Harry Potter and the Book of Shadows

The Awards Ceremony

Harry awoke early the next morning. Staring up at the canopy above him, he couldn't decide if he was relieved or disappointed to have had a quiet night's rest. While he didn't enjoy the nightmares, he had almost hoped to have another chance to figure out what they meant. After failing in his numerous attempts to get back to sleep, Harry got up. As he was dressing, he had a sudden inspiration. Checking the clock, he realized the house-elves would be in the kitchens getting breakfast started.

By the time Harry got to the painting of the bowl of fruit, he'd thought of several questions to ask Dobby, ones he hoped were worded in such a way as to get the information he wanted. He tickled the pear and the painting swung out to allow him to enter.

A dozen house-elves turned to look at him. Harry smiled nervously at the closest one, a female house elf with large orb-like eyes and a nose like a string bean. "Hello, um, I'd like to talk to Dobby."

There was a hushed murmur. The house elf curtsied nervously. "We is sorry, sir, but Dobby cannot speak to Harry Potter, sir."

Harry's forehead wrinkled. "Why not? Is he busy? I can come back later."

"N-no, sir. But sir cannot speak with Dobby. We is sorry." She continued to bob and curtsy as she tried to push Harry back out the door.

Harry heard a sort of muffled sob from behind a stack of pots. Skirting around the house-elf, Harry walked over to see Dobby sitting on a stool, sobbing.

"Dobby, what's wrong?" Harry exclaimed.

Dobby looked up with a gasp and without a word, disappeared with a 'pop'. Harry looked around bewildered. "What happened to Dobby? What's wrong?"

The house-elves exchanged nervous glances. The female Harry had spoken to shoved a lemon tart in his hand and urged him towards the door. "Sir should leave now, please."

Harry dug in his heels. "No! Tell me what happened to Dobby."

The house-elf winced. She couldn't ignore a direct order, even from a student. "Dobby has been forbidden to speak with Harry Potter, sir." She cringed away, as though expecting Harry to lash out at her.

"He what? Why? Tell me why!" Harry demanded.

Trembling, the house-elf answered, "We does not know, sir. We was not told why, only Dobby is not to speak with Harry Potter or his friends, sir."

"Who, then?" Harry's voice rose. "Who told Dobby he can't talk to me?"

Though it wasn't a command, the shaking house-elf seemed to understand Harry would keep asking until she told him. She bowed her head. "Missus Persephone, sir."

Harry stared in shock. "Persephone... but why?"

On the verge of tears, the house-elf urged Harry toward the door. "We has told sir we does not know. We is sorry. Sir, will please go now."

"But..." Harry found himself outside the door. The painting swung shut, the bang echoing down the long hallway. Harry stared at it, the forgotten lemon tart now a gooey mess in his hand.

Bewildered, he somehow found himself in the Great Hall several minutes later, one of the first to breakfast. He sat at the Gryffindor table scraping the lemon tart into a mushy pile next to his plate when a glint of bright red hair caught his eye.

Relief swept through him. "Ginny!"

She took one look at the person who'd called her name and spun around to go back the way she had come. Getting up quickly, Harry caught her by the arm and pulled her back to the table, only releasing her after she'd sat. Wrinkling her nose at her sleeve, she gave Harry a speaking look.

Harry hastily tried to brush off the lemon goo he'd smeared on her robes, but only ended up making it worse. "Sorry about that. Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you since yesterday."

Ginny stared at the empty plate in front of her and shrugged. After a second, she took a deep breath and looked back up at Harry. "Harry, you have to believe me, I didn't-"

Harry stopped her. "I didn't think you'd done it on purpose." The hopeful look on her face made him feel even worse that they hadn't found her the day before. "That's why we wanted to find you yesterday. Ron wanted to apologize."

"Really?" She looked at him hopefully.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Where were you? I was getting worried when we didn't find you and you didn't show up for dinner."

Something changed in her expression but Harry couldn't pin down what it was. It was gone when Ginny blinked and looked away. "I walked around a little bit and ended up talking to Persephone for a while. Did she give Ron her broom?"

"Yeah, that was really nice of her." Harry stopped. "Was that your idea?"

Ginny shook her head. "No. I just told her what happened and she said she'd ask if Ron would want to try hers out until he got a new one of his own."

Harry frowned. "I know he just won all those galleons, but I don't think he wanted to spend them on a broom for himself. What?"

An impish smile had curved her lips. "Nothing." Harry looked at her skeptically. "Oh, fine, it is something. But it's a surprise."

Harry waited for her to continue but she just smiled at him. Sensing he wasn't about to get any answers, he tried to think of something else to say. "Did Persephone say anything about Dobby?"

Ginny's brow furrowed. "Dobby? No, why?"

"She told Dobby he couldn't-"

"Ginny!" Harry was cut off by Ron's loud exclamation. "Where have you been?"

She stammered something in reply as Hermione and Ron joined them. Hermione gave Ron a significant look.

"Look, Ginny, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was just upset and..." he trailed off. At a nudge from Hermione, he cleared his throat and rushed on, "and I'm really sorry I yelled at you in front of everyone. I know you didn't mean it."

