Revelations and Romance

15: Duels as a birthday present

February 28th, nighttime

Last chapter ended with:

Hermione sat on her bed, wearing her dressing gown, stroking Crookshanks as she waited for Ron. The door opened, and she saw nobody enter, and close the door behind him. She smiled at where she guessed Ron was, and was proved right when he pushed back the hood of the cloak, and smiled back at her. Before they could say anything, they both heard footsteps outside. Ron froze -- Hermione's dorm, like his own, was on the top floor of the dormitory tower, and nobody except Lavender and Parvati were likely to come this far up. They should still be unconscious, and shouldn't be back yet -- this was messing up the plan completely. Ron quickly pulled the hood back over his head, and moved away from the door so that whoever it was wouldn't walk into him if they came in. He and Hermione both stared as the door opened.

---

Ginny entered, to Hermione and Ron's surprise.

'Ginny? Why are you here?' asked Hermione.

'I knew you were going to be alone again, and lonely, so I thought I'd come and keep you company.' Ginny closed the door behind her.

'That's ... very kind of you, but you really don't have to.' Hermione wondered what Ron was thinking at that moment.

'I know, but I want to,' said Ginny. 'You've been friends with Harry for years, and I just wanted to ask you some things about him.'

Ron couldn't avoid a groan, which he stopped as soon as he could. This conversation could take ages, and he didn't think he wanted to hear the questions she was going to ask.

Ginny heard him, and quickly pulled her wand from her dressing gown pocket. 'Aphasic!'

'What -- Ginny! What are you doing?' Hermione turned to look at where Ginny had aimed her spell.

'I heard someone. You've got an intruder!'

'It's OK, Ginny, really.'

'It is now. Whoever it is, can't cast any spells without a voice. Unless there's more than one.' She looked towards invisible Ron. 'So, if you don't turn visible fast, I'm going to use something nastier and worry about your friends afterwards.'

Reluctantly, Ron pushed the hood back.

'Ron?' Ginny put her wand back into her pocket. 'Are you here to spy on Hermione? And where did you get that Invisibility Cloak?'

Ron pointed to his throat. Hermione took her wand from the bedside table. 'Finite Incantatem.'

'Thanks. Ginny, you weren't supposed to be here.' Ron took the Cloak off and folded it. He was wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown. 'How did you get so quick at casting spells?'

'I'm not supposed to be here? Boys aren't allowed in the girls' dorms, you know that! Why are you dressed like that?'

'It's his birthday after midnight,' Hermione pointed out.

'I know that ... oh, so that's what you were drinking in the hospital wing! That's why you didn't want me to read Dad's letter -- you told him you and Hermione were going to sleep together tonight?'

'I didn't tell them anything like that! Apart from you, now, only Harry knows.'

'My parents know too,' said Hermione.

'They do?' Ginny shook her head. 'And Hermione, you arranged a duel just to get the dorm to yourself? Maybe Seamus was right.'

Hermione blushed. 'I promised I wouldn't duel them,' she said quietly. 'I didn't, they duelled each other. Don't you agree that they deserved it after all that gossip they've been spreading?'

'I don't know, but you're worrying me. So you two are going to sleep together for the first time on Ron's birthday?'

Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

Ginny stared at them. 'It isn't going to be the first time?'

'You're my little sister, not Mum!'

'We were alone in Gryffindor Tower at Christmas,' said Hermione quietly.

'So you started at Christmas? Christmas? What's all this "not until you're sixteen" you've been telling me so much, then? It didn't apply to you, did it?'

'Can't we have this conversation later?' begged Ron.

'What, in front of the twins? Or McGonagall? I thought you'd rather have some privacy, like now.'

'I suppose I would,' he said reluctantly.

Ginny sat down on Lavender's bed. 'I feel so stupid now. All this sneaking off together -- I believed that you were just trying to make people think you were up to something. I was so sure you wouldn't do anything until Ron was sixteen.'

'I'm sorry, Ginny,' said Hermione softly. She opened a drawer in her bedside cabinet and started looking for something.

'Why did you tell Harry, and not tell me?'

'We had to tell Harry when he got back from Sirius', or he'd have wondered where I was each night,' said Ron.

'Oh. All right, that makes sense. What's he telling the other boys tonight?'

'I don't know. I hope it's good.' Ron added, 'Don't blame Hermione -- she wanted to tell you, but I didn't want you, or anyone else, to know, especially Mum and Dad. Please don't tell anyone.'

Hermione stood up and handed a Chocolate Frog card to Ginny. She looked at it. 'I've seen this, it's the one you made of you.'

'Read the back.'

'"Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley -- friends since the fight with the troll, lovers since Christmas Eve",' she read. 'So that's why you grabbed it away from me -- you didn't mean to leave it lying around.'

Ron and Hermione nodded.

'Where did you get that Cloak, though?'

'It's Harry's. It was his father's.'

'You've been using that to hide from people, then? Oh! So it was Hermione in that Prefect bathroom, but with you?'

They nodded again. Hermione looked at her watch. 'Happy birthday, Ron.'

Ginny smiled. 'Yes, happy birthday. I'm sure it's going to get off to a good start, anyway. I suppose I'd better leave you alone now, and yell at you again in the morning.' She left the dorm, closing the door behind her. Hermione locked it.

'I wish you'd had time to do that before,' said Ron, sitting beside her. 'Well, I think I should unwrap my birthday present now.' His hand reached for the cord of Hermione's dressing gown, and she kissed him.

*

March 1st

Hermione and Ron were lying together in her bed, enjoying the closeness of a whole night spent together, a luxury which they hadn't had since January the 2nd. There was a knock on the door, and Ginny's voice said, 'Room service!'

'Go away!' said Ron. Hermione looked at him in alarm, and he suddenly realised -- who else might be out there with Ginny? What would they think, hearing his voice from a girl's dormitory room?

'You're not very careful, are you?' said Ginny. 'Don't worry, it's just me out here. Can you leave it at least twenty minutes before you come downstairs?'

