Harry just looked at Dumbledore, not saying anything, waiting for him to continue. Then Dumbledore spoke.

"Before I tell you this, it is important to understand that Voldemort has followers everywhere. He has enlisted the help of shapeshifters, as we now know, he has his death eaters, and even now he is enlisting the help of countless others to achieve his goals. What he has planned for you is their primary goal right now. We know they have tried to take you several times this year and they will try again, you can be sure of it. What I'm going to tell you will be very hard to hear, but you need to know. You need to know how vital Voldemort considers you to his survival."

He stopped for a moment and Harry just looked at him, his mouth feeling so dry he didn't think he could speak if he wanted to. Dumbledore went on.

"When you were taken," he began, "at the end of the tournament last year, it was because Voldemort felt your blood would make him return even more powerful then before and he would use no one else because of that. This was true, he is more powerful than before, but your blood has had another effect on him as well, one he is most displeased about, it's killing him. When your mother died for you I told you the mark it left inside you was so strong Voldemort could not touch it, and this remains true still."

"But, he was able to touch me at the end of his rebirth," Harry cut in.

"Please let me finish. Yes he was able to touch you, but that was because it was so soon after the spell was finished. Over the past few months we have found out that it is starting to cause him much pain, his body is rejecting it."

"Well that's good!" Harry exclaimed suddenly happy. "We can just let it kill him and be done with it!"

"It's not so simple, I'm afraid. The process is very slow, it could take years. If he does nothing then yes he will die from it but I think we all know better. He's going to do everything in his power to ensure he lives on."

"So, then why does he need me? What can I give him that would ensure he lives? I can't give him more blood or it'll just hurt him more right?"

"Correct it would, but that isn't what he's after. It's his body that's rejecting it, he doesn't want new blood, he wants a new body."

Harry was speechless with shock as questions raced through his mind. Voldemort wanted to switch bodies? How could he defend against that? Why his? When he realized they were all staring at him and he was sitting there with his mouth open he shut it quickly and sat up a little.

"Why does it have to be mine?" he managed to ask, barely above a whisper.

"Because you were the one who brought him back," Snape answered.

"I'm sorry," Harry began, trying to explain the way he was acting, "this is just a lot more than I expected."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, your reaction to this is much better than we had anticipated, you're handling it very well, considering," Lupin explained, looking very shaken himself.

"If he succeeds what happens to me? Do we switch bodies? Will I spend the rest of my life in his old body?" Harry asked.

"No, if he succeeds you will die," Dumbledore answered him. "He will inhabit your body, his old one will be lifeless and you will cease to exist."

"Oh…" Harry said, all the color draining from his face. He had hoped there would be some kind of counter-spell or something. He started to feel twinges of hopelessness and despair, but forced them down, refusing to let them consume him.

"Harry, he hasn't got you yet, and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure it stays that way," Sirius said coming over to Harry and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"What we know is that he is planning on going for you while you are still here. He only took Professor Figg in case his plan fails and he has to try for you at your home with the muggles. He does not intend to wait though, the pain he is already feeling is causing him to come down much harder on his followers, they want to deliver you to him as badly as he wants you caught," Snape told him.

"So, he told you all this, did he?" Sirius asked him sounding suspicious.

"Yes, he did," Snape hissed. "He seems to trust that I have indeed decided to return to him. He made sure all of his followers were present when he told us of his plans."

"I believe you," Harry said looking right in his eyes. It was the first time he truly felt he could trust Snape, whether it was because of how he had acted in class earlier or for some other reason, he just knew it. Snape just nodded at him and turned away. Sirius looked like he didn't agree with what Harry had said but stayed silent.

"Remus," Dumbledore said then, "Please take Harry back to his tower. He needs to get some rest for now." Then he turned to Harry. "There is nothing else I can ask of you that you aren't already doing. I can't tell you to be anymore careful then you are already being, so now it is up to us to make sure we keep you safe. Please try not to think too much on this tonight and get some sleep."

Harry nodded at him and stood up. He followed Lupin through the door and down the halls towards his tower. He wondered if he would sleep at all that night.

Hermione and Ron were waiting for him yet again when he returned. The look on his face told them something was very wrong.

"Harry what happened?" Hermione exclaimed. "You look sick, are you alright?"

They both looked at him with worry in their eyes. Harry was about to tell them he was going to bed, but discovered that he needed to tell someone what had happened. He needed to get everything he was feeling out, and soon. So with a shaky sigh, he explained everything he had been told in Dumbledore's office. When he was done, he saw they were looking at him in the same way he must've been looking at everyone in the office.

