Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Secret

by chadsgirl824

YEAR SEVEN Harry's 7th year at Hogwart's, and the hardest he's yet to face. New enemies and tough challenges await him, as well as the discovery of incredible new powers. Written PRIOR to OoTP

23. Chapter 23

"Dobby…wait!" Harry cried, stumbling to his feet. He took off after the house-elf with Ron at his heels. They both saw Dobby turn the first corner up the hall, but as they skidded to a stop upon reaching it and peering down, they found Dobby was nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit," Harry muttered as he and Ron turned away from the corridor.

"Fast little bugger," Ron commented in amazement. "Maybe he'll go to Dumbledore," he suggested hopefully. "He said he wanted to."

"I don't know," Harry replied, shaking his head. "It seemed like he was having trouble keeping his thoughts straight…but I hope you're right."

"What was all that about?" Marzia asked curiously as she and Cole finally caught up to the two students.

"I wish I knew," Harry replied curtly, "something must've scared him." He turned away from Marzia before she could reply and looked to Cole. "Have you ever heard of crawls?" he asked, anxiously.

Cole raised an eyebrow curiously, staring back at Harry.

"Crawls?" he repeated. "Doesn't sound familiar…why?"

"Just something Dobby mentioned," Harry replied, shaking his head. "I thought you might know what he meant…"

"Sorry kiddo," Cole replied with a shrug. "I'll see what I can find out…but I can honestly say the term crawls doesn't ring a bell…as a creature, spell, or otherwise."

Harry nodded once, before glancing once more at Marzia. She was listening intently to their conversation, but met Harry's gaze as she saw him turn.

"Do you have any idea what crawls are?" he asked stiffly.

"No, I don't," she replied softly. Harry nodded again, expecting that would be her answer anyway. This was the first time he'd spoken with her since he'd accused her to Dumbledore. He realized that she must be patrolling, and Cole was there to watch over her, to make sure she didn't try anything. If she was angry with Harry in any way for this, she certainly wasn't showing it. After another minute of silence, she spoke again. "Where are you two heading?"

"Why do you need to know?" Ron shot back immediately.

"I…I don't need to," Marzia replied, taken aback. "I was just asking…you don't have to tell me."

Harry watched Marzia's reaction closely, before turning to look at Ron.

"You go on ahead," he said quietly, "I'm going to see if I can find Dumbledore. Hopefully Dobby does the same."

"I'll come," Ron replied instantly.

"And we have to get back to our rounds," Cole said with finality. "Ready?" he asked flatly, looking to Marzia. She nodded vaguely, her eyes betraying the sorrow she was obviously feeling at being shunned, but she kept her expression firm.

"C'mon," Ron prompted, gesturing for Harry to follow him. Harry nodded, glancing once more at Marzia, before starting back up the hall towards the headmaster's office.

They reached the gargoyle quickly enough and went upstairs to the office. Harry knocked lightly on the door and pushed it open softly as he heard the headmaster tell them to come in.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore smiled warmly from behind his desk. "Please have a seat," he said, gesturing to the chairs across from him.

"Sorry to disturb you," Harry said as he and Ron lowered themselves into the large chairs. "But I wanted to ask you a question."

Dumbledore nodded, patiently.

"Well, first I guess…have you ever heard of crawls? Do you know what they are?"

"Crawls?" Dumbledore repeated faintly. "You mean as in a creature of some sort?"

"I don't know," Harry replied with a shrug. "I was hoping you would."

"I'm afraid not, my boy. Why did you need to know?"

"Well…something's scaring Dobby," Harry began.

"Badly," Ron cut in. "He's completely petrified."

"And he mentioned crawls," Harry continued. "He said he needed to tell you…said they were everywhere," he paused, before continuing in a hushed voice. "He mentioned Cho too…"

"In connection with these crawls?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry nodded.

"I think so."

"What else did he say?" Dumbledore asked gently.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances before explaining their brief encounter with Dobby, and his reaction to Cole and Marzia showing up.

Dumbledore stroked his chin thoughtfully, seeming to be mulling over everything he'd just been told.

"It seems only Dobby will be able to fully explain this mystery to us. I will pay a visit to his quarters, as well as keep an eye out in the event he stops in."

"He said he was coming to see you anyway," Ron added. "Before he was scared he said it, anyway…"

"We'll look out for him as well," Harry said quickly. He wanted to know what Dobby had been about to tell him, especially knowing it concerned Cho. He wished very much they hadn't been interrupted, but there was nothing that could be done now.

"Thank you both for bringing this to my attention." Dumbledore said, looking at both of them in turn. "I will let you know as soon as I find anything."

"Thank you sir," they replied in unison. Standing up, they said good-bye to the headmaster, before leaving the office and starting once again for the library.

"Do you think Dobby will end up going to Dumbledore?" Ron asked as they walked through the halls together.

"I hope so," Harry replied apprehensively. "I have to know what he was talking about."

"Maybe we should start looking for crawls in the library too," Ron suggested.

"I don't know if that'll do any good," Harry replied uncertainly. "Dumbledore, Cole and Marzia all seemed to have no clue what they were, and that makes me think either they're very unknown creatures, so we probably won't have anything on them here, or Dobby got the name wrong, as he usually does."

"Oh, right," Ron said.

"Where have you two been?" Hermione's voice drifted up the hallway to them.

"We were just coming to meet you," Ron replied as they neared each other.

"Yes well I'm taking a break, I've been there for hours and I expected your help quite a while ago."

"We got held up," Ron replied with an apologetic shrug.

"Hermione," Harry said as they three of them reached each other and came to a stop. "Have you ever heard the term crawls…as in a creature of some kind?"

Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow at him before shaking her head.

"Crawls?" she repeated. "No, never heard of them. Why?"

"Didn't think you would," Harry said with a sigh. He explained again what had happened with Dobby, and how scared he'd seemed.

"So they're in the school?" Hermione asked. "Why haven't we seen them?"

"I don't know what they even look like," Harry replied. "Maybe humans can't see them…or maybe they're good at blending in."

Hermione just nodded, still looking deep in thought as she began to walk. The three of them headed in the direction of the tower.

"Dobby must have the name wrong…" she said suddenly. "We need to find him and ask him more about them."

"Well he was supposed to be telling Dumbledore," Ron spoke up quickly. "But he didn't. I think Marzia scared him."

"So did I…but I'm not so sure now…" Harry replied. "She looked really upset, even though she was trying to hide it."

"Well yeah because she can't make a move without anyone watching her…I'm sure she's very upset…her plans are all spoiled and she can't get to you."

"But that's just the thing!" Harry said suddenly. "If she were really Saaneeraa she wouldn't really need to worry about anyone tailing her because she could control them…but she just looked sad…"

"It was an act, I'm sure," Ron replied quickly. "She wants to make you feel bad…make you feel you accused the wrong person, so you don't expect it when she makes her move."

Harry looked at Ron as he spoke, feeling uncertain. He didn't know what to believe anymore…and felt bad about Marzia, but Ron did have a point. It was probably best not to take any chances right now…

"I think we should check the map," Hermione said suddenly, as the portrait came into view. "We should find Dobby and ask him now what the crawls are."

"Good idea," Ron nodded.

"Yeah," Harry said, wondering why he hadn't thought of it. It was the second time the map was an obvious choice and he didn't think to use it.

The three of them went inside together. Hermione headed for Ginny who was in their usual corner, to tell her what was going on, while Harry and Ron went up to get the map.

They walked into the seventh-year boys dorm together and Harry went immediately to his trunk. He opened it gently and began rummaging around, Ron waiting nearby as he did so. He moved things from side to side, but the map was nowhere to be found. Soon he began emptying the contents onto the floor nearby, feeling a small twinge of panic.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked, noticing how long it was taking.

"I can't find it," Harry replied stiffly, pulling every item out of his chest until it was bare. "It's not here!"

"It has to be!" Ron said, stubbornly. He knelt down near Harry and they began sifting through everything that Harry had just thrown on the floor, hoping it had gotten caught in something…but their efforts were in vain.

The Marauder's Map was gone.

"Who would've taken it? Who could've taken it?" Ron asked, still looking around frantically.

"I don't know," Harry shook his head, slumping back against the trunk. "But someone did…"

"But why?" Ron asked, giving up as well and sitting down amongst all of Harry's possessions.

"Isn't it obvious?" Harry asked. "We can see the entities on the map…or at least we can see Saaneeraa. She must've found out about it somehow…and taken it…so we couldn't find her."

"We have to tell someone then…" Ron said suddenly. "She could use it to see where any of us are…"

"Only if she has the password," Harry cut in. "Unless she knows some other way around it…but I don't think there is one." Sighing in frustration, he began to grab the items nearest him and tossing them back into the trunk. Ron helped him, making sure everything was accounted for besides the map, and Harry shut it softly when they'd finished.

"Let's go," he said, sounding tired. "Back to Dumbledore's office I guess…"

The two of them walked downstairs, and motioned for Hermione and Ginny to follow them out of the common room, into the hall.

"Did you check the map?" Hermione asked as soon as the portrait hole had shut behind them.

"No," Harry replied as he began to walk, the others following him immediately.

"Why not?" she asked, confused.

"Because it wasn't there."

"What!" Hermione and Ginny exclaimed in unison, their eyes growing wide.

"How can that be?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry answered. "But the only thing we can do now is tell Dumbledore. I think Saaneeraa took it…and I think it was just so we don't find her."

"What if she wants to use it?" Ginny asked.

"She would need the password," Ron replied. "We thought of that already."

"But what if she knows the password?" Hermione asked. "She could you know…if she can use peoples minds so easily, it wouldn't be hard to find a password…considering all of us, plus Remus and Sirius know it."

"Well something tells me she wouldn't have a problem finding any of us with or without the map…" Harry said quietly. "But you're right, it is a possibility."

They reached the stone gargoyle for the second time that day, and ascended the stairs together. Dumbledore was still in his office, with Cole, Sirius and Marzia.

"Back so soon, Harry?" Dumbledore asked warmly as the four students entered the room.

