Last Time

'Does that mean you'll actually get up the guts to ask her out?' Refero didn't need the answer Harry didn't give him, he just started laughing.

'Now.' He looked at Hermione from the corner of his eye. 'How do I ask Hermione out, not get rejected, and what will I go as?'

Now

Harry sat with a growl in the front row of the DADA room, no one daring to intrude upon his bad mood. 'The git takes half a week to get out of the Hospital wing when he should have been fine the first night, then he goes around acting like a damn war hero!'

'Hey! I take offense to that! I'M a war hero!' Refero yelled in indignation.

Harry snickered. 'Fine...' Hermione sat down next him, she was the only one that got close to him when he was in a bad mood.

"Harry, Malfoy is a snobby git, so calm down, please?" Harry nodded, breaking off from getting lost in her brown eyes with a light blush. 'She's right ya know. Malfoy Jr. is almost as arrogant as his father, no need to let it get to ya. You and Hermione just need to focus on helping Hagrid win the case.'

'Why didn't you include Ron?'

'He's a stupid git and will probably forget all about saying he'll help Hagrid within the week.'

Harry sighed, Refero had been advocating this idea since the first night. "I'm fine, 'Mione, and thanks." Harry said, Hermione having sent him a worried look when she heard the sigh.

The room went quite. 'What is it I fear most?' Harry was genuinely curious as to what his Boggart would be, pondering various things it could be and ways to counter them, he missed several people take turns until it landed at his feet.

"Here!" Lupin yelled, trying to bring the shape shifters attention to him.

'No way in Hell am I going to let him let me out of this!' Harry mentally yelled, jumping closer to the Boggart so that it turned it's full attention to him, the spider melted away; the Boggart had disappeared.

"No." Hermione's voice sounded, though her lips hadn't moved, and it seem to come from the room itself. Suddenly people gasped as the chill Dementors were feared for spread through the room as a Dementor became visible in the center of the room. Harry clutched his head, Hermione's no now accompanied the shriek he had heard the first time he had seen a Dementor ripping through his mind. Harry raised his wand weakly, pointing it at the horrid spirit and muttered. "Ridkikulus." There was a loud whip crack like noise and... nothing seemed to happen.

The Dementor slowly reached up and pulled down it's hood. Refero's face looked back at him, his normally pure snow white hair a vibrant pink. Harry stared for a second before he burst out laughing, comedic tears pouring from his eyes as he pointed at the mob of pink hair on his teacher visage.

'... I'm going to get you for that one...' Refero muttered in Harry's mind, causing Harry to grin. The Boggart dissolved as Harry laughed harder as he added make up to 'Refero's' pale face. 'Yep, you are SO dead, Potter...' The Hollow muttered again.

'What's the worst you can do? Stop training me?'

'Tch, nope; instead, your going to get a week full of sessions that'll make everything so far look like you were taking a walk!'

Harry flinched. 'I'm screwed, aren't I?'

Harry could visualize the look on Refero's face easily. 'Yep!'

"Well... that's class." Lupin stated, looking at Harry in surprise. "Mr. Potter, please stay." Harry nodded, plopping down in one of the chairs in the room as the it cleared.

"It's OK, 'Mione, I'll catch up, tell Vector that I'm talking to Professor Lupin." Hermione nodded and left, leafing only Harry and Lupin.

"Harry..." Lupin began, taking the seat opposing Harry. "Why did you stop me from stepping in?"

Harry shrugged. "Pride, I guess, thanks to you I've been labeled 'delicate' by Madame Pomfrey after all. I guess I just wanted to prove I could handle it."

Lupin nodded. "I guess that makes sense... sorry about that by the way."

Harry shrugged. "It's OK I guess... why were you going to jump in, then?" Harry asked, curious.

"I had assumed that the Boggart would have assumed the shape of Voldemort, not something I wanted to materialize in the staff room."

"You don't fear his name?" Harry asked bemused. "You just got an extra five points in my book. Why not? It would have been good for a laugh, and it's not like any of the students could have even recognized him."

"You have point there..."

"Which part? The funny part or the serious part?"

Lupin grinned. "Both, actually."

Harry laughed as he stood to leave. "Well, I'm late for Arithmancy, so I'll be going." Lupin nodded, standing and walking out the door behind him.

"Oh, and Harry?" Lupin called, Harry stopped and looked over his shoulder at the man. "What was that voice we heard before the Dementor appeared."

Harry heaved a heavy sigh. "That... was 'Mione rejecting me after I ask her to the Halloween dance. I guess instead of repeating it normally, it found my fear of Dementors and used the Dementor's ability to repeat it." Harry answered truthfully, he had become better at figuring stuff out thanks to Refero's teaching method of giving him the basics and telling him to get the final result on his own; which made him a quicker thinker.

"You plan to ask Miss Granger to the dance?" The younger of the two nodded shyly, Lupin was the first one to be told that, bar Refero. "You should, you might just have better luck then you think." Lupin grinned, tapped his nose and left down the hall.

Harry stood there in shock for a minuet before Refero's voice spoke. 'That man is NOT human, I don't know what he is; but it's not human.'

Harry blinked out off his daze and started heading for his Arithmancy class room. 'What makes you say that?'

'The aura he gives off, it's different from the other humans of your dimension, it more... feral, it's closure to that of an animal, a predator too...'

