Something I doubt I would ever get used to, is the Staring. I had witnessed it being friends with the Great Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, but it never had been directed at me quite so intently. This really was different than when we won the Quidditch Cup, or when I was a Triwizard Champion. As a Quidditch Cup winner it was stares of excitement. As a Triwizard Champion they were stares of hatred, fear and anticipation. Now.. as I walked down the corridor looking into compartments trying to find an empty one on the Hogwarts Express, I felt the Stares.. stares of Expectation, demanding, responsibility.. Wonder. I was no longer just David Shuter, 5th Year Hogwarts Student.. I was David Shuter sole surviving Heir of Godric Gryffindor, famed Hero of old. I had a responsibility to the Wizarding World and its people.. and they knew it.

We ran into Neville, who did not seem to shy away from Harry and Me, and instead was happy to see us. This was a good sign, perhaps, like Ron and Hermione, the people closest to us would believe us and school wouldn't be as bad as Kings Cross lead me to believe. Finally Ginny turned around and said "This one is the only one with room." She wouldn't quite meet my eyes, and once I entered the compartment, I saw why..

Luna Lovegood, a 4th year Ravenclaw sat alone in the compartment. My Ex turned to see us as Ginny asked "Do you mind Luna, everywhere else is full." I then muttered to Harry "Perhaps there is room in Malfoy's compartment" He snorted a little at that. Luna said dreamily "I don't mind, How are you Harry?" She of course had spent plenty of time with him when we had been dating. He said "Well I could be better." She nodded "Of course, The Ministry has always been quick to deny things that not everyone sees, they continue to deny the existence of Nargles even though they couldn't be more obviously there." I nodded slowly, sitting near the exit, as far from Luna as possible. I had not spoken to her since the Second Task, and knew it had to have hurt her and re-afirmed her beliefs i had been cheating on her with Hermione when I saved Hermione instead of her.

Neville, being tactless as ever, decided to bring me into the conversation, Maybe just trying to bring the focus off of him "Hey David, How's being the Heir of Gryffindor? Feeling..uh.. any different?" I sighed, avoiding eye contact with Luna "No Neville.. I don't feel any different. I'm still me, just with more expectations I guess." Neville then said "Huh... don't feel, I don't know, any braver?" I noticed Luna look past me and said dreamily "He would need to be." I raised an eyebrow and looked to see Hermione and Ron about to open the compartment door. oh... well played Luna, well played.

Hermione opened the door and came in, sitting across from me, talking about their meeting. She then did a double take when she saw Luna. She looked between the two of us before she said "Oh, hullo Luna, good Summer" That was when Luna got the same tone in her voice she had back in February when she said "Better than my Winter." She then began to engage the others in conversation. I myself did not engage, feeling very uncomfortable being in the same compartment as both the girls i had kissed. Especially since one thought I had been cheating on them with the other... and that I was in Love with the other the whole time. I only spoke up with Hermione mentioned the Quibbler was rubish "Uh Hermione... Luna's Dad is the Editor..." Hermione began scrambling to say something good about it but Luna said coldly "I'll take it back thank you." So it seemed those two were destined to be at odds.. even without me in the picture. Hermione shot me a helpless look, which i just shrugged. It appeared i would have enough on my plate with this Heir thing without having to worry about repairing a friendship between Hermione and Luna.

There was a quick altercation with Malfoy, which I stayed out of, especially when he started to rib Harry for being second best to Ron.. and me. I would only justify the sentiment by responding, which was ludicrous. Harry didn't care about that kind of thing.. plus this whole Heir thing would pass and once Voldemort came out into the open, Harry would be right back on top... Did I care about that kind of thing?

After almost too long we finally arrived at Hogsmede. We noticed Hagrid wasn't anywhere to be found, and this had me worried.. was he hurt on his mission for the Order? What added to my worry (aside from the constant stares I was getting from the other students.) was the fact that the magic horseless Carriages that brought us to Hogwarts... weren't Horseless.. They had these magnificently scary black winged things pulling them... and whats worse was that only Harry and I could see it. To add insult to injury Luna said "I can see them too, don't worry, you are as sane as I am". Harry and I looked at each other, and boy did we worry...

