Chapter 8
Chaos From an Opposing Threat
"Professor Lupin what are you doing here," but even as Harry said these words he knew the answer to that. The job that Dumbledore had asked him to do had gone wrong and he ended up dead. He said that it was dangerous in the letter that he could say anything about it because if it got in the wrong hands something would happen. But how did something happen so quickly. Did someone get the letter he sent him or did they have information on where he was going before he went there. He didn't leave enough information for anyone on the letter so they had to have an inside source. Remus just stared at Harry.
"I am not sure how I got here. Who are..." Harry could feel himself being tugged out of his dreams and when he opened his eyes he found himself staring into Ron's worried eyes.
"Harry are you ok you were talking in your sleep."
"Professor Lupin is dead Ron we saw him."
"What do you mean we. And how did you see him."
"Ginny and I we can use the dream enhancer as long as we are connected. We found out that we don't even have to be in the same room for it to work." Neville, Dean, and Seamus were now listening intently to what was happening having been woken up only about a half an hour earlier than they had expected.
"Well Harry I don't know what you are exactly talking about but you should probably tell Professor Dumbledore."
"That's what I am going to do. I just need to get dressed and go to the owlery." Harry had said this not just to let them know that he was planning on telling Dumbledore but also because he knew that he was still connected to Ginny as he could still here her thoughts and she was just as worried about Remus as he was. Harry gat dressed at top speed and meet Ginny down in the common room. They comprised a letter to Dumbledore (not knowing if he was still in the castle right now or not) letting him know about their experience with the dream enhancer. When they finished it they went down to the owlery. Hedwig flew down to meet Harry as he entered sensing that he needed her and it had to be quick. He tied the letter to her legs and said that it needed to go to Dumbledore Quickly. She gave a hoot and was off. Harry noticed that the owl only went up to the headmaster's window and then came back down before they even had time to get out of sight from the owlery. He would make it up to her that flight was hardly worth asking her to do. But as time was limited the quicker they knew the better. They were both however unsure as to why they needed to be urgent he was already dead there wasn't anything that they could do. But it was probably just that they need to let him know what was going on that there might be a trader within their order. Someone who was letting the dark lord know more than he should. Someone who let him know where Remus was going. He wondered who all knew where he was going. Or even that he was going. Why does the dark lord want Remus to begin with.
They climbed the steps leading to the castle entrance and headed up to the Gryffindor common room. When they got there they headed up to their rooms and changed to get ready to start the day. They went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Ron and Hermione had saved them seats. About halfway through their meal members of the D.A. started to approach him and ask him if he set the date for their first meeting. He answered yes and told them to let everyone else know that the date was on the coins. The first meeting was set for tonight at six and he was ready now to start some hard training. They needed to be ready to fight and he needed to be ready to kill Voldemort. Ginny being able to hear what Harry was thinking started to look at him and he could feel her pity. He could feel her thoughts seeping into his mind letting him know that she knew how big of a burden it was to have him be the one who was suppose to be the downfall of Voldemort. The course schedule's came in and Harry looked down at his. He had to take Transfigurations today along with charms this afternoon. The classes were longer now that they were at N.E.W.T. level. He only had time for two lessons a day. He had history of magic and potions tomorrow and Wednesday he had Defense against the dark arts and care of magical creatures. Herbology and Astronomy on Thursday and double defense against the dark arts on Friday. His schedule for the week was full. Add the fact that he was now practicing more dueling tips and private lessons from Dumbledore and Quidditch captain to top it off he wasn't going to have much free time on his hands and he looked like he was facing his hardest year at Hogwarts yet. His busy schedule wasn't going to allow him to find out any information on who was in league with Voldemort. Who ever had Remus killed was going to be let off because his schedule was full. Harry looked at Ginny she had just as full of a schedule as he did and she also had to worry about O.W.L.S. at the end of the term. They were going to have to work hard at trying to find the informant. But Harry was sure that he could do it. Who ever was in league with Voldemort would end up showing his colors sooner or later.
"Harry we have to get going we have Transfigurations now."
"Alright Hermione I am going. I'll see you at lunch ok Ginny. I love you."
"Ok Harry see you then. I love you too." Harry felt a sudden rush to his senses when he stood up and he immediately sat back down to gain his composure. He waited for a few minutes and then got back up shaking it off. It was strange but it felt like he was being drawn into Ginny. The fact threat they were now separating was kind of hard to deal with. They had spent so much time together that they almost forgot that they were separate people. He in fact could not remember the last time that he was without her except for the brief moments when he woke up and now he was facing his first few hours without her and already he felt the familiar stings of missing her. He walked half-heartedly with Hermione to Transfigurations. When they entered the room he took the seat nearest to the back and still having the connection with Ginny he started to ask her how her class was going. she told him fine but that she really needed to concentrate the teacher was going over how important O.W.L.S were.
'Don't worry to much all of the teachers tell you that and it doesn't make a difference.'
'So what Harry I still need to pay attention in class.'
'What class are you in.'
'Charms.'
'Well don't worry you wont have much to listen to but Professor Flitwick will assign some homework.'
'Ok Harry but I really do need to concentrate on this.'
'Alright I'll go back to my lessons then.'
"As I was saying this class will be different from the ones you have had before O.W.L.S. we will be concentrating on more complicated spells. Transfiguring not just little objects like mice and frogs but also ourselves. I do say that you will need to pay a bit more attention this time wont you class." Professor McGonagall was looking over the class. Hermione Lavender brown, Pavarti dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom were the only ones from Gryffindor in this class now and since the size of the classes had less students it would probably be harder to get away with not paying to much attention. Harry looked around the room and saw that he had Transfigurations with Ravenclaw. Only five people from their house made it into this Transfiguration class bringing the total to eleven students. That was under half the size of a normal class. The rest of the class was spent discussing theories of wandless magic like Metamorphmagus and animagus and how these spells differed from spells that required a wand. These spells used the essence of ones magic and is what makes them so powerful and dangerous. In fact the only type of magic that was more powerful was when you combined the essence magic and wand magic. using spells that required this power could exhaust yourself and your magic essence. Once it was time to leave Harry picked up his books ready to go to lunch and feeling slightly less happier about the start of the new term. Professor McGonagall assigned them a rather lengthy homework assignment on magic essence and how to use it. Had he not have known that this essay was going to help him out a lot he probably would have been really upset. He was now just starting to feel the weight of this semester pile up on him when he sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat lunch. Ginny walked in a little after he did and made a comment about how she wasn't looking forward to her next class because she didn't want to her another speech about how important her O.W.L.S. were.
"They act like we are all stupid and that we don't realize how important this year is for us."
"Well I don't think they think that Ginny. They just want to stress how important it is. They don't think your stupid but they might think that everyone is a tad bit immature."
"Hermione you don't think that I already know this I did grow up with Fred George and Ron didn't I. "Wow that is hitting below the belt Ginny." Ron was clearly smiling when he said this but it died away quickly.
"Hi Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione."
"Hi Luna."
"So what are you two up to and when do we get to finish our conversation."
"Well Luna how about tonight at our meeting. just show up a bit early and we will talk then."
"Ok Harry." Luna headed back to her table shooting glances back at Ron. Ron went a little red behind the ears but then turned to Harry and asked him why she kept doing that.
"Its because she likes you." Ginny said cutting in on Harry and then apologizing to him in his head. Ron made a face that looked like he was going to be sick. Luna although very pretty was not like any other girl in this school she was well for a lack of a better word very weird. She was the daughter of the publisher for the magazine the Quibbler, which put out stories about things like Sirus being the lead singer to a wizarding music group. The magazine thrived on stories about issues that had no proof. She also believed the stories that her dad published. Even with all of these things that made her weird in everyone's eyes Harry still couldn't help feel like she belonged to his group. She was a friend now and he felt sorry for her as well as a little protective over her. He knew what it was like to be called a freak and weird he had to endure that his entire life with the dursleys. He even got some of it here at school. Being popular or famous isn't always the best thing. Harry was off in his thoughts that Ginny was listening to when Hermione tapped him on the shoulder.
"What."
"There is an owl in front of you might want to take the letter from it so it can leave."
