A/N: OK everyone, just shoot me now. I know that I haven't updated in a very long time, but I was busy. After recent details released about the actual HBP I can see that mine will not be like the real version in the least. With that said, if you don't like then leave now! If you don't care then keep reading my story and review when you're done with the chapter.

The next day the school was buzzing and everyone seemed to look nervous to Harry. In transfiguration Harry couldn't help but notice the many people who would glance out the window towards the forest, as though they expected some giants to emerge at any second. Harry, Hermione, and Ron found this foolish, of course, because they had known about Grawp since the middle of their fifth year.

One thing that was unusual was the amount of owls that had delivered messages that morning. Most were naturally addressed to students from their relatives and such. Something odd that Harry noticed was Dumbledore receiving large amounts of mail; no one ever saw him get mail. Most of Dumbledore's mail, however, was Howlers that were yelling all through breakfast. Parents were outraged at the prospect of giants near their children. Harry couldn't blame them. From what he'd heard from friends was that giants were humungous, vicious, killing machines. Plus he'd had the pleasure of meeting one personally. At the end of breakfast the staff had looked extremely flustered from the barrage of shouts.

Harry himself was looking forward to that night. Quidditch tryouts were scheduled and he, Harry, was the captain of the Gryffindor team. He was very eager to get in the air. He had just gotten rid of his ban and was itching for his broom.

At lunch Harry overheard Dean and Seamus talking. He was interested in what they were saying.

"My mom says that just one slip up with those giants and I'll be out of here as quick as if I'd apparated," said Seamus.

"Well, my parents haven't got a clue that giants exist. I figure I'll just stay here."

Harry should have known that this is what they'd be talking about. That was all that anyone was talking about. Then Ron sat down next Harry at the table with Hermione behind him.

"So," said Harry as he swallowed a bit of his potatoes, "I saw you and Parvati walking out of the great hall together yesterday night."

Ron blushed at this. "Well," he said, "We were...erm...talking."

"About what?" inquired Hermione. She and Harry were sitting on either side of Ron so that he could not get away or look away. Ron, spotting this disadvantage, decided to speak truthfully, "Well, I...er...Iaskdparvattgooutwime."

"Wait," said Harry, "Can you try that again?"

Ron looked as though this were torture and said through gritted teeth, "I asked Parvati to go out with me." Every word seemed to be causing him great physical pain.

"What'd she say?" asked Hermione innocently.

"None of your business," said Ron rather sharply.

Just then Parvati walked into the hall and spotted Ron. She made a bee-line for him. She arrived a moment later right behind him. Ron didn't seem to notice because he was eating and glancing furtively around as though half hoping to see Parvati and half hoping that he didn't. When the very person he was trying to find and avoid spoke directly behind him he jumped nearly five feet out of his seat.

"Oh," said Parvati looking a little embarrassed, "I was just wondering if you wanted to sit with me."

"Ummm," said Ron breathing hard, "Yeah, sure, I'll come with you. See you guys later." The last bit was directed at Harry and Hermione.

"Well," said Harry, "I guess that answers your question." The two of them looked over to see Ron sit down with Parvati with a group of friends. They all immediately started giggling and Ron looked as though he could die rather than stay where he were.

That evening Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were walking together to the Quidditch field. The first were there to play, the last was a spectator. When they arrived at the entrance of the field they saw a group of people waiting apprehensively to tryout. Harry already knew what he was going to say in his head. He had gone over it with Ron and he had agreed that it was the fairest thing to do.

As Harry positioned himself in front of the group some their conversations quickly died down. He was about to begin talking when he noticed something odd. There were some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws mixed with the majority of Gryffindors.

"Hey!" said Harry motioning to the group among which was Cho Chang. Harry tried to avoid looking at her. He and she had ended the last year on a bad foot. "You lot, what are you doing here? This is Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts."

Justin Finch-Fletchy spoke up, "We..er...wanted to know...what happened in...the Department of Mysteries. And...if there'd be any more...DA classes..."

