet, even knowing that I can't bear to face what people would think of me if they found out. I have worked too hard for too much to lose it all. Others do not know all of this…how does one deal with other's ignorance?" He asked, obviously rhetorically.

Harry just shrugged but then said, "Whatever the case is I do think you should tell Justin and Hannah about this. They are your friends and I doubt after all that our particular year has seen that they would turn their backs on you." Harry would have never said that a year ago, I'm getting a lot more profound aren't I? Maybe Hermione is beginning to rub off on me? Next thing I know I'll actually ENJOY doing homework…Naw, never gonna happen.

"I'll think about it but I probably won't. Oh and thanks again Harry. I know I can be an arrogant git sometimes."

Harry laughed and said, "Oh but of course! But it just wouldn't be you without that though. You becoming perfectly nice all of a sudden would be like Hermione becoming stupid or Ron losing his appetite." With that they both laughed and left the room, having talked through all they wanted to talk about in private. When they got to dinner, for it was that time when they actually bothered to go somewhere important in their random wanderings talking about who knows what, they both seemed a lot less agitated. Ron, Hermione and Seamus looked at him funnily. He just told them that he and Ernie had something important to discuss and left it at that.

The rest of the day was very dull. Potion's class was essentially pointless. Almost everyone had failed the polyjuice assignment (not even the Slytherins had used their potions or written the essay) and thus Snape spent the entire time brooding at them while they made what had to be the simplest NEWT potion yet. It was so simple that even with Neville's nervous jitters he and Harry had managed to get the potion done. It felt odd working with Neville again after a month of doing very little work in the class. He could see that Neville was doing much better around Snape, not as much better as he had hoped. But like with Blaise he was managing to not ruin the potion they were making, even if Harry had to stop him form making a few mistakes. This potion that they were making was the skeleton regrowing potion that Harry had taken his second year. And it was so simple that he had no idea why it was a NEWT level potion. It didn't require any particularly odd or hard to get ingredients and only a few of them needed to be added carefully and "carefully" in this case generally simply meant while stirring. The only ingredient which was remotely out there was crushed human bone, but that wasn't exactly unexpected when you thought about what the potion did. Actually, Snape had told them. It required the bones of whatever animal it was supposed to be used on. But all and all Harry was bored the entire time.

Of course this meant that he spent a lot more time looking around the room at the other pairs then actually paying attention to the potion. He found that that was equally boring however as no one was doing anything particularly interesting. Hermione was doing the potions while Pansy sat there filing her nails as usual. Wesley and Blaise were having their generally happy looking conversation. Justin and Malfoy were yet again fighting over how the potion was supposed to be made. They had fought over every potion to date and of course had somehow managed to ruin every single one of them. He was certain that Malfoy was just trying to get Justin in trouble as he was certain that he knew what he was talking about. If Malfoy was good at any class it was potions, of course being Snape's favorite student helped, but as far as Harry could remember, Malfoy had always done the potions correctly. Of course he never knew if Justin did them right as he had always had double potions with the Slytherins. But he was certain that in this case Justin knew exactly what he was doing, as he seemed to wherever healing was involved. He decided that their squabble, as expected and common as it was, was the most interesting thing going on and so he watched them for the remainder of the entire class.

He was so happy to be out of that class that he barely noticed Lunch and so before he knew it he was headed to their defense against the dark arts class with his friends from the DA who were going on about professor Saren's demonstration and wondering what the blind Psionics professor could possibly demonstrate in a defense class. Of course Harry and the other members of the class knew the man better than any of the other students and at this point nothing would surprise him. After all he was the only professor Harry had ever seen levitate without a broom, and the only one he had ever seen balance a wand point down on the tip of his nose.

When they got to class a few students waved at Leon, Harry found this rather amusing as he knew for a fact that even if Leon was perceptive he wasn't SO perceptive that he would notice a wave coming his way. So he and the other members of the class yelled hi to him above the ruckus. He waved in response in their general direction. Harry noticed that he wasn't holding his wand instead it was latched to his right wrist and attached to his back was a fairly long but thin ornate silver sword in a rather nice looking sheath. Harry didn't recognize it. It certainly wasn't one of the swords hanging on the wall of his classroom.

