Author's Notes: I'm really sorry that I couldn't post for so long, but end semester exams left me with hardly any time to type.

I'd also like to apologize if I failed to respond to any of the reviews personally. I didn't have internet connection for a few days, then I sort of lost track of the reviews I had already replied to. I've answered all the questions at the end.

Some people said that the whole Hermione thing was rushed. Looking back, I admit, it does seem a bit rushed. The argument should have been a bit longer. In my defence, I'd say that deep down; Hermione is very a very insecure girl. She has never had any friends and anybody who wants to be her friend is to get her homework done. Harry is the only one who is an exception. So, she doesn't want to lose him. Seeing Harry angry like that made her realise that if she argued any more that might be the end of their friendship. So she did the only thing she could, she begged for forgiveness.

It's one of the points where the story could have taken any one of the two directions. If Hermione had argued too long, that would have been the beginning of Hermione-bashing fic, something I don't really like. In canon, she stood by him, no matter what happened, unlike a certain redheaded idiot.

If I ever go back and redo the last chapter, I'll try to make it more convincing.

I omitted the whole dementor on the train scene because it was supposed to happen almost exactly like canon, so there was hardly any point copying the book.

About Ron – He isn't evil; he's just being his usual idiotic and jealous self.

About Dumbledore – he isn't exactly evil either; but he isn't above using some underhanded techniques to achieve what he wants.

If you don't like my characters, you can go read some other fics where the characters are portrayed exactly as in canon; there are plenty of them on this site. I don't want people flaming me for how I've portrayed my characters. Other than that, any constructive criticism is welcome.

Read Review and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine!

Chapter 11: Beginning of a New Year

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny went to breakfast the next morning to find Malfoy entertaining the Slytherins with what seemed like a very funny story. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter.

"Ignore him," said Hermione, who was right behind Harry. "Just ignore him; it's not worth it…"

"Hey, Potter!" shrieked Pansy Parkinson, "Potter! The dementors are coming, Potter! Woooooooo!"

To everybody's astonishment, Harry burst out laughing. "Dementors won't come anywhere near you, Parkinson," he said, once he had stopped laughing. "Judging by way Draco fainted, I'd say you are uglier than a dementor! I'm sure they would try their best to avoid you – the dementors, I mean."

It was Ginny and Ron's turn to laugh. Even Hermione managed a weak chuckle. Malfoy and Parkinson turned scarlet – but they could hardly do anything with teachers watching.

"Well done, Harry!" said George, as Harry sat beside him on the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah, that was brilliant, mate!" added Fred.

"Seems like young Harry might make a decent prankster yet…" said George.

"…despite the company he keeps." Fred finished the sentence, looking pointedly at Ron and Hermione, both of whom were oblivious to the conversation – Ron was busy stuffing his face while Hermione had her nose buried in her new Arithmancy book.

"Shut it, you two!" said Ginny.

"Seems like our baby sister…" began Fred.

"Finish that sentence and you'll get a first hand demo of some of the curses Bill taught me this summer," threatened Ginny, fingering her wand. "And what's so funny, Harry?"

Harry, who was smirking at the sight of Ginny threatening her brother, was spared from answering by the arrival of Professor McGonagall, who was distributing their course schedules.

Harry glanced at his schedule and groaned – they had Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherins – as if they didn't get enough of them in Potions!

"Hermione, why didn't you opt for Divination – I mean, that's the easiest subject there is – you could easily get an Outstanding!" said Ron, frowning as he looked over her shoulder.

"I'm not interested in fortune-telling, Ronald," snapped Hermione. She had never really liked Ron – and after the recent revelations, she found it rather hard to be polite to him.

Just then, Hagrid entered the Great Hall. He was wearing his long moleskin overcoat and was absentmindedly swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand. "All righ'?" he said eagerly, pausing on the way to the staff table. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin' everythin' ready… Hope it's okay… Me, a teacher… hones'ly…"

He grinned broadly at them and headed off to the staff table, still swinging the polecat.

"Wonder what he's been getting ready?" said Ron, a note of anxiety in his voice.

Harry had a feeling of impending disaster – whatever had made Hagrid so happy couldn't possibly be fit for third year students. For the hundredth time since he had received the Monster Book of Monsters, he wondered if it had been the right choice to opt for Care of Magical Creatures. Had Hagrid not been his friend, he would have dropped it immediately after he had found out who the teacher was. Hagrid, while a very good man, had a strange affinity to what other people would call terrifying monsters. On top of that, Salazar had never been interested in any magical creatures – other than serpents – the ring wouldn't be of much help.

Harry hastily finished his breakfast, said goodbye to Ginny and the twins and followed Hermione out of the Great Hall – with Ron following him.

"Where are you going, mate? Divination's at the top of North Tower," asked Ron when Harry tried to follow Hermione to the Arithmancy classroom.

"Arithmancy," replied Harry. Hermione looked at him in surprise.

"What d'you mean Arithmancy? You signed up for Divination!" said Ron indignantly.

