(Y/N)'s POV

After saying the password to enter Dumbledore's office at the specified time I walked inside to find...nobody. Dumbledore wasn't here. "Well, good to know I'm high on his priority list" I muttered.

I spent a few seconds wandering around his room, looking at the various knickknacks on his shelves and his desk, until I found Fawkes perched in the corner as always. "How are you Fawkes my guy?" I stroked his beak like I always did and he chirped away happily.

"Seen Dumbledore anywhere?" he chirped sadly. I suppose Dumbledore had been a bit too busy to pay much attention to him. "Feeling sad buddy? Maybe you could shed some tears for me eh? Might make you feel better"

Fawkes bristled out his feathers and shook off as if he were telling me to sod off, "Fair enough, worth a try." After a short time waiting Dumbledore strode into the room, still nursing his wrecked hand. He was muttering to himself and sorted through memories near his pensieve, it was only as he turned round and saw me that he seemed to register my presence.

"Ah, Mr. (L/N) my apologies for my rudeness, I have been rather busy as of late" I shrugged, "So I've been told," I motioned to Fawkes "No worries, what did you want to see me for?" He nodded, searching through his desk for some paperwork as I guessed he would.

He passed me a set of Ministry documents I had been hoping to receive ever since Dad was sent away. "Congratulations Mr. (L/N), you are now, for all intents and purposes, of age, and as of today are no longer burdened by the trace."

It was something Moody wanted me to do, he never trusted the Ministry anyway and had filled out the papers as soon as Mum died, so I could 'defend myself without worrying about Ministry kicking down my door' as he put it.

I had asked him why he didn't ask Harry to do the same but he just started grumbling and hobbled off muttering about it not being time. "You know what has to be done if you accept these don't you? The Ministry will no longer protect you." asked Dumbledore, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"Because they've been doing brilliantly until now." I scoffed, "It's only a year early and I need my trace to be gone so I can work on...stuff" I said, "Your charm" he said plainly, "Thanks Professor but I'm charming enough already." I said, hoping to keep my ambition under wraps.

He smiled at me and said "Of course, but as I was saying, are you prepared to do what needs to be done to ensure-" I sighed, "Yeah I'm ready, next time I see him, I'll do it. As long as the Order will keep him safe after. But it should be me who actually does it."

He nodded his head once very slowly, "You have my word." I wanted to scoff and say "Yeah, that means a lot these days" but I thought it would be best not to. He had been vital in securing this paperwork, loads of people in the Ministry owe him favours apparently.

So I was trying to be nice. I turned to leave but as always, Dumbledore stopped me with a question, "How far are you in the process of creating your spell?" After sighing for what seemed like at least the tenth time during this conversation I had to ask.

"Do you just get all the teachers to report back to you on anything I do?" For once, I saw a smirk present on his face "Yes." I appreciated the honesty but I hate it when he used Snape to spy on me.

"I can do...something resembling a shield charm, but only for a few seconds, I can't sustain it, it only last a second or so," He frowned at me, "Troubling, perhaps you should give it more focus?" I gasped, "Thanks! Why didn't I think of that?" I rolled my eyes.

"I don't know what I'm missing, I was hoping when I get these I could try different methods without the Ministry breathing down my neck" I said, holding up my papers. "See ya" I said, waving my hand lazily as I walked down the stairs quickly to avoid a lecture.

Harry's POV

I wracked my brains over the next week as to how he was to persuade Slughorn to hand over the true memory, but nothing in the nature of a brain wave occurred. I was reduced to doing what I always did these days when at a loss.

Poring over my Potions book, hoping that the Prince would have scribbled something useful in a margin. "You won't find anything in there," said Hermione firmly, late on Sunday evening. "Don't start, Hermione," I begged. "If it hadn't been for the Prince, Ron wouldn't be sitting here now."

"Yeah, that would be a crying shame" smirked (Y/N), Ron threw a roll of parchment at him, "He would if you'd just listened to Snape in our first year," said Hermione dismissively, I ignored her.

I'd just found an incantation "Sectumsempra!" scrawled in a margin above the intriguing words "For enemies," and I was itching to try it out, but thought it best not to in front of Hermione. Instead, I surreptitiously folded down the corner of the page.

We were sitting beside the fire in the common room; the only other people awake were fellow sixth years. There had been a certain amount of excitement earlier when they had come back from dinner to find a new sign on the notice board that announced the date for their Apparition Test.

