Sacrifice

Hi everyone :)

Reviews! How lovely :D Huge, massive thank yous to all those who were kind enough to review. For those who read and left nothing, well, I guess not everyone leaves waiters tips either XD Replies for the reviewers!

kelsin
Yes, the weekly updates are awesomeness :D

mrfurgeson
Oh yeah, there's more smut on the way :D Can't remember exactly when the next scene comes...But it is soon ^_^;

darkpyroangel06
Coffee is the yummiest thing on the planet! I think I'd have to shoot myself if I were allergic to it XD
Well, if you liked the chapter (you who is in my top five list of reviewers :D) then I guess it can't be all bad. I just really couldn't see Harry forgiving Sirius after something like what he did. He needs the time to be angry and to stew. Won't last forever though, because I also can't see Harry being angry with someone forever.
Ooo, I'll be heading off to university as well though because I dropped out when I was 20, this will be my first year...Again XD

Kati-chan
Yay! Dogs! I shall pack and move immediately :D
Yeah, last chapter wasn't great, was it -.- T'was a filler though, as you know, and every chapter can't be a winner or else we'd all die from the constant shock and anticipation XD

elphaba
Nope, he's like a diary magnet XD

Spiros
Yes, Lucius is the epitome of sneaky *glares at him suspiciously* ¬_¬

qwerty
Harry pretty much tells Fenrir everything so we can assume he told him about meeting Lucius. And Harry will continue to see Remus as a friend and ally. As for the whole Sirius issue...I can't answer that without giving away a huge chunk of story so you'll have to wait and see XD

PantiesAreOverrated
I love all dogs; big dogs, little dogs, dogs that climb on rocks...O.o

Sirin Black
Eating the house-elves XD Well, Harry's a veggie and Fenrir would no doubt think there was a pitiful amount of meat on a house-elf XD

Kuromei
Indeed, two chapters missed! Not sure how that happened for you but oh well XD And yes, you'll be seeing me every Saturday now :D *hugs Kuromei-chan*

DarklessVasion
Yeah, couldn't be bothered to add in the Lockhart aspect; Fenrir has enough people to glare at and hate without adding him XD

Now, before we being, question time. Very simple one. Chapter 39 is short and Chapter 40, the final chapter, is shaping up to be even shorter. My question for you all is what would you prefer:

A) The final chapter to be Chapter 39 and to combine the events of Chapter 40 with it,

or

B) For the chapters to remain seperate regardless of their shortness.

I don't mind going for either, they'd both work fine in my mind. I'm really only asking because I can't make my own mind up XD
Let me know what you all think and now we'll get on with the chapter :)

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The full moon of February was turning out to be the most ghastly full moon Harry had ever suffered, even worse then his first full moon at Hogwarts. Of course, Fenrir wasn't with him as always so there wasn't anyone or anything there to reassure him when he woke from his bad dreams which were just as frequent as ever. Also, because it seemed whenever he left his room for any length of time during the night he was tormented by the strange voice, he hadn't left his room at all. Therefore, he'd been getting no direct moon light and so was suffering from the withdrawl.

It was in the middle of the second night that Harry felt that he just couldn't take it anymore. He'd been woken by another bad dream, alone and rather panicked, and he was sick of it. His idea was to go and track down Severus to spend the night with him. However, his mind and judgement clouded by exhaustion and fear, he hadn't really thought about what the consequences of leaving his rooms might bring.

Unfortunately, he found out all too soon.

It seemed as though he had barely stepped out of his room than the strange voice was coming from no where again. And what with being tired and depressed enough as it was, the sound was all the more terrifying to Harry. Without thought, he shut his gradually tearing eyes and covered his ears and simply ran. He wasn't even bothered where he was running to, the idea of heading to Severus having been forgotten in the panic of the moment. All he wanted to was get away, far away, from the voice and the darkness and the loneliness, and maybe if he was lucky, find some moon light at the same time, something that never failed to calm him down.

