Harry wasn't able to move right away. His head pounded as he worked through the memories scrambling in his head. Feeling the cold stone under his hands he relaxed. He was down in the Chamber. He wouldn't be in any danger here. Keeping his eyes closed he slowly sat up. Close by he could hear the basilisk uncurling.

"Speaker," Bellasina hissed. A wry grin formed on his lips as he reached to find the large snake. The comforting large scales moved under his grip as the basilisk moved.

"How long have I been out?" Harry asked. An irritated hiss that Harry guessed came from his familiar answered. Chuckling he waited as the rattlesnake wrapped himself around him his tongue flicking against his ear.

"Too long. A night and a day trapped in your mind," Venentrios hissed. Bellasina added in her own sound of displeasure.

"Who harmed you ssspeaker?" Bellasina demanded. Harry chuckled.

"Ssspellsss were removed. That causssed my collapssse. Sssomeone tried to sssteal my memoriesss to control me." The serpents hissed in anger.

"Let me kill them," the basilisk begged, "let me hunt."

"No. My revenge." Grudgingly the serpents accepted it, Bellasina helping nudge him towards the entrance before retreating far enough to let him open his eyes. He leaned against the wall, still feeling disoriented from the rush of memories. So much had changed from what he realized. He had trouble sorting out what was in his head. Most of the memories at least had a ring of truth to them, but some were more difficult to muddle through. It'd take time to get used to what he knew now. His friends, his teachers, it seemed so much of the world he'd grown to rely on for it's escape from the Dursleys had been a lie. Ron was a waste. Harry didn't know how he'd ever fallen for that. Ron had proven again and again that he couldn't be trusted. Harry had only befriended him because he didn't know the wizarding world. Without spells Ron's betrayals were no longer forgivable. This latest fight gave him the perfect excuse to walk away from him as well, at least without arousing suspicion. They'd be watching him, wouldn't they? Harry refused to let himself be victimized again. He'd learn to guard his mind, and he would make sure no one realized he was free.

It did mean he would have to reevaluate those he had trusted as well though. Clambering back up Harry bit his lip. Hermione had been at his side through everything, even believing him that he hadn't entered the tournament. Was she under spells like him, or someone who willingly had helped keep him under spells? Perhaps she was innocent, but could he really trust that? He'd trusted Dumbledore, and he'd shown all too clearly that Harry had been mistaken. Ginny as well. She was a Weasley like Ron. Harry knew they supported Dumbledore, and even if he knew that they didn't approve of him being abused, they didn't know that had happened thanks to Dumbledore, and Ginny could happily help the headmaster if it was for her family. Their closeness could be faked.

None of the teachers could be trusted. Not that that was particularly surprising. The defense teachers had been a disaster for years. Snape hated him. He was probably delighted that Harry had been so closely controlled, and the rest of the teachers would have been handpicked by Dumbledore as well. His heart twisted inside thinking of Sirius and Lupin. They had been his father's friends. Sirius had even hoped to take him from the Dursleys if he could get free. Instead they were on the run. Was that really because of the minister, or just a ploy to keep Harry trapped? He hated how he couldn't even trust that. He wanted to so badly, to have an adult in his life he could trust. He never had trusted adults. It was painful to realize that perhaps he still couldn't. Even Moody's actions were questionable. He was Dumbledore's trusted friend. Why free Harry? What benefit was in it for him? Harry would think twice before he let Moody anywhere near his mind again. He needed to know why first.

Glancing at his watch Harry frowned. The day was already halfway over. At least it was the weekend. No skipped classes for him to worry about. His disappearance hopefully wouldn't bother anyone too much, as he'd already been a recluse before the spells were removed. Maybe they'd just think he was in the library finishing up his work on the enchanted parchment he planned to send to Lupin and Sirius. He wanted a way to talk to them faster after all. Slipping into the library Harry went to work. He finally managed a breakthrough enchanting the paper. It hadn't been easy. There were three different parchments, one for each of them with three symbols at the top. All of them had a small circle to send messages between all three, a pawprint on his and Lupin's for Sirius, a crescent on his and Sirius' for Lupin, and a small lightning bolt on Lupin and Sirius' for his. He had ended up sneaking into the restricted section to tie his parchment to his blood so it was only readable to him. It was easy enough to clear to write a new message to send, just needed to have the symbol tapped to show which parchment to copy the message to. Folding it up Harry leaned back. At least this was done. Now he just needed to decide if he trusted them enough to still want to talk with them. Venentrios uncurled from his place around Harry and poked him.

