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Disclaimer: I'm innocent, innocent I tell ya. I don't own Harry Potter.

By their fourth day back at Hogwarts after the holidays, Harry and Blaise had easily settled back into their usual routine of classes, going to the library, and preparing for the upcoming match they had against Ravenclaw. Yet there was one thing conspicuously absent, well, someone. Hermione Granger, a fellow second year who had never before missed a class, wasn't anywhere to be seen. It piqued Harry and Blaise's curiosity, especially since they had overheard her and Ron's holiday plans for snooping a while back. Naturally Harry and Blaise just had to know what was going on then and just happened to overhear Ron talking to his fellow Gryffindors. It wasn't like it was their fault they just happened to be loitering around when the Gryffindors were discussing their absent classmate where anyone could hear them.

"She'll be out once Madam Pomfrey reverses the spell damage" Ron was saying.

"Was it the Slytherins" another was asking "I bet it was those slimy snakes."

Ron looked a bit nervous and for some reason cut off that line of thought "no, just an accident with a spell we were trying to do."

Harry and Blaise shot each other looks as the Gryffindors moved on "well that didn't help. Ron was obviously lying about what happened. It can't be that she's petrified, we'd have known about that for sure."

Harry shrugged "we'll work on it more later. Right now it's time to meet Trevor and Severus for lessons."

Blaise grimaced slightly "they're really upping the ante aren't they? Before break they were still letting us do two-on-one dueling, but now we have to do one-on-one against them. If not for Sensei's training there'd be times when we could have been seriously injured had the spells connected."

Harry winced in memory of a particularly nasty spell he had been lucky had only grazed him instead of hitting him full on "yeah. At least we're light-years ahead of our classmates and can certainly take them out. Wish Trevor'd let us quit dueling club at least so we could have some more free time."

Harry and Blaise were still bantering along this vein when they entered Severus' classroom and immediately flew apart, twisting their bodies as if expecting oncoming curses. None came though and they looked up to find Severus alone, grumbling as he worked over a gently steaming cauldron.

"What are you brewing" Harry asked quietly, not wanting to break Severus concentration.

"It seems Miss Granger managed to somehow take upon the physical characteristics of a cat while still remaining human" Severus sneered derisively "and Madam Pomfrey's spells have failed to return her to normal. Therefore I have been made to brew a potion commonly used to reverse failed animagus transformations in hopes it will work. As it was her own blunder, I feel things should be allowed to run their course. Last I heard from a tutting Madam Pomfrey she was coughing up hairballs."

One side of Harry's mouth quirked into a small smile as the missing pieces of the puzzle clicked together. He and Blaise had read up on the polyjuice potion in their first year and had refreshed themselves on it after hearing of Hermione and Ron's plan of using it. One of the biggest warnings about the potion had been that it was not to be used for animal transformations, only human. He also remembered happening to overhear Hermione and Ron discussing who they were going to turn into. One of Hermione's options had been Millicent Bullstrode and if Harry remembered correctly, Millicent had a cat. For some reason Harry kept his suspicions to himself though. He could have told Severus what he thought and make the man's job easier, but another part of him thought that if Severus couldn't figure it out himself then why should he help; Hermione had brought this upon herself anyhow but not making sure she had a human hair. Had it been an older student Severus most likely would have suspected a fouled polyjuice potion given Hermione's symptoms, but from a second year other than someone he had personally trained Severus would not suspect such capability.

"Does that mean lessons are canceled this evening" Blaise spoke up.

"No" Severus dashed their hopes "Trevor shall be down in a bit after he finishes up with a third years detention and we will begin then."

Harry decided to make himself comfortable upon one of the scarred desktops, idly swinging on leg as he asked "did you find a potion that could cause a state similar to petrification yet?"

For long moments Severus was silent as he added the final ingredients to the potion he was working on "I have found a few things that could perhaps come close, but as yet nothing is for certain. The most troublesome part is finding a potion that will equally affect ghosts as it has humans."

"So in other words, Severus," Trevor spoke from just inside the doorway "you have no fucking idea what type of potion could stimulate such effects."

