Harry Potter and the Amulet of the Moon

Chapter 5

Harry's Decision

After lunch, Ron and Hermione went back to their tent to talk before resuming training. Sitting next to each other on the sofa, they held hands as they talked. "Did you notice George during lunch?" she asked.

"Not really; I'm trying not to. Why?"

"I stole some glances," she said, "trying not to be too obvious. He was sitting with Lee and Angelina, as usual, but the dynamic was different. Usually they're fairly animated when talking to him, but today they were quiet, talking to each other more. Not that they totally ignored him, but their hearts definitely weren't in it. I was surprised."

Ron shook his head sadly. "I want to say 'that's good,' but I don't like how that sounds. This is so bad. I mean, we haven't gotten along perfectly, but he's my brother, and I don't want anything bad to happen to him. On the other hand, it's taken all of my will not to yell at him, with what he was doing this morning." During the morning's practice George had taken a few verbal potshots at Ron, who hadn't responded.

"I was impressed that you didn't," she said sympathetically. "I don't know if I could have held myself back."

"Well, you did," he pointed out, "and you don't want anyone doing that to me either. But yes, it was difficult. I just told myself that whatever he said I wasn't going to react, and I managed it. Look on the bright side, he can't try to get under my skin by insulting my mother."

"That might be funny, under other circumstances."

"I'm half serious, but I see what you mean. So, you're ready to try to teach the Slowing spell?" From one of the books she'd brought, she'd found a spell that seemed useful for Aurors, and that none of them knew. Over the past few days, she'd learned it from the books, and now felt she knew it well enough to teach it.

"Yes, but keep in mind that since it'll now be me talking, he's likely to aim his mouth in my direction. If he does, you have to do the same thing you've been doing: just ignore him. I know it'll be hard, but you should."

He looked her in the eyes, then sighed. "I'll try."

Twenty minutes later they were back on the field, Ron facing the other trainees. "This afternoon, we're going to try a new spell. Hermione's been working on this for a few days, and she has it now. So, she's going to teach us."

She stepped forward and turned to face the group. Before she could speak, George did. "Hermione, a teacher. Bet nobody ever expected that!"

She paused for a second, then spoke. "This is called the Slowing spell, and done correctly, it'll cast a field that has an effect like slow motion on the other person. It doesn't do it very strongly--I haven't been able to achieve more than a 10% slowdown so far, and the books say that over the whole body, 40% is as much as even a strong wizard could hope for.

"Now, that's when it's applied to the whole body. The tactical value of the spell lies in directing it at the adversary's feet. Focus it in a narrow area, and it'll have a more concentrated effect. Of course, wizards aren't in motion all the time when dueling, so this would only be useful in certain situations."

She paused to take a breath, but George jumped in. "Like at Hogwarts, your classmates might've used it on you so you couldn't raise your hand so fast."

She closed her eyes for a second, summoning all of her will to stay calm and show no reaction. She continued, "If you think your adversary might run--"

"Will you just cut it the hell out!" exploded Parvati, turning to face George. "We're tired of this! If you don't want to be here, then just go! But don't make us suffer!"

"I haven't said anything to you, or about you--"

"It's doesn't matter!" she shouted. "It's the whole thing, it's everything you're doing! You're screwing this up for the rest of us. Harry made sure I was serious about this, he wanted to know that I would give it my all. I said yes, and I meant it. But you clearly aren't--"

"Parvati," Ron interrupted her. "Let's just leave it alone--"

"No! I'm sick of leaving this alone! Something needs to be done!"

"Yeah?" George challenged her. "Like what?"

She ignored him. "Look, Ron, I have nothing against you, but I voted for Hermione. You know why? You and she were both prefects, but you never did anything. She got after people, made sure they didn't do what they weren't supposed to. I was afraid this might happen, so I wanted her in charge. You'd be fine if there were no problems, and I know Harry has confidence--"

"What would you have me do?" he asked.

"Tell him to cut it out!"

Ron couldn't help but grin a little, though he was far from happy. "And do you think if I said, 'George, cut it out,' he would? Parvati, I'm less happy about this than anyone. But he's not an idiot, he knows exactly what he's doing. He's trying to provoke us, me especially--"

"Oh, you flatter yourself," George put in.

"For what reason only Merlin knows," Ron continued, ignoring George. "But this is the problem with the situation, since we're cut off. This is one of the things that was probably the reason for Kingsley's test. If everyone acts as they should, with good faith, then we're fine. But if even one of us willfully messes things up, we're screwed. He knows that, but he does it anyway. If I say, or Hermione says, cut it out, he says 'no,' then what? He said at the beginning that he wouldn't respect my authority, so there's nothing to be done. So, the best thing to do is ignore him. Or, the only thing, really."

Neville turned to face George. "George, we all like you, and we all respect you--"

"Funny way of showing it--"

"So I'm asking you, pleading with you if necessary, please, stop this. If there's something you need then tell us, but Parvati's right, it's making this a lot more difficult than it already is."

"And if not that, just go," added Corner. "But one way or the other, this can't continue. We're supposed to be Aurors, and Aurors are supposed to be serious, have lots of responsibility. You have a responsibility to this group, which you're not upholding."

"Just because there are some who don't like what I say--"

"Some?" retorted Parvati in disbelief. "Everyone who thinks that George should either shut up or stop practicing with us, raise your hand."

A dozen hands shot up almost instantly. Ginny took a second, then raised hers as, reluctantly, did Lee. Angelina turned to him beseechingly. "Please, remember what I said--"

"Fine," said George abruptly. "If I'm not wanted, I'll go." He pocketed his wand and walked off the field, taking less than a minute to disappear into the trees.

