The Other One

by Nicole White

All along there was someone else standing by Harry's side, with a tragic story of her own. She finds her life heading down a similar track as Harry's with no way of stopping it. Throw in some teenage angst and romance and you have a story. T for language use further on.

8. Detintion and a Stone

Disclaimer: See Chap. 1

A/K: Okay. I didn't really want to go through the whole rest of the year so I'm skipping to just before the Easter Holidays. Then they'll find the stone. I'm sick of first year. I want to move on! Thanks again and please oh please review!

School had resumed after Christmas and was going total full speed ahead. The Easter Holidays were coming soon and I really needed the break. We were in our last class on the day before the Holidays which was, lucky us, Potions. We were supposed to be brewing The Potion of Forgetfulness or maybe it was remembrance, anyway I could honestly have cared less. I hated Potions. I hated Snape. And to top it all off, Snape hated me. We were almost done with class and our potions needed to be almost done. I was doing okay. Better than Ron and Harry at least but not as good as Hermione. But again, I really didn't care. Snape called time and the potion was done. It looked fine to me but what did I know.

"What pray tell Miss Potter is that?" Snape asked as he came around to my cauldron, a sneer on his face.

"A forgetfulness potion." I replied with the same venom he had. He looked at me in a look that was almost something that I couldn't name but mainly hate.

"Well, Miss. Potter, is this potion not supposed to be a deep charcoal gray?"

"Uhhh yes? Or whatever the correct way is to answer a question phrased like that."
"Then why is yours a lighter gray?"

"I don't know."
"Hmm shame. You failed this lesson." He said and walked away evaluating everyone else.
"Why would I care? It's not like I'm gonna use this any other time anyway." I snapped under my breath to his back. But he heard.

"What was that?"

"You heard me. You ridiculous oversized bat." I barley breathed the last part. But I'm pretty sure he got the gist of it.

"Ten points from Gryffindor and two nights of detention." He snarled.
"Great! Can't wait!" I snapped again. Then the bell rang. I dumped my cauldron and threw away my leftover ingredients and was out the door before he could say anything else to me. I was still fuming when I walked into the Great Hall half an hour later. I looked up to the staff table and saw Snape glaring at me. I glared back. I was late but Hermione had saved me a spot. I sat down and grabbed the pumpkin juice. I wasn't hungry. Well I was but I was too mad to care. Just then Fred and George sat down next to Harry and Ron across from us.

"I hear you got a detention Hannah." Fred said with a wicked smile.

"So what if I did?" I asked downing my juice and pouring more.

"Congratulations! We didn't think it would take you this long but at least you got one."
"Two. I have two nights worth." I said scowling at my cup. I was so frustrated.

"By the way your first one is tonight scrubbing the cauldrons. He told us not to d ump them for a detention." Harry said through a mouthful of chicken.

"Ohh! Exciting!" I said.

"It's in half an hour." I groaned. I was so not in the mood for this. "Oh and your next one is tomorrow."
"I think it's brilliant." Fred offered with a smile.

"I think it was terrible!" Hermione said, "You really shouldn't have done that Hannah."
"I know but he's just such a jerk! I know he's a teacher and all but still!" I put my head on the table and bit back a scream. I was not going to take this. "What time is it?"

"Uhhh 6:00." Fred replied still smiling. I looked up at him in disbelief. He could joke about this? Great. We had a jokester in our midst.

"Okay. I should get going. Who knows how long it'll take me to chill so I don't earn myself another detention. See ya later." I stood up and walked out. As I passed the Slytherin table I caught something that Malfoy said about me and my detention but I really didn't care.

"Professor?" I'm here." I said poking my head into Snape's classroom at 6:30. I didn't see anyone but stepped in anyway. I had always hated this room but something about it tonight made it worse. Maybe it was the fact I'd be alone on this task. Just then Snape swirled in the room with a fountain of robes. I raised an eyebrow and bit back a laugh. He really did look like an oversized bat. "Hullo Professor. What shall I be doing as my detention?" I asked trying to sound civilized.

"You will be cleaning out all the cauldrons from today's lesson, which you failed."
"Okay. Where are they?" He pointed to them and I began my task. No magic of course but living at the Dursleys, one got good at this sort of thing. Really, really good. I was about a third of the way done with my 7th cauldron, and the potions let me tell you had cemented to the bottom of the cauldron, when Snape spoke again.

"You may go Miss Potter."
"What?"

