Harry Potter and His New Standards

Chapter 14 - Voldemort's Plan, 20 Questions, Sausage Links & Swim Goggles

It wasn't until after Professor McGonagall had shown up at around 1:30 in the morning insisting that they all went to bed Harry had gotten some sleep. When he woke up late the next morning and looked out the window of his dormitory he saw that the ground was covered with the first snow of the year, six inches of it. About time, he thought looking out at the sparkling white grounds. He dressed and made his way down into the common room. He spotted Ron leaning against one of the circular tables and talking with Dean. Harry walked over to them.

"'Morning, Harry," Dean said with a toothy smile. Harry returned it and pulled a chair out from the table and sat down.

"Sleep well?" Ron asked in a mocking motherly sort of way.

"Oh yes," Harry said, his voice a bit sarcastic, but telling the truth. He hadn't awoken once through the night. It was almost dinnertime, so Harry figured to skip breakfast and wait for lunch. Dean and Ron engaged him in continuation of what they had been talking about before, the Quidditch game.

*()%()*

Hermione had awoken just before Harry, but was still getting ready to show herself to the world. She was busy straightening out her hair when Lavender came into the room holding two envelopes. "Hermione - have you seen Holly?" she asked.

"No..." she replied pulling her brush through a snarl in her hair, "Why do you ask?" Lavender held up the letters she was holding, and Hermione could see that they were both addressed to Holly.

"A big blue owl and a tawny dropped these on me at breakfast," she explained. Hermione raised her eyebrows and then recalled Holly telling her about the blue owl that had delivered her the Inheirpikus Charm and the letter from her grandmother, Serene, and her informing her that she was going to write her back. It must have carried another letter for her. The other letter looked like it was from Sirius, judging by the handwriting.

"Oh... well, you know Holly. She could be anywhere," Hermione said, shrugging. She watched Lavender walk over to Holly's four poster and drop the letters on her pillow. The bed was already made, but Hermione seriously doubted that Holly made it. Holly didn't make her bed. The house-elves usually came to tidy up the dormitories during breakfast, she knew, but seeing that Parvati's bed was still a mess Hermione figured that none came to clean up seeing that someone was still in the room and opting not to disturb them. She and Lavender were more often the cleaner ones, and they usually saved the house-elves from extra work by making their own beds every morning. Lavender paused.

"What is it?" Hermione asked curiously, seeing that Lavender had tensed slightly. Lavender reached down and picked something up.

"Nothing... Holly just left this here," she said holding the object up. She was holding onto the secured ends of the chain from which dangled Holly's plum-colored Inheirpikus Charm. "That's odd... Holly-"

"Never takes that thing off," Hermione finished for her, stepping forward and taking it from her, holding it up and letting the pendant continue to dangle on the thin golden chain. Lavender nodded. Hermione examined it, although didn't quite see the point as it looked as it always did. She watched a few lighter purple cloud-like designs swirl around in it. Lavender looked thoughtful for a moment before saying she was going to go to the library and leaving.

Hermione didn't know why it struck her as so very strange that Holly didn't have her necklace, wherever she was at the time. Holly had only had it a matter of days; it wasn't as though she had owned it for a couple years and never removed it. She dropped the Charm into the palm of her hand and sucked in a small gasped. It was cold as ice. So cold that she held it up by the chain again, and could feel the round spot on the inside of her hand that felt as though all the heat had been absorbed from it. Then a horrible thought occurred to her. She hadn't, in fact, seen Holly come back into the dormitory the night before. She remembered glancing over Ron's shoulder when she had been talking to him, not aware of what time it was then, and seeing Holly pulling on her cloak and striding in the general direction of the portrait hole. Possibilities of where she was going and what she was doing were endless... and if she had left her Charm in the dormitory...

She turned on her heel and ran down the stairs as fast as she could move. She stopped at the bottom of them and looked around frantically, spotted the red hair of Ron next to Harry who was slumped down in a chair, and darted over to them. They looked up as she had successfully made her way over to them. "Hi, Hermione," Dean said slowly, giving her a calculating look.