"What'sss wrong?" Harry shrugged staring at the wall.

"Jussst realisssed there'sss no human I can trussst."

"What of Sssiriusss? Do you not trussst him?" A skeletal smile flickered on Harry's face, vanishing as he shook his head.

"It could be a manipulasssion, sssame asss everything elssse." Venentrios tightened his grip on Harry.

"Ssso find out. Tessst if he'll ssstrike you." Harry glanced at Venentrios in surprise. Yet more proof the rattlesnake was being changed by being his familiar. He smiled grimly and grabbed out his quill.

"A fine idea,"Harry muttered. Leaning over the parchment he thought for a moment. He needed to send them something that wouldn't make them suspicious of him being free if they were in on the spells, but still have them test it. A flash of inspiration struck and he quickly wrote out his note.

Moony and Padfoot,

Just heard the craziest thing. Remember when I spent the week with you guys this summer? I overheard McGonnagal say they'd obliviated that memory. Something must have happened, but I don't remember what. Do you know?

Pronglet

Harry grinned at his note. It was a perfect test for his charmed parchment, and a good test for his godfathers as well if he said so himself. Tapping the symbol he watched the message copy itself over on the other two parchments, faster than any message an owl could send. He hadn't spent any time with them this summer, but the mention of being obliviated should worry them enough to make them question it. Hopefully they'd test if they had been obliviated as well, and find out if they were under any spells themselves. If they were innocent, he'd have his first allies. If not…Harry shoved the thought away and packed up his stuff. He hurried up to the owlery hoping it wouldn't take too long for them to receive his message and copies of the parchment. He did add a quick note explaining how it worked for them before attaching it to Hedwig. He petted the owl affectionately.

"Hey girl, take this to Sirius and Lupin for me, would you?" Hedwig hooted affectionately, nipping Harry before taking off. Harry watched her leave a slight frown on his face. Now that he was thinking of it he wasn't the only one in danger. Venentrios was protected by the familiar bond, and few things could hope to damage a basilisk. Hedwig on the other hand had nothing. He trusted her to carry messages for him, leaving her out in the open. A snowy owl didn't exactly blend in easily. His mail could be intercepted, or he could be tracked through her, or they could kill her just to send a message to him. Harry stroked Venentrios thoughtfully. He'd have to find some protection spells for her, maybe something to make her untraceable and keep people from reading his mail at the same time.

Thinking about it he wasn't paying attention when he bumped into someone.

"Harry!" Pulled out of his thoughts Harry looked up.
"Hermione." The girl studied Harry a worried expression on her face.

"Are you alright? We were going to train for the tournament yesterday, remember?" Harry nodded.

"Yeah. I had some extra tutoring from Moody actually. Guess it took more out of me than I realized." Harry marveled at how easily the lie slipped out. Shouldn't he have felt guiltier about lying to his friends? No, the trust he'd felt for them was gone. He might feel he should trust them still, but he couldn't. Dumbledore had tampered too much with his life for him to trust that his friends were what they seemed. The lie still seemed to come too easily, the concern fading from Hermione at his words.

"Alright. Can we catch up tonight?" Harry grinned.

"Wouldn't miss it." He didn't trust Hermione with his secrets, but she had stood by him and helped him when the rest distrusted him and believed he was lying. Even when the rest of the school had turned against him she was there. He couldn't just turn away from that. He would just have to find a way to prove once and for all if she was trustworthy. Moving past her Harry slipped down to his dorm. He pulled out the book on familiars he'd found earlier and began to reread the section on owls. Hopefully there'd be something helpful for Hedwig in it.

The weekend passed too rapidly. There was a ton to do. The first task was racing closer, with no clue what it would be or who had entered him in it. Was it an attempt to kill him? A manipulation from Dumbledore? Not that he knew why Dumbledore was so interested in controlling him. Didn't he have enough power of his own without relying on the fame of the Boy-Who-Lived? He still hid how smart he was, not a new challenge, but somehow more challenging with his mind clearer than it had been for years. It felt like he was seeing those around him for the first time-and he didn't like what he saw. Ron, his first friend, was a jealous petty child clinging to Harry in a hope for glory. Hermione wanted to be the best, and was far too nosy for anyone. Malfoy at least hadn't changed. Honestly Harry felt he could understand Moody's paranoia far too well, avoiding being caught in a situation where he would be expected to talk and isolating himself. He was still getting used to the memories. What if he slipped up and Dumbledore noticed? He could be charmed again, with no defense against it. At least all the time on his own allowed him to finish a charmed leather band for Hedwig to wear. As long as the band lasted she would be safe from most spells.