"I changed my mind – or rather, I chose what I wanted in the first place. Like Hermione said, I'm not interested in fortune-telling," said Harry coolly. Ron's ears turned red.

"But – but you're supposed to –" Ron spluttered.

"Supposed to what, exactly?" Harry arched an eyebrow. Hermione looked rather amused.

Ron turned on his heel and stormed off, muttering under his breath.

Harry had known the confrontation was coming. And he was sure the Headmaster would hear of it very soon. As a precaution, he had taken a mild potion that would give him some time to take antidotes in case he was dosed again – and carried a few vials of the antidotes on him – as did Hermione and Ginny.

"Relax Harry – I doubt he allowed Ron to control you to this extent. Maybe, he won't report it for the fear of being punished for overstepping his authority," said Hermione, in a low voice.

"Be quiet, Hermione, we don't know who might be listening," Harry said in a voice barely above a whisper. He looked around, checking for any portraits and ghosts – thankfully, there were none in the hearing range. He dropped his voice even further, "The portraits and the ghosts report to him – be careful about what you say."

Hermione nodded, "Sorry, I didn't know…"

They reached the Arithmancy classroom with only a couple of minutes to spare. Looking around, Harry realised they were the only Gryffindors present – the rest were Ravenclaws. Harry wondered if there was a single Ravenclaw in their year who hadn't opted for Arithmancy.

Professor Vector was a stern looking witch in her late forties. She started the class by taking the roll call. Once she was satisfied everyone was present, she moved on to introduction to the subject.

"Arithmancy is the basis of modern spell-crafting and warding. Unlike most of the other subjects you study at Hogwarts, it doesn't have any applications in day to day life. From the career point of view, it's mandatory for curse-breakers, warding-experts, wand-makers, magical forensic experts – any field where you have to think beyond standard spells. But I must warn you, it's highly dangerous to tinker with spells – a little mistake can be fatal. Never use a customised spell without my approval. Apart from academic purposes, you need a spell-crafter's licence to develop new spells – an option that's available only to those who score at least an Exceeds Expectations at NEWT level…"

"Well, it was an interesting lesson," said Hermione, as they emerged from Arithmancy classroom.

"It was? I thought it was rather difficult!" said Harry. "Anyway, what's next?"

"Transfiguration," replied Hermione.

They hurried towards the Transfiguration classroom, not wanting to be late for McGonagall on the first day of classes. As usual, Harry had to drag Hermione away from the front row. As they took their seats in the third row – away from Ron, who was sitting at the back of the class with Dean, looking surly – they noticed something was off about the class. Nobody was talking and people kept shooting furtive glances at Neville, who was sitting at the far corner of the room, with his head in his hands. Harry was about to ask somebody what had happened when Professor McGonagall arrived.

After the usual start of the year lecture, outlining the things they'd be doing throughout the year, Professor McGonagall proceeded to explain about Animagi – wizards who could transform into animals at will. Harry smiled when she turned into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes.

"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself with a faint pop, and staring around at them all. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

Everybody's heads turned toward Neville again, but nobody spoke. Then Parvati raised her hand.

"Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and –"

"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Patil. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

Everyone stared at her. Neville raised his hand slowly – he was literally shaking.

"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing Neville with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Longbottom, that Sibyll Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favourite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues…"

Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney –" she stopped again.

"—is a fraud," Harry muttered under his breath. Hermione looked at him oddly, but didn't comment.

Professor McGonagall continued, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Longbottom, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Nearly everybody laughed; even Neville managed a smile.

Harry was pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as they set off for their first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.

Ron was yet to speak to them since the morning – something that suited them just fine. They had decided to get to Hagrid's hut a little early to try and get an idea of what kind of monsters they would be facing.

When they were sufficiently far away from the castle, Hermione spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, "Err—Harry, Could you tell me a little more about the whole thing? I mean – if you don't mind. I'm not trying to be nosy or anything…" she trailed off nervously.

Harry chuckled, "No need to sound so nervous, Hermione – I won't bite you. And I can't tell you everything, not until you have learnt Occlumency – but I'll try to explain as much as I can. Meet me in the library after dinner – and bring Ginny if you can."

Hermione nodded. They covered the rest of the distance debating what kind of a monster Hagrid had prepared for them.

"Hullo there – Harry, Hermione!" Hagrid greeted them in his usual cheery way. "Hang on, there's one missin', where's Ron?"

"Err—he'll join us later. Anyway, what're you gonna teach us today, Hagrid?" Harry tried to change the subject hurriedly.

"Nah, not tellin'. That's a surprise fer yeh lot. Trus' me, yeh'll like it!"

Harry's heart sank; Hagrid couldn't possibly be so excited over a harmless creature.

"It isn't – dangerous, is it?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Dangerous? Nah, not unless yeh're stupid enough to provoke 'em. Anyway, how d'yeh like the book?"

"Err—not to be rude, but the book tried to bite my fingers off when I tried to open it. I had to shut it with Spellotape to stop it from making a racket…" Hermione trailed off, looking embarrassed.

