Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. All I own is my original characters and settings that will come up later is the story.

Thank everyone so much for the reviews. I'm trying to finish this story before the summer ends but I don't know if that is going to happen. I'm going to give it my best shot though. I at least know the direction it's going in.

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Harry moaned and flipped onto his stomach.

"No. It's time to get up mate. You'll be late for class."

Harry cracked his eyes open and Ron smacked his leg. "Up."

Harry turned over and pushed onto his elbows. "There has to be some obscure rule that says I don't have to move. You're a prefect. How about you find one and help a guy out?" He dropped to his back and closed his eyes.

"Sure. Stay there. I'm sure Hermione will be able to explain things much clearer when I send her up."

Harry scowled and rolled to his side. "Fine. Pull the Hermione card then. I'm up." He crawled to the edge of the bed and pulled the top of the trunk open. He shoved stuff out of the way and grabbed the metal box stuffed in the crown whiskey bag. He opened the box, grabbed one of the vials, pulled out the cork, and downed it. The liquid fizzed and tickled as it slid into his stomach.

"Um. Harry." Ron's hand froze as he pushed his trunk closed.

"It's basically flavored sugar water." He held another vial out. "Want one?"

Ron inched over and took it off his palm. He worked the cork out and smelled it before tipping it back. He tossed the vial to Harry. "Wow. That's a rush."

Harry laughed. "Don't I know it." He put the vials back in the box and shoved it back to the bottom of the trunk. He grabbed clean clothes out of his wardrobe and left for the bathroom.

The dorm was empty when he came back. He grabbed his bag and dashed down the stairs. Ron and Hermione were in the common room, Ron sitting in a chair by the fire, his feet propped on the table while Hermione paced in front of one of the tables.

"Time for class?"

Hermione spun and clapped a hand to her chest. "Harry!" She grabbed her bag. "We're going to be late."

Harry nodded. "Let's go then." He smiled and headed toward the portrait hole and headed to the defense classroom. The class stood outside the closed door.

Hermione glanced around. "He's not here yet?"

Draco moved toward Harry. "No. Not yet." He pulled Harry a few steps away. "So--"

Harry sighed as everyone turned to watch them. "I'll tell you after Herbology, okay?"

Draco nodded and moved back to the Slytherins standing on the other side of the door glaring at them.

Ron clenched his jaw and took a few deep breaths. "And when are you going to tell us?"

Well since telling you after Draco would ensure me days of hell I'm thinking before Herbology. "Lunch. I shouldn't have to tell you anything too secret that we won't be able to hide it in the Great Hall."

"Then why are you talking to Draco in private?"

Because what I have to tell him is too secret to share at lunch. "We can't exactly just meet and talk at lunch. We'd cause a riot at one, if not both, of the tables."

Ron grimaced. "Sorry."

Mr. Sartoris wandered toward the door yawning. He looked bad. There were dark circles under his eyes that shone, the pupils dilated. He'd probably been up all night checking wards and trying to figure out how the Death Eaters had made it into the school. He unlocked the door and gestured everyone in. The class rushed in and found their chairs, whispering to each other. He walked to the front of the room and boosted himself onto the desk. "Sorry I'm late, but it has been a long night." He hid another yawn behind his hand. "The Headmaster has requested that all the professors ask their classes if they have any questions about the events of last night." He shrugged. "I think it's a foolish idea, but I do what I'm told. So does anyone have any questions?"
            Lavender raised her hand and he gestured toward her. "What happened? Are they all right? How long are they going to be here?" She glanced toward Harry. "And how do they know Harry?"

Mr. Sartoris rolled his eyes. "Death Eaters attacked their school and started throwing hexes at students in the halls. Some of the older students managed to slow them down and get the others to safety. The Death Eaters weren't captured. They took port keys out before the aurors could catch them. They will be here until new wards can be constructed around the school. First they have to deconstruct the old ones because they were only breached and not destroyed, so they could be here until Christmas or later. As for the last, Potter is an little brat that gets around."