"I'm sorry I broke your broom." There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Excellent." Hermione clapped her hands. "Now, are we on for later today?"

It took everyone a moment to shift into Hermione's train of thought. Harry shook himself. "Yeah. After lunch?"

Everyone nodded and dug into breakfast. After a moment, Ginny paused in peppering her eggs and turned to Harry. "What did you ask me about Dobby?"

Harry's fork stopped in midair. "Persephone didn't say anything about Dobby, did she?"

Ginny shook her head. "No. Should she have?"

Ron and Hermione were looking on in interest. Harry sighed and put his fork down. "I don't know. I went to see Dobby this morning, but when I went to the kitchens, they said Persephone had forbidden him to talk to me. Dobby was there, and crying, but when he saw me, he disappeared."

Hermione frowned. "Maybe I could go ask-"

Harry waved her off. "No good. They said he'd been forbidden to talk to me or my friends."

"But why?" Hermione asked.

"Because of what happened, maybe?" Ron suggested.

Ginny picked up her glass of pumpkin juice. "No. That can't be it. He helped her. Why would she punish him for that?"

"Maybe one of the other house-elves knows," Hermione mused aloud.

Again Harry shook his head. "No, I asked. They said they weren't told why." Without missing a beat he added, "And I don't think we should ask her."

Hermione closed her mouth and pondered her breakfast. After thinking she said, "Maybe she just didn't want you asking Dobby about what happened."

"But then why not just forbid him from talking about that?" Ron asked. "Why would she tell Dobby he couldn't talk to us at all?"

"Maybe she's punishing him for something else. Something we don't know about." Ginny shrugged when everyone looked at her. "What? It's possible."

"I guess," Harry mumbled. He didn't like not knowing what was going on.

After breakfast, they all made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. As they settled with various books and parchments, Harry found concentrating on his homework difficult. Realizing in his current state there was no way he'd be able to slog through a History of Magic assignment, he pulled out one of the spell books he'd borrowed from the Room of Requirement. Ron, obviously in a similar state of mind, followed Harry's lead and abandoned his own paper.

Looking up for a moment to consider her next answer, Hermione noticed the boys reading books she didn't recognize. "What class is that for?"

Exchanging a guilty look with Ron, Harry leaned forward. "We'll tell you about it after practice."

Ginny, who had looked up in interest, raised an eyebrow. Harry just smiled. "It's a surprise."

She laughed. Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, not quite understanding their amusement. Harry and Ginny smiled conspiratorially.

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

After lunch, they made their way to the Room of Requirement. Harry could sense the awkwardness that still remained between Ron and Ginny. As soon as they'd entered and the door secured behind them, Harry spoke, "Ron and I haven't had a go yet, so I thought maybe we could try first."

Ginny looked relived. She and Hermione settled on one of the couches to watch. Harry stood, wand at the ready, prepared to defend himself, relaxing his stance when Ron continued to move things around. The girls snickered as Ron arranged an extensive array of cushions behind and to the sides of where he stood. Seemingly satisfied with his preparations, Ron took a deep breath and faced Harry.

Bemused, Harry asked, "Ready?"

Ron shook his head as he held up his wand. "Yeah."

Ron cast the spell. Harry was almost knocked off his feet by the force of it. Images streamed past in a discordant jumble Harry couldn't make sense of. Somehow, amidst the rush, Harry managed to focus and mentally shut his mind against Ron's onslaught. Judging by the initial force of Ron's attack, Harry suspected the reason he had stopped it at all was as much due to Ron's surprise as anything. Not having expected that sort of strength from Ron, Harry was left feeling off balance. They still stood facing off, Ron's spell merely halted, not broken. Having gained some measure of control, Harry resisted aiming a counter-spell at Ron and simply focused on holding him off. Ron, having recovered from his shock at managing to break through so easily, concentrated harder. Harry felt him looking for ways into his memories. Slowly, images began to surface, memories Harry was sure Ron would not know about or even know to look for. Blocking them as they arose, Harry shifted into trying to force Ron out completely.

The girls looked on, their initial giggles turned to worried frowns. Ron and Harry stood stock-still, glaring at one another and breathing hard from exertion. Ginny and Hermione could only imagine what was going on between them, and exchanged concerned looks.

Concentrating, Harry tried to turn the spell back on Ron, to force his way into Ron's memories. He was surprised to find it almost as hard as with Snape. Intensifying his focus, Harry finally managed to latch onto an image. He could only make out Ron's room at the Burrow, decorated differently than the violent orange of his current Chudley Cannons décor, and the horrified scream of someone he assumed was Mrs. Weasley before Ron blocked him. Harry tried again and saw Ron in a schoolyard, three large and mean-looking boys heading his way. Blocked again, Harry remembered bad memories were they key to Legilimency and instantly thought back to the night at the Ministry and the Brain Room. A wave of blackness washed over him.

After a moment, Harry blinked up at the unfamiliar ceiling. Realizing he was lying on the cool stone floor of the Room of Requirement, he wondered how he had gotten there. Feeling sweaty and exhausted, he closed his eyes. They snapped open again when he remembered what they were doing there.

