Disclaimer: Harry Potter, and the setting of this universe, are the intellectual property of JKR and Warner Brother, not myself- the proceeds and revenues are theirs and theirs alone. All that I own is the AU information exclusive to my own fanfic.

Chapter 1

Harry couldn't sleep. Lying there in his bed, in the dorm, even with the silencing charm he'd had to put up to block out Ron and Seamus' wake-the-dead loud snoring almost half an hour earlier, there were just too many thoughts running through his head. Pulling off the covers, levering himself up to sit upright on the bed, he cast his gaze towards his trunk, sitting beside the bedside cabinet. The trunk which didn't just contain his invisibility cloak any more, but now also contained the wailing, screeching golden egg he'd managed to get in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. He'd put it in there after the celebration party, and hadn't opened it since then. He did have until February the twenty-fourth to figure it out, still had a whole two and a half months until he'd need to know what it actually meant for the second task. But thinking about it, about what Hermione'd said earlier, back downstairs in the Gryffindor common room, she'd had a point.

He didn't have a clue about how long it'd take him to work it out, or even whether whatever it was that the egg was squealing about was actually an answer or just another thing he'd have to work something out from. Sure, it was the last night before the end of term, time for a well-earned break and festive good cheer. But even so, he had a heavy task on his hands- it could be upon him before he knew it. And going on what he'd had to face already, how dangerous the first task had been like, he could use all the prep time he could get. Chances were, his life would be depending on it. Harry took a wide glance across the boy's dorms, looking at all of the occupied beds. He couldn't be totally sure, not in the dead of night, in pitch darkness without his glasses, but it looked as though everyone else in the dorm room was fast asleep.

Reaching across to pick up his glasses from where he'd left them on the desk by his bedside and put them on, picking up his wand as well, he slowly levered himself down out of bed and carefully tiptoed over to his trunk, crouching down and opening it. Harry cringed, in spite of himself, at the creaking sound of the hinges, looking around to make sure no-one else had noticed- even with the silencing charm he had up around the bed, he couldn't be too careful. But none of the others stirred, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled out the heavy golden egg, gently- he didn't want it popping open by mistake, and waking up practically everyone in Gryffindor Tower- and slung it under one arm, before pulling out his dad's invisibility cloak and wrapping it around himself with the other, disappearing instantly.

Then, willing himself to relax, Harry crept out of his dorm, and down the stairs to the common room. It was awkward moving under the cloak tonight, with the heavy egg under one arm throwing off his balance. He had to make his way down one step at a time, so that he didn't fall in the darkness, and he could swear that the extra weight was making his footsteps a lot creakier than normal. Fortunately though, the Gryffindor common room was empty and silent, with the fireplace extinguished. The issue of exactly how to go about getting through the portrait hole undetected had him stumped for a few minutes. Eventually though, he decided to chance it, attempting a ventriloquy spell he'd seen the Twins using a few times. "Iacere Loqui", Harry muttered, hoping he'd pronounced that right, and focusing with all his might on the place where he wanted his voice to be projected to, over on the other side of the portrait hole, before holding the tip of his wand to his mouth like a microphone and speaking the password into it. "Balderdash."

Stirring from her slumber, muttering something under her breath, the Fat Lady opened up and promptly went back to sleep. Thanking his lucky stars, Harry slipped through just in time before the portrait hole swung shut again behind him. As soon as it did, Harry whacked himself on the head, scolding himself for leaving the Marauder's Map behind. But he couldn't go back now. He had to go on without it. Moving through the corridors, most of them bedecked with spectacular, luminous christmas decorations, he made sure to give the suits of armor as wide a berth as he could- they'd all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them, and while he may have been under the cloak, he didn't want to test to find out whether or not it'd protect him against whatever enchantments had been cast on them.

Thankfully, his luck held- he didn't set any of them off, or run into anyone. It was all clear, peace and quiet all the way. Making painfully slow progress descending the marble staircase, finding it hard to get a decent purchase on the banister with only one hand and with it encrusted with everlasting icicles, he finally made it to the ground floor, down into the entrance hall, and took a left turn, picking up the pace and making a beeline for the place which Ron was adamant not to set foot in, and where Hermione had been nagging him about going and working on this with her all along. Letting out a deep breath that he hadn't realised he'd been holding in, Harry finally reached the library door, clumsily pulled out his wand and magically unlocked the door, gently pushing down on its handle and letting himself in. Closing it behind him, the silence became even more all-encompassing.

