Sorry it was a day late. I'll try to be more on time form now on.

Chapter 3.

The Vagrancies of Magic:

September fell without a glimmer of sunshine nor hope being given to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but October began bright, sunny, and generally nice. Hogwarts was gearing up for the game between the worst team in Hogwarts, Slytherin, and the best team (or so many thought, it appeared at worst just as strong as last-year's squad that took Ravenclaw by three hundred and fifty points. The Gryffindor seekers where better, the beaters and keeper the same, the chasers better…) possibly in Hogwarts history. Harry spent his time working on new ways of playing seeker that involved giving his chasers time to score nearly five hundred points a practice match. He even had Ginny fly against him at seeker, and have his reserve chasers play defense, and Harry still managed just enough time to allow his remaining chasers to score an easy three hundred points.

Harry did feel as though he was living in a dream: he had yet to play an entire year of Quidditch since his third year, which was his only year of sustained Quidditch. Harry resolved that it would be he, not Ron, to carry off the trophy this year. Soon after he made that vow, he remembered his intent to leave as soon as possible.

"Good practice everyone! I think we're set… just a couple of days to go, and we're in this season, starting at 1-0. Let's get washed up!"

As the next two days passed, the entire school seemed tense about the first match of the season.

The HufflePuffs were angry with Harry's squad because of several pranks played recently upon one Zacharias Smith, who, it turned out, was a popular member of the house. Several nasty incidents involving cleverly placed pots of devils-snare and other plants that were just a little aggressive seemed to keep happening in bathrooms, the result being that Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team typically light their toilets on fire before using them.

The Ravenclaws were always against the Gryffindors, as even though the two houses were peaceful and pleasant in the classroom together, Ravenclaw was the only other truly competitive team this year, and they wished nothing more than to have the Gryffindors lose their opening match against fourth-ranked Slytherin. Also, still fresh in their minds was the defeat of the past year, when they had been embarrassed by the Gryffindor team missing their seeker and top player, Harry Potter. The Ravenclaw pranks were not pranks as much as they were deliberate attacks on Gryffindor players. Harry and the rest of them began counter-jinxing everything in paranoia.

The Slytherins, as usual, simply hated the Gryffindors, and tried a myriad of ill-advised pranks. The most foolish of these was a half-assed attempt to make all the water at the Gryffindor table full of salt. After the first person took a sip, the fifth-year and ups used a siphoning charm to get rid of the salt water inside of the pitchers, and used 'aguamenti' to put fresh water in the pitchers, and then refilling charms to keep the pitchers full. The only thing the Slytherins succeeded with their stupid prank was allowing all of the Gryffindors practice with basic charms.

---

"And welcome to the FIRST QUIDDITCH MATCH OF THE YEAR!" A great and booming voice, and Harry looked up to find Cormac announcing. Not Harry's first choice, but most likely better then Luna…

"Taking the field, RAVENCLAW!" As seven people with broomsticks and blueish robes entered the pitch, about ½ to ¾ of the stands began screaming their support. "They have a great team this year, what with Cho Chang's graduation, the team found a new seeker in Arnold Wakinski! And of course, they have their usual insanely strong chasing squad, rounded out be excellent beaters and a great keeper!"

"However, they are no match for their opponent, GRYFFINDOR!" This time only about ¼-½ of the stands were cheering. The inauspicious lack of Luna's lion hat was telling: the Gryffindors usually counted on Ravenclaw for support, but in their head-to-head matchups, there was rarely the opportunity to cheer for both sides. "With outSTANDING chasers, good beaters, and an excellent seeker, this team looks primed for victory against Ravenclaw! Unfortunately, Gryffindor's weakness matches up with Ravenclaw's strength: Ron Weasly is not a very good keeper at all. He doesn't see the quaffle right, and drifts a bit to the left, and even has been known to circle! Every keeper worth his salt…" Growling, Harry looked at Ron, whom he had (with trepidation) cast muffliato on. It appeared as if the spell was working.

"Ready for the game, Harry?" Ron called.

"Yes." Harry nodded, knowing that Ron couldn't hear him.

"And there's the quaffle!"

---

"I'd almost forgotten how much I love Quidditch!" Ron crowed back in the common room, during an after game celebration. "It's like, the coolest thing I've ever done!"

"Oh, really?" Hermione asked, then had a questioning look at the amused look Ron gave her. "What?"