It wasn't only he who was curious of what Leon was going to do. Although he was certain that the people in his class were more curious then those who weren't, after all if he didn't know the man he would probably assume he was simply a blind man and leave it at that. The people in his class would know better.

When people quieted down Leon faced Tonks and said "So shall we begin?"

Tonks nodded excitedly. Leon drew the sword, which looked to be entirely made of some silver like substance but Harry couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. What happened next was only slightly less than amazing. Tonks drew her wand and cast a volley of different charms and curses his direction at slightly different angles, and he blocked or deflected every single one with the sword. Some of Leon's movements were so fast that they reminded him of the way Kingsley was casting curses in the department of mysteries. He felt a ping of anger at this but let it go through him and in an instant it was gone. They finished by bowing to each other in what Harry thought was a very oriental manner before they booth turned to face a mostly stunned room.

Malfoy was the first to respond. "That's impossible! You aren't really blind are you?" He accused of Leon.

Harry suddenly felt his anger burst at this apparently it hadn't gone from him as much as he thought it had. He found himself jumping up out of his seat to the surprise of everyone and walking back to where Malfoy and the Slytherins besides Blaise were sitting. No one tried to stop him.

"What are you up to Pot…" Harry cut him off by grabbing his robe.

"I can't believe you would accuse a man of pretending to be blind! I might remind you that there are a few things I know about you that could vastly change how you are seen in your own house! About the summer…" Harry stared into Malfoy's eyes with such anger that the boy seemed to be even more scared then he was.

Vincent and Gregory had not stepped up to help him this time, of which everyone in the room seemed to be aware. They looked frightened, but if they looked frightened Malfoy looked terrified. Harry dropped him and felt his anger begin to wane. In the wake of his emotion, when he seemed to get his best ideas he had yet another strike of brilliance. He, in front of everyone pulled out two of the fake galleons and tossed them over Malfoy's head to Vincent and Gregory.

If everyone had been shocked before they were certainly shocked now. Harry imagined the DA members were more shocked though as they would of course know exactly what that meant. T everyone else it would simply look like he handed Vincent and Gregory each a galleon for virtually no reason. Vincent and Gregory looked just as shocked at this as everyone else. "Don't spend those, I'll tell you what they are about after class." This did nothing to alleviate their shock but they both nodded. He turned to face Malfoy again. "You may get one when you stop being such a git!" He said and then he turned to face the rest of the room.

Everyone looked pretty much how he expected them to look. All of the students who were not in the DA had totally perplexed expressions on their faces. They looked totally lost. The DA members with very few notable exceptions looked totally shocked and somewhat angry. Blaise was intrigued but didn't look all that surprised. After all he already knew that Malfoy was at his house all summer. Padma was much like Blaise as was Justin, who obviously knew about the summer as well. Hermione was actually smiling with a mischievous glint in her eyes that Harry had only noticed there recently and Ron was obviously annoyed but didn't look like he would say anything. Tonks and Leon were just standing in their previous positions smiling. Wesley just looked totally lost as to what was going on.

When he got back to his seat Hermione was the first one to talk. "Brilliant! Just brilliant!" She said, "Cutting him off from both his protectors in one fell swoop and getting us two more Slytherins at that!" She said to him excitedly. No one else understood at all what was going on. Zacharias Smith looked like he wanted to say something but apparently he didn't have the audacity to say it in class. But Harry was certain that the next DA meeting, which happened to be that evening, would be very interesting.

After all the commotion calmed down, which took another ten minutes or so. Leon responded to Malfoy's comments. "Well, I see you like so many others do not se how a blind man could do that. Now I could prove to you and everyone else in here Mr. Malfoy that I am in fact blind simply by removing my blindfold…"

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Seamus immediately stood up. "I don't think that's a good idea." Hermione said at the same time that Seamus said, "D, d, don't." and Ron said, "If you do may we be excused?" and Harry said. "Trust us you do NOT want to see that."