Those who would be seventeen on or before the first test date, the twenty-first of April, had the option of signing up for additional practice sessions, which would take place in Hogsmeade. Ron had panicked on reading this notice; he had still not managed to Apparate and feared he would not be ready for the test.

Hermione, who had now achieved Apparition twice, was a little more confident, but I would not be seventeen for another four months, so I couldn't take the test whether ready or not.

(Y/N) seemed unfazed by the prospect of the test and was more focused on doing...whatever he was doing recently. He had claimed multiple times that he could take the test whenever he wanted.

All I knew was that he came back to the common room looking tired almost every day and just shook his head to Hermione who pursed her lips and scrawled something down, then they would have a whispered discussion and repeat the process.

Then only change to this routine was the day he came back from Dumbledore's office, he was smiling and cheerful, that was until he went rummaging through his trunk and pulled out an old wallet I'd never seen before, he looked at it sadly and hid it away in his belt.

"At least you can Apparate, though!" said Ron tensely. "You'll have no trouble come July!" "I've only done it once," I reminded him; I had finally managed to disappear and re-materialise inside my hoop during our previous lesson.

Having wasted a lot of time worrying aloud about Apparition, Ron was now struggling to finish a viciously difficult essay for Snape that we had all already completed.

I fully expected to receive low marks on mine, because I disagreed with Snape on the best way to tackle dementors, but I didn't care: Slughorns memory was the most important thing now.

"I'm telling you, the stupid Prince isn't going to be able to help you with this, Harry!" said Hermione, more loudly. "There's only one way to force someone to do what you want, and that's the Imperius Curse, which is illegal-"

"Yeah, I know that, thanks," I countered, not looking up from the book. "That's why I'm looking for something different. Dumbledore says Veritaserum won't do it, but there might be something else, a potion or a spell..."

"You're going about it the wrong way," said Hermione. "Only you can get the memory, Dumbledore says. That must mean you can persuade Slughorn where other people can't. It's not a question of slipping him a potion, anyone could do that"

"Searching through his mind is a bust too, he's too well guarded for that-" piped up (Y/N) "-How do you spell 'belligerent'?" said Ron, shaking his quill very hard while staring at his parchment. "It can't be 'B U M'-"

"No, it isn't," said Hermione, pulling Ron's essay toward her. "I always suspected you couldn't read Ron, It explains a lot" (Y/N) joked. Before Ron could counter Hermione sighed and said " 'Augury' doesn't begin 'O R G' either. What kind of quill are you using?"

"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Check ones, but I think the charm must be wearing off." "Yes, it must," said Hermione, pointing at the title of his essay. "Because we were asked how we'd deal with dementors, not 'Dug-bogs',"

"I don't remember you changing your name to 'Roonil Wazlib' either." "Ah no!" said Ron, staring horror-struck at the parchment and snatching it from Hermione to check it. "Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again!"

"Idiot, here let me take a look" (Y/N) said, snatching the parchment from him to read it over and handing him a spare quill to swap out his defective one. "Actually, can I keep this quill for a bit?" (Y/N) asked, Ron shrugged, too concerned with his essay to care about the fate of the gift. (Y/N) pocketed it anyway.

(Y/N)'s POV

By the time I had finished correcting his already subpar essay Harry had just closed the Half-Blood Prince's book, yawning, when "Crack!" Hermione let out a little shriek; Ron spilled ink all over his freshly completed essay, and Harry said, "Kreacher!"

The house-elf bowed low and addressed his own gnarled toes. "Master said he wanted regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing, so Kreacher has come to give-" "Crack!" Dobby appeared alongside Kreacher, his tea-cosy hat askew.

"Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter!" he squeaked, casting Kreacher a resentful look. "And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"

"What is this?" asked Hermione, still looking shocked by these sudden appearances. "What's going on, Harry?" Harry hesitated before answering, understandably, house-elves were always such a touchy subject with her. I was a little concerned too.

"Well...they've been following Malfoy for me," he said. "Night and day," croaked Kreacher. "Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!" said Dobby proudly, swaying where he stood. Hermione looked indignant.

"You haven't slept, Dobby? But surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to-" "No, of course I didn't," said Harry quickly. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But has either of you found out anything?" he hastened to ask, before Hermione could intervene again.

