When I came to, I rejoiced that I was back to my previous size. But then I remembered that I was supposed to be even bigger. Alas, I am still Harry Potter stuck in stuffed dolphin form.

Malfoy had brought us back to the unused classroom with the piano in it, placing us on the wooden bench facing said piano. Was he going to turn us back? Was it his doing after all? But that cannot be, how can it?

Malfoy sat at the piano again, talking to no one in particular.

"You told me once that this room was ours. That it was magical, that this thing," he played a short note on the piano, "would stay magical, as long as it was ours... But I'm alone, now."

Who was this person he cared so much about? Where were they now?

"I brought Theodore." He announced unnecessarily. "And I think I've got it now, the song."

He poised his fingers on the keys. My heart of cottony stuffing raced in anticipation of Malfoy's finale.

"If love is war, then let this be my last fight for you."

And his fingers began to dance on the keys.

It was a bittersweet melody, uplifting and calming, full of determination and anguish, almost giving up at times, but never did. Accusing, and then reassuring.

The ending, however, was like the sound of someone charging into battle, ready to die in it, and finally did.

But I couldn't be sure if it was really how it ended, or it was just that Malfoy decided to end it there. At any rate, it was over, and Malfoy had a numb look that hurt me more than his cries did.

"You're not coming back, are you? It's been three years, after all."

Malfoy stood up and walked to our wooden bench.

He stroked the teddy bear as he said, "I must accept that you're gone if I want to move on. But if I did that, would this place no longer be magical? Would the piano lose whatever magic you left in it?" Malfoy hugged the teddy bear again. "Goodbye, Smith. Please be gone in the morning."

With that said, Malfoy put the teddy bear down and left.

"That's it... Harry! Ron! I think I've got it!"

"What?"

"Malfoy's going to turn us back!"

"I don't get it," "Me neither."

"The piano! Malfoy's ex, or whoever! He said they told him it has magic! He said it would be gone if he gave up on them and moved on!"

"Oh, well then, that'll be soon! Malfoy also said it has only been three years since they ended!" Ron exclaimed sarcastically.

I think I remembered something else too. "He said 'please be gone in the morning'. Will he wake up accepting that they were definitely not coming back?"

"He has to! Ugh, we shouldn't have to wait that long to begin with! I thought the professors would have found us already! It's-"

But Hermione never finished that last remark, for in that instant, the room began to swirl.

I saw everything whirl and whirl before it became pitch black. For a second I thought I had passed out, but the pitch black, too, began to swirl and withdrew to a point. It concentrated into a corner of the room, and I gradually made out a distinct figure forming from the mass of black.

The next moment, two people emerged. One was an old man with a beard and 'stache, and streaks of midnight in his grey hair. His eyes were the fathomless pits into eternity and back.

The other was a cloaked figure, and I could not see the face beneath it. When I heard them speak, I decided that they were a young woman.

Hers was the voice of conquest from the shadows over battles between worlds, "why have you brought me here?"

The man spoke with a voice that would have outdone hers, if it wasn't laden with ages of struggle, "touch the walls if you must."

She did. "Hogwarts? I am supposed to be moving forward."

"You forgot one important rule to Travelling: no loose ends."

"It is not my loose end!"

"It would still be if you hadn't left it for your sister to clean up."

"I did no such thing!"

"You confided the wrong secret in the wrong man, and set a different course for the future of this realm."

"He didn't succeed with that secret!"

"It pointed him the right direction."

"You. You're just helping my sister in her mission."

"Of course I am. We cannot afford loose ends."

"I meant the mission to assassinate me!"

"I only serve the purpose of maintaining balance."

The room started swirling again, smoother and lighter this time. When another figure emerged from the blackness, the young woman had bolted out the door.

The newcomer was also cloaked, but smaller than the previous, with a voice to match. But that's not saying anything, because her voice held back something unfathomable and dark behind it.

"Hogwarts." she declared pointlessly. "A step backwards, why?"

"I made her."

The small one whirled around, apparently not expecting the other.

"I had to; you wouldn't come back on your own," the old man elaborated.

"I see no reason to."

"Ah, but you see, almost everything you do has exactly no reason behind them. Leaving here before it's time was one of the exceptions. You had a reason to leave," he held up a hand as she had opened her mouth to protest, "and it wasn't just to go after your sister."

He leaned forward then, meeting her eyes. "What were you running from, Smith?"

Smith. I just heard that name before this.

When she refused to answer, the man drew up to his full height and announced, "You swore your allegiance to the Dark Lord, and you have served him well, except for one final assignment. Now is your last chance to finish it."

"If you can make a bait of my quarry, you can make a responsible one of her, too. Make her clean up her own mess."

"I've had her clean up yours in the past, now I'm just restoring the balance and making you return the favour. After all, you're the one with the Mark."

The small figure stiffened at this.

The man continued, "One loose end. What was your problem? Were you unable to identify the target? I've done that for you-"

"I knew the target."

A brief silence followed. "Draco Malfoy... What kind of person could he be, to affect you like this?"

"That's something you need not concern yourself with."

"You are ...fond of this boy, then?" he said the word 'fond' like it was the darkest curse ever conceived.

"I'll take care of it. You have my word."

"Your word, as a Smith." his voice had dropped to a much lower tone, taking on the sound of binding oaths and a declaration that could only be obeyed, "You will take care of Draco Malfoy."

Everything was suddenly very still, as if the World was waiting for her affirmation.

"My word."

He unlatched the door and stood in the doorway, throwing his last words over his shoulder, "I'll smooth things out with the headmaster." And then he too walked out the door.

My eyes went back to the small figure cloaked in black. She walked to the piano and started playing it. It was the same tune that Malfoy had played earlier.

It hit me like a bag of bricks. This girl is the Smith person that Malfoy had been so miserable over losing. She has returned, but it seemed she had not come to take him back or anything like that.

She was here to take care of a loose end, and that loose end was Malfoy, whatever taking care of loose ends meant. And what was that about swearing allegiance to Voldemort? Malfoy should be safe with a fellow former Death Eater, right? Anyway, this small person cannot possibly... Just, no.

"Harry, what are we going to do?"

Hermione's voice seemed to stop the other girl's playing. We sat in lethal helplessness as she rose from her seat. She couldn't hear us, could she?

She hadn't. The girl let out a heart-wrenching scream and the piano toppled over, crashing into a mess of useless woodworks and metal chords on the stone floor with a deafening crash. She screamed again and fell on her knees, her magic coming off in violent waves and shattering the windows, shaking the walls and floors. Her last scream detonated the already destroyed piano on the floor. I was only thankful that my friends and I could not be physically harmed in our dolphin confines.

She finally collapsed onto her side and began to cry.

I knew for sure now that she meant no harm for Malfoy, but I also knew that, like Nott, she still could.

Author's Note

Erm… This is kind of getting out of hand. I have even less control over my OCs. Ah, well. You need not concern yourselves with my OCs' back-story, because the minute portion of it that does have anything to do at all with this story will be revealed. In fact, I don't think it really matters. It's just an excuse to get Harry to stick his nose into Malfoy's business.

Oh, the tune Malfoy plays on the piano is, as I was listening to it when I was typing this, titled "Love is War (piano version)", made famous by Vocaloids. You can go search for it on YouTube if you want.