Circle's Close

Chapter Twenty-Four: Forward To Time Past

***

"Impossible," Ron breathed, swaying on the spot.

Hermione, instantly forgetting her own plight, bolted over to him and caught his elbow, silently urging him to sit down. But he resisted, his fist tightening around Ginny's bracelet until Harry could see his knuckles turning white.

As for everyone else in the common room, they had all gone deathly silent while they watched with wary eyes as Ron struggled to comprehend this shocking revelation. Leah, on the other hand, stood up, frowning.

"Ginny and Draco?" she said, looking scandalized. She stared at her boyfriend, who seemed too deep in his own thoughts to acknowledge her in return. Leah looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione. "Is this a joke?"

Hermione was still trying to get Ron to sit down and didn't answer her, but Harry, feeling Leah's hard gaze on him, gave his head a slight jerk from side to side to indicate that this was most definitely not a joke.

Leah's eyes widened and she looked at Ron with a mixture of sympathy and apprehension as she swallowed thickly. A few seconds of silence followed before she spoke again. "Er ... listen ... I'm going to go find Ginny, alright? I ... I want to hear the truth from her."

Hermione nodded at this and Ron didn't stop her as she immediately left the common room. A long, pregnant pause followed her departure, and Harry looked at Hermione, wondering how in the world they were going to handle this. Harry personally hadn't expected Ginny to blurt out the truth like she had.

"This is a joke," Ron finally said in perfect imitation of his girlfriend, the wide-eyed look on his face slowly transforming into a look of utter fury, his eyebrows narrowed. "This is Fred and George's idea of a sick, twisted prank and Ginny is just playing along."

"Listen, Ron," Hermione said in a placating tone, still trying to get him to sit down. "This ... isn't something Ginny would joke about. The thing is -- she's b-been with Draco for quite ... some time now."

Harry knew, even then, that she had said the wrong thing. Ron lifted his face to stare straight at her, a look of dawning comprehension slowly entering his blue eyes.

"I don't believe this," he murmured. He turned his eyes from Hermione to Harry, looking more furious than Harry could ever remember seeing him. "Y-you knew about this? How long has this been going on?"

Ignoring the amount of stares Ron was garnering at the moment, Harry took a cautious step forward, now wishing that Ginny had not opted to keep this secret from her family. And then he reminded himself that he, himself, was just as much at fault -- if not more so. He should have pushed Ginny to be honest with everyone, but instead had aided her in keeping it a secret. He definitely knew better.

"You know," Ron admitted coldly, still rejecting Hermione's persistence that he should sit down, "I don't think I want to know. Forget I asked."

Harry could see that the louder Ron got with every word he spoke, the more interested everyone in the common room appeared to be. He wanted to tell them to leave, and Hermione seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she tugged on Ron's arm again.

"Let's go upstairs and talk about this," she suggested, her brown eyes looking up at him pleadingly.

Ron wrenched his arm from her grasp and Hermione took an automatic step backwards, looking startled. "I'm not going anywhere with either of you!" he shouted furiously, looking back and forth between Harry and Hermione.

"Ron -- please don't get angry!" Hermione pleaded. "Ginny never wanted to hurt you!"

"Yeah -- well -- she bloody well should have thought about that before she -- she -- DAMN her!" he bellowed. He quickly turned to make his way to the portrait hole, but Harry stopped him as he shot forward, grabbing a fistful of his robes.

"Let me go, Harry," Ron grinded through clenched teeth. "There's a Malfoy out there who needs to be put in his place -- and if you two aren't willing to help -- then by Merlin, I'll do it alone."

"You're not going anywhere," Harry told him calmly, jerking him backwards so that Ron had no choice but to face him. "And if you refuse to come with us upstairs, I'll just make everyone in this room disappear. Sit down." With a strength that surprised Ron, Harry pushed down on his shoulders and he dropped down into the armchair nearest to him.

With a burst of determination, Harry turned to face everyone in the common room, holding his wand aloft in an authoritative manner. "I want everyone out. Right now."

There was a collective groan of disappointment and a few loudly protested loudly, claiming that they had nowhere else to go. Hermione, coming to Harry's aid, held up her wand and shot red sparks into the air. The room instantly fell silent.

"I would suggest returning to your dormitories, going straight to the library, or catching an early lunch," she commanded in a loud, carrying voice. "If any of you feel the need to challenge your Head Girl or Boy -- I suggest you take it up with the Headmaster. I'm sure Professor Snape would love to hear your thoughts."

There were no more arguments. Within moments, the entire common room was empty, save Harry, Hermione, and one extremely put-out Ron Weasley, who sat staring at the bracelet clutched in his fist and the wand he had pointed at it. He seemed to be thinking of the perfect jinx to destroy it.

Hermione pointed her wand at his fist. "Accio bracelet!" To Ron's incredulity and fury, the bracelet soared from his hand into Hermione's, whereupon she directly pocketed it. "Now -- it's time for you to listen, Ron."

"You expect me to listen to two people who have absolutely no problems lying to my face?" Ron replied, outraged. He followed this rhetorical question with a harsh laugh. "Don't count on it."

Hermione approached Ron until she was standing next to Harry, her mouth now set in a grim, determined line. She lifted her wand and pointed it, not upwards as before, but directly at Ron, who stared at the tip of the wand warily.

"You will listen -- or I will be forced to put a Body-Bind on you," Hermione said in a surprisingly calm voice, as though she was 100% prepared to carry out her threat. "Either way, Ron, you're going to listen."

Ron laughed dryly, unperturbed. "You're the guilty ones and I'm being held against my will with a wand pointed at my face. This is just great! You're a real friend, Hermione."

