Disclaimer: don't own hp

A/n in case anybody forgot John is Ron, Harriet is Hermione, and Nick isHarry

In some parts I'm going to be switching from their real names to their fake names just telling you anyway enjoy!

Ron woke up the next morning on the floor. Groaning he sat up and rubbed his aching back. He was used to waking up on the floor because he had been living with Fred and George for a week or two, and he had had to sleep on the couch so he always fell off.

"Damn, it was all a dream," he said to himself. He was disappointed because he had seen Hermione again, and he had met someone who he really liked, being offered a ride on a Firebolt and a Lightracer in the process. He'd only been on a Firebolt once or twice in his life and that was when Harry would let him.

He stood up and looked at his surroundings.

"This isn't Fred and George's place."

"Well duh. It's my place remember?" came a voice from the doorway. He looked over and saw a woman with brown hair standing there.

"Hermione!" he looked around. "Oh! It wasn't a dream."

"No it wasn't, come on Nick said he'd meet us at Hogwarts. His owl came yesterday and the letter said we would be able to use the library. The students shouldn't be a problem, because only the first and second years will be there, and 'nobody normal goes to the library on a Saturday' as he put it." Ron sniggered, remembering how many Saturdays she had spent in the library back at school. "Oh shut up and get dressed." Hermione left him to get ready.

After he was dressed in his black robes, he went into the hallway, and followed the smell of pancakes to the kitchen. He opened the door and saw a table covered in plates. One of them had a huge stack of pancakes, the one next to it only had two, one had a stick of butter, another had more pancakes (if anyone wanted extras), and there was also a container with syrup.

"Wow Hermione, you sure go all out for food."

"No it's just that during our years at Hogwarts, I found that you apparently need a lot more food than the rest of us to last half an hour." He shot her a sarcastic look, but she ignored it. "I think you can guess which plate is yours? In case you can't it's the one with most food piled on." He didn't even look at her before he rushed to the table.

He was on his third pancake, when Hermione was in the middle of her first. "Ron, how can you eat three pancakes in two minutes?" He shrugged and went on stuffing himself.

When they were finally done with breakfast, they both got their brooms (Hermione knew how to fly even if she wasn't very good) and flew away to Hogwarts. Ron pushed his Nimbus 2001 to its limit and Hermione was trailing behind on her Comet 260.

"Ron, believe me, if you break your broom, I doubt Nick is going to give you one of his." He ignored her and glanced back looking at her broom.

"Why do you have such a worthless broom? I mean really, it's an antique!"

"I see no need to spend lots of money on a broom, when you can get one that goes just a little slower, for a lower price, and works very well." Ron snorted.

"A little slower? Try about 20 times slower."

"Really you are way too obsessed with Quidditch and flying. Why don't you just become an Animagus? Then you can fly as a bird and not spend money."

"Hello? You're supposed to be the smart one. There's the Animagus tax, and you have to do way too much with the Ministry to become one. And I don't really want to become an illegal Animagus."

"Whatever, we're almost there. I can see a tower."

"Come on, I'll race you there!"

"Ok fine but don't gloat when you win, because I know you will win since I'm not a very good flyer, and you have a better broom."

"Yeah, yeah let's race. Ready? Set. Go!" They sped off, with Ron winning by far. Then Hermione noticed something.

"Looks like you've got competition Ron!" she shouted at him.

"What? You are way behind!"

"No I meant that thing behind me? Yeah it'll pass you in a second, don't worry."

"Huh?" Ron turned his head, and saw a blur coming right at him. At the last second it swerved so it wouldn't hit him and sped past him. Then it stopped and turned around, coming back. It was actually a man on a broomstick.

"Nick?" said Hermione catching up. He grinned.

"Hi guys. I was just talking to Fudge and he said he'll send us an owl when we can reveal our names." He turned to Ron who was staring with his mouth open. "John? John!' he yelled, waving his hand in front of Ron's face.

"What? Oh, hi. So… is that your Lightracer?"

