A/N Enjoy!

Disclaimer Nope, still don't own it.

'Mind speak'

~Parseltongue~

15. Truce

Harry woke in a fouler mood than he had fallen asleep with. Mindful of the conversation that he and Voldemort had shared the previous evening though, he addressed it and violently shoved it aside. He relaxed into a semi-meditative state, detaching a small part of his consciousness to burn through the new sensation in the safety of his own mind whilst the greater part of him went about the daily business of getting up.

~Part of you seems missing right now.~

Harry looked over at Rasp, startled, ~That is… surprisingly observant of you.~ Harry frowned a bit, ~Why would you even care to notice?~

Rasp transferred to Harry's shoulders from his position wrapped around one of Harry's bedposts.

~I have given this a fair bit of thought, hatchling,~ Rasp paused, though it was unclear whether it was for effect or uncertainty, ~I would not be opposed to a familial bond with you.~

Harry's forehead creased, ~Is that not what we already have?~

Rasp blinked at him, in that very slow way that snakes do, ~Up until now, I have been around you merely because I find you interesting. And partially because Chiana seemed to think you were important,~ the last bit was added grudgingly.

~Thanks, I think,~ Harry said with the barest hint of sarcasm. If Rasp was aware of it, he chose to ignore it.

~Now, I think I can see what she meant. Besides, if anyone is to bring Young Tom to heel, they will be in need of my help. You more so than most.~

It took Harry a moment to realise that Rasp had just made a joke, at his expense too. He let out a short bark of laughter, startling himself which only served to make him laugh again. He felt relief flood through him, for it seemed that Rasp was now truly on his side.

~I would be honoured, but there must be no more secrets. I need to know that you really are my agent.~

Rasp inclined his head, ~You have my loyalty, Harry Potter. From now, until the day I die.~

Harry felt a rush of warmth and he slowly became aware of another presence within his mind, his magic tingled approvingly. He felt euphoric, the world was brighter, the colours more vivid.

Then he felt normal again.

~I will see you soon,~ Rasp was gone before Harry thought to say anything else. Then Harry remembered his foul mood.

Cedric had betrayed him once, he would be even more of a problem from now onwards. Obviously, Harry had been wrong in hoping to court Cedric to his way of thinking. Dumbledore had sunk his claws in, more accurately – he hadn't ever let go.

He surprised himself when he found himself standing fully clothed by the side of the dormitory entrance. He blinked and walked down the steps and through the common room, making sure to give a few people a polite nod.

As soon as Draco had recovered, he would start painting Dumbledore as an insane old man with a power complex. Harry felt a pang of guilt. It hadn't stopped by to see the slytherin for a while now. Sirius was also in need of Harry's attention, he would not do too well in Azkaban for long. Harry had to somehow get him out.

He meandered down to the Great Hall, hoping that a way to solve his Sirius conundrum would strike in a moment of inspiration.

'Focus on something closer to home,' Harry gave Rasp a mental nod in response, though he didn't stop worrying about Sirius. He wasn't quite expecting Fred and George Weasley to be occupying his usual seat and helping themselves to a mountain of scrambled eggs. Harry coughed politely to get their attention.

"Why hello," said Fred around a mouthful of egg. His brother loudly smacked his lips and jumped up to put an arm around Harry.

"It has come to our attention –"

"-that you do actually have some small amount –"

"-of brain matter in that adorably big-"

"-skull of yours."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, he saw Snape narrowing his eyes at the twin's unmistakeable performing cadence. Something was about to happen. Harry seriously hoped that Dumbledore hadn't played a part in it. The perfectly in sync winks that they simultaneously gave him did little to reassure him.

"We would like to take this most wonderful-" now they were addressing the hall and had jumped up on the table so students would have an easy time seeing them.

"-of opportunities to introduce to all of you-"

"-lucky students the range of new products designed by us-" here they grabbed Harry's arms and practically lifted him to stand straddling a plate of pancakes between the both of them.