'Oh, I think we can find something to do,' said Hermione. 'Why, though?'

'You said that Harry knows about you -- so he's been helping you hide what you've been doing?'

'That's right,' said Ron. 'He's been a big help.'

'Well, he is going to get seriously teased now. I just need enough time to get him panicking. OK?'

Hermione laughed. 'Can you wait? We'll come down with you, under the Invisibility Cloak.'

'That would be even better! Hurry up then.'

'We could have had another twenty minutes,' complained Ron.

'Don't you think this will be fun?' asked Hermione. 'Come on, let's go and watch the show for your birthday.'

A few minutes later, Hermione unlocked the door, and they went out to join Ginny. 'We'll follow you down, since you won't be able to see us,' Hermione told Ginny, as she joined Ron under the Cloak.

Once downstairs, Ginny went and sat beside Harry, who was already down there. The other two followed her carefully, making sure nobody bumped into them. They stood off to one side, near their usual chairs, and waited to see what Ginny planned.

'Why are you looking at the girls' stairs? Waiting for Hermione?' Ginny asked Harry.

'Er, yes. She was all alone in her dorm, after all.'

'I know, I was thinking about that last night. I don't suppose she misses Lavender and Parvati, but I was thinking about something else.'

'What else?'

'I was just thinking about that map of yours, the one that You-Know-Who might have a copy of.'

'That's a depressing thought. Sirius told me that the map only works in or near the castle, so You-Know-Who would have to be hiding in the Forest or somewhere to be able to use it. Now Dumbledore's worried that he might be.'

'Yes, but don't you realise? If he is there, and that map shows Hermione's alone in her dorm, he might have attacked her! She's not normally this late coming down here, is she?'

'I'm sure that hasn't happened,' said Harry, who knew Hermione wasn't alone.

'I'd better go up and check that she's just sleeping late,' said Ginny, standing. Under the Cloak, Hermione and Ron grinned at each other.

'No, don't!' said Harry.

'Why not? Don't you want to know that she's safe?' Ginny looked at her watch. 'Something must be happening, she's late.'

Desperately trying to think of a reason to keep Ginny from finding Ron in Hermione's room, Harry said, 'She might be embarrassed, if you walk in on her.'

Ginny sat down again and stared at Harry. 'Why would she be embarrassed? Do you think she's conducting human sacrifices up there, or something?'

'No, just, you know, female things,' Harry floundered.

'Female things? What do you mean "female things"?'

'Well, you know ... and I don't ... things girls do when they're getting up and getting dressed.'

'You mean, just the same sorts of things she does when she's staying at the Burrow? In my room? Why should she be embarrassed today, when she's not embarrassed then?'

'Oh, I don't know!' said Harry, abandoning all attempt at reason. 'I just don't think it's polite to walk in on her.'

'Let's ask Ron what he thinks, then. If he thinks she's safe, then OK.' She looked around. 'Where is Ron, anyway? I can't see him. Where's he vanished to?'

'He's still upstairs,' said Harry, ambiguously but, as far as he knew, truthfully.

'Well, I think I'll go and check on Hermione, and you can make Ron get up and put in an appearance, in case something has happened.'

'No! Look, really, I'm sure she's all right. How could You-Know-Who get in here? He can't Apparate here, can he? Hermione's always telling us that you can't Apparate to Hogwarts. Always!'

Ron grinned at Hermione, who was frowning at Harry's last comment.

Ginny frowned too. 'You're the one who's been suspicious that he was planning something. Why are you suddenly so sure he isn't? Harry, he might not need to Apparate. Suppose one of the other girls has some sort of innocent book planted on her? You know what that can lead to.'

'Yes, but so does Hermione. She's not going to let anything like that get started again, is she?'

'How would she know what the other girls are doing? She doesn't talk to them any more than she has to.'

'She knows she might be a target, she's bound to be more careful than the other two are; and she's Hermione, remember?'

Hermione grinned at that last remark. She was itching to say something.

'Wait, I know!' said Ginny. 'If you're so worried about me going up there and interrupting her human sacrifice, or secret Chocolate Frog-eating session or whatever it is, we can use your map! That'll show us that she's in there, and nobody else is, and it won't say what she's doing, so it'll be OK, won't it? Come on, Accio the map!'

Harry thought of Ginny's likely reaction if she saw her brother's name with Hermione's on the map. 'I don't think that's a good idea either.'

'Why not? If we use it, and we see You-Know-Who or someone is in there, we'll be able to go and get help from the teachers -- before it's too late!'

'But ... it shows people's real names,' Harry said, clutching at the only straw available. 'So it wouldn't say "You-Know-Who", it would have his real name, and you hate to hear that. It's why I stopped saying it.'

'You mean, it would say "Tom Riddle"? I don't hate hearing the name, I just hate him. Besides, do you seriously think that's a good enough reason to just leave Hermione up there without checking on her? We're already missing the beginning of breakfast, and then it'll be classes -- she'd hate to miss a class. Either I'm going up there, or we check on her with the map.'

'I meant, your whole family hates hearing the name "Lord V",' said Harry, stalling and hoping the other two would get down to the common room soon.

'But that isn't his real name, is it? Tom Riddle is his real name. You know that. What's the real reason that you're avoiding finding out if Hermione's OK? I just can't see it,' said Ginny.

'I'm not avoiding finding out! I just think it would be too nosy to look! I've never used the map to spy on my friends, and I'm not going to start now!'

'But you won't see anything unless you look! She might have just vanished! Don't you see that?' She gave up and giggled.

Harry stared at her in alarm. 'Why are you giggling? You're not going hysterical, are you?'

'He's right, giggling spoils the whole effect of you worrying,' said Hermione, finally letting Harry off the hook.

Harry spun round, saw nobody, and guessed. 'Are you under the Cloak? How long have you been here?'

'We followed Ginny down,' said Ron.

'Ron! Don't say that!' hissed Harry, looking back towards Ginny, who he could at least see.