"Oh ok thanks." Harry untied the letter from the owl and gave it a piece of bread it accepted it and then flew off. The letter was a response from Dumbledore asking him to come and see him after class and to bring Ginny along. They finished lunch and Harry told Ginny to meet him in front of Dumbledores office. He went off to charms followed by Ron and Hermione.
"How was divination Ron."
"Same old stuff as before only she actually thinks that Harry might have died seeing as he is not back in her class."
"Oh well." The charms class started out the same as Transfigurations with Professor Flitwick explaining how these classes would be different from their first five years. The rest of the lesson was spent talking about everything that they had done up to this date. How all of those spells differed from the ones that they would learn and how much practice it was going to take to pass this class. He also explained that they would be spending a lot of time learning to Apperate. Once they turned seventeen they would take a test and then they be able to do it with out breaking the law. The class ended with Professor Flitwick giving them homework on the basic concepts of Apperating and what parts of yourselves you have to tap into to do this. He met up with Ginny at he front of the statue and gave the password. They walked up the spiraling steps and knocked on the door.
"Come in." They entered the room and professor Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk.
"Harry, Ginny please have a seat." They sat in front of his desk and looked at him.
"So Harry when did you see Remus dead."
"Last night."
"Another vision."
"No well you see Professor I have a dream enhancer."
"Oh I see so then tell me what happened." Harry and Ginny went into a long explanation about how they had been seeing his mother and Sirus and then how Remus had sent him a letter telling him that he wouldn't be able to come down and teach them for a few weeks and then they mentioned to Sirus that he had a dream about Voldemort being happy and then Remus was at Lily's side he was a spirit as well. Dumbledore sat there listening to his story and then he spoke.
"Harry I do not know what is going on. It is my impression that Remus is dead because dream enhancers do not lie. But I have also talked to Tonks and she said that she had just gotten done talking with him." Harry nodded in agreement but he was only half listening to him now because what he had just heard was making his mind race. Dumbledore told them both to meet him back here same time and they would start their training. When they got out in the hall Harry finally voiced what was bothering him.
"Tonks cant be the spy Ginny she cant be. But then why would she tell Dumbledore that Remus is still alive. Even Dumbledore said that he was dead."
"I know Harry I don't understand either." They went down to dinner and continued their conversation in their heads. After about half an hour they decided that they needed to go and meet up with Luna at the Room of Requirement. She was there waiting for them when they showed up and they walked passed the spot on the wall three times until the door appeared. Luna who had been there many times before had never seen the door appear before. She however was not surprised about it, it seemed that there wasn't anything that could surprise or freak her out. The room was exactly as they remembered. It was filled with the books and the dark detectors that had been there last year. Luna took a seat on one of the cushions on the floor. Harry and Ginny sat next to her in another one.
"So you two seem to be closer, exactly what happened over the summer. I know that you told me that you two were together but I didn't realize that it was this serious. Do you love each other."
"Well you see we do actually. There has been a lot of odd stuff happening between us."
"Like what."
"Well we can stop time it seems and we have been connecting our minds but no one seems to know why. The closest one to really tell us anything is Hermione."
"Well that is kind of strange but really cool also." The door to the opened and the rest of the group started to show up. A look of anxiety across all of their faces. They knew that this was something that they needed. To be trained up so that if they did encounter a death eater they would be ready to face them. Even the idea that they would fall behind in their studies didn't even hinder their determination to learn to defend themselves. once the last of the students showed up Harry got up and walked to the front of the room.
"Ok so it is good to see all of you. I thought that today we would learn to duel. But not the way that we had been learning last year. Alright Hermione I need to see you up here with me ok." Hermione got up and walked over to his side. "I want you to show everyone what we were practicing with Tonks ok." Hermione looked at him a little confused then she turned around and said, "Accio wands." Everyone's wands flew across the room towards her. They sorted their wands out and Hermione was feeling a bit more at ease.
"Ok now Hermione when you use this spell again I want you to leave my wand, Ron's wand, Ginny's wand, Luna's wand, Michael's wand, and Justin's wand in their hands and only take the rest."
"Accio wands." every wand that Harry had mentioned flew from their hands and landed at Hermiones feet. Four other wands flew from others hands and landed at her feet too. This was a hard thing to concentrate on.
"That wasn't so bad but I think you concentrated on the wrong wands." They separated the wands again and threw them to their respective owners.
"Accio wands." This time Harry Ron and Ginny kept their wands but everyone else's wand flew towards her.
"Accio wands." she did this again and this time she succeeded in what she was supposed to do.
"Good Hermione. Now lets leave Luna's, Ginny's, Neville's and Katie's."
"Accio wand." She succeeded again. She had it down.
"Good now lets have everyone else try this. They all took turns and only half the class actually got it down. Time was getting late though and they needed to get back to their dorms before they risked being caught out-of- bounds. He told them he would set the next time and that there might be a new teacher with them. Harry walked back up to the dorms with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. They continued to talk about how the meeting went and couldn't wait until the next one. The only problem was that Harry and Ginny now had reason to suspect Tonks as a spy. 'She just cant be Ginny. I don't believe that she would do this. There has to be an explanation.' Harry's mind was racing trying to come up with one but he could think of one. All of the facts pointed to her having something that she wasn't telling them. How could she be talking to a dead guy. Its not that she couldn't because he could but it was that she would obviously know that he was dead when that happened. Everything that he was considering with Ginny pointed to the fact that Tonks wasn't telling them everything that there was something that they just didn't know. Harry and Ginny talked about everything that had been going on and decided that it was best to ask Remus when they talked to him next. They would see him tonight and that would be good enough to get some information about what happened. The room became quiet with the sounds of people doing there homework and Harry and Ginny decided that it would be a good idea to start on it before it built to high up. Harry started to work on the Transfiguration paper seeing as it was the one that interested him the most he could possibly do the essay without to much of a headache. He was nearly finished with the paper writing about how to tap into this energy source and how it differed from normal wand energy. He also wrote about how dangerous it was to use and misuse. He looked around the room noticing that Ginny was the only other person in the room with him. He finished up his essay, which was now nearly fifteen feet of parchment. It was actually five feet more than she had assigned them to do. Ginny put up her books and was now frustrated with her classes. How could her teachers assign so much work for them. Harry reached out and touched her face trying to express how much he felt for her. She had already knew what he was thinking still being linked with him. She leaned over and kissed him. The kiss, which at first was just to say thank you, turned hot and eager. Harry could feel her pull him into her knocking the chair over that she sat on. They ay on the floor in each other's embrace. Lips pressed firmly together. mouths opening and closing around each other's tongues. Time stopped. The floor became soft and the feeling of floating along with the desire to ripe off each other's clothes arose inside them. Harry had her naked in his arms and before he could think of a reason to stop her she had him in her mouth. She had always wanted to try this after hearing some interesting stories from her friends. Harry's mind seemed to calm but at the same time seemed to race about the day's events. She let up and looked into his eyes. She knew that he was worried about Remus and that they had to stop before they went any further. Harry kissed her again then put his clothes back on. Time didn't let up. and they retreated to their dorms. Harry put on his pajamas and crawled into bed. He went to sleep hearing Ginny breathe slightly in his head.
