A/N: Ok people, now, I know what happens in the 5th book, and have read parts of it, (mostly the end) and all that. This is a heads up for ya'll: in my world, there is no fifth book, and Faith will be based off of the previous 4. Thanks and I hope you enjoy the chapter! A great big HUGE thank you to all my regular reviewers – ya'll roxxor.
Chapter 15: Silver and Green
Life was anything but peaceful in the Gryffindor dorm in the following week. While with the Slytherin's House help, Harry had a relative immunity outside of the dorm from pranks and other abuses; matters inside Gryffindor were heating up. The Gryffindor Quidditch team had been practicing steadily, and taking out their aggressions on Harry, Ginny and Neville when things seemed to go rough for them. Ron was a horrible seeker, as Draco reported one day in the Library; the redhead couldn't find the snitch to save his soul. Draco's obvious horror and disgusted expression had Harry and the others in stitches. Harry now had constant companions during the day; during classes he was constantly surrounded by Slytherins, and at lunch he was flanked by Ginny and Neville. Blaise and Draco would meet them in the afternoons to study, gossip and plan in the Library. Ginny had no problem joining in with the boys, and after watching Draco and Blaise closely for several days, had eased her stance around them, beginning to realize that Draco had been honest with her. The young redhead was determined to protect Harry at all costs – but even she couldn't protect him from his dreams.
Neville had moved in with Harry several days after the dark haired boy had taken the vision potion. Life with Ron had become hazardous for Neville – twice the quiet boy had found his books covered in ink and his bed sheets dusted with sand; all with a grinning Ron behind it all. So, he had moved out of the room and in with Harry, much to Ron's gloating. Harry had been hesitant at first, although the reasons why he was nervous Neville had at first been unsure about. It was the first night when Harry had woken him up with his screams that Neville found out why the dark haired boy had been so hesitant for Neville to move in with him.
The sound of Harry's wails had woken Neville abruptly. When he'd gone over to the other bed, he had been confronted with the sight of Harry arching up off of his bed, clawing at his face as he sobbed. The sight had frozen Neville in his tracks. Seconds later Madam Pomfrey, the Headmaster and Professor Snape had all flooed in, nightwear rumpled, clearly all of them having been torn from their sleep. Neville had just watched the proceedings silently, eyes huge in his face. As Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey forced vials of potions down Harry's throat and restrained the dark haired boy from doing himself anymore harm. Madam Pomfrey had stayed next to Harry, murmuring softly to him as Professor Snape and the Headmaster had talked together quietly. Neville had felt so helpless, standing there as his professors rushed around Harry. His presence in the room came as some surprise for the adults; Snape had wanted to Obliviate him, but Harry had protested weakly from the bed, regaining consciousness in the nick of time. Then something truly disturbing had happened – at least in Neville eyes – Professor Snape had backed down, had softened and let Neville's memories stay intact. The obstinate and surly Professor had glared at the sandy haired boy balefully, but let the matter drop as he returned to Harry's bedside. Neville didn't know what to make of this new development, so he had just settled further back into the room and watched the tall, lanky man all the more warily. During the day the Potions Master was as snappish as ever, but he directed most of his comments to the bulk of the Gryffindors rather than his previous two favorite targets, Neville and Harry. This change had also not gone unnoticed by the rest of the Gryffindor House.
Another oddity for Neville was the strange friendship that was blooming between the Slytherins and the ostracized Gryffindors. Once he had gotten past the brittle, snarky exterior of Draco and Blaise, the two Slytherins were entertaining to be around – especially Blaise, in Neville's opinion. The sable-haired boy seemed quiet at first, very standoffish, until one got to know him. Then Blaise became quietly animated, full of small asides and biting wit that had more than once caused Neville to dissolve into giggles in the middle of class. Snape had taken to pairing his fifth year potions class up, Gryffindor to Slytherin, allowing Harry the protection of Draco and making Ron work on his own – much to the redhead's horror. Pansy had been paired with Hermione, and the pale blond beauty had quite taken to tormenting the Gryffindor prefect as much as she could. Neville quickly learned to control his laughter in class – his Housemates had been anything but pleased with him for his hilarity.