"Must have been the first book you didn't try to read as soon as you got it," Harry teased. Hermione turned pink.

Hagrid, on the other hand, looked crestfallen, "Yeh haven't been able ter open yer books?"

Harry and Hermione shook their heads in unison.

"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look –"

He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the Spellotape that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.

"I – I thought they were funny," Hagrid said nervously.

"It's all right, Hagrid. It really is funny – once you figure out how to open it!" Harry tried to console his huge friend. As much as he disliked Hagrid's fascination with dangerous creatures, he could never dislike Hagrid himself.

Thankfully, they had managed to cheer Hagrid up by the time the rest of the class arrived – because it was a combined class with Slytherins – and Draco Malfoy was among the first to arrive, flanked by his regular bodyguards. Why Malfoy had chosen to study the subject was beyond Harry – he certainly wasn't the type to care about magical creatures.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

For one nasty moment, Harry thought that Hagrid was going to lead them into the forest; Harry had had enough unpleasant experiences in there to last him a lifetime. However, Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Predictably, nobody had been able to open the book – something Malfoy didn't fail to give Hagrid grief over. When they had all managed to open their books, Hagrid strode away from them into the forest and out of sight. Malfoy continued his rant about Hagrid – something Harry chose to ignore.

"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.

Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-coloured beaks and large, brilliantly orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

Harry could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different colour – stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.

Harry listened with fascination as Hagrid explained about the hippogriffs. On the other hand, Malfoy and his cronies weren't listening; they were probably plotting how best to disrupt the lesson.

"Right – who wants ter go first?" asked Hagrid, once he had finished explaining.

Most of the class backed away in answer. Even Harry had misgivings. The hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.

"I'll do it," said Harry.

He approached the grey Hippogriff – Buckbeak – and bowed, as Hagrid had explained. The Hippogriff bowed back after a minute.

"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right – yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Feeling that a better reward would have been to back away, Harry moved slowly toward the hippogriff and reached out towards it. He patted the beak several times and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.

The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.

"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!"

Riding a hippogriff was uncomfortable, to say the least. Unlike his Nimbus 2000, he didn't have anything to hold on to. He felt himself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the hippogriff rose and fell with its wings. Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock before depositing him back to the ground. Fortunately, Harry managed a graceful landing.

Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. Harry helped Hermione with the chestnut. Ron had partnered with Dean and Seamus.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.

"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to hear him. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it… I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

Harry knew what was about to happen – he pulled out his wand and used the first curse that came to his mind.

"Expelliarmus!"

He had deliberately overpowered the spell. As a result, Malfoy was blasted away from the range of the hippogriff's rapidly descending talons, taking Crabbe with him. Goyle wasn't so lucky – Buckbeak's talons landed on his legs. Goyle let out a high pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy.

Ron ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Goyle easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash on Goyle's leg; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward the castle.

Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. The Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid and Harry.

"They should fire him straight away!" said Pansy Parkinson.

"I'll get you back for that, Potter!" Malfoy threatened Harry.

"Are you completely daft, Malfoy? Had it not been for Harry, you would be the one in Goyle's position. It would have been worse for you, you were closer to Buckbeak. And it was your fault in the first place, Hagrid had warned not to insult them," Hermione said hotly.

"Who asked for your opinion, you jumped-up, know-it-all mud–"

"Finish the sentence and you'll wish Buckbeak had got you," Harry said in a deadly voice, pointing his wand at Malfoy's throat.

"Get lost, you bunch of ungrateful snakes," Ron had finally caught up with them, though he still refused to look at Harry.

Malfoy looked like he wanted to say something, but the rest of the Gryffindors had pulled out their wands, and there were very few Slytherins in Care of Magical Creatures. He stormed off towards the castle, followed by the rest of the Slytherins.

After dinner, Harry met Hermione and Ginny in library. Surprisingly enough, there had been no attempts to dose him with Draught of Slavery again – not that he knew of. Maybe Ron hadn't informed the Headmaster, as Hermione had predicted. In any case, Harry wasn't complaining. After making sure that nobody was looking, he took out his invisibility cloak and threw it over himself and the two girls. He mentally commanded it go into full concealment mode.

"Harry, what is this all about?" asked Ginny.

"We are going to the Room of Requirements. Hermione wants to know more," replied Harry.

"What is the Room of Requirements?" asked Hermione, bewildered.

"Later, Mione," said Harry, as they moved out of the library.

"Wait, what if there are tracking charms on her?" asked Ginny.

"Don't worry, Gin. The cloak will conceal us completely," Harry replied with a smirk.

Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure? Wasn't Dumbledore using them to track you?"

"That's because the charms were on the cloak itself. And I wasn't using the cloak in full concealment mode."

"What mode?"

"Later! Now move – we don't have much time until curfew." Harry positioned himself between the two girls and put one arm around each girl's shoulders, pushing them towards their destination.