"You're dismissed."
"Umm…. Okay. Will I just pick up same place tomorrow?" I asked.

"No. This will be your detention for me."
"Really?"

"Yes! Now leave before I change my mind." I pulled my apron thing I had been wearing off and left. I didn't need telling twice. At all. I wondered what that had been about the whole way back to the Common Room. No o ne was there. It was about 11:00 and I headed to the dorm expecting to see Hermione. But she wasn't there. I crawled into bed without much thought on the matter and fell into a deep untroubled sleep with dreams of potions, stones, mirrors and dragons.

I woke up the next morning facing the window that over looked the lake. The sun was well up and I guessed it was maybe 10 am. I rolled over and saw Hermione sitting on her bed fully dressed, looking like she had been waiting for me to wake up.

"Hagrid has a dragon." She said quickly.

"Good morning to you too Hermione. Wait. A dragon? Are you serious?"

"Very. And Malfoy saw it and now we're in big trouble if he tells. Plus Hagrid said Snape is helping protect the Stone and Fluffy is guarding it with other obstacles."
"Waking up to you is worse than detention last night Hermione." I muttered swinging my legs out of bed. "Now slow down and start from the beginning." And she did. She told me everything, about how they had gone down to ask about what else, besides Fluffy, was guarding the stone and how Malfoy had seen the dragon and how Harry thought that we should write to Charlie to see if he could take care of it.

"Well, I think we should just act as if this never happened. And if Malfoy does spill then you're sunk. I'm not but the rest of you are." I replied after Hermione finished.

"Okay. I just don't know what will happen if he does tell."
"We don't have to worry about that yet. Come what may we'll all be fine. Now stop worrying and let's go eat. I'm starving." I had been getting dressed and ready the whole time she had been talking and was done. I grabbed her arm and dragged her to the Great Hall where we found Harry and Ron sitting with the twins. "Hey you guys." I said sliding into the seat next to Fred.

"Hello there little Miss. Detention. Speaking of how'd it go?" Fred asked.

"It wasn't too bad. He let me go about half way through and I don't have it tonight." I said loading my plate with pancakes and bacon. I hadn't really eaten since lunch yesterday and was starving.

"Why the sudden change of heart I wonder." Mussed George. I shrugged.

"Maybe my hair was bothering him."

"Your hair?"

"Yeah. I think it was changing colors again. It does that when I'm thinking really hard or just sorta zoning out." I looked at Fred and George's blank looks and smiled. "I didn't tell you did I."
"I don't think so or we wouldn't be this confused Hannah." Fred snapped. I giggled.

"I really didn't tell you? Wow. That was blonde of me." I giggled again at the frustration on both of the twin's faces. "I'm a metamorphigus." I said through giggles. They looked at me in awe.

"Really?" Asked Fred.

"Really. Want to see?" He nodded and I obliged. I turned my hair a deep red and my eyes blue. I looked at him and smiled.

"No way. That is really cool Hannah!"
"I know! It's great!" I looked at all of them and changed back to my normal self. It was still so much fun to change my appearance in a snap. It would take getting used too. "McGonagall has already reprimanded me about it. It flashes unexpectedly through out class. It drives her insane." George shook his head in amusement and Fred full out laughed. I grinned even broader and so did Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

Life went on and no one mentioned the dragon for a while. I was starting to forget about it when an owl flew into the common room on the last night of break and landed on my shoulder. The envelope was addressed to Ron so I tossed him the letter and resumed my homework.

"Alright. He can do it. Next Saturday the highest tower." Ron said handing the letter to Hermione.

"Do what?" I asked totally confused.

"Really? So he wrote back?" Harry asked looking up from his books.

"Who wrote back?" I asked in frustration.

"Oh that's right you weren't there. We're going to have Charlie take Norbert to Romania."

"Oh I knew that. How exactly are you going to do this you guys?"
"Well, I'm not sure." Ron said his face falling a bit. He looked hopefully to Harry and Hermione.

"Well, I was thinking we could use the invisibility cloak and Harry and I could take Norbert up there. Like in a crate or something." Hermione said.

"Well it's the best idea we've got so far right? Except I'm coming with." I said defiantly. Harry shook his head.

"No you're not. You weren't involved with this to start with and I'm not getting you involved now."

"Yeah cause you know you're so the boss of me!" I snapped back. He glared at me and I could tell that I hadn't gotten through. "Fine. Whatever, Ron and I will stay here and do something constructive. Like homework. Probably not but whatever." I could tell that Hermione wanted to say something but one look at Harry's glare shut her up.

