After a day or two of rest, Hermione declared Harry fit enough to leave the bed and resume his regular schedule. Her accommodations were easily taken care of by expanding the room somewhat and adding a cot for her to sleep on. Harry jested about his bed probably being less comfortable than a cot, which was the reason he had not offered her to take his bed. They had agreed that they not sleep in the same bed yet, as they were not yet prepared for the consequences of them losing control of their hormones.

Dudley had been envious, and was even caught trying to spy on them a couple of times. Uncle Vernon drew the line at feeding her, and said nothing else on the matter. Aunt Marge barged in any time the door allowed it to assure herself that there weren't any more of Harry's bad genes being spread. Aunt Petunia was very tight lipped about this, but Harry detected a miniscule glint of pride in her eyes, pride that one of the children she had raised – in a manner of speakin – would manage to function properly despite her poor job at preparing him for it.

Harry and Hermione both kept up their training and studying, including the subjects the Council had given. They ran for a while in the morning and played tag after. They started training by improvising with the equipment they did not have available, and sparred with each other to keep their skills intact.

It was really unnerving for the neighbours of the Dursleys to look out their window in the morning to see the company car being lifted up and down by two persons, one at each end, as though it was a toddler they were playing airplane with. Dudley's gang had thought this to be a trick of some sort – rubber car, or a hidden jack somewhere – and ruined their backs when they attempted to prove their theories. They had to spend about a week in traction before they were allowed out of the hospital. The parents of Dudley's gang tried to blame Harry for this, until both Harry and Hermione, as well as some of the smaller neighbourhood children that had gathered to watch, that the boys had been idiots enough to attempt lifting a car without training or proper leverage. When faced with that kind of knowledge, which their children had omitted when telling them what happened to put them in the hospital, they could not really blame Harry for anything other than not advising them well enough against it.

A week after Dumbledore's visit, an owl arrived with their supply lists.

Tumbling out of the thick envelopes fell small pins, one for both of them. A pin reading Head Boy fell into Harry's lap with a rulebook. A pin reading Head Girl landed in Hermione's lap with another rulebook. Harry was about to send the pin back when Hermione pointed out that this was one thing Dumbledore couldn't manipulate, that it was something decided by all the teachers, based on skill and marks. The added fringe benefit; was that the Head Boy and Head Girl had their own dormitories in the top of their own houses with their own tiny common room, providing more privacy for their alone time.

They then started to memorise the rules and announcements.

Harry was surprised to find that they would be hosting a few schools for a major event this year, with Voldemort on the loose. There was no description on what this event was, but it was supposed to be a grand affair.

About one week remained of the summer holidays when the doorbell rang, and like last year, Moody, Lupin and Tonks were at the door, but this year they were not in disguise.

'Weren't you with the police last year?' asked a slightly sloshed aunt Marge who had staggered out of the living room at the sound of the bell. Lupin looked better than he had last year, probably from the event-that-shall-not-be-mentioned-around-Harry, but cringed at the recognition.

'Do you want to have the honours, or shall I?' sang Tonks merrily as she bobbed on her feet, looking outrageous in her neon purple hair and skin tight clothes on a very well sculpted body. Dudley was snapped from his drooling by his mother who clearly realised that this woman was not natural. This was proven when she clearly enlarged her bosom and hips and winked at Harry. 'Please, Moody, let me!'

Hermione gripped Harry's arm and started tugging on it. 'While you decide, Harry and I will be packing.'

As Harry and Hermione went upstairs, and tried to coax their pets into their various carrying devices, they heard the noise of a quarrel, followed by the Obliviate they had been waiting for. It sounded like Lupin finally cast the spell to keep Moody and Tonks from driving him bonkers.

Packing was easy, as they needed only use magic to get it all in and clear up any signs of magic performed on the room.

Dobby and Winky were told to go on to Hogwarts and wait for them there, as they weren't certain that the two house-elves knew the location of the Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters, and couldn't reveal it if they tried.

'Awfully trusting, aren't you?' growled Moody as Harry and Hermione came down the stairs. 'How do you know we aren't Death Eaters?'

Harry smirked.

'Secret of the trade,' he stated enigmatically. 'Wouldn't do for anyone to accidentally slip up and reveal the Ace up my sleeve, would it?'

'Couldn't have said it better myself,' barked Moody in a laugh. 'A secret is only a secret until more than one knows it.'

'With that in mind, we need to make sure you are who you say you are,' reasoned Lupin.

Harry took a seat on the stairs and waited for the werewolf to start. Hermione sat on her trunk at the bottom of the stairs.

'What is your greatest fear?' the former professor asked.

'Fear,' answered Harry quickly. 'Although it should really be me that asks this from you.'

'Where did I suggest you got the Marauders Map when professor Snape got hold of it?'

'Zonko's,' answered Harry.

'That should do it,' confirmed Lupin. 'Only the three of us – professor Snape, Harry and I – knew about that one, not counting Ron who came bursting into the room yelling the same thing.'

'Then let's not stand around and mope like this,' declared Harry and stood, 'in the immortal words of Shakespeare; "Lead on McDuff"!'

'What mode of travel are we using this time?' asked Hermione, having heard from Harry about the various ways he had left the Dursleys. 'Apparation? Portkey? Ministry Car? The Knight Bus?'

'Just Apparation, Granger,' growled Moody. 'You two having your license makes this job a lot easier. And it acts as a second screening, because there is no possible way to get through the wards unless you have been told the location.'

Harry and Hermione merely nodded and got away from the stairs.