"Ron! What-"

"Shhhh. Harry, just relax. Ron's fine." Harry turned his head to see Ginny kneeling next to him. Though her words said otherwise, Ginny's tone suggested Ron was in a similar prone state.

Ginny looked to where Hermione sat saying something quietly to Ron, sprawled out over his carefully arranged cushions. "Should we get Madame Pomfrey?"

"No!" Ron and Harry exclaimed in unison.

Harry sat up, much to Ginny's consternation. "Harry, really. Maybe you should lie down a bit longer-"

Ignoring her, Harry glanced over to where Ron had struggled into a sitting position as well. They looked at one another for a long moment.

Harry spoke first, still slightly out of breath. "How did you get so good at that?"

Wide-eyed Ron shrugged. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Taking a deep breath, Harry realized the blackness had a familiar feel to it. He closed his eyes and tried to place it.

"Are you all right?" Ginny's worried voice was right next to his ear. He could feel her hand on his arm, too.

"Fine," Harry said without opening his eyes. Focus, he chastised himself. It had something to do with Occlumnecy, he was sure. Where had he felt a looming blackness before?

Harry suddenly sat up straight, causing Ginny to lose her balance and topple backwards. "Ron, what happened when those brain things attacked you?"

Ron colored and stammered, "I don't...they didn't...I mean, I don't really want to talk about it right now."

He trailed off at the end, mumbling as Hermione coaxed him onto the couch. Ginny stood up and brushed herself off, offering Harry a hand up. He took it with a mumbled apology and they sat next to Ron and Hermione.

"Ron, I think they may have done something that made you...I don't know, good at Occlumency for one thing. What happened? It might be important," Harry said.

Hermione put her hand on Ron's arm. "Really Ron, we just want to help."

Ron shook her off and flushed angrily. "It's none of your business! It doesn't matter anyway. I'm fine."

The other three exchanged skeptical looks. Harry said, "That black...whatever, I've felt that before. I don't think-"

"I don't want to talk about it, all right!" Ron cut Harry off. "You know what that's like, don't you?"

The room went quiet.

"Maybe you two have had enough for today," Hermione said tentatively after a moment.

Since Ron was still glaring at the floor, Harry replied, "Yeah. Why don't you and Ginny have a go? Just for practice."

The girls shrugged and stood. Harry and Ron remained at opposite ends of the couch, but looked on in interest, happy for the distraction.

Ginny cast first and they stood, wands high, staring at each other for several minutes. Finally, Hermione hit Ginny with a Stinging Hex and broke her concentration.

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed in a shocked voice. Hermione blushed furiously.

Both boys sat up. "What?"

Hermione ignored them and tried to compose herself. She cast at Ginny and another several minutes passed. Ginny got her with her own Stinging Hex and broke the spell.

"Ginny!" Hermione looked as scandalized as Ginny had been. Ginny's face turned almost as bright as her hair.

"What?" Harry and Ron repeated in unison, burning with curiosity.

Both girls turned identical icy glares on the boys. "Nothing!"

It was enough to break the tension in the room. Ignoring the boy's obviously interested looks, Hermione told them she had things to do in the library and would see them later. Harry winced as he stood. Ginny looked at him in concern.

He kicked a cushion out of the way as they made their way to the door, tentatively smiling at Ron, "Ron had the right idea with those cushions." Ron smiled back.

The three of them sat, working on various things at the table they'd claimed in the common room. Ginny, studying for her OWL exams, occasionally asked Ron or Harry a question, then disappeared back behind the mountain of books piled around her. Ron and Harry exchanged looks, glad their OWLs were over, pointedly ignoring the fact their NEWTs were not that far off. Having finally caught up with their assignments for the week, Harry and Ron were looking over the texts they'd borrowed from the Room of Requirement again. Harry realized they hadn't gotten a chance to enlist the help of Ginny and Hermione after practice.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Hermione bustled through the portrait hole, and strode their way. Ron's greeting was cut short by Hermione.

"Harry, I think you were right. Someone is trying to kill Persephone."

Ron stared. "What makes you so sure all of a sudden? I thought you were convinced it was really Harry they were after."

She slapped what appeared to be an old edition of an American wizarding newspaper called the Holbrook Herald on the table. "Because it's not the first time it's happened."

They all leaned over to read the headline of the article: Near Fatal Accident at the American Institute of Magic and Sorcery.

Picking up the paper, Ginny quietly read aloud so only they could hear, "Tragedy almost struck AIMS, one of the nation's top secondary schools of magic, when a student plunged from a second story dormitory window. Persephone Hade, a third year student, apparently ran through the decorative floor to ceiling stained glass window, falling two stories to the icy ground below."

Ginny paused and looked up. After a moment of stunned silence she went on. "Originally thought to be a suicide attempt, later investigation uncovered evidence to the contrary. An elevated level of a mixture of what was thought to be an unstable combination Memory Potion and Veritaserum was found in her body, the combination of which may have caused her erratic behavior.

The school has issued this statement to the press: 'Miss Hade was a well-liked and intelligent young woman. We do not believe there is any reason she would have done this to herself, nor do we believe another student harmed her. It was no more than an unfortunate and unusual accident.'

