A/N: Yes, so I redid this chapter. It's a bit broken and rough but basically the idea I had last time. I hope it suits my readers fine. Many thanks to the reviews of Chapter Eleven. -wink- Enjoy.
Chapter Twelve: Old and New Faces
"Harry, mate, alright there?"
Harry Potter snapped his head up from his sleeping position, hurting his neck, "Wh- OW!"
Ron looked at him from across the Gryffindor table, "MgGonagall's assignment with the frog spawn? Did you finish?" Harry shook his head no and watched as their bushy headed best friend came walking to the table with her many books, a bright smile on her face. "Good morning Harry, Ron."
The red head inclined his head distantly and Harry did the same, observing her as she reached for a plate and began the slow task of eating her breakfast. Hermione certainly looked better this morning and Harry was glad that his hopes had came true. They finished up and made their way together to the first class of the day; Defense Against the Dark Arts. No one had told them who was teaching it, not that they really needed the class.
DA or Dumbledore's Army, that was founded in fifth year, was still currently running smoothly in the Room of Requirement. Everyone was getting fantastically better even Luna, the club was still a secret from everyone else.
The trio made their way up the Defense classroom, the room was dark and the shutters were closed. It was decorated in black, silver, and green with Slytherin tapestries hanging around the room. Standing beside the large teacher's desk was no other then Professor Severus Snape. He fluidly oozed his way over and towered over them menacingly.
Harry couldn't believe his eyes, he thought the man had disappeared off the Earth, so he wished.
This couldn't be happening…
The Potter boy looked over at his friends who were just as shocked as he was, Ron was doingthe MgGonagall impression, Hermione on the other hand was doing a marvelous gasping fish impression.
The tall man said coldly, "Get in your seats before all three of youreceive detention." He whipped around with his black robes in a billow.
Harry sulked to his desk, he still couldn't believe his awful luck. The class was a mixture of seventh year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, which was very unfortunate for them because Snape happened to be in a very bad mood. Finally, waiting foran hourthat seemed like months, class ended. As they sat waiting for Snape to demand for them to get out of his sight, he snarled, "Your homework will be to write a ten foot essay on moonstones and their history of uses, the Gryffindors will write a twenty."
Ron was outraged, he said bitterly, "That's not fair!"
The greasy haired man heard him and snapped, "Ten points docked from Gryffindor for that outburst Weasley and you will stay tomorrow for detention so we can discuss the true arrogance of our tongue and idiocy of your mind." A dark red covered the tips of Ron's ears and he dismissed them all, both Harry and Ron were furious and Hermione attempted to calm them as they stormed down the many staircase.
Ron had a few choice words that made Hermione scowl at him. She remarked, "Shouldn't you to be playing Quiddich instead of sulking?"
Both boys shouted, "Shit!" and raced out into the sunshine of the grounds with her screaming behind their departing backs. They ran so fast that some first years passing by thought they were just a blur of black.
When Harry and Ron finally had it to the Quiddich, they nearly fell over. Not from exhaustion, but from shock.
Standing the afternoon sun, dressed in gold and red, was Oliver Wood. Harry fought to keep his escaping breath and gaped, blinking stupidly, "Oliver? What…?"
The heavily accented man grinned at him broadly, "Harry, good to see you!" He gave him a manly hug and grinned wider, Ron sputtered, "What are you doing here?"
"For my training, you bloke.I'm taking over the position of referee for Madam Hooch and helping the younger players," he winced, "She caught a nasty bout of something, of course, I'm not alone on the job."
Oliver called out over his shoulder, "Oi Chang, get your arse over here!"
Emerging from the stands was the tall good-looking Asian, Harry's stomach dropped at the sight of her. Cho Chang smiled seductively at Oliver, "What bad things are you saying about me Wood?"
He chuckled, "Not too much. Cho, I think you know Ron here and Harry Potter."
Her narrow dark eyes pierced into him and she said with the same flirtatious tone, "Yeah. I do."
After that conversation, she kept an annoying close eye on him. The Gryffindor Team practiced for the first match of the season, with Oliver and Cho helping out. Harry had seen Dennis Creevey try-out and was surprised to find he had natural athlete abilities unlike his older brother Colin and much more easier to be around.
When practice ended, Harry was headed out of the showers when he saw Cho waiting for him outside, her straight black hair flowing past her shoulders. She had on that creepy smile, the one that Harry uncomfortable, "Hello Harry."
She walked up to him and took his hand, "I've missed you."
His voice came out harshly, "I haven't." He took his hand back and beganwalking awaybut she stepping in front of him, "There's Hogsmede in the winter. Would you…I mean…" She blushed under his gaze, "Would you like to go with me? A date, like old times?" Harry felt aggravation overcome him, he frowned at her, "No, I don't want to go on a date with you. We tried this before, remember? And you ended up using me," when tears sparkled in her eyes he said even more exasperated, "Stop it, crying isn't going to make me change my mind. You screwed with my feelings, I don't need a girlfriend, sorry. I'm fine with how I am now."
Her sadness was gone as fastas it came, "Your loss," she glared at him before taking off in a fury.
After a second, a hand touched Harry's shoulder and Ron was standing beside him, looking proud, "Good job mate. She deserved it." Harry strolled back to the castle with him.
The Feast began at seven and Hermione met them down at their table, they had a pleasant evening together.
Around the end, a random girl came up to the Gryffindor table when the Feast ended. She asked Hermione hurriedly, "Hey, do you have the notes on the parts of automobiles? I heard you were the person to ask." Hermione dug into her schoolbag and handed the girl some parchment, "Here."
The girl with the boyish cut hair nodded, "I've give it back in Muggle Studies, thanks." She disappeared into the crowd of students and Hermione noticed that both of her friends were staring at her confused, "What?"