Harry snorted. "Thanks. I really appreciate that one."

"But Harry, how do you know them?" Lavender was nearly bouncing at finally having an opportunity to ask him. The rest of the class was on the edge of their seats. Harry glanced at Draco who rolled his eyes and faked gagging.

Harry stifled a laugh and sighed. She was like a dog with a bone. Crane's glaring at me so I obviously can't let the truth out. "It's a pen pal thing."

Crane smiled. "Well there we are. Any other questions?"

Hermione slowly raised her hand.

Crane hesitated before he nodded at her.

She took a deep breath. "Was anyone--um--are they all right?"

Crane let out his breath and smiled. "Everyone in the hospital wing will recover from their injuries and the others have only minor scrapes and bruises."

"It's just that at breakfast they all seemed very subdued. I know that they were attacked and obviously that's part of it, but it seemed like there was more." Hermione didn't even look as if she were on the edge of a panic attack despite the fact that she was pushing a topic a professor obviously didn't want to discuss.

Harry smiled. Maybe I'm finally rubbing off on her. Then again Hermione is too smart for her own good. If she's asking him she doesn't think I'll tell her. Which means she doesn't trust me. Which means I've got a problem. Damn. And things were going so well.

Mr. Sartoris rubbed his forehead. "One student is still unaccounted for. The efforts to discover her have been largely unsuccessful." The whispers faded. Everyone's eyes locked on him. He shrugged and hopped off the desk. "But no doubt some idiot will do some stupid thing and she'll be recovered in a blaze of fire and a hail of trumpets. That's how these things usually pan out. Now can we finally get down to work? Good."

He moved to the board and started writing. "Those of you that have been attending wand less defense learned last week that an important part of defending yourself is distracting your opponent. There are a number of ways to do that magically. Some are more amusing than others. In theory, an effective way to distract your opponent would be to conjure an image of a unicorn and have it sing show tunes. I can tell you from experience though, that that requires far more energy than it is strictly worth. So there are a number of ways that make a little more sense to distract your opponent." He pulled his wand out of his sleeve and pointed it toward Harry. "What do you think I'm going to do to you right now Harry?"

Harry laughed. No idea. I skipped the classes on distraction this summer and went clubbing instead. "A dancing bullfrog?"

Mr. Sartoris snorted. "Again, amusing but not very useful. Actually I was thinking about a bright light to blind you, or a snake. If there's a big enough snake your opponent would be thoroughly distracted."

"Unless they could turn the snake around and have it attack you."

Mr. Sartoris nodded but also shrugged. "Potentially yes, but that's advanced charms work. It's not easy to take control of something another person has conjured. Even powerful and fully trained wizards have a problem with it. It is essentially overpowering the mind of the other wizard."

Harry smiled and shrugged. "It's easier if it's a snake and it's me."

"And why is that Mr. Potter?"

Harry tilted his head. Did I really never tell him? Did I ever tell anyone at the Academy? Hm. I guess not. Strange. "I'm a parslemouth, so I can talk to snakes. When Draco conjured a snake second year I managed to keep it from attacking."

Mr. Sartoris blinked a few times before shaking his head. "Well I suppose it could be easier, but there are also problems with it. A snake conjured by a second year is a little different than one conjured by a fully trained witch or wizard. It is an interesting idea for an experiment though." He dropped his wand on the desk. "Anyway, light or darkness can have a debilitating effect on a duel, though it can also make it harder for you to fight. A beam of light or fog will affect them and not yourself. Then there is the best defense. Some spells have a specific visible effect. If you can duplicate that effect then your opponent will defend against a spell that you are not actually casting. You will know what they are going to do and you can exploit the weakness of that defensive spell."

Harry wrote as fast as he could. This is what he gets for skipping class. He could be relaxing right now and thinking about other ways to locate Cali instead of writing furiously as he talked faster than should be humanly possible.