As for Harry, the dark haired boy was still amazed at his acceptance by Ginny and Neville. The Slytherins he had had a feeling would understand where he was coming from – although he for sure hadn't expected the concern and amount of mother-henning he was getting. Draco in particular confused him to no end. The blond was still his lovely, sarcastic, egocentric self – but he herded Harry around, maneuvering his Housemates around the smaller boy so that the other Gryffindors couldn't trip Harry up or knock him into anything in between classes. Harry smiled slightly as he blew his bangs out of his eyes. Draco was an oddity, that was for sure.
Dragging his mind away from his thoughts, Harry eyed the bucket in his hand and then the door he wanted to perch it over. He glanced at Neville, who was standing sleepily on the stairs, keeping watch. The dorms were silent and still in the early morning hours, perfect for what Harry had in mind. The bucket was full of muddy water; it smelled atrocious and was full of floating twigs and leaves – brought up fresh from Hagrid's garden that morning. When he'd spelled out his plan for the others the day before in the Library, Ginny had nearly choked with laughter, and then got a devilish look in her eye. Later that night she'd slipped Harry a bag with a wink before he'd gone to bed. Inside was a pile of dead spiders; all of them quite hairy. Harry shivered slightly – he really didn't want to know where she'd gotten them from. But it would work beautifully. He had sprinkled them into the bucket last, so that it had a nice film of dead crawly things to coat the stagnant water. He smiled grimly and charmed the bucket to float in the air next to him before clambering up on the chair he'd conjured. Carefully he rigged the trap, and took the bucket carefully from the air and placed it over the door. Now, should the prank work right, when Ron came bursting from his door – undoubtedly late for breakfast as he usually was – he'd be dowsed immediately with Harry's special concoction. Harry stepped away from the door and quickly cast a concealing charm over the bucket, then turned and grabbed Neville, heading for the showers. He wrinkled his nose as he left – he smelled.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Hermione perched on a chair in the Headmaster's study, looking around nervously; her curious eyes cataloging the objects around the room. Fawkes fascinated her, but when she had first come into the room, the phoenix had completely ignored her, and had turned a baleful eye on her when she had reached out to touch him. Silly, Hermione. It's just an animal, really. She shook her head at her frivolity and calmly folded her hands in her lap. She was waiting for the Headmaster.
Hermione had always prided herself on being an intelligent girl. And while she had, at first, wanted only to think the best of Harry, both Ron and his family's continued insistence on his danger to the rest of Hogwarts, as well as the facts about his connection to the Dark Lord took their toll on her. Ron – she ducked her head slightly to hide her blush. Ron meant – quite a lot to her. It had been her time with Krum that had taught her that. All the while she was away with the other boy, she'd found her thoughts coming around to the tall, gangly redhead. She liked Ron, and that was all that she had been about to admit to herself at the time. But when she had gone over to the Burrow that summer, she'd found that her affection for the redhead had deepened considerably – so when Ron had clumsily asked her to be his girlfriend the day before term started, she surprised them both by saying yes. The look on his face when I said yes, she thought to herself fondly, happy her hair could hide her blush.
Her face grew grave when her thoughts returned to Harry; no, it's Potter now. I don't know if I've ever really known the real Harry. Her mouth tightened into a thin line. She had thought quite a bit about the Boy-Who-Lived while at the Weasley's. And she had been forced to admit that there was a lot about Harry that she didn't know – and that bothered her. It made her seriously consider and later agree with what the Weasley's had been saying about him. She had turned the previous four years over and over in her mind, wondering if the Harry she knew was the real him, or not. He'd always kept secrets from us, was one of the first things that had come into her mind when she'd thought about him. The voice in the wall from second year, how he had kept from all of them how the Dursley's had treated him and how it had taken direct action from the Weasley's to find out what kind of state the Dursley's kept him in. And most worryingly, the fact that he had never really told them about his visions. Hermione had been forced to conclude that Harry had to have some plan in his mind to either join Voldemort or become a Dark Lord himself – nothing else seemed to make sense to her. He certainly had the upbringing for it, she thought, and his new friendship with Malfoy seemed to also point in her thought's direction. She didn't care what anyone said about the Malfoy family – they would always be Dark in her mind.