'Ginny found out about us last night. She heard Ron, and thought he was an intruder, so he had to take the Cloak off to convince her I was safe -- and that we were both more experienced than she'd ever guessed,' Hermione said. 'Harry, this is silly -- we'll be back in a few minutes, visible.'

Harry and Ginny looked over at the stairs to the dormitories, and soon Hermione came down the girls' stairs and over to join them. Ron came down the other stairs a couple of minutes later, and also joined them.

'Good, you both came down the right stairs,' teased Ginny. 'But we really are missing breakfast.'

'Oh no! I forgot my bag!' said Hermione, springing up and dashing over to her stairs. 'I'll meet you down there!'

'So will I,' said Ron, dashing over to his stairs.

'What a drama!' said Ginny. 'Will they get any breakfast before they have to go to Potions?'

'They'd better,' said Harry, getting up and grabbing his own bag. 'We don't have Potions until after break.'

Ginny giggled at him, and followed him down to the Great Hall. The other two, out of breath, arrived a few minutes later. All four House tables were almost empty.

'You two really look as though you've been up to something now,' said Ginny.

'We only forgot our bags! It's your fault, for telling us you were going to tease Harry,' said Hermione.

'The punchline to your joke is that we've got about five minutes to have breakfast and get to Magical Creatures,' said Harry. 'Oh, and happy birthday, Ron.'

*

At lunch, following the best Potions lesson Harry, Ron and Hermione had ever had, they enthused about Professor Grubbly-Plank's class.

'That Potions lesson was a good birthday present,' said Ron happily.

'I see what you meant, Ginny,' said Harry. 'She is good at teaching Potions. Snape may know more advanced ones, like the Wolfsbane one for Lupin but, if she'd been teaching us from the beginning, Neville would have been getting good marks all along.'

'Have you heard any more about Neville? I don't like the thought of him just being stuck in St Mungo's, having his head examined -- maybe even being given a Memory Charm,' said Ginny.

'No,' said Ron. 'We don't know any more. I suppose we could ask Madam Pomfrey, or McGonagall.'

The last lesson of the day was a free period, and Seamus and Dean celebrated Ron's birthday with them, so they didn't manage to go to the hospital wing. When Ginny, Fred and George got back from their last class, they joined in, along with many of the other Gryffindors, including the Quidditch team and reserves.

During a lull, Harry said, 'I suppose we ought to go to the hospital wing. We're running out of Gryffindors in our year.' Hermione frowned at him, and he added, 'I didn't say I was blaming you. I can't say that, because Dumbledore didn't say you couldn't duel me.' She grinned at him.

Harry and Hermione went to the hospital wing, as the others didn't want to stop celebrating. Lavender and Parvati were both now conscious, and their facial tentacles were much smaller. McGonagall had already told them about their detentions, and Madam Pomfrey had told them she was going to keep them in overnight to make sure they were OK, and let them out at breakfast. There was no more news of Neville. The two Prefects returned to the common room, where Ginny had just given Ron a book.

'Brutus Scrimgeour -- The Beaters' Bible. Thanks, Ginny -- we're a bookish pair, aren't we?' said Ron.

'Guess who I got that idea from,' she said. Ron nodded.

Hermione had given Ron a tin of wand polish and a new quill, and Harry had given him a Broomstick Servicing Kit.

When the Butterbeers ran out and the common room had quietened down, Ron sat with the other three and grinned. 'Not a bad sixteenth birthday at all. It's the first time I've woken up on my birthday with Hermione in bed with me, and now I don't even have to try to keep Ginny from finding out.'

Ginny shook her head.

Harry told her, 'I think it's very sisterly of you to trust him, and believe he was just pretending, and not sleeping with Hermione.'

'I think it's very stupid of me,' said Ginny. 'At least this time it didn't matter, but am I always going to trust people who are lying to me? I thought I knew better now. I've even practised getting my wand out of my pocket as fast as I could, so nobody would ever catch me again.'

'Oh, so that's why you were so quick to cast Aphasic last night,' said Ron.

'So, now we know the truth,' teased Harry. 'Hermione only taught Ginny that spell so that she could shut you up.'

Hermione pulled a face at him. Ginny said innocently, 'But I always said that was why I learnt it, to make my brothers shut up.'

'As long as it works on Percy when he's going on about his latest report,' said Ron.

'We'll see. I'm looking forward to the second week in November,' Ginny said thoughtfully. 'It's a shame it's only March.'

'What's happening then?' asked Harry.

'That's when I'll be as old as Ron was, the first time he slept with Hermione. He won't be able to say anything after that!'

'I will!' Ron retorted.

'I don't think you should take Ron as a good example,' said Harry with a smile.

'Hey!'

'You'd think Ron would agree with me, this time. Though I don't think you should take Percy as a good example either,' Harry added, looking straight at Ginny to avoid looking at Ron.

'No, for Ginny, he's a good example,' said Ron.

'He's nineteen!' Ginny pointed out. 'Would you have waited until you were nineteen, if Hermione hadn't been willing to go along with you at Christmas?'

'It seems it was the other way around,' said Harry.

'You mean it was Hermione's idea? Sensible Hermione, leaping at my brother?' asked Ginny in surprise. 'I wonder if Madam Pomfrey is still up?'

'Why?' asked Ron. 'Are we making you feel sick again?'

'Either I need to get my hearing checked, or Hermione needs to get her head examined!'

Ron turned and looked closely at Hermione's face. 'Looks perfectly all right to me! Must be Ginny's hearing.' Hermione smiled at him.

'All right, I'll change my question,' said Ginny. 'Would you have waited until you were nineteen, if Hermione hadn't dragged you into bed?'

'I didn't need dragging! Maybe a few hints, but that was all. All right, a lot of hints. I just couldn't believe she liked me that much.'

'I still think Hermione's weird for liking you, anyway.'

'Let's see,' mused Ron. 'I woke up in Hermione's bed, I had a good Potions lesson, lots of good presents -- those are all good things. And now I've got my little sister having a go at me, thinking she's Mum. Three good, one bad. I'm winning.'