Mr. Sartoris glanced at his watch. "Well we seem to be out of time. I'll see you next class, and those of you in wand less defense remember that the meeting time has been changed. We'll be meeting at eleven on Saturday instead of noon. Now go eat before I get blamed for starving all of you."

Papers rustled as people started shoving their stuff into their bags. Harry rubbed his wrist. How many pages can one person be expected to write? He closed his bag.

"Harry?" Ron leaned against the doorway.

Oh crap. I really don't want to do this. He headed toward the door. If I tell Draco more than I tell Ron and Ron finds out that I told Draco more than I told him then it will be a whole thing and we won't be speaking and none of it will turn out well. But if I tell Ron something that I don't need to tell him then Chris or Crane could freak out about me spilling secrets that I'm not supposed to be sharing. He rubbed his head. Screw it. "Let's grab food from the kitchens and head out to the pitch. I think this is going to be a more private conversation than I had at first anticipated."

Ron smiled and pulled him down toward the kitchens. "Hermione wanted to run up to her room for something. She said she'd meet us in the entranceway."

"All right." Harry turned the doorknob and stepped into the kitchen.

"Harry Potter Sir. Dobby is being glad to see you. Are you wanting something?" Dobby bounced up and down wringing his hands. 

Harry smiled. "Hi Dobby. I was hoping that I could get some lunch for Ron, Hermione, and I."

Dobby nodded, his ears bouncing. "Yes sir Harry Potter Sir. No problem." He scurried off and came back holding a picnic basket.

"Thanks Dobby." He lifted the basket up and headed toward the doors.

"So what changed this conversation from one that we could have in the Great Hall to one that we need to have outside?"

I don't want to get into a fight with you later on. "I thought that there were a few more things that I could let you in on than I thought last night. Or was it this morning." He rubbed his head. "I just thought about it a little more though I'm not sure when because we never got to stop writing in Defense."

"Don't I know it. I don't think I've ever taken that many notes in a week let alone in one class." Ron rubbed his fingers.

Hermione paced in front of the doors chewing on her fingernails. "There you are. What took you so long?"

She looks nervous. And in class she asked if anyone died in the attack. She was nervous when she asked the question. Harry shifted the basket to his other hand. She knew something. But did she know something about the Academy or something about what he did when he ran out of the Great Hall? "We got food from the kitchens. Let's go outside and talk on the pitch. It should be deserted."

Hermione nodded and grabbed her bag off the floor. "Well then let's go already. What are we waiting for?" She slipped out the doors and bounded down the steps.

Harry sighed and followed. "Do you ever get the sense that we'll never truly understand what goes on inside that girl's brain?"

Ron laughed and smacked his shoulder. "All the time mate. All the time."

He set the basket in front of where Hermione dropped to the ground. She pulled a sandwich out of the basket and took a huge bite.

Harry grabbed a sandwich and took a bite. The peanut butter glued his mouth shut and he swallowed until her could talk again. "Before I start explaining, what do you want to know Hermione? Or what do you already know?"

She swallowed and laughed. "I--I don't know what you're talking about."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Get off of it Hermione. You asked that question in class and you're all jumpy now. What's going on?"

She shifted and took another bite of her sandwich. "It's just--" She sucked the last of the peanut butter off her finger. "I heard Dumbledore talking yesterday to Fudge and the man who came with the students yesterday. Fudge said something about watching out for you because after what happened with her before you were bound to do something stupid to try and get her back." She chewed on her lip and glanced around. "Then he said that she was probably dead anyway and so there was no point."

Harry choked and dropped the sandwich. "He said that in front of Chris?"

"Chris?" Ron bit into his apple.

"That's the guy that came with them that was talking with Fudge." Screw what I can tell them. I'm tired of lying anyway. "He's the American minister of magic and Cali's dad. I can't believe Chris didn't punch him."

Hermione's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. "Then Cali is the one missing. I thought--I mean when you ran out of the Great Hall. Oh Harry I'm so sorry." She flew forward and wrapped her arms around him.

Did I want to keep that from them? I'm not sure. I forgot they met Cali. "It's okay."

