The year's first Hogsmeade visit fell on a crisp Halloween morning. Hermione made one last protest against Harry's plan to use a permission slip with a forged signature, but Ron and Harry shushed her into silence as they joined the other students making their way to the front gates.

Hermione let the matter drop, so as not to jeopardize the uneasy peace between herself and Ron. They had been getting along in recent days, unlike earlier in the month, when the animosity between Crookshanks and Scabbers had led to friction between the animals' respective owners.

Filch was checking permission slips at the gates, and singled Harry out for extra scrutiny. As he peered first at Harry's signed parchment, then at his face–with evident displeasure at both–he remarked, "Surprised you dare set foot out there, everything considered."

Harry looked back at him with a blank expression, and said nothing.

Filch scowled, and told the three of them to move along and quit holding things up.

Within seconds of Harry stepping outside the gates, a swarm of Dementors rushed at him. The other students cried out and fled down the path towards Hogsmeade, or back towards the castle. Neither route was open to Harry and his two friends, as the Dementors had surrounded them before they could react. Waves of cold and despair washed over them.

Harry and Hermione drew their wands and tried to cast the Patronus Charm. Hermione's spell produced no effect. Harry managed a burst of silvery mist, but this only gained them a brief reprieve. When it faded, the Dementors resumed their advance.

Taking advantage of the slight opening Harry's Patronus mist had created, Ron grabbed his friends by the backs of their robes, and pulled them inside the gates. Unfortunately, the Dementors showed no sign of respecting the boundary.

Harry felt Ron dragging him backwards, but struggled to stay on his feet as his vision began to darken. Hermione was shouting the Patronus Charm over and over without success, while Filch was just shouting.

Harry stumbled and fell. "Ron, leave me. Take Hermione and run."

Ron ignored this and got him back on his feet, but the Dementors were taking their toll on Ron as well, and his movements were sluggish and dispirited.

Hermione's voice was growing faint. Harry couldn't tell if this was due to the Dementors affecting her, or because he was close to passing out. The sound of a woman screaming wasn't helping. He stumbled and went down again.

A glowing shape streaked past them, scattering the Dementors. Professor McGonagall came striding down the lawn behind it. She spared a moment to glance down at him. "On your feet please, Mr Potter."

With Ron's help, Harry was able to stand. He took in their situation. The Dementors had backed off, but had also moved to surround them again. The silvery cat–McGonagall's Patronus–pushed back any Dementor which tried to advance, but couldn't drive them away entirely.

"I'm doing it correctly, Professor!" Hermione cried. "Pronunciation, wand motions, everything. Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!"

Rather than respond, McGonagall cast the charm twice more herself. She addressed the two identical cats which appeared before her. "Tell Professor Lupin and the headmaster: Dementors are attacking students at the front gates. Go!"

After the messengers bounded away, the standoff continued between the lurking monstrosities and the remaining glowing protector, until in a burst of phoenix fire, Dumbledore appeared at the gates.

The blazing red and gold phoenix was soon joined by a brilliant silvery twin, as Dumbledore's phoenix Patronus circled and swooped around them, scattering the Dementors.

"Be gone from here!" the old wizard shouted at the cloaked shapes. "You have no authority on these grounds, and no right to threaten these children!" The Dementors moved away, but halted outside the gates. Although their hoods hid their faces, their stances showed their focus was on Harry.

"You will obey the terms!" Dumbledore demanded. The Dementors at last began drifting away from the gates.

Dumbledore allowed his Patronus to fade away. McGonagall did the same, though both kept their wands ready.

Dumbledore scanned the three students, then turned to McGonagall. "Were any other students attacked?"

"No, I don't believe so. What is wrong with those wretched creatures? The Ministry swore this wouldn't happen. Should I call the other students back from Hogsmeade?"

Before Dumbledore could answer, Professor Lupin came running up, out of breath, but wand held ready. He stared at the retreating Dementors. "Sorry," he gasped. "Got here as fast as I could."

"Quite alright, Remus," Dumbledore answered. "I dare say I would not have made nearly as good time, if I'd had to run the whole way at my age. We must count ourselves fortunate another staff member was close by."

He regarded Harry. "But to answer your question, Minerva, let us see if Harry might shed light on why the Dementors took a particular interest in him."

"I wish I knew! One came after me on the train, too."

"Hmmm, yes. Though suppose I were to remind you of the announcements at the beginning of the year, to the effect that nobody was to leave the school without permission, and that it would be unwise to attempt to deceive those creatures…"

Hermione gasped. "Harry, the permission slip!"

This earned her a scowl from Ron, but Harry looked down and said, "The signature on my permission slip may not have been entirely in order, sir."

"Mr Potter!" McGonagall scolded him.

"Sorry, Professor. And thank you for showing up when you did. Thank you both."