"Hi, Dean," she replied quickly. "Harry, Ron," they both looked at her, "I need to talk to you." Harry and Ron slowly turned their heads to look at each other but stood up and allowed Hermione to lead them away from Dean.

"All right, I'll just stand right here and wait for you then, shall I?" Dean called after them.

"Fine by me!" Ron replied flashing him a grin over Harry's shoulder. Dean scowled and moved to go and talk to Seamus and Neville who had just came in through the portrait hole.

"What's up, Hermione?" Harry asked, looking at the urgent and panicky look on her face. Hermione held up the Inheirpikus Charm and answered him.

"I think Holly's in trouble." (A/N: I would have dearly liked to end this part here and go to another place in the chapter involving other people... but I can't. Because... I can't.)

"What kind of trouble?" Harry asked immediately. There were a lot of different ways to interpret the word 'trouble'. Hermione looked pensive.

"I'm... I'm not sure..." she answered. In all reality she was quite sure but wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Harry this.

"How do you know she's in... in trouble?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows. Hermione looked at the Charm for a second and decided they weren't going to get anywhere if she was going to play dumb. Besides that, Hermione couldn't play dumb and be convincing, as she always seemed to have all the answers.

"These... these Charms can be used sort of like some sort of monitor and a bit like a tracking device but not entirely," Hermione explained. Harry and Ron just looked at her and she decided to continue with the explanation. "Harry, you said that when you first held it after Holly had dropped it that it was warm and you could feel something beating against your fingers?" Harry nodded, looking as though he wondered what in the world that had to do with anything. "Well... that would simply be what you would feel if you, lets say, put your fingers on the inside of her wrist."

"Her... her heartbeat?" Harry said, looking bewildered. Then he discovered that the solution should have been obvious right away. Hermione nodded.

"Heartbeat and the temperature her skin would be. Now, if Holly wore it against her skin, which she doesn't, she wouldn't notice it. That's just the way it works... but... right now... uh..." Hermione drifted off.

Ron looked form Harry to Hermione then at the necklace. He reached out and clasped his fingers around the charm and his eyes suddenly grew wide. He pulled the chain from Hermione's fingers and held the necklace in front of himself. "What?" said Harry.

"Er-"

Harry stared at Ron who was avoiding his eyes. "What?" Harry said once more, this time in a more demanding voice. No one answered him, which caused him to reach out and grab the charm himself. He gasped, as Hermione had, and stared at it. Harry closed his fingers around it once more and held tight onto it. He could feel the very faint th-thumping, although between each beat was quite a long time gap.

"I need to find her," Harry stated quietly. He could feel Hermione and Ron looking at him somewhat blankly, but ignored it. He got up and darted up the staircase to his dormitory. He pulled his cloak on and fastened the buttons. He snatched up his scarf, put Holly's Charm and his wand in his pocket, and met Ron halfway back down the stairs.

"Harry-"

Harry walked right past him. Ron turned around and bounded down the stairs then grabbed Harry by the shoulder. He turned him around. "Wait." Harry, surprisingly, obeyed him. Ron took the stairs two at a time and moments later came back down, buttoning down his cloak and had his scarf over his shoulder. "Ron you don't-"

"Well I'm going to so don't even start with me," he cut him off, sounding a lot like Holly. All the time he had previously spent with her had him using small phrases that usually were only snapped at people by Holly, but she'd add a stupid name at the end, such as 'little-man'. Hermione came running down the staircase next, wrapping her scarf around her neck and tying it. She gave Harry a stern look so he didn't question her. They strode over to the portrait hole, and Harry pushed it open. They slipped out and began walking as fast as he could in the direction of the entrance hall.

"Where do you think she is?" Hermione asked.

"Outside," he answered shortly.

"Really," injected Ron, "she could be somewhere else. The dungeons..."

"Trust me," Harry said, "she's outside."

