As they ate lunch, Professor Snape continued to scowl at the three fifth years. Hermione and Ron cringed slightly under his gaze, but Harry calmly sipped his tea and ate large spoonfuls of treacle tart.

"Severus, if the wind changes, your face is going to stay that way." said Dumbledore with a smile as he bit into a corned-beef sandwich.

"You don't seem to understand, Headmaster, that in order to make that potion…" said Snape angrily.

"To make that potion, you need ingredients that can only be found in you private storeroom, and not even an apothecary would stock them normally." said Dumbledore with a smile. "Yes, I am well aware of it."

"How can you smile? They could seriously hurt themselves with that potion!" asked Mrs. Weasley worriedly.

"I know that nothing truly awful happens. I would have been notified, despite Madam Pomfrey's 'No questions' policy. In the case of potion experiments, and disastrous results, she tells me, so I may acquire the necessary potions that aren't readily available to her." said Dumbledore with a slight smile, taking a quick look over to Hermione.

"Why not ask Professor Snape to make the potions?" asked Draco.

"He's detention happy." said all the other teachers together in unison.

"Who'd like to read it now?" asked Professor McGonagall levitating the book and quickly changing the subject.

"I will." said Bill with a smile. He took the book and read the title to himself. His face paled, "What…?"

The Rouge Bludger

"The what? How can a Bludger go rouge?" said Sirius in a stunned whisper. "They're protected my massive charms, especially school ones."

Since the episode of the pixies,

"I would rather forget that happened." said Remus covering his eyes.

Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class.

"Thank bloody goodness." said Dr. Clark shaking his head.

Instead, he read passages from his books to them, and sometimes re-enacted some of the more dramatic bits.

"I think the live creatures were better." said Remus.

He usually picked Harry to help him with these reconstructions;

"Say what?" said Remus stunned.

"Yeah, I wasn't very happy." said Harry.

"That was an understatement." said Dean. "The first time he called you up to screech like a banshee, I thought you were going to throw him through the window."

"It crossed my mind." said Harry bitterly.

"So he brought you to the front of the class to screech?" asked Sirius in disbelief.

"I pretended to be sick and left the room." said Harry. "I couldn't get out of the other times, not without trying at least."

"That's my boy." said Sirius throwing an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Normally, I don't like student skivvying off classes but in this case. Dodge all the lessons you can." said Remus sternly.

Sirius stared in amazement at his old friend. "Who are you and what did you to the responsible one of the group?"

So far, Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager Lockhart had cured of a Babbling Curse,

"What did he make you do?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Babble like an idiot and then later fall down dead in his arms." said Harry.

"WHAT?" said Sirius and Remus in alarm.

"What were you thinking?" shouted Dr. Clark.

"It's in his storybook." said Harry with a grim look. "He 'cured' the villager but the young man died, from another illness."

"No!" said Remus quickly holding his hands up in defense. Balls of light erupted from the book. "I don't want to see it!"

Seconds later, they found themselves in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Lockart was crouching about the room and while doing so, was telling the students what he was doing and what he had experienced in the past. They looked over to the teacher's desk and saw Harry leaning against it, with a bored look on his face.

"And once I found the Calypso leaf, I turned to go back to the village, to cure that poor unfortunate young man. But when I turned, I came face to face with a gigantic troll!" said Lockhart dramatically.

The girls, in the desks were hanging onto his every word, as for most of the boys, and the Watchers, they groaned quietly and shook their heads slightly.

"It took me a whole twenty minutes to defeat that monstrosity. I continued on running towards the village. I managed to make it to the village, when I thought I had just made it. The clock…struck…" said Lockhart pausing for dramatic flair.

"What's so important about a clock?" said Sirius.

"In the book, he had exactly one hour to find the Calypso leaf. Once the clock struck, the young man died." said Hermione.

"Alright Harry now come staggering out of your house." said Lockhart, a smile on his face.

The younger Harry slightly rolled his eyes, and began to stagger slightly to the left. "No, towards me." said Lockhart encouragingly. Harry staggered towards the man. "Then, he fell down to the ground, but I caught him before he could hit." said Lockhart falling down on one knee. "Come on Harry, you won't hit the ground I'll catch you."

Harry fell to his knees and laid rigid in Lockhart's arms. "Relax Harry, he wasn't that stiff. He gave a great shuddering breath (little more than that, there you go.) and died." said Lockhart, still holding Harry. "And that is what I consider my greatest failure, and the most tragic loss of life."

Younger Harry stood up quickly and sat in his chair. The balls of light left their bodies and they found themselves in the Great Hall once again.

"I'm going to kill him, seven different ways if I can." muttered Remus under his breath as he sat back down in the bowl.

a yeti with a head-cold,

"What did he do to you this time?" asked Remus tapping his fingers irritably.

"I had to act all stuffed up. Then try and be upset when he left." said Harry with a smirk.

"Yeah, Harry couldn't grasp the sad part. He cheered when Lockhart turned and left the room."

"Had to pretend that I misheard him, when he came back in and told me off." said Harry the smirk on his face deepening.

and a vampire who had been unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him.

"I take it you didn't have to die for this one either?" asked Kingsley, getting as irritable as the men in the bowl.

"No, but he did pick me up and throw me." said Harry.

"HE WHAT?" shouted the adults.

"First time he tried, Harry kicked him in the groin. Never heard a guy scream that loud before." said Ron with a laugh. "Class was canceled till the next day. Harry had to say that it was instinct and he was sorry."

"I was, sorry that I didn't do it sooner." said Harry, his smirk turning into a devilish grin.

"Don't smile like that, you're scaring me." said Sirius with a chuckle.

Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their very next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson,

"Hauled?" asked Tonks.

"Yeah, he took me by the wrist and told me he wanted to reenact another part." said Harry.

"Why didn't you tell him to buzz off?" asked Nightstrike.

"I needed to keep him in a good mood." said Harry.

this time acting a werewolf.

"And what was supposed to be wrong with this werewolf?" asked Remus, still tapping his fingers, but strangely had a slight smile on his face.

"Harry had to pretend to go nuts." said Ron with a smile. "Worst decision Lockhart made in class."

"What makes you say that?" asked Sirius.

"He overturned Lockhart's desk with a kick and slammed a chair into the window. It was hilarious."

"It backfired, Lockhart loved it." said Hermione. "He loved the 'raw energy'."

"Raw energy? I could have gone without hearing that." said Dr. Clark turning pale.

"I'll kill him. I swear, I'll kill him." muttered Remus.

If he hadn't had a very good reason for keeping Lockhart in a good mood, he would have refused to do it.

"Refuse anyway, don't get near him!" said Remus.

"Nice to know Harry's a user." said Lee.

Harry paled, his mouth agape.

"I was kidding." said Lee quickly.

"Nice loud howl, Harry –

"Care to repeat that performance?" asked Nightstrike.

Harry looked at Remus quickly, who smiled and nodded. He rolled his eyes and sighed, but he howled loudly, several people laughed including, Nightstrike and Remus.

"He's got promise!" said Nightstrike laughing hard. "He'd make a good werewolf."

exactly - and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced - like this –

The laughter died away instantly.

"He didn't!" shouted McGonagall.

"Yeah, Harry didn't expect him to actually jump him like that. It sort of took him by surprise." said Lavender.

"It was sort of scary, We thought that Professor Lockhart killed him." said Hermione.

"Till he groaned and told Lockhart to get off, Lockhart didn't hear him telling him to get off." said Ron angrily. "Harry walked sort of stiff afterwards."

"Did he hurt you?" asked Dumbledore. "Did you go to Madam Pomfrey?"

"No he did some weird thing with his back." said Hermione. "He took a hold of a pillar and twisted his torso. It was really gross hearing his back crack like that."

"Sorry, but I told you to walk ahead and talk loudly." said Harry.

slammed him to the floor – thus- with one hand, I managed to hold him down –

"How did he hold you down?" asked Dr. Clark angrily.

"His hand was on Harry's throat." said Hermione with a squeak.

"I'm going to kill him before any of you have a chance." said Dumbledore viciously.

"Can we at least watch?" asked Sirius.

with my other,

"Where was that hand?" asked Remus quickly.

"Getting his wand." said Harry.

"By wand…"

"Don't go there." said Harry to Remus sternly. "He didn't touch me."

I put my wand to his throat –

"Oh, I'll put my wand to his throat, if he wants to do that to a student." said McGonagall. angrily.

Fred and George leaned away. "I forgot how scary she can be." said Fred.

