Harry strode through the dark hallways of Hogwarts, his robe flapping at his heels and his friends hurrying to keep up with him. They quickly reached the doors to the headmaster's office. To everyone's surprise, they were slightly ajar. Harry gently pushed them open, and hopped on the moving staircase, closely followed by Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and the twins. The waiting room outside the Dumbledore's office was unoccupied, but a fire blazed in the fireplace shedding light to the room. Harry paused briefly outside the door to Professor Dumbledore's office, took a deep breath, and knocked firmly on it.

The door swung open and Professor Lupin peered out at the students clustered closely together on the other side.

"What are you all doing up so late?" Remus was obviously surprised to see them standing there.

"We need to speak to Professor Dumbledore, Sir, is he here?" Having made his decision to tell Dumbledore his dream, Harry didn't want to put it off any longer.

"Errr, yes, one minute." For some reason Professor Lupin seemed a bit flustered at their request. Harry leaned against the door, pressing his forehead to the cool wood as they waited for admittance. The minutes slowly passed, and Harry was beginning to wonder if they'd been forgotten, when he heard voices raised in argument through the door. He turned his head to lean his ear against the door, hoping to hear what was being said, or at least who was present.

"Oy, Harry, what're you doing?" Ron was watching Harry curiously.

"I can hear someone arguing in there, I'm trying to hear what they're saying."

"But that's eavesdropping!" Hermione was aghast that Harry would stoop to spying.

"Miss Granger, regrettably, there are times when the need for deception outweighs the need for discretion. This is one of those times." The voice was warm and wise, and seemed to come from the wall.

"Who said that?" Hermione looked around, trying to identify the speaker. She wandered toward the wall by the sofa, looking at the portraits. She came to a stop before the only one that seemed to have someone awake in it. A grey haired wizard with kindly blue eyes and a pointed grey hat gazed out at her. "Was it you?" The wizard nodded silently at her, smiling. Hermione looked down at the name-plate, read "Gandalf" out loud, and looked at him in astonishment.

"Shush!" Harry glared at her briefly, and then returned to listening.

"NO! I won't allow it!" That sounded a bit like his father, but what could have made Snape that mad?

"Severus, I understand your concern, but." Harry didn't recognize the voice of the person speaking.

The voices faded for a moment, all Harry could hear was faint murmurs, followed by another explosion from his father.

"Does my opinion on this matter count for nothing? He's my son, and I won't allow it!"

Harry's head jerked back from the door in shock. He quickly put his ear back against the door, hoping to hear more of what was being said about him. He could hear footsteps approaching the door, and took a quick step back, motioning the others to be quiet as the door opened. Professor Lupin stepped out and closed the door behind himself.

"Harry, this is likely to take awhile. Could you come back later today, or perhaps I could take a message to Professor Dumbledore for you?"

Harry couldn't help but notice that Lupin looked slightly harrased, as though something was not going the way he had hoped it would.

"Professor Dumbledore wanted me to see him if I had another dream that made my scar hurt. I can wait until he's free."

Lupin's eyes narrowed in thought as he took in what Harry had said.

"I'll tell him, I'm sure he'll want to see you. Why don't the rest of you go back to bed?"

George stepped forward and said quietly "We'll stay Sir."

Remus looked at each of them thoughtfully for a moment, nodded his head as though he'd come to some conclusion, and turned to open the office door.

"Wait here. It may be awhile, but I'm sure the Headmaster will want to see of you." He closed the door behind himself, leaving the students to find seats in the waiting room.

"What was that about Harry?" Ron settled himself on a large squashy couch near the office door.

"I heard voices raised in the office, and I think they were talking about me." Harry sat in a large, Victorian era, burgundy velvet chair, and rested his head on his hands.

"Harry, why do you think they were talking about you?" Hermione sank onto the couch next to Ron.

"Well, I heard my father's voice yelling something about not permitting it. And then something along the lines of 'he's my son, and I won't allow it." But I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation. So I don't know what he won't allow." Harry wasn't sure if he was happy to have someone concerned enough not to want him to do something, or irritated that his father evidently thought he couldn't handle it. Whatever 'it' was.

"Sounds a lot like our Mum, doesn't it Fred?" George and Fred had settled on the floor in front of the fireplace, and were half sitting, half lying on the floor.

"It does." George grinned at his twin, thinking of the many times they had ignored or outright defied their mother's wishes when it came to their inventions.

"You two should know, Mum certainly has to put her foot down a lot with you!" Ginny didn't look impressed with her older brother's example.

"What I don't understand is what you shouldn't be allowed to do." Ron's forehead was creased in thought as he spoke.

"I don't either," Harry sighed.

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

Remus leaned against the door after he had closed it behind himself and surveyed the people gathered in Dumbledore's office. Most of the Order of the Phoenix were assembled; the only absences were those who were already in position around Upper Hesrod. Sirius was present, and had resumed his human form and was scowling heavily at the headmaster. Severus was also present, and seated directly across from Sirius. He also wore a black scowl on his face. Remus allowed a small grin to cross his lips as he contemplated the similarities between the two men. It was probably the first time in twenty years that they'd agreed on anything, and it was Harry that had indirectly brought about this state of affairs.

"Remus?" Dumbledore was looking at Lupin with a grave expression on his face.

