Harry Potter and His New Standards

* Chapter 15 - Great Gryffindors, Ambitious Slytherins, and Deepening Mysteries *

"Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods. We have ours, they have theirs. That is what's known as infinity."

"Good thing you wear thick robes to hide your bony structure, because I don't dare let you go back into your common room to find a cloak," Harry said dully as he, Ron, Hermione, and Draco began to stride along down the corridor.

"Wait..." said Draco, stopping dead in his tracks.

"No time, Malfoy, let's move..." Ron said, pushing him forward, rather hard. Ron now saw that he has opportunity to physically and mentally abuse Malfoy - which prevented him from snapping at Hermione again. Draco whipped around and gave him a menacing and determined look before rounding on Harry.

"You didn't say anything about going outside," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"That's right - and I didn't say anything about staying inside the castle either, now did I? C'mon," he said quickly, motioning for Draco to follow him. The blond grumbled angrily but did as he said.

"Question, Potter," he said, "What am I doing - exactly? Because if this involves snow angels-"

"You're helping us out, as there is a first time for everything," Harry said in a low voice, turning out of the dungeon corridor and half-running up the stone steps there. Draco pushed his way to the front of the 'mob' and next to Harry.

"Yeah, okay, at your service. Just tell me what the hell you're making me do!" he said in exasperation - although his voice was as low, sarcastic, and menacing as usual. Harry straightened out his Gryffindor color-striped scarf and glanced over at Malfoy. He was being ridiculously easy to - manipulate. Why he was even following them and "at their service" was a complete mystery to Harry. He could easily turn on his heel and run straight back to his little Slytherin dungeon to get out of it. "In addition," Draco said, "I do not have a... bony structure."

Ron snorted in contradiction but Draco ignored it, as did Harry, although Hermione gave him a small smile. Harry launched into explanation, and by the time he was done they were crunching through the hardening snow in the general direction of the Quidditch pitch. The sky was darkening with clouds now - it looked like another storm was on its way. The wind had picked up, and snow was drifting against one side of the castle and any other obstacle on the ground.

"So this time," Harry concluded, "we're going to get brooms so we can get there a bit faster, as we don't care whether someone will see us or not. Hermione has the Charm, and she'll be able to tell us when we're directly over where we need to be."

Suspecting that Draco might back out of 'the plan' when hearing Voldemort was involved - Harry was a bit surprised. Maybe he was to keep a strict 'my-family-is-most-certainly-not-involved-with-Lord-Voldemort' face - which would be entirely pointless. Harry had mentally noted that Draco did not, in fact, flinch any of the times he said 'Voldemort' - and had used the name himself. This was definitely less than surprising. But Draco continued to walk with the trio - seeming resigned to the worst but determined to be of assistance (how weird does that sound?). Perhaps this was only because Ron had insisted on calling him a 'poncy git who wouldn't wear something yellow unless he were paid' or maybe when he referred to him as 'the idiot who doesn't have enough muscle to hold himself on his feet long enough to do 5 jumping-jacks'. Perhaps it was when he commented that he was 'too much of a coward to enter the forest and too shallow to care about anyone but himself - even when being given the chance to show his prowess concerning the Dark Arts'. And still, most of these comments were extremely petty compared to the things that came out of Draco's sharp-witted mouth when he retorted.

So when they reached the broomshed and 'Alohomora'ed it open. Harry began passing out brooms when Draco let out an unamused sound of discontent. "What?" snarled Hermione.

"A Comet 260? What decade is it again?" he answered, touching the broom handle with only his fingertips - as though it were very unclean. The three Gryffindors chorused in impatient groans.

"Summon your Nimbus, then, Malfoy - and hope no one follows it out of the castle after they see it flying by, if you can even get it to move 10 inches in the right direction," said Ron, throwing his hands up into the air.

