Harry Potter and the Last Year

Level 1.4: The Boggart

"I think you've been replaced," Ginny said as she sat down next to Harry and Ron in the Gryffindor common room. She thunked an enormous library book on the table.

Harry gave her a dubious glance. "Found a new Seeker, have you?"

"What?-No." Ginny wrinkled her nose as though she found the idea unsavory. "I mean Persephone doesn't talk about you as much anymore. It's all this Oliver fellow now."

Ron placed his hand over his heart. "Do you think you'll be all right, Harry?"

"I think I'll recover," said Harry dryly.

"She's really a very nice girl," Ginny insisted. Harry and Ron exchanged a look. They had made several creative passes by Persephone with his Pocket Sneakoscope and were still uncertain whether or not she was a nice girl. Persephone reminded Harry of Cho in the sense that she never seemed to travel the halls alone. The Sneakoscope, which was not a particularly expensive model, sometimes went off as they passed her and sometimes did not. Harry and Ron had not been sure whether this meant Persephone was sometimes being sneaky and sometimes not, or that she sometimes associated with sneaky people and sometimes not, or that they were setting it off themselves with their sneaky attempts to check on her sneakiness. They had impressed Hermione by making a rather sophisticated chart of the people who had been in the immediate area every time the Sneakoscope reacted, but they failed to find any significant patterns.

All he knew for sure was Indigo Stump had been untrustworthy last Thursday. The Sneakoscope had whirred loudly enough in his bag to make her jump when they passed in the second floor corridor. He was pretty sure that Malfoy had set it off on the 17^th of September but had failed to set it off during some of the following passes. "Well it is cheap," Ron had said. Some one (or everyone) in Pansy Parkinson's gang was untrustworthy, but Harry could have figured that out without the Sneakoscope's help. It had gone off again in the middle of a group of fourth year Hufflepuffs, while Ron had it in his pocket.

They had both observed that the ghosts were taking turns not only escorting Persephone to classes but following her everywhere she went. "I bet Dumbledore's put them up to it," said Ron. Hermione took this as evidence that Dumbledore did not completely trust her either.

"Dumbledore had me followed for a while, remember?" Harry had said testily. "Do you think he distrusts me?"

Hermione had looked horrified, "Of course not, he was trying to protect you."

"Well, then." This had gotten Harry wondering if Persephone was a refugee and needed his help on something. If she really needed his help though, Harry thought she might be a little more determined to talk to him. She certainly did not act like someone fearing for her life. He hesitated saying anything to Hermione about this theory; sure she would dismiss it as his "saving people thing".

"Has she told you anything about the forum tonight?" Hermione asked from behind her book stack.

"Only that she hopes a lot of people show up," Ginny said. "I felt bad, telling her I couldn't come. I wanted to, but Professor Binns forgot to give us an essay last time, so he assigned two to make up for it. Ugh. Like it would have been so awful to miss one."

"I can't imagine why anyone would come," said Ron. "Sounds boring."

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

Harry had never been inside the Arithmancy Lab before. It was an octagonal room, with two rows of tables set up in a large diamond pattern. The walls were lined with number charts. A chandelier type device on the ceiling kept generating random numbers, which swam up in gold then faded away again. There were short shelves under the three walls of windows, which held a variety of odd devices, most of which Harry could not have guessed their use though he recognized a scale and a compass among them.

He had assumed that many people, like Ron, would think that something called the Forum for the Discussion of Current Event "sounds boring", so he was surprised to find quite a few students had already gathered. The Slytherins were out in full force. They had taken over one of the outer tables and were looking formidable, though several of them seemed to be wondering why they were there. Crabbe and Goyle looked more confused than usual, and Malfoy at the center of the group looked like he would much rather be in bed. The rest of the room was broken into smaller groups sitting at odd spots around the various tables. Harry would guess there were around forty people all together. A few of them were D.A. members he had encouraged to come, but most of them were non-D.A. students.

Harry spotted P. sitting with Colin Creevey and a group of sixth year students examining what appeared to be a photo album. He had left the Sneakoscope back in the dorm, there was little point bringing it along when there might be a chance of a crowd. He led Ron and Hermione to take a seat near them at the inner table opposite the Slytherins. Persephone caught sight of them and smiled broadly. "Harry! Have you seen these? They're really good."

Colin turned slightly pink. He was smiling modestly but would not quite meet Harry's eye. Biting back a sigh Harry craned his neck to look. It was in fact a photo album filled with moving photographs and to Harry's dismay the current page featured pictures of his younger self. Colin was an enthusiastic photographer, and Harry had been his favorite subject when he had first arrived at Hogwarts. Colin was more respectful these days of Harry's desire for privacy, but that had not inspired him to get rid of any of his old photos.

Persephone seemed to think Harry was having trouble seeing and brought the entire album over and sat down beside him. "I think Colin has a really good eye for composition. Don't you?"

"Um, sure," Harry said, sitting down. He looked at Hermione who was covering her mouth and Ron who was not even attempting to cover his expression.

"You're very photogenic, Harry." Persephone turned the page. "Ooo! I like this one. Look, Harry, it's got you and Draco together." She said this as though it was something that might please him. There was a mild coolness to the photograph. It was one Colin had taken during Harry's first game against Draco. The two boys were flying towards the camera, the background blurring behind them (Colin must have experimented with his developing fluids), Quidditch robes whipping in the wind, both too intent on catching the Snitch to spare each other more than the occasional glare. Harry might have liked the photograph if Draco had not been in it too.

Colin was hovering nervously over Persephone's shoulder. She turned back to him. "Colin, do you think I could have a copy of this one?"

Ron made a spluttering noise.

"Um, sure, I think I can do that," Colin said, blushing with a mix of professional pride and embarrassment from the look Harry was giving him. Colin took his portfolio back so it would no longer offend.

Persephone did not leave but cast her beaming smile back on Harry. "I am so glad you came. I was really worried no one would show up."

"So, uh, how are you liking Hogwarts?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject.

"Huh? Oh, I love it! It's a really charming school, and the people are so nice." She glanced over at the Slytherins, and Harry thought they looked anything but friendly. Pansy Parkinson in particular was glaring darts at them. Draco was watching them with mild interest. "And I like all my professors."

"Particularly Professor Snape," said Hermione.

"Oh, yes, he's my favorite," said Persephone.

"We caught that," Ron said.

Persephone looked perplexed for a moment then the memory returned to her. "Well, I knew him before I got to Hogwarts. He's an old friend...of the families. Known him for years."

"How long have you known Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Draco and I met this summer," said Persephone. "But I've known his family for ages too."

"That's not something I'd brag about," said Ron.

Persephone's smile faltered. "Draco's really a wonderful person...when you get to know him."

"Right," said Ron sardonically. "I'll put that on my to-do list. Get to know Malfoy."

"Be nice, Ron," Hermione reproved him. She gave Persephone her prefect smile. "I take it your family has connections in England then. Are your parents originally from Britain?"

"Yes, originally," said Persephone.

"Are they here with you?"

"No, it's just me," Persephone said. She flicked her eyes from Ron to Harry. "Are you angry with me because I came to watch your practice the other day? Ginny said it was okay."

"No," Harry lied diplomatically. "We didn't mind."

"No, we didn't mind at all," said Ron sarcastically. "Big fan of Quidditch are you?"

"Not really," said Persephone, her smile gradually recovering. "James loves it though."

"James?" Harry asked.

"My brother."

Hermione looked interested. "You have a brother? Why didn't he come to Hogwarts?"

"He did, but he graduated ages ago," she said.

"Do you have any other siblings?" Hermione asked, and Harry could see the gears turning in her head.

"No, just the one," Persephone said. She looked uncomfortable for a moment but recovered herself. She gave Hermione a warm smile and leaned forward on the table. "Draco told me you had some sort of house elf organization...called Spew?"

Ron muffled a snicker. Hermione cast him a quick glare. "It's not spew. It's S.P.E.W., the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare."

"Oh! That makes a lot more sense," said Persephone with a light laugh. "It sounds like a wonderful idea. I think it's about time someone did something for them. Do you hold meetings? What sort of things do you do?"

"Oh well, we haven't had any major activities yet," said Hermione, clearly surprised by the other girl's interest but warming up to it. "Mainly, we're trying to build a membership base right now, promote awareness, and raise funds. Ron here is treasurer, and Harry is the secretary."

Harry gave Hermione a wane smile. She had not mentioned that Ron and Harry had done absolutely nothing to fulfill these roles and only had the titles because she had forced positions upon them. "Are you, Harry? That's wonderful," Persephone beamed, looking genuinely impressed. Of course, Harry was beginning to think she could manage to look impressed if Hermione had said that Harry could tie his shoes by himself. Harry noticed P. did not seem at all impressed by Ron's treasury position, and he could tell Ron had noticed too.

"How do you join?" Persephone asked Hermione.

Hermione brightened. "Well, it's just two sickles to join, and you get an S.P.E.W. badge. I don't have any with me now, but I can bring you one."

"Oh," Persephone said again, only this 'Oh' was slightly flat and her face fell. "Well, it really does sound wonderful. This is exactly the sort of thing I want to use the forum to discuss, so this would be the perfect place for you to make an announcement about it. Excuse me."

Hermione's expression darkened again as Persephone walked away. "Figures. Won't put her Knuts where her mouth is. Probably worried all her Slytherin friends would laugh at her. No one is willing to make a stand for the House Elves."

"I think it has more to do with no one wanting to wear a pin that says spew on it," Ron corrected her.

"I notice you're not wearing yours," Harry added.

Hermione scowled. "Well, things have just been hectic. I was reorganizing and--I'm going to start wearing it again."

Harry watched Persephone return to the Slytherin table on the far side of the room. She plopped down next to Draco and rested her head on his shoulder. Malfoy, aware of all the people watching, looked extremely uncomfortable and pushed her off gently. They exchanged a few quiet words. Persephone nodded and stood back up. She visibly steeled herself and walked to the center of the room.

"If I could have everyone's attention?" she said in a raised voice. "It's about ten after, so we really should get started. I'm really glad to see so many people here. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Persephone, what's the point of this forum?" a Ravenclaw girl that Harry did not know asked.

"I thought that was obvious," a Hufflepuff boy responded. "To discuss current events."

The Ravenclaw gave the Hufflepuff a cold look. "That could mean a lot of things, which events?"

"Well, it's open for anything. I brought a copy of the Daily Prophet and the London Times, if we need ideas," Persephone said indicating two newspapers. She walked back and forth as she spoke, ticking off options with her fingers. "We could discuss the flooding in India or the political shift in Hong Kong or the market drop in cauldron sales...oh-OR we could discuss the fact there's a psychotic dark wizard out to kill everyone." She said the last with a surprising amount of bright sarcasm and paused. Anyone who had not been paying attention before was doing so now, and though several of the Slytherins were looking more confused now than ever, they no longer looked bored. Draco Malfoy had his forehead in his hand as though struck by a sudden headache.

"Not everyone," Pansy Parkinson said in a meek voice. "Only Mudbloods."

Malfoy looked up. "Don't be naive, Pansy." he drawled. "He'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

Several people twitched nervously. "Are you making threats, Malfoy?" Ron shot, getting to his feet.

Malfoy looked at Ron like he was a rather unpleasant slug that he would like to squash but did not want getting on his shoe. "Just stating facts, Weasley."

