Hello everyone, this is a much better chapter than the last one. I think that all of you will like it much better. Please let me know, and thanks again for reading.

Summet: Thanks a million. I'm glad you enjoyed, and I hope you enjoy this one. I wanted to be finished with this story, but the hours I work haven't allowed me to do as much as I like these days. But I'm very grateful for the support. Thanks again. Oh! And chapter eight was just resubmitted, as it's now been beta read.

Chapter 13: Summer Visitors

Harry was half way through his meal when a dark skinned, black haired, Hufflepuff boy came up to him. "Hey Potter, is it true that your team Captain for Gryffindor this year?" Harry nodded his head, and smiled as he swallowed a mouthful of steak. The boy smiled back and extended his hand to Harry. "I'm Emit Walsh, the new Hufflepuff team Captain. I was wondering if I could talk you into a practice match on Friday afternoon. Just so our respective teams can get some good training in. This will be my first year as team Captain too." Emit said with a genuine smile. Harry motioned him to have a seat.

"I think that that would be great Walsh. I didn't get to play last year, and Quidditch was the thing I was looking forward to the most. I think a friendly game would be great! Just let me know what time you want to reserve the field for and, I'll have my team there." Harry smiled. Walsh looked pleased.

"Perfect Harry, I think I'll try to get it set for around five thirty on Friday. We probably won't have too much homework thrown on us the first week. So I think that everyone will be steady fresh for a practice game. But take it easy on us, as this will be the first year of playing Quidditch for four members of my team. Most of our team last year were seventh years, and it's left me without a lot of experienced players." Walsh said concerned about the less experienced members of his team. Harry patted him on the back.

"No problem Walsh. It's only a practice game, and I'm really into Quidditch for the love of the game. I'm sure well all have fun on Friday. And congratulations on getting team Captain." Harry said in a friendly manner. He and Walsh talked for a while, about last years events, and Walsh would look over Harry's shoulder every once in a while. The conversation eventually drifted to the politics of the wizarding world, and the new Minister of Magic's, view of Muggleborn, and half blood persons. Walsh entered his own opinion.

"Yea, his views are a little extreme. Not anything close to You-Know-Who's views of course. Not that we have to worry about him after he had to deal with you though. More likely he's off licking his wounds, after losing almost all his Death Eaters, alone and afraid of The Harry Potter. Harry waved off the complements.

"Oh thanks, but it wasn't just me. I had help from friends." Harry said.

"But I think you half bloods are an Okay lot. Not that I'm not proud to be a pureblood. Believe me; I'm proud that I can trace my magical lineage all the way back to the great Hausa Wizards of Nigeria. But that's not the only thing that's important, and I have some good Muggleborn, and half blood friends. Hell, half my team is made up of people with some Muggle lineage. But I don't think that anything will change, with the new Minister. Truth is, he's probably just saying that stuff because he's trying to appeal to the pureblood separatist community. Seems that their population has been growing over the years. Not specifically in the UK, but around the world in general. I even heard that in Germany some groups are giving out medals to the pureblood women who have eight or more children. Can you believe it? Medals for shagging." Walsh said as if it were the silliest thing he had ever heard of. Harry remembered something about women having baby's of pureblood somewhere in Muggle history, from when he attended Muggle School at age ten, but he couldn't quite remember what he had learned about it. Then Walsh asked Harry a question that seemed to come out of the blue. "Hey Potter, do you have a pet mouse in your pocket?" He asked sincerely.

"Uh…no. Why do you ask?" Harry said. Walsh looked past Harry again.

"Well it's just that Filches cat, Mrs. Norris has been watching you for the past fifteen minutes now. I thought it was either you had a pet mouse you were keeping in your pocket, or Mr. Norris was taking a keen interest in politics these days." Walsh chuckled. Harry turned to see Mrs. Norris glaring at him with sinister, yellow eyes. Harry was agitated. "Shoo, go way. Were not breaking any rules. Beat it you useless fur ball." Harry said. Mrs. Norris then casually strolled away after the two of them fell silent. Harry then turned back to Walsh. "I hate that cat. Always spying for Filch. It's like the two of them have a mental connection, where they can read each others thoughts. Walsh nodded his head in agreement.

