Broken Fate

Chapter Twenty-Three ~ Enmities

"That wasn't so terrible, was it?" Hermione whispered as Jamie collapsed into an empty seat at the Gryffindor table.

Jamie buried her head in her arms. "They're all staring at me."

"You knew this would happen," Will whispered softly.

"I know...but it's one thing to know it and another to see it," Jamie said. "It's...I'm not used to it. It makes me nervous."

"It's very disconcerting," Harry agreed. "And you might not ever get used to it, but you'll learn to deal with it."

"At least I got put in Gryffindor. I don't know what I would have done if I had ended up in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff... I would have felt so alone. I didn't think I would be in Slytherin. And it's really weird to pretend that I just met Will...and I'm going to have to 'meet' Shay sometime soon. It's going to be hard. And annoying."

Hermione could imagine...it would be like trying to pretend to meet Ron and Harry, when she had known them for years. Would it be completely obvious? Will, Shay, and Jamie just knew each other so well...would their body language, and the looks they gave each other, give them away?

"It'll be an adjustment, Jamie, but we'll help you through it," Hermione said encouragingly.

And an adjustment it was--for Harry and Ginny as well as Jamie. Whispers, rumors, and stares followed all three of them over the next week. Some people outright avoided Jamie, and some people seemed to graft toward her like a magnet--of course, those people tended to be the ones that wanted any and all information about the future. Jamie received many awkward questions--"do you know what happened to me in the future?" "can you tell me if this happened?" Others were very nice to her--several students from different houses made a point to be friendly and treat her normally. Colin Creevey even offered tips on developing different types of film.

Ginny ignored everything bad that was said about her, but Jamie tended to take comments more to heart, though she did her best not to show it. And of course, the mail didn't help. During the last week of holidays at Grimmauld Place, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had screened Ginny and Jamie's mail, for safety precaution, and now Hermione was starting to see why. Anything involving Harry became worldwide wizarding news, and Ginny and Jamie were both going through the same sort of thing Hermione had gone through in her fourth year, when everyone thought she had broken Harry's heart. Some of the letters they received were nice and encouraging, but others were awful. Some directed at Jamie told her, in very harsh words, that she was messing with the future, and she would be cursed forever because of it. Ginny received a Howler from a teenage girl who told her off for getting together with Harry and 'not giving anyone else a chance.' A couple of the letters had curses attached, and both girls ended up in the hospital wing at least once.

Then, of course, there was the tense experience of Jamie's first week of classes. Tuesday, the Gryffindors had Double Potions with the Slytherins. The class started out badly. They paired up at cauldrons, and Jamie doubled with Hermione. Hermione saw her glance over at Shay, who was working with Blaise Zabini. Jamie had officially 'met' Shay yesterday morning, and had thus far done a fair job of pretending not to know Will and Shay for very long. Will--who was a terrible actor--seemed to be having the hardest time with it. He had slipped twice and called her 'James,' but fortunately, the only person who had heard him was Katie Bell, and she had only looked at him curiously. If she had any suspicions, she kept them to herself.

Hermione decided that Potions class went well until the moment Snape entered the dungeons. He bestowed upon Jamie the same loathing looks and scathing remarks that he reserved for Harry. Malfoy, of course, thought it was all hilarious, and whispered several nasty comments of his own at Jamie. Hermione kept a close on eye on Shay, whose fingers were growing ever whiter around the knife he was using to slice up ginger root. Knowing Shay's history with Malfoy, and his obvious care for Jamie, Hermione could only hope that Shay wouldn't use the knife for anything other than cutting roots.

Fortunately, he restrained himself, and at the end of class, Jamie escaped before Malfoy could say or do anything else. Hermione had to wonder how long this could go on before someone snapped. Malfoy's comments angered her, too, but they couldn't afford to give him the satisfaction of knowing this. Besides, she had the wonderful memory of Jamie punching Malfoy the first time they had met, though Malfoy's memory had been modified so that he didn't remember it. Too bad, really.

Despite the jeers Jamie received in potions, Hermione was surprised to see that it was one subject that Jamie excelled in. It became obvious that Jamie had a very good knowledge of potions, and she mixed their Wound-Healing Draft with only a few glances at the blackboard. When she asked Will about it later, he said, "Oh, yeah...I didn't think to mention it. Jamie's always had an aptitude for potions--whenever we needed different types of potions, she was the one who brewed them."