Doctors at the Woonsocket Medical Center for the Treatment of Magical Ailments list her condition as stable, with expectations of a full recovery."

The foursome sat in silence for a moment. Staring at the paper, Harry said, "You think someone tried to poison her then, too?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know, but it's too much of a coincidence not to mean something."

"What happened after that?" Ron asked.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously she was fine."

"That's not what I meant!" Ron shot back. "Is there anything else about it? Did they ever say what really happened?"

Hermione considered the other three for a moment, wondering if she should be annoyed or pleased they knew she would have already looked it up. Resigning herself, she said, "There aren't any follow-up articles that I could find, but I did find out she took her Qualifiers right after she was released from the hospital and left AIMS early. After that, she pretty much dropped off the map. I couldn't find anything until she started working at Fraser Farm."

"Where did you find all this?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"The library," she replied dryly.

Harry was surprised. "You can look up stuff like that in the Hogwarts library?"

Hermione sighed. "Someday you should learn how to use it. The Hogwarts library has magical links to the Ministry of Magic Hall of Records and a number of other major international libraries. It's mostly for students doing historical research, but everything is public record. They have censuses, address directories," She tapped the newspaper, "back issues of major newspapers, all sorts of interesting stuff."

"Well, so what? She graduated early and went to work at the ranch," Ron said. "What's wrong with that?"

"She said she'd worked there for about five years." Ginny added, looking to Hermione for confirmation.

Hermione nodded. "Five years sounds about right, but there's a three-year gap between when she left AIMS and when she started at the ranch. The only address listings outside of schools I found was one from a long time ago that I assumed was her parent's address and Fraser Farm."

Ron sat back. "So where was she for three years?"

"Apparently without a permanent address," Hermione said. "I think she was hiding."

Harry caught sight of Ginny's expression. She saw and shook her head. "Maybe we should just drop it."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because it's really none of our business. If she wanted everyone to know, she would have told us," Ginny said quietly. "How would you feel if someone was looking up stuff about you and gossiping about your past? Why were you even looking this stuff up in the first place, Hermione?"

Slightly admonished, Hermione said, "Well, I wasn't looking her up, specifically. I just came across it when I was doing other things and thought you'd be interested."

"What were you looking up?" Ron folded the newspaper back up.

Hermione looked away. "Oh, just um...some things about schools."

"Schools? Not thinking about transferring out of Hogwarts are you?" Harry tried to end with a laugh, but didn't quite accomplish it.

Hermione looked up, surprised. "Of course not! I was looking into secondary schools."

The last few words were said rather quietly, as though she didn't want the others to hear.

"Secondary schools?" Ron exclaimed. Harry exchanged an odd look with Ginny, hearing the almost panicked tone of his voice. "You mean for after Hogwarts? I thought you were going to the Auror Academy with us!"

Harry's mumbled 'if we get in' was lost in Hermione's surprised reply. "I never said I was going to the Auror Academy. You and Harry decided you wanted to go. That's why I was looking up other secondary schools, I haven't decided what I want to do yet. AIMS is a very good school and has some really interesting programs-"

"You can't go to AIMS!" Ron's outburst cut her off. The room went quiet.

Hermione blinked. "Why not?"

Ron seemed to realize everyone was staring at him. "Because...because... there're better schools closer to here. Why would you go so far away?"

Confused, Hermione looked to Harry and Ginny, but saw they had no more idea what was going on than she did. "Actually, AIMS has some programs that aren't offered other places. In Viktor's last letter, he mentioned some of the schools he'd thought about going to, but he decided to play-"

"Viktor? Oh, I see," Ron said loudly, standing up. "I get it. Fine! Go to AIMS, then. Have fun in America. Or Bulgaria. Or wherever! See if I care."

He stormed up the boy's staircase.

Hermione looked back and forth between Harry and Ginny. "What just happened?"

"I don't think Ron likes the idea of you going to a school so far away," Ginny guessed. She wisely left out any thoughts on Hermione's mention of Viktor Krum.

"Yes, I gathered that," Hermione said sardonically, "but I never said I was going to the Auror Academy. I don't know why he thought I did."

She looked to Harry for help, but he was frowning as well. Seeing she wasn't going to figure it out anytime soon, Hermione gathered up the newspaper and her book bag, and headed to the girls' dormitory, leaving Harry and Ginny at the table.

Harry studied the nicks in the wood, thinking. He knew Hermione wasn't as interested in going to the Auror Academy as he and Ron were, but he thought she'd eventually come around like she always did. He should have known that something as important as deciding which school she would be going to after Hogwarts wasn't going to be something she'd easily change her mind about. Like Ron, he'd never really thought about what would happen if they didn't all go to the same place after Hogwarts. Looking up, he saw Ginny had retreated back behind her wall of books. And what about Ginny? She was a year behind them. He might not have thought about it before, but now that he was used to Ginny spending more time with them, Harry didn't want to think about what it would be like when she wouldn't be able to.

And once again everyone had scattered before Harry could bring up the Book of Shadows. Well, not everyone. "Ginny?"

"Yeah?" came the distracted reply.

