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Chapter Fourteen: Uncertain Reality

Draco Malfoy walked towards the Headmaster’s office for his Ministry mandated meeting with Dumbledore. It was something that Draco felt that was beneath him but to keep up all appearances, Malfoy had to attend all these meetings. He needed to remain at Hogwarts until Potter laid dead at his feet, for the world to see. Then everyone would see that Potter was a true flash in the pan and Draco Malfoy was the epitome of what a wizard should be.

“Licorice Wand,” muttered Draco in a slightly disgusted voice, causing the gargoyle of Dumbledore’s office to spring open, allowing the Malfoy heir to enter the corridor leading towards the office. Draco raised his hand up before knocking on the door.

“Enter,” declared Dumbledore’s voice from within his office and Draco pushed open the door, entering the office where Dumbledore sat behind his task, his eyes twinkling as Draco walked inside, with a blank expression on his face. “Ah yes, Draco, do come in, have a seat.”

Draco slowly sat down opposite Dumbledore, careful not to make too much eye contact with the Headmaster. Dumbledore had his ways of getting information from people and it would not be a good idea to make it too easy for Dumbledore.

“Well, a very interesting week if I may say so myself,” declared Dumbledore in a faux kindly voice that was so sugary sweet that it made Draco want to vomit right there. “Have you had any problems settling back in?”

“No, Headmaster, I haven’t,” replied Draco without the slightest hint of emotion. “Starting back as a fourth year has been a minor inconvenience but it may be for the best, as several things quite have been overlooked when studying independently.”

Of course, Draco’s independent study consisted of mostly of him diving headfirst into the dark arts, in a thirst for power, a thirst for knowledge; he would make Potter, his friends, and his family all pay for ruining his life.

“Quite correctly, thus is the drawback of independent study,” replied Dumbledore. “I must say that the teaching so far this year has been way above any standards that I could expect ever from Hogwarts. With the exception of the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, sadly.”

Dumbledore looked at the desk.

“Not that I should be saying this, but this was forced upon me by the Ministry of Magic, in an attempt to atone for Dolores Umbridge’s regime last year, forgetting that they were the one’s who insisted that she teach last year,” declared Dumbledore. “Severus Snape would have been a more apt Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but the Ministry insisted that I hire Lily Potter, no doubt they wanted to gain favor with young Mr. Potter.”

“Professor Potter has been a decent teacher especially given her bloodline,” declared Draco in a grudging voice, who still believed that all Mudbloods should be executed or at least thrown off the Astronomy tower without a wand, but could not dispute the fact that the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher new the subject, even if her methods seemed to flaunt the face of pureblood logic.

“Not a question of her talents my boy, but more like her mental stability,” declared Dumbledore in a tired voice. “I fear her near death experience at the hands of Lord Voldemort has addled her mind. She is using her own son as a pawn to gain control of the Wizarding World, and as much as I try to have helped the boy, he shunned me, he refused, no doubt afraid that I would detected that Harry Potter was treading down a path of darkness. Lily is obviously accelerating that process of young Harry’s decline to the dark arts and I fear that should he find a way to defeat Lord Voldemort, the decline of the British Wizarding World would crumble further.”

“A shame, but surely the great Professor Dumbledore is trying to stop this from happening,” replied Draco, not able to help himself to keep a little of the sarcasm out of his voice.

“Harry Potter is charismatic as Lord Voldemort, he has many allies in powerful places, and seventy percent of the Hogwarts students seems to hold Harry in the highest esteem, even before his mother had managed to come back to his life Harry was a danger to all who didn’t agree with him,” declared Dumbledore calmly. “Lily Potter was one of the brightest students to ever pass to Hogwarts, able to discover some quite lethal and dangerous spells, many she used to help with the cause of the light side against Death Eaters, but now she has deluded herself to believe that I am not to be trusted.”

Draco just sat there, wondering what kind of fool Dumbledore took him for. His father had always stated that anyone who didn’t kiss the very ground that Albus Dumbledore had walked on, they were branded a dark wizard and a threat to the magical world. Potter obviously didn’t trust Dumbledore at all, the only thing that Draco felt that Potter would ever have in common with him. Still he had to play the game, even if he was playing both Dumbledore and Potter to an extent. After all, he was a pureblood of the highest caliber and not a filthy half blood or a senile old fool hanging onto his past glories, not having done anything relevant in past year. He was Draco Malfoy!

