(Chapter 2.) (Oh, and a new chapter will be posted every Friday as part of the rules.)

Harry Potter stared at the door impatiently. It was taking Neville a long time to get the note. Ron was asleep in his chair and Hermione was reading two books at once, seeming to be having a competition with Desdemona, who was also reading two books. She glanced nervously up at Harry and her face broke into pained embarrassment as she saw that he was staring at her. Harry smiled and started over towards her, hoping to lie and say the nurse hadn't told him anything and he was wondering what was wrong. She fidgeted and began moving things around chaotically, determined not to look at him. Harry ignored all the 'I'm busy' signals and sat down in the chair next to her before she had a chance to put stuff onto it. Desdemona had a pile of books she'd been about to set in the chair and cringed under their weight,

Harry grabbed the pile and helped set it on the table. "Hey," he greeted warmly, seeing Snape enter the library out of the corner of his eye.

"Um, hi," Desdemona replied, directing her gaze onto her book and hiding her face.

"So, are you feeling okay?" asked Harry, ignoring the piercing stare he could feel the potions professor giving him as he approached. "The nurse never told me what happened, so I just thought I'd ask."

Snape halted in his tracks, which was sadly right next to Ron, and observed the scene. Desdemona slowly moved the book down and peered out at Harry.

"She… didn't say anything?" Desdemona asked, slowly.

Harry shook his head and leaned back into a more relaxed pose. "No, should she have?"

Desdemona shook her head, but Harry was sure he saw her face crinkle into a relieved smile. "You didn't come here just to ask how I am," said Desdemona.

"My friends are ignoring me at the moment, so why else would I come?" asked Harry.

Snape looked to his left at Weasley, who was snoring and muttering about winning an award, and Granger was concentrating so hard on a book she didn't seem to notice that Finnigan was creeping his hand into her bag and trying to plant a smoke bomb, something she usually had a special radar for. He'd seen them go to the library on a weekend and had, of course, assumed something was up. But with Weasley asleep, Granger nose deep in a book, and Potter talking to Embers, it was impossible to read their minds and know if they were up to something. He peered carefully at the books. Granger was deeply involved in Advanced Transfiguration for Dedicated Students, Weasley was asleep in front of Quidditch Strategies: Improving old tactics while preserving classics, and Potter had been looking through Magical Runes: Discovering their power. It didn't look like they were up to much other than homework and boredom.

Neville strolled into the Library and walked to the counter to show the librarian his pass. Hermione snapped her book closed and Ron awoke with a start that quickly knocked him backwards. The chair tipped into a shelf and books toppled to the floor. The librarian signed off on Neville's note and pointed him towards the restricted section, turning to yell at Ron and get Hermione her book. Ron didn't care by this point, however, because he was two feet away from Snape and had knocked a book onto him. The potions Professor launched into a barked lecture in which another book fell on him and Seamus bolted from the library like his shoes were on fire. Neville looked at the note and then over at the restricted section. His eyes traveled masterfully to the librarian, and then around the room for someone to help him. He caught sight of Snape and gave into panic, though relief flooded his features as he 'spotted' Harry and rushed over to him and Desdemona.

"Hey, Harry, can you help me find this book?" Neville asked.

"Err," Harry looked to Desdemona, but she was gathering up her things and muttering about how she needed to study for a test. "I guess so."

They passed Snape with what they hoped were pondering stares and made it into the restricted section without incident. With Snape so close, it was impossible to know if their plan would work or not. Harry meandered around, trying to sound bored while his insides screamed at him to grab all the potion books he could see and shrink them before Snape decided to come back there and supervise.

"What's the title again?" asked Harry, standing on a ladder and browsing through the Herbology books with little interest.

"Poisonous Pansies and Venomous Vines," replied Neville, searching below Harry. "…It's for extra credit," he added.

Harry decided against questioning that response and instead pushed the ladder over towards the potions section, which was thankfully close enough to Herbology that if Ron and Hermione failed to create a long enough distraction, Harry still had a chance of getting the book. He caught a glance of 'Interrogation: Dealing with an uncooperative hostage.' And grabbed it. He opened the book and sped through the table of contents; finding many horrific methods, such as Dementores, Poison, Amputation, Threats, and Unforgivables. Harry flipped to the page consisting of the Truth potion and grabbed Luna's camera from a pocket in his robe.

He snapped a picture, turned the page, snapped another picture, and looked down at the Polaroids coming out as big as the book pages. He grabbed the plant as Neville handed it to him, and waited impatiently for it to do its thing. Eventually, the plant stretched forward and spit a glob of salmon colored goo onto the papers, which immediately shrank, and the plant ate them. Neville had already found his book, handed it to Harry, and retook the plant. As casually as they could, the pair left the restricted section, grabbed up a few other Herbology books Neville had been wanting to get, checked out, and headed for the door.

"Just a moment," called Snape, striding over to them with dangerously high levels of suspicion. "Turn out your pockets."

"Have you become blind to the obviously heavy stack books I'm trying to carry," groaned Harry, having been talked into carrying all the books so Neville could carry the plant.

"That brings up an interesting question," hissed Snape, turning his attention to the student he could scare into admitting everything. "You brought that plant, how were you expecting to carry all these books?"

