Authors Note: Hello, my name is Meaghan McCormack and the summer after the 4th book came out, I got really sick of waiting for the 5th book, so I decided to write my own. I am not reciving any money for this and all the character's names and most of their personalities are property of the brilliant mind that created them (J.K. Rowling) and the huge company that bought them from her (WB). I hope you enjoy. Email me reviews and please check out my website.

Draco turned around and walked out of the compartment. He passed the seats full of chatting people and reached the door. Just as he was about to step off the train, Professor McGonagall came up the stairs, ushering the last of the prefects on.

"Mr. Malfoy, exactly where do you think you are going? The train is about to leave!"

"I'm not sitting with Potter." He stared unabashedly at his teacher and spoke with the authority he had commanded at his home.

"Oh yes you are. You should have thought of that a bit earlier, before all the seats were taken," she replied, just as firmly. Just then, the train gave a jolt and started to move slowly down the tracks. Professor McGonagall stepped lightly down.

"What, aren't you coming on the train?" asked Draco, surprised.

"Why of course not. I have some important business. Now I suggest you get back to your seat and if I hear one word..." the train was picking up speed now and a shrill whistle drowned out the rest of her sentence. The last word Draco was able to pick up was "Hogwarts!" and then the train rounded the corner and she was gone.

"Hey, kid! You there!" a train conductor was yelling at Draco. Draco glared at him, his pale face narrowed into a frightening sneer and the conductor started. "That's right," he said with a note of worry in his voice at the look on Draco's face. "Just head on back to your seat now." Draco, without any change in expression, turned to start back to his compartment and resigned to make the next eight hours the most miserable of Harry's life.

He entered the compartment and glared at Harry who was still siting by the window, reading a book. Harry looked up and glared back. He reached for his trunk and opened the lid. Draco only caught a glimpse of neatly folded robes before Harry grabbed what he needed and slammed the trunk again. In one hand, Harry still held his book and in the other, his wand was held out in a threatening gesture.

"Ok, Malfoy. We have to sit together, but I'm not going to take any of your rubbish this year. I'll sit here, and you sit there," he gestured to the seats by the door. "And if you bother me I'll hex you." He paused, for effect, Draco thought, and then Harry added blandly, "like last year." Unbidden, the image of himself, Crabbe and Golye lying hexed by Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ron's older brothers, Fred and George, lying in the aisle of the train at the end of last years term filled Draco's mind. He scowled at Harry and said, "How'd you know I didn't want that seat," pointing to where Harry was sitting.

"Do you want it?" Harry said impatiently, eager to avoid a fight. Draco, sensing this, growled and made no reply, going to sit in the seat by the door.

For minute after long minute they sat in silence. Harry was reading one of his schoolbooks and Draco looked right past him out at the London outskirts that were flashing by the window outside. The heavy silence grew thicker with each page Harry turned and each time Draco tapped his foot. It was as if the small train compartment was a coil and a giant hand was winding it tighter and tighter. Then, just as Draco felt he might explode if he did not do something to relieve the tension, he shouted,

"Stop it!" at the exact same moment Harry did. They looked at each other, Draco scornfully, Harry, tersely.

"I can't stand it when people tap their feet," Harry added stressing the word people, wondering why he felt he needed to excuse his rudeness to Draco; Draco never felt it necessary. Draco narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak but Harry put his head back behind his book. Draco's words caught in his throat and he choked, rather ungracefully. No one, aside from his father, had ever ignored him before.

"Where's your mudblood friend? Isn't she smart enough to be a prefect?" Draco asked, still a bit shakily, trying to find something to get a rise out of Harry.

"Shut up Malfoy, don't you dare insult Hermione. She's smarter than you without trying!" Harry said angrily, baited by Draco's taunt of Hermione.

"Well, I don't see her on this train. Maybe spending all day and night helping the famous Harry Potter cheat to win the Tri-Wizard tournament didn't help her grades as much as it helped you," Draco said softly, purposely badgering Harry.

"I didn't cheat!' Harry yelled. "And Hermione never..."

"That's right Potter, just try and justify it for yourself."

Harry fumed silently for a moment, trying to tell himself not to sink to Draco's level. But he couldn't let Draco have the last word, so as he picked up his book again he said, "Poor Malfoy, whose mother doesn't care about him enough to teach him any maners." Even to himself, it sounded lame, but from the look on Draco's face, he saw that he had obviously struck a nerve. Draco's face turned white. Then red.