One of the first times he'd come here, pulled in by Hermione early in their second year, she'd pointed out the silencing wards on the doors, making sure that not such much as a peep from outside could sneak through to disturb the students reading away in here. Or disturb the notoriously irritable librarian, Madam Pince- given how much time she spent hounding out anyone who made a sound in here, he wouldn't be surprised if she'd had something to do with putting it up, or if it had been put up to meet her demands. Even that vulture woman wasn't here now though- surprisingly, it looked like she didn't actually properly live in here after all, like she slept someplace else in an actual bed. So at the very least, when she went verbal on anyone who looked like they were on the verge of nodding off in here, she wasn't being a total hypocrite. Just a- well, a… Unable to think of a decent word to use, Harry let it lie, and turned his attentions back to what he'd actually come here to do.

None of the lights in here were lit, and he wasn't sure he could light them, not without illuminating a signpost saying 'here I am, come catch me in the act of breaking curfew'. The windows were big enough to allow the bright moonlight to flood in from outside though, the moon's rays clearly visible all the way down thanks largely to the volume of dust hanging in the air. So it was easy enough to see, even for him- but the moonlight also painted everything ghostly white, and cast long dark shadows everywhere, behind all of the towering bookcases and beneath all of the chairs and tables, imbuing the room with a vaguely sinister aura. Harry whispered "Lumos," lighting up the tip of his wand, but it didn't seem to have any more effect than it would have in the presence of a Dementor- the library remained just as dark, ghostly and ominous as it had been before.

Harry crept down one of the narrow, dark aisles between the bookshelves, and stepped out into the more open, brighter area of the main study space. Pulling the egg out from under his arm, Harry placed it down on the nearest table, before pulling out one of the chairs to sit down. Taking off the invisibility cloak, he realised as soon as he did, and the narrow beam from his lit wand-tip shone out to light up the table and the gleaming golden egg, that the real reason why the Lumos charm hadn't seemed to be working was simply because the light hadn't been able to get out through the cloak.

Shaking off his case of nerves, Harry draped the cloak over the back of his chair, which promptly disappeared, making it look as though he was levitating in mid-air. Looking down at it for a moment, a little half-smile flitted across his face, at the thought of how he might be able to use that little trick elsewhere. But it was late enough as it was, and even though he didn't have classes to worry about tomorrow, it was high time to get cracking on the conundrum he'd come here to try and solve. Harry stretched out his arms, reached out to hold the egg in his hands, and opened it. The wailing, screeching sound filled the library, echoing back off the walls and the high ceiling, but it sounded just as incomprehensible as it had been the first time he'd heard it back in the Common Room, if not more so with all the echoes.

Closing the egg, he shook it as hard as he could, then opened it again to see if the sound had changed, but it hadn't. Snapping it shut again, plunging the library back into all-enveloping silence, Harry strained to think what the sound reminded him of, apart from thirty musical saws, but he had never heard anything else like it. "Come on," he muttered out loud, to the egg as much as himself, racking his brains to try and figure it out. "What's that supposed to mean? What am I supposed to hear in that? What are you trying to say? What the heck is that- what could possibly sound like that…?" Nothing. He couldn't think of anything. But there had to be, there just had to be- think, think… Groaning in frustration, Harry's head fell, resting onto the cold metal of the egg. "I don't have a bloody clue…"

"I might."

WHAT!? Jumping almost out of his skin, Harry dropped the egg, which clattered down onto the floor, silently rolling away under the table. Leaping up from his cloaked chair, whipped around with his lit wand in hand and casting its beam over in the direction where the voice had come from, his jaw dropped open. Not even five metres away from him, there was a girl sitting right there Indian-style, cross-legged on the floor, with her back pressed up against the side of one of the bookcases. How hadn't he noticed her there? Caught in the spotlight, the girl shifted uncomfortably, looking away and casting her eyes downwards, staring at the floor. "T-that is, I think I might. Have a clue, that is. Perhaps. Maybe…" The girl trailed off, clasping her hands together and nervously twiddling her thumbs.