"Oh my…oh my…" was all Hermione could say. She was as white as a sheet and even shaking a little.

"What are they going to do about it?" Ron asked.

"I don't know. They told me that I'm already doing everything I can and that the rest is up to them. But with all the times Voldemort's followers have gotten in this year, I don't see how they can do much of anything except wait! The only thing I can hope for is that Voldemort tells his followers when he's planning to come, and that Snape finds out…" Harry trailed.

"You're trusting Snape with your life?" Ron asked, ignoring that Harry had mentioned the name Voldemort.

"He's tried to save me before and I really believe he's trying to again. I just hope he doesn't get caught spying."

"That must be why he went off on Draco today instead of you," Hermione finally spoke up. "He knew about all of this earlier and took it out on him."

"Well, as much as I hate to say it, I hope he goes back to the way he was. We can't have Malfoy telling his father Snape's acting strange," Harry said. "Listen, I need to get to sleep. It's only the first day back and already we're going to be dragging around tomorrow. I want to be able to concentrate on other things besides this."

The others agreed. They all said goodnight and headed up to the dorms.

Over the course of the next few weeks, nothing much out of the ordinary happened. Harry did his best to push all of the unpleasant thoughts gnawing at him away so he could concentrate on school, and quidditch! They were practicing 3 days a week and every Saturday as the next game was just over a month away. The ball was coming up as well, it was going to be the weekend before the quidditch match, and Harry still hadn't asked anyone yet.

"Harry just do it, don't wait until there's no one left," Ron said one day as they were heading to the great hall for lunch.

"Do what?"

"You know you want to ask Cho to the ball. Every time we walk past her you look at her like you're expecting her to read your mind or something and it just won't work that way!" Ron said laughing.

"I do not!" Harry yelled, but he was laughing too.

"What are you two laughing about?" Hermione asked as she sat down with them.

"Harry is hoping Cho took mind reading lessons from Professor Trelawny, so he doesn't have to ask her to the ball," Ron said smiling. Harry just glared at him.

"Well it wouldn't help if she had," Hermione said, "She wouldn't learn anything from that woman. Honestly, I don't know why they keep her on the staff!"

Just then Cho came up to their table and stood near Harry. Harry looked up at her and forgot how to speak, so he stared. Ron and Hermione looked on in amusement.

"Cho," Hermione finally said, "would you like to join us?"

"Actually, I would like to speak with Harry. Do you have a minute?" she asked looking at him.

"Er…sure," he answered.

"Great, let's go out into the hall."

Harry stood up and glanced at his friends, who were giving him huge smiles, and followed Cho out into the hall.

"Harry," she began, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I really wanted to ask you something."

"Don't worry about it, what did you want to ask?" he said. He held his breath.

"Well, last year when you asked me to the ball, I said no because I had another date," she said, not mentioning Cedric's name, "but I really would have gone with you if you had asked me first. I didn't think you'd ask me again this year because of that, so I'm asking you. Will you go to the ball with me, Harry?"

Harry wanted to jump up and down, but he didn't, he looked at her face and saw that she was nervous. He couldn't understand why someone like Cho would be nervous as anyone she would ask out would surely say yes.

"I would love to go to the ball with you!" he said, trying not to sound too excited.

"Great!" she said, looking very much relieved. "I'll let you get back to your friends, and we can talk about everything later. Thank you!" She smiled at him as she went back into the great hall. Harry just stood there for a minute letting what happened replay in his mind. He turned, to go back inside with the biggest grin on his face. He didn't even need to say anything to his friends back at the table; they could tell what had happened just by looking at him.

The day of the ball came in almost no time at all. Harry and Ron put on their dress robes and waited in the common room for Hermione and Ginny. Harry would be meeting Cho outside the great hall. When the girls were finally ready, they came downstairs. Ron looked at Hermione and once again, his jaw dropped. She had straightened her hair again, and the sides were pulled up with a big clip. There were thin tendrils of hair on either side of her face. She had on lavender dress robes that looked beautiful next to her hair. Ginny also looked very pretty, with her hair piled on top of her head, falling over a giant clip and dark green dress robes.

"Who are you going with, Ginny?" Harry asked her.

"Colin Creevey," she answered, smiling.

Harry just grinned at her, when Colin had joined them, looking ecstatic to be walking in the same group as Harry; they set off for the great hall. Cho was just getting down there when they arrived. Harry broke off from the rest and walked over to her.