Leon smiled and Tonks said, "AH! But it would be so perfectly timed!" Harry was certain she wanted to see Malfoy quiver as she seemed to be targeting him since the beginning of the year.

Leon on the other hand nodded. "Of course I only said I could. But this is not place for that, if you want to see what my eyes look like then please see me after class." There was a smirk on Leon's face that looked rather like Fred's. It looked out of place there. He then continued as if this long interruption had never happened. "Both me and Tonks wanted to show you that a weakness is only a weakness as long as you cannot either get over that weakness or turn it into a strength." He showed the sword to the class. "Normally speaking it would be impossible for a blind man to anticipate one curse let alone that many, as curses do not trigger any sense besides hearing and sight until it is much too late to avoid them. Many curses don't have any sound at all besides the incantation and those that do generally do not give one enough time to evade them through sound alone. However this sword, which I acquired from a friend, is specifically designed for blind witches and wizards, which are rare but not unheard of. What the enchantments do is make the object vibrate in varying ways based on where a curse is, how fast it is and whether the weapon has a built in countercurse or not. The weapon has countercurses cast into it for some of the most common curses specifically ones that can break objects. And of course it can be used to block any curse that has little or no effect on non living things, such as the killing curse." Again Wesley looked like he wanted to say something about that but he didn't.

"Actually, even though I am referring to it as a weapon, these enchantments can be put into any object as long as it is plated with silver, and in fact are more commonly put into blind man's canes then anything else." He sheathed the sword, "The point is that most so called 'handicaps' can be removed or taken advantage of by one with the right knowledge, equipment, or both. And that an opponent's advantage may only be an advantage because of your point of view not because they are actually more likely to win, assuming that you use everything at your disposal."

Tonks cut in at this point, "Unfortunately, British Wizards are not known for their dueling ability world wide because of the fact that rarely have we actually done this in the past. Being caught up in our own history, some of us forget that anything else exists. Examples of this are the fact that many of use are too dignified to ever roll on the ground to evade a spell," she looked directly at Malfoy as she said this, "and even more do not consider that many of the spells that we judge to be charms are actually more useful in a duel than most curses are."

Harry knew from experience that this was correct. He had never really been that impressed with any of the Death Eaters he had seen's dueling abilities. If he had been he probably wouldn't be alive today to tell about it as he and his friends had always been outnumbered and out cursed and had yet somehow survived where many death eaters had not. He had grown up in a situation where dignity wasn't even a factor and so he never thought twice about doing something which others might find undignified. He would have to remember that for later. Even if many of the more stuck up Wizards in Britain were not known for dueling, he would make sure that he and all the members of the DA were. He completely agreed with Tonks in this respect. Not that he usually disagreed with the odd woman.

After that Leon nodded and then left the room. The rest of the class was aptly spent working on summoning and banishing charms. Tonks said that these are some of the most important spells to remember when in a duel.

Right before class was about to end Harry went over to where Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory were working, theoretically with Pansy, although in truth she was simply sitting there absentmindedly twirling her hair.

"What do you want Potter?" Malfoy said in the same voice he always used.

Harry would have nothing of it, "Oh shut it you know as much as I do that your threats are meaningless. And even if they weren't I am beyond caring about what you have to say. I have to speak with Vincent and Gregory in private and I will wait around however long it takes me to get that." Malfoy gave them the patented stare of his that said "follow me or else" of course after the summer it had as little effect scaring Vincent and Gregory as it did angering Harry. And when he got no response out of them whatsoever he stormed off, obviously angry at yet again not getting his way.

"Thanks Harry, glad someone besides that git finally showed some interest in us." Vincent said. Gregory nodded his ascent.

"Well…I think you might want to try avoiding hanging out with him, I suppose you were following him around just because you had nowhere else to be?" They both nodded.

Vincent then pulled out the galleon and stared at it. "Why should we not spend this? It looks like a normal galleon to me." He asked.

"Yeah," Gregory added, pulling his own out of his pocket.

Harry smiled before magically changing the numbers on the galleon, of course to the same thing they were before. He wasn't changing the meeting time, just showing them how it worked. Both of them jumped as their galleons got warmer.

