Revelations and Romance

Revelations and Romance chapter 10/25

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10: Angles

January 21st

Hermione's first lesson on Friday was Ancient Runes. Because so few pupils wanted to study Ancient Runes, the class contained pupils from all four houses. Professor Frith praised Hermione for her homework, and awarded two points. This meant less to her than it would have done to Ron, but she appreciated the compliment.

Afterwards, Hermione headed for the DADA class. Hannah and Ernie had Charms next, but walked along with her to start with.

'We've got DADA with you next Friday,' said Hannah. 'I mean, with the Gryffindors. Are you and Harry still going to be having separate lessons?'

'Yes,' Hermione replied. 'Dumbledore's teaching us, in the hope that Harry will be prepared if You-Know-Who tries to attack him again.'

'I once accused Harry of being the Heir of Slytherin,' said Ernie quietly. 'I didn't realise he couldn't be until you were attacked, which is when I apologised to him.'

Hermione hadn't known that detail. She told the two Hufflepuffs a short version of what had happened, leaving out any mention of Ginny.

'You must have learnt a lot just from being Harry's friend -- a lot about You-Know-Who, I mean,' said Hannah.

Hermione nodded as the three of them went down a staircase.

'How about something more cheerful?' said Ernie. 'What did you think of Blaise's trick with the folding parchment?'

'Oh, that was clever,' said Hermione. 'I'd never have thought of folding Aramaic so it looked like Ogham.'

'That's what makes Blaise the class joker,' said Hannah. 'It's not what you'd expect from a Slytherin, is it?'

'No. I think I may have been judging them all to be as bad as Malfoy,' said Hermione. 'Ron's sister Ginny has a good friend in Slytherin; apparently she's very convincing at threatening our favourite gossipers, but she seems quite nice otherwise. Blaise and Raine make me wonder how many others might be nicer than I thought.'

'Oh, that's why they believe it! Yes, a threat relayed by a Slytherin is more believable,' said Ernie.

'We saw Ginny in the trials last week,' said Hannah. 'We didn't think anyone would be able to beat her. We should have known better!'

Hermione grinned, blushing slightly.

'You aren't going to be in the team against us next month, though, are you?' asked Ernie.

'No, it'll be the normal team -- unless someone's hurt, or Angelina changes things. It's unlikely though.'

There was a pause, then Hermione thought of something. 'Have you ever given Susan and Megan detentions for gossiping about you?'

'No. I suppose we could,' said Hannah.

'I gave Lavender and Parvati a week's worth of detentions, rather than duelling them. I think Raine's threat worked better, though.'

The two Hufflepuffs laughed. 'We'll have to remember it, in case they decide she was joking,' said Ernie.

'You're going that way now, aren't you?' asked Hannah. 'We'll see you later.'

*

Seamus arrived in the DADA classroom with the other Gryffindors. Professor McCardle was already there. The group divided into their two groups of three and waited to see if there were any new instructions.

'All right, as this is the last duelling lesson with only Gryffindors, it's your chance to improve your skills before you have to face another house's pupils.'

'They're only Hufflepuffs,' said Seamus. 'It's not as though we were having to duel the Slytherins.'

'That doesn't mean they're as bad at duelling as you may think,' said McCardle reprovingly. 'You will find that out next Friday.'

Lavender giggled at that. Seamus wished she wouldn't. He was very fond of her, but he would have liked her to take things more seriously -- especially given her poor duelling abilities.

The duelling started. As before, Seamus was duelling with Dean and Ron, going in a fixed order, but each picking a target from the other two at random. Ron had been practising with Harry again in the free periods that morning, and it was clearly helping, as he was now blocking almost all of Seamus and Dean's attacks.

When there was a pause while Ron removed his Petrificus curse from Dean, Seamus looked over at the other three. McCardle was trying to give Neville advice on blocking, but he seemed to have difficulty putting it into practice.

'Seamus!' said Dean. Seamus turned back to face Dean and Ron. Dean attacked next, but against Ron, who was caught off-guard, having thought Dean would attack Seamus for not paying attention. Now Dean was removing Petrificus from Ron.

The lesson continued along those lines until lunchtime, when McCardle reminded them that they'd need their books for the next DADA lesson on Wednesday. The Gryffindors headed down towards the Great Hall, except for Ron, who was waiting for Harry and Hermione. Seamus and Lavender lagged behind the others.

'Next week, I can pick on the Hufflepuffs instead of having to face Neville,' said Lavender.

'McCardle doesn't seem to think they're that easy to duel -- and she should know, she's been teaching them too. I wonder what house she was in when she was here?' said Seamus.

Lavender shrugged. 'Who cares? Why, do you think she was a Hufflepuff, and is giving them extra practice?'

'I don't know. Talking of extra practice ...'