'Just one moment,' Harry added to his guard, and turned to his only remaining family. 'This will be the last time we speak, if we have any say in the matter,' he stated seriously to his aunt. 'Move away from here as soon as possible, because once I leave this house, you may become targets in the wizarding war. When this war is over, I'll try to contact you to let you know … if I'm still alive.'

Uncle Vernon looked like he was about to protest the command to pack up their things and move away, but Harry turned on him.

'Moving away will be in your lives' best interest, uncle,' he stated in a tone that allowed no protests, and stressed the title of the man. 'If you stay, you are more likely to get killed for being related to me, as I am certain Voldemort knows where I live, even if he is unable to do anything to tamper with the wards. Once those wards are down, he will come and kill anything that moves down this street, and burn down anything that doesn't, and the only thing your surviving neighbours will think, is that you angered some terrorist faction and got blown up. Your names will forever be marked as treacherous, and it wouldn't surprise me if your name would become idiomatic for traitorous fools. You will move away, because I will not allow more deaths that I could have prevented to happen.'

Towards the end of his speech, Harry was glowing with power, and Vernon was cowering, agreeing fully with the command.

'And you had better move fast,' Harry added as he turned away. 'Let's go.'

Without as much as a whisper in the air, Harry and his trunk vanished from number four Privet Drive. With a giant cracking sound, the other four magical persons follow him with what they had brought.

The moment Harry arrived at number Twelve Grimmauld Place, no one noticed, as they ran around in a panic for some reason. Not until Hermione, Lupin, Tonks and Moody arrived in a loud crack did anyone look their way.

'What's going on?' asked Harry.

'It's horrible, just horrible!' cried Mrs Weasley and tried to break Harry's ribs in a maternal hug. 'They found him hanging on the school gates!'

'Who?' asked Harry, feeling a tingle of dread run down his spine.

'Severus,' sobbed the elderly woman.

'Not more than one hour ago, Severus was found pinned to the gates with pointed sticks, blood staining the ground and with cuts and bruises covering every bit of him, and his wand shoved through his brain. The word "Traitor" was etched into his forehead with a magical knife, preventing anyone from sealing the wound,' the grave voice of the headmaster continued as he emerged from the staircase. 'We fear that Voldemort's rest has been concluded and is currently planning something to be ridding himself of his unfaithful servants. But due to the mentioned situation, we have no way of knowing.'

Harry automatically reached for his scar.

'Don't you dare!' exclaimed Hermione, as though reading his intentions. 'You will not try and reach for Voldemort to find out!'

The intensity of Hermione's emotions as she commanded Harry was something he could not resist, and he felt slightly ashamed for even starting to think about the possibility she had denied him.

'OK, I won't,' he assured her. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to put my things away.'

'If you want, Sirius -'

Dumbledore ended his suggestion when he saw Harry halt in the stairs and a still life caught fire.

'No, headmaster,' replied Harry with a chilled voice.

Wordlessly, Harry strode up to his room, once more looking like an animal on the prowl.

Most of the day passed before Mrs Weasley nearly physically dragged Harry down to the kitchens to eat, forcing the confrontation between Harry and Sirius.

The moment Harry, Hermione and Mrs Weasley entered the kitchen, all conversation stopped, and Harry was given a clear view of his godfather. Only Hermione's gentle but insistent grip prevented him from exploding at the man, or leave before he exploded at anything and everything, and she guided him to the seat on the other end of the table from the ex-convict. It wouldn't do for Harry to transform his godfather into the state of life he had been assumed for over a year, so it was in Sirius' good health and Harry's state of mind that he was placed as far away as possible while remaining in the room.

Dinner was a tense affair, as Harry pointedly avoided looking up from his plate unless it was to speak with Hermione about their studies.

The only ones not affected by the tense air, were Fred and George. They were playing with their food, quite literary, having animated the grilled carcass of a chicken to dance about the table with a miniature straw hat and bamboo cane. Their mother tried to get them to end it, but the first chicken was joined by others instead, changing form to a Riverdance, with music coming from nowhere. It was a welcome relief from the stress. Just as the chickens were about to go into their next act, which looked like a ballet, Mrs Weasley had had enough and lifted the spell, proceeding with chastising her sons for playing with their food, no matter how entertaining it was.

'You have grown.'

Harry nodded without looking up, he was not going to look at his godfather, or he was liable to strangle the man for all the pain they all had gone through because of his supposed death. Hermione saw that Harry wasn't about to talk, and started speaking for him.

'Yes, he has, it was needed – he felt – to be in top physical condition so he would be one up on the Death Eaters he is certain to encounter. He also discovered that several games and such were good training for dodging curses and increase grips and so on, and started teaching this to the Defence Association,' Harry wasn't sure whether he should blush at the attention he was getting, or keep silent and avoid speaking all together. He settled on the last, and used as much of his Occlumency training as possible to keep all the warring emotions under his thumb. 'Not only that, but the DA won in a competition against the Duelling Club which was under the direction of professors Flitwick and Snape.

'Harry's students all got very good marks on their OWLs, NEWTs and end of year exams, and are probably more loyal to him than most subjects used to be to their king, if he were to run for Minister for Magic one day, he'd be sure to win from the results he has gotten.'

Ginny and Ron confirmed Hermione's story, and added a few of their own opinions, although Ron's weren't all that flattering.

'I think that all that training with the DA tired us out for the Quidditch matches,' he commented as he reached for a pitcher of pumpkin juice. 'Gryffindor lost the Cup this year, and barely won by anything at all when we did. Not that the muscles we gain didn't draw the eyes of several girls, but we never had any time to do anything but train, eat, school, train, eat, homework and training before bed.'

His sister kindly shut him up with a mild rap to his head.