"The point of this forum," interrupted Persephone, doing a wonderful impression of Hermione and giving them both quelling looks. "Is to discuss important issues in a civil manner. I would like to think we can do that without direct staff supervision. And if you don't think you can be civil, you can leave." Malfoy looked away, but Harry thought for a moment that Ron would storm out.

Hermione must have come to the same conclusion. "Ron," she hissed under her breathed. "Prefects need to set an example."

Harry could have told Hermione that this was not the best argument to use where Ron was concerned, but it had its effect. Not to be outdone by Malfoy, Ron sat down, still glowering. Persephone looked uncertain for a moment as though surprised by her success, and Harry silently urged her to go on.

"Okay," she said, readopting her teacher manner. "Let's start at the beginning. What do we know about Voldemort anyway?"

So many people let out yelps, that it would be hard to pin down exactly who. Hands were clapped over mouths all over the room. Harry was proud to see the D.A. members in the room reacted less dramatically than the rest. "Don't say the name!" a Hufflepuff girl, who was not in the D.A., squeaked.

Persephone gave the room a look as though she thought everyone was acting very strangely. "Why not?" she asked in an exasperated tone. "Start with that--Why shouldn't we say his name?"

"Because he's horrible," Lavender Brown said in a small voice. "It's a horrible name."

"A name only means as much as the thing it stands for," said Persephone. "And if everyone knows what you mean, I don't see how saying You-Know-Who is any better than saying Voldemort." Several people whimpered again. "It's just confusing, and personally, I think it's very silly. Think about it. Is there any reason, any real reason, not to say Voldemort?"

"No, there's not," Harry said loudly.

"Yes, there is!" someone retorted. Everyone waited for them to continue, but they did not have more to say on the subject.

"Is there some spell on the name or something?" asked Persephone. For a long moment no one replied.

"No, there isn't any spell," Malfoy broke the silence with a sigh. "Go ahead and say Voldemort if you're feeling brave." The Slytherins who had been huddled around Draco shifted away from him as though they feared lightning might strike him.

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself₁," Harry repeated something Dumbledore had told him a long time ago. Persephone smiled gratefully at him.

"And the only way to defeat a fear is to face it," Malfoy drawled. His eyes were focused on Harry's. "Got any more platitudes for us, Potter?" A couple of the Slytherins snickered nervously. Draco's eyes flicked to Persephone then back to Harry.

"You like to talk big, Malfoy," said Colin indignantly. "But Harry's faced him. I bet you've never even seen him."

"Course I have," Draco said off handedly. "He stayed at my house this summer. We had tea." The Slytherins howled (a sort of nervous eruption), clearly thinking that Draco was telling a joke. Malfoy smiled, but there was no humor in his eyes, which he kept fixed on Harry. Harry held his gaze. There was something different about it from the regular glare. He got the strange idea that Malfoy was trying to tell him something.

"Are you serious?" Colin gasped.

"Of course, I'm not serious," Draco said acidly, his grin fading, his eyes finally flicking to Colin. "Do you think I'd tell you something like that if I was?"

"Can we be serious?" Persephone said sharply. She did not look amused. She took a deep breath. "I think Harry has a point. From what I know of Voldemort, he likes to use fear to control people. It's a rather classic trait in dictators. Fear and scapegoats. I bet he thinks it's really funny, we all twitch like rabbits at the sound of his name."

"What do you think we should do? Laugh?" This was Ernie MacMillan.

"Yes!" Persephone's silver eyes lit up. "I think that's exactly what we should do!"

"She is mad," Ron breathed in a sort of hushed awe. "She's completely, absolutely, stark raving mad." Harry gathered from the general murmur that Ron's opinion was shared by the majority.

"Are you trying to say we should find Voldemort funny?" Padma Patil asked coolly.

"No, I don't think he's funny," said Persephone. "I think he's laughable. There's a difference." Padma looked uncertain. "Take Hitler for example," Persephone continued. "He was an absolutely horrible person. Numbers wise, he makes Voldemort look like a small timer. But no one falls to pieces just at the sound of his name."

"You think You-Know-Who's like Hitler?" Dean Thomas said uncertainly.

"Remarkably so," Persephone said. She looked about at the confused faces. "I can't be the first one to have made that comparison."

"No, my dad makes it all the time," said Dean. "But I didn't think he knew what he was talking about."

"Why not?"

"Well...he's a Muggle."

"Then he's a smart Muggle," Persephone said, giving Dean a smile.

"Yeah, he is," Dean said smiling back with a bit of pride. "He's got a degree in History, and he reads more of the Daily Prophet than I do. I think he'd like to know a witch agrees with his Hitler analogy."

"Who's Hitler?" Ron asked.

"He was the Nazi leader responsible for the holocaust," Hermione explained.

"Oh, I see and...what was that?"

"Okay," Persephone said. "Who doesn't know who Hitler is? Raise your hands." A little over half the room raised their hands, not all of them the half Harry was expecting, but for the most part it was the pureblood students. "Grindelwald?" Most people dropped their hands. "Okay, about the same time the dark wizard Grindelwald was running amuck, there was a Muggle named Hitler and a group called the Nazis.

"The Nazis believed in a superior race. They called this the Aryan race, basically it meant people who were born with blonde hair and blue eyes." Nearly everyone, involuntarily or openly, glanced at Draco Malfoy, whose headache seemed to have reappeared in full force. The only other blonde Slytherin, a seventh year girl, patted him on the shoulder. "They believed anyone who didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes was inferior and should be wiped off the face of the earth."

"Because of eye color?" said Pansy, her dark brown eyes wide. Persephone nodded.

"Not that there's anything wrong with blondes, but wouldn't it be rather boring if everyone on earth had the same hair and eye color?" said Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin seventh year who changed her hair color about as often as other people changed clothes.

"Personally, I agree," Persephone said. "But then I never said that Hitler was entirely sane."

"You said he was worse than Voldemort," said the Hufflepuff boy who had spoken earlier.

Persephone nodded. "According to the history books I've read, Voldemort and his Death Eaters are proven to be responsible for the deaths of about three hundred wizards and five hundred Muggles in Britain. Hitler and his Nazis were responsible for the deaths of millions. That's what the Holocaust was, a wave of killings that swept through central Europe like a great fire." She said the last bit to Ron.

Ron's profile twitched with disgust. "What stopped him?"

"Eventually his army was defeated, and Hitler committed suicide."

Ron turned to Harry. "Well, that would be convenient. What do you think are our chances of You-Know-Who snuffing it voluntarily?"

"Not good," said Harry.

"Isn't it possible that he's already dead?" another Hufflepuff boy asked. Heads turned his way. "I mean the ministry did that raid on the Death Eaters hideout, and nothing's happened since then. Isn't it possible he got killed or injured in the raid, and none of the Death Eaters are willing to come forward and admit it?"

It was really a nice thought, and from the silent involuntary nods across the room, it was evident that the Hufflepuff had just spoken what everyone else had been too afraid to hope. Persephone had an oddly restrained expression. Harry's eyes flicked instinctively to Draco Malfoy and thought he saw Malfoy shake his head. Harry wanted to believe Voldemort had managed to die without his help. He wanted to believe it with every fiber of his being. It would relieve a tremendous obligation from him, but he also knew with every fiber that is just wasn't true.

"No," Harry said firmly. "He's alive."

"But how do you know?" the Hufflepuff asked. Harry was grateful that he managed to do it without sounding accusatory or resentful.

He still was not sure how to respond. He could not say, "I just know." Anymore than he could say, "Because some prophecy says I'm the one who has to kill him." or "Because your Potions professor's Death Eater tattoo would have faded if he had." Some less generous people were looking Harry's way; some worried, some openly hostile. "Because Dumbledore thinks he is," Harry said finally.

"I think for now it would be safer to assume that he is alive," Persephone said carefully. "At least until, we have some proof that he isn't." She clapped her hands as though to magically dispel the tension in the air and gave everyone another brilliant smile. "And if he's not, then we can consider this an interesting academic exercise." Harry propped his elbow on the table and surreptitiously covered his mouth with his hand to hide the sudden smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He was not sure exactly what amused him.

"So Hitler, though arguably as bad as Voldemort,"--There was another collective gasp but softer than the ones before--"Never had anyone trembling at the mention of his name. Why is that?"

"Well, he was a Muggle," the blonde Slytherin said. "He may have had a powerful army, but he couldn't have been that powerful on his own."

"That's a valid point," Persephone said, though it obviously was not the one she was trying to make. "And one we should definitely get back to. But I think it has more to do media representation." It was quite clear that no one had the slightest idea what she was talking about. Persephone plunged on. "They made fun of him. The Muggles mocked Hitler every chance they got. Instead of shuddering at the thought of him, they turned him into bit of a joke. There were loads of derisive comments made about him, even in the most serious newspapers.

"I think that's the big problem with the Daily Prophet's coverage. The way they discuss Voldemort. It's almost reverent. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," she said mockingly serious voice, near loathing. "Sounds so formal. Where are the disdainful nicknames? Why is he never Old Voldy or He-Is-Who-Defeated-By-Infants or Voldewart or...?"

"Lord Thingy," someone said softly.

"Snake-face!" a curly haired Hufflepuff sixth year shouted out. She then collapsed into such a nervous fit of giggles that it brought tears to her eyes as she tried to suffocate them. Several other people had laughed too, though more briefly.

Harry had a brief image of slinging insults at Voldemort like the heroes on television, but then he had found that real fights rarely left opportunities for witty repertoire. Still...he might be able to work in calling him Snake-face.

Persephone grinned. "Perfect. Exactly. It's all psychological."

"You think Voldemort is a psychological problem that can be laughed away?" asked Susan Bones.

"Well, no, not exactly," Persephone said, her grin subsiding. "I mean, if you meet him in a dark alley, that's not the time to point and start giggling. Running would probably be more advisable. But you'd be hard pressed to manage that if you freeze up at the mere sound of his name. And we're not facing him in a dark alley at the moment; we're in the Arithmancy lab at Hogwarts. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are nowhere in sight."

"But how can you be sure of that?" a girl asked, glancing nervously once again in Draco's direction. "How do you know he's not listening somehow?"

"Can't," Persephone admitted, tossing her hand out in a releasing gesture. "Maybe he is listening, but I think it's more likely he isn't. If you want to stretch the limits of probability, there's no way to be absolutely sure that he won't come bursting through the door any second, but that sort of paranoia simply isn't healthy. We could make ourselves absolutely mad worrying about every little thing he might do. It breeds unnecessary fear, and the dangerous thing about fear, even rational fear, is that it starts a cycle. It can turn you into the very thing you fear the most.

"I mean, the Nazis didn't wake up one morning, and say 'hey, we're bored, let's go commit genocide'. It was a slow process. Hitler preyed off their fears and led them to believe that the Jews specifically and non-Aryans in general were the cause of all their problems. And they didn't start killing right off either, first they separated and segregated and denied various rights until they had convinced themselves that the Jews weren't really human. And then they started killing, and the ways they killed would curl your blood.

"This does not mean all the Nazis were cold blooded killers by nature. They started as normal people like the rest of us. They had families and loved ones and a lot of them realized that the things they were doing and helping to do were very horrible, but they went along with it because they were afraid that Hitler and the other Nazis would turn on them. A lot of them even managed to convince themselves they were doing the right thing, so they could live with it. But it all boils down to fear. The Nazis in turn used fear to subdue the German people.

"It's a vicious cycle, fear then compliance then participation, and I think the best place to break it is at the beginning. If we give ourselves over to our fears, we give Voldemort power over us. The best way I know how to fight fear is with laughter. Laughter relieves tension. It lets us clear our heads so we can react properly."

