The Power of Three

Chapter Five: Where Do We Go From Here?

"Alright, Draco," Ron asked as the door closed behind Hermione and Harry, "what was that all about?"

"I think," Draco said quietly, "that the baby Harry saw in that last memory was Slythrin's, not Griffindor's. So..."

"Hermione might be pregnant?"

Draco nodded.

"I'm sure she's got protection charms, though, so how could she be?" Ron asked thoughtfully.

"How could a dream give her wounds that can't be healed by magic?" Draco asked quietly in response.

Ron stared at Draco in horror for a moment, and then buried his nose in the book of dreams again.

As Ron flipped through the book, Draco looked around at Harry's office. He had been in here a few times when it had been Professor Fowler's office (Professor Moody's replacement). It had been messy then, but nowhere near as bad as it was now. There were no pictures on the walls anymore, but then, there were bookshelves taking up most of the wall space now. The same desk was there and a small table had been added under the window. There were what Draco was sure passed to Harry for neat stacks of student papers on the desk around a relatively clear workspace. There were papers, books and magical objects everywhere. Somehow the room seemed to fit Harry's personality perfectly and Draco knew that Harry could find anything he wanted in this clutter at a moment's notice (even if no one else could). Draco was looking around when he suddenly noticed something sticking out of the ceiling. He stood up and walked over to Harry's desk. He had to climb onto Harry's chair to reach the object. It was a quill, and it was jammed so far into the ceiling that Draco couldn't get it to budge an inch.

"Ron, why do you suppose there's a quill stuck into the ceiling?"

Ron looked up at the quill.

"I don't know. It probably happened when he was working on one of his projects.

"I suppose. Any luck with the book yet?"

"Not really."

"Is there anyone here who might be able to help us?"

Ron considered this for a moment.

"Normally I would say Hermione. I suppose we could ask McGonagall."

"We should wait for classes to end, then."

"Probably. In the mean time, look around. There should be a book on memory impressions around here somewhere (unless it's in Harry's chambers or something). It might be able to help us with his visions."

Draco started to climb down off the chair and Ron returned to his reading. Suddenly Ron dropped the book and swore. Draco whipped around to see what the problem was and saw Ron standing up, book at his feet, staring into Myrtle's face.

Poppy pointed her wand at Hermione's bare belly and murmured an incantation. A yellow glow enveloped Hermione's abdomen. Poppy frowned. She murmured another spell and the yellow turned to green.

"What does it mean?" Hermione asked nervously.

"You aren't pregnant right now," Poppy said as she lowered the wand, "but you may easily become pregnant in the next few days."

"That's probably not a good thing," Hermione said very softly. Harry squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Actually, it might be a very good thing," he said slowly. Both women looked at him hopefully. "I may have an idea, but I need to go and grab a book from the library to make sure."

"What is your idea?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I find the book I need. Get dressed and go back to my office and wait for me. Alright?"

"Alright," Hermione said with a sigh. Harry kissed her quickly and hurried off to the library.

Hermione got up and fastened her robes closed.

"Thank you, Poppy," she said.

"You are very welcome, Hermione," the nurse said warmly. "I hope that everything turns out for the best."

"So do I."

* * *

"Don't do that!" Ron exclaimed.

"Sorry," Myrtle said. "I found someone who remembers the founders!"

"Who?" Ron asked quickly.

"He was a student here and he died the same way I did!"

"The Basalisk killed him?"

"Yep!"

"Where is he?"

"He spends most of his time in one of the dungeon rooms. Where are Hermione and Harry?"

"They should be back soon."

"Oh. Do you want to go meet Hamish?"

"Is Hamish the ghost?"

"Yes."

"We should wait for Harry and Hermione."

"Alright. Hey, what are you reading?"

"A book about dreams."

"Oh," Myrtle said disappointedly. She floated over to Draco. "How are you?"

"Fine."

"That's good."

The door opened and Hermione walked in. Both Draco and Ron looked at her expectantly.

"Well?" Ron asked, setting the book down and walking over to her.

"Well, I'm not pregnant," she replied.

"There's something else," Ron said worridly, as he searched her face.

"I can become pregnant any time in the next few days."

Draco sucked in his breath quickly.

"We'll figure something out," Ron reassured her as he gave Hermione a comforting hug. "Where's Harry?"