"Yea, tell me about it. One time in my third year, some friends and I were sneaking out of our house to go meet up with a few girls from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and Mrs. Norris Spotted us. She never went back to Filch, but stayed with us leering at us with those sinister yellow eyes the whole time. We tried to shoo her away, but had to be quite about it. Eventually we heard Filch moving around and ducked into a class room, and hid under desk, and in cupboards, and one guy even went back to the hall to hide behind one of the suites of armor in the halls. Well Mrs. Norris went to Filch, and showed him where each of us were hiding. Got four detentions each that day. Filch kept going on, and on about how he longed for the days when students were tied up and beaten for such infractions. God I don't remember mum or dad saying anything about torcher when they talk about their time at Hogwarts. How old is Filch." Walsh finished. Harry shrugged.

"Bout a hundred I'd wager." Harry joked. Walsh looked at his watch.

"Oh bugger, I've got to get with my team now, and let them know about Friday. Well it's been great chatting with you Potter. See you Friday." He said as he shook Harry's hand again.

"It was great to meet you Walsh. I look forward to the game." Harry said in good sprits

Harry gave another look over at the Ravenclaw table. Cho Chang was staring at the Gryffindor table, with a worried look on her face, and was fidgeting around looking like she was trying to decide to come over to the table or not. The strange thing was that she was not looking at Him. He looked at the same place that Cho was where two people sat. Cho was staring at either Ron, or Hermione or both. The two of them were in deep conversation, and sitting close together, and so it was hard to determine which one. But it was Hermione that jinxed Cho's friend last year. Was Cho getting ready to tell Hermione off? No. I can't imagine she would just jump at Hermione like that. Harry's train of thought was interrupted by a greeting from his favorite ghost at Hogwarts.

"Hello Harry. How was your summer holiday?" came the voice of Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor House. Harry turned to him.

"Sir Nicolas. It's good to see you again. My summer was…uh…okay. Harry lied. "Um…how was yours?" Harry asked with genuine interest. Sir Nicolas gave him a look of disappointment.

"Oh you know how it is. Another year, another rejection of my request to join the headless hunt. Other than that I've been reading a few of books. Hard work as it takes a ghost many hours of concentration to turn a page. You know books being physical objects and all. Except for the Gray Lady. She's been reading books for years, and never has a problem holding them. But they seem to be the only physical object that she can hold. She tried to explain to me a few times how she did it, but it was a bit to over my head. So I'm learning at my own pace. Anyway, Peeves has been giving Filch hell ever since he had his that Ravenclaw girl come into his office, in mid summer, and poltergeist and ghost proof it with a spell. Peeves was so upset that he couldn't get into Filch's office that he's been wrecking the rest of the castle. I told him to calm down because even Dumbledore was getting upset with all the mischief. But ever since Filch and his brother brought that crate into his office, Peeves has been mad to see what's in it. He actually…"

"Woah, wait! Back up a second. Filch has a brother?" Harry asked surprised. Sir Nicolas nodded his head.

"Yes, a twin brother. The Bloody Barron saw the two of them hauling something in a large wooden crate from one of the coaches to his office. That was the same day the Ravenclaw girl came and bewitched the office to not let poltergeist and ghost through. They were all in deep discussion, and were very secretive. I've never seen Filch so agitated, but he also seemed to be afraid of something. He's been a nervous wreak since that crate arrived." Sir Nicolas finished. Harry was excessively curious now, and Sir Nicolas had his undivided attention.

"Why, what's in the crate?" He asked. Sir Nicolas gave a shrug. No idea, I told you that Peeves said that the office was made ghost and poltergeist proof. But the three of them were in there for the better part of three days, with the girl and Filche's brother casting spells constantly throughout the night. Eire lights could be seen flickering from under the door at night. Anyway on the third day the Ravenclaw girl left, by broom, and…well we never actually saw Filche's brother leave. But he must have. I mean…why would anyone stay in such a place for so long with nothing to do. Sir Nicholas finished.

"Well trust me I'd love to stay at Hogwart's during the summer. Believe me, I could find things to do, with the run of an entire castle, and surrounding grounds to keep me entertained. I…" Harry was cut off by Sir Nicholas.

