Banished to Infinity

by Rohan Bernett, Christia, Mama Dog-Heart, Hermione_rox, smellyfeet, Alora Malfoy, and Vanity Kidman.

Forever sounds like a very long time, but it takes being trapped in an ever-expanding, empty universe with no possibility of dying to make you really understand the concept. This is exactly what had happened to Tom Marvolo Riddle, alias Lord Voldemort.

One might wonder how Voldemort ended up in the far-distant future the way he did. That in itself in quite an interesting tale: and it begins with a boy named Harry Potter.

As Harry woke to the sound of commotion from the street below him his hand jolted out to his wand on his bedside table. Leaping from the bed, he threw himself toward the window and only saw the neighbor across the street throwing old food at a stray cat that had been hanging out around the house for the past few weeks. Harry winced as he watched Professor McGonagall streak across the street to a safer place beneath his Uncle Vernon�s car.

He had seen her in front of his house everyday since the end of term because there had been a general fear that in the aftermath of Dumbledore�s death that the blood charm that he placed on Harry and the Dursleys years ago would not exist after his death.

Though Harry only had two weeks until his 17th birthday, the day he could leave the Dursely�s forever, he approached the day with coming fear, because he knew that once he came of age his world would become drastically different.

Looking away from the window, Harry surveyed his room. Piled haphazardly on one corner of his desk were a pile of books on various wizarding legends and offensive and defensive magic. On the other end of his desk were a pile of parchments with various notes scribbled on them and many crossings-out.

Harry was about to sit down and start reading up on a new shield spell, when he heard the distinct "pop" of someone Apparating in outside the house. Quickly he rushed to the window to see who it was, and it turned out to be one of his best friends, Hermione Granger.

Harry didn't waste much time in heading downstairs to greet Hermione.

"Harry! Good to see you again. Why haven't you been writing to us?" asked Hermione.

"First, prove to me that you really are Hermione Granger," replied Harry, cautiously. "Tell me something that only the real Hermione and myself would know."

"You're almost as paranoid as Moody," said Hermione, dryly. "Very well, the smallest bottle in Snape's puzzle back in first-year got you through the black fire to confront Quirrel and stop Voldemort getting his hands on the Philosopher's Stone."

"I'm convinced you're you. Come on in. It's a good thing the Dursleys are out for the day, or they'd probably freak out at you being here."

Harry led Hermione up to his room, and Hermione was quick to notice the pile of books on Harry's desk. Before Hermione could ask about the books, Harry decided to start explaining about his research. When he got to the part explaining about the Sword of Ravenclaw, which he thought could be one of the Horcruxes, Hermione cut him off.

"You mean the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry. Ravenclaw was a thinker and intellectual, not a fighter. If anything, I'd say her object would be a object of knowledge or wisdom."

Harry shook his head and directed Hermione's attention to a pile of notes balenced haphazardly on the edge of his desk. Scooping these up, Hermione sat down and began to read through them. Harry thought it would be best to let her read it for herself, as her stubborn and studious nature would not allow her to beleive his words alone. It had to be written.

After a while, Hermione raised her head and Harry was surprised to see pride shining in her eyes. "Harry, I can't beleive how much effort you have put into your research. You haven't left a single fact unchecked."

Harry watched McGonagall prowl under a bush outside through the window. "A lot is resting on this, Hermione, so I need to be sure."

Hermione looked quite taken aback at Harry's cold attitude. "Tell me about your research, Harry. I will understand it better if you explain it to me." At that, she sat on the bed and watched Harry expentantly.

"According to my research," began Harry, "Ravenclaw was indeed a fighter, and a highly-aggressive one at that. I'd say from my research that she could be a cross between you and Ginny or Mrs Weasley."

"Ginny isn't that aggressive," replied Hermione, defending her friend.

"Care to explain the Bat Bogey Hexes Malfoy recieved from her when you led Dumbridge into that trap with the Centaurs?"

"Point taken. You were saying?"

"Anyway, Ravenclaw had a sword quite similar to Gryffindor's one, but with a lot more enchantments on it. Some of these books," Harry gestured to the pile on his desk, "mention the Sword of Ravenclaw firing out blue lightning, and also having the power of time-travel."

"I thought Time-Turners were the only magical method of time-travel," replied Hermione, with a thoughtful look.

"Apparrently not. Even after Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff vanish from recorded history, Ravenclaw keeps popping up at intervals of roughly twenty-five years and staying around for just as long before vanishing again. The last time she vanished was in the late 1300s, and she was never seen again."

"Facinating..." said Hermione, who then asked: "but what does this have to do with Voldemort?"

"If he has the Sword and is using it as Horcrux, he clearly has no idea of its power. I suspect the time-travel magic in the sword is keeping him alive."

"So, you're suggesting that if the sword was used for time-travel, Voldemort's soul would be expelled from it?"

"Exactly."

"Do you know what this means, Harry?" Hermione asked. "If we find that sword and use it to travel to another time, we'd be one horcrux closer to finally defeating Voldemort."

"I know," said Harry. "Now we just need to find the sword. I've been doing some research on this, too. The last place Raveclaw used the sword for time travel was in Edinburgh, in 1371. Here, read this."

Hermione grasped the thick blue book Harry had handed to her, opening it to the bookmarked page.

Sighted by an elderly witch who was going for a walk, Rowena Ravenclaw was said to have appeared out of nowhere near the outskirts of Edinburgh on November 17, 1371. She was believed to be clutching a large sword. This, of course, is only a myth, as Ravenclaw (one of the four founders of Hogwarts) died centuries before.

"Yes, but what does this have to do with anything?" Hermione asked. "Voldemort has already found the sword, and we need to know where he's put it, not Ravenclaw."

Harry just grinned. "I was getting to that," he said. "You know how a compass is attracted to magnetic materials, right?"

"Yes. What are you suggesting?"

"Well, as it happens, Time-Turners held horizontally do something similar with sources of temporal magic. There are records of naturally-occuring portals through time that have been found by using a Time-Turner like a compass."

"I see what you're getting at, Harry. If we can get our hands on a Time-Turner, we can use it to find Ravenclaw's sword."

"And once we find that, even a short trip through time means one less Horcrux to worry about."

"How is the sword supposed to let you travel in time, anyway?" asked Hermione, her eyebrows knitted in thought.

"I don't know. None of the references I've looked up have said anything about how to use the sword's capabilities. I do know one thing, though: we have to make sure Voldemort doesn't find out how to use them."

"Could Voldemort use the sword to travel back in time and change history?" asked Hermione, looking quite concerned.

"I don't think so. It seems to only allow travel into the future, that's if the records of Ravenclaw's appearances are anything to go by."

"Now that's an interesting thought..." trailled off Hermione.

Harry however, could find it quite disturbing. The very idea of a senile lunatic running about through time, possibly destroying everything in his path, made goose bumps rise.

"You have a quirky sense of humor." Harry muttered, grabbing another book and pouring through it. Usually, there would be another sitting between them... possibly making them laugh at some stupid joke... but Ron Weasley had been dead for at least two months. There was no way his decaying body was going to make anyone laugh.

Hermione seemed to realise his thoughts, and put out a hand in sympathy. She had probably cried the most between the two of them, but Harry felt assured she would be alright. She had been the most religious between the three of them and had accepted the fact that Ron was in a better place. Whoever the murderer had been on that cold gray night... They were hiding quite well. But Harry had a good idea as to who it had been... a certain cold blooded man by the name of Draco Malfoy - the one that hated Ron more than any other.

Harry was too distracted now to work. He snapped the book shut, nearly closing it on Hermione's hand. Hermione looked a bit startled, but smiled again.

"Want to hear a Ron joke?" She asked playfully.

Harry rolled his eyes, and for a moment things seemed back to normal. He pretended now that she was Ron, which wasn't that hard for a desperate mourning friend to do.

"Sure." he said, leaning against the head of the bed.

"What's easiest to lay?" she asked teasing.

"I have no idea." Harry said, but if it was a Ron joke he had a good idea who it was.

"Your Mama." She said, and laughed brightly.

'BEEP BEEP!' tires screached outside the house, and Harry went pale. They were back.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Get down," Harry hissed.

"What is it?" Hermione asked again, in a quieter tone.

Harry didn't answer, he just made his way to the window and peered out.

Hermione didn't bother asking again. She got out her wand and made her way to Harry's side.

"The Dursleys are back," Harry whispered.

"Oh, what are we going to do?" Hermione whispered back, as she loosened her tight grip on her wand.

"They probably won't bother me until later, and we'll sneak you out while they eat dinner," Harry replied.

"Potter! We're back!" shouted Uncle Vernon, making his presence known as he entered the house.

"I bet the whole street knows now, thanks to your booming voice," replied Harry, sarcastically, and leaning on the railing at the top of the stairs.

"You watch your tongue, Potter, or I'll have you thrown out," snapped Uncle Vernon.

"Not for another two weeks, you can't," came Harry's smug reply.

Uncle Vernon's face fell. He knew Harry was right, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Don't just stand around there looking smug, come and make yourself useful. Go and bring in the shopping," ordered Aunt Petunia.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

Harry made his way downstairs and out to the car. He was on his way back in with his fourth and last batch of four plastic bags when he spotted Hermione trying to sneak downstairs. Unfortunately, Dudley spotted her at the same time.

Harry dropped his bags in the nick of time to pull out a very dangerous wand from the back pocket of his jeans. Dudley's eyes went as wide as the plates Petunia was getting out for dinner, and he gulped ominously. Hermione pulled out her wand as well, and at the same time, they gave him a look... a very clear, defining look.

"I. Will. Kill. You."

Dudley, being the coward he was, nodded shakily, and backed away from Hermione as though she was a poisonous snake. She might very well have been, with the wierd hissing noises she was making.

"Boy! Get in here this instant and make us dinner!" Vernon shouted across the house, purple in the face from the volume of his voice. Harry promptly grabbed Dudley by the scruff of the neck, and wheeled him out of the hallway, along with the bags in his other hand. Harry might have looked a tad bit unhealthy, but he was very strong.

"Alone at last..." Harry murmered, and Dudley whimpered from beneath his grip.

"I see you've met my little friend. Fabulous. I'll let you know in advance, she is one tough cookie. You think you can get away behind Daddy? Ha. When she's around, there is no Daddy. There is no Mummy. It's just you, and her, and one very big problem. The fact that you have pissed her off."

Harry looked back, and saw Hermione wink at him knowingly before scooting out of the house. At least he'd had a chance to talk to her.

Harry let Dudley go and took the bags into the kitchen, without another word or look at Dudley. Harry knew that Dudley would be too scared to talk for a while.

Dudley lumbered up the stairs as fast as he could, and locked himself in his room. Though he had slammed the door so many times that the lock no longer really worked.

Dudley dismissed from his mind, Harry handed the bags to his aunt, who would at least put them away, and started getting out the supplies that weren't near the two spots that the Dursleys occupied.

Petunia stood in front of the refrigerator a few more minutes after putting away the last of the groceries, but, in the interest of having dinner, she moved to an out of the way window.

After deliberately overcooking all the Dursleys' food (and cooking his own food properly), Harry took his plate and headed up to his room. After putting his plate down on his desk, Harry paid Dudley a visit. Given how badly damaged the lock on Dudley's door was, Harry had an easy time picking it.

"Hey, fatso, your slop is ready downstairs," said Harry, leaning against the door frame.

"Who was that girl? She's one of your lot, isn't she?"

"If you must know, and it will keep you quiet, she happens to be my best friend and has been since I started at Hogwarts. She's not my girlfriend, and likely never will be. I don't have any girlfriends, and take my word for it, there are plenty of girls who would want to be, but they can't get the post until Voldemort is dead."

"Ah, right. Isn't he the guy who offed your parents?"

"Yes he is, Dudley, and right now, he wants me dead, too. Provided I don't get him first. Now you may as well get your food downstairs, and keep quiet about my friend's visit, or I'll curse you into next week," Harry added with a glare that could crack glass.

After his meal, Harry flopped down on his bed and felt a lump under his pillow. It turned out to be a mobile phone with a number spellotaped to it and written in Hermione's handwriting. Harry smirked to himself.

"That girl thinks of everything."

Later that night...

The problem with not sleeping was that nights were long, cold, and boring. They also tended to make his mind wander to subjects that he'd rather not think about... Like Ron. Like all those times Ron had made him laugh till his ribs cracked. Like all those times that Ron had thrown himself in harms way to stop Harry from getting hurt... how he had always been there to talk... to cry... to laugh... how he had always been there point blank.

Like that night before he--

Harry shook his head like a dog that was drenched in water. He couldn't think on things like that.

But no matter how hard he shook his head he couldn't stop from hearing those words

I forgive you Malfoy.

Harry lowered his face into his hands, blinking back tears.

Now, what's all this crying for?

Harry looked up slowly. Surely he hadn't just--

Harry, Harry, Harry... I'm still here.

Harry smiled in wonder, looking around the room. He heard Ron's warm voice fluttering through his ear like pheonix song.

That's what Ron's voice was to him...

Pheonix song.

Call her, Harry. Call her and comfort her. Call her for me. Do it. For me.

Harry picked up the mobile phone, then hesitated.

'What if she's already asleep?' he thought to himself.

But then Ron's voice echoed through his head again, and he dialled the number that Hermione had taped to the phone.

The phone only rang once before Hermione's voice came on, her first words a little rushed.

"Harry there's someone in my house!" She hissed, her voice barely above a whisper. It took Harry a moment to realize she meant 'there's someone in my house' in a bad way.

"Where do you live?"

"Hard Grove Road, south of Maple Street."

"I can't believe it! I walked that street as a kid! Which house?"

"The one with grey shutters."

"You're kidding."

"No, Damnit, why?"

"Because I used to throw rocks at your windows."

Hermione let out a soft moan. "Harry, now's not the time for a trip down memory lane. Call the police, the Order, someone." She was whispering so fast that her voice was almost a constant hiss.

"Hermione, I-"

He stopped when she let out a gasp.

"They're coming up the stairs. Oh, God. Harry, please. Help me."

Harry got up and raced down to the living room, earning a loud shout from Uncle Vernon. With the mobile held to his ear with one hand, he used the other to dial emergancy from the house phone.

"I'm calling the police, Hermione. You'll be alright."

Harry stopped dead when a scream tore out of the mobile.

"Let me go! Help! HELP!" Then the phone went dead.

Harry grabbed his Firebolt and flew it out of his window. The speed of the racing broom and cover of darkness got him to Hermione's house in no time. Slowly flying around the upstairs, he eventually stopped outside Hermione's window to find her looking a bit shaken, and an unconcious Death Eater on the floor.

"Where are the rest of them, Hermione?"

"Downstairs for the moment. That Sneakoscope I bought in Diagon Alley went off the instant they entered the house."

"Well, they're obviously Death Eaters, that's for certain."

"So, what do we do, now?"

"I'll barge in the front, you sneak up on them from behind. I'll jam things so they can't Apparate out."

"Got it."

Harry landed at the front door and flung it open, revealing two very-surprised Death Eaters. Harry quickly Stunned the larger of the two, while Hermione came up behind them and Stunned the smaller one. Just when he thought he was finished, a third Death Eater came into the room and grabbed Hermione. She quickly had him on his knees, moaning in pain. Harry Stunned him, too, and Hermione went and removed the Death Eaters' masks, after first dragging the one that was in her room downstairs. The identies of the four Death Eaters were no surprise to either of them.

Crabbe
Goyle
Nott
Parkinson

All of them old school mates, but none of them friends. For a moment, Harry just stood there, for he knew where these four were, another was sure to be directing... and sure enough-

"Tell me Potter, what does it feel like to be alone. Apparently, I've got my friends backs, but what about you? Tell me..."

Harry slowly looked up, as Hermione let out a soft gasp.

Draco Malfoy stood in the doorway, his face pale and sneared. A trickle of blood was spotted near his left ear, but besides that... he was perfectly fine. Still the very same Malfoy Harry had watched running away two montsh ago.

Harry felt compeled to crush Malfoy's face in. But, then again, his anger was for Snape and Voldemort. This was Hermione's terrain. And Terrain she did.

She lashed out at Malfoy like a cat in heat, jumped ontop of him and begining to claw at his eyes. Malfoy's screaming only added to her stamina, and soon blood was spattering all over the carpet, and her clothes. Harry just watched. What else could he do?

She was thrown off by Malfoy at the very last second, and as he re appeared, Harry let out a sharp pang of shock. Where his eyes had once been, there was only two dark bloody sockets. He didn't know whether to barf, or to scream.

"There!" she cried. "Lets see you try to run away with no eyes, you worthless dog! You mutt! You feind!"

"You're not running anywhere, Malfoy," said Harry, and promptly Stunned him.

As soon as Malfoy hit the floor, Harry hurried over and relieved him of his wand and everything else he was carrying. Seconds after he pulled an empty tin can out of Malfoy's pocket, Harry felt the familiar jerk of a Portkey in action and landed in a very luxurious house.

'Must be Malfoy's house,' thought Harry as he quietly made his way out the front door.

Getting out of the manor's grounds, however, was going to prove to be quite a challenge...

Harry looked around once he was outside. The grounds seemed to stretch out for miles. It could of been an illusion, but, with all of the money the Malfoys have, it wouldn't be a surprise if it wasn't.