'Seamus! All right -- short lunch again and "off to the library", or would before dinner be better?'

'We'd better not be late for Potions. Before dinner, I think.'

'OK. Parvati's guessed, by the way.'

'Oh, no! Is she going to be spreading gossip about us too?'

'Not if I can help it!' said Lavender firmly.

'I'm sure that last time, some of the things in that room had moved. I don't think we're the only ones going there.'

Lavender grimaced. 'I don't like the sound of that. Suppose they want to use the room when we're already in there? That'd be really embarrassing; they might wait around until we unlocked the door and came out.'

'Any gossip about who it might be?'

'Not Harry, Hermione, Hannah or Ernie! It's getting dangerous to gossip about them.'

'Dangerous to gossip? Too dangerous for you? I don't believe it.'

'Believe it. The duelling menaces offered to give us practice if we talk about them any more.'

'Oh. That's a bit ambiguous.'

Lavender shook her head. 'Not the way we were told.'

'I don't believe it. Harry wouldn't do that.'

'So ask him.'

Seamus looked around and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione behind them. He stopped. 'Harry, you're not really threatening to duel Lavender, are you?'

Harry explained how he felt gossip was threatening Hermione's life, and added that if anyone was acting like a Death Eater-in-training, they shouldn't be surprised by his reaction.

Seamus stood still as the trio continued down to the Great Hall, then looked at Lavender, who had turned pale. 'He didn't exactly say it.'

'He didn't exactly deny it, did he?' she asked. 'You don't think he means that, about my acting like a Death Eater?'

Seamus shrugged. 'I really don't know. You never call Hermione the M-word, do you?' He started walking again, and Lavender followed suit.

'I've been tempted! No, I haven't called her that.'

'And what of me? My father's a Muggle, you know that.'

'You're different. You're nicer than she is. Being made Prefect has just gone to her head,' said Lavender.

'Neither she nor Harry is as bad as I remember Percy Weasley being.'

'They haven't given you five detentions in a week!' she reminded him.

Seamus refrained from saying that perhaps she'd deserved it. Lavender didn't notice, and said, 'If we could only catch her out somehow. If she was just doing something that would mean she lost her Prefect badge, then McGonagall would make either Parvati or me a Prefect instead.'

'What do you think she might be doing?'

'Look, would you mind if we didn't get together this evening? I've just thought of something -- if she is the one using the Prefects' bathroom for sex, I want to wait for her to come out with whoever it is!'

'All right. Let's make up for it tomorrow, though.'

Lavender nodded as they reached the Entrance Hall.

*

Ginny and Raine got to the Great Hall after almost everyone else, as Snape had been extra strict about checking that everything had been cleaned up or put away properly. They separated and went to their house tables. Ginny found a space between Harry and Fred, and got herself a plate full of food.

'Stop going on about it!' said Lee irritably. He was sitting opposite the twins.

'We can't do that!' said Fred.

'What am I missing this time?' Ginny asked.

'Lee's got a girlfriend,' chorused Fred and George.

'Oh, wow. That's going to be on the front page of the Daily Prophet, "fifth-year pupil has a girlfriend".'

Lee smiled at her, obviously preferring her attitude to the twins'.

'But you don't know who she is,' said Fred.

'It's a love to echo down the ages,' said George dramatically.

'More passionate than Lancelot and Guinevere!' said Fred.

'More doomed than Tristram and Iseult!' added George.

'Longer lasting than Ron and Hermione!' said Fred.

'Hey! Leave me out of it,' said Ron, who was sitting just the other side of Harry and Hermione, talking about the DADA lesson.

'Leave me out of it too,' muttered Lee.

'No, I don't know who she is,' said Ginny, 'and if you two keep talking instead of saying anything, I never will.'

'She's someone who Lee is working closely with,' said George.

'Do you think McCardle would teach me the Killing Curse, if I asked her nicely?' Lee asked Ginny.

'How many pranks have they done in her class?' she asked.

Lee grinned. 'Good point. She'll teach me -- or maybe I can get her to do it, and cut out the middle man.'

'It's Azkaban for you,' said Fred sternly.

'That would have its advantages,' said Lee. 'I wouldn't have to put up with you two ... or Orla.'

'Or Alicia,' said Fred.

'Orla?' asked Ginny. 'Is this about her taking over from you as commentator?'

'She's his new girlfriend,' said George.

'She is not!' insisted Lee.

'It's true love. You should see the way she looks at him in her adoring way. It's adorably adoring,' said Fred.

'I spent a lot of time with Orla once she was picked as the replacement commentator,' Lee explained to Ginny, 'and it wasn't me who picked her, it was the house Heads and Hooch. She had to practice on games recorded on Omnioculars, and learn the names of the Quidditch players in all the house teams -- well,' Lee glared at the twins, 'all the important players, anyway.'

