A/N: I took a few liberties with the patronus charm in this chapter, including changing Ginny's patronus (she's been through enough I figured I could get away with it). I also wanted to let you know that there's probably only a couple of chapters left to this story; I can't say for certain whether the final battle will be one chapter or two, but after that will be the epilogue, and then this story will be done. Enjoy it while you can.

"You can't be serious!" Harry stood in the middle of Professor Dumbledore's office and stared at the man in disbelief. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, hands folded on top. His blue eyes were not twinkling, and there were no sherbet lemons in sight. Fawkes shifted on his perch and made a comforting sound, but it did nothing to soothe Harry's angry. "After everything Ginny and I showed you... you still don't want to fight with Tom Riddle? You've seen the kinds of things that he can do. We know that he was planning an attack on Hogwarts! How can you just let him go free?"

"Please try to understand, Harry," Professor Dumbledore said softly, looking unhappy. "I realize that this must be very frustrating for you, but we have no proof that Tom Riddle is evil in this world. Lord Voldemort does not exist here. The attacks and the dark creatures could have come from anyone. We cannot bring this matter to the attention of the Ministry or even the wizarding public without evidence. Not only is Tom Riddle a Hogwarts professor, he is a highly respected member of the wizarding community, with many influential connections. I cannot afford to wage war against him and risk having the world at large turn against us. Allowing him to gain any greater foothold in the community would be disastrous, and that is exactly what will happen if we go into this too quickly."

"So you're just going to let him keep doing whatever the hell he wants?" Harry demanded, struggling to keep his anger under control. It was tempting to just let loose. "Even though I know he was the one who placed Dementors in the Chamber of Secrets, and werewolves and lethifolds in the Forbidden Forest? It was all a part of his plan to take over Hogwarts."

"We have no proof," the headmaster repeated with a tired sigh. "I'm sorry, Harry. I realize how frustrating this must be for you, but the situation is entirely different this time around than it was in your world. Here, Tom Riddle has been very clever in hiding his tracks. Until we have sufficient evidence against him, I must ask that you not do anything rash."

Harry scowled deeply. "I'll try not to," he muttered after a pause. A knock came at the door, giving him his chance to slip away. "Good day, Headmaster."

"Good day, Harry."

The door swung open, revealing Professor McGonagall and Remus. Harry stormed past the two of them without responding to their greetings and went down the stairs, not even bothering to try and listen at the door. He had to get out of there, or he was going to blow up Dumbledore's office all over again; he hadn't been this annoyed with Dumbledore since the man had admitted the truth about the prophecy in the other world. Common sense told him that the headmaster really was doing everything he could against Riddle, but that just wasn't good enough. Not when it allowed the evil man to continue plotting and attacking at will.

He made his way down to the Great Hall, where – due to the fact that most of the teachers were still on vacation, and the students hadn't returned yet – his friends were the only ones present. Hermione was flipping madly through a book on dark creatures, pausing every once in a while to scribble something down. Draco and Ron were in deep, heated discussion, which Lia was struggling to mediate. Ginny was drumming her fingers on the table and looking at them all with a mixture of fondness and exasperation. Harry had to fight back a smile. At least some things would never change, even if it was still a jolt to the system to see Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley having a reasonable conversation that didn't involve insults.

Ron had shown up a few hours after Harry's revelation, sent by his parents to bring Ginny home. After Ginny had filled him in on what was going on and shown him the memories in the pensieve, he'd decided to stick around and help in whatever way that he could, much to Molly Weasley's dismay. There could be many things said about Ronald Weasley, but even in this world, he was a loyal friend to the end. He'd immediately caught on to the fact that if it had been Riddle who placed the Dementors in the Chamber (and it was a safe presumption that it had been, since few other people could access the place), then he might have placed other dark creatures around the school in preparation for an attack. That was how the werewolves and lethifolds that had been dwelling within the Forbidden Forest had been found by Hagrid. Now he and Draco were deep into research concerning dark creatures and where else Riddle might have hidden them, while Hermione was trying to figure out how they might prove Riddle was behind it.

"How's it going?" he asked, looking at his girlfriend.

"I've decided I don't miss the other world at all. How could I, when this place is exactly the same?" Ginny said, blinking up at him. "It's like hearing a bunch of toddlers bickering."

"I'm sure they mean well," he offered, chuckling. He sat down beside her on the bench and glanced around, realizing that the six of them were sitting at the Ravenclaw table. No doubt Draco had refused to sit at the Gryffindor table, and Ron had refused to sit at the Slytherin table. "I guess Draco and Ron will just never get along."

"You can say that again," Lia said, giving up. She scooted along the bench until she was sitting on Harry's other side and shook her head in wonder. "I'll never understand how the two of them can fight so much, yet work so well together."

