The Book of Morgan Le Fey

Chapter Nineteen: The Descendant of Morgan Le Fey

Ron awoke the next day with a smile on his face.

He had a smile plastered on his face as he quickly showered, combed his hair, brushed his teeth and yanked on his school uniform. When he wasn't smiling, he was whistling softly. A few times he opened his desk drawer to read the little note Hermione had written him, containing the details of his fantastic birthday present. His face felt hot as he read the note and his skin tingled and his smile got bigger. He read through the note one last time and stuffed in into the back of his desk drawer out of sight (Hermione had made him promise, "on pain of the worst Bat Bogey Hex ever", to keep the note safely hidden away).

Seamus, Dean and Neville had all gone down to breakfast already. Ron was pulling on his school jumper when Harry came into the room, wrapped in a towel and freshly showered.

'Hey,' he said absently, running a hand through his wet hair.

'Hi!' said Ron brightly, putting on his school tie.

'You're in a good mood,' said Harry, as he pulled on boxer shorts.

'Yeah, well, it was my birthday yesterday,' said Ron.

'You're grinning like the village idiot because it was your birthday yesterday?' said Harry archly, as he put on his shirt and began to button it.

'Yeah, well, it was a good birthday,' said Ron, trying to sound non-committal as he tucked his tie into his jumper and sat down on his bed to pull on his socks.

'Uh huh,' said Harry, eyeing him suspiciously while pulling on his trousers. 'By the way, what did Hermione end up getting you?'

Ron pursed his lips to keep from grinning, but the grin won. His ears went red. 'Just...something,' he said. He pulled on his shoes.

'Something,' said Harry, staring at him. Like...what?'

'Bloody hell, Harry, I'm not going to give you the blow by blow,' said Ron, rolling his eyes.

'There was blowing involved?' said Harry, chuckling. This earned him a pillow in the face. 'Ow!'

'Prat. Look, it was just, you know, a bit of stuff, okay?' said Ron.

'Okay,' said Harry. 'Stuff. I get it. It's not like I want details or anything.'

He pulled on his tie and for a long moment there was silence as he finished putting on his uniform. He looked at Ron again, and for another long moment they looked at one another. Ron couldn't help it; he really DID want to tell someone. It was all new to him and he felt like if he didn't tell SOMEONE he'd burst, and who better than Harry?

Except that Hermione would kill him if she knew he'd said anything.

But Harry wouldn't go blabbing...

'So what hap--' Harry began.

'Under her shirt,' Ron blurted.

'Whoa,' said Harry, sitting down swiftly on Ron's bed. 'Just the jumper or blouse as well?'

'Blouse,' said Ron.

'Bra on or off?'

'Definitely on.'

'Lace or satin?'

'Lace--wait a minute! How the bloody hell do you know all this stuff?' said Ron.

Harry gave him a slightly smug smile and shrugged.

Ron swatted him on the back of the head. 'You dog.'

'Hey, Susan and I have been going out longer than you two,' said Harry.

'You've...you know, with her, and...no bra?' said Ron.

'Yeah,' said Harry. 'A few times.'

'Blimey,' said Ron, and that sent his mind reeling toward imagining what Hermione might look like without...

'So how was it?' said Harry. Ron blinked.

'How do you think?' he said. 'Bloody fantastic, that's what.'

'Best birthday present ever?' said Harry, grinning.

'Best ANY present,' said Ron. 'And that includes my Cleansweep.'

'Well, congrats, mate,' said Harry, clapping him on the back.

'Look, Harry, you can't say anything to anyone, okay?' said Ron quickly. 'Hermione would do her nut if she found out I told you.'

'Ron, it's me you're talking to,' said Harry. 'I'm not gonna say a word, okay?'

'Okay,' said Ron. 'And I won't say anything about you and Susan. I swear.'

'Is this the part where we prick our fingers and swear a blood oath?' said Harry.

'You're a cheeky toerag, you know that?' said Ron. 'What's gotten into you lately, anyway?'

'Think about why you're in a good mood,' said Harry lightly. 'Same for me. Sure as hell takes my mind off the fact that some all powerful Dark Wizard with a homicidal streak is out to kill me, or that I have to try and read his sick, twisted mind.'

Ron blushed and looked away. 'Right,' he said. 'Sorry.'