So it was, that once Harry had started to chum around with the Slytherins, as well as corrupting Ginny into openly disobeying her parent's wishes, she had decided that as a prefect, the safety of her House had to come first. So, she had purposed kicking Harry out of the dorm to the rest of Gryffindor. The initial small meeting of just the fifth years and up had reacted violently to her proposal. Apparently nothing of that sort had ever happened in all of Hogwarts history. Hermione had checked, and it was true. There was one or two other cases in the past of certain individuals petitioning for a change of House, but these petitions where never granted. Never had a Hogwarts' House bodily rejected one of their own Housemates before – but Hermione was determined that they would be the first.
After discussing it with the older years, everyone had finally agreed that such an action was the best thing for them to do. With Harry gone, Ginny would be free of his influence, as would Neville; issues which had been the most worrisome for most everyone in the dorm. Ginny's brothers had been extremely concerned with Potter's influence on their baby sister. The only one that seemed to have a problem with the overall plan had been Seamus.
"But – but – but…you just can't! He, Ha-er Potter's saved the school how many times? How can you just write him off as Dark? I mean, what if we're wrong? What if he's not going mad, or evil or whatever? What happens then?" The Irish boy had stammered, put on the spot by all of their stares. Hermione had thought his question over carefully. In her mind Harry was already condemned – all evidence pointed to it, but she had indulged Seamus.
"Well, then, if he's really a Gryffindor, then he'd forgive us, wouldn't he?" she had countered. "After all, a real Gryffindor knows that people make mistakes, and can forgive them for it. As well as knowing that a person has to act for the good of all – so if Potter is truly a Gryffindor, he'll understand that we only did what we thought was best for everyone." She had ended with a shrug, her mind made up. Seamus had just stared at her open mouthed. A sharp poke from Dean had him snapping his mouth closed, however and he had subsided uneasily.
After that it had been absurdly easy in convincing the rest of the House to sign the petition and list any and all grievances they had had with the dark haired boy. Now all that remained was convincing the Headmaster to go through with it. Hermione would rather not use the drastic back up plan if the talk with the Headmaster ended badly should they come to it: she was firm in her belief that Dumbledore would see her point of view and agree with her wholeheartedly.
The Headmaster finally entered his office, a little haggard looking, carrying a cup of tea in one hand. He looked as though he had had a rather rough night, although the ever-present twinkle in his eye was still there. Hermione drew her strength from that sparkle, knowing that, as a true Gryffindor, the Headmaster would understand and agree with her plan.
"Ah, Ms. Granger. How can I help you this fine morning?" the Headmaster asked kindly, taking a seat behind his desk and adjusting his spectacles carefully. Hermione straightened in her seat.
"Sir, we, the Gryffindor House have a petition to give to you," she said seriously, handing over the long list of names that she had with her. "We, as a House, have voted and decided that we want Harry Potter removed from Gryffindor. He has become a bad influence to the students in the dorm, as well as a danger to them. We have included a list of incidents as well to back up our grievances." She locked her hands together in her lap, nervous butterflies churning in her stomach. The Headmaster looked at her gravely for a long moment, his pleasant expression sliding away to one of grave seriousness. He calmly looked down at the sheaf of papers on his desk and picked it up carefully.
"You do realize that nothing of this sort has ever happened before in Hogwarts' history?" Dumbledore said gravely. She nodded quickly.
"Yes, sir. But we believe strongly that Potter –," she began and a raised hand by Dumbledore stopped her. The older wizard shuffled through the lists of names, as well as reading the list of grievances carefully. Hermione waited in tense silence, feeling one her legs begin to bounce with jittery energy. When he was finished the Headmaster set the papers down gently and stared at her over the top of his spectacles.