And then, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something move in the darkness. He stopped immediately and whipped his head around to look. There was nothing there for him to see though and so he slowly turned his head away. Only then did he see something that truly filled him with fear and would have done even if he wasn't suffering from the lack of moon light.

The same figure he had seen before Christmas: the black cloak; the pale skin; the red eyes. Only this time, the figure was much closer, no more than half a foot away, and Harry could see the face perfectly. The man he had seen only once before, the man who he somehow already knew; the hateful sneer; those glaring eyes. The scar on his forehead burned terribly and Harry simply knew who this was standing in front of him.

Voldemort.

Harry did the only thing that seemed logical at that moment; he turned around and he ran away as though running for his life. He ran blindly and without purpose, his pace intense and his feet barely touched the floor before they had lifted again. And then suddenly he was forced to come to a complete stop when he collided with someone and arms came around him immediately. Unable to see through the tears in his eyes and unable to think clearly through the panic and the fatigue, Harry simply fought against the arms, struggling and pushing against the hold, trying desperately to escape. Whoever's arms they were, they were incredibly strong and Harry was doing nothing else than tiring himself out all the more.

"Harry, Harry, it's all right, it's me."

The dark haired teenager stopped struggling immediately upon hearing that and looked up with wide, frantic eyes to see that it was Draco whose arms were held so tight around him. "Draco..." He murmured, almost sounding disbelieving, as though he couldn't believe he was really seeing his friend.

"What in Merlin's name happened?" The blond questioned anxiously.

Harry couldn't give an answer. With the relief he felt, his resolve dissolved into nothing. He all but collapsed against his friend, forcing the blond to support his weight, as he began to sob into the warm chest. Draco was surprised by the sudden display of emotion to say the least but he managed to take it in his stride. He gently supported the slighter form, holding the body close and resting his cheek on top of the head of dark hair as he rubbed a soothing hand up and down the other teenager's back.

Although Harry had intended to give an answer to the question, to explain what had happened to upset him so, he never got the chance to. Before either of the pair knew it, the exhausted and stressed boy had cried himself asleep, there in the corridor, in the safety of his friend's arms.

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Harry felt incredibly groggy when he next woke up. He also felt incredibly confused as he didn't recognise the scent of the room he was in and the duvet beneath his hands and cheek was a lot softer than his own in his room or those in the Infirmary. Very carefully, the teenager blinked open his eyes and thankfully wasn't assaulted by any terribly bright light. However, he continued to have no idea where he was and he had to admit to being a little anxious considering the dream he had just had.

"Do you feel any better now having slept?" The familiar voice of Draco suddenly asked.

Turning his head, Harry was relieved to see his friend sitting in an armchair just beside the bed. "This is your dorm room?" He asked, looking around to see other beds with drawn curtains.

"That's right," the blond smiled as he stood and came to sit on the bed next to Harry. "So there's no need to worry, you're perfectly safe."

The dark haired teenager gave a sheepish nod, rather embarrassed that Draco knew he had been a little freaked out before. Then, his previous hysterical behaviour occurred to him and he felt even more humiliated. "Draco, about before..."

"Think nothing of it." The boy interrupted easily. "I'm just glad you're more normal now. You do still seem rather edgy though."

"I'm sorry, I'm just tired and still a little jumpy. Weird things seem to be going on around me lately."

"What sort of weird things?"

"Nightmares, strange sounds, voices..."

"Voices? You're hearing voices?" Draco immediately demanded, sounding incredibly concerned.

"Fenrir seems to think it's part of the nightmares and not getting enough sleep, that I'm hallucinating." Harry explained glumly.

"Oh Harry," Draco murmured sadly, reaching a hand out to cup the other boy's cheek where he began to stroke his thumb over the pale skin.

In Harry's mind, however, the gesture seemed just a little too intimate for his comfort. "Draco?" He murmured a little warily.

The blond's grey eyes seemed to flicker for a moment, moving from gazing at something lower on Harry's face to looking into those deep green eyes. "Surely I don't have to tell you how I feel? You must already know."

"Draco..."

"I love you, Harry."