"Yup. You sure you can handle it?" before Ron could answer Hermione interrupted.

"You're a really good flyer. Are you only so good because you're used to your broom? Or can you fly that good on any broom?"

"Oh, I dunno. It's not like I've ridden every broom there is."

"Hey! I've got an idea," said Ron. "How about you and I switch brooms right now and fly around for a bit, before we get started."

"Sure!"

"Guys I don't think that's a good idea I mean switching brooms in midair? You could get seriously hurt. What if you fall? It's so high up, you'll definitely break something," said Hermione. They weren't listening to her though. "John, remember Harry in third year? He was passed out for a while and Dumbledore had slowed down his fall." She bit her lip hoping he wouldn't remember the real reason Harry had lost consciousness. It seemed to work, but only for a second.

"Harriet, you know as well as I do that he passed out because of dementors, not because of falling." Ron and Hermione were focused on each other, so neither of them noticed Nick shift uncomfortably on his broom, looking like he was reliving a very unpleasant memory.

"Still! It's really dangerous." Ron was about to say something when Nick interrupted.

"No really Harriet, John and I are experienced, we won't fall changing brooms. I promise." Hermione looked skeptical, but she gave in.

"All right. But be careful!" With that the men quickly slid off their brooms, onto the other's.

"Wow! This broom is amazing!" exclaimed Ron as he flew around as a blur. Nick looked a little uncomfortable, but he began flying and he soon got used to the broom. He really was an amazing flyer, Hermione thought.

"Yeah so is this one. I mean, it's not as good as mine but I've never been on one of these before." Ron grinned and pulled into a dive. When he was halfway to the ground, his excited shouts turn into frantic ones.

"Help! I can't pull it up! It's going to fast! Oh my God, Nick!" Nick wasted no time to go into a dive and start chasing after Ron. Then Hermione saw the blur that was Ron on the broom, suddenly become two.

"Oh no! Nick he fell off!" Hermione screamed. She watched the man on the broom pushing it as fast as it could go. If he hadn't somehow jumped onto his own broom in the middle of the dive, he wouldn't have reached Ron in time. As it was, he caught him about five seconds before he hit the ground. Hermione flew down to where they landed, grabbing Ron's broom on the way. Nick had put Ron down on the ground and was looking at him.

"John, you ok?" Ron smiled weakly.

"Yeah I'm fine, just shaken I guess. I went too fast and couldn't stop."

"That's a broom you have to get used to. It's my fault, I should have warned you." Ron sat up.

"No it's not. I should have realized how fast the thing went; I should have been more careful." Nick was about to say something when Hermione rushed over.

"John! John, are you ok? I told you it was a bad idea. If it hadn't been for Nick, you might be dead!" Suddenly she started crying.

"Oh yeah you just basically saved my life. Thanks so much!" Ron said to Nick. Then he turned to Hermione and patted her on the back. "Harriet it's ok. Really, I wasn't even falling that fast was I? I would have probably just broken something, at most." Hermione wiped her tears and glared at him.

"For your information, you were falling as fast as that broom was going. You were just a blur! And if you could have just broken something, then how come you thanked Nick for basically saving your life?" Ron opened his mouth to say something but Hermione cut him off. "And even if you would have just broken something, did it ever occur to you that you might have broken your neck? And you!" she turned on Nick, "you were all for switching brooms. I can tell by your flying that you're experienced, so how come you didn't see something like this coming?"

"Harriet, it's not his fault. You both think it is but it's not. I should have realized. Don't blame him," Ron said. Hermione calmed down a bit.

"You're right, sorry Nick, I just freaked."

"It's all right. Hey John you ready to go?"

"Yeah! But this time I'll stick with my broom." Nick grinned.

"Actually, John?" Hermione started.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I could go on your broom? I mean it's only a short distance."

"Oh you mean me take your broom and you'll try out mine because it's so much better?" Hermione scowled.

"Fine, you could just say no you know."