"I'm sorry, Ron," Hermione said, though she didn't lower her wand. "I know you're furious with us. We can't offer any real defense -- except to say that we did it for Ginny. I know that's not much of a consolation, but it's the truth. Harry and I knew what the consequences were from the beginning and we stood by her anyway. Because we love Ginny like she's our sister."

"But you seemed to have forgotten -- in the heat of your anger -- that while Ginny is our sister in spirit, she's your sister in fact." Harry continued. "She didn't keep her relationship with Draco from you because she doesn't trust you -- she kept it from you because she didn't want to hurt you or the rest of your family."

"Exactly what does she expect me to think?" Ron asked in a furious tone, looking up at Harry. "She's with Malfoy! Good God ... I mean, she's with Malfoy?"

"Yes, she is," Hermione said, lowering her wand, knowing that she had gained Ron's full attention. "And I think that she expects you to be angry. But she also expects you to be her brother. Not an overprotective, interfering, mistrusting brother -- but one who loves, respects and trusts her to make her own decisions."

Ron shook his head at her. "You just don't get it, do you?" he asked rhetorically, while Harry and Hermione stared at him. "Ginny's been keeping this from me -- probably since last year, am I right? And then I find out that not only has she been keeping it from me – but my two best friends have turned against me as well!"

"We haven't turned against you," Harry insisted.

"Which only reminds me of Sixth year," Ron continued, ignoring Harry's response, "when you both kept your relationship from me, neither of you trusting me enough to keep it to myself. Instead ... you sneaked behind my back --"

"We kept it from everyone!" Hermione exclaimed.

"And need I remind you, Ron, that we did it to keep Hermione safe from Voldemort?" asked Harry, and Ron, for the first time, didn't flinch at the sound of Voldemort's name. Harry figured it was because he was actually too angry to even remember to be afraid.

"You could have told me," Ron insisted in a betrayed tone. "But I bit my tongue. As painful as it was at first, I understood. But this -- Malfoy dating my sister -- that's too much. You've all crossed the line in keeping this from me. How could anyone expect me to understand that?"

"What part bothers you more?" Hermione asked Ron in a curious, bewildered tone. "The fact that Ginny is dating Draco? Or the fact that we kept it from you for months?"

"BOTH!" Ron roared. "She's my sister!"

"Exactly," Hermione said quietly, and she slowly moved towards him, dropping to her knees. She looked up into Ron's face, placing her hands on his knees. "She's your sister and she loves you and cherishes you. She looks up to you more than any of her other brothers."

Ron snorted derisively, but Hermione pushed on, expressing every bit of tenderness and serenity she possessed.

"And we never meant to hurt you, either," she continued. "You're right -- we can't expect you to accept this and move on. We know that Draco has hurt your family more times than we can count -- not to mention that it was his own father who was responsible for Ginny's near death experience all those years ago."

"All the more reason for me to Curse the miserable slimeball," Ron sneered with determination as his fists clenched.

Hermione took his hands in hers; unfolding his fists and holding them gently in her own, and to her obvious relief, he didn't pull away. She shook her head at him. "No, Ron. The fact that Ginny is dating Draco is only the tip of the iceberg -- there is so much more that you need to learn. Draco is not the same git he was a year ago or seven years ago. He's changed."

Ron snorted again with more contempt than before. "Snape couldn't change -- and neither can Malfoy."

"But Sirius is a prime example of that change Hermione is referring to," Harry told him. "He came from a family of Dark wizards and didn't end up like them. You know that."

Ron stared at him but didn't say anything.

"We aren't asking for you to give Draco a chance," Hermione continued in the same patient, loving tone. "We only ask that you give Ginny a chance to show you that she's mature and intelligent enough to make her own decisions. We're only asking you to be her brother – to respect, support and love her as you always have."

"But she's been lying to me," Ron reminded them both, lifting his shoulders and staring at them with something that resembled bewilderment. "You all have. How am I supposed to deal with something like that? How do I know it won't happen again? If you can't trust me, then how am I expected to trust you?"

Hermione lowered her face, clearly unable to think of an answer that would placate Ron. But Harry said, "We don't expect you to forgive us. That would ultimately be the most hypocritical thing for us to do right now. But your sister ... she needs you, Ron. It's been killing her keeping this from you."

"Then why did she?" snapped Ron, looking at Harry sharply. "Never, not once, did I give her the impression that I would go ballistic, did I? And if she was so keen on living her own life and not caring about what I think; then why didn't she just tell me?"

"Because your approval does mean everything to her," Harry told him simply. "Rather than tell you the truth and face your complete and total rejection, she lived in silence. She didn't plan for the secret to go on for as long as it did. But it's the way things happened."

There was another pause. And then, as Ron looked from Harry to Hermione, he said: "If Malfoy has changed -- as you two are claiming -- then why is he still a lousy, arrogant prat?" he asked.

"He's been faking that," Harry told him, and Ron looked at him in surprise in spite of himself. "Or at least ... he's not serious when he does it. The idea was for him to continue to give you the impression that he loathed you."

"And you've all been having a good laugh about it behind my back, have you?" Ron shot out.

"No, of course not!" Hermione insisted, lifting her face to look at him again. "Months ago, Draco acted indifferently towards you. He wasn't being kind, but he no longer felt that desire to insult you, either. You were suspicious about it once, remember?"

Ron slowly nodded.