Too soon he was back in DADA. Harry hadn't come up with a plan to test Moody yet. It was far too coincidental what had happened. Harry refused to believe his luck would lend him such a convenient ally. Moody was the only other human who knew the truth about what had been done to Harry. He didn't know if Moody knew the specifics of the memories unlocked or not, but Moody wouldn't get a chance of getting any look at it. Not without an oath of some sort at least. He slipped into a seat in the back, hoping he'd be able to leave the class before Moody managed to catch him. Sooner or later Harry would have to deal with Moody's 'tutoring', but it wouldn't be right now if he could help it. Harry glanced down at the desk in front and smirked. A jar of large tarantulas sat in a jar. Ron certainly wouldn't find any enjoyment in this lesson.

Moody stood up at the front looking suspiciously at the students. "Recognizing Dark curses that will be used on you by your enemies is the first step to survive having them thrown your way. I'll teach you how to go from there. Today we'll cover the three most famous Dark curses, the Unforgiveables. Can anyone here name one?" Finnegan raised his hand from his seat.

"You!" Finnegan cleared his throat and sat up.

"The imperius curse."

"Ah, the mind control curse! It completely takes over a person's will. When cast properly it can be indistinguishable from a person's normal behavior. Plenty of people claimed to have been controlled by it at the end of the first war with the Dark Lord." A dark glint in Moody's eyes showed he didn't believe they had been. Grabbing a tarantula from the container he dropped it on the desk.

"Observe! Engorgio! Imperio!" The class watched as the tarantula first grew bigger, then stood up. Controlled by the spell the spider danced, pirouetting and performing cartwheels. Several of the students laughed at the antics. Moody growled.

"You think this is funny? To have your will stolen? To be forced to act against your will, perhaps forced to kill your family? The curse is no laughing matter!" Moody barked. The class fell silent, shocked by the scarred auror's words. He released the tarantella and dropped it back in the jar. "Name another unforgiveable." More shakily this time hands raised in the air.

"Miss Brown!" A little shakily Lavender Brown lowered her hand.

"Er, the torture curse?" Harry frowned. The humor from the first spell had vanished completely. Glancing at the spiders Harry felt a sick twist in his stomach. Knowing what was coming he sank down in his seat. Yes he wanted to know how the curses worked, how his parents had died, but the fate for the spiders suddenly seemed cruel. Moody nodded in approval and grabbed another spider, ignoring the desperate scramble to get away from him.

"The cruciatus curse. The pain is so great that prolonged exposure to it creates nerve damage. Long term exposure has even induced the victims to insanity." Harry narrowed his eyes at the cold glint in Moody's eye. He placed the spider, almost with a smirk on his lips as he enlarged the spider.

"Crucio," Moody hissed. The spider curled up. Immediately it began to rock. If it had a voice Harry knew they would all hear it screaming desperately for the pain to stop. The spider rocked and rocked, just shaking under the effects. Harry's stomach lurched, unable to move his eyes away. How long was he going to do this?

"Stop it!" Someone shouted. Snapping his eyes back Harry was startled to see Lavender shouting out at Moody to stop. She hadn't seemed that upset. Glancing around Harry spotted Neville, shaking with shock. It seemed the curse meant more to Neville than the others. Harry watched curiously as Moody reluctantly dropped the curse. The spider was returned to normal and dropped back down. The last tarantella scrambled frantically. Harry watched it feeling almost detached. There was only one Unforgiveable left. They all knew what the fate of the last spider would be.

"And the last curse?" For a while it seemed no one would speak. Then Ron turned around in the front, glowering at Harry.

"The killing curse." Harry arched a brow coolly. Did he think that would shake him up? Internally it was disturbing to see someone he'd considered a friend speak so casually about a killing curse, especially looking at him as if he wished he was casting the spell right at Harry. But he couldn't let anything break his mask.

"The most popular for the Dark Lord." Moody pointed his wand at the spider. "Avada kedavra." A green light flashed, and the spider dropped dead. Harry stared at it. Had his parents died the same way? Just falling over? Had it hurt? Moody casually brushed the dead spider off the desk into the garbage.