'It's okay, mate,' said Harry. 'Look, uh...I know...I've been a real arse. I have. I was a real shit to you and Hermione last year and I couldn't handle all the stuff being thrown at me and I should have...I should have let you help me more. And I know...I know I haven't talked...to you and Hermione about...about Sirius. I know you two worry about me and what but...I'm dealing with stuff, okay? Honest. Susan...she helps me with that stuff. We talk about stuff.'

'Stuff you can't talk about with me or Hermione,' said Ron.

'Ron--'

'It's cool, Harry,' said Ron, holding up his hand and feeling extremely uncomfortable. Their friendship had changed so much in the past year and a half that Ron didn't quite know what to make of it. He would have given his right arm to be able to take away some of Harry's burden, but he couldn't. Susan seemed to be the only one who could get past that barrier Harry had put up around himself. The knowledge that he couldn't help his best mate as much as he wanted to hurt Ron a bit, but ultimately he realized, it was okay.

'Ron,' said Harry slowly.

Ron looked at his best mate and all that they wanted to say suddenly didn't need to be said. And in the next instant it became a bit uncomfortable and Ron coughed and Harry clapped him on the shoulder and stood up and mumbled something about getting breakfast, and Ron mumbled his agreement. Harry pulled on his shoes and robes; Ron put on his own robes and picked up his school bag.

'Harry,' said Ron. 'Uh, thanks for, you know, the stuff...about Hermione. I figured you'd understand. About, you know.'

'Yeah, you could say that,' said Harry, grinning as he picked up his own school bag.

Another long silence.

'So, Hermione wears lace bras?'

Ron smacked him in the face with another pillow.

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

Hermione sent an owl to Neville's grandmother that day. A day after that she received a note from Neville's grandmother telling Hermione that after an extensive search of the library's genealogical charts and archives, they were unable to find the chart Hermione requested.

'Dammit!' said Hermione angrily. They were sitting at breakfast

'I think I'm rubbing off on you, 'Mione,' said Ron. 'That's got to be the fifteenth time you've said a swear word in as many days.'

'Well, I'm frustrated!' said Hermione impatiently.

'Why don't we ask Dumbledore what to do?' Ron suggested. 'We have to tell him about this anyway. We might as well see if he can give us some advice about it. I mean, what if this girl doesn't know she's descended from Morgan Le Fey at all? I dunno half the stuff about my ancestors. For all I know I could be related to Nearly Headless Nick.'

'Assuming it's a student and not a professor,' Harry said.

'McGonagall would have found out if it were a teacher,' said Hermione firmly.

'And I'm sure she would have told us, or me anyway.'

'Why, because you're her favorite student?' said Ron.

'That's exactly why,' said Harry. 'McGonagall gave her that time-turner thing, remember?'

'Be that as it may,' said Hermione, 'the book calls to the owner. She'd have to know. If the book is lost, it seeks out its owner by calling to her somehow--I don't know how--and she's supposed to go and look for it until she finds it.'

'Maybe the book isn't lost at all,' Harry said. 'For all we know this descendant has had the book all along. Maybe she's keeping it a secret because it's so powerful or something. If the book has all this powerful magic that can wipe out everyone and she's the only one who can make the spells work, she might not want to go around blabbing to everyone about who she is.'

'Or she doesn't have it, but she's looking for it herself,' said Ron. 'I mean, Voldemort is sure the book is here but he doesn't really KNOW it's here, does he?'

Harry let out a frustrated sigh and set down his spoon; his porridge was now cold. 'We're operating on the assumption that Voldemort didn't trick me, remember? For all we know he planted the idea about the book in my head to throw us off, send us on a wild goose chase or something.'

'No,' said Hermione firmly. 'That book accomplishes exactly what he wants to accomplish. He might have let you know about it on purpose, Harry, but I really don't think he was lying.'

'We don't even know the book exists, Hermione,' said Harry dispiritedly. 'Maybe it's lost forever. Maybe it got burned or destroyed somehow. Maybe Elaine's daughter got rid of it. We have a lot of assumptions but no proof of what he's doing. We could be completely wrong about this.'

They sat in silence, not eating. The mystery surrounding Voldemort's plans had only two days ago seemed as good as solved. Now everything felt uncertain. Maybe Voldemort wasn't planning on using a disease at all, Ron thought. Maybe he'd found a whole continent worth of giants and he was going to set them loose on the Muggles and literally crush them.

