The Legend of the Phoenix Well

Chapter Eleven: Deadly Research Projects and Prophecies

The rest of the Christmas holidays were dismal. Hermione had written a few times to Harry, and Ginny once, telling Harry that her brother was still mad at him, but she would try to make him see the truth. Harry had not received one letter from Ron. Even Icicle had written a brief, friendly letter telling him how worried she had been when she heard the news in Germany, where she lived.

Members of the Order would drift in and out of Grimmauld Place. Some, like Tonks, would be friendly and chat with Harry for a while. Others, like McGonagall, would politely ask him how he was doing, and leave it at that. And the last group, which only had two members: Snape and Percy, would purposely ignore Harry the few times they visited.

Lupin was the only one who stayed at Grimmauld Place twenty-four hours a day. Tonks and Fleur came close, both visiting every day, and staying for a long period of time to keep Harry company. To Harry's relief, Fleur informed him the first time she visited that Gabrielle had gone back home to Paris.

Harry was glad when the day to go back to Hogwarts came, and Tonks offered to drive him to the platform. Fleur decided to go along at the last minute, to see people she had met during the tournament.

"Harry, you don't mind if we stop at Diagon Alley for an hour, do you?" Tonks asked.

"Diagon Alley?" Harry asked.

"It's all right now. They've got Aurors all over the place, but it's almost back to normal," Tonks informed him.

"Well, all right," Harry said. "Why not?"

Tonks parked the Muggle car in front of the Leaky Cauldron, and they went inside. "Hello, Tonks, Miss Delacour," Tom said politely. "Mr. Potter! Didn't expect you here!"

"We're just stopping by for a few things before we send Harry to Platform 9 ¾," Tonks informed him.

"Have a nice day, then," Tom said.

Harry, Tonks, and Fleur went through the backdoor, where they faced a brick wall. Tonks took her wand out, tapped the bricks, and the archway to Diagon Alley materialised in front of them.

"You two go around for a while. I need to get some things for the Order," Tonks said. "Just an errand, Fleur, no need to look at me like that. Nothing important. Meet me back here in an hour."

Fleur rolled her eyes as Tonks walked away. Harry grinned. "She's acting like a mother already," he said.

"Yes, I quite agree. Shall we?" Fleur said.

"Where should we go?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I 'ave heard zat Weasley's Wizardly Wheezes is highly popular," Fleur said, smiling back. A few young wizards standing nearby stood staring at her, drooling.

"All right," Harry said.

"Well," Fleur said, hooking her arm through Harry's.

"What are we doing this for?" Harry asked.

"Just making sure our visit isn't 'indered by drooling boys and girls," Fleur said nonchalantly. "You see, Harry, if they think we are together, they won't bother us."

"I see," Harry said. "You would have done well in Slytherin. Icicle Velour made a similar suggestion to me earlier this year."

"Pooh," Fleur said haughtily. "I wouldn't be in any house. I belonged in Beauxbatons one 'undred percent."

"Right," Harry said slowly, smirking.

"Zat was not meant to be funny, Harry Potter!" Fleur said.

"Mmhmm. Yeah," Harry said, still smirking as they walked into the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan's shop.

"Harry!" Fred said, hurrying over. "Corking to see you, old man!" The shop was not crowded; most students were at home, getting ready to go to King's Cross.

"Why, what's this?" George asked. "Fleur, are you cheating on Bill?"

"Just a defence plan," Fleur said coolly, unhooking her arm from Harry's. "If people out zere think we're together, zey won't bother us."

"Brilliant," Fred said. "Bill won't like the plan too much, though..."

"Bill won't worry. I'll make sure of zat," Fleur said.

"What are you two here for, anyway?" George asked.

"Tonks dropped us off here. She's running an errand before she sends me to King's Cross," Harry said. "She's acting like a mum already."

Lee Jordan came over to Harry. "Harry! Haven't seen you for a long time! Was it last summer?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "The summer before sixth year, when we worked here."