"At least I have a mother, that's more than you can say Potter. And I know my mother. You know nothing about Lily Potter."

"That's not true!" Harry cried, even though as he spoke he knew it to be nearly true. Draco, sensing that he had just regained the advantage, turned his back to Harry and continued.

"Yeah," He said, sounding almost pitying in a twisted sort of way. "I'll bet, you didn't even know that your mother was sorted into Slytherin."

Harry gasped. "She was not!" he shouted. "You made that up!"

"Don't like that, do you Potter? Didn't know that your mummy dear was in dirty Slytherin," Draco grinned and turned back to face him, just in time for Harry's spell to hit him right in the face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius and Mundungus aperated behind the Shrieking Shack with a pop.

"So where's this cave you mentioned. Could we stay there?" Mundungus Fletcher asked, out of breath.

"I thought you had a place where we could stay!" interjected Sirius.

"Well, I did. Your cave."

Sirius groaned. "Why can't we go up to the school?"

Mundungus looked at him skeptically.

"Ok that's not a good idea. So we'd probably be arrested on the spot. Fine, I'll take you to the cave, but you won't like it."

"Of course I will!"

Sirius sighed and led the way up a steep path that twisted for almost half an hour out of the village. Finally, panting, the two men came upon a cave almost hidden behind tall grass. Sirius, with a mocking look on his face bowed his friend into the dank and musty cave. Mundungus walked in and looked around and grimaced.

"I told you that you wouldn't like it," Sirius said.

"Oh it's not that bad, it just needs a little fixing up!"

"I've tried to act low-key. No magic around here. I don't want to attract any unwanted..." Sirius looked quickly around as several loud bangs issued, one after another, in Fletcher's direction. What he saw made him jump. The sparks still showering from Mundungus's wand indicated that he had wasted no time in redecorating. A large couch sat in one corner and a wooden bookshelf stood next to it. A cupboard with its door ajar held foods and a long table with four chairs was squeezed into the back of the cave. As a final touch, Mundungus had magicked four high glass windows in the wall of the cave that looked out into the town below.

"Attention." Sirius finished dryly. "Finente Incantium," he continued pointing at the windows, which disappeared with another shower of colored sparks.

"Mundungus, do you want us to be caught?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"I can't believe you lived in this place for as long as you did!"

"I needed to be near Harry during the tournament. What did you expect me to do? Check into an inn in town?" Mundungus sobered at that and Sirius paused. "Anyway, as long as that cupboard has become a permenate fixture, lets make dinner."

"Ah, now you're talking!" Mundungus said, grinning. "And over dinner we can talk about the..." Sirius cut him off.

"NO windows!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Arabella Figg traveled magically through the air, she had felt a hand on her arm, making her feel safer. She had never particularly liked group apperations; it was very easy to leave part of someone behind so it was important to really trust whomever you were traveling with. As she materialized into Hogsmeade, she felt the hand leave her arm and at the same time rather hoped it had been Remus's hand and not Snape's.

"Well, let us get back to the school, then," Snape said coldly.

"It'll be so wonderful to see everyone again!" Arabella said passionately to Lupin who looked rather windblown as if Snape hadn't done quite as good a job transporting him as he had done Arabella.

"And I'm sure we all look forward to the reunion party. Lets go," and with that, Snape strode off down the street.

"Well he hasn't changed a bit," said Arabella, amused. "I never understood why you didn't like him. He's alright in a removed, cold, bossy, and slightly morbid and greasy sort of way." She smile sweetly at Lupin who said quickly,

"He's a slimy git! That's why we didn't like him and I don't know how you could think..." he stopped, and saw that Arabella was laughing.

"I'm just kidding," she said and looped her arm through Remus's and together they followed Snape down the road.

The three of them, Snape in the lead, climbed the hill up to the Castle. Remus glanced back a few times, as he knew exactly where Sirius and Mundungus were, in a cave on the other side of town, but he strode quickly alongside Arabella. As they passed through the large gates flanked by the stone boars, Hagrid came running towards them, Fang at his heals. As they drew closer, Fang lengthened his stride and bounded ahead of Hagrid to leap onto Arabella, almost knocking her over. Arabella laughed and scratched Fang behind his ears. The huge dog howled with joy as if he had just been reunited with a long lost friend.