“I trust you wish for this to not leave this office, Professor,” replied Draco in an even voice, making sure to shield his innermost thoughts with frivolous memories, in an attempt to block Dumbledore’s slight probes into his mind.

“Very astute young Draco, it pleases me greatly to see that you have chosen a path quite differently from your father, quite unfortunate really, as Lucius did have a great deal of potential,” replied Dumbledore calmly. “Still Draco, you do have the potential to be great, if you move down the correct path.”

Draco kept a blank expression upon his face, very well aware that the right way meant Dumbledore’s way which in turn meant the right way for Dumbledore and not right for any sane person on the planet, along with the majority of the insane. Still many people followed Dumbledore, much like sheep, not bothering to think for themselves. The old man was attempting to persuade Draco to follow his path with praise, not that the Malfoy heir didn’t agree about his greatness.

“Thank you, sir,” replied Draco in a calm voice. “Will that be all?”

“Yes, Draco, I do realize it is getting rather late, best not to be in the corridors during these times,” declared Dumbledore. “Good night, Draco.”

“Good night, Headmaster,” replied Draco as he slowly made his way out of Dumbledore’s office, careful not to look all that eager at moving away from Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked at the retreating boy as he left. The Malfoy boy would be perfect for the ritual to give him a new body. Malfoy lacked power, but that mattered little to Dumbledore, as if all went to plan, he would resume his original form and finish what he had started previously in another time.

Saturday morning brought nice, clear, sunny weather that was neither too hot nor too cold, the ideal conditions for the first Quidditch practice of the season for the Slytherin Quidditch Team, captained by Harry Potter, who many felt was one of the best Seekers to ever pass through Hogwarts in recent memory. The previous year, Harry had been judged to be the best choice for captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, replacing the long term captain, the trollish future Death Eater Marcus Flint. Harry reinvented the Slytherin Quidditch team, replacing the old ideals of size and the ability to cheat, with speed and ability.

During tryouts the previous year, Harry analyzed each person’s strengths and weaknesses, before putting together a team that he felt worked well with each other. With keeper Blaise Zabini, beaters Rob Turner and Jack Maff, chasers Isabelle Martinez, Victoria Knox, and Ginny Weasley, and of course, Harry leading the team as the chaser, the Slytherin Quidditch team had done well against the Gryffindor team in their only match. Harry’s untimely departure last year and the cancelling of Quidditch was most unfortunate, as Harry was extremely confident that the team he put together could have won the Quidditch Cup fair and square.

“I’ll be straight and to the point, people did sign up for tryouts, but as captain, I made my decision last year about this team,” declared Harry calmly. “I do not like messing with a successful formula and that one match with Gryffindor last year proved that without any question that we are the best team at Hogwarts. Now that does not mean that we should relax our training, in fact we will train just as hard this year, if not harder, as this Quidditch Team will be my legacy to the Magical World as far as I’m concerned. The Quidditch Cup will remain in the Slytherin house once more, so let’s get out there and practice!”

With that short speech, the Slytherin Quidditch Team practiced for two hours, reviewing many of the tactics that Harry had trained them with over the past year, and training strategies. Overall, the training strategy went rather smoothly, Harry had dismissed practice a bit earlier than he might of, as he didn’t want to overdo it on the first day. Moving back into Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny moved towards the Room of Requirement where Daphne, Theodore, and Hailey were awaiting their arrival, as Harry was going to update them on the events of the previous evening.

In the Room of Requirement, Daphne held up the Daily Prophet as Harry and Ginny entered the room, still with their Quidditch uniforms on.

“Take a look at this,” replied Daphne with a bit of a smirk as she handed over the paper.

You-Know Who Meets His Match?:
Rabastan Lestrange Kills Self to Avoid Power of Harry Potter:

By Ian Chambers.