"I was kidding! Of course you can go on my broom."

"Thanks! But to be honest, I'm kind of scared I mean seeing what just happened to you and all…"

"Harriet my broom isn't nearly as fast as his, don't worry."

"Yeah and I'll be here on my broom, and I'll catch you if you fall," Nick added.

"Ok. Let's go then," said Hermione and mounted Ron's broom and kicked off. She rose into the air, so much faster than on her other broom. It was amazing. She saw the other two fly up after her ("God Harriet, how can you ride something so slow?") and she started flying fast so they wouldn't catch up to her. Of course Nick caught up soon and they stopped waiting for John. They waited, and waited, and waited, and finally he flew past them he was swearing that as soon as he got down to the ground, he would give her broom to the Whomping Willow so that she would get a new one. She thought about it. Why not get a Nimbus 2001? It was really fun riding it. Maybe one day she would even be able to get a Firebolt, if she could handle it that is.

Finally they landed, and much to Hermione's surprise, Ron marched over to the Whomping Willow, and threw her Comet 260 into the branches. As soon as it touched the tree, it was demolished in a flail of branches and boughs. She stood there shocked while Ron backed away, clearly expecting her to throw herself at him, but instead she smiled and said,

"So, how much does a Nimbus 2001 cost?"

After Harry woke up at 6:00, and had breakfast that Dobby, the old and loyal house elf, brought him, he decided to go round the school as an eagle.. He had gotten a copy of the Daily Prophet that morning and already as he had predicted, on the front page was: Harry Potter sighted in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.Maria Skeeter reports: "I was walking into the Three Broomsticks, when I saw a very familiar face. Before I had time to confirm that it was Mr. Potter, he ran out. I chased him, and while he was running he turned around and the wind blew his bangs up so I saw his scar. I shouted for him to stop but he turned the corner, and when I got around it he was gone. I looked everywhere and decided he must have Apparated."

Harry realized that since most of the students were sharing the newspaper with their friends, and they were whispering excitedly, pointing at it, they must all have heard. He even heard some of their conversations.

"I heard he might even come to Hogwarts to hide! Hogsmeade is incredibly close, after all, and Hogwarts is the only place You-Know-Who wouldn't dare to try and break into."

"But what if he does try? Really, what if Harry Potter isn't even going to be here and You-Know-Who breaks in? And if he is, it's still bad."

"Relax; Dumbledore won't let anything happen to us! You know that."

"Yeah I guess." Harry knew they were right though, he was endangering the whole school by being there. He had to leave, but he could only go after he, Ron, and Hermione finished today.

He was wandering about in his Invisibility Cloak and with the Marauders' Map, when he saw the name Jesse Fryer, heading towards a classroom. Harry hurried towards the room and saw Jesse disappear inside. He was so excited about seeing his old roommate that he had forgotten to make sure Jesse was the only one in the room. Harry burst into the room and ran up to Jesse.

"Jesse!" Jesse turned around and stared at Harry. Luckily they were the only two in the room.

"Harry! Oh my God! As soon as I got my memory back and they figured out that I was kidnapped by Lord Voldemort, I was sure you were dead! What happened?"

"He decided to torture me, but then after two years Peter Pettigrew helped me escape, and for another two years I was Midge Moland the midget."

"You mean the Seeker for the American team?" Harry grinned.

"Yup."

"Wow! I went to one of those games, you know. The one where you caught the Snitch in, what was it? Oh yeah, two minutes. It was amazing."

"I know, I was so happy we won, that I sort of forgot to put the Snitch back, and I basically stole it." Jesse laughed. "But then I brought it back, and they told me to keep it. I still have it, it's in my room."

"Cool!"

"Anyway, I just wanted to say hi because I have to leave tonight."

"What? Why?"

"Well I was seen in Hogsmeade, so Lord Voldemort will know I'm most likely here, so he will try and break in and that will be putting everyone in danger. What else do I do?"

