A/N: Hi guys! Finally able to post the 6th Chapter up. :)

Just to clarify something: I write all of my Chapters and stories on my laptop. Unfortunately, the WiFi in my house is really crappy, which means I transfer everything using a USB key. It's not an extremely long process, but posting does take longer than it should.

Right...anyway, read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling, the song "Photograph" is by Nickelback. All I own is the (ADDED) plot and the Ocs. (I also own "metamizles".)

Photograph

...***...

Chapter 6

"I miss that town,

I miss their faces,

You can't erase,

You can't replace it.

I miss it now,

I can't believe it,

So hard to say it,

Too hard to leave it.

If I could relive those days,

I know the one thing that I would never change..."

-Photograph,Nickelback

Hermione kept staring at the parchment she found being thrown at Malfoy as she ate breakfast the next day. She was puzzled. There wasn't a lot written, but it didn't make sense to her. The Draco Malfoy she knew didn't associate with these words.

Draco Malfoy = Blood traitor!

She looked up at the Slytherin table. Malfoy seemed deep in thought. All the other Slytherins, besides Zabini, had probably decided to completely ignore him now. Hermione couldn't shake the feeling of being sorry for him. Not that he'd ever take her pity if she said it to his face.

After breakfast, she went to her first class of the day: Transfiguration. Probably her favourite class, though, she liked all of her classes (all of her classes, emphasis on her – Divination was still something she hated). She walked in, feeling content and seeing Professor McGonagall sitting at her desk. She looked around and took an empty desk to the side. The classroom began to fill up and after a while, then there was Harry and Ginny coming in to take the seats beside her. She knew Ron and Foster weren't in this class. the Professor stood up from her desk and began her teaching.

Just as she finished giving out assignments, someone came bursting in the door. Hermione half expected it to be Professor Morrigan, but was slightly shocked at who actually came in. She didn't even notice until now that Draco Malfoy wasn't exactly present. He seemed shaken up, breathing heavily.

"Mr. Malfoy..." she beckoned for him to come up to her desk. Hermione found herself eavesdropping again.

"I hear this is the ninth time you have come to class exceedingly late, Mr. Malfoy."

"It won't happen again, Professor," he reassured, but there was something odd with the. He seemed out of breath, either from running to class or something else...

She looked at him skeptically.

"Very well." She motioned for the very last seat in the class – right beside Hermione. She groaned inwardly, not looking up and doing her work. She didn't hear him complain and he went to go sit beside her, staring at the writing on the blackboard as if attempting to figure out what the lesson was about.

Hermione turned to Harry and Ginny. Harry scowled at Malfoy and Ginny looked sympathetic at Hermione. She shrugged and gave a look saying, "I'll manage."

She glanced quickly at Malfoy, who didn't look at her, or acknowledge her in any way. I'm fine with that, she thought, before turning to her work.

The rest of class seemed to drag on forever, and Hermione was wondering what was going on with the supposed, "Slytherin Prince". He hasn't said anything. No stupid remarks, no name-calling, no nothing...

Once the bell rang and McGonagall dismissed them, Malfoy was up in a flash, grabbing his books and leaving the room. Just like in all his other classes...

She turned to leave with Harry and Ginny. "Are you alright?" asked Ginny, looking at her best friend. Hermione nodded, but there was a slight confusion on her face.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm fine," she reassured. Harry and Ginny looked at her strangely, but they just simply nodded.

As they turned the corner, they saw Foster, walking with what looked like Cho and Padma. The three walked up to Harry, Hermione and Ginny.

"Had fun in Transfiguration?" asked Foster, smiling a little too cheerfully. Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to stop from saying anything. Harry and Ginny simply nodded, smiling back and being completely oblivious to how fake Foster seemed to be. Something's wrong with her. How can they not see it? She's a horrible actress.

Just then, they saw Luna walking up to them. She stopped, looking at the group curiously. "Professor Dumbledore wanted to talk to you four," she pointed to Hermione, Ginny, Harry and Foster.

Foster raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"He didn't tell me. But he asked me to get you. He's very busy, you see." They nodded and followed Luna, a little unsure why she was walking with them. Hermione found herself slowing down behind the pack, and noticing this, Luna began to slow down as well.

"How are you today, Hermione?" she asked, innocence plaguing her voice. Hermione smiled, but didn't respond. Luna looked at her. "You seem deep in thought. What's on your mind?"

"I don't know...was it just us he wanted to speak to?"

"No. He told me to go find Ron and Draco too, but I've looked all over the castle." When did Luna start calling him Draco? Either something happened, or it was always like that. There was a look of worry on Hermione's face, and Luna continued. "I found Ron. He's alright. But I couldn't find Draco...it's sad really. All the Slytherins are against him now. He wouldn't tell me why. He did tell me it mostly came from Nott, Parkinson..."

"Parkinson?" Now Hermione was really confused. Moreover, Malfoy was talking with Luna about this stuff? "How do you know this stuff? You were talking with him?"

"Yes," spoke Luna. "He came up to me, actually. He wanted to know if I owned any Ravenclaw earrings..."

"What?"

"He didn't tell me why. He just said it was important. Have you seen his eyes? They look extraordinarily strange these days."

"How so?"

"It's almost like they change colour, but it goes away too quickly for others to notice. I asked if it were the metamizles since I was able to see them change, but he simply blinked and said it was some Disillusionment charm that went wrong over the holidays. I still think it was the metamizles, they like to change the colours of things to confuse us. Oh look, we're here," she replied, changing the subject. Hermione turned to see the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Peppermint," said Luna, firmly. The gargoyle moved, showing the way to Dumbledore. Luna smiled lightly, "I'm off to find Draco then," and she turned and walked away. Harry turned to the rest of the group, shrugged, then proceeded into the chamber.

