Hi everyone!

I hope you are all well.

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I can tell you my brain is going into overdrive when I get a good feedback!

To Atlan VIII: Schön das dir die Story gefällt. Ich hab mich totgelacht als ich das mit den Grillhähnchen gelesen habe und ich hoffe du hast nichts dagegen wenn ich das in die Story mit einbringe.

And once again: Thanks to knitchick!!! My super awesome beta!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Enjoy!

Chapter 13

Harry chuckled and held Hermione back before she could vanish behind the piles of books she was staring at, and led her to the remaining sofa that was not occupied by one of the new members of the House of Phoenix.

Everyone looked up from what they were doing and nodded to Harry more or less politely before looking questioningly at Hermione.

"What is she doing here?" asked Daphne a bit rudely and Blaise raised an eyebrow.

"Drop the Slytherin behavior," said Harry and softly pushed Hermione down before he sat down himself. "Mione has no clue where her common room is, so I brought her here."

Padma and Terry – the two ex-Ravenclaws - started to chuckle and the others joined in soon after. Hermione blushed a little bit, but had a grin on her face nonetheless.

"You are in Ravenclaw now aren't you?" asked Parma kindly and Hermione nodded while Harry looked over at Blaise who seemed to be studying him.

"If you want to, I can show you to the common room now. But I don't know the password…"

Hermione shook her head. "Thank you Padma, but I think I'll just have to look for it myself. I don't want you to get you into trouble because of me."

Fred stood up and squeezed himself between Harry and Hermione. He threw one arm over her shoulder and grinned. "Our dear new Ravenclaw prefect can sleep here, can't she? I think Harry will definitely like that!"

"Oh, be quiet!" laughed Hermione and looked at Harry who was still staring at Blaise. "Harry? Are you okay?"

He grinned. "He is right you know, I guess we have enough empty beds here that you can sleep here tonight. It's better than wandering the castle after curfew alone. It's dangerous."

"This... coming from you?" snorted George amused and Harry saw that he had caused Hannah to have a laughing fit so hard that she was a little bit too distracted to listen to him.

Harry stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find my new room." He playfully bowed to Hermione. "Be our guest Mione. I'm sure Padma, Daphne or Hannah will be happy to show you to an empty bed in the girl's dorm."

"Sure," nodded Padma.

"I'll see you later then," smiled Hermione and he went over to the left staircase.

He cautiously stepped on the first step and when nothing happened, he nodded. So he had guessed right and up there was the boy's dorm. He went up and saw that there were only three doors. He opened one of them and found himself in a room with three four-poster beds inside. He raised his eyebrows when he saw that there was a big balcony along the opposite wall and that this room was decorated in black, white and cream as well.

The floor was ebony like the ceiling, the walls were a dark cream color, and the curtains surrounding the beds and in front of the two large windows and the door that led to the balcony, were all white. The furniture was the same near every one of the three beds.

There was an ebony and white nightstand, a matching oversized wardrobe, a bookshelf and a small desk and chair.

He saw that two of the three beds where already claimed and happily went to the one near the window. He enlarged his trunk and opened it. He had been joking with Neville on the train, but he had bought a new trunk and it really did have seven

With a flick of his wand the doors of the cupboard opened and his clothes jumped out of his trunk and placed themselves neatly into the wardrobe. Meanwhile, he took his shoes off and placed them, along with the others, into the wardrobe himself. When he was finished he closed the first compartment and opened the second where his school stuff was.

When he took out his books he chuckled. "Zabini… just ask your question."

He heard the sound of shuffling feet and looked over his shoulder to see Blaise standing in the doorway with a curious look, but Harry could see that his body had stiffened.

He put the books on the shelf. "Well? What are you waiting for? This is your room also. You don't have to stand in the doorway."

"Potter… I want to ask you something," said Blaise and stepped inside.

"I already guessed that much," replied Harry and rolled his eyes. "Ask away. I don't want to stand around here until breakfast."