Lupin pushed himself away from the door and took his seat next to Sirius. "Harry will wait. He said that you instructed him to tell you if he had any more of a certain type of dream." Lupin tried his best to look nonchalant as he passed on Harry's message. He realized when both Sirius and Severus turned their scowls on him that he'd not been successful.

"He had another one of those dreams? Dumbledore, you know what happened the last time he had one of them. All the more reason to keep Harry here." Sirius turned to glare down the table at the rest of the assembled members. "He's not ready. You can't ask it of him."

"What is this about dreams," Severus growled at Sirius.

"They didn't tell you?" Sirius looked incredulously at Severus as he shook his head 'no'.

"Allow me Sirius." Dumbledore's quiet voice broke in before Black could explain. "Harry occasionally has exceptionally vivid dreams, almost visions, which cause his scar to hurt. Those dreams are without exception about Voldemort, and usually concern some action that Voldemort is either taking or contemplating taking against Harry."

A small witch seated half-way down the table leaned forward in concern. "Albus, are you saying that Harry is clairvoyant?"

"Not at all Miranda. It's my guess that Harry has these dreams when Voldemort is feeling particularly malevolent toward Harry, or when he is thinking deeply about a future action."

Severus stared incredulously at the Headmaster. "Are you saying that Harry somehow knows when Voldemort is going to act against him? Why wasn't I told about this?"

"I suppose one could put it that way Severus, although it is by no means that accurate." Dumbledore watched Severus as he thought about the ramifications of Harry's dreams. "If I thought we could use Harry's dreams as a sort of 'early warning' for Voldemort's actions, I would have mentioned it. Unfortunately, they are usually neither detailed enough, nor predictable enough for that purpose. I know that we are all eager to end this war for good, but I'm afraid that Severus is correct, Harry is not yet ready. I think we can afford to give him some more time. Remus, invite Harry in, would you, and we'll hear what he has to say about this latest dream."

Lupin rose and walked to the door, turning back as he reached it to ask "What about the others sir?"

Dumbledore thought for a moment. "Not just yet, Remus."

Harry's head rose as the door to the Headmaster's office opened and Professor Lupin looked out.

"Harry, the Headmaster would like to see you now."

Harry stood and walked toward the door, followed by his friends.

Lupin smiled sympathetically at them as they reached the door and said "I'm sorry, the rest of you will have to wait out here, just Harry right now."

Harry turned to look at his friends, wondering if he should insist that they be included, but Professor Lupin put an arm on his shoulder and gently pushed him into the office, closing the door behind the two of them before Harry could say anything.

"Why don't you sit over here Harry?"

Harry found the stares of the assembled witches and wizards intimidating as he made his way to the seat Dumbledore had indicated. It was comforting to see both Severus and Sirius present and seated near him. He quickly sat down and looked at Professor Dumbledore, waiting for him to speak.

"Harry, Professor Lupin said that you had another dream, why don't you tell us about it." Dumbledore's blue eyes smiled encouragingly at Harry.

Harry took a deep breath, looked at his hands, and started recounting his dream to those in the room. As he neared the point in his dream where Severus was revealed as a spy, he stumbled to a stop, deciding on the spur of the moment to wait until he could talk to the headmaster alone. He looked up to see both Sirius and his father watching him in concern.

"Thank you, Harry, for that excellent account. Does anyone have questions to ask Harry?" Dumbledore allowed the quiet to extend for a few moments, and turned to Harry, intending to excuse him.

A quiet voice from the back of the room intervened before he had a chance to send Harry on his way.

"That isn't all, is it Harry?" The speaker, a grey haired witch with bright purple eyes was looking kindly at Harry.

"No Ma'm." Harry was hoping she'd let the subject drop so he wouldn't have to say any more with his father in the room.

"It's better to have it all out in the open, dearie, then we can begin to plan ways to deal with the problem."

Harry looked pleadingly at Dumbledore, praying that he wouldn't be asked to continue. Dumbledore regarded him for a few seconds, glanced around the table, and said "Come with me Harry. Minerva, would you take over the meeting? I will return in a few minutes." Dumbledore rose and led the way to a door situated behind his desk.

Harry looked around in surprise at the small, cozy, sitting room revealed behind the door. It was filled with comfortable looking, well used furniture. Stacks of parchment and books covered every available surface.

"Sit down Harry. What else happened in your dream?"

"I, I saw Voldemort expose Father as a spy." Harry stuttered to a stop, unable to continue. The headmaster waited patiently for Harry to continue.

"He didn't kill him, in my dream, he used one of the unforgivable curses to torture him, and I must have started yelling, because Ron woke me up at that point." Harry slumped back in his chair, relieved to have that ordeal behind him.

"I see." Dumbledore frowned at his hands, obviously deep in thought.

"Sir, you won't let him go back to Voldemort will you?"

"Harry, I can promise nothing. I will try my best to make sure that he is protected. Now I believe the best thing for you, and your friends, would be to go back to bed and try to get some more sleep. You did the right thing to come to me, Harry."

"Yes Sir." Harry allowed himself to be shepherded out a side door and into a corridor that led to the sitting room.

"Oh, and Harry, remember that events that are dreamed of have not yet come to pass. Things can always be altered."

Harry nodded as he stepped through the door, feeling drained and unsatisfied, as though he'd not truly finished his task.

"Harry! What happened mate? You were gone forever!" Ron was the first to see him and sprang off of the sofa and over to Harry's side.