The silence continued until Parvati spoke. "Ron, I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense. I know this isn't easy for you."

"It's okay," he said sadly. "Maybe this needed to happen, maybe it had to be everybody. He clearly wasn't going to listen to just one person, not even Harry."

"We tried," said Angelina, her voice heavy with emotion. "He wouldn't listen to us either."

"Look, we all know George," said Ron. "At least, who he usually is. We just have to hope, to wait, until he gets back to being that person again. In the meantime... he's still here, he still needs to eat, to sleep someplace... we can't avoid him. We can only hope that a lack of contact, less than before, will give him time to figure out what's going on, to think it through. And unfortunately, there's not a damn thing we can do in the meantime. So, let's get back to the lesson. Hermione?"

* * * * *

The lesson over, Ron and Hermione led the group across the grassy field to the eating area. Usually dinner preparations were well underway by this time--with one and a half hours until the usual dinnertime--but there was no sign of any activity, and neither Luna nor Cho was there. Curious, Ron walked toward the preparation area, only to see Luna half-run, half-stumble out of the trees into view, heading straight for the tents. To Ron's shock, she seemed to be sobbing.

"Luna!"

She continued in the same direction, not even giving him a glance. Ron looked back at Hermione and the others, who were close enough to see what Ron had seen. Ron broke into a trot towards Luna as she entered her tent; Hermione was close behind Ron. Not bothering to knock, Ron entered.

From the doorway, Ron could see Luna, who had just flopped onto the bed face down, still crying. Ron walked over to the side of her bed and knelt. "Luna?"

"What's going on?" he heard Cho say from the other side of the wall which separated the beds; she then came over to Luna's side and stood near Hermione at the end of the bed.

"Luna... what happened?"

Trying to control herself, she wiped the tears from her face. "It's nothing, it's not important. I'll be okay."

"Luna, it is important. I'm in charge here, and I need to know what happened. I'm not leaving you alone until you tell me."

She rolled onto her side, facing him; the tears had almost stopped. "I was... going out there to get some chickens, to prepare for tonight's meal. When I got out there, I saw him... using the Propulsion charm on the chickens. He'd push one across the yard, it would go twenty yards across, a few yards off the ground, and struggle to land... they're just chickens, they don't know why he's doing it..."

Ron sighed in frustration. It was hardly a capital offense, but his bad behavior was escalating. What would be next? It had to stop. He looked up at Hermione, who was clearly concerned, and was surprised to see Cho roll her eyes. "That idiot," he breathed. "Did he see you?" She shook her head. Ron stood and headed for the door.

"What are you going to do?" asked Hermione.

"What I think Harry would do if he were here," he answered as he left.

He jogged through the heavily wooded area that was between the living area and the livestock, which were confined to a particular area through cleverly designed natural barriers. Three minutes later he slowed down as in the distance, through the trees, he saw a chicken fly through the air. He continued walking, pulling out his wand as he did so.

Now in sight of George, though not yet seen, Ron spoke. "Having fun?"

George shrugged. "It's not Zonko's, but it passes the time. You're in charge of gathering dinner now? Taking this authority thing a bit far, aren't you?"

"Luna was here, she saw you. She ran back in tears."

George seemed genuinely surprised. "She can kill them, but gets all teary over giving them a joyride? Well, she always was strange."

Ron opened his mouth to debate George's use of the term 'joyride,' then quickly decided it wouldn't be worth it. "You're going to stop this."

George looked at Ron for the first time. "I am, am I?"

"Yes, you are."

"And how will this most impressive deed be accomplished?"

"You really want to be daring people to do something about you? I'd have been very happy to leave you alone, but you're clearly going to go stirring up any hornet's nest you can find. I actually think if there was one on the island, you'd knock it over."

"These aren't hornets, and I don't see what I'm hurting."

"I don't intend to have a debate with you about abuse of animals--"

"Abuse?" George exclaimed incredulously. "Would you rather be propulsed, or eaten? I wouldn't take long making the choice, believe me!"

"What reasonable people do you know that fling defenseless livestock around for the sake of entertainment?"

"Well, there's not much to do--"

"Look, I've been as tolerant as I can--"

"I'm not asking for any favors from--"

"But this is going to end, now! Do you understand?"

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Don't make me--"

"I am making you! What are you going to do?"

I can't believe it's come to this, thought Ron. "I'll get as many people as necessary, and physically confine you to your tent if I have to! But don't--"

Ron cut himself off as George Disapparated. Swearing, he ran back to the main area at full speed. Panting as he arrived, he shouted, "Is he here?"

"George?" asked Hermione. "No, why?"

"He just Disapparated. I'm afraid he's... Hermione, do the locator!"

She took out her wand, held it up, and turned 360 degrees. Her eyes went wide. "Not on the island."

"Damn it." To the others, who except for Luna were crowded around, he said, "The ban on Apparition is temporarily lifted. Come with me, to the Portkey."

Ron Disapparated, and was soon standing next to the Portkey, along with a dozen others. The Portkey was a smooth wooden bar, with chains on either side that went into the earth. Ron pointed a wand and did the detection spell, the only one he knew. A puff of bright red smoke appeared to emanate from the Portkey. He cringed. "He did it. Very recently."

"This is bad, isn't it," said Corner.

"Very bad," agreed Ron. "It could be catastrophic. I'm thinking we have to go after him. Any ideas?"

"What good would it do?" asked Hermione. "He could easily be miles away by now, never mind when we get there. And our being there adds to the risk."