He saw that Blaise narrowed his eyes and smirked at him. The ex-Slytherin blinked and shook his head.

"You know Potter… I read some interesting stories in the Daily Prophet over the summer."

Harry closed the second compartment after all his school books where on the shelf, and turned around. He leaned on the bedpost and chuckled. "Did you now? Let me guess… one of the articles surely was: 'The Boy-Who-Lived gone nuts! Spreading lies abut He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's return! An exclusive interview with the mentally ill child that seeks attention by trying to spread panic!' Was it something like that?"

Blaise looked at him and then snickered quietly. "Yes… it was exactly like that. But I'm wondering… I want to know who's telling the truth. You know, Draco has been my best friend since our first year, even if you don't see us together very often. I saw him hanging around with you and started to wonder. 'Why would he be talking to Potter?' And then it hit me."

"So… you want to know if I told the truth at the end of last year, and what Draco has to do with it?" asked Harry.

Blaise nodded.

"Ask him yourself," was all Harry said as he turned around again. "Don't misunderstand me," he added when Blaise opened his mouth to protest. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just not my secret to reveal."

Blaise closed his mouth and nodded. "And what about You-Know-Who?"

Harry looked at him out of the corner of his eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

The ex-Slytherin was silent for a moment and Harry sighed but perked up when Blaise coughed. "I want to know if I should prepare myself… to fight."

Harry slowly turned around again and gave him a piercing stare that the other boy mirrored immediately. "For which side?"

"My side," answered Blaise. "I don't fight for Light or Dark. I fight for myself and those I wish to protect."

"So… you have someone you want to protect?" asked Harry with a small smile.

"Yes."

Harry chuckled as he approached Blaise to make eye contact so he could, unbeknownst to Blaise, use Legilimency to determine if he was really telling the truth. Satisfied, Harry nodded. "I will tell you something though; Voldemort really is back, and I really fought him in the graveyard, and yes, he killed Cedric."

Blaise nodded and started to open his mouth, but Harry interrupted him with a raised hand. "The rest is up to Draco, because it's not my place to reveal what he and I did. It's his; and his decision alone, if he wishes to tell you. I don't have to fear the consequences, but he has to."

Blaise stared at him with a thoughtful look on his face and smiled slightly. "I understand, and thank you," he said and offered his hand. "Maybe… we should try to act like housemates. We are in the Phoenix House together now."

Harry smiled and shook his hand. "Who knows, maybe we can even become friends."

"Dream on," Blaise shot back but a smirk was plastered on his face.

"I think I just might do that," replied Harry and yawned. "But first I want to chat a little bit with the others. I'm sincerely sorry for what I'm about to do, my dear housemate."

He grinned at Blaise who stared at him like he was crazy and with a swish of his wand the feet of the ex-Slytherin started to move by themselves and his clothes changed into an outfit that strongly resembled the clothes of Charlie Chaplin. He even had a cane in his hand and began to tap dance down the stairs.

"Potter! Stop it this instant!" screamed Blaise while his shoes clicked loudly on the crystal staircase.

Harry grinned and passed him before the others had the chance to see him. He sat down next to Hermione and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Everything alright with your sleeping arrangements?"

"Yeah. I'm sleeping in a spare bed tonight," she answered and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Hey guys-"

"… do you-"

"… hear that?" asked Fred and George together.

They all looked at each other and Harry let his wand vanish into his arm holster – but not before flicking it one last time. The room darkened and a bright spotlight lit the staircase where Blaise was dancing.

Hannah, Padma and the twins immediately started to laugh, while Ernie and Terry chuckled quietly. Daphne, on the other hand, had her jaw on the ground and was staring at Blaise with something akin to horror.

"What the hell is he doing?!" she whispered.

Harry tilted his head and frowned. "I believe… he is dancing something called a 'tap-dance'. Or maybe he is trying to communicate with us in code… I'm not really sure."

"Make it stop or I'm going to skin you alive, Potter!" raged Blaise, while doing a wonderful turn and jumping high into the air. "NOW! OR THE HORNTAIL FROM LAST YEAR IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE AN EARTHWORM!"