"What the!" Gregory started but Harry cut him off.

"Look at the serial number. It should have changed into a time and date, actually today right after dinner." They both looked at it with surprised looks on their faces. "This is the time communicator for a defense against the dark arts club we made last year while Umbridge was busy not teaching."

Vincent looked worried. "You don't mean us go tonight? Draco would kill us."

"The others in this group too." Gregory said.

"Don't worry about Malfoy, remember his father has no power over him now, and if you join this group then he will have lost his only hold on you, the fact that you are friends with no on else."

"We don't have any friends. Well, each other." Vincent said.

"Yeah, even Draco…" Gregory said.

Harry thought for a moment. "Talk to Blaise then, he is a member. And I know that he would keep you company. He has already told me that he doesn't think you're that bad when Malfoy's not around. And with him you wouldn't even have to worry about Malfoy threatening you while you're in your dorm."

Both Vincent and Gregory looked rather relieved. "Thanks." Vincent said.

"Yeah, thanks." Gregory said before heading off towards the great hall and dinner.

Harry turned around to see Ron and Hermione standing by the door. Hermione spoke first. "How did it go?" She asked.

"Well, it looks like they are going to come, and at least even if they don't they seem excited to talk to Blaise and get away from Malfoy. It really does seem like the only reason they were in fact Malfoy's bodyguards for so long was fear."

"Yeah I suspected that as well while we were hanging out during the summer." Hermione said, "Especially after Vincent asked me for help on his NEWT work."

Ron looked unconvinced but didn't say anything about it, instead he said, "Well let's go get dinner shall we? I'm starving!" His stomach then grumbled rather loudly as if to prove his point.

Harry and Hermione just laughed and turned towards the great hall. "Hey that is not funny! I'm a growing boy and…" Harry and Hermione looked up at him skeptically, "Ok so maybe not. But I still need a lot of food, gotta keep this frame standing somehow." He then stood as tall as he could without standing on his tiptoes. Harry thought again how amazing it was how tall Ron had gotten. He was now easily the tallest Weasley. But of course he didn't say anything and just continued to laugh as they headed off towards the great hall.

When they got there, there was complete silence. When Harry looked he saw why. Not only was Blaise chatting with the Bloody Baron but Vincent and Gregory were sitting across from them and were talking every so often as well. Now this wasn't what was doing it though. Malfoy was continually trying to get their attention but was being thoroughly ignored by the three students. If he ever got close the Baron would look as him menacingly which caused him to back away before falling into the happy chitchat again. When this would happen Blaise would just look at him with a blank expression on his face except for one raised eyebrow as if to say "why are you even bothering?" After about ten minutes of this, Malfoy just gave up and it Harry could almost feel the relief from Vincent and Gregory. He still wasn't sure if he would end up friends with them after all they still didn't seem very likeable to him. But at least they still weren't enemies and Malfoy was at last on his own, and finally seemed to realize it as well.

Now would come the hardest part. He had gotten them away form Malfoy of that he was certain. After a while Blaise had been grudgingly accepted. But this was different. No one in the group had any personal reason to dislike the boy. This time it was Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Malfoy's cronies. Who had stood by him and even helped him terrorize the rest of the school. IN this case he couldn't help but think that any complaints would be justified. But he also knew that he had to remain steadfast. He knew that he needed allies and that liking them was not a requirement. Blaise walked up to him followed by Vincent and Gregory, and to Harry's astonishment, the Bloody Baron.

"Well?" The baron said, "I am curious to see this club of yours." Harry had not heard him speak before and it sounded to him like what he might imagine a male Maleficent's voice to sound. It was gruff and powerful and despite the words he used his statement sounded more like an order than a curiosity.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to show you." Harry responded although he was sure his voice gave away the thought that it could very much hurt to show him. In truth he was too terrified of what might happen to him if he didn't show the ghost what he wanted to see to think clearly about what might happen if he did. Blaise seemed totally unaffected by his scary demeanor and the blood covered body. Harry was a little bolstered because of this but not much. He found he was bolstered enough at least to ask a simple question, a mild curiosity that had been bugging him for most of the year. "I'm mainly curious…" Harry trailed off, the baron did not seem affronted by his speaking to him, so Harry continued. "Where is Nearly Headless Nick?"