Harry dully lit the end of his wand, needing the light but not wanting enough to alert any one. Harry crept across the enormous front porch and down the steps.

He then checked the surrounding area for a stick or something he could use to check the way ahead. There wasn't any near the steps, but there was a long stick, that was just perfect for what Harry wanted it for, under a tree close to the walkway.

Harry stepped onto the perfectly kept grass, and the entire lawn lit up. Harry quickly tried to back away, but his feet were stuck to the lawn. In fact, his feet were slowly sinking into the ground!

'Quicksand?' thought Harry. It was a possibility, but Harry didn't think it likely. 'What about quick-clay?' That sounded a lot more likely. It would be pretty easy to keep the ground in selected patches vibrating enough that the particles of soil would not stick together.

Harry had a brainwave of how to get out of this. He pointed his wand at the ground and heated it up hot-enough to melt the soil, however, he was released long before the soil melted. Scrabbling back to the path with the stick, Harry noticed that the grass had been holding onto him. A close examination of the soles of his boots revealed what looked like tooth-marks.

'The grass was trying to eat me? I've heard of carnivorous plants, but this is rediculous.'

Harry continued his way through the Malfoy grounds, roasting any grass he had to cross until he encountered his next obstacle: a grid of black and white squares that looked a lot like a chessboard.

'This can't be good,' thought Harry. He was right, too.

Harry noticed a greek letter pi in the bottom-left corner relative to where he was standing. Figuring this was some sort of puzzle, he tossed a stone onto the board and a column of flame erupted from the square the stone landed on.

When Harry tried tossing a stone onto the eighth square on the row nearest him, nothing happened. Clearly this puzzle had something to with circles in mathematics. Unfortunately for Harry, he was extremely rusty on his maths, not having done anything past primary school.

Suddenly, Harry had a brainwave. He remembered seeing stepped circles drawn on Dudley's computer. If he could figure out a stepped circle segment on the board, he'd be able to find a safe route across.

Several minutes of tossing stones later, Harry had mapped out a safe curve on the board and he made his way across, hopping from one safe square to another.

"Halfway done," said Harry, with a relieved sigh. "What else does Malfoy have in store for me?" asked Harry, and regretted saying it as soon as he finished.

Harry heard a growl as soon as he finished speaking. Harry looked in the direction the growl had come from and was able to make out two gleaming eyes. They were there for a minute before disappearing into the shadows again.

Harry heard a stick snap to his right, and he whipped his head around. This time he could see more than eyes. It looked to be a large wolf.

"Only the Malfoys," Harry voiced under his breath.

The Wolf growled at him before disappearing again. Harry turned around just in time to see it in the middle of a pounce, heading toward his head.

Making use of his Quidditch-toned reflexes, Harry just managed to duck out of the way of the wolf in time. Quickly turning around to face his opponent, Harry realised that this was no ordinary wolf: it was a werewolf.

Harry reached into his pocket and took out a dart tipped with highly-concerntrated Wolfsbane Potion that he kept on himself ever since Bill Weasley had been bitten by Fenrir Greyback. Before the werewolf could do anything else, Harry quicky threw the dart at it.

The effect was almost instnataneous. In less than a second, the aggressive beast that would have ripped out Harry's throat was quite friendly. Harry pulled out the dart and put it away to be cleaned and re-dosed at a later time.

"I bet you're quite a nice person when it's not a full moon," said Harry. "You know, I have a friend who is a werewolf. He's probably locked himself in the celler where he lives right now."

The werewolf continued to follow Harry as he made his way out of the grounds of the Malfoys' manor. Evidently, the werewolf hated being in the manor's grounds as much as Harry did. It was quite fortunate for Harry that he had his werewolf companion, or otherwise he would have ended up quite stuck when he reached the final trap.

For one, a very big distraction was staring his in the face.

It was a statue of Ron, chained to the ground by thick iron bolts. His eyes were suken into his sharp face, and his hair was in his face. He was staring right into Harry's emerald green spectors, three feet from his face. "Aya!" He screamed, falling back into Hermione, who yelped. The two came down together.

Don't panic! came Ron's disembodied voice.

Harry felt it very hard to not to panic. First the ghastly statue of Ron, now a translucent copy of Hermione was suddenly with him. Unlike a ghost, the translucent Hermione was coloured, like Peeves. Harry thought this all very odd, but his thoughts were interruped by a new voice. This one was very differerent. It was sinister and unnatural-sounding, in addition to being disembodied.

I give you a challenge Potter. Do you want him alive?

Please... Harry... help me, pleaded Ron's voice.

Harry jerked back up to his feet, and shouted to the sky "Give him to me!"

I will send you on a quest. If you fail... alas... your friend will die in front of you. But, if you win, by some god forsaken chance... then I will alow him back to you. The exception? you have a time limit. the time limit is that of three midnights. replied the sinister voice.

"I get you! Where is he?!"

Banished to Infinity

"Where the bloody- (harry said something that made the translucent Hermione scowl) is Infinity!?"

Infinity Harry! Infinity! For gods sake, think! Where were we happiest?! exclaimed Ron's voice.

"The burrow?!"

No... but thank you.

"Hogwarts?!"

Unfortunatly yes, replied the sinister voice. Now, you have a destination, you have a time limit. You have rules.

"Such as?" prompted Harry.

For one, you must go on foot. No short cuts, not helpers. No portkeys, no brooms. No nothing. Two, you must go through a series of obstacles along the way.... I'll provide them... last but not least... if you do not make it to Hogwarts before three midnights, past all the obstacles on foot, I will kill him before you all. I persieve you already knew that?

Harry flushed. This seemed a tad bit harder now.

Hermione screamed mirthlesly to the sky

"Give me your name! I want to know the name of the person I kill!" demanded Harry in rage.

Alas... I believe that can wait for another time ... perhaps when I kill him before you all, said the sinister voice with a note of amusement.

I'd like to see you try! snapped Ron's voice.

Harry stood there dumbfounded for a second.

What are you waiting for? Go, ordered the sinister voice.

Go get 'em Harry! urged Ron's voice.

Harry didn't need telling twice.

As soon as Harry moved one step from his location, his surrounding immediately changed. Where once he was nearly to the gate of Malfoy's manor grounds, now he was standing in the middle of a forest.

As Harry looked around the forest, he saw that the werewolf and the ghostly image of Hermione had come with him. Harry strongly suspected that the image was not Hermione at all, but merely something else that had assumed her shape.

"So, which way do we go?" said Harry out loud.

"Remember the maze," said the translucent Hermione.

"Of course! The Four-Point Spell!" Harry had found a variation on the spell during his research which could point you to any location you had previously been. "Point Me to Hogwarts" said Harry, and his wand spun around on his outstretched palm to point to his right. "This way, I guess," he said to his companions, and started walking.

While they walked, Harry heard rustling in the forest. A couple of times he would catch sight of a pair of eyes, but they wouldn't bother him when they saw the werewolf.

Harry stuck close to the werewolf, knowing that he could be snatched if he was away from the wolf. He also couldn't use his wand to defend himself, as he had to use it for both light and as a compass.

Harry was startled when he entered a clearing, half an hour later, by a voice. He had grown used to not being bothered by anything, and was not expecting that deep of a voice.

"Who goes there?" the voice boomed.

"Just a traveler, intending no harm," Harry answered, knowing that it would be a bad move to reveal his real name.

"These woods are ours, who gave you permission to trespass?" the voice asked.

"I was not aware that I needed permission," Harry said as he finally glimpsed the centaur that was blocking their way.

"Please," said the ghostly Hermione, "Just let us through. We are trying to save a friend and time is of the essence."

"I see," replied the Centaur. "I will allow you safe passage through our patch of the forest, if you can beat me in a contest of accuracy. I see that you have a wand," said the Centaur, indicating Harry.

"What does this test consist of?" asked Harry, cautiously.

"See that branch set between two trees on the other side of the clearing?"

"Yes."

"As you are clearly right-handed, you must hit it as close as possible to the centre with your wand in your left hand and your right hand held behind your back. If you can hit it at least as well as I can, you will be granted safe passage. If not, you must make a detour around our territory."

"I agree to your terms," replied Harry.

The Centaur fired an arrow at the branch in question, and it hit just four inches to the right of the centre. This would prove a difficult shot to beat. Harry took careful aim and cast a very fine Incendio at the branch. Harry's spell started the branch burning three inches to the left of the centre, and another Centaur came out of the forest and poured water over the fire.

"Very well, you have won your safe passage through our patch of forest," said the Centaur. "The stars show that you have many more challenges ahead of you."

"Thankyou," acknowledged Harry, and set off along with his two companions.

After waliking for nearly two hours, they left the forest and their surroundings swirled and became an old mineshaft.

So, you passed the first test. Beginner's luck. You still have more ahead of you before you reach your goal. Oh, I neglected to mention that although you would have three days of time to reach Hogwarts, the entire time will be spent at night. You have used up four hours so far. You only have sixty-eight left, announced the sinister voice, and it faded away with a familiar high, cold, laugh.

The werewolf suddenly drew the attention of both Harry and the ghostly Hermione. What was coming towards them through the mine tunnels didn't sound friendly at all.

Harry raised his wand in a defensive position and strained to see, through the dim, flickering lights, what was coming. He saw that it was a Chimera, though not like ones that Hagrid had described. This Chimera had different parts of animals than the normal ones.

It had sleek, black fur all down it's body, like a jaguar. But it's build was more like a giant lion's. It had massive paws, like Fluffy's paws, with claws showing. It's head was almost human, except it had pointed ears, and a canine mouth. It had a tail that looked like an alligator's tail, except he could manuver it better.

Harry registered all of this in a second, before focusing on what spells to use against it.

"In order to pass you must answer these riddles," the Chimera spoke as it stopped moving forward.

"I thought Sphinxes were the ones to ask riddles," Harry commented, while hoping that the ghostly Hermione was as smart as the real Hermione.

"This is that task that was given to me, I know nothing of these Sphinxes," the Chimera replied.

"What is the first riddle?" Harry asked, deciding to hurry on.

"I'm so fast you can't see me, though every one sees straight through me, I don't stop until the day you die. What am I?"

"A blink of an eye," the ghostly Hermione answered after a few seconds of thinking.

"Correct, I don't have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had thoughts, but now I am white and empty. What am I?" the Chimera asked.

"A skull," Harry said, remembering the riddle from the time Dudley was obsessed with them.

"Correct, they are always invisible, yet never out of sight. What are they?" The Chimera asked.

"The letters S and I," the ghostly Hermione said, almost imediently.

"Correct, you may now pass on," the Chimera said before lunging at them.

A fraction of a second before it would have hit him, Harry dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way, while the werewolf lept up and bit the Chimera on the throat. The ghostly Hermione just stood there as the Chimera flailed about trying to shake off the werewolf, its head occasionally passing through her.

Eventually, the Chimera gave a mighty jerk which caused the werewolf to lose its grip, but the beast didn't look too healthy after having been bitten by the werewolf. It started to pulse with an inner light, which leaked out of its wound from the werewolf, along with its eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

Clearly sensing danger, the werewolf backed away up the mineshaft for several-hundred metres before stopping. Harry and the ghostly Hermione stood to either side of the werewolf and watched as the distant Chimera exploded in a flash of green light, splattering the walls with blood and causing its general area of the mine to collapse on top of it, blocking up the passage for over a hundred metres.

Well, well, well. Wasn't that fun? asked the sinister voice.

"No, it most certainly was not!" snapped Harry.

What a pity. You're no fun.

"When I get my hands on you, you'll find out just how much fun I am," came Harry's reply.

If, not when. Franky, I'm rather disappointed that you made such short work of that Chimera. Oh, well, there are still plenty of other routes out of this mine. I look foward to seeing you fall prey to a trap along one of them... The sinister voice faded away, laughing evily again.

'I'm trapped in a mine,' Harry thought. 'I can't get out.'

"Oh yes you can! Follow me!" said a sprightly voice.

Harry looked wildly left and right, and the werewolf raised it's shakles in alarm. Hermione gave out a squeak and pointed over Harry's shoulder. A ghostly figure had risen out of the grounds where the Chimera was just destroyed, it held a lamp high aloft.

Your next test, announced the sinister voice. Follow the man through the broken down mines. The twist, he runs very fast, so you must keep up. If you fail, you will be lost to the darkness forever...

The man took off, and Harry, Hermione, and the Werewolf took off after him. This image was like a ghost, expect it was to blury to be a boy or girl. It seemed friendly enough, until, when Harry got so close to it, it spit fire out at him! Harry yelped, and jumped back to avoid being caught on fire! They were loosing pace, they weren't going to make it! Suddenly, the man took them into a strange room with a very narrow stare case leading up over a pit of stretching inky darkness. There were no railings to help them. Harry began to teeter across, trying to keep up. Hermione was very nimble and had no trouble, but the werewolf was having a bit of a hard time. He nearly fell, but Harry flung out an arm, and saved him. The man had taken them to the very top where there was a little platform.

Down below them was another small platform of hard white tile.

"Jump." said the thing in a groggy voice, and floated downwards.

Harry gritted his teeth, took Hermione by the hand, and together they jumped. the Werewolf came crashing down after them.

"Ahhh!" they screamed as Harry looked wildly for something to break their fall. they would be killed if they hit the tile at this rate!

Oh no you don't! came a hard voice of fury: Ron's voice to be precise. Harry felt something grab him and hermione around the middle. The werewolf landed on all fours, and yelped for them to hurry, the ghost was far ahead.

Something was pulling them forward like an invisible string through the air towards the ghost. They were gaining time, and soon were close enough for the ghost to start spitting fire! The werewolf was trotting down below them, and together, they all made it out safe. Soon they were back in the great chamber, adn a beam of light was hitting the marble floor.

Good Bye, and Good Luck came Ron's weary voice before they were set back on the ground.

The beam of light hit them and they were going out.

The werewolf was bounding ahead in the day light now. He was transforming

Harry and hermione stood back to watch in amazment as a man with long black hair formed into his former self. He was tall and muscular, and had big blue eyes, just like Ron's.

"My name is Dijon, what's yours?" he said, shaking their hands in congradulations as they landed in a remot forest clearing.

"It's Harry Potter." said Harry, shaking his hand.

"I'm Hermione Granger." said Hermione, shaking his other hand.

"You all did excelent back in the mine. I am very surprised if your not in sports." said Dijon appreciativly.

"Quidditch for me, but I don't know if Hermione-"

"I take Ballet thank you very much!" She snapped

"Ballet?" asked Harry, incredilously. "That doesn't sound like the Hermione I know."

"I'm not," replied the ghostly Hermione.

Before Harry could ask her any further questions, they were interrupted by the sinister voice of whoever or whatever had been setting their tasks.

Weasley, stop interfering with the rules of MY game! snarled the evil voice.

No chance in hell, came Ron's reply.

That's it! I'm resetting the conditions right now, and you leave the game alone, Weasley, or I'll kill you now.

Harry, he's deadly serious. I can't offer you any more help. If I do, you heard what he said, apologised Ron's voice.

"Nevermind, Ron. We'll get you out of there," said Harry, as the surroundings changed back to night, and Dijon transformed back into a werewolf. He didn't, however, become aggressive, as he still had a good quantity of Wolfsbane Potion left in his system. Harry just hoped it would be enough to last the next sixty hours.

Let the game continue! This is a rather large patch of forest, and It's almost as dangerous as the one at Hogwarts. I would say 'Good luck' if I wanted you to have it, but I won't. Let's see you get out of here in one piece... The sinister voice let out a high, cold, laugh and faded out.

"Well, guys, looks like we're practically back where we started," said Harry, gloomily.

Suddenly there was a sound of a stick snapping and the group found themselves face-to-face with the largest spider Harry had seen since meeting Aragog.

"I say" it said in a most civilized manor "Don't you look tasty?" It snapped it's pincers a couple of times. Harry felt his jaw drop.

"Acromantulas...." whispered Hermione.

"My god." Harry whispered right back.

They looked at one another for a small moment. Then they promptly took off running.

"I do say! Come back here!" It shouted in vain attempt to snatch them. Harry and Hermione were way ahead of it, running into things pell mell, getting scratched in the face. This was natural for Dijon, so he was even farther than them. But none of them knew where they were going and even if they did... how could they escape this monster!?

Harry, Dijon, and the ghostly Hermione burst into a clearing, and then ran into a small lake, which was right near the edge of the clearing. Harry and Dijon surfaced with a big splash, but the ghostly Hermione just floated upward.

Harry began swimming toward the opposite shore, wanting to be as far from that edge of the lake as possible, as the acromantulas would soon be on the clearing.

Harry tensed as his estimated time for the acromantulas to catch up to them ran out. But there wasn't any noise. He peered behind him while continuing to swim but he couldn't see anything at the end of the clearing.

The only sudden thing that happened was that Harry bumped into a tree. That tree hadn't been there before, the lake had moved.

Harry felt his his skin start to sting and burn. Then it hit him: The lake was a kind of gigantic Pitcher Plant and it was trying to digest him and Dijon. Thinking quickly, Harry cast an evaporation charm on the lake around himself and Dijon. The "water" rapidly evaporated, revealing the telltale green of a giant plant leaft at the bottom.