Was she oriental, like Cho? It was really hard to tell. From that glimpse he'd caught of her grey eyes, they weren't really slanted like Cho's, but more almond-shaped. Cho's skin was pale, practically as pale as his, but this girl's skin was a lot darker than either his or Cho's, and a bit darker than the Patil twins'; almost as dark as Dean's. Her hair was dark brown rather than black though, practically the same color as his own. But in her voice, he'd just about been able to pick out the same faint accent that Cho had in hers. And the shape of a few of her features looked pretty similar to Cho's, just- smaller, and more delicate. Daintier.

Who was she? He was getting a sense of deja vu, like he'd seen her around Hogwarts before- but he'd have noticed a girl like her, surely…? Realising with a start that he'd been ogling her for way too long, Harry snapped his jaw shut at long last. Finding his tongue again, Harry spoke up, breaking the tense, awkward silence. "Who- who are you? How long have you been here? And how come you're here, so late after curfew?"

"Sorry, I- I haven't been here for long, honest. Well- only about an hour or so. But I didn't even realise that you were there, not until the sound of- well, until that noise, snapped me out of- well, what I came here to do. My name? I'm, Su. Su Li. We're in the same year, and we even take a few classes together. But it's okay, don't worry about it- hardly anyone remembers it anyway. And, well, like you said, it is really late, so I suppose I should be, heading off now…" Blushing in embarrassment, Su Li rose to her feet, wrapping her turquoise blue silk nightgown around herself more tightly, and started to turn to leave.

"No, don't go!" Harry called out, dashing across to close down the gap between them. "Wait! You said something. You said that you might… Could you figure it out? The egg?"

Hesitating, Su Li slowly turned back around to face him. Looking up at him, instead of looking down on him, which was something of a new experience. She had to be the only girl in Fourth Year who was shorter than him- he knew for a fact that all the Fourth Year Gryffindor girls were taller than he was. "Well, I just thought that it sounded like- no, it's silly…" Her voice wavering, Su trailed off again, bowing her head and casting her eyes back down to look fixedly at the floor again.

"No, it's not! Su Li, please, just tell me- what did you think it sounded like?" On impulse, without giving it a second thought, Harry leaned in, reaching out to gently put his hand on her shoulder. Startled, Su Li's head jolted back up, the surprise evident across her face when she lifted her gaze to stare at him, and he instantly felt guilty for touching her- tentatively pulling his hand back, mouthing the silent apology to her which he suddenly found himself too breathless to voice out loud.

But she hadn't moved back, hadn't done anything to try and break off the unexpected contact. Even now, when there was less than a foot between the two of them, she stayed where she was, and just stood there, gazing deeply into his eyes. He could see now that her eyes weren't really grey, per say. Calling them that didn't do them justice- they were far lighter, brighter and richer than that. More like silver. Or like pearls, or like shimmering moonstones…

Transfixed, Harry watched on as Su's initial surprise subsided, and the uncertainty and self-doubt in her expression seemed to ebb away. The silence in the otherwise empty library stretched on, getting thicker and thicker until it felt like he was practically swimming in it. When it got too much, and he took a gulp to try and get some air, it sounded so loud that he was half-expecting to hear the echoes bounding back off the bookshelves. With the silence broken, Su blinked at long last, clearing her throat and speaking up. "I think… It's Mermish."

Still a bit dazed, trying to make sense of whatever that had been, it took a moment or two for what she'd said to sink in. "Eh? Mermish… You mean, like Merpeople?"

Su nodded, looking across to the place where the golden egg was still sitting on the floor, lying on its side underneath the table Harry'd been sitting at. "Yes. It's not a dialect I'm familiar with, so I couldn't tell you what they were actually saying, but I'm positive that's what it was."

"Wow. How'd you know mer…?"