'Oh, so it's just about you spending so much time with her?' she asked, stabbing a potato and cutting it in half.

'Yes. Maybe I can get Alicia to help discourage her.'

'You don't believe your own brothers?' asked George, sounding hurt. 'We told you, it's true love.'

'Oh, I believe four of my brothers. Four out of six isn't too bad.'

Lee laughed. 'Now I know what Angelina meant about you. You've had years of practice at being rude to them.'

'I've had years of being the butt of their pranks, that's what does it.'

'Well, Lee and Orla spent so much time together that she's got a crush on him now. Like you and Lockhart,' said Fred.

'I did not have a crush on Lockhart!'

'But that is true, Orla keeps "accidentally" bumping into me,' sighed Lee. 'I've been trying to discourage her, but it doesn't work, she just won't take a hint. It's ridiculous -- I was eighteen in November! She's only twelve.'

'In November,' said George. 'On the same day.'

'Fine, yes, one slight coincidence, and these two start going on about how it's "a love ordained by destiny" and "fate has brought us together" and we're "united by commentating".'

Ginny smiled and shook her head. 'I can't think of anything to discourage her. But it's only going to be for a term and a half, isn't it? You'll have left Hogwarts after that.'

'I'd like to be able to get from one class to another without running into her about five times a day, though. It's not even as though I don't like her -- she's OK as a kid, and she's going to be a good commentator.'

Nobody seemed to have anything to say about that, and they got on with eating their meal.

After lunch, the fourth-year Gryffindors had DADA. For this term, their Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons were covering vampires and other creatures that either used Dark Arts, or that frequently associated with Dark Wizards.

'Today we will briefly cover a rare creature, which you are unlikely ever to encounter,' said McCardle. 'You will find it in your copies of Fantastic Beasts. This creature is called the Basilisk.'

Ginny and Colin both gasped, and the others in the class all looked at them.

'What's the matter?' asked the Professor. 'Oh, yes -- Creevey, you were attacked by the Monster of Slytherin, and Miss Weasley was taken into the Chamber itself, weren't you? So that makes two of you who have actually seen a Basilisk -- even if only briefly.'

'Harry killed it while I was unconscious,' said Ginny. 'I saw it when it was dead, and safe.' She could feel herself blushing -- she had also seen it alive on four other occasions, but she wasn't about to tell anyone that.

'You don't have to blush every time you say his name, you know,' Colin teased her. She pulled a face at him, glad that he'd said the wrong reason aloud.

'Well, that made for an interesting start to the lesson,' said the Professor. 'Unfortunately, the best way to deal with a Basilisk is to be a Parselmouth -- someone who can talk to snakes in their own language. The only people I've heard of who have that gift are Salazar Slytherin, Lord Voldemort,' most of the class winced at that name, 'and Harry Potter.'

'But Harry's not a Dark Wizard like the other two!' said Ginny hotly.

'Of course he isn't. I didn't mean that he was. It is a gift usually associated with Dark Wizards, though.' She paused to recollect the point she'd reached in the lesson. 'Fortunately, Basilisks are extremely rare -- the one that Harry killed was probably the last one in Britain.'

The lesson continued with ways to avoid being killed by a Basilisk if you didn't have Harry Potter with you, and then moved on to the subject of Ashwinders, which the class were more likely to encounter.

'Too many serpents in one lesson,' said Ginny, as she headed for her Muggle Studies lesson.

'What was it like down there in the Chamber?' asked Owen.

'We never wanted to ask you about it before,' said Olwen. 'But since you didn't seem too worried about it in class ...'

'It's been a while now, so I'm getting over it. What do you mean, though? It's a big cavern under the school, or maybe under the lake. There's a giant statue of Slytherin in there and, for all I know, a rotting Basilisk corpse.'

Owen shuddered. 'You mean, they just left it there?'

'Ron says Harry's the only one who can open it, but I don't know why. I don't think he's been back down there, and if nobody else can get down there, they can't have done anything with its body. So it's just been left lying there -- for nearly three years.'

'That's even worse!' Olwen said. 'So the Chamber of Secrets stinks of ... I don't even want to think about it!'

'I hadn't thought about it until just now,' Ginny said. 'I'll ask Harry if he did open it again for Dumbledore or anyone, without actually going down there again.'

The three of them had arrived at their Muggle Studies classroom for their last lesson of the day. Raine and the rest of the pupils were already there, and the lesson began almost immediately, as Professor Dalton explained to them the concept of electricity, gas and water bills.

'That's just so involved,' said Raine as they left the class at the end of the lesson. 'I can't believe it needs to be so complicated.'