Last evening, a group of followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were found by Ministry officials secured in a corridor in the Auror Department. They had been led by Rabastan Lestrange in an assault on the K. Riddle Memorial Hotel, but yet their leader appeared to remain at large. A further investigation yielded the Ministry to find the grisly remains of the fugitive Rabastan Lestrange in the parking lot(a place where the Muggle transportation known as “automobiles” are kept during the stay at this hotel). While the official cause of death has been unknown, sources say that Harry Potter(the Boy-Who-Lived) was seen in the proximity of the hotel and may have assisted the Aurors arriving on the scene with the capture of Death Eaters, among them Rory Wilkes who was previously acquitted, having claimed to be under the Imperius Curse. The stance of the Ministry on these prisoners that were previously acquitted being found with the dark mark has been rather harsh as of late. It is expected that Wilkes will be placed in the maximum security wing of Azkaban.

So, what caused Lestrange to take the plunge and how exactly is Harry Potter involved? Unconfirmed reports say that young Harry confronted the Death Eater, before taking his wand in a blink of an eye and displaying magical talent beyond then likes that any had ever seen. In fear of this unknown power, Lestrange threw himself through an opened window, despite not having a wand to slow his descent. This ended badly for Lestrange as he splattered himself on the parking lot, snapping several bones in his body, including his neck, dying immediately.

If Harry Potter was able to terrorize a hardened criminal, then the reign of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named could be drawing to a close. Young Mr. Potter may be added to the list of those who He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named fears above all others, right beside Albus Dumbledore.

“A very interesting perspective, but I don’t believe the Daily Prophet after all the lies they print,” declared Daphne.

“Actually, I had those lies planted, but damn if they didn’t jump on them quickly,” remarked Harry in a bit of awe.

“So exactly what happened, as I doubt that the fact that Rabastan Lestrange was dead, with you having some involvement wasn’t fabricated at all,” said Theodore calmly.

“Basically I followed the lead that my informant gave me, evacuated the hotel hours before they were supposed to attack, before I went there myself to pose as the hotel clerk,” explained Harry. “Rabastan Lestrange and his Death Eaters entered, the Aurors knocked them unconscious, except for Rabastan Lestrange who decided to make a break for it. I had the foresight to put Anti-Magical transportation wards around the hotel, so his only chance would be to make it to the roof where he could use his portkey.”

“Yet, he didn’t quite make it to the roof,” prodded Hailey.

“Quite right, I dueled him, he lost and I dangled him outside a window, where I convinced him to share some information within him, before he had a slight falling out,” remarked Harry.

“Information, what information, did you find out anything interesting?” asked Ginny, as Harry did tell her last night that he had found out some interesting information.

“Well I managed to get a vague answer out of him regarding Bellatrix Lestrange being on a mission of some sort for our favorite psychotic Dark Lord, but that’s just minor compared to what I shook out of him before he dropped out of the picture,” replied Harry. “The location of Peter Pettigrew, at some place called Spinner’s End.”

“That’s great Harry,” replied Ginny. “If everything goes right, Sirius’s name will be cleared.”

“Not so fast, I do have to catch Pettigrew first and he has been known to pull off some tricky escapes in the past,” said Harry.

“True, you almost had him during third year,” said Daphne. “And if you captured him then, Voldemort’s return might have been delayed as Pettigrew wouldn’t have been able to lend a hand.”

“Both literally and figuratively,” added Theodore before adding. “But, Harry, if you capture Pettigrew, you might deal a good blow to his forces.”

“Yeah, one of his best spies, as his Animagus form allows him to slip into the smallest areas to spy into people undetected,” muttered Harry. “Still, I wish I knew where this Spinner’s End place was.”

“Don’t have a clue Harry, maybe it’s in a Muggle area,” said Theodore, frowning.

“Doesn’t matter, as I have people looking into it right now as I speak, hopefully I get an answer rather soon,” replied Harry waving it off. “I’ve told you everything that I found out.”

“Just in time too, Hufflepuff Quidditch tryouts are in a half hour and Smith would find any excuse to get me off the team,” declared Hailey as she walked from the Room of Requirement to get out to the Quidditch field early, leaving Harry, Ginny, Daphne, and Theodore alone in the Room of Requirement to talk about the first week of Hogwarts.

Later that day, Harry and Ginny made their way up to Lily’s office, as she wanted to update them on the situation of the supplemental Defense Against the Dark arts classes.

“Most of the people who signed up for the study group last year, also signed up for the extra classes,” replied Lily. “Many of the first years also expressed interest but I advised them to wait for a few weeks.”

“Yes, I don’t want anyone to sign up and then have to backtrack when the work is too demanding,” replied Harry in an absent minded voice before adding. “On other subject, on my little raid on that death eater attack, I found out an interesting piece of information.”