I then screwed up my remaining strength

"His full strength isn't enough to even snap a twig." said Sirius.

and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm –

"The what?" asked Kingsley.

"Is there such a thing?" asked Tonks.

"This is starting to concern me." said Lionus thoughtfully.

"Why?" asked a third year Slytherin.

"So far he's mentioned the Transmogrifian Torture and now this, another spell that normal people shouldn't know about. I might have little chat with this Lockhart, soon." said Lionus.

"Good luck with that." muttered Harry.

he let out a piteous moan - go on, Harry –

"It didn't sound like it was piteous, more like 'fine I'll do it just get off me' moan." said Ron with a laugh.

"Now that we've heard you moan piteously." said Hermione tearfully. "I don't want to hear you do it again."

higher than that – good –

"Well isn't he picky." said George.

the fur vanished - the fangs shrank - and he turned back into a man.

"That is not is not all that the spell does." said Nightstrike darkly. "It doesn't just turn the person back into human, it kills them when the next full moon come."

Remus paled and Sirius gasped.

"At least it's hard to do right?' said Ron with a nervous laugh.

"It is, even the most powerful wizards are sometimes incapable of performing it." said Tempest.

Simple, yet effective - and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

"Ever notice that the books never say the name of the village." said Harry with a smirk, though leaning heavily against Remus, in response to what the Rangers had said. Remus noticing Harry's weight on his arm, brought him into a tight one armed hug.

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework: compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

"A poem? For Defense Against the Dark Arts class?" said Remus in disbelief.

"Who won that?" said Mrs. Weasley.

"Believe it or not, Harry won it." said Hermione with a smile.

"You…did…what?" said the adults in the Great Hall.

"Tell me she is lying." said Sirius begging Harry.

"Sorry." said Harry embarrassed.

"Tell me you didn't praise him." said Remus leaning away from Harry.

"He didn't even mention him once. It wasn't even a poem, it was more like…like a song." said Hermione wistfully.

"How did it go?" asked Dr. Clark slowly.

"You think I remember the entire thing?" asked Harry.

"I wrote it down somewhere…" said Hermione digging through her bag.

"Hermione…" said Ron, trying to tell her Harry didn't want it read.

"Got it!" said Hermione holding it up. She handed it over to the bowl, Dr. Clark handed it to Sirius who held it out for all three of them to read.

"Wow, this is pretty good." said Remus looking down at Harry.

"I'm amazed it won, it doesn't mention Dazzle Gums anywhere, just the fear and the pleads of the people." said Sirius.

The class began to leave. Harry returned to the back of the room, where Ron and Hermione were waiting.

"Ready?" Harry muttered.

"Wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione nervously. "All right ..."

"What do you kids have planned?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"They're going to ask Lockhart for his signature." said Sirius with a broad smile.

"How can they justify getting that book for a Defense class?" asked Kingsley.

"Any normal teacher you would be sunk." said Moody with a gnarled grin. "But with this idiot, any lie will do."

She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hand, Harry and Ron right behind her.

"Good thing you two were, I don't think I ever would have asked him." said Hermione.

"Hell, just leave a piece of blank parchment on his desk, he'll sign it." said Ron sourly.

"Er - Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered.

"Not a good thing to stammer when you want to get one over on someone." said Kingsley.

"Oh, hell, he probably thought she was another nervous fan." said Fred.

"I was." said Hermione quietly.

"I wanted to - to get this book out from the library. Just for background reading." She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly.

"You noticed that?" said Hermione anxiously.

"I didn't see it." said Ron.

"But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it - I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow acting venoms ..."

"Well, that is a plausible lie." said Kingsley approvingly.

"If the slow acting poisons were in that book." said Harry with a smirk.

"Oh no, that wasn't the right book! The venom is talked about in Holidays with Hags!" screeched Hermione "Oh, no!"

"Trust me, I don't think he noticed." said Bill with a laugh, reading on.

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her. "Possibly my very favorite book.

"His favorite book and yet he doesn't know what is in it?" said George with a laugh.

You enjoyed it?"

"Yeah, it made a lovely fire." said Fred.

"Made great tissues too." said Lee.

"Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer ..."

"Huh?" asked Dr. Nicodemus. "What is that girl going on about?"

"Apparently he can trap a ghoul in a tea strainer." said Lionus.

"I know someone who had done that actually. But it most definitely was not him." said Tempest.

"I would dearly love to hear more about what you do." said Firenze quietly.

"Well…it's Nightstrike's turn to stand guard, we could go out to that lake and have a talk." said Tempest with a smile.

"I'd love that." said Firenze, blushing slightly.

"We can kiss our little foal goodbye." said Lionus quietly with a smirk.

"Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student in the year a little extra help," said Lockhart warmly,

"Hermione turned bright red." said Ron with a smile; he dodged a hard smack by Hermione.

and he pulled out an enormous peacock quill. "Yes, nice, isn't it?" he said, misreading the revolted look on Ron's face."I usually save it for book signings."

"I almost had to leave the room to get sick." said Ron.

He scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it back to Hermione.

"So, Harry," said Lockhart, while Hermione folded the note with fumbling fingers and slipped it into her bag, "tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe?

"You believe? Do you remember another Quidditch match happening that year?" asked Charlie.

Gryffindor against Slytherin, is it not? I hear you're a useful player.

"Useful? Is he nuts?" asked a third year Ravenclaw.

I was a Seeker, too.

"Oh, he was not." said Sirius. "He couldn't even get a job as a towel boy for the team."

"Not that he didn't try out for the Seeker position, he couldn't even fly straight on a broom." said Remus. "And as for seeing a Snitch, the Hufflepuff captain didn't even want to waste his time."

"The only reason he wanted to be a Seeker, was so he could go up against James." said Sirius. "I swear, he was a borderline stalker."

I was asked to try for the National Squad,

"The National Squads only take the best fliers, they don't bother with amateurs." said Charlie. "I'll bet that you get recruited." he added looking over at Harry.

"They'd be stupid not to." said Sirius proudly.

Always happy to pass on my expertise to less able players ..."

"Are you kidding?" said Fred in disgust.

"Less able? He's the best!" shouted George.

Harry made an indistinct noise in his throat and then hurried off after Ron and Hermione.

"Good, don't egg him onto a conversation, get out of there, you don't need any help from him." said Remus.

"I don't believe it," he said, as the three of them examined the signature on the note, "He didn't even look at the book we wanted."

"That's because he's an idiot." said Dr. Clark.

"And who cares, you got what you needed, ditch the twerp and get the book." said Charlie.

"That's because he's a brainless git," said Ron. "But who cares, we've got what we needed - "

"Amen!" said Dr. Clark and Charlie

"He is not a brainless git," said Hermione shrilly, as they half-ran towards the library.

"Yes he is." said Remus and Sirius.

"Just because he said you were the best student in the year -" The dropped their voices as they entered the muffled stillness of the library. Madam Pince, the librarian, was a thin, irritable woman who looked like an underfed vulture.

Professor Flitwick held a laugh, while Professor Snape snorted quietly.

"Now, now! She was a beautiful woman years ago." said Professor Vector.

"A century is a long time ago." mumbled Sirius.

"Moste Potente Potions?" she repeated suspiciously, trying to take the note from Hermione; but Hermione wouldn't let go.

"Why the hell not?" asked Bill looking up from the book.

"It was his autograph." said George in a cutesy voice.

"I was wondering if I could keep it," she said breathlessly.

"Oh, come on," said Ron, wrenching it from her grasp and thrusting it at Madam Pince. "We'll get you another autograph. Lockhart'll sign anything if it stands still long enough."

"Bet Madam Pince loved having something thrusted at her." said Remus with a chuckle.

"I'll bet she doesn't believe you got it straight from Lockhart. She might think you forged it." said Sirius.

"Why would she think that?" asked Colin.

"Cause we did it." said Sirius. "Forging Professor Slughorn's wasn't as easy as it looked."

Madam Pince held the note up to the light, as though determined to detect a forgery,

"Sort of hard to say it's a forgery when it has his purple sparkly ink?" asked Ron.

"That is true." said McGonagall thoughtfully.

but it passed the test.

"Seriously, no one uses that ink but him." said Ron.

She stalked away between the lofty shelves and returned several minutes later carrying a large moldy-looking book.

"You'd think that with all the psychotic love she has for her books, they wouldn't get moldy." said Fred.

"They were moldy before she got here." said McGonagall defending her longtime colleague.

"Were books invented before she got here?" asked George in a whisper.