McGonagall tsked and shook her head.

Dumbledore turned to McGonagall. "I don't believe we need to recall the students, but would you check on those who fled to the castle? They may be in need of both chocolate and reassurance. And Remus, if you wouldn't mind a bit more exercise today, could you make your way down to Hogsmeade to do the same for the students there?"

McGonagall gave Harry a severe look before returning to the castle. Lupin passed out chocolate to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, then started towards the gates.

Dumbledore called to him, "Remus, since you, Miss Granger, and Mr Weasley are all going the same way, you may as well walk together."

Hermione and Ron looked at Harry, who shrugged at them.

"Go along now," Dumbledore told them. "A nice brisk walk and some shopping will help put this morning's unpleasantness behind you. You can leave it to me to see Harry back to the castle."

After a last reluctant look back at him, Harry's friends joined Lupin on the trail towards Hogsmeade. Harry followed Dumbledore in the opposite direction.

As they walked, Harry said, "I'm sorry, headmaster. I had no idea."

"I believe you, Harry. I am certain you would not have knowingly risked another encounter with the Dementors."

"But how did they know I signed the permission slip myself? Why does it matter? My uncle was going to sign it, but I sort of left in a hurry this summer."

"In the realm of magic, words hold great power. This is obviously true for spell incantations, and magical oaths, but also for names–especially when someone signs their own name. For those new to the wizarding world, this can take some getting used to. Indeed, the finer points of magical agreements with Dark creatures can be obscure even to those who have grown up with magic. I must assume that is why your friends failed to caution you against this course of action."

When they reached the doors to the castle, Dumbledore stopped and turned to look out over the grounds, his hands folded behind his back. Harry realized Dumbledore did not intend to dismiss him yet, so he took up a similar stance next to the headmaster.

Dumbledore mused, "Perhaps the fault is mine, for not making my warning more explicit. This is not the first time you and your friends have interpreted an action which is strictly forbidden as being merely cautioned against. But on those previous occasions, I at least understood your reasons. You were acting to rescue Miss Weasley, or to deny Voldemort an object of great power. I'm curious why you attached such importance to a simple shopping trip."

"I don't know. It wasn't that important, I guess. Everyone else was going, and all excited about it."

"I see. Then you had no specific agenda?"

"Er, shopping?"

"No expectation of running into Sirius Black?"

"Of course not! Sir. Why does everyone think I want that?"

"Your history of various sorts of dangerous encounters is an ongoing cause of concern to those of us responsible for seeing to your safety. Harry, I must ask you to give me your word you will not seek out Sirius Black."

Harry turned to meet Dumbledore's eye. "I have no wish to encounter Sirius Black, but I don't always get a choice in these things. I promise not to seek him out, unless he forces me to by putting other people in danger to get to me."

Dumbledore sighed. "You have faced difficult and dangerous situations these past two years, and had responsibilities fall upon your shoulders which never should have been yours to bear. I will amend my request. If you believe yourself or another student to be in danger from Sirius Black, you will do everything possible to alert myself or a teacher before even considering attempting to deal with the problem yourself. Agreed?"

"I promise, sir."

"And perhaps this should go without saying after this morning's events, but I would also like your word you will not make another attempt to leave Hogwarts."

"If the permission slip is the problem, could you sign it?"

"I'm afraid not, Harry. It must be a parent or guardian. This is not a question of my policies, but of the terms of the magically-binding agreements governing the presence of the Dementors here."

"I see."

Dumbledore gave him an expectant look.

Harry said, "Oh, right. I promise not to sneak out."

"Very good. Hopefully we can resolve this matter soon. Once the Ministry has Mr Black back in their custody, the Dementors will leave, and we may be able to, ah, be more lenient about paperwork."

"Thank you, sir." Harry tried to give what he thought was a hopeful smile.

Dumbledore returned the smile, and with a wave of his hand, opened the door for them to enter the castle. Inside, he bid Harry good day and walked away.

Harry decided to return to Gryffindor Tower. Although he hated missing the trip, and the reasons for it, having Ginny waiting for him took away much of the sting.

It had taken him a while to get used to the way she always seemed to wind up pressed against him whenever they were together. For most of his life, having another person that close usually involved him getting beaten up.

Now, after drowning in waves of merciless cold from the Dementors–which had left a deep chill he could still feel all the way to the center of his being–he couldn't wait to feel her warmth at his side.

It struck him then how much like chocolate her eyes were. How had he never made that association before?

~*~

Harry found Ginny sitting in front of the fire in the common room, though he knew she didn't do this for warmth. She had a book in her lap, but he doubted she'd read more than a page or two. Instead, she stared into the fire, studying the dance of the flames.

When he greeted her, at first she assumed he must have come back for something he'd forgotten. As he started to tell her about the Dementors, her eyes went wide, and she brought her hand up to cover her mouth.