"He ran to the library for a book. He said that he has an idea."

"I don't suppose he told you what the idea was?"

"Does he ever?" Hermione replied with a wry smile.

As they waited for Harry, Myrtle told Hermione about Hamish.

Harry came into the room with a very old book under his arm. He handed the book to Hermione and began fishing around on the table under the window.

"Do you both have your wands?" he asked.

"Yes," Ron replied. "Why?"

"Because you're going to need it. 'Mione?"

"Accio," she said.

"What are we going to do, Harry?" Ron asked.

"We're going to cast a spell on 'Mione," Harry replied. Finally he pulled out his wand.

"What kind of spell?"

"An illusion spell."

Hermione's wand sailed in through the window and into her hand.

"What kind of illusion?" Ron persisted.

"A powerful one."

"Harry," Hermione asked as she looked at the book he had brought in, "why did you need this book?"

"It's where I got the idea."

"What book is it?" Ron asked.

"It's a history book about witch hunts in Europe."

Harry looked through the bookshelf behind his desk and pulled out another very old book. He flipped through it for a moment and then set it down, open to the page he wanted.

"Alright," he instructed, "Hermione needs to stand in the middle holding our hands, Ron to her right, me to her left."

Ron and Hermione went to their places beside Harry.

"Say the words with me (I'll let you know when you need to do anything else). Ready?"

They nodded.

"Draco," Harry said suddenly, "you need to support 'Mione if she starts to fall or anything. Just don't use any magic to do it!"

"Sure thing," Draco replied. He went to stand near Hermione.

Harry began chanting and Ron and Hermione joined him without missing a beat.

Ron, Harry said in Ron's head after a few moments, we need to encircle 'Mione with our arms.

They dropped hands and did as Harry had said, holding hands on either side of Hermione. They all continued chanting.

Hermione, Harry commanded silently a few moments later, stop chanting... Now!

Harry and Ron continued chanting. Suddenly Hermione gasped and looked like she would fall, but before Draco could reach out to support her she steadied herself.

Chant with us again, 'Mione, Harry instructed.

She joined the chanting again, but her voice was weaker.

As they completed the spell, Draco listened intently to their voices. It was like a beautiful song. The three voices danced around each other in a complex harmony. The words themselves disappeared and were replaced by mere sounds. Draco had rarely had the opportunity to hear the Golden Triangle perform spells together. It was unlike anything else he had ever experienced and it still awed him. A tremendous amount of raw power crackled in the air around the three. The room was unnaturally still and the only sound was the awesome melody being woven from Harry, Ron, and Hermione's voices. The office almost seemed to vanish leaving nothing except the three best friends chanting. Draco and Myrtle scarcely dared to breathe or move.

Finally the spell ended. As soon as the air began to cease crackling with powerful magic, Hermione began to fall. Ron caught her and carefully sank to the floor with her. He rocked her back and forth as she sat crying softly, although it was all he could do to keep himself from collapsing too. Harry sat down in Ron's empty chair and closed his eyes. It was only as they saw Harry looking drained that Draco and Myrtle realized just how major the spell had been. Harry was the first to pull himself together. He sat on the floor next to Ron and gently took Hermione into his lap. He held her tenderly and murmured softly in her ear. Ron steadied himself with his hand and closed his eyes. After a couple of minutes Ron opened his eyes and stood up slowly. He sat in his chair again and took the dream book back into his lap. He sat there slowly looking through it.

After several more minutes Hermione wiped her eyes. Harry stood and then helped her up. For a moment she simply stood wrapped in his arms, but then she pulled away and went to sit in her chair. Harry watched her sit down before speaking again.

"Hermione," he said, breaking the total silence that filled the room, "I need you to bond to me."

Hermione and Ron stared at Harry as if he had just suggested they all become Death-Eaters. Draco looked at Myrtle in confusion, but she didn't seem to understand either.

"Harry," Hermione asked unsurely, "are you certain that is what you want?"

"Yes, I am."

"What if I can't break the bond later?"

"You will be able to."

"How do you know that?"

"I know you and your power. If anyone can do it, it's you."

"You have more confidence in me than I do."

"Come on, 'Mione, just form the bond."

"Alright," Hermione said reluctantly.

"Harry," Ron inquired, "is that wise? What if something happens to one of you?"