"Our flying folders are selling like mad," Fred said, winking. "What the general public doesn't know," he dropped his voice, "is that we're using them as transportation devices. To spy."

"The Order?" Harry asked.

George nodded, suddenly looking serious. "We weren't supposed to tell anyone about the other uses for some of our products, but we know you're nearly an Order member anyway..."

"And our sponsor," Lee said.

"And our sponsor," George agreed. "Fleur already knows, of course," he added. Fleur nodded. "About the products, I mean, not the sponsoring. Er... promise you won't tell our mum about Harry sponsoring us?"

"What do you think?" Fleur said, flipping her hair backwards, causing a few boys nearby to sigh.

"Just checking," Fred said. "Harry, want to see our newest product? You gave us the idea, actually... you and Lockhart."

"What?" Harry asked, his face showing his horror. How did he and Lockhart end up in the same sentence?

"Come here," George said enthusiastically. He led them over to a shelf stocked with a sweet like Ton-tongue toffees, wrapped in a clear wrapping.

"These are Bludgerheads," Fred said proudly. "We named them after the incident."

"Oh, no," Harry said.

"Yeah," Lee said. "When you eat it, it removes all the bones from a part of your body. The really dark brown toffees remove the bones in your left leg. The dark ones remove the ones in your right leg. The caramel-coloured one removes the ones in your left arm. And the cream-coloured ones remove--''

"The ones in your right arm," Harry finished.

"Correct!" George said. "Like you, without the broken arm. The bones grow back in an hour, without the pain, of course."

"Useful when you're trying to make someone sick," Fred said.

"Also when you want to make slushy sounds," George said.

Fleur looked quite green. "Slushy?" she repeated weakly.

"Yeah," Fred said.

"We'd better be going," Harry said. "It's been an hour."

Fleur nodded in agreement. She and Harry rushed out of the shop, Harry yelling a quick good-bye before they reached the street.

"There you are!" Tonks said, walking toward them. "Have fun?"

"Loads," Harry said weakly.

***

They reached King's Cross Station at quarter to eleven. People were bustling about on the platform, yelling last minute instructions and checking one last time to make sure they had all their things. Harry put Hedwig's empty cage with his trunk, and got ready to board the train, pinning his Head Boy badge onto his shirt.

A familiar group of redheads came by. "Harry! There you are!" Mrs. Weasley said, rushing over. "We missed you so much!"

Harry looked over at the other Weasleys in the group. Ginny and Mr. Weasley looked happy, but Ron was far from it. He was scowling.

"Ah! Fleur! Did you see Bill at work?" Mrs. Weasley said. "He hasn't been home in such a long time."

"No, Mrs. Weasley, I 'ave not seen him," Fleur said. "I believe 'e eez on a short trip to Egypt. Unavoidable and urgent, naturellement."

"Hey, Ron," Harry said, moving over to his best friend. Ron, however, scowled more furiously and turned his back towards Harry.

"Don't mind him," whispered Ginny, loud enough so Ron could hear. "He's just being a jealous, stupid git."

"If he wasn't going about with you behind my back, I wouldn't be such a 'jealous, stupid git'," Ron snarled.

"We are not going about behind your back!" Harry said indignantly. "Are you still sore on that?"

"What now?" Ron said sarcastically. "Are you two going to start snogging in front of me now?"

Harry's mouth dropped open. He closed it. He looked over at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were speaking to Tonks and Fleur happily. "We are not going out, you sodding idiot," he hissed. "Do you seriously think anyone moves that fast?"

"Aha!" Ron said triumphantly. "So you two aren't together yet, but you're planning to get together just so you," he glared at Harry, "can decide one day to break my little sister's already fragile heart."

This time, both Harry and Ginny mouthed silently. "Ron, I am not fragile," Ginny said furiously.

"We're friends, Ron," Harry said. "We're not together."

"If you aren't together, then what were you two doing in a dark closet, glued to each other?" Ron said.