"-and our buddy Harry here. If any of you-"

-"are interested'" McGonagall took the initiative and shot a bunch of sparks into the air, drawing attention to herself.

"Weasley! Potter! Please do stop interrupting our breakfast with you tomfoolery and sit down!"

"You know where to find us!" the twins finished succinctly, their voices carrying over McGonagall's as they jumped off the table and raced out of the hall. Harry was left standing somewhat baffled on the table. As soon as the twins were out of sight all attention turned back to him. Snape's gaze was amongst the most menacing, Harry was glad that Dumbledore hadn't been present for the whole debacle.

Masking his surprise, Harry gave the hall a slightly apologetic shrug along with an easy smile.

"You heard them, check it out. It'll be well worth your time."

"Mr. Potter!" erupted Professor McGonagall.

Harry put his hands up in a placating manner, cocked his eyebrow and, in a way that silenced the room, smiled again, "Yes, yes. I know. Get off the table, right?"

McGonagall's mouth had open and closed once by the time Harry had jumped off the table and followed the twin's exit. The easy stride he had perfected years before had never been so hard to maintain as under the weight of so many astonished stares.

This was the reason his plan had originally spanned a whole year to get to this state. Now the whole student and staff body suspected something strange had happened to Harry Potter. His stomach then chose to remind him of its current state to neglect and Harry wholeheartedly cursed the times for making him forget about breakfast.

Harry saw a hand coming from an alcove to get him and he reacted by sending a wordless, wandless confundus charm in that general direction. The hand paused rather comically and then started doing some strange little gestures.

Harry quickly searched for other magical presences before charging into the same alcove as Fred and George, casting privacy wards the whole time.

He had his wand pressed painfully against Fred's throat within seconds. George seemed to be having a hard time controlling his body movements. Harry let him be, the confundus charm would last a while longer.

"What is going on?" he hissed at Fred. Pissed off because now he would have to accelerate his plans even further.

'Wasn't that your plan anyway, now that your dog-father has been relocated to Azkaban?'

Harry ignored Voldemort's voice, sparing only a small amount of bemusement at how Voldemort referred to Sirius. He opted for glaring at Fred instead.

"I- It's what you wanted, isn't it?!

This calmed Harry somewhat, at least the twins had chosen to do what they had done because they wanted to help, not hinder.

"What do you mean, and how would you possibly know what I wanted?"

"Cheesecake!" burst out George, looking very pleased with himself. Fred grimaced.

"Do you mind?" he asked, gesturing towards his brother.

Harry paused for a moment before putting away his wand and mentally cancelling his spell on George. "Bloody hell!" muttered the now-sharp twin, "but yes, cheesecake may have said something along those lines."

Harry rechecked that he had released the spell, "Pardon?"

Fred spoke up quickly, "Our nickname for Luna Lovegood. We call her that because – well, it's a long story."

Harry gave them a serious face, "I'm sure. But you haven't told me how."

The red-heads exchanged a look. "Well Harry. You did give us the idea, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to test it all out."

Suddenly it clicked, "Extendable ears?"

The twins grinned, "We're gonna call them detachable ears, but yep, pretty much."

"Yeah, thanks for the idea Harry."

"So here's a free set for you," said Fred, a set of ears magically resting in his open palm. Harry took it and gave it a quick look-over before pocketing it.

"Well, see you Harry!"

"Nope," Harry said confidently, "You spied on Luna?"

The twins stopped mid-step and reluctantly turned back around.

"Its not that we meant to," started George, shifting nervously on his feet.

"We thought we'd hear some ..err.. hilarious-"

"-conversations within the deepest parts of the library."

Harry stifled a laugh, "You wanted to catch a secret tryst in the library? How cliché!" Both twins scratched their heads sheepishly, but Harry wasn't done, "and far too coincidental. Combined with the sheer idiocy of the idea, I am very much disinclined to believe you. Tell me the real reason, and don't forget that I don't need your express permission to extract it."

George blanched at that, remembering their first encounter with Harry.

"Yes, well now, no need for things to escalate that far, don't you think?"