“Really, what?” asked Lily.

“The location of Peter Pettigrew,” replied Harry casually, which caused his mother’s eyes to snap up in interest.

“He’s at some place called Spinner’s End,” added Ginny. “Harry’s having people look into leads to see if there might be any people in the Wizarding World living in that area.”

“I know where that place is!” declared Lily, in sudden realization but Harry couldn’t help but notice a mixture of disappointment and anger in his mother’s face before she turned away.

“How?” asked Ginny in a bewildered voice.

“No time to explain, Harry, get your Portus-Amulet out, we’re going there right now, I wish to have a few words with Peter at any rate,” said Lily in a voice that hinted forced calmness and Harry just shrugged, as Ginny opened her mouth as if to say something.

“Later,” muttered Harry, as Ginny grabbed his hand, still looking at Lily with a bewildered expression, with Harry removing his Portus-Amulet from his pocket, before placing it around his neck. Lily pulled her wand out and placed her hand on her son’s arm, before tapping her wand on the amulet, drawing the three magically towards their destination.

Ginny, Harry, and Lily dropped outside of a rundown shack that overlooked a winding hill. Harry could not help to have the belief that this home belonged to a rather reclusive man. At the very least, it didn’t invite any hint of hospitality.

“Inside, quickly,” muttered Lily as she opened the door with her wand. Harry and Ginny followed her inside, as Lily looked around before adding. “You check down here and while I check the upstairs area.”

Without another word, Lily made her way upstairs, leaving Harry and Ginny alone to search the downstairs area, which was absolutely dusty.

“Harry, you have a feeling that your mother is hiding something,” muttered Ginny in an undertone.

“Yes, but if I needed to know, she would tell me,” replied Harry calmly, as he shifted aside a stack of parchment. “Just forget about it Ginny, we need to search for Pettigrew.”

Ginny nodded knowing how important this was to Harry, looking behind an old, mostly barren book shelf, as it would have been very easily for Pettigrew to slip behind in his Animagus form.

“Nothing in here,” muttered Harry as he had finished checking underneath a worn sofa and then on an equally battered chair before his eyes were caught on a slightly open door leading towards a stairway going down. Harry pointed towards it, before slowly pulling open the door, with his wand ready, with Ginny following behind. This area of the house seemed to be a bit more well kept than the rest of the area and looking closer, it was a basement converted into a state of the art Potions lab.

“Wow, whoever built this place must have had a lot of resources to get some of these ingredients,” declared Ginny in an awed voice as she looked around. “Not to mention this connection of books too, all those texts couldn’t have been cheap.”

“I believe that whomever this lab belongs to, they put all their resources in building this Potions lab, neglecting the rest of this house,” replied Harry as he moved around, checking for any secret rooms that might be hidden from within.

“I can’t really see anyone who would be that obsessed with potion making, other than Professor Snape,” replied Ginny and then Harry dropped his wand in sudden realization.

“Snape, of course, it would make sense, he was accused of being a Death Eater during Voldemort’s first reign, but he was let off,” replied Harry. “Not that means anything, but Snape is a rather interesting case.”

“What do you mean, Harry?” asked Ginny.

“I really think Snape had second thoughts the first time around, but was forced back under the service of Voldemort this time,” answered Harry. “By the person who was most likely to help get him off the hook…”

“Dumbledore,” hissed Ginny. “That means Snape is another puppet of the Headmaster, but what about Wormtail?”

“I don’t know, from what Sirius, Remus, and even Mum told me, there was no hint at all that he was a traitor before he betrayed my parents to Voldemort, which makes me suspect strongly that Dumbledore might have prodded him towards that direction, just like he planted those doubts in Sirius’s head that got them to change the Secret Keeper,” replied Harry. “Of course, this is just purely speculation, not that helps us find Wormtail. Unless Mum finds something upstairs, I think he might have checked out some time ago.”

“Harry, why do you think that Lily knew where this place was?” asked Ginny.

“No idea at all,” remarked Harry calmly. “All I know is she had a quite negative reaction towards Snape when I told her he was a teacher at Hogwarts, not that means anything as Sirius did as well. I wonder if…”

“HARRY, GINNY!” yelled Lily’s voice from upstairs, cutting Harry off before he could finish what he was saying.