"It's called making-up. You and Harry might not hug each other," Ginny started, smirking as Harry and Ron both turned bright green, "but you and Hermione did before you got together. So did Harry and Hermione. Does that mean that Hermione was going out with both of you at the same time?"

Harry found himself having a mental image of Hermione seeing two boys at once. He shivered. "No," Ron admitted. "But he fought back, and that proves he was trying to hide something!" he said quickly.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ron, you started the fight," she said in an exasperated voice.

"Oh. Right," Ron said sheepishly. "Er... sorry, mate, for making it hard on you."

"No hard feelings," Harry said.

Ron grinned. "So... off to the prefect carriage again? There's a meeting, I heard."

"From who?" Harry asked.

"I got an owl this morning," Ron said. "It just said that we have to discuss something very important."

"Strange," Harry said. "I didn't get one."

"Were you out before half past nine?" Ron asked. "That's when I got my letter."

"I suppose," Harry said. "Yeah, we left at quarter after to go to Diagon Alley. Which reminds me. Fred and George have a new product, you know. Called the Bludgerhead. It removes all the bones from a part of your body."

"Ugh," Ron said as they climbed into the train and started down the corridor. They said good-bye to Ginny, and walked until they reached the compartment near the front of the train.

The Ravenclaw Prefects and Hannah Abbott were already sitting in the compartment, looking confused. "Potter, do you know what happened?" Anthony Goldstein asked.

"No idea," Harry said. "I think that parchment over there might tell us," he said. "Why don't you check it, Goldstein?"

"It's last time's minutes," Anthony announced.

Hermione came in with the rest of the Gryffindor Prefects. "Ernie McMillan's at Hogwarts, so he won't be here," she said. "The rest of us should be in the compartment soon."

Ten minutes passed, and all the Prefects were in the compartment. "Padma's not here again," Hermione said with a frown. "You would think that as Head Girl, she would be a lot more responsible."

The train began to move, and Padma still wasn't there. The Prefects and Harry waited in silence, and even Malfoy, who looked nervous, didn't say anything. Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched him warily, as he was a Death Eater in training, but he did nothing. Harry wished McGonagall had expelled Malfoy when she found out about him being at Smeltings, but she told Harry not to worry, and that he would be kept at the school.

McGonagall burst in to everyone's surprise. "Professor?" Hannah said.

"Potter, over here. A word, if you don't mind," McGonagall said briskly.

Harry walked over to McGonagall, wondering what she wanted to say to him. "Harry," she whispered into his ear. "Padma Patil has been killed. Her parents as well. Earlier this morning."

Harry jumped backwards from her, his already jumbled mind saying, What? McGonagall said in a normal voice, "I would like you to go around the compartments and find her sister, and bring her to me."

Harry nodded. McGonagall turned to the Prefects. "I have some very grim news to tell you..." Harry heard before he shut the door behind him. His mind was buzzing. Padma Patil was dead. Could it have had to do anything with the Head Girl book she had promised to bring to school?

He was able to find Parvati pretty quickly. She sat, sobbing in a compartment, holding a letter in her hands, surrounded by girls from all of the houses.

Blaise Zabini shot Harry a significant look, reminding him to look for the signal, before slipping out of the compartment. Icicle looked up from her spot near the window, smiled quickly at Harry, and turned back to comforting Parvati.

"Harry! Aren't you supposed to be in the Prefect's carriage?" Ginny asked.

"I have to get Parvati. McGonagall wants to see her," Harry answered.

"Tell her she can't go!" Lavender said. "Shh, Parvati, it's all right..." She turned back to Harry. "Can't you tell she's upset?" she snapped.

"That's what I'm here for," Harry said in a flat voice. "McGonagall told us what happened."

"It's all right, Lavender," Parvati choked out. "I'll go."