Harry remained silent, amused that fear could control people so easily. Fred was the one who cracked first, "Ron said something about Hermione acting weirdly. We investigated a little and it turns out that she's talking to Luna a bit. Which we thought was even stranger because –"

"Fred!" Two pairs of eyes snapped to George. Harry was a little shocked, he couldn't remember ever hearing like the twins disagreeing about anything.

"There's no point! He's either going to hear it from us or someone else!"

"He's our brother Fred. Family!"

Harry couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw Fred's eyes flash with something dangerous, "He's a prick."

Something passed between the two of them that Harry must have missed as the tension settled and they both turned to calmly regard Harry as a single unit once again. Harry gave them a nonchalant smile, "C'mon you're killing me here."

George spoke up first this time, looking more than a little nervous, "Well, Ron's started dating Hermione," he looked at Harry expectantly.

"This effects Luna, how?"

"Well," Fred took over, noticeably paler than before, Harry's eyes narrowed, "it's common knowledge that Ron hates you."

Harry started tapping his foot, getting impatient, "Tragic," he drawled.

Fred looked him directly in the eye, "Apparently Dumbledore –"

Harry groaned, massaging his temple, "Must he be involved in everything that goes on?"

Fred looked spooked, so George took over, "he said to watch out for anybody who started getting friendly with you, Luna or Malfoy."

Harry nodded, having expected as much, "You still haven't answered my question," he pointed out.

"Ron walked in on us testing these," he gestured to the ears, "gave us the same lame excuse we just gave you."

"We refused at first, you know. They were the only pair we had at the time. We said he could have the next pair we made," continued Fred.

"Thought he had finally taken after his brothers and would try his hand at a little light pranking."

"Ron's a prick," said Fred again, though this time with more force, "he stole the ones we were testing and must have stuck one on Hermione."

Harry quirked an eyebrow, "Then how did you listen in? Though, Ron's possessiveness is hardly surprising."

Both twins gave Harry a weak smile at that, "We got the ears back; we didn't tell him, but we've put in a recording device as well."

Harry blinked and looked at the ears again. This time he extended his magic to examine them, "Impressive," he said approvingly, "Luna told Hermione enough for you two to understand what I'm doing?"

The twins answered in unison, falling easily back into their old patterns, "Obviously."

Harry thought his stomach had dropped to the floor, "That means Ron must know too. Shit!"

The twins looked blankly at Harry, "Mate, what could Ron possibly do about it?"

Harry fixed them both with a harsh glare, "Fools, if Ron knows then so does Dumbledore!"

"Well, about that…"

Harry could feel a headache coming on, "What now?"

Fred and George shared an amused smile, "Hermione found the ear in her pocked on the way back. She put two and two together and-"

"-as usual."

"-got the right answer. I'm surprised Ron's ears didn't fall off with the talking to she gave him. Got a wizard's oath off him there and then that he would tell anyone anything he heard."

Harry suddenly felt very, very tired, "And we learnt something too didn't we, George?"

George nodded solemnly, "That's right Fred."

"Never piss Hermione Granger off," they chorused.

"What do you get out of helping me?" said Harry slowly.

"Well now," started Fred.

"Hermione likes you."

"Ron hates you."

"You have a friend from each house."

"And have somehow made them docile towards each other."

"Snape and Dumbledore both look at you like you could bite at any moment,-"

"-whilst the rest of the staff pities you."

"You're a legimens,"

"You're not even close to what you say you are."

"Basically, you're interesting, and that's what interests us."

Harry laughed – he couldn't sense any ulterior motives at the forefront of either of their minds – they seemed to be telling the truth, "You don't know the half of it."

Both red-heads looked confused, Harry decided that that look was intensely amusing, so he left it at that.

He felt lighter than he had in a while, he decided he would go and visit Draco and have Dobby send him some breakfast in the room of requirement. He would probably ask Luna about Hermione too.

He walked in to find Draco sleeping peacefully while Luna was humming a quiet tune and reading a book by his bedside. She looked up when Harry drew near.

