Harry Potter and The Fight of Logic vs. Love

Chapter 17

Words: 11,661

New Acquaintances

Harry awoke early the next morning in the best mood he had been in for a while. He couldn't remember why, but when he turned his head to the right he remembered why. He saw Hermione and his dream of waking in the room came back. His mind wandered back to what he thought he heard last night. "I love you Harry" he thought he heard before he had fallen asleep. She wouldn't say that to me. She's my friend. I must have dreamt it. 'Yes, I admit, she is a friend. The only problem with your logic is that friends don't sleep with each other every night. Friends don't get upset when they think that you won't be sleeping together. Friends don't say 'I love you Harry' and mean it.' I was just dreaming that. It never really happened did it? She wouldn't say that. 'If you say so' the voice quipped back. He opened his eyes and looked up to the top of the four poster bed. The thoughts running through his head were confusing to say the least. He looked down at the sleeping beauty on his shoulder. The light was coming through the window and shone on her. It shone through her curly brown locks, making Harry want to stoke it. The light streaming across her face made her glow slightly, and he thought of how amazing she looked. He wished he could lay there forever and just forget about prophecies and evil wizards. He just wanted to be with her forever. She looks so beautiful. Why can't I just tell her how I feel? It would make everything so much easier. 'It may make things easier, but you would be putting her as an even higher target than she already is. Is that what you want?' DAMNIT. I just can't do that to her. If I lost her, I don't know what I would do. I could never forgive myself. He closed his eyes and sighed quietly. He felt the person on his shoulder stir and reopened his eyes. He saw a bright pair of chocolate eyes staring up at his. He smiled down at her. "Morning."

"MMM Morning Harry." she responded sleepily. She closed her eyes again. I really don't want to get up. I wish that I could stay in his arms forever. Would we be like this if there was no evil wizard and no prophecy? We wouldn't. The only reason we are like this is because of the nightmares. If he didn't have the nightmares would he even look at me in this way? Would he notice me? Of course not. He would still be with Ginny. He wouldn't even bat an eyelash at me. I would barely cross his mind other than as his best friend. Who knows, even that may not have happened? If Voldemort hadn't lived, then Quirrel wouldn't have let that troll in on Halloween first year and they never would have needed to save me from it. Without that troll, I don't think we would even be friends. Without opening her eyes she asked "what time do we need to get up Harry? How much longer do we have?"

"I don't know Mione. What time should we go for breakfast? It's 7:30 right now. I think we should probably be getting down to the Hall for about 8 or 830. Maybe we can make a good impression." Harry looked down and saw her smile with her eyes closed.

"When have you ever wanted to make a good impression? I thought that people's opinions didn't matter to you?" she laughed, still not moving.

"Well I thought you would mind if people knew the Head Girl was sleeping in." He couldn't help but laugh as her eyes shot open into a glare.

"The Head Girl does not sleep in. You will not be starting any rumours Mr Potter. If rumours start flying about how lazy the Head Girl is you better start watching your back because you're going to be my first suspect." She tried hard not to grin when he continued to laugh. "I'm not kidding Harry." She started to grin despite herself. She playfully smacked him in the chest. "Fine. Let's get up then. Breakfast sounds good right about now." She tried to get up, but her body just wouldn't allow her to. She noticed that he didn't move either. "Alright. How about 10 more minutes?" she smiled as she spoke. She watched as he looked back down to meet her gaze. His trademark Harry grin was back on his face.

"Alright then Ms Granger. 10 more minutes it is." He put his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. I would much rather we stay like this for 10 years. I only wish that we could do that. Harry couldn't help but think about that as he drifted off again.



Harry was walking through a bunch of flashes. There were blurry images flashing in and out in front of his eyes. One second he was out on the grounds, the next he was in bed. Then he was back to the hall again. He was walking fast with a determined stride. He had no control over his body. He couldn't speak or move by his own accord. He could see through his eyes but had no control. He saw the curly brown locks and started heading towards her. For a moment Harry's heart skipped a beat until he saw himself bump into her, slipping something in her pocket as he did. Harry saw a look of disgust pass on Hermione's face and his heart sank. What made her give him that look? The next thing he knew he was whirling past images again.

The images stopped and Harry was standing on the front steps of Hogwarts looking down at the main gates. He could see Hogsmeade in the distance, and saw it was up in flames. He could see dark figures running up the path to the school. He felt all their powers as one big group. He could even feel the tears stinging his eyes as he stood there. He didn't know why he was ready to cry, but he didn't care. He heard a voice call his name and turned to the entrance to the school. His heart jumped again as he saw Hermione running towards him, seeing the tears in her eyes and clutching a piece of parchment in her hands. He wanted to move forward and hug her, to hold her, to kiss her, but his body wouldn't allow him. He felt his head shake to the side and felt the tears slip down his cheeks. He wanted to die as he saw the look of fear cross her face as she started running faster. Just before she got to him, he saw the front doors slam shut and he reached out to touch them. He ran his hand down the cold metal door. "I love you" escaped his lips without him trying to say it. Blinking to clear the last of his tears, he mustered up all his resolve for the task that lay ahead of him. He turned back to the mob coming up from the village. Taking a deep breath, he took a step forward and pulled out his wand. The image blurred again, and he was returned to the flashes all around him. He awoke after an extremely bright flash.

Harry blinked his eyes again and again. He couldn't shake the images he just had. "Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked from his shoulder. She had moved herself up so she could see his face. He had a slight sweat forming on his forehead.

"Ya. I'm fine. How long was I out for?" he asked with a hint of panic.

"Only a minute. Maybe two or 3 at most." Hermione replied. She was still a bit shocked by what she had seen and heard.



Harry had just fallen asleep. Hermione was watching his chest rise and fall rhythmically. She listened to his heartbeat and felt herself relax again. She felt his body tense up and his breathing become shallow. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked into his face. She could see his face getting tense and his eyes shifting under his eyelids. What's going on with Harry? she wondered. She watched as he shifted and saw a tear trickle down his cheek. She tried to wake him, but she was unsuccessful in doing so. She heard his words, though only a faint whisper. "I love you," was all his said. Who? Who does he love? Is he dreaming of Ginny or someone else? She didn't have time to ponder the answer because at that moment, his eyes opened and he blinked rapidly. "Are you alright Harry?" she asked. He had a slight sweat forming on his forehead.

