Reviewer's corner: (Btw I have more than 200 reviews now. W00t!)

Imprisoned – I'm very well aware of that I should read my chapters more closely before posting them. I have a list of excuses, though (very bad ones). I don't have time (if I want chapters up more than twice a year), I'm too lazy, I'm not great with grammar and I certainly am not 100 clear on every single detail in the Harry Potter world but I'm too lazy to look it up. I've been thinking of getting a beta, though.

Kittycatdudet – Oh my God I totally got your name wrong last chapter, didn't I? ashamed girl hides behind desk I am SO sorry.

Tania25 – Er… he liked it?

Also thanks to Misao, Demon Master, gboyary, Pussinboots,

If anyone is interested in doing some beta-ing, please email me as soon as possible (email address in profile). Or, you could tell me in a review, but I still prefer emailing. You need to be an accomplished writer, big Harry Potter fan who knows all the details, and patient, yeah you know. C'mon, people, email me.

In exactly 22 hours, I will suffer through a horrible singing audition, as I'm applying for music classes in something that's equal to US Senior High School. Pray for me, people.

Also, I'm so nervous that I'm sweating and having a horrible stomach ache, I can barely write. So this is going to suck. I should have waited until tomorrow, but I had come up with the idea and I wanted to write it down so…


Chapter 32 – Harry's Plan

Dear Miss Malfoy,

We are pleased to welcome you back to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, also this year. The Hogwarts train will departure on 11 o'clock, September 1st from Platform 9 ¾, King's Cross, as usual.

These are the NEWT classes you will be taking, according to your OWL results

Ancient Runes, Advanced NEWT Level

Arithmancy, Standard NEWT Level

Care of Magical Creatures, Standard NEWT Level

Charms, Advanced NEWT Level

Defence against the Dark Arts, Advanced NEWT Level

Herbology, Advanced NEWT Level

Potions, Advanced NEWT Level

Transfiguration, Standard NEWT Level

In this envelope, a list of all the books you will need this year has been enclosed.

We would also like to inform you that as the female Gryffindor prefect in your year has chosen to resign, you have been selected as the new sixth year Gryffindor prefect.

We look forward to having you back this year,

Minerva McGonagall

Assistant Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Out of the envelope fell a shiny badge with a P on it.

"Holy shit", I said out loud.

"What?" Ginny asked and leaned in to see what I was staring at. "No way!" she screamed. "Prefect? Ohmigosh!"

Hermione looked up from her own letter. "Prefect?" she asked quickly. "Who's a prefect?"

"Tamara is!" Ginny said.

Hermione made big eyes. "Really?" she said and leaned her head in to see the badge. "Welcome into the club. Well done!"

"Er", I said, "thanks."

Why on earth had Dumbledore picked me? Julianne and Will had been Gryffindor prefects, but now when Will was… well, not longer with us, I supposed she had chosen to reassign because it would be hard to constantly be reminded of him. But how come I had been chosen? Why not… Ginny, for example?

The door to our bedroom was opened and Harry and Ron came in.

"Hi girls", Ron said, "we heard a scream."

"That was Ginny", I said, still gazing at the badge, stunned.

"So what has happened, little sister?" he asked.

"Guess who's a prefect", she said. "It's not me, by the way."

Silence.

"Tamara?" Harry asked, finally.

"I…", I began, "I… why on earth did he choose me?"

"What happened to the Gryffindor prefects?" Ron asked. "It was that girl Julianne and that guy Will- oh", he said. "He... yah."

"So I guess she didn't want to stay as a prefect without him", I said.

"Congratulations", Harry said, "You deserve it, you really do."

I blushed. "Thank you", I said in what I believed to be a neutral voice.

Just then, we were interrupted by something scratching on the window. It was an owl, carrying a package. Hermione walked over to let him (or her) in. When she had taken the package from him, he immediately turned around and flew back out again.

"Wasn't that Luna's owl?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah", I said, "I thought I recognized him."

"It's for you, Harry", Hermione said after having read the writing on the package and handed it over.

"Oh", Harry said, sounding surprisingly little surprised.

Ron frowned. "So why is Luna Lovegood sending you packages? Birthday present, maybe? I had no idea that you two were so… tight."

Neither had I, I thought. And I couldn't help but feel a little… jealous? For some weird reason, I didn't want Luna and Harry to be tight. Actually, I didn't want any girl to be tight with Harry. Hermione might be okay though, now that she officially had Ron, but…

What the heck am I thinking? It wasn't like I fancied him or something. No. No.

"No", Harry said quickly and it kind of startled me, as he said just what I had been thinking, "I just owled her and asked her to send me a copy of an article published in The Quibbler a while ago." He threw a quick glance at me. "You know what? I think I'm gonna go and read it now."

And with that, he headed out of the room.

Ron frowned. "What article?"

Ginny shook her head. "I have no idea."

They all looked at me.

"What?" I said. "I don't know."

-6 months ago-

"I was looking for something about… a veil", Harry said slowly.

"Huh?"

He sighed yet one time.

"Remember last year?"

"Of course."

"When you… knocked out your father, you turned around and left. But if you had continued, you would have come to a room with a veil."