"Ginny was worried that you would catch on," Harry resumed, and Ron looked at him. "She didn't want you to guess, but she wasn't prepared to tell you the truth, either. Her only defense, Ron, was that she was scared. She was terrified of losing not only you, but her entire family over this. And she waited, because in truth, she was imagining the day everything would come out in the open -- and the choice she might be forced to make between her family and the man she loves."

Ron glanced back and forth between Harry and Hermione, no longer looking angry, but rather completely astounded. "She's in love with the git?"

"They're in love with each other," Hermione told him, smiling slightly in spite of herself. "When have you ever known a Gryffindor and a Slytherin to fall in love?"

Ron couldn't seem to find his voice.

"It's like Hermione's been trying to tell us for ages," Harry said. "Inter-House unity. Ginny and Draco's love has shown us that the line that once divided our two Houses can be erased -- and has been."

Ron stared down at his hands, which were still being held gently by Hermione's. "What if he hurts her?" he murmured, his eyes filled with anguish. "What if he breaks my sister's heart? What do I do then? What do I do now? Do I accept their relationship and trust that Malfoy will love her forever? Or do I continue to mistrust him?"

"If you mistrust him, then you mistrust Ginny," Hermione pointed out calmly. "As for what you do if it ever came to that ... you can't protect her forever. But you can be there for her. If Draco ever hurts Ginny -- she'll need you more than anyone else."

"Just as she needs you now -- more than anyone else," Harry added. "Hermione and I replaced you as substitutes. But she needs the real thing ... more than ever."

"There will come a time when she will have to tell your parents," Hermione reminded Ron. "Not to mention your brothers. I know Fred and George won't be too pleased."

Ron nodded, but Harry couldn't tell what he was nodding about. His question was answered when Ron said in a reluctant tone, "I suppose I should ... track Ginny down ... or something ..."

Hermione looked at him in an almost suspicious manner. "To do what?"

"To tell her that if Malfoy's attitude rubs off on her -- I will disown her," he said, but there was a flicker of a smile in his blue eyes and Hermione's laugh of relief was muffled as she threw her arms around Ron's neck, hugging him tightly.

Ron looked up at Harry as Hermione continued to smother him with her embrace. "How does she do it?" he asked disbelievingly. Harry gave him a questioning look and Ron added, "How does Hermione calm down a bloke who's at his height of fury?"

Harry chuckled in return. "That's the power of a woman's touch, mate. The best type of magic there is."

Hermione pulled back, dragging Ron up to his feet. "Before we go looking for Ginny -- who I'm sure could be hiding anywhere in the castle at this point -- we have to go back upstairs. There's something I need to do."

"Besides," Ron added as he stood up with her, "Leah's more than likely with her right now. It's probably better that way. Leah can calm Ginny down before I go to talk to her. And we will talk long and thoroughly about this."

"I think that's a good idea," Hermione told Ron, who stopped immediately as they approached the girls' stairs. Hermione frowned, turning to him. "Are you coming?"

Ron averted his eyes. "Are you sure you want me to?" he asked, and when Harry and Hermione frowned at him even more, Ron added, "I mean, do you trust me to go with you?"

Hermione sighed sadly and Harry grimaced. He could defend Ginny until he was blue in the face, but in reality, he deserved every cheap shot that Ron dished out. And in actuality, they deserved a lot more punishment than that, he thought as Ron made to follow them up the stairs. But to Harry's surprise, he caught a flicker of apology in Ron's eyes as they moved along. It appeared that Ron didn't enjoy his cruel barbs nearly as much as he used to.

"Is this about your ring?" Harry asked Hermione as they followed her up the girls' stairs, trying to steer everybody's thoughts onto something else.

Hermione nodded. "Yes. While we were downstairs and everyone was busy accusing Draco of theft --"

"Then it really wasn't him?" Ron cut across. "I mean -- I was wrong?"

Hermione grinned, looking at him sidelong. "That's not such a foreign concept to you, is it?"

"Ha ha," laughed Ron sarcastically. "Well, go on."

"As I was saying -- during their debate -- I suddenly realised that I had completely forgotten about the Echo Charm," Hermione resumed.

"The what Charm?" Ron asked.

"It's beyond N.E.W.T. level," Hermione told him. "I taught it to myself ages ago, and I can't believe that I never thought of it while we were up here before, Harry."

"You were a little distraught," Harry pointed out to her logically. "I think it's perfectly understandable that it didn't occur to you at the time."

Hermione sighed; shaking her head as she quietly berated herself until they entered her bedroom.

"I'm going to need a minute to concentrate," Hermione said as they approached her bed. "Since I'm going back about nine hours rather than just one or two, I need to focus."

"Is that safe?" Harry asked her. "Especially when you've never used such a concentrated form before?"

In answer, Hermione slid her hand into his as she pointed her wand at the bed. He understood her meaning without her having to utter a word.

More than a month ago, during one of their Auror lessons, Remus Lupin had engaged them in a detailed discussion about the strong connection they shared -- mind, body, spirit and heart. Remus had told them that since they were bonded in all ways of life through their profound, rare love, they were also bonded magically and could tap into each other's magical powers when needed, which was exactly what Hermione was doing at the present time.

As Hermione had told Ron, the Echo Charm was powerful magic, in advance even of N.E.W.T. standard. Like the Patronus Charm, it was a tricky job to initiate and maintain the spell. And they needed to go back much farther this time than they had in Harry's house months ago. In order to allow Hermione the full concentration needed to control the spell, Harry boosted her magic with his own, sending it through their joined hands to mingle with and strengthen hers.

As the last words of the complex incantation left her lips, Hermione jerked her wand sharply. Instantly the room went dark. Harry wondered if something had gone wrong -- this hadn't happened the last time. Then he remembered that the ring had been stolen at night.