"Sorry to bother you again," Harry apologized immediately. "But something else has happened…"

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, looking from the headmaster to his godson. "Is everything alright?"

Harry glanced to where Cole and Marzia sat waiting for him to speak, before deciding it didn't matter who knew at this point, before turning back to his godfather.

"The Marauders' Map was stolen," he said quickly.

"What?" Sirius stood up immediately as he spoke. "How?"

"I don't know," Harry replied. "I wish I did…but it's gone and I don't know who has it or if they know how to use it…"

"We think Saaneeraa took it," Ron cut in, throwing Marzia a dark glare. "So that we wouldn't be able to see her on it."

Marzia didn't fail to catch the look Ron gave her and stood up stiffly.

"I think you're probably right," she spoke quietly. "There's a very good chance she would know about the map…and would do everything in her power to prevent you from using it."

"Which is probably why I haven't thought to use it in so long," Harry said, almost to himself.

"Say again?" Cole asked.

"The map," Harry repeated louder. "We could've been using it all this time…and I never thought to…I think Saaneeraa had something to do with that."

"Well we have to find it then," Marzia spoke up again.

"I bet you'd know right where it is too," Ron said.

"Ron!" Harry whispered fiercely seeing the shock cross Marzia's face. He was seriously beginning to doubt this was an act she was giving them.

"There is no proof that Marzia is against us at all Mr. Weasley," Sirius spoke up stiffly, crossing the room to his fiancé. "And unless proof is found I think you should keep your opinions to yourself."

Ron looked as if he might argue but Harry nudged him in the ribs, giving him a warning look.

"Do you remember the last time you saw the map Harry?" Dumbledore asked solemnly.

"Well…I can't remember the last time I actually saw it in the trunk…but I don't think it was too long ago. During the holidays I'm positive…after that I'm not sure…"

"We're going to find it then," Sirius said, determinedly.

"Is…is there a way to do that?" Harry asked, looking curiously at his godfather.

"There is a way…so long as no one else has used it since you did last," Sirius replied with a quick nod.

"How?" Harry asked.

"When Prongs, Moony, Wormtail and I made the map, we were very careful to perform a retrieval charm on it. If you were the last person who used it then your wand can take us to it."

"Great!" Harry said, anxiously. "How do I…?"

"Wait just a second," Cole cut in. "If it was Saaneeraa who stole this map…which I'd like someone to explain exactly why it's so important…then I'm not sure letting Harry go after it is a good idea. It will lead us straight to her."

"Well we won't be letting him go alone, of course," Sirius said looking at Cole as if he were insane. "But since Harry was most likely the last person to use it…he's the one that has to perform the charm to find it."

"I didn't think you meant he should go alone," Cole said quickly. "Merely that I don't think it's a good idea he be allowed to go anywhere that we might find Saaneeraa, no matter how many people are with him,"

"But we also can't allow her to keep the map," Sirius replied. "If she ever did find out its uses…which I'm sure she must know at least some of them already, it would be too much of an advantage for her."

"What makes you think she already knows how to use it?" Cole asked.

"Well why else would she steal it?" Marzia answered.

"Exactly," Sirius nodded. "We can't just let it go…we have to try to get it back."

"Albus," Cole said, sighing, giving up on arguing with Sirius and Marzia. "Do you really think this is wise? I don't like the idea of Harry leading us down to who knows where in this castle without knowing where we'll end up or who's going to be there."

"I don't like it either," Dumbledore commented gravely.

"But Albus," Sirius cut in. "We can't…"

"Though," Dumbledore continued over Sirius, who stopped speaking immediately. "I don't see that we have much choice. If Saaneeraa is indeed in possession of the map, and if she knows how to use it, who knows what she would be able to accomplish."

"Agreed," Sirius nodded, flashing Cole a triumphant smirk.

"Alright then," Harry said finally, stepping forward towards his godfather. "What do I have to do?"

"As I was saying," Sirius began quickly. "We cast a retrieval charm on the map once we began making it, it was reinforced when the map was completed as well…and will never wear off. It's a similar spell to the one that was performed on your watch when your father decided he would be giving it to you."

"How does it work?" Harry asked.

"I have to say the spell…if you were the last one to use it then your wand will immediately light, and begin leading you towards the map."

"Okay," Harry nodded, "just one question though, why do you have to say the spell?"

"Only one of the original marauders can cast the charm," Sirius explained, "and right now that includes myself and Remus. We did it that way so no one else would ever be able to lead themselves to the map. When one of us says these words, the last wand to open the map will always light up. Since Remus isn't here at the moment, I'll say the spell, and hopefully your wand does the rest."

Harry nodded eagerly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wand.

"I still don't like this," Cole said stiffly. "There's not a great many of us here…we won't be able to fight off an unexpected enemy, if that's where this leads us."

"As I said before, we have little choice," Dumbledore spoke up as he stood. He made his way around the desk and stood between Cole and Sirius. "Let us see what happens when the spell is cast, and then we will decide what to do."

"Fair enough," Sirius replied with a nod. Cole seemed a bit apprehensive still, but nodded stiffly as well.

"Ready?" Sirius asked, looking again to his godson.

"Ready." Harry replied, determinedly.

"Then here we go," Sirius replied. He looked at the tip of Harry's wand intently, and took a deep breath, before speaking the words.

"Apertum tabula."

Nothing happened.

Harry's wand didn't light up, nor did it try to lead him anywhere, it remained still. He sighed in frustration, dropping his wand back into his pocket.

"That's it then, I guess…" he said with a shrug. "She's already used it."

Sirius cursed vehemently under his breath as he turned away from Harry, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Hermione spoke up tentatively. "Another type of spell, maybe?"

"We can try summoning it," Ron suggested, hopefully.

"Unless she has it in a drawer or a trunk of some sort," Sirius said absently. It won't work if that's the case…and I find it highly doubtful she'd just leave it out in the open."

"Well it wouldn't hurt to try, right?" Ron persisted, looking earnestly at Sirius.

"I don't think that will be necessary," Cole spoke up softly, his voice sounding strangely suspicious. Everyone in the room turned to look at him, questioningly.

"Do you have a better idea?" Harry inquired, cautiously.

Cole didn't answer him, however, his eyes were fixed on Marzia.

"Maybe you should take your wand out so all of us can have a look at it," he said icily. Harry's eyes fell immediately to Marzia's robes, and could see a soft glow brimming over the top of one of her pockets. He glanced up quickly to see the shock registered on her face, but she took the wand out obligingly.

The tip was glowing brightly, and her arm became outstretched as an invisible force began to pull the wand forward, trying to lead her.

"Been up to our dorm lately?" Ron asked quietly, glaring distrustfully at Marzia.

"No," she murmured softly, looking as if she wanted to say more, but the words wouldn't come. Harry looked at her carefully; all of his convictions that Marzia was against them were now trembling precariously on the edge of a knife. He still had his suspicions, but they were nowhere near as firm as they had been.

Sirius seemed to be at a loss for words as well, it was obvious he still didn't think Marzia to be guilty of anything, but he couldn't come up with anything in her defense for this. Her word that she was innocent was all they had to go on, and at this moment that didn't mean much.

"Shall we go and find this map then?" Cole asked, now his turn to throw Sirius a smug look. "The students will be staying here, of course, now that we know they aren't needed."

"But…" Harry began.

"Yes I think that's best," Dumbledore spoke firmly. "I want the four of you to wait here until we return," he continued, looking pointedly at the students. They nodded in unison, not having any other choice.

"Marzia," Cole said flatly, stepping aside and gesturing for her to pass. "Lead the way."

Harry watched as the four adults left the office together, before lowering himself into the nearest chair, sighing loudly.

"She probably doesn't need the wand to show them where the map is anyway," Ron spoke up from the seat next to him. "She's the one who took it…"

"We don't know that," Harry said quickly.

"Oh c'mon Harry!" Ron said, looking frustrated. "You said yourself you thought she was Saaneeraa…and all the strange things that keep happening around her just proves that point…this especially!"

"But it's too much," Harry said quietly. "All the things that happened before could go either way…it was all very suspicious, but Sirius is right, it didn't prove anything."

"But this does prove she's guilty," Ron replied earnestly. "She used the map…"

"She looked very surprised to see her wand lit," Harry cut in.

"Well of course she did," Ron said matter-of-factly. "She wouldn't just come right out and tell us she took it, she had to act that way."

"No I don't think so," Harry said shaking his head stubbornly.

"I think Harry's right Ron," Hermione spoke up gently. "Everything up until now was debatable, this would be complete proof that Marzia is guilty, and I don't think Saaneeraa would be dumb enough to let that happen."

"Exactly," Harry nodded. "I think someone is trying to make it look like it's Marzia. So we don't suspect them."

"Who?" Ron asked, throwing his hands up in the air.

"If I knew that we wouldn't be having this discussion," Harry answered, sounding equally exasperated.

"So lets not sit here and fight about it," Ginny cut in suddenly. The others turned to look at her as she continued, lowering her voice. "Lets just wait and see what they find."

Harry nodded his agreement, grateful for Ginny's interruption, and settled back in his chair to wait.

It wasn't long before Dumbledore slipped quietly back into his office, followed by Cole, Sirius and a very sullen looking Marzia.

"Did you find it?" Harry asked anxiously, standing up as they entered.

Sirius nodded faintly, an unreadable expression on his face. He pulled an old piece of parchment out of his robes, and handed it to Harry, who immediately recognized it as the map.

"Where was it?" he asked gently, sensing something was wrong.

"In our quarters," Marzia answered him, her voice devoid of feeling. "In my bureau."

"Someone put it there," Sirius spoke up crisply, looking directly at Dumbledore.

"And I think it's clear who that someone is," Cole said evenly. Harry could see his godfather becoming silently enraged, his hands were balled into fists and he was glaring daggers at Cole.

"I am sorry to say," Dumbledore spoke firmly before anything else could be said, his tone grave. "That due to the events of this evening, Marzia will have to leave the grounds."

"You can't ask her to do that!" Sirius said angrily, his eyes flashing at the headmaster.