"Come on, lets go back to the tower and I'll tell you what they said." Harry trudged toward the moving staircase, thinking about what he'd seen and heard. The more he thought about it, the more determined he was that Voldemort wasn't going to take his father from him. Not this time.

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

When the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix finally ended near daybreak, none of those present had been completely satisfied with the plans laid down, but none had any better options to offer. Severus sat at the table, empty tea cup near his hand, slumped in his chair, unconscious to the eyes staring at him.

"Severus." Dumbledore put a hand on his potion master's shoulder hoping to gain his attention.

Severus started slightly, pulled from his reverie. "Sir?"

"I know you are fatigued, as are we all, but I want to go over a few things with the four of you." Dumbledore indicated the other professors still in the room. Remus and Sirius were sitting next to each other, holding a quiet discussion, while Minerva was refreshing her tea.

Severus straightened in his chair, stretched slightly, and pushed his cup over toward Minerva. "May I have a refill please?"

"Certainly Severus. Well Albus, what is there left to discuss?"

"Just one thing. Severus, you do not have to do this mission. In fact I would prefer you didn't." Dumbledore looked seriously at Severus. "It's time to finish this."

"But Sir, you need the information I bring in, I can't stop!" Severus straightened in his chair in his surprise.

"You can and you will. The rest of Harry's dream, the part that he didn't want to discuss in front of the entire order involved your exposure as a spy by Voldemort, Severus. He was awakened before he could reach the end of the dream, which is probably a blessing. Severus, I have rarely ever given you a direct order, but I'm doing it this time. You are not to leave this castle tonight." Dumbledore stood and leaned on the table, voice firm and eyes boring into Severus'. "Minerva, Remus, your one task for the evening will be to make sure that neither Severus nor Harry have the opportunity to wander away from the castle."

Severus' eyes were wide in shock. In all the years they had worked together, never had Albus ever used such a tone of command with him. He opened his mouth to argue, but didn't get a word out.

"No! Severus, you have contributed much more than your fair share to this effort. I should have put a stop to your activities before now."

Snape surged to his feet, disbelief and anger apparent in every part of his body. "May I go back to my quarters then?"

Albus stared at him searchingly for a moment before saying "Can I trust you to stay there?"

"I don't need a guard. I'll stay within the castle this day."

"Very well then." Dumbledore watched Severus stalk from the room, closing the door behind himself with what amounted to a slam.

"Headmaster?" Remus had watched the scene played out before him with an abstracted air, and now wore a slight frown of confusion on his face.

"Yes Remus?"

"You said that Harry is not clairvoyant, yet you seem to be treating his dream as though he is. I don't understand."

"I think I do." Minerva McGonagall had been sitting so quietly that Remus had forgotten she was there. "Harry seems to have exceptionally vivid dreams, dreams that involve Voldemort and result in his scar hurting him when Voldemort is thinking particularly malevolent thoughts about him."

Remus thought about that for a minute, and then said "I understand that part of it, but I'm afraid I don't understand why that would make you cut Severus off like that."

"Look at it this way Remus, when Harry fought off Voldemort as a baby, Voldemort in all probability transferred some of his powers to Harry. Parseltongues do not run in the Snape family at all, they do, however in the Riddle family. The only explanation for Harry being a parseltongue that makes sense is that Voldemort transferred that ability to him. It's my guess that there is a link between them. Not a very strong one, but one that allows Harry to sense, through the pain in his scar, when Voldemort is either near, or thinking about him. Someone may have made the connection between Harry's changed looks and Severus, or it may just be that Harry has formed a connection to Severus, and is sensing Voldemort's thoughts about Severus. In either case, neither one of them should be caught up in our defense of Upper Hesrod. Minerva, as Harry's head of house, it should be fairly easy for you to keep an eye on him. I'm afraid, Remus, that your job of watching Severus will be much more difficult. I'm authorizing you to use anything up to and including a full body bind to keep him here. I trust you will only use the amount of force necessary." Dumbledore looked meaningfully at Sirius as he spoke.

"I wasn't planning on staying here, Sir; I was expecting to be in the action." Sirius was hoping to catch up to Wormtail.

"I have a special job for you. Remus, Minerva, why don't you go supervise breakfast and then take the rest of the day to relax. I'm afraid we have a busy night before us. Sirius, we'll breakfast here so that we can discuss your task."

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

Harry spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in his bed, unable to sleep. Finally giving up on any more rest, he rose, put on his robe, and sat on the window seat. He watched as the stars slowly faded from the night sky and the cold, pale sun rose and sent it's weak rays through the window. He was still sitting there when Ron woke up and came looking for him. Breakfast was a sparsely attended meal, with only Professors Lupin and McGonagall watching over them. The student's couldn't help but notice that both professors looked weary and worried. Harry hoped in vain that his father would make an appearance, and was dismayed when breakfast was over and he hadn't appeared.

The rest of the day passed very slowly. His friends tried to distract Harry with offers of games and sweets, and Hermione even offered to help him polish his broomstick. Harry wandered off to the dungeon at that point, unable to shake the feeling of impending disaster that clung to him. He stood outside Severus' chambers, hand upraised to knock, when he heard raised voices coming from inside.

"Remus, I don't need a personal baby sitter!"

"Albus doesn't agree Sev, and you know why!" Remus' voice was raised also, which was unusual.

"Don't call me Sev!"

Harry slowly backed away from the door, he really didn't want to chance a scolding from his father, and it was obvious that Snape was in a bad mood. He wandered aimlessly down countless halls, considering ways to thwart Voldemort's plans. A loud grumble from his stomach reminded him that he'd had very little to eat, and a glance at his watch informed him that it was time for dinner. Harry plodded listlessly toward the main hall, intending to eat something quickly and resume his pondering. He slid quietly into a seat between Ron and Ginny, reaching for an apple from a tray of fruit conveniently situated in front of him.

"Harry." Harry's head jerked up at the sound of the Headmaster's voice.

"Yes Sir?"

"The rest of you please listen also, this involves all of you to a certain extent. While I can't go into details, it is very, very important that you all stay within the castle walls tonight. Toward that end, Professor McGonagall will be monitoring you in the Gryffindor great room this evening. I want all of you to give me your word that you will obey Professor McGonagall's directions, and stay within the castle." Dumbledore looked directly at Harry as he requested they give their word, and didn't look away until Harry had reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.

Directly after dinner Professor McGonagall marched them off to Gryffindor Tower, closed the portrait hole behind herself, and settled in a chair near the door.

"You may go to your rooms to retrieve anything you think you may want to use this evening, but after this we will remain in the great room at all times."

The student's quietly went to their rooms, gathered games, books, and in the case of Fred and George, parchment to use in designing more order forms for their business. Harry and Ron involved themselves in a wizarding chess game. Harry's pieces were being soundly trounced and were quite surly at his inattention to the game when Hermione and Ginny finally returned with their arms full of books and magazines. Ginny dropped her load on a convenient table and came directly over to Harry.

"I'm ready for your shoes now Harry." Ginny held her hand out imperiously, ready for Harry's shoes.

"Ginny, I'm not going anywhere, I gave my word." Harry frowned slightly at Ginny.

"I didn't hear you say anything Harry. I want your shoes please."

Minerva watched the scene quietly from her chair, smiling slightly to herself. What was it with red haired girls and the Snape men?

"You might as well give them to her Harry, she's by far the most stubborn of any of us." Fred had leaned over from the table where he was writing to talk to Harry.

Harry sighed in defeat, took his shoes off, and handed them to Ginny. "Satisfied?"

"Yes." Ginny smiled brightly at Harry and turned to walk back to Hermione. "Oh, Harry? I'd move that bishop before Ron takes it," she said over her shoulder.

Harry looked down at the chessboard in surprise and quickly moved his bishop out of danger.

Four moves later the game was over, and Harry's chess pieces utterly refused to get involved in any more games with him that night. Harry got up from his chair and paced the room restlessly, finally coming to a stop before Professor McGonagall.

"I have to see him. Just for a minute. Please Professor, what if he leaves and doesn't say goodbye?" Harry looked pleadingly at Minerva, who had looked up from her book as he approached.

"Harry, are you worried about Professor Snape?" Minerva leaned forward to whisper to Harry, who nodded wordlessly at her, his green eyes shadowed with apprehension. "There is no need to worry, he's not being permitted to leave his rooms tonight either." Harry looked at her thinking that over, and finally understanding the snatch of conversation he'd heard outside his father's chambers. His shoulders slumped in relief as he realized Severus wouldn't be going into danger that night.

"Thank you Professor," Harry whispered and then turned and wandered back toward Ron and the twins, who were involved in a noisy game of snap. Before long, all six students were involved in the game, and time passed swiftly.

"What is that noise?" Professor McGonagall had her head turned slightly and seemed to be listening to something that the others couldn't hear.

"What noise, Professor?" Hermione left the table and moved next to their teacher. "Oh no!" She certainly recognized that awful shrieking squawk, and it could only be made by one thing. "Professor, open the door!"

"Not until I know what's making that sound!"

Hermione turned to look at Harry, who couldn't hear it from where he was sitting. "Harry, come here a minute." Harry looked mystified, but came over to them, followed by the rest of the students. As he stepped closer to the door, the noise became clearer and clearer, and by the time he reached Professor McGonagall there was not a doubt in his mind what, or who, was making it.

"That's Praesidis, please Professor, open the door." Harry's face had paled, and his eyes were worried as he realized that his father's owl outside the door was not a good sign. McGonagall opened the portrait hole, and a black bundle streaked through the door, still screeching at the top of its lungs. It circled the room twice before finally settling on the table in front of and sticking its leg out so that he could remove the paper tied onto the its leg.

Harry read the note, sat heavily on a nearby chair, and stared at Praesidis.

"What does it say, Harry," Ron asked.

"It's from Father. It says "Stay here. I'm fine. Father."

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

Severus had spent the day locked in his chambers with Remus Lupin in constant attendance. He had not counted on Albus planting a babysitter on him, and was finding it difficult to formulate a workable plan to get Lupin out of the way without hurting him. He'd contemplated slipping away during a meal and hiding until it was time to leave for the Revel, but had been thwarted when their meals were delivered to them in his quarters. The time approached when he was to leave, and he was no closer to getting out than he had been this morning. He'd known it might come to this, but regretted having to force a direct confrontation. There was no more time for anything else at this point. So Severus rose from behind his desk, nonchalantly put on his cloak, and stuck the package with his deatheater mask and cloak in one pocket. He could feel the bottles of purple explosive weighing down one side. He'd have to be make sure nothing hit those bottles until the time was right.

"What are you doing?" Remus had looked up from his book and was watching him with a quizzical expression.

"I'm leaving for the meeting," Severus said matter-of-factly.

"You gave your word to Dumbledore!" Remus rose from his chair and crossed the room toward Severus, intending to either block the door with his body or move Severus away from it.

"If you think back, all I promised was that I would stay in the castle this day. This day is over, it is now night, and I am going." Severus turned toward the door, palming his wand so that it was at the ready, and reaching for the ties of his cloak.

"That's stretching the point, and you know it Severus. I'm sorry it's come to this, but I can't allow you to go anywhere." Severus turned and saw that Remus had his wand out and was pointing it at him.

"Do you honestly think you can beat me in a duel?" Severus' wand was now pointed directly at Remus.

"You have to disable me to win this one Severus; all I have to do is keep you where you are." Remus' hand was steady on his wand as he watched Severus think this over.

"You have a point." Severus slowly lowered his wand. "Praesidis.come to me." Remus watched, wand at the ready, as the black owl fluttered to Severus and settled on his shoulder. Snape gently stroked the bird's head and whispered in its ear for a minute before sending it off to its accustomed place on the mantle. Remus continued to hold his wand on Severus, watching for any sign of a surprise attack. Somehow he was still startled when Severus suddenly yelled "Now Praesedis!"

The soft flutter of wings was all the warning Remus got before the owl dove straight at his face, talons out and ready to tear. He had started his summoning spell before the bird attacked, but his wand arm went up reflexively just as Severus' wand shot up and hurled a full body bind curse at him. Remus felt sturdy material settle in his arms as Severus' spell hit him, and he had the presence of mind to hold on tight, hoping that he'd managed to get his spell in first.

Severus looked down at Remus' prone body, its arms clutching his cloak. There was no time to retrieve it, and from the glare in Remus' eyes, it was unlikely he'd make it out of the room unscathed if he tried to get it. He'd just have to hope he could bluff his way through as he had before. "Remus, try to understand, I have to finish this." He turned back to his desk, grabbed a small piece of parchment he'd written a message on previously, and summoned Praesidis. "Take this to Harry, and no matter what happens, you are to stay with him. Understand? Stay with Harry." With a final caress to the owl's head, Severus strode to the door and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He sent Praesidis off toward Gryffindor Tower when he reached the front door, watching the owl wing off through the hallways. With a quiet click of the well oiled front doors, he was gone.

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

Minerva listened as Harry read the note Praesidis had brought, her mind whirling. Had Severus somehow managed to get by Remus? She couldn't leave Harry, but she could summon someone to check on the two of them. Thinking quickly, she stepped over to a stack of clean parchment stacked on one of the tables, wrote a short note, tossed a handful of red powder into the fireplace and said "Madame Pomphrey" as she threw the parchment into the surging fire. That task completed, she turned to look at Harry, who was still sitting in the chair he'd collapsed into, a look of blank disbelief on his face. Praesidis had hopped to Harry's shoulder and was gently nipping at his ear and hooting softly.

"Harry, I told you before that he was not permitted to leave his chambers either. Professor Lupin has been with him all day, and I'm sure that." Professor McGonagall's words were cut off abruptly as the portrait hole banged open and Remus Lupin staggered through it, followed closely by Madame Pomphrey.

"Minerva, I need to talk with you for a moment." Lupin led the way to a quiet corner of the room, followed by the school nurse who was tutting and muttering under her breath about people who didn't know enough to stop when they were injured. Harry tried with all his might to hear what the professors were saying, but he was too far away to hear anything but the loud "Gone!" that Professor McGonagall let escape before she got control of herself. After a few minutes of intense conversation, Professor Lupin and Madame Pomphrey left and Professor McGonagall came over to the group of students huddled together around Harry's chair.

"I have to leave for a while. I am trusting you to stay where you have been told to stay. If I hear that any of you have set one foot, one toe," she paused to stare at Harry intently before continuing, "outside Gryffindor tower, I shall be severely displeased. You may expect points to be deducted for such behavior. I trust I've made myself clear?" Minerva waited until the students had all nodded or murmured agreement before she left the tower.

The students stared at each other for a few moments, wondering what in the world was going on.

Harry smacked he table in front of him in frustration. "I wish there was some way to know what's going on."

George and Fred exchanged a look. Fred nodded his head at George, who turned to Harry and said "We may regret this. Harry, have you still got that map?" They watched Harry nod, looking confused. "Get it would you, we may have a solution, depending on where the professors have gone."

Harry leaped from his chair and up the stairs. He was back in the common room in no time, map in hand. He shoved it at the nearest twin, and waited anxiously to see what they would come up with.

"Yeah, it's still there." Fred turned the map so Harry and the rest could see it. "McGonagall, Lupin and Professor Dumbledore are all in the Headmaster's sitting room. Two years ago we found a side corridor that runs behind his tower. We found a room that must have a wall in common with the sitting room; you can hear what's being said through the wall."

As the boys turned to head for the door, Hermione took a stand in front of it, barring the portrait hole.

"Professor McGonagall told us not to leave here. We can't just disobey her! And besides, eavesdropping is rude and unethical, and I don't want to lose points!"

Ron moved up to stand in front of Hermione, a look of determination on his face. "Hermione, what did Gandalf tell you last night? Didn't he say that while it is to be deplored, there is a time and place for deception? This is it Hermione. Move."

Hermione stood where she was, shocked at Ron's words.

Harry stood next to Ron, watching Hermione think about what Ron had said. Tiring of waiting, he leaned toward Hermione, fixed his eyes on hers, and said softly "What should I do then Hermione? Sit here quietly while Voldemort kills someone else? He's already killed my mother; the man that I thought was my father, and a fellow student. He almost got Ginny a few years ago. Should I let him kill my real father without lifting a finger? I can't do that. Let me go 'Mione."

Hermione looked into Harry's eyes a few seconds longer, and then looked at the rest of her friends. Ginny caught her eye from where she stood, half hidden behind Harry, and nodded her head. Hermione slowly stepped out of the way, allowing Ron, Harry, and the rest to leave. She stared at the empty room, came to a decision, and ran to catch up with the rest of the students as they quietly traversed the halls.

"George, turn right!" Fred whispered urgently to his twin and gestured toward an obscure hallway on the right. The children disappeared into it just as Argus Filch and his cat turned the corner and paced by. They waited tensely to be discovered, but were relieved when they peered around the corner and they were gone. They hurried along, twisting and turning through abandoned areas of the castle, arriving in a small, unfurnished room just in time to hear Professor Lupin asking for admittance to the Headmaster's quarters.

"Remus, come in. Minerva was telling me that Severus got away from you. What happened?" They could hear the concern in Dumbledore's voice.

"He overpowered me sir. He had his owl distract me, and then hit me with a full body bind. If Poppy hadn't come by, there's no telling how long I might have lain there. I managed to get a summoning spell off, but all I got was his cloak." Lupin sounded tired and defeated.

"Are you injured?" They could hear the creak of a chair as someone, probably Dumbledore, rose.

"No Sir, the reason I was delayed getting here was that Poppy insisted on making sure I was fine." Lupin sounded disgusted at the delay. "He's only been gone half an hour, I'm sure we can catch up to him quickly!"

"No, Remus, I'm sure he's gone straight to Upper Hesrod, and he'll be with Voldemort by now. Did he at least take his deatheater regalia with him?" Minerva sounded defeated. They'd tried their best to protect him, and their best hadn't been enough.

"I saw him put it into the pocket of the cloak just before we had our stand- off. Along with several vials. Unfortunatey, that's the cloak I summoned, so I'm afraid he's left with nothing but his wand." There was silence from the Headmaster's quarters.

Harry looked at Ron and the twins, wondering if perhaps it was time to leave.

"What are we going to do, Headmaster?"

"I'm afraid there isn't much we can do, Minerva." A sound of protest came from the room. "I know, Remus, but I simply can't think of anything that wouldn't endanger him more than he already is. We'll have to hope that Voldemort is as mistaken in the identity of his spy as he's always been."

Harry didn't want to hear any more. He turned on his heel and walked quietly to the door. The others exchanged quick looks of surprise and then followed in Harry's wake as he retraced their steps back to the tower. Harry gave the pink lady the password before she had a chance to say a word, and climbed through the portrait hole. He went directly to a table, sat down at it, and stared unseeingly at his hands. Praesidis hooted at him and nudged his head, prompting Harry to gently stroke him. The others sat at the table, waiting for Harry to say something, anything. Finally he looked up.

"I can't sit here and do nothing, but I'm going to need help. I have some ideas, are you willing to help me?" Harry looked at each person as they said 'yes', including Hermione.

"We know where he's gone, we know why he's gone.but I don't know how to get there. The nearest Floo station is in Hogsmead, and it's closed by now. None of us know how to apparate, unless?" Harry paused to look momentarily at George and Fred, who shook their heads 'no'. "That leaves portkeys. But I don't know how to make one. And I think they need to be made at the place you want to go to, not the place where you are. Does anybody have any ideas?"

Hermione thought for a minute, her brow creased in a frown of concentration. "I may have the answer to that one. Let me think on it while you go on." She sat back in her chair, her lips moving silently as she tried to remember where she'd seen the spell.

"What are we going to do when we get there Harry?" Ron was so pale that his freckles stood out darkly on his skin. He was not looking forward to meeting Lord Voldemort in person, but wasn't about to let his best friend go out alone.

Harry looked at the twins next. "Fred, George, do you have any more of that purple explosive goo stuff that you made?" The twins nodded as one and left, returning a minute later with two small jars of the stuff.

"I was hoping you had more." Harry paused a moment, thinking of the conversation they'd just overheard. "Does anyone remember what Professor Lupin said about Father's cloak?"

Ginny spoke up. "He said he saw Professor Snape put his Deatheater things in a pocket, along with some vials."

Harry nodded, "That's what I thought. It's a long shot, but I think it's the same cloak he had on the other day when we went home." Harry didn't realize that he was already thinking of the Chateau as home. "Fred, George, take the map and see if you can find Father's cloak. It's black, hooded, and has velvet on the lapels. Oh, the password to his quarters is 'Tri-Nitro-Toluene'." Fred grabbed the map off the table where they'd left it and hurried out the door.

"What are you going to do with this stuff, Harry?" Ron was slowly turning one of the small jars full of goo over and over in his hand.

"Be careful with that Ron, it could take your hand off!" Harry watched, slightly amused, as Ron gently set the glass jar down. "We know that it explodes when it's hit. If we could figure out a way to cover Voldemort in it, maybe we could get rid of him. Or make enough of a distraction so that we can get close enough to Father to get him away."

The door opened and the twins dashed in, Severus' cloak in their hands. It clinked as they set it gently on the table. Harry carefully felt in the pockets, pulling out Severus' death eater mask and cloak first. The others shuddered at the sight of the hated garb. Harry pushed it to the side and delved back into the pockets, this time coming up with several vials of different hued substances. He looked at them briefly, and then pushed them to the side also. He wasn't about to play around with something he couldn't identify. Who knew what his father had been concocting down in his lab all week? He patted the cloak, looking for more pockets, and hissing softly as he found a hidden one that seemed to have something in it. He reached in and pulled out two smallish apothecary jars of purple sparkly goo. He put them on the table, pulled out his wand, and muttered the enlargement spell, watching in satisfaction as the jars returned to their proper size.

"I've got it!" Hermione rocketed out of her chair in excitement. "Follow me!"

Hermione led them out of the tower and down the hallway to their secret room. The twins gazed about them in amazement as they lifted the tapestry and entered it.

"How did you find this place? I thought we'd found all the castle's secrets!" George looked a little put out that they had missed a room.

"The map of course." Ginny was watching Hermione as she went straight to a large book on a shelf in the corner, picked it up, and immediately started thumbing through it.

"Ahhhh. I was right." Hermione leaned closer to the dusty book, reading carefully. She looked up when she reached the end of the page and said "We need a map of Britain. Wizarding Britain."

"Over here Hermione." Ginny pulled down a very large, very dusty book from another shelf and handed it to her. "I saw this atlas the other day."

Hermione turned to the index in the back, looking for 'Upper Hesrod'. "I was afraid of this." She slapped the book closed and glared at it for a minute before turning to Harry. "There are three Upper Hesrods. I don't know which one to enchant it for. Is there anything about the village that stands out? Anything that you remember from your dream?"

Harry closed his eyes and reluctantly let his mind play back through the dream. Through the sounds and sights of people being killed, of explosions and screams. There wasn't any one thing."Yes! There was a castle."

"Great mate, do you know how many castles there are in Britain?" Ron looked frustrated.

"This one was different. It had black stones instead of the white or brick ones you normally see. And the battlements on top, instead of being squared off; they were pointed, almost like spikes."

"Was there anything else Harry?" Hermione was feverishly leafing through another book as Harry talked.

"No..wait. Yes, there was a pub; I saw the name on it." Harry closed his eyes again, and concentrated as hard as he could. "The name was 'The Catapulted Countess.'"

"Harry, did the castle look like this?" Hermione turned the book to face Harry. A painting of a large, ominous, black castle dominated the page. It had a brooding feeling about it, and seemed to loom over the small village pictured in the foreground.

"That's it!"

"How did you find that Hermione?" Ron was staring in puzzlement at the book.

"The castle and the name 'Catapulted Countess' brought it to mind. There's a story about a Countess who lived in that castle and was somehow catapulted to her death. There are lots of theories about what really happened, but no one knows for sure. The most popular story line has her walking along the battlements one evening.." Ron cleared his throat loudly and looked at his watch. Once started, Hermione could go on forever about her research. "Anyway, this has to be it. What should we use as a key?" Hermione handed one book to Ron, picked up the other, and bustled toward the door, the others following behind.

"Hermione, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Ron walked beside Hermione as he asked her his question.

"Yes. It's actually a rather simple spell. However, it's much more convenient to travel by floo powder or broomstick, or even apparate these days than it is to use portkeys."

"What are you all doing." The Pink Lady started to remonstrate the students as they reached the portrait hole, but Hermione snapped out the password before she could finish her scold. The portraits voice was muffled first by the wall as the door sprang open, and then by the door as they closed it behind them.

"What can we use as an object. It should be something fairly common, so it doesn't stick out, but not something so useful that someone picks it up and tries to use it." Hermione looked around the room, trying to think of something that fit the criteria.

"What about this, Hermione?" Ginny held up a small green pocket comb.

"Perfect! Who's going to stop to comb their hair in the middle of a battle!" Hermione placed the comb in the middle of the table. "Now we need another object to get us there."

The twins turned their pockets out, looking for something that could be used. The others were amazed at the sheer volume of items that had been concealed in their pockets!

"How did you two walk carrying that much extra weight around?" Ron prodded carefully at what appeared to be a small rubber frog. It gave a loud "Ribbit" and hopped around the table, closely watched by Praesidis.

"How about this tray?" Ron was holding an empty food tray in his hand. We can throw it in someone's rubbish bin."

"I suppose it will work." Hermione looked at it a little doubtfully as Ron put it on the table next to the comb.

"We don't have time to keep looking for the perfect object, Hermione. If it'll work, that's good enough." Harry was getting impatient to go.

"I suppose you're right." Hermione turned to a page in the old book she'd brought from their secret room. "Do the easy one first." She waved her wand over the comb, solemnly intoned an incantation, and sent a stream of golden light toward the comb. "Right Ginny, you can put it in your pocket now. This is very important. I've fixed the comb so that it will bring us back to Hogwarts, but in order for it to do that without bringing us back inadvertently, we'll have to say a phrase. The phrase is 'Gryffindor Tower is home.' If all the words aren't there, the portkey won't work. And the person saying the phrase must be physically touching the comb when it is said. Got it?" The others nodded.

"Right then. This one is harder. Harry, you are sure about the castle and the pub?" Hermione leafed through the book as she talked.

"Yes." There was no way he could have mistaken that castle, Harry thought.

"Think back. Was there any place that you saw that was big enough for all of us, but rather out of the way so that we wouldn't be seen?" Hermione had found the page she was looking for and reached for her wand.

Harry closed his eyes and ran over the scenes from his dream in his mind. It wasn't improving any with repeated viewings. "No. Oh wait. Yeah, that might work." He opened his eyes and looked at Hermione. "I can think of two places that are definitely big enough, and one that might be. The problem with one of them is that it's in the open in the middle of town. We'd probably be seen rather quickly if we popped in there. Another possibility is an alley next to the pub. But it's rather narrow, and I'm afraid we might not all fit. The third possibility is a wooded area that looked like it was part of a farm right next to the village. There's only a small field between it and the main road, but it should be deserted at this time of night."

"Sounds like the wooded area is the best choice then." George moved to stand next to Hermione as he spoke, and looked over her shoulder at the spell book.

"Praesidis, stop it!" Ginny swatted at the bird as it pounced toward the animated frog. The bird hissed and clicked its beak at her.

"Stop it Praesidis! She's a friend!" Harry grabbed the bird and moved it to the table in front of himself. Praesidis glared at him for a moment, ruffled his feathers, and then hopped up to his shoulder and tucked his head under his wing.

"Right." Hermione read through the instructions one more time before she incanted the spell and shot a stream of muddy red sparks at the tray. "I've fixed this one with a phrase too, not that it would work here in the tower anyway. That way we won't be taken off unexpectedly."

"What's the phrase?" Fred's red head appeared over the edge of the table. He'd crawled under there to retrieve the frog.

"Erm," Hermione looked a bit embarrassed. "It was the only thing I could thing of." She murmured something softly, too softly to be heard by the others.

"Didn't quite catch that." Ron leaned forward, looking confused.

"I said, 'To the rescue." Hermione enunciated the words carefully, her face blushing with embarrassment.

"To the rescue," Ron hooted.

"We don't have time for this! Let's go!" Harry stood and stalked toward the door, Praesidis still on his shoulder.

"Are you mad? You can't go out there without your cloak!" Hermione ran off to her room to retrieve her cloak, saying "Ginny, I'll get yours too."

"Harry, I'll get yours." Ron ran off to their room, following the twins up the stairs.

Harry paced back and forth, waiting impatiently for them to return. It seemed to take forever, but in reality was less than five minutes before they were all assembled, cloaks were on, and they were heading out the portrait hole. On the way by the table, Harry grabbed the deatheaters mask and cloak and shoved them in the pocket of his cloak.

"Why'd you get your broomsticks?" Ron was eyeing the twins, both of whom had tucked their new broomsticks under their arms.

"Just thought they might come in handy." Fred nodded at George's words.

They breezed out the hole, ignoring the Pink Lady's questions, and set off toward the front door, George in the lead with the map.

"Wait! I forgot something!" Ginny ran back toward the tower. She returned quickly with a bulky object in her arms. "Harry, you can't go out without these on!" She thrust the shoes into Harry's hands.

"Are you sure you trust me with them?" Harry slid them on his feet quickly, and they continued on their way. They managed to make it out the door without meeting either Filch or a professor, and made their way to the Quidditch field. They huddled around the tray, put their hands on it, and Hermione said "To the rescue." Where once had been a group of six students there was now empty space.

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

Minerva approached the Pink Lady deeply absorbed in her thoughts.

"Such goings on! I thought you said the students were to remain in their tower?"

The portraits voice brought Minerva out of her reverie abruptly.

"Did they leave?" Surely they obeyed her orders.

"Professor, they left at least three times. This last time they left with their cloaks on, and those Weasley twins had their broomsticks with them. Not a word for me, oh no, just rushed right past. And that Ginny! Always so sweet and kind. Not this time! Not more than ten minutes ago she ran back in, and then ran back out again with something. Looked like a pair of shoes to me." The portrait glared at Professor McGonagall, clearly displeased with the treatment she'd received.

"I see. I will speak to them of course. Auld Lang." The portrait sprang toward the wall, and Professor McGonagall took a quick look in the common room before heading up to the student's bedrooms, hoping they'd returned by broomstick. The rooms were empty. Her eyes spied the open spell book lying on the table as she went back through the common room. She picked it up, read the spell, wrote a quick note on a piece of parchment and sent it through the fireplace to the Headmaster. That done, she returned to the table and looked at the other book lying on the table. Turning to the bookmarked page, she stared in horror at the picture of the black castle.

"Minerva, what is it?" Dumbledore had appeared via the interschool floor network, and was swiftly followed by Remus Lupin.

"They're gone, Albus. They've gone to Upper Hesrod."

"What makes you think that?" Remus was brushing some soot off himself, but looked up quickly, surprised at McGonagall's words.

"This book was open on the table, open to a portkey spell. This one was bookmarked to this page." Minerva turned the book around so that they could see the black castle that loomed over the village of Upper Hesrod. Dumbledore looked at the picture and the spell and thought quietly for a moment.

"Get your cloaks and meet me at the front door." Dumbledore hurried to the fireplace, threw in a handful of floo powder, and vanished in a shower of red sparkles.