They were standing in the field of bright white light and Harry asked if she was ready. The problem was that neither of them was ready as they both wanted to finish want they had started. The white room slowed eased itself out of their view and they were back in the room of requirement. The room was set up for a night of romance. And that was what pursued. Harry laid Ginny on his bed he was no longer thinking about how Remus was. All he wanted was what Ginny wanted. And Ginny wanted to finish what she had started. She kissed him eagerly. Slowly moving down to his neck and then his chest. she took his clothes off as she moved down. she finally had him down to nothing laying on top of him holding him in the palm of her hand rubbing it into he clit. She became very aroused by this and before she could think of another thing to do Harry pressed himself inside of her. She collapsed on him rocking her hips back and forth. Harry leaned his weight to the side and had her on her back in one swift motion. They finished both at the same time quivering in ecstasy for their own orgasms and their partners. Harry awoke the next morning he was ready to take on the day. He knew that he had to face his first lesson with Professor Snape and that it might also be with Malfoy. He was however not in the least bit discouraged by the day. At breakfast a letter came for him. It was from Tonks and it informed them that she would be coming up to the castle tomorrow. He would have to ask her what was going on tomorrow as her letter didn't mention anything else. She was didn't even mention to him how she had communicated with Remus seeing as he is dead. Well tomorrow he would find out why she was saying that and tonight he would find out from Remus what happened. Harry finished his breakfast and sat there with Ginny until he had to leave for History of Magic. These lessons where usually very boring as Professor Binns had a way of putting him to sleep. As luck would have it though he was actually not as bored as he thought he would be. Professor Binns had now started to concentrate his classes on the recent history of magic and it included Voldemorts rise and fall. The time that class was let out Ginny was not to happy she was ranting about how Professor Binns should be teaching that in her class because he is still just as boring. Harry met up with her at lunch feeling like the day was going to be fine. even the prospect of facing four hours in potions wasn't discouraging him. Ginny told him that she had care of magical creatures next and that if Harry wanted to talk to her through their link that he could. She also had Herbology after that and she didn't have to concentrate to hard in either of those to classes so they could talk all the way through his potion class. When Harry reached the potions lab Professor Snape gave him a disgusted look. It wasn't his usual loathing that made him give this look. Perhaps it was Krum or event that he was in this class knowing that he didn't get the grades that he needed to get for the class. Harry sat down next to Hermione in the back of the class. He caught the sight of Draco in the front of the class without his crones Crabb and Goyle. There was no way that they had gotten close to the grades that they needed to continue this class.
"The assignment today is to start to brew this truth serum. It isn't as powerful as Veritaserum but it is still difficult to make if you screw up on one ingredient or motion of stirring then this becomes a serious poison. we will be testing these out when you finish with them." Snape's lips curled into a smile when his eyes rested on Harry.
"Miss Granger, move over one desk. I told you that you will not interfere with anyone's studies and you will not do so today." Hermione packed up her stuff holding back her tears. Harry mouthed to her not to worry it wasn't about her it was about Harry. "Now the directions are on the board you have three hours begin." Harry picked up his ingredients for the potion and began to prepare them. Ginny was giving him instructions about reading the book closely because if he died she would be mad. After the three hours Harry bottled up his potion. It looked in his opinion just like it should look. When he brought it up to Snape he looked livid.
"Five points from Gryffindor. Miss Granger you will move to the front of the class where I can keep an eye on you is that understood." It wasn't fair Harry didn't actually have much help and it wasn't from Hermione anyways. All he really needed was a way to get his mind off of Snape when he was in the same room with him and talking to Ginny had him so calmed that he could mix any potion that Snape threw at him.
"Hermione its ok next lesson we have with him he will see that I didn't have your help and I will be the one at the front of the class so he can make sure that I am not cheating." Hermione nodded although she was still in tears that Snape would say that she help Harry cheat on his potion. Harry and Ginny told Hermione that she would be alright but that they had to go see Dumbledore. They walked to his office and he beckoned them in again. they sat down upon his request and he began to tell them that something wasn't right because Tonks keeps telling him that she has talked to Remus so either she is being fooled or she is in league with Voldemort. Dumbledore finally finished talking about what he thought was going on with Remus and cleared the room with a sweep of his wand.
"Ok now Harry Ginny what we are going to do is learn Legiliman. I have thought about this and I think that it is important for you to know who is lying to you. Ok here it what you have to do. First you must learn to clear you mind and receive anything that comes in. I will teach you." Dumbledore had them in his office until well-passed curfew and by the end of the lesson he was confidant in their ability to feel emotions of minds without the use of the spell. He had them where he wanted them to be with this spell. He escorted them to their dorms and bid them a good night after telling them to meet him in his office every Tuesday at that time. If they needed to talk to him about anything that his door was always opened. Dumbledore left them at the painting as he turned towards his office again. They gave the password and Harry sat down on the couch. Ron and Hermione came over and sat down beside them. Harry felt as exhausted as Ginny looked. The idea of homework to them was becoming a heavy thought of pain licking their already tired minds. Harry got up and went to his room to get the books that he needed. Snape had given them the smallest homework assignment of the classes so far. Harry grabbed his charms book and then remembered that he needed to set a date for tomorrow for the D.A. so Tonks could teach them. He was feeling a bit better about her because Dumbledore seemed to think that she was being fooled that she was still trustworthy. He set the date for tomorrow at seven when Tonks said that she would be there. He went back down stairs and opened his books to start on the essay that Professor Flitwick had assigned to them. Ron was already halfway through it. He sat down and started to write his essay on the basic theory of Apperation. It wasn't that hard of an essay when you actually got the rhythm down. The concepts where very general. Basically you had to visualize where you wanted to go and then feel yourself dissolve into the air to appear there. When he finished the paper Ginny was still in the room along with Hermione. Hermione was still writing her Arithmancy paper and Ginny was sound asleep over her Charms paper. Harry gently woke her and helps her up. She kissed him goodnight and then went up to bed. Harry hurried up to his room ready to talk to Remus and find out what happened. He laid down to go to sleep and again found himself with Ginny in a room with nothing but white light. He thought of Remus, Sirus, and Lily. They appeared on front of them like they always had. Harry asked Remus what happened and he told them that Voldemort had attacked him. Harry now having learned Legilimans could tell that there was something that they were all keeping from them but they wouldn't let him know and he didn't want to push it right now because he was feeling to sorry for Remus. All the way through their meeting with him though he seemed to be a bit different from when they last saw him. He wasn't the same man some how he seemed to be a bit less humorous than usual. He also had lost his quality that always made Harry feel safe. But I guess that you usually lose that stuff when you die and he hadn't been dead that long yet. When Harry awoke the next morning he was waiting for Tonks to show up the whole day. He finished his breakfast in a hurry and was the first to be at the Defense against the Dark arts class. Well at least the first besides Hermione who was flirting with Viktor and what looked like kissing him until Harry had walked in. Hermione sat down next to Harry and they started to talk. The reason that Dumbledore had wanted to see her four days ago was because Viktor had told Dumbledore that he would take the job as long as he didn't have to break up with her. They weren't actually dating when he said this but it was only because he lived up in the northern area of Scandinavia. He had wrote her a letter telling her that he had a surprise for her after he hurt himself over the summer. She didn't know what to expect really but was excited anyways. Ron walked into the class and sat down next to them. He still didn't know that they were dating and Harry whispered to Hermione that she would have to tell Ron. She asked him why then before he could answer she understood. Ron had been acting the way he was because he liked her. This wasn't going to be easy for her but she knew that she had to be fair to him. Victor started the class out by talking about Voldemort. He wanted everyone in the class to know that he was back without a doubt. Everyone having read all of the daily prophets throughout the summer already knew this. He then went on about what he thought he should teach them and by the end of the class he had assigned them a project to make sure that they could all perform the Patronus charm. This was another assignment that he could just pass by because he already knew how to do that. Defense against the dark art started out to very boring to Harry. But then again he was getting private lessons from Dumbledore and Tonks and teaching others as well. Harry met up with Ginny at lunch and sat and talked with her. When they had finished lunch Harry gathered his books up and went out to Care of magical creature with Hagrid. Hagrid's class was a bit more interesting as far as Harry was concerned. He hadn't come down to visit Hagrid yet and it was good to see him. He had dedicated his lesson to proper handling of fire dragons. They where a bit like the salamanders only bigger and had a bit of an attitude. After class Harry and Ginny met up at dinner and ate together. when they were finished they decided to go for a walk around the lake to waste time before Tonks would show up. They still had an Hour and a Half before she would be there. The walk around the lake gave them time to think and time to just be alone. Once they had gotten far enough Ginny turned around and started to walk back towards the castle they didn't speak a word and yet they were still communicating perfectly. Even with as scary what was happening was between was it was still very nice to be able to know what each other was thinking. Harry followed her up to the castle and to the room of requirement. They went in and found Hermione and Ron arguing between each other. Just one look at the two of them told them that Hermione had told Ron that she was dating Viktor. Ron walked to the other side of the room and sat on a cushion that Luna had actually been sitting by. She leaned over and comforted Ron. As weird as she might be she was still human and knew what he must have been going through. Tonks showed up five minutes past seven. Everyone was there except Neville. He had agreed to stay behind and show Tonks to the room of requirement. When she came in he followed behind her and took his seat in a vacant cushion. Tonks started the lesson as soon as she walked to the front of the room. She was teaching them stronger curses then stupify and Petrificus Totalus. she wanted them to be ready for combat and needed them to know more than how to stun their opponent. When the lesson was over everyone had excitement burning through their veins. Tonks asked for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to stay behind and she let everyone else go. Luna and Neville decided to hang back and Tonks didn't seem to mind.