"I'm not asking her," Dumbledore said shortly. "I'm telling her. For the safety of…"

"No it isn't…you're sending away someone who's helping to keep the school safe!" Sirius cut in.

"Sirius this is not a topic for debate," Dumbledore said firmly. "My decision has been made." He turned to Marzia then, his expression softening faintly. "I'm afraid you will need to leave tonight, I cannot allow…"

"I understand," Marzia said quietly, meeting the headmaster's gaze. "I'll get my things…"

"I'll go with you," Cole said before Marzia could take even one step towards the door.

"She doesn't need an escort," Sirius said, his voice dangerously low as he turned to face Cole.

"No I think it's best Cole does go," Dumbledore said quickly. Sirius looked as if he might turn on the headmaster again when Marzia reached out a hand, grasping his arm.

"It's okay Sirius…this is for the best right now," she whispered, looking up at him sadly.

"This isn't right," Sirius began furiously, but Marzia raised her other hand, pressing a finger to his lips.

"I'm not going to fight like this, let it be for now," she said softly. "Please?"

Sirius stared back at her, looking long and hard into her eyes, the love he felt for her reflected clearly in his, before nodding once, grudgingly.

"I'll find who did this," he whispered to her. "I promise."

She nodded faintly, trying to give him a reassuring smile, before dropping her arms to her side, and turning to Cole.

"Let's go," he said flatly, already starting for the door.

"I'm coming too," Sirius said abruptly.

"No I need to speak with you Sirius," Dumbledore began.

"It can wait," Sirius shot back harshly, barely throwing a glance at the headmaster as he started for the door as well.

"No, it cannot," Dumbledore replied in a darkly authoritative tone. "I need to speak with you now."

"It's alright," Marzia said quickly, as Sirius opened his mouth to argue again. "Please, I'll be fine, stay and talk." She turned away from him quickly this time, following Cole through the door before another argument could be made.

"Why are you letting her go?" Ron spoke up suddenly. "Shouldn't we keep her here? She could do anything now that…"

"I have my reasons Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said firmly, a small smile on his lips. "Now I think it's time you head back to your common room, I need to speak with Sirius and Harry."

"Me?" Harry asked, hearing his name.

"Yes," Dumbledore chuckled. "You, unless you have more pressing issues?"

"No…no I'll stay," Harry said, curiously.

"We'll see you later Harry," Hermione called as the others headed for the door. Harry called out good-bye to his friends, before turning back to the headmaster, and a very angry looking Sirius.

"If both of you would please have a seat," Dumbledore began, his tone becoming serious. "There's something we need to talk about."

Harry lowered himself into the nearest chair, looking from the headmaster to his godfather, who still appeared ready to explode.

"Albus," Sirius began, not bothering to hide the anger in his voice. "How can you even think that…?"

"Sirius please let me speak," Dumbledore cut him off before he could get any further giving the other man a pointed stare. "I believe Marzia is entirely innocent."

"You…you do?" Sirius asked, taking a step back, his expression going from angry, to shocked, and finally, confused. "Then…why…?"

"Please, sit," Dumbledore spoke gently. "I will explain everything."

Sirius nodded faintly, lowering himself into the chair next to Harry's, looking entirely bewildered.

"Harry," Dumbledore went on, turning to the younger man. "Would you kindly take the map out for us."

Harry nodded quickly, pulling the piece of parchment back out of his pocket, opening it, and placing it on the headmaster's desk. Taking his wand and aiming it at the map, he spoke the words to activate it, and in seconds, the hallways of Hogwart's were laid out before them.

Dumbledore scanned the parchment briefly, before reaching forward and pointing at a particular spot.

"There," he said softly.

Harry and Sirius both leaned forward in their seats to see what the headmaster was showing them.

"Cole and Marzia," Harry said absently. "Walking to her quarters."

"Exactly," Sirius said, a triumphant grin on his face. "Cole and Marzia…not Cole and Saaneeraa."

"Then why are we sending her away?" Harry asked, looking back to Dumbledore. Sirius glanced up eagerly as well.

"There are a few reasons for that, Harry," the headmaster spoke seriously, a grim expression etched into his features. "It seems to me, that someone is trying quite hard to make all of us believe Marzia is entirely untrustworthy. Saaneeraa is very close, I'm certain of that if nothing else, she can use her powers on whomever she chooses at any given time. I sent Marzia away because now the person she was relying on as a front is gone. As far as everyone here knows, the threat is gone for the moment. If Saaneeraa does something now, it will prove Marzia's innocence, which I don't believe the true culprit wants just yet."

"So then everything might calm down for a bit…" Sirius spoke up suddenly. "Everyone that knows about Saaneeraa will believe she's gone and the true Saaneeraa can't use her powers without the possibility of exposing herself."

"Well I can't say that she'll expose herself, I believe she'd more than likely try to pin her actions on someone else again. But she thinks we'll be letting our guard down, now that Marzia is gone, and it is quite plausible that she may become overconfident…"

"And mess up," Sirius added with a smirk. "We'd know exactly who she is…"

"Then what?" Harry asked quietly, causing both men to turn towards him. "When we know who she is…do we know how to stop her too?"

"That I do not know," Dumbledore spoke gravely. "If we had the support of the ministry as was the case all those years ago, there would be a much better chance. But as the entire ministry seems to have vanished without a trace…I cannot be certain of our chances…"

"We have no way to find out what happened to them?" Harry asked quietly. Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

"No, I'm afraid not. I have sent many owls in search of several ministers, all returned, the letters still unopened. I will not leave the school right now to search on my own, as there are too many strange occurrences…nor will I send someone to do so. At this time we need every ally we have at the school, for everyone's safety."

Harry nodded softly, showing he understood the reasons, though he would feel better if the ministry were able to be reached. They would surely be able to convince at least some of the ministers to join them in their fight against Voldemort…

"So what do we do now?" Harry asked, looking from the headmaster to his godfather and back.

"Now we continue with our regular affairs," Dumbledore said firmly. "Do not speak of anything that's been said here today to anyone…not even Ron, Hermione and Ginny," the headmaster added, looking pointedly at Harry. "This stays between the three of us, the less people that know we are aware Marzia was framed, the less chance we have of Saaneeraa discovering we know so. I couldn't even allow Marzia, herself to know what was going on…this must be a complete secret."

"I understand," Harry said quietly. "I won't tell anyone."

"Neither will I," Sirius added with a brief nod.

"Good," Dumbledore replied. "Then that is all for now. I think it's time you return to your common room Harry…will you escort him, Sirius?"

"Of course," Sirius nodded, standing up as did Harry.

"I will inform both of you if any new information is discovered…" Dumbledore continued, "and please if either of you finds anything come to me immediately. We will give the appearance that we are no longer concerned…but we must remain constantly on watch…for anything."

The three agreed to find the others with anything new, before Harry closed the map quickly. He hadn't noticed Saaneeraa's name on there at all, as he'd been scanning it throughout the conversation. He supposed she must not be in the school at all times, and wished he knew when she'd be returning. Saying good-bye to the headmaster, Harry and Sirius left the office together, and headed for the Gryffindor tower.

Several days passed with no sign of anything suspicious, which Harry expected after the talk with Dumbledore. Ron seemed very happy that Marzia was gone, as did Ginny. Hermione still felt Harry had made the better point and thought it was unfair they'd told Marzia to leave. Harry wanted to explain the truth to them several times, but knew he couldn't. He'd promised Dumbledore it would be a secret, and he wasn't going to break his word.

The end of the week came quickly and so did their double potions with the Slytherins. Harry normally would have thought this to be the worst luck in the world, to have potions as the last class before the weekend, but with Gazten as the instructor, it really hadn't been so bad.

The first half of the lesson that day was a lecture. Gazten was explaining the components necessary to complete the potion they were going to start on during the second part of class, and what the possible outcomes could be, if they were to mix them in the wrong order or amounts. The potions and serums they were learning as seventh years were far more dangerous than any they'd used in previous years. But as seventh years they were expected to have the maturity to handle things as adults.

"Alright," Gazten said when she'd finished her explanation. "We're going to take a few minutes to prepare the ingredients, before all of you are going to find a partner to work with. I will need you to pair up due to the time it takes for one person to prepare…two of you working on the same set of ingredients will allow for us to complete our potions in one class."

Harry glanced to his left where Ron was sitting, about to ask if he wanted to work together, when Gazten spoke again.

"One other thing," she continued quickly. "I want you to work with someone from the other house. Each pair should be one Gryffindor and one Slytherin."

Immediately the classroom erupted in a mixing of groans and protests. No one fancied the idea of working with someone they looked at as a rival…an enemy, but Gazten shook her head stubbornly.

"In the real world you're going to be forced to work with people you don't like. You may as well start getting used to it now. It'll be good for you. Now, everyone choose a partner, we need to get started."

Harry stood up and looked around, at a sea of dismal faces, wondering if he should attempt to ask Malfoy. They weren't even close to being friends, but they had worked together before, and had at least gotten to the point where they could force themselves to act civil if necessary. But as he started to make his way towards Draco, someone stepped in front of him.

"Would you be my partner?" Mel asked quickly, a small grin on her face.

Harry stared at her for a moment, unsure. He hadn't spoken to her since right after she'd gotten Ginny in trouble and wasn't even sure Mel still wanted to speak to him after he left abruptly, but here she was.

"Sure," he said after a moment, hesitantly returning the smile.

"Great," she replied pleasantly. "We can use my desk, if that's alright…"

"Yeah, that's fine," Harry said quickly, turning around and reaching for his things. He glanced quickly at Ron and Hermione, who were both watching the discussion taking place, but neither of them said anything, for which Harry was glad.

"Let's go," he said, turning back to Mel, who nodded once, before turning and leading the way back to her desk.

Harry set his things down on one side of the desk before both he and Mel turned their attention back to Gazten. Everyone had chosen their partners quickly enough without too much fuss, and were listening for what Gazten wanted them to do now.

After she'd gone through the instructions once more, making sure everyone understood how to handle the ingredients properly, Gazten told the class to begin, and that she'd be walking around to keep an eye on their progress.