CREAK. Hearts in mouths, both of them whipped around, aghast at the creaking sound of the library doors being opened all the way, and the sound of rapid, shuffling footsteps making their way in. Hearing the unmistakable hoarse, wheezy voice of the new intruder muttering to himself under his breath, Harry put out the Lumos Charm as fast as he could, but still managed to catch the dismayed expression on Su's face, knowing that it matched his own.

"Now now then, what's this? This door here's supposed to be locked, oh yes it is. So, what do we have here?"

"It's Filch…!" Harry hissed- quietly, though not nearly quietly enough. Su Li glared at him, raising a finger to her lips and gesticulating at him to zip it quick, but it was already too late. A faint meow sounded out, and Filch's footsteps halted abruptly.

"What was that, my sweet? You heard something? Ooh, some-ONE? Heheheh!"

This CANNOT be happening, Su Li mouthed, running a hand through her long locks of hair. There is no way I'm getting caught by Filch, no WAY I'm getting my first ever detention… We have to get out of here…

"There's some troublemakers out and about, yes there are! And we'll catch 'em, yes we will!" Filch cackled gleefully. Sick with apprehension, Harry could hear the caretaker's footsteps getting louder and louder, hear Filch drawing nearer and nearer to the study area. Any second now, Filch was going to come around that corner, and walk right into them. He had to do something, NOW.

Harry snatched one of the dusty old scrollcases off the nearest bookshelf, wound back his pitching arm, and tossed it away as hard as he could- watching it sail through the air, clearing Madam Pince's elevated desk with ease, before noisily clattering into one of the bookcases over on the far side of the library. Filch roared in triumph, sprinting off after it. "AHA! I'm coming to get you, you little vagrants!"

Harry breathed a heavy sigh of relief- or at least started to, before Su's hand reached up and clapped over his mouth to block it off. Still shaking her head, she stepped away, beckoning him to follow her down one of the aisles between the bookshelves. But he couldn't go, couldn't just leave the metal egg, or his invisib- the Invisibility Cloak, of course! They could hide from Filch under it, use it to get out without him spotting them. But that'd mean that he'd have to let her in on his little secret, let her know about the Cloak... So what if she knew? He, they, didn't have any other choice! He'd gotten her into this mess, damn it- he owed it to her to get her out!

Holding a finger up, mouthing wait a sec to Su, Harry rushed back over to the table where he'd been sitting. Crouching down to gingerly scoop up the heavy egg, he hoped and prayed that it wouldn't pop open on him and give them away. His luck held- the egg stayed closed, and stayed silent. But Harry couldn't remember where exactly he'd been sitting, where he'd left the chair that he'd draped his invisibility cloak over the back of- clutching the egg precariously under his arm, he waved around wildly with the other, but all he could feel there was nothing but thin air.

Getting increasingly desperate, Harry looked across at Su- still standing there, glaring hard at him now, frantically gesturing in his general direction and mouthing at him to GET A MOVE ON! But he couldn't- he had to find the cloak, it was the only way they could escape being caught. Come on, come on, where was it? Where the bloody hell was it? How, HOW was it not here? He KNEW he'd left it here, right here…!

"Not over here, eh? You can run, but you can't hide! I'll have you, I'll have you, you'll see…!" Harry grimaced at the sound of Filch's battle cry, echoing across the library. There wasn't enough time, damn it. He'd have to come back for it another time, during the day- they had to get out of here, NOW. Tossing his hands up in exasperation, Harry hastily tip-toed after her, throwing a glance over his shoulder in the direction where he could still hear Filch calling out, stomping his way down one of the aisles over on the other side of the library.

"Guard the door, Mrs. Norris! That's it, honey, that's a good girl… Whoever's in here, you're in for it now! You're trapped- there's no way out, no escape! You're mine now…"

Harry did a double-take when he reached the aisle where Su Li had been standing, only to see her rushing silently off into the distance, right down at the far end already. Rushing after her, Harry tried to close down the gap between them without making too much noise. Before he was even halfway there though, she was already taking a sharp left at the far end of the book-aisle, heading off down one of the concourses toward the nearest corner of the library. To heck with it. Harry picked up the pace, charging after her, grimacing slightly at the sound of his heavy footfalls ringing out loud and clear. Even doing his best to chase after her though, winding and weaving this way and that to follow her trail through the maze of bookcases, he still wasn't catching up- if anything, it seemed like he was falling further behind. She may have been small, but crikey, this girl was fast…!