"Tonks, we wanted to ask you how you have been keeping in touch with Lupin."
"Well at first by owl but when you said he was dead I apparated to where he was to see for my self and he was fine."
"But he is dead we saw him with our dream enhancer." Tonks' face light up with what looked like fear and guilt. They knew that she was hiding something but she cleared her mind and it was gone just as fast.
"Ok well I wanted to teach you some other stuff."
"What." Hermione asked she didn't see what Harry and Ginny saw.
"Well Dumbledore and I think that it is a good idea to teach you to throw off the Crucious curse."
"What?" Harry asked.
"Don't worry if you do it right it wont hurt you at all. The spell is hard and most people can't do it because it requires control and wandless magic." She started with Harry and moved around the room. Only Harry, Hermione and Ginny seemed to have any luck with the counter curse. She called Harry back up for a demonstration.
"Crucio." she said. Harry tried to make his body go limp and cast the counter curse but he knew what was about to hit him and he couldn't help tensing up. It worked a little bit but his slight tensing didn't allow it to work the whole way. It wasn't as bad as it had been earlier but it was still horrible pain. Thousands of knifes pierced his skin. Harry looked up at her and she backed off. She called Ginny up and cast the spell on her. Ginny made the same mistake that he did. She let out a shriek of pain and began to sob. She had deflected most of it but it still wasn't enough to make it stop hurting. Harry's heart sank for her and he looked at Tonks expecting her to let up expecting her to feel pity for Ginny but all he saw was a look of pleasure twist across her face. Harry had a bad feeling in his stomach but he could feel what she was going through and he was hurting too much to try and stop her. It felt like forever before Tonks let up and when she did she told them it was time to get back to their common rooms. She escorted them back to the painting, said her goodbyes and then took Luna to her tower. Ron entered and went straight up to the dorms. It was now eleven and every part of Harry hurt all he wanted to do was sleep. He let his mind drift about Tonks and allow decent amount of time to pass so Ron could pretend to be asleep if he wanted to. Tonks had to be on their side there was no way that she could be in league with Voldemort. Why would she try to teach them to throw off that curse. But why did she look like she was enjoying hurting Ginny. Harry had most off his homework done and didn't feel like try to do anymore right now. He figured that he gave Ron a good enough head start and kissed Ginny goodnight. He told her that he needed some real sleep tonight and that they would use the dream enhancer tomorrow. She understood and knew that she would see him in his dreams anyways. He walked up to his room and sure enough Ron was snoring to loud to be actually asleep. He hit the bed without changing his clothes. His mind felt sorry for Ron and Neville. They didn't manage to throw off any part of the curse. Ron's night had been worse than anyone's. He had only just learned a couple of hours before that Hermione was seeing Viktor.
Harry was sitting in a chair in a dark room. His mind was racing about everything. He seemed to be the focal point for all the information in the universe. It seemed to be filtering through him. His mind sagged and grew heavy under the pressure. He could not bear to think but was forced to anyway. A calming hand flowed across his chest and he didn't have to think anymore. Ginny sat in his lap curling up to his form. Her arms wrapped his neck and her head pressed into his shoulder. He could feel her sitting into him. She whimpered in pain when she moved. The dream had disconnected them. Everything finally came into focus. He was sitting in the common room in his favorite chair. They started talking about the events of the night. How painful it had been to watch each other under the curse. It felt nice to her Ginny speak without knowing what she was going to say before hand. They both agreed that Ron was hurting more from Hermione than the curse and they would give him time to cope with it. They were going to try to get Luna to ask him out. He needed someone to be more than friends with. Hermione had Viktor and they had each other. They would be there for him but he needed a different kind of company now.
The room became suddenly dark. Harry and Ginny became one. Their minds swam in a single body.
"Master forgive me."
"I've heard enough, Wormtail dispose of this. Malfoy, Goyle see to it that it is done. They hissed orders so the death eater at their feet was taken away. Malfoy and Goyle bowed and left the room.
"Bellatrix bring me the informant."
"Yes master." she left the room and Harry awoke his scar burned in his forehead and morning was now in the sky. He got out of bed and every part of him ached. He changed and went down to the common room. Hermione handed him something to drink and when he did it soothed all of his aches and pains.
"Should have thought about this last night."
"Did you give it to everyone."
"No Ron wouldn't take it from me he insisted that it didn't hurt."
"Well I imagine that he was in pain before the curse you know."
"Yeah I know." Harry walked down to breakfast with Ginny and Hermione. They entered the room and saw Ron talking with Luna and Neville. Breakfast was a spread out event and she didn't have to sit at her own table this time. They were in a conversation and didn't even see them walk in. Harry sat down next to Ron And Ginny sat next to him. Hermione sat next to Ginny. Ron continued with his conversation with Luna oblivious to his new audience. He was talking to her about the crucious curse that the had been put through last night. Ron seemed to feel sorry for Luna because she did the worst of them all in deflecting it. She had seen too much to trust anyone but her dad and she really didn't even try to through it off. Hermione stood up and handed her some of her potion that she made. Ron who had just noticed that they were there glared at her and then continued to talk to Luna. Luna accepted the potion and then offered some to Ron. He accepted some from Luna. Hermione gave him a weird look then sat down next to Neville. He had already taken some of her potion and he felt fine now. They went on discussing how things at school were going and Neville asked her to help him with the counter curse. He decided that he couldn't go through that pain again. She looked at Harry and told Neville to ask him seeing as he did the best or at least just as good as Ginny. They would be able to help them some how. Harry and Ginny agreed to help Neville then got up to go to class. Hermione Followed Harry to Herbology and they had to take care of a venomous puffer plant. It had a very sweat smelling liquid pouring over its pedals. Birds and bees would get close and drink the liquid thinking it was nectar than die from the poison. Then the plant would open itself up and let the bird or bee fall into its base where it would dissolve. Their job was to carefully extract the poison and bottle it so it could be used in some magical potions. The class was very boring but needed full attention to what was going on. after a long day of removing poison and placing it in a vile they were dismissed. Neville seemed to be the only one in the class that actually enjoyed the lesson. Harry had the rest of the afternoon off until Astronomy tonight. He decided that after lunch with Ginny he would spend the rest of the time studying and determining the time to hold try outs for the quidditch team. Harry ate lunch with Ginny and discussed Quidditch with her about how much different he was going to have the team play. He discussed the use of beaters being able to score goals. They looked over their table to see if there might be anyone who could do the job as beater and chaser at the same time. There were some candidates who seemed to fit the part but would they be up for the challenge. He knew he was going to have to get rid of his beaters now unless they showed skill in both areas. They needed to work together almost like they are one. They will need to have skill and cunning. But did their beaters have that. Harry didn't know not having played a single game with them. Lunch finished up rather quickly for Harry and He was left with nothing to do except go up and study until the rest of school was out of class. He walked up to his tower and entered the common room. He started to work on his paper for History of magic and ended up falling asleep in the middle of it. It wasn't that he was tired it was that with no one around and working on something like this he was exhausted not to mention the class that Ginny was in was also boring and he could feel her falling asleep.
Harry walked down an empty corridor he didn't know where he was but he knew that he was looking for a way out. His body felt foreign to him. his legs longer and his mind while not completely lost was not human. He had the need to bite human flesh in his mouth. But his mind was against it. His hands were covered in coarse hair and he could feel sharp claws out the end of each finger. The house that he was in seemed to be empty. There wasn't a soul around. He could feel Ginny enter his subconscious worried about him. She was now not half asleep but fully awake and fearing for him. She could feel the hair covering his body and the fangs in his mouth. Where was he. surely not in Hogwarts anymore but then where.
"Harry wake up." Ginny said in his head. He didn't wake he couldn't. He needed to understand.
"Harry wake up." That was it he now knew what was wrong with him. He was in the body of a creature that was once a man.