At first, neither Harry nor Mel spoke. Both of them began working intently on the task at hand, knowing that if they made a mistake the outcome could be messy. Harry sliced absently at the wormsroot in front of him as Mel was skinning the hair off the spider legs, but as he finished with the first plant, he couldn't stay quiet any longer, and turned to look at Mel.

"I'm sorry if I seemed angry with you last time we spoke," he said quietly, so as not to draw Gazten's attention.

"Don't apologize," Mel said quickly, not lifting her gaze. "You didn't seem angry…you were angry. There's a difference."

"Well…er…yes, you're right…but…" Harry stammered, not sure how to proceed.

"But I'm sorry for making you angry," Mel continued; now looking up into his eyes. She smiled warmly, before continuing, "and I'm sorry I got Ginny in trouble…if she is in trouble…what ended up happening anyway?"

"She's got detention tomorrow night, she can't use her pass to the restricted section anymore and Gryffindor lost twenty-five points," Harry said all in one breath.

"Oooh…I'm good," Mel said, her eyes glinting mischievously.

"Hey!" Harry cried, a mixture of shock and amusement on his face.

"Kidding!" Mel said quickly, trying to stifle a laugh. "Just kidding…I really didn't mean for all of that to happen…"

"And I'm sure you're truly broken up over our house losing points," Harry said, rolling his eyes, but smirking.

"Well okay, no…but I still feel bad I got her detention…"

"You could always tell Madam Pince what really happened," Harry said lightly, a knowing smile on his face.

Mel seemed to be considering this for a moment, her head cocked to one side in thought, before quickly straightening up and meeting Harry's gaze directly.

"Um…no," she said curtly before turning back to her work. "That's not going to happen."

"Yeah I figured as much," Harry said with a sigh.

"Are you mad at me?" Mel asked, glancing over her shoulder as Harry turned back to his ingredients as well.

"Honestly…no," he replied as he began cutting again. "I probably should be…but I'm not."

"Oh," Mel said, sounding slightly confused. She shrugged it off, however, and once again turned back to the spider legs. "Good."

Harry chuckled to himself, not really sure why all of this seemed so amusing to him, but glad for it. It was nice to laugh; as it wasn't often he got to do it lately.

They continued on with their work, peeling, slicing, draining, clipping, and grounding. Harry was looking through his notes once everything had been prepared, and was going to tell Mel which one to mix in first, when suddenly a loud explosion sounded from the other side of the room.

Harry spun around to see a large cloud of smoke hovering over Ron's cauldron, but couldn't make out anyone nearby to see if his friend was alright.

Gazten hurried over immediately, she raised her hand and the smoke evaporated into thin air. Ron was doubled over in a coughing fit, while Malfoy stood nearby, his hands over his nose and mouth in an effort to block out the smoke that was now gone.

"You're such a stupid git, Weasley," Malfoy muttered angrily, dropping his hands to his sides as soon as the air was clear. "If you would have listened to me instead of…"

"If I would have listened to you we'd all be dead now!" Ron choked out, still trying to catch his breath.

"Well we came right close now, didn't we?" Malfoy shot back, taking a step towards him.

"I don't know why I agreed to work like a piece of scum like you in the first place," Ron spoke, straining to keep his voice calm.

"Enough, both of you," Gazten said absently. She was hearing the entire conversation, but wasn't completely paying attention, as she was busy inspecting the failed potion, or what remained of it.

The class was silent as Gazten picked up a ladle from Ron's desk, and lowered it into the muck, scooping out what wasn't stuck to the insides of the cauldron.

"Who added the horklump bristles?" she asked after barely a minute had passed.

"I did," Ron mumbled, his face going red.

"Did you put them in one at a time as the directions state?" she asked.

"No he threw them all in at…"

"Mr. Malfoy I don't believe I was speaking to you," Gazten cut him off curtly, barely giving him a sideways glance before fixing her gaze on Ron once more. Draco's snide grin faltered slightly, but he shut his mouth.

"I put them all in at once," Ron said quietly, his face now bright red.

Gazten closed her eyes, shaking her head faintly and sighing, before looking back at Ron.

"I'm not going to ask why you did that, as I'm sure I have a good guess as it is, but what you did could have easily been avoided if you would both work together and follow the directions. Five points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"What!" Malfoy shouted, an outraged expression on his face. "But I didn't…"

"The point of having you work with a partner is for you to work together, if one of you makes a mistake it reflects poorly on both of you. Now I want the two of you to bring your cauldron in back and clean it out, you won't be able to complete the potion today so you'll have to make it up, I'll talk with you after class to schedule a time for that."

Draco and Ron glared darkly at one another but neither one spoke up to argue. They dragged the cauldron off towards the back, and Gazten watched them carefully until they'd begun to clean it, before turning back to the other students.

"Everyone back to work," she said with a grin. "Show's over. Now I don't want anyone rushing, but please don't waste any of the remaining time."

Harry glanced back at Ron and Draco for a brief moment, before turning back to the ingredients in front of him.

"Where were we?" he asked.

"Well I think we're putting in the lobalug sprouts first, right?" Mel asked, leaning over Harry's shoulder to read the notes. "See, right there," she went on, reaching down and pointing at a certain spot on the parchment. Harry turned his head slightly, seeing how close Mel was standing to him, but didn't step away. She smelled so sweet, and he could feel her hair brush against his face as he turned. When she moved back suddenly he started.

"Earth to Harry…you there?" she asked jokingly.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly. "I lost my concentration for a minute there…"

"Not a good idea right now, unless you wanna join our friends back there," she replied, jerking her thumb towards Ron and Draco.

"Agreed," he grinned, shaking himself of his previous thoughts and turning back to his notes. "Lobalug sprouts, two at a time," he said firmly.

"You got it," Mel replied, as she began adding the ingredients.

Harry turned once more while he waited for Mel to finish, and glanced back at Ron, only to find he was looking right back at him.

"What on earth possessed you to work with Malfoy?" Harry asked as Ron finally emerged from the potions classroom. Draco could still be heard inside, arguing with Gazten, even though it was very much in vain.

"He's the one who asked me," Ron said grudgingly.

"Why?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Hermione spoke up as they began walking. "The only Gryffindors that might possibly accept him as a partner would be the three of us…and maybe Neville. Now we know how he feels about me, Neville," she paused, hesitant to continue, "well, he's not the best person to have as a partner in potions…"

"Yeah well at least his didn't explode," Ron muttered, then looked over at Harry. "And you rushed off before he could ask you…which it looked like he was going to."

"Yeah…I was going to ask him too," Harry said absently.

"What were you and Mel talking about?" Ron asked quickly.

Harry looked at Ron carefully, raising his eyebrow questioningly.

"Why did you mess up, Ron?" he asked quietly. "We've both worked together on potions in the past, but I've never seen you mess up that badly before…"

"Draco was distracting me," Ron shrugged angrily.

"Is that all that was distracting you?" Harry persisted.

Ron didn't answer, but instead, repeated his question.

"What were you and Mel talking about, Harry?"

Harry sighed inaudibly, shaking his head.

"She told me she was sorry for getting Ginny in trouble," he said at last.

"Is she?" Ron asked, a hint of bitterness in his tone. "Why hasn't she told Ginny yet…or even better…why hasn't she told Madam Pince the truth?"

"She's not going to tell Madam Pince," Harry replied quickly. "I'm sure she'll tell Ginny when she sees her."

"Wait…she's not going to tell the truth? Why?" Ron asked angrily.

"Ron," Harry began, feeling frustrated, "I'm not going to argue with you about this…I can't force her to do it, and let's be honest if the tables were turned would you tell the truth to get Mel out of trouble?"

Ron opened his mouth to reply, an indignant expression on his face, but he closed it quickly and looked away.

"Exactly," Harry said.

They reached the portrait hole and entered the common room quickly to drop off their things before dinner. Ginny joined them before they left again, and started for the great hall.

"So is that all you talked about?" Ron asked curiously.

"Ron," Harry began, exasperated. "I'm not asking you for all the details of your conversation with Draco…"

"Believe me you wouldn't want them anyway," Ron interrupted, looking suddenly disgusted.

"You talked with Draco?" Ginny spoke up, looking questioningly at her brother.

"I was stuck working with him in potions, actually," Ron replied rolling his eyes. "But only because Harry went off with Mel before Malfoy could ask him…"

"Oh," Ginny said softly. "Did she say anything?" she asked gently, looking up at Harry.

"She apologized for getting you in trouble," Harry replied with a small grin.

"Oh," Ginny said again. "That's nice."

"Is that really all you talked about?" Ron asked again, obviously not giving up.

"Next time I'll be sure to take notes so you can read through and see exactly what was said…would that make it easier for you?" Harry asked, sardonically.

"Yes that'd be fine," Ron replied flatly.

Harry rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself.

"We didn't talk about anything," he said with a shrug. "We were too busy working on the potion."

"But you spoke to her when you finished, I saw you…" Ron said quickly.

Harry bit his tongue before he could make a snide comment in reply, and waited a moment before speaking again.

"Yes we did talk after we finished," he said quietly, continuing on before the next question could be asked. "And we're going to hang out tomorrow night."

Ron, surprisingly, had no response to this. He looked at Harry for a moment, before turning his gaze straight in front of him.

"Will you do one thing then," Ginny spoke up tentatively, "when you're with her tomorrow?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, curiously as he met Ginny's gaze.

"Will you please just ask her about the letters? See what she'll tell you about them…if she'll tell you about them."

"Actually that really isn't a bad idea Harry," Hermione spoke up after having remained silent through most of the discussion. "It won't hurt to ask."

Harry looked back and forth between Ginny and Hermione, before smiling faintly.

"Alright," he said. "I'll ask her. If that will stop the constant barrage of questions each time I mention her name…I'll ask her."

"Thank you," Ginny replied, allowing a small smile to cross her lips as well. Harry just shook his head. He knew his friends cared for him, but he wished they would at least realize that Mel was his friend, and their opinion of her wasn't going to change that.

They reached the great hall soon enough and Harry shook the thoughts from his head as they made their way towards the Gryffindor table. Ginny and Hermione were chatting cheerfully with one another, and even Ron seemed to have lightened up a bit. Harry sighed contentedly as he sat down for dinner. Everything seemed to be coming back around to normal.