"If it does, we'll deal with it. The bond will allow me to protect 'Mione in her dreams."

Ron didn't reply, but he didn't look happy either.

"What was the spell that you just did?" Myrtle asked curiously. "And what does a bond do?"

"The spell created an illusion," Hermione explained. "It fooled my body into believing that it is pregnant."

"Why did you do that?"

"If her body believes it's already pregnant," Harry explained, "then she won't be able to become pregnant."

"Oh. So what is a bond?"

"A bond joins two people together. They feel each other's pain and pleasure. It also allows each person to always know where the other is. They tend to share or gain access to one another's dreams. Bonds are extremely difficult to form, and are thus quite rare. There are only a handful of wizards and witches around who are able to form them. Hermione happens to be one of those people."

"What Harry neglected to mention," Hermione said sharply, "is that bonds take a lot of concentration to form, and to break. Only the one who forged the bond can break it. So if something horrible happens to me, I may not be able to break the bond."

"Is the bond dangerous then?" Draco asked.

"It certainly can be. If one of us dies, so does the other."

"And you want to be in one of these?" Myrtle asked Harry.

"Yes."

"Harry," Ron asked, putting his hand on his friends shoulder, "are you absolutely certain that you want to do this?"

"Yes, I am. It's the most effective way that I can think of to protect Hermione from her nightmares."

"Harry, what if something happens to one of us?" Hermione inquired.

"Then we will deal with it. We've dealt with bad things happening before and we can certainly do it again."

"Alright," Hermione sighed. She still wasn't sure, but experience had taught her that fighting with Harry on something like this was useless.

"'Mione," Harry said softly as he moved closer to her and gently lifted her chin, "do you trust me?"

"Of course I do," she replied quietly. "I'm just scared."

"So am I. It's alright. I'll always be here for you."

Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione for a quick hug then stepped back a bit to give her space.

"Accorporo," she whispered softly, flicking her wand. Then she touched its tip to Harry's chest and to her own. Then she stepped up and embraced him again.

A soft pink light encompassed the couple. As they stepped apart, the light dissipated. Harry suddenly felt pain. It seemed as though his whole body was covered in fresh bruises and ached with soreness.

"Is all of this from last night?" he asked in horror.

"The pain?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, and the soreness."

"Most of it is, yes."

"I'm so sorry, Hermione."

"It's alright," she assured him. "The pain isn't so bad right now."

Harry knew very well that she was lying (or at least hoped she was) because he felt the pain himself, but he didn't contradict her.

"Are we done here for the moment, Harry?" Ron inquired.

"Yes, unless anyone else knows of anything that we need to do here?"

No one had anything.

"Then we should go to see the ghost that Myrtle found," Hermione suggested.

They all agreed and followed Myrtle out of the office. Myrtle led them deep into the dungeons. As they went, they filled Harry in on what Myrtle had found. In a tiny room they found a ghost sitting and staring blankly at a picture of a mountain that hung on the wall. Ron closed the door behind them so that they would not be disturbed.

Harry approached the ghost cautiously, so as not to startle it.

"Hello," he said politely.

The ghost turned to him.

"Hello," it replied quietly.

"My name is Harry and these are my friends Ron, Draco and Hermione."

As Harry introduced them Hermione looked at the ghost curiously. It appeared to be a teenage boy. He looked sadder than anyone Hermione had ever met before.

"Hi," the ghost said shyly as it looked around. "My name is Hamish."

"Pleased to meet you, Hamish," Hermione replied.

"Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" Harry asked.

"Alright," the ghost replied.

"How well did you know the founders?"

"Pretty well."

"Can you tell me about Salazar Slytherin?"

"He was creepy. He was always very secretive and spent most of his time hiding down in the dungeons working on his strange projects."

"What kinds of projects?"

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it made Godric very angry."

"How do you know that?"

"Because they would have arguments about it when no students were around."

"How did you hear these arguments?"

"They were loud. Their voices echoed through the entire tower."

"Which tower?"

"The one the teachers lived in."

"Why were you there?"

"Because during vacations I had a room there next to my mother's."

"Who was your mother?"

"Helga Hufflepuff."

"I see. What else can you tell us about Slytherin?"

"He was creepy. He always seemed to be mixing things to make potions. I don't know what most of them did. Godric, Rowena and my mother certainly didn't approve of his potion experiments. He also always had at least one snake around."

