Harry Potter and the Last Year

Level 1.3: The D.A. Meets

Harry set the first meeting for the second Saturday after the start of term.

Though they did not have to worry about secrecy quite as much as they did in the days of Umbridge, Harry, Ron, and Hermione still thought it was a good idea to keep the continued D.A. meetings as quiet as possible. Hermione had said it gave the faculty "Plausible Deniability", if the group's activities were ever brought into question. Harry and Ron just liked having a minimum amount of interference from the teaching staff.

Hermione still had her stock of fake Galleons. Graduating members of the D.A. had turned their coins back in as they left Hogwarts. Several of them had gone on to join the Order of the Pheonix. They would recycle the coins by giving them to new members. It was not quite as suspicious for them to openly converse with members of the other two Houses as it had once been, but the Protean Charm on the coins was far more convenient than word of mouth. Still Harry, Ron, and Hermione each notified a few of the other key members in the D.A. verbally, since this would be the first meeting of the year, and they wanted to make sure everyone was present.

Harry felt like forming the D.A. was one of the most important things he had done in the fight against Voldemort. He certainly had fewer regrets about it than any of his other more direct actions against the Dark Lord. The skills he had taught the other students had proven themselves against Voldemort's forces. He was a little baffled as to how he would conduct meetings during his last year. Since Dumbledore had taken over the teaching of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry did not feel like he would need to teach a substitute Dark Arts class. However he felt it was important to maintain the D.A. as long as Voldemort cast his shadow over their world. This meant reinventing the function of the D.A. to some level, though he had no clue how to go about this.

He was willing to entertain suggestions.

Room of Requirement was filled with cushions and seemed to have grown a little bit since the D.A. had first started using it, which was exactly what they needed. As expected several of the members brought other students who they thought were good prospects, and the D.A. was more than double the size than when it had started. Mostly older students, there was a healthy representation from every House save Slytherin. Hermione had said more than once last year that she thought they really ought to find a Slytherin or two, but she had never managed to come up with any reliable prospects.

Harry gave the students a full twenty minutes to wander in before he tried to call order to start the meeting. He tried waving his arms, which got a few people's attention, but several patches kept talking until Hermione blew the whistle.

"Listen up, now!" Ron shouted, then turned deferentially to Harry.

Harry stood, facing the nearly fifty students. "I'm glad to see so many people here," he said, which may have been a slight exaggeration. He liked the support, but dreaded managing the numbers. "We started the D.A. two years ago to learn to protect ourselves against Voldemort," Several of the new students flinched. "and because our Dark Arts teacher at the time was absolutely incompetent." There was some laughter, particularly from the older students. "I still think we should concern ourselves with defense, but I believe Dumbledore is a completely competent Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. And seeing as how this is my N.E.W.T. year I doubt I'll have time to act as a secondary Dark Arts instructor like I have in the past."

A few students groaned as they realized what he was saying. Harry was flattered that his lessons might be missed but determined to wean the students off his leadership. Despite the groans, he could see that most of the members had already come to the same conclusions he had. "I want us to use this first meeting to discuss how we should continue the D.A." He had intended to stop there and open the floor for discussion but inspiration struck. The half formed ideas in his head became clear, and he had a rough but firm idea of how he wanted the D.A. to operate. "I believe we should continue to assist one another in learning Defense Against the Dark Arts, but we should address problems individuals might be having with their lessons instead of creating an entirely new set of lessons. Form small study groups and sort of play that part by ear. This we should be free to do openly around the castle. I want the scheduled meetings to be more of an information gathering system. I realize we are limited to some degree while we are at Hogwarts, but we are also in a unique position. And I think the more we understand what's going on the better we will be able to face it when we leave Hogwarts."

After that he did open the floor up for suggestions. Hermione not surprisingly had quite a few, but she was not the only one with ideas. There seemed to be more questions and complaints, however, and after some very long discussion, they seemed to all come back to where Harry had started.

"Okay," Harry said, once again waving his arms for attention. This time it was more effective. "I want to try out this information network. I want it very clear that this is not a place for gossip or rumors, but actual first hand information." He glanced at Hermione who was trying very hard to resist prompting him, but he felt he could read her mind anyway. "Draco Malfoy. Does anyone know why he missed the train?"

At least ten people began speaking at once. Harry raised his arms to quite them. "One at a time." Despite what Harry had said, most of the students just repeated rumors and stories they had heard. A handful of students had more useful clues.

Collin Creevey admitted to being the 'unnamed Hogwarts student' from The Quibbler. "They misquoted me. I said if he had muggle sympathies, it made sense that he would hide them, considering what his father is, but he was so over the top with his anti-muggle slurs it would surprise me."

"Mr. Mulligan said he came through the shop in Newbury," Dennis added eagerly. "Well, some one fitting his description did. He claimed he wasn't Draco Malfoy, but Mr. Mulligan thought he was lying."

"And I told you about the letter," Parvati added. "The Malfoy's are a pretty tight knit clan. It's very strange that Draco would run off without telling his mother."

"Particularly to Newbury," Lavender Brown said. "There's nothing in Newbury."

"'cept us!" Collin said brightly.

"There's a currency exchange in Newbury," Anthony Goldstein added. "If he needed muggle money for some reason..." He had obviously read The Quibbler but looked unwilling to admit that he believed any of it. It surprised Harry as well that the article might be based on some degree of fact, but it did better explain why it put Malfoy so easily on edge.

"We know the reason," Luna spoke up, as though they were all missing something incredibly obvious. "He's got a muggle girlfriend." Some people snickered. The rest looked uncertain. Harry caught sight of Hermione absently rubbing her healed hand.

He rubbed his temples. "We're not certain of that. Even the best papers can be misleading." The Quibbler certainly was not one of the best papers, but he did not wish to alienate Luna by pointing that out. "All we know for certain is that some shop keeper-"

"Mr. Mulligan!"

"-Mr. Mulligan, thinks he saw Draco Malfoy in Newbury."

"And he had a girl with him," said Collin significantly. "Not a muggle though. A silver haired girl in school robes."

"Persephone?" said Hermione.

"He didn't catch her name," Collin said. "But how many silver haired girls are walking around in Hogwarts robes?"

Harry had to admit he had a point. He knew nothing about Mr. Mulligan, but it seemed like an unusual detail for someone to make up.

"She's dating Malfoy," Zacharias Smith said.

"She is not," Ginny rebuffed. "I asked her."

