CHAPTER TWO – REVEAL YOUR SECRETS

The next morning, Harry dressed and went down to breakfast without Ron and Hermione. He sat there, mechanically eating his bacon and eggs, watching the High Table fill up. Snape had returned as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; Slughorn the Potions Master was seated next to him, and Harry was pleased to see that Lupin and Tonks were still around as added security. Hagrid looked a lot thinner and paler than normal, but he still towered over the students. He noticed Harry and beamed a wide smile. Harry grinned in return. He would make it a point to visit Hagrid more often this year.

Professor McGonagall had been named the new Headmistress of Hogwarts and would still be teaching Transfiguration. Firenze and Trelawney would still be taking turns teaching Divination, and even though Harry didn't have N.E.W.T. Divination, he wondered how Firenze's classes were going.

Harry thought about how proud Dumbledore would be of him that he wished to continue his education despite his longing to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes. He had a flashback of Dumbledore's death just then, and had his head buried in his hands until he saw someone sit down across from him out of the corner of his eye.

"Good morning, Harry," said the voice cheerfully.

Harry looked up. He had known to whom that voice belonged even before he opened his eyes. She now wore Gryffindor robes and thought that she looked extremely pretty in them, "Good morning, Faith," Harry said, half-heartedly, holding up a plate, "Bacon?"

Faith smiled and took a few pieces of bacon off of the plate before Harry set it back down on the table, "Is something wrong?" she asked in a hushed tone, after she'd taken some scrambled eggs and toast, a look of concern washed over her face. There was also something in her eyes…a kind of warmth seemed to emanate from them…and she seemed to closely study his face.

Harry swallowed and cleared his throat before gazing into her eyes. Gosh, they were pretty, he thought, "Nothing," he said a little too quickly, but he matched her hushed tone, "Why would you think something's wrong?"

Faith's sympathetic expression never wavered, "I'm not stupid, Harry," she said, "I know what's bothering you. You can't let this get you down. Dumbledore would have wanted you to go on living your life. You can't just give up on everything you've accomplished. Nobody's come this far and quit just because they let something as insignificant as death get in the way of the greater good."

Harry blinked rapidly. Had Faith been eavesdropping on his conversations with Ron and Hermione at all during these past few years? Ravenclaw's table had always been adjacent to Gryffindor's, which did not help in the least. Whatever it was, Harry knew that he had better act fast before Faith continued with telling Harry his life story.

"Er – Faith, you haven't been eavesdropping on any of my conversations with Ron and Hermione over the years, have you?" he asked, crossing his fingers behind his back and hoping she hadn't.

Faith shook her head, "Why would I?" she asked, "I have this uncanny ability to read people, Harry. It's written all over your face."

"What is?" Harry asked, relieved that she hadn't been eavesdropping, but he was curious as to what she thought was so obvious to everyone.

"The fact that you're still grieving over your godfather's death, and Dumbledore's, too," said Faith, who paused to take a long drink of Pumpkin Juice from her goblet. She licked her lips before continuing, "I don't pretend to know how you feel, Harry, not by a long-shot. But if you're going to sit there and blame yourself for what happened, you shouldn't be."

Harry's eyes welled with tears as soon as he heard Sirius' name. Dumbledore was like a grandfather to him - his death was fresher in his mind and he missed him terribly - but Sirius was the closest thing Harry had to a father. Harry still blamed himself for what had happened, although Dumbledore had taken the blame for it after he'd told Harry everything about Professor Trelawney's Prophecy.

"Shouldn't I be?" he asked her, but as he blinked, his tears fell onto his eggs. Funnily enough, he didn't care that he was crying in front of Faith. Perhaps it was simply her presence that comforted him. Harry almost shouted, "I could've prevented it all! If I hadn't seen Voldemort torturing Sirius, he'd still be alive today. Who'd have known that Voldemort had used Legilimency against me to manipulate me into getting the Prophecy for him."

"Harry, I lost my godfather this year, too," said Faith soothingly, "These things happen, and we all make mistakes. That's what makes us human. We're not indestructible." Harry would not ask about her godfather now, because he somehow knew it upset her.

After wiping his eyes with his napkin, Harry blew his nose loudly and took a deep breath. Again, he looked into Faith's eyes…those beautiful violet eyes…and smiled through his tears, "I know that," he said, "But Sirius didn't need to die! It was my own stupidity that made him come to rescue me. Not even Dumbledore could've saved him. He had his own battles to fight…but I almost killed Dumbledore while I was in Voldemort's head. I could have been the one to finish him off…but thankfully I broke free and made it safely back to Hogwarts."