"What kinds of potions did he make?"

"I don't know."

"Can you tell us anything else about him?"

"Not really. My mother didn't want me to spend much time with him."

Hermione walked closer to the ghost.

"Can you tell us about the other founders?" she asked.

"Well, Godric and Rowena were in love. They were always being lovey-dovey when there weren't students to see them. The students knew about it, but I guess Rowena and Godric thought it wouldn't be proper if they kissed or anything in front of them. I always sort of hoped that I would someday be in love like that."

Hamish fell silent as he stared at the floor.

"How did you die?" Hermione said quietly.

"I went down to the dungeons to get something for my mother," Hamish said quietly and slowly. "I heard someone scream. It was summer, so the students were gone, so I wondered who could be screaming like that and why. They just kept on screaming over and over, so I followed the screams. Suddenly they stopped. I kept walking towards where they came from. Suddenly Slytherin came around a corner in front of me. He saw me and said something strange. A snake slithered out of an opening in the wall and when I saw it, I died."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said. "Can we come talk to you again if we have any more questions?"

"Sure. Can I come talk to you once in a while? It's been a long time since I had someone to talk to."

"Of course!"

"Thank you!"

"Thank you for the information," Harry said. "We really appreciate it."

"Good-bye!" Hamish said.

"Good-bye!" the group replied.

They went up to Harry and Hermione's small apartment in the staff tower. They sat down and discussed the information that they had thus far.

"Hamish must have been hearing Slytherin rape Rowena," Ron said thoughtfully after a while.

"Yeah," Draco agreed, "but he sure didn't have much information for us."

"What he did tell us may prove extremely useful, however," said Hermione.

"So now what are we going to do?" Draco asked.

"You should go home," Harry said. "I'll keep you posted on how things are going and will send for you when we need you."

"Alright," Draco agreed. "You're probably right. It's getting late."

They said goodbye and Draco left.

"Ron," said Harry, "would you mind spending the night here? There's an empty room across the corridor."

"I was going to suggest it myself," Ron replied. "Can we link me to Hermione so that I'll know when she starts dreaming?"

"Yes, we can," Hermione replied. She walked over to Ron and touched his chest. She murmured something quietly and for a moment a blue light surrounded both of them. After the light disappeared again, Hermione sank into a comfortable blue chair. Harry was pacing in front of the fireplace.

"We should contact Dumbledore," he said.

"I already did," Hermione informed them.

"When?" Harry asked in surprise.

"While you were seeing those memories this afternoon. I sent out two owls, one to Ron and one to Dumbledore. He should get it late tomorrow or the day after."

"What did you tell him?" Ron asked.

"I gave a one-line account saying we were dealing with Death-Eaters who seem more dangerous than we had previously thought and said that there were other problems that I didn't want to tell him about in writing, so he may contact us after he gets the message. Is there anything else I should have said?"

"Not in a letter," Harry said thoughtfully.

Both Ron and Hermione could see the gears in his head turning. They waited a moment, even though they knew he wouldn't just tell them what he was thinking (after all, that would be too easy!).

"Harry, what are you thinking?" Ron asked finally.

"I'm not sure," Harry replied slowly. "I'm trying to find a way to buy us more time."

"More time?"

"I want to know more about what we are up against before anything else happens that we have to deal with. I feel like we are missing something. It feels like something big, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

Harry and Hermione's little sitting room was neat and cozy, with bookshelves lining three walls and plush blue chairs before the stone hearth. It absolutely screamed 'Hermione' in every corner. Nothing was out of place, but everything felt within reach. Ron sank farther into his chair as he contemplated what Harry had said. Harry stood resting him forehead on the mantle thinking. Hermione however took half a moment to think then held out one hand. A thin book bound in fading dark red leather floated from one of the shelves into her hands. She opened it and quickly began flipping through the pages. Her brow wrinkled as she searched through the book.

"What are you looking for?" Ron asked her curiously.

"A story."

"Isn't it in the table of contents?"

"There isn't one."

"Why not?"

Hermione smiled a rare sparkling grin at him.

"That would be too easy, Ron!"

