May passed without incident, but with June came exams. More than ever, Ron felt Hermione's absence. He missed Malfoy too – Ron wanted someone other than Harry to play at chess, and joke with - but there was just something about exam time that made him think of Hermione. Last year, her nagging had frustrated him, but after several months without her, Ron was really missing her spontaneous lectures and random quizzes.

He and Harry had agreed not to tell Hermione that it was exam time – on the off chance that she was able to hear them despite her petrification – but Ron did spend an hour each day reading her his notes from class. If she could hear him, he thought she'd like that, and if she couldn't… well, it was the thought that counted and it was a good way for Ron to revise anyway. He thought Hermione would be proud.

He also spent time reading to Percy. Usually it was just the main story from the Prophet, because Percy read the paper every day – always had – and was always interested in the goings on at the Ministry. While it was now mostly settled – with Crouch Snr in Azkaban, and Crouch Jnr (and Pettigrew) gone without a trace – the whole Crouch scandal was exactly the sort of thing Percy would have been interested in. Ron just hoped Percy had been able to hear him, so that he'd have had time to adjust to it all by the time he woke up.

Which, hopefully, would be soon. The mandrakes had been harvested at the end of May, and Snape was currently in the process of brewing the restorative, and Madam Pomfrey had told Ron last time he visited that everyone should be awake by the end of the week. They'd miss exams entirely, and Ron reckoned that was for the best; Hermione and Percy would have fits if they woke up and had to study… and would probably have fits anyway when they found out they'd missed exams entirely. Malfoy would be happy, though.

Even though he's smarter than me, Ron thought. He wouldn't have minded borrowing Malfoy's brain for their Potions exam, or for History of Magic one. Potions hadn't been too bad. He'd managed not to muck up the practical too badly – and thought he'd been close enough to red with his burnt orange potion – and the theory had been all right too. Ron, at least, had got all twelve uses for dragon's blood, when Harry only got nine and Neville thought he'd only got seven.

"It was Glumble the Grim, wasn't it?" Ron asked, as he and Harry headed to lunch after History of Magic.

"Glumble the Gruesome?" Harry suggested, adjusting his bag.

"No, it's Glyfrid the Gruesome," Ron said. "I definitely know that one-" Harry swore quietly, and Ron's mouth twitched. "Bill used to tell us the story before bed. Reckon I've learned more from him as a kid without meaning to, than I have in two years with Binns."

"I reckon I learned more last night than I have in two years with Binns," Harry said, lifting his glasses so he could rub his eyes. "And now that it's done, I can forget it all again."

"I've already forgotten," Ron said, grinning. "Wrote down enough to pass, with luck-"

"When are we ever lucky, though?" Harry asked. He wasn't smiling, and had actually gone rather grey.

"True," Ron conceded, unrolling his jumper sleeves; it was cold, and he was suddenly feeling a bit ill. "Maybe we're due for a bit of luck, then."

"Or maybe we'll fail and have to repeat," Harry said.

"Maybe Hermione and Malfoy'll repeat with us," Ron suggested. He shoved his hands into his pockets, suddenly a bit cold.

"Or- What?" Harry's head jerked around to Lavender and Parvati.

"I didn't say anything," Parvati said, frowning. Harry's gaze slid past her to the other girls, some of whom were staring at him now. It didn't look to Ron, though, like any of them wanted to speak with him, the way Harry seemed to think.

"Mate?" Ron asked. Harry turned to look at him, eyes wild, and… afraid. That made Ron feel sad, made his stomach churn a bit.

"Ron-" Was all Harry said, alarmed, and fainted dead away. Ron caught him, just before he would have cracked his head on the stone floor. Behind Ron, Lavender burst into tears, and Seamus yelped as Neville slumped sideways onto Dean, still conscious, but very pale and barely upright.

If the commotion on the stairs behind them was any indication, Harry, Lavender and Neville weren't the only ones affected. Ron himself was feeling a bit… off. Sick, maybe. Maybe Fred and George had put something in Ron's pumpkin juice at breakfast. Seamus came forward to help Ron with Harry, and the pair of them managed to get him upright again and turn him back up the stairs. Parvati dragged Lavender off to the nearest bathroom, probably to talk, and a lanky third year Hufflepuff boy slid down a wall, face in his hands, while his classmates asked anxious questions.

Harry was a dead weight, and reminded Ron uncomfortably of the last time he'd had to support someone like this; it had been Ginny, after her ordeal in the Chamber. This time, the hospital wing seemed even further away, and for a moment, Ron couldn't be bothered with stairs, or carrying Harry, or bothered with anything at all. His grip on Harry loosened.