The next week went by without a mention of Norbert or the upcoming Saturday. Hermione had once again dived into researching Nicholas Flamel and the Sorcerers Stone. I don't know how much new information she found but she still looked. Saturday finally came. Hermione was freaking out and making sure that every little detail was covered. She really didn't want to get caught. I honestly didn't blame her. At all. It would be bad enough to be caught out of bed but being caught out if bed with a dragon would be awful. I didn't even want to think about how many House point we would lose after that.

"Okay. We're off now. See you guys soon." Harry said grabbing the invisibility cloak and beckoned Hermione to the portrait hole. I gave them both a small encouraging wave.

"You'll do great." I said. Ron nodded in agreement. Once they left Ron turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

"Think they can do it?" he asked.

"No. Absolutely not." I replied reaching into my bag and getting my homework. I saw him shake his head and smile.

"Always the voice of encouragement Hannah."
"Of course. What else am I good for?" I asked. I looked at him imploringly but he just smiled.

The next morning I woke up, but Hermione wasn't there. I got dressed rather slowly, savoring my last day of break, and went down to breakfast. I passed the giant hourglasses that held our House points and realized that Gryffindor was 150 points shorter than we had been yesterday. I walked into the Great Hall and spotted Ron and Harry and Hermione. Ron had stayed up waiting for them but I had gone to bed to actually try and get sleep.

"Hey guys. Why are we 150 points less than we were last night?" I asked looking at Harry.

"We left the cloak at the top of the tower." Harry said avoiding my eyes.

"You left it at the tower!?!?!?!" I exclaimed getting a sharp look from all of the Prefects and McGonagall. "Are you really that stupid?!" I hissed at Harry glaring.

"No but we just sorta…"
"Had a stupid moment?" I snapped. Harry looked down at his plate and Hermione went scarlet. "But she took 75 points from each of you? That seems a bit harsh don't you think?"
"Neville was out too. He was trying to warn us about Malfoy. But they both got caught and now we all have detention together." Hermione said in a small voice. I looked over to the part of the table where Neville was sitting and shook my head. I would never have imagined Neville doing something like that even if it was to help.
"Well don't feel too bad, Fred and George have lost Gryffindor plenty of point and everyone still likes them." Ron said trying to be encouraging.

"Yeah but their fun to be around and easy to like." I snapped back.

"Again with the encouragement Hannah!" Ron said exasperated. I rolled my eyes and stood up pushing my plate of unfinished food away. "Where are you going?"
"Quidditch." I replied heading out of the Hall.

Quidditch was awful. The loss of the points had put us way behind in the House Cup. No one seemed too thrilled with Harry and would only refer to him as 'the Seeker'. Near the end Oliver was so frustrated he yelled something random at Fred and it distracted him. He hit a bludger but instead of going where he intended it headed straight towards me. The next thing I knew, I was falling and fast. Then… black.

I woke up in the hospital wing a few hours later with a throbbing headache and a sore jaw.

"She's awake." Someone said. I sat up in bed but lay back down. My head hurt too much to even sit up. "You alright Hannah?" the same voice asked.

"No. What happened?" I asked brushing my hair out of my face. As I did I realized that my wrist was bandaged.

"You…err…you were sorta hit by a bludger." Said the voice and I realized it was Fred. I looked at him and tried to focus but my head hurt too much. I closed my eyes and asked my next question.

"How in the world did that happen may I ask?" I almost didn't want to hear the answer. This time it was Oliver who spoke.

"I got frustrated at…just everything I guess and I yelled at Fred, which distracted him and his aim got off and well hit you." He replied, his voice small and almost ashamed.

"How did my wrist die?"

"You fell from an air born broom. You landed on it and snapped it. It was gross." This time it was George. I then realized that about half the team was there along with Hermione and Ron. I closed my eyes again and sunk into the pillows.

"My head hurts, so bad. Where's ibuprofen when you need it?" I asked almost to myself. Just then Madam Pomfrey came out and shoed everyone away. I sank deeper into my pillows and let sleep overtake me.

The next morning Madam Pomfrey said I was good to go. I had slept till about 11 and missed breakfast and half of my classes. Madam Pomfrey had told all my teachers that I would be missing today to get some more rest. That was fine by me. I was walking back up to the Common Room to try to get some studying done when I saw Malfoy coming down a corridor towards me, surprisingly alone for once. I was tempted to escape into an empty classroom and avoid all contact but decided to face him.