She clumsily got up and walked unsteadily into the corridor, leaning on Harry for support when she reached him. Harry felt a little embarrassed as the younger students gathered to watch them pass. After what felt like an eternity, they reached the Prefect's compartment.

McGonagall had been talking, but fell silent when Harry and Parvati entered. Parvati sat down in Harry's seat, and Harry stood near, feeling uncomfortable. "All dead," Parvati sobbed.

"She was at Lavender's house," Hermione mouthed. Harry nodded.

"Oh..." McGonagall said. "Here you go, dear," she said, handing Parvati a handkerchief. Harry had never heard McGonagall call anyone 'dear' his entire life. It scared him.

The girl prefects all rushed over to Parvati, clustering around her in a large circle. Even Pansy Parkinson looked sympathetic. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Girls were almost a complete mystery to them.

Malfoy squirmed in his seat. Harry and Ron decided to direct their attention to him instead.

"What are you looking at, Weasley? Potter?" Malfoy said nastily.

Harry and Ron looked back at the cluster of girls. McGonagall was shooing them away. Half the girls had become teary themselves.

"Same procedures as with the Diagon Alley attack. See me if it gets too serious," McGonagall said to the Prefects. She stopped by Harry on the way out. "Mr. Potter," she said softly. "Please tell Miss Granger that I have made her Head Girl for the rest of the year, and that you two are responsible for keeping an eye on Miss Patil in her classes." "Yes, Professor. But what about Lavender?" Harry inquired.

"Miss Brown will watch her as well. And remind Miss Abbott to stay with Miss Bones also," McGonagall said.

Harry did as he was told. "So we're watching her?" Hermione said as they walked farther back in the train. Ron was guiding Parvati, looking very sheepish.

"Yeah," Harry said. The girls in Parvati's old compartment had dispersed, except for a worried looking Lavender and Ginny. Icicle was walking out when they arrived.

"The meeting's over?" she asked quietly.

Hermione nodded. Icicle said good-bye, and walked off.

Parvati sat down and resumed her sobbing. Lavender, Hermione, and Ginny immediately began trying to calm her, while Harry and Ron stood stiffly by the sliding door.

"Go," Hermione mouthed to them. Harry and Ron quickly complied.

***

Harry and Hermione were forced to go to Divination with Parvati the second day of classes, instead of a free period. Neither were too keen on seeing Professor Trelawney again, but they supposed that with Firenze there, it wouldn't be too bad. They were wrong.

Trelawney was very excited to see Harry again, though she gave Hermione a nasty look. "Why do we have to do this?" Hermione said. "Parvati's not going to do anything... she's stable. And even if she wasn't, Lavender would be enough!"

The two sat down in the room, which was a cross between Trelawney's tower room and Firenze's forest surroundings. The smell of plants mixed with scented candles was awful, and Harry spent the first few minutes gagging.

"Today," Firenze began as the star simulation above lit up.

Trelawney interrupted him, which earned her a glare from the centaur. "Today we will be going into trances and predicting the future that way."

"No, we were going to interpret Andromeda," Firenze snapped.

"No, we were going to do trances," Trelawney said in her misty voice.

"You silly human woman. That way of predicting is useless," Firenze scoffed.

"Silence, you little satyr," Trelawney said, her voice having lost its misty quality.

"I am a centaur, not a satyr," Firenze said impatiently. "As I said, human students, we are going to interpret the star patterns of the constellation you call Andromeda, and then hopefully watch Mars near the end of the lesson."

"If you don't like trances, just say so," Trelawney said. "Very well. Today will be a review session. Tea reading, dears."

Hermione rolled her eyes as teacups full of tea appeared in front of them. Firenze sighed, having given up arguing with Trelawney.

"Tea again?" Harry moaned.

"It seems to be so," Hermione said resignedly. "We'd better drink up. It's better to take advantage of being here."

"We're actually going to participate?" Harry said.

Hermione looked at him as if he had suddenly proclaimed that he was Voldemort's son. "Yes, Harry, of course. Why would we waste our time completely? Perhaps we can actually learn something... that is, if Trelawney doesn't interpret Snuffles in your cup as a Grim."