Harry's eyes softened upon hearing that and he gave his friend a sad look. If Draco recognised what the look meant, he made no comment on it. He just kept staring intently, his thumb never stopping its gentle caress. Slowly, and very gently, Harry lifted his own hands to gently pull the one of his cheek away. He didn't release the hand immediately though and instead held it in between his own in a firm grip.

"I love you too, Draco, but not in the way I imagine you want me to." He said very sympathetically, his head bowing down so he could look at where they were holding hands. "You're probably my best friend, and I love you like you were part of my family, but I can't lie, I can't tell you I'm in love with you."

"Why? Because of that neanderthal Greyback?" Draco demanded, his voice coming out in a frustrated hiss so that the other occupants of the room weren't woken.

"Partly, yes, of course. I have loved Fenrir for a great many years now, Draco, and that won't change just because someone younger and prettier comes along. But it's also because we just don't suit each other in that way."

"What do you mean? Why not!"

Harry simply shook his head though. It would do no good to explain, it was doubtful that Draco would understand the concept, and even if he did he wouldn't understand why it was so significant to a werewolf. It was a sad truth that Harry couldn't even lie to try and soften the situation. Draco deserved the truth, and the truth was that Harry would never be able to love him, even if Fenrir wasn't in his life.

"Do you hate me now?" The dark haired teenager asked rather meekly, afraid that he really would lose his friend completely.

"Oh of course not!" Draco replied somewhat irritably as he glared off at the side. "You don't stop loving someone just because they don't love you back." He paused then and turned his eyes back onto the on he sat beside. "Don't you think this is me giving up!" He declared confidently. "In the end I always get what I want, you won't be any different."

Harry should've found that insulting and insufferably arrogant but he found his relief was fogging any irritation he might've felt. Words that at another time would have angered him only made him chuckle lightly as he finally released his friend's hand. "I look forward to your efforts to woo me then." He said with good humour as he shuffled off of the bed. "C'mon, you can start by walking me to the greenhouses to soak up some moon light."

"It would be a pleasure." Draco said grandly as he stood and offered his arm for Harry to take.

The shorter teenager snickered a little but accepted the arm nonetheless.

So, it was with their arms linked that they left the Fifth Year Slytherin boys' dorm room, both feeling much better than when they had arrived.

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Once the full moon was over and Harry was feeling more like his normal self rather than the depressed and emotional wreck he became during the previous period, he decided that enough was enough. He was sick to death of hearing the strange voice and having no idea who it was coming from or where it was coming from. So, he had waited until Fenrir was asleep before he crept out of their rooms went in search of the source of the voice. It was the exact opposite of what could be considered a smart decision but he was past caring.

When Harry heard the voice and the sound of rough sliding mere minutes after he had left their rooms, for once he was glad. He immediately stopped moving and then simply listened, trying to pin-point exactly where it might've been coming from.

"Kill...Feed...Kill all..."

It was so hard to tell which direction it was coming from at first, as always it just seemed to be coming from everywhere all at once. But then, suddenly, it started getting a little louder until it sounded as though it was directly over-head and to the left of where Harry was standing. The teenager turned his head eagerly but saw nothing, and then the voice started to fade away again. However, now that he had his ear tuned to it, Harry felt he would be able to follow it so he started forward again, immediately setting off into a run, his bare feet making light patting sounds on the stone floor.

Harry followed the voice for at least a couple of minutes, running through the school, not as fast as he could but still at a fair speed. However, upon turning a corner, he had to bring himself to a quick stop upon realising he had turned into a dead-end. He swore under his breath and quickly turned, hoping that there would be another way around so that he might continue to follow the voice and the sliding noise.

Unfortunately, whether the noise had simply stopped or whether he had lost it, Harry realised not a few seconds later that silence had returned. He gave a frustrated groan and fought the urge to kick the wall closest to him. Stupid dead-end, just ruined everything. Though, at least he had made some progress. He was now fairly confident in thinking that the sound and the voice weren't just his imagination and were actually being produced by something inside the walls of the school. There was no way of knowing what it was or how exactly it was moving through the walls, but Harry was fairly confident that was what was happening.