"These curses are considered dark for a reason. Powerful magic and hate must be used to cast the unforgiveables. Most wizards and witches can't summon enough magic or hate to reliably cast the Unforgiveables. You could probably all point your wands at me right now and shout the killing curse, and I doubt I'd get as much as a nose bleed." Harry snorted. He doubted it. Right now he certainly felt capable of murder.

"Only one person has ever survived the killing curse," Moody said, "and he's sitting right here." Harry stared at Moody meeting his gaze calmly as the rest of the class stared at him, eyes unfailingly tracing where his scar was. He wouldn't show that it had shaken him up. He breathed easier when Moody finally broke eye contact and continued his lecture, explaining when the Unforgiveables were invented and the specific laws around them. Harry listened slightly detached to the rest of the lesson. He would have to look up the curses. A small shiver ran through him at the thought, but he had to know more. He wanted to know how Voldemort had used them, who had suffered, who had shared his parents' fate…whether the killing curse had affected him in some way he hadn't realized.

It was a relief when class ended. Harry slipped out of the class before Moody could catch up with him. He was only delaying the inevitable, but Harry refused to talk to Moody so soon after the lesson. At least he hadn't been the only one shaken up by it. He headed towards the library, not caring that he normally took more care to avoid being noticed for spending time there. He had put plenty of time into researching types of curse scars, but he could have learned more if he'd studied the actual killing curse that had caused it. He felt strange that he hadn't thought to look at it before. Was that just because he had been focused only on the scar aspect, or because Dumbledore had done something to make sure he didn't look? He wasn't sure.

He paused sighting Hermione sitting at a table with books on defense spells around her. Hermione glanced up seeming to sense his gaze.

"Harry!" Harry smiled warily. The act that nothing had changed between them had held for now, but he still felt on edge around her. He slid into a seat next to her, resigning to the fact that he wouldn't be able to look up the unforgiveables now.

"Hey Hermione," Harry said, "looking up spells for my next lesson?"

"I wish we had some idea of what the first task would be," Hermione fretted, "I feel we're going in blind. The spells are good, but how useful can they be if we don't know what we need to use?" Harry chuckled.

"Hasn't that always been the case?" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Harry, I thought you'd take this more seriously. Your life's on the line!" Harry dropped his gaze to the table tracing a hand over the carved graffiti. Idly he wondered if JR still hearted SG.

"I know, but that's always true. My life's been in danger of one sort or another as long as I've known you. I'm sick of it." Harry bit his lip, hating that he had to share vulnerabilities. He knew it was expected for him to share his worries, but he felt so exposed. Hermione smiled faintly at him and reached over.

"It'll be fine. We'll get through this like we always do." Harry nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks Hermione." He grabbed one of the books on the table and flipped through it.

"So find anything good yet?" Distracted Hermione dove back into her research. Harry watched her fondly. He wished what she'd said was true. Too bad this year wouldn't be like any others.

He didn't manage to slip out to do the research he'd planned earlier until after curfew. Again Harry was thankful for his fight with Ron. No one in the dorm was paying any attention to what he was doing, and combined with the cloak it was almost too easy to head down to the library. At least this part of his life hadn't changed. Harry disguised how intelligent he was like always, a leftover from living with the Dursleys, but even under a spell his curiosity couldn't be squashed. It was more focused on survival right now, but he had always been happy to learn something new.

He'd start with the Imperius curse. It might not have information about what went wrong with the killing curse or how the scar works, but it would let him work up to it. Harry hated that he felt something twist inside of him at the thought of reading up on the killing curse. He had to be better than this if he was going to survive. The scar had been a problem for a long time, and he wouldn't be able to survive if he couldn't fix it. Flipping open the book he began to scan it.

Some of the information was the same as in class. How the imperious curse worked, why it was an Unforgiveable, who invented it. Then it began to go into more detail. Harry shivered reading about the depth of the curse. As long as a portion of the caster's mind was on the spell it would last. It usually needed to be renewed about once a week, but an imperious curse that only altered a single aspect of a person could last a month before needing renewing. The subtlety was astounding. One could make someone hate a person, and not change anything else, making it appear as if the person wasn't being controlled at all. Someone could take over someone's personality completely, similar to what Dumbledore had been doing to me. A poorly cast Imperius curse made it obvious when the person was being controlled. Done well the person still acted similar to themselves, and could be nearly impossible to identify. Pages were dedicated to listing those from the war with Voldemort and those that had been controlled by it. Harry suppressed a shiver looking through the list. He never wanted to be controlled that way. Never again would he be vulnerable to that.

