AN: Well, this is quite a quick update, by my standards! Hope you like it!

Thanks to all reviewers, I'm sorry if I miss anyone:

Realm of darkness- thanks for the kind review, when I was first thinking of writing this, I had some trouble thinking of how to differentiate characters from different dimensions, but yay, glad I pulled it off!

Rdufthjhjkgyvftcuh- yay, updated!

Romm- was Voldie trying to obliviate Harry? You'll see, it's not that simple…

Marauders-Lover- Hmm, that's an idea. From what I've planned out in my head though, the two Snapes are unfortunately not together often, I'll try to fit more of it in though, and I'll keep your suggestion in mind!

Sweet A.K- I figured that I shouldn't keep that cliffie there for too long ^_^. I think Dumbledore's fun to write because one minute he can be really serious and wise, the next he's just like a little kid, but still wise of course! Inuyasha rocks!

Sailor Sol- your questions are answered in this chapter. In relation to the two Snapes, I can see how they might not get along because they are independent type of people, but someone had actually said that the two Snapes should get along if they like the way they are, and not get along if they may change in the future, if you get what I mean. I'm still thinking of how to do it!

Silvercrystal77- you'll see what happened to Harry, probably a little anticlimatic, really. Can't have him in too much trouble at the beginning of the year!

Rhinemjr- I can relate to the ff.net being stupid, I tried to update this yesterday but it wouldn't work! I can picture Snape as a lead singer too, what with all the greasy long locks of hair! Thanks for the review!

Risi- yes, the new mystery definitely involves our favourite villian. I agree with the Ginny thing, she's not going to be getting places if she's always obsessed with Harry, and because the story is mostly going to be written from Harry's point of view, it's about time Harry can see Ginny as Ginny, not just Ron's-lil-sis-who-has-a-crush-on-him. I'm still not sure about whether or not the two Snapes will get along, as that's not the main thing in this story I haven't really thought about it that deeply. I think Snape will have the same past in this story, it demonstrates why Snape hates James and Sirius so much, and it also shows that boys will be boys and do stupid things. It also demonstrates Harry's maturity, the way he's older than his years due to his upbringing.

HarryGryffinGirl- You just gave me an idea of doing some sidefic titled SLIMEBALLS VS. MARAUDERS! Although that fic might be a long time in coming, if ever… sigh, if only I wasn't studying… unless, of course, you'd like to write it for me? ^_^

Supernova8610- thanks for the review, hope you like this chapter!

SilverKnight7- here's the update! Thanks for the review!

Kateri1- I like your idea of how the two Snape's should get along, I think I'll incorporate it, thanks!

and

Stephanie- thanks for reviewing chapter 12, your review didn't come up until after I updated the last chapter! I'm glad you like my fic, and am flattered by your compliments! Hope this chapter satisfies! ^_^

This chapter is dedicated to Kateri1 and HarryGryffinGirl, I laughed when I read your reviews!

Disclaimer: You know the drill; none of this stuff belongs to me except, hopefully, the plot line. I can't guarantee that no other author has done this as I haven't read every single fanfic up!

~*~

"Look, he's stirring!" a familiar voice said.

"Let me see!" a voice, Harry recognised as Madam Pomfrey's approached him.

Yep, the sheets definitely were those of the Hospital Wing, and Harry was saddened that he knew where he was from the smell of his surroundings. Harry opened his eyes to see a concerned Madam Pomfrey leaning over him and Neville behind her, looking worriedly at Harry.

"You okay, Harry?" He asked, his voice trembling slightly, and Harry wondered if Neville had tears in his eyes, his eyes were a bit red, and his in his fist he clutched a handkerchief.

"Yeah Neville, why wouldn't I be?" Harry smiled kindly at him.

"Mr. Potter, how are you feeling?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she ran her wand over him in complicated swirls, the tip of her wand glowing now and then, and nodding to herself occasionally.

"Uh, I feel like I've just woken up. How should I be feeling?" The confusion was evident in his voice.