"There are two names missing from your list," he said calmly, causing Hermione to flush slightly. She took a deep breath.
"Yes. Virginia Weasley and Neville Longbottom. They have become – influenced by Potter and his attitude I'm afraid. Ginny especially. She has openly defied her parents, lied to them, pulled away from her previous friends and is solely associating with Potter and the Slytherin House. This action of kicking Potter out of the dorm is in hopes that Ginny will be able to return to normal once his influence is removed. And Neville – he's been acting very strangely as well, and we fear that he is also being corrupted by Potter. We hope by his removal, all influences will fade from them and Neville and Ginny will assume their normal behaviors." Hermione surreptitiously wiped her palms on her robes; the Headmaster's level gaze was making her nervous. Dumbledore looked down at the papers in front of him and leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands over his middle.
"And what do you plan to do if I refuse this petition?" he asked her, eyes now boring into her. She shivered slightly, reminded again of the power and control the older wizard had. She found herself answering him truthfully.
"If you do not agree, then it was decided that we would take our list of grievances to the Daily Prophet and have them publish the story," she whispered. Personally she didn't like this back up plan, but Ron had insisted on it. 'It's for the good of the wizarding world to know what Potter is up to in his own House. If they knew what he's been doing here…' Ron's eyes had been bright with fervor. Hermione was glad that Ron had finally decided to get involved with quasi-political matters. His fervor and family name would help the many causes that she had had her eye on over the summer.
The Headmaster regarded her quietly, eyes occasionally flicking down to the papers in front of him.
"You do realize that by going to the Daily Prophet with this list of grievances, Mr. Potter's life could be in danger? The wizarding world is very close to demanding that the boy be locked up in Azkaban without a trial, only to be let out to defeat Voldemort and then promptly returned. Would you do that to him?" Dumbledore asked gravely. Hermione gulped.
"If we had to, then yes. It is our belief that Potter is already turning Dark – Azkaban is probably the best place for him, anyway. Or at least some kind of holding facility that could contain him until his presence is needed in the War. He is a danger to the younger students of the dorm, via his influence, and as you have read, he is already a danger to us older students with his hexes and curses." She gestured to the pile of papers in front of the Headmaster calmly. Dumbledore sighed and leaned forward, picking up his forgotten tea. A murmured charm had the liquid steaming again and the Headmaster stared into his teacup thoughtfully.
"Ms. Granger. While I whole-heartily disagree with your assessment of Mr. Potter's intentions, I am going to accept you petition and withdraw Mr. Potter from Gryffindor. He will be re-Sorted and transferred immediately." The Headmaster looked sad as he spoke, but resolute.
"It be done immediately? Today? This morning?" Hermione pressed. She wanted Potter out of her dorm immediately. Dumbledore looked up at her, a small frown passing across his face.
"Very well. This morning it shall be. Go along now, breakfast is just beginning. I will be down shortly to make the announcement," Dumbledore glanced pointedly at the door. Hermione shivered at the slight coldness of the man's demeanor, and promptly got up and hurried from the room. She needed to talk to Ron.
Albus sighed as he watched the young girl all but skip from the room. He glanced at his tea sadly, his thoughts dark and troubled. This would be a huge blow for Harry, he knew that. One that the poor boy hardly needed at such a time. But he could not risk having the Daily Prophet publish the list of grievances sitting in front of him. The wizarding world would take one look at it and begin to howl for the boy's blood. Albus set his teacup down with a loud chink, and placed his elbows on the desk, rubbing a hand across his mouth tiredly. Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry my boy…Albus closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He hoped Harry would be strong enough to handle this development. He hoped Harry had enough faith and courage in his soul to fight his way through the miasma of hate that currently surrounded him. For if he doesn't, then we're all but lost…Albus sighed as he slowly rose from behind his desk, heading for the shelf where he kept the Sorting Hat. I'm so, so sorry Harry…
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
The beginning of breakfast was a beautiful affair for Harry. He was sitting quietly with Ginny and Neville, his DADA book open next to him when Ron came storming into the Great Hall. The redhead was furious – and he stank to high heaven. Harry could smell him approaching five feet away. The redhead was also twitching slightly, which made Harry duck his head to hide his smirk. Ron had found the spiders then.