Only just catching a glimpse of Su Li taking another sharp turn thanks to the turquoise nightgown fluttering out behind her like a cape, blindly dashing around the corner and after her, it took all of Harry's Quidditch-honed reflexes to slam on the brakes and screech to a halt fast enough to avoid clattering into the back of her. Su had stopped running- now, she was just standing there, right in the middle of the narrow book-alley. And looking past her, it was pretty clear why. The bookcases on either side melded with the wall in front of them, blocking their path. It was a dead-end.

"Get, back here! No use, running! You, you're MINE, MINE NOW…!" Filch's yelling petered out, cut off by a coughing fit. The caretaker was audibly out of breath, huffing, puffing and hecking up phlegm loudly enough to wake the dead, but he was close- way too close, and from the sound of it, getting increasingly closer. They were pinned in a corner- there was only one way out, and that'd be through Filch. Steeling himself, Harry gingerly put the egg down, brandished his wand and took up a fighting stance, ready to shoot a spell off the instant that Filch showed that horrible, pouchy face of his.

Looking back over her shoulder at him, attempting a half-baked smile, Su reached into one of the pockets of her nightgown, and shakily pulled out her own- a distinctive, kaleidoscopic wand that looked for all the world as though it had been painted in all the colors of the rainbow. She waved it around in a circle, murmuring some weird incantation which he couldn't make out the words of. Whatever the spell was though, it visibly thickened the air in a bubble around the two of them, deepening the darkness, warping the rays of moonlight which passed through it like the water in an aquarium, and almost muffling out the sound of Filch's voice and footsteps completely.

"Whoa, cool." Harry murmured, nodding his approval. "But it won't be enough. I'm going to go out there and stun him, then we can make a run for it. You know how to cast a Stupefy?"

Su Li whipped around, her pearly eyes bulging at him incredulously. "No. Way."

"Well, don't worry. I can, so we'll be alright. I'll cover you, so just stay behind me, and I'll get us both out." Harry grinned broadly at the Ravenclaw girl in the hope of allaying her concerns, posturing and leaning against one of the bookcases in a show of bravado. That grin soon evaporated though, as Su just glared back at him, crossing her arms and tensing up so much that he could see her visibly shaking from the strain.

"No, Potter. Of course I know how to cast a Stupefy," she hissed angrily, "I'm not stupid. But that 'plan' of yours? Seriously? You can't just charge him head-on! Much less fling curses like that at a member of staff! Sing Laozi, do you want to get us expelled…?"

"Well, what else are we supposed to do then?" Harry muttered. "You led us into this trap, and it's not like there's any other way out…"

"Yes, there is! There's a secret passage, right here, through this wall, which leads straight back to the Ravenclaw Common Room. And it can only be opened with magic, so Filch won't be able to follow us through. Now, if you want to cover me while I'm opening it, I would appreciate it, a lot. But please, please, could you try not leaping out there and giving us away by attacking him…?" Su clasped her hands together, her eyes desperately pleading to him to listen to her and think, think, think.

Harry tried to stand firm and stick to his guns (wands?)- but try as he might, he couldn't keep it up, not when he knew she was right. Harry's shoulders slumped in defeat, his wand arm falling down by his side again. "Fine, fine."

Su visibly sagged with relief. Then, tensed up a bit again, when the magical bubble she'd put up around them, whatever it was, started to lose its shape and collapse in on itself. "I can't hold this up much longer, and I need to open up the secret passage, so I'm going to have to drop this spell now."

Harry nodded.

"So we'll have to be really, really quiet again."

"Okay, got it."

"Remember, Filch's still out there, and he's close. If he hears us, realises where we are and comes after us before I've finished opening it- or even worse, while it's still open…"

"Alright, alright! Let's just, do this, and get out of here already."