"He prefers to be called Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington." The baron responded in a tone which was not to be questioned.

"Right," Harry answered rather pathetically. The baron took no notice.

"As for where he is, all I know is that he, as well as the other ghosts are off doing something for the headmaster." The Baron's mouth then curled into a grimace that Harry thought was supposed to be a smile. In fact he thought it might just look like a smile from where he sat in the great hall. The time the baron had waved at him came into his memory and he shuddered again. "Peeves is locked away, and I will let him out when I see fit." The way he said that made it sound rather ominous and for the first time he felt himself feeling true pity for the poltergeist. Wherever the Bloody Baron would lock one away was a place he thought no one deserved to be.

"The headmaster thought it would be best for me to stay here, something about me not being a very good sight." His grimace grew wider. "I obligingly agree, besides I like it here." He then flew right through Harry and the familiar feeling of a chill going through him simply added to the terrified chills he was already feeling. The baron laughed, he seemed to get pleasure out of Harry's fear. He looked at Blaise who had a happy smile on his face. He didn't see how the boy could stand him.

The baron then left hi to talk with Blaise and Harry realized that his demeanor was totally different when speaking with the boy. He still gave Harry the creeps but it seemed to him that other than being scary the Baron seemed quite harmless. Not wanting to test that in any way however he decided to keep his distance. And so he lead the four of them towards the third floor corridor where the meeting what scheduled to be. He noticed that Vincent and Gregory had been silent thought the entire thing, they both looked more frightened then he had ever seen them. He would have liked to think it was the baron that was scaring them, like him. But he knew that it was the prospect of what could happen to them at the meeting as they hadn't seemed particularly frightened of the baron at the table.

When they got to the ladder Harry wasn't sure he wanted to go through with this. He looked at Gregory and Vincent. It was obvious that they didn't want to go through with it either. He then looked at Blaise who prodded him forward encouragingly. It was the baron's accusing gaze which ultimately told him to go forward. Unreasonable fear is a good motivator, Harry thought and then snickered at himself nervously.

If there was a commotion when Blaise arrived, it was nothing compared to the commotion caused by bringing Vincent and Gregory, let alone alongside the bloody baron. Colin and many of the younger member's faces turned completely white when they saw the ghost and totally ignored everything else that was going on. The majority of the older students seemed too angry to be scared as this time almost all of them banded together in one front to remove the offending party. The only people who walked over and stood by him and the Slytherins were Hermione, who didn't seem to be affected by the baron at all, Justin and to Harry's surprise, Ron, both of whom stood away from the baron and looked slightly nervous but they stood by them all the same.

Dennis, Wesley and Seamus stayed where they were sitting. Apparently they were taking the same stand they had taken on Blaise arrival. Harry noted Padma was sitting with them. That still left the majority of the students against him. But he had more people on his side then he expected. He honestly had only thought that Hermione would be there, he assumed Ron would continue hating them, but regardless of his personal feelings he was standing by Harry when almost no one else would. It was that more than anything that gave him the bolstering energy that he needed.

There was a stare off for a while. No one seemed to want to speak. Harry waited, he was sure that Zacharias would spout his mouth off eventually and he hoped he would sound so much the fool that more people would come over to his side. But it wasn't to be so they all sat there staring at each other.

In the end it was Blaise who finally broke the silence with a very nervous, "Aren't we even going to talk about this?" He there was still no response, he stepped forward putting himself in front of the small group on his side. He then put himself on the line in a way Harry had not expected by saying. "Well say it, how you can't trust the Slytherins because our parents are death eaters." It was a statement of fact not a question. There was decent in the ranks, even on his side Ron and even Hermione looked a little spooked. Justin held his ground though. "That's right! My parents are lesser known Death eaters." He stated to the room.