Over the course of the next few weeks, DADA became the favorite class of most of the student body, Lupin favored practical lessons and knew his stuff and made classes as fun as possible. Only Malfoy and his lot, not Slytherin in general, found a a fault with Lupin; his clothes.

"Honestly, his clothes? How immature can you get...?" Harry muttered to himself as he watched the Gryffindors clear the room on their way to Hogsmeade, it was the Hogsmeade trip the day before Halloween. He had asked McGonagall but she said she couldn't, even as his head of house, sign the permission slip.

"So... what are we going to do, Harry?" Aforementioned raven haired boy spun around, finding Ginny and Hermione standing behind him.

The confused boy blinked. "'Mione? Why are you still here...?"

Hermione giggled. "I decided to stay and keep you company along with Ginny, besides; I have my costume all together for the dance so I don't need to go get any thing for it."

Harry frowned. "Yes, that is the reason why the Hogsmeade trip was early this year, but that's not the only reason to go."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Stop complaining, Harry." In the course of spending time with Harry she had gotten over her shyness around the boy, he wasn't so sure he liked the change; the unbashful Ginny Weasley was a teasing little spit fire and her relation to the twins was even more obvious. "Two beautiful young withes want to spend time with you."

Harry grinned wryly, shooting a side long glance at Hermione. "I guess your right." They both blushed as he indirectly called them beautiful. "Come on, you can keep me company as I practice with the 'Basilisk Slayer'." He rolled his eyes as he heard whisper from the first and second years, as well as a few six and sevens that thought they had seen enough of Hogsmeade, as they talked about seeing the 'legendary' weapon again, or in this first years case the first time.

Harry went up the boy's stairs, coming down a minuet later with the zanpakutō in hand, he had switched from robes to muggle jeans and a white wife beater. He sweat dropped as he saw the hungry looks the females in the common room gave him when they saw how ripped he was. 'Fine, I guess you win...'

Refero laughed. 'I told you the only reason they weren't drooling like I said they would when you got back was because wizarding robes hid to much of you body!'

The bare foot boy looked around. "No one's going to talk about me bringing this out, right? Yes it's mine by right, but I'm sure I'm not supposed to use it here..." Everyone nodded, this wouldn't be getting out.

'OK then, do sets nine and eleven, let's give them a show!' Refero laughed, Harry nodded briefly and slipped the sheath in to his left side belt loop, slipping the razor sharp blade form the sheath and beginning a series of moves. The room watched in shock as Harry moved through the area they had cleared for him like a master, to them at least. Having no idea every move he made was getting a harsh review from an inter-dimensional traveler.

'To much force! To deep a lunge. That one was decent. Twenty more degrees down.' Refero's words flew from his mouth even faster then Harry was moving, he was watching holographic Harry in the boys mindscape doing the same moves as the real thing outside in the Gryffindor common.

An hour later Harry fell to his knees sweating heavily, the sword sinking into the stone when he used it to help push himself up. "I'm exhausted..." He panted, Refero had had him go through all the sets he knew, all thirteen of them.

The lot that had been sitting and watching could only nod in sympathy, he hadn't stopped for an hour after all. One by one, they left until only he Hermione and Ginny in the Gryffindor common.

"Here."Ginny took the sword and it's sheath from Harry and, after looking at the deadly edge of the weapon like a old friend, sheathed it. "I'll put this in away for you." Ginny leaned over and whispered into Harry's ear. "This is your chance, I realize now who you like after spending time with the you." Harry's eyes widened in surprise as the red head ran up stair and ran back down just as Harry was sitting down in the love chair by the fire next Hermione. "See you guy's later, I'm going to meet up with a friend!" And with that she was gone out the portrait hole.

The two friends sat in a comfortable silence for the next few minuets as they watched the fire crackle, and sending each other furtive looks when they thought the other wasn't looking, until Refero spoke up. 'Ask her already! Like Ginny said, nows your chance! Do it or... I'll but you through another Hell Week!'

Harry flinched at the threat, he never wanted another Hell Week for as long as he lived. 'Fine.' He took a deep breath. "Hey, Hermione?"

"Yeah?" She turned her head away from the fire, meeting Harry's emerald eyes with her own chocolate ones.

"Uhh..." He gulped, pulling himself from getting lost in the color. "Do you... have a date for the dance tomorrow?"

Hermione blushed, averting her eyes. "... No, I've been hoping someone special would ask me..."

'Did she just look at me when she said 'someone special'?' "Well, I'm no one special, but... would you like to go with me?" The blush on his face could have replaced the fire, Hermione's breath caught in her throat. Misinterpreting the gasp, Harry quickly added. "As friends, of course."

Happy smile on Hermione's face faltered, but she quickly got over it. "Of course." Her voice said she clearly didn't like the 'as friends' part. "Where should I meet you" She asked, standing up.

"How about in front of the Hall at ten till six?" The dance started at six, he doubted others would be that early.

"'K, see you then." She bent over and kissed and Harry on the same cheek as before. "Take a hint." She whispered in his ear as she left.

"I screwed that up, didn't I?"

'Yep, you sure as Hell did.

(A/N)Yo. The dance is next chapter, so please give me your votes for Hermione's costume(I've only gotten one so far, and, as much as I like and approve it, I'd like to here some other ideas!) Readers of my other fics... I'm sorry for the unforgivable delay... I promise to update them soon.

Laters