Something in Faith's eyes told Harry that he could fully trust her and even confide in her. Harry continued his story about the Prophecy, what it contained and how he was supposed to destroy the four remaining Horcruxes and his determination to do it during each Hogsmeade weekend.

"Three," Faith corrected, "There are three Horcruxes left, not four."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. Harry was sure that there were four Horcruxes remaining, "Three? Are you serious? Dumbledore told me that there were four. We went searching to destroy one the night of the murder. When we came back, all I found out was that someone with the initials R. A. B. had found it and put a fake one in its place. As far as I know, there are four of them left. How do you know about them?"

Faith nodded, "I'm well aware of that," she told Harry. Her voice had dropped to barely above a whisper, but Harry hung on every single word she said. She reminded him a bit of Professor McGonagall, or even Snape, who did not need to speak loudly to be heard in a room, "When I was accepted into Hogwarts, Harry, my parents warned me about the threat of another war. Like Dumbledore, my parents were part of the Order of the Phoenix and have been since the last time Voldemort was wreaking havoc on both the wizarding and Muggle worlds. When I was a little girl, my parents, who are both Aurors, told me exactly how Horcruxes were made and how they've rendered Voldemort virtually impossible to kill. However, he didn't plan on three of them being destroyed. You destroyed Riddle's diary, Harry. Professor Dumbledore destroyed a ring that had blackened his hand, and the other was destroyed by one of the Death Eaters themselves."

"Really?" asked Harry, surprised that she knew so much. It was comforting to know that her parents were Aurors, and part of the Order of the Phoenix, "Did they know he had the horcrux then?"

Faith put up her left index finger and looked to her right. Ron and Hermione had just entered the Great Hall, "They didn't know he had the horcrux or that he destroyed it, but they knew that he had wanted to leave them for good," she said, "The man I speak of, is Regulus Black."

"Black?" asked Harry, a little too loudly. Ron and Hermione had sat down next to them, and had probably heard his reaction.

"Morning, Harry!" sang Hermione, "Lovely day, isn't it?"

Harry nodded, but didn't reply just yet. He just admired the ceiling, which always mirrored the sky outside. It looked magnificent. There were light, fluffy white clouds scattered here and there and you could hear birds twittering and chirping. Owls were arriving periodically, delivering mail to their owners. It looked like a lovely day for a game of Quidditch, the wonderfully popular wizarding sport played on broomsticks.

A few more Gryffindors had sat down at the table, but slowed down to take a closer glimpse of Faith, whose robes now bore Gryffindor's crest and looked very neat and pressed. The house-elves must've been up all night laundering and embroidering.

"Oh yeah," he said to Hermione, "It's a lovely day."

"What are you two on about?" she asked nosily, as she had her copy of Advanced Runes Translation open and a pad of parchment paper and quill in hand, making notes as she ate, "What does she know about Sirius?"

Harry and Faith exchanged a smile, "More than you think," he said, "When we've got a spare period, we'll talk…just don't bring Ron. I don't want to see him."

"Hey!" said Ron, whose mouth was half full, "I heard that!"

Hermione raised an eyebrow and gave Harry a stern look, "If it's about Ginny, Harry, forget it. It's obvious that you've moved on. However it would be nice of you to apologize to her for ditching her like that."

"Not you, too, Hermione!" protested Harry, "I was attracted to Ginny and we snogged. I always got used to having her around, and I admit she's pretty, but I don't see how it's going to work because Voldemort goes after the people I care about. I care about Ginny too much for her to get hurt. The same goes for you, Hermione."

Harry heard a cough from Ron.

"Okay," said Harry, "I care about you, too, Ron."

Ron, who was sitting beside Harry, beamed a wide smile and embraced Harry in a half-hug.

"I hate staying angry with you, Harry," said Ron, who had pieces of bacon down his shirt and crumbs on his chin, "I guess I was just looking out for Ginny, and I realized that after I woke up, I realized I shouldn't have yelled at you. You're right. But if you were really shagging my sister…we'd have to have a serious little chat about that."

Ron and Harry burst into laughter, and Harry felt like he had his best friend back…which he did!

"Okay, did I miss something here?" asked Faith, "I'm totally lost."

"Oh, it's nothing," said Hermione, "Just something that happened between Harry and Ginny last year."

"Well, the conversation did involve you," confessed Ron, "I kind of jumped to the wrong conclusion when you were alone in the common-room with Harry last night. I thought the two of you had been snogging with the odd expression Harry had on his face as he came into the room."

Harry waited for Faith to explode with anger, but it wasn't so. In fact, she just laughed, "Oh, is that all?" she said, "Then it's okay. Harry and I haven't been snogging, but it sounds like good fun."