What ensued was nothing short of chaos. No one bothered making statement or even verbally responding at all to what Blaise said. And soon there were curses flying everywhere. Harry dove to the floor where he found Hermione, Wesley and Dennis. It appeared that everyone else was in a duel…no a battle to end all battles. He had not expected this, a fight without even a word from one of the sides. None were sure exactly what curses were going where or form where but he knew that quite a few of the DA members knew some incredibly dangerous curses, he couldn't even begin to think what curses Blaise, Vincent and Gregory may have been taught by their parents and while he was certain Blaise wouldn't use anything deadly he was not sure that Vincent and Gregory would be that forthcoming.

In the end it was a certain action on the part of a certain member who no one at all expected that ended the spell barrage. Blaise was about to be hit by about seven curses when Colin Creevy jumped in front of him and took all seven of them. He fell to the ground almost in slow motion as both sides watched at him. He began laughing and his legs began swinging wildly. He began throwing up through his laughs which made them look rather sickening and a bunch of little tentacles sprouted from his face. He began convulsing through his laughter and he began crying tears of blood through everything else.

Dennis screamed and ran to his brother. Harry was there in a flash as were Hermione, Justin and Neville. Hermione tried some counter curses but they weren't working, apparently this combination of curses was resistant to the individual counter curses. The fact that they didn't know what a few of the curses were didn't escape him either. In was then that Justin and Neville showed off what Harry was to be nothing short of miracle healing talent. They, along with Hermione managed to not only stop all the effects on Colin within a few minutes but they also quickly put him into a deep sleep. Dennis had started crying over his still unconscious brother. Blaise quickly levitated his body with mobilicorpus and after checking with Neville rushed him off to the hospital wing. Dennis ran with him looking incredibly worried about his older brother.

It was then that Harry was scared beyond anything he had ever seen before aside of possibly Voldemort himself. Justin, Neville, and Hermione all stood up looks of all but total rage on their faces.

"WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!" Justin yelled, "You almost KILLED Colin! Is that what you wanted? To KILL Blaise?"

Neville continued, "I can't believe I thought you all were so great and helpful last year! What exactly was the point of this club anyway? I thought it was to teach defense against the dark arts to everyone who needed it so that we could survive against Voldemort!" Neville didn't even flinch as he said the name. Neither did Justin or Hermione for that matter. Everyone who had taken part in the onslaught was flinching at every word. "Or are we so cold and disallow entrance to those most vulnerable!" He went over to Vincent and pulled him up alongside Justin and himself, "Those who would be indoctrinated into the death eater's ranks by their own parents whether they like it or not!" Harry was surprised at Neville's understanding of the situation. He didn't really know why when he thought about it though. Neville was there at the department of mysteries, his parents were in long term care at St. Mungo's, driven insane by death eaters. He had seen first hand what they were capable of and understood it well.

Hermione spoke up last, and she sounded almost exactly like professor McGonagall which only seemed to increase the tension in the room. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Remember what the hat said? 'Split apart and Hogwarts will meat its bitter end. Or be as one together and then next to her you'll stand?' This is exactly what they were talking about! We need to know where ALL of us stand, whatever house we are in. And we need to allow everyone to make their own choice otherwise we are just as guilty of those Slytherins, or students from any house for that matter, who become death eaters by pushing them away as the people who indoctrinate them!"

Even the Bloody Baron seemed humbled at the outburst of the normally docile Justin, skittish Neville and logical Hermione. Their statements weren't hidden in any way. They had not glossed over the truth and instead had bluntly told everyone what they seemed to not see. Harry himself felt humbled by it, Neville's especially.

Justin, Neville and Hermione then went around restoring the remainder of the people who had been affected by the battle. Justin and Neville's dedication to healing showed as they made sure everyone was ok before worrying about anything else. Harry was certain that if they continued to work together that the two of them would make a great professional team and he was going to suggest that they start studying together after this was over.