"Master Malfoy moves with a nobility that befits his pure blood," croaked Kreacher at once. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of-" "Draco Malfoy is a bad boy!" squeaked Dobby angrily.

"A bad boy who...who..." He shuddered from the tassel of his tea cosy to the toes of his socks and then ran at the fire, as though about to dive into it. Harry, to whom this was not entirely unexpected, caught him around the middle and held him fast.

For a few seconds Dobby struggled, then went limp. "Thank you, Harry Potter," he panted. "Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters." Harry released him; Dobby straightened his tea cosy and said defiantly to Kreacher.

"But Kreacher should know that Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a house-elf!" "Yeah, we don't need to hear about you being in love with Malfoy," Harry told Kreacher. "Let's fast forward to where he's actually been going."

Kreacher bowed again, looking furious, and then said, "Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of —" "Dobby, you tell me," said Harry, cutting across Kreacher.

"Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?" "Harry Potter, sir," squeaked Dobby, his great orblike eyes shining in the firelight. "The Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection. He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters-"

"The Room of Requirement!" said Harry, smacking himself hard on the forehead with Advanced Potion-Making as Hermione, Ron and I stared at him.  But things started clicking into place as soon as he said it.

"That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing...whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map, come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"

"Someone confunded me!" I exclaimed, "Weeks ago, remember, I couldn't find it," I pointed to Hermione, she nodded. "Because I must have ran into him on the way there and he didn't want to be interrupted." I kicked myself, I forgot all about it because of all the drama at the time.

"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," said Ron. "I think it'll be part of the magic of the room," said Hermione. "If you need it to be unplottable, it will be."

"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?" said Harry eagerly. "No, Harry Potter, that is impossible," said Dobby. "No, it's not," said Harry at once. "Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."

"But I don't think you will, Harry," said Hermione slowly. "Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because that stupid Marietta had blabbed." she said sulkily, shooting a glance at me, I just blew her a kiss and she turned away quickly and continued.

"He needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into."

"There'll be a way around that," said Harry dismissively. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby." "Kreachers done well too," said Hermione kindly. I nodded, maybe I'd misjudged Kreacher, he was very helpful when he wants to be.

Kreacher averted his huge, bloodshot eyes and croaked at the ceiling, "The Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher, Kreacher will pretend he cannot hear" Or not, he's the same horrible little pest he's always been.

"Call her that again, watch what happens to you, you little git, I'll send you to meet your bloody mistress!" I glared at him and lifted him up by the scruff. He sneered at me and I had half a mind to throw him into the fireplace.

Hermione looked at me pleadingly and with a hefty sigh I dropped him as he muttered under his breath. I went and sat next to Hermione, she hugged into me an the sofa. "Get out of it," Harry snapped at him, and Kreacher made one last deep bow and Disapparated.

"You'd better go and get some sleep too, Dobby." "Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" squeaked Dobby happily, and he too vanished. "How good is this?" said Harry enthusiastically, turning to Ron and Hermione the moment the room was elf-free again.

"We know where Malfoy's going! We've got him cornered now!" "Yeah, it's great," said Ron glumly, who was attempting to mop up the sodden mass of ink chat had recently been an almost completed essay. Hermione pulled it toward her and began siphoning the ink off with her wand.

"But what's all this about him going up there with a variety of students'?" said Hermione. "How many people are in on it? You wouldn't think he'd trust lots of them to know what he's doing" "Yeah, that is weird," said Harry, frowning.

"I heard him telling Crabbe it wasn't Crabbe's business what he was doing...so what's he telling all these...all these..." Harry's voice tailed away; he was staring at the fire. "God, I've been stupid," he said quietly.

"It's obvious, isn't it? There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon...He could've nicked some any time during that lesson..." "Nicked what?" said Ron. "Polyjuice Potion. He stole some of the Polyjuice Potion Slughorn showed us in our first Potions lesson..."

"There aren't a whole variety of students standing guard for Malfoy...it's just Crabbe and Goyle as usual...Yeah, it all fits!" said Harry, jumping up and starting to pace in front of the fire. I raked my hands over my face.

"I'm so thick! Slughorn basically told me that when I went to confront him. I just didn't make the connection." I sighed, sulking and pretending to cry into Hermione's lap. "They're stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to."