"What an idea, Weasley. My eyes are brimming with tears of pride in you're plotting," said Malfoy, pulling his wand out of his robe pocket. He held it high in the air and said, "Accio, Nimbus!" A few moments later a Nimbus 2000 came whizzing through the air, and Draco caught it before tossing it at Ron. "Accio, Nimbus!" he exclaimed again. This time a Nimbus 2001 flew to him, and Draco dropped it at Hermione's feet. She bent over and picked it up, giving him a calculating look.

Harry - catching the idea - said, "Accio, Firebolt!" just before Draco summoned a 3rd Nimbus. At about the same time the two brooms were flying through the cold air to their owners. The Nimbus 2001 came to Draco, and Harry's Firebolt floated in the air next to him, ready to mount.

"What's with the - er - generosity, Malfoy?" Hermione asked in an incredulous tone, eyeing him. Draco grinned slightly.

"Those are property Crabbe and Goyle," he said. Ron instantly dropped his broomstick in the snow, and Hermione looked about ready to do the same with the one she was holding. "They're relatively good brooms - and the only reason they have enough mind to keep them in the dormitory is because I insist upon it." Even Draco admitted that his cronies were notoriously dull-witted... although that was quite the understatement. Crabbe and Goyle were flat out bovine and impolitic to the highest of standards. "We can't afford to lose anything that improves our team." The corners of his mouth twitched in what was either a faint smile or a truthful frown - Harry couldn't tell. "The faster we can get to Black and back, the better. Better brooms - less time wasted." He shrugged. "I just got the impression that you wanted to get there quickly - that's all."

Ron reluctantly picked the broom back up and mounted it. Hermione cleared her throat - she looked a bit shifty. "You guys," she said nervously, "I'm not that great of a flier and-"

"Don't worry, Herm'," Ron said with a confident smile, "We won't go too fast. Well... I won't. I don't think Harry knows how to go slow, and Malfoy-" he shrugged. "Thing is - you're the one who's leading the way." Hermione smiled. Harry was getting a bit sick of these 'don't-worry-I-still-believe-in-you'-like moments.

"Okay," Draco broke in, "Before someone actually does trace the missing broomsticks to their whereabouts - could we get the job done?"

Harry said. "Yeah, okay. Hermione, you direct the way."

Those who were not mounted, did, and kicked off. The cold air stung Harry's face as they flew forward, fast, but not as fast as he'd like to go. When over the forest, they flew low - his feet nearly grazed the high-reaching tips of the trees underneath. They stopped every now and then to make sure they were moving in the right direction, and it didn't seem like long at all when the trees were thickening. Hermione came to a dead stop in front of him, causing Ron, Draco, and himself to fly even with her and stop as well.

"What is it?" Harry asked, tracing her gaze down and looking through the trees below. They had to talk loudly - the wind was beginning to roar. The crowns of the trees were swaying, and their swishing sounded more like a resounding hissing than the wind in the trees - maybe it was eerie magic - maybe it was Harry's imagination. Hermione bit her lip.

"We're still not above where we want to be - but by the time we're there we could never fly down through those branches. The trees will be far too thick," she said thoughtfully, only glancing up at him for a second. Harry sighed.

"Wasn't she in more of a... a clearing?" Ron put in.

"Yeah - close to it, anyway. The trees were about as thick as they are now, if my judgment serves me right..." she looked down. "-which means we would probably have a lot of trouble getting through the branches. And Holly would probably hex us before we got to the ground, considering how paranoid she could be."

"That's true," he agreed. He turned to Draco and Ron. "Ron..." he paused, wondering whether Draco was worth addressing then continued, "-Malfoy - we've got land right now. We'll carry the broomsticks along with us. How long of a walk do you think, Hermione?" Hermione thought about this for a moment.

"Maybe ten minutes," Hermione concluded. "Five if we hurry," she added shortly.

"Hurry as in no stopping to make pictures in the snow or hurry as in run?" Draco drawled, raising an eyebrow, his tone hardly sounding like that you would use when asking a question.