"I was going to ask Desdemona to take the plant as she needed to draw it for Herbology Club, but she left before I could," lied Neville. "And I heard Ron say that Hermione was dragging them to the library because she wanted to do extra transfiguration work, and told them they should get their homework done."

"So?" demanded Snape, angered by the fact that Neville avoided eye contact almost religiously.

"So I figured I'd ask one of them to help," finished Neville, side glancing Harry for any sign that the lie worked.

Ron chose this moment to invite himself into the conversation, having heard the lie, and pretended to remember that he'd offered to help Neville carry the books.

"Very well," growled Snape. "But, Potter, if I ever catch you in that section again there will be hell to pay."

"Fine," said Harry, addressing the wall.

With a final scrutinizing glare, Snape stalked away down the hallway, leaving the three boys to revel in their victory. Back in the common room, Neville began reading the books and left Harry and Ron to wipe off the Polaroids. Hermione entered a few minutes later, carrying a stack of Transfiguration books.

"Why did you get all those?" demanded Harry. "We're supposed to be working on the truth potion!"

"Oh, relax," snapped Hermione. "I can do both."

"She's mad," whispered Ron, into Harry's ear. "Desdemona scored higher on the test than she did."

Hermione sat down with a defining thud, making it clear that she didn't want to talk about it. They stared at the Polaroids with growing despair.

"This is one complicated potion," sighed Ron. "No wonder they only trust Snape to do it."

"Well of course it's hard," said Hermione. "Otherwise everyone would make it."

"Can we make it?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," sighed Hermione. She reread the ingredients and shook her head. "We need a bigger cauldron, a piece of silver… I don't know where we are supposed to get all this."

"When's the next Hogsmeade visit?" Harry asked.

"Not for a week," sighed Ron.

"That's good," said Harry, pulling his homework bag towards him.

"Is it?" Ron asked looking to Hermione as Harry had pulled out his Astronomy report and quill.

Hermione busied herself with putting the Polaroids back into the plant. She didn't want to answer at that moment because her mind was trying to find a reason for it being a good thing that they had to wait. She clearly remembered Harry saying that he wanted to get this all over with as soon as possible. She was saved, however, from answering by Harry.

"I wanted this done as quickly as we could," he reminded them, not looking up from his report. "If we have to wait a week then it will give us time we need to work on homework, arrange our plans to match the potion's needs, and think about other possibilities as we really haven't committed to this yet and there is still time to try other things."

"Are you lot always this organized?" Neville asked, closing his book and placing it on the chair next to him.

"No," Ron admitted before Hermione could speak, the look on her face showing she was going to lie and say that they were. "Usually we're bothering Hagrid for answers until he won't speak to us, then we'll make up with him while looking through the library. Then something big happens involving the use of Harry's invisibility cloak, and then-"

"Ron!" Hermione interrupted, handing the plant to Neville so he could take care of it. "We just get busy with other things, that's all!"

"Not this year," said Harry. "When Ginny comes we'll ask her to give back the camera and tell Luna about the wait. Until then we forget this and work on the other things that get us distracted."

Silence flooded the room and an unusual awkwardness filtered among them. Harry had basically told them to shut up and not screw this thing over. Hermione set to work on her Arithmancy project at a table near the fire. Ron set to reading his book on goal keeping. Neville took the plant and what he could carry of his books up into the dormitory, and Harry continued work on his Astronomy report. Outside there was laughter as a lot of students were enjoying the first rain-free day they'd had all week. Harry assumed one of the Quidditch teams had reserved the field. Alicia had appointed Katie as team Captain because Harry said he had too many other things to concentrate on and usually was more concerned with what the snitch was doing than watching everyone else. A captain had to be someone down on the field watching and Katie was the oldest member.

"Oh no!" Harry slammed his report into his bag in a frenzy and caused Ron and Hermione to jump in alarm.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione demanded.

"Quidditch practice," groaned Harry. "Katie reserved the field because Firenze told her it wouldn't rain today!"

The teachers around the school who learned the reason behind Mrs. Umbridge's state of affairs had developed secret ways of thanking Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, and Luna. Firenze's way was to set aside his inclination of calling weather fortunes trivial, and said he assumed it would help them to learn things like that so they could plan events better. Flitwick was adding small new charms at the end of every class for them to practice on their own. He included a few nasty little charms Harry had seen in a book called Revenge: for those who've had enough.

A book he, surprisingly enough, got as a gift from professor Flitwick, who said it was for use in Harry's DADA club. Professor McGonagall, while the most thankful, had maintained her rule against favoritism. Although, she had allowed Neville in her class and gave them all small smiles throughout the day. She had followed through on her promise though and had been taking great care to make sure Harry's Transfiguration grade was in Exceeds Expectations through nightly classes, right after dinner.

Ron was to his feet in milliseconds and raced after Harry, waving a quick goodbye to Hermione and almost ramming into the wall because of it. Together they charged down the hall and Harry was struck with an idea. He stopped at a painting of a dressed up witch wearing a mask that was dancing with a mop. When she saw them she simply said, "My husband is playing cards," and continued her dance.

"You dance with such grace, I simply can't keep pace," said Harry, fidgeting with his hands as he resisted the urge to yell at her to hurry up.

The witch smiled and bowed majesticaly, swinging forward to reveal stairs. The two boys hurried through and climbed onto a platform that looked to have been made from many different pieces and connected at the sides.