"Why?" asked Harry. "It's not like it's my fault that you suddenly decided to entertain us with a little dance Zabini."

Said boy glared daggers at him and Harry smirked back when he stood in front of the sofa. With a flick of his wand that went unnoticed by the others, Blaise did a nearly perfect balancing act and Harry dropped the charms when the ex-Slytherin sat on the floor with his eyes tightly shut.

"Well… don't we want to applaud him?" Harry asked and started clapping while the others – even Daphne – started to laugh and clap wildly.

"Potter… when I can move again… you should pray that you are not a ghost when you want to go to breakfast tomorrow morning," Blaise whispered and scrunched his face up into a grimace while trying to stand up.

Harry looked at his watch. "Oh, so I have one day to enjoy my life at last. It's past twelve p.m. now. Thanks for being so friendly Zabini."

"Damn those Gryffindors…," muttered Blaise and glared at him.

Harry smirked and wagged his finger in front of his face. "Really… I thought you already noticed that I'm no longer a Gryffindor… I guess I overestimated you."

"Harry," said Hermione smiling. "Don't be so cruel. Look at him, the poor boy is nearly crying."

Harry couldn't hold it any longer and burst out laughing at Blaise's disbelieving look and Hermione's smug one. He held his hand out and helped Blaise, who reluctantly took it, to his feet, before resting his elbows on the backrest of the sofa. They all stared at each other, Fred and George still occasionally snickering and Blaise grumbling from time to time.

"So…," said Ernie and looked around. "What… do you think of all this?"

"I like it," was Hannah's simple answer.

"Yeah. Me too," added Padma who was looking at the big fireplace.

Harry sighed dramatically and jumped over the backrest to sit down next to Hermione. "I practically told Dumbledore that he had gone nuts when I talked to him not too long ago…"

"You talked to him?" asked Terry interested. "What did he say?"

Harry smiled. "He told me what the House of Phoenix is all about. How it came to be, what it means, and when, how and why it disappeared."

"And?" everyone asked together.

He chuckled and leaned back while telling them what Dumbledore had told him about the Phoenix's. Each of them smiled at the end of his little story and Harry felt that they were starting to have pride in their new house.

Suddenly Fred and George gasped loudly.

"But what about-"

"… Quidditch?" they asked in 'Twin Speech' while looking mortified at the thought that they couldn't play Quidditch anymore.

"And your Head of House?" asked Hermione with a slight frown on her face.

"Who cares about the Head of House!" shouted George.

"Yeah! What about Quidditch?!" added Fred in an equally loud voice.

"Dumbledore said he will look for a suitable Head of House," answered Harry. "And as for Quidditch… he said that we should handle that ourselves."

"So we can form our own team?" asked Daphne excitedly and Harry raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't know that you were interested in Quidditch," he stated.

Blaise snorted. "Are you kidding me? She would have been on the Slytherin's team this year; she's been our reserve Chaser for the last three years!"

"Yeah, and we are the Beaters!" said Fred and George together.

"I'm a decent Chaser," mused Hannah. "So you can count me in too."

"I as well," said Terry. "Just like Greengrass with the snakes, I would have been on the Revenclaw's team this year."

Harry chuckled. "I see that Quidditch isn't really a problem. But… who is going to be Keeper and Seeker? And we need a Captain as well."

"Blaise is a walking net," said Daphne smugly. "He catches anything that is thrown at him."

Harry looked at him and the ex-Slytherin nodded a bit hesitantly.

"Why are you asking about the Seeker anyways?" asked Ernie frowning. "This was and is your position. There was only one time when you didn't catch the snitch and that was in our third year when those Dementors where here and you fell off your broom. If the same thing had happened to Cedric then-"

He stopped and Harry knew why; for the people around him, the memories of the Triwizard Tournament where still fresh. Even if they hadn't seen Cedric die themselves, Ernie and Hannah had been in the same house and likely had known him.