Su nervously bit her lower lip, and it looked like there was something else that she wanted to say, on the tip of her tongue. Their talk-time was up though- the magical barrier she'd put up, along with its muffling effect, wavered, petered, and then dissipated away entirely. And as soon as it fell, both she and Harry jumped, their eyes widening in shock and horror at how just loud Argus Filch's wheezy coughing now was, with the realisation of how close the caretaker had to be for them to be able to hear him that clearly. Filch wasn't just 'close'; it sounded like he was practically on top of them, standing out there in the corridor right behind them.

"Cough-cough-cough… I, I KNOW YOU'RE THERE! WE CAN SMELL YOU! Can't we, Mrs Norris? Oh yes you can, yes you can, I know you can my sweet… NO MORE RUNNING! And NOWHERE LEFT TO HIDE, not from us…!"

Su moved swiftly, though her bare feet didn't even make a sound on the carpeted floor. Dashing up to the wall ahead of them, she raised her wand and started carefully etching out a series of what looked like runic symbols on it with its tip- which glowed almost as brightly as the newly-mounted Christmas decorations out in the Front Hall, lighting them up. Groaning inwardly, Harry turned away, raising his wand again to hold it at the ready.

Filch abruptly stopped yelling, and Harry cringed at the sound of his quieter, hushed voice creeping closer, holding even more menace. "Now now, what's this…?" It was no use- he was onto them, only ten metres at most away from the book-aisle they were holed up in, and from the look of things, there was no way Su would be able to open up the passage in time. What he wouldn't give for a pinch of the twins' Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder right now…

Wait. Their ventriloquy spell, that same one he'd already used to get past the Fat Lady earlier, that'd do it! Whispering "Iacere Loqui" under his breath, focusing with all his might on that table where he'd been sitting a few minutes ago, Harry tapped his lips with the raised tip of his wand. Taking a deep breath, Harry channeled his inner muse, and mustered his very best impression of the one and only magical being who'd always be able to get Filch's undivided attention, no matter what.

"HOOHOOHOOHOO!" Yes, it had worked! His imitation of that mischievous signature laugh boomed out across the library, emanating from the study table area back in the middle. Out in the corridor, only a few metres away from their book-aisle, Filch's shuffling stopped in mid-step, a bestial snarl of unmitigated hatred escaping the caretaker's throat. Not wanting to let the chance slip, Harry pressed his advantage while the spell lasted, loudly chanting an impromptu rhyme in a sing-song voice. "Ooh, Filchy wilchy's blind as can be, Filchy wilchy can't catch MEEEE, hee hee hee!"

"PEEVES!" Filch roared his hunting cry at the top of his voice, charging back off the way they'd come at a rate of knots. In just a few seconds, he was gone, his rapid footfalls pattering off into the distance. Breathing a sigh, Harry lowered his wand arm, stepping forward to stand alongside Su Li just as she finished etching out the last rune, and the wall silently slid open to reveal the winding passage behind it. Wiping a few non-existent drops of sweat from her brow with her sleeve, turning to face him again, Su outstretched her hand, beckoning for him to follow her. Together with her, he walked down into the passage and left the library behind, the wall sliding shut behind them of its own accord.

To give you a clearer image of Su Li's imagined appearance in this fanfic, I'm basically casting Rita Gabiola to play her role (2 . bp . blogspot. com/ -s_7zg6DZf3s/V7EFIk1YzMI/AAAAAAAAq_s/1hNpU6PQiJkH6Cd1BVaSuqitLsnnhhVLwCLcB/s1600/Pictures3-009 . jpg- remove the spaces)- albeit altering her eye color to match that of this girl (s-media-cache-ak0 . pinimg. com/ 564x/28/fb/11/28fb11da9ba90ad905a7e4ade00fc5ac . jpg- remove the spaces) instead. Further details will be forthcoming on Su Li- like Harry, you'll have to wait a little while for your questions to be answered, at least for the time being. But I've put together a quite unique and original backstory for her character, and hopefully it won't disappoint.

Next chapter, we continue our trip down the passage before Harry pays his first ever visit to Ravenclaw Tower. However, it's highly unlikely that it'll be his last... See you soon- and don't forget to read and review!