Hermione put it carefully into her bag and they left, trying not to walk too quickly or look too guilty.

"Would have been fine, if she hadn't been sprinting almost on and off." said Ron with a smirk.

"You kept looking back and biting your lip." said Harry to Ron. "And jumping whenever someone came too close."

"Oh…" said Ron sheepishly, while Hermione giggled. "And I don't figure you'd teach us how to get away with stuff like this huh?"

"No. I won't even pass on what I do to my kids. Let alone friends." said Harry with a smile.

"Might come in handy Potter." said Moody absently. "Teaching them those skills might not be a bad idea."

"ALASTOR!" shouted McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley.

Five minutes later, they were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out-of-order bathroom once again.

"Really?" said Sirius. "You're going to stay in the girl's bathroom, with an overly sensitive ghost?"

"You guys are nuts." said Fred shaking his head at Ron, Harry and Hermione.

"Her idea." said Harry and Ron, pointing at Hermione.

Hermione had overridden Ron's objections by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds would go,

"So you guys go right in there and to hold a meeting? What is wrong with an old unused classroom, or a broom cupboard?" said Remus.

"What would you think happened in a broom cupboard if a boy and a girl came out of a broom cupboard." whispered Dr. Clark.

"Forget the broom cupboard idea." said Sirius and Remus loudly. Ron, Hermione and Harry looked at them in confusion, but then it hit them. Three faces burned fiercely.

so they were guaranteed some privacy. Moaning Myrtle was crying noisily in her cubicle, but they were ignoring her, and she them.

"Nice mutual relationship." said Anthony with a smirk.

Hermione opened Moste Potente Potions carefully and the three of them bent over the damp-spotted pages. It was clear from a glance why it belonged in the Restricted Section. Some of the potions had effects almost too gruesome to think about,

"And that is why it isn't for twelve year old's eyes." scolded Mrs. Weasley.

and there were some very unpleasant illustrations, which included a man who seemed to have been turned inside out

"That would be the Vivsectio potion, it has several unpleasant uses." said Professor Snape calmly. "For wizards who wish to find out how the body works, or to torture a person mercilessly."

Several people gulped loudly.

and a witch sprouting several extra pairs of arms out of her head.

"That one is the Apendius potion. It's a cursed potion, the arms reach down and strangle the victim." said Snape thoughtfully. More people were starting to become frightened.

"Here it is," said Hermione excitedly, as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion. It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people. Harry sincerely hoped the artist had imagined the looks of intense pain on their faces.

"It isn't just imagination." said Kingsley, Moody, Ron, Harry and Hermione.

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione, as they scanned the recipe.

"Of course it is. Being able to turn into different people is a powerful and dangerous ability. Not to mention, sometimes unlawful." said Lionus with a small smile. "And I would hope that a Polyjuice Potion looks complicated to a second year."

"Lacewing flies, leeches, flux weed and knotgrass," she murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients."Well. They're easy enough, they're in the student store-cupboard, we can help ourselves...

"That sort of explains where all your healing potions came from, you just used the student store-cupboard." said Ron.

Harry smiled and nodded. "It's a good thing I always replenish my stock when I come to school."

Remus looked at Harry quickly, "You make it sound like you get hurt a lot."

"Ugh, I still can't seem to get my mouth shut." groaned Harry.

Oooh, look, powdered horn of a Bicorn - don't know where we're going to get that ... Shredded skin of a Boomslang - that'll be tricky, too –

"Oh, that stuff's not too hard to get, it's just in Slughorn's storeroom." said Sirius shrugging. "We've nicked stuff from in there all the time."

"That's Snape's storeroom now." said Neville.

"Now you have a problem." said Sirius.

and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into."

"GROSS!" shouted the students loudly as they gagged.

"Excuse me?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it -"

More people gagged and cringed in their chairs. Crabbe sat in his usual stupor, not even following what is going on.

Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him.

"We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last ..."

Ron turned, speechless, to Harry, who had another worry.

"You're more worried about something else? What the hell could that be?" asked Sirius holding his stomach.

"D'you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of Boomslang, that's definitely not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if that's a good idea ..."

"Why the heck not? You steal…." said Colin excitedly, but his voice dropped off when Harry glared fiercely at him. Behind him, a window cracked.

"I take what people, who own the stuff, want me to take. Then I take it right back in the morning, with a detailed reconnaissance report." said Harry, his voice rippling with anger. "I…do…not…steal!"

"We know you don't cub." said Sirius pulling Harry closer to him. "We know, he just chose his words wrong."

"So did you go and get the stuff, Harry?" asked Fred carefully.

"No, someone else volunteered, I don't know if I could have gotten away with it." said Harry calming down.

"So that is where those ingredients went to." said Snape gritting his teeth.

"This is a good time to remind the teachers that whatever the students do, they cannot be punished for." said Dumbledore with a smile.

"Doesn't stop it from happening to me." said Draco feeling his backside.

"That is different. I wasn't punishing you as a teacher, but as a Godfather." said Snape sternly.

"You're his what?" asked Ron in shock.

"He's my Godfather." said Draco. Ron stared.

"So why do you stop me from punishing you for almost dying and other things?" asked Remus, looking at Harry, deciding to take the ball and running with it.

Harry sighed. "Let's put it this way, I'm beginning to think of you guys as parental figures, and well, I haven't had much experience with…endearing parental guidance. When you say that I'm in trouble, I tend to think immediately of getting the crap beaten out of me." said Harry.

"I would never hurt you Harry! None of us would! You have to believe us!" cried Remus anxiously.

"Me becoming trusting doesn't happen overnight." said Harry shaking his head. "I'll lean on you guys, and play around, but when it comes to discipline, I'm a little wary." said Harry.

Remus, Sirius, and Dr. Clark looked down shamefully, so did most of the adults.

"Enough of this discipline talk." said Harry quickly. "How about if I give something to look forward to tonight? I'll make an all Knickerbocker Glories for dessert, I'll even make you an all chocolate one?" asked Harry with a sly smile looking at Remus.

Remus's head snapped back quickly. "Sounds good to me!"

"Us too!" asked Sirius laughing. "Can you make an all cherry one? I'm a cherry freak." he said in a whisper.

"I can make them any way you want." said Harry with a grin.

Hermione shut the book with a snap.

"Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine," she said.

"Does Harry even know how to act chicken?" asked Fred.

"Harry isn't afraid of anything!" said Dennis excitedly.

"Oh, trust me, he's got his fears." said Remus ruffling the teen's hair.

"First you bring up the subject of grounding, now your acting all kind and loving? Way to send mixed messages mate." said Sirius with a laugh.

There were bright pink patches on her cheeks and her eyes were brighter than usual.

"Brings to mind the look on your face from the last pleasant Recollection Scroll." said Dumbledore brightly. "Like a bird, ready to take flight."

"I thought he looked like a horse ready to race." said Sirius.

"I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy,

"You make it sound like the boys don't even give a damn." said Angelina.

I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in -"

"Aw, come on, that's hitting below the belt." said George.

"And I would have been pissed off. All that work, tolerating Lockhart's play acting, if she took that book back…" Harry released a breath of air. "I would tell her just how I wasn't exactly happy with her."

"Have you ever seen Hermione pale like that?" said Lavender, whispering to Parvati.

"You haven't been yelled at by him yet." said Fred shaking slightly.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules," said Ron. "All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, OK?"

"I don't think anyone could deny you that request." said Dumbledore with a smile.

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" said Harry, as Hermione, looking happier, opened the book again.

"Well, as the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days ... I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients."

"A month?" said Colin in disbelief.

"Wow, the heir could wipe out half the Muggleborns in the school by that time!" said Charlie.

"A month?" said Ron. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!"

"Yeah, Ron agrees with me!" said Charlie.

But Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously again, and he added swiftly, "But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say."

"You two dating yet?" asked Sirius nastily.

Ron and Hermione blushed heavily.

However, while Hermione was checking the coast was clear for them to leave the bathroom,

"Didn't want Percy to catch us again." said Ron.

Ron muttered to Harry, "It'll be a lot less hassle if you can just knock Malfoy off his broom tomorrow."

"That is true." said Sirius. "Save a whole month's time, but then again, according to you and Malfoy, he isn't behind it."

Harry woke early on Saturday morning and lay for a while thinking about the coming Quidditch match. He was nervous,

A few third years looked around in shock. Harry Potter was nervous? Before a game?

mainly at the thought of what Wood would say if Gryffindor lost, but also at the idea of facing a team mounted on the fastest racing brooms gold could buy.