Severus scowled, though it wasn't as fierce as the ones he gifted most students with "you leave the potion work to me Trevor Zabini and I'll leave the tactical stuff, such as finding this bastard, to you."

"Fair enough" Trevor shrugged and Harry knew Trevor was still just as tense (as evidence by his cursing) as he had been before the holidays, had been tense ever since Macmillian's accusations "but for now we have some teaching to do. No matter what I want Harry and Blaise to be able to defend themselves against whatever is out there."

~~ ~~ ~*~

A few hours later Harry and Blaise were finally allowed to limp from the room they had been training in with Severus and Trevor.

"Ugh" Blaise groaned "I'm going to be stiff for days."

"And we have Quidditch practice the next few nights with a game on Saturday" Harry added "you know Flint will be working our asses off."

"Then there's homework" Blaise added to the list.

"Classes."

"Dueling Club."

"Morning workout."

Harry and Blaise sighed in unison and Harry shook his head "they expect us to be superkids or something, not that I really mind, but it was easier to escape this stuff at home when we needed to than it is here. Oh well, we can always plan another prank with the twins to relieve some of this stress."

"Good idea" Blaise yawned "but right now I want sleep. Pranks can wait."

Surprisingly Harry agreed with Blaise, telling them both just how exhausted they actually were. It wasn't everyday that Harry Darkov passed up a chance to begin plotting a new prank.

~~ ~~ ~*~

The match against Ravenclaw couldn't have come soon enough for Harry and Blaise; not only did it give them a chance to work off some of their competitive nature, but they also knew Flint would stop riding their asses so hard until it got closer to time for the next match. Harry and Blaise gripped their broom as they waited for the signal to leave the Slytherin locker rooms, the excitement of the roaring crowd outside had given them a boost of endorphin-induced energy and the two mafia brats felt as if they were about to engage in battle. Too bad this match wasn't against Gryffindor, then it would really have been a battle, Ravenclaw tended to rely more on strategy than all-out offensive plays.

Lee Jordan's voice suddenly boomed out through the air "Welcome ladies and gents to the Slytherin versus Ravenclaw match. For Ravenclaw we have captain and chaser Davies, chasers Bradley and Chambers, keeper Boot, beaters Douglas and Ramsey, and seeker Chang. For Slytherin we have the underhanded captain and chaser Flint; chasers Montague and Warrington; keeper Bletchley; beaters Potter and Zabini, who are incidentally the only non-cheaters on the Slytherin team; and seeker Malfoy, whose daddy bought his way onto the team."

Harry and Blaise couldn't stop the grins that spread across their faces as they did the customary opening lap around the pitch with the rest of their team, saluting Lee who was being severely berated by McGonagall. Meanwhile, the opposing Quidditch teams had landed on the field and Madam Hooch was giving her usual pre-game speech about playing fair and having a nice clean game. The whistle blew and fourteen figures launched themselves off of the ground and into the air, whipping about in a fast paced dance in which each player tried to dominate over their opponents.

"And they're off" Lee Jordan had once again managed to regain control of the magical microphone "Slytherin in possession and streaking up the field towards a nervous looking Boot. It's his first year on the team and-"

"Lee!" McGonagall cut through the aside commentary "stick to the match!"

Sometime a few hours later Ravenclaw had finally managed to score again, making it 150 to 130 in favor of Slytherin when Flint called the team to the ground for a time out.

"Malfoy" Flint growled in a voice reminiscent of a troll "catch that bloody snitch soon or we'll be rethinking your father's generosity. Shove Chang off her broom to get her to stoop tailing you if you have to. Potter, Zabini! I want you working double time out there. Disable the other team. I don't even want them to get near the goals. Bletchley-one more goal goes through and you are done. We can't let Chang catch the snitch or we could be out of the running for the cup."

Moments later they were back up in the air, Harry and Blaise flying up to their positions together as they talked quietly. They knew that they needed to do, but they didn't like Flint's interpretation of disable. It was one thing to severely injure, or possibly even kill, a person when in a battle or duel, but this was a game meant for enjoyment. With final, decisive nods, Harry and Blaise decided on a course of action and broke apart to rejoin the game in earnest.