"Would yeh look at that!" Hagrid beamed as he came, panting, within shouting distance. "Fang remembers yeh!"

"Well of course he would, she was down in your hut nearly everyday after school with that dog!" Remus gasped and Hagrid, who had arrived, thumped him a greeting on the back with his boulder-like hand. Snape looked on the scene sourly, rolling his eyes.

"Come along, unlike some of us, there are important matters I must attend to today," said Snape with a voice like ice. Arabella looked at Remus, who was massaging his knuckles menacingly behind Snape's back and smiled pityingly.

"Well, we'd best be off then, we'll come by and see you soon Hagrid!" Arabella called over her shoulder as Hagrid waved.

Snape led the way once again, followed by Arabella and then Lupin. As he reached the huge doors of the castle, he pulled out his wand and whispered a spell that made the doors creak open slowly. He held his wand up over his head and stood aside to let Arabella walk through and then stepped in front of Remus and dropped his wand to his side, letting the doors slam in Remus's face.

Two hours later, with both Remus and Snape a bit more battered and bruised than they had been before, Snape was silently fuming in his office and Lupin in his. Arabella was having a cup of tea with Hagrid.

"Arabella Figg, my how yeh've grown." Hagrid said with a smile. "The last time I saw yeh yeh were just little girl, and now yeh're all grown up and capturin' death eaters!"

"Hagrid," said Arabella ruefully, "The last time you saw me, I was 22. I hardly call that a 'little girl'."

Hagrid waved the comment away with happy tears in his eyes. "So 'ow's 'Arry?"

"Poor Harry," Arabella said, a bit sadly. "It's been so hard for him. And he has no one when he's away from school." At that moment, a huge tawny owl smashed into the window and fell to the ground outside. Fang, who was tied to a tree outside, began barking madly.

"What in heaven's name was that?" Arabella asked in shock.

"Come on, lets go take a look," Hagrid said.

As soon as they stepped outside, the owl, which was lying dazedly on the ground, hopped up and began flying in circles around Arabella's head.

"That one looks like 'ees in a bit of hurry. Open it up 'an see what it says," Hagrid said, gesturing to the letter tied to the owl's leg. Arabella reached gingerly for the letter, which was difficult given the speed that the owl was flying around her head, but when it realized what she was trying to do, it stopped and hovered in midair, allowing her to remove its precious burden. She started to slowly open the envelope, but the large bird tried to peck at her and Arabella only just managed to brush it out of the way.

"Alright, alright, it's important, I'll move faster!" she told the screeching bird. She pulled the parchment out of the envelope quickly, glancing again at the owl which hooted in alarm.

"What is it Arabella?" Hagrid asked in concern.

Arabella looked at the letter and opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly all the color drained out of her face. She reached behind her as if feeling for something to sit on, but finding nothing, she slumped against the side of Hagrid's hut. Then she turned and retched, throwing up in the trees. Hagrid, white with worry, grabbed the letter from her and his eyes widened as he read.

"Arabella! What on earth's s'matter with yeh? I'd think yeh'd be happy! They've finally caught Sirius Black!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco yelled and grabbed at his face, which felt like it was on fire. Through his fingers he saw Harry charging at him, as he was knocked to the ground. Harry, who had little experience fighting the Muggle way, he was usually the one who got beaten up, swung his arms wildly and made no use of his legs, but it was obvious that, even with training, he would not have made a good fighter. Weak punches fell on Draco, but at the moment, Draco was a bit more alarmed by the fact that his face seemed to be burning off.

"Finente Incantium," Draco finally managed to gasp put and as suddenly as it had begun, the burning stopped and everything was back to normal. Draco then turned his attention towards Harry. They both stood slowly. Harry had always been short, and Draco was used to looking down on him, but over the summer, Harry had sprung up and was now at least as tall as Draco was and they were eye to eye. As Draco stared at him, he could almost feel his face grow hot again at the raging fire in Harry's eyes.

"Take it back, Malfoy. Take it back, or I'll curse you again," Harry was gasping for breath.