"Ya. I'm fine. How long was I out for?" he asked with a hint of panic.

"Only a minute. Maybe two or 3 at most." She replied. She looked at him and took in every feature on his face. She looked from his messy black hair down to his scar and continued down. She stopped at his eyes which were staring up at the ceiling of the bed. She watched his eyes flicker and shine. Continuing down, she watched his nose flare as he breathed in and out. She finally came to rest on his mouth and chin. She could see his jaw tightening and relaxing, knowing that he was thinking about something.



Harry's mind kept running through the images he had seen in his head. What had really happened? Where were those visions coming from? Would these come true as well? Would he do something that would cause her to hate him? He would hate himself for doing something that would cause that. He promised himself that he wouldn't do that to her. He took a deep breath and shook himself out of it. "Well I guess we should probably get going to breakfast" he said as he turned to look at Hermione. That was when he noticed that she was still staring at him. She quickly covered up her expression but he could see that she was watching him, examining him. He decided that it was a good a time as any to get up and take a shower. "I'm going to go take a shower now. You should too, and then we can get down to the Great Hall." He rolled over and started to get up.

"Are you alright Harry? What's going through your head?" Hermione asked. He froze with his legs off the side of the bed. She saw him take a breath and turn to face her.

"Nothing Mione. I just had some of those dreams again." He forced a smile and tried to make it look believable to her.

"What was this dream about Harry?" she asked. She needed to know the answer. She watched him get flustered. As the words left his mouth, she knew that he was lying to her.

"Oh uhm. It was just the same old dreams. You know, the bench and the tree." Harry thought quickly. "Really Mione. It's nothing. Let's get going." He stood up and made his way for his room. He went through the shared bathroom and into his own bedroom. He immediately went to his trunk at the foot of his bed and grabbed out a new set of robes. Turning back to the bathroom, he heard one of the showers turn on. He walked in and saw that Hermione had already gone into one of the showers and closed the frosted glass door. He could make out her general shape as a shadow, but couldn't see any detail.

He dropped his glasses by the mirror next to the sinks, moved into the next shower and turned on the tap. "I hope you don't start singing in the shower, well if you do then hopefully you're better than Ron or Dean." Harry laughed and heard an incoherent response coming from her shower. He heard her laugh and thanked god that she knew he was kidding. He quickly got in and showered, humming a tune as he went. He turned off the shower and grabbed his towel. Drying himself off, he wrapped the towel around his waist and got out of the shower stall. He walked over to the mirror, put his glasses back on and looked at himself. He still couldn't shake the thoughts that his dreams had brought up. What would happen that would do that to her? I can't do anything to hurt her, I wouldn't. 'Not even to save her from getting killed?' Would I? She would follow me everywhere I go. She would follow me right to the very end, right down to last fight. She would do anything to help me. I would do anything to save her. Does that mean that I would hurt her to keep her away from him? He stopped moving and thought hard. Could he really hurt her to save her life? I would rather see her alive and happy with someone else than following me until the end and getting killed along the way. I would hurt her to make sure she survives. Is that what the dream was about? Did I hurt her to keep her away from her?

He was snapped out of his trance by the stopping of the shower behind him. He looked in the mirror and saw a hand snake out from behind the frosted glass and grab the towel hanging next to the shower. He tried to get his hair down unsuccessfully and decided to let her get out of the shower while he went to change. He opened the door to his room and called out to her. "I'm going to go get changed. I will meet you down in the common room." He heard her respond and started shutting the door to his room. The door was half shut when she stepped out with her towel wrapped around her midsection. She smiled as he froze. She looks great. How can I hurt her? I would be a fool to try and get rid of her. 'You won't say that when the time comes. You know that you want her to survive. You will do it.' He realized he still had the door open and was staring at her so he quickly shut it and turned to get dressed.

Hermione was staring back the entire time that he was staring at her. Why is he staring like that? Was I right when I thought that he has some sort of feelings for me? No. It can't be. I was right when I thought that he would never fall for plain old Hermione. He must just be thinking again. He does look amazing right now though. She saw him snap out of his trance and close the door with a slight blush. Oh no, I was staring. I can't do that. I have to get used to seeing him in a towel, but it really is distracting. She sighed and went over to the mirror. She opened up her towel and looked at herself. Exactly what about me would he even see interesting. I'm nowhere near what Ginny is. I'm not gorgeous and I'm not super skinny. I'm not athletic in any way and I'm too pale. I spend too much time with my books, but they are the only things that keep my world safe. I can't change who I am or how I feel. She wrapped the towel around her again. She started to stroke her hair with the brush next to the sink. Even my hair is a mess. I can never get it to stay properly unless I use too much potion and even then it takes too long. No one would want anything to do with me. I must just be imagining those moments when he tries to kiss me. Or maybe he does try and then realizes who he's trying to kiss and comes back to his senses. I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to kiss me. What did he say last night then? She finished brushing her hair and went to change into her school robes. When she finished changing, she went down to the common room and found Harry on the couch with a book in his lap. She stopped at the top of the stairs and watched him with a grin on her face. He finally looked up as she started walking down the stairs.

"What's that grin for Mione?" he asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"I just never thought I would see the day that Harry Potter would be sitting down reading a book that wasn't on the class requirements." She laughed as he shook his head and smiled. "Come on Harry, let's go grab some food and get our timetables." He got up and followed her out of the tower. It was a short walk from the east tower to the Great Hall, and there wasn't much chatting between the pair. When they got to the hall, Harry noticed that there were very few people up already. He sat down facing towards the other tables with Hermione across from him. Looking around, there were very few Slytherins awake, a couple more Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, and Ravenclaw's table had the most. Harry guessed it was because Ravenclaws were the most studious and wanted to be up nice and early to begin their studies. He waved at Luna who had just come into the Hall and she waved back with her usual daze. He grabbed himself some toast and looked at Hermione. She had just grabbed the Prophet that was lying on the table next to her. She couldn't stop reading long enough to butter her toast properly and Harry chuckled as he watched her struggle. He finally had enough and grabbed the knife and toast out of her hand and replaced it with his toast that he had buttered a minute before.