"What a wonderful sight, my heart's taking flight," Harry called.

The witch snickered. "Quidditch pitch it is then," she said.

Before Ron could ask, the platform's front dropped and became a slide. They slid with increasing speed and Ron could only see a wall at the end. Harry had only read about this passage last night in his Father's journal and was now remembering that it hadn't appeared on the marauder's map. His mind raced with thoughts about why it wasn't on the map and if there was a defect, but then they passed right through the wall and were launched out into some bushes. Harry, grumbling, picked himself up and turned a scowl towards the wall, which now held a chalk drawing of the dancer, giggling.

"Sorry, James," she smiled.

"What?" Harry turned around, ignoring Ron who was rubbing his head and muttering curses.

"Oh!" the dancer put her hands over her mouth and her cheeks turned red. "Sorry, I thought…" but she never finished, she just waved them off hurriedly, pointing to the clock. Ron stood up and pushed his was through the bushes, dragging Harry behind him. They arrived at the Quidditch pitch three minutes later and were pleased to see they were the first there.

"Y'know, Harry," said Ron, admiring the locker room with newfound respect. "We find a few more of those and we may be able to survive this year without running into Snape in the hallways."

Harry shot him a look and they both froze, waiting for menacing laughter or footsteps that would signal that Snape had heard them and was waiting to interrupt with some snide comment that he knew would make them jump. He would, of course, have some desperately terrible excuse for being there such as 'the headmaster asked me to give you this note,' or 'I was looking for you' anything really. Just as they could hear 'Nice try, Weasley,' in their minds, Katie trotted in.

"Wha?" She stopped, staring at them in confusion. "You're early."

"Have you already forgotten Angelina and Oliver?" Harry asked. "Be early or listen to my hour long rant."

Katie nodded with a smile. "It's still hard to believe that you and I are the only two originals left," she admitted. "No offense, Ron. I mean, I tried to convince Angelina and Alicia to fail and get held back but…"

"You were the only one up for that?" Harry jested, knowing that third years were the ones allowed to keep their brooms on school, he'd been the only acceptation in years, and Katie was only one year ahead of him in school.

"Actually," she smiled honestly. "Yes, that's why I'm captain… though Angelina left me strict instructions for basically the whole year."

"So what's the first order of business?" Ron asked, trying to get into the conversation.

"Actually, I've decided to make a few changes," Katie admitted, looking meaningfully at Ron, who gulped.

"Such as?" Harry asked as Ginny trotted in ready to proclaim that she was quitting as a Seeker and would like a position as a Chaser.

"Okay!" She began, full rant mode, thrusting her bag of gear that George and Fred had sent her into an open locker. "I don't want to be Seeker! It's too hard and we're going to loose every time! I don't have the skill for it as much as Harry does! I quit! I want to be on the team but not as a Seeker. Don't argue, we'll lose and I just don't think it's the right move to keep me in such a difficult position!"

All three of the other teenagers simply sat there and let her rant. Katie was filing her nails as Ginny finished and had barely batted an eye at the whole speech.

"Sit down, Ginny," spoke Katie, addressing her nails. "Harry is Seeker, you're a Chaser."

"…Oh," Ginny became suddenly silent and sat down next to Ron, who gave her a brotherly smile full of taunting. She stuck out her tongue at him and crossed her legs.

"Right… now that everyone actually decent is here," Katie began, filing her last nail and examining it. "I have a few things I want to address."

"Go on," Harry pushed, abandoning the process of setting up his locker and instead coming towards the board that Oliver had always used to show them plays.

Katie joined him and they cast impatient looks at Ginny and Ron, who bolted from their seats and rushed over.

"So, this year is very important for Gryffindor, what with loosing most of our players and everything," Katie started, rubbing her hands together slowly. "Harry, you have to prove yourself again this year and I wasn't at all impressed with your actions during our last practice." She looked to Ron as if waiting for him to argue, and to Harry's irritation, he didn't do anything except mouth 'sorry' to Harry.

"I know," said Harry curtly, staring at a random insect which froze under his stare.

"Anyway," Katie continued, sounding more cheerful now. "You work on that, Harry."

"Yeah, sure," Harry replied simply, releasing the bug from his glower.

"Alright, Ginny, you're Chaser with me, Ron, you're our Keeper. Harry, our returning secret weapon," Katie announced, pointing toward the board so that their names showed up. "If Andrew and Jack don't get here soon then they're off the team," she added gleefully.

"But we couldn't find anyone better!" Ron exclaimed.

Katie let out a short laugh. "Professor Dumbledore opened up the exchange program to help unite other schools with ours," she reminded them. "I found some kids from America and let me tell you, they've got talent. One guy is looking for a challenge and I wouldn't be surprised to see him take on Goyle or Crabbe. The girl keeps him in check and she sure can swing a club. Oh, and the Chaser is the best I've seen on a school team."

"Where are they?" Ginny asked hurriedly.

"Asleep, I suppose," Katie shrugged. "They're not doing well with the time change."

"What?" Ron gaped.

"Well, from what they told me, they were going to try and stay up for twenty-four hours and get adjusted that way, but with classes the next morning they haven't had time so they've been sleeping after their last classes, doing homework all night and missing dinner."

"Who are they?" Harry asked, feeling slightly bad for not noticing these three.