Keeping up the evaporation charm around himself and Dijon, Harry managed to walk out to the edge of the lake, and levitated Dijon out, as the walls were too high for the werewolf to climb. Harry, however was able to climb the walls of the Pitcher Plant Lake, and was soon on dry land, with the ghostly Hermione at his side.

"Whoever is running this 'game' has a sicker mind than the Malfoys," said the ghostly Hermione.

"I'll second that," replied Harry. "Let's see, where to now? Point Me to Hogwarts." The wand pointed straight ahead.

"Let's get going, then," said the ghostly Hermione, and the group headed through the forest, leaving the lake behind them.

A while later, after avoiding some dangers, they reached the end of the forest. They stopped before they exited the forest though.

Harry examined the ground before him, with everything that went on before, he knew that almost anything could happen. The ghostly Hermione also looked at the ground, and Dijon sniffed cautiously.

It was lucky that Harry had taken caution, as there was a knee high trip wire strung between the trees.

"There's a wire here," Harry pointed out.

"A wire?" the ghostly Hermione asked, as she didn't know what Harry was talking about.

"It will activate a trap," Harry said, reminded again that this was not his Hermione.

"I understand," the ghostly Hermione replied.

"You better step over it as well, it might activate even it you float through it," Harry told the ghostly Hermione.

"All right," she nodded.

"And can you jump over it, Dijon?," Harry asked, "I would levitate you, but it might activate with magic."

Dijon responded by bunching up, getting ready to jump.

"Here we go," Harry said as he lifted his leg over the wire.

Harry was about to put his foot down on the ground when he noticed a second tripwire, right where he was about to put his foot. Not wanting to take any chances, he backed up away from the tripwire and did a running jump over both dripwires, as did Dijon. The ghostly Hermione simply floated over both tripwires, before coming to rest again at ground level several metres away from them.

"I wonder what that trap actually does?" said the ghostly Hermione, as she picked up a fallen branch. Harry and Dijon backed further away from the trap and the ghostly Hermione hurled the branch at the wire.

The silence of the night was broken by the sound of a tremendous explosion, and when the dust cleared, all that could be seen of the trap was a ten-metre-wide crater in the ground.

"Well, after seeing that, I'm certainly glad we jumped it, rather than trying to step over it," said Harry dryly.

Dijon urged Harry to follow him and they made it out of the forest and their surroundings swirled to become rocky, mountainous terrain.

You survived yet again. How disappointing. I sincerely hoped the Pitcher Plant Lake would kill you, but yet again, you managed to escape. These mountains won't be so easy for you to get through. There's tough terrain, unstable caves, and best of all, nasty beasts here. The sinister voice faded away laughing again.

"Why does that voice sound more and more familiar every time I hear it?" asked Harry, just before a four-metre Mountain Troll showed up on the scene.

Harry jumped back in surprise as the troll lumbered forward, snarling visciously. He glanced around to ghostly Hermione, who was looking at the troll nervously. "Er...any ideas, Hermione?"

"Run!"

He didn't have to be told twice. He ran off to the side and hid behind a huge boulder as the troll began to knock down trees with his giant club.

Dijon, who had not moved since the troll had appeared, growled. Crouching low, he ran staright towards the enormous troll, jumping on him and clawing at his chest. The troll roared in pain, swiping the werewolf off of it with its massive hand.

Dijon landed on the ground with a thump. He shook his head, struggling to get up, but didn't have the chance. The troll was angry now. He ran toward him, lifting his club high-

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, coming out from behind the rock.

The spell didn't hurt the troll, but it distracted him for a bit. Long enough for the werewolf to get up and dash out of harms way. Only one problem- the troll was after Harry now.

"I really wish Ron were here right now."

"That's it!" came ghostly Hermione's voice. "Do what Ron did last time!"

"What- Ow!" The troll had swiped at him, picking him up in his grimy hand.

"Remember?! You've battled a troll before, Harry!"

"Yes-" Harry closed his eyes as the troll brought his hand upward to throw him. He grasped for his wand, opened his eyes a bit and shouted "Wingardium leviosa!"

The troll's club was yanked out of his grasp and into the air. The troll stopped his approach and stared up after it. The wand went as high as Harry could control it before falling straight down, still in Harry's control.

The club hit the troll on his head, making it a slightly cleaner repeat of first year. Harry moved the club away from the troll's head before watching the troll to see if that was enough to knock it out.

The troll still stared up in the air, but then it's eyes rolled back and it collapsed. Harry then dropped the troll's club.

"How'd you know?" Harry asked the ghostly Hermione.

"About your facing a troll before?" the ghostly Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry answered, as if it were obvious.

"I existed at the Malfoys, Harry, they may be collected in the presence of strangers, but they can get quite loud on their own," the ghostly Hermione explained.

"Oh," Harry blinked.

Dijon snorted, he had heard some angry rants himself.

"Well, I guess we should keep going if-" Harry started, but he was interrupted by a rather evil sounding voice.

So, I see you've gotten past my troll - out of pure dumb luck that Weasley's spell worked. Well, no matter. You won't be so lucky next time, let me assure you. There are plenty of other surprises waiting for you in the mountains. And with an evil cackle, the voice disappeared.

"What do you think he meant by 'other surpises'?" Harry asked.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," replied ghostly Hermione.

Dijon nodded, and together, they headed for the mountains. Soon they realized that the voice was right- the terrain was rough, and it was quite easy to loose your footing. One small misstep might mean a nasty fall. So they kept going- slowly, but surely.

That is, until they figured out just what the voice had meant by 'other surprises.'

Wherever these mountains were, if they were even real, this section of them was clearly volcanic in nature and the next obstacle turned out to be boiling mud and pools of superheated water.

A little further in the distance, Harry could see the red glow of molten rock. This did not look like a promising part of their trial.

"I suppose the volcanic nature of the terrain explains why there is so much loose rock," said the ghostly Hermione.

"I don't like the look of this. I haven't had any experience on volcanic terrain. What about you two?" asked Harry.

The ghostly Hermione shook her head, but Dijon nodded.

Harry sighed before saying, "Of course you can't give us any advice, so you'll have to lead the way."

Dijon wooffed and nodded.

"I'll follow behind you, and you'll have to be last," Harry told the ghostly Hermione.

"That is fine, I do not need to worry about the ground," the ghostly Hermione said.

Dijon carefully started out, pausing each time before putting a paw down. Harry watched where Dijon stepped while he waited until there was room for him on the path. At that point it became harder, as Harry needed to watch where he was stepping as well as watching where Dijon was stepping.

The ghostly Hermione watched the two make the way along the path for a minute before she floated out herself.

She had only gone a few steps when a plume of fire burst out in the air right where she was standing. The heat from the fire made Harry duck, though he wasn't in the way.

Even several metres away from the column of molten rock shooting up into the air, Harry still ended up getting badly burnt by the time he managed to get a safe distance away from the the lava shooting into the sky.

Looking back at the column of fire, he saw a transparent sillouette heading towards him. As it got closer, Harry could see that it was the ghostly Hermione with her hair blown around a bit, but otherwise unharmed.

"Typical. Whoever's in charge here must really have something against this form," said the ghostly Hermione when she reached Harry and Dijon.

"I wouldn't put it past Draco Malfoy to be the one responsible for this, if he had the brains to run something this compicated. Somehow I don't think it's him."

"I'm inclined to agree, Harry. Draco Malfoy is not the brightest candle around. I don't think Lucius or Narcissa could be running this 'game' either. Whoever's responsible is a lot smarter than any of the Malfoys."

"Well, whoever it is, when I get my hands on them, they'll wish they were dead. Lead the way, Dijon, let's get out of this volcanic area."

The three travellers resumed their perilous trek through the volcanic landscape, only now with the added hazard of falling volcanic ash.

"How far do you think this volcanic area will go on for?" Harry asked, some time later.

"Not too far, I hope," said Ghostly Hermione. "Or atleast before daybreak, when we have to stop. I should be fine, but I don't think it'll be so easy for you and Dijon to dodge volcanic ash while you're asleep."

Dijon nodded, leaping backward as a bunch of volcanic ash nearly hit him in the face.

"Let's just hope it's almost over."

The path had become slightly less dangerous for the moment, but Harry didn't expect that to last. They had had one or two more incidents with those spouts of fiery lava, but there had been a pretty far distance between them so far. This gave him the opportunity to glance at his surroundings every once in a while, when he wasn't searching for molten lava or wtaching where Dijon was going.

"Hey! Look at that!" Harry said suddenly.

"What?"

"That hole in the mountain wall. That's not natural is it?"

Ghostly Hermione floated closer to the hole in question. It was near the ground, and only about 2 feet tall and slightly wider. Certainly not a comfortable passageway for a human.

"You're right," she said. "But it's probabaly nothing important. Come on, we have to keep moving. Besides, if there's anything in that hole, it can't hurt us if we're far away from it."

He couldn't argue with that logic, and began to walk away when he heard Dijon growl. The werewolf's head was peeking into the hole.

Then, quick as a flash, he gave a frightened bark and pulled his head backward so rapidly Harry thought it might snap off. More curious was the noises coming from inside the hole.

He reached for his wand- whatever was in there was about to come out.

"Bloody hell! I haven't had to see one of those since I was in my second year at Hogwarts!" exclaimed Harry as a Basilisk squirmed its way out of the hole.

Thinking quickly, Harry cast a blindness charm on the Basilisk which completely covered its eyes in a black film. With the problem of the creature's death glare (or petrification) out of the way, Harry still had to worry about the deadly-poisonous fangs and being squashed or knocked into something volcanic.

"Uh-oh. I think it's smelt us," said Harry, looking worried. "We'd better get out of here quickly, before it catches us. Last time I faced one of these monsters, I had a sword. I've got a nasty feeling that it's going to take a lot more than just magic to get rid of this one."

"I concurr," replied the ghostly Hermione. "Let's get out of here. Lead the way, Dijon."

Dijon led them through the volcanic area as quickly as he could, until they came to a river of molten lava that was flowing very fast. Finding a way across didn't seem terribly promising, but for getting rid of the Basilisk, the river held great promise.

The ghostly Hermione floated across the river. Dijon judged the gap before taking a large leap. Harry and the ghostly Hermione watched as he cleared the river.

Harry's mind was racing as he tried to think of a way to get across the river. He finally came up with a solution and practically shouted a spell.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry floated himself across the river before coming to a tumbling halt.

The basilisk moved up to the edge of the lava and paused before lunging at them.

"Protego!" Harry shouted, sheilding the edge of the river.

As the Basilisk lunged at Harry's shield, it was bounced off, but the sheer force of the attack knocked Harry backwards onto his back. The next few seconds were a bit strange to watch. The Basilisk had managed to get its head across the river of lava, but its tail was still on the other side, and it was holding on tight to the rock on either side.

Thinking quickly, Harry grabbed some fist-sized rocks and hurled them at the Basilisk's fangs which promptly smashed. With no fangs to hold onto the odd trio's side of the river any more, the Basilisk slipped backwards into the river of lava.

When the Basilisk fell into the river it started to shriek in agony from the intense heat and writhed about as the lava swept it away. Within seconds, it had ignited and was a ball of fire disappearing off into the distance.

Harry retrived what was left of the Basilisk's fangs to use as weapons against whatever horrors they would next face. He had just completed his task when the sinister voice spoke again.

Damn it! Nobody's gotten this far before, Potter! I wanted to see you die. Still, there is ample opportunity for that to happen before you get out of these mountains. IF you get out, that is. You may have survived the volcano and the Basilisk, but there's plenty of other hazards to kill you before you get out of here. Oh, by the way, you have exactly fifty hours left to get to Hogwarts. Time is ticking by. Once again the voice faded away with a high, cold, laugh.

Harry, the ghostly Hermione, and Dijon started walking up the rising path. Right now it was easy going, but they could see that the path would become steep ahead.

"You know," Harry said as a thought occured to him, "I wonder how we'll get to Hogwarts since who ever is doing this keeps changing our location."

The ghostly Hermione sighed. " Honestly," she said, a bit more gracefully than the real Hermione, "When we have completed the last task our location will be changed to Hogwarts, where we will probably be given more tasks to complete."

"If it's the last task, then why will we need to complete more tasks at Hogwarts?" Harry pointed out.

"Fine, the last task leading up to Hogwarts, where we will at least have to do one task to bring back this Ron," the ghostly Hermione replied.

Harry would of replied to that, but both the fact that he was reminded that neither the ghostly Hermione or Dijon knows Ron and the fact that the path was climbing up more steeply, took away what breathe he had for any thing but walking.

Suddenly Harry noticed something at the top of his eye. He looked up from the path and saw a large boulder rolling down the path, heading straight toward them.

"Damn!" exclaimed Harry, and quickly put up a shield which deflected the boulder. With a loud crash, the boulder crashed into the bottom of a cliff, starting a huge rockfall. It was all that Harry could do to maintain the shield keeping them from being buried alive.

When the rockfall was over, Harry found that the rocks were stuck quite tightly around them. Hoping that they wouldn't cave in on top of them, Harry took down the shield and after putting Bubble Head Charms on himself and Dijon, started a spell which produced a beam of heat so intense, it vaporised the rock in its path.

For hours they walked through the tunnel, melting their way through the rock and clocking up many kilometres of distance. Twelve hours had elapsed by Harry's watch by the time they no longer needed to burn through the rock. That left them with just thirty-eight hours to find Ron.

Stepping out of the tunnel and into the cave, Harry quickly sensed that something nasty was around, even before Dijon's warning. Harry turned to find himself face-to-face with a Hungarian Horntail dragon.

Harry swerved as the Horntail lunged at him. Dijon snarled but only Hermione kept stationary. A loud roar signalled the arrival of another Dragon, which appeared right next to the Horntail.

"Common Welsh Green!" Hermione said under her breath.

"Brilliant!" Harry yelled. "Just what I've always wanted."

The Two Dragons roared together, shaking the ground and making Dijon wimper. Harry swore as a blast of fire came his way and he ducked as the Welsh Green raised a claw to pound Harry with.

"Dijon!" Harry yelled, but it was no use. Dijon was on the floor, a mass of blood pouring out of his side.

Both the Horntail and the Welsh Green advanced on the two. Harry closed his eyes and remembering the spell he used when he last came into contact with a Dragon yelled "Accio!"

A large boulder, bigger than both Dragons came up behind the two dragons and knocked them sidewards. With a pop, they both vanished.

Clever, clever, ickle Harry beat the Dragons, almost there I beleive... come on lets see what you got.

With another pop Dijon vanished.

Wanted the Dragon did you? mocked the sinister voice. Harry just scowled.

A large cut in the cave wall appeared and Harry hurried through it, with Hermione following. He stopped abrubtly when he saw Hogwarts in the distance.

"Typical. The most-direct route to Hogwarts involves a trek though the Forbidden Forest," said Harry, dryly.

"I hope Dijon isn't dead," said the ghostly Hermione. "I've ended up involved in one of these things before, and anyone who ends up unconcious vanishes from the 'game' until they wake up," she explained as they headed towards the Forbidden Forest.

"When we get out of here, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do. What happens when a participant wakes up again?"

"They'll reappear next to their companions. As time is measured according to game time, if Dijon isn't too badly injured, he'll probably wake up in a few hours."

"What do you mean by 'game time'?" inquired Harry.

"Time passes faster in the game than it does in the real world. Thirty-six-hundred times faster, to be exact," explained the ghostly Hermione.

"So, we've really only been in here for about thirty seconds, rather than thirty hours?"

"Exactly."

Eight hours later, just as they were about to enter the Forbidden Forest, Dijon reappeared in front of them, still injured. Harry waved his wand over the werewolf, performing a healing spell. The spell seemed to work, and Dijon got back to his feet.

"Welcome back, Dijon," said Harry, and the werewolf put his paws up on Harry's shoulders in the best version of a hug he could manage. Harry was strongly reminded of Sirius' behaviour nearly two years ago at this.

"Harry?" asked the ghostly Hermione.

"Sorry. It's just that Dijon triggered some memories with his actions. Come on, we've only got twenty-nine hours left."

The ghostly Hermione broke off a sizeable branch with what appeared to be superhuman strength, Harry lit another branch with his wand to act as a torch, and Dijon prepared himself to lunge at anything that threatened them. The oddball trio then set foot inside the Forbidden Forest.

They had been in the forest for five minutes, and had gotten far, when Harry felt something land on his shoulder. He swiped at it with his hand, and it came off his shoulder, but not his hand.

Another thing dropped from the trees and passed through the ghostly Hermione as Harry moved his hand to the light to see what it was.

"I say, I have finally found you!" a voice exclaimed as Harry finally saw what had fallen on him.

"The good news is we're pretty close to Hogwarts, the bad news is, we've come to acromantulas territory, run!" Harry shouted as he started to run, not bothering to wipe the web off his hand.

Harry led the way, going around the giant nest to avoid most of the giant acromantulas. Unforntuately some of the acromantulas had built their nests away from the main nest, as Harry and Dijon found out when they ran into a giant web. The ghostly Hermione hadn't gotten stuck, but she couldn't help them with out getting stuck.

"Damn it! I should have known something like this would happen," grumbled Harry. "Let me think, what would be good for getting through a spider's web?"