The room looked essentially the same, except that the room's furnishings, including the bed and the figure sleeping therein, were composed of silvery mist, offsetting the darkness so that the watchers could indentify the shapes before them with no difficulty. Harry wondered how long they had to wait; they had no idea what time last night the theft had taken place. Hermione seemed to be thinking along the same lines. She flicked her wand, and the images blurred before resuming their familiar forms. Harry supposed that Hermione had advanced the scene by a few minutes. Three more times she did this, waiting for a minute or so in-between each time. Hermione fast-forwarded the scene a fourth time --

"There," Ron cried out, pointing.

They had all seen it -- a shadowy form, blurred and indistinct, came and went in a flash. In the time it took the three watchers to blink, the room was empty once more, save for the quietly sleeping form in the silvery bed.

"Refero!" Hermione said commandingly.

The scene froze before blurring again. The shadowy figure reappeared, this time moving backward. It emerged from the door leading to Harry's adjoining room, paused briefly in a flurry of motion, then disappeared through the same door.

"Resumo!" Hermione said sharply.

The scene was now moving forward at normal speed again. The figure appeared in the doorway, its features an indistinct silver blur. There was no true light in the room to reveal the intruder's face, the silvery glow being only an illusion wrought by the spell. The figure crouched low, creeping along the floor like a cat. A wand appeared, pointed directly at Hermione's bed. Harry could see the Echo-Hermione's left hand lying atop the pale sheet, which rose and fell in rhythm with her soft breathing. A low voice hissed, "Accio!" The hand on the bed twitched slightly before falling back onto the sheet, the ring still fixed to the third finger. The voice rasped again: "Engorgio!"

Harry's attention was now riveted on the scene before him. He gripped Hermione's hand tightly as the intruder repeated the Summoning Charm. The enlarged ring, which had previously been too snug to leave Hermione's finger, flew across the room. The intruder caught it, mumbled, "Reducio," returning the ring to its original size before tucking it into a pocket. The figure rose and began to slink back toward the door, silent as the mist of which its Echo-form was composed.

"Damn," Harry hissed in frustration. "I can't see his face! If only there was some light!"

As if his wish were an incantation, the curtains shouldering Hermione's bedside window parted on the breath of a night breeze. That same wind appeared to have blown aside a cloud outside the window, for a shaft of moonlight burst into the room, falling directly onto the face of the skulking ring-thief. The scene held for a moment, then the figure turned and was gone.

Hermione emitted a mournful sob, jerking her hand up to her mouth. As their hands parted, the magical bond between Harry and Hermione ceased. The silvery images vanished. The room was suddenly flooded with daylight again. Harry exchanged a horrified look with Hermione, then both turned toward Ron, whose face was now the color of ashes. He looked as though he had been hit with a Confundus Spell. And who could blame him? For he had seen as clearly as his friends the distinctive features of the ring-thief as revealed by the errant shaft of moonlight. A face with a long nose and an abundance of freckles, and topped by a shock of hair which, had the scene been in color, would have shone as brightly as the setting sun. His face!

*

"It -- it couldn't have been me!"

"We know, Ron," Hermione said even as Harry eased her toward the bed, the strain of the spell showing on her face.

"Then how could it have been me?" Ron demanded accusingly.

"I don't know, Ron," Hermione sighed tiredly.

She was sitting on her bed, rubbing her temples as though trying to coax an answer to the mystery from her brain. Harry stood, leaning against the post at the foot of her bed, while Ron furiously paced the floor, pausing in his steps whenever he had something to say.

Harry was sifting through the day's events as determinedly as Hermione, and he had come to the conclusion that no amount of searching would turn up Hermione's ring in the castle. His thoughts jumped back to earlier that morning when he had got his Firebolt out of his trunk to go flying on the Quidditch pitch. His Invisibility Cloak had been lying atop it in a rather careless fashion, not folded neatly, as was Harry's habit. And the hem, he remembered now, had been slightly damp, as if from early morning dew. He would have wagered his Triwizard winnings that Ron had left the castle wearing the Cloak, bearing the ring to person or persons yet unknown. He elected not to voice this belief just now. Ron had more than enough anguish without more being added. What his friend needed now was support, not more accusations.

Trying to calm down his agitated friend, Harry said, "We know about as much as you do, Ron. You claim you don't remember anything -- and we believe you."

"Yeah?" Ron said, shooting him a dubious look. "Are you sure you're not just agreeing with me to make up for lying about Ginny and Malfoy?"

"We believe you because there's no logical reason for you to steal Hermione's ring," Harry answered calmly. "Ginny has nothing to do with it."

"But that still leaves the fact that we don't know why Ron was the thief," Hermione added.

"I'm not a thief!" Ron replied indignantly, glowering down at her.

"I know that Ron," Hermione sighed exasperatedly. "I never meant to imply that you are one. I'm just ... very confused right now."

"Well, I don't very much like this, either," Ron told her miserably. "I feel like I should be apologizing for something I didn't do. I mean ... I couldn't have done it. I just ... I couldn't have..." He fell silent, looking completely hopeless as he turned away from Harry and Hermione.

"You're innocent until proven guilty, in my books," Harry told Ron, and Hermione nodded in agreement with this statement.

"Oh, really?" Ron said, turning back to him, looking skeptical. "You're saying that I have an evil twin running around -- posing as me?"

"No," Hermione said. "He's saying that in the wizarding world, there's more to a given situation than what meets the eye. There are many possibilities, Ron. And in order to find out the truth, I'm going to need your full cooperation."