'Ron's right, though,' Hermione said finally. 'We should tell Dumbledore, even if it is just speculation. He's going to want to know about it, and we promised him.'

'This is stupid,' said Harry darkly. 'You know, there's a perfectly simple way for me to find out what Voldemort's doing but Dumbledore won't let me do it.'

'Legilimency,' said Ron.

'Yeah,' said Harry.

'You could ask Dumbledore,' said Hermione. 'He said he'd let you do it, you know, in his presence.'

'I don't know if I can,' said Harry. 'Every time in the past I've been alone. That's what I'm used to. When I'm alone I feel like I can really clear my head and do what I have to do. With Dumbledore there...'

'Dumbledore wouldn't interfere, Harry,' said Hermione.

'That's not what I mean,' said Harry. 'Look, I didn't tell you this but...last year? When I had that vision of the snake attacking Ron's dad, well, when we were in Dumbledore's office, when I looked at him, I felt like attacking him. That was Voldemort, see. He was inside my head and he made me want to attack Dumbledore. If I try to do Legilimency in front of Dumbledore Voldemort could find out and...and I might hurt Dumbledore.'

Ron ran a hand through his hair. 'Whatever we decide to do, we can't deal with it now. We've got Transfiguration in five minutes.'

'Let's just tell McGonagall after class, shall we?' said Harry. 'I feel better about talking to her anyway.'

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

The spring Hogsmeade visit was on the same weekend as the Easter holidays this year. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all looking forward to time away from school, even if for a day. Their homework had become so overwhelming that even Hermione, normally so prepared and confident in her work, had begun to panic. They pored through The Daily Prophet every morning looking for clues of any progress in Voldemort's plan, but so far nothing had happened. The tension became nearly unbearable amongst the three of them. Hermione, who'd always been high-strung, was particularly, tightly wound, and the two of them wound up having a blazing row just two days before the Hogsmeade visit, over what seemed like nothing at all. It was their first fight since becoming a couple.

They didn't speak to one another for two days, and it was the worst two days of Ron's life.

The only consolation was that he could spend more time with Harry. Except that Harry's mood was no better. He angrily reported to Ron that he'd had his first row with Susan. Also, apparently, over nothing at all.

'Women!' said Harry furiously. 'Bloody hell. They ought to have a bloody course on how to figure them out.'

'I'll say,' said Ron bitterly. 'Bugger this. Let's go for a fly, yeah? Before lessons.'

'Excellent,' said Harry, and they took their brooms and headed outdoors for a quick fly before breakfast. It took their minds off their girl problems for a while, but then Ron saw Hermione leaving the Great Hall just after breakfast and his mood went sour again.

He wasn't sure what was worse, being angry with her, having her be angry with him, or feeling the powerful emptiness of not spending time with her. For a day and a half he resisted the almost overwhelming urge to apologize to her, mostly out of pride, but in part because he couldn't remember who'd started the fight in the first place. He rebelled against the notion of apologizing over something he wasn't sure he'd caused. But by the end of the second day of not speaking to her, Ron was so miserable that he awoke early on the morning of the Hogsmeade visit and waited for her to come down to breakfast, ready to apologize. The moment he saw her coming down the girls' staircase he leapt up from his chair by the fireplace and strode resolutely over to her.

'Ron,' she said, annoyed. 'What do you--'

'Hermione, I'm sorry,' he said firmly. 'I don't know why we fought and I don't care but whatever I did I'm sorry and I hope you forgive me and can we please not fight anymore because I miss you like hell.'

She stared at him for a long moment, her mouth slightly open, before she spoke.

'Don't swear,' she said softly, and she smiled even as her eyes filled with tears.

'So...so are you my girlfriend again?' he said hopefully.

'Of course I'm your girlfriend!' she said, and she threw her arms around him so hard he almost fell over. 'Oh, Ron!'

She began to sob into his shoulder.

'Wha--Hermione, don't CRY!' he said, holding her close and stroking her hair.

She pulled back and gave him a playful swat on the arm. 'They're happy tears, silly!'

Ron smiled and shook his heads. 'Girls. You're like...hosepipes or something.'

'Shut up,' she said, sniffing. He wiped the tears from her cheeks and kissed her softly, and then harder.