"Okay… and why so interested in that veil?" I asked curiously.

"Because… I heard voices from behind. It's some kind of… life between life and death."

"Your godfather," I said suddenly. "He fell in there, didn't he?"

He didn't answer but stared down into the table. From the look on his face, I could tell that I had been right.

"Creepy. But now that you mention, I think I remember reading about it somewhere. Some story about someone visiting the place, but no one believed him when he came back, because there were no witnesses."

"Where did you read about it?" he asked urgently.

"I'm not sure… it might have been in some newspaper… The Quibbler, maybe."

"Are you sure? The Quibbler?"

"Yeah, I think so. Well, I wouldn't like swear on my life, but-"

"Gee, thanks!" he said and rose. "I've got to run, could you put that book back for me?"

"Yeah, su-"

"Thanks!" he said.

Five seconds later he had disappeared through the doors out into the corridor.

- End Flashback -

Of course, I could not be sure, but I had a vague idea that he wanted to try to recover his godfather from behind the veil. I wonder how he's gonna do it, I thought. I hope he doesn't put himself in danger or something…

But Harry wouldn't do anything stupid.


01:07 AM

I was tossing and turning in my bed.

"Gaah", I muttered quietly, "I should really be asleep."

So why wasn't I, one might wonder. Well, I didn't know, but I just couldn't relax.

I need a glass of water. I sat up, swung my legs over the edge of the bed and placed them on the cold stone floor. I tiptoed out of the room not to wake Hermione or Ginny, crossed the hall and headed downstairs. In the kitchen, I picked up a glass, filled it with water and drank it slowly, standing in the shadows of the already dark kitchen.

I heard a quiet noise behind me and spun around (quietly, of course). Someone else was there too, I could see a silhouette against the night sky outside the window.

"Harry?" I said quietly.

He spun around. "Holy crap, Tamara, you scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry", I said. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing", he answered quickly. A little bit too quickly, perhaps. "The same as you, probably – getting myself a glass of water."

"Why are you dressed, then?"

He looked down on his clothes.

"Er… I hadn't really gone to bed yet. I was… reading. And I wanted a glass of water before I went to bed."

I frowned, put my now empty glass in the sink and crossed my arms. "Where are you going, Harry?"

"No where! Well, upstairs… to bed", he (obviously) lied.

"Stop lying!" I said. "Where are you going? You can't leave, you know that. It's too dangerous-" I interrupted myself when I caught sight of a piece of parchment, rolled up, that he was clutching in his left hand. "No", I said, "don't tell me you're…"

"I don't know what you're talking about", he said.

"You're going to the Department of Mysteries, aren't you?" I stated. "You want to recover your godfather."

He sighed. "Look, I know I can do it. Don't worry about me, Tamara."

I stared at him. "You can't seriously mean you're going to head off to the Department of Mysteries alone in the middle of the night? Please, Harry…"

"I'm of age now, I can do whatever I want."

I couldn't just let him go, of course, but I didn't know how to stop him. I decided to try to win some time instead.

"How're you gonna get there?" I asked, still frowning.

He seemed slightly surprised by my change of mood. "Well", he said, "Floo Powder, probably, as the house is Apparate safe. I can apparate now, but Dumbledore put some apparating proof spells on it last summer. There are fireplaces there that I can use without being discovered, it's no problem. I'll be back before anyone wakes up, and I will have brought him back. But I need to go now, Tamara, so can you please just-"

"I'll come with you", I said quickly.

Oh my God, I cannot believe I just said that.

"No", he said, "no. I can't put you in danger-"

"But you can put yourself in danger?"

"That's not the same. I just can't let anything happen to you."

"It wouldn't be your fault, Harry. Remember that I chose to come with you, you didn't make me."

He sighed. "Tamara, listen. One year ago, in the Department of Mysteries… I didn't make Sirius come literally. I went there, because I thought he was in danger. But it turned out he wasn't, and then he had to come and save me instead. But he fell behind the veil. He wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for me. It was my fault." He paused. "Hermione was put under the Cruciatus Curse. If it hadn't been for me, none of that would have happened!"

"But that's indirect consequences, Harry! It wasn't your fault, because you didn't mean to make them-"

"I don't have time for this, Tamara. Just let me go. Besides, you're too young-"

"One year", I cut him off. "I'm as old as you were that night in the Department of Mysteries, and I'm even older than you were when you won the Triwizard Tournament. That's about the worst reason ever not to let me come with you."

He sighed again. "Go and get dressed", he muttered.

"You'll wait for me?"

He nodded.

So I hurried upstairs and tiptoed back into our bedroom. As quietly as possible, I got dressed in the same pair of jeans and t-shirt I had worn the previous day. Then I snatched a piece of parchment that was lying on Hermione's bedside table, and a quill, and wrote Hermione and Ginny a message.

Hermione, Ginny, everyone,

Harry is leaving for the Department of Mysteries, and I'm going with him. He believes that he can recover Sirius from behind the veil. We should be back before you read this, but if we aren't something might have gone wrong.

Tamara

I left the note on my pillow and hurried back downstairs to meet up with Harry.