"Mike Skelington, Sara Widowstep, and get this, Chase Ferociter," Katie smiled, making the names appear on the board. "They'll come down the moment they wake up."

Fifteen minutes later they were all dressed and grumbling that Andrew and Jack had not bothered to show up. All questions of what the America's were like got little response from Katie, who was marching them out onto the field and checking her watch every few minutes. Harry mounted his Firebolt with a happy memory of Sirius, kicked off and was relieved to feel the wind in his face. Katie blew her whistle and they all gathered into a circle.

"Okay, Ginny, I'll be passing to you," Katie explained, opening a bag tied to her broom which contained two Quaffles. "Harry, you try to score past Ron, okay… Go!" she clapped her hands together, completely forgetting her whistle, and they all zoomed off to practice. Harry had only managed to score once against Ron, who, as it turned out, had been made practice all summer by Fred and George. Things were looking good when Ginny's voice broke through in a high scream of-

"Will you at least tell us what one of the Americans is like?!" Ginny yelled. "Like- like Sara, what's she like?"

"Well she has this long shock of dark brown hair that is usually pulled back into a ponytail with some sort of fuzzed-up scrunchy," replied a voice. "She's got honey colored eyes that look like sunlight through amber, and a sassy-cause-I-want-to-be attitude. She's a vixen but she's also a competition addict that turns evil in seconds."

Harry located the voice coming from a boy with blue dyed hair, who was lazily drifting around on his broom. He looked to them each in turn and then down at the field where the girl he had just mentioned was yelling at him to quit fooling around. When he turned his head, Harry saw streaks of scarlet through his hair, which was just long enough to tie back into a ponytail. He dropped the front end of his broom and plummeted down to the field, where he made an overly graceful landing and stared tiredly over at the girl, who was fuming over towards him with her fists clenched.

"What's up, Sarah," he greeted her with a dim smile.

"You told us to get ready and then left without us. You weasel!" Sara yelled, stomping closer to him so that she was inches away from his face.

"So?" the boy smiled back, ignoring the confused looks radiating off Ginny, Katie, Ron, and Harry.

"So?!" Sarah ranted. "So you have the map! We've been lost for ages, Mike!"

Mike flipped upside-down and gripped his broom tightly with his legs before letting go with his hands and coming closer to Sarah so that they were eye-to-eye. He placed his hands behind his head in a relaxing pose and simply smiled.

"butcha made it and you probably know the school pretty well by now."

"I hate you," Sara replied, shaking her head, though a smile was creeping up her face at the funny position he was in.

Mike grinned and looked up at Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Katie, who were staring down at him with curious stares and shocked expressions. Katie was the first to snap out of it and shook her team out of it before diving down to meet the newcomers.

"Sorry we're late, Katie," Sara apologized, clasping her hands together in what Harry assumed was an attempt not to strangle Mike, who had turned around but was still completely upside-down with all the blood running into his face.

"That's alright, are you ready to play?" Katie asked, staring oddly at Mike, who was feeling light headed and looked ready to fall off, though Harry doubted he had the strength to pull himself back up and right himself.

"Yes," Sara nodded; she looked over her shoulder and whistled with her thumb and middle finger in her mouth. "Hey, Chase!"

A blond boy came loping over, carrying two cases that looked oddly like guitar cases, only longer. He had more of a feminine face and child-like blue eyes that were blinking as if seeing the morning sun for the first time.

"Coming," he called.

Harry dismounted his broom and was surprised to see Mike reach up to grab his broom, then simply release his grip with his legs and make a decent landing without injury. Ron dismounted and fell over, concentrating more on the newcomers than he was on himself. Chase halted in front of Sara and handed her a pink case with hearts on it.

"Wow, a Firebolt!" Chase observed, his eyes glowing in the light from Harry's broom. "That's Europe's best model!"

"Europe's best?" Harry questioned, not liking the sound of that at all.

"Well, yeah, I mean," Chase smiled nervously. "I mean, the Asian countries have their own brands, the Americas have theirs, the Middle East has their own, and well you know."

Harry stared at him for a few minutes, feeling slightly stupid. Of course there were other models and of course there were Witches and Wizards all over the world, yet still it surprised him to hear of so many.

"That's right!" exclaimed Katie. "You lot have different brooms than us!"

"Can we see them?" Ron practically begged.

Sara plopped her case down on nothing, much to the surprise of Harry. It simply floated there while she unlatched it and propped the lid open. Chase was soon behind her with his surfing inspired case. Mike simply pulled his broom down and turned it so they could see the name. Platinum Dart was written in shinning silver letters. The broom itself was mostly black, though the handle and bristles were platinum and it sparkled when Mike turned it. Sara took out a hot pink broom with a fire red handle and bristles. It was called Heart Breaker and sure enough there were color changing hearts decorated throughout it and her name was supported in rose quarts just before the bristles.

"My daddy makes custom brooms," she explained, staring lovingly at a picture of her father that she had taped to the satin interior of the case.

Chase pulled out a white broom that was swirled with black, the handle was crimson, but the bristles were silver. On the side, in lettering that must have been airbrushed on and enchanted as it looked very ghost like, was written: Shadow Phantom.

"A Phantom!" yelped Ron, seeming struck by what he was seeing.

Chase stared lovingly at his broom and nodded, holding it out for all to see.

"What exactly would your broom be if compared to one of ours," Katie asked Mike.