On Thursday in Double Charms, Jamie was almost late to class. She collapsed between Hermione and Neville. "This is driving me crazy," she moaned, laying her head on the desk.

"What happened?" Hermione asked sympathetically.

"Someone wanted my autograph. My autograph!" Jamie looked up and gazed around at the group in disbelief.

Ron snorted, and Harry sighed. "I warned you."

"I know." Jamie allowed her head to flop back onto the desk.

"Ahem!" Professor Flitwick's high voice brought silence to the class, and he looked around from on top of his stack of books. "Good morning, class! Today we are going to be working on yet another Memory Charm!" He hopped down off of his stack of books and rocked forward on his toes. "Now, as you know, we have already covered Memory Modification and Memory Recollection, both of which are to be used only under proper circumstances. The same goes for the third one we are going to learn--Memory Transfer Spell."

"Ooh!" Hermione gave a tiny exclamation of happiness. "I've been wanting to try this one for years!"

Ron rolled his eyes, and Hermione ignored the urge to grimace at him. She gave Professor Flitwick her full attention as he continued, "Now, in order to do this, you must have at least two people. I'm going to need everybody to choose one memory to share, and we'll go through them one at a time. I'll start with two volunteers who are willing to go first."

There were numerous protests. "Professor Flitwick, what if I don't want to share a memory?" Lavender protested.

"Will and Jamie can't share memories," Hermione hissed at Ron and Harry. "Will especially; no one knows who he is."

"Oh, don't worry! You don't have to choose a personal memory! You can choose to show your memory of walking down to breakfast, and it need only be a very short memory," Professor Flitwick reassured.

The class looked at each other skeptically, but Hermione finally raised her hand. "I'll do it first." She nudged Ron.

Ron looked at her stubbornly, but finally sighed. "Fine; I might as well get it over with. He raised his hand, and Professor Flitwick bounced on his feet. "Excellent! Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, please come to the front."

Ron and Hermione made their way to Professor Flitwick.

"All right, now stand here. Good, good. Now. Who would like to be the one who shares a memory first?"

"I'll do it," Hermione offered.

"Splendid!" Professor Flitwick beamed. "Now, what I want you to do is face each other. Miss Granger, think of a very short, simple memory--also, it doesn't have to be recent--and concentrate on it. I'm going to teach you how to transfer the memory to Mr. Weasley, and if it is performed correctly, he should see your memory in his mind."

"What if it doesn't go correctly?" Ron muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Then you won't see anything," Professor Flitwick said. "Ms. Granger, you are going to place your wand tip against your temple and say, 'Transfero,' while thinking quite clearly of your memory. You will then touch your wand tip to Mr. Warren's temple, like so." Professor Flitwick touched his own wand to his head to demonstrate the movement. "And say 'Transfero' again."

"Right." Hermione tried to think of a memory she wouldn't mind sharing with Ron, and then the rest of the class. She finally decided on the time she had seen the Eiffel Tower. She concentrated on the image and touched her wand to her temple, saying the Memory Transfer Spell, and repeating it as she touched Ron's temple. Ron blinked, then grinned. "The Eiffel Tower. Wow, it's tall..."

Hermione rolled her eyes, feeling pleased that the spell had been successful.

"It worked? Splendid! Now, Mr. Weasley, you do the same with Ms. Granger."

Ron furrowed his brow in concentration, touching his wand to his head and then to Hermione's as he said the spell. Hermione wasn't sure what to expect--or what memory Ron would choose. Suddenly, her mind was overwhelmed with a crystal-clear image, and it took her a minute to sort out what it was. She seemed to be in a car, but there was sky all around...and then the car she was in took a dive, heading straight for the Whomping Willow... She gasped aloud as the memory ended with the car taking a nosedive into the tree. "Ron!" she said reproachfully.

Ron grinned and shrugged. "It was an interesting memory."

Hermione snorted and turned to Professor Flitwick. "It worked."

"Excellent! Now for the second part of the spell--now, class, I will tell you that this part of the spell is not necessary. The Memory Transfer Spell was just what you saw, but I'm going to show you how to share that memory with a large group of people. We call it Memory Retrieval, and it will not work on memories of your own. It will only work on a memory that has been transferred. I'll show you. Ms. Granger, would you please come stand beside me?"