“Better go see what Mum’s found,” said Harry as he moved forward, with Ginny right behind him. They reached the ground floor with Lily standing in the open door, leading them towards the upstairs area, beckoning them to come forward up the rickety stairway before reaching a small room with a cot and a discolored copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry bent down, seeing that the Daily Prophet was from August. “Well, whoever is in this room hasn’t been here since at least August.”

“I don’t know, this bed was recently slept in, so maybe there are sensory charms around the outside of the house that alerts anyone of the arrival,” replied Lily. “Peter could have slipped out the back door as a rat when he came in the front door but he’s not here right now.”

Lily waved her wand as if testing something, before waving it in a triangular motion around the parameter of the room.

“No charms that I can detect, but I’ve put a monitoring spell around this room, if anyone gets in, I’ll know about it,” explained Lily. “Not really much of a point sticking around once longer.”

Without another word, Harry used the Portus-Amulet to transport them back to his mother’s office at Hogwarts.

Lily sat down in a chair behind her desk, as Harry and Ginny took bid her farewell. When Lily was sure her son and his girlfriend were gone, she lit a fire in the fireplace, reached over to a glass jar underneath her desk, before pulling out a handful of Floo powder from the jar and throwing it in the fireplace.

“Severus Snape’s office!” declared Lily in a clear voice, as she walked into the fire, transported into Snape’s office. As she arrived, Lily had her wand out, managing to keep her eyes on Snape, who was busy grading assignments. “Snape, I want a word with you, now!”

“Ah, Lily, what’s the cause of this visit?” asked Snape calmly, as he looked up from his papers.

“Can the small talk, Snape, I know you are hiding Peter Pettigrew,” replied Lily. “His last known residence was at Spinner’s End, in the same house where you reside in I might add. Where was he moved to?”

“Lily, I don’t know how to break this to you, but Pettigrew has been dead for fifteen years and good riddance to him as well,” replied Snape in a calm voice. “Black killed him, along with twelve other Muggles. It’s a shame that the Dark Lord addled your mind when he attempted to kill you.”

“Severus, you know I’m not a fool, so don’t treat me like one,” hissed Lily in a dangerous voice. “Harry saw him twice since, alive I might add, he helped Voldemort return to life.”

“Black put a confundus spell on your son to make him believe Pettigrew did what Black did and Dumbledore agrees with me,” answered Snape smoothly.

“You’re one who is Confunded, Snape!” yelled Lily angrily. “You refuse to see the truth, but I suppose I can’t expect anything less from a man who still holds a childhood grudge to this day. It’s quite pathetic really.”

Lily thought she detected a slight twitch from Snape but perhaps it was a figment of her imagination, Snape looked at her calmly.

“I have to believe that your mind as addled from that failed killing curse, Lily,” said Snape in a calm voice, perfectly aware that Lily looked to be seconds away from hexing him. “Now, I do have papers to mark, so if you have nothing else to do other then attempt to get the whereabouts of a dead man out of me, I suggest you leave.”

Lily stared at Snape with pure venom in her eyes, before slowly backing towards the fire, not turning her back on Snape for one second before she exited his office through the Floo Network.

Snape watched her leave, perfectly aware that he had the perfect opportunity to kill her just as Dumbledore had asked to have that Unbreakable Vow lifted. There were no witnesses but Snape held back from the killing. In the back of his mind, the Potions Master wondered if he had blown the perfect opportunity to escape from Dumbledore’s clutches.

Snape resolved not to think about it. He knew where Pettigrew was moved but Dumbledore had demanded that he would not reveal the location of the rat to anyone, especially Lily Potter. Only Dumbledore, the Dark Lord, Snape, and Wormtail knew of the new location of the rodent. Dumbledore saw the woman as the personification of a dismal failure, and Snape did as well, but for drastically different reasons than the Headmaster did.

Yet, Lily might be the only other person who would have the knowledge to lift an Unbreakable Vow, because of her work in the Department of Mysteries. Snape hoped that Lily would be able to deduce the true meaning from the words that he made in one statement. Not that Snape held up much hope of her willingly helping him, as some wounds ran too deep to be healed by time.