"Oh. Thanks Harry." Hermione said, still not looking up from the Prophet. He watched her for a few more minutes before he dug into his food. He watched her eyes go back and forth while she read.

"So anything interesting to read about in there?" he asked.

"A little of this and a little of that. More people have been arrested on suspicion of Death Eater involvement. Scrimgeour is making speeches about how everyone should be careful and report any suspected involvement of neighbours and friends. Blah blah..." she trailed off for a second before a screech. "HARRY!" he looked at her. "Listen to this. 'Death Eaters have been caught trying to infiltrate the Ministry. Randolph Perkins, part of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was arrested the other day when he attempted to enter the Minister's office without permission. He was asked to release an item he had hidden under his cloak but refused. Aurors immediately sprung into action and subdued the man. It was found to be an amulet of dark magic and had the Minister touched it, would have been killed. Perkins remains in custody for questioning, but as of late he has been unresponsive. Co-worker Arthur Weasley has stated that Perkins was seemingly off for the past few days, and that there was a possibility of an unforgivable curse. He seems determined that Perkins was under the Imperious Curse. The Minister has released a statement that blames You-Know-Who. To continue, please see page 8.' This is terrible." Hermione finished.

"What do you mean? I know that it is ridiculous that they think that Perkins would be doing this on his own, but I don't know what is so terrible about it. I mean they did stop him before he could do any harm right?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well think of it this way Harry. They did stop him. The problem with that is since Voldemort tried something, there will be consequences. Security will be increased, people will be more sceptical, and who knows how far it will go. The Ministry may decide to declare martial law. It could become a dictatorship. Other than that, who knows how far Voldemort has spies inside the Ministry. If his spies have got far enough, this may not even phase him one bit. He could be using Perkins as a distraction to get the Ministry to declare martial law. If he has people in the right places, martial law could work to his advantage. Making it public will only cause panic. This also shows that Voldemort is getting more daring with his plans. It has a whole array of consequences Harry." She looked at him. "I think the worst part is that we know he is after the Ministry. He wants to take it over. If he had killed Scrimgeour and had someone under his control to replace him, we could have been in for a lot of trouble. Sooner or later, the Ministry is going to be in big trouble. After that comes Hogwarts."

Harry finally understood why she was so scared about it. He started feeling nervous as well. How long would it be before the Ministry was attacked in an all out war? How long would it stand? How much longer would Hogwarts stand after the Ministry was finished? He let out a sigh.

Hermione saw the look in his eyes. The look of despair was written all over them. "Don't worry Harry. We can finish our job before they get here. Hogwarts will get through this. We will win. You can go back after the war to Ginny or to whoever you may want." Hopefully me. 'That's more like how you should be thinking. You're finally starting to sound like me.' Crap. I don't want that. She saw the look that Harry gave her along with the half smile. "Cheer up. Here comes McGonagall with our schedules."

Sure enough, the Headmistress was going down the table passing out timetables to everyone. She walked over to the pair. "Well it is nice to see my Head students awake finally. Normally they are down here at 7am." She smiled at them.

"I wouldn't count on that Headmistress. I don't think my body is suited for being up that early" replied Harry with his own grin plastered to his face. Hermione could only laugh and shake her head at him.

"That's alright Potter. Every Head student has their way of doing things. I personally didn't expect you here before 9. You've beaten my predictions by over an hour. You don't need to be down this early every morning. 8:30am would suffice. If you don't want breakfast then you don't need to come at all. Nothing has changed because you are Head Boy. Now, about your timetables. Potter, what will you be taking?"

"Well I don't really know Professor. I expect to be taking Defence for sure."

"I would assume that you would. We are still working on the new teacher. Your timetable will be updated with the place and time as soon as we get one. How about Charms? Potions? Herbology? Transfiguration?" McGonagall looked at him. "Those were the classes you continued in last year if I am not mistaken."

"Yes Professor. I guess I will continue on that path, though I'm not sure if I'm still planning on being an Auror. I don't exactly like the way proceedings are being conducted." Harry looked at her.

"Well who knows when the leadership may change Potter. I would recommend that you keep up all your NEWT classes. I would also like to suggest that you think about taking a muggle studies course." She gave him a half smile when he gave her a questioning look.

"But I didn't take muggle studies in my OWL year Professor. I'm unable to take it this year, am I not? And even if I could take it, would there be a point to it?" Harry asked.

"Well I could make an exception and speak with Professor Burbage. I'm sure that with your muggle background, and name of course, that she could make an exception and let you into her classes. As for why you should take it. I think that the Ministry would look better upon your application for an Auror position if you show that you get a NEWT in muggle studies. It shows that you can have relations with muggles when you need to. It only helps to better your resume. What do you think Potter?" she asked him, holding her wand a few centimetres above his schedule.

"I guess if that is what you would recommend Professor. It shouldn't be too much extra studying on top of my uhm activities." He looked up at her and she smiled.

"Alright Potter, so transfiguration, herbology, potions, defence, charms, and muggle studies." She tapped the paper with her wand once and handed it over to him. "Now, Ms Granger. What would you like to continue in this year?"

"Well I don't know Professor. Defence, potions, and charms for sure. I would say I want to take arithmancy, herbology, and transfiguration. I don't think I would like to continue with ancient runes though. I think I would be better off without it. Would it be possible to take muggle studies as well instead of runes?" Hermione asked and hoped she wouldn't be refused. If I can do that, Harry and I will have almost the exact same schedules. Then I can spend most of the day with him. I wonder what Ron is going to be cleared for? She waited expectantly as McGonagall looked at her schedule. The silence lasted only a few seconds, but for Hermione it seemed a lot longer. Harry looked at Hermione with a quizzical look. She just smiled at him.