'I think the reason we did so badly at Quidditch was that some players – who shall remain nameless – procrastinated with their homework until the last minute and had to stay up half the night instead of sleeping before the matches,' she retorted. 'Another reason could be that we haven't had a good team put together since we won the Cup three years ago. None of us could measure up to the team we had then, not without constant training, which Harry nearly provides us with through the DA.'

There was a moment of silence where Ron seemed to be swallowing retorts to his sister at the warning glares his mother gave him.

'So, I hear you've become an Animagus, Harry …' Sirius attempted. He seemed to understand why Harry was angry, and was doing his best to try and slowly mend the burnt bridges.

'My, yes,' commented professor McGonagall, Harry was surprised to find her there as he had not seen her on his way in, granted he hardly saw anyone as he entered. 'A very powerful large panther,' she continued, 'scared half the school by his looks alone as he got stuck halfway into his initial and instinctive transformation, lasted for the rest of the year … of course, Mr Potter is registered legally, unlike some others …'

'Well, even Harry can't be perfect …' was the exaggerated resigned sigh Sirius replied with. This caused a small chuckle to run down the table.

Harry merely ate his food, and did his best to keep any emotion from emerging from behind the fortress he had erected around them.

Conversations went about the table for a while longer, and Harry slowly ate his dinner, leaving as soon as he was done.

Hermione followed him, taking care to express her gratitude for the meal and apologise for their departure. Once the two were alone, she rapped Harry over his head and wrapped her arms about him, expressing her feelings on his behaviour.

The remaining week passed in relative quiet, aside from the reports of Death Eaters being found dead and physically tortured all over the world. It seemed that Voldemort took his job of weeding out the undesirable elements in his group very seriously. So far over a score had been accounted for, all killed in the same brutal manner that Severus Snape had been, and all found with their wand shoved through their brain in some manner, and their left arm exposed, letting the world see the Dark Mark they bore.

Harry and Hermione trained as seriously as they could, and if they wanted privacy, they would either lock themselves in with Buckbeak, or they would place enough locking and privacy spells around the room they were in to keep the Order occupied for days just to get through them.

As far as Harry and Sirius were concerned, they had slowly started speaking to each other again, and Harry could remain courteous for one entire conversation before he had to leave the room in fear of exploding.

Sirius had finally revealed to Harry what the family curse was.

It all started with the first Potter. He had been mighty proud at creating a name for himself as the best clay worker in Britain, hence his name, and all was well. That is, until a Mage arrived and complained about a bowl that Potter had made. It turned out that the Mage had switched bowls with a different manufacturer and tried to get his money back. Potter had recognised the situation from tales he had heard from others in his profession, and checked the bowl for his magical insignia, not finding it. The Mage had been so thoroughly insulted at the nerve of this wand-waver that he cast a curse upon his family. One would normally assume that such a curse would be a bad thing, but that was not so, as the Mage made a mistake in pronunciation, and instead of robbing the man's descendants of all their magic, he gave them his. This also would be strange, but the catch was, the magical energy started manifesting itself from the moment the children were born, and would cause them to catch fire and die. But Potter was no fool, and an accomplished wizard, and managed to create a block for power which was put in place on each child of the Potter line not a day after they were born. This block, or blocks if the children had been naturally powerful, would disintegrate on the day they became of age, and their bodies could handle the surge of magic without killing them. The Mage, realising his error too late, was left without anything, and was forgotten by history in general.

Sirius had been present when James had his blocks broken, and when James installed as many as seventeen blocks on his son while Lily was asleep with exhaustion from the difficult delivery.

This explained to Harry why he had felt such an abundance of magic when he had come to consciousness after a few days in a coma caused by shock. He had thought it just an oddity, but now it made sense. His magical power was the reason for the burning feeling in his chest, as the blocks were "burnt" away. But how had Hermione known? She had been on the other side of London at the time his blocks went down, and shouldn't have felt anything, even if half of Surrey had suddenly gotten healed, mended and spiffed up.

This year, like the last, Ron ended up running all over the house in order to find his things, and get them packed, while a piece of toast hung from his teeth and his socks were slipping from his feet.

Ginny had been prepared this year, unlike last year, and joined Harry and Hermione at the bottom of the stairs to watch her brother jump around while trying to grab his annoying owl, eat and return his socks to his feet where they belonged instead of on the floor in heaps. Neither Crookshanks nor Hedwig had enjoyed being unceremoniously stuffed into their respective cage and carrier the night before, and made this known by making some noise.

The Order's guards weren't as patient with Ron as they had been in the past, and had to yell at him to get him to hurry up.

It was a slightly blushing Ron that trotted down the streets with his family and friends, his owl hooting madly in its cage, and Hedwig hooted reproachfully from her cage.

The group arrived at King's Cross ten minutes to eleven, and had to hurry with getting through the barrier.

'Well, we have to attend the Prefect meeting,' Ron started apologetic as he was about to enter the barrier, 'so why don't you get us a good compartment, Harry?'

With those words, Ron disappeared through the barrier, and was obscured by brick. Ginny smiled apologetically on behalf of her brother and followed not many seconds after. Harry realised that he had neglected to tell his friends of his good fortune in becoming the Head Boy, and knew he was going to receive a lot of flack about it once they found out. Hermione squeezed him reassuringly and leaned against the barrier, looking to all the world like a couple enjoying a moment alone before they had to catch a train, then they vanished through the brick, obscured by the strategically placed members of the Order.

On the other side of the barrier, students were flitting about, searching for wayward pets and chattering about their holidays, while one or two Aurors patrolled the edges of the crowd.