"How do you mean?" asked Ron, calming slightly. Harry noticed the thoughtful look on Hermione's face and knew that she was coming up with a plan. She removed her fingers from her temples and looked up at them.

"I have an idea -- but we'll need to access Dumbledore's Pensieve."

"Lucky for you that you have permission to use it," Ron said bitterly. "Unfortunately, I do not."

"That's easy enough to get around," Hermione said dismissively. "But as the Pensieve is in Dumbledore's office, you'll need to sneak in, since he's not here to give you permission. Harry's Cloak should serve you well for that."

At this mention of his Invisibility Cloak, Harry flashed Hermione a penetrating look (which she did not see), wondering if she had drawn the same conclusions as he regarding the disposition of the ring.

"And then what?" asked Ron, though Harry had a pretty good idea of what Hermione's plan was by now.

"And now you follow me," Hermione said, standing up with a new spring in her step.

Without question, Harry and Ron followed Hermione to Harry's room, gathered his Cloak and made their way down the spiral staircase, across and out of the still-empty common room. Once they were in the corridor, Ron wrapped the Cloak around him before they silently set off for Dumbledore's office.

Harry thought about his dinner with Hermione which was to take place in six hours and wondered if the theft of her ring, doubled with Ginny's revelation and Ron's anger with them, had put their Anniversary dinner firmly out of her mind. Harry had a feeling that Ron was still quite furious with them about being lied to, but had placed that anger to the side for now in light of the theft, and the fact that he played a role in it. But what that role was, Harry couldn't begin to guess.

As for the dinner, it was quite possible that Hermione no longer desired to go, which meant that Harry would not have the opportunity to propose to her like he had planned. As they walked along, he felt Hermione grasp his hand and squeeze his fingers gently. He looked at her and she winked affectionately back at him.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "We're still going."

Harry's eyes widened, grinning in spite of himself. "How did you -- "

"I could see it in your eyes," Hermione cut across, sounding slightly amused. "You looked disappointed about something -- I just assumed that you were thinking about our dinner."

The grin of relief on Harry's face faded almost immediately as their Potions Master cut around the corner and swiftly approached them, a cold and calculating look in his beetle-black eyes.

"What are you doing, Potter?"

"Hello, Professor," Harry greeted pleasantly, relieved that Hermione had had the presence of mind to suggest that Ron should use the Invisibility Cloak. "Hermione and I have business in the Headmaster's office at the moment."

Knowing that Severus Snape had absolutely no power in forbidding them, Harry continued to smile smugly at him, almost daring him to challenge him on this.

"And what, pray tell, do you intend to do in the Headmaster's office?" Snape snapped, looking back and forth between Hermione and Harry suspiciously. "It is not a playground."

"Well, Hermione and I are still taking Auror lessons, sir," Harry explained conversationally. "Professor Dumbledore has given us permission to use his Pensieve to glance over our lessons, so that we can view our current techniques and improve on them. Since we have nothing to do this afternoon, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity."

Snape narrowed his eyes at him, looking more unpleasant than ever. "Are you lying to me, Potter?" he whispered coldly.

Harry stared right back at him. "Are you trying to penetrate my mind, sir?" he asked coolly. When the smugness on Snape's face faded slightly, Harry added, "It turns out that Occlumency has come in handy for something after all. I should thank you, Professor."

Snape's top lip curled with satisfaction gleaming in his black eyes. "Five points from Gryffindor for your insolence, Potter."

Harry raised his brows at this in an almost mocking way. "House points hardly matter to me anymore, Professor. I seriously hate to disappoint you."

"Harry!" Hermione whispered, slapping a hand over her eyes and sighing with exasperation.

Snape's derisive smile widened even more. "I suppose a detention would be more fitting, would it not? I expect to see you tomorrow at dinner time, Potter." And without waiting for a reply, he swept down the hallway, his black robes billowing behind him.

Hermione groaned as they moved on toward the Headmaster's office. "Harry -- why did you have to push?"

Harry merely grinned, listening to Ron's stifled laughter behind him. "Oh, Hermione, it was so worth it to see that smile wiped off of his face. And what's one detention?"

Hermione merely sighed again.

Without further incident, they arrived at Dumbledore's office and Hermione gave the password before they moved up the rotating escalator leading to the office. The moment they entered, Ron pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of him and rolled it up before setting it down on a chair in the corner of the round room. Ron's careless manner in this regard only reinforced Harry's supposition as to the Cloak's role in the ring's disappearance, but he said nothing, preferring to wait and see what the Pensieve revealed.

"Now what?" asked Ron uncertainly as Hermione walked towards the back of the room, where the cabinet containing Dumbledore's Pensieve sat. She turned to face Harry and Ron, pulling out her wand.

"Have you ever been inside a Pensieve before, Ron?" she asked him.

"Er -- no," Ron admitted reluctantly. "But I know what it does. Harry's described it to me often enough. Is that what we're doing? Is the answer to the theft in Dumbledore's Pensieve?"

"Not yet," Hermione replied; a gleam in her eye as she motioned for Ron and Harry to approach her. "The truth, Ron, is up here -- " She gently touched his temple as she spoke. "At least, I hope it is. But in order to locate it, I'll need your help, Harry; and your cooperation, Ron."

"I have nothing to hide," Ron said fiercely.

"I never said you did, Ron," Hermione said in a pacifying tone as she turned back to the cabinet. She opened it and Harry could see the cloud-like substance in the stone basin, which gave off a soft, silvery light. "Before we begin, I have to partition Dumbledore's thoughts from the memory we're going to put in there."

"You're going to what?" Ron asked blankly.