"And what are you suggesting is the proper way to react?" Hermione said calmly.

"Well that's the question isn't it?" said Persephone. "What do we know about Voldemort anyway? Where does he come from? How old is he? How powerful is he really? Sure, he's better than average, but I've seen no evidence to support the sort of god-like power that the Daily Prophet wants to attribute to him. How much is myth and rumors and how much is fact?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but he felt Hermione give him a sharp kick in the shin. He scowled at her questioningly, but she just shook her head slightly. He rubbed his shin and listened to the other students speculate. It was almost painful keeping his mouth shut as the other students showed their ignorance. Most of what they knew was rumor at best. Harry remembered how frustrating it had been for him the first month after Voldemort's return, stuck on privet drive with no news. He realized now that many of the Hogwarts students did not know any more than he had back then, and quite a few of them were equally frustrated by it. He thought it could only do Voldemort harm to let everyone know that he was born as the half-blood Tom Riddle but was trusting that Hermione had a good reason for wanting his silence. If not, there would be another forum next week.

Persephone kept glancing at him expectantly but seemed unwilling to single him out. The other D.A. members seemed curious about his sudden silence. The non-D.A. members looked slightly suspicious, but they seemed to be having a great deal of fun speculating about Voldemort. At least they were very vocal about it. Even some of the Slytherins had joined in, though Draco Malfoy was staying silent.

Ten o'clock was fast approaching and the conversation was hitting dead end after dead end. Malfoy got Persephone's attention and pointed to his watch.

"Looks like it's time to wrap up," she said. Several people groaned. Persephone looked absolutely delighted by their reaction. "We can continue next week. Maybe do a little research in the mean time. Hermione, did you want to make an announcement before we go?"

Hermione started at being singled out so suddenly. "Uh-no, next week will be fine."

"Okay, well, I guess that's it. We better get back to our common rooms before Filch puts us all in detention." People chuckled and started to stand up. The conversation was continuing, only now in small clumps, which meant a lot more people were talking at once.

"Oh, and I hope to see a lot of you Friday at the study group for the first and second year students. Five o'clock. Third Floor Study hall," Persephone called over the din.

Hermione stood up and walked out of the room so quickly that Harry and Ron had to jog to catch up with her. She paused just outside the door, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "Can you believe her, calling on me last minute like that? Bet she would have loved it if I'd sputtered all over myself."

"I don't think that's what she was trying to do," said Harry.

"Wasn't it?" Hermione said sharply.

"No, it wasn't," Ron said. "Hermione, you need to relax. How much sleep have you been getting?"

"Enough," Hermione said evasively. "And that's not the point. Were you listening to her?"

"Only option I had, since you wouldn't let me talk," said Harry. "Why'd you kick me anyway?"

Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper, so the passing students would not hear. "Harry, if she's working for Voldemort--"

"Working for Voldemort?" Harry goggled at her. "Hermione, were you listening? She hates him. From the sound of it, she hates him nearly as much as I do. I really liked what she had to say, and I hope she gets more people talking like that."

"Yes, it's exactly what you wanted to hear, wasn't it?" Hermione said. "Harry, haven't you seen how she gets to people? I know you think I'm paranoid, but could you just consider the possibility that she might have set up this forum to find out how much you know about Voldemort."

"Dumbledore said--"

"Well, Dumbledore's wrong sometimes isn't he?" Hermione snapped. "Remember Crouch? Dumbledore had a Death Eater hiding right under his nose for a whole school year before he caught on. I know Dumbledore has our best interest in minds. I would never question his intentions, but he is not infallible."

"And neither are you!" Harry snapped back.

"Harry, keep it down will you," Ron murmured. "And Hermione, I was listening too. I don't trust her as far as I can throw a dragon, but I don't think she's working for old Snake-face. She's certainly got Malfoy on a leash though." Ron inclined his head towards the hall behind Harry, and he turned to see Malfoy and P. slip into an empty classroom and shut the door behind them. "What do you suppose they're doing?"

"I'd rather not know," said Harry.

"I noticed she didn't have anything bad to say about the Death Eaters," Hermione said. "Made them sound like victims."

"Yeah, I noticed that too," said Ron sagely. "She'd have to be careful what she said about them, though, wouldn't she? Otherwise, she'd alienate all their kids, and that would work to her disadvantage whatever she's up to."

The hall was beginning to clear, and Harry, not interested in dealing with Filch, started walking towards to Gryffindor common room. Ron and Hermione fell into step beside him. "Do you think it's possible..." he began as they passed the door Malfoy and P. had disappeared behind. "That Malfoy was serious about Voldemort spending the summer at his house?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Ron said. "Probably had him stowed under the drawing room floor."

"Persephone certainly shut him when he started talking about it," Hermione said. "Did you see him wilt, after she got onto him?"

"Are you worried about Malfoy again?"

"I'm not worried about him, Ron. I want to know why he missed the train. I want to know where she came from."

Harry let them argue all the way back to the common room, while he turned things over in his head. Maybe Malfoy had tried to tell him something. Maybe he was in trouble, or maybe he was trying lure Harry into a trap. He had certainly tried that before, taunting him with information about Sirius in hopes that Harry would get himself killed. Either way, Harry decided this was something he should discuss with Dumbledore.

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

The first Forum had cause quite a stir. Several students, even some younger ones who had not been at the meeting, came up to Harry in the hall to tell him that they were going to start saying "Voldemort" now instead of "You-Know-Who". Though they often said this in a whisper, the encounters left Harry smiling. Colin was so taken with the concept that he frightened a group of second year girls into tears. Dean and Seamus were struggling to come up with progressively cruder and more insulting nicknames, but Snake-face was by far the most popular. Hermione watched all this with a dubious expression, but she realized had gone a bit far questioning Dumbledore and was keeping silent as a peace offering to Harry. Ron had come up with some rather creative nicknames himself.

It was unusually hot, when the next Defense Against the Dark Arts class rolled around. Dumbledore soon despaired of the students focusing on his lecture and sent their desks to the sides of the classroom with a flick of his wand. He told them to split into pairs to work on shield charms. Harry and Ron found a clear spot. Practical lessons were definitely Harry's preferred kind in any weather. Dean and Seamus were promising to curse each other's ears off. Hermione was twisting around groggily, looking for a partner. Neville had paired up with Susan Bones.

"Hey, Granger, I'm open."

All three of them whirled at the sound of Draco Malfoy's voice. Without a word, Ron took Hermione's arm, and Harry stepped forward between her and Malfoy. Malfoy scowled at him. Harry stared back defiantly. Malfoy shrugged and took a step back with a shallow bow.

Harry really hated that Draco was taller than he was. He usually avoided standing close enough to Malfoy to notice, but it was evident at this distance that Draco had a few inches on him. Not that it matters, Harry told himself. A good seeker is light.

He caught sight of Dumbledore looking at their pairing with constrained worry, and Harry tilted his head to him in a way that he hoped was reassuring.

"Do you want to go first or should I?" Draco asked in a bored tone.

"First with the shielding or the hexing?"

Draco looked annoyed. "The shielding, Potter. That is what we're supposed to be learning, isn't it?"

"Right, well, I guess I'll go first then. I know you're itching to hurl a hex at me."

Draco hesitated. "Look, Potter, I--never mind. Defend yourself."

Malfoy flung a few hexes half-heartedly at Harry, and Harry's shield held easily. Too easily. "Come on, Malfoy, you're not even trying."

"Let's switch up," Draco said. Harry shrugged and hurled a Jelly-Legs Jinx at him. Malfoy blocked it, though he looked a little wobbly.

"So, how did you like the forum?" Harry asked.

"It was swell," Malfoy said blandly.

"Swell?"

"Yeah, you know in a hellish sort of way. Look, are you gonna hex me or not?"

Harry tried a babbling curse and a bat bogey hex, which got Malfoy annoyed enough that he was a bit more challenging when they switched up again.

Right before the bell, Harry let his guard drop, and Malfoy flipped him with a well-placed curse. Harry got to his elbows rubbing his sore backside, while Malfoy cast him an anxious glance, gathered up his books, and hurried out of the classroom.

"Didn't try to kill you again did he?" Ron asked and offered Harry a hand.

"No, I don't think he was trying that hard," Harry said as he got his feet.

"I could have handled him," Hermione said, though she did not sound at all angry with Harry for stepping in.

Harry told them to head on without him and waited for the room to clear so he could have a word with the headmaster. "Alright, Harry?" Dumbledore asked as the last student left.

"Fine. Headmaster, has there been any word on Voldemort? Where he might be hiding?" Harry asked. When he saw Dumbledore's expression, he added hastily. "I'm not planning to rush off or anything. I'm just curious."

Dumbledore gave Harry a small smile. "Nothing, I'm afraid. I have theories of course, but there have been no solid leads."

"Do you think it's possible he could have been hiding at the Malfoy manor?"

"Very possible. Last I heard of poor Evra Tome, she was going to do a little investigating there. She believed she could make it look as though she had wandered in by accident."

"So Evra Tome worked for the Order?"

Dumbledore gave a short nod and place his finger to his lips thoughtfully. Harry got the message though. Don't mention that fact to anyone. "What made you think of the Malfoy manor, Harry?"

"It's something Draco Malfoy said. He acted like he was joking, but I think he was serious. Do you think he could be-" Harry could hardly believe he was saying this. "trying to help us? Trying to switch sides or turn spy or something? Like Snape did."

"I wish I knew," Dumbledore said wearily and sank into the chair behind the teacher's desk. "The Malfoy Manor was searched thoroughly several times after Lucius Malfoy's escape from Azkaban, but only once this summer. It's possible Voldemort moved in after the last raid."

"Or maybe he was hiding under the manor? The Malfoy's have a hidden chamber under their drawing room."

If Dumbledore thought it was strange that Harry knew about hidden chambers in a house he had never entered, he did not show it. "Arthur Weasley made sure that was searched, but that particular room is hardly bigger than my office and not large enough to hide twenty Death Eaters as well Voldemort. This thing Mr. Malfoy said?"

Harry recounted Draco's comments in the forum as best he could. "I think it might be worth checking out," Harry finished.

"As do I," Dumbledore agreed. "However, the Malfoy manor would not be nearly as easy to assault as the Riddle manor was." Harry tried not to grimace. He did not remember anything about the assault on the Riddle Manor being easy. Wizards had died. Dumbledore continued, "Voldemort relied mainly on secrecy before. The protections he had set up around the Riddle House were many but new and limited because the building was Muggle in origin. The Malfoy manor is a very old wizarding home, and the magic defending it is very old and deep. If Lucius Malfoy is able to make full use of it's defenses, it will be very difficult to mount a proper invasion. Not impossible, but exceedingly difficult."

"Maybe he's trying to lead us into a trap then," Harry said.

Dumbledore nodded again. He sank back more deeply into the chair. Harry was suddenly struck with concern for his headmaster. Dumbledore looked beyond weary. He looked exhausted. Almost every time Harry had tried to contact Dumbledore in his previous years at Hogwarts, he had been told that the Headmaster was busy. He had always assumed the people telling him this simply did not wanted to give him the special privilege of circumventing the normal rituals of communicating with the administration. While logically he knew Dumbledore probably was busy, at least on some of these occasions, it never occurred to him that the duties of headmaster alone could keep someone constantly busy. But then, perhaps they could, and compounded with the duties of organizing the Order of the Phoenix, advising the new minister of magic, and the newest roles of Dark Arts Professor... Dumbledore had been reinstated to his positions on the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards after the ministry had been forced to accept the reality of Voldemort's return, but Dumbledore had resigned from them voluntarily over the last year. This had confused Harry at the time, but now, he understood. Dumbledore while at one hundred and fifty something was hardly ready to retire, but he was not a young man by any stretch. Even a young man would be stretched to juggle so many roles.