"Hmm," Mike set himself in an over exaggerated thinking pose and scrunched up his face as he thought. "Well, the creator of the Silver Arrow series helped make the Platinum Dart, so it would be near one of those. However, Americans love fast and flashy rides so I know they built it for speed, see the shape and curves?"

Katie grabbed Harry's Firebolt while he was busy looking over Chase's Phantom, and held it up to Mike's broom. Mike snatched his broom away and looked overly hurt.

"I shall not have my broom compared, especially against a Firebolt," he stated in a pout. "What a burn."

"I wasn't comparing!" Katie shot back. "I just wanted to see if it had some of the same designs!"

"Aha!" Mike spun around. "You accuse us of copying!"

"It's pretty," Ginny was telling Sara, as they admired her broom. "I wish I could get one like that."

"You're so cute!" Sara beamed at Ginny. "And hey, I'm sure daddy won't object to making a friend of mine a broom. He was really nervous about sending me here."

"Oh, I couldn't ask him to do that now could I," said Ginny, embarrassed. "And I don't really have any money."

Sara made a strange slapping gesture with her left hand and rolled her eyes. "Not a problem," she stated. "He fixes Mike's broom all the time for free. Besides, you can always send him yours, like a trade in. He'll probably be fascinated with a European model."

"The Phantom," Ron gaped. "Harry, this broom is almost legendary."

"Well that's good, isn't it," Harry mused, mostly just to annoy Ron.

"That's amazing, not many people can ride these," Ron whispered, looking the broom over for the twelfth time. "The creators were daredevils lead by some sort of prince. They made it with the core of wood only found in the Shadow Forest, and then added some of the prince's own blood-"

"That's right!" Interrupted Ginny, having read that legend a million times. "The prince was mourning over the loss of his love, who had died. He said she flew so magnificently that she was at her best against Angels. So he created a line of brooms called Angels. He wouldn't sell them in Europe because she had been killed there. Anyway, he gave his own blood and created two broom lines in the Angel series. The Phoenix, and The Phantom. I think there are only fifteen in total."

"For the last time, I just wanted to see if there were similarities so I could know how good your brooms are!" Katie hissed at Mike.

"They're as good as their riders, same as all brooms!" Mike shot back, though he was promptly hit in the back of the head by Sara.

"Enough," she said, casting him a look.

"S'alright," Mike shrugged, handing over his broom to Katie.

"How on earth did you get one?" Ron asked Chase.

"Yeah, well," Chase shrugged. "The Prince had three friends that always stayed with him and uh, well, they did of course have children."

"You're a descendant-"

"Of one of the friends," interrupted Chase modestly. "I have had to work really hard to get good at riding it."

"It looks fast," Harry observed.

"It's a hell beast," smiled Chase. "I can't really explain it, but you'd think the broom wanted to win just as much as the rider."

"I can understand that," Harry nodded. "I got the Firebolt, don't I?"

"We gotta switch some time," said Chase enthusiastically.

"Sounds fun," Harry agreed. Ron held the Firebolt in his right hand and the Phantom in his other. He looked to be on the verge of tears and kept muttering,

"We're going to win, we are going to win!"

"Ah!" Katie let out a little yell and immediately began shoving the brooms back into their cases. Harry scanned around for a reason and saw the Slytherin team marching onto the pitch. Katie grabbed Mike round the neck and began hauling him fiercely over to the locker room. Ron grabbed the Phantom case and hauled Chase along behind Katie, leaving Harry, Ginny, and Sara to run after them. They reached the safety of their lockers and Ginny was the first to speak.

"Why'd you go that?" she yelled. "Now they'll have a good laugh at us for runnin' from them."

"They can laugh all they want, but I don't want them to see our new players until game time," Katie shot back as Mike pulled himself out of the locker he'd tripped into and Chase picked himself off the floor where Ron had pushed him.

"WE haven't seen them fly yet!" Ginny retorted.

"Doesn't matter," Katie shook her head. "We, er, we'll practice at night when they can't see us."

"We can't do that," said Ginny. "Snape would lock us in detention so fast we'd get whiplash."

"What if we used the room of requirements?" Harry asked. "I mean, it's supposed to be whatever we need."

"It's worth a try, I'll meet you guys there tomorrow at seven," announced Katie. "Um, Sara, Mike, Chase, do try not to be seen."

The next night Harry, Ron, Ginny, Chase, Mike, Sara, and Katie all set out for the room of requirements. They eased the painting open and told the Fat Lady they'd be back later. She ignored them for the most part, having been in the middle of a chess game, but Katie still felt better having told. They carried their brooms silently, Mike now having his in a case decorated in tribute to Elvis Presley, a case he was riding as it floated down the hall. Chase's case was black with a white mask, a red rose, and glowing white feathers billowing sparsely. They ran into Peeves, but that wasn't such a large problem as he seemed to be friend with Mike and also announced respect for the Weasley family. He gave a rant on how Harry had gotten rid of Umbridge, then began dive bombing Sara, Katie, and Chase. They ran with him howling after them, and eventually lost him when the Bloody Barren came and told him to shut up before he found himself trapped in Filtch's nose for the rest of eternity. Harry and Ron walked up and down the corridor, thinking hard about what they needed.

'A place to practice is what we need,' thought Harry. 'With lots of room and game balls.'