"Basically, I'm going to block off Dumbledore's memories so they won't get mixed up with our own. That's how Harry and I have been using it for the past five months, and that's what we're going to do now," Hermione told him, tapping her wand to the basin. "It's like partitioning a hard drive on a computer."

"Talk English, for Merlin's sake," Ron said, his anxiety showing keenly now.

"It's like blocking off a room from the rest of the house -- like when you'd lock your door so Fred and George couldn't barge in on you at home. This will keep your memories completely separate from Dumbledore's." This answer seemed to satisfy Ron. After murmuring an incantation to accomplish this task, she stepped back and nodded shortly at Harry.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked her.

"I've been studying advanced Memory Charms with Professor Flitwick," she said. "I can extract Ron's memory easily enough. The tricky part will be finding it."

"Finding it?" Ron echoed.

"It's obvious that a Memory Charm has been placed on you," Hermione said. "How else do you explain not remembering what happened last night?"

"Makes sense," Ron conceded.

"Where do I come in?" Harry asked.

"You're far more advanced in Legilimency than I am, Harry," Hermione told him matter-of-factly. "I'll need you to probe Ron's mind for me. Ron has no training in Occlumency, so his memories should be an open book -- except for the one we're looking for. That one will be blocked. From what Professor Flitwick told me, it'll be like running into a locked door -- or perhaps I should say a wall without a door, behind which the memory is hiding."

"And what do I do when I reach this wall?" Harry said.

"It'll be easier to show you than tell you," Hermione said. "We'd better get to it. If Snape comes back and finds the three of us here, it'll be detentions for all of us."

Harry nodded resolutely as he and Ron moved towards Hermione, standing next to her in front of the stone basin, the silvery contents constantly swirling. As Harry pulled out his wand, Hermione laced her fingers through his left hand, and he instantly understood that she needed this physical contact to follow him into Ron's mind.

"Just relax, Ron," Harry told him, lifting up his wand. "Keep your eyes on mine -- don't break the contact, alright?" After Ron's nod of determination, Harry exclaimed, "Legilimens!"

Harry flew through Ron's memories. He watched Ron reacting to the truth of his sister and Draco. In another flash, he watched himself, Ron and Hermione getting across McGonagall's giant chess set in First year. Another flash, and Ron had won the Quidditch Cup while Gryffindors chanted, "Weasley is our King." On it went, memory after memory, until Harry felt resistence, like some kind of a wall was preventing him from seeing what was beyond it. He tried moving around it, wondering if Ron was deliberately stopping him from coming across that particular memory, when he remembered that Ron had never been trained in Occlumency.

Harry sent a mental signal to Hermione that he had found what they sought. He couldn't see her, his outer vision being sublimated to the inner eye with which he was probing Ron's thoughts. Without warning, a thin beam of light appeared just above Harry's sphere of perception. It was not unlike the action of a Lumos spell. But this "light," he knew, was the magical finger of a Probing Spell. Hermione had touched her wand to Ron's temple, even as Harry had seen Dumbledore and Snape do in days past. But unlike the two professors, Hermione could not "see" into Ron's mind. He could sense her presence, almost as if she were beside him in the corridors of Ron's thoughts; but unlike Harry, she was literally stumbling in the dark. The memories that Harry could see so clearly were no more than vague blurs to Hermione. She did not know where to aim the spell to extract Ron's blocked memory. That was Harry's job.

Forward, Harry thought. The beam of magical light moved ahead, indicating that Hermione had "heard" his unspoken instruction. Left. The beam moved again, slowly, searchingly. Almost there, Harry thought. A bit more. The narrow beam inched closer, closer. Harry held his breath. Then the beam fell squarely on the cloudy patch behind which Ron's hidden memory was locked. Now!

Harry jumped back physically as he exited Ron's mind. His breath rushed out of his lungs in a deep sigh as he turned toward Hermione and smiled. A long, silvery thread was dangling from the tip of her wand -- Ron's "lost" memory. Hermione dropped the filament into the section of the Pensieve she had blocked off for their use alone. They saw Ron's face swimming inside the basin.

Ron's mouth dropped. "We're going in that thing?" he asked, sounding apprehensive.

"We certainly are," Hermione smiled. "Harry, perhaps you should go first to show him how it's done."

"See you inside," Harry said. He leaned his head inside the cabinet and over the stone basin, his nose touching the silvery substance which swirled and eddied like liquid smoke. Dumbledore's office gave a massive lurch and he felt his entire body falling through the basin. This was no longer a new feeling for him, as he had used the Pensieve at least once a week for the past five months to re-watch his Auror lessons.

His feet touched the ground and he glanced at his surroundings. A short moment later, he was accompanied by Hermione and Ron, who took surreptitious looks around, too, and Ron said, "Why are we in Hogsmeade?"

Harry looked at him. "This is your memory," he reminded him. "And by the looks of it ... it appears to be Easter weekend."

"But I remember this," Ron said in a puzzled voice. "This can't be what we're looking for."

"This is a peripheral memory," Hermione said. "Professor Flitwick explained it to me. It's here as a frame of reference. The hidden memory is deeper inside -- like the center of a sherbet ball. We'll have to 'eat' our way through, so to speak, to reach our destination."

Harry listened to Hermione's explanation with half an ear while the nearby, quaint shops, which had been decorated for Easter weekend, distracted him. In one nearby store, the windows were decorated with brightly painted Easter eggs. Along these painted windows, a giant Easter bunny hopped around, collecting the eggs, sticking them in his basket, and then going around to replace them all before setting off to collect them again.