"Can I ask you about something?"

The scratching of quill on parchment stopped. There was a pause before Ginny shifted books around so she could see through the piles. "Yes, Harry?"

"Well, I wasn't sure if you'd want to, but I was hoping..."

Ginny leaned forward expectantly. "What is it, Harry?"

"I think I know what Voldemort is after. It's something called the Book of Shadows. Ron and I have been looking up some stuff in the Room of Requirement and I was wondering if you'd want to help." Catching a glance at the look on her face, Harry paused, sure she was about to tell him it was a horrible idea. "Something wrong?"

"No." Harry knew that tone, though he had no idea what he'd just done to warrant it. He had the sudden urge to run far, far away. Ginny rearranged her parchments, avoiding his eyes. "Sure, I'll help. When?"

Hoping he'd just imagined the annoyance in her voice, he swallowed before replying, "I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know."

"Great," Ginny replied, organizing the books in front of her.

Harry got up to leave, but stopped. "Um, if you need help with your OWL stuff, just ask."

Ginny just nodded. "Sure. Thanks."

When he walked into the dormitory, he saw Ron lying on his back with a pillow over his face. Flopping onto his own bed, Harry grabbed his pillow and did the same thing.

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

An announcement appeared on the bulletin board the following morning:

The Dorm Assassin Award Ceremony

will take place this evening at 6 o'clock

in the Great Hall

Please join your housemates as we congratulate the winners and all those who participated in this highly successful first Hogwarts Dorm Assassin Game.

Ron grinned at Harry. "Excellent! Just in time for the next Hogsmeade visit, too!"

His enthusiasm flickered when he saw Hermione and Ginny make their way through the crowd to have a look at the posting.

"Is it about the Hogsmeade visit?" Hermione asked as she and Ginny neared.

As Ron had turned slightly away as though he hadn't noticed them, Harry answered, "No, it's the awards ceremony. Tonight at dinner."

Ginny smiled, ignoring her brother's behavior. "Oh, great!" She frowned. "Too bad Malfoy won. I bet we'll never hear the end of it."

Hermione was frowning as well, but it was directed at Ron. "Well, the announcement for the next Hogsmeade visit should be up soon. Professor McGonagall scheduled a meeting with us tonight."

At her pointed reference to 'us', Ron finally turned and acknowledged Hermione was there, but said nothing.

Ginny and Harry stood awkwardly between them for a moment. Harry, attempting to salvage the situation, said, "Why don't we all go to Hogsmeade together? Like last time. We'll meet at breakfast..." He stopped at Ginny's expression. "What?"

Ginny had colored slightly. "I, um, already said I'd go with Julian." Her blush deepened when Ron added his look to Harry's. "But just for the morning. I can meet you later on, at the Three Broomsticks?"

"Yeah, sure." Harry managed.

The less than auspicious start to the day continued as the trio made their way from lesson to lesson. Care of Magical Creatures started out well enough. They had thought Noir was the day's lesson at first, but Hagrid had acquired another feline magical beast, something called a Jurkat. It had the general appearance and smooth dark fur of a normal cat, but with paws that ended in hairless webbed feet and a somewhat broader rudder-like tail. Harry thought it looked rather like a cross between a house cat and an otter. Hagrid had used Free's water trough as a makeshift pool for the Jurkat to paddle in, and while he lectured, the beast seemed content enough. However, when he tried to extricate the cat from the water, it snarled and spit, flying into a fury, scratching Hagrid and any students unfortunate enough to be nearby. When Hagrid accidentally dropped it back into the water, the resounding splash of icy cold in the frigid December morning soaking the remaining students was enough to end the lesson early.

By afternoon, the sky had clouded to a dark, depressing grey, casting a sort of pall over the castle that not even the cheerful Christmas decorations going up all over could dispel. Passing the library corridor on their way to History of Magic, the trio paused when they saw a figure at the end of the hallway, her voice carrying in the nearly empty space.

"Don't make me regret doing this." Persephone lifted her wand.

The spear pinning Peeves to the wall dislodged itself from the window casement with a wrench, falling into Persephone's waiting hand. Aware that he had finally been set free, Peeves straightened, gave himself a once-over and mimed brushing out wrinkles from his pajama-like clothing. Stretching his arms upwards, he discovered the jaunty Father Christmas hat Persephone had placed on his head before releasing him. He took it off, examined it, and then put it back on.

Persephone smiled. "Merry Christmas, Peeves." Peeves took a deep breath, and the trio at the end of the hallway unconsciously backed up a step. Persephone brought the end of the spear down on the stone floor with a loud 'thwap' and gave him a stern look. "Don't make me do it again."

His face fell and he let out a half-hearted raspberry. Then, much to the trio's surprise, Peeves straightened, bowed to Persephone and floated away into the library. Shaking her head, Persephone walked away from the library, pausing only to replace the spear in its rightful owner's hand, giving the armor's helmet a fond pat. At her raised eyebrow, the trio scurried off to their last lesson of the day.