Still, Snape had to try. The other way to remove the Vow would be to have the blood of an innocent person on his hands, something Snape tried to avoid at all costs. Thankfully, the Dark Lord needed a Potions Master of the highest magnitude, so Snape was spared mostly for actual combat, despite his above average dueling skills, with the body count from his wand being low as compared to Lucius Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange.

The next week weeks of Hogwarts went by rather quickly with all things considered. The increased course load for the sixth years caused Harry to have less free time then he would have liked. Factoring in Quidditch practice along with the Supplement Defense Against the Dark Arts classes that he and Ginny taught, with the help of Daphne, Theodore, and Luna, there were periods where Harry had nearly forgotten about Voldemort. Then the latest news of the Daily Prophet of mysterious attacks believed to be brought on by Voldemort had reminded Harry that his enemy still existed. And the attacks seemed to be getting more brutal by the day, but the brutality of these latest attacks were not what struck Harry as odd, but rather the choice of venues.

“Look at this, an amusement park was obliterated by Voldemort, believed to be work of giants,” said Daphne Sunday morning in the latter part of September at Breakfast as she read the Daily Prophet.

“So in the last week Voldemort has attacked an amusement park, a playground, and a museum,” replied Harry. “These three attacks are among his most brutal yet, with giant involvement being heavily rumored, along with his usual mixture of Death Eaters and Dementors. Anyone drawing a link between these attacks?”

“All places where young children frequent,” suggested Theodore, as that was the first thing that came to mind.

“Exactly and a representation of the childhood that Voldemort could never have because he was at that Orphanage,” declared Harry. “From what I found out, the children didn’t travel far from that place. A small part of Voldemort that still acknowledges that he was once Tom Riddle may be bitter about that.”

“Doesn’t that seem a little petty?” asked Daphne.

“Voldemort is not attacking these places because he has to, he’s attacking these places because he can,” answered Harry. “There is no motive, other than inspiring terror among the Magical World and uncertainty among the Muggle World. Not to mention that he’s running the Ministry ragged, when they have to modify the memories of people that survived. At any rate, Voldemort has to be enjoying the mess he’s caused for the Ministry.”

“If nothing else, Tom has that unparalleled ability to mess with people’s minds,” added Ginny darkly.

At that moment just as he was about ready to take the first bite of his eggs, Harry looked up as he saw a familiar face walking into the Great Hall.

“Hermione, you’re back!” declared Ginny in a surprised voice as their friend walked towards the Slytherin table, with a calm expression on her face, before sitting down right beside Daphne and Theodore, and across from Harry and Ginny.

“Hello, Daphne, Theodore, Ginny, Harry,” replied Hermione calmly as she sat there.

“How are you feeling Hermione?” asked Harry.

“Better, I was cleared last Tuesday but they wanted to keep me for a few more days, which turned into almost a week,” said Hermione in an irritated voice. “They must think the fragile little Mudblood would break if they let her out of their sights.”

“Hermione, I’m really sure they don’t think that,” declared Ginny as she exchanged worried looks with the others.

“That’s nice of you to say that Ginny, but you don’t need to lie to me,” replied Hermione with a weak smile, that seemed to Harry like she was straining to do so. “My parents are dead because I couldn’t save them, I couldn’t beat Bellatrix, but that won’t happen again.”

“Hermione, I collected all the homework that you would get,” said Harry, hoping to deflect Hermione’s interest away from this dangerous path.

“Thank you Harry, I best get a start on it straight away, so I don’t have anything to distract me,” remarked Hermione coolly. “Speaking of Bellatrix Lestrange, you haven’t heard anything about her recently.”

“This isn’t really the time or place, Hermione,” said Harry in an uneasy voice. “Why do you want to know?”

“Honestly, Harry, isn’t it obvious,” declared Hermione, shaking her head sadly, before dropping her voice into a whisper. “She killed my parents. I’ll do everything that I can to gain the power to make her pay for everything she did.”

Harry really felt worried now. He saw a rather disturbing peril between his best friend and a young Tom Riddle that he didn’t like one bit. Bellatrix’s attack had shook Hermione more than he could ever hoped for.

“Hermione, no,” hissed Harry. “You can’t the need for revenge consume you.”

“Consume me, just like the need to finish off Voldemort once and for all consumes you Harry,” replied Hermione stiffly. “Bellatrix needs to be put down once and for all and I need to do it. She killed my parents, just like Voldemort killed your dad and almost killed your mum. I thought you’d understand.”