Ron and Harry both laughed. They had all said that countless times in the last year of school when they were trying to defeat Voldemort. It had almost become an inside joke. It had always seemed that Harry and Hermione's solutions to problems were unnecessarily complicated. Ron would listen to their ideas and then suggest something ridiculously simple. They would then go from there. The pattern let them reach a solution that was rarely too complicated or too simple, but just about right.

"I found it!" Hermione said triumphantly.

"Found what?" asked Harry as he crossed the room to look over her shoulder.

"This is a book of Muggle fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson. My grandmother used to read to me from this book. My favourite story was called "The Magic Galoshes". It's about a pair of galoshes that keep getting passed from man to man and has the power to grant wishes. One of the wishes always intrigued me and I think that if we can grant that wish, it will help us."

"What is the wish?" Harry asked curiously. He was leaning over the back of her chair looking at the book nestled in her lap.

Hermione read from the book, "'The future you'll find out soon enough anyway,' he thought. 'But what goes on in another man's soul, never. Now take the people who are sitting in the first row; if one could climb into their hearts, as if each were a different store… oh, how my eyes would go shopping!'"

Ron's jaw dropped.

"Can we do that?" he asked.

"I can't," Hermione replied, "but I think Harry could if we used the power of the Golden Triangle."

"Perhaps," Harry said thoughtfully. He took the book from Hermione and read through the passage. "How do we get close to him, though?"

"In my dreams," Hermione said softly.

"It's worth a try, I suppose. Ron, can you anchor me?"

"Of course. But what about 'Mione? You're linked."

"I can get around that. We need to prepare this then, so that I can just jump into it at the right time."

The trio carefully constructed the spell so that it would be ready when they needed it. Then Ron went across the hall to bed and Harry and Hermione were left alone.

Harry took Hermione's hand and led her into the bedchamber. There were four pieces of furniture: a stand-up full length mirror with intricate carving around the outside, a chair with curving legs and red velvet upholstery, a massive wooden wardrobe with brass handles on the doors, and a large four-poster bed with red satin bed curtains. Harry led Hermione to the wardrobe and stood before her. Carefully he undid the fastenings of her azure robes. The material slid off her shoulders and he opened the wardrobe. He carefully hung up the heavy robes and opened a drawer. He removed a red satin nightgown. He reached behind her and unhooked her lacy bra, which then fell to the floor. She put her arms up and he slid the liquid nightgown over her head. Then he pulled her into him and kissed her tenderly. Hermione wrapped her arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss. Harry scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bed. The curtains parted and the red velvet coverlet slid aside to reveal the black satin sheets underneath. Harry laid her gently on the bed and kissed her again. He covered her with the sheet and coverlet and leaned in so that his lips brushed her ear.

"Dorme," he whispered. She was asleep almost instantly.

Harry changed and slid into the bed beside her. He also fell asleep almost instantly.

"I will never be yours!"

He held out his hand and on his palm a ring appeared. It looked like a snake eating its own tail and two diamonds were set where its eyes should have been. He grabbed her hand roughly and tried to slide the ring onto her ring finger, but something stopped it. It was like a force field surrounded her finger and protected it. The man howled in rage and threw the ring across the room.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" he raged.

"I will NEVER be yours!" she screamed back.

"You ARE mine! You have always been mine and you will always BE mine!" "She has never been yours," said a familiar voice.

She turned towards the voice and was overjoyed to see her beloved standing in a doorway. He shut the door and entered the room. He was tall and proud, looking down to no one. The scar on his forehead seemed to glow of its own accord.

"How did you get here?" the man demanded.

"I followed my love," her beloved replied. "I could find her in the darkest depths of Foeditas! For we are joined by the bonds of love and you can not break that with a thousand Severing Charms."

The man howled in rage.

Hermione shifted and moaned in her sleep, but didn't awaken. Harry lay motionless beside her, breathing evenly.

Now Harry shifted in his sleep too.

Ron sat up in bed, breathing heavily. His eyes still glinted with fire. He got up quickly and ran from the room. He tore across the hall and didn't even stop to knock before he entered his friends' sitting room. Hermione was just emerging from the bedchamber, with Harry close behind her. Ron hurried to her and swept her into a warm hug, lifting her feet from the floor. He just held her for several long moments. He finally put her down again and she kissed his cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered. He could hear that she was close to tears.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner. Did he hurt you?"

"No, you were there before he could hurt me."