Harry was just setting himself into position to smack a bludger at the tail end of a Ravenclaws broom to spin them off course when he saw both Malfoy and Chang go into a steep dive towards the fluttering snitch. Changing the angle of his arm slightly, Harry sent the bludger intended for the Ravenclaw chaser towards Chang while hoping it merely crossed in front of her without making contact as he intended it to. On the opposite end of the pitch, Blaise had done the same exact thing and the two Slytherin beaters could only watch as the bludgers barreled towards each other and Chang. Mere moments before Chang would have reached the collision spot the two bludgers rammed into each other full force, exploding into hard black bits. Chang managed to pull up at the last second to avoid the collision and subsequent explosion, but in the chaos she had lost the snitch to Malfoy.

"And Malfoy catches the snitch" Lee Jordan cried out the news, turning most eyes away from the scene with Chang "Slytherin wins 300-130."

Together with the rest of the team, Harry and Blaise landed and slipped away to clean up in the locker room. When they emerged a rough twenty minutes later most of the stands had cleared of the Quidditch fans, but the twins were waiting for them.

"Not even we have blown up the bludgers" George stated.

"Not once in our industrious career as beaters" Fred confirmed.

"You best not stick around here for too long" George warned.

"Madam Hooch is in a right tizzy" Fred looked gleeful.

Harry and Blaise exchanged looks with each other and then the twins.

"To the kitchens" all four cried at once and took off before they attracted Madam Hooch's attention.



Things were pretty calm around Hogwarts until early March when another attack took place. This attack shook everyone up, for it showed that no one was safe, not even the purebloods that had been loudly extolling their immunity to attack. Even Draco Malfoy had been seen to pale when news of this new attack circled around the school. Ron Weasley had been attacked and found petrified in one of the boys lavatories. When he had been found the water was still running over his frozen hands, his reflection in the mirror hinting at some horror he must have seen.

The realization that purebloods weren't immune to attack didn't really affect Harry and Blaise all that much, both of them were always aware that attacks could come at any moment and could be geared towards anyone no matter their status in life; not to mention the fact that Harry himself was only a half-blood. Instead, they merely focused more on their lessons and training, increasing the time they spent looking for who or what could be behind the attacks. They also spent as much time as they could on cheering up the twins, cajoling the two to join them in a spate of pranks from which no one was safe. Dungbombs were set off in the teachers lounge, students and teachers alike would randomly find their hair changing colors, but one of the best had been when a random popping sound would be heard and some unlucky student found themselves without their pants-the staff had been exempt from that prank for obvious reasons, no one wanted to see Snape or McGonagall in their knickers. Yet for all the pranks pulled, the school was still overshadowed by a somber attitude that nothing seemed able to break; fear was thick in the air and the twin's good-natured spirit was still non-existant.

Around this time, during their Easter holiday, the second years were also faced with the fact that they need to choose their elective classes for third year. For Harry and Blaise this wasn't much of a problem, Trevor had already decided upon what classes they would take, but for other students it was fast becoming a major problem. Harry couldn't help but think of what had happened when he and Blaise had gone to talk to Trevor and Severus about what classes they should take for third year.

~Flashback~

They were walking towards Severus' classroom for training and talking about their choices of elective.

"I just wish we could drop History of Magic" Blaise was saying "it's so boring, we learn more on our own time than we do in class. All Binns ever talks about is the Goblin Wars."

"Unfortunately we can't drop it" Harry pointed out "but it's always a good class in which to do other stuff in. We put the lesson time to good use by either looking up interesting spells or sleeping."

"Sleeping more often than not" Blaise agreed "What do you think about muggle studies?"

Harry shook his head "no, it would be pointless. We grew up in the muggle world and I don't really need to hear the wizarding worlds biased version of the muggle world."

"Divination?"

"Don't even think it" Trevor called from the doorway of Severus' classroom "Divination is a very wooly and imprecise branch of magic. The teacher's a crackpot fraud as well. Severus and I have already figured out what the best classes for you to take are. We'll fill out your request forms before we start training."

