"That makes some sense," Harry reluctantly admitted. "I just wish there was some way to control it. It hasn't been very bad so far because he hasn't been participating in the attacks and besides Halloween night the Death Eaters haven't really encountered much resistance. But if he ever does decide to participate…" Harry was at a bit of a loss of how to continue.
"I understand," Dumbledore assured the boy in front of him. "I will look into any other possible avenues you can take to try to block the connection. Until then, Occlumency is our best bet."
Harry nodded his acceptance. "I was wondering, sir," Harry began tentatively, "if you had any additional information you could give me about the attacks on Halloween and since then. They only really talked about Diagon Alley in the papers. They mentioned Hogsmeade and other towns were attacked as well, but they didn't give any details really. And the stories about the attacks since then have been lacking in details."
The Headmaster sighed wearily. "I suppose asking you not to worry about the war for now wouldn't do any good at this point?" he asked half rhetorically, with just a hint of hope in his voice. But it only took one glance at the teen in front of him to confirm his thoughts. "There were indeed several other attacks on Halloween. It was, as you had guessed, his coming out party, so to speak. The damage done to Hogsmeade was minimal at best, with no casualties. There were some smaller raids that each had a few casualties. But the big attack, as the paper suggested, was Diagon Alley. I'm afraid that is all I can really tell you."
"I figured as much," Harry grumbled dejectedly, wishing that his pseudo-mentor would find it to place some trust in him. He made sure to maintain a good-natured countenance, however, as he didn't want Dumbledore to see how much the lack of information bothered him. "But it didn't hurt to ask. I suppose I should be leaving, as I have some essays to take care of."
"Indeed. A good night to you, Harry," Dumbledore called out to him as Harry rose.
"Goodnight Professor," Harry responded. He ducked out of the door and down the spiral staircase back into the hollowed halls of Hogwarts. He efficiently navigated the various passages on his way to the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor, leading him into the Gryffindor Common Room. The only interruption in his trek was Mrs. Norris, who crossed his path and looked at him crossly as if daring him to break a rule in front of her. But Harry just ignored the feline beast and continued on his way.
"Good evening Professor Potter," the portrait called out as Harry approached.
"Good evening milady," he replied cheerfully. "May I?" he asked with a wave of his hand.
"Oh of course," she told him as she swung forward, granting him entrance into the home of the Gryffindors.
.....
Ron Weasley was not having the best term to speak of. And this was following a less than stellar summer as well. He had spent the majority of the summer at odds with his sister, the only other person around in his age range, besides the occasional visits of his twin brothers. But as they greatly enjoyed pranking Ron, they hardly made matters any better. What was worse, Ron had been at odds with both of his two best friends, for entirely different reasons, neither one entirely clear to Ron.
Hermione had gotten furious when Ron brought up one Viktor Krum. Ron didn't see why she was so interested in him. Sure he was a famous Quidditch star, but who cares about that, really? Why did she need to look outside the country when there were plenty of perfectly good blokes at home? Even in Gryffindor Tower there were plenty of decent blokes around. Harry, for one, and Neville too, and even himself…. Besides who knew if they could really trust Krum? Didn't she understand that he was only looking out for her?
Needless to say, they eventually put that argument, though not necessarily resolved, behind them, as they had all of their numerous arguments before. The main problem with Ron's summer and the school year thus far was his best mate, Harry Potter. It's not that the two weren't getting along, though they did seem to be getting into arguments more often than usual.
It began over the summer. First he hadn't responded to Ron's letters right away, but that wasn't unexpected considering the state Harry had been in after the death of Sirius. What was unexpected was the letter he sent to Ginny, his baby sister. Harry had written to Ginny before writing to him, and Ron could not figure out why. Add to that the fact that Harry was getting on his case for being concerned about his sister and Ron was very confused and frustrated with his best friend. But they eventually put that behind them and exchanged letters more normally later in the summer. Things were most definitely not normal when the school year started back up.
After they had first met on the Hogwarts Express five years ago, the two had been inseparable. Several months later Hermione had invariably joined their little group, but she was always the odd one out. She was the only girl, for one, and she was also obsessed with her studies. She spent a lot of time behind a book while Harry and Ron spent the time goofing off and having fun together.
Things had followed that pattern for their first five years at Hogwarts with only a few periods where things deviated from the norm. Their fourth year being a prime example, though Ron didn't like to think about his part in that particular episode. Much to Ron's consternation, this year just wasn't proceeding in the normal pattern. Harry just simply wasn't around much any more. And when he was, he more often than not had his head in a book. He was turning into a miniature Hermione, not as obsessive but certainly too interested in reading and learning for Ron's tastes.
They still played the occasional game of chess or exploding snap and had some classes together, but it was nowhere near what it used to be. Thus far, the only thing Harry had always made time for that they shared together outside of classes was Quidditch. Harry almost always hung around in the changing room after practice to talk Quidditch with him. It was for this reason, among others that Ron was looking forward to the upcoming match against the Slytherins. Not only did it give them more to discuss, but it was also giving Ron an excuse to add some extra practices into the schedule.
Perhaps the extra time spent together and on Quidditch would be just what they needed to finally pick up where they had left off the year before. Ron was thinking about just that when he looked up from the book that was sitting open but unread in his lap to find his best mate and subject of his thoughts enter the common room. Ron couldn't wait to tell Harry about the extra practices, not to mention actually having the practices and the additional time with his best friend that they provided.
....
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