The next day, Harry slept in as long as possible, as even on weekends he didn't often get to do so anymore. When he finally pulled himself out of bed and got a look at his watch, he was shocked to discover it was almost noon. Getting changed quickly, remembering to call on the crystal, and hurrying down the stairs, he found Ron, Hermione and Ginny getting ready to leave for lunch.

"It's about time," Ron said with a smirk as Harry joined his friends. "We were wondering if you were going to get up at all today."

"Well you could've woken me," Harry said as they stepped through the portrait hole and started for the great hall.

"Nah, you needed it," Ron said with a dismissive wave of his hand. Hermione looked towards him sharply, one eyebrow arched curiously.

"He needed it, ey?" she asked sardonically.

"Oh alright," Ron continued quickly, rolling his eyes. "I wanted to wake you up, but Hermione wouldn't let me."

Harry glanced at Ron, trying to stifle a laugh at his last comment, and shook his head, grinning.

"Well thank you Hermione," Harry said at last, smiling at her. "But I'm actually surprised Cole didn't come get me…or Allison."

"Why?" Ginny asked softly.

"I've had this artist crystal for a week now," Harry replied. "It hasn't said anything at all. I see the purple mist, so I know it's there…but it won't say anything."

"Then you should go ask him right away," Hermione said seriously. "What if something's wrong? You can't let it go without being sure of…"

"Hermione," Harry said, laughing faintly. "Calm down, it's alright. If anything I would assume it's because I don't relate well with this crystal."

"But are you certain that's what it is?" Hermione persisted.

"Well…no, but…"

"Then you have to go talk to him. If something is wrong you can't let it continue."

"Okay, I give," Harry said, holding his hands up defensively and smirking. "I'll talk to Cole right after breakfast."

"Good," Hermione nodded, looking somewhat relieved.

When breakfast was finished, Harry made his way quietly down to Snape's office. He wasn't sure where else to look for Cole or Gazten and figured this would be as good a place as any to start. Just as he was turning the last corner, he heard someone call his name from behind.

Turning around, he smiled warmly and began walking back up the hall.

"I was just looking for you two," he said as he neared Cole and Allison.

"And here we are," Cole replied with a grin. "Did you need something?"

"Well, I'm not sure actually," he began. "You never came this morning to tell me which crystal I'd be using next…"

"Yes I know," Cole began quickly. "I was going to check on your progress with the artist stone today, and decide if you were going to start on a new one or not for tomorrow. So, since you're here now…how has this week been? Any problems with the crystal?"

"Well…no…" Harry said. "Not unless you count it not speaking at all as a problem."

Cole nodded thoughtfully, as Allison's eyes narrowed in puzzlement.

"You are going to let him continue with the next one, right?" she asked. Harry glanced at her curiously as she spoke. She sounded almost persistent when she'd spoken, and was looking intently at her uncle.

"If he hasn't gotten any response at all from this stone, I don't think it's a good idea for him to move on yet," Cole replied absently, not meeting Allison's gaze. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but held her tongue and looked away, nodding once.

"So, is it bad then?" Harry asked. "That I haven't talked to the crystal?"

"Not bad, Harry," Cole answered quickly. "But it wouldn't be a good idea to move on without you hearing from it at least once. I'm going to let it go for another day or so, and I'll check in with you regularly to see if you've made any progress."

"Is there anything I can do to make it talk?" Harry asked.

"Don't try to make it do anything," Cole replied evenly. "Just go about your normal business, and we will see what happens."

"Alright," Harry replied nodding. "Thanks."

They said good-bye to each other, Allison still looking slightly perturbed, but Harry didn't think too hard on it. After all, Cole must know a lot more about all of this than she ever would; it was only natural for her to be confused now and again.

He set off through the halls, back towards the Gryffindor tower.

The day passed quickly enough, and soon Harry was getting ready to leave the common room and meet up with Mel. Ginny was heading for the portrait hole just as he was about to leave, as it was the night of her detention with Madam Pince.

"Sorry," he winced, seeing the sulky expression on her face as they stepped through together.

"Don't be," Ginny replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm not mad at you, and it isn't your fault I have detention anyway."

"Well you still shouldn't be going…" he began, trailing off as she looked up at him sharply.

"Look let's just not talk about it," Ginny said quickly. "I don't want to be in any worse of a mood than I already am for this, as Madam Pince really doesn't like me very much as it is."

"I'm sure she still likes you," Harry said hastily.

"Still?" Ginny repeated with a laugh. "I didn't think she liked any of us, and as of right now, I'm on the top of her bad list."

"She'll get over it," Harry said, laughing with her. "I'm sure there'll be someone else grating on her nerves in a week, and you're despicable crime will be forgotten."

"Oh stop," Ginny said rolling her eyes. "It wasn't that bad." She shook her head with a small grin on her face, before her expression became serious, and slightly apologetic. "And if you don't mind, I'd rather we split up now. I don't really want to be with you when you meet up with Mel, if you don't mind."

"Oh," Harry said, taken aback for a moment. But he did understand why she felt this way, and nodded gently. "Sure, I don't mind at all. I'll see you when you get back tonight, alright?"

"Alright," Ginny nodded with a smirk. "And please remember to ask Mel…"

"About the letters," Harry finished with a knowing smile. "I know, I know, don't worry about it."

"Well I had to make sure," Ginny said, returning the smile. "It wouldn't be the first time you'd forgotten something…" she trailed off, a mischievous glint in her eyes as his jaw dropped, in mock stun. "See you later," she called as she quickly turned the next corner, without waiting for a reply. Harry chuckled to himself as he watched her go, glad that she wasn't angry at him, and hoping everything went well for her, or as well as could be expected, at least.

"About time you got here," Mel joked as Harry finally came into around the corner to the kitchen entrance. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten."

"Couldn't happen," Harry replied with a wink, "no matter how hard I may try…"

"Heeeey," Mel said swatting his arm, playfully. "I heard that."

"Well of course you did," Harry went on, innocently. "You're standing right there," he gestured with his hands towards her.

He smiled sweetly at the sardonic expression that crossed her face before clearing his throat firmly.

"Well I'm hungry, are you hungry?…I'm hungry. Shall we go in then?"

Mel just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"You're gonna be so much fun tonight…I can tell," she said sardonically.

"What? You mean I'm not always?" Harry asked with a mischievous smirk.

"Alright, let's go," Mel said laughing. "I'll like you much better when you have food in your mouth…at least then I won't be able to understand you…as if I do anyway."

She reached up a finger as she spoke and tickled the pear, which made the portrait swing open, just as Harry opened his mouth to reply.

"You coming?" she asked pleasantly, before stepping through without waiting for his answer. Harry laughed to himself as he followed her through into the kitchen, where one of the many house-elves swiftly ran over to them.

"Hello young mistress and master!" she spoke excitedly. "What can Linri do for you?"

Harry and Mel exchanged brief glances, before going though their now familiar request for food. The other house-elves immediately snapped to attention, bringing them more choices than even a room full of students could handle, and waited eagerly for Harry and Mel to make their decisions.

"Thank you," Mel said politely when they'd finished, and the house-elves began to take away the platters that weren't chosen. She began to turn away, but stopped when she realized Harry wasn't coming yet. He had leant down to speak to the elf that had originally greeted them, Linri.

"I was wondering if you could help me with one more thing," he began curiously.

"Yes sir, yes sir young master, what is it you wish of Linri?" the small elf asked excitedly.

"I was wondering if you or anyone else here, has seen or heard from Dobby…you know who Dobby is, right?" he asked, hopefully.

Linri nodded happily.

"Linri knows Dobby, yes she does!"

"Do you know where he is?" Harry asked.

The house-elves smile faltered slightly, and she began to look around the room rapidly, searching.

"Linri does not know young master," she said sadly.

"It's alright Linri," Harry said, trying not to laugh as it might hurt her feelings. He smiled warmly at her as he stood. "If you do see him, could you tell him Harry was looking for him?"

"Linri will tell him for you, yes sir young master!" Linri spoke, once again overly excited.

"Thank you Linri," Harry replied with a nod. Turning at last, he joined Mel who was waiting for him by the portrait hole, and the two of them left the kitchen together.

"You're barely touching your food at all," Mel spoke up lightly, a touch of concern in her voice. They had settled on one of the old charms classrooms on the fourth floor and were sitting across from each other at one of the short desks.

"I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought," Harry shrugged, trying to brush it off. The truth was he was worried about Dobby. He hadn't seen or heard from him, and Dumbledore hadn't been able to find him either. He'd even remembered to check the Marauder's Map this time, but Dobby's name was nowhere to be found. He kept telling himself that he was just having bad luck and looking at times when Dobby may be out of the school for a short while, but the excuse felt weak at best.

"Something on your mind?" Mel asked gently, a warm expression on her face.

Harry seemed to consider a moment, before smiling faintly and shaking his head.

"Nothing you need to worry about," he said softly. "Everything's fine, really."

Harry could see just by the glint in Mel's eyes that she knew he wasn't telling him the truth, but she nodded.

"Alright," she said quietly, smirking at him. "How about a brighter topic then…how's quidditch practice going?"

"Well we've only had one so far," Harry began, "but it went really well for not having been out there in a while. Ginny is back on her old broom of course, which is really the only big hindrance right now, but she handles it great in spite of that."

"Well good for her," Mel said sincerely, before continuing, animatedly. "I can't wait for the first match…I know Sara's excited too. Her first game as seeker was not the most idyllic…but she's actually quite anxious to get back out there and do it again."

"I hadn't even thought of that," Harry said in surprise. "I mean I knew it was her first game…but I'd forgotten in all that happened…that must've been horrible for her. If my first quidditch match as seeker had gone like that I don't know if I would've stayed on the team."

"I rather think you would have," Mel replied with a wide grin. "You love this game more than most people I know…"

"Oh and how would you know that?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling. "You barely know me at all…"

"I can just tell," Mel said with a shrug. "I'm psychic…didn't I tell you that once already? Yes I think I did, obviously you weren't paying attention…" she joked, feigning annoyance as she rolled her eyes.