"Well if it isn't the delinquent's sister. What happened to your face Potter?" He snarled at me noting my bruised jaw and face. I bit my lip holding back a wince.
"Lookie here, it's the snitching little prat." I replied with the same amount of venom. "And for your information I was hit by a bludger full on and fell from an air born broom at fifty or so feet." He scoffed at me and shook his head.
"No one likes a smart mouth Hannah."
"No one likes a snitch." I stared him down and he finally backed away. He stepped past me and we went our own ways. I reached the Common Room and sunk into a chair massaging my head. I had about and hour until lunch and decided I would meet everyone down there then come back here. I curled into a ball and opened a book that had been lying on the table. It turned out to be Hermione's. I read it until noon and then went to lunch.

The week went by slowly for me. My head still hurt every so often and Oliver wouldn't let me back in the air till Saturday. Fred felt terrible about it but I could tell he didn't let anyone else but me see that. Saturday finally came and I was late. I changed in record speed and jumped onto my broom soaring into the air. Everyone cheered and I smiled. My wrist was still wrapped but it didn't hurt nearly as bad anymore. Practice went well and no one was hurt. We ended early as a little treat to ourselves and headed inside. Harry and Hermione had detention in about an hour so we ate quickly to let them have time to relax for a while. They left at about 10 till 6:00 and we wished them luck. Neville ran out of the boy's dorm 3 minutes later and followed their path.

"Think they'll be okay?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. I mean they wouldn't put them through anything dangerous would they?" I replied. Ron nodded in agreement. I looked at the door that 3 of my friends had disappeared through and hoped we were right. "So what else did Hagrid say was guarding the Stone?"

"He didn't really say. Just that each teacher had an obstacle set up so who knows." Ron said looking at the table that our homework was sitting on. I sighed and put my quill and ink back in my bag along with my homework. I looked at the fire and tried hard to focus. My head was starting to hurt again and I didn't know why. It only hurt when I had been either flying for a long time or I bumped it against something. But this felt more like a Quirrell induced headache. Maybe I was just imagining things though. I stood up and walked to the window and looked at the forest where 4 small figures and the unmistakable form of Hagrid were entering it. I relaxed. As long as they were with Hagrid they would be fine. I just hoped Malfoy would get eaten by something and ease all of our misery. I finally went to my dorm around 11 or so. I was really tired and my head hurt too badly for me to wait for Harry, Hermione and Neville.

I woke up the next morning and saw Hermione emerging from the bathroom with her hair soaked. I assumed she had just gotten out of the shower. She looked at me and

"Good morning Hannah." She said in her obnoxiously perky voice. How she was able to function in the morning I have no idea.

"Morning." I said swinging my legs out of bed. I stood up and looked at her as if to say 'How was detention' but she gave me a look that said I really don't want to talk about it. Instead she threw me a curve ball.

"I think we should get the stone."

"Come again?"

"I think we should get the stone."
"Okay. When?"
"That's it? That's all you're going to say? No protests? No nothing?"
"I'm not Harry Hermione. I go with whatever. I don't have the need to play hero all the time." I said and Hermione looked at me in awe. I honestly don't think she has ever spoken ill of anyone. Ever. Maybe Malfoy but otherwise, no one. We walked down to the Common Room where Harry and Ron were waiting. I looked at Hermione waiting for her to say something. When she didn't I took over.

"This Friday we're going to get the Stone." I said looking at Harry and Ron.

"What?" they said at the exact same time.

"You heard me. We need to act fast, and Friday should be good. Got a problem with that?" I snapped at my brother.

"Yeah! I'm not going to let you guys risk your lives for me."
"Yeah well…too bad. We're going. Besides it's not for you. And since when are you in control of any of us?"

"Since…. Since…. Well I am in charge of you!"
"You are not!"
"Am to!

"Are NOT!!" I yelled and he just looked at me. "Harry we can all think for ourselves and we all want to do this okay?" He looked out the window looking resigned. "So Friday night? We can use the Invisibility Cloak and pray that we beat Snape." I looked around my small group of friends and sighed. "Geez, don't be so energetic. You're wearing me down. Come on! Let's go to breakfast please." I didn't wait for a response and turned and climbed out of the portrait hole.