"Yeah, but you've got much better people on those brooms." said Bill.

He had never wanted to beat Slytherin so badly. After half an hour of lying there with his insides churning, he got up, dressed, and went down to breakfast early, where he found the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team huddled at the long, empty table, all looking uptight and not speaking much.

"Wow, all you guys were getting nervous." said Dr. Clark with a kind smile.

"Good thing we didn't eat much." said Fred.

"Wouldn't have lasted past the Greenhouses." said George.

As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air.

"Not good flying conditions." said Charlie.

"Not with the thunder at least." said Remus. "Where there's thunder…"

"There is lightning." said Sirius patting Harry's head and running a finger over the scar.

"Get off." said Harry shoving the arm away.

"His scolding voice does sound like thunder if you think about it." said George quietly to Fred

Ron and Hermione came hurrying over to wish Harry good luck as he entered the locker rooms. The team pulled on their scarlet Gryffindor robes, and then sat down to listen to Wood's usual pre-match pep talk.

"Too much talk, not enough pep." said the veteran players of Gryffindor.

"Slytherin have better brooms than us," he began," no point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers -"

"Every kind of weather but a tornado and hurricane." said Fred.

("Too true," muttered George Weasley. "I haven't been properly dry since August") "- and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way onto their team."

"They can't, that's the best choice they've got for a Seeker, everyone else sucks." said Fred.

Chest heaving with emotion, Wood turned to Harry.

"What? Does he have a thing for you?" asked Neville with a smile.

"No, he just gets overdramatic when it comes to first Quidditch games." said Fred.

"It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry,

"He did not just say that to the most selfless person in the world." said Sirius clapping a hand to eyes.

"He did, After the game, he got to say hello to a black eye." said George.

because we've got to win today, we've got to."

"So no pressure, Harry," said Fred, winking at him.

"You know, I wanted you to take Wood's words as a joke." said Fred his ever present smile changing to a scowl.

"Something tells me this game doesn't go well." said Sirius worriedly.

"Gee you think?" said George.

As they walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greet them; mainly cheers, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were anxious to see Slytherin beaten,

"Heck, they'll cheer for anyone who isn't in Slytherin, and if they aren't playing." said Tonks and Emmeline Vance.

but the Slytherins in the crowd made their boos and hisses heard too.

"It's easy to hear, because they cast a Sonorous Charm." said Lee.

Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.

"I think we'll have to switch to bows." said Madam Hooch.

"But then they'd try and head butt each other." said Professor Sprout.

"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch, "three ... two ... one ..."

With a roar from the crowd to speed them upwards, the fourteen players rose towards the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of them,

"And he's on last year's broom and beats the rest of you up into the air." said Sirius smugly.

squinting around for the Snitch.

"All right there, Scarhead?" yelled Malfoy, shooting underneath him as though to show off the speed of his broom.

"Stupid show-off." said one of the Slytherin first year girls.

Draco cringed slightly.

Harry had no time to reply. At that very moment, a heavy black Bludger came pelting towards him;

"Say what?" said Charlie in shock. "Bludgers are supposed to start flying around after the games been playing for at least a minute."

"Seriously?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, it's supposed let you get into position before you start having to dodge them." said Charlie.

he avoided it so narrowly that he felt it ruffle his hair as it passed.

"That's a close one." said Remus, gripping Harry's shoulder.

"Close one, Harry!" said George, streaking past him with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back towards a Slytherin.

"Well, at least George is there to keep them away from you." said Mrs. Weasley sighing with relief.

Harry saw George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in mid-air and shot straight for Harry again.

"SOMEONE TAMPERED WITH THAT THING!" shouted Remus and Sirius together.

"Tell me someone stopped the game!" shouted Charlie.

Madame Hooch shuffled nervously.

"I'm going to take that as a 'no'." said Remus weakly

Harry dropped quickly to avoid it and George managed to hit it hard towards Malfoy. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Harry's head.

The men in the bowl cringed and held onto Harry tightly. Mrs. Weasley held onto her husband tightly and whimpered into his shoulder.

Harry put on a burst of speed and zoomed towards the other end of the pitch. He could hear the bludger whistling along behind him.

"There's no escaping that thing!" shouted Sirius.

What was going on? Bludgers never concentrated on one player like this, it was their job to try and unseat as many as possible ...

"Why did you pause?" asked Sirius.

"Don't tell me…it hit him?" said Remus weakly.

"No, he didn't get hit." said Bill reading on quickly.

Fred Weasley was waiting for the Bludger at the other end. Harry ducked as Fred swung at the Bludger with all his might; the Bludger was knocked off course.

"Thank goodness!" said Remus.

"Alright!" shouted Sirius.

"Gotcha!" Fred yelled happily, but he was wrong;

"Oh crap." said Sirius worriedly.

as though it was magnetically attracted towards Harry, the Bludger pelted after him once more and Harry was forced to fly off at full speed.

"So you really were holding back your speed." said Fred in an awed whisper.

It had started to rain; Harry felt heavy drops fall onto his face, splattering onto his glasses. He didn't have a clue what was going on in the rest of the game until he heard Lee Jordan, who was commentating, say, "Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero."

"Ouch, that sucks." said Charlie.

"Wait! It's not a fair game! That Bludger's nuts!" said Sirius.

"And no one stopped the game." said Remus looking over to Madam Hooch. "Why didn't you stop the game at least?" he yelled at Dumbledore.

"I was not there." said Dumbledore. "I was in the library trying to research what could have happened to Mrs. Norris. I hadn't left the library except for meals and some sleep."

The Slytherins' superior brooms were clearly doing their jobs, and meanwhile the mad Bludger was doing all it could to knock Harry out of the air.

"I could have gone without that little revelation." said Sirius.

Fred and George were now flying so close to him on either side that Harry could see nothing at all except their flailing arms and had no chance to look for the Snitch, let alone catch it.

"Man, the game could have gone on forever." said Angelina. "But still, you shouldn't have done what you did.."

"What did you do?" asked Remus to Harry.

"Something stupid." said Alicia, Katie, Angelina, Fred and George.

"Someone's - tampered - with - this - Bludger -" Fred grunted, swinging his bat with all his might at it as it launched a new attack on Harry.

"Took you a while to figure that out?" said Remus faintly.

"We were more concerned about making sure that Harry didn't lose his head as opposed to actually thinking." said Fred.

"We need time out," said George, trying to signal to Wood and stop the Bludger breaking Harry's nose at the same time.

"What did that look like?" said Sirius chuckling nervously.

"I don't even know how I did it." said George.

Wood had obviously got the message.

Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and Harry, Fred and George dived for the ground, still trying to avoid the mad Bludger.

"What the hell? Those things are supposed to fall to the ground the moment Madam Hooch blows her whistled, until the games starts up again!" said Sirius becoming frightened.

"What's going on?" said Wood, as the Gryffindor team huddled together, while Slytherins in the crowd jeered.

"What did they do to that Bludger?" asked Sirius angrily.

"Believe it or not, nothing." said Harry holding Sirius' hand.

"Then who's behind it?" asked Remus.

"It'll tell you soon." said Harry.

"We're being flattened. Fred, George, where were you when the Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?"

"Stopping an out of control Bludger." said Remus shortly. "Tell me that the game is called off, at least long enough to get a new Bludger for the game."

"Would have been a better alternative." said Alicia bitterly.

"I'm starting to freak out." said Dr. Clark.

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger from murdering Harry, Oliver,"

"You could have put that a little better." said Dumbledore his face pale.

said George angrily. "Someone's fixed it - it won't leave Harry alone, it hasn't gone for anyone else all game. The Slytherins must have done something to it."

"I would hope that no one in my house would stoop to trying to severely harm someone, just for a Quidditch game." said Snape looking intently at his charges.

"We didn't do anything! We didn't know why the Bludger was going after him!" said Draco.

"Where the hell were the two of you to stop it!" shouted Remus to the two heads of houses.

McGonagall cringed guiltily, and Snape averted his eyes.

"But the bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then ..." said Wood anxiously.

"Doesn't mean that someone couldn't have gone in and switched one out, or cursed one." said Sirius.

Madam Hooch was walking towards them. Over her shoulder, Harry could see the Slytherin team jeering and pointing in his direction.

"Jackals." said Sirius growling.

"Listen," said Harry, as she came nearer and nearer, "with you two flying round me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the snitch is if it flies up my sleeve," said Harry. "Go back to the rest of the team and let me deal with the rogue one."