"I'd say having an antisocial chicken-tosser running around over there is such a high risk we wouldn't add much to it," Ron argued. "Unless you give me a better argument than that, we're going, and soon. We could get lucky, find him with the locator spell."

"Would he really take that risk, go back to England?" asked Hermione anxiously. "If he just stays in Australia, that's one thing. Maybe he just needs to get away. But if he doesn't go..."

Lee spoke somberly. "He admitted to me, a week ago, that he'd had thoughts of going, trying to save Fred--"

Ron's anxiety and frustration vented at Lee. "And you didn't think this was worth mentioning?"

"I was going to--"

"When?"

"Ron!" shouted Hermione. "Now's not the time for that! We have to focus on the here and now."

"Okay. After what Lee said, it seems more like we have to go, and now. Any specific objections?"

"Wait, wait, wait!" pleaded Hermione in an increasingly high-pitched tone. "Just one minute, to think!" Ron took a deep breath and nodded.

After a half-minute of silence, Hermione spoke again. "Kingsley would have thought of this," she said, her tone suggesting her conviction. "He would have considered all possibilities, and with how George was acting, this would be one. And, he's the one who set up the Portkey. What would he--"

"Spell analysis!" exclaimed Terry, pointing his wand at the Portkey.

"He'll have shielded it," said Hermione doubtfully.

"Apparently not," said Terry. Now appearing, at the behest of Terry's spell, were two light blue lines, originating with a thick end at he Portkey, tapering off to a thin end, clearly in order to point a direction. One pointed towards the camp; the other, towards the ocean, in a roughly southwest direction.

"A multidirectional Portkey! Impressive," said Hermione. "One to camp, one to... Australia."

"I've never even heard of this kind of Portkey," said Ron, still clearly not wanting to waste any time. "What does it mean? It goes two ways?"

Terry nodded. "It chooses which way you go according to criteria set up by the spellcaster. Unfortunately, it seems my analysis spell isn't good enough to detect that criteria. Hermione, you try."

She pointed her wand, and there appeared the blue arrows, as well as a swirling combination of red, blue, and green rising up from the Portkey. Her eyebrows went high. "A medical spell!"

Ron frowned. "But what does it mean?"

Hermione and Terry exchanged a look of understanding. "It's a spell that gathers information about a person's medical condition," explained Terry. "Heart beat, blood pressure, lots of other things. If a person badly needed medical care, this spell would detect it."

The answer now dawned on Ron. "Wow, very clever. So, you're only supposed to take the Portkey if you're in bad medical shape, or the person you're holding onto is. If you are, it sends you to Australia. If you're not, it sends you back to camp. But... the locator said George wasn't on the island!"

"Or," said Hermione, "he's in a place that's shielded from detection by a locator spell, which is not difficult to do. I'd bet anything that he's in one of the tents--Harry's, Kingsley's, or the other spare one--delivered there by the Portkey, and the tent is set to automatically set up a Confinement field. If I'm right, George is in custody now, in a tent, unable to leave."

"Why didn't Kingsley tell us?" wondered Padma.

"Another test," suggested Neville. "He wanted to see if we'd go after the person who took the Portkey when he shouldn't have. Grab that Portkey, and we end up with him until Kingsley comes back."

Impressed, Ron said to Hermione, "Well, it's a good thing somebody suggested taking a minute to think about things." She smiled a little, but said nothing. "Okay, back to camp. We have to make sure he's there. Nobody but me checks the tents."

Ron opened the door to Kingsley's tent first, and discovered that his guess was right: George was lying on the bed on the left side of the room. "George, what are you doing?"

George's tone was defiant, "Just hanging out here. What's it to you?"

Ron shrugged. Making sure to stay out of the room, he replied, "Well, it is Kingsley's tent."

"He can throw me out when he gets back."

Ron nodded. "Okay, then." He started to close the door.

George spoke up before he could. "I'd like dinner delivered at six."

Nice try, thought Ron. He can't leave, but doesn't want to admit it. "You can come out and get your dinner like everyone else."

"Wait, Ron?" said George, adopting a more reasonable tone. "Would you come in here for a minute?"

Knew this was coming, thought Ron. I sure hope Hermione was right. He took a few steps into the room, standing near George's bed. "Yes?"

George paused, then shook his head. "Nothing. Never mind."

Ron tried not to react. He didn't even have a good excuse prepared, thought Ron, just a 'never mind.' Trying to appear mildly annoyed at George's change of mind, he said, "Okay, whatever." He turned, walked, and fortunately was not stopped by any kind of magical barrier. Half expecting to be called again once George realized that Ron could leave, he paused for a beat on the way out, then shut the door behind him.

Five minutes later, everyone on the island except for George and Luna sat at the large table. Ron went over the events since practice had stopped, though most everyone knew them anyway. "So, he asked me to step inside the tent, clearly to hope to entrap me there too," Ron concluded. "I imagine he thought that if I was stuck in there, people would work hard to get me out, maybe try to break the spell if it could be broken, whereas if it was just him, nobody would try."

"Are we going to try?" asked Corner, clearly not hoping for an affirmative answer.

"I don't see what benefit that would be," said Ron sadly. "It's not as though I want to keep him locked up, but I think we all know that disrupting our lives here is one thing, but using the Portkey without permission is really another. We all know it's there only for dire emergencies. There are two possibilities. One is that he used it just to get away, even if not to do anything further, which is a trivial reason to take that kind of risk. The other is that he actually wants to go back to England to do something to prevent Fred's death, which would be... reckless and irresponsible on such a large scale that it boggles the mind. Either way, he's shown he can't be trusted."

