AN: Hey, ok there's a new character introduced into this chapter, the character is based on one of my friends. The only difference is the name. Sorry it took a while to get the chapter up, I got stuck for a while! Hope you enjoy! My next chapter should have quite the interesting twist to it! Please R&R! Thanx!

-Ally-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry awoke the next morning later in the day. He opened his eyes and remembering the night before his lips turned into a small smile. He put on his glasses and looked over at the clock. It was already a bit after ten, breakfast would have ended, but Harry didn't mind. He'd join his friends for lunch later. He just lay in his bed quietly. He was upset about the curse, but somehow Naquila made him smile.

They had the first day off to organize all their books and schedules so Harry was in no rush to get out of bed. His friends were probably wondering where he was the rest of the night so he decided to get up and go find them.

After getting dressed he walked to the Great Hall to see if his friends were there. He walked through the doors and saw Ron and Hermione sitting at their table. Ron was teaching Hermione how to play wizard's chess.

"But why does it have to do that!" Hermioned complained. "I don't understand!"

"It's wizard's chess, Hermione! That's what it's supposed to do." Ron retorted in an exasperated tone.

Harry just grinned at the sight. Those two were always arguing over something and by the looks of it Ron must have been trying to explain the game to Hermione for quite some time. Hermione thought the game was barbaric and had never liked it. Why she had decided to play a round was beyond Harry. He just watched the scene for a couple moments. Knowing well enough not to interrupt the two when they were arguing like this.

Hermione put her head in her hands and groaned. She looked up after a moment. "This just isn't a game for me." She shook her head smiling.

"You could have told me that before we started playing!" Ron almost yelled.

"Well if I had known how pointless and destructive this game was I wouldn't have played!" Hermione retorted loudly.

"Um, hi guys." Harry carefully interrupted.

Both turned their heads and the frowns disappeared. "Oh, good morning Harry, when did you get here?" Hermione asked.

"Oh…not long ago." Harry answered, trying to stop himself from grinning.

"Well Ron was just trying to explain this ridiculous game and," Hermione drawled.

"It's not ridiculous!" Ron argued angrily.

"Oh please." Hermione said and rolled her eyes. "I've got some homework to finish up." She added as she gathered all her books.

"How can you have homework? It's the first day back!" Ron asked as both his eyebrows lowered in confusion.

"I'm working ahead." Hermione declared. Hermione was always very proud of the fact that she made a valid effort to ensure all her homework was either done ahead of time or on the due date.

Ron rolled his eyes. "As usual." He muttered.

Hermione eyed him and glared. "See you boys later." She turned and headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

"She's a weird one." Ron said. Then he smiled, "She's still our Hermione. So what's up mate? Where were you last night?" Ron asked as Harry sat down with him. "Care for a game? I figure you appreciate the game more than her." Ron accented 'her' to express his annoyance.

"Sure, I'd love a game." Harry answered once he was settled. "Oh and about last night." He added.

They set up all the pieces and then Harry spoke as he made his fist move.

"Well I wasn't feeling that hungry after I had a chat with Dumbledore. I explained to him what happened that night and he said he just needs time to think. After I went back to my room. Naquila appeared." Harry spoke quietly

"She came to Hogwarts? Wait…how could she have made it into the grounds? She came up to your room? That's the boys dormitory!" Ron said, contemplating everything at once.

"Ron, that was the only time she could catch me to talk alone. Anyways she came to…" Harry paused as he remembered how happy he was that night. Stopping himself from blushing he continued. "She came to tell me some news about what's going on." He finished.

"What did she say?" Ron asked, now focusing on Harry instead of the game.

"She said that she knows a way to stop the curse. You know the founders of our school were the most powerful wizards of their time." Harry talked in a hushed voice.

"Everyone knows that." Ron whispered back.

"Yes, I know, but do they know why?" Harry asked.

Ron sat puzzled for a moment. "No, I've never thought about that before."

"Naquila said that they were able to harness some sort of power. It's ancient, but it's the most powerful magic in our world. She said that the four founders harnessed it under their control, but before they died, they split the power up into four parts." Harry explained.

"How are we going to even find it, let alone control it?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." Harry answered. "The four pieces are hidden in the four Great Mountains." He added. "So we'll have to leave Hogwarts." He murmured grimly.

Ron looked at Harry in shock. Eventually it withered away, but when he spoke he was still not pleased to hear they would have to leave the protection of their school. Harry could not read the look on his face. "It's going to be dangerous, isn't mate?" He asked quietly, looking up to meet Harry's gaze.

"I don't know Ron." Harry honestly replied. "We don't know what's to come or wait we'll face, but we have to expect the worst. It came from Voldemort. I don't know what to expect, but I know that this whole thing is really bad and must be stopped." Harry told his best friend.

Ron looked at Harry. He gulped, took a deep breath and spoke. "Harry no matter what's happened in the past, we've always been there for you, that's not going to change." He said as he put his arm to his best mate's shoulder.