~End Flashback~

So Harry and Blaise had found themselves taking the required Potions, Defense, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, History of Magic, Astronomy along with the electives Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Care of Magical Creatures. It was all Harry and Blaise could do not to groan when they found out what Trevor and Severus planned to sign them up for. The only thing that would get them through such a schedule without a time-turner, Severus and Trevor had been debating on trying to obtain them permission to use them, was frantic studying over the summer on top of the muggle classes Manuel was insisting they resume. In the end it was decided that they would wait to see how the class schedule worked out before pursuing the idea of obtaining time-turners for Harry and Blaise, not that it would be all that hard for even though they were in Slytherin both Harry and Blaise had proved responsible and held tied for first in their year with Hermione Granger. Harry couldn't help but wonder what the know-it-all Gryffindor would be taking next year. Then there had been no more time for thinking as training began, Harry and Blaise were really beginning to regret ever thinking it was a good idea for Trevor to teach at Hogwarts. When they were at home Trevor had the training of the various Daggers, Wolves, and Guards to oversee along with their classes and helping Manuel with the daily running of their various enterprises; here at Hogwarts he had classes to teach, but only their training to oversee, and so it gave him a lot of time to push them to their limits.

~~ ~~ ~*~

The far side of the lake was quiet at dawn, the giant squid's tentacles waving lazily beneath the surface of the water as Harry fiercely danced his way through the grass, following the way of the Path as Sensei had taught him. He shouldn't have been out alone, but he had slipped away before anyone could notice. Hogwarts was in turmoil and both Harry had felt the overwhelming pressure to escape the encasing stone walls even though he was supposed to be in the common room until it was time for breakfast when either a teacher or their head of house would perform a headcount before letting them go about their day. A little over a week ago had been the Quidditch match, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, but with the current morale of the twins Gryffindor had petitioned to switch matches with Slytherin and it had been granted.

~Flashback~

It was nearly time for the match to begin and Flint was pacing around like a caged tiger even though he had agreed along with the rest of the team to accept the changed date for the match.

"Where is Zabini" Flint had suddenly barked at him.

Harry looked up slowly from where he had been checking over his broom "her father wished to talk to her and she had to run back to the dorms to grab her guards. She'll be here in a minute."

"Professor Zabini is already in the stands" Flint informed Harry "and has been there since I talked to Professor Snape at least ten minutes ago. So where is Zabini?!"

A deep chilled had settled in his gut and Harry had risen with dangerous grace to his feet as foreboding washed over him. His broom had clattered unheeded to the floor at his feet and he had been prepared to dash off in search of Blaise.

"Someone go inform Professor Zabini" he had started, feet already moving him towards the locker room exit when Professor McGonagall had dashed onto the field with a purple megaphone in her hand.

Harry felt as if he had been frozen in stone.

"This match has been cancelled" Professor McGonagall called through the megaphone "all students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can please!"

Harry hadn't even realized when Trevor had come to stand at his side as McGonagall had made her way to them.

"You two had best come with me" she said softly "there's been another attack...another double attack."

Harry's heart had frozen.

Blaise.

~End Flashback~

Harry gave a particularly vicious twist with his body as he attacked an opponent only he could see, the calming dance of the path turning into something violent. They had no idea what had happened to either Blaise or the Ravenclaw Penelope Clearwater, the only thing odd about the scene besides the two petrified bodies had been the burnt and half-melted remains of a suit or armor crashed to the ground beside the two girls. Harry fell to his knees upon the ground, ignoring the tears streaming freely down his face, and began wildly stabbing at the earth beneath him with a knife as if he could avenge the hurt done to Blaise. He was all alone in this now. Dumbledore had been evicted from the school by the Board of Governors, rumor also had it that Hagrid the Gamekeeper had been sent to Azkaban in relation to the attacks, Severus was too busy helping McGonagall keep the school together and patrolling the hallways between classes, and Trevor-Trevor had seemed to draw into himself and wouldn't leave his daughter's bedside.

Harry was truly all alone except for the pitying and fearful looks he saw in the eyes of his fellow Slytherins, none dared approach him for he had gone from their seemingly easygoing but dangerous classmate to something cold that frightened them. How he wished his father was here, Manuel would know what to do, he always knew. With one last hard thrust Harry buried the blade of his dagger into the ground up to the hilt. Unbidden a sob escaped his throat. Blaise.