'People like Fen and Hermione must just know all about this sort of thing,' said Ginny. 'Do you think that's why Hermione seems to find magic so easy? It can't be nearly as difficult for a Muggle-born to learn magic as it is for us to learn about all those bills.'

'How did they ever managed to come up with a system like that? There's a lot to Muggles that we just don't appreciate.'

Ginny laughed. 'You sound like my dad.'

'Did I tell you I saw your dad last month?'

'No! Where did you see him?'

'My dad took me to the Ministry to have a look round, a couple of days before we came back here. Your dad was in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, wasn't he? With red hair like the rest of you?'

'What's left of it, yes,' Ginny nodded. 'That's why I'm doing Muggle Studies, because he's so enthusiastic about what Muggles do.'

'It's easy to see why. Well, see you later.'

'Yeah, see you,' said Ginny, going up the staircase that led towards Gryffindor Tower, while Raine continued towards the stairs down to the Entrance Hall.

*

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked back from the Herbology greenhouses. 'So, are you going to do more of your extra studies now, or after dinner?' asked Harry.

Ron grinned. 'Now. Thanks for lending me your Cloak again.'

'No problem. There hasn't been any reason for me to use it this year. It's been too quiet to need to sneak out anywhere.'

'Says you,' said Ron, still grinning.

'OK, so you two have a reason, but I don't.'

Ron left the other two at the third floor, going to a narrow corridor to put the Cloak on where nobody would see him. Then he went up to the fifth floor to meet Hermione. She was standing in a corridor, looking out of the window at the now-thawing snow, to avoid waiting outside the Prefects' bathroom and looking suspicious. Ron touched her hand, she smiled and they went to the door to the bathroom. 'Jojoba,' she said, and the door opened to let them both in.

When the door closed behind them, Ron took off the Cloak, and hung it up. Then the two of them spread towels on the floor, undressed each other and made love, after which they swam together in the bath until they realised it was getting close to dinner time. Reluctantly, they got out of the bath and dried each other with towels, then dried their hair with a spell and dressed.

'I forgot the Trollaroid again!' said Ron.

'You'll remember it one day,' she said. 'Let's get these towels into that basket.'

They gathered up all the towels they'd used and put them in the basket. Ron kissed her one more time and put the Cloak over himself again. Hermione opened the door and they went out into the corridor.

'Aha!' said Lavender, making Hermione jump.

'What are you standing here for?' asked Hermione.

'I've caught you with Harry!' gloated Lavender.

'You're an idiot. Where is Harry?'

'He's still in there,' said Lavender, going through the still-open door. 'Wow! This is quite a bathroom.'

'And it's empty.'

Ron took the opportunity to go to the end of the corridor, and waited invisibly for the drama to play out.

'Where is he?' demanded Lavender.

'He's probably in the common room. How would I know? What would you like, detention or duelling practice?'

Lavender went pale again. The one thing she hadn't expected was that Hermione would be alone and simply having a bath.

'If you don't have a preference, Harry and I could choose one,' said Hermione. Lavender seemed to be too amazed at the Prefects' bathroom to answer, though.

Ron was trying not to laugh.

Hermione looked at her watch. 'It's almost time for dinner. Come out of there and let the door close. Oh, and you've got detention.'

*

Angelina was sitting with Fred, George and Lee at dinner. 'I've spoken to Paloma Monahan, and she's interested in being the reserve Keeper, so that just leaves the question of a reserve Seeker. I'll talk to the team about that later; Harry needs to be involved in that, of course.'

'I can't remember Paloma,' said Fred.

'I vaguely remember her,' said Lee. 'I remember her name -- she came third in the trials. Dean, Ron and then Paloma.'

Angelina pointed towards a third-year girl with a Mediterranean complexion, surprisingly combined with a few freckles.

'Oh, yes, her,' said Fred.

'And Katie's decided that for now, at least, Orlando Beed, a second year, will replace Ron as the reserve reserve Chaser.'

'What are you going to do about Seeker trials? Will they be as public as the Chaser and Beater ones?' asked Lee.

'I'm not sure. After Hermione and Ginny's performances in their trial, I'm glad we did let everyone watch who wanted to. I bet they scared all the other teams. I don't think we'll find anyone better than Harry, though, so there's less point to having the Seekers perform in public.'

'Ron says the Malfoy brat was sneering at Hermione, claiming she can't fly straight. Does he really think he's fooling anyone into thinking he isn't jealous of the way she flies?' said George.

'Has anyone found out how many Quidditch players have wound up in the hospital wing, apart from us?' asked Fred. 'I'm sure the other teams have tried that trick, and if we can't do it ... well, maybe it's just my ego, but I think others are going to crash into each other too.'

'I hadn't thought of that,' said Angelina, smiling at the thought. 'If enough of them try it, maybe we'll only be facing reserve team members in the rest of our games.'

