A/N: This chapter was a really fun one to write for me. Also, we made it over 200 visitors, which I thought was really neat, may not be a big accomplishment, but I like it. Keep the Reviews coming too, I really like waking up to the emails about the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. But I do own a new dog, I named him Strike. xD

Harry looked out of his office window at the Hogwarts Gate, where Ginny was due to arrive at any moment. He had been teaching for nearly three weeks, yet this lesson was the one he was the most nervous about. Ginny still didn't know about the inclusion of Snape in their lessons, and Harry knew her reaction wouldn't be all that calm.

Just as he was thinking about this, Snape stepped into the frame behind him. "She's late, Potter," he said. "Maybe finding out I was going to be assisting you scared her away." Harry didn't respond, instead he walked out into the hall, deciding to meet her at the gate instead. He only got to the doors of the castle before he saw her, walking as quickly as possible across the grounds. She nearly ran him over on the stairs before she looked up long enough to notice him.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, breathing loudly. "Lily really didn't want to go to Ron and Hermoine's today." Harry pulled her into an embrace, and kissed her on the cheek. "Really? A peck on the cheek after almost a month of you living in the castle?" She said, purposefully sounding annoyed.

"Well, I can't really go snogging you senseless here in front of the great hall, think of the children." Harry said, using his best professor voice.

"Speaking of the children, are they still in the great hall?" Ginny asked, laughing.

"I would assume Albus is, James and Fred tend to disappear after classes are over. My best guess is they go get food from the kitchens and go plan their next prank in the shrieking shack." Harry said, chuckling at his wife's gasp. They walked, hand in hand, toward the stairway that let to Harry's office. "I only say that, because I caught them throwing rocks at the tree trunk, trying to hit the spot that calms it down."

"But, how did they know how to stop it?" Ginny asked, though Harry thought she already knew the answer. He had told them about the way into the shack after they had gotten caught using Myrtle's bathroom to brew their own prank snacks. Harry had the sneaking suspicion that they had succeeded, considering the odd number of students that, at the beginning of this year, had spent the better part of a few days coughing up feathers.

"No idea, love." Harry said, before stopping outside of his office door. "Before we go inside, there's something you should be prepared for." Ginny looked confused, but urged him to continue. "As you know, I wasn't very good at Occlumency for a long time. I was always better as a Legimens than defending myself. So, I enlisted some help with teaching you."

"Oh, okay," Ginny started "who is it, then?"

"That's the thing, you know how all the headmasters have two portraits that they can move between?" Harry asked, Ginny nodded.

"Don't tell me, you got Dumbledore's extra frame?" Ginny asked.

"Nope, that one was placed at his brother's house." Harry said, "guess again."

"Minerva?"

"Nope, her portrait won't be in the office until she passes away, so probably never. She's looked exactly the same since we met her." Harry said, "One more try."

Ginny thought for a moment, then her facial expression became much darker. "No," She started, looking at Harry with disbelief, "No you didn't." She reached past Harry and opened the door.

"I see your punctuality has not improved since your time in my class, Mrs. Weasley," Snape's voice carried out into the hallway. "Apologies, I suppose it is Mrs. Potter now. While I appreciate the shocked expression on your face, we do have a schedule to keep, we can't have you two roaming the corridors after dark."

"Oh, hell no! I am not doing this in front of HIM" Ginny said, turning to walk away.

"Oh dear, I thought Gryffindors weren't afraid of anything. I suppose we should inform the sorting hat that his judgement was a bit flawed with this one." Snape said. Harry knew what he was doing, and was mildly impressed. There was no way his wife was leaving now.

Ginny turned around slowly, her hatred evident on her face. Harry hoped it was directed mainly at Snape and not him. "Let's just get this over with," she said, taking a seat on the large couch Harry had placed in his office specifically for these lessons. If she was going to have him digging around in her mind and Snape heckling her, she would at least be physically comfortable.

"All right, then. You're familiar with how this works, just focus on one memory, and I'll try to break past it into the rest of your mind." Harry said, "Ready?" Ginny nodded and Harry attacked her mind, silently. The memory she chose to focus on was a happy one, it was her and Harry practicing quidditch during the offseason after her first year starting for the Harpies. They were both chasing the snitch, Harry coaxing his firebolt to move faster as he trailed farther behind his wife. She was using a brand-new Nimbus professional series broom, which seemed entirely unfair to Harry.

Harry was almost so wrapped up in the first memory that he forgot what he was doing for a moment. He regained his train of thought and pressed through the wall into her mind with very little difficulty. The memory he saw next made his skin crawl.