"Ah yes," Harry said, laughing, "your psychic powers, how could I have forgotten about those?"

"Meh, you're a guy," Mel said with an arrogant wave of her hand. "I'll forgive you for that…just this once…"

"Wait…forgive me for forgetting or forgive me for being a guy?" Harry asked.

"Both," Mel replied flatly, keeping a straight face. "They go hand in hand I'd say…"

"Oh gee thanks for that," Harry said, rolling his eyes and laughing.

"Anytime," Mel said with a wink, finally smiling back at him, before continuing. "So…you grew up with muggles, right?"

"Yes, that I did," Harry nodded, preferring not to think of the Dursley's any more than he absolutely had to.

"Well did you play any muggle sports before you came to Hogwart's?" she asked.

"Er…well…I uh, ran a lot…" Harry said with an embarrassed shrug.

"You…ran a lot?" Mel repeated, not quite sure why he seemed upset about saying this. "Was it for a particular reason…to stay in shape, maybe?"

"You could say that," Harry answered slowly.

"Okaaay," Mel said, seeing this was getting her nowhere. "But did you ever play any sports?"

"Only in P.E.," Harry said quickly. "And those weren't any fun."

"P.E.?" Mel repeated faintly, but she shrugged it off before Harry could reply and continued. "So you're telling me you lived with muggles for something like ten years before coming here and you've never played any sports at all?"

"That's what I'm telling you," Harry nodded sheepishly.

"Wow," Mel breathed, obviously surprised.

"Why did you want to know?" Harry inquired curiously.

"Well it's just that you're so good at quidditch…" Mel explained. "I'd assumed you were good at other sports too. But I guess not."

"How is it you know anything about muggle sports?" Harry asked suddenly. "Aren't your parents a witch and a wizard?"

"Pure-blood," Mel replied with a nod. "I've actually seen a few muggle sporting events…but I like the ones where you're not on a team mostly."

"Like what?" Harry asked.

"Like skateboarding…or snowboarding. Dirt-bike riding…things like that, where it's just you and what you're riding."

"I've never done any of those things," Harry said quietly.

"You really have to," Mel replied enthusiastically. "They're so much fun…"

"Wait so you haven't just watched them?" Harry interrupted.

"Well I've never been in a competition or anything but I've actually done them, yes. Maybe I can take you sometime."

Harry looked directly at Mel, smiling faintly at her obvious excitement for the games she was mentioning.

"So tell me, really…how do you know so much about all of this?"

"I…I just do," Mel said with a shrug as she looked away. "I told you I've been to see a few…"

"Yes I heard you," Harry interrupted. "But then who took you? Do your parents like muggle sports too? Or does…"

"No they hate them," Mel cut in abruptly. "Look I'm sorry I brought it up, I thought you might know more about it but I guess not, can we not talk about it anymore?"

Harry narrowed his eyes as he stared at Mel, feeling slightly confused, but he nodded anyway.

"Okay…sure. We don't have to talk about it."

"Thank you," Mel replied with a nod. Harry heard her let out a small sigh, as she pushed her half-empty plate to the side and crossed her arms in front of her on the desk, before resting her head on her hands. He looked at her, not sure what to think. There was no reason that he could think of for her to be so secretive over her knowledge of muggle sports. She was the one who'd brought up the topic in the first place, why the sudden change in attitude?

Sighing inaudibly, Harry realized he still hadn't asked Mel about the letters. He'd been completely set to ask her when the evening had first begun, but now, he wasn't sure it was a good idea. However, his friends would be on his case forever until he did this…and besides, he wasn't asking for any more information the who she was writing to…she didn't need to get into any deep explanations to answer his question.

Clearing his throat softly, he began slowly.

"Mel…there's something I wanted to ask you…"

"Mmm?" she replied, shifting her gaze so it met his. "Sure, what is it?" she asked. Her tone wasn't angry or upset, which made Harry feel somewhat better about continuing.

"I know this is going to sound silly, but I'm actually sort of curious. I run into you so much to and from the owlery, and you send so many letters…I was just wondering who you're sending them all to…"

Mel sat up so abruptly that Harry started. He began to ask what had happened but she shut here eyes and shook her head.

"I have to go," she said, standing up quickly.

"What…why?" Harry stammered, entirely confused.

Mel didn't reply, but instead she moved out from behind the table as Harry began to stand, and almost ran for the door.

"Mel, wait!" Harry called as he got away from the chair he'd been occupying and started after her.

"I'll talk to you later Harry," she called, already out of the room. He ran to the door, intending to go after her, but stopped himself as he shot out into the hall. He could see her down the other end of the corridor just as she turned the corner. She wasn't going to stop for him, and his instincts told him it would be a very bad idea to press her for answers right now. He didn't know what exactly he'd said to bother her so much, but it had to be something big.

Unable to shake the feelings of confusion and frustration, Harry kicked one foot absently against the wall, before sighing heavily, and starting back towards the tower.

Harry couldn't make sense of anything that'd just happened. Try as he might, he couldn't find any reason why his question could have made Mel so upset. If she really didn't want to talk about it, she could've just said that, he wouldn't have pressed her to tell him.

Shaking his head in confusion, he turned the last corner where the portrait of the fat lady came into view, and so did Ginny.

"Hey Harry," she called out as she saw him coming up the hall towards her. "How was your night? You're back earlier than I would've thought."

"So are you," Harry said, his brow furrowing slightly. "Why are you back already? I mean it's great and all but usually detention lasts for…"

"Madam Pince wasn't allowed to keep me late because of Professor Dumbledore," Ginny explained quickly. "He told her I was to be sent back to my tower with a good amount of time left before curfew. So she had to let me leave…sooner than she'd have liked, I'm sure…"

"What did she have you do?" Harry asked as Ginny looked to the portrait and gave the password.

"I'll tell you inside," she said with a grin, "there's something I want to show you…"

Harry arched one eyebrow at her comment, intrigued, and followed her into the common room quickly. They crossed the room, where Ron and Hermione joined them upon seeing them enter, and took their seats in the circle of cushy chairs.

Ginny explained once more why Madam Pince had let her leave so early, before sitting up straight, reaching a hand up under her shirt, and pulling out a folded slip of paper. Unfolding it hastily, she handed it to Hermione, who was looking curiously at the parchment.

"I spent the evening putting away books in the restricted section…probably because you have to use a ladder for most of them, I'm sure. But look at what I found," Ginny said eagerly, gesturing to the sheet in Hermione's hands. "Read what it says…"

Hermione was already scanning the paper absorbedly, her expression unchanging while Harry and Ron looked on. After a moment, she dropped her hands to her lap, a thoughtful look in her eyes.

"Interesting," she muttered quietly, before continuing quickly. "Where did you get this?"

"I took it from one of the books," Ginny explained off-handedly.

"You ripped a page from one of the books in the restricted section?" Hermione asked, incredulously.

"Well I couldn't very well hide the entire book under my shirt, now could I?" Ginny replied with a smirk.

"But Ginny you can't just…" Hermione began

"Oh enough already! We'll worry about that later. Are you going to tell us what is says or not?" Ron asked eagerly.

Hermione was looking sternly at Ginny, but finally sighed, shaking her head in disappointment and turning to look at the others.

"It's about the Inquisitors," Hermione said in a hushed voice. "A short bit about their history, it seems…"

Inquisitors are the spirits of the priests of Lendare who have been rewarded by their deity with a transformation into eternal sentinels of law. Lendare is believed to have recognized the quickness with which his civilized realms were infected with all manner of chaos and anarchy. In an effort to maintain order, hierarchy and the rule of law, and to reward his most earnest mortal servants, Lendare added the rank and post of Inquisitor to the chain of command among his non-mortal servants.

Inquisitors are charged with rooting out all manner of chaotic activity within areas where Lendare's lawful touch holds sway. The places in which the Inquisitor operates are many and varied: human cities, dwarven kingdoms under mountains, orc and hobgoblin lairs where hierarchy is respected and deference to one's superiors is the rule.

Inquisitors are masters of manipulation, and victims may find themselves caught up in the Inquisitor's careful plans. Due to their lawfully bent and phenomenal mental capabilities, Inquisitors often build elaborate schemes and countermeasures, of which their allies may only see a small part.

Hermione looked up at the others as she finished reading the small excerpt.

"That's it?" Harry asked, somewhat disappointed. "We already knew they were priests…and that they had mental abilities."

"Maybe we should just stop looking," Ron commented with a sigh. "If that's the best information we're going to find on them."

"Hold on a minute," Ginny said quickly. "I know it doesn't seem like much…but there's one sentence in that tiny little bit which really caught my attention…and it's the reason I took the page in the first place."

"Which one?" Ron asked, curiously.

Ginny opened her mouth to answer but Hermione spoke first.
"Inquisitors are charged with rooting out all manner of chaotic activity within areas where Lendare's lawful touch holds sway," she said softly.

"Right," Ginny nodded.

Ron shook his head in confusion.

"But how does that…?"

"Lendare doesn't hold any power over Hogwart's," Harry said, "so why would the Inquisitors bother to come here?"

"I don't know," Hermione answered softly. "But it doesn't make any sense…from the way this is written it doesn't sound like Lendare allows others to borrow the use of his servants. It doesn't mean he won't…it just doesn't make it sound that way. If they consider him their god, I would think the Inquisitors will only do as he asks."

"Well Cole must have found a way…" Ron shrugged. "Because they're here, walking through the school as we speak."

"It's still sort of odd though," Harry said absently. "But everything else there seemed to fit what I was told. They didn't go into any detail about the Inquisitors' powers, but that doesn't surprise me, as it's been so hard to find anything on them at all."

"Well maybe we should ask Dumbledore about this?" Ginny suggested, uncertainly.

"We can't," Ron replied, shaking his head. "He doesn't even know that we've been looking all this time…"

"Not to mention you stole the page from a book in the restricted section while you were there for detention," Hermione admonished her sternly.