"That is something I wanted to ask you too…," said Harry a little hesitantly. "Blaise already talked to me about it and I want to know what you think."

They all perked up at that and he continued. "I wanted to ask if you believe me, or the Daily Prophet and all the trash it prints."

Daphne was the first to answer after a short silence. "You seem to be a decent person in my opinion. I don't really think that you are mentally ill like they said…," she shrugged and smirked at him."Crazy and foolish maybe, but not ill. I'd rather believe you than the press. My parents are always telling me that the Prophet is a load of rubbish."

"Thank god that some people can still think on their own and are intelligent!" praised Harry and threw his hands into the air with a smile.

"She's right," said Ernie. "Even if I don't like to think that You-Know-Who is back… C-Cedric didn't die in an accident… he wouldn't have been that stupid."

"There was no sign on his body of a mortal injury that could have caused his death, so yes… I believe you too," said Padma honestly.

Terry looked at each of them and then smiled at Harry. "I think we all believe you. So you don't have to worry about that."

"Yeah!" added Hannah smiling. "We are housemates now. We have to stick together!"

Hermione wrapped her arms around his arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "See? Not everyone is dumb enough to believe the Daily Prophet."

"Thank you," said Harry. "I'm glad that I don't have to be afraid that you will put me into St. Mungos mental ward."

"So… you are going to be the Seeker, aren't you?" asked Terry hopefully.

Harry chuckled. "Yes… I'm going to be the Seeker."

"YES!" screamed Fred.

"We are...," added George with a wide grin.

"... still playing..."

"QUIDDITCH!", they shouted in joy.

"So who's the Captain?" Harry wanted to know, and everybody looked at him like it was oblivious. "No. I'm definitely not doing it!" he said and their faces fell. "I have enough to do as it is this year and haven't got time to brood over schedules for practice and how to hammer strategies into your heads."

Hermione frowned. "It's not really something I usually have much to do with, but why don't you do it a bit differently than the other houses?"

"How?" asked Blaise immediately and everybody stared at her.

Hermione flushed slightly pink at all the attention she was getting now. "Well… there are only eleven of you at the moment, so it shouldn't be too difficult to start a new system."

"What do you mean?" asked Daphne, now intrigued, and leaned forward.

"You have seven players that are on the field," Hermione said. "But playing on the field doesn't mean that someone is a good strategist and suited for training others. Take Padma for example. She doesn't play Quidditch, but I remember that sometime in my first year I asked her if she could explain it to me. She could tell me more than Oliver Wood ever could about the rules and the strategy used."

Fred and George stared slack-jawed at the ex-Ravenclaw, and even Harry had trouble keeping his mouth shut. To know more about Quidditch than Oliver Wood surely was a feat worthy of the 'Order of Merlin'.

"Ernie isn't any better," chuckled Hannah. "He's a walking Quidditch encyclopaedia."

"Are you suggesting what I think you are?", Terry asked interestedly. "I think I like where this is going."

Hermione smiled. "Yes. Padma and Ernie don't play Quidditch, but know a lot about it. However, we have two first years that are in bed already. First years aren't allowed to play Quidditch – even if we have the exception sitting next to me – but there's no rules stating they aren't allowed to train for next year if they're interested."

"So basically, you're suggesting that one of them be our Captain and the other one something like the Vice-Captain? Who will train the first years that want to play when they are older?"

"If our House gains more members next year we can even make a reserve team!" mused Hannah and nodded. "I like the idea."

"So we have our team," said Terry and took out a piece of parchment. "I think we should write it down and give the list to our Head of House when it is decided who that will be."

Harry nodded. "So Captain of the regular team… Padma Patil. Because she doesn't play personally… Fred and George will be the leaders on the field if something unexpected happens. Keeper is Blaise Zabini, Beaters are Fred and George Weasley, the Chasers are Hannah Abbott, you and Daphne Greengrass, and I will be Seeker."

Terry nodded and wrote everything down.