"Fine, you want me to lie to you about your mother, Potter. Fine, I'll give you your lie, your mother was perfect, and she was sorted into Gryffindor. Are you happy? Don't face the truth then. You know nothing," Draco sneered. Harry made as if to raise his wand again, but at that moment, a train conductor came rushing into the compartment. They hadn't realized how much noise they were making, and the compartment was a mess. While they had been rolling around on the floor, they had bent the table, knocked over the two trunks and scattered robes, books and magical supplies all over the ground. The conductor gazed in horror upon the mess that greeted him and the train gave a sudden lurch as if it too were expressing its displeasure at the scene.

"What in god's name is going on?" said the conductor, a large burly man, in a dangerous whisper. He reminded Harry strongly of Uncle Vernon, however, unlike Uncle Vernon, this man had every right to be angry.

"This boy attacked me sir. He cursed me and then knocked me down," Draco said calmly. The scene certainly fit his story, Draco had a beautiful black eye blooming on his right eye and his face was still red, although otherwise unharmed.

"Is this true?" the conductor asked, eyeing Harry.

"Well..." Harry paused, unable to think of the right words to describe what had happened without condemning himself. "I... He provoked me."

"He, provoked you? And the room ended up looking like this? I can't believe the either of you, and you supposed to be school prefects as well!" The conduction scowled at them. "I am sending an owl to your school, no doubt about that. And in the meantime, you had better clean all this up. Now." And the conductor stalked away down the corridor of the train.

Harry swung his wand in shame and anger, sending sparks flying through the air. Draco just laughed silently at him. Harry screwed his eyes up tight and clenched his fists. He took a few deep breaths and then bent down to refold his scattered robes. He worked slowly, making an obvious effort not to notice that Draco stood watching him, doing nothing at all. Finally, as Harry finished, Draco gave a flick of his wand and his own robes soared and neatly folded themselves in his trunk.

"I suppose you spend so much time working for those muggles you live with that you've forgotten how to do magic," Draco sneered.

"That's right, I've quite forgotten magic. That's why it felt as though your face was burning off a minute ago," said Harry, not bothering to look up.

Draco shot Harry a look a pure loathing, but then, almost in spite of himself, said "Where did you learn that spell anyway. That couldn't have been legal. Did your little Mudblood friend teach you that too?"

"No," said Harry coldly. "I learned it from your father." He smirked slightly at the look of confusion on Draco's face, for Draco had no way of know that his father had been one of the Death Eaters shooting spells at Harry to keep him from escaping the year before, after the third tri-wizard tournament event. Silently, both boys continued to clean the compartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the Leaky Cauldron, Professor McGonagall sat alone at a table in the back of the pub with huge bags filled with schoolbooks next to her. The pub was not crowded, but the few customers that were there did not seem to notice her until Professor Dumbledore swept into the room and sat down with her. Dumbledore seemed to shed his own light and to command the attention of all in the surrounding area. Tom, the bartender came quickly over to take any orders, but Dumbledore waved him away and he left slowly, looking rather disappointed.

"Professor, this may come as a bit of a shock to you..." Dumbledore started slowly, looking hard at Professor McGonagall.

"A bit of a shock? My dear Headmaster, it came as a bit of a shock this morning when the whole of Diagon Alley was talking about it. This morning it was a bit of a shock," McGonagall repeated herself faintly.

"Then you know that..." Dumbledore tried again.

"I know the word on the street, and I know that Sirius has managed to get into more trouble than anyone I have ever known. What are we to do now?" Professor McGonagall said angrily.

"Professor, Sirius was taken into custody because he was found with Mundungus Fetcher. There is still a chance for him if we act swiftly," Dumblefore continued.

"Found with Fletcher? What good does that do him?" Professor McGonagall hissed intensely across the table. "We many know who Fletcher is, and his good intentions, but others may not be able to see that, judging by his," she paused then said, "background."

"Minerva," said Dumbledore severely, peering at her over his half-moon spectacles. "Mundungus Fletcher is notorious for his short temper and his love of alcohol, but he was still a very respected auror. And if it were not for the fact that he has given his word as one who has spent his life fighting the dark arts that Sirius is to be trusted, Sirius would be dead by now, instead of awaiting trial."

"But without Peter, how are we to prove that Sirius is innocent?" Professor McGonagall said hopelessly. Dumbledore bowed his head and said,

"This I do not know."

"But what are we to tell Harry? Sirius has been like a parent to him!"