Ron's face was scrunched up hard as he thought. They were both soon joined by Sara, who said her daddy had an indoor simulation room his company used to test brooms. Around the fifth time they passed, a door appeared.

--

Breakfast later that week was another torturous event with Malfoy leading the Slytherin table in a cheer about Harry being a Seeker for attention. It was his dumbest cheer yet, but still left Harry feeling like some caged circus animal that was trying to fight for freedom while everyone just laughed and though he was putting on a show. He looked around to see that only a few Ravenclaw had even looked up, and everyone else was just eating breakfast. He caught sight of Desdemona to see that she looked positively infuriated with Malfoy and had abandoned her breakfast to glare at him in disgust.

The mail came and as usual, Desdemona received a letter and took off from the room like a bat out of hell. Mike was asleep on his own pancakes and his falcon landed on his head and picked at his skull until he woke up. Mike promptly began reminding his bird that there wouldn't be any mail for him unless he felt like flying across the ocean. Chase was staring at the syrup and rocking slowly back and forth, obviously not awake. He didn't have a bird and his only pet was a chinchilla which was currently eating the grains from his muffin. Sara was reading a magazine and talking furiously, sipping a double shot espresso between sentences.

Hedwig landed in Harry's pancakes and held a scroll in her beak, which she dropped into Harry's hand as he reached for it. Harry stared down at the scroll, which had been sealed with a wooden ring, and glanced up at the Staff table. Professor McGonagall, who had finally been released from Madam Pomfrey, directed her gaze over to her mug of coffee, but Professor Snape maintained his suspicious stare even as Harry met his gaze.

Harry brought his attention back to the scroll, but another thought crossed his mind and he looked to his left and right. Ron was staring at him, so he engaged in a conversation, but every chance he got he'd look around as if searching for witnesses. Breakfast sped along with Hermione reading the entire Daily Prophet cover to cover, Ron whispering about how the Phantom and the Firebolt would surely boost their chances of winning, and Neville talking about how the Tokerstashide seemed to be ill. Harry listened to all this in a wave of familiarity and was relieved when Hermione began debating Neville about a treatment for the plant, Sara went suddenly silent, and Ron began discussing tactic with Katie.

No one was watching Harry, so he eased off the bench and crept away from the table without looking at anyone. He made it out the door and down the hall without meeting anyone. He hurried up a flight of stairs and stepped into a small alcove so that he was mostly hidden in the shadows. Within seconds, Snape was storming past, obviously looking for him. Harry watched with a knowing sneer. Dumbledore was having him watched closely this year and he knew it. He debated going back to the Great Hall, but decided otherwise and headed up to the Gryffindor common room; that was until he saw Snape dragging a disoriented Professor Vector, who was able to stand, but wobbly.

Professor Vector was mouthing soundlessly as they passed. Harry ducked out of sight and followed as closely as he dared. Snape hauled Vector to the Infirmary and Harry, grabbing his cloak from behind the painting, followed.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked, helping Snape set Professor Vector on a bed.

"I left the staff room," Vector stated, sounding slightly drunk. "Then I headed to my office, but had to stop because I felt icky and… did you know you have tea on your upper lip? I had coffee, I think coffee is better in the morning."

Madam Pomfrey ignored the last comment and pushed Professor Vector down onto the bed. "Yes, yes," she said. "It'll be alright, just get some sleep now, Professor."

Snape stared at Professor Vector and then turned his attention to Madam Pomfrey, who closed the curtains around Professor Vector's bed and spoke in a low whisper.

"Same symptoms as Minerva," she announced. "Pale, disoriented… it won't be long before the coma."

"How long will this last?" Snape asked simply. "I see Minerva is up again."

"Only because she's stubborn," Madam Pomfrey replied. "She refuses to let it affect her, but she still can't teach and is having a good bit of trouble remembering things. She can't even transform anymore and that was her favorite thing to do."

"I'll get Dumbledore," said Snape in his usual drawl of a voice, and he walked out of the infirmary, leaving Harry to watch Madam Pomfrey.

"…Again it happened in the Professor's lounge?" Madam Pomfrey muttered.

When Ron and Hermione came back to the common room, Harry was waiting for them. Neville came through the portrait hole to get his books, saw the look on Harry's face and let out a sigh.

"Oh crap."

"What's happened now, Harry?" Hermione asked, ignoring Neville.

"Professor Vector was attacked," said Harry tiredly. "He has the same symptoms as McGonagall and was in the staff lounge."

"So the Hogsmead visit is…" Ron pondered.

"In two days," said Hermione. "Ron, I think it would be best if you asked your brother's for some money."

"What for?" exclaimed Ron hotly. "Like I need them on my case this year!"

"Well there are a lot of things to buy and Harry and I can't buy everything," said Hermione calmly. "Especially not with the silver, that's expensive."

"Don't worry about the silver," said Harry, hoping to cut the argument short. "I'll just write Remus and tell him I'd like to spend that day with him at Grimald Place. Remember all the silver trinkets? Besides there is bound to be a cauldron there of decent size and I'll just bring the plant to shrink it."

"… In two days?" Neville asked; his voice hesitant and small.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "You said it was sick, can we use it by then?"

"Well it's been droopy lately and not very active. I tried more food, more water, more sunlight, and now I'll try a bigger pot. If it changes I'll let you know."

"Right," sighed Harry.