'You're sounding like Oliver now,' George said, grinning at her. 'He always sounded so upset when another team's members recovered in time for a game.'

'Who've we got next?' asked Fred. 'Is it Hufflepuff?'

'Yes, two weeks tomorrow.'

Fred put his hand to his forehead and adopted a pained expression. 'Oh, no! Hufflepuff! We don't stand even the slightest chance -- of losing!'

The others laughed.

'We shouldn't be too confident,' said Angelina.

'Now you really sound like Oliver,' said George.

*

Following dinner, Fred and George were sitting together in the common room, working through Potions essays they'd been set. Angelina came in through the portrait hole and came over to sit with them.

'Madam Pomfrey wasn't sure whether to tell me, but eventually decided that she could trust the Head Girl,' she told them.

'Oh, so that's what that's useful for!' said Fred. 'I never did see what Percy thought the point of being Head Boy was.'

'Never mind Percy. You two aren't the only ones to have been to the hospital wing after trying to fly like Hermione. I don't know why it works for her. After watching you two and Harry, I don't think I want to try it.'

'Who else has been hurt, then?' George asked, rubbing his hands together.

'You're too eager! Three Slytherins, including Balfour, managed to fly into the stands or the ground, and two Ravenclaws crashed into each other just like you two.'

'So the Hufflepuffs are too scared to even try? That's good,' said Fred.

'Another way of looking at this: four Slytherins, five Ravenclaws and the whole Hufflepuff team haven't needed Madam Pomfrey's help. We don't know if they didn't try, or if they tried and succeeded.'

'You're just trying to depress us,' said Fred.

'Well, I don't want the team to be overconfident. What's that, the Potions homework? I'm leaving that until tomorrow. I've still got to do Flitwick's homework.'

*

Following an early breakfast, Blaise Zabini and Queenie Greengrass were back in the Slytherin common room, sitting together as they tried to do an Ancient Runes essay. Footsteps sounded from the boys' staircase, making a welcome distraction, so both looked up to see who it was. Draco Malfoy appeared, with his Prefect badge pinned prominently to his robes.

Draco left through the entrance and Blaise went back to staring blankly at the Ancient Runes essay. Joking in class was easier than admitting to not understanding the Ogham script, or understanding the textbook's section on Ogham.

When Draco reappeared, the two of them were still trying to make sense of Ogham, and welcomed the chance to watch Draco instead. Malfoy imperiously summoned his two henchboys to his side.

Queenie Greengrass, who was sitting beside Blaise, asked, 'Do you think he just doesn't care what people think of him, or that he's really too arrogant to realise?'

Blaise shrugged. 'He's probably so sure of his family's position that he doesn't believe any of us would dislike him.'

'He's not helping us change anyone's opinion of our house.'

'Yes. It would be OK if he was just obsessed with the Quidditch team winning, but wishing that Muggle-borns were dead ... I'm just amazed his family manages to get away with anything.'

'You know his father was accused of being in league with the Dark Lord after Potter defeated him as a baby?' asked Queenie.

'And he bribed his way out of trouble. Now the Dark Lord's back, and Draco thinks he's going to be a Death Eater any day now. I'm sure he doesn't even think about what that involves. Just look at Raine. Her family's always been in Slytherin, and most of them were killed by Death Eaters. Her mother was crippled by one.'

'And with her father being an Auror, he could be killed soon. I suppose at least Raine has the comfort that with her background, the Dark Lord's never going to try to recruit her,' said Queenie softly.

Blaise sighed. 'You're worrying about that too?'

'Isn't everybody? Apart from Draco and his two thugs.'

'He must be planning something bad, look at the way they're chortling,' said Blaise.

'Maybe he's writing a list of all the girls who said no to him, or hit him. Though I don't suppose he'd be laughing about that.'

Blaise laughed at that. 'That was ... just ridiculous. He was so surprised by that. Not even Pansy seems to want to talk to him any more, after he did that.'

'Well, I'm not surprised by her reaction,' said Queenie, grinning.

'No. Perfectly understandable. You know, we should do something about the Dark Lord.'

'Volunteer before our families are threatened, you mean? I've thought about it.'

Blaise stared at her in complete surprise. 'No. No, I didn't mean anything that drastic. Look, the Dark Lord's bound to be planning something to do with Harry Potter. Suppose we could find out -- I'm sure Draco would boast of anything he knew -- and tell Potter, so he'd be warned.'

'You don't seriously think someone our age could defeat the Dark Lord, do you?'

'He's already done it once. He's survived three more encounters with the Dark Lord. Who can you think of, apart from the Death Eaters, who can say that?'

Queenie thought for a moment. 'Dumbledore?'

'OK, so if we can find anything out, we tell both of them. What do you think?'