Ginny was walking through the hallway in their house, holding her wand out in front of her, using it for light. Harry recognized instantly that this memory was from the night she was attacked. He watched as she walked down the stairs, the darkness closing in around the light of her wand. He wanted to shout a warning, tell her to turn around, but he knew it was pointless. As she turned into the kitchen, she screamed, Harry looked around and saw why. The attacker, that had worn Harry's face later in the night, looked exactly like Ginny at this point. Harry pulled out of her mind and looked into his wife's eyes, tears had welled in them. Snape's portrait looked curious, but stayed silent and stepped backward and out of sight.

"I didn't remember, why didn't I remember?" She was saying quietly, shaking her head. Harry started to move toward her, when he noticed Snape moving back into his frame, accompanied by Dumbledore.

"I am truly sorry for the interruption, but Professor Snape informed me that young Ginevra seemed to remember something about the attack when you attacked her mind." Dumbledore said, looking intently at Harry and Ginny.

A long moment passed before Harry spoke, "I saw the attacker in her memory, but instead of my face, I saw Ginny's."

"That is interesting, perhaps we were thinking of this situation the wrong way entirely. Harry, if you would meet me in the headmistress' study after your lesson concludes, I think I may be able to explain how your attacker took your appearance." Dumbledore said.

"Why can't you just tell me now?" Harry asked, he wasn't really one for keeping secrets. Especially from Ginny.

"I assure you, I'm not expecting you to hide anything from Mrs. Potter, but it would be truly disappointing to wake her when she's sleeping so soundly. Don't you think?" His former headmaster said, eyes twinkling once again. Harry turned to see his wife, as Dumbledore said, fast asleep. He remembered how tired he had been after his first lesson with Snape, and Harry had stayed in Ginny's mind far longer than Snape had ever stayed in his. He summoned a blanket from the cabinet across the office, and pulled it over her, before following Dumbledore's request and walking toward the stairway to the headmistress' office. He met her just past the gargoyle that guarded the entrance.

"Can you explain to me why professor Dumbledore just ran me out of my own office?" she asked, sounding eerily like his own transfiguration professor.

Harry shook his head, "Sorry, not just yet. I'll try to make this as quick as possible though, promise." He ran up the stairway and into the headmaster's study.

"Harry! That was fast, I assume you didn't have to guess at the password this time?" Dumbledore said, not waiting for an answer before he continued, "After learning that the form you saw was different than what your wife was attacked by, I had an idea. I assume you remember a certain mirror from your first year at Hogwarts?" Harry nodded as Dumbledore continued. "I think your attacker was using a spell similar to the one on the mirror, so that each person that looked into it would see only themselves. It really is an ingenious way to keep one's identity a secret."

"It sounds almost as if you admire our newest dark wizard," Phineas Black said, before adding "I must say, this is the first time I've thought of that damned mirror since my school years."

"Wait, you know about the mirror?" Harry said, before catching himself. Of course, Black new about the mirror, he was a headmaster of Hogwarts after all. "Nevermind, Professor, how do we find the identity of the attacker if it just takes a new face whenever someone else looks?"

"Isn't it obvious, boy?" Black said before Dumbledore could answer, "you confuse it."

"What?" Harry said.

Dumbledore looked at Harry, "As professor Black said, if too many people are looking at the Mirror of the Erised, it turns into a regular mirror until someone looks into it alone. If I am correct, and I usually am, if more than one person looks at your assailant at once, it should show its true form."

"Should?" Harry said, "And if it doesn't?" He couldn't base his entire strategy on a guess, no matter how brilliant the mind that made it.

"I will continue to research, and if we find any new information you will be the first to know. I have enlisted the help of nearly all of the headmasters in this study. Apart from the earliest ones, they hardly ever wake up these days. For now, however, I suggest you go back to staying at your home, so you and Ginny can both be together if our new darkness attacks again." Harry nodded, and thanked his former headmasters before walking back down the stairs. He found the headmistress where he had left her.

"It's all yours now, I'm sorry for the inconvenience." Harry said apologetically.

"It's no trouble at all, your situation intrigues me, why all the secrecy." Professor Undercliffe asked.

"I don't like to involve more people than I have to, too much risk." Harry said, still distracted by the conversation he had just been a part of. Rebecca clearly noticed this, because she made her way past him.

"Well, if you ever need to talk, I'm just a password away. It's still Gillyweed by the way." She said as she disappeared up the stairs.