"Hurry as in run," said Hermione, sounding annoyed. Harry started to lower himself into the tree branches, followed by Ron, then Hermione, and coming down last, Draco. It took a while to carefully weave through the trees, there were a few that had broken in high winds and had half of the tree leaning onto another, then there were the branches scraping at his hands and face at every moment, and the wind didn't help things. When all four of them were on the ground, Hermione led them in the direction that they had been moving since they started flying.

They jogged for a few minutes then broke into the clearing again. They ran forward, to Voldemort's body, or Holly, who was leaning against a tree, looking torn between weariness and irritation. Her round red eyes moved to look at them, and she didn't show any change in expression when she saw Malfoy. Holly knew of their plans to snatch him and bring him along to reverse the spell, but probably had serious doubts that they'd honestly manage it. Harry saw Draco's eyes narrow convulsively when he set his eyes on her, and wasn't sure if it was the fact she was in the body of Lord Voldemort, or if he just disliked her that much. Holly pushed herself away from the tree; glanced at her own body and a chill visibly ran up her spine - Harry imagined the sensation was extremely creepy. It was probably like being stuck in one of those wild dreams when you're an onlooker of your own life.

"Okay, Malfoy," Ron said as they approached her, "do your stuff." Harry's scar was hurting with the on and off pattern again. Draco looked around at them, and then at Holly who was trying again to put Voldemort's clammy hands on his hips, growling angrily. He burst out laughing.

"What?" Voldemort's voice didn't even seem to fit the word 'what' in the way Holly managed to say it. Draco's laughing died down.

"I haven't seen something this hilarious for a good 6 months," he snickered weakly. Voldemort's eyes stared in the direction of the sky furiously. "Of all the Dark Magic in the world - this has to be the greatest." He smirked, but Holly didn't see it. "It just totally ruins your pompous self-image, Black!"

"Could you explain the after-effects of the counter', Malfoy?" Hermione said, a tone mixed with interest, annoyance, and concern. Draco, still smiling, glanced at her and pulled out his wand. Harry rubbed his scar thinking that it was more of an annoyance than a tool to tell him when danger was near.

"Well... I do the countercurse - they switch back within... I'd guess 2 minutes. Right after we do the spell we'll stun... er... him. Better safe than sorry - I believe those words came from some Hufflepuff a few centuries back," he heaved a sigh. "Black, you'll be comfortable in a dead faint for a while. You can plan out the rest - although Gryffindor plans usually work just as well for humans as they do for a bunch of trolls - for their worth." Draco sighed and Ron clenched his fists together, starting to take a step towards him but amazingly restraining himself. It wasn't much to get mad over - 'Slytherins are just jealous that for all their planning all they can do is sneak up on you behind your back' Seamus had once contemplated wisely.

Hermione nodded after giving Malfoy a nasty glance. "I'll conjure up a body-wrapping magical stretcher once we get out of the thicker trees," she said. Draco pointed his wand at Voldemort's chest and grinned wickedly.

"Question, Black - after all those physical transformations, does Voldemort still have a wand?" he said smoothly.

Holly scoffed, "Of course he has a-" she stopped abruptly and Voldemort's eyes widened. "Get me out of this body RIGHT NOW, Malfoy!" she shouted. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"I was just wondering..." he said quietly, before steadying his arm and saying, "Muto Intransier!" There was a small burst of deep-green light before Voldemort was knocked off his feet and lay on the snow-covered ground, unconscious. "Stupefy!"

*()%()*

Harry scrambled to Holly's body, now, and instead of taking the Stunning Spell off of her - chances were it was still You-Know-Who there - he magically expanded the cold silver shackles around her wrists and slid her hands out of them. Ron wondered briefly why she didn't have her gloves on. He did the same with her ankles. He slid his arms on the back of her neck and behind her knees. Slowly getting to his feet, her head drooped back, and it looked hard on the neck, even with Harry's support.