She was wearing deep red robes that looked absolutely gorgeous next to her hair, which was left loose, but had tiny, braids here and there throughout it. He held out his arm to her.

"Ready?" he asked with a big smile.

"Yes," she answered, taking his arm and smiling back. They walked over to the others and all went in together.

The great hall was decorated in silver and red. Banners were hanging from the ceiling and lights were shining and even the walls had been changed red with glints of silver here and there. There were no empty tables left, but they found Seamus, Lavender, Dean and Parvati at a table with enough space for them, so they joined them. They ordered their food by saying what they wanted to their plates and watched as it appeared before them. There was soft music playing through dinner and they talked about the food, and the decorations. Then Seamus brought up the subject of the quidditch match next week.

"So Harry, did you ask out the other team's seeker to get inside information?" he asked with a wry smile.

"No, I didn't," Harry said meaningfully. He didn't appreciate the joke.

"I asked Harry to go with me," Cho spoke up.

Seamus obviously wasn't catching the glares Harry was throwing his way. "Oh, so you're trying to get information on our team, huh? Spying on our seeker?"

"Hey Seamus," Ron cut in as Harry opened his mouth to say something else, "I won't be needing your broom anymore."

"Really? Great, why not?" They continued their conversation for a few minutes on Ron's new broom. Harry apologized to Cho, but she brushed it off.

"It's okay," she told him. "As long as you know I didn't ask you for that reason."

"The thought never crossed my mind," he assured her. "Would you, um…would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to."

They got up and walked out to where a few other couples had already begun dancing. Ron and Hermione did the same and soon everyone from their table was up on the floor. As Ron passed by Harry at one point, he nudged him in the ribs.

"Look at who Malfoy brought!" he said stifling a laugh.

Harry looked over and had to hold in a laugh as well. Malfoy was on the dance floor with…

"Eloise Midgen!" Harry whispered turning back to Ron.

"Her nose is still as crooked as ever!" Ron said looking at her. "Wonder how he got stuck with her?"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded him. "Just because you don't find her attractive is no reason to…"

"Sorry, sorry!" he said hurriedly, but he looked over at them one more time and then grinned at Harry.

Malfoy noticed the looks Ron and Harry were giving him and quickly pulled Eloise off the dance floor.

"Maybe she stepped on his foot," Ron said.

"Ron!"

"Sorry…"

Hermione was really beginning to look angry now so Ron steered her away from Harry to show he was going to stop. Harry spent the rest of the evening laughing and talking with Cho. He enjoyed every minute and felt completely at ease for the first time in a very long time. He wished the night would never end.

Harry was walking on air in the days after the ball, which had gone considerably better than last year's. He had a much better time than he ever could have imagined and spent much of his free time thinking about it. His free time, however, wasn't really that long. Classes were giving much more homework as they had their O.W.L.S. coming up, and the quidditch match against Ravenclaw was this weekend, so they practiced every day.

When Saturday finally arrived, Harry got up early and woke up Ron. They both dressed and went down for breakfast. When the rest of the team joined them, they went over the game plan one more time. When it was getting close to game time, they left the school and headed down to the pitch.

When they were out on the field Harry looked over at Cho, when she looked at him, he smiled, but she didn't return it. She just stared at him intently looking very serious. He looked away when Madam Hooch walked out onto the field.

"Potter, Davies, shake hands!" she said. The two captains reached out and shook the other's hand, then stepped back. The whistle blew and they all kicked off. Gryffindor took an early lead with three goals in the first minute. The Ravenclaw chasers were having trouble getting anything past Ron, especially on his new broom. They were able to score when one of their beaters slammed a bludger at Ron's head, which he had to duck to avoid losing. The bludger was followed closely by a chaser, who threw the quaffle as soon as Ron ducked, scoring for their team.

Harry took his eyes away from the game and began searching for the snitch. He saw that Cho was watching him, not looking for the snitch at all on her own, but decided not to think about it. If she wasn't looking for it, it only made the odds better for him to catch it. He heard the game going on around him and Lee Jordan's commentary; the score was now 80 to 20 for Gryffindor.

When Harry spotted the snitch it was high up above the stands, sitting in the air with nothing and no one nearby. He shot off at top speed directly towards it, he hadn't looked at where Cho was or if she had seen it either, he just flew as fast as he could. Suddenly, something slammed into his broom from behind, but it wasn't a bludger. Harry spun wildly in the air for a few seconds before he managed to bring his broom to a halt. Cho was looking at him with a grin on her face.