"YOU SAID WHAT?" shouted the men in the bowl.

"Yeah, we're still pissed at him." said the Gryffindor team. Harry looked down shamefully.

"Don't be thick," said Fred. "It'll take your head off."

"Never thought I would say this, but: Listen to Fred." said Mr. Weasley.

Wood was looking from Harry to the Weasleys "Oliver, this is insane," said Alicia Spinnet angrily. "You can't let Harry deal with that thing on his own. Let's ask for an inquiry -"

"Exactly, don't send Harry up into the air again!" said Tonks.

"If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the match!" said Harry.

"And what is wrong with that?" said Remus. "If it saves your neck?"

"And I'm not losing to Slytherin just because of a crazy Bludger! Come on, Oliver; tell them to leave me alone!"

"No! You did not just ask them to do that!" said Sirius. "Harry the fate of the world doesn't revolve around a freaking Quidditch game!"

Harry hung his head.

"How could you be so stupid?" shouted Remus. Suddenly the book shook and glowed in Bill's hand. Suddenly, a red light came shooting out of the binder and slammed itself into Remus's chest.

"MOONY! REMUS! PROFESSOR LUPIN!" shouted the people in the Great Hall. He flew in the air and landed hard on the ground. Harry stood up and flung himself to where Remus fell. Another shot of light came out of the book, heading straight to where Remus and Harry was.. Dumbledore sent a spell at the beam of light, but was shocked to see that it was unaffected.

The beam of light continued on its path until it had almost reached Remus, and Harry, who was shielding him.

"Harry! Get out of the way!" said Dumbledore loudly.

The beam of light closed in until finally it was an inch away from Harry's chest, but suddenly, it stopped. It hung in midair; slowly it retreated back to the book.

"How?..." said Hermione.

"That book really can think! It didn't want to hurt Harry!" said Ron.

Remus still laid on the ground, unconscious but at least he was breathing. Harry knelt to the ground and placed his hands on his chest. A jolt of electricity came shooting out of Remus' body, Harry reared his head back and screamed loudly.

"HARRY!" shouted Sirius, but Harry wouldn't remove his hands, somewhere deep within him, he knew he had to hang on. It was the only way to wake Remus up. His vision went dark.

Suddenly, two pale white hands came from the book, which had fallen to the floor, and traveled serenely over to where Harry was kneeling and screaming. The hands wrapped their arms around him and gently pulled him back, Harry hung limply in the ghostly arms' embrace. As they pulled him back to the bowl, one of the hands released their hold and it laid itself on top of Remus' body, the same jolts of electricity that slammed through Harry's body, went through the hands, but it seemed to not fell anything.

When the hand released its hold, Remus finally groaned. Sirius hurried over and threw Remus over his shoulder and carried him to the bowl. Hagrid picked Harry up gingerly from where he laid, and Sirius sat Remus down in the bowl. Hagrid laid Harry down in it as well, resting Harry's head in Remus' lap.

"Looks like we're sitting on the floor." said Dr. Clark, helping Sirius cover the two unconscious figures.

"I don't want to read anymore, not if the book's going to explode like that again." said Bill apprehensively.

"I think, as long as no one insults Harry like that again, we have nothing to fear." said Dumbledore, draping the phoenix quilt over top the two men.

"All that, because Remus called Harry stupid?" said Fred.

"It appears so." said Speckerton. "I have never heard of this occurring before."

"Let's hope it doesn't happen again, c'mon Bill. Nothing's going to happen now." said Charlie reassuringly.

"Hope not, too bad Remus will miss out on how Harry gets out of this." said Bill picking the book up gingerly.

"I think it might be a good thing." said McGonagall.

"This is all your fault," George said angrily to Wood. "'Get the Snitch or die trying' - what a stupid thing to tell him -"

"You have no idea." said Sirius. "I wonder what made Harry keep holding onto Remus like that?"

"Who knows?" said Dr. Clark. "I don't think we'll know till Harry wakes up."

Madam Hooch had joined them.

"Ready to resume play?" she asked Wood.

"Why didn't you stop the game, didn't you notice one of the Bludgers assault only Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley angrily.

"It was not one of my better jobs at refereeing." said Madam Hooch.

"You can say that again." said Charlie under his breath.

Wood looked at the determined look on Harry's face.

"All right," he said. "Fred, George, you heard Harry - leave him alone and let him deal with the Bludger on his own."

"He did not just say that. Tell me that I heard him wrong." said Dr. Clark covering his eye.

"You didn't." said Sirius.

The rain was falling more heavily now. On Madam Hooch's whistle, Harry kicked hard into the air and heard the tell-tale whoosh of the Bludger behind him.

"Why didn't the Bludger attack him, while he was on the ground?" asked Bill.

"Something held it back." said Fred. "We couldn't figure it out."

"Umm…" said Ron.

"Spill it." said George. "Do you know what happened?"

"Harry…has an ability…but he has to be calm, and not moving." said Ron.

"What ability is that?" asked Dr. Clark.

"He can…well…control things, but he says it's not as strong as it could be. He could only hold things in place, but the moment he would move, it would too." said Ron.

"Impressive." said Dumbledore in a whisper. "His Grandfather Matthew had the same ability. I feared that it was lost forever."

Higher and higher Harry climbed. He looped and swooped, spiraled, zig-zagged and rolled.

"I will admit, he looked really cool." said Neville, "But it was really scary watching."

Slightly dizzy, he nevertheless kept his eyes wide open. Rain was speckling his glasses and ran up his nostrils as he hung upside down,

"Took him while to get the rain out of his nose." said Hermione with a weak smile. But she stopped smiling when she saw Harry still unconscious

avoiding another fierce dive from the Bludger. He could hear laughter from the crowd;

"The only ones laughing were the Slytherin. Everyone else was screaming their heads off." said Dean.

he knew he must look very stupid, but the rogue Bludger was heavy and couldn't change direction as quickly as he could.

"With his speed and how light he is, no one can change direction like him." said Alicia.

He began a kind of roller-coaster ride around the edges of the stadium, squinting through the silver sheets of rain to the Gryffindor goalposts, where Adrian Pucey was trying to get past Wood -

A whistling in Harry's ear told him the Bludger had just missed him again; he turned right over and sped in the opposite direction.

"This is getting scary." said a small first year Hufflepuff.

"Be thankful you weren't there." said Hannah.

"Training for the ballet, Potter?" yelled Malfoy,

Dr. Clark started to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" asked Sirius.

"Holly tried signing up for ballet classes once. She wanted him to try out, and he ran for the hills." said Dr. Clark still laughing.

"Don't blame him." said the boys in the Great Hall.

as he was forced to do a stupid kind of twirl in mid-air to dodge the Bludger.

"If it was the twirl I think it is. It wasn't stupid, looked sort of cool." whispered Dean to Seamus.

Off Harry fled, the Bludger trailing a few feet behind him: and then, glaring back at Malfoy in hatred,

"I remember that look. Made me shake all over, and he wasn't even looking at me." said Ron quietly.

he saw it - the Golden Snitch.

"Alright! Get it and end this suicidal game!" said Sirius excitedly.

It was hovering inches above Malfoy's left ear - and Malfoy, busy laughing at Harry, hadn't seen it.

Draco mumbled bitterly, while the Seekers in the Great Hall laughed.

"Don't feel too bad, Draco." said Snape seriously. "Even the best Seekers can't see behind their heads."

"Yeah, looked what happened to Harry." said Seamus.

"What happened to Harry?" asked Dr. Clark quickly.

"Um…" said Ron.

"Just read on." said Dr. Clark to Bill. "I can't stand this anymore."

For an agonizing moment, Harry hung in mid-air, not daring to speed towards Malfoy in case he looked up and saw the Snitch.

"Why did it say agonizing?" asked Firenze wonderingly.

"Well, all Malfoy would have to do is reach out and grab by his ear. Game would be over and Slytherin would win." said Sirius.

"Hmm…" said Firenze. "Somehow I don't think that is all that was agonizing."

WHAM!

"What happened now?" asked Sirius and Dr. Clark looking up from sponging the foreheads of their charges.

"Bludger caught up with him." said Fred sadly.

"We never should have left him alone." said George gritting his teeth.

He had stayed a second too long. The Bludger had hit him at last,

"Oh no." said Mrs. Weasley whimpering. Her husband held her tightly.

"Tell me he doesn't get hurt too bad." said Dr. Clark clasping his hands tightly.

smashed into his elbow,

Everyone took a sharp intake of breath and gripped their elbows quickly.