"Well, she hangs around him a lot," Smith insisted.

"She gets letters from some fellow named Oliver," said Annie Howard, a Hufflepuff sixth year. Harry gave her an exasperated glare; this was the sort of gossip he was trying to avoid. Annie read his expression. "It's not gossip. She showed me one."

"Okay," Harry said, still not sure that did not count as gossip.

"Let's suppose there's some connection between Malfoy and Persephone," said Hermione in her professoresque tone. "What do we know about her anyway?"

There was a clamor of voices again, mostly from the sixth year students. Many of who had the same assessment of her that Ginny had, that she was a nice girl but on second thought slightly odd.

"She's not like a Slytherin at all."

"She's really friendly, even to us muggle-borns."

"The teachers all seem to know her."

"Even the ghosts, they escort her to classes," said Jo Croaker.

"I saw the Bloody Baron talking to her," Andrew Kirke added in a hushed tone. "Actually talking. I've never seen him talk before."

P. had managed to talk to a lot of people considering she had only been at school two weeks. Harry admitted the bit with the ghosts in particular was strange, but he thought it would be stranger to be suspicious of someone for being friendly.

"Did anyone here know her before she came to Hogwarts?" asked Harry. Everyone shook their heads. "Does anyone know her last name? It can't be P. What school did she transfer from?"

"Chesann Blampied told me she's from Canada."

"Chesann's in Slytherin right?"

"If she's from Canada, I'm a Blibbering Humdinger," Mandy Brocklehurst, a seventh year Ravenclaw, said haughtily.

"Why do you say that?" asked Harry.

"I've got friends who go to Shenk Saundustee Academy, that's the Canadian wizarding school, and her accent's completely off. She sounds British."

"If she's British, it seems strange that none of us have run into her before," Hermione said.

"Maybe she grew up in Britain and then moved away for school," Ron suggested. Harry thought that made some sense, and even Mandy admitted it was plausible.

"Could you write to your friends in Canada?" Harry said to settle the matter. "They should be able to confirm whether or not she attended there." Mandy agreed, pleased to have a mission. Some of the other students looked eager for similar assignments. "I don't want anyone harassing her. There's a fair chance she's perfectly harmless, and it's hard enough starting a new school without people badgering you. At the same time, it bothers me that we don't know anything about her. For the moment, just keep your eyes open." Harry thought it was rather fun telling some one else that for a change and had to fight to keep a serious expression.

"I'm more concerned about Malfoy, who has already proven himself to be something of a threat," he continued. Padma Patil gave him a knowing smile as though it had been her warning that gave him this insight into Malfoy's character. He paused and flicked his gaze between the two Patil twins. "Hang on, why would Mrs. Malfoy send the two of you a letter?"

"Not us," Parvati clarified. "Our mother."

"The Patils are very old wizarding family. I wouldn't say we're close to the Malfoys, but we are purebloods." Padma said the last word with exaggerated blandness to show she did not find this particularly important herself. "Our mum runs in some of the same circles as Narcissa Malfoy. I doubt we were the first people she contacted, but that's why I think she was in a bit of a panic. The Malfoys never flaunt family problems if they can avoid it, but she sent out loads of letters looking for him."

If that was true, Harry saw two possibilities. Either this was more than just a family problem or Narcissa was going out of her way to make people think she did not know what Draco was up to. "How many other people got letters?"

About a dozen hands shot up, more than Harry had been expecting. Neither Ron, Neville, nor Luna raised their hands, so Narcissa was still restricting her search to pureblood family's she must have considered in good standing, but it bothered him that so many members of the D.A. had managed to keep in good standing with the Malfoys. Ernie Macmillan held his hand at a guilty sort of half-mast. "I'm a little surprised you got one," Harry said, hoping he would shed better light on the social dynamics of the wizarding world. It was something Harry was still quite in the dark about and would probably be happy to stay in dark about if it did not keep cropping up in nasty little ways.

"I was surprised too," Ernie said, looking eager to defend himself. "I mean I stopped socializing with the Malfoys years ago. Not that my family ever socialized with them that much. I just went to a few of Draco's birthday parties."

"Birthday parties?" Harry repeated.

"The Malfoys throw a large birthday party for Draco's birthday each year," Parvati said. "It was sort of the social event of the year for wizards our age...well, pureblood wizards our age."

Harry was honestly surprised by this information. "You mean you went to Draco Malfoy's birthday parties?"

"Well, they're very nice parties," a sixth year Ravenclaw girl said in a small voice.

"They've been going on since we were very little," Hannah Abbot said. "It's not like we were asked if we wanted to go, our parents just took us." She saw Harry's stunned expression and continued. "Most everyone believed Lucius Malfoy when he said You-Know-Who had him under the imperious curse. I mean Mr. Malfoy worked at the ministry and supported a lot of charities and stuff. He just didn't come across as Death Eater."

"And well, you know, he's rich," Hermione added snidely. "People will over look anything if shove enough gold under their nose."

"Not everything is about money," Parvati shot back acidly as though Hermione had been personally insulting her family. "Malfoy was hardly the only Death Eater acquitted. Narcissa, Draco's mother, had never even been linked to You-Know-Who, and she's really a very charming hostess. There was never anything political about the parties."

"Except maybe the guest list," Padma admitted. "But no one really knows who the muggle-born wizards are before they get their Hogwarts letters, and they started having parties for Draco when he turned one, shortly after You-Know-Who disappeared. It's not like the Malfoys could have invited any muggle-borns if they wanted to, and there were so many people, no one really noticed a lot half-bloods had been left off the list. They were rather skilled at not offending anyone to begin with, and they always had some plausible excuse for dropping someone from the party invitations. The wizards they were probably most at odds with might get an invitation, but they wouldn't come anyway."

Ernie Macmillan nodded. "I used to get invited to Malfoy Manor quite a bit when I was younger. Invitations faded off when I got placed in Hufflepuff. I didn't mind though. Draco wasn't such a laddish bugger when he was eight, but he's far from improved with age."

"Cho Chang and her brother used to come every year," Hannah said. "Didn't she tell you?" Harry shook his head. He felt as though she had slapped him.

"Well, the Chang's are a very old wizarding family, of course they'd be invited," Parvati said. "But she probably didn't think it was worth mentioning. Most all of the purebloods near our age have been to at least one party, and since Draco is on a Quidditch team, they expand the age range for anyone else playing."