He felt a strange impulse to hug Dumbledore or send him to bed. Instead he put his hands in his pockets.

"I've consider that possibility as well," Dumbledore said. "Unfortunately, I have more questions than answers. Have you had an opportunity to speak with Persephone, Harry?"

Harry was momentarily thrown by the sudden switch in the conversation. "Yeah," he said, not quite meeting Dumbledore's eyes. It wasn't exactly a lie. He had spoken to Persephone, just not in the way he knew that Dumbledore meant.

"Do you have any questions?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, not at the moment," Harry said. This of course was a complete lie, but he could not bring himself to burden or disappoint Dumbledore anymore than necessary at the moment. "I think I understand." He would just have to talk to Persephone very soon.

It showed just how tired Dumbledore was that he did not give Harry so much as a curious glance at this. "I don't suppose she's given you any insights into Mr. Malfoy?"

Harry shook his head. He hesitated again but decided that perhaps some things could not wait. "Hermione thinks she may have some influence over him."

"That's almost certain," Dumbledore said with a small smile. "But to what degree?" Dumbledore drew himself up again, and Harry saw that students were beginning to seep in for the next class.

"Thank you for your time, Headmaster," Harry said and hurriedly snatched up his books and left the classroom.

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

Harry doubted that he passed Persephone in the hall anymore than he did any other student, but everything about her from her appearance to her personality to the chatter that usually surrounded her was so loud, he noticed her more when she passed. When he didn't notice her, Hermione's pursed lips or Ron's snort usually alerted him to her presence.

When he, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna retreated to the library one evening for a quiet study session, he noticed her instantly because of the loud peal of laughter. Harry spotted Persephone sitting on one of the library tables, her feet in a chair. Peeves, the school poltergeist, was telling her a long, loud story, complete with sound effects, impersonations, and little dances in the air. Madam Pince was watching them with a very thin lipped, disapproving expression.

For a second, the five of them stood in stunned silence. Peeves made a squashy, toad like face and let out a loud croak. Persephone clapped and broke into a fresh peel of laughter.

Hermione let out an I-can't-believe-this grunt and perfunctorily straightened her prefect badge. "I'll go talk to her," she told Madam Pince.

"Don't you dare!" Madam Pince hissed, her arm shot across the desk to grab Hermione by the robes with a shocking speed for such an elderly woman. Hermione's eyes went round with shock. "Peeves was in a right state before she got in here. I've just finished cleaning up the mess." She waved her wand at Hermione, as if to show that the damaged had been so great she was forced to resort to magic. "You leave that girl alone," she said sternly and released Hermione's robe.

Harry wondered if they should go elsewhere to study, but Hermione led them trance-like to a table at the far end of the library. Hermione was usually on good terms with Madam Pince, and Harry was sure being reprimanded by her twice in a few weeks time was unsettling for her.

"Oh, they didn't!" Persephone said very loudly. Neville set his sickly Fanged Geranium on the table and made a noble attempt to start on his Herbology assignment. Ron opened his Dark Arts Text, though Harry did not think he was actually reading it. Luna spread out her Arithmancy chart and began making notes as though the library was no noisier than usual. Hermione was not even pretending to study but staring openly at Peeves and Persephone. Harry, who did not like Peeves, tried to follow Ron's lead and open his Dark Arts text, but he found himself listening anyway. From what he could make out, with the repeated references to Umbridge and a swamp in a corridor, Peeves was relating the Weasley's twin's dramatic departure from Hogwarts of two years past.

He knew it was not the story that held Hermione rapt; after all she had been there for most of it.

It was the questions that kept issuing from Persephone, and the fact that Peeves, who normally did everything in his power to avoid a straight answer, was answering every one. Granted he was answering in his own way, which generally involved exaggerations and rude noises, but he was still being more responsive than Harry had ever seen him be with a student. Of course, he reflected as Persephone let out another loud laugh, most students found Peeves more annoying than funny. Peeves probably was not used to being applauded.

"I don't believe this," Hermione muttered at last.

"Hermione, let's just leave. I can't study like this," Ron said, closing his book.

Harry caught Luna looking rather disappointed, though she covered it quickly. "Why don't we go to the courtyard?" Harry suggested.

"But it's boiling," Neville said.

"I'm sure it's all right in the shade," said Harry. Neville mournfully gathered his books back up and considered his geranium as though trying to decide whether the fresh air would do it more good or harm. Luna gave Harry a quick, grateful smile and started humming.

"Fine, let's go," Hermione said huffily. She muttered out loud as they descended the stairs towards the courtyard. "If she's got so much influence over Peeves, you'd think she could have the decency to lead him out into the hall. It's so absurd. She's even gotten to Madam Pince. She's so fake, that laugh was so fake. Peeves isn't that funny."

"I think she's nice," Neville said. Hermione turned on him, and his ears went slightly pink. "And I don't think she's fake," Neville continued, struggling to stare Hermione down. "She just enjoys people a little more than you do. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

"She doesn't like me," Luna said loftily, as though gaining Persephone's dislike was a special honor, and did not break stride, forcing the rest of them to follow her if they wanted hear more.

"I think I make her nervous, because I know what she is."

"And what is she?" Neville demanded.

"Puffy haired nutter," Ron muttered.

"She's a Silver Child," Luna said in the same I-know-something-you-don't voice she had used before.

"Well, I knew that," Neville said, sounding irritable. Luna blinked her pop eyes and looked a little more surprised than usual. "Ginny told me," he explained. "It's not like that's a big secret."

Hermione gave Harry a significant look, and Harry rolled his eyes when her back was turned.

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

Harry felt that he barely had time to turn around before it was Thursday again. It seemed horribly unfair that when he wanted to take lots of time to enjoy his last year at Hogwarts, needed more time for his increasing workload, that time decided to speed by even faster. The only nice thing about it being Thursday again so soon, is that it meant that it would soon be Friday again. All he had on Fridays was Care of Magical Creatures, and it seemed that Harry's faith in Hagrid as a teacher was finally paying off. Hagrid was doing a much better job of balancing his love of interesting creatures with his students need to prepare for their N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s. While Ron seemed morally offended that Hagrid was now assigning regular homework, "He gave us an essay. Hagrid gave us an essay!" Harry felt that it showed Hagrid was becoming a well-rounded teacher. Hermione was beaming with so much pride over him, you would have thought she set Hagrid's lesson plan. And then, just as suddenly it was Tuesday again and time for the next Forum.

Hermione joined Harry and Ron that evening at dinner with a rattling box full of what Harry was sure were S.P.E.W. badges. "You mean, you're back going to the meeting tonight?" Ron asked.

"Of course, I'm going," Hermione said.

"So am I," Harry said.

Ron stabbed moodily at his steak and kidney pie, but in the end, he said he was coming too. Harry had a feeling that Ron still had not forgiven Persephone for not spying properly on their Quidditch practice. At the moment, he was in Neville's camp. Three more people had come up to him today saying they were going to say Voldemort's proper name from now on, and several others had said they hoped he came tonight. He liked her. So what if she was wilting Draco Malfoy? If anyone deserved it, he did.

To his surprise Luna joined them after dinner, and the lot of them made their way up to the Arithmancy lab. They arrived fifteen minutes early, but the tables were already far more crowded than they had been at the last meeting. Ginny waved at them from across the room. Harry smiled and waved back. The Slytherins were still crowding around the same far table, but--it Harry took a moment to be sure--Malfoy was missing. He glanced at Hermione, but she was pouring over a set of notes, which he saw contained the word "elf" several times. Ron and Luna were conversing in whispers.

"Hi, Harry!" Persephone bounced over to him and took the seat beside him. "Had a good day?" She was beaming, clearly proud of the increased turn out.

"It was all right," Harry said. "Where's Malfoy?"

Persephone hesitated for a fraction of a second. "He has a lot of homework to do. Six classes, you know."

"Hermione takes eight," Ron said with a hint of pride.

"Really?" Persephone said and turned to Hermione with a light laugh. "When do you sleep? Oh, are those the badges?!" Her eyes scanned Hermione's notes. "I completely lost track of time last week. I really meant to give you a good fifteen minutes or so, but I guess it all worked out, didn't it? I mean there's loads more people this time. I'll try to make sure you have the floor first."

"Oh...um...thanks," Hermione said. The hum of tension that had been wound tightly around her all week noticeably softened.

"So are you usually fond of poltergeists?" Luna asked tactlessly.

"Pardon?" If the way her brow furrowed was any indication, Persephone really did not like Luna. Not that Harry could blame her, if Luna started every conversation that way.

"Well, you seemed to be rather friendly with Peeves in the library," Luna said.

"Oh, well, Peeves isn't that bad as Poltergeists go," Persephone said with a shrug.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well, you know what a poltergeist is don't you?"

Harry shook his head. "Type of ghost isn't it?" Ron said.

"They really have had shabby Dark Arts teachers recently, haven't they?" Persephone said with a shake of her head. "A ghost is a wizard, the body is merely an impression but the soul and all is intact. A poltergeist is the result of specific set of spells where a wizard tries to leave parts of themselves behind before they die. All their bad thoughts and negative emotions, they try to cut them away so their souls have a better chance of peace in the after life. Normally the people desperate enough to try to chop off bits of their own soul are pretty despicable to begin with, so poltergeist are often made up of the very worst bits of the very worst wizards."

"Does it work?" Harry asked. "Can you actually cut out all your bad parts like that?"

Persephone shrugged. "I don't think anyone knows for sure. But it can't be good Karma creating something that is only undesirable qualities. It's generally considered to be dark magic."

"Lovely, and why do we have one of these things in the school?"

"I'm sure Dumbledore has his reasons," Luna said. "They completely escape me, but I'm sure he has them."

"He probably wants to give us experience dealing with one," said Hermione.

"I think that may have something to do with it," Persephone agreed. "But mainly I think it's for the ghosts. They can't touch anything, so Peeves can act like hands for them."

Harry remembered a few years back when Nearly-headless Nick had gotten Peeves to drop a cabinet to distract Filch so Harry could make an escape. He had not thought much about it at the time, but... "But ghosts can touch things," Harry said. "Professor Binns writes things on the chalk board and grades papers. How could he do that without--?"

"Have you ever actually seen him touch the chalk or the papers?" Persephone interrupted. Harry thought. He had...hadn't he? Surely he had, but as he thought about it, he was not so sure. "After Binns died, they set up spells for him that react to voice commands. The chalk works a bit like a dictation quill. And then he has enchanted gloves that sort his paperwork for him, and an enchanted quill for grading. And that paper box on his desk has a switching spell with another one in his office. It's really rather ingenious all things they set up for him."

"So Binns does have an office?" Ron said, sounding intrigued. "You ever been in there?"

"Once," Persephone said. "The dust was awful. I sneezed for hours afterwards."

"But what about Myrtle?" Harry said. "She floods the girls bathroom from time to time."

Persephone's face clouded with concern. "Does she? Oh dear, that's not good."

"Maybe she's part poltergeist," Luna said.

