The Knights Of Walpurgis

Chapter Twenty: Victory At Valentine's

If Ginny truly did have any feelings for Harry beyond friendship, she did nothing to reveal them in the aftermath of the Quidditch victory. She passed the celebration in Gryffindor Tower with Sian and some of her other friends, and cheered with everyone else at the sight of Ron and Hermione exchanging a tentative second kiss late in the evening.

On Sunday, Harry stayed in his dormitory for almost the whole day. It had nothing to do with wanting to avoid anyone, he told himself. He simply had a lot of work to do and needed the quiet day to work on essays for Defence, Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration. He also found time to scribble a quick note to Lupin - Remus, I think a girl I know likes me. I've got a girlfriend, and she knows that. What do I do if she tries anything? Hope you're okay. How's Tonks? Harry - as well as sending a note to Susan. He put rather more effort into this note, complimenting her on her play the previous day and hoping that she'd not been too badly hurt. He wondered whether to make a note of Ginny's injury - Ron had commented that it looked as though Crabbe had punched her, so large was the bruise before she let Hermione drag her to Madam Pomfrey - but he had a feeling that this wouldn't make Susan feel any better.

He released Hedwig from his dormitory window, and couldn't help but think how much easier communication would have been if Susan had been in Gryffindor.

On Tuesday afternoon, Harry reported for his usual Occlumency lesson in poor spirits. He was still concerned about Ginny, and had been distracted in all his classes so far that week. Hermione had managed to hit him with a very simple Tickling Jinx during their duel in Defence the previous day, and had been so surprised that she'd bent over to help him before remembering that in a real fight this would have cost her dearly.

"Harry, please, sit down," Dumbledore said, waving him to his usual couch. Harry sat down and relaxed on the sofa. The lessons had become so routine that there was barely need for words between the two of them now.

"Harry, I think that it is time for something new, don't you?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I would have been able to penetrate your mind very easily on Saturday. Miss Parkinson had angered you, and you were focused on the match, and in all this you let your defences slip. Normally, you are able to hold them, although Professor Snape tells me that you do not usually bother in his class, unless the two of you have a confrontation, and therefore I assume that you do not bother at other times either."

"It's just really difficult to maintain all the time," Harry said.

"Quite so. Harry, I have noticed a tendency about you that you share with your father, and that is that you both did not do well when asked to master the theoretical side of magic, unless of course you have a particular interest in doing so."

Dumbledore smiled slightly, and Harry remembered the story Remus had told him about his father's desire to win Sirius his bet. "You, and your father before you, much prefer doing things, rather than thinking about them. Your mother, incidentally, was equally adept at both. So, I have a suggestion for you, and you may feel free to ignore it, if you wish."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I would like to give you further Occlumency training while you are working with Madam Marchbanks, if that is acceptable to you."

"You mean, while I'm duelling?" Harry said.

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "There is an expression, 'Throwing someone in at the deep end'. I feel that it applies here. If it does not work, it does not work, but we know that Voldemort is capable of striking you mentally while engaged in physical combat, and it would be best if you were to learn this skill as well, at least defensively. It will, hopefully, aid your concentration as well as the ease with which you can raise and maintain your shields."

"Well, okay," Harry said. He thought the idea almost ridiculous - Didn't he have enough trouble fighting Marchbanks without having to worry about Dumbledore in his head, as well?

"Good," Dumbledore said. "I am sure that this will be a benefit. Now, what do you say to my sitting in on your lesson on Friday afternoon?"

The rest of the week did not go well for Harry. Snape stunned the sixth year Potions class by expelling Mandy Brocklehurst of Ravenclaw from the course on Wednesday. Her marks had been on a downward spiral since Christmas, when her father had been killed and mother and young sister badly injured in a Death Eater attack. Snape had shown no pity to her in their classes, and when he returned her second consecutive 'F' homework to her, he ordered her to remove herself from his class.