"Good."

Harry put his hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Thank you, Ron."

"Sorry I stopped anchoring you, I just decided she was more important just then."

"I would have been disappointed if you hadn't. Thank you for helping her."

Hermione had tears running down her cheeks and Ron lifted her chin to look into her face. She looked at him for a moment, but then pulled away and buried her face in his chest and cried. Ron looked at Harry with a worried expression.

"'Mione," Harry said softly, "what's wrong?"

She just cried and held on tightly to Ron.

"I was so scared," she sobbed, not even looking up. "He scares me so much!"

Ron carefully handed Hermione to Harry and created a glass of water on the table beside him. Harry rocked Hermione in his arms until her sobs slowed down. He pulled her onto his lap in a chair and pressed his forehead to hers.

I'm here, he said in her head.

Thank you, she replied. I couldn't do this without you.

When Hermione was calmed down, Ron handed her the glass of water. She drank it slowly and snuggled into her lover's arms. For several minutes the three just sat in each other's company in silence.

"Harry," Hermione asked suddenly, "did you see what happened with the ring?"

Harry's brow furrowed.

"What ring? And what happened?"

"He had a ring that he tried to put on my finger, but it didn't work. It was like something was pushing it away."

"What happened exactly?"

"He grabbed my wrist and held my hand out," she explained.

"Which hand?"

"Left," she said, holding out her left hand. On her wrist were marks where he had grabbed her roughly. "Then a ring appeared in his hand and he tried to put it on my finger, but something pushed it away, so it wouldn't slid on. Then he grew furious and threw the ring across the room. He started saying that I was his. You were there just after that. I thought perhaps you'd seen it."

"No, I didn't."

"What did the ring look like?" Ron asked. "Was it an engagement ring or something?"

"I don't know what it was supposed to mean," she replied as she thought back to the dream, "but it looked strange." She described the snake ring in as much detail as possible.

"It might just be that he chose that ring because of his fascination with snakes," Ron suggested.

"Perhaps," Harry agreed.

"What did you see in him?" Hermione asked Harry.

"It was odd," he said thoughtfully. "It was almost like a temple. There was an altar at one end with a huge snake statue behind it." He described the temple and the statues.

"What was the gold thing? Before it was broken, I mean."

"I don't know," Harry replied. "It was not a geometric shape. I think it was a symbol of some kind."

"That's odd. I wonder what it meant?"

"I don't know."

"I think," Ron piped up, "that we should get some sleep. We can figure out where to go from here in the morning."

"Agreed," said Harry. "Come on, beautiful, back to bed."

They all went back to bed, but Hermione lay awake for a long time thinking of the snake and the symbol. What did it all mean?

When Hermione woke up in the morning she was alone in bed. She could hear very quiet voices in the next room. She threw back the covers and stood up. Her dressing gown was laying across a chair waiting for her, so she slipped it on and went out into the sitting room. Harry was sitting in one of the big chairs and Ron in another. Hermione went to Ron and kissed him on the cheek before crossing to Harry and kissing his lips. Harry pulled her into his lap and handed her a cup of tea he had just created. She took a sip of tea before saying anything.

"What have you been talking about?"

"Strategy, beautiful," Harry replied. "We're trying to figure out what to do next."

"Any ideas?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," she answered thoughtfully. "I keep thinking about the temple Harry saw and the snake ring. They must mean something. Why couldn't he get that ring onto my hand?"

"I don't know," Harry said with a frown. "I think we need to do some research to find out what we can about that ring. I don't know what to do about the gold symbol in the temple. Let me think about that one."

"In the meantime, we have to plan a party."

"I forgot all about that!" Ron exclaimed. "What are we going to do about that?"

"First we need a location."

"Harry's house?"

"That won't work. It's not a known location and I don't really want it to become known. I'd rather not have Death Eaters dropping by whenever they feel like it."

"Alright. And we can't have it here."

"What about the Three Broomsticks?" Harry suggested. "It's a public place, we know the proprietor, and we know the place well enough to be able to set it up as firmly home turf. We want as much control of the situation as possible when it comes down to it."

"That's a good idea."

"What kind of party should it be?" Harry asked.

"I was thinking about that," Hermione replied. "We need to draw attention, so it needs to be unusual. I was thinking that a costume party might be the way to go. It's interesting enough to catch people's eye and there hasn't been a major costume party in a while. What do you think?"