"Do you feel any pain? Do you feel queasy or nauseous? Did you have any dreams?"

"No, I don't feel any of those and I didn't have any dreams," Harry looked at her, "what's going on? Shouldn't I be on the Hogwarts Express? How long was I asleep?"

"You were on the train, but you wouldn't wake up!" Neville piped up, looking scared, "we tried everything on you, but you just kept sleeping. Then Professor Sprout took you to the hospital wing and when we got to Hogwarts, I came to see how you were doing. I mean, Fred and George, and all the other fifth years wanted to come too, but Professor McGonagall only let one of us go. Anyway, Madam Pomfrey said that nothing seemed wrong with you, so we were just waiting until you woke up. I think the sorting would have started already," Neville added as an afterthought, with relation to Harry's question about the time.

"Everything is normal with you, Mr. Potter, are you sure that you don't feel anything unusual?" She gave Harry one of those 'I can see right through you' looks, which made Harry squirm a little.

Harry was still absorbing what Neville was saying, was he in that deep a sleep? He really didn't feel anything strange, although something tugged at the back of his mind, was it a vision he saw in his sleep but couldn't remember?

"I'm okay Madam Pomfrey. Can I go now? I don't want to miss the feast, and I'm sure Neville wouldn't leave until I do," Neville smiled, embarrassed, and looked at his feet.

After some thought, she obliged. "Okay, because I can't find anything wrong with you at the moment," Madam Pomfrey didn't sound okay about it at all, and sighed, "you are to come to me every evening this week for a check, just to make sure that nothing was wrong with you."

Harry was too eager to leave the hospital wing, starting the year in the hospital wing wasn't what Harry exactly had in mind, and he didn't want to give Malfoy any more ammunition in their constant verbal argument. He didn't want to miss the sorting again and wondered if he could catch some of it at least.

"Are you really okay, Harry?" Neville asked once they were out of the hospital wing. They walked side by side along the corridor, responding to the portraits' greetings along the wall, and stepping to the side as Peeves zoomed through the corridor with a loud 'wee!', trailing something that was unpleasant in smell and looked green.

Harry turned to Neville, "yes, Neville, I feel fine, I wonder why I wouldn't wake up though?" He said, more to himself.

"Ron and Hermione wanted to stay with you too," Neville began to explain the absence of his two best friends, "but they decided that they should be at the feast, in case you slept too long, and because they are Prefects, they need to be there when the feast finishes."

"I understand," Harry sighed, then turned to Neville, "um, Neville? Do you realise that Trevor has changed colours?" Harry pointed out the toad on Neville's shoulder.

The toad croaked as Neville patted it's head and explained, "Fred and George made it eat something, and it changed colour. I told them to change it back, but they said it'd change back after some time. I hope Trevor doesn't feel the change though. Do you think that Trevor could feel that it's a different colour? I hope it doesn't hurt…"

Harry chuckled, "I'm sure that whatever Fred and George made it eat wasn't meant to hurt the recipient, Trevor is going to be fine." Neville smiled at the reassurance, and the two of them stopped in front of the door to the Great Hall. There was a round of applause, and Harry and Neville took that chance to hopefully go unnoticed into the Great Hall.

Most of the attention was on the person who had been sorted, so even though everyone saw that the doors opened and closed, and that two small figures were making their way to the Gryffindor table, their attention was quickly reverted back to the next person to be sorted. They reached some empty seats as "Williams, Ray" was sorted into "HUFFLEPUFF!". Harry sat in a seat obviously saved for him between Ron and Hermione, smiling at them to reassure them, and Neville sat next to Seamus and Dean.

"And now, for the Hogwarts song!" Dumbledore beamed happily, the only one along the staff table who looked happy at the prospect of singing the song, "choose a favourite tune, and sing along!"

Harry didn't know many songs, so he just sort of said the words in some familiar tune, Ron sang to the Chudley Cannon's anthem, Hermione sang to the national anthem. Harry was greatly reminded of his first year as everyone finished and Fred and George were still singing to a slow funeral march.