"But he doesn't want them to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he's got them taking Polyjuice to make them look like other people...Those two girls I saw him with when he missed Quidditch — ha! Crabbe and Goyle!"

"Oh, that is grim, Crabbe and Goyle as girls kissing Malfoy, I wouldn't wish that on anyone" I retched. "Do you mean to say," said Hermione in a hushed voice, "that that little girl whose scales I repaired —?" "Yeah, of course!" said Harry loudly, staring at her.

"Of course! Malfoy must've been inside the room at the time, so she...what am I talking about?, he dropped the scales to tell Malfoy not to come out, because there was someone there!" "And there was that girl who dropped the toadspawn too!"

"We've been walking past him all the time and not realising it!" "He's got Crabbe and Goyle transforming into girls?" guffawed Ron. "Blimey...no wonder they don't look too happy these days. I'm surprised they don't tell him to stuff it."

"Well, they wouldn't, would they, if he's shown them his Dark Mark?" said Harry. "Hmmm...the Dark Mark we don't know exists," said Hermione sceptically, "He does, I'm sure of it" I sided with Harry, "We'll see" said Harry confidently.

"Yes, we will," Hermione said, getting to her feet and stretching. "But, Harry, before you get all excited, I still don't think you'll be able to get into the Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first."

"And I don't think you should forget," She heaved her bag onto her shoulder and gave him a very serious look "that what you're supposed to be concentrating on is getting that memory from Slughorn. Good night."

"Night" I said as we shared a quick kiss, as she walked up to the girls dorms. "I hate it when she goes up there, she knows we can't follow her, she can just end a conversation whenever she wants, It's so unfair" I sighed.

Harry watched her go, slightly disgruntled but once the door to the girls' dormitories had closed behind her he rounded on Ron and I. "What d'you think?" "I think it's annoying that we can't go up the stairs to the girls dorm but they can go up ours-" "I meant about Malfoy!"

I shrugged, "It all adds up, but she's right, I don't know if you can find a way inside without seeing Malfoy go in himself, and what he's got cooking is probably nothing compared to this Slughorn business. It's probably best to focus on one at a time."

Ron wasn't even listening. "Wish I could Disapparate like a house-elf," said Ron, staring at the spot where Dobby had vanished. "I'd have that Apparition Test in the bag." I chuckled, "Somehow, knowing you, I doubt even that would help."

He frowned at me and threw my quill at me, but unfortunately the angle he threw it at meant there was now a line of ink running across his fresh new essay. I laughed and chortled at him as I went up to bed, not noticing the line of ink running across my own face until I went to brush my teeth later that night.

Later in the week, spurred on by our new discovery, Harry was determined to find a way inside the Room of Requirement, we had a free period before Defence Against the Dark Arts and he spent all of it trying to get inside.

Hermione was rather ostentatiously showing no interest in his whispered plans for forcing entry into the room, she thought he should focus on Slughorn instead. "Look," he said quietly, leaning forward and putting a hand on the Daily Prophet, which she had just removed from a post owl, to stop her from opening it and vanishing behind it.

"I haven't forgotten about Slughorn, but I haven't got a clue how to get that memory off him, and until I get a brain wave why shouldn't I find out what Malfoy's doing?" "I've already told you, you need to persuade Slughorn," said Hermione.

"It's not a question of tricking him or bewitching him, or Dumbledore could have done it in a second. Instead of messing around outside the Room of Requirement" She jerked the Prophet out from under Harry's hand and unfolded it to look at the front page.

"You should go and find Slughorn and start appealing to his better nature." He loooked to me for support, I just shrugged, "Maybe you can buy him something cool?" "Anyone we know-?" asked Ron, as Hermione scanned the headlines.

"Yes!" said Hermione, causing both Harry and Ron to gag on their breakfast and my heart to skip about seventeen beats. "But it's all right, he's not dead, its Mundungus, he's been arrested and sent to Azkaban! Something to do with impersonating an Inferius during an attempted burglary,"

"Well, there's some good news, hopefully a stint in Azkaban might sort out his morals a bit" I said, but knowing Dung, I didn't have high hopes. Hermione shrugged, then read on, the latest news clearly rattling her.