'Get a room, you two,' said Harry, as he headed down the boys' staircase.

Ron pulled away from Hermione's lips and they both said, 'Shut up, Harry.'

The three of them headed out into the corridor and saw Susan coming from the opposite direction. Judging by the way she ran up to Harry and hugged him tightly, they had made up as well. Ron took Hermione's hand and on impulse he kissed it as they moved past Filch and out into the daylight.

The winter cold seemed to have vanished overnight. The heavy rains that had plagued the school all through March disappeared. The frosts melted and left behind was the scent of sun-warmed grass. The village was beautifully turned out for the spring season; shops were festooned with bright spring flowers and the whole place had the smell of sweets and springtime.

Ron and Hermione got coffees at Madam Puddifoot's, a luridly decorated tea shop that, Hermione said, was the tackiest place she'd ever seen but served the best coffee she'd ever had. Ron had to agree with her. The place was entirely covered in lace and bright colors. The chairs had lurid pink buntings on them and little cherubs wearing bunny ears were floating above the tables, sprinkling pastel confetti onto patrons. Harry and Susan had gone somewhere else; Ron guessed that Harry was none too keen to return to the place where he'd had his disastrous first-and only-date with Cho Chang.

After that Ron and Hermione went to the various shops, looking at quills in Scrivenshaft's, at Quidditch supplies (Ron could have spent the day in the shop had Hermione not forcibly yanked him back outside), picking out sweets from Honeydukes, and finally settling down for a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. It was wonderful not to have to babysit third years and just be with Hermione. They chose a small table in a corner of the pub and Hermione moved her chair next to his so that they could, in her words, 'be closer to one another.' They sipped their butterbeers and held hands and Hermione leaned her head on his shoulder on and off and occasionally kissed him on the cheek. She even let him get away with putting a hand on her knee, and Ron was only too happy to do it, but after a few minutes it became difficult for Ron to simply let his hand rest on that soft skin.

'Ron,' said Hermione sharply, when his hand began to wander just a bit higher than her knee.

'Sorry,' he said, and he tore his hand away and put it on the table.

'You can put it there, just don't move it,' she said.

'If I put it there I won't NOT be able to move it,' said Ron.

'Oh,' said Hermione, and she blushed, but she smiled a little, too.

Harry and Susan showed up at the pub and joined them for a while. They had a nice time laughing and joking; Harry had a kind of warm smile on his face the entire time and he never let go of Susan's hand. They drank another round of butterbeers and talked some more, when Neville saw them, waved, and came over to the table.

'Hi!' he said. 'Oh, no! Hermione, I was supposed to owl my grandmother for you! I forgot!'

'It's all right, Neville,' said Hermione quickly, suppressing a smile. 'I...got what I needed already. There's no need to worry about anything.'

Neville beamed and Ron pulled up a chair for him; soon enough they were a crowd of five and Neville was guzzling his own mug of butterbeer.

'Isn't that Eddie Carmichael?' Susan asked suddenly, looking up toward the entrance to the pub.

They all looked up and saw the Head Boy entering the pub. He was with a group of girls, all of them Ravenclaws, and he was holding court like some sultan with his own harem. Ron scowled. Padma Patil, Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe all hovered round him, giggling ridiculously. A fourth girl came in behind them, hanging on every word but clearly being a bit shut out of the group by the other girls. Eddie, however, was frequently bestowing upon the straggling girl one of his dazzlingly smarmy smiles.

Ron gaped. The fourth girl was Luna Lovegood.

'What the-he's with Luna!' Ron hissed. 'What the bloody hell's he doing with her?'

'He's not "with" Luna, Ron,' said Hermione.

'No, he's with his latest passel of groupies,' said Harry, rolling his eyes. He pointedly did not look at Cho, and gave Susan's hand a little squeeze.

'He's being friendly enough to Luna, though,' said Neville, and he had a rather sad look on his face. 'She's eating it up. Do girls always go for jerks, or is it just me?'

'Neville, you...you like Luna, don't you?' said Hermione gently.

Neville went scarlet. 'Well, yeah, I guess. We get along okay. She's nice.'

'He's holding her hand!' Ron hissed. 'What the hell?' Indeed, Eddie had taken Luna's hand for a moment. The other girls glared at her as he fawned over her, but quickly enough he turned back to them.