"Now… the Vice-Captain is Ernie Macmillan… and we have to ask - Rose and Euan were their names I believe - if they want to play too. The best thing would be if they want to play Beater, because next year Fred and George graduate."

They all nodded and Terry put the list on the table for everyone to see. Harry stood up. "Now that the really important things are settled, excuse me, but I'm tired and want to go to bed."

"I think we should all call it a night," said Ernie and yawned.

Harry chuckled and wrapped his arms around Hermione when she stood up. He gave her a deep kiss and Fred and George whistled.

He shushed them with a look and they hurried up the stairs to their rooms like everyone else. Hermione moaned softly when he moved down to her neck and sucked on her soft skin.

"Harry…," she said and her voice sounded muffled because she had buried her head in his chest. "What are you doing?"

He held her closer and smiled before capturing her lips again. When they separated he answered. "I decided to leave a little mark."

Her eyes widened and she tried to get a look at her neck – which was impossible without a mirror – where a nice love bite could be seen. She sighed before smiling at him. "Well then I guess I'll just have to live with it."

"Yup," grinned Harry and gave her one last kiss before turning around. "Good night."

"Night," replied Hermione and went up the stairs to the girl's dormitory to the spare bed she would be using for the night.

Harry smiled to himself and went up the stairs to his own dorm. When he opened the door, Blaise and Terry were already in their beds and both nodded to him and closed their curtains.

Harry chuckled as he changed into his pyjamas and climbed into his own bed. He swished his wand and the soft light disappeared and only the moon shone through the big window. He shook his head and lay down when he heard Blaise muttering something and a small light shone through his curtains.

Slytherins sure are paranoid sometimes; he thought and closed his eyes.

*****

The next morning Harry woke up at quarter past five and stretched his legs while admiring the rising sun. Just like every morning, he slipped into his running clothes. Just because he was at Hogwarts now didn't mean that he could slack off.

He silently left the dormitory and found Hermione waiting for him – or rather, engulfed in a mountain of books. He chuckled and went over to her. She too had running clothes on; ever since Draco and Harry had started to train, they always worked out together.

He kissed her on the cheek and she looked up startled before she smiled. "Morning Harry. How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said and looked at the books she was reading. "Anything interesting there?"

She shook her head and stood up. "No… not really. Most of those books are the theory of defense against dark curses… they don't actually say how to do them."

Harry raised his eyebrows and together they left the Pheonix Common Room. "So you actually want to learn it?"

Hermione nodded and Harry turned around when he heard loud footsteps.

"Hey mate! Mornin' Hermione!" called Ron who also had his running clothes on and waved at them. Harry had started to greet him back, when he dashed past them and disappeared around the corner. "I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall! I really need to use the loo!"

Harry chuckled and Hermione shook her head with a bemused smile on her face. Both continued on their way down the stairs and went to the big doors that lead to the grounds. They didn't have to wait long to see Draco coming up the stairs from the dungeon. He looked a little bit banged up and Harry tilted his head with a small smile.

"What's wrong Draco?"

Draco yawned. "Sorry if I'm not really awake today but the snakes decided to question me until four o'clock as to why I suddenly decided to hang out with you."

Now Ron also came down the stairs. "Did I miss something?"

Harry eyed him. "Damn… did you flush the toilet and travel through the pipes to get here that fast?"

Draco snorted and Hermione wrinkled her nose. Harry turned around and opened the doors. A fresh morning breeze blew over their heads and they decided to do their workout near the lake. They stretched their limbs and then started to run around the lake.

Harry and Draco did six laps while Ron and Hermione only did three as they weren't as used to running.

After running they did crunches, sit-ups and jumping-jacks. When they where finished and all panting a little bit, Harry looked at his watch.

"The timing is perfect;" he said and conjured a glass of water for each of them. "We have a little bit over half an hour to get ready for breakfast now."

Hermione sighed happily and got a dreamy look on her face. "Enough time for a shower…"

Harry smiled mischievously. "I'm going with you."