There was no point in continuing this meeting, and Harry would not have been surprised if Vincent, Gregory and even Blaise never shoed up again. But when Vincent tried to leave Neville would have nothing of it. "You cannot just leave after all of this!" He said to the bigger boy. "Don't you see? If you leave now you may never get this chance again…"

Hermione then walked over to them pulling Gregory. Alongside them was Luna Lovegood who started talking to both of them. "I think this was a sign, it really shows just how hard it must be to be a Slytherin at this school. But you are the ones breaking the mold as long as you stay. You would be saying, 'Slytherins are Hogwarts students too and we deserve respect for that if nothing else.' It is not blood that will make the other students respect you or how big and tough you look. If you really want respect you have to earn it by taking a chance and trusting those outside." She then walked off as if that profound statement had never left her mouth.

Ginny, who had been silent up until now spoke next. "Ugh! That was too long, I hope you choose to say I really do it's great you know what we do here." She then tiredly walked off towards the ladder and Harry presumed the common room.

Vincent and Gregory then walked off and Harry knew they had to decide now if it was worth it to them, but he felt responsible for this in a way so he grabbed Vincent and Gregory on the way out and said, "I'm sorry about this…" Watching the two exhausted looking boys head off towards their beds.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Justin were the last ones to leave. They walked silently through the halls exhausted. Was it worth it? Really? Harry thought. Justin stopped and waved goodbye as they passed the turn off that would take him to the Hufflepuff common room.

They didn't speak at all and when they got back to their dorms they all feel asleep.

The next morning everyone at breakfast everyone in the school was talking about Colin's brush with death. And the entire feel of breakfast was one of sorrow and guilt. Harry was certain that the majority of the students were unaware of what happened but the sense of sorrow was certainly affecting them. Even the Bloody Baron looked sad next to where Blaise was sitting, still across from Vincent and Gregory Harry saw so at the very least they hadn't ruined that, was looking sad instead of creepy.

The rest of the day was the same way, Zacharias looked horrible and it seemed to Harry that it finally dawned on him the gravity of the whole situation and his part in it. Harry wasn't sure what to do. But he knew he would have to do it soon. He would talk to Hermione about it that evening. He was certain that she would know what to do, after all his "brilliant" plan had turned into a disaster.

And so dinner came and went and the feel of the school didn't change in the least bit. Harry wasn't even sure what had gone on in his classes, he just knew that he would have to deal with this somehow.

As he was walking towards his common room a grey hand was put on his shoulder. Harry looked and saw a boy he had seen only once before and yet had seen many times. "You want to talk?" Wesley asked him in a weak voice. Harry knew what he was doing, he was trying to help by being himself and Harry was glad but he wasn't in the mood for condolences at the moment he needed solutions so he said. "Not right now, I need to talk to Hermione…" Wesley looked slightly hurt at this but he nodded and then the human boy he knew was standing there in front of him again. "But if you want you can probably help. I need help with what to do about…" He let his voice trail off just in case anyone he didn't want to know was listening. Wesley nodded a little relieved but obviously not exactly happy and they both walked silently to their common room.

They found Hermione diligently working on something. "Hermione I need to talk to you. It's about the DA…" Hermione faltered at what she was doing before saying, "Go on, I need to keep working to distract myself." She sounded exhausted and overworked. The only other time he had seen her even close to like this was their third year when she had been using a time turner to take nearly every class they were allowed to enroll for. But the she had been happy and overworked, now she just seemed overworked and it was taking a toll on her ability to function.

"Why does everything have to happen to us?" She asked in a sullen voice. Wesley looked around and then became his other self once more before hugging her. Harry just sat there watching them. Hermione looked at Wesley then quickly looked around the before saying. "Thanks, that was rhetorical. You should remain what's safe, after all this is a rather public place." She said to him, Wesley nodded to her and the human boy was there again. Harry wondered what it would be like to change shape in an instant. But that thought was very quickly overridden by his memory of what had happened the previous day.

"Well what should we do about it? We need to fix this soon or we'll need to disband the DA. We don't really need it anymore Tonks is a great teacher."