"Someone called Octavius Pepper has vanished. Oh, and how horrible, a nine-year-old boy has been arrested for trying to kill his grandparents, they think he was under the Imperius Curse." "What is the world coming to?" I lamented

We finished breakfast in silence. Hermione set off immediately for Ancient Runes; Ron for the common room, where he still had to finish his conclusion on Snape's dementor essay and I went to help Harry break into Draco's secret clubhouse.

We headed for the corridor on the seventh floor and the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls to do ballet. I watched as Harry paced up and down the doorway, muttering different iterations of 'I need to know what Malfoy is hiding.'

But after wasting the majority of my free period staring at him getting frustrated I concluded that the room simply did not want to open for him. I went back to the common room to proofread Ron's finished essay, then headed off to meet Hermione as she left Ancient Runes.

We walked to Defence Against the Dark Arts together, Snape gave me an extra annoyed looking glower as I stepped inside his classroom, so I felt extra lucky today.

I could already tell he was in a horrible mood, not that his mood ever changes much, but Harry's 'late arrival' didn't help. "Late again, Potter," said Snape coldly, as Harry hurried into the candlelit classroom.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." Harry scowled at Snape as he flung himself into the seat beside Ron. Half the class were still on their feet, taking out books and organising their things, he was late by about twenty seconds.

"Before we start, I want your dementor essays," said Snape, waving his wand carelessly, so that twenty-five scrolls of parchment soared into the air and landed in a neat pile on his desk.

"And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page-what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Sir," said Seamus, "I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the paper about an Inferius-" "No, there wasn't," said Snape in a bored voice. "But sir, I heard people talking-"

"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."

"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side," muttered Harry. "Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrest-"

"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," said Snape, pointing suddenly at the back of the room, his black eyes fixed on Harry. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."

The whole class looked around at Harry, who hastily tried to recall anything about Inferi he could muster. "Er...well, ghosts are transparent-" he said in a panic. "Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling.

"Yes, it in easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'" Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle. Several other people were smirking.

Harry took a deep breath and continued calmly, though he was clearly furious, "Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid" "A five-year-old could have told us as much," sneered Snape.

"The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth, and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."

"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a look to see if its solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"

There was a ripple of laughter, instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class. "Another ten points from Gryffindor," said Snape. "I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room."

"Well, he's got a point" I muttered, "And let us not forget Mr. (L/N)-" "this ought to be good" "A boy so intent of showcasing his mediocre ability he would trample over those who came before him in his constant efforts to prove himself the smartest person in the room"

"To be fair, most of the time that last part is a given" I smirked, he gave me a detention for that comment and said "If you are the smartest person in a room, I have no doubt in my mind it must be empty."

I honestly couldn't think of a retort to that, so I just went back to the original topic. "Inferi don't do well against flames, ghosts don't care about fire, they are, as Harry said, incorporeal"

"You missed that bit, there's also a bunch of other stuff, but I doubt you care enough about updating techniques and the growing knowledge of magic to teach them, you're a bit stuck in your ways." and another detention.

"Now open your books to page two hundred and thirteen," said Snape angrily, "and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse."

When the bell sounded at the end of the lesson Lavender caught up with us and abused Snape hotly for his jibe about Ron's Apparition, but this seemed to make Ron even more nervous, he quickly made his way to a boys bathroom to freak out.

Harry and I followed him to offer support, "Snape's right, though, isn't he?" said Ron, after staring into a cracked mirror for a minute or two. "I dunno whether it's worth me taking the test. I just can't get the hang of Apparition."

"You might as well do the extra practice sessions in Hogsmeade and see where they get you," said Harry reasonably. "Yeah, can't hurt, I can try and give you a hand if you'd like" I offered, he nodded. I think it freaked him out more when I literally passed him my hand.

"It'll be more interesting than trying to get into a stupid hoop anyway. Then, if you're still not, you know, as good as you'd like to be, you can postpone the test, do it with me over the summer...Myrtle, this is the boys' bathroom!"

The ghost of a girl had risen out of the toilet in a cubicle behind them and was now floating in midair, staring at them through thick, white, round glasses. "Oh," she said glumly. "It's you three." "Who were you expecting?" said Ron, looking at her in the mirror.

"Nobody," said Myrtle, picking moodily at a spot on her chin. "Got a boyfriend Myrtle?" I asked curiously, she scowled, obviously thinking I was teasing her. "He said he'd come back and see me, but then you said you'd pop in and visit me too"

She gave me a reproachful look and admittedly I remembered my promise and I felt awful, I always hate going back on my promises. "I haven't seen you for months and months, ever since you got that girlfriend of yours" she said the word unhappily.