Knowing that it was unlikely that he'd get anymore done that night and thinking it would be better to quit on a semi-high, Harry decided it was time to head back to his rooms and his and Fenrir's bed. When the morning arrived, he'd head into the library to see if he could find any books that might be useful although he had little idea of what exactly to research. Perhaps he could start in the magical creatures sections, or perhaps maybe the section on ghosts...

"Hurry, Poppy," the familiar voice of Professor McGonagall came from the left, causing Harry to once again pause. "We must get him to the Infirmary immediately."

Hearing that aroused Harry's curiosity an infinite amount and he barely even thought about what he was doing before he had changed his direction to head off towards where the woman's voice had come from. He caught up to her and Madam Pomfrey quickly but he made sure to keep a suitable distance behind; he didn't want to be seen and sent away after all, not when something was obviously going on.

So, while keeping a fair distance back, Harry followed the two women all the way to the Infirmary. As soon as they were past the doors and inside the medical area, the teenager increased his pace to a full out run in order to reach the door more quickly. He gave a silent thank you when the doors weren't closed and he came to a stop at the wall just beside them. Pressing himself back against the stone, he carefully angled his head so he could peer around the corner, into the Infirmary, to see who was inside and what they were doing.

At first glance, Harry thought that there were only three people inside: Madam Pomfrey; Professor McGonagall; and Professor Dumbledore, who must have already been waiting inside. However, after a moment of watching, he saw that there was a body on one of the Infirmary beds that the three adults were gathered around. The body was fairly small and so Harry immediately assumed it was a student. Strangely, although the student wasn't moving, they weren't limp either. They seemed to be frozen in a position, their arms raised and a camera held in front of the face. It only served to intrigue Harry further and he watched eagerly as Professor Dumbledore leaned forward to pull the camera away gently.

A puff of smoke flew up from the camera as the back was opened and that was something that seemed to disappoint all the adults. Harry watched as Professor McGonagall gently touched the student's forehead, a look of both sadness and concern on her face.

"Another case of petrification, Albus. What can this mean?" She asked quietly and Harry only just managed to hear what was said.

"It means, Minerva, that our students are no longer safe. The Chamber of Secrets has, indeed, been opened." Dumbledore sighed, his voice sounding very grave and serious.

Carefully, Harry shrank back behind the wall and for a moment merely stood, staring down at the ground with a slightly worried expression. Although he didn't know what the Chamber of Secrets was or why it was a bad thing it was open, he did know that Dumbledore was obviously concerned by it. If Dumbledore was actually showing his worry, then it really had to be serious.

Biting his lip lightly, the teenager silently hurried away, his mind busy with thoughts. At least now he had two things he knew he needed to look into; petrification and the Chamber of Secrets.

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After breakfast had been eaten, Harry had left Fenrir with the excuse that he was going visit Severus. The Alpha had made no objection. In fact, the man had seemed rather happy with the arrangement, no doubt because he felt in some need of alone time. Fenrir liked his own company sometimes after all, and it was nothing that Harry found worrying or strange. So he had been allowed to leave without trouble but instead of going to visit the Potions Master, Harry hurried to the library.

He had got to work with great energy, enthusiastically searching through the bookshelves, picking up and flicking through anything that he might find the least bit helpful. After several rows of books and no luck, however, the teenager's enthusiasm began to wane. He began to grow bored and frustrated and couldn't help but start to think that everything was just a coincidence. That or he was simply going slightly mad. He naturally didn't take into account the fact that he wasn't even completely sure what he was looking for, his rapidly darkening mood simply making all of it seem hopeless.

Harry was seriously considering giving up on the whole thing when a figure off to the side caught his attention. At first he felt a small amount of alarm as every other time he had seen something out of the corner of his eyes, it ended up scaring him whitless. However, when he realised that it was actually the figure of Hermione, his alarm turned to hopeful anticipation and he quickly hurried over to her.