Harry still felt like he had been slapped. He glanced at Ron, but Ron was incredibly interested in his left shoe.

"I didn't really think about it until I joined the D.A.," Padma continued. "And Lucius Malfoy got convicted as a Death Eater. I heard Draco's party was a lot smaller that summer."

"We were out of the country," Parvati picked up the story. "So we couldn't have gone anyway, but we had planned to try to go this last summer. We thought it might be a good chance to snoop around the Malfoy Manor, but he didn't have a party this year at all. From what I heard, the Malfoys hardly saw anyone all summer."

"He's been acting rather funny since he got back," Hermione prompted.

"Yeah," Michael Corner spoke up. "Really quiet. But well, honestly, I think he's gone a little balmy...I swear he talks to the portraits when he thinks no one's looking."

"Well, at least they're the kind that talk back," Ginny said, inspiring some giggles.

Harry decided it was time to turn the conversation away from Malfoy. He felt he had quite enough to digest. He gave the students similar instructions to what he had given about Persephone. He tried to turn the conversation to other unusual tidbits anyone may have picked up over the summer, but there did not seem to be much for the other students to report in this area.

The preceding year had been filled with mysterious deaths and disappearances, which had culminated with an Order of the Phoenix raid on the Riddle mansion where Voldemort had been headquartered. Since then, it was only three months ago, Voldemort's forces had been unusually quiet. The only disappearance was that of a middle-aged librarian from Amesbury, and Harry had not been able to figure out her significance. Some of the student had known her, but other than saying she was nice, harmless sort of woman, none of them were able give any insight as to why Voldemort or his Death Eaters would have singled her out.

Zacharias Smith pointed out that they were not a hundred percent sure her disappearance was caused by Voldemort. "You-Know-Who isn't the only evil in the world," he reminded them darkly. Harry had to agree, but Voldemort was the only evil that prophecy expected him to face.

Harry decided it was time to start wrapping up the meeting. He turned the topic to more immediate small-scale concerns like when they should have their next meeting and handing out fake Galleons to the new members. He started dismissing the students in small groups. When they got the idea, he settled down onto the cushion between Ron and Hermione.

"I can't believe it," Harry muttered. He felt emotionally exhausted. Logically he knew there was nothing he had learned that should surprise him. The Malfoy's could not have shown everyone in the wizarding community the outright disdain they showed him and the Weasleys and kept the sort of influence they seemed to enjoy. Still, this was messing with the neat little lines he had drawn for himself between his social circle and Draco's.

"Cho really never mentioned it?" Hermione said. She must have picked up some mind reading talent herself. "I'm sure she just didn't want to upset you, but really, she should have said something."

He was upset, and Cho was probably perfectly right that he would have been upset. But, he wished that people would not worry so much about not upsetting him. He was not that delicate or that dangerous. Perhaps Cho like Dumbledore assumed he was too young for certain information, but this thought only made him more irritable.

"Did you know?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. "It's not the sort of thing they put in books, Parvati and the other Gryffindor girls hardly talked to me before fifth year. It's the sort of gossip I wouldn't have bothered listening to anyway."

"I remember going to one of their Christmas parties when I was five," Luna said. She and Neville had lingered behind to speak with Harry. Past them, he saw that Ginny had taken over directing the students out. "That was before dad started the magazine. They really were nice parties, but I stayed with my mum and dad the whole time instead of playing with the other children. There were so many people I don't think I ever saw the Malfoys."

Hermione probably would have balked at the idea, but she and Luna had a lot in common. It struck Harry how lonely it must have been for Hermione in the girls dorm, and he felt Luna had made the happier choice to stay by her now deceased mother at the Christmas party. He could not say thinking about their past problems made him feel better, but it did calm him. Put in perspective, Cho's omission did not seem very important. Of course it was not just Cho's omission, Ron still was not meeting his eyes.

"My gran hates the Malfoys. She never believed Lucius was innocent," said Neville. "She would've burned any invitations from them if we had got one."

"How 'bout you, Ron?" Harry prompted.

"Okay, I went to one. I was four, and I don't remember it," Ron huffed. He took on a pained look as though he could die from the shame. "Only reason I know is because mum mentioned it while she was ranting about Mrs. Malfoy."

Harry smiled at him to let him know it was okay, and because he could imagine the colorful sort of ranting Mrs. Weasley would be able to do on the subject.

"I wonder if that's what she's been trying to tell you," Hermione said in a thoughtful tone.

"What?" Harry said, turning to her.

"P. She keeps trying to talk to you, right? Maybe she's trying tell you about Malfoy," said Hermione. Harry nodded. He had been starting to think along the same lines.

"So she doesn't fancy you after all," said Ron.

"Oh, she does," said Luna airily.

"Why do you say that?"

"I have classes with her," Luna said. "She talks about you all the time in Arithmancy." Harry felt his stomach sink. "Wants to know everything about you. Worst case of Potter-fancy I've ever seen."

"Potter-fancy?"

"Well, that's the term they use for it," Neville said.

"I have my own term?" said Harry, not sure whether he should be amused or disturbed.

"What if it's not Potter-fancy," Hermione said, frowning thoughtfully. Harry asked her what she meant, but Hermione just shook her head.

"Yeah," Ron said as though the same idea had just struck him. "What if she's a spy for You-Know-Who?"

"Voldemort," Harry corrected.

"Yeah," Ron said with some effort. "Voldemort." Neville's eye twitched just the slightest bit, but he was trying to be stalwart. Luna was humming an unfamiliar tune and staring at the walls.

"I don't think so," Harry said. "I mean if he wanted to spy on me. Why would he put her in Slytherin? And why choose someone so...well, someone who sticks out so much. Wouldn't it make more sense to polyjuice someone from Gryffindor." He gave Ron and Neville a mock-suspicious glance. "Neither of you two have started drinking from a hip flask, have you?"

Hermione gave a small laugh. Ron smiled briefly but looked horrified at the prospect.

"Hey, you lot," Ginny said bossily, but with a grin. "You can go now."

****************

"Is there a test to see if someone's using polyjuice?" Ron asked the next day at lunch. "I mean other than making sure they don't drink anything for an hour."

"Not that I'm aware of," Hermione said. "I guess if you knew the person, you could figure out."

"Okay, maybe, but anyone who went to all that trouble would do their research, wouldn't they," said Ron. "You'd think someone would have invented a device to detect stuff like that."

"Like maybe a Sneakoscope," Hermione said casually.