"Oh, no Harry. I mean he never left Filche's office. Or at least none of us ghost ever saw him leave. And Peeves' has stationed himself outside that door almost twenty-four hours a day since they poltergeist and ghost proofed it. Perhaps he could have left when Peeves was trashing another part of the castle out of frustration. But you'd think that one of us would have seen him leave the grounds, either by broom, or coach, or some other means. I mean there is not really a lot to do here in the summer, and it gets really boring. So anything unusual that happens is prime entertainment for us ghost. We went out of our way to pass by that office more than once, and never saw him after he went into that room. For a moment I thought that maybe he apparated, but I know that you can't do that at Hogwarts. I guess he left while we were sleeping. Harry took in everything that Sir Nicholas had said with great fascination. He thought about it for a minute before he spoke.

"I understand that Peeves tried to get in there and found out that it was poltergeist proof, but how did he know it was ghost proof?" Harry asked. Sir Nicholas gave an embarrassed look.

"Well…I might have tried to take a peak in the office myself. Like I said not much goes on here during summers, in the way of entertainment. We all tried to peek in at one point or another. But the walls, floor, and roof of Filch's office are just as solid to any of us, as any wall is to you." Sir Nicholas finished. What an intriguing story, Harry thought.

"Wow, that's a bizarre story Sir Nicholas. Did anything else happen with Filch that was weird like that?" Harry asked hanging on Sir Nicholas's every word. Sir Nick thought for a second, and scratched his head.

"Only that Filch seemed to have odd conversations with his brother and the Ravenclaw girl. The only time that they seemed to leave the office was to eat in the great hall, or go to lavatory. They would talk in whispers and Filche's brother seemed to be giving him orders during their meals, and not catching up on family business. They would always stop talking whenever any of us ghost would float close by. The most unusual thing was that the girl seemed to be giving him orders too. To both of them, as if she was a Professor or something." Sir Nick said.

"Wow, did anyone overhear anything that they were saying?" Harry asked hoping that one of them were able to sneak close to Filch, and his friends. Sir Nicholas looked disappointed.

"No, the only thing that any of us ever heard was that he was worried about the effect that something would have on Mrs. Norris, and that He would tell Dumbledore that he had bought a new cat if anyone asked." Nothing relevant to the goings on in his office, as he must have bought the new cat after his brother and the girl left." Sir Nick finished. Harry was still trying to take in the odd tale.

"Well didn't Dumbledore ask Filch what he was up to?" Harry said.

"No. Almost all the staff was on holiday. The only ones here were Filch, us ghost, and the house elves. In fact Dumbledore only just arrived last night." Sin Nick finished. He looked at the grandfather clock in the great hall. "Oh Harry, would you excuse me. I have to go see the Fat Fryer about his Death-Day Party arrangements this month. I'll see you around. Take care." Nick floated off.

"Take care Sir Nicholas. Thanks for sharing the story with me." Harry said grateful. Suddenly he remembered a question he had forgotten to ask. "Oh Sir Nick. Just one more question. Who was the Ravenclaw girl that filch was talking to?" Harry asked. Nick thought for a second, but after a few minutes still had a blank look on his face.

"You know Harry, I completely forgot. I'll ask the Gray Lady later, she'll know who it was." He said, and floated away past several students who were starting to exit the great hall.

Harry walked up to Ron and asked if he was ready to go up to the dorms. Ron nodded and got up from the table to follow Harry. Ron then turned to Hermione, who was in a deep conversation with Katie Bell, a seventh year Gryffindor Chaser.

"Oi, Hermione, are you coming?" Ron asked.

"You go ahead; I'll be with you guys later." She said. Harry looked back when they got to the main door and saw Cho Chang speaking to Hermione with a worried expression still on her face. Hermione looked very surprised at whatever Cho was saying to her, but after a minute they shook hands and Cho returned to the Ravenclaw table. Hermione gave Cho a look of gratitude as she walked away.

"I'll have to ask what all that was about later." Said Harry.

"What?" said Ron. Harry just shrugged and gave a sigh.

"Nothing Ron…just thinking out loud." Harry said, and then motioned for Ron to lead the way to the Gryffindor dorms.