“She’ll kill you too Hermione,” muttered Harry, as Daphne, Theodore, and Ginny looked awkward at the look of anger that was appearing on Hermione’s face.

“So you think that I’m fragile just because I’m a Mudblood, Harry, too!” yelled Hermione angrily causing a few people to look up from their breakfast, staring at them. “Of course the great Harry Potter can risk his neck, but no one else can!”

“Hermione, I…” replied Harry.

“We were friends Harry, I supported you, but I guess you are nothing but a manipulative little bastard!” shouted Hermione angrily, a part of her wishing she hadn’t said that, but another part thinking that Harry had it coming.

“Hermione, that’s enough,” replied Ginny in a dangerous voice, pulling her wand out.

At the head table, Professors McGonagall and Snape got up to their feet but Dumbledore shook his head.

“Let it go,” muttered Dumbledore, thankful that Professor Lily Potter seldomly attended breakfast. Otherwise this incident wouldn’t have escalated to what it did now.

“Headmaster I really think…” replied McGonagall.

“We’ll only make matters worst if we intervene,” declared Dumbledore calmly, as he turned, shielding a twinkle in his eye at the argument over by the Slytherin table.

“We were friends, I thought we were as close as brother and sister,” continued Hermione, ignoring Ginny’s warning, all of her subconscious frustrations pouring out of her mouth at once, as if some outside force was prompting her to do so . “Yet, you can’t let anyone else have their moment. It’s all about you, isn’t Harry? If it doesn’t fit in your grand plan, then you don’t want to hear it.”

Hermione stared right into Harry’s eyes before whispering so only Harry could hear here.

“You’re no better than Voldemort,” whispered Hermione in a harsh voice, before storming off, sobbing madly. Ginny raised her wand in anger, but Harry blocked her arm.

“No, Ginny, it will only make everything worse,” replied Harry roughly but a blast of light deflected from Ginny’s wand, splattering most of the contents on Harry’s plate all over the table with some of it landing on Gregory Goyle’s plate a few seats away. Goyle didn’t seem to notice, instead continuing to shovel food into his mouth.

“Whatever Bellatrix did to Hermione, it has some lasting effects, I’ve never seen her act like this,” replied Daphne.

“Still, she had no right to say what she said about Harry!” snapped Ginny in an angry voice. “Why you stopped me from hexing some sense into her, I don’t know Harry?”

“She’s right,” replied Harry sadly before getting to his feet and walking off, with no desire to eat, before aimlessly walking from the Great Hall to the rest of the school.

An hour later, Lily sat in her office, going over her lesson plans for the next month. She heard a crackling of fire in her office fireplace. With cat like reflexes, she sprung up, holding her wand, reading to defend herself at a second’s notice, before realizing for the second time in a month she was face to face with one Severus Snape.

“Relax, Lily, it’s only me,” replied Snape coolly.

“Unfortunately,” muttered Lily under her breath before straightening up. “This had better be important Snape, I’m very busy.”

“It’s extremely important, one of my students, Gregory Goyle, has been poisoned by an unknown assailant at breakfast,” said Snape quickly.

“Sure, you don’t need my help, as you do teach Potions and if anyone could come up with an antidote, it would be you,” answered Lily.

“I managed to stabilize the boy’s condition, but he’ll have to keep taking this temporary measure every day for the rest of his life if he don’t find the exact antidote to this poison,” explained Snape, as he handed Lily a vial containing a sample of Goyle’s blood. “Perhaps if you could take a look at it, as I don’t recognize this particular strain of venom at all and all the normal methods of testing have yielded no result.”

“Very well, but you can return to your office while I examine it,” said Lily. “I work better alone.

Snape exited Lily’s office through the fireplace, perfectly aware that she didn’t trust him at all, especially when she made sure not to turn her back on him when he was still in the office.

Lily slowly opened the vial, before waving her wand right over the vial, using a charm that Harry had mentioned to her to detect poisons in the blood stream that he had found in the Slytherin library. The blood slowly vanished, leaving a yellow substance at the bottom of the vial, which Lily had recognized at once. She quickly moved towards her fireplace, throw a handful of Floo Powder inside.