Harry scowled. "I suppose," he said. He drained his cup, and burned his tongue. "Ow!" he said.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Put a cooling charm on it first," she said impatiently.

"A bit too late for that," Harry snapped.

"Then put one on your tongue!"

Harry put one on his stinging tongue, glaring at Hermione. Why was she in such a filthy mood? "Hermione?" Harry said, dropping his voice. "Er..." he blushed. "Is it that time of the month again? Because if it is, just tell me, and you can take it all out on me," he said.

"NO!" Hermione snarled. Harry could see her cheeks flush a little, though. Hermione suddenly seemed calm again, and said, "May I see your cup, Harry?"

"Er, okay," Harry said, now extremely scared. He handed his cup to Hermione. Hermione looked at it.

"Here," she said, handing Harry her cup.

"Er, well, this blob right here looks a bit like..." Harry stopped short. The blob did not look right. "Er, two people," Harry said. On top of each other, he thought. I have a perverted mind, he added with disgust.

"Right," Hermione said. "What does that mean?"

"Uh," Harry paused, leafing through a book that was on the table. "It means that you will form a friendship?" Harry said.

"All right," Hermione said dubiously. "This shape right here looks like an acorn. An unexpected windfall," she added.

"This is stupid," Harry said.

"This is a lesson!" Hermione snapped, in a bad mood again. She definitely was lying, Harry thought.

"This one right here looks like a cheese grater," Harry said.

Hermione snorted, suddenly good-natured again.

"They actually have an interpretation," Harry said. "It says that you will go through a stressful time, and you will almost separate from someone..." Harry looked up. "You and Ron are doing all right, right?" he asked worriedly.

"Of course we are, Harry, don't worry," Hermione said. But Harry didn't know whether to believe her or not.

"Look," Hermione said, changing the subject, "Here's an eagle..."

Professor Trelawney came over again. "May I see that cup?" she asked, holding her hand out to Hermione. Hermione sighed, and gave it to Trelawney, who didn't notice the impatient sigh.

Trelawney, as Harry was expecting, turned pale, and her eyes grew wide. "My dear," she said turning to Harry, "You have the Grim!"

Hermione slammed her book shut. "It's not the bloody Grim!" she said, surprising everyone by imitating Ron and Harry.

Trelawney looked affronted. "Look here, my dear, that is in the definite shape of a big dog," she said, pushing the cup under Hermione's nose.

"Yes, but it's not the Grim!" Hermione argued. "Look, we figured out who the supposed Grim in Harry's teacup in third year was. It was a dog named Snuffles, but he..." Hermione faltered, not wanting to tell Trelawney about Sirius being an Animagus, "He died of old age two years ago," she finished resolutely.

"So he can't be in the cup," Harry said quickly.

"My dear, I am sure this time, it is the Grim!" Trelawney said.

"It's not the Grim!" Harry said impatiently.

"Yes, it is, dear," Trelawney insisted.

"Yes, sure," Hermione said, scoffing. Harry had never seen her this disrespectful towards any other teacher. "And I suppose Harry died four years ago, and this is just a clone I made of him?" she said.

One of the Ravenclaws snickered, but was silenced by Lavender, who threw him a hate-laden glance.

"My dear," Trelawney said, sounding offended. "As I told you before, I see little of the aura in you," she added.

"Well, I don't see any 'aura', as you call it, on you," Hermione spat. "You're nothing but a fraud! Dumbledore just hired you because when he interviewed you, you made a prophecy about--''

Harry cut her off by putting a hand over her mouth. Trelawney looked amused. "What prophecy? I clearly remember having a nice chat with the Headmaster, impressing him with my skills, and then getting hired for the job. None of this prophecy nonsense. Dear, are you feeling all right?"

"Yes I am!" Hermione said.

"Calm down," Harry whispered.