Remembering Dudley's Chemistry textbook, Harry remembered that spiderwebs were polymers similar to nylon, and that nylon melted quite easily.

"Hermione! Use the torch! Set fire to the web!"

"Right, here we go," said the ghostly Hermione as she picked up the torch and held it to the web, which quickly ignited and melted, singing Dijon's fur in the process.

"Let's get out of this forest, said Harry, and started hiking through the trees until he came to the path. Once on the path, Harry and Dijon started racing along it, with the ghostly Hermione floating along close behind them.

Once they were safely out of Acromanula territory, Harry and Dijon were able to slow down. After an hour of walking, the trees started to thin out and they were stopped by some familiar faces who did not look pleased to see Harry - the Centaurs of the Forbidden Forest.

Dijon growled at the centaurs, and crouched down so he would be ready to attack. The ghostly Hermione positioned the torch so that she could bring it up to attack, but it didn't seem threatening.

"You were told never to come into the forest," a centaur said.

"True, but this time we only hope to get past, and get to Hogwarts," Harry replied.

"And why would we grant you safe passage after you had been warned?" the centaur, who seemed to be the spokesperson, asked.

"They seem more real than the last ones we met," Harry murmered to the ghostly Hermione, barely moving his lips.

Harry was racking his brain, trying to come up with a useful response.

"It's because we're closer to Hogwarts, because of Hogwart's magic they actually have the real centaur's personalities," the ghostly Hermione answered, in the same low tone that Harry used.

"Because we mean no harm, and we don't mean to bother you," Harry answered the centaur, figuring that he had to answer before they decided to attack.

"Being in our forest does bother us," the centaur said.

"That I can not help, but we need to get past, there is something important that we must do at the castle," Harry said, a touch of desparation in his tone.

"Fine, you and the wolf may go, but the girl must stay and face the concequences of her actions," the centaur declared as he stepped forward.

"Go on without me," said the ghostly Hermione. "These centaurs can't do anything to me that's worse than what the Malfoys have already done."

"Are you sure?" asked Harry. Dijon had a look of inquiry on his face, too.

"Positive. Go! Time is ticking by!"

Harry found that he couldn't argue with the real Hermione, let alone this ghostly double, when she used that tone of urgency in her voice.

"Come on, Dijon. We've got a life to save," said Harry, and he and Dijon headed out of the forest to find the Hogwarts grounds empty. There wasn't even any smoke coming out of Hagrid's cabin.

The pair approached the castle with great caution and entered the entrance hall to find it empty. 'Twenty-four hours left,' thought Harry to himself.

Suddenly, Harry clearly heard Ron's voice from the Great Hall say: "He's here! You've had it now!"

Harry and Dijon burst into the Great Hall to find Ron tied to a chair with snakes and a giant crystal ball floating in the air showing Dijon and Harry. Standing over Ron was none other than Lord Voldemort with a furious look on his face.

"Potter, Potter, Potter..." Voldemort said lightly raising his wand and caressing it through his fingers. "Harry, Harry, Harry."

Voldemort paused. Harry eyed his enemy.

"Want the sword do you? Want Ravenclaw's sword? Find it, beat me and find it."

"But... I..." Harry stuttered "I can't..."

Voldemort smirked "Crucio!"

The spell hit him in the chest and he fell back, screaming in pain until it subdued and, panting, he was able to get up to beat his foe.

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled but the spell missed by miles.

"Harry..., the orb... smash the orb..." a voice that shook Harry's skin but which lightened it.

Professor Dumbledore's ghostly figure rose up from the ground.

"Smash... the orb!"

"REDUCTO!" Harry yelled and his spell flew towards the orb and hit it squarely in the centre.

Strangely enough, the crystal orb shattered into literally a million tiny fragments when the spell was still a good thirty centimetres from it. Seconds after the orb shattered, the surroundings began to fade out, becoming a black void. Harry had no idea how long he spent in the void, but when new surroundings appearred around him, he found himself standing facing Ron in the grounds of Malfoy's manor. Checking his watch, Harry noted that less than a minute had elapsed since the crazy game had begun.

Looking around, Harry saw that Dijon and the ghostly Hermione were standing to either side of him.

"Well, at least I'm not dead," said Ron, with a grin. "Unfortunately, You-know-who is now on the loose again."

"What hapened to you, anyway?"

"I cast a banishment spell on You-know-who when he cornered me some time ago. Unfortunately, I didn't read the full details on the spell, and ended up trapped with him in that 'game' you had to play."

"I doubt that was any fun," said Harry dryly.

"I don't know how you manage to deal with him all the time, Harry. I'm just glad to see you again, I'll say that for certain."

"Let's get out of here as quickly as possible. I don't want Malfoy's mother to catch us."

"I can't argue with that, mate," said Ron, and started walking with Dijon at his side.

After a few minutes of walking, The odd quartet arrived at an impossibly deep chasm. On close inspection, thre was a faint blue glow at spasmodic intervals in the air above the chasm.

"Oh, great. An invisible walkway, and it doesn't go in a straight line, either," grumbled Harry.

The final barrier to leaving the manor's grounds would prove to be one of the most challenging obstacles Harry had encountered to date.

"So, we just have to jump across right?" Ron asked nervously.

"In theory, yes," replied ghostly Hermione.

"In theory?"

His question was answered for him as they saw the spots of blue glow dissappear and then reappear in different places.

Harry looked decididly green. "I wouldn't like to be on one of those when it dissappears."

"It's okay," said ghostly Hermione. "You just have to jump across really fast right after they've dissappeared, so you get across before they dissappear again."

"Easy for you to say. You can just float across," snapped Ron. "But what happens if one of us isn't fast enough?"

A moment of tense silence passed between the group. Harry cleared his throat. "Let's not think about that."

"We'll have to take turns, I want to get out of here quickly, but I think it would be easiest just to go across one at a time, what do you think?" Harry turned to the ghostly Hermione.

"That would be best, there is only one path out, so only one person can go at a time," Hermione answered.

"Oh, I hadn't thought about that," Harry said as he looked more closely at the chasm.

Sure enough, he only saw the path go across. There was more than one patch of light, but it would just go to the opposit of the chasm, and then it would reappear at the start.

"How do the Malfoys get past these?" Ron asked.

"They usually just floo to where they want to go," the ghostly Hermione answered.

"Then why couldn't we of just flooed?" Ron asked, he really didn't want to attempt to cross the chasm.

"If I had flooed, then there wouldn't be a we, including you Ron," Harry absently answered, his attention more on the path.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Ron answered.

"I think I've got it, while it isn't set to a set pattern, it seems to have a time pattern," Harry turned to the group, "The even paths are there for seven second before they disappear, and the odds are there for five seconds, so you'll have to count them."

"Be carefull though, it some times is random, and cuts out before the seconds are up, and some times it will be longer, I'll spot you guys, though I won't be that much of a help," the ghostly Hermione said.

"Since you can become some what real, then you might be enough to allow us to jump to the next part of the path," Harry assured the ghostly Hermione.

Dijon huffed in agreement, and the ghostly Hermione smiled.

"Right, I'm off," Harry said, not allowing them to decide who would be first.

Harry jumped to the first part of the path, that had just finished its circuit. He balanced himself before jumping again, just in time as the path that he was on disappeared. The next one was a bit trickier, as he had to jump to the right.

Harry only just managed to keep his balance when he landed on the vanishing platform. After quickly regaining his balance, he made a diagonal jump to the next platform. After a tense ten minutes of jumping platforms, Harry finally made it across.

"Phew! Now, that was hard!" exclaimed Harry. "Come on, Ron. Do you want to be stuck at Malfoy's place for the rest of your days?"

"Of course not! I don't suppose I could go back to the house and Floo out of here, could I?"

"Not unless you want to get eaten by grass and try to cross a minefield."

"Point taken. The platform-jumping sounds much more appealing to me."

As Ron cautiously hopped from one vanishing platform to another, Harry turned to the ghostly Hermione.

"Do you think you could carry Dijon across?" he asked.

"Hmmm... Floating and carrying at the same time? It would be difficult and exhausting, but I think I could do it. I might drop Dijon, though, if the exertion becomes too much for me. Are you willing to take that risk, Dijon?"

The werewolf nodded.

The ghostly Hermione grabbed Dijon around his middle and floated over the chasm as fast as she could, but her strength ran out when she was nearly at the other side and she dropped Dijon onto a platform that was just appearing. Dijon quickly sprang off the platform and onto solid ground, knocking Harry over in the process.

Seconds after the ghostly Hermione landed, Ron completed his trip across the chasm.

"That wasn't as hard as I expected," remarked Ron.

"It was for me," replied Harry. "Now, let's get out of here. I don't trust the Malfoys not to boobytrap the gates, so I'm going to blast them. Reducto!"

The gates melted, rather than shattered, and the party lept over the molten metal before it had even solidified. Once outside the manor's grounds, the ghostly Hermione spoke up.

"Harry Potter, you have freed me from my imprisonment at the hands of the Malfoys. I owe you my life."

"Now may be the time for explanations, but here is not the place. Let's get out of here. Off to Hermione's place. I'm sure she's worried about me, but I'm sure she'll be surprised to see you three."

Harry grabbed hold of Dijon and Apparated back to Hermione's living room. A second later, Ron appeared, shortly followed by the ghostly Hermione fading in next to him. Needless to say, the real Hermione looked both relieved and shocked to see the odd quartet.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted, running toward him. "You're alright! I wondered what had happened to you." She paused, glancing around at his companions, then gasped.

She jumped up. "Ron!" she screeched, darting towards him and engulfing him in a hug. "You're alive! I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Hermione," he said. "But could you stop choking me, please? I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry," she said, still grinning. "But who are they?" She gestured to Dijon and ghostly Hermione. "Is that a werewolf? Did he have WolfsBane? He doesn't seem viscious to me. And-"

She blinked. She had just turned to see a mirror image of herself-in ghost form. "Who are you and what are you doing in my body?" she asked.

"Calm down," said ghostly Hermione. "Not even your friends know why I'm in this form." She turned to Harry, Ron, and Dijon. "Though think it's about time I told you why."

"Okay," Hermione said, "As anxious as I am to hear your story, I'm still a bit confused here. What happened to you, Harry? The last time I saw you, you had just taken something out of Malfoy' s pocket. And then you were gone."

"It was a portkey. It took me to Malfoy manor."

"Oh, Harry, what happened? And how on earth did you manage to come back with a supposedly dead man, a werewolf-"

"His name is Dijon."

"And a ghost that looks exactly like me?"

"I think you'd better sit down for this one," said Harry, leading Hermione over to the couch. "It's pretty unbelievable."

Harry related his tale of dealing with the nasty traps the Malfoys had setup in the grounds, his giving Dijon a massive dose of Wolfsbane, Voldemort's game of death, and his final escape from the grounds with his new companions.

"Amazing. Harry, that was both amazing and terrifying what you had to go through to rescue Ron," said Hermione, when Harry finished his tale. "I suppose I should expect the unexpected when dealing with you," she added with a smile. "Now, speaking of unexpected things, who is this ghostly double of mine?"

Now it was the ghostly Hermione's turn to tell a tale. "Centuries ago the Malfoys managed to capture me with their magic and bind me to their land. The only way I could possibly leave was on a full moon, and in the invited company of a wizard. Not a witch, it had to be a wizard. That's just the way the spell worked. Thanks to Harry's timing and compassion, I'm finally free of my magical prison."

"So, you're centuries old? Who and what are you?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer your first question precisely, as I'm not too sure just how old I am. I think I'm around eight-hundred years old. As for my identity, I can't answer the 'who' part, as I've been bound for so long I've forgotten my own name. The 'what' is an easier matter. I'm a tempus spirit, and due to being entirely composed of temporal energy, I can manipulate time on a small scale, much like a Time-Turner, only I can manipulate time in both directions or stop it altogether."

"Facinating, but why do you look like me?" asked Hermione.

The ghostly Hermione gave a shrug. "Your form was simply the first female image I found in Harry's mind when I took the opportunity to take on a form," she replied with a faint smile.

"I do remember something," the ghostly vision of Hermione said suddenly as she raised her hand to touch her forehead "A name, they gave me a name the Malfoys, it's not mine buts it's something. They called me Ithilryia, Ithilryia Persiphus, or... or Illy."

Hermione beamed at this. "Well what are we going to do with you Illy?" Hermione asked. "You can't stay with us, I haven't got a twin, especially one whos centuries old."

Illy shook her head, "It would be hard, I wouldn't expect you to do much... only... I would be free."

"Well your free now aren't you?" Ron said, looking puzzled. "You're not stuck at the Malfoys are you??

Hermione nudged him in the ribes and he stopped. Harry aproached Illy.

"I'll do it for you," he offered.

"Send me back," Illy said in a whisper, "Make me free."

"Back to the Malfoys?" asked Harry in a bewildered tone.

"No, back to the spirit world," replied Illy.

"Illy, what exactly is this spirit world like?" asked Ron, looking rather curious.

"When the Malfoys captured me, it was a dark place that was full of evil and suffering. I was merely an administrator in the world, but the Malfoys put my skills to use as slave labour, stopping their manor grounds from changing and torturing me if I disobeyed."

"Were things getting any worse in the spririt world when you were captured?" asked Hermione, with a look of concern.

"They were. Why do you ask?"

"To be blunt, if anything like what's happening with Voldemort right now in this world got out of hand, I don't think you'd want to go back," said Harry.

"I still want to see if there's anything left to go back to," replied Illy, with a look of determination.

"How are we supposed to send you back? Even I've never heard of the spirit world," admitted Hermione.

"Just a brief burst of magic from two of you would be enough to send me back for a short time. I think I may have spent so much time in this world that I may never be able to permanently return to my original one."

"What do you say, Hermione? Dijon is still transformed and Ron doesn't have his wand, so they can't help, but you do have yours. Should we try sending her back?"

"Well, if it's only for a brief period, she should be relatively safe. Let's give it a go."

Harry and Hermione pointed their wands at Illy and concerntrated on releasing a burst of raw magic. The brilliant white beams hit Illy and she vanished, only to reappear sobbing ten minutes later.

"Illy! What happened?" exclaimed Hermione, looking shocked.

"It's, it's, it's gone!" Illy was barely able to get out.

"What do you mean, it's gone?" Hermione asked.

"It's gone," Illy repeated, too much in shock to be present.

Harry knelt down next to her and realized something. Illy looked different. She still looked a lot like Hermione, but her hair was more wavy then bushy, and her face was structured differently.

Harry dismissed it, and put his arms awkwardly around Illy's shoulders. It felt like he was holding onto a pile of snow, but he didn't think of letting go.

"The spirit world isn't there anymore," Illy said as her tears finally slowed.

"How can it not be there?" Hermione asked.

"Where did you go if there wasn't a spirit world," Harry asked a second after Hermione.

"There's just blackness, I wandered around for a while, but there was only blackness," Illy answered, shivering a little.

"What could have happened?" Hermione wondered.

"I've got an idea," said Harry, grimly.

"What? You-know-who destroyed the place?" asked Ron.

"Not Voldemort, but in my research, I found out something interesting. Grindelwald had a contingency plan that was supposed to be implemented if he was ever defeated, but thanks to the actions of Esme Potter, Richard Weasley, and Terrance Granger, the device Grindelwald built was destroyed years before his defeat and he was so busy fighting that he never got the chance to build a new one."

"What did this thing do, exactly?"

"Apparrently, it was supposed to destroy time itself, and as space and time are more-or-less the same thing, it would have also destroyed space as well, turning the entire universe into a timeless void. I think something similar could have happened in the spirit world and Illy found the results of it: absolutely nothing left at all."

"You're sounding like Hermione, Harry."

"Were Esme Potter, Richard Weasley, and Terrance Granger relatives of us?" asked Hermione. "I'm pretty certain my grandfather's name was Terrance. He died in a car accident a few years before I was born."

"I looked that up, too. Yes, they were our relatives. Esme Potter was my father's aunt and was killed fighting Death Eaters. Richard Weasley died quite recently. Death Eaters again. I'm sorry to have to be the one to give you the news about your uncle's death, Ron. At least he didn't go down without a fight."

"What happened?" asked Ron, looking shocked and with a hint of tears in his eyes.

"According to the Daily Prophet, he decapitated one Death Eater, and chopped off another's leg before they killed him. The Prophet called him a 'Squib Hero'."

"So, what are we going to do with Illy, now?" asked Ron, changing the subject.

"After having to deal with the Malfoys for so long, I think she deserves some fun. How about staying with me at the Dursleys' place?" offered Harry. "They're like the Malfoys, but Muggles and they freak out at any mention of magic."

Illy got a mischivious grin on her face at this. "Of course I'll stay with you. It sounds like fun."

"I guess that settles that then," said Hermione. "Wait a minute, what about Dijon?"

"How about I spend the rest of the night here with him, and we'll go to you-know-where in the morning," suggested Ron.

"Is he trustworthy, though?" asked Hermione, sceptically.

"He helped Harry through that death game, and he was a prisoner of the Malfoys. That makes him good-enough in my book."

"I think I'll leave you three to argue amongst yourselves for a while. Don't worry about calling in the Aurors, I'll let McGonagall know."