'Lead on,' Harry urged, not really knowing where he was supposed to go. He knew he was to run the Prefect meeting with Hermione, but that was it, he did not know where or how to do it. Hermione grabbed a firmer hold of Harry's hand and guided him through the throng of students, their trunks loaded onto the train before they entered the front compartment.

There was a fair sized crowd in the Prefect's Compartment, all chatting with the other prefects from their own house, or the house that was not rivalling their own, but all conversation ended as Harry stepped into the compartment, being led by Hermione.

'What are you doing here, Potter?' asked Malfoy irately, 'Granger, you know the rules, you can't bring your boyfriend in here even if he is the Bloody-Boy-Who-Lived! You'll lose your badge for this.'

Ron was about to stand up and defend his friends when Harry flipped his shirt collar the right way, and revealed the Head Boy badge.

'I believe this gives me the right to be here, Malfoy,' replied Harry calmly.

The blonde Slytherin obviously had objections, but in light of the badge, he couldn't say a thing.

'Very well, let's everyone settle down so we can get to the issues at hand,' commanded Hermione.

The prefects all settled down in various seats and looked up at Harry and Hermione who took their seats behind a desk, like they were in a lax classroom. They covered the normal rules for the new prefects, what to do, what they should leave to professors, and when they were allowed to deduct points. Finally, they got to the issue that would be the most interesting one.

'This year, Hogwarts will host four other schools, one from each of the other continents, they will not attend classes with us, or share our living quarters,' declared Hermione, having covered most of the meeting herself. 'However, they will be free to roam the castle at the same times as all other students, and will eat at whichever table they desire. Mistreating them will have the same consequences as they would have if the guests were Hogwarts students. The reason why these schools will be present, is that some grand event will take place, spanning the whole year.

'As a direct result, the Quidditch Cup will not be held this year,' immediately there was uproar from those many supporters of the sport. 'Quiet!' commanded Hermione warningly. 'As you all may remember, last year two new events were held in hopes of starting a tradition, only one of them survived the popularity contest, namely the Combat Duel, which means that it will be arranged at the same time as last year, which is the very last day before we all leave for either the summer or forever … or for those who intend to seek employment there, shorter.' At this, Hermione paused, a lump in her throat as she thought of the fact that this year would be the last she would spend at Hogwarts. Harry patted her hand, understanding her sadness.

'In any case,' he continued for her, 'I think we are done for now, you will all receive your first passwords as you leave, make sure to memorise them before you leave the train, and change passwords as soon as possible without confusing the first years. You are dismissed.'

Hermione handed the sealed envelopes to the prefects as they got up, and sat back at the desk in wait of the inevitable explosion from Ron. They did not have to wait for long, as Ron came storming up to the desk and demanded to know why he wasn't told.

'In all the commotion about Sirius' return and Snape's departure, it slipped our minds,' explained Harry calmly. 'Surely you don't think that our being Heads is more important that Sirius returning from the dead and Snape joining them?'

This caused Ron to shut up, and look abashed.

'Let's go and find a compartment, I'm nearly certain that Neville and Luna are waiting for us.'

The four of them walked down the carts, making sure to look in on every compartment to look for their friends. Occasionally they would pass a prefect that was patrolling, but they didn't run into any trouble. Like normal, they had only gotten to the end of the train when they discovered the compartment containing their friends. The two brightened up at seeing their friends enter.

Harry cast a few silent and powerful vampiric and elven locking charms on the compartment door, knowing that something was bound to happen.

The group conversed about their summers and theorised how professor Snape would be replaced, and with whom.

They had not yet reached a conclusion about the replacement Potions Master when Malfoy and his cronies arrived outside their compartment and attempted to open it, only to find it locked.

For a full five minutes, the occupants of the compartment were entertained by the sight of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle trying to use every spell and trick they knew to open the door, until the old witch with the lunch trolley came by and started yelling at them for attempting to deface school property. They heard her holler after the Slytherin trio that she'd give word of this to the headmaster and see to it that they were properly punished.

'Those were very useful spells, Harry,' commented Luna, 'what kinds were they? I don't think there is a locking spell in Hogwarts that a seventh year Slytherin cannot counter.'

Harry studied the sixth year Ravenclaw for a moment before nodding.

'You're right, Luna,' he agreed, 'I have learned a few tricks that would never be taught to any Hogwarts student, let alone wizards in general. Nothing illegal, just questionable or different.' He added as he saw Ron and Ginny start to panic. 'Can't really tell you about what it is, because then we would have no surprises left.'

Hermione redirected the conversation while Harry opened the door and got some of every candy the lady with the trolley had.

The following hours, while they waited for the train to arrive at its destination, they conversed on the possibilities of the DA, and snacked on the candy Harry had bought.

When darkness started to fall, Hermione ushered the boys, or young men as they should rightfully be called, out of the compartment so the girls, or young women, could change into their school uniform. As usual, not long after, the roles were switched, and they all waited with subconsciously baited breaths for the train to pull into the station, and for the year to begin, the last year for sixty-six point six-six-six-six etc. per cent of the compartment's occupants.

Finally, the train slowed to a stop and the six of them got off, trying not to either trample or get trampled by the mob of students flowing out of the train and onto the platform.

Bobbing down the platform was the lantern that Hagrid normally used, but the voice – although deep and loud – was not his, unless the friendly giant had gone through some severe operations.

'Students, first year students, please follow moi! First years zis vay!'