"Hermione!" He whispered loudly, aware he was in a library but feeling far too excited to keep his voice as quiet as it really should have been.

"Good morning Harry." The girl said with a smile as he approached. "You're in here early."

"Yes, I know," he murmured as he took her arm and began to lead her off.

"Harry?"

"I need your help with something."

"Well, of course I'll do anything I can to help..." Hermione assured, trailing off at the end of her sentence when she was pulled into an aisle backed against a wall.

Harry released his friend's arm and quickly glanced around either side of the surrounding bookcases to check no one was in hearing distance. When he was satisfied they were alone, he began to explain: "I'm trying to research something but I'm not having much luck. You see..." He hesitated, having to take a moment to summon the courage to speak. "I've been hearing things lately...And seeing things, and having nightmares. And then there's been the petrifyings of the caretaker's cat and that boy."

"Boy? What boy?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"Last night there was a boy taken to the Infirmary. I saw him and I heard Professor McGonagall say that he had been petrified. What's happening to me and what's happened to the cat and the boy, I think they're connected somehow. It's just a gut feeling at the moment, that's why I need to research."

The girl gave a single, firm nod then. "I'll do everything I can."

"Are you sure? I don't want this to get in the way of your school work."

"I'm sure. Telling me what you just did can't have been easy for you and the fact that you did it tells me that you're serious and that you need help. I'll do whatever I can."

Harry beamed at his friend and practically threw himself at her, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Thank you Hermione, thank you so much."

Hermione gave him a light pat on the back. "Save your thanks for when I've actually managed to find out something."

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Laid out together on the sofa, Harry and Fenrir were lingering somewhere between being asleep and being akwake. They were in their usual sleeping positions, with Fenrir on the bottom, laying on his back, while Harry lay on top, on his stomach. One of the Alpha's arms was casually resting on the teenager's lower back while the other was laced through his hair. Harry had his cheek pillowed on one of his while the other hand rested just on Fenrir's shoulder. Both had their eyes closed and both were completely relaxed and at peace.

Then, a knocking at the entrance to their rooms had them both opening their eyes in suprise. Fenrir gave an annoyed grunt at the sound but otherwise ignored it, closing his eyes again and shifting a little. Harry, on the other hand, seemed more intent on not simply allowing whoever was on the other side to continue to knock for however long. However, when he went to lift his head, the downwards pressure created by Fenrir's hand in his hair increased and forced him to keep it down.

"Don't do that." Harry scolded lightly as he brought his hands up to try and pull Fenrir's hand away, more knocking coming.

"Don't give me reason to." Fenrir rumbled tiredly before he cracked an eye open just as a third series of knocks sounded. "Whoever it is can come back later if it's so important."

"But what if it's urgent?"

"Unless it's a message that Voldemort is right outside the school threatening to reduce it to a pile of rubble, then it ain't urgent."

Harry would have continued to argue if not for the fact that the entrance of their rooms chose that time to open. An angry growl left Fenrir (one that Harry couldn't blame him for; someone simply coming into their room was beyond rude) and it only intensified when he saw exactly who it was walking in; Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"What the fuck do you want?" The Alpha demanded, not bothering to sit up but propping himself up a little, resting his weight on one of his elbows.

"Is there a reason you ignored the knocking?" The Auror asked, completely ignoring the other man's question.

"Stupid question." Harry muttered.

"What do you want?" Fenrir repeated, his rapid loss of patience clear in his voice.

Whether it was because Kingsley was afraid to argue or he just couldn't be bothered, he put up no further protest and instead got down to business. "I'm making enquiries into the petrifications that have happened over the past two weeks."

"Been another one then?" The Alpha asked.

"You didn't know?"

"Only knew about the cat and that was because Dumbledore came and told us."

"Sure you don't know anything about it?" Kingsley asked carefully.

Fenrir gave an unimpressed snort. "Wasn't aware that werewolves have the ability to petrify." He paused to give the dark skinned man a pointed look. "Why do I feel like I'm being treated like a suspect?"

"Guilty conscience?" The Auror suggested.

The Alpha gave another unimpressed noise.