They reached the Room of Requirements about ten minutes later, having had to move slowly in order to stay concealed.

"I want a room to discuss things of sensitive nature, where nobody can find us, or overhear us, by any means. By us, I mean myself, Ginny and Hermione. Nobody else should be able to enter it and the door should disappear once I enter the room. It should reappear only when I want it to," Harry hissed, with the palm of his right hand on the centre of the blank stretch of the wall. Browsing through Salazar's knowledge of Hogwarts during the summer, he had found that the room had to be told exactly what it had to become. He tried to remove any loophole that might lead to them being discovered.

A black door, devoid of any decorations, appeared before them. Harry pulled it open and motioned for the girls to step in. He followed them to find a small, dark room with three uncomfortable looking wooden chairs and a rickety table. There were no decorations. All in all, it looked very gloomy.

"You forgot to add comfortable, you prat," said Ginny, swatting him on the shoulder.

"You could understand what he said?" asked Hermione, wide-eyed.

"Of course, couldn't you?" asked a confused Ginny.

Hermione shook her head, "It was Parseltongue, Ginny."

"What? It sounded like English!"

"To a Parselmouth, it sounds like their native language, Gin. You need to pay close attention to distinguish the hissing," said Harry.

"But how…"

"I don't know, Ginny. Add this to the list of questions we need to ask him. Let's get out and ask for a more comfortable room for now. You try this time."

"But—but I don't know how to speak Parseltongue," said Ginny. She still looked shocked.

"Concentrate upon a snake while speaking. And no need to look so shocked, it can be advantageous in some dire situation, you know," said Harry.

Stepping outside the room, Ginny placed the palm of her right hand on the centre of the wall and said, "I want a comfortable…"

"English," interrupted Harry, "Concentrate on the snake."

It took Ginny two more tries to get it right. Finally, they stepped into a smaller version of the Gryffindor common room, with three comfortable chairs and a table in the centre. Ginny had also added an alarm to warn them if someone was near the door.

"Harry, you do realise that Ron might not know about the whole thing. Dumbledore might just have told him he had some form of control over you," said Hermione. Harry had just finished telling her all about their suspicions and discoveries, except for Salazar and the Hallows. She had turned white when he told her about what had really happened in Dumbledore's office at the end of the last term and what had really happened to Lockhart.

Harry could tell that Hermione was having a hard time accepting things that were completely against everything she had ever been taught, but, to her credit, she didn't protest – not too much.

"I'd be astonished if he did, Hermione. No, I'm angry because he saw a chance to control me and jumped to it. He should've told me, or at least he shouldn't have taken advantage of it. He was supposed to be my friend, for Merlin's sake!" said Harry.

Hermione nodded. "There's more, isn't there?" she asked.

"The so called blood wards!" spat Harry, "I'm pretty sure it's nothing but a bunch of lies. Can you imagine Dumbledore using Dark Magic? And even if he did, I doubt wards work just because someone calls some place – home; not that I have ever considered Privet Drive home – especially since I found about Hogwarts… Come to think of it, I don't stay inside the house all the time. If somebody was so eager to kill me, all they had to do was wait for me to come out! And I stayed at the Leaky Cauldron this summer!" He shook his head, "No, I believe it's just an excuse to keep me there."

"But Harry, we have agreed Dumbledore doesn't want you dead. He couldn't have left you vulnerable like that!" protested Hermione.

"Oh no, he didn't. I'm pretty sure he has some way to monitor if I'm in danger. Think about it Hermione, even magic can't heal broken bones by itself. Somebody came to heal me when I was beaten too badly and then obliviated me. And how come the Dursleys could beat me up in first place, if the blood wards were keeping me safe?"

"Did they really beat you up that badly?" asked Hermione timidly.

Harry laughed humourlessly. "That's just the tip of the iceberg, Mione. But I'd rather not go into it."

"He lived in a cupboard till he was eleven, Hermione," Ginny added, "And you promised to tell me all about it, Harry."

"Not now, Gin. And we won't have any secrets when we start with Legilimency," said Harry.

Ginny huffed, "I won't think any less of you, you know!"

"They kept you in a cupboard!" Hermione said weakly.

Harry nodded, "I don't like to talk about it, Hermione."

"Oh no, Harry Potter, I'll find out all about it. That's it, I'm learning Legilimency too," said the bushy headed witch, with her arms crossed.

Harry chuckled, "Like you wouldn't have learned otherwise!"

Hermione blushed, but recovered pretty quickly, "I'm going to read about blood wards, Harry. If your suspicions are confirmed, you are staying with me this summer. I'll persuade my parents somehow."

"Thanks, Mione!" Harry smiled genuinely. "I wasn't planning to stay there anyway. I doubt they'd take me in, now that I've stopped the money... Look Hermione, you aren't likely to find anything about blood wards outside the Restricted Section – it's Dark Magic, remember? If you are so keen to research something, help me research the laws related to emancipation. I'll give you the books I bought at Flourish and Blotts. I'd do it myself, but all the legal language makes me feel sleepy," he finished looking sheepish.