It looked the same as always. Ron was in here already, and everything seemed in place, except...

"Good day, Harry, it is lovely to see you once again," spoke Dumbledore, coming down from the steps toward his desk. "And the rest of you too, of course." He nodded toward Hermione, Ginny and Foster.

Fawkes was absent. His little perch was empty.

"Professor," started Harry, "sorry, but I just realized – where is Fawkes?"

"Ah, you see, Harry, Fawkes has been...very busy these days," replied Dumbledore, looking at the spot Fawkes is usually placed. "He comes in and out. I'm afraid this is one of those times where he is off."

"Excuse me sir, but why are we here?" asked Hermione, cutting in.

"Yes of course. Come over here to the Pensieve. Mr. Weasley, you may go," he looked at Ron, who, reluctantly, nodded and left the office. Foster grabbed Ron's arm and said something in his ear that Hermione couldn't make out.

They all looked questioningly at the silver disk. Harry suspected the memory was already in there, seeing that Ron was just here a moment ago.

"Within this Pensieve," he began, looking over at the four of them, "contains a memory. The memory of a boy that first came to this school very shortly before you did. In fact, he was only in his third year when you came. A very strange boy this was. I must warn you – you may see things you would not believe, some things may seem...out of the ordinary, and then there will be things that seem too believable to be real. Despite all this, it is very important that you four see this."

Diagon Alley.

It sounded as busy as ever, and with the amount of people, he couldn't quite pin-point where the owner of the memory was.

Then he heard it. Louder voices, coming from somewhere behind him. Harry turned, and to his dismay, he saw a blond-haired family he knew all too well – the Malfoys.

But it wasn't just them. There was one more. He seemed a little older than Draco Malfoy, who himself seemed to be nearing his Second Year. The boy seemed like a misfit in their little clan – black, messy, semi-long hair that looked like the boy had brushed through it only once with a comb, his eyes were just as dark, nearing some sort of charcoal grey in colour, and he wore what seemed like Ravenclaw robes.

He looked up at Lucius and said something that Harry couldn't quite hear, then pointed to, what looked like, Hermione and her parents. His face turned disgusted, and Harry immediately knew this boy was probably another snobby Pureblood. Funny though, he'd never really seen him before.

The boy turned and left the group, going to look at racing brooms. Harry had an odd feeling about this boy, so he went to go over and see what he was really up to.

Turns out he was just like any Quidditch obsessed boy – not that he wasn't one himself – but all he did was look at brooms and other Quidditch equipment, playing with a gold Galleon absentmindedly. As much as Harry wanted to think this boy was up to something, he didn't think he'd find anything to prove his point.

That was when it happened.

Just as the boy left the store, he ran SMACK! right in to a girl about his age. She dropped all the books and boxes she had been carrying. She descended down to the ground and began picking up her things, not looking up at the boy she'd just run into. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I should've watched where I was going! I'm so clumsy...sorry..." She kept rambling on, still not looking up.

The boy got down on his knees and began helping her. "S'alright." His voice was emotionless, as if something were missing.

Finally, she looked up, and so did he. There was a moment, and Harry took it to look over the girl he had just helped.

He wasn't even going to deny the fact that she was pretty, and that was an understatement. She was actually, quite beautiful. She had curly, golden-brown hair that fell down her shoulders, and even as she moved her head, it didn't seem to fall out of place. It did, but it would go right back. She had big, deep blue eyes which made her look...innocent.

She blushed and looked back down to pick up her things. The boy took one of the notebooks and went to hand it to her. It looked like a rather expensive notebook. It seemed to be fully made of leather, however, the cover was red and the leather bindings were black. What puzzled Harry, however, was the blurred out image on the front cover. It moved, if only slightly, but Harry caught it. That was when he realized something was up.

The girl looked at what he'd picked up, and waved it off. "Keep it." The boy seemed a bit taken aback, and looked at the notebook curiously.

"But–"

"Just take it," she replied with a smile. "I already have one. My brother likes giving me two of the same things, it seems."

"Your brother...?"

"Yes– oh!" She looked back at him, flustered and blushing dangerously red. "Oh, it's um...nothing."

"I see," he replied. He stood up with the notebook still clutched in his grasp. He held out a hand and she took it. There was a pause. "I didn't catch your name," he said, quietly.

"Aura. Aura Seymour."

"Fine name." He smiled. It was a strange smile – halfway between a smirk and a grin. "I'm Fox Black."

Fox's eyes shifted, as if to look toward Harry, grin still plastered on, and next thing Harry knew, he was back in the Headmaster's study.

"What...what was that, Professor?" demanded Harry. He didn't understand why Dumbledore was showing him – let alone Hermione, Brenna and Ginny as well. It seemed so...ordinary. It didn't look to important at all. Save the Malfoy bit...but was that important at all anymore either?

"I suspect this memory – as with Slughorn's in your Sixth Year – to be a lie," began Dumbledore. "I would ask for you to find and get this boy to come clean, but it won't be so simple. That is why I've asked six to look into it for me. Do you remember the boy's name?"

"Fox Black," stated Brenna, speaking for the first time in a while. "It's an odd name."

"Indeed, Ms. Foster," replied Dumbledore. "I have a feeling..." he paused for a minute. Then, "...he may hold a key to defeating Voldemort."

A/N: The 7th Chapter is called "Haunted" (by Taylor Swift) and the song quote is:

"It's getting dark,

And it's all too quiet,

And now I can't trust anything now,

And it's coming over you like it's all a big mistake.

Oh I'm holding my breath,

Won't lose you again,

Something's made your eyes go cold..."