He moved onto the Cruciatus curse. It was just as horrible as the previous curse, if more difficult to control. One could target specific body parts with the curse, or ramp up the pain based on the hate and power behind the spell. Again, it had been popular with Voldemort. Harry looked at the list of victims dully. He was shocked to see a familiar name jump out of the page at him. Longbottom. Neville had experienced the torture curse? No, that wasn't possible. He would have been a child just like Harry at the time. Curious he looked up the names attached. It wasn't Neville that had been tortured. It had been his parents.

Harry felt his stomach drop. Frank and Alice Longbottom had both been successful aurors fighting against Voldemort. When Neville had been born they'd gone into hiding, the same way that his family had. Perhaps they were luckier in a way, but it didn't seem like it. The death eaters had found the Longbottom family shortly after Voldemort had vanished and tortured them into insanity on a mad quest for vengeance. His parents were still alive, but they had never recovered from it. Neville was as good as an orphan. Harry thought to Neville talking about his gran. He seemed fond of her, if nervous. He lacked confidence, and always seemed unsure of himself. No wonder he was so withdrawn. He didn't blame him when he could never know his parents. Harry had felt that way too, wondering if his parents could possibly be proud of him.

It felt strange, sharing that with someone else. Harry had always felt alone in his past. It couldn't really be true though. More families than just his had been destroyed by Voldemort. The only reason why they talked about his was because it had been his family's destruction that had lead to Voldemort's downfall. The death of his parents had overshadowed the other orphans the war had created. Swallowing a lump in his throat Harry pushed the book back. He'd come back another night to look up the killing curse. He wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else tonight.

Harry struggled to drag himself to his classes the next day. Thoughts of Neville and the torture his parents had gone through had plagued him. When he'd finally fallen asleep nightmares had chased after him, alternating between seeing a young Neville crying for the parents that would never know him and the flash of green light as his own parents died. He knew it would only happen again if Voldemort managed to return to power. And chances were good that he would. He had been trying to regain his body and powers since Harry began going to Hogwarts. Perhaps longer than that, and Harry simply hadn't known. Every single time Harry had been the only obstacle between Voldemort and his return. They were in huge trouble if the only one in the way of the darkest wizard the wizarding world knew was a teenage boy.

Picking at his breakfast Harry barely ducked in time as wings whirled over his head. Looking up Harry grinned seeing Hedwig grooming herself. It was good to have her back.

"Hey girl," Harry whispered. He offered her a piece of bacon, glad to see her in one piece. Hedwig eagerly devoured it as Harry removed the small scrap of parchment attached to Hedwig's leg. He ran his fingers gently over her feathers as he read the short note.

Check the parchment.

-S

Harry bit his lip. Check the parchment. It seemed his enchantments had held over the distance. Feeding Hedwig one last piece he smiled at his owl.

"I'll be up to see you later." Hedwig hooted proudly and flew back towards the owlery. Harry planned on seeing her at lunch to give her the band he'd made. He didn't want to risk leaving Hedwig without protection for any longer than he had to. Pushing away from the table He waved off Ginny. She seemed worried that he'd missed their dueling practice today. Honestly he'd been too worn out with what he'd learned last night and the stress of his secrets to make it in time. In the dorm he quickly dug through his trunk. Lazily Venentrios slithered over from where he'd been resting.

"What'sss going on?" the rattler hissed. Harry tugged out the parchment. A light shimmer ran over it, and the writing changed.

"Sssiriusss and Lupin have written me back," Harry hissed. Straightening in excitement Venentrios slid down to Harry's lap.

"What do they sssay?" Harry scanned the letter.

Harry,

As soon as you can check yourself for spells. You did not spend time with us this summer. He have been occupied with dealing with Moony's time of the month and avoiding dementors. It wasn't safe. Chances are the memories are false, planted to cover something up. We checked ourselves for spells just in case. It seems you weren't the only one under a spell. Moony had a compulsion charm to tell the headmaster everything that happened, and an enchantment to make us avoid you. Chances are Padfoot was clean as he wasn't around long enough to have any spells placed on him.

Do not trust anyone in the castle. It seems the headmaster is planning to use you, most likely because of that blasted prophecy about you defeating Voldemort. We're not sure how far Dumbledore's influence is spread. Be cautious. We'll come to see you as soon as we can. It's too dangerous to stay apart right now, especially with the tournament being held. It would be too easy to arrange an 'accident' to happen to some spectators.