The class worked in shocked silence for the rest of the period. Hermione threw frequent glances at Mandy's vacant space, and the only sound to be heard was the sniggering of Malfoy and his henchmen.

Harry spent all of Herbology the next day trying to catch Susan's eye, but the Hufflepuff girl seemed to have developed a knack from facing away from him at all times. Eventually, after he had smothered a valuable Wandering Wisteria clipping in noxious dragon's blood fertiliser, Professor Sprout docked ten points from Gryffindor.

Harry made it through Care of Magical Creatures in one piece, mainly because Hagrid was teaching the group about small ferret-like mammals known as Jarveys, which imitated human speech patterns. Ron and Harry had fun teaching their Jarvey to flatter Hermione on her appearance, and she was pleased enough that she allowed them to copy from her notes after they'd forgotten to take any.

Charms had become a revision session for Harry almost since Marchbanks arrival at the school. While she had focused on showing advanced Defence spells that most Aurors would have struggled with, she had also impressed upon him the need to learn basic Charms that could prove useful in duelling situations. Flitwick had been happy to furnish Harry with extra suggestions whenever asked, and Harry had perfected the Silencing Charm, as well as a useful spell that turned an object upside down. Harry supposed that it had been used for rearranging furniture, but had also used it one night to send Marchbanks crashing to the floor. The old woman had appeared stunned at first, but had used her wand to levitate herself back into position, before exacting her revenge.

Harry's last lesson of the week was a single theory lesson with Professor Snape. The Potions master made the class study the brewing procedure for several obscure Potions, only one of which would be the brew that they would be required to make in the next class. Harry always left the lesson with a headache that he usually dispelled with a fresh doughnut and a cup of tea in the Great Hall, but it seemed that Snape was determined to remind everyone of Mandy Brocklehurst, and spent an additional twenty minutes warning everyone to be very careful. "Particularly those of you who might feel that their work is unimpeachable, or who feel that their position on this course is safe regardless of the quality of their work," he purred, his gaze falling on Ron, Hermione, Harry and Neville in the back row.

As a consequence, Harry arrived at the Room of Requirement with a sore head and a feeling of apprehension as he wondered how much it would slow him down.

That's assuming that I can manage to do anything with Dumbledore in my head, he thought, sighing as he pushed the door open.

Dumbledore and Marchbanks were chatting quietly in the corner as Harry entered. He wondered how Dumbledore managed to communicate effectively with the nearly-deaf old witch without raising his voice, but even as he approached the pair he threw himself to one side.

Dumbledore's curse blew a hole in the floor of the Room of Requirement. Harry rolled, and came up to his feet. His wand was drawn and a pair of Stunning Hexes lashed from its tip in the direction of his two opponents.

Dumbledore waved his wand, and a thick golden shield sprang to life in front of them. The Stunners smashed into the shield with a sound like a gong being struck, and Harry saw the surface of it ripple.

Then the shield disappeared, and Madam Marchbanks was firing her first string of hexes. Harry had never known anyone, not even Lupin or Dumbledore, who could fire spells so quickly. She barely even moved her lips, and had no problems mixing many different spells together. Harry had come to rely on his reflexes, as he did now, to protect him from her onslaught. He knew a few shield spells, but for every shield that he could erect, Marchbanks knew a jinx to break it. What worked against fire, for example, was shredded by a sonic spell as easily as damp paper.

Harry sprung to his feet, and fired off a powerful Pinching Hex that Hermione had found in the Restricted Section. The spell seemed to surprise the two teachers, and it impacted squarely on Marchbanks' wand arm. She grimaced in surprise, unable to move the muscles as the hex tightened itself around her arm.

While Marchbanks' was preoccupied, Dumbledore spun around and unleashed a wild volley of Blasting Hexes across the room. Harry had no intention of finding out what the powerful spells would do to him if they hit, so he threw himself backwards and, while skidding along the floor on his back, brought his wand up and yelled "Expecto Patronum!"