'You seem glad that Ginny did find out, and you don't have to keep pretending, though,' said Harry.

'Yes, well, it was beginning to bother me. I had this big secret, and Ginny seems to tell me everything.'

'Oh yes, Harry kissed me twice on Valentine's Day,' said Ginny impishly. 'I don't think I told you that.'

Ron muttered something.

'What was that? Wait until I'm fifteen? OK.'

'You're getting too much fun out of this,' said Hermione.

'Maybe. So are you -- Madam Pomfrey is going to keep those two in the hospital wing tonight, so you'll be "alone" again, won't you?'

'Just like last night,' said Hermione, smiling at Ron.

'I don't think you can have another all-night detention,' said Harry. 'I need a better excuse. How about if the twins have kidnapped you?'

'Anyone who knows them should believe that,' agreed Ginny.

*

'I could definitely get used to this,' said Ron softly, shortly after he woke on Wednesday morning. Hermione stroked his chest. 'Do you suppose we could switch one of Snape's potions for whatever Madam Pomfrey's giving Lavender and Parvati, and keep them away for another week?'

'I think people would get too suspicious,' she said. 'Anyway, what do you think about the holiday in Spain?' Hermione had talked to her parents about Ron after using the Portkey to take them home, and they'd agreed he could join them if he wanted to. She'd told him after she got back to Hogwarts, but he'd wanted to think about it some more.

'I'd like to, but how would we explain it to Mum and Dad?' he asked.

'They signed your permission slip, they know you're sixteen, and they were definitely hinting in that letter.'

'I know. So, they suspect I'm sleeping with someone, and after the Prophet story they know it must be you if it's anyone. I still ... it'd be embarrassing to tell them they're right.'

'You're ashamed of me,' she teased.

'Of course I'm not! If anything, it's me I'm ashamed of -- I still don't know how you managed to tell your parents. I suppose it's what Harry meant about you being closer to them.'

'Why do you need to explain it, anyway?' she asked, returning to his earlier remark. 'Harry's stayed at the Burrow, and so have I. Now you can spend time with my family -- but it'll be abroad, mostly.'

'I suppose I could just let them think that it's all quite innocent, since we'll be with your parents all the time.'

'If you want to do it that way, yes. My parents are going to need to know soon, one way or the other, so they can book the holiday.'

'I wonder if this is something else I should confess to Ginny.'

Hermione laughed. 'You've been keeping secrets for so long, you're all guilty about the smallest one now. You wouldn't have to tell her today -- though I suppose we ought to get up soon.'

'It's not that small a secret. "Hey, Ginny, I'm going to be away from the Burrow for a while in the summer -- I'm going to Spain with Hermione and her parents, and they're only going to have two bedrooms where we'll be staying."'

'You can say it that way if you want, I wouldn't mind. Come on, get up now. Ginny might be teasing Harry again, and besides, Lavender and Parvati might come back here soon.'

'You should have given them a potion,' said Ron, getting out of her bed. 'And Harry's already rescued Ginny from a Basilisk, he ought to be able to rescue himself from her without my help.'

*

'I need some fun of my own after yesterday morning,' said Harry, as they went to their Divination class. 'Ron, can you go along with whatever I do?'

'OK. Are you going to tell me first?'

'I'm not quite sure yet -- it depends what Trelawney says.'

Professor Trelawney started by doing Tarot readings for Lavender and Parvati. Both of them were told they would receive good luck in the near future. Ron doubted that, if they were going to keep getting in Hermione's way. As Harry expected, she next did his reading, and looked sadly at him. Harry sighed, and wrote down the seven cards in the layout, as instructed.

'They're all reversed except one. Are you sure the deck wasn't upside down?' he asked her.

She ignored the question. 'This is one of the most doom-laded layouts I have ever seen. The outcome is shown by the Death card: that means you will suffer a harsh fate, and a major change in your life. The other people in your life include a faithless lover ...'

Harry had heard enough. He made a choking noise, clutched his chest and collapsed over the table, sending the cards flying.

Ron grabbed one of Harry's wrists, and frowned as he tried to find a pulse. 'No. No -- Harry, come on, breathe!'

Professor Trelawney had stepped back in shock. Behind her, Seamus was grinning, having guessed what Harry was doing.

'Oh, good. He's breathing again,' said Ron in feigned relief.

Harry sat up and shook his head. 'Where am I?' He straightened his glasses and looked round the room, trying to avoid looking straight at Seamus for fear his expression would make Harry laugh. 'Oh, I'm in the Divination classroom. How did I get here?'

Professor Trelawney regained some composure. 'Perhaps you should go now to the hospital wing. Weasley, you'd better make sure he gets there.'

Ron grabbed their notes and books, put them in his bag, and guided Harry to the trapdoor and down the ladder. Once they were far enough away, both collapsed against the wall laughing.

'I can't believe she fell for it!' gasped Ron.

'She believes her own predictions, so I'm not surprised!' said Harry, trying to catch his breath. 'Do you think she's going to check if we went to the hospital wing?'

'I suppose we'd better go there in case. After that, we can surprise Hermione when she comes out of Arithmancy.'

Harry told Madam Pomfrey that he'd had a bit of a funny turn in Divination, but felt all right now. She tutted, gave him some Pepperup Potion, and sent them on their way. When the class ended, Hermione emerged and looked surprised to see Harry and Ron there, especially since there was a cloud of steam around Harry's head. As the three of them walked down to lunch, the boys told her what Harry had done.

'You shouldn't really do something like that,' she reproved Harry, although she was smiling as she said it. 'Remember the boy who cried wolf?'

'Oh, yeah,' said Ron. 'And nobody believed him, so the wolf bit him, only it was a werewolf, and he became a werewolf too. So during the day he was a shepherd, and at night on the full moon, he became a wolf and attacked the sheep he'd been looking after. I liked that story.'

'That's not quite the version I was told.'

'You mean that I might really be ill in class, and nobody will believe me? I suppose I might, but I'm not going to worry about it,' said Harry.