As Dumbledore announced that the Feast shall begin, Ron turned to Harry, "where have you been? I've been worried sick…"

"They said you wouldn't wake up!" Hermione said, relieved that Harry had finally woken from his slumber.

"Harry, you're awake! What was wrong with you?" Dean asked from across the table.

"Did you really… die!?" Parvati asked, picking fretfully at a piece of carrot on her plate.

"Of course he didn't!" Hermione huffed at Parvati and Lavender, who had begun to whisper among themselves. She rolled her eyes at them, "they predicted that you died, and even used Trelawny's predictions in their argument. A load of rubbish!"

"We knew you weren't dead, Harry!" Fred piled food on his plate, and reached for some salt, "can't die before the Quidditch season!" He joked.

"You'd roll in your grave if we lost to Slytherin because you weren't there!" George added.

"Hiya Harry!" Dennis and Colin Creevey greeted loudly from down the table, "how are you feeling? We knew you wouldn't…"

"Madam Pomfrey doesn't know what was wrong with me, I think I was just really tired," Harry said loudly so that everyone could hear and stop asking questions, and so that the Creevey brothers wouldn't loudly announce that they knew he wouldn't die, "can someone pass me the gravy, please?" About six hands offered to pass the gravy to him, and Harry rolled his eyes exasperatedly.

"It's good to see you're okay though," Ginny smiled, and Harry smiled back. Ginny then turned to Neville, "I was going to tell you before, but because of the situation, I forgot. Did you realise your toad is bright red and yellow…"

"Yeah, well, Fred and George…" Neville began, and the two of them got into a discussion about the twins' many pranks and how Ginny was never a victim of their pranks.

It felt good to be back to the first home he ever knew. The sky in the enchanted ceiling was clear and bright stars glittered down upon them. He looked at the bright hangings in the Great Hall, and the other marvelous decorations that adorned the walls. He looked over to the Hufflepuff table; they looked happy enough, although a little subdued. There were some who had obviously fake smiles on their faces as they talked with each other. Hannah Abbott looked on the verge of tears, obviously a fan of Cedric Diggory's. His eyes swiveled to the Ravenclaw table, passed Luna Lovegood, Ginny's friend, and landed on Cho Chang. At that moment, Cho looked up and met his eyes, giving him a small smile. Harry waved and blushed, looking away. Of course he still thought she was beautiful, but that small smile was not a happy one, and Harry knew the cause of the unhappiness; him.

"Did Madam Pomfrey really not know what was wrong?" Hermione, from Harry's right side, said, "I'm sure there's something…"

"In the library," Ron completed for her from Harry's left, and stuffed some steak in his mouth. Hermione blushed.

"Well, there has to be a reason why he wouldn't wake up!" She said, cutting her piece of steak into smaller pieces, "and the library is quite extensive, if it wasn't to do with your health, it might have been a charm, or a potion… did your scar hurt?"

"No"

"Well then, we can cancel out You-Know-Who then…" Hermione said.

"Maybe he was just really tired," Ron said pointedly.

"But Dean said they tried everything…"

"When you're tired, you're tired, nothing's gonna stop you from sleeping…"

Harry ignored the rest of their squabble, and suddenly felt some eyes on him. He looked towards the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy glaring at him. George noticed and grinned.

"I don't think he had a really good train journey," George explained solemnly.

Harry was eager to hear what they did to him, "why not?"

"He didn't appreciate spending the whole ride in the toilets," Fred sighed ruefully, and everyone around him laughed.

"What's wrong with the toilets?" Lee feigned confusion, "you can relieve yourselves in times of need, you've got water if you're thirsty…"

"And he was even squashed in there with two gorillas!" Fred finished, and there were howls of laughter along the table.

"How did he get out then?" Harry wondered, wishing that Malfoy had been stuck in there the whole school year.