"You are such an idiot. You just get sighted somewhere else a couple of times, so he thinks you aren't here anymore."

"Well what if he sees through that?"

"Well what if you leave and he still attacks? Listen we can play this 'what if' game all day, or we can go make your appearance." Harry sighed.

"All right let's go." They walked outside, and when they were in Hogsmeade (since that was the closest place they could Apparate from), they Apparated into a wizard town called Wilmick. It wasn't so far away from the school for his sighting to obviously be just something getting attention away from Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, but it was far enough away, to make a good spot for an appearance.

They walked around for a bit and noticed the press. Apparently they had just finished a big story because they were packing away their cameras, and were starting to Apparate away. Jesse gave Harry a thumbs up, and looked just as interested as everyone else, when one of the people from the press began yelling.

"Look! Look! It's Harry Potter!" Harry pretended to look surprised and ran away. He hadn't been there long enough for them to get a picture, but it was enough for a front page story in tomorrow's newspaper.

Jesse ran up to him grinning.

"That was great! Ok now we need to go to whatever town is near here in a couple of hours." They did in three hours, and again Jesse was in the crowd of people trying to get a look at Harry, while the other man ran away. They planned on going again in a couple of days, but decided it was enough for one day. When they Apparated to Hogsmeade, they saw almost the entire school headed their way. Harry groaned.

"I forgot it was a Hogsmeade weekend."

"Yeah me too, what are we going to do?" suddenly Harry remembered the Cloak. He pulled it out.

"Get under here." They book got under, but they were so tall you could still see there ankles and feet.

"Now what?" asked Jesse. Harry groaned.

"I need to lengthen this thing," he said.

"So what do we do?"

"Knees," said Harry simply, and bent down onto his knees. Jesse was still standing on his feet so Harry grabbed his arm and pulled. That had the desired effect. They began to inch their way slowly, taking care not to bump into anybody. When the two men finally reached the entrance to Hogwarts, they got off of their aching knees and hobbled inside to their rooms, after a hasty goodbye.

Harry immediately put a healing charm on his knees so he could walk normally again. He looked at his watch and realized he was running late. He got his broom, and flew out of the window to the Ministry. He didn't want to risk going to Hogsmeade because there were so many people there.

Once he made it to the Ministry, he ran into the Minister's office and asked him when he and the other aurors would be able to reveal their names. The Minister told him that he'd get an owl soon, and with that Harry ran out of the office and jumped on his broom. He was going at top speed, because he only had two minutes to get back to the school, when he noticed a shape in front of him. As he got nearer, he noticed another shape in front of the first one. He realized that they were people, and guessed that it must be Harriet and John. Harry figured out that the person in the front was John and the other was obviously Harriet. He grinned when he saw her look back at him and then turn and shout something to her companion. He in turn looked back and Harry happily pushed his broom forward. He was just a blur as he passed Harriet, and was headed straight towards John, who was staring at him. At the last moment the star Quidditch player swerved away, then stopped his broom and flew back to his friends. After they talked for a while, he and John switched brooms. They flew around a bit, when John dived.

Suddenly he started calling for help and Harry dived after him. Then he saw John fall off the broom and heard Harriet shout. He got really scared because John was falling fast, and from really high up. When Harry got to level with his own broom (it was slowing down since no one was riding it) he somehow jumped onto it. He didn't even realize how it happened; it was a heat of the moment thing apparently. Then he raced down on his broom and caught John.

Once they were at the school and John had surprised them all by feeding Harriet's broom to the Whomping Willow, and Harriet had, instead of throwing herself at John, asked how much a Nimbus 2001 cost, they went inside to the library.

Harriet shouted happily as if she had just found a long lost friend when they entered. She immediately rushed over to a bookshelf, pulled out a copy of The History of Curses and seated herself at a table. She noticed the men standing there, watching her and gestured for them to begin looking through books. Then she cracked open her book, and after the dust cleared, began reading. Harry and John looked at each other, shrugged, and went to find some books.