Ron's face fell a bit, but he brightened pretty quickly. "Oh...yeah...Hey, Harry, you've got the one I gave you, right?"

Harry swallowed a large gulp of milk and nodded. "Why are you so hung up on poly-juice?" he asked Ron.

"I'm just trying to explore all the possibilities," Ron said with his chin held a little higher than usual. "Either way, might not be a bad idea to take a pass by her with the Sneakoscope."

Harry did not have to ask Ron who he meant. He was watching Persephone across the Great Hall. She looked very happy, everything about her body language shouted happy, carefree, and young. It was an easiness that he had never encountered in anyone associated with Voldemort. The other Slytherins around her looked happy too as though her mood was infectious, except for Draco. Harry could see why people were confused about whether or not they were dating. Persephone frequently put her hand on Draco's arm, but from what Harry had seen of her, she touched almost everyone who would let her. She had taken Hagrid's hand when he had approached a few days before. She had put her arm around Victoria Dey's shoulders, and Harry had trouble picturing Victoria Dey letting too many people touch her.

Ron and Hermione were having a lot of fun exploring all the possibilities, though they were trying to sound very serious about it. They came up with a long list of plots that Voldemort could be hatching involving Persephone. Harry let them play. He tried to watch the silver haired girl for any signs of unusual behavior, but his attention was drawn to Draco Malfoy instead. Draco occasionally gave Persephone an indulgent smile, but his smiles faded quickly. He seemed disengaged from the conversation around him. His shoulders hunched differently as though he was trying to make himself very small.

Harry found himself thinking about Draco's birthday parties, but they failed to inspire the same feelings of jealousy that Dudley's had used to breed in him. Harry was sure Draco's parties would have turned Dudley green with envy, but from the way the other students had described it, they had all gone to Draco's parties because they were 'nice' and 'a social occasion' not out of any interest in Draco. Harry knew his little party had not been much, but he knew all his guests had been there to see him. For the first time ever, he felt a little sorry for Draco. What was it like having a Death Eater as a father, parents who used your birthday as a political tool?

He caught sight of Thomas Dey sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table, expressionless as usual. His sister sat across from him radiating the same repressive air she had on the train. Harry flicked his eyes back to Persephone. A small group of third years had stopped to chat with her. She was exuding the same warmth to them, touching their hands lightly, with a familiarity most people could not get away with. "She's certainly popular," Harry said out loud.

Hermione and Ron paused in the middle of a theory that somehow involved hinkypunks and spellotape. "It's a little strange," Hermione said. "I mean not that I think there's anything wrong with her being popular, but I've talked to several people who are absolutely smitten with her. She hasn't been here that long." Luna slid quietly into the seat across from them, with her usual air of having wandered in by accident and sat listening with her chin propped upon her hand.

"Maybe she's part Veela, like Fleur," Ron theorized. "Might explain the hair."

Hermione looked doubtful, and so did Harry.

"Well, she's not as pretty as Fleur," Ron admitted. "But maybe she's an eighth or a sixteen veela."

Luna started singing softly, which was not that unusual, except that her song seemed pertinent to the conversation.

"Silver child with hair quite wild,

Radiant and splendid.

A clever girl, a charming girl,

A girl that's well befriended."

The three of them turned to her expectantly. She looked pleased to have their attention but determined to look half-distracted. "She's not a veela," Luna said to the sugar bowl further down the table.

"Of course, not," Hermione said. "Some of the students I was talking about were girls. A veela wouldn't affect them the same way."

"What is she then?" Ron asked.

Luna turned her pop-eyes to him. "She's a Silver Child."

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"A witch born with silver hair and eyes," Luna said, though she addressed Harry rather than Hermione. "They're supposed to be clever and rather good at magic."

"So, it's like a metamorphmagus?" asked Harry.

"No, a metamorphmagus just happens," Luna explained. "A Silver Child is made, and there are some drawbacks. They can't use a lot of magic items properly either unless they're made of silver, and P. has a silver wand."

"A silver wand?" Hermione repeated incredulously. "But you can't make a wand out of metal."

Luna lifted her pale eyebrows. "Have you ever tried?" Hermione scowled but could not find a proper retort. Luna started humming the song again in the short silence that followed.

"How do you know so much about them?" Ron asked.

Luna's eyes became even rounder than usual. "Because I am one," she said loftily. They all stared at her uncertainly, and she continued in a less pretentious tone. "Well, I'm not a proper one. You know how my mother liked to experiment. She couldn't help tampering with the spell a little bit."

"What spell?"

"The one I just sang. It's a song-spell." Luna took on a superior sort of air as she explained. "It used to be a very popular song-spell. Mothers expecting little girls would sing it to try to give their daughters all the desirable qualities. Only they found if you sang it too often, it would actually turn the girl's hair and eyes silver."

"It can't be common," said Hermione. "I've never heard of it."

"It's not," Luna agreed. "The only Silver Child I of about was born about forty years ago. The song-spell sort of fell out favor after that. I don't see why though."

"And you're one of these Silver Child things?" Ron said doubtfully.

"Only partly," said Luna. "My eyes are silver. Haven't you noticed?" Harry had seen such a strange variety of eye colors in wizards that he had never thought much about Luna's. Ron was leaning in as though to get a better look at Luna's irises. "You like my eyes? Don't you, Ronald?" Luna said, causing Ron to snap back and take on a trapped look.

"Um, yeah, sure," he said, looking to the rest of them for help.

"Luna, why didn't you mention this earlier?" asked Harry.

"I only confirmed it this morning," said Luna. "I think Ron's right though. She affects people. Mum showed me an article about the first one forty years ago. It mentioned that girl being quite popular too."

"Did it give the other one's name?" Hermione asked. Harry guessed she was anxious to do her own research. "Persephone might be her daughter or something."

"I think it did," Luna said. "But I can't remember it. It's been a long time since I looked at the article." Hermione looked disappointed. "Dad might be able to find it," Luna said. "I'll write him."

"Maybe it's not her all the teachers know," Ron said suddenly. "Maybe it's her mother. That would make more sense, wouldn't it?"

"Hagrid seemed to know her though," Harry said.

"Well, let's go see Hagrid," Hermione said brightly. "We'd been planning to anyway. We could ask him about it."

"That's a brilliant idea," Harry said, pushing away his empty plate and standing.