Even after classes ended, Harry found it difficult to summon enthusiasm for the awards ceremony, with Ron and Hermione barely speaking and Ginny rather distracted. It wasn't until Hermione mentioned something about practicing occlumency again in an attempt to get Ron to talk that Harry realized he wouldn't be able to go to the ceremony anyway. With a muttered oath and a clipped explanation, Harry left the others in the common room and headed down to the dungeons, hoping since his favorite student had won Slytherin's Black Wand, Snape might be willing to postpone his occlumency lesson so he wouldn't miss the awards. Considering Harry himself was also one of the winners, Harry seriously doubted it.

"It didn't occur to me I needed your permission. Sorry I didn't clear it with you first."

Harry paused just outside Snape's office door. It was only open a crack, but enough for him to hear the conversation inside.

"You know the importance of-" Snape replied angrily.

Persephone cut in, "Yes! I do." Harry heard her sigh. "All right, I'm sorry. But it's too late now. Is it really so hard to reschedule one lesson?"

"That's not the point," Snape shot back.

"Then what is the point?" Exasperation rang clear in her voice. "Why are you making this so difficult?"

Risking a peek through the crack he saw Snape and Persephone glaring at one another. After a second, Persephone took a step back, a look of irritated frustration on her face. "Oh, grow up, Severus."

She turned to stalk out of the room, but Snape grabbed her arm. "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

Harry held his breath. He knew he should leave now, before they found out he was there, but he couldn't. Not when the answers were so close.

"Is that what this is about?" Persephone asked in disbelief.

Snape grabbed her by the shoulders. "Tell me!"

"Let me go!"

Harry thought Snape looked like he would have loved to shake her until she answered, but he didn't. Tightening his grip, his voice was low and deadly. "Tell me."

"I..." Harry held his breath, sure he was about to find out the truth, but Persephone clenched her jaw and looked away.

After a long moment Snape pushed her away. As she turned toward the door, Snape spoke, his voice flat and cold, "Who are you protecting?"

Persephone paused, and Harry saw her close her eyes for a brief second, but she did not answer. Ducking behind a cabinet, Harry froze, trying not to make a sound as she passed by him, unaware. For once he sympathized with Snape, feeling better knowing he wasn't the only one who didn't know what was going on. Making his way as silently as possible, Harry left the dungeons. Judging by the beginning of the conversation, Harry guessed Snape had told off Persephone for scheduling her awards ceremony during one of his lessons and concluded asking to skip occlumency would be a complete waste of time.

Resigning himself to the fact that he'd just have to miss it, Harry tried to console himself with the thought that at least he wouldn't have to see Malfoy's self-satisfied smirk when accepted his Black Wand. He was almost at the Fat Lady's corridor when something smacked him in the back of the head. Reaching for the offending object, Harry discovered it was a note. Briefly reminded of the fluttering memos in the elevator at the Ministry of Magic, Harry opened it. Recognizing Snape's handwriting, Harry almost laughed.

When he reentered the common room, he saw Ron and Hermione were gone, though Ginny was once again seated at one of the tables, surrounded by towers of books. Relived to see Julian sitting with a dark-haired boy at another table across the room, Harry sat across from Ginny.

Glancing up, she noticed the parchment in his hand. "What's that?"

"Turns out I didn't need to ask Snape to reschedule," Harry replied. "Where're Ron and Hermione?"

Ginny continued to scratch away at her parchment. "Prefect meeting, remember? About the next Hogsmeade visit."

Harry was wondering if she was angry with him again, when Ginny looked past him and suddenly got up. Confused, Harry watched her go. When he saw her pass by Julian to open the window, allowing something white to swoop in, an odd sense of relief swept through him. Hedwig landed delicately on top of one of Ginny's piles of books, and hooted softly at him.

Taking the letter addressed to him, Harry stroked Hedwig's soft feathers, making a mental note to get her some extra owl treats in Hogsmeade. Ginny sat back down and continued writing where she had left off.

"Thanks, Ginny." Harry opened the letter.

Unobtrusively, Ginny glanced up as Harry read. When he seemed to be finished, she quickly looked back down and counted slowly to ten. Then, still seemingly absorbed in her work, she asked, "Who's it from?"

Harry had been rereading the letter. "Hmm? Oh, Lupin. It's about the holidays." Ginny finally set down her quill and looked at Harry inquiringly. "He said that someone will take us on the Knight Bus after the last class. With all the mess at the Ministry, he wasn't sure who it would be just yet, but he said," Harry picked up the letter again, "'Someone will accompany you from the castle to the Hogwarts gate, where you will be escorted on the Knight Bus here. You are not to travel alone, for any reason'."

"Seems a bit formal," Ginny mused.

Harry shrugged. "With Voldemort back I can't say I'm surprised."

"Not the escort." Ginny rolled her eyes. "The letter."

"Oh." Harry folded it and put it away. "Yeah. They've all been like that."

Patting his hand sympathetically, Ginny then turned back to her work. Grateful for the opportunity to change the subject, Harry asked, "How are your classes going?"

"I don't know how you guys made it through all this," Ginny lamented.

Harry nodded in understanding. "You'll do fine. Better than Ron and me, I bet."