Upon arriving at Hogwarts we were greeted by the Sorting Hat's yearly song. This year it deciding to sing about inter house co-operation and standing together to face greater threats, something Nearly Headless Nick mentioned the Hat has done in the pats during times of great peril. So it was fair to say being in Dumbledore's office meant it could overhear all of Voldemort's deeds. Now the real shock, Ignoring everything else that had happened that evening, was the fact Dumbledore had hired someone from the Ministry of Magic as our Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher. Perhaps the Ministry had been on to something about Dumbledore going Senile. Since that seemed to be the worst decision in the world for the job (which was a high bar to surpass considering our previous Professors had been a fraud, a death eater in disguise.. a werewolf, and a bloke with Voldemort living on the back of his head) as The Ministry was actively trying to denounce any Dark Arts were happening. After quite a lengthy Speech on her part, she finally sat down. This made things quite apparent, that the Ministry of Magic was interfering at Hogwarts, and that could not bode well for Harry and I.

After our feast we made our way to the Gryffindor Common Room. Ron and Hermione had to escort the first years, which left Harry and myself to make the trip alone. I noticed quite a few stares and murmurs as we passed people "Do you every get used to this?" I asked Harry in an undertone. He shook his head "No, you just start to ignore it." I nodded slowly "Easier said then done." We then made our way up to the Common Room, and realized once we got to the portrait of the fat lady, that we did not know our password. Luckily Neville ran up to us (a weird statement for sure) and said "I ran into a prefect and got the password. This one I am actually going to remember for once. Mimbulus mimbletonia" The portrait swung open for us. We then made our way inside. Harry and I both seemed in agreement that we just wanted to go to bed.

When we got to our Dorms we opened the door to sudden silence from our two remaining dorm mates, Dean and Seamus, leading us to think they were talking about us "Hey David...Harry.. Good Holiday" Harry responded "I guess." I shook my head "Not really. Yours?" Dean then said "Not bad, better than Seamus's, he was just telling me" Neville looked over in concern "Why, what happened?" Seamus avoided Harry's gaze as he said "Me Mam didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts this year." Harry looked shocked "but.. why?!" Seamus then looked over at Harry, but did not meet his eye "Well I suppose, because of you." I crossed over to my bed, sensing this was not going to be a fun conversation. "What do you mean?" Harry asked in a curt tone. Seamus then said sheepishly "Well.. its not just you.. its Dumbledore too." Harry then said in an odd tone "She believes the Daily Prophet does she? She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore is an old fool?" Seamus nodded "In fact, she only let me come because of you David." I shot him a look "Because she thinks I will fight off Harry? I'm sorry Seamus, but that is not about to happen." He then said "But.. being Heir of Gryffindor.." he shook his head before continuing "How is it? Do you feel more powerful? Braver? I mean, you have always been fantastic at magic.. it makes so much sense now." I shook my head, finding myself getting irritable at the constant mentions of my heritage, "I am no different now than I was 3 months ago. Nothing has changed. Drop it Seamus." Seamus sighed and dropped it for a minute.. before he then asked "So... what did happen that night when.. you know..with Cedric Diggory and all. " Harry then snapped "Why are you asking me? Why don't you read the Prophet like your stupid mother. Should tell you all you need"

This changed Seamus's demeanour. He then snapped "don't you have a go at my mother!" Harry shot back "I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!" Seamus then yelled "Don't talk to me like that!" Harry then pulled his wand out and pointed it at Seamus, yelling back "I'll talk to you how I want. If you have got a problem with sharing a dormitory with me, go ask Professor McGonagall to be moved. It will stop your Mommy worrying.." "Leave my mother out of this Potter!" Ron then came barging in the room "What the bloody Hell is going on in here?!" Seamus pointed at Harry and said "He's having a go at my mother!" Ron looked at Harry then back at Seamus saying "What? Harry wouldn't.. we met your mother, we liked her." Harry then spat "That was before she started believing every word the stinking Daily Prophet writes about me." Ron then had realization cross his face. Seamus then said "You know what, he's right. If David won't do his duty and protect us from him, then I don't want to share a dormitory with him. He's mad!" Ron's ears began to burn red, a dangerous sign "That's out of Order Seamus." he said in a deadly tone. Seamus then shouted "Out of order am I? You believe all the rubbish they have come out with about You Know Who, do you? You reckon he is telling the truth?" Ron replied angerly "yes I do."