Hermione acquiesced, and Professor Flitwick stretched up on tiptoes to touch his wand to Hermione's temple. "Ready? Recuperso Transfero Memoria." Abruptly, the same image that Hermione had seen of Ron's father's Ford Anglia crashing into the Whomping Willow appeared in the middle of the air. It was much smaller than reality; it was rather like watching a Muggle film, except there was no screen. "Now, Mr. Weasley?"

Ron came to stand beside Hermione, and Professor Flitwick repeated the process. A miniature image of the Eiffel Tower appeared in the classroom. "Now, keep in mind that you are seeing only a shade of what Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley see. They now each hold a memory from the other. Once a memory is transferred, it is transferred permanently. The retrieval doesn't erase the memory; it only shows a visual of it."

Hermione elbowed Ron. "That means I'm stuck with this memory of you crashing into the Whomping Willow for the rest of my life."

"Just be glad I didn't give you the memory of Fred turning my teddy bear into a spider," Ron muttered.

The class was soon put to practicing Memory Transferal, and Hermione watched Will and Jamie's memories warily. Both offered very short, unimportant memories--Jamie of sitting in Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class, and Will of watching the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. When Professor Flitwick was satisfied that everybody had practiced at least once, he had the class sit back at their desks. "Splendid job! I'm very impressed! Now, keep in mind one more thing about the Memory Transfer Spell--it can also be used to transfer a present memory. That is to say, you can actually create what you want to transfer. It has been used in hospitals to communicate with patients who are unable to speak. The patient simply thinks out what they want to say, and then they transfer that into a Healer or someone else. This, however, is used very, very rarely, since whatever message is transferred becomes a permanent memory for the receiver." The tiny professor clapped his hands. "We're finished for today. Excellent work, class."

~*~

Care of Magical Creatures on Friday gave the Gryffindors and Slytherins alike a great surprise. Instead of finding Charlie Weasley waiting for them, a huge man--who Shay knew could only be Hagrid--stood waiting for them, the boarhound Fang drooling at his side. "All righ', Harry! Hermione, Ron!" Hagrid grinned cheerfully in the Gryffindors' direction.

Shay's eyebrows rose. He had heard many a tale of Hagrid, but nothing could compare to seeing him face to face.

"Hagrid! You're back!" Hermione exclaimed. "It's so good to see you!"

"Yeah! But where's Charlie?" Ron asked.

"Ah, he had ter make a trip ter Romania; Oscar's gettin' ter be too big ter keep 'round here." Hagrid looked sorely disappointed.

"You know about Oscar, then?" Neville piped up.

"Oh, yeah. Charlie tol' me all about him. Shame he's not gonna be around more, but Dumbledore's goin' with what Charlie thinks, since he's the one who's raised him. Now, don' worry; Oscar's not gone jus' yet. He's still in his enclosure...Charlie'll be back tomorra ter take him down ter Romania, and--" Hagrid stopped and nodded at Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who had just arrived from the castle.

Directly behind them was Draco Malfoy, who stopped short at the sight of Hagrid. "Well, well. Look who's back," he said in a low voice as he joined the Slytherins. "A bit late in the school year, isn't it? He must have been lost."

Several of the Slytherins sniggered; it was easy to see the divide in the Slytherins in each class now, and Shay stood apart with Blaise Zabini and Samantha Greer, the only sixth year girl to be part of the S.O.S. and the Hogwarts Coalition. The three of them were far outnumbered by other sixth year Slytherins, but that didn't make a difference in Shay's book.

"Is everyone here?" Hagrid peered around at the class.

"Hey, Potter," Draco called softly, and Harry's head snapped around. "How do you feel about having a teacher who can't even count?"

"When you have something worth saying, Malfoy, I might listen. Oh, wait. You never have anything worth saying." Harry pointedly turned away from Draco. "Hagrid, we're still missing Ja--"

"I'm here!" Jamie ran up breathlessly, brushing hair out of her face. She smiled a little nervously at Hagrid. "Um, hi."

Hagrid looked at Jamie in shock for a full ten seconds, and then he let out a sound halfway between a gasp and an exclamation. "They tol' me yeh look jus' like Harry...but I never..." He clapped Jamie on the shoulder, and Harry and Hermione grabbed her to keep her knees from buckling. "Welcome ter Hogwarts!"