Ron opened and closed his mouth. "How can it be okay that your friend is in the hands of Death Eaters?"

Thanks Ron. That really helped and made me feel so much better. "W--They're working on ways to find her. I have faith in these people. Her father is the minister of magic. He will be using all the resources at his disposal to find her." And of course I'm an easily accessible resource. I wonder how else I can find her. Maybe--No. We tried divination. He'll no doubt have blocked all forms we could try. Another discipline then. Charms maybe. Locator charms. No. That would be too easy. Who in their right mind wouldn't ward their hideout to repeal a simple point me spell? Oops. They're looking at me. What did I miss? "What?"

Hermione leaned against him. "I asked you where you went when you ran out yesterday. You looked really upset."

Ah. The dreaded question. "The astronomy tower. I just had to clear my head." I really hope they don't take that as clear my head by smashing it against the ground. Nope. All right. Hermione's nodding and patting my arm. She buys it and isn't reading anything else into it. Saved. What else did I have to tell them? Harry looked between them. "So all I really had to tell you was that Cali was the one missing and that I'm fine. Is there anything else you guys wanted to know?" A little dangerous, but I can always plead class time if I really don't want to answer something.

Ron grabbed another apple. "I don't think so. But, this Chris, he's the one you stayed with this summer?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Ron shook his head. "No reason it's just, bloody hell, he was furious when Fudge said that about you."

Harry smiled. "He did become a little protective of me. Remember that he had a really bad day. I wouldn't expect him to act rationally or anything. Was there anything else Hermione?" There was something else going on here.

Hermione pushed herself to her feet and paced in front of them. "It's nothing. It's just--" She spun to face him. "There are things you do now that you wouldn't have done then. Like the extra homework--the muggle subjects--you wouldn't have done that before. It always seemed like you were trying to do the least work possible to get by."

Harry smiled. This one I can answer. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the grass. "Have you ever realized how much you don't know? You must have. That's why you take all the classes that you take and read every book that you can get your hands on. I was plunked down in the middle of a place where everyone knew more than me." He grabbed her hand. "And it wasn't even that I knew about magic and they knew about all those things that muggles learn in school; All the things I would have learned, that you would have learned, if we hadn't come to Hogwarts. They knew both of them. It seemed like they knew everything and I just felt dumb. I didn't want to sleep and I started borrowing my roommates' books while they slept. When Cali found out what I was doing she gave me all her old books and started explaining the things I didn't understand. But it wasn't enough. It was never enough. They knew so much and I knew that between magic and Voldemort I'd never be able to learn everything that they did." He dropped her hand and stood, wrapping his arms around his chest. "And then I'm reading chemistry at three in the morning hopped up on sugar and suddenly I wonder if something in one of these books could be the way to defeat Voldemort. If something muggle would work where magic would not because since he doesn't know about the muggle world he wouldn't defend against it. I got obsessed with it. I didn't sleep for three days; I was downing caffeine pills like tic tacs, and all I could think was that if I only had more time then I could find it. The way I was learning was too slow and I'd miss it because I wasn't smart enough or fast enough to find it." He snorted. "Then I got really stupid. I was looking around M--the headmistress' office for more books and I found a time turner in a locked box on the bookcase. And suddenly everything was so clear. I could learn everything I needed to know before it was too late."

Hermione gasped. "Do you know how dangerous that is? Without knowing how to use it, the consequences--"

Harry forced a laugh and nodded. "I wasn't exactly thinking clearly. If I was that little voice in my head that tends to sound like you would have told me that it was an idiotic thing to do." He shrugged. "As it was I used my bare knowledge of how it worked to repeat time."

"How much Harry?" Hermione was shaking and Ron was feeding off her anxiety.

He plopped to the ground. "Before I go any farther you have to know that I'm fine. I was checked out by numerous doctors, muggle and magical, and they all decided that there were no lasting effects from it. I was lucky." Hermione barely blinked as she looked at him. She was probably the only one who'd know how bad this really was. How close I came to-- "When they found me with it there were seven of me studying in various remote parts of the school."