I then had enough, I shot out of bed and walked over to Seamus, who shrunk back slightly. I looked down at him slightly as i said angerly "You rave about duty Seamus, you ramble about me not doing mine, yet you shrink away at yours! THAT, right there, is Duty.. TRUE Duty. Duty to your FRIENDS is the most important duty. My Father knew that, he risked his life undercover doing his duty to the wizarding world as the Heir of Gryffindor, but when the life of his best friends were in danger, he stood face to face with Voldemort to try and stop him, throwing it all away! My Duty.. is to trust my friends, a duty that i take VERY seriously, and one you are too cowardly to commit to!" He was taken aback. He finally then said "You are all mad!" Ron then said "Well unlucky for you pal I am also a Prefect,. So unless you want Detention, watch your mouth!" He huffed and went to bed. Ron then asked "Anyone else's parents have a problem with Harry or David?" Dean shook his head "My folks are muggles mate, they don't know nothing about no deaths at Hogwarts, Because I'm not stupid enough to tell them." There was a bit more arguing where Neville showed his loyalty to Dumbledore and Harry. Then we all set ourselves to bed. I half expected a nod of thanks from Harry, but I got nothing, which concerned me... why was he being so distant the past month?

The next morning brought with it more bad news.. one of the worst time tables we had ever seen.. all our least favourite lessons all bundled together in the same day. What made it worse was the fact each Professor took the first 15 minutes of their lesson to give us a talk on how important our OWL year was. Then of course the cherry on top was the piles of homework that were assigned from each class. I was even worried that I would not be able to keep up this year.. and I had gotten in a habit over the past 4 years of actually always doing my homework and being productive.. something I had never done in Muggle School. This was going to be a hard year indeed.

History of Magic, Potions and Divination were bad enough. Normally the thought of Defense Against the Dark Arts was enticing. But given the fact Umbridge was the professor... it brought me dread to walk into the classroom. I sat beside Hermione as per the usual. We then watched as Professor Umbridge greeted the class.. and made us greet her in unison back. She then made us put away our wands and open our books, which did not bode well for the lesson, as theory had always been boring. She was really off to a bad start as a Professor. This bad streak continued when she laid out a set of course guidelines that honestly felt like a waste of time. What was the practical use of just learning theory.. sure I had been able to pick up a spell or two by reading the theory about it... but I also had to practice the spell a bunch before i got the hang of it. The guidelines had nothing about practice.

I wasn't the only one who had noticed this, as Hermione did not open up her textbook as told, and instead raised her hand. This had me in complete shock, I had never known her to not read when being told to.. it was literally her favourite thing to do. I watched as Umbridge ignored her for a while before she asked "Do you have a question about the Chapter dear?" I don't know why her calling Hermione 'dear' made my blood boil, but it did. Hermione said "Not about the chapter no." Then Professor Umbridge replied "Well then read the Chapter and we will discuss it later." Hermione then said "I have a query about your course aims." I blinked a couple times.. Hermione was questioning a Professor methods? Umbridge asked "And your name is?" Hermione replied with her name, which Umbridge replied back sweetly "Well I am sure if you read them thoroughly you will understand them." Hermione then said curtly "Well I don't.. there is nothing in there about using defensive spells." Umbridge then giggled before saying "using Defensive Spells? Well I can't imagine why you would need to use defensive spells in my classroom. Surely you don't expect to be attacked!"

I noticed everyone looking at her in disbelief and anger.. and then many eyes turning to me, like I could do something about it. If it wasn't for the fact I had already grown to dislike this woman i would have stayed silent.. but she was treating Hermione like a child... and I could feel all the eyes boring into me. Seamus's words from the night before about duty rang in my ears as I said "Well she wouldn't be far off in expecting it now would she?" Umbridge turned to me "Students raise their hand in my class if they wish to speak Mr Shuter." Eyes once again bore into me as I raised my hand and stood up. I didn't give her a chance to ignore me as I said "We have every right to feel unsafe in this class Professor. I have personally been attacked in this classroom or by its professor every year since I started at Hogwarts.. as have a few of my classmates. Luckily those Professors had been at least competent enough to teach us the spell we then used against them!" She then said with another giggle "You surely don't expect me to attack you!" I then replied back "Well history would lead to me believing you will, and you are making it easy on yourself by not even trying to teach us how to defend us! Professor Moody may have been a Death Eater in disguise but at least he taught how to cast and defend against some of the most powerful magic known which helped when he tried to kill Harry and I last year! Professor Lockheart may have been a fraud, but he at least had Professor Snape teach us the disarming spell that we had to use when he attacked us! Professor Lupin taught us about dark magical creatures, which helped when he turned and attacked us against his will! Professor Quirrell taught us the very spell i used to keep him from choking the life out of Harry in our first year! Not to mention all the times we have had dangerous stuff released on us in this very classroom, Pixies, Unforgivable curses! So do your Duty and teach us how to defend ourselves!" There was cries of approval from the class.