Chaos From an Opposing Threat
"Professor Lupin what are you doing here," but even as Harry said these words he knew the answer to that. The job that Dumbledore had asked him to do had gone wrong and he ended up dead. He said that it was dangerous in the letter that he could say anything about it because if it got in the wrong hands something would happen. But how did something happen so quickly. Did someone get the letter he sent him or did they have information on where he was going before he went there. He didn't leave enough information for anyone on the letter so they had to have an inside source. Remus just stared at Harry.
"I am not sure how I got here. Who are..." Harry could feel himself being tugged out of his dreams and when he opened his eyes he found himself staring into Ron's worried eyes.
"Harry are you ok you were talking in your sleep."
"Professor Lupin is dead Ron we saw him."
"What do you mean we. And how did you see him."
"Ginny and I we can use the dream enhancer as long as we are connected. We found out that we don't even have to be in the same room for it to work." Neville, Dean, and Seamus were now listening intently to what was happening having been woken up only about a half an hour earlier than they had expected.
"Well Harry I don't know what you are exactly talking about but you should probably tell Professor Dumbledore."
"That's what I am going to do. I just need to get dressed and go to the owlery." Harry had said this not just to let them know that he was planning on telling Dumbledore but also because he knew that he was still connected to Ginny as he could still here her thoughts and she was just as worried about Remus as he was. Harry gat dressed at top speed and meet Ginny down in the common room. They comprised a letter to Dumbledore (not knowing if he was still in the castle right now or not) letting him know about their experience with the dream enhancer. When they finished it they went down to the owlery. Hedwig flew down to meet Harry as he entered sensing that he needed her and it had to be quick. He tied the letter to her legs and said that it needed to go to Dumbledore Quickly. She gave a hoot and was off. Harry noticed that the owl only went up to the headmaster's window and then came back down before they even had time to get out of sight from the owlery. He would make it up to her that flight was hardly worth asking her to do. But as time was limited the quicker they knew the better. They were both however unsure as to why they needed to be urgent he was already dead there wasn't anything that they could do. But it was probably just that they need to let him know what was going on that there might be a trader within their order. Someone who was letting the dark lord know more than he should. Someone who let him know where Remus was going. He wondered who all knew where he was going. Or even that he was going. Why does the dark lord want Remus to begin with.
They climbed the steps leading to the castle entrance and headed up to the Gryffindor common room. When they got there they headed up to their rooms and changed to get ready to start the day. They went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Ron and Hermione had saved them seats. About halfway through their meal members of the D.A. started to approach him and ask him if he set the date for their first meeting. He answered yes and told them to let everyone else know that the date was on the coins. The first meeting was set for tonight at six and he was ready now to start some hard training. They needed to be ready to fight and he needed to be ready to kill Voldemort. Ginny being able to hear what Harry was thinking started to look at him and he could feel her pity. He could feel her thoughts seeping into his mind letting him know that she knew how big of a burden it was to have him be the one who was suppose to be the downfall of Voldemort. The course schedule's came in and Harry looked down at his. He had to take Transfigurations today along with charms this afternoon. The classes were longer now that they were at N.E.W.T. level. He only had time for two lessons a day. He had history of magic and potions tomorrow and Wednesday he had Defense against the dark arts and care of magical creatures. Herbology and Astronomy on Thursday and double defense against the dark arts on Friday. His schedule for the week was full. Add the fact that he was now practicing more dueling tips and private lessons from Dumbledore and Quidditch captain to top it off he wasn't going to have much free time on his hands and he looked like he was facing his hardest year at Hogwarts yet. His busy schedule wasn't going to allow him to find out any information on who was in league with Voldemort. Who ever had Remus killed was going to be let off because his schedule was full. Harry looked at Ginny she had just as full of a schedule as he did and she also had to worry about O.W.L.S. at the end of the term. They were going to have to work hard at trying to find the informant. But Harry was sure that he could do it. Who ever was in league with Voldemort would end up showing his colors sooner or later.
"Harry we have to get going we have Transfigurations now."
"Alright Hermione I am going. I'll see you at lunch ok Ginny. I love you."
"Ok Harry see you then. I love you too." Harry felt a sudden rush to his senses when he stood up and he immediately sat back down to gain his composure. He waited for a few minutes and then got back up shaking it off. It was strange but it felt like he was being drawn into Ginny. The fact threat they were now separating was kind of hard to deal with. They had spent so much time together that they almost forgot that they were separate people. He in fact could not remember the last time that he was without her except for the brief moments when he woke up and now he was facing his first few hours without her and already he felt the familiar stings of missing her. He walked half-heartedly with Hermione to Transfigurations. When they entered the room he took the seat nearest to the back and still having the connection with Ginny he started to ask her how her class was going. she told him fine but that she really needed to concentrate the teacher was going over how important O.W.L.S were.
'Don't worry to much all of the teachers tell you that and it doesn't make a difference.'
'So what Harry I still need to pay attention in class.'
'What class are you in.'
'Charms.'
'Well don't worry you wont have much to listen to but Professor Flitwick will assign some homework.'
'Ok Harry but I really do need to concentrate on this.'
'Alright I'll go back to my lessons then.'
"As I was saying this class will be different from the ones you have had before O.W.L.S. we will be concentrating on more complicated spells. Transfiguring not just little objects like mice and frogs but also ourselves. I do say that you will need to pay a bit more attention this time wont you class." Professor McGonagall was looking over the class. Hermione Lavender brown, Pavarti dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom were the only ones from Gryffindor in this class now and since the size of the classes had less students it would probably be harder to get away with not paying to much attention. Harry looked around the room and saw that he had Transfigurations with Ravenclaw. Only five people from their house made it into this Transfiguration class bringing the total to eleven students. That was under half the size of a normal class. The rest of the class was spent discussing theories of wandless magic like Metamorphmagus and animagus and how these spells differed from spells that required a wand. These spells used the essence of ones magic and is what makes them so powerful and dangerous. In fact the only type of magic that was more powerful was when you combined the essence magic and wand magic. using spells that required this power could exhaust yourself and your magic essence. Once it was time to leave Harry picked up his books ready to go to lunch and feeling slightly less happier about the start of the new term. Professor McGonagall assigned them a rather lengthy homework assignment on magic essence and how to use it. Had he not have known that this essay was going to help him out a lot he probably would have been really upset. He was now just starting to feel the weight of this semester pile up on him when he sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat lunch. Ginny walked in a little after he did and made a comment about how she wasn't looking forward to her next class because she didn't want to her another speech about how important her O.W.L.S. were.
"They act like we are all stupid and that we don't realize how important this year is for us."
"Well I don't think they think that Ginny. They just want to stress how important it is. They don't think your stupid but they might think that everyone is a tad bit immature."
"Hermione you don't think that I already know this I did grow up with Fred George and Ron didn't I. "Wow that is hitting below the belt Ginny." Ron was clearly smiling when he said this but it died away quickly.
"Hi Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione."
"Hi Luna."
"So what are you two up to and when do we get to finish our conversation."
"Well Luna how about tonight at our meeting. just show up a bit early and we will talk then."
"Ok Harry." Luna headed back to her table shooting glances back at Ron. Ron went a little red behind the ears but then turned to Harry and asked him why she kept doing that.
"Its because she likes you." Ginny said cutting in on Harry and then apologizing to him in his head. Ron made a face that looked like he was going to be sick. Luna although very pretty was not like any other girl in this school she was well for a lack of a better word very weird. She was the daughter of the publisher for the magazine the Quibbler, which put out stories about things like Sirus being the lead singer to a wizarding music group. The magazine thrived on stories about issues that had no proof. She also believed the stories that her dad published. Even with all of these things that made her weird in everyone's eyes Harry still couldn't help feel like she belonged to his group. She was a friend now and he felt sorry for her as well as a little protective over her. He knew what it was like to be called a freak and weird he had to endure that his entire life with the dursleys. He even got some of it here at school. Being popular or famous isn't always the best thing. Harry was off in his thoughts that Ginny was listening to when Hermione tapped him on the shoulder.
"What."
"There is an owl in front of you might want to take the letter from it so it can leave."