"Don't be silly," Hermione sniffed without looking up from her notes. She had started reviewing again.

"It's the other way around isn't it? Poltergeist are part ghosts...Hang on," Ron said. "If a poltergeist is only half a ghost, how come it can touch things when ghosts can't?"

"Natural emotional based magic," Persephone said. "Like how untrained wizards can do magic when they're particularly angry or scared. Ghosts have all their good emotions and rational thoughts to keep what powers they have left in check, but a poltergeist just has the negative ones. Peeves is exceptionally rational as they go. A lot of them aren't much more than randomly destructive, malevolence forces." She pinched her lowered lip thoughtfully.

"Sounds like Peeves to me," Ron said.

"I feel a bit sorry for Peeves," Persephone said. "How horrible it's gotta be, knowing that you're made up of all the rejected parts of someone. I'm glad he's got a sense of humor."

"I've never found him funny," Luna said.

Persephone cast her a quick annoyed glance and shrugged. "He has his moments. The wizard he came from was a court jester, and Peeves inherited his ego along with his sense of humor, both of which got him into a bit of trouble. But it does mean that Peeves will try to please his audience if properly flattered."

"How do you know all that?" Ron asked.

"The bloody baron told me. Peeves was his jester."

"That's why the baron can control him," Harry surmised.

Persephone nodded. "He also retained that wizard's fear of the baron."

"Why so worried about Myrtle?" Luna asked finally starting to sound conversational rather than confrontational. "Afraid she's going to turn into a boggart?"

Hermione dropped her notes. She gave Luna a hard stare as if to say that she had had enough of her nonsense. "Ghosts do not turn into boggarts. Boggarts are shape shifters. We did study them in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Actually," Persephone said in a soft, calming tone. "They can, and that's exactly what I'm worried about."

Hermione's expression softened with disbelief, and she was momentarily speechless. Ron's mouth was hanging open, and even Luna looked a bit surprised that someone had agreed with her.

"It's a type of natural magic. If a ghost becomes overwhelmed by their own anger or sorrow and left to dwell on it to the point that it out weighs their rational self, they become something similar to a poltergeist able to move objects with their rage, and if nothing intervenes they can eventually turn into a full boggart, able to maintain an almost physical body by feeding off the strong emotions of others...generally fear, since it's the strongest and easiest thing for them to inspire. They become empathic, low level mind readers, which allows them to know what form will create the greatest response in their victims."

"That can't be true," Hermione said breathily. "The text book didn't say...that can't be true. He would have said if they were ghosts."

"The text books didn't really say anything about where boggarts came from," Ron said thoughtfully. "Just how to recognize and deal with them."

"I don't think it's common knowledge," Persephone said.

"But, we--" Hermione was starting to look slightly horrified. "They can't be ghosts. We've killed them. We killed one in class. Laughter kills them, you can't kill a ghost."

To Harry surprise, Persephone laughed. "You can't kill a boggart."

"Can so," Ron said defensively. "Riddikulus charm, Professor Lupin taught us."

"That doesn't kill them," Persephone said, still giggling a bit. "It just sort of disperses them. That little silver puff is them dispersing. They come back together after a while." She sobered. "That's why it seems like there's so many of them. Wizard gets rid of one and finds another a few weeks or months or even years later, but it's probably the same one they displaced the first time."

Harry nodded. Professor Lupin had found another a boggart in the castle a few months after the class had turned the first one into a whispy puff. He wondered if it had been the same boggart that he faced in the Triwizard maze.

"Can they turn back into ghosts again?" Hermione asked.

"Theoretically," Persephone said. "Though I imagine it's difficult. They're basically irrational by that point, feeding on a steady diet of fear, getting all disoriented again every time some one uses a Riddikulus charm on them. It's probably better to stop the process up front, that's why I try to spend time with Myrtle."

"You spend time with Moaning Myrtle?" Ron said, exchanging a look with Hermione.

"Not as much as I should, poor thing," said Persephone.

"I wouldn't want to spend time with her," Luna said. "She's rather odd."

Harry thought it was a bit of a laugh for Luna to being calling someone odd, but he got the impression from the set of Persephone's chin that she did not find Luna's comment funny. He decided to change the subject. "So what's up for this meeting?"

Persephone was happy to be distracted. "Well, the House Elves of course, and then I was thinking we might pick up from last week and try to answer some of those questions about Voldemort. I want to sort through the recent history, try to figure out how strong he is and the best way to take him down."

"So you don't like him do you?" Harry said, tossing his own pointed look at Ron.

"That would be putting it mildly. He's the common enemy. I think we'll all get along a lot better if we focus on that."

"It's not just him," Ron said firmly. "There's also the Death Eaters, the dementors, probably some giants."

"I think we're better off without the dementors," Luna said.

"I don't like dementors," Persephone said with theatric shudder. "I was always shocked the Ministry used them. You don't want to know what those things are made of."

"Made of?" Harry said.

"Dementors are constructs," Persephone said. "Takes some really powerful dark magic rituals to put one together. You really don't want to know."

"Why not?" Ron asked. "You're not going to tell us they're ghosts too."

"No, dementors don't have souls. Not ones of their own at any rate." Persephone's silver eyebrows knitted. "They're like black holes for anything good and light. There's nothing good in them by design, nothing redeemable. The ritual to make one starts with a wizard's corpse and then it gets rather unpleasant from there." Ron made a face.

"You know how to make a dementor?" Hermione breathed looking slightly aghast.

Persephone was looking at the table and missed her expression. "In theory. I doubt I could actually pull it off, even if I wanted to. I don't think anyone's made one in five hundred years or so. Not since Metus Fabricador, he's the dark wizard who came up with them, but he certainly made enough of them. He left notes on his process, but I can't image why anyone would ever want to make more. They take a lot out of their maker, and they're difficult to control, likely to turn on their masters. Really hard to kill."

"Can they be killed?" Harry asked.

"Theoretically, but I couldn't tell you how. I don't think the Ministry could figure it out, that's why they put them to guarding Azkaban. That might be a worthwhile project though," she said thoughtfully. "If we could figure out a more effective way to fight them, that would do loads of good."

"Sort of an expert on dark creatures, aren't you?" Ron said.

Persephone shook her head. "Oh, no, not really. I do know an awful lot about Vampires though. I think they're really fascinating. Oliver got me a book on dark creature rituals cause it had a chapter on them. That's where I picked up most of those bits on the dementors and so on."

"Persephone, it's eight!" A voice shouted from the Slytherin table.

"Right, Chess, thanks!" Persephone gave Harry another broad smile and hopped to her feet. "Ready Hermione?"

Hermione was of course ready. Making passionate speeches about House Elf rights was one of her favorite things to do. Harry and Ron had heard all her arguments so many times that they tuned them out automatically. Harry watched the crowd instead. The students listened politely at first...well, most of them did. Some of the Slytherins were whispering and snickering. Then there was the general debate about whether the House Elves were happy, was this really an important issue, and why on earth was the organization called spew?

"It's not spew. It's S.P.E.W." Oddly enough it was Persephone rather than Hermione that said this. "It's an acronym, and what we're using until we find one we like better." Harry thought it a little odd that she said we, because to his knowledge she had never bought a badge. "Besides it's not the name that's important, it's the mission. We should guarantee some basic rights to House Elves." Persephone's approach to Half Elf rights was far more moderate than Hermione's from what Harry could make out, but she still would not allow the group to leave the subject for a good thirty minutes. A few people even looked moderately interested, but most of the crowd looked progressively bored, even irritated. They had not come to talk about House Elves. They had come to discuss Voldemort.

At length the conversation turned to Voldemort and with some reluctance his Death Eaters. Hermione still was not willing to let Harry fill in details of Voldemort's past, so the other students were focusing on trying to assess his strength. With the air of someone slating executions, Persephone wrote the names of known Death Eaters on the black board as other students provided them. Harry watched the faces of various Slytherins as their parents' names were mentioned. It was then that he noticed Pansy Parkinson had not come to the meeting either. Crabbe and Goyle were there. Their expressions were dull and unreadable as their father's names were called. Harry thought they looked like two heavy books ends missing their book. Theodore Nott made it very clear that Death Eater Hasdrubal Nott was his uncle and gave Harry a very nasty look.

And then they started marking the names. 'D' for dead, 'A' for Azkaban, and a question mark for missing or location unknown. D. A. D. A. ?. ?. ?. Seamus Finnigan caught Harry's eye, and Harry knew what he was thinking. Had she ordered them that way on purpose? Harry shrugged with his eyebrows. He thought it unlikely, since the list had been created by students yelling names as they came to mind. He knew Ron was pressing his lips together so tightly to stop himself from yelling out Severus Snape. ?. D. ?. ?. ?. D. D. ?. ?. A. A. A. ?. ?. ?. D. D. The pattern became irregular, though patches of 'D's, 'A's, and questions marks were sticking together because they were pulled from the same Prophet article.

By the end of the list, he thought Persephone looked a little white, though her voice stayed clear as she asked one of the Ravenclaws to make a copy on parchment and wiped the board. Then they made a list of non-humans (though this one came as types rather than names) such as dementors, giants, vampires, and trolls that might be joining Lord Voldemort. Very reluctantly, Persephone added werewolves to the list at the insistence of several other students, but she out right refused to put goblins on the board. Harry finally opened his mouth to back her up on this and found it strange, as he often did despite his head boy badge, that people listened to him.

He was fairly certain that every detail of these meetings would make their way back to Voldemort's ears, not necessarily because of Persephone, but because Crabbe and Goyle obviously had not come to the meetings to participate and Indigo Stump was making notes the entire time.

The goblin's loyalties were still very vague things, and Harry did not want to offend them by accusing them of supporting Voldemort without some very hard proof, even if it was just a student meeting. Maybe his support for the goblins would reach their ears through students' letters homes. He could picture the headlines now Harry Potter Has Faith in Goblins. Good, let them write it. He wanted to apply the advice Felix had given him last year, You should use your fame instead of letting it use you.

Hermione was giving him a very approving smile. She had been extremely vocal during the werewolf debate but seemed to think Harry had this well in hand.

And then the conversation turned to each set of creatures in turn and the best ways to defend against them. Harry had thought at first that Hermione might try to keep him silent like she had about Voldemort, but she seemed to think these were safe topics since they did not deal with any secret Order of the Phoenix or D.A. information. It was a good thing, because he had a fair bit to say about dementors. Ron gave a nice long speech on how to subdue giants without actually killing them, and it turned out Persephone did know a rather frightening amount about vampires.

Ten o'clock came even faster than it had last time. It was five after when Harry looked at his watch, started, and called a stop to the meeting. They returned to their common rooms in large groups, continuing to buzz with loud conversation, and clinging to the logic that Filch could not possibly put everyone in detention.

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

The first Hogsmeade trip was announced for the weekend preceding Halloween, and Ron, Hermione, and Harry put in an extra effort to keep up with their homework so they would not have to miss it. Hogsmeade itself had worn off much of its wonder by sixth year, but Fred and George had promised to meet them at The Three Broomsticks. Hoping for some news of Voldemort or the Order or anything (the Prophet had been disappointingly dry since start of term), Ron and Harry had joined Hermione at a common room table on Saturday, staying up late to finish their Transfiguration essays and practice conjuring teacups so that McGonagall would not be tempted to assign them extra homework.