"That had to hurt." said Sirius turning pale and looking down at the face he was cooling with a cold washcloth. Since being shocked and carried over by the mysterious force, he had been running a temperature; the same could be said for Remus.

and Harry felt his arm break.

Several people cringed and grabbed their arms.

Dimly, dazed by the searing pain in his arm, he slid sideways on his rain-drenched broom,

"Anyone remember if he screamed or not?" asked Alicia weakly.

"I don't think he did." said Fred turning pale.

"Kids shouldn't have that high tolerance for pain." said Lionus sternly.

one knee still crooked over it, his right arm dangling useless at his side - the Bludger came pelting back for a second attack, this time aiming at his face - Harry swerved out of the way,

"He can still think? After all that?" asked Madam Pomfrey in shock.

one idea firmly lodged into his numb brain:

"Not so numb that he can't think straight enough to get out of harm's way." said Firenze with an impressed smile.

get to Malfoy.

"An odd motivational thought." said Professor Flitwick with a small smile.

Through a haze of rain and pain

Sirius clasped the hand of his beloved godson.

he dived for the shimmering, sneering face below him and saw its eyes widen with fear: Malfoy thought Harry was attacking him.

"Hang on, how did he know what I was thinking?" asked Malfoy quickly.

"What else could you have been thinking?" asked Ron. "He was heading straight for you."

"What the -" he gasped, careering out of Harry's way.

"He didn't even need to move. Harry would never have hit him." said Hermione smugly.

Harry took his remaining hand off his broom and made a wild snatch; he felt his fingers close on the cold Snitch

"Thank god, I think it's a good thing that Remus missed out on it. He would have been freaking out." said Dr. Clark wiping the sweat off his own brow with another cloth.

but was now only gripping the broom with his legs and there was a yell from the crowd below as he headed straight for the ground, trying hard not to pass out.

"OH, SHIT!" shouted Mr. Weasley and Sirius together, while Dr. Clark turned pale. Harry groaned softly, and was about to awaken, but despite his eyes starting to flutter, he fell back to sleep. Sirius dumped the cloth in the cold water conjured by Dumbledore and dabbed at the boy's forehead.

With a splattering thud he hit the mud and rolled off his broom. His arm was hanging at a very strange angle.

"It was hard to look at." said Neville.

Riddled with pain,

Mrs. Weasley and Hermione both sniffed loudly and wiped the tears from their eyes. Ginny was holding onto her knees, which were brought up to her chest.

he heard, as though from a distance, a good deal of whistling and shouting.

"We were happy! One: they beat the Slytherins with their state of the art brooms, and two: watching Harry almost get murdered every other minute was over." said Anthony.

He focused on the Snitch clutched in his good hand.

"Aha," he said vaguely, "we've won."

And he fainted.

"If Harry isn't careful, I'm going to take his broom away." said Sirius with a nervous laugh.

He came round, rain falling on his face, still lying on the pitch,

"Why didn't anyone take him to the castle by then?" asked Charlie.

"He was only out for a minute or two." said Fred.

with someone leaning over him. He saw a glitter of teeth.

"Yay!" said Dr. Clark plainly. "Dazzle Gums to the rescue."

"Remus would be going ballistic right now." said Sirius with a dry laugh. "But I'm starting to feel a bit nervous with him around Harry too."

"Oh no, not you," he moaned.

Sirius laughed loudly and kissed the top of Harry's fevered head.

"Doesn't know what he's saying," said Lockhart loudly,

"The hell he don't." said Ron.

"He didn't want everyone else to think that Harry doesn't idolize him." said Moody roughly.

to the anxious crowd of Gryffindor pressing around them. "Not to worry, Harry, I'm about to fix your arm."

"This won't end well." said Bill.

"No!" said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks ..."

"That must've hurt. He'd rather have a broken arm, than let you heal him." said Luna dreamily.

He tried to sit up, but the pain was terrible.

"He kept turning paler and paler." said Ron.

He heard a familiar clicking noise nearby.

"I don't want a photo of this, Colin," he said loudly.

Colin shifted uneasily.

"You're a jerk, I wouldn't let you take a picture of me ever again." said Dr. Clark angrily.

"Mr. Creevey, you should be very thankful that Mr. Potter didn't tell me about you taking his picture when he was injured. I would have taken that camera away from you permanently." said McGonagall furiously.

"Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times -"

Sirius blinked.

"What's up with you?" asked Dr. Clark.

"Nothing, just something I remembered from school. One of the girls I…dated…said something about that phrase. Gilderoy said it to her and few of her girlfriends." said Sirius shaking his head quickly.

"Harry would start telling you to shut up too." said Dr. Clark shaking his head.

"Why can't I just go to the hospital wing?" said Harry through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, take him to the hospital wing." said Sirius trying to get the memories out of his head.

"He should really, Professor," said a muddy Wood, who couldn't help grinning even though his Seeker was injured.

"Yeah, we sort of gave him another black eye when we saw him smiling like that." said Angelina clenching a fist, " He learned real quick when NOT to smile."

"Great capture, Harry, really spectacular, your best yet, I'd say."

"I thought his best one would have been his school record holding catch." said. Sirius.

"Not enough drama." said George bitterly.

Through the thicket of legs around him, Harry spotted Fred and George Weasley, wrestling the rogue Bludger into a box. It was still putting up a terrific fight.

"It was a near thing, Professor McGonagall sent it crashing into ground about thirty yards away, when it tried to clobber Harry while he was on the ground." said Ron. "Before you ask, she didn't want to do it while the game was playing, she might have hit Harry."

"Then when it got back up, we smacked it with the bats and tackled it back to the Quidditch box." said Fred.

"I'm amazed we didn't get busted ribs from that." said George, feeling his chest.

"Stand back," said Lockhart, who was rolling up his jade-green sleeves.

"He actually wore Slytherin colors?" said Blaise. "I've never felt so insulted."

"No - don't -" said Harry weakly,

"If there were several people there, why didn't anyone save Harry from Lockhart?" asked Sirius angrily.

"Well…we didn't know what he was doing." said a seventh year Hufflepuff.

but Lockhart was twirling his wand and a second later had directed it straight at Harry's arm.

A strange and unpleasant sensation started at Harry's shoulder and spread all the way down to his fingertips. It felt as though his arm was being deflated.

"That is not what magical bone healing is supposed to feel like." said Dr. Nicodemus.

He didn't dare look at what was happening. He had shut his eyes, his face turned away from his arm, but his worst fears were realized as the people above him gasped and Colin Creevey began clicking madly.

"Doesn't sound good." said Dr. Clark worriedly.

His arm didn't hurt anymore - but nor did it feel remotely like an arm.

"What happened?" asked Sirius carefully.

"Ah," said Lockhart. "Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken.

Hagrid began to growl.

That's the thing to bear in mind. So, Harry, just toddle up to the Hospital Wing - ah, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort him? - and Madam Pomfrey will be able to - er - tidy you up a bit."

"He called what I had to do, tidying?" screeched Madam Pomfrey.

As Harry got to his feet, he felt strangely lopsided.

Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Charlie, Sirius and Dr. Clark didn't know what Harry was talking about. What had happened to his arm?

Taking a deep breath he looked down at his right side. What he saw nearly made him pass out again.

"He did, actually, on the way up to the castle. We had to run back and get Hagrid." said Ron.

Poking out of the end of his robes was what looked like thick, flesh-colored rubber glove. He tried to move his fingers. Nothing happened.

Dr. Clark looked worried and confused.

Lockhart hadn't mended Harry's bones. He had removed them.

"SAM!" shouted Dumbledore quickly. Dr. Clark had passed out cold on the floor.

Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore hurried over to him and revived him.

"Wha…what happened? Harry's arm…?" stuttered Dr. Clark.

"It gets fixed in the end." said Dumbledore reassuringly. "Do you want me to conjure you up a chair?"

Dr. Clark recoiled slightly, but then shook his head quickly. "Sorry, yeah, a chair would be great."

"It's not a crime to start fearing what you are just learning about." said Dumbledore kindly.

"I forgot you can see into people's minds." said Dr. Clark smiling slightly. "I'll get used to this stuff eventually. Everything else I can understand and go with it, just the magical healing throws me."

"Understandable." said Madam Pomfrey comfortingly. "Now let's get you into a chair."

Madam Pomfrey wasn't at all pleased.

"I can understand that." said Dr. Clark weakly as he was put into a chair and covered with a blanket.

"You should have come straight to me!" she raged, holding up the sad, limp remainder of what, half an hour before, had been a working arm.