I was the first to the Great Hall and I didn't really want to wait for them. I ate and was out of their before anyone else was there. I walked out the front door and to the lake. I sat on a rock as close as I could to the water and watched the giant squid float lazily around the surface. I didn't know what was up with me but I needed some alone time. I pulled my knees up and hugged them to my chest, putting my head on my knees. I listened to the wind and the gentle rhythm of the waves on the lake. I didn't even hear the footsteps behind me.

"What's wrong Potter? Moping because you've got no one who cares?" I rolled my eyes and looked up. Yep, for sure it was Malfoy.

"What do you want now Malfoy?" I asked.

"Oh, not much. Just looking for a distraction."
"Looks like you found one. I mean… don't you already have enough insult of think of with Harry. Why do you even bother with me at all?"

"Cause you're cute."
"What?"

"I…you heard me." He said his cheeks turning scarlet. "See you around Potter." I couldn't help the smile that crept across my face. That was funny. I put my head back on my knees and resumed my listening. I sat like that for a long time. At noon I went back inside to eat. I walked in and I saw Harry, Hermione and Ron sitting next to Fred and George. I walked over to them and sat down.

"Where have you been?" Fred asked giving me one of his classic smiles.

"Out by the lake. I needed space and alone time. How was your guy's morning?" I asked snatching the last treacle tart from under Ron's fingers.

"Oh same old' same old'. Boring Sunday morning." Fred replied. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Fred and George Weasley had a boring morning?!?" You've got to be joking!" I said looking at both twins. "I mean, you guys didn't get in any trouble at all?"
"Well we did but it was minimal."
"Right." I smiled and looked at him. He was so funny. I really liked him, but only as a friend. He was my best guy friend's older brother.

The rest of the week went by quickly. I treaded around Snape more lightly then normal. I did not want another detention. Not this week. Friday finally came. We had planned and planned and planned. Every little detail was figured out. At midnight Hermione and I would meet Ron and Harry in the Common Room and go from there. And that is exactly what we did. We made our way quickly and quietly to the room. Hermione unlocked the door for us and we went in. As soon as we did Fluffy tried to eat us. Harry pulled out his flute that Hagrid had given him and began to play. Almost immediately Fluffy began to lie down. In a matter of minutes he was fast asleep. We climbed down the trap door and landed in, lucky us, Devils Snare.
"Bloody hell!" Ron and Harry said.

"Devils Snare! What the hell?!?" I called struggling against the violent plant. "This must be Professor Sprouts challenge. Why didn't I pay attention?!?!"

"Devils Snare. Devils Snare." Hermione was repeating to herself as if trying to remember. Ron and Harry just struggled not helping at all. "Sunlight! Or fire! If I only had flint or wood…"
"Are you a witch or aren't you!?!?" Ron bellowed.
"OH. Right." Hermione said and pulled out her wand, after a struggle with the plant. Before any of us knew it a small fire was in the middle of the snare. It screamed and dropped us retreating into the walls. We all stood there for a second and then continued on our way. Soon we cam to a door and you could hear the beat of a thousand little wings. We all looked at each other and went in. Flying all around us were keys. Some small some big. Old and new but there were dozens. A door stood at the other end. I ran over to it and saw that it was a big old lock. That meant a big old key. I relayed the information to Harry, Ron and Hermione but it didn't really help. They were too far out of reach.

"Guys look. Brooms." Harry whispered.

"Cool." I whispered back. "What are we going to do?"

"I'm a Seeker Hannah."

"Oh yeah huh. But what about the rest of us? And why are we whispering?"

"You're coming with me. And I don't know."
"Whatever." I said at normal volume. "Let's go get the stupid key shall we?" Harry smiled and we grabbed the brooms. We hopped on and flew through the air looking for the key. The keys didn't like that though. They flew faster and it was hard to tell which one was which. The keys were pretty violent and we all had cuts on our hands and faces. Harry finally found the right one and we all headed down the jumped of our brooms. We all ran through the door and into the next room. A chess set awaited us.

"No way." Ron said. It was life size and pretty intense.
"A life sized game of wizard's chess?" I asked walking forward. We all reached the edge of the board and stopped. I walked onto the board and tried to walk across. Before I could the pieces blocked my way. "What? Do we have to play?" I asked frustrated.

"Yeah. We do." Ron said in awe. "Hermione, rook. Hannah, bishop. Harry, other bishop. And I'll take the knight." Ron was taking charge. It was pretty cool. We went to our spots and began the game. Ron tried to keep us out of danger so there wasn't much action on our point. Then there was a situation.