"Oh ok thanks." Harry untied the letter from the owl and gave it a piece of bread it accepted it and then flew off. The letter was a response from Dumbledore asking him to come and see him after class and to bring Ginny along. They finished lunch and Harry told Ginny to meet him in front of Dumbledores office. He went off to charms followed by Ron and Hermione.
"How was divination Ron."
"Same old stuff as before only she actually thinks that Harry might have died seeing as he is not back in her class."
"Oh well." The charms class started out the same as Transfigurations with Professor Flitwick explaining how these classes would be different from their first five years. The rest of the lesson was spent talking about everything that they had done up to this date. How all of those spells differed from the ones that they would learn and how much practice it was going to take to pass this class. He also explained that they would be spending a lot of time learning to Apperate. Once they turned seventeen they would take a test and then they be able to do it with out breaking the law. The class ended with Professor Flitwick giving them homework on the basic concepts of Apperating and what parts of yourselves you have to tap into to do this. He met up with Ginny at he front of the statue and gave the password. They walked up the spiraling steps and knocked on the door.
"Come in." They entered the room and professor Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk.
"Harry, Ginny please have a seat." They sat in front of his desk and looked at him.
"So Harry when did you see Remus dead."
"Last night."
"Another vision."
"No well you see Professor I have a dream enhancer."
"Oh I see so then tell me what happened." Harry and Ginny went into a long explanation about how they had been seeing his mother and Sirus and then how Remus had sent him a letter telling him that he wouldn't be able to come down and teach them for a few weeks and then they mentioned to Sirus that he had a dream about Voldemort being happy and then Remus was at Lily's side he was a spirit as well. Dumbledore sat there listening to his story and then he spoke.
"Harry I do not know what is going on. It is my impression that Remus is dead because dream enhancers do not lie. But I have also talked to Tonks and she said that she had just gotten done talking with him." Harry nodded in agreement but he was only half listening to him now because what he had just heard was making his mind race. Dumbledore told them both to meet him back here same time and they would start their training. When they got out in the hall Harry finally voiced what was bothering him.
"Tonks cant be the spy Ginny she cant be. But then why would she tell Dumbledore that Remus is still alive. Even Dumbledore said that he was dead."
"I know Harry I don't understand either." They went down to dinner and continued their conversation in their heads. After about half an hour they decided that they needed to go and meet up with Luna at the Room of Requirement. She was there waiting for them when they showed up and they walked passed the spot on the wall three times until the door appeared. Luna who had been there many times before had never seen the door appear before. She however was not surprised about it, it seemed that there wasn't anything that could surprise or freak her out. The room was exactly as they remembered. It was filled with the books and the dark detectors that had been there last year. Luna took a seat on one of the cushions on the floor. Harry and Ginny sat next to her in another one.
"So you two seem to be closer, exactly what happened over the summer. I know that you told me that you two were together but I didn't realize that it was this serious. Do you love each other."
"Well you see we do actually. There has been a lot of odd stuff happening between us."
"Like what."
"Well we can stop time it seems and we have been connecting our minds but no one seems to know why. The closest one to really tell us anything is Hermione."
"Well that is kind of strange but really cool also." The door to the opened and the rest of the group started to show up. A look of anxiety across all of their faces. They knew that this was something that they needed. To be trained up so that if they did encounter a death eater they would be ready to face them. Even the idea that they would fall behind in their studies didn't even hinder their determination to learn to defend themselves. once the last of the students showed up Harry got up and walked to the front of the room.
"Ok so it is good to see all of you. I thought that today we would learn to duel. But not the way that we had been learning last year. Alright Hermione I need to see you up here with me ok." Hermione got up and walked over to his side. "I want you to show everyone what we were practicing with Tonks ok." Hermione looked at him a little confused then she turned around and said, "Accio wands." Everyone's wands flew across the room towards her. They sorted their wands out and Hermione was feeling a bit more at ease.
"Ok now Hermione when you use this spell again I want you to leave my wand, Ron's wand, Ginny's wand, Luna's wand, Michael's wand, and Justin's wand in their hands and only take the rest."
"Accio wands." every wand that Harry had mentioned flew from their hands and landed at Hermiones feet. Four other wands flew from others hands and landed at her feet too. This was a hard thing to concentrate on.
"That wasn't so bad but I think you concentrated on the wrong wands." They separated the wands again and threw them to their respective owners.
"Accio wands." This time Harry Ron and Ginny kept their wands but everyone else's wand flew towards her.
"Accio wands." she did this again and this time she succeeded in what she was supposed to do.
"Good Hermione. Now lets leave Luna's, Ginny's, Neville's and Katie's."
"Accio wand." She succeeded again. She had it down.
"Good now lets have everyone else try this. They all took turns and only half the class actually got it down. Time was getting late though and they needed to get back to their dorms before they risked being caught out-of- bounds. He told them he would set the next time and that there might be a new teacher with them. Harry walked back up to the dorms with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Dean, and Seamus. They continued to talk about how the meeting went and couldn't wait until the next one. The only problem was that Harry and Ginny now had reason to suspect Tonks as a spy. 'She just cant be Ginny. I don't believe that she would do this. There has to be an explanation.' Harry's mind was racing trying to come up with one but he could think of one. All of the facts pointed to her having something that she wasn't telling them. How could she be talking to a dead guy. Its not that she couldn't because he could but it was that she would obviously know that he was dead when that happened. Everything that he was considering with Ginny pointed to the fact that Tonks wasn't telling them everything that there was something that they just didn't know. Harry and Ginny talked about everything that had been going on and decided that it was best to ask Remus when they talked to him next. They would see him tonight and that would be good enough to get some information about what happened. The room became quiet with the sounds of people doing there homework and Harry and Ginny decided that it would be a good idea to start on it before it built to high up. Harry started to work on the Transfiguration paper seeing as it was the one that interested him the most he could possibly do the essay without to much of a headache. He was nearly finished with the paper writing about how to tap into this energy source and how it differed from normal wand energy. He also wrote about how dangerous it was to use and misuse. He looked around the room noticing that Ginny was the only other person in the room with him. He finished up his essay, which was now nearly fifteen feet of parchment. It was actually five feet more than she had assigned them to do. Ginny put up her books and was now frustrated with her classes. How could her teachers assign so much work for them. Harry reached out and touched her face trying to express how much he felt for her. She had already knew what he was thinking still being linked with him. She leaned over and kissed him. The kiss, which at first was just to say thank you, turned hot and eager. Harry could feel her pull him into her knocking the chair over that she sat on. They ay on the floor in each other's embrace. Lips pressed firmly together. mouths opening and closing around each other's tongues. Time stopped. The floor became soft and the feeling of floating along with the desire to ripe off each other's clothes arose inside them. Harry had her naked in his arms and before he could think of a reason to stop her she had him in her mouth. She had always wanted to try this after hearing some interesting stories from her friends. Harry's mind seemed to calm but at the same time seemed to race about the day's events. She let up and looked into his eyes. She knew that he was worried about Remus and that they had to stop before they went any further. Harry kissed her again then put his clothes back on. Time didn't let up. and they retreated to their dorms. Harry put on his pajamas and crawled into bed. He went to sleep hearing Ginny breathe slightly in his head.