"Alright Ms Granger. I think that seems acceptable. I can't see Professor Burbage putting up an argument against someone who received a mark of 312% in her third year class. I don't see why we couldn't extend a bit of flexibility to both our Head Students." She tapped the paper with her wand and passed it to Hermione. "Good luck you two, I expect to see you at the meeting with the teachers tomorrow night. Good day." With that, the Headmistress moved along the table to hand out the rest of the schedules. Hermione looked down at her class schedule and smiled. Perfect, now Harry and I have almost the exact same schedules. This year is going to be the best. She looked up from her schedule with a smile on her face, only to see Harry still giving her a strange look.

"What?" she asked.

"Why are you dropping out of runes and taking muggle studies?" he asked her. "I thought you dropped muggle studies to make sure you had enough room for runes and arithmancy."

"Well I just don't see the point of taking runes any further. It seems to be the same thing over and over. I can see McGonagall's point with muggle studies NEWT being impressive on a resume. I think it would be more beneficial than a runes NEWT." She hoped that he wouldn't pick up on her deception. I really just wanted to spend more time with you.

"Well looks like we have double potions first. Great way to start the day isn't it? Well at least it's Slughorn" Harry said. He continued to eat his breakfast, not commenting on her lie. What is she hiding? I don't know what it is, but she wasn't telling the whole truth about her reasons for choosing to take her classes. He looked down the Hall at the entranceway and saw a young man walk in. The man walked over quickly to the Headmistress who looked shocked at his arrival. Harry took in the man's appearance. He was a tall man, maybe 6'5" with shaggy black hair. He was rather rough looking, with broad shoulders and a muscular body that harry could barely make out under the travelling cloak. He was wearing long black robes that were made of a shiny, almost metallic looking material. His tall boots looked to be made of dragon hide and Harry could barely make out the same material vest under his robes. He couldn't see the man's face, but he could see scars on the back of the man's hands. As the man turned around to walk with McGonagall, Harry took notice of his face. He seemed to be a young man as Harry predicted by his walk and stance, he couldn't be much older than 25 or 26. He had a thick moustache that came to the sides of his mouth, and a small patch of hair under his lip above his chin making him look older. He seemed to be a fairly handsome man, much like Bill. The only difference was that he had scars on his face much more like Moody's than Bill's. That is where Harry remembered seeing the black robes before, in the Auror special forces. He must be one of them. "Mione, who do you think that is?" Harry asked. Harry's emerald eyes connected with the young man's bright, steely grey ones for a moment when the Auror looked around the room.

"I don't know Harry. Could be anyone, maybe he's a friend of McGonagall or possibly a messenger." Hermione didn't pay the man much heed.

"They wouldn't send a special Auror as a messenger unless it was something extremely important. I don't think that he's a messenger Mione. And they don't seem to be talking as friends, but acquaintances. Think he..." he was cut off as Hermione squealed.

"Harry, look at your schedule. It's the defence class. It says that it's being taught by Professor Vires." She looked from her schedule to the man now seated at the teacher's table next to McGonagall. "I guess he's the new defence teacher. He's a bit young though, don't you think?"

"If he's good enough to get into the specialty Auror program, he must be more than qualified. I remember Moody talking about it last summer. Only the best Aurors are accepted into the program, and they are used as special hit squads and personal protection for the Minister. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a dozen of them at the wedding with the Minister. And if McGonagall trusts him to teach us, he's more than qualified in my opinion." Harry continued to watch the new professor talk with the Headmistress who passed the schedules on to Flitwick. She seemed quite interested in hearing what the young man had to say. "When's our first defence lesson?" he asked Hermione. She turned to her schedule.

"Not until after lunch. We have double potions and then lunch. We have a break and then we have defence. Then a charms lesson." She looked back at Harry who was still studying the man at the table. "So what do you think Harry?" she asked. He responded with a grunt, too lost in his thoughts to listen properly. She sighed, realizing he wasn't paying attention to her. "Then we can go and run naked through the charms class after our first lesson. How's that sound?" She watched as he continued to stare then smiled as it finally clicked in. He turned to look at her with a shocked look on his face.

"You want to do what in the charms hallway?" he asked. He broke out into a smile when he saw her laughing. "You want to repeat what you just said please?" he asked her. She could hardly speak through her laughter.

"I was just seeing if you were listening Harry. Now that you are, how about we go and take a walk before potions? I think some fresh air might wake me up a bit." She looked at him.

"Alright. We can go for a walk on one condition. You need to answer a question, truthfully of course." He smirked as she debated his ultimatum.

"Ok Harry, what is your question?" she asked, not knowing if she wanted to hear it.

"Why exactly did you decide to take muggle studies instead of ancient runes? And remember, you have to be truthful." He watched her smile drop from her face.

"I was truthful before when I said..." she was cut off by a shake of Harry's head. "Well I just wanted to take the course..." and again she was cut off by his shaking head. "Alright fine, I just wanted to get a schedule as close to yours as possible." She gave him a stern look and the smile slowly faded from his face as a quizzical look came back.

"And why is that Mione?" he asked her. He waited for her response as an evil looking grin played across her face. She stood up as she responded to his second question.

"Sorry Mr Potter, your one question is used up. I don't feel like telling you just yet. Maybe later if you're good. Now you owe me that walk so let's go." she continued to grin as Harry shook his head but got up to follow her out of the Hall. They walked outside for almost 45 minutes. They ran into Ron and Luna outside by the lake, and sat around to talk for a while. At nearly 9, they walked back into the entrance hall and bid Luna goodbye. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stomped down to the dungeons for potions. They found out that Ron had managed to scrape by in potions, charms, defence, and herbology, but didn't get up to snuff on transfiguration. He was told by McGonagall that he wouldn't be able to take her transfiguration class anymore. He had shrugged it off, knowing that he would get another free period that way.

As they walked into the dungeon class, they were once again met with four bubbling potions. Harry was surprised to see the golden potion sitting on the far left. He recognized it from last year's first class as well as the little bottle he had won. It was the Felix Felicis. Looking at the other 3 cauldrons, Harry didn't know what two of them were. The third from the left was a smoking potion that Harry recognized from his third year at school. He remembered seeing it in Professor Lupin's office. The other two potions Harry didn't have a clue; the one in between the two that Harry recognized was a pale green with a dull shine coming off it and the far right was vibrant orange in colour with steam issuing from it. He sat down next to Hermione with Ron on her other side at the front of the class. Looking around, Harry saw that there were only another 6 people in the class. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts of students that hadn't returned as Professor Slughorn walked in.