"Sorry," she sneered at him. He just looked back at her. He never thought she would stoop to cheating. A penalty was called against Ravenclaw and the game continued. Harry had lost sight of the snitch and began his search again, keeping a closer eye on Cho.

It only took a few moments before Harry spotted the snitch again. It was still high in the air, but on the other side of the field. With a quick glance over his shoulder to see where Cho was, he took off after it once again. He could feel her close behind him but didn't look back; he knew he was faster than her and he just needed to concentrate. He was within a few feet, he stretched out his arm groping for it with the tips of his fingers and at last he closed his hand over the snitch! He spun around in the air with his hand raised to see that Cho was sitting very close to him on her broom and smiling at him. At first he thought she was happy for him and smiled back at her. He could see the other members of the team waving at him from the ground beckoning him over. He opened his mouth to tell Cho it was a good game, when something stopped him. Cho's eyes had gone black.

"No…" he whispered looking at her. He was fighting off the fear rising within him, and there was no time to think. He knew he couldn't let this thing near any of his friends so he spun in the air and took off, the shapeshifter took off too. He could hear shouts from everyone on the ground asking what was going on, but he couldn't answer and he had to make sure they stayed safe. He flew towards the Forbidden Forest, the shapeshifter close behind him.

Harry had no intention of entering the forest so as soon as he neared the trees; he pulled hard on his broom and flew off in the opposite direction, passing the shapeshifter in mid-air. She did the same and was on his tail once again. He flew towards the castle and started weaving around in and out of the turrets and towers, but was unable to shake her. Suddenly an idea came to him, he shot straight up into the air and then back down again, aiming straight at the ground. He knew she was following and headed straight for the tree below him, at the last second he pulled up, brushing and chopping through of the top branches of the tree then headed upwards again. He turned around just in time to see her get smacked off her broom by the Whomping Willow.

Harry landed a good distance from the tree and started over towards where the shapeshifter lay, unconscious. By now the rest of the school was up near the castle as they had been following the two of them and many of them started heading over as well. There were some angry shouts coming from the Ravenclaw team directed at Harry but he wasn't paying attention. He wanted to talk to this shapeshifter and find out what had been done with Cho.

Dumbledore broke through the crowd then and called for silence in a great booming voice. Nobody moved.

"Harry," he said immediately, "don't go near her." Apparently Dumbledore had realized what she was as well.

"Everyone please go inside and head straight for your towers!" He shouted to them. Some people began to protest and wanted to make sure Cho was alright, but he told them to go and everything would be explained later.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry yelled running up to him. "We need to talk to her, we need to find out where Cho is!" His voice was filled with concern and urgency.

"We will Harry. Right now I need you to go to your common room and I promise you will be the first person we notify of anything we discover." Harry could see Snape and Lupin over by the shapeshifter lifting her up in the air and taking her inside. They were both keeping a close watch on her, neither taking any chances.

"Alright," he said finally. He didn't want to go anywhere but wherever they were taking that shapeshifter. He had the urge to shake her until she talked but he couldn't. Harry slowly trudged up the steps to the school, and back up to the tower.

When he walked into the common room, everyone immediately began asking him questions about what had happened. He told them that he didn't know, even though it was a lie, because he knew he couldn't tell them about the shapeshifter. When everyone had finally stopped pestering him, he told Ron and Hermione he needed to talk to them. They went into a corner with no one nearby and Harry told them what happened.

"Oh poor Cho!" Hermione cried. "That's horrible! I hope she's okay!"

"So do I," Harry said. He was feeling guiltier than ever before. Why did they keep going after his friends? Why didn't Voldemort just come for him and be done with it? He would gladly switch places with Cho right now, if it meant her safety.

"I know where they have her…" a small voice said from behind them. They all spun around to see Su Chang standing there.

"Su!" Harry said. He had seen her come back after the holidays but hadn't had much of a chance to speak with her. He was glad she was here at all, as he thought her father would never have allowed that to happen, but her mother must've won that argument. Now he was elated she was here, as she would know exactly where the shapeshifters were hiding since she spent so much time there.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she said suddenly turning red.

"No, no! It's okay! I'm glad you heard us! Will you tell us what you know?" Harry asked her anxiously. Su gave him a big smile and lowered her head to hide the fact she was blushing. She sat down with them and started speaking quietly.

"What I can tell you is that the night they took me, we went outside the castle over to the tree that everyone calls the Whomping Willow. There is a passageway underneath it that leads to an old house. They kept me in one of the rooms there the whole time and every once in a while, one of them would come in and touch my arm for a few minutes, then leave."