They were standing in the field of bright white light and Harry asked if she was ready. The problem was that neither of them was ready as they both wanted to finish want they had started. The white room slowed eased itself out of their view and they were back in the room of requirement. The room was set up for a night of romance. And that was what pursued. Harry laid Ginny on his bed he was no longer thinking about how Remus was. All he wanted was what Ginny wanted. And Ginny wanted to finish what she had started. She kissed him eagerly. Slowly moving down to his neck and then his chest. she took his clothes off as she moved down. she finally had him down to nothing laying on top of him holding him in the palm of her hand rubbing it into he clit. She became very aroused by this and before she could think of another thing to do Harry pressed himself inside of her. She collapsed on him rocking her hips back and forth. Harry leaned his weight to the side and had her on her back in one swift motion. They finished both at the same time quivering in ecstasy for their own orgasms and their partners. Harry awoke the next morning he was ready to take on the day. He knew that he had to face his first lesson with Professor Snape and that it might also be with Malfoy. He was however not in the least bit discouraged by the day. At breakfast a letter came for him. It was from Tonks and it informed them that she would be coming up to the castle tomorrow. He would have to ask her what was going on tomorrow as her letter didn't mention anything else. She was didn't even mention to him how she had communicated with Remus seeing as he is dead. Well tomorrow he would find out why she was saying that and tonight he would find out from Remus what happened. Harry finished his breakfast and sat there with Ginny until he had to leave for History of Magic. These lessons where usually very boring as Professor Binns had a way of putting him to sleep. As luck would have it though he was actually not as bored as he thought he would be. Professor Binns had now started to concentrate his classes on the recent history of magic and it included Voldemorts rise and fall. The time that class was let out Ginny was not to happy she was ranting about how Professor Binns should be teaching that in her class because he is still just as boring. Harry met up with her at lunch feeling like the day was going to be fine. even the prospect of facing four hours in potions wasn't discouraging him. Ginny told him that she had care of magical creatures next and that if Harry wanted to talk to her through their link that he could. She also had Herbology after that and she didn't have to concentrate to hard in either of those to classes so they could talk all the way through his potion class. When Harry reached the potions lab Professor Snape gave him a disgusted look. It wasn't his usual loathing that made him give this look. Perhaps it was Krum or event that he was in this class knowing that he didn't get the grades that he needed to get for the class. Harry sat down next to Hermione in the back of the class. He caught the sight of Draco in the front of the class without his crones Crabb and Goyle. There was no way that they had gotten close to the grades that they needed to continue this class.
"The assignment today is to start to brew this truth serum. It isn't as powerful as Veritaserum but it is still difficult to make if you screw up on one ingredient or motion of stirring then this becomes a serious poison. we will be testing these out when you finish with them." Snape's lips curled into a smile when his eyes rested on Harry.
"Miss Granger, move over one desk. I told you that you will not interfere with anyone's studies and you will not do so today." Hermione packed up her stuff holding back her tears. Harry mouthed to her not to worry it wasn't about her it was about Harry. "Now the directions are on the board you have three hours begin." Harry picked up his ingredients for the potion and began to prepare them. Ginny was giving him instructions about reading the book closely because if he died she would be mad. After the three hours Harry bottled up his potion. It looked in his opinion just like it should look. When he brought it up to Snape he looked livid.
"Five points from Gryffindor. Miss Granger you will move to the front of the class where I can keep an eye on you is that understood." It wasn't fair Harry didn't actually have much help and it wasn't from Hermione anyways. All he really needed was a way to get his mind off of Snape when he was in the same room with him and talking to Ginny had him so calmed that he could mix any potion that Snape threw at him.
"Hermione its ok next lesson we have with him he will see that I didn't have your help and I will be the one at the front of the class so he can make sure that I am not cheating." Hermione nodded although she was still in tears that Snape would say that she help Harry cheat on his potion. Harry and Ginny told Hermione that she would be alright but that they had to go see Dumbledore. They walked to his office and he beckoned them in again. they sat down upon his request and he began to tell them that something wasn't right because Tonks keeps telling him that she has talked to Remus so either she is being fooled or she is in league with Voldemort. Dumbledore finally finished talking about what he thought was going on with Remus and cleared the room with a sweep of his wand.
"Ok now Harry Ginny what we are going to do is learn Legiliman. I have thought about this and I think that it is important for you to know who is lying to you. Ok here it what you have to do. First you must learn to clear you mind and receive anything that comes in. I will teach you." Dumbledore had them in his office until well-passed curfew and by the end of the lesson he was confidant in their ability to feel emotions of minds without the use of the spell. He had them where he wanted them to be with this spell. He escorted them to their dorms and bid them a good night after telling them to meet him in his office every Tuesday at that time. If they needed to talk to him about anything that his door was always opened. Dumbledore left them at the painting as he turned towards his office again. They gave the password and Harry sat down on the couch. Ron and Hermione came over and sat down beside them. Harry felt as exhausted as Ginny looked. The idea of homework to them was becoming a heavy thought of pain licking their already tired minds. Harry got up and went to his room to get the books that he needed. Snape had given them the smallest homework assignment of the classes so far. Harry grabbed his charms book and then remembered that he needed to set a date for tomorrow for the D.A. so Tonks could teach them. He was feeling a bit better about her because Dumbledore seemed to think that she was being fooled that she was still trustworthy. He set the date for tomorrow at seven when Tonks said that she would be there. He went back down stairs and opened his books to start on the essay that Professor Flitwick had assigned to them. Ron was already halfway through it. He sat down and started to write his essay on the basic theory of Apperation. It wasn't that hard of an essay when you actually got the rhythm down. The concepts where very general. Basically you had to visualize where you wanted to go and then feel yourself dissolve into the air to appear there. When he finished the paper Ginny was still in the room along with Hermione. Hermione was still writing her Arithmancy paper and Ginny was sound asleep over her Charms paper. Harry gently woke her and helps her up. She kissed him goodnight and then went up to bed. Harry hurried up to his room ready to talk to Remus and find out what happened. He laid down to go to sleep and again found himself with Ginny in a room with nothing but white light. He thought of Remus, Sirus, and Lily. They appeared on front of them like they always had. Harry asked Remus what happened and he told them that Voldemort had attacked him. Harry now having learned Legilimans could tell that there was something that they were all keeping from them but they wouldn't let him know and he didn't want to push it right now because he was feeling to sorry for Remus. All the way through their meeting with him though he seemed to be a bit different from when they last saw him. He wasn't the same man some how he seemed to be a bit less humorous than usual. He also had lost his quality that always made Harry feel safe. But I guess that you usually lose that stuff when you die and he hadn't been dead that long yet. When Harry awoke the next morning he was waiting for Tonks to show up the whole day. He finished his breakfast in a hurry and was the first to be at the Defense against the Dark arts class. Well at least the first besides Hermione who was flirting with Viktor and what looked like kissing him until Harry had walked in. Hermione sat down next to Harry and they started to talk. The reason that Dumbledore had wanted to see her four days ago was because Viktor had told Dumbledore that he would take the job as long as he didn't have to break up with her. They weren't actually dating when he said this but it was only because he lived up in the northern area of Scandinavia. He had wrote her a letter telling her that he had a surprise for her after he hurt himself over the summer. She didn't know what to expect really but was excited anyways. Ron walked into the class and sat down next to them. He still didn't know that they were dating and Harry whispered to Hermione that she would have to tell Ron. She asked him why then before he could answer she understood. Ron had been acting the way he was because he liked her. This wasn't going to be easy for her but she knew that she had to be fair to him. Victor started the class out by talking about Voldemort. He wanted everyone in the class to know that he was back without a doubt. Everyone having read all of the daily prophets throughout the summer already knew this. He then went on about what he thought he should teach them and by the end of the class he had assigned them a project to make sure that they could all perform the Patronus charm. This was another assignment that he could just pass by because he already knew how to do that. Defense against the dark art started out to very boring to Harry. But then again he was getting private lessons from Dumbledore and Tonks and teaching others as well. Harry met up with Ginny at lunch and sat and talked with her. When they had finished lunch Harry gathered his books up and went out to Care of magical creature with Hagrid. Hagrid's class was a bit more interesting as far as Harry was concerned. He hadn't come down to visit Hagrid yet and it was good to see him. He had dedicated his lesson to proper handling of fire dragons. They where a bit like the salamanders only bigger and had a bit of an attitude. After class Harry and Ginny met up at dinner and ate together. when they were finished they decided to go for a walk around the lake to waste time before Tonks would show up. They still had an Hour and a Half before she would be there. The walk around the lake gave them time to think and time to just be alone. Once they had gotten far enough Ginny turned around and started to walk back towards the castle they didn't speak a word and yet they were still communicating perfectly. Even with as scary what was happening was between was it was still very nice to be able to know what each other was thinking. Harry followed her up to the castle and to the room of requirement. They went in and found Hermione and Ron arguing between each other. Just one look at the two of them told them that Hermione had told Ron that she was dating Viktor. Ron walked to the other side of the room and sat on a cushion that Luna had actually been sitting by. She leaned over and comforted Ron. As weird as she might be she was still human and knew what he must have been going through. Tonks showed up five minutes past seven. Everyone was there except Neville. He had agreed to stay behind and show Tonks to the room of requirement. When she came in he followed behind her and took his seat in a vacant cushion. Tonks started the lesson as soon as she walked to the front of the room. She was teaching them stronger curses then stupify and Petrificus Totalus. she wanted them to be ready for combat and needed them to know more than how to stun their opponent. When the lesson was over everyone had excitement burning through their veins. Tonks asked for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to stay behind and she let everyone else go. Luna and Neville decided to hang back and Tonks didn't seem to mind.