"I've learned not to expect too much from boys." "Sorry Myrtle, really, I forgot...again, but I'll try and make time from now on" I said, making a note. "I thought you lived in that girls' bathroom?" said Harry, expertly changing the subject.

"I do," she said, with a sulky little shrug, "but that doesn't mean I can't visit other places. I came and saw you in your bath once, remember?" "Vividly," said Harry. "What?" I questioned, but they both quickly moved on.

"But I thought he liked me," she said plaintively. "Maybe if you left, he'd come back again. We had lots in common. I'm sure he felt it." And she looked hopefully toward the door.

"When you say you had lots in common," said Ron, sounding rather amused now, "d'you mean he lives in an S-bend too?" "No," said Myrtle defiantly, her voice echoing loudly around the old tiled bathroom.

"I mean he's sensitive, people bully him too, and he feels lonely and hasn't got anybody to talk to, and he's not afraid to show his feelings and cry!" "Colin Creevey?" I asked, as he was the first boy that I thought of with that vague a description.

She shook her head, but I wasn't entirely convinced. "There's been a boy in here crying?" said Harry curiously. "A young boy?" "Never you mind!" said Myrtle, her small, leaky eyes fixed on Ron, who was now definitely grinning.

"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, and I'll take his secret to the-" "-not the grave, surely?" said Ron with a snort. "The sewers, maybe." Even I was getting a little annoyed at Ron's insensitive tone, "Ron, go outside if you've got nothing nice to say."

Myrtle gave a howl of rage and dived back into the toilet, causing water to slop over the sides and onto the floor. "Great, now we'll never know if Colin Creevey's snogging Moaning Myrtle. And people say I never know when to shut up."

Goading Myrtle seemed to have put fresh heart into Ron. "You're right," he said, swinging his schoolbag back over his shoulder. "I'll do the practice sessions in Hogsmeade before I decide about taking the test."

And so the following weekend, Ron joined Hermione and the rest of the sixth years who would turn seventeen in time to take the test in a fortnight.

I didn't feel the need to go, I didn't really need practice. Harry felt rather jealous watching them all get ready to go into the village so I kept him company, I expected we would just play wizards chess and have a laugh, but I thought wrong

Harry had other ideas, he decided to use the time to attempt another assault on the Room of Requirement, but no matter what we tried, there was no progress.

"You'd do better," said Hermione, when he confided this plan to Ron and her in the entrance hall, "to go straight to Slughorn's office and try and get that memory from him." "I've been trying!" said Harry crossly.

"He doesn't want to talk to me, Hermione! He can tell I've been trying to get him on his own again, and he's not going to let it happen!" "Well, you've just got to keep at it, haven't you?"

We wished Ron and Hermione both luck, then turned and climbed the marble staircase again to devote an hour or two to the Room of Requirement.

Once out of sight of the entrance hall, Harry pulled the Marauder's Map and his Invisibility Cloak from his bag. Having concealed us, he tapped the map, murmured, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and scanned it carefully.

There were a few people out in the grounds, and there, alone in the seventh-floor corridor, was Gregory Goyle. There was no sign of the Room of Requirement, but if Goyle was standing guard outside it, the room was open, whether the map was aware of it or not.

We sprinted up the stairs, slowing down only when he reached the corner into the corridor, when he began to creep, very slowly, toward the very same little girl, clutching her heavy brass scales, that Hermione had so kindly helped a fortnight before.

Harry was right behind her before bending very low and whispering, "Hello...you're very pretty, aren't you?" Goyle gave a high-pitched scream of terror, threw the scales up into the air, and sprinted away.

Laughing, Harry turned to contemplate the blank wall and started his routine questioning again, I tried not to laugh at the fact he was quite literally, talking to a brick wall.

Yet this hopeful mood did not last long. Harry basically threw a hissy fit under the cloak as I got pushed out and had to rely on a disillusionment charm.

I was sat a little further down the hallway, behind the tapestry, I was in my Animagus form, I found it more comfortable, and the disillusionment charm meant I could take a well needed nap, for a little while at least.

Half an hour later, losing his patience completely, Harry ran at the wall and kicked it. "OUCH!" the Invisibility Cloak slipped off him and he was caught. "Harry?" He spun around, one-legged, and toppled over.

