A/N: Hello everyone. I know it's been a while since I last updated and wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and haven't forgotten the story. I've been going through some major life changes this year that have occupied my thoughts and energy (change of employment, etc.). However, I've managed to eke out a portion of the next chapter which I'm including here as a tease. Hopefully, when things stabilize, I'll finish it and then get on with the real meat of Harry and Hermione's third year. Thanks to all who continue to follow and support the story. Your reviews/comments are greatly appreciated.

The Potter Timeline

Chapter 69 - The Substitute Professor

Harry was in a somber mood as he walked past the Fat Lady's open portrait into the short passage leading to the Gryffindor common room. But before entering the room proper, he stopped and glanced around.

It was sparsely populated at this time of the evening. A few students sat at the study table, engaged in a homework assignment. A fifth-year girl sat on the end of the sofa reading a textbook while a small fire inside the fireplace filled the room with a soft, pleasing glow. Harry then saw Hermione engaged in some reading herself while sitting in one of the sofa chairs by the window. No doubt she was waiting for him.

As soon as Harry appeared, the girl shot a glance up at him, her eyes wide as she closed the book on her lap and laid it on the small table beside her. Harry walked across the room. Hermione stood from the chair and stepped up to him, her face one of supreme curiosity.

"There you are!" she uttered quietly.

Harry gave her a slight smile while gazing into those pretty brown eyes.

"Well...what happened? How did the interrogation go?" she asked eagerly.

Harry pursed his lips and briefly glanced behind them at the other students before turning back to her.

"Let's go to the Spellroom," he said quietly.

Hermione nodded and the pair left the common room, heading for the fourth floor. Once inside the Spellroom, Harry closed the door behind them.

"So, how did it go?" she asked again.

Harry glanced down at the floor in thought before looking back at her.

"Sirius was exonerated. He's a free wizard again," he told the girl.

Hermione's face brightened.

"That's great, Harry!" she uttered while taking his hands in hers, "I'm so happy for him!"

"So am I," Harry said before giving her a downcast expression. Hermione was puzzled by this.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

Harry looked at her with pursed lips.

"Peter Pettigrew is...dead."

Hermione's eyes grew large.

"What?! How?!"

"In the courtroom. They gave him Veritaserum after Sirius's testimony contradicted his. But he had some violent reaction to it. They're not sure what happened and the Aurors are investigating."

Harry, seeing the puzzled expression on his friend's face, smiled and squeezed her hand.

"I'm not sad for Peter by any stretch. It's just that it was...horrible, watching what happened to him. That...look on his face when he went into convulsions."

Hermione gave him a sad look while affectionately rubbing his hand. But then her face scrunched up in thought.

"That's sounds strange, though, that he would have that kind of reaction to Veritaserum. From what I remember reading, you'd have to pour an entire vial of it into someone before it became fatal."

Harry nodded.

"Exactly. That's what James said. And we all watched the Auror put only three drops into Peter's mouth. So, as you might imagine, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is already suspecting foul play. Someone must have poisoned Peter somehow."

Hermione nodded.

"Someone who most likely didn't want him revealing his dealings with Voldemort or any of his followers," she added.

"Right," Harry replied with a frown, "that's what Professor Lupin thinks too, which means that some person or persons inside the Ministry is working for Voldemort or his followers. There's no other way they could have gotten access to Peter while he was under custody."

"Well, it's possible someone could have used Polyjuice potion, Harry. They could have impersonated a Ministry official to get access," Hermione replied.

Harry nodded.

"You're right. That's another possibility. But whatever the case, Lupin said we need to be even more on alert. It could turn out that Voldemort has more secret followers than we know."

Hermione nodded.

"So, what's going to happen now?" she asked while pushing a swath of hair behind her ear.

"Dumbledore plans on holding a meeting for the Order at the Shrieking Shack, once he returns from the Ministry. He'll probably tell us what the Aurors found out and what he thinks we need to do next."

"And what's Sirius planning to do?" she asked.

"He's going back to his family home in London. He said he has a lot of catching up to do and probably a load of cleaning. He said his House Elf, which he strangely called...'Creature', has been looking after the place all these years and probably let it go to pot. But once Sirius has taken care of everything, he plans on coming back to visit."

Hermione nodded again.

"So...did anything exciting happen in classes today?" Harry asked the girl with a slight smile. Her face soured, however.

"Not exactly, though I...did lose five points to Gryffindor in Snape's class."

Harry frowned.

"For what?"

"We were working on the Shrinking Solution potion. You know, the one we had to write an essay on over the summer? Well, poor Neville just couldn't get his right, and his potion came out orange instead of green. Snape scolded him and had him make it again and was threatening to feed the potion to Neville's toad at the end of class. I was so afraid for Trevor that I...secretly coached Neville to help him get it right."

"And?" Harry asked.

"Pansy Parkinson apparently overheard me whispering to Neville and reported it to Snape."

"And Trevor?"

"He was fine, thankfully. He turned into a tadpole, like he was supposed to, though I'm not sure if Snape was more put out that I helped Neville or that Trevor wasn't poisoned."

Harry smirked and shook his head. Hermione continued.

"But, we do have several important assignments for some of our other classes. I have it all written down and can show you what you need to catch up."

Harry sighed.

"Alright. I guess we should head back to the dorm to do that, then."

The pair left the Spellroom for Gryffindor tower.

"So, what was the Ministry of Magic like?" the girl asked him with a bright expression as they marched up the stairs.