"He threatened some first year who was walking by. The poor dude, scared out of his wits!" Fred sighed, "but at least we know no one else cared enough to let him out!" Everyone laughed again. Malfoy blushed a little as he obviously realised what the Gryffindors were talking about, and he whispered to his stooges as they were obviously trying to think of a plan to get back at the pranksters, Harry didn't have much hope for them; they could never prank the professionals.

Harry looked along the front table. Dumbledore smiled gently and declined his head when Harry made eye contact with him, and Harry smiled back. Professor McGonagall was seated next to Dumbledore and looked like she was in a heated argument with Professor Vector, about what, he had not the slightest clue. Hagrid, at the end of the staff table, was looking straight at Harry when Harry looked at him, and waved with a look of relief on his face. Harry waved back happily, putting his hand on his chest where the gift from Hagrid lay under his shirt, and mouthed 'thank you'. Hagrid nodded back. He then shook both Ron and Hermione out of their argument.

"Who's that sitting next to Professor Flitwick?"

Both of them looked towards the professor Harry pointed out. He looked young and had short cut brown hair. He smiled in a friendly manner as he spoke animatedly to Professor Flitwick, hands making a lot of interesting looking gestures in his speech.

"I don't know, but he must be the new DADA teacher. Look at Snape," Ron said. Next On Dumbledore's other side sat Snape. Harry realised Snape was glaring daggers at the man, "he must be really disappointed he didn't get the position again."

"Look at the hostility though! Maybe Snape knows the new Professor?" Hermione wondered, and Harry had to agree; Snape had glared daggers at Lockhart who was incompetent, Remus who was a school rival, and Moody who was an Auror. Snape must really hate this person.

"If Snape hates him, he must be okay," Ron said thoughtfully.

"Not really, I mean, he hated Lockhart, and he was just a sad case," Harry said, and dug into the mashed potatoes. Ron snorted in agreement and leaned over the table to get the salt.

"He looks alright, at least," Ron thought aloud.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, "you can't judge a person by how they look, and he just looks ordinary to me.

"Well, that's what I mean. He doesn't have a turban, so no You-Know-Who hiding behind his head. He doesn't look like a model, so at least he's got some brain in there," Harry choked on his food, as Ron grinned and continued, "and he's got both eyes!"

Hermione frowned at Ron's line of reasoning, and was obviously thinking of a defense, "okay, the turban was a little suspicious, but Professor Lockhart was an okay teacher, and what was wrong with Professor Moody? Everyone thought he was good!"

"I can sense that in your eyes, Lockhart's looks has masked his true ability," Ron said in a dreamy voice, and Harry laughed outright, along with Dean and Seamus, who were obviously listening in. "And Professor Moody was a good teacher, apart from the fact that he was a Death Eater."

"That has nothing to do with whether a good professor has one or two eyes!" Hermione said, and returned to her food.

The desserts came and went, and the students silenced as Dumbledore stood up to make a speech.

"Now that we are all filled, I think you must now have the ability to register the start of term notices," there were chuckles among the students, "firstly, I'd like to introduce to you our newly appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Michael Plum!" There was a round of applause as the professor stood up with a huge lopsided grin and bowed to the students as though he had just finished performing in a play. The students laughed at his display of humour. Harry noticed that Snape was seething at this, while Dumbledore had a look of pure amusement on his face.

Dean yelled into his ear, "who got killed by a candle stick!" And Harry burst out laughing. Sure, he had only had one occasion to play Cluedo in primary school before Dudley broke the board and said Harry was losing so he broke it, but he still remembered some of the characters and ways of dying. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Ron looked at them in confusion.

"Professor Plum is very experienced in this field, and I believe that you will benefit a lot from him this year. For the first years, and to remind you older students who always seem to need the reminding," more chuckling, "the Forbidden Forest is forbidden. It is called Forbidden for a reason. Several items have been added to the list of items that will be confiscated if it is in your possession," his eyes flew over to the Weasley twins, who grinned back at him, and Dumbledore smiled, "and the extensive list is on Professor Filch's door.