As the form came properly within view, Harry saw that the large form of the headmistress of Beauxbatons in France was doing Hagrid's job of gathering the first years. Madame Olympe Maxime, one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, she travelled with Hagrid to the mountains somewhere in eastern Europe to find the giant colonies and try to make a treaty with them before Voldemort did, unsuccessfully. She was half-giant herself, but did not make a fuss about it. For a brief moment Harry wondered why this large woman was here of all places, but his musings were interrupted by Hermione and the others who wanted to get to the castle before the last Thestral-pulled carriages took off without them.

'You'll have to give me a ride if we miss it!' Hermione called as they briskly walked for the carriage. The other four had gone onboard one of the earlier carriages under the belief that Harry and Hermione were directly behind them, therefore there weren't any trace of them. Unfortunately, the last carriage was occupied, by Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson and Zabini, so any chances they had of getting on it was suddenly diminished to near impossible.

Hermione crossed her arms as she watched the carriage roll off, laughter rolling from it. She looked from the carriage to Harry with a mild glare that clearly stated that he was at fault for them missing the carriages.

'Get on, then,' sighed Harry and shifted form after checking for observers. The great feline form easily seated Hermione as she climbed onto his back and held onto his neck with her arms and to his waist with her legs. Harry couldn't resist the urge to purr at the feeling, but would not be distracted from his task, and crouched for a moment before leaping into a shadow, Hermione squeaking in fright with the expected impact into the hard wood of the tree Harry had chosen.

The squeak suddenly transferred from a tree at the end of the Hogsmeade station, to the shadows behind the doors of the Great Hall, where Harry transformed again in case someone's attention was drawn to them from the noise.

'I make good time, right?' asked Harry mischievously.

'Right,' agreed Hermione and tried to calm herself. 'Remind me not to ask for this unless it's an emergency, OK? I don't think I can handle this on a regular basis.'

Harry nodded and wrapped his arm about her as they walked around the door and into the Great Hall, which was only half filled.

No one were surprised to see them enter, and they got seated near their friends, Luna not having found any available seats at her own house table sat nearly on Ron's lap, which made the redheaded boy very nervous.

When the last Slytherins entered, they were surprised -the only ones mind you -to see Harry and Hermione sitting calmly near the head table of their house table, chatting with their friends about this and that. They clearly suspected something, but there was no evidence of anything other than Harry having an incredibly fast broom that transported them there.

The chatter rose in noise levels, and the doors of the Great Hall closed for the first years that would be waiting on the other side.

After some time, and several complaints from Ron about the wait for the banquet, the doors slammed open and professor McGonagall led a group of children in, all looking very nervous, and awed at the same time. The large form of Madame Maxime slunk along the wall towards the Head table, where a large seat had been reserved for her next to Hagrid. It was slightly sweet to see the two half-giants snuggle together and watch the goings on in the Great Hall, merry twinkles in their eyes.

Professor McGonagall also seemed to be a might happier about the world, despite the darkness that prowled through it at this time.

The stern professor walked up to the stool where the Sorting Hat was placed, and withdrew a list.

The hat shook for a moment, then opened a rift near the brim, and it began to sing.

A thousand years and more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known;

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,

Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

Shrewd Slytherin from fen.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

They hatched a daring plan

To educate young sorcerers

Thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders

Formed their own House, for each

Did value different virtues

In the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were

Prized far beyond the rest;

For Ravenclaw, the cleverest

Would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were

Most worthy of admission;

And power-hungry Slytherin

Loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide

Their favourites from the throng,

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

he whipped me off his head

the founders put some brains in me

so I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!

Harry stared at the hat for a moment, hadn't that been the song in his fourth year?

He looked around and saw that he hadn't been the only one that remembered.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. 'Maybe he has run out of ideas, or has been too much disturbed to make one up …' she suggested.

Professor McGonagall gathered her wits and took out her scroll of names before calling out; 'When I read your names, step up and pull the hat over your head, then proceed to your designated House table.'

Harry ignored the sorting, only clapping his hands when he saw from the corner of his eye that his House mates did. He was busy watching the Head table. The only new face, apart from Madame Maxime, was that of Alastor Moody, or more commonly known as; Made-Eye. There was no doubt that this man was going to be in charge of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, so whom was to replace Snape? He doubted that Madame Maxime would take on that position, as she was not exactly small enough to fit through half the doors in this castle, and would feel cramped in the confined spaces of the dungeon.

One final applause went through the Great Hall, and Dumbledore stood as the last first year sat down.

'Welcome,' the old wizard greeted solemnly but with a twinkle of merriment about him. 'I will not delay the Start of Term Banquet much longer, as I see several of you are indeed very ravenous, so, dig in!'

With that, the headmaster clapped his hands, and food in huge quantities and exquisite quality appeared on each of the tables.

The students started their chattering again as they started eating the delicious food. Harry and his band of merry students was no exception, but they continued their discussions on the teacher situation. Harry exchanged a few words with Mark Evans, a boy who lives near Privet Drive, he had seen the boy a few times over summer while he was training. Mark was one of the children who had gathered around Harry and Hermione as they bench-pressed the company car. Harry was just happy that the kid hadn't gotten infected with the hero-worship that several of the other young children had been bitten by before arriving at Hogwarts, although a good portion were more afraid of him than awed.

After nearly two hours of eating and chatting with friends over the din in the Great Hall, Dumbledore stood once more.

'Now that we have all feasted on this marvellous meal, it is time to make some announcements.

'Firstly, as usual, the Forbidden Forest is as its name suggests, not for the dangers that usually lurk inside, but for the creatures that now are actively against humans and will do what they can to cut down those who enter.

'Second, Mr Filch, our caretaker, has once more asked me to remind you all that no magic shall be performed between classes and in the corridors. For a list of what is contraband, please see his office door, as there are too many items for me to mention while the night is still new.

