Changes

Harry told Remus about Mr. Minolta and his new chance to play on a real Quidditch team. Moony had of course been uber happy. Harry hadn't seen Hermione at all throughout the rest of the day and he found that he wasn't worried, she always disappeared like that. Besides, he had Lavender with him for most of the day and he found that he liked her much better now. She was good at kissing. Hehehe.

After he was done writing in the god-forsaken diary he slept. A good plan that, generally speaking. His dreams of cheering Quidditch fans didn't last long though.

Hermione's POV

"He's alive." Hermione had figured it out, Darian was Harry. He has to be, that was Harry's style of flying today, everything adds up! Although she had to observe that his flying was even better than last years. It all made sense now, and she had asked him out! She would never have asked Harry out! The embarrassment! They were friends! What would she do! How should she approach him about it? More importantly, why hadn't he told her he was flippin alive! Would have been the least he could do. Or even Remus his "uncle" who was surely in on the whole secret.

Hermione was sitting on the couch unable to sleep when her amazingly intellectual thoughts were interrupted rudely by a troublesome noise in the direction of Harry Potter's dorm room. In a mad panic she threw herself off the couch and up the stairs. To her horror the sound that greeted her ears was a very familiar one, the sound of Harry screaming in pain. She flung the door open and joined the crowd of boys surrounding Darian Everson's bed.

They were all arguing and appeared to be very angry. You couldn't hear a single voice over Harry's screams though. Out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw Ron grab his wand off his bedside table and lash it at the surrounding boys. In an instant the crowd was forcibly parted and Ron charged the bed. Ron flung himself at the bed and side tackled Harry off it and they landed hard on the floor.

Ron landed on top of Harry, who had apparently just been forcibly woken up and pulled back his fist to punch him. Now she understood why all the boys had looked so upset, they all thought Darian was making fun of Harry Potter, pretending to have a fit, while he was actually in a real situation.

One has to note here that Harry Potter is a wizard with some serious power. Her eyes went wide as Ron threw his fist down on Harry and connected with a crunch against a barrier that suddenly appeared in front of the intended boy's face. Ron sat back and cradled his hand. During Ron's moment of vulnerability Harry flicked his hand and his wand was suddenly there, the one he had in previous years. It is probably relevant to add that it was shockingly fast trained on Ron and with a weird wand movement Ron was flung across the room. It has now been proven that Ronald Weasley is in no way an acrobat of any kind.

For a very brief moment in which Ron was in mid air Darian sat panting and the other boys were staring at Ron, Hermione got a good look at his eyes. His famed and extremely attractive GREEN eyes. Despite Ron's current status on the other side of the room supposedly having his head connect in a negative way with the opposite wall, she couldn't help but smile. It was real. Her best friend was alive!

Attention was sent to the door that was now occupying a, there were no other words for it, freaking out Professor Lupin whom immediately rushed to Harry's side. Or to everyone else, his 'nephews' side. He hastily cast a spell over Harry's face much to the panicking boy's displeasure and at a glance she saw that his eyes were once again blue. "Are you alright? How many fingers am I holding up? Where are your pajamas" Professor Lupin asked Harry who was still on the floor breathing heavily and sitting in his boxers.

"Three, Moony we need to see Dumbledore NOW! We can worry about this later." He said indicating the collection of students in the room and crowding the door to get a better look. He was in no way calm, as he looked nauseated and was shaking severely, trying to shove Professor Lupin out of his way, presumably so he could see the Headmaster.

"But where are you pajamas? Never mind, Dumbledore can wait. We need to find you some paj-" Remus was silent as Hermione froze everyone else in the room with Ron's wand which she picked up off the floor.

"I'll take him there, it'll only hold for a few minutes Professor!" She knew what the emergency was, clearly Harry had a vision and that was a good pointer to his identity, she assumed that was supposed to be a secret.

"Hermione, wait, you know?" Her teacher was obviously confused. He was busy trying to keep a struggling 16-year-old pinned securely to the floor and keep up with the crisis. Not to mention that he just couldn't process that Harry was in his pajamas.

"Yes, and I'll take him to the Headmaster while you sort this out." She pointed to the motionless people. "Oh and Ron is hurt." at Professor Lupin's worried look she added, "I won't tell anyone it's him I swear it!"

With a sigh Professor Lupin said above Harry's frustrated swearing "Okay, take this with you, and don't be seen." He tossed her the Marauders map and lifted himself off the floor, giving Harry a lift up and grabbing a pair of jeans and a shirt as he went. Addressing Harry who suddenly got a dizzy spell and threw up Professor Lupin said "After you talk to Dumbledore ask for Mme. Pomphrey. She knows about you. It's like Albus knew something like this would happen.

Professor Lupin refroze everybody as she dragged Harry and the clothes out of the room and made it into the hallway. She could only assume that Remus was thinking that Harry might want some clothes later. She knew that some boys slept in boxers, hell she would if she was a guy. She herself hated getting tangled in pajamas and covers.