"Er...thanks." Jamie straightened, and her eyes met Shay's. Shay looked at her for a moment before averting his gaze; he couldn't appear to be too familiar with her, or people would get suspicious. And while Shay figured that while people might know about him and Will eventually, he preferred to remain anonymous for the time being, and Will had agreed. It would allow them to operate more quietly if people didn't know who they were--and thus, it would allow them to keep a careful eye on the situations around them.

"Well, if it isn't the little half-blood Potter freak," Draco murmured. Hagrid, who was heading toward Oscar the dragon's enclosure, didn't hear, but everyone else did.

Shay knotted his jaw and debated sending a curse Draco's way, but found he didn't have to. Ron, Harry, and Hermione had their wands out and were pointing them at Draco. Draco had his eyes on them and didn't see Samantha Greer discreetly point her wand at Draco's back and whisper something under her breath. Shay looked at her and raised his eyebrows, and Samantha grinned wickedly before putting an a bored expression.

A moment later, Draco gasped. "Wh--" his hands and fingers were expanding like a balloon...his fingers looked like sausages. Then his shoes shredded, and Shay saw that his feet were growing at the same rate. The Gryffindors all burst out laughing. Draco glared, but he couldn't even hold his wand anymore. It fell out of his fingers, and Pansy bent to pick it up.

"You'll pay for this, Potter," Malfoy said, glaring, and he whirled off toward the castle, walking through the snow very awkwardly on his growing feet.

Shay wasn't sure if Draco had been referring to Harry or Jamie--probably both. He grinned at his fellow Slytherin. "Nice one, Samantha."

"Thanks."

The class was distracted from any potential fight by a burst of flame. They all whirled to see that Hagrid had opened Oscar the Antipodean Opal-eye's enclosure. The enclosure had been constructed by Charlie Weasley, and was in between Hagrid's cabin and the Forbidden Forest. It looked like a small house, but had all sorts of fireproofing spells on it. Oscar had only started breathing fire just before Christmas, but Charlie had been drilling the class on fireproofing spells for several months. He had also taught them how to perform mass Stunning Spells, and how to work together to reign Oscar in. It had still never been made very clear why they were raising a dragon--Charlie had only said that there were some things that it helped to know, and dealing with dragons was one of them. "It's dangerous to try to tame dragons--but learning to work with them is something else entirely."

"Um, Hagrid? Do you think it's such a good idea to let him out...?" Hermione called. "Charlie always--"

"Ah, he'll be fine!" Hagrid chuckled. "Won't yeh, Oscar? 'Sides, yeh gotta say good-bye ter him!" He stepped away from the door of the enclosure just as another burst of flame shot out. "Hey, where'd Malfoy go?"

When they finally escaped Care of Magical Creatures without being burned (thanks to all of Charlie's lessons), Shay moved onto Muggle Studies, his only other class besides Astronomy, which wouldn't happen until midnight. On Friday afternoon, he met with Will and Hermione for his extra Transfiguration lessons. Under Hermione's tutelage, he and Will had improved greatly in their Transfiguration skills, and they were now meeting on Monday and Friday afternoons, having cut out the Wednesday tutelage.

Shay was mildly surprised to see Jamie sitting with Will and Hermione in the Transfiguration classroom. She looked distracted about something, and blinked when he looked at her questioningly. "Professor McGonagall seems to think I need extra help on my Transfiguration lessons."

Shay sat down across from her. "How're your other classes going?"

"All right. You've seen my potions classes...I can do the work just fine; it's just some of the people..." Jamie made a face. "The other classes are all right." She looked a bit frazzled, and Shay didn't blame her. It had been really strange his first week of school, too. Jamie sighed again, still looking bothered by something. Shay exchanged glances with Will, who shrugged, silently saying that he saw it too, but didn't know what was wrong. "What are you doing tonight?"

Shay looked at Jamie with narrowed eyes for a moment. "Draco's scheduled to have a meeting with one of the Death Eaters tonight--he used to meet them every Friday night, but back in December he started meeting them every other Friday... At his last meeting, he said he'd report in the first Friday after Christmas holidays."

"Good luck. Hopefully something useful will be revealed before too long," Jamie said. She tried to sound hopeful, but Shay could see doubt on her face, and he didn't blame her. He was beginning to doubt Draco's usefulness too.

They went through the Transfiguration tutorial, and then Hermione took off for Gryffindor Tower, saying, "Prefect duties tonight! I have to go!"

As soon as Hermione was gone, Shay and Will both turned to Jamie. "What's wrong?" Shay asked immediately.