"Well, welcome back all of you. I'm glad to see you all returned. I guess we will be working with a much smaller class size this year. Now before we begin, I see that you have all recognized at least one potion from the four cauldrons sitting at the front. Who can tell me what sits next to the Felix Felicis?" Slughorn asked. No one was surprised to see Hermione's hand shoot up into the air. "Yes, Ms Granger, I figured that you would recognize this one from your own incident. What is the potion?" he asked with his large smile.

"That's a Mandrake Draught sir. It's used to free anyone who has been petrified." She smiled. Harry realized that must have been the potion that had saved her and the rest of the petrified students at the end of their second year.

"Excellent. 10 points to Gryffindor. The next one please someone?" he asked looking around. Everyone's eyes shot wide in shock as Harry's hand shot into the air next to Hermione's. "Ah, Mr Potter. The potion master returned to class. What is that potion my boy?"

"That's the Wolfsbane Potion sir. It's used to help a werewolf control themselves during their transformation. They retain control of their mind and their rational thoughts when they transform on the night of the full moon. It's a recent discovery of course, within the last oh 20 or 30 years or so?" Harry finished and received shocked looks from everyone in the class. He looked at Hermione and saw her jaw was dropped and her eyes were wide. "What?" he asked. Her answer was stopped by Slughorn's cheerful response.

"Excellent Mr Potter. Another 10 points for Gryffindor for recognizing it. And for the detailed explanation another 10. Anyone for the last potion?" Slughorn asked and saw the hand of one of the Ravenclaw student's shoot up. "Yes, Mr Williams, what is the potion?"

"That's the Draught of Cunning. It's meant to make the person temporarily smarter and heighten their ability to strategize and make plans. It's a bit risky, because constant use over a short period of time makes the person too cunning and accounts for slyness. They think that they are smarter than everyone else and it becomes permanent. They become almost paranoid and plan against everyone around them."

"Excellent, 15 points to Ravenclaw for the recognition and definition. Now if you could all copy down the potion ingredients from the front, and using the instructions in the text could you all please make the Draught of Cunning? It's a difficult potion, but I think that after last year you are all able to work it out. Good luck. Feel free to talk if you want since there are not too many of us." Slughorn went up to his desk and sat down with a bag of crystallized pineapple. He watched as the groups chatted away and made the potion.

As soon as Harry finished copying down the potion's ingredients, he grabbed his copy of "Advanced Potion Making" from his bag. He made sure that Charlie bought him a new copy for his last year since he never wanted to see his old copy again. As he sat back up and started flipping through his book, he heard Hermione speak up.

"So Harry, how exactly did you know about that Wolfsbane potion? Did it have a description in the text?" she looked slightly annoyed.

"Actually Mione, I left that book in the Room of Requirement. It's in a closet right underneath a bust of an ugly warlock with a wig and a tarnished tiara on top. I have no desire to go anywhere near that book ever again" he replied with an obvious hint of disgust.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Where have you seen the potion then?" she asked with a timid voice. He smiled at how upset she looked for accusing him of that.

"I saw it back in third year. Professor Lupin and I were talking and Snape brought a cup of that steaming potion in. It was right before one of the full moons. It wasn't until after we found out that he was a werewolf that I realized what that potion must have been. It just came back to me now that I saw it in that cauldron." He returned to his work and two and a half hours later, he found that he was able to do half decent at his potion. Even while talking with Hermione whom he refused help from; he was able to create a potion that was almost the perfect colour from the potion in the cauldron at the front of the class. The only person that seemed to do better than him was Hermione.

Slughorn walked around at the end of class. "Not bad Mr Potter, though not quite up to the stuff you were brewing last year. Don't be ashamed though, it is only the first day back. I'm sure you will get back in the swing of things." Not likely thought Harry. "Now Ms Granger has seemed to pick up where you left off. Excellent work. Let's say a nice 25 points for Gryffindor. It's a bit early, but I don't see why I can't let you go. Have fun everyone." With that, Slughorn waddled out of the classroom and left everyone else to clean up. Harry congratulated Hermione and finished cleaning up his area.

Hermione was still beaming as they walked up to the Great Hall for lunch. "For the tenth time Hermione, you did great without any help. We get it. I know you could've made it a shade brighter, but it was good enough without any special help." Ron complained.

"Just making sure you both know the importance of doing something without help from other sources." She still had the grin on her face as she ate. After her food was finished and Harry was talking with Ron, she stood up. "Well I'm going to nip off to the library for some research, see what I can find."

"Research on what Mione? It's only the first day back." Harry was confused.

"Research for our extracurricular activities." She winked at him. "I don't know if they would have added any new books to the library over the summer. It never hurts to take a look." She watched as Ron got up and looked a little shocked at him. He noticed the stare and laughed.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not planning on going anywhere near the library for at least a week. I think I would rather take a walk down by the lake. Talk to you guys in defence." With that, Ron was off towards the front doors, and it didn't surprise Harry to see a certain blonde witch standing next to them.

"Do you want to come along Harry? I wouldn't mind the company if you wanted to" she asked. She knew that he would want to stay away as long as possible, knowing the hours they would be spending there later this year for review.

"Actually Mione, I have a better idea. How about we go to the Room first? See if it has any books on that special object." He made sure not to say anything too obvious just in case anyone was listening.

"That sounds like a better idea Harry. Let's go." She grabbed her bag off the floor, and waited for Harry to get up. They walked out the door still talking about their first potions class. When they got up to the seventh floor, they walked in front of the wall three times. I need some information on Horcruxes. I need some information on Horcruxes. I need some information on Horcruxes they thought as they walked. After the third pass, they stopped. They stood watching the blank stretch of wall for 10 seconds before giving up. "I think we need a new plan Harry." they tried for the next 20 minutes to think of other ways to get a room where they could research Horcruxes. The 20 minutes proved useless. The door had not appeared for them to enter. "So I guess that plan is out. What else can we think about finding?" She couldn't think of anything else or any possible way to get the room to open up.