To Harry's amusement, Hermione looked excited like a child who has been promised a mountain of candy at the prospect of new books. "Are you sure you want to get emancipated?" she asked, barely suppressing her excitement.

"Of course, Mione, I don't want anyone to have any control over me. And be discrete, I doubt the old man will let me out of his control so easily..." he trailed off.

There was a minute of silence Hermione checked her watch, "I think we should get going; It's past curfew already."

"Just one more thing, let me check you for any tracking charms," said Harry. He had learnt all about tracking charms during the summer.

He waved his wand in some complicated patterns all over Hermione's body, while chanting in Latin.

"Hmm… seems like you are clean," said Harry.

"Where did you learn that? It looked like really complicated piece of magic!" asked Hermione, looking somewhat miffed that Harry knew something she didn't.

Harry smirked, "Let's just say it's another thing I picked up from the mysterious benefactor of ours!"

Hermione huffed, "And I suppose you won't tell me about him?"

"Not yet, Mione. But I promise, I'll tell you once you've learnt Occlumency, provided that I have his permission. Now, don't think too much about all this when you are around Dumbledore or Snape, they can pick up surface thoughts without using their wands. Or better still; avoid eye contact with those two as far as you can!"

Hermione nodded again. Then she remembered something, "You said something about some mode of your cloak?"

Harry looked uncomfortable, "My cloak is different from other invisibility cloaks. It's special; it can hide anything – sound, smell, magical signature, aura – anything I tell it to. In full concealment mode, the only way to detect you would be to run into you. And I am the only one who can command it. Look, there's more to it, but wait till you have learnt Occlumency. It's very dangerous piece of knowledge. In wrong hands, it can be disastrous…"

"Okay Harry, but I'll expect a full explanation later," said Hermione.

"I know I can't keep you from learning something," said harry chuckling.

Cautiously, they stepped out of the room and left for the Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady scolded them for being late, but thankfully, the resident idiot of Gryffindor Tower had gone to bed. Harry was sure Ron would've said something nasty upon seeing him with Ginny, even if Hermione was with them.

In what seemed like no time, Harry was being shaken awake by Neville.

"Harry, wake up. You'll be late for Potions," Neville was saying.

"Snape will kill you," said Seamus, hitting him with a pillow.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry descended the boys' staircase to find Hermione and Ginny waiting for him. Hermione – to nobody's surprise – was reading a thick tome while Ginny was playing with Crookshanks.

"Good morning, Ginny, Hermione," greeted Harry.

"Morning, Harry," chorused the girls.

Together, they went to the Great Hall for breakfast. Ron was already there, shovelling down bacon at a disgusting rate. The trio made a point to sit as far away from him as possible.

After a quick breakfast, Ginny walked off towards the greenhouses while Harry and Hermione trotted towards the dungeons. Ron hadn't stopped eating yet.

They reached the Potions classroom just in time. Harry and Hermione took adjacent seats near the back of the classroom. Looking around, Harry realised that the idiotic trio – Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were absent, as was Ron – who was busy filling his Black Hole of a stomach – as Hermione called it.

"Settle down," said an oily voice, signalling that Snape had arrived.

They were submitting their summer homework when Ron barged in.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your tardiness, Weasley. And it will be detention unless you submit your homework within the next minute."

Ron hurriedly took out a scroll from his bag and handed it to Snape, before making a beeline for Harry and Hermione. His ears turned red when he realised that there was no space for him anywhere near them. Reluctantly, he took a seat in the front row, alone.

"Today we shall start with a new Potion – Shrinking Solution. It's more complex than anything you have brewed during the last two years. I don't expect a perfect solution from any of you, but…" he was interrupted by the arrival of Malfoy and his goons. Goyle was using a crutch.

"Settle down," said Snape. Harry was used to this blatant favouritism. It didn't bother him anymore. Ron, on the other hand, was a different story.

"Why didn't you take points from them? They came later than me! And you…"

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for speaking out of your turn, Weasley. Now be quiet unless you want detention."

Ron reluctantly sat down – anything was better than a detention with Snape.

"As I was saying, I would expect at least some acceptable potion from each of you, unless you want to suffer my displeasure. The instructions are on the blackboard, proceed!"

"Slimy git – didn't bother to explain anything," Harry muttered under his breath.

Hermione looked at him curiously, then shook her head and went back to her potion.

Harry was determined to let nothing go wrong, he wanted to brew a perfect potion for once. He had realised that potion making wasn't as difficult as Snape made it out to be. Most of the problems occurred because people failed to follow the instruction properly – not that he could blame them – Snape wrote the instructions in the worst possible manner. He read each instruction at least thrice and made sure he understood what it said before doing anything. As a result, his potion was coming along nicely. For once, Snape found nothing to criticise. He looked into his cauldron and gave a curt nod before moving on to Neville.