'Thirdly, I would like to welcome the real professor Alastor Moody, who will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts.'

Dumbledore paused for the polite applause to end. Moody didn't seem too comfortable with large crowds, and his blue glass eye was carefully checking every single person in the Great Hall, but he grunted and nodded in thanks for the recognition.

'I am certain that the great tragedy of the war has been shed some light on during the summer, and several innocent people have been brutally murdered. Among those was our beloved-' several students snorted at this '-Potions Master, Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin House. He will be sorely missed.' The aged headmaster ignored the snorting students and carried on. 'I myself will take over as acting Potions Master, and professor Sinistra has been kind enough to volunteer for the duties of being Head of House in Severus' stead.

'And on to more pleasant matters,' declared the headmaster after a moment of silence in respect for the deceased staff member. 'Last year, we held two new arrangements, alas, only one will remain, and that is the friendly rivalry between the Defence Association and the Duelling Club, which will take place, as last year, on the Quidditch pitch on the final day before the End of Year Feast. I presume the captains of the groups have no argument in this …

'And finally, there will be no Quidditch this year -' Dumbledore paused as most of the students stood from their seats in uproar, complaining about this very delicate matter. Eventually, Dumbledore got everyone settled down. 'As I was saying, there will be no Quidditch this year, because Hogwarts will be hosting the World Wizarding Championship. Directly after our Triwizard Tournament, the ministry went together with the International Confederation of Wizards, and they have arranged for each continent to hold their own Triwizard Tournaments during the previous year,' Harry got a lump in his throat and a chill ran down his spine. 'Their champions will come here to compete against our own champion, Harry Potter, for the title of World Wizarding Champion, of the teenage class, of course. There will be four official tasks, and two smaller ones that are not judged. The only one I can mention, is the Yule Ball that will take place. The four other schools will arrive within the end of this month.

'But enough about this, some of you are half asleep, prefects, take your first years to your houses, and have a good night.'

Harry got up with his friends, and helped them usher the first years through the corridors, hallways and staircases needed to get to Gryffindor tower. After all, as Head Boy, he has to set an example.

As the first years went up, Harry pecked Hermione on the cheek and walked up the boys' staircase, to the very top, where a door was situated, reading; Head Boy / Head Girl common room. He entered and found Hermione just entering from the twin door leading to the girls' staircase. There was a table in the middle of the small common room, and two overstuffed chairs in red leather with gold-painted wood. The small fireplace was crackling merrily on one side of the room, and the only window faced the lake, where the giant squid was playing with the moon's reflection in the water. There were two other doors, marked Head Boy and the other marked Head Girl.

'I missed you,' commented Harry as they fully entered the common room, and closed the doors behind them. He knew it was silly, they had hardly been out of each other's sight for a minute, but it was true.

Hermione smiled and wrapped him in a motherly hug. It could have been disturbing to Harry if he had realised it, or experienced it throughout his childhood, as it were, he was merely feeling loved and hugged his girlfriend in return.

'Time for bed,' she cooed and pecked Harry's head before letting him go and sauntering across the common room and through the door marked Head Girl. Harry was tempted to follow her, but knew that that would be pressing an issue they had agreed to wait with. Instead he entered his own door, and found a modest sized room with a four poster bed, like the one in his former dormitory, his trunk was at the foot of the bed, and his writing supplies had been set out on the desk that was facing a window with a view over the forbidden forest. There were two other doors in Harry's room, one leading to a wardrobe, where his clothes had been neatly hung and folded, the other wouldn't open as he pulled or pushed on it.

After several tries, the door finally opened, revealing a nice bathroom, not unlike the Prefect's Bathroom, but with an extra door on the other end of the room. That door was closed.

Not wanting to have to bother with another door, Harry quickly got ready for bed and was asleep nearly the instant his head landed on the pillow.

It was the middle of the night when Harry awoke. He had had a nightmare. Something he hardly ever had any more. Cedric and Harry's parents were blaming him for their deaths, in his dream, and were attempting to have him join them in the afterlife.

Feeling that he would be a while before he would be able to fall asleep again, Harry dressed and went for a walk, maybe he could get a book from the Library, and read a bit.

Having a purpose, a goal to achieve before falling back asleep, Harry made his way down the staircase, through the common room, and down the corridors. As he walked, he mused about the perks of being Head Boy … being allowed to roam – or patrol – the corridors was just one of them, and he was taking advantage of that one now.

Carefully, Harry snuck into the Restricted Section of the library, knowing the most informative books were placed there.

He had just found a book that looked interesting, and was about to make a grab for it, when his pants caught on something, causing him to trip. Knowing how many of the books in the Restricted Section might react, Harry refrained from reaching out for something to break his fall, and instead braced himself for impact. He landed hard on the stone floor, feeling slightly sore at the forearms he had used to dampen his impact.

Harry looked down at his leg to see what had caused his fall, and saw that a small board near the bottom of a bookshelf, opening up a small space underneath, revealing something.

Curious, Harry untangled his pants from the board, and grabbed the object that had been hidden.

It was a book. A diary. The front had embossed the name; Lily Evans, with the word; Potter, scratched into the leather after.

A lump formed in Harry's throat. This was his mother's diary?

All thoughts of finding something interesting to read were forgotten, and a need to get back came over him, and made him hide the red leather book from view.

Harry was probably not at his most silent as he burst into the common room, up the staircase, through the small common room, and into his own, unaware of the noise he made. It was more important to find out more about his mother, as there was so little he really knew about her.

He carefully opened the book, and found it empty of all but pages.

All this excitement, and there was nothing in the diary … if it was empty, why was it hidden?