Trelawney pursed her lips. "I think we'll end early today," she said, her misty voice gone. "Pack up, all of you. Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, if you'll see me after. We have a detention to arrange."

Some of the others in the class gasped when they heard that Hermione Granger, of all people, had got a detention. To Harry's surprise, (and horror) Hermione stood up so quickly that the teacups on the table fell to the floor and shattered.

"You complete fraud! You just can't stand to hear someone tell you that you are a fraud, can you? But you're a complete fraud!" Hermione then called Trelawney a name she wouldn't have said normally.

"Miss Granger!" Trelawney said, appalled. "Ten points from Gryffindor!"

"I don't care," Hermione said. "As long as everyone knows you're a fraud," she added.

"Dismissed," Trelawney said to the rest of the class. When everyone had left, and Firenze had disappeared off to the dungeons for ingredients for his next lesson, she sat down and looked at them in a McGonagall-like way.

"Your detentions will be with Professor Chang tonight at seven," Trelawney said, sounding like McGonagall's twin. "I must say, this is the first time I've had to give detentions. You may leave."

Hermione stalked off. Harry followed uncertainly. "Er... Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione suddenly began to sob. "Oh, Harry, what's wrong with me? First, I get a detention for the first time in six years, and then I lose points from someone besides Snape!"

"It's all right. I mean, Ron and I, we get detentions every month from someone. I just wish it wasn't Cho we had to go to."

Hermione suddenly looked up. "Is Trelawney speaking to someone in there?" she said. "There wasn't anyone there when..."

Harry pushed the door to the Divination classroom open. Trelawney was mumbling something, her eyes rolling in her head.

"She's making a prophecy again!" Harry said. Trelawney took a deep breath, and repeated the prophecy again. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then listened intently.

"The Dark will rise once more... aided by the Storm and the half-Leo... both are unwilling... both have no choice... the Storm was born the twenty preceding the thousand-year, the half-Leo will become in the Sum of Five infra the thousand-year...raven haired with eyes of gems... they will meet, and the world as we know it will cease to exist... but there comes a time when all is imaginary, a world is created by the flower of the pond..."

Trelawney gave a snort, and looked back up. "Yes?" she said.

"Nothing," Harry said hurriedly. "Hermione just forgot her book," he added.

"Of course," Trelawney said, nodding. "Run along," she said, her misty voice returning. She looked ill for a moment, then said, "Forgive me, dears, I am feeling a bit ill today..."

"That was a real prophecy?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "And a pretty grim one at that. The Dark will rise once more... that had better not mean what I think it means."

"The Storm, and the half-Leo. I don't understand. A storm isn't born, it's made. And I've never heard of a half-Leo before," Hermione said.

"Should we tell McGonagall?" Harry asked.

Hermione turned to face him. She lowered her voice, and looked around. "Tell me if I'm being overly suspicious, but I have a feeling the Order isn't telling us everything anymore," she said.

"Hermione?" Harry said in surprise.

"Look. I may have wanted to tell a teacher everything in the past, but now... I just feel rebellious at times," Hermione said. "And when I read that article, and then heard that Padma died, I got a bit suspicious. And the day after your scar hurt the first time, Harry, a former Head Girl was found dead. I didn't really start thinking about that until now. What if that's what Voldemort was happy about?"

"But why would Voldemort want to kill former Head Girls?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. But I think the Order knew the connection, and didn't tell us. McGonagall... she's different from Dumbledore, you know that," Hermione said. "She might think she's keeping us safe. But I overheard her and Remus talking about what Voldemort wants from killing Head Girls."

"What if it has to do with the necklace?" Harry whispered.

"That's what I've been trying to find out. I've been looking through old Daily Prophets. And I found out all forty-nine Head Girls who were listed as 'alive' in June of last year were all killed these past few months. Starting on the day you felt your scar hurt in the hospital wing."