"He looks-" he didn't know what to say, so he looked Luna in the eye, "you truly must be an angel."

Luna smiled at the compliment, but her face turned serious again, "Flattery will get you nowhere, but feel free to keep on trying. You need to sort out whatever happened between you."

"I know," he said, solemn once more, "you must be exhausted Luna. Rest awhile, I'll watch over him." He gave her a look that said he would sort things with Draco.

Harry would ask about Hermione later, when Luna had recovered from her vigil. For her part, Luna gave him a hard fixed stare, to which he returned a reassuring smile.

"If he wakes, tell him to take the potions next to his bed."

Harry smiled again, "I will."

He turned to appraise Draco as Luna left the room. He really did look much better, his bruised eye was completely healed, his skin was a healthy hue and his eyes were still beneath their lids.

"You were right," he said, forced to stop as he choked on his words. He was surprised to feel a globule of water tracing a path down his cheek. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. "You were right, and I was stubborn," he tried again, "I shouldn't have said those things to you. You're one of my only friends. But I hurt you then. Turns out I was partially responsible for the state you're in now. Poor friend I've been."

"Now I know why you weren't sorted into slytherin. Gods Harry! You absolute dunce," Harry jerked in surprised to find Draco looking at him as if he had decided to take a bath in a sewer.

Harry jabbed his finger petulantly at the two vials beside Draco's bed, "Drink. Luna's orders."

Draco grimaced, "C'mon Harry, take pity on me."

Strange, Harry thought to himself, that something which had seemed so dramatic before was fixed so easily. It was almost as if the argument had never happened in the first place.

'So fickle is the heart.'

Harry raised an eyebrow, "My fear of Luna outweighs any sympathy I have for you."

'Do you feel left out?' Harry shot back at Voldemort.

Draco blanched at the thought of an angry Luna and downed the potions in short order. There was no response from Voldemort.

"Breakfast?" asked Harry, trying not to betray his hopefulness. Draco perked up a bit at the word.

"Please," he said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

Harry smiled, "Dobby," he called out.

The house elf was there with a polite pop, "Yes, master Harry?"

"Could you possibly arrange for a few scraps from breakfast to be sent up here – we missed ours."

Dobby nodded his understanding and looked towards Draco, "Anything special for you, master Malfoy?" this was said with a bit of acid. He still hadn't quite gotten over his time at Malfoy Manor.

At least Draco finally understood that it was far more advantageous to be friendly to an elf than not. It had taken a few weeks of badgering on Harry and Luna's part, "No thank you Dobby, just breakfast for me. And please, call me Draco."

Dobby nodded again and left the room. He reappeared in seconds with two trays filled with breakfast foods. A table appeared between the two boys and the elf set both trays down on it.

"Will yous be wanting anything else?"

"No, thank you," replied Harry. Dobby disappeared a moment later.

"I don't think he'll ever like me," Draco was staring at the trays on the table.

Harry smirked, "Give him some time. He'll see through all that ego soon enough."

Draco shot him a dark look, "Two days since you've seen me and all you can do is insult me!"

"Hey! I got us breakfast!"

Draco looked blankly at Harry, "No you didn't, Dobby did!"

Harry laughed.

"So I was right, about Cedric, I mean. Glad to see that you've admitted you were wrong. You think I have a big ego…"

Harry grimaced this time.

"That bad?" Draco asked, perception as sharp as ever.

Harry smiled, "Turns out he was on the edge of betraying me as soon as I met him."

"Oh?"

"You don't seem that surprised."

Draco put down his fork, "I thought you were a better judge of character. Cedric doesn't take risks," he frowned, "not politically, at least. He knows he is accepted by being on the same side as Dumbledore, he would never jeopardise that. Its why I told you to let it go before you got in too deep."

"I-" Harry stopped, "I think I wanted to believe that I could get people to change if I tried hard enough."

Draco looked him in the eye, "Why would you want to? People are idiots, leave them to it."

"The minister for magic is elected, and helped, by his popularity with the common people."