"So we just lock him up?" said Angelina, with a tone that implied that Ron was taking the easy way out of the problem.

Ron took mild umbrage. "You think this is easy for me? He's my older brother, I care about him and I respect him. This is painful. He's a better person than this, I'm sure of it. But I just can't think of anything else to do." He looked at his sister significantly, inviting her to comment.

She shook her head slowly. "What he said."

"Lee, you said he had talked to you about going back to save Fred," said Ron. "How serious did he seem?"

Lee looked uncomfortable. "Serious enough, apparently. I didn't say anything because at the time, I thought it was just mouthing off. He and Fred used to do that sometimes, talk about things they wanted to do that weren't really going to happen." Ron nodded, having had the same experience himself. "It took them a long time, two years ago, to convince me that they were really going to open a shop," Lee continued. "So, I just hoped that he was blowing off steam.

"He did say, at some point, that he thought it was defensible even given the dangers, which he said were, 'speculation' was the word he used. He pointed out, correctly, that Harry himself admitted that the dangers he mentioned were theoretical, that nobody could really know what would happen if history were changed. His attitude seemed to be that he was dismissing the dangers."

"Justification," said Corner. "Just what Kingsley talked about. You want to do something that you know you shouldn't do, and you come up with reasons why it's okay to do it. I mean, it shouldn't take a genius to figure out that changing what we all know happened, you're dealing with some pretty heavy stuff here. And even if reality didn't tear itself apart, he doesn't know he wouldn't change the situation so Voldemort wins instead of loses, it's so unpredictable--"

Annoyed, Lee cut him off. "Okay, we get it."

With a glare, Corner shot back, "I don't think it's unreasonable to go over in some detail what he could've done, probably would have done, if Kingsley hadn't had the foresight to do what he did, when considering what to do about him--"

Much more gently than Lee, Ron interrupted him. "Michael... I think we can stipulate to what I said before, that it was reckless and irresponsible, and that the scale is huge. We all take it seriously.

"So, as I was saying, I don't know if we could break Kingsley's spell if we tried, but considering what almost happened, I don't see any choice but to leave him where he is. When Harry comes back, it'll be his decision what to do."

"I assume," said Angelina, "that we're going to bring him some food, at least."

"Well, we haven't even eaten yet," pointed out Corner, with a glance at Cho.

"What are you looking at me for?" she said defensively. "Luna was supposed to be handling it today."

"What were you doing?" asked Corner.

"Nothing I have to explain to you!" she retorted indignantly. "Harry asked me to come here for medical reasons, in my capacity as a Healer-in-training. Not to be a cook. I volunteered to help Luna out for a while while she got started on how to do this, and I thought she'd be okay today. I guess it's not a good idea to get emotionally attached to the food."

Ron wasn't thrilled about that last shot, but didn't want to fan the flames of another personal conflict. "We'll have the miniaturized food tonight," he said. "I'll talk to Luna later, make sure she thinks she can handle it tomorrow. And, what Cho does is between her and Harry. Or, I guess, her and me while Harry isn't here."

"You know, Cho, I didn't mean any offense," Corner clarified. "It's just that, you know, I kind of liked your cooking."

This coaxed a small grin from Cho as a few people chuckled. "Thank you. I don't mean I'll never cook again, but there are things I want to get done here."

Hermione spoke up. "I was thinking of recommending to Harry, once he gets back, that he consider having all of us take turns learning how to do the food. I mean, what if Cho and Luna both got sick?"

"Or, decided to take the Portkey and leave the island," cracked Corner.

Ron saw Lee and Angelina bristle, and jumped in quickly. "Michael, let's not do that, okay? I know you don't know him that well, but the more we like him, the sadder we are about this. Let's not make it worse."

"He got away with saying plenty more than that over the past few weeks."

"He got away with it, yes," agreed Ron. "But was he respected when he was saying it?

Corner's expression showed that he hadn't thought of it that way. Deflating slightly, he nodded. "Got it."

"Any problem with visiting him?" asked Angelina. "Or bringing him dinner? Or are you going to deny him food until he admits that he can't come out?"

"Part of me wants to," Ron admitted, "because he tried to trap me in there with him. But no, no objections to that, or visiting him. But no attempts are to be made to bring down the confinement spell, or anything else that would help him get out. Okay?"

There were many nods. "Are you going to talk to him?" asked Lee.

Ron thought about it. "I think it's better if I don't," he said. "He'd make it seem as though I was his jailer, do a big guilt thing on me. Considering his attitude towards authority, and I'm the closest thing to it right now, I shouldn't talk to him unless he has something he really wants to say to me, and is also willing to listen. Otherwise, it would aggravate the situation more than it would help."

The meeting broke up soon afterwards, and after dinner, Ron and Hermione went back to their tent. They lay down on his bed next to each other, him holding her. "I hate this," he muttered.

"I know," she said. "You're doing all you can do."

"What little that is. What in the world happened to him?"

"Ron..." She looked up into his eyes. "If I'd died fighting Voldemort, would you come back for me?"

He exhaled. "I'm sorry, but no."

"Don't be sorry, you shouldn't," she said quickly. "I'd hope you wouldn't. Would you think about it?"

He paused. "For a few seconds, certainly. But never as anything serious. If only from a practical point of view, like Michael said, I'd be likelier to make things worse. But even if I thought I could save you, at the cost of what it would do... no. You?"

She shook her head. "No. But there's one thing I know from history: emotion can overpower reason, and that's what causes lots of wars, riots, and so forth."

He nodded solemnly. "It's a lot like the Auror Leader test, isn't it?"