With that, Harry and Illy hopped onto Harry's broom and headed back to Privet Drive. Once there, Harry pointed Illy to the guest room, quickly scribbled a note to McGonagall, and flopped into his own bed, utterly exhausted. The next morning would prove to be quite an interesting one.

Harry had just closed his eyes when Illy came back to his room. Harry sat up after hearing the door open.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"That room is a horrendous shade of pink," Illy informed Harry.

"Yes, it is, but there isn't anything I can do about that," Harry replied.

Illy sighed. "I guess I will have to bear it."

"Good luck," Harry told her.

Illy turned around and left for her horrendous room. And Harry settled back before falling asleep.

Harry was awoken the next morning by a scream. He jolted up, raced into the hallway, and to the doorway of the guest room.

"What is it?" Harry asked calmly, after discovering that it was just his Aunt discovering Illy.

"There's a ghost," Aunt Petunia exclaimed.

"So?" Harry asked.

"There can't be a ghost here!" Aunt Petunia said, focusing less on the fact that Illy was a ghost, "Your Aunt Marge is coming!"

"So, when is the ugly old blimp coming?" asked Harry, smirking at what he'd accidently done to her four summers ago.

"She's coming on the first of August, and will be staying for a week," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"Don't worry Aunt Petunia, I solemly swear that I'll be up to no good," replied Harry, with a malicious grin.

"What are you going to do about the ghost?"

"Not a ghost, a time-spirit," corrected Harry. "As for what's going to happen to her, she's going to stay in the guest room, and Aunt Marge can sleep in the cupboard under the stairs."

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Aunt Petunia.

"Why not? You made me sleep there for ten years. I don't see any reason why Illy can't have the guest room while she's staying here and Aunt Marge can have the cupboard."

"Who's Illy?" demanded Aunt Petunia.

"She's the spirit you mistook for a ghost."

"Oh."

"I'll consider sharing this room with this Marge woman, but if I don't like her, I'm kicking her out," replied Illy.

"Illy is far older than Aunt Marge, so I'd say that gives her the higher priority over the room. Illy is in fact over eight-hundred years old."

"You do know your Uncle Vernon is not going to like this," replied Aunt Petunia, wearily.

"That's his problem," replied Harry with a smirk, and left to get ready for the day.

When Harry came out of his bedroom again, Aunt Petunia was still in front of the guest room, though the door was shut.

"Excuse me," Harry said as he brushed past her.

"Come in," Illy said as she opened the door, having heard Harry.

"I haven't seen Aunt Petunia so spaced," Harry said with a grin on his face.

"You should of seen her when I asked her to leave, the only reason she left was because I went to touch her," Illy replied.

"Let's go downstairs and have some breakfast, we want to be in a position to escape if my Uncle starts yelling," Harry said.

"All right," Illy replied as she moved quickly to the door.

They went past Aunt Petunia on their way out, and this time she reacted. She started as Illy brushed against her, and then shrieked her way to the bedroom, calling for her husband.

Harry and Illy had just reached the stairs when Duddley came out of his room, rubbing his eyes.

The moment Dudley laid eyes on Illy, his jaw dropped open so far that if he had been a cartoon character, it would have fallen through the floor. To Harry, the look on Dudley's face was priceless.

"What's the matter Dud? Haven't you ever seen a spirit before?" Harry asked cheekily.

Dudley just stood there with his face frozen in his utterly gobsmacked expression.

Harry and Illy continued downsatirs and stopped at the kitchen door as they heard an incredibly lout shout from upstairs. Uncle Vernon was awake.

"POTTER! WHAT IS THIS ABOUT A GHOST IN MY HOUSE?!" roared Uncle Vernon.

"Time-spirit, not a ghost," called out Harry.

"Whatever! Get it out before Marge comes!" he shouted as he came downstairs.

"I'm not leaving," stated Illy.

"GET OUT!"

"Uncle Vernon, you're forgetting something: you can't kick me out, and as Illy is my guest, you can't kick her out without my permission."

"I don't want to see anything even remotely connected with your lot," snarled Vernon.

"Well, too bad for you, that's not going to happen. If you don't like it, that's your problem."

"Why you little..." Uncle Vernon lunged at Harry, but Illy intervened and stopped time for Uncle Vernon, leaving him frozen in mid-stride.

Aunt Petunia cautiously came round the corner, and on spotting her immobile husband shrieked, "What have you done to him?!"

"I have only stopped time for him, it won't hurt him," Illy informed Aunt Petunia.

"But it will give us enough time to get out of here," Harry said with a grin.

Harry made toast for Illy and himself as Aunt Petunia worried over the frozen Uncle Vernon. Dudley had crept downstairs when he heard Aunt Petunia's screams, but he stayed in the doorway.

Once their food was ready Harry and Illy left the house, and Illy let Uncle Vernon go. Vernon finished his lunge and ended up falling to the floor. Aunt Petunia also ended up on the floor, though luckily she wasn't right in front of Vernon when he unfroze.

By the time Uncle Vernon had straightened himself out, figured out what happened, and stormed out of the house after them, Harry and Illy where on the front steps.

"Hello Uncle," Harry said mock cheerfully as Vernon rounded the house.

"You," Uncle Vernon exclaimed before pausing to take a deep breath.

"Now, now, you don't want to cause a scene in front of the neighbors, do you?" Harry asked.

"You get back in the house, you're the one causing the scene with that thing out where every one can see," Vernon hissed, his face past the color red.

"Illy is not a thing, she's as alive as any of us, and she's not bothering anyone, I'll prove it," Harry said as he got up.

"Excuse me!" Harry called out as he marched over to the property line of the house to the right.

"Yes," the lady, Mrs Norring Aunt Petunia could tell you, said cautiously as she walked up to Harry.

"Does my friend bother you?" Harry asked as he motioned to Illy.

The old lady squinted at Illy through her glasses. "She looks like a good-enough sort to me. I can't say the same about Dudley's friends, though."

"I couldn't agree with you more," replied Harry.

Harry walked back to Illy and Uncle Vernon. "See, the neighbours don't object to Illy. They object more to Dudley's friends."

Uncle Vernon had to admit defeat at this. "Fine, but I don't want her around while Marge is here."

"You wish," replied Harry smugly. "Illy is staying in the guest room, so Marge will either have to share with her or sleep on the lounge. Don't think you're going to get rid of Illy in a hurry, either."

"If this Marge woman turns out to be as horrible as the Malfoys, she'll be sleeping on the lounge, whether she likes it or not," added Illy, with her translucent arms folded.

"Personally, I'd put her in the cupboard under the stairs. After all, you made me sleep there for ten years," quipped Harry.

"Marge will not be sleeping in the cupboard!" snapped Uncle Vernon.

"We shall see."

"I'll be glad when I can finally get rid of you next year," Vernon snapped again, and stormed back inside the house, leaving Harry and Illy alone on the front steps.

"I'll be glad when I can leave," Harry muttered to himself.

"How about we leave now, your friends and Dijon should be up by now," Illy suggested.

"Yeah, it will be great to see Ron again," Harry said as he got up.

They left the Dursley's lawn, waved to the neighbor, and headed down the street to Hermione's.

"You know, I used to through rock's at Hermione's windows," Harry remarked to Illy.

"Really," Illy replied.

"I had no idea that Hermione lived there, never met her till Hogwarts," Harry went on, "she used to go to a different school."

They went up to the door and rang the bell. Hermione answered a second later and ushered them inside.

"Ron and Dijon are upstairs in the guest room, my Mum and Dad know that something's going on, but they haven't been too informed," Hermione reported as she led the way upstairs.

"Everyone okay?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Dijon turned back into a man at dawn just fine, and Aurors have been by to take the Death Eaters away, they'll be back later with questioning," Hermione stopped at a door before opening it.

"I'm almost tempted to go back to the Dursley's so that they'll have to come there to question me," Harry remarked.

"McGonagal is in the living room, and Madame Pomfrey should be back soon," Hermione said.

"So that was why we were almost whispering," Harry said.

"I wanted to talk to you before they got to you," Hermione replied.

"Yeah, we need to work out what to say," Ron said.

Harry sat down next to Ron on the bed, while Illy sat down next to Dijon on the floor. Hermione sat down on the other side of Ron.

"How are we supposed to explain the appearance of, a time-spirit, someone who was likely kidnapped years ago, and the reappearance of someone thought to be dead?" asked Harry.

"You could always let me tell my side of the story," pointed out Dijon. "I was indeed kidnapped by the Malfoys to act as a guard-dog four years ago, and I've been trying to escape ever since."

"Do you really think anybody will belive the tale about the game of death?" inquired Illy. "It does sound like a bit of a long shot, doesn't it?"

"She does have a point, Harry. I was V-V-" Ron sighed, still unable to say Voldemort's name. "You-Know-Who's prisoner in that game for longer than you were playing it, and even I find it hard to believe."

"At least the Death Eater attack is easy-enough to explain: I heard someone in the house, I called Harry on a mobile phone I left with him when I visited him earlier in the day, Harry came and helped stop the Death Eaters," summarised Hermione.

"Unfortunately, Hermione, what happened after I grabbed the Portkey from Malfoy's pocket is a tale that would have to be told by me, and I don't exactly have the best reputation, especially after what Fudge's administration did with the press. Still, I guess Illy and Dijon can back me up on everything since they met me."

"Would they take our word on the matter, though? Werewolves aren't trusted much by the wizarding communtiy, and I should know. As for a time-spirit, who knows?" put in Dijon.

"What about me? Everyone thinks I'm dead, how are they supposed to know I'm for real?" asked Ron.

"A DNA test with a small tissue sample from both you and your parents would be able to confirm that you are indeed Ron Weasley," replied Harry.

"What's a DNA test?"

"How much do you know about science, Ron?" asked Hermione.

"Very little, if anything," Ron admitted.

"Put it this way, Ron: think of DNA as a sort of instruction manual that tells you exactly how to build a living thing. I doubt this would apply to Illy, as spirits like her probably have their own very different system to specify how they're constructed. Anyway, you inherit different pieces of DNA from each parent, which gives you your unique combination of physical and personality attributes."

"So, I'd basically need to get my parents to go to a Muggle doctor with me to get this test done?" asked Ron, obviously not having absorbed Hermione's explanation.

"Yes."

"I don't know..."

"Oh, come on, Ron. Look, at least it will prove you're still alive if nothing else. Who knows? They might even find a medical problem you didn't know you had," said Harry.

"Now you're getting me worried."

"What's to be worried about? You don't get worried when you have to see Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts. I don't see any difference between seeing her and visiting a Muggle doctor."

"Getting back to the topic of explaining things to this McGonagall person, why don't we just simply relate everything that happened to us? Honesty is the best policy, is it not?" asked Illy.

"True, but keep in mind I wasn't believed when I said that Voldemort was back, so I'm not sure if they'll accept this," Harry said.

"We should tell McGonagall the truth, but only if she's alone, and maybe she'll help us create a cover story," Hermione decided.

"Let's get this over with," Harry said once everything was decided.

"Yes, I think Harry and I should go first, with the rest of you following behind, so we won't give McGonagall too much of a shock," Hermione said.

"Does McGonagall know about Dijon, Illy, and Ron?" Harry asked.

"No, I told her that there were a few extra people in the equation, but I didn't name who," Hermione replied.

Harry and Ron gaped at Hermione as she made her way to the door. Illy and Dijon weren't affected, as they didn't know that much about Hermione's behavior.

"We shouldn't be that surprised," Harry whispered to Ron, "Hermione does stuff like this once in a while."

"But she's so strict all of the time, it's always surprising when she does stuff like this," Ron whispered back.

"Are you two coming?" Hermione asked, everyone except the two were already out in the hallway.

Harry and Ron hurridly got up and left the room. Harry took his place behind Hermione and they marched down the stairs.

By the time they reached the doorway to the living room McGonagall had stood up from the couch.

As soon as McGonagall laid eyes on Ron, she turned very pale indeed.

"What's the matter, Professor? Haven't you ever seen someone who's been rescued from You-know-who?" asked Ron, with a cheeky grin.

"Mister Weasley! Everyone thought you were dead!" exclaimed Mcgonagall. "To think that all this time you were simply a prisoner. Whatever happened?"

"That's a long story, Professor. One with a pretty believable start, but the rest is pretty unbeliveable. I find it hard to believe, but I was there for most of it. When Harry turned up, things started to look a lot better," replied Ron.

"So, what exactly happened to you these past three weeks, Mister Weasley?"

"Three weeks? I had no idea how long I had been gone. There wasn't really any way to properly keep track of time where I ended up. I have no idea how much time passed until Harry turned up with Dijon and Illy. Being stuck as You-know-who's prisoner for a very long time which you can't count is no fun at all."

"Who are Dijon and Illy?"

"That would be us," said Dijon, stepping round the corner with Illy at his side.

"I see I'm going to have more questions than answers by the time I'm finished with you, Mister Weasley," said McGonagall, with a sigh.

Ron went over to the couch and sat down before begining. Everyone else also sat down, paying more attention on what Ron was saying than where they sat.

"Voldemort had found me, but he didn't have that many Death Eaters with him, and I still had my wand," Ron was saying, "We started dueling, and I held him off by dodging. I said the spell to blast him, but I think I said the spell wrong."

Hermione and McGonagall sighed at this point.

"I ended up in that place, with him."

"What place, Mister Weasley?" McGonagall interrupted Ron.

"I don't know, it was very weird, I could see the room that we were in, but I could also see other places, and I could control those places. And our wands didn't work real good, so at least I didn't have to continue that duel."

"Fortunately," McGonagall muttered.

"Then Harry came along, and Voldemort dragged him in."

"Hey, I just realized, you said 'Voldemort'," Harry interrupted.

"Well, I was trapped with him for a while, and knowing that I could make what difference I could with helping you guys, made me realize that I could say his name. Not that I want to face him again." Ron looked at them earnestly.

"Of course not, I don't think any one wants to face him at all," Harry replied.

"Yeah, anyway, when Harry was pulled in and Voldemort started saying those things about getting me out, I decided to help you out, make sure that he didn't kill you. He was angry each time I did that, but he was mostly watching you." Ron looked over at the three who had played the 'game'.

"Well, we saw the statue of Ron, and I had to look closely. I thought that it was a sick joke from the Malfoys," Harry started.

"Why don't you go back to how you got to Miss Granger's house, Mister Potter," McGonagall suggested.

"Oh, okay, I called Hermione to talk, but she said that there were people in her house, so I went over and took care of the intruders."

"What happened after you found the portkey?" McGonagall asked, having heard this part from Hermione.

"I appeared at Malfoy Manor, but I snuck out the door before any one could find me, and then I started down the pathway to the gates."

McGonagall made a small noise at that, because she knew what the Malfoy's pathway was like.

"On the way I met Dijon, who was a wolf at the time, I gave him Wolfsbane though, and he followed me. I met Illy when we came to the statue of Ron, fell into her. It was then that I heard Ron's voice, and then the voice that turned out to be Voldemort."

Harry explained the trials that he had to go through while they played the 'game'. Ron pitched in whenever he had something to add, Illy and Dijon as well. Then Dijon and Illy explained how they ended up at the Malfoys.

"I suppose I should explain how I ended up at the Malfoys' place," said Dijon. Seeing Harry's nod, he continued. "Four years ago I was kidnapped by Narcissa Malfoy and put to use as a guard dog at full moons. The rest of the time she kept me locked up in a cellar with only leftovers brought by the House Elves for food."

"I guess that explains why you look so thin and unhealthy," remarked Ron.

"Indeed. Sometimes if things had gone particulary badly, she would even come down to my celler and use the Cruciatus Curse on me if she was in a particulary foul mood. I don't know whether or not Draco knew about me or not. Anyway, until I met Harry last night, I was Narcissa's slave. I fully intend to sue her for compensation, and possible prison time, at the earliest possible moment."

"Sounds like fun. I'd be more than willing to help," piped up Hermione.

"Thankyou, Hermione. I believe Illy has a story to tell, now," said Dijon, motioning to Illy.

"I am a time-spirit. Centuries ago, the Malfoys captured me with their magic and essentially used me as a slave as well. I was forced to use my abilities to maintian their grounds, or face torture. I ended up being their slave for so long I forgot my own name. 'Illy' Is actually a contraction of a name one of the Malfoys gave me. As for why I look so much like Hermione, when I encountered Harry, Hermione's likeness was simply the first female image I found in his mind, and I took on that form. After we got back here, Harry and Hermione temporarily sent me back to the spirit world. I am never going to return there."

"When she did go back, Professor, there was nothing left at all. Her entire universe was a void. Grindelwald built a device capable of doing something similar in the early 1940s, but his device was destroyed by another Potter, Granger, and Weasley in 1941, and all knowledge of the device died with Grindelwald when Dumbledore killed him. The people responsible for destroying the device are all dead now, so they can't be questioned about it either," explained Harry. "In the meantime, Illy is staying with me at the Dursleys' place, although they're not too happy about that, but it's their problem, not mine," he added with a grin.

For Harry, Ron and Hermione, the expression on McGonagall's face was priceless. It was a mixture of shock, amazement and disbelief that they had never before seen on the normally stern Professor's face. Harry was deperately hoping that McGonagall would believe them. He needn't have worried.