'Ron, don't stare!' said Hermione. Then she elbowed Ron and glanced at Neville, who was moping into his butterbeer.

'Sorry,' said Ron. 'Well, you're way better than Eddie, Neville.'

'That's right,' said Hermione.

Neville gave them a weak smile.

'I don't like this," said Ron. 'Maybe we should warn her about him. I mean, Luna's, well, she's different, yeah, but she's a nice girl. Eddie's a slime.'

'I'll say,' said Susan. 'I don't know what anyone sees in him. I mean, once you get past his looks he's really slimy, isn't he?'

'You think he's good looking?' said Harry sharply.

'No,' said Susan at once, and she kissed him on the cheek.

'Ron's right, though, Neville,' said Harry. 'It's Luna's loss.'

'Thanks," said Neville miserably. 'I don't have much luck with girls but Luna and me were starting to get along really well. She is a bit strange, but...Well, who can compete with Eddie, anyway?'

'Lots of boys can,' said Hermione firmly, and as she smiled at Neville warmly, she gripped Ron's hand under the table.

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

With the completion of the Easter holidays, the students, especially the fifth and seventh years, found themselves rudely thrust back into studying. Ron and Hermione were called upon to arrange, organize and oversee study times.

The fifth years were gradually descending into alternate states of panic. Ginny was one of the few students who seemed positively blithe about the whole business of O.W.Ls. Despite several letters from her mother and the usual lectures from the teachers about the importance of O.W.Ls to future careers, Ginny didn't seem to be too concerned about taking the exams.

'But if you want to do something with yourself after school--' Hermione began.

'That's over two years off,' said Ginny. 'And anyway, if I don't do great on my O.W.Ls I can always work at Fred and George's joke shop. They do great business and I have a few ideas of my own for inventions.'

Hermione pursed her lips and said nothing but Ron--who thought the idea of Ginny working in the joke shop was just as good as any other career--knew that Hermione only marginally approved of Fred and George's business.

Harry, Ron and Hermione's own exams did not promise to be significantly less rigorous than the O.W.Ls, according to their teachers. Hermione insisted that they all start preparing for their finals at once. Ron and Harry groaned but didn't argue, and Susan decided to join them in their study sessions.

The research they were doing toward finding the descendant of Morgan Le Fey had ground to a halt. Without any accurate genealogy charts, and thanks to the strict veil of secrecy they were operating under, they were at a loss as to how to proceed. And nothing seemed to be happening on Voldemort's end. No attacks had been attempted on the school--surprising, considering how certain Voldemort had been about the book being held there. Harry had not used Legilimency to find out anything further, not wanting to disobey Dumbledore but also not wanting to use it in Dumbledore's presence. The Daily Prophet had not reported anything unusual in weeks. Ron, Harry, Hermione and now Susan seemed to be the only ones--apart from the teachers, of course--who spent every day in a state of worry, waiting for the other shoe to drop at any moment, for something terrible to happen.

Harry was holding Quidditch practices three times a week; he had stopped working with Bill on Occlumency and Legilimency based on Dumbledore's order not to practice it anywhere except in front of him. Bill continued to drill the rest of the class on Occlumency, however, to Ron's annoyance. It was not fun at all; Ron felt like he had gotten better at it, at least in terms of clearing his mind and repelling Bill's efforts to read his thoughts, but it always took Ron a few seconds to really resist it; who knew what sort of thoughts he was letting slip in those few seconds? Bill never said anything to Ron, but by now he was quite sure Bill had a pretty good idea of Ron's deepest, most private thoughts about Hermione. Most of those thoughts involved Hermione wearing nothing but her knickers. Or less. Not that he'd seen her in just her knickers, but at least they had progressed past the Bra On stage.

Hermione seemed to have mastered Occlumency easily, on the other hand. Ron wasn't sure he was happy about this or not. On the one hand he was rather curious to know Hermione's own most private thoughts about him. On the other hand, he thought perhaps it was better not to know.

Ron, Hermione, Susan and Harry were the Charms classroom one evening, having been given permission by Professor Flitwick to use it for practice. They were working on Disillusionment Charms, a type of Charm that made a person take on the appearance of his or her surroundings, so that he or she looked like a human chameleon. Ron had managed to make Hermione turn a rather lurid shade of purple with his Charm, so that she matched Flitwick's seat cushions, but nothing else.