Umbridge turned a shade of pink as she said "10 points from Gryffindor! Now sit down Mr Shuter before there are further consequences! I will not be compared to Death Eaters, Frauds and...Halfbreeds in my own Classroom! This curriculum is Ministry of Magic approved!" I then balled my fist as I said "Funny how you conveniently forget to mention the Professor that had Freaking Lord Voldemort living on the back of his head. Is that why you won't teach us how to defend ourselves Professor? Do you want to soften us up so when Voldemort finally comes back to finish the job he started in June it will be easy for him?!" I was shaking, with both anger and fear. I knew I crossed a line.. but it was what was expected of me right? If this got her to properly teach my classmates it would be worth it.. right?" Umbridge then gasped as she said "Detention Mr Shuter, Tomorrow Evening, 5 O'clock, my Office. Now SIT DOWN!"

I reluctantly sat down as Harry then said "So you won't prepare us for what is out there?" Umbridge then said "Hand! Mr Potter!" Harry thrust his hand up and asked the question again, where Umbridge said "There is nothing out there Mr Potter, who would want to harm children such as yourselves?" Harry then said sarcastically "I don't know, maybe Lord Voldemort!" Umbridge then said "10 more points from Gryffindor! Now let me make myself quite clear, you have been told a certain Dark Wizard has returned from the dead. That is a LIE." Harry then yelled "Its not a lie! David and I fought him" Harry looked at me for help, I was about to say something when Hermione grabbed my arm and hissed "No! Don't! You already have detention, don't provoke her more!" I opened my mouth, but then shut it, i noticed Harry's hurt look as he turned back to Umbridge giving him detention with me. He then asked "So, do you think Cedric Diggory just dropped dead of his own accord?" Umbridge then said "Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident.." Harry then yelled "IT WAS MURDER AND YOU KNOW IT" He then got sent off to Professor McGonagall's office. After that the class calmed down and we began to read the boring book.

If I was wrong and Harry hadn't been distant before, he was now. He didn't say a word to me all the way up to our detention the next day. On the way I said "I'm sorry Harry..." He then said hotly "All your talk about duty to your friends, and then you abandon it when it matters most" I looked at him and said "I know.. i don't know..I just felt this.. pressure.. from everyone in the room to stand up for them... and I can't continue to stand up for them if I am in Detention all week or get expelled. I pushed Umbridge farther than I should have.. I basically called her a Death Eater! If I had pushed further I would have ended up with far worse than a weeks worth of Detentions." Harry then said softly, but with menace in his voice "Now it looks like the Prophet was telling the truth that you were only lying to keep your mentally unstable friend happy." I nodded "I know.. I'm sorry.. I don't know what is the right thing to do anymore.. I don't know what is expected of me.. I'm still.. trying to figure it out okay? Next time it comes up, I'll have your back.. I promise." He didnt say anything as we arrived at Umbridge's office. Harry knocked and a sweet voice said "Come in!"

When we got inside Harry started off by asking to skip detention Friday for the Keeper try outs for Qudditch. I was going to step in and help him but once I saw the Professor's face I knew if I tried I would end up with Detention that night as well and Angelina would kill us if we BOTH missed tryouts. Umbridge finally said "Ahh, I see you are learning to control your Temper Mr Potter.. that is good.. and Mr Shuter is learning that it is in his best interests not to stick his neck out for you and your attention seeking stories.. we are making progress already! Now.. I am going to have you both right lines.. no no you don't need your quills, I have special ones for you to use. Now Mr Potter you will write I must not tell lies and Mr Shuter you will write I am a Nobody." I tried to keep my anger in check as i asked "How many times?' She then grinned as she said "As long as the message takes to sink in." She didn't provide any ink, but told us we wouldn't need it.