"The basic concept, yes. In George's case, there are several important differences. George has plenty of time to consider it, whereas Harry had to make the decision in under a minute. With George it's one person; with Harry, the five most important people in his life. And Harry was offered a 100% chance of success, whereas George would have a high chance of failing; all of these factors make Harry's choice more tempting. If George could do it by pushing a button, I think he'd have done it by now."

"Really seems like a cruel test."

"And that's why Harry's got the power he has," she observed. "Let me ask you... I think you'd have told me, but have you watched Harry's Auror Leader memories in the Pensieve?"

"No. You?"

"No, I haven't. But I was thinking, maybe we should."

"I find myself not wanting to," he admitted. "It's going to be awful. But then of course the next thing that comes to my mind..."

"Is that we would only be watching it, but he had to live through it," she finished for him.

"Yeah."

He moved his head down to kiss her gently on the lips. "I'm very glad to have you to talk to about stuff like this."

She nodded. "Me, too."

"I wish he had someone."

"I think he will."

"And I hope it's not Cho."

She smiled. "Yes, she wasn't very nice to Luna, was she."

"No. I feel like... Luna's a puppy. She's cute, and--I mean, her personality--"

"I know what you mean."

"She's cute, and friendly, and innocent, like she could never imagine that anyone would do her harm, or would do anyone harm. And then when Cho acts snide with her like that, it's like kicking a puppy. I really don't like it."

"No, I didn't either."

"Okay, she's strange. But that's part of her charm."

She looked up at him mischievously. "What's my charm?"

He grinned. "It's hard to pick one thing. You're just... Hermione."

She feigned annoyance. "Is that supposed to be an answer?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

Now, she smiled. "All right, then."

* * * * *

The next week went by in relative calm. Hermione started to wake up a little early to help Luna gather food for, and prepare, breakfast. On the first day, she watched Luna earnestly talk to the chickens for at least fifteen minutes, then was surprised as several of them moved closer to her. (They rebuffed Hermione's attempts, scattering every time she got close.) Hermione discovered a way to use a simple spell to separate some of the females from the males, so the group could have eggs every morning. Parvati and Padma started helping in the evening, prompting several humorous debates about why none of the men had offered to pitch in.

After dinner, everyone was sitting around the main table chatting when they were startled by two Apparition sounds. Kingsley and Hestia appeared, Kingsley supporting an obviously groggy Harry with an arm around his back.

"Harry!" shouted Hermione, jumping from her seat to run to greet him as everyone stood. "Are you okay?" Cho moved close to him, wand out, clearly doing a medical check.

"He's fine," said Kingsley.

"I'll be okay," agreed Harry. "Just need to wake up a bit."

"What happened?" Hermione asked. "We assumed this was a test. Was it?"

"Not my idea," he said, rubbing his head. "How long have I been out?"

"Ten days," said Hermione. Harry's eyebrows went high, but he didn't comment.

"Yes, it was a test," Kingsley confirmed. "Harry will decide later when and how debriefings will be done. What's the current status?"

Ron spoke up. "George tried to take the Portkey. He's now in Kingsley's tent." Harry winced. "Yeah, we weren't happy about it either."

"Anything else?" asked Harry.

"I'd think that's enough," said Ron wryly. "But no, nothing major."

"We missed you," volunteered Hermione.

Harry smiled a little. "Thanks. I didn't have a chance to miss you, though."

"You've been unconscious all this time?" asked Cho, still examining him.

"I guess so," he said. "The last thing I remember was eating dinner."

Most everyone was now in a loose semicircle facing him. "What are you going to do about George?" asked Corner.

"First, spend some time thinking about it," responded Harry, unable to stop himself from giving Corner a mildly reproachful glance for not having considered what Harry thought was an obvious answer. "Kingsley, can I see you in my tent?"

Harry had recovered enough to make it under his own power. They walked in and sat of the sofa. "Before you start," said Kingsley, "there's something I want to say. Some part of this was also a test for you, and it's a test that right now, by my reckoning, you didn't pass."

Very surprised, he queried Kingsley with a look. "Out there," Kingsley continued, "you told a very skillful lie. You said it wasn't your idea, which is literally true. I suggested it. But it gives the impression that you didn't approve the test, which is not true.

"I won't test you further by seeing if you'll lie to me about this or not; that's not really important. I will tell you that I'm aware that you can see spells. Your eyes tracked a test spell I shot in front of you at dinner. Then I put the knockout spell into your food, which you avoided until the end of the meal, giving you time to decide whether you'd do it or not. You could have easily avoided it. But you took it, preserving the option to let the trainees think that you had nothing to do with the decision. I think the better thing to do would have been to not take it, and either not do it, or do it later and take responsibility for it."

Concentrating, Harry took a minute to think it through. "What is it that you think would be wrong with letting them have the impression that I didn't consent to it?"

"Why do you want them to have that impression?" countered Kingsley.

"I asked you first," retorted Harry humorously.

Kingsley didn't smile, nor did he seem annoyed. "My answer does have some relationship to yours. On the surface, it seems that you don't want to take responsibility for your actions, which is a very generalized moral failing. What you did amounts to a lie--"

"I didn't lie," Harry protested.

"I said 'amounts to,' not 'literally is,' responded Kingsley. "I believe that morally, it's the same thing. You intentionally conveyed an impression that was not true, and I strongly feel that falling back on the notion that words that were not true did not escape your lips is nothing more than a legalism. Think about it from your point of view. If someone you trusted lies to you through omission, misdirection, or implication, you won't feel any less betrayed.