Ginny posed lazily on the couch while Dean Thomas sketched her. A rather talented fifth year was playing a nice drifty melody on his lute. A group of second year girls were engaged in Bob and Bauble, a board game that consisted of levitating, gem like playing pieces and did not seem to require any great skill. A few younger students were taking up Harry, Ron, and Hermione's favorite seats by the fire and having a low conversation, but otherwise the common room was fairly deserted.

"Well, it's part of a cup," Ron said with a sigh and vanished the failed attempt. Hermione had managed to conjure some hot water as well as her china blue cup and was dipping a tea bag into it. Harry was having difficulty concentrating and had managed somehow to conjure a few fresh tealeaves but no cup. He envied Ron his handle but felt satisfied that he had at least finished his essay first.

When they took a break, Hermione got them all cups and hot water, and their conversation turned back to the D.A. and the Forum. Hermione wanted Harry to set another meeting, but Harry was in no hurry. Some first and second year students had told him the Friday Study Group was putting a lot of emphasis on their Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, which were more challenging than they had ever been. Professor Snape's Dueling Club was infinitely more popular than Professor Lockhart's had ever been. Though this probably had less to do with Snape's charming personality and more to do with fact he was not completely incompetent. Snape had been in a genuinely good mood as the term progressed. Probably because the Dueling Club was as close as he had come to teaching a regular Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Harry still did not like Snape, but he was finding him slightly more tolerable. It had been quite a shock to overhear a few non-Slytherin first years say that Snape was their favorite teacher. It was less of shock to hear that several members of the Dueling Club were becoming genuinely frightened of Victoria Dey. From the imperious way she passed in the halls, Harry gathered she was enjoying her success.

What it all meant was that the first and second years were getting a thorough grounding and the third through fifth years were getting ample experience in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The sixth and seventh year D.A. members had formed several small study groups. Harry did not see much point in having meetings at the moment. The Forum was performing as a basic information gathering function, and Harry did not have anything more specific to tell the D.A. members.

"Maybe that's what she's up to," Ron said. "Trying to take away our reasons for keeping up the D.A., hoping we'll give up on it."

"By creating clubs to perform the same function?" Harry said doubtfully. "It's not a plan that really smacks of evil genius, is it?"

"I don't know if she's evil," Ron said. "But that doesn't make her trustworthy either."

"What do you think, Hermione? Still think she's working for Voldemort?"

"Oh, I don't know what to think about her," Hermione admitted. Ron fell off his chair so naturally that it took Harry a moment to realize he had done it on purpose. "Droll, Ron. I think Harry might have a point, but then again, that doesn't make her necessarily a good guy. Dumbledore said 'unpredictable', right?"

"Lets look at this from the reverse angle," Harry said. "Instead of asking why should we trust her, maybe we should ask, why shouldn't we trust her?"

"She's a Slytherin, mate," Ron said as if this explained everything.

"I wonder why she's in Slytherin," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Wha'd'ya mean?"

"I mean that I wonder if she was sorted or if she simply got assigned to Slytherin because Addy Flint left a vacancy?"

Harry put his teacup down very slowly. "What do you mean, Addy Flint left a vacancy?"

"Well, since she didn't come back to Hogwarts this year there would be room in the Slytherin sixth year girls dorm," said Hermione, taking a sip from her own cup.

"Why didn't anyone tell me Addy Flint was gone?" Harry asked sharply. Ron shrugged to say that he had not known.

Hermione looked puzzled. "I thought I did tell you...or maybe I just thought about telling you. Sorry. Do you think it's important?"

"The daughter of a known Death Eater disappears, and you don't think it's important?"

"She didn't disappear," Hermione said. "She transferred to Beauxbatons. And I didn't say it's not important, but I'd still like to know whether Persephone was sorted or not. It might help explain things."

"Oh, she was sorted," Ginny said from the couch. They all jumped a bit. Harry had not realized she might be listening.

"How d'you know?" Ron asked.

"She told me," Ginny said, twisting about. "Honestly, I can't believe you're still worried about her. I've been thinking about inviting her to a D.A. meeting."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea yet," Hermione said.

"Why don't you let me be the one to ask her, Ginny," Harry said to cut off the debate.

Ginny grinned suggestively at him. "Sure thing, Harry. Why don't you ask her to meet you in Hogsmeade while you're at it?"

Harry grimaced. Ron rolled his eyes and muttered, "Oh, please."

"Oh come on," Ginny said. "She still likes you. She thrilled by what you said about Goblins. She talked about it so much in Potions, Snape made her stay after class."

"You know I never thought about asking him about her," Hermione said softly.

"You know, Hermione, I think she favors you a bit," Ginny said.

"What?" Hermione looked surprised. Ron frowned.

"Yeah, she does a bit," said Dean thoughtfully. He tapped his closed sketchbook against his chin, having despaired of Ginny staying still long enough for him to finish.

Harry looked at Hermione and failed to see a resemblance beyond them both being young Caucasian females. Hermione was a year or two older and several inches taller than Persephone, with thinner features and more normal coloring. "If you're talking about my hair--" she began tersely

"No, your hair's really tame by comparison," Ginny said dismissively. "It's more expressions and mannerisms. Like that thing you do with your eyebrows."

Hermione scowled. "What thing I do with my eyebrows?"

"That's it!" Ginny said, pointing. "That look you get when you think something isn't quite right. Persephone does that."

"She does do that, doesn't she?" Dean agreed with an expert nodded. "And the thing where she always has her hand in the air." He stretched his arm up to demonstrate. Hermione puffed her cheeks out as she was trying very hard not to scowl. Dean laughed. "Don't worry, Hermione, I think we'll still be able to keep you straight. Night all."

"It's not a bad thing," Ginny said as Dean disappeared up the stairs, and she joined them at the table. "She's not bad looking."

"I don't see it," Ron said loyally.

Ginny shrugged. "Harry, you really ought to think about Hogsmeade. It's your last year. You should try to enjoy it as much as you can."

"I'm going to Hogsmeade," Harry said.

"Oh, you're hopeless. I'm going to bed too," said Ginny, shaking her head so that her shoulder length red hair whipped out to either side.

"I do not look like her," Hermione muttered under her breath after Ginny had gone.

"I don't see it either," Harry told her.

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

Hedwig brought Harry a letter the next morning. The handwriting looked familiar, though he could not place it until he opened the envelope and saw the signature. "It's from Cho," he said.

Ron and Hermione looked up with interest. "What does she say?" Hermione asked evenly.

Harry scanned the letter. "She's moving to China," he said dully. "If I'm reading between the lines correctly, it's stuff for the Order."

"Dumbledore wanted to recruit as many foreign wizards as possible," Hermione said with a smart nod.

"Still, rather a stiff letter isn't it?" Ron said after he had read it. Harry shrugged. It was a little matter of fact in his opinion, but he found this did not bother him as much as it might once have. "Well, good riddance," Ron said as if it was the best thing that could have happened to Harry.

"I'm sure she's not gone forever," Hermione said bracingly.

Harry shrugged again. "It's not like there was really anything between us," he said. She was just my first crush, my first kiss, my only kiss. "She was nice enough to send me a letter. She didn't have to write me." It was considerate of her. I wasn't her first anything.

"Exactly," Hermione said, shooting a stifling look at Ron.

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

Crookshanks had been looking a bit shabbier than usual, so after breakfast Hermione retrieved him from Gryffindor tower, and they headed to Hagrid's. They met Persephone coming back in from the grounds, her cheeks flushed slightly pink. The air had switched a few days ago to normal October crispness.

"Hallo!" she said brightly.

"Wotcher," said Harry.

Hermione opened her mouth, but Crookshanks took that moment to let out a loud yowl and start hissing. Persephone stepped backed, wide-eyed as Crookshanks alternated between flailing a claw at her and trying to scramble over Hermione's shoulder. "Crookshanks!" Hermione yelped reprovingly. He was making a great deal of noise, yowling and hissing as she tried to calm him. He did not stop until Persephone had backed a good six feet away, even then he fixed her with a vicious stare and made a low warning sound. "I'm sorry," Hermione said, because Persephone looked shaken and close to tears. "He's usually better behaved than that."

"Persephone!" Pansy Parkinson shouted from the top of the marble stairs, and looking relieved for the escape, she hurried away.

"Naughty, Crookshanks," Hermione said soothingly as they continued towards Hagrid's hut.

"Well, now, we know there's something not right about her," Ron said.

"I don't know," Hermione said as she stroked the ginger cat with her cheek, no conviction in her voice.

"Crookshanks had Scabbers figured out before the rest of us," Ron said with conviction.

"Yeah," Harry said. "He also nearly clawed us to death that time in the cab. No telling what spooked him. He's a rather peculiar cat. No offense, Hermione."

"Well, he did take a dislike to my cousin Herbert," Hermione said, still looking uncertain.

"You got a cousin Herbert?"

Hermione stepped forward and rapped on Hagrid's door. There was a burst of loud barking and too late they remembered Fang. Crookshanks let out a particularly shrill screech, twisted loose of Hermione's grasp, and shot across the lawn. Hermione let out a moan and ran after him. Ron ran after her. Harry started to chase after them but decided someone ought to let Hagrid know what had happened. A second or two later, Hagrid opened the door.

"Lo there, Harry," Hagrid said and caught sight of Ron chasing Hermione across the grounds. He watched them with a peculiar expression for a few seconds.

"We were bringing Crookshanks to see you, and he got away," Harry explained.

"I see," Hagrid said, his beard twitching. "Well, cats and dogs...By the way, I heard Persephone's been causin' a bit of a stir. You need ter tell her ter be careful, Harry."

"I need to tell her?"

"I figure she might listen to you," Hagrid said. "Piece of work, that one. Getting' the Slytherins worked up when she oughta be keepin'er head down."

"I like what she's doing with the forum," Harry said firmly.

"Trouble, the lot of yeh," Hagrid said with a grin and a resigned shake of his head. Ron and Hermione had stopped running, and Hermione was kneeling down and trying to coax Crookshanks towards her.

"Just getting old I'm afraid," Hagrid told her later, after they had managed to get Crookshanks calmed down and far away from Fang. "He wasn'no kitten when you bought'im."

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

"Neville, what are you doing?" Ron asked later that night at dinner.

Neville was shaking so much pepper on a bite-sized piece of chicken that it was turning black. His sickly Fanged Geranium was looking worse than ever and drooping its petals towards the plate. "Persephone suggested giving him pepper. Not sure it'll work, but I'm getting desperate."

"I'm still not sure why you're trying to keep that thing alive in the first place," said Ron.

"The seeds are used in Nerve Regenerative Potions," Neville said calmly. "But it won't seed if it doesn't get stronger."

"Oh," Ron said, looking a little surprised to get a perfectly reasonable answer. Harry chuckled.

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

Dumbledore had them attempting Patronuses in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry could not help looking smug as several members of the D.A. managed to produce a full corporeal Patronus on the first attempt and left the Slytherins gaping. Draco Malfoy was having a particularly hard time with the spell and could not get much more than a few silver sparks to come out of his wand.

Harry was having a little better luck with conjuring, although his teacups looked more like coffee mugs. In Flitwick's class they had started a section on Protean Charms, which Hermione had mastered back in their fifth year. Snape had them brewing Wolfsbane in Potions, a project that promised to occupy them until Halloween, and Hagrid was hinting about something "interesting" for Friday's lesson.