Ron saw Harry shut his eyes tightly for a moment, and figured that his scar was burning. Harry moved away from the trees that Holly had been chained at and carefully laid her down on the ground and started working at the buttons on his cloak. There's Harry for you, he thought. 'Just keeping his promise'... right... I'd say he's going to extremes, his mind continued as he watched Harry cover Holly up with the cloak. Ron wondered briefly why he had lain her down on the ground. Harry picked her up again, and used his shoulder to nudge her head up so it rested on his chest instead of hanging backward.

Ron looked around and set his eyes on Draco. Draco's eyes were as unwelcome as ever, but at the same time - blank. It was common fact that the Malfoy family was long into the Dark Arts - and that Lucius Malfoy was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle. Draco was going to be a Death Eater as soon as he was done with his schooling - if he wasn't already one now. He had just helped a handful of Gryffindors with a problem that their second, and new, 'danger magnet' had encountered. Draco hadn't been very cruel throughout the entire miniature mission, and spent more time in silence - throwing in the sarcastic comments when he felt necessary.

He traced Malfoy's gaze, and saw that he was watching Harry situate Holly in his arms, Harry still wincing here and there. Looking back at Draco, he saw him drop his wand into his pocket and look up at him. The Slytherin's eyes widened and arced his eyebrows. Draco gave his head a tiny jerk-like shake and stared up at Ron, coolly. A voice a lot like Holly's sounded in the back of his head, "What?" it snapped. Holly - who had gone quite fairly cold toward him once more - could only match that expression. Ron narrowed his eyes in return and looked away from Draco to see Hermione and Harry talking to each other, in somewhat low and hurried voices.

"That's our best chance. Oh - and yeah, I'll help you - but we had best get going. It looks like it's going to storm," Harry said, squinting up through the trees. Even from where they were, you could see the sky had gone black, and could still the wind blow through the extremely tall trees. Harry looked at Ron. "Could you carry my broom?" he asked him.

"Yeah... yeah, okay," Ron said. He picked up the broom he had been riding and then Harry's, and put them both over his shoulder.

"Coming, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, looking around Ron at Draco. Draco cast another look at Voldemort, lying on the snow-sprinkled ground, and nodded. He grabbed his own broom as Hermione picked up the one she had ridden, and they started walking back through the trees. Harry had to turn sideways often to squeeze through most of them. They traveled in silence.

*()%()*

The trees were thinning again, and Harry was grateful. He felt as though any minute his arms would snap off. As much as he cared for Holly he didn't at all enjoy carrying her dead weight. But he trusted himself more than he trusted Malfoy, and maybe more even than Ron. Making Hermione carry her was vaguely ridiculous. He was frozen with cold, but somehow felt as though he was still considerably warmer than Holly - who was easily the bluest of them all. It had been 10 minutes of walking before he had figured that she was, very slowly, coming to. It was evident that, by now, it was no longer Voldemort there - his scar had stopped hurting. She was shivering slightly, and her breathing was in very short, cut-off gasps.

They walked for a while longer, until they were in a place where the trees were scattered enough that two broomsticks could rise out of the forest, side-by-side, followed by two more. Harry cleared his throat. "Ron - could you take her a moment?"

Ron jolted slightly at hearing his name - they had been listening to the rushing of the wind for a long time without talking. After comprehending what Harry had just asked, he nodded, put down the broomsticks, and held out his arms. Harry carefully let Holly slip out of his arms and into Ron's.

*()%()*

When Harry had given Ron Holly to hold, he felt a pang remembering the last (and first) time this had happened. He thought about how after Madam Pomfrey awoke her and gave her the potion so that she knew what was going on, how she had nearly immediately started shaking and crying. He remembered that was the day he and Holly had started really getting along. It was a while before things had changed again - and Holly had started avoiding him once more. She didn't throw nasty comments at him as often as she had when she had been angry with him before then, but at least this time he wasn't oblivious to why she didn't like to be around him. It was evident to him, now.