'It's definitely better than volunteering!'

*

Dumbledore looked at the clock. It was almost two in the afternoon, and time he went to the meeting room. When he got there, he found Arthur Weasley, Sirius Black, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher and Agnes McCardle already there. He placed an enchanted quill on a piece of parchment and began the meeting.

'For those who have not yet heard, we have news of Hagrid and Madame Maxime, who will be here herself soon, I hope. Severus, I won't ask for your report until she is here. Now, Arthur?'

Arthur cleared his throat. 'Basically, I don't have anything to report. Fudge isn't changing his position; he insists that You-Know-Who can't be back. Even though he signed Sirius' pardon, he thinks Pettigrew and the others were acting on their own. All of the Aurors' interrogation results, according to him, are just proof that the captured Death Eaters have been deluded into thinking he's back. The one person he doesn't think is deluded is Fudge himself.'

Dumbledore sighed. 'We need to find some way to convince him of the truth. Mundungus?'

'Haven't heard a single hint of anything. Arthur's lot raided me again last week, and I've demanded compensation from the Ministry, so we're still trying to set me up as a possible recruit. But nothing's happened.' He looked over at Arthur, who smiled back at him.

'Perhaps that is an idea we should abandon. It was always a remote chance. Arabella?'

'My mother's still watching over the Dursleys, and there's been no sign of activity aimed at them. Apart from that, I've added to my collection of stuff from Borgin and Burke's, and some of the other shops around there. I can't be sure that any of it came from Lucius Malfoy, but it seems likely that some of it did. Nobody's fallen for my attempts to act Dark, either.'

'Every Dark item you buy, though, is denied to those who would actually use it. I will recompense you after the meeting, and keep the items safe here.'

'Where are they being kept?' she asked. 'Not that I want any of them back -- I'm just curious.'

'Severus has been keeping them in an unused dungeon room, sealed more tightly than his own office. Remus, your report?'

'Two weeks ago, I found a seventh werewolf who was interested in the Wolfsbane Potion. I'm sorry, Severus, I will be needing even more of it now.'

Snape sighed, but looked resigned.

'I don't quite understand that,' said Arthur. 'I know I haven't been able to get to many meetings, but what was the reason for giving out this potion?'

'The potion allows me, or any other werewolf, to retain a human mind despite the transformation. With it, there are no more worries about being seen in a country where there are no wolves, no fear of attacking someone and spreading the werewolves' curse, and no danger of killing someone and waking the next morning remembering what you did. With it, werewolves can ignore Voldemort if he tries to recruit them -- the desperation that would drive them to accept his offer is no longer there.'

Arthur nodded in understanding.

'Agnes?' Dumbledore said next.

'I think most of the seventh years will be well able to defend themselves against anything short of the Unforgivable Curses, by the time they have left Hogwarts. The sixth years are progressing well enough. Some of the fifth years really aren't coping well with blocking even the simplest spells.' Sirius looked as though he was about to ask a question, but she continued. 'Of course, I can't report on Harry or Hermione's progress any more.'

Sirius stared at her. 'What? What's Harry doing now?'

Dumbledore said, 'Harry and Hermione are no longer practising curses and blocking in Agnes' class. They're studying separately, with me. At present, I believe that they could almost hold their own against many of the seventh years.'

Sirius relaxed. 'Oh, good. Well, I obviously don't have anything to report. Why do I still not have any mission?'

'For the present, I am still looking into the ancient magic used to protect Harry when he is with his aunt and uncle. His protection needs a blood relative -- or so I have thought. It may be that he can also be protected in his godfather's care; if so, that will be your mission.'

'That sounds like an easy one, but I'm sure Harry would like to be away from the Dursleys. Isn't there anything else I can do until then, though?'

'There may be. I'll discuss it with you after the meeting -- I am not certain it is even possible.'

At that moment, there was a knock at the door, which Arthur opened, to reveal Madame Maxime.

Dumbledore rose. 'Madame Maxime, we have been looking forward to seeing you again.'

The Beauxbatons Headmistress entered and sat in a large chair intended for her. There was a second large chair beside it, but that one was empty.

'Severus, now is an opportune time for your report.'

Snape glanced at Madame Maxime, and said, 'Eleven days ago, I had a message from a spy in Lucius Malfoy's household. The message claimed that Hagrid and Madame Maxime had been dealt with, but gave no details. I told the Headmaster this, but could do nothing about it, as failing to teach my classes would have aroused suspicion.'

Dumbledore continued. 'Agnes and Professor Dalton investigated, as I knew where Hagrid and Madame Maxime had been when they last reported, and hoped that any attack would not have been far from there. As some of you had heard, the two of them had been attacked and left for dead.'

''Agrid protected me,' said Madame Maxime sadly.