It was the most awkward walk she'd ever had in Harry's presence. He ran down the hallways and ignored her the whole time, you'd think he'd want to talk about it, or at least explain what was going on! She had tried demanding outright to know what he was thinking, but that only resulted in Harry running faster. She suspected that he was trying to make her out of breath so she'd be less talkative. In short, he succeeded. As they charged past things in the hall they fell over or shook and Harry ignored this too, every so often rolling his eyes in frustration. That shouldn't happen, that never used to happen around him. Sometimes when she had still thought he was Darian it did though, like in the Great Hall! She knew that wasn't the house elves that chucked food!

They reached the stone gargoyle, Harry rattled off a few passwords before getting the right one, and charged into the Headmaster's office leaving her to follow nervously behind.

Harry's POV

"Dumbledore! Wake up! We have to get people to Surrey fast! Hey!" It was probably about three o'clock in the morning so he'd have to wake the Headmaster up. But where was the bed chamber? Damn it.

"What's going on?" Dumbledore asked from around the corner. That man was definitely not up yet. Surrey, duh it has to be Potter again right! Who else would wake a guy up at three am? Dumbledore came into view and stood in front of him.

"I had a vision again. It has to be real; Voldemort doesn't know I'm alive! Send people to Privet drive! Ple- ase!"

"What did you see?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"The Death Eaters are bored with trashing Diagon Alley. Tonight they're going to destroy Privet Drive just to throw you off. They plan on hitting the Ministry soon. I don't know how they'll do it or when. OKAY?"

"How many is he sending?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry had to count for a moment then answered "About a dozen of his lower class. But he isn't sending them. They begged to go."

Dumbledore frowned and went to the fireplace. He sprinkled in some powder and spoke "Arthur Weasley? Send a team to Surrey, Privet drive fast."

He didn't hear what else was said. He was getting a bad feeling in his stomach as his panic started to wear out. In all honesty he wasn't too worried over the danger his family and neighbors were in. He didn't especially like those people, but letting Voldemort and his cronies do what they want just didn't sit well with him for anything. Or maybe it was just the after effects of the crucio curse setting in. Voldemort hadn't been the kindest to his victims in that vision.

Still feeling overall crappy and panicky at the same time Harry sat in a chair offered by the Headmaster and tapped his feet nervously, all he could do was wait to see if The Order made it in time. Dumbledore turned and sat at his desk and seemingly finally noticed Hermione standing by the door. With a raised eyebrow he waved that Hermione sit in a chair too, which she did. "Hermione, I am going to ask that you sit quiet for a while. Now, Dar-i-an, what happened?" Dumbledore asked through a yawn. You'd think the situation would have sufficiently woken him up, but no. Harry went in depth about the vision. It didn't sound good, a lot of crucio spells were cast on the Deatheaters for one thing or another, which was probably why Harry had been screaming so much. He explained that Hermione had figured him out somehow and had escorted him to the office.

Dumbledore sat in silence after the replay of events, perhaps thinking, perhaps sleeping. He was old after all and it was early.

"Where's the boy Albus?" A feminine voice asked from the door. Turning around Harry spotted Mme. Pomphrey. Locking her eyes on her patient the nurse tutted and turned his chair around. Hermione was asked to talk with the Headmaster privately and they crossed to the other side of the room. "Lupin let you run all the way here? Worsening my patients, didn't do a thing for you, should have sent you straight to me. You've got a cold sweat Potter, drink this. No, all of it, honestly why do you always expect pumpkin juice?" She asked the latter as he had sprayed the potion halfway across the room. Man that was gross. Remus charged in to the office about then and ran to Harry's side.

"How you doin' kiddo?" He asked concerned.

"Been better." He replied truthfully.

"All witnesses memories have been modified Albus. Now they believe they saw Darian have a fight with Ronald because Ron was snoring too loud. Everyone's happy, although Harry you look to be an insensitive bastard now. Sorry! I couldn't think of anything better at the time."

"Er, how did you know what was going on?" Harry asked. He was getting tired.

'The mirror", he said simply. "Your screaming woke me up. Er, you alright? Harry!"

Said boy had just fell dumb asleep and fell right off the chair into the nurses prepared arms. Remus discovered later that Mme. Pomphrey gave him a dreamless sleep potion, she knew her patient well enough to know he wouldn't get the necessary sleep if she didn't.

Harry woke the next day in time for lunch, food which he flat out refused to eat. The nurse administered one last checkup and released him from the hospital wing. He missed his first class and went to Dumbledore's office telling himself he wanted to marauders map back. He hadn't seen it in a long while, unless last night counted. Which it didn't.

Leaving the office later Harry could only be confused. Dumbledore hadn't erased Hermione's memory; he said she would cover him when stuff spontaneously exploded. He also said the that Harry wasn't going to have to add anything to his diary from last night as long as he went around the castle and fixed everything he had broken or knocked over which was quite a lot of stuff. No doubt Filch was aghast when he got up that morning.