Harry questioned, "Who was that?"
"Oh, her? Samantha Fawcett."
They continued talking as they made their way up the stairs. Ron looked like he was deep in thought, "Fawcett…I've heard that name before…"
Hermione said conversationally, "She's in our year, Ravenclaw. You two would have something in common Harry." He lowered his eyebrows, "Huh?"
She looked uneasily at him, saying in soft tones, "Well, her parents were murdered by Voldemort as well."
His bright green eyes stared off into space, "Really."
Ron blurted out, "So did the Bones and Prewitts but no one makes a big deal out of that." The red head stopped talking when he saw that they were becoming quiet. Once again, Hermione wandered off from them and Harry sat restlessly by his window, stroking Hedwig's feather as she nipped his ear affectionately.
He glanced back into the inky night, when something flashing caught his eye. There was a light coming from the Astronomy Tower, a shadow passed over the glowing source.
Harry's adrenaline coursed in his veins and he got up, running down the stairs of the Head Boy Dorm where he met Ron in the identical Common Room. His friend had been studying when Harry had came trampling down the steps, he looked up alarmed, "Bloody hell, what are you doing?"
Harry dragged him to the window and pointed at the tower, "Look Ron, the Astronomy Tower. I saw someone in the window, no one is allowed there after dark." The freckled faced boy asked slowly, "What are you getting at?"
"With all these weird things have been going on, I'm not gonna miss an opportunity to find out what's happening."
Ron stayed silent a moment before he said excited, "An adventure, excellent."
With the help of Harry's invisibility cloak, they sulked into the night. They edged around the shadows and Mrs. Norris, but couldn't prevent bumping into a certain someone. The cloak slipped off on collision and Hermione, with her lit wand held high above her head, asked angrily, "What are you two doing? Are you getting in trouble again, because I swear---!"
Ron clamped a hand over her mouth and Harry whispered urgently, "We're checking something out, if you want to come along, just shut up."
She escaped Ron's hand and waved a finger, "I'll go, only because I care for your safety." Somehow, the three of them managed to fit under Harry's cloak and after going through a few corridors, Ron and Hermione were already arguing.
She squealed, "Ron, that was my foot!" He retorted, "Then stop stepping on mine!"
"I am not, your big feet are in the way and you keep stumbling!"
"I don't have big feet!"
Harry finally couldn't take it, he hissed crossly, "Will you both just-"
A feeling washed over him, his words were lost. The air got very cold around him and a familiar terror tugged at his heart.
"I think we should get out of here," he said dismayed.
Hermione asked frightened, "Harry, what's wrong?" Something, like a shadow, passed the hallway's entrance. He bellowed, grabbing their hands, "GET OUT OF HERE! RUN, RUN NOW!"
The trio ran, horror-stricken and those moments were a haze of fear as they raced from their presumed deaths.
When Harry finally stopped, too tired to run anymore, he found that his cloak was clutched in his fist, and that Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be seen.
He shouted, "RON! HERMIONE! RON!"
The only answer was the echoing of his screams.
After some heart pounding minutes, he could hear Hermione's distant shrieking.
Harry took off after them, drawing out his wand from his robe pocket. He came around the third floor corridor, in the distance he watched as a rather large crowd of shadows circle his best friends. They were cowering, almost motionless and Harry could see that Ron was trying to keep them off.
Harry immediately recognized the shadows, they were dementors.
The cold was coming from them, it was giving the raven haired boy unshakable shivers. If he didn't act fast, they were going to die. The thought of them leaving him….it was unbearable.
Harry felt an heated anger fill him, replacing his panic.
The boy started running, he got a good few feet before roaring at the top of his lungs, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
His silver stag erupted from the tip, chasing the dementors and fighting then with it's strong legs and antlers. When the evil beings were out of sight, the stag disappeared as fast as they had came. Harry suppressed the fearful memories fading from his head and fell onto his knees, beside Ron, whos face was pure white. Harry asked tightly, "Alright there?" The Weasley boy nodded quickly and his voice came out in a murmur, "Where's Hermione?"
They turned around to see the girl's body lying still, just ten feet from them.
Harry couldn't breathe properly when he went to her side and checked for signs of life, "Ron, help me." The red head cradled her head, "Is she…was it the kiss?"
Harry found a pulse and said with a forced smile, "She's fine. She's alive. Oh thank-"
He bowed his head, finding that his limbs were sagging with relief.
Harry spoke up after a moment, "Come on, let's get her to the Head Dorm." Carefully, they carried her to the Common Room look-alike and set her gently on the couch; they were much to tired to be climbing anymore stairs. Harry said dimly, turning to Ron, "Well, I'll see you…"
He paused, surprised to see something wet in Ron's eyes. The tall red head broke down, sobbing into his large hands.
Harry tried to comfort him awkwardly, "Ron...Hermione's going to be ok. You don't have to get upset."
"Harry, that's not it," he said miserably, "I saw her. I saw her in my head. When those goddamn things touched me, Ginny was in my head. . Her eyes…Oh Merlin…her eyes. They were dead. No one ever cried for her, not Fred, not George, not Dad. They told me to be strong…I'm not strong Harry..I'm not."
Ron cried harder and Harry instinctively embraced him, letting him release his sorrow. He tried to soothe him, "Something horrible happened and it hurt you, you don't have to keep it inside like you do."
Hefinally broke away and Harry saw that he couldn't make it alone that night, he offered him the other couch, "We'll go tell Dumbledore in the morning, no one here is in the state to being going anywhere." The red head burrowed under a blanket thankfully, sniffling and soon his snores were bouncing off the walls.
Harry sat in a chair, watching his friends contently.
Hewould do it the entire night if he could…if he wasn't so drowsy.