"But Dumbledore said they searched the Shrieking Shack!" Ron said sounding confused.

"He did," Su said before anyone could say anything else. "He was there with some of the other professors. They didn't see me though, they didn't see anyone."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "They just walked right by you?"

"Yes," Su answered in a small voice. She was beginning to look like she was sorry she had brought it up and Harry felt bad for her. He knew what it felt like to have to relive painful and scary experiences.

"Su," he began, "I know you don't want to think about all of this, but it's the only way we have of finding out where Cho is. Will you please go on?" She looked up at him and nodded, then continued.

"The whole time I was there, they just left me locked in a room. Then one night, one of them came back in a big rush yelling at all the others, telling them someone was coming and they had to hide. One of them came in and got me and brought me out to where all the others were. They tied me up and put a gag in my mouth and then they all just huddled together, standing perfectly still. I didn't know what was going on, but soon I heard voices and Dumbledore came in with a few other people. I tried to get their attention but I couldn't make any noise, and when they looked at me, they just didn't do anything! They couldn't see me!" Su was crying now, and they all looked at her in horror. Harry put his arm around her and tried to get her to calm down. She buried her face in his sweater and wept.

"Su, I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry," he kept telling her. When she seemed a bit calmer she pulled away from him and apologized.

"Don't be sorry, for anything," he told her. "I know why the sorting hat put you in Gryffindor, you were very brave to have gone through all that." This made her smile and he smiled back.

"So there were a lot of shapeshifters then?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. Every so often I would see one of them in the shape of a student, once even you," she said looking at Hermione. "But I was the only one they kept there. The shapeshifters weren't the only ones there, though. There were other wizards that seemed to be giving the shapeshifters their orders, and these wizards were all following one in particular. The one with the red eyes, he was the scariest of any of them."

Harry's insides felt like lead. He knew she meant Voldemort. This whole time he had been so close to him, and they never knew.

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry with utter terror in their eyes.

"Harry! He's so close! We have to tell someone now before it's too late!" Hermione said urgently.

"We have to tell someone and we have to get Cho out of there," Harry said. "If Voldemort does anything to her –"

"What!" Su cried. "You-Know-Who? That's who that was?" She was completely shocked at hearing this, but went on. "Why is he here? Why did he need me?"

"To get to Harry," Ron answered. Su looked at Ron and then back at Harry.

"You shouldn't be here then!" she said fiercely to Harry.

"I have nowhere else to go," Harry told her. "He probably knows where the Dursley's live by now, this is the only other place I have."

"Let's go to Dumbledore now. We can tell him about where they are hiding and how they are doing something to make it so you can't see them," Hermione said.

"Or sense them," Ron added. "You'd think they'd be able to feel all the dark magic in that place." The three of them stood up to go, and Su looked at them.

"Do you want me to come too?" she asked.

"No, you don't have to come. I don't want you to have to go through all that again. We'll tell Dumbledore what you told us and if he needs anything else then he'll ask you," Harry told her. She nodded and headed for the stairs to go up to the girls' dorm.

They turned, then and headed for the portrait hole, but just as they got there, it opened. Professor McGonagall walked in.

"Where do you three think you're going?" she asked crisply. "I certainly hope you weren't going to leave this room as you were told to remain here."

"Professor, we needed to tell someone, we know where Cho is!" Harry said quickly.

McGonagall just looked at him for a moment.

"So do we Mr. Potter. She was found in the great hall on the Ravenclaw table, almost the same way Su was."

The three of them stood there staring at her. Then Harry spoke first.

"Can I see her? Is she okay?"

"She is fine and no one is allowed to see her yet. I just came here to let you know because Dumbledore asked me to. Now I must be getting back…"

"Professor," Hermione cut in, "there's more that we need to tell you! Please can we go see Dumbledore?"

McGonagall looked at her sternly. She didn't appreciate being interrupted but saw that whatever they had to say was important.

"Alright, I will take you to Dumbledore's office. Quickly please."

They followed her out through the portrait hole and through the halls until they were at the entrance for the office. She said the password and ushered them inside. Everyone was there, waiting for McGonagall to return, so they were surprised to see Harry, Ron and Hermione with her.

"Sorry Headmaster but they have some information for us. I thought it best to bring them right away," she explained.

"Quite alright, Minerva. Please, sit down you three. What have you found out for us now?" Dumbledore asked.

"Voldemort is in the Shrieking Shack," Harry said, standing up.

"We searched there, Harry," Lupin said. "There wasn't anyone there."