Harry decided to start with Curses you better not perform. He remembered reading something about the three Unforgivables in there, a long time ago. He noticed John had picked Curses, Jinxes, and other not so friendly spells. They both sat down on either side of Harriet and began reading. It felt like they were at school again.

After three hours, Harry and John were reading their books with great interest. They both loved reading about the history of curses and jinxes. Harry was reading about one wizard who tried out his jinx so many times before he got it right, that when he was done there was an assortment of volunteers who had chicken legs, or whose arms were replaced by wings. There was even one person who had a beak instead of a nose and mouth, feathers instead of fingers, and couldn't say anything at all and instead kept clucking. The jinx was supposed to turn someone into a human chicken. In other words they would look like a person, but they would act like a chicken.

John was reading about one person who tried his jinx out for the first time, but he ended up blowing up his lab, and was left standing in the middle of a pile of rubble, with a smoldering wand. No one ever knew what the jinx was for even, because he forgot. The book said that a lot of people guessed that it was a memory charm, because he couldn't remember anything. If so, then the charm was really bad because since he lost his memory but his lab blew up.

Anyway, they were engrossed in their books (completely forgetting about the task at hand) when Harriet suddenly smacked her forehead.

"How could we have been so stupid?"

"Harriet, what are you talking about?" John asked looking up from his book.

"We should have been searching in the restricted section! Of course there wouldn't be anything about the worst curse ever in the student section. Come on!" he pulled them to their feet and rushed towards the restricted section of the library. Soon they all had a book in front of them describing the way the more gruesome curses were formed. Some results were too disgusting for them to read about. Most of explanations of what happened came with a picture that was very detailed. Soon John let out a cry of triumph.

"Shh, Madam Pince gets really irritated when people are too loud," Harry hissed.

"She's still here? God she must be ancient," John said. Harry nodded in agreement while Harriet asked,

"What did you find?"

"Oh, listen." He cleared his throat and began: "'The Avada Kedavra curse is one of the three Unforgiveables. It is the worst of them all because once it hits an animal, or person, it kills them immediately. When the curse is performed, the wand releases a green light.

'The creator of the curse was a woman by the name of Marla Yvon. She invented the curse in 1617. She said her original idea was to make a curse that would make someone look dead for a while, like in Romeo and Juliet, but she pronounced the spell wrong. Instead of saying Avada Cadavera, she said Avada Kedavra. She was testing it out on a volunteer, and of course, sadly, they died.

Marla Yvon was sentenced to a dementor's kiss. Unfortunately, while she was sitting in prison, it is said someone got in to visit her, and she told them all about the curse and what it did. Apparently, the power of creating something so horrible and amazing got to her and she had to get it out. Because of that feeling of power, the Avada Kedavra curse is still out in the world today, as deadly as ever.

They all sat stunned for a while, thinking about what they just read. John slowly closed the book, copying down the title.

"I guess we're, uh, we're done for today." said Harriet.

"Yeah we probably are," murmured Harry. Suddenly John said what they had all been thinking.

"I can't believe one woman caused it all. I mean she makes up a spell, says it wrong so it kills people, gets sentenced to something worse than death, and then spreads it out into the world from her prison cell! Why would she do something like that? I mean yeah, I get the power aspect, but you don't have a lot of power from the grave, or wherever you go after a welcoming kiss from a dementor."

"Maybe she wanted to be famous? Or you don't think-"Harriet began. John told her to go on. "You don't think she wanted revenge on all the people who sentenced her?" John looked thoughtful.

"It's a pretty good assumption but there's one problem. Surely she would have realized that the curse would kill a lot more people than the ones who decided her fate. It might have only been used on one of them if any!"

"They don't care about that," said Harry quietly.

"What?" Harriet asked.

"When people want revenge, they don't care about all the innocent people dying because of it and they don't care if none of the people responsible for their death are going to die. Well, unless they do it by themselves. If they get their revenge by themselves, they target the people who ruined them or their lives or something like that. If they get someone else to do it for them, then killing as many people as possible is their revenge. Especially if it's done with the thing they were condemned for." Nobody said anything after that, they just sat in silence.