"You want to be minister for magic?" Draco asked incredulously.

"I – Gods no!" uttered Harry, "Why would I want to be a minister?"

"Then why bother trying?"

Harry sighed, "I don't know."

"Harry," this was said firmly, "concentrate on taking down Dumbledore, you can think about afterwards, well afterwards."

"Luna didn't tell you?"

Draco's eyes narrowed, "Tell me what?"

A sigh, "The ministry found Sirius. They took him back to Azkaban. I've got to get him back out, and soon. I don't know how long he'll last."

There was silence for a moment as Draco processed the information. "Luna neglected to – Sirius survived well enough for over a decade. He should be fine, at least for a while."

"Yes," Harry agreed, "but Dumbledore left him well alone last time. I have a feeling that he is personally overseeing his care. He convinced Fudge to send him to Azkaban rather than give him the kiss."

"Why would he do that?" Draco commenced eating, obviously expecting a long explanation.

"He's nervous. He can't control me, yet he needs me to be the weapon to destroy Voldemort for good. And he knows that I'm up to something. He probably thinks he can find out by destroying Sirius' mind. No doubt he'll start breaking him using dementors. I need to get him out before he cracks."

"Have you got a plan?" Draco asked.

'Have you?' asked another, more interest voice, in his head.

"No, not yet. As you said though. One thing at a time. I need to do something about Cedric first."

'Don't you have anything better to do than listen to my conversations?

'Like planning a mass breakout from Azkaban?'

"I guess you're right, Harry. Have you got a plan about Cedric?"

"Obliviate?" Harry asked weakly.

'Are you? Because if you are, that would be perfect,' Harry said, mimicking Tom's earlier sarcasm.

"Dumbledore will smell a rat."

Harry sighed, "I know."

"How much does his know?"

Harry gave up on breakfast altogether, he didn't feel all that hungry anymore.

This time, Draco sighed, "Too much, hmm?" he was silent for a moment, "Any chance you could trick him into making an unbreakable vow or signing a magical contract?"

Harry though about that, "I can't even think of a reasonable excuse to even bring it up," he said, shaking his head.

Another moment of silence before Draco spoke up again, "What about disguising it as a marriage contract?" Draco's face was tense, Harry coughed in shock.

"First you said leave him and now you want me to marry the man!?" Harry gave a short, sharp. He noticed a spark of irritation in Draco's eyes.

"You're not actually going to marry him! Do you want to be rid of him or not?"

"I guess its worth a shot. But, it's not as if we've been dating that long, just since the end of last year. Won't he suspect something?"

Draco blinked, "You're kidding right," his disbelief changed to disgust in an instant, "The way he moons over you, I don't think he'd be able to think straight for the rest of his life if you suggest it."

Harry gave Draco a look, "He is not that much of a fop. "Draco merely raised an eyebrow and took avid interest in his empty plate.

'Yes he is. Stop lying to yourself, your reluctance to see the truth is irritating.'

'The last thing I need is your opinion on this.'

'Why not? It's too annoying for me not to express an opinion.'

'Go away.'

Amusement, 'As you wish.'

"Yes he is," Harry finally admitted, not liking the fact that he had mimicked the dark lord directly. He could feel more amusement from Voldemort and confusion from elsewhere – from Rasp, he realised, the conflicting emotions he was receiving from Harry must have made very little sense. Apparently, the two of them were unaware of the others' presence within Harry's mind.

Draco looked at him with a mildly irritated expression, "You really are impossible sometimes." Harry tried very hard not to smirk at that.

"Hey Cedric," Harry had waited until after Cedric's care of magical creatures class. They were on the edge of the forest and they hung back behind the rest of the class – Cedric assuring his year mates that he would be along shortly.

"What's up, Harry?" the hufflepuff asked – his usual cheerful state.

Harry feigned nervousness, shuffling his feet, "I just, err…"

"Come on Harry, you don't need to worry around me," Cedric reassured with a comforting smile on his face he threw an arm around Harry's shoulder. Harry tried not to dwell on the irony of that sentence.