As if on cue, Ron and Hermione walked through the portrait hole. With one glance at their expressions, Harry and Ginny exchanged a concerned look. Seeing the two of them, Hermione bit her lip and turned to flee up the girls' staircase.

Ron stalked over to their table and sat with a huff.

"Ron, what did you say to her?" Ginny started.

Ron looked affronted. "Me? I didn't do anything. I'm not the one ditching their friends to go off to America or wherever."

"You're being ridiculous," Ginny stated. "She never said she was actually going to AIMS. She's just looking at schools. It makes perfect sense. I'll probably be doing the same thing next year."

Harry suddenly felt like he'd swallowed something slimy and cold. Ron just snorted.

"And to be honest, if she does go to school somewhere far, spending the rest your time here angry with her isn't the brightest idea," Ginny added. "Besides, what's the big deal anyway? By then you'll be able to Apparate."

"You can't Apparate that far, Ginevra," Ron said heatedly.

Ginny glared at Ron's use of her full name. "I know that, Ronald. But you can meet up other places. And after you pass your Apparition Test you can apply for Portkeys and use the Floo Network unrestricted. I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this. It's not that complicated."

Harry didn't know about Ron, but he felt a bit better, remembering travel in the wizarding world wasn't nearly the hassle it was in the Muggle world and distance didn't mean quite so much. "She's right, Ron." Ron shot him a look. "Oh come on, Ginny has a point, being mad at Hermione isn't going to solve anything. And it's time for the Awards."

Ginny ran up the stairs to get Hermione, leaving Harry to try to cheer up Ron. "Maybe it won't be so bad."

Ron just looked defeated. "I just don't like thinking about things being different."

Harry silently agreed, but pasted on a smile. "Well, then don't. It's a ways off anyway. You won the Black Wand! Forget about AIMS for now. Think about what you'll do with your winnings!"

Ron smiled back, though Harry sensed it was as forced as his own. "Yeah. Thanks, Harry."

Ginny and Hermione joined them and they made their way down to the Great Hall for the Awards Ceremony.

Her spirits bolstered slightly by Ron's somewhat more normal greeting, Hermione asked Harry, "Don't you have your lesson with Professor Snape now?" Remembering he had gone down earlier to ask to reschedule, Hermione quickly added, "Oh, did he agree to do it another time, then?"

Harry shook his head, "I didn't even have to ask. Snape sent a note telling me it'll be tomorrow at six instead." He decided to keep the argument he'd overheard to himself.

They settled at the Gryffindor table, their backs to Malfoy so they didn't have to see his smug look of satisfaction. Chatter in the Hall died as Dumbledore stood, much like when he gave his speech at the Welcoming Feast.

"First, a congratulations to you all for your excellent performance in the first Hogwarts Dorm Assassin Game." There was brief applause and Dumbledore continued, "The house-elves have made some special treats for this evening, but before we indulge, let us congratulate the winners of the individual awards."

Professor Dunn stood as Dumbledore returned to his seat. Persephone stood to one side, an array of trophies arranged on the table behind her.

Smiling at the students, Professor Dunn unrolled a sheet of parchment. "I would first like to say how wonderfully everyone did during the game. Hearing some of your accounts, I can say that I am thoroughly impressed with the abilities of not only the older students, but the intuition and skill exhibited by even the newest students of defensive magic. A round of applause to you all!"

Everyone clapped. As it died down, Harry heard Malfoy muttering.

"Enough of this wishy-washy everyone did great. Get to the real winners already."

Resisting the urge to turn and glare, Harry kept his focus on the Head Table.

"I'm sure you all have had a look at the boards, and may have noticed that no Lightning Awards are listed. Since they were subjectively chosen by Miss Hade and myself, we agreed to leave it a surprise." Dunn looked down at his parchment. "Our first award goes to the winner of Hufflepuff's Black Wand, Jessica Idlewilde!"

There was polite applause as the dark-haired girl went up to claim her prize. As soon as Persephone handed it to her and shook her hand, Dunn announced the next winner. Harry wondered if no one in Hufflepuff had won a Lightning Award when they moved on to Ravenclaw without announcing a winner. "Ravenclaw's Black Wand goes to Zavada McElwain, in addition to the Extermination Award for most eliminations." The Ravenclaw table cheered noisily as the seventh year claimed her two prizes and held them up, grinning. The exuberant cheers continued for the two boys claiming Ravenclaw's Fleet and Wildfire Awards.

Wondering if they were leaving all the Lightning Awards for last or if only students in Gryffindor or Slytherin had won them, Harry almost missed Dunn calling Ron's name. He clapped loudly as Ron went up to the Head Table, laughing when Lee whistled as Ginny's name was called next. When his own name was announced, there was some laughter and good-natured yells of 'No Black Wand? Who killed Harry Potter?'

His smile fled when returned to his seat and heard Malfoy say, "Potter didn't win for once? I may just die of shock."

Harry shot him a scathing look. "Why don't you, Malfoy? It would save us all a lot of bother."

The Gryffindors within earshot laughed. Malfoy just glared and muttered something to Crabbe, only to be interrupted when his own name was called. The Slytherins hooted and pounded their table, as though the volume of the applause for each House's winners had become a contest of its own. Harry could see the professors behind the Head Table tense when Persephone handed Malfoy his award, but she merely smiled blandly at him when he grabbed it from her rather violently.