'Hermione's just wishing she'd been there to see that,' said Ron.

'As it's Trelawney, yes,' she grinned.

*

The last lesson of the day was DADA. McCardle gave Lavender a detention for missing the extra Imperius lesson on Monday, and rebuked both her and Parvati for being so foolish as to duel each other. The trio told Ginny this when they got back to the common room after dinner.

'Lavender also apologised to me for taking my notes, and gave them back,' said Hermione with a smile. 'I told her I'd written out a second set, but that they'd vanished too.'

'She apologised to you for the trick you played on her?' asked Harry. 'That's what I call an apology.'

Ginny shook her head in disbelief. 'That's really ... I don't know what it is, but it's really it.'

'Good, she's speechless,' teased Ron. 'Do you think we can get Trelawney to apologise to you for making you feel ill?' Harry had told Ginny at lunchtime about the trick he'd played on Trelawney.

'My Divination lesson didn't go very well,' said Ginny. 'She did a reading for Olwen and told her she was doomed to a lifetime of bad luck. No wonder she keeps getting in the way of my Summoning Charms.' She got the Tarot cards from her bag and unwrapped them. 'Maybe looking at my own future will cheer me up.'

Hermione frowned, but didn't say anything.

'No, I think I'll do Harry's first,' she said. 'Then you can have a nicer one than Trelawney did.' She looked at Harry, and started shuffling the cards.

'OK,' said Harry. 'At least yours won't be so doom-laden.' He watched as Ginny laid out the cards and frowned at them. Harry added, 'Though you've got the deck upside down, just like her.'

Ron rummaged in his bag, and pulled out Harry's Divination notes. 'I forgot to give you these back,' he said, handing them to Harry.

Harry looked at the notes, then at Ginny's card layout, and turned pale. 'They're the same. They're exactly the same cards.'

'They can't be!' objected Hermione. Harry handed her his notes from the lesson, and she compared them. 'That is really odd,' she said. 'It's a very unlikely coincidence.'

'Maybe I'm a True Seer,' said Ginny happily.

'But they still wouldn't be the same unless Trelawney was, too.'

Ginny shrugged. 'Do you know what the cards say, Harry?' She started looking through her copy of Unfogging the Future.

'According to Trelawney, I'm going to die. But she'd say that even if all the cards were blank,' Harry replied.

'I wish she wouldn't keep doing that,' Ginny said absently, finding the chapter that explained Tarot cards. 'Here it is. OK, so the Seven of Swords is reversed, and that's the card for the past. That's "theft, lies, malice; look after your possessions, do not trust too readily", which I suppose means something was stolen from you.'

'Someone once stole an old diary from me,' Harry said, grinning at her. She pulled a face at him. 'The bit about trust could be about my parents trusting Wormtail,' he added quickly.

'Or it could be a card drawn at random,' Hermione reminded him.

'I wish they weren't the same cards as Trelawney's,' said Ron. 'That's got me worried.'

'Why? You don't usually believe Trelawney.'

'I still don't. But I do believe Ginny, and I don't see how this can be a coincidence,' said Ron.

'The second card is the Moon, and it's reversed too,' Ginny said, turning back to the pages for the Major Arcana.

'They're all reversed except for the Death card,' Harry pointed out.

'Well, the Moon is your present. It means "hidden enemies lurk, lies" are what's going on now.'

'You-Know-Who is still in hiding, as far as I know.'

'This is too good,' said Ron, looking worried.

'The Magician is your hidden influences card, and it means "trickery and deception" are working on you. Then there's the King of Wands for obstacles. That's "an intolerant, bigoted man, violent and belligerent", which I suppose is You-Know-Who again. The card for other people in your life is the Page of Wands, which ...' she faltered.

'You might as well finish now,' said Harry. 'Does it mean everyone's trying to kill me, or something?'

'No. It says "faithless lover or bringer of bad news".' Ginny looked at Harry. 'But I don't know why it says that.'

'You'd better not, until ...' Ron started.

'... she's sixteen! Yes, we know,' Hermione finished for him.

'It doesn't matter, Ginny. I trust you. What else does it say?' Harry was intrigued by the way that some of the cards did seem to fit his life.

'Er ... that was other people, so next is what you ought to do. Ten of Cups -- "mistrust, losing friends, feeling isolated and misunderstood". That can't be what you're supposed to do!'

Ron glanced at Hermione. Neither of them said anything about mistrust.

Harry said, 'I did say a while ago that Ron and Hermione would be safer if they weren't my friends. The same applies to you; if you hadn't gone with me to see the portrait, you wouldn't have had all that worry.'

'Yes I would, I'd have worried that you didn't have any friends.'

'Really? Well, there's one more card -- the only one that's the right way up.'

'The Death card,' said Ron. 'Typical.'

Ginny turned back to the Major Arcana. 'That one means "a major change in life, a harsh fate" but not necessarily death, whatever Trelawney may want to tell you.' She looked at Harry. 'A major change -- maybe You-Know-Who will be defeated, and you can live a normal life.'

'Not ...' Ron started again, but stopped when Ginny threw a cushion at him.

'That was much closer to sounding like my life than Trelawney ever managed,' said Harry. 'Thanks, Ginny.'

'I don't want to predict your death,' she pointed out.

'I worked out what the faithless lover bit means, too, and the bringer of bad news -- it's the Daily Prophet, which can't decide if I'm a hero or a mad wizard,' Harry added.

Ginny smiled. 'Oh, yes! That makes sense. Good, it's not me then.'

*

Dennis gave Harry his Seeker's headband back at the start of Thursday's Quidditch training session. Harry looked at it. 'I suppose even Malfoy's not going to try to curse me again.'

'I bet he'd be expelled if he did,' said Ron. 'Do you think he'll risk it?'

'Raine said Dumbledore's given him a written warning that he faces suspension if he even gets another detention. She thinks that if he does anything worse, he will be expelled,' Ginny told them.

The training session went well, with Hermione clearly still enjoying flying her new broom. Harry caught the Snitch again, fast enough that they managed three games during the one session.