"Can I come?" Luna asked. Harry paused and exchanged looks with Ron and Hermione. He hated to tell Luna, no, but at the same time, she did not share the same sort of relationship with Hagrid that they did. "It's all right," she said, managing not to sound disappointed and making them all feel even guiltier for not inviting her.

"Maybe next time," Ron told her.

"Sure, next time," Luna repeated and slid away from the Gryffindor table.

****************

The guilt quickly dissipated as they left the castle and walked across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. They doubted Hagrid would have minded Luna coming, but they knew he would not feel as free to talk around her and Persephone was not the only thing they wanted to ask him about.

To their delight Hagrid was home, alone, and looked to be in fairly good health, though Harry believed he had a little more grey in his hair than when they had first met. Of course, Harry knew he had changed far more in the past six years than Hagrid had.

Hagrid invited the three of them inside for tea, and they stepped into the hut. "Have a seat, have a seat," he said. "I'd been hoping I'd have a chance to chat with you outside of class. Got any news?"

"No, not really," Harry said. He thought Hagrid gave him a dubious glance, but Hagrid turned his back to busy himself with the teapot. "How about you?"

"Been busy doin' this and that, but nuthin' worth mentioning. 'cept perhaps that you don't want to be using the secret passage b'tween 'ere and Hogsmead no more."

"How come?" Ron asked, looking startled.

"Can't tell you that," Hagrid said with a glance over his shoulder. "But I'm gonna trust you take my advice for once that you don't want to go lookin' into it."

"You've booby-trapped it," said Hermione.

"I didn't say that," Hagrid said lightly as he sat down, but Harry was quite sure from that not-quite-a-wink he gave them that Hermione was right. He smiled warmly at them. "Hard to believe this'll be yer last year."

"I'm going to miss being able to visit you like this," Harry said earnestly.

"Nonsense," said Hagrid. "We can meet up in Hogsmeade about as often as you'd like. You'll be able to Apparate, and the staff doesn' have the same restrictions the students do about visitin' town. Can't imagine Dumbledore would object to you comin' onto the grounds either."

"Still, I have a feeling I'm going to be a bit busy after graduation," said Harry.

"Yeh," Hagrid said his smile stayed in place, but his eyes showed that he understood Harry was not talking about his career plans. "Yeh, I s'pose you might be at that."

"How did Grawp do over the summer?" Ron asked, attempting to shift the mood.

"Good!" said Hagrid, brightening up. "Very good. I think he's really settled in. Don' have ter keep him tied up no more."

"Oh, that's good," Hermione said with a wince. She was still rather afraid of Hagrid's giant half-brother. Not without reason. Grawp stood a good sixteen feet and could rather easily crush any of them in one hand. The giant had warmed up to them over the course of the previous year, but even a friendly giant was hardly a gentle playmate.

"Do you think I could introduce Luna to him?" Ron asked. Despite his initial reservations, Ron had become Hagrid's willing partner in the attempt to civilize Grawp, and Harry was happy to leave him to it.

"I think he'd like that," Hagrid said. "It'd be good fer him to meet new people."

Harry remembered what had brought them to see Hagrid in the first place. "Speaking of new people, we wanted to talk to you about Persephone."

Hagrid clapped his large hands together eagerly as if this was what he had been wanting to talk about as well. His black eyes sparkled. "Isn't it wonderful, Harry?"

Harry had not been expecting this reaction and was a little taken aback. "Isn't what wonderful, Hagrid?"

"Having her here, at Hogwarts," Hagrid said fondly. "Darlin' girl, one of the kindest creatures you'll ever meet."

Harry exchanged glances with Ron and Hermione. "So you know her then?"

"Oh, yeh, I've known Persephone ever since she was a little thing," Hagrid said. His smile became wistful.

Harry tried not to look too eager. "Do you know what her real last name is then?"

"Well, er...blimey, Harry, do you mean you haven't talked to her yet?" Hagrid's smile had faded, and he looked uncertain.

"No, I haven't."

Concern touched Hagrid's features. "Seems strange that she hasn't tried to talk to you." He looked Harry over as though searching for the reason for this failure in communication and ignored the whistle from the teapot.

"Well, she has tried," Harry admitted. "We just keep getting interrupted. What is she trying to tell me, Hagrid?"

Hagrid shook his head. He stood, took the water off the heat, and poured them each a cup. "I don't think it's my place to tell you that. It ain't that I don't want ter," he added when he caught Harry's frown. "It's just that it's Persphone's business. I know she'd want ter be the one to tell you, and I don't think I got any right takin' that away from her."

"Could you give me a hint?" Harry tried.

Hagrid was resolute. "No doin'. Don't look so disappointed. Persephone'll clear it all up in a jiffy, if you'll just listen to her. Ain't that hard to listen is it?"

"Well, she does come off as a bit balmy," Ron said rather bluntly as Hagrid set the cup in front of them.

"Now, don't you go givin' her any trouble," Hagrid said reprovingly. "Poor bird's been through her share already. If she wants to talk to Harry alone, you two better let her." He gave Harry a quick wink that deflated rather than heartened him, for a moment he had imagined Persephone was trying to tell him something important.

"What connection does she have with Malfoy?" Hermione asked.

Hagrid looked startled. "What'der yer mean?"

"Well, she's been hanging around with him and his gang," Ron said.

"Oh, oh...well I suppose she would at that," Hagrid muttered. Harry gathered that he disapproved of P.'s choice of company. "I don't suppose...well, never mind." He took a gulp of tea. "So how were your summers?"

This topic took them through the next couple of hours. After recounting the attack at his birthday party and having it retold by Ron and Hermione and adding the bit about the Ripper's behavior at the trial which seemed to cure Hermione of any animagus aspirations as well and listening to how Ron had been trapped with Ginny all summer doing Quidditch drills and the row Hermione had gotten into with her parents and some more guarded discussion over who had been going in and out of Grimmauld Place and more remonstrations from Hagrid to not go meddling in Order affairs before they were full members which would be quite soon enough and got Harry pondering his post-Hogwarts future, he had quite forgotten about Malfoy and the silver haired Slytherin.

As they left Hagrid's to walk back up to the school, he was busy composing a long letter to Tonks in his head.

"It seems strange," Hermione said in a low voice. Harry did not have the faintest idea what she was talking about until she continued. "That Hagrid would want us to leave her alone with you."

"Cause she's obviously nervous about telling Harry how much she fancies him in front of us," said Ron. Harry shot Ron an annoyed look, and Hermione bit her lip.