'You're not tapping me on the head hard enough,' Hermione said patiently, tapping herself on the head sharply with her wand so that she reappeared normally.

'I don't want to knock you out, Hermione,' Ron said nervously, not really liking the idea of bopping his girlfriend on the head with his wand.

'You won't,' said Hermione. 'I promise.'

'All right then,' said Ron dubiously. He stood in front of Hermione and took a deep breath, then tapped her sharply on the head with his wand and shouted 'Disillusion' The Charm worked, but Hermione sank to the floor in a heap.

'Hermione!' Ron shouted. Harry and Susan turned around to see Ron kneeling by a perfectly Disillusioned Hermione, who was lying on the floor.

Suddenly there was a giggle. Hermione sat up, tapped her head with her wand, and reappeared, laughing.

'That wasn't funny,' said Ron grumpily. But he felt his face struggling not to smile.

'Sorry,' said Hermione. 'I couldn't resist. But you did it! The Charm was perfect.'

'Yeah, it was, wasn't it,' said Ron proudly. He started to say something else, but suddenly there was a commotion outside the classroom.

'What's that?' Harry asked, his wand raised over Susan's head.

'Let's check it out,' said Ron, holding out his wand. He and Hermione were prefects, after all. If there was a fight going on in the hall...

The four of them emerged from the classroom to find Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode all surrounding Luna Lovegood, taunting her. Crabbe had taken Luna's bag from her and had dumped the entire contents onto the floor, kicking books, quills and parchment rolls every which way. For a moment, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Susan didn't move; they were too shocked to move.

'Luna love Eddie!' Pansy was shrieking. 'HA! You think Eddie'd give you the time of day, LOONY?'

'Eddie give any girl the time of day if she lets him get in her knickers,' drawled Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle laughed.

'Oooh,' said Millicent. 'Is Loony Eddie's little toy?'

Luna was pressed against the wall, looking scared, with tears running down her face.

Malfoy moved in close to Luna and sneered. 'Is that it, Loony? Do you let him yank up your skirt and--'

Something snapped inside Ron and he moved. Before Harry or the girls could restrain him, Ron pulled out his wand and closed the distance between himself and Malfoy and yanked the blond boy away from Luna. He slammed Malfoy into the wall and pointed his wand in Malfoy's face.

'Say that again, you piece of shite,' said Ron furiously.

'Ron!' said Hermione, but she, too, had her wand out, as did Harry and Susan. The three of them pointed their wands at the other Slytherins.

'Bugger off, Weasel,' Malfoy snapped.

'You think you're so high and mighty,' said Ron furiously, but his voice was low and threatening. 'You're just a pathetic loser. Does it make you feel like a big man to pick on a girl?'

'You would know,' said Malfoy, 'seeing as I pick on you constantly.'

Ron snarled and started to make a move but this time Hermione grabbed his arm.

'Ron,' she said warningly.

Malfoy sneered again, but Ron backed off, still holding his wand up.

'I thought you were stuffing Granger, Weasel-king,' said Malfoy. 'But you're awfully quick to rush to the defense of Loony, here.'

Hermione visibly stiffened and Ron's knuckles turned white as he clenched his wand in his fist, but they didn't move.

'Leave Luna alone,' said Harry angrily.

'Oh. And what do you propose to do about it, Potty?' Malfoy said.

Ron opened his mouth to retort but Hermione beat him to it.

'In case you forgot, you disgusting little ferret, Ron and I are prefects,' she said.

'So?' said Malfoy. 'So are Pansy and me, Mudblood.'

Ron snarled again but Hermione held him back.

'Yes,' she continued, 'but you and Cow Parkinson have just been caught abusing your position.'

'What did you call me, you filthy--' Pansy began.

'She called you a cow,' said Susan loudly, 'but I'd say that's an insult to cows.'

'Looks like we'll have to report you to Professor Dumbledore,' said Ron, taking up the theme. 'He might have to take away your prefect's badge there, Ratboy.'

'Go ahead and try, Weasel,' Malfoy hissed, reaching into his robes. Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and Millicent all followed suit. But Hermione, Susan and Harry already had their wands out and pointed them again at the Slytherins.

'Magic in the hallways isn't allowed, Weasel,' Malfoy growled. 'Except in self-defense.'

'Then we'll just have to say we were defending ourselves, won't we,' Hermione said darkly.