--

The day of the Hogsmead trip arrived and Neville reluctantly handed over the plant, giving Harry instructions on how to take care of it. Katie grumbled about how they should be practicing, but was cut off when Mike fell asleep mid-step and landed at her feet, hugging her shoe like a teddy bear. Sara was again jazzed up on coffee- explaining that she'd bought specially so it was extra strong, and Chase ran into a column that he claimed he hadn't seen. Though judging by the fact that his eyes were closed, it was no wonder why.

"Right, so everyone have fun then," smiled Katie, helping Sara to haul Mike to his feet.

"What's wrong, pretty boy?" Malfoy taunted, coming up behind the group and staring mockingly at Chase.

"What are you, some kind of an idiot?" Sara asked without skipping a beat. "He already told you he's not interested in you so why don't you go find some snake to hump or something?"

"I appreciate that you think I'm pretty," yawned Chase. "But as she said, I'm not going out with you. I like to swim, not splash and you're way too shallow, okay?"

Malfoy stood in a mixture of shock and big blistering boils of red-hot rage. He couldn't decide which comment to respond to first and some of the comments didn't even reach his neglected brain for many minutes.

"Shut up, you yanks," he replied bitterly out of a lack of something intelligent. "The dark lord will pick you off one-by-one."

"Ask your daddy to tell him we'd prefer to go together," replied Sara, again without hesitation. "He is Voldemort's lap dog, right?"

"Funny you should mention dogs," shot Malfoy, his eyes flickering dangerously towards Harry.

"Please," groaned Sara, fanning herself dramatically. "I do not want to talk about your girlfriend."

"Woof," laughed Mike.

Malfoy's eyes seemed to be vibrating in his skull and he was consumed with so much fury that he could no nothing more than glare at them and stalk away in full tantrum mode. Sara smiled after him and Mike gave a raspberry.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed to the ThreeBroomsticks, where they met Hagrid. He waved them over and, since they weren't supposed to be busy, they joined him for a round of drinks. Chase stumbled in later and collapsed upon one of the tables.

"Poor, lot," said Hagrid, jerking his head towards Chase. "Been 'ere a week and 'aven' 'ad any time ta get used ta the time change, ave they."

"Yeah, and the food's terrible," said Mike, coming up behind Hagrid.

"You make an 'abit outa lisnin' in on folk?" Hagrid asked him, turning around to look at Mike.

"Yep," Mike yawned. "I have a radar that lets me know when people are talking about me or my friends. My dad says it'll help me go far in business."

"Mike!" Sara hissed, coming in and whapping him up the back of the head. "God, I can't take you anywhere."

"Rude lot, ain't they," mumbled Hagrid.

"Well, right now they're tired," Hermione shot back. "Usually they're quite pleasant."

Hagrid watched Mike pour a cup of water upon Chase's head and looked back at Hermione. Harry and Ron grinned and watched as Chase simply muttered something about needing a shower and went back to sleep. Sara ordered them all five different drinks until finally giving up and telling Rosemerta that she was sorry and to just bring them whatever the other students usually ordered. The three American's looked to the window as a slight downpour started.

"Whaddaya know," sighed Mike. "It's raining again."

"I miss Cali," moaned Chase, folding his arms under his head and staring out the window. "I miss the sunshine and the waves and the ocean breeze and the steaming hot sand that feels so perfect after you go in the cold water."

"Stop it," ordered Sara, staring at a map.

"… And I miss the taco stand," continued Chase, his eyes staring out longingly. "The tie-dye shop, the ice cream, the nachos, the pizza, the volleyball. Oh, I miss the dolphins and the-"

"We know, Chase, we know," groaned Sara, flopping the map onto the table and signing.

"Where exactly are you from?" Ron asked, ignoring Hagrid and Hermione, who were having a debate about the things the school could do to make the exchange students feel more welcome. "I mean, I know you're from across the pond, but that's all I know."

"We're all from California, it's on the west coast," Sara explained, turning her chair to face Ron. "Mike and I work at In-and-out Burger, but Chase works with his parent's at SeaWorld. That is when he's not wasting his time surfing."

"Blasphemer," Chase hissed, his normally attractive face looking dark and evil.

"It nice there?" Harry asked, also hoping to ignore Hagrid and Hermione.

"Oh, God, yes," cried Mike. "It rains, like, ten times… a year. If that, and the sun is almost always shinning. The sidewalk is hot but you get this perfect breeze off the ocean that makes it wonderful."

"Stop drooling," Sara advised.

"The surf is awesome," said Chase, his eyes growing pensively bigger. "I was on during a typhoon one time. I got up on a forty-foot wave… it was cool."

"Yes, so was your broken leg," mocked Sara, reaching over and tapping a spot just above Chase's knee. "I hate to admit it, but I miss cheeseburgers so much. If I saw a cow right now, I swear…" she let out a sigh and fell silent.

"That's an idea!" exclaimed Hermione, causing a few other patrons to look curiously over at her. "The school could have one day a week where they make a dish from one of the exchange students' countries."

"Yeah, but some of the things Mike likes… take some getting used to," said Sara, nodding to Chase for his agreement.

"I like it hot, baby," Mike grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Oh-my-God-my-tongue-is-on-fire-and-I-think-I'll-go-drink-the-ocean-now, kind of hot!"