I sat down and started to write and gasped as I felt pain in my right hand. The ink was red.. and my hand had the etching of my first would on it. One look at Harry told me he had the same thing happening to him. I felt anger rise within me.. this wasn't right.. this was evil... all it would take is calling the sword of my ancestor to stop it.. but no.. that would play right in her narrative.. and Azkaban would be easy pickings for Voldemort to kill me. So I powered through.. biting my tongue through the pain as i wrote "I am a Nobody" Over and Over. I was being the good little student, as too much was riding on me being at Hogwarts.. my life for one. She may have had me write the statement over and over again, but it wasn't true.. as much as I wished it was. I missed the time when the extent of my fame was being friends with the Boy who Lived.. and not because of Quidditch cups won, being forced into a dangerous tournament or because of who my ancestor was.. I wanted to be a nobody.. but it seemed those days were over for me.

After a torturous evening my hand was raw.. but i saw no discernible scars. Professor Umbridge inspected my hand and tsk-ed "Well I am sure I will see you in here again to help this message sink in Mr Shuter. You may go." Harry was told a very similar thing and we both left together. Harry began to speed walk away when i asked "Hey! Where are you off to so fast?" He turns and said stiffly "You were supposed to have my back to plead my case to Umbridge." I stopped in my tracks and said "Oh come off it Harry! You saw how she was when you asked. Had I backed you up I would have ended up with more detentions and missing practice too. Angelina would flip her lid if I ended up missing practice too. Besides.. We are choosing a new Keeper, it makes more sense for a Chaser to be there than a Seeker, right?" He then spat "Oh I see, so now you are more important to the team than I am? How many games have you won for us then?" I raised an eyebrow and said "Seriously? You are going there? This isn't an issue of how many games we've won Harry! A Keeper entire existence is to stop goals from Chaser's.. so to test out and choose a new Keeper, Chasers are needed! When it comes to game time Harry, YOU are our Seeker.. YOU win us those games. You can not be replaced Harry. I was just trying to keep the Team's best interests in mind." Harry then said "Or trying to ensure you don't get into any more trouble." He then turned and hurried off in a huff. I gapped, not sure what to say or do.. how was I to fix my friendship with Harry?

It wasn't long before Friday evening rolled around and I was in the change room with the rest of the team (Sans Harry) getting ready for practice. Angelina walked over to me and said "Hey Shuter.. thank you for not getting yourself in more trouble with Professor Umbridge. I really need you today." I then said "So does anyone anymore.." She nodded "I see.. I understand what you mean, this Team Captain stuff is harder than I thought, I think we gave Oliver too much of a hard time... anyways I have taken a quick look at the candidates.. just promise me you will not take it easy on any of them?" I raised an eyebrow and replied "I want to bring home the Qudditch Cup for Gryffindor again this year, why would I take it easy on any of them? Slytherin sure as hell won't. I won't let you down Angelina!" She smiled slightly "That's the spirit! Now lets go out there and find us our new Oliver!" I nodded and with that the team made it out onto the pitch. I looked through our candidates, there weren't too many of them, maybe 10. I was expecting a higher turnout given the fact it was the first time since my first year that a position was open on the team without someone already in place to take it. It made sense however, given the fact Harry was on the team and he was 'mentally deranged'. I scanned the candidates again and my eyes lingered as I saw a familiar freckled face. Ron. He gave me a sheepish smile and waved. I waved back with a small smile. Now I knew why Angelina made sure I wouldn't take it easy on anyone.

Angelina then said "Oi, listen up you lot! We only have 1 position available so only one of you will be successful. To determine who moves on, we will be running some drills and finish off with a shoot out! First off we will be doing a warm up! Since he has the fastest broom, Shuter will be leading it! Follow his lead." She side glanced at me with a slight smile "They are all yours David." I nodded, a little surprised she was having me run something, however I realized it probably had something to do with my newfound popularity. I then said "Alright! Mount up!" We all mounted our brooms. "Kick off!" We then all kicked off the ground. I was mildly surprised everyone did it effectively, then i remembered this was a wildly different scenario to our first flying lesson, everyone at this age had already had a years worth of flying lessons "Alright, follow me everyone!" I then took off to the edge of the pitch, where i began to slowly fly in between the pillars, when we came to the first set of hoops i weaved in between each goal post. I then continued these laps of the pitch, slowly bringing up on the speed. I noticed some of the applicants fall behind but chose not to focus on that. If they could not keep up, they should not be applying to be a Keeper, a position that requires split second decisions and action. Finally we had done our final lap at our fastest, mostly only the team had kept up with me. Maybe one or two recruits... neither of which were Ron.