The silvery stag erupted from Harry's wand as he allowed his mind to flash back to the night that Ron, Fred and George had rescued him from the Dursleys before his second year. Dumbledore blinked in surprise and then braced himself as the stag cantered forwards and crashed into him. If Dumbledore had expected a physical impact, he was disappointed, for the stag passed through him, as insubstantial as a ghost. But he was distracted enough for Harry to follow up with a Stunner that clipped the Headmaster on the side.

Harry pushed himself upright, wand out warily as he watched the two Professors recovering.

"Very good, Harry," Dumbledore said. "You have learnt a great deal, it appears."

"Passable improvement," Marchbanks said. "The Pinching Hex was novel, Potter," she added, in a much louder voice. Harry wondered why she spoke in a normal voice to Dumbledore and then almost yelled at everyone else.

"I found it in the Restricted Section," Harry said, loudly.

"Good. Won't faze Voldemort, but you're getting there."

Harry shrugged. He knew very well how powerful Voldemort was. The Restricted Section was still to yield anything that would slow the Dark wizard down for more than a few seconds. Harry supposed that if Voldemort attacked that night, then he would have to use every spell that he knew and hope that he was lucky.

"So, Harry, after that impressive performance, are you ready to fight us both again?" Dumbledore queried.

"I think so," Harry said. Well, what's the worst that can happen? I embarrass myself? It won't be the first time that I do that this year.

"Very well, Griselda, if you would be so good?"

Madam Marchbanks nodded, and waved her wand. Golden hoops hung all around the room. Harry knew what was expected of him. He'd become quite good at dodging over, under and through the rings under Marchbanks' orders, but it had taken every ounce of concentration he had to manage it under fire. He wondered how he would do with Dumbledore laying siege to his mind, as well.

Make a bet of it, he thought. It's what Sirius would have done. I reckon that I can make it over five rings before one or the other of them gets me. In fact, if they're going to test me, let's make it a proper test. All or nothing.

"Am I trying to fight back against you both as well?"

Dumbledore looked surprised. "If you think that you will be able to, then by all means," he said. "But your first priority is survival."

"Yeah, okay."

Harry took his position, and Dumbledore strode around the obstacle course to a point about forty-five degrees to Harry's left.

"Now, I shall be trying to maintain eye contact with you," Dumbledore said. "Which should be interesting. However, so long as I can see your face, that should be sufficient. You may begin when you are ready."

Harry rocked back on his heels, shaking his arms a little to loosen the joints and get the blood pumping in his veins. He bent forward, wand held in one hand, the fingers of the other outstretched. He fixed Marchbanks' position in his mind, as well as making a note of where the first few rings were.

With Dumbledore trying to get into my mind, I'll have to run on instinct. No plans.

Harry threw himself forward, lunging at the first ring and hitting the ground just in front of it. He felt the faintest touch of Dumbledore's mind on his as he rolled, but as soon as he was facing away from the Headmaster, the sensation vanished. Harry bounced to his feet in time to throw himself sideways as Marchbanks sent a red hex at him. He felt it sizzle against his robes as it passed, and he spun around to find himself facing Dumbledore.

The attack crashed against his shields and he felt as though his brain had just been shaken in his skull, but without thinking about it, he dropped to the ground, breaking eye contact once more and also taking himself out of the way of Marchbanks next curse, a yellow ball of light that Harry knew from experience would have made him feel as though he had a bad case of the 'flu.

Harry waved his wand in Marchbanks' direction, and yelled "Rupturo!" Pushing himself upright, he didn't wait to see if the Blistering Hex would affect the aging Professor, instead using the first hoop as a vault, leaping over it, swinging around and throwing a wild Blasting Hex in Dumbledore's direction.

Leaping over the next ring, he felt almost as though he could sense Dumbledore's surprise. By going backwards around the obstacle course, he had thrown his Headmaster off balance for a few seconds. Marchbanks had seen him do something similar before, but usually was unfazed by it. Harry knew that Dumbledore could have easily picked him off with a hex of his own, but he was relying purely on his skills as a Legilimens in this encounter, and that was where Harry had to take advantage.