Up close he got chills seeing the color Holly was, and as he positioned her so she wouldn't put quite as much pressure on his arms he could feel the hitching way in which she was breathing. Her hair was sopping from the short period that Harry had set her down on the ground to cover her with his cloak. Hermione bustled over, messing with something around her neck. A second later she had pulled off Holly's necklace, and the Charm vibrated slightly in her hand. Ron looked down at her and returned the small smile she was giving him. Hermione carefully fastened the necklace around Holly's neck, and touched the gold casing of the gem to her bluish skin, and it stopped vibrating instantly. Without explanation, Hermione gave Ron another confident smile and jogged back over to where Harry and Draco were standing.

Ron noticed, now, that Holly's breathing had evened out. In fact, she didn't look quite as discolored. He tilted his head so he could get a better look at her face, and saw that the cuts and bruises she had previously had... weren't there. How did that happen? Ron marveled at the fact, mind blank for ideas.

Hermione had pulled out her wand and conjured up what looked like a beige-colored hammock with four loops attatched to it. Harry and Malfoy assisted in slipping the loops onto the broomstick handles, and Hermione made each of them tighten onto the handles in turn.

"Okay, Ron," she said, making him snap out of a mild daze, "come here." He obeyed, and stepped forward. The four broomsticks were situated on the ground, even with each other, loops snug around the end of each handle. "Lay her down so her head it at the front end," she commanded softly. Ron got down on his knees and carefully started lowering Holly down into the stretcher. The way her head drooped helplessly, long curls falling across her face and over Ron's arm, her impossibly tough-set beauty was faded. She just looked depressingly lifeless. Ron stood back up and looked away, out into the trees.

*()%()*

Hermione watched Ron for a split second before she lifted up Harry's cloak and held it out to him. "Here," she said, "Take it." He shook his head and pushed her arm away to signal that he wanted it to stay with Holly. Hermione sighed. "Harry-" she said, "she'll be fine. The sides of this stretcher are going to come up plenty to keep her warm. She'll sink into it. You'll freeze up there without a cloak." Harry looked down at Hermione and smiled. "I'm sure of it."

"You don't think I could survive the cold?" Hermione shook her head morbidly. "Are you implying that I'm frail?" She laughed and pushed the cloak into Harry's hand. He sighed and pulled it on.

"I'd say that implying would be putting it mildly. Granger pretty much denoted it to you head-on," Draco mused, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry said off-handedly, fastening the clasp of his cloak successfully. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Holly. "Ennervate," he said softly. Holly didn't make even the smallest of movements. "Okay - let's go." Harry stood nest to his Firebolt, which was on the back left corner of the body-wrapping stretcher. In front of him was Hermione - next to the broom she had flown, next to him was Draco's broom, and Ron had stepped up to the Nimbus opposite Hermione.

They all lifted their brooms, and the fabric of Holly's temporary bed stretched up, and she hardly rose off the ground. They each mounted their brooms, counted off, and kicked off the ground, rising slowly up through the trees, flying close together.

When they were above the treetops, a sharp cold wind greeted them. It stung Harry's eyes, causing him to squint to make sure he didn't run into Hermione. They started flying easily with a constant velocity in the direction of the castle.

*()%()*

After a while of somewhat slow and constantly steady flying, they landed at the steps of the castle. Describing the skies as overcast would be a definite understatement-it was only early in the afternoon and it looked nearly black with night. Harry lifted Holly up out of her stretcher, and Hermione got rid of the body-wrapping stretcher after she was up out of it. After that she Banished each broom, in turn, to its proper place. Harry, while starting to ascend very carefully up the ice-covered stone steps, started dishing out his plans. "I'm going to take Holly to the hospital wing," he explained, Ron, Hermione, and Draco commenced in following him.