"Just because the Charm is co-"

"Trust me!" he repeated, this time with a little more force. Hermione and Ron fell silent. It was simple; Holly didn't come home that night. But he had no idea why... she was in a good mood! And going on a walk... of course her destination wasn't exactly given. He half-hoped that maybe she had fainted or something such as that, you know, simple. He remembered Professor Trelawney telling him about someone close to him being in great danger... but he shook it off - trying his hardest to reassure himself that she was only trying to spook him dramatically. Harry stopped and peeked inside the doors to the Great Hall. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, poked it through the gap in the doors momentarily and said, "Accio!"

Three cinnamon rolls that were still in a basket on the Slytherin table since breakfast landed in his outstretched hand. He passed one to each Ron and Hermione, then started jogging towards the exit. When they were on the snow-covered ground, Harry stopped so abruptly that Hermione ran into him. "What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Where are we gonna look first?" Ron questioned. Harry sighed.

"Exactly," he said. They had narrowed it down to that she wasn't in the castle, but really that wasn't much considering that there was a great stretch of ground that they could cover. She could be in Hogsmeade for all they knew. Hermione rocked tentatively on her feet before standing nervously on her toes.

"Harry," she said suddenly, "give me that necklace." Harry started taking it out of his pocket then stopped.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just... just... because," she commanded a bit weakly. Harry looked at her warily for a moment, from her dark eyes to her outstretched hand, and back again. After what seemed like a long time but was only a split second, he placed the pendant and chain in her hand. Quickly she undid the clasp and secured it around her neck. Hermione pulled on the collar of her shirt and slipped the charm down under it, so it rested against her skin. She flinched; already hating it's cold.

Ron looked as though he was going to ask her "What did you do that for?" but decided against it. "Well... where to?" he asked.

"Um... let's just walk," Hermione said. They began to walk at a quick pace over the wet snow that sparkled merrily up at them. It was enough to make a distressed person sick. After about ten minutes of pointless meandering Harry was looking jumpy, Hermione looked as though she was waiting for something, and Ron looked politely but utterly bewildered. Suddenly Hermione lurched and then stopped dead in her tracks. Harry and Ron turned to look at her, and she was breathing very hard, her eyes wide and unfocused. Her hands were shaking.

*()%()*

Hermione was walking, wondering when it would happen. Suddenly every muscle in her body tensed, before she felt them release and she fell forward so quickly it was as though she had thrown herself at something. Her vision was sharp as she stood back up; she could see Harry and Ron looking confused and, just faintly there, useless. She steadied herself, and she went cold and rigid again. It was then it happened. She was thrown into a conscious dream... everything looked off-color. Mixes of blues, green, and red. Her subconscious was fighting, telling her to focus on it, and after a second she did. It was as though she were in someone else's body... looking through their eyes. She felt her dream-body's head arch up and look around.

The place she was looking at was relatively dark... she could even tell that when each color she was seeing wasn't even possible unless the ground was green-gray and the towering trees were red. Then Hermione felt her heart stop. The eyes were resting upon a girl... her arms were chained to the trees and hanging level with her eyes at her sides. She was resting limply on the sides of her legs, as though she had fallen there. Her head was tipped forward and unmoving, but Hermione recognized the curly hair that fell around her face, putting it into shadow... Hermione even recognized the clothes she was wearing. Easily she could tell that was Holly, even when she was immersed in oddly colored images, a vision beyond surreal. The body she was "in" was scrambling forward on its knees, so it seemed.

Just as sudden as it started, it all stopped. Hermione tumbled forward onto her knees, and could feel her heart beating furiously fast and each breath she took was short and cut off. "Hermione!" she heard Harry say. He dropped to his knees in front of her, followed by Ron. "Hermione, what happened?" he asked as kindly as he could but still in a voice of exigency.

She caught her breath, and held tight onto Ron's hand as she explained. Now that she was back in her right and thoughtful mind, she felt as though the vision, or dream, whatever it was - had been more like a nightmare. Or a scary movie that simply left you hanging, but worse because she knew it was real.

After she finished Ron helped her get to her feet. "Harry, Ron, she's in the forest. I know it... but- but..."

"What? What is it?" Harry said, stooping over a little to look into her eyes which were downcast. Hermione looked up at him and he straightened back up to his true and considerable height.