"You're not being suspicious," Harry said, suddenly feeling angry. "The Order's been lying to us when they said nothing was new. So we'll lie to them." Harry knew it was foolish, but the Order was reverting back to its old ways before Sirius died. They had to work on their own.

"I didn't mean..." Hermione said.

"Hermione, they won't tell us anything new if we exchange our information. Like you said, they don't want us around. Without Dumbledore around, they would just rather keep us in the castle. But I know they can't defeat Voldemort, and I'm not being pessimistic," Harry said.

"The prophecy," Hermione said.

***

Harry and Hermione told Ron their new theory and about the prophecy. They also filled Ginny in on everything, except for Trelawney's first prophecy, which they left out.

Their detention came quickly. Harry found himself walking down to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, dreading seeing Cho again. Hermione was walking next to him, looking ashamed at the fact that she was headed for detention.

Cho looked at the pair in an amused way, and said, "Didn't expect you in detention, Granger."

"I didn't expect you to be a teacher, either, but I suppose I was wrong," Hermione snapped back.

"Job's simple," Cho said, ignoring Hermione. "All you need to do is clean the classroom. No magic. The third years left it a mess. Is that easy enough for your little mind, Potter?" she added.

"Oh, no, Chang, you're definitely going to have to say that in easier terms. My mind is about to explode," Harry said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Cho glared at him, then swept away.

"Why does she hate me so much?" Harry said.

"I don't know," Hermione said. "I wish she was the way she was before the tournament. We used to study together in the library, you know, with Blaise."

"Really?" Harry said.

"She confessed her love for Draco Malfoy in her third year, you know," Hermione said.

"What?" Harry said, his broom coming to a halt.

"She found out what his personality was like, though, and then hated him after," Hermione added.

"Hmm," Harry said, continuing to sweep the floor. The third years had made a giant mess. Cho hadn't been lying.

Hermione started to clean Cho's desk. It was splattered with what looked like Mimbulus Mimbletonia goo. "What's this?" she said, picking up a splattered piece of parchment. Harry moved over to her.

"It's from Percy," Harry said.

"Dear my darling Cho," Hermione read. "They are together!"

"Throw it into the fire," Harry said. "I don't think I want anyone to read any of Percy's love letters."

Hermione, looking disgusted at the contents of the letter, obliged. The letter, however, didn't catch on fire. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, and Hermione took the letter out of the fire with a pair of fire tongs.

Harry took the letter, which wasn't even warm. He slowly unfolded it, and read.

My darling Cho,

I love you so much, and I think of you all the time. Has Fudge written about how the goblins passed their test? What do you think about that, eh? Is my brother doing well? What about my sister? Nothing is happening with her, right? At Hogwarts, she must be safe. How are you? Know that I love you. What should I wear to the Ministry party? More importantly, what would I do there without you? Penny is as dull as dishwater.

Your loving Percy

"There's a hidden letter!" Harry said. Hermione read the burnt letters that popped out at them.

"Much time has passed, what is happening at Hogwarts, you know what to do...they must be spies!" Hermione whispered. "It looks like they both work for Voldemort."

"The Order probably will find out soon," Harry said. "And watch... they won't tell us."

"We have to show Ron and Ginny," Hermione said, stowing the letter in her pocket. "Do you think Cho's the one casting Imperius, and Percy's helping her?"

"Might be," Harry said grimly.

***

"It's a love letter!" Ron said in disgust.

"Ron, read the burnt letters," Hermione coaxed. The common room was empty, except for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

Ron read. "Bloody hell," he said. "They're spies!"

"Percy's a spy," Ginny said in a flat tone. "We should have known, Ron. I mean, it wasn't like he was sincere in his apologies."

"What if Chang heard the prophecy today?" Ron said. "She could tell V-Voldemort!"

"I don't think so," Harry said. "But maybe we were just lucky today."

***

"I'm starving," Ron said as he stumbled into the Great Hall the next morning, tousle-haired.

"That's nice," Harry said absent-mindedly, reading Hermione's Daily Prophet.