At the end of the session, Angelina told them, 'This Saturday's Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin matters to us. I don't know if you've been keeping track of the house Quidditch scores ...'

'Slytherin are last,' said Fred with a grin.

'And Ravenclaw are second, and still have two games to play,' said George, also grinning.

'Right. The only game we've got left to play is against Ravenclaw. I expect this Saturday's game to get really nasty -- the Slytherins are going to want to make up for their game against us by scoring as many points as they can, while the Ravenclaws are going to do whatever they can to win the Cup this year.'

'Do we know if either team managed to spin their brooms?' asked Ron.

'They haven't managed it while we've been watching,' George answered.

'Have you been spying on them?' asked Dennis, sounding shocked.

'Yes,' said Angelina. 'Don't look so shocked. You of all people know that Slytherin's Seeker has already tried to curse Harry, though I don't know why he did it so far in advance of our game. Watching them practise is mild by comparison.'

'That was a good question, Ron,' said Fred. 'Slytherin still have to play Hufflepuff, and we know the Hufflepuffs have been practising spinning.'

'Everyone knows that, after our game against them,' said Harry.

Angelina nodded. 'I'd really like it if Hufflepuff beat Slytherin into last place for the first time ever. It's not very likely, but this year is the best chance they've had to do it.'

'So you want us to cheer for the Hufflepuffs on Saturday?' asked Ginny. 'Even though they aren't playing?'

Angelina laughed. 'I suppose I do. The Ravenclaws are a serious threat to our Cup chances, and Slytherin are going to do whatever they can to get more points than Hufflepuff.'

'When does the Cup get decided?' asked Dennis. The Triwizard Tournament had meant no Quidditch at Hogwarts in his first year, so he'd never seen the Cup awarded.

'It's right after the last game of the school year -- and that's going to be us versus Ravenclaw,' said Angelina. 'That's a game I'm really looking forward to playing in.'

'Do you want to borrow my broom?' asked Hermione. 'It would be silly not to have someone using it in the game.'

Angelina looked surprised. 'Thank you. I suppose you're right, we should have both Firebolts in our last game.'

*

Following the last lesson on Friday, while Ron went to his DADA class, Harry and Hermione sat in the common room with Ginny.

'You look worried,' he told Hermione. 'What's wrong?'

'I'm just writing to my parents about our holiday this summer, and it made me start thinking about that girl, Sara.'

'She said her dad's lots better now,' said Ginny.

'It's just the idea that You-Know-Who made her mother attack her father. You said I'm safe from You-Know-Who now, Harry, but suppose I'm not? Suppose Death Eaters try to attack my parents? They can't block curses, they can't do anything to protect themselves against magic.'

'Hopefully, he doesn't even know who they are,' said Harry.

'Malfoy's dad has seen them. Malfoy saw them when they came here. It's not a hope I can really rely on, is it?' Hermione pointed out.

'If you'd thought about it earlier, we could have asked Dumbledore during Dark Arts. It's even relevant to the subject.'

'I wish I had. Maybe I can talk to him at dinner.'

Dumbledore wasn't at the teachers' table for dinner, however, so Hermione spoke to McGonagall and then came back to sit with the others. 'She told me the password to his office, and said that you could show me where it is, Harry.'

Harry nodded. 'Do you want to go there now, or eat first?'

'Eat first,' she said, putting some food on her plate. 'It took me long enough to start worrying about it, so I don't suppose half an hour will matter.'

*

Following dinner, Hermione returned looking happier. 'He says my parents are already being guarded by various personal spells, as he knows they're in particular danger, and if anyone who isn't a Muggle -- except me -- enters the house, the Aurors get a warning. I hadn't even thought about Death Eaters pretending to be patients. The dental surgery is part of the house, you see.'

'Anyone except you?' asked Ron. 'Only you?'

She smiled at him. 'I asked if you could be allowed in too, and Dumbledore said he was sure it wouldn't be a problem.'

'Why do you need to be allowed in?' asked Ginny. 'You've never even been there.'

'I think there's something we don't know about,' said Harry.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at Ron. 'Do you want to tell them?'

'I was all wrong about what Hermione wrote to her parents about going to Spain on holiday,' he admitted. 'She asked them if I could go too. It's one reason they came to the school.'

'They wanted to have a look at the weird boy she likes, you mean?' asked Ginny, smiling at them.

'Yeah, something like that. Anyway, they've agreed. I haven't told Mum and Dad yet.'

'So the two of you are going on a romantic holiday to the Mediterranean?' asked Harry.

'It can't be that romantic, her parents will be there as chaperones,' said Ginny. 'Oh, but you said they know, didn't you?'

'Yes, they do,' said Hermione. 'The holiday flat's only got two bedrooms, too.'

Harry laughed. 'You won't be able to tell if Ron's sunburnt then, he'll be all red anyway.'

'Well, I don't think we're going to do much except cuddle, in the circumstances,' admitted Ron.

*

On Saturday morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny went to the Quidditch stadium to watch the game.

'Raine said she's got to sit in the Slytherin stand, and be rude about Malfoy,' said Ginny. 'She seemed to be looking forward to it.'

'Is he still their Seeker, after everything he's done?' asked Ron, surprised. 'I thought he'd have been kicked off the team.'

'It seems they wanted to, but they don't have a reserve Seeker, so they would have had to forfeit the game. And they're not going to do that, because then they'd definitely be last in the Cup.'

'It'd be good if they are anyway,' said Harry. He no longer harboured any romantic feelings for Cho -- whenever he looked at her, the image of Cedric's dead body intruded -- but he hoped she'd be able to get the Golden Snitch faster than Malfoy today.

'What do you think Roger Davies would say if you two offered to lend them your Firebolts? Slytherin really wouldn't stand a chance then,' asked Ginny.

'We should have done,' said Harry. 'Why didn't I think of that?'

'It would be awkward,' said Hermione. 'We're playing them next -- it would seem as if we were showing them we've got better brooms.'