"Well," McGonagall paused, "Could you replicate that spell again, Mister Weasley?"

"No, I was in such a hurry when I said it, and I don't know how it happened," Ron answered.

"I thought so, and it really is too dangerous to experiment on, what was the spell that you were originally going for?" McGonagall mused.

"The stronger version of Flipendo," Ron answered sheepishly.

"Mister Weasley, that's a seventh year curse," McGonagall exclaimed.

"No wonder you got the pronounciation wrong," Hermione said.

"Do refrain from using that spell until you've learned it in class," McGonagall told Ron.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to use that spell again," Ron said.

"Illy will be staying with Mister Potter, Mister Weasley will be sent to his parents, but what about you, Mister Dijon?" McGonagall asked.

"You can stay here for now, if you want," Hermione answered.

"Would it be all right?" Dijon asked.

"The guest room will be free, and my parents won't mind," Hermione answered.

"Then I think I will, until I can at least get a wand," Dijon said.

"If it's all right with you, I'll stay for the Aurors," McGonagall said.

"That's fine, Professor," Hermione replied.

"I'll be fine on my own, if you would like to go off on your own until they come," McGonagall assured them.

"Thanks, Professor," Harry said as the five of them stood up.

They went back upstairs to the guest room, and took the same positions as before.

They sat in silence for a minute, before Hermione got and knelt down beside a shelf. She then went to the center of the room and started to set up a board game.

"Candy-land?" Harry asked as he caught site of what the game was.

"What's wrong with Candy-land?" Hermione demanded.

"One, I've never even heard of it before, and two, it appears to be based entirely on chance. I like some strategey in my games," replied Ron.

"And Exploding Snap has some element of strategy in it?" asked Hermione, sceptically.

"Some, a little, but some."

"Well, then, what about Warcraft 2?" suggested Hermione.

"Do you even have enough computers for all of us to play?" asked Harry.

"What's a computer?" inquired Ron.

Harry, Hermione, and Dijon groaned.

"We have three computers, but only two are fast-enough to run the game," said Hermione in response to Harry's question.

"A knockout competition, then? I'll play Dijon, Ron can play Illy, and the winners play each other, and whoever wins that round plays you. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good to me. I guess I'll have to teach Ron and Illy how to play."

"You teach Ron, I'll teach Illy. I've played the game on Dudley's computer when the Dursleys were out."

"Sneaky. I shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out how to play the game. I may be a wizard, but I know more than enough about computers to seamlessly pass as a Muggle," said Dijon.

"To the computers!" exclaimed Harry, with a grin.

As it turned out, Illy was a fast learner, and it didn't take Harry long to teach her the basics of the game. When Illy had gotten the hang of the game, Harry went to check on Ron.

Ron was doing fairly well in learning the game, although a little slower than Illy. It wasn't much longer until he was ready to play against Illy. The match between Ron and Illy would prove to be a fierce one.

Harry walked over to where Dijon was on the third computer. Dijon had sat down right after Ron had left to learn the game.

"How are you doing?" Harry asked.

Ron and Illy were just about to start their game, but Ron had closed the entire program trying to close Illy's game. So now Hermione was loading the game again.

"I'm fine," Dijon answered, absorbed in what ever he was doing.

"You want to play now, or do you want to watch Ron and Illy?" Harry asked.

"Is it all right if I finish this while you watch Ron and Illy's game?" Dijon asked, looking up from the computer.

"That's fine," Harry answered.

"Thanks." Dijon went back to staring at the computer.

Harry went back over to the other computer, where Hermione had gotten the game up again.

"Honestly, Ron. What did you expect a button labelled 'Exit Program' to do, other than to quit the game?" asked Hermione, exasperatedly, as she typed in "WAR2.EXE" at the DOS prompt of the second computer to be used for playing the network game.

"I dunno. That's why I pressed it," replied Ron, rather lamely.

"It should be pretty self-explanatory, with a name like that," sighed Hermione, as she hit the Enter key.

The game loaded and Hermione set up a two-player game with the computer Illy was going to use as the host, while Harry set up Ron's computer as a client, in case he did something stupid again.

Soon the game was underway, with Ron playing as the Humans, and Illy as the Orcs. Eventually, after exhausting all the resources on the map in constant attacks on each other (including some very sneaky ones on Ron's part), Ron and Illy duked it out to the end with their last remaining units and Ron finally won the game.

"Much more impressive than chess, I'll say that. You need to keep your wits about you a lot more in that game than in chess," remarked Ron after his game.

"Well, stand aside and let the pros have a go," said Dijon, with a smirk.

Dijon and Harry's game was much more intense than Ron and Illy's game had been. Harry played very aggressively and Dijon kept making surprise attacks with dragons. Eventually, after two hours of hectic gameplay, Dijon finally managed to narrowly defeat Harry.

"Harry, I'll say this for certain: you are one tough opponent. I don't think I've ever played such a difficult opponent in a strategy game before."

"I just hope I'm at least this tough to beat when I have to kill Voldemort," replied Harry.

"From how you got us through his game of death, I'd certainly say so," replied Dijon with a smile.

The next game would pit Ron against Dijon, and would be almost as fierce as Harry and Dijon's game. Regardless of who won, they would be in for a very tough time at the hands of Hermione.

Harry, Illy, and Hermione watched as Ron and Dijon started up their battle. Dijon was the host of the game, as Hermione still didn't trust him not to end the game again.

Hermione watched the two's battle closely, storing up information on both of them so that she would be able to fight who ever won better.

Illy and Harry just watched for fun, as they didn't have to worry about any future battles. Not that they would of watched as closely as Hermione if they did have another battle. Both of them were into the fighting game, but not as much as Hermione was.

As Hermione watched, she had a hard time helping the players out, especially Ron. Ron still would fumble with the game commands, messing them up, and Dijon made decisions that Hermione wouldn't have.

After having had some practice against Illy, Ron was doing pretty well against Dijon. Dijon, on the other hand, having had plenty of previous experience in real-time strategy games before his capture by the Malfoys, was proving a challenging opponent for Ron.

Eventually, Ron ended up falling to a three-pronged attack from Dijon. Dijon attacked from two directions on land, and a third from the air with gryphon riders. Ron's forces were too-thinly spread out around his base and too scattered on the map to hold off Dijon's assault. Within minutes of Dijon launching this attack, Ron's base was devastated and the game pronouced Dijon as the winner.

"Well, Hermione, It looks like you'll be playing against Dijon," said Ron as he stared at his screen announcing his defeat.

"Hey Ron, here's a thought: perhaps you should play this game some more? It would be good for planning defences against an attack by Voldemort," put in Harry.

"Harry does have a point. What better way to practice planning battle strategies than by playing a game like this? In this, you're battling in real-time, rather than taking turns, as is the case with chess. I wish I'd had something like this when I was a prisoner of the Malfoys for all those centuries," said Illy.

Ron got up and Hermione sat down in his place. Hermione was relentless in her attacks on Dijon, barely letting him get anything built before destroying it. Eventually, Hermione's attacks caused Dijon to run out of resources, so he was unable to build any more forces or defences against her and she promptly swept through his base, destroying everything in sight.

"Well, I certainly haven't had a defeat like that for some time. You are truly a master of the game, Hermione," said Dijon, congratulating her.

"Thankyou," replied Hermione with a smile.

"You know, if you can flatten Dijon like that in Warcraft 2, then it makes me wonder why you hardly ever beat Ron at chess," remarked Harry.

"Beats me," replied Hermione, with a shrug.

Just then, the five were interrupted by the arrival of several new voices. The Aurors had arrived.

"Time to face the music," Hermione said as she led the way out of the room.

They went downstairs and Hermione greeted the Aurors.

"We're here to speak with Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, and Dijon," the lead Auror anounced to the five.

"Do you need to speak with us separately?" Hermione asked, already planning which rooms she could put people in.

"Yes, it's procedure," the lead Auror answered.

"You can interview Ron or I in the living room, Dijon in the kitchen, and Illy in the dining room," Hermione informed them, knowing that McGonagall would want to be there while she, Harry, and Ron were being interviewed.

"We're only here to interview you, Mister Weasley, and Dijon," the lead Auror stated briskly.

"What about Harry and Illy? They were there too," Hermione asked.

"Aurors have been sent to their address," the lead Auror responded, seeming not to notice that Harry and Illy were there.

"Guess we better get going then, can't let the Aurors suffer too long," Harry said to Illy.

"True," Illy replied.

Hermione huffed as she directed a couple Aurors and Dijon to the kitchen.

Hermione paused for a moment to say good bye to Harry and Illy, before directing Ron to the dining room to wait. She then led the rest of the Aurors into the living room for her interview.

Harry and Illy rushed back to the Dursleys' to find four Aurors in the living room and the Dursleys looking pretty scared. One of the Aurors Harry recognised as Tonks.

"Wotcher Harry," she greeted him.

"Hello, Tonks. I suppose you'll be questioning Illy, right?"

"You guessed my assignment on the first go."

Harry finally decided to pay attention to the Dursleys. "What are you looking so scared of?" he asked. "Surely you've dealt with the police regarding Dudley's behaviour in the past."

"Are they here about your behaviour?" asked Uncle Vernon.

"No, they're here about an attack on a friend of mine that I helped to stop. Oh, I bet you were hoping they were here to arrest me. Well, too bad for you, they're not."

Uncle Vernon looked rather disappointed at this.

Harry turned to the rest of the Aurors, one of whom was flipping through channels on the TV with her wand so fast, Harry barely managed to catch half a second before she changed the channel again.

"Pick a channel and stick with it!" snapped an elderly auror with a bite-mark on his left hand and yellow eyes.

"Well, shall we get the questioning underway. We've just come from Hermione's place, and each person was being interviewed in a seperate room. I assume that it will be the same here?"

"That's correct," replied the yellow-eyed auror.

"You may as well interview us in our rooms," said Illy, speaking up for the first time since arriving back at the Dursleys'.

"Fine by me," said the fourth Auror, who Harry guessed as being in his mid-thirties.

Harry and Illy led the Aurors upstairs and Tonks and the fourth Auror headed into Illy's room.

"What a horrendus shade of pink!" Harry heard the young man exclaim.

"If you could change it to blue, I'd be quite grateful," Harry heard Illy saying, as he closed his door behind himself and the two Aurors who were going to question him.

"So, what do you two need to ask me?" inquired Harry.

Once in the room, Harry went over to the window and leaned against it, allowing the Aurors to shut the door. The witch pulled out the desk chair and sat down, while the wizard shut the door and then moved to stand behind the witch.

"Tell us how you became involved in the fight," the elderly wizard replied.

"My name is Hazel Durran, and he's Auror Sinder," the witch introduced the two of them, after seeing that her partner didn't.

"I'm sure that you know mine is Harry Potter," Harry replied before answering Sinder's question. "I called Hermione Granger, to see how she was doing, and she informed me that there were people in her house."

"Do you know what time it was?" Hazel asked.

"No, I only knew that it was late," Harry answered.

"Go on," Hazel prompted.

"I flew to her house, knowing that speed was important, I entered Hermione's bedroom, and found an unconsious Death Eater on the floor," Harry recalled.

"How did you know it was a Death Eater?" Sinder asked gruffly.

"I've seen plenty of Death Eaters, enough to know one when I see one," Harry answered in an equally hard voice.

"We needed to ask," Hazel said gently.

Harry nodded and continued with his account, acting like his remark had never happened.

"What about Draco Malfoy's eyes?" Sinder asked when Harry was finished telling them about how they disarmed the Death Eaters.

"I think he might of been attacked by one of the others," Harry said, covering for Hermione, "But he's still a Death Eater."

"How did he get inside the house with damages like that?" Hazel asked.

"His eyes weren't that bad when he came in, he just had a cut near his left ear, and some scratches around his eyes," Harry informed them calmly, you couldn't tell that he was lying, "Then he went up to attack Hermione, and her cat, Crookshanks, attacked him."

"You're saying a cat did all that damage?" Sinder asked in disbelief.

"Crookshanks is very smart, and has Kneazle blood in him," Harry replied.

"That certainly explains a lot about what happened to Draco Malfoy. I own a Kneazle myself, so I know how smart they are," said Hazel.

"Now, what happened after Draco Malfoy was attacked by Miss Granger's cat?" asked Sinder.

"I Stunned Malfoy and empied his pockets. In one, I found a Portkey which took me back to his house. I sneaked out the front door, got past a few traps, meeting Dijon and Illy along the way. I dosed Dijon with highly-concerntrated Wolfsbane Potion and fell into Illy just before we ended up in this 'game of death' devised by Voldemort. Basically, I, along with Illy and Dijon, had to make it through a number of dangerous situations and get to Hogwarts in a simulated world within three days or Voldemort would kill Ron in front of us."

"Care to elaborate on the Malfoy's traps and this 'game'?"

"The Malfoys had some sort of magical grass that ried to eat me, until I fried it with my wand," began Harry, but Hazel interrupted him.

"That's a very serious offence even having that grass in your posession. The Malfoys are going to have to pay a hefty fine for that."

"Yes, well, they also had a gridlike minefield, a magical canyon with vanishing stepping stones, and they were using Dijon as a guard dog on full moons."

"Using a werewolf like that is classified as slave-labour, and due to how dangerous it is, it carries six months in Azkaban as a penalty, too."

"Your fellow Aurors will get more details about what the Malfoys used Dijon and Illy for when they question them."

"Fair enough. Now, about this 'game' You-Know-Who had you playing..." began Sinder.

"How can you call yourself an Auror when you can't say your adversary's name? His name is not 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named', it's 'Voldemort', or if you want his real name, Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Fine, Riddle it is then. What did Riddle have you doing?"

Harry related his time in the game as best he could to the two Aurors and summed up his final escape from the Malfoys' manor grounds.

"Most interesting, indeed," remarked Hazel. "So, Riddle was in control of this 'death game'? Do you know if there is anything to stop him from running another one?"

"Probaly just the fact that he probably doesn't know how Ron banished him to the game-world," replied Harry.

"Well, I think that's all we need from you, Mr Potter. From even just your statement, I can see lots of prison time for those Death Eaters, and a lot of their money going down the drain," said Sinder, who gathered up the parchments with Harry's statement on them and promptly disapparated out.

"Thankyou for your assistance, Harry," said Hazel, shaking Harry's hand. "You've been a great help. I'd say Malfoy is up to his neck in dragon dung now." She gave Harry a smile and vanished like her collegue.

Harry opened his door, and checked to see if Illy's door was open, signaling that her interview was done. The door was still closed, and Harry could faintly hear the murmer of voices coming from her room. The Dursley's were either being silent, or they had left the house.

Harry closed his door, and then sat down at his desk. He pounded the top of the desk to unstick the drawer and got his research on Ravenclaw's sword out.

Harry started reading the newest bit of information that he had received, even though he had already read it twice. It was only an account of one of Ravenclaw's appearances after her time, not even the first or the last. But Harry thought that it was important to read everything.

He was still absorbed in his work ten minutes later, as Illy opened the door and walked in. Harry didn't notice her, and kept on working, allowing Illy to get to where she could look over his shoulder.

"The Sword of Ravenclaw?" asked Illy, startling Harry.

"Illy, don't sneak up on me like that!" exclaimed Harry, wand levelled at her.

"Put that down. You know I'm no danger to you."

"Even so, if you were human and a Death Eater, you'd have been hexed halfway to the Moon by now."

"That's a scary thought."

"I can scare myself at times," replied Harry dryly, lowering his wand.

"So, are you looking for Ravenclaw's sword?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I have reason to believe that Voldemort is using it as a Horcrux."

"That would explain why he's still around. You should have heard the Malfoys going on and on about you beating him sixteen years ago."

"What do you know about Ravenclaw's sword?" asked Harry.

"Not much, I have to admit. Not that long after I was captured, one of the Malfoys of the time tried to find it, with no luck, I might add."

"Ravenclaw could have been between times when that Malfoy tried to find her sword."

"I'm thinking that, too. The question now is: where is the sword?"

"That, Harry, is a very good question. Even I'd have trouble finding such a weak source of temporal energy."

"So, what do we do?"

Harry sighed and turned back to his work. He flipped through the pages of an old, tattered book, he had ordered from Flourish and Blotts. Finally reaching the paragraph on Ravenclaw which he reread despite knowing it held no unkown information.

His eyes paused over a small paragraph he hadn't noticed. The text was incredibly small so he waved his wand to make the text bigger and he read.

"Unlike Gryffindor, Slytherin and Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw did not die of old age. It is recorded that the aged Ravenclaw was heading into Hogsmede, when a man with a pointed face, as reported, grabbed her and took her away. She was not seen again."

Harry paused. His mind boggled as he quickly reread the paragraph. Then it hit him. Obviously, how could he of been so stupid.

He turned back to face Illy. His eyes dug into her spectreal gaze and he gaped as the realisation actually hit him.

Swallowing a lot of Phlegm, he spoke out, "You ... You're Ravenclaw."

"Harry, that's crazy! How could I be Ravenclaw? I'm not even human. Besides, I'm a time-spirit, not a ghost. If I was Ravenclaw, I'd be a ghost and without any pigmentation. Apart from the transparency, do I look like a ghost?"