He wanted nothing more than to yank away from the hufflepuff, knowing that everything he had just said was a lie, instead he settled himself closer to Cedric

"I was just talking to Luna," he started, separating himself and putting on a serious face, "And that thing with Fred and George this morning got me thinking."

Cedric frowned, "About what."

"They used me, who I am. Though not for malicious purposes.. this time…" Harry produced a piece of parchment, he saw a smidgeon of hurt pass through Cedric's face, "This, is a magical contract," Cedric's mouth began to open in protest, "pertaining to a promise of marriage."

Cedric's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "Harry!? Are you – are you asking me to marry you?"

Harry smiled crookedly, why had he wanted to stay with the fool in the first place? "Well, not quite. I'm not old enough. This is more of a promise that, if things between us stay as good as they are right now then, we can do."

Cedric frowned, "Why can't we just wait until then anyway, why would we need a contract?"

Harry smiled again, "Well, if things don't go so well.. not that I'm expecting that. Its just.. Fred and George really took me by surprise this morning. I don't think you ever would but; I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you signed this, saying that you won't reveal any of my secrets or try to exploit me like the Weasley twins did."

Cedric looked aghast, "Harry, you know I would never –"

"Please?" Harry pleaded, knowing Cedric was too kind-hearted to hold up for long against an obviously insecure Harry.

Cedric hesitated, Harry blinked away a fake tear. It seemed he would have to play his biggest card, "I'm the boy-who-lived Cedric. Dumbledore told me I need to take extra precautions… he wrote this himself, see?"

Cedric immediately relaxed when he heard Dumbledore's name, Harry quelled a satisfied smirk at having used the headmaster's reputation against him.

"Sure thing Harry, where do I sign?"

Harry gave him the document and a self-inking quill. The hufflepuff didn't even glance at the words he was signing against. Harry couldn't help the triumphant smirk on his face when Cedric looked up.

"Harry?" he questioned, confused but not worried.

Harry grabbed the contract and smiled even wider when it flared up with a comforting silvery magically glow. "You really are an idiot."

Cedric's smile faded completely, replaced with uncertainty, "What are-?"

"You would know if you had bothered to read it," Harry said darkly, waving the contract.

"But-"

"You will tell anybody who asks that you and Harry Potter have broken up and are now on less than amicable terms with each other. You will tell them that we argued over our future together. You wanted a marriage and I did not. Apart from that, you are forbidden to tell them anything about me unless they already know for certain. If you come close to breaking these rules you will experience a very painful headache if you pursue the same course you will get a nosebleed. If you continue after that then you will black out. When you wake up your magical core will have frizzled out and you will behave in a way that makes you worthy of a dementor's kiss in your grief. Do you understand?" sharp emeralds eyes fixed on Cedric as the older boy stared in horror at the piece of parchment sitting innocently in Harry's hand.

"How-"

"Do you understand?" harry cut him off, this time applying some magical pressure. Cedric went completely pale and started trembling.

"Yes," he said weakly.

"Just so you know," started Harry, "those two warnings – they only happen once."

Cedric stiffened and pure fear trickled through his eyes. Harry once again felt the rush of pure elation that accompanied the moment when he well and truly had trampled someone into the ground. He savoured the look in Cedric's eyes, committing it to memory before turning around and walking away.

'You seem happy.'

'Because I am,' replied Harry, for even Lord Voldemort's presence in his mind couldn't affect the thrill of having taken one of Dumbledore's pieces so completely off the board. He had finally broken the stalemate, Harry was ahead at last.

"Did you get all of that?" he asked whilst pulling a disturbingly lifelike replica of a human ear from his robe pocket.

"You bet," Harry could clearly hear the mirth in Draco's voice.

"Every last word," followed Luna, she was more controlled but just as amused.

He cast a mild notice-me-not on himself as he made his way to his defence class, secretly wondering what the point was, he knew the curses that the spells they were reading about supposedly protected them from. What's more, he knew far more effective counters for them.

He lifted his charm as he confidently entered the classroom.