"I don't think that's it," she said. "Hagrid wouldn't have been so secretive if it was something that simple, but if it's something more important, why wouldn't he tell us. Why does she need to tell you? It's just suspicious."

Harry and Ron both stopped in their tracks and stared at her incredulously. "You can't suspect Hagrid!"

"No, of course I don't," Hermione said quickly. "But Luna said she can affect people..."

"Well, yeah, but Luna's a bit nutter, isn't she?" said Ron. "I mean she's always saying crazy stuff like that."

"If Luna's such a nutter, then why do you want take her to see Grawp?" Hermione bit back. "Besides it's not just what Luna said, I've watched people act strangely about her, and you did say you saw her talking to Hagrid before. What if she got to him somehow....what if she has some sort of special abilities to affect minds or something? I know Hagrid would never try to do anything that would hurt us, but he might not know he's giving us bad advice."

"And I called Luna a nutter..." Ron said in a very choreographed aside.

Hermione's eyes narrowed, and Harry held up his hand between them to try to stop things from snowballing into a row, though he was nearly as irritated with Hermione as Ron was. "I believe you're over thinking this," he told her as evenly as he could manage.

Her eyes relaxed, but her mouth kept moving. "But look at Malfoy," she mimicked Harry's calm tone. "She spends all her time with him, and he's like a completely different person."

"I rather like the change," said Harry. Hermione opened her mouth again so he continued. "Look, Hermione, I've resisted the Imperius Curse more than once. I know Occlumency. If she wants to mess with my mind, it's not going to be easy for her, but we don't know that's what she's trying to do. It's just as possible she's on our side, maybe she's spying on the Slytherins for Dumbledore. Have you considered that?"

"Hey, why don't you ask him," Ron suggested. "We got his class now." That settled it.

****************

There were two days before they had another Dark Arts class, and in the meantime Ron and Harry started training for the upcoming Quidditch season.

Ginny Weasley's superb ability to boss other people around was not reserved to dismissing D.A. meetings. She was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. A fact that Ron had bemoaned quite a bit last year but only to Harry in private. Publicly he gave his sister his utmost support, most likely because he remembered the trouble Fred and George had given him. Harry had been a little disappointed to not make team Captain either, but he had to admit that he had enough on his plate.

They had held tryouts as a matter of ceremony, though they did not take on any new members. Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper had turned into competent beaters. Ric Gudgeon and Olive Oglethorpe had joined the team last year as chasers and held their own. Ginny had the habit of tossing odd items at them in the common room and the Great Hall and giving them a going over if they failed to catch them. The result was that they were both a little jumpy but had excellent reflexes.

While Ric, Olive, and Ginny swooped back and forth across the field tossing the Quaffle, Harry chased the Snitch. He lost sight of it and decided to hover near Ron until he spotted it again or Ginny yelled at him.

"What's the first game anyway?" he asked Ron.

Ron was shifting his gaze between the chasers with the Quaffle and the beaters with the Bludger in case one of them tried scoring. "Um...I think it's us and Hufflepuff. Say, Harry, if you find the Snitch soon could you get an extra ball and try to score a few. It'll be easier to warm up with you than Ginny and Ric--what the devil?!" Harry followed Ron's gaze to the bleachers where a girl under a silver puff of hair was taking a seat. Wide-eyed he looked back at Ron, who was starting to turn pink. "She can't--HEY CAPTAIN!" Ginny whipped her head about to look at Ron, and Ric Gudgeon nearly fell off his broom as he snagged back the pass he was ready to hurl at her. Ron used his full arm to point down at the bleachers. Ginny frowned, then followed his arm and understood. She swung her broom around and flew towards the bleachers, had a few minutes of conversation with P. and then flew back up.

"She's not moving," Ron groused.

"It's alright," Ginny said. "I said she could watch a bit."

Harry's jaw dropped. "You did what?"

Ron's jaw dropped even further than Harry's. "Are you mad? She's a Slytherin Spy!"

"Nonsense. She just wanted to see Harry play a little bit. She heard you were good." Ginny gave Harry a wink.

Harry felt his stomach give a lurch. "She can come to a game then," he said, completely astounded Ginny had not chased her off.

"She'll run and tell Malfoy everything!" Ron growled through clenched teeth.

Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes. "Persephone doesn't know a thing about Quidditch. What's she going to tell Malfoy? That Harry can catch a snitch? He knows that. Stop making that face Ron. She can't tell the Quaffle from a Bludger anyway...AAH!!" To punctuate the sentence, one of the Bludgers nearly took Ginny's head off, forcing her to bow. She came up with white faced but quickly turned pink with fury. "Kirke! Sloper! What are you doing over there!?" She flew off to yell at them at closer range.

Ron and Harry had to break apart as the Bludger came round again. Sloper broke away from Ginny to chase after it. Harry caught sight of the snitch and made a dive for it. After he had caught it a few minutes later, he rejoined Ron. "Is she still watching?" he panted.

"No, she's reading," Ron said with disgust as if this was a worse insult than if she had been spying intently. "I don't even think she saw you catch the snitch...What the bloody hell's wrong with Ginny?"

Harry shrugged, equally bewildered. Ginny seemed to be right. He caught Persephone looking up from her book a few time as practice wore on, but she gave up completely after twenty minutes or so and left the bleachers before they got into any actual tactics. If she was spy, she was the sloppiest spy on earth.

****************

The Defense Against the Dark Arts classes continued to get more interesting as Dumbledore went along. Harry thought he was an excellent teacher and wished he could have gotten this level of instruction all the years he had been at Hogwarts. Even Draco Malfoy hung on Dumbledore's every word, attacking lessons with a quiet intensity as if his very life was depending upon them. Harry was certain something had happened to him over the summer, but he could not begin to guess what.

After class, Ron and Hermione left with the rest of the students, but Harry lingered until the classroom was empty. Dumbledore sat at the teachers desk, looking a bit weary, but waiting.

"Did you want to ask me something?" Dumbledore prompted when they were alone.

"Yes, sir," Harry said and approached the desk. "It's about the new transfer student. I was wondering...well, I was wondering if she's on our side."

Dumbledore's bushy white eyebrows furrowed. "Do you mean to say that Ms. P. hasn't spoken with you yet?"

Harry felt even more embarrassed admitting this to Dumbledore than he had to Hagrid. "Well, she has tried, headmaster, but she's rather easily distracted. I haven't been trying to listen, though, to be honest. We...that is, I wasn't sure if it was safe."