Neville, as usual, was in trouble. He regularly went to pieces in Potions lessons; it was his worst subject and his great fear of Snape made things ten times worse. His potion, which was supposed to be a bright, acid green, had turned –

"Orange, Longbottom," said Snape, ladling some up and allowing it to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see. "Orange! Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Tell me what the twenty-seventh instruction says, I presume you are capable of reading?"

The Slytherins howled with laughter.

"A-add r-rat sp-spleen when the potion turns s-scarlet," stammered Neville.

"And?"

"S-stir until potion turns p-pale yellow. Add a counter-clockwise stir for every t-twelve c-clockwise stirs. Add leech juice and let it s-simmer for eleven m-minutes. Then the potion will turn acid g-green…" Neville looked as though he was on the verge of tears.

Harry was impressed – Neville had managed to decipher the instruction correctly. The art of deciphering Snape's instructions was something they had to learn in their first year. To an outsider, the instructions would've looked like:

26) +dsy. rt. (7 p.), stir (clk.)—scar.
27) +rat spl. (x1), stir (clk. x12, cc. x1)—p. yel., +leech juc., simmer (11 m.)—ac. grn.
29) +slc. ctrplr. (13 p.), simmer—f. grn.

While it wasn't very difficult – at least for those who had had some experience in the class, it was certainly easy to misinterpret something, especially since it was written in Snape's minuscule and cramped handwriting. Snape hadn't exactly provided a key to all those abbreviations and symbols. Harry and Hermione had spent a couple of weeks during their first year deciphering the most common ones. Snape didn't usually allow them to open books while brewing, as a safety measure – and his instructions often tended to differ from those in the book. As a result, not even Hermione could brew the perfect potion every time.

"Impressive Longbottom, you aren't as stupid as I thought, at least you can read," Snape said with a sneer, "Now tell me, doesn't the instruction say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom? Let's see… at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."

"Please, sir," Hermione began, but was interrupted by an explosion in the front row. Snape ran towards the source.

"Weasley, it appears you are worse than even Longbottom, at least he can read the instructions," Snape sneered at Ron, once he had examined the contents of his cauldron.

"Decipher them, more like," Harry muttered under his breath.

"…and the skinned shrivelfig was supposed to be added after taking the cauldron off the heat, not before," Snape was saying. "Clean up this mess before you go to the hospital wing. And before I forget – you get a zero for today's work. Homework – two and a half feet on Shrinking Solution, including where you went wrong. Due on Monday!"

Ron's face and arms were covered in boils. Harry couldn't help but sympathise with him. The said redhead took out his wand and was about to vanish the contents of his cauldron when Snape stopped him, "Without magic, Salazar knows what you'll blow up with that wand."

Harry suppressed a snigger at the mention of Salazar.

Neville was watching the scene with horror. "Help me!" he moaned to Hermione.

Both Harry and Hermione's cauldrons were simmering at the moment.

"Add three pieces of daisy roots; that should neutralise the excess leech juice," Hermione whispered.

"No, wait; add a sopophorous bean; that'll take of the residual poison as well," Harry whispered.

Hermione looked at him incredulously, "What're you talking about Harry? We'll need to add some dragon liver to neutralise the poison."

"Trust me, Mione, I know what I'm doing. Dragon liver may react violently if there is an excess of rat spleen left in the potion."

"All right, but you are going to explain all this after the class. Are you really sure? I mean Trevor will die if something goes wrong…" Hermione trailed off uncertainly.

"I'm sure, Hermione! Now, be quick Neville, or the potion will solidify and we won't be able to do anything."

Neville, who was looking wide eyed at the two of them, hastened to get the sopophorous bean from the store cupboard.

"Now stir counter-clockwise until it turns light green," Harry said when Neville had added the bean. The round faced boy complied.

"Let it simmer now – until it turns acid green," whispered Hermione.

By the time Neville's potion turned acid green, Ron had cleaned up and left the room. Only a couple of minutes later, another explosion took place. This time it was Crabbe. Harry was thankful he wasn't sitting anywhere near the idiotic trio – Snape would have blamed it on him.

Snape lazily flicked his wand, vanishing the contents of Crabbe's cauldron and told him to go to the hospital wing. Harry felt himself getting angry at the injustice of it. It seemed like Snape somehow sensed his anger, for he looked at him as if expecting him to say something.

"Ignore him, just ignore him, Harry. He wants to provoke you; you'll end up in detention!" Hermione hissed.

Forcing his temper down, Harry went back to his potion, which was almost finished now.

About half an hour later, Snape called, "You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's…"

The Slytherins laughed openly, watching Neville sweat as he stirred his potion feverishly. Harry and Hermione packed away their unused ingredients and went to wash their hands and ladles in the stone basin in the corner. Once the potion was ready, he collected it in a vial, marked it with his name and handed it to Snape for grading. It wasn't the exact shade of green that was expected, but it was pretty close. It was at par with Hermione's potion and was certainly better than Malfoy's – which was closer to blue than green.

After collecting everybody's vials, Snape strode over to Neville, who was cowering by his cauldron.