"I just don't understand why I wasn't looking through Holly's eyes... I... I don't even know whose eyes I was looking through," she said, shaking her head. "We need to move fast... I don't know what that person might be doing to Holly right now but she's not warmer and her heart isn't beating faster."

"Right. Should we take broomsticks? We could fly over the forest-" Ron began.

"No... no we'd be seen," Harry cut him off, shaking his head advisedly. There was a small gap in the talk for a moment of silence, and then Harry broke into a run. Ron and Hermione stood in slight shock for a second, then joined him, running their fastest so they could catch up. Ron made it to him first. When Hermione caught up she dished out her suggestion.

"Harry... Harry don't you think we should go and find Professor Lupin?" she asked, having to run harder than both of the boys as she had the shortest legs by considerable amount.

"We don't have enough time," he said, sounding stubborn but a little shaky. Hermione, who had never seen Harry frightened, figured that this was just because he was running. "We don't have enough time..." he echoed, this time in a much quieter voice.

They ran for at least ten minutes, hardly slowing down. When you needed to do something, and you were scared, it seemed as though you simply couldn't become tired. They were fairly deep into the forest, and Ron hadn't even piped in to say something about spiders that may or may not still be living in the cold.

They stopped running after a while and stood bent over and gasping for breath - each one of them. The forest, even in the day, was dark. Everything around them was varying in dry shades of green. Even the thin layer of snow that covered the ground was a slightly sparkling olive color. After the three of them had panted sufficiently enough they looked around. There was no trace of tracks in the snow other than their own, which meant absolutely nothing to them.

"Hermione," Harry said looking at her instead of his surroundings, "You said that necklace can be used sort of like a tracking device?"

"That's right," she answered, looking up at his almond-round green eyes. They were nothing short of stunning; especially compared to the bland greens of everything else around them - they glowed like emeralds. She took her mind off of it and just waited for him to respond.

"How does that work?" he asked her. Hermione glanced around the eerily lit forest visible around her and looked back at him.

"It's a spell... not a very simple one at that..." she said slowly, shaking her head.

"Can you do it?" Ron asked, stepping forward. Hermione looked over at him.

"I'm not sure..."

"Do you know how?" Harry questioned. Certainly she knew how... Hermione had studied different sorts of charmed objects that could be used to one's advantage. After a moment of silence in which she racked her mind for the information she had read about Inheirpikus Charms, she nodded. She started spinning the chain of the necklace so the clasp came in front, and unhooked it. She rested the freezing pendant in the palm of her hand and pulled out her wand.

"Onisectatio!" she said, placing the tip of her wand right in the center of the gem. There was a small flash of white light that seemed to come from the backing of the Charm, and then nothing. Hermione wasn't exactly sure how the spell worked on the Inheirpikus Charm, and she tried to ignore Harry and Ron's questioning gazes. She put the necklace on her neck once more... and then somewhere in her subconscious there was an irresistible jerking feeling, pulling her forward and to her left... deeper into the forest.

"Er... let's go this way," she said, taking a step in the direction she felt she was being led in. She saw Harry raise his eyebrows at her and Ron's look change to that of someone completely confused.

"Is it working? What's happening?" Harry asked her, not changing his expression.

"Um... just follow me, alright?" Hermione said slowly, not exactly sure how she could explain how the Charm seemed to be working. It felt like it was directing her instinct, she noticed that the thumping of Holly's heartbeat that she was able to feel through the pendent had vanished and it seemed to be vibrating. She silently prayed that this was just what the spell did, and that Holly's heartbeat, wherever she was, was remaining constant and steady.

Harry and Ron exchanged suspicious glances, but followed anyway. They strode quickly after her, and remained going in the same direction for a long time. It was tiring to keep up the pace now, because there was no path to follow, and they were struggling through the underbrush, moving around massive fallen trees and sloshing through snow-soaked leaves.

After a long while they had to squeeze between trees to move... but Hermione didn't stop. She couldn't. She was going to keep on walking until she found Holly. She had only known her for a few months, but she was as human as any of the rest of them... in fact she was riding quite the emotional roller coaster. Holly was her friend and, although Hermione didn't really realize it at the time, she was probably just as determined to find her as Harry was. Part of the burden rested on her now... she was the only one who could bring them to her.