"Interhouse Quidditch resumes this year, try-outs shall begin in two weeks, and I wish all the members of the teams good luck!" The Quidditch teams cheered, and Fred and George had their fingers in their mouths, making very loud whistles.

Dumbledore coughed to get some attention, but he looked serious now, "on a more serious note, you have all probably heard of the return of Voldemort," there were gasps throughout the Great Hall. Dumbledore nodded solemnly at the Hufflepuff table, and the Hufflepuff table looked almost eagerly at Dumbledore, "I would like a minutes silence to remember those that have been lost to him already."

Harry saw some people around him close their eyes, and Harry followed suit, not before seeing the Slytherin table rolling their eyes. The silence was almost deafening, and Harry wondered for the first time how many of the students at Hogwart's had lost people to Voldemort. The fact that he had lost his parents when he was a baby seemed to push thoughts of other people losing their family from his mind. Neville had lost his parents, and he had kept to his promise to Dumbledore by not sharing that information with his friends. Harry wondered if Neville would have been different, not so nervous and clumsy, if he had grown up with his parents.

Dumbledore clapped his hands, and everyone opened their eyes as he continued, "most of your parents think that Hogwarts is the safest place for you children. I assure you that I will do my best to insure your safety. Hogwarts is surrounded by magical shields, students are not to go wandering after curfew, Quidditch practices and any other outside activitiy shall be overlooked by a professor, and Hogsmead visits will be accompanied by members of the staff. And more importantly, in this dark time, we must all stick together. House rivalries, of course, exist, but we must realise that our rivals outside of Hogwarts are more dangerous than our rivals within these walls. Only by standing together can we defend ourselves from what is to come."

Silence reigned in the Great Hall, and Harry felt uncomfortable with all the eyes that flew over to him. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the table in front of him.

Dumbledore continued, "Even though in the outside world there may be chaos, I hope that we can complete this school year as usual and that you all enjoy your studying. I think it is time that we rest for an early start tomorrow. If students could please follow their Prefects to their common room…"

The Hall grew louder as students got up to make their way to their common rooms.

"We'll talk to you in the common room. The password is 'baked potatoes'" Hermione said, as she stood up, "first years, I am your Prefect Hermione Granger, and this is Ronald Weasley!" She said loudly, "if you could follow us this way…"

"I made up that password!" Ron whispered excitedly to Harry as he stood up, and Harry grinned as he thought of Dumbledore and his use of candies as his passwords.

"Stop staring at me kiddo, I'm not going to eat you!" Ron said in a voice that suggested otherwise, to a scared-looking first year student. Harry laughed at Ron's treatment of the first years; at least he wasn't like Percy.

~*~

"They are such a tiring bunch, aren't they?" Ron asked Hermione as they sat down next to Harry. They had made sure all the first years were already in bed, and all the other Gryffindors were probably looking forward to an early start tomorrow, so the three of them were the only ones in the common room.

Harry smiled, "I'm sure we were like that when we were first years."

"We were not! We did not argue who got which bed, did we?"

"Uh, I think the beds were chosen for us, if I remember rightly," it was such a long time ago Harry had trouble remembering.

"Either way, we didn't want to go about swapping them or anything, did we?"

"No…"

"And what part of 'You can't be out of bed after curfew!' is difficult to understand?"

"Now, we can't be hypocrites!" Harry raised an eyebrow, and Ron sighed. "Anyway, I thought that Professor McGonagall made up the password?"

Ron grinned, "we saw her quite a lot over the holidays, she offered me the chance to make up the password. I wanted it to be something simple, easy to remember, so baked potatoes it was!"

"Wouldn't just 'potatoes' have been easier?" Hermione questioned.

"Well, people don't eat potatoes just raw, now do they?" Ron sat up and argued.

"So did you have a good holiday, Hermione?" Harry asked to stop the upcoming bickering. The trio were settled in front of the fire in the common room. Even though the weather was still warm, it was cool in the castle, and it was nice having the warmth of the fireplace upon them in the coolness.