Harry told her about the Atrium, seeing Tonks again, the departments of Magical Law Enforcement and Mysteries, as well as the Wizengamot courtroom and the interrogation. Once back in Gryffindor tower, they sat down at the now empty study table to go over the day's assignments.

~HP~

The next morning, Hermione, dressed for another day of school and carrying her book satchel, bounded down the steps from the girls' dorms into the common room to meet Harry bright and early. But no sooner had her feet touched down on the common room floor than she was startled by an explosion of cheers.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HERMIONE!"

The room was filled to the brim with Gryffindors of every year, though the third years - the Patils, Lavender, Seamus, Dean, and Neville - stood front and center of the bunch. And standing front and center of the third years was Harry, grinning broadly at the now fourteen-year-old while holding a large, rectangular cake covered in pink icing. On top of the cake was a single, thin candle whose flame was enchanted to take the shape of the number 14 as it slowly flickered. Even Professor Lupin had made an appearance, standing off to the side with a smile. And standing next to him, towering over everyone was Hagrid who beamed down at the birthday girl himself.

Hermione's eyes went wide, and her cheeks went pink. Harry stepped toward her.

"Good morning," he said.

"Morning," she responded, blushing from all the attention. Harry continued.

"Happy birthday."

"Thank you!" she responded shyly. But when she looked at what was written on the cake in purple icing, the girl cupped her mouth to hold back a snicker.

Happee

Birthdae

Hermoney!

Hagrid apparently made this concoction just like he did for Harry's birthday. But before Hermione could say anything, Fred and George stepped out from among the cheery group.

"Yeah, happy birthday there, young lady!" George uttered.

"Hope you have many more!" Fred threw in.

"But first, down to business!" George added as each of the twins took one of her arms, leading her toward the study table upon which lay a small mountain of presents. Hermione's eyes went wide again.

"Yeah, open your gifts, then it's...BIRTHDAY CAKE FOR BREAKFAST!" Fred shouted.

Everyone in the room cheered again. Hermione threw Harry another embarrassed look. He chuckled at her while setting the cake down on the table. The girl seemed flustered at first, not sure where to begin with all the colorfully-wrapped presents. She finally grabbed a purple one from on top and opened it.

Most were candies from Honeyduke's, given by Gryffindors who didn't know Hermione that well. But the Patils and Lavender had given her several enchanted bookmarks which would automatically open any book to the page in question when you spoke to it. The third-year boys gave her various quills and a pack of parchments similar to what Harry gave her the previous year, but this pack would give off an orange scent when written upon.

The twins gave Hermione a small, mysterious red box that had "Open Later" written on it, which had both her and Harry quite curious. And even Professor Lupin brought the girl a gift:

Wands and Wandmaking, A History

by Wilford Branchley

Hermione then took up the final present, the one given to her by Harry. Her brow furrowed as it was heavy, and she threw the thirteen-year-old a puzzled look with a smirk. He chuckled at her. When she opened it, everyone in the room gawked at it in surprise.

It was a miniature replica of the Fountain of Magical Brethren from the Atrium at the Ministry. The gold-colored characters gleamed in the light of the common room as Hermione looked them over.

"I told you I'd bring you back a souvenir," Harry uttered in amusement.

Hermione chuckled.

"Um..thanks!" she replied while gazing over the object some more. Harry then leaned in.

"Watch this," he said while pressing his finger on the side of the fountain.

"Spout!" he uttered.

Water suddenly erupted from the various characters just like the real fountain: the wizard and witches' wands, the centaur's arrow, the goblin's hat, and the House Elf's ears. This continued until the fountain pool was full and then magically recycled, creating a continuous flow.

"OOH!" everyone in the room uttered while gazing at the little fountain which gave off a pleasing noise like a small, babbling brook.

"Wow!" Hermione uttered in surprise.

The teenager then thanked everyone both for the gifts and for the well wishes. The entire room became a jovial little party as the Gryffindors enjoyed Hagrid's cake for breakfast.

"This was all your doing, wasn't it?" Hermione asked Harry with a smirk as she dug her fork into the slice of chocolate cake on her plate.

The thirteen-year-old smiled while swallowing a morsel of his own cake.

"I confess, yes. Guilty as charged," he replied with amusement.

"Well...thank you, Harry," the girl said with soft eyes, "this was a nice surprise. And I like the souvenir too."

Harry nodded.

"You're welcome."

Not long after, the lions dispersed for their respective classes.

~HP~

The school day went off like normal, though both Hermione and Harry were anxious for any news concerning the mysterious death of Peter Pettigrew and what the Aurors might have discovered about it. They were also anxious to hear from Professor Dumbledore, not only about the expected next meeting of the Order, but also to hear what he might say about Ravenclaw's diadem...and The Tale of the Three Brothers, though Harry wasn't as keen on that last bit as Hermione. Fortunately, the first piece of news did arrive that day, though not in the form they would have expected.

The third-years departed the dungeons after Snape's rather boring class in which he spent the entire session lecturing on the importance of properly drying tindel roots, a vital ingredient in the calming draught which, according to the professor, if not dried out properly can cause a person to fall into a coma.

The Gryffindors had just entered the Great Hall and sat down to partake of lunch when two fourth-year Ravenclaw girls burst into the Hall in a rush, skidding to a halt.

"They're gone!" the girl with long chestnut hair uttered wide-eyed, "the Dementors are gone!"

Any noise among the other students immediately ceased as everyone glanced in astonishment at the girls. Harry and Hermione exchanged surprised looks before repeating the same with their fellow lions. Students from all the tables now gathered around the Ravenclaws...

To be continued...