"You – you – bloody arsehole! I'm going to kill you," Ron snarled, storming up to Harry, a murderous glint in his eye. People all over the Great Hall were pointing at Ron, snickering softly behind their hands. Harry tried to stand, hampered by the bench. Ron reached out and grabbed his collar, yanking him up abruptly, his other arm drawing back to deliver a punch.
"Mr. Weasley!" Professor McGonagall snapped, hurrying towards the pair. Ron paused and lowered his arm, still holding Harry by the collar. "What is the meaning of this?" the older witch asked, slightly out of breath as she stopped next to them. Her mouth was set in a disapproving line, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two Gryffindors.
"Look what he did to my robes! He put a bucket of nasty water above my door and had it fall on me when I left!" Ron whined, shaking Harry slightly. Professor McGonagall frowned heavily.
"Mr. Weasley, put Mr. Potter down. Now, is this true, Mr. Potter?" she asked as Ron let go of Harry's collar roughly. Harry nearly toppled over, but caught himself in time. He thought about lying – but knew that with most of the dorm against him, he'd only get it worse from them.
"Yes," he said quietly. Minerva's eyes widened slightly. She sighed and shook her head.
"Why, Mr. Potter, would you do something like this?" she asked primly, one hand smoothing down the front of her robe. Harry shrugged slightly, his gaze locking on a point just beyond her ear.
"Ron and his brothers had been doing some things to me, so I decided to get them back," he answered simply. Professor McGonagall's mouth tightened and she folded her hands in front of her.
"Mr. Potter, fifty points from Gryffindor and a week's worth of detentions with Mr. Filch, starting tonight. And you will apologize to Mr. Weasley immediately, understood?" she said severely and Harry nodded.
"Yes ma'am," he murmured. He turned slightly to Ron and fixed his eyes on the taller boy's shoulder. "I apologize," he said stiffly. The redhead smirked at Harry. Then Professor McGonagall turned to the redhead.
"Mr. Weasley, having no proof of any earlier prank pulling, I'm not going to take any more points away from the House. But if I catch you pulling pranks on Mr. Potter, you'll be joining him with detention with Filch and losing your House even more points, is that understood?" Ron's smirk turned into a sullen scowl.
"Yes ma'am," he muttered, glaring at Harry darkly. Minerva glanced between the two boys, her mouth still turned down in an unpleasant frown.
Professor McGonagall cast a powerful cleaning charm over Ron and the worst of the muck and the smell disappeared – although if one concentrated hard enough, a hint of the stench could still be detected. "Very well. I expect nothing further to happen between the both you. You may return to your breakfast Mr. Potter. Mr. Weasley, why don't you take a seat at the other end of the table?" She watched as Ron stomped his way over to where his brothers were sitting and plunked himself down next to them. Minerva glanced at Harry before she left, sweeping away to the teacher's table, her robes swishing as she walked.
Harry sank down heavily on the bench, noticing the glares leveled at him from the rest of Gryffindor House. He sighed and turned back to his plate, appetite now gone. Damn it, he thought grumpily. That wasn't supposed to happen! He glanced up and noticed that the Slytherin table was extremely quiet. Draco was watching him worriedly, and Blaise tilted his head slightly at Harry, silently inquiring if he was ok. Harry just shrugged slightly and looked back down at his plate, picking up his fork and stabbing at his eggs unhappily. I hate detentions with Filch, he snarled to himself, giving his bacon a viscous poke. Bloody sadist, he snorted. Ginny nudged his leg slightly, and he looked up at her. She was staring at him worriedly. He spared her a small half smile and a shrug.
"Angsting," he said. She smiled a little at his poor humor.
"Well, you're a teenager, you're allowed to," she said, picking up her glass of pumpkin juice.