"You don't even know how that sounded…" Ron laughed hard.

"I wish I knew what he was up to." Harry said. "I don't get it at all!"

"Oh, knowing Ron it's just another one of his stupid jokes." Hermione said, laughing at Ron laughing at her.

"No, Nott! What's he playing at? He should be helping Voldemort, he should be helping… you know! He should be doing everything that we've come to expect Slytherins of doing." Harry said. "There was a REASON he was chosen Slytherin…"

"Which isn't necessarily 'he's a death eater' you know, it could easily be that he's cunning. Or that he didn't really fit in either of the other houses."

"Really? Seems to me that all of the Seventh year Slytherins either are death eaters or are planning to be death eaters, except Nott. And I only include Nott as an exception because we don't really know."

"But if Nott was a death eater, wouldn't he try to poison me?" Harry asked. "Should I be trusting him?"

"Of course not." Hermione said. "But you don't have a choice any more, now you have to trust him. Let him do whatever you need him to do, and then we'll ditch him."

"Uncommon opinion from you. Usually you're the one advocating those Hufflepuff qualities, like integrity." Ron said. "Seriously, though, Hermione's right, we need to quickly finish with whatever we're doing here and move on. I don't like the idea of sitting around, even if we're learning how to…" at this point, Ron picked up his Potions essay "identify poisons by color and odor… wow… I am so ready to leave this place."

"Are you, now." Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Seems to me you haven't gotten above a 'p' on an essay that I didn't write for you."

"And that is precisely why I saved you from that troll in our first year." Ron continued without missing a beat. "It seems like it was random at the time, I'm sure, but we said you had no friends KNOWING you'd enter the bathroom and knowing the troll would enter, so we could save you and you'd be indebted to us forever."

"Right." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Is this your story too?"

"But if Nott is trying to kill me, he can't be a death eater, right? Because Voldemort wants me for himself. So, I suppose Nott isn't a death eater, well, doesn't mean he's not out for me, or that he doesn't want to be a death eater… still… I think I can trust him."

"Are you still hung up on that?" Ron asked, before grabbing a butterbear from one of the roving tables in the room. "And where'd you get the idea for the tables, Hermione?"

"I saw what Slughorn had done with the house-elves at the party, and while I deplored the use of the house elves in that way, it seemed like a good idea to use some basic locomotion charms and put a path. After that, well, you just let them wander." Hermione looked pleased at her work.

"Hey, I'm proud of it too, and you're the one who did it!" Harry smiled for the first time all night. "Oh, look, it's Ginny, see you all a bit later!" Harry left to talk to Ginny.

Hermione grinned at Harry's back and said, "clueless like with Cho, this boy never learns. Well, Ron, sorry to do this, but I have to quickly charm something for Flitwick tomorrow, I had to put it off because of my insane Runes assignment. I'll see you in a bit!"

Ron looked at Hermione climb the girls dormitory staircase, and turned to climb his own as the party was pretty much over for him.

---

The month of October drifted off into November, pausing only for a day to bring the celebration of Halloween. This year, McGonnagal had determined it would be different, that it would be more of a function than a feast. Grabbing whatever Dress Robes were available, everyone 4th year and up stayed in the Entry Hall while McGonnagal and a couple of other teachers set up. Soon the door opened, and everyone gasped as Professor McCadell stood in front of easily ten thousand dark crystal glasses of various sizes, filled with various liquids, and to various amounts. McCadell was waving his wand, and an enchanting sound similar to the tuning of an orchestra was heard.

"That's… amazing." Harry stated.

"It's McCadell's special crystal orchestra. Actually, it's a bit smaller than I remember… I thought there were lots more, but then again, last time I saw this done was when he had his friend help him out. I guess he can't manage as many of them without John." McGonnagal said. "Anyways, I should welcome you to the Halloween Ball. I'm also going to announce a New Year's ball, so I'll need the head boy and girl to help plan, as well as the prefects."

"Sounds enchanting." Hermione said, walking into the room and looking about at the crystal orchestra and other decorations.

"Not as enchanting as you look." Ron was never particularly gifted at flirting, though he tried now and anon.

Hermione surprisingly blushed at this, and drew herself closer to Ron.