"And there's Madam Puddifoot's!" Hermione gasped, drawing Harry's attention away from the painted window as she pointed to the store next to them. "I can see Leah! Ron -- that must mean you're in there -- "

But even as she said the words, Pensieve-Ron exited the cozy, Easter-decorated teashop, hurriedly making his way down the small road in the opposite direction of where Harry, Hermione and Ron were standing. Hermione gasped suddenly.

"We have to go -- come on -- " She shoved Ron and Harry forward and they quickly followed Pensieve-Ron. Seeing the look of apprehension on Ron's face, Hermione said, "Do you remember any of this?"

"Yeah, 'course I do," Ron said. "I'm going to get Leah her chocolates. See? There's Honeydukes. And there I go -- "

"I don't see much point in following him in there," Hermione said as Harry made a move to follow Pensieve-Ron. "I highly doubt that anything odd happened in there, considering how packed that place is."

"When you say 'odd' ... exactly what do you mean by that?" asked Ron anxiously. When she didn't answer straight away, he pushed on. "Do you ... by any chance at all ... know something that I don't?"

"Don't be silly," Hermione said briskly. "All I have are my mediocre speculations."

"Which are?" Harry and Ron said together.

Hermione sighed, stepping up to Honeydukes's window and watching the Hogwarts students pick out their favorite candies and chocolates. "At first I thought it might have been Polyjuice -- someone posing as you, Ron," she hesitantly admitted. "I got that idea from your original claim that someone used Polyjuice to get into Gryffindor tower."

"And?" Ron pressed.

Hermione sighed again, shaking her head. "It just didn't sound right to me. So I brushed it off -- not completely -- I might add. But intuitively, even logically ... I can't see that being the answer to the theft."

"Why not?" Ron asked. "Why are you so willing to believe that I was the actual thief?"

"Because if it was just a petty robbery meant to hurt Hermione, there are other ways to go about stealing her ring," Harry told Ron, and Hermione turned from the window to face the other two. "I mean ... why spend an entire month brewing an illegal potion ... when this person could have cornered Hermione when she was alone, Stunned her, and then taken the ring for his or her own?"

"Exactly," Hermione agreed. "And as much as we don't want to believe it, Ron, we're already on the path to discovering the truth. We discovered that you did have a memory blocked. And we are on the brink of discovering what that memory was. I'm guessing the moment you exit that shop, we'll find out."

"But I went straight back to Leah," Ron said defiantly, still in denial about his actions.

"That's what someone wants you to believe," Hermione said. "The memory block says otherwise."

"But who would have blocked --- why would anyone -- " Ron was at a loss for words. It seemed that the Polyjuice potion answer had been his last shiny ray of hope. It was clear to him now that he would have to face the fact that he had been the thief after all, and Harry knew that this wasn't easy for him to digest. He only hoped that Ron truly believed that he and Hermione did not hold him responsible.

"Here you come," Hermione said suddenly, and Pensieve-Ron exited the candy store, heading back toward Madam Puddifoot's with a small Easter-wrapped chocolate box in his hands. Harry, Hermione and Ron quickly followed in complete silence.

"Excuse me," said a voice as Pensieve-Ron rounded the corner. Harry watched a tall, thin man in a dark hood approach Ron. His face was covered by a dark, thick beard, and his hard blue eyes glinted at Pensieve-Ron.

"Yes?" And then Pensieve-Ron eyed the man, his eyes slowly widening as comprehension dawned on him. "Oh, I'm sorry -- here you go. It's not much, but it's all I really have -- " And to the man's incredulity, Ron pulled out a shiny silver Sickle and held it out to the bearded man.

"I don't remember this," Ron whispered next to Harry, sounding panic-stricken. "I don't remember him at all!"

"Shh," Hermione commanded, though her expression was soft.

"I don't want your silver," the man told him quietly. "I see you've purchased a nice gift for your sweetheart. What do you say to the idea of ... giving her something far more memorable than just a silly box of chocolates, eh?"

"Er -- I really don't think so," Ron said to him, sounding slightly regretful. "I don't have the gold to spend --"

"I'm not talking expensive jewelery, my lad," the bearded man said, stepping foward slightly and lowering his voice as Hogsmeaders passed by, not sparing a second glance at Ron and the stranger. Wizarding folk tended to mind their own business and leave others to theirs. "I have a small selection of jewelery of my own ... you could buy the ring you've always wanted for your special girl. For the right price," he added.

Ron was slowly shaking his head. "Oh ... it's tempting ... But I really don't think I should."

"Afraid of spending all your gold?" the man asked, nodding sympathetically. "I can understand your plight, young sir. But is there really anything in this world that isn't worth spending every last Knut on, as long as it makes your girl happy?"

"No," Ron agreed. "No, of course not."

"And aren't you tired of competing with your mates about what they can buy for their sweethearts and what you can't?" the man asked.

Slowly, Ron nodded. "Yeah, I ... I sometimes feel that way," he admitted.

"Then isn't it time you stop letting them overshadow you?" the man asked him eagerly. "Take matters into your own hands -- be a man, for Merlin's sake."

Ron was nodding vigorously now. "You know ..." he said thoughtfully. "You just might be right ... I'd spend every last Knut on Leah ... no matter what."

"Excellent," the man replied, smiling beneath his dark beard.

Pensieve-Ron looked slightly awkward now. "Er ... what did you have in mind, exactly? Can I see this selection of yours?"

"Not here," the man said in a low voice, placing a firm hand on Ron's shoulder. "The shopkeepers don't approve of my underselling them on their very doorsteps -- bad form and all that." He flashed Ron a conspiratorial grin reminiscent of Mundungus Fletcher, and Ron nodded. "There's an empty shop just down the road and around the corner. My set-up is there. Only a select few know about it. If you're truly interested, I suggest you follow me."