"Everyone gather 'round," said Snape, his black eyes glittering, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."

The Gryffindors watched fearfully. The Slytherins looked excited. Snape picked up Trevor the toad in his left hand and dipped a small spoon into Neville's potion, which was now green. He trickled a few drops down Trevor's throat.

There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm.

The Gryffindors burst into applause. Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown.

"Five points from Gryffindor," said Snape, which wiped the smiles from every face. "Who told you to help him, Miss Granger?"

"I-I didn't Professor," said Hermione, trying to avoid eye contact with Snape.

"Detention for lying…"

"I was the one who helped him, Professor," said Harry, in an attempt to divert the attention away from Hermione.

Snape sneered, "And how exactly did you help him, Potter?" Harry felt an attempt to get through his mental shields. He had learnt enough Occlumency to convince Snape that he was telling the truth, without making it seem like his mental shields were up. As long as Snape didn't use his wand, he won't be any wiser about the situation.

"I told him to add a sopophorous bean; that would neutralise the excess leech juice and residual poison."

The gobsmacked look on Snape's face was absolutely priceless. But he recovered pretty quickly, "And why not daisy roots followed by dragon liver and mermaid scales?"

"Dragon liver might have reacted violently if there was any unconsumed rat spleen left in the potion."

Snape looked like he wanted nothing more than to vanish on the spot. Grudgingly, he said, "One point to Gryffindor. Class dismissed."

"Now tell me what was that all about? I'm sure it's not there in any of our standard books!" Hermione had pushed him in an unused classroom – free of any portraits and ghosts – and cast the basic privacy charms Ginny had taught them.

"Err—I studied a bit during the summer…" Harry trailed off at the look on her face.

"If you don't want to tell me, just say so. No need to make excuses!" Hermione said hotly.

"Look, Mione, it's not that I don't want to tell you. But it's a part of the information I can't tell you until you've learnt Occlumency." He lowered his voice, though it wasn't really necessary, "He taught me some things. I'll teach you everything. Just don't ask anything more for now," he pleaded.

Hermione didn't look satisfied, but agreed nonetheless, "I'm going to learn Occlumency as soon as I can – then I'll expect a full explanation!"

Harry nodded. There was really no choice when cornered by Hermione, and he hated keeping secrets from his friends.

"Let's go to lunch, shall we?" Harry asked, when Hermione didn't show any signs of moving.

Together, they set off towards the Great Hall. As they stepped into the entrance hall, they were accosted by an irate looking Ron Weasley. The boils were gone, but his skin still looked raw.

"Why didn't you wait for me to finish my breakfast?" Apparently, he had forgotten that he wasn't speaking to them.

"Because you were too busy filling that Black Hole of a stomach," Hermione retorted, "And unlike you, we don't like to be late for a class, especially Snape's. It would have been detention for Harry."

Ron, who had apparently stopped listening after 'stomach', protested, "But I'm a growing boy! I need to eat! At least you could've saved me a seat – then I wouldn't have gotten those boils – and a mountain of homework!"

"In case you've forgotten Ronald, you've been avoiding us for an entire day. Now you need help, so you crawl back to us?" Hermione said, with her hands on her hips and eyes narrowed.

Harry shared a smirk with Ginny, who had just arrived. Hermione could be very scary when enraged.

Ron turned red and stormed off to the Great Hall, leaving Harry and Ginny smirking.

"What are you smirking for?" Hermione turned towards them, hands still on her hips and eyes still narrowed.

Harry chuckled, "Nothing, Mione. You can be scary sometimes, you know that?"

Hermione finally cracked a smile.

"Mind telling me what was all that about?" enquired Ginny, "I thought my dear brother wasn't speaking to the two of you."

"Your brother is an arsehole, Ginny!" said Hermione.

"Language, Hermione!" Harry mock-scolded Hermione, who turned pink.

"That's a well established fact, Hermione. Care to tell me what he did this time?"

Harry and Hermione filled Ginny in on what had happened in the Potions class. She laughed hysterically when Harry told her that he had managed to get a point from Snape.

"Hey, Harry," said Seamus Finnigan, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning –they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted." They had just arrived at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"Where?" asked Harry, taking a seat between Hermione and Ginny.

"Not too far from here," said Seamus, who looked excited. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."

Harry sighed. As he piled food into his plate, he wondered what it would be like to have a quiet life. Both Ginny and Hermione were looking worriedly at him.

Harry had been looking forward to Defence Against the Dark Arts. If the twins were to be believed, Professor Lupin was seriously cool. And for once, it turned out, they weren't joking. The lesson started with Professor Lupin telling them to put away their books and follow him to the staff-room. The excitement only increased when he dealt with Peeves by forcing a wad of chewing gum down nostril. The said poltergeist had been stuffing a keyhole with it.

As their luck would have it, Snape was sitting in the staff-room when they arrived. The old bat didn't miss a chance to harass Neville in front of Professor Lupin. Fortunately, Professor Lupin showed some confidence in Neville and asked him to be the first to tackle the boggart.