"That is a mystery," Harry agreed. "It was a no go with Dumbledore," he added, purposely raising his voice so that the other three would hear him. Hermione peeked at him over the top of her book, and both Ron and Draco ceased their fighting to pay attention. "He says that Tom Riddle has too much support within the community to risk attacking him outright. We have to wait until Riddle slips up somehow and gives us evidence to prove that he's the one behind the attacks."

"But that could take months!" Ginny cried in dismay. "Riddle's smarter than that. He's lasted over thirty years without making a single mistake."

"Maybe not," said Hermione, closing her book. "He could've made mistakes, Ginny, and we just haven't found them yet."

"So how do we go about doing that?" Lia asked. She jumped when a platter of cookies and six mugs of hot chocolate appeared on the table. "Finding his mistakes, I mean. Isn't he some kind of evil genius?"

"No one's smarter than Hermione," said Ron firmly. A faint blush coloured his cheeks when Hermione glanced at him in surprise, and he shifted on the bench, clearly embarrassed. "Er... I mean... if he made a mistake, we'll be able to find it. I'm just worried that it might take quite a while."

"Ironically, time is the one thing we don't have," Draco muttered, blowing gently on his hot chocolate.

An uneasy silence fell over the table as each of them pondered the truth of that statement. Harry sighed deeply and absently carded his fingers through Ginny's long hair, staring pensively up at the sky above them. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Perfect weather for Quidditch. Sadly, he'd never felt less like flying. A large part of him balked at the thought of doing something like flying when there was a madman like Riddle running free... even if he couldn't do anything about it.

"This is really frustrating," said Lia, breaking the silence.

Draco rolled his eyes. "No one said it would be easy."

"We just have to keep trying," Hermione said, elbowing her boyfriend none too gently in the ribs.

"Maybe we're looking the wrong places," Ron suggested, smirking. "I mean... basically all that we've proven so far is that Professor Riddle is extremely good at covering his tracks. Hermione, I know you were trying to find out how he might've gotten the werewolves and lethifolds here, but isn't there another way we can look at this?"

"Well, I can't think of a single place near Hogwarts where he might have hidden dark creatures that hasn't been checked," Hermione admitted, taking a small bite from a cookie and chewing slowly. "That's not to say he hasn't employed other creatures, but I know for a fact that there's nothing in the lake, because the inhabitants would have alerted the headmaster if something new was introduced. Unless something else is in the Forbidden Forest that Hagrid hasn't stumbled onto yet... But we can't really go and check that out for ourselves... Harry, what do you think? Harry?"

"There's an owl flying around the ceiling," Harry said.

Five pairs of eyes immediately looked up. Sure enough, a massive, pitch black owl was coasting around the room, having squeezed in through one of the slots that the mail owls used. The animal landed in the middle of the table, nearly upsetting the platter of cookies. Razor sharp claws dug deeply into the wood of the Ravenclaw table as the owl strutted back and forth, cooing angrily. Intelligent golden eyes raked over each of them before alighting on Harry. He winced as the bird crept closer and stuck a wicked-looking leg out, showing off the message that had been tied to its foot.

"Er... I guess it's for you, mate," Ron said weakly, leaning as far back from the bird as he could.

Harry stared at the letter. "Just my luck."

"Don't touch it." Ginny grabbed his arm. "What if it's a portkey?"

"Let Lia and I cast some spells," said Hermione. She took out her wand and bent forward, murmuring a spell under her breath. Lia copied the movement, swirling her wand in a lazy pattern. Soft blue light filtered over the envelope, darkening towards the middle. The two girls looked at each other and nodded. "There's a portkey inside, but the envelope is safe as far as we can tell."

Reassured, Harry reached out again. He gingerly untied the message, half expecting it to come alive and attack him, and then yelped in pain as the true culprit was revealed; the vicious owl took a great deal of pleasure in taking a chunk out of the back of his hand. Strong wings slapped him upside the head as the owl leapt into the air, voicing its complaints in a piercing shriek that rang through the room long after it had left.

"Pretty bad when even an owl can beat you," Ginny teased, pulling out her wand and casting a healing spell.

"That was no normal owl," Harry mumbled, wincing as the pain eased and the skin and muscle re-grew. He squeezed her hand in thanks and then slid his finger beneath the flap of the envelope to open it. Even though he trusted Hermione and Lia, he opened it carefully, ready in case something happened. But nothing did; a slip of creamy parchment fluttered out onto the table, followed by a candy wrapper for toffee. Everyone stared at the items with some trepidation before Harry found the nerve to pick the parchment up and turn it over. His eyes darted over the words and grew wide with astonishment.