Harry rushed forward, not wanting to lose sight of Pensieve-Ron and the dark stranger as they moved along the busy street. He heard Hermione and Ron following behind him, and there was a sickened feeling in the pit of Harry's stomach, a feeling which only intensified when they reached the corner of the street, where the stranger led Ron around an abandoned building with a sign on the front window that read:

WATCH FOR NEW AND EXCITING DEVELOPMENT! COMING SOON!

The stranger led Ron to the back entrance of the small shop, and the others quickly followed, entering just behind them as the door slammed shut behind Hermione, who gasped as complete darkness overtook them, the boarded up windows allowing no light to seep through into the empty store. Harry automatically took out his wand and muttered Lumos just in time to see the stranger pull out his own wand.

"Wait --" Pensieve-Ron suddenly said, obviously sensing some kind of danger before he made a move towards the exit. But it was too late. The wizard pointed his wand direcly at Ron.

"Imperio!"

Pensieve-Ron's eyes glazed over slightly and he made no more protest, nor did he make a move towards the exit. The stranger grinned malevolently as another voice called out from the corner of the shop, his lazy drawl cutting at Harry's insides.

"Well done, Mulciber, well done," said the voice, his face hidden in shadow. "I knew I was right in choosing you for the job. And finally, a Weasley gets to prove his worth. He didn't put up a struggle, I take it?"

"Easy as pie," Mulciber grinned, still holding his wand up to Ron's face. "No resistance at all. Ruddy stroll through the park, this one."

"Excellent," the second wizard breathed. He stepped forward, and Harry saw that his face was obscured by a hood -- the hood of a Death Eater. "Weasley," the wizard said smoothly, "the Granger girl has a ring -- it was given to her by Harry Potter -- you know what I'm talking about?"

"Yes," Ron said mechanically. "The Friendship Ring."

"The Friendship Ring," the hooded wizard repeated. "Listen carefully, Weasley. I want you to steal that ring and bring it to me here, to this place. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Ron replied. "I'll do it straightaway."

"No," the wizard said. "Not yet. I want you to bring it to me on the morning of the 24th of May. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Ron said. "The 24th of May."

"But you must not be observed," the wizard said urgently. "That is critical!"

"I can sneak out under Harry's Invisibility Cloak," Ron said.

"Indeed?" the wizard said in a pleased voice. "You can steal this Cloak from Potter? Surely he must keep something so valuable locked in his trunk?"

"No," Ron said. "Harry never locks his trunk. None of us do. We'd never steal from each other."

"How touching," the wizard said mockingly as Mulciber laughed harshly. But his tone sharpened as he said, "But you will steal the ring for me. Because I have commanded you to do so -- and you cannot disobey."

"I cannot disobey," Ron repeated.

The wizard stepped back, and it was evident that he was smiling behind his black hood.

Sensing that their business was concluded, Mulciber asked, "What shall I do with him, sir?" With a sadistic leer, he said hopefully, "Shall I have him stand on his head and hoot like an owl?"

"Tempting," the masked wizard said with cold amusement. "But no. I have no use for him until next month. Everything is set for now, until the moment he steals the Mudblood's ring. I see no harm in letting him return to his silly little girlfriend."

"And what of the boy?" Mulciber asked. "You asked me to locate your son --"

"Son?" whispered the cold voice in a deadly whisper that froze Harry's insides. "I have no son. If he wants to mix himself up with these pathetic excuses for wizards ... let him. I have more important things to worry about. But thanks to you, Weasley," he added to Ron, "I may find it in my heart to redeem you after all. Yes, there is still hope for you yet." He laughed shortly, an icy glint marking the cool, grey eyes peering through the holes in his mask. "It's been a pleasure, Weasley," he said mockingly. "Pity you won't remember it." Turning to his companion, he said in a bored voice, "Finish the job, Mulciber."

"Yes, sir," Mulciber said as he looked back at Ron. "Obliviate!"

The second the words escaped the Death Eater's mouth, Harry felt himself being lifted upwards, Dumbledore's office coming into view once again until he was standing firmly on the office floor, followed closely by Ron and Hermione, both of whom were very shaken. But nothing could surpass the expression on Ron's face: one of shame, horror and disgust.

"It's not your fault, Ron," Hermione breathed, reaching out a placating hand. "We know who's the real thief now, and he will not get away with this."

"That's right," Harry said, his eyes hard as the gems whose color they bore. "He's got away with too much for too long. But no more. It's time to settle accounts. And I promise you, this time Lucius Malfoy will pay in full."

To Be Continued ... of course ...

***

Author's Note: Whew. I hope that tides you over for now. Reviews and thoughts are always welcome of course. Just a few comments to a few reviewers:

therealxenocide: I wasn't sure what you meant by the "Ron running out to pound Draco" comment, but I can assure you that I never intended for that to happen. I'm sorry if that annoyed you a bit.

voicesinmyhead0304: Personally, I don't think Draco will ever reform. End of story for me. Some people ship D/G with Draco as still the slimeball he is ... I couldn't bring myself to write him that way. So I had to give it my best shot at reforming him. I'm glad you approve!

TheRavenAbraxas: Hahaha! Nice one! And no, Harry never took the ring. I was amazed that so many people thought that Harry could be that cruel ... And I agree, Ginny certainly has a bit of that Weasley temper.

Thanks to everyone else! Every comment is much appreciated and you can expect an update sometime next month. As soon as possible, at any rate. Toodles for now!