"Minerva, the boy is fifteen years old, he can handle the truth."

"Just like he can handle the truth about why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him? Like he can handle the truth about what really happened the night after the tournament? Like he can handle the truth about parents? Albus, which truths is he really ready to take?"

"You are a convincing debater, Minerva," Dumbledore said with a slight smile. "Perhaps you are right. We will see what we can do before we tell Harry what has happened."

Professor McGonagall looked at him, her voice full of emotion and said quietly, "Thank you Dumbledore. I don't know how long we can hide this from him, or even how long we want to, but I truly believe that now is not the time to let him know of another disaster."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry was relieved when he felt the train slow and finally stop at the Hogsmeade station, even though he was worried of the punishment that might await him at school. He found that at this point he didn't care, however, when, as he stepped off the train and saw the tall castle over looking the town in the last of the dying sun, he felt he had finally come home. The twenty-eight Hogwarts students huddled together on the platform. Draco Malfoy had managed to move as far away from Harry as possible, and was talking with another Slytherin prefect. Harry looked around for the Gryffindors and saw Alicia Spinnet, a chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and hurried over to her.

"Harry!" she cried happily when she saw him. "Congratulations. How's your summer been?"

"It's been alright," Harry started, feeling that it would be best to leave out the fact that the second dark mark in fourteen years and the first death because of it had appeared on his street. "Are you a prefect to?"

"Nope," grinned Alicia, "I'm Head Girl." She pulled a shiny badge out of her pocket and showed it to Harry.

"That's great, Alicia!" said Harry, genuinely happy for her.

"So, have you been playing much Quidditch? I know we didn't have the Interhouse Tournament last year, but I've practiced almost everyday this summer. I don't want to lose my place on the team," Alicia said in a rush.

"Er...why would you lose your place? You're a great chaser," said Harry, confused.

"Do you really think so?" Alicia asked hopefully.

"Yeah, of course," said Harry, who still had no idea why he was having this conversation. Alicia was a wonderful chaser and she knew it to.

Just then, the crowd of Hogwarts students started to move, and Harry and Alicia had to stop talking and hurry to catch up. It appeared that the carriages that would take them up to the school had arrived. In the confusion to get into a carriage, Harry was separated from Alicia and ended up in a carriage with two sixth-year Hufflepuff girls that he didn't know and a fifth year Ravenclaw, Terry Boot, who he knew by name only. They all exchanged greetings, it turned out that he had heard of the Hufflepuffs, Marie and Noelle were both friends of Fred and George. After introductions, Harry didn't need to introduce himself, everyone knew whom he was, Marie and Noelle sat whispering together and occasionally giggling. The subject of their amusement appeared to be a seventh-year boy who was riding in the carriage in front of them. Terry sat looking out the window and said nothing to anyone, leaving Harry alone with his own thoughts, which had become more troubled. With the castle fast approaching, Harry began to wonder what exactly the train conductor had written in the letter he sent to the school.

The carriage ride was much shorter than he remembered and soon he was climbing the marble steps to the huge front door. Harry glanced over the grounds towards Hagrid's cabin and saw smoke rising from the chimney and the shadowy figure of Hagrid bustling around his house. As he walked slowly up, he found himself next to Alicia again.

"So, do you have any idea why we're here so early?" Harry asked her loudly, over the noise all the other students were making.

"No idea. Well, some idea. I think that Dumbledore wants to lecture us about You-Know-Who coming back," Alicia said. "It can't be true, though. My mum works for the Ministry, and they'd know if something had happened. They haven't gotten a single owl of any importance for a while now."

"Well that doesn't exactly sound like a good thing," said Harry under his breath.

"What?" asked Alicia.

"Nothing," said Harry quickly. They had reached the doors. The head boy, a Ravenclaw that Harry didn't know raised his hand to knock, but the door swung open before he had touched it.

A severe looking Professor McGonagall stood right inside the Great Hall and instantly, the students fell silent.

"You have no doubt had a long journey, and dinner will be available throughout the evening in the Dining Hall, but should you wish to retire to your Common Rooms, the passwords for all the houses will be 'Founders' until the rest of the school arrives. You will receive further information on why you are here tomorrow morning."

There was a low murmuring among the students but it was soon stifled.