Whatever was going through Kingsley's head, he obviously decided that he had spoken to the adult werewolf enough as he then turned his attention onto the younger of the pair. "Did you know anything about the second petrifying, Harry?"

"If I didn't know then the pup wouldn't have known either." Fenrir answered for his mate.

The Auror returned the answer with a dirty look. "Harry suddenly can't answer for himself?"

"I'm just saving him the trouble of answering your retarded questions." The Alpha replied, his patience obviously coming to an end as his voice began to raise. "No matter how much you hate me or how bigoted you are, you know werewolves can't petrify and you know neither of us practice magic. Yet here you are, treating us like suspects. Now my question to you, is this leading up to something or are you just trying to piss me off?"

Kingsley remained irritatingly arrogant and Harry felt a swell of dislike for the man as he offered a smirk before he turned and headed out of the room. "If you think of anything, be sure to let me know." He said to them nonchalantly.

"Like hell I will." Fenrir growled lowly just as the Auror left the room, closing the portrait behind him.

"Jerk." Harry muttered, glaring at where Kingsley had last been seen.

Fenrir gave a light wordless murmur and ruffled the teenager's hair. "He's a wizard," he grunted. "Can't expect anything more from them."

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"Professor Black is somehow related to you, right?"

Harry blinked a little in surprise at that unexpected question. He looked to Hermione, who he was walking back from the library with, and gave her a light frown of confusion at that sudden interest. "He's my godfather. Why?"

The girl gave a light shrug and looked suddenly uncomfortable. "I should probably mind my own business," she admitted rather sheepishly. "It's just, he's seemed rather depressed for a while now and I over-heard him speaking to Profe...I mean, Mr Lupin, about you and how he hadn't made something up to you yet..."

"And your point?"

"Don't you think you should talk to him?"

"When he shows remorse and apologises, then I will."

"He does though. He sounded very regretful when he was speaking to Mr Lupin." Hermione revealed.

"The trouble is he regrets the wrong thing." Harry sighed. "He tried to kill Draco Malfoy and he doesn't regret that, probably doesn't even think there was anything wrong with it. What he regrets is that he failed, and that I've reacted the way I have. He may even regret having used my Alpha for a weapon, but none of that means anything if he can't regret trying to take someone's life."

"Don't you think you're being a little harsh on him? He's been in Azkaban for a very long time, it's impossible to say how it's affected him mentally."

"Unless he's diagnosed as clinically insane by a professional, I will continue to think he is merely an immature and selfish man who is in desperate need of a good, stern talking-to."

They slowed to a stop then as they came to a place where the corridors parted in two separate directions. Both teenagers knew that while Hermione had to go one way, Harry had to head off in the other and so the time had come to say goodbye. Due to their conversation, however, they couldn't just part ways.

"I really do think you should talk to your godfather, Harry." Hermione told him gently. "He's the only link to your original family that you have."

"I have Remus." Harry protested.

"Your parents wanted Professor Black to have a hand in raising you though, they chose him to be your godfather. Surely that's enough to justify giving him another chance?"

There was a pause then as Harry thought on his friend's words. Perhaps it was time to speak to Sirius again, to talk through everything that had gone wrong and to clear the air. Hermione was right after all, his parents had wanted Sirius to be part of his life and that must have been for a reason. And Sirius did appear to be awfully lonely sometimes...

"Anyway," Hermione sighed then, breaking into the boy's thoughts. "You don't have to make a decision right now, just think about it, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Hermione." Harry returned with a smile.

The girl smiled to him in return before turning and walking away, heading off in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.

Harry watched her go for a second before he turned, only to come face to face with Draco who was standing alarmingly close to him. It caused him to jump back slightly, startled by suddenly seeing nothing but Draco when he hadn't expected it.

"Umm, hi?" The dark haired teenager said rather weakly, not sure how else to react to the strange behaviour and he knew it wasn't just his imagination that the blond looked slightly annoyed about something.

"What were you doing talking to that girl?" He demanded.