She squeezed past two trees, and found herself in what was the closest thing to a clearing that they had passed through thus far. The trees were a bit more scattered now, but everything around them had turned from deep navy in the thick of trees to normal but shaded colors, just very dank looking. The Charm on Hermione's neck began to vibrate more violently than before and she ran forward. Harry and Ron emerged from the trees behind her.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled, "Hermione where are you...? Wait up!"

*()%()*

Harry watched Hermione run ahead through the trees that had suddenly became much less thick. He broke into a run and shortly caught up to her. He heard Ron scrambling behind him but didn't turn around to look. He saw what Hermione was running towards now. Just 15 yards away was Holly, her back to them. A sharp pain burnt his forehead... why was his scar burning? It stopped shortly. Her arms chained to two trees on either side of her, with manacles around her wrists, resting on her knees, head limp at her side. He ran past her and dove onto his knees when he had rounded Holly. He lifted up her chin, cupped his hand on one side of her face and her head tilted limply. He pushed her hair out of the way and looked at her. She was pale... in fact she looked rather blue. Across her right cheek there was a long gash, and there were brownish-red stains of blood running down to her jaw. He shook her shoulders as he heard Hermione scramble down to her knees next to him, and then Ron. "Holly!" he yelled. Another pain shot through his scar... but this time it remained constant. "Ah...ah...ow..." he said, touching his scar for a second. She's more important than that... you've got to wake her up!

There was a scrambling noise from behind them, but Harry didn't bother to turn to see what it was. He knew Holly was alive, but he wanted her awake. Out of the corner of his eye he saw both Hermione and Ron turn their heads to see what was behind them. Ron gave a yell, and scampered to his feet. Hermione screamed loudly and scooted backward through the snow, away from whatever it was. Harry turned around and there he saw, on all fours, none other than Lord Voldemort.

He plunged his hand into his pocket, and grabbed his wand. He held it steady, pointing straight at Voldemort's forehead. "You!" he hissed angrily. "You did this!" The pains burning his forehead faltered slightly, and Harry had no clue as to why. Voldemort raised his arms above his head and made a noise, which was unmistakably... a whimper of fear.

"Harry..." he said - his usual icy voice devoid of it's menace, "Harry, it's me!"

"Really," Harry sneered, "You didn't need to clarify that for me." The pains in his forehead were starting and stopping now, like an unsteady pulse. He tore his mind off that and put his focus on Voldemort, who was receding slightly.

"No, no... Harry please don't - don't hurt me... it - it's me!" Voldemort stuttered.

"I think we've already straightened that last part out," Harry said, nodding his head. He didn't know where his courage was coming from - and why he was acting like such a... a... well he didn't know, or why Voldemort kept saying, "it's me". Then he gasped. "Holly!?"

Voldemort nodded feverishly, and took his hands down away from his face... or her face... or... well Harry wasn't sure. Ron, who had been standing back with his eyes popping out of his face and mouth making a perfect 'O' spoke up, but his voice was oddly high-pitched.

"How... how... er... how can we be sure you're telling the truth?" he asked squeakily, ending his sentence by clearing his throat.

Harry looked from Ron to Voldemort... or Holly... or... well he still wasn't sure. "Ron has a point - how can we know it's... it's you?" he said, eyeing Voldemort, who was slowly making his (of her) way up to his feet.

"You ask me questions only I... I mean... Holly would know. Any idiot knows that," Voldemort snapped, his voice icy. If Voldemort was pretending to be Holly right now, he was doing a very good job.

"I knew that!" Ron said defiantly, his voice no longer squeaky. But it did break mid-way through the word 'that'. Hermione was standing at his side, wand out, and shaking slightly.

Voldemort turned his red eyes from Ron, back to Harry, and said, "I rest my case." Harry managed to smile nervously... now that sounded like Holly. Voldemort paused then said, "Ask away."

"Do you play Quidditch?" he asked.

"Hell yeah!"

"What position?"