'We've already played Hufflepuff,' said Harry. 'They've still got one game against Slytherin to play. How about asking them if they'd like to borrow them?'

'We could do. It would be easy enough to talk to Hannah and Ernie about it.'

The game began, and Slytherin rapidly scored three goals, but then Madam Hooch ordered a penalty after Balfour fouled a Ravenclaw Chaser, and Ravenclaw scored their first goal.

'Ravenclaw have got to get the Snitch,' muttered Ron anxiously. Cho and Malfoy were both flying around desperately searching for it, but neither had seen it yet. Soon the score was seventy to forty in Slytherin's favour. Another foul, leading to another penalty, gave Ravenclaw another goal, but the score was a hundred to fifty before Cho suddenly threw her broom into a dive. Malfoy was too slow to react, or to catch her, even on his Nimbus Two Thousand and One, and Cho had won the game for Ravenclaw.

'Two hundred to one hundred!' exulted Ron.

Hermione looked up from the piece of parchment where she'd noted the scores. 'Hufflepuff are last now.'

'Right, the next time we see Hannah or Ernie, we ask them about Ginny's idea,' said Harry. 'If we tell them we want Slytherin to be last, they won't think it's a suspicious offer.'

'Ravenclaw have got three hundred and seventy points now,' said Hermione. 'That's the same as us. We've both only got the final to play, so unless Slytherin manage to get a lot more than two hundred and seventy points against Hufflepuff, the Cup will go to us or Ravenclaw.'

'And the score in that last game might be crucial,' said Ginny. 'Just as well we've got Harry, and Angelina will be on your broom.'

'Slytherin only have to keep scoring goals while they stop Hufflepuff getting the Snitch,' said Ron, worriedly. 'Hufflepuff have a new Keeper and a new Seeker this year, who haven't played Slytherin before.'

They headed back to the castle.

*

A note appeared in front of Harry at breakfast on Sunday. It read:

Harry

I would appreciate it if you, and Mr and Miss Weasley would meet me in the room haunted by the ghost known to you as Moaning Myrtle, at two PM. Miss Granger would be welcome also, but may find it of little interest.

Albus Dumbledore

'I'm intrigued,' said Hermione, reading it over his shoulder at the same time as the two Weasleys. 'I want to go just to see why it's boring for you and not for me.'

Shortly before two in the afternoon, the four friends made their way to the girls' toilet on the first floor. Professor Dumbledore was waiting outside. The sign on the door now read 'Meeting Room'. He opened the door and waved them in. Inside were two benches. Dumbledore sat on one, and the others sat facing him.

'As Mr Potter already knows, the suggestion has been made that Lord Voldemort may be hiding right under my very nose, in the Chamber of Secrets.'

The other three pupils all gasped.

'I see he has not told you -- no doubt to avoid worrying you. It is all too plausible a possibility, however. As a student here, Voldemort opened the Chamber -- you do, I believe, all know about that?' The others nodded. 'He had ample time then to find any passages that led outside the castle. Three of you have been down there at least once, and anything that you can remember about the Chamber may prove useful to us when we go to investigate it.'

'Who's going down there?' asked Ginny.

'None of you. I cannot permit that, even if you wish to go. I will go, as will some of the more experienced teachers here -- the ones with the best chance of combating whatever we may find down there.'

'There's probably a rotting Basilisk corpse down there,' said Ron, grimacing.

'As to that, Miss Green has been down there to investigate, and reports that rats have stripped the skeleton completely. She cannot, of course, tell if the Chamber reeks of its dead flesh.'

The other four all looked puzzled -- none of them knew of a Miss Green at Hogwarts, and how could she safely get down there, but not smell anything?

'Is she a Parselmouth, then?' asked Ginny.

'No -- I see that you do not know who I mean. Miss Green? Would you join us, please?'

Moaning Myrtle appeared from her usual cubicle. She looked happy, possibly because she had been given something useful to do.

'I went down there, but I couldn't tell if Tom was there -- he might be invisible or something,' she explained.

'Miss Green's information has been most helpful, but she cannot see the invisible. I will lead the group into the Chamber next Sunday, after we have had some time to prepare. I must ask Mr Potter to open the entrance here, but there is no need for you to go any further.'

Ginny glanced at Harry, who said, 'There's a door at the end of the passage, which leads into the Chamber itself. You need to say "Open" there as well.'

'If you say the word in Parseltongue, I can capture it in a charm and use it as necessary,' said Dumbledore.

'And you can't get into the place where the Basilisk was unless you say, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four" to the statue,' Ginny added. Ron frowned at her. 'Oh, don't look at me like that. You know I opened it four times for Riddle, so stop pretending you don't!'

'Very well,' said Dumbledore. 'I will need Harry to say both phrases to capture them.'

'What happens if there are other entrances, and they need other phrases to open them?' asked Hermione.

'I think I ought to go with you,' said Harry reluctantly. 'Then I can try saying things if you find anything that doesn't open when you use those two phrases.'

'That was not a part of my plan.' Dumbledore looked thoughtful. 'I had not realised that there was more than one phrase needed. Miss Granger is correct that any passages leading outside the castle may need still other phrases. I am sorry, Harry. I believe that we may need you, after all.'

'That's all right,' said Harry, trying to look on the bright side. 'If he's not down there, it won't be dangerous, and you'll know it's OK. If he is down there, it'll be the first time I've ever faced him with anyone else, and you'll all know what to do, so it won't be as dangerous as it's been for me before.'

'It may not be that simple. Nonetheless, I am glad you are feeling cheerful about the possibility.'

'Suppose he cursed some things and left them lying around?' asked Ron. 'It could still be dangerous.'

'As I said, it may not be that simple.'

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Myrtle discussed the layout of the passages they could remember and sketched it on a piece of parchment.

'It's not all that complicated, though,' said Ginny. 'I mean, you just go straight along all the time, even if the corridor is all curved like a snake.'

'Nevertheless, knowing even that much will be of help,' said Dumbledore.