"You mean Hermione? She's a friend of mine, we were just coming back from the library..."

"Since when have you been friends with that mudblood?"

Harry frowned at that; he might not have known was a "mudblood" was but it didn't sound particularly nice. "I've been friends with her for a couple of months now. Why do you care?"

"You're too good for someone like her." Draco insisted.

Harry gave Draco a disappointed look at that and shook his head. "And I thought you were too good to say such terrible things. How can you know I'm too good for Hermione when you've never taken the time to even talk to her yourself."

"Who says I haven't spoken to her before?"

"Have you?"

Draco's silence then gave Harry his answer.

Again, the half-werewolf shook his head. He did not speak that time, however, and instead simply walked past the blond teenager, heading off down the corridor. Draco was immediately after him, hurrying his place slightly until he was walking beside the slighter youth.

"Harry..."

"I'm sorry if that's the way you really feel about Hermione because I'm not going to stop being friends with her. If that means you and I can't be friends..."

"No!" Draco immediately gasped. "If you really want to be friends with Granger..."

"I don't need your permission." Harry told him pointedly.

The blond immediately shut his mouth.

"Your father's influence, I take it?" The dark haired teenager sighed.

"I was raised to see myself as superior to those who aren't pureblooded."

"My godfather once told me that I'm a halfblood; does that mean you're superior to me?"

"No, of course not!"

Harry glanced at his friend then before offering a small smile. "Then you're not a completely brainwashed zombie. There's hope for you yet."

Draco smiled back, a small almost shy smile. That only made Harry want to laugh, but he didn't. Instead, his smile merely widened. Not a moment later, though, the smile had vanished in surprise as he suddenly felt his feet get very wet. He stopped in an instant, Draco stopping beside him as his shoes made a splash instead of a click. Both teenagers looked down and were rather confused to see that the floor was covered in a thin but consistant layer of water.

"Perhaps a bathroom flooded, or a pipe burst." The blond theorised, answering the unspoken question of what had happened.

"Where's the nearest bathroom then?" Harry inquired curiously as he started to walk again, though his pace was really more of a creep.

"It'll be the girls' one that no one ever uses because of the ghost."

"Ghost?" Harry echoed.

"Yeah, people call her Moaning Myrtle, or something like that." Draco revealed. "She spends all her time moaning and whining so the girls tend to avoid it and use the other bathrooms."

The dark haired boy nodded absently as he led the way across the flooded floor and towards the bathroom. As they got closer, they heard the sound of a girl sniffling tears quietly, not out-right sobbing but not exactly trying to hide the sounds of crying either. Upon entering, Harry was a little surprised to see the girl who was crying was actually floating in mid-air and was partially tranparant. He knew there were ghosts in Hogwarts but this was the first time he was seeing one.

Having stood just at the entrance of the bathroom for several moments, the ghost finally seemed to notice them. "Have you come to throw something at me as well?" She asked in a haughty, yet still tearful, way.

"Why would we throw something at you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, but someone did."

"What happened exactly?" Draco queried then.

"I was just resting in the U-bend, minding my own business, thinking about death, and then someone threw a book at me." The ghost explained, her voice tearing up again towards the end of the sentence.

Harry glanced to the side then and saw something laying on the floor by the entrance of one of the cubicles. He approached it slowly and crouched beside it upon reaching it. After a second or two of just looking at it, he then hesitantly picked it up, a horribly familiar sensation washing through him as he did. With it in his hand, he was able to turn it over and saw why it was so familiar.

"T. M. Riddle." He murmured before he looked to Draco. "Hermione and I found this book in the library a couple of weeks ago and it disappeared from where we'd left it by the time we were ready to go. At the time I thought I was just being paranoid...But now..." Harry paused then and looked to address the ghost. However, he saw that she was now gone, vanished without a trace.

"Do you really think something suspicious is going on?" Draco asked gently as he came to crouch beside the other boy.

"I don't know what I think." Harry admitted. "But I do know what I feel, and I feel that something terrible is connecting all the strange things that have been happening lately. I just don't know how or why."