Behind him, he heard Marchbanks begin to fire off a string of varying curses and hexes. The spells would travel at different speeds and have different effects, and Harry knew that he didn't have any chance of beating them all. Marchbanks, for all that she worked Harry hard, did not usually fire off strings of spells so early in a training session, saying that he would learn nothing if he were unconscious in the first minute.

Harry dived through the next hoop, wincing as a bolt of near-lightning grounded itself on the burnished gold surface. He paused, turned around as swiftly as if he were pivoting on his Firebolt, and raised a shield with a wave of his wand.

The shield was buffeted by the impacts of the spells, but held. Harry watched as the outer surface rippled, and for a second he froze as he realised that he was looking right at Dumbledore. Dumbledore was quicker to react, already attacking Harry's defences.

Everything seemed to slow down. Harry could see his shield fading, and Marchbanks newest spell erupting from her wand and searing through the air towards him.

He could also see the lake of his mind, at the centre of which his castle stood. Dumbledore was wading across the lake, was nearly within striking distance of Harry's island castle. Without looking, Harry knew that Sirius was beside him.

"You know," Sirius said. "You do get into a hell of a lot of trouble, but I suppose moments like this must make it worth while."

Harry nodded, not sure what to say.

"You know how to finish this, don't you?"

Harry nodded again. He shut a door in his mind, closing everything off, leaving himself in a completely empty space, void of all emotion.

Time seemed to snap back to normal, and Harry stood once more in the Room of Requirement, Marchbanks' spell - Blasting Hex, Harry thought irrelevantly - still only midway between them.

Keeping his attention on Dumbledore, aware of the growing connection that the Headmaster was establishing in his mind, Harry raised his wand.

"Protego," he whispered, his eyes locked with Dumbledore's.

Marchbanks' spell hit Harry's new shield, which barely shimmered. It rebounded at an angle, and fired away in Dumbledore's direction.

But the Headmaster didn't seem to notice, because suddenly he had something else on his mind.

Harry.

*

"Remarkable," Dumbledore said, shakily sitting on the ground.

Harry said nothing, but watched the Headmaster carefully.

"I have heard of having a Legilimens connection reversed, indeed Severus mentioned that you managed it last year, but until now I have never known anyone manage it deliberately."

Marchbanks was eyeing the two of them with caution.

"Harry, did you know that that would happen?"

He nodded.

"You did that deliberately?"

Harry nodded again.

"May I ask why?"

"Because if I can throw you out of my mind like that, then I can do it to Voldemort," Harry said. "I had to know. I know that he's excellent at Legilimency, and better than you, but I probably won't have to be fighting when I'm deflecting his attacks, either."

"And what you saw in my mind..."

Harry didn't say anything. Most of what he had seen had been to do with Hogwarts, and the way in which Dumbledore had run it for the last several decades. There had been flashes of Wizengamot meetings, and even a brief flash of excitement as a young Dumbledore cast his first Patronus.

"I have lived a great many years, Harry, as you have seen. Please believe me when I say that I have seen some truly remarkable things in that time. I have watched the births and deaths of dragons, seen a centaur honour duel, been witness to the birth of nations and faced too many Dark wizards with delusions of power and grandeur. Were I to establish a ranking system, I suspect that what you have just achieved in terms of remarkableness would not be particularly high on the list but, however, it does give me considerable hope that you are on the right track. Yes, I think that I would like you to keep practising your Occlumency, Harry, but I do not think that you will need much more tuition in it."

Dumbledore wiped at his forehead, which was beaded with sweat.

"Most remarkable indeed."

But the way in which Dumbledore was regarding him made Harry feel that he was only hearing half the story.

*

The Fat Lady's portrait swung open and Harry clambered through the hole and into the Gryffindor common room. Ron, Neville, Ginny and Hermione were sat together at the nearest table and almost before Harry was fully into the room Hermione had stood up and rushed over to him.