"Well… then maybe we could just serve one dish of that and everyone else can choose to eat other things," Hermione tried, her eyes glowing in a way that told Harry and Ron that she was on a mission. "We could get a Japanese cuisine for Desdemona, Cheeseburgers for Sara," Sara as this point let out a pining groan. "Pizza for Chase. Fakhitha Bel Laban for Huraiva and her brother Nadav."

"New rule," said Ron. "If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it."

"Ron," sighed Hermione. "It wouldn't hurt you to try new things."

"You don't know that," said Ron, watching Mike steal Chase's Butterbeer as he was back to asleep anyway. "I mean, who are we to say that trying something isn't the reason the teachers are dropping."

Both Harry and Hermione swung their feet out to kick him, but it was too late.

"Wha' do ya know abou' tha'?" demanded Hagrid, pointing a finger suspiciously at Harry and staring at the three from between narrowed eyes. "I tell ya ever' year ta jus' leave it well enough alone, but ya don' listin, well listin now. Stay out of it!"

Chase was woken up and all three American's stared in curious surprise at Hagrid.

"We're not doing anything, Hagrid," protested Ron, trying his best not to look suspicious. "But come on, two subs and Professor McGonagall off her rocker. It's not easy to miss."

"Yes, Hagrid; we're curious, like everyone is, but we're not running around trying to solve it," said Hermione softly as if they had nothing to hide.

"Stay tha' way," grunted Hagrid. "After las' year-"

"We know!" snapped Harry coldly, turning his head to glare out the window. "I messed everything up, I'm aware," he mumbled.

Hagrid fell silent in his lecture and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Let's go," muttered Harry his voice alive with anger.

Hermione and Ron followed him outside and they headed for the shrieking shack to wait for Remus. It was strange to think that almost three years ago they'd been inside with a framed murderer and a psychotic rat that was really a very short, fat, rat-like human being by the name of Peter Pettigrew.

"What are you supposed to be staying out of?" Mike demanded, running up behind them with Sara and Chase at his heels.

"Keep your nose out of it," Hermione snapped, growing tired of Mike's constant entry into every conversation around him.

Mike stuck his tongue out at her and received a jab to the gut from Sara. Chase shook his head at the two of them and stepped forward.

"No, it's just that we were sent here because we do stuff like that," he explained. "You see, we're usually the ones people turn to when things go wrong. Headmaster Proctor sent us instead of the other four applicants because he thought we could take care of ourselves."

"Yes, but the problem is that we knew the secrets of Salem's Truth, but we know nothing about Hogwarts," said Sara, pointing to an emblem on her bag to indicate that Salem's Truth had been the name of their school.

"Are you serious?" Ron asked, seeming thunderstruck.

"Well, yeah," shrugged Mike. "You really don't survive long in the U.S. unless you know how to get your ass outa trouble."

"So anyway, we just thought that since you're obviously trying to find out something-" began Sara.

"Hold up," said Ron. "How'd you know we were up to something?"

Sara rolled her eyes and pointed to herself, "I'm an American, and not stupid. I can spot a lie from a mile away. We're not all Red-necks you know!"

"What gave us away?" Harry asked, smiling but hoping that Remus didn't show up early.

"You were reluctant to join Hagrid and from what I've seen you are good friends with him, which means you were hiding something," stated Sara. "So why don't we end the niceties and get down to business."

"We aren't doing anything," said Hermione.

"I bet that if we share information and work together we can move faster," said Chase. "We have our suspicions, but we need someone that knows the school so-"

"I told you we weren't doing anything," spoke Hermione tensely.

"We make a perfect team when you think about it, and if asked we could just say it was a Quidditch meeting since most of us are players," grinned Mike.

"We aren't doing anything!" snapped Hermione. "If you think it's a problem then you can handle it, now can't you?"

All three of them looked scorned and stared at her with mistrustful glares. In unison they simply turned and headed back through the rain. Their silhouettes were daunting and their movements laced with threat. Within moments they had vanished like ghosts.

"Well, it is good to hear you're not doing anything," called a voice. "However, shouting at a student isn't something I expected from you, Hermione."

"P-professor Lupin," gasped Hermione, spinning around to see that he'd apperated behind them. "We-we-we were just… err, well…"

"She's just sore because one of the exchange students got a better grade in transfiguration than she did," said Ron, covering magnificently. "And Snape says the girl is a Neville."

"Then study harder," instructed Lupin sternly, casting a disapproving gaze at Hermione. "Don't take it out on other students. If all else ask the student to help you."

Hermione looked ready to shout back that she was studying and that she didn't need help, but she held her tongue and formed it into the sentence, "Yes, professor."

Remus nodded and looked to Harry, his features softening as he did. When he'd gotten a letter from Harry that expressed the need to talk to someone about Sirius, he'd though it would have been an insult to say no and had even agreed not to tell Dumbledore as Harry said he didn't want pity from the Headmaster.

"You ready?" he asked. "I've got a port key to a safehouse in London, we can take the Knightbus to Grimaul Place if you want."

Harry nodded and waved farewell to Ron and Hermione. He felt bad about deceiving Remus, but Hermione had been the one to come up with the lie. She said Remus probably needed to talk about it anyway so all Harry had to do was spend a few hours listening and he could grab something silver from Kreacher's cupboard and get back to Hogwarts before anyone was the wiser.