"Lying, conveying a false impression, or however you do it is morally questionable, never mind the practical aspects of the possibility of being found out, and not having a good answer to the question, 'why did you let us believe something that wasn't true.'"

"I thought I didn't have to explain myself," Harry said. It wasn't a serious argument; he threw it out there to see how Kingsley would respond.

Kingsley rolled his eyes ever so briefly. "You don't. But you're much better off always assuming that someone else can always see the truth of any situation. Or, as one of the departed Aurors used to put it, 'Don't lie, because then you'll never be in the position of having to remember which lie you told, and if you tell the same lie over and over, you'll start to believe it yourself.'

Kingsley paused, then spoke again. "Your Aurors don't have a right to the unadulterated truth of anything they might want to know, but they also have a right not to be lied to without an extremely compelling reason. More importantly, if they lose their trust in you, your authority won't be the same. They'll still follow your orders, but some of them won't follow you in their hearts, and that's important. Passing the Auror Leader test earned you a huge amount of moral capital. You don't want to squander it by lying, especially when it isn't close to being necessary. You always want to be as honest with them as possible. 'I don't want to talk about that' is often a reasonable answer. But lying almost never is."

Harry decided to give it a lot more thought before answering. "Okay. I'll think about what you said."

Kingsley nodded. "You asked to see me. Was it about this, or was there something else?"

"What do you think should be done about George?"

"That depends a lot on exactly what happened, which you and I don't know yet," Kingsley pointed out.

"What do we do if he still won't cooperate?" asked Harry. "Never mind his being an Auror, I just don't want him disrupting things. Is keeping him confined for a year really an option?"

"It may end up being what we would call the least bad option. Sometimes you'll simply have no good choices. And as an aside, you asked 'what if he still won't cooperate.' As a general matter, it's unproductive to spend time wondering what to do if he won't cooperate when you have the ability to find out whether he will. So, you find out, and when you have the information, go from there. Only do 'what if' when you can't get any more information right then."

Kingsley was right, Harry reflected, but it could get annoying to be called on every minor mental lapse. After that thought, he recalled again the awesome responsibility he held, and that a mental lapse, or a waste of time thinking unproductively, could cause damage or even cost lives. A light sigh escaped him.

"Harry, a lot of times I'm going to say something like that, that could be seen as nit-picking," said Kingsley, making Harry aware that he'd shown his feelings more than he'd intended. "But I'm--"

"You're trying to get me to think more productively, more efficiently," Harry said; Kingsley seemed a little surprised. "You want me to adopt certain patterns of thinking. I understand, and I don't mean you're wrong. It's just... difficult."

Kingsley nodded sympathetically; Harry could see flickers of uncertainty in his eyes. "And sometimes I feel a little bad about being the one to hold your feet to the fire on that, because again, it's because of me that you're here. But I suppose that's something we both have to get past. We are where we are, and we need to do what we need to do. You need to become the best Auror Leader you can be, and I need to help you to do that. I emphasize the moral and character aspects so much because Auror Leader is such a unique position, and the authority derives from moral authority. Morals and character are important for Aurors in general, much more so for the Auror Leader. Patterns of thinking are important; patterns of moral behavior, much more so. We might have a habit of asking 'what if' when we don't need to; we might have a habit of telling a small lie when we think we can get away with it. Habits and patterns are hard to break."

"I guess so. I wonder if you focus on the moral aspects of Aurors so much because... I wouldn't be Auror Leader right now if several Aurors hadn't gone off the rails, morally speaking."

It was clear from Kingsley's reaction that the thought hadn't occurred to him. "I think they're extremely important no matter what, but that's not bad. There may be something to what you say. I was... I was going to say, disappointed, that so many Aurors went morally wrong, but I guess 'angry' might be a better word, if I'm honest with myself. I was also angry that more didn't go on the run with those of us who did, so maybe I'm less inclined to view them charitably. Sure, they were put in tough situations. Voldemort's people turned the heat up on them slowly, compromised them a little at a time, then when they ask you to do the big thing, it doesn't seem so bad. You've already done stuff you knew was wrong, so now it's just a matter of degree."

Harry nodded. "Spencer."

Kingsley's eyebrows went high. "You mentioned him after the test. What do you know?"

"Everything. In the test, I was asking older Aurors for advice. He told me the story. Basically, don't let yourself get compromised, even a little."

"Amazing, that the test can do that. But yes, in real life, he confessed to me. I forgave him, as much as anyone can in this life. If they hadn't died, I would've encouraged you not to fire him."

"He thought what he did was unforgivable."

"He clearly hadn't forgiven himself, anyway," agreed Kingsley.

"They told him he had to... have sex with--"

"Rape," corrected Kingsley.

"I don't like to call it that, because he was coerced--"

"Most people would agree with you," said Kingsley. "But I'm confident that I would die rather than do that. I'm confident that you would, too. I hold Aurors to higher standards. He had a highly unappealing choice, but it was a choice. In my mind, not calling it rape is a step on the way to justifying it."

"Well, anyway... I was thinking of, at some point, telling the trainees about it, the whole story, to illustrate how you can be compromised like that."

"Not a bad idea. But no names."

Harry nodded. "Of course."

"So, how are you going to approach the George situation?"

"I was going to talk to Ron and Hermione first, then Lee and Angelina. And anyone else who it seems like I should, based on what the others say. After I've gotten all the information I can, then it's time to talk to him. Did you have something in mind?"

Kingsley shook his head. "Just keep in mind what I've been saying, about character and psychology. To deal with George in the best way, you have to try to get inside his head, think like you think he would. The more you do that, the better off you'll be, and he'll be. Especially keep it in mind when you talk to Lee and Angelina; they may be able to provide you with the best window into his mind right now."