It hadn't occurred to him to blame her–certainly not after hearing Dumbledore dismiss it as a mistake anyone could make. He didn't mention the forged signature, but she made the connection herself.

Her gaze dropped to the floor as she slumped forward and wrapped her arms around herself. "This is the second time my stupidity almost killed you."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I should have thought about the power of names, like I should have known to stay away from books that write back." She gave a short, humorless laugh. "Hell, you'd probably be a lot safer if I just never picked up a quill again at all."

"Nonsense. Ron and Hermione saw you sign the form, and didn't think anything of it. Ron has grown up with magic the same way you have, and Hermione tries her best to know everything. Even Dumbledore said it's hard to make sense of how deals with Dark creatures are supposed to work."

She shook her head and said nothing.

Harry continued, "I thought we'd moved past the diary. You know I never blamed you for that. And I don't blame you for this."

"You should. I have to do better. I have to be smarter."

"Ginny, I didn't come to yell at you. I was looking for you because… Never mind."

She looked up at him. "What? Tell me what to do. I'll do anything to make it up to you."

Harry wrapped his arms around himself, mirroring her pose. "It's just, the cold from the Dementors is hard to shake, and you're always warm. Having you close by helped a lot after that one attacked us on the train. I thought we could sit by the fire for a while, if you weren't busy with anything."

She threw herself at him and threw her arms around him, then held on while they shuffled in short, awkward steps back to the sofa in front of the fire. Harry thought she felt even warmer than usual.

As they sat watching the fire together, he reassured her he'd never been in any real danger so close to the school, with teachers nearby. In time, their conversation turned to lighter topics, but Ginny showed no inclination to unwrap herself from him. He didn't mind at all.

Hermione and Ron found them that way when they got back from Hogsmeade. Ron looked disconcerted when he saw them snuggled up together, but then grinned and dumped a big bag of sweets over them both, cheerfully ignoring Hermione's complaints about the mess he was making.

Ron and Hermione taken care to include plenty of chocolate in their purchases. Although Harry already felt recovered from his exposure to the Dementors, he appreciated their thoughtfulness, and made sure they saw him grab a chocolate frog and bite into it.

After allowing for that necessity, Hermione mounted a determined argument against spoiling their dinner with candy, with the Halloween feast that evening. This had little effect. In the end, she relented enough to sample several types of magical sweets she'd never tried before.

~*~

Returning to Gryffindor after the feast, Harry stood with his friends and regarded the slashed-up portrait of the Fat Lady, now empty of its central figure.

"Huh," he remarked. "I thought I'd gotten this year's Halloween suckiness out of the way this morning."

Ginny looped her arm through his.

When Dumbledore arrived to inspect the scene and hear the tale from Peeves, Harry caught his eye and gave him a significant look. Dumbledore frowned, but said nothing.

The entire student body moved to the Great Hall for the night, while the teachers searched the school for Sirius Black. Harry caught more than one student stealing glances at him, while they all chose open patches of floor to roll out their conjured purple sleeping bags on. Did everyone associate him with Black?

After Ginny spread out her own sleeping bag, she pulled Hermione aside for a private word, telling the boys, "Girl talk."

Once they made it to a corner out of earshot of everyone, Ginny asked, "Should we go back?"

"Back where?"

"You know. Back."

"Oh. What for?"

"We know where Black is and when. We can end this now."

"No, we can't, because we already know we didn't. Peeves saw the whole thing, and he didn't say anything about students confronting Black. Plus, when we arrived, Black wasn't lying there petrified or whatever, so anything we tried to do, some circumstance would prevent us."

"Maybe we dispose of the body?"

"No. Even if we were considering that, which we're not, it doesn't change the fact that Peeves saw Black, and no one else."

"That thing is neither as fun or as useful as I'd hoped."

"It's not intended for fun, and it's quite useful for my class schedule. Speaking of proper usage, you say 'neither/nor', not 'neither/or'."

"Uh-huh. I guess this isn't the right moment for it yet. We might as well head back to the guys."

Ginny settled down next to Harry, and noted his stiff expression as he tried to shut out the curious looks coming at him from every direction.

In a bright voice intended to carry, she asked, "Harry, how many times have we slept together now?"

Harry gave her a startled look, while Ron and Hermione exclaimed, "Ginny!"

Ginny swept her gaze over all the students who were now staring openly. "What? We were in the hospital wing together for a couple of nights."

After a beat, she feigned sudden realization. "Oh! Not slept together like that. I'm twelve. You all have filthy minds. Shame on you all."

As people hastily looked away, she grinned at Harry and winked. He rolled his eyes at her antics, but his slight smile told her that getting the attention off him had helped put him at ease.

The lights in the Great Hall dimmed, and everyone drifted to sleep under the stars shining down on them from the ceiling.