Jamie laid her head on the desk in front of her. "It's..." She sighed and looked up at them.

"James, what is it?" Will asked softly.

Jamie shot a look at Shay. "It's Draco."

Shay stiffened, feeling angry without knowing exactly what Draco had done. "What'd he do?" he asked sharply.

"He..." Jamie hesitated, looking ever more troubled.

"Jamie, if he hurt you--"

"No, no. It's not what he did. It's what he said. I...saw him at the library...I went there to pick up a book on advanced potions--I wanted to check the differences between the present day's Skin Regeneration Draft and our own time's version--"

Shay would have rolled his eyes had his mind not been so focused on Draco Malfoy. Besides being the one who had pulled ingredients together and made potions, Jamie had learned the properties and theory behind each one, and once she made a potion, she could usually remember how to make it again. Despite Jamie's interest in learning photography, Shay suspected that her knowledge and enthusiasm of brewing potions would end up coming into play in whatever she chose to do with her future.

"Anyway, Draco came into the library--"

"You were alone?" Shay asked. "Jamie, you're supposed to have someone with you wherever you are in the school--"

"Ginny was meeting me there," Jamie cut him off. "And Madam Pince and other students were there--"

"Still, you're--"

"Shay, would you let me finish?" Jamie asked, exasperated. "Ginny was on time; I just got there a couple of minutes early. I think Draco must have followed me after my last class... All he did was walk by me and say..." Here Jamie looked even more troubled, and she knotted her fingers together. She took a deep breath. "He looked at me and went, 'just here to look at Hair-Lengthening Charms.' And he smirked and walked away... I told Ginny about it when she got there, but...I haven't mentioned Hair-Lengthening Charms since Grimmauld Place...how could Draco have known?"

Shay's jaw tightened. "Draco knows how the information is being leaked from the Order."

"That was my first thought, too," Jamie admitted. She looked sharply at Shay. "That doesn't mean you can go curse it out of him."

"Oh, I didn't say anything about cursing," Shay muttered.

"Shay," Will spoke up. "Jamie's right--you can't do anything to Draco. We have to be subtle about this--we can possibly get even more if we do this quietly."

"Actually, I had an idea about that." Jamie glanced down at her hands for a moment, and then looked back up at Shay and Will, a steely look in her eyes. "Veritaserum."

Will blinked and looked at Shay, who shrugged. Veritaserum was a very advanced potion, and controlled by strict Ministry guidelines. "You've never made it before," Will said cautiously.

"It doesn't mean I can't," Jamie replied stubbornly. "I'd just have to see the potion recipe...I bet I could figure it out. It's worth a try, anyway...I'd at least like to ask Hermione about it. If I can't figure it out, I bet we can together. We could learn a lot more from Draco then..."

Will and Shay looked at each other, and then back at Jamie. "All right," Shay said abruptly. "We'll look into it--starting immediately."

Feeling more irritable than usual, Shay waited for the next couple of hours to pass, and then used the invisibility cloak to follow Draco to the classroom where he was meeting the Death Eater. Sometimes he managed to get into the room before Draco closed the door, and tonight was one of those nights. He stood silently by the door and waited--Draco never contacted the Death Eater; the Death Eater always contacted him. Sure enough, before three minutes had passed, a masked head appeared in the fireplace.

"Mr. Malfoy," a raspy voice issued from the mask. "I am only here tonight to ensure that you have received your instructions."

"Yes, of course," Draco said lazily.

"The Potter girl is there?"

"Yes, and just as annoying as her father," Draco said bitingly.

"I am not interested in petty school enmities. She is essential to the Dark Lord's plans."

Shay tensed. There was no way on this earth that he was going to allow Jamie to be any part of Voldemort's plans.

"You will receive the package in the mail shortly, and then you know what to do."

"Of course, of course."

"You must be ready." With an abrupt pop, the Death Eater was gone. It was, without a doubt, the shortest meeting Draco had ever had with the Death Eaters.

Shay waited several minutes after Draco had left before cautiously leaving the room. It seemed that Jamie's idea for Veritaserum would come in handy for more than one thing--if it could be made. And he was definitely going to have to keep an eye on Draco's mail...and make sure that Jamie was never alone.

~*~

"So you think it's possible?" Jamie whispered to Hermione as they stood in the corner of the common room.

Hermione frowned. "Well...it's possible. It's also illegal..."

Jamie raised her eyebrows and looked at Hermione skeptically.