"Harry, mate, did you and Hermione switch bodies overnight?" Ron said.

"Huh?" Harry said, looking up sharply.

Ron smirked. "Nothing."

Hedwig flew down with a few of the earlier owls, carrying nothing. Harry let her dip her beak into his pumpkin juice before she flew off to the owlry.

"Nothing strange in the Prophet today," Harry said.

Ginny showed Hermione something in her Witch Weekly. Both of them started giggling like Parvati and Lavender used to. Parvati seemed to realise this, and she watched the two wistfully over her glass of juice.

"What?" Harry said, sighing.

"Rita Skeeter's done it again. Except this time," Ginny said, laughing, "She's charmed pictures of us so they show us doing stuff."

"That's not funny," Harry frowned, unable to find the humour in the pictures. "I don't want people to see pictures of me snogging anyone, even if it wasn't real."

"That's what's funny!" Hermione said, holding her sides. "She's only... she's only got pictures of you two in front of us, frowning at each other every time before you kiss each other."

Harry looked at the picture. It was true. He and Ginny looked like they were about to kill each other, then they started kissing passionately. He snorted. "Looks like Rita couldn't get the murderous looks off of our faces," he said.

"Oh, and bloody hell, Mum'll see the article and pictures," Ginny said, still laughing.

"That's not funny," Harry and Ron said, confused.

Hermione laughed. "Yes it is."

"Imagine the look on her face!" Ginny said. "She'll be estastic! And then, we'll get a Howler..." this seemed to make her laugh harder.

"They're barking mad!" Ron said, edging away from the girls. Harry nodded in agreement.

Hermione and Ginny slowly stopped laughing. "Sorry, just had to get that out," Ginny said.

Ron nodded, as if still afraid his sister was insane. "Right," Ron said. He cleared his throat nervously.

The rest of the owls started to arrive. "Stupid prat," Ron said as Malfoy got yet another package of sweets from home, dropped off by a regal looking eagle owl. "He's got two packages of sweets!"

Pig flew in, and dropped a note in front of Ron. "What's this?" Ron said in confusion.

"Who's it from?" Ginny asked.

"Mum," Ron said. "She says that I've forgotten to write to Bill."

"Why do you have to write to Bill?" Hermione asked.

"I need Bill to give my broom back. He took it, and I need it for Quidditch in the spring."

Harry nodded. Gryffindor would be facing Slytherin. Harry wasn't too keen on that. "You'd better write soon. I'm starting practices in two weeks."

"I know, I know," Ron said sullenly, buttering his toast. I haven't had much time to write to him, though."

Just then, Harry noticed that Malfoy's owl was flying towards him... with one of the packages still attached. He looked quickly over to the Slytherin table. Malfoy was watching him strangely, and Icicle, who was next to him, looked confused. Blaise Zabini looked surprised.

The hall grew silent. Everyone watched as Malfoy's owl landed in front of Harry gracefully, waiting for him to take the parcel off of its leg.

With shaking fingers, Harry untied the string that attached the parcel to the owl. The owl flew away, and the students began to whisper to each other in speculation.

"There's a black envelope," Ron said.

Harry picked it up. There was a green seal with a silver M in the middle. Confused at why Malfoy would send him a note, he slit the seal open and pulled out the parchment inside. The writing on the note was not Draco Malfoy's.

"Dear Potter," Hermione read. "Your friend the (I should say former) Head Girl was trying to send you this. I must say, she was a clever girl. She already suspected that the Dark Lord would send me to kill her, since she had the feeling she was helping you in defeating the Dark Lord. And so, I continue by giving you what she wanted to give you... though I have no idea why you would want a copy of Hogwarts, a History. Also included is a note to you from Miss Patil." Hermione gasped.

Harry sat, staring in shock at the signature at the bottom of the note. Written in the same cultured script were three words that both angered him and chilled him: Bellatrix Black Lestrange.