"Remind me to apologize to him. I thought he wanted Lockhart to do it." said Madam Pomfrey sadly.

"I can mend bones in a second - but growing them back -"

"You will be able to, won't you?" said Harry desperately.

"He was really worried about that. Before we got to the hospital wing, where he woke up, he was mumbling about it not working ever again." said Hermione.

"I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful," said Madam Pomfrey grimly,

"Nothing I'm not used to." said a groggy voice. Harry was trying to sit up, but was failing.

"Just rest Cub, you've had a hell of a day." said Sirius.

"Those are becoming very common." said Harry. "What's up with Remus? And why is Dr. Clark sitting over there? Did you have a fight or something? Why do I feel so cold?" he said shivering slightly.

"He's sleeping, he fainted, no and you've got a fever. Does that sum things up?" said Sirius pushing Harry back down and continued sponging the boy's forehead.

"I don't remember what I asked." said Harry leaning back and falling back to sleep.

"This sleeping thing's starting to worry me." said Dr. Clark. "And so is the fever."

"You're telling me. Did you get the owl that tells you what the hell's going on?" asked Sirius.

"Not yet." said Lionus looking over to Dr. Nicodemus quickly.

throwing Harry a pair of pajamas. "You'll have to stay the night ..."

"You threw clothes to a one armed person, real nice." said Tonks.

"I was…distracted." said Madam Pomfrey quietly.

Hermione waited outside the curtain drawn around Harry's bed while Ron helped him into his pajamas. It took a while to stuff the rubbery, boneless arm into a sleeve.

"It was really gross. I didn't want to touch him really." said Ron.

"How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione, eh?" Ron called through the curtain as he pulled Harry's limp fingers through the cuff. "If Harry wanted de-boning he would have asked."

"Anyone can make a mistake," said Hermione,

"You can't afford to make mistakes like that." said the adults in the room.

"And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it, Harry."

"Really? You're trying to find the silver lining in this?" said Charlie shaking his head.

"No," said Harry, "but it doesn't do anything else, either." As he swung himself onto the bed, his arm flapped pointlessly.

Hermione and Madam Pomfrey came around the curtain. Madam Pomfrey was holding a large bottle of something labeled Skele-Gro.

"Oh that stuff's nasty." said Charlie.

"Tell me about it." said Moody.

"Can't you take it to get your leg back, sir?" asked a nervous third year Ravenclaw.

"Can't fix what happened to my leg, you can't fix what happens to some dark magic wounds." said Moody. "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he shouted, making several people jump.

"Well, now we know why he always says that." said Tonks.

"You're in for a rough night," she said, pouring out a steaming beaker full and handing it to him. "Re-growing bones is a nasty business."

"Sounds like it." said Dr. Clark weakly.

"Taking the potion is worse." said Sirius.

So was taking the Skele-Gro. It burned Harry's mouth and throat as it went down, making him cough and splutter.

"It's one thing to get punished for something you did and have to take that stupid potion cause you hurt yourself in the process. But when you didn't do anything wrong, it sucks." said Chalie.

"He didn't let us stop the game and save his butt." said Fred shortly.

"I would think that was doing something wrong." said George.

Still tutting about dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Pomfrey retreated, leaving Ron and Hermione to help Harry gulp down some water.

"How much help did he need, that he needed the both of you?" asked Zacharias snidely.

"He threw up the first glass." said Ron.

"You can't throw up liquid." said Zacharias.

"Yeah you can, and Harry proved it." said Hermione sharply.

"We won, though," said Ron, a grin breaking across his face. "That was some catch you made. Malfoy's face ... he looked ready to kill..."

"Oh he was pissed off. There was no denying that." said Fred.

"First game of the year and he gets owned like that." said Lee. "Pathetic really."

"Especially when our little eleven year old got the Snitch while riding a bucking broomstick." said George with a laugh.

"I want to know how he fixed that Bludger," said Hermione darkly.

"I didn't." said Draco quickly.

"We know that, but not at the time." said Hermione.

"We can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," said Harry, sinking back onto his pillows. "I hope it tastes better than this stuff ..."

"Not a snowball's chance in hell." said Moody.

"If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking," said Ron.

Several Gryffindors gagged horribly.

The door of the hospital wing burst open at that moment. Filthy and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team had arrived to see Harry.

"Unbelievable flying, Harry," said George. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy."

"That was an understatement." said Fred.

"But it was funny to watch Marcus screaming at a teammate of his." said George.

"That it was." said Fred with a smile.

They had brought cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice; they gathered around Harry's bed and were just getting started on what promised to be a good party

"Good, the party will take the boy's mind off the stabbing pain in his arm. Distraction is the best of pain relievers." said Dr. Nicodemus.

Madam Pomfrey looked at the Ranger doctor and looked down sheepishly.

when Madam Pomfrey came storming over, shouting, "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to re-grow! Out! OUT!"

And Harry was left alone, with nothing to distract him from the stabbing pains in his limp arm.

"He would have been better off with the party to distract him." said Dr. Nicodemus shaking his head.

Hours and hours later, Harry woke quite suddenly in the pitch blackness and gave a small yelp of pain;

Sirius looked down at his young charge and wiped a small tear away from his eye.

'No more pain' he thought to himself. 'Please, don't let him get hurt again."

his arm now felt full of large splinters. For a second, he thought it was that which had woken him. Then, with a thrill of horror,

Sirius snapped his neck upwards, as did most of the people in the hall.

"IT'S THE MONSTER!" shrieked a small first year girl.

"No it wasn't!" said Ginny hurrying over and holding the small girl.

"Believe us, it wasn't the monster." said Ron.

he realized that someone was sponging his forehead in the dark.

"Oh, it was just Madam Pomfrey." said Sirius heaving a sigh of relief.

"It wasn't me." said Madam Pomfrey confusedly.

"Then it was Dumbledore." said Dr. Clark. "He's fond of Harry."

Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

"Better not be who I think it is. If it's Dazzle Gums…." said Sirius clenching his jaw.

"Get off!" he said loudly, and then, "Dobby!"

"Oh, well…than that's not that bad." said Sirius. "But he could've picked a better time."

The house-elf's goggling tennis-ball eyes were peering at Harry through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose.

"What's got him so upset?" asked Dr. Clark.

"You'll find out, I wanted to smack the stuffing out of him when we found out." said Ron.

"Harry Potter came back to school," he whispered miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"

"How does that house-elf know he missed the train?" asked Kingsley leaning forward quickly.

Harry heaved himself up on his pillows and pushed Dobby's sponge away. "What're you doing here?" he said. "And how did you know I missed the train?"

"Potter didn't miss the little slip either." said Moody with a smirk.

Dobby's lip trembled and Harry was seized by a sudden suspicion.

"It was you!" he said slowly. "You stopped the barrier letting us through!"

"Not bad for a twelve year old." said Nightstrike smiling down at the smaller person in the bowl.

"Indeed yes, sir," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterwards -" he showed Harry ten, long, bandaged fingers,

"I'd say 'Poor Dobby,' but he almost got Harry killed by a tree." said Dr. Clark trying to stand up.

"Take a seat partner, you, Remus, and Harry have been through the wringer today." said Sirius.

"All I did was faint." said Dr. Clark defensively.

"Still…take a seat." said Sirius pushing Dr. Clark back down.

"- but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!"

"Dobby didn't bet on Ron using a flying car." said Fred smugly.

"Or that fact WE would have gone and fetched the BOTH of them." said McGonagall.

"That too." said George.

He was rocking backwards and forwards, shaking his ugly head.

"Dobby was so shocked when he heard Harry Potter was back at Hogwarts, he let his master's dinner burn! Such a flogging Dobby never had, sir ..."

Draco cringed horribly.

"Is he your house-elf?" asked Mr. Weasley angrily, noticing how uncomfortable Draco looked.

"Yes." said Draco quietly.

"At the most, you have a lot of making up to that house-elf for your past treatment of him." said Mrs. Weasley.

"Yes ma'am." said Draco quickly.

"Wow, he called someone other than a teacher or Ministry worker, ma'am." said Daphne Greengrass.

"Where is Pansy to hear this?" said her sister with a smirk.

"Still trying to get that black stuff off her face I'll bet." said Daphne with a laugh.

Harry slumped back onto his pillows.

"You nearly got Ron and I expelled," he said fiercely. "You'd better clear off before my bones come back, Dobby, or I might strangle you."

"That's a threat?" asked Fred.