Dumbledore nodded. 'Do you want to tell them the rest?'

She said, 'We met wiz ze giants, and zey 'ave agreed zat zey will not ally wiz ze Dark Lord. It took six months to make zem agree. Zen we went back to my school -- but we were attacked by Death Eaters before we got zere, and 'Agrid tried to protect me -- 'e took zeir attacks, and told me to fall as if I 'ad been wounded. Zey left us zere for dead.' She looked at Agnes. 'I have not zanked you for rescuing us.'

Agnes looked embarrassed. Olympe smiled at her, and continued. 'Agnes made a Portkey and took us all to ze St Mungo 'Ospital. Now I am better, but 'Agrid, 'e is still zere and trés malade.'

Silence met the end of her story. After a moment, Dumbledore said, 'Hagrid is expected to recover -- possibly before the Easter holidays. He may even be well enough to teach again next term. However, he is so badly injured that he doesn't want any visitors to see him at present. Apart, of course, from Madame Maxime, who has seen him when he looked even worse, just after the attack.'

'The next meeting of the Order will be on the twenty-sixth of February.' He took the quill off the parchment. 'Does anyone want to say anything they would prefer not to have recorded?'

Arthur said, 'I suppose, as I'm not supposed to be here, I can't see my children?'

'That is true. However, there is a Quidditch match in a fortnight's time -- Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. That would be an entirely innocent reason to visit.'

Arthur nodded and smiled. The group made their farewells and left, leaving only Dumbledore and Sirius in the room.

'Sirius, you and James were jointly responsible for creating the Marauder's Map, am I right?'

Sirius nodded. 'We did the spells on it, but all four of us made the map of the castle.'

'Would it be possible for you to make another map, one of a different area? Additionally, could it be restricted to show only a predefined list of names?'

Sirius frowned, thinking about it. 'I don't know all the spells James used. I think he got some of them from Lily -- you remember how good she was at Charms.'

'I do indeed. A sad loss, both of them. Although it does seem that Harry has inherited at least part of their abilities.'

'As for the list, I'm not sure. James put a spell on the map so that it would learn the name of anyone it didn't recognise. Without that spell, I suppose it would be possible to limit the names. That would make it easier, since I never learnt it.'

Dumbledore stood. 'If you would try to rediscover the spells that were used in the map, it might prove to be extremely useful to us.'

Sirius stood too, smiling. 'Well, that'll give me something to do instead of just waiting. Thanks.'

*

After he'd eaten his breakfast on Sunday morning, Ted Granger entered the room they used as an office. His wife was there, staring at a pad of paper she'd started to write a letter on. He was about to ask who she was writing to, but he saw that the open file beside her contained letters written on parchment. Only Hermione wrote letters to them on parchment.

'What are you going to say about Spain?' he asked.

'I can't decide,' Amalthea replied.

Ted sat down. 'She said she hasn't told Ron about her question yet.'

'I know; and she says he's upset, imagining she wants to meet that Quidditch star again.'

'I suppose if Hermione likes this Ron, there can't be much wrong with him, but I don't like the idea of taking someone I hardly remember meeting on holiday with us. He must feel something for her, though, if he's upset just at the thought of her meeting someone else.'

'She's going to want him to share her bed, too, if he's with us. I know she didn't say so in the letter, but she will.'

Ted nodded. 'Still, if we wanted to object to that, we shouldn't have signed that permission form.'

'You mean, I shouldn't.'

'I could have signed it. I probably would have done. Anyway, it's a bit late now that she's already sleeping with him at school. What are we going to do, say it's all right if she sleeps with him when we're not there, but she mustn't do it under the same roof as us?'

'I suppose we can't. Talking of that Quidditch star, she said she's on the reserve team now, didn't she? We've never even seen a game,' said Amalthea, looking through the letters. '"Reserve Chaser", whatever that means.'

'I suppose that if we could go and watch her play, we'd be able to meet Ron at the same time.'

'That's a thought. I don't ... here it is. Since she's a reserve player, she's only in the Thursday evening practice sessions, not in the games on Saturdays.'

Ted shook his head. 'We can't manage Thursday evenings. Even for a Saturday, we'd have to leave on Friday morning to have any hope of getting there, and we wouldn't get back here until Sunday.'

'Well, I'll put the idea of watching a game in the letter, and ask if there's some way we don't know about to get there.'

'Flying carpets? Vanishing in a puff of smoke and reappearing at the school? You're right, we just don't know what's possible. From what her letters and her school reports say, she's really doing well at this magic stuff, and we don't understand any of it.'

Amalthea smiled. 'I just thought of something. She hasn't done any magic at home since just before starting at that school. If we go to a Quidditch game, we can actually see her doing some magic at the school. Maybe we can meet some of her teachers, too.'