As he considered how he would handle this difficult situation, Harry reflected that it was likely that, difficult as this problem seemed, it would probably appear easy by comparison to what problems he would face in the future.

An hour and a half later, just having finished talking with Lee and Angelina, Harry stretched out on his sofa and thought about what to do. Rather, he thought about what he had already decided to do, to see if he needed to talk himself out of it. The decision had formed in his mind as he had talked to George's two closest friends. He knew he would be questioned and criticized, but at the same time, he would ask nobody else's opinion or permission. This was a decision he would have to make by himself.

After a few minutes, he realized that he wasn't going to change his mind, and decided to get it over with. He Apparated to the Portkey, pointed his wand at it, and Apparated back to his tent. Disillusioning the thing he wanted to take with him, he hovered it alongside him as he left his tent. Aware of the eyes on him--most of the group were gathered at the main table--he walked the short distance to Kingsley's tent. Deciding not to knock, he opened the door and entered.

"George."

Lying on the bed reading, George looked up. "Harry! Well, look who's back. Have a nice rest?"

Harry had already decided not to banter with George, or respond to any provocations. "I just got back from the Portkey. I turned off its special features. It's now an ordinary Portkey, going to Australia."

George sat up. Very surprised, but trying not to appear it, he asked, "And you tell me this because..."

"It's my intention to let you out of here."

Now George didn't try to hide his surprise. "And you're giving me your permission to go to Australia?"

Harry shook his head sadly. "You clearly don't need my permission, having already tried to do that. You've shown your intention not to follow my authority, so I'm not going to try to persuade you of anything. You know what's involved. There's nothing more I can say to you that you don't know."

George eyed Harry carefully, clearly suspicious. "If I go, will you come after me?"

Expressionless, Harry shook his head again. "No. No one else will leave the island, unless they're critically ill."

Now George appeared to be getting angry. "You think you're calling my bluff," he said. "I will go, if you let me out."

"I won't stop you."

"Why?"

"I very much don't want to keep you prisoner in here for eleven months."

"You'll let me go wreck the world?"

"You'll do what you'll do."

"But you think I won't do it, or else you wouldn't let me out."

"I'm not Professor Trelawney, and I don't have a crystal ball. It's your decision."

George held Harry's gaze, apparently trying to read him. "You're weird."

"I've heard that," agreed Harry.

"Okay. So, let me out."

"I will. But there's one thing I need you to do first."

George's eyes narrowed. "And what's that?"

Harry lifted the Disillusionment spell, and hovered the Pensieve to rest on the nightstand next to the bed on which George sat. "I need you to watch this. It takes about an hour."

Harry could feel George's hostility. "Why?"

"Not explaining myself."

"You think this'll impress me?" Harry stared back impassively, silently.

George's turbulent emotions played subtly across his face. "And if I don't?"

"Then this is your home for the next eleven months."

"I thought you 'very much' didn't want to do that."

"I don't. But these are my terms. Take it or leave it."

George motioned towards the Pensieve. "This has some magical spell on it? Or you'll do some spell to change my mind while I'm in there?"

Harry shook his head. "No magic will be done to you. By me, that, or anyone on the island."

George was silent for a minute, then looked up at Harry angrily. "Are you having fun?"

Determined not to betray any expression, Harry struggled to suppress a wince; already in emotional distress at having to take such action against a valued friend, Harry was stung by George's question. "You have no idea."

Furiously, George lunged toward the Pensieve. His head broke the surface, and his body was still. Harry sat in one of the chairs near the room's sofa, took a book out of his robes, and read.

An hour later, Harry stood and walked a few steps toward the Pensieve; he could see beneath the surface nothing but darkness, and assumed that in the Pensieve Harry was stumbling through the cave; a shiver went through him at the memory. Shouldn't be long now.

Two minutes later, George's head slowly emerged from the Pensieve. Despite a tear rolling down his left cheek, he looked even angrier than before. Having already deactivated the Confinement spell, Harry stood next to the door and opened it. "Go ahead."

George stopped on reaching the door, and turned to face Harry. By the fury in George's eyes, Harry would have known what was coming without the extra sense. He steeled himself not to react.

"Self-righteous bastard!" George spat loudly, and delivered a backhand blow with his right hand that hit Harry on the right side of his face, near the eye. George left the tent, took a step outside, and Disapparated as Harry followed him out, the door still open. The door being in full view of the main table outside, most everyone stood and rushed over to Harry.

"Harry! Are you all right?" asked Cho, taking out her wand.

He was shaken by the blow, but much more by what he'd had to do. "I'm fine."

"You're bleeding!" said Padma. As she spoke, Cho sealed the cut with her wand, then got rid of the blood with another wave. "Well, not anymore," she added.

"He thinks he can take a whack at you and then go away?" asked Ron incredulously. "Where's he going to go?"

Still expressionless, Harry said, "Before I talked to him, I reset the Portkey."

As he expected, everyone was flabbergasted. "You did what?" gasped Kingsley.

"He's probably gone by now," added Harry, turning to walk away.

"Harry!" said Kingsley urgently. "Permission to go after--"

"No."

"But--"

"I said no!" responded Harry, raising his voice but not shouting.

"I'd like to talk to you--"

"No. This is my decision, and it's done. Kingsley, go to the Portkey. If he's already gone through, reset it back to the security setting. If not, do nothing. If you see him--if anyone sees him--you're not to interfere with him, and you're not to follow him."