"We can tell Remus though," Harry said quietly. "He knows what we've been doing, and from the way he sounded when he gave us the passes to start researching, I don't think he'll be too focused on how Ginny got the information. He can ask Dumbledore about it…and we won't get in any trouble."

"Let's hope so," Hermione added, pointedly.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Harry grinned faintly. "Besides I don't really think anything is going to come from this, we don't really know much about Cole yet, so who knows how he got the Inquisitors to agree to come here? However he did it, I think he knows what he's doing…"

Harry looked at the uncertain expressions on his friends' faces, and had to admit he felt a twinge of the same. He did trust Cole, but there were some things about him that just didn't sit well. When Harry had asked about his wand seeming to push away the smoke, he knew Cole had lied to him, not to mention his exceptionally short temper in certain situations. However, he also felt there must be a good explanation, and in time Cole tell him what he needed to know. If Cole were truly against him then he wouldn't be trying to help him.

"I'll tell Remus about it tomorrow," Harry spoke up again. "He can go to Dumbledore with it if he thinks it's necessary."

The others nodded their agreement, none of them seeing any other options for the time being.

"I still think we should keep looking though," Hermione said. "Just in case."
"Of course you think that," Ron joked, rolling his eyes, and turned to Harry before Hermione could reply.

"Hey, you never told us what happened tonight…with Mel."

"Yeah you're back much earlier than I thought you'd be," Hermione said.

"Did you ask her about the letters?" Ginny piped up.

"Yes," Harry spoke quietly. "I did ask…which is why I'm back early."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

Harry explained briefly what had happened earlier in the evening with Mel, re-telling in short the conversation they'd had, and finishing with her reaction to his question regarding the letters.

"Something's definitely wrong then," Ginny said evenly. "She's not just sending those letters to keep in touch with someone…it sounds like there's an important reason…"

"I know," Harry said. "I probably shouldn't have asked her, not after she already seemed to…I dunno…to stiffen up. I should have waited."

"Unless she's writing those letters to someone who she doesn't want you to know about…then her reaction would've been exactly the same, no matter when you'd asked her," Ron stated firmly.

"But who?" Harry asked. "I don't know anyone that she knows outside of school…I don't understand why it has to be a secret…"

"I can think of one reason," Ron muttered to himself.

"Okay stop right there," Harry said firmly, in a hushed tone. "She is not sending letters to Voldemort. She is not connected with him in anyway. And if she were…do you really think he'd communicate with her through owls? I find that highly doubtful."

"But not entirely unbelievable," Ron stated quickly.

Harry stared at him for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face, before continuing, evenly.

"Actually, entirely unbelievable is exactly the phrase I would use to sum up my feeling on that idea."

"Harry I know you like her, but you can't keep refusing to listen to us just because you don't want to believe what we're saying may, in fact, be true!" Ron said, exasperatedly.

"Ron," Harry began, determinedly. "I'm only refusing to listen now. I've heard your argument on this before, and I feel the same way now as I did then, I don't think Mel is working against me in any way. I don't think she's aligned with Voldemort, I don't think there's anything threatening about the letters she writes, and I don't want to keep having this same discussion each time her name comes up."

He finished speaking and leant back in his chair, a fixed expression on his face.

"Fine," Ron said sharply. "I'll stop trying to convince you she's not on our side when you convince me otherwise."

Harry shook his head at Ron's comment and simply looked away. He could understand the reason his friend didn't trust Mel, as it was hard to know who was trustworthy at all these days. But if only he knew her better, he'd see what she was really like, and he surely wouldn't feel this way then.

"I can't say I don't think there's a possibility she might be working against you, Harry," Hermione spoke up gently then, "But I also think there may be a very believable, non-threatening reason for her reaction too."

"We just don't know what to think of her," Ginny added earnestly. "One minute she seems friendly enough, and the next she's all vindictive…like a…"

"Like a Slytherin?" Harry finished for her, pointedly. "Because that's what she is, and I have to say that I really believe if Mel were acting exactly the same way she is right now, but was in any other house, you all wouldn't be this suspicious of her."

Ron and Ginny kept their eyes down as Harry spoke, but Hermione met his gaze evenly, before starting to speak.

"I don't care what house she's in, Harry…it doesn't make any difference to me at all. But please listen to what I have to say before you reply. We've met a few new people this year. Marzia, Gazten, Cole and Mel. Now going on the assumption that the person working against you is one of these people, then you have to rule out the ones that don't fit. Marzia seemed the most likely suspect at first, but now it seems very clear she was being set up. I know you didn't trust Gazten when she first arrived, but soon we found out she was here to help, as was Cole when he arrived. While we're not used to the way they handle certain situations, they've done nothing but help you in your training. So that leaves Mel, who has been shifty since we met her, ran away when you questioned her about the recipient of her many letters, and all the while has been trying to get closer to you." She paused a moment, before, taking a deep breath, before continuing in a very hushed tone. "I don't care what house she's in Harry, but I won't trust her fully until we know for a fact she's on our side…and I don't want to see her hurt you," she added softly, her eyes glassing over as she spoke.

Harry sat for a moment in silence, feeling both sad and confused. He couldn't explain why he trusted Mel…he'd tried many times, and his friends would keep coming up with arguments for his reasons. Sighing inaudibly, he shook his head faintly and began to talk.

"I guess I'll just have to find a way to prove it to you then," he said quietly. Pushing himself forward, he stood up slowly, and looked at each of his friends in turn. "I'll see you all in the morning, good night."

No one tried to stop him, they each said good night, and Harry turned away from the circle, making his way towards the door for the dorms, and slowly ascending the stairs.

"Harry, c'mon Harry, time to wake up."

Harry rolled over on his side, groaning faintly as he tried to ignore the person shaking his shoulder and calling to him.

"I have no problems with dragging you out of bed by your ankles so I suggest you get a move on," the voice said again, a mischievous hint to its tone.

"Cole?" Harry asked groggily, finally recognizing who it was. "What are you doing here?" He sat up slowly, wiping the sleep out of his eyes, before reaching for his glasses. "Early as usual," Harry commented flatly, noticing the time on his watch.

"You got it," Cole said with a smirk. "Now c'mon, we're gonna get you started on the next crystal today.

Harry nodded absently, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, before realizing exactly what Cole had just said and looking up sharply.

"But…I thought you said…"

"I know what I said," Cole interrupted quickly. "But I've had time to think it over, and I believe this will be best. Now I can't stay long this morning, so just come open your trunk for me so I can make sure you find the focus crystal without any problems."

"Sure," Harry said, confused. He slid off the bed and shuffled over to where Cole was waiting by the chest, before kneeling down next to the keyhole and unlocking it.

"Now," Cole began, kneeling down beside him, "you remember what happened the first time you touched the focus crystal?"

"Yes," Harry nodded. "It was the only one that stayed clear, didn't change to a different color."

"Exactly," Cole nodded, smiling. "So when you find it this time, you're not looking for it to glow."

"Right," Harry murmured as he turned his attention to the stones. He raised his right hand, letting it hover over the one he knew was the courage crystal, and waited for it to glow a deep gold, before slowly shifting his hand around above all the others. When he found the only one that didn't glow, he called on it immediately. The crystal burst into nothing, as they all did when called upon, and soon it was floating in the air around him. As there was no color to the crystal when it was activated, it haze resembled the air above any extremely hot surface, slightly out of focus and barely noticeable.

"Very good," Cole said with a nod, standing up quickly. "Let us hope you have better luck with this one…"

"I still hadn't talked to or heard from the artist crystal though," Harry said, closing the lid to the chest and standing as well. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"It shouldn't be a problem, no," Cole replied, shaking his head faintly. "We will come back to it before your training if there is time, and if there isn't, it is very rare to need that particular crystal in battle, so it shouldn't hinder your performance at all."

"What would I use it for?" Harry asked, curiously.

Cole snickered slightly at his question, before replying.

"Everyone needs some enjoyment in life, right? That crystal will bring out your creative side…your artistic side. Most Psions will take advantage of it at some point or another, but it isn't one of the more commonly used stones."

"Oh," Harry said. "Alright. Thanks."

"I'll check in with you during the week to see how you're doing with this one, but right now I really do have to get going."

"Bye," Harry said with a wave as Cole headed for the door. He waited until he heard the click, letting him know it was firmly shut, before turning and heading towards his closet. He glanced longingly at his bed, but decided not to go back to sleep, he wouldn't mind having some time to himself for now anyway. Changing quickly, he walked quietly across the room, and started downstairs.

Harry and his friends spent the day working mostly on homework. The focus crystal proved to be much more eager to communicate with him than the artist crystal. Anytime his mind would begin to drift to other matters, it would snap him back to attention when the stone's voice filled his head, telling him to keep his mind on his work.

Later in the day, when dinner was finished, Harry made his way to Remus' office, and told him what Ginny had found on the Inquisitors. Remus agreed that while it was very thin, it was still worth looking into further. He promised Harry he would bring it up with Dumbledore, and see what the headmaster knew about Lendare, and if he would truly allow the Inquisitors to come to Hogwart's.

The week went on, with no sign of Dobby, and Harry couldn't help but worry, wondering where the poor house-elf could be. While it was normal to not see Dobby for long periods of time in the school, Harry assumed he was always there, doing one thing or another for Dumbledore, but even the headmaster didn't know where he was.

The other person often on Harry's mind was Mel. He hadn't talked to her since Saturday night, and hoped she might come to him, with some explanation for her reaction, but she never did.

By the time Thursday came around, and it was time for Care of Magical Creatures, Harry hoped he might catch Mel after class, before she had a chance to run back to the school.

The students were gathered in their usual groupings in the pen near Hagrid's hut. Since school had started up again after the winter holidays, they had been assigned the task of taking care of baby Jarveys, who were all of one week old when they'd first begun. The small creatures very much resembled ferrets, except that according to Hagrid, Jarveys could be taught how to speak. It was now the second week of February, and the Jarveys were just over one month old.

"This is boring!" Malfoy exclaimed halfway through the class. "It's been a month and this ugly thing hasn't uttered a word. All it does is sleep and eat!"