Dumbledore's brow unknitted, and he smiled as though he found something sadly amusing about Harry's paranoia. "Quite safe. I assure you."

Harry felt relieved. "She's on our side then?" Dumbledore would know he meant the Order.

"I'm not sure about that," Dumbledore said. "I haven't spoken to her about it. She's still too young in my opinion, too unpredictable."

"Is she dangerous?"

Dumbledore stroked his beard absently. "Potentially...but not to you, Harry."

"You mean she could be dangerous to someone else?" Harry asked sharply.

"Harry," the headmaster said in a calming voice. "I only mean that anyone has the potential for good or evil. Even the most well intentioned person can cause trouble if they're not careful, and I fear Persephone has never been very careful."

"But who is she?"

"Talk to her first, Harry," Dumbledore said, still gently but with a note of finality. "If you have questions after that, then I will try to answer them."

Harry nodded and started to collect his books. "What about Malfoy?" he asked quickly.

Dumbledore's face became very serious. "Young Mr. Malfoy remains a mystery to me as well. If you learn anything that might shed some light on his shadows, I would appreciated it if you shared that information with me."

Harry found Ron and Hermione waiting for him outside the classroom.

"Well, what did he say?"

Harry recounted the conversation.

"I don't like it," said Hermione when he had finished.

"Aren't you the one who said if we couldn't trust Dumbledore, we couldn't trust anyone₁," said Ron.

Hermione gave him a pained look.

"Stop," Harry told her sharply. "I trust Dumbledore. If he says she's safe, she's safe."

"That's not exactly what he said though, is it?" Ron muttered.

****************

They had Quidditch practice again that afternoon and would have had every evening for the rest of the week if Ginny had her way. Finally, Ron and Harry had to remind her that much as they wanted to take the Quidditch Cup, this was their N.E.W.T. year. Gudgeon and Oglethorpe chimed in with protests about their upcoming O.W.L.s until Ginny promised to restrain herself to one or two practices a week.

Persephone did not try to come to anymore of their practices. She waved to Harry in the halls and spoke to him whenever she could, but it was all boringly simple things like good morning and general comments about the weather. She would engage in deep conversation with anyone else and seemed to do so with nearly everyone at some point or the other. Hermione was staying dutifully silent about her theories, but pursed her lips whenever Persephone came near. Ron was still certain that she and Draco were up to something. Ginny kept dropping hints that she fancied Harry. The evidence seemed to support each conflicting theory about as equally and none of them meshed with what Hagrid and Dumbledore implied. Harry knew it would make his head hurt if he tried to puzzle it out, so he washed his hands of the whole mess, until Persephone decided to give her side.

Not too surprisingly, Mandy Brocklehurst came to the next D.A. meeting with the intelligence that there had never been anyone matching P.'s name or description at Shenk Saundustee Academy. Harry thanked her for the information but instructed the rest of the D.A. to stop trying to investigate P. He gave them Dumbledore's reassurances that she posed no threat and asked them instead to focus their efforts on figuring out Malfoy. Even this discussion was fairly short, he spent most of the meeting time coaching the other students on various practical problems of their Dark Arts lessons.

****************

Outside of D.A. meetings Harry found other leadership duties hoisted upon him as Head Boy. These mainly involved passing along instructions from the House Heads to the prefects. Padma Patil seemed to stay even busier as Head Girl than he did, and Harry got the impression that she had volunteered to take on a heavier load so he could have more time for less official activities. He was grateful, because he did not think he could have managed otherwise. Even with the heavier workload, he could not help feeling proud of his badge. It was only memories of Percy and determination not to be that kind of Head Boy that kept him from strutting. Ron and Hermione still had their prefect duties, though Ron claimed they were more enjoyable now that they were Seventh Years and at the top of the food chain.

To make matters worse, their homework loads were beginning to take on the phenomenal portions that Harry remembered from his O.W.L. year. Hermione was all but buried under her N.E.W.T. level homework pile for eight classes. Her books seemed to have grown attached to her body. She met them in the morning with a book, read during meals, fortified herself behind stacks of them at the common room tables, and said goodnight with a book in hand. Harry and Ron also found most of their free time occupied by books, quills, and parchment. They did not have all Hermione's classes, but they did have Quidditch.

"I don't see how you do it," Neville told them in the library one day. "Potions alone is just about to kill me." Snape's improved mood had done nothing to squelch his love of assigning them painfully long essays.

Ron grimaced sympathetically. "Do you think the N.E.W.T.s are as bad as they say?"

"Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests," Harry said with a doleful nod.

"At least I've got my own wand this time around," Neville added, loving stroking the twelve and a quarter inches of birch.

"I don't want to hear anything about the N.E.W.T.s before next term," Hermione voice came resolutely from behind her book stack.

"At least I know I'll do alright on the broomstick portion of the exam," said Harry.

Hermione's head popped up, her eyes wide. "There's a broomstick portion?!...Harry, don't do that to me! Oh, really, all of you, stop snickering. Right hands up. You too, Neville. Repeat after me...right hand, Ron...I solemnly swear not to mention the N.E.W.T.s before Christmas."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. I..solemnly..swear..not..to..mention..the..N.E.W.T.s..before..Christmas."

It was so unusual for Hermione to not want to discuss an exam that they all swore. Bemused Harry shut his Charms text and decided to take a stab at his Potions essay.

"So..uh...Harry?" Ron said peering at Harry's paper. "Is that for Potions? What's it on...The Components of an Anti-Conflagration Elixir...very interesting. That one requires a salamander, right?...those sort of newt shaped creatures."

Hermione slapped her palms on the table. "RON."

"Shh!" Madam Pince hissed and squinted warningly at Hermione. Hermione in turn glared at Ron.

"What?" Ron said innocently. Harry bit his inner lip to keep from laughing. Hermione mouthed you promised at him. "Oh, yeah, promised Luna I'd take her...uh, somewhere. I think I see her now." Harry followed Ron's gaze to see Luna waving in large arcs at Ron from the library door.

"You're taking Luna somewhere?" Hermione spoke audibly but if anything looked more annoyed.

"Yeah," Ron said, trying to indicated Neville surreptitiously. He need not have bothered. Neville was so intent on his own Potions essay Ron could have held a flashing sign over his head without his taking notice. "You know that somewhere that you don't particularly like going, and I was going to take Luna instead. But if you want to come I'm sure your language skills would be appreciate."