"And you're not?" Harry bantered back, leaning on the table, propping his head up with his arm. Ginny drew herself up haughtily, staring down her nose at Harry.
"Of course not," she said huffily, causing Harry and Neville to start laughing quietly. Just then Hermione came rushing into the Hall, excitedly coming up to Ron and whispering in his ear, a smile beaming across her face. Harry felt his heart contract faintly as he watched her bounce – memories of the three of them chatting and exploring flitting across his mind. Whatever she had to say brightened Ron up considerably and he swept her off of her feet and into his lap, causing her to squeal. They chatted animatedly with each other and the surrounding students for a few minutes, and it was when they started glancing over at Harry that the dark haired boy began to worry.
"Ginny? Do you know what's going on?" he asked the small redhead, leaning over to her, whispering. Ginny glanced at her brothers and shook her head.
"No clue. I do know that the House has been acting weird – but you knew that too. I dunno. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough, though," she whispered back. Harry frowned and closed his DADA book, slipping it into his rucksack. He lingered over his tea as he waited for Ginny and Neville to finish their breakfasts.
When the Headmaster swept into the Great Hall Harry felt a chill run down his spine. The older wizard looked grave, and his blue eyes weren't twinkling. Faintly Harry noticed that the Headmaster was carrying the Sorting Hat in his hands, and an evil suspicion began to take hold of Harry's mind. He glanced down at the rest of the Gryffindor table and felt his stomach clench; all of them were watching the Headmaster with expressions of glee on their faces. Oh, god, no… he whimpered silently, eyes widening as his suspicions were all but proved. He watched with growing dread as the Headmaster approached the head table, stepping up onto the dais and turning to face the students.
"If I may have your attention please," the Headmaster's voice rang out. Everyone grew quiet immediately. "Thank you. Today is a historic day in the history of Hogwarts. As per the request of Gryffindor House, I have agreed to their petition for Harry Potter to be removed from their dorm and be placed in a different House. Mr. Potter, if you could please come forward to be re-Sorted," the Headmaster's expression was sad as he looked to the pale boy. Harry could feel the disbelieving weight as the gaze of the school locked onto him. He rose after a moment and grabbed his bag with a trembling hand. He glanced at Ginny and saw tears in her eyes. He wanted to comfort her, but he had no words to do so – he felt like he was trapped in some awful nightmare, but knew that this was no dream.
He made his way slowly to the front of the room, steadfastly keeping his head high and locked on the form of the Headmaster. As he approached, Dumbledore smiled sadly at him.
"I'm so sorry, my boy. But believe me, this is far better than the alternative," the Headmaster said to him softly. Harry just gazed at him silently and with a sigh Dumbledore gently placed the Sorting Hat on his head.
Ah, Mr. Potter. Back again, are we?
You know what's going on. Just Sort me already, please.
Now, now, Mr. Potter. Don't be so hasty. I've been longing for some company, and you're going to deprive me of it so soon? Harry felt a flash of amusement at the Hat's petulant tone.
Ah, there's the boy I've met before, the Hat's voice was smug. Harry was startled for a moment – it said that just to make him laugh?
Of course, Mr. Potter. Now, will you let me place you without fighting me this time? The Hat's mental voice sounded amused and warm. Harry cautiously nodded.
Uh, sure. Yes, please do, he thought at it. He already knew where the Hat was going to send him, and he couldn't seem to get worked up about it. After all, Slytherin has been my almost adoptive House lately, he thought tiredly.
Exactly, Mr. Potter. It really was the best place for you all along. But nooo…you just had to be in Gryffindor. Ah well, all's well that ends well. Get ready, youngling, the voice warned. Harry steeled himself for the booming voice.
"SLYTHERIN!" the Hat boomed and there was a loud murmuring from the entire Hall. Harry took the Hat off of his head and handed it back to the Headmaster and turned to the Slytherin table.