"Chaser," Voldemort replied. Harry thought of another question briefly, and then Voldemort said, "Okay, don't congratulate me on my correct answer!"

"Alright then," Ron said.

"Would you please stop pointing those things at me!?!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all holding Voldemort at wand point... or Holly... well, Voldemort's body for sure. None of them obeyed, and Voldemort made an impatient noise. Harry rubbed his forehead, partially from pain and partially from trying to think of another question. Voldemort was standing up straight now.

"Where did she... or you... or... okay where did you get those jeans," he asked, pointing over his shoulder and at Holly's body.

"Kohl's," Voldemort answered. "Or maybe it's called Kohl's Department Store... dunno you know what I mean."

"Where at?" Ron put in.

"I already answered... oh! Minneapolis... well... Burnsville. Suburb of Minneapolis," Voldemort answered, nodding. "They're Unionbays."

This statement made no sense to Ron, and very little sense to Harry. "Uhh... check if she has Unionbay jeans on, Herm'," Harry said, slowly, not taking his eyes off of Voldemort. Hermione walked around behind Holly and pulled her cloak up her shoulders, as it had slipped off. She pulled the bottom of it up.

"She's wearing a belt," Hermione stated, sounding a bit shaky.

"Roll it down a little on the right side, the tag is over there," said Voldemort knowledgeably. There was no sound from Hermione as she undoubtedly did so.

"Yep, they say 'Unionbay' on 'em," Hermione said loudly. Then she drew back quickly, got to her feet, and jogged back over to Ron's side. She wasn't pointing her want at Voldemort anymore.

"One last question..." Ron said slowly. Voldemort made a motion to put his hands on his hips, then stopped, tried again, and groaned angrily.

"I have no hips!" he exclaimed, "My Lord I have no hips! This is retarded..."

"What color are your eyes?" Ron asked. Voldemort looked from him, to Harry, to Hermione, then back to Ron.

"Blue," he mumbled, looking down at the ground. Ron let out a relieved sigh.

"It's true," Ron said, looking at Harry and Hermione who both looked ready to hex Voldemort on the spot. "Trust me."

"What do you wear to bed?" Hermione piped in. Voldemort rolled his wide, red eyes and shook his head.

"Nothing!" he exclaimed sarcastically, throwing his hands up into the air. "I'm not playing 20 Questions with you guys - this is gay. 'What color is it?' 'Is it bigger than a breadbox?' Don't you believe me yet?" Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Just answer the question," she commanded. Voldemort narrowed his eyes back at her.

"Pajama bottoms and a tank top - t-shirt if I'm chilly. I haven't found a reason to pull out the boxer-shorts quite yet," he said quickly.

"I'm convinced," Harry said, letting his wand arm fall to his side. "Now, tell us, what happened, Vol... I mean... Holly."

She launched into the story of how she had been walking along the forest, then saw Voldemort and screamed, and then he put the Imperius Curse on her. Brought her into the forest, and chained her up, and how she must have woken up hours later because she was freezing and it had started to snow. She talked about how Voldemort had told her she had fought against the Imperius Curse and how she didn't even realize she was doing it... and that was how she had that nasty cut across her cheek. She explained up until the point in which she had woken up, realized what happened, tried to cry, but couldn't because Voldemort's body apparently didn't produce tears... and up until Harry, Ron, and Hermione had shown up.

"But I Stunned him... well... my body as soon as I woke up, just so you know that he... I... uh... well you know. Just so you know ol' Voldie won't be waking up and killing us all." She paused here to force Voldemort's face into what would be a cheerful smile. "So you see," she said, Voldemort's voice not at all fitting the manner in which Holly spoke, "I don't know how to reverse the spell so I didn't do anything... but it's dark magic... that's easy enough." Voldemort's forehead contracted and it looked as though Holly was trying to pull Voldemort's nonexistent eyebrows together.

"How did Voldemort know that you had been fighting the Imperius Curse without trying?" Harry asked. Holly shrugged and Hermione substituted the answer.

"He probably didn't see any signs of doing it consciously... usually you can see it in the person's eyes, and often times their shoulders tense up. Some even manage to say something out of their own will... I bet you weren't doing any of that," she said expertly.