"What does it say?" Draco asked impatiently.

"It's from Riddle," Harry said, barely able to speak past his shock.

"What?"

"From Riddle?"

"Are you sure?"

"Drop it! It's probably cursed by spells we don't know!"

"Let me see." Ignoring the rest of their friends, Ginny slipped the parchment out of his hands and read it out loud. "Potter. You wanted a duel, you got it. Take hold of the portkey within ten minutes of reading this, or you've lost your chance." She flipped it over, then glanced up. "That's all it says."

"Shit," Draco breathed. "It's a trap."

"Obviously you can't go," Hermione said. "It's too dangerous. We should alert the professors and let them decide what to do." She eyed the toffee wrapper with distrust.

"As much as I hate to agree with Malfoy, I'm with him, mate," said Ron. "You go, you'll be ambushed."

Lia was watching Harry closely. A resigned smile curved her lips as she said, "But in spite of all that, you're going to go anyway, aren't you?"

"I have to," Harry said with quiet determination. "I can't... I can't let him hurt anyone else. Even if it's a trap, if there's a chance that I could stop him, I have to take it."

"Harry!" protested Hermione. "You can't. This is suicide!"

"I'm sorry, Mione. I know the prophecy doesn't exist anymore, but I still feel like it's my destiny to stop him." Harry took the parchment from Ginny and folded it in half, looking pensive. "Professor Dumbledore's hands are tied, and there's no one else who can do this. He could destroy the world and no one would ever know until it was too late. If I don't stand up to Tom Riddle, who will?"

"I'm going with you," Ginny said. There was no room for argument in her words, and Harry acknowledged that when he leaned down and kissed her briefly.

"Me too," said Lia.

"No way. You're too young," said Harry. "Mum practically killed me after I dragged you into the Chamber."

"You can say what you want, I'm going," she declared firmly, hazel eyes flashing with determination. "I'm only a year younger than you, Harry, and from what I saw in the pensieve, you've been doing dangerous stuff way longer. It might be your destiny to stop him, but I'm going to be there to help you. This bastard is threatening my home and everyone that I love. You have no right to keep me out of this war; it's my fight, too."

"She's got a point." Golden eyes twinkled mischievously as Ginny smiled. "I can't tell you how many times I wanted to say that to my parents in the old world, Lia."

"I'll go, too," Hermione said suddenly, wringing her hands. She looked worried, but her voice rang with conviction. "You might need my help."

"Hermione!" Draco groaned, then sighed, accepting the inevitable. "Alright, but if I die, I'm going to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life, Potter."

"Duly noted," Harry nodded.

"Okay, I'm in, too," said Ron, smiling grimly. "Do you think we ought to tell someone?"

"No way. They'll just stop us," Harry answered.

"Yes way. This is not going to be the Department of Mysteries all over again," said Ginny, glaring at him. She held up her wand. "In the old world, Tonks taught me how the Order of Phoenix sends messages to each other through their patronus. I'm going to send my patronus to tell Sirius what's going on. He can round up the others and bring help. I know we'll probably need it."

"How will he know where we are?" Lia asked. "We don't know where the portkey will take us."

"Leave that to me. I did extensive research on portkeys for Ancient Runes last semester." Hermione stood up and, frowning in concentration, tapped her wand against the candy wrapper. The wrapper glowed a deep red, and then a small ball of pale light rose from the middle of it. "Ginny, do you think your patronus could carry this to Sirius as well? It's a compilation of the coordinates that the portkey has been set to, but I'm pretty sure that it shouldn't harm the portkey in any way."

"I think so." Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Expecto Patronum!" she shouted. From the tip of her wand spilled a massive, silvery lion that prowled around the room tossing its head. Ginny turned to Hermione and extended her wand for the ball of red light, then walked over to her patronus and bent down, speaking to it in a low voice. After a moment's pause, the patronus took the ball of red light into its mouth and bounded towards the far wall, passing straight through it. "Okay, let's go. We haven't got much time now that it's gone."

"It's just about time, anyway," said Draco, levitating the candy wrapper with his wand.

"Have your wands out," Harry ordered, casting a sticking hex to make sure that his wand could not be taken from him without his notice. He watched as his friends performed the same charm.

The six of them gathered in a circle with the wrapper in the middle, wands out and ready. Hermione counted the seconds out loud, then ordered them to grab the wrapper when there were only a few moments left. Six hands reached out and touched the wrapper at the same time. The candy wrapper lit up with a dull light and Harry felt a wrenching sensation in his midsection. At the same time, he heard voices shouting behind him, and glanced over his shoulder. Sirius and James were running into the room, but they were too late. Having activated, the portkey yanked the six teenagers away from the safety of the castle and thrust them headlong into war.

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