"That's because they didn't want to be seen," he replied. He went on and told them everything that Su had said in the common room. When he was finished he sat down and waited for the response.

"That's very powerful magic that can block not only our vision but our senses as well," McGonagall said. "How is it possible for so many of them to have been there and we couldn't tell?"

"How is it we have one of them among us and he never bothered to mention this?" Sirius spoke up. He was looking directly at Snape with an expression of hatred on his face. Snape returned the look.

"Sirius! I've already told you I trust Severus. We will not have this discussion again," Dumbledore said.

"But he must have known! Don't you see that? He even came with us when we went to search the shack! Why didn't you say anything then? You let that poor girl suffer and now they've gotten to another student!" Sirius screamed.

"I couldn't tell you or they would've known how you found out! I had to keep quiet." Snape answered him, surprisingly calm.

"That's enough!" Dumbledore said. "No more of this. We have other things to worry about so both of you start working together!"

"Why are they giving them back?" Hermione spoke up then.

"Who?" Lupin asked.

"The students," Hermione explained. "They had Su for such a long time, but when they no longer needed her, they gave her back. Then with Cho, though I don't know how long they had her for, they gave her back. It's not that I don't like this, it's just I would've expected they would be…well…dead."

Everyone in the room looked at her, but no one had any explanation. Then Harry broke the silence.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

In the weeks following they decided to do some research, specifically on what type of spell could be done so that the person casting it can't be seen or sensed. It seemed that the shapeshifter they had been able to get their hands on had gone into a comatose state. Lupin had told them it was of no use to them at all. After a month of reading and finding nothing they were ready to give up.

"It's just not here!" Ron said. "I swear we've looked through every book in the library, and we can't find a bloody thing!"

"Well we haven't looked in the restricted section," Hermione said.

"I don't think it's there either," Harry said. "I mean, if it were then surely Dumbledore would know. They all seemed a bit surprised when we told them about it."

"I didn't think Snape looked surprised at all," Ron put in.

"Well you heard his reason for not telling," Harry said.

"Who is he supposed to be spying for here?" Ron asked, suddenly angry. "Dumbledore sent him to spy on You-Know-Who so we'd have all this information and he hasn't given it to us!"

"I think I agree with Ron, Harry," Hermione said.

"Well I don't," Harry said flatly. "He warned me that day in Diagon Alley because he didn't think he'd be able to later. He helped me after that death eater attacked and took Mrs. Figg. He even turned on Malfoy just after he found out Voldemort's real plan. I know that's not much but for Snape that's saying something. Dumbledore has also never shown anything but trust for him and that makes me believe him even more. If there are things he can't tell us because it'll show he's a spy then so be it, if in the long run it gives us the upper hand."

They looked skeptically at Harry but didn't argue. They got up to leave the library and go back to the common room, but just as they were at the door they stopped. Cho was standing there about to come in. She looked at them and nodded, then walked past. Harry told the others he would meet up with them later and followed Cho back into the library.

"Cho," Harry said coming up to her table. "Can I sit down?"

She nodded at an empty seat and he took it. When he looked at her again, she was just staring back at him. She seemed very tired.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. "I wasn't allowed to come to see you in the hospital wing, and I haven't seen you in the halls, though I have been looking."

"To tell you the truth, that's partly my fault. I was trying to avoid you…"

"I know I'm so sorry for what happened," he blurted out quickly. Of course she'd been avoiding him because of what happened to her. "It was all my fault…" Suddenly he felt very ashamed and lowered his head so she wouldn't see how read his face was getting.

"That's not what I was going to say. I don't blame you for what happened at all, why would you think that?"

He looked up at her and saw she was smiling at him, which was a huge relief.

"So why have you been avoiding me then?" he asked. Now it was her turn to lower her head.

"I've been avoiding you because I didn't want you to see me like this," she said sheepishly

"See you like what?" he asked, clearly confused.

"It's just that I've been so tired since…since it happened and I feel very, drained. I just didn't want you to see that so I avoided you." Harry's smile widened and when she looked at him and saw this, she smiled too.

"You don't have to worry about things like that," Harry told her. "I always think you look great."

Cho gave him the most brilliantly beautiful smile, which made his heart swell; she reached forward and gave him a big hug.

"Thank you, Harry," was all she said. He hugged her back, and they stayed that way for a few seconds.

"I better get back upstairs," Harry said as they leaned back away from each other.

"Yes and I need to get back to work," she said glancing at her stack of books. They both said goodbye and gave tiny waves, then Harry turned and left the library with a very big grin on his face.