"That makes sense," Harry stated. "So... in conclusion... Voldemort probably used a very powerful and accurate Banishing Charm to send your necklace back to your dormitory... knowing that someone would come out here to find you... but you said that he just pulled it off of you and then did the Transposing Spell, right? Well, when did he have time to Banish your Charm?" He hadn't noticed Ron flinching systematically every time he spoke the word 'Voldemort'.

"Good question..." Holly said, Voldemort's features looking contemplative. "There's two different kinds of Transposing Spells. There's one that's more like a simple form of Transfiguration and this one. It's dark magic... it kind of hurts... I can tell you the name and effects of different evil spells, but I can't explain them. You'd need someone slimy and nasty to tell you that." Harry smiled. There was a quiet interval of speechless thinking.

"Well it's obvious that Voldemort wanted us to find him... well... Holly, and bring her back up to the castle. The second part of his plan, I daresay, would be to kill Harry," Hermione said sadly. She heaved a sigh.

"It was a good plan - lucky thing you woke up first and Stunned him, otherwise he would have managed to get you first," Ron said slowly. Holly nodded.

"I just don't get it, though... when I woke up I was way over there," she pointed vaguely over her shoulder. "I think he didn't want his body found... then again if someone that wasn't a... whaddyacallem... Death Eater found him, they would have probably tried to kill him right then and there. Voldemort wouldn't have a body to go back to after he... after he..." Holly drifted off.

"Succeeded in carrying out his plan?" said Harry dully.

"R-right."

"But how did he manage to get himself way over there when you said he performed the spell right in front of you?" Hermione said, pensively.

"I don't know... how did he do the Banishing Charm after he did the Transposing Spell?" Holly said icily. A look of hopeless unknowing crossed Voldemort's face and Holly forced his thin white hands in the pockets of his robes. "I just want this reversed. I never thought I'd want to be back being me so bad..." She looked down at the ground and began rocking back and forth on Voldemort's feet. Harry just couldn't get over how funny this looked. There was an awkward silence.

Then Hermione spoke up. "You know who we need to deal with dark magic?"

"Professor Lupin?" Ron said, raising his eyebrows. It was normal for Hermione to suggest asking assistance from a teacher. But she shook her head.

"No... I think we'd be in trouble - even with Lupin," she explained. Harry agreed.

"Sirius?" Ron suggested, "He used to be an Auror, you know." Voldemort's head looked up quickly.

"Where would we get Dad?" Holly said.

"Exactly," Harry said, sounding defeated. Hermione shook her head. There was another gap in the speech. "Oh no..." Harry said suddenly. He and Ron looked at each other, and a look of understanding crossed Ron's face.

Ron groaned loudly in despair. "No way, Hermione! Not-"

*()%()*

Half an hour later they all stood, facing the greenish stone wall that was the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Harry wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the sleeve of his cloak. He looked at Hermione and Ron who were both red faced from running and cold. "Why Malfoy?" Ron asked for what must have been the tenth time.

"Because!" she hissed, "He knows more about dark magic than most of the students at this school! Not to mention half of the teachers..."

"Why can't we ask Lupin?" Ron suggested, giving her a desperate look. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I answered that question once already!" she snapped impatiently.

"I don't think he'd be-"

"Quiet, Ron!" she cut him off. Ron grumbled and leaned against the wall of the corridor, crossing his arms in front of him.

"What if Malfoy's in the library?" Harry said gently, hoping that Hermione wouldn't start yipping at him.

"He'll be in here, trust me," she stated, shaking her head impatiently, "I've never seen Malfoy in the library before. Why start now?"

Ron shifted against the stone of the corridor wall and said loudly, "If you're so clever why don't you tell us the password into the common room, then?" Harry hadn't seen Ron and Hermione snip at each other, no matter how small the disagreement was, for at least a year.

"Well since 'Pureblood' doesn't work, it looks like we're stuck here until somebody shows up, doesn't it, Ron?" she barked, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well it's not my bloody fault that you decided to use the most slimy and cold-blooded Slytherin of them all to assist us in getting Holly out of You-Know-Who's body, now is it?!" he replied through gritted teeth.