"Okay, you've got me there. No. You don't look like a ghost. You're coloured like a living person, and you tend to move like one most of the time. Maybe I'm just so desperate to defeat Voldemort that I'm not thinking straight?"

"That could be it. I'll help you with your research if you like," offered Illy. "Besides, I think you need several good nights of sleep."

"I wish," snorted Harry, having never had a decent night's sleep in almost sixteen years.

"Well, try and get some sleep. I'll take your research materials and look them over until I need sleep."

"That's awfully nice of you Illy, but..."

"No 'but's. Get some sleep."

Harry had to admit defeat at this and closed his curtains, while Illy gathered up his research materials and left for her room.

Harry managed a few not-particulary restful hours of sleep before he was woken by Uncle Vernon plodding around getting ready for work the next morning.

Once Harry had gotten ready for the day, he opened the book to the page where he had found the new paragraph. Harry read the account again, this time with a clear head.

"This is interesting, Ravenclaw was kidnapped, I wonder if she had the sword with her," Harry talked to himself.

"Good morning," Illy said cheerfully as she let herself into Harry's room.

"We need to find out who kidnapped Ravenclaw," Harry said to Illy.

"You do realize that that happened nearly a thousand years ago?" Illy asked.

"Yes, but there is one book that might give more information on it," Harry replied.

"What book is that?" Illy asked.

"Hogwarts, a History," Harry revealed.

"You mean you didn't check that? Even a couple of centuries ago that was where you would go to check anything relating to Hogwarts," Illy exclaimed.

"I don't have a copy, and I fell asleep when Binns read it in History of Magic class," Harry answered.

"Honestly," Illy huffed, sounding like Hermione.

"Back to Hermione's house, I'd like to hear what happened with the interviews anyway," Harry said to Illy.

Harry wasn't quite looking forward to telling Hermione that he hadn't checked Hogwarts, a History, he would probably get a long lecture for that.

Harry and Illy grabbed some toast before leaving the house, even though they knew that they could get food from Hermione, and walked to Hermione's house.

"I feel so foolish for not having considered looking up Hogwarts: A History," complained Harry as they arrived at Hermione's place. "The most obvious source for information about Ravenclaw, and I completely overlook it. I feel such a fool."

"Why do you feel a fool, Harry?" asked Hermione, coming round the corner of her house, clearly looking as if she'd just been running.

"Of all the sources of information I could research, the one book I don't think to look up is the one you're always quoting at me."

Hermione burst out laughing at the irony of Harry's statement.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but the sheer irony of that fact was too much for me."

"Yes. It is ironic, isn't it?" replied Harry, dryly.

"Indeed. Come on in, I'll get you my copy."

"So, how are things going with Dijon?" asked Illy, as they enetered the house.

"He keeps to himself most of the time. I have no idea what he's writing, but it's a very long program. I don't think he's even tested it yet," replied Hermione.

Harry and Illy followed Hermione up to her room, passing Dijon in the study, where he was typing away like mad at the computer.

"Here it is. Hogwarts: A History, Fifteenth Edition. I hear they're postponing the Sixteenth Edition until Voldemort is defeated. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with information with a copyright date of 1981."

"Sixteen years out-of-date? Good grief. They certainly don't update the book very often."

"The previous dates are, on average, twenty-one-point-seven years apart."

"So, they started publishing the book about three-hudred years ago?"

"Pretty much."

"I'm curious, how did your questioning with the Aurors go?" asked Illy.

"That, I think is something we best discuss with both Ron and Dijon," replied Hermione.

"Is Ron here?" Harry asked, knowing that McGonagal had wanted to take Ron to the rest of the Weasleys.

"He left yesterday, after he had been interviewed, but he said that he would try to be here at one," Hermione answered.

Harry opened Hogwarts, a History, and paged to the history of Rowena Ravenclaw. Harry wandered over to Hermione's desk chair and sat down, while reading the book.

Hermione and Illy started talking while Harry read.

"Wait a minute," Harry said once he reached a certain part of the book.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I need to check something," Harry said as he got up and headed for the door.

Harry left the house, with Hermione and Illy following after they had told Dijon where they were going. Harry almost ran all the way back to the Dursleys', and Illy and Hermione where lagging behind when he finally reached the house.

Harry burst into Number 4 Privet Drive and raced upstairs to his room. He quickly gathered all his research materials together and rushed back downstairs to the living room, where Hermione and Illy were waiting.

Wasting no time, Harry spread his notes and books out on the coffee table (after sweeping off the Dursleys' belongings). A few minutes later, Harry found what he was looking for and opened a book to a page listed on a piece of paper.

"Listen to this," he said and began to read from the book.

"One of the many curiosities surrounding the legendary Sword of Ravenclaw is the case of a strangely aged corpse which turned up in an alleyway some twenty-five years after the mysterious disappearance of Rowena Ravenclaw. The body was that of a wanted criminal, however, his body looked like it had been dead for over five-hundred years. Around a stab-wound, which had clearly been caused by a sword, the dead flesh was even older, and traces of magic were present. While the magic could not be identified at the time, it is now suspected to be temporal magic, an area which, even today, very little is known about."

"Harry, are you suggesting that Ravenclaw was first kidnapped, time-travelled with the sword, and then killed her attacker with it?" asked Hermione.

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting. It all fits in with what I know about her sword. That passage in Hogwarts: A History was enough to link her kidnapping with this mysterious death. If we stab Voldemort with the sword, we might be able to get rid of him for good."

"That's amazing, Harry."

"That's not all of it, either. Listen to this other passage:"

"One of the strangest mysteries in the wizarding world is the case of a witch who vanished in 1277 only to reappear again in 1885 with what was clearly a stab wound from a sword. She was only able to give a short description of the woman who stabbed her before dying from the wound. The description she gave was of Rowena Ravenclaw. Apparrently, there had been some sort of argument that led to armed combat, in which Ravenclaw clearly won. The weapon and spell responsible have never been found."

"Quite interesting, Harry. So, the sword's time-travel capabilities can be used on other people."

"Indeed. I think this could be the key to Voldemort's defeat," replied Harry with a grin that would scare any sane person.

"So we still have to find out who kidnapped Ravenclaw," Illy said.

"Jeckle H. Sloan," Hermione replied.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Sloan was the one who kidnapped Ravenclaw, I just remembered," Hermione answered.

"Why didn't you say before?" Harry asked.

"I only just remembered, I read it in our first year, when we were searching for Flamel," Hermione answered.

"So now what?" Illy asked.

"We should research more about Sloan, and maybe we can connect him to some other passages, I think I read something..." Harry trailed off as he shuffled through his papers.

"What's going on here?" Aunt Petunia asked.

She was standing in the doorway, looking at the mess of papers around Harry with disapproval.

"Aha!" Harry exclaimed, not even registering his Aunt's presence.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, trying not to look at Aunt Petunia.

"During one of her sightings, Ravenclaw was seen pulling away from the ground as she appeared. It was later thought that she had just finished stabbing something, as she had her sword pointed at the ground. It was also said that Ravenclaw cleaned her sword off before disappearing again," Harry read, "This account was dated 1188."

"What is going on here?" Aunt Petuna asked again, this time in a shriller voice.

"Aunt Petunia," Harry said with surprise as he noticed her, "We're researching something."

"And why can't you do it in your room?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"You call that a room? It's not fit for company," Harry scoffed.

"Then why don't you go to those friends of yours," Aunt Petunia said in a mixture of a question and a suggestion.

"Because my research was here," Harry answered.

"Clean up when you're done," Aunt Petunia snapped before heading back to the kitchen.

"Like I would leave anything out for them to destroy," Harry muttered to himself.

"We should make a timeline," Hermione suggested.

"A timeline?" Harry questioned.

"Of when Ravenclaw appeared, I know that you have a pretty good idea of the times she appeared, but we can make it easier to check," Hermione exclaimed.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Harry said to himself.

"You're doing a lot of that lately," Illy said with a smile.

"Unfortunately. How do you suggest we start, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Let's separate the accounts into centuries first, then we can sort them out further," Hermione answered.

Harry gathered aup a couple of piles of paper and handed them to Hermione and Illy.

"Well, this was your idea, so let's get started," he said as he handed over the paper.

They spent almost an hour working on the timeline, and making slow progress, before Ron and Dijon turned up.

"Blimey! What's all this paper? Hermione's homework?" exclaimed Ron.

"No. Actually, it's Harry's," replied Hermione, with a grin.

"Perhaps you've been spending too much time with Hermione while I was Voldemort's prisoner?" suggested Ron.

"Very funny, Ron. Now make yourself useful and help us out."

"Many hands make light work," quoted Illy.

Dijon took a seat on the lounge next to Illy. "So, what exactly are we doing here?" he asked.

"Currently, we're trying to compile a timeline of the appearances of Rowena Ravenclaw, and we're not making much progress. A few extra hands would help a lot," explained Hermione.

Compiling the timeline took a lot longer than initially anticipated and the quintet ended up spending the next eight days working on it. Eventually, they finally had a timeline which listed all the occurrences of Ravenclaw up until her last appearance in the late 1300s. On the other side of the timeline, they had listed events that had been caused by Ravenclaw herself and any other related events, such as the hunt for the Sword of Ravenclaw by one of the Malfoys. As it turned out, Ravenclaw had been between times when the twelfh-century Malfoy had attempted his quest.

"Now, this is interesting," said Harry, looking over the timeline. "Ravenclaw vanishes again in the late 1300s and there is no record of her appearing again since then. What could have happened to her?"

"I see five possibilites," replied Illy. "One: she did turn up again, more recently, but she wasn't regognised. Two: she's currently between times on a much-longer trip. Three: she's stuck between times. Four: she died at some point after her last appearance and nobody found her body. Five: she's alive right now."

"Where's a physical description of her?" asked Ron.

"Here's one: five-foot-seven, red hair, bright green eyes, athletic build. Sounds like my mother," remarked Harry.

"What about pictures? Surely someone must have at least sketched her?"

"Er, Dijon, check your pile, see if you can find a picture of Ravenclaw, preferably a recent one," said Harry vaguely.

Dijon spent several minutes looking through books in sections about Rowena Ravenclaw and eventually found a picture, drawn in 1352. When Harry took a good look at the picture, the likeness between Ravenclaw and his mother was undeniable. They had to be related.

"Maybe we should start looking into your family," Hermione suggested hesitantly.

Harry was silent for a few more seconds, still in shock.

"Yeah, it looks like we'll have to," Harry replied.

"Do you know of any source of information that you have here?" Hermione asked, her mind already turning over several possibilities.

"Aunt Petunia has several things locked away, she didn't want to destroy them, but she didn't want me to look at them," Harry answered.

Harry then stood up, and left the room, leaving Hermione, Ron, Illy and Dijon staring after him for his abrupt leaving. Harry went into the kitchen and leaned against the kitchen table.

Aunt Petunia was staring out of the window at the neighbors, like she usually did when they held their research meetings at the Dursley's house. She turned away from the window when she heard Harry enter.

"What do you want?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"Which side of the family did Mum's looks come from?" Harry asked, thinking to ease into asking for the written family information.

"Why are you asking?" inquired Aunt Petunia, suspiciously.

"If I said it was connected to my research and that it could be very important, would you give me a truthful answer?" asked Harry.

"I suppose it can't hurt. You could have held a photo of your grandmother Rowena next to one of your mother at the same age, and you'd first think they were twins, until you looked carefully at my mother's picture and noticed the burn-scar on her right cheek."

Harry paled considerably.

"Harry? Is something wrong?" asked Aunt Petunia, looking worried.

"Not sure. Just that there's a possibility that my research is hitting closer to home than I could have ever expected."

"What do you mean?"

"I think perhaps I'd better show you."

Aunt Petunia followed Harry into the living room and Harry handed her the book with the sketch of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Good grief! How did my mother get into one of your books?" exclaimed Aunt Petunia. "And this date: 1352. How is that possible?"

Aunt Petunia had gone very pale by now.

"I guess we know why your parents always favoured Mum, now."

"I'll go and get the Evans family records from the attic," said Aunt Petunia, and walked out in a daze.

"So I take it that Ravenclaw was part of your family?" Hermione asked, a tinge of disbelief in her voice.

"My grandmother on my Mum's side," Harry replied.

"So you're the heir of Ravenclaw?" Ron asked.

"I guess so." Harry was still shocked, he had thought that it would turn out false, like his accusation about Illy.

"So what happens now?" Illy asked.

"We'll have to check her possesions, maybe the sword is there," Hermione suggested.

"You think that Ravenclaw would leave her sword with muggles?" Ron asked.

"Well, probably not, it would seem strange for a muggle woman to have a sword around the 1950s," Hermione answered.

"Maybe it's at Hogwarts, or in a vault at Gringotts," Dijon suggested.

"Hogwarts is less likely, there would of been concrete reports of her being there," Harry said, "Though she could of know a secret way into Hogwarts."

"We'll have a hard time talking to the goblins about her vault though," Hermione mused.

"We have some good leads on the sword at least," Harry said.

"What's this about a sword?" Aunt Petunia asked as she came into the room.

"Ravenclaw, though I suppose she would be Grandmother to me." Harry paused while he absorbed that. "She had a sword that we'd like to find."

Aunt Petunia put a dusty box on the coffee table before sitting down in front of it. She opened the box and took out the first thing, a book.

"Mother used to talk about swords, she was very interested in them, though she wouldn't talk in front of Father," Aunt Petunia remarked as she opened the book.

"Did she say anything about where her sword ended up?" Harry asked.

"I'll have to recall, I don't remember right now," Aunt Petunia answered. "This was their Wedding Album, there should be some information in here."

Harry looked in the box and took out a photo album. He opened the book to the first page and saw something that surprised him.

"They're moving," he exclaimed.

"Good Grief!" exclaimed Aunt Petunia, and promptly passed out.

"Somebody wake her up, please. I may not like her much, but we need her for this," said Harry.

"I'll do it," volunteered Ron. "Ennervate!"

"What happened, and why does my head hurt?" asked Aunt Petunia.

"You fainted and hit your head on the floor," explained Illy, bluntly.

"Hey, look at this!" exclaimed Harry. He pressed a stud in the top-left corner of the cover of the book, and there was an audible click. When Harry opened the book again, the pictures were frozen.

"Ingenious," remarked Hermione. "A photo album where the movement in the photos can be toggled on and off."

"Hmmm... but why?" asked Ron.

"Oh, isn't it obvious, Ron? If Ravenclaw was living in an area with lots of Muggles, she'd need a way to hide anything magical."

"I never thought of it quite like that," replied Ron, sheepishly.

"Here's a puzzle: if Harry's grandmother was a witch, why was only his mother one, but Petunia is not? Half-bloods with a Muggle parent are always wizards or witches," pointed out Illy.

"The only logical answer I can see is that Aunt Petunia is not a Muggle at all. She's a Squib, like Mrs Figg and Filch."

"Excuse me? I'm a what?" asked Aunt Petunia, with obvious confusion.

"Squibs have magical parents, but no magical abilies themselves," explained Dijon. "They tend to only crop up in pureblood families with a long history. I heard rumours at the Malfoys' that Narcissa had another child before Draco but Lucius killed it when he found out it was a Squib."

"That's no rumour, Dijon, that actually happened. Lucius took the child outside and buried it alive," replied Illy.

Aunt Petunia went extremely pale at hearing this.

"Harry, if your Aunt is a Squib, then the only explanation for that being the case is that her father was also a Squib. I bet the Evans family must be one with a long pureblood history."

"It would make sense," said Harry. "Aunt Petunia, what was your mother's maiden name?" he asked.

"Rowena Law-Craven," replied Aunt Petunia, almost immediately.

"'Law-Craven'," said Hermione thoughtfully. "Something seems odd about that name ... Aha!" Hermione grabbed a blank piece of paper and wrote out the name, then she drew arrows from segments. "Put the fourth letter at the start, then put the last five at the start and it spells out 'Ravenclaw'."

"You might say your grandmother pulled a Riddle on the whole world," said Ron, with a look of amusement.

"What do you mean?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"A man named Tom Riddle once made an anagram of his birth name and he now uses that name," Harry answered vaguely.

"Who was he?" Dijon asked.

"Voldemort," Harry said, focusing more on the photo album he was looking at.

Ron still flinched a tiny bit, but Hermione, Illy and Dijon didn't flinch. Aunt Petunia didn't know the name of the terrifying wizard that she was warned about, so she didn't react at all.

"These are early pictures," Harry remarked as he looked more closely at a baby picture of his Mum.

"There are more photo albums upstairs, every thing in this box is about Mother and Father," Aunt Petunia answered as she put the book that she was looking at down, opened to a specific page.

Aunt Petunia reached into the box and pulled out another book, this one a scrapbook, and started to page through it. Hermione and Ron took out a few things, but Illy and Dijon just looked over people's shoulders.

"You can take something out," Harry told them when he noticed them.

"It is your family," Illy declined.

But Dijon looked into the box, and shifted a few things.

"What's this?" he asked as he pulled out a book.

"That's Mother's diary, one of her old ones," Aunt Petunia said once she looked over at it.

"But what is this key for?" Dijon asked, as he indicated the bookmark.

"Key?" asked Aunt Perunia, and got up to examine the book.