"It's perfect!" Harry exclaimed. "It might even let us set some traps of our own."

"Like what?"

"What if we could make them think that we didn't have the power of three?"

"That would require breaking the golden triangle though. We can't do that, Harry!"

"I don't mean actually breaking the power of three, I mean just making them think that we aren't all there, so the two that are don't have as much power to draw from."

"I get it!" Ron exclaimed. "I'll pretend that I went back to the continent on business and we can make it almost impossible for them to prove otherwise by sending a double, but actually be here and go to the party in disguise. Right?"

"Exactly."

"If they buy it," Hermione said thoughtfully, "we'd have a huge advantage. We need to send a Geminus to the continent. Harry and I can host the party."

"I can be there in disguise the whole time," Ron said. "We can cast a shielding spell on me so that they can't detect me in the crowd."

"'Mione, why don't you go get dressed. We do have classes to teach today."

"Alright," Hermione said suspiciously. "What do you two want to talk about without me?"

"It's a surprise. Go get dressed."

"Yes, dear."

Harry and Hermione taught their classes all morning as usual, but both seemed distracted. Hermione's quill was writing by itself on her desk through all of her classes while Harry stopped every once in a while to jot something down.

Hermione had third years just before lunch in the greenhouses. She was demonstrating how to properly prune a particular herb plant when a note suddenly appeared at the base of the plant. She glanced at it and saw Harry's scrawling script on the page. After she was finished with her demonstration, she picked up the note and read it.

There were no more disasters than usual, but the class seemed to drag on forever. Pruning was not the most fascinating thing to watch students do.

She hurried up to the suite she shared with Harry, fighting against the crowd of students. Harry and Ron were already there when she walked in. A plate of sandwiches was sitting on the table. A chair slid back for her and she joined them.

"So what's first?" Ron asked, reaching for a sandwich.

"A guest list," Hermione said.

A scroll and quill appeared in front of her and the quill began to write. The three busily composed the guest list and ate their lunches. Ron and Harry were arguing over something animatedly. Hermione smiled as she tried not to laugh at them arguing. She looked down at her sandwich again as she reached for it, and froze. She stared at the table with a look of horror on her face, but didn't say a word.

Look, she said sharply in Ron and Harry's heads. The men looked over at her in surprise.

Sitting in front of Hermione on the table was a silver ring. It looked like a snake eating its own tail and two diamonds were set where its eyes should have been.

"Where did that come from?" Ron asked.

'Mione, Harry asked silently, what's wrong? What is it about that ring?

That's the ring from the dream. The one he tried to put on my finger.

Harry's face darkened. He reached out for the ring cautiously. Hermione sucked in her breath and unconsciously pulled away from it. Harry's fingertips barely touched the ring, and he snatched them away with a growl.

"It burnt me," he said, examining his fingers.

Hermione took his hand in hers and touched his fingers. Nothing happened. Hermione scowled.

"I can't heal it. The burn won't go away."

"Don't touch it again," Ron said slowly. "We need to figure out why this ring is here though. It wouldn't have appeared for no reason. Hermione, whatever you do, don't touch it. I just have this feeling that something awful will happen if you do."

"But we probably won't know what's going on if I don't."

"But something bad could happen if you do."

"I don't want anything to happen to you, beautiful," Harry said seriously. "He's already finding enough ways to hurt you, that ring could be another." He reached up and touched the mark on her cheek. She flinched away from his touch.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, "it still hurts a lot."

Ron, we have to do something. I can't watch her go through this for much longer. I'm already at the end of my rope.

I know, Harry, but hold on, for her sake. Let's worry about this ring right now. We can talk later, when she isn't around, about what to do to help her. For now you are only going to upset her more if you keep this up. Relax. She's Hermione. She'll pull through right now. It hasn't gotten so far that she can't handle it, and you know that. So cool it.

"Don't be sorry, Hermione," Ron said. "It isn't your fault that he hurt you."

"I know," Hermione replied thoughtfully.

She was staring at the ring.

"Don't even think it, Hermione!" Harry said sharply.

"I wasn't."

Hermione turned on her heal and fled from the room. The two men watched her go in confusion for a moment before realizing that she must be heading for the library. They took off after her.