She stared at him. "Into the shower?!"

He raised a single eyebrow and stepped closer to her. "Do you want me to? I was just talking about the Prefect's bathroom, but if you insist…"

Hermione blushed a nice shade of red that made Ron's hair pale by comparison, and started to sputter some incoherent words.

Harry chuckled and looked at Draco who was nearly falling asleep on the spot. "Today is Saturday, how about you go to bed and sleep until lunch?"

Draco looked at him. "That is actually a very good idea. Thank god that the term started on a Friday this year… I can't imagine having classes today."

"I second that," nodded Ron enthusiastically while they walked back to the castle.

"How is it with the Phoenix's and the Ravens anyway?" asked Draco when they reached the door.

Harry smiled. "It's great! The Common Room is just brilliant and I must say that I'm happy with my housemates. That reminds me… Draco I had a very interesting talk with Blaise Zabini."

Draco perked up at this and seemed to be wide awake now. "About what?"

"He asked me about you. The old story… why we are friends now and so on. And about Voldemort."

Harry could see that Draco was a little bit uncomfortable now. "And… what did you say?"

He smiled. "That he should ask you himself." Draco gave a sigh of relief at that. "But I can tell you one thing, he doesn't support Voldemort, but neither does he support the light side."

Draco nodded and then looked at Hermione. "And what about the Ravens?"

She blushed and told Ron and Draco what had happened and where she had slept last night.

Ron nearly fell over laughing and Draco had to control himself not to laugh out loud.

Harry shook his head with a bemused smile on his face and they promised Draco they'd see him after lunch. They all went up the stairs to the Prefect's bathroom and saw that it had been enlarged into two sections now. One for girls and one for boys.

After their shower, they changed into similar clothes as the day before, except with dragons on them, and went down to breakfast.

Harry had to stop himself from snickering the whole time, because Ron had a very angry looking handprint, courtesy of Hermione, on his face.

"Stop laughing Harry!" said Ron and rubbed his cheek while Hermione giggled.

Harry raised his hands in apology. "Sorry but I told you that it wouldn't be a good idea to go in there while the shower was still on."

Ron pouted when they entered the hall where some students were more or less sleeping over their breakfast. "It's not my fault that there is no curtain to prevent us from seeing into the girl's showers!"

"That's what the wall is for!" huffed Hermione and stared over at the Ravenclaw table.

Harry looked at them. "How about we sit down at one of the tables together? I don't think that many of the students are coming down for breakfast today."

Ron and Hermione nodded and they sat down at the new fifth table in the middle of the hall. Harry smiled up at the head table where Dumbledore and the other professors where already seated. He gave a curt nod to Snape and winked at Professor McGonagall, who crossed her arms and looked away.

"Harry…," said Hermione dangerously.

He chuckled. "Sorry 'Mione. I couldn't resist. It's just so easy to get McGonagall all riled up."

She chuckled, and after ten minutes it was official that only around thirty people would be eating breakfast.

"Harry?" asked Ron in a slightly panicked voice and surprisingly with no food in his mouth.

He looked up while munching at his toast. "Huh?"

"Tell me… isn't that Hedwig up there?" he asked and lowered his food.

Harry threw a quick glance at the owls that were flying above their heads and nodded when he caught sight of a snowy white owl.

He looked at Ron again. "Yes it is, why?"

Hermione now also looked up and chocked on her pumpkin juice. "Um… Harry? I think I know what Ron wants to say."

Harry was now getting a little bit annoyed at their behaviour and looked up towards his owl again. He followed her with his eyes and tried to see something out of the ordinary.

When she landed in front of him, his eyes widened and he stared at the letter she had with her. It was flaming red, a very familiar flaming red. He looked at Ron who had gotten a letter like this in his second year.

"Oh… shit!" was all Harry could say and his two friends nodded.

He carefully opened the envelope.

That was that... I hope you liked it!

And remember, give me a Review so that my brain starts working again!!! :)

Dark Phoenix of Slytherin