Spring came and a feeling of calmness settled over the school. Classes went on as scheduled and everyone was studying for finals. Harry, Ron and the rest of the team were also practicing for the quidditch final in June. It was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup, so Harry had them out on the pitch four nights a week and Saturday mornings.

They also hadn't given up on their search for the mysterious spell the shapeshifters had used. Everyday they checked with Lupin to see if Dumbledore had any information and everyday they were told he was looking into it. One day after another horrible potions lesson, Harry decided he wanted to ask Snape. He packed up his things very slowly and told his friends he would catch up with them and to go on ahead. Soon he was alone in the classroom with Snape.

"Does it normally take you this long to leave, Mr. Potter? Usually you are one of the first people out of this class," Snape said glaring at him.

"Do you know how they did it?" He blurted out quickly. "The shapeshifters, I mean. Do you know how they did that spell?"

Snape stared at him for a few minutes and Harry was about to turn and leave, when he said:

"Not even the Dark Lord knows how they did it. It is something that only shapeshifters can perform and they refuse to share the secret with any other wizard. I would assume because it's one of the few things they can do that other wizards cannot."

"So then, there's no way to break it, or perform a counter curse, or anything?"

"No there isn't."

"Alright…um…thanks," Harry said. He turned around and walked towards the door, but stopped when he heard Snape speak again.

"I will tell one thing, no other magic can be used while they are doing this. If even the simplest of spells is cast while they are putting up their…shield, then it will cease to work and they can be seen."

He looked at Harry for a moment more then busied himself with papers on his desk. Harry mumbled thank you again, and walked out of the classroom.

Harry went back up to the common room and headed directly over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting.

"What did you ask him?" Hermione asked him as he sat down.

"If there was a way to break the spell that the shapeshifters use to create their shield," he told them.

"Shield?" she asked.

"That's what Snape called it."

"And…?" Ron prompted.

"No, not from outside anyway. But if someone inside the shield uses magic of any other kind, no matter how small, it will break it."

"Well, that's something anyway," Hermione said. "That must be why they had to tie up Su. They couldn't use magic to keep her still or they wouldn't have been able to stay hidden."

"So you must not be stuck inside it then," Ron said. "It's just an illusion, not anything physical. They had to make sure she was unable to get away because if she were free she would've been able to walk over to everyone looking for her."

"Alright, basically what we're saying is that they are creating an illusion to shield themselves from outsiders. No one can see them or sense them while they're under this shield but anyone that's in it can see out, or step out if they wanted to. And the only way to break the illusion is to use magic while inside of it. Does that cover everything?" Hermione said quickly.

"Um…yes, I think so," Harry said trying to process everything she had just said.

"Then how are we ever going to find them? Unless we get under the shield to do magic then it won't matter how many times we go to the Shrieking Shack we won't be able to see them!" Ron said loudly.

"I don't know," Harry said.

Fred and George came over then to remind them about practice that afternoon. Harry and Ron told Hermione they'd see her later, grabbed their brooms, and left the tower.

The day of the quidditch final arrived at last. Harry, Ron and the rest of the team woke up early to make sure they had time to go over everything again. They met in the great hall and had their discussion over breakfast. Soon the hall was filled with students, excited about the match. Hermione and Ginny came over and sat next to Harry and Ron, and Su Chang walked over to them.

"I just wanted to say good luck to you all, not that you'll need it, I saw how well you played last time," she said smiling at them.

"Thanks Su!" Harry said returning the smile. She blushed a bit and then turned and went back to where she had been sitting.

"I think she's a little young for you, 'ey Potter? But I guess after what you did to your last girlfriend you have to go for the dumb ones."

Harry turned around to see Malfoy sneering at him. Crabbe and Goyle were, as always, close behind him.

"You have no idea what you're talking about Malfoy! Go back and sit with the rest of your slimy team!"

"Well, we all watched you trick her into following you at the last match, you got her knocked off her broom by that horrible tree."

"Why don't you just shut up?" Ron yelled at him. "Harry's right you have no idea what you're talking about and none of us want to hear you babble on all day!"

"Are you gonna make me, Weasley?" Malfoy asked. Crabbe and Goyle took their cues and began cracking their knuckles and snickering.

"You're not thinking about where you're standing right now," Angelina spoke up from a few seats down. "There are a lot more of us than you, I suggest you save your energy for the game and head back to your seats now." She stared at them and didn't flinch. Finally they turned away, muttering, and went back to there table. Harry looked at Angelina and she was grinning at him.

