Chapter 24

(A/N: My apologies for the wait. I am glad, however, that you all enjoyed the last chapter. Heh, I admit though, I had eaten a little too much sugar the previous night before I wrote it, add that to finals coming up and a birthday party where you don't sleep for one minute, and getting back at five in the morning and…well, you can figure it out. In all honesty, I think the lyrics—now that I look at them in a sane manner—are sad, but amusing. Of course, as it was once said: 'Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting', it is indeed true. A.S. Leif)

Tallon slept in several hours, a catch-up to replace the extra hours he'd remained awake; sugar-high, but awake.

The first thing he did, though, was put his new penesive to use. He put in his memory of the previous day in there, along with his sixteenth birthday, his knowledge of Draco as a spy, and the prophecy in it too. Not wanting to take any chances, he stored it in the Scrying Room down in the dungeons; he hadn't seen anything in the mist-mirror since he'd seen Pettigrew.

He waited for something to happen, and studied while he did. After lunch, Harry's pendant buzzed, and Dumbledore asked him to come to Headquarters for a moment. Tallon obliged, quickly teleporting via his ring to the castle. Soon after he arrived, Ron, Neville, Hermione, and Ginny came down.

"I forgot to send these to you," Dumbledore said, and gave them their letters for Hogwarts.

Harry tore his open, and grinned when he saw the paper saying that he could use magic outside of school now. Of course, they'd been using magic all summer, which meant that this paper hadn't really meant anything. Following the announcement paper, came the annual Hogwarts letters saying he'd been accepted into Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, blah, blah, blah, and what he'd need, blah, blah, blah. He merely skimmed through it, taking note of the new texts he might need; it turned out to be a lot. They were all NEWT level books, ones he hadn't bothered to buy.

"Is the defense teacher the same?" Neville asked.

Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, it seems the 'curse' of Defense Against the Dark Arts has been broken for the first time in seven years."

Harry grinned, thinking about all the professors they'd had, only three being decent, not counting the fact that one was a Death Eater in disguise, of course. However, his gaze was caught by the stunned look on Ron's face. He was holding something in his palm, eyes the size of saucers, jaw hanging open, just waiting for a fly to come in.

"What is it mate?" asked Harry, just as Mrs. Weasley and the twins came in.

Ron gulped, and showed a golden badge that had the initials 'H.B.' on it.

Harry's face split into a wide grin, going from ear to ear. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed.

"What? What's brilliant?" Hermione asked absently, still looking at her letter.

"Ron's Head Boy!" Ginny squealed, jumping up and down with her letter.

Mrs. Wealsey immediately wheeled around, and grabbed Ron in a rib-crushing hug as tears streamed from her eyes. "Third one in the family!" she cried, "Quidditch captain too! Oh Ronald!"

Harry realized something and began to laugh hysterically. Ron's face went red as his mother finally released him. "Harry!" Hermione chided. "Don't laugh!"

"It's—not—that!" Harry gasped as he rolled on the floor.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Mirror!" Harry choked.

"He's gone mental," the twins chorused sadly.

Harry shook his head as he laughed. "Mirror—first year—Ron—Head Boy and Captain!"

Ron's eyes widened as realization hit him. "The Mirror of Erised!" he exclaimed, "Bloody hell, mate, you're right!" then he too began to laugh; leaving the others very confused, yet very proud; only Dumbledore understood.

(A/N: Sorry about the terribly short length, I promise the next chapter will be much longer! I felt like a funny note would be a good place to stop, considering what lies ahead. grins evilly Hopefully the next chapter shall be updated soon! My apologies for the inconvenience. –A.S.Leif)

Coming Up:

Revealed

Friend of Foe?

Then:

Durmstrang

Leech