He stood, and they all left. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny returned to their common room, discussing it quietly as they went.

'I don't want to go down there again,' said Ginny. 'I'm glad I don't have to. I wish you didn't either.'

'It's important to find out if he's there, though,' Harry told her. 'He could be doing anything there, and only Sirius even thought of the possibility. If he is down there, and if he does have a Marauder's Map, he could be using it to spy on any of us.'

'Then he might know what these two have been getting up to,' said Ginny with a grin.

'That's not funny,' said Ron. 'We've been worrying about that ever since Fred and George suggested there might have been more.'

'I'm sorry. I didn't know about that then.'

'I'm glad you've got over being suspicious of Dumbledore and everyone,' said Hermione.

'I think I'm just more suspicious of You-Know-Who,' Harry told her. 'He deserves it.'

*

Monday's last lesson was Herbology. Walking back to the castle afterwards, Harry asked Hannah and Ernie if their team would like to borrow the two Firebolts.

'Well, yes,' said Ernie. 'But ... why are you offering that? What's the catch?'

'The catch is that you have to beat Slytherin into last place,' said Hermione with a grin.

'I could live with that catch,' said Hannah. 'Is it OK if we ask Jenny about it? She's the captain, after all.'

'Oh, yes, there's no hurry. Well, as long as you tell us before you play Slytherin!' said Harry, smiling.

Hannah brought Jenny Saint over during dinner, and introduced her to Harry and Hermione. Jenny was very grateful for their offer, and asked if they could borrow the Firebolts on Wednesday afternoons to practise with them. Harry and Hermione agreed that they could.

'You're very trusting,' said Ron, after the Hufflepuffs had returned to their table. 'What if they damage them?'

'They want to beat Slytherin even more than we want them to,' said Hermione. 'Besides, if we can't trust Hufflepuffs, who can we trust?'

'You can't trust the Slytherins though. Suppose they hit a Bludger at one of your brooms to attack it?'

'Then they can pay for it to be repaired -- or replaced,' said Harry. He grinned. 'Of course, that would mean the full price of a Firebolt for Hermione -- they don't know how much she paid for hers.' Hermione smiled at him.

Following dinner, the group returned to their common room. Lavender had been in a bad mood since her extra DADA lesson. She wasn't the only pupil there: she was with fifth-years from other houses who hadn't learnt to resist it. One of them, Sally-Anne Perks, had finally managed it, which explained Lavender's mood. The four ignored her, and got out their homework.

'Is it more fun now that you really know where they're going when they sneak off?' Harry asked Ginny with a grin.

'It's strange, knowing that. I know Fred and Angelina do that, but I don't know when, I only know where. It's just like catching Percy with Penny in the dungeons years ago. He was really embarrassed that I'd seen him, too.'

'We're going to be innocent for a few days, anyway,' said Ron. Ginny snorted. He explained, 'We're giving it a rest for a few days.'

'They do this about once a month,' Harry told Ginny. 'Then they're even more enthusiastic afterwards.'

Hermione and Ron looked innocently at Harry. Ginny looked at them.

'Once a month? They've been sleeping together long enough to develop habits?' she asked.

'Yes, they have.'

'A few days, once a month? Every month? There might be something you don't know about girls.' She leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear.

Harry blushed furiously. "Oh! I -- thanks, Ginny, but I'm not sure I needed to know that much." He fixed his gaze firmly on his homework.

Ron and Hermione grinned at each other. 'One less secret,' said Ron. The four of them got on with their homework quietly after that, with three of them looking at Harry occasionally to see if he was still red.

*

The Hufflepuff team borrowed the two Firebolts for their training session on Wednesday, and returned them when they met the Gryffindors in the Great Hall for dinner. Like the Gryffindors, they had their Seeker and one Chaser on the Firebolts. They thanked Harry and Hermione again, as their training session had gone well.

Gryffindor's own training on Thursday afternoon also went well. Angelina and Hermione swapped brooms for the session, and Angelina was full of praise for the Firebolt's performance afterwards.

'I don't know how I'm ever going to go back to my Cleansweep Eight,' she said ruefully. 'Thanks, Hermione. That's ... an amazing broom. I wish I could find a bargain like that. It's really going to make a difference in the game against Ravenclaw.'

*

Friday's DADA lesson for Harry and Hermione went well also. Dumbledore gave them three new spells to learn for the next week's lesson. There were only two more weeks before the Easter holidays, and he expressed the hope that they would both master the three new spells before then. McCardle had already told Harry in Wednesday's lesson that neither she nor Professor Dumbledore had been able to think of any further reasons for his inability to resist the Imperius Curse.

After lunch, in their Potions class, Malfoy was working at the same table as Crabbe and Goyle. After the warning he'd received, he was trying to be a model student but this was seriously tested when Goyle knocked his bottle of powdered Shrivelfig over him. Crabbe tried to catch the bottle, but only succeeded in knocking over the opened bottle of lionfish eyes, which rolled across the table and off the edge, into the cauldron the three of them were sharing. Goyle swore and tried to catch the eyes before they contaminated the potion, but only managed to pull the cauldron over, spilling the unfinished, near-boiling and contaminated potion.

To avoid the potion touching him, Malfoy had to jump sideways, bumping into Crabbe, then made an undignified scramble up onto the desk to avoid the potion as it flowed towards him.

Most of the class had watched at least the last few steps of the accident in progress, and Malfoy and his two friends found themselves being laughed at by almost everyone. Even Professor Grubbly-Plank had trouble hiding her smile.

Malfoy glared round the class, and decided to pick on Harry, who was laughing more than most. Malfoy snapped, 'And you can just drop dead, Potter!'

Harry collapsed on the floor. Ron put his hand over his mouth, hoping to look aghast rather than amused. Seamus did his best not to laugh, recognising the same trick as Harry had pulled on Trelawney.

Hermione, though, knelt beside Harry and felt for his pulse. When she looked up at Ron, he saw from her expression that she wasn't joking as she said, 'His pulse has almost stopped. Ron, I think he really is dying!'