What if …

Harry hopped over to his desk and grabbed his quill and poised it at the ready.

With a careful and shaky hand, Harry wrote; Hello.

He stared at the page for a moment, and was slightly nervous when the word sank into the page.

Hello, who are you? Was written in red ink not long after. Harry gathered his nerve and replied.

I am Harry Potter, your son.

Harry! The page read. My baby, Harry! I've missed you terribly! How long has it been?

Harry was puzzled, how could an enchanted book have emotions?

Hello? Are you still there?

Harry composed himself and composed a reply.

Why are you acting like I have written before? He asked, wanting to know the reason.

You haven't, the book wrote, but then again, when I left you, you were barely four months past a year. I'm happy to find you in good health, Voldemort rarely leaves anyone behind.

How do you know about that? asked Harry suspiciously, she couldn't possibly have managed to store her memories within this diary and hide it within Hogwarts between the moment Voldemort fired the curse and it hit.

Oh, well, I did something that can be considered as Dark Arts to achieve that result, said the page. I used to work at the Ministry in Spell Development, and managed to modify the memory transfer used for the pensieve, but there was only one use for it. If the spell has been cast, it will transfer a complete duplicate of the caster's mind into a predestined object, be it a pensieve or diary. I had enchanted my diary to act not unlike your father and his friends' map, and it became my focus after I died. You know, it is very tedious being a book that has been hidden for what feels like an eternity.

Harry contemplated this. He did a few tests on the diary, using the most harmless spells he knew of to verify that this was no trap.

I believe you, he answered after a few moments. Then he added; Mum.

The following morning, Harry was very tired as he met with most of the remaining DA outside the Room of Requirements, having not gotten much sleep because of his discovery, but he was happy. He had learned a couple of things about his mother, and found she had quite a temper after having started the story of his life after she died. He could practically feel the heat off the pages was he told about his childhood, and could tell that the book was only just restraining its temper from making an explosive outburst.

However tired Harry was, he was also extremely chipper, and carried out his training with ease while yelling half heartedly at those lagging behind from a summer of laziness.

He knew that he could not let Dumbledore know of his mother's diary, or he'd be sure to destroy it like Harry destroyed Tom Riddle's diary, in fear of it being a dark artefact. Harry knew that a tiny bit of dark magic had been put to use in the creation of the spell, but he had checked with every kind of magic he knew, that wouldn't ruin the book, and could find no ill intent, apart from the moment he told about his childhood in the care of aunt Petunia.

Harry was helping Hermione stretch her thighs after the morning training when she gave a very pained yelp and fell to the ground, clutching her abdomen. He immediately came to help, but Hermione refused it, stubbornly but with a grateful face, saying she could handle it herself.

Harry was her shadow as she stumbled towards the Hospital wing, feeling pain for not being allowed to aid her in her time of pain.

He was made to wait outside the doors as Hermione entered the realm of the mother-hen of a matron. Like a nervous father in the waiting room of the maternity ward of a hospital, Harry paced back and forth as he waited. He was nearly literally climbing the walls when Hermione returned, with something stuffed under her robes and with a stiff walk.

'What is it?' asked Harry as soon as she was completely out. 'Is everything all right?'

'Hmm? Oh, yes everything is in order,' jumped Hermione, as though surprised he would still be there.

Silently, Harry followed his girlfriend as they returned to Gryffindor tower to shower and changed clothes for the day. Harry was still worried about Hermione, but didn't want to smother her, so he let her go into her room without holding her back, though he made it perfectly clear that he was not happy about it.

Harry no longer worried about the locked door, his mother had been so kind as to explain it to him. As it was rare that the Head Boy and the Head Girl were of the same house, a safety mechanism had been put into the doors leading to the joint bathroom, so that only one could be inside at a time. When one was in, the bathroom door of the counterpart's room was closed and locked, to keep things decent and proper. The only exception to the rule was if the two were wed, but then they would be sharing quarters instead of living in separate ones.

They went down to breakfast together in silence, Harry casting worried glances at Hermione every few steps, as she was walking very stiffly, and was still hiding something within her robes.

The Great Hall was starting to fill up when the two arrived, and finding a seat was still not a problem.

Just as they sat down, Harry caught a glimpse of Hermione quickly whipping a ring-shaped cushion from her robes and placing it underneath her as she sat.

He remained silent about it all through breakfast, and as they received their lesson plan. However, as they arrived at Transfigurations and Hermione winced as she sat down on her cushion, he could stay silent no longer and asked her what had been the matter, making sure to keep his tone down to avoid attention, luckily, Hermione and Harry had managed to learn Gobbledegook over the month they had spent in each others' company, thanks to the Merpeople's spell, and used it to keep from being understood if they were overheard.

Hermione winced at her situation before resigning herself to her fate.

'When I was stretching, my body didn't agree with me, and protested by tearing my hymen,' she whispered, blushing.

'Hymen?' asked Harry, trying to remember where he had heard that word before.

'Yes,' confirmed Hermione, blushing as she continued, 'also known as the "virgin barrier" …'

Realisation hit Harry like a herd of runaway Eruptment, causing him to blush as well.

'Madam Pomfrey gave me something to heal the wound, and for the pain, but it isn't working completely. It will take a day or two before I'm back to normal, movement wise. I'm sorry you weren't the one to break my barrier,' she finished. Her blush was very obvious, and Harry sported a matching one.

'As fascinating as this conversation must be, Mr Potter and Miss Granger, we are supposed to try and transfigure large objects into small creatures,' commented professor McGonagall sternly. 'And five points from Gryffindor for not paying attention in class.'