Harry also took a close look at the key on the ribbon-bookmark. Whatever it was for, Harry had never seen a key like it before.

"I've never seen a key like this before," said Aunt Petunia. "I wonder why I never noticed it before?"

"I'm wondering what it opens," added Harry.

"Well, it looks nothing like a Gringotts key, so I think we can safely rule out a Gringotts vault," said Ron.

"I've never seen a design like it before," admitted Hermione.

The key in question was like it was made from four keys welded together with the teeth sticking outwards at right-angles from a central shaft. Sitting on the book it looked like a letter 'X' in shape.

"Perhaps the answer lies in here," said Illy, tapping the book.

"It could well be in there," said Dijon. "Come, I think this is something best left to Harry alone."

Hermione, Ron and Illy silently agreed with Dijon and left Harry to look through the memories of his grandmother and one of the most-famous witches in history.

Harry gently opened the book to the first page, deciding to see what the book was about before going to the bookmarked page.

"What's it say?" Aunt Petunia asked after Harry had read the first page.

"I have decided to write this in order to put Rowena Ravenclaw to rest, so I can start a new life as Rowena Evans." Harry reread the first paragraph out loud.

"So this Ravenclaw really was my mother," Aunt Petunia said when Harry paused.

"I am also writing this so that the memories of Rowena Ravenclaw, and those of her time, will not become forgotten. Though I do know that I am still remembered at our school, which is why I have decided to begin a life away from Hogwarts and the wizarding world."

After that, Ravenclaw started writing about her past, and while Hermione would have kittens over it, Harry wasn't interested in history at the moment. So Harry flipped to bookmark.

"As I was getting ready to start my life as Rowena Law-Craven I hid my sword away. One thing that I noticed straight away in this time is that swords are no longer carried. I will not put the exact location of the hidding place, for the same reason I did not mention specific details of how I got the sword, but I have written a way to find it on the next page."

Harry took the key out of the book so that he could see all of the next page, and put it down next to him. He looked at the second page, and then discovered that Ravenclaw had written her 'way to find the sword' in another language.

"This doesn't look like any language I've ever seen," said Harry.

"I don't think it is a language, Harry. I think it's a code," replied Aunt Petunia.

"Of course! Ravenclaw House is well-known for being the House of the intellectuals. Why wouldn't the founder so well-known for her intellect invent a code to write information she wanted to keep secret?"

"That does make sense, but I'm no codebreaker. I highly doubt your uncle or Dudley would be able to do it, either."

"No, I don't think so, either, but I might know just the man who can do it. Remember Dijon?"

"The one who looked so unhealthy when he first started coming over here?"

"Yes, that's him. If you're wondering why he looked so unhealthy, the fact that there had recently been a full moon, should be explanation enough."

"You mean he's a werewolf?" asked Aunt Petunia in disbelief.

"Yes, and given that he's quite the expert with computers, I think he may be able to help crack this code. I'll be back later."

Harry quickly headed over to Hermione's place in search of Dijon. Arriving in the study, Harry found Dijon at work on the computer again.

"Dijon, I need your help."

"Certainly. It's the least I can do for the one who rescued me from the Malfoys. What do you need?"

"Are you any good at breaking codes?" asked Harry.

"As a matter of fact, I am," replied Dijon with a grin.

Harry handed the book over to Dijon. Dijon read the encrypted page before flipping over to the next page and scanning it.

"What are you looking for?" Harry asked.

"It's easier to crack a code if you have a key or a reference point, so I'm wondering if Ravenclaw left any," Dijon answered.

Dijon flipped through the ending half of the book, and didn't find anything. So he flipped through the first half with the same results.

"It's not here," Dijon said when he was done.

"It seemed like Ravenclaw made it possible for someone to get the sword, and that would include cracking the code," Harry said, fiddling with the key from the diary.

"Maybe it's something simple." Dijon got out a piece of paper and did a few exercises to try to solve the code. While Dijon said that they were simple, the exercises looked like Harry would classify as a medium level hardness.

After Dijon had failed at the 'simple' keys, Harry finally inspected the key that he had been fiddling with. He had felt something on it, what seemed like words engraved on it. But when he inspected it, it turned out to be just random letters. Two lines, opposite each other, and both sets were different from each other.

"Could this be the key?" Harry wondered, more to himself than to Dijon.

"Most keys are words and numbers," Dijon said, more preoccupied with a harder exercise.

"Look at it," Harry said as he handed the key to Dijon.

Dijon took a close look at the key. "Yes! I think this is it. These two strings of characters each contain the entire alphabet. We've certainly got a starting point now, Harry."

"You don't suppose that one alphabet is the code one, and the other is the real one, do you?" asked Harry.

"Possible, but unlikely. If you look closely at the coded message, you'll notice that all the words have an even number of letters. These two alphabets likely have something to do with the encoding process."

"So, you're saying that each pair of letters is the code version of just one original letter?"

"Quite likely, yes."

"Given how long-ago this code was invented, it's probably quite simple to work with once you know how."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case, Harry. Hmmm... I wonder... could this text be coded twice?"

"Twice? Are you suggesting that half the letters are red herrings?"

"Actually, while that is a possibility, I don't think so. I think the text has been encoded once using one method, and then again with a second method," replied Dijon. "You know, Professor McGonagall was never too happy when she caught me passing coded messages in class to my friends. We had a double-encoding system that we used. We'd first use our own code, and then we'd Rot13 the results before passing the notes."

"Er, rot thirteen?" asked Harry, confused.

"A very old and simple encoding system, Harry. Just shift the letters of the message along the alphabet thirteen places. Apply it again to decode the message. By applying it to our already-encoded messages, the staff were never able to figure out our notes, or our code."

"How did your code work?"

"We all had a scrambled alphabet memorised, and we replaced the original letters in the message with ones shifted a certain number of places along the scrambled alphabet from the original. The shifting number was different every day. We used the day of the month for the shifting number, as I recall."

"I bet you were in Ravenclaw to be able to do that."

"We were, as a matter of fact. Jill, Mike, and Dijon: the Code Kids. Jill wrote her entire diary in code and nobody else knew what coding system she was using. Made things rather hard for her nosy dorm-mates. Mike kept getting Binns cross with him by handing in a copy of his homework with Rot13 applied to it. Needless to say, Binns was not impressed. I was notorious for getting detention writing lines on the blackboard."

"And I bet you wrote them in code, right?" asked Harry, with a grin.

"Yep," replied Dijon, laughing. "You could say that we were the intellectual version of the Marauders. Their mischief was directed at the body, ours was directed at the mind. Oh, how we loved setting up confusing, yet completely harmless situations for others to deal with."

"So you went to Hogwarts with my parents?"

"Yes, but we started at Hogwarts the year after they did."

"What do you remember them as being like?"

"Your father rarely handed out any detentions, although if he'd been a prefect in his fifth year, I think he may have given Sirius Black a few. Your mother, on the other hand, kept handing out detentions like they were Bertie Bott's Beans. She was also constantly scolding your father for one thing or another. Once she turned his hair Slytherin-green for a week. I never managed to find out what he did for her to do that to him."

While this conversation had been taking place, Dijon had been typing in the coded text from Ravenclaw's diary, along with the two scrambled alphabets. Dijon entered the last character of the message, then stretched, with his joints crackling in the process.

"Well, I've entered the whole encoded text, along with those two alphabets into the computer. I think I should be able to write a program to decode and encode that text, but it'll take me a while. I assure you, Harry, codebreaking is not easy, but having a computer helps a great deal."

"I guess I may as well get going, then. Give me a ring on that mobile phone Hermione left me if you find anything."

"I will, Harry," promised Dijon.

Harry headed back to the Dursleys, where he spent the next three days looking through his family history. On the morning of his birthday, he received a call from Dijon.

"Harry! I've cracked it!"

"I'll get Illy and we'll head over," Harry replied, "Good job."

"Thanks, I'll get Hermione and Ron," Dijon said before hanging up the phone.

Harry hung up the phone and went back into the living room, where he had been before the phone call.

"Who was that?" Illy asked.

"Dijon, and he's cracked the code," Harry answered as he started piling the papers and book he had been working on.

Illy began following Harry's lead, making stacks of the books and papers. She then moved the piles under the coffee table while Harry took some of the more valuable books up to his room.

After Petunia had learned that Ravenclaw was her mother, she allowed Harry, and whoever else was with him, to leave the books out while they left for a short period of time. The books were always transported back up to Harry's room when they were done for the day, as Harry didn't want the other Dursleys interferring.

"Let's go," Harry said when he came down the stairs a minute later.

"I wonder what it says," Illy remarked as they left the house.

"Whatever it says it gets us one step closer to the sword," Harry replied.

"Your Aunt comes tomorrow," Illy changed the subject as they neared Hermione's house.

"Yeah, that will be fun," Harry said with a grin.

Harry and Illy knocked at the door to Hermione's place and were shortly after greeted by Dijon.

"Harry! Illy! That code of Ravenclaw's was really quite ingenious. Come inside and I'll show you. Ron's already here, but he's a bit baffled by the message."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," remarked Illy.

Arriving in the study, Dijon proceeded to show off his program for encoding and decoding the Ravenclaw Code. As it turned out, Dijon had been right about the two alphabets being part of the encoding process.

"You see, you pick your message letter in both alphabets, take the position in the second one, shift the first one along that many places, then use that letter's position in an unscrambled alphabet to get the number of places to shift the letter in the second alphabet along. You write down both shifted letters so that the first one provides a clue to decoding the message. After that, Rot13 is used on the resulting encoded letters. A brilliant code to implement by hand, I must say."

"We can see how awed you are by my grandmother's code, Dijon, but what does the decoded message actually say?" asked Harry.

"Take a look for yourselves," replied Dijon, and displayed the decoded text on the computer.

You hold in your had the first key of four. These four open a door to an object of great power. Beware those of ill intent, as the safeguards are the harshest known. The trail to the sword begins with a hill.

That was only part of the means to find my sword. In order to find it, three additional clues must be found, along with three more keys. If you plan to use the sword for ill intentions, give up your quest now. Only those with pure intentions may gain access to it. The second clue is hidden in the tomb of an old wizard king in the southwest of the island. Solve the security puzzles and the next part of the clue will be revealed.

"An old wizard king of southwest Britan?" asked Harry. "Sounds like we're going to be doing some more research to find that tomb."

Ron groaned at this.

"So, where do you think we should start?" Harry asked.

"We can go to the library and research Southwest Britan," Hermione suggested, the wheels turning in her head, "Even the muggle library might have something."

"Do you think that any more information can be found in the information we have about Ravenclaw?" Harry asked.

"It's possible, now that we know what we're looking for," Hermione mused.

"Okay, Hermione, Ron, and Dijon will go to the different libraries, while Illy and I go through the Ravenclaw papers one more time," Harry decided.

"Libraries again," Ron moaned.

"You could stay here," Harry offered.

"Nah, at least with the library it will be new," Ron replied.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later," Harry said as he and Illy got ready to leave.

"See you," Hermione said absently, gathering up some books and papers.

Harry and Illy left as the other three got ready to leave. They reached the Dursley's house in a few minutes, and settled down back in the living room.

"I think I saw something about Southwest Britan in one of these books," Harry said to Illy as he shifted some of the books around.

"Which one?" Illy asked, starting to read a promising book.

"Maybe one of the ones upstairs," Harry said as he got up.

Harry went upstairs and got some of the books up there, leaving the ones he knew didn't have anything about Southwest Britan. By the time he had gotten downstairs he had the book that had that reference open and almost to the page he wanted.

"Page 269, I remembered that because she mentioned the sword a few paragraphs earlier," Harry said as he put the books down on the coffee table.

"Are you going to bring those up tonight?" Aunt Petunia interrupted.

"Yeah, probably," Harry absently answered, having found the page he wanted.

"Good," Aunt Petunia left.

Harry and Illy spent the rest of the day looking over Ravenclaw's books. As it turned out, she hadn't made the location of the tomb with the second part of the clue particulary clear. After much getting frustrated, Harry and Illy decided to call it a night.

The next day Ron, Hermione, and Dijon turned up with a great big stack of books.

"Did you borrow half the library or something?" exclaimed Harry when he set his eyes upon the stack of books.

"Very funny, Harry. Need I say that Hermione got rather enthusiastic?" replied Ron.

Harry could hear Illy laughing quietly behind him.

"Let's get to work, shall we?"

The quintet spent all morning and afternoon going over the stack of books until they were interrupted by Uncle Vernon arriving home with a very unwelcome guest: Marge Dursley.

After smothering Dudley (and Dudley getting paid for putting up with her), Marge turned her attention to Harry and his friends.

"What's all this?" she demanded.

"Research," came the one-word reply from Harry, without looking up from the book he was reading.

"You look at me when I'm talking to you, you ungrateful little mess," barked Marge.

Harry put down his book and gave Marge a cold glare. "You would do well not to anger me, Marge Dursley. Remember what happened last time? Oh, wait a minute, of course you don't. The Ministry of Magic modified your memory. Allow me to fix that," he added with a feral grin.

Harry pointed his wand at Marge's head and snapped "Finite Obliviate", cancelling out the memory charm the Ministry had put in place four years ago.

"What did you just do, Potter?!" demanded Uncle Vernon.

"That? I just refreshed her memory. Hopefully, now, with all her memories back, she'll know to watch her mouth."

Vernon looked very pale, indeed.

"Oh my, I was floating, and those words you said," Marge said before she fainted.

"Marge!" Uncle Vernon moved to catch her, but just missed her. "Potter!"

"What? That has been a long time coming, and we're very busy here, so, if you don't mind, please leave." Harry said as he turned back to his book.

Uncle Vernon turned purple before stomping out, leaving his sister on the floor. Dudley peeked in to see what was going on, but quickly disappeared when he saw Harry and his friends in the living room.

Aunt Petunia also looked in, but she actually came in when she saw Marge.

"Oh, dear, what happened?" she asked.

"I just removed the block from her mind, and she fainted once she remembered," Harry answered distractedly.

"Did you have to do that?" Petunia asked as she got a pillow and a throw from the couch.

"It was a long time coming," Harry repeated. "Hermione, what does this word mean?"

Aunt Petunia put the pillow under Marge's head, and put the throw over her, while Harry showed Hermione a passage in the book that he was reading.

Harry felt that Aunt Petunia should have put the pillow over Marge's head, but decided not to voice his opinion.

Hermione bent over the book and looked at the word which had Harry stumped.

"I have no idea, Harry. Whatever that word is, it's not in any language I recognise."

"Let me see," said Illy, taking the book from Harry. "I don't recognise it either, but it looks vaguely like some old language that used to be spoken in this area of the world."

"What we really need is a dictionary of all languages ever used. Preferably something which we can quickly search," put in Hermione.

Harry suddenly had a bright idea.

"Aunt Petunia, didn't you say that Dudley has access to the Internet now?"

"Well, yes, but I fail to see how that's going to help you with your search," replied Aunt Petunia, looking rather confused.

"Illy, why don't you get Dudley to show you how to use the Internet. Use force if he won't cooperate."

Illy swiftly left the room and some arguing could be heard between the time spirit and Harry's cousin. Eventually, Dudley seemed to give in and Harry heard Dudley's plodding footsteps going upstairs. Suddenly, there was a shriek of "Harry!" from Dudley, and the research group rushed upstairs into Dudley's room.

Illy was nowhere to be found and Dudley was standing at the computer, looking quite shaken.

"What happened, Dudley?" asked Harry.

"She ... she ... she vanished into the computer," replied Dudley, looking very pale and about to pass out.

"What?" Harry asked sharply.

"She went into the com-puu-ter?" Ron spoke next, mispronouncing 'computer.'

"How is that possible?" Hermione mused to herself, her mind already turning over possibilities.

Dijon was the only one who stayed silent, but he was shocked, and his mind was also turning over posibilities.

"She disappeared into the computer," Dudley repeated. "I showed her how to get on the Internet, and how to type, and how to search, and she sat down and touched the mouse, and was sucked into the computer."

It took everyone a minute to unravel what the rush of words were, and once they did they were still confused.

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"It could be something to do with her being a time spirit," Hermione offered, more thinking than coming to any conclusions.

"Do you want to continue the search?" Dudley offered.

"No," Harry said harshly before softening his tone. "We shouldn't touch the computer until we know what happened to Illy."

Dudley lumbered out of the room, unable to stand being around so many magical people, muttering about missing a computer game.

"Dijon?" Harry asked his opinion.

"I don't know, Harry. This may be some kind of skill that Illy posesses, only she's just discovered it. I really don't know," replied the werewolf.

"Dudley! Get your fat arse in here!" yelled Ron.

"What ... what ... what do you freaks want with me?" asked Dudley.

"Dud, you're going to be keeping an eye on the computer for when Illy comes back out," said Harry with an overly-sweet grin and putting his arm around Dudley's shoulders. Dudley looked terrified, and had good reason to be, too.

The research group left Dudley's room and headed back downstairs to work on researching through the books. Marge had woken up from her fainting spell and ran screaming from the room as soon as Harry sat down.

"I'd say you've put the fear of Harry Potter into that blimp," remarked Ron with a grin.

Everyone in the room, including Aunt Petunia, burst out laughing.

More to come...