"Well as much as I was enjoying that little discussion," George spoke up, "I think we better be off now. Don't want to be late for the final."

They all agreed that they should be on their way, so they stood up together and headed for the pitch.

"Potter, Zabini, shake hands!" Madam Hooch cried. Harry stepped forward and shook hands with the new Slytherin captain, Blaise Zabini. He glanced at Malfoy who was glaring at Blaise, obviously upset that he wasn't made captain. Then the whistle blew, and they all kicked off into the air.

Harry noticed immediately that Malfoy was tailing him everywhere he moved. He ignored him and searched for the snitch. Gryffindor had already taken the lead by 50 points and the Slytherin team was having a hard time keeping up. Harry spun around to go back the other way, and was cut off Malfoy.

"What are you doing?" Harry hissed at him. "Don't you think you should be looking for the snitch? You're team has no chance of beating us with their…skills."

"I am looking, and making sure you have a tough time of it as well. If you spot the snitch you're gonna have to go around me, I'm not letting you pass."

Harry spun a little to the left to move away from him, but Malfoy cut him off again. He tried backing up; Malfoy kept in front of him.

"Neither of us is going to catch it this way, Malfoy!"

"I'm sure one of us will," Malfoy said with a smirk. Harry started moving around sporadically, just trying to shake him, but no matter where he stopped he couldn't get a look anywhere before Malfoy was in front of him again. Then something happened, just as Harry was getting ready to take off again, the snitch flew in between them, and stopped.

They both looked at each other for a moment in shock before lunging, Malfoy went to close his fingers around it, but Harry, instead of grabbing for it, smacked it away from Malfoy with his right hand, then caught it with his left. He gave Malfoy a big grin before shooting up over the crowd with the snitch raised above his head. The crowd broke into a deafening roar and Harry stayed up there for a few moments before coming down to join his friends. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup again.

The next few hours were spent in celebration in the Gryffindor common room. Everyone was still in disbelief over the way the game ended, as the snitch had never been caught like that before. All night Harry had people coming over and congratulating him and this time, he enjoyed the attention. He just kept picturing the look on Malfoy's face as he smacked the snitch away from him.

All good things must come to an end though, as the night got older, people started drifting upstairs to go to bed. Harry, Ron and Hermione were some of the last to go. Harry was filled with nothing with pleasant thought when he got into his four-poster and was dreaming peacefully moments after he laid down. So when he was shaken awake some time later after having very little sleep, he tried to push the person away.

"Harry, get up! Now Harry!"

"What…what is it? Its too early…" he said groggily.

"No you have to, come on!"

Harry felt the covers being yanked off of him. He pulled his glasses of the side table and looked at who was next to him.

"Hermione! What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night!" Harry exclaimed.

"You have to come quickly, it's very important!" she said urgently.

"Alright, I'll wake Ron," Harry said, heading over to him.

"No!" she whispered fiercely.

"Why not?" he asked turning back to her. He was beginning to feel suspicious.

"I – I just don't want to involve him, it's not necessary."

Harry looked at her for a minute, looked directly into her eyes. She held his gaze without flinching, and they stayed like this for a few moments. Finally Harry was convinced it was really Hermione. He got dressed quickly, and met her downstairs in the common room.

When he got downstairs, Hermione was waiting for him.

"Come on Harry, we have to go," she said to him.

"Hermione, will you please just tell me what this is about? Where're we going?"

"We're going down to Snape's office."

"What? Why? What's down there?"

"You just have to come, please it's very important!" she pleaded with him.

He nodded at her and they left, though he was feeling very uneasy about the whole thing. They headed down to the dungeon area in silence. Hermione was moving very quickly and Harry had to trot to keep up with her. Just as they were in view of the office, another thought occurred to Harry, making him stop in his tracks.

"Hermione, who told you we needed to come down here?"

"What?" she asked, looking very anxious.

"Who came and told you, in the middle of the night, that we needed to come to Snape's office?"

"Well, I…I…" she trailed off. She appeared a bit confused for a moment. Then the next second, she fell to her knees clutching her head in pain.

"Hermione!" he yelled rushing to her side, but she had passed out from the pain. He looked around for a minute, unsure what to do, when he heard a voice behind him.

"Very clever, Mr. Potter. You were able to break her hold, but too late, I'm afraid."

Harry spun around to see Lucius Malfoy standing behind him with…

"Snape!"

"Hello Mr. Potter," Snape said grinning at him. "Glad you could join us. I wish we had time for pleasantries but unfortunately we don't. The Dark Lord is very anxious to see you, so we must be on our way, now."