Parvati turned to Harry (after all, Harry wouldn't take Ginny in case Voldemort was watching and decided Harry loved Ginny, and tried to use Ginny against him. With Parvati, there was obviously no cause of fear for this, because Harry didn't love Parvati) and sighed "It's all so gorgeous, shall we find a place to sit?"

The feast had been sans desert, and all people not attending the ball were being served dessert in their own common rooms. Several pies had been baked for the occasion, including but not limited to the American favorites pumpkin and apple. Few of the students had heard of, let alone tasted, these two forms of pies, but all who tasted them generally agreed the pies were of good taste and quality. To anyone who would listen, Professor Binns was trying to explain the history behind these two types of pies, but most simply tuned him out.

Soon there was the sound of a great orchestra playing a ghostly type of music, and people seemed unsure of whether or not to dance to it. McGonnagal and Hagrid proved to everyone that you were supposed to dance to the music, and that you were supposed to dance well.

"Dance, Harry?" Parvati asked.

"Sure." Harry said, and led her out onto the floor. "You look lovely."

Parvati smiled. "I love the way your eyes are complemented by your robes."

Slowly they revolved around the spot clutching each other. Every once in a while, Harry caught a glance of Ginny and noticed the sour expression on her face. If only Harry could tell her… if only Harry could make her understand that he couldn't be with her because he loved her, and Voldemort could use that.

Ron glanced at Ginny once before saying to Hermione, "I need to take care of Ginny a bit."

Hermione looked over and said "Want me to come along?"

"No thanks… I think this would be better suited for me, not you."

Ron walked over and sat down next to Ginny. "Sad that you aren't here with Harry?"

"Not as sad as I am that he feels fine coming with someone else."

"Harry… has a tendency to be a git." Ron said. "You should've seen him trying to court Cho Chang, it was actually pretty damned funny. She was infinitely more possessive than any other person I've met yet, including myself." Ginny laughed at this. "Don't worry, he'll come around, and realize he needs you."

"I got the impression that you weren't happy with me dating him."

"It's… the way older brothers get about their baby sisters. Even Fred and George acted the same way when they heard you were going out with that Ravenclaw guy. We just love you and don't want you to get hurt, and it's also really REALLY weird to sleep in the same room as a guy who's made out with your baby sister. I look at you and see you still as you were before I came to Hogwarts. I know, I know, it explains a lot, and it probably makes you hate me, but try and understand that as your brother, I feel like you shouldn't be having boyfriends yet. Trust me, I'll get used to you dating Harry, I promise."

"But he doesn't want to date me, does he? That's why he came up with that bullshit excuse at the end of last year."

"He does want to date you. He just can't see past You-Know-Who and what he might do, to what Harry NEEDS to do. Harry needs you, because you are what completes him. He has me and Hermione as friends, just like I have Harry as a friend and Hermione as… well, you were at the wedding, you know. Anyway, when You-Know-Who's gone, Harry will see that he needs you. So just wait."

Ginny thought about this. The conclusion she came to was one that Harry wouldn't accept, but it was one that Harry needed to hear before he began his crusade. She would tell him, but the importance of where still plagued her mind.

Later that evening, Ginny was wandering the upper halls when the soft sound of a guitar drew her to a conservatory where she saw Professor McCadell playing.

"Professor McCadell?"

The large man looked up. "Welcome to the Hotel California." he sang, then said, "What is it, my dear?"

"Hotel California?"

"This band from California, called 'The Eagles' wrote one of the most beautiful songs on earth." He was still playing the guitar. "It's about a hotel in the desert, figurative I think, that is the greatest place on earth, and you are free to come and go, but forever your heart will dwell there." He put up the guitar. "But what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong."

"There is this ability called ligilimancy, it's the ability to, almost read minds. Almost, mind you" he chuckled softly at this pun "because the mind isn't a book. Well, not a book in the sense that we know it. Imagine the mind is a book, one that is multi dimensional. When you read one point of the book, there's a large number of different spots in the book that relate to that one point, and each of those points have points that relate to them, and sometimes these points refer to points that refer to them… it's long and involved. I believe there's a partial map somewhere to the human brain, with deviation calculations for different experiences and different personalities, which can easily be gathered through the same set of spells that charmed the sorting hat. Of course, searching through the brain is intrusive and dangerous, if something goes wrong, the object of study goes insane. And the nature of brain study requires a live person. It's also true that too much exploration in one's brain can cause serious damage if not done correctly."