"Tonks, we wanted to ask you how you have been keeping in touch with Lupin."
"Well at first by owl but when you said he was dead I apparated to where he was to see for my self and he was fine."
"But he is dead we saw him with our dream enhancer." Tonks' face light up with what looked like fear and guilt. They knew that she was hiding something but she cleared her mind and it was gone just as fast.
"Ok well I wanted to teach you some other stuff."
"What." Hermione asked she didn't see what Harry and Ginny saw.
"Well Dumbledore and I think that it is a good idea to teach you to throw off the Crucious curse."
"What?" Harry asked.
"Don't worry if you do it right it wont hurt you at all. The spell is hard and most people can't do it because it requires control and wandless magic." She started with Harry and moved around the room. Only Harry, Hermione and Ginny seemed to have any luck with the counter curse. She called Harry back up for a demonstration.
"Crucio." she said. Harry tried to make his body go limp and cast the counter curse but he knew what was about to hit him and he couldn't help tensing up. It worked a little bit but his slight tensing didn't allow it to work the whole way. It wasn't as bad as it had been earlier but it was still horrible pain. Thousands of knifes pierced his skin. Harry looked up at her and she backed off. She called Ginny up and cast the spell on her. Ginny made the same mistake that he did. She let out a shriek of pain and began to sob. She had deflected most of it but it still wasn't enough to make it stop hurting. Harry's heart sank for her and he looked at Tonks expecting her to let up expecting her to feel pity for Ginny but all he saw was a look of pleasure twist across her face. Harry had a bad feeling in his stomach but he could feel what she was going through and he was hurting too much to try and stop her. It felt like forever before Tonks let up and when she did she told them it was time to get back to their common rooms. She escorted them back to the painting, said her goodbyes and then took Luna to her tower. Ron entered and went straight up to the dorms. It was now eleven and every part of Harry hurt all he wanted to do was sleep. He let his mind drift about Tonks and allow decent amount of time to pass so Ron could pretend to be asleep if he wanted to. Tonks had to be on their side there was no way that she could be in league with Voldemort. Why would she try to teach them to throw off that curse. But why did she look like she was enjoying hurting Ginny. Harry had most off his homework done and didn't feel like try to do anymore right now. He figured that he gave Ron a good enough head start and kissed Ginny goodnight. He told her that he needed some real sleep tonight and that they would use the dream enhancer tomorrow. She understood and knew that she would see him in his dreams anyways. He walked up to his room and sure enough Ron was snoring to loud to be actually asleep. He hit the bed without changing his clothes. His mind felt sorry for Ron and Neville. They didn't manage to throw off any part of the curse. Ron's night had been worse than anyone's. He had only just learned a couple of hours before that Hermione was seeing Viktor.
Harry was sitting in a chair in a dark room. His mind was racing about everything. He seemed to be the focal point for all the information in the universe. It seemed to be filtering through him. His mind sagged and grew heavy under the pressure. He could not bear to think but was forced to anyway. A calming hand flowed across his chest and he didn't have to think anymore. Ginny sat in his lap curling up to his form. Her arms wrapped his neck and her head pressed into his shoulder. He could feel her sitting into him. She whimpered in pain when she moved. The dream had disconnected them. Everything finally came into focus. He was sitting in the common room in his favorite chair. They started talking about the events of the night. How painful it had been to watch each other under the curse. It felt nice to her Ginny speak without knowing what she was going to say before hand. They both agreed that Ron was hurting more from Hermione than the curse and they would give him time to cope with it. They were going to try to get Luna to ask him out. He needed someone to be more than friends with. Hermione had Viktor and they had each other. They would be there for him but he needed a different kind of company now.
The room became suddenly dark. Harry and Ginny became one. Their minds swam in a single body.
"Master forgive me."
"I've heard enough, Wormtail dispose of this. Malfoy, Goyle see to it that it is done. They hissed orders so the death eater at their feet was taken away. Malfoy and Goyle bowed and left the room.
"Bellatrix bring me the informant."
"Yes master." she left the room and Harry awoke his scar burned in his forehead and morning was now in the sky. He got out of bed and every part of him ached. He changed and went down to the common room. Hermione handed him something to drink and when he did it soothed all of his aches and pains.
"Should have thought about this last night."
"Did you give it to everyone."
"No Ron wouldn't take it from me he insisted that it didn't hurt."
"Well I imagine that he was in pain before the curse you know."
"Yeah I know." Harry walked down to breakfast with Ginny and Hermione. They entered the room and saw Ron talking with Luna and Neville. Breakfast was a spread out event and she didn't have to sit at her own table this time. They were in a conversation and didn't even see them walk in. Harry sat down next to Ron And Ginny sat next to him. Hermione sat next to Ginny. Ron continued with his conversation with Luna oblivious to his new audience. He was talking to her about the crucious curse that the had been put through last night. Ron seemed to feel sorry for Luna because she did the worst of them all in deflecting it. She had seen too much to trust anyone but her dad and she really didn't even try to through it off. Hermione stood up and handed her some of her potion that she made. Ron who had just noticed that they were there glared at her and then continued to talk to Luna. Luna accepted the potion and then offered some to Ron. He accepted some from Luna. Hermione gave him a weird look then sat down next to Neville. He had already taken some of her potion and he felt fine now. They went on discussing how things at school were going and Neville asked her to help him with the counter curse. He decided that he couldn't go through that pain again. She looked at Harry and told Neville to ask him seeing as he did the best or at least just as good as Ginny. They would be able to help them some how. Harry and Ginny agreed to help Neville then got up to go to class. Hermione Followed Harry to Herbology and they had to take care of a venomous puffer plant. It had a very sweat smelling liquid pouring over its pedals. Birds and bees would get close and drink the liquid thinking it was nectar than die from the poison. Then the plant would open itself up and let the bird or bee fall into its base where it would dissolve. Their job was to carefully extract the poison and bottle it so it could be used in some magical potions. The class was very boring but needed full attention to what was going on. after a long day of removing poison and placing it in a vile they were dismissed. Neville seemed to be the only one in the class that actually enjoyed the lesson. Harry had the rest of the afternoon off until Astronomy tonight. He decided that after lunch with Ginny he would spend the rest of the time studying and determining the time to hold try outs for the quidditch team. Harry ate lunch with Ginny and discussed Quidditch with her about how much different he was going to have the team play. He discussed the use of beaters being able to score goals. They looked over their table to see if there might be anyone who could do the job as beater and chaser at the same time. There were some candidates who seemed to fit the part but would they be up for the challenge. He knew he was going to have to get rid of his beaters now unless they showed skill in both areas. They needed to work together almost like they are one. They will need to have skill and cunning. But did their beaters have that. Harry didn't know not having played a single game with them. Lunch finished up rather quickly for Harry and He was left with nothing to do except go up and study until the rest of school was out of class. He walked up to his tower and entered the common room. He started to work on his paper for History of magic and ended up falling asleep in the middle of it. It wasn't that he was tired it was that with no one around and working on something like this he was exhausted not to mention the class that Ginny was in was also boring and he could feel her falling asleep.
Harry walked down an empty corridor he didn't know where he was but he knew that he was looking for a way out. His body felt foreign to him. his legs longer and his mind while not completely lost was not human. He had the need to bite human flesh in his mouth. But his mind was against it. His hands were covered in coarse hair and he could feel sharp claws out the end of each finger. The house that he was in seemed to be empty. There wasn't a soul around. He could feel Ginny enter his subconscious worried about him. She was now not half asleep but fully awake and fearing for him. She could feel the hair covering his body and the fangs in his mouth. Where was he. surely not in Hogwarts anymore but then where.
"Harry wake up." Ginny said in his head. He didn't wake he couldn't. He needed to understand.
"Harry wake up." That was it he now knew what was wrong with him. He was in the body of a creature that was once a man.