"Oh," Hermione said, and her face fell.

Ron gathered up his books. He stood. "Last chance. Hermione? Harry?"

Hermione shook her head fervently. "I'd better work on this," Harry said, indicating his mostly blank parchment. The prospect of walking through the dark forest to teach English to an untied giant made the essay look a little less daunting. "Have fun."

"Right. I'll say hi for you," Ron assured them.

Harry was still working on his Potions essay when Madam Pince shooed them all out of the library for nine o'clock curfew. As he, Hermione, and Neville trudged towards the staircase leading back to the Gryffindor tower, they met Ron and Luna. Luna was beaming triumphantly, and Hermione, bent over with her load of books, gave the two of them only the smallest grunt of acknowledgement before climbing the staircase.

Harry and Neville waited while Ron wished Luna goodnight, before walking back to the common room with him. Neville took a seat at the table where Hermione had once again set up her book wall encampment.

"I've got to finish this," Neville said with a small moan.

"I think I've had enough for tonight," Harry said continuing towards the boys dorm. "I'm exhausted."

"Me too, I'm ready to turn in," said Ron with a grand stretch. Hermione spared them an annoyed glance before turning back to her homework pile.

Once inside their room, Ron pulled his nightclothes out of his cabinet. Harry, who was more tired of the essay than physically tired, flopped fully dressed onto his bed to read. He opened Life of the Auror by Gilbert Stulwort (a belated birthday present from Tonks in response to his letter), read the table of contents, came across the chapter entitled 'Creating Non-Work Related Relationships', closed it again, and turned to Ron. "I'm getting the impression that Luna rather fancies you."

"Oh, caught on have you," Ron said dryly.

"Can't accuse her of subtlety," Harry said with a shrug. He was not sure what to make of Luna's newfound confidence, so he hesitated before continuing the subject. However, he still felt a great deal of sympathy for her, and Hermione had often accused Ron of being rather dense when it came to such matters. "Do you fancy her?"

"No," Came Ron's muffled reply as he wrestled off his shirt.

"You might need to tell her straight out. I think she might be getting the wrong impression."

"Oh, well," Ron fumbled with the buttons on his pajamas. "It's not that I really dislike her either. I don't want scare off anyone who might be willing to go to the dance with me. It was rather embarrassing not being able to find my own date to the Yule Ball. I'd hate to repeat the experience."

"Sorry," Harry said.

"Not your fault," said Ron, and he flopped back onto his four-poster. "Well, goodnight."

Harry opened to Chapter One: Testing and Training.

****************

October arrived with a light rain. Harry had hoped it would subside before Quidditch practice that afternoon, but by lunch it had merely gone from a sprinkle to a drizzle. Seamus was beguiling Lavender Brown with his palm reading skills, which was more likely an excuse to hold her hand than a deep seated interest in the noble art of Divination. Parvati was commentating. Dean and Ginny were enchanting utensils to demonstrate Quidditch plays, while Ruby Moon eyed their flying knives warily. Neville was trying to coax a small, sickly looking fanged geranium to eat some of his mutton, while Ron and Hermione eyed it warily.

"You're not keeping that thing in the dorm, are you?" Ron asked.

"Just til it perks up a bit," Neville said. "Poor little thing needs constant attention if it's going to pull through."

"Excuse me...excuse me, may I have your attention?" a female voice rang through the Great Hall. Harry looked for the source, as did Dean and Ginny. Ruby yelped as neglect knives hit the table. The conversation around the tables dropped off, though a few patches kept up a light buzz.

Persephone P. stood in front of the high table with her silver wand pointed at her mouth. Professor Sinistra smiled at her approvingly, but the other teachers looked bemused or apprehensive about this breech in protocol. Dumbledore's eyebrows were raised, but he rested his bearded chin on his hand and politely gave Persephone his attention.

"Thank you," she said with the smallest hint of a nervous twitter. "Um... I have some new club announcements." She lifted up the parchment in her other hand and glanced at it occasionally as she spoke.

"The Slytherins have been holding a Friday evening study group for first and second years this past month, and we've had a lot of success with it, so we're opening it up for all the Houses. The study group will start at five o'clock and go 'til seven. We'll be meeting in the third floor study hall. We're encouraging all first and second years to take advantage of it.

"We're also looking for sixth and seventh year students to act as tutors. As well as giving you a chance to get acquainted with your underclassmen, it's a good opportunity to brush up on your basic spells.

"Third through fifth years are encouraged to attend the interest meeting for the new Hogwarts Dueling Club at four o'clock this afternoon in the Great Hall. Professor Snape will be supervising." Harry and Neville exchanged glances. Snape for his part only let the smallest flicker of smugness cross his features.

"For Sixth and Seventh Years we will be holding a Forum for the Discussion of Current Events...to well, discuss current events. First meeting will take place at eight o'clock on Tuesday evening in the Arithmancy lab. Thank you for your attention." She dropped her wand and did a sort of half curtsy before retreating to the Slytherin table. The buzz of conversation returned to normal levels.

"You must be joking," Ron muttered.

"I'm going," Ginny said and sent her fork back into the air with a flick of her wand.

"I think we should all go," Harry said. "I want to see what this is about."

Hermione's brow was furrowed in thought. She started to say something, but in her distraction, her hand wandered too close to the fanged geranium. She had to retract it quickly to avoid a bite.

"No," Neville told the plant in a reproachful tone. "The mutton, eat the mutton."

****************

Harry and Ron returned from Quidditch practice that afternoon stiff and slightly damp. They slogged their way into the castle. Their minds on dry clothes and a long, warm soak in the prefects' bathroom.

"Harry! Hey, Harry!" a cheerful voice rang out across the entrance hall. Harry looked up to see Persephone wave and hurry down the steps towards them.

"Oh look," Ron said. "Here comes Moaning Myrtle."

Persephone stopped in her tracks. She looked thoroughly shocked by Ron's words. Harry was not in the mood to talk to her, but he thought Ron might have overstepped by insulting her. He glanced at Ron and saw that Ron had not expected Persephone to hear him, or had not expected her to take it so hard, but was stubbornly determined not to apologize. Harry considered doing it for him.

"Myrtle!" Persephone repeated in a stricken tone. She put her hand to her forehead. "I've been here a month, and I haven't said a word to Myrtle!" She spun on her heels and raced off up the stairs.

"Completely mental," Ron muttered in astonishment. Harry nodded.