Both Ron and Hermione's eyes went wide at this comment and Harry blushed profusely. Harry took a long drink to cool himself down. Had she really meant that she wouldn't mind snogging him?

"Okay," she said, "So now that I have revealed who this person was that destroyed the locket, Harry, there's the snake, the cup and a tiny trophy that Godric Gryffindor had won for special services to the school that was stolen the year he graduated from Hogwarts. The question is, where are they?"

Harry nodded, but Ron and Hermione's expression never wavered.

"Wow," was all Ron could say.

"Well, that's a lot more information than I could have gotten from the library," said Hermione, who was chewing on the end of her quill, which meant she was deep in thought. After a brief pause, she continued, "But the name you mentioned was Black. Sirius Black. It doesn't fit with the initials that were in the note from the fake Horcrux, Faith. Good guess, though."

"Not Sirius," said Harry, "She was talking about another Black."

"Who, then?" asked Hermione.

"Regulus," said Faith, "Regulus Artemis Black."

Ron almost choked on his eggs, Hermione's eyes…if at all possible…went even wider, and her mouth gaped open, and Harry…well…Harry just smiled.

"You see," said Faith, in barely more than a whisper, "Regulus wanted to break free of the Death Eaters, and to eventually murder Voldemort himself. His last wish was to find and destroy each and every one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, which were mostly concealed by powerful magic after his first killing spree. After murdering hundreds of people, Voldemort split his soul six times and hid one piece in each item before going out to kill more Muggles and wizards alike."

"How do you know all of this?" asked Ron who raised his voice slightly, "Even Harry doesn't know half of this stuff! He's told us everything Dumbledore told him last year!"

Faith motioned for Ron to keep his voice down, "You don't know who's listening. Dumbledore's - " she said, cutting herself off and looking in the direction of the Slytherin table…particularly at Draco Malfoy. Harry did too. Malfoy seemed to be amusing himself with his two cronies, looking more foreworn than he did last year. His left arm was bandaged up, from what Harry could tell. It looked like he'd had something removed from it…the Dark Mark, perhaps? Faith continued, "Look, it isn't safe for me to continue here. On our first spare period, we should all meat down by the lake. I'll bring some homemade goodies and Butterbeer."

Harry, Ron and Hermione all nodded.

"I can't believe she knows more than you!" Ron said to Harry, "We knew Dumbledore was feeding you information about You-Know-Who, but he was holding back! How can he tell you so little, when Faith knows everything?"

Harry shrugged, "I dunno," he said, "There's something about her that makes me feel like I should trust her. I'm not sure what it is. It's just that when I look into her eyes, it's like her soul's telling me that I'll be fine. It's weird, but comforting at the same time."

"I'll say," said Ron, "Creepy, more like it."

Hermione clucked her tongue at Ron and gave him a stern look, "Don't say things like that when she's still within earshot, Ron!" she said, "Besides, the eyes are the window to your soul. Everyone knows that."

If Harry were really seeing Faith's soul, he liked what he saw thus far.

Before long, Professor Snape handed out the schedules. When he gave Faith her schedule, something happened between them. Snape beamed widely and said, "Good luck this term, Faith," he said, "You're lucky you weren't expelled for what you did last year, but if you continue to blossom under my watchful eye, you will gain full marks this year. Oh, and I've already Owled your parents about this, but as you know, we've needed added security after the unfortunate accident. How aggrieved I am that it was I who had uttered the curse that killed our Headmaster, but as you heard yesterday, it was under Dumbledore's orders that I did what I had to do."

Snape cleared his throat before continuing, "What I am asking of you, is your assistance in hosting a proper Duelling Club. You will, of course, be allowed to captain, and you will be allowed two assistant captains. I will explain the rules at our first Club meeting this Thursday evening. We will announce the club shortly," he said, turning to Harry and nodding, "Potter, I trust you will be continuing with the work that Dumbledore had started?"

Harry raised an eyebrow and then remembered what Snape had owled him about last week. Snape's apology came in a long letter, explaining why he needed to murder Dumbledore and his remorse for doing so. He nodded, "Yes, Sir," he said, then he said something he wished he'd told Snape earlier, "I'm sorry if I ever doubted your loyalty to Dumbledore, Sir."

Snape's expression never wavered, but Harry could see that his eyes were less cold, "Apology accepted, Potter," he said, "Finish your breakfast, it's getting cold."

With that, Snape thrust more schedules at the Gryffindors he passed and walked to the Ravenclaw table.

"What was that about?" asked Ron, "Not that letter he sent you this summer? You don't actually believe all that rubbish, do you?"