'That would be interesting! We might get some idea of what she's learning.'

'Right, so back to the letter. We don't want to make a decision yet about taking Ron on holiday, but we'd like to visit the school, see her, meet Ron, and see a game of Quidditch.' Amalthea frowned. 'Oh yes. What about these brooms?'

'They're really expensive. I know they're for more than sweeping, and I suppose she thinks they're worth the money,' he said.

'A little under three and a half thousand pounds for the most expensive. On the other hand, she says there are no magic universities, and she can't go to a normal one. So we won't need the money we put aside for that.'

'Let's see if we can see a game before we decide.'

Amalthea nodded. 'That should be enough to finish off this letter.'

*

Following his lunch, Sirius Black left the dishes washing themselves in the sink, and went for a stroll through the village. The flat he lived in was above the bakery, and he waved to the baker as he went out. He'd dressed in Muggle clothes, as had many of the other villagers. This part of the village was for wizarding families, although there was a ban on flying broomsticks above roof level, for fear of attracting attention from the other part of the village, where the Muggles lived.

He went past the butcher shop, and along the narrow alley that led to the Muggle area. At the end of the alley was a brick wall, though an unusual one: it was transparent from his side, a cylindrical distorting lens that showed the street beyond, stretching out on both sides. There were no people in the street, so Sirius tapped a brick, and stepped through the wall into the middle of a short street in the Muggle part of the village. This street had no shops, only houses. Despite being in the Muggle village, the houses in this street belonged to wizards, as many Muggle-born wizards liked to live in a house which had electricity, which they were familiar with from their childhoods. This had the advantage that it didn't matter if anyone looked out of a window and saw wizards walking in and out of the wall. To those who did not know what it was, the wall just looked as if it was part of the two houses the path ran between.

Sirius walked along the street until he reached a house with a garden full of overgrown plants. Nobody lived here now, and nobody cared for the garden any more. The house had a reputation for being haunted, and the Muggle children brave enough to want to explore the house told of mysterious forces that knocked them off their feet and threw them back several feet before they were close enough to touch the house. Sirius knew that Dumbledore had checked, and found no ghosts in the house. He still hadn't decided if that was a good or a bad thing.

Sirius sighed and walked to the end of the street. When Harry had stayed with him at Christmas, it had been snowing hard enough that they'd hardly left the flat, and he hadn't brought Harry to this area of the village as he'd planned.

The road he was now in led past the village's church. At this time on a Sunday, there would be lots of people inside the church, but the church itself wasn't his destination. He entered the churchyard, and went round the side to the large cemetery. Several of the names engraved on the tombstones were familiar to him, but he didn't stop until he reached one particular stone, with two very familiar names. He took the old flowers off the grave, looked around quickly to check nobody could see him, and uttered 'Orchideous', caught the flowers and put them into the flower holder.

*

Lucius Malfoy sat in his study, talking to Nott and Avery.

'Do either of you know what the Dark Lord is currently planning for the Potter boy? From what Wormtail let slip, there is some plan afoot to weaken him, and I believe it may involve a spy somewhere in the school,' he said.

Nott shook his head.

'I haven't been told anything,' said Avery. 'Do you have any idea who the spy may be?'

'I do not. It certainly isn't Draco, nor does he know if anyone else in Slytherin is a spy, despite much questioning. That leaves the staff, and pupils in other houses. I suppose it could be Severus, but his recent hostility to Draco makes me doubt that.'

'Could it be one of the house-elves there?' asked Avery.

'I hardly think the Dark Lord would stoop to using house-elves as his agents!'

'What about the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher?' asked Nott.

'I do not know that for certain, but it is quite possible. Agnes McCardle is that teacher.'

'I know she was in Slytherin as a pupil -- was she there when you were?' asked Avery.

'She left before I started at Hogwarts, and was closer to the Dark Lord's time; she was a fourth-year when he was in the seventh year, I believe. From what I hear, she certainly knows her Dark Arts. I've never heard any hint that she was suspected of being a Death Eater.'

'We still don't know what the Dark Lord's planning for Potter, though,' said Nott.

'I have heard various stories,' said Avery carefully.

'What stories?' asked Lucius Malfoy.

Nott said, 'Some of the other Death Eaters say that the Dark Lord is keeping a low profile in order to lull the suspicions of the Minister, and ensure that the Ministry is caught completely off-guard when the attacks begin.'

'While others,' answered Avery, 'feel that the Dark Lord -- I do not believe this myself -- will not act in any way except against Potter. These people think that the latest defeat, after the Tournament, has left the Dark Lord unwilling or unable to act on any larger scale while Potter lives.'

'I do not know which of those is true, if either is,' said Lucius. 'We must trust in the Dark Lord's wisdom.'