Hermione covered her mouth and pulled in sobbing breaths.

Ron's eyes darted between them. "When you used it third year it wasn't a problem to have two Hermione's running around. What's the difference here?"

Harry chewed on his lip. "There were seven of me running around for about a week and a half. If any of them had run into each other it could have very well killed me or caused a backlash that could have thrown the timeline out of whack. I was so lucky it isn't even funny. But they examined the timeline along with me and it wasn't affected on a global scale just--" Oh crap.

"Harry?" Hermione waved her hand in front of his eyes.

"The school. It affected the school. The wards. What if it affected the wards?" It really is my fault. Directly my fault. It's even worse than I thought before. He sucked in air.

"Harry!" Ron smacked his cheek.

Harry blinked and snarled. "Voldemort."

Ron started and leaned back. "What?"
            "He keeps screwing with my emotions, turning them up so I overreact to everything." He growled. "It's really starting to piss me off." He shoved everything to the back of his mind. I'll have to talk with Crane about the wards later. "Anyway, they took the time turner, obviously, but didn't bring any charges against me because of my altered mental state and extreme stress. So the ridiculous amount of shit I know is because of the seven weeks of studying I did in one week. After that I kept studying, both muggle and magical subjects, with Biara keeping a close eye on me to make sure I took enough breaks. I still wanted to know everything because it turns out I kind of like being a know-it-all sometimes and it's what everyone there was doing anyway. When I came back I didn't want to give up that feeling of learning stuff that I could directly apply to myself, so they sent me the books and stuff and the tests when I finished the subject." He glanced at his watch. "I'd better get to Herbology. I'll see you guys after I talk with Draco." He grabbed his bag and jogged toward the Greenhouse.

He reached the door at the same time as Professor Sprout. "Running late today Harry?"

He shrugged. "Just a little."

She smiled and gestured him inside, following behind him.

Professor Sprout cleared her throat. "Does anyone have any question about the events of last night? The Headmaster wants to be sure that no one is holding back any concerns."

A Hufflepuff boy in the back raised his hand. "Is there any chance that there will be an attack here? I mean, what if they didn't find what they wanted there?"

Harry snorted. They wouldn't be stupid enough to attack Hogwarts, especially with Dumbledore here, and they already have what they want even if they wanted nothing more than to cause the usual chaos and terror.

Professor Sprout was shaking her head. "Both the Headmaster and the Minister have decided that is a very unlikely possibility. The wards are being strengthened as we speak just in case, but you are all perfectly safe at the school. Anything else?"

A Ravenclaw girl straightened and blurted her question. "What did they want from the other school? Why did they attack?"

Professor Spout sighed. "No one knows. There were no warnings or threats beforehand. However, as a large number of muggleborn students from all over the world attend, that is being taken as the reason for the attack."

Harry pitched his voice so the students couldn't hear him. "So the purebloods will feel safe because they won't be the subject of an attack and the muggleborns will feel safe because there are so many purebloods here. How does that solve the problem that people were attacked? Who cares who their parents were?"

The class dragged on as half the class got reprimanded for staring at him, the whispering didn't die down during the entire class, and Draco couldn't keep up a conversation with him for more than a minute before he drifted off and stared out the window.

Harry sighed as he tossed his gloves back into his bag. That was the longest class ever. "Draco?" He was staring out the window again.

He turned and blinked. "What?"

"Ready to talk?" What is going on with him? I really can't deal with any more hidden issues right now.

"Yeah. Sure." He grabbed his bag and headed across the courtyard toward the pitch. Harry shook his head and jogged after him.

Draco walked to the middle of the stadium and set his bag on the grass. He tilted his head back and looked at the seats above them.

Harry chewed on his lip and stood next to him. "Are you all right?"

"What's the explanation Potter?"

Harry flinched back. What happened between last night and now to undo what I've been working on all year? Forget it. Let's just do this and get it over with. "I learned different magic this summer. Stuff I thought wasn't possible."