"What does this have to do with…"

"So, can you think of something you and I share that follows a road to your brain?"

"Well… no."

"Magic. Spells originate in the sub-conscious brain, take their form in the cerebrum, their direction from your arm and hand, their power in the wrist, and finally their focus in the wand. Remove one of these steps, and the careful art of spell casting will fail, usually. There are ways around this, and ways to help things along. For instance, we use the incantation to help the cerebrum maintain the form of the spell. Also, we can induce magic without the use of the wand, albeit not particularly useful magic. Mostly things like making glass disappear, hair grow back, extra jumping ability, even blowing up one's relations. Sometimes people gain the ability to harness their magic raw by utilizing the emotions that cause the wild magic. Tom Riddle was the first person I met who was capable of controlling wild magic (oxymoronic, I know) and channeling it into real spells. I myself am capable of it, to a point. I can't do anything particularly useful, but I can do a reduction curse pretty well. And I can summon small items occasionally, but they can't be much farther than about thirty feet or any larger than say, a wand."

"But what does this have to do with whether or not something's wrong?"

"With this engaging of the mind into something like a spell, it's rather simple to follow the magic back to it's roots and find this road to the mind, after all, Magic follows a sort of channel or road from the mind to the wrist, wand and finally the world. Don't forget that rule, wrist wand world is the most important rule in spell casting. Anyways, so we follow the magic, to find the path. Once we find the path, we can follow that path all the way up to the brain, and even fiddle with the brain to disrupt a spell. Or, if we've got practice in this sort of thing and know anything about the mapping of the brain in question, we can determine if someone's lying to us, or even if they are happy, sad, stress free, or even troubled. The second use of this path is known as Legilimancy."

"But how did you get into my mind if I wasn't casting a spell?"

"It's possible to remember the path to the mind, if you wish, after seeing someone cast a spell the first time. Or you could use a spell to force the path open. Either of these options can be blocked, however, by using Occlumency. Remembering the path is less about remembering where the path is, as it is how to recognize tiny traces of the path. The fastest way into the mind is through the eyes, obviously, because there's no bone between the eye and the brain, and the two organs are very, very close together in anatomy. What allows me to see the path is the emotions conflicting for control of your brain. Emotions are closely tied with spell casting, this is why your Patronus takes a particular shape. And it is also why wizards and witches sometimes lose their powers or have them altered, and explains why dementors have such control over us. If a wizard or witch had, say, a traumatic childhood and early adult hood, only to find love in a muggle who then leaves her with nothing in the world but his baby in her womb, and she has to give up her child to an orphanage, she might find herself incapable of casting a spell because the emotions have smothered her conscious mind. Or, alternately, if someone, say, lost their father and then got expelled from school, their powers might diminish or change, and then if they were forced to relive that experience over and over, say from a dementor, they might lose their powers forever. These emotions are closely tied to magic, and disturbing them is disturbing your powers. But some witches and wizards learn to control their emotions and hide them, so it becomes very near impossible to find the routes to the mind."

"Alright… that's great. So you figured out I'm troubled, okay, but not by what?"

"Like I said, the mind is almost infinitely complex, and navigating it can be difficult and is always dangerous. I saw something was troubling you, but didn't risk finding out what, I care for you too much." McCadell turned his deep pools of eyes onto Ginny, and for a brief moment a shining joy could be seen in them. They went back quickly, however, into their deep pools of darkness, windows to thought that never ceased. "And because it's rather rude, bursting into your mind like that would be akin to stealing your diary. Care to share?"

"Well… It's kinda personal. Let's just say my boyfriend dumped me."

"Let him learn to live with his choice. Either he can, and you should move on, or he can't, and you'll get back together. Now, off to bed before I'm forced to give you a detention!" McCadell smiled, leaving the room.

Ginny thought back to his lengthy speech about ligilimancy, and wondered how his most sagely advice could be the one less filled with knowledge.

---

It's a little bit short, I know... anyways, can anyone guess what Nott's up to? Can anyone guess what Professor McCadell saw in Ginny? Can anyone guess what Professor McCadell's roll in the second war is or was? Bet you can't, but that's because I've only put in minor hints, no hints, and for the last one it requires you to have read the end of a story that wasn't written. But that's okay, don't worry! All will be explained!