"How about we start trying to find what they could be. Let's see what information we can find on the founders. How about we think of a room that contains information on the founders?" Harry suggested.

"Alright. One last try and then we go to the library." They walked back and forth three last times thinking Find us a room with information on the founders of Hogwarts. As they stopped to look the last time, their hearts dropped. The wall had not changed. Harry was about to walk away when Hermione pointed. He saw a small inscription run across the wall, and a small vertical slot open up. It was nearly two inches long and about half an inch wide. Harry recognized the writing from the long days of seeing it on Hermione's paper for her runes homework.

"What does the inscription say Mione?" Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry. That seems to be an obscure dialect. I think it must be really old. Here, let me copy it down and when we get back to the common room I can look through some of my books on runes." She quickly scribbled down the inscription and tucked it away in her bag. "How much longer do we have until class Harry?" she asked.

"We have about an hour. What say we check out the library, see if they have any books on runes like that?" The inscription was intriguing to Harry. What would it say when they when finally able to translate it?

"Alright Harry." They set off for the library only to come out an hour later feeling just as lost. Walking along, Harry started to think out loud.

"It's too bad we couldn't use the restricted section without permission. Would it have any books on ancient runes?" he asked. He turned to look at Hermione, noticing she stopped.

"Harry," she said with a look of shock on her face, "we could have used the restricted section. All we have to do is talk to McGonagall about it. I'm sure she would let us use it for out special activities. She said she would do anything to help remember?" Harry smacked himself in the forehead.

"That would have been a good place to start. Do you think we should ask your old runes professor about it, see if they know what it says?" he asked.

"I don't think we should involve any professors unless we absolutely need to. It would be better if it was just us for now." She had confirmed his thoughts, since he wasn't all that sure about asking a professor for help. "I think we do need to ask Professor McGonagall for a pass into the restricted section though. It could only help us in our work." Harry nodded and continued walking with Hermione.

"We can go up after dinner tonight. You, Ron, and I can go up. We better hurry up and get to defence though, it starts in 10 minutes." Harry said. They walked up talking about what kind of information could be inside the room if it was that well guarded until they reached the defence room. Harry noticed that there was a long line with students from every house. "Looks like they are bundling us all into one class. There's Ron." He pointed down the hall and they made their way to him. "What's going on with all the different houses Ron?" he asked.

"Looks like they are mixing us up. A few Gryffindors, a few Hufflepuffs, a few Ravenclaws, and a few Slytherins in each class. Neville, Seamus, and Dean are all in another defence class later this week. It's a new thing to try and get us to work together I guess." Ron shrugged his shoulders and looked around. "At least we don't have any stupid gits like Crabbe or Goyle." He was shushed as a pair of footsteps was heard coming down the hall. Everyone turned to look and saw the new mysterious man walking towards them. He waved his wand at the door to the classroom and it swung open.

"In" was all that he said. The students all made their way in as fast as they could, the trio getting stuck behind. When the three students made it into the room, there were only three seats up at the front of the room. "Sit down you three. Class is starting" barked the voice of the professor from the doorway. The trio made their way to the seats and sat down before pulling out their books. "Who told you all to pull out your books? Put them away already" the man barked again. Students looked nervously from one to the other and put their books back into their bags. Hermione looked shocked, much like she had when Moody had told them the same thing back in fourth year. "You're not going to learn to defend yourselves by reading books. You need some quality training. Nothing can replace good training."

One of the Ravenclaw students piped up. "So your training to become a special auror was invaluable I take it sir? Is that the kind of training we are going to get sir?" As soon as the student said it, he looked like he wanted to die. The Professor turned to look at him with a glare that could kill.

"Very observant. Yes, for those of you who don't know I am a top auror, one of those slated to protect the minister for magic should he require it. My training surpasses that of a normal auror and was much harder to get into. I won't be giving you many lectures this year, because through my own training to become a top auror I find that we need to learn more practically and not through theory. My name is Professor Vires. That is how you will address me: either professor or professor Vires. You need to be alert and have constant vigilance for anything that may happen in the future." He surveyed the class.

"So I take it you know Alastor Moody sir?" Harry asked. The auror turned to look at Harry and sized him up. Harry watched his steel grey eyes take in his appearance. As the eyes rested on his scar, the professor spoke up.

"Potter is it?" he asked and Harry nodded. "Yes I do know Moody. He was one of my trainers when I was put in the field as a study year. You I take it do not know him; you have only met his imposter. The person that taught you in your fourth year was obviously not the real Moody or I would expect you to be much more competent than you already are." He started to pace around the front of the room, contemplating his words. Harry was starting to get annoyed with the Auror's arrogance.

"Some of us do know the real Moody Professor. You shouldn't assume things before making conclusions." Harry spoke up to the shocked looks from Ron and Hermione. The Auror turned to look back at Harry again.

"You know the real Mad Eye do you?" he asked.

"Obviously. Sir." Harry said back.

"Well then, I expect you to be one of the better students in this class. Let's have our first little test shall we? Get up Potter. Let's see how well you can defend yourself." The Auror had a dark grin on his face as he spoke. Harry stood up to walk to the front and had his arm grabbed by Hermione as he walked around her.

"Wand Harry" she whispered to him. He looked down at his desk and saw his wand still sitting on his desk. He was getting too used to using his wandless magic over the summer that he hardly noticed he wasn't using a wand. He reached past her to grab it, whispering his thanks while the class laughed at him. He walked up to the front where the teacher made his desk disappear to give them more room.

"The duel hasn't started and you already made one mistake Potter. That's too bad. I doubt you are going to make it too far in this class. How exactly have you managed to escape Voldemort these past few years?" Harry was in a bit of shock knowing that his man would say Voldemort's name. He also knew that the Auror was trying to get under his skin and make him slip up. Harry smirked knowing the man's plan and wouldn't give him the advantage. He watched the man raise his wand.