Draco spun. "Stuff that isn't supposed to be possible. You can't find people with a crystal."

So we have to make this make more sense for him. "The crystal was around Cali for a significant amount of time, and her hair hadn't been away from her for more than a week and it would still hold her DNA information anyway. You could probably find Dumbledore if you had something of his because his magical signature is so strong, the same with Voldemort which is probably why he thought we were looking for him. Anyone with a strong magical signature can be tracked to at least the country they're in. Anything more specific usually requires a level of power that is nearly impossible to achieve." Harry pushed his hair off his face. "I didn't expect it to point to the street she was on or anything. I just had to have some idea where she was. Even if it had just said the UK I would at least have known that she was still alive."

Draco let out his breath and dropped to the ground. "So you didn't think you could find where she was?"

Harry lowered slowly next to him. "I did hope that I could." He laughed. "But then I also kind of hoped that she'd appear in the middle of the Great Hall singing and laughing at me for worrying at all."

Draco sighed and leaned back on his elbows. "So those are the people you stayed with this summer?"

"Yep."

"Was the one that sent you the letter there?"

Harry smiled. "Yep. Jason." Now the hard part. "What do you want me to tell you Draco?"

Draco sighed. "I have no bloody idea." He lay on his back. "You told me why--well you know. I just--none of it makes any sense. Mr. Sartoris said that someone was missing, which I already knew because of that whole thing last night, but he just, I don't know. Seemed more involved than he should be or something. Why wouldn't he want to answer our questions?"

And we move into the gray areas of conversation. What to say? I don't know his loyalties for sure. I can't tell him things that he might tell, or be forced to tell, his father's friends. I shouldn't have even told him about the magic, but I did keep it imprecise. That's something. "There were eight-year-old kids in the hospital wing who had their bones snapped by Death Eaters. I think that anyone would be--he's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and suddenly there are little kids who have had to look straight into the face of the Dark Arts. How do you defend against something that doesn't attack those who fight it, but those that don't even understand it?"

Draco was staring off into the stands again. "Professor Snape told me to watch you last night. He probably wants me to tell him what went on."

He probably already knows, but you don't know that. What are your loyalties Draco? "Are you going to?"

Draco sat up and dropped his head to his knees. "That is the question, isn't it?" He stood. "I don't have any desire to die to protect you Potter, but I also don't have any desire to betray you to people that want you dead."

Ouch. I think you just outed Professor Snape to me. Wasn't that dangerous?

"Does he know where you were this summer?"

Are you asking if he knows or if Voldemort knows? Hm. Does Voldemort know? If I tell him that Snape knew and Voldemort didn't and he lets something slip this could get bad. Uncertainty should work. "I don't know. Dumbledore knew. Who knows what he decides to share with the staff?" That should work well enough.

Draco nodded and paced in front of him. "I won't tell him what you did. Maybe just that you seemed to be friends with some of them. You already said in class this morning that you were pen pals with one of them, so that should work. Everyone will think that Jason was your pen pal since you went right up to him when they showed up. That's not a secret." He turned to face him. "Will that work?"

Trying to straddle the fence. That is a dangerous place to be, but probably safer then blatantly going against Voldemort for someone in your position. "I think that will work. He'll be satisfied and he won't know anything he shouldn't know." Harry stood. "Thanks Draco."

Draco shrugged and grabbed his bag. "I'd better go. Professor Snape is talking to the House soon. Bye Harry."

Harry smiled as he walked off. "Bye Draco." He held back his laugh as he grabbed his bag and headed toward the library. Everything is okay on this end. Now it is time to work on the other problem. He walked to the back of the library and found the twelve arguing over their philosophy books in whispers. Harry giggled and slipped into the empty seat. He pulled his book on tracking magic out of his bag and flipped to his bookmark. 

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Thanks to my eight hours of dance recital in one day and much perseverance we have another chapter. Happy reading all. Leave me a review so I know how the pacing feels and if it feels like things are going to fast.