“Severus Snape’s office!” yelled Lily in a clear voice before kneeling down, sticking her head through the fire, seeing Snape who looked perplexed that Lily could have figured out what the poison was so quickly. “It’s the Caperalla Strain, a rare venom that causes the nervous system to overwork itself until the body shuts down. Most of the ingredients are rare but the death is often slow, painful, and very violent. Whoever poisoned Mr. Goyle obviously has a weakness for theatrics, wanting to make their victim suffer, rather then going for the quick kill.”

“Yes, because there are certain venoms that are much easier to produce and lead to nearly instant deaths,” concluded Snape. “Very well, do you know a curse?”

“As you once so eloquently put it, just shove a bezoar down his throat,” replied Lily.

“A bezoar?” asked Snape.

“Yes Severus, the stone that comes from the stone of a goat that will save you from most poisons,” answered Lily with a small roll of her eyes.

“I am perfectly aware what a bezoar is,” replied Snape shortly. “It just caught me unaware that something that simple would cure such a rare poison.”

Lily didn’t answer, just disappearing from the fire from the fire, having given Snape the information he needed. Snape just shrugged, before moving towards his store cabinet to get the bezoar so he could cure the Slytherin quickly.

In the Quidditch field, Harry sat on the grass, with his back to the bleachers deep in thought. He had sat out here nearly all day, thinking about the events of the morning. The nagging suspicion that he might be a bit overprotective of his friends versus the realization that if any of his friends or family died at the hands of Voldemort’s minions or Voldemort himself, that simple fact would haunt Harry. He saw a ring of truth to Hermione’s words, as painful as they might have been, but the last two times that she came face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange ended rather badly for her. The first time Hermione was nearly sliced to ribbons and the second time around, she was seconds away from being strangled to death. Lestrange had years of experience on Hermione, having been trained by Lord Voldemort himself, so Hermione was too blinded by grief to see this and was also motivated by the desire to avenge the deaths of her parents.

“Hello Harry,” said Hailey as she arrived at the Quidditch field. “Ginny thought you might be out here, couldn’t come out herself seeing as O.W.L. year is really picking up and she is swamped with all sorts of homework.”

“Oh, hi, Hailey,” remarked Harry in a bit of an absent minded voice.

“Look, Harry, I heard what happened with Hermione and I don’t think it’s a good idea to dwell on it,” prompted Hailey as she sat down next to her brother. “She’s still taking the death of her parents really hard. She thinks she’s a failure and Hermione hates to fail at anything.”

“There is no way that she could have fought off all those Death Eaters and saved them in time,” answered Harry.

“I know that, you know that, but Hermione isn’t the type to stand back and let other people suffer, even if she is getting in way over her head” replied Hailey before adding. “Remind you of someone else, Harry?”

“Quite frankly, I’m not exactly the best person to pattern your life out of,” declared Harry in a curt tone of voice. “I don’t want anyone to get killed, but damn, we aren’t getting any closer to beating Voldemort than we were six months ago. Sure we found one other Horcrux but then what. To top this all off, my best friend wants to track down one of Voldemort’s most dangerous Death Eaters, a Death Eater that nearly killed her twice previously I might add and she can’t see reason! To top it all off, somehow this is my fault!”

“Harry, I’m sure Hermione will eventually come around,” suggested Hailey, attempting to calm her brother down, but that comment only served to set Harry off further.

“Yeah, I wonder how many more near misses it will take for her realize that and exactly how many more times Lestrange will not succeed in killing her!” answered Harry angrily as he sprang up to his feet, with a bit of anger flashing through his eyes. Hailey winced, she wished Ginny was here, she was always good at talking some sense into Harry but then again, considering the fact that Ginny was angry at Hermione for saying what she did, that might not have been the best idea “For someone who is the smartest person in the year, Hermione sure isn’t acting like it!”

“Harry, please, calm down, dissension is exactly what Voldemort would want. Besides, how do you know that Lestrange didn’t do something else to Hermione when she attacked her that’s causing her to act in such an erratic manner?” suggested Hailey in a meek voice. “The murder of her parents didn’t help mind you but maybe you should let her cool down for a few days and try to talk to her.”

“I’ll consider it, but I doubt she’ll listen to me,” remarked Harry bitterly as he walked towards the school with Hailey sighing behind him, before following Harry inside the school as darkness began to fall over the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.