At this Hermione started crying. "Don't you see Harry? This is exactly why we really NEED the DA! The instructors are just as bad about the house rivalries as the students are maybe more. And Dumbledore as great as he is has been little help to us other than to give us profound messaged usually after it is too late for them to matter! It has always been up to us students to work things out. The DA is the perfect way to get people together. I say instead of making it a defense against the dark arts club we make it a student run house! We will be the glue that holds the houses together! I am tired of seeing people get hurt because of the stupid house rivalries!" Hermione looked determined. "Schedule another meeting for tomorrow night! We need to make sure this is finished. We need to know where everyone stands." Harry nodded, he knew that all along.

Wesley looked at them solemnly before saying. "Use me…use this." He then turned into his true self. "If they see something…"

Harry was certain this was why he was sorted into Gryffindor his willingness to give up everything for others but Harry couldn't let him do that. "No I can't let you do that, but thanks for the offer. We need to meet with the people we know will …Hermione what is that?" Harry noticed that Hermione was making something he looked closer and it was obvious what it was. "Why are you making a snake?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Actually," Hermione responded, almost sounding as perplexed about it as Harry was. "It's a basilisk."

"How can one tell the difference between a model of a snake and a basilisk?" Wesley asked he was now also looking at the model.

"Actually I never was making a model of a snake. I always knew it was a basilisk."

Harry looked at it more closely and then he noticed the anchor that he had handed her that day. He then noticed that the statue was made out of what seemed to be completely random objects that somehow fit together almost perfectly to make a snake. He noticed his anchor, a teapot, a flyswatter, a fishing rod. The list grew on and on.

"Wait. Are these the things that people have been handing you randomly for the last month?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Hermione said.

"I noticed that too, now that I think about it, it was odd that I woke up from a dream I couldn't remember with a silver replica of a waffle iron in my pocket and the urge to hand it to Hermione. I don't think I even OWNED a regular waffle iron let alone a silver replica of one before that." He then looked at it. "But I'm with Harry why did you use all of these random things to make a basilisk?"

"I honestly have no idea. But I do know that I need to give this to the headmaster."

And so they all stared at this odder end to an already abnormal day. Everything that had happened was beginning to form a pattern in Harry's head but he couldn't pick out what that was.

So they flooed the statue to Dumbledore using the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione somehow randomly had floo powder on her and strangely Dumbledore took it without question as if he had been expecting for three of his students to floo him in the middle of the night in his office.

Of course what struck the students the most was the feeling of normality of the events which all three analytically knew were anything but. But they had more important things to worry about now like planning the next DA meeting. And so Harry, Wesley and Hermione went to the sixth year boys dorm, had Wesley wake everyone up as Hermione figured if they were going to have someone who everyone instinctually trusts they might as well take advantage of it and wake the others without much fuss, and the seven of them worked into the night planning and worrying about the next meeting. Not even Ron and Seamus complained about not getting sleep and Dean seemed to be totally fine working alongside Seamus. That event had been the breaking point for a lot of people. And Harry had no idea how to put them back together.

Afterthoughts

Wow, that was just…wow to write especially on an empty stomach an hour after I usually go to sleep. But I did it I got it done and posted!

As you can see theKnowItAll you were actually right on two accounts. Great guesses. I already had plans to make the portion of the plot about the stay over the summer and I figured why not do it now? After all you all need some unhappy problems as oppose to my previous almost problems but not chapters. And I hope you liked your little taste of violence. It's not the gore you wanted, that is to come later. But this is just a little bit of what is to come. Hope you liked it. : )

PS: I know the rating will become R at some point. If you think I have passed that point then please tell me in a review and I will adjust the stories rating accordingly. Oh and even if it's not please review anyway. I like to know what you think of my story. I mean I figure if you have taken the time to read up to this point you have to think something about it.

Oh and you might think that the title doesn't seem to have much to do with the chapter. You're right it doesn't. But the title in this case it the thing in the chapter that is most related to the plot as a whole. That is all and that is the last time I give you any directly from the author clues about the plot.

Oh and if you haven't yet, read Undone by Rose Rovente, it is one of the best fanfics I have read ever. Trust me the summary does not do this story justice. theKnowItAll, you will ABSOLUTELY love this story I'm POSITIVE of that.