"Hermione... you find Professor McGonagall. Have her take you to Dumbledore, and take him or even both of them back out to where Voldemort is. I'm sorry I stuck you with this job-but you led us there, and you'll be able to find your way back, will you not?"

"Whatever happened to being in trouble?" Harry gave her a stern look and she sighed, defeated, but gave him a small, confident smile. "Yeah, I will. No Charm to help me this time though," Hermione replied shortly. She strode forward ahead of them, in the general direction of the most direct route to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Ron, you get Lupin. This is serious. Give him the goods on the Dark Magic, ask for theories. If he wants to talk to me or Malfoy, we'll be in the infirmary," Harry continued to instruct. Ron nodded and started walking faster, through a set of doors off to the side of the Entrance Hall, where Harry, Draco, and Holly were now.

"What?" the Slytherin said, giving Harry a very faked hurt look. "Don't I get an assignment from the great Gryffindor... patron and champion of unsuccessful plans?" Harry threw him a nasty glance but continued walking with his eyes watching ahead when he answered.

"No. As you, the ambitious Slytherin... guardian and sponsor of muddling plans with all their evil cunning - would be of no assistance, assignment or no assignment," he snapped. Harry looked around him and walked straight through the stone corridor wall with a small sucking sound. Draco gave a small yell of surprise. Then, he slowly sidled forward and shut his eyes, telling himself that he could walk through this wall.

Just like Platform 9 ¾, he thought, and then heard the sucking sound as he too walked into the wall. He was yanked forward unexpectedly and soon found himself on his hands and knees on the other side of the wall. He made a surprised choking sound, and then looked up at Harry, who was standing there, limp Holly still in his arms, with his eyebrows raised.

"What?" Draco snapped in a brumal tone, scrambling up onto his feet, slightly embarrassed that he had ended up on his hands and knees when, clearly, Harry hadn't.

"Nothing," Harry said in a simple voice. He turned and started walking down the corridor to his left. Draco saw that they had been pitched into the corridor in which you could find the entry to the hospital wing. He followed Harry through the doors, and as Harry lowered Holly onto an empty bed, Madam Pomfrey came rushing out of her office, eyes wide with suspicion.

"Madam Pomfrey - get your best Warming Fluids and Pepperup Potions, we've got one cold Gryffindor here," Draco said dryly. Madam Pomfrey gasped, looking through the gap in between the boys, and turned quickly to a nearby shelf and started grabbing for vials and what looked like semi-transparent teapots.

"Thank you for your feverish and studious assistance, Malfoy," Harry said, scanning his expression with doubt. Draco smiled in a way that could be classified as sarcastic.

"I like to cross the lines of my job description in being an all-around prodigious guy," he replied, glancing around at the white curtains that were all drawn back against the walls. Harry gave him a questioning look, but then Madam Pomfrey moved to Holly's bed quickly, and put her hand on her uncut cheek.

"She's freezing - what happened?" she said as she tipped Holly's head back, and pulled on her chin slightly to open her mouth. She started pouring a steaming purple liquid down her throat, followed by what Harry recognized as a Pepperup Potion. Holly coughed and spluttered, but her eyes stayed shut. The color of her skin started to change rapidly from blue to her normal complexion. Then she began a strategic check for broken bones.

Harry launched into a book-summary like explanation. She left the bedside and wet down a washcloth. Coming back she mended Holly's cut and after it a period in which it was a luminous white color, it faded away. Madam Pomfrey commenced in carefully washing the dried blood off of Holly's cheek, and then started pulling on her shirt collar in search of other cuts or bruises she needed to fix. After her inquiry for injuries, she had Draco and Harry step back and drew the curtains. A minute or two later she pulled the curtains open again, and Holly was changed into a pair of the flannel school infirmary pajamas and tucked under the covers. Her cloak was magically hanging in midair alongside her bed, dripping cold water, and her clothes were sitting at the foot of her bed.