Harry half-considered skipping the third Forum to work on some of his projects, but curiosity got the better of him. The Arithmancy lab was nearly as crowded as it had been the week before. Harry was a little surprised to see that Draco Malfoy had returned, though he still had the look of wanting to be elsewhere. Draco noticed Harry too and watched him for a while as he, Ron, and Hermione found seats. He did look slightly drawn, wilted, and Harry felt a short-lived flash of guilt for having dismissed him before. Why had he had so much trouble with the Patronus?

Neville had joined them this time. His Fanged Geranium had made a full recovery, and he was giving himself the night off from nursing it. "It worked!" he said happily as Persephone wandered up to them. She had her hands clasped and was humming absently.

"What did?" she asked sitting down on her knees and putting her elbows on the table in a posture more appropriate to ten-year-old than a teenager.

"The pepper," Neville said.

"Oh," Persephone said, looking as though she had not the faintest idea what he was talking about. "I'm glad." She continued humming, not quite looking at any of them. Ron was giving her a surly glare. Harry was confused by this until he recognized the tune Persephone was humming.

"Weasley is Our King" had become a Gryffindor fight song, but it had started life quite differently. For its lack of musical brilliance, it had all the enduring qualities of a particularly annoying jingle. It was not unusual for it to be heard being hummed absently by students at odd intervals in the school corridors, picked up and passed along from one unwitting host to another. Harry had caught himself humming it during a few unguarded moments, but he knew it took on a completely different quality when being hummed by a Slytherin, particularly for Ron.

"What's on the agenda today?" Harry asked, trying to stop her from humming.

Persephone shrugged. "Je n'a pas d'idée. Les occasions sont interminables." Harry blinked. At least she had stopped humming.

"Is that French?" Hermione asked.

"Oui," Persephone said brightening. "Parlez-vous le français?"

"Je sais un peu," Hermione responded.

Persephone clapped her hands. "Merveilleux, où avez-vous appris?"

"J'ai dépensé un été en France," Hermione said, and then abruptly switched back to English. "Where did you learn it?"

"I've been taking lesson since I was six," said Persephone with a broad smile. "You know what's sad? I've never been to France. Oh, I would love to go to another the country some day."

"You're from another country," said Ron.

"Well, I mean go to one that isn't English speaking," she amended. "You know that's one big problem I've always seen with the Hogwarts education, there are no foreign language classes."

"There's Ancient Ruines," Neville said. "That's a bit like a language class."

"I don't think dead languages should count," Persephone said. "I mean the Muggle schools all have foreign language departments. Why not us?"

"I suppose it's because Hogwarts focuses on teaching subject matter unique to the wizarding experience," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"How about classes in magical languages? Things Muggles won't study like Mermish and Gobbledegook."

"Dumbledore speaks Mermish," Harry said.

"I wish I knew a little Giant," Ron murmured, and Luna giggled.

"See, there's a student interest," Persephone said, completely missing the joke. "Maybe we should start a petition or something."

Hermione looked genuinely intrigued. "It's an idea. Might be good to do a little research first though. See if we can show that there are appropriate resources available."

"If resources are a problem, we could always get rid of Divination," Harry suggested. "It's an absolute rubbish class, and they're keeping two teachers for it now."

Persephone snorted. "Don't even get me started on Divination. Completely useless the lot of it. I hated every lesson. I really thought Dumbledore was going to phase it out."

"He had the chance to get rid of Trelawney," Ron said wistfully. "I wasn't no fan of Umbridge's, but you gotta admit, she was right about her."

"I'm sure Dumbledore has his reasons for keeping her," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but I don't think they're enough to subject a lot of unwary students to big waste of three years," said Harry who knew what Dumbledore's reasons for keeping Trelawney were, and after three years of classes with her, wished the headmaster had found a another way to keep her occupied.

"If only I could have back all the hours I wasted staring into crystal balls."

"You'd waste them doing something else," Hermione suggested.

"Exactly," Ron said with a dreamy smile. "Harry, did you ever see anything in Divination?" Harry shook his head.

"Should have dropped it like I did," Hermione said in an I-told-you-so-but-you-wouldn't-listen voice. "Only class I ever got bad marks in, just couldn't bring myself to pretend I was seeing stuff that wasn't there."

"OOhhh," Ron said in a that-explains-everything-tone. "You never told us you were getting bad marks. I just thought you quit out of righteous indignation, but now--" He made misty signs in the air. "--it's all clear."

"I got good marks," Persephone said, picking moodily at the wood grain on the table surface. "Still completely useless. Who wants to see the future anyway? Every second can change it, so it's really not useful at all. It's all guesswork and showy tricks."

"Well, there are real prophecies," Hermione said. Harry shot her the quelling look this time, though it was probably unnecessary.

This did not seem to be news to Persephone. "Sure, but you can't teach someone to make real prophecies. They just do or don't. And you can't teach them to manage them, because they just happen. So what's the point in having a class for it. It's like this elaborate shared delusion."

"Yeah, I don't see how anyone keep all that mad stuff straight anyway," Ron said. "All those mad books about crinkles on you hands, bumps on your head, and shapes in your tea."

Persephone nodded her agreement. "Load of nonsense all of it. Even when you go by the book, it never comes out right." She took hold of Harry's hand, which surprised him enough that he didn't protest, and turned it palm up. "For example, look at Harry's 'life line'. According to this, you should have died when you were one years old."

Harry snatched his hand away. "That's not funny," he said tersely.

Persephone blinked at him in surprise. "It wasn't supposed to be. I mean you're obviously not dead."

Harry felt his heart beaten quicken, so that he could hear the blood rushing past his ears. Suddenly all the crazy things, Hermione, Ron, and Luna had been saying about Persephone seemed very possible. The assessing look she was giving him in return seemed very cold. "Why don't you go start the meeting?" he said coolly.

She looked taken aback at being dismissed but swallowed her protest and slipped away. Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Neville were all looking at him curiously.

You have the shortest life line I've ever seen, Potter.

...you should have died...

He, Ron, and Hermione spoke in low whispers as the meeting got underway. This time the students ended up making a timeline of Voldemort's rise to power. A subject that had been skirted in all their History of Magic Classes. At the beginning of the time line, someone had drawn a large box with the question "Where does he come from?" written inside.

Some of the students had obviously done some research before hand. When they got to the point sixteen years ago, when Voldemort had attacked the infant Harry and lost his powers, Persephone's jaw fell open and she whirled as if to say something to Harry but quickly snapped herself back around. "That was nice act," Ron murmured in a very low voice. "Trying to pretend she didn't know."

Harry glanced at Malfoy who was keeping silent. They could have set up that little routine just like they had set up the glass incident. Was that why he had come back? To watch Harry's reaction? He was certainly stealing several glances in their direction.

The meeting wound up a good half hour earlier than it had before. The time line was copied onto a few roles of parchment and people started wandering out of the room in small clusters. Neville and Luna slipped out, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione lingered behind to discuss a few things.

After a few minutes, the room was nearly deserted. Persephone wiped the board very slowly. She rolled up the scrolls of parchments and cast another long glance at Harry as though wanting to say something but thinking better of it. Hermione stood up, saying something about the common room, and Harry and Ron stood up but hung back from the door. It was blocked by Persephone and Malfoy who were having a small, quick argument in hushed tone. Persephone lost and walked back into the room.

"Harry, I need to talk to you," she said.

"Go ahead," he said.

"In private," she said in a firm voice but looking a little nervous.

"You can say whatever it is in front of Ron and Hermione," said Harry.

"No, I can't," she said, biting her lip and looked rather pleadingly into his eyes. "It's personal."

"Oh for Artemis sake," Ron snorted. "He doesn't want to go out with you."

"What?" Persephone said. She looked at Ron then Harry wide-eyed. "Go out with Harry? Oh my--that would be too weird!" She started to laugh. "Go out with...of course I don't want to go out with Harry." She started to laugh harder. "Is that-is that what you thought?"

Harry shot Ron a nasty look. "No," he said testily, knowing that his face was going red despite his best efforts. Was the idea of going out with him really that absurd? It made it worse that Draco was now laughing too.

"That's what you thought she wanted to talk you about, Potter?" Malfoy blurted, leaning on the doorframe for support. "You really are thick, aren't you?"

"Be nice, Draco," Persephone said still shaking with laughter. "I still have to--" She looked at Harry and laughed even harder. "Oh, I can't do it now." She stumbled back to the door and fell against Draco, clutching at him as though unable to support herself in her hysterics. "I can't...I'll have to...later." Malfoy opened his mouth to say something but squeezed his eye shut unable to get anything out.

"It's NOT THAT FUNNY," Harry shot at them, feeling far beyond annoyed.

"Yes, it is!" Malfoy managed. "If you only knew!"

Persephone hit him on the arm. "Not NOW! Don't you dare tell him now!"

"Okay," Malfoy gasped. "Okay." She gave him a push towards the door, and he stumbled into the hall still laughing, still clutching at her hand.

Persephone attempted to master her giggles and only half succeeded. "I'll talk you later, Harry." She hurried out of the room.

"Later, Potter!" Malfoy cried gleefully as he disappeared after her.

For a moment, they stood in a stunned silence in the empty room, listening to the snickers fade down the hall.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said acidly.

"What did I do?"

"What on earth was that all about?" Hermione said.

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

Harry was still burning with embarrassment and the strong desire to punch Malfoy the next day. He ignored Persephone's attempt to get his attention by calling his name and waving in big arches in the hall. Feeling spiteful, he set the next meeting date for the same time as the Forum, though Hermione argued him into changing it. "We're still a secret organization in theory, and that many people suddenly missing will draw attention." So he set it for Friday evening instead. He barely heard what Hagrid was telling them about Blurbelluches, because his mind was churning over his neglected D.A.

After the other students filled the Room of Requirement, Harry told them that they were going to start by making their own time line and list of Death Eaters. "But we're already doing that in the Forum," Dean Thomas protested.

"Our list will be better," Harry insisted. "The D.A. has information the rest of the student body doesn't. There are some people at the Forum meetings, who may be leaking information back to Voldemort. I've got too much to do this year, to keep up with the Forum and the D.A., so I'll need a few people to volunteer to keep going and let us know if anything significant is said."

Dean volunteered. Ginny didn't. "We've got to put in some extra Quidditch practices before the season starts," she said. Hannah Abbot and Ernie Macmillan volunteered. "We are prefects after all." So did Padma and Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Colin Creevey.

Harry spent the rest of the meeting helping people with their Patronuses, which put a stop to any grumbling.

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

When they met the Weasley twins in Hogsmeade the next day, Fred and George treated them to lunch at Hestia's Table, a nice restaurant that Harry had never been inside. He had hoped that Fred and George would bring news from the Order. "We'd love to tell you something, Harry," Fred said. "But we don't know anything."

"Well, that might be going a bit far," George said looking mock-offended. "But it's pretty close to the truth."

"What about the Malfoy manor?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Might be something," Fred said in a low voice. "I've spent a lot of time peeking through windows at Narcissa Malfoy."

"What do mean peeking through windows?" Ron said in a disgusted voice.

"Well, can't get inside very easily," Fred said. "We took the invisibility cloak and tried, but they've got some kind of alarm set up apparently. It went off, and Mrs. Malfoy actually called the Ministry of Magic to report a break in. Made a big fuss, insisted on calling in Aurors to search the place for intruders and everything."

He spoke in a high damsel in distress voice. "I'm here all alone, my husband missing, and my son at school, and I'm so scared. Really put on the waterworks."

"Unfortunately, the Ministry seems to be satisfied that she isn't hiding anything," said George. "Diggory's heart is in the right place, but he's a bit to honest for his own good. Can't recognize a snake in the grass until it rears to bite him."