"Ron, I can't carry him on me own," Seamus said, kicking Ron's leg, and Ron shook himself and pushed past the sudden weariness.

Weird, he thought, and adjusted Harry so that Seamus wasn't supporting all of him. "You feel all right?" he asked.

"Cold," Dean said, from behind then; he was shuffling along with Neville, whose eyes were open, but not really focused on anything. He was crying quietly. Ron pinched the arm slung over his shoulder to see if Harry might wake up, but his head only lolled to the side.

"Bit off," Seamus said. "But I reckon that's just the exams, right?"

"Right," Ron muttered, not really convinced.

He had himself under control again by the time they reached the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey didn't seem at all surprised to see them, either; the basilisk's victims were curtained off as usual, but most of the other beds were occupied, and a row of chairs had been set up against the far wall for people that were affected but still conscious.

"Of course," Pomfrey sighed, when she saw Harry, and waved at one of the spare beds, before directing Dean and Neville to the chairs. "Clearwater, Finch- er Finches?"

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey!" A pair of Ravenclaw Prefects and one from Slytherin hurried over to Pomfrey's office, while Madam Pomfrey went to admit the lanky Hufflepuff boy (and what appeared to be most of Hufflepuff accompanying him) and Zabini, who'd been escorted up by Bulstrode and Davis.

"What's going on?" Ron asked the Slytherin Prefect, as she returned with a slim, foiled block of something, and passed it to Seamus.

"Give that to him when he wakes," she said to him and then turned to Ron. "The Ministry's happened," she said to Ron, pursing her lips, and waved a hand at the window.

You were a fool, Tom said to her, in the same vicious tone he'd started to use once she'd learned who he was. Do you really think that Harry Potter could have defeated me? Me? I've just had to disappear for a bit, make sure no one suspected… but I'm back now, sweet Ginny, and you're mine-

"Go away, go away, go away," Ginny mumbled, pressing her hands to her ears, though she knew it would do little good. Frost crept up the grass toward her shoes even as she watched, and her breath misted in front of her. She knew something was up; Tom had popped into her head just toward the end of her Herbology practical exam and started raving about bringing an end to her classmates, and the grounds had got very cold all at once, even though it had been warm all morning.

Has it, though? Tom asked her. Or did I just let you think that? How do you know anything you're seeing is real, Ginny? How do you know you're not just living in that little box in your head, while I run things in the real world?

You're gone, Ginny told him, though he was very obviously not. He'd been growing progressively quieter as time passed – at least until that morning. Oh, she'd still had him in her head, still dreamed about him, or about being him, but she'd been- adjusting, or something. Learning to manage it, learning not to let on as much. But now, he was back and it all seemed it had been for nothing.

Am I? She could hear the smile in his voice, and see it in her head; see his straight white teeth and smug mouth, and the cruel glint in his dark eyes. I think you'll find I'm very much here. The oddest part was she couldn't feel him. She'd checked her head again and again, and braced herself to keep him out, to keep him from taking over again. But she hadn't been able to find him, nor had she been able to silence him. Ginny wriggled her toes inside her shoes, and then her fingers, and then opened and closed her mouth a few times, just to be sure she could.

You're not, she told him.

Why don't we go for a walk? Tom suggested. Get away from this forest, and back to the castle?

You'd like that, wouldn't you? she said.

Very much, Tom said. Once, you would have liked to make me happy, Ginny- Ginny replied with a very rude word she'd heard Charlie say once, but Tom only laughed. No? Well, I think we should go back to the castle. And then he seized her, like he had months ago. Her limbs felt tight, her tongue stiff, and despair swirled around inside her. You're mine, Ginny. It was just as she remembered.

Ginny let out a furious sob, and froze when it echoed through the edge of the forest. She opened her mouth, wiggled her toes. She was distantly aware of Tom still talking, but she ignored him in favour of raising her trembling hand, nodding her head.

What…? she wondered, scared, but relieved.

And then a shadow loomed over her, and she looked up to see Hagrid, looking nervous but kind. The rough bark of the tree behind her pulled her hair as she looked up. Hagrid glanced over both of his shoulders, and wrung his hands – one of which was holding his battered umbrella – before speaking.

"Saw yeh from me hut," he said. "Hard not ter with that hair. What are ye doing out here?"

"Hagrid," Ginny said, astounded that she still had a voice. Tom babbled on in her head about oafs and halfbreeds, but she wasn't really listening. "I- was-" How was she supposed to explain it without sounding insane?

I came to the forest after Herbology because Tom was back and I didn't want to attack anyone else?