"I think I made the best possible decision, Ron," Hermione said vigorously. He narrowed his eyes.

"Well I certainly don't-"

"Why not-"

"Because! Malfoy-"

"You guys..." Harry said slowly, trying to calm them down. It didn't work.

"Malfoy what?"

"He's-"

"Stop being such a git, Ron!"

"WHAT?!"

"You guys..." he tried again, looking from Hermione to Ron.

"You heard me!"

"I'm not a git you-" He was cut short by a squeaking of a door on its hinges, that he amazingly heard over his own voice. All three of them turned to watch as a door that had magically appeared in the empty stone wall opened and from behind it appeared none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Oh," he drawled, looking only slightly surprised, "The tremendous trio. I thought I had heard a large chipmunk suffering through its last moments. I was coming out to put it out of it's misery, and maybe roll it up and maybe feed it to Crabbe... but that's besides the point. I'll just go back now..." He stepped back inside of the door but before he could close it Harry spoke up.

"Wait!" he said, "Wait... Malfoy we need your help." Draco stepped out in front of the door again and held it open while he stared at Harry, looking very bewildered.

"Excuse me?" he said blankly, raising an eyebrow and looking a mix between lost and disgusted.

"We - need - your - help," he repeated, taking a step towards him. Draco took his hand off of the door but kept his foot in between it and the open doorway. He laughed shortly.

"For what?!" he said in utter disbelief, still smirking.

"Well, more or less Holly needs your help... really..." Harry said, eyeing Draco with caution. He stared back at him.

"Let me think about this... you want me to go and assist Black, getting her out of whatever insanely sticky situation she's in right now?" Ron, Harry, and Hermione all nodded, with a general murmur of 'yeah that's about it'. Draco looked around at all of them. "Ahhh...no," he concluded flatly. He made a motion to slide back through the doorway into the common room. Ron stepped forward and grabbed the door, preventing Draco from pulling it shut.

"Yes?" he said smoothly, looking at Ron's determined expression. Harry answered for him, assuming that Ron punching Draco square in the nose wouldn't persuade him to come along.

"You're in debt, Malfoy," Harry explained, "You owe me. Well... her." Draco's eyes narrowed. "And this would be repaying a portion of it... because you owe her - a lot," he said. I have to get him away from that door... we'll never convince to come... Harry thought desperately. "-you spoiled little stool pusher." Draco, clearly outraged, lunged at Harry, and Hermione, catching on, stepped forward kicked the door shut. The wall sealed itself, and there was only plain green stone where the door had just been. Ron pulled Draco off of Harry, he hadn't had enough time to do any damage, and threw him against the wall of the corridor.

"That was dry... I cannot believe you fell for that," Harry stated, getting up and off the floor. Draco looked at the door-less wall that Hermione had stepped in front of, blocking it so he couldn't run up to it, whisper the password, and escape. He shifted angrily.

"Out of the way, Granger," he said, lamely. Hermione smiled cheerfully at him, eyes alight.

"No!" she exclaimed happily.

"Well there you have it, Malfoy," Ron said. "You either come with us or you say your Slytherin common room password aloud, get past 'Mione, and not help out. Then again, if you did that, you'd wake up tied to your bed by sausage links with blue tinted swim goggles full of toilet water magically glued to your eyes." He sighed deeply and smiled slyly at him, "Your choice."

Draco looked very sullen. "Big talk," he said quietly.

"Just remember - if you manage to get back in there - we can do more to you than you can do to us," Ron stated, with a small shrug. This wasn't entirely true - Draco could pull out his wand and do some sort of nasty dark magic on all three of them right then and there if he chose to.

"Fine," he spat, "What do you need? 'Better be quick - I'm a busy man."

*()%()*

A/N: Okay, I didn't quite get as far into this as I wanted to... for example... Draco didn't get very far in repaying his debt - as you see. But it took me long enough, didn't it? School is keeping me very busy... ah - school. * sigh *. I'm updating as fast as I can!