"Well whadaya 'spect from a baby?" Hagrid asked with a laugh. "An b'sides, yeh certainly aren't takin the best care 'o yours, yeh should treat it with eh bit more kindness."

Malfoy rolled his eyes and looked disgustedly down at the small creature in front of him. It was lying in the small cage that each group had been given for their Jarvey, snoring and shivering.

"He'll cetch cold tha' way. Cover 'im up a bit. Er better yeht, why doncha hold 'im? Le' 'im get used ta yeh."

"I'm not touching it…it smells," Malfoy muttered in revulsion, pushing himself further from the cage to emphasize his point. Crabbe and Goyle, who were partnered with Draco as usual, did the same.

"Fine," Hagrid stated, stiffly. "But if he cetches cold, I promise yeh'll lose a good amount 'a points fer yer house." He gave Malfoy one last pointed stare, before turning and moving on, to see how the rest of the students were doing.

"What a slimy git," Ron muttered, sitting cross-legged on a blanket Hermione had brought out for them to sit on. He, Harry and Hermione were sitting close to each other, with the Jarvey in Ron's lap as he stroked it gently.

"Well it's Malfoy," Harry replied absently. "What'd you expect?" He hadn't truly been paying much attention to the brief spat between Draco and Hagrid; instead, he was trying to figure out what he would say to Mel when he finally got a chance to talk with her, which would hopefully be after class.

You're in class right now, the focus crystal's voice suddenly came through to him, as it had so often lately. You might want to pay attention.

I know, I know, Harry thought back, sighing inaudibly. He turned his attention back to the Jarvey just as Hagrid announced it was time to wake them for feeding.

"Well, that's my cue," Ron said with a smirk, before gently lifting the small creature and holding it out to Hermione.

"Since when is it solely my job to feed him?" she asked, taking the Jarvey and rolling her eyes.

"You have the smallest fingers," Ron said, smiling sweetly at her. "He always ends up biting me."

"Well that has nothing to do with the size of your hands," Hermione said, picking up the roots that were set aside as the Jarvey's food. "You're just too clumsy."

"I am not," Ron replied, feigning insult. "Just ask Harry, it happens to him too."

But Harry wasn't paying attention once again, his mind had drifted back to Mel, and he'd chosen to ignore the crystal's reprimanding this time. He had too many things on his mind right now, and even bigger than his worries about Mel and what was bothering her, was Dobby's whereabouts.

Let's concentrate on one thing at a time, the crystal came through again. Dobby first.

Harry nodded absently, waiting for it to continue, realizing it had switched tracks. Once Harry had decided what he wanted to concentrate on, the crystal had instantly picked up on it.

Dobby was quite obviously very scared the last time we saw him, mentioning something about crawls. No one seems to know what those are, or what form they take. It seems very likely they did something to Cho, but only Dobby knows for certain if that is the case. The only reason he didn't finish telling us is because Cole and Marzia showed up, and he was very afraid of either one or both of them, again for an unknown reason. He ran from them immediately, and no one has seen or heard from him since.

Harry was listening intently the entire time the stone's voice filled his head, and thought it felt a bit weird, hearing his own thoughts played back to him in a different voice. But at the same time, it was helpful. His thoughts were spread out in order, instead of jumbled and mixed with others. The focus crystal had centered only on one subject, and drew out anything in Harry's mind that pertained to it.

Now Mel, on the last night we were with her, seemed fine until our question to her about her knowledge of muggle sports. When we then questioned her about the letters she has been sending, she became further upset, more so than we've ever seen her. Ginny is jealous of her, Ron is suspicious and Hermione isn't quite sure what to make of her, but isn't entirely willing to trust her yet. While she seemed…

"Harry, can you hear me? Please answer!"

…like any other Slytherin…
"He's not moving!"

"Alrigh' tha's it. I'm takin 'im back up ter the school."

…at first, things changed…when…

Harry's vision was swimming in and out of focus. The crystal's voice was growing fainter. He felt himself being roughly lifted by someone who was trying to be gentle, and felt a twinge of panic when he couldn't seem to make himself move, or reply.

The focus crystal's voice was calling to him, trying to make him listen, but Harry wasn't paying attention. He knew he was being carried, but he couldn't turn his head to see where they were headed. By the voices, he was sure it must be Hagrid holding him, with Ron and Hermione nearby. He tried again to move, to talk, anything at all, but he couldn't so much as clear his throat.

If you will just listen, the crystal's voice came through hazily, we need to…

What's happening? Harry cut it off, abruptly. Why can't I move?

And in that brief second when the crystal was silent Harry felt the invisible hold on him loosen. It tightened immediately, however, as the crystal once again began to speak. Harry's mind was reeling, and he paid no attention to what it was saying, as the realization hit him.

You're doing this? he asked, incredulously, before continuing angrily. Stop! Let me go now!

The crystal didn't stop speaking, but instead persisted in trying to get Harry to listen to what it had to say.

Just be quiet! Harry thought harder. Part of him wanted to hear what the crystal was trying to tell him, but if there was a chance it was only stalling, for whatever reason, Harry just wanted to be free from its hold. He wanted to talk to Cole, to see why this was happening, and to make sure it never happened again.

The crystal's voice was now fading fast, and Harry strained to block out its voice entirely. Seconds passed, fainter still, minutes, it was barely a whisper…and finally…

The hold broke with what felt to Harry like a plastic bag around him popping. He took a deep breath, forcing his eyes to open sluggishly and blinked a few times at the blurry image in front of him, before the underside of Hagrid's worried face came into view. He felt the half-giant's strong arms underneath him, and by the jerky movement they were making, he knew they were moving as fast as the large man could go.

"Hagrid?" he barely managed to whisper, his voice very raspy. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Hagrid…"

Hagrid looked down immediately, and the instant wave of relief that washed over his features was entirely evident.

"'Arry!" he cried. "Yer awake! Don't try an' move, I'm takin yeh straight teh Madam Pomfrey. Yeh gave me quite eh scare back there."

"What happened?" Harry asked, as the feeling began returning to his body. Whatever the crystal had done, it was wearing off quickly. "What about the rest of the class?"

"Class is dismis'd" Hagrid replied hastily, and it was becoming painfully clear to Harry just how tight Hagrid was clinging to him. He tried to shift from the uncomfortable position as Hagrid went on. "I sen' yer friends ahead, they're tellin' Madam Pomfrey what's happen'd."

They were inside the school now and Harry was struggling to move.

"Hagrid I can walk…you don't have to…"

"Yeh aren't fit teh do anything righ' now,' Hagrid replied sternly. "I saw wha' happen'd in class, yeh'll see Madam Pomfrey and she'll tell yeh when yer okay."

"But…Hagrid, really I…" he trailed off as Hagrid flashed him stubborn glance. Resigning to his decision, Harry sighed faintly, and was glad for the fact that classes were still in session, he'd simply die of embarrassment if anyone saw Hagrid carrying him like a baby through the school to the hospital wing.

When they finally reached the double doors, Hagrid kicked them open and brought Harry to the nearest bed, lifting him up and putting him on it as effortlessly as if he were a pillow, instead of a seventeen-year-old student.

"Stay righ' there," Hagrid admonished him, pointing his index finger, and waving it sternly as a mother would to a child who was misbehaving. "I'm off teh tell Professor Dumbledore, and Madam Pomfrey will be 'ere in a moment."

Harry nodded, knowing Hagrid was only acting this way because he was concerned. He waited until the large man was out of sight before pushing himself into a sitting position, just in time to see Madam Pomfrey rushing towards his bed, with Ron and Hermione at her heels.

"Mr. Potter," Madam Pomfrey began as she stopped beside Harry's bed, his friends just a few feet behind her, looking anxiously at him. "I heard there were some problems during class, care to tell me what happened?" She reached out a hand, feeling Harry's head for a temperature, and promptly pulled it away, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened," Harry said, sincerely, eyeing the hazy mist around him suspiciously. "To be honest, I think they could tell you more than I can," he nodded to his friends as he spoke.

Madam Pomfrey looked to Ron and Hermione briefly, before turning back to Harry.

"Wait here, I'll be right back, and when the headmaster arrives hopefully we'll find out more about what happened today." She turned as she finished speaking, walking briskly across the room towards her many cabinets of medicines and potions. Harry watched her for barely a second, before looking quickly to his friends.

"Actually, I'd like to hear about what you both saw…what did happen?" he asked, glancing curiously from Ron to Hermione.

"Well, you didn't say anything for a while there, so I tried to get your attention," Ron began hesitantly. "Your eyes were closed, and we thought you might've fallen asleep or something…but you were sitting up perfectly straight, so it seemed odd. When you didn't answer though, I gave you a shake…and…well…" he trailed off, visibly shuddering.

"What?" Harry asked, anxiously.

"Your eyes opened," Hermione continued for him in a small voice. "And they weren't there anymore."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, loudly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean they were gone," Hermione replied, almost whispering. "It was the most horrible…it…it was…" she trailed off, letting out a soft moan and leaning her head on Ron's shoulder. He quickly reached his arm around her back, pulling her into a comforting embrace, and it was only then that Harry realized how pale and scared they both looked. He sat back against the headboard of the bed, letting out a long breath, having no idea what to make of what he was being told.

"What then?" he asked softly.

"Hagrid was freaked," Ron said gravely. "He tried to wake you up…but you wouldn't move. Everyone in class was scared, and when they started to crowd around you, he screamed at them to go back to the school and straight to their dorms. I've never seen him that way before. Then he told Hermione and me to come here and tell Madam Pomfrey that he'd be bringing you up."

"Are you alright?" Hermione spoke up again, gently, looking uncertainly at Harry.

"I'm…I'm fine," Harry replied slowly. It was the truth too, as he didn't feel the effects of the crystal any longer, though he wanted badly to know what it had tried to do. The unfocused mist hung lazily in the air around him, the crystal having made no sound since he came out of the hold it had him under.

Harry looked at both of his friends, not sure what else to say. He could tell by the looks on their faces that he must've given them a pretty bad scare. Ron was looking back at him, thoughtfully, and opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly the doors to the hospital wing banged open.