Angelina then had us running passing drills. I saw the logic in this as some of the great flyers were not good at flying and passing the Quaffle. Luckily Ron did decent in this portion. On our last round of passing I was paired up with him. He smiled sheepishly at me "Hiya Mate, How am I doing?" I smiled "Keep it up Mate and we may have another Weasley on the team." He then asked "So you will take it easy on me?" I smirked like I was thinking about it then said "Nope" I then passed the quaffle to him and we were off. He passed it back to me with surprising force, which was shocking. This caused me to grin as we began to pass it back and forth. On the final pass i even pulled a trick flipping sideways over him, dropping the quaffle when over him. He almost missed it, but caught it with his finger tips. I smiled over at him and said "Well now no one can accuse me of going easy on you now can they?" He was still in shock at the manuver and said "uh...uh huh" That brought the drills to a close.. last up was the shoot out.

Despite me saying I wouldn't take it easy on anyone I did dumb my shots down a bit from my regular standard, they were untrained and it wouldn't be a fair evaluation otherwise. Many of my shots were saved, many were not. When it came to Ron's turn the roation of chasers were changed so I only had to shoot on him once. I made sure not to take it easy on him, I used one of my feints, acting like i was going to shoot at my right hoop, then quickly switching to my far left one. Ron half fell for it, but still was closer at saving it than most would have been, missing it my only a few inches. He then said "You know, you COULD have also taken it easier on me" I chuckled "Nah, wheres the fun in that."

Soon the try outs were over. A couple recruits saved more goals than Ron, however Angelina chose Ron. I was pleasantly surprised and ginned over at him. Angelina whispered over to me "While he didn't do the best, I chose him because of you. Many didn't save any shot you through, he didn't save it on a trick shot. I am hoping Quidditch really is in his blood and he can get better." I nodded "He will."

There was a party in the Gryffindor common room that night to celebrate Ron joining the team, Harry joined us still in a mood, however he brought up his scar hurting when Umbridge touched him, so I paid attention to that saying " I suppose its possible Umbridge could be under an imperious curse placed by Voldemort... but your scar doesn't hurt when you are around Malfoy's father, so I doubt Umbridge is a Death Eater.." He mostly ignored my input and decided to write Sirius about it.

That weekend turned out to be as terrible as the week. The Qudditch practice on Saturday was in terrible conditions and had a group of Slytherin hecklers getting in Ron's head, causing a lousy practice. Authorities somehow knew to look for Sirius in London, and Percy told Ron in a letter to stay away from Harry and try to convince me to do the same. Sunday night dinner turned out to be interesting though, Professor McGonagall came to us at the Gryffindor table and said "Mr Shuter, Professor Dumbledore would like a word with you, meet him in his office at 8, Password is gumdrop." I then said "Harry and I will be there Professor." She then raised an eyebrow "Did I say Mr Potter and Mr Shuter? He wishes to speak only with you." This got a massive glare from Harry. I shrugged it off, if he wanted to be upset that I was summoned by Dumbledore and he wasn't, so be it.

That night I went to the Headmaster Office, spoke the password to the gargoyle, and made my way up the stair case. Once I made it to the door I knocked, a soft voice from within said "Come, Come." I opened the Door and Dumbledore stood there, petting Fawkes. He then said "Ahh, David, come sit, would you like a sherbert Lemon? They are a muggle candy I am very fond of." I shook my head as I took a seat "I'm more of a Jolly Rancher guy.." He shrugged "Then I hope you do not mind if I partake." He popped one in his mouth and then asked "So.. How has your first week back been?" I shrugged and said half heartily "oh...It was good.." He then looked over his spectacles at me as he said "You would classify having detention in the first week as 'good'?" I grimaced "You heard about that then.." He nodded "I did." I then said "I uh.. suppose you would like an apology for it.." He shook his head "I do not." I then raised an eyebrow "Then what do you want from me..?" He then said "To tell me honestly how your first week back has been."