"Who gives a warning before issuing a threat?" said George.

"Someone who really doesn't want to hurt someone, who knows what pain really is." said Dr. Clark sadly.

Everyone fell silent. Dumbledore covered his face with both hands.

Bill had to clear his throat to continue.

Dobby smiled weakly. "Dobby is used to death threats, sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home."

"I'll bet Harry got twice that in an hour." spat Professor Flitwick angrily.

He blew his nose on a corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore, looking so pathetic that Harry felt his anger ebb away in spite of himself.

"So when he shouts at you, all you have to do is cry?" said Fred.

"We'll have to try that." said George.

"Why d'you wear that thing, Dobby?" he asked curiously.

"This, sir?" said Dobby, plucking at the pillowcase. "'Tis a mark of the house-elf's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his masters present him with clothes, sir. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house forever."

"Too bad Harry ain't up, we could question him about what else he knows about house-elves." said Neville eagerly.

"Let's not wake him though, let him wake up on his own." said Ginny.

Dobby mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, "Harry Potter must go home!

"Harry isn't safe there!" said a first year Gryffindor.

Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make -"

"Wait…did he say his Bludger?" said slowly.

"Should've throttled him when I had a chance." said Sirius.

"Harry wouldn't forgive you." said Hermione.

"Yeah, he stopped me once already." said Sirius. "Him and Dumbledore."

"Your Bludger?" said Harry, anger rising once more. "What d'you mean, your Bludger? You made that Bludger try and kill me?"

"Not kill you, sir, never kill you!" said Dobby, shocked.

"Tell that to your Bludger." said Fred bitterly.

"Dobby wants to save Harry Potter's life!

"He's got a funny way of showing it." said George.

Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here, sir!

"Yet he's sent away from home grievously injured." said Dr. Clark angrily.

Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"

"I wouldn't trust the Dursleys taking care of Harry's wounds; they wouldn't even take him to the hospital when he really needed. James had to bring him. Especially when Harry was really sick." said Dr. Clark.

"What was he sick with?" asked Sirius quickly.

"He had pneumonia." said Dr. Clark. "Took him a while to get better. It was the only time the Dursleys let him spend the night at James'. They didn't want their precious Dinky Duddykins to get sick." he finished in a cutesy voice.

"Where's he at? I'll go cough on him." said Lionus with a smirk.

"Oh, is that all?" said Harry angrily. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you wanted me sent home in pieces?"

"Ah, if Harry Potter only knew!" Dobby groaned, more tears dripping onto his ragged pillowcase.

"Then tell the stupid kid! No offense." said Sirius to the sleeping teen.

"If he knew what he means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, us dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elves were treated like vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir," he admitted, drying his face on the pillowcase.

"Aww. The poor little guy." said Parvati.

"I hope everything turns out alright for him." said Lavender.

"It does." said Ron.

"But mostly, sir, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harry Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was a new dawn, sir, and Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the dark days would never end, sir ...

"Ain't he the dramatic one?" whispered Ernie.

"You have no room to talk." said Ron angrily.

And now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more -"

"Once more? Has it happened before?" asked Dr. Clark.

"I don't remember if it ever did or not." said Sirius.

Dobby froze, horror-struck, then grabbed Harry's water jug from his bedside table and cracked it over his own head, toppling out of sight, muttering, "Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby ..."

"We should fix a pillow to Dobby's head. So he can't hurt himself." said Ron.

"I don't think he will now." said Dumbledore.

"So there is a Chamber of secrets?" Harry whispered. "And - did you say it's been opened before?Tell me, Dobby!"

He seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched towards the water jug. "But I'm not Muggle-born - how can I be in danger from the Chamber?"

"He's got a point, he's in no danger." said Sirius sighing with relief.

"Ah, sir, ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby," stammered the elf, his eyes huge in the dark. "Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Harry Potter must not be here when they happen. Go home, Harry Potter. Go home. Harry Potter must not meddle in this, sir, 'tis too dangerous -"

"Yeah, like last year was as safe as castle full of teddy bears." said Ron rolling his eyes.

"Who is it, Dobby?" Harry said, keeping a firm hold on Dobby's wrist to stop him hitting himself with the water jug again. "Who's opened it? Who opened it last time?"

"Dobby can't, sir, Dobby can't, Dobby mustn't tell!" squealed the elf. "Go home, Harry Potter, go home!"

"It's like Dobby's a stuck record." said Charlie.

"I'm not going anywhere!" said Harry fiercely. "One of my best friends is Muggle-born, she'll be first in line if the Chamber really has been opened -"

The people in the Great Hall stared.

"So that's why he's working so hard to solve this thing? So he can protect Hermione?" said Tonks.

Hermione looked down and blushed.

"He has to stop self-sacrificing himself like that." said McGonagall in a whisper.

"Didn't anyone want to leave for home when they saw the writing on the wall?" said Mrs. Weasley.

"There were some people who left, but they mostly had confidence that the Headmaster would find out what had happened. And when news got around that Mrs. Norris would be restored, they felt a bit more at ease, that if something were to happen, it could be set right." said McGonagall.

"Harry Potter risks his own life for his friends!" moaned Dobby, in a kind of miserable ecstasy.

"That's going to stop soon; he's going to learn to ask older people for help." said Sirius.

"So noble! So valiant!

"So true!" said Fred rapturously.

But he must save himself, he must, Harry Potter must not -"

Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Harry heard it, too. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside.

"Not surprising, it being the middle of the night." said Seamus.

"Still, Harry being able to hear something at the same time a house-elf can? That's not bad." said Kingsley.

"Dobby must go!" breathed the elf, terrified; there was a loud crack, and Harry's fist was suddenly clenched on thin air. He slipped back into bed, his eyes on the dark doorway to the hospital wing as the footsteps drew nearer.

Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory,

"Why back into a room? What's wrong with walking forward?" asked Sirius.

wearing a long wooly dressing gown and a nightcap.

"Always the pinnacle of fashion." said Fred whispering to Lee.

He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.

"Why would you put a statue on a bed?" asked Firenze.

"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of Harry's bed out of sight.

"We didn't even sense that he was awake." said Dumbledore, "If he was, I would have placed a sleeping spell on him."

Harry lay quite still, pretending to be asleep.

"He's a good faker." said Dumbledore with a bright smile.

He heard urgent voices, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. He heard a sharp intake of breath.

" What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.

"Hold on. Did someone else get petrified?" asked Dr. Clark.

"Who was it?" asked Bill quickly.

"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs."

"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."

"RON!" shouted Bill and Charlie.

"It wasn't me." said Ron quickly.

"Then who the hell is it?" asked Charlie.

Harry's stomach gave a horrible lurch.

"He must've thought it was you too." said Hermione.

Slowly and carefully, he raised himself a few inches so he could look at the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face.

"Sounds like something out of a horror story." said Justin.

It was Colin Creevey. His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck up in front of him, holding his camera.

"When Harry left the hospital wing, he was horrified, and he felt so guilty that he yelled at you." said Hermione.

Colin looked down, his face a pale pink.

"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think ... If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate, who knows what might have -"

"What did you mean by that? Do you mean that if Dumbledore had gone another way, HE would have been petrified, or what would have happened to Colin if Dumbledore had gone the way he did?" asked Tempest.

McGonagall paled, "I suppose, both would have worked, I didn't think of Dumbledore becoming petrified."

The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and pried the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.

"Oh yeah! I took a picture of what it was that attacked me!" said Colin excitedly.

"Excellent!" said Sirius excitedly.

"You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said Professor McGonagall eagerly.

Dumbledore didn't answer. He pried open the back of the camera.

Several students leaned forward apprehensively, the same with a few adults.

"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey.

A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Harry, three beds away, caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.

"So much for a photo of the attacker." said Dr. Clark glumly.

"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly, "all melted ..."

"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.

"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."

Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore.

"But Albus ... surely ... who?"

"We would all love to know." said Tonks.

"The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin.

"Weren't you concerned about who was behind it?" asked Charlie.

"I was more concerned with how it was done, so it can be stopped. The person behind it can wait a few moments more." said Dumbledore.

"The question is, how ..."

And from what Harry could see of Professor McGonagall's shadowy face, she didn't understand this any better than he did.

"Bet that set his mind at ease." said Fred.

"Hope Professor Lupin gets better soon." said a fourth year Hufflepuff. "Him and Harry."

"Looks like Remus is waking up." said Dr. Clark.

"Hmm, hope he's up for the bad news about Harry's arm." said Sirius with a sad smile.