Hermione made sure not to speak out of turn again, and both she and Harry competed in getting more points for Gryffindor by answering correctly and performing their tasks as quickly and accurately as possible. Near the end of class, professor McGonagall had to ignore the two for a while so as not to be accused of nepotism, and the other students were put on the spot.

After class, Harry attempted to reassure Hermione that he didn't mind her predicament and that he cared by giving her a peck, but it was interrupted by professor McGonagall sternly telling them to move along, as she had another class to teach soon. Reluctantly, the two walked along the corridors, Harry keeping close to Hermione so her stiff walk would be less noticeable.

In Charms, Harry attempted once more to kiss his girlfriend, but professor Flitwick interrupted only a hairs' width before contact, commenting on how Harry was applying himself to the wrong kind of charm at the moment.

It was an interesting class, where they briefly discussed the possibility of Summoning creatures from other realms into this one to do ones bidding, and why it was considered dark arts. Harry and Hermione made a good case for why this was not evil or dark arts, having studied the art over the summer, and argued that many of the charms they learned in their first year could be used as dark arts if one was in the right frame of mind.

'If you used the levitation charm, for instance, you could easily kill someone, just as you could with a tickling charm or a jelly-leg jinx. The levitation charm could be used to float someone high into the air or off a cliff before it was lifted,' stated Hermione seriously, 'you could easily overdo a tickling charm so the victim lost control of their movements, just like with a jelly-leg jinx, causing them to fall off or onto something they shouldn't.'

'The Imperious curse could just as easily be used to rid someone of a nasty habit, and the Killing curse could be used to get rid of an ill pet or rabid beast,' continued Harry. 'There is no such thing as dark and light magic, the intent alone holds the responsibility and amount of evil. Therefore, Summoning creatures that do not have corporal form into existence in trade for a few services is not evil, unless the intent and service is evil. The Summoned creatures has nothing it wants more than to exist, and will in most cases agree to anything just to briefly become real, just never try to Summon a shadow Panther, for they will in ninety-seven out of a hundred cases end up killing the Summoner.'

The two were given ten points for their well researched argument, and professor Flitwick went on to describe some of the beasts that were said to have been Summoned to this realm, dementors were among those creatures, which made Harry slightly annoyed, as the promise from the Lord of Azkaban would mean very close to nothing if Voldemort managed to Summon his own dementors, as they would not be under his control. He resolved to write a carefully worded letter to the man as soon as he could.

When Harry had Hermione just outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, he tried once more to kiss her, but was interrupted by the scratchy yell of Professor Moody, telling them to get in.

Moody was impressed with some of his students' knowledge as far as his class was concerned, and had learned that those students had been students of Harry's for two – going on its third – years, and decided to give Gryffindor one point extra credit for every correct answer from Harry's students, as well as points for those houses the students were from for answering or demonstrating correctly. Harry protested to this special attention, but was told to pipe down and pay attention, because if this class was as advanced as it appeared to be, Moody planned to advance much faster than their lesson plans dictated.

After lunch, Harry attempted to steal a moment from Hermione in the Entrance Hall before they both went to Arithmancy together, but Hagrid interrupted as he led the third year class through the doors, as it had begun to rain, ruining his lesson to the point of it having to be had inside.

Once inside the empty Arithmancy classroom, Harry tried once more to give Hermione a kiss, but it was interrupted by the arrival of their professor, and some other students, Ravenclaws, all of which glared at the two for getting the titles of Head Boy and Head Girl. Throughout the double lesson in Arithmancy, Harry and Hermione alternated between taking notes and writing down test formulae for new spells, which they were both aware of they needed if they should stand any chance against Death Eaters and Voldemort in the final confrontation, which could not be all that long off considering how thoroughly Voldemort was cleaning out his ranks. They had both ideas of how to deal with both threats. Death Eaters were simple enough, they only needed to be caught with a spell that they couldn't be revived from unless someone knew the exact counter spell, which is where Hermione's transfiguration spell came into play. In theory, it would transfigure body and clothing separately, making the body into a harmless creature and their clothes into secure caging for this animal. Voldemort's greatest weakness was love, and Harry was attempting to figure out some variation of the Patronus spell to kill the creature once and for all.

Before they were had reached the Room of Requirements for their afternoon DA meeting, Harry stole Hermione into a small alcove, in hopes of getting the kiss he had been craving all day. Hermione seemed equally excited about the prospect of this chaste intimate declaration of love or affection, and didn't protest to being pulled about like a rag doll. Their lips were just about to touch, when a polite cough interrupted, and Dumbledore stood close by with Fawkes on his shoulder, looking like he was trying not to see them.

'What is the matter with you professors today!' demanded Harry in a snarl. 'I've been trying to kiss my girlfriend all day, but every single time, one of the faculty interrupts! Have you all taken a course in bad timing over the summer!'

The aged headmaster chuckled good-naturedly and turned to face them.

'Not at all, Harry,' he stated with no hidden amount of humour, 'it must simply be bad luck. I merely went in search of you to lend you Fawkes so that you may sort out your new students and current students for the worthy ones. That I happened upon you just at that moment was merely good fortune on my part.'

Harry grumbled as he accepted the phoenix and headed for the Room of Requirements, leaving the chuckling headmaster behind. Hermione sighed in resignation at Harry's mood, mostly because it reflected her own.

The DA was slightly more eventful, as there were nearly forty students wishing to be accepted into it waiting outside the wall where the door would appear not long from then. It was a lucky day for the DA, because only ten had been rejected for one reason or another. Either they would not accept the tight training schedule, or they were only joining to be spies for someone. It was also fortunate that none of the existing members had been corrupted over the summer, or they would have been kicked out.