"Come on and sit down," she said. "Was it dreadful? Can we do anything? Did it hurt? What happened? You've been gone so long! Did they have to take you to Madam Pomfrey?"

Harry allowed himself to be led to the empty seat at the head of the table. He noted with interest that the four of them had apparently been poring over several old-looking spell books, and that Ron had made some scratchy notes, dropping several ink-blots in his apparent excitement.

"Harry--"

He held up his hand, unable to hold back the smile as he looked at her. Same old Hermione.

"Hermione, I won."

The four of them looked at him in surprise, mouths hanging open.

"You what?"

"I won. Dumbledore couldn't break my defences, and I was able to flip his attack back on him. If Voldemort tries to attack me like that, or possess me again, I'll be able to hold him off long enough to get free, if nothing else."

"That's fantastic," Ron said, grinning. He looked at Hermione, who was positively beaming, and his face fell. "Oh, yeah. Suppose we've got to pay up, haven't we?"

Ron, Neville and Ginny all dug into their pockets and placed golden Galleon coins on the tabletop. Hermione scooped them up and placed them in her own pocket.

"What was that about?"

"Well, we sort of had a pool running on how well you'd do," Ron said, shrugging as Harry stared at him intently. "All in fun, mate."

"And who bet on what?"

"Well, I thought that they'd have to get Madam Pomfrey to come and fetch you," Ron shrugged, trying to avoid Harry's gaze until he saw that he was grinning.

"I thought you'd be hurt so bad that you'd miss the match against Ravenclaw," Neville said.

"What about you, Hermione?"

"Well, I thought that you'd end up being treated for memory loss because you'd be too stubborn to admit defeat," Hermione said.

Harry turned to Ginny.

"What about you?"

Ginny stared uncomfortably at the table for a long moment, and then looked up.

"I said that they'd have to scrape you off the wall with a spatula," she said.

Harry laughed. It was infectious, and soon everyone else at the table was laughing too, although Hermione didn't seem to find it very funny and was seemingly only laughing to be polite.

"Hang on," Harry said. "If none of you thought that I'd win, how come you ended up with the money, Hermione?"

"Well," Hermione said, much more amused now than she had been. "Ron insisted that someone back you to win, otherwise it wasn't a proper pool."

"So she put in a second Galleon," Ron said.

Harry was about to say something nice to Hermione, when Ron spoke again.

"She said she'd bet on you on behalf of S.P.E.W.," he said, looking somewhat morose. This was the only reason that Harry could think of for not making fun of the name of Hermione's house-elf protection group.

"Well, I've rather neglected it recently," Hermione said. "I'd allowed myself to forget about it while I was caught up with NEWT preparation and reading all these books. Now I can afford to get some professional posters printed next time we go to Hogsmeade."

"Hermione," Harry said, feeling the high that had carried him all the way from the Room of Requirement beginning to fade. "Do you not think that the elves might not be interested?"

"Of course not," Hermione said.

"But, you've been working really hard for two years now, and all that's happened is that no elf will come near Gryffindor Tower in case you've left clothes out."

"Well, I've stopped knitting," she said. "Mostly," she added, blushing slightly as she glanced at Ron. "But I do think that it's important."

Harry ran his fingers through his hair and tried to think of a way to phrase his argument so that he could get through to Hermione. Dobby was still the only house-elf who would come to the tower, and he had to clean up after an entire house's worth of students on his own.

"Hermione, wouldn't it be easier to run S.P.E.W. after Hogwarts?" he suggested. "I mean, people our age don't really think about house-elves and stuff."

"Well, I've been targeting young people because they're inclined to be less prejudiced," Hermione said. "And while I may never be able to convince Draco Malfoy that his family's other elves should be set free like Dobby, there are people here who, if they only thought about it, would see that enslaving an entire race is a terrible thing."