"Shouldn't we be bowing to each other sir? Even Lord Voldemort had the courtesy to bow to me before we duelled at the end of my fourth year." Harry watched the Auror shift slightly, knowing that he had hit a nerve. The aurors were supposed to be the best in their business, but they were still supposed to be respected. An auror who would commence a practice duel without showing formalities, it could be devastating for their career. Harry started to bow and watched me man do the same. The split second he came back up, Harry watched the man's wand fly up and yelled, shooting off a stunning spell. Harry quickly sidestepped to the left and rolled his shoulder back ducking the spell and called out his own stunner. The auror easily put up his shield and blocked the spell.

"Not bad Potter, simple spells and fast reactions. They won't save you forever though. Sooner or later you aren't going to see it coming; you need to use some new tricks. Pick up the pace a bit." The auror grinned again and started a barrage of spells against Harry. Harry put up a shield spell, but found he was having trouble getting a second to fire his own spell against the opponent. He could feel his shield start to weaken so he let the spell draw more power from his reserves. He bided his time, waiting for an opportunity. Just as the professor finished firing a stunner, Harry took his opportunity to strike and lowered his shield. Just as he was about to send his stunner at the professor, he saw the professors arm come up and felt his wand fly out his hand. The professor had disarmed Harry without saying a word. I should have seen that coming. "Too bad Potter, you were doing so well. That was better than I expected. Too bad you lose. Now can anyone tell me what Potter did wrong?" He turned his back to Harry and looked to the class. There's your mistake thought Harry. He watched as the Professor turned back and raised his wand. Harry rolled to the right as the spell left the wand and raised his hand towards his professor.

"Stupefy!" he called out and the red bolt flew from his hand and caught his professor in the chest unexpectedly. He watched the professor fall to the ground stunned and heard the class cheer. He stood up and walked over to the stunned figure and grabbed both wands. "Rennervate" he said and watched the professor open his eyes. "You should never underestimate your opponent professor." Harry could see the annoyance in the professor's eyes, passing the man his wand back.

"Back to your seat Potter" Vires growled as he got back up. As he stood, Harry saw the anger fade. "Well now that the example is over, let's get to some talking. The only reason I'm here is for an old favour for the Headmistress. I will only be here for a year or two, until she can find a more... suitable person to fill the position. I will be honest that I have no real teaching experience," Harry saw Hermione cringe at the words "but, I know what works and what you will need to know for your NEWTs. Remember that I have been through these tests, and not too long ago if I may say so. I'm only 25 so you can do the math. Just know that I will prepare you for your tests and I will do a good job on it. If anyone needs extra help, I would only be too glad to assist. I know you are all going to need what comes in this course so I want to make sure you are all prepared for what is outside these walls. Now if you wouldn't mind I am going to break you into pairs and then you can practice some spells. I need to see where you all stand in your proficiency level." Vires paired up the class, leaving Harry until the end. "Ms Jameson, could you please go and partner up with another group of two. I would like to speak to Mr Potter." The last Ravenclaw student moved across and joined a group with Hermione and one of her fellow Ravenclaw students. The Professor vanished all the desks in the class and watched at the class spread out to start practicing. He waved his wand and brought his own desk back and leaned on it. Harry moved next to him on the desk and leaned on it watching the class. He waited for his professor to speak. "That was very impressive Mr Potter. I wouldn't have expected such a strong show of wandless magic. If I'm not mistaken you weren't able to do that last year?" the professor asked without looking at him.

"No sir. It's only happened during the summer." Harry replied without looking either.

"If I'm not mistaken it would have been around the time of your 17th birthday? Is that about the time you started showing off this new found skill?" Vires asked hinting at the possibility.

"Yes sir. May I ask how you might guess all this stuff?" Harry asked. He was intrigued at how the man was able to guess all this about him.

"I was 17 once too Potter. I know what the body goes through. I can put two and two together. I've talked to McGonagall before I agreed to take the position and I found all there is to know about you. I figured if I'm going to be here, I want to make sure you have all the advantages you can get in the coming year. You're going to need all the help you can get to finish off Voldemort when the time comes. I've heard rumours of the prophecy." Harry chanced a glimpse of his professor's face. He could see that the man meant business. "You must know that Voldemort is extremely powerful. I am not a very scholarly man Mr Potter; I've always been one to trust my gut instinct. I can feel your raw power, even when you try and conceal it. It's the same power I felt that moment at the Ministry when we came in on you, Voldemort, and Dumbledore in the main entrance hall. I could feel the Dark Lord's power. And it's the same power that courses through your body." He looked at Harry. "Don't worry Potter; I know that you still control every aspect of yourself. I don't believe the Dark Lord has any power over you." He looked back at the class. "They all seem to be doing fairly well. I think they have most of the basic and some of the advanced spells down. The Slytherins seem to be lacking a bit, do you know why that is Potter?" he asked.

"I don't know professor. I've never really thought about it." Harry replied.

"I think it may have something to do with their previous teachers in the subject of defence."

"We've all had the same teachers, professor, what do you mean?" Harry asked.

"I mean that the Slytherins had one less teacher than the rest of the class from what the Headmistress has told me." He looked at Harry again, seeing the comprehension dawn on his face.

"I didn't do that Professor. I wasn't that good." Harry tried to explain his position.

"McGonagall tells me that you did an excellent job teaching many students at Hogwarts some advanced spells back when Dolores was here." The professor stared at Harry, ignoring the rest of the class.

"Umbridge was a foul woman and she wasn't teaching us what we needed to know. Someone needed to show everyone the kind of stuff that we need for outside of school." Harry looked up to see the Professor staring at him with a genuine smile on his face.

"I couldn't agree with you more Potter, and I wish I could have been here to see that ugly toad's face when you rose up against her. I just hope that you don't stage another coup against the defence teacher this year."

"I don't think there will be much chance of that this year Professor" Harry said as he grinned back. The pair watched the class for the next hour, exchanging opinions on people strengths and weaknesses. By the end of the lesson, Harry had started to enjoy the new professor's company.

"Alright class. Excellent work. I'm glad to see that you have had at least one teacher that has taught most of you all the basic and intermediate level spells you will need to defend yourselves." He saw everyone in the room, except the Slytherins, take a quick glance at Harry and then look back. "You are all dismissed for the day. I expect you to practice all the spells and charms that you were showing me today. I expect perfection out of all of you. Dismissed." Harry grabbed his stuff and walked towards Hermione. "Potter, one more word please?" the professor asked before he made it to the door with her.