'You really are pathetic,' said Harry. 'And predictable. It takes five of you to pick on a girl, does it?'

Malfoy made a hissing noise and started to reach into his robes again.

'Don't even think about it,' Susan snapped. 'Unless you like being turned into a slug again.'

'Clear off, Ratboy,' Ron snapped. 'And take your other little slugs with you. If I catch you bothering Luna or anyone else again, consider yourself reported.'

Malfoy glared at the four of them, then at Luna, who had moved away from the wall and was standing next to Susan, her own wand now out. Her look of fear had been replaced by one of defiance, though her wand hand shook just a little.

'You really think you're going to win, do you?' said Malfoy viciously. 'You think Potty here is going to save the day, do you? You're wrong. You've been on the wrong side from the beginning. The Dark Lord is coming and it's only a matter of time before the lot of you is dead. Starting with your Mudblood slag.'

Ron raised his wand but Hermione gripped his arm and gave him a look.

'Get out of here, Malfoy,' said Hermione, pointing her wand at his nose.

Malfoy said nothing but settled for giving them all a murderous look that was copied, in turn, by Pansy, Millicent, Crabbe and Goyle. The five of them stalked away toward the Slytherin common room.

'Gits,' said Ron furiously, putting his wand back into his pocket. He glanced at Hermione, who gave him a smile and took his hand.

'One of these days, 'Mione, you're going to let me hex the crap out of Malfoy,' he said.

'One of these days,' said Hermione. She and Ron turned to Luna.

'Are you okay, Luna?' Harry asked, putting a hand on her arm.

'Y-yes,' said Luna, her huge eyes filling with tears. 'Th-thanks.'

'Let's get your stuff back in your bag, shall we?' said Hermione kindly, and the five of them set to gathering up Luna's things, which by now had scattered very wildly all over the corridor.

Within a few minutes they managed to get Luna's bag repacked. She gave them a hearty, sniffling thanks.

'Let's get you back to your common room,' said Ron.

'Oh, I can get back myself--' she began.

'No,' said Harry. 'Ron's right. We'll take you.'

She nodded, and the five of them headed off in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room. Nobody said a word the entire way there, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Susan all waited outside the entrance of the common room until they saw Luna disappear inside.

'I should get back," said Susan to Harry. 'I'll see you in the morning.'

'Wait, Sue, I don't want you going back alone, either,' said Harry. 'I'll walk you.'

'Then you'll be alone when you drop me off,' Susan pointed out.

'We'll all go,' said Ron. They doubled back and went past the Charms classroom, the four of them still silent. Ron held Hermione's hand, Harry held Susan's, and the four of them still hand their wands out.

Just past the Charms classroom, Ron felt a light crunch beneath his feet.

He looked down and saw that he had stepped on a scroll.

'What's this?' he said, bending down to pick it up. Hermione looked at the outer edge of the scroll.

'It's Luna's,' said Hermione, noting the initials L.L. in the upper right corner of the rolled up parchment.

'We must have missed it when we were getting her stuff,' said Ron. Harry and Susan came next to him and looked at the scroll.

'Should we return it to her?' said Harry.

'It can wait until tomorrow,' said Hermione firmly. 'We need to get Susan back, and get back ourselves. Anyway, Luna's probably already in bed by now.'

'Okay,' said Ron. 'Wonder what it is?' He started to unroll the parchment.

'Ron, don't do that!' Hermione hissed. 'That's not your business.'

'What?' said Ron. 'It's not sealed or anything. It's probably just homework.'

Hermione rolled her eyes and let go of his hand, continuing after Harry and Susan. Ron looked at Harry, who shrugged, and he continued to unroll the parchment, feeling a small twinge of guilt that was squelched by his curiosity. He pulled the parchment open to its full size and gazed down at it for several moments as he walked, then felt his feet freeze in place.

'Whoa,' he said, his eyes widening into saucers.

'What?' said Harry, Susan and Hermione, stopping and turning to him.

'It's...it's Luna's family tree,' said Ron. 'Her genealogical chart.'

Hermione's eyes widened. In the next instant she swept over to Ron's left, Harry to Ron's right, with Susan just next to Harry, as they all looked down at the chart. For a few moments there was complete silence as they studied the chart. Then Hermione let out a gasp.

'Oh my god,' she whispered.