"Forest calms me as well," Hagrid said, looking over her and into the dark trees. "But outside s'not the best place ter be at the moment. Can yeh walk, do yeh think?" He offered her a massive hand and she reached up to take it, and let him help her up. "Best get yeh back to the school."

"I don't think that's-"

"Dementors can't get ter yeh there," Hagrid assured her. He glanced over his shoulders again, still looking uncomfortable, but kept his gentle hold on her hand.

"Dementors?" Ginny asked. Hagrid nodded his massive head.

"Fudge brought them in this morning," Hagrid said, "ter keep the school safe from Crouch and Pettigrew." She still felt dizzy and cold and sick and scared, but better, somehow; Dementors would explain why she was hearing Tom, why she felt like she had while she'd had Tom in her head, but why she couldn't feel him. He was in her head, but just as a memory and from her imagination. He wasn't really there.

Hagrid noticed her unsteadiness and said, "Daresay yeh're not the only one feeling it." He squeezed her hand gently. "Professor McGonagall was out here this morning giving the Minister a piece of her mind." Hagrid chuckled and Ginny managed a grin with some effort. Hagrid sobered. "Ruddy awful idea if yeh ask me. They're bad enough at the prison, let alone at Hogwarts. Kids don't need that." He glanced over his shoulder again, and Ginny remembered he'd been in Azkaban for a while during the Chamber debacle. And that, despite his obvious fear of Dementors, he'd left the safety of his hut to come and fetch her. Gratitude welled in Ginny's chest.

They rounded the corner of the castle and almost walked right into Minister Fudge, who was accompanied by three tall Dementors. They turned to look at Ginny and Hagrid, who stopped; Ginny, because Tom had started to cackle in her head, and Ginny herself felt very drained all of a sudden, and Hagrid because he'd obviously felt her sag, and had steadied her with a hand on her back – her whole back, give the size of his hands.

"Minister," Hagrid said gruffly. "Didn't realise they-" He nodded at Fudge's companions. "-were allowed so close ter the school."

"They're not," said a deep, angry voice, and Dumbledore strode through the front doors with his wand in his hand and McGonagall behind him. His eyes swept over Ginny and Hagrid and his expression darkened. He wasn't angry at her, though, she didn't think. Fudge, though, seemed to shrink under Dumbledore's hard stare. "Cornelius," he said, overly politely, "I believe Minerva asked you to wait for me at the gates."

"She did, yes, but it really ought to have been you there to meet me, Dumbledore-"

"Had you told me you were coming, I'd have arranged to," Dumbledore said, still politely, but there was something sharp in his tone now. "I also would have told my students about the new-" Ginny hadn't imagined Dumbledore's lip could curl, but it did now. "-security measures. As it was, and with such short notice, I was unable to do either."

"I spoke with Minerva almost two hours ago," Fudge said. "Surely it didn't take you that long to hear from her that I'd arrived? I should have been your priority-"

"My priority," Dumbledore said curtly, "has been and will remain to be, my students. A number of them have been admitted to the hospital wing for having fainted, or for feeling suddenly dizzy or ill or cold."

"Yes, well," Fudge said, almost guiltily, "Dementors can be hard to be around, but it's for the best… have to keep them safe from-"

"Pettigrew and Crouch, yes," Dumbledore said. "However neither of those two have caused as much damage to my students as your attempt to protect them, Cornelius." Dumbledore turned to address the Dementors. "You will patrol the outermost borders of the school and not interfere with the students at all. You will not target the students. Those you would be interested in have suffered enough." Ginny could have sworn Dumbledore looked at her again. "If I find any Dementors on the grounds, I or my staff will remove them back to the perimeter." Fudge swelled, but Dumbledore continued to speak. "If there are numerous breaches, I will remove them from the premises entirely."

"But-"

Then, however, McGonagall reached Ginny's side and put a warm hand on her shoulder. Ginny nodded to let her know she was okay – mostly – and let herself be guided back into the school, with a murmured thank you to Hagrid.

Hello!

Sorry, this update has been a long time coming, and I'm sorry for worrying you all! I am alive! :P With study finished I've started working full time, and really didn't realise just how little time I would have for writing. That, and here in Australia we were hit by some pretty bad bushfires a few weeks back, and I live and work in the affected area, so that has not been ideal. All is well now, though, and I was a lot luckier than most as far as avoiding damages. So I'm not on holiday (I wish I was! :P) and I haven't abandoned this story.

I am still completely committed to writing Identity (and its still un-named sequel/s!), but I don't think regular weekly updates are going to be possible for the next few weeks/months until I'm better settled into routine. Sometimes they may be closer together, but I think two/three weeks will be more likely.

Keep an eye on your email accounts for update notifications!

Until next time!

MarauderLover7.