"I will catch up with you in a minute Mione. Then we can go to charms. Alright?" he asked. She nodded and waited in the doorway while he walked back up to the professor.

"I just wanted to let you know that I've been told by a mutual friend that you were taking lessons with Dumbledore in private last year. I suppose you wouldn't be willing to share the information that you learned there?" he asked. When Harry shook his head, the teacher smiled again. "I didn't think so. I just want you to know that Dumbledore was like a father to me Harry; I would do anything for him. If you ever need help with anything you can trust me to keep anything between us a secret. If you need some extra help with any extra lessons or information, I will try my best to accommodate your needs. All you need to do is ask, and if you choose to get help without revealing the nature of what you need help with, I can respect that. I will help and I will not ask you any questions. Keep that in mind. Now get moving before you're late for your next class and I don't think your partner would appreciate that." Harry was gaining respect for this new teacher as time went on, and he was glad to know that the teacher was on his side. Harry hadn't felt any of those odd movements in his stomach that he would have had Vires been lying to him.

"Thank you Professor. I understand and I appreciate it." Harry took off to the door where Hermione was standing. "Let's go Mione." They walked off to charms, leaving the teacher to plan for his next lesson.

"I wonder how he will fare against the Dark Lord. He has power, but he doesn't know how powerful he really is. He's not using his full potential and that will get him killed. Then there are the others around him. He could use them, but they won't do him much good. I find that teammates only get in the way in a fight. You can only rely on yourself." Vladimir Vires spoke aloud still staring at the empty doorway. A response came from the room behind his class.

"You don't trust teammates because they die. That's the only reason" the Headmistress said as she came out of the room. "Trust me, Potter needs his friends." Vires turned to look at McGonagall.

"Potter's friends are weak. He needs to rely on his own cunning and power to get him through. If he starts to rely on them he will end up being disappointed when they die. Then he will be lost and he will lose."

"Spoken like a true lone wolf. When was the last time you worked with a partner Vlad?" Minerva asked.

"Katherine was my last partner. I vowed not to let anyone else end up the same way that she did. I wouldn't forgive myself if I let my partner down again and got them killed." His eyes hardened as he spoke.

"It wasn't your fault that Katherine died Vlad. You did everything possibly to stop her from doing it, but she went anyway. You never could have stopped her. She was in Gryffindor, don't you remember? She was one of the best Aurors and she trusted you with her life. Her trust wasn't misplaced." McGonagall's eyes softened as she looked at him.

"If I was there with her then she wouldn't have died. I could've saved her if I was there. I wasn't though. I followed her orders and stayed outside until it was too late. I can't rely on anyone Minerva. People make mistakes, and I can't see those mistakes happening again." Vlad started to move towards the door. "If you don't mind Headmistress, I need to go and take a quick walk before my next class. Good day" he said with a bow and left the room.

He's still the same Vlad that I remember as a student. He still takes the blame for everything and doesn't understand that there are other people who are at fault some times. McGonagall sighed to herself and looked out the window. I can only hope that maybe Potter and Vires can teach each other something. She took off out the door and returned to her office.

Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the day talking about the new professor. Harry explained what professor Vires told him at the end.

"Well he could be a potential asset. He's had a lot of extensive training and could offer a few pointers or spells that may help you in the final battle. I don't know if we should trust him with everything though. What do you think?" she asked him over dinner.

"I think you're right. We can't trust him with everything, but we could probably use his help. What do you think Ron?" Harry asked, turning to where his friend had been sitting only two minutes ago and finding it empty. Looking around, he saw Ron leaving with a blond witch. "He must really like her to put a walk with her over dinner" Harry commented, getting a laugh from Hermione.

"Do you really think he would skip dinner for just a walk? I think there's a little more than walking going on when they leave." Hermione smiled, and realized what she had just said. She started feeling awkward with the situation and changed the subject. "Do you think we should wait for Ron to go and see the Headmistress?" she asked.

"If what you think is going on, I think he's going to be busy for a while. How about we go up there ourselves?" he asked. "McGonagall just left. Maybe now would be a good time to go talk?" he suggested. She nodded and followed him out of the Great Hall. Harry followed that familiar path to the large stone gargoyle. He stopped and looked at it. Can I really go back in there? Can I face his portrait? Hermione noticed his hesitation.

"Are you ready for this Harry? Do you want to try and do this later?" she asked. She saw his hand shaking.

"I think I can do this. I really hope I can do this." His voice was wavering. "S... St... Study" he said. The gargoyle leapt to the side and revealed the spiral staircase. He couldn't stop the shakes as hard as he tried. He was breathing heavily and slowly. He closed his eyes and felt a small hand slip into his, entwining their fingers as it did. His shakes stopped immediately and he calmed down. His breathing returned to normal as the hand gave him a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm here with you all the way Harry. You know you can talk about anything if you want to. It doesn't hurt to cry once in a while too, I won't hold it against you." Hermione stared at his face as he turned to look at her.

"Thanks Mione. I know that you will be there with me all the way. I can't thank you enough for that." A tear formed in his eye, knowing that he would hurt her in the future. Don't think like that. The future is never set in stone; I can make my own future. "Let's go." He stepped onto the spiral staircase as it moved him upwards and before he knew it, they were standing in front of the oak door with the griffin knocker. He heard voices coming from within and hesitated as he reached for the knocker. The reassuring squeeze of a hand was enough to get his arm moving again. He grasped the knocker and swung. The resounding clunk echoed off the walls and the voices stopped inside. He heard the voice of the Headmistress call out.

"Come in."

He gulped one last time and moved opened the door to the office, noticing as he did that Hermione's hand fell from his. It felt oddly cold without hers in his. He took a few steps and saw the headmistress sitting at her desk.

"What is it that you need Mr Potter, Ms Granger?" she asked. "Please, have a seat."

A/N: Hope you are all enjoying it so far. I would appreciate hearing any thoughts about the plot so far or any of the relationships or even the new character. He will play a bigger role later in the story and you will get some background into his life(such as who Katherine was and what happened to her to make him blame himself). Again I hope you all enjoy it so far.