After the last Slytherin award had been given out, Dunn addressed the Hall, "While many of you had some rather close calls, Miss Hade and I agreed that only one Lightning Award would be given out. And so, our final award goes to the only person we agreed was deserving of this prize, for survival in the face of almost certain elimination, Ravenclaw's Ruth Yates." The Ravenclaw table cheered loudly as she stood up, surprise evident on her face. Dunn laughed as she accepted her trophy. "I'm sure if you asked, she'd be happy to tell you all about it. Thank you all for playing such a fantastic game. Congratulations to the winners."

The appearance of a feast worthy of the occasion quickly quelled the remaining rambunctiousness. After piling his plate, Ron took a few bites and admired his trophy. The Black Wand stood sleek and polished in the gleaming wood base, traced with gold. The handle was intricately carved, along with the front plaque of the base, which had the name of the award, Ron's name, and the date engraved on it.

Now that he had a chance, Harry took a closer look at his own trophy. While Ron's was a full-sized wand carved in ebony wood, the other awards were half-sized wands with decorative handles, each carved with a symbol of what the award stood for. Harry's cherry wood wand ended in a detailed reproduction of flames, indicating the Wildfire Award. Ginny traded with him and he saw her birch wand handle had been carved with wings, to symbolize the Fleet Award.

When they had all had a chance to look at each other's prizes, Ron leaned forward to whisper, "When do we get the galleons?"

Ginny had found the wand could be removed and on inspecting her name carved into the wood, saw the design carved into the front of the base matched the handle end of her wand. Matching the carvings up, she pressed in and gave the wand a twist. The front panel popped open to reveal a velvet pouch hidden inside.

She looked to Ron, holding up the little bag. "It's in the base."

The rest of them tried it and found similar velvet bags in their trophies.

Hermione looked impressed. "How clever!"

After consuming a feast worthy of the occasion, the students filed out, chattering about the game. Hermione was examining Ron's award, and didn't see the person right in front of her. She bumped into him, just as she was handing the trophy back to Ron.

"Watch where you're going, Mudblood!" Malfoy sneered. "Now I'll have to burn these robes."

Hermione stopped where she was, almost causing Harry to walk right into her. She turned with narrowed eyes. "At least my family tree branches out like it's supposed to."

There was a unison indrawn breath from everyone within earshot. Ginny's jaw dropped. Fury swept across Malfoy's face as he reached for his wand.

"Why you-"

Ron grabbed Hermione's arm and hurried her through the crowd. Harry and Ginny followed closely, trying to keep Hermione out of Malfoy's line of fire. Behind them, the other Gryffindors that had heard closed ranks in an effort to help them get lost in the crowd. Hoping the Slytherins had gone to their own common room and none of them had followed, Ron pulled Hermione into an empty classroom.

"Hermione, what the bloody hell were you thinking?" He spun to face her.

Hermione lifted her chin defiantly. "I'm sick of him calling me Mudblood, like having non-magic parents is so awful. I mean really, what does having pure blood even mean nowadays? Like he has so much to be proud of. In most other civilized societies, marrying your relatives is frowned upon."

Ron fought back the snicker that wanted to escape at the thought that she was completely right and the whole school would be howling about it by the next day. It was that thought that reminded him what Malfoy's reaction would be.

"You're absolutely right," Ron glared at her smile, "but that's no reason to announce it in front of the whole school! You know Malfoy is going to do something horrible to you in return."

Hermione waved him off, though there was a slight waver in her voice when she replied, "Don't be silly. What can he do anyway?"

Ron, Ginny, and Harry exchanged worried looks. Some of Hermione's bravado faltered and she bit her lip.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know, but you'd better be careful."

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "No more going off by yourself to the library. Wherever you go, I'm going with you. I mean, one of us is going with you," Ron hastily amended.

"Ron that's not-"

"A bad idea." Harry cut her off. "You definitely shouldn't go anywhere alone for a while."

Seeing she was outnumbered, and feeling secretly relieved, Hermione nodded as they hurried to Gryffindor Tower. When they entered the common room, they were met with thunderous applause. Never having been the focus of the whole Houses' admiration before, Hermione blushed.

"That was bloody brilliant, Hermione!" Lee exclaimed. "I knew you'd be the one to finally put Malfoy in his place."

All around Gryffindors were congratulating Hermione on standing up for Muggle-borns everywhere. Even some students Harry was almost sure were pure-blood or close to it joined in the praise. Ron seemed happy for the support, but still frowned.

Waiting for one of the lulls in conversation, Ron spoke loudly, so everyone could hear, "I know we're all proud of Hermione," He waited for the whistles to stop, "but you all know how well Malfoy, and probably the rest of Slytherin, is going to take this."

Lee shouted, "Don't worry. Malfoy won't try anything. We won't let him. Right?"

There was a rousing chorus of 'that's right!' from most of the crowd. Slightly relieved that there now seemed to be more than just the three of them watching out for Hermione, the foursome allowed the feeling of victory to hold sway for the moment.