"Welcome back," Professor McGonagall continued and she stepped aside to let the students pass by her. As the throng of people moved quickly into the castle, she called out in a voice like ice, "Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, you are to stay here."

Alicia glanced at Harry curiously, but Harry looked away. She shrugged and called out "See ya Harry!" And then she was gone.

Harry walked slowly over to Professor McGonagall. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Draco doing the same. Professor McGonagall was looking at them with an expression of utmost fury.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, I am pleased to let you know that you have publicly disgraced our school. We trusted you to travel on the train alone, to behave yourselves and to respect the property of the train. You have failed our trust. How you can expect to be prefects, students who are looked up to by those younger, if you can not even obey the rules set for your own safety and that of others?"

Harry looked at his feet. Draco stared insolently into his teacher's eyes.

"Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Both boys shook their heads.

"I have been in contact with Professor Dumbledore about the two of you, and he has quite a unique suggestion as to what your punishment should be," she said grimly. "I would like the both of you to go quickly upstairs and pack a small overnight bag. Do not bring more than you can carry comfortably."

Both Harry and Draco started in surprise but didn't say a word. As they turned to go, Professor McGonagall said, "Oh, Mr. Malfoy, before you leave, you received and owl, right before the carriages arrived. It is from your father." She pulled an unopened envelope sealed with wax and an ornate 'M', the emblem of the Malfoy family. Draco took it and ripped it open. He scanned the page, and Harry saw his eyes widen, but he also looked slightly gratified. He pocketed the letter and Professor McGonagall said, "Go on, the both of you. I want you back here in twenty minutes!"

Twenty minutes later, Harry and Draco were once again standing in the Great Hall. Harry was eating a hastily made turkey and ham sandwich and Draco was leaning against the wall, looking expectant. At that moment, Professor. McGonagall moved swiftly down the stairs towards them.

"Ah, you are all prepared I see. Follow me." And with that, she lead them out of the castle and down the great stone steps. They walked down the drive where the had been dropped off by the carriages earlier that evening and past the winged boars at the gate. They crossed the dark grounds and strange shadows seemed to leap out at them as they moved. Instinctively, Harry drew out his wand.

"Tonight, you will serve your punishment," said Professor McGonagall severely. "But you will not be serving a detention. Professor Dumbledore and I had something else in mind." At that moment, the dark trees of the forbidden forest loomed up in front of them. "Your task will be to spend the night in the forest."

Harry, who was in mid-swallow, began choking and then coughing violently. Draco stood stalk still, looking stunned.

"You're mad!" Draco said shakily. "Utterly, raving mad. We will be killed!"

"Don't be stupid, Mr. Malfoy. You will not be killed. We have plenty of ways of monitoring you. And, as I am sure you are quite aware, between you and Mr. Potter, I believe you know more curses and charms than the rest of the school combined. I nearly pity any creature that tries to attack you." Professor McGonagall gave them and odd look. "Now, once you enter the forest, you will be unable to leave it until morning, so there are two things I wish to recommend to you. First, it would be to your benefit to stay on the path."

Harry snorted. He had had plenty of experience with that rule.

"Second," Professor McGonagall continued. "While you are free to go your separate ways, it might be...wise of you to stay together."

Harry and Draco shot each other looks of pure loathing.

"Well, into the woods then!" she said shrilly.

Neither boy moved. Then Draco gave a tiny shake of his head.

"This is your punishment," said Professor McGonagall in a deadly voice. "You have disgraced your houses, your school and our whole community. Mr. Malfoy, I thought you had a higher respect for your family. Mr. Potter, I thought you had a higher respect for yourself. Now go into the forest. You will be perfectly safe."

Harry, his insides churning, looked up into his head of house's face but saw only coldness in her eyes. He heaved a great sigh and turned towards the wood. He walked slowly, but steadily and soon was between the first trees. He turned to see if Draco had started to follow or not, but both Draco and Professor McGonagall, and even the castle were gone.

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All done with Chapter four. Changed the name from Dragon's Rage to Dragon's Pride. I probably won't be able to get Chapter Five up for a while so you'll have to live with this for the next week or so. As always, drop me a line and tell me how you liked it. Oh, I'm on Schnoogle now, so check me out there and review it to make me feel happy, even if I only have chapters one and two up there. Thanks!

Meaghan

Did you like it? Once again, please email me or go on to Chapter 5.