"A moment, Harry, if you please," the Headmaster said softly. Harry paused and turned back to Dumbledore. With a murmured phrase, the Headmaster waved his wand over Harry's school badge. It changed before his eyes to the Slytherin crest. He felt his breath hitch unexpectedly – it hurt. It well and truly hurt. Viscously he suppressed his emotions, determined not to break down in front of everyone. He turned slightly bright eyes up to the Headmaster and forced a weak smile on his face.
"Thank you sir," he said politely before turning and making his way to the stunned Slytherin table. Cautiously he approached Draco and sighed with relief when a space opened up between the blond and Blaise. Draco was staring at him with wide eyes and Harry just shrugged slightly as he slipped into his new seat. He turned his gaze to the plate in front of him, unable to look over to Ginny or Neville, knowing that if he did so, he might just lose it in front of everyone. A cautious hand brushed his own, and Harry glanced over at Draco in surprise. The blond was staring at him worriedly. Harry was about to reassure him that he was fine when a voice rang out over the Great Hall.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, I petition to be re-Sorted!" Every conversation stopped as all eyes turned to the Gryffindor table. Ginny Weasley stood slowly, her faced flushed and her eyes were bright but determined. Neville Longbottom slowly stood next to her, his face deadly pale.
"As do I," he said clearly. The Headmaster tilted his head at them, silently regarding them for long moments.
"Your petitions are granted," he said and the Great Hall exploded.
End Chapter 15
Review Responses:
IceTastesNice: I'll try and include Blaise more, I'm really liking his character at the moment. Thank you for the lovely review!
Fiera: =) Ginny will never be convinced Harry is evil, don't worry. Thank you for the wonderful review!
Azntgr01: Thanks!
Anon: LOL. I'll try ; P
Roguemessenger: There will be getting-to-know-you-better scenes coming up. But there will be romance, don't worry =)
Belle: Thank you for the lovely review!
Athenakitty: Bill's gonna let loose. It's going to take one Quidditch game for them to know, but with that Gryffindor pride…Harry will be taking the potion again. Now the hell hounds after Fudge, that's a lovely image =)
Kristing Thorne: heh, I'm so far behind in all the other books I'm reading that I probably wont get to the next book anytime soon =/ Besides, I'm scared of the lines. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!
Usagi Serenity Yui Cosmos: I was going to go to Spain when I was over in Europe last. But then I spent a month in Italy and ruined everything. I wanted to go to Granada and take a ferry across Gibralter and stand on the African continent. That would have been cool. Bill should be arriving soon (I know I've said that like 5 million times, but really, it's getting close now, I swear!)
Frizzy: Thank you! Harry will have lingering side effects, and Draco will get more than a little pissed at Dumbledore about them =)
Silvrei: Yep. Sorta. They're already almost honorary Slytherins. Steps will be taken. Thank you for the lovely review!
SoulKing: Wait and see! Thank you for the review!
Renee Fay: Thank you!
Shinigami: LOL. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!
Shaelynn: Thank you!
Kamatazi Yumi: Thank you for the review!
SparkySparkles: Thank you! And more Ginny on the way =)
Chibi Zen-chan: lol. So I've heard and read a little about. I refuse to buy that hulking book in hardback form, so I'm gonna have to wait, or read it in the bookstore (one of my more favorite pastimes). Thanks for the review!
Moonfairy2000: thank you!
Relle: =) Thanks
Katy Kinneas: Percy has something to do with it, definitely. But it's not a spell =) Thank you for the review!
Creamy Mimi: Thank you for the wonderful review!!!
Ty: thank you for the lovely review! I'm glad you're enjoying the fic!
Evilatrix: Not stupid at all!! And thank you for the wonderful review!
Coriel: Ah, I think you hit some of the chapters that formatted badly. But, thank you for pointing that out. I'll keep that in mind!
Obsidianflame: that part of the story has only been sketched out – there are two different ways I can end Faith, and I'm still not sure on exactly how I want to end it. So, all I can tell you is keep reading =) Thank you for the review!
Redrum: Thank you!!!
Black Dragon: Will do =)
Dillon: =/ Thank you for the review!
Krystiana: Thank you!!!