"Yes, I certainly did! I spent the time in Bulgaria…"

"With Vicky…" Ron put in.

"Yes, with… no! With Viktor," she glared at Ron, and Harry stifled a laugh, "it's quite a fascinating place, with so much history! I met his family, and went to his house, such a large house it was! And then we did some sightseeing! We visited all of the old capital ruins like Pl…"

"You wouldn't believe where we were!" Ron interrupted, and Harry thought that he could use that same line when describing his holidays, "we were at the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters!" He ended a little more quietly. Although they were alone, he wanted to keep quiet, just in case.

"Ron, it's rude to interrupt when a person is speaking!" Hermione reprimanded.

"You were about to go on a lecture about Bulgaria!" Ron said loudly. Hermione just crossed her arms, and Harry wouldn't tell her, but he was glad Ron cut Hermione's lecture short.

"So what's this Order?" Harry asked curiously.

"It's this group of people who work against You-Know-Who. Both my parents are part of the order, and so are Bill and Charlie. They didn't want to leave us at home alone most of the time, so we stayed at their headquarters! And guess where the headquarters were?"

"Where?" Harry grinned at Ron's excitement in telling the story.

"It's Sir… I mean, Snuffle's house!" Ron corrected himself quickly as he looked around the empty common room. Ron lowered his voice, "he owns this big mansion, more like a haunted house. The place is so dark and creepy. There's this picture of his mum that's always screaming at us, she was quite the Muggle-hater when she was alive. Then there's this deranged house elf named Kreacher…"

"Which is probably acting deranged because it wants it's freedom," Hermione huffed.

"Still going on about SPEW? You'll just have to see it to believe it," Ron rolled his eyes, "it always mumbles to itself under it's breath, it's totally devoted to Sirius' mum. He'd say 'Kreacher is glad to be of help' and then under his breath he'd say 'Mistress will be most displeased that Mistress' treacherous son associates with all of these blood traitors..'" Harry laughed at Ron's mimicking of a house elf, and Hermione frowned at him, "anyway, we were, uh, honoured to take on the job of cleaning out the house of dark objects, and Kreacher was always trying to stop us from doing so. Snuffle's had given it orders not to do us any harm though, and to not get into our way, so at least we're safe from it. You should see the place though, there's this place where there's a whole row of the past house-elves' heads, on pedestals. Kreacher thinks it'd be an honour to have it's head there too."

"Ew!" Harry said disgustedly, while Hermione looked a little pale. Sirius had never talked to him about his family, all Harry knew was that Sirius had a brother named Regalus. Harry now knew why; Sirius must have come from a dark family. "So who are the other members of this order?"

"Some ministry people, this clumsy girl called Nymphadora Tonks…" Harry smiled and raised an eyebrow at the name, "but she likes to be called Tonks. I would too if my name was Nymphadora. And there's this big black dude called Kingsley Shacklebolt," Ron continued softly, "Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, of course, Moody, the real one. Dung… I mean, Mundungus Fletcher, a dodgy guy who my mum really disapproves of, but we like him… Snuffles, of course, and Lupin. There's sure to be more members we don't know about. Oh, and this is probably very out of character for him, but Snape's a member!"

Harry had already guessed that Snape must have been part of the Order once Ron had started talking about it. Why else would they have two of them just to help with the 'Voldemort situation'? And Dumbledore really seemed to trust Snape, although Harry still wondered sometimes if that was misplaced trust. Snape was just so… evil, sometimes.

"What about the ministry? Do they believe that Voldemort's back?" Fudge's denial came back to Harry. Ron shivered at Harry's use of You-Know-Who's name.

Hermione grinned at this, "at first they didn't want to, even if I made Rita Skeeter write articles about You-Know-Who coming back, not including your part in it, of course," she added at Harry's incredulous look. "Most of the wizarding community is greatly influenced by our lovely journalist and the Daily Prophet, but the ministry still refused to admit his return, so there was some doubt among the community."