Harry was literally dumfounded by this answer, but was able to say, "Well, I have not decided about the DA. I would have to make it official and legal with Dumbledore. If he says no then the answer is simply no. As for the Department of Mysteries, I believe that that is my own business and I really don't feel like talking about it. So, if you would all leave so that I can conduct tryouts for my team." Harry had definitely added some venom to his words as he spoke. How dare they question him about the Department of Mysteries? "I'll use the galleons if I decide to start DA again. After the first wave of heat the second will signify when I plan the first lesson."

There was a murmur of assent from the crowd and then they cleared out. Harry was sure he heard Hermione mutter "the nerve!". With that Harry addressed the remaining people, people who were meant to be at the field. "Well, sorry for that delay. As you all know I will be your captain this year. I will be playing the position of Seeker. All of the other positions are open. I figured that because I had only myself and Ron here on the team, I decided that we should start from scratch. Now, I want you to divide yourselves into groups. Chasers, Beaters, Keepers, and Seekers. Yes, you can try out for Seeker. It is always good to have backup players. I will start breaking you into teams and test all of you out."

Then Harry let them break into their assigned categories. He noticed that no one was going for Seeker. Harry was glad at this on the inside because he didn't really want to have to worry about competition. Ron walked over with the other person trying for Keeper. Harry noticed that that there were a lot of people going for Beater. There was a fair amount of Chasers. Hermione went up into the stands with something that looked like a one of those mini blackboard things. This was much different because it served as the Muggle equivalent of a video recorder. She was going to "film" the entire tryout so that Harry could refer back to it when trying to pick the players. Then, after Harry had picked his first "team" (he had approximated that there would be about two of them), he walked onto the field with them trailing behind him carrying their brooms. Harry had retrieved his earlier that day.

Harry went to where the balls were kept and brought them onto the field. He took out the Quaffle and then handed the struggling Bludgers to the two that were going for Beater. They looked rather surprised at the force of them. Harry guessed from this that they had never played Quidditch before. His guess was right.

After a long three hours of tryouts Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked back up to the castle. The rest of the students had left already with the promise that Harry would be contacting the people who would be playing within the next week. Ron and Ginny had already been assured their positions of Keeper and Chaser respectively. Harry was surprised at the turnout. Colin Creevey had turned up for Beater, but, and Harry didn't tell him this, Harry thought that the Bludgers might kill the poor kid. Seamus and Dean had turned up for Beater also. Harry was surprised at how good they were. Then Harry deduced the fact that they had probably been flying brooms their whole lives since they were raised with wizards and witches. Harry was pretty sure that they had made the team compared to the others. The other two Chaser positions were what Harry was worried about. Well, actually one, because Katie Bell was still at Hogwarts and she was a great chaser. Harry had almost forgotten about her until tryouts. He had always thought she was two years older than him, but he was wrong.

"At least one person from the old team is still with me," thought Harry. In his seventh year, if he survived to it, Katie would no longer be there and he would be the last member of the original team. This slightly saddened Harry, but he knew that it would've had to happen one day.

The next week went by very quick. Harry had decided that Andrew Kirke, former Beater, was best suited as a chaser rather than a beater as he had been last year. The new team was set and ready for practices. Harry couldn't really complain about the line-up. He had Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Ron Weasley (Harry wondered how long it had been since there hadn't been a Weasley on the team), Ginny Weasley, Andrew Kirke, Katie Bell, and himself. Harry was confident that with a little practice he would have a very worthy team to take to the Cup.

Harry was soon taken out of the world of Quidditch. A lot of things were happening back on the ground (literally). Harry had to decide about the DA. He thought if it would really be worth it now that they had a satisfactory teacher. He also wondered if he would be able to balance it with his other schoolwork at the moment. He decided that he had to do it because all of his "students" seemed to really enjoy learning from him. Harry knew that he couldn't back down from a responsibility that he had brought upon himself.