I was unsure how to begin. Should I be honest? Or should I tough it out.. be brave. I then simply said "People... expect things of me now." He nodded calmly "They do." I then added "and I don't always know what they are." He then said "I doubt even they do truly, what do you believe you owe to these people?" I then thought about it for a second before saying "To protect them, brave dangers so they do not have to" He smiled "A noble duty indeed, but how can you perform that duty?" I shook my head "That's what I don't know, I thought it was to defend their right to a proper education, but that didn't work." He then said "Not to mention it got you detention, removing you from a position do help." I then asked "So should I have kept my mouth shut?" He linked his fingers together and thought for a second before saying "That remains to be seen. The trick to having responsibility, is learning that you are the one who assigns a responsibility, not others. If you believe you were right in standing up against Professor Umbridge, then that was the right thing to do. Do not let others dictate what satisfies their want for duty. You are the Heir of Gryffindor yes, but only you get to dictate what that means." I nodded "Yes sir." He then asked "That is not all is it? What else is wrong David?"

I took a deep breath and said "Its not only other people.. its my friends. Saemus and Harry both define my duty as something different.. I can't choose one without pushing the other away. In trying to help others I push Harry away, in trying to help Harry I push others away. But if I help others I am in a position of trust that they will believe me when I said Voldemort is back, which ultimately helps Harry! But Harry keeps pulling further and further away... Ron is doing more dangerous stuff to try and be closer to us now.. and Hermione had to spend the summer away from her family because i asked her to a ball once..." Dumbledore sighed sadly and said "Alas, there is no greater weight than feeling alone." I then said "I didn't-" He raised a hand to silence me "You did not need to say it David, for I anticipated this outcome for you." I then said "But you said 4 years ago that I would meet a group of kids who would be the best friends i ever had.. how is that anticipating me being alone?" He shook his head "Not since I met you, but since the world discovered your heritage. A shift in identity such as this can cause many feelings of loneliness.. even when you are surrounded by people who love and cherish you. Do you know how many times Zeus was at my window last year with a letter from your mother yelling at me to do something about the Triwizard Tournament?! Or how quickly Young Ms Granger jumped at the chance to take some emotional weight off your shoulders when we approached her to spend the summer at Headquarters? Mr Weasley joining the Quidditch team could easily be an attempt to spend more time with you as he can no doubt see his friend is having a hard time. Molly and Arthur ask about how you and Harry are doing just as much as their own children. Remus and Sirius have both already asked me to contact them as soon as we have the results of the first Gryffindor Quidditch match. Your Headmaster asking you to come see him privately to see how you are handling such a change in your life." He smiled and added "You are not alone."

Now I heard all he said.. and it meant a lot.. especially hearing how excited Hermione was to spend the summer away from her family to protect me.. however one name stuck out by not being mentioned "Harry is still angry at me." Dumbledore sighed "Harry is going through a difficult time right now himself. While you are getting used to the world seeing you now, he is now having to get used to the world not believing him. Plus you are both Teenagers.. you are bound to fight. But I have no doubt whatsoever, that when push comes to shove, It will be Harry covering your back." I pursed my lips and said "I'm trying.." Dumbledore nodded and said "We know you are. However I have no doubt that I don't need to tell you to watch what you do around Professor Umbridge, you know who she reports to." I then nodded deep in thought "Yes sir.. uh Sir... not that I don't think Ron was a good choice for Prefect.. nor am I jealous of him or anything.. but I have to ask.." He smiled slightly "If I care as much to invite you for a meeting to check up on you, why did I not make you Prefect alongside Ms Granger. Well the answer is both simple and complex. To save you the details I'll answer simply... You already had enough responsibility on your plate, I didn't want to add more." I stood up and nodded, kind of understanding "Thank you Professor." He got up himself "You are most welcome David.. remember, There have been many heir's to gryffindor in the past, but right now you alone hold that title, and you alone can decide what that means. I now must bid you goodnight, you have classes in the morning." And with that I left his office, pondering the implications of our Meeting.

It truely seemed I was destined for an odd year that I would not enjoy. Harry was growing ever more and more distant, Dumbledore was singling me out just as everyone else was expecting something of me as the Heir of Gryffindor. Umbridge would be the bane of my existence.. I was only one step closer to figuring out what being the Heir even meant... and the whole time I would be aware that Voldemort was out there... waiting, with his sights set on me.. eliminating the Gryffindor blood line once and for all.