There, to my confusion, was Tonks, walking toward him as though she frequently strolled up this corridor, I stayed behind the tapestry so I wasn't seen in my Animagus form and partly to avoid another lecture. "What're you doing here?" he said, scrambling to his feet again.

"I came to see Dumbledore," said Tonks, she looked terrible: thinner than usual, her mouse-coloured hair lank. "His office isn't here," said Harry, "it's round the other side of the castle, behind the gargoyle."

"I know," said Tonks. "He's not there. Apparently he's gone away again." "Has he?" said Harry, putting his bruised foot gingerly back on the floor. "Hey you don't know where he goes, I suppose?"

They kept talking for a while until Tonks asked "You haven't had any letters from anyone in the Order recently?" "No one from the Order writes to me anymore," said Harry, "not since Sirius-"

The next time I saw her face her eyes had filled with tears. "I'm sorry," he muttered awkwardly. "I mean...I miss him, as well." "What?" said Tonks blankly. "Well...I'll see you around, Harry..." And she turned abruptly and walked back down the corridor, leaving Harry to stare after her.

We found Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall, already halfway through an early lunch. "I did it, well, kind of!" Ron told Harry enthusiastically when he caught sight of him. "I was supposed to be Apparating to outside Madam Puddifoots Tea Shop and I overshot it a bit, ended up near Scrivenshafts, but at least I moved!"

"Good one," said Harry. "How'd you do, Hermione?" "Oh, she was perfect, obviously," said Ron, before Hermione could answer. "Can't say I'm surprised" I said, wrapping my arms around her and placing a kiss on her lips, "Hermione's always been perfection."

"Perfect deliberation, divination, and desperation or whatever the hell it is, we all went for a quick drink in the Three Broomsticks after and you should've heard Twycross going on about her, I'll be surprised if he doesn't pop the question soon-"

"He can try, I'll splinch something off him he can't recover from, she's mine, if anyone's randomly popping the question, it'll be me" I winked at her, she shushed me, but her cheeks were red hot and she kissed me back.

"And what about you?" asked Hermione, ignoring Ron. "Have you been up at the Room of Requirement all this time?" "Yep," said Harry. "And guess who I ran into up there? Tonks!"

"Tonks?" repeated Ron and Hermione together, looking surprised. "Yeah, she said she'd come to visit Dumbledore." "If you ask me," said Ron once Harry had finished describing his conversation with Tonks, "she's cracking up a bit. Losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry."

"I wonder why?" I muttered sarcastically, "It's almost as if her mentor died, along with her cousin and she almost let some idiot execute a Death Eater" I put my chin to the table, Ron looked at me apologetically.

"It's a bit odd," said Hermione, who for some reason looked very concerned. "She's supposed to be guarding the school, why she suddenly abandoning her post to come and see Dumbledore when he's not even here?"

"I had a thought," said Harry tentatively. "You don't think she can have been...you know...in love with Sirius?" Hermione stared at him. I gasped, trying the best I could not to go into fits and giggles.

"I mean...you never know, Probably hit the nail on the head though...Them Marauders, real charmers they were" I said, but I couldn't help but giggle, Tonks was going to freak when I told her.

"What on earth makes you say that?" "I dunno," said Harry, shrugging, "but she was nearly crying when I mentioned his name, and her Patronus is a big four-legged thing now. I wondered whether it hadn't become...you know...him."

"It's a thought," said Hermione slowly. "But I still don't know why she'd be bursting into the castle to see Dumbledore, if that's really why she was here." "Goes back to what I said, doesn't it?" said Ron, who was now shoveling mashed potato into his mouth.

"She's gone a bit funny. Lost her nerve. Women," he said to Harry, "they're easily upset." "And yet," said Hermione, coming out of her reverie. "I doubt you'd find a woman who sulked for half an hour because Madam Rosmerta didn't laugh at their joke about the hag, the Healer, and the Mimbulus mimbletonia."

Ron scowled. "Ron, I like that joke, I've stolen it at least twice. Madam Rosmerta loved it when I told it to her." I said, standing up from the table quickly, kissing Hermione and dashing off before Ron caught on, I was at the doors to the great hall when I heard him clatter to his feet and break into a run, "You bloody- Get back here!"