Sorry, this chapter's not very good, but the next chapter is better and so on, so please please read and review! Thanks.

Title: Trouble Minds and Desperate Times

Main Characters: Hermione, Harry, Ron, Draco (in later chapters), Jasmine, and a few others

Summary: There's a new girl at school, but is she friend or foe? And this time has Harry fallen a little to far in? Dumbledore is still with them and Ron & Hermione are hiding a secret.

Spoilers: Everything.

Other: Set in the 7th year. Dumbledore is still alive and Harry is forcing himself further and further into the ground. Will the new girl pull him out? Or will she step on his head! The first few chapters are quite short, but then they get longer.

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it's because it isn't mine.

Chapter 2

At the Weasley's

After Mrs. Weasley was done fussing with Harry, Ron and him went upstairs. Once the two boys were safely in Ron's bedroom he turned suddenly and said, 'You will never guess who's coming to Hogwarts!'

Harry gave Ron a puzzled look, 'Urm… who?'

'Only Jasmine Bailey!' Ron said with such excitement and hand gestures that he knocked over Harry's broom.

Harry frowned. He hated not having wizard guardians. 'Look here!' Ron said, throwing a Daily Prophet into Harry's lap.

He picked it up and read the page it was open at; it read 'Miss Bailey to join Hogwarts.' And there was a picture of a girl that Harry thought looked rather too done up. She had long peroxide blonde hair and a lot of eye make- up. 'Who is she?' Harry asked, though not really caring.

'She's this really famous model!' Ron said, 'and she's the same age as us so she'll be in our year!'

Harry smiled weakly. To be honest he didn't even know that there were wizard models. 'Look, read here, apparently she knows Hermione from some boff club, isn't that great?' Ron continued.

He, Ron, didn't seem to notice that Harry hadn't answered and carried on until Mrs Weasley called them down to dinner.

Harry was relived when two weeks later Hermione arrived. No one seemed capable of talking about anything apart from Jasmine.

Unfortunately Hermione's arrival only sparked more conversations. Although Hermione was slightly irritated about how Ron wouldn't stop talking about how pretty she was. 'Oh, really Ron, don't be so shallow. She's actually incredibly bright,' Hermione looked annoyed and ran her fingers through her hair, which to Ron's great amusement, she found very difficult.

By the end of the holiday Harry had a feeling he was not going to like Jasmine. And he knew that going to Hogwarts would only mean more talk about her.

Luckily by the time they had all filed on the train they found something else to talk about, Death Eaters. 'Well, I hear Caecilius Demoreo has joined Voldermort,' Hermione told them.

'No, I could have sworn he was innocent!' Ron replied, looking slightly worried.

'Just proves you can't trust anyone,' Harry said, rather too profoundly.

Ron and Hermione stared at him and then went back engrossed in conversation.

Harry looked dreamily out the carriage doors. Suddenly, a girl that Harry had never seen before walked past. She had deep brunette hair and foggy blue eyes, surrounded by jet black eyelashes. She seemed quite tall, but it may just have been the way she carried herself. She was already wearing her robes but somehow looked different to the other girls. Much prettier.

They all stalked into the grand hall and took their seats. Then Dumbledore stood up and everyone hushed. 'We have, of course, some new students this year. And I don't just mean the year 7's. As you may have heard from the Daily Prophet Jasmine Bailey will be joining us. She has already been sorted, and I can tell announce that she is in… Gryffindor!'

All the Gryffindor boys cheered.

'Before we get onto the sorting I would like to introduce your new defence against the dark arts teacher, Professor Powbin,' Dumbledore continued.

Professor Powbin was sitting in between Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore. At the mention of his name he gave a small wave. He was a tall man with short black hair and looked no older than twenty- five. This was very unusual for a Hogwarts teacher, as they were all quite old.