Harry took the seat next to Hermione, who greeted him with a tight smile. The room already held a resigned atmosphere and was completely silent until the pink lady herself walked in. She smiled brightly at them all and set them to copying yet another extract from that cursed introductory book. Harry had come prepared though and had made triplicates of todays' passage, leaving his mind free to detail his plans for the coming weeks.

First, he would need to instigate a duel with someone, he needed a viable reason to explain how Dumbledore's supposed charms had been thrown off completely. His original plan was to ask Draco, as they were known to dislike each other in a public setting. But Draco was still recovering, besides, Harry didn't think a fake show of hatred from the boy was going to be enough to fool the masses. Luna was another option, but they were known to be an odd couple of friends throughout the school.

'The fiery boy?' Whispered Rasp in his head. Harry blinked, not understanding until Rasp conjured up an image of Ron Weasley. Harry thought about it for a long moment, before finding that he approved of the idea.

To the outside world, he wasn't even that good at magic, even the Weasley spawn as an opponent would be an overwhelming force compared to him. Also, Ron wouldn't need to fake his hatred. He wouldn't tell his friends the specifics.

'Best not to tell them at all.'

The tail of the 'g' Harry had been writing turned into a harsh line, almost breaking his quill and going through the parchment, 'Must you really have a say in everything?'

'If they don't know, they cannot act suspiciously.'

Sometimes, Harry hated Voldemort just for his logic.

'And after that? When will you save your poor godfather from the dementors?'

Harry gritted his teeth, 'What's it to you?'

There was a strange mix of concern, amusement and curiosity. A little bemused, Harry split his mind into two separate areas, one for Rasp and the other for Voldemort. All that was left was amusement and curiosity, 'I just thought I'd be friendly and tell you that I'm planning to raid Azkaban in twelve days or so.'

Harry forced himself to keep writing for appearances sake, he was actually quite stunned. Then a more logical side of him kicked in and informed the rest of his brain that Voldemort was actually just toying with him.

'Would you be a dear and free Sirius for me while you're at it?' he asked, overplaying the innocence.

There was no reply, but, could Harry detect a slight disappointment in the empty space Voldemort left behind.

'Hatchling?' inquired Rasp. Harry felt a jolt of guilt, realising he had completely ignored his familiar.

'Sorry, Rasp. I actually think Ron would be a perfect fit.'

He could feel Rasp bask in pleasure at Harry's agreement, weirdly, it sent a tingle of the same pleasure down his own spine. He couldn't help but smile.

"Mr. Potter?!"

Harry's smile vanished quickly when faced with Umbridge's peeved expression. He quickly slid his left hand under the table and wandlessly vanished his top sheet of parchment, revealing a completed passage underneath. "Professor?"

"Hand in your assignment, Potter. Its time for you to leave." Harry looked up at the clock, surprised to find that the class had indeed finished. He smiled sweetly in Umbridge's direction and handed her the essay he had completed two days earlier. By his calculations, it bordered the line between poor and satisfactory. She looked at it in distaste before turning her back in dismissal.

Harry packed up his things and met Hermione just outside the door.

Harry quirked an eyebrow at her, silently asking her what she wanted.

She took a deep breath, the type one takes before making a particularly big decision, "We need to talk."

A/NSo there we have it, the end of an exceedingly rare double post. 16's about halfway done, so that should be around soon too :) Things are picking up. Not quite sure how some plot threads are gonna resolve themselves. I should point out again that I don't write with a definite plot in mind. The characters are by and large in charge of themselves, I'm just writing down what they do, so err... yeah. Sorry if anything doesn't quite match up. I'm a bit older (/wiser?) and bear in mind it's been a long time since I even thought about this story (depressingly). Feel free - in fact I urge you - to point out any inconsistencies. I'm also interested in any ideas you might have, as the audience, it's you who I want to please the most. If I find something particularly interesting I'll be sure to write it in (giving credit where credit's due, of course ;) )

err.. that's enough from me, hope you all have forgiven me!

apisci