"Thanks Ron. We're going to do this." Harry said sincerely. "We'll do it together.

"Right." Ron agreed. He moved a piece on the chessboard "Checkmate." He said triumphantly.

Harry looked over the board with confusion, and then laughed. "Let's go back up to the common room. We can talk more there." He said.

Meanwhile, Hermione was walking back to the common room, but she took a quick trip to the library. She walked through the doors and had her nose stuck in a book she was reading on the sleeping potion. Without looking up she made her way to one of the tables. She was trying to finish the book quickly so she could start working on her potions report.

Hermione was so caught up the book that she was only brought back to her senses when she bumped into something. Her books and papers dropped to the floor.

She didn't even look up; she just picked her books up off the floor. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see anyone." She said quickly. She stood up again and looked up into cold grey eyes.

Her own brown eyes widened and she shook slightly as she saw whom it was she had bumped into.

Malfoy stood there, his face contorted with rage and he glared down at her.

Hermione trembled. Malfoy had gotten so tall and looked more muscular. He probably could pick her up and throw her across the room if he wanted to.

Hermione was paralysed with fear. Her lips trembled as she tried to speak, but she just couldn't get any words out. Her eyes stayed on his.

Malfoy's face still had a beyond angry expression, but then his eyes widened slightly, their colour changed to a more blue hue. He stepped back away from Hermione. He now had an almost shocked look on his face. Then he reached up to his face and dabbed his nose with his hand, blood trickled down from his fingers.

Hermione put a hand to her mouth. Oh no, what have I done. She shook as she spoke slowly. "I'm…I'm really sorry, I…I couldn't see, I didn't notice!" Hermione panicked.

Malfoy looked at his fingers, then back at Hermione, his eyes still wide with shock. He looked around him as if not knowing where he was. All eyes were on him and Hermione.

Some girls at a table had scared looks on their faces and some of the boys, too, had shocked expressions.

Malfoy looked around the entire room, then his expression changed from shock, to what looked like fear. He turned and walked away slowly, then as he was closer to the doors he ran.

Hermione shook where she stood. Her breath came quickly. She felt her heart beating so fast she thought it would beat right out of her chest. He just…stood there. He didn't say a word. She thought with a bit of relief, but was still greatly confused.

A Ravenclaw girl ran over to Hermione. "Are you ok?" She asked in a worried tone.

Hermione felt her strength leave her. "I need to sit down." She said. Her eyes were still focused on where Malfoy had stood.

"Come with me." The girl said carefully. She led Hermione over to a chair to let her sit down. "I'm Aurora." She said. "I was so scared, I thought Malfoy was going to do the worst. He scares me." Aurora spoke quietly to Hermione, trying not to startle her.

Hermione sat in the chair trembling. She looked right through Aurora and stared, going over what had just happened in her mind.

"He got mad at my little brother one time and hexed him. He was in the hospital wing for weeks. I'm glad you're ok." Aurora tried to soothe Hermione. She pulled up a chair and sat by her side, waiting.

Finally, Hermione turned to the girl. "Thank you for your help." She said quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I was just so scared, but he didn't do anything…he just…stood there." Hermione choked out.

Hermione had never faced Malfoy without her to friends being with her. She felt safe with Harry and Ron, but she was alone. She didn't have them there. One of Hermione's worst nightmares had been Malfoy attacking her as she was by herself. He was a powerful wizard and as smart as she was, she always feared him and the possibility of being seriously hurt. She was confused by how he had just walked away. She thought Malfoy would have done something, anything, and hurt her.

Hermione's breathing settled and she spoke again. "My name is Hermione, Hermione Granger." She introduced herself more calmly. "I didn't get your full name." Hermione added as she offered her hand.

"I'm Aurora Delaina." Aurora replied, shaking the offered hand. "Hey do you want me to walk you to your common room, just in case you need a hand?" She asked.

"That'd be great, as long as you don't mind." Hermione smiled. She was grateful the girl was there to help her. She might have fallen if Aurora hadn't calmed her down.

She now looked at Aurora and took her in. Before Hermione wasn't seeing anything around her, all she could think about was how scared she was and wonder why Malfoy had done nothing. Now, she noticed Aurora was a little taller than her, had short dark, almost black, hair with reddish highlights. She had very bright green eyes, with a dark layer circling the light green. She was dressed nicely in blue jeans and a dark green shirt that brought out her eyes. She looked like a decent kind of girl, unlike so many snobby Slytherin girls, or boy crazed Hufflepuff girls. Hermione just didn't mix very well with those girls. They weren't all bad, just too different from her.

"Hey are you working on the sleeping potion report?" Aurora asked as she saw the book Hermione held in her hand.

"Yes, it's due in a week, but I want to get it done anyways. I'll have more time to work on other subjects and get ahead." Hermione answered.