It didn't really come as a surprise that Neville's greatest fear at the moment was Snape. And it was hilarious to watch Neville forcing Professor Boggart-Snape in his grandmother's clothes. Harry wished he had a camera, or better, Colin was there. The excitable little Gryffindor could be really annoying sometimes, but there was no denying his talent for photography.

Harry watched as the rest of his classmates faced their worst fears. Ron had been trying to slip into their good graces ever since lunch, without actually apologizing. So far, Harry and Hermione had successfully ignored him.

Harry wondered what his worst fear could be – it was a close call between Dumbledore, Voldemort and a dementor. Harry hoped the boggart won't turn into Dumbledore; that would raise some really awkward questions. And how do you make a dementor look funny?

But Professor Lupin stepped in before Harry could face the boggart. Harry wondered why Professor Lupin would be afraid of an orb hanging in the air; and more importantly, why Professor Lupin deliberately stopped him from facing the boggart.

"That was the probably the best Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had," said Harry as they made their way back to the classroom to get their bags.

"He seems like a very good teacher," said Hermione approvingly. "But I wish I could have had a turn with the boggart..."

"What would it have been for you?" said Ron, who had just caught up with them. "A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?"

Harry and Hermione ignored him again.

By the time they left the Great hall after dinner, Harry was ready to bang his head against something – Ron just wouldn't leave them alone. He seemed to believe that he had been forgiven without even apologizing – or that there was nothing to apologize for.

Harry had planned to start teaching Ginny and Hermione the things he had learnt during the summer. He didn't really have a problem with Ron learning those things, but if the Headmaster got wind of it, it could end up in a disaster. There weren't many books that taught things in so much depth as the ring had taught him. So, it would be difficult to explain where he had learnt those things

In the end, they had decided to visit Hagrid. Ron had immediately objected to Ginny coming along, but a glare from the little redhead had shut him up.

It turned out that Hagrid had received a warning for bringing hippogriffs to the class. According to the letter, hippogriffs weren't supposed to be covered until sixth year. He was also instructed to keep the offending hippogriff in isolation and submit monthly reports about its behaviour to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for a year.

After reassuring their huge friend that he was a good teacher and politely declining his rock cakes, they had returned to the castle. Harry had to admit, Hagrid had an extensive knowledge of magical creatures. Other than the accident with Goyle, the class had been really good. He was glad he had knocked Malfoy away; otherwise it would have been a lot worse than a warning for Hagrid. Buckbeak would probably have been executed.

After returning from Hagrid's hut, they had decided to go to the library, to get some homework done, and hopefully, get rid of Ron. Unfortunately, Ron had decided to tag along, muttering about Potions homework.

Luck finally favoured them when they returned to the common room after dinner. One of the older students challenged Ron to a game of chess. They managed to slip away under the cover of the invisibility cloak.

Harry let Ginny ask for the room this time. She could certainly be more creative when asking for a room where they wouldn't be disturbed. Predictably, Hermione immediately ran towards the bookshelves, looking gleeful.

"Hey, Hermione, I'm the one who's supposed to be teaching here!" protested Harry.

Author's Notes: All the reviewers have my gratitude.

Here are my replies to the reviews:

1) About the destruction of dementors – Harry just said he wants to learn how to destroy them, he doesn't know about their immortality yet. And I don't intend to make a golden patronus of love or any such thing. In this fic, love isn't going to be the answer to everything. If Harry does destroy dementors, there will be a reasonable explanation behind it, and there will a price to pay.

2) Why Harry was angry with Hermione even though she didn't know anything – in his opinion, Hermione betrayed his trust by speaking of things he had forbidden her to. And you aren't very rational when you are angry.

3) How come Ginny was Harry's best friend when she was at home – what I tried to convey that Harry felt safer to share his secrets with Ginny than Ron. In other words, he felt closer to her. Ron was a friend, but not so close that harry couldn't see his shortcomings.

4) Why didn't Ron hang around with Dean or Seamus – he was somewhat attracted to the whole boy-who-lived thing. And let's face it, how many people can tolerate someone like Ron? He keeps making fun of football, which is Dean's favourite sport… What I'm trying to convey is that Ron was friends with Harry, but Harry didn't feel as close to him as he did to Ginny. Hermione never really liked him in this fic.

5) Someone said something about Harry sounding too mature for a twelve year old – yes he is. When you face horrors in your life, you tend to grow up quickly. Ginny too, is somewhat more mature than someone her age should be – thanks to Tom Riddle. But they aren't too mature.

6) About Harry murdering Dumbledore – I just wanted opinions. I didn't say it would be happening for sure. Harry talked about vengeance and blood; let's just say he was very angry.

7) Dark Lord Harry – NOOOO!

Hope this satisfies your curiosity!

Next Chapter – Harry gets another stage of the block removed and Hermione meets Salazar Slytherin! I hope to post it soon!

More reviews means faster update! (I'm somewhat disapointed by the number of reviews)
Please Review!

Author's Notes: