The fallout to the Wormtail Debacle, as Ginny had taken to calling it, created a large amount of tension among the group of young Gryffindors. Harry was moody over the whole thing, and he was angry not only over Wormtail's escape, but also over the fact that he had seen the bastard for nearly three years and not recognized him. He felt he had let his parents down by not catching the man who betrayed them. His reaction to the Dementors did not help matters, despite the promise he had extracted from Sirius to help him learn how to fight them. Wormtail's escape seems to have galvanized him to put even more effort into his training. He knew what was coming, and now he had another person he planned to exact his revenge on.

Hermione was angry that Harry had told Ginny about the man who had betrayed his parents and not her. The bushy-haired witch never took kindly to the idea that someone else knew something that she did not. Hermione's anger at being kept in dark caused her to pick an increasingly large amount of fights with her friends in an effort to take her anger out on them. She had even tried to use the situation to further her argument that they should not be learning to be illegal animagi. After all, she said, Wormtail used his illegal animagus abilities to escape. Whenever Hermione brought this up it would cause Ron to sulk, Harry to storm off in anger, and Neville to hastily find something else to do. Ginny's reaction was surprising; she would look at the older girl with steel in her eyes and return cool logic to Hermione's arguments. Hermione tended to shut up rather quickly whenever Ginny reminded her that it was the ability to change into an illegal animagus that had saved Harry's life, or at least his soul.

Hermione wasn't the only one who provoked Ginny's ire. The redhead was furious at her brother. She was convinced that it was entirely Ron's fault that Wormtail had escaped. It took several weeks for Harry to convince her to stop yelling at Ron for dropping the rat. This, of course, did not help Ron's temper. He was convinced that everyone blamed him for his pet's identity and escape. He would sulk whenever the subject was brought up, and as if was usually Hermione who did so, he spent most of his nonsulking time glaring at her.

Things came to an explosive head in late May.

"How is your… special project going, Ron?" Neville asked as the four third-years were walking back from Herbology. "Have you made any more progress?"

"No. I can't do more than my arms." Ron's expression fell and Neville flinched, wishing he hadn't brought the subject up at all.

"You shouldn't be doing it at all," Hermione huffed. "I should report you to Percy, he would put a stop to it."

The redhead came to an abrupt halt, his ears turning a dangerous shade of red. Harry and Neville cast wary looks at each other.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron spat. "It was okay for Ginny to learn because she saved Harry's life; it was okay for Harry to learn because he's Harry…"

"Hey!"

"But I can't learn. Why is that Hermione? Did I give up the right to be one simply because I couldn't even control my own rat?"

"Hardly." Hermione looked livid. "You never had the right to learn. And you obviously aren't learning it properly if you can't even recognize one when you see it."

"Hermione, it wasn't…" Harry began, trying to stop the coming argument.

"I knew it!" Ron cut across Harry. "It's all my fault that he got away. Why don't you just admit it, Hermione!"

"Well of course you guys should have been able to recognize him. You're supposed to learn the detection spell first before you try the transformation. At least if you're doing things the right way."

"It's not Ron's fault, Hermione." Harry tried once again.

"True. You're the one who talked him in to learning it in the first place. You have so little a regard for rules you think you can get away with everything. And you do things just because you can."

Harry jerked back as if he had been slapped, then his eyes clouded with anger.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," he snarled at her.

"Then explain it to me. Or is this just another thing that only Ginny knows?"

"You want to know why I haven't told you, why I told her instead? Because, unlike you, Ginny doesn't feel the need to criticize and analyze everything about my life. She can just be there for me as a friend instead of a know-it-all who thinks she knows best about everything."

Hermione's eyes filled with tears before she turned on her heel and ran.

It looked to be the end of Harry and Ron's friendship with Hermione. Both boys thought she had gone too far in her crusade to know and be right about everything. Surprisingly, it was Ginny who most often tried to fix the breach. She still continued to spend time with Hermione, something that Ron saw as a base betrayal. It didn't bother Harry, as long as she didn't try to make him spend time with Hermione. He recognized the fact that Ginny needed a female friend.

Of course, he was perfectly within his rights to wish that her chosen friend was someone whose company he could stand to be in.

It was a relief to Ginny when the summer started. The last few weeks had been hard on her. She hadn't wanted to end her own friendship with Hermione, but it was hard for her to maintain in the face of Harry's antagonism. Especially as she thought he was in the right in the argument. But she needed a female friend. Harry, unlike her prat of a brother, never said anything about her continued friendship with Hermione, but Ginny wasn't his oldest friend for nothing. She could see that he wasn't happy about it. At least Ginny had managed to convince Hermione that she might have been wrong in what she said.

Of course, the two girls still disagreed about one of the issues raised. Hermione was convinced that Harry had a different reason for always confiding in Ginny than he stated. But Ginny refused to think that. There was no way that Harry liked her like that. She had long ago convinced herself that that could never happen.

Thus it was a great relief to Ginny to face a whole summer where she wouldn't have to deal with the tension that existed between Hermione and the two boys.

Three days into the summer found Remus in her mother's kitchen.

"Molly, I promise that Sirius and I will be with them the whole time."

"But Remus, why do you have to go so far away? Why can't you just stay here?"

"Harry had never been before. We're trying to get him out of the house this summer without taking him someplace we have to constantly worry about security." Ginny was impressed that he didn't once let on that they had a very different reason for wanting to go to the mountains. Remus was a very good actor.

"But it just sounds so dangerous, Remus." She was wringing her hands in worry.

"Molly, would I ever put either Harry or Ginny in danger?"

"No, I suppose not." She glanced at Ginny's excited face. "Fine, Ginny, you can go. But please be careful."

"Yes, Mum."

"Well let's be off, Ginny. I'm going to have to apparate you there. Have you ever apparated before?"

"Sure. Bill and Charlie have taken me before."

"Okay, hold on tight."

Ginny grasped Remus' arms, and he twisted them into nothingness. With a small pop they reappeared in a small meadow high up in the mountains, where Sirius and Harry were waiting for them.

"Ginny!" Her breath was knocked out of her as he swung her around in a circle, laughing. "We get to really fly!"

"Hi, Harry! Excited much?"

"Oh, come on. You want to fly just as much as me."

Instead of answering him, Ginny thought of her griffin and forced it to take over. Then she pushed off into the air. A black dragon was only seconds behind her.

Harry and Ginny spent the rest of the day flying among the mountains, while Remus and Sirius relaxed in the meadow below.

"Do you think they realize how they feel about each other?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. Ginny has been in love with Harry her whole life, she just doesn't think he could ever feel the same way. And I'm pretty sure Harry has realized how he feels about her."

"How do you know so much?"

"I pay attention, Padfoot."

"Then why hasn't he done something about it yet?" Sirius asked after a pause of several minutes.

"He's scared. He doesn't want to risk their friendship."

"Well, he better get a move on it, before someone else beats him to it."

"Maybe he'll get up the courage this year. You know what's going to be happening."

Harry and Sirius stepped out of the fireplace (well, Sirius stepped and Harry fell) into Dumbledore's office. They were greeted by a trill of greeting from Fawkes.

"Good day, Harry, Sirius."

"Hello Albus. Thanks again for letting us come up to do this," Sirius greeted him.

"Certainly. It is a very good idea for Harry to learn this particular spell."

Harry scowled as he followed Sirius out of the office. He didn't like being reminded about his strange susceptibility to the dementors. But that was why they were here today, so that Harry could learn to fight them. Sirius led him to the classroom that had been Remus'. All of Remus' stuff had now been removed, as Remus would not be returning to teach. He had been strangely closed mouth about why he wasn't returning, only telling Harry that an ex-Auror would be teaching instead.

"Okay, Harry. Now you know what it is that a dementor does to you?"

"Yeah, they make me relive my worst memories so that they can feed off of my fear and despair."

"Right. And you know why you react so badly to them."

"Yeah," he nodded glumly, "because I can hear Voldemort murdering Mum," Sirius visibly shuddered on hearing this, "and trying to get Ginny."

"So what I am going to teach you is something called the Patronus Charm. If you can do it properly it will conjure up a Patronus to protect you from the dementors."

"What exactly is a Patronus?"

"It is a concentration of pure happiness, and because of this the dementors cannot harm it. And because it cannot feel fear it can protect you from their influence." Sirius pulled out his wand. "Now each person's Patronus takes a unique shape, something special to them. "Expecto Patronum." Harry watched as a silver shape emerged out of Sirius' wand and formed into a perfect copy of his animagus form.

"Always knew you liked yourself too much, Padfoot."

"Yeah, stop the teasing. Your dad's was his form as well. It is an animal that I clearly have a very personal relationship with. I wouldn't be surprised if yours was a dragon, or maybe even a stag. Now, I want you to try. You have to concentrate on a happy memory when you say the incantation."

Harry nodded and screwed up his face in concentration. He thought about the day he helped Gryffindor win the Quidditch cup this last year. "Expecto Patronum!" A small wisp of silver shot out of his wand, startling him, "I did it!"

"Yeah, kid, you did. Now try again. You have to be able to get a fully corporeal Patronus before Remus will let you go up against a boggart dementor."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes once more. He could vividly remember the steep dive to catch the snitch and the team flying to join him in a giant aerial hug. He could see Oliver practically crying with joy as McGonagall handed him the cup. He could see Ginny running to him, her face lit with excitement, and throwing her arms around him… "Expecto Patronum!" Harry's eyes snapped open when Sirius let out a gasp of surprise. There in front of him, her eyes boring into his, was a silver version of Ginny's griffin form. Harry blushed in embarrassment. He didn't have to ask why Ginny was his Patronus.

"Not a bloody word, Padfoot."

Harry woke up to something wet on his face. He reached up automatically and pushed the large black dog off of him.

"Padfoot, that is just gross."

Padfoot barked once and an instant later was replaced by the grinning form of his godfather. "Wake up, sleepy head. It's your birthday!"

Harry laughed as he followed Sirius down to the kitchen. Sitting on the table was a small pile of presents. Remus was waiting for him, grinning. Harry sat down and pulled the nearest present towards him. There was a note attached to the front with his name written on it. He recognized that handwriting. Slowly, he opened the letter.

Harry,

I know you probably don't want to hear from me, and really I can't blame you. I'm sorry for those things I said. I really didn't mean them. I know you have a lot of pressure on you, and I don't expect you to tell me everything. And I know that you would never abuse your fame. I mean, you hate it! Know that I will always be there for you.

Happy Birthday!

Love from,

Hermione

Harry stared at the letter in his hand. He was glad that Hermione admitted she was wrong, but he wasn't ready to forgive her. The implication that he broke the rules simply because he knew that he could get away with it had really hurt him. He slowly opened the package she had sent. Typical Hermione, it was a large book. But the title took him by surprise. Integrating Your Animal and Yourself: How to Bring the Characteristics of Your Animagus Form into Your Everyday Life. This could be very useful, despite Harry's less than kind feelings towards the person who had given it to him. He sat there, holding the book, for several minutes. Hermione had admitted that she was wrong, and that was something that she never did, but Harry still couldn't banish all the hostility he felt towards her. Shaking his head to clear it he set the book aside and reached for the next present.

"YES!" He launched himself at Sirius, grinning like a fool. "We get to go to the world cup! Can Ron and Ginny come?"

"Do you honestly think I would live very long if I said otherwise?" Sirius asked.

"I'm going over to tell them!"

"Tell Ginny she can invite a friend," Sirius called out after him as he ran out the door.

"Ginny! Why did you have to invite her?" The anger was radiating off of Harry as he paced across the room. He had stormed up to her bedroom and threw open the door to yell at her when Ron had informed him that Ginny had invited Hermione as her guest for the World cup.

"You know we are still friends, Harry. I have the right to invite a friend."

"But did it have to be her?"

"A girl needs friends."

"But you have me."

"But there are some things I can't talk to you about."

Harry stopped in his relentless pacing of the room and looked at her, his face falling. "Aren't I good enough, Ginny?" He didn't give her a chance to answer. He was out her door and running down the stairs before she snapped out of her dazed shock. Harry didn't stop running until he was deep in the forest. It was there that Padfoot found him several hours later and lay down beside him for several minutes before changing back."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why do things have to change so much, Sirius?"

"I think you would be pretty bored with life if they didn't. Any particular change that is upsetting you?"

"It's Ginny… I…"

"Ah. Figured it out did you?"

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Sirius just looked at him and he nodded instead.

"What's wrong with it?"

"I don't want to lose my best friend."

"Who said you would lose your friend? It could just make things better."

"No, it's just going to ruin everything. She's never going to feel that way about me."

"You don't know that. And you can't know that until you tell her." Harry gave him an incredulous look.

"I'm not going to tell her about this."

"Your loss, kid. Your loss."

Harry and Ginny never brought up that conversation. The very next day things were back to a semblance of normality. Harry never brought up again Ginny's choice of friends, but his behavior towards her took on a measure of formality that it had never had before. Most confusing, to Ginny at least, were the odd looks that Sirius would sometimes give Harry to which Harry would always answer with a, "shut up, Sirius." When she asked Harry about it, he always brushed it off saying it wasn't important.

She really didn't believe him.

Sirius woke up instantly when Harry's scream tore into the night. He cursed loudly when the blankets tangled in his feet, causing him to fall harshly to the ground. His cursing only got worse as he stubbed his toe on the door when he tried to make his way down the hall. His wand tip flared as he practically fell into Harry's room. The boy was curled on the bed, his hands pressed tightly into his forehead as he screamed.

"Harry! What's wrong?"

Sirius grabbed his hands and pulled them away from the boy's face. Harry's eyes were wild and unseeing, his usual emeralds now more of a harsh jade with no depth.

"Harry!"

It took several minutes for Harry's eyes to focus on Sirius' frantic face above him. Then he stuttered out, "S…S…Sirius! I saw… V…V…Voldemort!"

Sirius' hands on his arms instantly tightened. "Tell me what you saw."

"I can't remember. I think there was an… old man? And then Voldemort said something about plotting to…"

"What was he talking about, Harry?"

Harry looked up at him, fear in his eyes. "He was plotting to kill me!"

"How, Harry? What did you hear?"

"He said something about his most loyal servant returning to him… but I can't remember more than that."

"It will be okay kid. You're too well protected. Now, let's get Hedwig and send a note to Albus. He's going to want to know about this."

The dream left Harry strangely unsettled for the next few days. Sirius, in an effort to pull him out of his thoughts, decided that the best way to spend the time before the Cup was to prank his godson every day. The morning of the World Cup Harry woke up in his bed and groggily made his way into the loo. It took him several minutes to look up into the mirror and notice that he had words written across his forehead.

"Sirius! Get rid of it right now!"

"Problem there, kid?"

"Yes! Get these stupid words off of my head!"

"No can do. They'll last a full day."

Harry stared at him. There was no way he could show up at the World Cup looking like this. Ginny would be there and she would want to know why his forehead now proclaimed Property of Ginevra Weasley on it.

"Sirius! She can't see this, it would ruin everything!"

"I think it might just give you the push you need." Sirius was fighting to keep a smirk off his face.

It was thus that Remus found them ten minutes later when he apparated in. Boy and man arguing about removing the words before Ginny could see them. With a laugh, Remus took pity on Harry and with a wave of his wand he vanished the words.

"Really, Sirius. You can't embarrass him too much if you want him to ever do anything about his feelings."

"But it is so much fun, Moony!"

Harry didn't talk to Sirius for the rest of the day. This caused him a bit of a problem in that he also wasn't talking to Ginny. His lingering embarrassment from that morning combined with the girl she was sitting next to causing him to stay far away from her. He was thankful that the match was so entertaining as it gave him something else to focus on besides all the people he wasn't talking to.

Harry woke with a start to see Sirius leaning over him, shaking him awake.

"You need to get up, kid. We have to get out of here."

"What's wrong?" he asked groggily.

"Someone thinks it is a good idea to torture Muggles for fun. Things are getting a little crazy around here and I don't want you caught up in it."

"Did you get the Weasleys?"

"Remus is right now."

Harry nodded. Stowing his wand carefully he threw on his cloak and rushed out to find several groggy redheads waiting for him. He quickly grabbed Ginny's hand and began tugging her into the woods after Remus. He didn't even notice when they lost the others.

The three of them spent several tense minutes in the trees before the forest around them erupted into screams. Looking up Harry saw the reason for this. The giant Dark Mark floated high above them for the first time in nearly thirteen years. Harry's blood ran cold.

The rest of the summer past in a tense blur for Harry. The combination of his dream and the happenings at the World Cup was too big of a coincidence to ignore. Something was happening and it had him worried. To make matters worse, Ron was once more speaking with Hermione.

"What do you mean you've forgiven her?"

"Mate, she really didn't mean to say those things."

"Then she should have said them in the first place!"

"That's true. But she did apologize to me."

"Yeah, only after you risked your neck to stand up for her to Crouch and all those Ministry officials."

"Well it's not like Hermione of all people could have cast the Dark Mark. She's Muggleborn. And they were being horrible to her. Someone had to say something. And afterwards she just broke down about how sorry she was and how she didn't mean any of it. And I believe her."

"Well you'll forgive me if I don't."

Harry still couldn't believe that Ron had forgiven Hermione that easily. But then again, the things she had accused Harry of were much worse than what she had said to Ron. This turn of events just made things more awkward for Harry when September first came around. He was the only one in the compartment that was no longer speaking to Hermione, and so he spent the first hour not talking to anyone and with his nose buried in a book.

This is perhaps why he wasn't the first to react when they received their usual visit from Malfoy.

"Well, if it isn't Potter and his tag-alongs. What's the matter, Potty? Not talking to your little friends anymore? Did they finally realize what a fake you are?"

A loud smack reverberated through the compartment and Harry looked up in shock to find Hermione standing in front of the Slytherin, her hand raised, and a large red handprint on the boy's cheek.

"Shut up, Malfoy! Just because you have always rested on your dad's accomplishments doesn't mean Harry has done the same. He has earned every privilege he has, which is a whole lot more than I can say for you."

Harry stared at her. He couldn't believe she had defended him like that. Especially as Malfoy seemed to be saying the same thing she had accused him of months ago. It made no sense to him. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice when Ginny cursed Malfoy and Neville shoved him out into the hall. He was looking at Hermione in shock when she slowly turned to him, her eyes downcast.

"I'm sorry I said those things about you, Harry. I don't really believe them. I was just so frustrated that there were things I didn't know and couldn't control. I'm sorry."

Harry was too shocked to say anything, but he nodded stiffly at her. Maybe she was telling the truth after all.

Hoping the break the tension, Neville challenged everyone to a game of Exploding Snap. They played until the train arrived in Hogsmeade.