"Snape gave our class the same assignment, but he gave it to us because some boys made a growth formula spill in class." Aurora chuckled. "What's worse is they used too much Grula plant so it didn't just make a toad grow larger, the toad was gigantic!"

"Oh my, that formula is not one to fool around with." Hermione said but she laughed at the thought of a giant toad scaring all of the students.

"I know, so many people just don't read into potions before they try and make them, or they skim last minute. Why not read ahead so you're prepared?" Aurora added.

Hermione was quite impressed with this girl, but Ravenclaw students were commonly known for intelligence, so it was reasonable that Aurora was placed in that house. She was a lot like Hermione. "Aurora, would you like to work on our reports together?" Hermione asked.

"Sure, I could use a little help with one part. They didn't give much detail in the exact amounts for a couple ingredients. I came here to get a couple extra books." Aurora explained.

"The one I have specifies just that." Hermione told her happily.

"Let's go to the Great Hall and work on our reports for a while." Aurora said excitedly. "I love finishing my reports early, the only problem is that I can't wait to see the mark I get!"

"I know, I try so hard to get good marks, but the wait just makes me want to go insane sometimes!" Hermione laughed.

The two girls walked out of the Library and headed for the Great Hall. Hermione smiled the whole time. She thought to herself, I think I just might have made a friend.

After what seemed like such a short time of working on their reports, the two girls decided to head back to their common rooms. They agreed to meet up the next day to work on an Ancient Ruins report that they both had. Hermione had learned that Aurora was talking almost all the same classes as her and almost as many. It was good since she now had someone she could work with on assignments from some of the extra classes she was taking.

It was nice to have someone who worked as hard as she did with all her classes and she had someone she could share similar interests with. She had learned that Aurora loved reading and had read all of the Hogwarts history books. She got top marks in her classes and wasn't one to obsess over her appearance.

She's like my long lost sister that I never thought would exist. Hermione chuckled at her own thought.

She got back to the common room to see Harry and Ron talking quite discreetly in the corner.

She walked over to them. When they looked up they looked very relieved to see her.

"Hermione, where were you?" Ron asked.

"I was in the library, then the Great Hall. I was working on a potions report." Hermione explained as she sat down next to Harry.

Ron chuckled. "Hermione, we don't have any homework. You should really try to enjoy a day and do nothing."

Hermione looked up at Ron as if he couldn't be serious.

"Ron let me fill Hermione in on everything." Harry piped up.

"Sorry, mate." Ron apologized.

Harry then explained to Hermione everything that Naquila had told him about the curse, the ancient power and where they would find it.

Hermione leaned her head against her propped up arm and was deep in thought when Harry finished. "This is going to be dangerous, I'm sure, so I will get started as soon as I can on finding books on some advanced spells that we can use." She finally said.

"If anyone can research and learn spells quickly it's you." Harry smiled.

"Thanks Harry." Hermione thanked him with a small smile.

"Oh, Ron, I'm sorry for getting a little carried away earlier." Hermione said turning to him.

Ron smiled. "It's alright Hermione, I went a bit over the edge, sorry." He said.

"Well we should get some sleep, tomorrow we start our classes and we should probably start preparing for our journey. Naquila could come back any day telling us that we have to go." Harry said. I hope she comes back soon. Harry thought to himself.

"I still haven't met her." Hermione said.

"You will the next time she comes. I'll come find you guys, but lets not tell anyone about her. We have to go talk to Dumbledore the next time she comes as well." Harry told them both.

"You did talk to Dumbledore?" Hermione asked as she gathered her things and started heading to the stairs.

"Yes. He said he needs time to think everything over. I think when Naquila can explain more to him then he'll have a better idea of what's going on." Harry explained.

"Right, well good night boys." Hermione said and walked up the stairs to the girls dormitory

"Night Hermione." Both boys chorused as they walked to their room.

The boys got changed and sat in their beds, still talking.

"So what's Naquila look like anyways?" Ron asked slyly. "Is she pretty?"

Harry blushed and laughed. He tried to hide his blush by changing his shirt. "Well she looks just like a human girl. The only difference really is that she has slightly pointed ears and of course wings." Harry answered and pulled the covers back in his bed.

"Was she pretty?" Ron asked again, winking.

"Yes, I guess she was." Harry answered and ran his hand through his hair nervously. Even thinking about her made his stomach do flip-flops.

Ron gave him a funny grin.

"No, I do not fancy her!" Harry said firmly as he shifted a couple times in his bed. "She's a Kirnsa, I doubt she's even supposed to be around us." Harry added.

Ron eyed him for a moment. "I know most other creatures don't associate with us, but she sounds almost human, why not?" he asked, continuing to tease Harry.

"Probably not." Harry said in an annoyed tone.

"Aw, sorry mate, just having a little fun." Ron apologized.

"No problem." Harry answered and tucked himself under the covers. "Night Ron." Harry said and he closed his eyes.

"Night." Ron answered.