Later that day he met up with Hermione who burst into tears and was generally just happy to have him back. Of course, that was after she slapped him in the face.

Unfortunately for anything breakable Harry discovered after supper that Dumbledore hadn't sent any team to Privet Drive, everyone there was slaughtered, including the Dursleys. Luckily Mrs. Figg had been in Diagon Alley and was fine. Needless to say, Harry was pissed. Remus had taken him to his office to tell him, very unwise. Harry left the room in a disaster and a miffed Remus standing alone, wondering how to fix his office. Harry visited Dumbledore's office and had a bit of a fit. Not overly sad about his now dead relatives he was more pissed that the Death Eaters had gotten away with it. Having once again trashed Dumbledore's office (this time without breaking a sweat, magic simply did it for him. Much more efficiently too) he went outside for a ride on his Nimbus 2001.

Let this be a lesson, Darian can and will do some damage. He himself learned something, the Daily Prophet was not reporting on the Death Eater attacks, perhaps in an attempt to keep people from panicking. Or, more likely, Voldemort had some control over the press. Why he wanted to keep his activities quiet he didn't know, you'd think his sadistic mind would want mass panic, but no.

Everything returned to normal, but his dorm mates had been very cold for a few days. Ron had to laugh it off. It was funny, he really did snore loud. They seemed to be on better terms.

The following weekend Darian was asked to go to Dumbledore's office. Being that it was a weekend he was wearing normal clothes, even if they were of muggle fashion. This always confused Malfoy who knew he was a pure blood; he assumed that he only wore wizarding clothing. So yes, Malfoy was still following him, something Harry only put up with because he helped him in potions. Snape didn't like Gryffindors period and marked hard, but Harry was better than he used to be.

Before he left for the office he finished his talk with Malfoy and shook his hand before parting. It wasn't like he was trying to be particularly friendly, other end of the pole in fact. He easily slipped his free hand to Malfoy's waist and with dagger in hand, cut the boys money pouch from him. A considerable weight fell into his hand which he pocketed and walked away sending a cheerful wave over his head. He'd done this countless times to the prick, and other unwary students. Sometimes he couldn't help it.

Forge and Gred had certainly wrought a change in him. Before Sirius's death he would never have even considered the twins offer, but his view of right and wrong had as of late been slightly blurred. He still used the time turner when he had an assignment due and no time in which to do it. But it was certainly in no way cheating, right!

So he went Dumbledore's office wearing jeans and a black muscle shirt and, because it was October, a robe from Sirius. It was black and long sleeved. It would have fit snuggly on Sirius but it was still fairly loose on him. It didn't go to his toes but was cut off just below his bum and had no hood. Harry was starting to see a pattern here; apparently Sirius didn't like hoods very much. Being from a muggle family it was impossible to tell if he was being fashionable or out of date. Maybe he'd set a new trend.

He met Remus in the hall by the gargoyle. Remus gave the password and they went up together. In the office he found Dumbledore and Mr. Minolta talking. It was pretty easy to figure out their topic of conversation. Was he going to try out for a team?

Mr. Minolta noticed their entrance and said excitedly "Mr. Everson, good news! Would you rather play for The Tutshill Tornados, Puddlemore United or The Chudley Cannons?" He didn't have time to answer before Mr. Minolta was out of his seat and telling him all about the different circumstances. Apparently those three were the ones in need of or those wanted a new seeker or were paying the best. They all had a practice today and HE was invited to come out to try for the team.

It was awesome! They left Hogwarts after fetching his Quidditch clothes and equipment (minus the school uniform as he wasn't on the team). They went to the Tornados practice first. He felt awkward around the players, they were all adults and he was sooo much smaller than them! They looked like they played well together and to see what he could do the coach asked him to catch the snitch a few times. After about two hours they went to the next one, the Cannons practice. In comparison in was an unorganized mess, although a very enthusiastic mess. He got lobbed in the head by accident as the beater actually missed the bludger with his club and it flew out of his hands. Yes, he got hit in the head by a stray bat. Needless to say, they left early. How Ron could cheer for that team was lost on him.

Last was the United team. They were a lot like the Tornados team in skill and teamwork but they were not very nice. One player insisted that the wind would blown him off the pitch and surely make them lose. But they were an awesome team to work with. Their practice was more of a position centered exercise. Chasers worked together, Beaters worked together and it was more than likely the seekers job to practice alone. Not realy untied in his opinion, which actually wasn't worth dirt.

Now he had a choice to make. If he chose the Cannons Ron would probably want to be his best friend again. Any other team and he'd hate him. In any case, he and Lavender would have to celebrate. She had become a bit annoying though.

Nobody had gotten around to mentioning how much money he'd be making either. Or how he'd actually go to practices during school or how to get there. He did have a feeling that a time turner would work well though…