"Yeah, the ministry was under a lot of pressure too because while Fudge kept denying it, but the Prophet kept coming out with articles related to the situation and pointing out deaths that have already occurred. She even did some excellent finger-pointing at Fudge and his fear of losing his position, but he still kept the denial up," Ron said with a look akin to pride on his face, "but then, he couldn't deny it anymore."

"Why not?" Harry wondered at Fudge's sudden change of heart. Perhaps the pressure was getting too much for him?

"The Order staged a scene. Tonks, who can change her appearance at will, she's a metamorphmagus, appeared at the ministry as You-Know-Who, and pretended to torture Shacklebolt with the Cruciatus curse for information. Fudge just 'happened' to stumble upon this scene, and Tonks touched a timed Portkey and left the scene. Fudge had no choice but to believe what he saw, especially with Shacklebolt trembling at his feet in his supposed pain," Ron laughed, "it's kinda funny, really. Tonks came back, crying, because she was so scared she had to act as You-Know-Who, afraid that by doing so he could take over her mind. But she was also happy that they had convinced Fudge of his return. Shacklebolt had been a little pale at being the one who had to do the acting, because Tonks can be a little clumsy, he was afraid that Tonks might accidently cast the spell on him. He came back, relieved as ever that the acting had gone well."

"How did she know what Voldemort looked like?" Ron looked at Harry with a frown for using the name again, but learnt long ago that telling him to stop saying it was like telling Percy to stop standing with a straight back.

"Snape told her," Ron said, and Harry nodded in understanding.

"That's deceit," Hermione said sadly, "but how else could they have convinced him of the truth? At least this act of deceit will enable the ministry to perform what is necessary to prepare themselves for You-Know-Who's inevitable attacks."

"And Fudge is in the process of getting rid of the Dementors," Ron added.

"Really?"

"Dementors are, obviously, Dark creatures, and would most likely stand by You-Know-Who in his rise," Hermione explained.

"So who would guard Azkaban when the Dementors are gone?" Harry was scared of the thought of Dementors roaming around the place, but reassured himself with the fact that he could conjure a Patronus. That didn't make Dementors any less scary.

"Several Aurors will be placed there. They can't put too many Aurors there though, as they need Aurors to help protect any place that You-Know-Who might attack," Hermione sighed.

The three of them sat in silence, all obviously dreading the dark times to come. Harry knew that Voldemort would want to kill him, but felt safe being under Dumbledore's care. But he wasn't safe last year, was he? At least he knew there were several more people on the light side now, a sure advantage in the fight against dark.

"Oh well, not only are the Order, the ministry, and the wizarding community working against him," Harry said, deciding to share his holidays with them now, "there are some people Voldemort would never expect who are working against him as well."

"Who's that?" Ron and Hermione both said at the same time, surprised out of their silence.

"Prongs, and another Snuffle's, Moony, and Snape…"

"What?" Hermione whispered.

"Harry mate, maybe you're still tired…" Ron began, looking at Harry as though he had suddenly turned into Kreacher.

"I'm not tired anymore. You see, you wouldn't believe where I was…"

~*~

AN: Look, no cliffie! Well, not really, but I thought it's as good a place to stop as any, and it's quite a quick update in comparison to, say, two months. I've only played Cluedo once, and Plum being killed by the candlestick is the only thing I can remember from it. Yes, no Umbridge! Plum will be an interesting character, you'll see!

As for Harry's trouble waking up and his dream, the dream will be explained later on, much later on. But I really made up that scene to avoid writing my own sorting song, as I don't have much skill in the poetry department.

I don't have OoTP with me at the moment, so please correct me if Luna isn't in Ravenclaw and if I spelt Regalus wrong.

*so far, there are two votes for the Snapes to get along, and two votes for the Snapes not to get along. There have been excellent suggestions, and we won't see the Snapes together for a chapter or two anyway. Thanks for voting!

As always, please leave a review or write to tonderumushi@yahoo.com.au, jaane!

~ultrasoul