Hermione laughed. "All right," she conceded, "so we've done illegal things before...hmm...if I remember correctly, the recipe for Veritaserum is in the book Moste Potente Potions. It's in the Restricted Section of the library, but I'm sure we could get our hands on it." She sighed. "I'll see what I can do to get a hold of it, all right? I know it takes at least a month to prepare, and we'll have to get a hold of all the ingredients..." She had that faraway look of concentration that she got when trying to piece something together. She patted Jamie on the arm. "We'll work it out."

~*~

Midnight found the entire sixth year class shivering in the freezing January air on top of the astronomy tower. Jamie shared a telescope with Neville Longbottom, right beside a group of Ravenclaw girls. Over the past week, she had seen quite a bit of Neville, and really liked him. She hoped that Shay would be able to mend his problems with Neville and really get to know him.

Jamie spread the star chart they were supposed to be making on the ground while Neville set up the telescope. Professor Sinistra stood in the middle of the tower, going around to different groups of students and talking to them.

Jamie nearly accidentally ripped the star chart in half when she heard one of the Ravenclaw's beside her say, "Still no luck with Shay, then, Jenn?" Her head snapped around, and she saw that the speaker was a brunette. She was talking to girl with short, curly hair, who turned and glanced very obviously in Shay's direction. Her Shay's direction.

Jenn sighed. "No."

A third Ravenclaw--this one a blonde girl--shook her head. "It's not you, Jenn. It's been over three months since we went out, and since then, he hasn't been paying much attention to anyone--at first I thought it was me, but...Shay Long is just...very closed off. I think he has problems with getting close to people..."

"You went out with Shay?" the surprised words were out of Jamie's mouth before she realized it. She mentally slapped herself. Stupid, Jamie!

The blonde girl looked at her, frowning. "Yes. The first week was fine, but then...well, he was just so distracted. He's such a brooding guy...do you know him? I thought..."

"Um, I just know of him. He's...er...one of the only students that ever entered Hogwarts in sixth year, too..."

"Oh." The girl looked at her for a moment, and then stuck out her hand. "I'm Rowan."

"I'm--"

"Jamie Potter. I know." Rowan shook her head and looked over her shoulder at Shay. "If you were thinking of trying to get his attention, I'd give up while you're ahead. You, too, Jenn," she said, looking back at her curly-haired friend.

Jenn sighed. "But he's so...mysterious. And you're so lucky, Rowan--you at least got a little bit close to him..."

Had Jamie not been feeling so bothered by this talk, she would have snorted as she was struck by the sudden image of Shay with his mouth stuffed full of food, asking her why he needed manners. Shay? Mysterious? Well, to be fair, he probably did appear very mysterious to anyone who didn't know him well... But this was Shay they were talking about. She had seen him in pretty much every situation anyone could imagine.

And it really, really bothered her that another girl had been even 'a little bit close to him.' She studied Shay as he leaned to look into a telescope. Why hadn't he told her he had dated someone at Hogwarts? And why did that idea upset her so much?

"Jamie? Jamie, are you getting this?"

Jamie realized that Neville was talking to her, and she pulled herself out of her disturbed thoughts to look at him. "What?"

"Saturn. We're trying to mark Saturn's position," Neville said patiently.

"Oh. Oh, right. Sorry." Jamie spent the remainder of the class working on the chart with Neville, and trying to keep her mind off the thought of Shay being with a girl, without much success. The thought of Shay dating anyone hurt...and she didn't want to think about why it hurt. She was very relieved when the class was over.

"Jamie, why don't you head back to Gryffindor Tower with Ron and Hermione? I'll take care of the telescope and chart," Neville offered.

Jamie sighed and stood up. She must have looked really distracted. "Thanks." She meandered over to Ron and Hermione. Harry had already disappeared. "Where's Harry?"

"Oh, he went to..." Ron looked around discreetly. "He went to talk to Hagrid. We wanted to go, but...well, we have trouble all squishing under the invisibility cloak now...two of us can fit, but three's rough...we told him we'd go talk to Hagrid tomorrow, but he didn't want to wait."

"Oh. Um, isn't Hagrid asleep?"

"With a dragon outside? Especially when that dragon is leaving tomorrow? I doubt it," Ron snorted.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, before Hermione asked, "Are you all right, Jamie?"

"Fine." Jamie sighed and tucked her cold hands into her robe. "Just fine."