"I don't know what to believe," said Harry, "But I believe that Dumbledore's always had his reasons for trusting Snape. We've been wrong about him before. You remember the Philosopher's Stone? I thought he was trying to kill me during the Quidditch match, but it was Quirrell who tried to kill me. If he were really working for Voldemort, would he not have tried to kidnap me and take me to him? I don't know, Ron, but somehow we've got to trust Snape."

"You do remember that trial that went on this summer?" asked Harry. Hermione and Ron nodded, "They got Snape to reveal his thoughts in a special Pensieve which projects the image right onto a screen like a Muggle movie. Well, turns out that Dumbledore told Snape murder him if anything should go wrong. Snape explained it all to me in the letter. I have no choice but to believe him."

"Seems a bit fishy to me," said Hermione, "But then again, I've been wrong before. All right Harry, we're with you on this one."

"Thanks, Hermione," said Harry with a large grin. It meant a lot to Harry to have Hermione's support. Ron's support, he knew he always had…but there was always that question of whether or not Ron believed him, "Ron?"

Ron nodded and clapped him on the back, "Of course, mate," he said, "We're with you all the way."

Harry saw that Faith was busy reading the schedule so he asked, "What do we have today?"

Faith looked up and said, "Well, I'm not sure if I have the exact same schedule as you, Harry, but I have Transfiguration this morning, Ancient Runes, lunch, a spare and then Potions with Slughorn."

Hermione looked up from her schedule, "That's me as well," she said, "I thought you looked familiar when you entered the dormitory last night. Faith Richardson. You're the one Professor Fix always favoured."

Harry saw that Faith's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, "Hermione!" said Ron, who apparently saw it too.

"What?" she asked, "I am not lying! I was top in our house, but Faith had better marks than me."

"I did not, Hermione!" Faith exclaimed, "I knew I fudged the last translation when we sat the O.W.L.'s fifth year…and I could have had a perfect mark in Potions if it weren't for the last ingredient I misspelled during the written portion. I think I misspelled bezoar. I spelled it b-e-a-z-o-r. I'm such a moron."

"Yeah," said Ron sarcastically, "You're just a regular idiot!"

He looked at Faith and smiled. She smiled back, "Hey, I think this is just the beginning of a very beautiful friendship!"

Hermione, however, was scowling. She never liked to be outshone by anyone, but Harry was hopeful that she would warm up to Faith very soon. They were in the same house for Merlin's sake!

The four of them continued talking about exams and classes, but just half past eight o'clock, Professor McGonagall tapped her goblet with a fork to get everyone's attention.

"May I have your attention, please?" she asked. The Great Hall quieted down enough for the Headmistress to continue, "As you all know, we have had a slight change in the schedule for the Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. There will be a special Duelling Club scheduled on Thursdays after dinner."

There was thunderous applause from the Ravenclaw table as Faith acknowledged her friends. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Faith exchanged knowing looks, and Professor McGonagall caught Faith's eye.

"Those of you who wish to participate are asked to sign up. There is a pad of parchment on the door to the antechamber. I will ask you to write your name, house and year on the sheet along with your gender. Professor Snape will continue explaining the situation. I need to prepare for my first class. Good day," said Professor McGonagall, as Snape stood and continued.

"A very special student, the best in her year, will be in charge of this Duelling Club, as she has been awarded a position at the Ministry this year as a Junior Auror. Faith Richardson of Gryffindor will be your captain," said Snape, but before he could continue he heard thunderous applause for Faith. Had word spread so quickly about her encounter with the Death Eater last year? Snape continued, unfazed by the sudden burst of applause, "She will choose two others on Thursday to be her assistant captains. A Duelling Competition will take place once a month, and prizes will also be awarded to the house that wins the most duels throughout the year. Your signature will bind you to the club until you have graduated. Also, about the New Year's Ball…the Headmistress has confirmed that you may wear whatever feels comfortable…as long as it is formal wear. Have a wonderful first day."

The students did not need to be told twice. With a newfound excitement, the Great Hall emptied quickly and everyone scattered to his or her first class. The four of them, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Faith headed straight to Transfiguration, which was on the second floor.

"I didn't know about the New Year's Ball!" said Ron, "Wasn't I here during dinner?"

"You were probably too busy eating to pay attention to anything else going on around you, Ronald!" chastised Hermione jokingly. Ron only just smiled.

"Maybe," he said, blushing quickly, "But I would have remembered to ask you right away, Hermione."

Harry noticed that Hermione blushed and nodded, "Sure, I'll go with you."

They left it at that. Harry walked beside Faith, who was telling them a bit about her family and her sister, Hope, who had graduated in June of the year that Faith wouldhave started atHogwarts.