Kingsley stared at him intently; five seconds passed as no one spoke. Meeting Kingsley's gaze, Harry said calmly, "I can have Hermione do it." Kingsley touched his wand and Disapparated.

Hermione rushed up to him. "Harry, what happened?"

"I'll talk about it tomorrow," he said tonelessly. "Not right now."

He pointed his wand into the tent; the Pensieve came floating out, and it followed him as he took the short walk to his tent. "Oh, my God," he heard Hermione sob as he walked in.

"What?" asked Cho. "Why did he have that?"

With his new hearing, Harry could continue to listen, and he did. They were clearly walking away. He sat on his sofa, and heard an Apparition sound. "He's gone," said Kingsley.

"Why did he have the Pensieve in there?" repeated Cho.

"He and George were in there for an hour," said Hermione, still emotionally affected. "That's how long it takes to watch it. Harry must have told George--"

"That he'd let him out if he watched the Auror Leader test," finished an awed Kingsley. "Oh, Merlin..."

"But why?" asked Corner. "What good does that do?"

"Harry," said Kingsley, "clearly believes that George won't do it. Harry is essentially saying to George, 'You really want to do it? Do you really want to destroy the timeline, maybe undo Voldemort's defeat, cause catastrophic consequences? Okay, go ahead.' There's nothing to stop George except himself, his own conscience. And making him view his test, that was, 'This is what I did, what I suffered, for society. What are you going to do?' That's just..." Kingsley trailed off.

"It's kind of... cold, in a strange way," said Neville. "It's kind of like an Auror Leader test."

"It's different in several important ways," pointed out Kingsley, "the main one of which is that George has time. In the test, you have literally less than a minute to make this decision; that's what makes it so hard. If you had all the time you wanted, more people would pass. The time pressure is what tells the tale of what kind of person you are."

"That, and it's so easy to save them," added Ron. "Just push a button."

"You watched it?" asked a surprised Kingsley.

"A few days ago," said Ron. "Hermione and I. She was bawling, and I'm not ashamed to say I shed a few tears, too. And that's something I'd otherwise never admit. I think if you watch that and you don't cry, something's wrong with you."

"It's so terrible," added Hermione, still sounding weepy. "His parents were such nice people, and he loved them so much..." Harry could hear her sniffling.

After a silence, Kingsley spoke again. "Neville, you said it was cold in a way, and I think that's true. But at the same time, it's an extremely honorable thing to do. George must be fighting a war with himself, the part that wants to rescue Fred against the part that knows he shouldn't. Harry is saying he's sure that the right side will win, and he's giving George the chance to find that out for himself. If he'd kept George locked up for the year, George would never have found out. And he'd have never again been trusted by anyone here. Now, he gets a chance to redeem himself before that can happen."

"I can see that," said Neville. "But I kind of meant the making-him-watch part rather than the whole thing."

"Yes, but at the same time, it's what I heard in the Muggle world called 'tough love.' Harry wants George to make the right decision, and is reminding him of the stakes involved. It was for George's own good, I'd say. His comment about 'self-righteous bastard' suggests what he thinks about Harry's motivations, but I think with time, he'll understand Harry's reasons."

"What if George actually does it?" asked Corner.

"Then... disaster, mayhem, our timeline winks out of existence and we were never here, like that. Maybe."

"Oh, that's comforting," said Dean.

"But maybe not," added Kingsley. "We just don't know."

"He won't do it," said Lee.

"How sure of that are you?" asked Ron.

"I'm sure." There was a pause. "Pretty sure." Another pause. "Fairly sure."

After another pause, Corner said sarcastically, "Oh, don't stop there. Do go on."

"No, I'm okay stopping there."

"What do you think about what he did?" asked Ron. Listening, Harry couldn't tell who was being asked. He guessed it was Kingsley, and he was right.

"As you know, I'm his Devil's Advocate. One thing that means is that you won't hear criticisms from me of anything he does. Only he'll hear them, if I have them to offer.

"I will say about this that there's not much to be said about it from a practical point of view. He made this decision without my input, and I can see why: it's a moral decision, and if this is what you think is right, there's nothing to debate. It's not as though he doesn't know what's at stake."

"But doesn't this sort of go against the whole Auror Leader test ideas?" asked Neville. "I mean, in the test, you have to let your loved ones die so society can be saved. Harry's now risking society for... for George's soul, I guess you could say. To do what's best for society, he should keep George locked up. Isn't what he's done opposite that?"

"I see why you say that," answered Kingsley, "but it's different in a number of ways. The main way is the certainty of events in the test, and the uncertainty of this situation. This is part of being a leader; you just have to make a call. The one he made says something about George, but it says even more about Harry. And I'll tell you one thing: I'd be an Auror under him in a second. This doesn't say anything about his judgment, but it says a lot about his heart. He's not going to sleep well until George comes back. He took this on himself for George's sake. If I were an Auror, I'd hope he had the faith in me that he has in George."

There was another silence; Harry decided to stop listening, and having stopped concentrating on it, heard nothing more. He hoped Kingsley would be wrong about his sleep. Then again, he thought wryly, if George interferes and the timeline vanishes, I won't have to worry about it.

* * * * *

Next, Chapter 6, A Moral Imperative: Furious at what he considers Harry's attempt to manipulate him, George makes his way to Sydney Airport, planning to take the first plane to England to save his brother.

From Chapter 6: George read down the list, and saw 11:45, London, Qantas. Oh, maybe I'll take that one. Give time for the headache to go away, and also, that's the airline that never crashed. Be a bloody shame to die in a Muggle plane crash on the way back.