The next morning Harry went to Dumbledore as he was getting up from the staff table after breakfast. He was going to talk to him about the DA whether or not he was wary of Dumbledore being a killer or not.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes, Harry?" responded Dumbledore in his normal calm voice.

"Erm...do you remember the club I had started last year?"

"Yes, I do. I am assuming that you wish to discuss this club? Possibly even reinstate it?"

Harry was a little bewildered by the fact that Dumbledore pretty much knew what he would say. "Yes, I was wondering about that. You see, all of the people who were in it want me to keep it going, but I didn't think that I should do it without your permission first. I would understand if you said no."

"Well, Harry, that club did drive me from this school last year," at this Harry looked down at his shoes and Dumbledore smiled, "But I think that it sounds like an excellent idea. We could do with some sort of activity around here besides the Gobstones club. I will, of course have to speak others on this matter before I can confirm it, but I would say that you have a pretty good chance. I am curious just where you would hold the meetings."

"Um, the Room of Requirement, sir, if there is nowhere else," seeing the look of puzzlement on Dumbledore's face he continued, "Oh yeah, you don't know about it. You see, Dobby the elf told me about it. I believe that it's the place where you found that nice collection of chamber pots, professor."

"Ah yes," said Dumbledore with big revelation in his voice, "I remember that place. It was quite handy if you ask me. So I get that it's not always full of toilets, eh?"

"Yeah, it becomes a room suited to whatever your greatest need at that moment is."

"Very interesting. That sounds like the ideal place for your club to meet. Well, Harry, I am glad that you came to talk to me. Now I believe that you should get to class. You're going to be late as it is. Please tell Snape that I am sincerely sorry for keeping you."

"Yes sir. Thank you."

With that Harry left the Great Hall and ran to Potions. The halls were empty on his way to class for it had begun five minutes ago. Harry was trying to stifle the happy feeling inside him because he knew that he would be nowhere near happy in his Potions class.

Even as Harry had given his excuse for being late Harry could see that Snape did not care about the excuse in the least. He seemed enraged that Harry was late and this was probably why Harry received a lot of extra homework at the end of the lesson. When he sat down next to Hermione he gave her a thumbs up which told her that the DA was going again. The rest of the lesson was torture.

At the end of the day Harry was exhausted. He was sure that he had never had a day that hard in his entire life at Hogwarts. That's why when he entered the common room that evening to see a crowd of people all talking excitedly and signaling Harry their way, he almost considered ignoring them and walking right to bed. But he went to them anyway and looked at what was causing the excitement. He read the sign in front of him and noticed then that all of these people were sixth years.

Attention All Sixth Years:

Starting November 20th all sixth years,

(And some seventh years who failed)

Will be starting a class on Apparition.

The test for this will be taken at the age

Of seventeen. If you choose to not attend

These classes then you forfeit your opportunity

To learn to apparate.

Harry had forgotten all about this. He was very excited, just like the others. He could not wait to start learning. He was suddenly full of energy and sitting with the others. They talked about what they would do when they passed their Apparition test until late into the night. Harry decided that he needed to go up because he was genuinely tired from talking with the others. He said good-night to Hermione and Ron, who was sitting with Parvati, and climbed the stairs of the boy's dormitory. Once he had undressed and got in bed he realized that this by far his busiest year at school. He had advanced lessons, Quidditch, the DA, apparition courses, and the fact that Voldemort and his death eaters were at large.

As soon as Harry fell asleep he knew that there was something wrong in his dream: he looked down at his deathly pale hands and found that he was in the body of Tom Riddle once again.

A/N: There, I hope you liked it. Please review and once again I am sorry that it took me so long to update my story. I promise you all that I won't do that again, but I can't swear on it because I have school starting soon, but I will try my best to update at reasonable intervals. And don't worry, the story gets really in-depth soon enough.

Another Disclaimer (just figured I should add one seeing as I haven't since chapter two): I don't own Harry Potter, but can always wish that I do.