Ron and Harry exchanged a hopeless glance. Harry couldn't think of anything else to say. Hermione was right, of course. It was wrong that house-elves didn't get paid and didn't have their freedom, at least by human terms, but by the terms of their culture, they were happy. Harry had no idea how Hermione planned to go about trying to change the culture of an entire species, a culture that had apparently been adhered to almost religiously for hundreds, or maybe thousands of years.

He had a horrible feeling that if he asked, she'd tell him, and that would probably keep him busy for the rest of the evening.

"All right, Hermione," he said, giving in. "I guess you know what you're doing, but can you try not to upset the elves? I know that you want to help them, but you're annoying them more than helping at the moment, and Dobby gets an awful lot more work because of it."

Hermione nodded. "If you like, I can just concentrate on the students," she said. "I don't want to upset the elves either."

"Good," Harry said. "And this way you'll have more time to work with the students."

"Yeah, that's if we get any time where we're not trying to learn all this stuff," Ron cut in, waving his scratchy notes. "Here. Detonatus Magnificus. I think it might be what you're looking for."

"Detonatus Magnificus?" Harry took the piece of parchment and read through Ron's notes. Once he'd read it over twice, he looked up.

"You know, you might be right," he said. "This could be helpful."

"You think?" Ron said. He grinned at the idea that he might have found something. "What do you know? Books do have some good stuff in them."

Hermione snorted, as Harry was sure that Ron had meant her to. Peering at the parchment, Harry repeated the spell to himself over and over, eager to give it a try in a duel.

*

For the first time, Madam Marchbanks had decided to attend a meeting of the Hogwarts Alliance. Harry, walking through the crowd of pupils, wasn't sure if this was because of his victory in the duel the previous week, or if she had only now found the time in her schedule. Whatever the reason, hardly anyone seemed to have noticed her, and Harry was wondering if she had used a charm of some sort to divert attention from her unusual presence at the meeting. Harry did know that she had been pushing him harder than ever when they had faced each other in their sessions each day, however.

"Right, listen up." Harry called, when there was ten minutes left. "I've been learning some new spells!"

Those members of the HA who had been around for some time groaned. Harry had become known for testing new - and sometimes powerful - spells on HA members in duelling matches. Although he took pains not to inflict major injuries on his opponents, more than one person had picked up minor knocks, grazes and bruises, and there had been a number of damaged egos as well. Harry usually walked away from the matches without so much as a scratch, to his opponents' disgust.

"Right, so I need a volunteer."

Near the back of the room, Justin Finch-Fletchley stuck his hand into the air.

"Okay, Justin."

The Hufflepuff boy came forward, and the two took up duelling positions.

"Haven't seen you around much lately," Harry said, pleasantly.

"Ernie doesn't come anymore."

"You always follow Ernie's lead?"

"Someone has to keep him out of trouble."

"Think you're doing well, recently?"

"I've done better in the past."

"Alohomora."

Justin dropped into a defensive posture as Harry muttered the first syllable of the spell. As he, and everyone else, realised that Harry had cast an unlocking spell to begin their duel, he blinked in surprise.

"Diffindo!"

The Cutting Hex caught Justin on the shoulder, slicing neatly through his robes and, Harry knew from long practise, breaking the skin underneath. Justin staggered back, clutching instinctively at his shoulder even as he realised that he wasn't badly hurt.

"Serpensortia!"

Harry almost felt guilty for using the spell, but he had to test Justin's response. A large adder appeared between them, and reared up. There were a few gasps, but most people recognised the snake, which was common on the Hogwarts grounds, as not being very poisonous. Justin's eyes narrowed, and with a wave of his wand, the snake vanished.

"Detonatus Magnificus!"

Justin didn't even have time to react before the floor beneath him erupted in a shower of fire and rock, he was thrown to the ground with a thump, his robes smoking around his charred shoes.

Harry hurried over to Justin and took his hand, helping him upright. He blinked, and then carried on with the lesson. He noticed Madam Marchbanks nod once at him before she left as quietly as she'd appeared.

"Keep talking, and disrupt your opponent's focus. Trick them if you can, but if you have the chance to put them away, do so. In a real duel, you won't get points for the prettiest wandwork - You only win if you survive."