Just then, Ron and Lupin entered through the doors. Harry looked at the two of them striding towards them. Lupin immediately knelt down next to Holly and looked at her, a mixture of sadness and nervousness on his face. Harry figured it must have been because Sirus was still Lupin's best friend - and Lupin may have felt duty to keep an eye on Holly while in school (as Harry did, but he had promised to do so) for his best friend's sake. He turned her left arm so the inside of it was facing up and pulled up her sleeve. He checked the other arm. "No Dark Mark," he said softly.

"Were you expecting to see one?" Ron asked, his eyebrows disappearing beneath his red hair, which nearly covered his eyebrows in the first place. Lupin nodded darkly.

"Someone as intelligent as Tom Riddle was would always have a backup plan, if not five of them," he stated. Harry was a bit surprised at first, that Lupin knew of Voldemort's history. But, after he thought it over, it seemed quite ordinary, as Lupin knew a lot about everything. Lupin looked at the bedside table, at which sat Holly's necklace. He grabbed it, and turned the Charm over, looking at the golden encasing of the gem. He examined it for a while, looking curiously from Holly to the Charm, and back again. Finally he pushed his slatternly, wavy hair out of his face and put the Charm back down on the bedside table with a faint click, a puzzled expression still on his face.

Lupin touched his wand to Holly's stomach and said an incantation that no one could quite make out. Then he gave a sharp little push on her abdomen and she made a small choking noise and coughed out a bunch of black sparks. "Well there's backup plan number one," Lupin said with a very arid key as the sparks disappeared.

"What was that?" Harry asked, looking at the spot where seconds before there had been black scintilla. Lupin stood up and looked at him.

"Tracing Conjuration," he stated, looking back down at Holly. "Allows the caster to track down its object, and bring him or her to themselves. Although I couldn't tell you how exactly this would help him unless he had her brainwashed, or planned to set the Transposing Spell on her again. Did she seem quite rational when she spoke with you?"

Harry cleared his throat, realizing that Lupin was addressing him. "Yeah, but she was in Voldemort's body so-"

"It doesn't matter what body she was in, it's her mind it affects. What else..." Lupin said, his brow furrowed in concentration. He tried various spells and countercurses on Holly for a few more minutes and when he found only a two that produced results, he concluded she was going to be okay. One hex on her would give Voldemort the power to communicate to her when she was sleeping - make her sleepwalk and do whatever he commanded. The other gave her spontaneous visions.

"She seemed to be holding a good amount of hexes in her, so she'll be a little bit dazed after she wakes up. She'll know what's going on - but might act a little different than usual," he settled.

"Will she be delusional? Because if that's the case - I'm staying here... it'll be worth a laugh," said Draco.

"It'd be worth a laugh if she wasn't delusional and simply woke up and murdered you," muttered Ron. Draco gave him a rather nasty smile and Lupin, noticing this, cleared his throat loudly to draw their attention away from each other.

"I'd like to talk to you, Harry," he said, "You, too, Ron." Ron and Harry looked at each other, a little fear reflected in each other's eyes. It was Ron who first spoke up.

"Are we in trouble?" he asked, sounding both alarmed and nervous. Lupin smiled weakly at him and shook his head.

"Of course not." Ron gave Harry an unamused and displeased look that signaled to him that they could have just talked to Lupin right away. Harry fought back a smile. "I just want to question you a bit. I'll talk to Mr. Malfoy afterward, Hermione when she returns, and Holly - when she's awake."

"Could I go back to the Slytherin tower, then, Professor?" Draco asked, in a way that could nearly be expressed as polite. Lupin turned his eyes to him and narrowed them slightly - not in dislike or malice, but in curiosity.

"No, Mr. Malfoy, you'll stay here with Ron - I need to know how to contact both of you. And as I have no idea as to what the passwords to either of your common rooms is, you will stay here." Draco didn't seem to realize he was being addressed in a much more unfamiliar manner than Ron, who Lupin talked to as though they were long-time friends.