After ten minutes of thinking it all over John said,

"Well that's enough depressing news for a day don't you think?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "do you guys want to go down to Hogsmeade and get some butterbeers?" At this thought everyone brightened considerably and agreed. Harry turned to John. "I take it you don't want to try out the Firebolt?"

"No, thanks, I'd probably be too scared to enjoy it. Maybe I'll find one somewhere and take a ride sometime later. What time is it anyway?"

"Around five," answered Harriet looking at her watch.

"Wow, we've been here all day. How about we go to my room and then I'll find you a broom, so we can get to Hogsmeade," Harry offered Harriet, standing up.

"Ok," Harriet answered. "Thanks." They all went up to his room, and then he disappeared into the bathroom. He locked himself in, and flew out the window as an eagle.

"So, Hermione, do you still think it's Harry?"

"No, he'd have had to have changed too much."

"Would this change be for better or worse?"

"I'm not so sure. I definitely like this guy though."

"Yeah me too but he's strange."

"How so?"

"Well, for one thing, he promised you a broom, and then went into the bathroom."

"So? He might have just needed to go to the bathroom, Ron! What did you think people usually did in one?" Ron grinned.

"Ok, have it your way. I bet you twenty galleons he's going to come out of there with a broom in hand."

"Fine, but I'm warning you, you should be prepared to lose."

"Look who's talking, and if I win, no saying that he conjured it up because you know as well as I do that a) he wouldn't have done it in the bathroom and b) even if you conjure a top of the line broom, it turns out really bad and flies horribly."

"Ok no saying that he conjured it up, I get it."

Meanwhile……

Harry flew out of the window, down to the broom shed. Luckily Madam Hooch was there, and she let him borrow one of the school brooms. He took it in his talons, and flew up to his window again.

After transforming in the bathroom, he opened the door and walked out holding the broom. He heard Harriet groan, and John shout in triumph. He was confused until he saw Harriet hand John some gold. He smiled.

"You guys were betting on if I would come out of the bathroom with a broom or not?" John grinned.

"Yup, and guess who won." He waved the money bag that held his new money in front of Harriet's face and exclaimed gleefully. "Me!"

"Yes, ok, John you won, let's go now," said Harriet crossly, and grabbing the broom from Harry, flew out of the window. John found his and Harry's brooms. He walked over to the other man and asked,

"How did you get the broom?"

"Oh I have my ways," said Harry, then grabbed his broom and flew off, with John hot on his heels.

Even though Hermione had a head start, Nick soon caught up with her, and so did Ron, not long after. They landed in front of the Three Broomsticks, and holding their brooms at their sides, walked inside.

"Butterbeers for everyone?" Nick asked.

"Yes," said Ron and Hermione and went to find a table, while Nick gave the order to Madam Rosmerta. He came back muttering.

"I swear that woman has to stop giving me everything for free. If I start coming here every day, I'll soon put her out of business." Ron and Hermione laughed and took their drinks.

They sat there, talking for about an hour. They had all had three butterbeers each and were about to order some water, for their fourth round instead of butterbeers, when a barn owl flew in through the window on the table, near Hermione. She took the letter off the owl's leg, and it flew off immediately. Hermione began to open the letter. She read it and gasped.

"We can tell each other our real names!" Nick and Ron looked happy, but Nick looked slightly nervous, as well. "Who wants to go first?"

"Well I suppose you should, since you're the one the owl came to and all," said Ron.

"Ok, my name's Hermione Granger," she announced, more to Nick than Ron, since the latter already knew. Nick nodded and pointed to Ron. Apparently he had figured out that Ron and Hermione already knew each other's names.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Nick nodded again, as if he knew it all along. "And you?" Ron asked him excitedly. Nick stuck out his hand.

"I'm Harry Potter."