With that, the meeting was over, and Harry watched the group leaving. Ron and Hermione left almost immediately, no doubt hoping to stop on the way back to the Tower - maybe at the clock tower? - Harry wondered abstractly, before pulling a face at the thought. He waved distractedly at Susan and Hannah as they passed by, talking heatedly about something or other, but Harry didn't notice what.

Then, he was alone. He opened his hand, and unfolded the piece of paper that Justin had passed to him.

Harry, he read.

Ernie will try something on Valentine's Day. How do you really feel about Susan?

JFF

*

Valentine's Day arrived, and with it the annual deluge of owls. Harry watched in wonder as the Great Hall's enchanted ceiling was obscured by a great flock of owls all arriving at the same moment. Ron leant protectively over his cereal as the birds soared overhead, and there was a chorus of appreciative gasps as the owls momentarily formed into a large heart shape that earned Hagrid a round of applause. He beamed from behind his huge beard as the birds broke away from the formation and began their delivery.

Harry thought that he was likely to get one card, from Susan, and was therefore surprised to see dozens of owls landing on the table in front of him. Soon, the birds were struggling to find room, and one or two settled on Ron, who took this with an air of long-suffering.

"I wondered if this might happen," he said. He reached up and took an envelope from one of the owls, which gave an appreciative hoot and took off.

The two of them made their way through the cluster of owls, untying cards and parcels and stacking them in a heap that teetered precariously between them. As the last owl took off, Ron eyed it suspiciously.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Wait a second," Ron said. Seeing the other Gryffindor sixth years arriving together, he signalled them over. Lavender and Parvati looked amazed at the great pile between Ron and Harry, and hurried over. The others trailed after them.

"Whose are all these?" Lavender asked.

"Harry's," Ron said. Harry blushed slightly, not quite knowing why.

"Ooh, lucky," Lavender said. "I wish I got this many."

"I don't reckon you do," Ron said. "Listen, can you lot help us open these? And be ready for surprises."

Harry gave Ron a quizzical look, but Ron's only reply was an arched eyebrow in the direction of the Slytherin table. Harry looked across and saw Malfoy sitting with Pansy and Goyle, nonchalantly finishing off an omelette, but after a few seconds, Harry saw Malfoy's gaze flick in his direction.

"You think they're fake cards?"

"Wouldn't be in the least bit surprised," Ron replied. "This could be what he meant, maybe Ernie talked Draco into using his... contacts."

"Maybe," Harry said, taking the top card from the pile. With varying degrees of reluctance, the other Gryffindors began to follow.

The first few cards contained nothing more than rude comments or poems. Ron even laughed at one that sounded much like the Valentine Harry had received in his second year, although it was considerably more insulting. Harry flushed at the thought of it being read out publicly, in the middle of a busy corridor.

Hermione was collecting all the cards and stacking them neatly. "You never know when we might want to use them," she said. "I can always recycle them for S.P.E.W. leaflets."

Dean was the first person to fall victim to a booby-trapped card. As he opened it, it spewed stinksap onto his robes and face. Seamus laughed at his friend's predicament, but the next card that he opened exploded, leaving him with a sooty face and no eyebrows.

Soon, it seemed, everyone was watching the Gryffindors as they opened Harry's jinxed cards. Hermione was just able to duck under another blast of stinksap, while Lavender squealed as a card sprayed her with a navy blue dye that resisted even Hermione's attempts at cleaning charms. Ron opened one parcel which sprayed him with undiluted bubotuber pus, and there was some nasty laughter as his face and hands began to swell painfully. Dean was quick to help him out of the Great Hall and up to the hospital wing.

"This is horrible," Parvati said. "Who'd do this?"

Harry glanced across the Great Hall at Malfoy, who seemed to be enjoying the show. To Harry's left, another card exploded and Seamus received another faceful of soot.