"Uhhh. Guys. I think this is going into stalemate and quickly." I said. Ron nodded.

"Okay. I'm going up. Harry once I'm clear you can move into check the king. Got it?" Ron asked.

"What? You mean..."

"Yes Harry. Just let me do this okay?" With that he moved forward and the king took him. He fell fast and hard.

"RON!" We all called. Hermione moved towards him but Harry stopped her.

"That will be counted as our move! Stay!" Then he moved in font of the king. "Checkmate." He said. The king fell and we all rushed to Ron.

"Oh snap." I whispered.

"You guys go. I'll stay." Hermione said.

"No. I'll stay. Harry's going to need you Hermione. Plus I know how to stop the bleeding and stuff okay?" Hermione nodded and she and Harry headed off. "Good luck." I whispered. I sat next to Ron and tried to clean off his wounds. He had fallen pretty hard. Now all we had to do was wait. About half an hour later Hermione came back but alone.

"Where is Harry?" I whispered trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

"He went on. We reached these potions. One would take us back the other forward. But there was only enough for one. So I came back and he kept going." Hermione explained sitting down next to Ron.

"Well I figured the last part genius." I snapped. I stood up and paced across the chess board, my anxiety increasing with each passing minute. Finally I sat back down staring at the door. Hermione drifted into sleep and I was almost there myself when the door we had entered the room by opened. I sat up and looked at the figures that had just walked in. It was Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.
"Minerva, please take these three up to the Hospital Wing." Dumbledore said briskly walking to the other door. I followed.

"If you think I'm going upstairs when Harry is still down there you're nuts." I said definatley.

"My sanity was never being questioned but you need to go back up." He turned to me and his bright blue eyes pierced me making me look away.

"Fine. But I want to see him the instant he's back. Regardless if he's awake or not." I turned back to McGonagall, Hermione and Ron, who had been levitated onto a stretcher that was floating beside Hermione. I walked through the door that led back to where we started and looked to the other door where Dumbledore had just disappeared out of sight. Then kept walking.

What had happened down beneath the castle between Harry and Voldemort. So naturally everyone knew about it. The last day drew ever near and the Gryffindors were in low spirits. We had lost the cup due to, well Harry really. We were behind the first place, which just happened to be Slytherin by 200 points. We walked into the last feast and our spirits dropped lower. It was decorated in silver and green. Yuck. We took our seats but didn't really talk. Like at all which was scary. Finally Dumbledore spoke and announced the places of each house. We were last. But then he said something else.

"In light of recent events, I believe some last minute points are in order. First, to Miss. Hermione Granger for brilliance in the face of danger, I award, 50 points. Second to Mr. Ronald Weasley for the best game of Wizards Chess I award 50. And to Mr. Potter for sheer courage I award 75." The Gryffindor table burst into whispers. We were close to tying the Slytherins. "Further more. It takes great courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends for this I award 10 point to Mr. Neville Longbottom. And last but not least. Facing an enemy can be terrifying, but staying behind alone not knowing what is happening is even scarier and takes more courage. For this I award Miss. Hannah Potter…25 points." Our table erupted in cheers. W had beaten Slytherin by a mere 10 points. Everyone was clapping me and everyone else who had just helped us win on the back. Fred and George nearly crushed me when they both squeezed me at the same time. "Ahem." Dumbledore said getting our attention back, "I believe a change in decorations is in order." With that he clapped his hands and the silver and green turned to the familiar gold and scarlet of my house. The rest of the feast went by with all of us in much better spirits. WE headed up to bed for the last tie that year and slept. The next morning we left. On the way to the train I stared at the castle until it was out of sight. I turned back to my friends and smiled.

"So until next year right?" Hermione asked.

"Of course not. We're going to have to have both of you round this summer." Ron replied. That was all that was spoken until we reached the train. Harry and I were loading our trunks when he turned to look at me.

"We're not really leaving are we." Harry stated more than asked. I smiled.

"No. We're not. Think of it as a… a vacation." He laughed and we boarded I took one last look at the scenery and then shut the door. I would be back soon enough.

A/K: Okay I'm really sorry!!!!! I've been going crazy in my last weeks of school and have had no time! I feel so bad for not getting this out there. So very sorry. I still hope you guys like it. Next year will be interesting. So I'll jump on that quickly. I promise. Thanks and please review!