"I'll take Diggory over Fudge any day," said Harry.

"Me too," George agreed. "At least Dumbledore isn't buying it. He thinks there's still a good chance she's hiding something. So we've been watching the house, seeing who comes and goes. Well, the Order has. Ministry won't go near it until we get something so solid."

"No sign of Voldemort then?" Hermione asked.

"Not a whisper," said Fred. "It's kind of weird. I know he's out there. I don't think anyone doubts that...not really, but it's getting hard to keep people motivated. Not a move from the other side in over four months. I think they're all hoping that Harry managed to knock him out for another fourteen year loop."

"I didn't," Harry said glumly.

"We know," George said. "But unfortunately that's about all we know at the moment."

"He hasn't er..." Fred began uneasily. "You haven't gotten any...er..." He pointed at his head.

"No visions," Harry said. "He finally figured out how to block me about a month or so before the raid on the Riddle Manor."

"Right," Fred said, looking as though he could not decided whether to be relieved or disappointed.

"And I don't think he's tried to get into my head either," Harry added, because George was still looking at him.

"Well, how are you doing, Hermione?" George asked instead.

"Hm?" Hermione said groggily looking up from the soup on which she had been concentrating.

"Excited about your N.E.W.T.s?" he asked with a grin.

"Oh, sure," Hermione said dully, then moaned and laid her hand in her head.

Ron made a slashing gesture across his throat, and the twins nodded. "Gotcha."

Harry and Ron sent her to bed when they got back to the Gryffindor common room, and to their relief, she didn't argue.

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

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were called in to help decorate the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. They had a lot fun spending an hour or so carving a jack-o-lantern out of one of Hagrid's enormous pumpkins. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were directing the hanging of enchanted cobwebs with candy filled spiders, while Peeves floated overhead singing, "I know a secret. I know a secret." and saying very rude things to anyone who asked what it was.

Pansy kept accidentally sending the fake spiders in Ron's direction. Harry made sure to snatch them up and thank her loudly for the candy before they made it to his best friend.

Whatever Malfoy had found so funny at the Forum must have lost it's power to amuse. He was back to looking quiet and pensive. He even told Pansy to quit wasting the spiders.

Harry was filled with a sense of nostalgia for everything at Hogwarts. He was even going to miss Malfoy. He was sure he would get over that pretty soon, but he was definitely going to miss the Great Hall and Gryffindor tower and spending his days with Ron and Hermione. There was something about laughing and having their faces and hands covered with pumpkin innards that made Hermione particularly pretty and Ron the best thing he had ever seen.

They went to prefects' bathroom to wash up. Hermione disappearing to the girls' side, and reemerging much later, freshly scrubbed and smelling of strawberries.

At dinnertime, they followed the bubbling chatter of the crowd back down to the Great Hall. Harry tried to drink it all in. He wanted to savor every moment of the Halloween feast, his last Halloween feast as a student.

Hermione paused at the door. "Where are they going?"

Harry followed her gaze to see Persephone and Draco Malfoy glancing over their shoulders and hurrying down the stairs to the dungeon. Harry shrugged. "Entrance to the Slytherin common room is in the dungeons."

"Yeah, but everyone else is going to the feast," Ron said.

Harry did not like the looks forming on his friends' faces. It was a mixture of distrust and curiosity that usually led to them spying on someone. Harry had similar suspicions that something was up, but he really wanted to just go to the Halloween feast this year. "Maybe they forgot something."

Hermione gave Harry a look.

"Let's make sure," Ron said. He jogged to the staircase. Hermione followed him. Harry sighed and followed after Hermione.

They followed the two Slytherins into the dungeons. Draco and Persephone did not seem to be too worried about someone following them once they got down the stairs. With everyone at the Halloween Feast in the Great Hall, the dungeons were fairly deserted. Malfoy and P. were talking to each other in low voices, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione were staying too far back to hear what they were saying. They passed the Potions classroom and headed deeper into the dungeons. There were no signs forbidding students from coming down this far, but the dungeons were cold and unwelcoming.

"...said it was over here..." Persephone's voice floated down the hall.

Ron and Hermione peered around the corner. "They're probably sneaking off to make-out," Harry muttered. He could not imagine anyone wanting to kiss Malfoy, but he made no claim of understanding how girls think. Hermione elbowed him to be quiet.

"There's something moving..." That was P.

"Back off." That was Malfoy.

Hermione took a step out from behind the corner where they had been hiding. She was squinting as though trying to see something. Ron took a step out as well, looking for whatever Hermione was looking for. Curiosity got the best of Harry, and he looked out from behind the corner.

In the dim light of hall he could make out the fair hair of Malfoy's white-blonde and Persephone's silver. Harry had to squint to make them out properly. They were backing away from a side hall that was completely cloaked in shadow. Draco had a hand stretched out protectively towards Persephone, and she was backing up more quickly.

"Lumos," Persephone said clearly. The end of her wand lit up, and Harry had to blink to adjust to the new light level. For a moment it was quiet, then the shadow of the darkened hall seemed to take on a life of its own. There was a sound like fabric slithering over stone and the shadow oozed towards their feet. Persephone and Draco took a few more cautious retreating steps. Then the thing in the darkness stepped into the light from Persephone's wand.

Persephone let out a short high-pitched scream, so did Ron, only at a lower pitch. Persephone whirled about to see who was behind her, frowned, but quickly turned back to thing before her. It was a figure, slightly larger than human, lost in a sea of black robes. But floating a top the sea under the black hood was a snake like visage. It was a face Harry knew all to well. It was the face of Lord Voldemort.

The joys waiting upstairs at the Halloween Feast faded from Harry's mind. This was not what he had been expecting to find, but if Voldemort want to fight here then fine. Harry would fight here. Harry would destroy the monster that killed his parents. Ron and Hermione had their wands pointed at the dark figure but seemed uncertain what course to take. Harry took a few steps forward. His wand was held at ready. He wished Draco would get out of the way and give him a clear shot.

But Draco appeared to be rooted in place, and Voldemort was approaching Draco with a very nasty expression between a smile and pure loathing. "L-lord Voldemort, I-I," Draco stuttered.

"Get out of the way, Malfoy!" Harry shouted. But Draco did not move, and to Harry's surprised neither did Voldemort. Harry had expected Voldemort to at least look in his direction, but the Dark Lord's eyes stayed fixed on Draco. Voldemort reached into his robes and pulled out his wand. He pointed the wand at Draco.

"Stop!" Harry yelled. Voldemort continued as if he could not hear Harry. Wand at ready, he slinked closer to the frozen Draco. Harry frowned. There was something extremely annoying about being ignored by your mortal enemy. Hermione seemed to sense there was something off as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw her wand waver and her look to Harry for guidance. Persephone looked at Harry as well, then she looked back at Voldemort. She repeated this slowly.

"I'm going to kill you this time, Voldemort!" Harry yelled, taking a few more steps forward. Ron made a squeaking noise. He had never seen Voldemort in person, and Harry's naming him confirmed what the nasty dark thing was.

"OLI-OLI-OXEN-FREE!" Persephone shouted. They all looked at her as if she had gone mad, except Voldemort who was still fixated on Draco and Draco who was still frozen.

"It's a -" Hermione began.

"It's a boggart!" Persephone announced. She gave a short relieved laugh, and Voldemort flinched. Harry dropped his wand back down to his side. He felt relief and a little disappointment, but mostly relief. "It's just a boggart. Use the Riddikulus charm."

"Right," Draco murmured. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Voldemort. "Riddikulus!" Voldemort's black robes became white and covered in a large floral pattern. Everyone laughed a short mirthless laugh of relief. The fact that the charm had worked proved this was a boggart and not the dark lord. Draco made a breathy sound, which Harry guessed was an attempt at a laugh. Then his wand arm stiffened, and he began to shake slightly. The flowers on the boggart's robes were beginning to bleed. The blood soaked through the fabric, slowly obscuring the flower pattern until the entire robe was covered in red. Ron made a small moaning sound. Hermione's face was squinched up in disgust. Harry was watching Draco who was shaking even more. Persephone pushed Draco against the wall, putting herself between him and the boggart.

The boggart's robes began to twist and shrink. Persephone held her wand out, ready for whatever the boggart might become for her. What the boggart became was short girl in Slytherin robes with wild silver hair. It became another Persephone. The original twitched. Harry could not see her face, but he could tell this was not what she had been expecting.

"What a curious fear," the doppelganger said, looking at her own body, then she or it looked up with a look of shock.

"Boggarts don't usually speak," Hermione said from Harry's side.

"I know," the boggart said. "How strange." The doppelganger took a step toward the original Persephone. "You must be very afraid of saying something to give me the ability to speak." Persephone brought her wand up then dropped it a bit. The doppelganger closed the distance some more leaving only a few inches between their faces. "What sort of secrets are you keeping?"

Persephone lifted her wand again but dropped her arm in frustration. "I can't think of anything!" She turned away from the boggart. "Does anyone have a less disturbing fear?" she asked in strained tone. No one said anything at first. Harry could conjure a Patronus, but that would only knock the boggart back not finish it. The boggart was looking at Persephone as though she were a tasty snack.

"I'm still afraid of spiders," Ron volunteered. Harry and Hermione each grabbed one of Ron's arms and pushed him toward the boggart. The Persephone doppelganger looked slightly disappointed then morphed into a giant spider.

"Ugh," Ron said and pulled his wand out. "Riddikulus!" The spider's legs turned into eight small pink and yellow butterfly wings, and it plopped on the ground. Harry who had been expecting roller skates laughed. He glanced at Draco who was, with Persephone's prompting, gradually controlling his shakes. The butterfly-spider was quickly losing its ability to amuse. None of them were in a laughing mood, and they needed laughter to finish the boggart.

"I think we should run," Hermione said flatly.

That sounded like a very good idea from the brightest witch of their age. The five students took to their heels, though Persephone had to shove Draco to get him started. They ran back through the dungeon, ten feet pounding against the stone. They did not look back. They did not stop running until they were back on the first floor near the entrance to the Great Hall. Safely on the first floor, the boggart seemed far less scary and the adventure extremely appropriate for Halloween. Harry, Hermione, and Ron fell into a fit of relieved laughter.

"You should have seen your face," Hermione laughed pointing at Ron.

"It wasn't anything like Malfoy's," Ron said, turning to Draco. Draco and Persephone were not laughing. Draco looked like he might start shaking again. "What the hell's wrong with you, freezing up like that? What sort of sick mind makes flowers bleed?"

"Shut up!" Persephone snapped. "You have no idea!" She pushed Draco into the Great Hall.

"Man, that was weird," Ron continued, not the least bit perturbed by Persephone's rebuke.

"What sort of person is afraid of themselves?" Hermione said, frowning very hard at the door Draco and Persephone had left through.

"Not herself," Harry said. The laughter was out of his system. "Something she might say. She knows something that she doesn't want getting out."

"But what?" Hermione's brow was knitted tightly.

"I'm still enjoying the look on Malfoy's face," Ron said, beaming. Harry was not getting the same pleasure out it. Why was Draco Malfoy so terrified of Lord Voldemort? His father was a top Death Eater. Draco was a pureblood. What did he have to fear? Draco had always spoken about Voldemort as if he were some great hero. At least, he had until this year at the meeting. What had changed?

Somehow Harry doubted Draco would tell him if he asked. "Let's go enjoy what's left of the feast," he suggested.