It wasn't until later in the day that Harry realised that he hadn't received a card from Susan yet. Morning break and lunchtime passed, and when Harry mentioned it to Hermione, she looked surprised.

"What did you get her, Harry?"

"I sent her a card, and asked her if she wanted to come to dinner in Hogsmeade at that expensive place next time we go."

"Oh, well, that's nice," Hermione said. "Have you seen her today?"

"No. She wasn't in class. Do you think she's ill?"

"She might be. Why don't you ask Hannah?"

"Yeah, good idea."

He found Hannah at dinnertime. The Hufflepuff girl looked tired, and when Harry asked about Susan, also looked rather nervous.

"She asked me to give you this," she said. "She wasn't feeling well today."

Harry took the scrap of parchment and looked at it.

Harry, please meet me by the lake tonight at eight.

Susan

"Will she be okay?" Harry asked, looking at Hannah.

"I'm sure she will be," Hannah said. "Harry, I have to go."

The blonde girl almost leaped from her seat and hurried from the Great Hall, leaving her dinner half-eaten. Harry returned to the Gryffindor table, lost in thought.

*

At five to eight, Harry was standing by the lake, watching the giant squid breaking the last of the ice with idle flicks of its tentacles. Hermione had been busy in the library, and he hadn't dared approach Ginny for advice, so he had decided to visit greenhouse two on his way to the lake, and was holding an orchid blossom that he thought would grow to full bloom if the right spell were cast upon it.

He tensed as he heard footsteps approach.

"Harry?"

He turned, the smile on his face vanishing as he realised that Susan wasn't alone. She was accompanied by Ernie.

"Hi," Harry said, doing his best to keep the surprise from his face. "Good evening, Ernie."

"Potter. Susan and I have been talking. She has something to say to you. Susan, I'll wait over here, okay?"

"Yes, thank you."

Ernie retreated to a discreet distance. Harry recognised it as being far enough away that Ernie would appear to be removed from the discussion, while at the same time being near enough that he would be able to keep track of what was going on.

"Erm, this is for you," he said, handing Susan the orchid.

"Oh, it's lovely," Susan said, although she didn't sound very enthusiastic. "Harry, we need to talk."

"Okay," Harry said. "What about?"

"Us."

Harry blinked slowly, and nodded.

"Right. Do you want to go first?"

Susan nodded, and took a deep breath.

"Harry," she said, and then paused, as though trying to find the right words, or the courage to stop them. "I don't think we should go out anymore."

Harry sighed. He'd half expected her to say it, and now that it had been said he was only slightly surprised to find that it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as much as he had expected.

"Why?"

"I'm just... I can't be your girlfriend, Harry. Not if it means having everyone spread rumours about me as long as we're together, not if it means that I can't even play Quidditch without being insulted publicly. Half the school believes that I'm some kind of convenience for you, Harry. There for when you get bored of Ginny, or Hermione. I can't cope with that, Harry. Besides," she said, smiling sadly. "You heart isn't really with me, is it?"

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but found himself shaking his head.

"No," he said, sadly. "I'm sorry. I wanted to... I wanted you to be someone who I could go to, to get away from being Harry Potter. But somehow you got caught up in it all. I'm sorry."

"Harry, it's okay," Susan said. "I'll survive. And one day this will be a wonderful story."

Harry smiled, and nodded. "It's already pretty good. I remember you facing down Pansy Parkinson outside Hogsmeade..."

"I was terrified," she said, with a small smile. "But I hoped you'd like it."

"I did. I think Ron was ready to kiss you, as well."

Susan blushed. Looking up at Harry, she held out her hand.

"Friends?"

"Of course," he said. He took her hand and they leaned forward to exchange a last kiss.

"Thank you, Harry," she said. "It's been... interesting."

With a last smile, she turned and walked over to Ernie. The two Hufflepuffs walked back towards the castle, but as they walked, Ernie turned and gave Harry a long look that made his skin crawl.

The expression on Ernie's face was one of total victory.

Turning back, Ernie reached out and took Susan's hand.

To be continued...