Stay safe,

Sirius and Remus

Venentrios hissed in satisfaction. "Ssseemsss you can trussst them after all." Harry sagged slightly in relief.

"It'sss good to have othersss to rely on." Harry had never trusted adults, and trusting others his own age had been nearly as difficult. Under the spells he'd found relief from his distrust, but that had been false. Knowing that the risks Sirius and Lupin-no, he should call him Remus now-had taken for him had been real, and that they were willing to stand against Dumbledore to help him was huge. There were people out there that he could rely on. People that didn't just want to use him, or hurt him. Maybe, together, they could escape Dumbledore's snare.

"What isss thisss prophesssy to defeat Voldemort?" Venentrios asked. Harry shrugged.

"I've never heard it before. Explainsss why Dumbledore wantsss to control me though. He'll ussse me asss a weapon to kill him." Harry snorted. He didn't put much stock in divination. Hearing Trelawney prophesying about his death was enough to cure him of any belief he might have held. But Voldemort seemed to believe it, and so did Dumbledore. If the prophecy was true, he was in even more trouble than he'd thought. He'd have to hear it for himself. Maybe it contained a convenient key to defeat Voldemort in it. He had to tell Sirius and Remus he was in the tournament as well. He had forgotten to do that earlier. Too many other concerns. Tapping the parchment he cleared it and began to compose his response.

Glad to hear both of you are safe. I realized Dumbledore's manipulations earlier in the year when the spells on my mind were broken. I didn't know who I could trust to not turn me back to Dumbledore. Thankfully a huge fight broke out recently between Ron and I, so no one's realized I'm not the same yet.

What does Voldemort know of the prophecy? What does it say? Any hints for how I can destroy Voldemort? Those would be useful if the git keeps targetting me. It seems there's already a plot at the school to use the tournament to get rid of me. I forgot to mention it before, but someone hexed the Goblet to make me a champion. Lucky me. Any advice on how to survive would be appreciated.

Harry

He tapped the circle, and another shimmer formed showing that the letter was replicating onto the other two parchments. He hoped they replied soon. Harry tucked the parchment into his bag and grabbed what he'd need for his morning classes. Now that he knew he had allies Harry would want to keep in contact with them as much as possible. He headed back down and collided right into Ginny.

"Sorry," Harry muttered. He tried to move past her but Ginny caught his arm. Tensing slightly he looked at the younger Gryffindor. Sharp brown eyes studied him.

"Harry, what's going on?" Ginny whispered. A small trickle of guilt ran through him seeing the faint fear in her eyes. Ginny was still just a third year. She was a better duelist than most her age thanks to training with Harry, but Voldemort had scared her badly. She was afraid that Harry's distance was a sign that again Voldemort was here, trying to attack. Not that Harry could discount that fear. Voldemort might have entered him. But he couldn't reassure her, not until he knew if she was Dumbledore's. Gently he removed her hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"Just the tournament Ginny," Harry said, "just trying to survive it." Ginny bit her lip. It didn't look like she bought it. Too bad. He couldn't tell her anything else. He'd have to learn how to detect spells on people himself first, and find a way to test her like he had Sirius and Remus. He wanted to test Hermione too. She wasn't like Ron. She agreed the tournament was a plan to hurt him. An ache squeezed his heart thinking of his friend. He wanted her by his side, just like she'd been since he'd first leanred he was a wizard.

Pushing useless wishes aside Harry dodged Ginny and left. He'd make sure to see her tomorrow for their dueling. Hopefully keeping that routine would relax Ginny. Anything he could do to hide that he wasn't Dumbledore's was necessary. He didn't know if he could resist if Dumbledore put the spells back on him, and he didn't plan to find out.

As soon as lunch rolled around he headed up to the owlery, the small leather band in his hand. Calling her over he petted the owl gently before slipping the band on. She didn't seem too happy with it, but accepted his explanation and settled down to enjoy the attention. Too bad he couldn't stay long. Turning back around he headed down for his next class. He halted as Hagrid headed up the stairs, a large envelope in his hand.

"Hullo Harry!" Hagrid called. Harry stiffened. Hagrid was a good man, but he was Dumbledore's through and through. He was trusted enough to be used against Harry unfortunately. They couldn't be friends.

"Hi Hagrid," Harry answered cautiously, "did you want something?" Hagrid shifted awkwardly.

"Got sumt'ing to show ye," Hagrid rumbled, "sumt'ing to help ye with the first task."