Ron and Draco exchanged annoyed looks but, strangely, left it at that. They didn't object, as they probably both realized it would be pointless and simply glared at each other - still refusing to 'be nice'. "Come, Harry," Lupin said. Harry followed Lupin out of the hospital wing, down the corridor, up a set of secret stairs hidden behind a suit of armor, (Lupin must have long ago realized that he couldn't hide any passages from Harry when he possessed the Marauder's Map) and into his office.

"Sit down, Harry," Lupin said, motioning to a tattered armchair pulled up in front of his desk. Harry slowly seated himself in the chair, and sunk down a considerable amount. The chair's stuffing was clearly very wore, and the springs were probably broken. It was rather comfortable, to be truthful. Lupin seated himself on the other side of his desk, and Harry took a quick look around. He could spot a few Dark creatures in different forms of containers around, but didn't take too long to look at them. His eyes grazed over a large bookshelf, filled with thick volumes, when Lupin spoke again. "Harry, I need you to tell me everything that happened from the last time you saw Holly before you found her in the forest, and on."

Harry commenced in telling him every detail he could from the night before when he had seen Holly coming down from the girls' dormitories and up until he had brought her to the infirmary without a single interruption. Lupin nodded here and there, mentally taking down notes, Harry assumed. Harry gave him the theory of what Voldemort's plan had been when he finished.

"Yes, your guess is as good as mine - that would be my assumption as well. What bothers me," Lupin stated, "is how Voldemort knew Holly's name."

"Well, she said that he had at first called her 'Miss Black' and then 'Holly'..."

"Yes that's it. Voldemort has been - lost - for a good amount of time. He hadn't been seen since June. I don't know how long he's been residing in the forest; neither do I know why he hasn't come out and into the castle. I certainly believe he could have..." Lupin rubbed his eyes. "It just doesn't run together. How would he even know about her?"

"He might have checked the tags on her school robes while she was knocked out for all I know," Harry stated with a small shrug. Lupin pulled his hands down from his eyes and looked straight into Harry's eyes. Just looking at Lupin made Harry tired sometimes.

"But he knew that she was associated with you. He has to have some outside source of information... the Prophet maybe? I'm surprised they don't have a column called "The Potter Watch" yet - but Holly was mentioned in there a couple times if my memory serves me well..." Lupin alluded, a bit more to himself than directed to Harry.

Harry gasped, causing Lupin to jolt slightly and gaze up at him in wonder. "I just thought of something!" he exclaimed. He measured his chances at being punished very late for something that happened a good long while ago. He took a deep breath and began telling Lupin about the message carved in the tree that the Centaurs had written, and the books the crew had looked in to find out what acromantulas could sense, and volumes that foretold various happenings, and how they all seemed to tie in.

After his explanation Lupin was staring blankly at him, his mouth open slightly. Evidence of Lupin's younger years was there in his clueless expression. "I cannot believe you kids sometimes," he said, shaking his head.

"No house points lost?"

"No house points lost. You're definitely the most diligent detectives this school has seen in many years..." he stated, looking down at his desk in a blank sort of way. He cleared his throat and began to sound a bit more professional. "The forest was holding more evil than ever before? Now the mysteries are stacking up.... Well, I know that Voldemort couldn't possibly be all of that extra-"

At that moment the door burst open and Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hermione all came in. Hermione and Professor McGonagall both looked sufficiently panicky, and Dumbledore a bit angry and sad. "Yes?" Lupin said, his voice devoid of calm.

"Voldemort," Dumbledore said slowly, "is gone."

*()%()*

QUOTE: "The Unknown" Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), French author and filmmaker. Anubis, in The Infernal Machine, act 2

NEXT CHAPTER: Find out very little more about Voldemort's disappearance. Holly wakes up and isn't delusional - but not quite herself. We take a closer look at her Inheirpikus Charm, and both Cho and Ginny make an appearance.