A/N: Alright guys, I know it's been about 1,000 years since I last updated, but so help me, I will finish this fic!

BURN THE R.U.M: I feel like I'm writing this story for youJ. Haha, sorry for the long wait, I'll try to be more prompt…Oh, and just out of curiosity, what's your opinion of "Dead Man's Chest"?

Harry dragged Vanessa away from Hogsmede, but she felt like she was being dragged away from humanity. Was he…ashamed?

They continued to move faster with each turn, until they came to a cave that seemed to teeter on the edge of the village. It was dark and damp, but not one bit chilly. Harry let go of Vanessa at last, but continued to stare at her. The kiss had personally made her feel wonderful – refreshed, in fact. Somehow, though, she had a feeling that it had not come across the same to Harry.

"Ok, Harry," she said when she could take no more of the silence, "was there a reason you dragged me over here, or do you just enjoy bringing girls to creepy caves?"

Harry, shaking his head as if clearing, sighed. "Are things making sense to you, Vanessa?"

She thought about this for a minute. "Well, I know this whole thing is new. But I don't see why things wouldn't make sense." She stared at him, arms akimbo and eyes inquisitive.

"It's just that…it's like I didn't mean to do that, you know?"

"Not really."

"It was almost like something in you forced me to kiss you."

"I didn't force you to do anything." Here eyes glared.

"I know, but it happened anyway. But that feeling – I feel like I should really pay attention to that."

It was then that Vanessa's face softened a bit. "So what you're saying is…this can't happen, it's too dangerous, etc, etc.?"

Harry walked up to her and placed his hand on her cheek, gently brushing the hair out of her eyes. "I care about you, Vanessa. But that feeling just wasn't right. And through experience, I've learned to heed warnings when they're given."

Vanessa stared up at him the whole time, her face strong. A smile appeared. "You're a responsible boy, Harry Potter. Well, when you need to be anyway."

She turned and began to leave the cave, only to quickly look back at him before fully exiting. "But don't you think you could be a little less responsible, at least some of the time?"

She then marched right out of the cave, Harry following her this time.

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"Ashley, are you going to tell me the real reason you're at Hogwarts?" Remus asked, eyes narrowed.

"I've already told you," Ashley answered, grinning. Remus, however, was past laughing.

"We have no need of new teachers in this school, and I doubt Dumbledore would start a new course at the end of term."

Ashley finally stopped laughing and sighed. "You know, you're lucky I'm not here for a teaching job. My specialty is Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Remus just stared at her.

"I came here to warn the Order."

"But how do you – "

"Not now. What I've got to warn you about is of extreme importance, and it would be good to get through this without interruption."

Lupin nodded.

Ashley sighed and continued. "Voldemort is planning something – a kidnapping. And I'm afraid he's already put the beginnings of his operation into action."

"But why a kidnapping? Is he planning to take Harry?"

"Are you kidding? He wouldn't be able to get within a mile of Harry without being cursed a few hundred times. No, he's going to take someone not so heavily guarded – someone unexpected. Most likely another student, but I can't be sure. However, it probably will not be an adult because he needs to take someone defenseless. The problem is, I have no idea how he's going to do this exactly. There's no way he can get into Hogwarts, and how the heck is he going to just grab some kid and waltz out of here unnoticed?"

"He must have some way if he's crazy enough to do this."

Ashley frowned. "Yeah, and that is why I am here. I am the messenger, deliverer, the bearer of bad news, etc. But you need to start doing something to prevent this soon. I have a feeling that the kidnapping will occur before the end of term."

"How do you know all of this, Ashley?" Lupin, however stunned he was, never seemed to be in too much of a shock to find more questions.

"Remus, there are other societies besides the Order of the Phoenix that are after Voldemort. It's going to take more than the efforts of one to bring him down. I'm part of a British group set up in America, in case he flees or we find strange happenings there. Anyway, we managed to capture one of his Death Eaters that he sent to create diversions. We had to continually use veritaserum on him because he had some sort of repelling charm on him. I've never seen anything like it. But we managed to get the information I told you out of him."

"Why couldn't you get anymore after that?"

"Before we could give him the nest dose of serum, he stole one of our wands and performed a memory charm on himself. He knew he could never take us all out, so he decided to sacrifice his own mind for the sake of the plan."

"So what do you propose we do?"

"It's being done as we speak – I talked with Dumbledore this morning. There's a lock down on all the houses, and if one student goes missing…well, you'll know. Be satisfied with that."

"I guess I must be. But why is he kidnapping someone? What's he going to accomplish from this?" Remus looked intently at herm real worry now showing in his eyes.

She stood up and walked toward the door, her back facing him. "That's something we're going to have to find out. Fast."

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The first shriek sounded at 2:00 in the morning, but it was the second that made Harry open his eyes. He sat up in bed, noticing that the noise had not managed to disturb anyone else. The sound came from beneath them, a woman's cries of pain climbing their way to the peak of the boys' dormitories. Grabbing his wand, Harry quickly got out of bed, put on his glasses and threw on his cloak. As soon as he touched the doorknob, however, he was stopped by the muffled sound of Ron's voice.

"Harry," he aid, clearly not fully awake from his deep slumber, "wha's goin' on?"

"I'll be right back, Ron. Don't worry about it." However, Ron had already managed to let out a loud snore before Harry reached the last word of his sentence.

Harry quickly, but quietly moved down the stairs. The screaming was becoming louder and more frequent as he went down. It wasn't until he saw the forms of Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall rushing frantically about the common room that Harry realized that the screams were coming directly from underneath the stairs – they were coming from Mel's room.

"Potter!"

Harry stopped dead in his tracks. McGonagall was looking directly at him, and he was just standing there in his cloak and pajamas.

"What on earth are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

Harry thought he could see her glaring at him through the darkness.

"Well, I just – I heard – "

However, McGonagall's features softened and seemed to grow tired.

"Never mind, never mind. You might as well help as long as you're here. Fill this pitcher up with warm water and follow me."